#featuring new post-trauma hairstyles!!!!

[freckledgeto]

birthdays.

[starfiresyugiohocs]

OC Profile: Maddox Griffin

Full Name: Maddox Robert Griffin Nicknames: Madds, Maddsy, Maddsy Boy (by Max), Dad (jokingly, by the Yugi gang and the DND gang). Aliases: N/a. Nationality: American, ⅓ Italian. Birthplace: Creightonsville, Tennessee. Gender: Male (he/him). Sexuality: Bisexual. Age: 25-27 years old. Birthday: June 28th. Star Sign: Cancer. Occupation: Head of Security for I2, KC and select locations (i.e. Kame Game); security detail for Griffin Security; aspiring chef; Tournament Official/Judge for many tournaments. Voiceclaim: Will Friedle

Hair Color: Black. Hairstyle: Long, reaches his lower back, super wavy and silky. Typically has it pulled up in a ponytail with most of his bangs brushed to one side and two longer strands of hair falling down with them. Eye Color: Red. Skintone: Tan. Notable Features: Stubbled chin, sometimes grows the stubble out a bit more across his cheeks and jaw. Pierced ears, as well as his nips after a dare. Multiple tattoos on his arms, chest, back and legs. Wardrobe Style: Goth Dad. Lots of skinny jeans and black short sleeved/sleeves cuffed at the elbow button up shirts with various designs. Will usually have a chain on a belt he wears. If he is at home though you're just getting him in sweats and bunny slippers. Accessories: Black leather wrist cuffs on both wrists with some loose bracelets, multiple rings.

Personality: Tired Dad energy. Stickler for the rules in games and has to enforce them. Easygoing and good natured. Looks out for everyone and isn't afraid to fight back to defend the people he loves. Mainly just wants to be at home cooking in the peace and quiet. Desperately needs a day off from being the owner of these teenagers' brain cell. Very technologically savvy and intelligent. Inquisitive and curious about the world, especially in studying Ancient magic now that he knows it exists. Always has to have 5 plans at the ready in case shit goes sideways. Sarcasm and snark for days. Can be a bit of a gossipy bitch when around the others. Loving and very attentive partner, he just wants someone to shower in love that won't leave him okay. He's got abandonment trauma and depression. Teller of corny dad jokes. Former wannabe Magician, will not tell a soul about it. Hobbies: Cooking, finding new recipes, binge watching the same show for the 50th time, hiking, camping, rock climbing, boxing, journaling, doing card tricks. Habits/Mannerisms: Messing with his hair, forehead touches as a sign of affection, hands in his pocket, rubbing his jaw when he's thinking, finger guns. Likes: Magic shows, finding old recipe cards, comedies, family dinners, bad jokes, sleeping in, traveling, classic rock, tattoos. Dislikes: Early early mornings, Rich People, virtually nonexistent rules or rule breaking in games, the color orange, Ross Gellers entire existence in Friends, people pronouncing it "care-uh-mel" instead of "car-mel". Favorite Food: Shrimp alfredo. Least Favorite Food: Sweet potatoes.

Deck: Spellcasters. Signature Card(s): Magician of Black Chaos. Ranking: It's actually very rare and unheard of for Maddox to participate in tournaments, but he does have skill as a Duelist. He typically just prefers to ref matches instead, so he isn't officially ranked.

Parents: Chelsea Griffin (nee Mercer) and Vance Griffin. Sibling(s): Kat Mercer (technically his cousin; sees her as his sister), Maximillion J. Pegasus (chosen brother) Child(ren): Dinah Griffin, Dahlia Griffin. Extended Family: See family tree here. Pet(s): A German Shepherd named Diesel. Love Interest (s): Rishid Ishtar. Extensive Relationships: See post here (coming soon.)

History:

Born and raised as his parents only child, and was incredibly close to all of his family growing up, but especially his cousin Cecelia.

Became best friends with Max after he first met Cecelia at the party and became attached at the hip.

Originally wanted to be a magician growing up but that dream died out in middle school (along with him having a period of having buzzed hair because the other kids kept picking on him), and he eventually found his new passion in cooking. However, he kept up private magic shows for Cecelia while she was in the hospital because he knew it made her smile.

Like his cousin Kat, he watched a lot of the people he loved perish and lost them within what felt like a large fell swoop, each one more devastating than the last.

Started dating a girl named Paige in high school, much to everyone's dismay as her parents were extremely snooty but he thought he loved her.

They had the twins, and they became his world. A month after their birth, however, Paige abandons the family, cuts off all contact and simply leaves a note telling Maddox to not tell the girls about her. He falls into a long depression, but tries everything he can to be the best dad for his girls despite it.

Moves to San Francisco with Max and works hard at the family security company, overseeing all of I2's security measures.

Has also taken some culinary classes on the downlow and is going for his degree.

[eri-cheri]

Now that we have reached the last chapter of the year. It is time to do a 2020 roll call of what I like to call, “State of the Shippers”:

1. IzuOcha. Status: Placated.

-IzuOcha’s could celebrate several cute tidbits throughout the year. Mini moments as they say.

Anime Highlights: The OVA’s came in clutch with moments for shippers all around and IzuOcha is no exception. We got a cute tidbit where Izuku and Ochako bumped into each other and were flustered.

Manga Highlights: Christmas kept on giving to this fandom as the AM doll Izuku gave Ochako made many appearances. A cute fist bump between the two was also exchanged and Mina was right there bouncing with y’all.

Heroes Rising: Izuku super man carried Ochako to safety. And was Angy she was injured. Fans could enjoy the small Lois Lane moment.

Troubling Signs?: Ochako said “I would like to be excluded from this narrative” when it comes to her feelings for Deku. She’s a hero damnit! So if they are in for something, probably won’t be while they are still in school.

II. DabiHawks. Status: Yikes.

- Dabi and Hawk’s very public breakup set this fandom in disarray but also kind of disayay?

Anime Highlights: None yet. This fandom was cruelly cock blocked by Bones. Sorry DabiHawks stans.

Manga Highlights: Where to begin, my goodness. With these fans, I guess the good and the bad is a plus in this homoerotic double agent relationship. We have the notion that Dabi may have known Hawks when they were kids, which may be a positive? Hori sure loves his childhood friends. Other than that. The GIRLS WERE FIGHTIN’. Hawks is now permanently scarred by Dabi and I don’t think it was kinky folks. Tokoyami inserted himself in the middle to White Knight Hawks, Dabi broke up with him via YT expose and overall, shippers could anguish in the absolute MESS that this ship endured this year. But I’m sure that’s part of the appeal. So...yay?

Heroes Rising: They were both in it.

Troubling Signs?: The entire relationship is a troubling sign which again, is part of the appeal. Maybe Hawks will cuddle up with Dabi’s father after the war. That’s troubling! Speaking of...

III. EndHawks. Status: Yearning and Burning.

-If there’s one thing Endeavor couldn’t stop worrying about, it was his hot (in more ways than one) new side piece who probably should have looked at the fine print when signing a contract to be a recurring guest star on “Keeping up with the Todoroki’s”.

Anime Highlights: A fateful meeting finally in high definition for all our eyes to see! Hawks’s unwavering support of his biggest hero was endearing to watch and their shenanigans together spurred the anime onlies to finally jump on the biggest May-December ship in the series.

Manga Highlights: Endeavor’s admiration and concern for Hawks seeped through the pages as we entered our most exciting arc in the manga yet. Fate split these two up yet entwined their downfall together. And that Fate’s name was Dabi...or should I say ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️ or should I just say Touya!

Heroes Rising: “Don’t bite my head off, Endeavor.” Geez, can you flirt a little less loud Hawks?

Troubling Signs?: They say never meet your heroes and Hawks is in for a rude awakening. We shall see just how deep his admiration runs or if Endeavor’s past will split our dynamic duo up for good.

IV: TodoDeku. Status: “Precious”

-Shoto’s “Midoriya is in Danger” radar was highlighted in both manga and anime. 4th User’s quirk, who?

Anime Highlights: “Midoriya hasn’t returned yet.” “Where’s Midoriya?” “Midoriya! Grab my hand!” “Have some of my Soba Midoriya.” Shoto gets it. His emotional support friend is a danger magnet. TodoDeku’s also enjoyed tiny tidbits in the OVA such as a hand grabbing scene. Gotta hold tight to those crumbs.

Manga Highlights: Two Words. “Precious Friend.” Deku comes in w/o arms or legs fighting for Shoto and Shoto’s honor. These two spent the entire year worried sick about each other, and going against all odds to save each other. Precious Friends indeed. TDDK fans ate.

Heroes Rising: Shoto kicks some dog ass and then faints thinking of Deku (and Bakugo but shh. Let the shippers rejoice.) On the bright side, we have a 3rd movie coming featuring “The Three Musketeers” so shippers of TdDk can HOLD TIGHT to what’s to come.

Troubling Signs?: Shoto still doesn’t know about OFA and he’s gonna have LOTS of questions after this arc. Will Deku finally tell him? If not, it could make or break the ship.

V. TodoBaku. Status: “Shining through the city with a little funk and soul.”

-Who knew the greatest comedy duo we needed was Shoto and his hot headed “friend” or not friend? It still remains unclear to Shoto. Regardless, these two had a fun year.

Anime Highlights: “I wanna see your cute face”, disco dancing, and more fun in the provisional license training. Plus the OVA added some cute moments between the two such as Bakugo staying behind to save Todoroki during a dangerous excercise and his adorable plan neatly animated for us. I’d say TodoBaku’s really were resurgent and energized this year!

Manga Highlights: Shoto, that is not how you properly Catch a Kacchan, I’m sorry. But at least you did it you mad lad. As with Deku, Shoto spent the year worried sick about Bakugo. While the anime let us have our fun, these two were suffering in the manga.

Heroes Rising: Again, Shoto put a dog down and then fainted with Bakugo on his mind (and Deku but we ignore that. Shush.) TodoBaku’s have the 3rd movie to look forward to which is bound to have some amazing content!

Troubling Signs?: They have a lot of trauma to deal with. And a lot of Deku to worry about. I also imagine Shoto will be hurt about being left out of the OFA secret. We shall see what 2021 has to offer.

VI. KiriMina. Status: Unbreakable.

-Changing your hairstyle to match the gal who inspired you in middle school? Sorry y’all but if Mina were a guy, I’d say that’s gay af.

Anime Highlights: We got that backstory Bois. Red Riot’s origin might as well make him be called Pink Riot. Again with Hori and the childhood friends though I wouldn’t exactly call them friends. They just went to the same middle school but Kirishima was highly influenced by Mina’s Chivalrous spirit! A ship is born!

Manga Highlights: The influence is mutual! Mina creates a move based on Kirishima’s unbreakable and we all let out a collective “awwww”. Also in the war arc, we got Kirishima making sure Mina’s chivalrous spirit shines through right into Gigantomachia’s mouth! KiriMina may just be the unsung MVP’s of this arc.

Heroes Rising: They were in it.

Troubling Signs?: I can’t think of a single one. KiriMina’s can enjoy a peaceful sailing.

VII: KiriBaku. Status: Crumb Collectors.

-2020 was an uneventful year for KiriBaku but Bones made sure there were crumbs aplenty! Thank God for OVA’s!

Anime Highlights: KiriBaku’s did thrive in one episode! Kirishima reflects on the sludge incident and evolves his quirk based on inspiring words from Bakugo! Hooray! KiriBaku’s can thrive in their blossoming friendship. The OVA also has Kirishima (and Kaminari but shh) once again following Bakugo’s lead when it comes to the training excercise. How can you not? He’s so manly!

Manga Highlights: Not gonna lie. There is nothing much here this year. I did find a teeny tiny flake in Aizawa’s flashback. Kirishima and Bakugo are sitting next to each other. Oh! And at the hot pot gathering, Bakugo sits next to Kirishima! Eat your crumbs KiriBaku’s! There’s always next year!

Heroes Rising: Kirishima hangs with a lazy Bakugo and delivers the most hilarious line in the whole movie. “Silly Bakugo, there won’t be villains here!” Hahah... Silly Bakugo. Oh you~ KiriBaku’s can inhale the fact that those two sure love to hover around each other!

Troubling Signs?: With great crumbs come little responsiblity. No trouble if there’s no content! 🤔

VIII: KamiJirou. Status: Singing their hearts out 🎶

-If there’s any ship that’s coming close to canonization, I think this is it, folks! “Think of the person most important to you!” Can’t argue with Midnight!

Anime Highlights: Kaminari does non stop encouraging of Jirou and her hobbies! He works super hard to learn guitar for her sake! We love a king who can encourage his queen!

Manga Highlights: Kaminari thinks of the most important person to him and surprise! It’s Jirou! All of the feels can commence.

Heroes Rising: They were in it!

Troubling Signs?: Kaminari does love his women. And men. Kaminari overall is a huge flirt. But Jirou appears to have his heart strings. ❤️

IX: BakuDeku. Status: Rising. 👑

-Alternative Statuses include Winning, Thriving, Soaring. It’s just been non stop content this year. 2020 is truly the year for BakuDeku. The shippers can rejoice.

Anime Highlights: Three words. Be. My. Cane. The OVA’s helped fan the flames of the BkDk hearts with a surprise! Deku tops! Not only that, we got a lovely shoulder tap of encouragement in the canon material. While in season 4, Deku’s primary focus was Eri. Bakugo and Deku still had their moments to be hella gay.

Manga Highlights: Where do I even begin? I guess we’ll just cut to the chase with Bakugo Katsuki: Rising. We finally saw Bakugo’s true feelings manifest for Deku and if getting stabbed for him isn’t the ultimate showing of love, then idk what is. BakuDeku’s rounded out the year with the Volume 29 cover AND the volume 29 cover drafts to eat at our heart strings. Overall, their relationship got the spotlight in the manga this year. And we’re bound to start 2021 with a dramatic confrontation. Hand holding seems to be the key with these two and it didn’t stop with Heroes Rising...speaking of.

Heroes Rising: The entire movie. Like....yeah. That’s it. [OP, your bias is showing. You have to be SPECIFIC.] {But random criticizer in my head, if I lay out the entire plot of the movie, my post will be too long} [OP....] UGHHHH Okay okay. The POPSICLE MELTING. THE HAND HOLDING. THE CHARACTER DESIGNS OF WHAT MIGHT AS WELL BE THEIR LOVE CHILDREN. Did I mention? “It’s fine if it’s you?” CAUSE YEAH. Oh and All Might randomly officiating their wedding in their heads like idk. Isn’t it just simpler if I say the whole movie??!

Troubling Signs?: Well these two’s relationship is extremely delicate and while it has non stop soared this year, Deku might not take too kindly to Bakugo almost dying for him. Will they stop pushing each other away? Time will tell.

That’s all for this year folks! Happy Shipping and good luck to everyone next year!

[vnckocurzyca]

New chapter new analysis

I’m publishing it one more time because it didnt show in tags for some reason???

I put it under “read more” so maybe now.

I finally read translation so I can finally write something about the new chapter. I know people’s strong feelings towards it and I think it’s totally understandable huh

I, personally, liked this chapter even if I think it was creepy as fuck. But I know Jun’s work and how she writes her stories and I know that she purposely made it really uncomfortable. I think this chapter was made to be upsetting because what happened during it was kinda important?

Warning; LONG POST (contains spoilers to new chapter)

First thing - Noe was forced to see some Vanitas’s memories. Of course by Misha eyes, but still it’s Vanis past. And as we know already, Vanitas REALLY didn’t want Noe to know about anything his past-related. He even threated him that he would kill you if Noe would someday try to drink his blood. So it’s opening for totally new conflict. We have two options

Vanitas would come to place and see Noe drinking Mishas blood and it would be horrible

Vanitas wouldn’t see it and Noe would live in sting of remorse and we know how emotional Noe is and it would be also horrible. And this option also has 2 options

Noe would finally tell Vani that he drank Mishas blood and it would be horrible

Misha would tell Vanitas that Noe drank his blood and it also would be horrible

When Noe started drinking Mishas blood he walked into a trap and there is no escape now. Vanitas is going to KNOW this and its going to be a problem, because knowing Vanis past, memories and emotions was a borderline in their relationship - Noe didn’t get a permission to step over it. And now he just... steped, because of Mishas blackmail.

Also the whole scene was made to be creepy - we can clearly see that Noe is distraught and scared and uncomfortable. We can hear his thoughts, we can see his terrified face

He is terrified for A LOT of reasons. A lot.

He is scared of Domis life. He don’t know what is going on with her and she is unconscious and she can literally DIE. Domi is his best friend, his childhood friend and nearly all family he has left. Domi is the closest person to him and he can’t just lose her like he lost Louis.

He DON’T WANT to read Vanitas’s past without his permission and knowledge. Its awful, it’s non consensual and non-con it’s something Noe hates, because, even if he would like to know Vani’s past (what he said back before Gevaudan arc) he don’t want to know it without Vanis consenst and he didn’t push. And now he is forced to see them, to betray Vani’s trust.He, probably, hates himself thanks to it.

He is blackmailed, bullied and intimidated which is bad on it’s own. He has absolutely NO CONTROL over a situation, he is absolutely subordinated and can’t do anything to change his situation. It’s scary.

He is forced to drink blood, which is a really intimate and delicate activity for him. He hates being forced to drink blood and forcing to drink blood, and, additionaly, Misha is a kid. Or, at least, he look like a kid (it’s hard to say his age for sure and how many years their past with Moreau happened). It’s gross, creepy and weird and Noe feels it. We can see him backing away from a fucking kid.

Jun did it purposely. Combine all of it, to made the horror moment for him, probably to break him in front o Misha.

The running thing in Vanitas no Carte is motif of Noe not having any control over anything in his life (even without his noticing). Noe never had a control over anything.

He didn’t have a control over his life during childhood, ie when he was sold on auction

He didn’t have any control over Louis’s death and curse. He couldn’t do anything to save him or to save other kids back then. He could do nothing.

He don’t have any control in general - he was trained by the Teacher to be his pupil. Noe don’t even know how big control Grandpa de Sade has over him and his doings.

He didn’t have any control when Domi found him at Orloks. She just kidnapped him to Altus.

He don’t have any control over his relationship with Jeanne - anytime he wants to talk to her or about her he is interuptted.

He didn’t want his blood be sucked by Ruthven and he didn’t want to Swear.

He don’t have any control now. He didn’t wanted to know Vanis past non consensualy, he didn’t wanted to drink Mishad blood, he don’t want to see Domi in this situation.

It’s a writing continuity. We are being told how little control Noe has over his (and others) life. It’s becaming a plot point. MochiJun knows what she is doing. She purposely made the whole chapter creepy and unsettling. She need us to know that what is happening right now is wrong - not only drinking blood from a 1/4 naked kid, but also the rest. Everything. That this chapter is traumatic - we literally touched Noes trauma, Domis trauma and Mishas trauma over a few pages and panels:

Dominique - we can see how she reacted to Louis death, how she wanted to make Noe feels better, why she changed her hairstyle and outfit, how she hated herself because it was her brother who died, not her. We can see it now - she is depressed, she hatees herself and would prefer to die over Louis. She was easy to catch for Misha.

Noe - we can see that he can do anything for Domi because she is his last friend, his family, last thing (person) he has. He can’t lose her, he is desperate and traumatized over Louis death so he can do anything, even suck Mishas blood and know Vanis past even if he hates it and its wrong for him.

Misha - we can see thanks to his flashbacks that it was hinted he was (if I undertand english correctly, sorry, it’s not my first language) se*//ually abused as a child. He thought his mother was possesed by devil, it was traumatizing on it’s own, but he was also dressed as a girl, physically abused and hit by his mother and used during her “sessions” with clients. Then he was kidnapped by Moreau who, probably, was experimenting on him just like on Vanitas - so Misha was abused again. And later Vanitas killed “father” what also traumatized him. His behaviour towards Noe it’s not really that suprising - its horrible and sad and heartbreaking knowing why Misha is that way, but its logical. It has sense. It’s just how his trauma made him.

Sooo do I think what happened in the chapter was good or okay? No. It was creepy and made me feel sick. But do I think Jun is bad for making it this way? No. I think her work is great, because she actually did planned it logically. She delivered TONS OF INFORMATIONS by only one chapter. Tons, about a lot of characters - Misha, Vanitas, Noe, Dominique, even Roland (he know Misha is one thing, but, also, why he was so beaten up? What happened my man? Who hurted you?) It wasn’t just gross pedo-fanservice some people accused it to be. (even if it was gross anyway och my gos this scene with Misha standing over Noe was frightening, I was just as scared as Noe, I felt like I was in his place and I was looking at Misha)

Also! I’m pretty sure one of the reason for Misha undressing his collar a little bit was for us (and maybe Noe too) to see his possesion mark on his arm. For some reason we, as an audience, need to know this.

But! We also get a lot of different informations -

Domi is a royal guard and is working in castle, so she probably knew Luca before and had contact with him or some other royal people. i think it’s interesting that she worked at castleas a royal guard.

Luca probably likes Domi and was worried about her. Also after knowing she is missing he decided to took direct actions, he is not passive.

Misha has Vanitas of the Blue Moon’s possesion mark on his hand. It’s really interesting, especially when we know that its his prosthetic arm. Somebody tried to cut his arm with a possesion mark and I bet it was Vanitas or Misha himself. Yet it DIDN’T work, mark of possesion is still here, above his prosthetic.

Noe “don’t know anything about Vanitas”. It was an important sentence. It was something that Noe need to know narratively speaking. It’s pushing the story forward, because Noe’s and Vani’s relationship is the core of the story. It was literally told in the first chapter that it’s a story about their journey.

Misha had a lot of bruises on his whole body after he was rescued. We knew he was beaten, but we could also see it’s evidence.

Mishas face when Noe drank his blood was similar to his mother face when a vampire drank his blood. It wasn’t accidental, we were shown his trauma and how it’s affected him.

Next thing I noticed:

In this panel, Misha looks A LOT like Vanitas. Og course he has child features and chubbier face, he has white(?) hair and eyelashes ets, but his mimic, his gaze, how one of his eyes is covered by hair and his words. Its literally how Vanitas’s panel would be draw. It’s really Vanitaish.

We also got some questions, like:

What happened to Misha and how he lost his hand?

What Luca ordered Jeanne? (probably to check out real Paris and maybe find Domi or Noe)

Why Mishas mark of possesions was so important for us to know?

Is that Roland met Misha in the past important?

Why was Roland so beaten up?

There was also one more thing. Jun is operating in her story not only by making parallels betweend her characters (ie Teacher and VotBM, or Astolfo nad Vanitas, or Louis and Domi etc) but also contrasts. The biggest contrast motif on the story are probably Vanitas and Noe thanks to not only their history, but also their appearance, personality, design of their clothes, their height, their names (Vanitas being related to death and vanity, Noe being related to saving and something biblical etc). Their whole characters are made constrast. And so we got here:

Vanitas and Misha are not made parallels, theyre made contrast.

Misha is looking from the upside, Vanitas is looking from the above, Mishas hair is white, Vanitas hair is black, Vani has a shadow over his face, misha is lighted. Misha has white eyelashes, Vani has black. Misha looks calm an suprised, Vani looks stressed. Their whole “atmosphere” is different. Even if Misha is bruised in this panel he looks clean, even angelic, when Vanitas looks... bad, he has dark circles under eyes, wrinkled eyebrows, bandage etc. They’re made to contrast themselves, not to be compared to. It’s the next hint about their role in the story I suppose. That they’re not similar, they’re not the same and there is something basically different about their roles.

I would also like to write about shadow and light work in this chapter, but I’m just really tired right now, soo here it is! My analyze od the new chapter, or, at least, the most important parts of it (for me). I liked it in general, but it was... stressed and I was anxious about this chapter for the one whole day. But in general I think Jun did gods work with delivering informations she wanted to delivere.

[dansiere]

—    BASICS.

▸     IS    YOUR    MUSE    TALL    /    SHORT    /    AVERAGE ? Pearl stands at 5′10″ (178 cm) which renders her rather tall whenever compared to most women/humans in general. However, compared to most Gems she seems of average height. After all, she is easily dwarfed by Gems that stand higher in Homeworld’s hierarchy such as quartzes, jaspers, agates, bismuth, or, most strikingly diamonds. There are some exceptions, however. Pearl (i.e) towers over most peridots, lapis, sapphires, larimar and rubies. 

▸      ARE    THEY    OKAY    WITH    THEIR    HEIGHT ? She is not necessarily bothered by it but isn’t too fond of it either. Pearl is rather self-conscious about her appearance, given how much of it is linked to her status as former servant. The underlying discomfort notwithstanding; similar to her age, her height is but a number to her. 

▸      WHAT’S    THEIR    HAIR    LIKE ? Predominantly peach in colour, it can be considered orange from time to time [you may call her a ginger]. It’s relatively short & cut in a pixie cut at the front while styled up in the back. It reaches slightly beneath chin-length when wet but usually keeps its form due to well, Gem magic. Pearl used to wear a messier version of her standard hairstyle in her “youth”; indeed, during the war, she proudly donned a more “wild” look to complement her status as a renegade, whereas her hairstyle during her days spent in servitude featured a ‘rosebud’ kind of cut. Shortly after Rose’s death & Steven’s birth, Pearl eventually donned a very tidy & clean-cut look [for reasons that I will elude on further below]; no hair is allowed to pop out of its place. -- her hair itself is surprisingly soft & fluffy to the touch. 

▸     DO    THEY    SPEND    A    LOT    OF    TIME    ON    THEIR    HAIR     /    GROOMING ? Sadly, yes. She does not need to tend to her form per se but does so anyway in order to keep up a flawless & orderly appearance at any given time. -- however, ever since CYM, Pearl has gradually become more laid-back again & thus donned a messier hairstyle more reminiscent of the one worn during the war.

▸      DOES   YOUR   MUSE   CARE   ABOUT   THEIR   APPEARANCE   /   WHAT    OTHERS    THINK ? Absolutely, yes. While she will never admit it, Pearl is very, very self-conscious out of various reasons (one being her abysmal self-esteem). Never one to bring up physical attributes (why, in theory, she does not necessarily believe that she has much to offer in that regard. Her body is a hardlight projection & she perceives it as such), she is nonetheless hyperaware of what exactly her appearance entails. Pearls are designed to look "pretty” & are EASILY recognized based on their lanky & delicate built (i.e their noses, slim & rather ‘androgynous’ physique, posture, voice, & even more ‘individual’ traits such as hairstyle or the colour of their clothes). Needless to say, the fact that she possesses the physical traits of a pearl will always mark her as something or someone ‘special’ in a negative sense; more an object than a person, to be exact. Due to that, she has been changing her form quite often in the past, always trying her utmost to go against any classically pearl-esque trait.

—    PREFERENCES.

▸     INDOORS    OR    OUTDOORS ?  both ▸     RAIN   OR    SUNSHINE ?  sunshine, though she is fascinated by Earth’s weather in general. ▸     FOREST    OR    BEACH ?  again, both even though she has a preference for the beach due to basically having lived right next to one for approx. 5000 years. ▸     PRECIOUS    METALS  OR    GEMS ?  ... hm. Swords. ▸     FLOWERS    OR    PERFUMES ?  flowers by a long shot. ▸     PERSONALITY  OR    APPEARANCE ? personality; though admittedly, she developed quite the type regarding appearance. It is canon that most of her ‘flings’ resembled Rose.   ▸     BEING    ALONE    OR    BEING    IN    A    CROWD ?  being in a crowd; she feels at unease in both cases but loneliness is something she is absolutely terrified of (she is prone to self-isolation during or after a breakdown, however: partially out of the desire to punish herself); Pearl is someone who needs people around her, preferably two. She may retreat to her room rather often or like to sit outside on her own but she only feels truly at ease whenever Garnet, Rose / Steven & Amethyst are in her proximity. ▸     ORDER    OR    ANARCHY ?  order, without a doubt. Her younger self was certainly more fond of anarchy, however. It is also important to state that she sometimes WISHES she could simply solve her problems in a duel again; after all, to her, as a fan of logic, fighting is less stressful than dealing with her emotions. ▸     PAINFUL    TRUTHS    OR   WHITE    LIES ?  white lies., without a doubt. Pearl is an excellent liar; not necessarily by choice but... well. She is fairly good at twisting words. ▸     SCIENCE    OR    MAGIC ?  science. ▸     PEACE    OR    CONFLICT ?  another quite difficult choice; while she fights for peace, conflict is where she thrives. It is one of those ironic cases in which a person defines or rather defined herself by participating in a war & for Pearl the war was ... well, detrimental to her identity. She romanticizes it to NO END. ▸     NIGHT    OR    DAY ?  both; it does not make much of a difference to her in the end. She might prefer night time simply because she loves to stargaze but well. She is fond of the sun too. ▸     DUSK    OR   DAWN ?  dawn; Pearl loves watching the sun rise. ▸     WARMTH    OR    COLD ?  again, it makes no difference. Pearl cannot feel either. ▸     MANY   ACQUAINTANCES    OR    A    FEW    CLOSE    FRIENDS ?  few close friends; as I stated earlier, she needs people around her because she cannot really be alone. That urge notwithstanding, Pearl is a very introverted person who struggles with social norms; in fact, she often forces herself to socialize to a ridiculous degree. In SU:Future, she is constantly trying to meet new people that are capable of a) giving her the validation she requires, b) still fill the hole that Rose left & c) to distract herself from whatever uncomfortable thoughts are on her mind post-CYM. Her prime focus remains the Crystal Gems, but it is safe to say that she is lowkey trying to emulate an environment she revelled in during war times; she likes to be admired by people since it gives her confidence & stability. -- there is a reason why she calls her human acquaintances “her fanclub”. ▸     READING    OR    PLAYING    A    GAME ?  reading; she loves games that include strategic thinking or logic in general, however. Or anything that allows her to ramble on & on about topics of interest.

—    QUESTIONNAIRE.

▸      WHAT    ARE    SOME    OF    YOUR    MUSE’S    BAD    HABITS ? She is a nervous wreck; a mess. Pearl’s biggest issue is her inability to let go of the past or deal with her emotions in a healthy way. Her tons of personal growth notwithstanding, she is fond of white lies & emotional self-destruction. While she is usually selfless by nature, most of her rather reckless actions have proven to be quite damaging to those around her (i.e. Garnet, Amethyst, Steven & even herself). Pearl is furthermore emotionally unstable & spins out of control hard & fast, is prone to extreme jealousy, possessiveness & obsession may it be with Rose or details/symmetry, what if’s & cleanliness as such. Pearl is quick to judge, over-protective, terribly patronizing at times (even though she does not mean to be), incredibly controlling & just “does too much” whenever pushed. She is also fond of blaming herself in quite the fatal way & lives “inside her head” way too much. Low-self esteem & lack of confidence leads to her lashing out rather than handling situations in a calm manner; while appearing steady & being quite the strategist, she can turn into a bundle of nerves within a second, usually yielding to hysteria & knee-jerk reactions that do more harm than good. -- she means well & she is a very loving/caring person who has her heart in the right place but sometimes she just... messes up. After all, she never truly had the time to deal with her own myriad of trauma & it shows. 

▸      HAS    YOUR    MUSE    LOST    ANYONE    CLOSE    TO    THEM ?      HOW    HAS    IT    AFFECTED    THEM ? Yes, her partner/lover Rose Quartz. It is a loss that is still haunting her 16 years after the other’s death; needless to say, she did not handle it well at all. While she knew that Rose would die to give birth to Steven (mainly due to her having been told in advance / her suspecting so after Rose fell in love with Greg), Pearl held on to the thought of her ‘changing her mind’ until the very end. When the time came, Pearl utterly collapsed. She spent the first few months in utter self-isolation (either sitting next to Rose’s statue at the fountain or in her room, laying on her back & staring at the wall / ceiling or knees to her chest), barely speaking to anyone; the very mention of Rose or Steven made her burst into tears. It went so far that she... basically tried to shatter herself after around six months. Pearl was, however, stopped by Garnet who showed herl a future in which Steven would come to grow & live alongside them, just how Rose had wanted it to be. Pearl still poofed herself but emerged later with a changed form, apologizing for her behaviour & swearing to never try something that selfish ever again.

     Her newfound hope notwithstanding; coercing herself to function normally (after just a year) despite her looming agony put a serious strain on her & most of her already damaged relationships to the other two remaining Crystal Gems. She stopped confiding in Garnet, & her relationship to Amethyst broke apart; she was moody, screamed at the others, ran away, lost focus during missions which eventually endangered the life of her comrades & her own. She got poofed several times & as a consequence took longer to regenerate up until the point were she got more & more lethargic, volatile & eventually depressed with no drive, trying her utmost to function via hyperfixating on Steven. Additionally, she (i.e) developed a neurosis & a serious obsession with cleanliness & details as a consequence, busying herself with her role as Steven’s caretaker & housekeeping duties, with Garnet serving as her rock in her weakest & most volatile moments. -- she eventually managed to make the conscious decision to move on around Steven’s 15th birthday & has been working on herself ever since. Needless to say, it is a slow progress.

▸      WHAT    ARE    SOME    FOND    MEMORIES    YOUR    MUSE    HAS ?   Most of Pearl’s happy memories pivot around pretty much everything that happened during the Gem War, with a heavy focus on whatever Rose & her did together. -- one of the most striking experiences she told Steven about was the discovery of the Lunar Blossom Grove that ended with her & Rose “dancing all night” in a pause between several battles, or the time she sat on top of a cliff above Strawberry Fields, where Rose & her made the promise to stay on Earth & spend their future together. Other happy memories include heroic battles alongside Garnet & Bismuth, fusions between her & Rose or discovering Earth’s beauty. She has thousands of memories that go into the same direction which she will fondly talk about whenever asked. 

▸     IS    IT    EASY    FOR    YOUR    MUSE    TO    KILL ? Yes. She is a veteran who fought in a thousand-year war for Earth’s independence. She shattered & poofed various Gems; efficient, precise & took no risks. 

▸      WHAT’S    IT    LIKE    WHEN    YOUR    MUSE    BREAKS    DOWN ? Oh, it’s ugly. She gets very emotional (hysterical, almost); a lot of tears, a lot of balled fists & screaming. In the worst cases, she gets aggressive, vocal, & even physical from time to time. She will punch walls, shatter objects, run her hands through her hair. She will lash out, say things that HURT & won’t apologize either. Most part of the time, Pearl runs off whenever it is too much. When alone, she will usually collapse & cry until she can’t no more. After that follows a period of her staying silent for hours. -- sometimes she calms down & pretends nothing ever happened or tries to make up for her actions by doing favours for those she has hurt.

▸      IS    YOUR    MUSE    CAPABLE    OF    TRUSTING    SOMEONE    WITH    THEIR    LIFE ?

Partially yes, partially no. Pearl does not value her life as much as she should. The only person she ever blindly trusted was Rose & even that came around to bite her in the end. She trusts Garnet to always have her back & watch over her, while she herself considers Steven & Amethyst people she ought to protect. -- however, Pearl is the type to willingly throw herself off a cliff almost immediately if it will spare someone she loves from an untimely end.

▸      WHAT’S    YOUR    MUSE    LIKE    WHEN    THEY’RE    IN    LOVE ? Pearl is an extremely romantic person; usually very physical & devoted, she will go miles for her s.o (imagine every romance movie cliche ever & you may get a good idea of how she will behave). Rather old fashioned, she is the kind of person that writes love letters or poetry; the kind that takes her s.o. to secluded places to spend the night with dancing under the stars, bring flowers or wine & simply take the time to make her s.o. feel loved. She is passionate through & through; her love is the yearning kind, extremely loyal, thoughtful, and all-consuming. Why, if Pearl falls for someone, she falls very, very hard.

tagged by : @foxcharmed, expect a letter from my lawyer soon. This meme came for me. tagging :  @reantte, @huntershowl, @kissafist, @ndeavor, @spiraledheart, @spnel, @carvedbones, @handspoken, & @enshijou.

[astrology-india]

How To Get a Taurus Man Back After a Breakup

New Post has been published on https://www.astrology-india.com/how-to-get-a-taurus-man-back-after-a-breakup/

How To Get a Taurus Man Back After a Breakup

A man born under the astrology zodiac sign of the Bull between the dates of 20th April – 20th May is not the type of guy who would easily decide to break up with their partner.

Taurus is ruled by Venus which is the planet of love, making him one of the most affectionate of the zodiac signs.

Whatever the reason for the breakup, the good news for you is that a Taurus man has the characteristics to be forgiving, provided he is treated with respect and consideration. They prefer a long-lasting relationship and they tend to favor comfort over chaos.

There must have been a good reason for your crush to walk away, but that doesn’t mean he has stopped loving you. Learning how to get a Taurus man back after a breakup may seem like an uphill challenge but things can be rectified with understanding on both sides.

Since Taurus is a fixed earth sign he is also the most inflexible of them all. Imagine how frightening a charging bull can be, and you will realize you do not want to see the wrath of that bull, especially if it’s aimed at you. He needs stability and he craves the feeling to be loved.

If your Taurus man was the one who ended things, know that it might have been the hardest decision in his life. After the breakup, things will play on his mind and it will definitely take time to forgive and forget.

On the other hand, if you broke up with him you might have wounded him more than you thought. If however, you realized what a huge mistake you have made, know that his stubbornness will make things a bit complicated but not impossible.

Could your relationship be as it once was? Or are you going to let the chance of true happiness slip through your fingers without finding out? You may be surprised at how easy it is to re-light the fires of desire, read on to find out.

6 Tips On How To Get A Taurus Man Back After A Breakup

You Both Need Time To Heal

No matter the reason for your breakup, time can heal all wounds. Time can give him space to gather his thoughts and it also allows you a space to work on yourself.

It is important at this stage not to throw yourself at him but to give him some time to think of you and miss you.

It is also important that you don’t stand so far back that he thinks you don’t want his love again. This creates a delicate situation that can be handled with text messages. By using carefully crafted words you will be able to sow the seeds of desire without pressurizing him.

You, like me, understand how the trauma of a break with someone you love will cause an emotional shock. However, if you want to know how to get a Taurus man back after a breakup you need to think clearly, also you may need some help to make sure your efforts are successful.

A program that I know has helped many women in a similar situation is Text Chemistry. It has been designed by Amy North who is a top relationship coach. It provides detailed words, that can be used in text messages, to stimulate desire in your Taurus man’s mind.

This may sound a bit way out and hard to believe, but a Taurus man is known to have an active imagination and that he is open to subconscious thoughts. Don’t take my word for it, you can listen to this video in which Amy explains the subliminal power of Text Chemistry here.

Remember The Amazing Times You Shared Together

Creating a means of communication without the pressure of face to face meetings will allow you to bring out the reasons for the initial breakup.

If you can communicate you may be surprised to find the things you took for granted were very important to him.

You can use to your own advantage his need to be validated and loved, and this could work for both situations.

Whether he initiated the breakup, or it was you who ended it, mention particular events from your past that built the foundation to your relationship.

Hopefully, things will lead on to a date when you both can sit and logically discuss the past, present, and with luck the future. You will then be able to tell him he means the world to you, remind him of how fantastic you two were together, and be as kind and thoughtful as you can be.

Cook For Him And Plan a Romantic Dinner

If you managed to get him to listen, invite him on a date and make it count by giving everything you got.

It can be as simple as cooking his favorite food or making a reservation at the restaurant you went on your first date.

You have to make sure you look your stunning best and surprise him by looking as he has never seen you before.

Nothing flash, or too revealing but an outfit that hi-lights your best features. Possibly a new hairstyle and subtle makeup that shows off your vitality.

This is the time to make yourself look even sexier so he could see what he has lost or to speed up the recovery of his wounded ego. Listen to this short video as Amy explains Text Chemistry here. This may well be the key that opens his heart and makes him think only of you.

You could possibly buy him a token present, something small but connected with his special interest or something that triggers a happy memory of you two together. Since Taurean men are usually materialistic this will subtly seduce him.

”I miss you like the desert misses the rain”

If you are honest about your feelings, you have to show him that you are still passionate about him and that you miss having him in your life.

It helps him to know he is still desired and that could light the spark between you two.

It might not work at first, but it sure does help to be more affectionate.

Offer him tender touches and reassure him in every way that he is the light of your life. But do not overdo things and make him feel you are desperate and needy.

If you were the one to call things off but now you realized he is the love of your life, just stay true to your intentions. Play the romantic card and show him you are strong and mature enough for your relationship. Be cool, and show him your independence.

Do Not Fake Your Feelings

A Taurus man has a kind of built-in six sense that enables him to pick up on situations that are not genuine. Be careful not to mess him around.

He can sense if you want him back for the wrong reasons and he will become very suspicious.

You wouldn’t want that, would you? You need to stay true to him and yourself. If not, the second chance he gives you will be wasted and another one is not likely to be given if you betray his trust.

Be Strong And Show Him You Are Grounded And Steady

A Taurus man is as steady as a rock and he wants a woman who has the same principles, not a woman who is easily distracted or bored. Show him you can be trusted and above all, be the woman he can count on at any time.

He needs to be with a woman who is mature and knows exactly what she wants because he doesn’t have the patience for on and off relationships. Show an interest in his hobbies or even become a follower of a particular sport that turns him on.

I have included this YouTube video because I hope the advice it contains about how to get a Taurus man back after a breakup will cap everything you need.

  Final Thoughts

As I pointed out, Taurus men love stability, and they ardently love their significant other. But they are still Bulls who don’t like to be pushed or rushed into doing things they are not comfortable with. The fact that they are so in love with stability could play as an advantage for you.

Don’t lose hope because your relationship could definitely be saved! To make him fall back in love with you, show him how passionate and affectionate you are once you have sowed the seeds of desire in his mind via Text Chemistry.

Your Taurus crush may actually have wanted you back from the moment he’d lost you, but by being one of the most stubborn of signs could not bring himself to make the first move.

If you play your cards right and use the advice mentioned above, this is how to get a Taurus man back after a breakup. Just make sure your every move is well-intentioned and true. He will not stop loving you and he will be committed to you as long as you understand and support him.

The Future With A Taurus Man

For more articles regarding romantic situations with a Taurus man, click through to my Homepage here.

[schmergo]

My Unified Theory of Mark Hamill’s Face

So, this is a totally unnecessary and lengthy post, but yesterday, I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole about Mark Hamill’s face and the difference in his appearance between the first two Star Wars movies. As you probably know, he was injured in a car accident after the filming of A New Hope, before the movie was released. It’s also said that the ice monster attack in Empire Strikes Back was created to explain the change in his face.

Reading up on it, it’s hard to find any concrete facts, with people on Reddit claiming that Mark Hamill’s accident was much more serious than anyone knew and that his whole face practically had to be reattached, versus this article that claims that his appearance didn’t change at all beyond episodes 4 and 5 beyond normal aging and mild weight gain. And I definitely do not agree with that statement. It’s clear that after the first movie, he has a flatter and slightly more asymmetrical nose, rounder eyes, some small but visible scars, especially over his top lip (which changes the movement of his lip). He doesn’t look BAD, just different.

But the article also points out many issues of time line with the excessive, overblown myth of Mark Hamill’s accident (he filmed another movie after A New Hope called Corvette Summer before his famously weird appearance in the Star Wars Christmas Special, which disproves the myth that the special was done right after the accident when he was high on pain meds) and that Mark Hamill had said he just fractured his nose and cheekbone.

I propose this is a case of “Everybody’s Right, Everybody’s Wrong.” Mark Hamill’s accident truly did only fracture his nose and cheekbone and got a few cuts on his face but those injuries still significantly changed his face, especially up close on screen. I think a lot of people don’t understand how facial fractures work.

I have seen firsthand (or at least second-hand) that a broken/fractured nose can really alter someone’s whole appearance. Someone I know very well fractured their nose when we were kids (in an accident in which I played a part) and the difference before and after was significant, especially when their face was still swollen and had two black eyes. No wonder Hamill would have said he thought his career was over when he saw his face after the accident. The swelling after hurting your nose is significant. When the person I knew recovered, they still looked just as adorable but their facial appearance was markedly different.

Your nose is in the center of your face and your ability to be recognized depends on the proportions of and distances between features. Because of that, changing your nose can change everything- trauma to the bridge changes distance between eyes, trauma to the tip changes distance between nose to mouth, changes to the width of the nose changes proportion to mouth and eyes, changes in height of the bridge/length of the tip changes the harmony of your profile. That’s why certain celebrities look so different after “just a nose job.” Often, it really is just a nose job.

Also, a study in JAMA Plastic Surgery shows that in up to 90% of the cases of surgery on a nose, the shape of the lip is changed as well and projects outward more. It wouldn’t surprise me if this happened in the reconstruction of Hamill’s nose and explains why his mouth seems different other than the scar.

The article I posted earlier claims that the change in the shape of his eyes was just due to aging and that there was never any record of injury to his eyes. The writer fails to realize that there WAS injury to his cheekbone.

Actually, several bones make up what we call the “cheekbone,” and that includes the orbital wall, orbital rim, and orbital floor among others. “Orbital” means eye socket.

It’s pretty likely that Hamill damaged some of these structures. Especially since-I’m about to get real technical here- but I’ve researched facial fractures before for writing (and again when I was terrified of fracturing my jaw after wisdom tooth surgery).

Blunt force trauma tends to create fractures along three different potential lines in the mid-face. These are called La Fort fractures.

It sounds like he probably had Type 2 or 3 based on the description of “nose and cheekbone.” In both cases, that affects the eye socket.

Now, onto Corvette Summer, the movie that the article thinks debunked the myth of his face having changed. Remember, this was filmed before the Star Wars Christmas Special or Empire Strikes Back. I agree that he’s healed in this film, but he DOES look different, despite what the article says. Hamill was tan in A New Hope and tans were trendy back then, but if you look at him in Corvette Summer, they’ve got him RIDICULOUSLY tan, probably to cover up his scars. And if you look at his nose, it had the same shape as in ESB, flatter, slightly asymmetrical, and with one nostril bigger than the other. It’s harder to tell with all the dark makeup. However, his haircut is similar to A New Hope. I do think the change in hairstyles in later Star Wars movies amplified the change in his face.

As for the infamous Star Wars Christmas Special, no, I don’t think he was high on pain pills or keeping it barely together while grievously injured. It’s just a bad movie with bad directing and acting. But his heavy makeup was horrible and incompetently applied, and most likely for the same reason as his heavy makeup in Corvette Summer. They’ve aggressively tried to contour his nose to make it look straighter and to minimize his left (our right) nostril. It did not work. It just draws more attention to his nose.

As for the attack at the beginning of ESB, George Lucas has said that it was always in the script before the accident, while Carrie Fisher and Hamill have said they built on his existing scars to create his fake imjuries. Why can’t both be true? The attack was always planned but the precise facial injuries were recreated to make it look more realistic and perhaps explain the difference in his face. But Lucas was right, it’s not weird for Luke Skywalker to have some scars after a few years of battles and adventures. It’s nothing compared to the scars his dad Anakin had.

I actually think Hamill’s scars have gotten more pronounced rather than less as he ages. That’s not uncommon. If you have scars, it affects the way your skin moves when you talk and smile, which means your wrinkles form asymmetrically. I have a faint scar on my forehead that affects the way my forehead moves around it and will probably affect the way wrinkles form as I age.

So if anyone ever brings up Mark Hamill’s mysterious accident and claims he had a face transplant or anything wacky, you can share my rather middle of the road common sense dissection of what really happened to his face!

[scandalmania]

Find Your Beauty MAGAZINE x Natalie | RINA (SCANDAL) 

This feature is a collaboration project with Milbon, a company that handles hair care items exclusively for hair salons, and Natalie. In addition to an interview with female artists and actresses with the theme of "hair" each time, interviews with hair arrangement videos and conversations about hairdressers or hair+makeup are posted on Find your Beauty MAGAZINE, Milbon's special site.

Our fourth guest is SCANDAL's drummer RINA. As she mentioned, 「I've loved hair + makeup and fashon since I was young」 during the interview, she is the most aesthetic person among the SCANDAL members, going to the hair salon twice a month. We asked why RINA sticks to visuals, such as connections between hairstyles and stage performances.

Article translated by TGE @ Scandal Heaven. Read the full article under the cut.

Trauma of being mistaken for a boy

──What kind of hairstyle did you have as a child?

I had long hair as a child. My mom was great at doing my hair, and I have memories of going to kindergarten with a different hairstyle every morning. There was a time when I had perms done; I liked putting on a headband then.

──Have you been particular about your hairstyles since you were young?

I have. I think my mom was a big influence, but I've loved hair + makeup and fashon since I was young. When my mom encouraged me to cut my hair very short in kindergarten, the cashier at a supermarket mistook me for a boy and called me by a male pronoun. That was such a shock for me that I grew my hair out for a while (laughs). In my third or fourth year of middle school I thought, 「I probably won't be mistaken for a boy anymore」 and cut my hair short once, but in the end I just kept growing my hair out afterwards.

──SCANDAL made their major label debut in 2008 with the single 「DOLL」. All of the members had long, black hair then.

The band formed when I was in middle school, and at that time I could not dye or arrange my hair because of the school rules, so the four of us were matching with long, black hair. We had black hair at the time of our major label debut since we still had members in high school.

──In the music video for your single 「LOVE SURVIVE」 that released in July 2011 you shed your school uniforms, and a variety of hairstyles and hair colors has increased since then.

That's right. We had more freedom with our hairstyles by shedding our uniforms. After that we've enjoyed putting in very long extensions, putting in inner colors, and doing various hairstyles and colors.

Hairstyles are decided by the merits of the stage

──Which hairstyle do you think has been your most flashy one to date?

The purple color I had during our arena tour (their 「PERFECT WORLD」 arena tour held from the end of 2015). We all went for simple, casual outfits, and instead made our hairstyles flashy. I would never have done purple if I wasn't in a band. I'm not afraid of any color when I imagine myself standing on stage. When I'm considering hairstyles, I don't really think about ones that would go with everyday life; I think of which ones would be coolest when I'm on stage.

──It seems that having a flashy style there would make it difficult to consider styles for your days off.

I had a flashiness that made even people who didn't know about RINA of SCANDAL suddenly turn and look back at me, so people's eyes......(laughs). During my days off at that time, I put the lower half of my hair into buns and wore a cap so as to make the area of purple as small as possible. But once I made it flashy, my hair color, hairstyle, and my mood were made so as well, but I noticed that people's impressions of me really changed. Your hairstyle really changes how people perceive you; it's a very important factor for girls.

──Wasn't it hard to keep up that color?

I did keep it up, but it was hard to make it purple in the first place. My hairdresser kept dyeing it and checking it from evening to 3 in the morning. If it wasn't right then he'd repeat the process of dyeing it again. It was such a pain to get it to that color. I was so grateful that he kept up with it until that point.

──You chopped it into a bob after that.

When I went purple we thoroughly removed past colors and put in new ones, so I cut it into a bob to reset that damage. Being on stage with a bob, it swings around with even the smallest movements. Just turning to the side makes it spread out easily, and my movements looks huge when I'm lit from behind, so it moves cleanly without any difficulty. Conversely, when you have long hair it doesn't flutter well if you don't make big movements. Since drummers sit on a chair, I like this kind of hairstyle that can give off a dynamic feeling with minimal movement.

I want keep being looked up to

──RINA, do you arrange your hair on your days off?

I do. I often curl my hair with a narrow barrel curling iron while looking at the mirror. I also straighten it and style it to give it a wet texture. Since its impression changes just by changing texture, I have a lot of styling agents. I'm very particular with my hairstyles; I definitely can't stand it if my hair isn't smooth and silky or is damaged. Because I want to keep my hair healthy no matter what style I do, I regularly go to the salon for maintenance.

──How often do you go?

I go once every 2 weeks. I almost always go the day before a live or shoot. I need to be in tip-top shape when I'm on stage since there might be people who are seeing SCANDAL live for the very first time. Because there are people at any of our live shows who are seeing me for the first time in their lives, or those who will come and expect to see me over the next couple of years, I of course want our set and performance to be beautiful, but I also want my appearance to be beautiful. I want people to go home with memories like, 「That hairstyle then was adorable」.

──Is it the same for the other members too?

I think the things we each cherish differ, but we all have that same motivation for playing lives and making music. I am strongly aware that I care the most about beauty among the members, and I try to care about my appearance very much. There are times when it's not perfect because we keep going out on tour, but I want to stand on stage and have people think 「That's so cool」 or 「It's so glittery」 as much as possible. I think it's fun when you see a band that you looked up to moving and talking in person for the first time, so my commitment to that may be strange. I think that everyone who stands on stage treasures all sorts of things, but that's what my commitment is. Being a fun drummer to watch is one of the ways I face music.

──That'll surely make your fans who look up to you happy.

I want to able to provide 100% of the elements so that you'll be able to enjoy all of SCANDAL. I think there are parts that can't be conveyed even if you're doing your best with only music, so I want us to be a band that makes you want to watch our music videos over and over again, and I want us to be a band that you want to see live. Also, the morning after you go to the salon and look in the mirror, you'll get excited by the beautiful color and silkiness. Good music is born and good performances are possible when the heart is in good condition, so being a band and managing your mentality is very important. I think that the number of phrases that come out of me depends on how many times I felt 「enjoyment」 in my everyday life.

We would like to continue the band until black hair feels fresh again

──Each of the SCANDAL members' hairstyles differ, but do you decide on styles by discussing it with everyone?

We do. We never change our styles arbitrarily; we do so after discussing it together. For example, when a rock album's finished, we first decide on the outfits and the decide on our hair and makeup. I think it's great when musicians send out other things besides music. I don't think music will be conveyed honestly if a musician sends out something like, 「I went with this hair color」 or 「My hairstyle and makeup look like this」. Like, it shows a lack of sincerity for your music. I also understand this quite well, but I think that fashion and music are connected; I think that it definitely would better if everyone enjoyed them more easily.

──Enjoying "being a girl" is what is conveyed through SCANDAL's music.

I'm happy you said that. When we changed our hair colors from black hair, the color of the floor seen from the stage changed. An overwhelming number of blondes has increased. It made me happy that it seemed that everyone found more freedom by having fun. That might be due all of us growing up together and starting careers at the same time, and that it happened to link to when students were becoming working adults. We're happy that everyone's daily lives are fulfilled, especially when our activities are involved. There are also voices that want us to go back to having long, black hair again...... I'm happy that there are still people who feel attached that era, but I also want them to realize that it's fun to make yourself anew. If we have long, black hair again, maybe that'll be the day when we've been a band long enough that it feels new again.

──I'm sure those who only know about the current SCANDAL would be shocked if you suddenly went back to having black hair.

We want to stay as a quartet that doesn't know what we'll be doing next. So, I want people to not be able to take their eyes off of us. I want to do activities that'll always feel fresh to our fans and that they will not get tired of.

[runoncallie-blog]

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Calamus, and Then a Little More

“I don’t wanna tell you guys how to live your life, but I’m pretty much sure this could be fixed with ice cream..”

  General Information

Name: Calamus Custer Name Meaning: His name means “cane,” “grass,” or “reed.” Pronunciation: CAL-uh-MUS CUS-tur Other Names: Callie

Sex: Assigned male at birth Gender: Male Age: 24

Birth Date: June 10th

Birth Place: He was born in Tchulla, Mississipi, in the local hospital.

Species: Human Home-Planet: Earth Nationality: Mixed white American Occupation: Café Barista/Waiter

Dominant Hand: Right-handed. Astrological Sign: Gemini Blood Type: O-

  Appearance

Main Appearance: Calamus is tall and slender, with a nice build, a slim waist and decent muscles, and long legs. He’s got a pretty damn nice silhouette and is naturally quite pretty, as well as putting a lot of effort into his appearance. He’s been growing his blonde hair out for years, and it goes down to his mid-back at this point. He usually puts it up into complications braids and buns and loves to play with it and pamper it. He has a somewhat rectangular face, with prominent cheekbones, a Greek nose, a defined brow and deep-set brown eyes. He has fair skin, pink lips, a strong jaw, and his forehead wrinkles a little when he frowns. He has a very small scar on his lip, some faded track-mark scars on his wrists, and some heavy scarring on his upper thighs and butt. His right ear-lobe is scarred. Overall, he’s a very attractive person, and is quietly proud of this, though he doesn’t have a ton of confidence in himself.

  Image

Wardrobe: Calamus likes anything kind of retro, and has a lot of clothes from thrift stores or second-hand. He has a lot of tight jeans and band tees. He doesn’t have a very varied closet, but likes the excuse to dress androgynously and wear dresses or skirts whenever he has the excuse… But he does this rarely.

Accessories: He always keeps one hoop earring in his left ear. Musical Instruments: He knows a little bit of piano that he learned at school, but doesn’t know a lot, though he desperately wants to learn more. Piercings: His left ear is pierced. Hygiene: This is typically Calamus’s main form of self-care. He loves long, warm showers and baths with bubbles or bath bombs. He does one or the other almost every day as a chance to rewind and likes to keep himself looking clean and feeling put-together. While he was homeless, he rarely had a chance to clean himself properly and keep himself clean, so now retaining this is incredibly important to him. He can frequently be caught washing his hands or brushing his teeth for no reason other than he feels like it and he can. Makeup: He doesn’t wear makeup, but he frequently wants to… Perfume / Cologne: He has one thing of cranberry-cinnamon body spray that he got as a gift one time, and frequently wears. Scent: He keeps everything on his person a bit obsessively clean, so he often smells of laundry, soap, or hand sanitizer... Or coffee. Tattoos: None

  Health

Diet: Calamus eats fairly simply and doesn’t have very much skill in terms of cooking, though he’s trying very hard to learn. He eats a lot of beans and rice, which makes up a majority of his diet, as well as pasta, chicken, and soup. Everything he eats is fairly cheap, but he makes a very real effort to be healthy. Ice cream is his one treat that he allows himself, most of the time. He has a huge sweet tooth. Exercise: He likes to go on a run or at least a walk at least once a day if he can get away with it. Fitness: Calamus is very much in shape, as his appearance is something he values and he hinges his self-worth upon. Posture: He usually tries to stand tall and sit straight, but will recede into a more timid, smaller posture very quickly if startled or intimidated.

Abnormalities: While Calamus is a fairly healthy person physically, he struggles a lot with his mental health, self-esteem, sleep, and past traumas. Aids: Though he needs glasses, and probably needs medication for his mental health and/or sleep aids as well, he doesn’t know or doesn’t have any way to access these things, and is currently living without them. Allergies: Calamus has no allergies. Diseases: Calamus has no diseases. Illnesses: Calamus has no illnesses. Disorders: Though undiagnosed, Calamus experiences generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as on-and-off insomnia and frequent migraines due to stress and strain from his eyes. Broken Bones: Calamus has never broken a bone. Reason for Health: Calamus’s mental health issues stem from the abusive environment he grew up in as a child and his time as a homeless person in New York City.

  Voice

Accent / Dialect: Though he’s trying to wean himself off of it, Calamus still has a fairly strong and noticeable Southern accent. Voice: Calamus has a deep, raspy voice. It is deep, steady, and clear, and he is usually very audible, even when he is upset or crying. Laughter: Calamus always tries to hide it or hold it in when he laughs, frequently covering up his mouth with his hands. Impediments: N/A

  Psychology

Languages: English Personality: Calamus has a lot of reasons to be timid and anxious, and really, he has a lot of these two features inside of him. He looks long and hard before he leaps, and is very scared of change or any sort of risk. He prefers to play it safe most of the time, and always fear or assumes the worst. He is easily intimidated or shot down and has a difficult time advocating for himself. However, he has a naturally friendly, charismatic, and chipper disposition. He can be incredibly charming when he wants to be and is horribly empathetic and sweet. He hates being alone for too long, and always prefers to surround himself with loved ones and physical affection. He has a hard time with being ignored or feeling alone and takes any sort of criticism or snideness very hard. He’s a sensitive soul, and gets upset, offended, or his feelings damaged very easily. He has a tendency to talk down about himself and blame himself for any shortcomings or bad luck that occurs in his own or friends’ lives. He holds onto a lot of guilt and has a habit of internalizing things, though he is often very outwardly emotional. He gets excited easily, gets very worked up and flustered when he’s angry, and cries incredibly easily when he’s upset or when he’s been put down. He’s ashamed of his past in a lot of ways and wants in so many ways to be better than what he is. Though he doesn’t necessarily believe that he has the ability to achieve very much, and assumes that others think the worst of him, he is ambitious and very hard-working and wants to get in far in life as he possibly can. He strives to achieve independence and be able to take care of himself without relying on others. He feels guilty when others help him out and doesn’t want to drag anyone else down. He thinks he should be able to handle his own life by himself without reaching out to others, but is also always willing to lend a hand to anyone around him who may need it. He’s curious and has a natural thirst for knowledge, but doesn’t consider himself to be smart, and has a large mischievous streak to him. He loves to explore and get into things he probably shouldn’t and learn new things. He is a bit selfish and becomes defensive quickly. He’s very protective of himself and those around him but is also very sweet, loyal, and funny. He’s naturally rather effeminate and kind of a show-off at times and loves to have fun and get physical affection and validation from others whenever he can get it.

  Philosophy

Outlook on Life: Calamus tries to very optimistic and grateful for everything that he has in life, but sometimes has a hard time actually sticking to these ideals. He’s fearful and doesn’t have high hopes for himself, though he can’t help but dream of great achievements and beautiful things for himself. Philosophy / Motto: “Love what you have.”

  Character

Priorities: Their main goal right now is making their way through life without relying on other’s goodwill, making enough money to get themselves a good education and a good job, and find some security in their life. Self Confidence: Though they often act very confident outwardly, or pretend that they are, they have very little confidence in their own skills and abilities. They have a lot of doubt and often expect the worst. Self Control: Calamus has a great deal of self-control, and tends to bottle up his anger and ignore larger conflicts instead of confronting them. He pushes himself very hard and holds himself to very strict expectations. He demands a lot from himself and keeps himself on task. Self Esteem: Callie has very poor self-esteem, and look down on themselves. They downplay all their own achievements and see themselves as a failure. They blame most things on themselves.

Quirks: Calamus is always playing with his hair, and has a habit of taking charge of situations without meaning to. He is a natural leader, but without the confidence to declare himself one. Hobbies: Singing, dancing, doing complicated hairstyles, exploring, sciencey things, watching comedy shows, sewing, embroidery, running. Closet Hobbies: He really loves to dress up and try on skirts and dresses, but tends to keep this on the down-low. Guilty Pleasures: He ADORES ice cream.

Habits: He habitually sleeps on his couch instead of on his bed. Nervous Tics: When he gets nervous, he’ll chew on the ends of his hair, flinch, make himself smaller, and back himself up against a wall or try to find nearby exits. Soft Spots: He has a HUGE soft spot for babies and little kids.

Most Prized Possession: Honestly, his most prized possession is his apartment itself. He values having a home of his own almost more than anything else. Collections: He basically collects free samples of makeup and hair care products.

Regrets: He has a LOT of regrets. Sometimes, he regrets running away. Sometimes, he regrets waiting so long. Sometimes, he regrets his lack of education. He regrets leaving his friends. He regrets his choices. He regrets getting involved in drug and sex, he regrets trusting the people he did, he regrets the things he did to get arrested… Secrets: He keeps his former drug use, his family history, and his opinions of himself. Darkest Secret: His extended drug abuse while he was homeless is one of his closest guarded secrets. He hasn’t really talked to anyone about it… Ever. Pet Peeves: People who are too loud when it’s not necessary, people who take charge even when they don’t know what they’re doing, baby boomer customers.

Phobias: He has a very real fear of physical pain and being trapped, of making others angry with him or disappointing those around him, and of embarrassing himself or his friends.

  Preferences

Likes: fancy things, singing, dancing, pop music, fashion, make-up, Beyoncé, the 70’s and 80’s, anything vintage or retro, making friends, looking good, attention, metal bands, make-up and hair tutorials on YouTube, the piano, racing games, learning, science, exploring the dump, junkyards, woods, making people laugh, pineapple, dogs Dislikes: family, being judged, prying eyes, loud noises or yelling, anything overly salty, belts, flying bugs, his childhood, thunderstorms, anything made entirely of leather (tacky and uncomfortable,) rules, the summer, sudden noises, the color orange, prying questions, bills

Favorites: Caramel ice cream, german shepherds, goldfish crackers, bright sunny days, bright colors, Beyoncé.

  Combat

Ability: N/A Position: N/A Weapon: None Element: N/A Martial Arts: None, knows basic ‘street fighting’ skills. Strengths: Larger, muscular, has a decent amount of strength and agility, could probably hold his own very well based only on physical capabilities. Weaknesses: Locks up in physical conflicts, is afraid of hurting others, panics and shuts down. Restrictions: PTSD

  Home, Work, and Education

Abode: They live in a small, somewhat shitty studio apartment; but it’s home to them.

Pets: None Roommates: None

Sleep Patterns: They’re pretty bad at sleep. They’re typically only able to sleep for a few hours at a time before they wake up, either due to nightmares or insomnia, pace, and then settle back on their couch. Then repeat, and onto the bed. They have a very hard time getting to sleep at night and has semi-frequent nightmares that they deal with regarding their past. They are a very light sleeper and will wake up at a moment’s notice at any sort of noise. Eating Habits: Calamus loves to eat, though he tries to be healthy, and has a habit of hoarding food and consuming pretty much anything he gets his hands on. He will never, ever, ever turn down free food.

  Social

Mother: His mother is a woman named Gracie Custer. She dropped out of high school and married her boyfriend when she got pregnant at the age of sixteen; an uncommon occurrence where she lived. Though she is a sweet woman, and hard-working, she has a hard time finding her own path and has a habit of allowing others to decide things for her, such as her husband. She was raised with the rigid rules of the Bible Belt and lives by them rigorously in many ways that are unhealthy. Despite this, she is kind and giving, but easily flustered and annoyed as well. She loves babies but struggles to handle all her children in the small space which they live. She works at a local corner store. She loved her son, Calamus, but largely sat idly by whenever he was beaten, and often told him that he was ‘asking for it’ and wouldn’t have to take whippings if he just ‘followed the rules.’ Father: Calamus’s father is a man named Hank Custer, who works in construction. He is not very in touch with his emotions and is an incredibly hard-working and proud man. He values appearance, obedience to God, and doing things correctly, and he and his oldest son never got along. What was initially just conflict and discipline eventually grew to serious abuse as Calamus got older and bolder, and he would frequently beat or hit Callie growing up until Calamus ran away from home at the age of sixteen Guardians: Callie was raised by his mother and father. Siblings: While Calamus lived at home, his mother had ten other children; Jethro, Atticus, Juniper, Chrysanthemum, Caspar, Elseth, Serafina, November, Clyde, and Patience. Unfortunately, Juniper, Chrysanthemum, and Caspar all passed away during the Virus outbreak. Callie was forced by circumstance to play a large role in raising his younger siblings. His family lived in poverty, and both his parents had to work, so Callie frequently would stay home from school and skip class in order to look after his younger siblings when his parents couldn’t get the time off or couldn’t afford a sitter. Consequently, Calamus was held back several years in school, and always struggled with grades. Calamus got along decently with most of his siblings and was especially close with Juniper, and Patience, who was only a baby when he left home. He and his brother, Jethro, however, were constantly at odds. Jethro was very much a daddy’s boy, and constantly wanted their father’s approval, and so he took on the same attitude as him towards Calamus. He would frequently tease or tattle on Callie growing up. Unbeknownst to Calamus, his mother has had three more children since he left home; Noah, Hazel, and Calliope. Children: Calamus has no children. Best Friend: Audrey Zaccadelli Close Friends: Levi Price, Alex Temple, Marcus Bailey, Friends: Darius Rufus, Mary Sheehan, Angel Rodriguez Acquaintances: Marriage Law Group Rivals: N/A Enemies: N/A

  Romance

First Love: His first love was one of his best friends growing up, Lucas Hughs. He was part of Calamus’s ‘posse’ and the two of them would frequently hang out together, but Calamus found himself wanting to be more than Lucas’s friend. The two of them were close, and at one point, the two of them kissed; but Lucas decided he didn’t feel that way about boys. So Callie let it go. They remained close friends, and Calamus would still consider him to be one of his closest friends, even though they haven’t been able to see each other in years. Love Interests: N/A Significant Other: N/A Sexual and Romantic Orientation(s): gay

  Reactions

Angry: When Callie is angry, he tends to get really vocal and will often tell you exactly why he’s angry, which is a stark contrast to a lot of his other reactions to negative emotion. Anxious: An anxious Callie will talk a lot, fidget, and try to flit around whatever subject is causing him stress, and focus on distractions instead. It’s hard for him to get anything done when he’s very anxious. Conflicted: When conflicted, Calamus will often seek the advice of others; mainly those he trusts. Criticized: Callie takes criticism incredibly poorly, and almost always takes it purposefully and becomes downtrodden or depressed once it’s delivered. Depressed: Calamus withdraws and often becomes more short-fused or even violent. He doesn’t seek social company or speak very much. Will often fall back into patterns of substance abuse. Embarrassed: He becomes very flustered and quiets down, trying to step away from the spotlight; for once. Excited: When excited, Callie is bouncing off the walls, ready to speak about everything to everyone. He wants to share his feelings and thoughts with anyone who will give him the time of day. Frightened: When Callie is frightened, their first instinct is to usually flee, and get far away from or protect themselves from whatever is the source of their fear. Guilty: Callie can’t deal with guilt. It eats them alive. They don’t speak of up, or really break it up externally, but rather hides it away and lets it bother them for years and years, slowly picking away at his insides. Happy: When he’s happy, Calamus is sunshine; bright and full of smiles and cheer and compliments and bold ideas. Humiliated: He’ll almost certainly cry and flee the situation. Nervous: He usually plays with his hair a lot, and talks a bit more than often, asking a lot of questions. Offended: If Callie is offended, they’ll usually get very angry and tell you exactly what they think of you. Praised: Calamus gets very bashful when he’s complimented, and laughs and flushes a lot, but he totally loves it. Rejected: Typically, he becomes discouraged and embarrassed. He retreats and takes time for himself, and pities himself for a while, before he’s ready to try again. Sad: Over the years, Calamus had learned the explicit value of a good cry, and this is one of his most powerful tools when dealing with negative emotions. Stressed: When he’s stressed, Callie will often kick it into high-drive, and work twice as far in a result.

  Biography

Background: Calamus was born in the deep south of Mississippi, the firstborn to two high school drop-outs living far below the poverty line in a trailer park. Through the years, they had six other children, all the way up until Calamus was fifteen. Maybe more after that. He doesn’t really know.

Growing up, Calamus didn’t have the same interests as a lot of other boys his age. He loved the idea of having long, beautiful hair, wearing his mother’s make-up and clothes, dancing, and singing. He liked things like trucks and exploring the woods and making things blow up and racing, too. But no one ever worried about that. The more prominent these interests became, and the more his bold personality began to show, the more his family tried to squash it down. His father, in particular, a man who highly valued hard work, obedience, and image, often clashed with his eldest son. He frequently punished him for being too feminine, for shaming their family, for not working hard enough, and anything else that happened to piss him off, and Calamus was no stranger to neither his belt nor the back of his hand growing up.

Calamus was naturally very charismatic and charming, and surprisingly, didn’t have a difficult time making friends in his neighborhood. While he faced a fair deal of bullying and discrimination at school over the years, he built up a small “following” of boys who lived in the same trailer park as him and were more open-minded than their parents. He spent most of his time wandering the streets with them and sleep over at their houses. They were close-knit. They would protect each other even at self-sacrifice, laugh and play together, and go along with Calamus’ whims. Doing complicated hair tutorials from Youtube with the blonde locks that Calamus had been passionately growing out since he was small, recreating music videos, exploring the local dump and racing through the town. This was what protected him and kept him going for a very long time, and what made him stay, despite everything else that happened. His family, the virus, the troubles at school. When Calamus was freshly sixteen, however, he and his father had a severe altercation after they found out that Callie had secretly pierced their right ear some time ago, typically hidden by his long hair. By the end of the night, Calamus had a split lip, a limp, and a buzzcut. Leaving their friends behind was the hardest thing Calamus ever had to do, but it was at this point that they decided that they couldn’t stand living in the same tiny town with nothing on the horizon and no adults caring about what went on at home. He hitch-hiked his way out of town, New York bound, and didn’t look back.

Earliest Memory: One of Callie’s earliest memories was when he was around two years old, and got into his mom’s stuff in her room. He ate an entire tube of lipstick because he thought that was how it was used and how to make his lips red and then threw up later. His mother was sympathetic, but his father spanked him until he cried when he found out about it.   Fondest Memory: Callie’s fondest memory is a tie; between hanging out with his roving gang of friends back in Mississippi, after a very long fall afternoon. They were all piled atop a junk car like seals on a rock in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by this endless field and watching the sunset while they talked about nothing in particular. The other contender is the first time he got his baby sister, Patience, to fall asleep in his arms. Typically, she would only cry or fuss or stay up if anyone but her mother held her. But when he laid down and put her on his chest and she drifted off, that was one of the warmest feelings Calamus ever had. Worst Memory: The time he was beaten for piercing his ear before he ran away from home. Everything after that was awful, too, but the realization that his father didn’t care for his mental or emotional wellbeing at all, and he and the rest of his family and all their neighbors would always value appearances more than him, stung worst of all.

[inthecut-takamichihair]

Proust QuestionHair: Kathryn Gardner

A twist on Proust’s ultimate personality exercise, featuring our great Takamichi Hair salon stylists and colorists.

1. How long have you been doing hair? 10 years. 2. What is your greatest hair fear? Being flown out to do a destination wedding and having all my tools/hair kit and luggage get lost on the flight. That’s paralyzing. 3. What is your greatest hair joy? Making someone more comfortable in their own skin and helping them love themselves, even more, when our appointment is over. 4. What are your favorite hairstyles in fiction? The Jetsons, Daria, Beetlejuice, The Outsiders, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, Grease, The Adams Family, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Rosemary’s Baby, Hello Dolly, Moonstruck, The Professional. 5. Favorite hair tool? Ooo, this is a tough one. All of them! Who doesn’t love getting new gadgets to help make your cuts/color and styling even better?! I’d have to say there’s nothing like getting a new YSpark cutting comb. 6. Your dream client? Dead or alive. Lucille Ball 7. What haircut is the most challenging? Short precision cuts or a really intense fringe. 8. Your best experience working with hair (one of them)? Any time I wanted able to really help someone in need. Whether it was wig styling for someone who encountered hair loss from illness/trauma or dealing with different hair regrowth post-chemotherapy. As a curly hair specialist, I love helping people learn to love and work with their natural hair. 9. You meet a client on the street having a bad day, what do you do? Tell them that hair isn’t the be-all and end-all of everything! They’re living their best life and nobody or hair-strand is perfect every day! 10. Do you have an “aha” moment when you know a haircut/color is done? Sometimes! It’s nice to know that hard work, dedication and the love for your craft pay off. 11. If not a hairstylist, what would you be? There are so many things I feel like a human can accomplish but can’t possibly master in a lifetime. I think I’d probably be more involved in pursuing music or have a career that involved giving back to the community. 12. What do you consider the most overrated cut/ treatment/ color? I don’t think anything is overrated. I think that if you want that style bad enough and wear it with confidence because YOU like it then it’s perfect. 13. If you could change one thing about your hair, what would it be? To have more of it! 14. Which talent would you most like to have? To be able to salsa dance really well and to speak other languages fluently. 15. If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, who/what would it be? A very wealthy person’s dog who lives in some lovely castle seaside somewhere. 16. What is your hair motto? It’s just hair! Wear it like a crown and with confidence! Enjoy it and don’t constantly compare yours to others, love what you have, work with it and have fun with it!  

[sophiarose1816]

Happy Release Day for The Flight Path Less Traveled by Leigh Dreyer

I am tickled to be able to share a special post about this exciting second entry in the Pride of Flight series, a Pride & Prejudice modern continuation story. Blurb:

In this modern Pride and Prejudice continuation and sequel to The Best Laid Flight Plans, 2nd Lieutenant Elizabeth Bennet and Captain William Darcy are facing trials after the events of Elizabeth’s last flight. Darcy’s proposal lingers between them as Elizabeth becomes almost single sighted to her rehabilitation and her return to pilot training. A secret is revealed to Elizabeth about Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s past that throws all she has known to be true into a tail spin. The romance between our hero and heroine begins to blossom through military separations, sisterly pranks, and miscommunications. Can Darcy and Elizabeth come together or will flying in the Air Force keep them apart?

Let me introduce author, Leigh Dreyer, and her books through a Q&A she is sharing with us.

1.                Tell us a little about yourself and your background?

I work as a speech pathologist, currently in the Las Vegas area. I work both in person at a charter middle/high school and a long term acute care facility and doing teletherapy (which I absolutely love) from my home. Yes. I have three jobs plus writing because I apparently enjoy being crazy.  I write while my kids take naps, during teletherapy breaks, and at night. I have an incredible husband who is a pilot in the Air Force and two amazing kids. My son is four and my daughter is two. Both my husband and I are children of Air Force pilots which makes for fun family get togethers. Needless to say, I very rarely have to do a lot of plane-related research.

 2.                Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

Elizabeth Bennet has just gone through tremendous trauma at the end of The Best Laid Flight Plans and now she has to get back up, brush herself off, and push forward. In the original Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth faces a lot of invisible enemies (marriage or lack thereof, the entailment, etc.), but I wanted to see where she would take me when her enemies were very much physical. Would she be strong and fight?

3.                Which writers inspire you?

Jane Austen is the obvious answer, but I’m also inspired by so many JAFF authors. People like (in no particular order) Linda Wells, Joy King, Diana J Oaks, Maria Grace, Abigail Reynolds, Jenetta James, Karen Cox, Beau North, Jan Hahn, Elizabeth Ann West, Rose Fairbanks, etc. inspire me to fall more deeply in love with characters I already enjoy. I also love Diana Gabaldon, Neil Gaman, Aled Hossein, Tom Wolfe, William Makepeace Thackeray, Agatha Christie, and CS Forester.

 4.                What are you working on at the minute?

Book three, Came a Flight Gently and a short story about how Mr. and Mrs. Bennet meet and get married. I’m also working on outlining a time-travel story.

 5.                What’s it about?

Came a Flight Gently will start where The Flight Path Less Traveled ends and will continue the story in New York and feature the Reno Air Races (National Championship Air Races), the last of the great pylon races.

 6.                Which actor/actress would you like to see playing the lead character from your most recent book?

When I answered this for The Best Laid Flight Plans, I said maybe David Gandy for Darcy and Katherine McNamara or Lily Collins for Elizabeth. Now, I’m kind of thinking brunette Chris Evans and Gal Gadot or a young Marissa Tomei. I picture a modern Elizabeth as a strong, independent female, but also fun and feisty and never cruel.

 7.                How much research do you do?

It really depends on the scenes I’m writing. My favorite research to do is everything to do with food. I have spent many the hour figuring out what to for a big event catered by Mrs. Bennet. I like to really think through what each character would be eating and making. Obviously, Mr. Collins likes potatoes and, if you read book 1, you know Darcy does not eat bacon, but what about everyone else? For flight scenes, I write a lot of them on my own then send them to my husband, father, and father in law to be checked for accuracy. Normally this results in a long page of notes from my father to make it sound authentic (apparently I am very bad at writing what the characters might say on the radio when speaking to tower).

 8.                What made you decide to sit down and actually start something?

After going through The Best Laid Flight Plans I changed the ending because I just wasn’t ready for it to end. I wanted to see what happened next and leave the door open to really learn more about Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Colonel Fitzwilliam, etc. I needed another book or two or three for the story to end for me.

 9.                This book is part of a series, tell us a little about it?

The Flight Path Less Traveled is book two in a series of three planned books: The Best Laid Flight Plans, The Flight Path Less Traveled, and Came a Flight Gently. The first book is a P&P variation whose story line closely follows the events of P&P. The next two are original continuations although you will definitely see other favorite Austen characters and events as the story continues. Each book is an altered line from a poem that I find meaningful and that I feel speaks to the tone of book I wanted to write.

 10.             For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books?

I prefer paper books, but I do the vast majority of my reading on kindle or on my phone because they are so easy to drag around with me. I work a lot and am frequently running around with my kids so carrying a paperback isn’t always practical. I do all my reading on my Kindle Paperwhite and have for about five years.

 11.             What book/s are you reading at present?

Right now I’m reading Rational Creatures edited by Christina Boyd on Kindle and listening to Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford, but ask me in a few days and I’ll be on to something else. I’ve averaged at least five books a month for the last six or seven years.

 12.             Do you proofread/edit all your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?

I was blessed to work with Christina Boyd of The Quill Ink. Let me tell you, she is amazing to work with and the book is so much better for having had a professional editor. My sister in law is also great about giving me really fantastic feedback as a beta and ARC reader. She is currently working as an editor for some online sources and is amazing.

 13.             Tell us about the cover/s and how it/they came about.

The photoshoot was done in Utah by Monica Cook, a military spouse, who runs Joyous Reflections Photography and Portraiture, at the Air Force museum at Hill Air Force Base. It was important to me to highlight Elizabeth as a female officer. Females are so rare in the pilot world that I wanted to be able to see Elizabeth as I see her, a strong woman who is willing to work harder than anyone else to achieve what she sees for herself. I made the choice to have the little ringlets and her hair up in a kind of braid Mohawk, because I thought it was a fun throwback to the Regency hairstyles. Of course, after the events at the end of The Best Laid Flight Plans, she is pictured out of a flight suit and in her blues, but I wanted to continue to present that strong image as she fights to recover.

 14.             Who designed your book cover/s?

My amazing friend Alishia Mattee. She is a military spouse and my next door neighbor when we were stationed together at Hickam Air Force Base and she is so talented.

 15.             What is your favorite movie and why?

Gone With The Wind. Partly because I am an eighty-five year old woman trapped in a thirty year old’s body (please see my love for all classic film, 1940s jazz and classical music, and other habits like insisting my family eat at the table) I love the costumes, the romance, the huge sets, the language. I love it all. Scarlett is one of my all-time favorite characters. She doesn’t let other people tell her she can’t achieve. She needs to take care of her family, so she does, in whatever way she can. I find her strong, capable head something I would love to emulate, even if she is a little stupid with her heart.

 16.             What advice would you give to your younger self?

Just do it. Jump in. You can figure it out while you’re doing it, but if you wait until you understand every nuance of a task, years will pass and it still won’t be done.

 17.             What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Write. Also, edit. I recently had a friend who decided her NaNoWriMo draft was ready for publication. She had not even re-read it. Yikes.  I tell every aspiring writer I know to write and then let someone read it and critique it. Critique can be hard to accept, but you’ll only get better.

 18.             Can we recognize your adopted hometown of Del Rio, Texas in The Flight Path Less Traveled?

Absolutely. Longbourn City is based on my hometown of Del Rio and Meryton Air Force Base is based on Laughlin Air Force Base which is about fifteen minutes out of town. My parents and siblings still live and work there. You see less of Longbourn in this novel, but the place that Aunt Gardiner takes Elizabeth to eat taquitos rancheros is Julio’s on Highway 90. Julio’s is famous for their chips and salsa. Love those things—seriously, they are amazing.

 19.             What’s the worst job you’ve had?

I worked at a restaurant (which will remain nameless because I signed an “I won’t whine on the internet” clause when I got hired) during grad school in Lubbock and I often refer to it as “the worst job ever.” It was on fourth street in Lubbock, Texas, although that location is now a Chick Fil-A. My manager was crazy and often switched from sickly sweet to horribly insulting. The food was meh at best. I worked there for three months and outlasted eleven employees. That should tell you something about the work environment.

 20.             Where do you get your ideas?

Well, book two is not just a general pilot training book anymore. You read the basics of Air Force life in The Best Laid Flight Plans, but now Elizabeth isn’t a naïve butter-bar Second Lieutenant anymore. She’s learned and grown. Many of her experiences in the novel are based on my friends and family who have had similar things happen to them and gone through the board process. I’m trying to avoid spoilers in these questions, but let’s just say, the events that occur to her are certainly not out of the ordinary. For Darcy, many of his experiences are based on my growing up with a T-38 instructor. Cross-countries were just part of the gig. My husband is in a staff-type job now, but when he was actively flying, he was gone more than he was home.

I do love interviews for all that I learn about the background for author and books.  Thanks so much for sharing with us today, Leigh!

Where can you find Leigh and her book? Flight Path Less Traveled Links

GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44427328-the-flight-path-less-traveled?ac=1&from_search=true

US link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PNFN962/ref=x_gr_w_glide_ku?caller=Goodreads&callerLink=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44427328-the-flight-path-less-traveled?ac=1&from_search=true&tag=x_gr_w_glide_ku-20

UK link:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flight-Path-Less-Traveled-Continuation-ebook/dp/B07PNFN962/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+flight+path+less+traveled&qid=1552874830&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spell

The Best Laid Flight Plans Links

US link: https://amzn.to/2IkAWTF

UK link: https://amzn.to/2SfGA9m

Contact Information

Email: leighdreyerauthor@gmail.com

Facebook: Leigh Dreyer

Facebook Page: @leighdreyerauthor

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/leighdreyer

Website: http://www.leighdreyer.com/

 Social Media Information

Hashtags: #TheFlightPathLessTraveled #LeighDreyer #JAFF #AustenInspired

 Before she heads out on tour with The Flight Plath Less Traveled, let me share the blog tour schedule so you can join in with more fabulous posts.

March 19- From Pemberley to Milton

https://frompemberleytomilton.wordpress.com/

March 21/22- My Jane Austen Book Club

March 23- My Love for Jane Austen

March 23- Interests of a Jane Austen Girl

March 25- Austenesque Reviews

March 26- So Little Time

March 27- Diary of an Eccentric

March 28- More Agreeably Engaged

April 3-Half Agony Half Hope

April 4/5- Margie’s Must Reads

[buuckybuuchananbarnes]

Learning to Live Without You Drabble

Based on this request from @secrets-rain:  Could you do a readerxbucky imagine like Dylan and Lilly?? Kinda like "you don't know what you have until it's gone?" THANK YOU LOVE YOU MUCHO Pairing: Bucky x Reader, Thor x Reader (open-ended) Words: 1,547 Warnings: angsty A/N: I have been so busy lately and not posting a whole lot, so I decided to post two things for yall tonight. Enjoy! Also a huge, HUGE thank you to @lethargicprofessor for editing last minute.  “Hey Y/N, can I talk to you for a minute?” Bucky asked, as he peeked his head out into the living room.

You knew this conversation was coming. Things had been different for the two of you since Bucky returned on his latest mission. You knew ‘the talk’ was coming, but you didn’t want your relationship to end. The feeling Bucky gave you was unlike anything you’d known with anyone else. Although, that feeling had been pure frustration lately, not the butterflies you’d almost grown accustomed to.

As you went to Bucky’s room, you looked back at Steve, who gave you a sad smile. Putting on your bravest face, you met Bucky in his room where he motioned for you to take a seat on his bed. As you looked up at him, he cleared his throat and began.

“Hey, so I know that things have been… different since I returned.” A small chuckle came out of your mouth. “Different is one way of putting it,” you retorted.

“Whatever it is, it isn’t the way it used to be.” Bucky looked at you, placing your hands in his own. “I love you, but this isn’t working for me anymore.”

Taking your hands out of Bucky’s, you gave him one last look. This was the talk you’d been dreading and while it had taken a little less than five minutes, you were absolutely exhausted. Getting up from his bed you made your way to your room without another word. 

Although you knew this was coming, the tears that came didn’t seem to ever want to stop. Snuggling with your inanimate best friend, Mr. Sheckles, you cried until it felt like there wasn’t any more water left in your body. Looking at your phone, the bright LED screen read 4:00 p.m. Not caring what time it was, you passed out, emotionally exhausted.

When neither Nat nor Wanda heard from you for several hours, they took matters into their own hands. Everyone had heard the news about your recent break up. While it wasn’t the biggest surprise, the team knew that neither you nor Bucky had ever thought you’d break up. Bucky was always incredibly protective over you, and in return, you had fought off Bucky’s night terrors. That was, until Bucky’s latest mission with Steve and Nat had gone south, and his PTSD had returned in waves.

The only two people who knew about Bucky’s relapse were Steve and Nat. While Nat didn’t like it, she promised Steve to keep Bucky’s emotional trauma a secret. It almost killed her as she watched Bucky pull away from you without so much as an explanation into what went wrong. She knew as you talked to her that all she could do was repeat that it had nothing to do with you. Every time those words came out of her mouth, she wanted to break Steve’s promise.

As Wanda and Nat slowly opened the door to your room, they saw you sound asleep with Mr. Sheckles wrapped tightly in your arms. Stirring slightly, you opened your eyes to see your two best friends. As Nat moved onto the bed, she moved your toy monkey to your nightstand and took its place. Wanda moved onto the bed as well, moving in behind you so she could play with your hair. The two never said anything, but you knew they were there for you in case you were ready to talk about it.

And that day did eventually come, two weeks later. The three of you became inseparable since your split with Bucky. At first Wanda and Nat made plans with you, but over time, the three of you naturally began to spend much of your time together. One day, as you were cooking pancakes, you found yourself opening up about the break up.

“Nat, I know that you’ve told me so many times that it wasn’t my fault, but I can’t help but feel like it was.” Nat, who was twirling her fork between her index and thumb while waiting on pancakes, placed the fork down before speaking. “It wasn’t.” Nat got up from her seat at the island and moved over to your place by the oven. Cupping your face between her hands, she looked at you sternly. “I made a promise to Steve to never mention what was going on, but I want you to know that it was not your fault.”

Wanda also moved in to take over for your flipping pancakes. As you moved over to let her have full control of the stove, you saw Bucky out of the corner of your eye. The two of you had become so good at avoiding one another, that when you saw him, it knocked the air out of your lungs. Without thinking, you retreated back to your bedroom. Bucky looked at Nat and Wanda before speaking.

“It really is that bad, isn’t it?” After Bucky explained that he heard your admission, that you believed it had been your fault, he volunteered to take the pancakes to your room so he could explain what was going on. Although hesitant, Wanda and Nat ultimately agreed. There was only so much they could say. The whole story was up to Bucky to tell.

As the tears stopped falling, you realized how incredibly hungry you were. At the precise time as your stomach began to growl, there was a knock at the door. You told them to come in, thinking that it would be Wanda and Nat. You were completely caught off guard to see that Bucky was holding a plate of pancakes, and making his way to your bed.

“Hey, I heard you say that you thought it was your fault, and I wanted to clear some things up.” Bucky said, handing you your plate of pancakes. Though your heart ached, you ate regardless. “Our break up had nothing to do with you. After we returned from that last mission, I realized something was off. At first I didn’t know exactly what it was, but on the flight back to the Tower, I realized it was my PTSD. I didn’t want to deal with having to tell you so I pushed you away.” As you placed your now-empty plate, on the night stand, Bucky moved nearer to you.

“I don’t regret breaking up with you because I do need help before I think it’s safe for you to be around me again, but please know, I do regret ever hurting you.” As Bucky said these words, he placed his hand on your tear-streaked face.  “I still love you, you know.” Bucky gave you a sad smile and left without another word. Although you felt better, your heart still ached for the man you loved.

Two months went by, and then three, when finally Wanda made you promise that you would go out again. Though you weren’t entirely sure if you were ready, Nat set you up with someone. She was so proud of her Steve and Sharon set up, that Nat was confident she could pair you with someone as well. What you didn’t know was that person was a part of the team.

When you showed up to dinner dressed in your nicest outfit, a classy black lace dress with black stiletto shoes, you were greeted by none other than Thor himself. Though you’d always thought of his long locks as silly, his new hairstyle was really working for him. You found yourself actually laughing at dinner and loved hearing about Thor’s roommate, Darryl.

The two of you arrived back to the Tower rather late. Now a bit tipsy from the amount of wine you drank, Thor wrapped his arm around your waist to keep you steady. Walking into the living room, you saw that the rest of the team were still up watching a movie. Thor smiled politely, and led you back to your room.

“You can stay with me tonight… if you want.” You said, smiling up at him with a now-drunken haze. Thor grinned in return, but told you he would only stay to make sure that you were okay.    

As Bucky watched your door, he noticed that Thor never came out. Steve watched as his friend’s features went from good-natured, to neutral, to rigid. “Everything okay?” Steve asked, and watched as Bucky’s eyes darted from Steve back to your room.

“Thor hasn’t come out. That’s weird right? And did you see the way he had his arm around her waist? It’s the first date for Christ’s sake!” Steve smiled at his friend, knowing that while Bucky had broken up with you, he wasn’t over you. While unfair to expect for you to wait, Bucky wished for it.

“Pal, you broke up with her. You need to let her go. If you work through this and she’s ready to get back with you, then great. But if not, you need to respect that.” Bucky looked at Steve. While Bucky knew he was right, he was still overcome with jealousy.

Bucky sighed before speaking again. “I guess that old saying is true. You never know what you have until it’s gone.” Bucky looked back one more time at the door, knowing that for now, his relationship with you was over. Tagged: @ailynalonso15 @lilasiannerd

[kpopdancings]

Eun-hye Yoon, Hye-gal Hong, Hyun-mo Ahn and Seung-yoon Lee filled 'Radio Star'

New Post has been published on http://www.whatsupkpop.com/eun-hye-yoon-hye-gal-hong-hyun-mo-ahn-and-seung-yoon-lee-filled-radio-star/

Eun-hye Yoon, Hye-gal Hong, Hyun-mo Ahn and Seung-yoon Lee filled 'Radio Star'

MBC ‘Radio Star’ broadcast on the 25th featured ‘Your Body User Manual’ featuring Eun Eun-hye, Hong Hye-girl, Hyun-mo An, and Seung-yun Lee to share various stories about health. 

“Every time I go out of a program, I think that I have to be careful and it is piled up in me,” Yun Eun-hye said. “There is a compulsion to choose Las, and it’s fun to do it.

He said, “I think that getting rid of trauma could be a way to get back to the rookie’s attitude.” 

Ahn Hyun-mo said, “I thought there was a lot of resemblance to me because Kim Gu-ra did other programs together. But my husband suddenly came out on the air and suddenly I said I was a soul mate with Kim Gu-ra.”

Ahn Hyun-mo said, “I hate useless things and like practical things. Every time I see Lars, he talks a lot in my mind.”

Hyun-Mo Ahn attracted attention by saying, “I’m a fan of Ahn Young-mi. I want to live like Ahn Young-mi in my next life. I’m so pretty. I thought about the clothes and hairstyle I wore last time and I thought I’d come out with it today.”

Lee Seung-yun said, “I’m sorry for Mr. Reamer. When Mr. Reamer comes out, there are many stories that he resembles Seung-yun Lee. Sometimes, when Mr. Reamer appears on TV, he sees me again.”

Ahn Hyun-mo said, “If you hear this story, you’ll love it. Mr. Reimer lives with Mr. Seung-yun Lee. Before eating, he said, ‘I was a natural person, and I started eating and then I ate.’

“I saw a lot of people who died because I was working in a hospital,” Hong Hye-gul said. “When something happened to me, I told her to find out that I really loved and appreciate her even if my wife wasn’t next to me.” 

In response, Kim Gu-ra said, “Is it only necessary to have winter when I die?” Hong Hye-gal said, “Winter gives a different happiness from my wife. Even if I put something on social media and drink and come in, it will make me happy.”

Yun Eun-hye mentioned the dramas ‘Gung’ and ‘Coffee Prince No. 1’. Yun Eun-hye said, “I did very good works too quickly. It was the best condition.

Then Eun-hye Yoon said, “Then I became so sensitive. I couldn’t sleep for 30 days before entering the work.”

Yoon Eun-hye said, “I met the members of ‘Coffee Prince No. 1’, and I didn’t drink at that time. Everyone sent them out and sent them out. 

Hong Hye-geul said, “There was a public contact from ‘The King of Mask Singer.’

Then Hong Hye-gal said, “I sang Lee Moon-se’s ‘Old Love’. I think she sings well in her own way.” However, MCs who listened to Hong Hye-gul’s songs showed embarrassment and turned her surroundings into a sea of ​​laughter.