#it’s gone be a knotty mess for the next several months

[wtfuckevenknows]

I absolutely HATE scarf weather…my haaaaiiiiir 😭😭😭

[inuykago]

the plan, part 2.

andddd @britonell here’s the second part of your @inusecretsanta gift!!

it seemed like you and everyone else enjoyed this little thing & i’m so glad! ;-; ♡

P.S. I’M SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT, NELL! i’ve been very distracted and learned i cannot write while listening to music bc then i just bump to the music & not do anything else... x.x ANYWAYS....

part 1

{modern au, winter, fluff. inukag. 2394 words}

It was awkward, to say the least.

Koga and Kagome kept on engaging in conversation, smiling and laughing. Though Inuyasha was standing right beside them, and in the middle of hundreds of people, he somehow felt alone.

You need to relax, he thought. He tried to take subtle, deep breaths as he nodded his head to the other two’s conversation.

Kagome noticed Inuyasha’s uneasiness in the situation so she moved her hand a little to the right and intertwined her fingers with his. Inuyasha, shocked, looked down and let out a little smirk, which helped calm him down.

This is stupid, he thought once more. Why am I getting so uptight about this?

He shifted his gaze between Kagome and Koga and just couldn’t fight off this weird, knotty feeling in his stomach. Should I even try this anymore?

“You’ve never been to the small shop area in Bryant Park?!” Koga moved up to her.

Kagome thought for a second, “Aaah, no!” She spoke with her left hand, keeping a hold onto Inuyasha, “I never even knew about it!”

“Kagome, you have to let me take you there,” he grinned. “Please?”

“Uhhh,” she looked over at Inuyasha. “What’d you say, babe? Wanna go?” she smiled.

“Oh, uhhh--” I really just want to take a walk by myself-- “You guys can go ahead,” he forced a smile. “I’ll wait here.”

Koga nodded his head, “Alright, cool bro.” He motioned over to Kagome, “Shall we?”

Kagome felt Inuyasha loosen his grip as Koga got closer to her. She frowned a bit, not understanding why he was acting so distant.

“Come on, babe,” she nudged. “I want you to go with us!” she smiled, rubbing his hand gently.

Inuyasha suddenly felt the tensions in his body ease up, “Okay baby.” I can’t let my emotions get to the best of me…, he thought.

“Ay, alright,” Koga quickly grinned before turning around and leading the way. 

Inuyasha stayed back the entire time.

Koga led the three through the scattered crowds of people. The shops were set up in every section of the park with lights illuminating what’s on the inside.

There were identical-looking shops ranging from food, knick knacks, jewelry, clothes, stationery, and just about everything that could be aesthetically pleasing. The cold weather didn’t stop the New Yorkers and tourists from waiting on line, ice skating, or simply admiring the city.

Kagome found herself most amazed with the clothing stores because she’d never seen these types of clothes before, and if she did, it would be way out of her price range. She gravitated towards the ones that had simple cute shirts or skirts on display and while Koga always stood behind her, Inuyasha admired her from afar.

He smiled as he watched Kagome excitedly shuffle through the racks of clothing and try her best to squeeze into the little areas with space.

She would move shirts from left to right, tippy-toeing to check the size, and pout whenever she wasn’t able to find one that would fit. However, when she finally found her size, he saw her eyes widened and laughed to himself as he watched her happily mumble to herself. She ran to the mirror that was on the side where Inuyasha was standing outside, and she’d check how it looked on herself, get more excited, and twist and turn looking for someone-- is she looking for me?--but then, Koga shoved his way to her, giving her the second opinion she wanted.

Inuyasha frowned as he saw a smile emerge on Kagome’s face, because it was another man that put that smile on her. Quickly shifting his gaze to the floor, he dug his hands deeper into his jacket pockets, turned around, and walked towards an empty table.

“Shit,” he said to himself, the cold air revealing his breath. “Should I have gone with her?” He put his hands on his head, elbows on his knees. “Shit, I should’ve--” he shook his head-- “I should’ve gone with her… Man, what the hell am I even doing…”

“What are you doing?” the voice startled Inuyasha. 

The ‘voice’ was wearing a dark purple trench coat over a black dress shirt and pants with a black scarf wrapped around his neck. His hair was put up into a short ponytail, and his gold hoop earrings were as bright as a ray of sunlight.

“Do I…--” Inuyasha raised a brow-- “know… you…?”

“No,” the man replied, extending his hand. “I’m Miroku.”

Inuyasha nodded his head slowly, still confused as to why this man was talking to him, “Okay, Miroku…” He shrugged his shoulders, “Can I help you?”

“Actually,” Miroku straightened himself, facing Inuyasha more forward. “I believe I should be asking that question.”    

“What are you talking about?” Inuyasha replied with attitude, stealing a quick glance at Kagome.

Miroku followed his eyes, “That.”

“What?”

Miroku sighed, “You can talk to me.” He leaned back into his chair, “Tell me how you’re feeling, what’s on your mind?”

“Bro, I don’t even know you,” he laughed, stealing another glance at Kagome.

“You’re trying to get with her--” Miroku chuckled-- “aren’t you?”

“Excuse me?” Inuyasha stabbed him with his stare. “I already got her,” he smiled faintly. “That’s my girl.”    

“Really?!” Miroku picked up his chair and moved himself right next to Inuyasha. “Then why are you letting her confide in another man?”

Inuyasha had to hold himself back from beating on him, “I-I’m not.”

“Hmm…,” Miroku looked at Inuyasha then into the store. “Then why are you out here?”

“LOOK MAN--” Inuyasha bursted from his seat-- “I DON’T NEED SOME STRANGER TELLING ME HOW TO HANDLE MY RELATIONSHIP WITH MY GIRL”

Despite his yelling, Miroku kept his mellow tone and remained in his seat, “That’s not what I’m doing at all.” He continued speaking calmly, “I saw you mumbling to yourself… Hands on your head, elbows on your knees… those are the clear cut signs of a man feeling some type of pain--” he paused-- “I’m just glad it wasn’t physical pain, like an open wound or something… I’m not good with blood.”

Inuyasha just looked down at Miroku, shook his head, slowly sitting back down, “You’re an odd man.”      

“As are you,” he responded. “So, I’ll try again--” he faced Inuyasha, this time closer-- “What. is. Wrong?”

Inuyasha just laughed, shaking his head and legs, as he laid back into his chair nonchalantly thinking: What is good with this dude? Why is he pressing on me so hard? It’s not like he’d even understand. But then, his attitude changed as he watched Kagome hop into another store, with Koga right behind. The weird drop in his stomach made him feel more vulnerable, and he suddenly had the urge to express it.

“Ahhh,” he spoke between his sighs. “Do you think she’s into him?”

Miroku glanced over at the store where she was, “She certainly seems to enjoy the company.”

“Damn…,” Inuyasha breathed. “I messed up, huh?”

“What exactly did you ‘mess up’?”

“Like,” he furiously scratched his head. “I don’t know, man…”

Miroku smiled, “Sir--”

“Inuyasha,” he cut Miroku off.

“Inuyasha,” he nodded. “You’re overreacting.”

“Yeah…,” Inuyasha shook his head. “I knew you wouldn’t understand… it’s cool though--”

Miroku stopped him, “Let me finish.” He rubbed his hands together, “You’re overreacting because you’re making it seem like you can’t fix this, whereas, in reality, you can.” He looked over at the store again, “You said it yourself, she’s your girl, and that guy is just her--”

“Ex.”

“...Ex?” Miroku asked in shock, Inuyasha slowly nodding his head ‘yes.’ “Alright… well, that doesn’t change anything I’ve said.”  

“How?!” Inuyasha got defensive.

“Because you’re her boyfriend, that guy isn’t,” he tried to calm him down. “There’s a reason why she chose to be with you, and continues to be with you for a whole--”

“Year..”

“A whole year,” Miroku smiled. “Exactly. In today’s society, it’s tough being with someone for even two or three months without something messing that relationship up. Everyone is so insecure, but don’t let that be you.” He looked at him, “You must be confident in your relationship. And if you’re confident, then you and her will forever thrive. But--”

“But…?” Inuyasha interjected.

“But, do not hide these insecure feelings you’re having. A healthy, prosperous relationship is made up of several things, and confidence and communication are two of them.”

Inuyasha’s negative energy suddenly stopped; he was amazed with how enlightened this stranger was.

“Wow…,” he genuinely smiled. “I appreciate that advice, bro… I hate to admit it--” he could feel Miroku’s stupid smile piercing into him-- “but you really helped me out.”

“And that’s all I wanted to do,” Miroku smiled back.

“Inuyasha!” the two turned their heads to the girl’s voice. “Inuyasha?”

He waved back at her repeatedly, “Kagome!” And her face seemed to lighten up.

She motioned for him to go to her, and he nodded back before shaking Miroku’s hand and saying, “Thank you. I wish you the best in life, bro. Truly.”

Miroku’s happiness vibrated off of him as Inuyasha began to walk away.

“Compromise and understanding.”

“Huh?” Inuyasha quickly took a few steps back.

Miroku laughed, “Compromise and understanding… Those are the last few things that make up a healthy, prosperous relationship.”

Despite the enlightening advice, Inuyasha just couldn’t find a way to apply it to himself. He remained rather silent on the their way back home, often letting Kagome and Koga have their own conversation while he just listened, trying to block out his negative thoughts with Miroku’s words.

Even when they reached the street where Koga lived, and he finally left, Inuyasha still remained silent, only laughing softly, smiling, or replying back with one-worded answers whenever Kagome spoke to him.

When they got home ten minutes later, Kagome knew she had to confront him.

“Can you please tell me what’s wrong now?”

Inuyasha snickered uncomfortably as he took off his coat and earmuffs, “Babe, I already told you, it’s nothing.”

“No,” she went up to him after taking off her jacket and putting down her bags. “It’s definitely something. You’ve been acting off all day!” She sighed, “It started off in the morning when we were getting ready to leave… but I just thought you were trying to mess with me, like always,--” she giggled, but in a sadder tone-- “and then it just escalated once we saw Koga, and I felt so distant from you… like you were intentionally pushing me away… or something.”

“I just…,” he fumbled over his words. “I just… I…,” he sighed. “I don’t know, okay… I don’t… know,” he walked away from her and plopped down onto the couch.

She immediately followed him and sat right beside him, “Is this about Koga?”

He dropped his head into his arms, clenching his fists as he took deep breaths. He didn’t even have to say anything.

“Why… sweetie?” she shook her head, rubbing his back. “That relationship was two years ago… that’s over with. There’s nothing between us at all.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Am I sure…?!--” she pushed herself angrily off the couch. “Do you really think I’d do something so horrible to you?! Who do you think I am?!”

Why… did I say that..., he thought, shaking his head and taking in her yelling.

“I love you! And only you! You should never even worry about such silly things like that… because I would never… I could never…,” she slowly calmed herself down. “When I was browsing in the stores, and found the clothes that I liked and fit me, I looked for you…,” she sat down again. “I was so excited and I wanted to show you it, I wanted your opinion, I wanted to be with you!... But you weren’t there… It was Koga who showed up every time and it made me wonder if I did anything wrong to you…”

“No!” Inuyasha jolted up beside her. “You did nothing to me… you’re an absolute angel to me… and I’m the mess,” he sniffled. “I… I couldn’t escape my thoughts… negative thoughts… It all weighed down on me and made me think of so many worst case scenarios, and it just… it just shut my whole body down,” he admitted. “It was so weird, it was like whenever I saw you two smiling and laughing with each other, my body just shut down. I couldn’t function… I felt numb… and I know I sound crazy and like an overreacting bit-”

“You’re not overreacting, babe,” Kagome reassured him. “I understand, okay? And I want you to know that you have nothing to worry about. You are like…,” she looked around the room. “You’re like a blessing to me… some type of gift from the gods… and I want you to know that I truly do love and adore you,” she put her hands into his. “We’ll work on this together, okay? Just like we’ve been doing for the past year.”

“Compromise…,” he squeezed her hand.

“That’s right,” she smiled. “Compromise and understanding.”

Compromise and understanding… The two words triggered his earlier conversation with Miroku and it flashed before his eyes, almost as if this moment was ‘do or die.’ He let Miroku’s words and positive energy and thought flow into him, and then--almost as if it were a reflex--he pulled out the velvety square box, which he’d been holding onto all day, out of his pocket and dropped to one knee on the floor.

“Kagome, will you--”

“YES!!!!” she exclaimed in a heartbeat.

Inuyasha wasn’t even able to put the ring on her finger because she jumped on him, embraced him so lovingly and affectionately, it literally made the two fall on the floor--

Fifteen years later

“And, that’s how it happened.”

“Wow, dad, I can’t believe you almost let mom slip away,” Ai said playfully.

“I know, honey--” he looked at Kagome in the kitchen-- “If it wasn’t for your uncle Miroku, I would’ve probably walked away.”

Ai giggled, turning to Miroku, “Uncle Miroku, can you please tell us how you met Aunt Sango?!”

“Ahh, yes,” Miroku took a sip of his tea. “Well, munchkin, if it wasn’t for your dad, I would have never had a chance with Aunt Sango.”

“Really?!” Ai looked excitedly to Inuyasha. “If all that never happened… I wouldn’t have my great family…”

[puddygeeks]

Beauty

Garnier SkinActive BB Active – Combination to Oily skin BB cream

Last time I talked about my love for Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, and although I’ll admit that I’m still absolutely smitten with the coverage and smooth finish it gives, if we’re getting down to real talk, it’s a little out of my budget right now. I’ve been using luxury makeup for quite a few years as my treats throughout the year, but now that we’re committed to saving for a place to live and a wedding, spending money is a thing of the past! Alongside the cost, I’m now getting up at 6am, and so a long makeup routine is not something I have the energy for. That’s where this BB cream comes in! Originally I bought it for Florida as I wanted something lightweight with SPF, that wouldn’t melt too badly in the heat. This gives reasonably good coverage without being overly obvious, stays pretty well over the day and doesn’t feel thick or cakey on your skin. With a layer of powder and some concealer, I’m happy with the finished result for a Monday to Friday at work. At £9.99 per bottle at full price, which has lasted me 5 months already, it’s an absolute bargain! If you fancy giving it a try it’s currently on offer for £6.65 at Superdrug.

Coty Airspun Translucent Loose Powder

This is another product I would consider a luxury item, and honestly I don’t know what I’ll do when it runs out! I don’t use a huge amount of this day to day, I mostly use it for cosplay, but I love to keep it in my daily makeup bag instead of with my costume makeup as it can be used to fix so many problems. I use this powder mostly for contouring when I need an extreme contour to look like a different character, but I also use it for parties or nights out, when I want a heavy makeup look. On a daytime look, I’d mostly use it to fix any shine or areas where I have a larger skin problem I want to cover, like when my dark circles get too raccoon like. Currently it’s not too costly, as there seem to be some U.K sellers on Amazon meaning you can get it for £12.99 including postage, but the last time I ordered it from Amazon I had to have it shipped from the U.S. which got expensive fast, and I think I ended up spending around £30 for it. However that was two years ago and I still have plenty, so I’d absolutely say it’s worth the cost.

Maybelline Tattoo Brow 

As I mentioned earlier, I now get up at 6am Monday to Friday for my job, and as someone who is absolutely not a morning person, this has been a struggle. I’ve tried to keep my makeup routine as minimal as possible, because I can’t bear to think about getting up any earlier, and Tattoo Brow has helped to keep it short & sweet. This usually lasts about 3 days before I need to start filling my brows again, but at the moment I’m on day 6 and still only need to top up rather than completely shape my brows. I find shaping my brows to take me a while in the morning, so having them prefilled is amazing. It’s easy to do, and once you’ve applied it you can chill out for 2 hours whilst it works its magic. Then you simply peel it off (pain free and doesn’t pull the hair out) and your eyebrows are done for at least 3 days.

L’Oreal Paris Miss Manga Mega Volume Mascara

I originally bought this as my bestie Hollie rated it and it was far cheaper than the mascara I had been using. I honestly thought it looked like the best mascara in the world and would make my lashes look huge. It turned out that Hollie just has mega dollie lashes naturally and it wasn’t the mascara that was doing it haha! Having said that, this mascara has given me the fullest lashes I’ve ever had, it’s just unfortunate that mine are very short. As you can probably see from the photo, my bottle is very well loved and coming to it’s end, but I thought I’d include it as it’s a budget item that really does the job. I’m not sure if I’ll still get the exact same one next time, as there’s a couple of different “Miss” named products in the Mega Volume line that I’d like to give a try. For now though, if you’re thinking of trying a new mascara and saving some money off those ridiculous £20 a bottle brands which don’t really do anything extra for the money (here’s looking at you Benefit) I’d definitely rate the Miss Manga for only £7.99! Maybe I’ll even review them all over 2019.

Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lip

I have wanted some of these for the past 3 years since my bestie Claire let me use hers. They’ve been out of my budget pretty much the whole time, so I waited until I went to Florida and planned to buy some to bring home. It was only half way through my trip I realised there wasn’t any shops near us that stocked them and I’d need to buy them online, and I didn’t have time to do so. I was pretty devastated and thought I’d have to wait until I could afford to import some, until my lovely friend Helen came up with these babies! She’d been trying to sell them for ages and they were brand new, so I snapped them up immediately. And I must say, they have absolutely delivered. They apply beautifully (bar the fact I’m personally terrible at them) and they last all day, even through meals. The colours are to die for and I can guarantee I will absolutely be buying more! Thanks Helen! ❤ I currently have the shades Skin Tight, Mannequin, Posh Spice and Androgyny: my absolute fave! I’ll be posting a photo of each on my Instagram later this month if you’re interested in seeing them on.

Kent Brushes Pebble Brush with ladybird

Okay I know I’m late to the party on this one, but I finally invested in a tangle teezer style brush. It took me forever to get one as I just felt they were incredibly overpriced for a hair brush, but I decided to give it a go when I saw this one for £7 and see if it made a difference. I’m so glad I did! My hair has always been ridiculously knotty, but especially now that it’s coloured I find that it dries out easier and can matte up if not well looked after. I’m much more invested in hair care now, as I want to keep my bright colours without ending up having to cut all my hair off to rescue it again, so keeping it matte free is just another step I need to do. I’d say they’re definitely worth investing in if like me your hair knotts a lot, because they’re designed to pull through the tangles without causing total agony. Recently, I even had a cashier during my food shop ask me how my hair is coloured and so healthy, so I guess I must be doing something right?

Food

Aldi Choceur Milk Hazlenut

Okay I’ve only got one food product this month so I thought I’d throw it into the same photo. We’ll keep this one short and sweet – if you like Ferrero Rocher, you will love this. It’s chunkier, but it’s basically a Ferrero chocolate bar and it’s heaven. As you can tell, my January eat healthy goal has gone very well!

Movies and TV

Spider-Man into the Spiderverse

I cannot even put into words how much I have to talk about this! I know I’m way past the hype and I pretty much saw it as late as possible in cinemas but here’s why: I’m not a Spiderman fan. I’ve tried to be, I’m just not. I like Tom Holland in Avengers, but I haven’t bothered watching his films. I know I’m a terrible comic book movie fan, but you can’t like them all. I watched up to Andrew Garfield, and although I honestly found his films okay, I just have never got hype about Spiderman. I wasn’t planning to see the Spiderverse at the cinema, although I was intrigued by the trailer and loved that it was Miles Morales they were following. (Plus not gonna lie I am a huge fan of Gwen Stacey in all forms!) What eventually got me, was seeing all of the hype online. Slowly it started to convince me, until I saw people creating their own Spidersonas and realised that the love for this movie was huge. So I decided to give it a go. And honestly, the only thing I can say without any spoilers to show how much I loved this movie: it made a previous non Spiderman fan want to cosplay several characters. If this film can make a Spiderman fan out of me, I’m pretty sure it can make a fan of anyone. Go watch it.

How To Train Your Dragon: 1&2

Speaking of being late to a series, I am seriously late to this one. I tried watching the first many years ago, mainly just because of my uncontrollable love for Jay Baruchel. I would literally watch anything if his iconic voice and hot skinny self was in it (see Fan Boys, I am so far from into Star Wars but I love that film cuz I just adore him as nerdy, awkward Windows <3). For whatever reason at the time I couldn’t get into it and always meant to go back to it. Karl forced me to watch it last weekend and we burned through both movies. I am beyond excited for the third movie, and it is definitely on my list for cinema visits this month. These films are heart warming, fun and carry some really important messages. And now I want my own Toothless plush to cuddle. And my own Hiccup.

Birdbox

I know literally everyone has talked about this and most people are sick of hearing about it so I’ll just keep this brief. This movie messed me up. I truly enjoyed it, but I was sweating like crazy the whole time and actually felt like I should keep my eyes closed. It definitely got in my head and made me nervous. I thought it was an excellent concept and really stood out from other apocolypse films I’ve watched. Also Sandra Bullock is a goddess as usual and I continue my lifelong worship of her.

Maniac

I thought I’d better throw a TV show in here to mix it up. Yet another thing that messed me up. It probably took around 5 episodes for Karl and I to decide if we actually liked this show, and even by the end I’m not sure if we could say that we did. But it was intriguing and completely different from anything else. At the very least I can say that Jonah Hill and Emma Stone have shown how incredibly talented and versatile they are. I can’t even comprehend how difficult it is to play a single character so many opposing ways in one show, but they nailed it and the result was something powerful and unique. By the end of the show, we didn’t realise how attached we had got to the characters and how badly we were rooting for them. Worth watching, at the very least for how much it stands out from the crowd, makes you think and for an example of excellent writing and acting.

Music

I don’t have a particular album that has been my favourite this month, instead it’s an artist. I’ve been on massive James Arthur binge as late, I’ve always liked his music, but recently I’ve realised how much. Every time he comes on the radio I turn it up, and his  voice always makes me all gooey and doe-eyed. So I’ve been listening to a lot of it! Here’s my songs of the month, including my latest James Arthur loves.

Empty Space – James Arthur (How have I only just found out Tom Felton is in the video for this?! This just made top of list!)

Nothing Breaks Like A Heart – Mark Ronson ft Miley Cyrus

Sunflower – Post Malone & Swae Lee

The Power Of Love – Dalton Harris feat James Arthur

Sweet But Pyscho – Ava Max

Without Me – Halsey

  And that’s a wrap!

Hope I’ve been able to give you some inspiration for the month. Let me know what your Jan faves have been in the comments

Peace

Kit xx

January Favourites 2019 Beauty Garnier SkinActive BB Active - Combination to Oily skin BB cream Last time I talked about my love for Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, and although I'll admit that I'm still absolutely smitten with the coverage and smooth finish it gives, if we're getting down to real talk, it's a little out of my budget right now.