#corduroy and overalls with fun socks

[mad-des-sun]

Watching Inkheart for the first time in years, it’s so cozy and wow did it have a huge impact on my sense of aesthetics/ personal style

#eccentric old lady with lots of books #corduroy and overalls with fun socks #various medival/fantasy looks #also dustfinger

[turnstileskyline]

MAYA RIDLEY, THEY/XE – BESTSELLING AUTHOR ASPIRATION – GOOFBALL / ANIMAL ENTHUSIAST / ERRATIC

so i finally actually made my simself hehe :-)

i’m gonna have the cc links and creator tags under the cut because there is a LOT but i had so much fun making me 

all:

resource post here! / simplyanjuta’s citylight cas lighting / “beethoven” cas background / bellassims crutches and poses / willeekmer’s modeling post pack #7 (tsr download) / okruee’s sybil hair / seaslugsims acne redux / thesimsofnoalyn’s minimal animal tattoos part 2 / base game leg hair / ohwiepowie’s only a little bruised knee bruises (blog deactivated, linked through love4sims4) / teabaker’s joint tape

everyday one:

base game eyeshadow / spcc’s miss murder eyeliner / base game blush / unitedwesim’s thrifty vampire squid earrings / marsosims’ chon-le top / emmibouquet’s gift jeans / elliekobrakid’s revenge gloves (tsr download) / serenity-cc’s joona boots

everyday two:

base game eyeshadow / spcc’s miss murder eyeliner / base game blush / turquoiseesim’s rubber ducky earrings (blog deactivated, linked through losts4cc) / base game necklace / dreambot’s cute thing top / softerhaze’s harmony boyfriend jeans / dallasgirl’s doc martens

formal one:

base game eyeshadow / base game eyeliner / base game blush / simstrouble’s sealove earrings / oydis’s fishionably late marina sleeveless dress / fernpots ruby shoes

formal two:

base game eyeshadow / base game eyeliner / base game blush / cottage living top / cottage living trousers / ridgeport’s mynx tights / base game boots

outdoors:

moxhollow’s snail hat / cottage living overalls / corporeal-ish’s scene scribble sneaks (blog deactivated, linked through love4sims4)

athletic:

druidsims’ no titty tank (simlish ‘i eat oil paintings when the guards arent looking’ swatch) / discover university sweats / corporeal-ish’s scene scribble sneaks (blog deactivated, linked through love4sims4)

sleep one:

saurussims’ walnut jumper / pigeonhome’s boxers (post deleted, linked through sueladyfinds) / dreambot’s stupid socks

sleep two:

deathpoke1qa’s spooky pj’s for adults / adrasteamoon’s domino socks

party one:

base game eyeshadow / spcc’s miss murder eyeliner / zombietrait’s destroya blush / sammysplace’s magic plant earrings / cloudcat’s no halo choker / sandrinifeierabend’s almost normal dress / realm of magic tights / corporeal-ish’s scene scribble sneaks (blog deactivated, linked through love4sims4)

party two:

bellassims axolotl headband / base game eyeshadow / renlishsims’ hard days night eyeliner / base game blush / bellassims axolotl earrings / viiavi’s screams shredded turtleneck / your-average-simmer’s what a statement pants / elliekobrakid’s revenge gloves (tsr download) / dallasgirl’s doc martens

swim one:

base game sunglasses / whirliko’s wet and wild swimsuit

swim two:

base game sunglasses / coolshades’ marine conservation top (blog deactivated, linked through mmfinds) / kumikya’s heatwave bikini bottoms

hot weather one:

spcc’s miss murder eyeliner / base game blush / turquoiseesim’s pigeon earrings (blog deactivated, linked through losts4cc) / jellymoo’s zinc tee / mossylane’s hi-waisted tied belt shorts / corporeal-ish’s scene scribble sneaks (blog deactivated, linked through love4sims4)

hot weather two:

spcc’s miss murder eyeliner / base game blush / ice-creamforbreakfast’s cowberry earrings / nueajaa’s marine outfit (tsr download) / base game shoes

cold weather one:

spcc’s miss murder eyeliner / base game blush / bellassims mushroom earrings / liliili-sims’ scarf no. 3 (blog deactivated, linked through maxismatchccworld) / jellymoo’s grimm hoodie + undershirt overlay / jellymoo’s ghoul skirt / moon-craters’ punk tights / dallasgirl’s doc martens

cold weather two:

spcc’s miss murder eyeliner / base game blush / tukete’s icon earrings / barbieaiden’s starry night top (post deleted, linked through maxismatchccworld) / mothz corduroys (blog deactivated, linked through mmfinds) (warning, the ‘mothz’ url is active but is a thinspo account) / cottage living boots

and i think thats all !!! thanks to (oh god here come a lot of tags) @simplyanjuta @confettiberry @bellassims @willeekmer @okruee @seaslugsims @thesimsofnoalyn @teabaker @sunflower-petals @unitedwesim @marsosims @emmibouquet @serenity-cc @dreambot @softerhaze @dallasgirl79 @simstrouble @oydis @fernpots @ridgeport @moxhollow @druidsim @saurusness @pigeonplays @deathpoke1qa @adrasteamoon @zombietrait @cloudcat @sandrinifeierabend @sammysplace @renlishsims @viiavi @your-average-simmer @whirliko @kumikya @jellymoo @mossylane (who tumblr wont let me tag) @ice-creamforbreakfast @moon-craters @tukete @barbieaiden and of course @maxismatchccworld @mmfinds @love4sims4 and @losts4cc��

#oh. my god. so many links. so many tags. laying down now. #sims 4 #the sims 4 #s4 #ts4 #s4 lookbook #ts4 lookbook #sims 4 lookbook #the sims 4 lookbook #simself #my simself

[uncleghostt]

Tag urself mlm pants edition

Black skinny jeans: Big dumb energy. Messy hair. Night owl. Is soothed by thunderstorms. Will steal your hoodie. 

Colored chinos: Plans his day in an agenda. Likes lists. Will eat icecream at any hour. Kisses you on the cheek. Buys accessories (socks, watch, hat) to match his pants.

Ripped jeans: Bruises easily. Thinks Doritos are a meal. Likes fall because sweater weather. A needy bf. Sometimes a brat.

Khakis: Smells like American eagle. A mama's boy. Eats cereal religiously. Pretends to not blush when he sees you wearing his clothes. Secretly loves Disney movies. 

Corduroy trousers: Wears glasses. Enjoys picnics and hiking. Swears he's not a bottom. Reads for fun but doesn't have time to. Collects old records. 

Overalls: Owns an easel. Drinks tea. Writes poems about boys he doesn't know yet. Born in the wrong era and maybe a vampire.

Jorts: Cries at small animals. Is always thinking about being at a concert. Paints his nails. Would road trip in a VW van with you. 

#ngl i am pretty much all of these #actually which one do u think I'd be #tag yourself #is this the right format i have no idea #just a result of procrastinating homework #mlm #gay #lgbt #pants #tag game #jeans

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 15

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 10,487

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

So... last time on The Burning Wreckage That Is My Life (please excuse the working title).

I had a crush on a guy. Well, maybe… I mean, I think I did? But I couldn't let him know that I had a crush on him. And just to make things extra complicated, I now had to act like we were dating when we really weren't. So basically… I like-liked him but had to pretend that I didn't like-like him while at the same time pretending that I did like-like him.

Confused yet? I know I was.

Also, I really needed to stop using the word like-like.

Ugh, what had I been thinking? This was a terrible plan. A disaster just waiting to happen. There was no possible way it could end well. And yet, here I sat in my apartment, watching the clock as I waited for my fake boyfriend to come pick me up. What was the matter with me? What had possessed to ever say yes to this… this insanity?

I had gotten off work not too long ago and had come straight home to prepare for my meetup with Father. This was Lea's day off, so I hadn't had to start this whole farce of a relationship around the mall today, which at least was one small comfort. My fingers as per usual were fidgeting with my freshly washed and plaited hair as I watched the seconds slowly tick by, my stomach twisting into tighter and tighter knots.

Sighing, I forced my hands to stop fussing with the braid and they complied… only to start picking at the flaps of the empty cardboard box Rayne had scrounged up for me to put things from my old place into. With a tiny scowl, I shoved my hands into my lap, demanding they be still. That lasted maybe all of two seconds before they started fiddling and twisting at the buttons that ran all the way down the front my navy corduroy overalls dress. The long sleeved shirt I wore underneath it was off the shoulder and white with blue horizontal stripes. The dress itself fell all the way down to my ankles, with a slit up to the knee on one side, giving a peek of my snowflake-patterned tights.

Yes, I was a full grown adult who still liked cutesy prints on my socks and stockings. So sue me.

Erg, where was he? As much as I was dreading seeing Father again and wished I didn't have to deal with it at all, the wait was killing me. And I couldn't put it off forever so I'd rather just get this awfulness over with already. I-

"Hello, Lea?" I heard Rayne's voice and I whipped my head around to spot her stepping out of her bedroom, smartphone pressed to one ear. She shot me a grin but then it faded as she glanced away with a squint. "Whaddya mean you're down in the parking lot? Get your ass up here and knock on the door like a goddamn gentleman, you-"

In the space of a heartbeat, I'd zoomed across the room to snatch the phone from her. "I'll be right down, see you in a sec!" I said quickly into it and, not waiting for a reply, hung up the call before Rayne could steal her phone back.

"Hey!" she huffed, fumbling to catch the device as I tossed to her. Then she gave a tiny whine, "But sweetpea, that's no way for him to treat a lady! I expected better of him!"

I rolled my eyes as I returned to the table to grab the box by one of its flaps. "I told him to just call up when he got here."

Rayne followed behind me with a tiny pout. "But I wanted to practice my whole 'What are your intentions towards my daughter' speech on him!"

"And that," I smirked, tapping her on the nose with my free hand, "is exactly why I told him to call."

Puffing out her cheeks, she crossed her arms. "You're no fun!"

"Ouch. Your words, they wound me. But somehow, someway… I think I'll live," I deadpanned, making my way over to open the front door.

"Oh! Curfew's at ten! Not one minute later, missy, not one second or you're grounded!"

I paused to turn back and droop my eyelids at her. "...too far, Rayne. Too far." Then I left, slamming the door shut behind me.

That woman, I swear. Loved her to pieces, but the sooner that baby was out of her, the better. Then she could focus all of that crazy on her new bundle of joy instead of me.

As I hurried down the steps, I went over the game plan in my head again. It'd been another sleepless night last night as I'd mentally prepared myself for Operation Boyfriend But Shh Not Really. That's right, I'd named it. Come on, it's me, how could I not? It was the only way I could feel like I had any sort of control over this whole situation. Which I one hundred percent did not. But I needed to try and trick myself into believing that I did if I had any chance of staying sane through all of this.

This being Lea and me. Pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend. And boyfriends and girlfriends did… things. No, not that! Definitely not that, that would be going well above and beyond the call of duty! Yeesh, get your mind out of the gutter! I only meant like, ya know… holding hands, hugging… other various public displays of affection that shall remain nameless because I quite simply could not deal with even the mere thought of such things without my face bursting into flames.

But I was going to have to deal if I had any hope of getting through this. And to deal, I needed to face facts. Lea only saw me as a friend. He was only playing along to help me… as a friend. Whatever I was or wasn't feeling towards him, he did not feel the same way. Doing all those aforementioned boyfriend-girlfriend things? Wasn't going to threaten to make his heart explode like it would mine. So if I was going to survive long enough to make it out the other side of this little fiasco, my heart needed to take a chill pill.

Conceal, don't feel. That was going to be my mantra. It was one I was actually already very familiar with and had put to good practice regularly over the years. Rayne had been right. Growing up in my family, feelings had been a luxury. And as the eldest heir to the Fryse fortune, I'd had an image to maintain, the family name to uphold. I hadn't gotten to enjoy the same freedoms Anna had since she'd been born second. Not that I think I could have ever been such a… shall we say, free spirit like her. I'd always been the bundle of nerves on legs that I am. Conceal, don't feel… that'd been the only way I'd been able to maintain the calm, cool mask in front of high society and not be a walking, talking spazz of an embarrassment to my parents.

And now that little motto was what was going to get me through all this.

At least, I hoped so.

Reaching the bottom floor of my building, I stopped just short of the exit, taking a slow deep breath. Then I smoothed my dress, swept my braid forward over one shoulder and gave myself a reassuring nod.

I got this.

With my box still firmly in hand, I pushed open the door and stepped outside into the parking lot where I immediately spotted Lea. He was looking down at his phone, his thumb swiping across its screen every so often while he leaned against what was presumably his car. A (what looked to be) few decades old yet well taken care of muscle car, black and sleek and one of the types named after an animal like viper or cougar or stingray, you know, just to let you know how cool this vehicle really was. It seemed Lea had decided to color coordinate with his ride, for he was dressed in head-to-toe black himself. Beneath the leather jacket that he wore was a fitted tee that simply read Straight Fire in cracked and faded script. His skinny jeans were ripped at the knees and tucked into a pair of tall, combat boots. If possible, his crimson locks seemed even wilder than usual today and he was also sporting a pair of aviator sunglasses.

...I don't got this.

Also, I was staring.

Also, I'd dropped my box.

Jeez, Elsa, get a grip. So what if the guy was gorgeous? We already knew that. Had established it from day one. It wasn't any sort of definitive proof you'd caught feelings or anything. Anyone, anything, even a corpse, even a frigging lamppost would be susceptible to his, er… his charms.

Giving myself a quick shake, I retrieved my box from the ground and walked towards him. His head lifted at the sound of my footsteps and I could feel his gaze on me. Pocketing his phone as I came to a stop in front of him, he then hunched to my eye level, bringing his face closer to mine as he tipped down his shades, revealing his all but trademark winged eyeliner with a wink and a smirk. "What's cookin', good lookin'?"

...okay. There was a slight chance I'd caught feelings.

But psssh, that little flutter in my rib cage could have been anything. Maybe my last meal was disagreeing with me. Yeah, that had to be it.

Remember. Conceal, don't feel.

Squelching the foreign sensation in my chest, I fixed him with a blank stare. "...wow, that the best you got? You really have been out of the game for a while, haven't you?"

With a snerk, he used a foot to push himself up off the car as he straightened up and opened the passenger side door for me. "Nah, s'not that. I'm just going easy on you. Couldn't have you going all weak in the knees on me right before our big date with your dad."

"I think my knees have nothing to worry about," one corner of my lips turned up as I took a seat.

"You say that now, but trust me," he bent towards me, propping an elbow atop the door window and jerking a thumb towards his face, "if I really turned it on, you wouldn't stand a chance, sweet thang, it'd be straight to Swoon City for you!"

I quirked an eyebrow at him, "Did you really just use the terms 'sweet thang' and 'Swoon City' in the same sentence?"

"...yeah, not my proudest moment. Can we forget that ever happened?"

Biting back a grin, I nodded. "I think that'd be in both our best interests. Mostly yours."

"Smart ass," he shook his head with a chuckle, shutting my door and making his way around to the other side of the car.

Okay. Good. This was going well. He didn't suspect a thing. Elsa, Queen of Evasion. Now I only needed to keep up the act for the duration of the ride. A mere one hour road trip to the city of Arendelle. A measly sixty minutes. And really, what was sixty minutes in the grand scheme of things? Hardly a blip in time. This shouldn't be too hard, right?

...then of course there would be when we actually got there and Lea and I'd have to put on a whole other kind of act for Father. Then the hour long trip back. Then the-

Easy there, girl. Just focus on the immediate task before you. One step at a time.

I heard his door open and glanced over, watching him take a seat and buckle himself in. My lips pursed to one side. "...so Halloween come early this year?"

"Huh?" his hand froze just as he'd been about to turn the key in the ignition, head turning my way, eyebrows shooting high above his aviators. Then he looked down at himself, patting at his shirt and jacket. "You don't like it? Crap, do I look like trash?"

I blinked.

Had I really… just made Lea self-conscious? Lea? The guy who'd dragged me up to do karaoke with him? The guy who'd been dancing around like a doofus atop food court tables while lip-syncing to corny glam metal? That Lea? I wouldn't have even thought the word to exist in his vocabulary.

Oh gosh, I must have taken it too far in the other direction. It's 'Conceal, don't feel,' not 'Demean, be mean.'

Hastily, I said, "No, it's not that. I… you look… good." Like, real good… ahem, down girl. I averted my gaze, hoping my face didn't look as warm as it felt. "I just… wasn't expecting it, is all."

"Oh!" he perked up, a tiny smile pulling at his lips now. "Well, I'm supposed to be your dark, bad boy lover, right? Just wanted to make sure I played up the part. Whaddya think, do I look like your parents' worst nightmare or what?"

"That getup is going to leave an impression, that's for sure."

He started up the engine and it roared to life. "Hell yeah! This is how you pick me out of a crowd. I make myself easy to remember. No way your padre's forgetting me anytime soon."

"I doubt anyone's forgetting you anytime soon. Don't think they could even if they wanted to," I snorted, resting my elbow on the window sill and propping my head against my knuckles.

"Never really could just blend and fade into the background. Side effect of being so majestic," his tongue clicked twice and pretty sure there was a wink behind those shades. Then he nodded to the box in my lap as he reversed the car out of its space, "You can just toss that in the back with the others."

"Others?" I looked over my shoulder to the backseat to discover a few just like mine packed in there. "You brought more?"

He shrugged, exiting the lot and turning us out onto the main road. "Well yeah! Just wanted to help in whatever small way I could."

Small way? The guy was already throwing his whole friggin' life out of whack just to basically be my rent-a-boyfriend, for Pete's sake! I hadn't thought it possible for him to help me even more than he already was. And yet, he'd found a way. To be fair, I hadn't planned to take much back from my old condo, so really, the extra boxes weren't totally necessary. But still…

"Thanks, Lea," I gave him a tiny smile as I put mine with the rest of the herd, "you're very thoughtful."

His fingers ruffled his hair as he gave a sheepish laugh. "Nah, it's nothing."

Alright. Two minutes down. Only fifty-eight more to go.

Lord help me.

Remember when I was more hermity? Yeah, those were the days. I wonder whatever happened to those?

Oh, that's right. My sister and my roommate happened.

Brats.

"So…" I began, racking my brain for the next thing to talk about. Ah, small talk. Bane of my existence. "...nice ride. Please tell me you didn't get it just to complete this whole look you're going for."

"Shit, should I have not?" I just stared at him and he snerked, breaking out into a grin, "Nah, I'm just messing with ya. It was my old man's car. Only thing he left me when he kicked the bucket. Well, that and massive debt. Thankfully, the state took that second one off my hands."

That's right. Lea'd been brought up in the foster system. So this now explained why one of his parents had been out of the picture. I frowned, tucking in my bottom lip. "...I'm sorry."

"Why? Got no reason to be," he chuckled, shaking his head. "It was ages ago, I've long since made my peace with it. I'm not broken up about it, trust me."

My eyes drifted from the buildings blurring past us over to him. "What was he like?"

His head shifted slightly towards me for a second before pointing straight ahead again. "Well… he wasn't ever gonna be winning father of the year, that's for sure. Not even runner up or one of those cruddy lil participation ribbons. The guy ODed out when I was six, so take from that what you will." He paused, tapping an index finger to the steering wheel a few times. "...but he did care. Did his best to do right by me. Saïx too, even though he wasn't his kid. The man wasn't a bad guy… he just didn't have his shit together and never really was meant to be a father."

The downward tug at my lips deepened as I lowered my gaze to my hands, folded neatly in my lap. "...can I ask, ah… your mother..."

"Where she fits into all this?" he ventured and I gave a slow nod. "Oh, she makes Pops look like he was a goddamn saint. She's a leech. Just hopping from one sugar daddy to the next, popping out kids she never wanted. Same day we buried our old man, she took Saïx and me out for ice cream after. Handed us some munny and told us to go order and pay while she snagged us a table to sit at. When we turned around a few minutes later, she'd split. Haven't seen her since."

My heart squeezed as I regarded him with wide eyes. "Wow, that… that's just awful. You have no idea where she is at all?"

"Didn't say that now. We actually did some digging into it a few years ago. Turns out she's just a couple states over, shacked up with some new sucker. An orthodontist or something. They're living up the suburbia life with the white picket fence, two-point-five kids, the whole shebang. Guess Saïx and I were just her practice run rejects before she went off and started her real family." He shrugged, "Though maybe she'll eventually skip out on this one too, who knows?"

I tipped my head to one side. "How do you know all that if you haven't seen her?"

"I haven't. Saïx has." He stopped at a red light, flicking on his turn signal. Then his hand was rubbing at the nape of his neck. "...she did try to reach out to me once. Last year. Left a voicemail saying something about wanting to reconnect or some bullshit. I deleted it. Couldn't of been all that serious 'bout it, seeing as how she hasn't tried again since. Probably just a halfhearted attempt to ease her pathetic excuse for a conscience before washing her hands of it and calling it a day."

My eyebrows met in a peak before I looked away again, fingers absently toying with my braid. He was talking so calmly about it all, so casually. As if he were discussing nothing more interesting than the weather. It made it harder for me to figure out an appropriate response in a situation that I was already so completely socially ill-equipped to deal with in the first place. Should I be just as laid back about it as he was? No, that felt insensitive. Should I express pity? Absolutely not, he'd probably hate that…

Seriously, what do?

How do you people?

"Alright," his voice broke through my thoughts, "you're up for sharing time." The light changed green and he pressed down on the gas pedal, turning us onto the highway entrance. "Why'd you do it? Go all Runaway Bride on your big day?"

I was relieved that he (whether knowingly or not) had saved me from having to come up with something to say to his tragic backstory. Even if this did mean I had to now talk about myself, which usually would have been just as anxiety-inducing of an experience. But somehow, right here, right now, talking to Lea... the idea didn't seem as uncomfortable as I normally would've expected it to be.

Twisting the tip of my braid around one finger, I mulled over it for a few silent seconds. Finally, I said, "It… he and I… we just weren't… right. I thought we were. He thought we were. My parents and his parents certainly thought we were. And I didn't want to disappoint them, so I just kept telling myself that everything was as it should be. That he and I made sense. But we didn't. Not really, not… in my heart. We just…"

"You didn't love him," he said simply, and I winced. As if I'd done something wrong. Then I nodded. "And it took you getting within a stone's throw of saying 'I do' to realize that?"

"Well," I frowned up at the ceiling, "...I'd always heard that love takes time. So I think a part of me was just waiting for it to happen. Waiting for… I don't know… that moment where it'd just hit me, that moment of just… 'oh wow! So that's what this is supposed to feel like' or something. I thought maybe… maybe our first kiss. Or maybe by our first anniversary. Or maybe when he proposed to me. Or maybe when I was trying on gowns or looking at venues with him. But then, suddenly, it was our wedding day and it struck me that still… nothing. And if it I wasn't feeling it after being together for five years, that I probably was never going to. That's when the panic set in and… well…"

"Let me guess. That's when the legendary Phonebook Heist occurred," one corner of his lips twitched up.

I breathed a soft laugh. "Yeah. Had to ditch the big poofy dress. And I used the phonebook to track Rayne down, since she wasn't listed under her full name in it."

A snort escaped him. "Ever thought of this crazy lil thing all the kids are doing nowadays called writing things down on a post-it? I know, wild right? It's new, maybe ya haven't heard of it."

"I was a bit stressed and not exactly thinking clearly in that moment," I bit back a grin, giving his arm a gentle shove.

"Gee, I wonder why," he said wryly as he shifted lanes. "Still curious as to why you felt like you had to run away. Couldn't you have just called the wedding off?"

"You make it sound so easy," my lips twisted sourly. "If it were, do you think I would have let Rayne rope us into going along with this crazy plan of Anna's and hers? You don't know my parents. They… have a way of getting what they want. No one says no to them. In their world, things are done a certain way. Always have been, always will be, end of discussion."

"Their world?" one of his eyebrows arched. Then something clicked. "That's right, you're loaded."

I shook my head, "My parents are, not me. Not anymore, anyway. Not unless you think I'm scooping mall ice cream at minimum wage just for kicks."

"What, you don't have a trust fund or something?"

"No, I do. Or rather… I did. I'm not sure anymore, really, not after everything I've done. Mother and Father control it and can make sure I never see a cent of it now. Not that I think I even want it anymore," I sighed, eyes downcast as I rubbed my elbow. "I really… have no idea what to expect at this point. How this whole meeting with Father will go. What he'll say or do or… I'm just… terrified."

I felt an unexpected warmth on my shoulder and I glanced over to find Lea's hand resting there. He gave it a small squeeze and smiled, "It'll be okay, El. Everything'll work out, you'll see. You'll get through this. And I'll be there to help any way I can, capisce? Now buck up," he lightly nicked my chin with his knuckle before gripping the steering wheel again. "Gonna need you to bring your A-game here if we're gonna fool your old man. Do a real good job and there's an ice cream with your name on it when we get back to Twilight Town."

One side of my mouth tugged up. "Don't you still owe me ice cream for helping you study?"

"And I still plan to make good on that once I've finally nailed down your fave. Speaking of," he paused with a low hum. "...Aloha Ohana?" My lips parted but he was already shaking his head, "Nope, too chunky. You like your desserts like you like your men," he waggled his eyebrows, "smooth."

My grin twitched wider. "Oh, really? And how would you know?"

"Isn't it obvious? Cuz I'm yo man," he jabbed a thumb into his chest.

"...and you think you're smooth?"

"As silk, baby!"

I hid my growing smile behind my fingers. "You're a dork is what you are… but a sweet dork."

He chuckled. "Maybe. But don't tell anyone. I got my bad boy reputation to maintain."

"Your secret is safe with me."

Somehow I was now getting the feeling that this little road trip of ours?

Maybe wasn't going to be as bad as I'd originally thought.

"Whatcha think? Too much?"

I glanced over at Lea. Sunglasses now perched atop his head, he returned my gaze, looking away from using his rear view mirror to help him up his guyliner game. The makeup pencil in his hand lifted from his cheek where he'd been applying what looked to be an upside down teardrop mark just beneath his right eye.

I snerked and wrinkled my nose slightly.

Lea huffed out a tiny laugh. "Say no more," he reached over, pulling some tissue from the glove compartment and wiping off his cheek.

We'd arrived just a moment ago and had parked on Fjord Boulevard, right in front of my old condominium building. I'd been using that minute to gather myself and work up the nerve to actually get out of the car. If it hadn't already been made abundantly clear, Lea had been using that same minute just as wisely himself.

Inhaling and exhaling slowly one last time, I finally unbuckled my seatbelt, opened my door and stepped onto the sidewalk.

The building before me was tall, imposing, and screamed munny and decadence. I'd never really noticed the sheer air of grandeur about it before, but now it all but smacked me in the face. Gosh, had it really only been about a month since I'd last been here? It felt like eons ago. A whole other lifetime. That girl who'd lived here once upon a time… she hadn't been me. Not really. It almost felt wrong coming back here now. Like I was an imposter. Some sort of usurper. It made my insides shrivel up and it took everything I had not to just jump back into the car and speed away without so much as a backwards glance.

Spotting movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned my head to find Lea standing next to me now, a couple of the smaller cardboard boxes wedged between his arm and side. My hands went to take one from him but he pivoted back a step, shifting them out of my reach as he wagged a finger in my face, "Ah ah! Don't worry about it, I got 'em. Makes me feel all buff and manly." He flexed his free arm.

I gave him a dull look. "...they're empty."

"Shush, let me have this."

My eyelids drooped. "Fine. You're the manliest man to ever man."

"Thank you." Then he gave a tiny mock bow, sweeping one hand out wide towards the building before us, "Lady's first."

Shaking my head, I walked towards the doorman standing in wait beneath the long awning leading to the entrance.

That's right. Doorman. As if this place weren't fancy enough already.

"Welcome back, Miss Fryse," he greeted, pulling the door open for me. "Or, if I may be so bold, Mrs W-"

"No!" I blurted out quickly, eyes wide, palms blurring up in a stop gesture.

Oh gosh, he had no idea I'd ran out on the wedding.

...well of course he didn't! Why would he?

...awkwaaaaard.

"Th-thank you, Cliff," I shakily lowered my hands to clasp in front of me, averting my gaze. "Ah… Fryse, please… if you would."

The man seemed unperturbed. In fact, his face brightened, "Oh, how modern! My missus will be thrilled to hear it. I trust you had a lovely honeymoon?"

And the awkward just kept on coming.

"It… er… " I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm actually in a small bit of a hurry. I have plans to meet with Father here shortly."

"Ah yes, so he said as well," he nodded before looking past me with a delicate frown. "And would this be the, uh… guest he mentioned would be accompanying you?"

I followed his gaze, glancing over my shoulder to where Lea stood behind me, hooligan incarnate. He clicked his tongue, shooting a finger gun at the doorman. I said, "Yes, I suppose he would b-" the words caught in my throat and I quickly looked back at Cliff. "Wait, so he said?" I echoed. "...is my father here already?"

"Why yes, ma'am, I let him in but a few moments ago."

My heart plummeted into my stomach.

I hadn't expected him to be here before us. I'd thought we would still have a little more time.

But he was here now.

This was happening now.

Like... now now.

And I was so very…

...very…

...NOT ready!

Somehow, I kept it together enough to manage a thanks to Cliff before stepping inside, feeling my knees start to go numb. And somehow, I kept it together while crossing the gilded, marble foyer to the elevators, ignoring the clamminess of my palms. I even somehow kept it together long enough to exchange pleasantries with the lobby attendant there who called the lift down for us before Lea and I stepped onto it and I, with only a slight tremor to my limbs, pushed the button for the top floor.

But the nanosecond those mechanized, mirrored doors slid shut…

"I can't!" My hands shot up, fingers digging into my scalp as I started hyperventilating and pacing, feeling the elevator begin to rise. "I can't go through with this! I can't, I just can't do it! This is crazy, this, this is nuts! How the heck did I ever let them talk me into this?! How?! There's just… just no way! It's not possible, I can't! I can't, I can't, I-"

Lea was suddenly in front of me, gently grabbing my arms and bringing me to an abrupt stop. "Woah now, slow down, El, breathe," he bent down to look me in the eye with concern. "It'll be okay. Trust me on this, you can do this. We can. You just gotta take it one step at a time and breathe, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"But how?! How will it be okay? I have to lie to him! I can't lie, I don't know how! I have no chill! You hear me? None! Zip! Absolutely zero chill! I couldn't even lie to Anna about the Easter Bunny when she was only four years old! Four, Lea. Four!"

"Okay, alright, then just don't think about it as lying. Think about it as…" his lips pursed to the left as his eyes shifted about. Then his face lit up, "...as one of those musicals you like so much!"

"Ah! We should break out into song and dance!" I said excitedly if somewhat desperately.

This is my brain. This is my brain on panic attack.

"...let's call that plan B. But no, I meant more like we're… between numbers right now and that we're acting. You like acting, right? Told me you used to do it all the time at camp, remember?"

"Acting…" I repeated slowly, turning the word over in my mind as some of the tension started to ease from my body.

Yes, acting. Acting technically, technically wasn't lying. Acting I could do.

...maybe.

I frowned at him. "I need a script."

"A script," he blinked. Then he straightened up, tapping a knuckle to his chin. "What about instead… guidelines?"

"Guidelines?" I echoed flatly.

"Yeah, for… ya know…" he pointed back and forth between him and me, "...this. Us. When we're in front of your folks and around the mall. Stuff like, uh..." he cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head, "...PDAs? Do's and don'ts. What's okay and what isn't. Boundaries and whatnot."

...oh.

Oh fudge.

"...you're kidding me… this is only coming up now?!" Recommencing pacing forthwith, now with added braid yanking action. "What's wrong with me, what was I thinking?! We had that whole friggin' car ride here, no, the whole last twenty-four hours and somehow we didn't discuss this already?! Not even once?!"

"El, El, it's okay, we can figure all that stuff out now."

His hand tried to close around my arm again, but I jerked it free. "How? There's no time! Any second, the elevator with chime and those doors will part and we'll have to face him and I'll crack and he'll know and, and, and that's it! Done! Finito! Curtains! It'll all be over before it's even begun and-"

This time he did manage to grab hold of my arm, pulling me to him and wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug. "Shh," he murmured, lightly stroking my hair and resting his chin on my head. He felt so warm as I took shallow, rapid breaths against his chest, inhaling that cinnamon scent of his combined with the oddly soothing smell of leather from his jacket that I was tightly gripping onto. My eyes slowly fluttered shut, my muscles starting to relax again, my panicked heart rate beginning to calm.

This was actually somewhat… kind of nice...

And then it happened.

The elevator chimed. Those doors parted. My eyes snapped open to discover standing there waiting for us on the other side was-

"F-Father!" I gasped, shoving Lea away. "Hi! I mean," I stood up straighter, stepped out onto the new floor, folded one hand over the other just below my waist, and ducked my head slightly, "H-Hello."

...wait.

Did I just…?

Instant mental replay.

-shoving Lea away-

Crud.

Not five seconds in and I was already acting in a most ungirlfriendlike fashion towards my alleged boyfriend.

What'd I tell you? Zero chill. Zilch.

"Elsa," I heard my father say, drawing my attention back to him. He was a tall man with hair the same auburn as Anna's. He looked stiff and rigid in the expensive dark blue suit he was wearing, lips set into a stoic line beneath his thin mustache and green eyes stern as he regarded me. The air felt heavy around us, the long stretch of silence deafening. I was convinced there was no possible way he couldn't hear the jackhammering of my heart against my ribcage while I tried to maintain a cool exterior under his scrutiny. Then finally after what felt like an eternity, he said evenly, "You look well."

I bit down on my lip as I lowered my gaze once more, eyes darting about. "...as do you."

Insert uncomfortably drawn-out pause. Then, "And I presume this would be…?"

He was looking at Lea, standing beside me now with boxes once more lazily propped on his jutted hip. My heart jolted and I started wringing my hands. "Ah… yes… this… this is…"

Just spit it out already!

"...this is boy. He is friend."

I word good.

Alright, take two.

Suppressing my wince, I tried again, "Er, that is to say, this is…" I clenched and unclenched my hands at my sides. "...this is my… my-"

"Lea," he rescued me, introducing himself and offering his hand.

My father just stared at it, expression unreadable, and there was a second - one very long second - where I thought he might not take it. But at last he did, if a touch gingerly, and gave it a curt shake. "A... pleasure, I'm sure."

"Likewise, Pops." He grinned now, "It's fine to call you Pops, right? Might as well get all friendly cuz we're gonna be seeing a lot of each other, no doubt."

Father didn't so much as yank his hand back as retrieve it as quickly as was politely and socially acceptable, his lips tight. "...Mr Fryse will suffice."

Lea just shrugged and grinned wider, taking his own hand back.

And slid it into mine, interlacing our fingers together.

Heart.

Flatlined.

Okay, sure, this really shouldn't have been all that big of a deal. After all, Lea had held my hand before. But that had just been when he'd needed to drag me somewhere. It'd been incidental. This? This was hand holding with purpose. This hand holding was a declaration. This hand holding was up on the metaphorical soapbox with a megaphone and would not be ignored. This hand holding was making a goddamn statement.

This hand holding was causing me to burn bright red.

Conceal, don't feel, conceal, don't feel, conceal, don't feel!

Luckily, Father's narrowed gaze was too focused on said hand holding to notice my face trying to give the plush, deep crimson carpet beneath our feet a run for its munny. After another excruciatingly long second (of which I was beginning to suspect this little visit would be in no short supply of), he whipped around and strode off down the hallway, back ramrod straight and voice taut as he said, "Let's step into your condo now."

"Let's," Lea chirped, following after him.

Still holding my hand.

I stumbled into awkward step beside him, glancing out of the corner of my eye down at where my tingling fingers were intertwined with his. This was no longer necessary… right? I mean, Father wasn't looking at us anymore. So I should just let go, shouldn't I? Yes… yes, I absolutely should. Okay, here we go… letting go now… in three… two… one...

...I wasn't letting go.

I shot my hand a tiny scowl. Fine, you win. Five more seconds, bucko, but that's it.

It remained stubbornly fastened to his. Fifteen seconds.

I rolled my eyes. Ten seconds, but that's as high as I'm willing to go.

...was I seriously haggling with my hand just now?

I'm in desperate need of having my head examined.

It wasn't long before we came to a stop where the hall turned at a corner, Father using a key already in hand to open the door located there. My door. Or rather… what was now formerly my door, I suppose. He walked in first with Lea not too far behind him and me in tow, my hand still in his.

To say the condo we'd stepped into was spacious would be an understatement. The living room alone probably could have fit Rayne's and Riku's apartment in it twice over. It was a corner unit with massive floor-to-ceiling windows leading out onto an expansive balcony overlooking the city and the distant white-capped mountains that surrounded it. With its crystal tables, art deco furniture, and extravagant paintings hanging on the walls, the sitting room was quite picturesque. So pretty, so pristine, so... sterile. Like one of those staged pictures that would be on a website trying to catch the eye of potential buyers. My mother had done the decorating, not I, which was probably why it looked so unlived in. This was more space than I had ever really needed anyway. I'd rarely left my own bedroom when I'd called this place home.

A low whistle blew from Lea's lips as his eyes drifted around the room. "Wow, you really were a princess up in a tower, huh?" He slipped his hand out of mine and I had to ignore how cold and lonely my fingers now felt. Stupid, clingy fingers. "Why don't you two take a minute to catch up while I," he held up the boxes, giving them a tiny shake, "go get started in your room. Which door is it? Bah, nevermind, I'll figure it out."

I blinked. Wait, my room? I didn't know if I was all that comfortable with the idea of someone being in there without me and going through my stuff.

I turned to look at him, opening my mouth to voice my objection. Before I could utter a sound however, his hand cradled the back of my neck, drawing me closer to him and planting a tender kiss to my forehead, sending waves of icy heat rippling all the way down to my toes.

I-

Wha-

Conc-

Don-

Fe-

Con- Co- C-C-Congeal, tone eel!

...wait, what?

Please stand by, Elsa is currently experiencing some minor technical difficulties.

He pulled back, smiling down at me and murmuring, "Have fun, babe." Yup. Those were words alright. Did I understand them? Nope! In fact, I wasn't comprehending much of anything in that second. "Pops," Lea shot my father a two-fingered salute before wandering off down an archway on the far side of the room leading to the rest of the condo.

Father lifted his nose with a sniff, lips pinching almost imperceptibly. "Your… friend is quite the... character."

"Ah… yes. He is," I heard myself replying, surprised that I was able to string more than two words together, bonus points for being in the correct order to boot. Wouldn't have thought it possible, what with my brains having been melted to mush inside the blazing sauna that was currently my face. There was no way Father could miss it this time. Hopefully he just thought I was embarrassed over the impropriety of Lea's forwardness. Not wanting to give him a chance to read too much into it, I hastily asked, "How is Mother?"

"As well as can be expected," he said flatly, folding his arms behind him and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "...better… since we've had news of you."

I winced, looking down at my feet.

And there it was again. That stifling silence.

There were so many things unsaid hanging in the air between us. A big whopping elephant wearing a friggin' diamond-studded wedding gown in the room that neither one of us wanted to be the first one to bring up, it seemed. At least, I know I certainly didn't. I knew I couldn't avoid the unpleasant topic forever, but at the same time there was a silly little part of me that was hoping if I put it off long enough, that... I don't know... the statute of limitations for discussing it would expire or something.

If only.

Well, someone had to be the one to start. Might as well get this over with. Screwing my eyes shut, I took a deep breath and-

"Snowbunny? Could you come in here for a sec please?" Lea's voice rang out from down the hall.

Great. And just when my face had finally managed to cool down too. At the rate this was going, I was beginning to suspect my cheeks might get stuck in this lovely shade of tomato rouge.

Plastering on a smile, I told Father, "I'll be right back."

"Of course," he gave a simple nod. However, the tiny scowl he was directing towards where Lea's words had come from was not lost on me.

I primly and with as much dignity as I could muster walked over to the archway. As soon as I was out of his line of sight however, I broke into a sprint down the hall, skidding to a stop in the doorway to my bedroom and scrunching up my face. "Snowbunny?" I spat out like it left a bad taste in my mouth.

He looked up from where he was neatly folding one of my dresses into a box atop my bed, flashing me a grin. "Was trying out a pet name to use around the folks. Thoughts?"

"I think there's a razor thin line between you trying to not look or sound like a pushover in front of them and you just straight up pissing them off."

"Huh," he tipped his head to one side. "...keep workingshopping it then?"

I rolled my eyes with a soft snort, moving further into the room to stand in front of him, "Yes, I'd say so."

"Noted." He closed the flaps to the box shut before crossing his arms and shifting over to lean back against my vanity, frowning at me. "Hey, we're okay right?" At my quirked eyebrow, he elaborated, "Ya know, with the this," he raised one of his hands with a waggle, then pointed at my own hand, "holding that, and these," now he gestured to his lips before gently poking my brow, "planting one right there."

"Oh." I resisted the urge to reach up to where my forehead still felt warm and had the ghost of a tickle from the brush of his lips earlier. Doing my best to suppress the umpteenth blush of the day, I looked away, "No, no, that was nice… er, I mean fine. Acceptable."

Elsa, Queen of Keeping Her Cool.

He grinned in relief. "Good. Was just winging it since we didn't really get a chance to discuss anything, but wouldn't have wanted to do something that made you uncomfortable."

"Nope! Totally a-okay here." I gave him a thumbs up. Then immediately felt lame for giving him a thumbs up and instead put my hands to better use running them down my braid. "So… I'm assuming there's an actual reason you called me in here."

"Right!" He flicked a hand at the two cardboard crates sitting side by side atop my mattress. "We're gonna need more boxes from the car."

I furrowed my brow, approaching them. "But I thought I'd only need one. How'd you fill them both up already?"

Lea shrugged, one side of his mouth turning up. "Just grabbed stuff out of your closet. Anything that'd look cute on you."

I pulled the flaps back on one to peek inside, my eyes widening before hastily opening the other one as well and puffing out a sigh, "You've packed everything that was hanging in there."

"Well, yeah! Cuz everything looks cute on you, El!"

It should be illegal for him to say things like that.

My broiling cheeks seconded that notion.

Slapping the boxes shut again, I huffed, "Fine, we'll run back down to grab more after my father leaves. But you! You're no longer involved in the decision making of what I do or don't bring back, got it? I don't have room for all this junk at my new place," I jabbed a warning finger in his direction, to which he just held up his hands in surrender, smirking and giving me another tiny shrug.

That was the face of zero remorse.

And I couldn't even really get mad about it since he'd only been being his big dumb sweet self again.

Ugh, I didn't even really want all these things. All these clothes that'd been bought and paid for with my parents' munny. This was my new life, my own life free from their control and I wanted to manage it with absolutely zero help from them, nothing, not even so much as a stitch of clothing. The only real reason I'd even come here today was to see Father and set Operation Boyfriend But Shh Not Really in motion. I'd probably just end up giving most if not all of these dresses to charity anyway.

Shaking my head, I glanced about the room. "Now where…? Ah!" I'd spotted what I was looking for - my phone resting on the vanity next to Lea's hand. Probably left there by Anna weeks ago, since she'd been the one holding onto it for me on The Wedding Day That Never Was.

Lea sidestepped out of my way as I moved to pick it up. He gave me a curious look, "The parental units still gonna be paying for your data plan?"

"Doubt it. I wouldn't accept it, even if they offered. Rayne said she can put me on her and Riku's family plan until I've gotten a few more checks from work and can start paying for my own. It'll be nice not having to borrow hers all the time anymore."

...okay, I know I'd just had that little mental spiel about not wanting to accept anything from my parents. But come on now, in this day and age, phones are all but a necessity, not to mention expensive. Besides, it's not like I was just going to take it. I planned to reimburse my parents for it… discuss and figure out some sort of payment plan with them that would work with my budget.

"Well in that case," he pulled a black Sharpie from the pen holder on my vanity, biting down on the cap and pulling it off before taking one of my hands in his and turning my palm up so he could write a phone number on it, punctuated with a tiny heart.

I stared blankly at my hand. "Um…?"

He winked at me. "My digits."

Now I stared at him blankly. "I figured, but why?"

"What, you don't think you should have yo man's number on speed dial in your phone?"

"No, that I get, but why," I shoved my palm into his face, "on my hand?"

A tiny snerk through his nose. "How else were you gonna get it? By psychically plucking it outta the air from my mind?"

"No, by having Rayne enter it into my phone after recharging it when I got home," I said flatly.

He blinked, eyes darting to the left. "...alright, point there." Then he chuckled, scratching a spot behind his ear. "I've just always wanted to write my number on a girl's hand. Seemed like a real slick move."

I drooped my eyelids at him. "Was it everything you dreamed it would be, stud?"

"And more!" he beamed.

"You're weird."

"Careful now or all that sweet talk of yours will go straight to my head."

Fighting a begrudging grin, I snatched up the charger from where it lay on the vanity as well and stepped back over to the boxes, slipping it and the mobile in with the folded clothes. Then both my eyebrows shot up my forehead and I glanced back at him. "Wait, you've never written your number on a girl's hand before?"

He blinked back at me, "...no?"

"But Rayne told me what a ladykiller you used to be, and that right there seems like Ladykillers 101."

"Gah, Raindrop," he grumbled under his breath, facepalming. "...those were… you don't really need to exchange numbers when you're just… looking to hookup for a night."

"...oh." I looked away, seriously regretting pulling at this thread.

His hand went to the nape of his neck, tugging at the hairs there. "...I've changed a lot in the last year."

"It sounds like it," I smiled gently at him. Then I exhaled heavily, "Okay… guess I better get back out there then."

"Wait," his hand closed around my wrist as I turned to go, stopping me in my tracks. I gave him a questioning look and he released me, squinting at me and tapping a knuckle to his lips in thought. Then he snapped his fingers and was shrugging out of his leather jacket, holding it out towards me. "Put this on."

My head rocked back slightly, gaze shifting back and forth between him and it a few times. "...but I'm not cold. And we're inside. Why would I go back out to Father wearing your jacket?"

"That's the point," his eyes crinkled as he moved closer to me, slipping my arms into it and tugging it on, flipping the collar up. "Make him wonder. It'll drive him batshit. Now scoot," his fingertip booped my nose before he spun me around and gave me a light shove out of my room. I staggered out into the hall, glancing back at Lea as he leaned a shoulder against my door frame. "Go get 'im, tiger."

I shot him a hard stare. "Also not an acceptable pet name in front of my parents."

"Duly noted." His arms folded beneath his chest as he tossed his head towards the living room, "Now go on already, get."

Pressing my lips together into a thin line, I looked straight ahead down the hall, squared my shoulders and started a slow march forward.

Why was I doing all of this again? Oh, right. To get my parents to leave me alone and stop trying to interfere with my life. And wearing Lea's jacket was going to help with that. Somehow. Was still kind of fuzzy on the how. The jacket itself smelled strongly of boy - really nice smelling, cinnamon-spiced boy. It was actually kind of comforting and was easing my nerves somewhat. So in a way, I guess that was helping. I glanced down at the sleeves as I walked. They were too long, stretching past my hands and hiding the number written in fresh ink on my palm. I suppose that helped a bit too. It would have been awkward explaining it to Father if he had seen it. So in that regard, the jacket was also practical.

So there you have it.

A helpful, comforting, and practical jacket.

...ugh, what was I even doing anymore? Really? Could somebody tell me please? At this point, I was just grasping at straws here.

I stepped back out into the living room to find Father with his back to me as he faced the large windows, staring out onto the balcony and beyond. I gave a polite little cough into my hand to catch his attention, saying, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Not at all, I-" he cut himself off as he turned, spotting me. Or, more precisely, me in the jacket. He then proceeded to give the thing the darkest look I'd ever seen him give any poor, unsuspecting garment.

Welp. Mission accomplished there I guess.

Whatever the mission had been exactly.

I gnawed on my bottom lip, absently fiddling with the zipper dangling from the left leather sleeve. Then I broke the long stretch of silence with a delicate clearing of my throat. "S-so… about the, uh… about the wedd-"

His hand shot up, stopping my words dead. His face had regained its aloof, impassive mask once more. "Regrettably, we don't have time to properly discuss that matter this visit. I have business elsewhere that I must attend to shortly. I merely came to allow you access to your old condo."

"Oh," I breathed, frowning and quickly looking down at my feet.

"...and to see for myself how you were doing," he added, his voice softening somewhat. Maybe I'd only imagined it however. "Your mother… she's expressed wishes to see you as well."

My gaze lifted once more as I sucked in a tiny breath, feeling hope prickle inside my chest. "Ah… yes, of… of course! I could come visit in a few days or-"

"We're actually having a small family get-together in roughly two weeks' time. A bit of a weekend affair, if you will. I think it would be for the best if you came by then. We could set aside time to discuss your actions between the festivities. Of course, your… your friend," he tried, really did try, to restrain the curl of distaste to his lips here, but wasn't quite fully successful, "is extended the invitation as well."

"You're too kind, Pops!" Lea's chipper voice sounded from behind me even as I'd been opening my mouth to respond. Before I could turn to look at him, I felt his grip on my arm tugging me and I stumbled backwards into his chest where he proceeded to hug my shoulders from behind and nuzzle his cheek against mine. "We wouldn't miss it for the world!"

How I had yet to suffer a heart attack during this entire little excursion was beyond me.

Once again, the words 'Conceal, don't feel,' chanted like a desperate prayer through my mind as I grasped his arm, hiding my flushed face in the crook of his elbow. Those three little words were starting to blur together into gibberish and lose all meaning, I'd recited them so much at this point.

Father fixed us with a long, unblinking stare and he'd gone so still, I could have sworn he'd turned to solid stone for a second there. But at last, he managed a, "Wonderful." I seriously doubt he meant that. "We look forward to seeing you both there." That either. "Well then... I'll just leave this here," he deposited the key onto the dining table, "should you decide you need to come back at a later date for more of your belongings. If and when we decide to sell the unit, we'll be sure to let you know. I'll be in touch shortly with further details of the upcoming gathering, otherwise I'm sure your sister will be only too happy to pass along the information as well."

"Thank you… Father," I muffled into Lea's arm.

He bowed his head slightly. "Right then, well… I must be off."

"T'was lovely to make your acquaintance," I could all but hear the smirk in Lea's voice as Father turned to go.

He froze, posture reaching new magnitudes of stiffness previously thought impossible. "...likewise," was all he said after a beat, not even looking back before striding out the front door, clicking it shut behind him.

And just like that, he was gone.

"I think that went rather well," Lea said brightly, not yet removing his arms.

I sighed, unconsciously relaxing a bit back into his chest. "I guess. Though I was kind of hoping we'd be able to air everything out today so it'd be all over and done with... I suppose I should be glad he didn't just disown me on the spot, for whatever that's worth. This thing he's invited us to though… it makes me uneasy."

His hair tickled as he turned his head to look at me. "What makes you say that?"

A small frown marred my face. "I don't know… it's probably nothing, just me being paranoid. I guess… all we can do is go, continue to put on this little performance and see what happens." My eyelids drooped, "Speaking of which, we really need to get on setting those ground rules for PDAs."

He swiftly released me now, taking a step back and holding his arms up like a criminal caught red-handed, "Sorry, did I cross a line with that one?"

I turned to face him but didn't quite meet his gaze. I knew that if I did in this precise second, I might be setting a new world record for number of blushes per minute, or BPM if you will. Feeling I'd done enough of that for one day, I looked everywhere but directly into his eyes, fingers plucking at my braid. "Not… exactly. I just… need to be forewarned on these things… know what I'm getting into, so they don't, ah… catch me off guard in the future."

"Oh, so that's why you were such an awkward walnut the whole time," he laughed, moving over to one of the couches and flopping down unceremoniously onto it, kicking his boots up on the immaculate, glossy finish of the coffee table. "Thought that was a little weird. You acted like a guy's never given you snuggles and affection before."

My lips twisted to one side and I said nothing.

His eyes widened and he sat up straighter. "You gotta be pulling my leg here. You were dating the guy, your fiancé, for what... five years was it? What were you two even doing that whole time?"

Grimacing, I made my way over to sit on the opposite end of the sofa from him. "The thing is, my ex… he was never really a fan of romantic gestures, big or small. Especially not in front of other people."

"Seriously?" he looked positively offended at the very idea. "He had to at least hug you in public, right?" I hesitantly shook my head. "Brush your hair back behind your ear?" A pause, then a second small shake. "Shit, for the love of- hold your hand?" Annnnd a third. "Please, please tell me he at least kissed you."

So much for not making it into the Guinness book for the most BPM. With a tiny scowl, I said, "Well, of course he did. Though… mostly only behind closed doors. But he'd take me on dates to fancy restaurants, art galas, the opera... oh, and he'd occasionally tuck my hand into the crook of his elbow when we were out." It almost sounded like I was trying to defend him now. "And he'd… uh…" Huh. Guess that about covered it. "...well, he just thought such things to be garish, empty gestures that were unnecessary," I finished lamely.

Lea gaped at me. "...and you were gonna marry this guy? Dude sounds like a fucking idiot."

I looked at him sharply. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, it's just…" he frowned now, leaning forward in his seat and planting his elbows on his knees, rubbing his arm. "El, you deserve better than that. Someone who'll worship the ground you walk on. Ya know… rose petals, white doves, the whole cornball, cheesy works."

"Oh." Would you look at that? Not two seconds and I'd already shattered the new BPM record I'd just set. I was really going to need to get this whole face heating situation under control, this quite simply would not fly anymore. "...th-thank you?"

He cleared his throat and propped his cheek in his palm, looking at me sideways. "No wonder you were weird about all that stuff I did. You've never really been all that touchy-feely with a guy before, huh?" He grinned, "Good news is we got two weeks to practice."

I cocked my head slightly. "Practice?"

"Yup!" He scooched over closer to me, nudging my shoulder with his. "We threw ya into the deep end before you were ready. Now we gotta rewind and actually teach you how to swim. And you know a good place to start? Learning by example."

"Which means…?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Observing some of the local wildlife perform their ritualistic mating displays in their natural habitat. That's right, you guessed it: couple-watching in the food court!"

Author's Note: Our couple is off to a rocky start! But it's to be expected with what an awkward penguin Elsa is. She was not built for this! But she'll get there… maybe xD They got 2 weeks to figure it out anyway… 2 whole weeks of fluff, mwahaha! Yeah, we're gonna take a lil detour off the Plot Highway here to make a stop in the good ol' town of Fluffsville for the next several chapters xD Also, Elsa's dress this chapter is loosely based on her Let It Go ice dress - the silhouette of it is at least (I think I used that fashion term correctly…). Lea's outfit is based on nothing, I just wanted to make him... smokin' hawt ;D ALSO, Elsa's dad isn't as nice a guy in this as he seems to be in the Frozen movies, but you all probably figured that was coming with the way he's been talked about the whole story thus far. To be fair, Elsa's parents in the movie could be considered a bit controlly with how they made Elsa suppress her powers, so just consider how he is in this story a twist on that from the movies xD Yet another also: Cliff (the doorman) is apparently the name of one of the rock trolls in the movie, so I figured, SURE, why not, let's name the doorman that! And one more also (last one, I swear!) - I'd run out of KH:BBS official ice cream flavors by this chapter. The one named in this chapter (based on Lilo and Stitch if it weren't obvious) was one my friend (who I'm borrowing Rayne from) came up with! I imagine it's description up on the Ice Palace menu would read something like "It's got all the punch of Hawaii's tangy fruit flavors and a little bit of Elvis for kicks! Naturally it's blue as the sea with bits of Hawaiian fruit in the center!" In any case, by the next time I needed to come up with an ice cream flavor name later on in this story, I'd figured out a new source list to pull from, as you'll all discover very soon!

Next chapter, will our leading man and lady get the hang of this whole relationship dealio? What couple(s) did Lea have in mind for them to watch? Will it actually help? Or will it only muddle matters further? Just what IS the world record for most blushes per minute and is Elsa really in the running for that highly coveted title? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

#kingdom hearts #frozen #elsa #axel #fanfiction #lea #fanfic #kingdom hearts fanfiction #frozen fanfiction #kh fanfiction #kh fanfic #frozen fanfic #kingdom hearts fanfic #axelsa #fluff #romcom #slow burn #kh3 #my writing #ice cream and fire oven pizza #rare pair #crossover pairing #humor #snark

[gobbbeecompany]

Top 5 books, top 5 tv shows, top 5 Cary grant movies, top 5 movie costumes, top 5 places you want to visit, top 5 fashion trends

BOOKS

I don’t do much reading anymore sadly so I'm going to have to go with

1. the wet hot american summer graphic novel

2. crush by richard siken

3. neighbors by thomas berger

4 & 5. something percy jackson probably

TV SHOWS

1. the state on mtv 

2. it’s always sunny in philadelphia

3. first 5 seasons of snl 

4. new girl

5. parks and rec 

CARY GRANT MOVIES

1. bringing up baby

2. the philadelphia story

3. arsenic and old lace

4. my favorite wife

5. I was a male war bride

MOVIE COSTUMES

1. susan’s dress that gets ripped in the beginning of bringing up baby with the fun veil

2. harley’s garbage jacket in birds of prey, tied with her yellow overalls probably 

3. floor show brad in the rocky horror picture show

4. jean’s polka dot romper in stage door

5. chi-chi’s wild and red outfit in to wong foo thanks for everything julie newmar

PLACES I WANT TO VISIT

1. NYC stereotypical I know

2. athens GA

3. greece 

4. paris I'm basic

5. puerto rico FASHION TRENDS

I don't know about trends I am just naming things I like

1. fanny packs

2. crop tops

3. high waisted colored corduroy pants

4. tall socks

5. suspenders 

[hanschenrilow]

me and sam @ernnst's takes on modern au clothing styles...

Melchior — Melchior is a fan of never wearing a shirt so whenever he’s hanging out casually with his friends he doesn’t wear one. But when he has to be human and go in public he literally dresses like an 80s teen movie character… like he wears striped or floral patterned button-ups (and Hawaiian shirts) tucked into shorts. He literally only owns shirts like that. He also does that Teen Boy thing where he wears a jean jacket over like…a gray pullover hoodie with jeans. He also wears Converse like Moritz but they’re new and not like 6 years old. He also wears reading glasses.

Moritz — Moritz wears flannels all the time and he’s one of those guys that wears the same jacket every day because he’s insecure but that’s usually just when he’s in public or around anyone that isn’t his 4 friends. He also has owned the same pair of Converse since like 8th grade and he wears them every. single. day. and they’re busted as hell but they’re his favorite. He owns a bunch of lame early 2000s punk band t-shirts (like Green Day and The Cure) and flannels. and like 2 pairs of jeans. That’s all he rotates and we love him for it.

Hanschen — Hanschen dresses like… business casual. He always wears leather Oxfords (you will never catch him in casual shoes unless he’s fuckin hiking or something) and button-ups (but like. t-shirt ones) and slacks and he also wears sock garters completely earnestly (there’s an inherent horny energy behind wearing garters of any sort which is 80% of why he does it). He also wears sweaters but they’re like nice expensive sweaters so they aren’t cutesy like Ernst’s… he wears normal t-shirts from time to time but again they’re expensive. He also probably always wears an expensive leather watch because that’s his aesthetic. He wears jeans probably like… once a month. He’s generally just clean and well put together though.

Ernst — Ernst dresses like he shops exclusively at Old Navy and The Gap (because he does and his mom buys him all of his clothes)… He wears sweaters over button-up shirts or just sweaters with slacks and he’s fucking cute. He unironically wears sweaters with cats all over them (or any other tacky patterns) because he likes fun prints… his gay style is campy and he rocks it. He likes funky socks as well and he’s always cold so he always wears sweaters even in the summertime (in the winter he also wears sweaters that are way too big for him because he is valid babey). Also he likes wearing Hanschen’s shirts because he is gay 💁 He also wears reading glasses!

Georg — Georg really is the dude who wears the same gray hoodie every single day of his life… and I've said this for like all of them but. Converse… boys be wearing them… he also has his classic geek ass thick glasses of course. He owns a bunch of merch shirts tbh like for video games and (even though he stopped wearing them in 9th grade bc cringe) anime.

Otto — Otto shops exclusively at thrift stores but he makes it work by dressing as tacky as possible and being ironic about it. He wears super weird thrift shop shirts that have brand names that don't exist anymore and slogans for companies from the 30s or just things that don't apply to him at all ('World's Best Grandma'). He has no sense of style but he makes it work by pretending it's just a joke. He has also been known to wear ugly patterned Hawaiian shirts and really brightly colored windbreakers from the 90s.

Wendla — Wendla genuinely just dresses like how she does in DWSA… She likes wearing sundresses and floral prints and cardigans with them cute little boots. She also definitely has a collection of barrettes and bobby pins that she puts in her hair that have flowers or butterflies on them.

Ilse — Ilse's style is art lesbian in which she wears overalls or sweaters/shirts tucked into jeans with boots… she has like a collection of different patterned Doc Martens. BUT she also likes wearing long skirts ("bohemian" I guess you could call it) with tons of jewelry (especially necklaces and rings) and floral patterns. There's no way of knowing which style she'll choose on a certain day tbh.

Anna — Anna wears Lots of jean. Jean skirts...jean shorts...jean jackets. She also owns a ton of quirky slogan t-shirts and also she really likes the color yellow. She wears scrunchies a lot and exclusively wears white Keds that she colored on in 9th grade with every outfit. Anna also wears a lot of those slogan baseball caps… like the ones that say 'bad hair day' and such. She never wears makeup except for like, eyeliner on occasion.

Martha — Martha's style is like...academic. She likes wearing plaid and earthy tones. She also mildly dresses like how she does in DWSA (especially the boots). I can also see her wearing different types of hats tbh. Martha is also really into the 40s style so she would be wearing red lipstick a lot… and if she's wearing pants they're never jeans they're like cigarette pants or dungarees.

Thea — Thea likes...corduroy. She wears dresses on top of sweaters… ballet flats… her hair always in braids or a braid. She doesn't really wear anything shorter than her knees or anything with slogans or brands tbh it's mainly solid colors or prints like polka dots.

#these are my opinions. its ok to disagree #but dont comment or reply to this post about it... #spring awakening #*modern au #should i tag everyone yeah #melchior gabor #moritz stiefel #hanschen rilow #ernst robel #georg zirschnitz #otto lammermeier #wendla bergmann #ilse neumann #anna wheelan #martha bessel #martha bessell #um. #thea

[putthison]

What You Can Really Afford: Actual Workwear

Following up on Derek’s post yesterday about getting creative with a casual wardrobe based on workwear archetypes, I wanted to write a little about what remain some of my favorite brands, the ones that continue to make durable, inexpensive clothing for workers. Lines like Dickies and Carhartt, while they occasionally make gestures in the direction of fashion (usually to try to catch up to the cool kids wearing their gear in unintended settings), focus on making practical clothes that the wearer really won’t think about much. Unless you’re like me and spend as many hours searching eBay for classic Carhartt as doing manual labor most weeks.

There’s a reason many of us look for, say, Dickies collaboration pieces rather than real Dickies. Or “takes” on workwear from brands like Engineered Garments or Orslow. We’re used to seeking out clothing cut to flatter and made from comfortable, interesting fabrics. Those are not qualities you generally find on a rack of Ben Davis Gorilla Cut pants, for example. And I admit that the durability of real workwear is overstated. Brands tend to brag about toughness but a lot of this stuff is more disposable than anything. When workwear makes trade-offs among well-made, good-looking, and cheap, it usually values cheap.

Still, as with vintage, there’s a particular satisfaction in taking something designed with little aesthetic concern and fitting it into your wardrobe. It’s also fun to track down the sources for the modern versions of workwear we like, and to consider how others have taken workwear out of its clock-punching context and made it their own. I’ll stop short of saying it feels authentic because any authenticity here is thoroughly borrowed. 

Carhartt

Carhartt’s signature achievement is their use of brown “duck” fabric for pretty much everything--from hats to jackets to overalls. In my opinion brown duck (really more of a tan) is a great neutral and a sollid match with other things we like, especially in fall--blue oxford cloth, shetland sweaters, denim, olive drab ( see lead image on this post). The Carhartt piece I wear the most now is a blanket lined chore jacket--I think it’s the same model Brian from Wooden Sleepers mentions here.  But I’ve been meaning to get a pair of overalls. Carhartt has a decent “fashion” line as well known as Work in Progress (WIP).

As with many other workwear brands, with Carhartt I often size down on shirts and jackets and up on pants. Jackets fit big to accomodate layers and movement; on the other hand, pants are not vanity sized, so rather than squeeze into the waist of my “usual size” I’ll buy a size up. The pants aren’t going to fit trim either way. 

Dickies

Dickies have been everyone’s go-to cheap pants forever. Around since 1922, today the brand make a ton of legit workwear for many professions, including hi-visibility stuff for road work and medical scrubs. But most guys know them for the 874 work pants, a cotton blend chino that’s, frankly, as stiff as it is cheap (currently $19.99)--recognizable in part because of their wide belt loops and slide, rather than button, closure. You might spend more than $20 getting them hemmed at the dry cleaner, maybe one reason it’s sometimes been considered standard to just cut them off at the ankle (every time you cut off a pair of Dickies, Johnny Knoxville gets a $0.16 royalty check). Dickies have also long had a presence in hip hop/streetwear scenes, and have a number of well regarded collaborations in fashion, including with J. Crew and Sasquatchfabrix.

I like the khaki color and the Air Force blue--they’re a nice alternative to denim. Although they’re lighter than denim, the fabric blend is not, in my opinion, the most comfortable in hot weather. As with Carhartt, I suggest sizing up a little on the pants, and getting them tailored to fit, like Chris Gibbs, or DIY-ing it. Unless you opt for a stretch model, Dickies don’t have a lot of give.

Ben Davis

Although I’ve lived on the east coast all my life, I’ve always seen Ben Davis as sort of the West Coast-exclusive Dickies. We just didn’t see BD pieces around much growing up (which made them somewhat more desirable). Their pants (especially in the “gorilla cut”) have a rep for being a little baggier than Dickies--somewhat hilariously, they don’t make lower than size 30 waist in pants, and no size small for shirts. BD shorts, worn baggy and clean, often with high socks, are historically a mark of California gang style. Ben Davis are also known for their zip work shirts, a style I find a little hard to wear. Famously, Dr. Dre in 1992′s Let Me Ride video selects from a closet full of black Ben Davis shirts. 

Like many of these brands, Ben Davis benefits a lot from having a damn cool logo. Coincidentally, I learned a lot about many of these brands from writer Gary Warnett, whose site’s logo is a Ben Davis logo flip, and there’s allegedly a connection between the logo and that of X-LARGE, one of the first modern streetwear brands. Like a lot of American brands, BD has an entirely streetwear based presence in Japan. They also recently collaborated with Opening Ceremony.

Le Laboureur

Turns out people outside of the US do work, too. The stuff I’ve handled from French label Le Labourer--best known for work jackets and corduroy pants--is heavier and more refined than most of the American stuff discussed so far--of course it’s still made in France and not QUITE as cheap. Most of the American brands have offshored most or all of their manufacturing. A moleskin LL jacket will run you about $100, a wool one nearly double (I have this one myself). These are straightforward, unlined jackets, but they make for great outer layers in the fall and winter. Le Labourer is also known for making jackets for Junya Watanabe’s MAN line, which are a little trimmer and wilder--haven’t seen these widely available for a few years. LL makes some wild high-waisted, buckle back trousers but I’ve yet to track a pair of these down. This stuff has a more country feel than the American brands, and less hunting (like Carhartt) and more wandering fallow fields.

Le Laboureur outerwear is sized numerically. I’ve found that a size 3 fits me best (although not trim), and I’m usually a L in American brands. So, generally, size 1 is a small, 2 a medium, etc.

Expect more budget friendly workwear profiles from us next week.

#Workwear #Buy Workwear #Carhartt #Dickies #Ben Davis #Le Laboureur

[stupidpianist]

16 october 2018

08:00: Turned off alarm, “forced self” not to go back to sleep immediately by thinking, “if you win this battle, you’ll start the day off with a victory, not a defeat,” realizing the latter part of this sentence was redundant, but unable to stop myself from thinking it anyways.

Apologizing to all my “liveblog fans” for the low quality liveblog yesterday, was still feeling very under the weather for almost the entire day. After the last update, I lay down in bed, thinking I was just going to “rest my body a little,” and then, like, literally a second after I lay down, I fell into the deepest nap, which lasted just under four whole hours. I guess my body was a lot more exhausted than I thought?? Regardless, the day felt distinctly “over” after that nap, so I looked at things on the internet (music reviews, YouTube, you know, “the usual”) until around midnight, showered, fell asleep again at one am. Feeling good about that, that I got so much sleep yesterday, like, so much.

Might explain why I woke feeling refreshingly “refreshed” for the first morning in a long time. Still coughing A LOT, but definitely feel a bit less sick than yesterday.

08:10: Turned off alarm for second time after lying in bed with eyes closed, sometimes alternating to eyes open, staring blankly at ceiling. Turned to my side and checked phone, which I keep charging on the nightstand to the right of my bed (the right if you’re lying down on it, not facing it). Briefly checked Facebook, Instagram, skimmed news headlines, checked weather.

08:12: On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have to make an 8:30 class in “McMed,” the medical building situated near the base of one of the ways to get up Mount Royal, so it’s a bit of a trek, and it’s a good twenty-plus minute walk from my apartment. I’ve found that if I power walk, I can get there in around seventeen minutes, depending on how long my strides are. So I need to “hustle,” gotta “hustle my butt to class,” gotta “push my butt up that hill.” Glad the weather is feeling like autumn, but the temperature is, characteristic for Montreal, “dropping rapidly” already… I fear it won’t be “sweater weather” for much longer...

Stood from bed, then, in an “extremely efficient manner,” I feel, in fluid, unstopping motion, put on brown corduroy pants, black short-sleeve t-shirt, flannel over shirt, “bunny sweater” over flannel, filled water kettle with water, set it to boil, went into the bathroom to “assess the situation” of how I looked, splashed water on face and hair, brushed teeth, placed yerba mate bag in mug, poured hot water in mug, put on boots, then sipped from almost-too-hot mate while taking a selfie of me sipping from it to put on Instagram story. Thought, “nice, nice, good job,” while stepping out apartment, knowing I would make it to class on time, and that I was atypically feeling ungroggy, though also a bit dim and unmotivated, though also unstressed, probably a result of the emotional stunting effects I always feel when I have a cold.

08:34: “Made it” with a minute to spare. Sitting in the furthest back row of the large lecture hall. Hey, between you and me, this is actually the first lecture in this psych stats class that I’m going to sit “all the way through.” I know what you’re thinking, please don’t think it, because I already am. I’m such a terrible student, I know, and I’m wasting so much money. The professor for this class is so efficient, and also so empathetic; she took a break partway through the lecture to ask us humorous questions from an old survey given to Americans, like, twenty years ago, including things like: “do you put on your socks and shoes in the order sock-shoe-sock-shoe, or sock-sock-shoe-shoe,” and “do you twirl your spaghetti when you eat it, or do you cut it into pieces?” I laughed “heartily” when nobody raised their hand for sock-shoe-sock-shoe. That order does seem hellish, to a significant degree, to me, at least, though the actual survey of Americans two decades ago said that around a third put their feet-things on in the order sock-shoe-sock-shoe. What the hell.

Got first assignment back and laughed again when the TA who graded it didn’t give me points for the question which I knew I answered inefficiently, though I wrote next to my answer, “I know this is, like, the least efficient way of solving this, but I am so tired please cut me some slack.” Worth the loss of points, in my opinion. At least it gives the graders something to laugh about through the endless hours of mindless marking? In my English midterm last semester, I just rewrote all the questions I didn’t know the answer to, to things that I could actually answer, like, I’d change “Name three German Romantic poets who influenced…” by crossing out “German” and writing in “English,” then writing the answer to the new question I created.

Found myself “pleasantly enjoying” this lecture, but still finding “complete lack of enthusiasm” in knowing I’d have to finally force myself back into the practice rooms to “tickle the ivories” after not touching them for three days as a result of debilitating cold. Picturing Sylvester Stallone saying “this… is not gonna be fun” in his usual gruff delivery, then grimacing slightly, and standing up from previously seated position.

09:49: Thinking, “onto the practice rooms,” while walking to practice rooms. Weather feels “brisk,” like a Subaru commercial. Thoughts while walking: -Going to start referring to eating/drinking as “taking things to the face” -Would people really not wear ripped underwear? re: another survey question asked in class -Maybe I need to “get caffeinated” before practicing, need to update liveblog anyways -Dude vaping Juul-like device, remembering that Juuls are now officially shipping in Canada, except Quebec -Cannabis is going legal in one day here, seems so surreal

Making decision to stop at Tim Hortons on the way to “take a large coffee to the face.”

10:04: Holy crap the line at Tims is almost “out the door,” there’s no way I’m gonna wait for a coffee, heading to Java U instead.

10:10: Mission successful. Large light roast coffee in hand, chosen over dark because of its higher caffeine content. Chose maple milk to put in for the first time ever, feeling “cheery” and “full of grins.” Gonna drink it while updating liveblog in music library, then practice.

10:46: Hey, what’s up, I’m just finishing up today’s first liveblog update!! Now I’m going to post it!! Then I’m going to walk to the practice rooms and practice for a few hours!! Today is going well, I hope your day is going well too! Wow!! I’m thinking the word “wow” a lot today! Wow!!! Here’s some more Kero Kero Bonito lyrics to brighten up your day if it’s going bad, or make it even brighter if it’s going well!! I love you! 

I got so much time today I got hopes and dreams and plans all yet to be made So look out the way 'Cos I'm coming through now I got something to do And I'll try As I might To keep up with the light 'Til I'm into bed for the night

I got so much more to say I got books and tapes and canvas bearing the weight But they're not arranged 'Cos it takes too long and I'm still moving on But I don't Even know Where I should be trying to go So I guess I'll follow my nose

And I can't help but think about If the sun ever stays down Will I notice or will I Just be sitting around Ticking a list off Rueing what I said wrong But dawn still greets my windowpanes And as long as I shall Wake up in the morning I got plans

I got so much time today I got so much time today I got so much time today I got so much time

13:40: Okay, so, a good almost-three-hour session. My hands felt like mush for the first hour-and-a-half, which was expected, but after going through the Beethoven and part of the Alkan, they felt strangely not as bad as I thought they would. Feel like I was “hyper-focused” for the first ⅔ of the session, and then only “sort-of focused” for the final third, but it was overall really nice.

Feeling skeptical at how smoothly today is going… Where’s the catch? What’s going on? Something bad is brewing on the horizon, isn’t it… Oh heavens look, it’s me thinking pessimistically again, I’m really not a pessimistic person, why do I keep doing this. Have to “reel in” this sort of behaviour. Today is going well and I’m putting in effort towards having a productive day, and sometimes that effort aligns with chance events that cumulate to a smooth, sometimes even “good” day, that’s all, right?

Gonna “call it” on this session, feeling energy/focus storage for piano “depleted.” Feeling semi-proud of myself for making it to nearly three hours without feeling “depleted” earlier, usually my sessions are most productive capped at two hours, and then if I try to continue I end up wasting more time than I actually use practicing. Might return to the practice room again today before going home, I really should be doing at the very least four hours, but maybe I’ll keep today at three hours, just because starting up again after a few days of not practicing and immediately jumping back to four-plus hours might be a little hard on the tendons/joints?? Is that just me making excuses for myself? I’ll see how I feel after my next class, I guess.

Walking to McLennan now to study a bit, see ya soon.

13:54: At workstation in Cybertheque. Weird “phasing” effect going on in my head right now, like, sounds are slightly off-balance? Not that they’re louder in one ear than the other, like, sounds sound dizzy to me, right now, if that makes any sense… I’m not describing this well…

Stomach in a bit of pain, a result of having coffee on an empty stomach and not eating anything yet today. Maybe I’ll get something cheap before class starts at 17h. Yeah, I think that would be the best option… Don’t think I’ll “last” til the end of class if I don’t. Do I go get food now, and then try and study?? That seems like a waste of time going back-and-forth so much, maybe I’ll try to “tough it out.” Yeah, okay, that seems the best option, gonna start studying now, wish me luck.

14:27: Oh no, oh no, seems impossible to “scrounge up” the motivation needed to study effectively, I’m just reading more on Ghost right now, this is bad, this is bad, don’t do this to yourself. Maybe this can be counted as the “study break” between practicing and studying?? Maybe I just won’t be able to get any studying done during this little chunk of time? I’m fine with that, I’m fine with that, I think… Still have time after class ends at 17:30 to study, can always study at home, “in the comfort” of my “tiny abode.” Shoot shoot shoot why didn’t I bring Knausgaard with me, now I don’t even have any reading material. Oh! Oh! I can read Megan’s Liveblog from my phone!! Yes yes okay, perhaps I’ll just “nip on out” for some food, then, and then head directly to class? That might work…

#liveblog #blog #writing

[fashiontrendin-blog]

15 Style Lessons From Patrick Schwarzenegger

https://fashion-trendin.com/15-style-lessons-from-patrick-schwarzenegger/

15 Style Lessons From Patrick Schwarzenegger

For the child of a celebrity it can be hard to step out from your parents shadow, especially when one of them is a former Mr Universe colossus who is also the greatest action movie star of all time and the former governor of your home state. So just how does Patrick Schwarzenegger do it? By strutting around in the brightest electric blue Gucci tracksuit you’ve seen in your life, that’s how.

Of course the genes help him pull off such fashion blinders – not only is Arnie his dad, but Schwarzenegger is also the grand nephew of JFK – with Schwarzenegger making his modelling debut at 17, before going off to college and coming out a movie actor slash fully fledged Hollywood one to watch-er. His film career is still in its infancy but his strong fashion sense has seen him built a sizeable profile already – you need his clothes, his boots and his motorcycle. Actually, we’re not sure if he has a motorcycle.

The Look

Schwarzenegger isn’t a firm part of the fashion crowd nor is he a fixture on the front row of fashion week catwalks, so his look isn’t heavily dictated by whatever the fashion elite are up to. Instead it’s a fun mixture of sometimes-outlandish get-ups like an electric blue Gucci tracksuit mixed with the sartorial timelessness of slim fitting suits.

The best word to describe Schwarzenegger’s style, though, is “versatile”. While the tailoring is slim he isn’t afraid to throw on a statement upper half to fit the occasion, while relaxed denim plays a large part of his out and about look as does some discreet head gear to hide the locks. Overall, Schwarzenegger is just a well put together Millennial who dresses exactly like that – young and fun when required, mature and timeless when need be.

Inspiration: James Dean, Marlon Brando, Justin Bieber Go-To Brands: Gucci, Tom Ford, Hugo Boss Follow Him: @patrickschwarzenegger

I’ll Be Black

An outfit that eerily mimics his dad in Terminator 2, Schwarzenegger opts for a textured jacket with a contrast sleeve as opposed to the leather get up of the T-800. All-black is an easy outfit to get right but one thing to keep in mind is mixing the look up by applying different tones and textures. The jacket still has the gloss of leather, but it’s a more malleable and flowing fabric so better suits the casual styling of Schwarzenegger’s look. Also listen to your mother and keep it clean – nothing ruins all-black more than a splodgy food stain down the front of your jeans.

Lighter, please?

Off-duty Pat likes his denim, and who can blame him – it’s a tough and durable fabric that also happens to be delightfully cushy. Pro tip though when it comes to your jeans, try to wash them as little as possible, as the process can damage the material. Light wash denim looks best in a relaxed fit, and paired with a neutral basic – say a clean, white jumper with a bit of texture running through it to mix it up.

Rhinestone Cowboy

Matching all black bottom and top halves is a sure fire way of making yourself the coolest cat in the room (just look at Johnny Cash) apart from having to dodge shadowy corners lest you get sucked up into complete darkness. The key? Break it up, baby. Here Schwarzenegger does so with a little razzle-dazzle from the chunky watch to the metal dots trimming his pockets and collar. Down below the suede Chelsea boots also offer another welcome contrast – just keep the profile slim and trim with some skinny jeans when wearing any boots with a sizeable heel.

Check Me Out

We’ve been checking out this suit and guess what? Paddy has us all fooled again as what we thought was checked is actually a gentle zig-zag, however, the similar colours and contrasting light and dark shades mean you can style it as you would a houndstooth. The pattern is a versatile and easy to wear look but your best bet for styling purposes is to pick either the black and white and harmonise it with the rest of your outfit. So just bring in the white shirt and black trousers and it really is that easy.

Gucci Guy

Not all pieces from iconic Italian fashion house Gucci are in your face, but when they are, my word are they getting up in your grill, pushing and prodding you like a three-year-old in a petting zoo. And so we have this electric blue tracksuit which is so hype-beast we had to queue overnight just to nab a look. Keep the tracksuit together as it is meant to be worn and then just mute everything else down – white socks, white tee, white trainers. Don’t fight the Gucci tracksuit, as you’ll just end up losing.

Chilly Neck

A more casual attitude is seeping into menswear tailoring, and still at the more formal end of that spectrum besides going all out shirt-and-tie is the roll neck. Schwarzenegger opts for the most classic version with an extended neckline that folds back and in a neutral black to slickly sit underneath the busy checked, double breasted suit which tradition dictates you should wear buttoned up. Also note the lack of bunches at the shoulders and breaks on the trouser hem for smart tailoring that can work for almost any occasion.

Beanie Baby

In his mid-twenties, Schwarzenegger is just on the cusp where the choice of a beanie starts to become a tad dubious. We know, we know, David Beckham still wears them into his forties but we don’t think Becks really has the beanie game down. The thing to watch for is too much material flying around the back of your head – it looks messy and people are just left wondering what you’re hiding in there (Voldemort, is that you?). Also wear it a little off your face (your forehead should be showing) and with a get-up that assumes you actually need it to keep your head warm – a woolly sheepskin jacket is a much better look with it than a tee and gym shorts.

Hasta La Vista, Beanie

The beanie is gone, obliterated, destroyed, no more. And with this purge a boy becomes a man, because that’s exactly want a tuxedo can do for you – as long you get it right. A tux doesn’t need to be flamboyant so just complete the checklist and you’ll do alright in black tie – peaked, contrast lapels, ribbon down the side of the trousers, bow tie, pocket square and of course black shoes. Now we know Schwarzenegger should really have the jacket done up unless seated but the cut of the tux is so snug we’ll excuse this lack of customary grace.

International Playboy

Light blue velvet, a grandiose shawl lapel, and a matching silk kerchief in the pocket – are we chomping cigars and downing dirty martinis in Hugh Hefner’s 1960s man cave here? Gaudy, bright vintage colours are starting to make a return so it’s not like Schwarzenegger is 50 years too late, but blue velvet is probably a bit strong for any normal person to deal with, so tone it all done with some neutral black trousers and shoes.

Kindergarten Cap

The double denim rulebook has been ripped up and thrown off the top floor to the baying civilians down below, but there are still some rules to follow that guarantee stylishness. The main one is pairing your double denim in a different shade, so go with Schwarzenegger’s contrasting light wash jacket and black denim jeans. A bit of rip in the jeans raises the stakes a little, but don’t go overboard, just keep it classic with a white tee and some sneakers.

Treat Them Mean, Keep It Green

We’ve already seen that Schwarzenegger likes to play it like the men in black, but all black everything every day can get stale. Change it up with a pleasant autumnal green which is as close to neutral as you’re going to get without going white, black or grey. And when colours don’t clash it is easier to play around with patterns and textures as shown by Schwarzenegger’s suede jacket on top of corduroy trousers.

Cut Differently

The navy suit is menswear 101 so effortlessly and elegantly simple and easy to get right it deserves a gold star on the fridge. But if you like your style a little edgier, it could do with a play around. No tie on a crisp white shirt works well, as do white sneakers. But what sets this look apart from the rest is the cut of the jacket, with the button shifted inwards to create a tighter silhouette round the middle.

Count Them Stripes

Trust the Terminator’s son to have time travelled forward to the height of summer 2019, and come back with that season’s hottest look – the suit that isn’t a suit. The trend has already started to creep into fashion and is expected to blow up for next summer, but Schwarzenegger really goes for it here. Essentially, it’s two of the same fabric used for the trousers and jackets but without the details you’d expect from a suit. As it is already breaking the suit’s formality you don’t have to wear it with a shirt, and it actually works better with just a plain tee and pair of shoes.

The Tanned Terminator

There are a lot of oranges in the menswear orchard, and yet it’s still not a colour you see all too often on the street. Which is a great shame as the more burnt shades that have made regular appearances in recent seasons and seen sported by Schwarzenegger have a rugged manliness about them that lift an outfit into the spectacular. The rusted tone works especially well balanced with an earthy grey so that you don’t go around looking like a walking talking terracotta warrior.

Paddy’s Pockets

We were getting some worrying car repair man vibes from this workwear get-up Patrick is showing off, but fashion done right comes in the little details that break an outfit up, and here it’s all about the pockets. White provides the requisite contrast against navy and to make sure the style move looks planned follow the colour through, like Schwarzenegger, in your T-shirt and sneaker choice.

[canaryatlaw]

So today was all around pretty sweet. Got out of bed at my alarm at 7, like a good girl, and went to work. Work was a bit of a scramble, I did a lot of different things so I may not recount all of them perfectly. I started with more jail phone calls, which I did at other points in the day as well. Nothing super interesting came out today other than the mom like cursing out her 16 year old daughter and saying she didn't want to see her when she gets out of prison, because she's clearly an awful person. But like, mom's not even a party on this case because she never came forward, despite giving birth to the child???? Idk, it's weird. Stupid. So I did that until around 11 when I had the interview scheduled for, so I called the juvenile correctional facility (proper name) and got bounced around a few times until I got the guy I was talking to yesterday who then put the kid on the phone. I know it's like, basically a jail, but it still kind of bugs me that they refer to them as "offenders" or "inmates." We're always very intentional with our language because they're our clients, so we make sure to always refer to them as such. But anyway. I wasn't sure what to expect from him, I want to say he's like 17 or so, and basically I was interviewing him because he's set to get out at the end of the month and there's a CIPP next week for him to try and figure out a placement. He was actually really polite, very "yes m'am" and such, and he seemed to be in a pleasant mood and I'm sure fairly excited at the prospect of getting out. He gave mostly one word questions, which to be fair is all that was really required for a lot of the questions. He was not enrolled at school at the facility (don't know how that works) but when he gets out he wants to get his GED and go on to college to study music, with his future plans being to "inspire people in the same situation I'm in through my music" so hey, good for him. As far as placement he wants to go live with his aunt in Texas, which is somewhat questionable because she used to to be his guardian but he got returned to the system because his behavioral problems were giving her "high blood pressure" (smh). But relative placements are generally a good thing, so that may work. Overall it was pretty short, but I got all the info I needed so I'm counting it as a win. I wrote it up as a narrative afterwards then went back to the phone calls. At one point my boss gave me some stuff to work on, but I ended up going back to the phone calls until I could review them with that lawyer towards the end of the day. I had gone through my notes and highlighted the important stuff, where they talked about evading DCFS or when their relationship was particularly evident (given that they're not supposed to be together, according to his testimony). So that was good. Afterwards I didn't have very much time left, but I started on an assignment my boss had given me regarding a client who essentially went missing, but is supposedly living in a city in Illinois with her mom, so she wanted me to call the caseworker and see if I could find her on Facebook or anything. Caseworker didn't answer, so I moved on to Facebook. Apparently another lawyer had tried a few months ago and didn't get any results. Well, my web sleuthing skills tend to be pretty good, and I was able to locate a potential profile for the mom that was friends with a profile with the same name as the daughter, with other contextual clues pointing to them, so that could be a potential lead, though there's no information posted publicly so we'd have to have the investigation unit message them apparently. I also did a people search on lexis which is apparently something you can do, and it turned up one Illinois address in a town not too far from the one we were told they were living in, so that's a potential lead to probe when I get back. And yeah, then it was 2:30 and I headed out. Got an uber pretty quickly, nice driver if a little quirky, when he heard I was gonna head to O'hare shortly after going home and grabbing my things he asked if he could hang around and do it as one trip and I said sure, so when we got home I just ran in and changed, then through some things in my bag and headed back out, which was all I really needed to do. My downstairs neighbor, the dad, was outside playing with his two adorable children, and when I was walking in the little boy stood in the middle of the sidewalk and tried to like, growl at me, but it was actually the cutest thing I've ever heard and I could not stop laughing lol. Then on my way out a few minutes later he decided he was a puppy and wanted me to pet him, and then his sister decided she was one too and between the two of them it was just so darn cute it made me smile. We hit the road again and hit a little bit of traffic getting to the airport but still got there right on time so no worries there. It's probably my most expensive uber trip, it came out to like $65, but I was in the car for like, 2 hours, so it was a significant amount of distance lol. The airport wasn't very crowded, which is always a relief in this city. Checked my bag quickly, then got through security in just a few minutes. When I stepped out of the scanner machine the guard made a quirk about having to do a field sobriety test because I had two different socks on, and I was like.....really? And he was like no I'm just joking haha then asked if it was intentional and I told him it was. It was a bit of a trek to the gate, all the way at the far end of the terminal, and I thought I was lost at one point but I was actually headed in the right direction. So I got down there and surveyed the scene, saw that they hadn't started boarding yet and probably wouldn't for a little bit, so I walked back and bought a sandwich and some granola since the flight wasn't gonna get in until 8:46 (supposedly, anyway). So I sat at the gate and ate my sandwich, as we waited, and waited, and waited. We were told we were just waiting on the crew and we should be boarding "soon," and it would only set us back 15 minutes. Alright, fair enough. We did eventually board, and there was some confusion with seating and I got bumped up one row from where my ticket said but that wasn't a big deal of course. So then we boarded the plane and waited some more. We were like, set to go, phones on airplane mode and everything, but then ended up sitting for a while longer waiting for our turn to go, and soon enough it was 6:30 when the flight was supposed to take off at 5:30....sigh. So I turned my phone off airplane mode for a second to let the guy who was picking me up know this, and then we took off shortly after that. The flight itself was fine, it took them pretty long to get the drinks out but I didn't really care lol. As has been my tradition for flights lately, I read the fanfiction I had earlier downloaded offline to my phone. Read some short stories and one fairly long one, and enjoyed them all quite a bit. We ended up landing around 9:10, so not too bad from our expected arrival time (note the time difference as well). Got off the plane and headed to baggage claim, the terminal was pretty much deserted, our flight was the only people there. Baggage came soon enough, and then my ride showed up. Since my parents absolutely refuse to go to laguardia airport since they're slightly nuts and hate it (it is a pain in the ass but they're unreasonable about it) they always just have our family friends who own a limo service send somebody out to get me. Tonight it was the dad of the family, who I know pretty well of course. It was a decent length ride back, so we talked about different things, I shared about my job and he wanted to know how I handled the more heartbreaking elements of it and such, and we talked a bit about the current political climate, though I chose my words very carefully since I knew he was a Trump fan (or used to be anyway, I don't know how he feels about him now). We were talking about the poverty problem and I basically just framed it as whether you believe in public or private funding, as Christians we are called to help the poor, and the attitude of simply being apathetic and even demeaning towards them is all too common in Christian circles and simply antithetical to what the bible says, and I think he definitely agreed with that. Overall it was a pleasant ride. Got home around 10:30, but everyone was still up and around (save my younger brother, who's always out doing something with somebody and never really around). So we talked and ate and just hung out for a little while, and made some more plans for tomorrow after the baby shower as well as for our city trip on Sunday, just figuring out the mechanics and all that. I'm excited for the baby shower for sure. They asked that instead of cards everyone bring a children's book and inscribe it, so they could read them all to their child. I had gotten the book Corduroy off amazon and had it shipped to the house since that was my favorite book when I was a little kid, so I wrote a little message in the front entitled "dear little one" and signed "Aunt Rachel" which just made me feel really happy to write because ahhhhh I love children and no matter if I end up in New York or not I am most definitely going to be around for this child's life and be Aunt Rachel, just as she was my cousin growing up and her mom was my aunt (though of course we have no blood relation, I always still refer to her as my cousin and she does the same). So yeah, I'm super excited for that. And then I'll apparently go to the fair that's in town with my sister for a bit and then I'm making sure we go to see Wonder Woman because I need to see this movie and cannot wait any longer. But yeah, good day and I'm happy to be home. Should be lots of fun over the next two weeks and I'm looking forward to it. That's it for now. Goodnight sweethearts. Hope you have a lovely weekend.

#daily journal #June 2017