#increase your melanin boy

[paraicelife]

Why does only the stomach skin darken during pregnancy?

When you are pregnant , it is common for a brown line to appear on your belly. Should we worry about it? We make the point on this phenomenon.

Pregnancy is a period of multiple upheavals for the body of the future mother. Between hormonal changes, digestive disorders or water retention, the reasons for appointments to the gynecologist are numerous.

Among all these little worries, the appearance of a brown spot, or brown line on the belly, can be surprising. The appearance of this brown line is frequent, but not systematic. What does this spot mean? Should we be worried? We make the point with Dr. Tiphaine Beillat, gynecologist.

Pregnant, why is there a line on the belly ? Should we be worried?

If during pregnancy, a brown line appears on the middle of your belly, it is first of all important not to worry, as Dr. Tiphaine Beillat explains: "This line that appears on the belly, from the pubis to the sternum, during pregnancy is called Linea nigra.

It is common and completely benign, so don't worry! It is due to an increase in the production of the melanotropic hormone, secreted by the placenta. Its brown color is related to melanin, the pigment that determines the color of our skin, but also our eyes and hair.

Linea nigra: when does this brown line appear on the lower abdomen (at the beginning or at the end of pregnancy)?

This brown line appearing on the belly during pregnancy is therefore not dangerous, but when exactly does it appear? It's hard to say, explains De Tiphaine Beillat: "The Linea nigra can appear at any time during pregnancy, as hormones are produced throughout the nine months.

However, depending on the skin color, this line will be more or less visible. In light-skinned pregnant women, this line will often be very little visible, while in darker-skinned people, the Linea nigra will be more pronounced.

Can this brown spot on the body remain after pregnancy? How can it be made less visible?

If this brown line appeared on your belly, after how long will it disappear? You have to wait a certain amount of time, summarizes Dr. Tiphaine Beillat: "The Linea nigra can persist throughout the pregnancy, or even afterwards. Some women keep this brown trace on the belly a few weeks after delivery, or even several months.

Rest assured, however, it will eventually fade and disappear completely. So how can you make this brown line as inconspicuous as possible for aesthetic reasons? "In order to make the line as dark as possible on the stomach, it is important to protect yourself as much as possible from sun exposure," explains Dr. Beillat. In the summer, don't hesitate to apply sunscreen (SPF 50+) to limit the risk of brown spots caused by exposure.

Black mark on the pregnant woman's belly: a sign of a girl or a boy?

Before ultrasound, all means were good to give an opinion on the sex of the future baby. Among the legends, the Linea occupied a place of choice. Thus, if the brown line went beyond the navel, it meant that the unborn child would be a girl.

If not, the baby would be a boy. If this prognosis is not based on anything scientific, it could be the basis of conversations in your family! With, at the key, a guarantee of immutable prognosis: a chance on two!

[lilflowerpot]

so i had a thought. despite the fact that his dad is pretty tan, his mom is purple and he lives in the desert, keith is super pale. and at first i was like, that's weird, but then i considered that maybe galra don't tan? like at all? i'm curious about your thoughts on this (i'm pretty sure you've talked about sunburns before, so i'm sorry if this ask is redundant). what do you think about keith's coloring, and how incongruous it seems to be with his genetics?

Though my sunburn post is definitely relevant (so to anyone who hasn’t given it a read, I would fully recommend it), this isn’t a redundant query at all! In fact, it is a rather interesting one.

So I did a little research and compiled several shots of Texas Kogane throughout the series. Now, from an animation perspective, any given character’s colour palette is of course subject to the lighting of the scene (something which can alter it quite dramatically, as you can see), and so without a character sheet I cannot rightly say what the exact pigment of Texas’ skin is, but my closest guess is that of the largest image because it has him standing away from the window (ie. direct sunlight which inherently alters his colouring) but still within a reasonably lit setting. Due to this, I’d say that Keith’s dad is a pale skinned man with warm undertones, as his palette largely sits in the red/orange sector of the colour wheel (nighttime lighting notwithstanding, because it made him very purple lmao). Keith, in contrast, has cooler undertones placing him at more of a mid-orange point on the colour wheel, and his palette is somewhat less saturated than his father’s.

Now, if we were to place Krolia on a colour wheel she’d be purple... obviously. This, ironically, means that her palette is actually closer to Texas’ than Keith’s, if we were to travel around the wheel, but of course seeing as vld wanted Keith’s galra heritage to be something of a surprise, him having magenta skin was likely not on the table, so clearly they settled for a cooler human tone (as purple is a cool colour, while red/orange is of course warm).

So far as tanning is concerned, we need to first address it on a scientific level: upon being exposed to UV radiation, our skin increases the production of the pigment melanin (produced by our melanocyte cells) in an attempt to protect itself from further damage, and subsequently this increase can cause your skin tone to darken. However, as I discussed in my sunburn post, the galra evolved to live in a largely arid and desertous biome, and so possess natural defense mechanisms to protect themselves against UV rays. This means that galra bodies are not actually designed to suffer direct exposure to sunlight - either due to their scales, oiled fur, or sweat - so they never evolved the ability for their melanocytes to be triggered by increased exposure to UV rays to begin with, and thus they do not tan.

Though Keith has fully functional melanocytes which contribute to skin pigment, these cells cannot be further activated by increased UV exposure, ergo my boy remains a pasty little thing no matter how much sun he gets which is why he was still pale af despite living in the desert for a year! As I said in my original post, Keith’s sebaceous glands (located beneath the skin, where they open into hair follicles) produce a compound that both acts to regulate his body temperature, and absorb UV radiation to dissipate it as heat, affording him a particular resistance to sunburn. Of course, Keith’s human heritage does mean that his body hair is notably more sparse than that of even the most lightly furred galra, and so he has to compensate for this by using suncream / covering up / staying out of the sun.

[theyscreamjade]

Can I have HCs of Teen! Aizawa, Bakugou, Mirio, and Tamaki falling for a Black s/o and confessing to her, only for her to be very suspicious and ask why. Turns out s/o has been in a relationship where she has been fetishized and the ex was upset that she didn't act like "what a black girl is suppose to act 🙄" and dumped her. S/o thinks that the boys only want to use her then throw her away when she doesn't perform "correctly." I watched a YT Video years ago and there was this guy who said...

Black Fetishization

As told in part two of this post, I was fetishized almost like others. It’s gross, to say the least, and completely disgusting.

Also, I kinda changed it up a bit. Sorry about that, I got started and I couldn’t stop. 😅

Disclaimer: Cursing and Sexual Talk.

————————————————————————————————————————

* You better be kidding though.

* HOW YOU PLAN AND SIMPLY REJECTED HIM AFTER HE STRUGGLED SO DAMN HARD TO BUILD THE CONFIDENCE TO EVEN TALK TO YOU.

* AND YOU SLAM HIS SHIT LIKE THAT?!

* Expect him to be a bit livid, he’s not happy about this.

* He fucking likes you and he can’t even get a ‘you’ll think about it?!’

* He’ll demand a reason to why and it better be a good one. If it’s schools, he’ll study with you. If you need to perfect your moves or quirk, he’ll help you.

* One thing to know with Bakugo, if he’s infatuated with you. It’s hard for him to move on.

* He can’t just let his feelings go, especially when it comes to you. You made him feel things he never thought he’d ever feel. He can’t just drop you and move on.

* The moment you said you didn’t want to be another victim of fetishization and he’s confused.

* Break it down and tell him all the times guys have come to you for your skin, or to be another notch on their belt because they always wanted to date a black girl especially adding the fact your ex did that shit.

* Yeah, He’s not going to fuck with that. You may have rejected him now, he’s going to prove to you that he’s not those bastards. If you think his weird ways of showing that he likes you were strange, they’re going to increase.

* He wants to build a sense of trust with you and make you trust him. He doesn’t want you to EVER feel like that with him.

* He’ll be damned if you do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* So, You just gonna make him regret his decision to ask you?

* You gonna make this man REGRET HIS HARD ASS WORK TO EVEN ASK YOU?!

* When the why came out of your mouth, he was THROWN back.

* “Why?! Why what?!”

* He’s staring down at you with your random question floating in the air before he retorts with the same question. “Why what?”

* “Why do you want to date me?”

* There you explain it and he’s baffled.

* He didn’t know that this was something you went through, he wasn’t always with you but boy did he wish he was now. He wanted to find that asshole of a ex and simply make him regret using and breaking your heart

* Shouta gives me the highest protection vibes because he knows how fucked the world can be.

* He’s going to be absolutely honest with you and say he sees your personality more than your features. Of course they’re a bonus but he’s in love with you.

* If you do agree to date him or say you’ll think about it, he’s another person who’ll make his point known.

* Let someone whistle at you, yeah. Mic’s gonna make their hearing go away temporarily.

* He wants to prove that he isn’t here for that melanin but to love it, he wants you to be aware that no matter if you were black, Purple, or whatever. He’s gonna love you for you and not let any bastard try his kitten.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* He may...may not break down a bit when he confesses and just to be retorted a question like that.

* That wall looks real good to stare at now.

* One, he wasn’t expecting that answer. Two, he worked hard as hell to confess. Three, can you just say no so he won’t break from embarrassment.

* Please, just tell him. He’s sweating bullets because he’s scared he said something wrong to you.

* He’s mentally prepared for your rejection, not a question!

* Tamaki, poor sweet soul wouldn’t have never expected anyone to be so bold to do so but he’s been very observant when you all would hang out.

* There were times where guys would come over and try to talk to you, asking for your number and you just straight up shut them down.

* When you break down to why, He didn’t expect your ex to do some shit like that! BUT PLEASE Give HIM A CHANCE because you’ll be surprised!

* Tamaki isn’t the guy you think, he may be shy but with you. It’s absolutely adorable.

* He wants to prove he’s not like those people who see you in a strange and weird fetishization but as more than that.

* He’s in love with you for you and there’s no denying that, he’s like a cute, shy protector.

* Like others, he wants to prove and build a sense of trust so you don’t have to worry.

* That cute shy beanie baby.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* I believe this man takes rejection surprisingly well and offers to be friends afterward.

* Maybe you’re not ready for a relationship now, not everyone is.

* He gives rational reasons to you and others but he doesn’t want to lose you either.

* Yet, when you ask him why?

* He’s blank and like...what do you mean why?

* Why what?

* Pour your feelings and reasons like water and it’s a slight eye-opener for him.

* Like Tamaki, he’s extremely observant especially when it comes to you. He may slight hurt to know your ex did that to you but happy they fucked up because then he can give you the real deal.

* He doesn’t let anyone say whatever they want to say to you, but you don’t see his reactions half the time because he’s blocking their chance.

* He’s slightly offended you’re precautioned with him but I’m sure he’s going to prove he’s not like them.

* He wants your heart and golly does he prove that.

* Even if you don’t say yes to him, he’s treating you like a princess/prince without overstepping his boundaries.

* He’s your knight in shining amour, that sunshine that glows against your skin.

* He’s destined and determined to love you with every inch of his beating, smiling heart and to build a sense of trust with you.

* Every time you’re around him, you’ll always be smiling.

[ee-laugh]

𝐸𝐶𝐶𝐸𝑁𝑇𝑅𝐼𝐶 | 𝑃𝐽𝑀

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇɪɢʜᴛᴇᴇɴ: ɴɪɢʜᴛᴍᴀʀᴇ

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As soon as jimin realised what he had just uttered out unconsciously, he straightened up. He didn't know how he mustered up the courage to look at your face, but he somehow did. And the sight broke his heart.

Your mouth was slightly ajar; eyes disbelieving, and breath ragged. You didn't realise when tears started dripping down your sullen cheeks one after the other. "Haejin?" You found yourself asking in that dry voice of yours.

Jimin looked down, grabbing his hair in his fists tightly. What had he done. He couldn't even bear looking at you right then. He didn't know what to tell you either. The damage had been done. He was done moaning out someone else's name while having sex with you. And you were hurting because of it.

You were completely silent during the drive back home. A weird numbness had engulfed you as you found yourself replaying jimin's voice in your head over and over.

H-haejin..

Fuck.. H-haejin..

You had never heard this name from his mouth before. Ever. And now that you two were finally making love after a month of being away, he suddenly says it. Your mind was a tangled mess of confusing thoughts.

Jimin was driving a little too fast. The few minutes of drive back home felt like years of agony. His mind was a blur. He found himself silently praying for it all to be a bad dream. A nightmare.

Everything happened so fast that he almost couldn't comprehend it. He had never wished to be dead more than in that moment. A tear ran down his cheek.

—

Trigonometry class was almost like a new obsession for jungkook. He had never been this excited to attend a class ever in his life. He sat right in the front during every lecture; noted down every piece of information he found useful, and even did all the chores for his professor.

All because he admired the shit out of Kim Namjoon.

He had never idolised anyone in his life before. Everyone seemed too bland or predictable. He got bored of things and people easily. But this mysterious looking man with an iq of 148 and a personality that makes everyone look twice; had him looking up to him more than anyone.

"Choi Somin." Namjoon announced, handing out the exam results.

Somin huffed, getting up from her seat and walking up to the tall man.

"Do better next time." He spoke in a low, calm voice. Somin nodded, and sat down on her seat beside jungkook with a thud.

"Jeon jungkook."

He got up almost immediately, making the whole class stare at him.

"Perfect score as always." Namjoon told the boy with a smile.

Jungkook clutched the answer sheet in his hands; his eyes crinkling with joy.

He's proud of me, he kept thinking as he got back on his seat. Somin glanced down at the boy's exam sheet.

"Fucking nerd." She gave him a weird look. But deep down, she too was extremely happy for the boy, whose eyes were literally twinkling like stars. Somin's breath hitched at the sight.

—

You broke into a pool of tears as soon as you got home. The realness of it all hit you like a fucking typhoon. Jimin, upon seeing this, and as much as he wanted to miraculously disappear; decided to pull you into a tight hug.

"Let go of me.." You managed to mutter in his arms. But he didn't let go. He couldn't. Or else he would have to look at your tear-stained face again.

Jimin's sleeve was all wet as you kept crying for a full minute. He kept patting your head softly, as if trying to put a baby to sleep.

"Who *hiccup* the fuck is Haejin?" You asked through your muffled voice.

"No one. Trust me baby." He tried to stay calm; soothingly running his fingers along your back.

Trust him?

Can I trust him anymore? You kept thinking.

"Don't lie to me." Came your response. Your crying had finally died down and you felt like you'd collapse any second.

"She's just a colleague, baby. I met her during my trip. That's it. It was a slip of the tongue. Believe me."

When you didn't respond for a while, jimin loosened his arms around you to find you sleeping. Your nose was red, and your lashes were glistening with tears. He almost shed a tear of his own at the sight.

He leaned in to place a kiss on your slightly ajar lips.

"I love you so much, y/n. Please trust me."

✫------✫

Jimin dropped his gaze at her hand on his chest.

Haejin's hand cautiously started moving against his bare chest, massaging the skin there. He had some of his buttons unbuttoned, so she had a perfect view of his melanin skin glistening in the pale light of the lamp.

Jimin almost couldn't move, as if frozen in place. Her hand went a little deeper hesitantly. Unbuttoning another one of his buttons, she had herself a wider area to work on. His muscles were tensed up and his skin was sweaty from the long walk; a perfect combination to make haejin let out a stifled moan.

"When did you get so hot, Park Jimin?"

✫------✫

———————————————————————

Should I increase the length per chapter or keep it as it is? Also what length do yal suggest?

Taglist: @jwlmnbt @yeontanie21 @safi4x @fadingprunebagelfestival @nooooooooona @jedi-nightingale @thatrebelfangirl @staerryminimini @lachimolala95

I cant seem to tag @d3a6 and @scarletterose-was-inlove for sum reason :(

[hwauas]

🕊️: "the lost prince", 4

park seonghwa | 박성화 - 2,880 words

you frowned at the sudden reaction from your mom. it was very curious to you. and you suddenly remembered the gaze the two policemen gave each other when you mentioned that same thing.

you were so confused about this whole situation.

     you thought you were living a pure nightmare: everybody seemed to know everything but you, and you were powerless to this ignorance from you. your boyfriend was in a hospital, you were trying to find his real family to soothe their pain from the loss, and give Seonghwa all his answers, but everybody was throwing a spanner in your works

     everybody around you seemed to know something, and no one ever told you anything. this was very overwhelming to you. bad feelings started to grow up inside of you: distress, anger, helplessness, uselessness.

     “mom, what's happening? who is fleur-de-lis? what did fleur-de-lis leave? why would fleur-de-lis be back? i'm so done with everybody hiding things from me! i'm just trying to resolve my boyfriend's problem, to try and find his family. why is everybody being so focused on this fleur-de-lis thing!”

you started to walk around. you pushed back your hair while walking, and took a deep breath to try and call down a little. the whole situation was getting on your nerves already, and it was just the beginning of your case.

     “did Seonghwa tell you something about this?”

she was pale, as if she just saw a ghost. her tone was contrasting a lot with yours. the room held a mix of two opposites: the hot and the cold. your anger and her shock.

     “no. nothing. listen mom, you stay here. i'll do it on my own, alone. if you need something, just call me.”

as you were about to leave, your mom grabbed your wrist.

     “y/n. if you want some informations about fleur-de-lis, you should meet this old lady you talked to a lot, running the library. she'll help you way better than me to answer your quetions.”

     you left your place right after, just nodding. you were too angry to think straight at this moment.

     besides the fact it seemed to be more complicated than you thought, everybody seemed to hide something from you. if they knew why did Seonghwa's "mom" called him this way, and if they knew something about fleur-de-lis and its meaning, wouldn't it be easier for you to find his family? instead, they were all shocked yet quiet.

     on your way to the library, you were thinking about what could this lady say to you about fleur-de-lis. would she answer your questions? tell you a lot more about it? about the meaning?

the fruit you were eating while walking seemed tasteless compared to the bitter sensation of others knowing something about fleur-de-lis but you, and compared to your anger — slowly fading away. the last shades of anger within you was because of the necessity to run across the city to have answers.

     but a whole mystery was planning over Seonghwa and his whole family, and you had to resolve first this fleur-de-lis enigma.

     when you reached the library, less angry, you found the lady you were looking for at the back of the shop, reading an old book — you could tell it was an old book because of the yellowish pages.

you slowly approached her with a little smile. she looked up at you as soon as she saw you coming closer.

     “my child! it's been a long time! how are you doing? you're stunning. you know that?”

you smiled at her cute behaviour. it was very heartwarming to see her being this welcoming to you. it was soothing your anger.

     “i'm doing good. don't worry about me. and you?”

     “i'm good. old but strong, you know?”

she giggled, showing off she was just making fun of herself. you always liked her self-mockery.

“what brings you here today? are you looking for new books? you already finished the ones i recommended you?”

     “no, i didn't finish them yet. but i'm reading them, don't worry!”

you sat besides her, on an empty chair. you were looking at her with the tiniest smile ever, yet with bright eyes.

“no, i'm coming for something else.”

     “tell me.”

she put her book on the little desk, and turned over to face you.

     “do you know anything about.. 'fleur-de-lis' ? my mom told me i could ask you for informations about.. this.”

the old lady seemed to be surprised. was 'fleur-de-lis' a taboo? something no one can talk about? why did everything act like it was very important?

     “fleur-de-lis is a quite sad story.. years ago, the Queen gave birth to a lovely son. their only son. he was the King's heir apparent. all the country absolutely loved the nation's prince. he was adorable. his parents were loving him so much, treasuring him.”

the old lady glanced over a vase with flowers in it.

“they never revealed their son's name. they always called him fleur-de-lis. even there, in the castle. only his parents know his real name.”

     “sorry mama but...”

you frowned at this information. it increased your curiosity.

“why did they were calling the prince fleur-de-lis? i mean, i can understand they wanted to keep his name a secret, but then.. why did they choose this?”

     “this flower especially represents the royalty. the power, the glory, and the success as a King or a Queen.”

you nodded to show her you understood this point.

“but this peace the kingdom knew didn't last. the little prince was 1. 13 months, to be exact. when the Queen and the King woke up, their son was nowhere to be seen. they immediately started to look for him all around the land. everybody were looking after this little boy. but no one ever found him. the kingdom's ray of sun disappeared, and took the happiness with him. everybody forgot him as fleur-de-lis. now, he is called 'the lost prince'.”

     you stayed quiet. you never heard about this history. neither him as fleur-de-lis nor him as the lost prince. you didn't even know the Queen and the King had once a son. was it this hurtful for them? in a way, it was showing how close to him the whole country was.

     “why are you asking me this?”

     “because... i had to call for the emergency department yesterday for my boyfriend. since then, he can't leave because the person he called mom all his life is an impostor. i'm looking for his family. i talked a little with her after we discovered the truth and the last thing she said is 'take care of fleur-de-lis'.”

     the old lady was, again shocked. but this time, you understood why.

everything was clearer to you. why did the policemen looked at each other this way, why did your mom became so pale. if this person wasn't lying, you were dating the lost prince.

     but the problem wasn't resolved. how to prove that? how to say that to him? how will he react? were you really able to solve this problem now?

     “i see... thank you mama. i'll solve this problem. i promise. i'll give my boyfriend back to his family. and if he is the lost prince... i'd be the happiest if i could give back this kingdom their lost prince.”

     “y/n! wait! please... what is... his name?”

      you stopped moving when she called you. and with a little smile:

“he is fleur-de-lis, the lost prince.”

     you winked, and walked out of her shop.

     you felt bad for hiding this from her. she helped you a lot figuring out about this problem. and she helped you solve a huge part of the problem. but you couldn't betray Her Highness and His Highness and reveal his name — if he really was the lost prince. you had to respect their choice. and you weren't even sure he was the lost prince.

     with all these new informations, you needed to ask few questions to Seonghwa now. maybe he could help you having more answers to your questions. so you naturally started to walk towards the hospital.

     you didn't even dare to look at your phone. you knew you would have a lot of messages from your mom — she was very curious and couldn't even try and control it. seeing Seonghwa was, for the moment, your priority.

     reaching Seonghwa's hospital room was a relief for you. if you thought at the very beginning of this day that you were facing a problem hardly solvable, you were now looking at the new informations which helped you progressing in solving this problem.

     hope and determination were growing inside of you, and flourishing.

     you entered the room, a bright smile. Seonghwa was here, sitting down on a chair, next to the window. the sun was illuminating his face, revealing his melanin and natural beauty to you. your heart skipped a beat, and two, before you could move.

     “baby.~”

you approached him, and sat on a chair next to him. he immediately look up at you. he had a little smile, but his eyes were more expressive: they were shining.

“how do you feel?”

     “a lot better. i wish i could go out. i feel a little bit lonely here...”

you noticed he was playing with his fingers. you knew it meant he was very annoyed by this aspect of the situation.

     “and... can i do something about this, babe?”

you softly took his hands in yours. you would always be here by his side to try and make things easier for him to live. it was unnecessary for him to worry about that. and you wanted him to feel this in your gesture.

     “i feel a little bit guilty for asking you this but.. can you stay with me this night?”

he was avoiding your eyes, yet tightening his hold around your hands.

     “anything you want. i will stay with you tonight. and the next nights until you go out. i promise.”

you rubbed his hands softly with your thumbs. and before the silence was too loud in this room, you started to talk again.

“Hwa, i'd like to ask you some questions...”

     “yes, sure y/n. i'm listening.”

his soft gaze was back on your adorable face.

     “i know you don't remember well your childhood but.. i'd like you to try. for me, please. did she ever call you fleur-de-lis?”

you saw Seonghwa lowering his head. when you saw few lines on his forehead, you knew he was just trying hard to remember for you, to help you. and you were thankful...

     “i.. i don't think so. but, i don't know why... it doesn't sound unfamiliar to me.”

Seonghwa shoot his head up to look straight into your eyes.

“why? did you came back because you discovered something?”

     “kinda.. i did discover something, but i'm not sure at all about this information. and i think few people can help me solving this problem. you're one of them.”

when Seonghwa squeezed your hands, you felt like it was a sign from him to keep going.

“do you know why the very first pictures of you you have are pictures when you were 15 months?”

     “i thought it was very curious too. so i asked her. she told me she didn't have any reasons to take pictures of me from the very first day i was born, to the very first steps i made.”

     you nodded at this information. it was very interesting: after that, Seonghwa had a lot of pictures if him. dozens, and maybe hundreds. she was taking pictures of him very often.

“okay, then listen. i asked for informations about fleur-de-lis. what is it. who is it. what does that mean. the old lady running the library i'm often visiting told me everything. to summarize, fleur-de-lis is the Queen's and King's baby who disappeared when he was 13 months. they always called him this way because they wanted their baby's name to stay a secret. even the people working at the castle don't know the baby's name. and they were calling you fleur-de-lis. what if.. it was linked? maybe i'm crazy to think about this! but what if you were fleur-de-lis, their child? all the puzzle pieces are fitting! you don't have pictures of yourself before you were 15 months because you weren't living with her. she's not your biological mother, not your official mother because she just.. kidnapped you. she was wanted, everyone was looking for the person who kidnapped the prince. she couldn't go with you somewhere and make proper papers with you as her son. that's why she had to hide her identity? why she made false papers? because everybody wanted to find her!”

the adrenaline was rushing at a light speed through your veins. everything seemed to match.

     “am i the one who actually got drugged? i CAN'T be him. i'm not a prince, please, y/n. think about it again. it's not a fairy tale.”

     “i AM serious! you, first, think about it! i'm not asking you to believe it, i'm asking you to considerate it!”

as you were talking with Seonghwa, you heard knocks on the wooden door. you both straightened up to look at it.

     “are you Choi y/n?”

you nodded, a bit lost about what was happening.

“i'm a police officer. i'm working on the case regarding mister Park to find his family. since he can't leave the hospital, and you're the one who gave us informations about the lady who pretended to be mister Park's mom, can you please follow us to the police station? she got arrested. we need someone to indentify her.”

     you were stunned by their words. did the fact you mention 'fleur-de-lis' yesterday got them being more involved in the case?

Seonghwa had to squeeze your hands for you to be back in the present.

     you nodded, feeling again the hope growing up inside of you. as complicated this problem seemed to be, things were progressing quickly. it was like a relief for you, and for Seonghwa. maybe he wouldn't stay here too long?

you kissed Seonghwa's forehead, and left to follow the policemen.

     the ride to the police station was too quiet for you. you needed to know if they knew as much things as you. if they were also thinking that Seonghwa may be the lost prince.

     “do you think.. she was right when she called him 'fleur-de-lis'?”

     “we can't exclude the possibility she was the one who kidnapped the prince sixteen years ago. but first, we need to be sure we're holding the right woman.”

     “what will happen if i tell you she's the one he called mom all his life?”

you nervously played with your fingers.

     “we can't take the decision by ourselves to proceed to a DNA test. we need the child's parent agreement since he's not major, however we're looking for his parents. we will interrogate her, and of she admits she kidnapped him, we'll inform the Queen and King we found the prince. only then, a DNA test can be done — if they want to.”

     knowing they were, just as you, thinking Seonghwa may be the lost prince made you a little bit happier. you weren't crazy or too obsessed with the idea to find his family that you started to believe harebrained things. you were right when you started to have faith in this possibility: you couldn't exclude the possibility of him being the lost prince.

     things seemed to be clearer. this seemed to be obvious: you will go to the police station, you will identify her as the kidnapper, she will admit what she did, and Seonghwa will finally know the truth about his family and will live with them.

     but then, a whole another aspect of the situation hit you: if Seonghwa is the prince, what is going to happen when he will come back there, with his parents..? will you be able to live your idyll with him..? your worlds, which were the same until now, will they stay like that..? his world will necessarily be different from yours. after all, you weren't a noble at all...

     the car stopped in front of the police station. you looked through the window. your heart was beating fastly. you almost felt nauseous.

what your reaction will be in front of her?

you stepped out of the car, and followed the two policemen. they waisted no time and led you to a room. in front of you, through a window, there was a table. two chairs at each side of the table.

     “don't worry. she can't see you.”

with that, the policeman knocked on the door. inside the room, someone you first didn't see went to the door at the opposite, and opened it.

     she was here. she sat on a chair. she looked tired, and both sad and guilty. it was the right woman.

     there you were, with an ultimatum. what to do?

[icosmohunters]

chapter ten : home

chapter ten of cosmo hunters!

word count : 7.5k words

synopsis : there’s no place like home. and after quinn’s injury, hope plans to return to earth for a visit just before easter. allowing the pirate’s to see her the happy aspects of her life, hope also allows them to see the part aspect that makes her . . . uneasy.

there are few sights in the universe that are capable of inciting tears from the eyes of this starstruck bounty hunter. the suffering of others often causes the windows to the soul to leak, a picture of her family, the view of a starlit sky. these things are able to make her tear up.

but nothing can be quite the same as seeing her planet in the distance, approaching it slowly to take in the size of this minute planet holding the smartest beings to ever exist. it was strange to think that people came from here and spread out, scattering their qualities into the galaxy like pollen. or as others might say a plague.

planet earth hadn’t changed. global temperatures had been restored, there were frequent threats of war but the improvement of the space colonization process was what brought a sense of unity between everyone. every nationality had managed to fly out into space, normal human beings of all backgrounds. voyage had accomplished on maintaining a sense of peace in the world.

so, threats of war was no longer a thing. poverty had very much vanished from many countries as machines took over and global wealth skyrocketed, economies booming with the manufacture and it seemed like almost every country in the world was rich. especially now with voyage bringing in new resources from planets far away, energy to sustain human life not only on their home planet but across the solar system.

it was a prosperous time of peace on earth. and it was a good time to fly back.

the nebula had begun to ascend into the earth’s atmosphere, hope slowed her down as to notice the pale blue sky that she soon found herself flying through. puffy, white clouds and a blue sky, oh she felt like she could cry.

“ hope, i’ve sensed a sudden increase in your blood pressure. ”

a.j had spoken and hope laughed, “ it’s the excitement, a.j! i haven’t been home in ages, and there’s nothing like being home. ”

now, instead of pausing at the closest airport, hope had to travel. she had come through the pacific and now she was flying over a dense, but pristine blue sea just below her, she held back a squeal of excitement and proceeded towards what could only be described as the home she regretted leaving.

coming through the west coast of the united states, the nebula flew faster than it’s ever flown before whilst entering an atmosphere. hope saw many ships but the majority were planes which she indicated to as to avoid any accidents. and the nebula flew all the way to the south of the country to where the music was loudest and the colors the brightest.

new orleans, louisiana.

you’d think it would change from how it used to be but it was untouched. the stacked buildings and bars and nightlife were as feverous and as vibrant as always, the fever for music still burning and the people still coming and going with tales of a beautiful city with a charming background in every sense.

the nearest parking space for ships was not too far away from the french quarter, which was where the house that hope had grown up was stationed. the field was wide and many ships had already landed, and thank goodness there was one space available for nebula to lay at rest for at least a couple of days.

as soon as nebula touched down, hope removed her seatbelts and excitedly went down the elevator. to be fair, it was hard going around the ship without having a slight skip in her step, especially with how eager she was.

“ you’re looking excited ”, enzo pointed out when hope entered the lounge. and that’s when the realization settled in. “ h-holy crap, we’re back home. ”

hope was bursting with energy, she inhaled deeply as to keep herself composed. “ we’re in new orleans, my hometown. i know you might not want to leave quinn alone but i have an idea ”, she inquired and then paused. “ i just have to go ahead first. ”

“ new orleans? ”, the captain gasped and threw his arms up high in the air. “ oh, i’m going to love easter for the first time. go on, but hurry up! i wanna go out and explore the city of jazz. ”

hope didn’t need to be told twice. before she could even think about leaving the nebula, however, she got changed into something more . . . homelike. it was odd putting clothes that weren’t going to serve in hunting a criminal down, or clothes that belonged to the company she informally worked for.

it was about time hope threw on some normal clothes, though. so she slipped on a pink shirt beneath some denim dungarees and some converse shoes, deciding to let her hair be. no luggage was required for her to bring back since her room remained untouched when she was gone, and her mother washed her clothes even though she never uses them.

now hope was rushing, out of her room and out of the nebula. touching down on the earthly ground for the first time in nearly a year.

even being able to breathe without a mask or a helmet was a relief. the sun was hot as ever, but she could withstand it. grinning to herself, she moved out of the spaceship parking spaces and after paying her parking fee, despite being a citizen, hope then carried onto the streets she missed to dearly.

even from far away, before stepping out into a clear opening, she could hear the melodious clarinets and the shrieking of trumpets and some flirtatious hums from saxophones and the tip-taps of the hit-hats on a drum set. the smell of gumbos being made and served, the tropical heat and the sight of palm trees, oh it felt wonderful to be home.

her senses were all alive, but her ears were particularly blessed with the music native to this wonderful town, this diverse and creative town. in the years that it has remained alive, it saw many periods of discrimination but it persevered, this town down the south of the u.s survived.

seeing all the people made a difference, though. hope saw the various bars that had remained open, families and friends spilling out into the streets for a quick meal down by the native restaurant to have their taste buds satisfied by african-american delicacies. sighing softly, hope could have stood there for a long time, watching them.

but she carried on moving towards bienvelle street, where she saw a potent creole townhouse painted in turquoise with white details on the balcony bars in front of the long windows. that was her home, the home she grew up in and was never unhappy with.

“ hope! ”, cried an elderly voice not too far ahead of her. it was hortense, her very kind next-door neighbor. she had remained stunning despite the age that was catching up to her, her melanin still rich and her dark eyes as docile as ever. she carried a heavy louisiana accent that always made hope smile when she heard it, and she smelt like cinnamon with a mixture of coconuts, a lovely and nostalgic combination. “ is that you, hun? ”.

the girl grinned from ear to ear and opened her arms wide to greet the woman, cooing softly whilst embracing her smaller body. “ i’m home now! ”, she announced happily and after letting the hug linger, she cupped the woman’s cheeks softly. “ looking stunning, as per usual. ”

“ oh i didn’t think you’d notice ”, the woman laughed, her chortle throaty and welcoming. “ i’ve just been exfoliating. ”

hope rose her eyebrows and couldn’t help but wiggle them, “ trying to impress the man at home, huh? ”. and then laughed at the small smack on the shoulder she received. “ how is he? is he better? still working? ”.

“ still working ”, hortense replied with a nod. “ although, he has been at home very often to spend time with me. i don’t know if i’ll ever get used to it properly. when you get married, you’ll know. ”

hope tilted her head and smiled adoringly at the lady, she has always spoken so well of her marriage of nearly fifty years with her husband. in this modern world, romance wasn’t exactly too popular. people had recognized love as a chemical reaction rather than a spiritual bond, and yet, older generations managed to remain romantic. it was hope’s who was a little cold to the topic.

but she never excused the idea of marriage. her parents married at a very young age and their relationship was intact, perhaps maybe more now than before. it would be nice to find someone but hope didn’t think it would be anytime soon, she was only twenty-two and she hadn’t explored all she wanted to see just yet.

“ i’m sure i will ”, hope said softly before looking back at her house. “ okay, i’m going to pop in very quickly to see the family. i’ll be back soon before tea, i promise! i bought some . . . colleagues over! ”.

hortense gasped, and then smirked with a laugh. “ my girl’s already growing up, since when are you the type to bring colleagues, huh? i mean it, you never bring friends over unless if you want them to impress your parents. there has to be a boy involved. ”

laughing, hope waved to the lady and watched her head back into her home, her door was open and she could hear some classic jazz playing through the sound of what sounded like the woman scolding her husband. chuckling, hope then went into her own house.

you’d think new orleans would be impacted by the technology but people only evolved their way of living if it was necessary. hope’s family had to because her father was a bit of a lunatic when it came to science, but it had remained relatively twenty-first century based, in that they hadn’t changed many things.

unlocking the front door, she heard music from inside almost immediately. it was most likely her mother, who was fond of nearly every genre of music around the world except for country, she couldn’t stand it. today, she had seemed to stick to some art farmer, a beloved trumpeter that even hope held dear to her heart.

the house was separated in two floors; the bottom floor being the garage, the first floor being the kitchen and living room and workspaces, and the top floor being the bedrooms and at the very top, hope’s father set up his astronomy roof, as he liked to call it.

going up the stairs to the first floor, the music grew louder and upon reaching the top, hope spotted some movement from the living room, and then the movement came into view, her darling mother dancing, swaying, whistling and humming. youthful and fun as always, stunning as if age did not impact her beauty at all.

she looked almost identical to her daughter except for the hair which she’d dyed into a reddish-brown of some sort. regardless, it suited her. out of all the people hope knew in the world, her mother was the definition of effervescent.

effervescent and at times aloof. the woman was enjoying her music so much that it took her a hot minute to notice her daughter all the way down the hall. the woman gasped and froze, her hands covering her open mouth and her eyes wide, even from here, hope could see them tear up.

“ hi, mom. ”

“ oh, hope, you’re home ”, she sighed and rushed to give the girl a hug, a tight one that nearly crushed hope and her innocent bones but the girl just grinned and tucked her chin on the woman’s shoulder, letting the hug linger. “ oh, goodness, you should have told me, i would have dressed up better or done something about my hair— ”.

hope laughed and tightened the hug, “ you look stunning, mom. you don’t have to dress up for me, i wanted to surprise you guys. ” the girl lifted her head slightly from her shoulder and smiled at her properly. “ oh, look at you. ”

her mother grinned and kissed her cheek tenderly, then taking a step back and holding her index finger to her lips. “ your brother’s in his room, i think he’ll be happy to see you ”, she informed the girl.

“ where’s dad? ”.

“ went shopping, now go! ”.

hope’s heart stammered in her chest with excitement. her baby brother was someone she was dying to see, perhaps the one she most wanted to see. taking the flight of stairs up to the bedrooms, she stepped onto the birch plank floors and tried not to make her steps echo even though her mother was playing music downstairs.

connor’s room was the door across from hers, so when he was a baby who managed to walk, he would often burst into her room in the morning to wake her up. after that, it was mostly her who woke him up. it was noon, though, so he couldn’t possibly be still in bed.

hearing music from within his own room, hope pressed her hand to the doorknob and turned it slowly, before peeking her head in. the place hadn’t changed a bit, his bedsheets were the same and his action figurines were still stacked up on his shelves, along with scientific books and comics.

her mother was like her in that he loved some scientific stuff. the first time introduced him to doctor who, he binged watched two seasons within the span of a couple of nights during his school holidays. and when he got into marvel, she couldn’t stop him from buying almost anything iron man related. the boy loved iron man.

the kid was sat at his desk, but there was no chair sight. hope frowned slightly but tried to smile all the same. his wheelchair had changed, perhaps they had gotten him a new model that made it faster and easier for a kid his age to move. either way, it saddened her.

not because of the wheelchair, but because he was on a wheelchair.

resting against his doorframe, hope watched her ten-year-old brother for a moment. he hadn’t changed at all, his hair remained dark and his shirts were always colorful, he mostly wore summer-clothes as to avoid getting too hot. he couldn’t really swim anymore, so clothes like these kept him cool.

they seemed to have gotten rid of his glasses, though, and that’s when she recalled the message her father had sent her that connor’s eye surgery had worked out and his vision was perfect.

he hadn’t seemed to have taken notice of her until he turned on his wheelchair with something in hand. a letter, an envelope. her eyes widened for a moment when she realized it was lilac. every time he used a lilac envelope, it was meant to be for her. whatever the message was, it was always meant for her.

connor’s eyes went from his desk and towards his sister who was at the door still, completely frozen still. hope saw his legs, saw that he was no longer paralyzed from the ankles down, but now it seemed to have affected just below his knees. and the tears soon rose to her eyes once again.

“ h-hope . . . ”.

“ h-hi, kid. ”

inhaling through the pain in her chest, she rushed over and picked him up, sweeping him off the wheelchair and holding him like he was still a baby. in her eyes, he hadn’t aged at all. he was ten years old and with an illness that could potentially kill him soon if no one did anything.

she felt those fragile arms around her neck and his tearful face against her neck which muffled the sound of his sobs. the last time she saw her brother crying was roughly five years ago, when he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, which affected the course of his life, and it still does.

hope stood there, holding the crying boy in her arms and securing his legs around her waist. he wasn’t heavy at all, she could carry him around like this for hours. and she wanted to. to make up for the lack of presence she showed in his life, a life that was partially miserable. she saw him express his sadness to his mother one night, about being teased school, about being unable to be a normal boy.

sighing softly, she ran a hand through his jet black hair and kissed his cheek softly. “ hey, it’s okay, you don’t have to hide your face from me, kiddo ”, she told him, caressing his cheek gently to get a glance at his gentle features.

when he rose his head, hope smiled tenderly. his full cheeks seemed to have gone, and his eyes seemed sadder, there wasn’t that glitter of innocence in them anymore. his illness completely took that away from him. but she always believed that even when you’re sick, you deserve a normal life. but people around you are always going to make it difficult.

hope’s father became severely depressed after the news, it was only her and her mother who managed to fight through it and try to make connor’s life as normal as possible. he knew of his illness and she wondered what the pain was of having to go through a day knowing that this might kill you one day.

it was why hope had gone to join voyage. the pay was good, and her father also spoke well of it. so perhaps with enough funds, they could afford the surgery. now they didn’t have the funds to either cure the boy’s illness nor give her father an artificial arm.

but she fought through it, she wanted to heal them both.

“ how are you, hm? did you pick up piano like mom said you would? ”, she questioned. the jazz was pleasant, so she pretended to dance with him, only to invoke a little giggle that brought a wave of serotonin to hope’s mind. “ our very own chopin. ”

connor grinned, “ i started two months ago. i like it a lot. dad was going to teach me to play guitar but that was . . . before the accident. ” he appeared saddened for a moment until he pressed his cheek against his sister’s. “ but that’s okay! i prefer piano anyway. ”

“ piano’s classier, you’ll have fun learning it. you better invite me to your school concert, i’ll fight to be there ”, hope said and connor nodded eagerly. smiling softly, she heard the music on the boy’s speaker change. she recognized it to be some rolling stones. she gasped. “ you little sneak, you took the album from my room! ”.

“ i also took some plushies! ”.

“ hm, fair enough. ”

hope sighed softly and put the boy back down onto his wheelchair, making sure he was secured before smiling. “ right, well, uh what happened to the old wheelchair you had? did mom throw it away? ”, she asked.

connor shook his head, “ it’s in the garage, dad fixed it but we like this one. in case it breaks, though, we can always go back to the old one. ” hope nodded slowly and looked off into the distance. “ why? ”.

“ i’m gonna need it. ”

time skip  ﹏

“ oh, you’re back! ”.

indeed she was. she didn’t exactly ask permission from her parents, but she took the old wheelchair her brother used to the ship. there was a small control stick on the left armrest to make it easier for the patient to move. and the reason she’d bought it was because there was someone who needed it. quinn. and she didn’t want the kid tucked inside the ship for the two days they would be there.

she had brought the chair into the ship and had taken it into the bedroom, quinn seemed to have woken up and he looked much better than yesterday. what he needed was not to be tucked inside a bedroom when there was sunlight and food and people outside.

“ w-what’s that for? ”, the boy asked, visibly alarmed when the chair came into view. “ is that for me? ”.

hope managed a meek smile and brought the chair closer to him. “ you’re injured, still. but you can sit up, you can sit and eat and this chair is the best thing you’re going to get if you’re coming outside. it’s warm, and there’s food and music, you’re not staying cooped up here ”, she said and turned to vivienne. “ you can help him get into cooler clothes? ”.

vivienne smiled, “ of course! but uh, may i ask, how did you find it? ”.

hope paused and inhaled deeply. “ it’s my brother’s old chair ”, she said. after making a swift leave from the bedroom, she waited outside patiently for everything to be done and the doors slid open in around six or seven minutes, quinn had handled the controls of the wheelchair quite easily. hope chuckled as he moved himself out into the hall and gave a little spin in the chair. “ how does it feel? ”.

“ better than being in bed ”, he stated and then offered her a hint of a smile, she wondered just what it looked like in its full form. “ thank you for this, i’ll find a way to pay you back somehow. ”

hope shook her head, “ just enjoy yourself whilst you’re here. that’s all i ask from you. ”

it took some time but soon the pirates had gotten themselves dressed into some proper attire. hope had to lend dawn some hair clips from her closet as it would be a nice detail to the summer dress she had picked. not to mention the adorable flats on her feet. if she wore anything cuter, she would reduce her age to at least a teenager’s appearance.

the streets were more likely nearly the afternoon, most neighbors would be up and would bring meals to each other’s homes, having a lovely lunch together. the bars were all open, the children were spilling onto the streets with skipping ropes and footballs. you’d think that children’s upbringing would be different, but parents kept traditions alive so they could be young for a little longer.

“ so, this is where you grew up ”, enzo mumbled to her, he was walking alongside her, taking in the sights as if he was walking through a museum. “ it’s so colorful, and that music’s amazing! i wanna move here when i retire. ”

hope looked about for a little longer. the french quarter was a lovely place to live, and the food was better here than anywhere else in town. “ yeah, it’s a wonderful place. the best place for bringing up artistic people. my brother’s taste in music is already superior since he grew up here as opposed to a kid in california ”, the girl voiced with a small smirk.

enzo snorted, “ that’s something to be proud of. ”

needless to say, it was pleasant taking a walk around the french quarter. hope would have shown them more but lunchtime was coming around and she didn’t want them to be too hungry. so she stopped by her favorite restaurant, brennan’s. they served perhaps the best food in the entire city.

upon requesting a table, hope waited in line and took a quick look around. the walls were still painted green and the floor still checker-patterned. and the food smelled magnificent, as it always did.

they managed to get a big table by the window and hope helped quinn settle into a secure space before taking her seat in between vivienne and enzo, dominic and dawn sitting beside each other. hope’s never taken notice of it but they seemed to be close. even peeking at them at times, she sensed an amorous feeling from them, proximity. like her proximity to connor.

it was . . . cute.

when the time came to order, hope ordered a plate of gumbo with prawns and rice, and for the first time in a while, she settled with some water to drink on the side. whilst everyone else ordered and waited for the food, vivienne sprouted some conversation to fill the silence in.

“ so . . . you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to ”, the girl began and hope turned her attention to her. “ you spoke of your brother yesterday, but not the fact that he . . . has a disability. ”

hope hummed and looked down, “ i don’t see why it’s relevant. my brother’s been sick with muscular dystrophy since he was four. first, it started with his feet and over time it rose up to his legs. it’s just below his knee now. it just means he can’t walk, hence why he’s in a wheelchair. hence why i was able to get that one for quinn until he gets better. ” she motioned to where quinn sat with a slight smile.

“ c-can he not get treatment? ”, dawn raised, appearing concerned when there really wasn’t any reason to be. connor had been sick for a while and the alarm that hope used to feel had been blocked from her senses, she can’t spend some years of her life just waiting for her brother to do. she prefers to do something about it first.

“ he’s been getting treatment. but ever since my dad’s accident, no one’s been working and there’s not enough to pay for it. it’s . . . kind of the reason why i joined voyage. to raise funds. i don’t want connor to go at such a young age, it’s best to treat it before the loss of muscle power reaches vital organs ”, she stated and shook her head. “ there’s nothing i wouldn’t for him. ”

enzo’s hand met the girl’s back, feeling a gently pat on it. “ that’s admirable, hope. really admirable. and i think that with your hard work, within given time, both your father and your brother will be healing ”, he said and hope returned the smile he offered, it was good to be encouraged at times.

because sometimes she felt like she was fighting this battle all alone and that people thought it was meaningless, that everyone had lost faith in her. but to be smiled at and encouraged really brought some warmth to her.

she appreciated it. wholeheartedly.

when the food came, it was compliments all around to the chef, and the bounty hunter couldn’t blame them. they appeared famished to an extent, but the quality of the food really made a difference. vivienne even offered to ask the chef for the recipe in case she wanted to serve this meal on the go.

the dish really brought that sense of nostalgia in a ripple effect, her senses tingling once more with the richness of the food that incited memories of her childhood; going out to the bayou for a boat ride, playing hopscotch in the veranda, riding her bike around the neighborhood. it almost drew tears to her eyes.

she noticed she had tuned out and tuned back in whilst the pirates were talking amongst themselves. hope has never really sat to watch and notice them individually, and the way they spoke to each other, conversations jumping and attention shifting and bursts of laughter and groans of dread at bad jokes, it was like sitting in a family dinner.

hope remained quiet as she didn’t want to disturb them, just because she was there didn’t mean that they couldn’t have their bonding moments. besides, when was the last time they got to be out in the open like this? she stood up, excusing herself to go pay for the meals.

it wasn’t expensive and the waitress gave her a discount as she’d known hope for years. it’s magical, being a frequent customer. as she was tapping her card on the reader, hope’s gaze wandered to the door when it opened, and her food, which had settled so well, began to brew into a cyclone of dread within her.

it was like the sweetness and saltiness had become pure sourness and the food was beginning to rise, the water she’d drank couldn’t calm down the raging way her blood was running. it was fear, it was dread, it was a cluster of emotions that left her speechless and immobile for a moment.

when those bleak, black eyes met hers, she really felt like she was going to faint and she would have turned away and walked back to the table but it was too late now, he’d seen her, and his eyes looked like they would pop from their sockets.

“ hope, is that you? ”.

“ h-hi, malakai. ”

the said male scoffed and approached and pulled her into a tight hug that she felt like she was going to burn from. it was like her heart was about to shoot out from her throat, she was so nervous. and not the good kind of nervous, the worst kind of nervous.

he pulled back quickly and took a good look at her. he way taller than her, it felt like she was being stared down at like some sort of animal, an ant, one that could easily be stepped on by the intimidated aura of this particular young man.

malakai worked for voyage. he had joined at the same time as hope and they trained in the same squad for a while until he got moved to communications where he worked as a messanger in between colonies, carrying important messages from leader to leader.

aside from being relatively smart, malakai also harnessed the looks that brought quite the attention. those luminous ebony eyes, the tanned skin and dark hair, the pretty nose and soft details, he was quite frankly the epitome of perfection in terms of visuals, he never failed to leave hope stunned at times but his beauty at times . . . startled her.

“ it’s been a long time, wow! ”, he commented. it has been a while, it’s nearly been four, going onto five years since she’s seen him. “ you’ve changed. still short, though. ”

hope laughed slightly, “ don’t get rude now. i didn’t think you’d come to celebrate easter, i thought perhaps you’d be with your folks in portugal. ”

malakai quickly shook his head, “ nah, portugal gets boring. lisbon never changes so sometimes i stay in new orleans for special events. besides, i have family friends here so i’m not exactly alone. ” hope nodded and looked down at her hands. “ are you here alone? ”.

quickly shaking her head, hope nodded towards the table in the corner. and for a second, she saw enzo rise up in his seat slightly. like he was observing, or perhaps about to smash someone’s face in, she couldn’t tell the difference. “ lunch with some . . . uh, friends. they’re staying with us for easter so you’ll meet them eventually ”, she uttered softly.

looking back at malakai, his gaze remained on the pirates and hope couldn’t describe at his expression was. because he had just been smiling and now it looked like . . . nothing. plain, a colorful canvas splashed with white, monotone and blank.

but then it changed into a soft gaze as he looked back at her, “ i hope so. ” rolling her eyes yet again, hope chose to keep her gaze on the ground. he suddenly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and then finally took a step back. “ anyways, i’m just here to pick up a delivery. i’ll see you around, then. ”

“ o-of course ”.

malakai nodded and upon collecting his food, blew the bounty hunter a kiss and then left. just like that. hope walked back slowly to the table, trying to recover from the revolting feeling she sensed when he had entered. it always happened, like a reflex action.

“ who was that? ”, quinn questioned. “ friend? ”.

“ boyfriend? ”, dom inquired. enzo’s eye seemed to twitch.

hope quickly shook her head, “ n-no, he’s a friend. we grew up not too far from each other, went to high-school together. he was my prom date but then we were always friends. he’s also in voyage. ”

vivienne’s eyes lit up, “ you looked close, he was standing quite close to you. look at you, you’re a bit red. ” eyes widening, hope covered her cheeks with her hands. “ i think he likes you. ”

hope smiles shyly and took her seat once again. the chatter sprung up again and she zoned out because she was startled after seeing malakai after so many years. he was always nice to her, especially back in high-school, and he was a rather lovely prom date considering no one else had asked her to go. vivienne wasn’t the first person who proposed the idea of him fancying her, she’s heard it before.

but she doesn’t really see it. he is just an amorous person by nature, affectionate, and fond of physical contact, nothing more. he’s never really made a move on her, never spoke about romance near her. so she believed it was the trick of the eye when others said he liked her. people simply taking his kindness as something else.

after the long meal, hope decided that the pirates could stay at her place. they could very much stay in the ship but that wasn’t exactly polite, especially since her mother was welcoming of people hope introduced. which was rare, hence why she persisted in letting them stay.

there was plenty of room around the house, mostly because there was a spare bedroom for guests. usually, hope’s grandmother would stay there, but the woman had formally moved to new york and she hasn’t visited in a while. there was a double bed for at least two or three people, some sleeping bags in the attic, and room on the couch. if connor wanted to sleep on hope’s bed, there would be space in his room as well.

it was an odd feeling, allowing people she previously had a distaste towards in her house. but it was better than letting them stay on the ship. for some reason, she wanted to show them what she was . . . actually like. they probably took her for an arrogant, cold and lonely girl. but she had a family, a family she loved very much and one that might be welcoming to them.

when hope introduced them, it was like connor bonded with them immediately. to her family, they were still voyage members. yet they seemed to have given up on the fake names. before they could, though, hope ran a search through many pirate databases on voyage in search of their names.

and there weren’t any names, nor many obvious pictures, only descriptions on their appearances. they still had bounties but it was unlikely her father was in the right frame of mind to be hunting or arresting anyone.

when they came in, she heard he was on the roof, getting ready for another night of star-gazing as he wanted to see some new constellations moving in. it was always his dream to adventure out of the solar system to somewhere new, he was an ambitious man.

hope walked onto the roof with her hands behind her back and saw her old man there already. he had a work station on the roof, a little seat for him to relax on and his equipment which was somewhat scattered around. usually, when it rained, he would pull up a field to shield it. he’d paid quite a lot for it.

it is a strange feeling, seeing your father who changed whilst you were away. his right arm was nearly completely gone, only some bits of his forearm remained which he seemingly hid behind a leather jacket. he remained handsome despite it all, he’d lost weight and he was growing a neat beard that suited him well. there wasn’t a single strand of white hair on his head, he always took care of his appearance.

but there was something on the man that puzzled the girl, and it was the lack of that party-animal personality he had. he should’ve been dancing around, playing music, singing whilst working, perhaps calling for his wife to come up to see something.

that was gone. he was silent as he adjusted his telescope. his most prized possession, his only look into the stars now that flying was out of bounds to him. the tears came flying to her eyes again, hope stared so helplessly at the man she admired so much and how he was coping. if he was coping at all.

he had his back to her, but he turned when laughter was heard from downstairs. and then his eyes settled on his daughter. similar to connor, he seemed to freeze and then begin to tear up, hope rushed to him before he could call her name.

and threw her arms around him tightly, securing them around his neck and hiding her face within the crook of his neck, feeling his only remaining arm wrap itself around her. he still wore the leather jacket her and connor got him for his birthday, he still wore the same perfume his mother gave him on their anniversary, he was still the same man in body but perhaps not the same in his mind.

not a single word was spoken for a good minute as she tightened the hug, letting her eyes close for a brief moment to appreciate the peace that being home brought her. it was a relief seeing her father well. she thought he would have changed completely, shut her out for having taken too long or refused her embrace. but he didn’t.

then, he spoke. “ i thought i wouldn’t be seeing you until connor’s birthday ”, he mumbled softly, his voice also hadn’t changed. at all. oh, god one cannot explain how happy that made her.

“ i wanted to be here sooner. i’m sorry i took too long ”, she uttered with a frown, not looking to pull away any time soon. “ i missed you, dad. ”

her father chuckled and then hummed. “ i missed you more, hope. i can’t even express how worried i was. about you and how you were handling yourself out there . . . ”, was what he continued with. “ but you’re brave, you always pull through in the end. and you always come home. ”

her eyes opened and her expression remained empty for a moment until one pristine tear fell from her eye and spilled down the bridge of her nose, running all the way down the tip before it fell onto the ground. a single tear. she’s never given herself the freedom to cry over anyone or anything, crying was always a waste of time and energy.

but this time, she couldn’t help it. this was her father. she knew many people out there didn’t have one as amazing as this one, or a father at all. she knew many didn’t have mothers, brothers. she knew she was incredibly fortunate to having something like a family to go back to when she had to retreat from the world.

she had a home. and she never took that for granted.

her father gave her another gentle squeeze before moving back slightly and taking a good look at her face, wiping the remaining tears away and patting her cheek softly. “ don’t cry because of me, hope. you don’t want me to tell you the magical tear story again, do you? ”, he laughed at the face she pulled and then let her sniffle and wipe her face. “ did you bring friends over? ”.

“ y-yeah ”, she breathed through her sniffle, and then settled with her hands in the pockets of her dungarees. “ comrades. workmates. they’re newbies so they don’t know much about what happens. they don’t have a place to stay for easter. ”

he smiled, “ that’s fine, we can open some space for them. and i wonder if they prefer hotdogs or hamburgers for the barbeque tomorrow . . . are any of them vegetarian? ”.

“ lucas everhart, you are truly a complex man ”, hope commented, seeing how his eyes softened with a sense of innocence. “ i’m glad you’re here, dad. ” he moved in and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead.

“ i am rather complex. now go, make your friends feel comfortable ”, he told her and ushered her away, she stood there for a moment, watching him go about his work. she wanted to speak more time with him, but she still had the whole of easter to enjoy his company.

heading down the stairs, she found connor in the living room with dawn and quinn, he seemed to be quizzing them about planets and whatnot and hope didn’t mind it so long as they avoided making it obvious that they weren’t a part of voyage.

in the kitchen, it seemed like vivienne and hope’s mother had started to get along. showing off recipes was always one of her mother’s favorite things to do, especially when feeding a large group of people.

she didn’t see enzo nor dom, however. she looked about but didn’t catch sight of them. “ they went out to the store, hope, they’ll be back soon ”, vivienne told her. the girl nodded and then went into the living room.

“ hey tyke, come here, give your sister some cuddles ”, hope said to the baby brother who immediately rose his arms to be picked up. when taking him into her arms, she was always gentle. looking at his face, they shared a sweet smile before she sat down on the couch, giving him space on her lap to relax. “ what are you guys talking about? ”.

dawn grinned, “ space-dust. he’s really smart, you know, he was telling me about the new goldilock planet they found in the milky way. ”

connor looked at hope and smiled eagerly. “ it’s really cool, but it’s too hard to explain it and i’m tired ”, he mumbled before resting his head against her chest. “ cuddles. ”

“ cuddles ”, hope repeated and looked down towards his small figure and the way his eyes closed, he did look rather tired and he smelt a bit like chlorine. “ did you go swimming? ”. connor hummed and nodded. “ see, i’m going to start crying if you keep things to yourself. tell me what you’re doing, connor, i wanna spend time with you. ”

he rose his head slightly and looked at her thought sleepy eyes, “ m’kay, i’m, uh . . . yawn, doing some swimming . . . a-and piano . . . an— ”.

“ okay, no, nevermind, shh, sleep ”, hope cut in and put his head back against her chest, smiling at the giggles that came from both him and dawn.

it was peaceful, the rest of the evening was composed primarily of introducing her family to the pirates. connor was fast asleep on her lap, worn out from the swimming and the excitement of today, he looked like he was going to burn with energy tomorrow so hope let him sleep.

her father wasn’t as curious about the pirates as she thought he’d be, and perhaps it may be because the topic of voyage may upset him. so they mostly talked about sports, music, art, things that anyone can join into. hope never stopped holding the sleeping connor in her arms, though, he looked too peaceful and too safe there.

the feeling of being home cannot be compared to anything else. being out in space is one thing but it’ll never replace the sensation of being in the walls you grew up in and being among the people you hold dearest to your heart. she made the most of it now, because things might change in a couple of years’ time.

in the midst of the silence, she rested her cheek gently against her brother’s head and closed her eyes. blocking out the sounds around her and only focusing on now, not tomorrow or the day after that, not yesterday or the week she had. now.

now, she was home. safe and sound.

[samueldays]

When the Culture War Comes for the Kids

Caught between a brutal meritocracy and a radical new progressivism, a parent tries to do right by his children while navigating New York City’s schools.

---

I find this longform article to be a grotesquely amusing trainwreck, starting with the opening paragraph.

To be a parent is to be compromised. You pledge allegiance to justice for all, you swear that private attachments can rhyme with the public good, but when the choice comes down to your child or an abstraction—even the well-being of children you don’t know—you’ll betray your principles to the fierce unfairness of love.

I think you have made a poor choice in principles if they tell you not to have particular love and care for your own child.

Then life takes revenge on the conceit that your child’s fate lies in your hands at all.

The pressure of meritocracy made us apply to private schools when our son was 2—not because we wanted him to attend private preschool, but because, in New York City, where we live, getting him into a good public kindergarten later on would be even harder, and if we failed, by that point most of the private-school slots would be filled. As friends who’d started months earlier warned us, we were already behind the curve by the time he drew his picture of the moon.

I’m not sure if someone really should have told you about the very large genetic component to intrahuman variation and its increasing influence with age so you could relax, or if it wouldn’t have helped because what you’re really scrabbling for is zero-sum neo-noble-status-competition.

Only New York would force me to wake up early one Saturday morning in February, put on my parka and wool hat, and walk half a mile in the predawn darkness to register our son, then just 17 months old, for nursery school. I arrived to find myself, at best, the 30th person in a line that led from the locked front door of the school up the sidewalk. Registration was still two hours off, and places would be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. At the front of the line, parents were lying in sleeping bags. They had spent the night outside.

Did it make you happy? Or, failing that, did it at least make you satisfied, like a flagellant?

But there was something else—another claim on us. The current phrase for it is social justice. I’d rather use the word democracy, because it conveys the idea of equality and the need for a common life among citizens.

The more I think about the implied epistemology here, the more I rubberneck.

The gaps in proficiency that separate white and Asian from black and Latino students in math and English are immense and growing.

and then

Educators argued that the tests were structurally biased, even racist, because nonwhite students had the lowest scores.

Asians: Schrödinger’s Whites.

“What are humans good for besides destroying the planet?” [our son] asked. Our daughter wasn’t immune to the heavy mood—she came home from school one day and expressed a wish not to be white so that she wouldn’t have slavery on her conscience. It did not seem like a moral victory for our children to grow up hating their species and themselves.

It just keeps going on and on and on.

Hamilton and the [Trump] campaign had a curious relation in our lives. The first acted as a disinfectant to the second, cleansing its most noxious effects, belying its most ominous portents. Donald Trump could sneer at Mexicans and rail against Muslims and kick dirt on everything decent and good, but the American promise still breathed whenever the Puerto Rican Hamilton and the black Jefferson got into a rap battle over the national bank. When our daughter saw pictures of the actual Founding Fathers, she was shocked and a little disappointed that they were white.

How very progressive of you to do your whitewashing with melanin.

A teacher in Saratoga Springs, New York, found a “privilege-reflection form” online with an elaborate method of scoring, and administered it to high-school students, unaware that the worksheet was evidently created by a right-wing internet troll—it awarded Jews 25 points of privilege and docked Muslims 50. 

That dash. That dash. The Gricean implication is that it’s supposed to be an example of how the form is evidently wrong and trollish - but it seems an entirely reasonable example to me.

We found a pie chart that broke his new school down by race, and it left him stunned. Two-thirds of the students were white or Asian; barely a quarter were black or Latino. Competitive admissions had created a segregated school.

“Segregated”. I do not think that word means what you think it means.

As part of the initiative, Carranza has mandated anti-bias training for every employee of the school system, at a cost of $23 million. One training slide was titled “White Supremacy Culture.” It included “Perfectionism,” “Individualism,” “Objectivity,” and “Worship of the Written Word” among the white-supremacist values that need to be disrupted.

Such slides, I find, are best described as “Agitator Culture”. You can read an example set at length here; many of the points do accurately identify institutional dysfunctions, and calling them “White Supremacy” seems a tactic designed to incite racial hatred.

One day [our son] told us about the “N-word passes” that were being exchanged among other boys he knew—a system in which a black kid, bartering for some item, would allow a white kid to use the word. We couldn’t believe such a thing existed, but it did.

Ahhh, the free market at work. :-D

It’s hard to pick out a worst part, but this is at least a candidate:

True meritocracy came closest to realization with the rise of standardized tests in the 1950s, the civil-rights movement, and the opening of Ivy League universities to the best and brightest, including women and minorities. A great broadening of opportunity followed. But in recent decades, the system has hardened into a new class structure in which professionals pass on their money, connections, ambitions, and work ethic to their children, while less educated families fall further behind, with little chance of seeing their children move up.

See the longform context for more explanation - but really, what did you think would happen? You take an “unfair” system, shake it around a bit, install new rules, allow people to go on peopling in the new system - how is it not supposed to harden into a new class structure following the new rules? People are different, and their differences will be reproduced in their children. Their differences will almost certainly include differences in whatever characteristics you wish to count as meritorious.

[badbackgroundscience]

Science of “The Seven”

I watched Amazon’s The Boys this week. So instead of the usual 60′s Marvel fare, here’s some tangential science relating to the superpowers featured in the show:

1. Homelander can’t see through zinc.

This is obviously a play on Superman not being able to see through lead, but the switch brings up some problems with the physics involved. X-rays - light with wavelengths ranging between 0.01 and 10 nm* - can’t travel through a lump of lead because lead is super dense. It’s nearly the heaviest non-radioactive element, with (usually) 208 protons+neutrons and 82 electrons. And its atoms pack very closely together.**

Combining that density with the fact that lead atoms are also very good at attenuating x-ray light (meaning the amount of x-ray photons that can penetrate a certain thickness of lead drops exponentially as that thickness increases), it makes sense that Superman’s x-ray vision’s weakness is lead.

But zinc is a smaller atom (usually 64 protons+neutrons and 30 electrons) and its atoms don’t pack as tightly; it’s about 1.5 times less dense than lead. It’s X-ray attenuation is generally lower, but not too different, from lead (compare this graph vs this one). Together, this makes it easier for x-rays to penetrate zinc than lead.

So why can’t Homelander see through zinc, but (supposedly) see through lead? It could be that the x-rays he emits correspond to a wavelength that zinc absorbs more than lead does. Annoyingly, the absorption spectra I can find all seem to be dealing with zinc compounds (e.g. ZnO, ZnS) instead of pure zinc metal. So I can’t tell you exactly what wavelength that would need to be.

Sorry.***

2. The Deep has torso gills

Fish are ectotherms, meaning their body temperature is regulated by their environment. Mammals - including cetaceans (i.e. whales, porpoises, and dolphins) - are endotherms. We generate our own body heat. Kevin presumably does, too.

This means that a man needs more oxygen than a man-sized fish does. About 15 times the oxygen, in fact. It’s the gills’ job to extract oxygen from water and pump it into the fish’s bloodstream; bigger fish have bigger gills, but a 75-kg man needs gills 15 times the size of a 75-kg fish’s. Not necessarily in length, but in collection area. And that’s assuming you’re not doing any physical activity that ups your oxygen requirements.

But on top of that, oxygen is far less abundant in water than it is in air - about 20 times less for the same volume. If an average human needs a quart**** of oxygen per minute, their gills would need to strain 51 gallons of water every minute to meet that requirement.

Combining these two factors, designer and material scientist-dabbler Jun Kamei is developing a set of artificial gills, and claims the final device will have a surface area of 32 square meters (344 square feet).

The human lung surface area is somewhere around 75 square meter range, so if you’ve got gills that can pack as efficiently as lungs do, you probably could fit them into your abdomen. Maybe not Chase Crawford’s abdomen, but a stockier human’s abdomen.

The real problem here is that Kevin’s doing himself no favors by covering the gills up while he’s underwater. Water rushing through the gills is the whole point, and you’ve just made it 1000% harder.

3. A-Train (and Popclaw) booms and bu(r)sts

According to the race announcer that one episode, A-Train can reach speeds over 1000 miles per hour. Assuming that’s true and not a horrible exaggeration, as soon as he passes the speed of sound (767 mph at sea level), A-Train would create sonic booms. Not a single boom. Constant booms for as long as he’s going fast enough. You (as a single individual) only hear one, but that’s only because you’re not moving.

We never see him do this, so we must conclude he’s not a complete idiot and only goes this fast when he’s far away from people and architecture. (If I read the screen right, he only clocks in at 371 in his race.)

As for the secret girlfriend he murdered, there are several species of amphibians that can stick their own bones out through their skin to use as weapons. For example, species of frog within the genus Astylosternus, and Trichobatrachus robustus (aka the hairy frog). The Spanish ribbed newt can push its ribs out through its torso; when threatened, its skin also secrets poison, turning its bones into poisonous barbs.*****

4. Translucent isn’t see-through. He’s see-around.

As the man explains to Jimmy the late night host (No, not that Jimmy the late night host...the other Jimmy the late night host), his skin can convert at will to a “carbon metamaterial” that bends light around it. 

We don’t know if there are other elements involved besides carbon, but if there aren’t, the real-world comparison is graphene -- an atom-thick layer of carbon atoms bonded to each other forming a honeycomb pattern.

Given its thickness, it’s translucent itself. [Side note: yes, “translucent” doesn’t mean invisible. However, some dictionaries (e.g. Merriam Webster and the OED) include alternative definitions identical to "transparent"...which goes against everything I ever learned. But either way, he actually is translucent when he isn’t “translucent”. Because human skin is translucent, assuming there isn’t too much melanin in it.]

A 2D sheet of graphene has a breaking strength of 42 Pa (0.0061 psi). That number seems super small, but it's actually reflecting the strongest material we know of. You'd need 4,300 pounds balanced on a pencil (pointy end on the graphene) to break through that atom-thick sheet.

Alternatively, if I did my back-of-the-envelope math right, you’d need a 50 gram .50-cal bullet traveling at ~770,000 mph (and coming to a stop in ~1 millisecond). Now, the human epidermis averages ~1mm thick. That's 3 million layers of graphene. 

However, if you manage to put a crack into your graphene, it becomes brittle on par with a ceramic.`*

As for being able to electrocute Translucent because carbon is “highly conductive”, graphene is indeed so; however, other carbon compounds aren't (e.g. diamonds). It all depends on the positioning of electrons within the solid (moving electrons = flowing charge). Since we don’t know what Translucent’s metamaterial is, we’ll have to take the show at its word.

Though here’s some bonus info: metamaterials are all synthetic. Which would mean that Translucent had this skin installed somehow. Or, it’s a very subtle dig at Compound V being used to create superheroes that only I caught.

The one thing that the season left bugging me about Translucent was his eyeballs. Somehow those are see-through.

5. Starlight pushes it real good

Our newest member of the Seven can use concentrated light to knock baddies off their feet, as well as throw them several meters back. This is an exaggerated form of reality. Light can actually push stuff. 

Photons do exert a teeny tiny amount of pressure on whatever they hit. It’s called radiation pressure. The amount is sufficient for something like a solar sail (The above image is LightSail 2), but not wiping the floor with a criminal.

According to (more) envelope math, Starlight would need to emit ~30 PetaWatts to deliver a good boxer-level punch to a baddie standing ~2 meters away. That's the equivalent amount of energy released by 7.2 million tons of TNT exploding, in 1 second. 

Also, given the color of the light she emits, she’s probably emitting a spectrum identical to our Sun, meaning she’s emitting a ton of light that normally gets blocked by our atmosphere, including x-rays and ultraviolet radiation.

She’s definitely given someone a melanoma at some point during her life. Or at least a very bad sunburn.

Bonus: Ice Princess shatters wangs

Final back-of-the-envelope math, calculating how fast that guy's (presumably erect) penis would freeze being enveloped by an ice vagina at -346 °F (-210 °C). A combination of calculating the heat lost per second via conduction, and the amount of energy lost as body-temp water cools and converts to ice.

Came out to 0.1 seconds. 

Faster than I expected...

_______________________________________________________________________

* Visible light is ~400-700 nm

** There are several (nonradioactive) metals more dense than lead, but more rare/expensive, like gold and iridium. 

*** Also, brass can be up to 45% zinc. Does that mean Homelander can only sort of see through brass?

**** Get out of here with your imperial units, self...

***** Fun fact: it can regenerate lost limbs, heart tissue, brain cells, and its spinal cord

`* Butt cracks don’t count.

_______________________________________________________________________

Image credits:

Zinc - CC BY 3.0

gills By Chris 73, CC BY-SA 3.0

frog claws from Barej et al 2010

sonic boom By I, Melamed katz, CC BY-SA 3.0

graphene By U.S. Army Materiel Command, CC BY 2.0

lightsail 2 By Josh Spradling / The Planetary Society CC BY-SA 3.0

ice by Ian Mackenzie CC BY 2.0

[edmondmoller]

How to Predict Eye Color (And When Do Babies Eyes Change Color?)

New Post has been published on https://womanshealthwithmegan.com/how-to-predict-eye-color-and-when-do-babies-eyes-change-color

How to Predict Eye Color (And When Do Babies Eyes Change Color?)

Have you ever tried one of those online generators to determine what your baby will look like before he/she is born? The results can be pretty hilarious when you see your nose combined with your partner’s 5 o’clock shadow. Unfortunately, these tools are just for fun—they can’t show you what baby’s smile will look like and they can’t answer questions like when do babies eyes change color?

When you just can’t wait to meet baby, any intel about what they’ll look like or what their personality might be like is welcome information, and luckily, eye color is something you can predict—to an extent! 

In this article, we’ll answer:

What determines baby’s eye color? When do babies’ eyes change color? Are all babies born with blue eyes? Plus, what eye color says about personality.

What Determines Eye Color?

Though eye color is an inherited trait, it is a bit more complex than Mom’s eyes + Dad’s eyes = Baby’s eyes. According to the latest research, 11 genes contribute to the color of those adorable peepers.

The genes associated with eye color are involved in the production and storage of melanin, which is the amount of pigment occurring in the hair, skin, and iris of the eye.

Brown-eyed people have a large amount of melanin in their iris, while people with blue eyes have a small amount. Several variations in the genes can either reduce or increase the melanin. And when these genes interact with each other, crazy things can happen. For example, it isn’t unheard of for two brown-eyed parents to have a blue- or a green-eyed child, or two blue-eyed parents to have a brown-eyed child.

The inheritance of eye color is more complex than originally suspected because multiple genes are involved. While a child’s eye color can often be predicted by the eye colors of his or her parents and other relatives, genetic variations sometimes produce unexpected results. (source)

But just like your baby, eye color research still has a lot of growing up to do—there are several thousand genes involved in iris development currently under investigation.

What Color Eyes Will My Baby Have?

There’s nothing like daydreaming about what your unborn baby will look like before he or she enters the world. Unfortunately, there is no way to know for sure what color eyes your little one will have.

Ultimately, the color of a baby’s eyes depends on two things: the parent’s genes and the way they mutate the moment baby is conceived.

Though recent research says there’s a lot more than parents’ eye color that affects baby’s eye color, these guidelines show some of the more likely scenarios:

Two blue-eyed parents are very likely to have a blue-eyed child. Two brown-eyed parents are more likely to have a child with brown eyes. If one of the grandparents has blue eyes, the chances of having a blue-eyed baby increase slightly. If one parent has brown eyes and the other has blue eyes, eye color is more of a toss up.

Love the guessing game? This chart can be a fun way to determine what color eyes your baby is most likely to have:

Are All Babies Born With Blue Eyes?

In the U.S., only 1 in 5 Caucasian adults have blue eyes, but most are born blue-eyed. (source)

Ever heard the term baby blues? That phrase makes a little more sense when you know that most Caucasian babies are born with blue (or gray) eyes.

Why? Special cells called melanocytes secrete melanin in our hair, skin, and eyes. And because melanocytes respond to light, the amount of melanin in the body increases as we are exposed to more light. When melanin increases, skin, hair, and eyes get darker. After spending more than nine months in a dark womb, baby has very low levels of melanin, and therefore, has very light skin and eyes. (source)

African American, Latin, and Asian babies can have blue eyes at birth, but it’s much less likely. If anything, they will have gray eyes, very dark blue eyes, or brown eyes.

“Darkly-pigmented individuals usually have brown-eyed babies, because the babies have more pigment to start out with.” — Norman Saffra, Chairman of Ophthalmology at Maimonedes Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

When Do Babies Eyes Change Color?

If your child is born with those baby blues, you’ll probably wonder when do babies eyes change color? Will they change color—or will they stay blue? 

It can take as long as 9 to 12 months for your baby’s permanent eye color to be determined and the change is so gradual, you might not even notice it happening. But by baby’s first birthday, you can be pretty sure whatever big eyes are staring down that smash cake are the ones they’ll have for life.

“Though some babies’ eye color changes rapidly with the onset of melanin, most infants undergo significant changes between six and nine months of age. This phenomenal occurrence happens once the iris has stored enough pigment to influence subtle changes like blue to grey, green to hazel, hazel to brown and so on.”(source)

Keep in mind that eye color generally gets darker, not lighter. Your brown-eyed girl isn’t likely to become blue-eyed later in life. But your blue-eyed boy may very well end up with green or even brown eyes.

Can You Tell if Baby’s Eyes Are Going to Change Color?

As noted above, if baby is born with brown eyes, he/she will almost certainly have those brown eyes for life. If baby has blue eyes, this simple (but not foolproof!) trick can help determine whether or not they’ll stay that way. (source)

Look at baby’s eye from the side to eliminate any light reflecting off the iris. If there are flecks of gold in the blue of the eye, your baby’s eyes will likely change to either green or brown as they grow. If there are minimal or no flecks of gold, it’s less likely your baby’s eye color will change much.

Another indicator? If baby’s eyes are clear, bright blue, they are most likely staying blue. If they are a darker, cloudier blue, they are most likely going to change to hazel, brown, or a darker color. .embed-pin margin: 0.5rem 0 2.4rem 2.4rem; padding-right:3px; float:right;

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Why Do Some Babies Have Two Different Colored Eyes?

There are exceptional cases where a baby is born with two different colored eyes, or one eye is half brown and half blue. Ever looked closely at Kate Bosworth or Mila Kunis’ eyes? Stunning, right? As exotic and beautiful as this trait is, contact your doctor if this is the case with your baby. This is called heterochromia, which can be a totally normal phenomenon caused by genetic changes, but sometimes, it can indicate a problem with eye development, or can be a result of a disease or injury to the eye. (source)

My Baby’s Eyes Say What About Their Personality?

As surprising as it may be, psychologists have connected colors and patterns in the eye to personality traits. Researchers at Orebro University in Sweden found that patterns in the threads that radiate from the pupil (known as a crypt) and contraction furrows (lines curving the outer edge) can predict a person’s character.

Those with densely packed crypts tend to be more warm-hearted, tender, trusting, and likely to sympathize with others. Those with more contraction furrows were more neurotic, impulsive, and likely to give in to cravings.

(image source)

How can this possibly be, you may ask? The genes responsible for the development of the iris also help shape the frontal lobe of the brain, which influences personality.

Since it may be a little hard for you to determine how densely packed your child’s crypt is, there are a few more correlations found in science that may help you predict personality. A study in Current Psychology showed that people with darker eyes are more agreeable. And another study found that people with very dark eyes tend to be better at sports that involve hitting targets. Why? Melanin acts as an insulator for connections between brain cells. The more you have, the quicker the brain may work.

Where does that leave blue-eyed babes? Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that women with lighter-colored eyes seem to tolerate pain better during childbirth and handle the stress better than the dark-eyed mamas.

How About You?

What color eyes did your baby have at birth? Did they change over time? What color are they now?

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[healthmystic]

Best 25 habits of women with clear and young skin  Everybody these days is very concerned about their skin. Not just girls but even boys want glowing skin and hence the importance of skin care emerges. #youngskin #glowingskin #acneclearskin #youthfulski

  Everybody these days is very concerned about their skin. Not just girls but even boys want glowing skin and hence the importance of skin care emerges. The face is said to be the mirror of the body and if you suffer from a body issue it will be visible on the skin. Even your disturbed mental health can be reflected on the face, due to excess stress acne pops out. People maintain their diet, stay fit, and practice skincare almost on a regular bases. But many still suffer from acne, dull skin, open pores, and various other skin issues. NOTE: If you suffer from serious skin issues then consult a dermatologist as soon as possible and undergo the required treatment.   Here are 25 Skincare tips at home 1. AVOID DRY SKIN If you wake up to dry skin, then some amendment is to be made in your routine.  

  Moisturize your skin at night to prevent dry skin in the morning. Usually following this routine at night is more effective than following it in the morning. You can apply moisturizer on your hands and legs too. Make this as your routine and then wait for the results.   2. USE SERUMS A serum that contains Vitamin C or growth factors or peptides if used in the morning under sunscreen can show effective results. Retinol or prescription retinoid works best during the night. They have more effect at night as compared to in the morning. Makeup Artist’s Choice has an effective Vitamin C and E serum and retinol.   3. CLEANSE YOUR SKIN Pick a cleanser that doesn’t leave your skin tight after washing. Have dry skin? Then wash your face twice or once a day but not more than that. Avoid makeup as much as possible. Avoid washing for that squeaky-clean feeling because that means your skin’s natural oils are gone. Before you buy the cleanser check the skin type.   4. USE SUNSCREEN BEFORE GOING OUT Apply your sunscreen with at least 15 SPF.  

  Do it 15 minutes before you are ready to go out because it takes time to come into action. Darker skin tones require more sun protection because hyperpigmentation is harder to correct. Try EltaMD’s sunscreen, which offers broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection and is recommended by the Skin Cancer Foundation. Make it a routine and then wait for the results.   5. TAKE YOUR TIME TO APPLY PRODUCTS While applying creams, serums massage it well into your skin. Let it absorb to layers, only after that it will be in action. Take your time; pamper your skin while applying creams.   6. USE OF GLYCOLIC ACID Use glycolic acid for normal skin, salicylic acid for oily or combination skin. Use gentle lactic acid for dry or sensitive skin This can be very effective on your skin.   7. MAKE A PACK OF GRAM FLOUR AND TURMERIC Take some gram flour in a bowl, add turmeric(1 spoon) in the bowl.  

  Now add some curd(approximately 2 spoons). Add some lemon juice to the mixture. Mix the mixture well till it turns into a thick paste, apply it on your face, even hands, legs, and neck till it is dry.  Rinse after it dries. You will feel your skin glowing.   8. USE FACE MASKS IF NEEDED The use of skin masks occasionally can glow your skin. They push hydrating ingredients into your skin and make your skin feel fresh. Choose your face mask according to your skin type, don’t just pick any. Face masks shouldn’t be used regularly as it can harm your skin.  Use face masks occasionally, to make your skin glow otherwise keep it natural as much as possible.   9. WASH YOU FACE WHEN YOU COME BACK HOME. After a long day of work, don’t forget to wash your face before you sleep.  

  It allows your skin to breathe, in case there are any products on the face. Remove your makeup before you sleep. Make it a habit; otherwise, you can suffer from serious skin conditions.   10. DO NOT USE MORE THAN ONE PRODUCT Using more than one product on the skin can be very harmful. The use of more than one product can be harsh on the skin. It can result into breakout and clogged pores.   11. DRINKING LOTS OF WATER Drinking the right amount of water is very important for your skin.  

  You should use face masks, serums that have hydrating formulas. So drinking water can be a natural source of hydration for your skin. Drink atleast  8-10 glasses of water a day to avoid skin problems like acne. It is a natural source of hydration for your skin.   12. HAVE A BALANCED DIET It is said that your skin has a natural barrier to retain moisture, and essential to that is an omega-3 fatty acid.  

. Adding Flax seeds on your salad or even walnuts will be an instant boost to your omega-3 intake, thus increasing your skin's ability to hold onto moisture. Be sure to eat a diet low in foods with a high glycemic index (simple and complex carbohydrates).   13. DON’T TOWEL OFF If you have ashy skin then make one easy change, don't dry your skin completely before moisturizing.

Creams seal in hydration and work best with a little water. Don’t harshly use the towel on your skin; use it as gently as possible. Before you apply the cream, let your skin have a little water for the cream to work efficiently.   14. EXERCISE ON DAILY BASES Burning out the food you ate is very important for the body.  

  Start your day with a work out session to digest your food and have a great day forward. Exercise keeps you fit and healthy, it also has a positive impact on your body as you stay happy and fresh. This will automatically glow up your skin.   15. SLEEP WELL Completing your sleep pattern is very necessary to avoid health and skin problems.  

  Not getting enough sleep can cause headaches, anxiety, and many other body problems and it can be seen on the face in the form of dullness and dark circles. Taking 8-10 hours of sleep is the key factor for the proper functioning of the body and mind and it ultimately brings a glow on your skin.   16. CLEAN YOUR MAKEUP BRUSHES Washing your concealer and foundation brushes once a week can help fight infections and clogged pores. The brushes that you use around your eyes should be cleaned twice a month and for any other brushes, once a month is fine. Put a drop of a mild shampoo into the palm of your hand. Now wet the bristles with lukewarm water. Then, massage the bristles into your palm to distribute the shampoo into the brush.   17. DO NOT USE RARE PRODUCTS Use the products which you can afford later and are easy to find too. Once you have adapted a routine and your skin is used to some particular products then switching products can be risky for the skin. Use easy to find and consistent products on your skin.   18. PAMPER YOURSELF Have a regular skincare regimen. For dry skin, use a fresh cherry mask; apply the pulp of fresh cherries on your face before going to bed. Leave for 15 minutes and wash with lukewarm water. A gentle facial massage with oils could work wonders. Depending on your skin type, choose oils from mustard, coconut, almond as they are excellent nourishing agents which help to get glowing skin.    19. STAY CALM Try to stay calm most of the times and avoid stress as much as possible.  

  Stress causes your body to release cortisol and other hormones which results in the skin becoming oilier. Practice stress management techniques like breathing exercises, yoga, and meditation. The more you meditate, the more you radiate.   20. AVOID DIRECT CONTACT WITH SUN One of the best skin care techniques is to protect your skin from the direct contact of the sun. Sun exposure can cause wrinkles, age spots, and other skin problems.  It can increase the risk of skin cancer. Use sunscreen to avoid direct exposure to the sun.   21. AVOID SMOKING Smoking results in making your skin look older and contributes to wrinkles.  

  Smoking narrows the tiny blood vessels in the outermost layers of skin, which reduces the blood flow and makes skin paler. This also affects the nutrients that are important to skin health. Smoking can damage collagen and elastin It can also have harmful effects on your health.   22. USING CURD ON SKIN Use of Curd can naturally moisturize your skin. It releases lactic acid in your skin. Your skin will feel moisturized instantly. Curd is the best way to moisturize your skin.   23. USE MORE OF VITAMIN C Use brighteners (we like Vitamin C) within six months of seeing a dark spot. Melanin goes deeper into the skin over time, so it's harder to reach.   24. KEEP YOUR SKIN NATURAL Using a lot of products on your skin can cause acne, dullness, and many more skin problems. Keep your skin naturally as much as possible to let your skin breathe. Avoid using products when you are at home. Do not use makeup regularly, even if you do, don’t sleep without washing it.   25. CUT SUGAR FROM YOUR DIET Sugar is a dehydrating agent, so it increases oil production.  

  It also affects water binding so your skin looks less perky and bouncy, and doesn't appear as oxygenated. The skin becomes sallow, lackluster and you get those unwanted dark circles.    CONCLUSION The face is said to be the mirror of the body and if you suffer from a body issue it will be seen on the skin. Disturbed mental health can also cause acne on your skin. Visit a dermatologist if your skin condition is serious.  Keep your skin naturally as much as possible. Practice homemade skincare. Practice self-care very often.               Read the full article

[perkqularkreashions]

I. Marijuana Memories

//The One Where Justin skips school//

Justin watched Y/N’s ass as she traveled to the front of the room. He couldn’t help but admire how round they were or how when she walked they switch, not to harshly where you could tell it was forced but a natural movement that proved that she was either wearing a thong or no panties at all. She tugged on her bottom lip as she let all her weight shift to the right side, giving her ass cheek more definition. She scribbled the correct answer on the Smartboard before sashaying to her seat. He wished she give him a passing glance, just simple eye contact would suffice for him. Maybe that crooked grin she would show when she would laugh at a crude joke that one of her friends would tell.

Justin was snapped out of his daydream with an harsh elbow to his side, slowly looking up noticing that all eyes were looking at him, lips pressed together tightly to hold in the laughter that was soon explode into the atmosphere. His eyes immediately moved to Y/N who was also watching him, his embarrassment increasing with each second her chocolate eyes watched him. Swallowing thickly, he gave a shrug returning his gaze back to his paper where the correct answer laid scribbled out.

“Justin! You’ve been distracted lately we don’t need coach trying to take you off the team now!” Justin’s eyes flickered to Y/N, she was still gazing over her shoulder her gaze making Justin insecure suddenly. She pressed a slow smirk on her face before passing a wink in his direction. A goofy grin grew on his face at the simple action. She turned around, her attention back to the teacher and Justin’s imagination running wild with the thought of her actually liking him. “Man are you listening to me!” His friend, Khalil hissed

“Yeah, of course” he nodded turning his attention to Khalil, he scoffed loudly waving his hand dismissing his words. Justin is one of the most important players on the basketball team, along with Khalil and Miles. Khalil was the captain and needed Justin’s head in the game for the championship coming up in just a couple of months, but Khalil knew of the obsession he had with Y/N, he was not going to lie to himself or Justin but she was perfection, a bittersweet Godiva chocolate that you couldn’t get enough of. Her smile alone drove Justin crazy imagine a little attention from the melanin goddess herself.

The bell rung signifying the end of the 4th period, the hungry students bolted out the room leaving behind the still mumbling teacher, whom tried to enforce the rule of “the bell doesn’t dismiss you I do!”

No one listened to her scratching voice and still exited the room in the middle of her speech. They didn’t have time to waste just listening to her ramble about something that she could do at the beginning of class to waste their time. They needed to get to the cafeteria before all the good food ran out.

Y/N was still behind gathering her books slowly while she laughed at her friend Zendaya let out. She gave off a small wave before exiting the room. Khalil watched Justin, his eyes flickering to the girl in front of him. He was so close, all he had to was call out her name and he would have her attention. But she was gone, out the room before he could get a syllable out. “Nice try, Jay but she’s way out of your league and you’re just a pussy when it comes to her or any girl now that I think about it”

Justin rolled his hand, tossing his bag over shoulder. “I’ve had a crush on her since freshmen year. It’s not my fault that I can’t communicate with her properly”

“Shut the fuck up Jay” Khalil laughed, he was tired of hearing the different excuses of why he couldn’t do this or accomplish that. He just needed to grow a pair of balls and do it. The worst thing she could is say “No”.

“Alright man, I’m gonna go get some studying in” he spoke, Khalil nodding dapping him up quickly before traveling down the hall to the noisy cafeteria. Justin moved out the doors, the fresh autumn air invading his senses. The cool breeze washed over him. The soft sound of glass hitting something filled the air, followed by smoke wrapping around him. He stopped, his mouth slightly parting at the sight of Y/N, her hair was now down, instead of being restricted in a high puff, her medium length coiled curls wildly flew in the wind, she hissed in displeasure but loved the free feeling. She peaked out the corner of her eyes seeing Justin just standing there.

“You’re that Bieber kid right?” She finally spoke, her voice was so soft, it caressed his ear. How it was naturally hoarse but still carried this dainty essence. “From our basketball team? With that cute captain” he finally snapped back out of his thoughts at the sound of Khalil being called cute. She had moved a few paces toward him but kept enough distance between the two.

“Uh yeah” was all he could mutter out, she flicked the bud to the ground. Her eyes still trained on his, her eyes taking in all of him. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking but God he wanted to.

“What are you doing out here?” She questions, with each word she would take slow steps toward him. He could finally make her out, the simple high waisted jeans she wore with rips that travelled just above her thigh, a black cropped hoodie that exposed her satin like skin. He wanted to run his hand around her expose skin, feeling the her underneath her fingertips.

“Just- I-I-st-” he stopped, he didn’t know anymore the thought completely leaving him. She laughed slightly, she was now inches away from him, her presence instantly making him drawn in a deep breath.

“Do I make you nervous pretty boy?” She whispers, her finger grabbing the string from his hoodie while gently twirling in her fingers, her tongue darting out in the corner of her mouth before making its way ‘round her lip. He managed to slowly shake his head but she knew the true answer. “C'mon” she hummed, he stood their while she moved slowly to her car.

“W-w-where to?” He stumbled over the simplistic words around her, it was insane how the little things she did had a huge affect on him.

“Do you wanna ask me questions or do you wanna live a little?” She answered, her body leaned around the driver’s side of the car, the sun catching her skin just right. The natural glow that emitted off her skin, the shininess of her curls, or the softness of her natural puckered lips. “My offer is off table when I pull out of the school parking lot” she states, her body disappearing in the car before he could even process what he was doing, he jumped into her car. She smirked lightly before speeding out the lot.

“Relax pretty boy you’re gonna have fun” she whispered, her eyes never once leaving the road but she could tell that he was nervous, but he didn’t regret coming. He was driving in the car with his crush, the girl that he was absolutely amazed with, the girl that can take his breath away just by smiling or wearing a tee shirt and sweats, or when she scrunches her nose in displeasure at almost everyone who speaks at school. “Whatcha thinking about?” Her eyes curiously watching him.

“Nothing, uh-” he stopped, pressed his lips together before sitting back. She parked on the street next to crowded house. “Aren’t- isn’t- these people don’t go to school?”

“They aren’t in school pretty boy” she stated, she opened the door, Justin quickly following her actions. They were just about 21 or 22 nothing too major, Y/N was “best friends” with Bella, Bella and Y/N were on and off again friends, Y/N didn’t fucks with Bella to be perfectly honest but she was the plug around the predominantly white neighborhood, however she was friends with Trevor who dealt on the other side of town, which made it more appealing to be her friend than enemy.

“I don’t- don’t know about this” he motioned his hand to the house, she grabbed his hand pulling him into the house. The instant smell of weed hit the air, the loud laughter and incoherent conversation filtered into the room. He didn’t understand why she invited him, but at this point he didn’t care, she was holding his hand, fingers interlocked. He hated to admit but tingles shot through his body with her simple touch, her hands so soft.

“Y/N! You made it!” Bella shouted, she opened her arms for a hug. But Y/N held out her hand her eyes nose scrunching up at the sight.

“Yeah!” She slowly stated, she released Justin’s hand before traveling to the group sitting on the couch “Why y'all let her get fucked up like that?” They simply laughed at her statement. Justin watched the girl, her clothes were gone and she was simple nude granny panties with a white bra that seemed hold nothing but imagination. Her hair was dyed green, but only a strip.

“Who’s the white boy?” Cameron asked, his arm wrapping around the Y/N, she laughed softly pushing him off her. Justin stood their internally glaring at the man, he didn’t wanna get his ass kicked because he surely did not know how to fight.

“Justin” she quickly answered, “come here pretty boy” he hesitantly moved to the seat next to Y/N, he held in his cough as a girl blew smoke in his face he resisted the urge to swat his hand to blow away the smoke around him.

They’d spent 2 hours there and he was positive that Y/N was high, her body pressed against his while he just sat their watching the scene unfold in front of him. Yes, he would admit that he was feeling the slight affect but it was through the 2nd handsmoke and not through the actually blunt. She quickly sat up moving out of sight, he didn’t feel comfortable with her roaming around aimlessly so he followed her, she dragged herself into the family room, the air was much more clear and the atmosphere was quiet.

Y/N quickly pushed Justin on the couch, he stared at her in shook, while she slowly bent down her eyes never leaving his. “Y-Y-Y/N, I-I don’t know what you’re doing-”

“Oh think you do, pretty boy” she seductively whispered, her hands slowly unbuckling his pants before he protest her lips pressed against his, all his words now filtered out by Y/N exploring his mouth. Her hand pressing against the back of his neck bringing him closer, he gasped softly his lips broke away from their sloppy kiss. As her hand began to softly grasp his throbbing dick. She bent down his eyes following every move she made.

Her lips softly pressing against his tip, letting her tongue gently lick it. He groaned in pleasure his hips bucking harshly wanting to create more friction than what she was giving. He let out a deep grunt as Y/N mouth encased his dick, he grunted softly, he threw back his head letting his hand entangle in her hair. She pulled off quickly, a soft pop sounded in the air. Y/N hand slapped his hand away.

“Don’t touch my hair” she whispered harshly, he nodded softly wanting her mouth back around him. He was granted his wish when she moved down on his length, her head bobbing up and down while Justin grunted and moan uncontrollably. His mouth hung open while he watched the ceiling, she gagged slightly sending vibrations on his dick, he let out a loud moan. He started bucking wildly as the strong euphoric feeling was enthralling him. His eyes snapped to her, her eyes still on his.

He groaned softly at the innocent look portrayed on her face, her big eyes watching him while she sucked him off. They way she batted her lashes at him almost begging for him to fuck her.

“Oh fuck” he cussed out, his body convulsing slightly. She slowly pulled off, his warm salty cum running down her throat, she swallowed slowly before kissing throbbing dick. She wiped the corner of her mouth, her body resting on Justin’s lap while she gave him a quick smile. “I-I why-”

He didn’t understand what possessed her to suck his dick, maybe it was the weed or maybe it was her sexual attraction for him. But whatever explanation it was he didn’t care.

[cosmeticnews]

How To Get Rid Of Eye Bags | How To Get Rid Of Dark Circles When your skin gets puffy or swells, it indicates the signs of inflammation. The region around the eye is the point with the thinnest skin in the entire body. Its thickness is about a tenth of the facial skin. It makes it able to show any signs of inflammation visibly. Due to the skin thinness, the area is susceptible to wrinkles, fine lines and puffiness, and eye bags. Even so, what is the real cause of eye bags? Several factors are at play here. See also: [su_note note_color="#edfac9"] 12 The Best Eye Cream For Wrinkles How To Shape Eyebrows | Tips for the Perfect Eyebrow Shape Best Eye Cream for Bags and Puffiness [/su_note] However, listed below are the most suspect: [amazon bestseller="Eye bag Cream  "] Cause of eye bags Dietary reasons The saying “you are what you eat” is as accurate as it sounds. Food is the source of energy to your body. That energy has a unique effect on all the cells and tissues in your body. Depending on the type of food you consume, you can get inflammation, or it can make the body hold fluids. It is important to note that not all the food that you consume causes inflammation. Some of what you eat counteracts it. By the continuously ingesting an unbalanced diet you create the perfect opportunity for eye bags to form under the eyes. Some of the foods that are certain to causing inflammation include; Refined carbohydrates Sugars Gluten Saturated Fats Casein Alcohol A diet heavy on these foods requires to be balanced out by anti-inflammatory foods like fruits and vegetables. Similarly, other compounds in food can lead to the body retaining fluid. One particular compound in food is Salt. Salt is essential to the body as it helps in maintaining the boy electrolytes. However, too much of it can be detrimental to health. Buy consuming too much salt; your body produces an equally high amount of fluids to flush out the excess compounds and electrolytes. High fluid retention in the body then leads to you having eye-bags. Some of the ways you can prevent your body from getting eye-bags are by cutting down on the amount of seasoning you add to your meals, reducing your intake of processed and packaged foods and avoiding fast food joints or any high sodium takeaways. Allergic Reactions If you have suffered from allergic reactions before, you may know that it manifests itself with visible inflammations. This is not limited to common food allergens as they also exhibit an inflammatory response. When you get an allergic reaction, the body produces histamines that lead to the swelling and puffiness of the eyes. The body also builds up with fluid making the skin under the eyes to bulge creating eye bags. Even so, the inflammation is all part of the healing process. Whenever the body becomes aware of a foreign object, the immune system takes the required steps in the elimination of this object. Fluids are then sent to the area to wash away the foreign object. Heat Whenever things are hot, they tend to expand. You can visually see this attribute on physical bodies. The same applies to our bodies. High temperature may cause the area under the eyes to expand since it contains a thinner skin than any other part in the body. During the day, we maintain the ability to self-regulate our body temperatures. However, it is different when we sleep. While sleeping, we lose partial consciousness making it hard to self-regulate our temperatures. Your room should be well-ventilated, and your beddings should match the seasonal temperature changes to prevent heat from causing eye bags Stress And Fatigue Your face is the perfect mirror for your daily emotional struggles. If you have pressure from work, family demands and financial responsibility your body can express it out in the form of acne, weight loss or gain and bags under the eyes. If you want to get rid of the bags under your eyes, you need to take care of your body and mind as well. You can do this by eating the right foods and getting enough sleep. Also, you should consider getting help for the stress. Aging Eye bags can as well be associated with age. As you grow, the muscles in the face that hold the fat starts to weaken. The fat in the skin surface get misplaced leading to sagging skin. Under the eyes, however, bags are created. Also with age comes the appearance of dark circles all around the eyes. Aging leads to the loss of fat and collagen around the eyes magnifying the presence of blood vessels under the eyes. It allows the formation of dark circles. Smoking With the many health risks associated with smoking, damaging the skin is one of them. The fumes from tobacco kill healthy skin cells and break down the formation of collagen. Due to this, your aging process will rapidly increase with the appearance of wrinkles and dark circles. Smoking can as well bring about eye bags. When you smoke regularly, your body tends always to need water to stay dehydrated. The body retains some of this water to avoid the skin from drying out. Eventually, eye bags appear. Smokers also have poor sleeping patterns due to the nicotine withdrawal symptoms they experience at night. It is another contributing factor to the appearance of eye bags. Genetics Having eye bags can be a genetically shared trait as well. If your grandparents had eye bags, it is very probable that you will acquire them too. The eye bags can develop at any point in your life. However, the best way to overcome is by investing in a good skincare routine that can help ward off the signs. Having bags under the eyes is not pleasing at all to look. However, they are not harmful. Even then, if you notice any painful swelling around the eyes that are red and itchy, you should seek the help of an Ophthalmologist. Read Next: Best Eye Lift Cream for Hooded Eyes Treatment There is no specific treatment process allocated to eye bags. Mostly, this is because Eye bags are a cosmetic concern. However, this does not mean that surgical treatments are not available. The market may be filled with several products that may de-puff and lighten the area under the eyes. However, they do not always work. You should Drink more water and apply a cold compress to help the eye bags shrink quickly. If you are looking to reduce the appearance of the eye bags in the long term, you should make a few lifestyle changes. It is especially true for those whose eye bags, and dark circles are genetically inherited. There are several home and lifestyle treatment options that may help treat and get rid of the eye bags. Using Tea Bags The benefits of tea are not only felt during drinking. By placing caffeinated tea bags under your eyes, you can help in dealing with dark circles and bags. The caffeine in the tea carries powerful antioxidants properties that may increase blood flow to your skin. It protects against UV rays and potentially slows down the aging process. Green tea, in particular, has received high acclamation from researchers for its potential anti-inflammatory effects, as shown in one study. But how do you do this: First, steep two tea bags for 3 to 5 minutes. Afterward, put the tea bags in the refrigerator and let it chill for 20 minutes. Then, check to see if it has extra liquid and squeeze it out before placing the tea bags on your eye. Let the tea bags rest on the eye for about 15 to 30 minutes. Staying Hydrated Our bodies have a more significant percentage of water. Your body weight constitutes to about 60 percent of water. With this information, it is not surprising that when your body becomes dehydrated, it can lead to having eye bags. By increasing your water consumption, you should be in a position to avoid getting eye bags. How much water is required? Experts encourage the drinking of about 13 cups of water every day for men and about 9 cups of water for women. If you do not like drinking water, the good news is that all fluids count toward your daily total. Still, water is the best fluid to take because it is of low-calorie. However, you can drink sparkling waters, water with flavor or infused fruits. Hot or cold decaffeinated tea is another good choice. Using a Cold Compress Do not stress yourself by saving up for expensive creams. You can quickly get relief from eye bags by using a cold compress. You can make one fast using materials that are readily available. You can use the cold temperature to constrict the blood vessels under the eyes to offer some temporary relief. You can acquire a cold compress at the store. However, it is even easier to make one yourself that can work just as well. Some options that would work include: Wet washcloth Chilled teaspoon Bag of frozen peas Cool cucumber Before you place the items under your eyes, wrap your compress with a soft cloth to protect your skin from getting too frosty. It takes only a few minutes to see results. Taking an Anti-histamine Allergies can result in puffy, dark circles under your eyes. They may also cause redness in the eyes or even itchiness. It is brought about by your body’s self-healing mechanism as it tries to get rid of any foreign material. If you note that your eye bags are as a result of an allergy, you may consider purchasing an over the counter allergy medication. If possible, always avoid items that you give you an allergic reaction. If you find it hard to identify such things, it may be good to note them down. If the problem appears to be chronic, seem medical help from a doctor. Using Skin Lightening Products Skin lightening products contain hydroquinone that interferes with melanin production in the skin. It helps reduce the appearance of dark circles and eye bags. Most of the products you find over the counter have only 2 percent hydroquinone. If you want to get a higher prescription, you can consult a dermatologist who can prescribe you a better product. For you to get useful results, you need to use the products regularly. One important thing to note, for you to get the necessary result, you have to use hydroquinone at night. Exposure to UV light reverses the effects of hydroquinone. Also, it is important to discontinue the use if you react to the product. Micro-needling Collagen induction therapy is one way to get rid of wrinkles, scarring, dark circles, and under-eye bags. The procedure involves injecting the skin using fine needles and creating a controlled injury that leads to the healing process of the skin. This process will not work for you if you are looking for instant results. It is done over six sessions spaced a month or so apart. Even with fast recovery time, the procedure is not new to risks. Some problems you may experience include: Scarring Bruising Infection Bleeding It is not recommended to use tools from home. Sharing needles as well is not advised. Also, avoid this procedure if you have a history of Keloid or if you scar easily. Using A neti pot Several people have claimed that neti pots have helped them get rid of eye bags and dark circles. A neti pot is a device that enables you to irrigate your sinuses by using a salt and water solution. Inflamed sinuses may lead to the development of eye bags. Once a sinus is inflamed, the normal blood flow of the capillaries behind the eyes and nasal cavities is affected. The veins behind the eyes are forced to dilate and darken leading to the appearance of dark circles and eye bags. It as well makes the eyes puffy and irritated. By treating the sinus infection, you will as well solve the eye bags problem in your eyes. Taking Off Makeup Before Sleeping One particular step you can take to beating eye bags is improving your nightly routine. Never go to bed with your makeup. Always wash your face before you get to bed every night. By sleeping with makeup like mascara or any other eye makeup, you may end up irritating your eyes. You may as well develop an allergic reaction leading to the redness, puffiness and eye bags in the morning. It is also said that sleeping in makeup leads to skin damage and formation of wrinkles. By sleeping in makeup, your skin gets exposure to free radicals that create oxidative stress on the skin leading to premature aging. Eating Foods Rich in Collagen The muscles and tissue supporting your eyes grow weak as you age. It leads to your skin sagging. The area under your eyes declines to create eye bags. Not enough collagen is produced in the body during this period. Increasing your consumption vitamin C can help your body absorb more hyaluronic acid whose amount slowly depreciates with age. Foods with vitamin C and amino acids as well can help with the production of collagen hence creating better and healthier skin. Some good sources of Vitamin C are green vegetables such as kales and fruits such as oranges and strawberry. Reduce on Salt Intake Salty food is one of the leading causes of eye bags. It leads to the body retaining fluid hence bringing about the puffy eye bags. It is recommended for adults to consume less than 1,500 mg of salt each day. One way to take care of yourself is by avoiding packaged and processed foods. You should eat a diet that you can control the salt content. Getting Enough Sleep time By not getting enough sleep, you wake up feeling exhausted and tired. A miserable night’s sleep also leads to the development of eye bags. Without enough sleep, the body does not flush out the excess fluids from the system. Instead, it accumulates and gathers under the eyes leading to the formation of eye bags. Dark circles as well form because the blood vessels underneath your eyes start to dilate. To correct this problem, you need to get at least 8 hours of sleep every day. Stop Smoking Smoking kills your healthy skin cells. It also depletes the vitamin C count in your body. Vitamin C is the nutrient responsible for the production of collagen in your body. By smoking, you increase your risks of gaining wrinkles, skin discoloration, and eye bags. There are several more reasons why you should stop smoking. It is a health hazard and not good for your health. You can find a way to help you quit smoking online. Bài viết đã xuất hiện lần đầu tiên tại https://www.cosmeticnews.com/how-to-get-rid-of-eye-bags/?feed_id=2158&_unique_id=5e77f93a2d6c9 #cosmeticnews #janebrody #haircare #makeup #skincare #skinconcern #beautydevices

[andimthedad]

Dear Fathers of White Boys: What Color is the Future?

“If you’re [a] white man in the USA, it’s open season on you.” — Bill O’Reilly

“The white man is a low person on the totem pole. Everybody else is above the white man." — Dennis H., registered Democrat and Trump supporter

“There is no doubt that blacks, minorities, and people of color had it rough for many decades. Women, especially in the workplace, had the system tilted against them. We get it... But that was then, and this is now. And two wrongs don’t make a right. The sorry truth is that the pendulum has swung way too far in the other direction.” — Wayne Allen Root, “Why 2016 is the year of the angry white male”

The way some white men tell it, they are the true victims in modern America. According to this narrative, white men face more bigotry and discrimination than any other group, and are targets of the most insults and suffering. Women, blacks, Hispanics, you name it: everybody else has more power and influence than white men. This isn’t just a whisper from the digital fringe; it is a mainstream talking point I’ve heard repeated by friends and family. 

As a white man, and the father of a white boy hurtling toward manhood, I have to ask: Is it true that white men are discriminated against? That white men don’t have opportunities anymore? That everyone else is running the country?

Census data tells us how many Americans fit the label of “white man”:

The shaded area marks 31%, the white and male portion of America’s population. The chart also marks a smaller number, 24%, who are white, male, and age 18 or older: white men, apart from boys.

If we believe race and gender are truly irrelevant to merit, and if we believe America offers truly equal opportunities to everyone, then we should expect that people in jobs of legal power and cultural influence would resemble the overall population. Groups that face discrimination — such as white men, perhaps?—would have less representation in these jobs.

Let’s take a look at government, law, business, media, and a few other fields.

(Footnotes and data sources below. Download this chart: PDF or PNG.)

Not one of these matches the U.S. population. And this is after decades of increasing diversity. If the theory is that white men face greater discrimination than anyone else, the data is overwhelmingly clear: Right now, white men run America. They have far more positions of legal power and cultural influence than suggested by a level playing field, much less one tilted against them.

So, if you’re the father of a white boy, remember: Your white boy today will be a white man tomorrow. You are raising someone who is more likely to have influence and income throughout life simply for being born with a certain sex organ of a certain color. This isn’t fair, but it is true today and for the near future.

I am not saying he will have it easy. Far from it. It is important to acknowledge that I have faced difficulties in life, and worked hard. But it’s equally important to acknowledge that most of life’s situations would have been a lot harder if I were anyone but a white man.

Melanin and genitals are traits, not merits or faults. At birth, they are received through zero effort by the recipient. Without paying attention, it’s easy to overlook white and male as an advantage because it feels like normal life. But one man’s normal is not a reliable measure of other people’s struggles. It is also easy to feel like our identity or work ethic is under attack when someone illuminates our outsized privilege; but the honest response is humility, not denial.

Dads, our influence on our sons’ values will have amplified impact on the world compared to women and minorities. We must teach our sons to value truly equal representation and fair opportunity; to believe people should advance by skill and intelligence, rather than color or sex; to use privilege as empowerment to “seek justice and help the oppressed,” as the prophet Isaiah wrote.

We will only understand racism and sexism through the people oppressed, and we will only solve racism and sexism through the people in power. The next generation of white men needs a clear view of their role in this arrangement. To quote Spider-Man, “With great power comes great responsibility,” although Jesus said it much earlier: “To those who have been given much, much will be required in return.”

Someday, I’d like our sons to be able to write: Right now, everyone runs America.

Versions of this article appeared on The Good Men Project and Medium.

FOOTNOTES

* Racial identification varies among survey data. For example, U.S. Census data considers Hispanic an “ethnicity” separate from “race” (White; Black or African American; Asian; American Indian and Alaska Native; Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander). Other data treats Hispanic as a race alongside White, Black, etc. In addition, some surveys allow indication of single or mixed racial heritage. When possible, the “white” bars in this chart represent white single-race non-Hispanic people, and otherwise accepts each survey’s definition of “white.” In Census data: if we include all white single-race people, Hispanic or not, the white percentage rises from 62% to 74%; the percentage of white males rises from 31% to 36%; and the percentage of white males 18 and older rises from 24% to 28%. Also, Americans of any gender and age whose race is white mixed with another race account for less than 3% of the total population.

** Most of the data represented here used a strictly binary gender scale, without consideration of LGBTQ characteristics.

A. 24% shows the percentage of white single-race non-Hispanic males Americans age 18 and older. The larger number (31%) is the most commonly-cited percentage for white male Americans, but it includes children and teenagers, who are unlikely to hold any of the occupations listed.

B. These male/white percentages were mathematically interpolated from other percentages, as they were not stated in the sources, and underlying data was not available for independent calculation. The larger number is the probable percentage while the smaller number is the least possible percentage. The range of difference is visually indicated with lighter shading. The true percentage may be more than either number shown, but it cannot be less than the smaller number, assuming slight accommodations for rounding.

DATA SOURCES

U.S. Census Bureau 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. U.S. Census Bureau, 2015. http://bit.ly/demographics-1

Manning, Jennifer. “Membership of the 115th Congress: A Profile.” Congressional Research Service, 2017. http://bit.ly/demographics-2

Who Leads Us? http://bit.ly/demographics-3

Wheeler, Russell. “The Changing Face of the Federal Judiciary.” Brookings Institute, 2009. http://bit.ly/demographics-4

George, Tracey and Yoon, Albert. “Gavel Gap: Who Sits In Judgement on State Courts?” American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, 2016. http://bit.ly/demographics-5

Bekiempis, Victoria. “The New Racial Makeup of U.S. Police Departments.” Newsweek, 2015. http://bit.ly/demographics-6

Jones, Stacy. “White Men Account for 72% of Corporate Leadership at 16 of the Fortune 500 Companies.” Fortune Magazine, 2016. http://bit.ly/demographics-7

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). “Diversity in High Tech.” U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2014. http://bit.ly/demographics-8

Crow, Portia and Kiersz, Andy, “These charts show just how white and male Wall Street really is.” Business Insider, 2015. http://bit.ly/demographics-9

U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE). U.S. Census Bureau, 2015. http://bit.ly/demographics-10

United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). “Diversity Management: Trends and Practices in the Financial Services Industry and Agencies after the Recent Financial Crisis.” United States Government Accountability Office, 2013. http://bit.ly/demographics-11

Smith, Stacy L.; Choueiti, Marc; and Pieper, Katherine. “Inclusion or Invisibility? The Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity (CARD).” Institute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg (IDEA), USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, 2015. http://bit.ly/demographics-12

Hunt, Darnell. “The 2016 Hollywood Writers Report: Renaissance In Reverse?” Writers Guild Of America, West, 2016. http://bit.ly/demographics-13

Papper, Bob. “Women, minorities make newsroom gains.” Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), 2014. http://bit.ly/demographics-14

American Society of News Editors. “2016 ASNE Diversity Survey.” American Society of News Editors, 2016. http://bit.ly/demographics-15B

Ingham, Tim. “Billboard’s Power 100 Shames The Music Biz And Should Trouble Us All.” Music Business Worldwide, 2016. http://bit.ly/demographics-16 

Guterl, Fred. “Diversity in Science: Where Are the Data?” Scientific American. 2014. http://bit.ly/demographics-17B

U.S. Census Bureau ACS PUMS 5-Year Estimate, 2015. Data USA. http://bit.ly/demographics-18