#i was big into italian and french history as a kid and kind of still am Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[stonerzelda]

one minor pain in my life was never ever finding the actual perfume bottle that this magazine ad for The Borgias had a scent strip for back in the day. I carried this ripped out piece in my dearest possessions for a longgg time and yet. Alas

[olympeline]

A few more headcanons for my National Animals AU. This time let’s talk about some mainland European nation-people to go with my British Isles bros post:

Germany: dog

Germany’s national animal is a black eagle - kinda, it’s the one on their coat of arms - but ehhh, any kind of bird doesn’t fit Ludwig in my mind. A dog does, though. I can definitely see him as some kind of giant, scary looking canine like a German shepherd or a rottweiler. One that appears intimidating but is soft on the inside. These dogs were bred to be hard workers too, just like Ludwig is. As for what he was in his days as Holy Rome…IDK. Their symbol was, again, a black eagle. Maybe Holy Rome was a black eagle chick who never got to fly. What do you guys think? And yeah, I know “Germany is Holy Rome” is very canonically dubious at this point, but I don’t care. I still like it

Italy (North and South): Italian wolves

They get it from their grandpa! It’s Romulus and Remus all over again. Feli and Lovi were a pair of fluffy little wolf pups for a very long time. Grandpa Rome himself started as a wolf, but I’m on the fence if he stayed that way until he died. Or if he became an eagle - the standard of Rome - as the Empire expanded. Wolves were very feared in Europe and that fits with everyone being scared of the descendants of the infamous Roma…until they meet Feli and Lovi and realise they are a pair of Moon Moons. 😂

France: ??? → lion → horse

I’ve already talked about why Francis would be a lion that became a horse, so let’s focus on what he would have been before. When he was a babby nation pre-French unification. I’m thinking either a fox cub or a young hare. To match with Arthur’s rabbit because I love these two always being connected in some way, hehe. Red fox pups are bluish grey before they mature and blue is Francis’s colour. He became a lion and cast off his fox form before it grew big enough that he would have had to wear a red coat. Yay, Anglo-French rivalry symbolism! Francis is also sleek, cunning, and pretty like a fox. But hares are sleek and pretty too. IDK, but I can imagine a rabbit looking at a hare and having the “god i wish that were me” meme reaction, you know? Hares just seem cooler in general. Arthur looked up to Francis and was jealous of him when they were kids, even if he would never admit it. 😆 The young nations being prey animals when they were conquered by Rome is good too. Yay, more symbolism! So hmm, not sure which is better. Do you guys prefer a fox or a hare for Francy-pants? Tell me in the replies if you like. Either way, he’s one of the nation-people who’s been through the most dramatic transformations over his lifetime.

Spain: ??? → black (fighting) bull

Ey! Toro! Toro! Not much needs to be said here. The toro bravo image is so married to Spanish culture, I can just leave it as is. I don’t know if Antonio would have been something else before, or if he was always a little calf that grew up. My knowledge of Spanish history is full of holes, sadly. I know there’s a lot with Carthage and Rome and the Punic Wars and that Spain was a Roman colony. Then various invasions, religious wars, the reconquista, all leading up to eventual unification. But it’s all too surface level to make headcanons for this AU. If any of you guys have ideas about how Antonio’s history might translate to pre-bull animal form(s) - or if you think he should have any at all - please tell me below! I’m really interested.

Russia: Eurasian brown bear

Another one where not much needs to be said. Russia is a huge, historically feared country with an incredibly tough climate. So Ivan would be a huge, feared animal that could survive the ice and snow of Northern Eurasia’s winters. Also, bears are solitary and blah, blah “friendless Ivan wants companions but they don’t want him” etc. You know the story. Bears were once so feared and hated in some parts of Europe that people refused to even say their name aloud in case it summoned one. They’re also tall af on their hind legs, eat a lot and get chubby, and love sweet things. Ivan was on easy mode for this post, lol.

(This AU is addictive. I think I need an intervention at this point ffff 🫣)

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

Tag game: List 10 of your comfort shows, then tag 10 people

I was tagged by @twig-tea thanks for the tag. Like you I'm having trouble narrowing it down so I cheated a little and some of this are grouped together.

Group One is the Detective group, I used to love detective stories, which means I watched a lot of cop shows, there are some that I can't watch anymore because of the new awarness of the copaganda but these are the ones that I still find comfort in: Cold Case, Elementary, Murder She Wrote, Columbo and Ris Roma (italian version of a CSI like show, this is the first and only spin-off which I like more)

Skam OG S3 and Eyewitness and Skam Italia s2. These I am not reaching for as much since I have BLs now. But they are still comfort shows. Skam Italian s2 in particular I reach when I want to feel better about the borderline semi-fascist hellstate I'm living in, since it's the best gay rep we italians got.

Animated Group: Animaniacs and Tiny Toons along with Looney Toons cartoons I use as background noise kind of shows. And along with the anime Kodomo No Omocha (Rossana in Italian) they remind me the most of childhood. Side note sometimes I listen to intro of Rossana anime and feel like a kid again, cartoon intro used to be a pretty big deal in Italian dub cartoons 80% of which were sanged by a single woman.

Old Sitcom Group: The Golden Girls, Boy Meets the World, Full House and The Nanny

Leverage (not the new seasons, I don't really like them, just the old ones)

Community

Living Single

Superstore

The BL Group (the most recent and the one that I am now leaning to most of all): Until We Meet Again, Be Loved In House I Do, History 2 Right or Wrong, Semantic Error and My School President are the ones that bring me the most comfort.

This is mega cheating because they are not really show as in tv series. But they always bring me the most consistent comfort: Assorted Musicals and Theather Live Recordings. In particular = The Sound of Music, West Side Story 2021, Moulin Rouge, Les Misarable 25th concert, Into the Woods (the 90s recording), Much Ado About Nothing (the 2011 recording with David Tennant), Cats and an italian one Notre Dame De Paris an Italian-French Musical based on the Victor Hugo book not realted to the Disney version at all)

Bonus: the ones that are no longer comfort shows because I can never watch them again: CSI (all of them but I used to love NY), Law and Order, and Veronica Mars (which I haven't been able to watch since I saw s4)

And the ones that didn't make the list: My favorite Power Rangers series (they range from Lost Galaxy to RPM)

Tagging: @thehollowprince @heretherebedork @callipigio @benkaaoi @slayerkitty @respectthepetty

It's not 10 but I am bad with names so these are I could think of. No pressure to them of course.

[jade-parcels]

Miscellaneous Fatui hcs 🎭

Keep in mind, we don’t know much about them!! And I haven’t delved into the lore or whatever :) this is just for fun!!! It won’t be accurate!! :) This was an old warm up draft thing so might as well post it! It’s really just one big ramble page :)

The Fatui and their titles are inspired by the Italian commedia dell'arte. So I believe the Tsaritsa is very into the Genshin equivalent of Italy, if there is one. (If they’ve got Mondstadt(German) and Fontaine(French) then there must be some sort of Italian sounding dialect then? Maybe?)

If she’s into theatre and “Italian” culture/history, I like to think that the harbingers had to learn Italian as well as other languages as they trained to become harbingers. It’s fun to think about Ajax, the stutterer and the fool, having to sit and be tutored for Italian lessons as a heavily accented Snezhnayan! He’s got Pulcinella and Capitano looming over him, lecturing him about grammar…All the kid wants to do is go out and slaughter enemy camps. Is that too much to ask?

I love the idea of the Tsaritsa throwing a ball (or multiple?) every so often. Here, she shows off her soldiers, diplomats, riches, weaponry and harbingers to all she invites. It’s a huge event that the normal, everyday people of Snezhnaya wish they could see in person and not just photographs in their newspapers. Zapolyarny Palace has tons of carriages outside and those who make their way inside are all dressed to the nines

^^ at these balls, the harbingers are decked out in their formal uniforms which are saved for occasions like this. They all wear their masks and wear sashes that display their countless pins and badges that they earned. Their uniforms don’t exactly match in style since they’re inspired by their theatre roles, many of these uniforms include ruffles, puffy sleeves or bells, but they’re not ridiculous by any means! They’re just cool, cool enough that guests’ eyes tend to go wide when they see them for the first time

In addition to learning Italian, the harbingers also had to learn all kinds of etiquette. This is usually hard for them since they want to fight all the time or do their own thing. Scaramouche was a sight to see during his etiquette training, he was so insufferable that he failed his course three times. Part of this course is ballroom dancing. The Tsaritsa expects her harbingers to engage with the guests at the ball! And if she wanted to dance with one of them, they better know how to dance or they’d be a terrible embarrassment to her

Capitano, Signora and Dottore have beautiful singing voices. They can’t stand each other, they want to rip each others’ throats out, but when it’s time for the first dance of the night and they’re called upon to sing with the band as the Tsaritsa dances with a lucky guest to start the night off…They don’t exactly hate each other in those moments. It is quite the honor to sing in front of everyone this way. And they just look THAT much better than everyone else. They’re practically super soldiers, they have their best uniforms on, they dance like they were made to do so and on top of that, these three can sing like angels. Is there anything they can’t do? All it takes is months of grueling training :)

Ajax is the youngest harbinger. When he went to his first ball while still training under Pulcinella, he was totally flabbergasted. He came from a smaller town so seeing the grand ballroom of the Zapolyarny palace all gussied up and full of guests…He’d never seen anything like it. Even now, after attending many of these stupid balls…He still feels that little spark of magical, childlike admiration when he steps into the room for the first time

I love the idea of the harbingers having their own wing in the palace. They all have separate rooms, labs and offices but there’s one parlor where they can go to play chess, strategize or relax. They could go anywhere else in the palace if they wanted to but some will go out of their way to annoy the others in the parlor just for fun. Dottore will flip the chess board while Pantalone and Sandrone play, Signora will play the piano off key to annoy Scaramouche while he tries to read, Capitano will put his feet up on the coffee table while knowing how much it bothers Pulcinella. Sometimes they’re like one big rabid family who hate each other. The Tsaritsa likes that a lot

Something else I like to imagine is ‘family dinners’. When all of the harbingers happen to back at the palace, it’s rare for them to all be there at the same time, the Tsaritsa will call for them to have dinner with her. It won’t be a formal affair, no mask required, just the twelve of them at the table together. Sometimes they sit and strategize, sometimes they tell stories, sometimes they sit in silence as the Tsaritsa glares at them when plans are ruined. These ‘family dinners’ are either somewhat pleasant or absolutely dreadful

What about their military uniforms? They must have uniforms of some kind right? From the harbingers we’ve seen so far (Childe, Scara, Signora and Dottore), they pretty much just wear whatever they want! I love the idea of them having 2 actual military uniforms. One for winter, kinda like the Russian uniforms with the cloak/capeish looking coats. And another for…Well, not winter. It’s still long sleeves and long pants, combat boots, sashes, masks and gloves. They rarely wear those uniforms unless 1. They’re all together in the public eye 2. They’re going to see the Tsaritsa all together

Ooo something else, it would be so cool to see maybe a little old lady who makes masks for the harbingers. She’s just a sweet old Russian grandmother who lives in the palace just cause the Tsaritsa likes her! So she makes these beautiful masks, carves them and paints them all by hand. She makes sculpts of each harbinger’s face so she can continually make new masks. Some with nicer paint, some formal masks with more detail, plain black masks for royal funded funerals, masks with gemstones in them, replacement masks for broken ones. Everyone gets along with this lady. Harbingers actually find a bit of joy in getting her souvenirs from neighboring nations or trying on masks for her just to see her smile. No one dares to disrespect granny. She has scary dog privileges :)

[umberandmochaagate]

Where I think the Varia are from & random notes:

Please note this isn't meant to be serious 😭 I'm just talking. I hardly have any backing

Xanxus: Italian from Sicily. Might be mixed with North African (Egyptian most likely). Either his mom knew about the Vongola because she was relatively close enough to the mafia or they're just that big of a presence that the history is known like that. He's actually distantly related to Vongola Secondo, the answer to the previous line might determine by which parent. Xanxus be respecting ppl's cultures but not ppl themselves 🥴

Squalo: Italian, possibly Sardinia, has family in Corsica & North Italy. The white hair is a recessive mutation in his family. Grew up in the more country areas as a child then was sent to big cities for education and extracurricular activities. Top of his class, but went on to be Sword Emperor in middle school. Ended up getting tutors while running the Varia during Xanxus' little ice age. Born and raised Catholic (cuz he stay acting like one like have you seen him).

Lussuria: Luss is actually from Thailand. He traveled as a teen and older but he still based his fight style on home. Luss was taught how to navigate hyper-masculine spaces while still being allowed to be himself. He loves being in the fashion capital cities, as well.

Leviathan: North Asian (maybe Slavic) and Italian. Born in Italy, but traveled back and forth for a while and knows his way around the country & city. He's from a family of stallions. Levi was sent to private schools and has two degrees. Also born and raised Catholic (look at him).

Belphegor: This kid is blan for sure. He's related to a European royal family, maybe Dutch or Austrian. They haven't gone looking for him because he is not in the direct line of the throne that's put out on media. The play Julius Caesar is a comedy to him. Born & raised Christian (that's why he's like that).

Fran: We know this one. This boy is French AF. The attitude. The swerves. He's from a well-off family; they sent him to his grandma to "teach him discipline." Distantly related to Louis Vuitton. His full name is François Bienvenue Thomas Jeanneret. No I will not elaborate further on this.

Mammon/Viper: I couldn't even try to come up with a place for Mammon cuz they're so secret. For sure, they're a person of color 💀 Learned majority of their powers from family, and it's been passed down generations. Kind enough to teach it to Fran and Chrome—for a price.

Gola Moska: Home Depot, Best Buy, & Tiger Direct

[janethesiren]

! about me

─── name: jane

─── age: 22 (born june 2000)

─── pronouns, sexuality: she/her, i consider myself straight but honestly i don't fall into any box of behavior or attraction.

─── ethnicity, languages and religion: i'm spanish, from celtic and atlantic heritage. i speak spanish, galician, english, and i can understand french, italian and portuguese.

─── what will you find in this page: this is a fanpage dedicated to stray kids, writing and sharing fanfiction of all kinds. it means i reblog and write mature topics. i also share content of other fandoms kpop related and mental health topics. also this is a bit like my personal diary, so i might share crude emotions and situations i'm going trough.

─── things i like: i'm a stay since feb. 2021 and an army since jul. 2020. i also enjoy listening to ariana grande, jon bellion, jaden and willow smith, mac miller, dominic fike and lots of reggaeton. i indulge in listening to the same songs over and over again (i'm not good at finding new music that scratch the itch). big fan of shadow hunters and divergent. i enjoy drawing, singing, dancing, reading and fashion.

─── bias and such: my bias is bang chan, but i have a big soft spot for 3racha. but for sure i stan ot8 and i have a deep love for each one of the boys, which means that my bias changes every week. when it comes to bts, i would say my bias is namjoon, maybe taehyung. same issue with stray kids, i love the seven equally.

─── another information you may want to know: there's three big pieces of my mental health history that i have to be really careful for in here: i fought (fight) an eating disorder for most of my teenage life, adiction problems and i have a diagnosis of chronic depression. this doesn't mean that my mental health is compromised most of the times, but it means that i'm really careful with what i consume in here and what i share/write.

(nov. 2022 update): right now i've left writing what it seems for good. still, my work is still up and i might end up posting the few drafts i have left that i promised you all. thank you for your support, always.

[konglindorm]

Lindworm Promo Series Repost: Cite Your Sources

*This is a repost from 9/17/17*

I first read Prince Lindworm in a collection of Scandinavian fairy tales illustrated by Kay Nielsen, who, by the way, is awesome. The problem here is that it was a later edition of the book. At some point, I don’t remember why, I got super into finding out the history of Prince Lindworm. See, it was in this book, which was supposed to be stories from Asbjornsen and Moe. Those are the big Norwegian fairy tale dudes, for those of you who don’t know.

But I’m a little obsessive about my fairy tales. You may have noticed. And this book wasn’t even mine. It belonged to my grandparents. So of course I had my own Asbjornsen and Moe anthology. Or two. Maybe three. And I kind of kept buying these books because I wanted my own copy of this one wacky story. But it wasn’t there. So I googled the complete works of Asbjornsen and Moe. It wasn’t there.

I took advantage of my university’s interlibrary loan system to request every single book in the country that mentioned lindworms. Or lindorms. Or lindwyrms, or a variety of other spellings.

Have I mentioned that I’m a little obsessive about my fairy tales?

Several other books and authors and random people on the internet attributed the story to Asbjornsen and Moe. Who definitely didn’t record it. The reason for this, as far as I can tell? This book my grandparents had, really nice hardcover, fancy publisher, gorgeous illustrations—it was kind of a big deal. All sorts of people had read the story in this book, and only this book, and assumed the information provided was reliable.

And here’s where the publishers went wrong. There’s an editor’s note in the front. It explains that all but two of the stories in the volume are from one particular translation of the works of Asbjorsen and Moe. What they apparently neglected to mention is that one of those two stories was not only from a different translator, but a different source entirely.

So Prince Lindworm didn’t come from Norway. That’s settled. And, okay, I don’t know what to tell you about the one random outlier in my interlibrary loan adventure that said the story was from Sweden, but I’ve got this worked out.

Really, it could have been worse. When I wanted to read the earliest recorded version of Beauty and the Beast, and I couldn’t track down a translation anywhere, I spent months tearing the internet apart before I found a copy that was clearly printed well over one hundred years ago, given the spelling and lettering, in French, scanned in and saved as a pdf. I still have that saved on my computer somewhere. Given that I don’t know any French, dictionaries only provided modern spellings, and any given character could easily have been three to six different letters in that typeface, the several months I spent attempting to translate didn’t really get me anywhere. I don’t think I even translated the first paragraph successfully.

I did a little better with Prince Lindworm. It still took me a couple months to find the text, and it was still a crappy pdf with outdated spelling. Plus it was in Danish. But the lettering was slightly more modern, and I happen to be much better at slogging my way through Danish than French. A little bit of Norwegian, a little bit of Anglo-Saxon, a tiny bit of German. It’ll get you places. Sadly, my extensive background in Latin was utterly useless to French. (And Spanish. It seems my teachers lied to me. I strongly suspect Romani and Portuguese would also be a bust, but at least I can stumble blindly through basic Italian.)

It was, when I found it, three or four pages of a quite large collection. I haven’t gotten into the rest of it yet—soon, hopefully. Gamle dansk Minder i folkemunde, it’s called.  I’m good at general ideas in Germanic languages, not so much actual translations, so bear with me here, but I’m going to tentatively call this “Old Danish Memories from the Mouths of the People.” Sounds better in Danish, right? This is why I keep my translations to myself.

The compiler of this book is listed as Svend Grundtvig, and he’s generally known for collecting Danish folk songs, but as far as I can tell, in my admittedly spotty Danish comprehension, there’s no music for this one.

And, okay, I know I talk a lot about how stories, especially folk stories, don’t belong to anyone, because they’re so mutable, because a story is really a community, a conversation. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know where the conversation started.

For crying out loud, people, cite your sources! I dedicated months of my life to this. Do you have any idea how many utterly worthless books I had to read in search of some tiny hint of origins? How many incorrect attributions I had to read? How much respect I lost for researchers in this field in general?

Look, sometimes tracking down crap pdfs of source material can be fun, okay? I love pulling random linguistic data from obscure folklore and stuff like that. But really. Really. How hard can it possibly be to say, “hey, this historically and culturally significant story that I’m making a profit on because it’s been in the public domain for a hundred years originally came from Denmark”?

There is no excuse not to give fairy tales the correct attribution. Like, anthology and picture book based fairy tales have got to be the easiest writing to make a profit on.  The story has been marinating in your brain forever, right? Do you even remember a time before you knew Cinderella? Just tell it in your own words, and someone else will come along and slap some beautiful illustrations on, and you’re good to go. It costs five minutes and zero dollars to add in a little note saying, “This adaptation was inspired by the French version of the story as recorded by Charles Perrault.”

But no, that’s too much work for you. Instead you’ll just go and publish a wildly popular book that heavily implies incorrect information, and let it spin wildly out of control until poor innocent college kids are staying up all night on the internet reading languages they don’t understand and enlisting the help of just about every library in the continental United States.

Ugh.

Anyway, Grundtvig is a really awesome dude who absolutely knows how to cite his stories. Kong Lindorm was told in 1854 by Maren Mathisdatter, age 67, in Fureby. It was recorded by Adjunct A. Levisen.

See? Was that so hard?

[dasphinxone]

I hope I'm not too late and asks are still open. But I wondered if you had any more thoughts/ideas/scenes/etc for the Mummy au? I totally love your contribution of Booker and Nicky as brothers and what that dynamic would look like. BAMF!Nile and Librarian!Booker give me life. Thanks for all your wonderful au ideas and fic!

Oh man, you are NEVER too late for Asks and they are currently open! In the meantime, allow me to ramble about my PURE AND UTTER LOVE FOR THE FRASER/WEISZ VERSIONS OF “THE MUMMY.” 

You see, I had a mad HUGE crush on Brendan Fraser when the first one came out. Except it turned out that the entire damn cast was so beautiful (OMG, the Oded Fehr hotness. So glad they brought him back for the sequel). They all have wonderful chemistry too, and rather similar to the group dynamics of The Old Guard. 

On top of that, I have always maintained that it’s Evie who is the real protagonist of the movie. Everyone else stays pretty much the same to their characters as when we’re introduced to them. Meanwhile, it’s Evie who goes from librarian to adventuress. She is thrown into all sorts of situations where she can prove to the world that librarians are just as damn smart and necessary as the brawns of Rick, the cunning of her brother Johnathan and the honorable warrior of Ardeth Bay.

It’s also Evie who comes out of the other end of the wild-ass adventure a changed person. It’s even more obvious in the sequel, where she takes a level in badassery. The best part about that? Rick adores her for it and they are clearly in a happy marriage versus the tired trope of married couples being all bitter. 

(I pretend the third movie NEVER HAPPENED, you hear me?!)

ANYWAYS, As Evie and Jonathan grew up rich (the museum curator clearly says to Evie that the only reason he puts up with her is that her parents were the largest donors to the museum), I figure Booker can grow up pretty wealthy too.

Sébastien le Livre is an only child who spends his life around his Action and Adventure!French Parents who have moved to Egypt to be archeologists. While they are world famous archeologists? They’re not the best parents. For they drag Sébastien along on their archeological excursions because they don’t know any better. So Sébastien spends all of his childhood time around his parents and their eccentric adult friends. Yes, they should have sent Sébastien to boarding school, like other rich folks of their time. But what kind of boring-ass education is that as compared to going out into the real world for field study?  

Sébastien’s field experience makes him brilliant child. Yet it also turns him into a socially awkward little boy. He’s rarely around other kids or attending school since he out on digs with his parents. On top of that, when his parents can’t bring him on digs, they leave him home in their great big house with his nanny, tutor and the servants for company. Since Sébastien doesn’t have kid friends, he’s always taking in stray animals, rescuing birds that fell out of their nests and doing precious sorts of things like that. He also LOVES reading. He’s fluent in French, English, Latin, Greek  and conversational Arabic. Oh, and he can also read hieroglyphs with ease.

Again, Sébastien is a weird kid.

When Sébastien is around say, nine or so, he catches seven year-old orphan Nicky in the parlor of his and his parent’s grand house breaking in and trying to steal things. His parents are out of town on yet another dig, so Sébastien’s randomly wandering around the house by himself. Instead of panicking, Sébastien just invites spooked Nicky to kitchen for tea and sandwiches out of the sheer delight of having another child to talk to. Thoroughly used to Sébastien and his soft spot for strays, the kitchen staff sits the two boys in the corner and lets Nicky wolf down whatever he wants. Nicky eventually leaves after Sébastien swears he won’t tell his parents about the stealing. But only if Nicky promises to come back tomorrow to hang out with Booker.

Nicky actually shows up the next day. Mostly due to the promise of food. While he thinks Sébastien is clearly odd, he also realizes he’s just as lonely as he is (after all, street kid orphan Nicky hasn’t survived this long on his own without being able to see people for what they truly are). But whereas Nicky is aggressive with acting out due to his abandonment issues, Sébastien tends to implode on himself due to his own parental abandonment issues. Basically, they balance each other out. 

Three weeks later, Sébastien’s parents come back from their latest dig down in Alexandria. They find Sébastien playing with this street kid out on the extensive grounds of their estate. Shocked at seeing their usually quiet and withdrawn son having a blast with this Italian ragamuffin of a child, due to being the impulsive types, Booker’s parents decide to adopt Nicky. So Sébastien gains a new brother. No matter that they’re not related by blood, Nicky is his brother.

Since Sébastien loves to read, he enjoys reading out loud to Nicky (who is nearly illiterate since he’s an orphan who never had formal education before being adopted). While Sébastien and Nicky have their own rooms at their parents’ estate, Nicky will often sneak into Sébastien’s room at night so that his older brother can read to him. Their nanny usually finds the two boys asleep together with a book sitting between them. Sébastien also helps Nicky learn to read far better than their tutor does. Mostly because Sébastien is so patient with his new little brother.

It’s because of this that Nicky comes up with the affectionate nickname of “Booker” for his new big brother.

Booker graduates from boarding school and attends The Sorbonne back in Paris. While he misses Nicky something fierce, everything will work itself out because he’ll be graduating from The Sorbonne at the same time Nicky will be finishing boarding school. That way, they both be archeologists together and follow in their parents’ footsteps. Booker plans to focus on the research side of things from either libraries or teaching. Nicky plans to actually go on digs and bring back things for Booker to study and catalogue.

Booker does eventually get sent off to British style boarding school in Cairo, as is expected of a wealthy child of his class. A couple of years later, Nicky is sent off to the same boarding school.

Nicky's always getting into fights. Mostly due to the other kids bullying him for his accent, heritage and defending Booker against bullies too. The only reason Nicky doesn’t’ get kicked out is because Booker is able to charm the teachers into looking the other way (remember, he was around mostly adults before he started attending school) when it comes to punishing Nicky. Also, their parents donate a ton of money to the school.

Except the Great War breaks out the same year Nicky graduates from boarding school. He signs up with his school chums for “a great adventure,” like all of the other young men of means did in the opening days of the war. 

However, Booker refuses to come along. He’s studied history all of his life and intellectually knows how terrible war can be. As far as he’s concerned, the war is stupid. People are going to get themselves killed over all of these royal families of Europe who refuse to apologize to each other over the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. He’s certainly not throwing his life away to get shot at, thank you very much. Besides, he didn’t grow up with much in the way of friends or camaraderie among the other boys while he was away at school. So he doesn’t feel like he’s going to miss out on anything. 

Nicky thinks Booker is a coward who has no appreciation for a right proper great adventure. Booker thinks Nicky is a headstrong fool who doesn’t value the opportunities their parents have given them. They part ways on bad terms. 

Booker eventually relents and writes to Nicky whenever he can. However, he never hears from his little brother. The only way he knows Nicky is alive is through their parents, who Nicky constantly writes to in Cairo. At the same time, Booker doesn’t  return to Cairo because it would remind him too much of how much he misses his brother. So he throws himself into his work at the Egyptian Antiquities department of the Louvre. He also tries to ignore the raging war moving closer and closer to Paris.

Wars come and go, antiquities do not.

Except Nicky suddenly goes missing during the Battle of Verdun.

Still in Paris, Booker is dealing with his side of suffering through the war as a civilian. He suddenly gets frantic word from his parents (who still live in Cairo) that Nicky is MIA. The panic immediately starts to set in. He regrets that he didn’t do more to communicate with his little brother while he was away at war. To assuage his guilt, he goes down to the war office every single day to find out where the hell Nicky is.

After a few frantic weeks, Nicky turns up alive but injured. As a result, he’s evacuated to a Parisian hospital. Booker takes a sabbatical at the Louvre to attend to his beloved brother there. Nicky almost dies of an infection but pulls through. Too weak to go back to fighting, Nicky is honorably discharged and goes to live with Booker to convalesce.

Nicky’s not the same vivacious, passionate young man he was before the war. He’s the only one of a handful of his unit to survive both death and not losing a limb or having parts of his face blown off. So there’s the survivor’s guilt. He constantly has nightmares about his time on the front and in No Man’s Land where he wakes up screaming. Bouts of rage and grief hit him without warning.

In order to deal with the crushing swirl of ugliness that’s festering within him, Nicky starts spiraling. He starts heavily drinking. He skips meals. He starts hitting up gambling dens and whorehouses that can make your every wish come true in Paris.

Booker has no idea how to cope with it all. So he once again throws himself into his work. He feels disgusted with himself for silently judging his brother’s actions all while he absolutely has no clue how to deal with his own guilt of not being by Nicky’s side during the war. Perhaps it would have been better to have died together than exist in the sea of darkness they are trapped within now.

Within two years, the war is over. Everyone celebrates only to see the rise of the Spanish Flu Pandemic. It ends up killing Booker and Nicky’s parents, who die within days of each other back in Cairo. 

Now, Booker and Nicky are alone in the world and with only each other to depend on. Wanting to escape all the pain they’ve seen in Paris, they head back to Cairo to put their parents’ estate in order. Since their parents split their inheritance evenly between them, they’ve inherited a hell of a lot of money. At the same time, money doesn’t fix their psychological problems.

Yet while they both have a difficult time dealing with their parents’ death and each other’s war trauma? It turns over a new milestone for them. For it allows Booker and Nicky to make their peace with each other since they're the only ones left of their family. They vow that they’ll try to go back to their dream of working together as an archeologist team.

Unfortunately, it never happens. Nicky is still dealing with the PTSD and acting out. Booker tries to manage his  brother’s psychological issues and balance his work at the Cairo Museum. Problem is, it’s a job he knows he only managed to secure out of pity since their parents were the largest donors to the museum. The nepotism stings and makes Booker feel inadequate. All despite that he's a damn good researcher and brilliant at languages and hieroglyphics.

Booker once again throws himself into his work at the museum. He has no social life, rarely goes out for fun and no relationship lasts for more than a few months at a time. For he’s grieving his parents and the shell of a man Nicky has become. Meanwhile, Nicky drinks, gambles and whores his way through Egypt in between digs with folks no better than grave robbers. But he always comes back home to stay with Booker in the nice house they own together.

Booker is always there for Nicky and vice versa. No matter how hard it gets for both of them to deal with the losses in their lives, they are and will always be brothers to the end.

And then one day, Nicky finds Booker in the Cairo museum after he’s been rejected by the Benbridge Scholars yet again. All after Booker’s ruined the library and knocked over all the bookshelves after he nearly killed himself trying to get off that damn ladder while filing away books.

Nicky reveals to Booker an odd little box that he found on a dig down in Thebes. Turns out the box contains a map to the lost city of Hamunaptra…

[primroseprime2019]

The Little Girl and The Dinosaurs

On a dark cold December night, there was little four and a half American/Italian girl was coloring on a piece of paper in the carpet near the fire. She has dark brown hair and blue eyes, and slightly tan skin; she was wearing pink nightgown and a silver whistle attached to her neck. Her name was Valentina Rosalina Grady and she was waiting for her parents to come from work. Truth be told, this was no ordinary little girl. She was different from the rest of the kids in her neighborhood. She had unbelievable powers. Ever since she was born, strange things happened. Animals from shape and sizes would come near her and tried to make her smile or laugh. And when she was in the backyard, flowers and plants would grow. It was really strange but her parents accepted her gift but they had to keep it a secret. So her parents decided to keep her home schooled so the kids in her school won't be scared at her.

Speaking of her parents, they were really good people. Her dad was name Oscar Grady. He had light brown hair and adventurous blue eyes. He used to be a Navy soldier but he retired to become a collage history teacher. He loved to teach others to learn but during his free time, he would play with his baby girl and make her smile while teaching her how to do combat to control her powers and even though she was small, she was a fast learner. She was smart for a little girl but her curiosity got the better of her and she would get into a little trouble. Her mom was name Alma. She was a beautiful Italian woman. She has dark brown hair and warm brown eyes. She was a doctor and was very kind to her patients. Every man wanted to marry her but she chose Oscar because he was very funny and smart. Valentina loved her parents with all her heart and soul and would stay by their side no matter what. Well, except when she had to go to the bathroom.

Then a teenage girl with blond hair and chocolate brown eyes; She wore a red sweater, brown pants and cowboy boots. She was about the age of eighteen. She came out from the kitchen. "Val, it's almost past yer bed time." She said in a sweet western accent.

Val looked at her almost pleadingly, "Awww… but Abby, can I stay up fow five mowe minutes? Mommy and Daddy pwomise to wead me a bed time stowy."

Abby smiled at her, "Alright but remember yer ma and pa ain't gonna like it to see their little baby girl still awake and energetic."

Val smiled brightly, "Thanks Abby! You'we the best babysittew evew!"

Abby's real name was Abigail Starious. She lived down the block with her big brother, Joshua or Josh, close to Valentina's home. She and her brother moved from their family ranch to study in the big city to be doctors. Abby worked as a full time babysitter for Valentina also a waitress in a cafe and her brother Joshua worked as a mechanic, for cars. They knew about Valentina's power and would keep it a secret because they took a liking to her.

"Ah shucks, yer making me blush." Abby smiled then she noticed Valentina's drawing, "Watcha drawing there Val?"

Val showed Abby a red long neck animal with a crocked drawing of a tree. "It's a Ba-wo-sau-wus." She said trying to say the name correctly. It's correct name was Barosaurus.

"Is it a dinosaur?" Abby asked playfully, knowing the answer. Val loved dinosaurs so much that she had stuffed dinosaur toys in her bed room. She always dreamed of meeting one in Jurassic World but her parents were busy with their jobs so they didn't have time to go there. Not that she was complaining but Val understood her parents and would listen to them always.

"Uh-huh, they awe pwant eatews and they awe weally big!" Val said with a big and bright smile.

"Wow! I bet they can reach the tallest of all trees!" Abby said playfully.

Val nodded, "Yup! But they have to stand on theiw back wegs."

Abby smiled before going to kitchen to make some hot coco. Val went up to the sofa and looks at the window to wait for her parents. Val waited and waited and waited but her parents didn't come home yet. She fell asleep when the clock strikes nine. Abby became worried. Why didn't Mr. and Mrs. Grady come home yet? Abby pickd up Val and puts her to bed. She looked at her phone and sends an e-mail to Mr. Grady.

Mr. Grady, it's me Abby. I was wonderin' why ya aren't home yet with Mrs. Grady. If ya'll have an extra shift in yer work, I'll watch Val till tomorrow.

-Abby

Abby went to the couch and fell asleep as she waited for the text of Oscar. On the next day, Abby woke up and prepared breakfast. It was pancakes for breakfast. She heard little footsteps coming down the stairs. She turned and smiled to see Val holding her stuff honey colored raptor doll named Honey.

"Mornin' Val," Abby gave Val her breakfast. Val sat down and yawned before eating her breakfast. Abby opened the mini TV on top of the counter and let Val watch Disney Junior. Then the news appeared.

"I interrupt this program for this breaking new. Two married couples were killed on a car accident when a truck hit them last night. Police discovered the truck driver was drunk. The two married couples did not survive the crash."

Abby froze. 'Oh God! Please don't tell me!' She thought in fear.

"The married couples have IDs and their names are Oscar Grady and Alma Grady. The drunken driver was survived and his sentenced will be in soon after he recovers."

Abby's eyes widen in horror. She looks at Val and her heart broke at the sight. Val's eyes were wide as she broke down in tears. Abby comforted Val as she and Val would have to visit the police station to inform them about Mr. and Mrs. Grady having a four and a half year old daughter and retrieve their bodies to be buried. The funeral started early morning. It was cold and the snow fall down at them slowly. Val was wearing a black dress and shoes. She was in a graveyard with men and women that were friends with her parents. Abby was there by her side, wearing a black dress and her brother Josh, who had green eyes and blonde hair, was wearing a black clothes as well. Val placed a red rose on her mother and father's coffins as they were buried. Val put her picture in the middle, on her parents' grave, so they can see it in heaven above.

After she did she went to Abby and Josh and started crying, Abby and Josh comforted her. As the funeral was over everyone went home. Val was staying with Abby and Josh for a while until they can find any relatives that Val had. But the problem was that no one knew who was the closest family member.

Val was sitting on a couch, wearing her black dress. She has a red scarf that belongs to her mother; her whistle was buried in it, and her father's black beanie hat. She had dry tear stains on her face as she looked at a picture of her with her parents. Josh and Abby watched her with sympathetic looks.

"Is there any news 'bout her relatives?" Josh asked.

Abby shook her head, "Not yet, I'm still lookin'."

Josh sighed and he looked at Valentina sadly. Val wiped her tears away. "We can't just stand here and do nothin'." He looks at Abby, "We have to find her a family or at least part of her family. Do you remember if Mr. and Mrs. Grady havin' relatives?"

Abby tapped her chin with her index finger before snapping, "That's it! I remember seeing a picture of Mr. Grady with his brother. I think his name was Owen and he works at Jurassic World."

Josh smiled, "That's great! Do you know his number?"

Abby shook her head, "No but I bet Oscar has his number on his phone."

Josh nodded and the two went upstairs in Valentina's temporally room and went to her father's things and grabbed his cell phone before looking for Owen Grady.

"Let's see," Abby looked at the names inside the phone. "Here it is." Abby found the name Owen Grady and she calls him.

In the Isla of Nublar, a man with green eyes and light brown, hair wearing a blue shirt, with a black vest full of pockets, brown pants and shoes. He was in his bungalow fixing his motorbike. Then another man came. "Owen! Still enjoying your afternoon?" he asked with a strong African/French accent.

Owen wipes out a sweat from his forehead, "Yeah, taking a break from the girls, Barry." He throws his wrench in a toolbox.

Then Owen's cell phone rang. He picks it up to see a picture of a man with brown hair and blue eye. "Oscar? Huh, it's been long since I seen him."

"How long you haven't seen him?" Barry asked.

Owen counted his fingers, "I think about sixteen years."

Barry rolled his eyes at him as Owen answered his phone, "Hey Oscar! It's been long time since we spoke."

"Ah…howdy," Abby's voice answered, "Is this Owen Grady?"

"Yeah this is Owen and who are you and how the hell do you know my name and also how did you get my brother's phone?"

"I'm Abigail Starious." She answered, "I know yer brother because I and my brother, Joshua, lived down the blocks close to his house."

"Uh-huh, yeah and why are you calling in me using my brother's phone?" Owen asked.

"Didn't anyone tell you?" Abby asked.

"Tell me what?"

"Owen, your brother Oscar and his wife died in a car accident."

Owen froze, his phone was still in his ear and his mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wide as dinner plates, "When did this happen?"

"A week ago," Abby said, "Look, I know we just met but yer brother has a little four in a half little girl, who needs a family and yer the closest family she's got."

Owen didn't say anything. He and Oscar use to work at the Navy together until Oscar retired to be a history teacher in a university college and married an Italian woman name Alma. He and Oscar rarely talk due to the fact they were very busy in work but now his big brother was dead along with his wife and now his niece- one that he didn't know he had- was now an orphan.

"What's her name?" Owen asked, wanting know his niece's name.

"Her name is Valentina Rosalina." Abby said, "So are you going to take care of her? She's a very sweet girl and well behaves."

Owen thought about it. He is the only family left for his niece and he did took care of raptors, how hard can it be?, "Alright, I'll send her a ferry ticket next week to bring her here in the Isla Nublar."

Owen could hear Abby and Josh cheering happily, "Thank you! Josh and I are gonna get her a passport. She is goin' to be so happy!"

"Alright and thanks for the information." Owen said as he turned off his cell phone.

"What was that all about?" Barry asked.

Owen looked at him before saying, "Oscar and his wife Alma died in a car accident." Barry's eyes widen. "And I have a niece, that I didn't know I had, named Valentina Rosalina." Owen looked at Barry, "I'm the only family member she has left."

Barry's mouth was hanging open in shock, "Owen, you're going to raise a little girl that you barely know while working with Raptors?"

Owen shrugs, "Hey, I raised the girls and I'm still alive." He said, "How hard it is taking care of a little girl?"

Barry was about to answer but Owen quickly raised his right hand and said blankly, "don't say it."

Barry chuckled, "And how are you going to get a ferry ticket?"

"Easy, I'll asked Claire to give me and that doesn't work I could ask Simon Masrani." Owen looked at him, "But first can you help me buy the things that little girls like." Barry rolled his eyes but he decided to help because that little girl might not survive here. Barry and Owen went to the park to buy stuff for Val.

Meanwhile, Abby and Josh told Val everything. Val was shocked, happy, and worried. Shocked that she had an uncle that she didn't know she had, happy that she had an uncle and she wasn't alone and yet worried that her uncle might not like her. Abby helped Val pack her things like clothes, some toys, her Mandora Lute and her pink Ocarina. Val likes to play music. Her mom would teach her during her free time.

Josh bought Val a passport. They were lucky because Oscar used to work in the Navy. Owen was able to make Claire give him a ticket for Val after hearing the event and send it next week. After a few weeks, Josh was driving his car with Abby in the front seat. Valentina was wearing a red t-shirt with gray long sleeves, brown combat pant and orange shoes. She has mother's red scarf and her father's black beanie hat on. Her dark hair was tied into pigtails. As Josh parked the car, they went inside and saying their goodbyes to Val.

Abby was hugging little Val, "Bye sweet pea, I'm gonna miss you so much."

"I'll miss you too." Valentina said then she hugged Josh. "Bye, Josh."

Josh hugged her back before he let her go and he took out a small red box with a ribbon, "Yer Pa wanted to give ya this on yer birthday but since he can't I was wonderin' if ya wanted yer birthday gift a little early."

Val took the box and opened it to reveal a raptor claw fossil necklace. Val smiled and she put it own. She loved raptors as they were her favorite dinosaur. "Thanks Josh."

Josh smiled until the airport voice speaker's announce, "Ladies and Gentlemen the plane will leave in twenty minutes."

"Well, go on, ya don't wanna be late." Abby said with a smile.

"Yeah, yer gonna see many dinosaurs there." Josh then added, "And if somethin' cashes you...run." He whispered the last part, alarming Val.

"Josh!" Abby scolded.

Josh chuckled, "I'm just kiddin'. Jurassic World has tight security; ain't nothing gonna hurt ya."

Val nodded and went in line while she waved at Abby and Josh. Val sat near the window and put on her seat belt when the airplane took off. Val looked at the clouds in the sky. She took out the raptor necklace and held it tight. "Please, please, please, please like me." Val whispers before going to sleep.

[cyn-00]

Hey what are your Top 5 Moreid Moments? Top 5 TV Shows and Movies? Top 5 fav Moreid fics?

Wow girl you really made my brain work with this one 😂 it's hard for me to rank these kinds of things, but I think I figured it out.

Top 5 Moreid moments - SO HARD TO DECIDE bc I tend to hyperfixate on like, tiny gestures that the writers sprinkled here and there with 0 commitment but true Moreid shippers obsess over, rather than BIG iconic moments, but if I really have to think about it I'd say these are my top 5 (btw I think I already answered this months ago saying pretty much the same things lol):

1. the 'Entropy' hug (kinda obvious), and more in general I feel like extending this to when Cat holds Reid at gunpoint and Morgan *panics* as well

2. 'Amplification'. Do I need to say more? From the sheer look of TERROR in their eyes, to the "I'm about to get naked [...] is that something you really wanna see?" 👁️👄👁️ yes sir I do, to the whole waiting-by-Reid's-hospital-bed-eating-Jello thing. Everything was perfect and extremely non platonic.

3. That whole episode from season 10 where Derek detonates a bomb and says "kid, I think you should back up" and Spencer goes "not happening" (this scene to me holds a lot of meanings and insight on their relationship but I don't think any of u cared if I made a proper post overanalyzing it lol)

4. The cute scene in Morgan's last episode at the hospital where Spencer says that thing about him being jittery and his usual heartrate and brings him green tea and- yeah.

5. "Derek talks about you" from season 2. Not exactly that much of a huge moment, it doesn't even feature Morgan and Reid both but still. I m p o r t a n t

Top 5 movies/TV shows - I'm not a huge movie watcher heh so I'm gonna go with my top 5 TV shows:

1. Ofc Criminal Minds lmao

2. Grey's Anatomy (yall this fucking show is HISTORY)

3. Friends (again: a basic bitch is what I am)

4. Every possible version of 'Skam' of every country (jk I've actually only seen the original Norwegian plus the French and Italian versions)

5. mmmh I'm gonna say 'How to Get Away with Murder'? Maybe?? Idk. I'm currently obsessed with 'Hannibal' tbh but I'm only at season 2 so I'm not 100% sure if putting it amongst my faves yet

Top 5 Moreid fics - Oh DAMN. Ok so there are also a couple of AUs I really really like but me not being a super fan of AUs in the first place I can't really bring myself to put them in my absolute top 5 even if I enjoyed them, so I'm gonna stick with like,,,more canon-"compliant" stuff:

1. I Got 99 Problems by sperrywink

2. The Winter Is Warmer by JustJasper

3. Doctor Reid's Deceptions by John_Faina

4. Gravity by Cirkne

5. Clouds Turn Pink by @blueberriesandbubbles

[introvertguide]

Some Like It Hot (1959); AFI #22

The current movie under review is the romantic comedy that is occasionally interrupted by a violent gangster film, Some Like It Hot (1959). Directed by Billy Wilder, this films stars Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marylin Monroe. The movie was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Actor, but ended up with only one trophy for Costume Design. It faired much better at the Golden Globes where it took home wins for Best Actor for Jack Lemmon, Best Actress for Marylin Monroe, and Best Picture - Musical or Comedy. This film is an interesting one as far as plot and tone since it incorporates a Chicago mafia massacre with men cross dressing. It points out how women have to deal with constant excepted sexism followed by a cross dressing Jack Lemmon forgetting to allow his sugar daddy to lead when they salsa. I really enjoy Billy Wilder films, especially with a great cast, because he takes scenes that should not go together and weaves them around a plot and it generally comes out amazing. Lets me do the plot summary and you will see what I mean:

SPOILER ALERT!!! NOT AS BAD AS NORMAL BUT THIS STILL GIVES A LOT AWAY SO CHECK OUT THE MOVIE FIRST!

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The movie starts in Prohibition Era Chicago, specifically in February 1929. Some members of the mafia have a secret speaking easy that is fronted by a funeral parlor. Somebody rats them out to the police and the place gets raided. During the raid, we are introduced to Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) who play in the band. They see the police coming and run away which means they don’t get paid and need to find another gig. 

Joe tricks a secretary that is sweet on him into using her car and they have to go to a garage to pick up. Wrong place and wrong time. They walk in on the mobsters killing the guy that ratted them out and are witnesses. They need to get out of Chicago and hide or they will be assassinated. The killing is based on the Valentine’s Day Massacre and it is in all the papers. Joe and Jerry take a job with an all women’s band since the group is going on the train to perform in Florida. This means that they will have to dress as women to blend in.

Once on board the train, Joe and Jerry (now going by Josephine and Daphne) mingle with all the pretty girls and both take a liking to a particular ukulele player named Sugar Kane (Marylin Monroe). It turns out that she drinks and has issues with her family as well as having problems with men always using her for her body. The guys need to stay in character and not get fired so they behave until they get to their hotel in Miami.

Once there, Joe and Jerry try to make moves on Sugar, however, Joe is the winner when he shows up at the beach dressed like a millionaire and claims he is the heir to Shell Oil. Jerry, on the hand, runs into an actual millionaire named Osgood Fielding III who has a yacht called the New Caledonia. Jerry keeps the millionaire busy dancing all night while Joe takes Sugar over to the empty yacht and sleeps with her.

The next day, it turns out that the mobsters that are looking for Joe and Jerry are at the hotel for a “Friends of Italian Opera” convention. It turns out to be a meeting place for a national crime syndicate and the protagonists need to flee. The bigger syndicate murder the mobsters that want to kill Joe and Jerry...but once again the two witness the assassination and are desperate to escape. Jerry calls his millionaire “boyfriend” and Osgood picks up Joe, Jerry, and Sugar to help them escape on his yacht. As they leave, Jerry reveals that he is actually a man and instead of rejecting him, Osgood simply says “Nobody’s perfect.”

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Watching this film and knowing the history of Marylin Monroe makes me a little sad because she comes across as the this vivacious (but a little dumb) powerhouse but was actually drunk, out of her mind on barbiturates, pregnant with a stillborn, and deeply depressed. She is some kind of actress to have her screen presence mismatch her actual feelings so greatly. This is one of the few movies that I wish I knew a little less because I spent a lot of time while she was on screen trying to tell if she was lucid or not (hint: if you look close, you can tell that she wasn’t).

This film is actually a remake of a 1935 French comedy, which explains some of random situations, and I have to director Billy Wilder because American audiences have generally had difficulty with French comedy. People in the US don’t tend to mix their serious violence into their comic set pieces, but Wilder made it work. If you think about it, there were a lot of comic chase scenes in which men who have just demonstrated their ability to commit cold blooded murder are running after a couple of men in drag. We shouldn’t laugh at a woman with such an alcohol problem that she can’t hold a job and is too stupid to even be able to hide it better. And yet I found myself smiling through the whole movie. 

My favorite thing about this film is actually Jack Lemmon. This is the earliest film of his that I have seen and I think he is fantastic. One of my very favorite actors, his work in this film and The Apartment (1960) made me a fan for life. He is actually third billed in Some Like It Hot, but I feel like he steals the show. 

This film flew right in the face of the Hays Code, since it showed two on-screen group assassinations, a busty Marilyn Monroe barely staying in her clothes, a one night stand in which a man tricks a helpless woman, homosexual undertones, and featured cross dressing. A film with all these aspects should not have existed in America under the code, but this one was nominated for five Academy Awards. None of these things seem like that big of a deal anymore, and the film laughably made the BFI list for Films for Children Up to the Age of 14. It’s now though of as a good kids movie.

Marilyn Monroe exudes confidence and sexuality in her role despite all of her problems. She also is kind of a hero for many in that she embodies that curvy women can be knockouts when they express that confidence. She never had a flat stomach and was quite overweight due to her pregnancy. She had measurements of 36-22-36 but was only 5′5″ meaning she was very chesty with very wide hips. She was quite the opposite of other beauties like Twiggy, Kate Moss, or Olivia Newton-John, and for this Marilyn basically stands alone. She was one-of-a-kind and I wish she would have had a happier life.

So does this film belong on the AFI top 100? Absolutely. It is nothing but star power in a crazy movie that helped take down the Hays Code and won a bunch of awards in the attempt. It is a great piece of Americana that deserves to be scene. Would I recommend it? Yes and I would say it is best enjoyed without doing any research beforehand. It is quite the ride in that so many things happen to the point that you wonder if it will end well for all the characters. That is the work of Billy Wilder and it is well worth watching.

[livnonstop]

[ CAMILA MENDES | 27 | WOMAN ] OLIVIA DE SOUSA is working at NEW BANGS? you’d think SHE would have it together by now but SHE can be SARCASTIC and GUARDED, which counters how EMPATHETIC and HUMOROUS SHE is. i think SHE wanted to be a FAMOUS ACTRESS when SHE were/was younger, so i don’t know what happened.

name: olivia marisol de sousa nicknames: oli ( although she hates this one to pieces ) liv ( preferred ) birthdate: october 13 age: twenty-seven (27) place of birth: scottsdale arizona family: mother ( marissa de sousa [nee: pereira], father ( tomas de sousa, satan little brother (FIRST NAME DE SOUSA), little sister (FIRST NAME DE SOUSA) gender: cis-female ; she/her pronouns height: 5′2″ ( but in heels she’s a decent 5′5.5″ to 5′6″ ) sexual orientation: bisexual romantic orientation: biromantic diagnoses: high functioning anxiety zodiac: capricorn with insanely too many sag placements in her chart social class: kind of broke? but i mean, getting by. current location: minneapolis occupation: hair stylist

languages spoken.

english, portugese, spanish (conversational and a bit further), italian (conversational), french (a combined possible three sentences thanks to school)

wins / losses.

(+) caring, loyal, empathetic, good listener, humorous, great with advice, kind, loves to laugh, tells decent dad jokes. (-) sarcastic, flirtatious, guarded, doesn’t always speak about her problems or emotions, too giving in a sense, sometimes self deprecating, pessimistic.

fun facts.

- licensed cosmetologist but the bane of her existence has got to be doing highlights because simply, foils bore her and its so many!!!! - fell asleep during her SATs. still got a score of 2140. - in this cruel world of Backstreet Boys vs *NSYNC, she listens to both but is the future Mrs. Timberlake. - wants to live like Lisa Turtle or Kelly Kapowski, but is kind of too broke to do so. - has a small stature but will eat you out of a house and home

bio.

There's only so much a girl like Olivia talks about, or maybe in her case, only so much she doesn't want to talk about.

LIFE BEFORE SCOTTSDALE

Born in Cincinnati, OH to two Brazilian-American parents, the oldest of three kids, Olivia Marisol De Sousa was bought into the world in the dead middle of fall, October 13th. Her big wide eyes instantly made her a daddy's girl. Dad, Tomas De Sousa, was a construction worker while mom, Marissa De Sousa, worked at a hotel as a manager. The two met while in high school and kind of hated each other to the ends of the earth before finding love with each other as they became older adults. Olivia was the result of make up sex after a huge fight. Still, the parents loved her like no other, because she was the reason they worked harder to keep the family together. Two years later, Olivia's little brother was bought into the world, which made Olivia cry.

She wasn't the sole child that were to get all the attention from her parents anymore.

The sibling rivalry was heavy in the first seven years of Olivia's life, she had to one up her little brother, Jeremy, in every way possible. Just when she thought she had the competition won, her little sister was conceived and was due any time now. Olivia and her little brother, once sworn sibling enemies (yeah okay, drastic much Liv?) became allies. It was short lived once all the kids lived together harmoniously.

They had no other choice but to since life was about to change.

Olivia was twelve when she heard her mother scream at her father. "Maybe if you learned how to keep you dick in your pants and out of other whores' vaginas, you wouldn't have gotten caught and try to blame me for you being the piece of shit you re right now!" The screaming went on forever it felt, followed by a slam of the door and huffing. On one side, she heard her mother sobbing, the other she heard her father's footsteps pace around the house. Olivia couldn't do much, her younger siblings were crying and her being the responsible sister had to protect them because over the course of time, family became important.

Olivia also decided to take out her iPad she had gotten the year before and go incognito to google everything she heard from her parents. It led her to a discovery of naked figures, moaning, pleasure. How could her father be yelled at if it looked like it was such a good thing? Then she realized he wasn't doing this with mom, but with other women. That's when her heart broke for her mother even more.

At age thirteen, Olivia wasn't like the other girls in her class. She wore glasses because her eyesight was shit, baggy clothes because she still hadn't developed. Her hair was a frizzy mess, god she was a mess. Still, she craved to be touched like the girls she often watched at night with headphones on. Other girls in her class had been kissed, guys she hung around boasted about touching boobs and getting hard and she wished she had a guy to compliment about her. Still, the self-proclaimed ugly duckling didn't realize the best and the worst was about to come.

That summer, when she finally got boobs, her parents filed for divorce. Tomas was seeing some girl and Marissa was planning to move with the kids far, far away.

LIFE IN SCOTTSDALE

Marissa, Olivia and her younger siblings all moved to Scottsdale, AZ in August of 1985. The family started over on the west coast which bothered the children more than Marissa. Marissa easily found a job at another hotel as a manager and made more money than when they were in Ohio. That's when Olivia decided to make changes to herself.

Once the young girl started high school, her whole outlook on life and how she looked changed. She started wearing makeup and better fitting clothes, her feet always in heeled shoes for added height, glasses no longer a thing for her since she wore contact lenses. Olivia De Sousa from Ohio didn't exist in this world, oh no. Once people began to comment on how pretty her skin was or how amazing her hair looked, things and who she used to be didn't exist.

Her first boyfriend was also her first hookup, named Darren Price. She was fifteen and he just turned seventeen. They were short lived, which didn't bother Liv at all. She was young, she was beautiful. This was just the tip of iceberg for her; the world is her oyster and she was a pretty shiny pearl.

That same year she dated a girl named Irene, who was the really pretty girl (almost as pretty as she was if you asked Olivia) and it was her first time with a female. It certainly wouldn't be the last in her lifetime. The two girls were a whirlwind of fun and secret hookups in places they should definitely have been arrested in but again, short lived.

When Olivia became a junior in high school, the beautiful Brazilian found herself in a taboo relationship; she was hooking up with her history teacher, Mr. Garland. He was a rather young teacher, one with a wandering eye on the girl toward the back of his class with a pen resting on her lips, bedroom eyes and always showing a bit more skin to make him think of it all in the shower when he got home. Mr. Garland was also married, which made everything even more taboo. Still, Olivia thrived off the relationship, the sex was great, he was smart, she was intelligent and hot. It was a Lifetime movie waiting to happen. The affair went on until Olivia graduated from high school.

Because high school things need to be left behind in just that, high school.

Olivia found herself repeating the same old habits once she entered college. The young girl began attending University of Nevada in Reno the summer of 1991 studying Film and Drama when she met Professor Alexander. Again, old habits die hard. Olivia found herself in another illicit affair with a teacher of hers. Unlike her affair with Mr. Garland, Olivia quickly grew bored and ended the affair after a semester and a half. After graduating with a degree, she decided to take up cosmetology and move to Minneapolis. Of all places.

After that, she's mainly just having a bunch of flings, one night stands, short unimportant relationships and focused on her job.

[jessethorn]

Some Los Angeles Tips

People are always asking me what they should do when they visit LA. I am by no means the greatest LA expert on earth, but I’ve lived here more than a decade now, and I have some ideas for you. Note that I live in the far Northeast corner of LA, and really rarely travel to the western half of town. So if you are looking for advice on Beverly Hills stuff or Malibu stuff or whatever, I am not that helpful. Also this is very subjective and really non-comprehensive in general. Just some stuff I like!

In General

Rent a car if you drive, but don't be afraid to take the bus or subway. There are some very long distances to traverse, and not everything is convenient to transit, but the transit is reasonably comfortable and efficient for a lot of purposes (going downtown, for example), particularly when combined with some judicious ride-sharing. There's plenty of parking everywhere, despite what Angelenos would have you think. Don't try to do too many things in one day, or cross town on the 10, 101 or 405 at anything even resembling rush hour (ie between like seven and ten thirty or three and seven on weekdays). Stick to one area for the day, maybe two.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology This is the best thing in Los Angeles and one of the best things in the world. It is part museum, part art project. To explain it much further might ruin the experience of visiting it, but please take my word that it is one of the most amazing places in the world.

The Watts Towers As the name suggests, they're in Watts, a bit out of the way for some trips, but absolutely without a doubt worth the travel. They're an incredible artwork/building built in a backyard out of rebar, concrete, glass and tile by an illiterate Italian immigrant in the mid-20th century. Worth signing up for a tour, they are cheap (it's a city park) and not all that long. There's also a little gallery on the site. One of the great works of American outsider art and a deeply beloved city treasure.

Other, More Regular Museums LACMA is a world-class art museum. The collection is a bit scattered (and as of this writing a wing is closed for renovation and replacement), but it's really good. It's in Mid-City on the Miracle Mile, and surrounded by other museums. The Petersen Automotive Museum is pretty cool if you're into cars. La Brea Tar Pits are more park than museum, but the museum is fun in a kitschy way, if you're into prehistoric creatures. It's also a nice place to eat lunch. In Exposition Park are a few major museums - the Natural History Museum is pretty good, though not better than others in other major cities (the Field Museum or whatever). The science museum is OK but significantly outclassed by the competition (it's no Exploratorium), though it does have a real space shuttle, which is pretty sweet. The Annenberg Space for Photography does what it says on the label. A good mid-size museum of photographs, check what show is up. The Broad is a nice contemporary art museum in a beautiful building that's right near Walt Disney Concert Hall, also an incredible building. They have a second campus in Little Tokyo that's very nice but smaller.

Architectural Stuff The LA Conservancy runs affordable walking tours that take you into some of the most fascinating built environments in LA. The subject matter ranges from Art Deco in downtown to the modern skyscrapers of the 50s through 90s. They're mostly Saturdays, but a few also run on weekdays. Can't recommend them enough if you're up for a couple hours of walking. You can go inside the Bradbury Building and up into the upper floors! It's cool. (The Conservancy also runs screenings in the big movie palaces downtown, which are mostly otherwise closed to the public. Definitely recommend those.) A couple of other architectural highlights: the Hollyhock House is in Barnsdall Park in Los Feliz. It's a restored Frank Lloyd Wright estate willed to the city many years ago that as of relatively recently runs regular tours. Also in the park is the city art museum of LA, which sometimes has some cool shows. Cal Poly Pomona students run tours on Saturdays of the Neutra VDL studio and residences in Silver Lake, which can be combined with a nice walk around the lake and some middle-aged-hipster watching. The Gamble House in Pasadena is an absolutely breathtaking craftsman mansion with a lot of

Griffith Park Griffith Park is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. It has all kinds of stuff within it - the LA Zoo, the Griffith Observatory, some great hiking. It's a great place to spend some time. If you have little kids, they will love Travel Town, a train graveyard/museum that's inside the park (and free!). The zoo is good if you like zoos, though not incredibly great or anything. The Autry Museum of the American West is worth a visit if you're into that kind of thing.

The Grove I know that we talk about The Grove a lot on Jordan, Jesse, Go. Please do not waste your vacation time at the Grove. It's a mall. It's fine. This also applies to the Americana at Brand, which we sometimes talk about because we have talked about the Grove too much. Also a mall. A little nicer than some? I went there when I needed a new power cable for my Surface.

Dodger Stadium Look, I am a Giants fan and hate the Dodgers, but if you are a baseball fan, Dodger Stadium is a great place to watch a baseball game. Even I can admit that. Angel Stadium is about as generic as it gets, but if you go on a weekday you can take a train from Union Station in LA.

The Getty Center The Getty Center is a beautiful building on a breathtaking piece of real estate. It's pretty cool to visit, but be aware that most of the art is pretty early, so if you don't like busts or paintings of feasts and stuff from the bible, then it might not be your jam art-wise. And getting up there is a whole thing. That said: it really is a beautiful building and an incredible view, so you probably won't feel like it's a waste. And if you like busts, then get your ass over there.

Downtown Stuff I will again recommend the LA Conservancy's walking tours to get a flavor of downtown LA, which is very walkable and full of incredible stuff. The main library is a beautiful edifice, the history of which is detailed in Susan Orlean's The Library Book. Worth wandering around in. Grand Central Market is a great place to get a bite, though pretty bougie at this point. Right next to Grand Central Market is Angel's Flight, a block-long funicular that is a lot of fun and costs next to nothing. Besides this, there are still functional specialized commercial districts in downtown LA. The flower district is particularly fun - the big flower market opens early for wholesale sales but is open to the public and there are tons of stores selling silk and artificial flowers which are very fun to wander through. There are also areas with stores specializing in selling imported toys, store fixtures (a favorite of mine), jewelry and fabric. Most of the fabric is kinda garbage honestly but there is a good tailor supply store called B. Black and Sons and a great hat making store (worth visiting even if you don't make hats) called California Millinery Supply. FIDM also has a thrift store with cheap fabric leftover from LA-based factories.

Movies The Arclight is a fancy movie chain, and the Hollywood location (near Amoeba Records) is also the home of the Cinerama Dome, which is pretty fun. The Vista is a great single-screen theater on the east side. There are some great rep houses on the west side - check your local listings.

Comedy Stuff The UCB has a few great shows every night at both locations. It's hard to go wrong, though you should be aware you will be seeing things that are a little rougher than whatever makes it to your town as a road show. The signature improv show is Asssscat, which is absolutely as good as it gets. Dynasty Typewriter (right by our office) has a lot of great shows these days. A great standup show is Hot Tub at the Virgil. The big comedy clubs have pretty comedy-club-y comedy in them, not necessarily what I'd recommend, though you will certainly see a lot of relatively big names doing sets. The Improv Lab sometimes has MaxFun-adjacent headliners who've put together their own lineups, as does Flappers in Burbank. Largo has bigger-name shows of this variety as well, and if you go see a show there headlined by a Sarah Silverman or Patton Oswalt, the lineup will likely be packed with their pals, even if they aren't advertised.

Some Places To Eat This is NOT a comprehensive list. First: Jonathan Gold died a few years ago, but he is still the king of LA food. Anything he recommended in the Weekly or Times is still the gold standard (no pun intended). He was also a wonderful writer and a champion of foodways that are unfamiliar to many in LA, much less outside LA. If you are a food nerd, KCRW's Good Food is a superb local food show (and podcast) produced by Nick Liao, who used to work at MaxFun.

Philipe's The French Dip A restaurant that's been around for literally a century, with sawdust on the floor, big jars of pickled eggs, ladies in hairnets and really tasty French Dips. They have competing claims to having invented them but the other competitor turned into one of those goofy sleeve-garter-barman subway tile exposed lightbulb places about ten years ago. Philipe's is totally for real and great.

Pie N Burger This is just a burger place in Pasadena that sells classic SoCal-style burgers and is really great. Cash only, though.

Langer's The only one of the Jewish delis in LA that's really worth a special trip. The #19 (pastrami, cole slaw and swiss on rye) is truly one of the world's greatest foods. Pastrami here is better than anywhere else I've ever eaten, including those famous delis in New York.

Park's BBQ 

One of many great Korean BBQ restaurants in LA, but the only one recommended to me personally by Jonathan Gold. (I also like Soot Bull Jeep, which barbeques over charcoal and will leave you smelling like smoke, and Hae Jang Chong for all-you-can-eat.) (There are LOTS of different kinds of Korean food, but I am not an expert on the soups and blood sausages and bibimbaps and etc., but if you're adventurous, you could eat a different Korean food at a different spot every month in LA and make out well.)

Guelagetza Oaxacan food is one of the best kinds of food in the world, and Guelagetza is an LA institution that serves good-quality Oaxacan food. Moles, tlayudas, queso fundido. If you've never eaten any of this stuff, a couple of chicken moles are a great place to start (as is Guelagetza).

Dim Sum You can drive all the way to the San Gabriel Valley and eat at one of the many wonderful dim sum places there. That's where the best stuff is. If it's not worth a special trip to you, I like a place called Lunasia in Pasadena, and they also serve dim sum for dinner. Not a HUGE menu but good food.

Mozza This pizzeria, now a sort of group of restaurants, is an unimpeachably excellent Fancy Meal in LA. So (per my producer Kevin) are the other restaurants run by the same chef, Nancy Silverton.

The Dal Rae This is an old-timey fancy restaurant in Pico Rivera, a semi-industrial part of LA. It's just a great place to wear a suit to and eat Clams Casino. Famous for their table-made Caesar salad (legit great) and pepper steak (too peppery for me). Generally the food is excellent in a 1955 sort of way.

Bludsoe's Best Texas-style barbeque I've had outside of Texas. Used to be a window down by the airport, now a fancier place on La Brea, but I'm told the food is just as good at the fancy place.

Pupusas I love to eat pupusas. Maybe my favorite food. I really like to eat pupusas at Los Molcajetes on Hoover in Westlake (near Koreatown). Note they are weirdly big here (a regional variation of some kind) and they only take cash. (Note also this is one of 10,000 restaurants in LA named Los Molcajetes.)  I also sometimes eat at a nice sit-down Salvadoran place called Las Cazuelas on Figueroa in Highland Park.

In N Out In N Out is good! It will not change your life! But it is very tasty, especially for a $4 food! Some people complain about the fries, which are fresh-cut and fried only once and thus are less crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside than some others! I think they are fine! Try In N Out, why not! But maybe don't make a whole special trip to do so!

Tacos and Other SoCal Mexican Food Stuff Everyone has their own favorite taco places, and none of my favorites are so special they should be destinations. They are mostly my favorites because they are close to my home and work. But I can tell you that I like to get sit-down Mexican-American food at La Abeja on Figueroa in LA, where I eat a lot of carne adovada and enchiladas and sometimes albondigas or breakfast. I also really like to eat carne en su jugo at Carnes Asadas Pancho Lopez on Pasadena in Lincoln Heights. I eat tacos from Tacos La Estrella on York in Highland Park or the truck (with no name) across from the Mexican consulate on Park View at sixth in Westlake. At night I sometimes get cheap tacos (I like buche) from the place that opens up on Pasadena at Avenue 37. I like the shrimp and fish tacos at Via-Mar on Figueroa. I like Huaraches from Huaraches Azteca on York. The burritos at Yuca’s in Los Feliz (or Pasadena) are great, though they are totally different from the SF-style burritos that I grew up eating. I sometimes get nachos at Carnitas Michoacan on Broadway in Lincoln Heights, which feature meat and cheese sauce and are gross but also really, really good.  I have also eaten at the very fancy Mexican restaurant Border Grill and to be honest it is really good even though the interior feels a little like a cross between a fancy restaurant in 1989 and a Chili's.

El Coyote This is a famous Mexican-American restaurant from the early part of the 20th century, but you shouldn't go there because the food sucks.

Stores I Like This is going to be REAL subjective, but a few stores I like which sell the kinda stuff you'd expect me to want. &etc - A great (small) antique store at 1913 Fremont in Pasadena. The Last Bookstore - A downtown bookstore that is the closest thing to a "destination" book store in LA. Good selection and reasonable prices on used books, and a nice art book room. (Records as well, but they're not very good.) Gimme Gimme Records - I like this record store in Highland Park. You'll pay retail here, but reasonable retail, and the selection (while not immense) is really excellent. Good stuff in all genres.

Secret Headquarters - One time at this small comics store in Silver Lake the lady at the counter asked if I was Jesse from Jordan Jesse Go and they won my business forever in that moment. Don Ville - My friend Raul makes and sells shoes (and repairs them!) in the northern part of Koreatown. If you have the dough, get him to make you some shoes! The Bloke - A really great little menswear store in Pasadena. Sells cool (expensive) trad-ish brands like Drake's and Hilditch & Key and Alden. The Good Liver - A beautiful shop in Little Tokyo specializing in perfect home goods. The perfect scissors, the perfect dish towel and so forth. Some things are expensive, some aren't. H Lorenzo Archive - The "outlet" shop of a designer clothing store on the west side. Discounts aren't huge, but the selection is really interesting, and they have a good collection of one of my favorite brands, Kapital. Sid Mashburn - Excellent classic clothing shop on the west side. Suit Supply & Uniqlo - if you haven't got these where you live, they're the places I usually send people for reasonably-priced tailored clothes (Suit Supply) and cheap basics (Uniqlo). Olvera Street - This is an old-timey tourist attraction, a street of folks selling Mexican handcrafts (and their Chinese-made analogs). Right near Union Station and Philipe's, and a great place to buy factory-made huaraches (the shoes, not the food). They even have sizes big enough for me, which is pretty much impossible to find in Mexico or most Mexican-American shoe stores. Thrift Stores - I go to a lot of thrift stores but if I told you which ones you might buy something I would have bought so I'm not going to tell you which thrift stores.

Flea Markets You may know I am at the flea market every weekend. The good fleas are on Sundays, and there's one every week. First Sunday of the month is Pasadena City College, a big (and free) market with pretty reasonable pricing. PCC has a pretty big record section in addition to the regular flea market stuff. Second weekend is the famous Rose Bowl flea, which is HUGE and has a big new goods section (blech) and vintage clothing area (good!). Third weekend is Long Beach Airport, which is a great overall show. Fourth is Santa Monica airport, which is smaller and a little fancier but very nice. The Valley flea is also fourth Sundays, at Pierce College, and that's not huge but sometimes surprises me. With all of these, the earlier you can arrive, the better you'll do (not least for weather reasons). I usually try to get there around 7:30 or 8:00. The Rose Bowl in particularl is a 4-6 hour operation if you do most of it. There are also a lot of swap meets - I don't know enought to recommend any in particular, but these are much more about tube socks and batteries and bootleg movies than antiques and collectibles. Still can be fun, though, and are certainly a proud SoCal tradition. (The Silverlake Flea and the Melrose Trading Post are garbage, don't go there.)

Going to the Beach I'm not a huge beach goer, but by all means go to the beach if that's your thing. The Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica is a great place to base your operation, though you have to arrive in the morning on busy days to get a parking spot.

Kid Stuff I mentioned Travel Town, that's pretty great. Kidspace in Pasadena is a very good children's museum. The Bob Baker Marionette Theater is a great place to see a marionette show straight out of 1966. There's a good aquarium in Long Beach though it's a bit nutty there on weekends, and the zoo in Griffith Park is a good zoo. I really like Descanso Gardens, a big botanical garden northeast of LA. Huntington Gardens is also very nice, though it's much more expensive and hotter.

Geography Los Angeles is BIG. I'd say try to spend each of your days within about a sixth of it, geographically. It's entirely possible to do west side and east side stuff on the same trip, but don't try to do them on the same day. Look at a map and look at driving times when you're planning. Neighborhoods in LA are BIG, geographically speaking, don't assume two things in the same neighborhood are an easy walk. There aren't a ton of urban neighborhoods suitable for wandering in the way there are in some places. A few manageable general areas for stuff you might like: Silverlake/Los Feliz/Echo Park, Koreatown, Highland Park, downtown, Little Tokyo and the Arts District. (I live in the northeast part of town, and don't spend much time on the west side, which is one reason why this list focuses more on east side stuff. Some folks like West Hollywood and Venice on the west side. Long Beach and Pasadena are both neat towns with their own thing going on that might be worth a visit, too.)

Books & Media The Great Los Angeles Book is probably City of Quartz, a socialist-leaning history of LA. I really loved Susan Orlean's The Library Book, which is about the library as an institution, but also specifically the LA central library and the mysterious fire that nearly destroyed it. And a wild guy named Charles Lummis who was one of the founding fathers of LA culture and was really something else. (You can visit his house - it's right off the 110 near Highland Park.) An LA movie I love is The Long Goodbye, which is sort of a predecessor/inspiration for The Big Lebowski. A shaggy mystery directed by Altman where Elliott Gould just sort of wanders around LA. Another really cool one is Los Angeles Plays Itself, a long (long!) film essay about the ways the real Los Angeles has been used to create fictional worlds in film over the decades.

TV Tapings I'm not an expert in TV tapings. I can say that I've been to a few Conan tapings, and while it takes a LOOOOONG time to get in there, the show is fun to watch live. This is generally true of talk shows and most game shows, which tape more or less as-live. Sitcoms take WAY longer than you were expecting them to. Make sure to try to book tickets early if you have something you want to see. No matter what it's a most-of-the-day thing.

Nightlife Is a word that describes evening activities - especially dance clubs. I am old and don't know about these things.

The Magic Castle I can't get you in, please don't ask me to. I went a couple times. It's fine. If you're not into magic you're not missing too much. If you are, then obviously, it's a priority.

The Walk of Fame and Hollywood Not recommended, not worth it, don't bother.

Disneyland Why would you want my opinion about Disneyland? It's Disneyland. You're in or you're out.

San Diego If you happen to plan a side trip to San Diego, you can take the Amtrak there, and it is a breathtakingly beautiful and exceedingly pleasant trip. I have no San Diego expertise to impart beyond that, however.

[mikauzoran]

Ask Game: Mikau’s Headcanons - This Should Be a Drinking Game

Anonymous asked:

5&6

Thank you for the ask! ^.^

(The questions are from this list. So far I’ve done five, six, eleven, and fifteen.)

5. What’s your favorite headcanon you use in fics?

Oh my gosh. There are so many headcanons. XD I was actually just thinking last night that I needed to compile a list and turn it into a drinking game or something. 

Take a sip of tea every time:

1. Félix is Adrien’s older brother (eight years older). He left home at sixteen, married Marinette’s cousin Bridgette, and now lives in Marseille where he’s a homicide detective. Bri runs her own bakery. They have a daughter named Noëlle and a son on the way. Fé used to play the violin competitively growing up, and Adrien learned to play Danse Macabre and the first movement of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata from him.

2. Émilie was a stage actress, and Adrien used to do the child roles in whatever production she was in, so he grew up backstage and going to the theatre to see his mum a lot. Her signature role was Viola in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. When Gabriel and Émilie met going to high school in Marseille, she was performing Viola and dragged him into being on the costume crew for the school play once she discovered he was an aspiring fashion designer.

3. Adrien decides to pursue a career in acting. He misses performing from when he did it with his mum when he was a kid, and it makes him feel connected to her. He likes getting to portray all kinds of different people and experiencing what it’s like to be someone else. It’s a safe space for him to experience emotions since expressing emotions was frowned upon in his home growing up. The roles he really wants to play are Jean Valjean from Les Mis, the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera, Elphaba from Wicked, and Viola from Twelfth Night.

4. Adrien is originally left-handed but has learned to be ambidextrous. This is my hill to die on, and you can fight me over it. ^w^ It’s probably just production error/the creators not really caring, but I’ve noticed several times in canon where Adrien has been shown doing things left-handed. (I mean, he uses his right hand for things too, but...) In Origins, when he’s walking to class and signing autographs left and right, he does so with his left hand. In Marchand de Sable/Sandman when he’s doing homework in his room, his writing supplies are on his left side. (I just want some left-handed representation. Is that too much to ask? ;-;)

5. Adrien is biromantic asexual. Even when I pair him with Marinette, he’s never not bi. I don’t always write him as ace; sometimes he’s bisexual in my works, but I could see canon Adrien as ace.

6. Adrien’s comfort foods are mint tea and salad. When he was little, when he or  Émilie had a bad day, she would kick the kitchen staff out of the kitchen, and they would make a big salad and some mint tea and enjoy it together. Now that she’s gone, he has mint tea and/or salad when he’s feeling down, and it’s comforting because it reminds him of his mother.

7. Adrien is a total anime nerd. He grew up relatively isolated from the outside world, so he learned about life and “normal”/“acceptable” human behaviour from Disney movies and anime. He’s always wanted to be a Disney princess and a magical girl. He was really inspired by Disney and anime protagonists who overcame the difficulties in their lives to achieve their dreams and find happiness and love. He has a lot of strong, female role models, starting with his mum, so he tends to identify with female characters more strongly than male characters.

8. Adrien is a polyglot. Obviously, he knows French, and he’s learned English because it’s required. Chinese lessons are canonical. He taught himself Japanese so that he could read manga and watch anime in the original (and pass it off as “studying”). He also speaks Russian (see “9″ below). He doesn’t speak Italian, but he has a passing familiarity with the language. He knows some phrases from opera from watching it himself and his mum’s career. He has some of his favourite portions memorized. He can insult someone’s sartorial choices in Italian from listening to his father do so on trips to Milan for business, and he knows survival phrases, but he can’t actually construct sentences or have conversations. He just hasn’t invested himself in it.

9. Adrien’s bodyguard’s name is Victor (really Viktor, but he uses the French spelling to fit in). He’s originally from Russia and still has family there. The reason why he doesn’t speak is because, even though he understands French just fine, he’s self-conscious about speaking it because of his accent. He’s also afraid to make mistakes, especially in front of Gabriel who is not a patient or tolerant man. Victor taught Adrien Russian, so now they can speak together, and no one knows what they’re saying. (Nathalie has picked up a little bit here and there, but not enough to have conversations.) Victor calls Adrien Adrianka. (It’s the Russian diminutive.)

10. Nathalie speaks a little bit of Mandarin Chinese. Her tones are so-so, but she can get her point across. She learned from listening in on Adrien’s lessons so that she could make sure he stayed on top of his curriculum. When Adrien has to miss Chinese lessons on short notice, Adrien’s teacher works with Nathalie instead.

11. Luka loves all music, not just rock or punk like we’ve seen on the show. I mean, the guy is portrayed as music being his whole life, right? He came to music through rock and roll because that’s what he was exposed to through his mother and her music career, but if you dig into the music and look at its history, where it came from, what inspired it, you start wandering back through time until you get to the big names of classical concert music. Luka is an inquisitive, thoughtful guy. I can see him digging into the roots of the music he grew up with and finding all sorts of cool influences. I can see him learning about and experimenting with different types/genres of music.

12. In university, Luka studies Literature with an emphasis on nineteenth and twentieth century Russia. Why? Below is excerpted from my response to a comment asking about this point.

Especially in the nineteenth century during the height of Romanticism, a lot of literary elements and themes made their way into classical music. Program music uses literary texts as a base and illustrates the story with music. Composers drew from the Russian literary tradition as well, particularly in opera. Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades is based on Pushkin's short story, and I just found out a month ago that Shostakovich turned Gogol's short story The Nose into an opera. In the arts, one thing always leads to another. It's like looking up something on Wikipedia. Two hours later you've become an expert on botany or Balkan folk dance. I think Luka would dig into the sources of inspiration for the music he was consuming in order to better understand the works and as a means of getting inspiration himself.

So that's why Russian Literature. I think he'd eventually find his way to it through music. Then, once you find Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky, you really get sucked in. For me, those two have such a way of depicting real human beings and what it means to be human. They really get at deeper human truths. Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, and The Idiot really capture that essence for me. (War and Peace too to some extent, but not as much as the other three.) I think Luka would really be drawn to Russian literature too and come to love it for itself apart from the musical inspiration he was able to derive from it.

13. In his teens, Luka takes more of an interesting in the piano and falls in love with the violin. He adds piano and violin performance majors halfway through university and ends up becoming a professional solo pianist as well as a first violin with the Orchestre de Paris.

14. Luka wears reading glasses. I don’t think I’ve used this one much. Actually, I can’t find where I’ve used this at all. :/ Well. I suppose there will be no tea drinking at this time for this headcanon. ^.^;

15. Luka has tattoos. I don’t think I’ve gotten around to this one yet either. Adrien and Luka talk about possible tattoo ideas in Chapter Four of Nachtmusik, but... At any rate, the full extent of the tattoos would be a stylized snake on his pelvis, Odin’s raven’s on his shoulder blades, a stylized snake bracelet under his regular bracelets, and a Chat Noir paw print under his ring. So far the paw print is the only one that I’m one hundred percent positive that will happen. The stylized snake on the pelvis is pretty up there too because in the Jabberwocky/Daisy universe I was going to have Adrien and Marinette squabbling over Luka, and Adrien was going to say that he bet Marinette hadn’t seen Luka’s snake tattoo. When Marinette asks Luka where he has a snake tattoo and learns how low on Luka’s stomach it is, she’s left wondering what’s going on between Adrien and Luka. I’m undecided about the ravens and the snake bracelet.

16. The children are always named Hugo, Louis, and Emma, but the birth order depends upon the pairing. Lukadrienette have Hugo (biologically Luka’s), Emma (Adrien’s), and then Louis (Adrien’s). Lukadrien have Emma (Luka and Rose’s), Louis (Adrien and Rose’s), and then Hugo (Adrien and Juleka’s). Adrienette have Louis, Hugo, and then Emma.

Which is your favourite of my headcanons? Which one would you like to see more of? Did I miss any? ^.^;

[bapyess1r]

Sunny Daze

Chapter 3

Sunny’s POV

It was finally the day of the auction. Time to put the plans in motion. I felt a bit sick knowing this Rafe character was going to be touching all over me tonight but I had to get over it. I had to really sell it. I painted my nails a dark, dark purple and sighed as I looked into the bathroom mirror. I should be used to being used by men. With where I worked, I should’ve been used to it. But truthfully I wasn’t. And I don’t think i ever would be. Being a brief object of affection to Rafe only made me realize more just how much I couldn’t trust men. Or any man. No matter how beautiful. I looked at myself, buffering out weird spots in my makeup with my finger and checking my angles, glancing at the wig perched on a styrofoam mannequin head that I had pressed and curled to perfection. As I blew on my nails to make sure they dried, I could hear Nathan talking to Sully and Sam.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” I heard Sam say reluctantly.

“We don’t always need guns, Sam. Honestly, it should be a quick and easy in and out.” Nathan’s voice assured him. I began to prepare myself, undoing my robe and slipping on my dress and heels while I listened.

“And what about Sunny, huh? If she screws up, I’m as good as dead.”

“Don’t worry about her, Sam. She’s one of the most capable people I know and I trust her with my life. She’ll do her job and we’ll be on the right track to finding Avery’s treasure. I guarantee it.”

“Yeah well… we’ll see.” Sam grumbled, sighing in distress. Nathan always seemed to be defending me against his brother. I guess Sam didn’t trust me just as much as I didn’t trust him. Which was fair in this business but it still hurt. I would’ve saved his ass ten times over and he still wouldn’t trust me. I huffed as I zipped up my dress and buttoned the top of the keyhole in the back. This dress really was gorgeous. All black sparkling lace with long sleeves and a high neck. Hugging my every curve, the scalloped hem of the dress stopped right at my thighs. I had to give it to myself. ‘I clean up real nice...’ I thought as I put on my wig, completing my look. I exited the bathroom as I pressed my earrings in, Sully staring at me as I sat down to smoke a cigarette.

“Well I’ll be goddamned…” he smiled, admiring my look. “Rafe won’t know what hit em, kid.” I smirked with a stick between my lips.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, old man.” I said, gesturing to his tailored black tie tuxedo. I light his cigar for him as I light my cigarette, noticing the brothers Drake lightly arguing over slight changes made to the plan.

“They’ve been at it like this since we started getting ready.”

“Why?” I groaned, making an annoyed expression as I leaned back into my chair in a very “unladylike” manner. Sully gave a light chuckle as he sipped his scotch.

“To put it simply: Sam wants guns, Nate disagrees.” He said loud enough for the boys to hear and they brought their dispute inside.

“We need guns. If security’s anything like how we saw it on the boat the other day, I imagine it’ll be ten times worse tonight.” I said in a reasonable tone before taking a drag, preparing my electronics for the auction.

“See!” Sam exclaimed. Suddenly, everyone began trying to voice their opinions at once. Nathan waved his arms and quieted the commotion in the room.

“Hey! No guns. And that’s final.” He said looking each one of us in the eyes. “You look great, Sunny.” He mumbled before stalking off to his room for a moment. I gave him a small consoling smile which he briefly returned before taking a minute to cool off in his room. Sam raked his hands through his hair in frustration, sitting down at the table, tapping his fingers nervously. I knew that tap all too well. I did it myself. I opened my pack of cigarettes and held it in his direction as mine dangled from my lips loosely.

“I gotta get another pack.” He sighed. “Thanks, sister.” He mumbled taking one from the pack.

“Mmhmm.” I responded, making sure my handheld was prepped and ready. “Have you and Nathan secured your drop off point?” I asked, getting straight to business. He responded by nodding, lighting the cigarette. “And you have your coverups? Don’t need your dirty suits giving us away-”

“Listen, Sunny. Just make sure you’re doing your job and distract Rafe. No more, no less-” he spat and Sully interjected.

“Hey!” He snapped as I hit Sam with the crazy eyes. “Cool it, boy. Before she tears you a new one.” The eldest Drake kept his eyes on me, fixing his mouth to argue but with a warning of my raised brow, he decided against it. He nodded as he made a face before standing to fix himself a drink. I checked the time on the wall clock and gathered my things to leave.

“It’s 6:45. I need to go.” I said sternly. Standing as I grabbed an ear com from it’s charging station. “Don’t forget your coms when you leave. I should be able to hear you when you’re in range.” I turned to leave, pivoting on my heel and Sully grabbed a hold of my arm.

“Kid… be careful.” He said, his voice dripping with worry. I gave him a smile and placed a hand on his shoulder, kissing his cheek and wiping away the stain with my thumb.

“I’ll be fine, Sully.” I assured him, shooting Sam a look before heading to Nate’s room. I knocked on the door and turned the knob, sticking my head inside. He sat on the bed with his head in his hands, his tuxedo jacket sitting next to him. “Natey, I’m leavin’.” I said and his head perked up at the sound of my voice. I let myself in.

“Oh. Okay…” he sighed standing up. He hugged me tightly and attempted to squeeze my cheeks but I swatted his hand away.

“You’ll ruin my makeup, stop it!” I chuckled so he settled for cradling the sides of my head. He looked at me a moment, a flicker of appreciation in his eyes.

“From womb to tomb.” He said to me. I patted his chest with a friendly grin.

“From birth to earth.” I replied.

“Thank you for this.” He told me.

“Of course, Nate-o.”

“No really. I mean it. You’re sticking your neck out for someone you just met two days ago.”

“He’s your brother, Nathan. No duh I’m gonna help. Now,” I started adjusting his tie and collar, smoothing it to perfection. “I have to go. Rafe will be picking me up any minute.” I said and I kissed his cheek, trying my best not to stain his cheek as well.

“See you there.” He said after me as I left the room. “I’ll watch your 6.”

“Watch your own 6.” I chuckled.

I left the hotel, amazed by the Italian sunset as I walked down the street to the hotel I told Rafe about. I walked as quickly as possible, hearing my heels click on the concrete as I checked the time on my rhinestoned wristwatch. When I arrived at the hotel, the white limousine was already outside waiting. “Shit.” I muttered, picking up my walk to a run as fast as I could in the heels I wore, racking my brain for an excuse as to why I was coming from another direction. I adjusted my hair as I approached the building, checking my makeup in the reflection of my compact before storing it away. I noticed Rafe dressed in a tuxedo with a crisp white jacket; from the looks of it, the jacket was a size too big for his narrow shoulders. I snickered as I walked through the big glass doors, swinging my hips as I approached him checking his watch. Luckily he was expecting me from the opposite direction. With a turn of my lips I tapped him on his shoulder and he whipped his head around to gawk at me. His hard features softened at the sight of me as his eyes scanned my body from head to toe. A slick smile spread on his face and he whistled, shoving a hand in his pocket and scratching at the stubble on his chin. With a chuckle, he spoke.

“Sunny, I’ve gotta be honest with you. I’m not usually rendered speechless but you just look… spectacular. No- immaculate!” He took my hand in his and pressed his lips to the back of my knuckles. I cringed a bit at his sudden greasiness but played it off as flattery.

“You’re too kind, Mr. Ad- I mean, Rafe. Sorry!” I giggled feigning nerves. “You just make me so nervous…”

“Hey, there’s nothing you need to be nervous about, sweetheart.” He smirked, placing a hand on my back to guide me to the car. A limo driver rounded the vehicle and stood to open the door for us, revealing lush red interior seating. “After you.” He said as I smiled at him brightly and slid into the limo, my clutch held close to my chest, then he followed in behind me. He let out a large sigh as he settled into his seat, adjusting his blazer as he reached for the bottle of champagne sitting in the lit up ice bin beside him. He moved closer to me, holding the shiny rose gold bottle with an “A” branded into a spade. “Armand de Brignac, Rosé. Have you ever had one of these before?” He asked me as he began to untwist the wires holding the cork in place. I shook my head with an amused smile. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“No I can’t say that I have.” I grinned.

“Well then you… are in for a treat!” He shot me a charming smile, both of us laughing as the cork sprang from the bottle. He grabbed a glass from the hanger above the little mini bar and began to pour me a drink, the salmon-hued champagne bringing itself to a fizz and a soft foam. Then he just straight up dropped a strawberry in it.

“Well fuck…” The words just fell out of my mouth and I covered my lips in embarrassment, causing him to burst into laughter as he poured himself a glass too. “Sorry! I just… this is really nice.” I said, bringing my nose to the glass. I detected a hint of strawberry even in the champagne itself.

“It’s comprised of three different vintages; composed solely of grapes from these wineries on French historic grounds…” he told me, easing close to me. I moaned in response to his brief teaching as I continued to smell the fruit drink. He held his glass before me with a smile. “A toast…. to history, damn good champagne, and….exceptionally beautiful women…” he smirked and we clink our glasses before sipping them gingerly, cozying up to each other in the dim lighting. As the limo began to see us to our destination, we began to share a conversation on his business at this auction and a bit about me...

Sam’s POV

“Need me to get that for you little brother?” I chuckled as I watched Nathan swing his grappling hook, estimating how he was going to get his rope to the beam beneath the bridge. He scoffed.

“I got it! I’ve been doin’ this for a while too, y’know.” He said, tossing the grappling hook. He missed on the first try and turned to look at me with a nervous chuckle.

“You were saying?” I said smugly.

“Now just gimme a minute, would ya!” He shot back before trying once again. He made it this time. “See?” He smirked and I let out a hearty chuckle as he swung to the cliffs nearby.

“Yeah, I see little brother.” I followed suit and reached the beam in one try. “And that’s how you do it!” I shouted to him as I climbed the cliffs behind him.

“Show off…” Nathan mumbled. After climbing for a while, we reached the estate and snuck our way to the window left open for us by Sully. Nathan almost forgot to take his jumpsuit off and I stopped him quickly.

“Um, Nathan?” He didn’t respond. “Nathan?!”

“What?!” He exclaimed. And I looked at him, dramatically unzipping my jumpsuit to reveal my tuxedo. “Oh! Right! I almost forgot…” he chuckled doing the same and we pushed them out of sight towards a ledge. I took a deep breath as I adjusted my slacks, nervously fidgeting with the collar of my blazer.

“Right… how do I look?” I asked, stepping away for him to analyze me.

“Like four hundred million bucks, now let’s get goin’.” He replied, brushing off a bit of dust from my shoulder before crawling through the window.

“Alright, I’m right behind ya…” I mumbled before following. Just where he said he’d be, Sully sat waiting to usher us into the auction.

“‘Kay! Now that we’re all here. Let’s go get this cross-”

“Hold on, kid there uh…. might be a problem with that…” Sully interrupted, smoking his cigar. I began to panic a little.

“What do you mean by ‘problem’, Victor?” I asked, my voice dripping with worry.

“Just… C’mon. I’ll show ya.” he said turning to lead us into the ballroom.

We entered a ballroom on the top floor, the room basically built with marble, equipped with extravagant diamond chandeliers, red curtains hanging from the walls and a balcony with a fantastic view or the Italian skyline. Classical and jazz music being played by a talented ensemble. “Would ya get a load of this?” I said to myself as we approached the railing. We looked down at the scene of rich people and Sully pointed at the stage. On display were three artifacts. Only one of which we came for.

“That’s Avery’s cross…” Nate said.

“They brought it out of storage just before you guys got here.” Sully grumbled.

“They changed the damned lot order…” I muttered.

“And it probably took a whole pile of cash to make that happen.” He said.

“Well… how long before they start the bidding?” My brother asks.

“Fifteen minutes, tops.” Sully answered.

“Well we’ve gotta grab it somehow…” Nathan pondered.

“Yeah sure. Just a few three hundred eyewitnesses… should be easy right?” He answered sarcastically.

“We just need a diversion…” Nathan quipped matter of factly.

“We-” I was startled by the sweet laughter in my ear, almost forgetting the com I placed there before we made our in.

‘Rafe, you’re so funny!’ I heard Sunny’s voice say. I scoffed as I looked down and let my eyes scan the crowd for her. I spotted her at the bar drinking champagne with our competitor. My heart skipped a beat and I stopped in my tracks to watch her. I saw her before she left but I definitely didn’t take the time to appreciate the view. The dress fit her perfectly, exposing her back, the hem stopping at her luscious thighs. As short as she was, her legs seemed to go on for days. And her ass looked fantastic….

“Ah I almost forgot!” I could hear Sully say at a brief distance.

‘We’re in, kid.’ I heard his voice say in the coms as Nathan grabbed me by the shoulder, tugging me into the most discreet corner.

‘If you’ll excuse me, I have to use the ladies room…’ I could hear Sunny tell Rafe.

‘Hurry back…’ I heard him respond smugly. Immediately I felt a bit irked.

‘Nice of you to join the party, gentlemen.’ She said.

“How’s our boy, Sunny?” Nathan asked in a low tone as the three of us circled around a table.

‘Well considering that his hands have been gradually gravitating towards my ass all evening, I’d say I have his attention.’ She replied in annoyance. ‘Security is definitely tighter around here than the other day. Infinitely. And they’ve changed the lot of the auction.’

“Sully told us. We’re tryna find a way to grab it now.” Nathan answered. I listened to the three of them discuss plans and when they didn’t go with the obvious, I interjected.

“Jesus, you all act like you’ve never been in prison before-”

‘I haven’t.’ I heard Sunny say. I gave a huff before speaking slowly to them.

“If you want something dirty done you wait for…”

‘Lights out…’ I heard her finish my sentence right along with my other two partners.

“I thought you never went to prison.” I chuckled.

‘Not prison. But I have been to jail. For three months! No thanks to your brother...’ She replied with a hint of bitterness.

“I can’t apologize enough, Sunny.” Nathan said, shaking his head.

‘You’re right. You can’t.’ She replied.

“So if we’re doing this, that means we gotta be right next to that cross without getting noticed.” Sully added.

‘How are you gonna do that?’ I heard Sunny ask. Just as I opened my mouth, a waitress approached the table. Beautiful girl, red hair tied tight in a ponytail. Her curvaceous body hidden behind a uniform of red vest and black tie with slacks.

“Scusate, signore. Antipasti?” She asked. My brother blew her off but I took the time to admire the radiant vision before me.

“Hi… how are you?” I winked, as I took a piece from her silver platter.

“Ciao.” She answered, clearly not understanding me and turned away. I admired her backside as she left with a groan. It had been so long for me.

‘You’re the worst…’ I heard Sunny scoff and Nathan punched my arm.

“Hey! Stay focused.” He told me.

“A waiter wouldn’t get noticed…” I suggested, eating the small hors d’oeuvre and returning back to our conversation before I was so pleasantly interrupted.

“That could work.” Sully agreed.

“That will work. Sunny, could you find me a way into the breaker room? A place this big won’t run their electricity electronically so we’re gonna have to kill the power manually.”

‘Already on it.’ She replied quickly.

“Solid. Sam, you’ll be a waiter.” Nate told me, dishing out orders.

“I’m the waiter?”

“You’re the best pickpocket.” He told me. I shrug my shoulders with a bit of pride. “Sully, you head down to the floor with Sunny to keep your eyes on the prize. Let us know if anything gets...hinky.”

“I can do that.” He answered with a nod.

“And Sunny, please continue to distract Rafe just a little bit longer.” He said gently.

‘You got it.’ She said.

“We still got this, guys. Ready?” Nathan asked and we all gave variations of agreement. “Then let’s do this…” And with that, the wheels began to turn...

[ladyadalicialove]

Me, says I will be on hiatus and probs won’t post anything cus exams and essays

Also me: procrastinating very hard

Don't mind me just salty about the new episode and what not...also I don’t want to finish my essay.

Anyway since Chat Blanc was basically fanservice that served no significant purpose to the plot of the show other than "what if" scenarios. I've decided to share some AUs to put some good wholesome content back into the fandom. 

Also I need to write these things down before I forget....

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Previous Holder is now your Babysistter AU

(I don’t have an actual name for it lmao suggestions?)

I’ve had this one in head for a couple of months now. The premise of this AU is the miraculous doesn't just come with the Kwami but a ghost/apparition of the previous holder. Unlike the kwami's they aren't what makes the suit or have any magical abilities. Rather they are just glorified babysitters, looking after and guiding the new holder the best they can. Some are some magical rules with them though:

Only the miraculous holder and thier Kwami can see them, when they are still in their civilian forms.

 They don’t disappear when the holder transform.

When other miraculous holders are transformed they can see other holder’s apparition, but when they undo the transformation they can no longer see them. 

The holders and kwamis can touch them as if they were real, but they phase through everything and everyone else.

I liked the idea of the holders prior to Marinette and Adrien being a pirate and a sailor who fell madly in love. They unfortunately died together and never had kids so when they came back as “mentors” for two lovesick teens they adopt them so quickly.

Adrien gets Captain Noir, the most ferocious and seductive pirate of the seven seas! And she absolutely adores Adrien and quickly assumes a motherly role in his life. The captain doesn’t like that he is alone in the mansion and gives every second of her attention to him. She calls him her "big kitten" and tries to ruin Gabriel's day every second she can. She also despises Nathalie but tolerates Gorilla.

Marinette gets Commander Bug, a stoic and ever so suave solider of his majesty's Royal Navy. He is very chill and helps Marinette to calm down when she starts acting up. Since he is a high ranking soldier, he often assists Marinette in creating strategies to defeat villains in both her hero and civilian life. Tbh he is a very reliable guy and very sweet. 

Honestly the two of them basically become parents to the two lovesick teens... and I imagine the story would literally be them ready to throw hands with Gabriel and Lila. Commander bug though ever so serious, meets Lila and immediately takes on the Captain Noir’s more... vulgar traits. 

Commander Bug: Hey Marinette *nudges her* Dead men tell no tales. 😎 *makes obscene gesture towards Lila*

Marinette: FOR THE LAST TIME IM NOT MURDERING LILA

Tikki: no wait maybe he has a point

Captain Noir: Ye really need to scupper that deadbeat father of yours off the side of this building. Hey Plagg, do ye think I can take custody of Adrien??

Adrien: I’m not throwing my father off the building!! He can be nice!!

Captain Noir: Oh no ye have Stockholm syndrome... maybe I can cure it with some rum?? That always helped the new sailors who were home sick! 😱

Adrien: oh my god I’m only fourteen 😦

Plagg: *laughing hysterically* at least you can drink your woes away!!! 😂🤣

And yes they both like the Couffaines mainly because they live on a boat. 

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The Mythical Miraculous AU:

I wrote and planned this one before it was revealed there are multiple miraculous boxes. So in this universe let’s just say that the events of feast never happened. Prior to the “episode” Fu relinquishes guardianship and loses his memories. Let’s say there is no sentimonster that caused the downfall of the monks but rather Fu causing the temple to burn down another way. How? Maybe he left a torch unsupervised and burned the place down. Why? Idk that’s just how it’s happening now.

Anyway this AU stemmed from doing so many OC drawing requests in January. And I created seven miraculous OC's whose kwamis/concept are based on the seven virtues. They are also all based on mythical creatures.

In the story I imagined that Marinette is 17 and was giving guardianship over the miracle box some time ago. One day while messing around with it, she discovers that underneath the ying and yang centre piece there was cyclinder compartment that contained a parchment. Unrolling it had printed on it six locations along with the name of the miraculous associated.

Tikki informs her of the seven miraculous that were created as backups if the the miracle box or miraculous’ were ever stolen, lost, destroyed etc. Basically the last resort. Thus they needed to be kept out of the miracle box and in the world and always ready to defend. Hence they were given to families across Europe/Asia who promised their loyalties to the miraculous cause. 

Marinette decides since it’s summer break and she isn’t busy, to find each of them and get them to help in the fight against Hawkmoth. Tikki just rolls with it.

In no particular order these are the mythical miraculous and their holders:

London, UK ~ The Unicorn and Pegasus Miraculous of Kindness and Humility: They are currently owned by 12 year old British Twins, Iris and Ivy. They come from a rich family and only recently acquired the miraculous from their father and uncle. Ivy is all about sports and is extremely athletic, Iris prefers to read and paint. Apollo is Ivy’s kwami and he is a white unicorn, and Artemis is Iris’ kwami and is a black pegasus. The miraculous are anklets. 

Sovana - Tuscany, Italy ~ The Ogre Miraculous of Charity: Currently owned by Raphael, a 21 year old Italian guy studying Archaeology. He lives out in the Italian countryside with his parents and many siblings, he has a big family who owns a huge block of farmland. He is super kind and very charitable and received his miraculous from his Nonna. Orc is Raphael’s kwami and he is a selfish little bastard but he is huggable. The miraculous is a belt buckle.

Nice, Paris ~ The Pooka Miraculous of Diligence: Currently owned by Colette, a 25 year old French girl who is busy teaching six year olds, she doesn’t have any family as she was orphaned as an infant. She has always had her miraculous as she was left at the orphanage with it. She was unfortunately never adopted out, but she is extremely motivated individual with big dreams. Cinna is Colette’s kwami, she is quite lazy and often called Cinna-bun. The miraculous is a hair clip.

Kazan, Russia ~ The Phoenix Miraculous of Chastity/Abstinence: Currently owned by Orion, a flamboyant and arrogant 30 year old. He is extremely beautiful and a very proud man, and most would think he is a bit of a f*ckboi but nope. He is just saving himself for the right person. His father gifted him the miraculous when he was 15. Newborn is Orion’s kwami, and she is little b*tch and very stuck up. The miraculous is an armband.

Nazareth, Israel ~ The Griffin Miraculous of Patience: Currently owned by Nevaeh, a 16 year old revolutionist and active feminist. She has big ideas and big dreams that she hopes with enough dedication and patience she can achieve. Unlike the others, she received the miraculous from her dying neighbour, who was an old man in his nineties who had no children. Nevaeh may not be an intended holder but she is a brilliant one! Constance is Navaeh’s kwami, she is extremely wise and a soft speaker. The miraculous is a thumb ring. 

Seoul, Korea ~ The Sea Serpent Miraculous of Temperance: Currently owned by 19 year old aspiring pop singer Levi. Levi is extremely shy and laid back, he tends to be soft-spoken and polite.Often he dreams of being an Idol but his shy personality isn’t doing him any favours. His older brother was originally the miraculous holder but instead of accepting any potential responsibility he dumped it onto him. It was originally gifted to his brother by their mother. Sai is Levi’s kwami, he is extremely skittish and is just riddled with anxiety over the belief of the world ending. He is a bit of a conspiracy theorist. The miraculous is a fin pendant necklace.

Of course Marinette in three months convinces them all to go to Paris and stay there until the defeat of Hawkmoth. 

During her travels and time with them, she unravels the mysterious of these seven miraculous and their history. What are their abilities? Why do they specifically correlate with the seven virtues? How powerful are they? 

Ivy and Iris stemming from a rich family, rent out a lovely penthouse for the seven of them in Paris. Colette decides to be the legal guardian of the minors since she actually is French. Orion decides he is gonna be a dick. The rest are there for a good time and to kick a buterrfly's butt. And thus ensue chaos, pranks, romance and a whole lotta arguing. 

I can only imagine all the kwami’s and Marinette sitting, drinking green tea while watching these seven holders become absolute hooligans.

I already drew up concept art of them but they are not good sketches so yeah maybe I will show you guys another time.

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Idk why I think this but I just figured everyone would hate AUs like this so I don’t bother posting these ideas especially if they are not fleshed out. I have so many but these are my most promising ones. 

The previous holder AU is one of my favourites because I had Captain Noir and Commander Bug’s story in my head forever. I love me some pirates. I know their whole miraculous story, like how they fell in love and why she became a pirate etc. The part where they become ghost mentors is a fairly new addition, been rolling it around for a month now and it is 100% caused by the shitty parenting via la agreste.  

The mythical miraculous one is extremely fun for me, but it was one of those AUs were I believed no one would like it so....yeah enjoy it?

If you wanna know more about each one send me an ask or send names suggestions!!