lisbonnova

[lisbonnova]

[ MIYEON ] Jimmy Choo Holiday Collection

[lisbonnova]

"Doesn't sound like such a bad idea right about now. People have no decorum now a days. I deadass saw someone shove a little kid to get their hands on a Hello Kitty plushie. It wasn't even the last one or anything. I believe some people just genuinely like watching people suffer." She shook her head before getting back on task, glancing at some scarves she was thinking about buying for some members of her family. "I just have so much family to buy gifts for. Too much, actually. I'm starting to consider having a fight with a few just long enough to cut them off for Christmas to cut some corners." She joked, mostly, though the thought did sound somewhat appealing when she remembered how many more stores she would have to hit up. "Well, until we find a way to take down capitalism, it's looking like everyone might just get ramen for Christmas." She shrugged. "Did you get all your shopping done?"

"I mean you can always start a fight wherever you are," Amory suggested as he took off the hat he had been trying on. He was already pretty much done with his holiday shopping but there was time to kill and a few things he had wanted to get for himself. "But I mean yeah, that's the never ending stench of capitalism for you, so best you get is something new and immediate buyer's regret," he joked and pointed at the clearance section. "I looked there earlier and they tried to make a $70 item seem like it was a sale."

[lisbonnova]

"Is it just me that feels like our generation got ripped off? At least when it comes to the holidays?" Maeve asked as she browsed the department store absentmindedly. "I mean, people used to fight tooth and nail just to get their hands on a discounted tv. Now we're lucky if there's even a ten percent sale anywhere."

[lisbonnova]

"Kinda makes you wonder if people like that have no sense of self awareness or if they just don't care." Maeve scrunched her nose, getting up from where the side of the pool where she had been dipping her feet in the water. She didn't know how to swim and wasn't gonna risk hanging around if things were about to get rowdier. "Even worse thought, is if they actually just enjoy being a public nuisance."

"Well, that was actually enjoyable until the knucklehead brigade got here," Reyna sighed as they got out of the pool and pulled a shirt back over their head. "That just means the pool is about two seconds away from feeling suspiciously warm. Please tell me someone brought tequila."

[lisbonnova]

🎃 ; NOVA as FLORA, WINX CLUB

[lisbonnova]

"And yet not a single one of their hair maintenance skills has rubbed off on you. So that defense is pretty flimsy. Either way, for saving the day I feel like I should get some kind of special privilege, like you letting me throw a cute braid in there one of these days." Nova stated pouting her bottom lip out and pushing some strands of his hair behind his ear, before handing him the hair tie. "You mean, I didn't really give you much of a choice. One day you were just stuck with me and now you can't find a way to get rid of my anymore, can you?" She rolled her eyes, struggling to hold in a smile so he wasn't under the impression that he could just sweet talk his way out of everything with her, even though as of now that was very much the case. "I'll overlook you throwing me under the bus cause I like you that much. But if a cute girl seduces me away from you just remember you set yourself up." She cupped his face in her hands and leaned in to press a kiss to his lips in return. "Yeah, but you're outnumbered all the time when you come over to my place. So what's the difference?"

"Nah, not really. Most of my friend group is queer, if you recall I didn't want a girlfriend, you were just undeniable." Despite his sweet words, Benitez opened and closed his upturned hand rapidly in a 'gimme' motion. "What do you think you can go up against thirsty women pissed and disappointed....actually yeah, they'd just hit on you and I can make my great escape." He made a show of taking her hands and kissed the back of each, "Who do you think I am? This is not an everyday situation, I am extremely outnumbered and as you pointed out, a cis-het man so just keep me close and keep me safe."

[lisbonnova]

"After you went through all this effort to come out of your shell tonight? Nah, i'm not letting you stick back to the wall so easily. Even if that means I take the bag next time." She flipped her hair to show that she really meant business. That was the one problem with being as close as they were, that they always fell back into a never ending cycle of self sacrifice for each other. One that Nova felt maybe she hadn't been contributing to much lately. She'd had her chance to be the wild and reckless one for a long time, she wanted her sisters to have those chances for themselves more often too. She was surprised at the hug but accepted it nonetheless, squeezing her tight. "And you should never feel any less than that. Especially around me. You know at the end of the day I have your back on anything. Even if it ends with helping you bury a body but hopefully our loyalty never has to go that far." She said with a chuckle as she tried to keep the conversation light, sticking her tongue back out in return at her sister. "You say that as if he's not already as attached to this family as I am. He's basically an honorary Lisbon at this point."

"Next time I'm carrying the emergency bag so she can have fun." While she knew it was Tessa's choice, that she was doing her best to be involved while also dealing with the very real temptation that being in a club pushed on her, Bridget still didn't think it was fair. Meanwhile Nova was giving her a pep talk and the fact that they were all so naturally concerned for each other to enjoy the fruits of their freedom made her hug her sister out of nowhere. "Thank you. I'm gonna have the best night ever because you don't just make me feel pretty, you make me feel like me. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and tell baby Bridget who was so jealous of your beautiful long hair that one day mine would be longer," she grinned, poking her tongue out quickly to tease her sister so she knew that even if they were having a moment that it was a good one. "I'm gonna say yes but I know for a fact I'm not gonna see you once he's got his hands on you so..."

[lisbonnova]

"That's what you actually wanted a girlfriend for this whole time, isn't it? For all the free hair shit?" She asked before taking one of her gloves off to hand him one of her revolving hair ties. Unfortunately for him this particular one had a small bow attached to it. "Do you want me to hold your hand? Would that make you less afraid of running into all the scary women?" Nova cooed, struggling to hold back a laugh as she held her hands out for him. "Have intimidating women always been a weakness of yours or is this a more recent development?"

"Do you have a hair tie or something? Three lesbians tonight have tried to hit on me and then were very pissed when they found out that I'm a cis straight man and not Naomi from Muna. I can't help it that my curls get unruly in humidity like this."

[lisbonnova]

"Exactly. If you prepare ahead of time you don't have to worry about a thing, other than looking pretty and having fun." She responded, offering a small shrug. "For any other small emergencies that's why we have Tessa and her big bag of essentials on standby. No matter how much you try sometimes you just have to go with the flow. So don't try to play a part just to match anyone's energy. Just be you and you'll be the unstoppable force I already know you are." Nova scrunched her nose when she realized her spiel was starting to turn into a pep talk. But as overjoyed she was to see her sister try new things, things outside of her comfort zone, sensing the nerves and excitement from Bridget left her as equally anxious. Especially knowing how much she had already fought to get to this point in her life. She always felt this protective pull for the other Lisbon girls that she was sure they also felt anytime they did anything apart, not wanting any of her sisters to get hurt by the world. But she knew better than anyone that they were gonna make mistakes and fumble, that they needed to experience the world on their own to grow. What mattered was being there when all was said and done. "Thanks, fairy godmother. I'll have to see my options. I've got a prince somewhere around here, you know. Should we meet back up right before the clock strikes midnight to see if your magic's still holding up?"

"When you said we had to be prepared for anything I was thinking more along the lines of..." Bridget paused, a wrinkle appearing between her brows, "I actually have no idea. But I know it wasn't that. I feel like I look the part now though." It had been a long process, but with the help of her sisters she had taken quite the personal risk with her look that evening in the sense that she wasn't specifically trying to go unnoticed. Not that she had enough of an ego to be expecting attention, but for the first time ever she felt like she might be shining on Nova's level. "Well, there's plenty of bubbles around here," she reached out, poking at a bubble drifting past, "let me know if you need a ride home."

[lisbonnova]

"And this is exactly why you got sprayed down with four layers of setting spray. We're keeping this look locked down no matter what comes your way tonight." Nova reassured Bridget with complete determination, helping her sister push back some of her stray hairs behind her ear in a delicate manner. "Or maybe you're just one of the good witches. Didn't one of them ride around in a bubble anyways?"

"I want to say that was excessive but knowing my luck it'll be the least excessive thing to happen in this building tonight." Bridget pushed her hair out of her face, the entry through the rain tunnel a surprise but not an unwelcome one. She enjoyed the spontaneity of it all, everyone having to decide on the spot if they were going to walk through or not. "Well," she flicked the water from her fingertips, "Haven't melted. I mustn't be a witch after all."

[lisbonnova]

🌊THE MERMAID BALL 🌊

[lisbonnova]

"You wanna know the funny thing? This isn't even everybody. There's still a couple of cousins running late." Maeve fibbed to see what kind of reaction it would elicit from Raph, but mostly to keep him on his toes as one had to be around the Lisbon family. "Well normally i'd be in your corner but i'm not gonna lie, I kinda wanna see how you'd hold up on your own. At least for a minute. Then i'd break it up before you lose your cool guy reputation." She reached out to pat his shoulder sympathetically. "They'll go easy on you. It's a lot of us but I don't know if you've noticed, we're mostly lovers, not fighters. Should we come up with a codeword or something in case you need to make an emergency exit?."

"Anybody ever tell you that you maybe have too much family?" Raph said thinking maybe he should have at least brought Onyx or something considering his brother was completely locked into their sister, sticking near her as if he were her personal body guard, "2 and a half against a million just seems unfair, what if we get into a heated debate, I'm done for. Probably not though right? Who can think about arguing when our sister is like the center of attention and seems like she's loving it." @lisbonnova

[lisbonnova]

The fact that they were able to have any type of normalcy after the drama that had followed them throughout the years was a testament to how much they had grown. Sure, they still made questionable decisions here and there but at the end of the day they still had each other to lean on and that was enough to make it out of anything. "Then you start getting to making another kid. My little one can't go to school without a buddy. When has a Lisbon ever had to anywhere on their own?" Nova shook her head. "If the lack of sleep the last few months hasn't been enough birth control then I don't know what more we could have done." She gasped and slapped Tessa's hand away. "Rude. I'm not scared of aging. But I invested too much in my skincare as a twenty year old for it to not work. And with the new little one I do wanna maintain my place as the hot PTA mom."

"Amen," Tessa chuckled. Sure, the circumstances of Nova's pregnancy had been a headache at first, but as always with the Lisbons their love for each other persevered over all else. "Oh no, no, no. We're not having a 'hi this is my aunt and we're both in kindergarten' moment. Everyone has been warned. And, you know, I think the diaper changes and screaming have been convincing enough." Eyes narrowed, she reached out to quickly tug at Nova's hair, "Unlike some of us, I'm not scared of aging gracefully. You should be worried your hair doesn't just jump out of your scalp one day from all that bleach over the years."

[lisbonnova]

"Sure. And about sixteen hours of labor on my part." Nova replied, not holding back on her usual sass since she wanted credit for doing the hard part of birthing the kid, though she was mostly giving her sister a hard time. She had significantly chilled out now that everything else in her life, and in their family, slowly seemed to be falling into place. "Don't mention the g word in my presence ever again. I'm nowhere near old enough to become a grandma. You're the older one here, that job's supposed to fall on you first." She crossed her arms and pouted. "Though now that you mention it....is that a gray hair?"

"Truly god's work," Tessa sat back, watching the older kids fawning over Nova's baby girl. The lives they'd forged were a dream come true and she never got tired of basking in the small moments. Like watching Maeve and Taeyang play rock, paper, scissors over who's turn it was for diaper change duty; or seeing Orla defrost to the idea of a child in general. "I mean, I'd say we've been granted another couple of years before we have to worry about grandchildren. I don't think I'm ready for that."