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cloveroctobers · 4 years

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(A/n: this might be a little biased since I’m in love with this man & I’m basing the relationship parts of this on my mc/myself so hope y’all don’t mind 😬)

IG info/bio: @/lucas.koh | 93.1k followers | for business inquires please visit: kohptr.com

LUCAS KOH —

27 (28) years old

From Oxford, England

Father is Korean & a car salesman at a Nissan dealership, he’s a strict/serious man who has high morals but beyond that he can actually be a softie in rare moments (+ that’s who Lucas gets his height from 🤤)

Mother is actually Chinese but lived in Korea studying abroad and eventually became a successful chiropractor (s/o to doctor mondragon on YouTube who I watch to help me sleep some nights and wish I could see! Lol) with her own practice. She’s a firecracker, intelligent, and quick to say what’s on her mind and doesn’t care if you like what she’s got to say. Most patients like that about her, she’s honest and her family is used to her ways but in the same way it’s more loving than offensive? (Smol woman but will remind you when she’s cracking your body she’s got enough power in her)

Either he’s a only child or he comes from a family of all boys with two younger brothers (they’re all in their 20’s) or he has one younger brother and one younger sister idk you decide

I’m feeling like he’s a Sagittarius? Carefree in the terms of he wasn’t viewing finally getting with MC when she’s dating someone else as cheating. Mans was READY to risk it all for me okay and I was down for it but ofc I had to react realistically and NOT “cheat.” *sigh* one part of me was debating ‘are we really dating tho bobby? We’re on reality tv. We’re not gonna die without each other if we hang out in seperate rooms’ *cough* Nope. but I’m a woman about her loyalty

He’s definitely adventurous. I don’t see him as the type to want to stay home all the time even tho his work definitely keeps him busy/exhausted. He’s down for road trips 💯

Occupation? Physicotherapist. His mother inspired him to get into the field and watching sports + the way players got their injuries always intrigued him? So to provide the best plan to have someone heal was something he loved to do plus being hands on while teaching/helping was a passion for him + I feel like he would also use a massaging technique instead of the usual exercise part of it

Now as someone who suffered a ACL & Mensicus tear & is STILL dealing with this BS pain years later, I would be so thankful to have him around! I feel like he’d have a optimistic attitude towards his patients and that’s what people need not someone that’s insensitive (like my surgeon/PT’s I had)

He models from time to time, when he was first approached about it he was upfront about not wanting to do it. It was much different than getting your picture taken for the office. That’s usually quick, the whole modeling process felt longer but somehow he was talked into it by his brother who’s a photographer and his mother. “Do you think you’re ugly? ‘Cause I’m not and you’re a part of me, so therefore there’s no such thing. Just look at your cheekbones, your jawline! I gave you those. The only good thing your father gave you was height.” Which filled the house with snickers while Lucas’ father just rolled his eyes and continued reading his newspaper for breakfast

Has a motorcycle and some luxurious car—not a Tesla those are basic now 🤷🏽‍♀️

Loves his motorcycle so much he’s got a tat of it on his right bicep

He has two available parking spaces in his parking garage at his penthouse but keeps his bike away in a storage unit due to a neighbor scratching it after his girlfriend broke up with him? Saying she was off to date Lucas? But that wasn’t true at all. He barely knew the girl, they didn’t live on the same floor. People were crazy but if you push him his temper might come out

Owns a leather jacket that he paid a lot for

Believes in “treat yo self” if it means in quality when shopping and has no issue being a big spender but he knows how to manage it well (his father told him all about how his own father dealt with bankruptcy)

Since he’s often at the office the whole day, he’s usually a night owl. He loves night drives and night dining. That’s usually when he finds the best places to eat

There’s this one pho spot that he loves and it’s his go to spot when he wants something quick on the way home

Cannot sleep with his entire body covered in covers, either his arms/shoulders have to be out or his legs, which would be a issue for me/mc since I sleep with the covers over my entire body...yes even in hot weather with the AC cranked up😂

He also makes great kimchi fried rice & loves Italian food

Will wine and dine. I believe it. I envision it! He loves going out on dates with his significant other (If he’s single and not with me, I think he’d try out speed dating)

Will dress to impress, will buy you a new fit he wants to see you/us/mc in especially if it’s your anniversary

Loves taking bubble bath’s with infused oils or flower petals with significant other

He’s the type that takes long showers & it brings him a true sense of freedom. He’s never able to take a quick shower, he gets lost in his ideas of what to do next in this world & it’s limitless

If he’s in for the day, which usually doesn’t last long—he’s either in sweats or in a robe all day

Only drives his bike on the weekend or if he’s going out of town but if he’s going on a trip for a couple of days with MC & if she’s got a bit of anxiety like me? He’ll stick to his car to make them comfortable

I feel like he enjoys the winter season. Maybe if it’s a slushy rainy winter more than a blizzards/snowy season. He loves bundling up, much to people’s surprise. He’s more than just his good looks and body love island fans!!!

Doesn’t post much on his socials. If you need to see what he’s about then you should do so in person or already know who he is. The internet can’t tell you much, in his opinion

Keeps himself in good health, I mean duh what kind of PT would he be 😉 goes on night jogs with reflector clothes on & occasionally morning jogs & at home workouts

Probably will date someone younger than him. Not by much, I don’t think he can take immaturity well. (That maybe how he views it) The most is 4 years younger than him

Henrik is his best bud from the show. They hang out all the time, crash at each other’s places, and vacation together all the time. They will be each other’s future best men forsure

Doesn’t go out of his way to talk to the rest of the guys from the show but if he happens to browse his feed and sees something he wants to comment on then he’ll carry a conversation of course

Far as the girls? He talks to Hannah & Priya from time to time. He also follows Hope and they like each other’s posts but not much communication is there either?

Either has a mint or black phone case, probably a Samsung galaxy user

Likes pistachio frozen yogurt but he’s lactose & doesn’t want to believe it :(

Smokes cigars when he’s out with his boys

Has a tight knit group of friends, majority of them are from the medical field since they all went to uni together + most of them are also married so the pressure is so on

*He’s the oldest out of his sibs so according to his parents he’s expected to be married first yet his baby sis is engaged and she’s 23*

wants a family...eventually. Probably will happen in his early thirties? The max for children is 2 for him. He knows they can be a HANDFUL due to his own friends who have kids + he’s a godfather and he’s babysat before so he knows how it goes!

enjoys his freedom as stated which further proves he’s a sag lol

Enjoys going to saunas to cleanse his pores/ get rid of toxins. It’s the easiest way for him to do so even tho his brother clowns him for it

His love language is deff physical touch. He loves hugs and resting his chin on top of your head, forehead to forehead, his nose pressed in between the space of your neck and shoulder, gentle squeezes, sitting next to each other with your legs touching, cuddling, sleeping on top of you or you on him, etc

He loves kissing. It’s automatic for him and it can also easily rile him up

Has strong opinions & will show them but will feel like he’s being attacked if it brings on a confrontation/argument

Will forgive and forget

Plays strategy board games

Makes his own natural healing creams & gives samples to his patients depending on their needs

His fav colors are: blue, white, & grey

Will grow a bit of facial hair in the cooler months if it’ll make mc happy (I’m a sucker for facial hair but hate it on myself lmao) but if he dislikes the feeling on his face he will shave and finds he likes a shaven face better, the facial hair makes him look a bit older—which is okay but that’s just his preference

When he stops putting gel in his hair/styling his hair in a quiff hairstyle it shocks fans with mc commenting on one of his pics, “you’re welcome x”

Likes going to the Hard Rock Cafe on causal weekends

also likes getting freaky in public, down for whatever 🤪

He’s a traveler so if he leaves the UK, I’m seeing him land in Toronto, Canada first and falling in love with it. I feel he would vibe well with the culture there, might even consider getting a vacation home in that location

Celeb crushes? Anne Hathaway, Beyoncé, Lupita Nyong'o, Anna Diop, Imaan Hammam, Jodie Comer, Megan Fox, Shay Mitchell, & Cassie Ventura Fine

Oh Lucas. I feel like we have similar tastes? Somewhat. He probably listens to more rock than I do? Maybe 80s rock moreso? & He listens to: WALK THE MOON, Allen Stone (his fav) , Emily king, Gavin Turek, Melanie Fiona, THEY., DPR live, & Sik-k

Anthem = Young the Giant, “Something to believe in”

#litg #litg2 #litg s2 #litg lucas #litg henrik #litg mc #litg au #litg headcanon #litg headcanons #litg hannah #litg hope #litg nope

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drarry-lover · 4 years

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do you know any good 8th year Drarry fics with under 25,000 words?

I have a tag for 8th year, so you can look through that. For ones under 25k, it’ll be these ones (good or not, that’s your decision):

An Issue of Consequence: Draco has woken up in an alternate universe. Or he has woken up utterly insane. Nothing else can possibly explain why Harry Potter suddenly seems to think he’s Draco’s boyfriend. An eight year fic. Post-DH. EWE. HPDM. SLASH. Mature content. [21k]

Cake or Death: Potter has cake. How rude. DrabbleFAIL for dysonrules. HPDM. AU 7th-year fluffy!verse. Daftness ahoy! [2k]

Cheaters Prosper: Draco won the Slytherin-Gryffindor match by cheating. Harry has a problem with that. [4k]

The Courting of Draco Malfoy: In which Harry flirts, and Draco is confused. Draco/Harry, with some Ron/Hermione and Blaise/Pansy. Eighth year, EWE. Oneshot. [9k]

Draco Malfoy’s Harry Potter Pickup Lines: When Blaise dares him to ask Harry Potter a multitude of ridiculous pick-up lines, Draco accepts without expecting much. Honestly, what are the odds that a few pick-up lines could capture the heart of the Boy Who Lived anyhow? 8th year. [8k]

Dragon of the Blood: Harry decides to finish school at Hogwarts as an eighth year. The summer before, he becomes an animagus. Draco has always been a dragon, able to disguise himself as human. And it’s mating season. slight AU [21k]

Fair Courtesy: This is what happens when you destroy one of the eighth-year dorm beds and therefore have one less of them than you should have. [3k]

The Greatest Gift: It’s Christmas, and Professor McGonagall has decided, much to Draco Malfoy’s disgruntlement, that all students remaining at Hogwarts for Christmas are required to take part in a Secret Santa program. When Draco becomes Harry Potter’s Secret Santa, he’s at his wit’s end, but can he use this opportunity to nab the only boy he’s ever really wanted? Eighth-year fic, three-shot. [19k]

The Haunting: As Theo Nott’s study partner, Harry finds out more than he ever wanted to know about Slytherin traditions. [10k]

hello goodbye (‘twas nice to know you): Draco Malfoy thinks he might know whose thoughts are scrawling themselves on his skin, but that’s crazy. Impossible, even. It has to be a mistake.- Self-indulgent soulmate AU where the thoughts of your soulmate inscribe themselves on your skin in a shifting magic tattoo [4k]

Hey, Potter: Harry returns to Hogwarts for his 8th year, determined not to let Malfoy get to him. But when the snarky teasing starts up again, Harry finds that returning the jibes with compliments has a far more interesting outcome. [16k]

How to Make Harry Potter Purr: After being stalked by a kitten, Draco discovers he has a fetish for purring. [1k]

Hungry: The first thing Harry knew about it was when he woke up lying on a bed in the hospital wing, with his arm firmly stuck to the scrawny, milk-white arm of Draco bloody Malfoy. [11k]

I Am Your Shadow: Love (n) An intense feeling of deep affection. Yield (v) To give up or surrender (oneself). [3k]

I Feel You: Harry and Draco take a potion that is supposed to link their hearts together, but end up connecting a different type of organ entirely. [23k]

In Need of a Proper Hug: Draco rescues a poor, poor koala, which won’t stop hugging him. Inspired by this pic of DanRad hugging Jack Huston aka Jack Kerouac in Kill Your Darlings, and this comment: “I’ve decided that he is part koala, and I think you should write a story where Harry becomes an Animagus, turns into a koala, and clings constantly to Draco.” Beware of cute. Bring a toothbrush. [2k]

In the Interest of Interhouse Cooperation: Organizing a Duelling Club was supposed to be a fun extracurricular activity for Harry’s 8th year. But add in Draco Malfoy and a malfunctioning Room of Requirement, and things can’t help but get complicated. [11k]

Invisible Bravery: Harry goes for nightly walks, and someone starts following him. Harry tries to smoke them out, and they end up stuck in the Forbidden Forest together. Drarry silly fluff! [10k]

Kiss Me Not: Sometimes a witch or wizards magical signature is so completely incompatible with another that they repel one another like magnets. On the other hand, if two magical signatures mesh well together, well there are no stronger relationships in all the world. In a sample of a thousand people, the average witch or wizard will be slightly repelled by four or five people and strongly repelled by only one, at the most. The opposite is true for attraction.But Harry Potter can’t kiss anyone at all. [21k]

Mere Detestable Curiosity: Harry has enough to study with preparing for his NEWTS. He shouldn’t waste time indulging his curiosity in trying to decipher Malfoy, his mysterious letters, and his equally mysterious jewelry. [16k]

The Owl Who Came for Christmas: Draco has a debt to pay off, no matter what Potter thinks. And he has a Very Good Idea to go along with it. Things don’t go as planned. [17k]

The Punching Mistletoe: Sometimes mistletoes want you to punch each other. HPDM. Slash. Eight Year. Hogwarts!fic. EWE. [1k]

Slammed: Potter develops a worrying habit of randomly wall-slamming Draco all over the castle. Hogwarts “Eight Year” fic. [2k]

Storm in a Teacup: For reasons he’d rather not think about, Draco is obsessed with Potter’s hair. This cannot end well. [8k]

Then Comes a Mist and a Weeping Rain: It always rains for Draco Malfoy. Metaphorically. And literally. Ever since he had accidentally Conjured a cloud. A cloud that’s ever so cross. SLASH. HPDM. Humour. Metaphorical angst. Hufflepuffs. A peacock. An eight year fic. Post-DH. EWE. [22k]

Through the Looking Glass and What Draco Found There: Draco discovers the Mirror of Erised is a portal and he enters an alternate reality where your deepest desires come true. Or how Draco found himself in the world of his dreams and Potter had to come and ruin it. [17k]

Twice as Much as an Earthquake: Accidental bonding. Breaking and entering. Conspiring, however unwillingly, in the strange one-man war Malfoy's waging against detention. This isn't the normal school year Harry anticipated having, but at least it's not boring. [18k]

Two Wands Make a Right: Harry’s wand is playing up and Hermione thinks she knows the answer, but why does she have to be right all the time, why does Draco Malfoy have to be so god damn difficult and why is he wearing his tie backwards? [21k]

#drarry #drarry fanfic #ask #dracomalfoywasmisunderstood

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theonlinemuse · 4 years

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And now it’s Yolanda’s turn to have a headcanon post! @freckledpianoman and me wanted to contribute more Yolanda Montez content to the tags now that the season finale has aired:

Yolanda’s family follows Mexican naming conventions so her full name is Yolanda Pilar Montez Zurita. Montez is her father’s last name while Zurita is her mother’s maiden name. And yes, Zurita is for Juan Zurita

Nicknames are also a tradition in the Montez family. Yolanda’s parents called her mija and nena before their estrangement while her maternal grandmother and her little brother call her by her diminutive name, Yoyi

Courtney’s absolutely delighted when she first hears Yolanda’s abuelita call her Yoyi. She thinks it’s adorable. Yolanda just fondly rolls her eyes when Court whisper yells Yoyi at her all starry eyed

She’s third generation Mexican American. Her maternal grandparents, the Zuritas were originally from Puebla and they came to Blue Valley in the 1970s where their daughters, Maria and Mimi (Yolanda’s mom and aunt) were born and raised. Yolanda grew up speaking Spanish, but she’s not fluent like her parents. She sometimes blanks out trying to remember certain words

“Man, I don’t even know how to begin explaining this in Spanish.”

Yolanda admits that she’s not much of a cook, but she grew up helping her abuelita make traditional dishes and as a result the only two dishes that Yolanda’s capable of making are mole poblano and chiles en nogada

She shares these recipes with Beth and they eventually start cooking together in Beth’s kitchen while Chuck blares music requests in the background

Yolanda usually wears her hair in double braids because her abuelito used to braid her hair in the morning before school. He always claimed that braids were the one style he could confidently do out of all the hairstyles that Yolanda’s abuelita taught him

She does start branching out after Courtney and Beth start helping her experiment with different hairstyles. Yolanda does styles like half up or regular space buns, topknots, braided low ponytails, and she rarely wears her hair down

Courtney once accidentally dyed Yolanda’s hair red when she was trying to give her highlights. Artemis helped fixed it (thanks to the time she accidentally went blonde for a month) but Yolanda ended up with ombre hair for a few weeks

For her quinceañera, Yolanda took inspiration from old photos of her abuelita and silver screen bombshells from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema

Yolanda started learned how to box from her abuelito when she was nine. He was a former lightweight boxing champion in Puebla and he taught boxing classes at a school that he founded with a fellow boxer (who Yolanda later discovers to be Henry Grant, the first Wildcat’s father) after he retired. It became their bonding time

He died when she was fourteen and she joined the Blue Valley High boxing team as a way to honour his memory. She even adopted his boxing nickname, The Mauler

Boxing wasn’t the only sport that she did growing up. Yolanda’s mom signed her up for ballet classes when she was in kindergarten and she was good enough to attend summer classes at the American Ballet Academy during middle school, starring in a few small productions like Coppélia and The Taming of the Shrew

She was forced to quit ballet after the fallout with Cindy leaking her pics and she was closed off for weeks because she missed dancing. After joining the JSA, Beth invited her to sit in on her ballroom dance lesson because “I know it’s not ballet exactly, but you get antsy if you don’t dance, I totally get that”

Yolanda only intended to go to the one lesson, but after partnering up with Beth for a not-so-serious tango and laughing harder than she has for months, she went back to the next lesson. And the next one and by the time the fourth lesson rolls around, Yolanda decides to sign up for the same classes as Beth

Yolanda can eat spicy food as long as there’s just ground spices in it, but she cannot handle chilies, much to her dismay. Every time she accidentally eats one, her eyes water and you can literally see her trying to hold in her reaction going, “nope, I’m not gonna do this, I’m not going to have my ancestors laugh their collective asses off just because I can’t handle a damn pepper”

She eventually caves when Courtney and Beth offer her their chocolate milk

Because she was raised Catholic, Yolanda has a habit of eating fish and shellfish instead of meat on Fridays. Fridays are when the JSA go out to eat instead of staying in the cafeteria and it’s Yolanda’s day to indulge in seafood. Courtney is still surprised how Yolanda can put away two giant king crabs like it’s no big deal, their bodies alone are bigger than Rick’s face

Yolanda’s favourites are coconut curry steamed clams, grilled shrimp, and the crab boil, all washed down with a raspberry lemon agua fresca

Her love for seafood has earned her an annoying, yet affectionate nickname from her cousins, “fish head”

“Mauler Montez, huh? You should’ve gone with El Mero, it’s much more on the nose.”

Courtney and Beth are the only people that Yolanda will share her seafood feast with because a) she gets to feed Beth for once and b) she knows how much Courtney loves shrimp

Rick can starve and Artemis keeps getting her hand smacked away every time she tries to sneak food

“It was one freaking scallop!” “Aren’t you allergic? Do you want to break out into hives again?”

When Beth first brought Artemis to sit at the loser’s table, Yolanda was a little wary of her because she’s known for tackling football players twice her height and she’s pretty sure her parents are Sportsmaster and Tigress. Now Yolanda and Artemis are snarky, overly competitive friends who arm wrestle and and have each others’ backs on the football team

Artemis managed to convince Yolanda to join as an alternate member since football season is right after boxing season and the team could use more girls

Artemis is still trying to convince Beth and Courtney to join as well

“You guys need something other than the JSA, you can get all your frustrations out in football.”

Courtney and Beth drag Rick to games to cheer them on

They both have huge sweet tooths and Artemis is constantly trying to steal the tres leches cake and chocolate flan that Yolanda brings to school. And it’s often a race to get the last one of whatever baked good Beth has brought with her that day

And as huge tomboys as they are, Yolanda and Artemis are arguably the best at doing makeup out of all the girls. Artemis likes experimenting with eyeliner and smokey eyeshadows while Yolanda knows a lot about lip products thanks to her abuelita, who rocks red lipstick and berry flavoured lip gloss well into her seventies

Yolanda means “violet” and she was named as such because her landscape architect mother was working on a Phillipine violet garden during her pregnancy and there was a pot of Persian violets in the OBGYN’s office the day the Montezes found out they were having a girl

Even the earrings that her grandparents gave Yolanda for her first communion were a pair of violet shaped stud earrings

Her abuelita even gave her a pressed violet pendant choker for her fifteenth birthday

Yolanda is a huge horror movie fan. It was a tradition that she shared with her dad since no one else in the family can stand them. Now she keeps trying to get Beth to watch horror movies with her despite the “Halloween only tradition” because Beth’s the only other person who would survive a horror movie

Beth spends half the time clinging to Yolanda when they’re not booing at horror cliches and trying to predict which character is dying next while berating fictional life choices

Courtney and Rick are in the other room pouting, trying and failing to catch up on homework

On the flip side, Beth makes Yolanda watch cartoons with her after horror movies because between school and the JSA, they need other ways to relax and unwind. Yolanda ends up loving The Owl House

“I started watching it because Luz looks like me. I kept watching because it’s so good.” “Yolanda! You did get hooked, you big nerd!”

Beth also finds out that Yolanda is also really into She-Ra, which may or may not have to do with how Catra and Adora look like Yolanda and Courtney. Beth doesn’t stop grinning and nudging her for the rest of the night when she sees Yolanda blushing over Catra and Adora

“You guys could dress up as them for Halloween!”

Despite their different tastes, they both enjoy true crime and history shows. They’re both fans of Drunk History and the Drunk Mystery Halloween episodes

And Beth is surprised to learn that Yolanda has a soft spot for period dramas as well. The both love Hidden Figures and The Personal History of David Copperfield

Yolanda is what Artemis likes to refer to as a distinguished bi. She knew that she was bi since she was fourteen when her abuelito pointed out that the way she acted around the very pretty ballerina in her dance class was the exact same as the way she acted around the very charming baseball player

“Abuelito, oh my god! Did anyone else notice?” “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, mija. You just have very good taste in people, just like your Tia Mimi.” “Tia Mimi likes girls too?”

And thus, her abuelito technically became the first person she came out to

She’s out to only two other people in her family, her little brother and her abuelita. It’s not like her parents would be disappointed in her for being bisexual (the congregation that the Montezes go to is fairly open) but Yolanda wasn’t able to talk with them about it because of her estrangement with them

Whenever she gets a crush on someone, she does this little honking laugh that makes Rick look at her in a mix of horror and confusion

“What the hell, is that your laugh? Stop flirting and help me find Hootie before Beth finds out he’s missing.”

It’s what clues him in to Yolanda’s crush on Courtney

Due to her estrangement from her parents, Yolanda didn’t think about having a quinceañera, but the JSA decides to throw her one with help from Yolanda’s abuelita, Socorro “Coco” Zurita, who’s played by Adriana Barraza. Aside from Tia Mimi who’s played by Marisa Ramirez and Yolanda’s cousins Josefa and Charo, played by Lee Rodriguez and Herizen Guardiola, Abuelita Coco is pretty much the only other family member besides Alex who still talks with her and she will make sure that her granddaughter has a wonderful quinces

Yolanda was never really a big fan of big, poofy dresses because they remind her of the itchy netted dresses that she had to wear for her first communion and other big church events she had to go to as a kid. So Beth and abuelita Coco decide to surprise her by making a skirted jumpsuit instead

And while she doesn't wear heels that often, joining Beth at her dance classes helps ensure that she rocks the Wildcat blue shoes that Courtney picks out for her

Beth, Courtney, and Artemis all pitch in to get a cat eye necklace for Yolanda to wear at her quinces. Yolanda denies crying when they give it to her

“Are you crying?” “It’s my allergies acting up, no big deal.”

And instead of the father-daughter dance, the JSA just converges on Yolanda for one big slow group dance One Day at a Time style

Yolanda and Courtney have more than a few slow dances together

She has nicknames for everyone in the JSA. Courtney is Shooting Star, Beth is Sunshine, Artemis is Hawkeye, and Rick is John Bender

“Seriously, Yolanda? You couldn’t have been more creative.” “Would you rather I call you One Minute Man?” “Ugh, just don’t say it in front of Beth.”

Yolanda knows so many Selena songs by heart because abuelita Coco is a huge fan. She grew up singing along to Bidi Bidi Bom Bom and Como La Flor and it’s almost a Pavlovian response to sing along to a Selena song whenever she hears one on the radio during JSA car trips

Courtney and Beth totally sing along with her while Artemis heckles them and Rick just groans and tells the girls to keep it down when he’s trying to drive

Yolanda is the only JSA member that Beth’s goggles will work for, but she still can’t make the staff glow. However, she’s the only person (other than Courtney and Pat) who’s able to order it around

“Wait, why is she able to order it around?” “Maybe because it knows Yolanda is a boss.”

#Stargirl #Yolanda Montez #Courtney Whitmore #Starcat #ship it

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thestarkerisobvious · 4 years

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The Ghost Of Peter Parker

inspired by the amazing art work by @starker-sorbet

A snugglefic for @mrstarksbabyy

With great thanks for the betaread by @mrstarksbabyy

It was a strange idea, that in March, Peter was still embarrassed by getting an erection around Tony.

Now, on the first day of April, Peter longed to worry about something so simple.

He clung to Tony’s neck, weeping in relief that he didn’t have to decide whether or not to kill Mr. Lovelace. That decision had already been made by a scolding he had given Tony when he was 15. He didn’t even know Tony had been listening.

Tony held him close, not even feeding, rocking him and smoothing back his hair. He sang very softly, something that might have been Portuguese. But when he

tried to kiss Peter’s tears away, Peter objected.

“Don’t take my sadness, I don’t want to forget this. I need to remember what we’ve… what I’ve done.”

“There are many ripe berries on this bush, sweet Master. Let me pic a few,” Tony murmured.

For a while Peter thought he might never want to move. He was being cradled in Tony’s arms like a baby, being held close, his face kissed. But as time passed he began to feel silly, so he pushed his way out of Tony’s arms and wiped his face dry with the back of his hands. “Okay, so killing him is out. What are we going to do?” Peter asked calmly.

Letting Tony take the edge off his guilt and panic helped quite a bit, Peter realized, as he and Tony strategized, Peter leaning against Tony’s chest, Tony feeding from the vein in his wrist.

“There are at least 4 more cats in the barn, if you can catch them. I think they know they’re food now…

“They cannot escape me,” Tony said, looking up from Peter’s wrist with an eerie smile.

“…and at least three owls in the barn, maybe four. But they’re very small. If I feed you now, and you get to them the moment it gets dark, is that enough for this?”

Tony shook his head and looked up, kissing Peter’s hand. “I cannot tell,” he said, keeping his lips next to Peter’s fingers. “First, give me permission to sleep in the ground if I must, and I will return to this room when I am able, but I may needs rest in the darkness for many nights. Mayhap I may speak to you in dreams. But if you feed me every night, the way you fed me at Mabon, it will suffice.”

Peter sighed. “I’m going to have to join 4H and start raising goats, aren’t I?” he mused as Tony went back to sucking on his wrist. “Wait that probably won’t work – I’d flunk 4H if all my goats mysteriously died. Rabbits. I’ll have to convince May and Ben we can really raise rabbits. Then just act surprised when they turn up missing…”

Tony’s smile was unreadable. His eyes wandered down Peter’s chest. He lifted his mouth and he looked as if he were about to say something, but changed his mind, and returned to feeding.

“Look Mr. Lovelace killed his wife with his 44, that’s what Miss Drury said Missy said. He has a 44, his gun from the army, a long hunting rifle he was taking walks with. And we already know he can kill a dog from 40 feet away with the rifle That’s how John Wickam’s dog died. Mr. Lovelace denied it, but the Wickam’s saw it happen. That man is crazy, but he’s a damn good shot.

“Miss Drury called Aunt May to let me know Missy was okay. She was surprised that I didn’t know about it… Miss Drury is, I mean. Missy said she saw me last night. She said I didn’t even talk to her, but pointed her to the road she was to meet Miss Drury on. When she said she was scared to walk down it I held her hand until we saw Miss Drury’s Rabbit’s headlights. She said I must have been sleepwalking because I never spoke. Miss Drury said it must have been her guardian angel. All I know is Aunt May spent the next 20 minutes explaining how no one in our family sleepwalks…”

Tony licked a long, slow stripe up Peter’s wrist, then kissed it tenderly, meaning he was finished feeding. Then he turned and looked into Peter’s eyes, bringing their foreheads together.

“You told me to take her fear. You told me to consume it completely.”

“It was you?”

“She fled to Chimney Hill. She has no fear of that place. She has forgotten the story of Tom Dylan, but she remembers that Laura Foster once lived on Chimney Hill. Then, from the hill to the dead oak, and from the oak to the lake, there was full moonlight. She no longer fears darkness. But past the lake, under the trees, she was blind. She was afraid. I took it all. But when she came in sight of the house, she feared to pass. She still fears the house. I met her at the path to point her the way. I knew what you wished. I showed her nothing frightening. I showed her you.

“But she would not take the road east. She said she was too afraid. She asked if I was the ghost of you. But when I smiled at her, and held her hand. My hand was warm. She came with me down the road. Pardon, Master, I know you do not wish her to wish to hold your hand…”

Peter took Tony’s face in both hands and kissed him. A real kiss, without feeding. Tony did nothing, at first. Only opened his mouth a little bit, tilting his head a little bit until Peter let him go.

“Thank you,” was all Peter said. It was all he could think to say.

“I have served you well,” Tony whispered, and now his long arms were wrapping around Peter and Peter relaxed against his shoulder as Tony kissed his face. This was normal Tony-behavior, and Peter gave himself a moment to enjoy it.

“I will serve you most masterfully tonight, and you shall make me your beloved. You shall see all my skill. If an enemy of the family meets me in battle, the seals of Evorá, what is left of them, will feed me. I shall make him lay down where he stands, even in the middle of the road, he shall not rise until morning…”

“Wait, that doesn’t sound good. Isn’t that what you did to the pigs? When you made them lay down and die?”

“They laid down and died because I ate them.”

Peter shivered a little at Tony’s wicked smile. He knew he had to be very specific, now. He knew Tony was proud of his work.

“Well, don’t make him lay down in the middle of the road, he might get run over. What else can you do?

Tony ran a strong hand over Peter’s thigh, and then over his calf. Peter might have relaxed and enjoyed the touch under different circumstances.

“These… these are still called muscles? And what is this now called,” he said, his fingers tracing over Peter’s knee. It was a lovely feeling, and Peter made a mental note to get Tony to touch him there again when it was all over.

“The cartlidge?”

“The sinew, that which is not meat,” he indicated “meat” by firmly stroking Peter’s calf muscles again. “The sinew that connects the muscles to each other…”

“The ligaments?”

“There is light in these,” Tony explained, stroking Peter’s calf muscle with a firm but gentle hand. “When that light is gone, a man is not inclined to walk very far. And when the light is gone from this,” he stroked his hand under Peter’s knee, indicating the ligament. “A man is not inclined to move it at all. Although Mr. Lovelace is a man accustomed to a great deal of pain. That alone might not dissuade him.”

“I can take the light from the bone, but if I do, a man will surely die.”

“Don’t do that. And don’t make him lay down somewhere dangerous, like in the road or something. Wait, if you did that to his arms, could he use his arms? It’s important he not be able to shoot. Can you make his arms not move? If he couldn’t shoot, that would be something. He’s still huge though…”

Tony moved his hands and, slipping them into the small place between their bodies, placed both on Peter’s chest.

“There are two of these,” Tony said, caressing Peter’s chest in a way that was very distracting, even under the circumstances. “When the light is gone from one,” he whispered, moving one hand away and leaving the other in place,” a man is not inclined to walk very far.”

“What… you mean the lungs?”

“And there are two of these,” Tony said, sounding almost hungry. He moved his hands and placed them firmly on the Peter’s lower back, indicating, Peter assumed, his kidneys.

“When the light is gone from one, a man is not inclined to do anything.”

“But… you mean… for a while, right? The light comes back, doesn’t it?”

Tony looked disappointed. “That is tricky work, but it can be done.”

“Tony, can you make Aunt May be not-so scared?”

Tony smiled sadly. He looked down at Peter’s chest again, even reached out to stroke Peter’s chest with his knuckles, directly under his left nipple, but he never said why.

“If I could be two places at one time, yes,” he said with a wry smile. “But I am no longer that strong.”

Peter and May stayed up all night playing yahtzee and dominoes, finally sitting down to watch TV. For a while Uncle Ben sat in the car with his rifle, while Peter walked back and forth each hour to wake him up. Finally it was agreed that the whole family would be safer in the house. A tearful Aunt May complained that they left New York City because of the violence. She apologized to Peter, who only smiled, threw up his hands and attributed it to “fate.”

May and Ben discussed how miserable Peter had been when they first moved to Devil’s Holler, how he had cried almost every day for weeks. Peter tried to keep up his end of the conversation, but, in truth, he was wondering if Missy’s life would have been better, or worse, without him. At least the girl got to walk down a gravel road in the moonlight, holding Peter Parker’s hand. He wondered why Tony could make the girl forget about Tom Dylan, but not about Laura Foster.

In the early morning hours both May and Ben fell asleep on the couch, allowing Peter to watch more interesting shows on their late-night channels, his eyes wide. He was wondering how he could wake up in the middle of the night to enjoy these shows in private when he heard something at the door.

He opened the door without hesitation to let Tony in. “Good job,” he whispered. The vaguely kitten-shaped bundle of fur made a small, vaguely catlike noise before dissolving into smoke and disappearing into the floor. Then he took his place back on the couch in front of the television. He knew there was no point in telling May and Ben to go to bed, even though he knew the danger was over. So he spent the rest of the night combing through old TV guides, looking for more information about the shows he was probably to chicken to watch.

It was amazing, what they could get away with on HBO.

---------------------

Master Post (not THAT Master Post, the big list)

as always please direct comments, questions and constructive crit to @witchwayisright.

#The Thing That Lives Under The Bed #Demon!Tony #But not THAT Demon!Tony #TheWitchway writes stuff #Starker

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szopenhauer · 4 years

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it seems that the average survey-taker is a white american female, aged 15-19, who has a car, a cell phone, and an extensive social circle. is this true for you? I’m a white female but not from America and I’m much older, have no car nor friends, just cellphone

have you seen any silent films? I love Buster Keaton

would you rather be an actor, director, or soundtrack producer? actress and director

have you seen nbc’s ‘hannibal’? thoughts? (if you haven’t, do you want to?) no and don’t want to, yuk

on websites where you’re permitted to change your username, do you do so often, or do you keep the same one for long periods of time? I usually change after a few months

does your computer have a name? I didn’t call this annoying piece of shit anyhow but maybe if I had a better computer...

are you eager to see how far science + technology will advance, or do you prefer an older way of doing things? do you think we are better off with these advancements, or not? I wish we had choice, I would like the world to be balanced, a bit of this and a bit of that, some advancements are necessary, some are cool but some are awful

what is your favourite comic book or graphic novel? does your favourite novel come in comic-book form? (if not, would you like it to?) I don’t read comics but from those I ever tried my fav manga was Doubt, webcomic (those I saw several but I forgot most of the titles by now) - Lackadaisy and I am fan of Aldebaran and Betelgeza

Any friends who are constantly venting about their boyfriend?: it was common - me listening complains about my crush’es exes or current boyfriends/lovers/crushes

Have you ever been ice-skating?: once, in high school, didn’t like it

Does the sound of rain at night help you sleep?: yeah

Did the end of Public Enemies make you sad?: I didn’t finish the movie

Do you obsessively apply lip-gloss or lip balm?: ewww, not at all

Do you think you’d have what it takes to shoot someone if you had to protect yourself?: I believe

What’s your most noticeable flaw?: ugh...

Have you ever walked into a massive cobweb? yes and that was awful because it was full of dead bugs

When you can tell that someone’s lying, do you call them out on it?: often

How many other blogs do you follow on Tumblr?: more than 300

Does it ever scare you how fast time can go by?: could say so

Have you ever replied “OK” when someone confessed they liked you?: possibly :x

What does your grandma call you?: sigh...

What would you do for immortality and infinite youth?: dunno, definitely wouldn’t sell my soul or kill an innocent person but I would do some stuff for immortality

Would you rather have a pool or a hot tub?: neither

Have you ever worn a nipple tassel?: haven’t

Ever played hide and seek in the woods on horseback at night?: wow, that’s weirdly specific and now I want this somehow :o

Have you ever held a baby chick?: wild bird’s babies and I regret that because it’s not helfpul for them actually

Do you think wine tastes like rotten fruit? yep

Have you ever felt the need to hide something about yourself?: sometimes, from certain people, I should be myself most of the time tho

Do you think pearls are attractive?: umm...

Have you ever wished you had a different name? Which name would you choose? but I like male ones more or non polish

Have you ever customised an item of clothing? I designed and my mom helped me, made changes for me

Do you prefer drawing or painting? prefer to draw but look at paintings

Are you saving up for anything right now? What? if I could/had money to save then I would save for a bike, laptop, my own apartment etc.

Do you own any figurines? cats, dogs, elephants, clowns, horses and others

If you have any siblings, how much rivalry is between you all? it’s complicated

When did you last have itchy eyes? recently

Is it dark outside right now? it’s getting darker

Do you prefer framed photos or just sticking photos straight onto walls? I prefer them in an album, takes less space

What’s your favourite type of cake? used to love sękacz the most

Have you ever woken up from a dream and believed it to have been real? I was confused

If there’s a bug in your room, can you sleep or do you need to get it out? it depends on how annoying/dangerous it is

Do you prefer travelling alone or with people? I like to travel with my dad

What was the last baby animal you saw? pic or irl?

Do you give people high fives or hugs more often? hugs

How long have you known the last person you kissed? I knew her 10 years ago for awhile then we lost contact until this spring

When angry, do you get loud or quiet? depends

What do you currently hear right now? my parents talking

Who of the opposite sex has seen you at your worst? dad

Last person you saw? parent

Did you have a nap today? nope

Are you easy to get along with? am not

When was the last time you were told you were cute? recently my gf called me cute and I’m like Catra about it

Have you ever forgotten to put on an oven mitt before you took something extremely hot out of the oven? not over, just hot pot

Do you own one of those airwick things that automatically sprays every few minutes? hell no

How many light bulbs are on in the room you are currently in? 3, one doesn’t work

Have you ever had your phone taken away at school before? almost, teacher heard it calling but before they found out who’s phone that was it stopped ringing and I was safe

Do you look better with or without glasses? I’m always ugly

What is your favorite type of bird? chicken, owl, flamingo, crow, barn swallow...

Did you go fishing a lot when you were younger? Do you now? I hate fishing, never been nor will go

Do you like more flowery scents or more clean scents? no scents, thank you Do you own a manual or electric toothbrush? manual, electric are horrible Preferred brand of toothpaste? m current is Meridol Piece of make-up you cannot live without? I can live without it

Do you prefer heels or flats? flats are more comfy but I know how to walk in heels, just don’t like to

Do you eat meat? yep Do you still watch cartoons regularly? I recently started watching She-ra with my gf but before that I didn’t watch any animated shows for a long time (just fragments/episodes maybe) Do you leave the TV on and sleep to it? never Ever considered cannibalism? r u serious?... this is scary, I’m gonna puke :x Ever licked a battery? I’m not stupid What does your name mean? lily which was also going to be my name Do animals go to Heaven? hope so Babies are… irritating

When was the last time you saw a doctor? it would be easier to say when I didn’t because I see them too often Do you know anyone who is a firefighter? used to What was the last wedding you went to? my sister’s

What’s your favourite alcoholic beverage? blergh... Do you “binge-watch” tv shows? two episodes a day max What is your opinion of clowns? love Did you wear a necklace today? not today How old are your parents? about 60 What’s something odd you do when you’re anxious or nervous? personal Have you ever received a compliment from a stranger? I have, more than one time Is your wardrobe big enough for all your clothes? it’s not Do you plan ahead when it comes to your outfits? nah Have you ever shaved your face? I shaved my eyebrows (not whole) What colour is your front door? silver with white paint coming off Do you take the stairs or the elevator? stairs Would you ever try herbal medicine as opposed to conventional medicine? I tried Do you wear open-toed shoes? I despise those Have you ever been to a petting zoo? yeah, I was petting a raccoon <3 and chinchillas are so surprisingly fluffy When was the last time you wore a button up shirt? weeks ago How many times have you consumed alcohol? once Do you often forget what you were just about to say? ocassionally when interrupted What’s your opinion of Australia? wouldn’t go there Do you own any striped sweaters? absolutely :) Have there ever been any forest or grass fires in your area? as every summer, also trash burn quite often

What color is the trash can in your kitchen? yellow What does the cover on the last book you read look like? it has two people sitting in front of each other Do you wear green on St. Patrick’s Day? I don’t celebrate this holiday, I dislike it Are you even Irish? not even partially Have you ever gotten a wig? What did it look like and what was it for? I have a bunch of wigs How often do you use a shower cap? What does yours look like? I don’t own any If you wanted to get a cat, would you adopt from a shelter or buy from a breeder? Why? but I don’t want a cat What’s the shortest you’d be willing to cut your hair? almost bald? What do you do when you find a spiderweb in your room? leave it be or clean it

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twin-creeks · 5 years

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🤠 get to know me tag .

I was tagged by @matchmadeinmaxis ! thank you !!

RULES : Post a pic of your simself with your traits and answer the questions!

I’ve seen a bunch of people do this already but if you haven’t, I tag @cowconuts @seraphinabelle and @darlyssims and anybody who wants to do it.

my traits are loner, cat lover and self absorbed (my traits change all the time though :p)

more stuff below!!

1. what is your full name ? sora 2. what is your nickname ? sora, it’s two syllables my guy... 3. birthday ? 2nd of august 4. favourite book series ? I don’t read a lot of book series but I do remember enjoying junie b jones when i was younger 5. do you believe in aliens or ghosts ? I think I believe in ghosts and spirits however idk much about aliens but i do enjoy alien movies 6. favourite author ? donna tartt 7. favourite radio station ? theres a local radio station that plays old malay songs and they have karaoke sessions where people can call in the station and sing. it’s all elderly folks singing off-key, it’s amazing. 8. what is your favourite flavour of anything ? i love anything matcha flavoured 9. what word would you use often to describe something great or wonderful ? coolcoolcoolccoolcccollcoool 10. current favourite song? j’ouvert by brockhampton 11. what is your favourite word ? goop 12.last song you listened to ? weight by brockhampton 13. what tv show would you recommend for everybody to watch ? NATHAN FOR YOU I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH 14. favourite movie to watch when you’re feeling down ? fantastic mr fox 15.do you play video games ? yes 16. biggest fear ? losing my glasses in after being kidnapped 17. what is your best quality, in your opinion ? i like entertaining people ?? 18. what is your worst quality, in your opinion ? selfish 19. cats or dogs ? cats, im a masochist 20. favourite season ? summer 21. are you in a relationship ? nope 22. what is something you miss from your childhood ? my grandfather 23.who is your best friend ? [redacted] and [redacted] 24.what is your eye colour ? black 25. what is your hair colour ? black 26. who is someone you love ? my cats 27. who is someone you trust ? my friends 28.who is someone you think about often ? i think about nathan fielder everyday :) 29. are you currently excited about/for something ? i guess the holidays?? 30. what is your biggest obsession ? sims and nathan fielder 31. what was your favourite tv show as a child ? doraemon 32. who of the opposite gender can you tell anything to, if anyone ? my therapist 33. are you superstitious ? nope 34. do you have any unusual phobias ? not very unusual but i hate cockroaches and snakes. weirdly not opposed to spiders though.. i’m also a big ol’ germaphobe 35. do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it ? i wouldn’t mind either tbh 36. favourite hobby ? i love messing around in photoshop and scrabble 37. what was the last book you read ? a comic book called marbles 38. what was the last movie you watched ? i don’t feel at home in this world anymore 39. what musical instruments do you play, if any ? none, i’d love to learn the harmonica though. 40. what is your favorite animal ? cats and goats 41. what are your top 5 favorite tumblr blogs that you follow ? @matchmadeinmaxis , @cowconuts , @darlyssims , @seraphinabelle @pea-milk , @fourfinefreshfishforyou , @vampireloreskill i could go on... 42. what superpower do you wish you had? telekinesis 43. when and where do you feel most at peace? with my cats 44. what makes you smile? my cats 45. what sports do you play, if any? none 46. what is your favorite drink? green tea 47. when was the last time you wrote a hand-written letter or note to somebody? probably in school 48. are you afraid of heights? not really 49. what is your biggest pet peeve? people who only play 3-4 letter words on scrabble 50. have you ever been to a concert? ye 51. are you vegan/vegetarian? no 52. when you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? hannah montana 53. what fictional world would you like to live in? strangetown 54. what is something you worry about? my sanity 55. are you scared of the dark? depends 56. do you like to sing? yep 57. have you ever skipped school? yep 58. what is your favorite place on the planet? brighton beach 59. where would you like to live? japan 60. do you have any pets? i have 4 cats 61. are you more of an early bird or a night owl? night owl 62. do you like sunrises or sunsets better? sunsets?? but sunrises are nice too 63. do you know how to drive? no 64. do you prefer earbuds or headphones? headphones 65. have you ever had braces? nop 66. what is your favourite genre of music? according to spotify, my most listened to genre is art pop. but i listen to many different types of music 67. who is your hero? nathan fielder 68. do you read comic books? yes 69. what makes you the most angry? 3 letter scrabble words 70. do you prefer to read on an electronic device or with a real book? i like a real book 71. what is your favourite subject in school? biology 72. do you have any siblings? one brother and sister 73. what was the last thing you bought? food 74. how tall are you? 5′5 i think?? 75. can you cook? uhh i try 76. what are three things that you love? my cats 77. what are three things that you hate? my cats 78. do you have more female friends or more male friends? i have more female friends 79. what is your sexual orientation? bi bi bye 80. where do you currently live? [redacted] 81. who was the last person you texted? my friends 82. when was the last time you cried? two nights ago while watching okja 83. who is your favorite youtuber? cody ko, noel miller, call me kevin reviewbrah there’s lots more 84. do you like to take selfies? i don’t take them very often, i don’t hate it either 85. what is your favorite app? the notes app 86. what is your relationship with your parent(s) like? it’s alright 87. what is your favorite foreign accent? any asian accent, ALL the asian accents. 88. what is a place that you’ve never been to, but you want to visit? iceland and japan 89. what is your favorite number? 7 90. can you juggle? hell no 91. are you religious? HELL no 92. do you find outer space of the deep ocean to be more interesting? outer space. i’m a trash swimmer 93. do you consider yourself to be a daredevil? i don’t think so 94. are you allergic to anything? shellfish 95. can you curl your tongue? yes 96. can you wiggle your ears? no 97. how often do you admit that you were wrong about something? i don’t know??? 98. do you prefer the forest or the beach? beaches baby 99. what is your favorite piece of advice that anyone has ever given you? idk 100. are you a good liar? yes maybe? it depends 101. what is your hogwarts house? i don’t really care for harry potter sorry!! 102. do you talk to yourself? yes and to my cats 103. are you an introvert or an extrovert? ambivert 104. do you keep a journal/diary? yes but i rarely update it 105. do you believe in second chances? yes 106. if you found a wallet full of money on the ground, what would you do? i’ll probably leave it there 107. do you believe that people are capable of change? yes and yes 108. are you ticklish? yes and i hate it 109. have you ever been on a plane? yes 110. do you have any piercings? only my ears, i do wish to get more 111. what fictional character do you wish was real? all the characters from bob’s burgers 112. do you have any tattoos? no i wish 113. what is the best decision that you’ve made in your life so far? starting a simblr?? sounds lame but i do enjoy it 114. do you believe in karma? yes 115. do you wear glasses or contacts? only glasses my eyesight is absolute garbage 116. do you want children? maybe someday 117. who is the smartest person you know? my friends 118. what is your most embarrassing memory? i once peed at my school without anybody knowing about it. it makes a really funny story though 119. have you ever pulled an all-nighter? too many times 120. what color are most of you clothes? white and beige, i dress like charles boyle from b99 121. do you like adventures? yes 122. have you ever been on tv? we shall not speak of it 123. how old are you? 16 124. what is your favorite quote? i don’t have one 125. do you prefer sweet or savory foods? i’m a big ol’ sweet tooth

#this tag killed me #tags #my edit

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margseliserobbie · 2 years

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[text]: It doesn't help that because the clothes are so small there's room for more of them. It also doesn't help when they need an Austin/LA wardrobe and a Rhode Island wardrobe, just in case! He loves babies, doesn't he? He can be their mini protector when Dads are preoccupied. She's in LA, so a little more convenient since I'm sure you'll be out there sooner than you'll be in Texas. She's awesome and I know you'll love her! She has a little girl too, but Solei is a little older than Piper. We do too. 😊 Haha, they have a few things in common with being so cute and all, but I'm sure that list will grow as they become best friends. She was so happy!

[text]: We are! We got home yesterday afternoon so last night was our first night flying solo. This whole not sleeping thing is no joke, but it's so worth it. Maybe they slipped some happy drugs into my epidural because I'm content with it, even if exhausted.

[text]: that's so very true! multiple wardrobes for our babies! right now, we just have LA and NYC wardrobes but soon enough, an Aussie wardrobe when our house is finished being built! well, not so soon enough.. it's still very much a work in progress, haha. Axe does love babies and he definitely has that protector instinct like his daddy. Seb is so overprotective (in the best way) and I've noticed it in Axel. It's so sweet seeing pieces of us in him, especially when he looks up to his daddy so much. Oh, perfect! We'll be in LA until about February 7th until we have to jet off to London for Barbie. Barbie doesn't film until March but we want to get the kids adjusted to the timezone before I have to start working. I've seen pics and videos of your niece and nepew and they're so adorable! hopefully we can make this playdate happen before we have to jet off!

[text]: awe, yay! I'm so happy to hear that! the pure bliss doesn't wear off any time soon, I promise! Pipes is still a night owl but I genuinely enjoy our quality time together in the middle of the night. I call it our little bonding time. I'm so, so happy for you, Liv. I know I keep saying that. I know how badly you've been wanting this and now you and Danny have such a perfect little family! you're such a natural and know you're already the best mum. I cannot wait to come see you, see you with your baby girl, and meet her. I know I'm a bit far away but please let me know if you need anything at all, even if it's me sending you meals via UberEats or something!

#text:olivia

0 notes

chooseandact · 7 years

Text

Twitter (and GIF)’s DA!Prompts, Pt. 2

Tags @insectoid5, @frozenartscapes, @hathor-frozen, @ultranos, & @kalikoke. Some more Twitter (and GIF) prompts, again below the cut

#1: Computer Chaos

You recall the Org’s inner feud between the Field Agents and Desk jockeys? After suffering one too many jabs at not having constant, temperature-controlled places to work on the one day she happens to be in the office, Elsa decides to bring in the heat. Her target? The newest hot-shot Desk Tech who thinks she’s All That, the one who brags how simple everything is, and how fast she can get it done. Few like her. Elsa gets a screenshot of the WannaCry ransomware note and when the target goes for lunch and leaves their computer unlocked, Elsa applies it as the background and wipes all the desktop icons (not the programs) to the garbage/recycle bin:

(Source: @chrisplummer)

When they return 1hr later, all hell breaks loose. Adding to the horror, 5 other computers also have the ransomware note (2 of the computers are owned by Field Agents for the rare times they have desk work. Some Agents followed suit and plastered the pic as their background, in order to allay suspicion that the malware just happened to only attack the Techies). D knows something is up, since the Org has DEO-level cyber-security, counter-measures, etc, and is not amused in the slightest. Eventually, one of the non-cocky rookie Techs realizes it’s a jpeg background (Notice: the taskbar is still visible. IRL, the note would cover the whole screen) and everything is fixed.

The Techies are bitter that they fell for such a simple trick, but knowing that it's what the Agents consider “tame”, they’ll keep their traps shut for the foreseeable future lest the hammer really fall. And the cocky Tech who thought she was All That was taken down a peg or two, so there’s that.

(D later takes Elsa aside and says despite actually enjoying the hotshot desk person being taken town, to never pull that sort of stunt again in the future without permission/coordination from authorities, i.e. him. He wants in on the pranks, but also doesn’t want them to get out of hand.)

#2: Angry Cat

With her photography hobby of general life and snow crystals, Elsa has lots of pics. One day, she goes to snap a shot of Lagrange the tabby, but Gauss the shorthair, being a few months older than Lagrance, cannot let such an offense stand:

(Source: @thatdamnvegann)

(I think it’s a tabby eating and shorthair glaring?? I don’t know cat breeds well. Just basing off this.) But she’s using film instead of digital, so she won’t see the prints until they’re developed. And when they come… [terrified screams]

#3: Ice Dance Moves!

How to the Arendelles know winter is here, besides the snow and ice?

(UUugh, this GIF took SO. LONG. to find. Source: this vine by Logan Paul)

Anyone who’s “uncoordinated [and] with no rhythm” (cough*Elsa*cough) suddenly becomes a break dancer!

#4: Jailbreak

By now, we all know of the Arendelle’s problems with animals in the house: otters, owls, koalas (almost twice!), and monkeys (actually twice!). I say, why not add another! The sisters go to the zoo, and while there are given the opportunity to pet a new panda cub with the staff. As is protocol, everyone dons scrubs before entering the bear’s holding section, Elsa leading, followed by Anna and 1 staff member. To everyone’s confusion, they cannot see the cub, and it’s not in its usual resting spot either. Why is that?

As Ash Warner said, “this baby panda, raised on a steady diet of jason statham [sic] movies, knew exactly how to escape its captors”. It then follows the example set by the koala as reported in this Reuters article from Australia, hiding in the wheel well of the Arendelle’s car and “following” the duo home.

#5: Snow Cat

Norway gets a large dump of snow one night. Being an outdoor cat, Olaf happens to be outside the night it falls. Minor panic sets in after breakfast when the sisters can’t find him, until one of them recalls letting him out for the night. They open the door to chest-high snow, throwing their plans to search for him into disarray. Elsa decides to try calling for him. Anna protests, saying that cats just don’t respond to calling like dogs do, yet Elsa insists. Chalking up this behavior as her sister simply not being a morning person even with coffee, Anna waits for failure. Alas, for her:

Anna is stunned it worked while Elsa is comfortably smug as she holds Olaf.

#6: Hot and Cold

Elsa is sick, and against Anna’s wishes, she takes a mission. Not having enough time to brew a complete Death Wish/cough syrup concoction, Elsa improvises:

(Source: @Feministnerd)

1 sick!Elsa + 1 flame thrower* + 2 tablespoons of cough meds + 3 shots of Death Wish espressos = ????? [Untold damages, really]

*I choose to see it as a flamethrower instead of the little torch. They have Area of Effect damage, a feature notably not present in the torch, or more to the point, the specifically-calibrated sniper rifles Elsa uses. Besides, flame throwers are much more fun and burn-y! Oooooh, fiiiiirreee!! And no, @mighty-meerkat’s pyromaniac Marisol Eldora is not involved in this mission. Nope, why would you ask such a thing?

#Domestic Assassin AU #Pictures

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vacationsoup · 5 years

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New Post has been published on https://vacationsoup.com/bird-watching-on-marco-island/

Bird Watching on Marco Island

Marco Island's beautiful birds are one of the island's greatest assets. Bird watching on Marco Island is especially rewarding. There are so many species native to the island.

Marco Island Osprey

This osprey is posing on Tigertail Beach. Although these majestic birds are not normally people friendly, this one seemed to enjoy the attention!! If you are like me, it is special to capture a beautiful photo to use in your home. What a precious vacation memory! This osprey's picture is now in Sea Mar Condo!

There are many birds which are native to Marco Island and the southern Florida area. Some birds that are more common on Marco Island include the white egret, osprey, pelican, bald eagle and burrowing owl.

The Great Florida Birding Trail

Tigertail Beach Park is located on the Great Florida Birding Trail. It is a nice place to see and photograph many species of birds. There are other bird watching sites around Marco Island. They include Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Briggs Nature Center, Frank E. Mackle Jr. Community Park, Eagle Lakes Community Park and Sugden Regional Park. A short 40 minute drive to Big Cypress Welcome Center and Turner Loop Road near Everglades City are also great birding sites.

Burrowing Owls on Marco Island

Burrowing Owls at Resident's Beach

Marco Island has been recognized by the Audubon Society for their efforts to increase the numbers of burrowing owls. The small owls are protected by both the state of Florida and the city of Marco Island. Many island residents have volunteered to adopt and offer protective housing (borrows) for these beautiful birds. For the last three years, a family of burrowing owls have made their nest on Resident's Beach, a private beach for residents and long term renters on the island. The owls are given a wide roped off space, but are yet visible to beachgoers. Hint: They tend to pose for pics in the morning and late afternoon hours.

Osprey on the Island

Anytime you are on the water around Marco Island, you will likely see large osprey nests built of sticks on channel markers. Ospreys have a large brown back and a white underside. Visitors to Marco Island see these birds soaring around condo buildings and over the Gulf waters. They are very large with wingspans of between 4-5 feet. Ospreys soar above the shallow water along the beach, then hover briefly before diving feet first to grab a fish. The bird then takes off with its fish to carry it back to its nest or perch. It is not uncommon to see ospreys perched on a building or along the beach on driftwood in the Tigertail area.

Lots of Pelicans on Marco Island

Brown Pelicans

Brown Pelican Photo Credit: Brenda McPherson

This is my favorite bird to watch on Marco Island! What fun it is to see these impressive divers circling high above the Gulf waters before diving headfirst in search of the perfect feast. Often you will see the brown pelicans fly in group formation in a V-shape along the water. Pelicans are plentiful on Marco. It is common to be in the water and see one swoop within a few feet. Watch the pelican as it expands its throat pouch to trap fish, filling it with over 2 gallons of water, then enjoying a tasty meal! A friend of mine took the picture to the left as we left on a Marco Island Princess dinner cruise. This picture is also in Sea Mar Condo for our guests to enjoy! See our full article on brown pelicans by clicking on the following link: https://vacationsoup.com/marco-island-wildlifethe-brown-pelican/

White Pelicans

More rare to spot when bird watching on Marco Island are white pelicans. They arrive in the area in late fall and stay until the early spring. The white pelican has white feathers and a pink-tangerine colored bill. They are shy and prefer isolated areas like mangrove islands. White pelicans are less social than brown pelicans. Your chances of seeing a white pelican are better during a boat tour of the 10,000 islands with binoculars. White pelicans also differ from brown pelicans by working as a team to herd their food prey, fluffing their wings to assemble and gather the fish.

Bald Eagles on Marco Island

Bald Eagle Photo Credit: Marco Island Nature Preserve & Bird Sanctuary

Marco Island Nature Preserve is home to the island's nesting American Bald Eagles during nesting season. The preserve is located at 665 Tigertail Court, Marco Island, FL. They work alongside volunteers of Marco Island to guarantee the safety of the active Bald Eagle nest on the island. Visitors may visit during nesting season between November and May. You can also view a live web cam during the year to see eagle activity by viewing this link: https://www.earthcam.com/usa/florida/marcoisland/eagle/?cam=marcoisland

The Marco Island Nature Preserve & Bird Sanctuary also has a FaceBook page with lots of great information on these majestic birds and their activity during the year.

Roseate Spoonbill

Pink Spoonbills in Flight

Birdwatching on Marco Island is more exciting with color! Another of my favorite birds around Marco and the 10,000 island area is the roseate spoonbill. The spoonbill is a beautiful pink wading bird. Although rare to see on Marco, they have been spotted near Tigertail Beach. Visitors taking eco tours of the 10,000 islands commonly get to see the roseate spoonbill. I was fortunate enough to see one on a boat tour a few years ago and again on a drive along Turner Loop Road in the Everglades. The roseate spoonbill has bright pink feathers and red eyes with a giant spoon-shaped bill. These birds are especially beautiful in flight flying with their outstretched necks. A couple of neat facts about the spoonbill: They bald as they mature by losing feathers from the top of their head. And their pink color comes from the crustaceans they eat containing pigments called carotenoids that turn their feathers pink.

Least Terns Nesting on Marco Island

Least Terns on Tigertail Beach

The least tern is the smallest of the American terns. They grow to a length of 8 1/2 to 9 inches with a wingspan of 21-23 inches. Tigertail Beach on Marco Island is one of the largest nesting areas in Southwest Florida for the least tern. This bird has a gray back, black wings, a yellow beak and a white belly. It also has pointed wings and a forked tail. Least terns nest in colonies and stay on sandy beaches with a path to the water. They also are listed as a threatened species. Visitors to the island can walk along the north tip of Tigertail Beach during nesting season (April-August) and see large colonies of 200 or more least terns nesting. Nesting areas are roped off to protect the nesting birds. Signs give warnings to keep a distance from nesting birds.

Black Skimmers on Marco

Black Skimmers

Black skimmers can be found year round on Marco Island. The island has the largest black skimmer colony in the state at the end of Tigertail Beach. Many of the black skimmers on Marco are banded to track the movements, lifespans, and survival rate of the species. Black skimmers also nest in large colonies around April-August. Visitors to the Big Marco Pass area during nesting season can see colonies of 400 or more black skimmers. The area is roped off and visitors must keep a distance from the nesting birds. Although normally a calm bird, the black skimmer will dive bomb anything getting close to a nest of newly hatched chicks. During the winter months, visitors to the island will see black skimmers resting on the beach in front of the Marriott.

The black skimmer has a wingspan of around 45 inches. They have a black back, white belly, orange-red legs, and a black-and-red bill. Orange color on their bill and legs make them easy to spot. Black skimmers fly very low above the water.

Snowy Egrets Along the Beach

Snowy Egret

It's not often you walk along Marco Island's beautiful beaches without one of these guys joining you! Known for their "strut" and "ruffled feathers" the snowy egret can become quite comical in their appearance. (Makes for a great photo!) The snowy egret is a water bird that is around 26" tall with white feathers and a black bill. It has black legs and bright yellow feet. In spring, the egret has "fancy" lace-like feathers on its head and along its back for its showy displays of courtship. Marco's snowy egrets are very used to people and will virtually "walk the beach" with you!

Great Blue Heron

The great blue heron is the tallest of the wading birds. It is slate blue in color with a white head, a black stripe above the eye, and a yellow bill. This bird has a wing span of 65-79 inches. The blue heron is a solitary bird that can usually be seen standing motionless in shallow water. I have seen great blue heron along Tigertail. Taking an eco tour or a drive to the Everglades along Turner Road is a great way to see a blue heron.

Anhinga (Piano Bird)

Female Anhinga (Piano Bird)

The Anhinga is a most unusual bird. It swims with its webbed feet, can dive under water, and spears its food by rapidly stretching out the neck. Anhingas feathers are not waterproof as other types of water birds and their feathers get soaked when they are submerged in water. They cannot stay in the water for long periods of

Anhinga diving

time. The bird stands with it's feathers fanned out to dry. Anhingas are seen with outstretched wings in trees once they are dry enough to fly. The male anhinga is a glossy black with white tail feathers. When outstretched, the bottom of the male's wings have white strips that resemble piano keys and they are sometimes called "paino birds". The female is pale gray in color or light brown. I took the picture of this bird at the Big Cypress Welcome Center along the boardwalk.

Sea Mar Condo is the Perfect Place to Stay for Bird Watching on Marco Island

Sea Mar Condo is located on the south end of Tigertail Beach and the north end of Marco Island's South (Crescent Beach). Our 19th floor penthouse condo overlooks South Beach with beautiful views of the beach and Gulf waters. We are a short 40 minute drive to Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades City. There are many guided eco tours of the 10,000 islands from a short 5 minute drive to Caxambus Park or Rose Marina. All of these areas are perfect for bird watching on Marco Island (and surrounding areas). Visit our website https://seamarcondo.com/ for more information on Marco Island and Sea Mar Condo. We would love to have you as our guests!

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animalistauntamedblog · 5 years

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Imagine a Forbidden Area, left to slumber for 100 years, in which lies a ‘Fairytale Valley’,“where diamonds were once so common they could be picked up in handfuls as they gleamed in the light of the moon.”

“The most unspoiled large plot of land left on the planet, and the only arid biodiversity hotspot.” A unique wilderness almost the size of Belgium, of “towering dunes, sea cliffs, soaring inselbergs¹, panoramic views, lonely gravel plains, the fourth largest meteorite crater in the world, and mass flowerings that follow spring rains.” A dramatic landscape of desert, grassland, coast and mountains.

This is the Sperrgebiet National Park. The park surrounding a diamond mine is an industrial exclusion zone where Nature holds sway.

(More about the Sperrgebiet shortly)

We humans have found a million ways to deface the planet. Our expanding cities devour the land, we crisscross it with highways, we strip away forests, and crush it under factories, we gauge out mines. We disfigure it with scars of a magnitude visible from space.

But do our worst, we cannot keep unstoppable Nature at bay forever. And when large industrial complexes for example, set up heavily protected security zones around them to keep unauthorised humans out, Nature seizes the slightest of chances to move right on in. Her healing hands transfigure what we have blighted into havens pulsing with life. Life finds a way to flourish in the most unlikely of places. Not least in industrial exclusion zones.

Introducing the Industrial Exclusion Zones

Possibly the most infamous of them all – the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

In 1986, the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl exploded and deadly radiation spread for hundreds of miles in smoke and dust, air and water. Every human being was evacuated from within a 30 km radius of the plant, and forbidden to return. An exclusion zone of 4000 km² was created. Fences and radiation warning signs were erected.

But wildlife is no respecter of fences and doesn’t read signs.

CEZ fence and wild dog inside the zone

30 years after the event, John Wendle made a visit to the CEZ for the National Geographic magazine, and wrote of finding “the tracks of wolf, moose, deer, badger, and horses. I counted scores of birds: ravens, songbirds, three kinds of birds of prey, and dozens of swans paddling in the radioactive cooling pond.”

And Ukrainian scientist Sergey Gaschak confirmed, “We have all large mammals: red deer, roe deer, wild boar, moose, bison, brown bear, lynx, wolves, two species of hare, beaver, otter, badger, some martins, some mink, and polecats.” And a score of other mammals including bats, as well as ten or more species of big birds: hawks, eagles, owls, storks, and swans. What a wealth of wildlife!

Wolf in Chernobyl – Sergey Gaschak

That was 2015. Now a bang-up-to-date 2019 study agrees – wildlife is abundant in the CEZ. Nature is thriving. Nature has taken over. Because we are not there.

“In the exclusion zone, humans have been removed from the system and this greatly overshadows any of those potential radiation effects.”

But the CEZ may be shrinking. Professor Jim Smith from Portsmouth University has been monitoring its radiation levels since 1990. In the outer regions of the CEZ radiation levels are lower than we would get flying on a plane or having a CT scan. And lower than the natural background radiation in many other parts of the world. In the decades to come, as people start to move back into the zone, what will happen to the fabulous wealth of wildlife that has so flourished in their absence?

Even in active industrial installations Nature finds a way

The Secunda Synfuels Operations plant, South Africa

The securely-fenced compound of the Secunda Synfuels Operations plant has become an unexpected haven for servals. The servals have found Secunda’s exclusion zone such a great place to live that the ratio of serval numbers to area is “far greater than any other site on record across the entire range of the species.”

Happily for the servals, the compound intended to keep people out, encircles a large area of wetland. Wetland means a plentiful supply of rodents, and no prizes for guessing servals’ favourite food!

Secunda Synfuels scars the South African landscape but servals thrive – credit Daan Loock

Jwaneng, Botswana

There is little more commercially valuable and well-protected than diamonds. The Jwaneng diamond mine produces 11 million carats of diamonds per year, making it the richest diamond mine in the world. To get those precious stones, nearly 47 million tons of rock and ore are dug out every year. That is one big ugly scar on the face of the planet.

Jwaneng mine – Wikimedia

But the Jwaneng exclusion zone also encompasses the Jwana Game Park, home to the globally threatened lappet-faced vulture. Red hartebeest, impala, springbok, steenbok, duiker, wildebeest, gemsbok (oryx) kudu, eland, giraffe, zebra, warthog, baboon, cheetah, ostrich, leopard, caracal, and many other smaller animals are thriving in Jwana.

Venetia, South Africa

The Venetia diamond mine tells a similar story. South Africa’s biggest producer of diamonds, Venetia’s exclusion zone, all 360 km² of it, became the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve, notable for those most ancient of trees, the baobabs.

Pic of the life-giving baobob from Facebook (Prince Syeed)

Three of the ‘big five’, lion, elephant and leopard live there in safety, as well as “a broad array of large mammals such as African wild dogs, and cheetahs”.

Humans out, wildlife in.

Now to the Sperrgebiet, Namibia

German speakers will know that ‘Sperrgebiet’ means ‘Forbidden Area’. It lies within what was in 1908 – when diamonds were first discovered there – the colony of German South West Africa. The Forbidden Area, closed to the public for a century is now a national park extending over 26,000km². A national park with a difference, since nearly all of it is still forbidden to visitors. Though to this day diamonds continue to be mined there on a small-scale ,“the habitat is largely untouched and pristine.” It is a true wilderness.

Ancient signs still remain: “Warning. Penalty £500. Or One Year’s Imprisonment. The Public Is Warned Against Entering The Prohibited Area.”

Namibian springbok

“Exclusion of humans has helped preserve the natural biodiversity of the region which is now a hot-spot for exotic flora and fauna. The Sperrgebiet has more biodiversity than anywhere else in Namibia, supporting animals such as the gemsbok, springbok, and brown hyena, and bird species such as the African oystercatcher, the black-headed canary, and the dune lark. Some 600,000 Cape fur seals live here, representing 50 percent of the world’s seal population.”

80 terrestrial mammal species have been recorded there, and reptile species are abundant.

As for the flora:

There are 776 types of plants in the Sperrgebiet

234 of them are only found in southwest Namibia, an area known as the Succulent Karoo.

The Succulent Karoo holds the world’s richest flora of succulent plants, with one-third of the world’s approximately 10,000 succulent species

40% of its succulent plants are endemic to the Karoo

With 630 recorded species, the region is also exceptionally rich in geophytes²,

284 of the Sperrgebiet’s plants are on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species

The Sperrgebiet is in the world’s top 25 biodiversity hotspots. Man out, Nature in with a vengeance!

The problem is of course that where there are wonders of Nature, people want to see them for themselves. In 2007 the park management were “plotting ecologically sensitive guided driving and hiking trails. Given the importance, but also the fragility, of this ecosystem, tourism planning must out of necessity be carefully and sensitively addressed. Some areas with a high endemicity and range-restricted species are to be designated as Strict Nature Reserves and will never be generally accessible. Other areas will have access limited to visitors on foot, horse or camel back.”

Fine words, and let us hope they will always be born out on the ground³. Otherwise the Sperrgebiet may not remain the forbidden, undisturbed paradise it has been for so long.

But let’s end on an up note. I love this story – Elephant seals reclaim Drake’s Beach in California during the US government shut down. No heavy industry here, but normally lots of humans, including the 85-strong staff of Point Reyes National Seashore. The government shutdown left only 12 staff there, not enough to shake blue tarps to frighten the seals away as they normally would. Every cloud, as they say …

“In January 2019, elephant seals occupied the section of Drakes Beach adjacent to the Kenneth C. Patrick Visitor Center, and, at times, the parking lot and wooden ramps leading up to the visitor center”. The elephant seals – nearly 100 of them – are mostly females with their pups, but there are a few males too.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1090105097957376000

When the seals showed up, staff promptly closed off the entire area to the public. Now they are experimenting with weekend opening of a small part of the car park, just enough for 20 cars, for supervised viewing only. If the scheme is a success, weekend viewings will continue until early April when the pups will be weaned and the seals will move on.

Drake’s Beach is a far cry from Chernobyl – or Secunda and the diamond mines if it comes to that. But the moral of the story in all cases is the same:

In the words of Point Reyes’ chief seashore wildlife ecologist Dave Press,

“If you just get out of the way, wildlife will find its way in.”

Never a truer word.

¹Inselbergs are rock hills/mountains that arise steeply from a surrounding plain. Inselberg translates as ‘island mountain’.

²Most geophytes are plants that store water and carbohydrates underground – think tuber or rhizome such as the ginger we buy in a store. This underground organ helps them to withstand extremes of temperature and drought and protects them from grazing animals.

³Nowadays there is a strictly controlled guided day tour to Pomona, a ghost town abandoned at the end of the diamond rush, and the famous Bogenfels, a 55 metre high arch of rock on the Sperrgebiet’s Atlantic coast.

What Happens to Animals When People Disappear 2

What Happens to Animals When People Disappear

What Man Scars, Nature Heals

The Wildlife Haven that’s the UK’s Best Kept Secret

Sources

Chernobyl: The end of a three-decade experiment

How a South African industrial site is providing a safe haven for wild cats

Discover Namibia’s Sperrgebiet

Travel News Namibia

The Sperrgebiet – Wiki

The Unspoilt Eden Let’s Hope We Will Never Get to See Imagine a Forbidden Area, left to slumber for 100 years, in which lies a ‘Fairytale Valley’,

#AmazingPlanet #Animals #Bears #BigCats #Biodiversity #Birds #Conservation #Dogs #Ecosystems #Elephants #Endangered #Environment #Horses&Donkeys #PlanetEarth #Wildlife #Wolves

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hokkaidodo-blog · 7 years

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an untitled post - because it’s 2am and my brain feels like trifle

First of all, how on earth has it been longer than two weeks since I last posted? And more importantly, how have I been living in Japan for longer than a month already? It seems like I’ve only just arrived but then also it seems like I’ve been here forever. After a month, I’m surprised at how much you can settle in to a new place relatively easy. Even after two weeks or so, I no longer find myself awkwardly sitting in a doughnut shop in Sapporo underground station, politely declining many free refills of coffee just so that I could hide in the corner and use the Wi-Fi to desperately try and figure out which of the station’s bountiful exits would lead me to campus (it seemed so easy when I was with someone else); nor do I feel like a confused and terrified rabbit in the market when 1) I can barely fit down the isles because I am not a petite Japanese person, or when 2) I have borderline zero idea about what to buy/look for/cook with regards to Japanese vegetables/meat/condiments/toiletries.

Being in the tail end of Autumn at the moment, everything is stunning. I’ve never seen trees with such beautifully coloured leaves, Hokkaido University being one of the most famous spots in Japan for tree-viewing with its “golden leaf” festival. It’s definitely getting colder and I can feel that winter is going to hit us running faster than a middle-aged lady at the Boxing Day 5am Next sale. I’m excited to see the Hokkaido winter (Hokkaidonian? Hokkaidan?) Japanese winter, but especially up here in the north, there is no going back once it strikes. The feeling that we will have snow from (probably) the end of October to mid-February is something that yes, I was very aware of before I came to Hokkaido. However, to someone who is used to two or three days (three being ambitious here) of ‘snow’ a year – snow that abolishes all hope of any form of public transport running or schools being open, forcing elderly folk to manically panic buy the entire stock of Hovis bread and twenty-four pints of milk from the local Costcutter to serve them through said nuclear winter, just to find that a day later everything is fine and people are left wondering if the snow even happened – it is something that you cannot easily prepare for.

Fun trivia fact: The yellow leafed tree is called a “ginko” and translates as “silver apricot”. Yeah, move over Alan Titchmarsh.

I feel so scatty because it’s been so long since I wrote something and there’s hardly been a day where I haven’t been busy with something, so this is going to be a mish-mashed “look at a few of the things I’ve been doing! Aren’t they fabulous” kind of post. Apologies in advance.

MOUNT MOIWA

Saturday. Planned to hike up a mountain close to my dorm to see a beautiful sunset and a breath-taking of the marvellous city below. Woke up. Cloudier than a cup of tea made by someone who puts the milk in without taking the teabag out first. (FYI – sorry in advance, but if you do this you are a cretin who should have their tea-making duties revoked immediately.) Typical. However, we took the rope way up to the top of the mountain and after nearly being blown over the sides of the mountain into the abyss, the sun fortunately came out and the clouds filtered away. The view was stunning and like something out of a hand-drawn art film. There was a bell at the top that lovers are meant to ring to signify their commitment and love for one another, so, because I am in love with myself, (insert RuPaul quote here) here is a pic of me being apparently super twee and declaring my commitment to being a mega-tourist. (The pic also features my raincoat and umbrella, which to the great delight of my new international friends are both incredibly British things and therefore a prime and hilarious source of glorious banter.)

HOT SPRINGS!

In the middle of the beautiful Hōheikyō dam, surrounded by hundreds more autumnal trees, we found a stunning natural onsen, or hot spring. There are onsen in the city which are inside and are like giant communal hot tubs where you can relax, however what was so beautiful about this particular bath house was that the baths were all filled with naturally occurring, mineral loaded water, heated and pumped straight from the earth. Bathing culture is something that I find quite interesting in Japan. Being British, there is the stereotype that we are prude with our nakedness, but when you go to an onsen you must forget any embarrassment or shame you might have, shed your shyness, and just embrace ‘the Japanese way.’ This is the belief that old or young, fat or thin, rich or poor; when you are in the onsen, you are there to relax, to appreciate your life and the nature around you and to be free of any social constraints, no matter what your walk of life may be. It was quite liberating and surprisingly easy to be so open with myself and my body. It was also interesting to see fathers bringing their young sons to the onsen for the first time, teaching them Japanese behaviours and etiquette and as such, there was a peaceful and very comfortable atmosphere here.

Obviously, picture taking was forbidden inside, so here is a pic from the website. Imagine this but at night, with lots of paper lanterns and orange leaves!

It’s hard to find a photo that shows the beauty of the springs!

And here’s some random thoughts and pics before I wrap this post up for today:

1) Went to an owl café with the most beautiful owls. Found a new friend and then got told we look awfully similar.

It’s the eyebrows.

2) I don’t know how or why this became a thing, but I’m apparently collecting photos of myself next to any mascots or statues I find. Lol Japan.

None have been as soul-penetratingly scary as the melon-bear. Yet.

3) If the light at the pedestrian crossing is red, nobody will EVER walk. Ever. No cars have passed by for ten minutes? 2am standing in the rain with no coat? People will still wait for the green man until they cross. It’s just the rule, man.

4) Japanese food = the absolute best. Gaining 15 stone = not so great.

5) Conversely, Japanese cheese (more specifically, the lack of) = the worst. Mumma, if you’re reading this then please send emergency supplies. Mental stability maintained by mayonnaise and cheese is dwindling fast. Help.

That’s all my ramblings for now. I’ll try and keep updating this more often if I don’t lose my fingers in the sub-zero temperatures or go into hiding and become a recluse due to lack of a good British cuppa. As always, thank you for reading!

ロス

Bonus pics:

Just a human and his owl.

I have nothing to say about this.

Story: When walking through a forest path to reach the mountain, you will see these stone statues lining the walkway. Every single one adorned with a hand knitted blanket or wearing a crocheted scarf or shawl of some kind. These statues are of Jizō – the god who is the guardian protector of children who have passed away too young. Just as Jizō protects the spirits of these children and looks after them once they have left this world, the idols are also protected by gestures of Japanese people who will hand-make scarves and hats to protect Jizō from the elements in the harsh winter. The original Japanese folk-tale tells of an old man and old woman whose grandson had passed, living in the mountains with barely enough food and resources to make-do for themselves. However, despite this they still selflessly placed their own hats on the statues during a snow storm to keep them warm. In turn, it is said that the statues came to life and delivered food to the old couple to thank them for their generosity. The old couple had so much food that they returned it to Jizō to continue the cycle of gratefulness and gift-giving. The tradition of gift-giving is an ancient Japanese custom and something that is very typical of Japanese life.

Maruyama Zoo

#japan #travel #hokkaido #year abroad #study abroad #onsen #winter #autumn #leaves #mountain #mount moiwa #hiking #exploring #exchange student #travel blog #ramblings #sapporo

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hyttesanger · 6 years

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When You Wish Upon A Star (Your Dreams Come True)

T | Lee Soojung x Lee Mijoo

"Yah. When can we go back and sleep?" This is the tenth time Soojung whines since she and Mijoo arrived at their apartment building's roof few hours earlier, armed with layers of thick blanket and pillows and sweaters to fight October's chill air. She barely stifles a huge yawn with the back of her hand.

"Hold on." Mijoo fishes a phone out of her bag, scrolling through a page from some space and astronomy website before reciting what's written in there. "It's said here the best time to see the meteor shower is around midnight to early morning. Be patient, unnie, it's only 01:15 now."

"Mijoo..." Soojung retorts. It's that tone that normally precedes a long motherly nag, so Mijoo cuts her right away.

"Yes, I know we have schedule tomorrow. But I've never seen shooting stars before." She quickly does the sort of exaggerated pouty face - which she's very certain wouldn't work with Soojung, but oh well... At least she tried, right? "Pweeeaseee! Just one more hour! I promise if by then the meteor doesn't show up, we will head back to the dorm right away and sleep."

It all started few weeks ago when Little Sujeong discovered the information of Orionid meteor shower, which is supposed to be visible throughout October and peak tonight, then declared they should go see it. Everyone sans their leader seemed to agree and immediately launched numerous “Lovelyz Goes Stargazing” plans - Soojung preferred to call them nonsensical ideas. The one that gained most votes from all members was taking a gigantic tent up to the hill nearby, but it sadly didn't get approval from their manager ("Who would drive you all there? Do you know how much a tent for eight people cost?”), so they gave up and decided the dorm's rooftop and blankets would do fine.

Days passed, their previously empty schedule began to get busier and busier with preparation for upcoming comeback. Then on the d-day, of course, true to Soojung's dubiety, the initiator of this ridiculous big plan was the first one who bailed out.

"My eyes can't stay open for more than one second. You unnies, take lots of pics and show me tomorrow, 'kay?" Bbangdeokkie had said when Soojung tried to wake her up. The girl didn't even bother getting out of her comfortable bed.

In the end, nobody else beside Mijoo was awake enough to watch the meteor shower - which is kinda surprising actually, since the girl resents staying out in the open during this season. Taking pity on the dancer's sullen face (she'd even got her sweater and blankets prepared since morning), Soojung finally offered they climb up to the roof accordingly to the plan. Which then brought them to their current state; each of them snuggled into their respective pillows, occasionally sipping hot chocolate or munching the snacks they've stolen from Little Sujeong's secret food stash as they're waiting for the meteor shower to start.

They wait for another hour listening to owls hooting lowly and crickets chirping in the faraway, tonight's autumn breeze is pretty nice in a way that drives both girls drowsy. Just as Soojung is starting to regret her poor life choice of coming here, the first meteor cuts through the dark, faraway sky. It happens very sudden, in just a fraction of one second Soojung almost thought she might've been hallucinating. She blinks few times, beside her, Mijoo gasps an oh! quietly, indicating what they've seen was indeed, a real thing.

Soon, thousands more shooting stars continue to rain down, blazing the whole sky with their magnificent trails. It's magical. It's by far the prettiest scene they both ever witnessed, even someone as riotous as Mijoo actually seems to be too deep in awe to make a commotion this time.

"We should make a wish." She whispers.

But never one to believe in such fairytale-ish superstition, Soojung only scoffs watching the younger girl closing her eyes, hands clasped together before her chest and looking dead serious.

"I'd never understand why people do that. The best, logical way to attain something is by working hard, not talking to stars."

"Tsk, you really have no sense of romance." Mijoo chuckles. "Well, if you don't want to ask anything, then I will make a wish for you. I hope Soojung unnie grows tall and sexy like me—oof!"

A blanket smothered her entire head effectively shuts Mijoo's mouth. "I should've never accompanied you, jerk!" Soojung gets up, struggling to hold the urge to throw this stupid girl off to the cold street below.

"Fine, I have a wish now! I hope Lee Mijoo shrink into a dwarf and have to walk around with insoles hidden inside your shoes forever!" She says one last time before storms out of the roof, all the while Mijoo's still bursting fit of boisterous laugh.

The younger girl soon follows Soojung, dragging the whole pile of blankets down the emergency stairs leading to their apartment unit, occasionally rambling series of half-hearted apologies which Soojung completely ignores. Across the sky they've left behind, one last shooting star streaks beautifully; and little does Soojung or Mijoo knows, it might've been listening to their wishes.

———————

First abnormal thing Soojung notices right after she wakes up is her slightly bigger than usual boobs. Not that she is the type who obsessed over stuffs like that, Soojung just... can't help but observe the deep cleavage peeking out of the not-properly-buttoned pajama shirt. She mutters a confused hmm?, absent-mindedly kneading one of her own breasts while the other free hand is tucking some strands of her long hair behind her ear—

Wait.

Long hair?

"Unnie, I know you have a great pride in yourself, but please, don't be gross."

Soojung's head shoots up instantly when she hears Jiyeon's voice. The girl is in the middle of her morning skincare ritual, perched before the chaotic vanity across their bed, a very rare frown of disapproval spreads across her normally amicable face as she watches Soojung's reflection on the huge mirror.

"What are you doing here in my room?"

"Uh. It's our room?" Jiyeon corrects her.

Soojung begins to feel her blood run cold. She carefully climbs off the top bunkbed, inspecting her body while walking towards the younger girl, who's still giving her a weird look. The pajama shirt she's wearing positively isn't hers. These all-skin-and-bone thin arms, they definitely aren't hers. And these... Long?? Her legs are long? Is there any way Soojung, a twenty five, could experience sudden spurt of growth overnight?

She finally stops just beside Jiyeon, the sound of her thumping heart is deafening as she looks up to the mirror.

There, reflection of Lee Mijoo stares back right at her.

Soojung has never screamed that loud in her life before.

———————

"Soojung unnie, is that you?"

With her now smaller feet, Mijoo carefully pads through the bedroom, towards... Herself. Or more like, towards Soojung, inhabiting her body. The older girl sits hugging her knees by the corner of the room surrounded by Jiyeon's Rilakkuma stuffs, presumably trying to convince herself that this all are is just a very bad dream.

Surely Mijoo too, has gotten her share of huge shock when she found out about the whole situation few moments ago. Then came a loud screaming voice she recognized as hers, followed by Jiyeon running around the dorm telling everyone else I don't know what happened but Mijoo unnie suddenly freaked out!, and her gut feeling shifted to certainty; she and Soojung had swapped their bodies.

"This is.." After a long bizzare silence, Soojung finally speaks up, gesturing back and forth between... herself and herself. Lord this is so confusing she really wants to pull her hair out and shriek. "Is this because of what we wished last night?"

Mijoo tilts her head, feature scrunches while she's trying to remember. "Last night you said..."

"I wish Lee Mijoo shrunk..."

"And have to wear insoles... Forever..."

"Forever." Soojung echoes the last word slowly, turning even paler as the meaning of it dawns on her.

"No. No no no no. No! This is madness! I cannot live in this body forever!" She yells frantically. "Yah! There must be a way to reverse this, right?!"

"Maybe, I don't know. But first thing first, unnie, we have to perform in like five hours." Mijoo gives her a pointed look.

"Exactly why we have to figure something out before the schedule starts! Or— Or we should call it off!"

"Exactly why we have to get ourselves together and carry on!"

"But this is super emergency!"

"Yeah like hell the managers and our members would believe something as farfetched as this! How do you expect them to help anyway? Drag us to the hospital for mentally-ill people?" Where have their level-headed, undeterred by anything leader gone? Did they also swap their personalities along with their bodies? Mijoo groans in disbelief.

"Unnie, just stop thinking too much. We will figure something out, but right now, we don't have time for that. I promise we will discuss this tonight after the event. Are you understanding me?" She tries to offer an encouraging big smile. It must look good, she knows how adorable Soojung is when smiling.

"C'mon. As long as we don't talk too much, nobody would realize we've swapped bodies."

"Right. Okay." After a little moment of consideration, Soojung eventually allows Mijoo to pull her up and steer her out to the hallway. They walk stealthily past the other members' rooms with the mockery of burglars avoiding getting caught.

"Then, where are we going now?"

"Um. Let's shower first. Everyone else are getting ready to go to the beauty shop."

Suddenly, Soojung's eyes widen at the mention of shower. "Uh. Do you think we can survive without going to the bathroom for a few days?"

"No." Mijoo sighs again. "Don't be ridiculous, unnie."

"I mean, this is your body! I just don't want to see.. I... You get what I mean, don't you?"

"If it makes you feel better, I've sort of seen yours. Went to pee first thing after woke up, that's when I realized we have our body swapped." Mijoo says, the volume consistently descends with each word. "And I might have... Accidentally touched few things..."

"What?!" Soojung screeches, halting abruptly in the spot. "God, you're unbelievable! I hate you! Bastard! Pervert!"

"Well I didn't do it willingly, I swear! Stop hitting me!" Mijoo desperately tries to block all kicks and punches directed at her, which is hard, because now she is small and Soojung is so much taller. Oh so this is how it feels to be tiny person and get picked on by huge bully. "I had no other choice, is all! Do you want me to cause your bladder some permanent damage?!"

It makes sense, so Soojung finally stops her attack. She rubs her forehead in frustration. "This is crazy. I can't do this."

"Say, why don't we just do it together? That way we will be even, and each of us doesn't need to worry about what we do behind closed door, yeah?"

"You mean— Wait— No!"

But Mijoo is losing patience. Whilst Soojung is too stunned to fight, she ducks and hoists the older girl by waist, exerting all strength she got to push the now taller girl into their dorm's bathroom which, fortunately, located only few steps away from where they're standing. Another scream of terror ensues.

———————

Three hours later, Soojung is still flushed red, to the point her make-up artist falsely suspecting her of being ill. Been living together for years, this morning wasn't the first time she got to see one of the other girls naked, intentional or not. With so little break between schedules, it's inevitable for them to change or shower together occasionally to save time.

But still, to see her own body moving around across her, not to mention with Mijoo's mannerism - the way her hip would swing with each step like there is an invisible red carpet beneath her feet, the confidence projected as she struts forward, that's.... A whole new level of peculiarity.

And now, just remembering one second of that event somewhat can make her heart jolt uncontrollably. It's strange, why would someone feel like this - like having such a wrong desire towards their own naked body? Is she having some sort of narcisstic disorder she'd never known before? But then again, Soojung isn't particularly a big fan of herself no matter people keep telling her how cute she is. She has confidence, sure, but not in a shameless à la Lee Mijoo way.

"Uhm." The sound of Mijoo clearing her throat sends Soojung back to reality.

"What do you want now?!" Soojung spats. Being the fourth born now she can no longer be the first to get anything, and waiting for turn to get her make-up done at this moment really doesn't help toning down her rage. Why can't this day be over already, she just want to sleep and who knows, maybe everything would be fixed by itself once she wake up the next day?

"I need some earrings."

"So what?! You don't have hands to get it by yourself??"

Mijoo purses her lips, looking like she's contemplating a major life decision before finally lifting a finger up. "It's kept over there."

The shelf Mijoo's pointing at isn't actually that high, but Soojung remembers exactly that the accessories box is placed on the very top, behind any other boxes, which would be quite a hassle for someone's Mijoo's height - her height - to get.

"I can't reach it." Mijoo says, hands in the air, a defeated gesture. And Soojung immediately lightens up in a terrifying sort of way.

"Oh."

It's a very foreboding oh.

———————

The rest of their time in the beauty salon proved that Soojung could be quite a mean prankster when she wanted to. First, she took some of Mijoo's belongings and hid them on high places. When Mijoo refused to ask for help and insistently tried to find them herself, she hid the stool.

"Unnie." Mijoo's no longer able to remember of how many times she has came to the mischievous leader today in search for missing things. The way her shoulders slump makes her seem even smaller. "Where are my insoles?"

"Hmm.. I wonder where are they." Soojung replies is lazy drawls, internally very pleased at how super annoying it sounds in Mijoo's voice more than hers. Maybe this isn't so bad to dwell in this body.

Mijoo swears under her breath, watching with dread as Soojung casually takes out her shoes from beneath the couch where she's sitting at. Just now the manager oppa has told her they're going to depart in fifteen minutes. Not exactly a good time to play around.

"Can you please stop with all of this?"

"No." Soojung stands up to her full imposing height. She holds the shoes as high as her arm can stretch, out of Mijoo's reach, joker-ish smirk plastered all over her face. "Take this if you can, shorty—"

— and that's Mijoo's cue to act. She lunges wildly at Soojung, who seems to be well prepared and immediately scrambles out of the way.

"Oh crap!" The first attempt at catching the damned girl ends up with Mijoo's head slamming hard against the couch. She bolts back up, chasing Soojung around the bustling salon while rattling vile curses at a mile a minute. The ruckus is enough to cause every head turn at them with curiosity, and slight disgust.

"What's gotten into these two today?!" Jiae grumbles, clearly not enjoying the situation. "They are humiliating us!"

Yein only shrugs, standing perfectly rooted on her spot as the older girl is still busy dabbing some pink-ish blush on across her cheek. The salon is currently short of staffs, and there are eight of them, so everyone's instinctively helping each other as much as they can.

"And we thought they're past the stupid push-and-pull phase. Tsk tsk."

"I know right. If they want to date why don't they just do it the sane way like any other grown-ups! This is not high school romantic comedy!"

"But, unnie, don't you notice they are slightly... Hm, how should I put it? Different, today?"

"Different how?"

Like they are behaving super extra, more than usual, Yein wants to say, but a flurry of Soojung suddenly sprinting past between them kills her voice. She and Jiae barely spring apart in surprise when Mijoo follows suit just a beat behind. Yein hears Mijoo's warning of 'scuse me! Coming through!, but it's a little too late to keep her balance. With a yelp, the maknae slips backward, her long leg accidentally intertwined with Mijoo's short one in the process, dragging the older girl along with her and they both miserably falling together to the cold floor.

"Oww! Soul unnie, my nose!" Yein cries in protest, rubbing her nose which Mijoo has unknowingly elbowed just now.

"So sorry, Yeinnie!"

It's barely midday and she's already one step away from wishing death would come claim her right now. Mijoo pulls herself loose from Yein, whirling left and right in search of the woman who's been making her life hard. Instead of Lee Soojung, she finds their manager, stomping over towards them with his spine-chilling glare. Helping Yein to get up, Jiae blanches in fear.

Okay, lord, please just kill me now.

"Yah Soul-ah! Are you crazy?! What do you think you're doing, running around like that?!"

"It's not my fault, oppa! So— Mijoo took away my shoes!" It's no use, the real perpetrator has completely vanished, the shoes and insoles left neatly not far from her. Oh fuck...

"You're the leader, control you members! Am I managing some kindergarten group?!" He huffs one last time in annoyance before commanding everyone to gather, his face resembling the internet infamous grumpy cat. "We have no more time! Whatever you're doing, just resume it in the car! Let's go!"

One by one, the members start leaving while Mijoo is still gawking in disbelief.

"Why are you still daydreaming there, Soul unnie? Get yourself together." Mijoo hears Soojung sing-songs in mocking tone. She's leaning against the entrance's doorframe and sticking up her tongue teasingly at her.

This little shit.

So she wants to play dirty, huh? She will see how evil a Lee Mijoo can be.

———————

Once they get into the stage, Mijoo absolutely forgets about showing Soojung how evil she can be.

It's not until the intro to Candy Jelly Love starts playing and they have to get into their respective position Mijoo realizes that she isn't much familiar with Soojung's dance moves. Some of the student organization members in this college where they currently performing are Lovelyz' fans, and those people spared so much timeslot for the group, which means Lovelyz have to perform five title songs. Mijoo gulps nervously, taking a sideway glance towards the leader beside her. Seeing Soojung's face - her own face, is totally on high alert, she's certain another doom is waiting for them.

But somehow, they survive. The performance turns out not as abysmal as expected. In this time they are so grateful for the sweats and tears they'd shed practising until the wee hours, all they need to do now is just let their bodies taking control, moving by itself according to the strong muscle memories which had formed thanks to those hard work.

Few mistakes here and there still happen, like Soojung sometimes shuffles to the wrong spot or Mijoo accidentally almost crashes against someone. And two members busy exchanging silent you should go forward not backward, moron! wasn't really a good sight for the audience as well. Soojung catches how their managers are watching from faraway across the stage, evidently awestruck, but she decides they can deal with this later.

In between performances, the event's MCs show up, two young college students who seem all so excited to talk with pretty idols. They blabber every sort of compliments, to which Mijoo's tuning out the whole time until the part where they have to introduce themselves.

"Unnie." Jisoo slaps her back rather hard, and Mijoo jerks in surprise. "It's your turn!"

"Oh. Me— Yeah." Right, she's leader now, she's supposed to go first before anyone else. What did Soojung usually say again? Mijoo gulps. Her palms are clammy from the nervous sweat and she grips her mic tighter, afraid it might slip out of her hand. And yet while she's still momentarily disoriented and barely strings something intelligible, someone else already beats her to greet people.

"Good evening. I am Lovelyz' leader, Babysoul!"

The audience, the MCs, the other members, all fall into stupor. Soojung freezes, belatedly realizing the mistake she's done, whilst Mijoo hangs her head very low. Her cheeks are hot with embarrassment as she doesn't even have to see to know the collective hard stares directed towards herself and Soojung back and forth.

"Yah, Lee Mijoo, it's a hundred years too early for you to snatch the leader position from Soul unnie." Neither of them present a reply, and it's Jiae comes to save the day, oh-so-sweet smile concealing her exasperation towards the two nutheads. Predictably, the joke is gaining big laughters as response, and for awhile Soojung and Mijoo can let out a relieved breath.

(But they don't get out of the woods right away, of course. Later when the group are about to leave after their performance ends, as usual Mijoo is the one left on the stage, maybe attempting at giving a meaningful goodbye to their audience with.... Doing some extreme dance in the middle of the stage. She throws herself into all her moves, there's an expression in her face which even Soojung herself had never known she could make.

Holy fuck.

This is so gonna be the hottest topic within the fans in an hour; Soul did crazy dance without anyone placing her under a grave threat. Gritting her teeth behind the stage, Soojung can already feel her reputation is crumbling down epically.)

———————

It's finally evening and Soojung's ears are absolutely in pain from all the managers' severe nagging, repercussion of the chaos she and Mijoo had created on this one single day. Even their director is present just to reprimand the two harshly. Once done with the meeting, they both go to take a bath separately, and this time Mijoo doesn't bother to force Soojung to do it anymore. The younger girl doesn't even respond when Soojung calls her, only giving an icy later, unnie, then slamming the bedroom door shut.

Settled inside the bathtub, Soojung twists the shower knob to the lowest temperature. It's freezing like crazy, but she somehow finds the coldness is helpful at clearing her mind. What is wrong with that girl now, Soojung thinks bitterly as cold water hits her back steadily before pooling around her. The on-again-off-again feeling she used to had towards Mijoo long time ago involuntarily resurfaces, and it annoys her greatly.

"Don't be stupid, Lee Soojung." She whispers to herself.

First of all, Soojung still doubts highly two girls in love could actually make it out through the cruel, unforgiving world full of bigots and close-minded people here. Experiences from her naïve teenager days had taught her enough about it, and she doesn't want to get hurt once more. As long as she doesn't speak out, nobody will know and she can continue pretending that she's content with the life she has.

Secondly, Mijoo had once confessed to her few years back, and she was the one who straight-up rejected the other girl. It would be too late to regret it - to think about all the what ifs that could've been them had she ever given Mijoo one chance - now, wouldn't it? Mijoo probably had gotten over her completely just like herself as well.

So why is she having this weird aching sensation in her heart thinking about how Mijoo's face - hey no, it's not even Mijoo's, it's her own face - wilted with undecipherable sadness the last time they saw each other?

The water has filled more than half of the tub, Soojung turns it off before proceeds to lie down, soaking herself wholly along with all her worries.

———————

The thing Soojung never expected, is to find Yoo Jiae waiting for her as soon as she steps out of the bathroom.

"Lee Mijoo, would you come here a bit?"

Ugh, this can’t be good.

Jiae wriggles her finger, motioning for Soojung to come after her to her room, and the younger girl seems totally unreadable. Soojung knows despite their indifferent attitute towards each other, Jiae and Mijoo are actually pretty close and might’ve been confiding secrets towards each other. Oh no.

They close the door and Jiae immediately plops herself down on the floor. Soojung follows suit, sitting cross-legged and fidgeting uncomfortably, trying to avoid meeting the other girl's eyes. "What is it?"

"What happened with you and Soul unnie this early morning? Did you finally ask her out again? You two have been acting so weird the whole day!" Judging from her expression, this isn't some sort of teasing, Jiae is erious. And Soojung nearly bites her own tongue in her haste to response.

"Mijoo still likes me?! I— I mean, I'm still pining for her? How did you know?"

"Are you high?! We've talked about this like hundred times already!"

Aah. Is that why she always involuntarily felt like her heart was about to burst everytime the image of them sharing a bathroom popped out inside her head? Is that some sort of muscle memory deeply ingrained to this body which had caused all the butterflies going frenzy around her stomach whenever they touched or simply met each other eyes?

So it wasn't her, it was Mijoo's natural reaction?

"When did I—"

They both jump on their seat as a chorus of shrill screaming of Little Sujeong and Jisoo interrupt Soojung midsentence. Jiae's previous confusion is immediately replaced by an expression which translates as why am I friend with these bunch of looneys? At this rate, it's possible their neighbours would send some complaints regarding noise to the landlord, or maybe even report to the police that they’ve been hearing girls screaming from this unit.

"Now what?!"

"Wait! Jiae, wait—" Soojung tries to stop Jiae from storming out of the room to no avail, thus she decides to follow her to the source of the commotion. Whatever happened to that Bbangdeokki and Jisoo, it better be something worth more than her urgent need to figure out about this pining thingie.

———————

When they arrive, jogging in towards two Sujeongs room, the other members are already there flocking about the doorway. Yein and Myungeun quickly give way once Jiae makes an impatient waving gesture. They shuffle through the crowd, Soojung feels her heart doing spectacular flip when she spots Little Sujeong lying unconscious in Jiyeon's lap, a fresh, golf ball-sized lump already forming on her forehead.

"OH MY GOD!" The two oldest girls are yelling at the same time.

"Is she alright?!"

"She is! Um, probably not that alright, but she'll live. She's just... Shocked, I guess." Mijoo is the one who answers, guilt tainting her voice. She clenches and unclenches her toes in anxiety.

"How did all of this happen though?" Myungeun pipes in curiously.

"We wanted to borrow Soul unnie's novel." Jisoo, the sole witness of the whole catasthrope, starts her testimony. Everyone's gazes swivel in her direction as she's going back and forth, rounding up the evidence; a book, a dirty jeans, and a freaking plastic tarantula, the one which looks like a very convincing substitute for the real thing.

According to Jisoo, Sujeong was consumed by visceral stab of panic as soon as she found the fake arachnid. Then in an attempt to escape, the girl accidentally tripped on one of the clothes Mijoo's left littered around the room, and crashed headlong against the hard wall. The hit, combined with the initial shock caused her to pass out right away.

"Soul unnie are you out of your mind?!" Jiae's jaw hangs a fraction open in utter distress. Being mother of seven is a very hard job, eh? "You put a fake spider inside your book, for what purpose?! And don't tell me that's a bookmark!"

"It was just a joke!" Yes, like everyone said, it's fun and games, until someone loses an eye. "I intended to prank Mijoo! Thought she's going to continue reading it tonight."

"Oh so you intended to kill me?!" Soojung snaps, aggravated at best.

"Who do you think started this first?!" Mijoo hops one step forward, sending a challenging glare at her own tall self fearlessly.

"You really want to argue about who started first?! Then we should go waaaay back to years before—"

"ENOUGH!"

And the whole world seems to come to a standstill after Jiae's ground-shattering wailing.

It takes a moment before Mijoo manages to scrape a courage to mutter a quiet, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah it's on us." Soojung agrees. "No more fighting for now. We need to take Sujeong to the hospital now for a check-up."

"We will take Sujeong to hospital. You two, stay here!" Jiae's fingers jab threateningly at Soojung's and Mijoo's chest. "You are making so much non-sense, unnie! And I, as the second born in this group, will temporarily take over the leader position until you sort out whatever it is happening between you two!"

"Are you kidding me?! You can't do that!"

"Yes I can! Who knows what kind of disaster you two will cause later if we let you roam free." Jiae insists, in a way that brooks no argument. She begins instructing Myungeun and Jiyeon to help her raising Sujeong off the floor.

"Yein, Jisoo, hold these two in this room, so they can reflect on their mistakes!"

The two girls don't need telling twice, who would dare to fight with angry Jiae anyway? In just a couple of heartbeat, they're already grabbing handful of Soojung and Mijoo's pajamas, hauling them back into the room before they can flee the scene too far, then slamming the door shut.

"Let us out!" They've heard a click of lock, yet Mijoo still desperately bangs the solid wood, her tiny fists turning slightly red. "You will regret this! Jiae is the evil step-mother she will eat you all! YAH—"

"Hey, quit it and sit down, would you?" Soojung sighs, giving the other girl firm taps on the shoulder. "They won't listen to us, we were indeed wrong anyway."

"Well, at least now we can talk calmly." Following her own advice first, Soojung drags two bean bags for her and Mijoo to sit on. But the younger girl apparently ignores her, she walks quickly past Soojung then throws herself onto the bottom bunkbed instead, tousling her short hair in rough way that makes Soojung flinch.

"Yes, let's discuss on how to cure this stupid curse! None of this would happen if we didn't switch bodies!"

"Why are you acting so crabby now?! I thought you were like, super calm about all this crap before?!" Soojung nearly shouts, an action which she regrets a second later. Fighting fire with fire won't do any good in this situation.

"I'm sorry if earlier today I was too much." Soojung starts again, with more controlled tone this time. She moves to the bed as well, taking a seat by the edge of it.

"Nah, I've done worse to you. And to Bbangdeokki as well. I'm the one who owes big apologies."

"I heard from Jiae. You told her that you still like me?"

At this unexpected change of topic, Mijoo shoots up abruptly, her eyes widen slightly.

"Is that true?"

"It is." She answers after a moment of hesitation, yet still refuses to look directly at Soojung. "That's why right now I'm so... No, not angry.. More like scared."

"Of what?"

"I know you've said no one time, regarding us... But I just... I can't give up." For awhile, Mijoo fumbles with her own words. The way Soojung observes her intently right now isn't helping to melt down her uneasiness. "I've been in love with Lee Soojung for the longest time, and that's all I will ever be in the future too, no matter you would change your mind or not. I was ready to be stucked with this one-sided love as long as I live."

"But look at us now. All of a sudden, you are no longer you, you are me... I— I always imagined to hold or kiss you, and I can't do that anymore. It's just weird in any sort of way to love yourself like this, right? I don't know what to feel, what would we be.. And I don't want to lose my Soojung—"

Mijoo doesn't really realize what is going on when out of the blue a pair of hands are pushing her down the mattress, efficiently silencing her rambling. The next thing she knows, her lips are colliding against Soojung's, and she's pinned under the other girl's weight. Even more shocking, she definitely cannot resist herself from responding instantly with evenly fervent kiss, sliding a tongue into Soojung's welcoming mouth before her brain ever give command to do so. Everything's happened innately like it's the rightest thing for them, like they were made to loving each other.

"Was that what you've been wanting to do with me?" Soojung says when they finally parted for air, small smile on her lips. Beneath her, Mijoo still seems too dazed to say anything.

"I know it now, how much you think of me above anything, your sincere feelings... I can sense it. My soul may be occupying this body, but your instinct, your reflexes, everything you kept on the back of your mind, they are all still here." She takes Mijoo's hand and places it at her chest. "When I heard my own name, this heart would beat slightly faster in excitement. And when I saw my own upset face, it would hurt this heart greatly too."

"It's— Um. Just now, I—" Mijoo stutters, still burning deep crimson it would be unsurprising if steam comes out of her head next.

"Exactly." Soojung nods solemnly. "That's how much my body had been yearned for you."

"But you said our relationship would never work out?"

"I had a girlfriend before, it was my first love, long time ago when I was still living in my hometown." Soojung admits without preamble. "Of course our families and friends were all against the idea of two girls dating each other. But that time, I thought if we want it hard enough, we could stay together and be happy. I even told her we could elope to another country. Silly, right?"

"Apparently she didn't feel the same and decided to ditch me for some guy. Our breakup was pretty much messed up. She's maybe already got married to her boyfriend by now."

Mijoo opens her mouth but then closes it again, like she's unsure of what to say, before finally settles with a quiet, "What an awful bitch."

"It's fine, I don't hate her. Anyway we were both still too young back then." Soojung waves one hand dismissively. It's actually rather amusing to see someone else gets angry on her behalf. "But I could never defeat the trauma whenever I start to fall for someone. You included. I just can't stop this thought that one day you would eventually grow out of love, once the euphoria wears off and pressure from society begins to brutally set upon us. And I would be left hurt once again."

"Then be my girlfriend." Mijoo blurts out, her voice soft as she slings an arm around Soojung's shoulders and gently pushes the other girl down against her chest.

"I mean, I'm not going to offer you romantic promises here, given that you're not interested in sweet words. So why don't you just give me a chance? I will prove that my feelings for you will remain for the rest of my life. Plus, if the universe really wouldn't switch us back and we have no other choice but learn to live with this body, it's better to just stick together, don't you think? I will totally need someone to help me getting things from high places."

The last one gets Soojung unable to hold back burst of cackles that's escaping her. "Oh my life would be so much fun from now on.."

"Now you're already plotting something mean again, huh?" Mijoo scoffs. "Should've kept that spider before the girls confiscated it. Tsk."

"Lord, don't you ever dare pulling such stunt anymore. Jiae would cut you."

"Right."

Soojung waits a moment until their laughter completely subdued before continues, "But really, I'm grateful we swapped body."

"Because like this, at long last I can learn that you really love me."

Silence stretches on. And by the time Mijoo finds her voice again, it's tight with emotion.

"It's my actual wish, y'know." She mutters, willing all the sheer happiness brewing inside her not to spill as tears.

"Hm?"

"I wanted Soojung unnie to know how much I love her... Is what I wished for real that night."

Soojung doesn't reply, she nuzzles impossibly closer into Mijoo's neck, planting little kisses in every inch of skin where she knows exactly would feel amazing - and of course Soojung knows, it was her body afterall - until she can hear Mijoo's deep blissful sigh. Her heart flutters warmly, flooded with delight once again as she looks up to meet her own adorable dimpled smile. It still feels a little freak, but it's fine, Soojung decides. With them being stuck in such an unexpected anomaly, this is most likely the greatest turn-of-events she could ever hope for.

———————

They wake up still tingling all over with residual buzz of pleasure from last night, limbs remain interlaced together.

"'Morning." It is Soojung who speaks first.

"Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Never better." Soojung smiles. She rolls to the side and make a small space between them, propping her head against one hand while the other reaches out to brush off Mijoo's cheek. Waking up to Mijoo by her side like this really reminds of their roommates days, there's still that same warm sleepy eyes, lazy grin spreading across the younger's face....

Soojung blinks few times, inspectng her hand.

Her small hand.

And Mijoo's face.

Right in front of her.

"Mijoo! We— We are back!" She sits up hastily, then grabs Mijoo's shoulder so she can give her a vigorous shake. "We are back to normal!"

"Yes! Oh thank god!" No more hesitation, Mijoo launches herself at Soojung, tightly wrapping her arms around the smaller figure.

"Gosh. Turns out I still love you better when you're yourself." Her voice's muffled as she continues burying her head into the crook of Soojung's neck, taking in every single thing about her; the slighty sloppy shoulders which always carry lots of burden, the smooth hair that's been growing back longer recently, the small of her back that fits perfectly into Mijoo's embrace. Yep, this is absolutely Lee Soojung whom Mijoo loves so much.

"Same here, Mijoo."

They separate a few inches apart, foreheads still connected, and eyes locked with each other's. Soojung hands easily slide up to cup Mijoo's jaw on her palms, then she pulls her in for another searing kiss.

———————

The rest of Lovelyz come back at nine sharp, and judging by the deserted looking living room, they figure Soojung and Mijoo haven't managed to get themselves out. Or maybe they didn't even try, Jiae thought. If everything went along accordingly with the scenario she's got in mind.

"Don't you think we are too mean for locking them up like this?" Jiyeon says, eyeing Yein and Myungeun who've been giggling and whispering presumably inappropriate things regarding their leader and Mijoo. Kids nowadays...

"Like I'd care.. If this could bring those two together and resolve the sexual tension between them then it's gonna be a damn heyday for me!" Jiae exclaims, mouth filter already discarded to hell. "I've been constantly watching over them for six years! Give me a break!"

They skid to a halt right in front of the door on Jiae's command despite Little Sujeong's desperate whine about how tired she is and all she wants right now is just to sleep on her own bed. The eldest holds up her hand, signaling everyone to wait while she's inclining her ear against the wall in attempt to get a clue of whatever's happening in the other side.

"So, what are you hearing? Are they in the middle of making out session?" Yein asks smoothly, defying her unnies glares.

As she's listening with full concentration, Jiae's cheeks starting to color. "Uh. I think it's best for us to come back few hours later." She scampers away from the door with scandalized expression.

"Let's go! Go!" She glares especially at their maknae, who's still so petulantly trying to eavesdrop.

"Wait!" Sujeong cries out suddenly, turning around like she's remembering something very important. "We should stop them, they’re probably doing it on the bottom bunk! I just washed my bedcover yesterday! Oh my god!"

"It's too late. Unnie will buy you new sheets, Sujeong-ah. C'mon!" Jiae makes a high-pitched wheezing noise, using all her strength dragging Sujeong away before the tall girl manage to jog back to her own room.

"Nooooo my beddddddd!"

———————

#fic

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