#kinda off topic but I should wear hats more

[okcoolthanks]

I know it’s a they day but damn I wish I was just a dude with rlly shitty facial hair that he cuts with kitchen scissors cause it feels bad when it’s too long and has stupid hair cause he also cuts it with kitchen scissors (scissors in the kitchen he doesn’t actually use them for kitchen things) and has a lame ass clothing style because he shops exclusively at goodwill with dark under eye bags cause he sucks and forgets to sleep

[julienbakerpls]

save a horse, ride a cowgirl 18+

Julien Baker/Reader

"Alright that's a wrap on the Alternative Press boygenius cover!" the creative director called out, it was incredibly hot but you were getting even hotter. You hadn't expected the cowboy theme at all and you certainly weren't prepared for the effect it would have on you. Specifically Julien in a cowboy hat, thinking back you don't think in all of your time as a couple that you'd seen her wear one.

"Hey Punk, what do you think?" Julien said laughing as she posed in the hat.

"I think you should keep it, and definitely wear it, like a lot." You said, blushing up at her from where you were sitting. You watched as she let that perfect goofy smile spread across her face.

"Oh yeah, this whole look kinda doing it for you?" She said coming to stand between your legs, kneeling to place her hands on your thighs squeezing them gently.

"Jay... you have no idea." You spoke softly, pushing the hat lower on her head to shield her face from the sun more. She blushed as a smirk slid across her face.

"You know... they did say we could keep whatever we wanted from wardrobe. Can you think of any use we could get out of it?" She said, fighting the laugh that was already dancing in her eyes.

"I mean... I could think of one or two different... positions." You said, leaning up and biting her bottom lip playfully.

"Fuck... Baby, is one of them maybe you sitting on my face." She said into your neck pulling you even closer. Julien wanted so badly for you to sit on her face but to be honest it scared you thinking of how easily she could suffocate.

"Princess, I know that look you WILL not suffocate me.... and if you do... i'll die doing what and who I love most." She said, placing a tender kiss to your neck.

"Julien..." You whined, looking into her big brown eyes, eyes that she knew how to use to her advantage.

"Okay we'll try it." You sighed, knowing if you were ever truly uncomfortable with anything she would drop it immediately. You watched her adorable puppy pout turn into the big goofy grin you love so much.

"I can't wait for you to ride my face, Princess." Julien said, pulling you up from your sitting position and licking her way into your mouth. The kiss was a heated mess of tongues and teeth and you were already feeling it between your thighs.

"Are we leaving now, or do you still have stuff you need to do with the boys?" You ask, pulling away from her. She smiled up at you kissing your neck, where she could reach.

"We're all set." She tugged you forward to follow after her, making her way over to where Phoebe and Lucy were still dressed as cowboys.

"So are we all keeping the hats?" Lucy asked, looking from Julien to Phoebe.

"Of course, think of all the places I can wear this!" Phoebe laughed.

"Okay we're heading out, i'll see y'all tomorrow at rehearsal." Julien said, Kissing both Phoebe and Lucy goodbye.

"Okay love you." Lucy said, also adding a wave to you, so you'd know you were included in it.

"Love ya!" Phoebe called, diving directly into another topic of conversation with Lucy.

"I love you both!" Julien called back to them.

-

The car ride to your house was filled with Julien humming along to the radio, one hand on the steering wheel the other rubbing your thigh. She was practically vibrating with excitement over the prospect of you sitting on her face. She pulled in to the driveway, reaching over to unbuckle your seatbelt for you, placing a kiss to your neck.

"Do you want takeout tonight?" you asked to fill the already heated silence. Julien laughed, raising her eyebrows at you.

"Baby, I think we both know that I don't care as long as I get to ea-" You cut her off by placing a kiss to her lips, climbing out of the car.

"You've been spending way too much unsupervised time with Phoebe!" You laughed, going to the drivers side of the car and opening her door. She also climbed out, smiling sheepishly at you.

"I also thought of something else cheesy to say but I figured it might be too much." She smiled up at you leaning her back against the car. Her face flushing with pink.

"And what was it." You asked pressing her more firmly to the car with your body.

"Save a horse.... ride a cowgirl." She grinned up at you, still wearing the hat and winking. You couldn't help the blush that spread across your face.

"Have I told you how much I love you today?" You asked, kissing her sweetly on the lips. She smiled into the kiss, pulling away slightly to mumble something incoherent against your lips. You pressed your leg between hers, adding pressure. Julien arches up into you, moaning into your mouth. You feel her start to grind her hips down onto your leg with more intensity.

You pull away from her lips and start pressing kisses into her neck, grabbing onto her hips helping her movements.

"Mmhmm fuck.... Baby.." She moans throwing her head back. Pressing kisses down onto her shoulder before biting it, you feel her hips jerk with the pleasure you knew it would bring her.

"Shit... I am NOT going to cum in the fucking driveway!" Julien laughs, throwing herself clumsily off of you. You laugh with her, chasing her up the stairs to the front door. You catch her right as she opens the door, and press her against the now closed and securely locked front door.

"How do you feel about cuming in the entry way?" You say kissing her again.

"A lot better now that we're not risking public indecency." She answers chasing your lips. You smile unbuckling her jeans, as she kicks off her boots. After pulling off her jeans along with her boxers, you press one more kiss to her lips. Lowering yourself to your knees you pull one of her legs over your shoulder, forcing her to lean against the door.

You press a teasing kiss to her slick folds, giggling to yourself as you hear her impatient huff above you. You spread her thighs farther apart, leaning forward and sucking her clit into your mouth. Pulling away slightly you use your index and middle finger to rub figure eights on her swollen clit. You move further down to push your tongue into her entrance, loving the way her body reacts to it. Julien moans above you rocking her hips and tangling her fingers in your hair.

"Y/n..... Baby... I can't.." Julien groans out, her big brown eyes rolling back in her head, the cowboy hat falling off. You thrust your tongue faster before pulling away and replacing your tongue with your fingers. Sucking her clit into your mouth, and picking up the pace with your fingers. You feel her tighten around you, her whole body going rigid.

"Uhh... Princess... more." She moans, coming undone on your fingers, grinding against your face. You let her ride out her orgasm on your fingers, drinking in all that she has to give you.

Julien shakily removes her leg from your shoulder, her hands still tangled in your hair now using you as a stabilizer.

You look up at her and giggle at the astonished look on her flushed face. She's standing against the door in just a tank top and brown button up.

She finally makes eye contact with you, her face a little less spaced out. Julien roughly pulls you up to kiss her, her teeth clashing with yours. She pulls the button up, tank top, and sports bra off before reaching down to pick up the cowboy hat. Immediately attacking your clothes, pulling off almost every scrap leaving you in your bra and underwear.

"Fuck Jay... "You whine into her mouth as she attempts to steer you both up the stairs, and towards your bedroom. You both hit multiple walls and doorframes before finally making it to the bed. Julien pushes you down onto the bed before climbing on top of you, unclasping your bra.

She bites and sucks her way down your chest roughly taking one of your nipples in her mouth. You arch off of the bed, crying out her name and raking your fingers down her back. She runs her hands down your body pulling your lacy underwear off and tossing them somewhere behind her.

"God, You have no idea what you do to me.... " Julien groans into your breast biting a hickey onto it. You gasp at the sudden pain that mixes with the pleasure she's already flooding you with. She flips you both so that you're now on top of her, she starts guiding your body closer and closer to her mouth.

"Okay okay wait!" You say suddenly filling with anxiety. The two of you had done this a few times with Julien being the one riding your face, seeing as she weighed less than you. Julien immediately froze what she was doing, her hands resting on your knees.

"Are you okay, Baby? What is it?" Julien asked in a soothing voice, rubbing gentle circles on your legs.

"If we do this, I need you to be completely honest if you can't breathe okay." Julien sighs, rolling her eyes.

"No hey i'm being serious! I weigh more than you do and I don't want to hurt you!" You say forcing her to look you in the eyes.

"Baby, I love you, You know how much I love you. And how much I love your body... I want to fucking suffocate between your thighs." Julien said squeezing your thighs for emphasis.

"If it gets to be too much two taps okay." You say still not letting this drop.

"Yes ma'am." Julien sighed, before pushing you forward again. You got to where you were hovering right over her face, a leg on either side of her head.

"Oh my god!" Julien laughed, forcing you down onto her face, her tongue instantly finding your clit and playing with it before making her way to your entrance. Once her tongue was keeping a steady rhythm in and out of you, she pushes your hips forward so that her nose is pressing into your clit.

"Ohhh fuck Jay, shit baby!" You cry out, tangling your hands into her hair. You arch your back even more when Julien pulls you even tighter against her face, she forces your hips into a rocking motion. She's eating you out like this is her last meal, and you can feel the knots in your stomach tighten. You feel her moan against you, the vibrations finally doing you in as you start to cum. You try to pull away from her so she doesn't almost drown... again, but she forces you to ride the orgasm out on her face. She's licking and sucking and even nibbling your clit, causing the aftershocks to elevate into you cuming again. Julien just keeps licking and sucking until you think you might pass out.

"Jay, Babe, Please, I can't breathe." You say, realizing only now that you are crying from how intense the pleasure was. Julien finally releases your thighs and helps you move down her body so you're resting hips to hips. You look down at her face once you can actually focus on her, noticing how soaked her face is. The blood immediately rushes into your cheeks, Julien licks her lips with a very satisfied smirk.

"Did I-" You start to say, but Julien cuts you off. "You just squirted, and it was probably the hottest thing ever. Honestly of all the times i've almost drown gotta say, I really do prefer to drown between your legs." She finished reaching up and biting your shoulder, causing you to finally relax and giggle. She pulled you down to lay flat against her, kissing all over your face.

"You" kiss "Are" kiss "so" kiss "fucking" kiss "perfect" kiss. You move so you're both laying against the pillows, wrapping your legs around her waist.

Julien goes to lay on your chest, and looks uncomfortable. She leans back up and pulls the cowboy hat out from under her, making a face before laying back on your chest. You wrap your arms around her, whispering into her hair how much you love her. You feel her smile into your breasts, playfully biting before pressing a kiss with a mumbled I love you more.

After about 10 minutes of you thinking she's asleep, you feel her blow a raspberry into your sternum causing you to laugh obnoxiously loud.

"I feel like we should order takeout." She yawned.

- i want her so bad y'all, also this accidentally happened.

[britt-kageryuu]

Leo is streaming today, he's trying on different outfits while answering questions, he basically decided to copy Donnies stream. With a privacy screen to change behind, and a mirror to see how it looks. River is sitting on top of a hat box next to the mirror wearing a little cyan beanie on her head.

He's walks out in blue leggings with lime yellow crescent stripes on the thighs and calves, a blue cropped tank top with his cartoony red eared slider graphic, white/blue basketball shoes, his mask with long tails, and a variety of bracelets and bands on his arms.

"I kinda like this, but maybe the bracelets are a bit much." He says as he turns around while looking in the mirror, "Let's try something else. Any new questions River?" He walks behind the screen with a slight flash of light.

"How's the book project going? Asks BlueNeonFan#1." River reads off, "Well Uncle Blue how is the book going?" She asks almost innocently.

He leans out with a slightly annoyed look, "It's going well. I just don't know how to write the beginning, or when it should end. Plus I think I need to put a bit more research into some parts." And he leans back behind the screen to continue putting together an outfit.

"Not to mention how disjointed it is! Like none of it lines up no matter how you order the parts you've already written!" River complains while lightly glaring at the screen.

Leo walks out in dark blue hakama style pants with openings showing off his thighs, a open royal blue kimono jacket with glowing neon blue swirl patterns, black boots, his mask is in a fancy knot/bow with metal stick hair ornaments with the Hamato symbol hanging on a little chain.

He struck a couple poses, "Well it's still a work in progress, plus I don't think I'll actually publish it." He has a smug look as he checks himself out. "I like this, definitely going to wear this for an event. Don't ask me what the story is about, as River said I don't really know how it's going!" His tail is visible in the mirror twitching with irritation.

With a bit of flourish he walks back behind the screen. River looks towards the camera, "At least part of it involves the characters Larping, but we know next to nothing about it, so yeah, it's very much a work in progress, and needs a lot of reworking."

Leo pops back out in a Royal Blue Cheongsam Dress with silk slippers. With a folding fan in his hand. "Let's move on, how about I talk about this cute manga I found avoiding my writing project!"

He went through a few more outfits while jumping topics, and questions, while looking fabulous!

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

Masterpost

The outfits are really the hardest thing about all of this writing!!

I both want to continue this writing style, and want to go back to the other, but I think this style helps me with details and pacing. Opinions are welcome!

[solradguy]

I know Aria and Frederick weren’t married, so I don’t like calling her his wife, but at the same time I don’t like calling her his girlfriend because it sounds like they weren’t as serious as they were (to my ear).

Is fiancé right? Did Aria say yes to Frederick?? I thought you might know.

(I call Jack-O’ and Sol partners, because it’s not specifically romantic and more denotes their attachment)

Begin uses 恋人 to refer to their relationship, which just means like "partner [romantic]." I ended up translating it as "girlfriend" in the context it was used in^1, but I think maybe I should have used "partner" instead, since that more accurately matches the vagueness of 恋人, which can be used to mean anything from "girl/boyfriend" to "wife/husband."

The scene in Strive where Frederick proposes to Aria with the ring hologram cuts off before we hear Aria's answer^2:

[It's Aria's birthday and Frederick had asked her to meet him somewhere. He's working on a holo-screen and Aria picks on him for writing something in old machine code and accidentally spoils the surprise, so Frederick just shows her what it was supposed to be] Aria: ...A ring. Frederick: Well... Yeah. Aria: A digital one. Frederick: Yeah, sorry. The real one wasn't quite ready in time. [She looks away.] Did I... screw things up? Aria: [shakes her head] ...Frederick. If I were to vanish from this world, what could I leave behind for you? Frederick: What? Hey, don't talk like that. It's bad luck. Aria: I promise you, no matter what happens, I'm never going to forget this day. ...But I want to leave you something to remember, too. Frederick: All right, then. Let's see... How about your hat? Aria: My hat? Frederick: Yeah. The forecast said it was gonna be overcast the whole day. [points at the sky] You gotta be some kinda eccentric to wear a hat on a day like today. Aria: ...Wow, way to kill the mood. Frederick: ... Aria: But, sure. If it can help you remember this moment; you and me, together under the cloudy sky... Then my hat is all yours. And maybe that way... I can always be by your side. Frederick: ...

The cutscene doesn't show a date and we don't know Aria's birthday, but she doesn't seem haggard like she does in all the stuff we've gotten that takes place when the stuff in Begin happens (late-ish 2016^1). Xrd Sign confirms Aria had something going on in 2015, too^3. In 2014, when the Gear Project was started, Frederick accidentally hurts Aria's feelings by not saying he'd spend time with someone he loved if the world was going to explode^4:

[November 13, 2014 Research Lab -- Courtyard; Asuka was grilling Fred on his personal philosophies after dropping in on Fred's conversation with Aria about a similar topic] ???: Let me rephrase, then... If the world was going to disappear tomorrow... What would you do today? Frederick: What kind of a question is that? Stop whatever's ending the world or die trying. Aria: ...You mean "spend it with someone you love"? Frederick: ... Aria: All right, break's over. I'm going back, and you two should too. Just because Vince gave the order doesn't mean you get to be late. ??? [Asuka]: ... Well, you definitely made HER feel lonely. You really do like to get lost in your own little world, don't you? Frederick: Yeah, yeah, I picked the wrong answer. Rub it in. ???: That's not what I mean, Frederick. She's worried about you. Frederick: What? Why would she do that? ???: Well... Frederick: Well what? ???: Your world is very small, and whatever you do, you do it alone. Even in the laboratory, all you have are enemies. Frederick: What, so I should be kissing ass so I can play with the cool kids? I've got you and Aria. That isn't enough?

It feels like Frederick hadn't yet proposed or realized that Aria had feelings for him yet here, and that Asuka's hinting that Fred had a chance to put the moves on with her and blew it.

According to Asuka, Aria wanted the Gear stuff to happen with her and Sol so they could stay together for as long as possible, too.^5

That Man: You already knew...Aria's disease was incurable. And like you, I suggested we cryo-freeze her until technology could catch up. There might have been a cure in the future...I would've searched for it myself! But she refused... Why? So she could spend as much time as possible with you, Frederick. Sol: ... That Man: Aria was stubborn, and no amount of persuasion would convince her. But, I refused to accept that nothing could be done. That we had to watch her die... And I found the answer... The one way she would accept treatment. That she would be able to see you again. No matter how long she may sleep. For that to happen...you needed to become indestructable.

It would be really weird if Aria had said no when Frederick proposed to her because, if it was between November 2014 and even as early as January 2015, that still leaves about a year before Begin happens and there definitely weren't any weird feelings between them in that time.

So, yeah. I think she probably said yes to his proposal even if the term used in Begin to describe their romantic relationship wasn't something as firm as "fiancée" (婚約者 or フィアンセ). The English version of Strive's GG World also just vaguely says "romantically involved."^6

"Partner" would fit the best for their relationship until they say otherwise in the canon somewhere, but I do think they were probably actually engaged.

The fun questions here now are: Since Frederick had some pretty clear beef with the Christian God even before he got turned into a Gear, did they have a wedding? Did they just go to a courthouse to legalize it? What's the concept of marriage even like in a post-Dawn of Revival world? Why does Frederick hate god so much? There are no answers and even less hints about any of this.

Sources:

GGBegin page 05 (first page of the prologue chapter)

Strive (00:43:46 if the timestamp link doesn't work): https://youtu.be/Gxx_XxjM8kE?si=UIH443o_xFG0ggaB&t=2616

Xrd Sign "Struggle A": https://guiltygear.fandom.com/wiki/Guilty_Gear_Xrd_-Sign-_script#Struggle_A

Xrd Sign "Devastation A"; November 13, 2014 Research Lab -- Courtyard: https://guiltygear.fandom.com/wiki/Guilty_Gear_Xrd_-Sign-_script#Devastation_A

Xrd Revelator "Cause A": https://guiltygear.fandom.com/wiki/Guilty_Gear_Xrd_-Revelator-_script#Cause_A

"Aria" entry.

[crippleprophet]

I literally have had a malar rash for over a week and my doctor blew me off bc I tested negative for my ana last year. Is there anything I can do to help with the burning sensation?

oh my god i’m so sorry, i know that pain is so fucking distressing + impairing and it’s absolutely neglectful of your doctor not to both run your rheum panel again & prescribe you a topical steroid for management in the meantime. jesus christ that’s so fucked, you don’t deserve this.

feel free to just skip this paragraph if this isn’t an option for you but if you���re able to access a different doctor i think it could be worth trying just for symptom management — when i was struggling to get in with a rheum i visited a dermatologist & while she unfortunately just recommended my future rheum put me on hydroxychloroquine without doing it herself, she at least gave me the steroid cream which helps so much with the pain. & that’s something a PCP who was actually interested in treating patients rather than gatekeeping care could prescribe even if they thought you have rosacea not lupus.

gonna divide this into type of strategy just so all my advice is clustered in the same post but some of this might not be relevant to you, feasible, affordable/accessible, etc. as always other folks feel free to add advice if you have any!

basically your goal is to minimize sun (especially UV rays) as much as possible, to your face especially but your whole body as needed.

immediate term:

stay indoors as much as possible + close the blinds/curtains

outdoors: sunscreen + hat + long sleeves/pants (loose/thin material in the heat)

if you drive, bike, or do another activity where your hands are exposed to sunlight, wearing gloves; UV blocking fabric is most effective but anything is better than nothing

for pain relief: i haven’t found anything that helped more than temporarily (other than the steroid cream obv) but an unscented lotion, aloe vera, or cream can help for a little bit. similarly damp soft cloths, baby wipes, or gel bead ice packs just kinda draped gently over your face.

longer term ways to limit sun exposure:

full curtains (possibly blackout curtains)

tinted car windows

UV-blocking fabric

this is really only feasible in my situation because i’m in a car with someone supportive but should i become able to leave the house again my plan is literally just to have a blanket over my head lmao

i hope some of this is helpful & that you’re able to get some relief as soon as possible 💓💓 you deserve comprehensive testing & care + access to the treatment options you want

[alt-pocalypse]

Day 5

Today we went to the mall to get some armor at Dick’s. There were a few zombies to handle in the parking lot who knew we weren’t like them because… car. While fighting them off we actually found another group of survivors! Some of them were alt like us and others had more normcore vibes but they were clearly a coordinated unit. Most of them had blunt objects like golf clubs and planks of wood, others had handguns and a couple had… pocket knives.

I don't need to explain to you why a pocket knife is a terrible idea when it comes to zombies. As long as their head and brain are still intact nothing can phase them! N’s machete is fine because they can lop the heads off and then stomp them out, but a friggen switchblade?!

After we had cleared out the parking lot we talked with the other group a bit. We learned that they were called Team Z because that was the name of their project zomboid discord server. Learning that they all played zomboid explained a lot about how some of them managed to survive. Nyxx used to play it with Amy a lot but she kinda lost interest after a while. We exchanged some things we had learned with Team Z and they gave us some tips as well. N wrote them down in its survival notebook.

After that we went into the mall, trying to look as zombish as possible as we went. We entered through the big craft store. It was kinda funny when we had to hold back Raven from taking nonessentials until later. Eventually we made it to the Dick’s and got some stuff. We each grabbed a helmet, mostly football helmets but Nyxx and Wood both got lacrosse helmets instead. We got some football gear to help pad us up a bit. We also snatched knee and elbow pads from near the roller skates.

After we had gotten all of that in our cart, which N pushed for us, we decided to have some fun! We started at the hot topic because apparently we are walking stereotypes and we got some things to decorate our tents as well as some cool new accessories. I grabbed some band posters, Raven decided to restart their funko pop collection from the ground up, wood got some hoodies, Nyxx nabbed a handful of pins and patches, and N got some cute hats.

Whenever N wears a hat they don't look so intimidating. They’re super tall and Wood never explains to us what they talk about so they’re kinda mysterious. When they put on a hat though, all that goes out the window and they look super inviting. Once, back in school, they wore a froggie bucket hat and the eyes on the hat kinda offset the fact that their actual eyes are never showing. I wonder what color their eyes are. They’re probably green like Wood’s. I should ask Wood if they know at some point.

After hot topic we went to the back of the Spencer's and laughed and after that we went to a music store. We can't actually play any of these vinyls but they look really cool. Raven is planning on putting some on the wall of their tent. After that we went to the skate shop because everything is free and skateboards are cool. We might try and build a halfpipe out of junkyard stuff. The mall was a lot of fun but I don't think I need to go over all of it. That was most of our day. I can't wait to tell you about tomorrow, bye!

[glassmarcus]

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, Super Mario RPG

*Played in November 2023, Written in December 2023

There was always this mysticism encompassing Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars when I was growing up. I was born around the time the game actually came out, so I had no exposure to it outside of the internet. All I had to go off of was Newgrounds animations featuring characters from the game and people saying Geno should be in the next Super Smash Bros. So the Legend of the Seven Stars truly felt like a legend. Then the game got ported to the Wii Virtual Console and I was pumped. I checked the Wii Shop Channel every hour the day it was set to release. I had no clue what sort of expectations I were to set, but they were high. And after playing it, the game met most of them.

For those who don't know, Super Mario RPG is designed to be a beginner’s RPG. It's incredibly well made, but still relatively simple and introductory. Lucky for me, I was an RPG baby who had only fully played Pokémon as far as the genre went. Super Mario RPG was more engaging than any turn based game I had played up til then and really made me think about individual character stats and strengths instead of just having a bigger number than your opponent in your rock paper scissors match. The world was so weird for a Mario game and I really dug it. And even at the meager age of 11, I could understand how hard Yoko Shimomura was cooking with that soundtrack. I adored it and it quickly became one of my favorite games. I soon joined the correct side of the war that wanted Geno in Smash.

Quick aside, Geno is cool and I’m getting REAL tired of all these contrarian Geno haters acting like wanting him in Smash is some capital offense. Every time that character is brought up, it is immediately accompanied by some dude saying that Geno has no personality and that Geno fans are the most annoying people in the world. No, you foolish Strawman! The most annoying people in the world are the ones who get upset at others for liking things. We just think he's neat dude. He's got an arm canon and shoots lasers from the sky. He’s like if Pinocchio was Megaman, but even cooler than that. He’s like if Pinocchio was Protoman. He's stoic and mysterious. Yet he has moments of levity which make him endearing. Geno has a sick cape and a baggy hat, so by Mario standards, he is dripped the fuck out. This little dude rules. And you want us to pretend he's not cool? Are you annoyed that we aren't gassing up Mallow instead? I also like that guy too. But even if I didn’t, I’d be cool with him being in my kooky crossover fighter as well. We should all be Gassing up our own favorites instead of tearing down each others. OK, now back to the topic.

After playing Super Mario RPG I was kinda bummed there was no follow up. But then I learned there sort of was. See, I had only played Super Paper Mario up to that point, thus I was only familiar with the gameplay of that game. I assumed all Paper Mario games were strange 2.5D platformers. So when I learned the first Paper Mario was intended to be Super Mario RPG 2, I got really embarrassed before getting really excited. I downloaded it on Virtual Console, played through it and liked it even more than Super Mario RPG. Sure the party members were a downgrade for me, but the minuscule

Damage Numbers and complex build variety allowed me to plan more both in and out of battle. I found It was much easier to form specific strategies when you know the exact rules and damage values you and your opponent are playing with. The badge system was an equip system far deeper than just wearing stat increasing armor, as it took the concept of accessories and fleshed it out into a web of equipable secondary abilities and attacks. These two things along with the charming art style made it my new favorite Mario RPG almost immediately.

Then Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story came out and has reigned supreme ever since. The build complexity wasn't as interesting as the Paper Mario games, but the action part of battles really spoke to me and I adored having Bowser in my party again as he was my favorite party member in Super Mario RPG. I went back and played every other Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario game, and while some got close, none surpassed Bowser’s Inside Story for me. But a good amount surpassed Legend of the Seven Stars. So it’s weird how my feelings for the game have cooled now that it has been outclassed by its successors. I found no reason to return to it. If I wanted customization I'd go to the Paper Mario Games. If I wanted creative battle scenarios and skill checks I’d go to the Mario & Luigi games. There was nothing this game could give me anymore.

When the remake for this game was announced I basically lost my mind. Not just because I didn't expect it, but because I had an instant desire to play it, despite me thinking it wouldn't have much value if I experienced it today. Why? Well obviously there's the nostalgia. Despite it not being a favorite anymore, I still have a positive history with it. But mainly, the initial excitement came from my biggest gripe with the game being solved: The Art Style. In theory the look of Super Mario RPG should appeal to me as I like the characters designs and general color pallet. But I DO NOT like pre-rendered SNES era graphics. I played it on a CRT initially too and I still hated how murky it looked. It was better than Donkey Kong Country, but still not good. This is also why I want a normal remake of Final Fantasy 7, because I hate the pre-rendered backgrounds in that game too. This is probably one of my sauciest takes regarding video games. Hell, all my takes even tangentially related to Donkey Kong Country are kinda wild. Anyway, The remake doesn't have this problem because it's one of the best looking games on the Switch. It's exactly as good as I want it to look in my head when I recall it and that's how remakes ideally should operate. Everything in this game is visually consistent in tone and principle between it and its origin. The soul is completely maintained despite the graphical overhaul.

I was also interested in what the remake would bring to the table in terms of mechanics. As it turns out, every addition benefits the game substantially. The game actively teaching you how to block and time hits made it feel like I wasn't just pressing buttons randomly when an Area of Effect attack reared its ugly head. The combo system encourages good active play by rewarding you for not messing up timings. The team gauge allows for different team attacks, which makes you think about which party members you want out. And it’s not much, but the few team attacks you do get are sick and man I will never tire of Triple Techs being in games like these. It just makes your team feel like a team, and more than ever, that’s what this party feels like. The mid battle party switching is the real winner addition here and I now know what Mallow does in combat instead of putting him on the bench the whole game after getting Peach. Sure, all these additions make the game easier, but the game already was. It is still at its core a simple RPG and it sticks to that philosophy while also adding mechanics.

And I think the simplicity is what I overlooked for all these years. The successors are all longer games that demand more from you. Seven Stars is like a 10 hour game. Some other Mario RPGs can end up being 3 times as long and yea that's too long for me. I feel like the older I get, the shorter I want games to be because they usually end up being bloated as result of their length. Look at Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam. It's a deplorable game in a lot if ways, but the solid combat can carry it pretty far, like 15 hours far. But it's a 30 hour game for some reason. I got bored and it's still to this day the only one of these titles I started and didn't finish. That would never happen in Seven Stars. It is perfectly paced. You are always doing something new in the game, exploring the world at a brisk pace, enjoying everything along the way, and then the game ends on a high note. You crave more and there is more, but that's bonus stuff. You can also replay the game relatively quickly too. And because of its short length, it can be polished to a blinding sheen. This game is stuffed full of flourishes and details that would definitely be missing if this was a 30 hour game. While mechanically I still prefer the other two series, I think now is a good time to explore this brand of shorter Mario RPGs and this team is the one to do it. Every addition they added has been great, so I trust them with a sequel to this entirely. Both of the other types of Mario RPGs are basically dead anyway so it's not like the niche is being filled. Hopefully we'll get another one like this, and if it sucks? Whatever, it only took 10 hours of my time.

[maggatron]

Get to Know Me

Name: Maggie // Маги

Age: As of writing this, I'm 24 years old.

City that you live in: Burgas, Bulgaria // Бургас, България

Hobbies: Game devving in Unreal Engine 5, 3D modeling, writing, reading.

What are your passions? Game devving in Unreal Engine, 3D modeling.

What do you search for in a significant other? Not actively searching. I'm spoken for, ladies ;3

Have you ever collected anything? What was it? When I was younger, I used to collect Hot Topic pins. Like the kind that you hook onto hats and jackets.

List 5 things off of your bucket list. - Visit Japan - Cosplay as my DnD character - Visit the Eyes of God (Prohodna Cave // Пещера "Проходна") in Karlukovo, Bulgaria - Help my fiancé make a DnD character for himself, so I can write stories of mine and his going on sweet quests and stuff - Meet Markiplier and/or Jacksepticeye someday.

What was the last thing you learned? Just earlier today, I learned how to properly export a Metahuman (3D model of a human) from Unreal Engine into Blender. I'm gonna make some fun stuff >w>

How many relationships have you been in? That's classified.

Favorite food Yellow apples // Жълти ябълки

Favorite drink Peach juice // Сок от праскова

Are you optimistic or pessimistic? I like to think of myself as optimistic, but considering how much I know I complain without really even meaning to, my fiancé would prolly say I'm leaning more toward being a pessimist.

What is the most expensive thing you own? I think my computer, the total sum of all the parts I've used to upgrade it over time.

What is the cheapest yet most useful thing you own? My fidget cubes. They help with my ADHD when my mind gets to be too much.

How many times a day on average do you check your phone? Not as often as I should.

Text or call? I... don't actually own a phone with an active sim card, so I'm kinda stuck texting for now. But I prefer calling.

Opinion on long distance? Not sure what there is to say tbh. I mean, my family in America, I miss them a lot. But I'm glad I can still (video)call them on Facebook. Time difference is a constant struggle tho ^^'

Favorite song? Currently, it's 'Hey, Mario' by Patent Pending. It's in my playlist on Tumblr blog, if you're curious what it sounds like. It's a good song.

Celebrity crush/crushes? Garrett Hedlund, Cara Delevingne, Sebastian Stan.

Favorite flower? Lily. I've always loved lilies. People always assume that my favorite flower must be the magnolia blossom (because my name), but nope.

What is the best gift you could receive right now? A new phone with a working sim card.

Any guilty pleasures? Mac and Cheese. Hear me out... Ever since I was younger, mac and cheese was always my comfort food. I'm talkin' homemade cheese sauce with the cartoon-level stretch. The way my fiancé makes it, the cheese is so stringy and gooey, I just mmmmmm

How many times have you said "I love you" in the past month? Prolly way too many, but my fiancé is literally the best thing to ever happen to me, so I mean it every time.

Where did you last go other than your room/home? I went to a little town called Vetren with my fiancé. We visited some family, had some pizza, stayed overnight, had a good time. It was fun. I'll miss them.

How many green shirts do you own? I think just one, and it's my long-sleeved sweatshirt/pullover that I mostly wear in the fall when it starts getting cold.

Do you like anime? Hell yes! I love anime! One Piece, Dragonball, Naruto, Boku no Hero, Black Clover, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bakemonogatari, hell yeah!

What do you invest the most time in? Blender modeling on my computer. Shamefully, sometimes when I have my headphones on, I tend to lose myself in my work. I lose track of time really easily that way ^^'

Where are you most productive? On my computer.

Do you believe world peace will ever exist? I know it's possible, but it's entirely dependent on every human being on the planet agreeing and respecting each other.

Do you have any allergies? Mostly just seasonal allergies.

Do you consider yourself mature? I think I am, but I know sometimes I get overexcited about things, which makes me seem a little childish.

How many days in your life do you think you have wasted on tumblr? Dude, years ago, back in old yore of 2013~ish, I spent WAY too much time on Tumblr. I had a blog where I wrote/read fanfics on, but I think that particular blog has since been lost to time.

What do you think your soulmate is doing right now? I know what he's doing right now. He's at work in the city right now.

Do you have a job? No, but I wish I did.

How many all-nighters have you pulled before? No comment >w>

Is tumblr your favorite website? If not, then what is your favorite website? Reddit was my favorite website before the whole blow-up about the API. Now, all my feeds are dead/broken and Reddit as a whole feels... wounded. That's one of my reasons for returning to Tumblr, actually.

When was the last time you looked at the news? I choose not to keep track of the news. It tends to be pretty depressing, so...

If you could say one thing to the world, what would you say? Get over yourselves and love/respect each other equally.

What is your favorite animal? It used to be penguins. Now, it's frogs.

What time do you normally sleep? How many hours of sleep do you usually get? Lately, I've been getting to sleep at about 3am. I usually sleep for 7ish hours, which seems to be enough for me.

In the winter- beanies or gloves? Beanies.

Would you rather have wings or a fish tail? Wings.

If you had the power to erase one person from the world so that nobody remembered him or her except you, would you do it? Yes, I would erase my birth mom, for reasons I won't divulge here now...

How many digits of pi can you recite? 3.141759....? I think?

Describe yourself in one word. Emotional.

Describe your last victory. Does Fortnite count? ^^'

Have you ever broken a bone before? Nope.

Coffee or tea? Tea.

How many hours have you spend on tumblr today? Too many, already. It took me way too long just to get the code for my music player figured out xD

[god-of-entropy]

sorry this is my first time doing a req, but since you like iida tenya, i was wondering if you had any knight iida tenya headcanons?

So I was re-enacting a bakuiida hurt/comfort scenario I made up for exactly 2 hours since I started during 10:00 pm and it is 12:00 AM

gist of it: bakugou’s inferiority complex acts up and so he doesn’t take care of himself bc he’s too busy training and iida tells him how much he (Katsuki) means to him, (Tenya) and that there aren’t enough numbers that exist that could tell him (Katsuki) how much he (Katsuki) meant to Tenya

and then I remembered my tumblr account and one of the asks I got was “do some knight Iida Tenya headcanons this is my first time doing a req” and I was like oh wow I am v blessed that I am the person who took anon’s req virginity so here we are

CW: few times of cursing, mention of me talking about a car kink

Knight Iida Tenya Headcanons

Part of the King’s guard no I do not. Take criticism

If he isn’t he’s most likely in a very high position of knight rankings in the fantasy AU

His chivalrous spirit could rival canon Kirishima’s

But since Kiri’s a dragon hybrid here,,well

Did I mention

He’s TALL

Like. Bumping his head on every single fucking doorway kind of tall

He is a staggering 6”6

HES TALLER THAN MY BEDROOM WALLS JSJSJ

anyways so like bc he’s so tall he learned the very hard way (literally) that you should not wear a metal cone hat while sliding down ladders

Was this inspired by that one (1) video on YouTube where this guy’s character slid down a really long ladder wearing a golden metal cone hat

I will not agree nor will I deny this accusation

So bc he’s so tall he grudgingly cannot wear a fancy Iida helmet from the prestigious and noble Iida family line

ofc his brother was a knight before him, it’s so obvious

(Speaking about Tensei, his brother wore it anyways even though his brother is taller than him because he was always on horseback anyways, but having to patrol the streets of the kingdom on a daily basis trailing after the King or Prince or whatever he can’t let a helmet hinder him from going after people

Anyways so like because he is So Tall people often make jokes about his height and how rectangular his body was

So poor bby got insecure about his height and prefers not to talk about it, stays silent when someone thinks he can’t hear them whispering and making jokes about his bulky stature

speaking about bulky things his canon costume is lightweight in design because if speed and leg strength makes up 100% of your quirk you can’t have stupid accessories and additional weight.

But of course since what he’s going for (the Ingenium title) is pretty much set in stone, there’s a heavy emphasis in visuals (in canon) so like 90% of his fucking costume is for Decor

And I hate him for that

Because TENYA FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE 100% INGENIUM YOU CAN BE YOUR OWN INGENIUM

Even if you were put the pressure on yourself to become like your brother, don’t feel burdened to make sure your hero career is 100% like his

OK I kind of swerved away from topic but since we’re talking about hero costumes and knight armor

Since this is fantasy and most fantasy-ish things are set in a European medieval style because of fucking Hollywood and not in a more traditional Japanese style since apparently fire spitting dragons are cooler than Kitsunes with ten tails, power over nature elements and are literally considered deities—

Knight armor is made of metal, right?

So in that case..his armor would really weigh him down.

But because this is FANTASY and science and physics can go fuck themselves here,

It’s possible that there’s a chance magic could make his armor more lightweight, like Uraraka’s quirk

but like there’s a chance that his armor is ALREADY lightweight because again, canon Tenya really went after the design of his brother’s costume

And his brother’s costume was inspired by his parent’s and grandfather’s own costumes, which kinda looked the same since it had the white modern accents and holes in the helmets kinda aesthetic

SO ASSUMING THAT THE IIDA FAMILY LINE IS V NOBLE AND FAMED FOR BEING IMMERESED IN THE KNIGHTHOOD SHITE FOR A V LONG TIME

And his brother did copy whatever his parents and ancestors’s armor was or whatever

And they’re noble, right—so they’re rich. Because magic exists, plenty of wizards mages and other magic people for hire also exist

Enchanted lightweight metal armor

there’s a reason why you shouldn’t trust knights in shining armor and that’s because if their chest plate is too pristine, that means they’ve never went to battle

Here’s a rule for all you y/ns: don’t trust a knight in shining armor if it’s not enchanted

what I’m saying is if you wanna date Iida, the knight in shining AND enchanted armor, go for it bestie TT

Also His Boots

Assuming he doesn’t have his sexy engines on his calves in this AU

(Or perhaps the sleek, modern looking engines are replaced with steampunk ones O.O)

OK SO WE’RE GOING WITH THE STEAMPUNK MUFFLERS

Because holy shit that’s such a cool fucking concept??

Oh you bet your y/n messy buns that steampunk iida hcs are next

so since fantasy usually goes with at least one (1) “primitive” tribe with their own kind of technology centered around weapons and battle

And that one (1) “”tribe”” that’s an entire fucking kingdom/city like the Carja in the game Horizon Zero Dawn

Speaking of Horizon Zero Dawn, the “primitive” tribe with their own kind of technology centered around battle and more battle are the Banuk

They’re hardcore fam

They give me Bakugou Katsuki vibes because those people would literally rather die than say a challenge is too big to overcome

again going back to the topic: Steampunk

In “”fantasy”” medieval AUS there’s always that one steampunk inventor that’s a Mei Hatsume ripoff (Tangled The Series I’m looking at you)

And of course the Support Students need their time to shine too, so like — Steampunk City let’s gooo

(The closest Horizon Zero Dawn’s “tribe” got to steampunk is whatever the hell the Oseram are doing.)

So now Tenya has sexy, sexy steampunk mufflers that are very well taken care of

<SKIP THIS PART, I TALK ABOUT RANDOM EVENTS AND BAD CHOICES I MADE IN MY LIFE>

god I’m so sorry but me talking about mufflers like they’re a full course meal is reminding me of the time where I joked to my friends that I had a car kink

and not that I had a kink to have sex inside the car, but to be fucked BY the car itself

like your ass being just wrecked by a fucking shalon poofa

if you get that joke get off this site

one of my messages was very specific

It read:

“I eagerly lick car-senpai’s oil of his exhaust pipe”

And Yeah

unsanitary and a health hazard

While discussing about simpable men one of my friends were like

my man has a CAR your man, Tenya Iida, doesn’t

And I just stared at her

Because bitch MY MAN IS THE CAR

anyways if you actually read this may god have mercy on you

<DON’T SKIP THIS PART BECAUSE I CONTINUE>

Because I make the rules

Wouldn’t they be a hindrance to him bc of his metal boots?

So Let Me Tell You A Story

you know the Ingenifoot (the boots in canon Iida’s costume)

It’s special since it has holes punched into it for the mufflers to retract out of

Who says Ingenifoot can’t be steampunk as well?

I DON’T

But it can’t be steampunk bc this is a Knight Iida hcs and not Inventor Steampunk Iida Hcs

:<

So it’s plain boring white carved steel or smth with a small section where a part of the boot flexes for the mufflers to stick out

Speaking of carved steel, Knight Iida’s armor def has intricate details and shite on it

Maybe even his family crest

OK so it is 12:45 AM rn I am gonna sleep

Goodnight

[pascalscenarios]

THE ONE (Frankie Morales x Reader)

THE ONE

Frankie Morales x Reader  

Summary: Since seeing Frankie Morales, you can't seem to get him out of your mind and old feelings start to arise. While out on a lunch date with your finance, you run into him again. 

Warning: Mild Swearing

Words: 2388

Author Note: I’ve been in my Frankie feels lately. It hurts. 

CH 1 | CH 2

Chapter 2

2011

“You’re leaving?” You stood in the doorway. You were confused watching Frankie run around your shared bedroom collecting his belongings.

“Yeah, I am.” he stuffs clothes into his tan large tactical bag and a duffle that sat at the foot of your guys' bed. He must have been called out again, that's why he’s quickly trying to pack.

“Oh… I didn’t know you were called back out, why didn't you-”

“I wasn't called back.” he cut you off.

“...okay, so what's all this then?” You motion to his bags. “Where are you going?...”

He didn’t answer you. He just kept packing his things. He zipped his tactical bag, putting it on his back and slinging the duffle over his shoulder. Frankie walked over to the dresser picking up his hat, placing his hat on his head, and grabbing the keys to his truck.

He walked past you, heading out of the room and into the living.

“Frankie, What is going on?!” You laugh in as you call after him. You had no idea what was happening and what he was doing.

“You have a camping trip with Santiago and the boys? If that's the case-” You enter the living room finding Frankie standing a few feet from the dooring staring at you. You couldn’t read his expression. Just a deadpan look took over the soft and happy face he usually had. Something was wrong.

“Frankie?” you furrowed your eyebrows at him.

“I’m done. We’re done,” he says bluntly.

You were taken back. “W-what?” was all you managed to say after he dropped an unexpected bomb on you.

“I’m leaving,” he states again.

“Frankie, I’m so confused! Where is this coming from?!” You were in disbelief. You walked over to him, placing a hand on his cheek. Frankie moves his head back, moving away from your touch.

“Frankie…”

“I’m sorry.” He says turning his back on you walking towards the door.

“NO!” You yelled as you dash for the front door. You stood in his way blocking him from leaving. “NO, I’m not letting you up and leave without talking to me first! We're gonna talk about this!”

He sighs. “Move”

“Talk to me. Don’t shut me out. We can just work this out if you just talk to me and tell me what’s wrong...Please...Talk. To. Me.” You pleaded, tears forming in your eyes.

He extends his arms out, swiping you away from the door so he could leave. He walks outside to his parked truck, tossing his bags in the back. You followed close behind, fuming with emotions.

“FRANCISCO MORALES!” You shouted after him. “Like HELL you’re leaving!.”

“I gotta go.”

“So that’s it?! You’re just going to walk out on me, walk away from everything we’ve have and just leave?”

“Pretty much.” He says leaning against the truck, folding his arms across his chest.

“Are you hearing yourself?! Do you even know what you’re saying?! This makes no sense! I’m so confused, hurt, scared and you’re not even going to give me an explanation or try to work it out with me!”

He looks down at the ground, avoiding your burning stare.

“I don’t want this anymore. We’ve run our course.” He stares.

“We’ve run our course? No, Y-you don’t mean that… I-I know you. I know you inside and out. I know your heart. You wouldn’t do this to me”

“You don’t know me. I’ve changed, my feelings have changed.”

You scoffed. “I don't believe you. You’re a fucking coward! Running away like a scared little boy!” Tears streaming down your face.

With that, Frankie stands up and opens the car door. Your eyes widen. He was really going to leave you. Just like that. He starts the engine.

You quickly rush to the divers window. “Frankie, come on you can’t be serious. Frankie-” He reversed the car down the driveway, you following the car.

He was leaving. You started pleading for him to stay, begging even. “Please don’t go! Stay! Don’t go! Don’t leave me! Please, just tell me what I did wrong!” You sobbed as he pulled out the driveway.

“FRANKIE!”

…

“Babe!”

“Hmm?” You snap out of your thoughts.

It's been a few days since you saw Frankie in the parking lot. Since running into him, the night of your break up is constantly replaying in your head. It hasn’t been like this in years. From time to time you thought about that night. What would have happened if he stayed. If he had been willing to work things and not run away. You still had no clue as to why he left you, just the bullshit of an excuse he gave you. You were able to move on past what had happened... at least you thought you had. Seeing him again really set you off. You felt like you were being sucked back into those days of overthinking and analyzing everything.

“How do you like this one?” You and Alex were at a local bakery trying different cake flavors for your wedding cake.

“I don’t like it.” You say pushing the red velvet sample piece away. You weren’t in the mood for this. Frankie was the only thing on your mind lately, and it was driving you insane.

“You, alright?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, I’m a fine sweetie. Why?” You gave him a fake smile.

Alex takes a seat beside you. “You’ve been acting strangely for a couple of days. You seem like you have a lot on your mind.”

You sign, picking up the fork, and start to you with your piece of cake. “I’m just stressed with the few things we have left of the wedding, work, and the fact I ran into fra-” you stopped yourself once you realized what you were going to say.

“When you ran into who?” Alex questions.

You didn’t want to tell Alex you ran into your ex and make it a whole huge thing. “Frankie Morales…” you stab the fork into the cake.

“Who’s that?” You never brought up Frankie to anyone unless it was close family and friends. Alex was your partner but there was no need to bring up Frankie because he was a part of the past. You haven’t told anyone you saw Frankie, not even Santiago, but it is weighing and taking a toll on you. You needed to tell someone.

“An old friend.” Technically you weren’t lying. Frankie was your friend at one point in your life, but he also became more than a friend… a boyfriend...an ex-boyfriend. “We were close when we were kids, but we had a falling out a long time ago, but he recently came back into town.”

“Maybe you could try to reconnecting with them-”

“No!” You quickly shouted. Alex is taken back by your sudden outburst. “No...It was good to see him I guess, but things have changed. We’re different people. It’s not the same as it once was.”

You pick up a different sample cake to distract yourself and move on from the topic. You pick up and have a bite.

“This ones too sweet.”

“I kinda like it.”

“Honey no!” You chuckle.

…

After deciding on your cake flavor, coconut, and design at the bakery flavor, you and Alex headed towards their favorite restaurant for lunch. You were just outside the door when you noticed Frankie walking in your direction. You swear the universe must hate you. You cursed underneath your breath.

“Hey, I’m not so hungry-” as you take Alex’s hand, turning in back around towards the direction you came from.

“Woah what? Come on, this is my favorite-” Alex stops you both from moving.

“Yeah. I think we should just go ho-” You grab Alex’s hand and start dragging them, but you didn’t even take a few steps.

“Hey, Smiles.”

You close your eyes, deeply signing. You turn around slowly. He was still wearing the same casual clothes he always wore and that damn hat.

“Hey...” The three of you awkwardly stand there in silence for a few seconds.

“Sup Man. I’m Alex!” Alex introduces themself, extending his hand to Frankie.

“Ah Smiles’s finance…” Frankie says shaking Alex’s hand. “I’m Frankie.”

“Oh, Frankie Morales! The old friend! Funny you came up in conversation today!”

“Alex!” You say through your teeth.

Frankie cocks his eyebrow at you. “Really? Smiles told you I was coming to the wedding?”

“You invited him to the wedding? I thought-” Alex whispers to you.

“Yeah, I did!- Um, Nice to see you again Frankie, but we really should get going-”

“Frankie, We’re headed to lunch, you wanna join us?” Alex says inviting Frankie.

Alex did NOT just do that. The last thing you wanted was to see Frankie, but having lunch with your ex-boyfriend AND finance? You wanted to crawl into a hole and just die.

You glare at Frankie, your eyes telling him to say no. “Sure, why not.” He smiles.

“Lovely! Frankie, We’ll meet you inside, I need to talk to Alex real quick!” you gave him a fake smile. He said yes on purpose, that fucker. You’d deal with him later, but you needed to deal with Frankie.

Frankie opens the door and heads inside the cafe. You turn to Alex.

“Alex? I don’t want to reconnect with him.” you sigh.

“I mean you invited him to the wedding”

“I didn’t mean to invite him. It just came out-”

“He’s your childhood friend. Maybe it's a good thing that Frankie is back, you can catch up and rekindle your friendship. Life’s too short to be upset with someone.”

You wanted to rekindle NOTHING with Frankie Morales and you had every right to be upset with him after what he did to you. Maybe you should have told Alex that Frankie was your ex, then you wouldn't have been in this predicament.

You huffed.

“Come on, it can't be that bad.”

Oh, Alex, you have no idea, you thought.

…

You were at the restaurant for a while talking about the wedding and random things. Frankie and Alex talked the majority of the time getting to know each other.

“What do you do for a living?”

You toyed with your paper straw in your drink as you listened to Alex and Frankie. You just wished the waitress would come to buy and drop off the check already.

“I’m ex-military, I flew helicopters. Now I just fly doing cargo transports. How about you?” Frankie says picking up a french fry from his meal, dipping it in ketchup, and popping it into his mouth.

“I work for a tech company in the city.” Alex bites into the last of his sandwich. “We were talking about you earlier, they mentioned you knew each other from childhood.”

“Yeah, Smiles and way back.” Frankie chuckles.

“Smiles?” Alex asks, unaware of why Frankie kept calling you that.

“It’s a silly nickname he gave me when we were kids.” You chime in.

“It’s not silly. She always had the biggest smile on her face. Always happy. She was constantly following Santiago and me around. ” He smiles thinking about the simpler times.

“You know Santiago?”

“He’s my best friend. That’s how I met Smiles.”

The gears were turning in Alex’s head. “Hmm, I’m confused as to how I’ve never heard of you. You’ve never been brought up in conversation.”

“Well, Frankie did up and disappear at one point. No one knew where he went for a while.” You sit back in your seat, changing the tone of the conversation. Alex was oblivious to it all, but Frankie knew just what you meant. You both started at each other. Frankie gulping, growing unformattable, adjusting in his seat slightly.

“What? Where you’d go?”

“Yeah, Frankie…Where’d you go?” You cocked your head to the side giving him a questioning and clueless look.

“Here are your check folks!” the waitress comes dropping off the receipt on the table. Of course, the waitress comes at this exact moment.

“I can pay,” Frankie says, picking up the bill.

“What? No, we invited you man-”

“It’s cool. Consider it as an almost getting married gift.” Frankie says gabbing cash out of his wallet and setting it with the bill folder.

“Thank you! I'll be right back. I'm gonna head to the bathroom before we go.” Alex gets up and walks away from the table.

You and Frankie sat there alone.

“Alex seems nice,” Frankie speaks up.

“What are you doing?” you ask him straight up.

“What?”

“Cut the bullshit Frankie” you snapped.

“Woah this is a total change of attitude from when you saw me the other day.” He folds his arms across your chest.

“That was me being in shock. The feeling has since worn off,” you said coldly.

“I was curious and saw the opportunity to see who you’re getting married to Smiles.”

“No. You don’t get to do that! You don’t get to come back into my life pretending everything alright between us because it's not. We are not on friendly terms and never will be. So stop trying to wedge your way in. You left, I’m not letting you back in.” You said sternly.

“Alright. Ready to go?” Alex says walking back over.

“Yeah.” You say getting up out of your seat, Frankie doing the same.

“Nice to meet you, Frankie!”

“Same here.” They shake hands.

“Bye Smiles.”

You look at him with hurt in your eyes. You shake your head and sign. You take Alex’s hands and walk towards the exit.

Frankie stood there watching you and Alex leave. Every day of his life since that night, he regretted leaving you the way that he did. He should have stayed. After years of reflecting on the situation, he realized how completely and utterly stupid he was, but he thought it was the best choice at the time. It was the worst decision he had ever made in his entire life. The number of times he wished he could have gone back to fix things. He would do it in a heartbeat if it meant being with you. He knew owed you an explanation, heck he owed you so much after everything he put you through. He wanted to make things right with you, he needed to make things right with you. He just hopes it isn’t too late to do so.

[dinopopduck]

Ezekiel Only Being Unaffected By Certain Kinds of Magic

Let’s just start with me saying this isn’t exactly a new theory. It’s the demigod thing, and it’s a fairly popular one. If you haven’t heard of this headcannon, I put as much as I can find here. If you have, I found a bunch of new stuff that I haven’t seen anyone else mention, so reading this isn’t a complete waste of your time, I hope.

I tried to keep this from becoming wordy, but it got really long anyway, because there was a lot to talk about here.

Ezekiel being unaffected by magic is sort of an ongoing thing in the show. He is influenced by it much of the time, such as by Santa’s Hat, Pan’s Flute, Prospero’s spell, lycanthropy, etc. When it comes to the stuff he was seemingly completely immune to, there is one link that connects them all.

Apple of Discord: Everybody knows this one. The Apple is a Greek artifact, meant to turn you into the worst version of yourself, and Ezekiel was only one completely unaffected. It’s blamed on “he’s already the worst version of himself” or whatever.

Zeus Lightning Bolt: the episode where Ezekiel ends up decked out in Greek armor, and is sent to pick up Zeus’ Lightning Bolt, which was freaking out and zapping everywhere. He picks it up just fine, and he’s then able to hand it off to Flynn. It may have been purely because of the Greek armor he was wearing, but Flynn did not seem so sure about that working.

Cindy’s Love Potion: Ezekiel is able to be near the potion without becoming obsessed with Cindy. At first, it’s blamed on him being obsessed with himself, then later Jacob tells Ezekiel that he was already in love with Cindy. It was an obsession, not a love, potion you literally spent the episode proving that blah blah, he didn’t even recognize her at first blah blah, anyway, I have a better reason.

There are two Greek mentions in this episode. First, the potion project itself is called Project Aphrodite, a Greek goddess. Second, the sunflowers; when asked, Jenkins mentions how sunflowers are a Greek symbol of unrequited love. In addition, “love” potions may have originated in Greece, or at the very least, were common enough to have multiple sites claim that, lol. At the end of the season, where each librarian uses their gifts to turn Apep mortal, this greek potion is what Ezekiel ends up using.

See a pattern here? Everything that he was completely unaffected by was Greek in some way. So, he has an immunity to these kinds of artifacts, but why? I vote demigod.

Anyway, moving on.

Here’s some magic he could have been immune to, or could not have been. Its pretty debatable.

Fortuna: Technically a Roman Goddess, but the show does acknowledge how similar they are to Greek Gods. He may have been affected by the spell, but broke out of it pretty quick. Some think he may not been affected at all; slot machines aren’t exactly fair, especially in a casino that exists to cheat completely. As for Ezekiel getting so upset over losing, what he says, “Not the guy that loses, I’m the guy that wins” sounds very similar to what he was saying in Point of Salvation, but that’s a whole nother topic.

Alternately, he was affected and this point shouldn’t be here. I don’t know, I’m not the writers.

Libris Fabula: He was a little bit affected, just far less than the others, as he acted pretty much the same. He did get a barely noticeable clothing change, became luckier than normal, and was just able to cast a spell for some reason? Speaking out that spell, it froze the guy, and a certain Greek God does have the ability to put people to sleep. Not really the same thing, but worth thinking about. Maybe. More on that later.

Most people think he was immune, but he could have just been similar enough to the character he was portraying that he didn’t need to change a whole lot.

These ones are barely worth mentioning, because have other reasonable (though I guess your definition of reasonable may be different from mine) explanations, but you could see them as magic immunity as well:

Silver Screen: Ezekiel gets into character the least, while Cassandra and Jacob are out singing and calling people by their character names. Maybe less affected, maybe just a spoilsport. Probably the last one.

Point of Salvation: Was the only one able to remember previous loops. Since they were in a video game, it’s explained that since he was the first through the door, he became the player while everyone else became NPCs. I mean, sure.

Christmas Thief: Saint of Thieves only used his truth telly power on Ezekiel’s mother, not him. Ezekiel did not feel obligated to say anything. Could just be that the guy wasn’t talking to Ezekiel. Or, earlier in that episode Ezekiel tells his mother he doesn’t steal anymore (at least for anything other than the Library, I assume, cause he still kinda does) and therefor that made him immune to the spell, since it only works on thieves.

Image of an Image: Both Cassandra and Ezekiel got their pictures taken, and Cassandra was the only one affected by the transfer spell. However, Ezekiel wasn’t one of the “chosen ones” because he snuck in, and jumped in front of the camera while Eve (one of the “chosen ones”, who was later able to be affected) turned away. Either that, or he just didn’t have time to feel the effect, since his picture was taken after Cassandra’s, and Eve’s was placed in manually.

That’s all the possible instances of magic immunity I could think of.

Next, we have some other stuff that is relevant to this point, but wasn’t necessarily artifact/magic immunity.

Prophecy Cube: Created by the Oracle of Delphi, who is from Greek mythology. This isn’t about whether Ezekiel was affected by something, as he was still able to use the prophecy glass/get stuck in the cube. Rather, it’s about the Zeus Challenge in the cube. They probably would have died in there, but luckily, Ezekiel had just happened to steal, and keep on him, the exact thing they needed to get through– a bunch of golden coins, and a prophecy that ensures at least one coin can’t be destroyed. Luck? Prophecy? Divine Intervention? Plot convenience? Okay its probably the last one but STILL

Also, Ezekiel getting pissed at Zeus.

Zeus’s Bolt (again?): There is a promo image I think for season 4? that has each of the Librarians holding their tools. Jacob had his axe, Cassandra had a notebook, Flynn had Excalibur, all normal, except for Eve and Ezekiel. Eve had this big staff thing I didn’t recognize, and Ezekiel had Zeus’ Bolt for some reason?

Lightning, just, in general: If there is wild electricity in an episode, Ezekiel is probably around.

Examples:

City of Light: Gets shocked and knocked backwards into Jacob by a very electrified fence, gets up right afterwards and is fine.

Broken Staff: The Zeus Bolt thing, you get it.

Image of an Image: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob. Jacob was not really fine. He lived, though.

Point of Salvation: Ezekiel electrocutes Jacob part 2 Electric Boogaloo, but this time on purpose. He was not fine. He died. But don’t worry, he lived.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Mentioned a little bit above, Ezekiel, Jacob, and a student get stuck in the Zeus Challenge, and Ezekiel uses some coins he just so happened to steal recently. Throwing them on tiles shows whether or not lightning will strike if it was stepped on. Seriously, why is it ALWAYS Jacob?

The Dark Secret: Ezekiel is the one sent to wrap a cord around a lightning rod constantly being struck by lighting. “Why am I bloody doing this”, he asks? I mean, Zeus probably isn’t going to kill his descendent(?), right?

Werewolves: Have you heard of the Lycaon of Arcadia? It’s a Greek myth. Basically, this dude named Lycaon wants to test how smart and all-knowing Zeus is. To do so, he kills his own son, cooks him, and serves him to Zeus to see if he notices, ya know, no biggie. Zeus was like “wtf man” and brings the son back to life, and turns Lycaon into, you guessed it, a wolf. So, Zeus creates a werewolf of sorts, maybe one of the firsts. In Fangs of Death, Ezekiel just so happens to be the one (main) character to be turned into werewolf. So, if he was a descendant of Zeus, imagine how big of a “fuck you” that was to the god. That all being said, Ezekiel was turned by an Egyptian god, so that might not have been intentional. Also, they may have just been avoiding turning Jacob, because there is already a werewolf named Jacob and they didn't want another Twilight reference in that episode.

Family/Name: Ezekiel is adopted, and his adoptive mother mentions how she took him in off the streets. Because of that, we don’t know who his birth parents are, and whether or not he, or anyone else, knows is unknown. Soooo, we can take some creative liberties as to who his parents might have been.

As for his name, it carries some religious connotations. It should be remembered though, the meanings I’m talking about here are Biblical, not Greek, so again, might mean nothing for this argument. “Ezekiel” is “God’s Strength” or “God will Strengthen”. Jones might also be something like “God is gracious” or “God has favored”, thought different sites say different things. However, I’m pretty sure the name Jones came from his adoptive mother, and apparently Jones is a common last name in Australia. His first name is more relevant, because all of his siblings have themed names; Mercy, Charity, and Honor. So, either his mom named him differently because she knew something we don’t, or he already had the name before she adopted him. Either way, this probably means absolutely nothing. But what are we here for? To analyze a dead show like an English teacher analyzes the color of curtains in an 100 year old text. If it wasn’t for all the other stuff, I probably wouldn’t think about this too much.

Okay. So Greek stuff, lightning, and Zeus himself come up a LOT when it comes to this guy. So is Ezekiel the son of Zeus? Possibly, but a more popular theory is that he’s Zeus’ grandson. Because Zeus’ son just so happens to be Hermes; god of things such as luck, travel, money, trade, and most importantly, thieves. Oh, and animal husbandry/shepherds and sleep, I don’t know how much those apply but I will try.

Time for some comparisons, honestly most of these don’t even need to be explained so I’ll keep it short-ish, cause this shit has gotten way too long already.

Luck: Ezekiel, especially in the first season, likes to rely on luck, and tends to be very lucky in general. Examples where this is mentioned include Fables of Doom and Apple of Discord. “Smarter to be lucky then lucky to be smart!”

Travel: We can assume that he ended up traveling in his previous job (that being heists all over the world) fairly often, even before the Library. Becoming a Librarian with a teleporting door increased that of course.

Money: Steals very high-value items to sell. Also apparently likes to take money from his coworker’s wallets. And probably everyone else’s.

Trade: The aforementioned high-value pieces he steals are traded/sold for money. In Christmas Thief, we find out he kept none of the money or items, giving it away to others who needed it. That kinda fits this category, I think.

Thieves: I really don’t need to explain this. Unless you haven’t seen the show.

Animal Husbandry/Shepherds?: Basically the care of animals. Um, well he doesn’t keep cows or anything, but he has a tendency to “adopt” magical creatures that need help. Stumpy, Nessie Jr., maybe Frankenstein’s Monster as well?

Sleep: I mentioned earlier how Ezekiel froze a guy (not really in an icy way, just couldn’t move) by hitting him with his coin. Hermes is able to send people to sleep with his Caduceus (the snake wand thing). Yeah, it’s not really the same thing, though you could consider being frozen a kind of sleep. He could have just been lucky enough to find a magical coin, and lucky enough to figure out how to use it at the exact right time without even knowing what it did. It’s a stretch either way, really, and was never explained in the episode at all. Yeah, I can't find anything else that fits.

Hermes is considered to be a thief and trickster, and a lot of the things he is god of are Ezekiel’s main occupations. With all those similarities to Hermes, frequent events related to lightning and Zeus related things, and immunity to Greek artifacts, we can conclude that he is perhaps the son of Hermes, taking after his father in abilities and getting visits from grandpa.

Alternatively, his somehow IS Hermes, but I doubt that. He’d probably be way more powerful. He was also able to see the future with Prophecy Glass, which Jenkins claims is impossible for immortals to do (although in that case he was talking about a Prophecy Cube, but close enough). It’s more likely that he is a demigod.

Okay, that is all I can think of that is relevant. I binged the series about two months ago, and have been thinking about this theory. I went ahead and re-watched the episodes that I mentioned in more detail, as well as parts of others that I remebered. The reason I bring this up is because I may have missed things. I did not rewatch a majority of the episodes, more that I looked at a list of episodes on wikipedia and tried to remember what happened in them, watching clips and episodes if I needed to.

The show was cancelled, so we’ll probably never get a confirmation as to who Ezekiels’ birth parents were, and as such, you can’t prove me wrong! That being said, if I got any facts incorrect in this, please tell me so I can fix it. I’m not well versed on Greek Mythology, in fact I know basically nothing, and did the research as I went along. So again, there could be more. This is just what I found in like, less than a day of searching.

Join me next time on “How is Cassandra magical, where’d she get it from? Also, were we ever gonna meet her parents?” And “In the first episode of season 3, Jacob is just able to hit a heavy punching bag of its chain, across the room, at bullet speed, just because of a shift of his wrist, and later in that episode do the same thing to Apep, and it’s just…never addressed or spoken about again? Like wtf man?”

I'm probably not doing that

If you managed to get through all of this, thank you, and I hope this wasn’t too painful to read.

[mandoalorian]

Praying ...

🕯 🕯

🕯Max and her having 🕯

🕯 a baby and adopting 🕯

🕯Maxine on next year's 🕯

🕯 Christmas . 🕯

🕯 🕯

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

To Build A Home [Maxwell Lord x Reader]

READ PART ONE HERE.

Rating: PG

Warnings: mention of orphanage, adoption, birth.

Word count: 2.7k

Permanent taglist - let me know if you want to be added: @supernaturalgirl @phoenixhalliwell @ah-callie @luvzoria @stardust-galaxies @wickedfrsgrl @goth-topic @nerdypinupcrystal @wonderfulfluffer @kiwi-the-first @pedroepascal @honeymandos @castiel-barnes

Masterlist (PS— if you like reading Maxwell as a father as much as I like writing him, I also have a cute one shot where he has a daughter AND a cat called ‘Soulmates’. You can read that here.)

Maxwell Lord didn't know what true love was until he held his newborn daughter in his arms. The delivery was peaceful and the child was born awake, her big brown eyes sparkling as she let out the gentlest of cries. "It's a girl," Maxwell announced, his voice croaking as the midwife took your daughter to clean her up.

"A girl?" you sniffed. "Just like you wanted." You beamed, leaning over and hugging Maxwell.

Maxwell let out a choked sob. "She's beautiful," he whispered and your heart melted in your chest. "She looks like you. Not much hair and a little red, and she has my eyes but… she really does look like you," you had never heard him speak with so much joy and delight. "We have ourselves a daughter." he confirmed and you giggled happily as he pressed a comforting kiss into your cheek and smoothed out your messy hair.

Having a newborn baby was not easy. You didn't expect it to be easy, but even with the many house staff coming and going… the butler's and the maids and the nanny’s… it was still a struggle. She would wake up at the most ungodly hour demanding to be fed. She would throw up in the morning all over Maxwell's thousand dollar suits right before he had to head to work. Maxwell swore the diaper changing was the worst, but he loved her unconditionally and he wouldn't change a thing.

In fact, he wanted more. Maxwell Lord always wanted more— no matter what it was. But never did he think he'd want more children, that's for sure. You had just put little Isabella down in her cot, after nursing her and praying she'd actually settle this bedtime. You got undressed, slid into your silk pajama set and swaddled yourself with plenty of blankets in your king sized bed, next to Maxwell. The nights were getting colder, but the warmth of laying next to your fiancée provided you with just enough comfort.

You tore the office paperwork from Maxwell's hands and set it on the nightstand before taking off his reading glasses and kissing him slowly. "Are you nervous for tomorrow?" you asked, in between breathy kisses.

Maxwell nodded. "I know I want this… it's just, I want what's best for her too." Maxwell admitted sheepishly. You rubbed your nose against his and laid your head in his lap. "Isabella was born only three months ago… do you think we're ready for another?"

You smiled. "We're an unstoppable team Maxwell, I know we're ready. It's not going to be easy, but we can do it. I know we can. And I love you."

"I love you too," he sighed, pressing his lips into yours and dropping his hand to caress your body over your pyjamas. You giggled into the kiss as he touched you and moved your head away from his.

"You still got the Santa costume?" you asked, smacking your lips together.

"Mm," Maxwell mumbled, leaning in to kiss you again but you pulled away. "What? It's in the back of the closet. Let me kiss you."

You laughed and nodded, leaning back in to kiss him. He pushed you into the bed sheet and tugged at your silk shorts as he hovered over your body.

Like every morning, you awoke at dawn to Isabella crying for her breakfast. Nursing her, you gave her a bottle of milk and greeted the nanny. "Hey, you sure you don't mind watching Isabella while Maxwell and I head out?" you asked with a pleasant smile.

"Of course not, she's a little darling. It would be a pleasure." the nanny smiled as you passed Isabella over.

"Daddy's little darling." Maxwell said, appearing in the kitchen in his Santa costume… minus the hat and beard. You padded over to him and put your hand on his tummy, a blush creeping over his cheeks as you looked up at him with doe eyes.

"You know, this is kinda sexy." you smirked, pressing down the red fabric and making sure he looked neat and tidy. Maxwell rolled his eyes.

"Go get your elf dress on. We're going to be late." he told you, flicking his wrist out and checking the time on his gold Cartier watch. You nodded, heading back into your bedroom. Maxwell turned to the nanny. "You feed her again at 12, and then at 2, but we should be back by then. She likes to play with her felt books and rattle… they’re in the-"

"Nursery," the nanny finished Maxwell's sentence with a gentle smile. "I know Mr Lord, please don't worry about little Isabella. She's in safe hands, I promise."

Maxwell hesitated but looked down at his daughter who was already looking up at him, her big brown eyes sparkling. She reached out to her father, making little grabby fists as a smile appeared on her face. "I love you princess." he mumbled, kissing his daughter on the forehead.

Maxwell set the sack of presents down under the orphanages Christmas tree, the children clambering and squealing excitedly as they raced over to pick out what Santa (or you and Max) had got for them. "Batman!" A young boy yelled, jumping up with a plastic Batman figurine and showing it off excitedly.

"Really?" Maxwell sighed, leaning into you. "A Batman toy?" he tutted and you laughed, smacking him playfully in his broad chest.

"Princess Jasmine!" A younger girl exclaimed, holding a turquoise Princess Jasmine costume to her body and showing it off in front of the other girls. "I'm going to wear this everyday."

You went to whisper something into Maxwell's ear but noticed that he must've sauntered off somewhere. Your gaze flicked around the living room as you tried to search for him but he was truly nowhere in sight. "Where did Santa Claus go?" a little girl asked, pulling on the hem of your green elf dress.

"I'm not sure," you told her, biting your lip. "Let me go have a look. Wait here, okay?" you told her and she nodded, turning back to open some more presents.

"Where is Maxine?" Maxwell asked the head social worker at the orphanage. "She wasn't with the other kids."

The social worker, Stacey, frowned. "She's in her bedroom. It's been a tough Christmas for her." Stacey explained.

"Can I ask why?" Maxwell prodded curiously.

"We thought she had found her forever home. A family had taken a liking to her but, just the day before Christmas Eve they decided they didn't want her anymore. It came completely out of the blue. She's devastated."

Maxwell's heart sank in his chest at the revelation. "You don't know why they changed their mind?" he asked sadly.

"I'm afraid not," Stacey shook her head. "Maxine is uhm… quite a lot to handle."

"May I go see her?" Maxwell asked.

"Sure, her bedroom is three doors down and to the left." Stacey informed him, pointing her finger down the corridor.

Maxwell sauntered off, finding the room and giving it a brief knock on the door. "Go away!" he heard a little voice cry out. Maxwell couldn't help but smile when he heard Maxine's familiar voice. He didn't think he would have missed her this much, but he did. Maxwell hesitantly opened the door.

"It's Santa!" he called out, grinning when Maxine turned around with teary eyes.

"S-Santa?" Maxine whispered timidly. "You came back?"

Maxwell sat on the edge of Maxine's bed and Maxine crawled over to him. Maxwell pulled the little girl onto his lap. "I promised didn't I?" he smiled.

"You did." Maxine returned the smile. She had stopped crying for the first time in days.

"Have you been a good girl this year?" Maxwell asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow. Maxine nodded excitedly.

"Very good!" Maxine squealed, nuzzling her cheek into Max’s chest. Maxwell felt his heart grow warm at the affection from the child he had grown to care so much about.

"Your friends are out in the living room opening their presents… don't you want to go see them?" Maxwell quizzed, nudging her slightly. Maxine shook her head 'no'. "Well, I know you've been a good girl. That's why there's someone here to see you. Could you give me five minutes?" Maxwell asked, a huge grin painted on his face? Maxine nodded, shuffling off his lap and picking up her teddy, hugging it tight to her chest.

Maxwell left her bedroom, walking down the corridor and pulling off his Santa hat and faux beard before bumping into you. "Hey, I was looking for you everywhere!" you hissed. "Put your hat and beard back on before a kid sees!" you looked around anxiously in hope that nobody was around.

"I spoke to Maxine." Maxwell smiled, tears pooling in his eyes. Your face softened.

"Oh," you were speechless. "And?"

"Get out of your elf dress and meet me by the main entrance. I'm going to speak to Stacey and have her draft the adoption papers for us to sign." Maxwell said, planting a kiss on your cheek. You choked back a sob and hugged your fiancée tight.

"We're getting another daughter?" you asked, the news finally settling in.

"Yeah, we're getting another daughter." Maxwell confirmed, unable to contain his excitement. "Okay, you have five minutes! Quick!" He ushered you back down the hallway and into the living room.

"Um, guys!" you called, the little bell on your elf hat jingling as you tried to get the attention of all the kids. "Guys! Father Christmas has had to leave to go see some more children, but he wishes you all the merriest Christmas and the happiest new year. And he told me to tell you that you all better be good, and he'll come again next year." you said with a cheery smile and the children horray’d.

"What do you say to the elf?" a member of staff encouraged.

"Thank you Mrs Elf." The children all said in unison before turning back to their presents.

You smiled, nodding in contentment before racing out of the living room and outside. You pulled out a plain woollen dress and some tights from the back of the car and quickly changed out of your elf dress, not forgetting to reapply your lipstick and fasten the laces of your winter boots. Deciding you looked like you were back to your usual self, you re-entered the orphanage. A few of the children gave you a confused stare, but it was short lived.

"You're… you're…" it was the same boy from last year, who had shoved the tabloid in your face. You giggled, sinking down to his level.

"Shhh." you smiled, placing a finger over your lips. "What's your name?" you asked.

"Eric." he said excitedly. "I've seen you on the television… you're like. Famous."

You laughed, shaking your head. "Eric is such a lovely name. Like a prince. Have you seen my husband? He's supposed to be here." you asked Eric, who's jaw dropped.

"M-Maxwell Lord the fourth is- is here?" Eric was starstruck. "Wait, I'm not even wearing my best clothes. You know I study business in school? It's my favourite subject. And I- I really look up to your husband, I- I watch all his infomercials. I…"

You placed a hand on Eric's shoulder. "You study business?" you raised an eyebrow. "What do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I want my own company." Eric grinned excitedly.

"You do?" you gasped. "You know, it's hard work. You think you could handle it?"

Eric nodded furiously. "I know I could."

"Never stop believing." you told him, before raising back to his feet.

"Darling?" you heard Maxwell call. You smiled when you saw that your fiancée was back to wearing one of his high end business suits with the floral print tie and matching pocket square, his Armani heels clicking against the floor and his sunglasses perched on the curve of his nose.

"Oh! Max!" you gasped. "There's someone I'd like you to meet. This is Eric. His favourite subject in school is business and he wants to have his own company when he's older."

Maxwell turned to face Eric, reaching out to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you buddy." Maxwell charmed, taking off his sunglasses and clipping them to his shirt. "It's a pleasure."

Eric was speechless, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. "Uh… Eric is a big fan." you explained to Maxwell.

"I've always wanted to meet you." Eric blushed, enamoured to be standing before his idol.

"Eric, how old are you? Thirteen? Fourteen?" Maxwell asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"Fourteen." Eric smiled nervously.

"Black Gold Cooperative offer an apprentice scheme for kids like yourself who have an interest in one day building their own business. It's very competitive but… I'd love to offer you a position during the summer."

"M-me?" Eric stabbed a finger into his own chest, his eyes wide and teary.

"Come on buddy, don't let me down. I'd love to have you work with me on some projects. I bet you have some brilliant ideas." Maxwell gave Eric his iconic television smile as he charmed the young boy.

"I would be honoured." Eric beamed and Maxwell leaned in to give him a hug.

"That's great." Maxwell laughed, patting Eric on the back and standing back up.

"Mr Lord? I- I also have an interest in geology. Could I show you my rock collection?" Eric asked nervously, fumbling with his thumbs.

"You know Eric, I have my own rock collection myself. But I am here on business at the moment. Eric, I'd love to meet with you sometime during the new year and we could have a chat. Is that okay?" Maxwell asked and Eric nodded happily. "Brilliant, have a great Christmas." Maxwell wished before heading down the corridor and on his way to Maxine's room.

You smiled at a still starstruck Eric. "Merry Christmas." you whispered and he looked at you with the biggest heart eyes.

You followed Maxwell to Maxine's room and entered behind him. "Hello." Maxwell said timidly. Maxine may have met Santa plenty of times, but she had never met Maxwell and he wasn't sure how she'd react. Maxine furrowed her eyebrows, glancing between you both.

"You look like a princess." Maxine gasped, sliding off her bed and walking towards you with huge, glistening eyes.

"No, you look like a princess." you told Maxine who smiled happily. She turned to Maxwell.

"I recognise you." she said bluntly, tapping her finger on her chin as she pondered.

"Uh, do you watch television?" Maxwell asked curiously.

"No." Maxine replied. "I recognise your eyes."

You gasped, realising she must've recognised Maxwell from when he was Santa and made an attempt to divert her attention. You introduced yourself to the little girl. "Me and my husband have been keeping a close eye on you for about a year now," you revealed. "We'd like to adopt you, Maxine. If that's something you wanted. I know it's out of the blue but-"

"Do you have a cat?" Maxine squealed.

"N-no?" you replied.

"You want a cat?" Maxwell asked, kneeling down to face the little girl who he had become so acquainted with and taking her hands. "We can get a cat."

Maxine burst into tears. "I thought I would never find my forever home. Please, promise me you won't ever ever leave me."

Maxwell Lord's father had left when he was 16 and he lived with an absent and abusive mother throughout his entire adolescence. He knew how it felt to be alone, unwanted. He knew better than most people would ever even believe. He pulled Maxine into his chest, who was now sobbing hysterically, dampening his suit. Maxwell shed a tear himself.

"You are my daughter and I love you," he whispered into her hair. "Let us give you a home."

[ggukkiedae]

[vlive 210522] Seri’s Seritonin 🥝🐱

9pm kst

italics = english; seri answering questions!

the vlive starts with seri logging on and waving

she’s playing new rules in the background and staying quiet for the first two minutes

“moa! how are you all?”

she smiles and reads through the comments

she reads a few out loud and sees a few comments asking her to say i love you in different languages, to which she complies to

she turns off her music first and fixes herself in her chair

“bet you guys are wondering why i’m live today, huh? we’ll get to that in a bit. for now, let’s answer questions”

she looks through the comments carefully until she reads one out loud

Seriiiiiii! 5 Beomgyus or 5-year-old Beomgyu?

she laughs at this

“maybe a five year old bammie. he always makes a big deal of being older than me by a few months, so it would be good pay back”

she then pulls out her phone and scrolls through it before turning it towards the screen. it was a picture of beomgyu as a kid

“see this? he sent this to our groupchat the other day. tiny gyu is cute”

how are youuuuuu?

she claps her hands together and smiles at the live

“i’m doing great, thank you! i’ve been practicing harder, and i feel pretty good”

she scrolls through the comments again and takes a sip of her drink. she lightly mixes her drink around and places it back down

“you guys should try peach tea. it’s a godsend. oh, what’s this?”

shall we go on a date?

“you didn’t turn up at our last date”

she pouted a little and laughed

“i waited at the rooftop for a while, but you didn’t show up! but i guess we can go again because you’re moa”

she shifts a little and shakes her head amusedly at her own words

“do i sound like gyu?”

Hi Seri! I have a couple questions 😊 What has been your favorite era music wise and style wise? What hair style/color do you want to try? What's your current favorite song? What are you looking forward to most?

her eyes widened a little before she looks up trying to come up with answers to the series of questions

“oh, wow, i guess you could say i really liked our songs from the minisode album, but my favorite title track is run away for sure. actually, i take that back. i like the songs on dream chapter magic the most! in terms of style... dream chapter magic as well! i really like new rules’ styling especially”

a small smile makes its way to her face as she’s about to answer the last question from that comment

“right now, i’m really looking forward to our new album, and i hope you’ll like it as well! so far, the tracks are amazing!”

any plans for a comeback with the royals?

“i don’t know” she laughs and looks off camera “what do you think?”

yoonmi’s giggle can be heard while seri just laughed

“you exposed me! anyway, we’ll see when the three of us get an opportunity again” “you guys heard yoonmi”

seri takes the live and points it to the side, revealing the magenta-haired girl peacefully sitting in the dance studio near her while working on something on her laptop

“yoonmi is working on school stuff even if she just released a song yesterday” “responsibilities”

Seri baby are you aware that Seri sounds like berry? Therefore you are now berry Seri or Seri Berry 🤔

“oh, that’s cute! seri berry... i love it! i’m a berry now! i can replace strawberries, i don’t like strawberries”

she wrinkled her nose at the thought of the red berries as the sound of a chair moving came up. seri looked off camera and waved to, supposedly, yoonmi

“yoonmi has a meeting right now, so she’s off. anyway, back to our live”

Hiya Seri how are you liking the new building? What do you think has changed the most about you since you became an idol? And out of the members who do you think has changed most since you debuted?

“the new building is actually the best thing ever, i swear! there’s a lot of space, and the facilities are all high quality! honestly, i’m the only txt member who doesn’t get lost, so it’s pretty funny when the others have to ask for my help to walk around”

she then pressed her lips into a tight line while thinking about her next answer

“since becoming an idol... i think i became more confident. the others tell me this a lot. they say every comeback my stage presence gets better, and i look more comfortable? i also became a better dancer for sure. not the best yet, but i’m working on it. also maybe kai? first of all, he’s gotten way taller now. second, he’s been more mature. yes, he’s still our baby, but he handles things a lot more maturely now. sometimes he acts like he’s older than me as well”

hi bestieeeeeee! what do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t an idol?

“hey, bestie! musical theatre for sure!”

seri immediately perked up at this. she jumped back in her seat a little with the biggest grin while remembering her experiences

“i loved it back in school! honestly, my parents were pretty supportive about my involvement in theatre and my little brother kinda brags to his friends that his sister goes on stages to perform. it’s kinda cute”

would you consider acting? or maybe starring in a musical?

“oh for sure if i were given the chance!”

you dance amazingly! your artist of the month video with studio choom was absolutely perfect!!!!

“oh my god”

she covered her face and groaned before pulling out her phone and looking for the video on youtube. before pressing play, she looked back to the camera

“thank you, but i’m a little embarrassed about this. i wore red lipstick on stage for the first time after debut, and i showed a side of me that’s pretty different…”

she pressed play and watched the video, cringing at herself. it took a whole 20 seconds before she gave up and hid her phone behind her

“nope. nevermind, i can’t watch that. thank you, i’m glad you enjoyed it”

thoughts on the people you’re being shipped with? 👀

she burst into laughter upon reading this

“ah, yes. shipping. i see you guys on stan twitter with your little edits and headcanons and aus! honestly, it’s amusing. apparently most of you ship me with gyu and seungmin? and a few other people, too?”

she was quiet for a while like thinking about who moas shipped her with. she shook her head with and began talking again

“gyu... well, bammie’s my best friend, and i love him a lot. it’s been us from the very beginning, so i like to think we’ll be as close as ever until the end”

“seungmin is the bane of my existence”

she laughed at this before waving her hand

“kidding! he’s actually really nice, and i love hanging out with him, it just so happens our friendship is based on bickering. we do support each other though. seungmin, if you see this, you did well on love poem”

she then lit up as if just remembering something

“some of you guys ship me with chaeryoung! interesting considering you all see me as ryujin’s sibling, but please, i’m not worthy of the queen herself. i love chae with all my heart honestly she’s such a sweet child”

her phone buzzed and she glanced at it a little bit before turning back to the live

“perfect timing because hyunsuk just messaged me and some special ship mentions are hyunsuk and jeno oppa. i think it’s because i hang out with hyunsuk’s little siblings a lot. but jeno oppa? we just met earlier this year, it’s a little funny how apparently a lot of people ship us when we haven’t really shown our friendship much”

she typed something one her phone before chuckling and shutting it off once again. she looked through the comments until she found the topic she was looking for

What’s up with you and Dino? 👀👀👀

“ah, this. this brings me to the reason i went live. recently, you guys have seen me and dino oppa hanging out, right? well, we’re not dating. i wanted it to be a surprise, but he’s helping me with something for my birthday, and i agreed to do something with him for their youtube as well”

her phone rang, and she laughed before picking it up and putting it on speaker

“hello? you’re on speaker” “seri-yah! how dare you deny our relationship?” “oh? you’re watching?” “look up, stupid. i’m standing by the door”

she looked off camera and laughed

“yah! oppa, what are you doing here?” “miya told me you were gonna talk about the scandal, so i thought why not come early?”

dino appears next to seri in a mask and a hat. he nudged seri over to the side so they could both be centered on screen, making her raise her eyebrow at him

“meet my new dance partner” dino points towards seri whose eyes widen as soon as he said that

“they don’t know yet!” “you said we were working on two things together!” “but they didn’t know one of them is dance!” “might as well tell them so we can clear up this rumor before i get attacked by moas”

she sighed at him

“i’d get attacked by carats. anyway, fine. dino oppa’s helping me with a song, and he’s making me dance with him for a video. you can look forward to this in july”

dino adjusted his hat and leaned forward a little

“no need to panic, we’re not in a romantic relationship. she’s too tall for me”

“... you’re literally taller than me though?” “not by that much. if you wear heels, we’d be the same height, and i don’t think i’m up for that”

she playfully rolled her eyes

“looks like i’ve discussed what needed to be cleared up now. i’m single. single.” “yes, they get the point” “oh, would you just go already?”

she was pretending to push him away while he laughed at her failed attempts. he moved off camera but stays in the room

“no way, we’ve got to work the choreography out today”

“this is gonna be a while,” she muttered before smiling at the live once again “well, time for me to go. i’ve got a lot of work to do to be on par with a member of seventeen’s performance team”

dino’s groaning could be heard from the side

“this again?”

she laughed

“bye moa! hopefully that cleared things up, and hopefully you enjoyed this little tmi session”

-end-

[sideways-writes]

5 times the sides were waring someone else’s cloths and one time they all were

Title: 5 times the sides were waring someone else’s cloths and one time they all were

Fandom(s): Sanders sides

Description: There were very few things all the sides could agree on. One of those things was that Thomas was terrible at giving them warning before summoning them, which resulted in some rather interesting and somewhat embarrassing moments. Be that missing items of clothing or wearing pyjamas.

Characters: Virgil, Roman, Patton. Janus, Remus, Logan, C!Thomas

Parings: intrulogical, Analoroceit, moceit. 

Individual bits as induvisual ships: anxeit, parental moxiety, roceit, intrulogical, logicality, analogics & prinxiety & moceit & demus [this was confusing]

Tags/warnings: can’t think of any warnings, implied making out at the end, kinda fluffy, 5+1 things, sharing cloths

~•~•~•~

~~1~~ Things had been pretty hectic over the past week, and everyone needed a break. Which, of course, meant no one was, and Thomas was making a video. Logan, Patton and Roman were all arguing over what they should be spending time on. Patton was pushing him to help his friends, Roman telling him to go dream chasing and Logan failing to find a balance between them. Thomas was expecting Virgil to rise up any second as he had done many a time before, but it wasn't the anxious side that appeared. "Well, isn't this lovely. Totally productive and very useful bickering." It may not have been who he expected, but Janus had the desired effect, and the sides were able to begin to work towards a solution. Looking over, Janus realised Thomas wasn't paying much attention. Snapping his fingers, he got said man's attention. "Sorry, just. What are you wearing?" Logan cut in before the yellow side could answer "He is waring Virgil's hoodie, surely you can see that?" "No, no, I see that but... why? Never-mind, what were you saying Janus?" Janus restarted his point, and things continued as usual. ~~2~~

The sides had materialised to watch another movie. Thomas had found a behind the scenes Disney documentary which had done the near-impossible task of appeasing both Roman and Logan while still engaging all the other sides. Logan and Remus were off in the latter's room presumably working on their recreation of Frankenstein's monster; assuming Remus hadn't distracted the logical side. Patton and Janus were making another batch of cookies in Thomas' kitchen; Thomas himself was chatting with them and making a note to buy more flour, sugar and eggs. Again. Roman was adventuring in the imagination, and Virgil was presumably on Tumblr in his room. An hour later, the sides to congregate in Thomas' living room scattering all about the place. Janus was lazing on the sofa, next to Patton in his cat onesie, looking surprisingly comfortable given he was still waring slacks and a buttoned-up shirt. Roman leaned against the yellow side's legs and practically vibrating with excitement. Logan was sitting in his usual spot having lost his tie at some-point but still looking very put together. Remus was lurking behind the sofa in his birthday suit. Virgil appeared on the arm of the couch in Patton's cat hoodie. The sides all greeted him, and the Moral side could not stop cooing at how adorable he looked in his hoodie. Janus looked at their human with a raised eyebrow as he walked and received an eye-role in return. "You do look adorable Virge." ~~3~~ Finding the sides in the kitchen at random hours wasn't particularly surprising anymore. Between Patton's baking, Janus' cooking, Logan's love of crofters and Virgil's random snacking there was usually someone there and if there wasn't you didn't have to wait long. However, what was unusual was the two most dramatic sides appearing singing some kind of competitive duet. Once Roman and Janus had reconciled, they took bickering to the next level. If the others thought he was bad with Virgil, Roman took it to new heights with the deceitful side. Competitive Disney mealies was a new one though. Somehow Janus had lost his cape, and Roman's sash was nowhere to be seen. What was most surprising, however, was that Janus' hat had found itself onto the prince's head. Given how protective, said side was of his hat it was unexpected but the two sank out before anything could be said. ~~4~~ [Remus' sash is absolutely massive when unfolded and I WILL die on this hill] For once, Janus had managed to get everyone to listen and actually take a break. Said side was cuddling with Roman and Virgil back in the mind-palace commons and Patton was knitting in a chair next to them. The last anyone had seen of Logan and Remus was them talking excitedly heading off to the latter's room. A few hours later Patton had finished up the beanie he had been knitting and had moved I join the others' cuddle pile. At some point, Virgil had fallen asleep with his head on Romans shoulder to the creative side running his fingers through his hair. Janus was starting to doze off curled around Patton. He raised his head sleepily when Logan shuffled into the room and flopped onto the couch with a book in hand. He pulled the Duke's sash tighter around his shoulders and cracked open the hefty tome as the Moral side ruffled his hair. The owner of the sash around Logan's shoulders slunk into the room to steal Janus' hat and lie across the back of the couch. ~~5~~ The sides were sitting around having a far more relaxed debate than usual. There was no one specific topic, the conversation drifted from the mundane to the ridiculous. Other than a brotherly spat that had left Roman sulking for a short while things were thankfully drama free. Or, well, they had been before Logan had accused Patton of not taking things seriously. There was a tense moment before the latter snapped his fingers. "Pat, what?" Then Virgil started snickering and pointed to Patton's neck. "Well, Lo, I'd say I'm being plenty serious. See, necktie!" Sure enough one of Logan's old ties had materialised around his neck. Even the logical side couldn't keep a straight face and they all burst out laughing. ~~+1~~ Thomas was getting used to seeing his sides in clothing other than their usual attire but he was still rather surprised when he summoned them to start recording and they were all each-others clothes. Patton and Janus appeared together, the yellow side in the others hoodie with his arm over his shoulders. Remus had popped up with Janus' hat next to his brother who had Virgils hoodie on and was looking a little awkward. Virgil had Logan's tie draped around his neck and blush on his cheeks as he glared at the human who had summoned him while the Logical side just smirked.

[feeling--pink]

My Sweet Ride is an amazing episode of Phineas and Ferb and the only thing bad about it I that I wish we could have seen more people in full out 1950s clothes!! So I did that!! (Also including some MML kids because I love them and don’t draw them enough!)

Anyways!! If y’all want to see me rant about 1950s stuff for a very long time because I had a blast doing research for this project you should click the keep reading!! :D

Okay a quick prelude!! Not only am I going to talk about outfits I designed, but while doing research I was blown away about the attention to detail the original designers had for these outfits and characters so I’m going to talk about their outfits too! :D

Here are my sources if you want to look into this btw!! :D

https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950s-teenager-fashions-girls-fashion-trends-and-clothing-styles/ 

https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950s-teen-boys-clothing/ 

https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950s-hairstyles/ 

https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950s-dress-styles/ 

https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950s-womens-hats-by-style/ 

https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950s-womens-shoes-style/ 

Candace

Okay I’m going to start out by saying I just adore this outfit

That has nothing to do with anything I just really love it!!

I’m thinking I might make one of my own for Halloween but that’s off-topic

Okay- 1950s clothing!!

Candace is wearing a blouse (?) with a cardigan over the top, and a pleated swing skirt.

This is a classic 1950s girl’s style

More specifically its also a classic “preppy good kid” look

Which Candace absolutely is!!

Y’all should notice that all the skirts are past knee-length, which was standard of the time.

Candace also has a neck scarf, a common accessory, and a headband.

Ribbon headbands were still a thing in the 50s but the hard plastic headband was also coming into style in the later 1950s.

She’s wearing a pair of saddle shoes which were one of the popular options of the time among boys and girls

Her hair is long with curls at the end, another classic teenager look in the 50s!

While short hair was more popular among adult women, teenage girls often kept theirs long with slight curls on the end!

Bangs were also standard, but usually shorter than how I drew them

Sorry that bit’s inaccurate through all of them, it’s just easier for me to draw long!

Finally, in case you had any doubt about Candace’s outfit being time period, here’s an advertisement from the article I read:

Vanessa

To start off we have a blouse and pencil shirt for Vanessa

Pencil and swing skirts were the two most common skirts of the time

She’s also wearing a belt, which I modified slightly to look like-

The wide contour belt on the bottom right!

She’s also wearing a pillbox hat, one of the popular hats of the time!

Hats were generally not worn by teenagers because they were seen as “mature” 

But that fits pretty well with Vanessa’s character

It’s the same story with the pumps, which I also changed lightly to match time period ones a bit more

Now what made me make my original post about the outfits in My Sweet Ride was actually the hair

Specifically, Vanessa’s hair is modeled after the Bettie Page style

This hair wasn’t actually that popular with the masses because it was seen as too simple, not classy, etc.

BUT it was popular among rebel girls in the USA

And like!!!!!! Y’all the designers did SUCH a good job to get down into details like that!!!!!!!!

But yeah her outfit’s great!! Next one!

Stacy

For Stacy, I decided to change things up slightly and give her a dress!

Specifically, it’s a shirtwaist dress, which I modeled after the reference below

Why the shirtwaist dress you may ask? Idk I think they’re neat

I thought it fit the vibe I was going for so I did that one I don’t know what to tell you jkdshsf-

Okay so generally, the belt wouldn’t have been a different color but I wanted to tie the green I used in a little more

Btw sorry I changed her color scheme a bit

I honestly haven’t fully figured out her original color scheme so I modified it a bit so it would look nice for this!

Pastels were very popular in the summer after all

I tried to stick to everyone else’s original color scheme though!

Stacy also has a headband tied up into a bow, which was standard

And to change things up I put her in a ponytail (with the end curled) which was popular with the teens!

Sklsdjhdkj I sound very “how do you do fellow teens“ while writing this that’s unintentional sorry

Shoes are penny loafers, another popular shoe at the time

I liked the little bows on the ends of some of the ones I saw and thought it was very Stacy!

That’s about it for her!

Phineas

This has nothing to do with anything but I love drawing Phineas

He’s just a funky little triangle!! I love him!

I’ll admit here that I didn’t look into men’s hairstyles, so you won’t hear about that from me sorry!

Phineas is wearing a black button-up, standard. 

Black and white matched everything so they were the most common undershirt colors

Over that, he has a jacket that looks to be varsity jacket inspired, which was seen as super cool!

Full jeans were coming into popularity in the 50s but only with the younger generations

Finally, he also has saddle shoes like Candace does

So yeah it’s a solid 1950s outfit!!

Ferb

Ferb’s a greaser, need I say more?

No, really he has everything

The white t-shirt and jeans combo is exactly the greaser look, so much so that most teenagers avoided it to not fall into stereotypes

Tighter fit jeans were coming into style in the later 50s, so that’s also accurate

The leather jacket just amplifies the greaser look

The one thing is that for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what shoes he was wearing

So I gave him a pair of sho-loks and called it a day!

More about sho-loks in Milo’s portion!

Isabella

Isabella makes an appearance with the first (and only) poodle skirt of the group!!

Poodle skirts, while definitely what most people think about when you say the 50s, actually weren’t that popular among teenagers

The embroidered designs were seen as childish, so children and preteens wore them the most

But here’s a fun tidbit you may not have caught from the show, Isabella is, in fact, a child

(I don’t know why I built that up so much sorry ldksjfhkds)

Anyways I decided if I was going to give anyone a classic poodle skirt it might as well be Isabella!

I modeled it after this poodle skirt:

She’s also wearing a blouse with a peter pan collar, the most popular collar of the time

Another headband tied into a bow because it’s Isabella I had to give her a bow

Standard belt (nothing really to say about that)

And another pair of penny loafers with little bows because they’re cute gosh darn it!

Milo

Okay, I’ve been writing for a while but honestly a lot of the rest of these I just drew directly from reference so…

I did say I would talk about shu-loks here though and I will!!!

Now we know Milo is shoelace-adverse

And while there are plenty of slip-on options I found the shu-lok to be fascinating!!

As you can see above, the tongue snaps down to keep the shoe on your foot!! Isn’t that cool? :D

So yeah I gave Milo those!!  

Zack

We know Zack plays football so I gave him your standard sporty outfit

Sorry I just find girls outfits infinitely more interesting so I kinda focused on those skjhgfdss

Oh! I do have something to say here!!

Converse were your typical sports shoe for the 50s so he has those!! Almost forgot that tidbit!!

Yeah, thick soles with wrinkles and stuff were seen as cool among teens so they got popular!

Melissa

Finally, we have some patterned pants!!

Yeah- checkers, plaid, stripes, polka dots, etc. were all very popular!!

I just didn’t want to draw them a lot ‘cause it’s hard sksfjdhgs-

But I gave Melissa checkers because it would get the black and white of her color scheme and I liked the way the checkered pants looked!!

Girls did wear pants at the time by the way!!

During summer and weekends mostly since they weren’t allowed to wear them to school

Short-sleeved turtle necks were also a thing and I thought that combo would look neat!!

Also, converse because it went with the outfit and that’s kinda what she’s wearing in the show!

Hair in a ponytail and side part bangs, both popular!

Yeah okay, that’s about it for Melissa!

Amanda

By this point, y’all are hopefully getting the gist of 50s fashion so we’re going fast now

Blouse, swing skirt, penny loafers (different style but still penny loafers), headband

(here’s what I modeled the whole thing after:)

I do want to mention the pullover sweater because I thought I should include one and I really like the flower embroidery on them

Then finally we come to her hair!! I already mentioned the headband but I was specifically modeling her hair in the pageboy style which looks like this:

Obviously, it looks a little stylized but what can you do?

And that’s it!! I had so much fun doing research and designing this and I think they all turned out pretty good!! I’m going to do more go this in the futures so if there's someone in particular you’d like to see let me know!! I’m planning on doing Cavendish, Dakota, and Sara at least in the next batch!! 

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Coffee’s for Royals

*Zuko (ATLA) x Reader

*Summary: Opening shift is usually terrible, but a certain prince coming in every morning makes things more tolerable.

*Warnings: Swearing. Let me know if I need to tag anything else.

*A/N: Coffee Shop AU starring a certain angsty prince. My childhood crushes on both Zuko and Mai are back in full force.

My Ko-Fi

**********

You hated taking the opening shift. You were the closing type, not the wake up at 3:30 in the morning so you could open up the store with your overly peppy coworker type. Normally your manager was amazing and let you work mostly closing shifts, but there were the rare occasions the opening shift was short staffed, and your manager would send you a text. Now, you were never one to turn down an extra shift (you definitely needed the money), but you didn’t enjoy taking the opening shift.

When you walked into the coffee shop at four in the morning, you were already fighting the urge to fight somebody. “Why the hell didn’t the closers clean up last night?” You asked as you pulled on your apron.

“I don’t know, aren’t you a closer?” Suki asked, unimpressed. She was a regular opener, having the kind of discipline to regularly wake up at hellish hours. You loved working opening shifts with her - she was a complete badass and one of your closest work friends - but she hated your habits as a closer.

“Yeah, but when I’m a closer, cleaning is a problem for the openers,” you groaned. She threw her hat at you. “Hey!” 

“And that’s why I hate you. Give me back my hat,” she said, walking towards you with some cleaning supplies.

“No, you threw it at me, now it’s mine,” you joked, taking a rag from her.

“So what the hell are you going to do with two hats? Hurry up before shift lead comes in.” You tossed Suki her hat, already feeling better about taking the shift. Sure, you were tired as hell, but you enjoyed the banter you always had going with her. “Alright, what coffee do you want?”

While Suki made the two of you some drinks, you got to cleaning what closing shift didn’t. Most of the machines were cleaned on the surface level, but you had to run some deep cleaning cycles on them. Once that was done, the two of you started brewing the base coffees, needing at least something to serve the customers that would come in during the first few hours of the shop being open. Before you knew it, it was officially time to open. Suki sent you to unlock the door, and then the two of you were just hanging out, filling the occasional order.

Once it started nearing six, you were already wondering when you could take your break. Sure, you hadn’t seen that many customers yet, but you just wanted to sit behind the counter and drink the second coffee Suki had made for you. You stood behind the register, kind of just vibing to the music Suki was playing over the speakers. A guy wearing a hoodie came in, hood pulled up to mostly cover his face, so you went to pretend like you were fully present at work. “Hi, good morning,” you said, putting on your customer service smile. “What can I get for you today?”

“Yeah, hi, uh, can I get a grande white chocolate mocha?” He asked. You knew that voice from somewhere. You didn’t know how, but you recognized that voice. You looked up, scanning his face to see if you actually recognized him or just thought you did. When your gaze landed on the scar, it immediately hit you.

“A-are you Prince Zuko?” you asked, taking the grande cup from the stack.

The guy’s hand immediately went to rub the back of his neck, suddenly shy. “Yeah, I am.”

“Cool. So is that hot or iced?” You asked, not knowing what else to do. It wasn’t like your manager trained you on what to do when royalty randomly walked into your store.

“Hot, please,” he said with a small smile. You typed the order into the computer, waiting a second for the cup’s label to print.

“Alrighty, can I get you anything else?”

“No thanks.” You nodded, finishing up the order. He handed over his card, and went to wait by the order counter to wait for his drink once you handed it back. There was no one else in the shop, and Suki was already working on his drink. You just stood behind the register, not knowing if you should make small talk with him or just try to act like you had things to do. His drink didn’t take long, and when Suki went to put it on the counter, she just lit up when she saw who was there.

“Oh, hey, Zuko!” Suki called as she worked on his drink. “You know, you should try something else every once in a while. I’m starting to get bored just making this one drink.”

“Nah, I like my white chocolate mocha,” he joked back. The two of them kept talking as Suki went about making his drink, and you just stood there, drinking the coffee Suki made for you. You couldn’t believe the way Suki was just immediately joking like that. He must have been a regular, but even with your regulars, you didn’t joke like that. It seemed like they were actual friends, but then how the hell did Suki know the Prince outside of just being his regular barista? Once Suki handed him his drink, they stayed chatting for a few minutes before he finally left.

As soon as the door closed behind him, you turned to Suki. “How the hell do you know the Prince?”

“Oh, Zuko? Yeah, he’s one of Sokka’s friends,” Suki explained. “You know, you’d see him more often if you took more opening shifts. He gets here before the rushes so he doesn’t get recognized.”

“Who said I wanted to see him more often? I just think it’s wild you’re friends with the Prince,” you explained, taking another drink to hide your little embarrassed smile. You hated being put on the spot like that, especially if Suki was implying what it seemed like she was.

“Anyways, he’s single now, not that you’d be super interested in that,” Suki continued to push. You choked on your drink, making Suki laugh. In the nicest way possible, you were going to kill that girl.

**********

It was a complete coincidence you happened to take a couple opening shifts over the next couple weeks. It wasn’t too often, but it was still more than you were usually willing to take. “You know, it’s weird that you’re taking these shifts now,” Suki commented as you cleaned.

“Shut up, I just need the extra money,” you said, rolling your eyes. “It’s not my fault no one else wants to work opening.”

“Okay, sure. Then why’d you look so bummed out when Zuko didn’t show last shift?” Suki teased. You shot her a deadly glare, which she answered with a self-satisfied grin. “He was sick, just in case you were lying about not caring.”

“Anyways,” you tried to change the topic, saying the one word louder than necessary. “Can I choose music today?”

“Yeah, dude. All you had to do was connect your phone first.” You finished cleaning the machine you were working on, already heading over to the door to open for the day. “Hey, what coffee do you want?”

“(Coffee drink of choice),” you said, unlocking the door and flipping the sign.

“No, something easier,” Suki joked, going to make your drink anyways.

“Thank you!”

There was a little rush of customers for about twenty minutes after opening, the super early commuters trying to get their caffeine fix. After that, you and Suki were able to just hang out, adjusting your playlist to whatever vibe you wanted in the shop, and tend to the occasional customer. You were kind of starting to get used to the vibe of opening shift, and you had to admit it was kind of nice. Not enough for you to want to become a regular opener, but it was still nice.

Almost on cue, Zuko walked in as soon as six rolled around. You perked up when you saw him in his red hoodie, hood up but now with a black baseball cap on his head. “Hi! Good morning, Prince. Grande white chocolate mocha?” You asked as he walked up to the counter.

“Oh, uh, hey. Yeah, how’d you know?” He asked as you put in the order.

“Sorry, I just heard Suki say you always order the same thing, so I kinda figured it was your regular,” you explained with a small smile. You could see the flush on his face at your answer, so you immediately went to focus on getting the cup.

“Yeah, it is. She’s always trying to get me to try something else.” Zuko laughed. “I just can’t handle the pure coffee flavor, so, mocha.”

“I get it, I didn’t start drinking actual coffee until I started working here. Alright, so that’ll be $4.45.” Zuko handed his card over, but instead of going over to the pick up counter to talk to Suki like he did last time, he just stayed near the order counter once you handed him his card.

“So, uh, you don’t normally work opening, do you?” Zuko asked, not meeting your gaze directly. You were a little taken aback, not expecting him to actually try to hold a conversation with you. You handed Suki his cup, and she just grinned as she looked between the two of you. “I come in like every morning and I haven’t really seen you here before, you know?”

“No, I work closing but I’ve been picking up a few shifts every now and then,” you explained. You didn’t know why you were giving him so much information, but it wasn’t like you could stop it. Zuko nodded, still looking around the shop like there was something that could take his attention away. You waited a second to see if he was going to go talk to Suki, but when he didn’t, you figured you’d keep the conversation going. “So, you’re friends with Suki’s boyfriend?”

Zuko looked at you, once again a little surprised at your question. “Yeah, we met a few years ago when we were both travelling around. How’d you…?”

“Sorry, I asked Suki how she knew you cuz you guys seemed like kinda close. I hope I wasn’t overstepping my bounds, Prince,” you apologized, looking down at your register. You could feel your face heating up, realizing admitting to the Prince that you were asking his friend for information about him might come off as very weird.

“Don’t worry about it! Oh, uh, by the way, you can just call me Zuko,” he told you. You looked up, catching a glimpse of the shy smile he had. “Sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Oh! I’m (y/n)! Nice to, like, officially meet you.” The two of you just stood there, awkward little smiles on your faces until Suki decided to ruin it.

“Hey, Prince Moody! Stop flirting with my coworker and come get your coffee!” Zuko looked to you, mortified at what Suki just said. He sputtered out an apology before going to the pick up counter. You tried to ignore the rapid-fire whispering from the other side of the counter, instead focusing on what drink you were going to ask Suki to make for you next. The whispering lasted for the longest minutes of your life, but finally Zuko made his way to the front door, turning for a second to wave goodbye to you before leaving. Your heart raced at the small gesture, but the second you looked at Suki, your mood was ruined. She was leaning against the counter, resting her chin on her fist. “So, when’s the wedding? You could do spring, but I’m thinking you’re more of a fall person.”

“We were literally just talking! What, I can’t speak to my customers now?”

“Oh, so he’s your customer now?” Suki teased.

“I hate you.”

“You know you don’t.”

“You’re right, I don’t. Can you make me an iced coffee next?” Suki gave an exaggerated gasp, holding her hand up to her chest.

“Do you only like me because I can make coffee?” Suki questioned, pouting.

“Well, I can make coffee too, I’m just too lazy to make it myself right now,” you said with a sweet smile.

“You gremlin.” Suki rolled her eyes, grabbing a cup for your drink anyways. “You’re lucky you’re my friend.”

“I’m honored.”

**********

When one of the openers gave their two weeks, your manager asked if you wanted to switch over and become an official opener. Before then, you’d already been working a few opening shifts a week, only taking closing about two nights a week. You agreed to the switch, knowing you were already heading that way anyways. Suki quickly jumped in with the teasing when you told her, but you just rolled your eyes and laughed. So what if you enjoyed seeing Zuko in the mornings, just talking about whatever while Suki made his drinks?

When Zuko walked in during your first shift as an official opener, he could tell something was different. As he walked up to the counter, you already put in his order. He immediately pulled out his card and handed it to you. “You seem happy. What’s going on?”

“What, I can’t just be happy?” Zuko gave you a look that let you know he wasn’t awake enough to deal with this. “Alright. So, you’re looking at the newest opener!”

“You switched over from closing?” Zuko asked, eyes widening as you handed his card back to him.

“It wasn’t like she was actually working closing shifts anyways,” Suki chimed in, grabbing the cup you set aside for Zuko’s drink. “She’s been mainly opening because of her favorite customer.”

“Would you please just go make coffee?” you whined. You were avoiding looking at Zuko, but you could picture the blush no doubt on his face.

“Yes, ma’am!” Suki said, giving you a salute before heading to the coffee bar.

“I would say sorry about her, but you’ve been her friend for longer,” you said, finally looking at Zuko. There was the faintest blush tinting his cheeks, a lot less than what you expected. “But, yeah, I’ve been opening a lot more lately so the manager asked if I just wanted to switch over officially.”

“Well, I mean, that’s good if you’re enjoying opening shift anyways,” Zuko said. He paused, looking around the shop before turning back to you. “I’m kinda glad. I like seeing you in the mornings.”

And now it was your turn to blush. You didn’t know what to say, so you just looked down at your register as you tried to will away your burning cheeks. It took a few seconds for you to look up to him with a shy smile. “Thanks, I like seeing you in the mornings too. You know, Suki wasn’t exactly lying when she was talking about my favorite customer.”

“Your Royal Asshole, your boring coffee is ready!” Suki called out, voice clear across the empty coffee shop. Zuko groaned in annoyance while you tried to stifle your laughter. She always came up with a new nickname for Zuko when she felt he was too distracted talking to you, each one more creative than the last, always having something to do with his royal blood.

Zuko went to grab his coffee, having another whispered conversation with Suki before going to leave the shop. Just before he got to the door, he turned to look at you. “See you tomorrow, (y/n)! Have a good day!”

“Thanks, Zuko! See you!” You called back. Zuko smiled brightly as he left, while Suki huffed from beside you.

“Rude ass. He didn’t even say bye to me,” Suki pouted. “I’m supposed to be his favorite worker here. You should go back to closing.”

“And he’s the rude one?” You asked with a gasp, holding your hand up to your chest. “Plus, aren’t you all supposed to hang out later?”

“Oh yeah, I told you about Sokka’s thing, didn’t I?” Suki crossed her arms over her chest. “But still, he should’ve said bye.”

“And I’m sure he’s going to hear about it tonight,” you told her, rolling your eyes.

“He absolutely will. Alright, what coffee do you want?” You could tell that was her way of trying to make peace. It worked.

**********

You were used to your routine of being an opener now. You managed to switch up your sleep schedule, you didn’t have to deal with any overly-peppy coworkers - though there were the rare times Suki had her moments - overall, opening shifts were going pretty well. You weren’t going to attribute it completely to a certain royal that came in at exactly the same time every morning, despite how often Suki would tease you about it.

When you were working, you noticed Zuko was sticking around longer. Before, he would stay just long enough to get his coffee, any conversations had while Suki was making his drink. Now he was hanging around, chatting (which was closer to flirting, in your opinion) while he drank his coffee, leaving just before the morning rush officially started. He’d been recognized a few times, the other customers coming to the counter and whispering ‘Was that Prince Zuko?’ You and Suki found it amusing, but never let it slip that he was a regular.

Just as you were in the groove of things, you got a text from your old shift leader. One of the closers had called in sick for the next day, and she’d already spoken to the store manager about switching your shift that day from opening to closing. All she needed was your approval. It only took a few seconds before you gave her the go ahead to switch your shift around. You texted Suki, letting her know what was going on before you jumped in bed, looking forward to a few extra hours of sleep.

When you walked into the shop, ready to start your shift, your old coworker immediately lit up. Well, about as much as she could. “Hey, I thought you abandoned us,” Mai said. “I don’t know why you’d switch over to opening.”

“I have my reasons,” you joked. While Suki was your favorite coworker for opening, Mai was definitely your favorite for closing. There was just something about her stoic nature that you loved. “Why the hell do you guys leave such a mess?”

“Ugh, you definitely sound like an opener now,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Go put on your apron and help us.”

You smiled and followed her orders, going to the back to put on your apron and hat. You quickly fell back in step with everyone else, used to the more laid back nature of closing. The time just seemed to fly by, and you had a brief moment where you questioned why you switched shifts in the first place. It was only a moment before your favorite customer came into your mind, reminding you what you’d miss if you went back to closing shift.

The half hour before closing was one of the quietest times of the day, probably tied with right after opening. You and Mai were chatting about some different concerts she went to since the last time you saw each other when the door opened. You had your back turned to the front, but you saw Mai’s eyes narrow at whoever just walked in. 

“What are you doing here?” she snipped. Your eyes widened at her attitude - which wasn’t anything new, it was just never directed at the customers if she could help it.

“You know, she still scares me.” You recognized that voice from the few times he came in to get Suki after work. You finally turned to face the customers. Zuko stood there, trying to look anywhere other than at Mai, and Sokka was standing next to him. Sokka waved at you.

“Well?” Mai demanded.

“I, uh, I wanted-”

“(Y/n) wasn’t working this morning and Zuko got bummed out. Suki told me she was working closing today,” Sokka cut him off. Zuko nodded, looking at the floor.

You looked at Mai, wondering what the hell was going on. “So am I just dumb or is there something happening right now?” 

“I used to date Zuko, and I told him never come in here when I’m working,” Mai said, getting louder as she directed the last part to Zuko.

“It’s not like I knew you’d be working tonight!” Zuko tried defending himself. Sokka ignored their back and forth, walking up to the counter.

“Alright, so can I get an iced coffee?” Sokka asked you. You just nodded, going through the motions of taking his order. Zuko and Mai were still going at it, so he lowered his voice as he talked to you. “Look, I know this entire thing here is awkward, but Zuko likes you. Like, he won’t shut up about you. Ever. He was supposed to ask you out today, but, you know, this is happening now.”

“So what, you decided to just pop in so you could flirt with my coworker? You really couldn’t find anyone else in this entire city?” Mai argued. You were a little surprised she overheard.

“It’s not like that!”

“Then what? You just decided to follow one of the workers from opening to closing shift?”

“You know what, I’ll wait for you outside, Sokka,” Zuko gave in, just leaving the shop.

“I hate that guy,” Mai huffed, going to the back, leaving you to finish up Sokka’s order.

**********

The next morning Zuko came in during your shift, things were definitely awkward. You put in his normal order, not sure how you were going to address things. “So, uh, you and Mai?”

“Yeah. We dated for a couple years. I didn’t know you guys knew each other,” Zuko mumbled. “I’m really sorry for that. I shouldn’t have let Sokka talk me into coming during closing shift.”

“I mean, it did get a little tense-”

“A little?”

“Okay, very tense, but like, I guess it was kind of sweet of you,” you said with a tentative smile, Sokka’s comments at the back of your mind.

“Wait, what?”

Zuko’s confusion immediately made you question what Sokka told you the last time you saw them. You turned to Suki. “Why does your boyfriend like messing with me?”

“He’s just like that,” Suki said, obviously confused at her sudden involvement in your conversation. You just finished ringing up Zuko’s order, giving the cup to Suki so she could make the drink.

“What did Sokka tell you?” Zuko asked as he took his card back from you.

“Nothing important,” you tried brushing it off with a wave of your hand. He’d already caused you enough embarrassment, and he wasn’t even there.

“(Y/n)...” Zuko dragged out. You hated how easily he could tell you were lying. Suki was busy making the coffee, not paying you any mind (as far as you knew), but the drink would only take so long to make. “C’mon, what’d Sokka tell you?”

“I mean, he might’ve said you liked me-”

“Well, yeah, I think you’re a pretty cool person-”

“No, like, you like me as in you were gonna ask me out, but you and Mai got into it,” you interrupted him interrupting you. “That’s what Sokka told me, but he likes messing with me, and since you’re his friend he probably likes messing with you more, so I probably shouldn’t have taken it so seriously.”

You could feel Zuko watching you as you rambled, even as your own eyes stayed glued to the register. “Sokka likes messing with people,” Zuko started. He paused, probably looking around the shop as he tried to figure out what to say. Your mind raced, thinking about how you probably just made things really awkward. He was probably just figuring out a nice way to reject you, and you really shouldn’t have switched shifts just because you might’ve had a crush on this dude. What were you even thinking? This guy was a royal, there was no way he-

“But yeah, it would’ve been nice if I could be the one to tell you I like you. And I guess he kinda asked you out for me?” Zuko said, more of a question than anything else. “Well, would you like to go out? We could get coffee or something.”

You froze, not sure if you heard him right. Zuko immediately flushed, taking your shock as a bad sign. “If not that’s really fine too! I’m sorry, it’s probably weird for a customer to-”

“I’m not doing anything right now, if you want to get some breakfast or something,” you interrupted him, regaining control.

“Yes the hell you are doing something right now!” Suki called from the pick up counter. “You’re working! Go on your little date after your shift is done.”

“She’s technically right,” Zuko laughed. “I can come get you after your shift?”

“Yeah, that’d be great.” You could feel the excitement bubbling up within you, the little wisps of nervousness somewhere in there too.

“That’s cute. Your coffee’s getting cold, by the way,” Suki said, holding up Zuko’s cup. He went to get it, leaving soon after with a small smile and a promise to get you once your shift was over. Once he was out of the shop, you looked over to Suki. “Question still stands. Spring or Fall wedding?”

“You’re so annoying,” you laughed.

“I called it and you know it!” Before you could say anything else, another customer walked in, calling your attention to the fact that, yes, you were still very much at work. Only a few more hours, then you would be free to go on your date. You just needed to survive Suki’s teasing until then.

**********

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