#ES Spirit Week Tasks

[schwanzdeko]

A week in Spain as my "doll me up" toy? Lust auf ein wunderbare Woche (4.-8.12.) in Spanien als BDSM-Püppchen?

English below.

Verbringe eine wunderbare(?) Vorweihnachtswoche (4.-8.12.) im Süden Spaniens 🇪🇸! Es wird sicherlich eine Herausforderung sein, aber vielleicht kommst Du sogar in Weihnachtsstimmung. Felize Navidad ist hier überall zu hören, den ganzen Tag lang 🙃

Auf jeden Fall wird es Dir an nichts fehlen 💪. Außer an bequemer Kleidung 🤗😍👍 und flachen Schuhen 😂😂😂😂, denn du wirst fünf Tage lang mein BDSM-Püppchen sein! Was das heißt?

Die Sonne scheint hier, es ist angenehm und warm. Es gibt alles, was dein Herz begehrt: Wärme, Spaß, gutes Essen, prickelnde Abenteuer und einen warmen Whirlpool, um dich zu verwöhnen 😎.

Allerdings werde ich dich in ausgefallene Outfits zwingen und dich trainieren, mehr männliche Aufmerksamkeit zu erregen als je zuvor! Wenn ich gerade keine Lust auf dich habe, kette ich dich allein im Keller fest und fessle dir die Hände auf dem Rücken. Du kannst selbst entscheiden, ob du so schlafen willst oder in einem Keuschheitsgürtel mit freien Händen.

Du wirst stolz sein und belohnt werden, wenn ich mit dir zufrieden bin. Enttäusche mich und du wirst die Konsequenzen tragen!

Ich verlange viel und gebe entsprechend. Zum Beispiel teuflische Predicaments und herausfordernde Aufgaben.

Moment mal! Das waren mehr als zwei Sätze und du bist immer noch am lesen Ich habe dich ertappt!

Du kleines Luder kannst lesen! 😂 Spaß beiseite, wir wissen beide, was das bedeutet. Lass den Finger noch ein paar Mal kreisen, dann schreibst du mir! Vielleicht erlaube ich dir dann, zu kommen!

———-/—

Spend a wonderful(?) pre-Christmas week (4.-8.12.) in the south of Spain 🇪🇸! It will certainly be a challenge, but you might even get into the Christmas spirit. Felize Navidad can be heard everywhere here, all day long 🙃

In any case, you won't want for anything 💪. Except for comfortable clothes 🤗😍👍 and flat shoes 😂😂😂😂, because you'll be my BDSM doll for five days! What does that mean?

The sun is shining here, it's pleasant and warm. There's everything your heart desires: warmth, fun, good food, tingling adventures and a warm hot tub to pamper you 😎.

However, I will force you into outlandish outfits and train you to attract more male attention than ever before! If I'm not in the mood for you at the moment, I'll chain you up alone in the cellar and tie your hands behind your back. You can decide for yourself whether you want to sleep like this or in a chastity belt with your hands free.

You will be proud and rewarded when I am satisfied with you. Disappoint me and you will suffer the consequences!

I demand a lot and give accordingly. For example, devilish predicaments and challenging tasks.

Wait a minute! That was more than two sentences and you're still reading I caught you!

You little bitch can read! 😂 Joking aside, we both know what that means. Let your finger circle a few more times, then write to me! Maybe then I'll allow you to come!

[niamhsperformancelab]

week 2~ performance lab

Over the weekend we set the task of creating a character for our performance/narrative. Before drawing anything up, I decided to research creatures and villains within Irish mythology to give me a base to create a villain character that links with the overall idea that we have decided on for our narrative. I found three main creatures that had the most potential to fit aesthetically into our project These are the Pooka, Famorians and the Sluagh. Upon looking further into each of these creatures, I decided the story behind the Sluagh would fit the most into the environment that we wanted to create. I then took elements from videos I watched on creating good character designs such as thinking about shapes (how they link to the characters personality, I selected curved shapes that ended in points to demonstrate femininity alongside a sharp end that would hint at the character's villain undertones), flow (simplify the design and have a focal point, I didn't want the dress to be overcomplicated with too many colours or textures), and threes (having three features/ items to draw attention to; I picked to have the wings, dress and makeup as the three in my design).I have picked up from research on character design to create what I think is a good first draft. (see below). This first draft was created digitally on an app called Procreate using an iPad and Apple Pencil. I also used inspiration from the mood board created last week.

Over the weekend, I also looked into Celtic knots as I thought they could be placed into the visuals of our performance, whether it was the set, lighting or character design. Specifically I think the shield knot (known for protection from spirits and opposing armies) and the trinity knot (known for the holy trinity and the christian church) would be most suited to the narrative of our project.

(Tuesday)

Firstly, Lara gave a presentation on visualising narratives. All of the examples given were new to me and I found them all very intriguing and different to anything I had seen before. The Triadic Ballet by Oscar Schlemmer was especially interesting to me as for a performance that was made In 1922, it seemed very modern in terms of design. After the session, I looked further into this ballet and found a video of the 1970s performance. The combination of music, costume and movement is just magnificent. Previously I had worried that the costumes would be awkward and restrictive from the image that Lara had included in her presentation however this was not the case as each character within the ballet was so personable and so distinctively Bauhaus, it created a beautiful piece of art that I felt was almost comedic.

Einstein on the beach had a similar feel to the triadic ballet. Both had emphasis on repetitive movements that were used to represent either the music or narrative. While there were some similarities, I didn't enjoy EoTB nearly as much as the Triadic Ballet. I think the performance choreography almost tried to hard to be "deep" or abstract. I feel as though the slower pacing of the performance was more difficult to stay engaged with also even though there were many things going on at the same time, I couldn't help feeling slightly bored by it. as it was based surrounding the idea of an actual person, different to the triadic ballet where the narrative was more on about the relationship between the set and music with completely new, never seen before ideas, the narrative was almost lost because as an audience member, I was more focused on how it related to Einstein and his life.

Es Devlin's explanation of her creative process was incredibly insightful and inspiring. Her way of creating so many iterative outcomes really reminded me of my A-level product design course but gave more ideas for once the design ideas had been narrowed down. Branching so many slightly different iterations from a singular idea really showed how small tweaks can make a difference to an outcome. Seeing her take those prototypes and turn them into a final piece backed up the idea of how circular the design process of anything is, no matter what stage you are at.

After our lecture, we were then off to our groups to continue working on our project. As our task for over the weekend was to create first drafts of our characters, we started off by presenting our work to the rest of the group, talking about why we had made certain design choices. This was a great task to complete in our own styles, away from each other as it meant each design was completely different from one another and could inspire each other when developing our ideas even further. We had Amie join our group so spent a small amount of time catching her up with what progress we had already made and what we had in mind for the next steps in our project. This lead to us honing in on a set narrative. Having designed our characters already was useful to create a plot and was more like connecting the dots between the characters. As we had already researched basic narrative structures, we could amalgamate the two together with little to no struggle. We also had to take into account the fact that our performance would only last 10 minutes so we would have to adjust the structure of the storyline to ensure it was engaging and satisfying. Our original idea for the plot was to have the characters of Amie, Hemza, Liz and Zoe to be in a church/ cathedral as a party (like dungeons and dragons games are regularly laid out). One of the characters would be injured, from a recent, previous battle. Zoe's character of the fairy would then leave all of the windows open (most emphasis on the west windows). It is unclear as of yet the reasoning behind her opening the windows, it is a very important plot point as this is what allows the sluagh villain entry into the cathedral. Next, we had two ideas for how the performance would end. Someone could be picked from the party to be sacrificed or one could have the ultimatum of having to pick between their powers or the deity they worship (this also links back to Zoe's dice and dungeons and dragons as the way some characters have super powers are because they worship a deity/ god).

Now that we knew what the narrative would be (settling on the sacrifice instead of the power vs god ending), we gave each member of the group a task to complete by Friday. Hemza would create all of our characters in a 3D AI style that would allow us to visualise them in greater detail. The rest of us would then focus on story boards to convey different elements of our performance. Zoe would do the story board containing the plot, I would do one based on sound, Liz would do one based on Lighting and Ashe would do one based on the set. Amie's task was to catch up with us and complete her own character design so that we would be able to include her object into the narrative. Because we knew we wouldn't have much time to complete this project, we were going to have to do most of the making/ researching outside of our Tuesday and Friday sessions in order to take advantage of the time we had together as a group, being able to discuss, explore different ideas and make important decisions together as a team.

The afternoon section to our day consisted of our first workshop with John Trevor. It was based mostly on collaboration and how to do this in a team setting. One of the points I took from the session was John's emphasis of not trying to be unique or think outside of the box. As an artist I find that this is something that we strive for, to create something different and innovative as if you just create something that Is the same as something else, there is no use for it. Whereas his view was that to collaborate affectively then you should go for the obvious which would make the team function a lot more smoothly.

(wednesday)

John returned on the Wednesday to give us a workshop that was still improv based but was directed more towards skills that could be used in a presentation. I found the day to be extremely useful as we were given different activities that made us aware of how we hold ourselves in front of an audience and how to think on our feet. We worked in a small group of 4 as that was how many people showed up to the session. It was definitely out of my comfort zone and I did feel slightly overwhelmed at certain points (specifically when doing the task where we were to narrate a fairytale and found it difficult to deliver a specific line in a sad way) John pushed me to try again and again in order to improve and as when you present to an audience you are putting yourself out there to be critiqued. When the session had finished, we had a group discussion with John about what we thought/ found useful from the day. As a group the one thing we all agreed on was the "colour, emotion, advance" tactic was extremely useful in order to engage the audience in whatever narrative we were using as a base. I feel as though this would be a great tool to use when creating the script for our performance.

(friday)

Our reading for the week was one extract about audience, and another about space. Again, there were very few that had read the text so the discussion wasn't in great depth but the main points that I had taken from extract about audience and spectator was that a performance is determined by its audience and how they interpret it. Some are aimed at a certain demographic however most theatre pieces want the widest audience possible.

The Friday session for my group was on the quieter side as everyone was either late or absent. Hemza went through the method he used to create his versions of each of our characters. This was using an AI generator called Art Breeder.

After our group tutorial and brief presentation to the class, it was evident that having 5/6 separate mannequins (one for each character) would be impractical and too time consuming based on our strict timescale so we had reduced this back to two separate ones. One would be a combined mannequin of Zoe, Hemza, Liz and Amie's characters and the other would be a stand alone of my character. We decided on dividing it this way as after looking into audience placement on the blueprint of the studio, we wanted to have the combined mannequin within the black space and the villain mannequin outside of the space. An issue that had been raised about this would be how to use the lighting design on the mannequin outside of the black space. Light projection would be less visible as there is a lot of natural lighting in our studio. This will require experimentation and research of different light methods to see with is the most suitable for our needs. So far we have thought of regular overhead lighting that is attached to the black box's frame, use of mini projectors for spotlights and projection mapping.

As I had the sound story board, I took samples of each of our objects to import into GarageBand and started to experiment with the midi keyboard to create a soundtrack for our performance. This would be mostly to create atmosphere and build an immersive experience.

[empirexstatextasks]

Pride Spirit Week

Closed June 26.

MOODBOARD  Let's make a rainbow! Create a moodboard of at least 9 items of clothing that you wear regularly, and make sure they are each a different color. Be sure to include at least 9 photos and 1 quote. Upload the moodboard to your own blog, Tumblr, or RP.me bulletin, and link it to us below. DRABBLE  Whether you're an ally or a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, we want to know what the freedom to be yourself means to you. Write a 350+ word drabble using the following words: pride, inclusion, visibility, freedom, and community. In your drabble, make sure to bold each word so we know know they were included. Post the drabble in your own blog, Tumblr, or RP.me bulletin, then link it to us below. PLAYLIST  Let's make a Pride playlist! What are your favorite Pride-related songs, or songs you would expect to hear at a Pride event? Please be sure the artists are LGBTQIA+ or known allies of the community. Include at least 10 songs, the artist, the song title, and a link to the song. Post the playlist to your own blog, Tumblr, or RP.me bulletin, and link it to us below. COMMUNITY  Comment 5+ of your fellow members to spread the love and cheer of Pride. Each comment should include at least one picture and be at least 5 sentences long. It should be something fun, thoughtful, and unique to each person. Be sure to comment at least two people you don't speak to often. Take a screenshot from your sent comments, then post the screenshots below to earn your points. RECIPE  Create a Pride treat or drink, show us two pictures of it, and write the recipe of how to make it. We want to see the ingredients and the steps. Post the finished product in your own blog, Tumblr, or RP.me bulletin, and link it to us in a comment below. PICTURE THIS Show us pictures of 6+ people you love or admire who identify as LGBTQIA+. Write at least two sentences describing each of them. Post the finished product in your own blog, Tumblr, or RP.me bulletin, and link it to us in a comment below. SURVEY  Did you know there are over 50 Pride flags? Take THIS QUIZ, then in your own blog, Tumblr, or RP.me bulletin, answer the following questions: 1) What was your score on the quiz? 2) Were you surprised by how many you knew (or didn't know)? Why or why not? 3) Do you identify with any of the flags from the survey? If yes, which one (if you are comfortable sharing)? 4) Were there any flags you were surprised by? Which colors do you like best? OUTFITS  Half the fun of going to NYC Pride is people watching. Sure, the booths and floats are a hit, but the outfits make the event a true spectacle. In your own blog, Tumblr, or RP.me bulletin, we want to see 6+ items that your character plans to wear or bring to NYC Pride. Are they a Leather Daddy? The colorful bikini and tutu type? Or are they a fun t-shirt and gay rights sign type of person? We want to see all 6 of their items and a 2 sentence description for each item.

[gvbejvmesmichaels]

Headcanon: Love Language

1) Would your character be surprised by their quiz results? Why or why not?

Yes. He sees himself as someone who is very touchy and plays a lot of grab ass. He would anticipate getting physical touch as his primary love language. The weird thing about that is that when he left Johnny it was because he was lonely and felt as though his husband was prioritizing his work over him.

2) Why do you think your character has this style of love language? Are there events in their life that shaped this for them?

A lot of it has to do with the way Gabe was raised. He grew up in a household where he made a point of spending as little time as possible with his parents. From there he went to a marriage where his wife really liked the idea of him and not so much him. And then, if those parts of his life hadn’t already scarred him, he went to prison where he spent a lot of time alone. Even though his childhood and his first marriage were traumatic, it was his time in prison that really showed him how much he valued having someone’s undivided attention.

3) How has your character's love language affected their relationships with people in their lives (past or present)?

Growing up, his sister definitely had the same style of love language as him. So when he had her in his life, things were easy. His ex-wife and he definitely had conflicting love languages. She was more about receiving gifts and not handmade ones. With Johnny, their love languages are complimentary when they work at it, which is something that being separated taught them. 

4) How does your character show their affection? (This should be somewhat in line with their quiz results.)

He’s the type of person who likes doing things with his loved ones, and it doesn’t matter what the thing is as long as he’s with people he cares about. He’s quite content to be at home sketching on the couch while his husband does paperwork and their toddler watches a princess movie. As long as he’s with people he cares about, they could be doing nothing and he’d be content. That’s how his relationship was with his sister, and to him... that’s love.

[showrunnerihardlyknowher]

Jacob's Birthday Is April 1st Because He's The Biggest Fool Of All

April fools, my prank was the fact that I fell asleep yesterday before I finished this and now it's being posted the day after Jacob's canon birthday of April 1st (:

Yes! Jacob has a birthday!! And for his birthday I thought it would be a fun treat to write a fluff one shot that's just under 4K words. YEAH BABY!!!!!

Set in a universe in which Edix is a human and Jacob is a borrower that he caught living in his walls some time ago. No language barrier, although Edix does switch between English and Spanish

--

“What are you doing?”

“Wrapping a birthday gift for Ylva.”

Jacob tilted his head while Edix carried on his task of neatly wrapping the lilac vase in strange, gold paper. He was meticulously tucking the corners to ensure a clean edge around the curved base, finishing it off with a sparkly ribbon that the borrower would love to get his hands on. This seemed like a lot of work to change the appearance of the flower pot, especially since Edix had grown the lovely orchid himself and could have put it in any container he desired. Jacob’s confusion only grew when Edix moved on to cover the flower with an opaque drawstring bag.

“How is she going to know what it is?” Jacob asked. If there was one thing Edix loved (and knew an absurd amount of), it was any and all types of flora. His green thumb was immaculate, able to grow anything from vegetables to trees. The human had spent months cultivating such a stunning flower and now he was trying to conceal it? That wasn’t like him at all.

Edix hummed while he fused with the top of the bag to make sure it wasn’t crushing any of the delicate petals underneath. “She’ll know what it is when she opens it.”

“So…it’s a surprise?” How strange, Edix had mentioned on several occasions his dislike for surprises.

“Si, mi amor,” Edix huffed with a smile. “I told you, it’s a birthday gift. Do you ever listen to me?”

No, but that was beside the point right now. The borrower furrowed his little brows while Edix went on to fish out the card he had bought earlier in the week from his desk drawer. “Is it like Christmas, then?”

Christmas was still a relatively new concept Jacob was trying to grasp, though he thought he understood the gist of it…kind of. You put a tree in your house and then you buy gifts for people that they can’t have for a whole month and it's very loud and time consuming. Well, that’s how Edix described it anyways. Seeing as it was only mid November, Jacob still had time to get into the ‘Christmas spirit’ as so many advertisements were promoting.

“Christmas is Jesus’s birthday, I guess,” Edix signed off on the colorful card and slid it into the envelope.

Jacob nodded. Okay, he was starting to get it now. “Now she can have it in a month?”

“What? No,” Nevermind, Jacob wasn’t getting this at all, “Her birthday is today. Why would I wait a month to give it to her?”

The borrower shrugged. “I dunno how human stuff works.”

“Birthdays? You don’t know how birthdays work?”

When Jacob shook his head, Edix seemed to have finally realized that the little one wasn’t messing around with feigned helplessness. There were a few times when Jacob would pretend not to know or understand a painfully simple task so that he could avoid being subjected to it, but Edix was pretty good at calling him out on it. More often than not, though, he still let Jacob get away with it because he could never resist spoiling him. That was fine by the borrower, even if it meant he had to pay up in unwarranted cuddles later.

“Eso es tan triste,” Edix said. “You really don’t know what a birthday is?”

Jacob felt like he had made it abundantly clear at this point he didn’t, but the human could be quite dense sometimes. It never ceases to amaze him how booksmart Edix was, as demonstrated by all the fancy plaques and papers framed on the walls in his home office, yet how inept he was at picking up social cues. Maybe that was only a problem he had with Jacob, even though the borrower still tried to be as obvious as possible when he didn’t want to be picked up, or held, or babied, or technically kept hostage after Edix sealed up all the borrower entries back into the walls. He never listened to a damn thing Jacob said…

“Should I?” Jacob asked. The human was making this sound like it was something of a big deal.

Edix taped the card to the vase and pushed it to the side of the desk. He folded his arms to lean down and look at Jacob closer, instantly making the borrower uneasy when he crowded his limited space. “I mean, it’s the day that you’re born, isn’t that special to borrowers, too?”

Now it was Jacob’s turn to scoff at such a ridiculous question. “Who the heck remembers the minute they’re born?”

“It’s something your parents keep track of the first few years, actually. Your mother never told you when you were born?”

The borrower flinched like he had been struck. His mother was always a difficult topic, one he veered from any chance he could. His whole family was a sore subject, really, and for the most part he was successful at avoiding Edix’s prodding for more information. Though he would kill to spend another minute in their loving company, Jacob was never going to give up a single shred of intel on his family. He would keep them safe.

Jacob needed to steer this conversation back into a direction he had vague control over. “Borrowers don’t think about that stuff, we have other things to worry about.” As far as he knew, neither he nor his brothers had these alleged ‘birthdays’. His mother had never mentioned them, anyways, so he just assumed they didn’t exist. What was the point in celebrating the anniversary of your birth, you were already here.

Edix cooed. “Aw, so you don’t know when you were born?”

When it came to the exact date, Jacob had no idea. In fact, it wasn’t until he was living on his own in a human’s house did he learn the existence of months and numbered days and such. Humans and their strange, arbitrary need to keep track of time. Jacob liked having the days blend into one another, never having to worry about invisible constraints, only watching how the sky lit up or darkened and how the leaves fell and regrew. However, as a child, Jacob’s mother loved to point out the types of days that best reminded her of her sons. Chilly autumn days always made her think of Jed, whereas humid summer storms belonged to the twins. Jacob’s day was a sunny spring, right when everything was coming into bloom.

He wasn’t sure if this was his mother recalling the kind of day it was when she gave birth to her children, but those specific types of days were cherished by her. It was close enough to the answer Edix was looking for, probably.

“Spring,” Jacob answered, taking a step back when the human flashed him an excited smile. “I think…”

“You look like a spring baby,” Edix agreed, which made the borrower bristle. He was not a baby, thank you, regardless of what his dastardly young appearance might portray. As far as he was concerned, he was an adult. “I guess we’ll have to throw you a party next year, shame we don’t know how old you’ll be turning.”

A party? Didn’t those involve people? Considering Jacob and Edix had no mutual friends, that would imply Edix would be inviting over several humans to gawk at the birthday boy or he secretly had a stash of imprisoned borrowers somewhere he was willing to break out for the occasion. Both were horrible options to Jacob. “I-I don’t want a party.”

“Not a real party, just us,” Edix said, ruffling the top of Jacob’s head with a finger before it was smacked away. “Trust me, you’ll love it.”

Jacob would most certainly not love it and he had no interest in seeing what the hype was about. So far, nothing about the day sounded appealing. If anything, it was pointless and tedious, much like all human holidays. Usually, Edix shared the same sentiment, but this time he appeared to be adamant that Jacob partake in the one he thought was the most stupid. Before the borrower could protest the idea or even ask what was so appealing about it, Edix looked at his watch and pushed himself up from his desk chair. He grabbed the leather jacket that had been draped over the back of his chair and scooped up the wrapped plant in the other hand.

“I need to meet Ylva at the restaurant, I’ll be back in a few hours,” Jacob tried to squeak in a few more words into their previous conversation, but Edix was too preoccupied with his plans to pay him any mind. Much to Jacob’s displeasure, the human was quick to bend down and give him a peck on top of his head. “Adios, te amo, ser bueno.”

Poor Jacob didn’t know what he was dreading more; Edix’s eventual return or the unofficial birthday he’d be subjected to.

–

“What are you doing?”

For as long as Jacob had known Edix, never once had the human been much of a baker. He could cook, yes, but this was the first time Jacob had ever seen him spooning dollops of creamy frosting over a scratch made cake. The human had been baking all morning and Jacob was hesitant to disturb him, partly because it gave him a little extra free time to himself and partly because it was just so…interesting to watch. Jacob had been spying on the process from behind the spice rack for the better part of an hour now, finally creeping out from his hiding spot. Not like Edix didn’t know he was there the entire time.

“I’m frosting a cake for you,” Edix explained while he smoothed the white frosting with a rubber spatula.

Jacob’s doe eyes widened at the mention this sweet treat was for him. Confections were extremely rare to come by for most borrowers, which was such a shame as they were one of Jacob’s most favorite things to eat no matter how stale they were. Unfortunately, he had picked the worst human to live with as Edix was a stickler for healthy options. He liked cooking with fresh ingredients, many of which he was able to grow himself. There were a handful of times Edix might come home with a cookie or something he had been given and gift it to the borrower to snack on, yet even then it was still unfairly portioned. If Jacob was being given a whole cookie, he should be able to eat it in one sitting.

The borrower wondered if his face betrayed how stupidly giddy he was at the thought of having cake when Edix snickered at him. “For me?” Jacob asked. This had to be a goof, no way was Edix giving him a whole cake when he had to beg for cinnamon rolls.

“Si, mi amor, para ti,” Once Edix was done covering the last edge of the cake, he dusted the top with a bit of cinnamon spice and presented the massive dessert to Jacob. “¡Feliz cumpleaños!”

Normally, Jacob would be bitching about Edix’s constant use of Spanish for making it unnecessarily more difficult to understand him, but he was too distracted by the cake to care. He’d only had cake once before when a barista offered a cake pop to Edix for free when he was picking up a coffee on his way home. The human had accepted the treat to be polite (though he never called the number that was written on his cup) and gave it to Jacob as a snack after dinner. For almost two weeks afterwards, the borrower was downright pleading with Edix to bring home more of those amazing, fantastic, delicious confections. Of course, every time he did Edix was quick to remind him how he made himself sick the remainder of the night as a result of scarfing it down in under twenty minutes, but Jacob didn’t care.

“No toques,” Jacob said in butched Spanish. He didn’t know what it meant, but he heard it a lot from the human so it probably meant something generic like ‘thank you’. Though Edix liked to fluctuate between English and Spanish, sometimes mid conversation, Jacob couldn’t understand a lick of the latter. Perhaps if he practiced a bit more in repeating back what he heard and using context clues to figure out what Edix was saying, he’d be more fluent. However, that would mean actually wanting to have more conversations with the human in a separate language and Jacob was just fine in having to trudge through one of those.

Edix laughed at his pisspoor attempt for an answer. “Happy birthday.”

Birthday? Oh! …oh. Jacob had completely forgotten about that talk they’d had months ago. A wave of anxiety rolled through him as he remembered the prospect of a party and all sorts of unwanted celebrations. Then again, Jacob still wasn’t entirely familiar with how birthdays were meant to work. By the time Edix had come home after celebrating with Ylva, Jacob was feigning sleep to avoid the barrage of buzzed kisses he was sure to receive. The human hadn’t brought up anything about birthdays in the following days, so Jacob assumed the dumb topic had been dropped. Evidently not.

Strangely enough, the fear that constantly gnawed at the borrower’s gut dissipated as soon as it flared up the longer he stared at the promised cake. No one said anything about birthdays involving a cake, much less cake that was four times the size of its recipient. This was too good to be true.

“How…do you know today is my birthday?” Jacob asked. Edix was exceptionally smart…presumably. A lot smarter than Jacob, anyhow, considering he worked in one of those fancy science labs with other genius humans. He must have been able to mathematically deduce the exact day the borrower was born with a patented equation.

Edix shrugged. Right, he was a plant guy, not a math guy. “I don’t. But you said it was in spring, so today seemed like a good one to pick.”

And it was. It was exactly the kind of day Jacob’s mother would associate with him. Warm sun in clear skies, all the flowers in the garden just waiting to bloom over the following days to fill the house with their sweet pollen. Jacob had no idea what today’s actual date was but he doubted Edix would forget it any time soon. He probably already had it marked on all his calendars for at least five years in advance.

“I think every day should be my birthday,” God, Jacob’s eyes must be shining like a kid in a candy shop, if all the sweets were as big as their house anyways. Since neither of them knew when his exact birthday was, it was best to be safe and celebrate every single day to be certain they didn’t miss it. And yes, that included a cake to be eaten for all those celebrations as well.

Edix was onto his devious plan, though, laughing and scooping a bit of leftover frosting from the mixing bowl onto his finger. Like the mature, serious, older adult that he was, he bopped the tip of Jacob’s nose (as well as half his face) with said finger to cover his mouth and chin in the delicious topping. “I don’t think so, cochino. You’re lucky to get spoiled for one day at all.”

Most people would argue that Edix spoiled his beloved borrower every second of every day, but Jacob wasn’t going to point that out. Most certainly not while he was still in denial over the fact himself. Admitting Edix spoiling him would mean to admit that Edix was doing things to make Jacob’s life more convenient and stress-free. From a borrower’s standpoint, he was living on easy street with unlimited food and warmth and safety. Unlike his feral counterparts, however, he was forbidden to come and go as he pleased after he had been caught. Some rough nights left Jacob imagining himself trading all the cake pops in the world in exchange for being let out of this house…

Not today, though. Jacob was too preoccupied licking the sugary frosting off his lips, using the backs of his hands to wipe off what he couldn’t reach with his tongue to lap it up that way. The frosting melted in his mouth in a creamy delight, mingling with a dusting of cinnamon that reminded him of the hot chocolate Edix made on Christmas. It was becoming quite apparent that Jacob was a fan of these stupid human holidays. On Christmas, he had gotten to eat cookies. For Valentine’s day, he was given a piece of caramel chocolate. Now, for his birthday, he got an entire cake. The borrower didn’t know what the next upcoming celebration was, but he hoped it was something that involved donut holes.

“Can I have my cake now?” Jacob was still licking the sticky sweetness off his fingers while Edix moved the dirty dishes into the sink until he could wash them. C’mon, it was Jacob’s birthday, that meant Edix had to do whatever the borrower wanted! He wondered if he could ask to be let outside, just for a little bit.

“In a little bit so you don’t ruin your lunch,” Like the cruel bastard he was, Edix took the cake away from the now heartbroken borrower to stick it in the fridge. “It tastes better when it’s chilled.”

It tastes better when it’s actually in front of Jacob and not whisked away, in his opinion. The borrower knew he was pouting, but he couldn’t help it, especially not when half the time it got him exactly what he wanted. Edix put a hand on his hip when he caught sight of the itty bitty glare he was being given, a teasing smile quirking the corners of the human’s lips.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” Edix laughed. “Dramatico, acting like I starve you.” Quite the opposite, actually. The human was always trying to shove food down Jacob’s tiny throat, insisting he was far too skinny and needed a proper diet.

Jacob crossed his arms to emphasize his unhappiness. “I thought you were supposed to be nice on my birthday.”

“I’m nice to you every day,” A little too nice sometimes for Jacob’s taste. “Do you want your present while you wait?”

Now Jacob’s excitement had returned tenfold, his previous annoyance vanishing in a snap. Birthdays meant receiving presents, too?! This was just like Christmas all over again, which Edix did say was like Jesus’s birthday, whoever that is. “I get a present? What is it?”

“You’ll just have to open it and see,” Edix grinned. While he was by the fridge, he opened one of the drawers he typically used to stuff junk inside and dug out a small box wrapped in the same gold foil he used on Ylva’s orchid. This must be a designated gift wrapping paper in human culture. The box fit in the palm of Edix’s hand, but when he passed it to Jacob it was almost half his size. A giddiness ran through him, he hadn’t been given a gift since he was a child and it was always something necessary for survival. That wasn’t to say he was ungrateful as the presents always came in handy, but it was always something practical, never for entertainment. He couldn’t imagine Edix giving him something like a sturdy new grappling hook or some suction cups for climbing walls. Those might risk an escape attempt.

Jacob eagerly tore into the wrapping paper and shook off the top of the box to see what was inside. It was…nothing he’d ever seen before. Random splotches of greens and browns over the surface of something. When he took it out of the box to hold up and let the material fall, it revealed itself to be a jacket. The fabric was thick but not as starchy as a lot of the clothing options borrowers had. He still didn’t understand the funky pattern that was printed on it, though it didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, he supposed. If anything, the muted colors might prove themself to be beneficial if he was ever able to wear it outside, naturally blending into the earthy surroundings.

“You’re always freezing, so I thought this might help,” Edix explained when Jacob didn’t give much of a reaction. It was true, Jacob seemed to run cold nine times out of ten. Borrowers were more subjected to lower temperatures which was why they liked to stick to huddling up in isolated walls. Though Jacob would sooner die than admit it, there were many times he didn’t mind snuggling up to Edix’s chest for a nap, if only to steal the warmth he radiated.

Jacob tilted his head. “Is it dirty?” Seriously, it looked like it was covered in grass stains and mud. He didn’t want to come off as pretentious over his first birthday gift, but he thought Edix would at least give him something clean.

The human snorted. “Yes, mi amor, it’s an army jacket,” What’s an army? “It was the only style they had for boys when I was looking last week. If you don’t like it, I can take it ba-”

“No,” Jacob quickly cut in, clutching the outerwear to his chest. “It’s mine, you said it’s for me.”

Indeed, it was all for Jacob, one of the only things he ever completely owned all to himself. Growing up, everything was always ‘borrowed’ and shared amongst his family. Living with Edix was no different, except that everything in the house belonged to Edix originally and had to be given to the borrower with permission. This jacket was now something he and only he owned, something he could use or give away at his discretion, something no one could hang out of his tiny little arms as long as he could help it. He didn’t miss how Edix’s smile lit up when Jacob started to put the article on.

The cuffs hung past his wrists and the bulky fabric tried to swallow him up, the oversized jacket trapping what little body heat he had and smothering it against his frame. It was perfect. Jacob was never taking this off for as long as he lived. He grabbed the ends of the jacket to hold them closed over his chest and snuggled down into the popped collar, letting himself become even more hidden like a turtle in its shell.

“...thank you,” the borrower mumbled, loving the way the jacket helped to hide the embarrassment flushing across his freckled face. “I like it.”

Edix gave him another smile, one that made his stomach flip as if it had been full of butterflies. “I’m glad. Now, what do you want for lunch?”

“Cake.”

“Cake isn’t lunch food.”

“But cake is birthday food.”

The human sighed. Edix could only imagine the fiasco that was sure to come once Jacob saw the sparkler flower candle he had gotten as a cake topper. At least birthdays were only once a year.

[mocham-sims]

My CC Creation Journey🪡

(English / Español en traducción)

I had been on a custom content creation journey for the last week or so. It made me silent. Well, it had been a long time since I've done it and I had forgotten a lot of things. I set myself the task of finishing three outfits for now, and I have. I like the maxis friendly clothes. (I don't know if my works are maxis match or not.) That's the reason why I don't wanna use MD software to make sims4 clothes. Of course, I still have a lot of things I want to try, but I will do it next time. And the never-ending creative spirit may last a lifetime. (All all they are non-shared, for self use)

・

・

He said : Take a pretty picture of me.

I said : The camera can't lie. lol

At any rate, he is the loveliest sim of all for me.

(All of they are my original meshes)

⬇️ Traducción - Español

Había estado en viaje de creación de contenidos a medida personalizado durante la última semana más o menos. La creación me silenció. Había pasado mucho tiempo que no lo he hecho y había olvidado muchas cosas. Me propuse la tarea de terminar tres prendas por ahora, y lo he hecho. A mi me gusta las ropas de maxis friendly. (No sé si mis obras son maxis match o no.) Eso es la razón porque no quiero usar MD software para hacer las ropas de sims4. Por supuesto, aun tengo un montón de cosas que quiero intentar, pero lo haré próxima oportunidad. Y el interminable espíritu creativo puede durar toda la vida. (No son compartidos las ropas, solo para uso propio)

[littoraly-art]

i LOVE your art style i only recently discovered u and oh what treat <3 okay for writing prompt: how about kid eskel and lambert challenging each other to climb up a wall of the keep? sure eskel's the oldest one but he's still a little shit at heart <33

Oh STOP it /j

You're gonna make me cry lil happy tears, I swear, I swear 😭🥰

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• General

• Lambert and Eskel

• Wolf Pup Shenanigans

A/N: as per my art, I will be using the Netflix adaption appearances of these characters because I'm sorely needing that content.

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It was an hour past noon and, seeing as Eskel was older by a few years, he was tasked with being responsible. So, that meant he was supposed to be running Lambert through drills.

Oh, but it was such a lovely day.

The winter was still trying to cling on with a chilly breeze but most of the snow in the courtyards had melted away a week or so ago. It left behind soft, moist earth and the grass was slowly starting to pull itself out of its wilted condition. The smell was heavenly and amongst that new spring aromas came the subtle scents of wild flowers.

Gods, he could lay there forever, in the grass, with the sun gently warming his face.

But, that was not how the day was to go.

"I'm going to tell Vesemir that you're not helping me," chirped an annoyed voice and the blonde boy had yet to open his eyes so, the next thing he knew, he felt the tip of a wooden training sword poking his cheek. "Es."

"No, you're not."

A curious amber eye peeked up to catch a glimpse of the pending tantrum that was evident on the redhead's face. The other eye was soon to follow so that he was peering up at the younger boy as his face grew redder and redder.

"Yuh-huh! I will, too, tell Vesemir! I'm gonna go right now!"

"You do that," Eskel hummed, unfazed as he raised his brows, smiling a little bit as Lambert started to huff and shift his weight between his feet. "But, I know for sure that you won't. Wanna know why?"

Lambert furrowed his brows together and narrowed his eyes, pointing the wooden sword at the older boy. "Why?" He asked incredulously.

"Because... I have something a lot fun-er planned."

He spied a spark of interest and excitement in the other's eyes but Lambert wasn't keen on caving yet as he stepped closer, continuing to prod Eskel's cheek. "Like what?"

The gears started to turn in the elder's head as he tried to come up with something that didn't end in having to return to drills. He pursed his lips and squinted his eyes up at the sky but, before long, Lambert was whining impatiently.

"Ehhhhhss," he complained, emphasizing the short 'e' syllable and dragging into an elongated sound. He gave the blonde's cheek a few more prods before the sword was being twisted out of his hand.

Once he had disarmed the younger boy, Eskel climbed to his feet and ruffled his fingers through red curls, only receiving a few gut punches in return. Nothing too hard, so he knew Lambert wasn't upset despite the whiny huffs.

"I'm gonna set a wager, alright?" He said, after a beat, and then stepped away to set his hands on his hips, feet in a wide stance as he looked around.

".. Alright?" Lambert sounded confused but a hint of curiosity was sneaking into his voice. "What're you wagering?"

"That you can't..." Eskel trailed off as he quickly tried to pull his thoughts together and he already could feel Lambert's competitive spirit starting to radiate. He was a fairly contrary, stubborn headed boy and he always had to prove people wrong. So of course he immediately latched onto the word 'can't'.

"I can do it!"

"I haven't even said what you can't do yet."

"I can do it!"

Eskel raised his brows and looked over at Lambert who had his chest puffed out like a bird trying to intimidate, which caused him to laugh. The laugh made Lambert stomp his feet and narrow his eyes again.

"I wager that you can't climb up that wall faster than me."

The blond pointed towards the north side of the courtyard which had the oldest, most worn looking wall. Not to mention the tallest.

Lambert looked a tad daunted. Rightly so.

"..mm," The curly headed boy hummed out as he flexed his small hands, shifting his weight again. "What do I get if– when I climb it? And beat you?"

His eyes were now wide and much more openly curious as he looked up at Eskel. He continued to flex his hands lightly before tilting his head, waiting in a surprisingly patient manner for the answer.

"Uh.. hm." The blonde knit his brows together in serious thought as he rocked on his heels. "I'll uh, make you a poppet?" He raised his brows this time, trying to see if that had won the younger boy over.

Now, Lambert looked excited but also a bit apprehensive.

"You can keep it in my room to hide it, if you want. So no one takes it, like the last one."

That seemed to satisfy the other boy and he slowly grinned, bouncing on his feet, before taking off.

"Hey, I didn't say go!"

"You didn't say I had to wait!" Lambert laughed in glee as Eskel took off after him.

The older boy had longer legs, so he made it to the wall right before Lambert and gazed up at it, feeling his stomach drop for a second. Oh, it was higher than he thought.

Lambert had no such reservations, though, beginning to squeeze his fingers into cracks and onto ledges, the moment he made it to the wall. He pulled his light body up, nimble and swift, which caused Eskel to swear.

The blonde quickly joined in to the climbing, finding that his progress was slower going because his fingers couldn't fit as well into the cracks, like Lambert's could. And his knees were shaking gently as he got further up the wall.

He was three-fourths of the way up when he heard a victorious cheer from above him and he craned his head back to see Lambert grinning down at him.

"You lose! You lose! You lose!" Th younger yelled and laughed, sticking his tongue out at Eskel. That was, until he noticed that Eskel had paused as was shaking in a barely noticeable way. A frown tugged at his face and he tilted his head, looking concerned. "Es?"

"What?" The reply was sharp and weak.

"Are you scared?"

A pause.

"A little."

Lambert's face softened some and he bit down on his lip, trying to think of how he could be helpful. "..It's okay, pup," He decided on, after a moment, voice mimicking the tone that Vesemir used to calm him during tantrums or panic. Using the moniker that he associated with that calming tone.

"It's okay, pup," he repeated and stayed put where Eskel could see him. "There's only a little more to go. I know you can do it."

The older boy looked surprised by Lambert's show of empathy and the way he was trying to help him. It encouraged him enough to start again, all the same, slowly finding hand and foot holds.

It was slow going again but he eventually was able to make it to the top with Lambert's help and he lay on his back, huffing out a sigh as he made a mental note to never do that again. Then, he felt Lambert drop his weight onto his chest in an awkward angle of a hug and he gave a short, amused snort.

Lambert gave a little laugh.

"You did really good.. But you're still a loser."

"Yeah, yeah. You win."

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❤ Hope you liked it! @persony-pepper

[maree-ff]

Interlude: Remission

CAMILA

Excited, joyful, in lust, anxious, nervous, and overwhelmed. These are all of the emotions I was hit with at three o’clock this morning when I woke up to begin my day. Today officially marks five weeks, seventy-two hours and sixteen minutes since I ruined our relationship. Today also marks the same amount of time that Jorden has completely flipped his switch. His behavior is nothing like Andre or I have ever dealt with. I know I’m to blame for calling off our engagement but it’s almost as if Jorden feels like I took his father away. That was never my intention by any means. I only wanted for Andre and I to take some time out to explore every crevice of our relationship. The energy in our union has been off and I want to know what the root of the issue is.

Papi’s been coming by everyday to bring the kids home from school. He’s even stayed to tuck them in, help me clean up from the aftermath of dinner and then he leaves. He’s been distant, rightfully so, but I miss him! I’ve been yearning for attention and I haven’t craved male companionship in ages! Tonight, I’m going to try and do things differently. I’ve been spying on him to get his schedule for today so I can scheme and coordinate in peace. Andre didn’t pick up the kids today because I asked for his mother to do it herself. The girls are helping me choose what to wear for my weekend away while their baby brother is napping.

Sliding my boots on I tiptoed around the mess I created, rushing to get their opinion. I spun around, danced a little, showing off another outfit I pieced together.

“Okay, nenas...what about this?” I’m frantic. I am supposed to be meeting Dre at a resort in Palm Springs. He has an assignment there for the weekend so I figured this is the perfect time for us to fix what’s broken.

“Shoes..perfect. Outfit..even better.” Zoe smiles assuringly.

Kenja tilted her head left and right before responding to my question. “Perfecto..”

“Perfecto? La verdad o es esa actitud que estoy escuchando?” I sassed her.

“Si..la verdad. Mom, mira la hora por favor.” She pointed out. Glancing at my watch I cursed under my breath, rushing to get out of here. I tossed what I need for the weekend in my bag, smothering my girls in affection. I looped my bag over my shoulder and quietly raced up the steps to check on my youngest baby.

Cautiously I entered his bedroom, blushing at the mere sight of him. “Mommy’s going to fix this nino. I promise. For you and tu hermanas.” Shuffling to his bed I pulled his blanket up over his stomach to keep him warm. “Mommy loves you baby. I’ll see you when I get back and I’ll make sure to kiss Papi for you, if he’ll let me.” I kissed his forehead and backed away before he had the chance to wake up.

I left his room, spoke to Divya briefly and headed straight for Palm Springs.

————  ———— 

Pushing the bottle further down into the ice bucket I turned around to check out the room. I managed to get an extra key to his hotel suite since he’s still out. I got a phone call from Meah saying that he should be arriving shortly.

“Mommy,” I exhaled. Clutching the Bible to my chest I looked out at the sun setting over the horizon. “Necesito su orientación.” My spirit feels alive again. I can feel her. “I need you to walk me through this. I ruined my relationship and I need to get it back. Please watch over me and don’t let me screw this up.” Marking my body in favor of the cross I set the Bible down and put some final touches on his room.

About fifteen minutes later I heard a key unlatch the lock to the room.

“Alright, look I’ll tell you what. Let me look over the proposal, run the account and find the bug.” The door shut and the automatic lock clicking made me jump out of my skin. These goddamn nerves! Quickly I downed one of the shots I poured, needing to calm myself before he saw me. I stood tall by the window, looking out at the montañas and hills. “No man, I will personally take care of the firewall and the hiccup in your account. Why don’t you sen-”

Our eyes met the second his speech paused. With the phone to his ear, he silently set his bag down, looking me up and down. “I will have my assistant contact you so you can get me that file personally. Once I get to the bottom of this I will call you..” he motioned to the glass signaling for me to pour him a drink.

I did as he asked, going ahead to fill two glasses.

“Of course. I’ll get back to you in a few days.” His phone touched the desk as did his jacket. “I’m surprised.” He simply stated.

Closing our distance I handed him the glass, holding my own with two hands. “I know.” I agreed. “Necesitamos hablar.” I sipped on my champagne, reading his energy from the body language he’s showing.

“About?” He too sipped from his glass, going to remove his tie.

“Let me..” I offered. I set my glass down to complete the task I offered to take off his hands. A mass of nothing but fears from my subconscious lodged my airways, making it difficult to look at him. “Habla sobre nosotros, nuestra familia y el futuro de nuestra relación.” The slow movement and slithering sound of his tie falling across his shoulder made my heart skip a beat.

“So let’s talk then. Where should we start? You breaking up our family or completely blind siding me at dinner that night?” I knew this surprise visit from me would be a battle but I wasn’t expecting fire this quickly.

I draped his tie over the back of the chair, not wanting the fabric to catch wrinkles. “Don’t do that. I don’t want to fight with you tonight. For you and for us but not with you.” I created space between us, giving him room to breathe again.

“Why not? There’s enough issues to go around that we can argue about right? Isn’t that what you were saying five weeks ago when you tore our family apart?” He’s agitating me and he knows it. He’s pressing my buttons on purpose but I sympathize with his anger and hurt.

“Everything. Papi, we can fix this. I want to fix this. I broke us apart and for good reason but I want to make it right. I never wanted to hurt you or our family.” The sun has vanished leaving the sky lit up in the most beautiful orange and yellow blend.

“Mm..that’s the memo I got and if I’m correct you did hurt me. You hurt our bond, our love and our kids.” He calmly explained his point, fully raising my nerves.

Snapping my head in his direction I warned him not to steer us down a path we may not recuperate from. He clapped back at me as if I’m not in this fight with him.

“Ay, basta ahora! No me hables así! I hurt myself too, okay? You’re not the only one who got hurt that night alright? Stop trying to make me feel like crap and help me fix the problem!” Waving my hand for him to cut the nonsense out, I paced the floor waiting for him to react.

“What problem, Camila? Tell me what are these problems you speak of? I never saw any facet of our relationship that was broken and needed to be fixed. Were you imagining things that aren't real? What is it?”

“Our chemistry must have been off, Dre. It didn’t feel like old times. Y me estás llaman loco? That’s not fair of you to say! I meant what I said and how I feel is valid. You cannot deny the way I feel! Those are my feelings and I am entitled to them!” I yelled.

He approached me silently, picking up the shot from the tray. He threw it back, poured another two rounds, encouraging me to take second. “Our chemistry? What about our chemistry? Break it down for me. We have all weekend right? That’s why your bag is partially unpacked and you got a second key to the room? Well let’s get to the bottom of this shall we?”

He doesn’t know this but that was my fifth shot since I checked in. The scent of his cologne sent my desire for lust, love, affection, attention, you name it..into overdrive. I rolled my eyes swiftly as he walked past me into the living room of the suite. I followed him thinking of how to recite my feelings.

“Well..I feel like you’re still holding back. You never opened up about what happened to you while you were away. You’ve changed, baby. I recognized the signs when you came home. I didn’t pester you about my concerns because I had enough to deal with already. But you have changed and I just want you to feel comfortable enough to be open with me about what you went through.” Removing my earrings I placed them on the coffee table. Andre was mute. He drew an invisible figure eight with the champagne flute in his hand. “Coming here was intentional my love but stressing you out wasn’t.” I reminded him. I inched over to the large windows, taking in the views with him.

Throwing back the remaining champagne, Andre set the glass down by his feet. “Yeah I changed. I’m ashamed of a lot of events that have taken place over the course of my life. You know that. Being away is at the very top of that list. You know that too. It’s not that I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to share at all with anyone but God himself. I can’t.” He disagreed.

Cupping the nape of his neck I fingered the smooth hair, getting excited. He hasn’t touched me in weeks and I’m still breastfeeding so my hormones are driving me batshit crazy. I have been forced to stick out this drought between us, calculating how long until I get him back. Allow me to be frank and say that I have ventured down the road of self pleasure but it takes too long. I’m capable of satisfying myself on a small scale but I need him for that soul snatching, big time release.

“I’m not shaming you, papi. I would never do that. Though I strongly urge you to reconsider. God is an excellent choice mi amor pero I-” his hand claimed my throat as he backed me into the glass. The liquor in my bloodstream and on his breath made me want more. “Por favor..” I am prepared to beg, plead or use any other extreme measures I have up my sleeve if this will bring us closer. I cupped his cheek, yet again finding our son in him. Their eyes hold a familiar sense of depth and comfort. “I want to fix this, really. Again I’m sorry love, you must believe me.”

The teaser of his increase in pressure to my neck turned me on. I’m sure that was his intention and I have no objections. He’s never harmed me which is good because I love when he uses force. A little pain feels ten times better when sex and intimacy are around the corner.

“I know.” He huffed. I’m already wet with anticipation. He only added fuel to my fire. He overpowered me, giving off anger and animosity. I’ll take what I can for the time being, wanting what I’ve been deprived of. I can’t decide if I want this first time back into our fold to go by quickly because I’m so hungry or if I want to take my time.

“I want both.” I thought aloud.

Andre ripped through my clothes without any regard for common sense to treat my belongings with respect. “Of?” He uttered quietly.

We disrobed one another not caring that anyone could possibly walk by the room. We’re completely exposed and normally I’d be willing to keep watch for bystanders but tonight I don’t care much. Let them have a show to enjoy.

Tossing the belt he had on somewhere off to the side I rid him of his trousers, dominating the scene. “I want this to last but I’m desperate after five weeks.” I whined. I did not allow him to choose what pace he would rather stick with. “Give me what I want. Answers and attention.” Moving in for the kill I felt the ground lighten up from underneath my feet. I wrapped my legs around his midsection and locked my ankles to keep myself steady. He stumbled still teasing the clasp of my bra.

My body was freed from the confines of my brassiere, leaving me open for the taking. Andre granted my wish. He fucked the soul out of me up against the glass but tenderly and lovingly. We traded off with the power of getting the beauty of both worlds. What feels like angry, make-up sex carried on out to the hot tub that’s acquainted with the room. I gasped for new air, gripping his hip and palming his lower back to force him into me.

I needed a resting place for my head so I sought out the rim of the tub. My brief moment of desiring to speak ceased to exist as he touched two of my favorite spots. My outcry made me tearful and oh so sad. Sex only places a bandaid over our issues but a lovely bandaid it is. We carried on in the hot water and later transported our affairs back inside the room.

The time has come for us to use our words again. Tying my robe closed I lifted my hair up and out. With a heavy heart I studied Andre from several feet away.

“When did you begin to feel the shift?” He asked me, barely looking over his shoulder.

Clearing my throat I swiped my glass from the desk, taking a sip. “Sometime after Jo’s fifth or so doctor appointment. I think..”

Dre’s insincere snicker ruffled my feathers. He took a long drag of the blunt he’s been working for half an hour. Putting it out he sucked in a fresh wave of oxygen only to take his time blowing it back out. “So Ali is the root of your issues with me?”

“Let’s be adults about this. You know damn well that’s not what I’m getting at nor is that what I’m saying. Maybe it was the stress of waiting for all of the test results to come back..” my sentence ran off as did my feet. I walked myself across the room to look out onto the night sky. Finishing off my champagne I built up the courage to explain a selfish mistake I made so long ago. “I still feel guilty for my comment. I didn’t mean it then and I didn’t mean it now. The waiting and re-testing was backing me into such a dark place that I traded in hope for fear. That is no excuse and I have to live with my idiocy at that moment for the rest of my life.” Turning on my heels I zeroed out the space between us. I placed my hands upon his shoulders, molding to his shape wanting to ease the tension in his upper body. “But you were there. You didn’t give up on our son even while I had doubts and bombarded you with my sadness over the matter.”

Inching closer I captured his lips, entangling us to each other for round three. Speaking about our kids brings me back to consciousness. All of the wild sex that we’ve had since Jorden was born has surprisingly not created another child. This troubling and confusing separation has not hindered an inkling of romance. All that’s different is the lack of title.

“We’re supposed..to be talking..” he hummed. I fondled my way into his lap, going head first.

“Not right now we aren’t.” I denied. I’m in the mindset for a specialty cocktail I can’t put a price on. My skin began to heat up from under the robe. It’s my throat, mouth and hands that are the hottest points of me currently. I used my hands, feverishly wanting to bring him all the way up so I could stop and get him angry. His fingers ran through my hair finding the right coordinates to hold my head still. His body shuddered underneath mine as I ramped up my speed so he can feel like he’s in control of the moment. He’s never been allowed to dominate my pace when I’m pleasing him. I was very transparent in the beginning stages of our romantic relationship about why he can’t force me down or hold me still. In exchange we have worked out an arrangement to where he feels like he’s in control but he’s really not.

The overflow of saliva and the tiny bubbles running down over my fingers and wrists turned up my pride. It’s also the sweet melodic manner in which my name and God’s fills the air. I always honor him with his few moments of fame in thinking that I can’t handle his measurements. There are times when I doubt myself. Like the generous man that Andre is, he never comes short with complimenting how charming my tongue is. The hyper speed of his shaft and juevos sliding in and out my mouth brought on the most beautiful feeling. My scalp is tingling from the massage he’s giving me while I’m finishing the one I’m offering him.

His call out to the heavens is making me greedy. I’ll admit to it and I want him to know. Halting, I knelt before him and pushed him down, ultimately mounting him. Our mouths reunited in sync, no exceeding dominance displayed. My back touched down against the plush comforter, he removed my robe, and I used my hands and feet to disrobe him of his pants.

“Cuidarme, yo soy tuyo.” I begged. Our bodies meshed together resembling a fly getting caught in a Venus fly trap. My internal organs accommodated his endowment warmly. I saw darkness as he set himself up with the right momentum. “Ay Dios!” I called on our Heavenly Father several times over in the most disrespectful way. Tightening the grip I have on him I forced eye contact needing to face him head on.

His affirmation of how I’m making him feel calmed my nerves. “Making love to you always feels a step above incredible..” he told me once again.

Blissfully grinning from ear to ear I matched his strides, watching him react just the way I wanted him to. “Mm,” I hummed. “..te sientes mucho mejor.” I moaned heavily. The darkness took over again, shutting down any verbal conversation for the rest of this fight to the top of the mountain.

————  ———— 

Staring at the moon aligned with the stairs I rolled my eyes listening to Andre ramble. He’s been on a hot streak for what seems to be pushing eternity. In reality only a few minutes have lapsed.

“Can you please sit down? Your pacing is unsettling.” I advised him.

“I can’t believe you would even stoop so low to bring Jorden into our problems. I know the testing was hard on you but you can’t place the blame of our downfall on him.”

“I never said Jo was the source of our problems! All I said was that the outcome and the process itself brought me down to a place I had never been before. I have no reason to blame our children for the reason our relationship was severed and I never will. You’re taking my words and running with them trying to make me look like a shit mother and I’m not. I always put our kids first. The reason we’re apart is because of tu y yo! There are no other parties to blame except for us so don’t ever drag anyone into our shit. We made this mess together so we are responsible for cleaning it up!” Standing up to walk around I meddled in my hair only wanting to reflect.

There’s the fight about Gerrard’s initial arrival. That was the first time that Andre accused me of being unfaithful. He hurt me down to the core. I was already battling how to deal with the slander brought to my name and in my place of work. The pain from Gerrard’s doing and the assumption was double what I was expecting.

Exhaling through my nose I picked up my hair, rubbing my scalp. “Dígame, was Gerrard’s first appearance something that stuck around for you? Did you think about that day anytime afterward?” I asked him.

“Sometimes, yeah.” He confessed.

“Why did you do it? I have never understood why you felt the need to question me after our history. I don’t think I’ll ever understand. I’ve never once accused you of anything even at my lowest point so I’m just trying to put the puzzle pieces together here.” As I met his eye I put in a strong effort not to look angry.

Andre’s shoulders fell as he ran his hands over his head. “I just got scared. I had a moment of weakness and took it out on you. I was sorry then for the way I behaved and I’m sorry now. I will forever be sorry.”

“I know. That’s number one. Numbers two, three and so on. Gerrard coming around the second time, the psychos you once called family, Chris… There’s so much heavy shit in your past and in ours as a unit that keeps me up some nights.” Letting my arms fall I crossed them over my chest.

“Are you a-”

Stopping him short I held up my hand swiftly. “I am not angry. I am not sad. I don’t know what I am.”

My shoulders gained weight. I dropped my head to one side feeling my muscles loosen up.

“I have a feeling that I-my mistakes are a part of our downfall. Amongst other things now that I’m diving deep into our past.” He says.

“Que otras cosas? Dígame por favor.”

He claims that all of what I mentioned are the strongest points that broke the very foundation we’ve built. I deny it all. There’s got to be something else that we are missing.

“I owe you my life babe and I know that you hate hearing about my suicide attempt but it’s relevant. That moment in my life will forever be pertinent to many conversations that we share. That memory, despite how painful it is to both of us, plays a key role in why I am the way that I am today. I still don’t see what you see but I do know that I don’t want to lose you.” He resumed the massage on my shoulders, making me feel warm again.

“A little to the right please.” I suggested. He followed orders eliminating all tension in my upper back. “Mira, I don’t take pleasure in giving you the ring back. Deep down I just didn’t feel right wearing such a statement with the way I was feeling. The way that I’m still feeling. I’m not sure how long it will take us to get back to our old ways but I don’t want to lose you either.” I faced him sliding my hands up his chest. “I did not come here to argue and go back and forth. I want to get to the root of the problem hoping that we can find some middle ground and work our way back to normal.” I used him as a place to lay my head.

“Agreed.” He solemnly voiced.

[shyrahsw]

i planned on writing about this for a few days but apparently i can’t phrase anything how i’d like to

The more I read about executive dysfunction, the more I’m convinced I struggle with it and wonder how long I’ve been struggling.

[bugcthulhu]

Spanish/Iberian mythological creatures: So Many Goblins edition

Marraco: Wingless dragon with a very wide mouth and stomach. While said to swallow people whole, it is also treated as a spiritual guardian

Ayalga: Nymphs that guard vast treasures in caves or palaces, alongside dragons. Some were cursed into the role, but many just do it from the get-go. Only go outside during a single night of every year, and may offer some of their riches to the men that seek them out if they follow certain rituals. A dragon whose Ayalga has abandoned them for good succumbs to despair and abandons the land.

Crespell: Cave-dwelling, child-eating monsters covered in warts that spew flames from their eyes. Always appear in groups of seven: six tiny ones and one gigantic.

Ollaparo: A man-eating cyclops with an additional eye on the back of its head

Xacio: Amphibious beings that live at the bottom of rivers. Usually presented as merfolk, but sometimes they have the lower bodies of lizards.

Carmenco: A creature covered in woolly black hair that prowls the mountains. Settles in abandoned houses and prevents them from falling to disrepair, but spotting one brings years of bad luck. Can be driven away by throwing stones at the house its chosen.

Nonell: Horse-sized dog of dense, flowing white fur and black eyes. Its arrival precedes the fall of snow in mountain areas.

Cucala: Black birds that dislike being seen and emerge in droves during the darkest nights. Extremely dangerous, and really noisy

Sacauntos: “Grease puller” A bogeyman that carves children open to remove and devour their body fat. Carries its bounty around in a sack

Maruga: Tiny critters that swim in rivers and ponds. Their bite makes women pregnant, but what they are pregnant with is not specified.

Lambiron: Demonic being with the power to poison sources of water, make fields go dry and ruin crops

Mouro: Dark-skinned, really tall humanoids (sometimes flat out giants) that live underground. Extremely skilled in mining and metallurgy, to the point everything they own is made of gold, and are immensely rich. Often made deals with humans with gold as payment, but humans had to never reveal the source of said gold, or else it would turn to coal….or the Mouros would kill them straight away. Said to love wine, and have outstandingly beautiful women

 (The Mouros are a really tricky one because their name sounds almost exactly like Moro, which is the word for the ancient muslim invaders of Spain, and a modern-day derogative slang to refer to muslims. Coupled with everything else about them… yeah)

 Serpe: Very much like the Cuelebre in that they’re giant snakes with bat wings and extraordinarily hard scales, usually guarding the treasures left behind by the Mouros. Other times they’re women cursed into the form of huge white snakes, waiting for someone to break their curse

 Zarronco: A child-eater that usually takes the form of a huge insect

 Bloody Pirico: Bogeyman that resembles a bloody, skinless humanoid. Steals lost children.

 Half-Face: Another child-eater, appears as a figure with a single arm, a single leg and a single eye, like a body that’s been bisected.

 Malismo: The Spanish answer to norse trolls, a drooling, excessively hairy, stinking, hideous and malicious monster that dies when exposed to sunlight. Though said to be on the small side, they are noted as extremely dangerous due to their knowledge of sorcery

 Trasgo: The quintessential Spanish goblin, usually depicted with a hole in the palm of each hand. Though not evil, it is an obnoxious prankster that loves playing tricks on the people it shares a house with. May sometimes take a shine to said families, which means it’ll follow them wherever they go. Extremely hard to get rid of

 Trasno: Similar to the trasgo in many aspects, the trasno is also said to assault people in forests, and stalk travellers to bring misfortune upon them

 Martinico: Benevolent and helpful goblin, though terrifying if upset. Has the ability to shapeshift into animals

 Tardo: Unlike its brethren, a genuinely evil goblin with green skin and sharp teeth, usually carrying a small sword. Causes nightmares

 Quarantamaula: Half-man, half-chicken, half-vulture. Jumps from roof to roof to make noise and scare children.

 Cerdet: Snaggle-toothed hairy pig that spooks travellers at night, loves riding horses

 Goncho: A beautiful male giant that takes wives away from their husbands, appearing only when said wives want him to do so

 Maragassa: Female figure that causes anguish and grief on women.

 Pardalot: Bird that feeds its chicks with human children and enjoys the warmth of fire and smoke, entering houses through the chimney

 Man of the Noses: Self-explanatory, a man possessing as many noses on his body as days there are in a year. Benevolent, but in some areas it is treated as a bogeyman that can be bribed away with money.

 Aneto: A giant that refused to help Jesus when he arrived exhausted and hungry to his domain, was punished by being transformed into a mountain. Only recovers his conscience on stormy days, and all he does is wail about his fate.

Meiga Xuxona: Blood-sucking witch that takes the form of a bumblebee.

 Falugue: Tiny being similar to the Nyitus that enters the bodies of humans and devours the inner ear, rendering them deaf

 Avelainya: Spectral butterfly that can be black or white depending on whether it brings good or bad omens. Might be related to Cuques, glowing worms that appear at night and are likened to the souls of the dead

 Famelier: A goblin with a huge head and mouth, and a terrible voice, born from containing a certain kind of ephemeral grass inside a black bottle. Constantly asks for either food or work, will indulge the former if not given the latter.

 Boet: Another servile entity, except this one will go out of its way to NOT do any tasks after begging its master for some.

 Freba: Small, shiny fairy that uses crickets and/or legless lizards as steeds. So beautiful anyone who spots one falls into lovesick melancholy

 Joanet: Luminous goblins that can be summoned to find hidden treasure

 Barruget: Goblins of elongated heads and immense strength that usually live deep in wells, but might emerge in groups on days of bad weather to play in the raging waves. A prankster that can be placated by offering it bread with cheese.

 Martinet: Born from mushrooms, extremely fast, easy to anger, and outrageously powerful, capable of changing the course of rivers or altering mountains. Is repelled by snake drool

  Negret: Black goblin that turns into a pile of coins if someone touches it while holding a candle

 Telles-Melles: Invisible goblin that watches over children and plays with them.

 Follet: Sometimes said to be a goblin, sometimes just said to be a special gift. Either way it is tied to an individual person and grants them powers.

 Rotlla/Rotlan/Errolan: A version of the fictional Sir Roland, wielder of Durendal, in which he is an heroic giant. Rode an equally gigantic one-eyed horse that could chew through mountains.

 Pesanta: Sometimes a huge dog, sometimes a huge cat, both with legs made of iron. Enters houses from under doors or through walls and sits on people as they sleep, giving them nightmares and great pain

 Pupieirinya: Forest fairies that love bread crumbs, very quick and very silent. Can hear the voices of children that are too young to speak, and bring them gifts.

 Lavandeira: Old woman that sits by rivers washing clothes and calls for passersby to help. Ignoring her pleas or folding the clothes in the same way she does nets you extreme bad luck, if not guaranteed death.

 Canouro: Vaguely defined evil entity associated with water. Fond of mortally wounding children on the arms of their parents

Butoni: Hairy bogeyman with claws, horns and two faces that enters houses through keyholes

Aideko: Wind spirit said to be responsible for every disease and disgrace that cannot be explained by conventional means. An even more malevolent variant, the Aidegatxo, also controls storms. Can only be driven off through magic.

 Es Vedra Giant: Sea-dwelling. Hunger for human flesh only surpassed by his love of octopi. Will eat until it can’t move anymore

 Saint Llorenc’s Dragon:  Brought to the land by foreign invaders, originally very small but grew to monstrous proportions by devouring everything in its path, and soon claimed an entire mountain. Survived what should’ve been a fatal sword strike, forcing its slayer to call upon divine intervention to finally smite it down

 Altzuruku Dragon: Enormous and fierce. A knight called SIR GASTON fought it to a stalemate for weeks, some say months, and finally had to resort to feeding it an ox skin filled with gunpowder to do the trick, blowing its head off.

 Espillet’s Dragon: Considered one of the dracs, of deadly all-rotting stench. Terrorized the city of Valencia until a man called Espillet slayed it in return for avoiding life-long prison and reuniting with his lost love. In one version, however, the dragon merely scared people away to live in peace, and the city blamed it for all sorts of kidnappings. Espillet had no choice to kill it anyway, even if he felt pity for the beast.

[slickjoneshq]

• BASICS •

Full name: Mercedes Evelyn Jones.

Nickname(s) or alias(es): Cedes, Mercy. Was Cedes D’Ass when she first started porn

Preferred name(s): Mercedes or Cedes.

Date of birth: July 25,1991.

Zodiac sign: Leo.

Religion: Protestant Christian (still practicing)

Gender: Cis-Female

Preferred pronouns: she/her

Sexual preference: everyone

Romantic preference: everyone

Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Resides in: San Fernando, CA

Occupation: Adult Film Star, Occasional Back up Vocalist

Language(s) spoken: English,  Jamaican Patois

Native language: English

• BACKGROUND •

Birth order: The eldest.

Level of education: BFA

How were their grades? Always did well in her music and theory classes but those damn english classes were the bane of her existence.

Best childhood memory: The Jones women teaching her and her sisters the family dance.

Family’s economic status: solidly middle class

Childhood career choice: Janet Jackson

School subject they excelled at:

School subject they had trouble with: American History and English

• APPEARANCE, VOICE & MANNERISMS •

Birthmarks/scars/distinguishing marks: She’s got a birthmark on her right knee identical to that of her maternal great grandmother. She has a small scar at the top of her lip from busting her lip as a kid and one across her arm from an accident playing at school and breaking her arm.

Tattoos: Mercedes has her daughters initials behind her right ear , a pair of lips on her left hip. The 91 on her left ring finger is fading but she’s got three purple flower on her ribcage.

Piercings: She’s got both sides of her nose pierced but usually opts to wear her left side with a silver hoop, dubbing it her “lucky side”. She has about four piercings in her left ear and two in right ear. She used to have the dimples in her back pierced but took those out after she got pregnant.

Dominant hand: Right.

Frequently worn jewelry: A gold necklace with the letters MJ in loopy script with two moonstones around the letters. A sliver chain with a small ruby in it.

Speech style: Depends on her moods. Usually in a clear voice with a small accent coming about when she gets around friends from home and a not terrible island accent.

Verbal tics: Spending the first three years with and around made pronouncing the number three sound like the number tree.

Scent: usually of her mario badescu shower gel and laundry detergent. will spice it up add perfumes now and again.

Posture: A soft slope in the shoulders

• PERSONALITY •

Personality type: enfp

Positive traits: gregarious, passionate, soft hearted.

Negative traits: loyal to the point of stupidity, head-strong, egoistic

Usual mood: relaxed and upbeat.

Insecurities: her body, her finances, her relationship with her child

Fears: too many to list but top five include; something happening to her daughter, her mom watching videos, being alone forever, having to settle for a life she doesn’t want, spiders.

Comforts: mint tea, food, wine, her morning peace playlist, the sound of her daughters laughter

Habits/quirks: cracking her knuckles, pacing, listening to her music, licking her lips,

Nervous tics:  chewing her lip, tapping her foot , shaking her knee

Superstitions: makes wishes at 11:11 whenever she remembers, throws salt over her left shoulder when cooking, corn bread black eyed peas and collard greens at new years.

Pet peeves: people who talk with a full mouth, people who chew loudly, singers who can’t find their pitch.

• HEALTH & PSYCHOLOGY •

Diet: mercedes isn’t usually one to miss meals but she usually makes sure to make one day a week a vegetarian/vegan day. but she’s loves her greens and salads but you’ll  have to pry her creamy dressings from her cold dead hands

Alcohol Use: known to indulge in a good glass of wine during the week.

Drug Use: smokes weed socially will use cigarettes when under extreme duress.

Addictions: unless you count sugar and bad love nope.

Allergies: regular seasonal allergies and people who can’t sing.

Exercise habits: makes a priority to head to the gym at least four times a week to work on her fitness and bump her music loud as hell.

Sleeping habits: Mercedes is a pretty normal sleeper but since the birth of her daughter she’s become a lighter sleeper and someone who rises at at least seven am just because.

Any physical ailments/illnesses/disabilities? N/A.

Any mental illnesses/disorders? possibly suffered post-partum depression after birth of daughter isn’t a huge fan of talking about that time.

Enneagram Type: Type 3 (the Performer)

Moral Alignment: true neutral

Temperament: phlegmatic

Element: fire

Hogwarts House: slytherin

Intelligence Type: musical intelligence

• VIEWS ON... •

Life: it’s hard as hell.

Death: a possible pathway to some where your spirit goes

Love: a joke. point. blank. period. still wants to secretly have it romantically one day

Sex: is fun and a great way to get to know those who also like sex.

Marriage: not for her.

Divorce: a falling out of two people who should’ve never been together in the first place.

Family: a necessity. doesn’t always mean blood.

Friends: another necessity.

Politics: would love to say she doesn’t do them but like her life is on the line.

Religion: something ultra personal to her. Mercedes is still a practicing Christian and prays regularly as well as tithing to causes and other organizations.

Work: a necessity, idle hands are the devil’s playground.

Money: money makes the world go round.

Alcohol/Drug Use: make sure you’re using it to enhance or unwind. if she finds she’s using something too much as a crutch she typically tries to go two weeks detox of it.

Tattoos/Piercings: she’s covered in them and loves them on other people.

Swearing: makes talking fun

• FAMILY •

Father(s): Harper Jones

Describe their relationship: Mercedes remembers much of her life with her father as him being a positive but often passing presence. He was a military man.

Mother(s): Cecelia “Lia” Jones.

Describe their relationship: Her rock in the past but in a tough place currently.

Pet(s): a siberian mixed cat named Tizzy.

• QUESTIONNAIRE •

Optimistic or pessimistic? A personal pessimist about her own situations an outward optimist about others situations.

Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? Not necessarily methodical but definitely neat.

Book smart or street smart? street smart

Leader or follower? leader

Day or night person? day person

Cat or dog person? cat. obvi.

Coffee or tea? tea

What do they wear to bed? depends if anyone is in bed with her and for what reason. usually a big t-shirt and undies.

Do they snore? … but it’s cute though

What position do they sleep in? usually her stomach.

Which side of the bed do they sleep on? the middle. if someone’s with her then the side farthest from the door.

Can they multi-task or must they focus on one subject at a time?

Do they get restless when things are too quiet or do they favour solitude and silence?

What would completely break them? Anything bad happening to her child.

What was the best thing in their life? so far her daughter’s third birthday and her first back up gig.

[empirexstatextasks]

Christmas Spirit Week

Spirit week ran December 19 - December 25.

MOODBOARD – 5 points Stuff a stocking! Create a moodboard that represents either (1) what your character would put inside a stocking as a gift, or (2) what your character would like to receive in a stocking as a gift. Be sure to include at least 9 photos. Upload it to your own blog or Tumblr and link it to us below. DRABBLE – 10 points Choose a topic to write a drabble about: (1) Your character's best holiday memory, or (2) Your character's worst holiday memory. Make sure it is 350+ words. Post it in your own blog, Tumblr, or the bulletins here on RP.me, then link it to us below. PLAYLIST – 5 points Create a playlist of at least 10 songs your character would play at a Christmas party. Make sure to include the title, the artist, and a link for each song. Post it to your own blog or Tumblr and link it to us below. SURVEY – 5 points Copy THIS SURVEY, paste the questions into your own blog or Tumblr, and answer them there with at least one sentence each. Once it's completed, link it to us in a comment below. PICTURE THIS – 5 points Everyone loves holiday decor, right? Choose five pictures of five different holiday decorations that your character likes, then add 1-2 sentences for each picture explaining why they like them. Decorations could include a favorite ornament, an Elf on the Shelf, Christmas lights – any decor that is typically brought out during the holidays. Post your finished product in your own blog or Tumblr and link it to us in a comment below. SPREAD SOME CHEER – 10 points Visit three members from the group and send a nice comment to each of them, preferably holiday-themed. Each comment should include an image or gif and be 3+ sentences; in other words, please put some thought into your comments. At least one of your comments should be to someone you don't already have a connection with (and yes, we will check). Take screenshots from your sent comments and link them to us below. HEADCANONS – 5 points Tell us some holiday headcanons you have about your character! Copy and paste the following questions into your own blog, Tumblr, or the bulletins here on RP.me, then answer them with at least two sentences each. Link it to us in the comments below. 1) What is a memory your character associates with the holidays? What is so meaningful to them about that day? 2) What is your character's favorite holiday song or carol? What is it about this song that they like? 3) What holiday song/carol does your character absolutely loathe? Why do they dislike this song so much? 4) What is your character's favorite holiday movie? Is it a cheesy Hallmark movie, or is it a classic? Why is this their favorite holiday movie? Do they have a certain memory attached to it, or do they just like the plot? 5) What is one holiday tradition your character does every year? Do they bake cookies? Go look at Christmas lights? Spend extra time with family?

[paulbenedictblog]

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Bbc news Primaria de Carolina del Sur: dónde estamos en la carrera demócrata

Bbc news

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Describe copyright Getty Pictures

The Democratic mosey is entertaining south as voters in South Carolina secure their notify on who must be the birthday celebration's White Residence nominee.

We're restful a prolonged map off incandescent who will secure on Donald Trump in the autumn, but after the three contests to this point - Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada - Senator Bernie Sanders leads, trailed by ex-mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Extinct Vice-President Joe Biden is calling on the explain - and its African-American voters in explicit - as a lifestyles raft for his floundering advertising and marketing campaign.

Whoever wins on Saturday night will set up both delegates and fundamental momentum into the spring.

That is what to secure a study out for in the next leg of the 2020 election.

Bbc news A brief refresher

Or now not it's main season in The US.

Initiating with the Iowa caucuses in February, all the map to a Puerto Rico main in June, the birthday celebration nominee will be chosen thru a sequence of contests in every US explain and territory.

In all chance, the Republican nominee will be Trump. Nevertheless for Democrats, or now not it's restful a toss-up. The finaleight candidatesare hoping to maintain an unbeatable majority of1,990 delegatesnationwide - awarded thru caucuses and primaries - to ensure their nomination.

South Carolina's voters will solid the final votes ahead of so-called Perfect Tuesday subsequent week, when a third of delegates will be chosen.

Bbc news One particular person to witness

Describe copyright Getty Pictures

Prognosis by the BBC's Anthony Zurcher

Joe Biden became as soon as the determined entrance-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. About a weeks ago, after a string of defeats, his advertising and marketing campaign teetered on the edge of electoral abyss. Now the dilapidated vice-president is scrambling his map abet into competitors.

While the advertising and marketing campaign is reluctant to confess it, the South Carolina main - the first in the southern US, with an voters that better reflects the diversity of the Democratic Occasion than Iowa or New Hampshire - is set up or rupture for Biden.

"In case you send me out of South Carolina with a victory," Biden said on Wednesday, "there will be no stopping us."

That stays to be viewed. This a lot is for certain, then again.

Purchase, and Biden's advertising and marketing campaign lives to compete in the explain contests ahead. Lose, and or now not it's on the subject of time to lower the curtain on his half of-century profession in American politics.

Be taught more from Anthony right here.

Bbc news One number

Getty Pictures

20 delegatesBernie Sanders' newest lead over his 2020 opponents

Because it stands, Senator Bernie Sanders sits on the tip of the Democratic pile in phrases of delegate depend.

He is20 delegates aheadof his nearest competitor, Pete Buttigieg, who trails with25, followed by Joe Biden's15.

With months to mosey and thousands of delegates left unclaimed, a mere 20-delegate incompatibility could perchance perchance now not appear to be a lot. Nevertheless the shrimp sum belies Sanders' an increasing number of ambitious lead.

The 78-year-used solidified his frontrunner station final week after claiming a decisive victory in Nevada.

And, importantly, entrance polls demonstrate he received a commanding53% of the Hispanic vote. This could occasionally perchance perchance indicate there could be more merely info coming for Sanders as he moves to votes in both California and Texas subsequent week - both diverse and delegate-heavy states.

Bbc news One question

What does this all-white candidate subject acquire unhealthy about African American voters?

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Media captionThe supreme fantasy relating to the 'gloomy vote'

Bbc news One side to witness for

South Carolina Republicans received't acquire a serious on Saturday, but some will vote anyway.

It is miles one among 15 states with ancommence main, meaning that Democrats, Republicans and unbiased voters alike can all solid their ballots in the Democratic contest.

And some conservative groups, like Operation Chaos, are taking income - encouraging Republicans to solid a pollfor Bernie Sanders.

The "main cause" is to reveal commence primaries, said Christopher Sullivan, an organiser for Operation Chaos.

Nevertheless, as Sullivan sees it, there could be additionally a fringe income: disrupt the Democratic mosey.

So why Sanders?

Describe copyright Getty Pictures

Senator Sanders is the candidate that the Democratic establishment "least needs", Sullivan says. "I mediate this would perchance perchance prolong the distress of the Democratic main for the Democrats."

The actual affect of this so-called "birthday celebration raiding" on outcomes is belief of as nominal, but will seemingly be a speaking point as Saturday's main unfolds.

Bbc news One voter

Nicholas Judd, 18, Aiken, South Carolina

I secure but to utilize a candidate that I enhance, and even a birthday celebration as I'm a moderate, centrist unbiased. I'm going to wait to listen to from both nominees in the lead as a lot as the regular election to utilize whether to vote for the first birthday celebration nominees or to jot down in a candidate that I will morally enhance. It appears that there are too many candidates that I construct now not like fairly than particular person who I will actually enhance.

What's at stake in the election, I mediate, is for The US to search out its instruct as a unified explain. No topic the tip result, I mediate the greatest and essential task for the country is to search out healing and team spirit from the tumultuous previous four years.

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[ftpthemovement]

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. Luke 6:27-28

First off, I love that we have the God given ability to mediate on the living word of God! All of the resources God has given us in this day and age allows us to dig deep into the details of scripture! God willing, over the next week we will be able to cover Luke 6:27-36, but for now we are going to review 6:27-28.

Notice from the start of this verse it says, “To those who hear, Love your enemies.” Someone might say how does one love his enemy? Without a long explanation, you can see what God defines as love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

“Doing good to those who hate you,” is the actions you take from implementing the same scripture! Look it up!!! Lol

“Bless those who curse you?”

Why would someone be cursing a follower of Christ in the first place? Aren’t they supposed to be some of the most kind, loving, forgiving, generous people in the world? If they are following Christ wouldn’t they themselves be like him as followers? The answer is yes, they would be like Christ! But, to be fair, you have to take into account how Christ was treated by the world.

With there being far too many examples to use, we can clearly see that the spirit of God was looked at as an enemy to the flesh of man. They said he was the prince of demons, his own family thought he was crazy, he was abandoned by all of his followers, and then sent to be crucified on a tree by the ruling authorities of that time. We know that he was righteous, yet the world cast him out as if he was scum.

Knowing this is how they treated Christ, we can look to the world of God to see how followers will be treated. Here’s a few examples of scripture:

“Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.” Luke 6:26

“It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” Matthew 10:25

“Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?” 2 Corinthians 2:15-17

Seeing that these are the examples set, we know what we have to look forward to from the world, if we are truly followers of Christ. Though this may be tough, he has given us the spirit to endure, and works all things towards the good of those who love Him.

Let’s continue!

“Pray for those who abuse you”

Before I jump right in, we need to take a second gain a positive perspective and filter everything through the lens of God love. Through that lens we will see that we an amazing opportunity to meet people right where they are, and see them through the live God has for them, and where he intends for them to be. Though they have the freewill to make whatever choice they please, scripture says God is long suffering hoping all come to repentance! That’s truly powerful!

Knowing this truth, we as his ambassadors have the ability to stand in the face of adversity and do the same works Christ did and far greater, through praying for those who abuse us? Yes, and more so! Often times when we are abused, our flesh has a natural reaction to meet force with force, or to run away from the abuse to isolation. Both responses can be lead to detrimental results if the motives of our hearts our impure.

When he says, “pray for those who abuse you.” He’s offering us a way to put him in charge of the situation and not rely on ourselves, but instead trust him to reign supreme over the situation. That doesn’t mean to passively accept the abuse, the reaction God requires of us is to pray.

Now, before we go any further, I must note that due to several translations, the word used here is “abuse.” In our generation this could take on many various forms and could cause a misinterpretation of the original intention of the word. Because many people seek to make multiple translations, they are forced to use other synonyms that can sometimes be a bit of a stretch from the original meaning.

So, if you want to truly understand scripture go to the original source of the Hebrew and the Greek. Even then, if we are being extremely honest and transparent, it’s difficult to fit some 5 million Greek words into roughly 1 million English words. But the original word used from abuse is “μισοῦσιν,” which means to hate. So it should read in original translation “pray for those who hate you.” To me that’s far different than those who abuse you, but it’s just my opinion. Nevertheless, we are called to seek God and his will by taking action not in revenge, but through the power of prayer.

I hope all this makes sense!

Now, we have an amazing opportunity to go into the world knowing that the spirit God has placed in us is stronger than the spirit of the world! We know that true followers are going to face extreme adversity, and that’s the cost of picking up our cross and following while we live on this earth. Christ himself is coming to make all things new, and until then we have the ability to be his ambassadors here on earth!

We have been commissioned with the task of spreading the good news of the gospel to all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. We have the opportunity as ambassadors, to be the living representatives of love that we have been called to be, through Christ finished works!

Stay strong and encouraged, surround yourself with likeminded individuals, having no root of division among you. Be strengthened by one another through edification of Gods word and the Holy Spirit, spurring each other to do the good works he has called us to do before he laid the foundations of the earth.

I pray that each of you find peace and assurance in Gods finished works, never forsaking the assembly, and always pushing towards the common goal unity in the body.

God in us the hope of glory. Sola Fide ES

[theforsythes]

God’s small missionaries...!

You may well have picked up on various elements of what I’m about to share, but it’s been such a special experience, I wanted to record the complete journey...

In July, just as summer break was starting, my name was ‘picked out of the hat’ to plan and lead the Bible study that we host here in our home. We’d decided we would lead in pairs so I needed to choose someone. As I thought about it, I felt that it was right to ask Matthew to lead with me. 

Matthew, along with a number of youngsters, take an active part in the Bible study, leading the way with the memory verse each week and reading, sharing thoughts, etc. I knew Matthew would be great at taking on the leaders role. He happily agreed to co-lead.

So, one afternoon Matthew and I went upstairs into our study and we spent time praying together and then planning the session. It was quite something to see how confidently he chose songs, worked through the teaching notes with me and put together an order for the study. He even chose who would read what, in terms of members of the group and thought about some examples of his own experiences, to share!

Our theme was, ‘Why do we do what we do? Why do we go to church and spend time together as God’s family?’ I had listened earlier in the week to a very good sermon, speaking on that subject and Matthew even sat and listened to that on the afternoon before the study. 

After hearing that message, he decided he was going to write something to give out to everyone. What he made was just beautiful!....an acrostic poem, using ‘The family of God’ / ‘La familia de Dios’, as the title. His ideas showed me just how much he himself understands!

He wrote his poem by hand and then typed up what he has written (after asking a friend to check through the spelling / grammar)...

His poem said:

Slow to anger

Armed with the Spirit

Family of Christ

Love each other

Merciful with each other

Interested in each other

Lies are not part of this family

We go to church and

Accompany each other in difficult times

Devoted to one another

We wait patiently and in

Difficulties we talk together 

Immense love

We pray together

We are one big family

(Written by Matthew!)

Wow! As I read, I thought to myself, ‘I couldn’t do this in English, let alone in Spanish!’ His ideas and understanding just jumped off the page! 

So, what he wanted to do was to give each person a copy. We printed them off and we were set for the study. 

When the study began on the Thursday evening, Matthew ended up taking the lead completely for the first 10-15 minutes. I was caught up feeding Noah and getting him into bed - but felt completely confident that Matthew would get on with opening in prayer, worship, etc, no problem.

When I did join him, he made me smile, whispering to me ‘I changed the order a bit and we’re onto the verses now’ :-) 

He shared, led, gave instruction and did amazingly well with it all! I kind of sat on the sidelines, just sharing in the one or two slots we had planned for me to share! Towards the end, Matthew told the group that he had something to share with them. He gave out his poem and all eyes were on him as he stood before them and read his poem. Wow! Jonny and I just listened, taking in what we could see - the leadership, humility, boldness and knowledge in God’s young missionary! 

The group were so, so encouraging and complimentary of Matthew - they gave him a clap and discussed what he had written for some time afterwards. Matthew then went on to set them a challenge - a ‘homework’, as he said to them! To see if they could write an acrostic of their own, on a theme of their choice.

Well, the group went away for summer break with a task to do and all congratulated Matthew as they left. 

I think in the weeks of no routine, no classes, lazy mornings, days out, etc, we had all forgotten somewhat about the challenge!....well, in our family we had anyway!...

This week was the first Bible study since the break and we - Matthew in particular - were so taken aback when six of the members of the group arrived with their poems - two had even typed them out and made copies for everyone! Wow! As we began to look, we were so blessed to read what they had written!

One lady, before the study began, still stood from coming in, began to hand her poem to each person and explained “A ver Mateo ese dia me dio una seguridad que habia perdida...doy gracias a Dios por su vida” WOW! Hearing her impacted me so much that I even noted down her words.....

"Seeing Matthew that day gave me a security that I had lost...I give thanks to God for his life" Wow!

Well, how blessed we all were this Thursday as that lady along with another member of the group, led the study  - with a real confidence. They had taken a lot of time to prepare. They had each verse that we were going to study typed out on a little piece of paper and given out to different people. They had taken different parts each to lead and shared in a really special way. 

The evening finished with both ladies - along with other members of the group, sharing their poems. It was truly special - particularly to hear the experience of each one as they has chosen their themes and gone through the process of writing them. How special! 

I had discovered just before the study - via Katherine, that some of the group had written a poem. When I told Matthew, he was so surprised! I suggested he bring out some stickers to give out - just as a fun way to say ‘well done’. Matthew said to me “I want to give them something from me instead” so he made some certificates, with a space for each name! The group wanted a photo with their certificates! .... :-) 

We’ll share the videos (that they were happy for us to record :-), of the poems being read out on the next post (they won’t insert within this post for some reason!)....Although you may not understand the words, we wanted to share them with you so you could be a part of the special evening we had! 

. 

[jumpiona]

Friluftsliv, Outdoor Education and Recreation or a both unique and by far the best course at University ever

The following is my personal report about the course that we had to write as an assignment. [Daher ist es auch auf Englisch ;)]

Introduction

I want to begin this report about the course Outdoor Education and Recreation at Örebro University in spring semester 2019 with a quote from Albert Einstein: Education is not the learning of facts, it’s rather the training of the mind to think. Education nowadays is often focused to learning of facts especially in my field of study Business Administration. In this course education is conducted differently with the nature as a trainer of the mind to think. In the following I will describe how we can learn from nature and what activities we did in order to do so.

This course was taking place in spring 2019 during five weeks and is offered to international students being on an exchange semester at Örebro University but also open for Swedish students counting for 7,5 ECTS. As a result the participants came from eight different countries (Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, USA). The focus is on outdoor life and therefore major parts of the course were taking place outdoors either in nature reserves surrounding Örebro or on three different trips. The first one took place in the region Härjedalen in the north of Sweden where we spent four nights in an apartment and went cross-country skiing every day. On the second trip we visited Urnatur located at the lake Visjö in Ödeshög and learned about fire-making and other survival techniques. We slept in a big kåta when the temperature was around zero degree. During the third and last trip we climbed and repelled as well as rode Icelandic horses and we slept under the open sky. 

Overall we had been very lucky with the weather conditions for the whole course period, in the mountains it was sunny with a balmy breeze and temperatures between minus and zero degrees, during the other trips it was sunny with spring-like conditions. For the most part of our group all the activities were new and they have for example never done skiing or horseback riding before. I had previous knowledge for most of the activities nevertheless I made some new experiences and also learned a lot. At the end we organized an outdoor day for pupils of the fourth and fifth grade at Sörbyängsskola in Örebro.

Outdoor Education

If you want your mind to train to think you need to get some background knowledge as a basis. Theory and practice belong together (Svenning, 2009), that is why we often first had theoretical explanations and afterwards the opportunity to try it. During the skiing tour we learned that a wind sack is a fast and efficient way to shelter when a blizzard is occurring. It is important to dig a sufficient hole in the snow where all persons as well as all equipment have space. We tried to open the wind sack and experienced that it is necessary to hold the tarp at any time tightly and also to sit on the edges to have a protection against wind and snowfall. On the second trip we got some theoretical background about fire-making before we could try the techniques ourselves. Generally, a fire needs oxygen, heat and fuel. To start a fire it is therefore important to have some tinder (something that burns fast such as birch bark or dry pieces of wood). You need to assemble your tinder not to tight in order to let the fire get oxygen. As fuel and a lighter you can either use matches but also fire steel or a flint stone and even friction. It is always important to prepare everything you need to get a sufficient fire because in the first minutes the fire is like a newborn child which you should not leave alone. Education in the outdoors involves the person as a whole, with all senses present (Svenning, 2009). Among different factors influencing the attention of a human being I want to describe three in detail. For example fear can be a reason that not all senses are present. To make all members of the group feel comfortable and not be afraid we started with a group activity, an ice breaker. We made a circle, joined hands and walked around in the circle while singing. This so-called funny dance might look from the outside really funny but when participating you feel immediately part of the group.

Being with all senses present also means that you are not stressed. The schedules of the trips allowed us to have free time in order to learn more about techniques being demonstrated or to enjoy and meet the nature. I was very interested in the tree houses at Urnatur and the building techniques and I got the chance to explore it further in the morning after breakfast with my friend. Besides the tree houses there are both blog and bole houses but no matter Håkan Strotz, the founder and owner of Urnatur, builds everything himself manually. As part of his preservation approach he only rents machinery when needed. Guests can come to sleep in the wooden houses and cook with ingredients solely produced organic in the garden as well as on the farm.

We also had the chance to go to the lake Visjö with a canoe. We only had less than half an hour but it is an evidence what are the benefits of activities in the nature: Your senses are activated, you hear, feel and smell better when you get oneself into the nature and you can concentrate on yourself. As positive outcomes you are more concentrated and able to focus on your next tasks. Canoeing is just one example of a variety of outdoor activities which have in my opinion the same effect such as biking, climbing, hiking, riding, skiing or just a walk. When it is a demanding activity where you need to bring yourself to do it you might also strengthen your self esteem and self-confidence. A useful exercise to sharpen your senses is the snapshot game we did during the course: In a team of two leads one the other on the shoulder and shows them a spot. When he says click the other one opens the eyes just for a moment and try to remember the spot to show it later. As already mentioned it enhances the connection to the nature but builds also trust to your team member.

Outdoor Leadership

If you're always prepared as a leader the others will never learn how to make it. As a good leader you know when you should give some extra support and information to prepare your group. For instance bringing the right equipment for certain outdoor situations is very important especially when sleeping outdoors. I found the most essential is a sleeping back which holds you warm even when the temperatures are around zero degree. Otherwise you will have an unrelaxing night with difficulties to sleep. To be well rested is a third requirement to have all senses present. In other situation it is better to give no information to let the members of the group find a solution or their personal outcome. During the first trip in the winter conditions we had a practice where we should be alone for one hour. We could climb with our cross-country skis a mountain or walk around and just enjoy the nature. This activity showed me that it is refreshing to be for a certain amount of time absolutely independent and free, just you and the nature. I developed in the way that I developed self-competence, be more myself I belief more in my abilities. Additionally, others want to learn from me and in this way I can be a leader. Especially for the cooking which was during the trips a group activity. I discovered that there are mainly three reasons: Firstly, if everybody brings its own food different utensils and fire settings are needed and one is interfering another because space on and around the fire is limited. Secondly, especially when cooking outdoors there are some preparations like chopping wood and starting the fire involved and it is better when everybody helps together because this takes time. Last but not least cooking in a group improves the team spirit. I found these outcomes when reflecting on it afterwards, beforehand I and also some others were a bit annoyed because we were expected to cook in random groups. But I not only learned to be a leader but also to listen to others and learn from them. For example I wanted to try to chop wood with an axes and it was not working well. Drew demonstrated it and explained the main points like standing brought for safety reasons, hold the axes with both hands and get power from above the head. With the next try it worked perfectly. Since my family has a farm I have seen often people chopping wood or heard how to do it but never tried it before. I see it as a evidence of the How we learn theory of William Glasser. Namely, we learn only 50% of what we see and hear and 80% of what we experience personally but 95% of what we teach to someone else. I therefore learned that the exchange with others is always highly valuable to learn new techniques or from other views. Due to the fact that our group consisted of eight different nationalities it is interesting to get insights from other cultures. As a result I am more open-minded.

Outdoor Creativity

I also learned to be more flexible to different and changing situations. One of the Germans typical trade is that they want to plan everything to have all in order. Before the course I was more like the typical German but I noticed that you can experience exciting moments when you just live in the moment, open your mind and be spontaneously. During the course we got not all information about what is going to happen at first sight because sometimes you cannot know what will happen, the weather can change etc. Moreover, it is difficult to explain certain situations, you just have to see the surroundings and then you will understand immediately what is the idea. Referring to the cooking I made a plan what to cook but had to adopt some of my long-kown recipes due to the fact that we are staying outdoors with no fridge available and also limited utensils. Some ingredients are in addition in Sweden not or not in the same type available for example I had to find Marsán as a substitute for vanilla pudding powder. To some extend you need to be willing to think differently. For a desert we made I was inspired by a cheese-tray-cake recipe. We put the filling into squeezed oranges and add the actual dough in the bottom of the cake as crumples on the top. We cooked it in aluminum foil over the fire. I was pleased that my idea of preparing it worked so well and that everyone liked it. During the course I got to know an extremely useful device for cooking and baking on the fire, namely the Reflector Oven. Whatever you can make in an electric oven you can make it in the reflector oven. Invented in Sweden, it comes as a space-saving flatpack which can be expanded. It is coated with light metal to reflect the heat when putting it at an angel of 90 degrees to the fire. We used it to make a pie with broccoli and brie as well as for an apfelstrudel.

Summarized you can say nature demands your creativity to cope with the special conditions. Linda Naiman (2014) describes “creativity [a]s the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing.”  According to this definition the dessert we made on the fire was some sort of creativity. There is another example for creativity in nature from the course. When we spend the week in Härjedalen to experience winter conditions we had the possibility to build snow caves. What started with digging of simple holes turned into a snow adventure park with slides and underground tunnels. Since we were a group of three girls we did not have enough power to dig deep although some other guys were helping us. Anyway, we decided to build a “honeymoon suit” (thinking) and created a cave in the shape of a heart (producing). When we visited the fireplace we were supposed to use for the outdoor day with the kids I found one of the iron cauldron painted with silhouettes. This coal painting inspired me to produce coal chalk made out of sticks to paint rocks at the outdoor day with the kids (thinking). We did it by putting small sticks into a can with tiny holes in the cover and placing it directly into the embers of the fire (producing). After 15 minutes under the absence of oxygen in the can the sticks became coal pens.

New ideas involve however a risk of failures and unsteady progress. That is one reason why some companies especially in Germany scotch deviance and therefore creativity (Manager Magazin, 2014). In nature you can learn by making mistakes and be yourself, the nature does not judge you even when you are different.

Conclusion

Overall the course is highly recommendable to everyone regardless which field. The conception of the course with the preparation of an outdoor day for pupils as a final work might focus students from the field of education but it is of value for everyone. As described early if you open your mind you are able to find yourself in the nature. Therefore, you learn what are the benefits of spending time outdoors and how you can recreate in simple ways for instance with a walk in the woods. After the course it becomes obvious that everyone should appreciate natural environments more especially when they are right on your doorstep. In your familiar surrounding you often take the nature for granted but you should see the access to it as something special. A good advice is to show your gratitude with consideration and care. I also found the multinational group very inspiring to get to know different cultures and habits. Anyhow, the group spirit was very positive and nobody was expelled at any time. It was kind of special that I was the only German and even German speaking in the group but I appreciated it.

Obviously, there is not much improvement for the course. It is very well conceptualized and probably unique at Örebro University. The learning objectives and outcomes are fulfilled perfectly. There have a lot of opportunities for activities or learning been given and to some extend everybody could decide how much effort to take. Since I had previous experiences with skiing in general and I was one of the first to be down the hills in the evenings I just practiced the technique by going for some extra rounds on the tracks. A suggestion to get a deeper connection to the nature and what it means to survive in the wilderness as yet would be to go on a hiking, skiing or canoeing tour without returning every evening to a “base camp”.

I want to close as I started, with a quote from Albert Einstein which summarizes the course objectives in a good way and could also be an everyday advice for everybody:

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

Postscript:

After the course I think about doing a holiday program for kids when I am back home in Germany showing them how to use the fire for cooking or baking and use the knowledge and insights I got from the course.