#void keith's mailbox

[fanvoidkeith]

People can either draw stan and ford pines with their og ballsack noses, or they can answer to my fists

lmao

i kinda like when people draw them with hooked noses, actually. i feel like it suits them

[fanvoidkeith-monsterkind]

Youre everywhere

ehehe yes

[rueitae]

Secret Injury

Read my whumptober collection on Ao3

~~~~~

Lance groans, limping towards the door. With a heavy sigh, he leans against the frame and yelps when the sharp edges of the mailbox dig into his arms. Hissing, he rubs the indentation on his arm.

It still doesn’t hurt as much as the wound in his side. 

Pidge was going to kill him.

A comfortable bed calls to him though, so he swipes his electronic key over the lock. When the lock turns green, he leans into the door and pushes it open. Soon sweet sleep will be his and hopefully by morning he’ll be less stiff and he won’t have to tell Pidge about how he fell down the stairs. 

She would never let him live it down. What kind of flight instructor falls down a flight of stairs. 

The sweet scent of pine greets him. Ahh, the relaxing aroma of air freshener. Now to head to the bedroom, very slowly, and just sink into the mattress…

“Daddy!”

Lance screams in pain as a tiny head rams into his wound, setting his muscles on fire. His head hits the floor and when he opens his eyes, bright blue ones inches from his own stare back. 

“Welcome home,” his daughter says with a sweet smile, wrapping her small arms around his chest.

“Hey sweetheart,” Lance manages to say while trying not to scream. “You’re home early.”

A high pitched whine makes Lance turn his head, and he sees the culprit. Kosmo sits obediently off to his right, shaking his fluffy tail (it butts up against the coffee table, which slides to and fro with the cosmic wolf’s tail). 

Lance shuts his eyes in resignation. Now he’ll probably have to calm his daughter’s teacher - a teleporting cosmic wolf still isn’t a sight most are used to. “You can walk her home like a normal dog, you know. Stop and smell the roses?”

Kosmo tilts his head questioningly. 

Lance sighs deeply and winces - his wound is further aggravated for his troubles. “You can go home now, tell Keith thanks.”

A slobbery tongue stretches his skin as Kosmo licks his face, before poofing to… probably wherever Keith was at the moment. 

“Okay, kiddo,” Lance declares. Slowly and with tears in his eyes he lifts his daughter and himself to an upright position. “Where’s Mom?”

She shrugs, arms flapping to her sides. “Dealin’ with Paladin stuff.”

His heart skips a beat, eyes straining. He and Pidge haven’t told their daughter much about their Paladin past, still too young to really understand (though they’ll probably have to soon,it won’t be long before she’ll be hearing about them through history books).

“What… kind of Paladin stuff?” he asks carefully. He could kick himself, of course she wouldn’t know. 

“Palla-dinny,” she giggles. 

“Okay, got it,” Lance chuckles, though he doesn’t feel the laughter. Is he supposed to call the Atlas? He’s been at the Galaxy Garrison all day between teaching and the hospital wing! They’d have told him if there was an emergency for the Paladins specifically right? Particularly if his wife is involved?

The telephone rings. 

Ignoring the pain and fueled by a growing sense of dread, he scrambles up for the telecomm. 

“Lance!” 

Hearing Pidge’s voice immediately sets him at ease. She’s okay. He slumps down to the floor rests his head against the wall. “Pidge, I’m glad you’re okay. What’s going on?”

A gentle purr rumbles in the back of his mind. Suddenly, he’s no longer home, but in a dark void, illuminated by streaks of blue and white streaming across the black sky. 

The Blue Lion sits before him.

There’s no need for Pidge to finish.

A wry smile twitches on his face. “Hey, Girl,” he says softly. Blue’s comforting warmth washes over him like the gentle waves on a calm day at the beach. “Welcome back. You and Allura need our help?”

Blue stretches and roars before bending down to extend her ramp. A rush of adrenaline Lance hasn’t felt in a long time surges through him. It was time for a new adventure. 

“D-daddy?”

The happy warmth turns to dread when Lance looks over to see his young daughter standing in the void with him, eyes wide with terror. 

He scoops her up in his arms, ignoring the protest of his side. His daughter’s fears are far more important than any wound he will ever receive. 

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” he repeats, bouncing her up and down as best he can like he’s done so many times before. “This is Blue, she’s a very special friend of mine.”

“I wanna go home,” she sniffles, burying her face in his shirt. “This place is scary.”

“We will, we will. Blue is going to take us out of here…” he peers up to the Lion’s brilliant yellow eyes. “Right, Blue?”

A rumble of affirmation… but also images of darkness, terrors more dangerous than space pirates. 

Lance takes a deep breath. It seems like he and Pidge will be giving their daughter the Paladin Talk sooner than they ever expected. 

Time to go save the universe. Again.

[perfectirishgifts]

Nordstrom Tries New Ideas And Becomes A Shining Star Of The Holiday Season

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/nordstrom-tries-new-ideas-and-becomes-a-shining-star-of-the-holiday-season-2/

Nordstrom Tries New Ideas And Becomes A Shining Star Of The Holiday Season

The Nordstrom store at Maryland’s Towson Town Center is fully decorated for the holidays on December … [] 3, 2020.

Coronavirus has certainly changed the way merchants sell and customers shop. As COVID infection rates soar, retailers, large and small, fear anticipated mandatory closures during this ever-important selling season. It’s been a challenging, often devastating, year for many businesses. But Nordstrom has found that the combination of its legacy and traditions, along with new ideas and an expanded internet presence, will leave it well prepared for 2021.

It’s not to say that the retailer hasn’t struggled since the first COVID wave hit last March. The company’s New York City flagship was open for barely five months before temporarily closing its doors.

The downtown Toronto Nordstrom closed for in-store shopping on November 23, 2020. Canada’s largest … [] city and much of its suburbs were placed under lockdown beginning November 23 due to the spread of Covid-19. The restrictions include a ban on indoor private gatherings, will last at least 28 days. Retail businesses in the city have been restricted to curbside pickup only. (Photo by Geoff Robins / AFP) (Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)

Last summer, Nordstrom permanently shuttered 16 of its full-line namesake stores. Designated as “suboptimal” performers, officials called their closures “long overdue.” COVID-19 only accelerated the company’s decision to pull their plugs.

Despite COVID-19, Nordstrom went forward with its annual Anniversary Sale, a long-standing sale event. In contrast to most retailers who focused on excessive summer stock clearance sales in August, Nordstrom offered new, specially curated merchandise.

Back-to-school sales, traditionally the second largest selling season of the year, were largely abandoned in 2020. Instead, many retailers pushed up their calendars and offered holiday bargains as early as October. That wasn’t the case at Nordstrom. The retailer held firm and didn’t jumpstart the holidays. A company spokesperson explained, “In keeping with our 119-year tradition of celebrating one holiday at a time, our stores [didn’t unveil] their holiday decorations [until] November 27.”

The Towson, Maryland Nordstrom is fully decorated for the holidays on December 3, 2020.

Though the Christmas decorations weren’t hung until Thanksgiving weekend, Nordstrom has worked hard behind the scenes and developed plans that address customer COVID anxieties. 

The company has expanded its curbside pickup service designed for “the safest and most convenient holiday ever.” The contactless service includes complimentary gift wrap with all curbside purchases. Special surprises and gifts are frequently offered to the first 50 curbside pickup customers each day as a gesture of thanks.

Nordstrom’s directional signage promotes shopping ease and efficiency during the holiday 2020 … [] season.

Nordstrom has stressed convenience in its stores this holiday season. Stores are stocked with specially selected pre-packaged merchandise designed for quick checkout, extensive toy shops, prominent directional signage, and in-store “pop-up” gift departments.

The retailer says the 2020 season features “a number of exclusive collaborations, launches and partnerships for holiday.” The retailer is test marketing three of these collaborations at 21 designated locations throughout the country.

Nordstrom is test marketing in-store “tree lots,” featuring an unique collection of highly-crafted Balsam Hill artificial Christmas trees, a special assortment of L.L. Bean winter clothing and footwear, and a “Five Two by 52” home assortment of cookware, dishware, and kitchen essentials. 

Over the past several years, the company has slowly expanded its home department. Though it is still lightly stocked, it helps fill a void left by its recently-closed competitors.

Nordstrom has significantly increased its online investment and the results have been fruitful. Last week’s third quarter earning call stated that digital sales have reached 54% of the entire business, up 33% over pre-COVID levels. CEO Erik B. Nordstrom told investors, “we are a majority digital business right now.”

Nordstrom stores feature Make Merry pop-up shops during the 2020 holiday season.

The company launched its Holiday 2020 website, under the Make Merry theme, on October 19. The site states, “Holiday cheer looks a little different this year, but at Nordstrom, festivities are in full swing.” The internet promotion includes links to video Santa chats, virtual Santa mailboxes, and festive craft ideas for the family, in addition to hundreds of gift selections.

The retailer’s Cyber Monday sale was touted by Marie Claire magazine as the “Best Cyber Monday Sale of the Year.” With over 1000 items specially priced at up to 50% off, Marie Claire encouraged readers to search the site and look for “items that [you have] been meaning to try for years.”

Nordstrom has devoted significant areas of floor space to “Service Bars” that accommodate needs such … [] as customer online pickup and gift wrapping.

The company’s online footprint has also expanded into its Nordstrom Rack JWN store format. The retailer has competitively positioned Nordstrom Rack into the only off-price merchandiser with a significant digital presence. 80% of the company’s top brands sold at its Nordstrom stores are presently carried at 248 Rack locations.

COVID-19 has provided a restart at the company’s opulent $700 million New York flagship. COVID temporarily closed the store shortly after it opened. But as shoppers and visitors eventually make their return to midtown Manhattan, the store will have a second chance at a grand opening.

Absent of traditional display windows, the New York Nordstrom is embracing elaborate holiday decorations. Over 253,000 lights, 150 trees, 700 ornaments, and an exterior flashing light show welcome weary shoppers in need of some festive cheer and normalcy.

Nordstrom promotes its 2020 Holiday “Make Merry” theme in a recently expanded home department.

Nordstrom was forced to abandon one beloved annual tradition at its downtown Seattle flagship store. Harking back to the building’s former life as the Frederick & Nelson department store, the Santa Lane exhibit, featuring Santa Claus in a street front window, was cancelled for 2020. Considered the nations’s first Santa Claus photograph concession, generations of Seattleites have posed with the store’s “Real Santa Claus” since 1943. 

The retailer is somewhat of a Johnny-come-lately as a large-scale clothing retailer. Founded in 1901, Nordstrom, over the course of 50 years, developed into the largest shoe retailing business in America. Its 1963 purchase of Seattle-based Best’s Apparel, greatly expanded the company’s merchandise assortment. By 1980, it became the country’s third largest specialty store, behind Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor.

Workers assemble a Christmas tree at the Nordstrom Inc. flagship store in New York, U.S., on … [] Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019. Nordstrom’s new Manhattan flagship, a 320,000-square-foot store opened last month, reflected a strong customer response with 85,000 visits during the first weekend. Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg

Nordstrom remains somewhat of an anomaly in today’s retail market. Exceeding expectations, it plans to enter 2021 with $1.5 billion in liquidity, including $900 million in cash. 

COVID-19 has brought numerous bankruptcies and liquidations to an already-battered retail industry. The new year promises more names to be added to the retail casualty list. Nordstrom’s present success and optimistic forecasts are refreshing.

From Retail in Perfectirishgifts

[fanvoidkeith]

I had to put my dog down today. Can I get a hug from Phaze

awww, that's always tough. i'm sorry for your loss. and of course you can

he's sorry about your loss too.

[fanvoidkeith]

live action lilo and stitch is gonna be a thing??

yeah

and apparently they have some of the most annoying pandora (music app) ads ever (in my opinion)

rant under the cut because this shit makes me annoyed as hell

---

like leave me alooooone. i'm tired of live action remakes of my beautifully animated childhood faves. also like. i'm busy listening to music. could you not interrupt my sacred rituals

i get that some people- okay honestly a lot of people- are excited about it. and they're allowed to be. but instead of making another weird/possibly terrifying/really bad cgi movie trying to remake/remaster a childhood favorite, they could be greenlighting and making ACTUALLY NEW AND GOOD movie concepts.

the childhood favorite movies don't need any damn remaking. they are fine as they are, and i'm extremely salty/annoyed that people keep wanting to "re-animate" the classic but in terrible live-action with cgi animals and aliens or whatever. it's already good and you're soiling it by trying to "make it better" because you think 3D animation is better than 2D/hand-animation.

i'm BORED with it! i'm UPSET!! i'm IRRITATED by it!!!! the audacity to point at something beautiful and say "bUt iT wOuLd MaKe mOrE mOnEy iF iT WaS 3D cGi aNd HaD a FuLl cElEbRiTy CaStInG" is killing me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fanvoidkeith]

show me the art right now, this is a stick up

hehehehe

i kinda forgot to give Indigo his iconic freckles, but i have an excuse because i drew him so small lmao

[fanvoidkeith]

I'd read a comic about electro, bruh

perhaps... one day i will make a comic about them!

it'll probably be once i finish Less Than Magic, honestly. especially since Zil'ec's, Phaze's, and Faera's stories are so intertwined with Electrodendra's.

i just wanna... like, have all the details together before i start Changing Things Partway Through or Accidentally Forget Something Important About Him. and i want the continuity and plot to make sense before i go off and... try to draw a crazy detailed sci-fi background and, i dunno, give up partway through, lmao...

i haven't drawn enough backgrounds to be a good comic artist- at least not enough backgrounds set in an Actual World instead of just Vibes Based Patterns and Colors 😅

[fanvoidkeith]

Fisher deserves a nice ugly pin, the beautiful two dicked bastard

i don't really care about his penis(es), i care about the look on his face when fisher realizes his loving, gullible brother that he raised finally got one up on him, lmao.

will fisher be disgusted? surprised? proud? all of the above? cycling through those emotions? feeling a little sad that one of his surprisingly fashionable outfits has FINALLY been ruined by an ugly clown pin, of all things?

it'll be priceless, for sure. it'll paint a beautiful picture in his mind (and i'll probably take a picture of him wearing it as a keepsake lol).

[fanvoidkeith]

also ace have either no lv or less now so uh

yup, all his LV is gone. and now he has to really deal with all that he's done, considering all the stuff he did when he was lv sick.......... he's probably going to be suffering for a while

[fanvoidkeith]

Show me phaze

here he is !!!!

my boy.... my babygirl... my blorbo.... (he is middle aged and has a boring office job)

[fanvoidkeith]

Ooooh, you know know what? It might be easier if I have "the boys" take a vacation with Kyra to Seashore, or something.

What do you think?

What would be the most fun?

i think we should save that for a different time! keeping it in mind for another encounter seems fun, especially once they all discover jasper's water-related magic/powers!

[fanvoidkeith]

YES!!!

Yes, yes, yes! Let's do that!

How do you want to set it up? You want to visit the antique shop? Or have "the first meeting" somewhere else?

i wanna visit his antique shop!! i love looking at antiques (though i mostly can't afford them lol)

what if i was looking for a music box........ and you were also there!

[fanvoidkeith]

Phaze is just a little hoe in a big world

Faera ia actually a bigger hoe than his boyfriend is! Phaze is just LOUDER about it. Faera prefers to keep his desires... well, private, as opposed to Phaze "will make almost any suggestive/sex joke possible whenever he likes someone"

they're an excellent match for each other

also they've definitely had previous partners before, but deep down there has been Pining and Yearning and Longing for each other

[fanvoidkeith]

I just fuckin ripped out the beautiful thriving roots of my corn sprout while moving it to another pot screaming

goood... job, i think? it most likely needs that room to grow

[fanvoidkeith]

bb tell me more about electro?

oh, GLADLY!!!!! :D

Electrodendra Vantris was, as i've said before many times, adopted by Faera Vantris. but BEFORE that, he lived in their original universe, which was within a GALACTIC SPACE COLONY. he had family there- their mom, his (other) parent (nonbinary/enby), and their sister. it was very sci-fi/technofuture- think Star Trek, or pretty much any science fiction show you've seen.

however. an Extremely Bad Thing happened one day- the planet cracked in half and everyone died. to put a sorta-long story short, Electro came back to life and put a stop to the person who Did The Terrible Thing, but couldn't revive their family or people. so he left. they started traveling to different universes, trying to find a place to belong, but he never stuck around long.

and THEN he found the Havenplace universe- specifically Havenville! and THAT'S when Faera was like. ooooohhh shit, there's a random homeless teenager who i keep driving by on my way home from work who never seems to have a home to go back to. maybe i should try and domesticate them like you would a feral cat (which wasn't his exact phrasing of thought, but it's pretty much what happened, lol)