#home grown national park

[thoughtportal]

native plants in tiny spaces

https://homegrownnationalpark.org/

[reasonsforhope]

The population of giant pandas in the wild has nearly doubled as China steps up its conservation efforts.

China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration said on Jan 25 there are now around 1,900 pandas in the wild from some 1,100 in the 1980s.

This has been due to China’s efforts to protect the species, considered a national treasure, said Mr Zhang Yue, an official with the administration.

The Giant Panda National Park was established in October 2021, covering a total area of over 22,000 sq km and providing a home to around 72 per cent of the wild giant panda population.

Protected areas for giant pandas have grown from 1.39 million ha to 2.58 million ha since 2012.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has adjusted the status of giant pandas from “endangered” to “vulnerable”.

“This indicates that China’s giant panda conservation efforts have been recognised by the international wildlife conservation community,” Mr Zhang said.

The global captive population of giant pandas, meanwhile, has now reached 728, with 46 pandas successfully bred in captivity in 2023.

The genetic diversity of captive giant pandas has also improved. The current captive population of giant pandas can maintain 90 per cent genetic diversity for up to 200 years.

As for giant pandas living abroad, Mr Zhang said China has organised field inspections and assessments of 23 overseas cooperation institutions in 19 countries since 2023.

“The cooperation institutions generally meet the requirements in terms of venue construction, feeding and nursing, and disease prevention and control measures,” Mr Zhang said, adding that pandas living abroad are generally “in good health”.

He said China will further improve the international cooperation management mechanism for giant pandas, carry out regular daily health monitoring and field inspection and assessment, and continue to strengthen cooperation with international partners for the protection of endangered species and biodiversity.

-via The Straits Times, January 25, 2024

[overtrred28]

Watch my shattered edges glisten| Leah Williamson x young!reader (platonic)

Summary; Being so good so young brings a lot of attention to you, especially when you make a simple mistake. Leah notices you struggling and helps you as you begin to crack under the pressure. Inspired by "Mirrorball" by my mother, Taylor Swift.

Pairings; Leah Williamson x young!reader (platonic), lionesses x reader (platonic)

Words; 2k

Warnings; sad, swearing, angst.

A/N; Is it too much to ask just to be comforted by Leah. Sorry about the sadness but it's so fun to write and play it out in my head. A little it rushed but I wanted to get something out and i'm off work sick so very clearly bored atm. Enjoy.

It was no secret that Leah felt a need to protect you and basically adopt you when you entered the senior team just a few months ago. You were quite young, like most of the other girls were when they got their first call ups, but there was a naivety and innocence to you that she felt the need to take you under her wing very quickly.

You had excelled very easily in the youth and U23 squads, becoming one of the best defenders for your age and following closely behind in the footsteps of the one and only Leah Williamson. So when you got that call from Sarina inviting you to your first senior camp, you were both excited and extremely nervous to be in the presence of your biggest inspirations.

There was a lot of press when your call up was publicly announced, people who had watched you in the younger squads cheering you on and other fans ready to see how you would fit within the senior team. A lot of the younger players in the squad were more than excited to hear of you finally moving up, most of you playing together and growing up together at national camps over the years. So there was no reason for you to worry about when arriving at St Georges park for the first time.

But the thought about being in an unfamiliar environment with new people and a new team still made you nervous. So it was understandable that you were quiet and reserved for the first day, still greeting everyone but unsure of where your place in the squad was just yet. The girls you had grown up with were lovely as always but it had been a few years since you were all together, so it was different. 

That's when Leah knew she had to make the effort and ensure your transition to the senior squad was smooth and easy, making you comfortable with the girls which would benefit your performance on the field.

"Hey, y/n!" A voice called out to you, making you turn your head to find the Leah Williamson waving you over to her table. You swallowed your nerves before walking over to her with your breakfast tray in your shaky hands. She shifted over to make a space for you between herself and Keira. That was the first and certainly not the last time Leah had made sure you felt welcome and  supported on the team. 

A few camps in and everyone was calling you a mini Leah, not that you minded. You and the older defender had a lot in common, making it easy to get along and create a sisterly bond quite easily. 

Despite being in a lower-ranked team of the WSL, many people already knew who you were and were ready to support you as you joined the senior squad. This helped with your nerves as you waited to sub on during your first national game, hearing the home crowd cheer as your number displayed beside Leah's.

"You've got this little one." Leah whispered as she hugged you, making your heart swell and your eyes roll at the nickname before you ran out and took her place on the field next to Millie and Lotte.

It's safe to say your run with the national team has been going quite well since your first game, finding yourself appearing in every match and even starting in the two in the previous camp.

Your impressive defensive skills and tactics had been noticed when you were on national duty and during regular matches, causing your agent to call you with many offers from many different clubs in the WSL and even other leagues. But there was one that stood out and would be a no-brainer to transfer during the January window, especially as a place to work on your skills ahead of the World Cup this summer.

So you officially left the club that started your professional career at 18 just three years ago and set off to North London, moving into Leah's flat; nice and close to the Colney.

It was in a friendly against Australia where you made a simple mistake that would impact you and your career so harshly, so quickly.

3 months out from the world cup and this one mistake almost cost you your spot in the World Cup squad... or so you were made to believe.

It was a simple mistake that plenty of players all over the world had made before; stepping out that little bit too much during a tackle and risking the player you were trying to mark, especially with the current weather conditions. That's all it took. But you knew the moment your studs hit Kyra's boot, your match was over.

The whistle was blown within seconds of her body hitting the floor and her grabbing onto her foot where your studs had accidently landed. You looked down to where her team was beginning to surround her, frozen in place until a hand on your shoulder shook you out of it and your head moved the ref who was reaching in her back pocket. The red card came into view and although you knew it was coming, your heart still sunk as she wrote your number on the back.

A few of the England girls began to start arguing with ref that it should have at least been a yellow, but you knew there was no point, anyone could see that it was a definite red and you were officially benched for the rest of the game and the next one coming. So with a hung head you walked off the field and over to the tunnel, the voices of your teammates and the disappointed home crowd blurring into the background, everything feeling as though it was in slow motion as the rain continued to fall.

"I'm sorry." You spoke to Sarina who silently nodded her head at you, both a sympathetic and disappointed look on her face as you passed by and walked down to the change room.

You sat down on the bench in front of your cubby and stared down at the boots that let down the team and left them a man down with 20 minutes still to go.

There was something bubbling in your chest that should have been anger at the situation but it was just bitter disappointment in yourself and that was ultimately worse. Water formed in your eyes and your throat began closing up as you bit back the tears that were trying to escape, but you couldn't let them.

You ended up showering and changing into your tracksuit as you waited for the match to end and what you presumed would be a lot of upset teammates ready to storm in and hurl their anger towards you. You curled up in your cubby, headphones on but no music playing, and closed your eyes as you waited.

You were so buried within yourself that you hadn't noticed all the girls coming in and spotting you making yourself so small, breaking all of their hearts as they could see how hard you were taking this.

It was Esme who eventually disturbed you, tapping your shoulder gently, silently nodding to the door of the once again empty changeroom after everyone began to leave for the bus.

She threw her arm around you, tucking you into her side as you walked out to the back and towards the bus where everyone was waiting. Once again you were left alone by the girls on the bus, they could see you were utterly disappointed and didn't want to accidentally make it worse. So although you were sat by yourself, you could feel 22 pairs of eyes on you every so often, but most intensely from a blonde captain further back on the bus.

It didn't take long for the press to have their say on the incident, immediately shaming you for your mistake and basically flushing your name and reputation down the toilet. So as you mindlessly scrolled through social media on the way back, your feed was filled with posts and comments about the incident. You knew better than to read what they wrote about you, but you couldn’t stop, obsessed with reading every article that featured your name. 

Most of the comments were the same, things like "how dangerous it really could have been" and that you were "young and reckless and irresponsible with your choices as a defender." Deep down you knew they were wrong about you but it was hard to fight through the voices saying they were right and that you were a bad footballer. 

Leah started to get worried when you were not only ignoring the other girls, but then you began distancing yourself upon returning home with her. You stayed in your room as much as you could and tried to stay away from Leah but it was hard when living in the same house. 

The night that you got back she barely heard from you, wanting to respect your privacy for as long as she could but when she heard your soft cries through the door she couldn’t ignore it any longer. 

“Y/N?” She knocked softly on the door, waiting for a response but you stayed quiet. “I’m coming in okay.” She gave a warning before opening the door softly, her eyes instantly finding you tucked into the covers facing away from the door. “Oh little one.” 

Her soft voice made a sob finally escape and you began properly breaking down for the first time. She hated seeing you like this, contrastingly different to the bubbly, mischievous person you were known to be. She crawled up under the covers, rolling you over and placing your head upon her chest.

“What can I do?” She began smoothing your hair with her fingers, she knew this is what came with becoming a footballer in the spotlight but she didn’t think it would get you this early in your career. 

“Just hold me please.” Your voice was soft and broken, trying to stop the images and words they were saying from spiralling in your mind. 

“None of what they say is true, I need you to know that.” Leah spoke again after a few minutes of silence, finally feeling your breathing slow and the tears stopping. “It was an accident and you know it, I know it, she knows it and they know it too.” She was referring to Kyra who you had already sent a message to, apologising for hurting her and the media who were riling up a story to fill their articles full of nonsense for more money.

“This does not change who you are as a person or a player, it happens to everyone and it will go away once they find something new to talk about. But you need to ignore them.” She continued, waiting for any kind of response. “Promise me you’ll ignore them.” Leah looked down at you, tapping your head as a signal to look up at her. 

“I promise.” You gave her a small smile while nodding. 

“Come on, let’s go eat some smileys.” She flung the covers off and pushed you up with a laugh, getting one out of you for the first time since it happened. 

“You have the pallet of a five year old.” You shook your head as you crawled out of your bed. 

“And what about it?” She wrapped an arm around your shoulder as you exited out to the kitchen, pressing a small kiss to your head as you walked together. 

It was at that moment you felt truly grateful for Leah and all she had given you since joining the Lionesses and Arsenal. She took you in and gave you an environment to thrive and be comfortable in a new place when she didn’t have any obligation to. But you would forever be in debt to her kindness and never reject anything she gave to you. 

[saintslewis]

Reasons I couldn’t be an f1 driver, a thread:

vroom vroom, b*tch

i get angry so fast, it’s actually concerning

i would scrap everyone that says anything bad about me

if a haas, alpha tauri, afla romeo overtook me, i would actually park the car on the side and go home

i would wear the most cuntiest clothing walking into the paddock, it would be sickening

i would not be able to answer ANYONE after a race like singapore or qatar like i don’t have time for long ass questions pls 🖐🏽

if anyone says anything stupid, everyone would know by my face

i would NOT keep up with my diet. if i feel like eating ice cream before a race, I WILL

i would cuss the FIA the fuck out everyday

i would be a PR nightmare, genuinely

i’m a party girl, that’s just how i am so if y’all see me partying after qualifying, mind your business!

if the team did me wrong, i would not be thanking those mf for ANYTHING

don’t judge but girl if i got the gossip???? 🤭🤭

they would not let me race bc i would keep asking if lewis is okay

“oh there’s a safety car out bc of my crash? great, lewis can win!”

i would talk in my home language to piss EVERYONE off

i’m really just there for lewis

i would GLOAT if i got a win or a world championship, i’m NOT keeping that shit to myself 😭

the things i would post on my socials or just how i talk to my fans would be so entertaining 😭

i would openly fangirl or blush if Lewis, Charles, Jenson or Carlos spoke to me (DON’T JUDGE)

i need music to focus on something

75 laps is actual insanity, i would not be able to do that shit

i’m so petty, you crash into me, ITS OVER FOR YOU

the money????? i would buy literally everything i’ve ever wanted 😭

i would value my fans so highly, those are my babies and i’m so serious

i would lurk on my fanbase through social media, i would be one of y’all

i won’t be able to answer those long ass questions, period.

i would want my fav songs to be played rather than my national anthem (sometimes)

if i feel like twerking or making tiktoks in the paddock, i WILL

me and my headphones against the world 🫵🏽

i’m a black woman, says enough than it should (a girl can dream)

my face is full of expressions so pls 😭

my favouritism for the drivers would show very directly

staying overnight after a race to study even further for the next day??? yeah no, a bad bitch will sleep 🤣🤣

i am extremely straight forward. if i don’t wanna be somewhere, i will walk out 🤣

calling grown men “girl” >>>>>

i will be reminding everyone and their mothers that Lewis is a 7x World Champion and is called “Sir” 😋

i love my phone, i would carry it everywhere

they wouldn’t be able to handle a bad bitch on the grid other than me and Lewis (Charles and Oscar are an extra bonus)

again, really only there for Lewis

This is getting long, hope you enjoy 🤭

taglist: @thisismeracing @httpsserene @lorarri @non-stop-imagines

[stealingyourbones]

I sent in another prompt about a Gemini Home Entertainment au, it was in a diffrent device so I wanted to see if it came through- if not you can let me know by answering this before the other- I do have another prompt! This one will have more overt gore than the first mystery Flesh Pit au I proposed, but hear me out here-

The Lazarus Pit Ra’s has is Danny’s stomach acid- the entire DC Earth has grown in Danny’s body- space doesn’t see anything bc Danny’s been intangible/in his core (the Moltan Core of the Planet) but RA’S pisses Danny off unknowingly to the point where when he takes his next dip, he is. Digested! I say this takes place while Bruce is out of time and Tim is with Ra’s, so he watches as ra’s tries to show off his pit, but instead hears him scream as his skin peels and burns, as his eyes pop and his blood boils and mingles with what’s left of his flesh, his bones burning and melting while RA’S is kept awake by Danny’s ecto, only dying when his last nerves Finnaly shut down.

The Mystery Flesh Put National park is only one limb, but one aspect of Danny’s body, when he twists and is the planet, covers and breathes what the Microfauna (the inhabitants >o<) exhale, only waking up when say, darkseid comes by, the earth shaking and the sky seeming to break apart as wide, eye searingly green eyes pear down, turning as if with a head before slanting and turning to the invaders, a hand made of night shattering the day lurches down and crushes the invading armies, the blood coating and dripping in near continuous streams from the fingers as large as a semitruck, the justice league frozen as Tim whimpers, realizing what’s happening and what he saw happen all that time ago. The hand reaches and grasp darkseid, his abilities and weapons breaking or bouncing off the ‘skin’ the stars the bloody dyinglivingloving of the sky, unwilling to allow more harm. The darkseid is brought up to a large gap that wasn’t there before, ice forming teath as a tounge of light and deathcoldhotcrowbarpain leaches out and around, pulling the intruderinvaderunwilling into his demise, into the maw of the one he tempted. The mouth shuts, raining tye blood and viscera and the acidic spit, visibly boiling where it landed only to sprout flowers- but why where the flowers as green as the eyesbloodskyskinstars looming above

Before it’s all gone. The sky is not cracked, it is blue and sunny and beautiful. The grass is a natural green, no sign of unnatural flowers or blood, no stars in the day sky aside from the sun. No one is hurt. No one is dead. No one forgets.

I wasn’t lying about my dipping into gore, if this violates anything and I didn’t realize feel free do delete? I hope your having a great day!

Mystery Flesh Pit/Analog Horror Ask| GHE Ask 1, GHE Ask 2, GHE Ask 3,

oh this is BEAUTIFUL! All Danny has done is move to pluck the annoying thing with bad energy off of him and eat it so it stopped bothering him and went back to sleep. What the Justice League sees is a cosmic horror of mind breaking proportions defeat the most dangerous New God in a single swipe. One cannot fathom the size of this creature and none of the JL WANT to try to comprehend it.

[textless]

This tiny black rhino calf, Raha, lives at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's Nairobi Elephant Orphanage. She was found alone and injured in September 2022, but has made great strides since then and will be released in Nairobi National Park when she grows up.

As you might figure, the Elephant Orphanage is mostly home to young elephants, but several orphaned rhinos have grown up there as well. Raha comes out to visit with people before the baby elephants come out for breakfast. She is a beautiful little animal, and I hope she has a long and happy life ahead of her.

She wouldn't be alive at all without the good work of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and there are lots of ways to support their efforts here.

[statticscribbles]

Imprinted

Summary:Paul Lahote/reader; Reader’s (now ex) cheats on her so she drives to emily’s and cries to paul, he confesses to imprinting on her

My 1500 follower Giveaway! (here)

You realize now why he always told you not to worry about the overtime the Newtons were making you take; or the weekend shifts you’d cover for Mike. forks was a small town but even they had some self preservation; and apparently everyone but you knew your now ex had been sleeping around; at least he had the decency to go out of tow; but Seattle wasn’t that far away and a number of people would come to Forks to see the national park and scenic views. A number of them also seemed to recognise you. From your ex’s phone screen.

It’s three in the morning when you realize just how many people he’d been seeing that weren’t you; just how many people he’d slept next to while texting you were the only one he wanted.

“Hey uh, Emily are you home? Do you think I could…” You sniffle and scowl at yourself wiping your tears away to hear Emily confirm that she’s happy to have you over; that she’ll bake a whole batch of cinnamon rolls just for you.

You’re not worried about crashing; you know no one else will be on the road at this time and you’re a little surprised to see a wolf running alongside in the forest; at least you think you see one; you’re tears aren’t blurring your eyesight but you’ve never seen such a huge wolf anywhere; let alone so far from the safety of the forest.

You pull up to the house, not surprised to see Sam waiting for you. You are surprised to see paul; you’d consider Paul Lahote a friend but never had really spoken to him much; but now he looks like he wants to murder someone. You wonder who’s gotten on his bad side.

“Sorry about Paul; he uh, heard what.. Everyone knows…” Emily tries to be subtle, shrugging her shoulders a little but you just bite your lip and focus on the cinnamon roll in front of you.

“Yeah he uh, cheated; multiple times..” You figure it’s easier to just explain it to him while Emily’s there. No sense in someone else having to hear it secondhand like you did. You grimace and wait for him to make some pitying face like Emily does or Sam did when he’d told you. He doesn't, he just sort of nods.

“Must have been shit finding out..”

You and Paul seem to have grown incredibly close, incredibly fast; you’re over at Emily’s mostly; most of your friends seem to be ignoring you; siding with your ex that what he was doing wasn’t so bad. Sam seems annoyed but Paul doesn't say anything and Emily just smirks whenever she sees you and Paul together. You know they both want to say something.

Paul beats them to it. He asked you to go down to the beach and it’s not abnormal but the way Sam and everyone else seem to be hovering makes you nervous.

“So werewolves….” You wait for him to say its a joke, for him to say he was trying to ask you out. Instead he explains about history you didn’t know he was part of and traditions; and imprinting; which you then wait for him to joke about saying he imprinted on you. Instead he just sits nervously hunched over trying to hide himself and you’re half expecting him to run into the ocean.

“So we’re what; destined to be together?”

“Yeah; sort of but I understand… with everything that happened with your ex…” He tries to sound uncaring but you can tell that if you were to reject him it would hurt.

“My ex. Not you.” You smile at him and try not to feel too nervous as you reach to hold his hand.

“Maybe go back over the whole werewolf thing again?”

“Wolf shifters, it’s a little different..” You smile at him as he starts to explain; some of the nerves gone, replaced by a blush.

Support My Writing?

[fkinavocado]

in which you try to shake off your insecurities and plan a surprise picnic for your loving boyfriend; he reminds you just how amazing he thinks you are, his love silencing the mean voice inside your head (penpal!harry, photographer!harry, chubby!y/n, lhh)

A wish come true- Masterlist, Author’s Note & Warnings

Through the viewfinder / alternatively, read on wattpad

Greedy bunny (word count: 4k)

It was a nice day out, and you decided to surprise your boyfriend with an impromptu picnic. You knew he had a short day at work, what with it being Friday and all, and so you packed your little basket along with a blanket and everything you needed and took a cab to his company’s studio. 

You were going to drive to the picnic spot in his car (you didn’t have one and was frankly scared of the prospect of driving, so you didn’t even want one), since it was a remote place the two of you had accidentally found while you wandered off in a national park one day while on your bicycles. You’d spotted that cute little clearing in the forest and you both agreed that would make a perfect spot for a picnic one day.

You knew Harry would admonish you for carrying all the stuff to his work instead of having him come to pick you up from home directly, but that would’ve ruined the surprise factor. And you loved surprising him. You loved seeing his eyes sparkle with joy. Harry was such an expressive man, you never tired of watching him. He wore his heart on his sleeve. He never held back.

The basket was indeed quite heavy, but you were sure to pack everything Harry liked. Despite his appearance, he had quite the appetite. He was just naturally fit, his fast metabolism seemed to burn all those calories as though they were nothing, and he did work out a lot as well, but he didn’t overdo it. You loved the bit of pudge he’d put on his lovehandles sometimes. Made him look adorable.

You, on the other hand… well, you weren’t so lucky. You were always very careful with what you ate, counted your calories, went spinning, even did some yoga- but you were just always on the curvier side. A bit chubby, is how you’d have best described yourself. No matter how well you tried to balance your diet and exercise, you still could not slim down enough to fit your ideal standard. Maybe it just wasn’t in the cards for you.

Harry, however, loved your body, and he didn’t shy away from letting you know just how much. It had taken you by surprise. He could’ve had anyone he wanted; personality aside- he looked amazing, and could have had his pick at anyone. You’d not have expected him to be attracted to you. Guys like him normally went for similar body types- models, dancers, fitness enthusiasts, etc. But he’d somehow settled for you, and you could never wrap your head around why that was. 

At first you thought maybe he was just drawn to you because of your bond from all those years back. Finding eachother after a decade since you’d been penpals in school without having met had been such an amazing experience! At first you thought to yourself, he was just being nice. Then, you thought he was just experimenting maybe, and that surely once he got to see you naked he’d run for the hills. 

It’d taken you a long while to fully open up to him, partially because of your insecurities, and partially because of your lousy experience with your ex who had treated you badly. You didn’t want to lose Harry, you’d grown very attached to him in the 2 months you’d been dating, and you were scared to blow it all off once you’d finally have sex.

But then you took the plunge and it’d left you completely speechless. Not only had it solidified your relationship, bringing you impossibly closer, but he’d not ran for the hills- on the contrary. He seemed to be quite literally obsessed with your body ever since. 

It’d been another 3 months since you first slept together and Harry was insatiable. He couldn’t get enough of you. He made you feel incredible- so wanted and cherished, and most of all- loved. You’d shared your feelings for eachother on that same night those 3 months back and he proved to you every day since just how much he meant them.

It’d been a major confidence boost. Harry knew everything about you, seen every square inch of you, and never once did he make you feel insecure about your body when you were in his arms. When you were by yourself, however, you still slipped into your old mindset, was still mean to yourself and disliked certain aspects of your appearance, but when he was around, that voice inside your head was silenced and was replaced by all the words of praise Harry would shower you with.

He had no reason to lie to you. He had no reason to stick around. And the way he was physically responding to you proved without a shadow of a doubt just how attracted to you he truly was. 

You’d been shy at first, but under his constant praise and encouragement you’d let go of any inhibitions with him in the bedroom. You truly felt beautiful and sexy and acted accordingly, because you believed it when you were with him. 

When you were alone, though… that was a different story.

You didn’t know if Harry knew about your insecurities. You’d never discussed them with him. You’ve had friends laugh at you when you’d shared them with them, telling you it was all in your head. Telling you you were way too harsh on yourself. And you knew, in theory, that they were right. You were not overweight by any medical standard, you were healthy, and active, and you did try and eat as clean as you could, you just… weren’t the way you were brainwashed to think you had to look to be beautiful. The way all the magazines, movies, tv shows portrayed how a young woman should look. You weren’t a model by a long shot. And you were starting to recognize that it was alright. Every body type was beautiful. Every shape and size. People had different tastes in partners for a reason. If everyone looked the same then it would’ve been incredibly boring.

You’d planned this picnic for a while, and had had a particular summer dress in mind for it all along. Yet, when you put it on that morning you felt as though it was hugging you in all the wrong places. You’d worn it before, but this time you just weren’t feeling like you looked that good in it. You were having one of those days where you were just bloated for no reason, and nothing fit right. You weren’t about to call the whole thing off just because of that, though. So you told yourself you were being unnecessarily harsh on yourself, and finished getting everything ready for the picnic.

You’d baked a cheesecake and packed some fresh homemade mint lemonade in cute glass containers, and as for savory goodies you’d made some caprese sandwiches with pesto sauce, as well as some pineapple salsa and guacamole dips to go with some store-bought tortilla chips and french baguette. Harry loved all of these and would probably scarf most of it down, and you were happy to have a taste of anything which would already go well beyond your daily calorie intake. Watching him eat with such joyous abandon would be the biggest treat, though. You were glad you could make him happy with your cooking, he particularly enjoyed anything you made with your own two hands as a labor of love for him. It was a rare treat, since you tried to avoid temptations and rarely cooked goodies. So you knew he would be a happy boy today.

All those goodies however made for a heavy basket. You’d initially planned on riding your bike to his studio, but you couldn’t secure it in a way that wouldn’t tilt you over. Not to mention you had to bring the blanket along too. So, cab it was.

Feeling a bit silly to be hauling the basket and blanket into the elevator, you also didn’t trust to leave the goodies with the security guy in the lobby. The last thing you needed was for someone to sample the goods before your boyfriend did the honors. 

When you reached the 17th floor, you were immediately thrown into Harry’s everyday life as a photographer for his company. You’d been to some of their other locations they used for shootings before, but never the main studio. It was loud, music was blasting as though you’d just entered a nightclub, and the lights were pretty dim too. Lots of people roaming around but your eyes inadvertently went to the big canvas that was set up in the middle, with two models posing center stage. Fans were positioned around them to blow their hair away from their faces, and to create flow within the fabric they wore. Which was- incidentally- very scarce.

They were probably doing an advert for swimsuits, because that’s what they were wearing, one of the models also had a chiffon wrap around her waist but it was definitely see-through.

The bikinis might as well have been see-through. They were practically naked with how little the bathing suits were covering.

Legs that went on for miles, shimmery, golden, perfectly unblemished skin, amazing bone structure, just the right amount of curves, plump lips, impeccable hair and makeup… these girls were drop dead gorgeous. 

Models.

Nothing you hadn’t seen before all your life, yet, seeing it unfold up close, and the behind the scenes was captivating. Nobody actually looks like that - is what you kept hearing. Airbrushed photos, photoshop, filters, etc. Then how come you were looking at them and there they were- looking absolutely flawless from head to toe? Was that just something normal people told themselves to feel better? 

But something snapped you out of your train of thought- and that was none other than your boyfriend’s voice. He was chewing gum, you could hear it in his voice, that air of nonchalance it gave it- and was behind the camera that was set on a tripod, conducting that photoshoot. Telling the models how to pose, where to move their limbs, how to tilt their heads. 

“Perfect! Great, more of that!... Beautiful! Now look straight ahead- both of you. Gorgeous.”

You felt a pang of jealousy you never knew was humanly possible. 

You knew this was Harry’s job- knew it all along. Knew he was hired by his company to conduct all sorts of photoshoots. Some even more risqué than this one for sure. He’d done nude sessions as well, he’d told you as much. It was his job. And you thought you’d been ok with the idea of it. You’d imagined all those instances in your mind’s eye and you knew he was being professional and was just doing a job, at the end of the day.

But it was an entirely different thing seeing it unfold before your very eyes. Somehow, even though this was exactly how you’d been imagining it, give or take a few details, it made you feel ridiculous for ever believing you could be good enough for him.

He was exposed to these perfect people, up close, day in, day out, and somehow you were meant to believe he would choose someone like you to be attracted to?! When he very clearly belonged to this world instead. The world of flawless, insanely attractive people. Whereas you… were average, at best.

“Did anyone order takeaway?”

You were once again snapped back to reality, but by a different voice this time, one of a person by your side, wearing earpods and eyeing your basket curiously.

“Oh, no, I’m just here for my– for Harry.”

“Harry…? Oh, Styles?”

“Yeah?” your boyfriend shouted from behind the lense, without averting his attention from his task at hand.

“There’s someone here for you. Little red riding hood.”

You blushed furiously at the person’s little quip at your attire. It wasn’t even red. 

Harry pulled back from the camera and his eyes immediately landed on you. No doubt you stuck out like a sore thumb.

He hopped off of his little barstool and sprinted towards you “That makes me the big, bad wolf then!” he grinned, taking you into his arms and kissing you without hesitance. “Fuck, bunny, what a pleasant surprise, eh? Is that for me?” he gestured toward the basket and picked it up from next to you “Owh, what’d you pack in there!? What’s all this, then?”

You didn’t even get to wiggle a word in, he was already going through the basket, his eyes widening and his grin spreading all across his handsome face “Fuck me. How am I supposed to finish this shoot? I wanna dive right in!”

“Well, you can’t.” you pulled the basket away earning a whine of protest from him which made you smile “We’re going for a picnic just as soon as you wrap up, though.”

His eyes lit up, just like you’d imagined they would when you were getting everything ready “We are?” you barely got to nod when he bent and kissed you, again and again making you giggle and almost drop the basket on the floor.

“Yes! Now behave. Go do your thing and I’ll wait.”

He fished his phone out of his pocket and then looked around for a second “Nah. It’s like 10 minutes to go, anyway. I think we got all we needed.” he then resumed his tone from earlier, shouting so everyone heard “That’s a wrap up, everyone. Good job. We’ll get in touch.”

“Oh– okay? I could’ve waited, though?”

“Nonsense” he put his arm around your shoulders and after nodding his goodbyes to a few people around, he guided you back to the elevator, making sure to take the basket back away from you.

*

The ride to the national park was nice, Harry had told you about an upcoming project he’d been assigned the following week, and he seemed really excited to get started on it on Monday. You tried to listen, but all you could think about was the seemingly parallel universe Harry was living in when he wasn’t with you. You couldn’t get that whole atmosphere from inside there out of your head. He kept his hand on your knee, squeezing it from time to time, no doubt to make sure you were paying attention.

You made your way to that clearing you’d stumbled upon a while back, happy to have found it just as nice as the first time around “Ah, this is perfect for a picnic, lovey. I’m so glad we’re doing this. Perfect way to end the week.”

You placed the blanket in a perfect spot and then sat down, with Harry not wasting a moment longer before unpacking the basket. He looked like he was unwrapping Christmas gifts, making excited noises for every little thing he fished out of there “You made all these yourself, bunny?”

“Well, except for the tortilla chips and the baguette.”

He groaned enthusiastically, leaning over “Kissy?” you smiled and pecked his lips “You’re amazing. I’m starving. Do you mind if we dig in?”

You giggled at how truly impatient he seemed “Have at it baby, it’s all for you.”

He kissed you once more, more like an audible wet smooch before going right for the sandwiches first. You handed him his glass bottle of mint lemonade and explained how you didn’t wanna bring any plastic single use cutlery. You could just take turns eating everything right out of the tupperware you’d packed them in and drink straight out of the bottles. It was finger food anyway. 

“No baby, I can’t have any more, you finish them” you pushed the cookies back towards him, the same way you’d done with all of the things you’d packed. He kept trying to go 50/50 but there was no way you could eat as much as him. You were so full you felt you could pop. 

“But you barely touched them! Come on, lovey. For me?”

You laughed, pushing his hand away that was making its way toward you with a chocolate chip cookie in tow “Nuh-huh babe. I’m full, seriously. I’m about to burst out of this dress as it is.”

He lowered his eyes toward your cleavage and hummed appreciatively “Hmm. I’ve noticed. You won’t hear me complaining.”

“I meant my belly, you perv.”

He leaned over and placed his head in your lap, snuggling into your body. You wasted no time and began playing with his long hair “I love your soft tummy. If I weren’t scared I’d crush you I’d sleep like this all the time. Plus it gives me easy access to other goodies” he snaked his hand under your dress’ hem and you gasped, slapping his hand away.

“Bad boy!” 

“I know… I’m real bad.” he caught your hand and redirected it to his crotch, pressing your palm firmly against his very evident hard-on, making you gasp even louder “Yeah? Can’t help it when my sweet girl looks so fucking good. Good enough to eat. You’re my dessert.” he resumed his ascent underneath your dress till he reached your crotch. You had your legs pressed together, and he lifted his head up from your lap a bit to push them apart slightly, enough to grant him access before resting it over your thighs again.

“You… already had dessert.” you were already a bit breathless in anticipation. 

“I love your baking, bunny, I really do. But this is what I’m really craving. Gonna be a good girl and let me have a taste?”

You watched him from underneath heavy lids, his eyes were hooded and his pupils had dilated considerably. He finally snaked his middle finger between your legs, hooking your panties and pulling them to the side, then pressed it right between your folds before pushing it inside you ever so slowly. His mouth fell agape watching you whimper at his gentle intrusion, and you nodded your head, granting him permission.

He groaned, pulling away from your lap and going in for a kiss, without removing his finger from inside you. When he pushed his tongue into your mouth he added another finger inside as well, placing his thumb over your clit too.

You moaned loudly and he smiled against your lips “There’s my dirty girl. Here we are in broad daylight, anyone could hear you or walk by and see you let me do these things to you. And you love it, don’t you bunny?”

You nodded, looking at how fucked out of his mind he looked. You couldn’t remember anything from moments earlier about feeling insecure in your body. The way he was looking at you and touching you made you feel amazing in your skin.

“Then lie back for me and let me eat that pretty pussy, hm?” 

You did as instructed and he took off your flimsy panties, pushing your dress up and leaning in for another kiss while he searched for your g-spot again. He knew your body like the palm of his hands, so when you started mewling again he began kissing down your neck “That’s it. Wanna hear you, pretty girl. Show me how much you love it.”

He brought his other hand to the front of your dress and undid the bow at your cleavage, loosening up the fabric there, and then pulled one of the straps over your shoulder and groaned when your boob spilled out to the side. He caught your nipple in his mouth, sucking greedily and speeding up his fingers inside you. You could only hear birds chirping, some insects buzzing and the squelching sounds he was making plunging in and out of your soaked pussy.

“Harry!”

“I know, bunny. Come on my fingers so I can clean you up, lap you up till you spill again on my tongue. Come on. Give it to me.”

“Fuck, fuck!” your thighs shook violently, pushing his hand away.

“That’s a good girl! My best girl.” he pushed his soaked fingers into your mouth “Greedy bunny!” he chuckled teasingly when you sucked his fingers into your mouth clean “I was just giving you a taste, it’s all for me. This, I’m not sharing.” 

He didn’t waste a second longer plunging his face between your sticky thighs “Fuck lovey, you made a mess! Mmmm” he hummed, sucking your clit into his wet mouth “Best fucking pussy.” he squeezed the back of your thighs, pressing his rings into your flesh. You were sure they were gonna leave indents. You loved when he did that, loved seeing the aftermath of your lovemaking.

And his mind seemingly went to the same visual “Gonna look at those marks on those beautiful thighs when I fuck into you from behind as soon as we get back to yours. Can’t fucking wait.”

“I can’t wait that long!” you whined.

He pushed your knees to your chest and slapped your ass before dipping his tongue inside you, making you cry out “Yes you will. Little tease, came into my work looking like that, made me drive all the way up here hard as a rock. Could barely enjoy what you prepped for us, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on your gorgeous body.”

“Harry!’

“Shush, bunny.” he slapped your ass again “Gimme another one and then we’ll go back to yours and I’ll teach you not to tease me like that again. But not here. Cause I can’t promise I’d be able to stop if someone really did walk in on us.

“Oh God…”

“Look at you gushing at the thought of that… dirty girl… you like that idea, don’t you?” he kept alternating between licking and rubbing at your clit with his thumb lazily “Like to show people what you do to me. Like to claim what’s yours. Is that why you came into the studio today, wearing this flimsy little thing? Wanna make sure everyone gets the memo, that I’m taken? Could hardly keep my hands off of you in front of everybody.”

“Fuck, baby…” 

“Yeah? You know I’m right. And I love it. I love you. That’s it, you’re close again. Lemme have it, lovey, I need to get us home and bury myself inside you… Need you so bad” he pressed himself into the blanket, trying to ease the ache at least a tiny bit, moaning against you as he did so and that’s what sent you over the edge. He coaxed every little spasm out of you, and after kissing you thoroughly, he began putting everything away back inside the basket as you came down from your high.

You used a napkin to clean up a bit, then Harry helped you up and slapped your ass through the dress “Come on pretty. We got some traffic to beat. Sure wish you had a license right about now, I can barely walk let alone press pedals.”

You felt bad for Harry for having to drive with blue balls all the way back home. But he did bring it on himself, as much as he liked blaming it all on you and your apparently provocative getup. And to think you felt unattractive putting it on earlier in the day. You were now glowing. Radiating confidence in your own skin. You felt good, desired, appreciated. Harry truly made you feel like you were… beautiful. 

You were back on the road and knowing there was a long stretch before you got off the highway, you leaned over the center console, palming his crotch and finding him just as hard as before.

Harry whined “Bunny, stop it, yeah? Gonna get us killed.”

“Just keep your eyes on the road” you whispered into his ear before kissing down his neck and pulled him out of his skinny jeans, with quite a bit of effort since they were virtually glued to him especially in this state.

“Fuck!!”

“Mhm. I know baby… God, you’re ready to burst. Tell me when you’re close so we don’t make a mess, hm? Gonna swallow it all. Just like the greedy bunny I am.”

A/N: i missed this verse SO much! they're just so special to me! hope you enjoyed their silly love and hope you always remember to be kind to yourselves! ❤️

💕 LIKE & REBLOG IF YOU ENJOYED THIS, LOVELIES, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, PLEASE COME SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON IT HERE 💌

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[adelaidedrubman]

OC INTERVIEW!

i was tagged by dears @g0dspeeed @cassietrn @direwombat @simplegenius042 @wrathfulrook to do a little oc interview, thank you dears! i decided to do this one for america’s sweetheart verse for acclaimed novelist jestiny ft. her long suffering publicist andrea who was mostly there to make sure there was some accurate information, then i decided to give her own spotlight. on that note, sorry for the length and needless preamble no expectation to read All That

“Ugh.” Jestiny grabs the wall to steady herself from stumbling at Andrea’s quick darting into the doorway to block her exit. “Are you fuckin’ serious? You’re really gonna tell me  — a grown fucking woman — I’m not allowed to go play until I finish my homework?”

“It smells like you’ve gotten to play plenty today,” Andrea retorts with a nod towards the disposable coffee cup clenched in Jestiny’s fist and reeking with the unmistakable stench of high proof whiskey. “You’ve put off doing a simple introductory questionnaire for three months now. You’re never going to hire a ghostwriter if you can’t respond to an information request that takes five minutes.”

“I don’t need a ghostwriter,” she mumbles in protest as she takes a sip from her coffee cup that has never once contained coffee, or fooled anyone into thinking it did. “Just a copy editor.”

“Three copy editors have quit because you started using them as ghostwriters. And whatever job title you want to give them, they need some basic biographical information about you to work on your memoir.”

“See, that’s the thing, is no they don’t. Not with the kinda thing I’m writing. It’s all just empty fluff, don’t you —”

“Even for empty fluff, they need a vague skeleton,” Andrea snaps. She pulls Jestiny by the arm towards her desk, pushing her down into one of her guest chairs before taking her seat behind it and clicking a pen. “I canceled the car you called and changed the passwords to all your rideshare accounts. And we both know you couldn’t make it out of the parking garage without getting a DUI. You’re not going anywhere until this is done.”

“Oh, that’s real fuckin’ nice Andrea,” Jestiny hisses. “Hold hostage the woman who just survived —”

name 

“jestiny ellen rook.”

nickname

“none. nope. never had one. never will have one. gotta say the whole thing every time. flaunt it in front of some motherfuckers who were too fucking dumb to ever figure it out.”

gender

“again, andrea — i am a grown fucking woman.”

star sign

“how the fuck am i supposed to know that shit?”  without bothering to check her birthday, andrea writes down aries.

personality type

“america’s fuckin’ sweetheart, baby. kind, lovable, and humble. what else is there?’’  andrea’s hand moves of its own volition to scrawl out the words ‘dark triad,’ immediately scribbling it out to write down ‘istp’ and ‘8w7.’

height

“five foot five, ballpark.”  andrea gives jestiny a skeptical look.  “maybe closer to five-six, camera adds a half-inch.”   andrea, actually 5’6, sighs and writes down 5’4, covering it with her hand to hide from jestiny.

orientation:

“c’mon, you don’t really have to ask that.” andrea dwells unwillingly on the menagerie of half-dressed strangers milling about jestiny’s home every time she steps into it. no, she doesn’t.  “or lie to the press about it, if that’s what you’re dancing around. it’s 2018! america’s sweetheart can be openly bisexual, right?” 

nationality/ethnicity:

“again. america’s fucking sweetheart, baby.”

fave fruit 

“persimmons. don’t put that down, though, that information is for the fuckin’ benefit of your files, so you can get me a halfway decent fruit tray in my dressing room next talk show appearance. write some bullshit about how much i miss the fresh picked huckleberries of hope county and nowhere grows ’em better, or something.”

fave season

“awards! ha, we do have fun. gotta be fall, though. salmon run season. but pretend it’s for the sake of pumpkin spice whatever.”

fave flower 

“psh. whatever happens to be in the bouquets i receive from my adoring fans. but if i have to pick, i guess, uh… forget-me-nots, maybe. or — heh, or cockscomb.”

fave scent 

“whiskey.”  andrea looks between jestiny and her cup, wondering if she has told the truth for the first time.  “coffee, i mean.”

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: 

“i just said —”

average hours of sleep: 

“eh, who can really keep track of that?” people who have to plan their sleep schedule around preventing jestiny from having unsupervised access to social media can and must keep track of that. andrea writes down 3 hours.

dog or cat person

“ew. no. opossums. but write down dog, that probably polls better. andrea, should i get a dog?”   andrea vigorously shakes her head in the negative as she dutifully writes down dog. 

dream trip 

“heh. where do you have me booked for next? checked off a lotta the bucket list already. you’re looking at a dollywood gold pass holder. finally got to go there after a lifetime of dreaming, and it was —”  andrea notes the way jestiny’s eyes suddenly glaze over, her gaze growing hollow and flat as she pauses in searching.  “great. fulfilling. worth the wait. always ready to go back, or onto the next adventure. i mean, it’s such a fucking blessing, don’t you think?” andrea doesn’t answer, looking on with some concern as a hint of earnest joy creeps back into jestiny’s smile. “to have one’s full constitutional right to freedom of movement completely fuckin’ unrestricted?”

favorite fictional/real character

“uh, shrek.”

number of blankets you sleep with? 

“as many as i want, baby! that’s another benefit of freedom, don’t have to settle for a single scratchy, paper thin excuse for a blanket to curl up on my cot with. i get to enjoy my forty-winks on silk sheets and soft as a cloud comforter, on my casper mattress —”

random fact:

“i know how to do a bit of sleight of hand magic.” andrea feels a light brush at her ear, and looks to see jestiny pulling from behind it a matchbook with the number of a taxi company stamped in bright yellow.  “and for my next trick, i’m going to disappear.”

Andrea sighs as she watches Jestiny march out of her office yelling pick-up orders into her cellphone. It was successful for longer than she would have expected, she thinks, tapping the end of her pen against her bottom lip. 

She clicks her pen a few times as she shuffles the papers on her desk, staring down at a blank copy of the questionnaire she’d made in case Jestiny was in foul enough spirits to rip up the first in defiance. 

It would be nice, to have someone ask her things about who she was for once, she thinks, in an indulgent flight of fancy.  

name: 

“andrea simmons.”

nickname: 

“...anal-retentive goldilocks, was the most recent one.”

gender

“woman, she/her.”

star sign

“capricorn.” 

personality type

“estj. 3w2.’’ 

height

“five foot six. empirically verified.” 

orientation:

“lesbian, last i had enough free time to check.”

nationality/ethnicity:

“american. primarily german and scandinavian ancestry.”

fave fruit 

“nectarine, left to my own devices. learning to appreciate leftover cantaloupe picked around on fruit plates.”

fave season:

“summer. warm, sunny, long days.”

fave flower: 

“orchids.”

fave scent 

“lavender, jasmine, eucalyptus.” 

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: 

“coffee. at least three shots of espresso. oat milk. two pumps of hazelnut syrup, no sugar.”

average hours of sleep: 

“three. when you have an infant, you learn to sleep when they sleep.”

dog or cat person

“cats. otto curled up in my lap at the end of a long day is the only thing that keeps me going, sometimes.” 

dream trip 

“any trip. any trip alone. any trip alone without having to worry about what i will find when i come back. greece would be nice, i think.” 

favorite fictional/real character

“peggy olson.”

number of blankets you sleep with? 

“i have a weighted blanket and a quilt at home. and a fleece throw on my office couch that gets more use.”

random fact: 

“i considered going into politics, and interned on a few campaign teams during college. There are many days i regret not following through on that.” 

i know i’m super late to this, so major apologies for repetitive tags and extra no pressure out to the usuals @belorage @hctknives @fourlittleseedlings @galaxycunt @lordundying @florbelles @josephslittledeputy @afarcryfrommymain @poetikat @voidika @captastra @confidentandgood @deputyash @blissfulalchemist @shellibisshe @thedeadthree @nightbloodbix @miyabilicious @henbased @clicheantagonist @firstaidspray @strafethesesinners @jackiesarch @v0idbuggy @orionlancasterr @stacispratt @professorpineapple @strangefable @shallow-gravy @inafieldofdaisies @corvosattano @socially-awkward-skeleton opt in for tags on writing stuff here!

[thoughtportal]

control mosquitos

[chcrryade]

YOU’VE GOT TO TWIST YOUR BODY, TWIRL IT ALL AROUND! ⠀⸻⠀ meet the members!⠀⠀cw mentions of suicide, death.⠀long post !!!

Born in February 1998 to a small town in Daejeon, DOYEON had a relatively quiet life growing up. It was a place where everyone knew everyone, where people met up on weekends in town halls or community centres to share coffee and cake and pour over puzzles. There wasn’t much excitement, but DOYEON didn’t mind. He liked afternoons spent playing with his younger brother, or helping his mother in the kitchen. He didn’t need much entertainment to keep him happy, and was perfectly content as he was.

Or at least, he thought he was. The restlessness started to fester at around the age of thirteen, and it was a slippery slope from that point onwards. He’d seen all the movies in their singular cinema more than twice over, had tried every position there was possible without hurting himself on the swings in their tiny park (at one point he could hook his legs over the top bar and let himself hang, using it more like a gymnast than a bored child), and was sick to death of the jigsaws he helped with every weekend. He felt lost for a while, stuck still on his feet without an end destination in sight, retreating into his shell and keeping his head down—until he saw an rerun of Inkigayo playing on the old tv strung up in the corner of the café he had grown to like, and then all of a sudden he had brand new dream, a brand new goal to strive towards.

It was more the dance than the whole idol thing that DOYEON was interested in, and he enrolled himself into a few classes the second he was able. Dancing was all he did for the next few months. On the way home from school following whatever rhythm he was making up in his head, in his bedroom copying along to various choreographies, even while sitting down his feet would be tapping along to a beat no-one could hear but him. He was obsessed, poured everything he had into it. It felt like he’d finally found his true calling, and one day in 2015 while walking home from a lesson a FNC scouter seemed to think so too. He was introduced, handed a business card, and had shaken the man’s hand before he was gone again and DOYEON was left dazed and with a new opportunity tucked into his hand.

An opportunity he took, of course. His mother was worried about the move to Seoul, but DOYEON assured her he would call every week, ruffled his younger brother’s hair just to watch him complain, and boarded the train to his new trainee life. One that, once he was finally able to debut with SLOW MOTION, would have a rather sad end a little over a year after their 2019 debut. There was no egregious scandal or vicious fight between the five members that tore them apart, but instead they just.. Fell flat. With nothing to do, and not much chance to dance in front of adoring crowds like he’d wanted since he was young, when JAGUAR approached he was biting at the bit to take the chance.

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀BASICS

STAGE NAME⠀DOYEON ( 도연 )

BIRTH NAME⠀KIL DOYEON ( 길도연 )

BIRTH DATE⠀11 FEBRUARY, 1998

PLACE OF BIRTH⠀DAEJEON, SK

HOMETOWN⠀DAEJEON, SK

ETHNICITY⠀KOREAN

NATIONALITY⠀KOREAN

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀CAREER

OCCUPATION⠀IDOL

COMPANY⠀FNC ( 2015—2019 )⠀JAGUAR ( 2019—PRESENT )

YEARS TRAINED⠀FOUR

POSITION⠀LEADER, MAIN DANCER

DEBUT DATE⠀12 MAR, 2019⠀╱⠀1 AUG, 2021

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM⠀JI CHANGMIN

HEIGHT⠀175 CM ( 5’9” )

WEIGHT⠀56 KG ( 123 LBS )

JALEN was born on a late spring evening in April 1997, to a nightclub-owner of a father and a karaoke-loving office worker mother—right in the very heart of Beijing. Music and dance and the raucous laughter of the young partygoers as they drunkenly tottered down in search of the next club to hit, shoes clattering on the uneven cobbles of the city streets that sat right outside his little flat’s bedroom window, were something he grew up with practically ingrained in him.

With no siblings to keep him company, and not many friends at school to bunk off classes or mess around on the walk home with, JALEN turned to music instead. At first it was just his hesitant accompaniment of his mother whenever she made use of her weekend off to enjoy a couple of hours at their local KTV, but from there it started to spiral. He loved singing with everything in him, really, but he also wanted to try and make some of his own. He was mostly self-taught, watching tutorials late into the night and messing around on his phone, starting with only simple mixes of his favourite songs, and then at around the age of seventeen/eighteen was when he started picking up DJ sets in his father’s club to really try his hand at the craft.

Becoming an idol was never really part of the plan. He would’ve been happy to work at the club for however many more years he saw fit, until his mother sat him down and pointed out that he could go so much further if he tried to get deeper into the industry rather than simply scratching the surface of Beijing’s nightlife scene. METRONOME was never at the top of his list either, but the auditions were the closest, and so on a hot summers day in mid 2015 the freshly eighteen year old JALEN packed a bag for the four-hour bullet train ride to Shanghai and performed the best he could for the panel before him—a simple song and dance routine he’d learnt back-to-front.

It was apparently deemed good enough for them to take him on, and so he made his move to Korea and the next three years were spent training until the eventual debut of ALGORHYTHM. But it only took a single member leaving for them to fall apart and for JALEN to be left with nothing else to do other than make beat after beat on his shitty laptop that he stubbornly refused to upgrade and then make up the routines for them in his head afterwards—until, of course, JAGUAR happened, and his life began to pick up speed again.

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀BASICS

STAGE NAME⠀JALEN ( 잘렌 )

BIRTH NAME⠀DUAN JIEYANG ( 段揭阳 )

BIRTH DATE⠀27 APRIL, 1997

PLACE OF BIRTH⠀BEIJING, CN

HOMETOWN⠀BEIJING, CN

ETHNICITY⠀CHINESE

NATIONALITY⠀CHINESE

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀CAREER

OCCUPATION⠀IDOL

COMPANY⠀METRONOME MEDIA ( 2015—2019 )⠀JAGAUR ( 2019—PRESENT )

YEARS TRAINED⠀THREE

POSITION⠀MAIN VOCALIST, LEAD DANCER

DEBUT DATE⠀16 JAN, 2018⠀╱⠀1 AUG, 2021

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM⠀QIAN KUN

HEIGHT⠀176 CM ( 5’9” )

WEIGHT⠀60 KG ( 132 LBS )

Hailing from the very centre of Gangnam in the cold month of November 1999, with a near-supermodel mother and talent agent father, HAEIL had grown up vaguely in and around the rich and the famous. And while his older sister basked in the spare attention they naturally got as a result, HAEIL himself wasn’t too keen. The camera flashes made his eyes sting, the microphones shoved in his face by reporters with leering grins on their faces as they asked him—a child, barely nine or ten or twelve or whatever age he was when they did it—how it felt to have such wonderful people for parents made him want to turn and run back to his room, and the general feeling of being watched made his skin crawl, made him want to lash out and start yelling until it all stopped.

But it turned out he didn’t know how good he had it. Late 2011 was when his life came crashing down, so fast it almost felt like a blur. One day he was stopping in the corner shop to buy lunch for himself before school, and the next he was standing stock still in front of the newspaper stand staring at his mother’s debauched face streaked with makeup and mouth open in an angry scream at whoever was taking her photo. ‘Model caught in cheating scandal,’ read the fine print underneath, and then he was snatching a copy and running out of the store, back to the apartment, ignoring the yells coming after him. He reread the story until none of the words made sense anymore, until his father found him in his room and snatched it out of his hands.

The cameras and the microphones and the reporters got worse after that. His mother was nowhere to be seen, his sister didn’t revel in the attention so much as despise it, his father was a silent shell of who he used to be, and HAEIL himself wanted to scrub his life off of his skin, start over completely. That chance came only a year later, when he was approached on the tube of all places, on the way to school. The METRONOME representative had to tap him three times on the shoulder to get him to take his headphones off, and the first words he spoke to him were “Would you like to be an idol?”. It was his chance to make his name be associated with something other than his mother, wrapped in a bow named ALGORHYTHM, and HAEIL could do nothing but agree.

Alas, his chance didn’t last long. All his years of training turned out to be useless after ALGORHYTHM fell to the wayside after the departure of LEVI. He wanted to be known for something other than having a mess of a mother, but all that got him was being known for being in the group that couldn’t cope with one less member. He was desperate for a third chance, a final opportunity to make a name for himself, and so when JAGUAR rolled around he practically couldn't say yes fast enough.

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀BASICS

STAGE NAME⠀HAEIL ( 해일 )

BIRTH NAME⠀JEON HAEIL ( 전해일 )

BIRTH DATE⠀15 NOVEMBER, 1999

PLACE OF BIRTH⠀GANGNAM, SK

HOMETOWN⠀GANGNAM, SK

ETHNICITY⠀KOREAN

NATIONALITY⠀KOREAN

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀CAREER

OCCUPATION⠀IDOL

COMPANY⠀METRONOME MEDIA ( 2012—2019 )⠀JAGUAR ( 2019—PRESENT )

YEARS TRAINED⠀SIX

POSITION⠀LEAD VOCALIST, LEAD RAPPER

DEBUT DATE⠀16 JAN, 2018⠀╱⠀1 AUG, 2021

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM⠀GOO GUNIL

HEIGHT⠀172 CM ( 5’8” )

WEIGHT⠀53 KG ( 116 LBS )

Born in the busiest part of Chongqing in January 2001, as the youngest to two older sisters and a branch-manager mother far too busy for her own good, YIJUN didn’t have heaps in common with his family growing up. His friends from school were fine, but it was all skin-deep. None of them ever wanted to hang around after classes were over, or go to the cinema when the latest flick came out, or hit the shopping streets whenever they had a bit of pocket money to spare on weekends. He was left to his own devices for a large amount of his younger years, and more often than not that translated into him being led awake at three in the morning with his phone propped up on the pillow before him while he led and watched music show reruns all night.

Rap had always been something he was interested in. It was a genre that stretched far beyond his imagination, and he wanted to learn every inch of it: how to go fast, how to slow it down, how to keep to a beat and make it sound good at the same time. How you could mumble, words barely intelligible, and still make something worthwhile—however niche the audience for it might’ve been. He liked it so much he started to try it out for himself, bit by bit. Always in the quiet confines of his own bedroom, always with only himself to hear whatever words came out of his mouth.

He practised until he thought he was good enough, took to taking free sample beats from SoundCloud and rapping over them before uploading them on his own account even if a grand total of only 12 people listened to them. He practised until a calm summer day in 2016, when he was walking home from school and watched as a poster came drifting to the floor from where it’d been hastily plastered onto the side of the graffiti-covered bus shelter, one that simply read JAGUAR AUDITIONS with the time and place in fine print underneath. And while he’d never really believed in anything spiritual, the ‘divine interferences’ his oldest sister seemed to be marginally obsessed with, it was as if it had been placed there specifically for YIJUN to find it, and he wasn’t going to ignore such a glaringly obvious sign like that.

So he skipped school one early winter day, caught the train armed with his phone and the clothes on his back and barely enough money for a ticket, and walked into the auditions room like he owned the place. From there it was pressing play on the track he’d cobbled together in the weeks leading up to that very moment, looking them all dead in the eyes, and trying not to lose his nerve.

It worked, and he was moving out as soon as he got the chance. His mother accompanied him on the long plane ride over, gave him a short hug for the first time in what felt like years, and then he was left to his own devices once again, to get used to his new routine at JAGUAR. He was over the moon when he was given a chance to be in a group named BONSOIR, but all that excitement disappeared after the addition of JAEHEE—a blatant outsider, someone who didn’t fit in the slightest. YIJUN didn’t care all that much about the article that was known to many as BONSOIR’s downfall because, to him, BONSOIR wasn’t a group at all if JAEHEE was there. He wasn’t all that happy when given the offer of debuting with CHERRYADE, either, but he did it anyway—if only to terrorise JAEHEE some more.

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀BASICS

STAGE NAME⠀YIJUN ( 宜君 )

BIRTH NAME⠀QIAO YIJUN ( 喬宜君 )

BIRTH DATE⠀26 JANUARY, 2001

PLACE OF BIRTH⠀CHONGQING, CN

HOMETOWN⠀CHONGQING, CN

ETHNICITY⠀CHINESE

NATIONALITY⠀CHINESE

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀CAREER

OCCUPATION⠀IDOL

COMPANY⠀JAGUAR ( 2016—PRESENT )

YEARS TRAINED⠀THREE

POSITION⠀MAIN RAPPER, CENTRE

DEBUT DATE⠀22 OCT, 2019⠀╱⠀1 AUG, 2021

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM⠀ZHONG CHENLE

HEIGHT⠀176 CM ( 5’9” )

WEIGHT⠀58 KG ( 128 LBS )

On a sticky summer night in Chiang Mai was when GOGO was born, June 2002. Despite his Thai hometown, he was born to two Korean parents (an eccentric traveller of a mother and a stay-at-home father who would willingly follow wherever she wanted to go next), and grew up having to juggle between speaking one language at school and another at home. This didn’t last forever, though, because at the age of eight their family of four (extended by the original three when his younger brother was born, when GOGO was seven and very much against the prospect of a wailing, screaming, wriggly thing he’d have to call his sibling) packed up and moved to Yangsan, in a country that was technically his homeland but didn’t at all feel like it.

Yangsan lasted for barely a year. Just when he’d been settling in, learning how to talk like the boys at his school did, how to leave his tie loose the way they did, how to act like they did, they were handing in their final rent payment and making the move to Jeonju. And just when he was finally making closer friends, getting to know the twists and turns of the neighbourhood like the back of his own hand, they were packing up again, and then Suncheon was his newest home at age 11. he almost didn’t dare to breathe, worried to say a singular word to his classmates in fear he’d get told the next day they had a new apartment waiting for them in another city far away, and he was right for it. Ulsan came a month before he turned 12, and it was where he and his family—the only people that hadn’t changed, his father and mother and irritating younger brother—finally settled.

So he adjusted. He blended in. He made friends, got comfortable, and soon it was like he’d been there since the day he was born all over again. His days were spent joking and laughing and play fighting, slipping out of the school gates before the first bell rang to the nearby arcades and basketball courts and crowding up against each other with someone’s phone propped up on a bench while they tried to learn the latest EXO choreography, then lying through his teeth back home about all the things he’d supposedly ‘learnt’ that day in lessons. His audition came about in a similar way—a mild September afternoon in 2015, while he and his friends were bunking off, wandering down the city streets, one saw a sign advertising SM walk-in auditions and hit him on the shoulder to grab his attention. “I dare you to go in there” was what he said, and GOGO could do nothing but agree. It seemed his mostly-freestyled routine to the tune of EL DORADO playing out of his phone speakers was enough to impress, or at least convince the people sitting in front of him that he had some potential, because the next thing he knew he was being told he should be expecting a callback. Then came the goodbyes, the moving into dorms, and the practice, day in and day out. 

He was perfectly content there, happy with his members and the group and the multiple sub-units he was given the chance to debut in—until he wasn’t. GOGO himself didn’t really know what changed, he just didn’t feel right there anymore. Didn’t feel like he fit. So when JAGUAR reached out with a request for him to join their little roster for a new group set to debut in 2021, it was all he could do to agree. He doesn’t regret a thing, and would do the exact same even if he was given a chance to go back.

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀BASICS

STAGE NAME⠀GOGO ( 고고 )

BIRTH NAME⠀HWAN MINHUI ( 환민희 )

BIRTH DATE⠀16 JUNE, 2002

PLACE OF BIRTH⠀CHIANG MAI, TH

HOMETOWN⠀CHIANG MAI, TH

ETHNICITY⠀KOREAN

NATIONALITY⠀KOREAN

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀CAREER

OCCUPATION⠀IDOL

COMPANY⠀SM ( 2015—2019 )⠀JAGUAR ( 2019—PRESENT )

YEARS TRAINED⠀FOUR

POSITION⠀MAIN DANCER, LEAD VOCALIST

DEBUT DATE⠀8 AUG, 2019⠀╱⠀1 AUG, 2021

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM⠀YEOM TAEGYUN

HEIGHT⠀176 CM ( 5’9” )

WEIGHT⠀54 KG ( 118 LBS )

Suwon was where JAEHEE was born, in the month July 2002. As a child he only had his mother, his father having parted ways with the two in exchange for a new job in America. He was content with just the two of them until 2009, when his mother remarried and he was suddenly made to make nice and live with his new older step-brother and younger step-sister. It was a hard change for JAEHEE, and more often than not he felt left out, isolated from the new family of four as the forgotten middle child. He started to retreat into himself then, not going out unless it was to go to school or when sent on errands. There was nothing much to do except watch dramas all day, and it was then that he came to the quiet realisation that he wanted to try it out. The idea of pretending to be a different person, even if it was only for an hour or two in a school play, was something JAEHEE found he liked the idea of quite a bit.

He began acting by joining the drama club in school, and threw his all into it immediately. There he wasn’t the quiet JAEHEE, the one that barely greeted his mother and step-father when he got home before rushing up to his room, but instead he could be the sociable one, the one that greeted everyone with a smile and always had friends hanging off of his arms. He first got asked whether he wanted to be a real actor in 2015, and couldn’t be happier. From there it was a lot of forms and paperwork and older, far more important people than the talent scout he’d first been in touch with asking about where he wanted to go with his career, and him having to leave all of his school friends behind to enrol in a proper acting school, and lessons on etiquette and respect and a whole load of other things that made his head spin. Still, he loved every minute of it, and isn’t too ashamed to admit that he cried when he landed his first role—a minor one, with only a handful of lines, but a role all the same.

The want for change came around three years later, early 2018. It wasn’t like he’d lost his love for acting, but more that he felt he wasn’t going anywhere. It was background character after background character, extra after extra, and he was starting to get sick of it. He wanted something different, a complete cleanse. A challenge. That thought process was what led him down a year-long spiral that eventually landed him at JAGUAR in December, where he had to take a moment and ask himself if the life of an idol was what he really wanted.

But, at the end of the day, he didn’t think it would be too much of a high hurdle to jump over. He already had the whole pretend-to-be-a-different-person act down to a T, and the rest could be learnt and improved on with time. So he signed the form, started training, and it was then decided he would be debuting with BONSOIR. JAEHEE was wary, aware of the single they’d already released as a four, and for good reason—it was like they all couldn’t stand the sight of him, bar maybe HYEONMIN on good days. It was like walking on broken glass barefooted every day with them, and when the article that ripped back the curtain on how he was treated was released he could admit that he was a little relieved. And that relief only grew when he was told he was then going to be in a shiny, new, group—even if YIJUN (the one who, without a doubt, hated him the most) was going to be right there him.

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀BASICS

STAGE NAME⠀JAEHEE ( 재희 )

BIRTH NAME⠀AHN JAEHEE ( 안재희 )

BIRTH DATE⠀8 JULY, 2002

PLACE OF BIRTH⠀SUWON, SK

HOMETOWN⠀SUWON, SK

ETHNICITY⠀KOREAN

NATIONALITY⠀KOREAN

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀CAREER

OCCUPATION⠀IDOL, ACTOR ( FORMER )

COMPANY⠀JAGUAR ( 2018—PRESENT )

YEARS TRAINED⠀ONE

POSITION⠀LEAD RAPPER, VISUAL

DEBUT DATE⠀22 OCT, 2019⠀╱⠀1 AUG, 2021

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM⠀CHOI HYUNWOOK

HEIGHT⠀181 CM ( 5’11” )

WEIGHT⠀70 KG ( 154 LBS )

HASUN wasn’t born into any sort of stardom—far from it, actually, with a mild-mannered librarian father and a mother that passed away a mere few months after he was born into a quaint neighbourhood in Incheon, August 2003—but he was very close to it. His father’s sister just so happened to be the mother of one CHOI YOONHAE, who in around 2015 would reach his peak as JAGUAR’s most successful (and only) soloist, claiming his place as reigning king over the quickly deteriorating duo JUST4U. His older cousin was what inspired him to want to be an idol in the first place. He wanted to sing just like him, dance just like him, succeed and soar to heights that at the time felt unattainable just like him.

Singing was where he thought to start. In the shower to instrumentals of his favourite songs, under his breath while studying or doing odd jobs in the library his father worked at, at the noraebang after school with his friends, belting out the lyrics louder than all of them. It was like his lifeline, and he was biting at the bit to be able to audition for JAGUAR. His father finally let him a month after his thirteenth birthday in 2016, on the strict condition that YOONHAE and his younger sister, EUNHEE (who had just recently started to work at the company also) were to watch over him any time they got the chance to make sure he was settling in alright. He painstakingly chose a song to audition with, practised it until he could sing the verses in his sleep (with a little dance to go along with it, a number he did so many times he almost wore out the soles of his favourite trainers), and his father came with him to the audition hall to cheer him on and treat him to hotpot afterwards.

When he finally got the news of his acceptance, he nearly cried out of joy. Despite it being a generally well-known fact that trainee life wasn’t always the best of experiences, HASUN loved every minute of it—turning up to every practice with a grin so wide it looked as if his face hurt from the force of it. Even when he was deemed not the right fit for BONSOIR did he become disheartened. He just kept on going, smiling all the while.

That was, until YOONHAE was found to have taken his own life in his penthouse apartment on a cold morning in December 2018. However much JAGUAR tried to sweep all news of it under the carpet, keep as much press away from it as possible, it still happened. And the worst part of it was the 15-year-old HASUN was standing outside the very block of flats the morning it was discovered, EUNHEE by his side as they stared on in silence. He almost went through a complete personality shift then, withdrawing into himself completely. There was no sunny smile anymore, and no laughter either.

But despite all of this, the tragedy that had befallen his family and himself, HASUN stayed. It took a good year or so after YOONHAE’s death for it to happen, but he started to gradually improve again, small smiles making their appearances again and mood seeming to brighten up, however slowly it was happening. He’s certainly not the same person as he was when he was thirteen, but he’s trying his best.

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀BASICS

STAGE NAME⠀HASUN ( 하선 )

BIRTH NAME⠀LEE HASUN ( 이하선 )

BIRTH DATE⠀7 AUGUST, 2003

PLACE OF BIRTH⠀INCHEON, SK

HOMETOWN⠀INCHEON, SK

ETHNICITY⠀KOREAN

NATIONALITY⠀KOREAN

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀CAREER

OCCUPATION⠀IDOL

COMPANY⠀JAGUAR ( 2016—PRESENT )

YEARS TRAINED⠀FIVE

POSITION⠀MAIN VOCALIST, MAKNAE

DEBUT DATE⠀1 AUG, 2021

⠀⠀ യ ‹ ⠀PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM⠀LEE SOHEE

HEIGHT⠀176 CM ( 5’9” )

WEIGHT⠀52 KG ( 114 LBS )

[typhlonectes]

Wolves Are Making a Comeback at Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park

Since reintroduction in 2018, the wolves have rebounded from just 2 inbred individuals to 31 healthy animals

Wolves are making a comeback at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan after nearly disappearing from the rugged island chain because of inbreeding and disease.

The archipelago in northwestern Lake Superior—centered around a 207-square-mile island—is now home to 31 wolves, despite hosting only two in 2018. According to the latest survey led by researchers at Michigan Technological University, the wolf population has grown by three individuals since last year. And scientists are hopeful the group will be even larger when they count again: 

Based on their observations, they suspect up to five female wolves may have pups this summer...

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/wolves-are-making-a-comeback-at-michigans-isle-royale-national-park-180982382

[confusedfoam]

Some dndads travel headcanons, because why not it's summer and it's traveling season for lots of us. only did s1 dads because they unfortunately still own my heart.

Darryl

- He has left southern California like twice in his life, and both were just going up to northern California. once for his and Carol's honeymoon, and another time when grant was like 8ish to finally go visit Casey and see her brewery.

- Absolutely despised sleeping anywhere that's not his home. the few times he's had to stay at a hotel / families house he just can't sleep at all

- He has never been on an airplane and has absolutely no desire to do so. If he ever did go on an airplane he would be a disaster internally and externally that would come out as being extremely over prepared and way too early. also he would Suffer in airplane seats.

Ron

- Was dragged all up and down the west coast and some of the interior as a little kid before Willy got completely sick of traveling with his wife and kid and dumped them back in Stud's old house that he technically still owned but had been let sit for years.

- Good at short and long road trips, weirdly bad at anything in the 4-6 hour range. it's not long enough to him to really settle into the drive but is too long to be remotely casual.

- Deeply fond of sketchy dates motels and kitschy roadside attractions. Will absolutely buy cheesy tourist t-shirts if presented the opportunity.

- Also not really an airplane guy, never had much of an opportunity until he was grown and then had no one to travel with. But if he did fly he would be that guy who doesn't bring anything to do with him and just watches other people's movies over their shoulders. also he'd forget to take his belt off going through airport security.

Henry

- Never left the Oakvale area as a kid, so his first trip was a Big One

- Spent his early earth years road tripping around the US, hitting different national parks and such. Falling absolutely in love with the diversity of nature when you don't spend all your time in one patch of forest. He absolutely Lost His Mind at the Grand Canyon

- Continued to travel a lot as he and Mercedes got older and had the kids and everything, they loved taking the boys to different parks and camp sites and such.

- Also really enjoyed traveling internationally once he got his whole paperwork situation sorted.

- Was pretty freaked out about flying the first couple times, but now he's a pro. Unfortunately he is an incredibly chatty seat mate and also one of those people who wears sandals without socks on an airplane. so he puts his bare feet all over the floor at security

Glenn

- Traveled a very average amount as a kid, just little family vacations. Tagged along with where ever Bill was going during summer breaks as a younger teen.

- Drove all over the freaking country as an older teen / young man seeing various shows and trying catch The Glenn Close Trios big break.

- Shares Ron's fondness for weird little tourist traps and questionable attractions / restaurants

- Extremely pro car camping, if only for all the hazy memories of doing so in his youth.

- Would make sure that somehow he could block out a week or so to take a road trip with Nick somewhere during summer break.

- Flew a few times as a kid and such. Absolutely hates flying as an adult, it brings out the conspiracy theories in him hardcore and he absolutely cannot do it sober.

Jodie

- Hell does not have vacations

- Traveled many realms as a young and wild demon, having misadventures of the sort that get you trapped in a guitar

- as Jodie Foster the human cop and married man they only took incredibly basic family vacations to the stereotypical vacation spots like once a year.

- Has no feelings on airplanes in any particular direction, besides he would like more leg room.

[fatehbaz]

The heart of the Apuan Alps in Tuscany, Italy, is home to one of the biggest marble mines in the world, with about 160 active quarries in the Massa Carrara and Lucca areas. Since Roman times, creamy-white Carrara marble has been dug out of these mountains. It is the most sought-after marble in the world, and has inspired artists and architects everywhere.

But the Apuan Alps also host an ecosystem that is home to the Italian alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris apuana). In November, Manuel Micheli, a photographer working with the Apuane Libere organisation, stumbled across the newt in Crespina 2, a decommissioned quarry. [...]

“It was incredible to discover such a group,” says Gianluca Briccolani, the co-founder of Apuane Libere, a volunteer organisation formed in 2021 to protect the mountains from environmental degradation, including water contamination caused by the heavy industrialisation of the marble industry.

Cava Crespina 2 lies under Monte Sagro and overlooks the Mediterranean. It was closed in 2014 and became a perfect place for newt reproduction thanks to an underground spring and rainwater filtration in conjunction with the lake’s impermeabilisation, caused by marble dust waste (marmettola).

Since Micheli’s discovery, the newt population has grown – and the scientific and local community has mobilised to protect the newts. Plans to reopen the quarry were halted earlier this month by Unesco and the Apuan Park.

“Last year, we counted at least three dozen newts in different life stages,” says the herpetologist Gabriele Martinucci. “This was a sensational discovery because it means they live in the quarry throughout the entire year. [...]”

If the Crespina 2 quarry were to reopen, however, the newts there would need to be moved because the excavation would affect the lake where they live, says Apuane Libere.

“We want to do everything to protect the newts,” says Briccolani. “Marble quarrying has nothing to do with art. Entire blocks of marble are crushed to create the calcium carbonate that we find, for example, in our toothpaste. The well-known Carrara marble is no longer used to make the future Davids by Michelangelo, but ends up crumbled or, at most, in the kitchens and bathrooms of a very few rich people.”

It isn’t just newts that are threatened, say campaigners. The Apuan Alps chain hosts about 30% of endemic national flora, including a rare cornflower that grows on the slopes of Mount Borla. But the newts have become “a symbol of the resilience of Apuan biodiversity”, says Andrea Ribolini of the Italian Alpine Club.

Many of those protecting the environment in the area are the children of former quarry workers, including Alberto Grossi, a longstanding activist and group manager for the Apuan Alps of the Legal Intervention Group, an Italian ecological association. [...] Guido Dazzi, a fellow environmentalist, says: “I’m 60 years old and my father was a quarry worker. I come here to monitor whenever I can. [...]”

---

Headline, images, captions, and text by: Alice Pistolesi and Monica Pelliccia. “Brave newt world: the species swimming against the tide of Italian marble.” The Guardian. 23 March 2023. [Some paragraph breaks and contractions added by me.]

[cere-mon-ials]

2022 in kdramas

*that I finished

I spent my January nursing all that The Red Sleeve broke (my heart), nourishing what it gave me (provocation to write, notes here), cursing what it did for my overall k-drama viewing expectations. I am still mad that Lee Se-young wasn’t recognised for what she did in TRS, a show that belongs to Deok-im and her alone. I had finished Good Manager a day before, a long-winded bromance between Namkoong Min and Lee Jun-ho. I didn’t think much and truth be told, I don’t remember much either. Happiness fell flat after three episodes; stayed for the remaining episodes because of the excellent chemistry between the main characters. I evidently watched Coffee Prince many years too late but I saw every reason why I might have never finished school if I had seen it earlier.

Run On kept me thrilled on occasion, became white noise otherwise. I loved seeing my two joys, running and translation, woven into the show, loved the miracle of found friendships and homes, and a defiant writing philosophy that healthy relationships are worthy of being probed. Despite how unbearable Our Beloved Summer was about Ji-woong’s unrequited love, I could see the good-naturedness of the story writer-nim was trying to tell. I loved watching why the two leads fell apart and what brought them together. I loved that this had something to do with communication but I loved even more, that it just had to do with having grown up and realising you can love something you’re not and that’s one way to experience life. Kairos is the most underappreciated show that tackles time-travel. Great writing with exceptional attention to detail.

February was spent with the duology of the Ahn Pan-seok—Kim Eun—Jung Hae-in universe, the k-drama equivalent of Austenian bliss. Both shows benefit from Kim Eun’s thesis that romance may be intimate but love, in a patriarchy, demands a public that must accept it. Ahn Pan-seok is the finest orchestrator of moments that feel like the time lapse that falling in love is, that thing that people often reduce to soulmatism or violins at first glance. In One Spring Night, it works. In Something in the Rain, it fails because Kim Eun was still finding her voice as a writer who is stumped by what makes for the ‘right’ kind of conflicts in a 16-episode arc. I don’t think that’s the only problem with SITR but it’s the one she solved with marvelous elegance in OSN. In both shows, the main leads are charmingly, refreshingly communicative with each other. But it is in OSN, where Kim Eun figures out that being vulnerable is not the same as talking about vulnerable things, and how to make it count for all relationships that matter. Son Ye-jin and Han Ji-min, I love you both equally.

In March, I began paying an honorarium to the guard of my Jang Hyuk horny jail. Deep-rooted Tree made me cry in at least 14/24 episodes. A Joseon murder mystery wrapped in a drama about accessible language as the beginning to breaking down class barriers and nation-building, with nerdy love for character interiority? I ate that up. Han Seok-kyu is the only reel King Sejong ever. Just like Jang Hyuk is the only reel Bang Won ever. My Country: The New Age is a shallow show with hilarously lofty dialogues and masterful action sequences. In my most generous reading, MCTNA attempted to ask if Bang Won’s modernity could have come at a lesser price; is modernity not equivalent to audacity? Woo Do-hwan is almost as good at portraying audacity as Jang Hyuk.

Having Park Eun-bin and Kim Min-jae play Brahms in a riveting duet is exactly what Do You Like Brahms? set out to do. Introverts are rarely done well on the screen and getting it right with not one, but two leads is an achievement too. If you are a person fuelled by that mystical "passion," the creative arts industry can be a cruel place. Chae Song-ah is, by all accounts, not as talented as the others around her, and this is not a story of stick-with-it-till-you-rise-from-the-ashes. Even the hope that it might be is wonderful writing because Song-ah is far more assertive than anybody gives her credit for, like a baby who holds onto your finger with shocking strength. In classical music especially, there is no such thing: you are good or you are out. Park Joon-young is great and yet, he is begging for an out, because being good is just the beginning. These two and the other characters are deeply in love with music and they want to protect that love. They all find out that in the end that love needs sustenance, not protection.

I binged Fated to Love You in April, in a private experiment to see how much Jang Hyuk brainrot I can take. (Let’s remember this is a summary of the shows I finished.) I came out of it with brainrot for one more Jang. Outrageous show, outrageous star power. Soundtrack No. 1 was a forgettable experience save for the fact that I am now a person who looks up Park Hyung-sik’s MDL page on the reg. I think everybody is right about Twenty-Five Twenty-One: (a) Baek Ye-jin and Na Hee-do were always going to break up (b) It was a terribly-conceived finale. Two other opinions I am going to leave here: (c) Ji Seung-wan, darling of my heart, should have been the lead for the show that writer-nim actually wanted to do. (d) More people would see this, and also may have responded with thoughts beyond ship discourse, if Na Hee-do was played by anyone other than Kim Tae-ri.

I think people were right about criticising Lee Soo-yeon’s Grid too. The science of time-travel took some leniency. I get why the finale would have been unsatisfying, even as a setup for a potential second season. But I offer that the thesis of LSY’s shows is never in how they end, because they are not moral science lessons for the future. Grid’s deeply introspective themes of time-travel and the greater good begins with the the sun, the most reliable force in a human's life, turning against mankind. This immediately takes away a human as ultimate antagonist, when it easily could have been. For LSY, the future is the darkest place with unknowable power and we have the task of paving a path of light towards it. Time-travel is not the science-fiction component with which to imagine our behaviour in an unrecognisable, but possible, place. It’s the fucking fantasy. Even if we got the chance to change the past, we really couldn't. The future is what we have got to change and the present to make the first move. Those dreams of going back, repenting hard enough, flirting with what ifs? Not going to cut it. LSY's meta elegance is in bringing the intensely personal version of this theme in parallel to the big one: divorce. FWIW, she had all these threads tie together by Episode 7. I get why she said Grid is the next iteration of her life's work—an exceptional mind.

Park Min-young could have chemistry with a rock, and thank god, Seo Kang-joon isn’t one. When The Weather Is Fine is the rightest show about life in the countryside. It nails the fine line of a tight-knit community that shows up for you and also, how easily they can be the first source of judgement, as people who know your secrets. Best book club in a k-drama. Very well done pining. Imo is my favourite character and she should publish that novel because “Hey. Who do you think killed my brother-in-law?” is a banger opening line. I first saw Lee Jae-wook in this show.

During the weekends of April and May, there was My Liberation Notes. I watched it like a scheduled therapy session, although I do not think Park Hae-young is aiming for catharsis with her works (despite it seeming like the most common outcome). I didn’t have the word “healing” in my everyday vocabulary so often before k-dramas. It’s a genre of k-drama that is meant to be comforting, to inject slowness into everyday life as an antidote for the ills of modern society. Bullshit. There are multiple wide shots of the Yeom family tending their farms, eating in peace amid the greenery, and they are claustrophobic. It might feel like complaints, and you’re free to think that. But PHY knows, as most people my generation do, finding an escape is actually really easy. That’s not the point. The point is to be less sad about being who you are; to know that who you are is enough to make a living, find love if you want it, make peace with your family. This show is about siblings as the real loves of your lives.

I don’t remember what I was doing in June.

Pachinko is not a k-drama strictly speaking, but let’s do it. I adore Min Jin Lee and I am afraid to admit how emotionally attached I am to the world of Kogonada’s eyes. In MJL's book, the linear structure is meant to make you feel like the history of a family can also be a history of the other themes that consume intellectual space. In the show, there is no such thing as a past, or a history. Nothing is done, nothing is over and under the rug. You see Sun-ja’s and Solomon’s stories at the same time because there's no distance that makes what happened then far enough from what's happening now. For this alone, Pachinko is a superior adaptation. I have a shrine for every woman in this show. Watching Yumi’s Cells 2 has been among the happiest experiences of my TV viewing life. Bloody Heart could have been bloodier. I respected that it reached a conclusion without feeling the need to give a neat answer to its central question of assertive power as driver of both unity and chaos—there’s humility in realising that the answer need not be determined in one generation. Jang Hyuk thirst got me into the show, Kang Hanna’s outstanding face and smarts kept me there. Lee Joon’s Lee Tae nearly made me quit. Park Ji-yeon, muah. I watched the back half of Signal in July. It is no fault of the show that I was zapped out of will to see women being killed. There were two scenes of Kim Hye-soo’s that wrecked me bad, I had to quit watching for couple of days. Thank you to the makers for giving a genre-defining template. (Kairos did do it better.)

Alchemy of Souls was super fun as a weekly watch. Daeho is boring to me as a setting and the plot ventures into territories worthy of critical thought once in a blue moon. But I admire the ambition, and the storytelling does have its moments. Lee Jae-wook is a menace. Inhaled Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung over four days; I enjoyed it. Extraordinary Attorney Woo tried. I also binged Reply 1997. Reply 1988 is always going to be my favourite and I am not going to watch R1994 for a conclusive test of veracity.

Between these shows, their endearing efforts at being fulfilling shows about love of different kinds, I nibbled on episodes of My Mister. I couldn’t watch two episodes together; it was so potent, so unbelievably demanding of my attention in every way imaginable, and I gave it willingly. I wrote about the show here.

October brought the best mystery/thriller show of the year: May It Please The Court. It was written with a clear idea of how much to bite, knew how to chew on it, and that’s why it also landed the best conclusion of the year. The show is astute about forgiveness and justice, and well, forgiveness in justice. I think the show’s success is in how it trusted both its characters and the audience to process what this means to them. Jung Ryeo-won and Lee Kyu-hyung have impeccable married energy from first scene. Lee Sang-hee is the best, the hottest, the finest.

Little Women is the mystery/thriller show with the most potential of the year. It wasn’t until episode 11 that the show lost me but I do think the flaws began revealing themselves a lot earlier. I didn’t appreciate the show’s insistence that the central crime of the show was Sang-ah’s murders and not the patriarchal cult that pretends to be a meritocracy. I thought the Vietnam War references were in conversation for a whole different reason: I viewed it as a nod to the first war where losing means more than winning. That war is the blueprint for the 21st century exertion of control for the right to capital and target audience, rather than mere territory and pride. But this symbolism wasn’t what came through and I understand those who pushed back on how the war's references, along with an exotic flower, rang hollow. LW did get characterisation right, particularly the way poverty alters how intelligence is perceived and valued. It’s ambitious premise—that Louisa May Alcott was wrong in deciding these sisters would taper their poverty with unusual politeness—is radical.

I will rewatch the first 11 episodes of May I Help You in several trying days of my future. Baek Dong-joo and Kim Tae-hee, butlers to the dead and the alive respectively, are companions, friends and lovers, in that order. What's not to love? The acts asked of them are rarely grand but they are delivered with emotional heft. I forgive all the detours taken from episode 12. I tend to find it dull when everybody and everything is connected to each other. In this one's ending, it's quite lovely. I see the vision in saying that we only know Dong-joo’s story because that’s the story we have tuned into. The miracles could be happening to anyone at all. I wish writer-nim wasn’t so Christian throughout—the throwaway line about suicide put me off. Best piggy-backing scenes in a rom-com and also, favourite kiss, I am going to say.

[thechanelmuse]

Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest National Park Service ranger 

She was first assigned to the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California the age of 84 and retired in 2022 at the age of 100. Sixteen years. And they said she didn’t play about her position. Her mom and her grandma both lived to their centenarian years as well. A lot of life to live. I know Ms. Betty is looking forward to the next thing in the next chapter in her life.

Here’s a excerpt from her PBS interview in 2022:

Geoff Bennett: “You have said that you have lived lots and lots of lives. You grew up in a [Louisiana] Creole Black family in Oakland, California. You later worked as a file clerk at a segregated union shop. You and your late husband founded one of the first Black-owned record shops, which was in existence for nearly 75 years. You're also a mother to four children. You are a songwriter. You're active in politics throughout your entire life. How has all of that shaped you?”

Betty Reid Soskin: “I have never known how that happened. I know that had I grown up knowing what was ahead. I would never have been able to do it. But I grew up with a sense of surprise. And I also felt that I was jumping out of bed every morning, wondering what was life going to be like? I still am. I'm still jumping out of bed trying to figure out what life is like.”

SN: In the fourth photo above, Ms. Betty is in the middle with her sisters, Lottie and Marjorie Charbonnet. In the fifth photo, Ms. Betty is pictured with her late husband Mel and their kids: Rick Reid, Bob Reid, David Reid and Dorian Reid.

And did I mention she wrote a book?