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toxoiddiamond · 3 years

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T H E B A S I C S Given Name: Rafael Caleb Isserlis Nicknames: His family all call him Ray, but most people just call him Rafael. Age: 30 Birthday: June 6th Zodiac Sign: Gemini Birthplace: Sunnyvale, California Current Location: Barcelona, Spain Speaks: English, Spanish, some Castilian, a bit of Hebrew but not much. Dominant Hand: Right Education: He graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree. His original focus was Computer Software Engineering, but he switched his focus to Drawing and Painting in his sophomore year. Occupation: Bouncer at a strip club, and he has been working on a comic book with a friend (Rafael is working on the art, and his friend is the writer/story creator) for about a year. They hope to publish and sell it at some point soon. Vehicle: 2003 Opel Zafira in silver. Not the most attractive car, but he got it for cheap and it has been very reliable for him. Worldly Possessions: Lots of art supplies, a bunch of comic books, tons of dog toys, a photo album full of family pictures (put together for him by his mother before he moved to Spain), and tons of blankets and pillows because he loves to be comfy~ Pet(s): A black and white Mucuchi named Oreo. Rafael loves taking Oreo pretty much anywhere that dogs are allowed, and Oreo is always very happy to go on adventures.

A P P E A R A N C E Height: Just under 6’ Hair: He generally keeps it trimmed short just because it is easier to take care of, though he occasionally grows it out a little longer so the curls really show. He’s never dyed it before, so it is his natural dark brown color. Facial Hair: He always has at least a little bit of facial hair, even if it’s just some light scruffiness. He does like to let it grow out more sometimes. Eye Colour: Brown with some flecks of hazel Skin Tone: Dark, though the tone varies depending on the time of year. He is quite a bit darker in the warmer months thanks to his love of the outdoors. Clothing: He dresses casually for the most part, lots of jeans and t-shirts (especially band tees). If he’s working, he might wear a nice jacket as well. He almost always wears combat boots, unless he’s going running or hiking, then he’ll wear comfy sneakers. He loves wearing beanies, especially in colder weather, and he has them in a bunch of different colors. Although he doesn’t have much reason to dress up, he does look great in a suit and has some nice clothes on hand just in case. Distinguishing Marks: He has a couple of large tattoos on his chest, and a half sleeve on his left arm. He plans on getting more tattoos at some point, but he hasn’t decided what he wants or where. Face Claim: Jordan Calloway

H E A L T H Physical Health: Rafael is in excellent health– he loves doing any sort of physical activity, especially if it involves being outdoors, so he's very fit. He works out on a regular basis and eats quite healthy (though he's not opposed to a little junk food now and then). He gets sick now and then, just minor things like a cold or a mild case of the flu, but he's never been seriously sick or anything. Basically, Rafael takes great care of himself. Physical Abilities/Limitations: He can lift very heavy things thanks to his weight training at the gym. He's got good endurance/stamina– he can hike or run for quite a long time before needing a break. He's a good artist with a very distinctive style; he is constantly drawing, doodling on napkins, just keeping his hands busy whenever he can. Addictions: No addictions to speak of. Allergies: Citrus in general makes his mouth hurt, but sometimes he eats it anyway because he just can't resist. Mental Health: Generally good. He had a very stable upbringing with lots of supportive friends and family around. He is lucky enough to never have experienced any sort of mental illness or any really traumatic events in his life.

H I S T O R Y Summary: Rafael was born in Sunnyvale, California to wealthy parents (his mother is an OB/GYN, and his father is a very successful software engineer). He was the fourth of five children. He grew up surrounded by a very loving family, including much of his extended family, and had a near idyllic childhood. Growing up, Rafael always showed an aptitude for art– he was quite a skilled artist from a young age, but he also had a deep interest in his father’s work and loved all things to do with technology. He taught himself to code when he was about twelve years old and even made a couple of very basic games just to practice. Rafael was always a great student, not exactly straight A’s since he had a bit of a hard time in his literature classes and some of the more complicated math classes, but he never got any grades lower than a B, and he always tried his hardest and studied a lot, did extra credit whenever he could, etc. He also always had a lot of friends and was a bit girl crazy in high school, so he was always dating a new girl. He was on his high school’s soccer team as well– the PE coach always wanted him to go out for the football team, but Rafael hated football and still does, so he never bothered, preferring to use the time to do various volunteer projects or just hang out with his friends. Thanks to his excellent GPA and a wealth of extracurriculars and volunteer experience, Rafael had an easy time getting accepted into UC Berkeley. He initially majored in Computer Software Engineering, as he’d always planned– but after a trip across Europe with some of his friends just before his Sophomore year of college, he had a shift in perspective and realized that he really wanted to focus on his art after all. He changed his major to focus on Drawing and Painting, which was a bit of a surprise to his family, but they were, as always, very supportive of his decision, especially since it turned out he wouldn’t lose any progress toward his degree. After graduating, Rafael decided to do what he’d always wanted to do and live abroad. He decided on living in Spain, since he had taken nearly eight years of Spanish between high school and college and was almost fluent at that point. He spent a few years just travelling around Spain, exploring, working odd jobs, meeting people, just having a good time. Eventually he ended up settling in Barcelona after meeting a particularly good group of people, finding himself a quaint little house in the heart of the city, and getting a job as a bouncer in a local strip club. He has been there ever since. Job History: He didn't have his first job until college– he worked as a barista at a Starbucks on campus for his entire college career, which he actually really enjoyed. Once he moved to Spain and started traveling around, he did tons of odd jobs helping out with manual labor, working in restaurants, helping out around people's houses, doing yard work, just anything he could find that didn't require a lot of commitment. Once he settled in Barcelona, he took a job as a bouncer in a strip club because it paid decently well and fit into his schedule very nicely– that is where he's been ever since. Fondest Memories: Lots of happy childhood memories, too many to list actually. One of his fondest memories is his trip across Europe with his college friends. Plus all his adventures across Spain and the various times his sister Eliana has come to visit him. Worst Experiences: His paternal grandparents both died in a car accident when Rafael was fourteen, and that was probably the single worst experience of his life. A couple of his breakups were particularly rough on him as well.

C O M M U N I C A T I O N Speech Pace/Style: Definitely not a smooth talker, but not super awkward either (unless he’s trying to flirt). He’s laid back when he speaks, not overly formal, always seems pretty relaxed (again, unless he is attempting to flirt). He doesn’t talk excessively, but he’s not quiet or shy either, always loves to jump into a conversation, especially if it’s about a subject he’s interested in. If someone gets him started on a subject he’s passionate about, he gets very animated and excited about it. Accent: American accent, which sometimes comes through in his Spanish– though his Spanish accent, for the most part, is pretty good. Favorite Phrases or Words: He says “oh snap!” a lot when speaking English, something that rubbed off on him thanks to his younger sister. Usual Curse Words: He doesn’t curse a whole lot– it’s not that he’s offended by cursing or anything, he just kind of doesn’t think to curse unless he’s angry or really passionate about something.

P E R S O N A L I T Y, M I N D S E T, A N D B E L I E F S Personality Type: ENFP-A Sense of Humor: Rafael loves to laugh and has a pretty open sense of humor. The only type of humor he doesn’t vibe with is super offensive or raunchy/sexual humor, that’s just not his thing. But anything silly, clever, wordplay or puns, non-sequitur/weird humor, all of that is totally his cup of tea. Habits: Rafael is a bit fidgety and always has to be doing something with his hands. He can be still if he actively focuses on not fidgeting, but it's a little difficult for him. He's constantly drawing on napkins or little pieces of paper, on himself, and on others if they'll let him. If he doesn't have a pen handy then he'll crack his knuckles or he'll kinda rock back and forth on the balls of his feet. He just really cannot hold still unless his mind is fully occupied with something. Fears/Phobias: The whole idea of ghosts or demons really freaks him out. He also sometimes has a touch of existential dread and wonders if he’s going to be alone forever, but that usually doesn’t last long, just a sleepless night or two and then he gets past it. Strengths: Rafael is a very caring, sweet person who is genuinely interested in other people and loves to help whenever he can. He is attentive to people’s needs and tends to anticipate those needs in advance, so he is quite a thoughtful person. In general, he’s an optimist who likes to look on the bright side of things no matter how bad the situation may get and tries not to let the little things get him down. He is also very protective of those he loves, and though he is friendly to people almost all of the time, if anyone is rude to or tries to hurt someone he cares about, he won’t hesitate to speak up on behalf of or physically protect his loved one. Flaws: While his optimism is often a positive trait, Rafael sometimes takes it too far and doesn’t allow himself to just be sad or angry now and then, even when it would be good for him. He tends to suppress any emotion he perceives as negative instead of actually processing his feelings. In relationships, he can be a bit possessive and jealous at times, but he knows that’s his own problem and he really tries not to take it out on his partners. Hopes/Desires: He really hopes to get his comics published at some point– he just really wants to get them out there, even if they don’t get super popular or anything, he’s just really proud of their work and wants people to see it. He also really wants to find someone he can settle down with (or go on adventures with), someone he can spoil with tons of love and affection. He would love to get married and maybe have kids someday, but if his partner didn’t want children he would be okay with that also. Self-Esteem: Super good, honestly. He has his moments of insecurity just like anyone else, but overall he is comfortable with himself and believes himself to be a good person. Religion: Kinda Jewish, kinda atheist. It’s complicated.

R A N D O M Sleeping Position: Curled up on his right side, usually. Boxers or Briefs?: Boxers Day or Night?: Night for sure, he is naturally a night owl. Top or Bottom?: Probably top more than anything, but if he was with a partner that wanted to switch it up, he would happily give it a try~ Partying or Relaxing?: This would be a really hard choice for him, but he would probably have to go with partying. He loves the atmosphere of a good party.

R E L A T I O N S H I P S Closest Friend: Besides his younger sister, Rafael's best friend is Isabel Maduro, a woman he met when he moved to Barcelona. They have been working together on a comic book series for a while now; she is a very talented writer who comes up with stories that blow Rafael's mind. They see each other fairly often not just to work on the comics, but to go on walks or out to lunch, or on the occasional hike. Relationship History: Rafael had a ton of relationships in high school, many of which lasted two weeks or less and obviously those relationships didn't get serious at all– Rafael was just kind of playing the field at that point. He didn't actually have sex, or a serious relationship, until his first year of college. He then dated his first serious girlfriend, and they lasted about six months before she broke things off because she felt he was more attached than she was and she didn't want to waste his time. That is actually how all of Rafael's relationships have gone since then– he always gets broken up with before a year has passed (often much sooner than that) because they're not as into him as he is into them, or he's just too much, being too intense, etc. As a result, he's now reluctant to express his feelings at all because he doesn't want to put pressure on anyone. Sexual Partners: Rafael doesn't exactly get around or anything, but he has had about a dozen sexual partners in his life, all of them women. Thoughts About Sex: Rafael loves sex within the confines of a relationship but doesn't have much interest in it other than that. One night stands, flings, anything like that is not for him. So far, Rafael has only been with women. He's been attracted to men before and he knows he's definitely not straight, but he's always been way too nervous to try and flirt with men. He has never come out to anyone but if he were to end up in a relationship with a man, he wouldn't hesitate to come out– his sister Eliana is a lesbian and currently engaged to another woman, and was readily accepted by their family, so he knows they would all support him if he ever told them.

P A R E N T S Name(s): Shira and Booker Isserlis Age(s): Both 64 years old. Social Standing: White collar for sure, and they are in very good social standing. Occupation(s): She is an OB/GYN who is set to retire in a couple of years, and he is a computer software engineer who doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon. Religion: She is Jewish and he is agnostic, but does observe/celebrate Jewish holidays and events. Quality of Relationship With Their Children: They love and support all of their children unconditionally. They do worry about Rafael sometimes just because he’s more of a wanderer than their other children, he’s a bit more aimless, but they know he can take care of himself. Living/Deceased: Both alive and in excellent health.

S I B L I N G (S) Name(s): Daniel Isserlis, Itai Isserlis, Tamar Huang, and Eliana Isserlis (soon to be Eliana Florakis). Age(s): 34, 32, 31, 29. Yes, their parents basically had all of their children back to back. Social Standing: They have all done very well for themselves, and are all in good social standing. Occupation(s): Daniel is a software engineer and works with their father. Itai is a forensic accountant and he has helped to arrest many white collar criminals. Tamar runs a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged children by providing housing, food, education/tutors, and after school activities. And Eliana is an event planner who specializes in weddings. Religion: Daniel and Tamar are still devoutly Jewish. Itai and Eliana are more like Rafael– they appreciate and enjoy aspects of Judaism but they don’t really believe in it. Quality of Relationship with Character: Rafael loves all of his siblings and would do just about anything for them, but he is definitely the closest with Eliana out of all of them. He really only sees/talks to his other siblings a few times a year, but he talks to Eliana all the time. Living/Deceased: All alive.

D A I L Y L I F E Living Arrangements: He lives in a cute little one bedroom house right in the heart of the city, on a very busy street. He loves being right in the middle of everything, so it’s ideal for him. The place was a bit rundown when he first bought it, but he has fixed it up quite a bit and although no one would say it’s luxurious or anything, it’s definitely nice and comfortable. He loves having guests over and has lots of seating and a large TV, plus a pull-out couch in the living room just in case anyone stays the night, not to mention a spacious king sized bed in his room.

#character: rafael isserlis #ship: razio #character sheet

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subbyboymax · 4 years

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I want to ask you all of them 🙈🙈

So why won’t you ask all of them? Huh anon?

Jk I love you whoever you are. As requested:

1. Zodiac sign

Taurus. I don’t really pay much attention to zodiac stuff but I’ve heard from friends that I fit the stereotypes somewhat.

2. Sexual orientation

This is hard because I’m kinda questioning atm, but I would say I like women and identify as NB using male pronouns which I personally feel is accurate to me, but I still am unsure myself what that actually means. I am still figuring myself out.

3. Relationship status

Single and honestly looking. I’ve had one girlfriend in high school and I’ve had romantic interests since but I have such low self confidence that I end up being too nervous to really pursue a relationship.

4. Someone you miss

My friend Rebekah. I miss her a lot. She’s like a sister to me.

5. Person who’s arms you’d like to be in

Hmmmmmmmmm... anyone really...

6. What you find attractive in Men/Women?

Typically I find personality attractive and looks don’t really matter, but usually someone’s smile and eyes draw my attention the most.

7. How tall are you?

5’7 or ~170cm but I wish I was more smol.

8. What you love about yourself?

Already answered

9. What you’re doing tomorrow?

I’m probably going to exercise and play games with my gaming clan.

10. What are your future plans?

My goal is to become an electrician, but I also want to go to various Asian countries and try to improve my Asian cooking by studying the food culture all over east asia.

11. Your last night out in detail?

Oh god I don’t even remember the last time I was out at night... I guess it was last year when I had my heart broken and I went to a really nice bar and spent $200 on alcohol and was GONE. Never again. Ended up being hung over for the first time in my life.

12. Your favorite book?

Hmm... favorite book(s) would have to be the Ranger’s Apprentice series of books. Good story, good characters.

13. All of pets you’ve ever had?

I’ve had so many pets I could make a whole post about them and may do that later.

14. Something that changed your life?

Unfortunately too many things have happened to change my life more than I would like. I still can’t really answer this question fully.

15. Do you remember your last dream?

I was basically playing a game that turned out to be an isekai and I basically had a SMG and had to fight off a dragon. Shit was weird but very vivid. It’s weird because I don’t particularly like guns or dangerous stuff in general.

16. What your last text message says?

“Keep me posted! We should meet up and have a toast to it!” was sent to my friend Renè, who has been my best friend since birth pretty much. Our parents were close while they were pregnant with us and we are practically brothers. He’s getting a house near where I live and we will live in the same state for the first time since we were 8 years old. Obviously we will social distance but we still had to celebrate and see each other to mark the occasion.

17. Do you respect your government and the way your country is run?

Absolutely not. Please vote biden if you live in the US. Even if you hate the idea of voting for biden, he’s better than trump. If hillary had won, she would have been putting her third justice on the supreme court. Biden is the only chance for our freedom and for the freedom of many people. I am terrified of 4 more years of trump.

18. Where you would like to live?

South Florida, where I was born.

19. Your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Depends on my mood, but typically strawberry.

20. Last thing you ate?

Pizza that was left over from last night.

21. Which swear word do you use the most?

Fuck. Like I use it so much it’s stupid.

22. Your plans for summer?

Heh... plans...

23. Any upcoming concerts?

Bruh if only. Like I work as an usher and as a stagehand, so if any concerts were happening at all I would JUMP for joy. And I am CHONK so jumping is not exactly the most comfortable thing to do.

24. Something that you’re proud of?

That I am finally committing to getting therapy for my long list of traumas.

25. Do you still talk to your first crush?

I wish I could, but she’s not part of my life anymore, sadly. She was a good friend.

26. What language do you want to learn?

Japanese, because I really have a strong interest in their history and culture and want to go sightseeing there someday.

27. Where have you lived before?

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and St. Louis, Missouri.

28. Eye color?

I think it’s green or something but it changes depending on the light because it’s sometimes more silvery idk.

29. Favorite style of clothing?

Traditional Japanese formal wear. It’s always been an interest of mine.

30. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

All of one minute to throw on an outfit and get socks on. I wish I had an eye for fashion but hopefully if I ever have a partner, they will help me with my style choices a bit lol.

31. Where did you go today?

Nowhere, because pandemic lmao.

32. Where are you right now?

In my room wishing I could have cuddles.

33. How many countries have you visited?

None because money is not exactly a thing we have an abundance of.

34. Something old?

What does this mean? I guess I have my great grandfather’s old stamp collection.

35. Something new?

Hell if I know, I’ve had nothing new in months.

36. Something inherited?

My laptop.

37. Is death more scary than life?

Hell no. Death is easy. Life is scary and overwhelming but it’s worth living the life you have. You only lose out on life by dying before your time. You gain nothing in death, despite it being less scary and uncertain than living is. Keep living to experience everything you can and have no regrets once you do pass on.

38. Experience you’ll never forget?

The time my high school crush complimented my hair in physics class. I get very few compliments and I never feel that attractive so I hardly focus on my appearance but I had brushed my hair that day and the fact she commented on it made me smile very wide.

39. What’s your favorite part about today so far?

Honestly today has sucked and I have been dealing with depression but I am trying to stay positive. Hopefully the answer to this question changes later today!

40. Who is your hero?

My Great-Grandmother. She was part of my life until I was 17 and she taught me that kindness and compassion is the most important trait for a human to have. She was the most amazing woman I have ever met in my life.

41. Are you happy with where you live?

I love this house, but it’s definitely not perfect and I would love to have my own place someday.

42. Do you like your handwriting?

Ew no it looks like alien language. It’s so bad. I can barely read my own writing.

43. What do you wear to bed?

Typically just underwear, or in the winter I will wear a T-shirt and fleecy pants.

44. Tea or coffee?

Tea

45. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate hands down. It’s such a varied flavor imo.

46. Are you excited for anything?

Being okay someday.

47. How late did you stay up last night and why?

Midnight because sleep is hard.

48. What’s your ringtone?

I’m boring and keep my phone on vibrate so no ringtone.

49. Did you have a dream last night?

Yes, I said it earlier.

50. What keeps you going each day?

Honestly no fucking idea lmao.

51. Picture of yourself?

You’ll have to DM me for that one, friendo. Anons get no face pics!

Also for the other people who sent in asks, I saw them, but I figured I could just use this ask to consolidate and not spam posts. Thank all of you for sending in asks, you are the best <3

#Asks #Thank you anon

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dreamhimcloser · 5 years

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Aeon - JiKook

Word Count: 9.5k words Rating: PG-13 Summary: The Rat was the first in Buddha’s race, which by timeless standards should mean that your family will be much more looked up to than they actually are. It's a damn race after all, the winner gets the chicken dinner, right? Wrong. Genre: Fluff-ish? Also, Seokjin is a diva Note: I’m not really back from Hiatus, that’s important to say. The exchange was fucking amazing and I need time to find myself at home again, but this thing has been sitting on my computer for a year now and I felt inspired, so I gave it life. The ending is not really edited because I cringed at myself. It’s been in my head for a while, hope you guys will like it♥

Your frustration with the day began right in the entrance to your university. You could already feel the signs of the power struggle in the air, along with the countless oblivious students walking right through it as they go about their day. You didn't know if you were lucky for being aware, feeling the signs and treading your steps. Those who belonged to the cycle of the Zodiac were pretty rare, and you were in the bottom of that food chain.

As the ancient story goes, Buddha wanted to hold a race for his departure from Earth. It's ridiculous that this is the beginning of the biggest pain in your life in the present. He invited 12 animals to compete in said race, and they were given one year in the cycle by the order of their arrival.

The Rat was the first, which by timeless standards should mean that your family will be much more looked up to than they actually are. It's a damn race after all, the winner gets the chicken dinner, right? Nah. The Rat was invited by the Cat but didn't wake him up in the morning of the race. It got too excited about being the smallest animal to be invited into such a big event, and completely forgot about his careless friend. That already marked you as a traitor by relations.

If that's not enough bad juju by itself, the Rat was aware of the shortness of his feet and probability in winning the race, so he took advantage of the Ox's gullible personality and rode on his head. A simple jump from his head to the finish line brought the Rat his sweet victory and his successors' despair.

Coming first means shit if all of this is considered.

That's why most people has no idea why some avoid you like a plague. You weren't sure how they'll react knowing this avoidance comes from the ancient sins of one Rat.

Through the cycles, the other animals competed over who hates the Rat decedents most, though you'd think they'd never want to race again after the first time. The Cat was a prominent contester, but the cats in your life didn't treat you badly. Jooheon gave you the same dimpled grin he offers every living being, and even some florals. Hoseok sent you his notes when you were down with the flu for a month without you even having to ask.

For a reason not quite known to you, your enemy during this cycle was the Horse. Most potently shown in your relations to one Park Jimin. He's a silver Horse, which is rare within their kind and higher-ranked. There were other Horses in your university but they reserved their behavior to disturbed looks and nothing more, which didn't really bother you.

It's not that Park Jimin was evil to you or anything, you've never seen him anything but kind to anyone he interacts with. The problem came from the one "protecting" him from you. Since he's a Horse you never tried to actively speak to him but that damn dog, Jeon Jungkook, detested your presence even if you were simply minding your own business on the other side of the room. Even Kim Taehyung stood between you a few times, and he's a Dragon – usually flashy personalities and not that much of a need to handle the animal politics. He was accepting of you if Jimin wasn't in the room though, so you figured it was Jungkook moving him as a piece to have something else protecting poor little Jimin from you.

As always, both pairs of eyes immediately set on you as you walked through the door, while Jimin kept chatting with Hoseok as if he didn't feel the mood shift. Taehyung offered you a small smile, but turned back to the conversation without much else. Jungkook gave you nothing but daggers. The conversation they took part in was loud as they always were, and per usual getting louder when Seokjin walked into the room, exchanging high-fives with the other four like a weird fucking ceremony before he came to sit with you.

Somehow Seokjin, the Snake that rode on the Horse's leg and pushed the Horse to the seventh animal in line, wasn't too dangerous to be around Jimin.

"What's up, loser?" Seokjin flopped down next to you, tossing a small, peach-flavored milk carton onto your lap.

You eyed the milk. "I really don’t get why I'm the only one turning them hostile when I walk into a room."

"You should try being this handsome," he replied with a smirk, placing his thumb and index finger in a V sign at this chin. You narrowed your eyes at him, resisting the urge to smack his hand right into his face.

Your argument was stopped short with the teacher walking in with a shit-eating grin. This poetry class was supposed to be easy, but as you soon learned looks can be deceiving. The teacher seemed to have a special, warm place in his heart for keeping his students at the edge of their seats at terrible peril. He didn't even try hiding how much he enjoyed making his poor students suffer.

And what greater suffering he could bring than a partnered poem analysis paper, already troublesome by itself before he added in the fact he chose the pairs instead of giving students that liberty. That asshole knew how anti-social you were, and the groans coming from the collective of students just made him smile wider.

"Why can't we choose though?" Jungkook complained, his arm wrapped around Jimin's chair. It was easy to guess who his preferred partner would be, and a short laugh from the professor showed he knew the answer.

"Because I paired the weak with the strong," The professor waved his papers at Jungkook, "To give some of you imagination-less people a standing chance to pass my class. Some of you, Jungkook, are in the gray zone.

The chuckles made Jungkook turn sharply back, his eyes locking with yours for a split second though you never made a sound.

"I hope you get Jungkook," Seokjin whispered to you, opening the abandoned milk carton and handing it back to you. "He will probably kill you if he spends too much time with you."

"Since when are fucking Dogs my enemies?"

Just as the words left your mouth ended, your name was called. The professor paused for a second that made you hold your breath – he wouldn't be as evil as to pair you with Jungkook, right? The answer, to your great despair, was worse. The name called after yours was Park Jimin.

"What the fuck?" Jungkook exclaimed, making Jimin jump a little at his side.

The professor looked at Jungkook like he just won the lottery. His eyes were twinkling, he could barely hold himself together from how giddy he was. The pairing in itself was logical, Jimin's weak points fit your strong points and vice versa, but it was clear as day from the mere atmosphere in the room that working together wasn't an option. The professor turned to look at Jimin, "Do you have a problem with this?"

"No," Jimin answered simply, making Jungkook's head snap to him.

The professor turned to you, and before he could open his mouth again you shook your head. You knew by instinct that if you'll ask to switch partners he'd probably give you Jungkook, and at least Jimin was able to be civil. It could only be worse for you.

"Great, so it's decided," The professor determined before going forth with his list. Their group started to exchange whispers right under the professor's nose, but he was in too good spirits to call them out for it. Their small, frantic voices seemed to be music to his ears.

"Wow, I jinxed you didn't I," Seokjin gasped but didn't sound sorry in the least. "Jungkook looks like he's about to have a stroke."

You signed, "I bet he's trying to find a way to make me disappear before I get to exchange one word with Jimin."

Your phone vibrated on your thigh, making you slide your headphones off. "Did you text me?"

"No," Seokjin replied with a bored voice. You hit pause on the video you were watching, though you really wanted to know if the McDonalds worker noticed the twins switching on him as he turned away for a second. Another vibration came though before you pressed the unknown number.

hey its jimin 03:23

You turned to Seokjin with wide eyes, which he didn't notice for a few moments. Words failed you so you made a small sound that turned his attention away from his phone. "Ah, did he text you already?" You nodded. "That was fast, I literally just gave him the number. I thought it'd take him longer to fend Jungkook off before texting you."

"Couldn't you warn me?"

"And miss that?" He pointed at your face with a pleased devil-smile. "Never."

You turned back to your phone, wondering why the hell your best friend is so annoying. You could choose better, and somehow this hate-love relationship is what kept you going. At rare times he was actually a good friend, so maybe you saw through the douche to the darling within. Like, deep within.

Hey 03:26

Smooth.

im gonna cut to it my rents r prejudice n doesnt wnt me alone w/u

so is it ql if we do da project in my house? 03:27

Sure. When? 03:27

im sorry. 03:28

His apology made you frown. It didn't come as a surprise to you that his parents wouldn't want their silver son meeting a Rat in their natural habitat. It's almost 2020 and there are still a lot of… opinions on what new ways the Rats found to mislead the other animals. You could offer the library as a neutral spot, but you didn't know if Jimin even knew where it is.

saturday? 6 ish? 7 ish? wn ure comfortable ish? 03:29

You couldn't help but chuckle at the swarming messages. You always saw Jimin texted real fast and half-finished sentences, but being on the receiving end of that was a brand new experience.

6-ish sounds good. Send me your address, I'll be there 03:30

He sent it, and you had no idea where it was. A quick look at the map revealed that he, in fact, lives in the middle of a forest and it shouldn't have surprised you this much. Silver Horses were known to crave the wild, not at all city creatures. That would stand against the fact they moved to Seoul from Busan, but you guessed education was stronger than their will to be free.

"We're meeting on Saturday," You informed Seokjin, who hummed as a distracted response. "Save me some food."

"As if Jimin will let you leave his house without feeding you," Seokjin laid his phone in front of him, finally focusing on you. "You clearly don’t know him."

"His loyal watch-dog makes sure of that," You rolled your eyes. "Did you know he lives in the woods?"

"Of course, I've been to his house before."

"Of course you were."

"You'll like it, it's a really big house, whole wall made of glass like the forest is inside. Also, Jimin's bed is really comfortable. Not that you'll get to try it unless you'll be a good girl."

You contemplated throwing your mouse at him. "We're doing a project and then our lives will go back to being absolutely separate. His parents won't even allow him the option of being near me where they can't control, you think his bed would be good?"

"His bed is good."

Seokjin offered to drive you there, claiming that the road is too complicated for you to navigate though. He listened to your whole rant about how you're great with directions as he fiddled with his keys. In the end he didn't leave you much choice and after seeing how complicated it actually was, you were kind of grateful. The forest really wasn't forgiving for first time arrivers. Seokjin informed you that he also had to have help the first time he visited, so you felt better about yourself.

Seokjin stopped in front of the house, giving you a knowing smile, "Now you're glad you agreed, right?"

"Wow yes thank you," you exhaled in one breathe, sliding out of the car with your bag in hand. "You're the best."

"What else is new?" Seokjin obnoxiously winked right before he drove off. He almost drove right on your foot, but you assumed the swag in the action was worth it for him. Fucking Snakes.

The front door seemed to loom over you, warning you of where you're headed. Each Zodiac made their own aura around their homes, and this one was new to you and quite overwhelming. You never got to measure the Horse aura before since all the Horses steered clear of you, getting it so strongly at once wasn't exactly welcoming. It's a good thing Horses were prideful people, so logically you knew there is no risk in stepping inside.

Keeping that idea in your head, you rang the doorbell, almost cringing at the choir of bird sounds that announced your presence. Of course Horses would have chippering birds as their doorbell. You barely managed not to roll your eyes as the door opened.

"It's you."

Jungkook gave you a bored look, leaning against the door he opened. He looked you up and down, maybe to be intimidating. You found it strangely amusing.

"Jimin is at dance practice."

"Did I get the time wrong?" You quickly pulled out your phone with the intention of checking Jimin's message. "I thought – "

"You didn't," Jungkook cut you off. "He was supposed to be here."

You stared, not sure how to progress from here. Jungkook seemed to be perfectly fine with letting you wait outside until Jimin came back and he was forced to treat you well. You weren't sure what he was going to do, but waiting awkwardly felt terrible.

Jungkook seemed to sense the struggle as he moved aside with a sigh, "Come in, I guess."

"Thank you," You side-stepped him, bending down to take your shoes off before entering farther. Jungkook gave you a quick look, walking to the end of the corridor, where he stopped to wait for you.

You tried to be subtle as you watched his actions, wondering if he really did hate you. With Jimin not being the room he seemed more calm around you, acting more like he just wasn't sure how to act rather than despising you. You knew the rumors about Rats didn't form a good image, and the fact that you're pretty rare is not helping. When people met you for the first time they were sure they already know everything you're about and had no intention to really get to know you as a person, not a zodiac reference.

"You can wait in the living room," Jungkook said the moment you started walking his way. The light coming from the end of hallway already hinted where the glass wall that Seokjin was talking about was, but you didn't quite expect the spectacle that was revealed to you. The last rays of sun filtered through many leaves, throwing calm shadows over the cream color-themed living room. Everything looked so polished and expensive, you could easily see Jimin in this space. You've never seen his parents so they were face-less figures in the image in your head, but they were loving and kind, like their son.

Well, to non-Rats, anyways.

Jungkook watched you, averting his gaze only when you turned to look back. He looked almost bashful as he took a sit on one of the couches, slipping out of his slippers and placing his feet on the edge of the coffee table. He looked less elegant than Jimin, but somehow Jungkook's Dog aura was also present in this space, as if he's a part of it. Thinking back, you've never heard Seokjin going to Jungkook's place or meeting Jungkook's parents. It made you wonder.

You took your seat on the same sofa, but in a safe distance from him. You awkwardly moved your attention to your socks, wondering if you should have chosen more presentable socks than the Line Friends ones you were currently wearing. You glanced at Jungkook to find him checking his phone, a small smile adorning his features. This could be the first time you saw him actually smiling, as you were usually watching their group from behind. It didn't look bad on him, this look. It was no secret that he was handsome, making a perfect visual trio with Jimin and Taehyung. You just never got to see it like other people did.

He glanced your way, finding your attention is on him made both of you embarrassed. You were used to watching people, your status as a Rat made you learn that observing people from a far would keep you safe from getting hurt. You got good at reading people, and Jungkook didn't seem like much of a challenge. He was sitting so comfortably, he must have been a household member, if not living here. Which would probably be a safe bet.

"Are you waiting for Jimin too?"

Jungkook's eyes darted to you and back to his screen. "Sort of."

"Um," You started, not knowing if you should actually ask this. He was obviously listening to you, though he wasn't looking your way. "I was wondering, do you live here?"

That caught him off guard. You could clearly see the Dog in his reaction, his eyes now trained at you with a soft wonder in them. Dogs were people of instincts, not calculating situations like you. You could tell that you were right, but something about his reaction made you feel like you spoke too soon, trying to be friendly with someone who is not really willing. You were somehow intrigued by him, a fact that wasn't surprising as all the Rats you knew were attracted to Dogs.

Jungkook was still looking at you though a few moments passed. Your anxiety wasn't liking that, making you defuse the situation. "None of my business, never mind. Sorry for asking."

Jungkook frowned. You chose to look at your socks again, so you couldn't judge the wheels moving in his head. Before he could settle on a choice of what to do with your question, his phone buzzed. Quick tapping sounds filled the silence before he announced, "He's on his way now."

"Great. You know, you don't have to wait with me if you have other things to do," You offered, wiggling your toes in the fluffy carpet. "I won't move from here."

"Nah, it's fine," he answered in a casual voice, which you've never heard from him before. You chanced looking at him and his eyes were already trained on you, but they weren't hostile. He looked like he was contemplating, and quickly a decision was made, "You're more polite than I thought you'd be."

You blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Jungkook responded truthfully, ignoring another buzzing of his phone in favor of holding your gaze.

You were having trouble processing where this conversation is going, his easy look showing that he didn't quite have a clue either. It just wasn't anxious for him to be in this position. "Well, I'm glad to prove you wrong, I guess."

Even looking at him, you weren't quite certain what was going through his head. A part of you wondered if the attraction between Rats and Dogs was mutual, and having no other presences around made it easier to sense each other's auras. Maybe he was experiencing something new with you as well.

Maybe he reached out to you with that, and you should try as well. "I know the Rat's image is strong, but I'm honestly not a bad person. I have no intention of harming or tricking anyone."

"I figured, otherwise Seokjin wouldn't be so fond of you," Jungkook lifted his legs, folding them beneath him on the couch. "Actually, he asked me to be nice to you."

"Is that why you're trying to have a conversation?" You chuckled, but it stopped soon when you saw the strange look he gave you. Your mind provided a question that you knew you had no time to linger on, but you had to speak to Seokjin about what he told Jungkook.

"Sort of. He said that if I'll actually try not to push you away I'll see you're actually really good, better than him. Just more guarded."

"Seokjin said something nice about me? How uncharacteristic for him."

Jungkook made an amused sound, and you're ashamed to say it felt like a small victory. "He insisted enough for me to pay attention."

You nodded, not sure what else to say. You did make a mental note to thank Seokjin later. He jokes around a lot and it's usually in your expense, but he really does care about you. He must have known how nervous this made you and tried to make it easier. Being the middleman, he knows you and them well enough to be able to bridge temporarily until you could be civil with Jungkook, and maybe even complete this assignment without too much of a fight.

Jungkook looked like he had something else to say, but the soft sound of the opening front door, followed by Jimin announcing that he's home, stopped him. Instead he chose to push to his feet and walk to the hallway.

"You've been nice?" Jimin tapped on Jungkook's chest, a wide smile on his face. His smile never wavered when he looked at you, confidently walking towards you. "Sorry for being late, dance kinda makes me forget about time."

You didn't miss the slight tension that resided in Jungkook's shoulders as Jimin neared you, but he said nothing even when Jimin sat right next to you, dropping his bag at his feet. You've never been this close to him, but just looking at him you knew Jimin would smell amazing – you just didn't know how good it'll be. The scent that came off of him reminded you of the freshness of nature, like he just galloped through the woods like the Horse he is.

It was quite a nice image.

"It's okay," you reassured him, snapping out of your thoughts. "I didn't have to wait long."

Jimin leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper, "Was he really nice to you, though?"

You nodded, eyes widening at how close he was. His skin was amazing, his eyes shining at you with pure happiness and amusement. He turned to Jungkook and they looked at each other for a few moments. You didn't know what it meant, but Jungkook seemed to catch on, walking back to the couch just to get his phone back. "I'll be upstairs."

You felt like maybe this decision answered your earlier question, but there is no way to know for sure as Jungkook disappeared up the wide staircase at the far end of the space. His departure left you alone with Jimin, whose attention came back to you.

"Is it okay if we stay here? My room is a mess," Jimin watched your face as you nodded. He seemed content with your answer, pulling the one notebook he used for every subject you shared together. Not that you've been keeping tabs, but yeah, you knew that.

You pulled out your supplies as well, feeling very conscious of the amount of attention you're getting. Maybe that's why people who spoke to Jimin alone were a blushing mess, being around him was like being under a spotlight, with absolutely no judgement attached. It's like he just genuinely enjoyed focusing on you.

"The prof was smart putting us together, I'm pretty bad at poetry," Jimin announced as he flicked through his notebook to find an empty page. "I just don't get hidden meanings and feet and stuff. But you've always been good, I still remember that poem you wrote about the sky."

You blinked at him, taken aback. You wrote remembered the poem was well, it was due in your first class. First year, first semester, before you thought Jimin ever noticed your existence. He seemed amused at the surprise in your face, finally settling on a page and leaning back on the couch. You followed, though a lot less comfortable than him. You decided there's no possible answer to what he told you and instead began pitching ideas for your analysis. You were given a poem that you read five times before meeting up with Seokjin, so you had a pretty good idea what you wanted to focus on. Jimin looked at you with an ever-present smile, drinking in all you had to tell him. He wasn't embarrassed to ask you questions, even if he was asking about the most basic things. You worked hard to not make him feel like it's too basic to be confused about at this point, just to keep him cheerful and excited to learn.

Somehow you felt like he really was learning from you, as minutes ticked by and he used the new information you've given him. It was obviously his weak subject, but he seemed to find your knowledge and merge it with his joy to find a good middle that allowed you to work him like dough. The idea you came up with seemed solid, Jimin adding his own, smaller ideas to give it a better structure. Working with him was easy, you bounced ideas off of each other, Jimin allowed himself to joke around with you, and the atmosphere stayed light. Before you noticed, hours went by and you were sitting more comfortably, Jimin's calm acceptance made you feel almost welcome in his home.

Jimin giggled at one of your ideas as he allowed his notebook to fall into his lap, giving up on doing more work in favor of conversation. "Honestly when you told that prof he was wrong I almost laughed right in his face. I'm closer, so I would've probably gotten kicked out of the class too."

"He said frogs are the symbol of freedom!" You defended yourself, bringing your own notebook to lie against your chest. "I couldn't just let this nonsense go."

"I know you couldn't," Jimin leaned his head against the sofa, eyeing you with a smile. "I noticed you're not shy to say what you wanna."

"You noticed?" You shifted, bringing your legs up between your body and Jimin's, leaning your head the way he did.

Jimin hummed, looking at your legs before returning to you. "Maybe I don't look like it, but I'm pretty observant. And being a Rat, you were interesting to me."

You willed your face not to blush, deeming it too embarrassing. "You wanted to watch the enemy?"

"I wanted to watch the possible friend," Jimin corrected with not a bit of shame. "I don't believe in that Zodiac enemy stuff, it's stupid to judge for something that was done millions of years ago. The fact is you've never been not nice to anyone who didn't deserve it. You're frank and your thoughts are heard, but there's nothing wrong about that. I think you're really funny, and nice, and a good person to be around."

You found no words to reply with, so you simply stared at him. Your lack of response didn't matter to Jimin as he leaned closer, the same amused glitter in his eye. "I'm glad I get to see I'm right."

"Ah," Jungkook's voice came from the stairs, making both of you jump a little farther away from each other. You looked at the newcomer in alarm, expecting him to explode at you for even daring to come so close to Jimin. His eyes were trained on you and he seemed conflicted, but when they moved to Jimin they softened immediately. You noticed Jimin had this kind of effect on him, like he was easily softening Jungkook's rough edges.

"I'm kind of hungry, what are we ordering?" Was his chosen response. Jimin didn't miss a beat in naming a restaurant that you weren’t familiar with. Jungkook slurped and rolled his eyes but didn't argue, which lead you to believe this response was quite popular with Jimin.

"Is there anything you can't eat?" You turned to confirm that Jimin was talking to you, shaking your head as a response. You remembered Seokjin being clear on Jimin liking to feed people, so you weren't really surprised when it came true right before you.

When Jungkook was busy ordering the food, Jimin declared that "study time is over". He turned the TV on and flicked through Netflix, asking for your opinion on which movie to watch. "I'd ask Jungkook but he'd probably say a Marvel movie," Jimin giggled, flicking past another rom-com.

"I like Marvel," you commented.

"I know, Spiderman is your phone background," you snapped your head in his direction just to catch his victorious smile. "Observant, I told you."

"Marvel movies are great, you're not wrong," Jungkook affirmed, throwing himself on Jimin's other side.

"But we can watch something else once in a while," Jimin whined, throwing one of his legs across Jungkook's, who naturally moved his hand to rest on Jimin's thigh, close to his knee. You felt Jimin's eyes on you, which told you he noticed you saw but didn't move Jungkook's hand away. You felt like it was a hint, but the situation made you so embarrassed you refused to think about it.

"How about this?" Jimin paused on a movie starring Ryan Reynolds, which you agreed to immediately. Again, your reaction was not missed by the others. Jimin didn't wait for Jungkook's approval to start the movie, settling against the other as the movie started. When the food arrived Jungkook stood up immediately, throwing the whining Jimin's leg off of him in the process.

"Does our skinship bother you?" Jimin asked immediately when Jungkook was out of earshot.

"Nope."

"Good," Jimin's hand came down twice on yours, a contact you weren't expecting. Jimin giggled at the look on your face, but nothing else could be said as Jungkook came back into the room. The rest of your visit held the same kind of calmness, until Seokjin called you to tell you he's waiting outside, liberating you to think without anyone watching you.

Jimin texted you when you were on the way back, asking you if you're free to meet again soon. Seokjin was telling you a very long story through the entire time you were texting, and you were only half listening. He noticed, but didn't mind much.

"Hey Jin," you lowered your phone, intentionally interrupting him in the middle of a sentence. He stopped with a huff, but didn't complain farther, which gave you the okay to continue. "What did you say to Jungkook? He said you asked him to be nice to me."

"Just that."

"Shut up, I know you," You watched him, examining his face. You knew this boy too well, he knew exactly what you were referring to and he wasn't going to let it go easily. "What did you say?" You insisted.

"Honestly? Not much," He shrugged his shoulders, fingers lightly tapping on the wheel. "I called to ask him to be civil because you didn't choose this either. The important part of the conversation," Seokjin paused just to be dramatic, his finger pointing at your face for emphasis. "is what he said. And before you start pushing, I promised him whatever he says is safe with me."

You whined but knew your best friend too well to assume anything you can do will get him to change his mind. He was sassy but trustworthy, and if he promised Jungkook he won't say anything, he won't even break down for you.

The second time you came to Jimin's house, you drove your own car. You were a lot less nervous than the first time since you kind of knew what you were walking into. The birds at the doorway seemed welcoming now, and Jungkook even gave a small smile as he opened the door.

"He was too lazy to get up," he said as a way of explaining, leaving you to get out of your shoes since you already knew where to go. You followed shortly after him, just a little surprised to see Jungkook's stuff were spread next to Jimin's.

"Y/N!" Jimin threw his arms up from the spot where he was laying on the sofa. He just barely pushed himself into a sitting position to give you space to sit besides him. "Are you okay with Jungkook staying with us?"

"Of course," You responded, pulling your notebook out.

"Good," Jimin's hand came down on yours again, with Jungkook watching but not saying a word. "He could use some help as well, he got partnered with that Kris guy that is too cool for school."

"Jimin," Jungkook's voice held a warning that Jimin simply swatted away.

"It's just Y/N, it's fine. She'll help you not to fail," Jimin grinned at Jungkook before turning the same grin to you. "Spending half the time on our assignment and half on his is okay?"

"Sure," You smiled back, daring to smile at Jungkook as well. He stared back, and only managed to chuckle when he turned away from you.

"Great!" Jimin clapped, opening his notebook to show you he already progressed with your ideas. You pulled it from his hands, examining what he wrote down to find he did a pretty good job. You were kind of surprised to see the improvement. Jimin was smarter than you considered him to be.

Jimin's lead allowed you to slip back into the comfortable conversation you had last time, making wonderful progress with your ideas. Jimin started building an outline as you spoke, structuring your ideas in a coherent manner that will make writing the assignment easier for the both of you, no matter who took which part. Jungkook was watching you occasionally, and you couldn't miss the affection he held for Jimin. It just blossomed out of him with no effort. There was no hostility left in him for you, and even laughed at your jokes.

When Jimin said he's stepping out to go to the bathroom, you simply leaned back against the sofa to continue working on your formation. You felt Jungkook had something to say again, and you peaked over the notebook to see him already looking at you.

"I," he began, and you lowered the notebook to give him your full attention. "I do live here. I didn't answer you last time and it was rude, sorry."

"It's okay," You smiled.

"My parents died when I was young and Jimin's parents took me in," he continued, the rubbing of his hands together showing his awkwardness. You wondered why he was telling you this very shortly, since you wanted to actually listen to him. "I owe a debt to them. Jimin told them we have a Rat in class after the first day of Uni, and they asked me to make sure you don't come near him. So… I went a little overboard. I'm sorry."

You nodded slowly. You didn't know why he was being this open with you, but you appreciated the honestly. You figured no one expected having a Rat in their class since your kind usually sticks together and avoids big cities from the fear of being excluded within them. "It's okay," you reassured again, and Jungkook seemed to breathe out in relief. He smiled, flashing his bunny-like teeth in sincerity.

"Thank you," He glanced down at his hands, still rubbing them against each other. "I'm glad I listened to Seokjin, and I'm glad Jimin was right about you. I was acting so stupid."

"It's – "

"Jungkook project time!" Jimin shouted as he walked back to you, interrupting whatever moment you were sharing with Jungkook. He chuckled and handed you his notebook, which you accepted. Jungkook's poem was a little harder than yours, you could see the complications in it. Jimin helped you speak to Jungkook easier, to find ideas. As you were talking he was writing down important things to form into a proper paper later. The new information you accumulated was still residing in your head, to be thought of more deeply later.

For now, you just enjoyed their presence.

You noticed you're slipping slowly. The first thing that caught your attention is how easy the road to Jimin's home became with each time you visited. Honestly there wasn't much left to the assignment you were doing and Jungkook's part in his was complete two visits ago, but here you were, dropping by again in the clear pretense of having to work on it.

Another thing that alarmed you is how easy it was to be in their presence. You stopped hanging out in the living room a long time ago, preferring Jimin or Jungkook's bedroom instead. They didn't even bother opening the door for you – since they always invited you when Jimin's parents were out there was no risk. You could just walk into one of their rooms, hang out with them, talk about everything and nothing. Jimin always made sure you're comfortable, keeping his "is this okay" questions as his tool to do it. Jungkook connected to you more naturally, he tried things like lying on your thigh with careful eyes judging your reaction but with no words.

In opposition to everything you thought you'll go through in preparing this assignment, this was easy. It was nice, warm, and it kinda felt like you found your own little room in their lives. Going to classes also became easier, since you didn't need to be careful. Taehyung was taken aback when Jungkook called you to land a perfectly good joke and earn your laughter, and Hoseok accepted it without question. Seokjin proposed moving closer to them in the class-space, but Jimin waved him off, carrying his stuff to where you were usually sitting in the back of the class. His reasoning was that moving away from the professors is more rational than moving closer.

Somehow even the non-Zodiac people in your class seemed to notice the shift. Of course they had no idea what caused the animosity between you and Jungkook to begin with, but the friendship that rapidly grew between you was a dirty contrast to what you were to each other before. You noticed people glancing your way, eyebrows raising as Jungkook allowed himself to be a fool while sitting right on your left. Jimin tried to settle on your right, but one look from Seokjin told him he didn't earn the ability to come between you yet. Instead he used to stand in front of you and Jungkook during the break, leaning against the row in front of you with each of his legs touching one of Jungkook and yours.

You were continuedly surprised at how easy it was. You kind of hated yourself for complicating this easy routine you had. The most blurring alarm in your head wasn't oriented there at all, but in the depth of your stomach. See, whenever Jimin laid besides you in his bed, his legs touching yours and pure sunlight pouring from his eyes as he giggled at you, you felt butterflies. Every time Jungkook laid his head on your thigh or cracked jokes at you just to see you smile, you felt butterflies. Every time you crammed together on Jimin's bed to watch another non-Marvel movie, you usually in the middle because Jimin kept insisting that if one of you falls it's not gonna be you, you had butterflies. It's like you couldn't keep this simple, couldn't enjoy what you got without secretly craving more.

Because you liked both of them at the same time, you felt biased when you noticed the little sparks going off between them. You noticed Jungkook's affection for Jimin a long time ago, but only when you started getting to know them better did you notice Jimin's affection for Jungkook. It wasn't in the look he gave but in the actions he took. It's like he knew what was going through Jungkook's head, knew that his friend wasn't good with words, and he became his mouth or acted automatically to solve whatever problem Jungkook never uttered. You could see their friends were aware of it too, always teasing Jimin that him and Jungkook are such soulmates that they had no use for words.

They never refuted that, and you believed no lie could cover that obvious truth.

And it made you jealous.

Not mad jealous, not something that came between the three of you. It was just this secret passion to get in on their secret, to tap that frequency that they communicate through and help Jimin please Jungkook, get that same look that Jimin gets, to be in the middle not because you could be physically harmed, but because that's your natural place.

This kind of horrible wishes made you consider skipping town and never seeing anyone again. You were accepted by them completely, but you were still a Rat. You needed to remember that, needed to remember that you're actively avoiding Jimin's parents because they hate you, not being friends with them from the beginning because Jungkook protected Jimin from you. This place that you accumulated in their lives – it's not permanent. It's not actually yours.

With this heavy feeling in your chest you tapped in the code to the apartment, leaving your shoes at the door in the empty spot they kept for you. The sun was pretty nice today, so they'll probably be in Jimin's room. As you climbed the stairs, you could hear faint music coming from the almost closed door – they usually leave it wide open when you're over. You stared at it for a second, wondering if you should knock. You lifted your hand to do so when a soft moan came out of the room, making your heart skip a beat. You looked above your shoulder to find Jungkook's room was empty. The fisted hand you lifted to knock made soft contact with the door, mindlessly choosing to simply push the door open and come face to face with whatever you're going to find.

You really shouldn't have been so surprised when the scene revealed itself to you. Jimin was lying on his back, legs wrapped around Jungkook's waist, who was lying on top on him. They were almost fully dressed – almost because Jungkook wasn't a fan of wearing shirts inside the house. You swallowed thickly as you watched Jungkook's tongue slipping for a second from the seam of Jimin's lips, just to return inside as Jimin's fingers pressed into his skin, bringing him impossibly closer. You couldn't move, couldn't think when you watched Jungkook's fingers weave in Jimin's hair, pulling his head to a better position to kiss him deeper. After moving his head, Jimin's now open eyes could easily find you standing in the doorway, mouth slightly open and your hand still on the door.

You felt adrenaline shoot right through you as he pushed slightly at Jungkook's chest. Jungkook's head turned your way, but before you could see his expression you already removed yourself from the door. Your hand barely met the railing as you hurried downstairs, trying your hardest to ignore your name being called behind you. Just as you reached the last step, almost out of this situation completely, you felt determined arms wrapping around you to pull you against a stable chest. You knew it was Jimin from the smell of his hair as his head rested on your shoulder, adding pressure to stopping you from leaving.

"Please wait," He said softly into your clothed shoulder, his palms rubbing your sides. You obeyed, but only because you had to catch your breath after what felt like running a marathon. You heard Jungkook's familiar, heavier steps coming down the stairs, though he was a lot slower than Jimin. He stopped close by, but not close enough for you to see him.

"Y/N," Jimin pleaded with the sound of your name, making your heart ache. You could make out tinkers of regret in the syllables, the pained feeling washing over you and forcing you to place your own hands on top of his, calming him down. It worked immediately, as he lifted his head from your shoulder to peer at your face. "Is this weird?"

You had no idea what to say, your mouth opening slightly just to close again.

"Is it making you uncomfortable?"

You tried to calm your mind, just as desperate as Jimin to know the answer to that. A dull throb in your stomach told you that no, it didn't make you uncomfortable. It made you excited, and not in the innocent way. Seeing them like this, together, kissing, it felt right. It felt like something you wanted to see again, something you wanted to experience for yourself. Just another thing you wanted to be a part of.

"No."

Jimin breathed out against your throat, making you shiver. His hands felt more confident, moving along with yours to rest on your stomach. You could see a movement from the corner of your eye, but Jungkook stopped before he'll be too close. "We want you to stay. Is that okay?"

You relaxed your back to Jimin's chest, nodding your head. Jimin turned you around and you saw Jungkook's face for the first time – his eyes were wide and fearful as he stood there, not knowing what to do. You couldn't help but smile at him just to calm him down, your hand reaching out to him as well. He held it softly, taking one more step down to be closer. "It's okay," you reassured him, finally earning a smile from him in return. He led you back upstairs, with Jimin still attached to your back. It was awkward, but you felt like Jimin needed that so you powered through.

You only blushed a little when they led you back to Jimin's bedroom, noting how messy the sheets were from their movements on them just seconds ago. Jungkook walked around the bed to climb on the other side, but he didn't lie down until you settled in the middle. Instead, he waited until he could lie on your thigh again, fingertips tentatively brushing over your jeans. This was the most Dog you've ever seen him, almost pawing at you to make sure you're not mad. You fought the urge to play with his hair, feeling like it's too intimate after what you just witnessed. Your decision to place your hand on his shoulder instead did not go unnoticed by Jimin's careful eyes.

"How about Spiderman Homecoming?" Jimin's soft voice made you chuckle.

"I'd love to."

Jimin settled on your left, taking your hand in his the moment he turned on the movie and tossed the remote away. He leaned his head against your shoulder, playing with your fingers with both his hands. You stayed in silence as the movie started but you weren't really watching. You were too focused on everywhere your body made contact with them, the memories floating in your head, the meaning behind it.

Their friends must have known about this… thing. You didn't actually know what you walked into and they didn't seem to care about it. It also seemed rational for Jungkook to be so protective of his… boyfriend? Friend with benefits? You really had no idea what to call it. It felt like a lightbulb just turned on in your head, shedding light on things you didn't know were hidden in the unknown. You felt stupid for not putting the clues together, but they did seem to be pretty skinship-y with you as well, so how were you supposed to know?

Jimin's fingers slipped between the gaps of yours, securely holding your palm against his. You looked down at your hands – this is the first time he didn't simply play with your fingers. You never actually held hands before. Jimin noticed your shift, lifting his head to meet your eyes. You felt like he was trying to communicate something to you, and it frustrated you that you weren't on the frequency yet to know the words he didn't say. Jungkook tensed against your leg, obviously feeling the new, confused energy. He moved to push his nose against your thigh, asking for something. Again, you didn't know what.

Jimin lifted your joined hands to place the back of your hands against his lips. He didn't kiss it, just held it there as if he's hiding a part of his expression. You could see regret attaching itself to his expression, and you really didn't like it. As an instinct, feeling like there's nothing you could say to make this better, you pulled at his hand until you could press a kiss against his skin. It was small, but you felt like it was so meaningful. The relief replacing the guilt in Jimin's expression informed you he got it as well.

"Thank you for staying."

You felt like Jungkook's palm, spreading over your thigh, was attempting to say the same thing.

"Yeah, they've been dating for a while now," Seokjin shrugged your terror off.

"And you never thought to tell me," you deadpanned, throwing the closest thing you could grab at his face.

your pencil bounced off of his chest, completely not harmful but still earned a frown. "I thought they'd tell you when they're ready. It seems like they were."

"You think they decided to tell me like that?" You heaved a sigh, nothing allowing the tightness in your chest to be released. Your mind conjured the image of Jimin's sad face as he waved you goodbye that day, like he thought this was the last time you'll be seeing each other.

You really hoped it wasn't.

"I mean, they knew you were coming," Seokjin began, fingers tapping on your knee. You wondered if your sigh made him worry, since he looked not annoyed but a little concerned now. "Jungkook is a moment kind of guy, but Jimin is more calculated than that. He would have stopped whatever it is before you came, if he didn't want you to see."

"But why?"

You could tell there was something Seokjin wasn't telling you. He just tapped on your knee, saying nothing that could help.

my partner asked me to change something you have time tomorrow at 5? 14:10

You saved Jungkook's number a while ago, but this was the first text messages between you. Jimin was the one usually texting you for the both of them, or you talked over in the group Jimin opened for the three of you. Nonetheless, you couldn't jump fast enough on an opportunity to feel like everything is okay between you.

Sure, see you then. 14:10

You were surprised to find Jungkook in Jimin's room, but with no Jimin to be found. Another missing ingredient was his work stuff, since he just sat around on Jimin's bed on his phone. The moment you made your presence known he threw him phone on the bed, watching with as you crawled next to him.

"I didn't really need help, it was an excuse," Jungkook confessed.

You puffed the pillows behind you, settling beside him. "Why do you need an excuse to hang out?"

"Didn't know what else to say," he shrugged, shimmying closer until your shoulder touched his arm.

You chuckled, touching his leg with yours. "Just say you want to hang out, it's enough."

"I want to hang out."

You laughed, looking at Jimin's glowing stars stuck to the ceiling. The silence wasn't uncomfortable like you feared but pleasant. Jungkook's leg touched yours a few times, but the touch didn't remain as he pulled away. You said nothing to that either, just letting him find his comfortable place since you knew it was harder for him to shake it off than it was for you.

"I didn't get to spend a lot of time near Dogs," Jungkook mused in a light tone, turning his body more towards you to get your attention. You simply looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "But I heard there's this thing, with Rats."

You blinked, knowing that the look on Jungkook's face meant he was testing the waters with something that he's not sure how you will react to. "What thing?"

"An attraction," he paused, evaluating each altered muscle in your face. "Like, a physical one."

You hummed, needing to look away from his intense studying. You didn't know where he's going with this, but your heart started high-key hammering in your chest. "Yeah, that's a thing. I heard about it, but you're kind of the first Dog I've been close to, so I'm not sure."

Jungkook made a small sound, almost like he was frustrated that you're not saying what he wanted you to say. He tried again, sitting up a little to get a better look at you. Your heartbeats became louder to your own ears, making you feel like you're trapped under his attention though you could very easily get away. "Do you," he began, eyes drilling into yours. "Do you feel it?"

You held your breath, not sure what to say. Just the last time you were here you saw how much him and Jimin are feeling for each other, why would he ask you this now? Do they know you have feelings for them and that's what he's trying to get at?

Jungkook licked his lips in a flash. "Jimin," Your heart dropped at the mention of his name as guilt creeped in. "He told me to ask." You frowned, taking in how much closer Jungkook is leaning now, never relenting. "Is it okay if I kissed you?"

You felt like every muscle in your body just hit pause. You looked at him, at the anticipation he now showed after asking the question. It was so not him, he would just do things when his calculated consequence was worth the risk – they must have talked about it, as you know them Jimin must have insisted this is not worth the risk no matter how many calculations he made, he had to ask instead of do. And he did, and you could see how uncharacteristic of him it was as he anxiously waited for your response.

You felt your body move, your instincts taking the wheel to getting what you desired for a long time now. You felt yourself nod, and Jungkook needed no more. He kissed you immediately, hands sailing from your shoulders to your neck, until they could spread across your jaw and cheeks. You felt him tilting your head – like he's done with Jimin – as he moved his body closer to encase you in. He pressed you against the pillows behind you, the body weight on top of yours feeling right enough for your hands to find his waist, asking for more. He complied, tongue moving past your lips to stroke at yours. He made an approving sound from the back of his throat, and you responded immediately with a breathless sound of your own.

You were so focused on the sensations you almost missed the dip of the bed from your left, where Jimin usually is.

Jimin.

You broke apart from Jungkook, not missing his displeased sigh right before he pressed his nose to your shoulder. Right above his you found Jimin's face, with a wild twinkle in his eye and a wide smile pressed painfully tight to his cheeks. "Why did you stop?" he asked cheerfully, crawling closer.

"Because it's weird when your boyfriend is watching," Jungkook answered instead of you, his face still hidden.

"It's not weird, it's nice." It only took one tap of Jimin's hand on Jungkook's head for him to lift his head, pecking his boyfriend centimeters from your face like this is absolutely normal. Jimin's hand came down next to your head as he made sure his amused face is the only thing you could see. "Is it okay?"

You knew what he was asking and knew that Jungkook was watching. Looking at him you found he wore the same expression he had before, like he was waiting for what's to come on the edge of his seat. He nodded at you, rapid motions that were meant to lead you just agree.

So you did.

Jimin's kiss was much less passionate than Jungkook, he just enjoyed the touch, the permission he was granted to have another piece of you. It didn't last long either, but the look he gave you – Jungkook's look – set your mind at ease.

He and Jungkook shared a moment, both still holding you, and you got it now. This time their plan worked. "We want you," Jungkook blurred out, eyes shifting to you as Jimin giggled against his shoulder. "I know you probably understood on your own, but it's important for me to say."

You smiled at Jimin's fit of happy little giggles and at the blush spreading across Jungkook's cheeks. "I want you too."

#bts scenarios #btswriters #bangtan bookclub #jimin scenarios #jungkook scenarios #jikook #bts

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ftchans-blog · 5 years

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hello again ! if you don’t know by now , i’m 𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒊 on your dash for the final time with chara 2 of 2 ! i’ve really grown into loving to play males , so i decided to bring along my lil baby 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕜 ( stream stray kids ) . anyways , i won’t bore you guys with another intro about myself , so here’s chan : a glorious mixture of crisp hundred dollar bills , sweater paws in a massively oversized louis vuitton hoodie , and overlooking a big city from a penthouse window . also as a head’s up , there is talk of RELIGION in the first couple of bullet points . i don’t go into full detail about anything really , but please proceed with caution if it’s triggering for you in any way !

˗ˏˋ oh sehun ／ he/him ／ twenty five . welcome to los angeles , chan park ! the glitterati has been watching you . rumour has it you made your first mark in the industry six years ago & that your net worth currently stands at $7.7m . it seems as though you’re enjoying being a model & fashion insider since relocating from palto alto , california . some might say you’d be a good fit for the glitterati due to your hollywood ranking being a solid #2 , & it helps that fans speak so highly of your beguiling & perspicacious ways . unfortunately , our sources cite that those closest to you aren’t particularly impressed with your unvirtuous & brazen tendencies . ／ penned by rumi , 22+ , they/them , eastern , cancer , gore , & graphic violence .

name: chan park. nickname(s): none. birthday: march 13th, 1994. zodiac: pisces. moral alignment: lawful evil. gender: cismale. sexual orientation: bisexual. romantic orientation: biromantic. height: 5′7″. hometown: palo alto, california. nationality: korean-american. ethnicity: korean. occupation: model. language(s) spoken: english, korean & conversational italian.

chan park was born on the Lord’s day in 1994 to nina and dongwook park. his mother, nina is a professor of modern languages at stanford university and his father, dongwook is a professor of architectural design at stanford as well as the owner of sunday and park, an architecture firm. despite his father immigrating to california, he worked hard and put himself through college. after obtaining a degree in architecture, he went on to obtain his real estate agent and broker’s license -- he is now responsible for building some of the priciest homes in the palo alto area.

chan grew up with pretty much anything he could have ever wanted, and was easily one of those kids that received a brand new car on his sixteenth birthday. he graduated from palo alto high school in may of 2012, and it’s no surprise that he ended up attending stanford, where he got a degree in philosophy and religious studies. he graduated in 2016.

he didn’t necessarily like the degree that he was getting, but he did it to appease his parents ( by simply getting a degree ) and his grandfather ( who just so happens to be a priest in busan ). sunday is a really important day in his family, and despite his currently insane schedule, he always goes to palo alto to attend church with his parents at least once in a month.

while on summer vacation in bora bora with some friends from college in 2013, chan’s social media following really blew up. he went from about 25k to 175k seemingly overnight after sharing his escapades on instagram, and became a sensation.

chan had a few friends who were studying photography / videography, so once she semester struck back up in 2013, he decided that it was time to “build his brand”.

it turned out to be a good idea because by the time he graduated from stanford in 2016, chan’s instagram follower count had grown up to 1.3m and he left palo alto for los angeles. he made a professional portfolio, and signed to img models in december of 2016. chan made his first runway appearance with the star-studded dolce & gabbana fall/winter 17/18 men’s fashion show; he walked a total of 27 shows during nyfw and 54 shows during the entirety of fashion month.

in the years since his debut, chan has appeared on various magazine covers including vogue france, harper’s bazaar men, grazia, wonderland, dazed, gq australia, garage, l’officiel hommes, and elle uk just to name a few.

his career really made a splash when he was featured in a nationwide holiday ad & campaign for macy’s and tiffany & co. he has since designed a collection with tommy hilfiger and collaborated with nike.

chan is currently the face of louis vuitton menswear ( because virgil abloh’s designs are Fire ) and one of the few men to have a cover with american vogue. it hasn’t even been a solid three years since the start of his career, but chan is a wonderful mix of a model and fashion insider. he can walk runways ( and one of the ONLY male models who don’t look like they’re stomping on leaves ) and also be on vogue’s best dressed list while sitting front row. there’s no in-between.

as for his personality, due to his upbringing with wealthy and intelligent parents, chan has always carried himself with a bit of superiority and at a higher standard. he is something of a perfectionist and doesn’t like when things are out of order ( including what may be out of his control ). he has a stoic outer appearance which can make him come off as an asshole to those who may not know him, and he is a lot more gregarious with close friends than with others, but that doesn’t stop his sometimes passive aggressive tendencies.

chan can be very flirtatious at times, and it’s mostly whenever he wants to get something out of someone. he’s more than likely had a couple of tabloid scandals of him ( or even the previous night’s partner ) taking the walk of shame on the yellow brick road since he lives in a well-known condominium in beverly hills, ca ( think how gigi hadid is always papped almost immediately leaving her apartment in new york ).

chan is openly bisexual, and came out twice: the first time at 17 to his parents and the second time in an interview with elle magazine. he’s previously ‘dated’ a few models in the industry, but none of them were serious, at least to him.

WANTED CONNECTION #1: someone who really broke his heart and took it with them. this is someone he has tried to move on from numerous times, but he really struggles to do so every time. m or f ! WANTED CONNECTION #2: a friend and/or an enemy from the modeling industry ! this could go in so many different ways and i don’t really have a limit on how many people i want for this plot, so please hit me with everything. m or f ! WANTED CONNECTION #3: someone who has worked with him in the industry before, whether on a photo shoot or they met at an industry event. they don’t necessarily have to be a model or work in fashion in general. m or f !

#glitterati.intro

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thepatchworkcrow · 5 years

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Witchcraft Asks #1-105

So, just for @dearpenumbra and because I’m wide awake and bored and want to answer them: Here is the list of the 105 witchcraft questions I just finished answering. I answered one each day but feel free to answer them all at once or however you want to do it. Tag your it!

1. Are you solitary or in a coven? I am technically a solitary, though I have friends with whom I occasionally celebrate the sabbats and do other witchy things with.

2. Do you consider yourself Wiccan, Pagan, witch, or other? I use ‘Pagan’, ‘witch’, and ‘Druid’ to describe myself. My path of Druidry is inherently pagan because of its reverence of the earth and all life, and it contains practices that are part of witchcraft.

3. What is your zodiac sign? I am a Cancer!

4. Do you have a Patron God/dess? I do, for sake of Tumblr, I call them The Hunter and The Lady of the Lantern. They’re deities I’ve not found in any mythology- sort of my own unique perspective / interaction with the divine forces of the universe, and so I keep the names I call to them in ritual private.

5. Do you work with a Pantheon? I do work with other deities beyond my patron god and goddess. A lot of them are from the various Celtic pantheons and include: Brighid, Gofannon the Smith, Cerridwen, Mannanan Mac Lir, and Gwyn ap Nudd.

6. Do you use tarot, palmistry, or any other kind of divination? I read tarot, runes, and ogham. I own an agate scrying mirror, but it’s very finnicky and I’d love to learn palmistry some day.

7. What are some of your favorite herbs to use in your practice? (if any) I use sage for cleansing, mugwort for a couple of blends of incense for divination, and lavender to cleansing, peace, intuition, etc.

8. How would you define your craft? It’s a path of Druidry dedicated to the Wylde Hunt.

9. Do you curse? If not, do you accept others who do? I have cursed- only in extreme situations, and the curse I used was aimed more at making the target realize how negative and toxic the bullshit they’ve been spewing/causing is. Sort of a “You’re going to realize the full horror of your actions” kind of a thing.

10. How long have you been practicing? The summer solstice will mark my 13th year.

11. Do you currently or have you ever had any familiars? I have familiar spirits: a black dog that goes by the name Yew, and a raven with a gold stripe on its beak named Gildenbeck. I’ve never had a familiar in the sense of a pet who does witchy stuff with me though.

12. Do you believe in Karma or Reincarnation? I believe in reincarnation and that our cations in one life affect the next. I’ve done a past life regression before, but that’s a story for a post that isn’t QUITE this long.

13. Do you have a magical name? I used to. I’ve got through a number of them over the years, changing them out as I see fit. My most recent one was actually the name I started this blog under: Brenna Adaira, but I’ve since outgrown it, and don’t really feel the need for one.

14. Are you “out of the broom closet”? Yes. I have been from the very beginning.

15. What was the last spell you performed? Shit. I don’t even remember. I’m not super big on spells. Anything more complex than carving a candle and charging it with intention to leave burn on my altar is usually not something I bother with.

16. Would you consider yourself knowledgeable? This is a silly question. As I’ve been practicing 13 years, and as someone with a bachelor’s degree, I’d say yes. I am knowledgeable about a number of things. However, I recognize there are many things I’m not knowledgeable about and there is always room for growth and learning.

17. Do you write your own spells? Since they’re very slapdash? Yes. They get written as I’m throwing spell components together to just DO THE THING.

18. Do you have a book of shadows? If so, how is it written and/or set up? I have recently started compiling a more formal grimoire of my path and all of its integral components. My working book of shadows however is always a sketchbook that gets carried around with me literally everywhere. It’s got drawings, scribbled poetry, journal entries, cut and pasted pictures, ritual outlines, musings, research notes, etc. and it’s all pretty out of order and chaotic. But I love the freedom of not having to be too careful with how I structure things and just let everything happen organically.

19. Do you worship nature? I do not worship nature. I honor the forces of nature; I treat them with respect and work to do my best to live in harmony with them. We are part of nature, not separate beings.

20. What is your favorite gemstone? Oof. This is a tough one. Moss Agate or Moonstone... but also Citrine and Opal. xD

21. Do you use feathers, claws, fur, pelt, skeletons/bones, or any other animal body part for magical work? I have a pheasant wing fan I use for smoke cleansing. I also have a small set of antlers that I’m still meaning to make into a proper headdress for ritual wear. Right now, they sit with my statute of The Hunter and the rest of my Wylde Hunt stuff.

22. Do you have an altar? Usually, yes. At the moment I don’t because I’ve been sort of in-transit for months. I’m moving back home at the end of the week though, and setting up an altar is the FIRST thing I intend to do.

23. What is your preferred element? Air. I love wind, stars, storms, gentle breezes through the forest, music, singing, the power of words.

24. Do you consider yourself an Alchemist? Not even in the slightest. XD

25. Are you any other type of magical practitioner besides a witch? Already answered above, but I’m a Druid! ^_^

26. What got you interested in witchcraft? I answered this in my previous post.

27. Have you ever performed a spell or ritual with the company of anyone who was not a witch? Yes! We used to frequently invite non-pagan friends to celebrate sabbats with us. One year, we actually erected a Maypole in my backyard and did a maypole dance.

28. Have you ever used ouija? Nope, and I would never. I don’t need it to speak with my guides, I don’t wanna poke at the dead, and I don’t trust them as reliable tools.

29. Do you consider yourself a psychic? I have strong intuition, but I wouldn’t call myself a psychic.

30. Do you have a spirit guide? If so, what is it? I have a couple, but the main one appears to me as a sort of elven / druidic entity (kinda Tolkien elf-ish with the blonde hair and all that). He goes by the name of Brannan and has been sort of my Druid guide both before and during my OBOD studies.

31. What is something you wish someone had told you when you first started? I wish someone had taught me really basic grounding and centering exercises and energy work first. Instead, I jumped right into gods and spells and rituals and all sorts of silliness early on in my path.

32. Do you celebrate the Sabbats? If so which one is your favorite? I haven’t this past year or so because I’ve been trying to get my bearings post-college again. But my favorite is Midsummer. It’s closest to my birthday, marks the anniversary of my dedication to studying witchcraft, and is just always a super heightened time for me spiritually speaking.

33. Would you ever teach witchcraft to your children? Yes. There’s another, longer blog post coming about my thoughts on this, but the short version of it is that I would rather give them some manner of religious context and collection of traditions and heritage than leave them completely on their own to consider the big universal questions religion is supposed to answer.

34. Do you meditate? Not nearly as often as I would like, but at least a couple of times a month.

35. What is your favorite season? Autumn. I love the gloom and the smell of the leaves, and the rain and how windy it gets, and the colors, and of course all of the things like pumpkin spice and Halloween. It’s another time of deep spiritual work for me. This is when the Wylde Hunt rides, and I mark my progress on my path in devotion to them.

36. What is your favorite type of magick to preform? I don’t actually like doing magick other than charging and burning candles. I’m sort of a lazy witch and usually find it more necessary to do inner work to get through a problem than to try and effect change in the world around me.

37. How do you incorporate your spirituality into your daily life? I take actions that align with my spiritual goals: living in harmony with the natural world, creating beautiful things, never stopping my own growth and learning, and compassion for others. I recycle where I can, try to reduce waste and reuse things. I take walks in nature and spend time in the woods. I stay informed so I can vote in ways that put people in power who care about our world. I take time to notice beauty in small places: a bird flying over head, stars in the winter sky, the way the sun is coming in through a window. When all of life is sacred, the spiritual path is not separate from the rest of your life. It becomes the lens through which you frame your life.

38. What is your favorite witchy movie? If I had to choose.... damn. I really can’t. The triad of Hocus Pocus, The Craft, and Practical Magic kinda take that place. I love them all in different ways.

39. What is your favorite witchy book, both fiction and non-fiction. Why? My favorite witchy books... Non-fiction: Living Druidry by Emma Restall-Orr, because it’s a look at Druidry through a Druid’s eyes. It introduces Druid concepts without the formal textbook layout, and I love reading about her experiences. Fiction: The Tree Shepherd’s Daughter and the associated series by Gillian Summers because who wouldn’t love a book about an elf who talks to trees whose day job to hide among humans is to make furniture to sell at Renaissance Festivals? Like... It’s just good, okay?

40. What is the first spell you ever preformed? Successful or not. This got answered in my last post.

41. What’s the craziest witchcraft-related thing that’s happened to you? And so did this one!

42. What is your favourite type of candle to use? I typically use those cheap chime candles or tealights. They burn down quickly and are easy to get ahold of.

43. What is your favorite witchy tool? I would have to say my drum. I love love love love raising energy with it or doing trance work while drumming.

44. Do you or have you ever made your own witchy tools? All of my wands have been handmade and my altar statues are all sculpted by hand. My ogham staves are handmade, and I’ve made a set of runes in the past, but they weren’t fond of me. XD

45. Have you ever worked with any magical creatures such as the fea or spirits? Ohhhh yes. Lots! The Wylde Hunt is one such example, but I’ve also worked with goblins and other various fae.

46. Do you practice color magic? I use color associations loosely, but don’t adhere to them too much.

47. Do you or have you ever had a witchy teacher or mentor of any kind? I did, sort of. My mom’s best friend was the one who bought me my first tarot deck, taught me how to read, etc. She gave me witchy homework now and then, but it wasn’t really a formal mentorship. She’s like another mother to me though, and I love her lots. <3

48. What is your preferred way of shopping for witchcraft supplies? Unfortunately, my preferred way is no longer possible. My local shop closed down in Feb of 2017 and I have been super sad ever since. I’m still trying to find a suitable alternative.

49. Do you believe in predestination or fate? I believe that we have free will and that the Universe sort of fills in the gaps. I think somethings are sort of “meant” to happen, but I don’t think everything is set in stone.

50. What do you do to reconnect when you are feeling out of touch with your practice? I light candles at my altar and just open myself to the energies, or I go on a walk with my friend, Mark. We always get into super deep conversations that get me back in the vibe.

51. Have you ever had any supernatural experiences? I could fill an ENTIRE post just on this alone, but yes. Plenty.

52. What is your biggest witchy pet peeve? Answered!

53. Do you like incense? If so what’s your favorite scent? I love incense! I tend to burn a lot of Dragon’s Blood, though I’ve recently discovered one called Mountain Heather that I am ALSO in love with.

54. Do you keep a dream journal of any kind? I keep weirdly vivid dreams in the notepad function on my phone. It’s usually right near my pillow and I just tap what I remember in there and try to go back to sleep.

55. What has been your biggest witchcraft disaster? Man, I can’t really think of a time things went horribly wrong to be honest.

56. What has been your biggest witchcraft success? Maintaining my practice and developing it into something uniquely my own.

57. What in your practice do you do that you may feel silly or embarrassed about? I know some people would say having spirit guides and such is silly. There are others who would say that energy work and psychic vampirism and the like are kinda woo-y and weird too.

58. Do you believe that you can be an atheist, Christian, Muslim or some other faith and still be a witch too? Anyone from any religion can be a witch. Witchcraft is a practice, not a religious path. Anyone can learn to raise and manipulate energy regardless of which deity they do/n’t worship.

59. Do you ever feel insecure, unsure or even scared of spell work? I just don’t usually feel a need for it. It’s usually able to be solved by mundane means or by doing inner personal work.

60. Do you ever hold yourself to a standard in your witchcraft that you feel you may never obtain? Don’t we all have perfectly aesthetic rituals that leave us feeling profound as a standard which we don’t ever quite meet? Aren’t we all secretly pining for Tumblr/Instagram worthy altars?

61. What is something witch related that you want right now? I actually really want to get a Tarokka deck, which is a tarot-esque oracle used in the D&D Curse of Strahd campaign. I want them for the campaign, but also to use for actual divination because it sounds like fun to try.

62. What is your rune of choice? I’m very partial to Kenaz (light, illumination, guidance), and Laguz (movement, water travel, magic, intuition).

63. What is your tarot card of choice? The 8 of Cups, The Star, and the 3 of Swords are all sort of cards I look at to determine if I’ll love or hate a deck.

64. Do you use essential oils? If so what is your favorite? I do use some, albeit sparingly. I’m rather fond of patchouli, sage, and a heather one I found.

65. Have you ever taken any kind of witchcraft or pagan courses? I’m currently wrapping up the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids’ Bardic Grade Course.

66. Do you wear pagan jewelry in public? Right now, my everyday necklace is a nine-pointed star which is supposed to represent the 9 sisters of Avalon, of whom Morgan le Fay was one.

67. Have you ever been discriminated against because of your faith or being a witch? Yes. Once, in early high school by a teacher. And once in college by some preppy sorority girl who wandered over to the LGBT clubs’ table at a Campus Life event looking to cause an argument.

68. Do you read or subscribe to any pagan magazines? Not magazines, but I follow a number of blogs both on Tumblr, Patheos, and Wordpress.

69. Do you think it’s important to know the history of paganism and witchcraft? Yes. Absolutely. The Burning Times weren’t about real witches. Modern paganism is not ancient paganism, and the context of myth, traditional practices, etc. are important.

70. What are your favorite things about being a witch? The language and tools I have with which to describe my experiences and think about and interact with the rest of the universe.

71. What are your least favorite things about being a witch? Being a conscious being and co-creator with spirit is freaking hard, yo.

72. Do you listen to any pagan music? If so who is your favorite singer/band? My absolute fave is Damh the Bard, but also give S.J. Tucker and OMNIA a listen. <3

73. Do you celebrate the Esbbats? If so, how? I used to do Dark Moon tea and meditation time with the Dark Goddess. Usually if I do something for any of the moon phases it’s sort of spur of the moment these days.

74. Do you ever work skyclad? I don’t, because I currently lack private space to do so.

75. Do you think witchcraft has improved your life? If so, how? Well, I am an empowered being with knowledge and love of the Universe and the divine connections between us all. I’m also equipped with various techniques for performing inner transformative work as well as affecting change in the world around me. What’s not to love?

76. Where do you draw inspiration from for your practice? My practice is a lot of “Solitary Wicca” meets OBOD druidry, meets a sort of Dragonheart ‘knights of the Old Code’ sort of feel. It’s about nature, creativity, and living honorably.

77. Do you believe in ‘fantasy’ creatures? (Unicorns, fairies, elves, gnomes, ghosts, etc) I do. I don’t believe they exist corporeally in this plane of existence though.

78. What’s your favorite sigil/symbol? I’m not sure I could pick one... but if I had to, I’d say the symbol for Awen.

79. Do you use blood magick in your practice? Why or why not? I’ve used blood in magic exactly twice. Once was in a dedication rite to The Hunter, and the other was to the Wylde Hunt. Both times it was blood from something like a paper cut or popped blister, whatever that was already available. I used it as a potent source of energy but also as a sympathetic tie to myself. Since I was dedicating myself to said entity, using it as a taglock made sense.

80. Could you ever be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t support your practice? Absolutely not. Thank you, next.

81. In what area or subject would you most like your craft to grow? I’m looking to pursue the OBOD’s further courses. I want to become a celebrant for the order and perform marriage, death, etc. rites for others within the order as well as those in the pagan community.

82. What’s your favorite candle scent? Do you use it in your practice? I love candles that smell like mulled spices or coffee or pumpkin. I don’t use them for magic, just for ambiance.

83. Do you have a pre-ritual ritual? (I.e. Something you do before rituals to prepare yourself for them). If so what is it? I ground and center before every ritual. Beyond that, I’m usually doing magic on the fly.

84. What real life witch most inspires your practice? Emma Restall-Orr, whom I’m not sure would identify as a witch. She’s technically a druid and author of various books and I love how gritty and honest and earthy what she shares is.

85. What is your favorite method of communicating with deity? I like to get somewhere quiet, and channel them through sort of automatic writing. I also frequently use visualization / meditation techniques to go to my sacred grove and speak with them there.

86. How do you like to organize all your witchy items and ingredients? What is this... organize you speak of? All spell components are in wee jars in a drawer. xD

87. Do you have any witches in your family that you know of? My mom was a practicing Wiccan when I was little, and my sister has interest in witchcraft.

88. How have you created your path? What is unique about it? Answered in my last post.

89. Do you feel you have any natural gifts or affinities (premonitions, hearing spirits, etc.) that led you toward the craft? If so what are they? I have a strange knack for vibing with plants/crystals/etc. and just knowing what they can be used for. I’ve also always had the ability to sort of see/hear things not there: spirits, fae, etc.

90. Do you believe you can initiate yourself or do you have to be initiated by another witch or coven? To be initiated implies you are entering into a group. The OBOD gives you the opportunity to initiate yourself if you aren’t close enough to a grove, but the point stands that it’s a ritual given to you by someone else. You can dedicate yourself to a specific path, but initiation implies you’re being included in something you once were not included in.

91. When you first started out in your path what was the first thing or things you bought? I’m pretty sure it was a new tarot deck, tbh. It’s been too long. I don’t remember.

92. What is the most spiritual or magickal place you’ve been? Answered in the last post: but Avebury, England.

93. What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone who is searching for their matron and patron deities? They aren’t necessary for a balanced and successful path. I know it can be weird not having a specific god/ddess but it’s really really really not necessary to find one right away to be able to have a successful practice.

94. What techniques do you use to ‘get in the zone’ for meditation? I dim the lights, drink some coffee or wine, get somewhere comfy, and put on some quiet music.

95. Did visualization come easily to you or did you have to practice at it? It used to come a lot more easily to me. I realized I was using it as sort of escapism and stopped, and have been building it back again.

96. Do you prefer day or night? Why? I prefer night. Everyone else is asleep and it gives me time and space to think and work on things without being disturbed.

97. What do you think is the best time and place to do spell work? The best time and place is when and where you need it most.

98. How did you feel when you cast your first circle? Did you stumble or did it go smoothly? We forgot to include a means of opening the circle in our first ritual’s notes. So... sort of a stumble.

99. Do you believe witchcraft gets easier with time and practice? Yes... and no. Because with time and practice, you come to find deeper things, and bigger truths. It builds upon itself.

100. Do you believe in many gods or one God with many faces? In my belief system, all gods are separate beings, but all a part of the Great Song of Creation that gives life to the universe.

101. Do you eat meat, eggs and dairy? I do! No restrictive diets here.

102. What is your favorite color and why? I can’t truthfully pick one. I’m fond of burgundy lately.

103. What is the one question you get asked most by non-practitioners or non-pagans? How do you usually respond? “I really like your necklace; what does that symbol mean?” To which I say “I got it at a renaissance festival; it’s supposed to represent the nine sisters of Morgen LeFay.” which seems to be an acceptable response.

104. Which of your five senses would you say is your strongest? Probably my sight.

105. What is a pagan or witchcraft rule that you preach but don’t practice? “Always cast a circle.” I recommend it for new folks, but I rarely ever actually cast one myself.

#about me #asks #questions #witchy questions

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techouspeaks · 6 years

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My thoughts on Star Twinkle Precure!

I’ll make this short but unlike the past few series where I’ve been a bit doubtful, I actually am looking forward to this. As with most, I doubt this series is going to be deep or serious as Hugtto cuz something like Hugtto comes every once a couple series it seems. However, because Hugtto was so deep and serious, I’m actually looking forward to a “breather series” if you will. A series that’s just fun and interesting to watch and this does look fun and interesting to watch.

I love the whole zodiac thing. I love constellations and the spiritual connections with them. I love all kinds of zodiac signs including the not so well known Native American Medicine Wheel. If you dunno about that, it’s basically a Native American version of the Greek Zodiac done with animals. Each zodiac is depicted by an animal, a precious stone and a plant. The big thing about the Native American Medicine Wheel is the fact you’re supposed to learn from the animal, stone and plant that represents your time of birth and even the ones you’re experiencing right now. So there’s a bit more deeper meaning to that one than the Greek but over all, Zodiacs and constellations are awesome things to learn.

Also like the fact this show has the theme that imagination is important and I even hope that they show how art including writing is important too. By how the cures are that might be true. We have two cures that are good with flowers and one is even a pianist. Those two are forms of art and then we have the main cure with a big imagination and loves constellations. That’s how Zodiacs came to be. People telling stories about goddesses and gods and then they became a zodiac. So yeah, already I’m pretty stoked for this series from the premise.

The designs look okay. I mean I think Cure Star’s top is ugly to be honest. I dunno what they were thinking with the top part of her outfit. She looks like more of a parody of Precure than a real one but I like her skirt.

As you can see I already have “Mio” vibes from Lala/Cure Milky (Not to be confused with Milky Rose from Yes Precure 5 Go Go!) It sounds like she’s gonna be a bit like Mio from Aikatsu Friends (which I’ll be honest, AF was a disappointment for me but I’ll review that another time)

And of course we have our first dark skin precure everyone is excited for and I am too but for a different reason.

Because not only does she sound like a bad ass character being elegant, fire child with responsibilities of taking care of her younger brothers and a flowershop, possibly being a perfect balance of femininity and badass since Cure Twinkle,but...*squeals* BUT SHE HAS THE EXACT SAME BIRTHDAY AS ME!!! MY BIRTHDAY IS SEPTEMBER 8TH, SAME AS HERS!!! VIRGO BABIES!!!

Before hand the closest cure that nearly had the same birthday as me was Kirara/Cure Twinkle, with her birthday being September 12th! So yeah and she has a beauty mark near her eye just like I do on both eyes and my skin is slightly dark being I live out in the south west. So yeah, this cure is pretty much a cure that I have some stuff I can relate with her. I just hope she is as bad ass as she seems to be and that I don’t find her too bitchy or unlikable, though I can be that way myself so I may not mind!

So yeah, I’m excited for her! I hope this series is at least good. I know it won’t be that deep probably but again, after the roller coaster that was Hugtto, which I’m not saying Hugtto was bad! Far from it! I have the review written out for it as I type this. It’s just that Hugtto was a wave of deep stuff and great morals and such that, yeah again just a series that is just fun but still enjoyable will be a good break is what I’m saying.

I like the idea of the princesses actually being the pens and they have to use the fluff ball to resurrect them. That’s actually a creative idea. It does sound like a little Sailor Moon-ish but I’m willing to role with it. It reminds me of Yes Precure 5 where they had to find the pinkies. Finding Princess of Zodiac Pens is very interesting and I even dare say that this series might have been made with Sailor Moon and maybe even Saint Seiya fans in mind. Like a cute, adventure version of the two.

So yeah, I don’t have high expectations in terms of animation or writing but I’m looking forward to this as a fun little series, a break from the wave of emotions and deep and even tense storylines that Hugtto gave us. Sometimes you need a little fun in between.

That’s my thoughts! Seeya soon for Precuruary! Through out the month of February, I’m going to do specials and reviews relating to Precure! Got some lists and a review for Hugtto Precure!

#precure #star twinkle precure #star twinkle precure!#pretty cure #Futari wa Pretty Cure

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1-800-444-tune · 6 years

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Open for Tarot Readings and Astrology/Numerology Reports

If you still care about my little Tarotscopes Shop you can show your support by donating any amount larger than 4$ CDN today and during this week as appreciation for my daily, weekly, and monthly Tarotscape's Visions of Fortune and Fate Readings I post for free every day. I will also consider doing my super scary-accurate astrology reports for the zodiacs, I will write weekly and daily horoscopes for every sign if I get my goal marker by the middle of the week!;🔔So Please Donate! 🔮 I am starting to get back into my old style Readings of runes and I CHING Readings, and also the infamous Chakra Readings! I am providing my full time 24hrs a day full services for the rest of this week , starting right after this post. So if you want in on this action and want an actual personal reading of any type, I offer....

3 Card Tarot Readings of the general : past/present/future predictions

Other 3 card Readings that I choose to do will be discussed between us

2 card Readings for yes/no choices you want or need to make in your life

There are other 2 Card Readings that I do, however I will not list them here, well talk about it beforehand in the booking of the appointment conversation

Full Access Reading- gives you a full disclosure on your situation at hand

Truth Spread - to gain some insight as to the truth of what's happening right now

Celtic Cross Reading - gives more clarity to an idea or situation you bring to me

4 Cards Of Depth Read - is the greatest for really tough or tricky events this reading will tell you exactly what is going on, these cards are designed to help you understand the difficult situation at hand, and .advise you to overcome the challenge.

4 Cards Of A Very Bad Day Spread- this is for those days you just feel terrible and nothing is going your way, the cards are designed to give you comfort and simple clarity on this real tough rough patch. The best advice comes from here!

The next best advice is one of the many many Oracle Decks to give the very best top notch healing advice that you might need to hear.

The Angelic Guidance Spreads come in a variety of forms, you can get angel messages straight from the Divine through me in a 1 basic card reading, but it's not going to be very good, often you'll need some follow up to that , it comes in 2 card spreads for awesome amazing messages, then 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 card

Goddess Wisdom Guides - tells you your goddesses that represent you or your partner or possibly the situation, it really all depends on the kind of questions you ask me, and all I can say is , wow, ever Insightful, and beautiful truly, these messages are often just the motivation or inspiring words of wisdom we needed to hear from the goddess guides that are by our side in this time of need.

There's so so so many more decks that offer such to great wisdom and great wealths of real true knowledge about our lives but I am not going to ramble on about them all here today, this is enough I explained the best most important ones, in my opinion. So, give me a chance to share this wonderful news of guidance that you will truly find so useful in your life. There's no way you will be let down, there's just no way. I am too good at my craft, what I do is just, k, people cannot thank me enough and you'll, be shocked!

Galaxy Spiral Spread is six cards that's 6cards at $3.00 a card, or if you get this reading plus the angelic guidance I'll put them together for just $11.00

I have a few spreads that I use for Realationships , but the standard one is a 7card reading that tells you just how your partner feels, and what they think , and their intentions too!

Bonus feature for the next two months only/I started doing the Valentine Spread it's a featured reading that will tell you the ins and outs of your relationship, it carefully lists your roles and your participation as a partner and then it says something else I think it's will this relationship work out or something, like the outcome, and it does the same for your lover it lists his roles and advice for him to fix things and what he does in the relationship, It's bugging me cause I forget the other details currently and do not have my book, sorry .

Then for Relationships I also read their energy their spiritual realm guides and read the advice from yoyr partners, also spirit guides, that's another thing I can do that's just so great!!

I can tell you your Spirit Animal Guides and the message they being to you, everybody has over 50 Animal Guides but I will likely pick up just on the most potent ones spiritually apparent to me. I give usually 3 Guide Animal Cards and you do not have to stop there because there's so many more that the oracle will tell me about and alert my attention to, my intuition is key, I trust it like family, yo

Spiritual Realm Messenger Advice Reading- and Spirit Guide Wisdom- this is for your usually, loved ones who have passed on and they're always always trying so very hard to reach out to you, so this is a chance fir you to actually communicate with the deceaxsed for once and finally get a chance to see what they're saying and thinking about your life choices, this reading can also be done for just simple spirits that have chosen to be your guides or to communicate with your actual Guardian Angels, yes I am for real!

Which brings me to this point that I can actually give specific guidance that's from the real #Archangel Michael, if you're really having a hard time or ever thought about what if the angels forgot about me type thing, then this is a reading just for you to lift up your spirits and give you that much needed appreciation and love that you alot of you anyways so often craves, I suggest this reading strongly!

Chakra Readings, these are simply great examinations for your heart mind body and soul , I pick up on your total vibe of yoyr energy centres and points on you and this reading can reveal some major insights as to where you could have blockages and also too gives the remedy, just what you need to do to fix it. This is so intense if you're into the healing arts yourself and are ready to finally level up, or maybe you're someone who's into spirituality or trying to astral project or maybe open your third eye? This Readings for you most definitely if you answered yes to any of those , please seek my help.

Shooting Arrow Spreads, these are just for special dates like New Years, Birthdays, Marriages, Starting a job, Anniversary events of any kind, Traditional or Seasonal Celebrations, I use this one for the Moon Phases, I do one for New Moon and one for Full Moon, you might also be wanting this in general for actually I just thought of this but the 1st of the month, to predict the motivational energies surrounding the coming months like, or at any other important marking dates you associate with movement forward .

6 card Week Spread, to predict your future fir the week ahead, this is a wonderful tool to use to plan your week around these pointers and also to just remember the times that a certain something is going to occur, so you can dodge it or embrace it depending on the event or situation!

Horseshoe Spread - will depict the themes of a signifior and their motives and how their belief systems affect their future at least help to shape the outcome

What Should I Do ? Spread. 3 cards. Tells exactly the situation you are dealing with in the top card then the two on the bottom are your What Not To Do and What to Do cards in the spread, the actual best best for making tough decisions or if your in a position and you just feel like you're really stuck at the moment this spread will absolutely clarify the issue and give you peace of mind n knowing that you have finally got the correct answer now all you have to do is apply your advice you ever been given right? Not so bad after all, see.

This decision/That Decision, when you're at a fork in the road, you know your two options but aren't sure which one is the correct one😇have no fear, my dears, because this is the spread right here! It tells exactly the outcome if you pick say option A. And the outcome if you pick then option B, or I can say #1 option or #2option, and gives you yoyr results and then based on that you can then choose which path you feel you'd like to see your life head in, if you still aren't sure which isn't likely, then we could possibly do it either again or do another spread I'd say to clarify and boost your confidence in one of the options, I have ever got so many more spreads that are not listed here and I just do them if we need to, I just giving you all something genre to choose from , the basics to my self healing art and just my ways of tarotcraft okay, so check these out carefully and try decide what in your life you really need most , and you just don't worry about my end I'm all covered always, and truly won't be a disappointment to you, if anything you'll become a weekly of daily customer I think, after u see what I can provide.

The Big Story Spread- tells you of many different areas in your life, it's by far the largest spread that I really do most often, and it's the most comprehensive.

Houses of Astrology Spread, tells you some insight into some different areas of your life using the 12 houses of astrology. This is one of my faves!

Then I have a few other love and relationship spreads of which, one is for a Broken Heart, one for the Compatibility of a Couple, General Relationships Spread, Readiness for Love, and the Torn Between Lovers Spread, alot more but I'd have to talk about the issue with you first to a session whether they're what you need, so hit me up for love advice and just look into the future of love

There are a few specialty spreads desixgned to tell you about your Financial situation and how to improve it, also my Career Spread to tell you advice of where to head in that regard , all the time money matters eh!

And of course I do dream interpretations , I have a 3 card spread that I love doing that directs your entire dream it tells you what it truly means in your waking life

Then we can discuss if you want some other specialty spreads that I offer we can chat about this one okay I'm stopping the list shortly right after I explain, that everyone abopsolutely must get

A Chakra Reading! Tells you your strengths n weaknesses and what blockages

Rune Readings now Offered at a very fair set Price!

And amazingly detailed and intriguing I ching Readings that you won't wanna miss

There's my fairy oracle deck which I find I'm most connected to, I saved best for last, well, I can basically do all of these spreads with them oracle cards giving the fae wisdom definitions but I simply like to stock to the 2 or 3 card Readings for these oracle cards, this deck is temperamental, it doesn't like to be pressured, but it works well l on shorter answered things I find, just it's personality haha

Now you know everything I do do you want to know my prices ?;!

Prices for Readings are a set rate of $3.55CDN per Card

You can pay by debit card, credit card, Visa, prepaid Mastercard, also your bank account,e transfers to paypal tho. My link should be at the very top of this long msg

You can also now pay with your very own paypal account to my business paypal. Okay simple yes? Payments time no? If you want an honest truthful reading that gives you something to go on to the next level with I have specific life altering advice that's vital to you right now as we speak, the Divine are connected to me and I am channeling so many messages, don't you want to hear yours, your future? I can give you straight up real talk honest and accurate predictions if you give me the chance please try me today yoyr life counts on it!

Click this link to pay for a reading

I'm online and open right now, get ready to have your mind blown!

You can choose absolutely any reading from this list that you'd like me to do or if you've found one online that you like then tell me the detailing of it the how-to and maybe provide a screenshotting of one and it's questions, then I will do my best to provide you with that exact service then! See, I'm so not hard to get along with, I of love and light, I am here to just assist people and get them through tough times! You're top priority and my problems are not even in my mind when I giving a paid reading I do my job and do it very very well, there's absolutely noo way that you'll want to say you didn't get your money's worth, I totally worth this! I have been doing reading in tarot fir ten years so I think I am actually just a bit experienced yup, so come on down, don't be shy, tel me all about your issue and the type of reading you'd like and we will get to it and give you some damn answers yeah?

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lovelyladydarling · 5 years

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task 001. dig a little deeper: lady darling edition

BASIC INFORMATION.

What is your character’s full name ? patricia elizabeth darling How is it pronounced ? puh-trih-shuh uh-liz-uh-bith dar-ling Is there a meaning behind it ? patricia means “noble” and is the female version of “patrick,” but it was a family name her mother gave her. lady was just something sweet they called her when she was younger and it stuck as a nickname over “pat” “patty” or “trish.” Does your character have any nicknames ? lady, pidge (from tramp) When and where were they born ? december 24, 1993 in san francisco, california What’s their zodiac sign and what traits do they most relate to ? capricorn. lady is very hardworking and responsible, but she’s aware she can be a bit distant at times when it comes to her more intimate relationships. she holds family very close to her--especially the family she’s made in carthay herself. she’s very stubborn, holds her own, and can definitely get a bit hot-headed at times. What’s their nationality ? american. What’s their occupation ? jewelry model. What gender do they identify themselves as ? cisgender female // she/her

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

What’s their eye color ? brown Do they wear glasses or contacts ? reading glasses, but not prescription Hair color ? caramel brown Have they ever dyed their hair or wanted to ? she gets highlights pretty often or goes darker, but never strays from brunette. Height ? 5′6″ // 167.64 cm Body build ? tall & lean Do they have any birthmarks ? she has a small birthmark above her left hipbone. Do they have any piercings or tattoos ? ear piercings // no If not, do they want to get some ? she’s recently been wanting to get a small tattoo somewhere, but she’s not sure where. Do they have a healthy life style ? she works out pretty frequently and tries to eat well, but carbs tempt her back every time she goes for a salad. How easy do they get sick ? she catches colds pretty easily, but doesn’t often get really sick. Any marks on their body ( injuries, … ) ? no permanent scars or injuries to speak of! she broke her arm once when she was 8 playing with the neighborhood kids, but that’s the only major injury she’s sustained throughout her 25 years. What’s their personal style/how do they like to dress ? lady likes to dress in a sort of girly business casual style most of the time and will occasionally go for a more “laid back” look if she’s just out and about. she frequents sundresses when the weather is nice and switches her footwear between sandals, heels, or a classic pair of KED sneakers. she tries to dress comfortably but still keep everything chic enough to be photographed in, just in case. What is their favorite and least favorite feature about themselves ? her favorite feature is her eyes and her least favorite would have to be her shape. she often feels like her body is too straight and narrow and wishes she had a few more curves.

PERSONALITY.

Positive traits ? fun-loving, caring, loyal Negative traits ? jealous, stubborn, hot-headed What do they consider to be the best and the worst part of their personality ? lady considers her loyalty to her friends to be her greatest strength and has a hard time choosing between her extremely jealous nature and stubbornness as her worst. she’ll overtly deny her jealousy to people if they ask because she doesn’t want others to notice such a negative trait in her, but she knows it’s a big fault of hers. Are they more extroverted or introverted ? lady is definitely an ambivert--she’s a bit of both. extroverted with her friends, introverted with strangers. she can’t strike up a conversation with anyone and prefers to keep to herself when out in public, but has no problem approaching a friend in a room full of strangers to talk. Any talents ? lady is very good at painting, but doesn’t often share that with people. What are their fears ? lady is terrified of ending up alone or not being enough for the people around her. Do they have any phobias ? claustrophobia (small spaces) What is their soft spot ? lady has a huge soft spot for anyone that will bring her dinner and just sit and be with her, anyone who remembers small details she tells them, and puppies. List 3 pet-peeves they can’t stand ? excuses for bad behavior, bailing on plans last minute, and calling people out via social media.

EDUCATION.

How far did they go in school ? Are they still studying ? lady completed high school and went to study studio art in college, but ended up leaving after 2 years when her modeling career took off. Do/Did they like school ? she really enjoyed college and would love to go back, or even just take a few classes for fun. high school was a take it or leave it thing for her--she didn’t mind it, but she wouldn’t choose to go back. What type of student are/were they ? she’s always been a good student. she doesn’t cause trouble, she shows up on time, leaves on time, and turns in her assignments. she maintained a b+ to a average in high school and really threw herself into her college courses. she practically slept at the arts annex during portfolio review. What is/was their favorite subject ? art was always her favorite subject, but she enjoyed history and english as well. And their least favorite ? any sort of advanced math--trigonometry, calculus, etc. What were they/would they have been voted as “most likely to…” in the yearbook ? lady was actually voted most likely to sell a painting by age 25, which was oddly specific to her but she wasn’t particularly close to many people in high school so she figured it was the best they could come up with.

FAMILY.

Who are your character’s parents ? jim and ruth darling. How would your character describe them ? lady hasn’t seen her parents in a while, as she was sent to live with her aunt sarah when she was 14 years old due to an incident with her younger brother. she loved her parents dearly and would drop anything she was doing to help them, even now. they were incredibly caring and protective of her and her brother, so she doesn’t fault them for doing what was best for him by sending her away. Do they have any siblings ? one younger brother, 13 years her junior: noah darling. Are they close with their family ? she used to be, but now rarely hears from them save for a card on her birthday. she would still do anything for them if they needed her.

ROMANCE & SEXUALITY.

What’s their romantic and sexual orientation ? heterosexual Are they seeing anyone right now ? james sullivan, for publicity sake. Have they ever been in an relationship ? as long as hers and sulley’s counts, yes! otherwise, she doesn’t know if she’d consider any of her previous relationships as counting. Have they ever been in love ? yes. How easy do they fall for someone ? it takes a lot of work to really get lady to fall for someone. though she desperately wants a family of her own after hers imploded due to her carelessness, she’s very guarded because of it as well. In their view, why didn’t any past relationships work out ? she’s been caught up in someone else. What do they look for in someone ? she wants someone to put in even half the effort she knows she could give. she wants passion alongside the comfortable moments and the moments of “i can’t believe this part of my life.” Do they believe in love at first sight ? or fate ? no, not particularly love at first sight...fate, perhaps. though she believes one can control their own fate if they so choose. What’s their views on romance ? Do they go after it or avoid it ? lady loves the idea of romance, but she’s not sure on the logistics or how to get it. she doesn’t particularly like how her heart and her brain tell her different things. Did they have their first time already ? How was it in their point of view ? yes and somewhat disappointing--some guy she dated in her first year of college for about 6 months that she grew tired of and broke things off with. she thought she loved him at the time, but realized it was only an infatuation. What is their view on sex ? it’s fun, but she’s started thinking of it as something more as she’s gotten a little older. she’s not trying to save herself (that’s over & done with) but she does prefer to save sex for people she’s truly connected with and feels a deep love for. What are their turn ons and turn offs ? turn ons, she prefers someone else taking control, longer hair, and breathy words. turn offs, she’s not a fan of someone grossly inexperienced, with poor hygiene, or a messy room (or wherever the sex is happening, honestly.) Were they ever cheated on or have they cheated on someone ? to her knowledge, she’s never been cheated on. she may have kissed some other boy in high school while “dating” another boy, but she couldn’t have been more than 15. she’s never cheated in her adult “relationships.” Do they want to get married in the future ? absolutely. Have kids ? definitely.

QUIRKS.

Are they right or left handed ? right handed. What’s a word that’s always on their lips ? serendipity. Is there a saying they keep on repeating ? don’t judge a book by its cover. Do they curse ? when she’s particularly angry, yes. What’s their worst habit ? jealousy. Do they drink or smoke ? How frequently ? both occasionally, moreso when she’s left alone and doesn’t know how to handle what she’s feeling without being inebriated. that’s very rare, however, and she usually reserves her vices to a glass or two of red wine. Are they an early bird or a night owl ? early bird. How tidy is their room ? immaculate. lady loves having a place for all of her things. there’s hardly a shoelace out of place in her room. How long to they usually take getting ready in the morning ? depends on what her plans are for the day, but her average routine takes about 25-30 minutes. it’ll go a bit longer if she has something planned with james, especially a nighttime outing.

FAVORITES.

What’s their favorite color ? tiffany blue. Favorite movie ? 10 things i hate about you. Music Genre ? pop? Food ? italian. Book ? currently, meddling kids by edgar cantero Favorite non-alcoholic drink ? iced dirty chai latte Ice Cream Flavor ? neopolitan Indoors or outdoors ? a bit of both.

#carthaytask #íf í ѕmílє wíth mч tєєth вєt чσu вєlíєvє mє || task #this took..........longer than anticipated!!!#i'm sorry the graphic isn't too pretty /:

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viostormcaller · 6 years

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I was tagged by @wynterskies. Thanks! I usually never do these things but this one felt easy for me to do and I have the energy to right now, sooo let's get it!

A: Age? 18!

B: Birthplace? Boston, Massachusetts babeyyyy

C: Current time? As of typing this answer, 12:08 AM

D: Last drink you had? Vanilla Coke! I'm really getting into drinking Coke recently...

E: Easiest person to talk to? You guys on tumblr. I've told you guys things I've never admitted to anyone out loud, and I usually come to you all first before anyone else. Thank you for being there for me :')

F: Favorite song? I don't really have one, I just love music, man. But, if I absolutely HAD to pick a favorite, Anachronism by Cry Wolf is super up there on my top songs list.

G: Grossest memory? Uhh... well there WAS that one time I thought a tub of sour cream was cream cheese and stuck my entire finger in it. I hated sour cream for YEARS after that, it was so gross. I don't hate it now, but I don't prefer it, certainly.

H: Horror, yes or no? Y E S. It's rare to find good horror nowadays, but a lot of video games do it well and I LOVE it when Mark or Jack (especially Jack) plays horror games.

I: In love? Nah. Not looking for a partner (or partners) at the moment, trying to focus on bettering myself first and healing and getting myself together somewhat before jumping back into relationships.

J: Jealous of people? Nah, I don't get jealous, not like that, anyway. Maybe there's the occasional person who has a cool thing or did a cool thing and I'll go "Wow! That's awesome you did/have that cool thing! You're so lucky! Wish I could do/have that!" but I don't harbor jealousy of people.

K: Keyboard smash of choice? Somethin like alfjspejkdjksks, I usually use the middle row of keys, and some of the top and bottom rows for variety. I obviously put a LOT of effort into my keysmashes XD

L: Love at first sight or should I walk past again? As much of a hopeless romantic I am, I have to get a read on someone first (my readings on people are never wrong) and establish some sort of friendship before I develop any feelings. Though I develop feelings so easy XD

M: Middle name? Angelica. It was supposed to be my first name, actually, but because of how popular Rugrats was at the time, mom didn't want me getting teased for my name, so my first name is Briana and my middle is Angelica. I'm glad, too, because Angelica Briana doesn't have a good ring to it-- it just doesn't sound right!

N: Number of siblings? One, my younger sister!

O: One wish? Financial stability so my family could get off of public assistance and actually live. I would wish to move, but we should be called for housing soon so that's covered already.

P: Person you last called? My mom. She wanted to show me something on her phone that she set to happen when certain people call her XD

Q: Question you're always asked? Well, back when I used to wear my glasses, I was always asked if people could try them on XD

R: Reaction to a compliment? I usually get all shy and say "Thank you" sheepishly while smiling all big :)

S: Song you last sang? Well, I was humming the tune to Bulletproof when I was out earlier so I think that counts

T: Time you woke up? Uh, I think right before noon.

U: Underwear color? Like a periwinkle I think. Some sort of blue color.

V: Vacation destination? DISNEY WORLD!

W: Where do you feel safest? Uh... tbh, my uncle's house in Massachusetts. I've never felt more safe and secure since I've moved to NY. Living in the Bronx is not safe, and it's hard to really relax when your apartment is infested with roaches and the landlord won't send someone in to spray... that's why I wanna move back so bad.

X: X-Rays? Yeah, I've had some done on my mouth when I was getting orthodontic work done when I needed braces, and I've had some on my stomach when they couldn't figure out wtf was wrong with me and why it keeps hurting (they still don't know and it's limiting my ability to function so I should prob make an appointment for the doctor soon instead of waiting three months like they said)

Y: Your favorite food? Okay, my top three are, in this order (and they're all VERY close): Ramen (the real ramen, not the packaged stuff), sushi, pizza. Having ramen for the first time was a holy experience. If you're ever in Manhattan, go to Ippudo. Hole in the wall sort of place, but they're SO good if you can manage to find it!

Z: Zodiac sign? Pisces!

I tag: @jayiplier379, @septic-dr-schneep, @10th-no-name-person

#vio stormcaller #abc ask game

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exosvisual · 6 years

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Get to know me tag

i was tagged by @elparaisodeminseok it was so nice reading yours PLUS I THINK WE HAVE THE SAME EXACT BDAY 9/25 CRAZY (if thats not ur bday, then just ignore the caps lmaoo)

Rules: Answer 30 things about yourself and then tag 20 blogs you’d like to get to know better!

Nickname: none :/

Pronouns: she / her

Zodiac: Libra 😛

Height: 5'3"

Age: 22

Time: 10:00 pm

Favourite artist: Yixing | EXO | NCT | Maluma | Bad Bunny

Song stuck in my head: Without You - Kun ft. nct

Last movie I saw: Pan’s Labyrinth

Last thing I googled: flight tickets to mexico .cant believe my dad’s going and leaving me behind wtf !!

Other blogs: nctbot but shes died

Do I get asks: not really i only have 2 followers so...

Why I chose my url: god gave me two hands one for nct and one for exo amen

Following: 289

What am I wearing: pink and white pjs bottoms w/ navy striped shirt 😴

Dream job: i honestly have no fucking clue. i would say forensic pathologist or surgeon pero idk if thats actually my dream job or just expectations pushed on me from my fam... doing something business related would be cool but uh my social skills are so bad lol

Dream trip: a trip where i can spend 2-3 months in one location before moving on to the next - places outside of north america. imagine being able to stay in venice for a bit then fly to tokyo then budapest then dublin then paris then vienna and .. yeah just something like that would be amazing

Favorite food: chicken !!! im always wanting chicken wings lmao

Play any instruments: no but i signed up for a strings course in college BECAUSE THEY HAD THE CELLO LISTED AND WHAT BITCH WOULDNT WANT TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY THE CELLO but then they sent out an email saying we would all be learning how to play guitar.. i dropped the class as soon as i closed the email.

Favourite song: Fireproof - One Direction. cant believe it’ll never be performed by ot5 like god intended 😭

Play(ed) any sports: ive never played a sport in my entire life

Hair colour: dark brown that looks reddish under the sun but looks black anywhere else

Language(s) you speak: english and spanish

Random fact: I was called as a witness for a court hearing when i was younger than 12 yrs old i always forget it happened until it suddenly hits me (my dude won the case)

Describe yourself with an aesthetic: colorful neon signs in dimly lit places

i always tag new/-ish mutuals so: @haechen @emperorzyx @ilunctdream @layowei @kuns-dimples @xiukhei @exo-m @handshake @donhyuck @kailist @leeyools im too shy to reach out but if ur reading this then uhhh im probably going to comment on some of ur posts every now and then dhgadfjlha anyways [mark voice] lets get it

#dont feel obligated to do this!#alright imma go watch nct vlives 💃🏽#personal

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lingthusiasm · 7 years

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Transcript Lingthusiasm Episode 15: Talking and thinking about time

This is a transcript for Lingthusiasm Episode 15: Talking and thinking about time. It’s been lightly edited for readability. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts. Links to studies mentioned and further reading can be found on the Episode 15 shownotes page.

[Music]

Lauren: Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics. I'm Lauren Gawne.

Gretchen: And I'm Gretchen McCulloch. And today we're talking about how we talk about time.

Lauren: But first, we have very exciting news for 2018, which is: twice the number of full episodes of Lingthusiasm every month!

Gretchen: So, up to this stage, we've been doing Patreon bonus episodes, which are sometimes a little bit shorter, one of them is a text chat episode, and sometimes they're cut bits from the show – now we actually have enough support on Patreon to do full-length bonus episodes. So that means two Lingthusiasm episodes a month for people who support us on Patreon. We are really excited to have grown this far in this short amount of time.

Lauren: We'll still have free episodes every month through the main channel, but we'll also have another full-length episode, which means you get more bang for your Patreon buck.

Gretchen: Yeah! So, thanks to everyone who has brought us there so far and it is not too late to start listening to these and all the previous Patreon episodes as well! We also released Lingthusiasm merch last month – IPA scarves, T-shirts and mugs and bags that say "Not judging your grammar, just analysing it", and Lingthusiasm stickers. And they have been very popular, we have been very much enjoying seeing people's photos of them and stories about who they got them for, so feel free to keep sending us those. We're excited to see what you end up doing with them!

Lauren: We were so excited when we put this – especially with the scarves and the "Not judging your grammar" – yeah, we were so excited when we were putting this together and it's been so nice to actually be able to share it with everyone and everyone else also getting really excited about it.

Gretchen: And we're really excited to see some of that gear and some of our listeners at the Linguistic Society of America annual meeting in a few weeks in January. So, we'll hopefully see some of you there!

Lauren: Our current Patreon episode to round out the year is a question and answer session that we did at our Montreal live show. So if you want to know what it's like to have the opportunity to ask us some questions, if you want to relive the live show experience, that is available on the Patreon now!

Gretchen: It had a really good energy, people asked really good questions. And it was really fun to have that kind of more back-and-forth than we normally get to do in the episodes. So you can check that out and all the previous bonus episodes at patreon.com/lingthusiasm.

[Music]

Lauren: There's a quote that circulates around on the internet, one of those ones where the original author is lost to time, that for me sums up I think a lot of what we're going to cover in the episode today, which is, "You are a ghost driving a meat-coated skeleton made from stardust."

Gretchen: Hmm. That is both weird and cool.

Lauren: And I really like this quote because for me, it takes something that we take for granted, our lived experience of how we move through the world, and it kind of just unhinges that for a second and makes you reflect on how really weird human bodies and human social interaction is. And I feel like a lot when I teach linguistics classes, a lot of my class is just me going, "Look at this really obvious thing you've done your whole life, think about how weird it is for a moment, think about how weird it is that we actually communicate with each other functionally."

Gretchen: I think a lot of the times when we're talking about linguistics, we end up talking about the "meat suit" part of, like, this is what your tongue is doing. Just think for a second about the fact that you have a tongue! It's pretty weird! Or this is what your vocal cords are doing, or the weird flaps of skin and the rest of your throat are doing, or the, you know, neurons that you can't see. And there's there's a lot of physical aspects to language that says, okay, well, spoken languages tend to have certain kinds of similarities because that's just how the human vocal tract is designed. Or sign languages have certain kinds of similarities because that's what your hands can do. Like, there aren't any sign languages that require you to stand on your hands. Or spoken languages that require you to, like, bite your tongue to make the word, because humans don't want to do that! And I think the part that we often miss is that in addition to being in meat-coated skeletons, we're also on a planet. We're on the same planet. And some of our experiences as speakers of any of the languages on this planet have certain kinds of similarities with each other because of that planet, and a lot of those are related to time.

Lauren: And so that is our topic for today. We're gonna talk about talking about and thinking about how time works.

Gretchen: So Happy New Year's, Earthlings! We're gonna talk about time.

Lauren: We are being a bit end-of- year, just-after-first-anniversary reflective here, but we think it's relevant all year round.

Gretchen: Yeah! And, you know, one of the big things is that we're on a big ball of rocks and water and we have this sun in the sky, and so languages have words for day and night, and mark the passage of time with days and with years, because those are things that all different human societies have observed. And we have a moon, which gives us things like months. And there are roughly twelve of them in a year, so twelve is this important number for different measurements of time.

Lauren: I didn't really think about how important twelve was for time until we started listing places where it crops up! So it crops up, obviously – we talk about twelve-hour cycles in the day, and we have 24 hours, so that's two sets of twelve there.

Gretchen: We have things like twelve signs of the zodiac, or twelve months in a given year. And we also have other types of time-related things that are divided up into twelves, like the minutes and the hours on a clock get divided. So an hour gets divided into sixty parts, which is, you know, divisible by twelve. And then a minute gets divided into sixty parts, and so I looked up – because I was thinking, you know, why is it that a second is called the same as, you know, the "first, second, third, fourth"? And that's not actually –

Lauren: Is it a coincidence? I had always assumed it was.

Gretchen: No! No! It's not a coincidence! I kind of vaguely assumed it was a coincidence. But actually, in medieval Latin – and this is according to Etymonline, which is great – they divided the hours into various kinds of small parts. And the first part of the hour was called the "pars minuta prima", or the first small part. And "minuta" there is related to, like, "minute" or "miniature."

Lauren: Right, yeah.

Gretchen: But it just means small. And so that's where a minute comes from. And that's the first small part. And then the pars minuta secunda –

Lauren: Ahh, I see where this is going!

Gretchen: – is the second small part! And that's the second.

Lauren: Right.

Gretchen: Which is another sixtieth. And there actually used to be a term for a sixtieth of a second –

Lauren: Right...

Gretchen: – what we would now use a millisecond for, which was called a tierce, or a third, which is the third small part, which is yet another sixtieth of a second.

Lauren: Ahh. Like, seconds are so simple and salient to me, having grown up with them, that a tierce, like a third, just sounds so weird? But a millisecond is completely fine. You can see the modern decimal system of influence –

Gretchen: Modern decimal system kind of encroaching on the second! Yeah!

Lauren: Wow, imagine if we still measured things in thir... thirds?

Gretchen: Thirds!

Lauren: Thirds.

Gretchen: Or tierces, if you want to be Latin-y about it.

Lauren: Tierces! Yeah.

Gretchen: But, I mean, we could have ended up – you know, we have milliseconds now. The French Revolution, which was one of the things that introduced the metric system, also tried to introduce a ten-day week instead of a seven-day week.

Lauren: Ah, yeah, I heard about this. There's a great Twitter account that just tweets out whatever day it is in the old French revolutionary calendar.

Gretchen: Oh, that's great. Yeah, they named them all after, like, agrarian things, right?

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: So, there have been attempts to do that, but for some reason the seven-day week and – I guess the nice thing is is that if you divide a 28-day month, which is kind of a lunar month, into four parts, you get this seven-day week, even though there's no other reason to use seven because it's this weird prime number.

Lauren: And a ten-day week, it's a long time to the weekend.

Gretchen: But if you have a three-day weekend, maybe?

Lauren: Like, you're never gonna win people over. I would rather get a two-day weekend after five days than a three-day weekend after seven.

Gretchen: I don't remember exactly how they gave the days off, maybe they had one halfway through? So it would be like three and then one and then three and then... how do you do math? What's left? Two more?

Lauren: I'm not a French revolutionary, I'm sorry.

Gretchen: Well...

Lauren: We'll have a link in the show notes page.

Gretchen: So, there's all these different ways of slicing and dicing time and yet we've also ended up with this very weird calendar system that has all of these artefacts in it, like the fact that September, which has "sept" in it, which means seven, is actually not the seventh month, it's the ninth month. And October, which has "oct", meaning eighth, and it is actually the tenth month, and so on and so forth, because January, February didn't really use to be a thing, and so if you started counting at March, they work out. But yeah, there's lots of weird things about weird artefacts that get snuck into our time-counting systems. The other really cool thing about time – so, this is a study about children called "Learning the Language of Time: Children's acquisition of duration words."

Lauren: Right.

Gretchen: And it's by Katharine Tillman and David Barner, and they noticed, or people have noticed, that kids start using time-related words around the age of two or three, even though they have no idea how clocks work for like several more years.

Lauren: I would say definitely several more years, yep.

Gretchen: Until like eight or nine.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: So what do they mean if they're saying the word minute, or if they're saying the word hour, if they don't actually know what a clock means?

Lauren: Right.

Gretchen: And so they got dozens of three- and six-year-olds in the lab and they asked them to compare several different pairs of durations. So their example was, "Farmer Brown jumped for a minute, Captain Blue jumped for an hour. Who jumped more?"

Lauren: Uh-huh.

Gretchen: And they also use seconds, days, weeks, months, and years. And by age four, the children tended to get more of these questions right than you'd expect if they were just guessing. And as they got older they got better and better at that.

Lauren: So they know an hour is longer. They may not be able to tell you exactly how long.

Gretchen: Yeah.

Lauren: Hmm!

Gretchen: But then! They asked them things like, "Farmer Brown jumped for three minutes, Captain Blue jumped for two hours. Who jumped more?" And adults are like, yeah, this is still really obvious, and the kids were like, I don't... I don't know?

Lauren: Wow. Stumped them! That's like, oh, yeah, as an adult, you're like, this is so painfully obvious, how can you not get this.

Gretchen: Like, why are you asking this? But this is why we have science, right, so you're not just like, this is so obvious. But yeah, so kids get thrown by this: well, it's three minutes, but it's two hours, like what... what... what are you gonna do? Whereas we know that an hour is an order of magnitude larger than a minute, it doesn't matter if you just add one.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: And kids also do this type of things for numbers and colours. They have these kinds of general concepts of them before they have a very good idea of the specific details. So a kid might be able to use a word like hundred or thousand, probably – this is me inferring from their study – but they're not actually counting all them, they just see a lot of cookies and be like, "Wow! There's a hundred cookies!" And there's actually twenty. But they have the sense that a hundred is a lot.

Lauren: I'd still be happy with twenty cookies.

Gretchen: You know, so would I. But, you know, counting is a thing.

Lauren: Yeah, and so we have the kind of general semantics. And it's that thing, like, we do it as adult speakers as well, right. Like, we say, you know, I'll often message you and I'll be like, "I'll be online in two minutes!" And you can expect me any time within the next one to ten minutes.

Gretchen: Yeah, oh yeah, and if you're ten minutes there I'm not like, oh, you're eight minutes behind, it's like, ah yeah, that was kind of in the order of magnitude.

Lauren: I've started the stopwatch!

Gretchen: Especially if you think about how parents or adults talk about time to kids, it's like, "Yes, yes, yes, I promise, we're gonna go in a minute!" And then like twenty minutes later the parent's like, "I guess we're going now!"

Lauren: Yeah, it is very confusing to learn to navigate this.

Gretchen: Yeah, "You can watch TV in a minute!" and it's actually like, you know... Or like, "In an hour!" and it's actually three hours or it's actually half an hour. I think parents know that kids don't really understand those those times, and they're often not very precise about them with kids because it's just easier to give a general impression. But I think the classic way that I remember counting time when I was a kid was with sleeps. So you would say things like, "Three more sleeps until we're gonna go visit your grandparents!" And that was three more days, but somehow it was easier to count sleeps.

Lauren: I think there are only like four or five sleeps until Christmas when this episode comes out?

Gretchen: There you go!

Lauren: Depending which time zone you're in.

Gretchen: Depending on when you listen to it. Maybe they're listening to it like a year from now.

Lauren: You can only listen to this episode on any given 21st of December.

Gretchen: So, yeah, there's like three more sleeps! French also has this word, but they don't use the normal word for sleep, they use a baby talk word, which is "dodo". So you can say, like, "Trois dodos!" And that means three more sleeps because you're using the baby talk register.

Lauren: That's cute! I mean, I guess sleep, A Sleep, is a weird... like, I think I only use it with children.

Gretchen: Yeah!

Lauren: Use sleep as a noun?

Gretchen: I mean, I think you can say like, "I slept the sleep of the just" or something if you want to be more formal.

Lauren: Yeah, but not to a three-year-old! The other thing I've always found really hard to get my head around with time is that different cultures obviously have different times that they celebrate the new year, that the concept of a new year and counting years is completely arbitrary. And in Nepal there are about five different ethnic groups that have five different dates that they measure New Year's on.

Gretchen: Oh, that's exciting.

Lauren: It's always so amazing! It's like this thing that you think is this really important thing, and then you discover that other people, for other people your new year means nothing and they've got their own thing going on.

Gretchen: Yeah, and it's interesting how the year itself is so universal, but the time when you when you pick it is so arbitrary. Whereas something like a day, like we all have the same kinds of dawns and sunsets, because that's built in, but for a new year, sometimes people go for a solstice or an equinox, sometimes people go for a lunar calendar, where the years don't actually quite match up because you're caring more about the months – you know, there's lots of different types of years.

Lauren: There's also a lot of cultural variation in how people conceptualise where they are in time and how time happens. And this is more or less a really elaborate culture-wide metaphor that different cultures can have. So when you hear "metaphor" you might think of, like, school comprehension classes where you've learnt that, like, "the sun is a big yellow balloon" is a metaphor and "the sun is like a big yellow balloon" is a simile and both of them are equating something with another property. And that is true and you can use them as a very specific literary device, and in those cases the more novel, the better. But we also have these metaphors that are really pervasive in how we see the world and our place in them.

Gretchen: And they're so ingrained that you don't even think about them as metaphors, they're just how things are.

Lauren: No, so we really have to think about ourselves as souls in meat-covered skeletons on a bowl of rocks hurtling through space. And this kind of area of semantic – it's really a kind of a property of semantics and cognitive linguistics – is probably best encapsulated, or kind of kicked off through a work by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. So a lot of the work in this area is inspired by them and their book "Metaphors We Live By," because they're so pervasive. So, for example, we have a lot of things like "last year is behind us," "we can move forward," "I can't wait until Christmas," like, "Christmas is coming up really quickly" are all –

Gretchen: So, time can move quickly in a way that's kind of weird. I think even just saying like, "Oh, I'm looking forward to when we're gonna do this," that's like, the future is ahead of us, the past is behind us. Or, like, "let's just put that behind us," meaning let's just forget about it.

Lauren: Yeah. So we have an orientation where the future is ahead and the past is behind us. And so we have two slightly different ways of thinking about this in English. We can say, like, "I just have to get to September and then I can go on holiday" and so we're moving through space towards September or the future or whatever is happening, and then –

Gretchen: Hmm, okay.

Lauren: But we have a slightly different one where like, "Christmas has come up so quickly!" where we're kind of stationary and time is flowing past us. But what's common to both of those is the future is –

Gretchen: Like, "I can't believe we've arrived at December already."

Lauren: Yep. But future, pretty safely anchored in front of us. Whereas there are other cultures, and the most famous one is Aymara, which is an Aymaran language of South America – so with Aymara, the future is behind us and the past is in front of us. And if you think about it, it makes a kind of sense, because we know what happened in the past. You know, I know what happened to me yesterday. I am not psychic and I don't know what's gonna happen to me tomorrow. So it makes sense that the future is in the part of your vision where you can't see and you don't know what's there, but you can look out over your life and where you've come from as you've travelled through. So it actually, like, it's a really robust logic and it's totally the opposite metaphor, but it's encoded in their language the way our way of talking about time is encoded. Another common one that's often talked about is, especially in various Chinese languages where you have a vertical orientation of time, where the past is above and the future is below. And that's partly the the writing system that motivates that, and we have, even though it's not in our speech, we often see in our gesture, not only do we have this forward- backward space orientation, but we have a left-to-right orientation. So if you think about plotting out everything you have to do in the next couple of days on a timeline, then you're more likely to put events earlier on the left and events later on the right.

Gretchen: Right, so, okay, I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna do that.

Lauren: Sometimes we have these metaphors that are so deep in our consciousness they don't even show up in our speech but they show up in the way that we orient ourselves.

Gretchen: But if we were using a right-to-left writing system like Arabic or Hebrew, we would probably plot out things on a timeline in the other direction?

Lauren: Yeah, there's been so little research that's really nailed a lot of this down. Lera Boroditsky is a cognitive psychologist who's done some work on Chinese and English monolinguals and bilinguals, and she's found that, especially with Mandarin speakers, you can get them thinking vertically or horizontally depending on how you prime them before you do the experiment, which is cool.

Gretchen: Interesting.

Lauren: So there's both long-term, like it's very hard for us to think about time forward and backward, but you can also prime people to think about these metaphors in more short-term ways as well.

Gretchen: And people often use, you know, even just an arrow going from left to right to indicate things about the future.

Lauren: Yeah, so Hillary Clinton's 2016 election campaign logo, which was very unpopular at the time, and I wrote about it and what the arrow was doing in the H as it pointed to the right. And also FedEx has that little optical illusion arrow in the logo.

Gretchen: Oh, yeah!

Lauren: And if you look at it, they would never have done that logo if the writing was such that it went from right to left, because that wouldn't be indicating kind of future-y dynamic forwardness.

Gretchen: Yeah. Oh that's kind of like – so email programs do this, right, if you have, like, the reply arrow has this kind of circle back pointing to the left, and the forward arrow has it going towards the right. And those are just arrows, like, your email contacts don't exist in time and space, but they're using those arrows to kind of transmit those ideas.

Lauren: Yep. So these metaphors are really pervasive in how we talk and think about time.

Gretchen: So FedEx doesn't want to make you think that they're gonna run off with your package and take it back to the factory.

Lauren: FedEx your package, just comes back to you every time.

Gretchen: And that's what would happen if they used the arrow in the other direction.

Lauren: Yeah, that would be... that would be a not-good... And, you know, it's – I've written some stuff about emoji direction. So, they're oriented so they make sense in terms of Japanese word order.

Gretchen: Mm!

Lauren: But in terms of English word order it makes it look like people aren't moving forward from left to right and so they're not moving forward in time. And English speakers get really irritated by that. So the vehicles and the people walking all point from right to left. And we interpret that as like they're going backwards.

Gretchen: Oh, okay. Whereas if you spoke Japanese, because that language is subject- object-verb and then you want to put the verb at the end of the sentence so that you can be like, yeah, this refers back to the thing that was at the beginning.

Lauren: Yeah, so in that language it's pointing the right way, but for English speakers it doesn't gel with our sense of things moving forward. And so I love this way because you really, you know, time is so hard to get our hands on that we have to use whatever strategy we can and these metaphors are a really nice way to do that, but we really take them for granted. Sometimes you're just like oh, wow, yeah, that's how we... that's how we move through the world!

Gretchen: Yeah! Another thing that I take for granted a lot is that, you know, time is this abstract concept, but for some of us, and I'm one of them, we actually have this kind of intuitive way of visualising time. So there's a phenomenon known as synaesthesia, which is when you have kind of cross-sensory perception. So the classic example of synaesthesia is grapheme colour synaesthesia, which means that certain letters or numbers have particular colours associated with them, and I have that as well and we'll probably talk about that in some other episode, but in this particular context I want to talk about time- space synaesthesia a little bit, because this is actually one of these kind of – it's less talked about and it's a lot more common I think than people were realising, that a lot of people have instinctive visual metaphors, a kind of a mental image or an image in your mind's eye, of where different times of day are, where different days of the week are, where different months of the year are, hours in the day. So...

Lauren: Hmm! Yeah, I definitely haven't heard of that as much as I've heard of colour letter/grapheme synaesthesia.

Gretchen: Yeah, the grapheme one, I mean, it's easier to visualise because you could just put that stuff in different colours, whereas the – you know, I think I've looked at some of the diagrams that come with the studies and I'm like, "That looks really weird!" But also I know I have this thing, mine just looks different from that. So the classic example that you generally see in time-space synaesthesia studies is – so, I think most time-space synaesthetes visualise time as a circle. Which kind of makes sense, because all of our time things, like hours in the day, months of the year, they repeat and they're cyclic around each other.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: And the classic one that you see in the visualisations is that someone will be standing in the centre of this big ring. And in the ring are the different months of the year, in order, and the one that's in front of the person will be the current month. So let's say you're looking at December and you're like, this is the month that we're in right now, and then beside it will be January 'cause you're flipping over to the next year, and you'll just keep going around. And it'll kind of move in front of you as time progresses.

Lauren: Right.

Gretchen: And some people have it in kind of a bit of an elliptical shape, like it's not just generally a perfect circle, it's not like a hula hoop.

Lauren: Hmm!

Gretchen: It's this kind of elliptical shape, and sometimes it's tilted a bit, sometimes there are colours involved... This is this kind of thing that people have. For me, I have it as a loop, but I have it as a up-down loop that circles around in the back.

Lauren: Okay.

Gretchen: So rather than like the hula hoop thing –

Lauren: So you're not standing in the middle of it.

Gretchen: I'm not standing in the middle of it, I'm looking at it. It's kind of like if I was going to take my watch off and hold it in front of me so I could see the face of it, then that would loop behind itself as well.

Lauren: Okay.

Gretchen: Except it's bigger than that. And it doesn't have a watch, it doesn't have a clock face on it. And I have the same mental loop for both hours of the day and months of the year. So midnight is where January is.

Lauren: Okay.

Gretchen: And it goes through. And noon is around where June is, and it goes through – like, midnight and January are at the top and then it kind of loops in the back very quickly and it just kind of goes around there. So, I was trying to look for this visualisation that I'd seen before of the months around the person, and I ended up on this article that was trying to describe this. And it was saying that, oh, people who have time-space synaesthesia, they're like Time Lords! And they have all these...! And I just... you know, I don't have magical powers here, people.

Lauren: Do you use it mentally when – if you're like, okay, I have to do this thing in September, so I have four months to do it, like, is...?

Gretchen: Yeah, I mean I use it in – like, I do use it to kind of keep track of where I am, going about my day, or knowing when something is, or "how soon is that," "how far is that." Like, "this feels far away," "this feels close by." I use it for that. And I did notice – so I was in Hawaii in March this year. And I left Montreal in the cold and then Hawaii has these beautiful, balmy temperatures, obviously. And I noticed that I was in the wrong spot in my mental calendar? And I felt like I was in July, because that's what the weather was like, even though I was in March? So I had a really hard time calculating times for several weeks afterwards, because I just – my body had decided that I was in July now. Like, my brain had somehow decided that I was in July now and I was really not. It's kind of like a macro version of – you know that thing where you have this sense that it's Tuesday but it's actually Thursday?

Lauren: Yup.

Gretchen: And you don't know why it feels like a Tuesday, but it feels like a Tuesday, and there's a way that Tuesday feels?

Lauren: That, for a year.

Gretchen: I had that for like several months, 'cause I got really thrown off.

Lauren: Oh, how disconcerting.

Gretchen: It was pretty bad. Now that it's getting cold here again, it's better, I'm like, it's definitely winter now. But it really messed me up, yeah! So, yeah, it's like, I'm not a Time Lord, my apartment is not bigger on the inside...

Lauren: How disappointing.

Gretchen: I know, I tried, but they don't sell TARDIS apartments.

Lauren: It'd be very convenient.

Gretchen: Yeah.

Lauren: Do you find that you assume other people are kind of visualising time in this way as well, or do you find that it clashes with those other cultural metaphors about time?

Gretchen: Um, I just kind of take it for granted, like, I don't really think about it very often, it's just there? It's kind of like you don't think about how what your mother looks like, you just know. Or like –

Lauren: You don't think about the fact that you're a meat-puppet skeleton.

Gretchen: You don't think about the fact that you're a meat puppet in space! Sometimes I do see calendars that for some inexplicable reason will put their earlier times at the bottom. So there's this website that I've been visiting a lot lately which tells you when the sunset and sunrise times are for your location – because I'm really counting down the days to when we can start moving out of this darkness, and I'd like my sun to start rising again at, like, earlier than four o'clock – and for some inexplicable reason, this sunset website, it starts its midnight, 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., at the bottom and its evening at the top.

Lauren: That is very confusing.

Gretchen: And that just throws me every single time, and I don't know why they're doing it! But yeah, that really messes me up. But I think that would mess most people up, because –

Lauren: That would definitely mess me up.

Gretchen: Because if you're using an agenda or something, all of our metaphors at, like, later in the day is at the bottom?

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: So I don't know what these people are – maybe they have synaesthesia and that's how their synaesthesia works! And they were like, "Finally! I could make this thing the way I like it!" That's my best guess. But I think one of the things when I think about being a ghost in a meat suit, meat skeleton, is that there's a certain amount of similarity that linguistics has to another hobby that I've been taking up in the recent couple years, which is stargazing.

Lauren: Yeah?

Gretchen: And before I started stargazing, you know, I would go outside at night and I'd look up at the stars and be like, wow, there's stars, that's nice!

Lauren: Yeah. They're there.

Gretchen: They're there! Look, pretty! Sometimes there's a moon! And, you know, I knew one or two constellations, but if I couldn't find those, if Orion wasn't up, then I was just like, oh, there's stars. And now that I've been stargazing for over a year and I know what most of the constellations are and how they move through the sky at different hours of the day and different times of the year, and I have names associated with them, I go outside and I look at the same sky and what I see there is different. Because all of the individual pieces have meaning now and have associations with them and have patterns that I can see. And obviously the sky hasn't changed, I've changed. But in many cases, language is kind of like all those stars. We're surrounded by it all the time, you hear it all the time, you see it, it's there, but being able to look at language like a linguist looks at language is... now you have words, and you have frameworks that you can put in, here's what all these sounds are. And they're not just a bath of sounds, they're constellations. So you have this way of making sense of all of this stuff that you're seeing and you're experiencing it and putting it into some sort of context. I think for me that's one of the things that's really magical about linguistics. And stargazing!

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Gretchen: For more Lingthusiasm and links to all the things mentioned in this episode, go to lingthusiasm.com. You can listen to us on iTunes, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, or wherever else you get your podcasts, and you can follow @Lingthusiasm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. You can also get IPA scarves and other Lingthusiasm merch at lingthusiasm.com/merch. I can be found as @GretchenAMcC on Twitter, and my blog is AllThingsLinguistic.com.

Lauren: I tweet and blog as Superlinguo. To listen to bonus episodes, ask us your linguistics questions, and help keep the show ad-free, go to patreon.com/lingthusiasm or follow the links from our website. Current bonus topics include a live Q&A, the semantics of sandwiches, language games, and hyper-correction. And you can help us pick the next topic by becoming a patron! If you can't afford to pledge, that is also okay, we really also appreciate it if you can rate us on iTunes or recommend Lingthusiasm to anyone who needs a little more linguistics in their lives.

Gretchen: Lingthusiasm is created and produced by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our audio producer is Claire and our editorial producer is Emily. Our music is by the Triangles.

Lauren: Stay lingthusiastic!

[Music]

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