finally cleaned up these sketches - Espresso x Seaweed Cookie yuri [espresso is transfem]
since seaweed is basically a manual labourer of sorts (gravedigger) I think she'd definitely have some muscle. I'll do some body sketches of these two at some point. also seaweed's skirt is pearlescent but her job has it constantly covered in mud.
Sooo... me and my friend designed them wedding outfits ( ⭑•̀ᴗ•́ )✧
My friend had actually made Madeleine's first, and to match the 'swapped color pallet' vibe I followed suite when designing Espresso's,,
A thought has been nagging me for a long while and it’s something about Espresso Cookie.
This is something that spurred from the sprite of Espresso in a summer fit. This is 100% serious. Obviously spoilers for the new update, the cookie odyssey and the whole story so far.
In the past months I couldn’t stop looking at Espresso’s most recent scenes (think from the Dark Enchantress War onwards) and feel that there was something I wasn’t getting. It felt as if something was scuttling right under my nose like a pigeon stealing my bread but flying away the second I turned my head.
So I kept re-analysing everything I could: parts of stories, snippets of text, images, everything. The more time passed, the more puzzle pieces fell together in what had started with me feeling I was simply seeing things to a more assured thought forming properly: Espresso has changed since the end of the Odyssey, and way more than even I would have thought. The last update slapped me in the face with the most blatant showcase of it.
To start, his interaction with Ananas. While he delivered his point as per usual, it was palpable that compared to the past he was way more diplomatic and courteous about it.
To avoid any wrong idea- I’m not trying to say that Espresso is/was rude, mean or anything of the sort- the one thing he is, however, is that he’s extremely straightforward. At times he feels without filters which can result to come off as rude, depending the person he’s talking with or come off as uninterested in talking at all. Remember his kingdom interaction with Gingerbrave? He didn’t mean to ignore him, he was just too caught in his thoughts to realise Gingerbrave was saying hi.
But, if a simple misunderstanding is the best outcome were one to meet a friendly cookie, if faced with a more athouritative figure, the same attitude can be a problem.
This exchange with Elder Vanilla Sugar was the first thing that came to my mind after hearing him talk with Ananas Dragon- notice how Madeleine had to step in to avoid further issues? Obviously there was nothing inherently wrong in what Espresso had said -he was in a rush to find out how to synthesise the Soul Jam in what later became the Magic Candy
Espresso is not stupid but he finds in wasting time a nonsense beyond measure and he will vocalise such. Yet, in the interaction with Ananas Dragon it’s very clear he now seems to be more discerning with his words. Sure, he’s buttering him up but he is getting the job done.
After that, in the morning after, came the moment that I think most fans are grateful for (I for sure am) because we got blessed by Espresso’s Summer Fit. Sillies aside, what got me are various scenes from here on.
This is before the proprieties of the dragontongue song are made clear by Mango Cookie but it surprises me that all the same, Espresso is finding positive sides in things that aid to relaxation more than work. It’s a small bit but it’s nice to see him beyond his researcher side.
“Right time, place and occasion for every dress is crucial for achieving the utmost efficency in your endeavors!” If that came out of Madeleine’s mouth I wouldn’t question it but from Espresso, of all cookies? While he does have an interest in fashion (old screen blurb that was changed), this still comes a bit surprising if even just for the timing since they’re on a mission and not on leisure time- even Strawberry Crepe finds it odd when he excuses it with helping the efficency.
…and right after, this happens.
Apologies for the many screenshoots but I didn’t feel like cutting too much of the scenes here (had to because of tumblr’s limit of images per post), because they are all so amusing! This is genuinely the funniest moment in the whole update for me and I hope we get many of these in the future. It’s so incredibly nice and refreshing to see Espresso’s more playful side, although once again he uses it to his own advantage (but -and I will stress this- he’s not being ill intended and shouldn’t be considered as such).
I feel moments like these make him all the more compelling as a character, when it’s not just the “usual” serious side. While yes, he did have his silly moments, all too often they felt hidden away and not given the proper light they deserve so I’m really glad we got this scene. Sure, the effect of the dragontongue song is definitively at play here but it feels like Espresso is overall more open to be lighthearted.
I really like how whenever we see Espresso as of lately, we’re always in for a good time. Circumstances like these especially shows so well how much he’s changed since the end of the Odyssey.
In the past I had focused so much on Madeleine’s growth because yes, he’s my comfort character but also, all in all, because it’s been very much a point that the game placed a lot of focus on. Financier pointed it out, Espresso pointed it out, Madeleine’s actions during the DEC War pointed it out. It was under the spotlight many times. He’s still our beloved Madeleine but it’s undeniable that he’s become more serious, acting proper for his role as a Knight Commander. He still sports his usual smile and keeps his whimsy but he definitively feels more level headed and responsible.
But Espresso has changed too, and just as much as Madeleine! His changes were just easier to miss because they didn’t impact actions that were related to his work ethic but rather the way he relates to others. This made sure said changes went completely under the radar for me until now, since we’ve had quite the intense updates in the past year.
It was placing these realisations together, however, that gave me a thought.
Madeleine has shown a more serious, proper side as of lately.
Espresso has shown a more playful, silly side as of lately.
…have the two influenced eachother?
After all, who was there with Espresso to contain Vanilla Sugar’s temper? Madeleine. Same Madeleine who is knows how to use words (or acting) to get out of a bad situation. Same Madeleine who also enjoys dressing up and for sure has an outfit for each occasion.
And who has Madeleine always been around and visiting? Espresso, who has always prioritised (even to the point of overextending himself) his work, took his role seriously and the responsibilities tied to it.
To clarify, I don’t mean to say that the two weren’t ever those things to begin with -Espresso most surely had playfulness in him, Madeleine definitively knew how to be serious too- but perhaps they hadn’t quite the space or the conditions to show themselves that way, if it makes sense. It seems all more apparent with Espresso who perhaps now is finally in a truly better living situation and can allow himself to be playful and silly because he doesn’t have to just survive every day.
While writing this I felt making such claim could have been wrong on my end; I was worried I was doing a mishmash of things, or rather, seeing a change in Espresso just because I had seen it in Madeleine. I feared the espresseleine worms were making me see connections were there weren’t, so to speak (I do love espresseleine deeply but I don’t want to do the characters wrong in terms of analysis by forcibly linking every aspect of them to one other, which is a bit of a slippery slope easy to do for me, always out of excessive enthusiasm, of course).
But re-reading everything and double-checking things…it really feels like the two are changing and what tugs my heartstrings is that they’re showing the sides they’ve changed the most thanks to one other while being separated.
But they’re still walking together, even if from afar, and that’s all that matters because when they’ll meet again, they probably will be able to speak to one other openly...and understand eachother.
(Why, oh why, Madeleine Cookie constantly ponders aloud. Perhaps one day, the two adventurers can… discuss the matter upfront.).
Rant about why and how I think "Um, It's Kind of a Lot" by Will Wood is perfect for Espresseliene.
I wanted to make a drawing celebrating Valentines day but it's obvious I'm too late with that (what is understandable cause I literally thought of all that yesterday) so you guys get this rant/head canon dump instead <3
THE VICTIM OF MY ESPRESSELIENE PROPAGANDA TODAY IS NONE ELSE THAN:
The song according to my most trusted source lyrichly is
"Um, it’s Kind of a Lot is about the mind of someone who wants to love someone but doesn’t know how to admit it because they are scared. They want to give their heart to the person they love but they are afraid of what may come, such as rejection and mockery. The narrator shows us that though he has immense love for the person he has very conflicting emotions and fear. The narrator had many many fears including four-letter words such as love (wink wink nudge nudge). The love they have for the person is so overwhelming that it makes them so scared and terrified. In the end the narrator realizes that “it’s kind of a lot” and the song ends." - Unreviewed Genius summary
With Espresseliene the song's meaning kind of shifts with them admitting that they love each other but them also needing to be vulnerable in front of the other, because it's something they struggle with. Neither of them loved someone as much as they love each other so that's where the lyrichs "Oh I love you so much it scares me half to death" comes in. They are afraid of this relationship because they hadn't experiences this much love for someone before especially with Madeleine for who this is probably the first time he loved someone more than himself and put this person's needs before his own. He loves Espresso so so much but this feeling is so alien to him. Espresso doesn't love him like he is used to people loving him, he doesn't showers Madeleine in compliments he doesn't adore him like everyone else does. His love comes from a deeper space a from a deeper understanding of who Madeleine is and Espresso kindly doesn't give a fuck about his fame, or his role as a paladin he loves him for himself. He loves him for the Madeleine he came to know, not the personality he puts up in front of other people. He loves the somewhat emotionally stunted kid within Madeleine who never learned how to love and hadn't formed deep relationship, he loves Madeleine for Madeleine not for the knight in shining armor he appears to be.
And that scares Madeleine absolutely shitless. He never had a friend like Espresso was to him he never had someone know him this well.
This is why the lyrics "But I've never been afraid of someone breaking my heart it's not like I'm 'bout to fall and cut my throat on the shards" reflects this so much Madeleine's anxiety of showing his true self and not the one society taught him to be, not the polite young man who he's supposed to be. He's been in relationships before many many times (in my hc) he's broken up with all of them they haven't lasted more than a week and he was completely unaffected by them.
He was never afraid of someone breaking his heart until Espresso Cookie showed up because he was a person he actually loved and cared about not like his previous relationships. Suddenly he has this fear of what will happen if Espresso realizes that he's a bad person how he is nothing like what he shows to the outside world and what if upon realizing this Espresso will leave him? This is also reflected by the lyrics "I'm afraid you'll change your mind"
(also it's important to note the reason why Madeleine didn't care about his previous relationships wasn't because he isn't a great lover it was just because he tried to date women because he didn't realize he was gay so he tried to date multiple women and all those relationships ended really fast because he wasn't attracted to them at all so he didn't do anything to keep up those relationships 💀)
The lyrics "I've grown used to fear but no not to you yet my dear" also reflects how Espresso grown up since on his side of things he avoided friendships and relationships because he was scared of being emotionally vulnerable and he just struggled to keep up any kind of relationships because unlike with Madeleine he always had problems with expressing his emotions. He had this fear of being in a relationships because he thought he'd fuck up either way he thought he was an unlovable person due to multiple things. Yeah sure he had friends but they didn't know him as well as he'd like and just because two people tolerated his company doesn't mean someone would choose to be with him and just him. Why would anyone put themselves trough this kind of torture? Espresso always known his flaws how he's been treated by the outside world has highlighted them how he struggled to fit in and how he didn't understand how kids played even tho the rules seemed obvious to other children, how he hurt his friends on many occasions due to being too blunt, and how he acted recklessly in social situations where they expected a different reaction from him. He always knew ever since he was born that he was different. He learned speech later in life than other kids, he struggled with selective mutism it was obvious to him how he's flawed. These feelings they express in this song are mutual, both Madeleine and Espresso fears being in a long term relationships but their struggles come from entirely different places.
"I'm not used to this how did it happen, baby?" Neither of them know how they even got into a situation like this Espresso never dated someone, especially not for this long and Madeleine never had a relationships this deep with anybody.
"I'm afraid there's somebody better, I'm afraid of four letter words like "love" "for" and "ever"" They're both afraid of committing to this because in a way neither of them thinks they're good enough for the other they're afraid there's somebody better.
"And I'm afraid you'll notice all my flaws I'm afraid you've already had, obviously" Madeleine is once again scared that Espresso noticed how he puts on a facade to the people and how when he'll inevitable realize he'll leave him because of it :') While being completely oblivious to the fact that Espresso is aware of the fact that he isn't being genuine to other people more than anybody else and frankly, Espresso prefers when Madeleine isn't being his public persona, because he finds the act he's putting on irritating 💔 He prefers when Madeleine goofs off and isn't trying to be the "perfect paladin"
"And I'm afraid I'll come on too strong" "Hold you too tight and scare you too" Madeleine is also scared of stepping over a boundary Espresso has, he doesn't want to scare him by being too much but he desires to embrace him physically as well, but Espresso isn't as comfortable with physical contact as he is. I think as Espresso would slowly warm up to him he wouldn't mind as much but due to him being demisexual in my headcanon it probably took them a good while to figure it out.
WARNING I'll talk about Espresseliene say gex a bit if you want to read and know about not just the romantic side of things (they're mostly just my Espresso demisexual propaganda anyways) please read ahead:
I also think due to Espresso being demisexual but Madeleine not being on the asexual spectrum at all they had some problems with Madeleine wanting to have sex but Espresso not being a big fan of that idea. I think Madeleine always respected this wish of Espresso but they had to talk it out for sure. I think they might've had sex before he was ready which only Madeleine really enjoyed but Espresso only did to make him happy. This was probably the reason they had to have this talk going forward and Madeleine obviously felt bad about it and understood why Espresso wished for this. However when Espresso was ready to do it again finally after knowing Madeleine for years I think it was a really liberating experience for the both of them.
Also on a bit of an unrelated note and more of the headcanon side of things, I think the reason why Espresso wasn't really in a relationship before was due to the fact that when he was in college and actually experimenting with his sexuality and trying to date men most gay men looked for one thing and that was sex. Espresso did hook up with other guys a few times but it didn't take him long to realize how that world wasn't really for him. I think Espresso got a bunch of bitches that time he like went on dates and stuff but when he realized that the guys wanted to have sex with him he bailed every time LMAO and because of that he just... Didn't date again in college and then he convinced himself he didn't have time for relationship anyways
OKAY ENOUGH OF MY DEMISEXUAL ESPRESSO RANT I'VE PROVED MY POINT
"But I've never been afraid to wear my heart on my sleeve" "At least to prove I'm weak and if you'll cut me I'll bleed"
I think this lyrics perfectly encapsulates how Espresso is really honest and how he isn't good with expressing his emotions but he was never afraid to be honest. At least to prove that he has feelings and that he isn't completely detached emotionally
"Sorry darling please excuse my constant need to self-aggrandize, coddling my narcissism" This is another problem they've had, obviously it's just Madeleine still being a bit egoistic even tho I don't think it was that big of a problem in their relationship due to Espresso being well aware of that fact when he got to know Madeleine more it's still a struggle Madeleine had to overcome. I'd also like to mention that Madeleine is NOT narcissistic he is EGOISTIC and I will kill you on this hill. Either way I still think it suits them pretty well
"I'm not used to fear of losing something I hold dear" I think this would just be another fear of the two of them. Espresso worrying whether Madeleine will come back after his adventures or not, and Madeleine being scared that one day he might see Espresso crumble due to the unhealthy life he'd lived. This mutual fear of seeing the other die is one that's in a lot of romantic relationship, and it's normal. This anxiety would be intensified by the fact that neither of them had a relationship like this before so this fear is unknown to them.
So that's about as much as I wanted to say about this song... I hope you like my headcanons and please do listen to Um, It's Kind of a Lot by Will Wood and the whole "In Case I make it" album I promise you won't regret it. It truly is, a work of art.
Happy Valentines and have a great rest of your day and thank you so much if you read this far!! I know it was kinda a lot *wink wink nudge nudge* but I'm neurodivergent what can I say.
HEY!!! DO YOU LIKE ESPRESSELEINE??? Are you world-weary and beaten down by the devastating LACK of espresseleine content that exists nowadays? Do you want super cool friends who ALSO like espresseleine? Well, if any of the above applies to you, today is YOUR LUCKY DAY! In this shiny brand-new all expenses paid Discord server you can live your DREAMS!!!!!!!!!!!
Emojis! Events! Games! Prizes*! All this and more in the ESPRESSELEINE FAN CLUB (trademark pending)!!! Meet like-minded people to sit in a circle with and scream your love for fictional baked goods at each other. Mash their faces together like barbie dolls! Watch the server owners very badly larp as cookies! Just click the link below 😋
*"Prizes" will mostly constitute sporadically posted doodles of cookies
JOIN NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE NEED FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
since I've kind of being underfeeding you after my last big post, here's esmd hand headcanons!
for Madeleine:
as I've stated before, this is before the war and after odyssey, so he's not that scarred. No wonder, he hasn't gone anywhere dangerous other than the academy's training grounds where he got a few scars. He hopes they'll heal soon, he does care about his appearance after all.
perfectly manicured and don't argue with me, this is a feel.
I'd say 'normal' hands, but they're definitely bigger than average, with veins showing but not that much to be noticeable. And strong. He doesn't train for nothing
Same goes for the arms, (I'll probably make full body headcanons soon to go deeper into this), but given he carries a sword that's as tall as he is, unless said weapon is made of paper and an office employer's hopes and dreams, he has to be muscular to do that)
Doesn't have noticeable birthmarks or moles, a porcelain doll would be jealous of this man.
for Espresso:
Slender, bony hands for sure. Too much work, little sleep, and poor eating habits all influence it. Veins don't show up for him either but his tendons do. Then he isn't exactly known to be the fittest guy alive., he doesn't have time for that.
His nails naturally grow to be sharp and pointy, though he does cut them when they start interfering with his work and activities. When he does, he makes sure they're as short as humanly possible, so a lot of time passes before he's forced to do it again. He does the math.
Tons of moles everywhere, not just on his hands, but EVERYWHERE. He doesn't really stay in the sun a lot, it's more genetic.
Gradient on his hands and arms, from the burns and stains that have become permanent. Don't stay segregated in a lab for too long doing strange experiments I guess. Oh and, he keeps gloves on. His original design was meant to have gloves and I still haven't gone over that.
Has ONE scar on his wrist. Nobody knows where it came from, he just has it. He told me in a dream.
I don't know how popular or not this is of a take but I personally hope the topic of Madeleine's father/other parent never gets touched in the sense that he doesn't have one. I personally don't think Madeleine needs a father nor another parent figure.
Madeleine grew up loved not only by his mother but also his aunties. He grew up surrounded by love (which considering the totality of CRK's cast it's quite a rarity). Maybe it's because I've re-read beastars recently and it made me realise one of the points I love the most in the story is that the absence of one of the parental figures doesn't have to be important when the character has been loved so deeply by the parental figure present in their lives and their family.
I don't remember if this holds any point in canon but since they're cookies, they get made with dough and baked so I'm assuming that it wouldn't be too far fetched for Grand Madeleine to have made Madeleine out of her dough alone (especially since it's hinted that she's physically strong, so it could be possible but I'm just speculating at this point).
This is not to criticise anyone who has thought of possible theories about the hypothetical other parent figure or has made headcanons in that regard of course! Just a personal preference on my end. It's so rare to have characters coming from a single parent family whose story doesn't revolve other the "missing part" of their family, it'd be refreshing if Madeleine fit in the different category.
romaincrisis
dailybridgerton
snowghoul
tangentwithtanner
andulkaphoto
