#it's so weird seeing D with a different hair colour....it's actually kinda grown on me lmao (but I am definitely not changing from lilac)

[zenmai--jikake--no--komoriuta]

another year, another wedding anniversary! ✨ Luna was the first sprout my ex and I mentored way back in Heavensward, and she's one of the only few who stuck around to make it to endgame and beyond-- every year she sets a dressup theme and it's always a lot of fun! last year I went as a watermelon (fruit salad) and this year I turned D'nyr into Nanaki/Red XIII (any pre-existing FF character) and my glam was a real hit with everyone haha :'D

[peralta-guaranteed]

When they met Jake had a mop of hair (still looked cute) but then he got it cut and went from cute to HOT AF wonder what Amy’s reaction to that was 🤔🤔 or what her reaction to first time seeing him in a suit (suit Jake can step on me)

(gonna smush those together and add the awesome triple Ask part 2, "Amy realizing how hot Jake is early in their friendship like a moment of realization and then it won’t get out of her head)

also, Jake’s suit: like this

and Amy’s dress: like this but in blue

for your imagination pleasures :D

He was cute in a dorky kind of way, she had to admit even before she ever dared to think she might like him.

Well, she didn't exactly have to admit that to anyone, because no one really asked (except for Kylie, who only got a shrug and an eye roll when she inquired about her new co-workers). But she kind of admitted it to herself, whenever she caught a glimpse of his mop of hair bobbing past her desk with a new file, or leaning over her when they were discussing a new case. He was kinda cute.

Annoying and childish and boisterous and a pain to work with, but... in a cute way.

It made no difference to admit that, anyway. It didn't matter. They were co-workers, and that's it. She wasn't here to make friends - especially not with someone as wild and career-hobbling as him. She’d made that decision before she even came to the 99, and it wasn’t going to change.

-*-

He came in with no curls left at all six months into their working relationship, about a month after she’d also admitted to herself that maybe she wasn’t intentionally here to make friends, but had accidentally ended up with a strangely loyal one. 

“Good, right?” He grinned at her with a proud double-pointer to his head, sitting or rather plonking down into his chair across from her while she tried to pry her eyes from him. She had been staring the whole way from the elevator to their desks, but maybe it wasn’t too late to hide that.

It was a bit harder to hide the blush that started at the top of her ears, but she cleared her throat quickly to pull his eyes away from that.

“That’s quite a change.”

“Yeah, Gina set me up with one of her stylist friends. Didn’t work out, but, uh, guess I got something out of it. Which is probably what she was planning for anyway.” He shrugged, answered with a resounding “Uh, duh!” from behind Amy before he stuck his tongue out at the childhood friend she was separating him from.

Something in her face twitched at the mention of another one of his dates - he seemed to be going on a lot of those, and he had no qualms telling everyone so, even though he never elaborated. Why it made her stomach drop a bit every time, she wasn’t quite so sure. Probably because it was so unprofessional to discuss at work, and she was already toeing the line too much joining in with some of his jokes and pranks. He swore McGinley didn’t give a damn, but she was sure she’d seen their captain’s disapproving stare through the half open blinds the last two times Jake had pulled her up from her desk for something definitely not police-related.

Jake was still low-key squabbling with Gina over her head, so she could slip out of that conversation easily, focus on the files she was working on before he came in looking like that, disrupting her… everything. 

“It looks good.” She said instead, cursing herself for opening her mouth the second it closed again, but continuing. “Frames your face much better.”

The infighting stopped, and she could feel Gina’s stare burn into the back of her head. But far more pressing was the look Jake was giving her now, a short blink of… surprise, maybe, before his face broke out into a grin that wasn’t half as goading or over-the-top as usual.

“Uh, I, mh, thanks.” He mumbled, quickly staring down at the files he’d left open yesterday before he left, and she almost thought she could see a blush on the tip of his ears now, finally visible without being hidden underneath all that hair.

But that was surely just her imagination.

-*-

A very overactive imagination, she sighs as she stands in the copier room. An imagination that couldn’t stop staring at him throughout the day, at the way his profile had changed so much now without those curls always in the way, at the short hairs on the back of his neck, her fingers itching to run through them to find out if they’d feel soft or bristly. An imagination that refused to go back to the simple description of ‘cute’.

“I see you, Santiago.” A terrifying voice behind her interrupts her, and she’s glad her files are already in the copier so she can’t throw them at Gina in shock as she turns around to face her.

“What?”

“I see you, staring at my boy.” Gina points two fingers from her eyes into Amy’s direction, a grin breaking out on her face that almost rivals the ‘boy’ she’s talking about. “Getting the hots for the class clown? Gonna go smoochtown on my little bro?”

“As if.” Amy scoffs, maybe a bit too loudly, shaking her head a bit too much. “We’re talking about the same guy here? The one who claims that jelly beans have 4 calories each, so eating 500 a day should fulfil his caloric needs?”

“Uhu.” Gina seems bored now, which is not unusual for her whenever she’s talking to Amy, staring at her fingernails instead. “Keep trying to delude yourself with those negatives, poor girl. Just channel all that unfulfilled desire into some boring paperwork. I’ll be waiting for the day you snap and tear his clothes off right at his desk, so I can be out sick that day and not have to witness it.”

“I’m not going to-” Amy tries to protest, but Gina has already hopped out of the room, her hair bouncing behind her as she gives a wave and leaves her behind with a growl.

She’s not. She’s not going to do anything. There’s nothing to do something about. There- it’s- he’s-

She’s allowed to think someone looks attractive without immediately devolving into sexual thoughts or interest. She can think one of her friends is good-looking without making that weird. She can… she can admit that Jake is her friend and that Jake is attractive and it doesn’t change anything.

It doesn’t.

-*-

They’re all standing in front of the precinct, half shivering because of the wind swiping through their legs, and Amy curses whoever’s idea it was to meet up there instead of straight at the NYPD party two blocks down. We’re supposed to show a unified front as a squad, she remembers Terry saying, arriving together will help with that. 

Well, they apparently won’t even start off together, because they’ve been waiting for Jake - of course, who else? - for close to 15 minutes now, and none of their messages were even answered. (Amy duly noted that hers were actually the only ones signed off with a ‘read’ notification, but she couldn’t think too much about that now, not while she was freezing in a dress she was still worried might be too low cut for a work event, even while Rosa next to her was sporting the most amazing little black dress she’d ever seen.)

“I swear to god, if Peralta isn’t here in 5 minutes, I’ll-” Terry is interrupted in his rant by a far too familiar voice sprinting at them.

“I’m here! I’m here.” Jake coughs a little as he comes to a stop and leans forward, hands on his knees, before standing up with a wide grin as if nothing happened. “I’m here! Let’s go! What are we waiting for?!”

Terry gives him the most dead-set stare he can muster before the group starts moving, all eager to finally get to a place that not only offers free drinks and food, but also heating.

Amy falls back a few steps, fighting with some uncomfortable heels she also should’ve rethought as much as her dress, and finds herself next to Jake, who’s apparently still trying to catch his breath from his run to the precinct. At least that’d explain the little gasp and baited breath as she bonks against him in her next stumble, and finds she’d rather like to stay there - on account of him being warm, of course.

“Geez, Santiago.” His arm wraps around her, suddenly, an even warmer hand rubbing up and down the thin sleeves of the stylish yet impractical soft coat she’d picked. “If you know you run cold all the time, why don’t you bundle up for the weather?”

Because bundling up doesn’t look good, she thinks with a sigh. Bundling up doesn’t leave an impression with the captains at that party. And because, maybe, Kylie had been a little too convincing about her online shopping cart after two glasses of wine each and clicked Buy before Amy could stop her. 

“I wasn’t exactly expecting to spend more than 5 minutes out in the cold today, but we had to wait twice that for you.” She bites back instead, and hates herself for it, because it makes his wonderfully warm arm drop from her side almost immediately.

“Sorry.” He mumbles while staring at the ground. “Hey, you want my coat? It’s fresh dry-cleaned, I promise.”

“I didn’t know you even owned anything but that leatherjacket and at least twenty similar hoodies.”

“Yeah, it’s my grown-up nice jacket I only wear for special events.” He decides to ignore her dig, stroking down the soft grey wool with a strangely proud grin before unbuttoning it. “Here, put it on. Pre-warmed.”

She can’t protest anymore before he slips it over her shoulders, and it is incredibly warm and soft, but that’s not what freezes her mind entirely.

Jake’s in a suit. That much was to be expected, considering the event they were going to specifically asked for it, but it only now dawns on her that she’s never seen him in a suit before, not accounting for his dress blues. And what a suit. It’s dark green, emerald, she thinks it’s called, a colour that works perfect with his light brown curls (slightly grown out again), and there’s- there’s a waistcoat involved, and a pocket square, a  navy blue coloured pocket square, and she realises it’s the exact same shade of blue as her dress, and her mind can’t even focus on how the cut of his suit seems perfectly tailored around his waist while thinking about that, until Charles’ wolf-whistle pulls her out of her fugue.

“Hot damn, Peralta.” Terry nods next to him. “Didn’t expect you to make the effort, to be honest.”

“Gina has this friend who works at a tailor.” He coughs, and yes, there is definitely a blush on his ears now. “Plays himself as a bit of a stylist, but I think he went overboard.”

Charles “Nuh-uh!” mixes with Rosa’s “Why does Gina keep trying to hook you up with horrible people”, and almost overshadows Amy’s “Do you make any fashion choices that aren’t basically Gina-led?”

“Because she’s Gina.” Jake shrugs and seems to answer both Amy and Rosa with that, staunchly ignoring Charles for the moment, which is probably his best bet.

Amy wants to shoot something back, anything, to keep her mind off of that suit and her eyes from staring, but she can’t. She’s glad she has to look forward as they move on, though, focusing more on not stumbling on the uneven pavement with Jake’s warm, heavy coat over her shoulders.

So he looks good in a suit. That’s fine. He cleans up well. Lots of men do. Terry is wearing a nice suit, too. So’s Charles, she has to admit.

But neither of them pull at the seams of her mind like his does. Neither of them makes her wonder how it feels to let her hands slide down his lapels, maybe grab them midway and pull him forward-

The two block walk is far too short to cool her down again, especially with that cursed warm jacket around her, smelling so much like him and his unusual cologne that he’s definitely never worn to work before, but that will be burned into her nose for a while now.

-*-

He helps her slip both his and her jacket off at the coat check, and there seems to be a short moment where he almost drops hers as she turns around again, his eyes rushing up and down her wrap dress, sporting a cleavage and a high slit that really can only be explained by two glasses of wine and Kylie. At least the sleeves are long enough to not make her freeze anymore now that she’s inside.

“Wow.” He mumbles even as she begins pulling at said sleeves, adjusting the collar that already feels like it’s dropped too far.

“I know, it’s too much, my friend-”

“Too much?!” He interrupts with a stare. “Ames, you look-” He seems to be grasping for something to say, and she can see a flash of a lot of words across his mind before he stares at the ground again for a second to find himself. “Good. You look really good.”

She smiles as her eyes drop to the ground as well.

“Thanks. You look good, too.”

He snorts, before lifting his arm in an inviting gesture, and she doesn’t want to rethink it too much as she slips her arm into the hook of his elbow.

“Well, let’s go look good together then.” He says, and yep, she’s definitely rethinking all of that. For the whole evening. Every time he catches her eyes - she’s not staring, she’s not - and smiles at her. The first time he points to his pocket square, mouthing We match! with almost childlike glee in his eyes. The following five times he does it. Even the one time Charles points it out as they find each other in their little group again, met with a round of sighs and a disgruntled “No, Charles” from Jake himself. 

She thinks about it - and about him, and that suit - when he picks up their coats, both swaying and giggling just a little from the free champagne. 

And then she thinks about something a bit more, when he slips his jacket over her shoulders immediately, his hands gliding over her bare neck for just a second, the scent of his cologne from the collar only strengthened by the scent of him right behind her.

So he’s cute. So he’s attractive. So he looks amazing in a suit. 

So she might be a little bit attracted to all that.

It still didn’t change anything.

-*-

what r u wearing 2 NYPD party, he texts her a year later, and she crinkles her nose at his appalling writing.

You know how to write proper English, I’ve seen your reports. She texts back, and then… Why do you want to know?

Thought it would be fun to match again. comes the well-written answer, and she stares at it for a good ten minutes before finally answering.

Green chiffon.

She was going to change her mind about that dress Kylie helped her pick again, but she won’t. Not now.

-*-

What r you gonna wear babeeeee, he pesters her with the 5th message about it in as many days, ever since she sent him the reservations info for their first anniversary dinner.

I told you it’s going to be a surprise.

Not fair! How am I supposed to match?! She grins as she reads it.

Won’t look good on you if you can’t figure that out, detective.

-*-

“I knew it!”, he grins at her wide at the bottom of her stairs as she descends in her navy blue wrap dress, glad it still fits after years in her closet.

“Easy enough for you to say. You probably have a whole colour range of pocket squares ready.”

“Nuh-uh.” He shakes his head, reaching for her hand on the last step already, his other hand unbuttoning the same ‘grown-up nice jacket’ she knows so well by now. “Look?”

She lets out a happy laugh as she’s met with his emerald green suit jacket, a memory burned into her mind for probably forever.

She’s so glad he never changes.

[star-trekkin-across-theuniverse]

Escape, pt2

Word Count: 3635 Tags: @samaxraph99 @shewhorunswithfandoms @distinguishedqueenofbooks @anyakinamidala @anotherotter @little-study-bug  @rampant-salamander @goodnightwife @wanderingkat77 @bluebird214 @superwholockedbeauty @eyeofdionysus @all-time-foes @girl-next-door-writes @feelmyroarrrr @castiels-ass-butt-1967 @haven-in-writing @sistasarah-sallysaidso @dolamrothianlady @from-kitten-to-kitsune

Roxanne sat in her office, a stack of records in front of her. After figuring out what all was on Peter’s cassette, she’d rummaged through the back catalogue in the basement and pulled as many of the vinyl copies of the songs as she could find. She was only missing one or two. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was going to such trouble, maybe it was the panicked look he’d given her when she’d said she couldn’t repair the cassette, but she wanted to rip each song from the record, instead of just downloading a cleaned-up mp3 copy of the song. She’d already picked a used iPod from the stack on her desk and reformatted it, so it was just a matter of getting the music. Whoever had made the mix tape had good taste. It was a pretty awesome collection of seventies music. She connected the turntable to her laptop and started the process of digitizing while working on the books.

There was the occasional interruption from staff, but they were pretty good about leaving her alone when she was actually in the store. She’d spent a lot of time interviewing staff for the store because she didn’t want to constantly be bothered for trivial issues. Most of her staff had been there since she’d bought the place. She’d been diligent about ensuring they were capable of managing if her other interests took her away, and she’d ensured that bonuses and raises accompanied years of service and added responsibilities. Having a low turnover in the store was better for everyone involved. With the exception of the Sunday girl, who was going to find herself the no-day girl if she didn’t show for another shift, Roxanne would have been hard pressed to complain about anyone on the staff. They were so good that it allowed her to continue to manage the important details, like the bookkeeping she was working on while she made Peter’s mix, without bringing in an outside contractor. And it was those little things that made her more inclined to try to make the store work, despite just breaking even most quarters.

“Rox, there’s a chick up front looking for info about Starlady and the Astronauts? She’s wondering if there’s going to be an album?” Jeremy had worked the store since he was in high school, and was nearly finished his accounting degree. He said there were a bunch of different certifications within accounting, and he’d still be a couple of years before he was fully where he wanted to be with his education. Roxanne often worried that working at the shop was preventing him from moving forward with his life. He argued that the shop was the perfect place for a university student. He had plenty of time to study, he was making a decent wage, and he loved what he was doing. But he also didn’t talk about what would happen when he finally finished pursuing all his academic dreams.

“There’s a bootleg of last night’s concert available on their website, but right now there’s no plans to release an album,” Roxanne croaked, her voice hoarse from the previous night. The concert had been amazing. As expected, when the crowd recognized all the big names on the stage, the place had gone nuts. She’d tried to see if Peter had made it, but the venue was dark and crowded, and once the band had started it was just too much to keep track of. She changed records and started on the next song, getting back to bills and payroll. The afternoon rolled by quickly. Jeremy brought pizza back at closing and sat with her to help finish up payroll. He’d been helping with the bookkeeping since he’d started university, and Roxanne paid him a little extra to help when she was too busy to manage. They’d already agreed he’d take over all the account management stuff once he finished school, as a contractor. It meant she would still have someone she trusted working with her.

“Is it oldies night? I’ve been loving everything that’s been playing this afternoon. I kinda wanted to patch it through on the store speakers,” he commented through a bite of pizza.

“I had a customer come in yesterday with a worn out mix tape. He was really broken up about it. I don’t know why, but my heart just went out to him. I figured ripping everything from the vinyl would make the transition from cassette to mp3 easier for him,” Roxanne offered, reaching for her own slice.

“A mix tape? That’s so eighties!” Jeremy laughed.

“Hey, watch it, puppy!” Roxanne protested. “Mix tapes were a serious sign of undying affection. Someone spent time on a mix tape for you, it meant they loved you. There was an art to them. Getting the timing between songs right, picking the right music to go together. We didn’t have shuffle back then, you got the songs in the order they were on that cassette.”

“How romantic,” Jeremy deadpanned. Roxanne rolled her eyes.

“My brother made me a mix tape every birthday from the time I was five on. It wasn’t just romance. Mikey was older than me so he was giving me a music education. You can thank all this,” Roxanne gestured around the store, “to my big brother making me mix tapes.”

“So this guy you’re doing this for. Is he hot?” Jeremy asked. Roxanne blushed and looked away.

“Doesn’t matter. It was the tears in his eyes that motivated me,” she argued.

“If an ugly dude had come in and cried about his mix tape, would you have taken the challenge?” Jeremy pressed. Roxanne folded her arms across her chest and cocked an eyebrow.

“Yes I would have. Because this guy might have been hot, but he had d-bag written all over him,” Roxanne countered. “And I avoid d-bags.”

“Well, you try, but you certainly have a weakness where a hot asshole is concerned,” Jeremy laughed. “Rox, I don’t get it. You’re gorgeous, you’re successful. You could be hanging out at your place, poolside, with a cabana boy fanning you with a palm frond while you drank slushy alcoholic bevvies. Instead you’re here, balancing the books and making a mix tape for a dude you don’t even know.”

“You know I don’t have a pool,” Roxanne dismissed with a laugh.

“My point is, you don’t have to do this anymore. You’ve hit the jackpot and cashed the check, Rox. Why don’t you enjoy it?” Jeremy pressed.

“Because this store is all I had. And I love it,” she shrugged.

“The Terrans will put me in a cage and stab me with needles. I ain’t fucking going!” Rocket threw himself into a chair and glared at Peter.

“But you know about the google!” Peter protested.

��No. Go to a library and ask to be shown how to use it. I’m not going with you!” Rocket declared and turned his head away. Peter threw up his hands in disgust and turned to Gamora.

“My skin is green. I’m not stupid enough to think they won’t notice,” she arched an eyebrow.

“I saw people with tattoos and all colours of hair last night, Gamora, no one will notice your skin,” Peter tried to reason with her.

“Peter, I’m not going to help you in your quest to procreate with one of every being in the galaxy. If you want to go research this woman, go on your own.” Gamora was firm. Peter sighed and rolled his eyes.

“For your information, I’ve already been with a Terran.” Peter grabbed his rucksack and headed out.

The library wasn’t far. It seemed nothing was really far in the cities in Terra, despite the overdependence on vehicles. Peter smiled at the librarian and explained what he needed, pulling out his most charming manners. She was more than happy to help him get set up with a computer, and slipped him a piece of paper with a string of numbers on it. A phone number, if he remembered correctly. “One of every being in the galaxy indeed,” he grumbled as he typed his query into the search engine.

The main page for the band was all explosions, and graphics, and tour dates. It didn’t really help him to find out more about the band, or specifically, about Roxy Rain. He backed out of that page, and picked the next page. It was laid out like an encyclopedia entry, with information about when the band was formed, how many albums they’d released, what kind of tours they’d done. When he got to the band members section, he clicked the link for the lead singer and a similar page for her opened. He read through all the background and history, how she’d grown up singing in a girl’s choir, formed her first band as a teenager, played her first concert instead of going to prom. But there was no information on where to find her. And all the photos of her were promotional shots, where she was artistically backlit or on stage and her wild hair was everywhere. There was one shot that Peter particularly liked where her hair was dyed all the colours of the rainbow. It had been blonde with hot pink undertones at the concert.

He noticed the sidebar on the page held all the important details about her. Roxanne Raintree. “That’s weird,” he muttered to himself. How did he encounter two women with the same name in one day? He went back to reading the rest of the information in the body of the entry, tapping the pencil the librarian had given him against his teeth. There was nothing there was would suggest he would be able to find her on his own, other than the article saying she lived in Portland and ever since the band’s first platinum album, had focused a lot of her free time on supporting the independent music scene in the city. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. The librarian came around to check on him.

“Oh, you’re reading up on Pixie Stix? I’m not really a fan. I heard Roxy Rain did a concert with some other musicians last night though,” she offered.

“Yeah, it was good. I’d never heard of Pixie Stix before yesterday, but the name of the band last night intrigued me,” Peter admitted.

“Star something, right?”

“Starlady and the astronauts.” He pulled out the flyer. The librarian took a look at it and handed it back.

“She probably hand lettered it the flyer. She cut out a lot of costs when Pixie Stix was starting. Just by word of mouth advertising and drawing band flyers. A lot of people still get her to do their flyers for them. I might not like their music, but they give back a lot. So I buy at least one single every release, just on principle.” The librarian was turning out to be more informative than the google had been.

“Really? If I was in a band, and I wanted my poster lettered, how would I find her?” Peter asked.

“Honey, if you were in a band, you would know who Pixie Stix were!” She laughed. “The Vinyl Frontier usually can track her down. It’s on –“

“I know where it is. I was in there yesterday,” Peter interrupted and stood up.

“You’re not a psycho stalker or something, are you?” The librarian’s brow was knit in concern. He laughed.

“No,” he shook his head. She didn’t appear to buy it. “Can I tell you a secret? The truth is, I’ve got this friend, and he’s a huge fan. And he’s really sick. So I thought, if I could get her autograph, maybe that would make him feel better,” he explained. “It’s, like, really sad.”

“You are so sweet!” The librarian clutched a hand to her chest and tilted her head. She ran a hand down his arm. Peter smiled, flexing the muscles of his forearm as her hand ran across it. Her eyes widened and met his, and he flashed his most charming grin before standing.

“Thank you again for all you help,” he paused to read her nametag, “Sondra. I appreciate it.”

Peter had put his restraint to the test and just waited until Tuesday morning to head back to the record store. It was sorely testing his restraint though. He kept seeing the image of Roxy Rain in his head, the tight bustier she’d worn on stage, the thigh high boots. How she wasn’t every pubescent Terran male’s fantasy, he was unsure, but he hadn’t been able to find a poster of just her anywhere. There were plenty of posters with the whole band, but he was thinking more along the lines of the Farrah Fawcett on a Corvette poster his granddad had up in the garage when he was a kid. Something that was just Roxy Rain, looking as sexy as she had on stage.

The bells on the door jangled as he walked in and a tall skinny kid looked up from a textbook at the counter. “Heya.”

“Hi. Is Roxanne in? I dropped of a cassette with her on Sunday –“

“Oh, seventies power tape guy! Sure, yeah, hold on,” the kid interrupted and picked up the phone sitting beside him. He typed something in and looked back up at Peter. “She’s picking through inventory in the basement. She’ll be right up.”

Peter nodded and looked over the kid’s shoulder to the flyers lining the wall behind the cash desk. They were all hand lettered, the same block printing in the bottom left corner giving the details of each concert they advertised. He thought about what the librarian had said and realized the flyers must all be Roxy Rain’s work.

“Same artist do all those posters?” Peter asked.

“Yeah. She apparently never runs out of energy. A million things on the go all the time,” he laughed. Roxanne crashed through the door to the back in a cloud of dust, carrying a box that was stacked high with posters and what looked like t-shirts.

“Jer, come give me a hand, I’ve got another box downstairs. Listen, it’s October, and I just dug out all this Thriller stuff, do you think we can move it? I have promo materials here from when the album came out. I think we have at least a dozen copies of it on vinyl.” Roxanne hadn’t noticed Peter over the mountain of merchandise in her arms. He grabbed the box from her and brought it up to the counter for Jeremy. Jeremy pointed to the floor beside the desk and scurried to the door to help Roxanne with the rest.

“It’s also the 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters, Rox, it might be a good Halloween tie in.” He took the next box from Roxanne and leaned over the top of it. “Seventies mix tape guy is here. And he’s smokin’ hot. No wonder you wanted to help him. You could bounce a quarter off that ass. Please let me know if you wind up bouncing a quarter off that ass.”

“Jeremy!” Roxanne hissed, barely containing a laugh. “I already told you –“

“Well for my sake then, I hope he’s gay,” Jeremy interrupted. Roxanne didn’t manage to contain the laugh. Peter looked up from the desk and smiled.

“Hey, Pete. I’m just gonna grab everything from my desk, and we’ll go over it,” Roxanne called and leaned back to where she’d left the iPod. She tossed everything she’d put together for him in a small box and came to the counter. “Okay, first things first. Do you still want me to speak to you like you are a complete idiot?”

“That would probably be a good plan,” Peter nodded.

“This is an iPod. It’s a type of mp3 player made by Apple –“

“The Mac people? Man, I used to love playing Oregon Trail in school. Is it weird to admit that? Is it weirder to admit it because I’m actually in Oregon?” Peter interrupted. Roxanne paused, unsure how to answer that.

“Yeah. The same people,” she paused. “Anyhow, iPod. It’s like a tiny computer that stores digitized music files on it. I ripped all the songs from the tape –“

“You ripped my tape?” Panic caused Peter to interrupt again.

“No, it’s a, forget it. I didn’t rip your tape. I converted all the songs from your tape from the original vinyl to an mp3 file. I didn’t clean them up or anything, so they’ll have the same quality of sound to them that the cassette had. I put the whole mix tape on the iPod in a playlist called ‘Awesome Mix, Volume 1’. So that’s the cassette part of things.” Roxanne handed the cassette back to Peter, and watched as the tension melted out of his shoulders. She kind of wanted to know why the damn thing was so important. “So here’s where things get complicated. Without knowing what kind of stereo is in your car, it’s hard to figure out what you need to connect the iPod to the system. I’ve included a bunch of cables and stuff, but your best bet might be to just use the cassette converter. You plug it in just like a regular cassette, and then plug this part into the headphone jack. You’ll need to keep a power supply going to the iPod too, but you could connect the charging cable to the power socket or lighter.”

“Cool. What about if I’m not in the vehicle and want to listen to music?” Peter asked.

“Just make sure it’s charged and plug your headphones into it.” Roxanne pulled out a plastic wrapper from the pocket of her baggy cargo pants. “I slip mine into this when I go running so I don’t have to carry it. I included a protective case for the iPod. Don’t get it wet. Mp3 players are way fussier than older portable music players. I mean, they’re way better than a Discman, but I beat my Walkman into submission as a kid and it always kept working.”

“Yeah, I still have mine,” Peter admitted. The iPod slipped out of Roxanne’s hand and clattered onto the counter.

“You still have a Walkman?” She asked. Her tone made Peter feel awkward.

“So I went to that concert last night,” he changed the subject. Roxanne beamed up at him, making him feel even more awkward.

“I was wondering if you’d made it. I didn’t see you, but it was a madhouse.” She slipped the iPod into the protective sleeve for him as she talked. “Did you enjoy it?”

“They were really great. That lead singer was something else,” he admitted. He thought he caught Roxanne blushing, but she was pushing her hair out of her face and couldn’t quite tell.

“There’s a bootleg of the concert on their website. It’s five bucks. The money all goes to a youth arts program here.” She dropped the iPod back into the box of stuff.

“Would I need another iPod for that, or –“

“Nah, I can upload it onto your iPod right now, if you don’t mind waiting a few minutes. You can store about 30 hours of music on this. Follow me.” She grabbed the iPod and led him back to the staff room. While he watched, she connected the iPod to her laptop and with a few keystrokes, sat back at appraised him. “So what’s your story, Peter Quill? You don’t strike me as a complete idiot, if I’m completely honest with you. So why don’t know you about mp3 players?”

Peter smirked. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” He looked around, at the walls papered in concert flyers. “Are they collectible?”

“The flyers?” Roxanne asked.

“Yeah,” Peter confirmed. “Are they collectible because of who does the art? Is that why you’ve got them all over back here and at the counter?”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of it that way. Not that I know of? I just like having them around so I know what I’ve done for other concerts when I’m drawing up new ones.” Roxanne surveyed the wall and pointed at a clear spot at the desk.

“You did these?” Peter asked. He looked at her again, and caught a hint of pink peeking out from under her blond hair. His heart hammered in his chest. Roxanne laughed.

“Yeah. A girl has to do what a girl has to do to make ends meet. It used to be thin times. The flyers paid my bills when I was living in the basement here,” she admitted.

“I thought Roxy Rain did them?” He asked. Roxanne laughed.

“You’ve been doing your homework, Pete! How cute are you?” She unplugged the iPod and handed it to him. “We’ll square you away up at the till.” She moved toward the door to the store. Peter put his hand on her shoulder and furrowed his brow as he looked at her.

“You’re Roxy Rain?” He was dumbstruck.

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“From the Pixie Stix?” He prompted.

“Yeah,” she nodded again.

“Okay, like you said on Sunday, I basically just crawled out from under a rock in outer Mongolia, but you’re the lead singer for the most successful band in all of Terra right now.” There was a pinching between Peter’s eyebrows that warned him he was going to get a headache.

“Where the fuck is Terra?” Roxanne asked.

“I mean, the entire world. Most successful band in the world right now,” he corrected and mentally kicked himself.

“Well, we’re not U2. But we do have the number one album on the Billboard chart right now,” Roxanne confirmed.

“Why the hell are you working in a record store?” Peter asked.

“I own it.”

[mysticdelphox97]

Tagged by Kalosstarters c:

Welp, I got tagged by Tiia ( @kalosstarters ) so I guess I gotta do this lmao.

Rules: once you have been tagged you are supposed to write 92 truths about yourself. At the end, choose however many people you want to tag!

(this was 13 fucking pages long on Word jesus. I’ll add a “Keep Reading” break so it doesn’t take up people’s dashboards)

LAST…

[1] drink: a mocha coffee cooler from Baker’s Dozen ^^

[2] phone call: uhh, mom probably.

[3] text message: From Mom: “Here.” (she was picking me up from classes)

[4] song you listened to: I’ve got Pandora Radio playing while doing this, so I’ve heard Panic at the Disco and Against the Current so far.

[5] time you cried: Sunday night because I completely forgot that I had an art critique due the next day and I completely forgot and it was midnight and I was trying to churn out this pathetic paper for something I left until the last minute and [SCREEAAMMMMINGGG]

Phew. Okay, I think I’m good now.

 HAVE YOU EVER…

[6] dated someone twice: I haven’t even dated someone once.

[7] been cheated on: Considering I’ve never been in a relationship, thankfully I can say no lol.

[8] kissed someone and regretted it: Can’t regret something I’ve never done sooooo xD

[9] lost someone special: Yeah… ;^;

[10] been depressed: Ugh… yes. It’s… pretty awful, honestly. Couple that with anxiety and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

[11] gotten drunk and thrown up: I haven’t gotten drunk before, but I have thrown up after drinking an excessive amount of one of those Starbucks mocha drinks when I was a kid. I can’t even look at one of those things anymore because of that.

 LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS:

[12] Purple, like an orchid. C:

[13] Sky blue is rather pretty~

[14] I know black isn’t technically a color but I sure have a lot of black shirts pfft.

 IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU…

[15] made new friends: Tiia and Beth ( @wingsonghalo)~! :D they might be internet friends but I love talking to them every day <3

[16] fallen out of love: Never really been in love tbh. I’ve had crushes that I’ve grown out, that’s close enough right?

[17] laughed until you cried: That’s pretty much me all the time tbh.

[18] found out someone was talking about you: In high school I think… but they weren’t really bad things.

[19] met someone who changed you: Like, for better/worse? I guess most of the people I’ve met have influenced me in some way or another.

[20] found out who your true friends are: Yep. Kinda happened after I graduated from high school.

[21] kissed someone on your Facebook list: Other than my mom and dad? Nope.

 GENERAL…

[22] how many of your tumblr friends do you know in real life: Other than my friend Kelsie, and a few people from high school. Sadly I do not know Tiia or Beth in real life and that makes me very sad, I wanna meet you guys so bad dang it T^T

[23] do you have any pets: Hah, oh god yeah. Three horses, three sheep (we used to have hundreds when I was a kid), three cats (two are mine and they’re my babies c: ), and two little dogs—a purebred pug and a pug/Pekingese mix. Oh, and my family lives on a farm, in case that needed some clarification.

[24] do you want to change your name: pfft hell no, I love my name. Besides, you’re not gonna meet many people who’s name is Rosaleen (and spelled exactly like that too)

[25] what did you do for your last birthday: I went out to a restaurant with some of my family. It was a school day for my brothers though, and my younger bro had football practice, so it was really just me, my mom, my grandma, and my sister with her baby.

[26] what time did you wake up: a little before 9 AM since I had to go to class.

[27] what were you doing at midnight last night: Pumping out mini profiles for my Pokémon fankids because my priorities are trash. Oh, and playing Candy Crush Jelly.

[28] name something you cannot wait for: MarissonShipping Week! :D I can’t wait to participate in it!!

[29] when was the last time you saw your mother: This morning when I got dropped off at college.

[30] what is one thing you wish you could change about your life: I wish I didn’t have social anxiety so I could actually go out and be productive, and not be so terrified of social interaction with strangers. It’s awful.

[31] what are you listening to right now: Whatever’s playing on Pandora Radio. When I got to this question, “Blood Like Gasoline” by Against the Current was playing.

[32] have you ever talked to a person named tom: Uhh, I knew a Tom in high school… he was kind of a bum though.

[33] something that is getting on your nerves: Whenever my brother doesn’t put away the dishes properly, or doesn’t put them all away. IT’S NOT THAT HARD BRO. HONESTLY.

[35] elementary: Like, elementary school? I guess it was okay… well, except for the boys constantly picking on me. That sucked. And that’s about the time my parents separated. That also sucked. Yeah, elementary school just really sucked.

[36] high school: Oh man I really miss the high school I went to. I flourished so well there and had a great time.

[37] college: Honestly… pretty boring. I’m just taking my general studies and getting them out of the way before I transfer to another college, so I can focus on what I love. The problem is, I really don’t know what I want to do with that. It’s very frustrating.

[38] hair colour: Oh god it always changes because it’s got a bunch of different highlights. It’s like, a reddish-brown with gold highlights, and it gets lighter in the sun. It’s really weird.

[39] long or short hair: Uhh, right now it’s like, a little over shoulder-length. I usually keep it a bit shorter because I never do much with my hair.

[40] do you have a crush on someone: Nope, and when I did get crushes it was always on the wrong kind of person. So I kinda hate crushes on real people since it always disappoints pfft.

[41] what do you like about yourself?: Oh jeez, what DO I like about myself? Well… I guess the fact that I can exceed my own expectations? Like, with driving, I didn’t think I’d do well with it at all—and now that I’ve been driving for over a year now, I’m actually a lot better at it. And on a couple of exams that I took a few weeks ago, I thought I’d get at least a B on them; turns out that I got A’s on both of them. And I like that a lot lol

[42] piercings: I’ve got one in my earlobes, and in high school I used to wear earrings all the time. Now it’s like, kinda sporatic.

[43] blood type: I think it’s a B-. RedCross really wants me to donate again because they keep calling me lmao.

[44] nickname: I go by Mystic on Tumblr and Rose in real life.

[45] relationship status: Single, and tbh that doesn’t bother me too much.

[46] zodiac sign: Virgo c:

[47] pronouns: she/her

[48] fav tv show: Lately I’ve been really into Forensic Files—it’s about older cases and the techniques that were used to solve them. I also love Bones and Criminal Minds. And, of course, there’s the Pokémon Anime.

[49] tattoos: Nope. Though I should get the backs of my hands tattooed so I know which one’s left and which one’s right. It’s a dumb thing to forget but agh I forget way too often.

[50] right or left handed: Right-handed!

 FIRST…

[51] surgery: When I was in first grade I broke my left arm and needed surgery. I also had my tonsils and adenoids removed.

[52] piercing: Ears. I believe I got them in eighth grade.

[53] best friend: My friend Miranda, we’ve been best friends since elementary school c: she’s mostly working now but I usually try to get together with her if her schedule allows.

[55] vacation: I remember going to Washington DC for the first time in fifth grade for a weekend. I don’t remember a whole lot about it though. I guess my first ‘real’ vacation was the class trip I went on in eighth grade, which was also to Washington DC but it was for a whole week. Though I twisted my foot literally the day before I had to leave, so I hobbled about on crutches for the most part, and I had a wheel chair for one of the night tours. A lot of my classmates had fun pushing me around in it lol.

[56] pair of trainers: Is that like, a kind of shoe or sneaker? I’m afraid I have no clue.

 RIGHT NOW…

[57] eating: Nothing. I have a protein bar but I’m kinda stuffed from the breakfast sandwich I had earlier.

[58] drinking: Still working on my mocha coffee cooler.

[59] I’m about to: Eventually post this, preferably before I go to class at 2:00 PM.

[60] listening to: I think I answered this question already earlier… well, now Pandora Radio is playing “Miss Jackson” by Panic at the Disco.

[61] waiting for: uh, nothing in particular. I guess for this day to be over?

[62] want: I can’t really think of anything at the moment.

[63] get married: Ehh, I guess of the person is rich I wouldn’t mind. Though if they want kids I’ll have to drag them to the nearest adoption center, there’s plenty of children there. I don’t necessarily want to procreate when there’s kids that can be adopted into a loving home.

[64] career: Currently a suffering student pfft. I guess I’d like to be an accomplished author or someone who works with animals. Maybe I could even help write movies? Who knows.

 WHICH IS BETTER…

[65] hugs or kisses: I’m a sucker for hugs

[66] lips or eyes: Eyes are nice.

[67] shorter or taller: Meh, I’m not picky.

[68] older or younger: Ehh, not picky here either.

[69] romantic or spontaneous: I like both tbh c:

[70] nice arms or nice stomach: bruh do I gotta choose. Bruh.

[71] sensitive or loud: sensitive

[72] hook up or relationship: Relationship

[73] troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant

 HAVE YOU EVER…

[74] kissed a stranger? Definitely not.

[75] drank hard liquor? I think I tried it (with parent supervision of course). It was nasty lmao.

[76] lost glasses/contact lenses? I don’t believe so. I can’t exactly see without my glasses so they’re usually on my face or on my nightstand.

[77] turned someone down: I think someone asked me out in sixth grade and I turned him down. I kinda felt a little bad because the people I was friends with at the time teased him about it.

[78] sex on first date? Bruh I haven’t even been on a date lmao xD

[79] broken someone’s heart? If I ever did I’m so sorry ;;

[80] had your own heart broken? Yeah…

[81] been arrested? No

[82] cried when someone died? Yes

[83] fallen for a friend? Yeah, it was a crush I had on a guy friend in middle school. We both loved Pokémon and would pretend to have battles during recess. We drifted apart eventually, and he hung out a lot with this other girl. I guess he had a crush on her, but I’m not sure. I kinda miss that.

  DO YOU BELIEVE IN…

[84] yourself? Uhhh, probably not as much as I should...

[85] miracles? It depends

[86] love at first sight? Meh, not really.

[87] Santa Claus? Kinda grew out of that a while ago lol

[88] kiss on the first date? Sure why not?

[89] angels?: I’m kind of indifferent.

 OTHER…

[90] current best friend’s name: Miranda, Kelsie, Beth, and Tiia c:

[91] eye colour: brown

[92] favourite movie: I recently watched Moana and I absolutely loved it, so I’m gonna roll with Moana! :)

 I can’t really think of anyone to tag at the moment, so if anyone wants to do this you’re more than welcome to ^.^

[tumblunni]

Miscellaneous Rune Factory 4 Secrets/Lil Cute Things I Noticed!

Dunno if any of this is helpful, and probably most people already know cos im a dummy who didnt read any walkthroughs or anything, but MEH I wanna squee about how neat these details are anyway! :D

* Every super giant version of a vegetable has a unique name (E.g. Doom Pumpkin, Ultra Toyherb and Maximum Pink) And did you notice that in the credits all the english translation team use one of these as a nickname? That’s adorable! * One of the requests is a tad confusing cos it asks to harvest a ‘Shining Tree’ but the crop is actually named Twinkle Tree. (Even though the seed is Shining Seed) I got stumped on that for a while cos I thought the tree still had another growth stage if I watered it more. Aside from that I havent seen a single translation mistake, which is amazing! * You can get unique dialogue if you have a character in your party while inspecting certain parts of the map. So far all I’ve found is that Arthur explains all the mysterious crates of trading items on the airship, and margaret gives you free fruit if you check the various things in her house. (only once though!) She also talks about how some famous historical composers were part of the De Sainte Coquille family. (for example Beet Hoven XD) * You can befriend boss monsters which is Really Friggin Cool and I’m glad I discovered it by accident instead of reading a guide! Its just so badass to use their hella annoying attacks against enemies and tear them aprt, or ride about on something that takes up the entire map! * But yeah anyway the fun trivia part: the secret boss recruitment items for the guardian rematches are the same as the best friendship items for the characters themselves! Marionetta is the easiest to recruit cos she just loves the highest level cake items, which you can get fairly often in Porco and Dylas’s daily food shop. Oh bonus fun tip- they each sell different dishes each day so check both if you’re looking for something! It can help a lot when you need like thirty damn Apple Pie/Cheesecake to capture your best friend’s monster self. *Thunderbolt likes the giant crop version of carrots, but i havent grown one yet. I’m not sure what exactly Ambrosia and Sarcophogus like, is there even a higher level version of honey and mushrooms...? Maybe its a high level flower and one of the lategame salted fish recipes...? * Oh and it seems some boss monsters who have a particularly large amount of attacks have some that they cant use while you’re riding them, since there’s only three buttons. Marionetta cant use the one where she throws plush toys unless you dismount. And it seems she can’t ever use the one where she locks you in a treasure chest while she’s a pet monster, I guess it was hard to reprogam the animation for different enemies? * Also i just find it silly cute that marionetta’s ride animation has her as if she’s on an invisible motorbike, for no logical reason! * It seems Pico actually was part of the Marionetta guardian monster, even though she could still manifest as a ghost? or something? The concept art shows a pair of monsterous hands with eyeballs that operate the marionette strings, and Marionetta’s pet monster description gives this other monster the name Handetta and seems to talk about it as if it has Pico’s personality. I dunno, maybe monster-dolce manifested a pico duplicate because she was lonely, or pico was casting a spell to create those marionette hands so she could keep her monsterified friend from hurting people? Its an interesting lil trivia that gives me fanfic ideas! * The Dead Tree boss monster’s apples are apparantly flat 2D textures, you just cant see cos it never turns its head while fighting you. But it looks kinda hilarious when its your pet! * If you wear a costume and go on a date with someone, it seems they’re quite likely to change into their version of the costume too. And if they’re wearing a costume on the world map they’ll stay in it if you add them to your party, and won’t change back until you send them home. I had fun always grabbing everybody during beach day and slumber parties before I was able to unlock the costumes for myself! It was a nice preview cos certain characters wear the same costume as the protagonist, just in different colours. (Btw this only works for swimsuit and pyjamas, not the rainbow of recolours for the default outfit) * For some reason characters still say ‘i wont go on a date til you get rid of that third wheel’ even when your other party member is just a monster. I would have thought it would be perfectly fine to bring my pet along :P I kinda hope that if we get a rune factory 5 then maybe there could be two-seater monsters where you can both ride while on a date and get special cuteness! :D * if you clear the leon karnak revisited dungeon before getting the super secret postgame quest to revive [certain person who died in the ending], you get a bonus awkward scene of reaching the top and nothing is there but Leon’s two shrine fox statues. Protagonist says ‘i just wanted to visit you guys’ and they’re like ‘wtf this is most irregular’. You can even give them gifts! (but they dont have a friendship bar to raise so youre just wasting your items lol) * if you clear the maya road snowfield dungeon before starting the act 2 quest where you’re SUPPOSED to clear that dungeon, nothing actually happens and you just cant walk through the final door to the next dungeon. Then annoyingly when you do initiate the quets all the switches in the dungeon reset so you have to do it again even though your map shows that you already finished it. I just find it odd cos Leon Karnak showed the developers thought about sequence breaking, but here they didnt. I was annoyed cos I stumbled in there entirely by accident and didnt even realize I had to initiate a quest first! * For some reason Doug hates bread and toast but is fine about sandwiches. And its a bit unintuitive to figure out Leon’s ‘likes poisonous things’ tip, cos he reacts the same as everyone else when you give him most poisonous dungeon items- getting pissed off that you gave him ‘trash’. IM SORRY LEON! It seems he only likes mushrooms and certain fish thatre stated to be poisonous uncooked. But then every other fish he only likes it if its cooked. Why u confusig, Leon?? * Dylas has the most favourite items, loving carrots, milk, fish, sashimi and anything else related. Kinda ironic that the self-proclaimed grumpy guts is the easiest to befriend! * I’m not sure if this is official canon or not, but it might be possible that Doug is related to Zaid from Rune Factory 3. Both of them have a backstory of their tribe being destroyed by invading humans, and they share silver eyes that might possibly be that tribe’s trait? (I dont think any other character has them) * Daria from RF3 could also possibly be Margaret’s sister. Raven says that there’s a resembelance between Margaret and ‘an elf in my village’, and Margaret mentions having a sister who’s an artist, so it might be her? * Oh and more obviously Porcoline is related to the De Saint Coquille family from RF3. And I havent personally played RF1 and 2 yet but from what I’ve heard there are other De Saint Coquilles cameoing in every game in the series? Thats cool! I wonder if they all share that same weird art style? * For some reason your son/daughter character always has Frey’s colourscheme even if you play as Lest. That’s really weird! I guess maybe they ran out of memory space to add two sets, but why didnt they just make the male and female protagonist have the same hair colour? * The promotional Nintendo Dream manga has the romances for the protagonists set as Dolce for Lest and Dylas for Frey. So thats the closest thing we have to an answer on the developers’ favourite routes, and we can assume maybe they liked Frey as the main protagonist? Though I’m not personally too hung up on which option is more canon, lol!