#still gotta finish sewing her outfit :3

[dreamaruu]

💫Zooey restyle wip💫

[celli-ohs]

hubba hubba!

part two of accidentally in love! series frat boy!yeonjun x stubborn!reader; college!au, one-sided love to lovers! comedy/crack, fluff, angst, smut

ATTENTION: reply/comment for taglist!

3. #hatersgonnahate (written portion 1.1k)

As soon as Yeonjun steps through those classroom doors, you feel your eyes subconsciously roll back into your head. Despite his cast, he’s dressed like a model off-duty. In fact, it’s almost as if his cast adds to the outfit, it's decorated with an array of messages, drawings, even- was that a dick on his arm? You don’t comment as he sits down beside you, actually you turn away. As if sensing your attitude, Yeonjun scoots closer. “Hey,” He tries to get your attention. You ignore him. “What was your name again?” You snap your head in his direction, eyes full of fury. You spent all class yesterday talking to this guy and he hadn’t remembered your name? Did he even listen to a word that had come out of your mouth?? 

“Just so I can write it correctly, you know? We gotta exchange numbers if we’re gonna be partners for the rest of the term.” He waves his phone, showing that he’d pulled out a fresh new contact for you. Maybe you overreacted, you think to yourself as you take his phone and punch your number in. A wave of embarrassment washes over you. When you hand his phone back, he stares at his screen before chuckling. “Beautiful girl deserves a beautiful name, it really suits you Y/n.” You have to bite back a grimace at the sound of your name coming from him. You can’t even spit out an insult, because your professor begins her lecture. 

After a short review on how to properly use a sewing machine, as well as going over all the different types of stitches one can make, every pair is assigned one machine. You’re lucky you go to a large university like HYBE, because if you didn’t, you’d have to go out and buy your own sewing machine. Having one provided to you was amazing for your wallet. But unluckily for you, your partner only had one functional arm, and you just learned it wasn’t his dominant one. “So when do you get your cast removed?” You ask looking at the various scribbles on his arm. You can spot out Jake’s handwriting: ‘at least it wasn’t ur face :P’

“Uh the nurse said about 6 weeks but it might be 8 depending on how it heals,” Yeonjun pouts, almost glaring at his arm. You struggle to hide your sigh, he’d be useless for half the semester, and you were stuck with him. “Look, my arm may be broken, but I can still help, I wouldn’t leave you hanging.” Yeonjun shrugs. You sit silently as you watch him struggle to take out his portfolio from his bag with one hand. (You’re doomed.) When he finally does, he opens it to show you. “I’m not just a pretty face you know.” He snickers and you decide to take a look for yourself, you’d be in charge of your own decision. 

Compared to your portfolio, Yeonjun was the exact opposite. Your portfolio was a large combination of photos taken from various places such as the internet, magazines, art books, and a handful were of your own friends you’d dragged into modeling certain pieces. But Yeonjun, you were absolutely astonished by what you found. Almost everything inside of his portfolio was handcrafted. Messy sketches of garments, colored designs of entire outfits, actual scraps of fabric glued down, and detailed handwritten notes littered each page. But what surprised you the most were the intricate drawings of his finished models wearing his product, drawn right beside their real life version. 

“Wow,” You whisper, eyes wide as you flip through the pages. “You drew all of this?” Your fingers glide over a certain top, its loose and flowing design catches your attention. “Yeah, before you know-“ He shakes his cast around. You’re flipping through the pages when you suddenly recognize a face. “Is that Heeseung?” You take a closer look and realize it is in fact one of your best friends. “Yeah, we’re friends. Do you know him?” You don’t notice the slight difference in Yeonjun’s tone. You simply nod, too amazed at the outfit Heeseung was modeling. (You were definitely going to interrogate him later on.) “Ok time to trade- lemme see yours.” Yeonjun slams a hand over his portfolio, covering his designs. You groan and roll your eyes. 

“Fine, but only because you showed me yours.” You grumble, fishing out your own portfolio. As Yeonjun browses through it, you watch nervously. Yours was not as impressive as his, not in the slightest. He probably thought you were lazy, boring, your designs unamusing. But he surprises you when he smiles at you. “This is really cool, I’ve never thought of using Pantone swatches for color themes.” He references the swatch cards you’d taken from the local home improvement store and taped inside your pages. “Oh, thanks.” You mumble, not really knowing how to react to the compliment. Feeling self conscious, you clear your throat and begin to tinker with the sewing machine.

“Yeonjun! Hey!” One of your classmates, a pretty girl with long dark hair and large doe eyes flashes a breath-taking smile as she leans against the table. Yeonjun looks up, and returns the gesture, smirking at her as he leans back into his chair. “Hey,” He says suavely, still clutching your portfolio. “I didn’t know you were taking this class, you should have told me! We could have been partners silly.” She giggles, and you can’t help but sneer. If she wanted him so bad, she could take him, you’d probably have an easier time without him. “Well this was the only seat left, sorry pretty,” He pretends to pout. 

That was a lie, and you both knew it. Because of his accident, Yeonjun missed the first day of class, and yesterday he plopped into the first open seat he could find, which happened to be right next to yours. There were a few empty seats a couple of rows back, but you held your tongue. “Well I wanted to see how you’re doing, does your arm hurt? Maybe I can talk to the professor and she’ll let you partner with me instead, I’m really good-” The screeching of your chair against the tile floor loudly interrupts whatever nonsense was about to spew out of that woman’s mouth. You stiffly turn to Yeonjun and whoever this girl was, and force a smile. “I’m going to the restroom.” You grit your teeth and walk out of class without another word.

Bonus:

It took Yeonjun exactly 3 minutes and 45 seconds to get his portfolio out he almost asked for help but our boy prevailed 💪

Y/n wants to quit her class so badly but she doesn't want to deal with getting in again; Jay was not kidding when he said Y/n fought tooth and nail to get in, she sent a girl to the dentist for cutting in line for the portfolio application

A reminder that Heeseung, Jay, and Jake (as well as Ni-ki) are all a part of Eta Theta Eta Nu, the local fraternity at HYBE Uni

(uhh ik I had said before in awooga that Heeseung lived in the frat house, I fixed that he doesn't lol sorry for my mistake)

Only Yeonjun and Kai are a part of the frat, but Yeonjun's been trying to get Taehyun to join

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hubba hubba! masterlist

reblogs appreciated!

[jewwyfeesh]

Sakura & Rose - Endeavours of the Heart 3

Writer: Mitsuki

Characters: Kagehira Mika, Kiryu Kuro

Translated by: jewwyfeesh

Mika: As long as I can be of help ta Oshi-san, I’ll be real happy, and my worth’ll be realized.

Season: Spring

Location: Yumenosaki Academy Rooftop

Mika: Sob sob sob… I was chased out by Oshi-san… on top of that, Oshi-san ain’t lookin’ like he enjoys Ritsu-kun’s creations very much…

Just like Oshi-san said, I still lack design sense…

If I were ta increase my design sense, maybe I’ll be of help to Oshi-san.

Oshi-san’s said this before–an artist must have a pair of eyes that are good at observin’ things. Would it be better if I were ta start from this step?

Is there anythin’ around me that can increase my design sense…?

(Eh? Is that Kiryu-senpai o’er there? It seems like he’s lookin’ over here, too.)

Kuro: Hey, Kagehira. Saw you starin’ blankly at this strange lookin’ thing just now. Did somethin’ happen? Has it gotta do with Itsuki?

Mika: Uwah! Kiryu-senpai, how did’cha know?

Kuro: Haha. After all, you do spend most of your time together with Itsuki.

If you’re willin’, could’ya tell me what happened? It’s Itsuki after all… it’s not very reassurin’ if that guy’s left alone to entertain himself. So it’s better to reconcile, and fast.

Mika: Reconcile? Ah, ah… Kiryu-senpai, yer mistaken, I hadn’t fought with Oshi-san…

Actually, the situation’s like this…

Kuro: Oh, so that’s how it is. You’re feelin’ guilty for unintentionally givin’ Itsuki a scare. On top of that, ya also wanna increase your own perception of design. Am I right?

Mika: Mhm. As long as I can increase my perception of design, Oshi-san’ll be saved some trouble. And I might be able ta help out a li’l bit whenever Oshi-san’s outta inspiration…

As long as I can be of help ta Oshi-san, I’ll be real happy, and my worth’ll be realized.

Kuro: Looks like Itsuki’s the most important person in your heart.

Mika: Mm, Oshi-san’s the most important person ta me… even though sayin’ this is rather immature[1], I do hope that Oshi-san’ll regard me as his most important person…

Kuro: Haha. In this case, I’ve thought of an idea. How ‘bout makin’ some clothes for Mademoiselle[2]?

Mika: Make clothes for Mado-nee?! No no no, I hadn’t got Oshi-san’s permission. How am I ta make clothes for Mado-nee without his permission?

But also, if Mado-nee were ta wear the clothes I make with my current sewin’ skills, it would only serve ta bring shame upon her…

‘Tis outta the question, Kiryu-senpai… I ain’t able ta do this…

Kuro: Don’t be in a hurry to refuse, Kagehira. Let me finish.

First of all, I’ll help ya sew up the wrong side[3] of the outfit, so ya don’t hafta worry ‘bout that.

Moreover, if the clothes are approved by Itsuki and subsequently worn by Mademoiselle, that’ll mean that he commends your design. Who knows, maybe in the future he’ll let ya help him out.

Not only that, but, if Itsuki were to travel far from home in the future, whenever he sees Mademoiselle wearin’ this outfit, he’ll think “ah, this outfit was made by that guy Kagehira. Speakin’ of which, he is pretty competent.” or somethin’ along those lines.

Although I can’t help ya become the most important person in Itsuki’s heart, I think that if you’re able to convey your intentions to Itsuki, it’ll definitely increase your level of importance in his eyes.

Mika: I understand! By makin’ clothes for Mado-nee, it’s to say that my feelin’s will always be with Oshi-san, as if I’m still by Oshi-san’s side. Is that right, Kiryu-senpai?

Kuro: All of that is correct.

Mika: After listenin’ to senpai’s words, I do wanna make an outfit for Mado-nee… but to request for senpai’s assistance, will it cause trouble for ya?

If it causes trouble for senpai, I can go look for other ideas. Thinkin’ about makin’ an outfit for Mado-nee… even though I wanna do it, I’m also kinda worried…

Kuro: ‘Tis all good. I’m also pretty free nowadays, so helpin’ you ain’t gonna be a problem for me.

I’m also Itsuki’s friend, and you spend lotsa time by his side… so I’m confident we’ll be able to create an outfit that’s in accordance to Itsuki’s tastes.

The decision’s yours to make, Kagehira. If you wanna do it, come find me in the dojo.

Mika: Mm! Thank ya kindly, Kiryu-senpai. Still, I think it’ll be better to ask Oshi-san for permission first.

Kuro: Mm. Though, I’ve been meanin’ to ask, what’s that strange lookin’ thing you’re holdin’ in your hands?

Mika: They’re treats[4] Ritsu-kun gave me. There’s are few more in this bag here. I’m currently wonderin’ how am I gonna deal with all of them…

How ‘bout I give some of ‘em to you, Kiryu-senpai.

Kuro: Uh, this appearance… are these really snacks[4]…?

But since they’re of my kouhai’s sincerity, I’ll accept them.

Mika: Mhm, then I’mma go ask Oshi-san now. Bye, Kiryu-senpai!

Kuro: Mm. Goodbye, Kagehira.

The term used here is an idiom "不知天高的厚", which literally translates to "not knowing the height of the heavens nor the depth of the earth". It means to have an exaggerated opinion of one's own abilities, to be ignorant, or to think that one knows everything.

There is no appellation on the wiki as to what Kuro calls Mademoiselle, but since the original text used her full CN name (玛朵莫塞尔) I assumed Kuro calls her "Mademoiselle".

The 'wrong side' refers to the back of the fabric, or 'the side that isn't pretty' (lol). Usually, the pattern on the 'wrong side' of fabric is lighter, and the colors more faded. A little more on it here.

Light refreshments, pastries, snacks, desserts… all of them can be used interchangeably here (head in hands). It's another of Ritsu's creations, let's leave it as that www

[fandomlurker]

A Ponderous Rewatch: Jockey For Position

Now that we’re done with that long cameo, it’s time for our feature presentation for tonight, and it’s a doozy!:

We open with Pinky frantically running on a spinning globe while Brain stands above him on the…globe holder? I don’t know if that part has a name or not.

“[winded gasps] Can I stop now, Brain?”

“Not until I finish my demonstration.”

Brain, that’s just… Well I was about to say it was mean, but given that Pinky understands the details of his plans better when Brain demonstrates it or draws elaborate diagrams, maybe it’s for the best? I doubt Brain could make that large globe spin just by using his hands, and Pinky’s been seen a lot of times running on the mouse wheel in their cage so he’s gotta be pretty in shape. Still, it feels like Pinky’s been running for a lot longer than he needed to…

You know what? I change my mind. It is a bit mean, Brain.

“When I build my reverse geotropic arrestor, Pinky, and throw it from the North Pole like this…”

The word “geotropic” doesn’t quite sound right. I wonder…

…Okay, yeah, Brain’s getting worse at naming things.

“…In a matter of seconds the cable will become taut, gravity will cease, and everyone will fly off the face of the Earth!”

Oh my GOD, Brain. This has got to be the stupidest plan you have come up with yet! Nothing about this will work.

Well, there goes poor Pinky.

“Leaving us alone to assume control.”

It’s still “us”, huh? Noted.

Long Pinky.

“Egad, Brain, brilliant! Haha hehe heh—!”

Pinky, sweetheart, I know praising Brain is kind of your thing but this is one time I’m going to have to call you out on your bias because this is super not brilliant and I’m actually a little worried for Brain’s mental state.

“—Oh wait, no, no. What’s going to keep us from flying off the Earth?”

That’s one flaw of many, Pinky, but I guess it’s as good a start as any.

“We will duct tape ourselves to a tree.”

Because the tree will totally stay in the ground when the Earth abruptly stops spinning. Not that it will stop spinning, because none of this makes any sense.

Brain, did this idea come from, like, a dream you had or something? Is that why the plan is working on dream logic?

I know this is a comedy cartoon and this is all a joke but sometimes Brain’s plans are so fucking out-there I just have to roast him for it.

“Unfortunately we still need to raise money to buy a one billion ton magnet. But I have a solution!”

Oh boy, can’t wait to hear the solution to this one. It’s gonna be stellar if the whole plan today is anything to go by.

Oh nice, Brain’s the one sewing for a change! Usually this is Pinky’s area of expertise, but it’s always nice to see that Brain can do some classically domestic things too.

“Tomorrow is the running of the Kentucky Derby. Do you know what that is?”

Most of my knowledge on it comes from “My Brother, My Brother, and Me” goofs, so my mind keeps autocorrecting it to “Kenfucky Derby”, but go on.

“Umm… Oh! A very large hat?”

“Promise me something, Pinky. Never breed.”

“I’ll try.”

Well, that’s going to come back to haunt them.

“The Kentucky Derby is the biggest horse race of the year. There’s a one million dollar purse going to the jockey riding the winning horse.”

“And I am going to win that purse!”

Okay, first off: Pinky, are you just going to stand there and stare at Brain as he gets changed? Like, I understand they’re naked normally and this is the exact opposite of stripping but umm…

Secondly: Brain, did you really have to get that up close to tell Pinky this? You two are making this too easy for me.

“Zort, Brain! A million dollar purse?!? Ooooh!~ You’re going to need matching pumps and earrings for that!”

Pinky’s got his priorities in order.

“Focus, Pinky, focus!”

“Now watch.”

And now Brain’s ordering Pinky to watch him dress and I just…I have no words. This is all so suspect. Why do you two even need a dressing screen if you’re usually naked anyway? And it shouldn’t matter if anyone sees you get dressed unless this is some weird reverse nudity taboo you two have developed and if that’s the case, why are you allowing Pinky to watch? And if it’s for a dramatic reveal WHY ARE YOU ORDERING HIM TO WATCH YOU CHANGE???

This episode is already so goddamn wild.

I am really not sure how I feel about that pan-up of Brain when he’s thrust his pelvis forward. At least the outfit is cute, though.

“Narf! Oh, Brain, I get it! You’re a beautiful lawn ornament!”

“Beautiful”, huh? Also noted.

“Look at me, narf, I’m a pink flamingo! Ahahaheh!”

Oh LORD, Pinky, how are you—?!?

“I’m a cement deer! Ah hah!”

PINKY, STOP, YOU’RE SCARING ME! D:

“Oh, I’m one of the seven dwarves, Brain!”

That’s more acceptable but Pinky, sweetie, warn me if you’re going to nightmarishly shapeshift again, okay?!

I guess we can add that to the list of random abilities Pinky has.

“Stop it, Pinky, or I shall have to hurt you.”

You are much calmer about this than I would be if this happened in front of me, Brain.

“Oh. Right-o, Brain. Narf.”

“Now let us make haste, for we have much to do before the race begins.”

“Poit.”

So then we cut to Churchill Downs, and I can only assume another roadtrip adventure was had off-screen.

“First, Pinky, we must visit the stables.”

“Inside, we will find the winning horse.”

“Err… How are we gonna do that, Brain?”

“The racing form, Pinky.”

My bet’s on... [squints] hLUUNO the horse.

“By analysing the velocity-based pace line, mile turf win and bayer speed figures, we’ll find a grade one stakes claimer who’ll give us a key horse situation.”

“Key Horse Situation” would be a great band name. Also, whoops, little bit of an error on the name plaques, background artists.

What do your mouse eyes see, Pinky?

“Err, can’t we just ride the pretty one?”

SHE!

So here she is, one of the few characters debuting in the Animaniacs run that will matter to PatB lore going forward aside from our main duo.

A fun fact for you all: Phar Fignewton’s name is a triple reference joke. “Phar Lap” was a champion thoroughbred race horse in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Fig Newtons are small pastries filled with fig paste. Lastly, “Fahrvergnügen” was a slogan for Volkswagon starting in 1990. Translated, it means “driving enjoyment”.

Phar Fignewton makes a whinnying noise and ends it off with a goofy laugh.

Brain is not impressed.

“Heavens, they’re multiplying…”

Pinky is instantly smitten with her.

BONK!

“This is a business trip, Pinky!”

“Oh. Right. Sorry, Brain.”

“Here is our horse.”

“’Daddy’s Little Angel’…”

I guess it’s an ironic nickname.

“Pinky… Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”

“Whu… I think so, Brain, isn’t Regis Philbin already married?”

…

Now I’m wondering if Pinky is suggesting that one of them marry Regis or if he’s suggesting that Regis marries the horse. Either way, what the fuck?

Yeah, same.

“The race, Pinky. By combining the statistics and my low body weight, this horse cannot lose! The prize money will be ours!”

GAH! Brain, I’ve had enough minor heart attacks from this episode because of Pinky’s eldritch morphing ability, I don’t need another one of your bizarre close-ups to do the same!

“Now I must take the place of the real jockey.”

“Hello?”

“Is this the Jockey who’s going to ride ‘Daddy’s Little Angel’?”

“Yeah.”

“This is Ed Mcmahon from Publisher’s Smearing House. You’ve just won ten million dollars.”

Pinky delightedly and silently listening in and chuckling in the back is precious.

And honestly, Brain, I don’t know why you’re crouching here, but it’s also cute.

“I won ten million dollars… I WON TEN MILLION DOLLARS! I am outta here! Later!”

The mice are lucky that he’s so excited about winning all that money that he forgets to do basic things like ask when and how he’ll get the money.

“Louie! Louie!”

“Later!”

“Who’s gonna ride my horse? I mean, Louie is the smallest, lightest jockey in the entire world!”

Did you know that there’s a weight requirement for jockeys, but no height requirement?

“Not anymore!”

“[GASP]”

Whoops, I just noticed another error, though it’s minor: Brain’s jockey outfit throughout this scene is light tan and purple instead of the pea green and purple that it’s supposed to be.

“You’re a jockey?!”

“Actually, I am a mouse in the early stages of an elaborate scheme to take over the world.”

The more this happens, the more I’m starting to think that Brain does this shtick on purpose to emotionally and mentally disarm people who would otherwise suspect that he’s not human. The fact that it works shows you just how idiotic the human beings of this world are.

“Well, fine, we all need a hobby but…will you ride my horse?”

Oh, sir, I think it’s much more than a hobby at this point. If only you knew…

“I shall ride! And win!”

His design is a little odd here, but it’s still a good pose.

So Brain next has to be weighed to make sure he meets the requirements.

“Saddle: Seven pounds. Saddle and rider: Seven pounds 3 ounces.”

So if you can recall from the previous rewatch post, a house mouse on average weighs 19g, and a common wood mouse weighs 23g (it can be up for debate which type of mouse Brain is).  Converting Brain’s 3 ounces of weight to grams would result in him weighing 85.0486g.

Brain does have a bit of a cute little potbelly thing going on, but he’s also consistently much smaller in height and width than the average adult mouse in the series. I think the incredible difference in weight is mostly coming from the heft of Brain’s, well, brain and skull…and the muscle mass packed into that tiny body to help keep him upright.

“A genetically perfect jockey! This is fantastic!”

Please don’t phrase it like that.

“…Let’s look into early retirement.”

That jockey on the left is going through some shit, man. He looks like how I feel after working an eight hour shift on the holidays.

And so we skip to the beginning of the race!

That poor, poor jockey…who changed colour schemes for some reason.

There’s Phar Fignewton with a jockey who honestly looks like he’s high.

And here’s our little mousey fella, who has somehow managed to make this aggressive horse obedient.

“Camptown race is five miles long, do-dah, do-dah.~”

He’s so happy he’s singing to himself! This is honestly so precious that I completely forgive him for not getting the lyrics correct.

Coincidentally, Daddy’s Little Angel is positioned next to Phar Fignewton.

“Ooh, isn’t this exciting, Brain?”

Uh oh.

“Pinky, what are you doing here? Your weight will disrupt my winning calculations!”

I don’t know if it’d be that off, Brain. The combined weight of two mice is still much less than that of a human jockey.

“But Brain, it’s too exciting! I—“

[TARGET LOCKED]

“Oooh! Heh. Hello.~”

I think I’m going to save my thoughts on this whole…thing until the end. Right now I will say, however, that I wasn’t quite expecting the tongue-hanging-out-of-gaping-mouth lovestruck/horny??? reaction.

“Pinky, the race is starting!”

Too late, Brain.

And we’re off!

Bye, Pinky.

“There’s baloney in our slacks…~”

Pfft.

So as the race goes on, we get to know a few more of the horses’ names: Isle of Yap (a nice callback to the first PatB short), Flamiel (which is apparently the WB writers’ favourite word?), and Leggo-my-Egoiste (a double reference to an old Eggo slogan and the name of a cologne).

The other jockeys are more than a little surprised by Brain and his steed taking the lead early in the race.

Phar Fignewton is trailing way behind.

Meanwhile, Pinky’s woken up from fainting, seeing the oncoming horses—

--and promptly freaks out and stumbles back down again.

“Victory, she waits for me! Oh, the do-dah-day!”

You really have to stop tempting fate like this, Brain.

Phar Fignewton’s very tired, but what’s this?

Is that…Pinky in harm’s way?

ThePowerOfLove.mp3

Determined and fueled by her inexplicable crush, Phar Fignewton starts gaining ground on the other horses.

Brain didn’t calculate for this!

…Oh! Hi, Warners! Looks like they’re cheering Phar on.

“Oh no! Yah! Yah! Yah!”

I didn’t think whips were allowed in races like the Kentucky Derby, but apparently they are. Their use was only restricted—not banned—in the summer of 2020, which is alarming to say the least.

On a different note, I know some of you folks are now jotting down the fact that Brain knows how to use a whip. I see you.

She makes the save!

And she also wins the race! Way to go, Phar Fignewton!

“In the words of the great Willie Shoemaker: ‘Nuts!’”

It was a good try, Brain, but honestly I’m glad you failed this time if only so that you wouldn’t embarrass yourself with your actual world domination plan’s failure later. Maybe take a couple nights off to rest up a bit and formulate plans that aren’t totally bonkers, hmm?

I might as well go ahead and talk about this now. I…am conflicted on this whole Phar Fignewton thing. It makes for a very strange one-off joke about Pinky instantly falling in love with a distaff counterpart of his that’s a horse for whatever reason…but the fact that she’s not a one-off character is baffling in and of itself. Like I’ve said before, she’s mentioned a couple of times going forward as being Pinky’s girlfriend, or as a bizarre joke at Pinky’s expense about him being in/having been in a relationship with a horse. There’s even a small running gag about Pinky’s reaction to people’s disgust about it: “People can be so intolerant!”. I don’t know if the joke is supposed to be one about racial segregation or a wink and nod to queer folks in the only way that the writers could get away with in a cartoon at the time (in a “see, Pinky’s down for a relationship with anyone, even outside of his species!” type of way).

Phar Fignewton herself is a sweetie but besides that she has no personality to speak of and we’re just meant to assume based on physical appearance that she is equivalent to Pinky. And like, she hasn’t been uplifted to human levels of intelligence and sapience like Pinky has because of Acme Labs, but she seems to be naturally sapient for some unknown reason and just simply unable to speak English.

On top of all this, the relationship is very shallow and the only reason we’re given as to why Pinky likes her is because he finds her pretty. It’s perfectly in character for Pinky to easily fall in love, as he does so with other animals a couple more times in the spin-offs, but it just feels weird that this is the one that sticks around purely to become a running gag that gets mentions that are sometimes literal years apart from one another.

And listen, I know the writers most likely made this a thing just because they thought it was a funny joke and a few of them managed to remember about Phar and would use Pinky dating her as a gag. I know this. But it doesn’t make it any less confusing and weird. I remember the jokes about Pinky and horses from way back when I first watched Animaniacs and the PatB spin-off when I was a kid and I never had any context for it because I don’t think I ever saw this specific episode. Coming back as an adult and seeing all these episodes in order and watching this one in particular and finding out the context is “Pinky thinks a horse is pretty and the horse and him are in love and long-distance dating now” is both underwhelming and leaves me with more questions than answers.

…Also, if my earlier theories on why the writers made this joke are correct, does this mean Phar Fignewton is metatextually a beard for Pinky?

I just don’t know, folks. You’re welcome to leave your thoughts on this in comments.

Let’s wrap this up.

So as we can see, Brain is, as usual, back to work on another plan that involves—

—a goddamn cannon, holy shit! What is he using the glue for? That’s a little ominous, given what’s been involved in this episode.

There’s a hammering noise in the background and we see Pinky putting up a photo of Phar Fignewton.

“Pinky, will you please stop that? I’m trying to concentrate on tomorrow night!”

Wow, you’re more irritable than usual, Brain. I didn’t think some delicate hammering would annoy you that much.

“Mwah!~”

…Despite my ramblings earlier, that’s very cute of you, Pinky. I’m sure you could’ve gotten a better photo, though.

“Why, Brain, what’re we gonna do tomorrow night?”

Try to take over the world, of course! Right, Brain?

“Guess.”

…

Umm, wow. That’s a first. You look like you’re absolutely enraged, Brain. All this over some hammering sounds?

This had me taken aback a bit when I watched it the first time, not gonna lie. We’ve seen Brain after a plan’s failure plenty of times before. He’s been frustrated, sure. Humiliated at times, or maybe he just sighs in resignation and walks off into the sunset. It always ends with him simply using these feelings to fuel the fire in him to do better tomorrow night.

This is the very first time we’ve seen him jumpy and irritated at the most minor of things and so angry that he literally refuses to participate normally in his and Pinky’s shared catchphrase. And this was for a plan that was just to fund the real plan! So why is this time any different?

Oh.

OH.

Okay, that’s… That makes a lot of sense, actually. Damn.

Hey, fanfic writers? Ya’ll ever use this as the very first time Brain experiences romantic jealousy? Let me know.

“Oh yeah, try to take over the world. Right.”

I think even Pinky’s put off by this development, if his hesitant and quiet finishing of the saying is anything to go by.

And that’s what we end off with.

All in all, this episode is a wild ride of strangeness in small moments and bizarre additions to lore and ends on the first subversion of the long-running closing gag of the series. It’s not exactly a great episode, but that ending is intriguing enough for one of the main purposes of this rewatch. In short, I’m just baffled.

Luckily the next episode is much better. Next time, the mice head on down to Tennessee to seek world domination via country music.

See you then!

[sleepdeprivedheretic]

Those Shoes (Ch.3)

Song Inspired: I Want You by Savage Garden

Notes: @youtubequeens Hope you stay hydrated and have a lovely time! <3 Here’s this bit for now :3

Warnings: Creepy people, not getting the hint that a person’s uncomfortable, unwanted flirting, and talk about emotions bc honestly what are they?

He smiled as Eijirou took a bite of his onigiri, Tamaki sighed softly at his younger brother, as said boy had specks of sticky rice on his face.

It was a lazy Sunday morning, the boys were home from school, and Taishiro was enjoying his day off.  

“Did ya have a good day at work, Papa?” The ruby-eyed boy inquired, and Tai smiled, ruffling his hair.

“Ya bet I did, kiddo.”

 He didn’t tell his boys what he had exactly did for a living, but he promised himself that he would, in the future. So far, all they knew is that he was a professional dancer.

“Dancing must be hard.” Tamaki broke the silence after chewing on his scrambled egg, and his father laughed.

“Nah. It takes a lotta practice. Did you boys had fun at yer day at school?” He pondered, sipping from his cup of coffee.

“Yeah! There was a nice new boy who was shy! There were some mean kids, but I protected him!” Eijirou rambled excitedly. Taishiro chuckled, and then looked at Tamaki.

“Mirio fell in a puddle. Face first. I had to take him to the nurse.” He shrugged, yet Taishiro didn’t miss the soft glint that speckled in his eyes. He smiled.

“That kid’s pretty resilient, huh? Anyways, eat yer breakfast, then we’ll head out to the park, alright?”

………………

It was a pretty November day. Skeleton trees hovered beneath the rich blue sky as your shoes crunched up against the fallen colorful leaves. Although it hasn’t been a week, yet, you were slowly re-adapting to your hostess job, and nit and tucking the dancer’s clothes.

You were surprised on how many had requested your services, staying absolutely still as you kept a cool facade, keeping the pointed needle from digging into skin as you measured, cut, and sewed loose fabric. You believed in your abilities, yet it felt as if it didn’t matter.

You weren’t good at holding the obvious flirty conversations that somehow were being thrown at you out of nowhere. They would giggle, and you had to still your hand so that you couldn’t accidentally jab their shaking bodies, whilst trying to be polite.

Where did the sudden interest come from? You wondered. Your mother, undoubtedly, was on high alert as she noticed it, too. The flirting, joking, the inquiring questions. Luckily, the fitting room had a camera, and thankfully, your patients had known it too, so they were extra careful in not doing anything that was against the regulations. Your mother was watching, you all knew.

Speaking of which, she did not try to make things better. She would wink, or make subtle little jokes, as she explained that it was good for business. You couldn’t help but press your mouth in a firm line.

You worked so hard, finding the perfect materials, ignoring your own discomfort as you bit the bullet and tried to focus on making the outfit snug and resilient, while the owners ignored your tense shoulders and set jaw. You were appalled, as they used alluring honeyed words, directed your attention to a “loose” fabric between their thighs, and so on.

You, feeling a surge of retaliation, growled out that it would cost extra for you to fix certain areas, and preferred that the outfit was on a mannequin, instead.

Your spitfire attitude had certainly weeded out a few of the unwanted customers, but, gained some more who thought it was a challenge. You didn’t miss the look of sheer pride from your mother, however, as she sported a wicked grin.

“That’ll teach them. Might make your blond a little less jealous.” She winked, and you paled in question. He was jealous? Of what? You were only doing your job, charging the dancers a certain amount, and giving your mother, your boss, a small part of the revenue as she requested. Although a thorn in your side, she was also a beautiful rose, and you knew that she was helping you in her own way, thus, opening your eyes more to the situation.

It didn’t take you long to realize, that yes, he was jealous, and you were too busy to acknowledge the possibility, until your mother had to basically tell you. So, you took your time to observe your surroundings.

Daggers for a stare had met each and everyone of the customers who had followed you into the fitting room, you’ve seen. While hosting, you started to take breaks to watch him, much to the oddly placed chagrin in the other dancers. His style was a little different, more suave and seductive, rather than downright dirty. Back against the pole, he slid up slowly as he jutted out his chin, staring at you through blond lashes while sucking suggestively at one of his suckers, hardly minding the crowd as he gave you a show that was basically personal.  

He was addictive, you couldn’t help but think. His outfits, dances, and downright attitude made the other’s shadow in comparison.

 It brought you back to the present. Your feet shuffled against the dirt as you pushed yourself on the swing, breathing out huffs of warm air that meshed with the chilly atmosphere.

 He didn’t make you feel too uncomfortable, either. He did make a request, to tuck in a few strings into his nurse outfit, you remembered it so clearly. He had strutted into your office around the right time, white fishnet stockings and heels blended in nicely with the light aqua blue fabric that left very little to the imagination.

“Jus’ some strings near the neck, Sugar. Might even give ya a sucker if ya behave.” He winked, and you couldn’t help but laugh at how corny it was, earning a smug smile and tinted cheeks. Although a little flirty, he stood perfectly still as you fixed the frayed mess that was near his clavicle, feeling his warmth resonate around you as you couldn’t help but seep it in. You hoped that he wouldn’t say anything about it. How you could feel a thundering, fast-paced heartbeat underneath your fingertips, despite his cocky facade, your face blushing immensely, or how the atmosphere seemed as if it might just break from underneath the metaphorical weight between the two of you.

However, true to his word, he began letting out pieces of information.

“We actually go to the same college.”

 You stopped to stare at him with full surprise.

“What? Really?”

“Well, ya graduated before I did, but I live near the campus. I…kinda saw ya every day. Not as a stalker!” He rushed before you could think of anything.

“-as in, my road to the school kinda passes your road, and I couldn’t help but not look away when ya were…ya know…It’s a very connected town, so I’ve seen ya…around.”

Then it hit you.

“Ah, so you must’ve seen me doing volunteer work?” You murmured, and he nodded.

“Well, yeah. You’re a familiar face. Couldn’t really ignore ya, ‘specially when you’re bein’ so wonderful half the damned time. Ya don’t know me, and I know it might be a lil’ creepy, but I promise ya that I don’t mean to be.” He babbled, face tinting a little more pink, and your ears burned from the forward acknowledged statement.  

So he noticed your volunteer work, and where you lived, and yet you didn’t really see him creeping around the bushes, or any tall figure of his build stalking around, for instance.

“So…is this why you have a sudden interest?” You asked, and you heard him swallow thickly.

“Pretty much. Doesn’t help that you’re kinda allurin’. Like a magnet.” He finished lamely, eyes shifting as he bit his bottom lip, and you couldn’t believe the shy signals that he was giving off as your own cheeks burned.

“Ah. Um…yeah.” You couldn’t help but say, and he snorted. You jutted your chin up and was about to give him a piece of your mind.

“We’re both kinda terrible at this. Anyways, that’s what I wanted to tell ya. Been seein’ ya around and makin’ the world a better place, an’ so I couldn’t help but like ya.” He waved off your short-lived glare as your expression softened.

“I don’t understand? You’re shy but not?” You questioned, nipping the small extra thread that you’ve already tucked in.

He shrugged.

“Emotions are emotions. Ya do things to me that I can’t explain, and I make ya into a flustered mess, and vice versa. I was at first too fuckin’ scared to really say or do anything, because the last thing I wanna be, is to be a creepy stalker in yer eyes.”

“I think I understand. As I don’t believe that you are a stalker…um…how do you? How did you-”

“Body language is a dead giveaway. Studyin’ to be a therapist. Plus, it’s relievin’ to get another validation that ya don’t find me creepy. ‘Specially after hearin’ my story.” He grinned, and your shoulders relaxed as you finished up your work.

“Ah, all done?” He pouted, and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes.

“You have another appointments, as well as my number.” You reasoned, and his eyes lit up.

“So, I could call ya?” He asked hopefully, and you found yourself nodding before you could comprehend what he said.

“Awesome. I’ll see ya around, Chickadee.” He hummed, digging into his wallet as he paid you upfront, letting his hand brush against yours, and yet you didn’t mind. All too fleeting, he sauntered away, but not before giving you a final look.

“The ball is in yer hands, in whichever ya want this to be. Although, I gotta up my game, if I wanna keep the competition at bay.” He winked, and then turned to leave the room. The wheels in your head had seemed to stop, before whirling again with realization.

So, he was aware of it all? The flirting and unwanted attention that you were gaining? As if he had to compete against anybody, you couldn’t help but think.

He wasn’t like the other “suitors” who were more aggressive and rude, you couldn’t help but think, your chest fluttering at the idea of him being your partner.

It’s been three days after that. You did shoot him a text, and almost immediately, he responded. He was forward with his interest, and you were still in a bit of confusion, why he, still a stranger, had decided to pursue you so quickly. You couldn’t help but think that the stars must have aligned in the both of your favor, or that it must have been fate, for you couldn’t help but start to like him, as well.

His forward approach, his respectful nature, the duality of his emotions, on how he could be so forward, and yet somehow kind of shy, he hunted at a distance, not too close or disrupting your boundaries, while never failing to look for you, or put on a show.

An excited voice rambled you out of your thoughts, a very, familiar excited voice, and your attention snapped towards the direction at the upcoming person, or people.

……………………………….

He sucked. He was a sucker, and he let his emotions get the best of him. Why did he have to spill out everything? Now she knew that he was an eager fool, and he didn’t mention the most important part; his two boys. Although not biologically his, blood didn’t matter, they were his sons.  

Of course, while in his interest in pursuing, he was so caught up with classes, dancing, and raising his kids, a lot of things had passed his mind. He remembered laying in the darkness of his bedroom, staring up at the ceiling as his heart clenched.

What if she was only attracted to his dancing? The two of them had never made plans to meet outside of work, and if they did, would she be turned off by his more shy attitude? His more softer, meeker side? Unwanted thoughts swirled within his head.

He was making a mistake, he was putting too much time into a woman who he barely knew, and if she did like him, would she like his boys? They would always be his first and top priority, he could never lower their needs before a potential future partner.

Growling, he picked up his phone, searching for her contact. He began typing, and re-typing as he made sure that the sentence sounded perfect.

Me: I know it’s late, but do ya wanna go to the park, tomorrow around 9 am?

He bit his lip and pressed send. It’ll just be a hang out, he told himself. He’ll bring his sons, and if she reacted negatively, he would stop cold. Maybe move to another club. It was his fault for not mentioning that he had kids, and he didn’t blame her for not wanting to deal with him for not telling her in the first place. She was an adult, she could make her own decisions, and children might not be her priority, and he could respect that. The fated ding of his phone pulled him out of his thoughts.

Chickadee: Sure. It’s supposed to be chilly, tomorrow, so wear something warm.

His cheeks felt like fire as his heart warmed up from the thoughtfulness. A chuckle escaped his throat. Even while texting, she still used proper grammar, and he couldn’t help but find that adorable. He kind of hoped that she wouldn’t be upset that he had kids, and he wouldn’t force her into anything that she didn’t want, if he did break it to her that he wanted to see her as a partner.

He was a dumb mess, he told himself. However, he wouldn’t mind to have her as a good friend, if anything else. He couldn’t help but like her, and she had a blunt, straight to the point attitude mixed in with that sweetness.

……………….

    “-lunch lady?!” A voice gasped in shock, the three familiar figures caught your full attention. Time stood still as you recognized the two small boys instantly, and behind them, stood none other than Taishiro. Surprise had hit you, but you couldn’t help but feel joy as little arms wrapped around your leg as you stopped the swing, seeing Eijirou glanced up at you with a toothy smile and bright eyes.

You couldn’t help but smile, pinching his cheeks a little as he giggled.  

“Hey, um, small world?” Taishiro asked, breaking you out of your trance.

“I volunteered at the orphanage a while back. That’s amazing, I’m so glad to you two, again.” You explained, looking at the boys.

“It’s good to see you, as well.” Tamaki said softly, and you smiled at the slightly older boy who gripped Taishiro’s jacket.  

“Oh, that’s pretty neat. Ya were in dietary?” He asked, sitting down on the swing next to you, Tamaki following closely. You looked down a bit shyly.

“Um, yeah. They were kind of short staffed, that year, and I was a pretty familiar face, so they asked, and I said yes.” You rambled, and he chuckled.

“You’re right about the pretty part.” He winked, and you huffed out a surprised laugh.

“Do you ever not flirt?” You inquired, and he grinned.

“I don’t flirt as much as ya think. Anyways, I wanted to know, if ya like to hang out with us, for the day?” He murmured softly at the end, and you felt yourself smile a little.

“I’d like to. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the boys. Although I missed the children, I couldn’t really stay, had college to go through, you know? It’s good that they’ve been adopted.” You rambled, watching Tamaki push Eijirou gently on the swing next to yours, the shyest of smiles graced the raven-hair’s features as the two were basically in their own little world.

“When I first came to this town, I didn’t really have anybody. So I took some time to think it over, and decided to adopt. They’ve been the light of my life for three years, now. Can’t imagine bein’ without ‘em.” He said softly, and you felt a burst of warmth envelop you.

“It’s good that they have a good dad. Do they know of your-?” You let the sentence hang, and he shook his head.

“Later. I doubt that they’ll judge, but I don’t want ‘em to know, just yet.”

It surprised you on how easy it was to make small talk, each of you opening up a little bit more. You fixed Tamaki’s coat, brushing the hair out of his eyes slightly when Taishiro had offered the group to get hot chocolate from the coffee shop that was near, chuckling as Eijirou’s eyes widened with pure glee.

Tamaki gripped your hand, Eijirou gripped Taishiro’s, and Taishiro held your free hand as the four of you crossed the street, and you couldn’t help but feel warmth at the domesticated atmosphere within your little group.

You wouldn’t mind if these sudden feelings stayed a little while longer.

[joachimnapoleon]

How the (Quarantined) Murats broke the Internet (and Lannes). [Part 2/2]

Hello all! Here is the second half of my and @histoireettralala‘s AU on our Trifecta in Quarantine.  (Part 1 can be found here.) ^_^

***

Caroline groggily plops into her desk chair, yawning in between sips of her morning coffee as she waits for her laptop to start up. She smiles at the sound of the sewing machine running from across the hall; Joachim is already hard at work making a new batch of masks for their friends and family. He has become quite determined, he informed her this morning, to make as many as he can, now that he's discovered he has such a talent for it.

She is secretly relieved that he has developed such a liking for this new hobby. Joachim has been delighted to be able to spend so much more time with the kids since the office temporarily closed, but at the same time... she knew her husband well enough by now to sense his restlessness. Joachim has always been bursting with energy and a perpetual need to be doing Something Important--not unlike Napoleon himself. Sitting at home for days on end, feeling useless, was simply unbearable for him.

Now, he has a purpose again, and she can already see the effect it is having on her husband, the added spark in his eye, the renewed spring in his step. And, she thinks, I've gotten an adorable new video out of it to add to my collection.

Caroline takes another sip of coffee as her YouTube page loads.

She nearly chokes on the hot liquid in her surprise.

Since she went to bed last night, her video of Joachim sewing with Letitia has accumulated... 12,184 views. There are hundreds of new comments and subscribers.

Caroline blinks. She figured Paulette and Josephine would be able to give it a nice boost, but... wow.

She refreshes the page.

12,192.

She refreshes it again.

12,203.

She decides to take a look at some of the top-rated comments.

@napoleon, 12:03: Well this was most... unexpected. So, when can I expect my masks?

@j.poniatowski, 1:05: MY DUDE

@ney, 12:17: very sweet, and kudos on not hurting yourself yet joachim

@bakingsoult, 3:27: maybe we can make a deal, fresh cookies of your choice for masks? PM me

@elisa.bacchiochi, 2:08: CAROLINE WE ALL NEED MORE OF THIS PLZ

@augereau, 4:02: My dear Murat, I think we could do a very lucrative business together; give me a call if you're interested.

@jeanlannes, 12:54: O___O

The majority of the comments, though, are from total strangers, many of whom have felt compelled to comment on the physical beauty of Caroline's husband. It would take far too long to go through them all and filter out the ones that go a little too far, especially as new comments are constantly being added to the thread. She sighs. At least most of them seem to be wholesome enough. And, anyway, it isn't like Caroline isn't used to this by now.

After finishing her coffee and refreshing the page one more time--the video is now up to slightly over 14,000 views--Caroline grabs her camera.

She has an audience to please.

***

[Three days later]

Lannes is not happy.

Aside from being bored to death right now as a result of so many days pent up inside, the masks he ordered from Amazon still haven't arrived, and wearing them is now required in order to go anywhere. The family's groceries are running low (except for their toilet paper; Lannes had made sure to buy twelve 24-packs of that once this whole thing had started, a foresight of which he was extremely proud). How is he supposed to go grocery shopping now without the requisite mask?

To make matters worse, Murat had entirely abandoned him for the past couple nights. Lannes is deeply wounded by this. How could his best friend just up and forget about two straight Skype cocktail hours? Especially when he knew perfectly well that they were the only thing keeping Lannes sane at this point? Even a flurry of furious text messages had failed to impress upon Murat the gravity of his neglectfulness.

Ten minutes later, a "sorry lol" was the verbatim response Lannes had received, followed shortly after by a "super busy" and then a "maybe this weekend idk". Murat had not even had the decency to reply to Lannes' ensuing "WTF".

If I don't get out of this house soon, I'm going to lose my mind, Lannes thinks.

He grabs his cellphone and dials the one man capable of helping him in this crisis.

"What in God's name is it today, Lannes?" a weary Larrey asks after the seventh ring.

"Doc!!! Do you have any spare masks?"

"I've already told you three times I don't!"

"How can you still not have any though? YOU'RE A DOCTOR!!!"

"That's correct; I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker. The mask demand has far outpaced the supply right now. Have you tried asking Murat?"

Lannes blinks, uncomprehending. "Ask... Murat...?"

"Yeah, I've gotta give it to him, he's been making some excellent quality masks!" Larrey exclaims. "I'm actually wearing one right now."

Lannes doesn't know how to even begin to process this statement. His arm holding the phone goes slack; the phone drops from a limp hand to the carpeted floor.

Everything Lannes knows is wrong.

Well, except one thing: he needs alcohol.

A lot of alcohol.

Now.

He heads towards the kitchen.

"Lannes?" the voice of Larrey calls through the abandoned phone. "Are you still there?? Lannes???"

***

Ney stares at himself in the mirror, studying his new mask. Murat had delivered it to him personally earlier this morning, along with a set of masks for Aglaé and all their children.

"Letitia picked the fabric for your mask personally," Murat had said with a wink.

"Well, I hope you'll give her my thanks. Tell her she has very good taste."

A giant image of the perpetually scowling Grumpy Cat covers Ney's mask.

Aglaé appears behind him in the mirror. Appraising her mask-clad husband for a moment, she nods approvingly.

"It suits you perfectly, my love."

Her husband's mouth might be covered by the mask, but Aglaé isn't fooled. His smile is betrayed by his eyes.

***

[Three weeks later]

Fifty-thousand subscribers.

And Caroline is only just getting started. A prominent blog had e-mailed her this morning about doing an article on Joachim's mask-making venture. Shortly afterwards, a local news channel had called to inquire about conducting a Skype interview with Joachim (and would it be possible for little Letitia to be present too?). Joachim had been reluctant to leave his work--there were still so many masks he needed to make!!--but Caroline had convinced him it would be for the Greater Good.

At Pauline's suggestion, she had monetized the YouTube channel yesterday morning.

Joachim enters Caroline's office, carrying Louise in his arms. Caroline greets them warmly.

"Did Napoleon like his new mask?" Joachim asks.

The last video Caroline had uploaded had been of Joachim and Letitia making Napoleon's mask, complete with her brother's signature "N" ornately embroidered by Joachim himself. His skills were progressing at a surreal pace. Imagining the look on Madame Campan's face at the sight of Joachim's meticulous sewing and craftsmanship, Caroline makes a mental note to forward the video link to her former mentor. See?! Caroline imagines herself screaming triumphantly at the haughty old woman. I was right about him all along!!!

"Napoleon said, and I quote: 'Tell him it's really not bad at all.'" She gives him a knowing smile.

Joachim beams. He's fluent enough in Napoleonese to know that this is high praise indeed.

***

[One month later]

Two-hundred-fifty-thousand subscribers.

Caroline's latest video--Joachim teaching Lannes to use the sewing machine--is shaping up to be their biggest hit yet. (She'd had to implore the two to keep their language as clean as possible; this is a family-friendly blog and besides that, it simply wouldn't do to put the ad revenue at risk). Her viewers couldn't get enough of Letitia and Louise laughing in the background at the struggles of their grumbling Uncle Jean to figure out "this demonic device" (as he called it). But Joachim was a patient teacher, and eventually Lannes had succeeded at making his very first mask. The video culminated triumphantly with him holding the mask aloft towards the camera like a hard-won battle trophy, as Letitia and Louise cheered and Joachim glowed with pride.

Now, Joachim is beginning to experiment with increasingly ornate embroideries and higher quality materials.

"Just because it's for a pandemic," he insists, "doesn't mean it can't be fashion."

***

[Three months later]

One million subscribers.

"Vogue?" Pauline's tone is one of total disbelief.

"Vogue," Caroline affirms.

"THE Vogue?" Elisa presses.

"Yes."

"And he's going to be... on the cover?"

"Yes."

"On the cover of Vogue."

"Yes."

"THE Vogue."

"Yes."

***

[One year later]

Five million subscribers.

Caroline parks her new cobalt blue Maserati, grabs her Louis Vuitton handbag off the seat, and heads into the house.

Joachim is in his design room, hard at work as always. He greets her with a kiss.

"How's it coming?" she asks.

"Pretty good, I think. Maybe another week or so and everything will be wrapped up."

After months of hitting the runways and photo studios of some of the most famous designers in America and Europe in the aftermath of the pandemic, Joachim has decided to pursue his long-cherished dream of putting out his very own clothing line--for both adults and children. So far, their videos of Achille, Letitia, Lucien, and Louise parading around and posing in their dazzling new haute couture outfits were proving to be immensely popular.

They have been floating the idea of live-streaming a fashion show to launch the new line; the participants would be their friends and family. So far, Lannes, Jerôme, Pauline, Elisa, Eugène, Lasalle, Bessières, and Poniatowski have all volunteered. Lannes' runway walk needs serious, serious work, but there's still plenty of time.

Of course, the children all want to participate in the show too, and how can Joachim possibly say no?

***

[Six months later]

Napoleon hates shopping. Primarily because Josephine always spends obscene amounts of money--really, if anybody ever found out just how many pairs of gloves she has--he lets out a sigh. It isn't just about the money though. Shopping for clothes is always such a hassle. Napoleon is a simple man with simple tastes. No frills, no feathers, no silly ornamentation--unlike some people. He just wants something nice and comfortable. Something breathable. Something that doesn't cut off the circulation in his arms or legs.

So of course, he has to live in the age of... skinny jeans. A crime against God and man. If he was in charge, he'd criminalize the horrid things. Of course, his ludicrous brother-in-law doesn't mind them. Murat is always delighted to have an excuse to show off those perfectly chiseled thighs of his.

"Napoleon! Come over here!!" Josephine calls. "I've found something you might like!"

I highly doubt it. He sighs again, but proceeds in the direction of her voice.

***

[The following afternoon]

Napoleon and Josephine arrive at the Murats' monthly garden party. Caroline has been renovating the place obsessively for the past few months; the spacious property now has a massive heated outdoor pool and vast gardens full of exotic plants and flowers. To the house itself, has been added a large marble terrace.

All this because she didn't want to learn how to sew, Napoleon marvels. He wonders how Madame Campan is processing it all.

Joachim and Caroline see the newly-arrived couple and hurry over to greet them.

Joachim's greeting cuts off in mid-sentence. His eyes are locked onto Napoleon's shirt.

"You're... wearing..."

"Yes. You know, it's really not bad at all, Joachim. You should make more like this." He gives Joachim's ear his signature tweak, before continuing on towards the food table.

Caroline giggles at the sight of her husband stricken speechless--the rarest of rare events.

"Come, my love," she takes his hand. "Let's go celebrate our success."

[THE END]

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 162

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 14 - “Karen, The Troubled Student Council President” Date watched: 3 December 2019 Original air date: 6 May 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/ZVrof8Y Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Karen has a big think

It’s Karen’s turn to hold the character development conch. This time, we get to see how she handles pressure from all directions! We also find out a little secret about Otaka-san and the school’s leadership. Good stuff, so let’s dive in!

The Plot

Various clubs approach Karen, aggressively requesting budget increases. The futsal club can’t afford new balls, the drama club can’t afford costumes, the judo club can’t afford new weights, the list goes on. Karen is taken aback and tries to explain the complexities of the situation to the students, but they are insistent. After trying to come up with a solution, she approaches the Vice Principal and explains her situation, requesting a budget increase for all the clubs. He is reluctant to change the budget that’s already been agreed upon for the year, but because he respects her decision to approach him, he will take it up with the principal. The VP goes to the Principal, revealed (to the audience) to actually be Otaka-san the lunch lady, but she insists that she doesn’t believe they need a budget increase, and there are still solutions the clubs haven’t yet come up with to resolve their budget woes. Komachi talks with Karen, commending her willingness to work hard for the clubs where before she probably would have simply said that the budget was already decided and they had to make do with what they had. The influence of their determined young friends is rubbing off on them.

Coincidentally, Nightmare is also having budget issues of a sort. Although they aren’t in a pinch, Kawarino is scolding Bunbee for blowing a lot of money without producing any results, and implies that his subordinates are useless and the whole department could get restructured. Bunbee decides to go fight the girls himself to get some results.

Back at school, Karen is still being hounded by the clubs, and her attempts at de-escalation aren’t working, so Otaka almost steps in, but Komachi is actually the one to put her foot down, startling everyone. She reminds the club leaders that they agreed to their annual budgets before the proposal was sent to the school administration, and that Karen alone cannot solve everything. With help from Nozomi, she gets them all to line up and explain their problems, to see if they can work together and figure out alternative solutions within their existing budgets.

The biggest offender is the drama club, which is going way over budget because they’ve picked a play with lots of extravagant costumes. However, Komachi gets them to work with the sewing club, who were looking for a platform to display their work, and the two split costs in this mutually beneficial agreement. The Judo club couldn’t afford to buy new weights AND new uniforms, but they also got the sewing club to patch up their uniforms so they could buy heavier weights, and donated their older ones to the futsal club. Now that she doesn’t need to buy weights, Rin can afford new balls, and donates the old ones to the art club, who find their shape and texture very inspirational.

I’d like to point out that the dumbbell Nozomi is struggling to lift is only 5 KG, that’s about 11 lbs.

With everyone’s issues resolved, the girls enjoy a moment of peace as Rin takes her new dumbbells to her club space, but on the way, Bunbee shows up to cause trouble. He turns the dumbbells into a Kowaina and taunts the girls about his own superiority. They transform and fight back, but he is pretty strong. When Mint shields one of the monster’s attacks, he launches a missile that breaks the shield, and he easily dodges when Rouge and Aqua try to fight him in the air. Dream and Lemonade have no luck fighting the Kowaina and they’re all left on the ground, defeated. Bunbee boasts about how much easier it is to do everything himself, and Aqua scoffs. She says she used to feel that way, but now she knows they’d never win if they did that, and the team springs into action. Bunbee tries to missile them again, and again Mint uses her shield, but this time Aqua also blocks it with Aqua Stream and this weakens it enough to bounce off the shield. Dream and Rouge restrain the Kowaina while Lemonade attacks it with Lemonade Flash, then the two throw it and perform their finishers. The Kowaina is destroyed and Bunbee retreats, self-justifying the day by saying you have to spend money to make money.

Back at the lunch table, Nozomi observes that Komachi might actually be stronger than Karen, which gives them all pause. Otaka comes over with a basket full of yakisoba bread, claiming the principal told her how they avoided a budget crisis, and suddenly people from all the other clubs appear, all vying for some of the free bread. Nozomi cries because the crowd beat her to the stuff she really wanted, and that’s the ending card.

The Analysis

What a fun episode. Karen’s commitment to the students is really earnest and inspiring. You can see why she’s the president, and even how much progress she’s made since the start of the show. Old Karen just cared about order, new Karen has the best interests of the students in mind and wants to meet them where they’re at. She fields the ire of the various clubs like a champ, trying not to get overwhelmed, and explaining the delicate balance that is adjusting budgets: since the budget has already been agreed upon, for her to allocate more to one group than previously agreed means the money has to come out of somewhere else, and that could put the other party in a pinch. Important financial lesson for the kids in the audience, too. And when her advice isn’t sufficient for them, she goes to bat for them by requesting assistance from the VP. My only criticism is that she probably should have asked why they needed more money first to see where their funds were tied up at, but honestly I would probably do the same thing, jumping straight to “let me get them what they say they need” and not “let me look into the situation more”.

When they get to the drama club and find out the reason they’re so over budget is because they decided to produce an expensive-ass play, I about died. LOOK AT THIS OUTFIT.

gosh I wonder why

There’s a lesson in here somewhere about working within your limitations. Urara suggests they do a simpler show like Kintarou, which would have costumes and props they could reuse in other shows, but from the club president’s response I get the impression they’ve done far too many shows like that and are sick of it. Also can’t fault them for doing something different. I remember in my junior year (11th grade), my school put on a production of “High School Musical” (this was when that was still a pretty fresh and hot property) and it sold like crazy, so the next year they were able to perform “Little Shop of Horrors”, renting the Audrey II puppets from somewhere. It’s okay to dream big, but you gotta make sure you can afford it. (inb4 ok boomer) However, working with the sewing club was a very good compromise. They get a platform to showcase their work, the drama club gets good costumes for cheaper, and they split the costs. Some of the other deals are a bit more one-sided but as long as everyone’s happy, it works.

By the way, Komachi’s restraint when the club president goes “oh yeah we spent all our budget on that one outfit and we need a bunch more” is remarkable. (I looked it up and I see similarities to Les Miserables: it’s a famous story that takes place over multiple generations and features LOTS of recurring characters) Komachi is, thankfully, very good at keeping herself in check, but if you manage to set her off, she is downright scary. That’s a common attribute for shield-based Cures, and it started here.

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, since they only have a few of the costumes done, the drama club president is only ever seen in-costume, looking like a prince with a pencil mustache drawn onto her face. If we take the bold assumption that this all occurs in one day, even one lunch period, then this makes sense enough, but it’s still kind of silly.

The first half of this episode is so good, and tells a pretty complete story, that both times I watched it I forgot what kind of show it was because I was so absorbed in the antics of the clubs, so I thought the resolution was just going to be sorting out their budgets, when that was actually only the halfway point. The fight with Bunbee in the second half, while good, feels incomplete. I’m not sure if something got lost in translation for the subtitles, because he seems to indicate he spent money on a better Kowaina mask but the subs don’t reflect him saying this, only the girls’ response that it looks the same as normal. I do like them switching up their fighting style, and it comes with one of the strangest calls to action I’ve ever seen:

previously unsaid sentences in human history

The context is that, earlier in the episode, Nozomi and Urara traded lunch items, and now Karen is reminding them all to trade opponents and work together to beat the monster. Hilariously, even though Nozomi was the one who wanted to trade in the first place, she’s the last one to get this coded message, after Rin explains it to her.

She is special.

The elephant in the room here is that Otaka-san, the humble lunch lady who always adds a million onto every order, who appears a little disheveled, is in fact the school’s principal. Books and covers, ya know. I don’t recall if the girls every learn her secret, but it’s revealed to the audience here. I assume she serves as the lunch lady in order to get close to the students and understand what’s going on without calling attention to her position of authority. That’s the thing about power, even if you act relatable, if someone knows you’re way above them on the totem pole, they’re going to act differently, so she has put herself on the level of students. It’s like Undercover Boss except she never reveals the ruse. And honestly, it’s a very good ruse. She is approachable to the students and they all love her, so she can listen to their problems and make sure that the school is running well from the ground level. Also, as the lunch lady, she wears plain clothes, an apron, and flat shoes. Her only accessory is her trademark silver brooch. As the principal, she wears a suit, her hair is more tamed, she wears lipstick and earrings. She even speaks differently between her roles, sounding more raspy in her disguise, while she adopts a more formal and stern tone while acting as the principal. It’s impressive. I know she appears in this role at least one more time in the show, so I look forward to seeing that.

As usual there were some great moments of comedy, wonderful facial expressions, and you can see those chronicled in the gallery.

Next time, in Precure Daily, Nozomi’s mom is sick, so she has to do the housework! How badly will this end?

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 kettei!

[somethinginthewayiam]

PRESSing matters (Part 7)

Pairing: Ben x reader

Warnings: none

Words: 2198

Summary: It’s the day of the Oscars! Everybody’s getting ready, including you, presenting your red dress to everybody for the first time, including Ben...

Previous chapter: Part 6

Today was the big day. The Oscars. No appointments today, just getting ready for the big event as you would have to leave the hotel at 3 PM, all ready and dolled up.

You got woken by Ben placing a kiss on your temple before he got going. He was already dressed. As he leaned back, your hand reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him back down. You put your hands on his face, pulling him into a long, passionate kiss. Just one last time, you thought to yourself.

“See you later”, he said a little off beat as he pulled back, surprised by your kiss. When he was gone you let yourself fall back into the cushions. That was it, time to get back to the real life. After tonight, you would fly back to London, moving on to your next project. It was time to go back being just friends.

As an attempt to motivate you for your day, you got up to take a shower, starting the day like you’re used to. But not without turning around again and sniffing the bed sheets one last time that still smelled like him. A line from Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You popped into your head and you hummed the songs all through your shower.

 “Now it's your turn”, the make-up lady said to you as you had just delivered some last-minute tights to Pam’s hotel room. The lady, who had introduced herself as Susan, pointed at the chair. “What for?”, you asked unknowingly, looking around the room. “To get you ready for the Oscar's, darling”, Pam said from her chair in the corner. She was on her phone and didn’t even look up. “I thought I just slap some mascara on and we're good”, you commented and looked between Pam and Susan. “That's what I feared”, Pam sighed and finally looked up at you.

“That’s why I asked Susan and Phoebe to take care of you as well. You worked so hard the past few months, you deserve to be dolled up”, Pam said as she came over and sat you down in the chair in front of the lighted mirror. She was already done with hair and make-up and just needed to change into her dress. “But there's so much...”, you spoke up, but she put her hand over your mouth. “No, I'll take care of it. Darling, I've been doing this job almost longer than you are alive. I can handle it.” And with that, Pam left you alone with the ladies for hair and make-up.

Phoebe, who was responsible for your hair, didn’t even ask you what you might like, she just got to work and so did Susan. Pam or Ilaria must have instructed them. Phoebe curled your hair into big waves and combed everything to your left side, fixating some strands in the back of your head with pins and some hairspray. Susan slapped a bunch of make-up on your face and upper chest as the dress was strapless. You feared that you would look like a clown at the end of it, especially as she applied some red lipstick in the color of your dress. The two women worked simultaneously and really well as a team. You could see that they’re working together for years.

When they were finally done and took a step back, you could finally see yourself in the mirror. You almost gasped at the sight of you. Your jaw dropped. They had done a tremendous job of turning you into a presentable human being, so you thought. The make-up was light and highlighted all your features in the best possible way. Your eyes were carefully framed in a small line of eyeliner and some light brown eye-shadow to bring out your eye color. Your skin looked smooth and glowing. The bags under your eyes were pretty much non-existent.

“You guys are incredible”, you said when you finally found your words again. “Yes, we’re pretty good”, Susan smiled, expressing their typical L.A. confidence. Phoebe winked at you through the mirror and began packing up her stuff. “Ilaria wanted us to tell you that she has your dress at her room and you should go there to change”, Susan told you and then turned to pack up her things as well.

“Oh, okay”, you replied a bit startled. You thought you would have the peace and quiet of your room to change and mentally prepare yourself for the evening and the dress. A look at the time on your phone convinced you otherwise as it was already very late. This whole “Make this woman look like a human being”-procedure had taken way longer than you had thought.

You rushed over to the stylist’s room and knocked. Rami opened the door for you. “Wow, Y/N, you look gorgeous”, was the first things he said. “Oh, uhm, thank you”, you said as you stepped in, blushing immediately. Rami was already dressed in his suit. “You don’t look too bad yourself”, you acknowledged his outfit and nodded approvingly. “Very sharp”, you added. “Thank you, my lady”, he hinted a bow and accompanied you to the bedroom area that had completely transformed into a designer’s studio.

Lucy was already in her purple dress, getting the finishing touches of her make-up. “Oh wow, Lucy, you look incredible”, you said as you spotted her. She couldn’t move her head as her make-up artist just put some lipstick on her with a tiny brush.

“Oh good, you’re here, finally. You’re late”, Ilaria said and walked over to you. “That’s not my fault. This”, you said and circled your face, “took forever.” “And you look really beautiful, but you have to get ready now. Pam will be here any moment and she will kill me if you’re not ready when she comes back”, the stylist said and with that, she shoved you into the bathroom, closing the door behind you.

You found the dress in its bag hanging on the hook of the inside of the bathroom door. You quickly undressed and didn’t know what to do with your clothes, so you just folded it half-heartedly and left it on a little chair next to the sink. Special for this day, you wore matching red panties you had just bought this morning to go with your dress, just in case the slit in your dress would lose a fight against a breeze of wind or you would just fall over because of the high-heels you’re not used to.

You stepped into the dress and pulled it up. You closed the zipper as far as you could and arranged your boobs until nothing was pinched or crumbled up anymore. “I need a little help in here”, you shouted towards the door and the next moment, Ilaria stepped inside. “The zipper again”, you said and turned your back towards her, pulling your hair over your shoulder to give her enough access. “I got your shoes right here”, she said and held up a pair of black pumps that weren’t that high as you thankfully noticed. They would look great to the black clutch Ilaria had chosen for the evening. She put them down next to your feet before she pulled the zipper up the last few inches.

You immediately noticed that the dress wasn’t that tight anymore around your upper body and the slit was sewed shut to a humane length. “Thanks”, you said as she let go of the zipper and you put your hair back into place, a few strands in front of your shoulder, a few strands on your back, just like Phoebe had arranged them.

Ilaria helped you into your shoes and then you were ready. You looked up into the mirror and were actually surprised by the sight of you. You didn’t know you could look like that. You turned in front of the mirror and looked at you from different angles.

“Ready? Everybody’s here. They’re just waiting for you”, Ilaria told you and looked at you through the mirror. “Everybody’s here?”, you asked, very nervous all of a sudden. She nodded. “You look amazing by the way”, she added with a wink. “Thanks to you”, you said. “I just gave you a dress. You brought the rest of you”, she motioned at your whole body. You knew she was giving you a compliment, but you had trouble accepting it. Ilaria gave you an amazing dress, Phoebe gave you a beautiful hair-do and Susan gave you a gorgeous face. There wasn’t much you had brought to the table, except an empty canvas.

You took a deep breath and followed Ilaria outside. “Sorry guys for keeping you waiting”, you said as you stepped outside. You felt a little wobbly on your high heels.

When the others saw you in the dress for the first time, everybody's in awe. You looked up as it was silent in the room all of a sudden and you found everybody staring at you. “Come on, you guys act like I'm normally walking around in a sack of potatoes”, you commented and put your right hand on your hip. “Well, compared to this, you really do”, Joe said. “Charming Joe”, you said dryly and rolled your eyes.

Your eyes shot over to Ben, looking extremely sexy in his white jacket and black dress pants. Grace had done a terrific job. He still looked at you like he couldn’t believe it was actually you and you didn’t know what to make of it.

“You look amazing, Y/N”, Lucy said and stepped forward to hug you. “Says the right one! You look outrageously gorgeous”, you told her, happy for the distraction, as you put her away on an arms-length and checked out her gown and make-up. “Ilaria, we did a great job, picking that dress”, you heard Pam from the back of the room, coming towards you. “I really gotta say, we’re a bunch of good-looking people”, she said as she turned around and looked at everybody in their suits and gowns. Only know you noticed Allen and his wife Jessica. They must have come up with Pam.

“I suggest we roll up there and mix up that lame party they call the Oscars”, Pam said. “Hear hear”, you heard Gwil from the back. “Pam, what’s gotten into you?”, you laughed. “About two glasses of champagne”, she answered you and made everybody laugh.

“We should all take some pictures together before we leave”, Lucy announced and you immediately took a step to the side as you thought she was only talking about the cast. “What are you doing?”, Ben looked over to you and pulled you to his side. Ilaria took pictures with various phones from various constellation of people. The group chat would be lit later as you would all exchange the pictures.

You went through all sorts of constellations. Just the guys, then the whole cast, then just the ladies in their dresses, Lucy of course outshining everyone of you.

“Hey, let’s do one with us three and Y/N. Like a reverse Charlie’s Angels”, Joe suggested and motioned at Gwil, Ben, you and himself. “Yes, that’s cool”, Lucy said and picked up her phone. “Go, get together”, she said and motioned at the four of you. You felt a bit weird standing so close to Ben after all that had happened over this weekend. You took a little step in front of the three guys and the boys got into the pose like the original angels. “That’s so rad”, Lucy laughed as she snapped some shots. You tried your best to look cool and contempt.

“Now do some cute ones”, she said and the four of you stood next to each other with your arms around everyone. You stood between Ben and Joe, Gwil on the far right. Ben put his hand on the small of your back and it sent a little shiver down your spine. You had trouble keeping up a smile as you posed for the pictures.

“That red and white of you two looks really cool together”, Lucy mentioned and you looked over at Ben in his white jacket. He had his hand still on your back as he turned his head to look at you too. Unknowingly, the both of you exchanged a lovely look. Lucy snapped a pic of that moment almost by mistake. As she looked at the picture on her phone, she's struck by the chemistry of you two and smiled to herself. She loved the idea that you two could be an item.

“You look really amazing tonight”, he said in a low voice, so only you could hear it. You blushed immediately. “You look good too”, you returned the compliment and it almost looked to you like he was blushing as well.

“Alright, enough photos for right now. There will be a lot taken where we are going right now. Time to get this thing moving”, Pam clapped her hands together and snapped Ben and you out of your secret little conversation. The whole party made its way down to the lobby, cars already waiting. Time for the Oscars!

Next chapter: Part 8

tag list:

@valentineash @the-limit-doesnt-exist @rogerspoison @rogermeddowstayl0r @i-am-sarah @unbound-chaos @goodiebluebox @the-borhap-boys @leeezie @kimberliinabox @anikatcmh

[quicksilversquared]

How to Fake A Marriage Ch. 29

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(AO3) (FF.net)

Marinette was in the middle of puzzling over a kid's summer romper at work when she noticed her phone flashing with a new message next to her elbow. She set the design to the side for a moment to check it, and found a new email waiting in her inbox. Marinette clicked on it and found another commission request, this time from what was apparently a symphonic metal band.

Nibbling on her lip, Marinette considered the email for a few minutes before opening a new tab on her computer and emailing the band name to find out a little more about them. It didn't take long for Marinette to skim the first page and find out that they was a relatively well-known band in their genre, as far as she could tell. If she took the commission and did a good job with the outfits that they were asking her to create- a few stage outfits and some screen-printed t-shirts, and wow were those ever some interesting concepts, her imagination was already sparking- then maybe they could become a long-time client, or at the very least another strong point on her resume for when she was applying to things back in Paris again.

Maybe she could do it. If she set a long deadline, pointing out her normal job and vague other obligations (read: the commissions she had already committed to), then she could push to finish her other projects while getting the initial sketches done during her breaks at work and then approved. The cape they had asked for- well, there would be some screen printing on it, and bedazzling, but overall it wouldn't take long. The rest of the pieces would take a little more time, but nothing too bad.

Marinette really wanted to say yes. Sure, it would be a busy few weeks to catch up, but requests had been slowing down after that initial burst right after Jagged Stone's album dropped (and half of the requests had been dropped after people who wanted custom designer outfits but didn't want to pay custom designer price learned that yes, she did actually expect to be paid fairly, oddly enough). They would no doubt slow all the way to a stop soon, and then Marinette would be left with nothing to do in the evenings while Adrien studied.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. She could do her own for-fun designs, and she did have some mending that she could do as well- her pajamas had a rip at the moment so she had stolen an old t-shirt of Adrien's to wear instead (and Adrien had looked a bit surprised when she told him that she was too busy to do the mending, but he definitely hadn't protested her wearing his clothes). But neither of those things would result in her getting paid extra money, which she needed right now if she wanted to build up any real savings by the time she and Adrien left London. Sure, next year they wouldn't have the expense of her apartment to pay, but that was still months away.

Giving herself a good shake to refocus, Marinette read over the email again and reminded herself to not get ahead of herself. She hadn't even given these people a quote yet and she didn't know if they would be willing to pay the right price. They might drop off when she emailed them back, just like so many others had.

Marinette made a mental note to get back to the band over her lunch break- she could use the general response email that she sent out to everyone requesting a commission and just tweak it a little bit to fit their request- and then set her phone aside to refocus on her design.

With that spark of inspiration still lingering from the band's aesthetic, it didn't take long for Marinette to make a few tweaks on the romper to make it unique. She cleaned up the drawing, and then got it uploaded into her team's shared folder so everyone else on her team could see it and give her some feedback. With that assignment done, Marinette turned her attention back to the pile of runway designs that she had to alter into streetwear looks.

"Nice design, Marinette!" Emily called from her cubicle thirty minutes later. Marinette glanced up from her work and grinned in Emily's direction, even though the junior designer wouldn't be able to see her.

"Thanks!"

"Dibs on making a dress for that line!" Sarah called. "I already have an idea for one to go along with the romper!"

"I'm making overalls!" Abbey chimed in. "And a sun hat. Whatever your inspiration was for that romper, Marinette, I approve."

Marinette ducked her head, grinning shyly as she did. She hadn't expected her piece to be the focal point for their summer kid's line, but it was a good feeling to be so appreciated.

By the time lunchtime had rolled around, Marinette had drafted up three potential runway-to-streetwear outfits. She headed to the break room and powered up her laptop while the leftovers she had brought heated up in the microwave. It didn't take long to alter her basic letter to fit the band's requests, and then it was ready to send.

Before she hit Send, Marinette paused one more time, wondering if she should really even be considering taking the commission. After all, she was already pretty busy, so much so that Tikki had even argued with her about Marinette insisting that she plan at least part of her and Adrien's Valentine's Day date. Tikki thought that she should leave all of it to Adrien, since he was clearly eager to do it, but Marinette hadn't been about to just sit back and not put in some effort for Adrien on their first Valentine's Day as a couple.

Besides, it had been nice to have an excuse to take a break from the designing and the commissions to bake a cake. It was really nice to have the near-instant gratification that came with starting a project and finishing it in only a little over an hour and a half.

"I can handle it," Marinette assured herself, hitting send. Most of the commission would be the screen-printing, and that wasn't hard at all. In fact, she rather enjoyed those kinds of commissions, because just like the cake, they were relatively quick to do and check off the list. Besides, she had already seen how the band's aesthetic inspired her. She wanted to work with them.

Right after her email sent, her phone lit up with another message. Marinette set her laptop aside and grabbed her phone, just as a second and third text came through in quick succession. They were from Alya, and Marinette grinned as she read the messages.

"What is it, Marinette?" Tikki whispered so that the sewing room workers who were taking a break wouldn't hear the voice coming from Marinette's pocket. "What did she say?"

"Alya was just told that she got past the first round of the competition," Marinette whispered back, grinning.

Tikki perked up. "Oh, that's amazing!"

Marinette shook her head, checking her phone again. "Not really. About half to three-quarters of the entrants make it past the first round. The first cut is just to make sure that there's enough research that they've done and recorded to justify needing a trip. Alya knew that she would make that first cut, but it's good to have that confirmation, at least." She texted Adrien with the news, just on the off chance that Alya hadn't let him know as well. "It'll be the next two cuts that we're more interested in."

"Working over lunch again?" Sarah asked, appearing at Marinette side with a sandwich and Marinette's food from the microwave. She slid the hot dish over to Marinette before sitting down to eat her own lunch. "You gotta take a break sometime."

"I was just responding to some email," Marinette defended herself, though she knew Sarah was right. Every other day of the week, she had had sketches to work on over their lunch break. "And I was responding to a text from my friend Alya back home- she's made it past the first cut in this research competition."

"Oh, cool!" Sarah said immediately. "What is she researching?"

By the time Marinette finished telling Sarah about the kinds of things Alya was researching, the rest of her team had arrived and most were listening.

"Oh, I remember hearing about the superheroes in Paris," Abbey said. "Only vaguely, though. Some of my classmates were super excited that there were real-life superheroes. But I bet you know all about them, since you were there and all."

Oh, the irony. "Yeah, they were at my school all the time," Marinette said, only years of practice allowing her to keep a straight face. "There were a lot of akuma fights in my neighborhood."

"Oh, I would hate that," Emily said, shivering. "That would be so scary, to have superhero fights nearby all the time!"

The rest of her team nodded. Marinette managed to just smile and nod, trying not to laugh at what her coworkers' reactions might be if they ever found out that she had been right in the middle of every single one of those fights.

The rest of the afternoon flew by as the entire team came together to toss ideas around for the summer lines and to discuss the upcoming spring/summer Runway week. They ended the day with a strong plan going forward, a good start on their summer kid's line, and a bunch of sketches for the runway-to-streetwear pieces.

(Marinette also ended the workday with a response from the band- they had already heard about her prices from one for the other bands Marinette was already working with and were fine with it, so now she had a whole slew of new outfits and screen-printing screens to design.)

"How's the husband?" Sarah asked, appearing at Marinette's side as she walked towards her apartment building. "I've seen him in passing, but we haven't be able to talk for long. Either he's trying to get somewhere or I am. Or both. Often both."

"One of these days, one of those annoying reporters is gonna overhear you calling Adrien that and they're going to take you seriously," Marinette said, rolling her eyes fondly. Plagg would get along well with Sarah, what with his insistence on calling Marinette Adrien's wife and Sarah's insistence on calling Adrien Marinette's husband. She had even gotten the rest of the team in on it from time to time.

Sarah shrugged. "Eh, who cares about them. I'm not going to say anything to them to get you in trouble, though," she added quickly. "And if they do overhear me, I can just explain that duh, I'm referring to the prank because I was there, don't they recognize me from the bridesmaids photo? I won't say anything about how ridiculously married you two are."

Marinette thought about protesting that and then decided against it, because Tikki had said that in the past, too. If it weren't for the fact that they apparently couldn't hide their "married-ness" from everyone else, acting married would be quite a good thing, really. To her, acting married meant that she and Adrien were comfortable with each other and worked well together, and that was a good thing.

"Have a good evening with your husband," Sarah told Marinette as they separated once they were in the building. She grinned at Marinette's groan. "Don't be too cute."

"Right, right, of course," Marinette grumbled, waving her friend off and trying not to grin as she did. She headed through the door to her floor's hallway and made an immediate beeline to Adrien's door. Her boyfriend would surely be working on homework- he had a lot of projects and papers to do this semester on top of his usual studying- but that didn't mean that he wouldn't welcome the interruption.

And just like she suspected, Adrien was hunched over in front of his computer at the dining room table, headphones plugged in as he worked. Marinette grinned, dumping her bag on the couch and heading over to greet him.

"Hey, kitty," Marinette sing-songed, sliding up behind Adrien and sliding the headphones off. She dipped down to press a kiss to his cheek, and he twisted in his chair to return the kiss. She didn't miss his wince of pain when he twisted and she frowned. Clearly he had been sitting and studying for too long. Again. "Where's your heat pad? You should be using that if you're going to be sitting for so long."

Adrien jabbed a finger over his shoulder. "I was using it when I was sitting on the couch, but Plagg claimed it when I got up to use the bathroom and threatened to bite me if I moved him off of it. I think he likes the heat, because he does this whenever I have the rice pad out."

Marinette huffed and turned to glare at Plagg. Sure enough, he was napping on top of Adrien's rice heat pack on the far end of the couch, looking deeply content even though the heat from the pack was sure to have mostly dissipated by now. She stomped over and grabbed the pack out from under Plagg, ignoring the kwami's squawks.

Tiny god or not, she was not letting him steal Adrien's heat pack, especially not when Adrien clearly needed it. And even worse, it sounded like the stealing the rice pack was a common occurrence.

"I was sleeping!" Plagg complained, floating after her. "And there was some lovely residual heat still, and-"

"This is Adrien's," Marinette scolded as she brought it back to the microwave. "And he needs it. Go sit in the sun or something."

"But I like the heat!"

"It's not yours!"

"But I'm-"

Tikki zipped up after Plagg and twisted his tail, making his squeak. "You can't steal from your Chosen, Plagg!" she snapped at him as Marinette set the timer on the microwave. "You can maybe perch on the pad if Adrien allows, but you can't claim it and not let Adrien use it. And your poor Chosen is in pain right now because he couldn't use his heated pad!"

Plagg scoffed. "No, he's in pain because he was hunched over like an old man all afternoon. If he ever got up and stretched for a bit then he wouldn't have this problem."

Tikki let out a wordless shriek in Plagg's direction.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Plagg is at least partly right," Marinette said as she removed the newly-heated bag out of the microwave. She swatted Plagg away when he started drifting closer, drawn by the heat. "Adrien has to stop sitting in place for so long without getting up and stretching and taking breaks. But having this available to him would have helped." She tugged her (ridiculous) boyfriend off of his chair and face first onto the couch. Once he was settled, she draped the heating pad over the small of Adrien's back and he let out a happy sigh, relaxing into the couch.

"You gotta take better care of yourself, Adrien," Marinette sighed, rubbing his shoulders. A quiet purr floated up into the air between them. "I know your classes have really stepped up this year, but you need to take breaks and stretch. You're all tense."

"I have an exam on Friday," Adrien explained, voice muffled by the couch. "I was studying for that, and then trying to work on my paper. I swear that once I get both of those done I'll be able to relax a bit more."

Marinette dug the heels of her hands into the knotted muscle in Adrien's shoulders, making him yelp. "You'll be able to study better if you aren't stiff as a board, you dweeb."

"Rude."

They fell into silence, broken only by Adrien's quiet purr as Marinette worked on his tense muscles. Plagg floated over and settled on top of the hot pad, burrowing around to make a little divot in the heated rice. After a few more minutes, Tikki joined him.

"Feeling better?" Marinette asked after several minutes. She ran her hand up Adrien's back and into his hair, mussing it further. She adjusted the heating pad so it wasn't in danger of slowly sliding off. "I'm starting to think that I should have made two of these things. Then you could have one on your upper back, too."

Adrien made a happy little noise and wriggled slightly.

"I want one, too!" Plagg announced, rolling over and staring up at Marinette with pleading green eyes. "One that I can carry around wherever I want!"

Marinette gave Plagg a Look. "Will you stop stealing Adrien's if I make you a heat pack of your own?"

"Yes!"

Marinette made a face and gave Adrien a few light scratches behind his ears. She didn't want to reward Plagg by giving him a gift when he was stealing from Adrien (and she didn't exactly have a ton of spare time to spend making a kwami-sized rice pack, especially with the newest addition to her list of commissions to do), but Adrien was apparently unwilling to cross Plagg and risk being bitten. If she gave Plagg a miniature heat pack of his own, then Adrien wouldn't have to deal with his spoiled kwami stealing his when he needed it.

Fine. She would make a mini heat pack for Plagg, then. Maybe Adrien could occasionally steal it for his neck or something, just because turnabout was fair.

"D'you wanna order takeout tonight?" Marinette asked after a few more minutes. "I don't think there's much in the fridge right now and I don't really feel like cooking." She really wanted to get a good chunk of work done on her commissions tonight, and cooking and cleaning up just took up time that she didn't really have at the moment. She reached for her phone, scrolling with one hand as the other rubbed up and down Adrien's back. "Sarah recommended this Greek place. I've actually been there before with the people from work. It's not too expensive and they deliver."

"Sure." Adrien reached his arms forward and stretched, arching and twisting back and forth. "Mmm. I think I'm gonna bring this thing to bed tonight. If I stay here much longer, I'm going to fall asleep."

Marinette giggled and ran a hand up Adrien's spine as he stretched again. "You can take a little cat-nap while our food comes. It might help you focus better once you wake up again."

Adrien laughed and started to wriggle his way upright. Marinette hopped off of his legs so he could sit back up. "It's a little too late in the day for a cat-nap, I think. I'd just end up tired."

"If you say so."

Marinette went to order their dinner while Adrien moved his study materials to the floor so he could lay down and finish some assigned problems for one of his classes while keeping the hot pad on his back. Once their order was in (maybe Marinette had ordered a little more than they would eat, but she liked leftovers for lunch and so did Adrien), Marinette grabbed her tablet and settled down on the floor next to Adrien so she could draw with one hand and rub his shoulders with the other hand.

It was comfortable. Adrien leaned his head to the side, resting it against Marinette's knees as he worked. Partway through their wait, Marinette got up to reheat the rice bag and then resettle it on Adrien's back.

"Thanks, bug," Adrien said as she settled the bag across his shoulders. He smiled over at her as she settled back down at his side and picked up her new tablet again. "My back is feeling a whole lot better now."

"Promise me you'll take better care of it this weekend, when you have your test and the paper out of the way?"

Adrien grinned. "Well, then I'll have another two papers to focus on and another test to start studying for... but I suppose I could manage to screw up my back less than normal once my test on Friday is done."

Marinette sighed. She supposed that that was as good as she was going to get. "It seems like you have a lot more tests than normal this semester." Normally he just had a cluster of exams around the middle of the semester and again at the end, but now he had exams and paper due dates sprinkled through the semester. Adrien always seemed to be studying, but that wasn't a huge problem.

After all, she certainly had enough commission work to keep her busy. More than enough, even.

So much for their be-done-with-classwork-and-projects-by-a-certain-time pact from the fall. It seemed that these days, they worked up to it or over regularly, but it really couldn't be avoided. At least they did try to spend a chunk of time together without commissions or studying distracting them several times a week, even if those times had been shortened somewhat. And of course they tended to try to go to bed around the same time, too, and early enough that they didn't have to go to sleep right away.

"Yeah, I seem to be having tests at the end of every large unit for one of my classes," Adrien agreed. "I think it's because the units are so different, it wouldn't make sense to stick them together. And there's some other classes with a strange exam schedule, or that just have papers instead of exams."

Marinette hummed in acknowledgement, and kept sketching. She was currently working on finishing up a set of preliminary drawings for an earlier commission, and she wanted to get them down and approved soon so she could go and get the fabric and other things she needed at the same time she was picking up the stuff she needed for yet another order over the weekend. Not getting feedback and approval in time would mean that she would have to waste time going on a separate trip to the fabric store, unless she wanted to put to put off getting supplies for that commissions off until she was getting the things for her latest commission.

Needless to say, she would rather not have to do more trips than strictly necessary. And sure, maybe she should be focusing on finishing up her in-progress commissions first, but it was nice to have options for when she got to the fiddly work on a piece and she was too tired to do anything but sew long straight seams for one evening.

She had just finished the basic sketch when the take-out arrived. Marinette grabbed her wallet and trotted downstairs, meeting the delivery guy at the front door. One exchange of food and money later, and Marinette was trotting upstairs with her prize.

"That's a lot of food, Marinette," Adrien said with a laugh after Marinette set everything out on their table. He rolled to his feet with a quiet grunt, snagging his rice bag before it could fall to the ground. "Are we expecting guests?"

"It's not that much." In her defense, she had kind of thought that the serving sizes would be a little smaller. She must have misremembered how large they were. Whoops. "I mean, we'll have enough for two meals, but that's not a bad thing."

They dug in eagerly. Adrien still wasn't looking completely comfortable in the chair- clearly his back was still bothering him at least a little bit- but the discomfort hadn't affected his appetite at all.

Maybe they wouldn't have enough for two full meals after all.

"I might go to bed early tonight," Adrien told her as he scraped his plate clean. "I think that with all of the work I've done this afternoon, I should be in good shape."

"Lots of homework?"

To her surprise, Adrien shook his head. "Well, some. It was mostly cleaning up a rough draft for one of my papers this semester and writing up a lab paper for another class. That stuff always takes forever."

Marinette could understand that. Writing in English tended to take an annoyingly long time as she puzzled over the right words (and the right tenses, and the right form of the word to use, in some cases), and while Adrien had Ben to help get things polished up, he didn't like to give his papers to his tutor in too rough of a shape. "When are your papers due?"

"Most of the rough drafts are due close to midterms, but the lab paper is due next Thursday," Adrien said, making her start in surprise. That was ages out- right? Or had more of the semester passed her by than she realized? "I just want to get the bulk of the work out of the way now, because I never know what will come up closer to the due date. Ben has said that sometimes things can get intense around midterms and that people who tend to put stuff off until closer to the due date end up pulling all sorts of all-nighters. I've been trying to avoid that."

Marinette was of the opinion that Adrien was going a little over the top with trying to be prepared, but maybe Ben was right. Since it took Adrien longer to research and write in his second language, maybe it was a good idea for him to get that as much out of the way as he could now.

"I'm going to stay up a little longer, I think," Marinette said, glancing over at where her sketchbook and tablet sat side-by-side on the small side table. "I have some stuff I want to finish up tonight for commissions."

Adrien pouted at her for a moment, then sighed. "Okay. Honestly, I'll probably just take that rice pack with me and end up falling asleep straight off anyway. And I'll take better care of myself tomorrow, I promise. Really. I don't like my back hurting, either. It make it harder to focus. And it makes me feel old besides."

Only half an hour after they finished dinner, Adrien started getting ready for bed. He wandered into the kitchen to get Plagg his evening cheese chunk and to heat up the rice bag, then paused to kiss Marinette good night before heading back to the bedroom. Marinette watched him go, then turned back to her tablet.

One last cleaned-up sketch, and then she could send the files to her client. It still wouldn't be that late by that time, as long as she didn't spectacularly mess up and, like, delete the file once she was most of the way through it. Saving her work periodically would keep her safe from that, and then she should have time to start on the album cover art that she had just gotten the details ironed out for earlier in the week.

Hopefully.

"I thought you were just telling Adrien about how he shouldn't be overworking himself," Tikki said disapprovingly once Marinette had sent her email with the six attachments and immediately started some quick outlines for the cover art, general sketches and lines to get an idea of where she wanted different elements to go. "And now you're working later than you two agreed on your commissions."

"I'm not overworking myself," Marinette protested. "I just have some things that I need to get done to even come close to staying on track with the number of commission requests that I've been getting. And this particular art needs to get done sooner rather than later, since the shirt designs depend on it."

Tikki did not look impressed.

"I just want to get my general ideas for this drawn out while I still have them in my head," Marinette added. "I'm not going to complete the whole thing tonight. It'll be two hours at most, and you know Adrien went to bed really early."

Tikki's expression didn't change. "One hour more, tops."

"One forty-five."

"One fifteen."

"An hour and a half, and that's all I'm willing to budge."

Marinette went back to her work, drawing and re-drawing lines as she tried to get a rough sketch done. Fifty-seven minutes in and Marinette's rough outline started taking on more detail- though not too much, because then it would get too difficult to replicate as a print on a shirt. Since the band had also commissioned her to do the screen-printing of their shirts for them, Marinette had to make sure that she delivered an interesting, unique cover while still keeping it clean enough that it wouldn't be a pain to print.

Needless to say, Marinette was very happy that the band had wanted the cover in only black and silver, because having to print multiple colors on one shirt was just a pain. It would be simple enough to print in silver-grey on a black shirt or black on a grey shirt, as long as she didn't give in to the temptation to add too much detail.

"I thought you said that you weren't going to design the whole thing tonight!" Tikki complained as Marinette cleaned up more of the sketch. Slowly but surely, it was starting to look less like a quick sketch and more like a proper album cover, though it wasn't anywhere close to completion yet.

"I still have five minutes to work on it!" Marinette protested. She carefully erased a section and redrew a line. "And I'm not going to finish it tonight, you don't have to keep mother-henning me about that. I've still probably got two hours of work left on this for another night, and more than that if the band requests any changes."

Tikki let out a little hmph and zipped off. Marinette checked the clock one more time- now she only had four minutes left to work- and then worked on evening out a line. She had just finished cleaning the upper corner up when her watched chimed, letting Marinette know that her time was up and she had to go to bed.

Trying not to grumble (if she didn't have work the next day, then she definitely would have tried to power through another hour or two of work), Marinette saved her work one last time and powered down the tablet. It got carefully tucked away in her bag, in the carefully padded pocket that she had made just for it, and then she headed back to the bedroom to wash up. It didn't take long, and then Marinette was slipping into bed next to a sleeping Adrien. He was sleeping on his stomach, which puzzled her for a moment until she remembered that he had mentioned going to sleep with his rice bag.

Sliding her hand over, Marinette felt for the bag. It was cold under the blankets, so Marinette carefully tugged it off of Adrien. After a moment's consideration, she headed back out to the kitchen to warm it back up again. Adrien didn't stir when she replaced the pack on his back, but he did let out a happy sigh that trailed off into a purr.

He was such a cat. Marinette couldn't deny that it was really, really cute.

It only took a few minutes more to set up her alarm for the next morning and get it arranged on the bedside table, and then she was sliding back between the sheets. Marinette could feel the heat from both Adrien and the heat pad as she curled up next to his side. His face was relaxed and angelic in sleep, finally free of stress and tension.

"Sleep well, chaton," Marinette murmured, leaning over to press a kiss to the part of his forehead that wasn't obscured by hair. "You need it."

[sanhatation]

ri’s thicc 2017 reflection post !

its still quite a few hours away from 2018 for me but i just wanted to take this time to reflect on my absolutely Lovely 2017!!! yay time 2 get sappy as i word vomit and overshare about my year on tumblr.com !!!!

thank you loads to all of my LOVELY followers !!!!!!!!! yall are the cutest, make my day on the daily ! i wish you the best 2018 that the world can offer !!! stay healthy, take time for yourself, love yourself, love others, and be kind! 💓💓

this Riley Rant here, is gonna be here for me than anything. like a Fat journal entry !! and i am an Oversharer so here she goes [jeopardy music]

to begin, i have met and befriended so many amazing people on here this year and WOW!!!!!! lovely and supportive and talented, beautiful aroha friends??? it doesnt get better than that!!!!! i would attempt to tag all of u but yall know who u are ;)) im endlessly grateful to those of you who have really made being on here worth it. heck ya sometimes im like “why do i even spend time on here” but then!!!! idk sunny comes swingin in with just a heart full of love or sara comes swingin in with her eggs or marian comes swingin in with her rare pairs or j comes swingin in with her baking posts and thats not even HALF of it !!!!! seriously.....love you guys tons.

to my friends who i have had the pleasure of remaining your friend this year and getting closer to u !! i love you. i really dont know how yall handle me especially 2015/2016 me?? a MESS! yall are the REALEST. again, yall know who u are ;)) i hope we can continue to talk and have fun in 2018, i wish yall the best. 

and lastly....heres a THICC shoutout to my six shining stars. 

as for me as an individual, 2017 was a freaking Whack year. it was incredible....dare i say, iconic. and now its time for.....RILEY’S 2017 HIGHLIGHTS !!!!!! (also includes: the sucky parts bc even those allowed me to grow !)

- man, did 2017 start out pretty rough when my country decided it was a good idea to elect a freakin cheeto for president. however! i had the lovely opportunity to attend the women’s march at my capital the day before inauguration !! and it was powerful!!!! truly an experience ill treasure forever!

- binch....thank u Winter Dream for my whole life. tbh i wont forget sobbing at my best friend’s house when it dropped. thank u Miss Again Dance Practice. thank u Miss You & Me MV. thank u Miss Cotton Candy Choreography. thank u. 

- ah.....when some pinhead started that tr*mp chanting at a basketball game lol! so iconic that we made the new york times! gotta love that....

- OMG !!! HOW TO SUCCEED !!!! an absolutely amazing experience. granted, the male lead was a Snake, but i had a blast. Rosemary will forever be close to my heart and ill always cry a little when i hear Brotherhood of Man or Paris Original !! such an awesome opportunity. i learned a frick ton about myself as a performer. i improved a ton in acting and dancing, and also came to learn that i am very good at receiving instructions and memorizing lines quickly. i learned that i need to work on some of my facial expressions and i also learned some of my habits ! i miss u Queenie H2$ :’’)

- had my first tap dance performance ever??? i really enjoyed learning tap, and i hope to pick it back up in the future !!!!

- BIIIIIINCCH i had the opportunity to visit my sister in korea!!!!!!! wow.....truly the BEST week of my entire year, maybe even LIFE! i went to the dog cafe, the sheep cafe, mcountdown, the lunar festival kick off, gwanghwamun palace, dongdaemun, shopped a ton around hongdae, ate food by the han river, visited namsan tower (but not without getting lost), hit the noraebang TWICE, walked into a private Fantagio board meeting, ate delicious chicken on a STIIICK, ran in the rain, ordered delivery mcdonalds, had the BEST fried chicken, met a bunch of monks, was led around dongdaemun by a very old korean man, SAW EUNWOO AND DOYEON AND RECEIVED MUCH LOVE AND NEARLY DIED, hit the convenience store literally every day, snuck out, GOT A WAVE FROM KEY :((( , bought Winter Dream and lots of skin care products and lots of cute clothes, had the clearest skin ive ever had in my life, went to a buddhist temple, witnessed a drunk man fall into the splits inbetween the ground and the subway, ran up and down 1000 subway stairs, fell in love with a man named Peanut, drank too much banana and strawberry milk, sobbed my face off at the festival as korean grandmas bowed to me, tried tons of new foods (including the nastiest bowl of cheese ramyun ive ever had in my life), bought lots of socks, rode an airplane for......like 40 hours in total? literally the best week of my Life

- had my junior vocal recital ! it was a cute girl. i felt my acting had really improved since sophomore voice recital !! 

- had prom on my 17th birthday and had a jolly good time !!! my mom made my dress and i felt like a Stunner

- dream pt. 01...she rly is that Bad Bih. best era. miss her loads. none of us ever deserved her. 

- les mis !!!!!! two whole weeks.....another Best Time. i learned so much, made so many lifetime friends, had a blast, sang my heart out.....such a freaking good time. i miss her

- got to spend the ENTIRE summer with momo!!!!!!!!!!! literally the ENTIRE!!!!! and what did we do? hit the park, watched lemonade mouth and fantastic beasts and starstruck and that random unicorn movie, made the Best slime, made that ICONIC weki meki video, laughed a ton, cried a ton, stayed up all night for the sunrise, stayed later for the sunset & thunderstorm, walked home in the pouring rain & lightning (IT IS VERY WET), went to the beach, met many dogs, got me hairs cut, befriended that Cat, and went to a painting class

- cabin week !!!!!!!!!!! whatta lovely time

- my brother’s wedding !!!! honestly? my best outfit of the year... had a bangin time. his wife is truly a cutie and i love her tons!

- there was that Mess in august and i still feel sorry to those who felt hurt because of it. i learned a lot about how things especially on the internet can be easily misunderstood and misinterpreted, so u gotta be EXTRA careful with your words ! 

- through that i also came to accept that u cant get everyone to understand or like u, and tbh that is okay for now. all we can do when we make mistakes is try to understand & learn, apologize, and try to better ourselves. and sometimes even when u do that, u still may not be liked. and thats okay. as long as you are trying your best and recognize mistakes, its all good. 

-skinny dipped at girls time wow what a freaking TIME

- woah dude i dropped out of my arts school lmao!!! the BIGGEST change in my life since 2014.;..wow! i dont even have the words to say how much stress was lifted off of me and i love senior yr !!!!

- momo came to CT!!!!!! 

- seeing svt live !!!!! but tbh the best part was seeing momo, “I LOVE A MAN WHO CAN SEW”, “I!!!!!!!!!! LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JIHOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”, “IM UNDERAGE”, and when Mo BLASTED to that other line

- LAKE COMPOUNCE LMAOOOOO I LOVE JIHOON PT2!!!!

- my mom, sister, and i took an eight week painting class! i finished two paintings and learned a ton!! honestly a good time

- dream pt. 02.....shes that other Bad Bih....absolutely adore her

- i also learned that its okay to cut people off who are toxic. especially if you have already informed them that they make u feel bad, they are not worth trying to please or keep around. take care of yourself. similarly, its okay to block people, and you dont owe them an explanation

- MADI CAME HOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my other half...missed her so much :(((

- riley’s calligraphy christmas !!!!! was so much fun and i loved people’s reactions and i loved learning arohas favorite astro lyrics !!!

- ah...............one of the hardest weeks of my whole life. the pain still lingers, and i know itll hit me again like a boulder the next time we see only four of my angels standing on stage. for four months, i was worried sick about another member, and i even knew he was hurting, that his mental illness was real. my heart aches and there is a piece of it missing, but it will never be replaced. i know you are much happier now, jjong. i love you. 

- and also because of that, i have been able to think a lot about how i live my life. thoughts like ‘am i watching out for my family and friends enough?’ ‘am i listening enough?’ ‘is this funny comment worth it?’ ‘am i happy?’ im trying to be better. to not take things for granted, to only be kind, to always be there for those i love, for those who love me. and i will try my hardest to not complain about small or petty inconveniences. to try harder to be optimistic. 

- christmas was with my whole family for the first time in five years ;;; she was such a cute girl!

and now on to the next act !!!! its called RILEY’S NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS !!!!!!!!!! 

1. lets start with the basic stuff that im 99% not gonna pull through on: keep ur room clean. keep everywhere u go clean, it makes mom upset. eat better, u know there is other foods in this house besides peanut butter and pepperoni and popcorn. 

2. send out at least one Lovely Ask per day. i made this goal sometime over the summer, and i did it for a few months until i started to forget ;; its not that hard, u just gotta remember to do it !! 

3. sis.....quit Procrastinating.......GET ur FREAKING application done...do ur homework the night before lmao! call who u need to !!! write those thank u cards!!!! go get them scholarships!!!! enter that graphic design contest lmao!!! just DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!! time is wasting

4. just be happy 

[luvdsc]

yeah, ive got like two to threeish weeks left until summer vacations starts!! im literally sooo excited for it 💖 and yes!! i totally get you when you say that they are annoying but in an endearing way,, most of my guy friends are like that haha and uniforms? what was that like?? did you like your uniform?? and, youre absolutely right!! its nice to see people put effort in the way they dress for once,, and yesss!! ive literally begged my friends to consider stem, but most just dont like it (1/5)

and so far im considering going into IT (is that the right word?), but im not too sure about that,, and thats literally why i love stem so much! its really challenging and really amazing to think about!! and, yeah, i wouldnt even know where to begin to buy n95 masks adfad most people either use masks they made themselves or those one use masks,, and i will!! please stay safe too!! many dont seem to take the pandemic seriously anymore, but its still not over so definitely stay safe!!! 💖💕 (2/5)

code names sounds fun!! i love guessing games,, i cant wait to host a game night with my friends once this is all over!! and lmao that must be so weird to just sit there while you wait for your prof haha zoom does seem to be v annoying, but im happy you got it to start working!! and, same, i could never live in vietnam bc the humidity is just too much,, no, not really haha it only ever snows a couple of times a year and most of the time it melts away in a couple of days, but no ive never (3/5)

gone skiing or snowboarding,, a lot my friends have tho so it is common to go but i just havent yet,, and same! i figured eugene would give matt alcohol but just alcohol?? i was absolutely not surprised that matt nailed it!! and gordon ramsey? who? and, oh, croissants! they seem so difficult tho because youve gotta chill the dough all the time, but tell me how they turn out if you decide to make them!! and a triptych and in an impressionist and pop art style?? that sounds difficult!! (4/5)

but im sure youll do well 💖 id love to see the piece once your finished because i love impressionist style artwork,, and damn must be weird to graduate now without a proper ceremony :( i really hope you get to do a big celebration once all of this is over because you totally deserve it!! and haha i get it,, must be nice to know that youll never have to cram for another exam again fasdfa and thank you! im having a great weekend,, how about you? (5/5)

✿ ✿ ✿

omg ok i know i’ve been pm’ing you a lot instead, but i still want to answer these!!! you’re almost done with school, you can do it! summer is just around the corner 💕  YES, i feel like all guy friends read the same manual or something, like how are they so darn annoying all the time, but you can’t seem to hate them for it?? i actually really loved uniforms!! it made it easier in the morning because you already have an outfit picked out. also, people can’t judge you based on what you’re wearing because they’re wearing the same thing. it’s an equalizer, and that’s really nice :’) people who put effort into fashion are amazing, like it takes me an hour to pick one decent outfit to go out in and then i’m drained rip

omg i’m going into IT!!!! it’s a fun field to work in, and i hope you’ll like it! and yes for sure, stem makes you use your brain a lot ajksdhfkasd ah, same! my friend gave me one of her n95 masks, but besides that, my mom sewed a lot of masks herself, so we use those if we go outside! yes, i will also!! yeah, the pandemic is still going on, so i hope everyone still stays mindful of that ): 

omg yes, i miss the weekly game nights we had ))): we host one every friday night online still, but it’s not the same.. ashdjkalfhas literally everyone is just sitting there, waiting for the prof to come back, and we all look dead inside on cam LOL i don’t know how people can survive in humidity like that all the time... my friend absolutely loves it and says it’s because it makes her a dewy goddess, but humidity just makes me look like a sweaty beach ball LMAO  oooo i see! that’s still lovely to be able to experience snow for a few days 💖

matt and eugene are good at everything, i’m not even surprised anymore aksjdfjhlaksd when he did that painting while drunk in their latest video, i was like :O yeah, croissants seem really difficult, but hopefully, i’ll be able to expand my baking skills over the summer!!

and actually, i sped painted each one for 3-4 hours each! so it wasn’t too bad, and i chose impressionism because it’s more about painting what you feel, rather than doing a photorealism style, which would’ve taken ages rip and we’ll be getting our actual ceremony next year!!! it’s so exciting, and thank you so much again!!! 🥺  my weekend is off to a good start! only 9 more hours til the commencement ceremony starts at noon :’) 

(also you don’t have to answer these!!! i know we talked about the majority of this through dm’s already ajskdfhas)

[sevralships]

“Just Because You Can” Part 1 of 7, Chapters 1-4

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7 FIN]

The Pines triplets, Mabel, Dipper, and Jolene, have always been best friends. But lately, there’s been some distance growing between the Mystery Kids, due in part to the forbidden feelings with which they are each struggling. How will they manage to see eye to eye, when torn between wanting each other and craving adventure?

(This is a new AU that I’ve been calling Jolene AU, devised by myself and @handleonthescandal​ after one of us asked the question “What if Mabel and Dipper were triplets but with another sister?”. Although this AU is similar, it is not connected to Double Dippin’ AU, and Jolene is in no way connected to Tyrone.)

Shoutout to @sirwaddlesesquire for being the trustiest squire and an insightful, helpful, and supportive beta.

Mostly SFW, mostly angst with some action/adventure and a little bit of fluff, tw incest 

Fic under the cut, enjoy!

Chapter 1: Viola & Sebastian

Cut it out, Mabel-girl, Mabel chastised herself impatiently as she squeezed a dollop of hot glue onto the back of a rhinestone and carefully pressed it against the fabric. Years of practice had left her a very quick and efficient rhinestone-gluer, and it was hard to keep her mind from wandering. And as always it kept creeping back to Dipper, like a tongue to a missing tooth. No, none of that skeevy stuff, quit it!

Think about the play, she told herself desperately. She continued gluing one rhinestone after another, thoroughly bedazzling a doublet for Duke Orsino. Mr. McMahon, the music teacher and director of the play, had warned her not to “mabelify” the costumes too much. He’d reminded her that ‘less is more’ and that they didn’t want a repeat of last year’s production of ���Oklahoma!’. Well, Mabel huffed to herself, Less is not more. Obviously more is more or it wouldn’t be called ‘more’! And ‘Oklahoma!’ was fabulous! Maybe Jud wouldn’t have been such a jerkface if he’d sewn sequins onto his overalls!

Mabel smiled to herself at the memory of some of her best and sparkliest work, but turned her attention back to ‘Twelfth Night’. She glanced over at the matching outfits she had made for Viola and Sebastian’s respective first scenes. She liked to think that they had worn matching outfits onto the boat together before getting shipwrecked and cross-dressing got them all mixed up. They were her favorite costumes for the play, and had been since the drawing board. In her first sketch, on a silly impulse, she had drawn Dipper’s old pine tree hat onto the faceless little dude she’d drawn and giggled at the thought of her level-headed, anxious, generous brother as Sebastian, who in her opinion was kind of a butt.

It’s still nice to think about, she admitted, gazing at the blue dress and the blue trouser and jacket set, laid out next to each other on the floor, if it were me and Dip. In those sparkly matching outfits, lying side by side on the floor like that, just us. Like maybe while she was taking a break from all this bedazzling and sewing, when Dip told her she was working too hard. It was so easy to picture, just the two of them, lying on the floor in those pretty clothes. They’d be laughing and talking, while she twisted some of the pretty black lace from one of Olivia’s gowns between her fingers, and Dipper would lean over and kiss her--

“Ugh!” Mabel threw down the glue gun on the table in frustration. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fight back the angry tears that were threatening to fall. Her eyes hurt, she realized, badly. Probably from staring at too close a distance at little rhinestones and beads and stitches for hours. Sure, yeah, that’s it. Just working too hard. She opened her eyes and picked up the glue gun, wiping off the heated tip with a scrap of fabric, unplugging it, and wrapping the cord around the handle. She hastily cleaned up, scooping handfuls of sequins and spools of thread into little baggies and bins. There were finished and unfinished costumes lying all around her little craft corner in the basement den, and she set about picking them up. Mabel didn’t want to touch those pretty blue costumes for Viola and Sebastian, though she loved them. When all the others were picked up, she glared down at them for a moment, with her hands on her hips.

It could never be like that, Mabesy, she told herself resignedly, There’d be another blue dress, and someone in it. There would have to be one for Jo. Mabel felt a painful stab of guilt in her heart. She loved her sister and she loved having a sister. But the idea of being twins instead of triplets, of being Dipper’s only sister, his special sister, it appealed to some deep dark part of her that she hated.

Jo wouldn’t even wear a dress. She thought about when mom had made Jolene wear a dress to their cousin Alan’s wedding, and how she had fought tooth and nail to get out of it. And how self-conscious she was in it, tugging it down to cover her scabby knees and pulling it up to contain her generous cleavage. Mabel had loved her own dress, a frothy green number that came with a dreamy sea green shawl. She remembered how she’d lent the shawl to Jo and how gratefully she had wrapped it around herself, instantly more at ease by covering up a little. “Thanks, Miss-Sis,” she’d said, with a kiss to Mabel’s nose, “You’re the bestest.” Her emerald green eyes had been so big with gratitude behind her glasses, the green so beautifully complimented by the shawl.

Mabel left the Viola and Sebastian costumes on the ground and walked up the creaky stairs out of the den, turning off the light switch at the top of the stair without a glance behind her. She went right up the other staircase to the bedrooms upstairs, without stopping in the kitchen for a bite to eat. There was a bag of gummy koalas in her backpack with her name on it. As she reached the top of the stairs, she heard her siblings talking and followed the sound. I could use some normal good trip times, Mabel decided. She reached Dipper’s bedroom door and halted.

Dipper was sitting on his bed, in pajama pants and an old Mystery Shack tee shirt, holding a ragged dog-eared book in his hand, a pen sticking out of his mouth. His hair was wet, so he must have already showered. He had learned to shower at night so as to avoid fighting over the bathroom with his sisters in the morning. He was reading aloud a passage about some mysterious urban legend or crop circle or something, his speech hardly impeded by the pen after years of practice. Jolene was lying on the bed, still in her jeans (the cute ones that hadn’t been too torn and stained on hikes and mystery hunts yet) and a green tank top. Her head rested  in Dipper’s lap and she was jotting down notes on what he was saying in a spiral-bound notebook. She held the notebook too close to her face, allowing her to see it without her glasses. As always, the two looked wonderfully relaxed with each other.

In whatever bonkers universe Dipstick ever decides to lean over and kiss his sister, Mabel realized with stinging clarity, it’s not going to be me.

Chapter 2: Adventure Awaits

“This is really no time to be playing it safe, Dip-man,” Jolene said, dropping her notebook on the bed to the left of her and looking up at her brother, “Go big or go home.”

“You know I think that phrase is dumb, Jo,” Dipper said, his face still obscured by his book, “Like yeah, you could go small and get to go home afterwards oooor you could go big, die at the talons of some monster you can’t take, and not come home again. But like you went big, so, somehow that’s better? Like surviving to go home is part of the goal?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it a zillion times, Dipper,” Jo rolled her eyes exaggeratedly although he wasn’t looking. Triplet sense would fill him in.

It did. He dropped his thoroughly dog-eared and annotated copy of William Thomas Cox’s ‘Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods’ (a seminal text for them that nearly rivaled Uncle Ford’s journals) and looked down at his sister, frowning up at him from his lap, “I know, sis,” he said, in a wearily sympathetic tone, “But it’s just a stupid competition! It doesn’t even have a cash prize or anything. It’s not worth risking our necks.”

Jo rolled her eyes again, even harder than before, as she pulled herself into a sitting position and locked eyes with her brother, “C’mon, Dip, no risk, no gain! Think about what Grunkle Stan always says, you gotta spend money to make money!” Dipper gave a dismissive laugh, “Sure, yeah, but he always follows it with whispering ‘or you could just make it look like you spent money’. Forgot that part, Jo.”

“Okay, okay, not my point!” Jo explained, exasperated but grudgingly amused by the thought of her Grunkle’s antics, “My point… Adventure, Dipper!” she said, wide-eyed and grinning, fanning out her hands, “It’s not about the contest, or any cash prize, or just making it look like we took a chance… it’s about adventure! I know you wanna see the crazy stuff that’s out there with your own eyes, just as bad as I do!”

She made a good case for it, she always does, Dipper noted, but he was cautious. He was the cautious one of them, it was his job. He had to be. If he wasn’t, he and his sister would have recklessly walked into the nightmare jaws of something before they’d ever reached puberty. And she had that look in her eyes that he knew so well. It was at times like this she looked least like Mabel, who, though she absolutely had her own brand of impulsive craziness, did not have Jo’s taste for danger. Her green eyes twinkled with a zealous light that always reminded him more of Wendy than of his sister. Dipper’s stomach did an uneasy somersault at the comparison to his first major crush, and pushed the thought away, “Jo, listen…”

“Jo, listen,” Jo mimicked with an impatient ‘blah-blah-blah’ hand gesture.

“Ha ha, I know, I’m a total lame stick in the mud, my feelings are so hurt,” it was his turn to roll his eyes, “Will you just hear me out, please?” Jo gave an overblown sigh, before giving him a ‘go on’ signal, “I hear what you’re saying. Of course I wanna go after adventure, of course I want to see some cool stuff. I know that’s not actually in question at all and you’re just trying to prod me into doing something dumb,” Jolene shrugged but couldn’t suppress a mischievous ‘you got me’ smile, “I want to track and find some weirdo thing that’s never been proven, I wanna win that contest and be in ‘Mystery Monthly’…”

“But…?” Jo offered.

“But…” Dipper picked up, nodding, “I just think the Lone Pine Mountain Devils are biting off more than we can chew.”

“But Dip!” Jo insisted, “They’ve never been photographed! They still haven’t figured out what happened to those kids that went missing in 2010! They might be surviving dinosaurs! Or, or, they might be--”

“I know, Jo-jo, I know, I know, okay?” she quieted, but crossed her arms stubbornly, “I know everything about them there is to know, just like you.” He sighed, “But by every account there is, they’re ruthless and there’s a lot of them! We go out there, ill-equipped, without backup, we end up just like those Spanish settlers in 1878 or those stupid high school kids.”

Dipper hated seeing the way his sister’s shoulders slumped when she lost an argument, but better disappointed now than devoured by Lone Pine Mountain Devils later, he reminded himself. If they actually found something, and actually won, and actually got their findings published, they could maybe gain the support to think about something like looking for the Devils. It was a lot of ifs, but playing it safe now could pay off later. He knew Jo would sooner dive headlong into it, but not on his watch.

“Well, Mr. Smarty-pants-know-it-all,” Jo said, her frown curling up slightly, “What considerably less cool thing do you want to look for instead of the way cooler thing I suggested?”

“How about Tessie?” Dipper suggested, grabbing his book again and opening it to the page for Tahoe Tessie, California’s very own beloved Loch Ness Monster, “I know it’s been done, but there hasn’t been a serious investigation in like forty years, by all accounts the creature isn’t actually aggressive, and we know from experience to bring more than seventeen disposable cameras.”

Jolene forced a smile, is that reminder supposed to make me feel better or shut me up? She wondered, studying her brother’s expectant face, as always, Dip’s the authority, because what do I know? It’s not like I’ve been on a real adventure. But, whatever he had meant by it, Dipper was waiting for an answer, waiting for her to concede like she always did. It was hard to say no to her best friend, and although the Lone Pine Mountain Devils were undeniably the cooler option, it wasn’t as if she didn’t want to see ole Tessie too. That uncanny triplet sense was kicking in again because Dipper’s smile broadened a second after she changed her mind, and she couldn’t help but smile back, “Alright, bro-tective, you win,” she said, “Tessie it is.”

“Mystery Kids?” Dip said, offering a fistbump.

Ya can’t leave a fistbump truce hanging, Jo thought, bumping her fist to his, “Mystery Kids.”

Chapter 3: The Power of Mabel

It was almost two in the morning when Jolene crept from Dipper’s room across the hall to the room she shared with her sister. She was careful to open the door quietly, but found the light still on, Mabel sitting up in bed going over her ‘Twelfth Night’ script, apparently taking down notes about props and costumes that weren’t finished. She popped a couple of gummy koalas into her mouth and gave a wave without looking up at the door, “‘Sup, Jo-jo?”

“Not much, Mabey,” Jo said, walking over to her dresser and opening her pajama drawer, “Just hanging with that dumb brother of ours.”

“Ha!” Mabel closed her script, “I think I know the one.” She was quiet for a sec, watching her sister change into an old pair of sweats and tee shirt, how does she make a ratty old tee shirt look so hot?  “Sooo…” she said, “You guys settle on a critter to stalk for that contest thinger?”

Jo knew she was asking to be polite, but appreciated it anyway. Although Mabel had accompanied her trusty wombmates on countless forays into the unexplained, it had been established years ago that she did not have Dipper or Jo’s penchant for it. But she was a good sister and a good friend, and always showed the most genuine interest she could in their many schemes. And yet, Jo bemoaned for the zillionth time, she was there that summer while I was stuck in summer school here. Although she was just as bright as her triplets, and comfortably smug about it, she’d never gotten consistently good grades like them. School was reductive, and no one liked her, and worst of all, it was boring. Jolene had never done well with rules, and she did even worse with boredom. I’m a woman of action, I wasn’t meant to sit in a classroom with a bunch of Neanderthals, listening to a teacher drone on about some shit I already know. But how many times had she wished, that fateful summer and since, that she had just sucked it up and done her work in seventh grade? While they were in Oregon, saving the world and coming to terms with their strengths and stuff, I was sitting in a classroom that smelled like B.O. and redoing work that I should have just done the first time.

“Earth to Joleeene,” Mabel sang.

“Huh?” Jo withdrew from her memory, “Oh, yeah, we’re going to look for Tahoe Tessie.”

“Ah! A fine choice, mademoiselle,” Mabel said with a flourish, imitating a smarmy French waiter.

“Merci, merci,” Jo joked back, hopping into her bed adjacent to her sister’s. Mabel’s phone announced the receipt of a text with the oink of a pig and she picked it up at once to read and respond. Jo casually studied Mabel, as she had every day for almost seventeen years. As usual, she marvelled at Mabel’s effortless femininity. The girls had always had a striking resemblance, and they still did, but to Jolene the difference was like night and day. Mabel was ever the vision of girliness, her quirky touches not detracting from it at all. Petite and slender and lithe, her curves were modest and lovely, never demanding undue attention. Her long curly hair fell halfway down her back, in ever-perfect waves, her fingernails and toes were always painted in bright colors, and one couldn’t look at her without being drawn into her big brown doe eyes. Even her PJs had frills and bows and a pattern with silly little pink watermelon slices. Those flouncy little pink pajama shorts made it impossible not to admire the graceful line of her leg, the pale flawless skin that disappeared beneath the ruffled trim--

Stop it, freak! Jolene threw her gaze angrily to the opposite side of the room from Mabel, kicking herself for letting her thoughts wander into that weird stupid gross place that they so loved to visit. She’s your sister, dammit, and besides that she’s way out of your league! Jo knew the voice in her head was telling the truth about this. Of course they were fraternal, but people often mistook them for identical twins, and it took so much willpower not to laugh in their face. Obviously they were only being polite. Where girliness and cuteness came naturally to Mabel, things like memorizing trivia and starting a campfire came naturally to Jo. Not that she didn’t value those things or whatever, but sister or not, she was no kind of match for a girl like Mabel. Where Mabel was slim, Jo fought always with a pudgy midsection and curves she’d just as soon conceal. Where Mabel’s hair shone and curled in pretty nut-brown waves, Jo’s was brassy and frizzed in the presence of the slightest humidity. And it wasn’t just looks, Jolene figured she’d looked fine despite her complaints, but Mabel was a people magnet! Charming and silly and thoughtful, she could make friends with anyone in a minute flat. She remembered people’s birthdays and made them laugh and helped transfer students find their lockers and homerooms without being asked. And I’m a cranky jerk with a chronic need of an attitude adjustment.

Mabel finished responding to the text and replaced her phone on her bedside table. She rolled onto her side to face Jo and rested her head on her hand, “So, that was Brandon Cooper. Dude wants me to do his measurements again.”

Jo laughed, “Seriously? What is this, like the fifth time he’s asked?”

“Well, only third, but honestly,” Mabel continued, “At first I thought he was like insecure or whatnot, that like he didn’t want me to think he was fat or wanted his costume to not be too tight or whatever? And like he isn’t fat so that was kinda weird but like he’s nice enough, I guess? But a third time is just redonk. Antonio isn’t a huge character anyway and I already finished making his costumes and just in case I gave it an elastic waist so like… I dunno, I think he maybe just wants to hang out with the Mabel.”

“Well,” Jo gave a theatrical knowing look, “I mean, who can blame him?”

“Yes, yes,” Mabel gave a small swish of her hair, “Of course, no one can resist the power of Mabel.”

Jo laughed, “It always comes back to the power of Mabel with you.”

“Even I am powerless to the power of Mabel!” Mabel insisted, landing her fist on the mattress with conviction.

“Okay, well, that makes just about zero sense, Miss-Sis,” Jo pointed out, through laughter, “But anyway, like, do you think the power of Mabel is strong enough to grow Mr. Brandon a pair?”

“Pssh,” Mabel made a dismissive gesture, “Even Mabel is not that mighty. He had his mom ask Kelsey Beechman to homecoming for him.”

Jo pulled a face, “Oh, honey. Yeah, he’s beyond even your considerable influence.” Mabel nodded in agreement, “So how’s everything else going with the play?”

“Well, Mr. McMahon told me not to ‘mabelify’ it too much, as in use the sparkly in moderation,” she elaborated.

“Naturally, Mabelness is synonymous with sparkliness,”

“Abso-tively,” Mabel agreed appreciatively, “The power of Mabel compels me to bedazzle,” Jo chuckled, happily listening as her sister explained how she had tried moderation but one piece after another simply wasn’t sparkly enough. She could fume all she wanted about her sister, but when push came to shove, she was no more capable of resisting the power of Mabel than any other mere mortal.

Chapter 4: Morning Mania

There were many ways in which the triplets differed from each other, but across the board, they were not morning people. Although Mabel tended to be the closest to human in the morning, all three would have much rather been curled up in bed. Their breakfasts differed considerably. Dipper nursed a cup of black coffee and a couple slices of toast in grumpy bed-headed silence. Jolene consistently had the biggest appetite and put away a banana, some corn flakes, and a piece of toast that Dipper had pushed away with a grunt, all the while re-reading the current issue of ‘Mystery Monthly’ that detailed the ‘Explain the Unexplained’ contest that they were submitting to. And Mabel ate a bowl of sugary cereal with strawberry milk and extra marshmallows added. They had accepted their different eating habits years ago, and as long as they were in agreement that breakfast was no time for a conversation, they got along perfectly well in the morning.

Unfortunately, their parents still had not gotten the memo on the Morning Conversation Moratorium, and often chose this time to try to get the three zombies impersonating their children to open up to them. Their mom had already left for work, but their father, who worked from home a couple days a week, stood in his bathrobe and PJs by the stove, with a cup of coffee, trying to engage his three uncooperative offspring.

Mabel loved her parents, and knew her siblings did, too. They were caring, involved, and made a decent effort to know and support their kids. But honestly, since long before they could talk, the triplets had formed their own language, and their own little family unit. Weirdness seemed to have skipped a generation in the Pines family, and their parents had always had a hard time truly relating to their off-beat kids. It must be hard, Mabel thought compassionately, Being an outsider to the Mystery Kids.

“Heya, Scout,” dad said, addressing Jo by the nickname mom and dad had given her as a small girl, “Ya reading about more of those cryptics you and your brother are always so jazzed about?”

“Crytids,” Jo mumbled, by way of response.

“That’s it. Hey, tomato, to-mah-to, am I right?”He replied.

“Sure, dad,” Jo said on autopilot.

Dad took a slow sip of coffee and Mabel jumped on the chance to interrupt the polite dad question game before it went on another agonizing second, “So, daddy, any thoughts about what’s for dinner tonight? I saw pork in the fridge.”

“My little detective, just like your brother and sister, I swear!” He joked, before launching into detailed descriptions of the different preparations he was considering. Mabel wasn’t the kind of elaborate cook dad was, but she liked listening to him talk about it. He got excited about cooking. It was a creative outlet for him, and she could sympathize with just about any kind of creative outlet. Jo caught her eye and mouthed ‘thank you’ for stopping the AM interrogation she’d been receiving. Mabel gave her a wink.

A moment later, dad was tapping an imaginary watch on his wrist and reminding them that it was almost time to go. In near-silence, they fetched their respective school bags, bid dad ‘seeya’, and headed out the door.

“Last one to the car’s a unicorn!” Mabel challenged the instant they were outside, breaking into a sprint. They might have been the only three kids who took the insult of ‘unicorn’ so seriously, but all three were running hard in an instant. The green station wagon they’d all pitched in for was parked on the street by the mailbox. They had all shared the cost of the car, and therefore all felt they had a claim to naming rights. While Jo insisted on calling it the Mystery Machine (which her siblings deemed to be too on-the-nose), Dipper called it The Chariot, citing some junk about Apollo and triads, but Mabel always fondly referred to it as Aoshima. Aoshima wasn’t more than ten yards from the door, so it was a brief race, however fierce the competition. Mabel reached the car first and hopped into the coveted passenger seat, Jo second, immediately claiming the driver’s seat with her butt and adjusting the mirrors, while Dipper reached the car a second later with a groan.

“Ah, Dipper, stain on our family name,” Jo mocked haughtily through the open driver’s side door, “Ever the unicorn in our midst.”

Dipper opened the driver side door to the backseat and groaned again. Behind Mabel’s seat back, the backseat was piled high with props and costumes for the High School’s production of ‘Twelfth Night’. He thought all of the bits of fabric peeking out were a little too bedazzled to be believable for the Elizabethan era, but thus was the way of Mabel. He climbed in behind Jo, uncomfortably folding his legs against the back of her seat, “Hey, Jo-jo, think you could scoot that seat up a little?”

“Dipper,”Jo said in a scandalized tone, “I need my seat here to drive. Don’t you realize your life is in my hands??”

“Yes, and I’m wishing I’d put a little more work into my will…” Dipper grumbled, accepting his fate.

As they tore out of the driveway, Mabel pushed a cassette tape into the player and gave them both a grin, which they returned. Their tried-and-true Manic Morning Mix spilled out of the speakers, and all three triplets burst into song, off-key. Mabel thought about their parents, how much they didn’t understand that breakfast was no time for talking. They also don’t understand that car rides are a time for rejoicing! The first day the trips had driven themselves to school in their car, they’d had a celebratory sing-a-long. That had been a special occasion. Then they repeated it the following day and the following day, and in no time it was a routine. We’re all so busy now with so much dumb junkum, Mabel thought, glancing at the rear-view mirror at the heap of costumes it reflected, sometimes this is the only time we’ve got to let the Trip Flag fly.

She leaned to the side a little so that the mirror showed her Dipper instead. He was taller than his sisters by a head and his long legs were uncomfortably bent towards his chest, but he wasn’t complaining. He was happily singing along at full volume, intermittently drumming along on his raised knees, a completely different person than the coffee zombie that had sat at the kitchen table. She loved seeing him like this, bobbing his head and tossing his hair like a nerd while he sang, his smile never budging.

It’s a shame the people at school never get to see them like this, Mabel considered, as she often did. Although both her siblings had a couple friends, neither was comfortable enough in school to let loose. Whereas letting loose had always kinda been Mabel’s default mode of behavior. So people never even meet the bestest part of them! Honestly, Mabel felt sorry for all those people and felt an inward surge of pride and gratitude, I get the bestest part of the bestest people to myself!

Continue to Part 2