#I think marble statues are like the coolest thing

[angelicathedaisy]

These two busts of Medea and Penelope are both *chef’s kiss* perfection. The emotion portrayed is amazing!

Medea by William Wetmore Story (1819-1895)

Penelope by Leonidas Drosis (1836-1882)

(Medea is on the left Penelope is on the right)

[tteokdoroki]

aali! i made a bunch of cookies recently!

first off, coffee cookies!

and maple shortbread with cinnamon chips!

first time trying these recipes so they dont look as nice but they still taste pretty good! i put cinnamon chips in at the last minute and was a little worried that it would overpower the maple but it didnt so

only thing id change next time is maybe putting the maple cookies into the flower molds instead? the coffee cookies unintentionally became more like shortbread in the molds and the maple shortbread spread out a lot more than i was anticipating (i might test these two recipes again in a week or two)

and then the earl gray cookies! this is the third time trying this recipe i think? i reduced some of the sugar bc it was a little sweet for my tastes last time and baked at a lower temp for longer and the mold has a more distinct outline this time so i think its a sucess. (maybe i'll make the coffee cookies like this too? hmm. food for thought)

and lastly, my pride and joy, potato chip cookies! honey butter and white chocolate to be specific :) i dont think ill be making this variation anytime soon bc those chips are expensive lol

COOKIE TIME COOKIE TIME !!!!! my favourite time of the week

:0 i have never had a coffee cookie i don’t think !!! but im sure they tasted so good i am absolutely dying for one!! the cinnamon n maple ones would look so cute in the flower moulds too, especially if they’ll help with the shortbread like texture? im excited to see how those recipes develop !!

EARL GREY!! the mould you used for them makes them look so cool!! like they’re those pretty marble or stone statues? i love it aaa !! they seem like a success to me and the coffee cookies in that same shape would be interesting !!

AAAA birdie you know if there’s a cookie of yours i want to try more than anything it’s your potato chip and chocolate ones :( and white chocolate is my absolute favourite!!! tummy is rumbling so bad rn, they would be amazing with a cup of tea im sure

thank u for the cookie update!! i love seeing all your cool recipes :( ur the coolest baker i know <3

[wincore]

deck the halls (with spiderwebs) | ldh

pairing: spiderman!haechan x fem!reader

synopsis: donghyuck’s short term goal is to finish his bachelor’s degree even if it’s with a 20% attendance, and his long term goal is to be the smoothest, coolest spiderman ever. the latter, however, doesn’t really work out when he’s crashed into a wall thrice in public because of you.

genre: spiderman!au, bff2l, action (??), comedy, fluff

warning(s): injuries (so many), sexual innuendos, language, j*ke gyl*enh*al slander

words: 10.2k 

song rec: sunflower by post malone, swae lee

notes: ok so. pls read this like a movie in your head bc i was thinking of movies instead of actual literature writing this. also thank you miss cat, pun queen and professional title maker, for donating this title to me bc i could never come up with something so good 😩

There’s a two hundred-foot-tall stone gargoyle in front of Donghyuck’s university. Donghyuck has no idea why there’s a two-hundred-foot-tall stone gargoyle in front of his university. 

It stands proud, eyes trained on the horizon, looking way too lively for marble. In fact, the most disturbing part is probably that the thing is alive. Its face is a little less scary than the actual gargoyle statues at monuments, owing to the rather kind, round shape of its eyes. A stone mustache follows under its nostrils, falling into place (it’s a sculpture) in a way that makes it seem refined. God, why is Donghyuck evaluating a behemoth stone figure obstructing pedestrian traffic? He should get up there and convince it to leave.

“What the fuck is that?” Renjun says from beside him.

“A two-hundred-foot-tall stone gargoyle,” answers Mark Lee, ever so helpful.

“Well, why is it here?” Renjun hisses.

“Uh.” Like Donghyuck mentioned, Mark Lee is ever so helpful with his answers.

You know who’s actually helpful? That’s right—Professor Kim for not kicking Donghyuck out of his classes for the last few weeks. Granted he was only an average of five minutes late and less truck-accident-core than before. The second most helpful person in Donghyuck’s life is obviously Spiderman. If it wasn’t obvious, that’s because he forgot to mention he’s Spiderman.

“When will we get a peaceful walk home?” Jaemin rolls his eyes. “It’s some bullshit every week.”

“It’s not like you have to do anything,” Jeno counters. “Spiderman comes and gets rid of them.”

That’s his cue, and leaving might arouse suspicion but not in this case. Donghyuck knows these guys. They wouldn’t care about finding Spiderman’s identity unless they were rewarded with pizza coupons or chocolate chip cookies. 

“I’m gonna go ahead…” Donghyuck flashes them a pair of finger guns.

“Oh no,” Renjun huffs in annoyance. “You are an asshole but you have to stop leaving us during times of crisis.”

“Ugh. I don’t care about the gargoyle, I care about not getting kicked out of ochem. Spiderman will handle it anyway, right?”

That’s partially true. He does not want to get kicked out of class again but he also doesn’t want an animated gargoyle the size of a Boeing to destroy his campus. He’s going to make this quick. Evading this bunch of idiots isn’t that hard, honestly. 

Just as Donghyuck is about to fasten his pace, he bumps into another unwanted face in front of the engineering hall. 

“Oh, hey, (name).” His voice cracks immediately. 

Donghyuck clears his throat. He’s not trying to impress his best friend since third grade, certainly, but putting on a smoother, deeper, and sexier voice can’t hurt. He needs a rep boost as just Lee Donghyuck. “Hey, (name). Didn’t see you there.”

You cross your arms.

“You are way too relaxed for someone failing ochem,” you chide.

“I’m not failing ochem,” he defends quickly. “I know what aminoethanoic acid is.”

Why would he say that? He's far from smooth now.

“What does glycine have anything to do with that?” You raise an eyebrow. “Weirdo.”

“No… particular reason. God, I’m not arguing with my rich, hot, nerd best friend who tries to act better than everyone else. Resolve your daddy issues first.”

Donghyuck stomps his foot in impatience before attempting to bypass you and your stupidly gorgeous face. (He didn’t say that out loud and he never will.)

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” You grin. “You think I’m hot?”

“That’s why you stopped me?”

“Oh, uh. Right. I need help. You noticed the huge gargoyle outside campus?”

“Huge is an understatement. Either that or you’re really bad at using guesstimating words.”

“Shut up.” Your voice lowers, and Donghyuck hates to admit this, but the sudden spark of concern in your voice tugs at his heart in the most maddening way possible. 

There’s a long pause.

“Well?” 

You mumble out an answer, “That…uh… that may have been my fault.”

“Oh?” Donghyuck straightens. “Is that so?”

“Don’t get cocky.”

“I was born better than everyone else, can’t help it.”

He was better than everyone else till a spider bit him. Now he has to find cats and fight some ridiculous fish monster at 3 a.m (the fish monster was a one-time thing but they get increasingly unbelievable each time) and deal with dark circles as massive as a continent. He thinks he'd make a far better supervillain. Having to be all goody-two-shoes and friendly in public has given him a blow to his dignity. 

But whoever said being a superhero is not fun and games was also a big, fat liar. You get to do sick backflips and gain public praise, you get free churros from old Dominican ladies you happen to help cross the road, and most importantly, you can read all the horrible thirst tweets because everyone has a thing for Spiderman’s voice now. (Donghyuck would wash his brain with bleach to erase those memories.) No, but, really, he might be pretty popular as Lee Donghyuck, but there’s a certain freedom that crimson mask grants him—that he can do anything, and people will still love him. 

And yet, there’s only one person he looks to for love. 

“Look, you know how… aliens and wizards and cyborgs and stuff are totally normal, right? It’s not like I’m putting anyone in mortal danger. Right?” You try to gather your words.

“Uh-huh.”

“I… accidentally… sent a distress signal from one of the pile-of-rocks-looking aliens that visited dad for business last week.”

Donghyuck blinks. “And how… did you send this distress signal?”

“In my defense, it’s really not a thing someone with common sense would suspect.”

“Go on.” A smile is tugging at Donghyuck’s lips, watching you shift your weight from foot to foot. This better be embarrassing enough to tease you till next Halloween.

“I didn’t know singing the lyrics to ‘Last Christmas’ would activate the stupid ring I stole from the aliens, Jesus.”

You hug yourself, avoiding eye contact at all costs. Would you stop being cute? That face of yours has made him swing straight at a building more than once. They even wrote an article on that! It was titled “The baby spider has yet to grasp his powers—find out why!” and they didn’t even get the reason right; pinning it on some crappy conspiracy theory about how glass makes Spiderman weaker. (If only they knew a glance from you is what brings him to his knees.)

“The stupid thing started beeping like crazy and I had to run out of the shower half-naked—don’t picture that, pervert.”

“That’s a terrible accusation, also your terrible singing activated some terrible weird alien device and you never mentioned it to anyone?”

“It’s not terrible, and no! How was I supposed to explain the stealing part to my dad? He’s an intergalactic businessman!”

“It is terrible, it probably sounded like an alien creature wailing for help and hence—activating your little device.”

“Enough with that already! Help me out now.” You huff.

Donghyuck sighs, rolling his eyes at your determined face. Just how capable do you think he is? Sure, he’s your reliable, handsome, popular best friend but it’s not like you know he can shoot webs at stuff and swing around New York City whenever he wants. He’s not letting you shoulder the burden of a secret. (It’s also because you have a loud mouth.)

“And you think I can help because…?”

“You’re Spiderman!”

Donghyuck blinks. What?

“What did you say?”

“You’re Spiderman. What, did you think you could keep a secret from me?” 

Play dumb, he thinks.

“Who’s Spiderman?”

Not that dumb. 

You give him a look, specifically the look that spells ‘Hey, Lee Donghyuck, you’re an idiot and I can see into your soul’. Or maybe, that’s his inner voice talking. Regardless, he’s a little unsure how to respond. Why is it always you ruining his smooth operations?

He breathes out. “No, wait. You don’t understand.”

Donghyuck quickly pulls you into a corner, leaving barely any space between the two of you. He would be uncomfortable like this on any given day, all red in the face and palpitating heart. This is kind of an emergency and though Donghyuck’s job description is handling emergencies, he’s not sure how to react.

“You’re not supposed to say that out loud,” he hisses. “What if someone heard?”

“Oh. Uh… sorry. I didn't think that through.” You flash him an apologetic smile. “Are you actually weak to glass, by the way?”

“No, I’m not. Jesus, has everyone read that theory?”

“Most people in the fanclub.”

“Wait, what?” A surprised chuckle leaves Donghyuck. “Fanclub? You’re in my fanclub?”

“No… not exactly. I heard… from my friends… who are in the fanclub.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“And so are you, if your secret is so easy to figure out.”

“I’m only bad at lying to you.”

“Ugh, whatever,” you groan, throwing your head back. “Can’t argue with you. I only joined it to check up on what cool things you were doing every day. I mean, you fought one of the Aquanoids? So cool.”

“What the fuck is that?”

“You know, eight-foot-tall half-fish with the poison spikes.”

“It has a name? And there’s more of them?”

“Ugh, Hyuck, don’t be boring. You get to swing through skyscrapers and bust some cool moves and save people in times of crisis. I wish I had that kinda superpower. To be free.”

You mumble the last part. He’s come to hate that despondent look on you. But Donghyck knows how to cheer you up. He wasn’t voted class clown from grade six through ten for nothing.

“Wanna go swinging?” He asks.

“What?”

“Through the buildings. Your eyes lit up when you said that. Oh, look, they’re lighting up again. Did you emotionally manipulate me into making this offer?”

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes! You’re the best, Hyuck!”

Donghyuck smiles back at you, the tension growing larger inside his ribcage into a sticky spiderweb of emotions. Then he remembers the two-hundred-foot-tall stone gargoyle. 

“I should- I should deal with your marble mishap first,” he says.

“Is that what you’re calling it? Ooh, do you have secret mission names for each of them?”

He makes a face, an exasperated hand gesture following.

“Right, got it.” 

You walk with Donghyuck side by side, a slight skip to your step.

“So, do you have, like, a secret lair like Batman? Ooh, or a Spidermobile!”

“I don’t even have a driver’s license.”

You laugh, and Donghyuck is grateful for the sound. When the two of you reach the locker room, you still stand outside like a child in front of an ice cream truck. He had no idea you had a thing for superheroes. He might've told you this whole thing earlier.

“Give me some space, creep.” He grabs you by the shoulders to gently push you away, a disapproving look on his face.

“Well, you’re not changing in front of the locker room, are you?”

“No, but it’s so weird having you wait in front like that!”

“Fine, fine.”

You step back until you're pressed to the windowsill and he makes his way inside, quickly closing the door. He's gonna run you through his ‘Do not tell people I'm Spiderman’ manual later in the evening.

Donghyuck has decided to swing out the window of the locker room. It still feels surreal that you know, and he’s not sure if he wants to face you in spandex when you know it’s him. He’s getting a little self-conscious about his butt. 

He shakes his head. 

“Whatever. This’ll be quick.”

Donghyuck climbs out the window, crawling over the wall to the top of the building. He has a great view of the gargoyle from here, and in fact, this stone creature has the greatest set of abs Donghyuck has ever laid eyes on and possibly, will ever lay eyes on. He shoots a web over to the next building, swinging close enough to sling another web at the gargoyle’s shoulder. Thankfully, this did not activate a defense mechanism involving lasers and chainsaws like he anticipated.

Donghyuck lands gracefully, a move he prides himself on, and perches atop the gargoyle’s shoulder. 

“Great abs!” He yells, not sure why he did. “Wait, uh, that’s not the point.”

The creature is still looking over the horizon. He shoots a web at the forehead, hoping it’s not too rude, and lands on its nose. 

“Hello?” He waves his hand in front of its eye. “Anyone in there?”

He follows its vision trained on the horizon. It’s not exactly the horizon, he discovers, but a specific building within the campus. 

Donghyuck groans. He’s gonna have to get you, isn’t he? After a few seconds of contemplating his misery, he swings back over and pretends that was part of his plan. Luck must truly be on your side today.

Donghyuck can’t lie. Your pout gets the best of him. He would’ve rammed straight into the closed window like a fucking bird if he noticed it too late.

“You totally left me!” You huff.

“I did not.” Donghyuck places a hand over his heart. “Anyway, get on.”

“On what? You? Like a bike?”

“Jeez, stop making it sound dirty.”

“Hyuck!” 

He loves the embarrassment in your voice, a grin forcing its way onto his face. You can’t see it, but he gets the feeling you know anyway. How did he not see it coming? That you’d figure it out? Admittedly, it doesn’t feel as awful as he thought it would. A sense of relief washed over him instead. He’s not a terrible liar, but his stomach would always churn trying to keep things from you. Maybe it was because you were always so honest. If you found something interesting, the whole neighborhood would know and if you had a crush, the school would be getting you together with them already. It got on his nerves countless times, but eventually, he found that he loves it’s the way you are.

“You’re choking me, (name),” he says. Your legs are around his waist snug but your arms around his neck are a little too tight.

“Now, who’s being kinky?” You scoff.

“Really not the time, (name). We could fall to our deaths ten storeys below. Just you though. I have lightning-fast reflexes to keep myself alive.”

You groan, your grip on his neck loosening but now your legs tighten. This is going to take a few tries to get right and Donghyuck can only hope you don’t ask for free swing rides around NYC every day. 

Just as Donghyuck is about to swing to the gargoyle’s shoulder, it turns its head in a manner so sudden and unnerving, he almost misses—the web landing near his armpit instead. Donghyuck has never thought of death so soon—not because of the gargoyle but because of your iron grip. Seriously, you could be murdering supervillains left and right if you put this strength to use.

A low whine emits from his throat as he struggles to get up to the shoulder with you on but he does get there.

“Dude, it’s looking directly at us,” you say, getting off him as he falls to the stone beneath immediately, breathing heavily.

“I think God’s looking directly at me.”

“Hello? Hello!” You yell. 

A sudden whirring sound makes the whole unit shake, your hands naturally grabbing onto his arm. It makes him feel strong in a way a prepubescent boy with a first crush would feel so he pays no heed to the rising bloom of emotions in his chest. It’s cool, it’s cool. He’s Spiderman. He’s been bitten by a radioactive spider, and god, he has really sticky hands. He hopes you don’t try to hold them. 

“Greetings.”

An odd smile stretches across the stone structure—odd because it’s freaking cute. 

“Can you, uh, go back to space?” Donghyuck yells.

You smack his chest, eliciting an ‘oof’ from him. “Don’t be rude, Spiderboy.”

You turn back to it.

“What is your purpose here?” You yell.

Donghyuck snickers. “What’s with the fake Thor accent?”

“It’s called a British accent, idiot. And it’s so I sound cool and important.”

He rolls his eyes, although he can’t help the smile.

“I am here to collect an Earth innovation sample as per instructions.” The voice isn't as booming as Donghyuck thought it would be. It's quite friendly, in fact, and the voice emanates from a very specific part of the gargoyle's throat.

“Oh, great, what the hell is that?” Donghyuck asks.

“So you’re not here to destroy Earth and devour its remnants?” You pipe up, frowning. “That’s so boring, man.”

“Shush,” Donghyuck pushes your head down. “You’re not even helping keep earth safe.”

“I’m sorry, say that again? I donate to fighting pollution and global warming every month.”

“What’s an Earth innovation sample?” Donghyuck asks. “Is (name)’s stupid robotics project okay?”

“Hey! I worked for three months on that.”

“And all it does is beep and take photos of street cats.”

“You’re telling me that’s not peak innovation?”

“Maybe if it had a snack dispenser.”

The stone gargoyle seems to be observing your conversation and Donghyuck suddenly feels a little awkward under the hippo-sized eyes.

You clear your throat. “Uh, Mr. Gargoyle, sir? What exactly is an innovation sample?”

“Your latest radiofrequency devices, Miss.”

“Oh, so, like, phones!” You answer, bright-faced and stupidly proud of getting that right. Donghyuck presses his lips together before realizing you can’t see him smile so he might as well.

“Oh, so you won’t answer me but her, Stonehenge? Anyway, I have a great solution. Stay here.”

“It’s not like I’m gonna jump o—”

Donghyuck jumps off the shoulder, a sharp laugh following as he swings around the gargoyle’s arm and then from the knee to finally land in front of a familiar group. If that doesn’t impress someone, they have to be the most boring person in the universe (or multiverse, who knows?)

“Oh my God, it’s Spiderman!” Mark exclaims, lighting up. 

“Don’t make that face, Mark, you’re embarrassing us in front of Spiderman,” Chenle quips.

Donghyuck wonders how disappointed the older boy would be if he learned about Spiderman’s identity. Donghyuck has the urge to tell him just to scandalize him.

“Hey, guys,” Donghyuck greets, “Do you mind if I borrowed your phone? Permanently borrowed, that is.”

“Are you mugging us?” Jaemin asks.

“Well… the two hundred foot stone gargoyle is here to collect data and any phone or computer will do. I mean, I could swing by the labs and get one of those computers that’ve been there since the sixties but I’d feel bad scamming the big guy.”

Donghyuck knows he’s a piece of shit for scamming his friends instead, but he’s serving a higher purpose.

“Oh, well, if it’s really necessary,” Mark responds, shuffling through his bag. Oh, for the love of God, does he have to be the nicest person on earth? Maybe he should’ve been the superhero instead. Or at least his sidekick, because Donghyuck is getting really tired of handling things solo. (Huh, ‘Spiderman and Buggy’ sounds pretty great, he thinks.)

“No, not yours, Android boy,” Donghyuck says, shaking his head. “Give me that.”

He points towards Jaemin’s phone in his hand. Finally. Goodbye to Jaemin’s stupid alarm that wakes up everyone in the whole building but him. (This is a higher purpose, okay? He worships his sleep time.)

“Uh, okay.”

Donghyuck is so glad Jaemin is too tired in the morning to argue. He knows the guy would squabble to death over the smallest things, Spiderman or not. 

“Thanks, guys,” he says, the grin evident in his voice before swinging back.

“Wow. Spiderman.” Mark whispers before getting several elbows from the guys.

Back at the gargoyle’s shoulder, you seem to be engaged in conversation with the thing—Donghyuck isn’t really surprised. After the day he met you and talked your ear off, he learned what it meant to really talk someone’s ear off. And Donghyuck thought he was annoying.

“Here!” Donghyuck yells, waving the phone around.

“We got it!” You tell the gargoyle, smiling brightly.

You’re kind of cute, Donghyuck thinks. You’re a little too cute.

The whirring starts again, the stone structure shaking and Donghyuck is perfectly fine, owing to his sticky feet but that’s when he notices you falling off, a scream dying in your throat. 

He grabs onto your wrist just as you’re about to lose footing and fall backwards to your death.

“Pull me up!” You scream.

“Say please!”

“Fuck you!”

“Do it yourself,” he mutters, pulling you close.

“You- I- You’re- You’re so insufferable, Lee Donghyuck!” You breathe heavily, face steaming from chagrin.

He laughs, the sound resonating in the area and you look like you’re about to pounce on him and beat the shit out of him. The unbeatable Spiderman has only you to fear, after all.

You notice the little door at the neck of the creature, skipping over and peering in.

“Ooh, it’s really dark in here.”

“Just drop the phone, (name).”

“Ugh, fine. Wait, is this Jaemin’s phone?”

“No.”

This ends your whole stone gargoyle ordeal and while Donghyuck’s glad it’s over, he doesn’t enjoy your parting from holding onto him. It’s a weird feeling, like a spider’s woven a web all across his heart and decided to squeeze it into overdrive. Adrenaline doesn't feel this way. No freaky radioactive spider hormone feels this way. 

“See you in ochem,” you whisper, tiptoeing as he sits on the window ledge.

The action, however, catches him off guard and he stumbles backward, falling straight into garbage cans outside the building with a loud, embarrassing cacophony accompanying.

“Are you okay?” You yell, heavily concerned.

Donghyuck can only gesture a thumbs up while he tries to pull his soul back into his body. 

This is bad. This is very bad. Lee Donghyuck has caught feelings in his spiderweb.

Lee Donghyuck starts classes the next day with two bandaids on his face and a bandaged arm. You think the swelling on his cheek isn’t that bad—the puffiness is honestly making him look cute for once. 

This was before you accidentally flew your drone into his face.

“You’re lucky I didn't get stitches,” he grumbles, holding an ice pack to his forehead, where yet another bandaid has been added.

“I’m so sorry, Hyuck, I got so excited to see you I pressed the controller too hard. Do you want me to hold that for you?”

“Hold the weight of my broken heart. Also my bags and the ice pack, yeah, thanks.”

“Drama queen,” you tease.

“You know, you don’t have to walk me all the way back.”

You ignore his statement. Your curiosity is tugging at the corner of every thought you have, and you add a skip to your steps, smiling. 

“Hey, do you lay eggs?”

“What? No! I’m a dude.”

“Do you spit venom?”

“No.”

“Do you never let me hold your hand because your palms are sticky?”

“...No.”

You give him a look and he groans, before yelping at the pain.

“Sometimes they get sticky when I don’t want them to. It’s mostly under control. Besides, why would I wanna hold your sweaty hands?”

You roll your eyes.

“You have your key?” You ask as your apartment comes into view.

“In my bag. Wait, no. My pockets? Oh no. I left it on the roof!”

The energy seems to drain from his face as his eyes roll up in exasperation. He looks back at you with a pointed look. “I’m very responsible—this was all Mark’s fault.”

“What did he do?” You furrow your brows.

“I don’t know, it’s always his fault.”

You shake your head. “I have my key, let’s go. Where would you be without me, Lee Donghyuck?”

“Suffering fewer injuries.”

“Fine.” 

Somehow, you managed to get him to his room without furthering his injuries—despite how accident-prone you are. Hyuck would call it a miracle but his mouth probably needs a nurse checkup too. He says a nap cures everything and you’d call bullshit but he does miraculously heal after a nap. It all makes sense now. 

You have one evening class and you are so going to grill some answers out of Hyuck after that. Only because you think superheroes are cool. It’s just that Spiderman is the coolest. (You had the thought before you learned it was your lame best friend.) And you’re mixing up some of your feelings because surely, your pulse shouldn’t be rising when you think of him. You gulp.

You’re not in love with Spiderman. You’re not in love with Lee Donghyuck. You’re not in love with your best friend. In eighth grade, you had deemed it scientifically impossible to be attracted to him.

However, however, the loudest your heart has ever beaten in your life was caused by just holding onto him. You’re not afraid of heights—you’ve gone bungee jumping before—so even if you blame it on the adrenaline, the doubt will always eat at your mind.

You jog all the way to class, a bit too in your feelings to notice your surroundings. It’s a short walk anyway. 

“(name)!” Jaemin yells from across the street, a big grin accompanying. “Want me to walk with you?”

“Sure!” You smile back. Walking with you will only delay him by ten minutes and it’s not like Jaemin cares about getting to class on time anymore. He’s the only guy that hasn’t cared about class timings even in freshman year—well, him and Hyuck—and you’ve got to say, he does emanate a very relaxing aura. 

What if that’s some superhero power too? You think before shaking your head. It would be convenient if Jaemin was going to sit the villain down for tea and give them therapy. 

“You’re not gonna believe what happened yesterday,” he says.

“The gargoyle?”

“Yup, he took my phone! Why didn’t I complain earlier?” He furrows his brow, hard at thought.

You laugh, about to respond when a loud crash, a grunt, and an ‘oof’ follow one after the other on the opposite side of the street. 

“Is that… Spiderman?” Jaemin blinks.

“Huh?” Your eyes follow to where he’s focused and an incredulous laugh bubbles up to your throat as you try to hold it in.

Spiderman is lying with his back flat on the pavement, and you’re sure Hyuck needs a checkup at the hospital for sure this time. He doesn’t look like he’s in mortal danger, just horribly exhausted after the accumulation of injuries. You run over, Jaemin following with long strides.

“I’m not following you guys, you have a stalker,” Spiderman informs with a finger raised, voice painfully raspy and bordering on a whine. You’re not sure what height he fell from but his back is definitely not okay.

“Okay, Spiderman,” Jaemin says, raising an eyebrow.

“Not you, twerp,” he snaps, groaning as he gets up and you grab onto his arm to help him stand.

“He’s in a bad mood,” you tell Jaemin, apologetic but not sure why. You’re not Spiderman’s mom.

“Also, I need help with my late assignments,” Donghyuck whispers to you.

“I’m sorry, what?” You whisper through your teeth. “You’re making me miss class for this?”

“There really is someone following you!” He whisper-yells.

“Are you both gonna keep aggressively whispering to each other?” Jaemin asks. “(name), I didn’t know you were so close to Spiderman.”

“I’m- uh- We became friends a few days ago,” you explain. 

“Friends is hardly the word,” Spiderman interrupts, “More like a lucky fan.”

You give him a disgruntled look.

“Oh, that’s great for you, (name)!” Jaemin breaks into a teasing smile. “You’re always—”

“Aah, let’s go, Spiderman! I feel an ominous presence. My spidey senses are tingling.”

Spiderman stares directly at you and you can’t see his face, but you think his lips are curling into a smile just about now.

“Are you gonna swing me back?” You ask, hope twinkling in your eyes, and Jaemin chuckles beside you.

“No, my bac—you know what, sure.” He shrugs. You’re not sure what made him agree so fast but you’re overjoyed, a little bounce on your feet following your ‘yay!’

“You’re so cute, (name),” Jaemin says, laughing, and you flash him a peace sign, sticking out your tongue. You don’t exactly think you’re cute. You just get excited easily. (“Like a dog,” Donghyuck said once before getting whacked in the head.)

Jaemin starts, “You know, we should—” 

“Alright! It’s time to leave. Have fun at class, dude,” Donghyuck says, placing an arm around your waist and flashing Jaemin a peace sign, copying yours.

“That’s so rude—”

You’re swung up alongside your best friend, your legs wrapping around his waist and your arms around his neck so he can let go of you and focus on swinging.

“(name). (name). A little loose on the neck—gah! Your hand is on my nose! Why are you so bad at this?”

“I’m trying!”

“I can’t see! You’re covering my eyes now, holy shit.”

Before the two of you can crash through a skyscraper and get tens of thousands of glass cuts, Donghyuck lands safely on the roof of one of the shorter buildings beside. He wobbles forward, tripping and falling with you on him. He pulls off his mask, breathing heavily. The band-aid across his cheeks is coming off, the bright red scratch standing out.

“God, you’re bad at this,” you breathe out.

“Excuse me?! You’re the one getting all handsy over me.”

“You- You insufferable sack of—”

“You cannot resist me, can you?” He grins, dog-tired and yet with still enough nerve.

“I’m resisting a punch right now.”

“You can’t hurt me, I’m Spiderma—ow! Okay, you made your point.”

Your heart is still beating, the pulsing loud in your ears. You’re not sure how long adrenaline stays. All these years and you don’t know when your heart gave up trying to predict him. Behind intelligent eyes and a soft frame of face, you have no idea what he’s about to say or do next. Maybe that’s what makes him so fun. Maybe your heart was always beating this fast around him and you couldn’t hear it over the sound of his voice, warm like liquid sunlight and sweet as honey. You should’ve recognized it behind the mask right away.

“I don’t- I don’t get to chill on a roof much,” he says, “Contrary to popular belief.”

“So, this is nice?” You smile.

“I like swinging better.”

You sit up grinning. “Let’s go!”

“Let an injured man rest a little.”

So, when you do get home, it’s past midnight. Hyuck had to make a few stops between to catch a cat burglar along with a literal cat, but on the whole, you think you’ll never feel the wind on your face like that again. You’re also touched that Lee Donghyuck agreed to swing you around New York after all that he goes through.

He’s just a boy, you think. Why does the city rest so comfortably on his shoulders?

“You know, this is the first time I’ve climbed in through my own window,” you tell him as he steps into your room and closes the window behind him. “Also, it’s so fucking cold. Is your suit heated?”

“Stark product,” he answers proudly, taking off his mask to shoot you a boyish grin.

You smile back at him. 

“Oh, shoot, homework,” Donghyuck realizes out loud, eyes widening as he scuffles around.

“Oh, shoot, Jaemin,” you remember. “You should apologize to him.”

“What, now? I will not tarnish Spiderman’s reputation by breaking and entering just to apologize.”

“It sounds like something he’d do.”

“Shit, you’re right. But I’m not apologizing to him—it’s like middle school again.”

He huffs, crossing his arm.

“What happened in middle school? Oh, was it when Lana dumped your sorry ass for Jaemin?”

“No- Yes- but- gah, why do you remember that?”

“Ooh, are you jealous of Jaemin walking me to class?”

“No, that’s stupid.”

“You’re too busy to walk me home, anyway,” you tease.

He chuckles, pressing his tongue against his cheek, at a loss for words.

Right then, shuffling outside your room puts the two of you on alert. Donghyuck is still in the suit and both of you struggle to get it off as quickly as possible before Jaemin or any of your friends discover Hyuck’s secret and it gets messy.

“Woah, when did you get abs?”

“I was born sexy, why are you asking me now?” He responds. “Pass me a shirt.”

Before you can reach for any of your T-shirts, the door opens with a loud creak and Jaemin stares blankly at you, mouth open but no words come out. That’s when you realize what it looks like—Donghyuck is in his boxers in your room, you’re holding the suit bunched up and the both of you are up in each other’s personal space. 

“The walls are thin,” Jaemin says, “I’ll put on some earphones. You guys better be practicing safe sex.”

“It’s not like that!” You and Donghyuck yell at the same time.

“Then why did you strip Donghyuck in your room, (name)? Aren’t you cold, Hyuck? It’s late December.”

“He was trying on some clothes we ordered,” you answer quickly.

“Yeah, I’m playing Santa for some schoolkids downtown,” Donghyuck follows along.

“Isn’t that Spiderman though?” Jaemin points at the suit in your hands.

“I’m playing… Spiderman Santa…” Donghyuck explains.

Jaemin looks impressed and you’re so glad he doesn’t ask further. 

“You know, you had me scared there for a moment. I thought your obsession finally went too far and you convinced Hyuck to dress up as Spiderman for some kinky shit.”

Your ears burn hot. “That’s- I would never- what- why would you say that?”

“You have a pathetic crush.”

“I do not.”

“She’s totally crushing on Spiderman,” Jaemin informs, turning to Donghyuck. “Like, you don’t even know who he is. What if he’s like a thirty-year-old man? What if he’s Jake Gyllenhaal?”

“That’s not possible because Spiderman is a good guy,” you defend, crossing your arms.

“Ugh, (name), are you going to talk about how hot Spiderman is again or…?” Jaemin throws his head back. “Because he is not in my good books this week. First, he left me hanging in the middle of the street. And yesterday, he took my freaking iPhone and sent it to space! Oh, by the way, could you buy me a new one to cover the damage? I’ll forgive him then.”

“I’m not his PR manager,” you respond, exasperated, desperately avoiding Hyuck’s gaze from beside you.

“But you are his most loyal fangirl. That counts for something.”

“I’m not a Spiderman fangirl! Shut up.”

“By the way, I brought some medicine for Hyuck. I was going to tell you to buy it before Spiderman cut me off mid-sentence—you know, he’s a real asshole. Kind of like Donghyuck but his anonymity pisses me off.”

“Maybe he was in a bad mood and misunderstood,” Donghyuck mumbles.

“I know, I know.” Jaemin waves his hand around. “Guy has it rough. The peace of an entire city shouldn’t be one person’s burden. You think he has a life outside being a superhero? It must be sucky.”

“It’s not that sucky,” Hyuck counters, “Probably. I mean he gets to swing through buildings and stuff.”

Jaemin emits an exaggeratedly long groan. “So tiring.”

Donghyuck chuckles, Jaemin joining in. 

“Wow, thinking about being Spiderman tires me out,” Jaemin says, shaking his head. “Anyway, good night, guys. Remember to attend Karina’s Christmas party this weekend, and bring some alcohol because she never has enough. Also, if you guys decide to fuck—”

“That will never happen,” you say.

“Right,” Jaemin responds, a cheeky spark in his eyes. “I’ll sleep with earbuds on anyway.”

Jaemin turns around and leaves, not even closing the door. It’s like he’s a mother at the tender age of twenty-one because he sure acts like one. Donghyuck closes the door himself, turning around to give you his winning smile—the nerve in this boy is unmatched. He walks closer and your pulse spikes instantly.

“So, were you fangirling about me before you knew I was Spiderman or—”

“Shut up, Donghyuck,” you say, pressing both your hands to his mouth. Evidently, it does not help change his demeanor because he still gazes at you with the cockiest expression.

“Mmmpf- mmmh mmpsph?”

“Ew, did you just lick my palm like a dog? Your saliva isn’t gonna poison me, right?”

“No, stupid.”

You roll your eyes. “What were you saying?”

“How did you figure out I’m Spiderman?”

“You mean you didn’t think anyone could connect your mysterious disappearances with Spiderman’s mysterious appearances? Especially your best friend?”

“Yup, definitely thought I could run with it.”

“I mean, come on, you’ve responded to Spiderman once or twice. Also, you come in through the window sometimes, it’s really weird. And Jaemin said you’ve been leaking reds onto his whites whenever you do laundry.” 

He sighs, throwing his head back. 

“You can’t tell this to anyone, alright?” He says, returning his gaze to you. “Remember what I said about thinking before opening your mouth?”

“I’m not a kid anymore, Hyuck,” you mumble, leaning back and crossing your arms. “Of course I think before opening my mouth. Sometimes.”

He shakes his head. “This is why I’m smarter and have superhero powers.”

“I bet you really wanted to tell everyone.”

There’s a pause, and a smile fights its way onto his face.

“So bad,” he answers, clenching his fist. Your smile grows. 

“You have a cool job, dude.”

“But I don’t get paid. All I get is back pain.”

You laugh. Funny, sweet Lee Donghyuck. Always everyone's favorite and there's good reason to be. But you never saw him beyond your best friend. This whole unmasking thing was easy for you but now you're in a whole new dilemma of your own. You'd suspected it for a while. Were you already falling for him then?

Your eyes travel down and back up to his eyes. You clear your throat. “You should wear some clothes.”

“Why? You’re clearly enjoying this.”

Your face heats up even more. It’s not December anymore if the temperature is like this. You reach for your T-shirt and throw it at him, his laughter flooding your room with sunlight. 

You go through your missed notifications while he changes and you’re a little surprised to see the number of tags you have on Instagram. Apparently, someone caught footage of you on your little outing with NYC’s number one hero.

Donghyuck plops down on your bed, faceplanting into your pillow. “Ugh, do I have to turn in my assignments tomorrow? I’m late anyway, might as well take a whole week.”

“Christmas break starts the day after tomorrow. That means you’ll have to turn them in tomorrow.”

You get a muffled cry in response.

The video is just you holding onto Donghyuck for dear life alongside the gargoyle one from yesterday. It’s no big deal. You’ve been in news articles since you were six years old, owing to your dad’s ambitious business ventures. Ever since the first alien encounter twelve years ago, Earth has slowly been building up cordial intergalactic relations thanks to your very own father. That man has probably spent more time with aliens than he has with you. At the very least, you’ve got considerable pocket change. The tangled webs people weave for themselves are complex and hidden—sometimes you wouldn’t understand the people around you.

You sit down beside Donghyuck and he turns his head, looking up at you. You lie down directly onto him and he grunts, complaining about how heavy you are. Eventually, the two of you fit into the bed just fine.

The boy beside you made it so simple. You don’t have to understand complexities. You can just take them in and share your own till you’re all tangled up with other people. That’s how the world works—through tangles and knots and webs that make a pattern of cooperation. For the first time, you knew you had a little place to fit in. 

You want to hold his hand all of a sudden. They used to be very warm. You’re sure that hasn’t changed.

“Oh? Look, they wrote an article about the two of us,” you tell Donghyuck, tapping on the news notification that popped up. 

“If they’re being mean, let me know. I could really do with some new insults for you.”

“Hush,” you crib. “Spiderman involved with tech giant Nacorp CEO’s daughter…? They don’t even say my name anywhere!” 

A small chuckle leaves you before you can read the next sentence aloud. 

“The relationship is purely speculative at this stage but netizens suspect there may be monetary factors involved—what the fuck, do they think I’m your sugar mommy?”

Donghyuck is beside himself with laughter, snorts supplementing the silences in between. You can’t help but join in, tears pricking at your eyes.

“Whore,” you accuse, when you finally calm down.

Your foreheads are nearly touching and you’re aware friends aren’t supposed to stay at this proximity. Friends aren’t supposed to feel heartache looking at each other. Friends aren’t supposed to lean in.

A sudden rattling outside your window makes you jump away from each other.

“Is that a rat?” He asks, making a face.

The two of you get up to look outside. There’s nothing—just snow and two Italian men yelling on the floor below. But Donghyuck is on high alert, eyes scanning the perimeter and shoulders stiff.

“Something’s coming.”

You don’t like the sound of that.

Suddenly, he pulls you close and opens the window. A blast of air makes you cringe and you wonder how Hyuck is dealing with that in clothing so thin. Do spiders not feel cold? Or is it just a Donghyuck thing to be warm no matter where he is?

“We should spend some time at the ultra secure facility your dad has,” he says.

“What? Why?”

“I think someone has a grudge against you.”

You hold onto him as he climbs to the roof of your apartment building.

“They’re not gonna- They’re not gonna blow up this place, right?”

“They’re probably just after you,” he responds, eyes still on the horizon.

The sudden seriousness in him makes you feel chilly.

“The guy who was tailing you the other day, he was mostly just figuring out your routine. I thought your dad was planning an elaborate surprise party for you but his vibes were so off.”

“Wait, so this radioactive spider gave you a functional vibe checker too?”

“Yes, I am literally better than anyone you know. You don’t have to tell me you feel blessed, I already know.”

You roll your eyes. Even if he looks that serious, no word of his ever will be. 

You're about to open your mouth when a strange whirring fills the air, making you step closer to Hyuck. Why didn't you have a radioactive lion bite you or something? You could’ve been the queen of the concrete jungle. You're definitely making your next project a cool weapon. 

Donghyuck reacts before your eyes can catch the source of the disturbance. He slings a web opposite the direction you’re facing before pushing you down to the floor.

“Is that a man with a chainsaw arm?” You screech before squinting to see more clearly. “Holy shit, that’s kinda cool.”

You can finally see the perpetrator—a large bearded man with a noticeable scar across his pudgy nose, and most importantly, you see the chainsaw arm from which the loud whirring emanates. You really don’t think spiders can win against lawnmowers.

Donghyuck, however, is always ready to prove you wrong. A shot from his web -linger jams the chainsaw first.

“That buys us ninety seconds,” he tells you before shooting more webs at the man’s feet to root him.

Another shot at the man’s face makes him grunt in annoyance and Donghyuck takes the opportunity to drop a kick at the back of his knees, making him fall to the ground.

“Okay, big guy,” Donghyuck starts when he’s immediately met with a punch from the man’s left hand.

It makes you cringe, the blood running from his nose more so but he recovers quickly. He glances at you and signals a thumbs up.

“Focus on the guy,” you yell, exasperated.

“Right!” He yells back.

Donghyuck twists the guy’s chainsaw arm back and sticks it to the ground right when it breaks free, denying the man movement. You’ve gotta say, Donghyuck fights smarter and less flashy than you thought he would. 

“Who’re you working for and can you please turn yourself in? It’s really cold and I forgot my suit,” Donghyuck tells him.

The man snorts. “It’s a kid. It’s a fucking kid. I’ve got a daughter your age.”

“Sorry, I’m not interested. I’m sure she’s lovely but I have someone I like.”

The man groans. “It’s an annoying kid,” he corrects.

“Just tell me what’s going on,” Donghyuck presses.

“And I just want my money.”

“I’m not letting you hurt my friend,” he says, voice low.

“Look, I didn’t know the target was a little girl.”

“I’m an adult!” You yell to clarify.

The man looks conflicted, eyebrows furrowing into frustration.

“Christmas,” he says finally. “He wants to kidnap the daughter and get some money from the father. Not sure about the exact details. This guy is a newbie anyway.”

“Thanks!” Hyuck says brightly. “I’ll tell the police to shorten your sentence. Also, cool arm by the way.”

The man rolls his eyes. “Punk. You’re lucky I’m retiring soon.”

“I knew this guy would be cool, I didn’t sense bloodlust,” Donghyuck tells you, grinning. 

After the ordeal is over and Donghyuck has dropped the man in front of the police station, you can get no word in against staying at your dad’s security locker. Donghyuck won’t listen.

“Hyuck, I know you think it’s inconvenient but what am I supposed to tell my dad?”

“Anything! You just have to be safe till I find this guy.”

“I’ll be fine!”

“No! You won’t!” He sounds genuinely frustrated for once. “You do things before you think—it’s stressing me out.”

You frown. “I… I’m sorry, Hyuck. I just- If I make myself a weapon, am I good? I- I really don’t want to be stuck in a cold, steel room.”

He pauses to think before sighing.

“I’m not gonna say sorry because it feels weird in my mouth but… fine. You can just stay with me. Like within five feet at all times.”

“Jeez, do you want me to sit on your lap while we’re at it?”

Why would you say that? God is certainly frowning upon you.

Donghyuck doesn’t respond, eyes looking directly into yours and a flush shoots up to your neck and face.

“I was kidding. I was kidding! Obviously.”

It makes Donghyuck laugh, finally, albeit it’s a small and short one. It makes you remember Jaemin’s words. He’s just a boy. He shouldn’t be holding the thread an entire city’s peace hangs onto.

“It’s gonna be okay,” you say. “There’s so many other superheroes if this guy proves to be tough.”

He laughs. “I appreciate your attempt at comforting people, sunflower.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad!”

“I just want you to be safe. You’re an idiot so- you’re just accident-prone.”

Your cheeks are hot and you don’t know what to call this feeling. You wish you were closer, even if it was by a few more centimeters. 

“I’ll be fine,” you say finally, almost indignant. “If you underestimate me again, I’m going to make you wear a maid outfit over the suit.”

He blinks before a grin spreads across his face. You love it when you make him smile. Surely, there’s a name for this feeling?

“Alright, princess, let’s get this rat bastard dealt with then. It’s your first mission.”

“I won’t mess up, sir!” You salute, breaking into laughter and suddenly December is warmer and louder.

“Really? On the birthday of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ? It’s like he died for nothing, dude.”

Donghyuck looks at the man in black disapprovingly. 

This guy did not prove to be tough. Life is full of disappointments like that. It wasn’t that hard to find him, considering he was on your company-owned building’s helipad and looking like an adult emo, embarrassing even you. He has his henchmen with him, who are better dressed in formal suits and some funky patterned ties.

“You’re Spiderman,” the man snarls. 

“And I’m (name)!” You introduce yourself.

“I don’t really care. Men! Take care of the little girl.”

You place your hands on your hip. “You are so rude! Get him, Spidey.”

“Yeah, don’t be mean to my…uh, sugar mommy!” He points an accusatory finger at the guy.

The man is a little disappointing considering you spent an evening researching all the cool villains Spiderman has fought before. This guy just looks like a rat.

You blink.

On closer inspection, he looks uncannily like a rat. 

“Are you like a rat hybrid?” Donghyuck asks, scratching the back of his head. He’s in his suit but even through the mask, his confusion is obvious.

“You have no idea what this trashy billionaire does to his workers,” he growls. “And you’re judging me?”

“Let me guess, you fell into some weird radioactive stuff? You guys have got to stop falling into stuff! Follow some workplace safety guidelines for the love of Jesus,” Donghyuck complains.

The man turns red in the face. Not a humor kind of guy, you guess.

“Look, billionaires are trashy—except Tony Stark—and no offense, (name).” Donghyuck begins.

“None taken.” You shrug.

“But you’ve really got to plan stuff out before you do things. You don’t think cooler villains than you have tried this exact same thing? No offense.”

He rolls his eyes. “I’m not having a kid lecture me.”

“I’m not a kid!” he retorts quickly.

Instead of a verbal response, you’re met with a net shot right at you, tangling you in ropes as you fall backwards. You kind of expected this. You’ve been kidnapped before. Granted Thor was visiting Earth and it ended up being ten minutes of sitting in a van before getting saved. You also got a sweet autograph out of it.

The rat man—it’s a really inappropriate time to laugh at names—is faster than he looks, pinning Donghyuck down all of a sudden.

However, you’ve come prepared. Your little science project took only two days to make and it’s a mini laser shooter you made with stolen equipment from the company’s R&D department. Not as cool as you wanted, yes, but it serves its purpose. First, you need to have Hyuck distract them.

“Shouldn’t you be more worried about your damsel in distress?” The villain laughs, and Donghyuck shakes his head. How long did the guy practice to make it sound evil?

“First of all, that’s not a damsel in distress. If anything, she’s a rather distressing damsel.”

The villain looks unimpressed.

“Second of all, you should really look out for the Stark drones on your left.”

The man spins to his left, on high alert, and it creates an opening. Donghyuck shoots a web right at his face before landing a clean kick to his stomach. He gets in another sweep at the legs, making his opponent fall to the ground with a miserable thud and Donghyuck isn’t looking for praise, but he really hopes you’re absorbing how cool he is.

“I can’t believe you fell for it, dude! Are you new?” He laughs. In this moment, Donghyuck decides that he would make a great supervillain even if the laugh was a bit on the boyish side. He can work on it.

“Shut up,” the man snarls.

“You know, I hear that a lot.”

The henchmen charge in first and it’s an easy bunch for Donghyuck to handle. A guy with a machete, a guy with a gun, a guy with a—is that a laser beam? Hyuck dodges just in time to kick the guy in the face. Most of them are incapacitated after getting stuck by his web shots. He hopes he doesn’t get a web block any time soon.

A thin arrow pierces his left bicep, making him cry out in pain. 

“It’s poison!” The rat man laughs, a crossbow in hand.

“Seriously?” Donghyuck complains.

Before he can make a move, the villain yelps and drops the crossbow. He turns to see you gesturing a thumbs up with a huge grin, the ropes piling around you. Why are you sitting there casually? He thinks. 

“I just want the girl,” the man snarls, holding his hand. Looks like you got a finger or two. Ouch. 

“What did she do to you?” Donghyuck asks, frustrated. “Just take it up with the dad, you wimp.”

“I will not stand for it. If I take over the lab, the whole city will learn the wonders of genetic modifications.”

“There it is, you selfish plan. It’s like you don’t care about defeating billionaires anymore,” Donghyuck huffs.

“The whole city will be serving me as creatures superior to mankind. You see, rat genes—”

“You’re…telling me… you want to turn the whole of New York into rat people? Because you became one? Not to sound insensitive but isn’t that a bit extreme?”

“Of course, a little bas—”

Donghyuck throws a hard punch at the guy’s face, making him stumble backwards.

“You…”

The man passes out.

“Sorry, what? Were you talking? I genuinely thought it was a ‘punch you in the face’ kind of moment.” Donghyuck cups his ear.

He’s out cold.

“We did it, Hyuck!” You run over to him, jumping onto him to give him a tight hug.

“Whoa! I’m just glad I didn’t get a scratch on my face before tonight’s party.”

Your smile drops. “Wait, he said it was poison.”

You gently take his arm to inspect. He pulls away.

“I’ve dealt with poison before, you know? I still can’t believe it was a rat. What’s next, a lizard?”

You chuckle. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Yeah, also, I’m swinging down so the press can get my good side.”

“What?”

He grabs you by the waist and jumps off the building with no warning, his laughter the only response to your scream. Donghyuck cannot believe he resorted to jumping off a building to avoid talking about his feelings. 

You’re still clinging onto him once he lands. A horde of reporters surround the two of you in a matter of moments. You forgot just how annoying they were. 

“Spiderman, who were you fighting?”

“Will there be more threats to the Nacorp Industries in the future?”

“Are you and (name) dating?”

“(name), any plans to take over the company?”

Donghuck clears his throat and an immediate silence follows.

“I- I was just clearing my throat,” he clarifies.

“Real smooth,” you snort.

“Why don’t you try answering, sunflower?” he whispers through his teeth.

A commotion ensues once again, questions flooding your ears and you swear you’ve never heard this many words at once before.

“Oh! I see Cat!” Donghyuck grabs your hand and makes his way through the crowd.

“Ooh, it’s Spiderman,” the pretty woman, who you assume is Cat, begins in a smooth voice. “What tidbit can we get from you today? You know the randomest fact boosts my salary so go ahead.”

She leans in to whisper the last part.

“Sicheng! Roll the cameras,” she instructs.

The cameraman, who looks terribly sleep deprived but still pretty, hums in response before signaling a go.

“Good afternoon, citizens. We have Spiderman here today with the lovely Ms (name) after they thwarted the attack by an anomaly at Nacorp Tower.”

“She knows me?” You whisper, a hot flush rising at the idea of someone as attractive knowing you.

“You’re, like, famous,” Donghyuck whispers back, clicking his tongue.

“I heard workers are often suffering at work sites but I have also heard that Nacorp CEO has made the decision to install AI worker suits that avoid hazards. Do you think this is a good idea, (name)?”

“Well, we have been working on it for a while and testing results are great! Like over a ninety-nine percent chance of success, and that is so cool. The demo will be out soon.”

Your bright smile makes everyone around smile instinctively.

“And Spiderman, this has been a hot question for a while now.”

She pauses to smile.

“What is your Zodiac sign?”

“Uh… Gemini?”

“Spiderman is a Gemini! You heard it first from Cat at the Daily Bugle, folks,” the reporter announces with a dazzling smile. 

“You two can go play in the snow now, the cameras are off,” she informs you before pulling Sicheng off the streets, “Have fun!”

Of course, you weren’t about to have a snowball fight in the middle of Times Square. So you return to your apartment—you’re getting used to the swinging now though Donghyuck still thinks his windpipe has suffered permanent damage.

“No, no, no, (name), this suit is skintight!”

A girlish scream follows as you manage to pull his suit back and shove a snowball inside, the evilest laugh he’s ever heard ringing through the empty roof. You were the supervillain all along—with your gorgeous laugh and stunning eyes and sincere words. He’s far off the deep end now.

God, why can’t he just spit it out? He’s in love and there’s no way to untangle himself out of these feelings. Tonight, he promises himself.

“So Spiderman swings by and says ‘Hey, nice phone, I’m gonna chuck it into space’ and now I have no phone,’ Jaemin tells Karina and Winter, both of them giggling at his miserable expression.

“I didn’t know you were a pushover, Jaemin,” Karina snorts. 

“I’m not! I was so sleepy that before I knew it, Spiderman stole my phone.”

“It’s been almost a week, get over it,” Hyuck mutters.

You chuckle at his annoyed expression.

Lana rolls her eyes beside Jaemin. You genuinely can’t believe she’s been with him all these years but you supposed she’d say the same about you and Donghyuck being best friends.

“You’ve lamented about your phone like thrice,” Yeji comments from behind the couch. “Also, (name), help me get some more beer cans. Ugh. I don’t know why you guys have this shit when wine exists.”

“I’m financially stressed, leave me alone,” Jaemin mutters, “And I agree on the wine part, actually.”

Everything is fine for now. You think you’ll stick to the lab instead of fighting—at least until you get more flexible. Epic battles are better suited to comic books, and so are grand gestures.

There’s just one thing unresolved now. Your damn feelings. The festive atmosphere is making you crave proximity, just one chance to tell him. You never knew what longing felt like before.

You follow Yeji outside the house, dragging your feet as you run a few million scenarios. God, why isn’t there AI to fix your love life? Do you have to ask the wizards for help? 

“So… Is it true you’re dating Spiderman?” Yeji asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” you answer quickly. 

“Oh good,” she sighs and you tilt your head inquisitively.

“I think you and Donghyuck should be a thing. No pressure though.” She raises her hand in a dismissive gesture.

“He’s… well… I can’t really tell what he’s thinking,” you answer honestly.

She hums. “Just tell him, then. You know him best and communication is key. God, I sound like a mother; Ryujin was right.”

You laugh and she smiles back at you. 

“Also, I bet money on you getting together with Donghyuck,” she says.

You roll your eyes. “Why did I expect that? My friends are all pretty jerks.”

She snorts. “Your choice of best friend gives it away. Oh, by the way, you don’t really have to help me with the beer, I just wanted to make sure you’re kiss kiss falling in love.”

“Huh?”

Instead of answering, she skips away with a cryptic smile. There’s another person you can’t decode but she truly is a fairy godmother.

You shiver at the cold, turning to go back inside when you hear shuffling on the roof. Donghyuck slowly lowers on a web, upside down and brown hair a mess around him.

“Renjun gave me a pep talk on the roof,” he says frankly.

You laugh. “Yeji gave me mine.”

“Our friends are really fed up with us, huh?”

“Are you- uh- are you sure you should be doing this in public?” You look around before stepping in close.

“No one’s getting out in two degree temperature, stupid.”

You don’t realize how close you stepped in till your noses touch and an instant flush floods Donghyuck’s face. Your heart beats so fast and for a moment, you think you can hear his. (It’s even faster than yours.)

You press your lips against his without further thought. The action, however, makes him let go of the web and faceplants onto the snow-covered ground. You hold in your laughter as he simply lies on his stomach there, his ears growing increasingly red.

He gets up, nose and cheeks all red.

“Good evening, Rudolph.” You giggle, unable to hold it in.

“Look, I tripped over Chenle and faceplanted onto a bowl of chili, okay? Who brought a bowl of chili to a Christmas party?” He complains, dusting the snow off.

You laugh, the warmth reaching your stomach.

“You know, we just kissed, right?” You mumble, starting to feel embarrassed.

There’s a silence and you’re not sure how to face him now. How did your confidence drain so easily? Your mother said you’d never run out of obnoxiousness—and she said the same thing about Hyuck. (“So you two better stick together, darling.”)

“Hyuck- okay, I’m sorry- that was uncalled for- I- I- just—”

Your words dissolve in your mouth when his lips meet yours.

“I- I- just- wow, I don’t- god, you made me so mad! Why did you go silent all of a sudden? I—”

He plants his lips on yours again.

“—you asshole… I swear—”

“(name). You’re rambling. Just shut up and kiss me.” He smiles against your mouth and you can’t help it either.

“You think it was the right thing to do?” You ask, peering down at Donghyuck on your lap.

“What was?”

“Rat man wasn’t exactly wrong. There are working hazards.”

“He was the same kind of wrong, just a different perspective. Turning NYC into rats is a bit much.”

You laugh. 

“Are you gonna get up any time soon?”

“I just fought a weird lizard man trying to turn New York into lizard people, give me a break,” he groans, burying his face against your side.

“I can’t believe you almost died again,” you say distastefully. 

“All’s well that ends well,” he says, shrugging.

“But I’m a new hell every time~” You sing.

He gives you the blankest expression he can muster.

“Okay, fine, but if we’re not singing Taylor Swift, we’re not singing Justin Bieber either.”

“Ugh, fine, Mariah Carey it is. She’s like my mom anyway.”

“You saved her once and your voice cracked when you spoke to her.”

“Never happened. Stop lying, (name).”

“Your cheeks are red.”

“They are not.”

“Like my favorite album.”

“Ugh.”

“And my favorite superhero’s suit color.”

A soft laugh erupts from him as he looks down and back at you. Gosh, he’s pretty. You slip your hand into his and he gives it a squeeze.

“My favorite superhero's Iron Man, by the way,” you say, a cheeky grin accompanying.

“Shut up, you love me.”

[originalcontent]

It’s Halloween, it’s quarantine, it’s time for more Pathologic! Last night we played a couple more days. I think we’re currently on the night after alarm bell rings and town meeting occurs.

The laboratory building place my dad left me is really nice. All my machines are broken but at least I have a massive fridge to store my shit. Also it comes with a free child?? Do I have a son now? I need to save him he’s gonna die.

I need medicine so bad. And food. And clothes. I literally did not stock up on anything in the first few days, mistakes were made, now all I have is an inventory full of soap and chestnuts and marbles I dug out of the trash.

Okay slight exaggeration maybe, but I do have way too many of those things. Hoping to use them to buy morphine off the kids, we’ll see, but things are hard to find and no one wants my junk.

The kids!!!! My kids!! Notkin is infected and there’s nothing I can do!!! Baby!!!!! No! Why is the infection cloud over the place with all the kids right now!!

Although I have to say, I am incredibly glad that the disease moves rather than just spreads.

I’m getting a bit better at navigating the streets! Just a bit, but even marginal improvement is improvement.

Are Changeling and Clara different? My sister said they probably are. What’s her/their deal?? I thought we were all on the same side and she, like me, cared about the kids and wanted to help me help them, but Clara put a curse on me?? I want to trust you, but I don’t know who you are!! I love that she’s such a bastard tho.

Daniil. Mr. Bachelor of medicine Dankovsky, you pragmatic motherfucker, you. You’re trying to murder the village aren’t you? Right, so no one can escape and spread the disease? You want me to just let the kids die. Look, I know he’s just trying to help in his own way, and I also know I have to help him with his vaccine, but damn that’s cold man.

No seriously I do like Daniil quite a lot. I also love that Artemy hates his guts. He’s also such a bastard, and helpful and delightful as he is, he deserves all the shade Artemy throws at him.

Wait, before I move on, why the bird costumes, Daniil?? Why? I keep meeting people and am like “what are you doing” and they’re like “literally idk, Dr. Dankovsky just told us to do this” you’re so dramatic.

I think I may have accidentally gone down a set of dialogue paths wherein I have made myself Vlad’s bitch. Oops.

I know Pathologic is supposed to be really hard, so it’s lucky that I’m really bad at video games, that way I get the full experience even when playing it on the easiest setting.

Listen, I’m a moron and didn’t realize I could have been picking herbs this whole time.

I know Artemy’s supposed to be a stone-cold bitch who murders people and steals their organs but oh my gosh I have not been playing him that way, so far I’ve literally just run away whenever someone’s attacked me. Listen, I’m bad at video games.

The whole town is going to die because I don’t murder enough people and steal their organs. :(

Okay okay okay okay. Time to talk about the element that blew me away. The alarm bell scene. Holy fucking shit. That was the coolest, best executed shit I have seen, the town completely empty, the ensemble statue still and just pointing, the bell ringing, oh my god, that scene gave me chills in the best way ever. It was like the entire scene had ended, and reality had stopped, and I was just wandering the empty set dead alone, but also I wasn’t? Look, if you know what I’m talking about then you know what I’m talking about and if you don’t then I won’t be able to explain it. The design, the pacing, the tension, everything about that scene was excellent.

The midnight plays! I Don’t Like That. :)

I went to this most recent one and it was literally a piece of psychological warfare and I could not leave the theater and they were just laughing at me about how my whole village had no water and was going to starve. Afterwards my sister was like “I think they intentionally keep your nights pretty uneventful so that you have nothing better to do aside from attend the play and stress yourself out” and honestly?? I think she’s right. Fuck.

I could write a whole essay on the (literal) theatrical elements of this game and its staging, but this is getting too long, so I won’t right now. See you all later for our next installment.

[leaveittokleaver]

tamino also i like your theme it's very axe murderer

Tamino,

You're seriously one of the funniest, coolest, and weirdest people I've ever met in my life. The things you say always put a smile on my face or they make me think so hard my brain kindof melts out of my ear. You're without a doubt on of my favorite people I've ever spoken to. Plus, you look like a fucking marble carved statue and I'm still not convinced you're not one of them that's come to life.

I love that you picked up on an axe murderer theme when it's literally just...rain on a window. Unless you're talking about my desktop theme and then yeah.. It really is.

[r-for-revolution]

@ignorethepineapples​ tagged me! 

rules: tag ten people you want to get to know better

name: riika

sign: cancer

height: about 172cm = 5′6′’ or 5′7′’

sexuality: bi

background of your desktop/phone: my desktop is a slideshow of baby sloths, whales and galaxies. My phone background is an aesthetic photo of a plant :D

have you ever had a crush on a teacher: nope

where do you see yourself in ten years: hopefully i will have a dog and enough money to buy food for both of us

coolest halloween costume: last halloween i did a pretty nice marble statue facepaint

favourite 90s show: friends and buffy

who was your last kiss: my girlfriend

have you ever been stood up: hmm i don’t think so?

have you ever been to las vegas: no. or to anywhere in america for that matter

favourite pair of shoes: black ankle boots

favourite fruit: orange

favourite book: difficult to choose! maybe the secret history by donna tartt or the book thief by markus zusak. or muumipappa ja meri by tove jansson. and obviously les mis

stupidest thing you’ve ever done: quitting my depression medication without consultation with my doctor was pretty stupid. wouldn’t recommend. 

i don’t really know anyone so i’ll tag some mutuals who maybe don’t know we’re mutuals!

@mxdvrcy @ace-zombie @vintage-jehan @feuillyys @grantaire-wannabe @taire-valtaire @orestesdreams-pyladesloves @enjolra-s @weisbrot

hello, i like your blogs and you all seem nice! :) do this if you want!

[fishmum]

It's day 6 of @undyne-appreciation week! "Pretty much anything we want!" Another thing I love about Undyne, the musical aspect of her! I decided to do a traditional piece for today PLUS a writing of 1,541 words. I originally wasn't going to do art, but it was a last-second thing, I'm happy with the results. A little summary of the story: Undyne seems to feel bad for the forgotten memorial to the Dreemurr children, so she gathers her talent and materials to create something more dedicated to them. The story shows off more of her kindness then musical side, but no matter. I think it turned out well!

 —The Story— 

 ~ChantePleure of a Statue~ 

 Undyne stood in front of the worn out statue, though it was only a senescence mass of shaped rock, she felt pity for it. It was once a memorial for the Dreemurr family after all. Yet typical braggadocio Mettaton replaced it with a statue of his own, while this one had gotten thrown out into the rainy and caliginous caves of Waterfall.

 She scoffed in annoyance as her mind wandered to the thought of the box shaped star. Her eye, on the other hand, wandered towards the area of the statue where an epitaph was once inscribed. It had once said "In memory of the Dreemurr children. 199X-20XX" Now it was as if everyone forgot.

 "Poor Asgore." Undyne thought to herself. How terrible it must've been for your own children to be forgotten by the kingdom, your people. Though the king didn't express any sign of this bothering him, deep down, Undyne knew he was struck with grief at such a situation. She had hoped that their memory would be aeviternal, and Asgore thought likewise. Yet not all could be aeonian in memory. Even those who have fallen for a good cause.

 Undyne signed in defeat, realizing that standing there and gawking at it would not do anything. As she thought of the memorial, her thoughts came to an aposiopesis. Perhaps there was something small she could do, just in honor of her dearest mentor's children. No one would know, but a wee act of kindness can make a large difference.

 She came to the conclusion, that she, Undyne, would make a puzzle. A puzzle circling around the memorial and the children it was dedicated to. Yes, she hated most puzzles with a passion, but this was for a good cause. Besides, it was not like she had anything better to do. 

 So she got to work. 

 Her first stop was Gerson's shop, he had all sorts of useful materials that could help her. She made her way to the familiar stand, there she knocked on the wooden counter and waited rather impatiently.

 "I'm comin', I'm comin'!" Gerson replied to the continuous knocks. He walked over to the stand, where he saw a familiar face.

 "Well well well, if it ain't my little princess who came to visit!" He teased happily. Undyne rolled her eye in amusement at the old tortoise's mocking.

 "That's right. So listen, I need some materials for uh- a thing I'm making-"

 Gerson leaned on his hand in a questioning manner. "And whaddaya gonna make?" 

 "Doesn't matter-! Just give me a 8 by 6 inch wooden box, a drill, nails, and one of those small woodcutters-" 

 Gerson nodded and retreated into his shop, he went to the back of it to get the specific items Undyne had requested. Meanwhile, Undyne thought of musical tunes for her puzzle. Once she laid her eye on the items Gerson started to bring in, a burst of afflatus hit her. Ideas overflew her mind, tunes of various paces came to mind. Mellisonant tunes with slow paced notes and such. As much as she wanted to do a pace of allegro, she felt it would not be the most apropos of tunes. Something slow and serene, perhaps a tune that resembled a berceuse. One for a child.

 Gerson set out the last item as Undyne fumbled with her wallet. 

 "How much?"

 "On the house, dearest." 

 Undyne shot a harsh look at the old tortoise. 

"Gerson, you can't give me everything for free, Asgore spoils me enough already. Now seriously, how much?"

"On the house. No one was gonna buy these ol' things anyways." Undyne sighed in defeat.

 "Alright fine."  

That did not stop her from setting 30G on the wooden countertop. 

 "Princess, I know you're a lil' deaf," He motioned to one of her ripped fins. "but c'mon-" 

 "What? I can't leave a tip to the coolest?" She mocked but politely smiled. Gerson chuckled and rested his elbow on the counter, glancing at the gold. 

"Alright girl, you win this one." 

 Undyne gather all the things she ordered and waved goodbye to Gerson, soon enough she was on her way to her house. When she arrived, she set her miscellany down on the marble flooring and gamboled to her piano. Taking a seat at the short black stool, she got to work, tapping away at the piano keys. 

She started playing a tune in an adagio manner, for now it was simply a capriccio. While fiddling with the piano keys, she recalled nostalgic memories, memories way back when Asgore still taught her piano. As the memory ran through her mind, she got reminded of a simple tune, one of the first that was taught to her. Undyne focused on her memory, following the tune on her piano as she heard it in her head. Once she had it memorized, she altered it slightly, adding additional tunes in the background of the main one. It was a quick composition, she had it completed and memorized within 3 hours. She was quite satisfied with the result, it was simple, placid, and idyllic. Just as she had hoped.

 She named the piece "Memory." 

 Now she needed Alphys for the next part. She grabbed the music sheet and jogged to the lab.

 ———— 

 After a week and two days, Alphys successfully created a button triggered music box out of Undyne's materials and music sheet. It played the song she played the week before. Undyne thanked Alphys and mentioned that she would find a way to repay her— even though Alphys insisted she did not have to —then made her way back to Waterfall, more specifically, back to the withered statue. Nothing had changed in a week, it was still cracked, damp, and lonely.

Undyne summoned a spear to her side, she used the sharp edges to start outlining a rectangle shaped hole in the area behind the arms. Once the outline was completed, she dug her spear into the rock. Since the statue was constantly rained on, it's rock was weaker than it had been a while ago.

She successfully carved a hole, it was not the neatest, but it was big enough for the music box to fit in. She carefully set the music box into the hole, after doing so, she covered it with the disassembled pieces of rock. (They would probably weld together by the water with time.) She left the button that triggered the music uncovered, so if someone were to set something- in this case, an umbrella. -it would trigger the button, resulting in the music playing. Now that this part was completed, she moved on to the next.

 She had a rather old piano, one she used when she was younger, it was smaller than an ordinary piano. Undyne dragged the miniature piano to the room on the left of the statue room. Yes, she looked strange dragging a little piano around Waterfall, there were a few eyes with questioning looks. Little did they know the kind reason behind the action.

Undyne successfully connected the piano to trigger an opening to a little cave which she had dug out during the past week. Now for the last step, using magic to connect the piano to the music box placed in the statue. She leaned back on the wall and used all her focus and willpower to complete this step.

After a quiet 10 minutes, they were all successfully connected to cause a chain reaction if the required action was completed correctly. The final step was to test it. 

Undyne jogged to the room on the right and grabbed the nearest umbrella. It was a red one. Undyne got reminded of not too long ago, when Asgore enlisted that they add a stand for umbrellas, so that any citizen that passed by would not get sick. What a kind-hearted dork. Though at the same time, Undyne felt like a "kind-hearted dork" by making this puzzle.

She swung the umbrella around by her finger, once she got to the statue's room, she opened up the umbrella and set it in between it's hands. Just like magic, the music box version of her tune played. After a few seconds, arrows pointing to various directions appeared upon the wall. Undyne smiled at how satisfactory this was. 

She made her way to the room on the left and played the tune on the little piano, the entrance to the cave opened up as it should have. Undyne gave herself a nod of approval.

As a little joke, she went into the room where she had placed a pedestal earlier, and put down a red gem-looking item. It was not real, simply a fake she got from a 1G store. Might as well mess with the kindhearted, hopefully they have a sense of humor. 

She added a sign she had created beforehand, she dubbed the fake gem as "The Legendary Artifact." 

Satisfied with her work, she retreated back out of the room and closed up the entrance, as well as removing the umbrella so the music stopped playing. 

She left the puzzle alone, only for it to be forgotten along with the memorial.

Until one day, a human child approached with an umbrella.

[emilysparksphotography]

Rich people, rich things and lots of books

We explored the Hofburg palace at length yesterday and let me tell you about some rich people...JESUS!  These folks had everything coated in gold, made of silver, bejeweled with giant stones or carved out of ivory.  It was nuts.  Kind of makes sense for one of the longest reigning royal dynasties, but still...whoa.  

Andy and I went for a walk with Grant in the morning around some of the sights that we knew we wanted to hit while he was napping and got a good lay of the land.  The nice thing about Vienna is that it’s extremely walkable.  We bought a city pass for entrance into all of the museums and we have definitely got our money’s worth.  

We visited the national library, which was one of the coolest giant rooms I think either of us have every been in.  Felt like a scene out of Harry Potter with the giant stacks of books, marble statues, secret passageways and globes.  The treasury was insane.  Fist sized emeralds.  Crowns upon crowns upon crowns...and I’m not talking fake gold and cubic zirconia, this was the real deal.  They even have what was long considered by the Roman Empire to be the holy grail (it’s just a regular bowl now).  

We leisurely roamed the streets.  Had an amazing lunch and felt like a young couple again with Grant happily at home with our nanny.  It’s awesome to have her.  We do one main touristy walk in the morning with him, put him down for his nap, she arrives when he is waking up and we take off for about 6 hours of sightseeing.  We get home in time to feed him dinner, play with him, give him a bath and put him to bed.  So far, it’s been a great schedule and compared to what we paid for childcare in Stanford, it’s a steal!  I wish we could take this girl home with us.  

[bluepunkmon]

Last night’s dream was pretty ok all things considered. There was a jumble of stuff, pokemon journey, running from zombies, i think raidou kuzzunoha xiv was involved? But the cool part was the part with the god statues

eventually in the dream i ended up in a big plaza along with a bunch of other people, and there were like god statues? wandering around. They were huge, some marble-ish some old bronze, and they looked and moved like nothing I’d ever seen before. Each of them were giving out like, blessings or powers I think.The biggest ones, the ones on giant horses with really ornate decorations around them, were Athena, Aphrodite, and Demeter (in the dream i called it Dionysus even though she was pretty much demeter). They held stone eggs, and to accept their blessing people would go up to them and touch the egg to get the blessing. 

I decided that none of those gods fit me so i went looking through the smaller gods, who were also living statues but didn't have horses and also weren't gigantic. I picked Artemis, who was made out of some kind of blue-grey stone and was surrounded by like stone sword/fin looking things. She held one out, i touched it there was a flash of blue light and received the blessing i guess. Apollo was next to her, looked the same expect made of really shiny gold.

There was some other stuff after but this was the coolest part. 

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Top 10 libraries to visit and write in

1) The British Library, London. (This is where the Narnia Chronicles take place, it has several rooms devoted to the works of Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, all in a cool stone building that looks a lot like a cathedral or a castle, and there are lots of nice statues around)

2) Oxford University's Bodleian Library. Although the actual "Bodleian," in Oxford's central square, is pretty old and not very impressive by American standards, the beautiful old library building near it and the large medieval book collection are still there. Lots of nice things about this building, including an atmosphere reminiscent of a monastery, but probably the coolest thing about it is the famous Magdalen "Long" manuscript that was found behind a bunch of other stuff. (You can read about it)

3) The John F. Kennedy Library, Boston. This place contains a lot of cool exhibits on the history of political art (included some very nice paintings) and some of the exhibits on American foreign policy have some really interesting stuff in them. It's also the home of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (it was here that Dr. King was assassinated), which has some interesting books on its history and is a pretty neat memorial. I also like the National Gallery of Art next door, which is famous for being in an old Gothic building full of art history exhibits. (In general I think the National Gallery of Art is awesome and this is a great place for people who want to know what it's all about)

4) Bibliothèque municipal de Montreuillois, Villefranche-sur-Saône (this is the famous town that gives you most of the references in Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice, the same town where Vincent van Gogh worked for three years), France. Another building with a nice library and a lot of cool exhibits. It is famous for being where Hugo wrote a lot of his fiction, including Les Misérables, and you can find the library with a tour of the town.

5) Hahn-Museum, Berlin. I think a lot of people don't know about this place – the museum is not a place where most people go, since it is inside an old prison, which you can see only with an audio guide. (The old prison's other famous inmates include the Marquis de Sade, Nietzsche, and Beethoven.) It is, however, a very nice building and full of cool stuff. (In general I like the Hahn Museum and I like the way its main room looks when it's not lit like a prison cell)

6) The Kupferstichkabinett, in the Neue Nationalgalerie (this is in Berlin). The Neue Nationalgalerie (which looks like it was made of marble) is one of the city's main "cultural centers," and it has an amazing art collection. (It contains a lot of the old art of the German Golden Age, as well as some pretty nice modern stuff)

7) The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. A weird museum? But not really, since it's right next to the museum that contains all the paintings that Van Gogh made. There's another Van Gogh museum in Utrecht, and also a Van Gogh museum in Brussels, which are not nearly as cool. (I also think they're all in weird locations that don't make the most of the art, and they are really only accessible to tourists and not to the people who are interested in the paintings, who are supposed to look at the art and not the tourists who are just looking at the art and not really thinking about it.)

8) The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. This place is a weird museum since it's in a city (and it's the city where I live), it's in a pretty new building, which is very much not what the Art Institute of Chicago looks like in my head, and it's not really the kind of place where anyone who cares about art goes. But I do actually go there all the time, because it has some very cool stuff there. It also contains the Michael C. Miller Sculpture, which looks like it was made of some really soft material (it probably is) and it has a very nice, warm, soft look. I also really like the Art Institute's Art of the Americas Center, which contains many different museum buildings on different parts of the continent.

9) The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. I think it's not clear from my earlier post about the Kennedy Library what sort of places I like best about the JFK Library, and why I think this is one of the most interesting places to visit. Basically, though, it is the place that contains (among many other things) the Gutenberg Bible (which is a copy of the Bible that Gutenberg made), and there are really cool things about the Gutenberg Bible including a really neat print from it (the first complete Bible print ever), which you can read about in this book. There are also other cool things like the Gutenberg Bookplate and the Gutenberg Bible Marking Device and the Gutenberg Letter. I also really like the Boston Science Museum and there are a lot of things there that are really fascinating, like the famous "Lincoln Exhibit," which has some cool displays on the Lincoln family. Also, I just really like the place itself.

10) The Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts. In general I like any museum with a cool library (the Boston Athenaeum also has a beautiful and quite extensive classical collection that is open and free to everyone), but the Boston Athenaeum also has the largest collection of the famous (and awesome) Greek vase style, including the famous Laokoon vase. Some of the vases here look like they were made in a very pretty way with soft colors and stuff and I like that kind of vase. Also the Boston Athenaeum is the home of the Saint Basil Greek Orthodox Church, which was the only one of the churches that survived the sack of Constantinople. (If you like the idea of visiting a church that was destroyed in the sack of Constantinople it is definitely worth visiting Saint Basil Greek Orthodox Church.)

Also, to get back to the original question, I'm not going to be too specific here, since if I went into any of the museums here and named the ones I really liked it would take up a lot of space. You should just like my blog if you already know these places and like me.

If you have any questions or anything else that needs to be said, please feel free to ask.

[lydiaabroad]

Journal #3: Thailand

Sawadika! I have just returned from a weeklong excursion to Thailand. The goal of the trip was to learn about the Thai health system, which we did, but it honestly felt like a vacation. I am sitting now in my bed in Delhi in a bit of a cranky mood. It felt incredible to have freedoms in Thailand that we do not have here. We could stay out late, eat whatever we wanted from the street (I still got food poisoning), it just felt liberating! To go on a bit of a tangent, today I was doing my Hindi homework, excited to reward myself with an oreo. I bought a pack of oreos about two weeks ago and hadn’t opened them yet, saving them for a special occasion. I finished my Hindi work and came into my room for my oreo. I checked the nightstand where I had the packet, no oreos in sight, assumed someone cleaning had moved them, but I could not find the oreos! I wasn’t worried and assumed I had hidden them in some other bag, but then, under the night stand, I found the crumpled up wrapper! With a pile of crumbs! I know this is small and stupid but I am so upset. It will probably be funny tomorrow when I go buy myself a new pack of oreos, but tonight it feels like a tangible reminder of the privacy I lack and the little things that are uncomfortable. I cannot stop wondering who came into my room, saw the unopened oreos on my nightstand, decided to open and eat all of them, and not throw away the evidence!!! AH! So it is going to take a few days to readjust to being back after feeling very independent and liberated in Bangkok.

        With this heavy weight off my chest, I can now say that Bangkok is very cool. There are interesting juxtapositions of the high-speed concrete air rail and temples, skyscrapers and street markets. I love the look of the sky rail. Imagine heavy concrete slabs cutting through the air. It is honestly kind of ugly but there is something about the way it asserts itself there, in the thin air, overlapping and casting shadows through the city that I find powerful and beautiful. I am reminded of projections of the future, visions of people travelling in vehicles in the air. It seems to me this vision of the future in a more industrial way exists. 

        On Tuesday I went to the marble temple. I am not sure if it is the marble temple of Bangkok but it was indeed all made of marble. Upon entering the temple one feels a sense of serenity, possibly the cooling effect of the marble, or the aura of power that simply the construction of the structure demanded, but it was a grounding experience to be in this temple. I wish I knew more about Buddhism. I asked Henry to tell me some facts about Buddhism and he told me the following:

1)    All life entails suffering, “unsatisfactoriness,” even when you’re happy it’s temporary

2)    Suffering is rooted in desire––humans attach themselves to desire and worldly things, thus misconstrue the nature of reality

3)    Cessation of desire is possible through the eight-fold path, which includes right thoughts, speech, livelihood, and a few others. Thanks Henry.

        It is definitely interesting to consider some of these ideas when in an elaborate marble temple, but the beauty of the temple did demand a presence of me. The courtyard was lined with cup shaped wind chimes that played various pitches as the breeze came by, creating a soothing jangle and energy in the space. Around the perimeter were various Buddha statues from different regions and in different poses. My favorite Buddha form was the slightly chubby one with a distinct waist and sloping love handles, standing with his right hand extended. This pose is to stop family members from fighting.

        The ideologies of Buddhism were strong in my visit. We were sponsored by Mahidol University, met every day with kindness, top doctors and healthcare professionals, and extravagant lunches. I was slightly in awe of the generosity of our speakers for their time to tell us, moderately scraggly college students, about Thailand’s healthcare system. My favorite excursion was to a rural health promoting hospital/district center. The staff gave us mango and sticky rice to snack on while we toured the center and learned about what they do. The coolest thing is that volunteers support a major portion of the center. Local people, generally elderly with more time on their hands, volunteer and are trained to promote health and wellness in their areas. They will go into villages to check in on the sick, bring medications, encourage people to go to the center, etc. In India, the sub-centers also had volunteers, ASHAs, but the ASHAs were elected, always women, they are compensated for delivering medications and such, and there were only a few per center. At the center we visited, there were tons of volunteers (even a waiting list of, men and women, who only receive a travel stipend to volunteer. They said that being a volunteer gives them something to do as they get older, but also provides a way to actively give back to the community. This was very moving to me because most of the on the ground work is done by these volunteers and the system is sustainable solely on peoples’ values of volunteerism.

        My favorite day in Thailand we went to a community center (that seemed more oriented towards tourists? It was unclear) where we got to bike ride and tie-dye! I was beyond happy to go for a bike ride. I would say that in the last year I have taken to biking more as a method of clearing my head and taking time to myself. To be on a bike provides that incredible feeling of mobility, quickness, but not too fast! I am able to feel myself moving forward, take in the things I pass, let them go. The speed of travel via bike is perfectly manageable. I like this. Also, rural Thailand, wow! Imagine pink, purple, yellow flowers on the trees. Greenery everywhere. There were paths unlike anything I’ve ever seen, concrete, only about six feet wide, elevated over the rivers and fields, interconnected in all of the countryside. They felt like a big puzzle. I want to know who decided to build them.

        In the evening after the bike ride I went out for a fancy dinner at Bangkok restaurant, The Local, with some girls from my program. I hadn’t been feeling particularly connected to anyone in my program so this night felt pivotal. I finally felt like I belonged and had people I could be myself with. Let’s talk about the food, though. Wow. The Local is Michelin “recognized” whatever that means, maybe it had a star, but ooh wee this was Thai food I will not forget. I ordered a fried fish because I thought it would be fun to look the fish in the eyes while I ate it. It was indeed good and fun. The star of the evening was one of the girl’s red curry rib roast. When I took a bite of this dish I had to close my eyes and sit back in my chair. I might have teared up. I have never tasted something so tender and perfectly rich. Truly an incredible experience, if you ever go to Bangkok I recommend going to The Local.

        On the walk back to our hotel we passed Bangkok’s red light district, so we figured we would walk through. It was very interesting because there were definitely some touristy people there who were also checking it out, but there were also people definitely on the hunt for an experience. We went into one of the clubs and made some men very uncomfortable. The waitress started screaming at us because she knew we weren’t going to buy any drinks and one man definitely got shaken up by seeing a group of young girls catching him in the act, if you will. Sex work in Thailand is super prevalent. When you go out after sunset there are women standing outside most hotels and massage shops with women in short skirts beckon people in. I will be honest, I was a bit taken aback by all this. It’s really interesting because I was trying to figure out how I felt and couldn’t really. I hold the opinion that if someone is choosing to be a sex worker then that is their business and it’s just another way to make money. For many people it is very empowering to be in charge of your sexuality and finances so palpably. I did find myself wondering though in Bangkok since the sheer number of women was so high if it’s the same. I would love to hear your opinion. I was talking to my friend about it and she told me that I am being too sensitive. I don’t want to misquote her, but she took a class on sex work and learned that most women who are sex workers see it simply as a job. Some people like their job and some don’t. Like I said though, I found myself struggling with the fact that so many women were clearly looking for work. There were multiple massage parlors per block, each with around ten women on the porch consistently throughout the night. Women standing outside hotels, too, seemed to be waiting for work until late in the evening. One night I went to out with people in my program and a woman I saw on the way to the club around 10pm was standing in the same spot at 1am. I kept thinking about economics, supply and demand. The supply of workers seemed very high, and I am assuming there is a constant demand, so if many women are looking for work, then it isn’t possible that they are getting the best profits or having the most control over the prices. Maybe this is a strange and limited way to look at it, but it made me wonder. I have nothing but respect for all the women I saw and met. I hope for the best for them.

        I was definitely pretty grossed out by all the men I saw though. Maybe this is conflicting with me wanting sex workers to have good work, because they need the clients, but some of these clients were definitely slimy. There would be groups of older men together who would go up to women and touch them and look them up and down, a lot of men would kind of yank women around or hold them really tightly when walking on the streets at night. This made me really concerned and have some questions about the state of empowerment in certain sex work situations in Thailand. But who am I to say… I would love to know peoples’ thoughts and knowledge. Send me an email!

        The next day was our final day of classes in Thailand. Two other students and myself were in charge of leading a “synthesis” discussion of all the material we had covered for the week. I am so proud of how this discussion went. I wanted to pose questions that would spark conversations deeper than simply reviewing the material and instead directed towards discussions of underlying connections and themes we had learned about. My favorite question was at the end of the discussion. I told the class that I had been noticing all week how there are certain things when discussing health in Thailand that we never discussed once while in India they were huge components of public health. My question was, what did we not talk about this week in Thailand and what does that tell us about the determinants of health here? The answers were things like gender, education, poverty, and nutrition. These topics did not come up once in Thailand, and I think that is so fascinating because it shows they are not at all issues anymore, which in turn tells us a lot about Thailand’s socio-economic development. This sounds simple in my explanation, but phew, you should have seen it in context, it was a killer question. I realized preparing for this discussion session that I really enjoy facilitating dialogues and directing conversations. I am really proud of everyone in my class for being so generous with critical and deeply thought out responses, and hey, maybe part of that is because I asked good questions! This felt really good because I have been working really hard in the last six months or so on being a better listener and my question-asking skills. I think taking my sociology methods class on interviewing and trying to get to the root of topics helped me. I feel more confident in how to phrase questions to get a certain level of depth in response. I think another helpful tool has been playing hot seat, a game in which one person sits in the middle and is asked questions for two minutes. This game taught me the importance of listening to people and actually hearing what they say, as well as being brave and curious in how I ask questions. I am very proud of this discussion and happy that my work is paying off. I would love to know how you continue to work on being a good listener and how you think about asking questions. These are areas I am always hoping to improve in.

        At the end of this day I was very tired and needed some time to myself so I watched Netflix and then found a yoga class! It was very nice and challenging to go into yoga mode. I am proud of myself for taking time for myself and recognizing my needs. After, I went for a walk and bought a coconut to drink. Then I felt recharged to meet up with friends at Art Box, a street market type of space. It was a fun adventure because none of us had cell service in Thailand but they told me they were there. I wandered around for a bit then realized there was live music, and thought to myself, “If these people are my new friends that I am vibing with, they will be watching the live music.” Sure enough, there they were! We had the pleasure of seeing one of Thailand’s up and coming rappers, D Gerrard. I would not call it rap per-se, but maybe a mix of bedroom pop, funk, rap, and indie music. He was amazing. Check out his Spotify. There was no way we couldn’t dance, so I got everyone up and we danced about, then other people joined in! We met this super cool girl and danced with her, then we danced with D Gerrard himself. It’s funny because American people are definitely slightly ridiculous, emotional, and over the top to other cultures. We were having a great time dancing about but some people were looking at us like, “These girls are wild.” It was a great time.

      I unfortunately spent all of Saturday in bed with food poisoning. The pad thai from Art Box was just too good. All in all, Thailand was a very nice trip. I would have loved to see the lying down Buddha statue and the home of an American architect/silk trader who mysteriously disappeared, maybe I will go back some day. This journal entry was a bit rough around the edges. Thank you for your patience and please tell me your thoughts on sex work and question asking/listening!

[jeremystrele]

A Home Of Joy and Light, With Alex McCabe Of Kip&Co

A Home Of Joy and Light, With Alex McCabe Of Kip&Co

Homes

by Lucy Feagins, Editor

The bright and joyful house of Kip&Co co-founder Alex McCabe, partner Bobby Babb and 10-month old Quincy! Pink concrete bench by Rutso, ‘the one thing I absolutely wanted for the house and love it’, Alex tells. Crocodile bamboo quartz splashback, found by Bobby and Alex peeking out from a dusty corner of a stone warehouse in Melbourne. Aged brass cabinets ‘roughed up” by Alex and Bobby with some apple cider vinegar. Black paper maché vase from India. Blue and white Italianate ceramic pot handed down from Alex’s grandma. A mix of European pottery and Indian paper maché vases on the shelf. Custom-made stools by Jason Blake. Mud Australia Pebble Bowl Large in Slate used as a fruit bowl. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

The hanging garden is one of Alex’s greatest green thumb achievements ‘though it’s on a watering timer so I can claim no credit’. Black and white vase on shelf by Claire Johnson. Jimmy the Wheaten Terrier in the background! Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Quincey (dressed in new season Kip & Co tracksuit, ‘The Patch’). Panther statue named George by Melissa Grisancich. Ivy Muse plant and pot. Vintage German and local pottery sourced online and ‘from the back of grandma’s cupboards’. Alex and Bobby, Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Vintage lotus couch from a Modern Times warehouse sale. Cushions by Kip&Co. Black and green paper mâché vases from India. Table from Angelucci. Mid-century chairs from eBay. Beenleigh Rum bust from a family pub. ‘My dad’s family were in the pub business in Western Victoria a long time ago. Beverage companies used to put these statues in bars as sale advertising. This little man sat out in the elements for over a decade at my parents’ house before I rescued him’, Alex says. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Crocodile bamboo quartz splash back. Aged brass cabinets. Black paper mâché vase from India. Blue and white Italianate pot handed down from Alex’s grandma. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

The butler’s pantry is ‘a real mish-mash of textures, materials and colours that we love and couldn’t fit into another spot,’ Alex explains, ‘We can close off the whole space from the main house with a giant floor-to-ceiling swinging door’. OSB Cupboards. Green tiles from Earp Brothers. Black terrazzo floor. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Painting over fireplace by Mignon Steele. Plant and planters from Ivy Muse. Rug and cushion by Kip&Co. Chairs from Grandfathers Axe. Spirit men from Elcho Island were a gift from Alex’s family for her 30th. Assorted knick-knacks on the shelves include: ceramic bowl by Kaye Clancy; blue vase by Brooke Thorn; tractor painting from Alex’s sister’s neighbour in Newcastle; stone Ganesh from India; stone bookends from a Mornington Peninsula market; 70s/80s neon case/bottle from the south of France. Table base by TUCKBOX Design, with Cat’s Eye stone top from India. Green painting by Fred Fowler, part of a ‘huge triptych’ (about 6m x 2m) Alex and Bobby commissioned for the space. Black painting by Nyah Isabel Cornish. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

A snapshot of Quincy’s nursery (UMMM….COOLEST NURSERY EVER?!). Blue cushion by BFGF. Other cushions and rug from Kip & Co. Couch from Bisque Interiors in Byron Bay. Table base from Obtainium, ‘a vintage store in Mornington with lots of crazy and off things’. The table top is an offcut from the honey onyx bench in the bathroom (the piece they cut out for the sink!). Wall hanging from Kip & Co, no longer available. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Outdoor chairs from Bali. Marble table top sourced on a trip to India. ‘Kip&Co’s manufacturing base is in India, so we try to get there at least twice a year’, Alex tells ‘Sometimes we get some time to sneak off and connect with amazing local artisans, like those in the stone workshop where this table is from’. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Looking into the house from the backyard. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Bedding and rug are new season Kip&Co (available in March!). Simple bedside tables from Grandfathers Axe. Bedside lamps from Cove Island Essentials in Canggu, Bali. Paintings are by Nancy Nodea and Peggy Patrick from the Warmun Art Centre, ‘both artists are from the Kimberley and work in traditional style, including using ochre from the local area.’ Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Gold brass taps from Brodware. Honey onyx bench. Handmade Light from Portugal. Photo – Caitlin Mills. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Five years after purchasing this 1910’s house in a leafy pocket of St Kilda, Alex McCabe of Kip&Co and family undertook a total rebuild of their home. No mean feat! The renovations included extending the footprint of the house, creating a large open kitchen and living area, and introducing natural light with new windows and skylights.

Alex describes the home as ‘light, bright and personable’ – and we can only agree! The new design deliberately brings the outside into the house, with huge floor to ceiling glass doors. The styling is eclectic and fun – Alex explains her approach as underpinned by the philosophy that ‘too much is never enough!’ She highlights ‘there is no strict style, period or colour palette in the house, just a collection of pieces that make me happy and treasures I’ve picked up along the way.’ Of course, Kip&Co pieces are smattered through the home, lending texture, colour and personality.

Beloved treasures include a triptych the family commissioned from Fred Fowler, which runs the length of the living area. Alex explains, ‘it somehow creates a sense of space rather than closing it in, which is really beautiful.’ The eye-catching crocodile bamboo quartz splash-back (!) is identified by Alex as ‘the biggest statement in the home.’ This incredible addition looks like an artwork, but comes from deep underground, in Brazil. Alex explains how ‘having a beautiful new kitchen made me want to stay home and cook – that’s a really awesome part of our lives now.’

The families new living style is enhanced by their new-found love of St Kilda. Alex highlights that as ‘a bit of a south-side convert, I like to think this hood is as ‘north’ as you can get this side of the river.’ With the St Kilda Botanical Gardens and foreshore walking distance away, the local neighbourhood becomes their backyard over the summer.

The renovation process itself was a joy for Alex and family, with the only niggle being remaining within budget. Alex admits, ‘I am not very good at sticking to one!’ While the budget may have blown out… this home is incredibly successful in capturing and celebrating the identity of its inhabitants. Alex explains ‘I like homes that really reflect the personality of the people living in them, and tell a bit of their story.’ This story is one of sheer joy and over-the-top enthusiasm – we love it!

[kikixrita]

NYC Trip Spring 2018 :+D

We arrived on Thursday night around 5:20 in La Guardia. We then waited in a 20 minute line for a taxi:D The taxi ride was enjoyable as we got to see the citayyy. Ummm it was 50 dollars tho. wtf. After we checked into our hotel, the Seton Hotel, we walked to Shake Shack which just happened to be next door to us!! I got the Veggie Burger and Bob got the classic Shack Burger and cheese fries with a black and white shake. It was so yummy! Then we walked around and found a local grocery store and grabbed some food for our hotel. We grabbed muffins, apples and bananas, chips, ridgies(sour cream and cheddar knock off ruffles), peanut butter, and bread. After we brought it to our hotel, we went walking to Bryant Park! We sat down on the chairs for a bit, then continued our walk to Times Square. We saw everything including the scary people wearing costumes lol! We went into a Broadway store and the Guitar Center store. Then we started our walk back to the hotel. It was a fun start! 

Day 2 <333

Bobs birthday!! We started a little late as Bob had some work to do, so we left our hotel room around 11am. We got the yummy coffee from downstairs (espresso) and started walking around east midtown. We ended up walking north on 5th avenue, running into the Rockefeller, The Plaza, and Central Park! We walked around Central Park, then went to a pizza shop on the lower west side. After eating the delicious pizza, we walked through the park! We ended up at the boat pond and I got to use free bathrooms and we grabbed a coffee and cookie at Le Pain Quotdien. It was so yummy. There was a really funnny squirrel and the birds were walking around the cookie. hhehehehehheh

After we ate, we kept walking through the park. We ended up walking past the Gugenheim and the Met! We walked into the Upper East side, stopping by Bobs old apartment. We stopped at the little park near the river on the upper east side. It was really nice. The weather was dreary, but it was still enjoyable. Bob talked to his grandma and then we started the trek to the subway. Luckily there was a new subway station that we stumbled upon. Oh also we got to pet Cecil the golden retriever!! He was so cuteeeee. We got our metro card, hopped on the subway, and we were off! Back to the hotel. Once we got back, I fell asleep from 7pm-9pm. Whoops! It was a well needed rest. We decided to go out again and we went to a mexican restaurant called Siniqual. It was soooo yummy! There were free chips lmaooooo! The waiter was so nice. We got a veggie fajita. Yum! We stayed until around 11:15pm. Once we left, we tried finding a newspaper so bob could record the events form his birthday. (the main notable thing that happened was that Bill Cosby was found guilt of all three counts of sexual assault....so we are glad we didn’t find the newpaper lmao!)

Day 3

We were TIRED! I slept in until 9:30! RARE. We got ready, grabbed the free espresso downstairs, and headed out. We stopped at Bryant Park for a few minutes, then decided to get H&H Midtown Bagels. We took the subway up and got there. Bob ordered a Blueberry egg and cheese + a tee shirt, and I ordered an Onion Bagel with plain cream cheese...but I got an onion bagel with tuna salad? It was still good tho. We walked to central park to eat, and it was magical! After eating, we walked to The Met and sat on the steps. I took some photos for a group of gals, then we met up with one of Bob’s friends and got some Pizzzzzzzzaaaaa. It was yummmmmmy! He got us into The Met for FREE and we said our goodbyes. Bob and I then walked around the met! We first started at the Asian art but not finding Japanese art -_- After, we saw Greek adn european statues. Omg. that was so cool! I think the coolest was seeing how big the marble and limestone statues were. There were also funeral statues...so they carved the persons face/head into marble and would place their ashes inside this marble box. It is so neat. Then we stopped at the Petrie Cafe and got a coffee, but not before seeing the Oceanic part of the museum. After the Petrie Cafe my legs we hella sore...but I persisted! lmao

We ended up looking at the European paintings section next. We stumbled across a lot of Christ paintings, some a little scarier than others. Then we got to see some Van Goghs, Monets, Degas, and Renoirs. I wish there were more famous female painters :( Anyways, that was cool! After that, we walked across the park! It was very busy and it was sunny :D We ended up on the upper west side to go to Levain Bakery. It was worth it. We got a chocolate chip and walnut and a double chocolate chip cookie. I liked the walnut and Bob liked the double chocolate. Worked out perfectly :-) We brought our cookies to Riverside Park and sat, ate, and people watched. After we ate, we facetimed with bobs mom who was watching Suki. He was so excited! 

We started walking towards the Subway and took it all the way down to Times Square. We saw some interesting characters on the subway and near Times Square. Needless to say we were getting eager to go back to Suki and our apartment lololll

Later that night we watched some Modern Family in the hotel room and ordered Shake Shack. I got the veggie again and bob got the crispy chicken burger-sooirrr good! It was rainy outside, so it was a perfect way to spend our last night in the city.

The next day we had a bit of an early start as check out was 11am. The hotel was kind enough to hold our bags so we were able to roam the city in the afternoon! We started out getting espresso from the free coffee machine in the hallway, then headed to Bryant Park with our muffins. It was so nice :-) Sunny and in the mid 50′s. We sat and ate, then made our way to the Empire State building. We continued down 5th avenue to Madison Square park and people watched. We got to see the Flatiron building and saw cute dogs everywhere! We then went to Wagamama. It was ok...I’m not sure if I would recommend. The chicken katsu was good for a food chain serving Japanese food. After eating, we made our way back to the New York Library! We went through a neat 60′s-70′s exhibit then made our way up to the third floor and saw the main study rooms. It was so cool. I was so excited to be there! We then rushed to Rockefeller, took some photos, ran into a bakery to find Black and White cookies, then ran into Magnolia Bakery because we couldn’t find the black and white cookie, then ran into a little deli and finally found black and white cookies. YAY! We persisted yet again. We made it back just in time to grab our luggage from the hotel (Seton Hotel....the best/cutest place to stay on a budget in NYC.) We hung out in the lounge and got picked up and taken to the airport in a Lyft! :D 

I am currently writing this at La Guardia, where we just ate a really yummy pizza from Angelino’s. 10/10 recommend. It was such a fun trip! I can’t wait to come back soon. 

[umichenginabroad]

Budapest in 18 miles

June 15th:

Another week has come and gone in the city of Troyes, and I find myself heading back to the Gare du Troyes train station. This time, the destination is Budapest, Hungary. To be honest, I did not know much about the city. The only times I had ever heard of Budapest before came from listening to George Ezra, and watching the Wes Anderson movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel (which was filmed in Germany). So I was pretty clueless as to what I could expect. I had several friends who visited the city before, and from all their stories, I was pumped to get to explore myself.

Starting our trip by taking the train from Troyes to the Charles de Galle Airport in Paris!

Riding the train to Paris – you can see the group of Plebeians I have working with me this weekend.

We made it to the airport without any problems, and in no time, we were in the air flying out of France!

Walking off the airplane, having arrived in Budapest after a 2 hour long flight.

We took a taxi (no Uber in Hungary) to the downtown area of the city where we had an Airbnb booked.

When we arrived, we realized that we were located right across the street from the famous St. Peter’s Basilica! It was beautifully illuminated in the night, and the following day, we’d get the chance to go inside. (Thank you to Camille for the great photo!)

We arrived in our Airbnb at around 9pm. It was a giant apartment, super affordable (15$ a night), and the location was perfectly centered in the downtown area. We went out that night to grab some food at a restaurant from around the corner. We had Goulash soup (a traditional Hungarian dish), and a chicken and potato dumpling main course that was delicious. Afterwards, we walked around to one of the city’s most famous ruin bars. During WWII, there were several buildings in Budapest that were destroyed, but then converted into really amazingly decorated bars. At the bar we went to, you could see the torn down walls and broken ceiling/roof tiling – it looked like the only thing they had done to the structure of the building was clean up debris and add a bar counter. However, it was illuminated by long weaves of Christmas lights and decorations throughout the entire bar. The environment was amazing, but we were pretty tired from travelling. After a beer and walking around to see the whole place (which was giant), we were on our way back to the Airbnb.

The next day, Rohan, Jill, and I got up early to go for a run around the city. It was a nice sunny morning, and we were pleased to see that there was a nice running path throughout the city. We ended up jogging from the Pest side of the city, across the bridge, and over to the Buda side. There was a pathway along the river on the Buda side that was great for running on.

From there, we went to the famous Gellert Hill, and ran up the stairs to the upper deck where the statue was located. We took a second to take in the view of the Pest side of the city across the river, and then we continued. We crossed another bridge and made our way back to our Airbnb to get ready for the day.

We searched online, and found that there were free walking tours starting in the morning just a few blocks down. We chose to do this tour on the Communist history of Budapest. We were led by a tour guide who was really funny, and he told us storiesthat occured during the communist influences throughout Budapest’s history.

Along the way, he showed us really cool monuments and relics left from the communist era. That included a secret nuclear bunker next to the Parliamentary building, bullet marks from an infamous shootout, and the giant USSR monument pictured above. The monument was built by the communist Soviet Union to honor their soldiers who died; however, when the Soviet Union fell, they made a deal with Budapest to keep it standing as part of a treaty.

We walked to several famous monuments throughout the city. One of my favorites was this statue of Imre Nagy, the former Prime Minister of Hungary, who now stands on a bridge and looks out to the Parliamentary building. Photo credits to Camille, who had the coolest camera ever and took photos like this one throughout the weekend.

The Parliamentary building itself was beautiful. It formed one side of the city square that included other really impressively ornate buildings. That is where the tour ended, so afterwards we made our own plans for seeing the rest of the city.

We kept walked around the area, and found a statue of a sitting man. We named him Ooganoog, and as you can see, he became part of the group immediately.

We left Ooganoog, and down the river and stopped at some food trucks to grab something to eat. I tried Pork Langos – which is basically fried dough that is topped with sour cream, veggies, and juicy pieces of pork. It was delicious, and also super filling so I wasn’t hungry the rest of the day.

After eating, we walked across the bridge and headed to the Buda Castle! It stands on a hill, and beautifully stands out on the other side of the river. You can’t tell from the other side, but the Buda Castle is only the front for another city center with more government buildings, monuments, and attractions.

Group photo that we took up on the Buda Castle. Behind, you can see the Parliamentary building right across the riverbank. Rohan used his super extension arms and was able to snap the pic like a selfie god.

We kept on walking, making our way to the other side of the Buda Castle. That is where we are standing above, overlooking the mountains and buildings that you can’t see from the Pest side.

It started to rain for a while, so we went inside this underground system of tunnels and dungeons. At first it didn’t seem like much, but you get to a point where the tunnels are pitch black. We got all bunched up and had to try to get through the tunnel system, hitting a couple walls along the way. We all screamed when we ran into another group, because we thought we had been alone in the tunnels.

By the time we got out of the dungeons, the rain had stopped, and the sun was breaking through the cloudy sky. It set up for an amazing background of dark clouds, and light shining down on the Matthias Church.

A bit further down, there was the famous Fisherman’s Bastion, which was a monument with an incredible view out to the Pest side of the city. We grabbed some Gelato because by now it’s become a tradition to grab some ice cream in every city we go to, and we started heading back.

We walked back through this gate that leads to the top area of the Buda Castle.

Walked back across the Liberty Bridge (photo creds to Camille).

Along the river.

And stopped at the Shoes on the Danube Bank. This is a very touching memorial that commemorates all the people (mostly Jewish) of Budapest who were executed at the river during WWII. Before being killed, they were told to remove their shoes, and then shot into the river so that it would carry their bodies. The memorial consists of iron recreations of the victim’s shoes left behind.

After looking at that memorial, we walked back towards the Airbnb and St. Peter’s Basilica. The basilica is giant, and was outline with giant statues (one of which we are convinced is depicting Gandalf).

Going inside was one of the best decisions we made. We walked through the entire church, and admired the beautiful magenta colored marble walls, giant wall murals, and gold linings. It was one of the most impressive buildings I had ever been in, and it probably has the coolest interior for any church I have been in.

After seeing the church, we finally headed back to our Airbnb. We didn’t stay for long, because we signed up to go on a bar crawl to see a group of ruin bars from across the city. We had been walking all day, but the thought of being tired never even slipped my mind. Being able to walk through a new city each weekend with my friends, it made me realize how much more there is to see in the world. I was so happy to have come to UTT, because I was able to meet other students who all loved travelling and trying new things like I do. It felt like dumb luck thinking about the chances that we would all meet each other in France when we had never even seen each other for years at UofM. A few weeks into this program, and I could say confidently that I’d travel the world with my new friends. So looked across our Airbnb to look at all the individuals who made my day so special, and took it all in for a few moments. That abruptly ended when Jack yelled out a loud, grunting, sem-oink, that if I had to spell out, would have sounded something like NIIIAAAOUHUANG. It wasn’t something new, and by now it was the group signal indicating that it was time to get Shwifty.

Blog Tip #6:

Waking up early and going to jog around the city was amazing! There are not many people around, and you can see an overview of the city within an hour - it was a great way to wake up!

L. Sebastian Ojeda

Chemical Engineering

Sustainable & Industrial Ecology in Troyes, France

[wanderlust225]

More temples and noodles? You betcha!

If I could, I would have stayed in Kyoto for another day but it wasn't in the cards this time so I crammed a lot into the last 1.5 days I had in what I've decided is the heart of Japan. (I realize that is a bit unfair to say, as I've only been in a few different places so far!) I woke up early (for my current travel lifestyle, not my normal work lifestyle) and headed to Arashiyama which is what is more commonly referred to as the Bamboo forest. Though it was fairly modest in depth, it was really magical walking below the canopy of these mightly bamboo trees, with sunlight jetting through at even the smallest holes between leaves. Just next to the bamboo forest is the Tenryu-Ji temple, built in 1339 after the emporer had a dream that a dragon had risen from a nearby river, hence the name tenryu ("heavenly dragon"). Like most of the Kyoto temples I visited, the original grounds / buildings had been burned down a number of times in the past few hundred years - though it does seem like Kyoto was mostly spared during WWII. The coolest part of this temple was the garden which was remarkable, designed in a classic style of shakkei ("borrowed scenery"), set with the beautiful Arashiyama mountains in the background. I also booked at shigetsu to sample Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. To many, I'm sure this sounds terrible. To me, it was a welcome respite from constantly having to worry about what animal parts I might stumble upon in my food. Before I sat down I met a really cool couple from Santa Barbara, who had just spent a year in HK. The boyfriend was a chef, which I decided made my meal very legitimate. It was delicious; tofu and wasabi, pickled vegetables, squash soup (Ok, the only thing I did not love), vegetables in a sesame sauce -- and then they brought more; eggplant with a sesame-miso paste and delicious honeydew melon. So good. To make it even more legit it was served in a traditional dining hall and we removed our shoes and sat on a red mat on the floor. One thing I'm not down with in Japanese culture is so much sitting on the floor - it's so uncomforable and westerners bodies are just not accustomed to it - no matter how much yoga we do! Then I decided to test my navigational skills and took the train then a bus (!) to Kinkaku-ji Temple / Ryoan-ji Temple or, for the non-Japanese speakers, the Golden Pavilion, named for the gold leaf-coverd main hall. It was by far the most packed temple I went to the whole day - but since everyone basically snapped a few pics, it was a pretty quick blob of tourist pandamonium to move through. The pavilion was on a beautiful little pond, with mountains in the background and Japanese maples surrounding the water. The leaves of a few of the maples were just starting to turn a burnt red and amber themselves, which gave me a glimpse of what it might look like in the Fall. Just gorgeous. After the Golden Pavilion is had the choice to stop at my hotel first to freshen up (the weather report was still scattered clouds and feels like 100+ degrees) but with it getting later in the afternoon, and because many temples close between 4-5pm, I decided to trek on to Fushimi Inari Temple. This is one of the most famous temples in Kyoto, for the thousands of red shrines that envelope the walkways. I had no real comprehension of what that meant, until I spent almost 2 hours hiking through a never ending stream of red shrines. There was a map at the entrance of the temple which showed that you could walk up the mountain through the lined gates - there was no scale to the map and I thought, 'how hard can this be?' Now it wasn't anything close to Mt Batur in Bali, but I also wasn't prepared for a hike! The first few walkways were crawling with tourists. As the path continued on, and especially as it got steeper, the tourists started to thin out until when I got much closer to the top I spent quite a bit of time hiking to myself. In addition to the red shrines there were tons of little foxes everywhere - these are considered the messenger of Inari, the god of cereals or harvest. The Japanese also see the fox as a sacred figure capable of "possessing" humans - all of it reminded me of Jack. From signs on the path of how much each type of shrine costs, my best guess is that patrons of this temple can purchase them and (I think) put their family name on the legs of the shrine. For all the silent griping I did about this surprise hike, there were stunning views and it felt like a huge accomplishment getting to the top. On the way down there were 2 men installing a new shrine and I noticed as I went by that they were burning incense. I wondered, is it because this shrine installation is a semi-religious act - or is it because a few tourists I passed had absolutely terribly BO. Maybe both. Given the number of tourist attractions I visited I had a lot of time to think about the matchig outfits that were almost as prevalant as people wearing kimonos or outfits with cats on them. If anyone has any experience in this Japanese / Asian matching outfit phenomenon, I would love to know more, like: - Do you pack matching outfits for the whole trip or just one special day? - Is it typically one person's idea and they purchase the pair? - Are there stores that specialize in this - especially the cross gender outfit matching? - For couples, do Asian guys really get into this, or is it something to appease their girlfriends /wives? - For parents, do people judge you if your kids aren't coordinated? Better yet, if you're not coordinated with your friends? I can barely figure out someting I like enough to wear myself... After I freshened up a bit back at the hotel and had my last free evening drink, I headed to the bustling downtown Kyoto scene. Surprise surprise, it was really cool. I had dinner at Omen Shijo which is an udon noodle place off of the famed Panto Cho alley, supposedly where the modern day geishas roam. I wasn't quite sure how to order but wanted to try udon and tempura and fpund a set that included just that. They brought out the tempura first and a rice bowl topped with beef, all which looked fantastic. I dove in, wondering how I had missed ordering the udon, but it looked like plenty of food. As I dove into the tempura they brought 4 more plates - udon noodles, broth, sesame seeds and veggies and I almost regretted ordering my beer which I realized would take up precious stomach real estate. (Not quite though as it helped me cement the fact that I like Sapporo over Asai - very improtant to know.) The waitress taught me the udon procedure: add some sesame seeds, veggies and noodles to the broth and let them all soak for awhile. It was so delicious. (So good, I got almost the same meal the next day for lunch!) After dinner I wandered around Panto Cho "geisha hunting," as they say. I saw a number of women in kimonos, but they were all tourists. On a positive side I had a lovely stroll along a very lively riverway and then found a cool beer bar, where I chatted for a few hours with a nice Italian woman and two super fun gay guys from NYC. The guys told me about their one-day hike up Mt Fuji (which they said looked like another planet and I thought sounded horrifying). The Italian woman confessed that she has not really enjoyed traveling alone as there is no one to talk to -- which made me think to myself, 'huh, I guess that would be a normal reaction.' On the contrary though, I've enjoyed every second of solo travel - I guess there is more innovert in me than I thought! This morning I was a bit slow to get moving (which I will blame on all the beers last night!) but I packed up and headed out to the last temple on my list, Sanjusangen-do Temple. It was first built in 1164, but in the 13th century they added the defining charicteristic, 1,000 wooden and gold-plated, life-size kannons that flank one huge kannon in the middle. Each kannon had 42 arms and each looked a little different; the shape of the eyes, way the robes fell and the size of their mouths. It was an amazing sight, 10 rows with 100 kannons in each and all of this great hall protected by 28 statues of deities which had the creepiest marble eyes. After the temple I set off to buy some ceramics, which Kyoto is famous for. Lindsay bought me a set of two beautiful Japanese plates last time she was here so I bought vivid blue, smaller plates and bowls to match. Then I found anaother store that had super fancy matcha blending bowls, and I also bought two of those. WIth that, and after another quick udon lunch (pretty similar to the night before!) I had too much to carry to shop anymore, so I headed to the train station. Now I'm on the bullet train back to Tokyo for the night and I leave in the late afternoon tomorrow. Trying to decide what to eat tonight is going to be a BIG challenge and I realize that after 4 days in HK and even a week in healthy Bali, I couldn't wait to abandon their cuisines. In Japan though, I have had tons of different meals (all sans seafood) and I have enjoyed every different preparation procedure and every taste. ...though I must confess that when I get back to SF, I will be very happy on a diet of salads and pizza!