#6) like half an iced tea juice box

[yosh-iro]

why am i all crampy and bloated??? there is no reason for this????? i would fire my stomach if i could because this is completely unjustified behaviour and goes against many policies

[featherlesswings]

I just realized there are probably lots of you out there who don’t know how to cook, or struggle with “there’s nothing to eat” idling. And especially with finding enough food to eat for what little money you have, in these trying times.

Pending the expected price gouging from the new regime here in the US, here are some suggestions.

Cabbage! It’s cheap, for a LOT of food. Usually under $1 per pound where I live.

Eggs, depending what’s Going On Outside 🙃

Avocados are pretty inexpensive, and you can get 2 servings out of each one. They’re roughly $1 each here. If you have ramen, throw 1/4 to 1/4 an avocado on top of each serving, to make it more of a meal.

Rice is your best friend. You can add it to a lot of things to make more food. Honestly, a can of black beans, seasoning, and some rice, mashed together, makes great veggie burgers.

A small bag of flour, even if you don’t know how to bake. If you have grease left from cooking meat, you can make gravy. Broth or boullion + water, or milk is the only other thing you need.

If you don’t already drink tea, you can get a box of 20 tea bags of whatever flavor interests you, for not very much, and make a cup whenever you want something different to drink. Floral herbals are especially tasty even without sweetener. You can add ice, if you want something cold.

Tofu tends to be cheaper than meat, nowadays, at least where I live. There are lots of great recipes for flavoring and cooking it in ways that are yummy. You don’t have to be vegan to eat it, it’s just a nice, healthy protein in general. Throw some cheese on your tofu, I don’t care.

Check your local “International” section, because some things could be cheaper than the kind aimed at locals. For me, a lot of the stuff in the Hispanic food section is like half the price of the “white people kind.” I just recently learned how to make Sopa de Fideo, without knowing what it was until I saw the pasta cost $.50, and looked up recipes. It’s delicious and incredibly cheap for a LOT of food.

In a pinch, you can make soup out of almost whatever you have left in your space. My grocery money is a day late today, so I made “scrap soup” out of the last bit of cabbage, some minced carrots, leftover chili ramen seasoning, peanut butter, and the last handful cheap dried gnocchi I had left from last week.

Cheap Lazy Vegan and FitGreenMind on YouTube both have great inexpensive recipes. Also the podcast Eating While Broke, while not usually focused on the recipes, always has one or two “this is what I ate when I was poor” recipes, which they cook and then eat together. I’ve found some interesting ideas from that show!

Here are some recipes I’ve thrown together and liked lately:

*Fraggle snack*

Cucumber

Radishes

Mayonnaise

Worcestershire

Lime juice

Cilantro, chopped

Ramen flavor packet

Uncooked ramen, crushed

Use vegetable peeler or mandolin to slice cucumber & radishes. Mix together mayo, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, & cilantro, and a teaspoon of ramen seasoning, toss with vegetables. Top with crushed ramen.

*Version 2* :

Packet tuna

Maybe a teaspoon of anchovy paste

1-2 Tablespoons mayo

Lime juice

Nutritional yeast

Half avocado

6-8 inch cucumber

2 radishes

A handful of walnuts

5-8 saltine crackers

Mix tuna, mayo, lime juice, anchovy paste, and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast to taste in a bowl. Use a vegetable peeler or mandolin to slice cucumber and radishes, add to tuna mix. Cut avocado into cubes, add to bowl, stir intil combined. Chop or crumble walnuts and crackers on top.

*Crab salad*

2-3 green onions, chopped

2-3 radishes, diced or slivered

1 carrot, shredded

Snack pack of imitation crab

Half an avocado, diced

1 tablespoon kewpie mayo

2 tablespoons chive & onion cream cheese

A dash or two of Worcestershire

Cooked white rice

*Faux Congee*

1/2 - 1 c day old cooked rice

2 c water

1 1/2 teaspoon chicken Better than Boullion

Pepper, paprika, onion powder, parsley, powdered ginger : to taste

2 T sweet onion, minced

2-3 T shredded leftover chicken

One egg

Half an avocado (topping)

Heat water to boiling in a small to medium pot. Stir in boullion until combined, then add rice and break up with spoon. Season to taste, add onions, and cook until onions are cooked and broth is thickened/rice have swelled and split. Add shredded chicken, return to boil, and crack in raw egg. Cover, wait until top of egg turns white, remove from heat. Serve with avocado on top.

Alternatively, you could toss in minced or shredded carrots at the same stage as the onion, or replace the chicken with protein of choice.

*Potato soup*

2 cups water per person (or broth)

1 cube boullion per cup water (omit if using broth)

1 large potato per person

1 large carrot per person

1/8 vidalia onion per person

1 T butter per person

1/4 c milk per person

1/4 c ham per person

1-2 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled, per person

1/4 c peas per person

2-3 bay leaves

Dried parsley

S&p to taste

Bring water to boil in an appropriate sized pot, add bouillon cubes, carrots, & onions. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, add potato, butter, & seasonings. Continue to simmer until potatoes & carrots are tender, add preferred meat, peas, & milk. Simmer 5 minutes more, serve.

[jiminrings]

lover

pairing: jungkook x y/n

glimpse: jungkook has a crush and LOTS of vacant space on his ears upon seeing piercing artist!y/n, jin is TERRIFIED of needles and just needs to hold someone’s hand, jimin is a chatty receptionist that gets on jungkook’s nerves a whole ton, and tHen some smut :D 

wordcount: 22k

notes: dedicated to jungkook n his pretty earrings because i would totally go through his hoops like what vitaly did in madagascar 3 :D // gif isn’t mine!!

(*´꒳`*)

jungkook is a flexible man

both literally and figuratively

he knows how to adjust bUT he also knows what he wants

there’s a handful of things he gets picky about

body wash, face wash, shampoo, perfume n aLL THAT GOOD HYGIENE STUFF

he’s not jared, 19

he ISN’T a chad that just picks out deodorant with the most aggressive names they could ever find the quickest in a shelf

when jungkook gets shoes (and sometimes splurges on them) he makes sure to get the new stock and atleast a half-inch allowance

because shoes shrink and get worn-in overtime and the condition that you wore them in first, wON’T remain the same

hard drives are touchy issues too

jungkook needs to be able to save and export his works without the processes of it crashing every thirty seconds thank u very much

if ur buying a hard drive that has less than a 1 TB storage, then wHY even get a hard drive dummy

he can make dollar-store paint work, trust him

but god crusty-ass brushes (whether they’re expensive or not) would be the absolute BANE of his existence

on-hand activities were given less frequently in uni because majority of them were done digitally but he would never forget that time

that time when he cracked at the project on the night that it was given and he decided to sleep fORGETTING to wash his brushes and by the time he woke up, they were are all crusty and stiff

he almost cried

okay so after all

maybe jungkook might be picky

hE CAN’T HELP IT

but this time he felt more reasonable in being picky because this is his roommate that we’re talking about!!!

r o o m m a t e

for possibly the whole three and a half years that he has left before he graduates and he just wants his to be a good one :((

honestly can you blame him

jungkook just has two requirements in his head

pLEASE he doesn’t want a roomie that has quick hands and is a kleptomaniac and would steal the wallet he always just has laying around

he wants to be able to leave his things in the most random places at PEACE

and second, he wants someone that’s atleast tolerable

he’s aware that not every pair of roommates mesh well together 10/10 times but the least he could hope for is that there’s somehow mutual agreement

which is why jungkook’s nervous because oh god what if he’s stuck with a klepto that’s gonna steal his laptop and he isn’t even dONE doing his assignment?????

graphic design and fashion design are in the same building and that just means he has a 50% chance of being paired with someone that knows what he’s doing and knows when to back off

... which is cool, maybe???

but tHen there’s also a 50% chance that he’s gonna be roomies with a fashion student and he’s not gonna lie because that sounds sO cool!!!!!

legitimately cool

he knows nothing about sewing clothes??? or like designing them in more than just a graphic designer-type of approach????

that would be so nice

what if his roomie (he’s about 98% sure) has a sewing machine and some embroidery thread and things and stuff????

what if his roomie suddenly thought that “oh my gOD jungkook since you’re my roommate and ur so cool and u have such nice body proportions,, lemme make u some clothes!!” ???

what then

what tHEN

and he’s the type to impress and even though that makes him look like an utter fool, jungkook really did wake up at TWO in the morning to get started for meeting his roomie by ten in the morning

just eight hours,,, cool,,, that’s cool

who wouldn’t like chocolate truffles right???

vERY EASY

melt some chocolate!! add some butter!! some cream!! a tiny pinch of salt because the recipe said so!! aND THEN YOU’RE DONE

no not really

he didn’t take into account that chill was a very vague term and so jungkook kept opening the fridge every ten minutes and the chocolate truffle blob hasn’t cHILLED!!!

that kinda sent him into panic because how is he supposed to sleep now

he got a large bowl he never really used and lmao this is like the first time he’s washing it

HE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THAT HE HAD THIS BOWL UNTIL NOW

placed that smaller bowl inside of the bowl

and tHEN filled the remaining spaces with ice cubes and tHEN put it into the freezer

not his smartest decision ever because uh there’s some raw chicken and beef in that same freezer but that’s cool it’s cool

roomie wouldn’t even know the difference :D

what you know wouldn’t hurt you, right???

well not until the chocolate gets contaminated with the raw meat somehow wOOF ://

jungkook went to take a one hour nap and he’s decided to just check on the truffle blob when he’s woken up!!!

uHhhh

aha that turned into a fOUR-hour nap :))))

he’s kinda panicking because oh god he could’ve made so much more in that time period

the truffle blob dID chill but it’s kinda frozen now and that makes it a little less easy to try and scoop up and shape and put cocoa powder on it

no worries!! he has a spoon and insane strength!!!

jungkook bent the spoon with how hard he’s going at it bUT that’s okay!!! there are more spoons!!! it’s not the end of the world

he’s done with the chocolate truffles and all that’s left is to let them chill in the fridge and he could just pop them out anytime

it’s 6... and all he has done are chocolate truffles....

aha wild idea but wHAT IF HIS NEW ROOMIE DOESN’T LIKE CHOCOLATE

...

....

it’s 10:13 and yeah sure this roomie of his is a little bit late but jungkook doesn’t mind at all because that meant more time for him to prepare

aside from the chocolate truffles, he’s successfuly bought/made/modified:

ice cream sandwiches in every flavor he could find because what if they don’t like chocolate?? or wait what if vanilla’s too plain for them?? ok wHAT IF THEY LIKE STRAWBERRY??? is that matcha-

cup noodles,,, in beef, seafood, and spicy variations

gummy bears!!! half are just the original ones and the oTHER half is what he soaked in vodka because uHhH what if the roomie likes alcohol as much as he does??? or maybe they just like citric acid in bear form or mAYBE even both???

dalgona because what if they aren’t an iced tea person,,, or an orange juice person,,,,, jungkook totally understands!!! the entirety of his right arm may be significantly more ripped by the end of this

mozzarella sticks that he buys in bulk whenever he goes to the grocery and that jungkook popped into the oven hurriedly because wAIT WAIT what if they’re lactose intolerant,,,,

cereals,,, he has some cereals,,,, maybe they haven’T had breakfast yet and they wanna have cereal??? he has some milk too!!!

some ice cubes leftover if u wanna pop them into the cereal if they’re feeling a lil spicy

god jungkook just wants to be liked sO BAD and he’s such a people-pleaser that it’s exhausting :(((

this better work or else he will literally combust and eat boozy gummy bears until he’s silly drunk :(((

but tHEN the front door opened and uh jungkook remembers locking it always but

oh

oH

that’s his roommate!!!! holding a duplicate key already!!!!! with bags on tow aND WOW!!!!!!

this guy MUST be a fashion student

jungkook didn’t wear an apron and he honestly salutes anyone who does which is why there may be some bits of cocoa powder on his chest that he’s wiping off quickly

“hEY man!! i’m jungkook!! jeon jungkook!! come in, come iN!!! was the traffic bad or-...”

wait

hold on just a second

how sure is jungkook that this guy with a really handsome face and wide-ass shoulders that’s like the same size of the doorway, is hIS roommate???

bruh

what if this was just a random-ass dude that happened to have a duplicate key aND HE’S HERE TO ROB HIM OR SOMETHING

“woah hEY i’m jin!! kim seokjin!! lmao yeah i live two floors down aND then i have all these bags and i just wanted to take one trip in the elevator but then in the same time i cAN’T and-“

oh

oH jin definitely just said too much words huh

right off the bat jin is rEALLY setting an impression huh

he got a good look at jungkook and he could tell that he looks younger than him

or maybe that’s just kook’s bambi eyes assessing jin that’s standing parallel to him right now

or maybe it’s some of the cocoa powder on his gray shirt and jin might assume that he’s a baby because he’s spilled some

“oh yEAH YEAH i prepared uh like a housewaeming thing for you!! well i mean this isn’t a house and it’s not your house bUT it isn’t mine either but in a tECHNICAL sense it’s — yEAH do u want chocolate truffles or something.....”

“oh jungkook you shouldn’t have!!! if it’s worth anything, i made this beret for my roommate and well it’s yOu right??? and i kinda sewed my initials at the back to commemorate like a friendship??? or something???? i don’t know man it sounds sO lame and-...”

bro

brO

jin’s eating literally everything that jungkook’s prepared and he heard the mention of the alcoholic gummy bears and his eyes almost pOP out of their sockets

for a moment, kook was kinda terrified because oh god are you cAMPUS POLICE????

turns out that jin loves alcohol AND gummy bears and he’s never tried that combination before

it’s like they’ve been friends for their whole entire life and conversation was just so easy to slip into

“how did you kNOW i eat this exact brand of mozzarella sticks??? they’re so good and you could even buy them in this hUge-ass box!!”

“how did you know that this beret would fit my hEAD?? i literally thought my head was too big for berets and this is like thE perfect size!!”

jin casually asks what they should eat for dinner later that night and jungkook dOESN’T skip a beat saying what he wants and jin dOESN’T hesitate either in agreeing

lmao jungkook started calling jin hyung not even 48 hours upon meeting him

“jungkoOooOoK :D so as you know, i’m gonna have a makeshift booth for my project, right? and like since your my very nice and kind and handsome and tALENTED best friend :D i was wondering if you could make the brand design for me? the logo? the layout of what i’m gonna put? this and that? say yes please pls :D”

...

....

“you cook all the meals for a week.”

“i already-...”

“obviously you’re gonna take all the credit bUT somewhere in your booth, there’s gonna be a piece there that’s inspired by mE.”

“okay fine what-...”

“if you get the highest mark and you bETTER, you need to check out my cart because-“

“oKAY DEAL!!”

it’s a two-way street okay

that just goes to say how far the both of them are bonding

in technical terms, their courses are kinda similar

and it’s just fun too because jungkook gets along with jin and the other way around!!

“jin-hyung i need a fRESH new background for this layout do you have any silk fabric??”

“do you want it sleek or do you want it crumpled?”

“can i try both??”

“yeah lmao i don’t see why not :D”

jin’s a nice roommate and an even better friend and hyung to jungkook and he can’t be thankful enough

it’s his personal goal in life to be the reason for jin’s first strand of grey hair and every morning jungkook cHECKS

sometimes he won’t be discreet at all

like he’d tug at jin’s hair and it’s freshly dyed and jin’s mighty sensitive because oh god what if it was freshly bleached??? tHEN WHAT

or maybe he’d toss a froot loop to his hair and he’d go :D hyungie lemme get that for you :D

“jin can u pls make me a bomber jacket :((“

“are you gonna pay me??? no??? well then NO”

“how about a bandana can you make me one can you make me one pLEASE”

“every piece of fabric could be literally a bandana if u think about it kook”

“how about a shirt that says ‘dad’ in the front but at the back it’s appa from avatar embroidered at the back lmao”

“why would you oH OMG I SEE WHAT U DID THERE :)))))) ok that sounds cool i’m proud i’m actually gonna do that :))) wait let me make one for me too :))))”

it’s a support system

even until him and jin graduated, they are sTILL roomies because that means not only do you pay half of the rent, you’re also not alone!!!

jin’s older and he may not voice this enough bUT he relies alot on jungkook as much as jungkook relies on him

jungkook’s the bug killer

he’s in charge of killing everything that’s crawling and slimey and has atleast made jin shudder once

he even has designated slippers for swatting spiders!!!! he’s used things from cereal boxes to his mousepad just going hard at these insects that bother jin

jungkook also has a higher pain tolerance

and he has this experience with these kind of things

and jin’s just scared shitless bUT

“please kook i nEED you to come with me to get my ears pierced :(((“

“but you already have your ears pierced.”

and that’s true

but it was just a standard piercing in the lobe that even babies have

“no i’m talking about a hELIX piercing!!!”

“oh you aRE???”

jungkook’s attention is fully caught now and he’s stopped working on the commission he’s handling as of the moment and right into jin who’s looking panicked

“i thought you said that you didn’t want it because it would hurt?”

he’s a bit frazzled because he remembers jin swearing that he’d go to his grave earlier rather than get his hard cartilage pierced

“well i changed my mind and i think it’s gonna look good on me :)))”

that bit’s actually true because jin didn’t order like five clip-on earrings after much thinking that he did LOVE how it looked on him

he contemplated for a moment that what if he just wears these clip-ons for the rest of his life y’know

but clip-ons hurt more than actual piercing like he sWEARS the blood flow to his ear stopped because the clasp was too tight and to loosen it means to lose it forever

and besides that, he’s LITERALLY allergic to fAKE things like these

huh guess he has actual taste with or without the allergic reaction to fake metal

of cOurse he’s gonna go to jungkook for moral support because the younger one has more piercings than him

jungkook has four piercings in total!! those two standard lobe piercings that even babies have, a second lobe piercing on his left ear, and his newest one!! — a mid-helix piercing on his right!!

he’s very-well aware that jin needs moral support and he’s a really sTURDY rock for his hyung that is more on the easy to get spooked side

and as much as this fuels his ego, he’s really hesitant to come with him because he’s jUst busy y’know??? and his latest commission is for this big online brand and he’s known to deliver right on time

he’s halfway through but the second half is really just as crucial as the first half because uHhhh jungkook’s dedicated and he’s getting paid and this is one of his jobs and this sustains his living

“i don’t know hyung.,.,.. when do you want to get it done?”

“well i was hoping nOW :D”

it’s 8 in the morning

eIGHT in the morning and jin could immediately see the bafflement in jungkook’s face so he quickly explains why because he just wants this so bad

“wait wait it’s because so i don’t chicken out!! it’s like nOW OR NEVER!! and the more time i spend thinking about it, then the mORE time i spend thinking about it. but i really dO wanna get this piercing and i just-...”

“i haven’t even had breakfast yet :((((“

oh

right jungkook’s coming with jin alright

it’s the line he pulls off when he’s convinced and of COURSE it’s hinting at jin to buy him breakfast to make his time worthwhile

jungkook’s a friend but he’s also an entrepeneur hA :D

besides him freelancing and picking up projects that require his skills of graphic design and making layouts,,,

he also has a lil online shop!!! he puts his works on bags and sticker and stuff and he is aLWAYS up for commission no matter how ridiculous it is

one day it could be someone asking him to draw them sketch-style with hearts around their head

or the other day it could be making a batch of twenty stickers and a print in a canvas bag, and very specifically, did it require to say

he’s being dead serious

really

lmao jungkook can’t stop laughing while he was designing this

HI MY NAME IS YOONGI AND I HAVE A BASKETBALL GAME TOMORROWWW

now at first he really didn’t knOW if the person that sent this commission was being serious because uH are you sure???

but then they sent in 50% of the fee and jungkook was immediately oh okay yea dude i’ll do this for you lol

he’s highly sure that this yoongi guy isn’t the one who commissioned him because wHY would you clown yourself like that??

that one’s for the books surely

now jungkook doesn’t know if seokjin always gets his way (spoiler alert: he does) but within an hour, he’s all clean and changed into new clothes and he’s nOW standing with jin right in front of this shop

this uh really nice-looking tattoo and piercing place that looks great from the outside and he has to hand that one over

“...,.,.. so have you ever been here before??”

......

“....,.,.. well nO actually but i read that it has gREAT reviews and the staff is also cool and the interior’s pleasing too so yEAH yeah let’s get it!!”

wait it does look pleasing

it’s not the most spacious shop in the world but the floor plan makes the shop look bigger than it actually is!!! and the granite tiles by the front look cLASSY too!!!!

kook lets his eyes wander to where the granite tiles stop and meet the wooden flooring and he just can’t help thinking in his degree y’know

graphic design just rates to sO many things in real life and he did not spend four years to try and maximize his knowledge in it as much as he could

oh they aLSO have a front desk??? that’s-

“hi welcome to hope ink sLASH vante studios!! walk-in, appointment, or are you just here to see me?”

what

the

fuck

is that a greeting

wAS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE A GREETING

jungkook’s trailing behind jin and he kinda scoffs at this dude in the front desk because what even

is that a part of the script

ok maybe jungkook just woke up in the wrong side of bed today bLAME HIM

jin, on the other hand, snorts at the greeting right away and it turns into a giggle and it pleasantly makes this receptionist do the same

the receptionist is this rEALLY fit guy with pink hair dressed in a white button-up and he looks pERKY AND CHATTY

a-and jungkook already hates him and he doesn’t know why bUT maybe it’s just because he isn’t amused whatsoever and he jus wants to come home immediately

oh right he even has that commission left to do and suddenly he’s feeling the time pressure

can they jUST speed this up

he’s here for moral support not for a chat with this pink-haired guy that doesn’t have a name tag and hOW can jungkook hate a guy that he doesn’t even know the name to ://

“walk-in?? no problem. you have six more people queued in front of you but not one of them has arrived sO yeah come with me!! what’s your name?? seokjin? jin??? okay come with me man!! lmao ur ᵍʳᵘᵐᵖʸ friend could come with too”

“i hEARD that.,..,”

“.,.,.. i know.”

jimin also finds jungkook irritating because he’s just being chirpy and this guy meets him for like two seconds and he’s already being a downer on his mood

he doesn’t even know his name!!!

although this jin guy is cool because obviously they r VIBING so hard

jimin’s leading the two of them to wherever jin’s gonna get his ear pierced and jungkook lags around behind to observe

this is a cool place!!!

to his left there’s a literal empty space with a rectangular podium in the middle of the area and it looks wEIRD ok

maybe a stall’s supposed to be there???

lol or maybe the tattoo artists do their tattoos there as if it’s a stage?????? oh god jungkook’s too fatigued for this he rEALLY needs to get glasses and get his eight hours in

to his right there’s some glass partitions with reclining chairs on them!!

and there’s some closed rooms to what jungkook can make out and he guesses that those are reserved for tattoos, maybe???

anyways he’s reading too much into this

he’s only moral support for a customer aND he’s not even gonna get anything done!!!

“you could just sit on this chair right here....,. lol and uh what’s his name.,.,. jungkook?? hmmm i’ll bring out a stool for you i guess...,.”

there are PLENTY of empty reclining chairs here why can’t jungkook just sit there????

jimin’s just being playful getting on jungkook’s nerves because he hasn’t been able to do that in a while with customers,,, because obviously they’re customers,,, and he doesn’t wanna jeopardize the shop rIGHT

“wait here, jin. we have two piercing artists in and i’m just gonna call them and y’know what you could just pICK who you want or like just pick the one who gets to your first!!”

okay

jimin’s a receptionist and he is fAIRLY new to this job but not to the other people working here

the usual script was to be formal and lead them to the artist or to the waiting area and formal just sounded SO boring

blame him for not being an uptight senior citizen

“one customer for an ear piercing!!! :D”

jimin’s head pops into hobi’s room where practically all of you are gathered when there’s no customers because the airconditioning is just sPLENDID

taehyung’s on his switch while he’s laid on your lap and you’re just on your phone from having scrolled in the same feed for like five times

“which one?”

you and tae ask at the same time and that’s when jimin kinda giggles and scratches at his nape as he stands around sheepishly

aha :D

“that’s the thing though i jUST told him to pick which one gets to do his piercing or... whatever....”

taehyung groans at that because oh god it was hobi who hired jimin and he’s told him off to nOt do that for a couple of times and here he is giggling like this isn’t the 35th time he’s put you and taehyung in this position and making the customer pick

“i’ll do it lmao don’t worry tae :))”

about time you do some actual work anyway

it’s not even lunchtime but you do wanna feel as if you’re productive because watching taehyung play animal crossing fRUSTRATES YOU

he whines a thank you because even though that meant more time for him to play, that also meant you deserting him and just have his head hit the cushions instead of your thighs :((

jimin’s walking with you as he leads you back to jin and there’s aLways a skip to his step and that is ur goal

ur goal is to be as happy as jimin in life because look at him!!!!

pink hair and cozy snug sweaters and dangling earrings and it doesn’t take much for him to laugh!!! what a trooper

the bell chimes and that’s his cue to jog over back to his spot and he just waves you over to go along like you cOULD walk over there by yourself

no problem!!! :D

uh-oh

it’s a problem

it’s really a problem

it’s a problem when the customer sat on the chair is so hot and cute and charming and hANDSOME

if angels do exist tHEN GOD HE MUST BE ONE

he looks so !!!!

WOW

he is actually so breathtaking are you sURE HE’S ACTUALLY REAL????

he has this long-ish hair that reminds you of taehyung’s but the only difference was that tae has a perm aND THIS GUY DOESN’T

and he has this cUTE nose that you wanna boop so bad and u saw him at the exact time that he was cheesing and he has this mole under his lip!!!!

ALSO

THE WAY HE’S SAT ON THE CHAIR

his arms are holding him up and he’s relaxed and oMG LOOK HIS EARRINGS ARE SO CUTE

they look heavy n they’re very flashy silver but oh god he could really really pull them off

you want those earrings aND YOU WANT THIS GUY

that’s cool y/n just breathe :D keep your cool :D you’re jUST gonna be stabbing his ears with some needles that’s all :D

“hi!! i’m y/n, your piercing artist for today!! what’s your name?”

jungkook’s beyond amused at jin who’s sitting on the chair at the other stall because lol he is so scared that he looks on the verge of crying

bUT he does feel sorry because no jin!!! the pain is just vERY quick and you’ll be done in no time!!

he wants to go to where jin’s at and actually sit on the stool that jimin provided for him but lmao no maybe later

he’s using it as a foot rest because he is really comfortable in this position and he’d rather not move until someone calls him out or something :))

or maybe when jin needs a hand to hold but like the piercing artist isn’t here yet so he has some time to lounge around hehe

“hyungie!!”

jungkook tries calling out just to take jin’s attention away from hyping himself about the pAIN he thinks he’s gonna be in

“what what?? whAt????”

“want me to deck the one who’s gonna be piercing you?? :D”

yAYYYYY jungkook’s got him to laugh!!

i mean he’s not actually gonna deck the piercing artist because uh that’s a lawsuit and second what the fUCk for

but it’s just this humor that jin thoroughly enjoys, especially now when he looks so near to tears

he gets teased anyway for looking out for jin even though he’s the younger of the friendship duo so why not joke about owning up to it??

“yA i’m serious!! i took up boxing for awhile and excuse you — my dad made me take up taekwondo when i was a kid!!”

“what are you gonna do? put the artist in a headlock??”

“...,.,. jin that’s mma,,..,.”

“lol you’re probably gonna be charged for traveling before you could land that kick”

“.,..,., jin that’s basketball and-..,..”

“maybe you could score a goal or something but jungkook that’s gonna be sO rare for you”

“.,.,. jin are you-...”

oh

OH

jungkook has probably never seen anyone so angelic he’s mid-laugh in and he sees you walking towards him and gOD ARE YOU REAL

maybe this isn’t a simulation you’re just that Perfect with the capital P :(((

“hi!! i’m y/n, your piercing artist for today!! what’s your name?”

oh god okay so this is where it goes down

“h-hi i’m jungkook!! i’m uH the friend of the one you’re gonna pierce today!!”

oh

you just wanna p-word right now

p for perish

you can nOT be embarrassed more

aha you’re just gonna detach from this situation as fast as possible because oh god you really looked like a FOOL in front of this really handsome guy :((

“hI i’m y/n and i assume you’re the one who’s gonna get pierced??”

if this guy isn’t it (and hE MUST be) then that means you’ve officially embarrassed yourself twice to tWO handsome men

the third time for yourself, the fourth for jimin who could be seeing this now, the fifth for maybe this random good ghost taehyung swears lingers by here, the sixth for-

“yEAH I’M JIN!!!! that’s me uh i’m sorry for jungkook,, jimin told him to sit by the stool and he didn’t wANt to and now we know wHY he should be sitting on the stool instead :D”

cue jungkook whose head is hung low while he’s sitting on the stool near you because god he also made a clown out of himself

it’s cool cool cool cool cool

“what piercing are you gonna get today? :))”

“mid-helix thank u vERY much :))”

jin’s pointing at his right ear and holding up his finger and that’s not exactly the mid-helix is but it’s ok ur gonna correct him later

he looks very nervous

you could literally see his fingers trembling and you just feel so sorry for him

jungkook can see that VERY clearly and so he’s just patting jin’s knee and you glance at him briefly and he’s looking RIGHT at you ahem

you hand jin a mirror and he yelps a bit when you lift your hand but you were jUST gonna wear gloves

kook doesn’t wanna laugh but in the same time he wants to laugh

“bro calm down y/n’s just putting on gloves!!!”

AND EVEN HIS VOICE SOUNDS GOOD :(((

you can’t shake off how how good your name rolled off from jungkook’s tongue and if ur being honest u feel kinda jittery

aha that’s my name :D omg what’s ur last name jungkook??? what a coincidence that’s gonna be mY last name too :D

chile

u nEED to calm down because otherwise you’d be as nervous as jin right now and you’re the one who’s gonna pierce him

lmao and you also met jungkook for the first time today so that’s a factor too you guess

“i’m just gonna be marking, okay?? does that look good to you?”

he calms down at that and takes a good look in the mirror and oOh that does look good!!!!

jin literally looks like he’s gonna faint

:O

“okay i only bust this out for a few customers,.,. and since you’re special and you deserve it and you look like you need it.,..”

that’s true tho

you have jin and jungkook’s attention fully and they’re peering at whatever you’re doing

you have this special box here in your cart and you’re hoping that you still have one of em aND

slime

it’s slime

bRAND-NEW SLIME

it’s the smooth matte type of slime and there’s a packet of like styrofoam beads you could mix into it!!!

technically this isn’t part of the payment but it’s ok yOU BOUGHT THIS YOURSELF!!!!!

specifically for the customers that you get that are terrified of needles or they’re so nervous and they don’t have anyone accompanying them

:O

jin’s very much speechless

:D

he takes the lil tub from you very excitedly and you’re just about to get the wipe and-

“here jungkook, you look like you wanted it too :))”

jungkook’s doe eyes grow mUCH bigger as you plop one on his lap and thank god because he would’ve wrestled with jin to have it

yo if he gets to marry you then he has to squeeze in you giving him slime at the first meeting into his vows somehow :’’’)

“y’know, i started working here about half a year ago!! i’m friends with the owners,” okay this bit is another one of your calming tricks

you’re pretending to get some stuff fixed and some things gathered but in reality,,, it takes about like ten seconds max to gather what you actually need

jin looks like he’s in the road to calming down anyways

“bUT i got my piercing license, i wanna say, a year and a half ago?? lmao funny story but i took training and certification out of a dARE and i took it with my uhhh friend :))”

wait what now

jin kinda looks concerned but in the same time he doesn’t because he’s in Zen mode rn

although you assure him that you DO take this very seriously and you’re fully certified and you passed through all the stages you needed to go through

“idk what jimin told you but i’m pretty sure he said something long huh”

“he said sLASH out loud.,.,”

“okay sO hobi, is the one who owns this shop!! it’s originally hope ink but tHEN taehyung owns another shop called vante studios and then rent’s expensive, right?”

“TOTALLY”

“I KNOW RIGHT????”

jin and jungkook can fully agree

jin’s been wanting to open a shop for sO long and jungkook’s been wanting to open a physical store for all his crafts but rent and decent space!!!! they r bitches

“they just decided to merge like two years ago!!! and it was for the better too!!! taehyung was my friend ever since uni and tHEN my course was graphic design-“

jungkook’s heart just flatlined jin was about to interject that oH kook here is also but nO JUNGKOOK BEATS HIM TO THAT

he squirms in his seat and even raises up his hand very eagerly and you look kinda alarmed

“me too me too!!!! i also studied graphic design!!!!”

“that’s sO COOL!!”

jin is enjoying this very much right now

if the two of you get married then he’s gotta have to add the they were vibing in the first meeting part to his best man speech

if he isn’t the best man then WHY is jungkook gonna get married in the first place :///

“i used to work at this company and boy was i overworked!! like i have so many things piled up but i just also don’t wanna half-ass the projects just to get through them quickly-“

“eXACTLY-“

“and so i quit :D”

that is quite the climax to your building story

that was very abrupt and frankly jin can’t get enough

which is perfect!!

because as he’s frustratedly asking you more questions while his hands blindly knead the slime and at one point he even stops, you’re already prepping up what you need

jungkook was also in the verge of frustration because you can’t just end it there :((

but then in his peripheral vision he could see what you were getting and it was a really good thing you already asked jin about his preferences and your professional opinion about this piercing

(if you were to ask him that now instead of earlier, it would be BACK to square one and you’d have to fish for another story in your head)

oh wow ur really good at this huh

kook has nothing but admiration and mad respect for you :3

he does his part on chatting up jin more and you internally praise him for that because look at that!!!! he knows what you’re doing!!!

you gesture for him to hold jin’s hands because you wouldn’t want to be distracted or have this hurt more than it should

piercings should be done in a quick and precise manner with no room for error on the artist’s end

and as for the customer, they literally need to stay still because hypertrophic scarring is a thing and you don’t want them to have that

jin’s story high is about to end because oH you’re standing near to him as he’s sat down and he’s starting to shut up because oh god oh god don’t look at the needle don’t look at the tHAT’S A BIG NEEDLE

“deep breath in for me, alright?”

you may have broken him and you haven’t even started yet

“jin? hmm? y’here with me?”

you found that saying your customer’s name helps to ease them and bring them down a bit and it works just as well with him

“do it with me and jungkook, okay?”

kook’s alert at that and you don’t even have to nudge him to do this with you

he even does it exaggeratedly to try and ease jin in the slightest and he even has him going along with him

ᵗʰʷᵒᵒᵖ

“jIN YOU DID SUCH A GOOD JOB!!! :D”

:O

omg jin can’t believe it either

“iT’S OVER??”

well not technically yet because you have to put the earring in but the worst part was already over!!

you had to still jin for a second because he kept laughing and therefore he’s trembling just a tiny bit so you have to grip on his shoulders-

oh they’re wide wide

maybe if you hold them for a little longer you could envision how wide the doorframe is to the

“aHEM ʲᶦⁿ⁻ʰʸᵘⁿᵍ’ˢ ᵉᵃʳʳᶦⁿᵍ ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ”

lol jungkook really isn’t as sly as he think he is you finally put the earring in and hand jin his mirror back and he’s gushing

from how pretty it is

sure his ear is red as fUck but even if it’s not fading out yet, it still looks so cute and he feels no ounce of regret whatsoever

he did a helix piercing it’s ok he’s SURE he could tackle on the world rn you’re just cleaning up the tiny bit of blood and jin doesn’t even notice

“if that’s all, i need to talk to you about aftercare!! okay so-“

no no no

wAIT jungkook forgot that piercing sessions lasted this quick he can’t have that

he’s only been with you for like tEN minutes maximum and no no he’s not taking that this is TOO quick

“NO UH ACTUALLY I-“

jin’s taken aback because why are u being so loud for

jimin’s ears even perk up at that and if he’s being honest, he even jumped up a little because wHY is jungkook like that

you’re alarmed too because uH wait did you do something wrong??? oh god is it-

“i also want a piercing...”

ok listen you were actually expecting to do more piercings on jin because normally people don’t come here for a single one bUT jin just wanted one

and well jungkook’s cute and kinda and nice and you feel so weird having only met him for like ten minutes and u hate how good and quick you are at your job :(((

because that means less time to interact with jungkook

“... done by you.”

you’re pretty sure you could ascend to heaven right here right now

:D

“okay yEAH no problem!!! i’ll uh,, i’ll just get set up and i could talk to the both of you about aftercare after i pierce your ears aha :D”

you toss the gloves quickly to the bin

you’re making sure to wash your hands eXTRA clean and extra slow so you could be thorough :)))

jungkook practically pushed jin out of the chair with your back turned to them because Y/N SAID IT’S MY TURN :P

now he knows he said that he only came here for moral support but maybe getting a few more piercings done by someone he may already have a crush on after two seconds, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, right??

he always wanted more piercings anyway

he didn’t think for it to have them now but he kNOWS he definitely wants them now

“what’re you thinking about??”

wait no he didn’t prepare for this gOD are you seeing right through him

and the fact that he has a pathetic lil crush on you

“well aCTUALLY that’s aha quite a hard question to ask because uhm yOU SEE-“

that’s IT jungkook is now the fool and he should be-

“the piercings that you’re gonna get, koo.”

not only do you look calm and collected

but you also called him KOO and jungkook now wants to change his name in his birth certificate because fUCK jungkook whoever that bitch is

hIS NAME IS KOO NOW!!!!

“y-yeah that’s what i’m trying to get at!!” he’s scratching the back of his head and tries to suppress the sheepish smile that’s just widening as the time ticks by

“dealer’s choice :))”

“d-dealer’s choice???”

this is not the first time that a customer gave you the reins to do what you please because they trust you enough to do so

but jungkook giving you that decision with no hesitation at all and he’s all giddy sitting on his chair staring right back at you.,...,

whoosh

speechless luv speechless

jin is too because he’s partly listening and partly taking pictures of his ear and his side profile so he’s just mumbling off to the side smh now these two are gonna play poker now??

“i uh personally think that both your sides are good sides and it’s true sO i was thinking of a second lobe and third lobe on your right ear!!”

oh no not you confessing that he looks immaculate on the first meeting :((

yIKES jungkook’s just blushing profusely as he nods along with his lips pursed because if they aren’t then he will sqUEAL

“because it’s gonna fit you just nicely and you already have this mid-helix on your right!! and by the looks of it, it’s jUST freshly-healed and i don’t wanna hurt you or anything with another cartilage instantly and !!!! is that okay with you?”

he is okay

definitely MORE than okay

somewhere along the lines when you were disinfecting his ear, taehyung’s strolling out because what’s taking you so long??

jimin only said that it was just for one customer and like a single helix piercing and that doesn’t take long at all

he wants someone to watch him play animal crossing because who eLSE is gonna get frustrated with him (and therefore motivate him to do better) playing it besides you

“there you are!! wHAT’S — oHhh do you need me to take over for you?”

tae cares for you very much

sometimes a little too much

but all in good reason!!!!

the moment you offered him a sip of your iced coffee you bought from the convenience store, he automatically knew that he wanted to protect you from the wORLD

if only you didn’t look at each other as really really close friends, 10/10 the two of you would probably be a couple now lmao

he always asks this question in that tone that sounds intimidating because

if his voice is deep he makes it even deeper bc that would scare off some people

some people being the occasional group of frat guys that come 

here to get pierced and they’re all lining up for YOU and not for taehyung

they r small-minded

not to mention creeps

and they’re trying to smooth-talk their way to you and you aren’t having it

and sO IS TAEHYUNG

and jimin

and hobi

and even the stray cat jimin lets in the shop from time to time because lil chimmy looks like he’s gonna claw this dude’s nose right OUT

(( this is why jimin’s scolded for giving the customer the choice when the scenario’s unnecessary))

lol taehyung took over for you and he stared down all these frat guys and got them done quickly and u know what he may or may not made it hurt aNYWAYS

jungkook isn’t that type though

you tHINK

you’d hate for him to receive taehyung’s sternness and so you’re quick to wave off tae with a smile

kook is kinda scared because uhhhh is this your boyfriend and uhhhh do you know how to patch me up because he looks like he’s about to wHOOP my ass :((

“no need, tae!!” his stance relaxes at that but he’s still wary, a knowing smile on your lips as you face jungkook who’s shying away from taehyung’s stare

“jungkook, this is taehyung — the one i was talking to you about!! my friend aND one of the two owners of this shop :D”

“heymannicetomeetyouimjungkook”

atleast tae shakes his hand back so that’s good in hindsight

he isn’t nervous about the piercing but he IS nervous with how jimin and taehyung are eyeing him because he’s deduced that they’re your friends and they think somEthing must be going on

pls he’s only met you now :((

but he wishes he’s met you sooner

you’re marking down on his ear and he catches a whiff of your perfume and it’s safe to say that he may be wHIPPED already

although tae caught him doing that and now jungkook’s just pretending to sniffle from a cold

even goes the extra mile to tell jin outloud that they should get vicks candies after this

he is not slick at A L L oh my god he does not have any game whatsoever and it makes taehyung laugh to himself for a moment because oh god

he’s seen frat boys get their rip-off calvin klein knickers in a twist but he hasn’t seen a customer like jungkook that has a cRUSH on you point-blank

oh ok :)))

jungkook sees a mischievous smile on taehyung’s face that’s directed for him and he does not like it at all

“something tells me that i don’t need to distract you with a chat like i did with your friend, hm?”

he hears you mumble under your breath when you lean in and he stifles a giggle at that because n-o he isn’t a scaredy cat like jin is

however

for this occasion he wishes that he has a weak heart because there’s absolutely NOTHING he wouldn’t give just to have that Jin Treatment

jungkook eagerly nods his head when you ask him if you’re ready and taehyung nearly doubles over in laughter because he didn’t know that this guy was tHIS desperate ok

ᵗʰʷᵒᵒᵖ

“good job kook!!!! :D”

hehehe

he’s been told that atleast a hundred times before but coming from you??

he could ascend to heaven because it just makes him blush so mUCH and every miniscule thing u do or say to him?? enough for him to set himself on fire

that’s right :D i did a good job :D say that again pls :D

there’s just one more piercing left to do and he barely flinches

merely blinks and before he knows it,,,,

he’s done

like actually done this time

:((

taehyung pats him on the back because he’s there to brief him and jin with the aftercare

why can’t yOu do it????

oh that’s right jimin YELLED for you all across the shop so he could beckon you over to the front desk

jungkook’s pouting the whole time

ok yes i’ll disinfect this twice a day :((

ok yes sir i will go here if i feel like there’s something wrong with my piercing or if it’s showing any signs of allergies or infection

wait did u say i could go here..,.,,.

anyways he’s very gutted to know that he has to leave because he did come here in the first place to support jin

and here he is with two fresh piercings and blushing cheeks,,

just plain-out wondering when he could see you again

or probably the 70% chance that he’ll never do

he’s just standing behind you as you converse with jimin and while jin’s by the counter to pay for himself and jungkook (which then turned out that taehyung gave him a 50% discount overall because it’s like yO man i appreciate you and u feel like my hyung thank you) and he must look like an utter fool

jungkook has never been this nervous before

he’s been told that he visually looks intimidating as fUck but it all breaks when he smiles or giggles and basically stops scowling

jin teases him every single time whenever he wears these big romper stompers as he calls them and he has to say every time that nO he is not an e-boy :(((

he’s tucking his hands in his pockets because oh god oh god jimin’s giving him a look and then that prompts you to look at what he’s looking and he’s not prepared yet oKAY

he has no lines and no direction and-

“y/NNNNN aha!!”

lol he’s cute

it seems like your nervous jitters were passed to him because you very quickly got over them by distracting yourself

you know mAYBE you just find jungkook attractive and you don’t have a crush on him

that thing exists

he’s saying your name like it’s the eighth wonder of the world and honestly he feels like it is

“can i have the number?”

he asks upright and fuck that sounded so straightforward and too quick because if it wasn’t stressed enough, he just met you today!! t o d a y he doesn’t know at all that his voice sounded much like a squeal

or the fact that jin’s practically gAWKING at what jungkook just did but at the same time he looks like he’s a proud dad!!

or that jimin’s just snickering at the back and shaking his head at jungkook while clicking his tongue because lmao he knEw that this guy had a thing for you

he just didn’t know that he’d advance to you this painfully and awkwardly

jimin’s had a lot of awkward interactions with customers but nOT to this point that he looks like he’s gonna pass out

taehyung’s cupping his hand over his mouth because oof that wasn’t as smooth and jungkook thinks it is

it’s like waterslides but there’s not enough water in it so for the first half it’s all smooth but then at the second half it’s just dried out

and your back’s just skidding and hurting and you have to manually push yourself down the slide and now EVERYONE in the pool’s now looking at you awkwardly and then u decided that you want to sink into a blackhole

aha tae wonders who got that experience :D certainly not him :D

“o-oh the number for the shop i mean!!! piercings and stuff like that!!! a cALLING CARD IS WHAT I MEANT”

okay now jungkook reeled too far in

jin’s massaging his temples because the second-hand embarrassment is too much and he wants to make it clear that he is not affiliated with jeon jungkook OR whatever his name is

it’s like casting your fishing line to the water and you just feel this slight bite (but it’s probably just your wrist snapping) and all of a sudden you feel like it’s the biggest catch eVER in history

you’re wondering on the down-low of uhhhhhh lol why is it so light and it’s like i kNOW i’m powerful but why is it too easy for me

then turns out that it’s just a random piece of seaweed

lol definitely NOT jin :D of course not :D

you’re a bit bummed because honestly you really thought that jungkook would ask for your number

although you could just give it to him but you’re not tHAT daring on the first meeting

“calling card yeah sure :)))”

you outstretch your hand because the stack of calling cards are literally just on jimin’s desk and jungkook also failed to account for that

you hand it to him and jungkook’s just blinking rapidly because oH,,,, landline,,,, o-oh you really did just give him what he ASKED for

here’s the catch

jungkook’s a big dummy

HE MISSES YOU OKAY

it’s been a solid week ever since he and jin got piercings done

jin’s beyond happy with his piercing and he looks at himself in every reflective surface every single time because he’s just in LOVE with the new addition

he’s already dreaming of his next one and what earring he’d put in once this one’s all healed

doesn’t help that jin keeps mentioning you every single time either

or the fact that he is stiLL playing with the slime you’ve given him and kook’s conflicted whether he wants to steal it or throw it out of the window his piercings are all good :( he can peacefully sleep on his side now :(

normally that would be a good thing but now jungkook’s wondering if it’s wrong to hope that atleast there may be sOMETHING WRONG with it :(((

just so he could drop by the shop

speaking of the shop

he found the instagram account :D

not necessarily found because well the handle was in the calling card

ANYWAY

there’s a big following for it!!

he assumes that these tattoos are done by the hope guy and they look pretty awesome

there’s the piercings too!!!

that’s jin’s ear!! tHAT’S JUNGKOOK’S EAR!! :D

why is he so happy

he has no idea on which one of you runs this account and he’s a lil shit.,... that’s why he won’t slide into the shOp’s dms in hopes that you’re the one running it

what if he sends a cute message of “hey i miss u” and it turns out that it’s jIMIN who’s in charge of the acc

that’s a big L for kook

if jimin were to picture that situation, he would block and clown jungkook for life

he’s scrolled far enough to see a picture that isn’t of ink and reddened ears

it’s a picture of the staff!!!

you’re standing brightly in the middle with your arms around taehyung and *grunt* jimin while you’re the embodiment of :D

and jungkook’s smiling to himself in the dark because uh it might be late in the morning when he’s doing this

now there’s TWO other guys and he knows that one of them mUst be hoseok but he’s not exactly sure which one of these dudes because he doesn’t know what hobi looks like

he’s now on a roll because the other handles are tagged :D and well :D

jungkook isn’t a creepy guy ok

he’s just genuinely curious about you and he misses yOU who he’s only met for like less than an hour who was really gentle with him even if u poked a needle to his ear otherwise

now you’re not really thAt uptight with your feed because in your humble opinion

ahem

pictures with the same aggressively saturated/unsaturated filters going on and on are kinda very annoying for you because now every picture looks like the other and what’s the pOINT

there’s multiple pictures of the guys there!!!

taehyung looking sophisticated and intimidating and sOft at the same time that jungkook feels smol

ok ok maybe he should level his wardrobe game up a little bit

jimin looking very smiley and poised and kook huffs because he’s not the oNLY one who could pull off a cardigan smh ://

that’s IT he’s going to jin the first thing in the (normal waking hours of) morning and requesting (kINDA DEMANDING) that jin makes him a cardigan please

oh so that’s hoseok

he looks intimidating-ish and in the pictures he looks stOic but there is this one picture tho that he’s smiling and that makes jungkook smile too finally there’s you!!!

most pictures of you are taken either by a really nice camera OR a grainy film camera one

taehyung takes your pictures with his expensive-ass dslr aND his film cam and there’s just something about it that mwah 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒻’𝓈 𝓀𝒾𝓈𝓈

you don’t look ugly in them and u don’t hate the way you look in them and it’s just!!! wow!!! taehyung baby please develop these right nOW

jungkook’s sighed wistfully atleast twenty times now

damn he just wants to see you again is that tOO much to ask for he doesn’t know what time at all he goes to sleep but he knows for sure that he’s awake now

like awake AWAKE normally, jin just lets jungkook laze around and sleep away because he

too can attest to the fact that the both of them need sleep so much he only wakes him up when jungkook tells him the night before to wake him up at this certain time at aLL costs

..,... oh you mean *all* costs .,..,.

so far jin really enjoys all the things he’s came up with

he’s tried spraying jungkook with the same bottle that he uses for the plants repetitively until he wakes up

oooooh he’s also tried piling on froot loops on jungkook’s nose (his record’s twelve!!!) until the smell made jungkook sniff and thEn sneeze

you know that scene in how i met your mother when robin was drunk asleep then a baby wakes hEr up by crying then she just wakes up,,, dazed n confused,,, and goes to comforting the baby and turns out that it’s a sTRANGER’S baby??? yeah that one

jin made this alpaca plushie and it looks like him with the gentle smile and he named it RJ because what a cutie :((( you shall now be named RJ

and sO what he did was play a random crying baby loop on his phone and bURST into jungkook’s room

“jungkook the baby the baby’s cRYING”

and jungkook’s all groggy but then he yawns and stands up

“aisH ‘mkay heYYY bud calm down, hmm?? i’m-“

wait hOLD UP

jin still has that video on his phone to this day,, of jungkook cradling and even patting the back of a plushie with the hush noises,,,, until he eventually realizes that he is not the father

and most certainly that this is nOT a baby

but the thing is

jungkook didn’t ask jin to wake him up

his projects this week have all been completed last night

what is perhaps something so important this morning that jin is literally sHAKING him awake to the point that jungkook’s ducking underneath his hands because he thought it was an earthquake????

“you know? you know how we talk about us collaborating aLL the time?? the endless opportunities???? how you knOw i’ve been literally figuring this out in the majority of my spare time and-...”

jin’s talking so fast and that wakes up jungkook because whew slow down he is at the capacity of turbo the garden snail pre-nitrous oxide

“yeah sure online shops are cool!! we bOTH have our own!!! we work two jobs!! but we both know that we like it better oUR way right???”

no printer just fax

maybe it’s the stubbornness in jungkook but he just doesn’t like it when someone’s breathing down on his neck and making demands profusely even if that is what a job entails lol

jungkook’s just nodding because he feels that whatever jin has to say is important with how quick he’s talking and how big his eyes are

“what if i told you — jungkook are you rEADY to hear this-“

“yeah yeah whAt is it??”

“i mean it are you pREPARED to hear-“

“what wHAT??? now you’re just making me antsy!!”

jin’s trying to calm himself by pursing his lips and even his finger that’s raised is trembling

“what if i told you that i earned us an excellent aND affordable spot at a famous shop,,, the perfect placement and i know the owners and we could go there, right now, to finish settling and start setting?”

...

....

.....

“jin are you fucking sHITTING ME???”

oh my god

jungkook’s springing out of bed and is just jumping up and down with jin out of sheer joy because oMG

they’ve both wanted this for so long and kook feels like he is actually about to cry

“you wanna know something???”

“of cOURSE i wanna know something!!”

“hope ink?? vante studios?? remember when we got our ears pierced by y/n?? do you remember that platform thingy???”

yes yes i remember get to ur point jin

“i was so curious with it that i texted taehyung at 11 in the evening last night and i didn’t kNOW that he would reply,,, turns out that it was a space for rent and obviously i was like wHAT DID YOU JUST SAY???”

oh my god oh my god is this what jungkook thinks it is

“and then this morning, he gave me hoseok’s number and he said that we could head to the shop and discuss terms!!! he sounded sO excited too!!”

wait

does this mean

does this mean that he gets to see you again???

:O

“you’re telling me that i get to see y/N??”

you don’t know what the commotion is about

you’re a lil bit disoriented coming into the shop because you and jimin

went out for shots the night prior

you regret challenging him to a dare

now said jimin is here surprisingly early,, absolutely hammered because oh god he regrets taking you up for your dare

he thinks he’s being sly with his sunglasses on but he is positively wrong <3

you had to do a double-take because this was just weird

the shop should be open by now but the sign says that it’s closed

and something in the air feels weird and somehow..,. baby powder fresh??

hobi and tae are sitting on the waiting area discussing some things and they keep giggling every few seconds

“jimin what’s going on??”

you’re nudging him to move from his seat but he refused to yield so now ½ of your buttcheeks is sitting on his chair

“bro i don’t know aNYTHING”

thing is, yOU’RE the one who takes care of him when he’s drunk and forces him to drink water so he wouldn’t be as wrecked the next day

“shouldn’t receptionists know the gossip??”

“shouldn’t yOU be talking a little quieter??”

lol ok go off mr. jimin the receptionist

he’s already apologized for his quips and you know by now that whenever he’s grumpy and this rekt, he’s a bit more catty and has sensitive ears so now the two of you are just talking in whispers and jimin has his head rested on your shoulder :((

“i think someone’s finally renting the stage”

“really??”

you and jimin just call it “the stage” because the platform at the shop just looks so ominous and empty,, even if jimin doodles something on a sticky note and puts it at the center of the stage

hobi was the one who wanted it to be there!!!

right when he and tae decided to merge, he wanted a bigger space to accommodate this stage for future tenants

it’s a good business opportunity and easily profitable!!!

although no one’s rented it

maybe now’s the time!!!

jimin loves making assumptions lmao

his mind,,,, wow jimin’s mind just perplexes you

“i think it would be a waffle stand!!”

“jimin… why would someone put in a waffle stall… in a tattoo shop..,.,.”

“honestly why nOt?? some clients get tattooed for what, like five hours?? let’s say they’re hungry. do you tHink they’d bring a lunchbox with them??”

“you’re right.,..,. you’re absolutely right.”

before you and jimin could condense the options furthermore though, tae and hobi are already walking towards the two of you that are still whispering

they’re gonna announce something!!!!

tae’s trying to keep it together as hobi’s trailing it out with his speech and he’s taking tOO long

“someone’s gonna be renting out the stage!!!!”

he basically squeals and you and jimin nod to each other aha

he was aiming for perhaps a bIGGER reaction

“oh lmao we already guessed it ten minutes ago”

“but do you knOw what’s gonna be there??”

jimin immediately raises his hand begging for hobi to call him on to answer as he’s violently flailing around

“you know??? what is it then???”

“waffle stand :D”

the outright cackle hobi lets out is enough to send you meanwhile jimin’s pouting,, still confused before you urge him to take a seat

the two of them won’t tell you at all and then agreed to just keep it as a surprise until the tenants come

jimin’s literally at the edge of his seat as he lets you take ¾ of the chair because nOw he’s excited

the door chimes and you stand up at lightning pace that you forget jimin’s sTILL sitting there lmao

well he’s sitting.,.. just on the floor

you’re hurrying to pick him up and the moment you drag him up with you, you feel like yOU’RE the one who’s gonna fall sheesh

your knees are bUckling

“jungkook!!!!!”

jungkook’s happily waving at you and he forgets that the two of you aren’t close because he’s about to make his way to hug you

it looks like you’re the only who’s in shock

it’s starting to sink on why jungkook and jin are here and you immediately freak the moment it clicks in your head

“oh my god did something happen with your piercings?? let me-“

you’re in panic mode and you’re walking so fast towards jin and kook stops you before your heart could even explode

“no nO!! don’t worry!! didn’t they tell you?”

“tell me what??”

taehyung and hobi are grinning so hard and it’s only a matter of seconds before tae has his arm around your shoulder as he gestures to them

“they’re the tenants!!”

oh

OH

DOES THIS MEAN-

:O

“hihi nice to see you again, y/n!! look at my piercing it’s healing sO quickly!!”

jin is the first to put you in an embrace and you squeal when he does because omg he is a furnace

you’re pointing at his ear excitedly and he even babbles on how he wants more now and you instantly add on to that conversation

jungkook’s a bit uHhh because he wanted to greet and hug you fIRST!! 

although he does get his turn because jin turns his attention to hobi who he’s excited to meet

jungkook can’t help but to hug you a little bit tighter and mayhaps even sniff the scent of your perfume again !!!! omg he missed you so much everything’s going great

jin plus jungkook and taehyung plus hobi were able to agree on a deal within the day!! it was so easy and both parties are such delights

they’d get a partition done in the meantime so while you all get to work, jin and kook could have things done with it being a surprise factor for the patrons!!!!

their ideas already sound so good

you learned that jin studied fashion design and jungkook with the graphic design and how you’d even hear stories from them on how they saved each other’s asses so many times

their layout for their stall??? immaculate

jungkook’s fingers are itching to layout the floor plans and all these graphics because fuck he is ecstatic and he cAN’T hide it

you find his smile to be absolutely aDORABLE

that smile with his nose scrunched up and he looks like a bunny and how he laughs loudly and it’s actually contagious

you finally got to exchange numbers :D

kook was the one who texted first and it was out of the blue because he’s wasted all this time just thinkinG on how he’d approach you first

then he was designing prints to go on to the stall until his body dropped and with the energy he had left he went :]

what do you think :) about :) my designs :)

and then you REPLIED and he didn’t think that far ahead

you commended him for it and you realize that your way of designing is different from his but in the same time somehow alike???? yes synergy

“what more do you have left to do?? lol u should really go to sleep koo :D”

“just some more cards i guess?? like the ones with the ~opening sale!!!~ and things like that”

inch resting

you may be so whipped for jungkook that you may or may not have did those layouts yourself

hehe

:D

kook comes to the shop early on the morning so they could be hands-on with the set-up all that but he instantly gets energized the moment you come near him

he should’ve fixed himself up a little bit longer

it’s all clear that he looks fATIGUED and jimin keeps teasing him that he looks like triangle gimbap :(( and he wasn’t annoyed then but he is nOW because oh u might think of him like that too

you put a whole-ass hard drive on his palm and you could’ve just gave him a flAshdrive or sent him the files like a normal person would but he’s special ok

and the gears in his head are turning because oh my god what is iN this wHY are you giving me this and-

“opening sale,,, discounts,,,,, layouts you had left.,….,. y’know :))”

brO

bRO

jungkook’s so happy and he’s still in disbelief because you did that?? you really did THAT for him and you haven’t known him for like a week but you still did it??

this is such a big deal and he doesn’t know how he could express that he’s thankful for what you did besides

ᵐᵐᵖʰ

hugging you :((

oh god you’re really falling for jungkook qUICK

you don’t wanna say that you’re the type to get attached quickly but you aRE the type to get attached quickly :((

although you’ve only been in one (1) relationship before and it went for pretty long but you won’t get into that lol

taehyung knows this so well and mAYBE that he knows that for a brief time when you first met him, you did have a tiny crush on him but that dispersed quickly

it’s just this feeling in you that jumps up every now and then

that’s it tHAT’S the person

but then it isn’t that person

tae knows you enough and well,, he tries to interfere with your decisions from time to time because you get crushes and well sometimes they’re not crush material at all lmao

he knOws you have the hots for jungkook

but he’s not sure whether or not jungkook feels the same

://

he needs to keep his mind open ok

he doesn’t know jungkook that well but he does know that there are a LOT of guys like jungkook

that sounds pretty hypocritical of him but taehyung’s just that way hehe he just doesn’t speak his thoughts loudly

but he is THINKING

and he’s shutting up and he won’t go off on you yET of how maybe you should feel this one out with jungkook and try to analyze if it’s uhm a two-way thing y’know….

that you’re not the only one who’s getting attached….

it’s officially the opening for the shop and jin and jungkook couldn’t be happier

everyone’s having so much fun!!!!

they didn’t expect these many people and ph god the tears are definitely coming whew

it feels like everyone and everyone’s mother is at the shop and they’re all genuinely having a good time :D

there’s tONS of flowers and you all surprised the both of them with an additional blowout and wow it’s really endearing to try and digest

the people that came in for their tatts and piercings to be done?? they aLL went to the stall!!! their appointment isn’t due yet and they’re a bit early??omg why not go to that pretty shop WITHIN this shop???

they’re all done with their appointment and wanna buy a bomber jacket?? some stickers?? some prints within this frame?? that’s it they will go rIGHT now

vice versa too!!!

the people that initially came for jin and koo’s shop?? they were intrigued and went “lol why not let’s get a piErcing while we’re at it!!!”

business is booming

u gotta say that

satisfaction levels are off the roof

jimin is absolutely having THE time of his life because he gets to chat and he LOVES chatting!!! so much!!! omg who are u!! lemme talk to you about this pretty kitty i saw on my doorstep this morning :D

this whole time, jungkook is beaming and glowing and it makes your heart go whOosh

everytime he bumps into you or sees you in his peripheral vision? would absolutely waddle towards you and sling his arm around your waist and point to all the people in there as he giggles excitedly

whatever’s going on

whatever tHIS was

you’re loving it :(( you want more and it’s driving you crazy that you’re too chicken to make any moves towards jungkook and hE ALSO WON’T

you don’t wanna approach any of the guys either because adding them into this equation won’t make it any less confusing

hobi would just furrow his eyebrows at you because it’s ???? not that hard ???? just confront him and ask if he wants to take it to the next level with you ???? or like idk cONFESS ????

jimin would absolutely tattle and before you know it, you’re already in a reddit or quora thread because he too needs advice, before he himseLF gives advice

taehyung??

well you’re not exactly sure on how tae would react but u know that you’re scared to open up either way because you just aren’t prepared!!

“whatcha doing?? :D”

jungkook’s been awfully too enthralled and his eyes are literally less than an inch away from whatever it is that he’s holding

he’s slouching too and you distinctly remember seokjin getting these chairs with these backrests on them, specifically not for him to do so

he hasn’t been speaking for awhile now and nORMALLY you’d hear his voice every now and then even if you were back to your station or even in the break room

he’s just so fOcused and although that’s not necessarily a bad thing, he needs a break every now and then ok

here you are with a glass of iced tea you just made :)) only supposed to fix up a glass but then taehyung had glared and pouted you from across the room :)) so now you have made a pitcher and everyone’s happy :))

kook kinda jolts at that and it’s what reminds him to blink and tear his eyes away from what he’s holding, looking up at you and a fat tEAR drops from his eye

oh god did you make him Cry

lol no

jungkook’s just wiping it off because he hasn’t blinked in awhile and his eyes are beyond strained at this point

“i brought you-…”

did jungkook just-

oh

did he-

you were supposed to put the iced tea down on his table and you even brought a cOASTER for it

but then jungkook probably doesn’t think of that because he’s wordlessly put his hand on your tummy and sat you down

he’s sat you down.,..,. on him.,…

in technical terms

jungkook’s sitting with his legs slightly spread apart and you’re sat rIGHT at that remaining space

and mind you

this chair is not the biggest chair in history

nor is jungkook’s thighs small.,., hence him taking up the entirety of the chair and leaving a tiny space on it for you to sit

aND YOU KNOW THAT

and out of instinct did you think that you’re gonna fall off, you hoist yourself up and he even helps you out for it, going so far as to wrap his arm around your tummy once again and bring him up on his lap more securely

you’re now sITTING ON JUNGKOOK

although you’re not sure if he realizes this bit that much because he still seems genuinely preoccupied with what he’s doing

his chin’s propped up on your shoulder and his arms around yOU all while it looks like he’s stringing a thread through these beads before he decides to speak

“this mom came in today asking if we could make party favors for her kid’s birthday party,” he absentmindedly hums and for any other scenario would

you ask him to continue on

but now you’re in a PRESSING scenario

literally

your cheeks feel so hot right now and it’s worse than when you try those hiit workouts that straight out come from hell

“so fORTY kids, right? this seven-year old has so much friends?? anyway!! she wanted to have bracelets spelling the kids’ names bUt with these acrylic pendants — sounds good but a lil complicated, right?”

“rIGHT you’re right!!!! :)”

jungkook suddenly stomps his foot down as he huffs because this goddamn string just won’t get in this damn bean and u feel your sOul quiver

“aha let me get that for you!!!”

you’re flustered if it wasn’t that any mORE obvious but apparently, jungkook takes no notice at all because he just scrunches his nose in thanks when you take it from him

“but then, she said that she wanted one more thing to give away!! wanna guess?” he nuzzles further to your shoulder and by your neck and you swear that you’re absolutely dYING

you cock your head to the side the moment jungkook gets back the unfinished bracelet from you and he even nUDGES HIS NOSE TO YOUR

NECK

mhmmm

good food…. good fucking food…..

“matching little cream bERETS that have their name embroidered on them.”

jungkook snorts because hmmm isn’t that a bit too much?? is this kid 7 or 70

“and so yeah, okay, jin-hyung entertained the order and the beret part. and then we gave her a quote. and then she said that she needs it tWO days from now!!! T W O !!!”

the way he emphasizes is adorable but gOd the way he’s practically teasing you right now and pretending to not know about it at all is just sINFUL

“it was a rush order, and she said that she’d pay triple even bEFORE jin could say that she’d have to pay extra!!!” he wraps up on this particular bracelet then before tying it off, having to lean more so he could see better and in turn making you aDJUST

makes you screw your eyes shut because you’re positive that kook would be the death of you

“do you know how mANY variations the name kayleigh could have?? because i certainly dO”

jungkook snorts once more before he could even adjust the way he’s sitting but this time though it’s you who’s caught him off-guard

“this chair hmm???”

now listen

he’s had this scene play out in his head and yes he may or may not have planned for it

of cOurse he would take any chance that he gets to sit you down on his lap

HOWEVER

this one was purely innocent!!!

jungkook was so endeared with you preparing him iced tea and he was just so stressed with these bracelets and he wanted to show you them!!!! that’s all!!!!

but then the equation played out in his head that oh.,.., there is Not Enough Space for two people in this chair that is clearly built for one person only

and tHEN the realization came to him that oh you are INDEED sitting down on his lap and the way you’ve reversed this card is commendable

he swears you were flustered just awhile ago but nOw??? you’re full-out hinting him on this directly and not beating around the bush and oH god that just made him-

“y-yeah this chair, hmm?? what about it??”

jungkook’s the one that’s stuttering now and he unconsciously wraps his hands around your waist tightly as he chews on his bottom lip

your throat’s a bit dry but there’s just this sudden desire that’s popping into you and it automatically cuts our whatever awkward filter you have on

he feels you obviously grind on him in a clockwise motion and you’re playing it oFF so smoothly that he almost forgets that the two of you aREN’T exactly alone

“why don’t you show-

“are those bracelets??? omg”

hobi’s voice resonates from the distance and it automatically goes higher because he’s walking towards the booth in an eager pace

okay fUCK

you automatically yelp and jungkook squeals and before you know it, he’s standing up sO quick before he practically sits you down on his chair forcefully

jungkook’s legs are literally in a tWist as he’s standing behind the backrest and you have to grasp your cheeks to try n cool them down

“yeah!! aha it’s for this client omg but i have so many more to go through and it’s just really busy and all and so i-“

“lemme help!!! today’s a slow day for me anyways!! :D”

hobi’s walking in and he’s aiming for jin’s unoccupied chair that is literally just beside yours and kook is sCRAMBLING away oh god oh god someone’s gonna see this tENT in his fucking pants

“aha omg need to pee!!! y/n’s iced tea makes me wanna pee so badly aha she’s — IT’S so good omg just need to go the bathroom!! aha brb!!!!”

hobi is a little bit perplexed? but uh he doesn’t wanna delve into it that much

you’re shoving your face into your hands because that’s… the glass of iced tea…… it’s not even sipped from yet…..

it’s okay it’s cool

delayed gratification!!! yeah, that!!!! that applies to here, right????

right???

pls say right

it’s always been this flirty and touchy and affectionate atmosphere between the two of you

you were testing out on jumping in puddles basically :((

of course you don’t want jungkook to be this “friend” that you have frequent loving banter and sexual tension with aND is the type to sit you down on his lap and then completely ignore you as you stew in tension

.... of course not

do you know what to feel? not really

truthfully you aREN’T that strong-willed and you only become proactive when the case is absolutely necessary

you have a backbone in you it’s just not THAT strong

which is why you don’t know how you should treat jungkook’s sudden shift in emotions and the way he’s practically avoiding you

you don’t wanna push into him and force yourself over anything he isn’t ready with!! of course not

you don’t know whether you should be enraged because it’s hIM who’s sending mixed signals and right when you think you’re making progress, it’s always two steps back

you don’t know whether you shouldn’t think about it that much because maybe just mAybe it isn’t your loss!!!! jungkook just has a lot on his plate and you shouldn’t be bothered!!!

you DO know that you’re kinda sad 

because you’re just so clueless and no matter how tiny of a nudge (you wrote on a paper towel and slid it to him) or big of it (you wrote on a piece of tracing paper with jimin’s glitter pen) that you give him, he wouldn’t be open to you

atleast let you in just the tiniest bit

atleast tell you if you’ve done something wrong or if he needs anything from you

:(

is jungkook losing his shit?? 100% percent

here’s the dish

jungkook is a bIT of an asshole

to further explain, he’s just so mighty afraid of commitment while knowingly doing y’know.... things that you’d DO in a committed relationship

maybe afraid is not the word

it’s a mix of fear and uhhhh perhaps disinterest

:D jungkook is totally an asshole isn’t he :D

he’s had mORE than a fair share of experience lol that’s for sure

but perhaps his first real experience of an actual relationship was with ji-eun from uni

aha well it did initially start with one-night stands :)) and then eventually it became friends with benefits :))

then ji-eun addressed him as boyfriend one night to her friends and jungkook remembers stiffin up that night because uhhhhh??? oh do i have a girlfriend now

he didn’t ask and he didn’t complain

now ji-eun eXPECTED for him to roast her for it but??? he played along???

he’s noticed that ji-eun’s become more affectionate with him and tOuchy but it’s not for escalating things

she’s constantly texting him and inviting him out to eat and normally,,, after sex,,, the most jungkook could ever get was a gRANOLA BAR that she lets him steal when he’s sneaking out but uH you wanna eat lasagna??

he was just sO out of it because is this what being a boyfriend entails??? aha safe to say that he does NOT want a relationship ://

he tried out this boyfriend thing for a 7-day free trial and he immediately left and broke things up with ji-eun (she hates him now but she’s still pining over him)

(( whenever jungkook adds something to his stories, ji-eun goes hAM on those heart emojis ))

he’s just not into commitment

he wants the time and the freedom that most people get less of when they’re in a relationship

jungkook doesn’t get why these girls still get mad at him when he’s made it clear in the first place that he’s oNLY in it for the s-

yeah ok maybe he’s an eternal douche of a frat boy ://

he doesn’t want you to take it the wrong way though

bECAUSE HE LIKES YOU

HE’S SURE

OK MAYBE NOT A HUNDRED PERCENT SURE

but he is sure of it to a degree :D

he just finds it as another ji-eun situation but this time he has more interest!!!

he’s actually thought that maybe being a boyfriend isn’t all that bad

however jungkook’s mind immediately started drifting to how maybe you aren’t a fan of him staying up in the early hours of morning, doing something he could’ve done mUCH earlier and then you’ll hate him or something

he doesn’t wanna go to brunch or wear matching clothes :////

he once came into the shop wearing a black button-up with a black shirt underneath and THEN jimin came in later but with just a black button-up with that he completely REFUTES the idea of relationships because lit rally everyone in the shop kept teasing him to jimin and he doesn’t even liKE jimin

“oh uHhH you wanna take it... slow?”

you’re blinking slowly at jungkook who’s standing in front of you and is looking a little... nonchalant??

nonchalant but in the same time he looks nervous

nervous sweats but he’s playing it off by running his hand through his hair and making these tired eyes at you

quick is he pulling this off oR does he look like an absolute ass

“yeah!! it’s just like uh y’know... casual. a casual, laid-back type of thing!!!”

you don’t know how you’re gonna process that

but you do wanna respect jungkook’s wishes no matter how much you feel it’s a bit tIMELY and insensitive

“o-oh!! casual.,,. slow!!! of course aha no problem :D”

you can’t help but connect the dots aha

he’s decided to tell you THIS right when you were being called by jimin to do a piercing and you have no time to spare

the week before, you remember getting him a drink even if he hasn’t asked for it

or five days before when jungkook materialized out of nowhere and put his hand around your waist before nuzzling his nose to your hair

*immediately spots you and squeezes you when he comes up to you from behind*

“i want a conch piercing!!!! not now tho but i want yOU to do it to me :D” 

*immediately dying*

“of course ggukie i’d literally want nOTHING more aha :D”

*immediately regretting making it sound that you are a goddamn sIMP*

or like two days before, you were all eating lunch and you were so full and a little bit sleepy that you rest your head on his shoulder

or maybe just yESTERDAY, jungkook’s sat you down on his lap and hobi interrupted whatever that was happening

and perhaps after that encounter

uh

you may have kissed him on the nose before going to your station

:((((

it’s okay

it’s tOtally ok lol

it’s not like you’ve been distracted the whole day or perhaps the days after that because you’re kept up with the thoughts that maybe jungkook isn’t into you as mUCH as you’re into him even though his actions say otherwise

nope :D

taehyung’s worrying at this point

lmao he knows that you don’t know that he kNOWS what’s going on

sure,, you and jungkook are sly but tae’s observant to the point that he’s memorized all these little quirks about you

he’s been your friend for the longest time!!! of cOurse he knows when something’s bothering you

he’s deduced that maybe jungkook broke your heart or something along those lines,, although he doesn’t assume that it was an actual relationship just yet because if it were, then you would totally tell him about it

... right??

there’s this distance thing going on in between the two of you and he’s tested it out a couple times to test his theory

first, the two of you aren’t iGNORING each other but all your interactions are either short-lived or dare he says,,,, casual n basic

he’s commanded jungkook a couple of times things like “the extra roll of receipt paper is in y/n’s station go get it” or-

“get me a pair of gloves from y/n’s cart”

“tae you already hAVE gloves in your cart”

“ok wHO is the owner and who is the tenant here?? or maybe you and y/n just fought and you’re sO SCARED OF-“

“jesus christ oKAY!!! i’ll get the gloves!!!!”

you look so dejected

taehyung pokes your cheeks and you just LET him

he bought you mac n cheese and spelled out “cheer up :-)” using the shells and you merely smiled at it before proceeding to bOW your head to the table and look distraught

he’s offered his ear as tribute because you haven’t done a rook piercing in awhile and you miss it but you just shake your head nO at him and :(((

and the thing is

you’re so tIRED about being hung-up with jungkook

usually you just shut down and you get back to your feet a week later and you’re all happy!!!

but no jungkook just had to be a pesky little shit in your head and decided to LIVE THERE RENT-FREE

“hiii welcome to hope ink sLASH vante studios!! walk-in, appointment, or are you just here to see me?”

jimin looks up from his phone because he was cLEARLY not trying to help organize some of the audits that hobi told him to lol

hmmmm now this customer does look interesting

he looks cOOL if jimin’s being very honest

he also wants his hair color fo sure and maybe if he just snapped a picture of it right now, this customer tOtally wouldn’t notice at all!! :D

he’s a very tall lad and is in this denim jacket and his HAIR

his hair’s a combination of dirty silver and ash grey and it’s all slicked back!!!

“oh uhhh i’m here for a piercing!! i don’t have an appointment.”

jimin nods at that and turns to him a logbook with the needed contact information and the sheet

kim namjoon

hmmmm

a walk-in customer?? a handsome one at that?? the fate of whose piercing artist would dO his piercing lying on his hands???

hee-hee

now normally jimin with his stereotypical secretary traits, he either knOws or assumes everyone’s business

he doesn’t know what happened to you and jungkook but he for sure knows that you need a pick-me up!!!

you need an appointment

a dick appointment mayhaps lol

usually jimin’s always scolded to how he’s letting the customers pick when unnecessary, and this is the PERFECT timing to correct that tendency

the P in park jimin also stands for Petty

“smoking hot dude for a piercing session with y/n please!!! :D”

he of course had to yell that outloud into jin and jungkook’s stall,,, one in which everyone’s there and you and jungkook are sitting at the opposite ends of the room

hobi shakes his head at that and jin instinctively oOOOOOOHs his way to but jungkook nudges his ribcage pretty fucking hArd and it wasn’t discrete at all

taehyung purses his lips because hmmmm.,.,.. jimin actually doing his job correctly.,..,.. that’s sus

“hot as in as hot as you?? oR hot as in he has the same hair color as what taehyung had back in uni and-”

“ʸᵒᵘ ᵖʳᵒᵐᶦˢᵉᵈ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵗᵒ ᵗᵃˡᵏ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵐᵉ ᵃˡᵐᵒˢᵗ ᵇᵘʳⁿᶦⁿᵍ ᵐʸ ˢᶜᵃˡᵖ ʷᶦᵗʰ ᵇˡᵉᵃᶜʰ :⁽⁽”

tae pouts and grumbles at that because if he focuses hard enough, he could feel his scalp on fIRE

now you and jimin have always been jokingly flirty with each other

and neither of you take offense and shit bUT a certain jeon jungkook certainly does because he used to not care about both of your antics ok

he didn’t mind because well uH who in between the two of us actually gets to be that intimate with y/n???? me buddy mE

it’s not a competition tho and jimin finds kook to be weird because it looked like that everytime he has his hand around your shoulders or something

jungkook looks like he would bARK at him for doing so and ???? he’s weird

he’s brooding right now if it wasn’t obvious

because for the most part, this distance and casual thing was working for his side

but now that jimin’s escorting you back and you’re play flirting with him again,, he just can’t feel this certain twinge in his gut

he’s not jealous

he’s sure that this is everything but jealousy

he doesn’t get jealous ok

jealousy is just reserved for people who have feelings for someone and are in committed relationships :)

goddamn

jimin was right

you are nOT in cowboy boots nor are you in the matching chelsea boots jimin got you for your birthday but you are definitely shAking alright

“h-hi i’m y/n, your piercing artist for today :)) what’s, uh, what’s your name? :))”

the man in front of you raises his eyebrow but chuckles later on bc for second there he thought you were rEALLY straightforward and he’s used to be the one catching people off-guard

“namjoon. kim namjoon.”

he puts out his hand for you to shake and almost nO customer at all does that and so you’re internally squealing because omg :) wow :) namjoon you polite thing :)

you’re clearing your throat to break off because you swear namjoon looked like he was about to devour you whole with only his gAZE!!!!!

perhaps you were too enthralled into the stare that you don’t notice to how the guys are looking at the interaction while hiding behind this wall

someone’s getting TOO huffy to the point jin had to ask if this certain someone needed some allergy medicine

“what are you getting done today??”

“oh, about that! dealer’s choice, if you may. i trust you.”

did he just-

jungkook instantly scowls thay because excuse yOU denim jacket guy

tHAT’S HIS LINE

dealer’s choice!! that’s his line!!! that’s what he said to you and god does he need to trademark that line??? that’s what he pulled and that’s what anyone getting pierced by you that looks like they have a shot with you, sHOULDN’T pull

:((

you hum at that and you’re trying to keep your smile to yourself it’s all cool

“how do you sleep, by the way?”

jungkook’s eyes are widening twofold because WHAT is he hearing correctly???

he’s looking up at taehyung because he’s the other piercing artist here and he’s looking at jungkook weirdly because he looks so panicked

“that’s a legitimate question, jungkook.”

IT IS

because you’re figuring out if the plan in your head isn’t a good combination with how he sleeps and namjoon laughed at that

“by myself or with you?”

you choke on air at that and namjoon laughs once again as he mumbles that he was kidding before giving you an actual answer

you can’t look at him in the eye because you are still flustered that tHIS fine specimen is flirting with you

y o u

i mean there is no harm in this right.,.,.

jungkook said he didn’t want anything between the two of you anyway :D

“i’ll do your right ear for today. two upper helix and a tragus, how does that sound?” you wait for an answer before putting on your gloves and namjoon nods when you point them out, a sly smile on your face before marking

“you could come in anytime to have me do your left when you’re ready for it — i got you anyways; it’s on the house.”

this time it was hIS turn to be flustered but he keeps his cool, clenching his jaw when you mark him out

“do you need anything before we start? slime?? stress ball?? oOh this keychain i made???”

you proudly hold up this stuffed heart shaped keychain, one that you put in your belt loop because it went very well with your get-up to go to waste

jungkook has his eyes narrowed because he knows you’re innately irresistible but wHY the hell are you pulling out all the stops to emphasize that

taehyung meanwhile has a scowl on and if it was possible to sizzle then he’d be burnt barbecue by now

“no WE made that :///“

you’re cute,,,, namjoon really thinks so

“does your number belong to those options? it really shouldn’t.,.,. it should be a priority”

:)

aHEM

OKAY NO

jungkook has his eyebrows furrowed and at this rate he’d be getting wrinkles on his forehead

next best thing for him? taking his phone out his pocket and tHROWING it to the ground

it snapped everyone out of their trances

he pretended to be sheepish while getting it because aha :D omg how did my phone go there :D

his case is a heavy-duty one but that’s nOT in his worries rn

you proceed to pierce namjoon and it finished as soon as he came because lol piercings really don’t take that long at all

ended with him still paying tho as he insisted

even tipped you more eXPENSIVE than the rate of the piercings themselves and you even tried to give it back to him but namjoon,,, the man that he is,,, he is PERSISTENT

“best piercings i ever had,, besides :) i like the one who did it on me anyways :)”

“but namjoon you have nO piercings :)”

“exactly :)))”

now that tHAT’S done and you are now $$$ richer.,.,.

“jimin you fucker i kNOW what you did there”

the boy smiles brightly and giggles and you aren’t really mad at him because absolutely who in this world would have the heart to??

“i have no idea what you’re talking about”

that has got to be one of your most memorable interactions ever this week perhaps throughout your whole professional piercing career

and it tRULY made you smile and it’s one of the only things throughout this week that genuinely made you smile

yeth you may have scribbled your number very quickly on his palm before he left

you’re just about to pass out on the couch over to the break room because wHEW your heart is racing and you aren’t really exactly opposed to that

namjoon was such a dream and he was very polite too and he was fLIRTY but not the creepy kind

although the door to the break room suddenly swings open and you’re rattled

“jungkook.”

he obviously doesn’t look like he’s gonna greet you back because he looks stone-cold with his gaze set on you

you’re a little bit intimidated because what could he pOSSIBLY want after saying that he doesn’t want anything to do with you??

“you like him? hmmm??”

there it is

there’s this jealousy that’s raging off from him and currently he is fAR too in it to even acknowledge that he iS jealous

this makes you scoff for a moment before crossing your arms across your chest because really,,, is tHAT what it takes to give jungkook a wash of reality???

“m’better than him — whatever his name is.”

your throat is dry because jungkook’s taking these big strides towards you and god he’s just tOO intoxicating for you

even just hIS scent wants you to light yourself on fire because whew.,.,. if he was a drink then he’d be too hot and flammable

not that you’d drink him in or anything :D

“you don’t even kNOW him”

you’re just about to chew him off and before you could, your words get caught in your throat because jungkook dIPS down right at the exact moment

his lips hovering around your neck and testing little licks on it

you whimper because holy fUCK and jungkook takes that as invitation to bOldly kiss you right on your skin, trailing down towards your clavicle where the hem of your shirt meets

“don’t need to, baby.”

you’re sat on the middle of the couch with both his hands trapping you besides your head and he’s crouching down, just mERE mere centimeters from your lips

jungkook’s just staring you down and you audibly gasp because look at him!!! he’s so beautiful!!!!

wait you’re supposed to be mad at him :((

“mind if i have a taste?”

he whispers as soon as he breaks eye contact from you and you whine at that, feeling him suckling on your jaw as you clench

“why not?”

oh

okay

he knows what you’re playing at alright

just awhile ago you were a whimpering mess and noW that he was asking for permission to do something that’s more scandalous than him kissing your neck.,..

hmmmm

you’re being dismissive of him intentionally

just a last-minute plan that involved a shot at his ego and not to embarrass yourself further because after all aha :) not eVERYTHING is all forgiven

ok then :)

jungkook’s kneeled riGht in front of you and he has such a tight grip on your waist even if you know you won’t be going anywhere any time soon he’s licking to your folds with feather-like intensity

if you’re not gonna show any reaction, then atleast hE wouldn’t give everything to you

of course his underlying motive is to tease you and make you beg for it

but every now and then jungkook’s looking up at you and his nose is nudging you in the process but you sTILL won’t back down

did you just-

DID YOU JUST BRING OUT YOUR PHONE

you’re practically dying in the inside but you keep your reactions to yourself and your jaw clenched

in truth you’re just scrolling through your expenses through this month in your notes because it was the fIRST thing you could open in your phone ok

jungkook huffs so loudly because first of all wHERE did you get the audacity

fine then :D

he suddenly stops and that’s when you shoot him a sly look from behind your phone, feigning an irritated quirk of your brow

“you really won’t budge??”

before you could register his words tho you’re iMMEDIATELY moaning he’s eating you out toO good and it was just plain-out sinful with how he was able to make you come from that to this

“jungkoOK fuck-“

his thumb presses firm on your clit before quickly retracting it and that earns him another mewl and a tug on his hair

“that’s right… my name sounds better on your lips, yeah?”

your pure pleasure is consuming you wholly and before your eyes could shut again with how overwhelming the sensation is oH MY GOD is the door unlocked?????

there’s something to how your eyes widen towards that fact and to how jungkook quickly notices that hmmmm he dID leave the door unlocked something about it makes him even more passionate in devouring you and it makes you wanna tHROW yourself into oblivion because the fact that someone.,., someone could literally come in this room aNYtime given is enough to make you almost yell

“fuck fUCK jungkook i’m gonna-“

his lips are all red and puffy and even his cHIN is messy and it makes you moan because fuck it was impossible to how he still looks so dreamy!!!!

he makes no move to slow down as he squeezes at your exposed thighs, his dull fingernails scratching at you before he stares back up at you, nOt even lifting up his mouth from your core to speak

“not stopping you, baby.”

that alone throws you into bliss and you’re cumming sO hard that you feel like you’re gonna black out

jungkook’s lapping on your release as if he’s starved and still tastes you out through your orgasm

that… was an experience alright……

your eyes are fluttering because wow that drAined you

before you could even look for him, kook’s coming at you to clean you up :))

lol he found this face towel on the couch and he figures that it belongs to jimin but nOPE not anymore aha

he dampens it with the water available and he’s EXTRA careful with you because you r sensitive and fragile at the time being

he even wipes at your arms and your neck to cool you down!!!

jungkook’s biting down on his lap as he rests the towel meanwhile on your nape and there it is

that dreamY look on his eyes again that just makes your heart flutter :(( your nose nudges his and it makes him giggle the slightest before he leans down to kiss you

and it hits you that you haven’t even kissed jungkook in the lips eVER

although that doesn’t really happen.

just as you were about to pull him in, something must have snapped in jungkook because he suddenly retracts from you as if he’s got burned

he looks empty and lost, not even sparing you another look before he’s storming out of the break room

and you’re all alone 

again.

:(((

“you wanna tell me what happened with you know who?”

taehyung has HAD it okay

he’s trying to be as patient as he possibly could with you

he wishes that he could just read minds so tHAT way he won’t have to budge out the answer from you

because in his very humble opinion, this approach helps too!!!

you’re sad and distraught and he gets that!! he does!!

but maybe if you let him know what happened to you, then he could be sad WITH you

you were the one who taught him that :((

you were roommates in uni and he was so down in the dumps when he got this almost failing grade to the point that he’d take his frustrations out on you

and you very kindly put up with him but then he drew the line to when he blew raspberries to his palm when you made him dINNER!!!! and that’s when you yelled at him and told him to tell you on what the fUck is bothering him

so that way he won’t bottle it up and that way you could try to help and eliminate what it is because you’re also caught in the crossfire thank u very much

it’s his idea to take you out to this party and you’re not being your usual self in this one

and the way tae talked to you upfront made you look up from your drink that you still haven’t finished, a pout on your face

now ok taehyung wasn’t close to giving up on fishing the answers from you but you thOught he was because he was leaning back on his chair

you also really wanted to tell him what was happening too and so you did!! completely caught him off-guard when he stole your drink away from you and almost spit it out the moment you started telling him what was happening

“you didn’t have to open up with THAT y/n jeez you could’ve opened up your story with the start!!! not tHAT”

the somehow comic relief taehyung brings you puts a smile on your face because although you don’t voice it out often, you’re infinitely grateful to have tae

he is perhaps the most understanding and rational person in your life and he’s just so soft and supportive and quick-witted that

oh my god are you crying

you’re in the middle of telling the whole timeline when taehyung feels your head nudging at his shoulder and nOrmally he presses it down

but this time it felt different because well you were sobbing

and now you felt so heavy and there’s this unexplainable weight in your chest because god jungkook is just so fRUSTRATING!!!

he’s beyond angering and frustrating and he makes you want to launch yourself to the ground

“i-i don’t — tae it’s juSt god fuck aHhH!!!! h-he’s so-“

taehyung nods in agreement even though you couldn’t see him because your face is shoved into his chest and he’s rubbing soothing circles onto your back

“i know, baby :((“

he’s in disbelief too

jungkook is an ass and no matter how much taehyung wants to understand that he may have good n pure intentions, his execution is just so fucking horrible

there’s no in-between

either you wanna be committed or not!!!! that’s it!!!

this just wasn’t a netflix trial you could have for a month and when it hints to you that you’re gonna have to give a little bit more,, you immediately fLEE

or maybe it’s just taehyung trying to see the best and over-analyzing things that maybe,,,, maybe jungkook’s just… jungkook

there’s no changing him

he’s unhinged and does whatever he wants (would sometimes stop when reprimanded) and whatever repercussions that are brought out, his first instinct is to toss it aside instead of facing it head-on

you must’ve been lying on taehyung’s chest for atleast an hour because you realize that you aren’t crying anymore and the tears on your cheeks are dry :((

“d-do you want a punch?? i’m gonna go get a punch. four seasons?? we like that, right?? okAy i’m gonna get us some punch!!!”

that’s you for sure :))

you’re immediately bouncing up and clapping your hands pretending that you weren’t a sobbing mess just minutes ago

taehyung knows that you do whatever you need to cope so he just puts his thumbs up,,, even if he prefers pineapple more than four seasons but it’s okay,,.,. whatever you want :))

you needed that

tae was mumbling whatever he had in his mind while you were crying and you listened!!! you don’t know what part should you take from it but you dO know that somewhere along the lines, maybe he’s right

you just want some punch is that too much to ask :(( crying has left you dehydrated and water is the most preferred option but uh that shit is PLAIN

maybe this party isn’t so bad after allthe lights don’t give you a headache 

and you see the punch table rIGHT ahead of your path and oooh red cups aren’t the only cups available!!!! that’s so-

“Y/NNNNNNN!!!! look, look!!!! look at me!!!!!”

a voice shrieks from behind you and you immediately feel a pair of arms wrap around you

you’re kinda in panic because taehyung isn’t tHIS heavy and you look down on the arms wrapped around your middle and that’s-

jungkook?

the man in question comes to your view and it’s clear that he’s beyond intoxicated with his glassy eyes and the drunk blush on his cheeks

you took a two-day leave from work that taehyung gracefully granted you to avoid jungkook.,,. jungkook who’s standing right in front of you

“loooook!!! look at meEeeeeEe!!”

you’re rigid in your place because out of aLL the people you could possibly see in this party, why did it have to be him??? you’re okay with seeing yoo-

he’s pointing on his ear and he even waves his hand across your face and is that what he’s talking about??

it’s glimmering underneath the light and???

is that

is that a conch piercing???

you’re rendered breathless because it seems wrong to you…,. not criticizing it as a professional but rather, criticizing it as-

“i thought i was supposed to be the one to do that to you?”

jungkook’s blinking at that as if he’s digesting your questionmeanwhile 

your throat is tIGHTening and there’s this fresh wave of tears again because you’re literally quite reminded of him

wHEN HE’S IN FRONT OF YOU

and he’s still pointing at his ear before he’s using his other hand to something or someone behind you and you cAN’T bring yourself to care because-

“oHhh lisa did it on me!!”

taehyung arrives at the exact time you needed him to just hastily, frazzled because he’s trying to connect the fucking dOts on what’s happening

here is his five-second deduction

you’re tearing up and your bottom lip’s trembling which means you’re about to sOB

jungkook’s right in front of you and his right hand is pointing to his reddened ear

a) taehyung has never seen this conch piercing before

b) he would know because he’s one of the two piercing artists in the shop jungkook also works iN and he’d remember if he pierced him or not

c) it’s reddened and there’s some dried blood near the piercing which indicates that it was freshly-pierced

and jungkook’s other hand is pointing to this girl that’s sitting on this couch with a lamp beside her and she’s nOT wearing gloves and taehyung guess that she’s the one who pierced kook???

he’s not sure

although he’s sure that jungkook is fucking wASTED and you can’t bear whatever that’s happening

“can you go home by yourself?? or should i call hoseok to pick you up?? i’m uh, i’m gonna take jungkook home..,. are you sure you could take yourself home???”

you don’t need to be told twice because you’re bolting out of the house so qUICK

oh god you need to get out you nEED to

jungkook doesn’t remember sHIT

he’s drank himself stupid last night is what he’s certain about

there’s no explanation to how he even got home last night and the post-it notes on his console table doesn’t help in the slightest bit

“you’re stupid. - taehyung”

that dumps cold water on him because oh god what did he dO this time

he’s done enough stupid things in these rocky weeks alone!!! what did he do this time :(((

“taehyung told me how stupid you are. he’s right. you’re stupid. - jin”

jin too???

jungkook cusses himself underneath his breath because his head is kILLING him (rightfully so) and he’s about to run his hand through his hair when-

wait

wait a damn second

… he has a new piercing?

he’s immediately fumbling towards the floor-length mirror and he just then realizes that jin’s already went to work wITHOUT him and that puts the pressure on him even more

true enough, his conch is pierced and he’s racking his head on wHY does he have it until it all snaps in his head

lisa.,,..,.

it’s coming back to jungkook now

he remembers you taking two days off and those were the loneliest two days ever he’s ever had working in the shop

then by the end of day two he was such a mess that jin didn’t even know what to do with him

thus came to him via text that there was this hUGE party that’s about to be thrown and he honestly thought why not!!! :D

everything’s going wrong anyways lemme go to a party :))))

and then he bumped into lisa!!! his sorta fling back in uni that he may have dropped suddenly and here she is,,,,

she complimented him on his piercings and jungkook was confused because he already had them back in uni???? okay then thank you????

and he doesn’t know how he obtained this piercing but he’s sure that lisa was the one who did it on him

AND THEN HE SAW YOU

you were crying and he can’t remember wHY but then jungkook’s piercing stings again and it’s like his soul hates him too

because oh

right

lisa shouldn’t have been the one who did that on him

there’s a lot of things jungkook sHOULDN’T have done

god why is it only hitting him now

he’s took a shower as fast as he could and he may have been crying

while he was taking it but that’s not the point

the point that shocked most was you

in work

you actually came to work!!!

taehyung wasn’t able to reach you that night besides get a text from you that you arrived home safely and that’s about it

he thought you needed more time off considering what happened but you’re hERE now????

jin, who had a crash course on everything that’s happened between you and jungkook is also even MORE shocked and he keeps gasping every two seconds

hobi’s happy to see you back again and he welcomes you with a warm hug that you melt into :((

jimin on the other hand completely invades ur personal space in 0.01 seconds because he’s bounding towards you vERY happily

“i missed you!!! i missed you sO much!!! my two days were basically pOINTLESS without you!!!! i asked myself wHy am i still working here without you here-“

“jimin i hired you to work-“

“and i already know that this place is falling aPART without you here and if i leave??? then what???? so i decided against resigning and waiting for you to come back and then you cAME BACK!!!! :D”

he’s so giddy that you automatically become as giddy as he is, just letting him twirl you around while he still has you in a bear hug

jin has a sorry look on his face as he hugs you and you knOw that he knows :((

he’s mad disappointed in jungkook

you automatically know that there’s one person missing here and you’re slightly thankful for it

you just wanna work in peace and it seems that there’s kinda a big waiting list for you to get through and jimin’s calling them up at the moment to let them know that you,, the piercing artist they specifically requested for,, is back!!!

you’re not chirpy and that’s understandable

lol you’re in spain but the s is silent

this quiet you’re encasing yourself in leaves you along with your thoughts and your thoughts are the fUrthest thing away from quiet

it’s not just about the piercing, y’know?

it’s not that piece of jewelry on his ear and it’s not jUst about who pierced it on him

it’s about the sentiment and things that you can’t explain because you don’t wanna say the L word considering that jungkook doesn’t feel the same

and he probably never would

you think growth and suddenly it’s not!!!

you think jungkook wants something more as much as you do and then suddenly he leaves you!!!

you think you’re moving up steps but in reality you haven’t even left your initial one in the first place!!!

you’re so preoccupied with your thoughts that you managed to ignore jungkook who came in late and was beyond surprised and at the same time nERVOUS that you came in for work

although not to preoccupied to ignore that someone was plopping themself on the client’s chair in front of you

you can’t recognize them from their hair color but you dO recognize with how it’s oddly familiar with it’s shape

and then your eyes trail down and upon see only the eyes you’re immediately freaking out

“YOONGI!!!!!”

oh my god

it’s yOONGI!!!!!

your shriek practically leaves everyone in alert and even hobi who was in the tattoo room rush out mid-session to see what was going on

yoongs is more than happy with your reaction and he squeezes you even tighter than the embrace you’re giving him rn

….

….

jungkook doesn’t know if he is the only one here who is beyond lost but uhhhh not to be rude or anything

but who the fUCK is yoongi???

his heart sinks seeing you hug this unknown person and god he could do nothing but wish that it’s him on the receiving end

he’s immediately stalking towards jimin because after all, he iS the one who’s let this guy through

that’s right he did let yoongi go to you asap and it was a surprise for you too and he’s the only who knew that he was visiting :D

10/10 secret-keeping skills

jungkook has a cat-dog relationship with jimin but he’s putting that aside for now because he’s dESperately pawing at jimin’s arm to ask who tf is this yoongi

jimin’s shocked because he didn’t think jungkook would be literally begging him rn but okay,, he’ll give in since this kid looks like he’s gonna bawl

“ah!! yoongi-hyung!! haven’t seen him in awhile :D”

jimin answers and that doesn’t answer shit for jungkook but now that someone else said his name, it sounded familiar??

he can’t exactly put his finger on it but it just felt so distinct

“are they related or?”

he’s asking more because he’s prying for an answer and well jimin’s still watching your interaction unfold

ngl he’s enjoying not giving answers for awhile

but then again kook is shaking him slightly and he’s pleaded again to give the younger boy an answer

“lmao they’re exes, jungkook”

w hat

a prick of fear arises on him because him?? you?? relationship????

“… y-you mean yoongi’s y/n’s ex-boyfriend?”

he’s trying to take in this bit of information and he doesn’t know HOW

he doesn’t know how he should react nor can he explain this sinking feeling in his stomach

the fact that jimin is now speaking without being asked doesn’t help at aLL

“yup!! from what i know and what y/n told me, they were together for three years!!”

“tHREE YEARS???”

o-oh

jungkook’s eye is twitching and his breathing skips because wow

that’s nice

three years :)

that’s a small number, right?? you were in a committed relationship with someone for three years!!! and said someone is now your ex-boyfriend

and for sOME reason, you’re hugging him and the two of you are all good!!

there’s this fear in him again because he doesn’t want to entertain these thoughts, honestly

thoughts that maybe he’s a tad too late and that perhaps you’re back with your ex-boyfriend and you want nothing to do with him because compared to yoongi, jungkook is perhaps nothing!!! :D

“mhmm-hmm. broke up on good terms tho as u can see, they’re still cLOSE, yoongi went abroad and well,,, y’know”

you missed yoongi so much

well uh you don’t love each other like that anymore

it was bound to change anyway

him going abroad to pursue his dreams and you just wanting to stay

it was a mutual decision to break up but although the label wasn’t there anymore, the both of you still looked out for each other :)

lol he’s the reason anyways to why you’re in this job in the first place the both of you were drunk after a date (you watched a basketball game) and then came on the dare that hey.,.,. baby what if you get a piercing license or something

and originally you were supposed to be the only one who took it but then yoongi joined you :))

and some time later you took a break and then resumed and hence the piercing license :))

“c’mon. if i’m gonna get my helix pierced, then i should atleast get it done by my best girl, right?”

yoongi nudges you and it’s this playful aura with him again that makes you laugh

he never really was the one to make you cry or break your heart now that you think about it

kinda sad to think that no one was really at fault for the breakup :(( you and yoongi…. it just wasn’t gonna work

it makes you wary because there always seems to be a trend in your lovelife

the common denominator is that things don’t work out lmao

:((((( lmao :(((((

you’re done with his piercing in a blink and you still can’t stop thinking to how maybe you just aren’t cut out to be loved :((

that sounds so sad

it’s always the word almost for you and it’s exhausting!!!!

after your breakup with yoongi, you didn’t have a relationship after because uH you just didn’t want to

you just didn’t want another off-chance to spend perhaps the best years of your life and then have them move abroad to pursue what they want 

you were afraid to be hURT after yoongi

and somehow yoongi is now a timestamp in your life because there’s eras

there’s B.Y. (before yoongi) and A.Y. (after yoongi) lol

then jungkook came along and it’s this sudden shift in you that you were decided!!!

you are gonna love again and you tOTALLY are into jungkook :D

sike he’s just not into you

…or not?

jungkook’s rushing towards to where you and yoongi are sat and no one was able to register the situation even if everyone was on their toes watching

“do you have a basketball game tomorrow????”

he’s staring at yoongi like a madman and yoongi is so confused because what

“i said dO YOU HAVE A BASKETBALL GAME TOMORROW???”

okay yoongi is dumbfounded

but then he repeats this madman’s words again for two more times and then it hits him

“how did you know?”

yoongi is laughing because how could this dude pOSSIBLY know about this

he’s taking out of his phone from his pocket so quick and then he’s taking out the case

AND THERE IT IS

that sticker

that sticker jungkook made aGES ago

HI MY NAME IS YOONGI AND I HAVE A BASKETBALL GAME TOMORROWWW

fuck

he’s met you before!!!

he didn’t meet meet you but his point is that your paths have crossed before!!!!

the gears in your head are turning because how did jungkook know???? he doesn’t know yoongi and no one would know not unless-

“y-you? you’re the one who made that for me??”

ok this is clearly now a private moment and jimin is dragging yoongi back to where the rest of the guys are eavesdropping but mAybe it’s for the best that they leave altogether

jungkook nods and it feels like his head’a gonna fall off

you’ve got this done and customized for yoongi’s birthday back then and you never thought that a sane graphic designer would do it for you.,..,.

you could always do it but you were in a slump back then and for once, you wanted someone else to bring what you want to life

you thought it was a stupid idea to base yoongi off this vine for one of his presents

and you said to yourself that if the fIRST graphic designer i could get in contact with refuses to make it, then u r gonna scrap that idea

but then this graphic designer eagerly accepted your commission even offered a discount but you still paid him full-price with a tip

who kNEW that it was jungkook???

“i know i’m the most confusing and aNGERING human being ever and a sHITTY one too-“

it’s somehow coming back full circle and he’s only realizing now to how mUCH deeper this goes

“but you have no idea how much i want to hold your hand.”

jungkook has commitment issues he’s refused to address for quite some time now and it’s only now

god it’s only now that he has someone that genuinely makes him want to question this mentality of his

“i kept looking for reasons to nOt love you and it’s impossible because they make me love you more”

he’s tried hating to how you go and make tedious crafts like making stuffed keychains (the latest one is named mang and he’s a hORSE) or trying to channel that restless energy into anywhere you could get your hands on

tried to despise the way you yearn for affection and how you’d go so cranky as to give people quips when you don’t get your fix

tried to loathe the way you’re so understanding and nurturing and gOd he sounds like a real asshole

“it’s not being tied down if it’s with you”

jungkook is sure

he has nEVER been more sure

because god he feels like he doesn’t have to pretend to be anything he’s not when he’s with you

he dOESN’T mind adjusting and he doesn’t mind complying to what you could possible require of him

“and if it in a literal sense is, then i don’t mind at all”

jungkook has never wanted someone sO BAD ever in his life

and he couldn’t agree more that he is a total dummy and how he wants to repent a million times over even if it means to get shut down by you a million times more

“because it’s you.”

:D

he means that

he really does mean that

he’s a sensitive thing and it’s hitting him now to how much shit he’s made you go through and he wants to make up for it!!! pLS

“let me take you out on a date, please?”

oh god is he tearing up

is jeon jungkook tearing up in front of yOU

his arms are glued to his sides but the moment he meets your eyes he absolutely losEs it and goes leaping to hug you

maybe he shouldn’t have done that

maybe he should

but jungkook knows that he’s never felt more calm and complete and loved whenever he’s with you :(((

he’s hanging in there

maybe at the slightest nudge of your nose to his neck in his embrace

somewhere along the lines

somewhere along the lines to how the guys are over there peeking out of the break room and in an array of emotions.,..

jungkook’s fiNAlly hugging you

your hands behind your back

his hands holding yours

:))

[fairie-gothmother]

In The Shadow of Starlight, Part 6: Gut Instincts

First part: The Fall

Previous: The Sheep Will Flock

How long had it been? Days, weeks? Troy lost track of time while he’d been slowly starving to death. Since his excommunication, each moment blurred into the next as whatever he possessed of the leech power fed off of his own body. Finally, he had some relief. He couldn’t help but be grateful for the scientist’s carelessness during the lab experiments. That was the first time he’d taken from any siren apart from his twin. It felt very different. This energy was more restless than he was used to. Maybe this what Ty meant by saying she could taste what she leeched.

Now that Troy had some extra juice, he felt incredible. Even after Lilith dumped him in Sanctuary’s garage on the bottom deck, he was amped. And what did Troy do when he was hyped up and left to his own devices? He beatboxed. The Calypso bobbed his head and swayed to the groove, bustling around the room and inspecting the equipment. He had to admit, it wasn’t a bad setup. He knew everyone was talking about him, probably deciding where to eject him into space, but he wished they’d hurry it up already.

He paused when a noise from nearby threw off his rhythm. A beep came again from a cluttered desk. With no regard to the desk owner’s privacy, he opened one of the drawers to find an Echo device inside. It was an older model, but obviously still in working condition. Troy glanced over his shoulder and scanned the room for cameras before putting the Echo on silent mode and slipping it into his pocket.

“Hey.”

Troy reeled around, startled from the voice and saw the blue haired siren descending the stairs into the workshop.

“Relax,” the sapphire siren said. She wiped the dust off a tool box and casually leaned against it. “Don't look so guilty. I, uh… Sorry for phase-chucking you across Tannis’s lab. You alright?” 

Oh. He wasn't busted after all. Still, Troy couldn’t help but be suspicious. No way she cared to chat. Probably cared even less about hurting him. A golden canine glinted through his lopsided smile. “I did ask for it, didn’t I? But yeah, I’m good. No hard feelings, Meg.”

“It’s Maya,” she said, obviously annoyed. “Get it right next time. Okay, Trent?”

Excuse me? Troy furrowed his brow and glared at her. She wore a playful smirk and raised her eyebrows as if daring him to correct her. Interesting. She was messing with him.

“Alright then, Maya. Let’s hear it already,” he folded his arms across his chest. “Are you guys gonna launch me into the nearest sun? Or does the scientist want me as a lab rat for unethical tests? Whatever it is, please don’t tell me it’s life in prison. That’s boring. I deserve something creative.”

Maya shook her head. “Oh, no. You don’t get off that easy. You’re still helping us fight the COV.”

Troy cocked his to one side, analyzing the siren in a skeptical stare. As hard he looked for the smallest hint that she was full of shit, her body language suggested she was telling the truth. He huffed, “So what, no punishment then? I figured the Firehawk would want this handsome mug served on a silver platter.”

Maya gave a one shouldered shrug. “You said you didn’t leech Tannis on purpose. Sometimes powers are weird like that. With some training, you might be able to control it.”

Easy for her to say. If only it was as simple as meditating on a mountain to master his broken siren powers. “Ah, right. You’re from Athenas. I’m sure those monks taught you all about control and restraint, great power is great responsibility, blah-blah-blah. But it’s pretty safe to say that I’m a special case. Clearing my chakras isn’t gonna do it for me.” 

“It would at least help with that attitude of yours.”

Troy began pacing and brought his flesh hand to his chin. “I don’t know. It wouldn’t be considered very zen if I accidentally ended up leeching you. Then again, you might taste like chamomile tea.” He cast a half-hearted sideways glance in Maya’s direction.

Maya rapidly drummed her fingernails on the tool box and said, “I take it back. I’m not sorry to phaselocking you.”

“That’s what I thought,” Troy snickered. “Be honest. How many times a day do you phaselock stuff just because you can?”

Maya closed her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her, mimicking a monk’s prayer pose. “I take a great amount of pride in my self discipline so if you must know-” She raised her left hand, and her fingers sparked. A ball peen hammer levitated from a workbench and hovered across the room into Maya’s hand. “I do it all the time.”

Troy scoffed. “Show off.”

The two were locked in a stare down. It wasn’t clear who cracked first, but neither of them could keep a straight face for long. A gentle blue glow emitted from Maya’s siren marks. Troy’s smile dropped as he looked down to his left hand, noting the harsh red light of his own marks.

“You really didn’t know that would happen to Tannis, did you?” the blue haired woman asked softly.

“No,” he answered honestly. “I’m still trying to get a grip on everything myself.” All his life he’d been broken. His parents treated him as a burden, although they never said it outright. He was constantly sick and needed extra help when he struggled with the use of only one arm. And Tyreen never considered him an equal. Even as one of the twin gods, he wasn’t seen in the same light as the God Queen. And now that he knew he possessed siren power without knowing it, his whole outlook was in question. What did it mean? What other parts of himself remained untapped?

Maya said, “Even if it’s only half, you’re still a siren. It’s not an easy life. Sirens have always been feared, hunted, extorted… worshipped.” Troy met her blue-gray eyes for a moment, then redirected his gaze to the wall. “We’re just trying to find our place.”

Troy’s heart skipped a beat. We?

“Yeah,” he said in a voice just above a whisper. He snapped out of it and quipped, “But, you gotta admit. Life would sure be a lot easier if I could phaselock grapes into my mouth all day.” 

Maya scrunched up her face and flung an empty can at Troy, who reflexively caught it in his mechanical hand with a metallic clang. He waved it, shook his head, and grinned at her.

“Nice catch, wise-ass. Now, get in the drop pod,” Maya teased.

That tiny thing? Troy had used porta-potties with more legroom than that. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Troy groaned. The siren smiled wickedly as she held the hatch open and ushered him inside. He sighed knowing the ride back to Pandora would not be a comfortable one.

~~~

On a normal day, Ellie was a delight. Today was not a normal day considering her garage was used as solitary confinement for one of the most hated influencers in the galaxy. Maya recalled her saying, “He’s about as welcome as an outhouse breeze.” It took a while to convince the mechanic that her garage was just as she left it. Eventually, she cooled her boiling blood down to a simmer.

If Maya was being honest, she didn’t actually believe that Troy hadn’t messed with something. Call it a gut feeling. The same gut feeling that knew Ava would be a siren someday. The same gut feeling that told her to go talk to Troy just now. Her gut hadn’t lied to her yet so she didn’t question it. The ex-God King was absolutely still on thin ice, but she was willing to give him a chance. Maybe he just needed some guidance. Either that or he was a hopeless, cocky little shit.

Hydraulics hissed from the rising door as Maya entered the ship’s bridge. The orbital view of Pandora loomed outside the windows of Sanctuary’s observation deck. Crew members clacked away on keyboards at their posts. Lilith and Tannis stopped mid-conversation when they noticed Maya approaching.

“Troy’s on his way back to base,” Maya announced, slightly out of breath from rushing up three flights of stairs. “Cramer should be waiting for him when he lands. What did I miss?” she asked when she noticed neither of them would look her in the eye.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you about Tannis sooner. I decided the fewer people that knew about it, the better. These days, being a siren puts a target on your back,” Lilith apologized. 

The revelation that the two of them were keeping Tannis’s siren powers a secret was shocking to say the least, but Maya wasn’t upset. She understood. Her own siren powers had been used by others to threaten an entire planet’s population. “I get it. I’m glad to have another siren on our side.” Maya smiled at the scientist, who awkwardly returned the gesture. It was cute when she made an effort.

“How are you, Tannis?” Maya asked.

“I'm fine. No need to fuss,” Tannis said. “It was actually interesting to experience the leech power first hand.”

Lilith knitted her brows. “Troy could have killed you. We still don’t know his intentions. Who knows what other abilities he’s hiding.”

Maya recalled the look of shock on Troy’s face while he held Tannis’s wrist, and the way he kept his distance from the two sirens afterwards as they processed what the hell just happened. After the conversation she’d just had with the Calypso, Maya felt the need to voice her opinion. “It seems like he doesn't understand his abilities either. I really don’t think he leeched Tannis on purpose.”

The commander was unconvinced. “Even if that’s true, we can’t underestimate what he’s capable of. This is still Troy Calypso.” Lilith stared out of the window at Pandora below. “For now, he’s useful to us. We’re going to need all the power we can get. It’s about time to make our move on the Holy Broadcast Center. There’s been a lot of activity lately. I’ve got a feeling something big is about to go down.”

Claptrap’s eardrum piercing voice called from the command console, “Incoming transmission!”

Speak of the devil. Maya’s heart sank as Tyreen’s smug face appeared on the overhead monitors. She was beginning to wonder if the COV had tapped their coms. Their timing was unusually coincidental.

“Hey, Lil!” the cult leader said in a singsong voice. “How’s life been as a non-siren normie human? Does it suck? I bet it sucks. Not gonna lie, these powers of yours are pretty sweet.” Lilith was seething. Tyreen had a knack for getting under her skin. The Calypso continued, “But hey, you don’t have to take my word for it. You know someone who knows all about my Firehawk upgrade. Just ask my brother.”

Damn. Word had finally reached her. Now Tyreen knew the Crimson Raiders were harboring her disowned twin.

“By the way, did that traitorous freak happen to mention the fact that he stole something from me? Can you believe it? Yoinked it right out from under me. I don’t want your grubby normie fingerprints on my stuff so if he shared it with you, I’m gonna need it back.”

Lilith calmly replied, “I assumed you’d know better since you were the one who dumped him in the middle of nowhere. He wasn’t exactly in any condition to exchange gifts when we found him. He’d been stripped and unarmed.”

Tyreen paused before shrieking with laughter. “She said unarmed! Please tell me you meant to make that pun.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I needed that. No big deal. It’s a matter of time until I find it anyway. Well, I’ve got places to be. Big milestone event coming up. You’re gonna love it. Oh, and tell Troy I said hi before he runs outta juice and shrivels up. 'Kay? Laterz!” The Calypso winked before the feed was cut.

Maya’s fists tingled with the urge to meet that punchable face. She hollered back at the empty screen, “Troy will be the one kicking your door in, you cocky bitch!”

Claptrap said something about the video transmission’s crappy production value, but no one was listening. Lilith grit her teeth. “Using Troy was the plan, but that’s only if we can keep him alive long enough to get there.”

Maya squeezed her fists tighter, causing her fingernails to dig into her palms. Tyreen was always one step ahead of them. She couldn’t care less that her brother was in the Raider’s custody. Because of Troy’s dependence on her, she never even saw him as a threat.

Tannis chimed, “I have a theory, but you aren’t going to like it, Lilith.” All eyes turned to the scientist. “It is apparent that Troy cannot absorb the life force from living things through touch alone, with the exception of sirens. According to my experiments, it’s highly plausible that he can gain the same effect by ingesting it directly via anthropophagy or hematophagy.”

The room was silent apart from the humming of the spaceship. Maya blinked and said, “Tannis, no one understands you when you talk like that. In layman’s terms, please?”

Tannis sighed in disappointment but explained, “Troy should be able to regain energy from cannibalism or drinking blood.”

~~~

Sorry it took so long for an update. I’ve been working through a serious creative block. Showing my girl Maya some love in this part. This was a little shorter than usual, but I hope it was still entertaining. As always, thanks for reading my garbage! <3

[prorevenge]

The Father Has a Lesson for the Son

This is pro revenge, but I am the victim, not the perpetrator.

Me: Me. Foster Brother: FB. Foster Father: FF.

This happened way back in 1983, but I remember it clearly. My FB and I and worked for the first two months of summer vacation on painting the house. It wasn’t a big house, but the paint was mixed with linseed oil, and it took three coats, so we were busy for most of the summer getting the job done. We were getting paid for the job, which we felt was a bonus, but most of the money we made was going to pay for college tuition and supplies, so only about ten percent of what we earned went directly to our pockets. When the job was finish and the calculations made of our wages, we happily accepted our 200 dollars in pay and began making plans immediately on how to spend it.

There was a bar in town that had a menu of about a dozen specialty drinks that we frequented, and for years we had talked about going there and having one drink of everything on the menu. We had the cash, and we had the inclination, so we called a friend of ours to drive and got dressed in our bar finery to go and have one of everything on the menu of this bar. Since the menu listed the wines, beers, and specialty drinks, there were going to be fourteen or fifteen drinks consumed over an eight-hour period with plenty of snacks in between.

The drinking went as to be expected. We got there in time for Double Bubble, and we fought our way through the drinks – glass of wine, bottle of beer, Long Island Iced Tea, and so on. We as drank, we ordered burgers and fries, and then all kinds of appetizers. We weren’t trying to kill ourselves or even trying to bruise our livers. We just wanted to have this last bash before college began.

When the bar announced last call, we had finished the menu. We had the bar staff sign two menus for us so that we would have them to help up recall one day that we were young and stupid and full of life. Our friend drove us to his place because, in his opinion, we were too drunk and too loud to go home. He put in a videotape of 2001: A Space Oddity, and I think I passed out right around the time the apes learned to use bones as weapons.

FB and I woke up around 6 AM and snapped into sobriety rather quickly. We had to be home in less than half an hour to avoid getting caught skipping out on curfew. There was a pot of coffee in the kitchen, and we each chugged a cup and went to the car, congratulating ourselves on avoiding the wrath of FF for being out all night. We got home, parked the car, and (in our opinion) quietly let ourselves in the house. We went to sleep, planning on being there until the noon hour, giving ourselves time to recuperate from our drinking adventure.

Here’s where the pro revenge comes to play.

At 8AM, the door flew open to the bedroom, and FF banged a couple of pots together to get our attention. I had no idea how he knew we were out so late, or how he knew that we’d been drinking, but the gleam in his eye and the smile on his lips made it abundantly clear that he knew everything. “Alright! I’ve made you breakfast, and then I have one more little job for you boys to do.” FF shouted, and he had to know that his volume was killing us.

We were still dressed in the clothes we’d warn to the bar last night, so while FB went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and splash some water on his face, I pulled out some of my work clothes, wondering what job there was to do. FB came back, and I went to the bathroom, cursing my bloodshot eyes and the fur on my tongue. Finally, we could no longer avoid going downstairs, so we went, ready to face whatever awaited us.

We walked into the kitchen to find two places set for breakfast – two fried eggs, greasy hash browns, cream of wheat, and undercooked bacon. Because FF had grown up in the Great Depression, he had a rule at his house that everything put on the table in front of you was to be eaten. I hate cream of wheat, and FB despises greasy food, but we managed to choke it down with a tall glass of orange juice.

“Breakfast done? Good, I’ll take care of those plates. Follow me.” FF walked to the back deck, where there were two chainsaws sitting on the picnic table. FB and I stopped dead in our tracks. Said FF, “I don’t like the looks of that tree, and the tree service can’t make it here for a month. You two can cut it down and then cut it for firewood.” He was smiling. I have no idea what my face looked like. FB’s face looked ashen and crestfallen.

The tree was about twenty-five feet high, and we tied the higher branches off to lower them safely to the ground after they were cut. The first time we started our chainsaws, I asked FB to cut my head off, and even though I promised to cut his head off after he had cut off mine, he wouldn’t do it. It took us about five hours to lower the tree to the ground, and another five or so to cut it into firewood with axes. We drank a lot of orange juice that day, and occasionally, FF would come sit on the back deck and shout out suggestions as to how to stack the wood, or what wood was acceptable for kindling and what needed to be disposed of, or just general comments about how nice it was that the temperature hadn’t broken 100 degrees that day.

We got paid for our time, and while we went to a bar that night, I didn’t drink anywhere near the amount I had the night before, and not the amount I usually drank.

It was only about thirty years later that FF told me that his father had done something very similar to him and his brother back in his youthful days. He just told me that he hoped I would be able to pass it on to a child someday.

My kid had to change the cat liter after a breakfast of undercooked French Toast. It doesn’t sound like much until you know that we have seven cats and seven liter boxes. He didn’t drink for a week.

(source) story by (/u/BriGuy1965)

[scullyeffect]

guys i just went to the expensive grocery store (monoprix) in paris france and got all this for 26 euros / $28

a box of cereal (2.89)

a 15x sack of organic cutie clementines (3.60)

a small box of cherry tomatoes (1.99)

a premade ham + goat cheese + lettuce&tomato sandwich (bc i’m lazy) (2.79)

6 organic eggs (1.99)

two boxes (1L each) of local milk (0.89x2)

8 organic full cream plain yogurts (2.99)

a block of white cheddar cheese (2.99)

a 6 pack of toilet paper (1.99)

a thing of ice cream (it’s the weekend and i don’t have to work leave me alone) (3.89)

LIKE???? in my RURAL town of 20k in Virginia i would have just spent $50. 

my fridge was absolutely empty except for butter and half a litre of cranberry juice. i have some 10-veggie soup, green beans, pasta, and rice in my cabinets but honestly...these groceries should last me until probably next thursday. granted i live alone and don’t eat a lot but STILL. in the US in my town organic eggs would cost upwards of $4

lol my diet is so bad:

breakfast at 8h: black tea, hot chocolate, plain yogurt, fruit

lunch at 13h: eggs or soup, slice of cheese, vegetable, black tea

snack at 16h30: fruit

dinner at 21h: cheese and fruit, camomile tea. sometimes i nibble at whatever i’ve made the girls i look after, but generally i don’t.

[solomonara]

“Don’t Call It Spa Night” Cake

So I’ve been reading The New Prometheus, a Jason-Todd-keeps-coming-back-to-life series by Zoeleo. Part of what makes this fic great is the detailed writing, which extends to specific mentions of different meals the characters eat over the course of the fic. And when Jason Todd shows up to spa night (sorry, ‘Self-Care Saturday’) with Earl Grey-infused cupcakes...

“Uh, the batter is an Earl Grey infusion and there’s lemon zest in the icing. They were an experiment. An homage to Alfred, kind of.”

Experimenting with baked goods? I may not be able to fanart, but I can definitely show my appreciation for a fic with experimental baked goods. Here’s what I came up with. It’s under a cut because it’s a long recipe - but not hard, I promise!

(My sincere apologies if you’re on mobile, which will both fuck with the formatting and eliminate the Keep Reading cut...)

Oh, did you notice that’s not a cupcake? I hate making cupcakes. Who the hell has time to carefully pour batter into 24 cups, decorate 24 individual tiny cakes, and then wash a fucking cupcake pan with all its little pockets of hidden stickiness... ugh, no, you get cake and you’ll like it.

Ingredients for cake:

White cake mix (It was late and I didn’t feel like measuring dry ingredients)

1/2 c butter, very soft

1 1/4 c milk (you can get away with using water, if you need to)

2 - 6 tbs Earl Grey tea (I used loose leaf, but you can use tea bags if you need to. The amount will vary depending on how much you like tea - I’ve made my recommendations in the recipe steps)

5 egg whites (or 4 whole eggs would probably be fine)

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 c sugar

1/4 c water

Ingredients for icing:

3 c powdered sugar

1/3 c butter, softened

3 SCANT tbs lemon juice

1/2 tsp lemon zest

^^^ me acting like I know what I’m doing. Remember kids, it’s not science unless you write it down!

Optional: cup of brewed tea, which helps cut down on swearing while you try to figure out where your egg separator went.

Steps:

I’ve written these out in more detail than you probably need - I always try to write for beginners, so I’ve put the basic instruction by the bullet point and then included more detail in the paragraphs underneath each point (to make them easily skippable if you don’t need clarification). If you have questions feel free to ask!

Prep work:

Heat 1 1/4 c milk in a small saucepan. When it’s hot, steep 1 to 3 tablespoons of tea in the milk for 3 to 5 minutes The amount of tea you use depends how much you like Earl Grey and how stale your tea is - if it’s pretty old, you might want to use more. 1 tbs will give you a very delicate, barely-there Earl Grey flavor. 3 tbs will give you... more.

Tea making advice that will serve you well in life: Steeping black teas for longer than 3 minutes doesn’t give you stronger tea. It gives you bitter tea. If you want stronger tea, add more tea leaves or another tea bag, don’t just leave your tea in the water the whole time you’re drinking it. The timing is less important when using the tea in recipes like this one, though, since the sweetness of the cake will cut the bitterness (as will brewing the tea in milk).

Strain the leaves out of the milk and set the milk aside to cool. You want it to be room temperature before adding it to the other ingredients so it doesn’t cook your eggs. Press the leaves in the strainer to squeeze out all the nice tea-ish juices.

Pro tip: Straining your tea milk into a giant Harry Potter mug will make it taste better.

Set oven to 350 (Fahrenheit, please)

Grease and flour your cake pans. I used two 9 inch rounds, but this will do fine as a 13x9 sheet cake or as cupcakes if you hate yourself for some reason.

Dump about a tablespoon of loose tea in a small food processor, spice grinder, magic bullet, or mortar and pestle. Grind it fine. You need a teaspoon of this stuff and it’s going straight into the batter so you don’t want the grain too large unless you don’t mind chewing on tea leaves.

The Cake:

Separate your eggs and add the whites to a large mixing bowl. If, like me, you suddenly realize that you don’t own an egg separator, don’t panic. Crack the egg on the side of your mixing bowl and pull apart the two halves of the shell without tipping the egg out of them. Gently transfer the yolk from one shell half to the other, letting the egg whites run out into your mixing bowl. If you get a little yolk in with your whites, don’t worry. You’re not making a meringue, so this is not a disaster. When you’re finished juggling the yolk and have most of the white extracted, dump the yolk in a separate bowl. When you’ve done all 5 eggs stick the yolks in the fridge. Intend to make custard with them later. Wake up tomorrow morning to discover you forgot to put a little water in the bowl and the yolks are now WEIRD looking and congeal-y. Throw the yolks away.

Add the butter to the egg whites and beat together.

Add the tea milk and 1/4 tsp vanilla and stir

Add your superfine ground tea and the cake mix and beat on medium speed for two minutes. Depending on the size of your mixing bowl you may want to add the dry mix gradually.

When it’s well combined, it’ll be pretty drippy:

Yum!

Pour it into your pans and bake ~25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. My pans are very dark, so my cakes tend to cook faster - you may need more time, or, if you went the cupcake route, considerably less time.

Cool the cakes for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto wire racks to cool the rest of the way.

General cake-baking tip: If you have room, sticking your cakes into the fridge or freezer for a few minutes right when they come out of the oven will keep them moist.

Syrup and Icing:

Next you’re going to make a syrup to brush on your cakes when they’re cool. I straight-up stole this idea from Liv for Cake, but we’ll need way less of it since this is a smaller cake. You’ll notice I linked you to her recipe for Earl Grey cake, which is slightly different from this one, but hey, if you hate mine now you have another option to try :)

Btw, the syrup step doesn’t really apply to cupcakes, if that’s the route you chose to go. I mean, unless you WANT to paint 24 individual little pains-in-the-ass with sticky syrup, in which case, be my guest.

So, for the syrup:

Bring 1/4 c sugar, 1/4 c water, and 1 1/2 tsp Earl Grey to a boil in a small saucepan I actually used a full tablespoon of Earl Grey here because I forgot what I was doing. Tasted fine! If you like tea.

It’s actually kind of pretty in person, I’m just bad at photos.

When the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is boiling, turn off the heat and strain the syrup to get all the crunchy tea bits out. Let it cool completely.

While your syrup and cakes are cooling, it’s a good time to make your icing! My old standby for lemon buttercream is actually just a Betty Crocker recipe that you can find right here.

In this case, though, I wanted it to be a little more delicate so as not to overwhelm the flavors in the cake. That’s accomplished easily enough - just use a little less lemon juice and make up whatever extra moisture you need in the icing with milk until it’s a nice spreadable consistency.

Also, you might want to add a touch of yellow food coloring to the icing for the look of the thing, especially if you have nothing else to decorate the cake with, because this icing basically just turns out plain white.

Assemble your cake!

When the cakes and syrup are completely cool, it’s assembly time.

Take the thicker cake round and place it on whatever surface you’re storing your cake on. Lop off the hump (unless you’ve managed to make a perfectly flat cake, in which case, what are you reading this blog for? You’re clearly a wizard and should be out profiting from that with your own wizard bakery.)

Brush that layer with your syrup. When it’s soaked in a little, cover your sins with a very thin layer of icing. This is going to be frustrating because, since you lopped off a chunk of this layer to make it level, all these crumbs are gonna wanna roll up and mess up your icing. Let ‘em. That’s why they call this a crumb layer. Get a thin, thin coating on there and then stick this layer in the fridge for a few minutes - since we’re working with buttercream here, it’ll set up nicely and make the next layer of icing go on more easily.

Add a second, thicker layer of icing, then pop the next cake layer on top. Do the same with the syrup, marvel at how much easier it is since you didn’t have to expose this layer’s innards, and then go to town with the rest of the icing.

Voila! An extremely boring-looking cake. Alas, all I had in the cupboard in the way of decoration were Christmas sprinkles, so we’re gonna say it’s minimalist and call it a day (also it was like, midnight by this point, and I was Done.)

Pair with slow-burn fic with lots of feels.

Congrats on making it to the end of this long-winded recipe. If you have any questions, feel free to hit my ask box!

[your-dietician]

What You Need to Know – Cleveland Clinic

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What You Need to Know – Cleveland Clinic

Are you trying to lose weight while managing diabetes? “If you have excess weight, losing even 5% of your total body weight can dramatically boost your health. Weight loss can not only improve your blood sugar levels but can lower high blood pressure, heart disease risk and even the amount of medication you take,” says registered dietitian Andrea Dunn.

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy

But when you’re considering the weight loss options for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, it’s important to avoid a quick fix. For lasting success, Dunn says, focus on good nutrition and changes you can commit to.

Below, she outlines what else you need to know to successfully drop pounds when you have diabetes.

The relationship between diabetes and weight loss

Obesity is a major risk factor for developing insulin resistance. And insulin resistance is a big step toward developing Type 2 diabetes. It’s also a major obstacle to achieving long-term blood sugar control. But weight loss can be an effective antidote — with one study showing that losing 16% of your excess pounds can put diabetes into remission.

Staying at a healthy weight is also a worthy goal if you have Type 1 diabetes. But people with Type 1 diabetes can’t make insulin and need to take an injectable version. In turn, taking insulin can lead to weight gain as can eating extra carbs to stabilize low blood sugars so additional measures are needed.

The four best weight-loss diets if you have diabetes

These diets offer well-rounded nutrition and increased odds for weight loss for patients with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes:

1. DASH diet

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It was created to help lower blood pressure, but the DASH diet goes well beyond that. It’s a well-rounded, healthy nutrition plan for everyone, not just those with diabetes.

DASH is rich in fruits, vegetables and grains and low in fat, sugar and sodium. For example, on a 1,600-calorie a day DASH plan, you would eat:

Grains: Six servings. Choose at least three that are whole, such as brown rice or oatmeal.

Vegetables: Three to four servings.

Fruit: Four servings.

Dairy: Two or three servings.

Meat: No more than six servings. In this case, a serving is 1 ounce.

Nuts, seeds, beans or lentils: Three portions weekly.

2. Mediterranean diet

More a lifestyle than a “diet,” the Mediterranean diet is based on how some eat in Greece, southern France and Italy. It involves eating lots of vegetables, nuts and healthy fats.

To follow it properly, you should get the majority of your calories from plant-based foods. Eat:

Mostly whole grains.

Vegetables and  fruits (at least 2 cups of each per day).

Eat beans instead of animal protein a few times/week.

Include dairy a few times per day.

You can eat healthy fats every day, such as those from avocados, nuts, seeds and olive oil. Eat fish and seafood weekly. Choose eggs and poultry more often than red meats. Limit sweets to only a few times each week.

3. Plant-based diets

Most plant-based diet plans cut out or dramatically limit meat:

Vegan diet: Cuts meat and dairy.

Vegetarian diet: Avoids meat but allows foods like eggs and cheese.

Flexitarian diet: Mostly plant-based with some animal protein.

4. Heart-healthy, lower fat diet

This diet involves eating lean protein sources, including beans and lentils. The total fat you consume is about 30% calories from fat, with saturated fat at 10% or less. At least half of your daily grains should come from whole grains. You should also eat:

Vegetables.

Fruits.

Low-fat dairy choices.

Nuts, seeds and low saturated fat oils.

Dieter beware of low or no-carb diets, fasting and cleanses

“Extreme diets can put you at risk, depending on which diabetes medications you’re taking or if you have other medical issues along with diabetes,” says Dunn.

Here are the diets you may need to avoid:

1. Low or no-carb diets

Using insulin or taking a sulfonylurea (a category of blood sugar-lowering medications) while avoiding carbs can put you at risk for low blood sugar. And if you’re on a fixed insulin dose, you may need to eat carbohydrates more consistently to avoid drops in blood sugar. So if you want to follow this kind of diet for weight loss, check with your physician first.

“Depending on how low carb the diet is, your doctor may order monthly lab work to rule out low potassium or magnesium or elevated lipids or uric acid levels,” says Dunn.

2. Intermittent fasting, extreme calorie reduction or skipping meals

Any diet that promotes fasting for long periods can cause low blood sugar. Even if you aren’t taking diabetes medication, it’s important to maintain consistent eating patterns for weight management and blood sugar control. Be aware of how much you eat at any one time to avoid spiking your blood sugar.

Any diabetic weight loss diet that preaches very low caloric intake (800 calories or fewer per day) can also increase the risk of low blood sugar and reduced muscle mass. The bottom line: These kinds of diets should be supervised by your doctor.

3. Cleanses or over-the-counter diet pills not approved by the FDA

“Beware of too-good-to-be-true claims made about non-prescription pills and cleanses,” says Dunn. These dietary supplements aren’t approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), so you don’t know what you’re getting. And, she says, some products may even harm your health or contain ingredients that can interfere with your prescription diabetes medications.

10 weight loss tips for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes

If you still find it hard to lose weight with diet and exercise alone, Dunn shares 10 tried-and-true weight loss tips to help jump-start your progress:

1. Give meal replacement products a try

Dunn says diabetic meal replacement shakes or calorie-moderated frozen meals can make it easier to follow structured, lower-calorie eating plans. “You can feel comfortable eating the whole amount because it’s already portioned. Look for meals in the 220- to 300-calorie range. You can even eat an extra serving of vegetables, fruit or dairy with them and stick to your calorie budget.”

For diabetic meal replacement shakes, Dunn recommends you:

Make them yourself with whole foods and protein powder.

Choose premade shakes that contain 15 to 20 grams of protein and under 250 calories per container.

Another diabetes and weight loss tip you can take to the bank? “Try noshing some raw fruit or vegetables with your meal replacement shakes. They give you chewing satisfaction, which helps quell hunger, and can make you feel fuller and more satisfied than just having the shake alone.”

2. Go crazy on produce

No matter what diet you choose, Dunn says that eating fruits and veggies is a must. “Any style of eating that promotes good health includes produce,” she explains. “Figure out what you like — fresh, cooked, frozen or canned — and get in at least five servings each day at meals and for snacks.”

Just be extra careful around canned options as canned vegetables can have higher sodium and canned fruit can have higher sugar amounts due to syrup. Look for canned vegetables labeled ‘no salt added’ and fruit packed in 100% juice or water.

3. Stick to whole foods

Choose whole foods over highly processed foods as much as possible:

Look for whole grains over refined grains.

Avoid or eat less from boxed mixes, breaded and deep-fried foods or those with heavy gravies and sauces.

Choose cereals and breads with very little or no added sugars.

4. Ask yourself: Is it hunger or habit?

Analyze your home and work environment. Do you have easy access to high-calorie, sugary foods? (Hello, snack drawer.) Do you snack because you’re hungry or because you saw someone else eating?

“When and how much you eat may make a difference as well. Many newer studies say it’s beneficial to eat more food earlier in the day and then less as the day goes on,” Dunn adds. “If you’re skipping meals all day and then eating dinner and snacking all night, that may be why you’re not achieving your goals.”

5. Sip smart

Make water your beverage of choice. Drinking a lot of alcohol and sugar-sweetened drinks like soda, iced tea and fruit juice won’t do you any favors.

6. Make gradual changes

Overhauling your lifestyle can feel overwhelming. But doing it gradually makes it easier. Try cultivating one new healthy habit at a time, such as:

Drink water instead of drinking sugary sodas.

Start eating a healthy breakfast.

Exercise 10 minutes a day.

Experts, including Dunn, advise adopting a healthy behavior you can live with, and add more changes when you can.

7. Move it!

Move as much as you can. Exercise of any kind speeds up the metabolism and accelerates weight loss.

8. Adjust your meds

Dunn emphasizes the importance of talking to your doctor before making any diet changes. “Some diabetes medications cause weight gain. And if you have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes and take insulin or another drug that lowers blood sugar, you could be at risk for low blood sugar issues if you change your diet without adjusting your diabetes medicine.”

Some newer Type 2 diabetes medications make it easier for patients to lose weight. These drugs — liraglutide and empagliflozin — are also beneficial to the heart. If you are taking a different medication and having trouble losing weight, ask your doctor if one of these might be right for you. Also, be sure to check if your insurance plan covers its cost.

9. Consider bariatric surgery

If the weight is stubborn, consider consulting a bariatric surgeon. A weight-loss surgical procedure might be your ticket to success. “There’s evidence that the weight lost after these procedures can put diabetes into remission and reduce the risk from its complications,” says Dunn.

10. Seek support

If your doctor is associated with a medical center, find out if there’s a diabetes management or weight loss program you can tap into. If not, check the website of the pharmaceutical company that makes your diabetes drug, since many companies have patient support programs.

“Weight loss is not just about diet and exercise. Hormones, genetics, sleep, medications and stress all play a role,” says Dunn. “So if you’re having problems losing weight, work with your doctor, registered dietitian or a certified diabetes educator to set up a healthy weight-management plan. They can make sure your diet is realistic and right for you — and that it will mesh well with your diabetes treatment plan.”

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[edgewaterfarmcsa]

CSA WEEK 5

p i c k l i s t

CABBAGE - CELERY - BEETS - CARROTS - SHISO - 

 TULSI BASIL - FENNEL - CAULIFLOWER

CSA FRAAAANDS!!  On account of way too many crops that will leave y’all scratching your heads wondering what exactly you signed up for, I am skipping the farm updates and moving right into PRO-TIPS.  And if anyone needs more on how we spent this week in farming, I can assure you this.  No one went home dry.  Yes, our wells and water-tables are pumped but ugggh my feet exist in a constant prune state.  

PRO TIPS:

SHISO:  This week we are going to try something new.  We are all going to use SHISO (the beautiful reddish purple bunch in your CSA) and learn this herb together.  Full disclosure, I know nothing about it.  I’ve eyed it for years- heard stories of pickling and fermenting, garnishing, juicing, etc.  But this year we have a really beautiful crop and it’s time to expand our horizons.   

(Delicious Korean pickled perilla (shiso) leaves in soy sauce brine)

32 leaves shiso

SEASONING SAUCE (MIX THESE IN A MEDIUM-SIZED BOWL)

10 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp Korean chili flakes (gochugaru)

1 tsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp spring onion , finely chopped

2 Tbsp green chilies or red chilies, finely chopped

Rinse the shiso leaves in cold running water and drain/air dry them while left in the colander.

While waiting for the perilla leaves to dry, prepare the seasoning sauce.

Place the perilla leaves in stacks in a large (glass) container (with a lid). Spread (about 1 Tbsp worth of) seasoning sauce on top of the perilla leaf. Repeat this process for every 3 leaves for the rest of the leaves. As it is already stacked, you will have to lift the leaves at every third interval with one hand while the other hand is spreading the sauce. You don’t need to spread the sauce on every leaf. If you have any sauce leftover, pour it onto the stacked leaves. If you run out of sauce, tip the container and scoop out the sauce from the bottom corner of the container and spread it over the perilla leaves.

Close the lid and move the container to the fridge. You can start eating this from the next day. Serve it with a hot bowl of rice. (It can be stored in the fridge for at least one week. Though traditionally this dish was made during the summer months when many perilla leaves are available and consumed through the summer to winter.)

18 oz Red/Purple Shiso leaves * 1 or 500g

2 cups water 

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Prepare shiso leaves to boil. Wash and trim the shiso leaves.

Bring the 2 cups of water to boil in a large sauce pan and add the prepared shiso leaves.

Turn the heat down to medium heat and cook the shiso leaves for about a few minutes. The leaves colour will change from purple to a greenish colour.

Drain the shiso leaves with a strainer and squeeze the leaves to extract as much as you can. It is hot so be careful not to burn your fingers. I used a spoon to extract all liquid.

Place the drained liquid back to the saucepan and bring it simmer.

Add the sugar, and when the sugar is dissolved, turn the heat off and add the apple cider vinegar.

Cool it down and keep it in a clean bottle in a fridge.  If you sterilize the container in which you keep the syrup, it will last about 6 months in the fridge.

To make shiso juice, place 1/4 cup of the syrup into a glass and pour about 200 ml of mineral water or fizzy soda water over the top. Add ice cubes.

Tulsi: Tulsi, or Holy Basil.  This herb, I LOVE.  Tulsi, the green bunch in your box topped with little purple flower is an herbal adaptogen.  My dear friend and favorite herbalist Rachael Keener of ALKAME CO. wrote the following about adaptogens,

 “ADAPTOGENS ARE CONSIDERED HERBAL SUPERSTARS BECAUSE OF THEIR UNIQUE ABILITY TO SUPPORT A HEALTHY STRESS RESPONSE. In what can sometimes feel like the barrage of the modern era, these plants stand beside us fostering grace and balance while offering their generous hand of support.

What’s even more impressive about adaptogens is that we’re not just talking about resilience to the occasional stress of the modern demands of work, family, etc. They may also support our body’s response to environmental stressors like pollutants in our water, and chemicals in our body products. These too pose a challenge unique to the times we are living in.

Interestingly, adaptogens don’t have one specific way in which they act. Instead, they act as harmonizers. Their diverse chemistry helps balance our diverse chemistry and supports the stability of our neuroendocrine and immune systems (aka how we perceive and respond to mental/emotional and environmental/chemical stressors). Science has identified some of the ways in which adaptogens do this, but due to their broad-ranging mechanisms of actions, every aspect of how they work has yet to be clearly defined.    

Adaptogens are, by definition, considered appropriate for long-term use… Best adopted as daily tonics, they build our resilience over time. They are not an instant fix, and they do not stand alone as a replacement for other forms of self-care. Instead they stand firmly behind us, supporting lifestyle changes that promote resilience in this wild world*.

With self-care and adaptogens at our side, we can restore our ability to be actors in our worlds. We can orient to action, rather than reaction.  The world is indeed a crazy place, and yet we still belong to it. Lean on your plant friends when the going gets rough and you notice that you’re having a hard time adapting or finding balance. They make pleasant companions and reflect back to us how to welcome ourselves home no matter what is happening around us.”

MORE ON Tulsi from Urban Moonshine… “Tulsi, in particular, is one of the few adaptogens that come in a green leafy form, this plant supports our nervous system during periods of occasional stress and burn out. It's sweet, spicy vanilla aroma and taste make it a favorite one to uplift the spirit.  It's a favorite in tea, as well as smoothies, salads and fresh juices.” 

All this being said, I remember when I was pregnant my midwife discouraged tulsi… Not entirely sure why- but if you are a pregnant person, please ask your midwife first.  

TULSI TEA

1 cup water

1 tsp-2 tsp dried tulsi, or 4 tsp fresh (really based on the taste you prefer)

Bring the water to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the tulsi in a heat-safe container.

Allow the tea to steep, covered, for 10-15 minutes.

Strain tulsi from tea and enjoy daily.

USE FRESH LEAVES:  Add chopped leaves to culinary dishes just as you would basil. Freeze leaves in ice cubes to add to summer drinks.  Eat a few fresh leaves to get phytonutrients and boost your immunity.  

TULSI is also found in tinctures, infused honeys, elixirs, vinegars etc… for more on that give it a google.  

Caramelized fennel with parmy frico

by Molly Baz from the book: COOK THIS BOOK 

(recommended by Coreen at the farmstand!)

3 large fennel bulbs with fronds

1 lemon

2oz Parmesan cheese

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt & pep

Position a rack in the lower third of your oven.  Preheat the oven to 425*f

Prep the fennel and Parm:

Trim off the long stalks of 3 fennel bulbs, right where they meet the bulb.  Reserve about half of them; discard the rest.  Trim the root ends of the bulbs if they are looking a little brown and sad.  Discard any bruised outer layers of the fennel bulbs.  Position each bulb upright on your cutting board, root-end down, and cut into ½-inch thick planks.  Transfer the planks to a large rimmed baking sheet.

Drizzle the fennel planks with ¼ cup olive oil, being sure to coat them evenly and all over.  Season with salt and black pepper.

Using a microplane, finely grate 1 ounce of Parmesan cheese (about ¼ cup) over the fennel (on top only, no need to flip).  Roast until the fennel is deeply caramelized on the underside, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and flip each plank.  Finely grate 1 ounce more cheese (about ¼ cup) over the caramelized side of the fennel.  Return to the oven and roast until tender and browned all over, 10 to 15 minutes longer.  

Prep the raw fennel salad:

While the fennel roasts, pluck any fronds attached to the reserved fennel stalks and coarsely chop them.  Thinly slice the fennel stalks crosswise into coins.  Transfer everything to a medium bowl.

Cut 1 lemon in half; squeeze the juice from both halves over the raw fennel.  Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil, season with salt and black pepper, and toss well to dress the fennel.  Taste and adjust the seasoning if it needs it.  

SERVE: Transfer the roasted fennel planks to a serving dish.  Scatter the r

[organiccosmeticssawk885-blog]

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6 Easy Facts About Essential Oils Explained

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Organic Cosmetics - Truths

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Indicators on Aromatic Oils You Should Know

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What Does Natural Cosmetics Mean?

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Rumored Buzz on Beauty Products

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The word 'all-natural' does not call for any type of typical or accreditation to be put in makeup advertising and marketing. As long as it contains plant or pet results, it can be taken into consideration 'all-natural.' Over 80% of what you place on your skin is absorbed right into your body. When you cover your face with toxic chemicals as well as synthetic ingredients, you are endangering your lasting health and also beauty.

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Thankfully, a growing number of firms are taking notification. As well as this implies that there are growing alternatives for women that desire to find makeup that will cover acnes and also improve their all-natural elegance while being sustainable, healthy, as well as budget friendly. As well as though we've just been able to highlight 5 of these firms, there are loads of others around that are dedicated to the same practices and also standards as those discussed above.

You just can not fail when you acquire makeup from a firm that's devoted to ethical techniques, sustainability, natural ingredients, and also excellent quality. And also if they're affordable, well that's simply icing on the cake.

Browsing the globe of organic makeup products is tough since there's no trusted GENERAL PRACTITIONER. Lots of brands slap words like "clean," "natural," and also "non-toxic" onto their item tags, yet due to the fact that they're not controlled by the FDA, those terms can sometimes be worthless. Frightening, huh? Yet the fact is not every natural make-up brand or item is a scam.

Rumored Buzz on Aromatic Oils

While brands are beginning to get even more upfront concerning their solutions and just how they resource claimed ingredients, there's also online resources that to aid you out, too. The Environmental Working Team (EWG), for instance, has an extensive data source where you can browse by brand or product to learn if it consists of possibly high-risk ingredients.

If every one of this details still appears frustrating, we recognize. So we've done the study for you and abided the 11 of the most effective natural make-up brand names, together with which product to attempt from the line. From highlighter to lipstick, maintain scrolling for the finest natural, clean, as well as non-toxic make-up brand names as well as products of 2019.

Rather, it uses raw, food-grade, organic ingredients including coconut oil, antioxidants and also enzymes. While RMS Beauty may leave a lot of usual http://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=natural cosmetics make-up components out of its items, they don't skimp on color pay off. The brand name's Un Cover-Up Concealer/Foundation is a cult-favorite, and the Living Luminizer transformed highlighters permanently.

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It can be found in 5 different tones that fit a variety of complexion. $38; sephora.com Started by Los Angeles-based artist and chemist Sheena Yaitanes in 2015, Kosas' products are created with prestige, high-performing botanical ingredients that both execute and also supply skincare benefits. With ingenious items like the 10 2nd Fluid Eyeshadow which is indicated to be swiped on with your fingertip the brand name makes wearing make-up a little much less complicated with every launch.

Component face oil, component structure, the brand's first complexion product differs from any type of tinted moisturizer or alphabet cream you've attempted prior to. Rather than resting on top of your skin like numerous oils, it soaks up right into skin, supplying intense hydration. It offers light, your-skin-but-better coverage, plus it improves the look of pores and appearance.

Now, you can discover the line at your regional Target and clean charm sellers like Goop. W3LL People's Expressionist Mascara is perhaps its standout item. While mascara can be infamously hard to develop without hazardous ingredients, this one layers lashes with mineral pigment for added size, volume, and definition. The outcome? dark, long, fluttery lashes that don't smear or run.

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$22; goop.com Organic components and also hydrating, antioxidant-packed bases are the MO of this tidy charm brand name. Along with shade cosmetics products, Vapour Charm also makes cruelty-free artificial makeup brushes and all-natural antiperspirant. The Soft Focus Structure is a light-weight, buildable formula that takes place streak-free for a natural coating. Easy to mix, it can be layered to build up coverage.

$54; credobeauty.com The charm sector has a sustainability trouble, however brand names like Kjaer Weis are leading the anti-waste activity with high-end, long-wear makeup packaged in reusable containers. As soon as you hit the bottom of your favored item, you can restock it with refills that can be acquired individually at half the rate of the initial item.

The Kjaer Weis' lipstick is made with a mix of beeswax, jojoba and sweet almond oils to move on perfectly, leaving the lips really feeling ultra-nourished. With colors ranging from tawny naked to traditional cherry red, there's a color alternative for every lipstick vibe. $56; neimanmarcus.com When Jane Iredale introduced her name mineral-based makeup brand name in 1994, the concept of blending make-up and skin care was advanced.

The Greatest Guide To Perfume Oil

While her brand's Amazing Base mineral powder foundation convinced people to give tidy, natural products an opportunity, the entire line is full of all-natural alternatives to the items in your existing קוסמטיקה טבעית regular and trending ones like lash lotions. The PureLash Lash Extender & Conditioner acts as a primer for your mascara, however additionally conditions lashes to enhance and also thicken them with time. b) We may share accumulation, confidential or summary details regarding our clients and also their habits with companions, advertisers or various other 3rd parties. This information is not individual information and also so will certainly not determine you directly. We may share details with companies that supply assistance services to us, such as a printer, sending by mail residence, fulfillment-company, charge card processor, email provider or webhosting, among others.

However, these celebrations might not make use of any personal details we show them about you for any type of other objective apart from in connection with doing supporting features for us. You have the right at any kind of time to avoid us from calling you for advertising purposes. If and also when we send an advertising interaction to an individual, the user can choose out of more advertising interactions by complying with the unsubscribe guidelines given in each advertising email.

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Our Cosmetics Online Ideas

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The Ultimate Guide To Visa Application

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[foodtheywrote]

food+drink from IT’S NOT ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE by Terry McMillan

(these are all Kindle highlights. please let me know in the comments if you have other mentions of food and/ or drink in this book.)

1. buffet of fried chicken, BBQ ribs, baked beans, au gratin potatoes, some kind of salad, collard greens, and cornbread.

2. chocolate cake

3. angel hair pasta with prawns, some garlic bread, and a good salad

4. We could have some raspberry sorbet and not too many glasses of wine so that we still have energy...

5. glass of water with a slice of cucumber resting between tiny ice cubes.

6. ...a large plate of figs, squares of dark and white chocolate, green grapes, and four or five different types of cheese. Beige crackers are spread out like cards on a blackjack table.

7. ...all kinds of casseroles and bowls of fried chicken and a honey-baked ham and macaroni and cheese on the table, and all four burners had pots with steam bursting out of the tops of them. I saw squares of yellow cornbread and collard greens and sweet potatoes in chafing dishes.

8. ...two glass pitchers of lemonade and iced tea.

9. We both laughed, and I remember throwing a piece of French bread at him and missing. B. B. King—who still was very quick at the time—grabbed it in his mouth and took off. Carl was lucky I didn’t grab a handful of my delicious spaghetti and meatballs, or he’d have been covered in it!

10. ...candied yam.

11. ... fried chicken and collard greens. Lucky also had macaroni and cheese, which I passed on.

12. She then bit off a big piece of honey cornbread. “Neither one of us should even be in here,” I said as I looked down at my plate. The chicken was fried. I could see the ham in the collard greens. The candied yams had brown sugar and butter oozing out of them. And then there was my beautiful cornbread. Did I really need to eat all this?

13. ...double cheeseburger, some soft fries, a diet Coke, and three farewell Twizzlers.

14. “I made lasagna and a salad and as you can see, French bread and steamed asparagus.”

15. When I went to put my registration back inside the glove compartment, staring at me was a brand-new package of Twizzlers.

16. “I’ll have the pizza with ground beef, but with no beans, no sour cream, and no avocado.” “Anything else?” “I would like to try the fried ice cream.” “To drink?” “I’ll have a virgin margarita.” “What kind, sir?” “A normal one.” I winked at her, so she knew I wanted my regular: combination chicken tacos and chicken enchiladas with sour cream. All the combos come with beans and rice and I almost always end up taking something home. I ate guacamole and chips and Kwame drank what was really just lemonade...

17.  I grabbed the tasteless granola, some raspberries, and low-fat milk...

18.  ...string beans and that stuff with the scrambled eggs in it again?”

19. ...pot stickers and various types of chow fun

20. ...the white boxes that we knew were pot stickers and brown and white rice, and the fortune cookies, at least ten of them.

21. But I ordered a low-fat mocha latte with no sugar instead.

22.  I just made a strong pot of Peet’s Sumatra and I baked a delicious apple pie for Joe.

23.  I could hardly eat the stroganoff, which was terrible, and also because I had snuck a hamburger (not cheeseburger) with small fries before I came over...

24. “I got lasagna and sourdough bread, and a Caesar salad and asparagus for you...

25. Kwame lifted the wide lasagna noodles and let them fall back on top of the red meat sauce. Then he pulled on the cheese to form a string...

26. ...from about eight different salads, we chose four and a bowl of chunky homemade vegetable soup.

27.  ...red miso short ribs, Thai chicken meatballs, and shredded jerk chicken floating in thick golden sauce...

28. We had to order the seasoned rice and bread. At checkout, we decided to get the salad and soup to go and bought two of those little round macaroon cookies that come from France. I ordered watermelon mint lemonade...

29. ....finest halibut for you along with baked sweet potatoes and a salad and brown rice.

30. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a drumstick and a wing on hand for a late-night snack.

31. ...last two kosher hot dogs and a few French fries and a half hour later, I scraped the vanilla out of the ice cream sandwich and put it on a saucer...

32. ...sweet potato pies, peach cobbler, bread pudding, and apple pies—

33. ...I sliced apples. I opened ten cans of peaches. I boiled sweet potatoes and mashed them with cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, eggs, vanilla flavor, and a drop of bourbon. I made bread pudding that was so fluffy it almost floated out of the little baking dishes I bought. The peach juice boiled onto the aluminum foil I knew to put under the cobbler because it happens every year.

34. lobster tails with butter and baked potatoes with chives, sour cream, and butter and a salad and sourdough bread

35.  I did not want to go out for cake and ice cream.

36. I was overdue for a cheeseburger and fries. I had been good. I could count how many I’d had since I got back from Las Vegas, which was almost two months ago: five. I could also count how many times I went to Carol’s and had their French toast with bacon: three.

37. ...once she had it, she would have to pretend fried chicken and candied yams and honey cornbread would kill her.

38. “Yes, I would like to have a double cheeseburger with a purple onion and a small order of fries.” “What kind of cheese would you like on that burger?” the voice said. “Cheddar. Oh, and can you also put pickles on it?” “You got it. Any of our delicious desserts strike your eye? Our apple pie is killer and our ice cream sundaes are made with the best chocolate syrup. And there’s a new flavor of ice cream to choose: strawberry cheesecake.”

39. ...two thick pieces of French toast with butter, drenched with maple syrup, two strips of bacon, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee. With two packets of Splenda.

40. We’re having marinated rib-eyes, steamed brown rice, no bread, a salad with oil and vinegar, and sparkling water for me and Loretha, right, Lo?”

41.  “And for dessert?” Sadie asked suspiciously. “Fruit salad. Take it or leave it.”

42. ...bought a slice of pepperoni pizza, a salad, a Diet Coke, and a chocolate chip cookie.

43. ...cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, a small piece of chicken breast, and a peach that she was already cutting.

44. I took a long sip of my detoxifying apple-cucumber-celery-spinach-cranberry-pomegranate drink, and then stared at my steel-cut oatmeal with no raisins and definitely no brown sugar.

45. ...that Hawaiian French toast with the rum-battered Kona-coffee whipped cream and pineapple marmalade

46. I ate an apple. And half of a whole wheat English muffin that I toasted and spread this stuff called ghee that Jonas told me to buy instead of butter. It tasted like butter but better. I wanted a glass of orange juice so bad

47. ...chocolate chip cookie or a juicy cheeseburger with fries and a vanilla shake.

48. ...did not put any sugar in my coffee but I did put in cream. I was starting to get used to it. And instead of eating French toast or pancakes topped with bananas and hot syrup or waffles with hot syrup or eggs and bacon with hash browns and toast with butter and jelly, I had plain yogurt with berries and whole wheat toast.

49. ...salad with a thousand different vegetables and cooked prawns and then chunks of chicken and oil and vinegar dressing. I did eat a breadstick.

50. ...baked chicken. Brown rice. A salad. Steamed vegetables. I passed on the sourdough bread and butter.

51. Jonas has made an amazing tofu stir-fry if you’d like to have dinner with us.” “No thanks.” “It’s also got ginger, carrots, string beans, and garlic, and a little soy sauce. You won’t even know it’s good for you.”

52. ...chipotle grilled pork tenderloin with strawberry-avocado salsa. And this is spicy brown rice. That’s spinach and onion couscous. Those are salmon fishcakes. And the salad is spinach, feta, and goat cheese.

53. ...triangle turkey sandwich...

54. ...eat the savory teriyaki beef I ordered along with a cup of hot water and lemon

55.  purple sweet potato, almond milk, and ginger smoothies

[cosmeticsyfhp683-blog]

The 30-Second Trick For Essential Oils

Few ingredients are utilized as-is from nature. "All-natural" does not always indicate healthier: Some natural compounds can even be damaging. You see the Ecocert Natural Cosmetic stamp, which validates that at the very least half the active ingredients are plant-based. "Organic" The item's active ingredients and also formula are created without unsafe pesticides. This is the only government-regulated term in the "tidy" elegance space.

"Naturally Derived" All-natural active ingredients in an item have undertaken some chemical handling. When you see this term or a similar one like "all-natural beginning" or "made with all-natural components," try to find a qualifier that indicates what percentage of components it uses to. The product brings the Excellent House Cleaning Seal, considering that the Great Housekeeping Institute Labs validate all product claims.

Not all chemicals are created equivalent; plus, every active ingredient (all-natural or synthetic) is comprised of chemicals. They are also component of human biology!The case is ingredient-specific, as in "paraben-free," and the item has actually made the Excellent Home Cleaning Seal (we acquire data to confirm all ingredient claims). "Safe" An item is not harmful to people.

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Almost anything, also drinking water, can be dangerous in huge amounts. Never ever, because it can not be proven or disproven. "Eco-friendly" or "Lasting" Products are developed with minimal present and future environmental impact. This wide term covers whatever from what's in an item to just how it's made, packaged, dispersed and gotten rid of.

The GH Beauty Laboratory's leading pointers on making absolutely all-natural and sustainable tidy appeal choices: For a much deeper dive into components, the Beauty Lab recommends getting in touch with resources like the Made Safe Risk Checklist and the Environmental Working Team Skin Deep data source. Both nonprofits aim to accumulate the newest science on active ingredients as well as supply referrals for safety-certified items across categories.

Even fragrance from all-natural sources can trigger responses. Plus, brand names aren't required to list the components in "scent" on tags, so oftentimes there's no other way to recognize what remains in those products. The even more minimal the packaging, the much better for the earth. Whenever possible, choose items with less components and also without parts or materials that can not be recycled (go for codes 1 and 2) and also unneeded components like outer boxes.

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Look for appeal brands that contribute a part of their profits or make a payment to environmental reasons. Appeal Director April Franzino is the Appeal Supervisor at Good House cleaning, part of the Hearst Women's Way of life Appeal Group. Director, Health And Wellness, Beauty & Environmental Sciences Laboratory Birnur Aral is the supervisor of the Health and wellness, Elegance & Environmental Sciences Lab at the Great Home Cleaning Institute, where she oversees all Laboratory examinations and also applications for the Good House Cleaning Seal, the Environment-friendly Good House Cleaning Seal and the GH Development symbol.

When you're looking for makeup that looks wonderful and also is great for you and the environment, you desire the actual bargain. In the past, it was virtually difficult to locate lively, beautiful make-up that was sustainably made and also sourced. Fortunately, the beauty market has actually come a lengthy method. Today, there are lots of cosmetic firms that are offering green as well as tidy cosmetics.

That's why we created this checklist of the top natural makeup brand names that get on the marketplace today. RMS Beauty surpasses mere 'natural' condition. This is why they've committed to a greater criterion than the USDA's organic certification. They prohibit all fine-tuned, blonde, and also ventilated items (every one of which the USDA enables).

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This indicates that all of their products are totally free of silicone, paraben preservatives, as well as other chemical finishes. They also put a high worth on plant products like coconut oil, chocolate butter, rosemary remove, as well as comparable ingredients. You can discover a listing of every one of their charm components (as well as it's organic/wildcrafted status) on their 'About Us' web page.

The Ultimate Guide To Organic Cosmetics

Their lines of face, lip, as well as eye makeup is unrivaled in its sustainability in appeal. W3ll Individuals was started by a group being composed of an a-list cosmetics professional, a board-certified skin specialist, and an advertising strategist that had benefited Fortune 500 companies like Whole Foods. Together, they have actually developed a line of make-up that is budget-friendly, socially accountable, and also attractive.

By concentrating on organic, plant-based products like aloe, chamomile, as well as green tea, W3ll People has actually had the ability to develop makeups that moisturize and also relieve the skin while covering imperfections as well as including highlights. Gabriel De Santino founded his eponymous firm in 1992 when the organic elegance market was still an infant.

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When he aged, he took the lessons he discovered as a child as well as incorporated them right into his line of organic, vegan, as well as gluten-free skincare and also cosmetics. And also the commitment to green practices doesn't finish with Gabriel Cosmetic's use all-natural and also organic items. They also have several programs that are built for sustainability, including a recycling program that permits consumers to return five Gabriel Aesthetic containers in exchange for a cost-free lipstick, as well as the ability to re-fill powder compacts.

Patronize Gabriel Cosmetics via Providing Aide as well as help give away. Among Elate's taglines is "Beautifully eco-friendly." However it's greater than a tagline, it's a dedication that they have actually made to develop face, eyes, and lip make-up that is lovely, healthy and balanced for your skin, and eco-friendly. They have a number of programs in position to enhance transparency and also sustainability.

So, you can locate dinged up and damaged products that are secure to utilize and much less costly. This is just one of the manner ins which they are functioning to lower waste and also rise sustainability. As well as because all products are produced with ingredients that are 100% vegan and also cruelty-free as well as 75% natural, you can be positive that you're getting a top quality, wholesome product when you purchase from Elate.

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This led her to gather a team of California-based skincare specialists that would certainly take place to located Juice charm, and award-winning skincare as well as make-up company that offers USDA accredited natural items utilizing sustainable production processes. Their objective is simple: to create high-performance, high-grade skincare and also make-up that heals the skin as it enhances.

Patronize Juice Beauty through Granting Assistant and help give away. There are a number of accreditations that you must be on the search for as you make your cosmetic choices. Among one of the most coveted is the USDA organic certification that takes place items that are produced utilizing high standards and from natural components.

Words 'all-natural' doesn't call for any typical or certification to be positioned in makeup advertising and marketing. As long as it includes plant or animal by-products, it can be thought about 'natural.' Over 80% of what you put on your skin is soaked up right into your body. When you cover your face with poisonous chemicals and synthetic additives, you are threatening your lasting wellness as well as charm.

8 Simple Techniques For Natural Pharmacy Online

Fortunately, even more and also more firms are taking notification. And this suggests that there are expanding options for women that intend to locate makeup that will certainly cover imperfections as well as enhance their all-natural charm while being lasting, healthy, and also cost effective. And though we have actually just had the ability to highlight 5 of these firms, there are dozens of others out there that are dedicated to the same techniques and requirements as those pointed out above.

You simply can not go incorrect when you buy makeup from a company that's devoted to honest practices, sustainability, organic active ingredients, and premium quality. And also if they're budget-friendly, well that's just icing on the cake.

Browsing the world of organic make-up products is difficult because there's no reputable GENERAL PRACTITIONER. Great deals of brand names put words like "tidy," "all-natural," and "non-toxic" onto their product labels, yet due https://lilacnature-shop.co.il גליצרין צמחי to the fact that they're not controlled by the FDA, those terms can in some cases be worthless. Terrifying, huh? Yet the fact is not every organic makeup brand or item is a fraud.

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While brand names are starting to obtain more ahead of time regarding their formulas and also how they resource said active ingredients, there's additionally on-line sources that to assist you out, too. The Environmental Working Group (EWG), as an example, has a substantial database where you can browse by brand name or item to figure out if it has possibly high-risk active ingredients.

If all of this information still seems overwhelming, we understand. So we have actually done the research study for you as well as complied the 11 of the best natural make-up brands, together with which item to attempt from the line. From highlighter to lipstick, keep scrolling for the very best organic, tidy, and also non-toxic make-up brand names and products of 2019.

Instead, it utilizes raw, food-grade, natural ingredients including coconut oil, anti-oxidants as well as enzymes. While RMS Elegance might leave a lots of usual make-up ingredients out of its items, they don't skimp on shade settle. The brand's Un Whitewash Concealer/Foundation is a cult-favorite, and also the Living Luminizer transformed highlighters forever.

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It is available in 5 different tones that fit a variety of skin tones. $38; sephora.com Started by Los Angeles-based musician as well as drug store Sheena Yaitanes in 2015, Kosas' items are developed with prestige, high-performing botanical ingredients that both perform as well as supply skincare advantages. With innovative products like the 10 Second Fluid Eyeshadow which is implied to be swiped on with your fingertip the brand name makes using makeup a little less complicated with every launch.

Component face oil, component foundation, the brand's initial skin product differs from any kind of tinted cream or alphabet cream you have actually attempted prior to. Instead of resting on top of your skin like several oils, it takes in right into skin, offering extreme hydration. It provides light, your-skin-but-better insurance coverage, plus it improves the appearance of pores and also structure.

Currently, you can discover the line at your regional Target and tidy elegance merchants like Goop. W3LL Individuals's Expressionist Mascara is perhaps its standout product. While mascara can be notoriously tough to develop without harmful components, this set coats lashes with mineral pigment for included size, quantity, and meaning. The outcome? dark, long, fluttery lashes that don't smear or run.

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$22; goop.com Organic components and hydrating, antioxidant-packed bases are the MO of this tidy beauty brand. In addition to color cosmetics items, Vapour Beauty also makes cruelty-free artificial make-up brushes as well as all-natural antiperspirant. The Soft Emphasis Foundation is a lightweight, buildable formula that takes place streak-free for a natural surface. Easy to blend, it can be layered to develop insurance coverage.

$54; credobeauty.com The elegance sector has a sustainability trouble, but brands like Kjaer Weis are leading the anti-waste activity with high-end, long-wear makeup packaged in reusable containers. When you struck all-time low of your favored item, you can replenish it with refills that can be purchased independently at half the cost of the initial item.

The Kjaer Weis' lipstick is made with a blend of beeswax, jojoba and wonderful almond oils to move on seamlessly, leaving the lips feeling ultra-nourished. With shades varying from tawny naked to timeless cherry red, there's a color choice for every lipstick vibe. $56; neimanmarcus.com When Jane Iredale launched her name mineral-based make-up brand name in 1994, the concept of blending makeup as well as skin care was revolutionary.

Not known Facts About Beauty Products

While her brand name's Incredible Base mineral powder foundation persuaded people to provide tidy, organic products a chance, the entire line is loaded with all-natural choices to the items in your current routine and trending ones like lash serums. The PureLash Lash Extender & Conditioner work as a guide for your mascara, but likewise conditions lashes to reinforce and enlarge them gradually. b) We may share accumulation, anonymous or recap info regarding our clients and their actions with companions, advertisers or various other 3rd celebrations. This information is not personal details as well as so will not identify you directly. We may share info with companies that supply assistance solutions to us, such as a printer, sending by mail residence, fulfillment-company, credit history card cpu, e-mail company or webhosting, amongst others.

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The Ultimate Guide To Raw Materials For Cosmetics

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How Essential Oils can Save You Time, Stress, and Money.

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On this page: Review VAC Operation Hours Areas The U.S. Consular Office or Consulate as well as Visa Application Centers observe both U.S. and also India holidays and will be shut on those days. The visa application telephone call center solutions will just be closed on Saturdays, Christmas, New Years, Holi and Diwali, Republic Day, Self-reliance Day and also Gandhi Jayanti.

to 05:00 p.m. Sunday-- 01:00 p.m. to 05:00 p.m. Entry of Decline Box visa application/ 221( g) application Monday to Friday-- 10:00 a.m. to 04:00 p.m. Ticket Collection Monday to Friday-- 10:00 a.m. to 04:00 p.m. and also Sunday 01:00 p.m. to 05:00 p.m. To view Visa Application Facility places, click on this link.

On this web page: Please confirm whether you require to request a visa. You may not require to apply for a new U.S. visa if you already hold a valid U.S. visa of the classification proper to your purpose of traveling, or hold a ticket eligible for traveling under the Visa Waiver Program , or if you hold a Canadian passport.

Keep in mind: Children applying prior to their 14th Birthday celebration or applicants using on/after their 80th Birthday or if you formerly received a UNITED STATE visa that ran out within the last year as well as you are returning to the USA for the exact same objective of travel, you may be able to obtain a visa without concerning the consular office for a meeting.

The Ultimate Guide To Visa Application

Each visa kind discusses the certifications as well as application items. Select the visa type that relates to your circumstance. Make sure to also assess the Visa Waiver Program . http://www.thefreedictionary.com/natural cosmetics If your country takes part in the Visa Waiver Program, you do not need to obtain a visa if you are taking a trip for business or enjoyment and will only be staying in the Unites States for 90 days or much less.

All details has to be correct and exact. As soon as the kind is sent, you can not make any changes. If you require help, please speak with an immigration lawyer or translator. The phone call facility can not assist you finish

[ladyswillmart]

Arlen Facts: Week 1

These were taken from an Alphabet meme that was making the rounds a while back, where one has to come up with some character backstory related to each word, starting with a different letter of the alphabet. I actually did finish all 26 entries on a Discord server by posting one roughly every day, and for brevity’s sake, I’ve decided to post them in more conveniently-sized chunks here.

I can’t find a link to the original meme, but if I find it again, I’ll post it in one of the upcoming entries!

So without further ado, here’s Week 1: A (Alignment) through G (Grudge).

Today's Meme (8/1) Alignment :: What would be their D&D alignment? How might it come into play?

Arlen's alignment is Neutral Good, which is a bit vanilla of him, but I suppose there are worse things to be. Actually, he's very chill about this (and most things in his life, when you think about it). It has already come into play throughout his wanderings as a "Gentleman’s Cousin of Light", but it would seem that we're dealing with a world that does not always have clear distinctions between good and evil; as such, the consequences of Arlen's choices have yet to be fully fleshed.

Having said that, Arlen is not so bound to One True Path that he is unwilling to take responsibility for said choices, or question the forces guiding his hands. He is, to his credit, aware that he is involved in something he does not understand very well. However, he always strives to act with fairness and compassion.

Today's Meme (8/2) Beverage :: What do they most like to drink, and why?

Arlen--not being terribly particular anyway--has become accustomed to a life on the move. Therefore, his taste in beverages veers towards the simple, easy to prepare and perhaps most importantly, whatever he can dredge out of the icebox. A canteen of Thanalan black tea or coffee is simple enough to prepare before embarking on a day trip, to which he may add a pinch of sugar or a squeeze of lemon or orange juice (again, depending on whatever he can dredge out of the icebox that isn't chunky or furry or gaining sentience). Despite this, a close source (Tataru) informs us that Arlen's most favorite beverage is fresh-pressed mirror apple juice, served ice cold with a slice of lemon and a cocktail umbrella.

Signature Drink: Incidentally, Arlen's birth flower (for May 27th) is the lemon blossom. However, his signature drink, Coronal Spring Hat (non-alcoholic)  is something more akin to a toffed-up lemon spider: A healthy sphere of vanilla ice cream (served in a cosmopolitan glass) is covered about 3/4ths to the top in lemon squash. The remaining ice cream surface is decorated with a swirl of strawberry syrup, colorful agar-agar candy shavings and edible flowers.

Today's Meme (8/3) Co-Habitate :: Do they live with anyone? What’s “need to know” before moving in?

Arlen lives by himself (save for his 50 snails, 10 toads and 1 chocobo) at:

The Sultana's Breath Apartments Room #44 The Goblet, Ward 2 Western Thanalan

His suite is small and moggled, but could nevertheless support one more resident (even a non-mollusc one). Still, any discussion regarding the matter of cohabitation yet remains firmly in the arena of wholesome dreaming.

As for the Need-to-Know, Arlen likes to keep things tidy and smell-free. He's only willing to clean up after you if he likes you (granted, you really have to work hard to get Arlen to dislike you), and his pet peeves are toast crumbs in the butter, mildew, windowsill scum and little slivers of soap getting stuck to the dish (though the latter three aren't really anyone's fault). Despite being somewhat of a space cadet, Arlen sticks to a regular schedule of chores. He visits the Goblet Launderette once a week, dusts every other day (if possible) and cleans out the snail tank on weekends.

Today's Meme (8/4) Decor :: What kind of home do they keep? Are there any defining details?

As written earlier, Arlen maintains a tidy, but rather modest apartment dwelling in suburban Ul'dah. Though the space is small--and at times, slightly trying (and dusty)--Arlen has surrounded himself with decor done in a style evocative of the charming Moghome of the Churning Mists, featuring whimsical moggle-themed furniture, wallpaper and meadow green accents. His choice of furniture is practical and need-based; as Arlen is fortunate enough to have his own workshop space in Vesper Bay, he keeps Home at home and Work at work. That means his space is welcoming and warm, and not at all cluttered with boxes of metal bits, clock parts, assorted cogs, geegaws, gadgets, half-eaten candy bars from the Garlond Ironworks vending machine, coffee cups, oil rags or sat-upon Garlond goggles in need of recalibration and repair.

Except, of course, when it is.

Lately, Arlen's home appears to be filling with greenery, as he continues to receive flowers from well-wishers, benefactors (mysterious or just the regular kind) and gentleman callers with wholesome intentions.

Today's Meme (8/5) Escape :: What do they do to destress? How successful is it?

Though one may not expect such a thing from Arlen--with regards to his generally mild-mannered demeanor--but when he begins feeling grungy and stressed from the day-to-day, the exceptional days and the just-plum-terrible days (which seem to be numbering somewhat higher than usual), his favorite way to unwind is to dance.

Allegedly, the lad learned the very basics of the Terpsichorean arts from one magical teenage summer spent as a pit pianist at The Mermaid's Garter, Limsa Lominsa's oldest and raunchiest dinner show/burlesque. Little pitchers have big... eyes, in this case, and Arlen saw it all and absorbed it like a cheap beer mat: The box step, the grapevine, the kick-ball change, the bee's knees, the kitten's ankles, the Lominsan hornpipe, the Gridanian jig, the Garlean slipped disc, the shim-sham, the boogaloo, the mashed popoto, the nitty-gritty, the bump, the hustle, the magitek slide... And rumor has it he won a boobie bouncing contest at the tender age of 15 (the boobies being purely hypothetical--it's all in the shoulders, you understand).

Happily, he has found an enthusiastic and talented partner with Tataru Taru; when things are getting especially grinchy at the Rising Stones (or wherever else things get grinchy), the two will clear a space, fire up the Orchestrion and cut a rug or two. The endorphin rush is a perk that can't be denied, but at the very least, they always manage to lighten the mood.

Today's Meme (8/6) Fluff :: What hits their soft spot? Does anything melt them into emotional goo?

What? You mean besides the moggles?

Arlen is generally a sentimental person, and he isn't afraid to show it. Despite the reputation he seems to have accumulated for himself over the past several weeks, Arlen doesn't so much have a soft spot as he is a soft spot on the planet--a fact that actually stokes a surprising amount of rage from (at least) one extremely specific subset of the population. In particular, he is moved by tales of selflessness and good deeds, especially when performed by unexpected parties, as well as any display of the Power of Friendship.

Also, he has been known to shed a tear or two at family-centered melodrama--tales of parents, siblings, long-lost children, even when he has no relation whatsoever to any parties involved. Several witnesses also watched the lad weep joyously as he harvested a single Dzemael tomato from a pot at the Rising Stones: "That little tomato gave its all," he said, trembling while fat tears rolled down his cheeks. "Even while all its brothers and sisters shriveled on the vine 'cos the soil type was all wrong and there's not enough light in here and nutkins kept nibblin' on it like it was going out of style. Aye. But I never stopped believing. Oh, I'll make it into a worthy mixed green salad, I will."

And he did, one which also drew much emotion from the first bite to the last scritch of the fork against the dish. Then again, enjoying the fruit of one's labor--even literally--tends to tenderize even the hardest of hearts.

Lastly, as a passing word of advice: Do not even mention the tale of "The Little Lost Sabotender" in earshot of Arlen Askew, unless one has a tissue or handkerchief or square of toilet roll to spare.

Today's Meme (8/7) Grudge :: How bad does an insult go over? Do they hold a grudge long?

Arlen Askew is one Mellow Fellow, which means that even if you sling your grodiest glob of mud in his general direction, it'll either roll off his back or go whizzing clean over his head. He is the type to forgive and forget, though, and he may be, at times, forgiving to a fault. He can be too soft on those who would benefit from tough love, and because people know this, Arlen may occasionally moonlight as a doormat, particularly when the plaintiff is someone he's a bit afraid of (e.g. Rowena, Jessie... Uh... That's about it, actually).

Our Arlen is not one to hold a grudge, even when the list of transgressions and trespasses against him recalls crimes beyond compare: Attempted murder, betrayal, theft, assault, imprisonment, copying off his engineering exams, trampling his flower beds, calling him a “smellf”, etc. Instead, he favors the rather optimistic belief that justice will prevail in some way, even if he ends up being the one delivering it.

"No hard feelings, of course," he adds, shrugging.

[condorbill36-blog]

Easy Peach Puff Pastries

These Easy Peach Puff Pastries start with store-bought puff pastry and are filled with peaches, mascarpone or cream cheese. All with a pretty “Rose” shape!

It’s peach season and if you happen to have some puff pastry in the freezer needing using up (like I did :), you could soon be enjoying these lovely and super easy peach puff pastries.

Perfect with your breakfast coffee or your afternoon tea, these pastries start with store-bought puff pastry, get a bit of mascarpone (or cream cheese) and vanilla filling, fresh peach slices and a smattering of jam (apricot or peach). Simply fill, roll and bake!

No need to worry that these are too difficult to make! They come together very easily. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, simply scroll down for the step-by-step pictures below.

Cook’s Notes for Easy Peach Puff Pastries

No need to peel the peaches, unless you prefer.

Be sure to use thin wedges of peach, as you will need to roll this one up and the thinner the better.

Use ripe, but still firm peaches.

The pre-rolled sheets of all-butter puff pastry is my recommendation here. The brand I use are 10-inches x 10-inches square per sheet. Each sheet will make 4 pastries.

As noted, you can use cream cheese instead of mascarpone, if you like. Be sure to take either out of the fridge for a bit before using, so it’s soft and spreadable.

You’ll notice that these roses start out upright, but as they cook, the sort of fall open. If you happen to look in the oven half way through cooking, you might think you have a hot mess going on. There will be lots of peach juice, which will eventually mostly evaporate. There will be a little that will slightly burn on the edges, which is why you’ll definitely want to use parchment paper for these ones, to keep smoking in check.

Adapted from https://ciaoflorentina.com/

How to Shape Peach Pastry Roses

Easy Peach Pastries

These easy Peach Pastries start with store-bought puff pastry and have a filling of mascarpone (or cream cheese) and peaches. 

Print

Ingredients

16 oz rolls puff pastry dough two 8oz rolls, pre-rolled (450g)

Filling:

1/2 cup mascarpone or cream cheese at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 Tbsp runny honey optional

6 peaches ripe but still firm

3 Tbsp peach or apricot jam

For garnish:

Icing/Confectioners'sugar for dusting

Instructions

Defrost your puff pastry according to the directions on the box.

Preheat oven to 375F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, stir together the mascarpone, vanilla and honey, if using. Set aside.

Unroll puff pastry on a lightly floured cutting board. (The brand I use is 10-inches x 10-inches per roll. Each roll will make 4 pastries).

Cut each pastry roll into 4 strips, 2 1/2-inches wide each. Spread a thin layer of mascarpone filling down the centre of each of the strips. Spoon a spoonful of mascarpone at the bottom of each strip. Cut thin slices from your peaches. Lay the slices, overlapping along one side edge of the pastry strips, with the peel side peeking over the side edge slightly. Spoon a little jam over the peaches.

For each strip, fold the uncovered half of the strip over the half with the peaches. Starting with the end closest to you, roll up the pastry and pinch end together with the pastry slightly. Place "rose" onto parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with each pastry, allowing several inches between pastries, as they will spread as they cook.

Bake in the preheated oven and bake for about 45 minutes, just until the puff pastry is puffed up and cooked through. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool. Enjoy the day they are baked!

Recipe Notes

For shaping, refer to the step-by-step photos on in the Cook's Notes of the original post!

  Source: https://www.seasonsandsuppers.ca/easy-peach-puff-pastries/

[japanheart88-blog]

matcha monstera pie

I've never had much of a green thumb. I've been a successful plant parent a grand total of two times in my life: the first was when I was 24 and kept a random bamboo plant in the corner of my kitchen far away from natural light, occasionally watering the poor thing when I remembered to (so, maybe like, once a month?). For some reason, it thrived — I gave it to my friend when I moved away to Denver, where she promptly killed it by overwatering it. C'est la vie.

The second time was three years ago, also the second time I lived in San Francisco. Erlend's mom gifted me a potted orchid right before I left for Europe for two weeks. It promptly shed its flowers, but I kept watering its dead-looking bulb under Erlend's long-distance guidance. Nothing happened for a full freaking year; despite my constant watering, it looked as dead as it ever was... right until the week I moved to New York, of course. Literally days before my big move, the moldy looking bulb burst into life, sprouting thirty or so beautiful orchids all at once. I gave it to that same friend I gave my bamboo plant to; she promptly killed it. Again.

These days, my plant parenting duties are limited. After years of struggling to take care of and killing the trendy plant du jour (let's see... my plant casualties include a window garden box full of herbs, many small succulents, a fiddle leaf fig, an airplant or two, a potted string of pearls, cacti of different varieties, and probably more I'm forgetting), I've given up officially. My interaction with plants is now limited to the following: occasionally stopping on my bike rides across town to take photos of pretty flowering trees; purchasing overpriced blooms at New Seasons and the Portland Farmers Market for use on cakes; and using cookie cutters to recreate my favorite flowers and leaves on pies.

Monstera leaves are the hip plant du jour and I see them everywhere in trendy hotel lobbies, restaurants, and of course, Instagram. So when I saw these monstera cookie cutters on Amazon, I knew I had to have them. I initially thought about making a matcha sugar cookie situation with the cutters, but being summer and all, thought that pie was probably more relevant and seasonal.

The problem with making dyed pie dough (either with a vibrant green powder like matcha, or with other vegetables like beets or freeze-dried fruit with blueberries) is that once cooked, the color tends to get usurped by the Maillard reaction and any coloring fades away to the generic golden yellow of pies. I tried to combat this in many ways (by sprinkling the top of the pie with matcha and/or dyed green sugar and finding that the matcha burned to an unattractive brown and that the sugar wasn't strong enough to fight the pie's golden color), none of which worked. I also thought that cooking the pie filling before baking would reduce the pie's overall bake time, allowing me to pull the pie out earlier when it was still green (yeah, no, all that ended up resulting in was a pie with an undercooked bottom crust and middle). And after everybody's enthusiasm for this pie's vibrant green color on Instagram, I was actually ashamed to post the final product, a generic golden pie, on this blog and considered scrapping it completely.

But then I took a bite.

The pie crust, despite its golden color, was perfect. Crispy, flaky layers, with just the slightest hint of matcha to compliment a deep, cherry vanilla flavor. The best part is that cooking the filling beforehand yielded the perfect pie consistency, the kind that didn't run or turn the pie crust soggy after slicing.

So maybe the baked pie doesn't stay as attractive and appealing as it is raw. But it sure as heck is tasty, and maybe that matters more? You tell me.

featured:

napkin || wire rack || plates || flatware

Some baker's notes:

For the pie leaves, I used this monstera cookie cutter, which is a touch on the expensive side but worked perfectly. You can get different sizes too! In a pinch, if you don't want to pay $10 for the cookie cutter, you can print out a monstera leaf stencil and use a sharp paring knife to trace around the dough. 

When I first wrote about matcha in 2012, I felt like I needed to explain what it was to my readers — these days, matcha is pretty ubiquitous and needs no introduction. Just remember that matcha is available in different grades; when baking, it's always best to opt for the culinary variety, which is cheaper and more strongly flavored than the ceremonial grade. I used the culinary matcha from Tea Bar, a local tea chain in town that also packages some of their most popular tea products for shipping around the country. 

Matcha Monstera Cherry Pie

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Ingredients

Special Equipment:

a monstera cookie cutter

For the Matcha Pie Crust:

(makes one 9-inch double crust)

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) very cold water

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup ice

1 cup (8 ounces) very cold unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups (11.25 ounces) all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon culinary matcha

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Cherry Filling:

(makes enough for one 9-inch pie)

3 1/2 cups (32 ounces) Bing or dark red cherries, stemmed and pitted 

"tightly packed" 1/4 cup (1.85 ounces) dark brown sugar

1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (1 ounce) cornstarch

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

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Recipe

For the Matcha Pie Crust:

In a large liquid measuring cup, combine 6 tablespoons water and 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar and whisk to combine. Add 1/2 cup ice and whisk once more before transferring to the refrigerator to chill as you work with the rest of the ingredients. Slice 1 cup butter into 1-inch cubes and transfer to the freezer while you prep the rest of the ingredients.

Combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon matcha, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse for a few seconds until the ingredients are well combined. Remove the butter from the freezer and transfer to the food processor bowl and pulse the ingredients until the mixture looks like cornmeal, with no butter pieces bigger than your thumbnail. Remove the ice mixture from the refrigerator and drizzle 5 tablespoons of the mixture over the dry ingredients; pulse for a few more seconds until the dough begins to form a ball around the food processor blade. 

Use a rubber spatula to tip the dough out onto a counter. Use your hands to quickly knead the clumps together into a rough ball. Use a bench scraper to divide the dough into two even halves. Shape each half into a rough ball and cover in plastic wrap; punch down to flatten to a small disk. Transfer to the refrigerator to rest and chill for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight. 

For the Cherry Filling:

Combine half the prepared cherries (16 ounces, or around 1 1/4 cups) and 1/4 cup dark brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently to prevent the fruit from scorching, for 15 minutes or until the cherries have released their juices and darkened in color. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining cherries, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, and 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract until well combined. Let cool to room temperature before filling the pie; the filling can be stored in an airtight refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Assembly:

Liberally dust a work surface with flour and transfer one pie dough disc to the surface while keeping the second one in the refrigerator. Sprinkle the top of the pie dough with flour. If the dough feels solid in your hands, place it on the counter and use a rolling pin to give it a few solid whacks, rotating every so often to flatten it out. This will help soften the dough before rolling it out. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough into a rough circle around 10-inches wide, rotating the disc about 90-degrees to ensure that you're rolling the dough out into an even circle. 

Transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate and trim any excess dough beyond a 1-inch overhang. Tuck the overhang so that it's rolling back underneath itself and sitting like a tube on the border of your pie plate. Squeeze the tube together so it creates a firm edge. Dip your fingertips in some four and use your thumb and index finger on the opposite hand to pinch around your thumb to crimp the pie tube. Repeat around the tube, flouring your fingers as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking to your fingers. 

Once the pie is crimped, pour the cherry filling into the center of the pie, using a rubber spatula to spread it evenly across the bottom of the crust. Transfer to the refrigerator to chill while you work with the second dough disc. Follow the instructions on Step 1 to roll out the pie dough to a rough circular slab around 1/4-inch thick. Use a monstera leaf cookie cutter to stamp out several shapes. Remove the pie crust base from the refrigerator and arrange the monstera leaf cutouts on top of the cherry filling. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the freezer to chill for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.

Bake:

Once the pie has frozen, it's time to bake the pie! Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 (F). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Once the oven is preheated, transfer the frozen pie to the center of the prepared sheet pan and transfer to the lower third rack of the oven. Bake for 60 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. 

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Source: https://www.hummingbirdhigh.com/2018/07/matcha-monstera-pie.html

[vanityfairness]

2019 Mid-Year Clean Out

This year I did the Konmari method of cleaning and have accumulated a small basket of items to dispose of. Items that were never used and were still good, I have given them away.

I will also be giving small descriptions of items that I have tried but did not work out, hence I’m disposing of it.

Make-up

1. Annabelle Kohl Eyeliner 156 Rhone I got this a long time ago, maybe highschool, and have kept it because it was a fairly smooth eyeliner. But honestly I hardly wore eyeliner, plus this is now very old and is not as smooth. 

2. Etude House Play 101 Pencil #6 I got this on my second trip to Korea, 2015, and when I wanted to use it again the whole thing just came out. From what I remember this was a very good liner, I mainly used it under my eyes and in the inner corner.

3. innisfree Always New Auto Liner I bought this on my most recent trip, September 2018, thinking that this would be good. I have gotten innisfree liners before but they weren’t that good. They felt very hard, but when I tested this one it was pretty good and very similar to the Etude House one. But once again it was a disappointment, when I got back and decided to try it I found that it was really hard. Also this liner has a twist cap and not one that just pops out.

4. the SAEM Cover Perfection Tip Concealer with SPF28/PA++ Shade 1.5 This is the best concealer so far. It’s inexpensive and a lot more affordable than the Cover FX that I use to get. I actually dont fit this shade that’s why this is in here. But I do have to say that Cover FX carries a wider range of shades. I do feel that the shade of Cover FX fits a bit better compared to the SAEM.

5. dear, klairs Creamy & Natural Fit Concealer I actually didn’t give this a good run. But from what I remember this didn’t quite fit my skin tone but when I swatched it on my wrist it fits perfectly. I do remember that the formulation of this was a little drying and the coverage wasnt that great. And if you try to build it, it makes the area unnatural. I might give this a go but it’s hard to give others an oppurtunity when the SAEM is so much cheaper and works. I’m disposing of this because it has been opened for a while now.

6. Cover FX Cream Concealer in G Light This is actually pretty old. I was going to swatch it but the formulation has already sperated. This was not the same as the stick format and I just didn’t like how it felt on my skin and how my concealed spots looked either. I just checked and they have now changed their concealers. They don’t even sell the stick one anymore only a dapper.

7. Geisha ink The Silk Mascara I received this in a subscription box and I really enjoyed using this. It has like small hair fibers that make your lashes seem fuller. It says it’s buildable but I don’t like having that much eye make-up hence I didn’t really try building it. But I really enjoyed using this, however it is expensive around $40 or more. I would not spend that amount since mascara tends to go bad fast plus I don’t use it often enough to justify that price.

8. The Face Shop Brow Lasting Powder & Pencil in 04 Dark Brown I bought this for my mom, I forgot who I saw using it or recommended it. I felt this was okay. It’s nice that it has a pencil and powder together, reminds me of a Benefit product.

9. The Face Shop Designing browcara in 02 Light Brown & 04 Brown I really liked using these and have different colors because my hair color has changed. These are fairly old, hence they are getting disposed. But these gave me a nice hint of color/ color change for my brows. It also helped make my brows stay in place.

10. A’PIEU Water in Tint in CR01 I bought a few tints to try but have discovered I’m not a tint type of gal. I definitely like using balms more. I don’t like lipsticks either because I find it heavy.

11.L’Oreal Color Infailible in 002 Hourglass Beige I believe this may have been the first eyeshadow that I ever purchased. I forgot who I saw on Youtube that recommended this line of eyeshadows and decided to grab one to try. This is still a very nice eyeshadow since it goes on so smooth and this shade can also act as a highlight too. However, it doesn’t really stay on unless you have a primer. This has been in my collection for a very long time and it’s time to let it go. Since I don’t reach for it plus it’s really old.

12. bareMinerals Prime Time foundation primer & Matte SPF15 Foundation in light W15 I can’t remember how I obtained this mini set, but it was from Sephora. This was my first foundation and foundation primer I have ever tried. I did like it when I first tried it and was going to repurchase when I finished the sample. But over time I discovered K-Beauty and started to lean towards that more, also because of cost. I was a student back then and didn’t have much income plus this was an item that I hardly used and was not part of my daily routine. 

13. Pupa Sonolone 3 Brown 14. L’Oreal Color Infallible 013 Burning Black 15. Etude House Drawing Eyebrow 03 16. Clinique colour surge eye shadow soft shimmer 06 Frosted Blossom 17. Clinique Blush & Bronzer Duo: Iced Lotus Blushing Blush Powder Blush & Sunkissed True Bronze Pressed Powder Bronzer

Samples

18. Estee Lauder Pure Color Love Lipstick 19. The Face Shop Aura Color Control Cream 02 Natural Beige 20. Nature Republic Super Origin Complete Control Cream Tinted SPF30 PA++ 21. Skin79 Super+ BB Cream 22. Tony Moly Pure Aura Luminous Pure Aura CC Cream SPF30 PA++ 23. Lioele Beyond The Solution BB Cream 24. Etude House precious mineral BB Cream SPF30 PA++ 25. BRTC Aqua Rush Water Drop BB Cream 26. Skin79 Super+ BB Cream Gold Collection

Skincare

27. The Body Shop Japanese Matcha Tea Pollution Clearing Mask This was okay wasn’t really what I thought it was going to be. I used up about half of it before giving up. It did tingle a bit on my skin when I used it.

28. dear, klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin E Mask I really enjoyed using this in the beginnning until I started reusing it again and noticed that I kept on getting mini pimples, and decided to double check the ingredients in this. Lo and behold sodium hyaluaronic was one of the top 5 ingredients. Hence, I have to dispose of it because I am sensitive to that ingredient. The texture of this is very interesting it’s like a pudding and everytime you use it you would see a flat product as if you never touched it. 

29. Huna Apothecary Skin Nutrition Balm I got this in a subscription box and really wanted to just finish it but couldn’t get around it. One the product is really hard to get out as it’s really hard and just rubbing my fingers on the surface doesn’t give enough for me to apply it. I also found it really oily to the point of it being greasy. Not something I fancy.

30. Avene High Protection Lotion SPF 50+ I got this in a set. I don’t think I ever tried this product but it has a scent which I don’t really like.

31. Avene Cicalfate Restorative Cream I thought this would be sort of like a healing cream to help fade some of my scars and also provide moisture for my legs. However, I couldn’t get past the scent of this. Honestly I wasted like $22 on the set which included the above product. The only thing that I did use in the set was the mineral spray which I finished a while back. 

32. Thank You Farmer Sun Project Shimmer Sun Essence SPF 30 PA++ I’m not sure what is in this sun essence but I wasn’t a fan. I found it was a little oily and I didn’t like how it went on my skin. I have noticed I’m not a big fan of all over shimmer products. I just like the hints of shimmer on like the high points of my face/body.

33. Frienvita Peeling N Deadcell Sauna Godness Pad The pads couldn't even last the exfoliation process. It literally came apart after a few wipes. It also doesn't help that the rice granules were thick and didn't have enough liquid/solution to make it glide smoothly. In the end I just rubbed the rice bits on my face and used it without the pad.

WOW 33 items in total, it’s actually not that much but I still think that’s a lot. I did do an inventory of all my products and found that I have a lot of stuff that I need to use and go through. I actually had a lot more stuff that I was able to give away to people but I have definitely accumulated a lot of products and wasted a lot of money. This year I really wanted to focus on not purchasing as much and only buying when I need to. I use to be fairly good with my spending but I also feel like I’m spending in order to fill a void or to find something that would ‘spark joy’ in me. I feel like I’m living a mundane life right now.

I might do like a yearly round-up of my purchases, not sure yet. Honestly I didn’t think this through, because the photos I took so far aren’t that great and were for my reference only. It only occurred to me now that it might be nice to do a yearly round-up of my beauty purchases and maybe also put pricing down as well to see how much I spent.