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elenasunshinemagazine · 2 months

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A quick, hassle-free lunch in 30 minutes

That's what weekends are for, to get enough sleep, relax and not spend a lot of time on routine. But no one canceled delicious family dinners. Therefore, fresh ideas for easy-to-prepare dishes will be most welcome.

#1.Fried salmon with potato slices and salad

Any dense fish without bones will do, walleye or cod will also work well here. Potatoes like salt, so salt to your taste, the main thing is not to overdo it! We won't need egg yolk, it's good to make delicious homemade mayonnaise from it. Instead of sesame seeds, you can add crushed sunflower or pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, or almond crumbs.

Ingredients for 2 servings: Large potatoes 2 pcs. Salmon fillet without skin 1 pc. Salad mix 1 cup Lemons 1 pc. Chicken eggs 1 pc. Black sesame 1 teaspoon White sesame 1 teaspoon Olive oil 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive oil 2 tablespoons Paprika to taste Freshly ground black pepper to taste Sea salt to taste

The nutritional value of a serving is 529 kCal

Instructions:

Cooking time 35 minutes

Wash the potatoes and, without peeling, cut them into slices, then put them in a baking dish lined with baking paper, lightly season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with paprika, and pour in olive oil.

Bake the potatoes in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 356F and bake for another 10 minutes.

Separate the yolk from the protein, add a little salt, and pepper, and whisk into a foam. Lightly sprinkle the fish on all sides with Extra Virgin olive oil, then dip in the whipped protein. Preheat the grill pan, lay out the fish, sprinkle with black and white sesame seeds and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side.

Cut the lemon in half, cut one half into quarters, squeeze the juice from the second half, and grate the zest on a fine grater. Season the salad mix with the remaining Extra Virgin olive oil, add the zest and lemon juice, season with salt, and pepper, and mix.

#2.Turkey with vegetables

Turkey meat is famous for its health benefits: it is recommended for allergies and low-calorie diets. Due to the fact that meat contains almost no fat, but is rich in protein, it is quickly digested and easily digested. Compared to pork or beef, turkey meat has excellent taste and dietary properties.

Turkey meat is ideal for weight loss. Due to the small number of calories and fat digestibility, it is recommended for people who are on a diet. In order for the food to be easily digestible, do not forget to get rid of the skin, which contains most of the calories.

Ingredients for 3 servings: Turkey fillet 14.6oz White onion 1 pc. Garlic 2 cloves Carrot 1 pc. Bulgarian pepper 1 pc. Zucchini 1 pc. Salt to taste Freshly ground pepper mixture to taste Soy sauce 3 tablespoons Sesame oil 2 tablespoons Vegetable oil 2 tablespoons Butter 1 tablespoon Green onion to taste Sesame seeds to taste

The nutritional value of a serving is 442 kCal

Instructions:

Cooking time 30 minutes

Fry onion and garlic in a mixture of vegetables and butter until soft. Add a little salt and pepper. Next, send carrots, cut into cubes, to the onion, and a little later — thinly sliced pepper.

After 7 minutes, add zucchini to the vegetables, and cut them into strips, as for Korean carrots. Simmer for literally 3 minutes and then put all the ready-made vegetables on a plate.

In the same pan, add a little more butter and fry the turkey, sliced like beef stroganoff - cubes. When the turkey is ready, add the vegetables to it, mix everything, pour in soy sauce and sesame oil, and put out for a couple more minutes. Sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds before serving.

#3.Baked shrimp in marinade

The composition of shrimp is able to have a beneficial effect on the human body as a whole, improving the functioning of internal organs.

Regular consumption of this seafood helps prevent the development of diseases in the cardiovascular system and significantly reduces the risk of stroke, heart attack, and hypertension. Shrimp meat shows its unique properties only when it is regularly consumed.

Low-calorie content, a minimal amount of fat and huge benefits from eating allow you to include shrimp meat in the diet menu. It will help prevent exhaustion of the body during a diet and will contribute to weight loss. In addition, seafood is able to speed up metabolism and contains a minimum amount of fats and carbohydrates, which also helps to reduce body weight.

Ingredients for 4 servings: White wine 2 tablespoons Lemon juice 2 tablespoons Breadcrumbs 3 tablespoons Butter 3 tablespoons Shrimp 33.92oz Olive oil 2 tablespoons Garlic 3 cloves Salt to taste

The nutritional value of a serving is 469 kCal

Instructions:

Cooking time 30 minutes

In a bowl, mix the wine, olive oil, and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix the marinade with the peeled shrimp.

In a small bowl, mix the butter and breadcrumbs. Put the shrimp in a baking dish in one layer. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Sprinkle the mixture of butter and breadcrumbs evenly on top. Bake in a preheated 392F oven for 10-20 minutes, until golden brown. Serve with rice. You can decorate the top with lemon slices.

#4.Chicken liver beef stroganoff with champignons

Chicken liver is another wonderful product that is prepared in half an hour. Add mushrooms, onions, and garlic to it, put everything out in sour cream sauce, and you will get a delicious interpretation of the popular beef stroganoff dish.

Thick sour cream sauce, mushrooms, and chicken liver. Add garlic and pepper mixture — and in 25 minutes lunch or dinner is ready. Help yourself!

Ingredients for 4 servings: Chicken liver 15.87oz Onion 1 pc. Garlic 2 cloves Sour cream 7.0oz Salt to taste Freshly ground pepper mixture to taste Vegetable oil 3 tablespoons Butter 2 tablespoons Champignons 5 pcs. Flour 1 tablespoon The nutritional value of a serving is 481k Cal

Instructions:

Cooking time 30 minutes

Preheat both types of oil, add onion and garlic, and dice. Peel the champignons and cut them into plates. Add the onion to the pan. Fry, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Wash the chicken liver well and cut it into pieces. Add to the pan, and sprinkle with flour. Cook for 5 minutes.

Pour sour cream, and add salt. If the mixture is too thick, add 3 tablespoons of water. Simmer under the lid for 10 minutes. Pour in any greens (dill, parsley), and mix. Serve the most delicious with mashed potatoes. Bon Appetit!

#5. Casserole with trout and broccoli

This dish is a good way to interest your pets in healthy broccoli. Add potatoes and redfish to the cabbage, pour the cream with the nutmeg, and bake in the oven. 5 minutes before cooking, sprinkle the dish with grated cheese, and you will get a fragrant crust. It will be very tasty! I suggest you try a simple, easy-to-prepare, and absorb casserole!

Ingredients for 4 servings: Trout 10.58oz Fresh broccoli 10.58oz Potatoes 4 pcs. Cream 1/2 cup Chicken eggs 3 pcs. Hard cheese 3.53oz Ground nutmeg to taste

The nutritional value of a serving is 420 kCal

Instructions:

Cooking time 40 minutes

Cook the broccoli in salted water for 3 minutes. Cook potatoes for 15 minutes, cut them into slices, and put them on a baking sheet. Cut the fish fillets into large pieces, and put them on potatoes.

Beat the eggs with a whisk with cream. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Put the broccoli in a mold, and pour the cream mixture.

Bake in the oven at 356F for about 20-25 minutes. 5 minutes before readiness, sprinkle with grated cheese. Bon Appetit!

Elena runs a private practice as a nutrition coach in the USA and many countries around the world. https://elenasunshinemagazine.com/services/

I offer:

Evaluate current meal plans and give general recommendations.

Individual consultations.

Making individual meal plans.

Recommend gradual dietary changes and consistent dietary practice.

Discuss the importance of balanced macronutrient intake.

To offer recommendations on eating behavior.

Promote the calorie recommendations set out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, MyPlate, the Eatwell Guide in the United Kingdom, or other acceptable organizations.

https://elenasunshinemagazine.com/cooking/a-quick-hassle-free-lunch-in-30-minutes/

#cooking #food #recipes #healthy #lifestyle #elenasunshinemagazen

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vanityfairness · 5 months

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March & April 2024 Empties

* = disliked the product - would not repurchase ** = liked the product - would not repurchase *** = liked the product - might or might not repurchase **** = loved the product - would repurchase *HOLY GRAIL!*

1. Shiseido Urea 10% Hand & Foot Cream (60g) source: Stylevana thoughts: I brought this along on my trip to Asia back in the summer of 2023. I really like this as it works for both the hands and feet. It is very moisturizing and it makes my feet nice and soft. I do like the red one as well but that one is more so just for hands which is also very good but this one is definitely more moisturizing. I haven't seen this one in my local stores but this is available on YesStyle and Stylevana. rating: *HOLY GRAIL*

2. floun carrot blending serum (30ml / 1.01oz) source: YesStyle thoughts: I really liked this serum. It was lightweight and hydrating and I just love how easily it absorbed into my skin. It also leaves a nice cool and refreshing feeling. The only thing I don't really like is the packaging; about half way through it became difficult to pump the product out. I do have a bit left in the container but it's very difficult to get unless you have like a small spoon/ scoop in your stash. Overall I do like how simple the packaging is and I always look forward to using this product. I do want to try other products from this brand as well. I finished this product in 63 days using it every morning. I did purchase my serum on YesStyle but it looks like it's currently out of stock. I don't know if this will come back on YesStyle or not as I do see that they are carrying less products by this brand as time goes by, which makes me sad. This is a really good serum and something I would want to repurchase and really enjoyed using. rating: ****

3. Biossance Squalane + Enzyme Sugar Body Scrub (60ml / 2oz) source: Sephora thoughts: This was okay. I'm glad that I got to try it in a mini size rather than getting a full size. it was nice but if you do remember I'm not a big fan of sugar scrubs as I find that it doesn't give me enough exfoliation. This felt like it would give a good exfoliation at first but it melts really fast upon contact with water unless you have a lot of it on. This is the set I got from Sephora but they do also offer it on the Biossance website. rating: **

4. Mediheal A-zero Shot Trouble Dressing Spot Patch (80 patches) source: Stylevana thoughts: These are 10mm in size and the pack comes with 80 patches. I did not like these at all. They were really thick and I feel like it didn't suck and adhere that well. rating: *

5. Native Deodorant: Sweet Peach & Nectar (75g / 2.65oz) source: Native thoughts: I do really like Native deodorants. They have nice scents and I do find that it works. I do feel a bit sad when I finish one sometimes as some of the scents are limited edition and usually they don't reproduce them again, but this scent is one of their regulars. I feel like I have been using this for a really long time. I do notice that the scent is no longer as strong as when I first used it. I can say it has been a few years, I feel like I might had purchased this back in 2022 or maybe earlier. I do wish that they would offer the travel size versions on their website. When the site first started they did offer a travel size as a freebie and also the option to purchase a travel size for a few dollars if I remember correctly. You can buy travel sized versions at certain drug stores but they can be hard to find. i think Target was the place that I saw that had the most selection of scents for the travel size versions. Here in Canada I typically only can find the Vanilla & Coconut version. rating: ***

6. O HUI Age Recovery soft animo foam (45ml) source: Jolse thoughts: I really enjoyed using this. It foamed and cleansed well without stripping my face. This was definitely great during the colder months. It is a cream type of cleanser and it does also have a scent but not something I mind. This lasted about 3 months with me using it twice a day. I did get this in a set. I sometimes do wish that cleansers came in this size, as I found it to be the perfect amount and size for a seasonal trail. rating: ***

7. Juice to Cleanse Powder Wash (10 pieces) source: Jolse thoughts: I really enjoyed using this. I did find that one packet contained quite a bit of powder for one wash. I feel like 1 packet could be split into 2-3 uses, but of course it would be hard to set aside since the product is in a packet. I found that it cleansed and exfoliated the face quite well. I mainly brought this along on my travels so that I could still stick to my skincare routine of exfoliating twice a week. rating: ***

8. Derma B Body lotion: Mandarin Till Dawn (30ml / 1.01oz) source: Stylevana thoughts: I'm not sure how I feel about this scent. It does have the scent of mandarin mixed with a kind of woodsy-like scent. The cream itself is nice and light. It spreads and absorbs nicely into the skin without much effort. rating: ***

9. Briogeo Scalp Revival (236ml / 8oz) source: Sephora thoughts: This was okay. It smelt nice and I find that it did kind of cleanse my scalp. It did help with my flaky scalp, as I did notice that my scalp was less itchy when I had this in my routine. I used it once a week. The only thing that I don't really like is that it's hard to determine if you really have washed everything out, however I do shampoo a second time. rating: ***

10. The Face Shop Herb Day Cleansing Tissue (70 wipes) source: The Face Shop thoughts: Once again I finished a pack. These are a staple and are always in my stash. This is probably the product that I have used the longest and on a consistent basis, compared to everything else. rating: *HOLY GRAIL*

11. Watercolors Intense Shampoo: Lilac (250ml / 8.5oz) source: Forme Hair Salon thoughts: I purchased this when I got my hair bleached 2 years ago. It's suppose to help retain the color longer. I feel like it did help for a bit, but eventually it just became kind of brassy. The concept was nice but I didn't feel like it worked for my dark black hair. rating: **

12. Function of Beauty Shampoo (473ml / 16oz) source: Function of Beauty thoughts: I've had this in my stash for a really long time. I can't even remember what formulation I chose for this one or what it was suppose to do. I did mix this with the Watercolors Intense Shampoo as my hair stylist suggested I do 1:1 when using the Intense Shampoo. I actually had another set of these which I ended up giving away as I found that it didn't work for my scalp condition. rating: *

13. Hakugen Iiyutabidachi Turbid Open-Air Spa Inn (12 packets) source: T&T Supermarket thoughts: I really did enjoy the scents of these. The scents made it a nice way to end the night for a relaxing effect. I find that this brand has a stronger scent and less affective on relieving the body but more so the mind. My least favourite one was probably the Green one but overall not bad. rating: ***

14. Tatcha Forest Awakening Hinoki Body Milk (132ml / 4.5oz) source: Sephora thoughts: This was a very light weight cream as well as lightly scented. It goes on so smoothly and absorbs quickly into the skin without much effort. The packaging is also very nice and looks lovely on the vanity. I feel like there may be a good dupe for this, as this is expensive for the amount you get. I do really like the texture of this though, plus I like that it does contain squalene. rating: ***

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kmmsthings · 5 months

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Earth Day Craft Ideas for the Whole Family

Earth Day is a day the whole family can enjoy together. You can take advantage of this day to teach your children about caring for the earth. Also consider doing some pottery work together. I have come up with a few ideas that would be fun for all ages, and help bring the family together for one of the most important days of each year, for thinking about ways we can help Mother Earth. #1 Nature Walk/Art Project Go for a walk and have each family member collect five to ten items from nature. For example, they can pick up a leaf or a petal. Ask them to bring a bag so they can collect their belongings. Take them home and make a collage. You can use the collage to make place mats, wall art, or even a desk mat or mouse pad. What you also create gift cards using leaves as the design for the front of the card. I have a good friend who dries flowers from her yard and then applies them to the front of cardstock by gluing them. You will need: laminated sheets, card stock, scissors, clear glue or hot glue, and any other materials you have on hand. Be creative and have fun. Many of these items can be purchased at your local dollar store. If not, here are some options from Amazon - White Thick Paper Cardstock and Self Stick Laminating Sheets and Scotch 5" Soft Touch Blunt Tip Kids Scissors #2 Tie Dye Party Tie dyeing is fun! When natural food coloring is used, it becomes an eco-friendly activity. If you want to add some education to the project, talk to your kids about why you chose to use natural dye instead of chemical dye. Discuss how chemicals harm the planet. You can use carrots, beets, berries, turmeric and other natural products to make the dye. My family makes tie-dye for a living! You can check out all that they have to offer at https://jamminon.com/ #3 Stuffed Animals Make stuffed animals with materials you find everywhere in the house. For example, a black sock can be used to create the body of a penguin. Cut out the white t-shirt material and glue or sew it to make the belly. A few buttons for the eyes. A felt or foam triangle for the beak and legs. Kids and adults can also create fun monster animals. You can use old corduroy skirts or pants for the bodices. Buttons, ribbons and fiberfill take care of the rest. Each sample can be unique. Since you're using items you already have in your home, talk to your kids about why repurposing and repurposing items is good for the planet. #4 Bracelets or cuffs. Cuffs are in style right now, and old wool sweaters can make beautiful cuffs. Your children can have fun with this craft using buttons, flowers and old decorations. You can too! To make old wool sweaters work for this project, you'll want to 'feel' them. This means that you shrink them until the wool is thick. It won't come apart. Simply cut the yarn to size. Try it on your wrist. Secure it with Velcro, buttons, or even sew it closed. Add embellishments and you will have a beautiful fist. If you are a Taylor Swift fan? You can create friendship bracelets to wear in pride! #5 Can you garden? If you are a family of gardeners, start collecting cans. This is a recycling project and a garden project in one. Decide how you want to decorate the outside of the can. You can create your own labels using a computer, but you can also draw or paint them. Painting works well because you don't have to worry about water ruining the paper decorations. Yeah, If you are going to paint the cans, consider using a primer beforehand so that the paint adheres well to the can. You can also decorate it with stickers. Poke a few holes in the bottom of the clean can before decorating the outside. These holes are for drainage. Place some stones in the bottom of the can. Fill the can with potting soil and plant seeds or plants. Place in a sunny location. Your children will be able to see their plants grow. Note: If you each plant a different herb, you can create a herb garden on your windowsill. I would recommend herbs you know that you would use in your cooking overall. Basil, Cilantro, Oregano, Thyme, Parsley are the most common use daily. Once the herbs have grown, you can demonstrate how they are used to preparing dinner. This way, your children will also learn about the life cycle. Consider your children's age and attention span before choosing a craft. Earth Day is a day that can be both fun and educational. Help your children learn about caring for the earth in a fun way. Header Photo by Artem Podrez Read the full article

#earthday #eco-friendly #eco-living #life

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gogeorgettes · 8 months

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Happy New Year 2024: Enjoy a Fresh Start With Georgette's

It's the start of the New Year, and our teams at Georgette's Grounds and Gifts and Sunshine Communities are here to greet you with a "Happy 2024!"

Getting the year started off right is easy. Just come visit us at Georgette's, our Maumee bakery, to get a hot coffee or easy lunch that keeps you going through chilly winter days.

The Top Coffee Shop Maumee Loves

In our lunch cafe Maumee residents love that they can order online or call for pickup. You can also eat in, if you want to sit down and relax with us for a while. Our space is the perfect place to catch up with friends or take a break during the workday.

Winter Delights: Hot Menu Items

Now that the days are colder than ever, it's time to sit down with a hot brew. From 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., you can enjoy ordering from our hot coffee menu, grabbing a delightful cup o' Joe to drink in or take out.

Some of our regulars' favorites include:

Chai lattes, which have warm spices that heat you up from the inside out

Lattes for a classic drink made with steamed milk and espresso

Cappuccinos for a creamy drink with foamed milk

Cafe mochas, which add a touch of chocolate to your drink

If you're not interested in coffee, we have other drinks as well. From hot cocoa to steamers (milk with your choice of a flavoring), there is plenty on offer here at Georgette's.

A Good Morning Starts With Breakfast

Coffee isn't all our shop has to offer. We also serve breakfast starting at 8:00 a.m., so you can grab a bite to eat on the way to the office or other activities. We have a variety of fan favorites including flavorful oatmeal topped with milk, walnuts, brown sugar, and raisins, breakfast burritos, the Sunrise muffin, and our popular maple bacon panini.

Try our egg and avocado panini or opt for our Tuscan breakfast focaccia to get the energy you need to get through your day.

A Sweet Treat for Your New Year

If breakfast isn't what you're in the mood for but you're not looking for lunch, you'll be delighted by our bakery section. Our carrot cake, in particular, is an award-winning cake with cream cheese frosting. It pairs well with nearly any of our coffees and hot beverages, too, making it a great choice for starting your day off right or relaxing during the lunch hour.

From Our Team to Yours: Happy New Year

At Sunshine, we focus on creating community and are excited when we see you visit us at Georgette's. If you're ready to join the team and would like to help those with developmental disabilities, you can find direct support professional jobs, direct care professional jobs, and healthcare jobs caring for people with developmental disabilities within our organization. Whether you choose to work in our kitchen or you help with administrative tasks, we're eager to welcome you here at Sunshine Communities.

Source URL:- https://thewardenpress.com/happy-new-year-2024-enjoy-a-fresh-start-with-georgettes/

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aarohij · 1 year

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How Can I Be Sure That The Chopped Vegetables Will Be Fresh And Of High Quality When Ordering Online?

With this improvement in technology, everyone is looking for a convenient approach to complete any task. Is that true? Online Cut Vegetable Delivery services are widely growing in the busy schedules of the people.

Do you find it hard to accept this truth?

Not to worry. You'll discover the evidence to support that!

Let's continue with

Online shopping has mostly become a practical method for the working population. Timing and transportation problems are common in large cities.

As a result, a sizable portion of the city's population has begun purchasing fresh vegetables online. Online buying only requires the use of one's finger and choosing.

So let's examine the advantages of purchasing fruits and veggies online.

Are You Annoyed by the Traffic?

In major cities like Bangalore, traffic frequently annoys or catches people off guard. Eventually, people's urge to shop declines. Therefore, using the "Order Fresh Cut Vegetables Online" option may make the process simple.

The produce in the handcart may become contaminated by road pollution. Fruits and vegetables have been stored in a warehouse before being sold online, protecting them from contaminants.

Do You Want to Unwind at Home?

You can choose either one. You may either choose to stay at home and get fresh veggies online, or you can go through the neighborhood markets. You will receive it not just at your home but also straight from the makers.

Online purchases of fresh produce are always safe and of the highest caliber.

Is there anything more energizing than the snap of green leafy vegetables and the crunch of raw carrots? No, we bet you can't! Because of this, maintaining the freshness of chopped veggies ordered online until they are delivered to your home is an essential task that every fruit and vegetable seller must do.

We will explain how the veggies are packaged to guarantee that they are delivered fresh in this post.

Product Excellence

When shipping consumers fresh produce, the first thing to look at is the food's condition. You don't want to disappoint them and risk losing their business, do you?

To avoid anything like that, check the quality of your fruits and vegetables before mailing them.

Any rotten fruits or vegetables should be taken out of the shipment to avoid contaminating the rest of the food. Such items must be provided in a timely manner to clients via an established supplier.

A Review Of The Storage Conditions

Fresh veggies are one of the things that go bad in a few days or weeks. But that doesn't mean you can't employ methods to keep them in their natural state longer. One of them is keeping them in an appropriate atmosphere by keeping the room temperature at only 2.5 degrees Celsius if their delivery is within one to two days. Make sure the food is kept cold until it reaches its destination to avoid wilting.

The required items are handled by a reputable online cut vegetable delivery service. As a result, you ought to purchase from reliable vendors.

The Proper Packaging Is Used

Since moisture is the deadliest enemy of raw food, it is essential to fight it using a range of tactics. One approach to stop the quality of your food from deteriorating is by using sufficient packaging. You may provide your fresh food in the finest way possible by using the advice that follows:

● Store your goods in airtight containers to maintain the freshness of your fruits and vegetables.

● Each food item should be sealed in line with its classification.

● Use wooden containers to transport large quantities of fresh food items.

● For small, delicate foods like berries and peaches, use plastic jars.

● When packing fragile items like bananas and eggplants, add a layer of foam.

● Never place something fresh in a newspaper since doing so will make it moist.

Make Room For Their Breathing

All foods require a tiny bit of space to prevent wilting. The quality of your fruits and vegetables will suffer from congested packing since they won't have enough space to breathe.

However, if you pack them tightly rather than giving them the required breathing area, they will start to lose their quality within a day.

Implementing a Proven Idea

The best course of action is to move forward with a plan. Even if you are only placing the items in separate containers, it is still essential to have a plan. Making a mistake during this stage might lead to future losses as a result of unhappy customers and falling sales.

Every action must be planned. The timing of the product pick-up and shipment must be indicated in this agreement.

Endnote

This advice should help you maintain your food fresh till it is served to your customers. Send such items by expedited shipping if at all possible as packaging and quality are essential in this case. When your customers are pleased with their purchases, you will benefit.

Therefore, pick an Online Chopped Vegetables delivery service of fresh veggies that can assist you in finding the proper product.

#fresh vegetable online #order vegetables online #buy fresh vegetable #fresh green vegetable #fresh chopped vegetable #online chopped vegetables

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blackroseraven · 1 year

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Today was a muck day.

It was also a “my horse is an asshole” day.

So like. Okay. We put out horses, that goes fine, nothing super major happens. Muck fine. Mostly. I do have to stop at one point to go down and pull Andre’s leg out of his haybag because he somehow stuck it all the way in there and the giant horse is now sadly kicking his hoof trying to get free.

Once mucking is done in this god damn humid swamp weather that we’ve gotten out of nowhere, I get my horse and Q. I have some carrots for treats and some apples. The apples are still in their packaging: just some old apples from the discount bin at the store, wrapped in plastic on a little foam tray.

And my goddamn horse spots the apples, and immediately goes in to eat them. Plastic be damned. Once I leap in to stop in, he twists away, and quickly realizes he can carry the whole package of apples with him.

And he spins around, trying to eat the entire package of apples, swinging his head wildly up and down to shake them loose to better munch on them with. An apple flies out into a stall, another goes rolling down the aisle, all the apples are gone but he can’t see that so he’s now trying to eat the plastic packaging and bouncing away from me while I’m flailing at him, up and down the aisle, Teacherlady’s kid and dumbass both watching and laughing at the spectacle the whole time until I finally snatch the foam packaging away, and he goes to sulk.

ugh.

Q of course used this time to fling my stuff over and find a carrot to steal but. whatever.

my horse is an asshole.

I mashed his hackamore on and got Q, and we went up to the empty arena to poke around. And it was actually really nice just. Doing whatever, not a care in the world, cooling down from everything. He cantered a few circles around Q, Q rolled a few times, Quattro tried to get Q to play with him and Q wandered around and stretched his legs.

He did good.

still an asshole.

After I put them away I spent a. A long time cleaning Jaeger. Got a LOT of muck off him, like a whole second skin, it was gross.

We took a walk over to the quarterhorses, then around the property after he was cleaned up a little. It was really nice, honestly. A good way to end things off, to cool down and give him some exercise.

Also yeah. We have a new lesson horse, Chevy: he looks exactly like Hale with a mustache, and has zero work motivation. He was actually trained as a police horse, but while absolutely bombproof he also just. Was very lazy and required way too much kicking and prodding and whipping to do anything more than a plod along.

So he’s a perfect lesson horse. He tromps along with the other horses nicely, he fits in with the boys, and he’s very handsome.

New horses, new adventures.

old horses new adventures too.

#horse #quattro #q

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will-o-the-witch · 3 years

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Simple Chicken Soup Recipe for a Kitchen Witch on a Budget

Because I love food and I'm also cheap. This is basically just my regular easy chicken soup recipe but with the magical associations included. It'll feed you for days.

The Long (But Tastier) Way

What You'll Need:

One of those discount whole chickens from the grocery store (my boyfriend calls it a "used chicken")

Whatever veggies in your kitchen are starting to look sad and need to be used before they go bad (I recommend having carrots and celery in that mix tho)

Some extra celery/carrots for the final product (can come from the Sads if you need... pick the healthiest-looking parts.)

Pasta of your choice (I like penne)

A stockpot and strainer (another big pot should work too, but stockpots are best for holding everything/making the most at once.)

Salt, pepper, preferably dill as well + whatever other seasonings you want.

What to Do:

Take your used chicken, strip all of the meat from it, and put the meat aside. Put the carcass in the pot.

Add all of your sad vegetables to the pot. No need to be fancy with it, no need to peel anything. Shop an old onion into 4ths and add it skins and all. Leaves can stay on any celery. Chuck in some garlic, why not. I've added an old sweet potato before. Leeks. Rosemary. Whatever. Go be free.

Add some salt + pepper, cover the entire thing with water, bring it to a boil and then immediately turn the heat to low. Cover it most of the way.

Go do something else. Forget about it for at least four hours. If you want, you can occasionally go up to it and skim any foam off. Everything is steeping and blending, so the longer it goes the better it gets. (Remember the water will cook down though, so don't leave it forever.)

Cook your pasta al dente and set it aside at some point.

Once you're ready, strain the broth into another vessel and discard your sad broth vegetables. Thank them for their service.

Put the broth back in the empty stockpot and bring to a boil. Chop your happy vegetables to whatever size you want to eat them at. Add any vegetables like chopped carrots that need to cook longer than other veggies. After a few minutes add the rest. Once everything is at a good level of This Won't Feel Weird to Eat, put it on way low again!

Add everything else. That means salt, pepper, dill (I like dill. Add too much dill.) seasoning powders, chicken meat, and cooked pasta. Steep it for a little so the broth flavor can soak in, but you don't have to do it for as long as before.

EAT IT! You have soup now! Yay! Eat a bowl now and save the rest for later. It'll last you a while. (Pasta will get bigger/softer over time but that's fine, it's still good.)

Faster Broth

Boil some water. Add chicken bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, dill/whatever seasonings, and a tiny splash of oil. The oil helps it look/feel more authentic without needing to steep the chicken carcass.

For even faster broth, you can even use boxed chicken stock and skip the bouillon. I find chicken broth tastes kinda different and gross, but it'll work in a pinch and you might not mind it as much as me.

Magical Associations

Naturally, whatever unique vegetables you add will have their own correspondences, so I'll just list the recommended base ingredients:

Chicken: Lasting love, household harmony, abundance, luck, prosperity and general well-being

Celery: Lust, mental/psychic abilities, clear-headedness/focus (especially for decision making)

Carrot: Lust again, abundance, creativity and psychic awareness

Dill: Luck, money/employment, protection, knowledge and decision making.

Chicken Soup Itself: Health and vitality is the big one (probably obviously.) It's basically folk penicillin. I think it also carries associations with love (especially familial) and household harmony for exactly this reason. Based on the other associations, I could also see it being good for helping make important decisions with a sound mind.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think!

#chicken soup #food #kitchen witch #kitchen witchcraft #cottage witchcraft #recipe #budget recipe #kitchen witchery #magic #witchcraft #witch tip #beginner witchcraft

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infinityactual · 3 years

Note

POV for the writing meme? ' v '

Giuseppe's POV of this bit:

So far he knew three things about John: He was very large, his eyes were alarmingly blue, and he was very quiet. All things Thomas had mentioned beforehand in some form or fashion. But Giuseppe was also expecting something more in line with other UNSC personnel he'd met through his wife, who usually came in two flavors: outrageously foul-mouthed bawdy people who loved a good, loud party and meticulously well-mannered creatures of habit. 'Starched', he called them.

John was neither. Despite his size he kept to himself thoroughly enough to lack the sense of presence everyone else had, and in a way that made Giuseppe want to try and gently pry him open more than he had when they'd first met. John wasn't aloof...he might look it, but his eyes betrayed him: he was anxious and uncertain, so far out of his element that the only thing he could think to be was completely and utterly benign.

Giuseppe attributed this insight to having married an ODST; while Audrey was 'starched' to a degree after fifty years, he'd seen her through her worst episodes of PTSD, during which he'd noticed similar (but far less pronounced) behaviors whenever her anxieties would get to her. So, Giuseppe did what any dad would do in his mind: gave the big man something to do.

So far, it was working. As he watched John methodically cut the carrot into near-perfect cubes, his movements became a little more organic, a little less robotic, less rehearsed. He still watched Giuseppe demonstrate each task with that carefully-cultivated neutral expression, but getting him to feel comfortable with something was a start.

As he left John to make sure he hadn't missed any bones in the chicken, Giuseppe decided to check in on his family and rounded the corner to see his two sons engrossed in a semi-argument about something involving cheese and plastic wrap.

"Cadmon, get your fucking feet off my table." Giuseppe sighed.

"Oh come on, dad. It's a table. And my feet are clean."

With remarkable speed for his age, Giuseppe pulled his foam-sole sandal off his foot and slapped the Spartan-IV in the back of the head.

"OW!" Cadmon yelped, and jerked forward in surprise.

"Oh, don't 'ow' me. I know for a fact the UNSC made your skull thicker than it already was."

There was a quiet snort from the kitchen, almost inaudible over Cadmon's sheepish apology and Tom's barely-stifled cackles. Before Giuseppe could check on John, Audrey appeared from the bedroom. She paused and looked from her half-shoeless spouse to Cadmon - who looked for all the planet like a kicked puppy - to Thomas, who had a fist pressed to his mouth trying not to laugh.

"The hell did I miss?"

"Just some light percussive parenting." Giuseppe replied as he put his sandal back on.

As Audrey sat back down, Giuseppe returned to the kitchen to check on John.

"All good?" John paused.

"Yes, sir."

His face was still a mask of neutrality, but there was a faint crinkle at the corners of his eyes that hadn't been there before.

#asks #IM SORRY THIS WENT WAY LONG AJDJJSHS #microfic #thomas lasky #cadmon lasky #spartan!cadmon #giuseppe lasky #audrey lasky #magellanicclouds

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stuff-from-the-void-matron · 4 years

Text

Laurel Wreaths & Animal Teeth (3)

(c!technoblade x fem!reader)

(some people liked chapter 2 so here’s chapter 3. whether or not there’s a chapter 4 is dependent on if this one gets any comments/reblogs.)

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

You’re not exactly sure when your plans for a house shifted from ‘maybe a two story house’ into ‘some kinda roman temple/shrine type building’ instead.

Probably after the third time you had to tear down what you were building because it just didn’t look right. You’d initially not been able to go anywhere with the white quartz (you’d made a base but it looked stupid so you’d tossed it) so you’d switched it with a birch wood. That was where the problems started. First you’d tried your hand at making a cute little cottagecore house, but it just didn’t look cute to you and instead came out kinda frumpy? So you scrapped it, even though it pained you.

“Hours wasted.”

Then you tried making another house, this one taller and with dark wood. But it ended up looking like some kind of Viking home, no matter how much you tweaked it, which totally clashed with the vibrant floral scenery around you. It would work better in a snowy biome. So you’d scrapped that one too, none too happy either.

“Why do I suck?”

Then you’d tried your hand at making a cute mushroom house! But…. it was awful. No matter what you did it just didn’t look right?? You tried making the stem ‘natural’ like it would look in minecraft but then it looked too artificial to you. Then you tried making it look more normal but then it just ended up looking wonky. Long story short.. you hated it. You scrapped it, maybe a little more angry than the previous two times. That was when you’d gone back to the white quartz blocks.

And you started with a huge square, then that sorta morphed into a circle. Or as ‘circular’ as this world’s building blocks could get. Then it just sorta.. went from there? Before you knew it you had a circular white temple/shrine with a domed and tiered ceiling and four tall stained glass windows with star and sky designs. You’d gotten into the construction as it had begun to be more fun. You’d even hung lanterns by chains from the ceiling in symmetrical points and it gave the whole place a nice vibe you think. Especially when it started raining outside.

Once it was all done to your satisfaction you just sat in the middle of the quartz floor and gazed up at the gently swaying lanterns. You’re glad you’d ended up with this place, it looks pretty and has a calm vibe you can resonate with.

It would be dawn soon so you decided since you were done you’d go to bed since you had nothing else to do at the moment. Or well that had been the plan until you placed down your bed and couldn’t help but notice how utterly ridiculous a single bed in the corner of this huge temple looked. It actually made you snort before deciding then and there you needed a bed that somewhat matched the temple aesthetic you guessed you were going for now.

-0-

You ended up making this huge canopy bed with curtains and a platform you had to walk up a step to get to the three beds you’d put on it to look right. Under normal circumstances you’d not like such an overly lavish bed but it certainly fit the almost regal aesthetic your new temple home had. Which was just fine you supposed, it’s not like you were opposed to it. Just not what you’d planned to do from the get go.

Only problem now was.. the place still looked weirdly empty of life. Like one of those barren ‘minimalism’ nightmare homes rich people get off to. So you went through the inventory and started looking for stuff to decorate with. On the wall to the left of the entrance you set up an area for a brewing stand and cauldron as well as an ender chest, mostly just because it looked cool with the purple particles. You also hung up some item frames on the wall by the quartz counters you set up and picked out a bunch of pretty colored potions to hang in them.

Then on the opposite wall you made a little library with an alcove in the middle for an enchantment table. With a lantern on top of the bookshelf next to the crafting table and clay pots of flowers on the uppermost bookshelves to give the area a nicer look. You even added some fluffy carpet in front of the area to enhance the comfiness. And when you went over to the front door and then turned to look at the whole space you smiled because it really did look good. Larger than you’d intended, sure, but also very comfy now too.

You think you’re done with the inside until you look up at the bare walls between the stained glass windows. They were a little… naked. So you tried hanging up some paintings but… they looked terrible. The ‘round’ angle of the windows kept the options for what paintings you could put up pretty narrow. So you forgot that idea and instead tried putting up item frames! But you put some up and disliked it almost immediately. It felt way too busy so you got rid of those too.

You were getting tired of decorating so you just grabbed a random banner (purple because why not?) and then you grabbed a handful of different colored dyes before pulling out a loom. You tried a bunch of different designs, threw out most of them because they either ended up with ugly clashing colors or looking way too busy. But you finally settled on one that was a purple banner with an orange gradient coming up from the bottom and finally a gold sun right in the middle. It looked very pretty, like a sunset!

Once you were happy you hung a couple inside then on a whim you even hung a couple outside your door on either side. It made the outside look prettier in your opinion so once you were done (for real this time) you went and just flopped into bed, not feeling more than a touch tired but with nothing else to do at the moment. So you snuggled into your big cozy bed and drifted off to sleep~

-0-

Days passed since you built your home and you kept up work around the village, planting bamboo and berry bushes in a wall around it in a circle as a form of defense against the Illagers. They were kinda jerks and seemed to only want to kill villagers. Which wasn’t cool. And yeah you could have dug a moat or pit around it instead you guessed but you didn’t want any of the villagers falling in and you felt like they would…

So a wall of bamboo and prickly berry bushes it was. And it works! And looks dope. So win/win.

And it was as you were on your way to put some lights at the bottoms of the ponds and rivers that you noticed it from the corner of your eye. One of your sunset banners! But it was hanging up outside of the weaponsmith’s place instead of on your temple home where you knew you left it. But then you noticed another one hanging up outside the stonemason’s workshop…

You look over at your home up on the hill and see your banners still in place. And you know none of them trudged all the way up there just to steal one from the inside so you decide to investigate more in the village. And the further you walk in the more banners with your pattern on them you see. Actually every building you pass has at least one hung up somewhere near the door. You blinked before chuckling a little and thinking to yourself,

‘Oh! They all must have seen the banner I made and liked it! So they made their own to hang up. That’s actually pretty cute. I’m glad they like it.’

You were blissfully ignorant to the fact that the villagers have started to see you as their saint of sorts. Their goddess of prosperity and kindness. Without whom they would still be lost and living in pathetic huts and with no drive to acquire a skill and better themselves. They honestly look back on those times as such a dark period of their lives. When they were ignorant of their own abilities without your blessing to guide them. They owed you their lives and they wanted to show their thanks to you.

So when they saw you put up your sunset banners on your temple they quickly went to the shepherd and asked him to make them some just like it! And the shepherd, with his skill being a master thanks to your wonderful trading help, was easily able to craft such banners. Every villager had at least one by the time the sun was going down, all of them proudly being hung on the outsides of their homes and work buildings to show their allegiance to you!

But it wouldn’t stop there. The villagers wanted to give back even a fraction of what you have given to them.

-0-

In the following weeks you definitely noticed the villagers acting… odd. It started small at first, with them each coming to you and giving you gifts. The shepherd gave you a pair of blankets that were beautifully crocheted with this fluffy wool yarn, one that’d been dyed a soft baby pink while the other was a soothing sea foam color. You thanked him with a smile three times over and he seemed endlessly happy you liked them. You took them home and laid them across your bed and liked the pop of color they provided your space.

Though after that the farmer and leatherworker both met you at the entrance to your temple and each gifted you some things they thought you’d like. The farmer happily handed over a full basket of freshly baked bread along with another basket containing a bushel of golden carrots and almost a full melon’s worth of glistering melon slices. While the leatherworker offered up a pair of dainty leather sandals that looked like they would lace up your legs to just below your knees. And also what looked like a prettily crafted leather utility belt! It had lotus details and golden studs and buckles on the front and back. And one large pocket, one medium zipper pocket, and two smaller pockets. You loved all of their gifts and thanked them both over and over while safely putting the food away (and maybe eating some bread right then) and putting the slippers and belt on.

You were beyond grateful and thought that was the end of that.

You… were wrong.

-0-

As the days turned into weeks you were lavished with more and more offerings. It took you a while to realize that’s what they were; offerings. You got a little uncomfortable with all the gifts after a bit but when you started to refuse them the villagers looked so sad so you began to accept them again. Especially after they tried to make ‘better’ stuff for you after your initial refusal, under the impression the last ones weren’t good enough for you or something. It started to get hard to take in all the gifts, because sometimes you weren’t available in the village (you still liked to explore) or because you were working on something and they couldn’t reach you. So as a solution you set up a double chest outside your temple for them to put the gifts in.

They eagerly adapted to that and each night you’d clean out the chest, putting away practical gifts and discreetly getting rid of ones you had WAY too many of. Like the food. You had a full double chest of food and you didn’t need anymore, but saying so would probably hurt their feelings. So this was the easiest way. Plus a lot of the gifts you actually DID like. Like the sandals, hip pocket belt, and the pretty white dress you were currently wearing. The under part of it was just a simple white sleeveless mini dress that went above your knees (you’re not sure it was that shirt when you first tried it on..) and the over part of the dress was a sheer white maxi dress with loose ruffled sleeved that hung off your shoulders, and a slit on each side that helped with ease of movement.

You’d taken to wearing the dress, the hip pocket belt, and sandals every day. They were all comfortable and looked pretty good on you now that you think about it. Not to mention the fabric was light and breathable too, which helped keep you from getting too hot. You’re not sure what kind of fabric it’s made of, but whatever it is it’s light enough to not make you sweat but it’s also heavy enough to keep you from getting cold when it’s windy. Regardless, it’s your go-to outfit these days.

But aside from the offerings and stuff, you had to sit down and really examine your current position. You really took the time to pay attention to how the villagers were treating you. And you eventually came to the conclusion that they were treating you like some kind of saint or deity. They gave you the best of their wares as offerings, they took on your banner as their own (presumably as a show of loyalty), and they almost seemed to worship the ground you walked on. This isn’t even mentioning the statues that they’d put up of you… Like, they were good! Very well done and made of polished white quartz but.. it was still strange. Though like everything else you can’t say you weren’t getting used to it all.

You sighed and rolled with it.

-0-

You realized one day you’d never been to the Nether. And you wondered if the rules here (like mobs not bothering you) was also true there? You couldn’t deny you were sorta excited to go see, but also scared. You HATED the freaking Hoglins when you played Minecraft before this place. They were always so aggressive and you can’t count how many times they’d killed you, the bastards. But your curiosity won out over your anxiety so you grabbed the enchanted diamond pickaxe you’d been given and then paused while grabbing a stack of gold bars.

“Wait I need to wear gold right? Or the Piglins will be all mad,” you said as you grabbed a gold helmet from your inventory.

You thoughtlessly went to put it on but jerked the helmet back when it clanged against something hard. Something hard that made you wince as a small shock of pain went through your skull. A curse left your lips as you asked out loud what the fuck THAT was about. You were in the middle of trying to come up with an explanation when you reached up with your free hand and flinched when it came into contact with something on your head. Something that 200% was NOT your hair or skull. Panic bubbled inside you and your stomach sank into your feet as you whipped the gold helmet up to look into its polished surface to see yourself.

Horns? Little blunt horns… On your head.

With a shaky hand you reached up, sort of hoping this was just a dream. But when your fingertips brushed against the soft velvety texture of the horns your breathing grew faster and you pulled your hand away like you’d been burned. You dropped the helmet, not even hearing it clatter against the floor as you stumbled back, nearly tripping over the step that led up to the platform your bed was on, but you somehow managed to get to the bed and sit down.

Before you knew it you’d burst into tears and buried your face into your hands, sobbing and unable to cope with this new fuckery.

You’ve had to deal with so much weird insane shit since ending up here, wherever the fuck HERE was. You were honestly so tired. You’ve done your best to stay calm, stay sane, and just keep going. And for the most part you have! You focused on surviving, building, and dealing with the villagers. You’d probably feel silly for breaking down over some dumb horns later, especially after you’d barely batted an eye over your weird ears, teeth, and EYES. But the breakdown was probably more to do with life deciding to give you another slice of bullshit despite your overflowing plate. At least that’s what the logical part of your mind was thinking.

But the illogical part, the emotional part, was just so done. So you cried and cried and cried your very soul out until no sound was leaving you anymore. And then, once you were cried out and exhausted you weakly crawled onto the pillows and just passed out.

You’d deal with this new shit later.

-0-

Far on the outskirts of the opposite side of the village from your temple a young boy with golden hair stumbled across the entrance to said village.

He’d never seen this village before and was curious. He’d have gladly stormed in and started going through villager chests for loot but it was getting close to dusk and his older brother said he needed to get back asap. Now usually he’d shrug off his brother’s bossy nature but he’d sounded worried so he decided to hurry and get back before it got too late.

But before he turned and left he marked down this village’s coordinates so he could get back to it later..

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

tag list:

@salinesoot @lady-bee-fechin @kacchasu @putridjoy @lunawritesstories @galaxypankitty3030 @paradigmax @zachariethememerie @killmewithafanfic @trinity-1002107

#technoblade x reader #technoblade #dsmp #dream smp #mcyt x reader #tommyinnit #tommyinit mcyt #c!techno #c!tommy

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fiftyyearfilms · 3 years

Text

50 Years Later: The Still Sweet Legacy of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Image source: https://people.com/food/gene-wilder-death-willy-wonka-pure-imagination/

I first watched Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory during the summer of 2001, when I was four years old. Sometime after the end credits rolled, I waddled into our little English garden and decided to have a nibble of one of the buttercups poking through in the grass. You will be unsurprised to discover that it tasted acrid and bitter and that I promptly screwed up my face and spat it out again. ‘But— but- -’ little four-year-old me thought, ‘—but in Willy Wonka’s garden the yellow butter-tea-cups are edible and filled with a breakfast brew! The toadstools and mushrooms ooze sweet white cream! And the trees don’t sprout boring old fruit, but giant jellified gummy bears!' According to my four-year old logic, in Wonka’s edible garden these synaesthetic saccharine delights could exist and so in our garden they could too. So was the bittersweet belief that ‘Anything is possible’ the film inspired - bittersweet because, of course, it's not true. Today marks the 50-year anniversary of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which premiered in the United States on this day in 1971. Time reveals a legacy that is more sweet than sour.

The 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ has an origins story that reads like a saccharine fairytale, complete with the requisite obstacles. Once upon a time, the story of Charlie Bucket and his lucky visit to a chocolate factory found its way into the hands of a 12-year-old girl called Madeline Stuart, the daughter of a Hollywood filmmaker, Mel Stuart. Madeline approached her father and asked him to make a film out of the story. In Stuart’s memory, his daughter’s innocent plea went something like this: ’Daddy... I want you to make this into a movie!’ A self-confessed chocoholic, Stuart said yes. And the rest was history? Not just yet...

The early 1970’s wasn’t Hollywood’s happiest hour. Low attendance and a struggling national economy meant that the U.S film industry was in a state of near-collapse and financing the movie was no easy feat; studios were cash-strapped. It was a stroke of sweet luck that the producer of the film, Mel Stuart’s friend David Wrober, had a connection to the Quaker Oats Company who, by happy chance, were looking for a way to break into the chocolate industry. In an unprecedented move in Hollywood, Quaker Oats agreed to finance the film on account of the fact that it would allow them to launch a ‘Wonka’ bar. A convenient if imperfect marriage was formed between the food company and the producers. A Happily Ever After? Still not yet...

There were active forces that didn’t want the candy man to make the leap from page to silver screen. Having long been vocal about Hollywood and its poor representation of black people, the NAACP objected to the adaptation because of the colonial overtones of the Ooompa Loompas in Dahl’s story (described as “a tribe of miniature pygmies” who were imported from Africa); they didn’t want additional attention being brought to the novel. The NAACP eventually suggested that “The solution is to make the Oompa-Loompas white and to make the film under a different title.” Mel Stuart agreed. The title was changed to ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, a change that would also benefit the marketing of the Quaker Oat Company’s ‘Wonka’ bar. After Stuart consulted with some black actor friends, it also was decided that the elf-like characters would be carrot orange with grass-green hair. Whether this amounted to ‘whitewashing’ or not is a matter for the individual to decide but changing the skin colour was the only way to adapt the book without making more significant changes to Dahl’s story. After all, it was the man himself penning the screenplay.

Image source: https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/search-perfect-willy-wonka

Dahl’s screenplay - bloated and too close an adaption of the book, was eventually revised by newbie screenwriter David Seltzer, but the fantastical elements of the author’s story remained largely intact: chocolate rooms with chocolate waterfalls and rivers, fizzy-lifting stations that send Charlie Bucket and his grandfather floating to the ceiling, and elevators that fly straight into the sky. Harper Goff, famed for his work on the 1945 Disney film ‘20,000 Leagues under the Sea’, was tasked with bringing Dahl’s demanding vision to life in the art department. Then there were difficulties in casting too, and a cross-country search took place for the Oompa Loompas and the lucky ticket-winning children (lamentably, only white actors were cast). With scouting and sketching underway, producers had the formidable challenge of finding somewhere to shoot the movie. After considering the Guinness Factory in Ireland and – wait for it - a national monument in Spain, producers settled on the Munich Gas works and Bavarian Film Studios in Germany as the central filming locations. It was cheaper than America and the location’s foreignness to British and American audiences would work in the favour of creating a ‘Neverland’ story.

Tinged with sweetness and sourness, pre-production on Wonka came to a close in late August 1970 and principal photography began. For the adults on set, budgetary problems were an ongoing source of stress and the unusual marriage between Hollywood and the food industry was one of the main causes. Unlike Paramount or Universal, who might have expected the film to go over budget, Quaker Oats viewed the film as one long advertisement for their new bar and were unsurprisingly less sympathetic when the weather was bad and shooting had to be delayed or when something went wrong on set and more money had to be poured in (or, in the case of the chocolate waterfall, a specially sourced anti-foaming solution). The kids also had their tribulations (and were only renumerated £60 per week for their hard labour). Stuart was a tough director. So tough, in fact, that the child actors used to joke that they deserved Oscars for their roles (or for putting up with Stuart). He treated the young actors as adults and perhaps that’s one reason why the performances are so strong. But Stuart reflected that overall, it was like ‘one big slumber party’ for the child actors. Stories from the set include Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teevee, releasing bees from underneath a bell jar in Wonka’s chewing gum machine. Denise Nickerson (playing Violet Beauregarde) and Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) fought over Peter Ostroff, who played Charlie Bucket, and took turns being his ‘girlfriend’ day-by-day. After lunch breaks, Ostroff and Gene Wilder, who played Wonka himself, would walk back to set together sharing a chocolate bar. There was an excitable atmosphere on set and, filmed without storyboards or pre-production rehearsals, it translated into authenticity in the final film.

Image source: https://www.thedelite.com/willy-wonka-and-chocolate-factory-movie-facts-you-never-knew/

Filming came to a bittersweet end in November 1970, cast members said their teary goodbyes, and then seven months later, Willy Wonka premiered in the United States. While time has judged differently, the contemporary reception to the film was, at best, lukewarm. From a $2.9 million dollar budget, the film only made $4 million in theatres and ranked as #53 in the box office. There were a number of reasons for this. Several reviewers panned the movie; a critic from the New York Times called it ‘tedious and stagy with little sparkle and precious little humor’. The fun and spectacle of Willy Wonka didn’t sit well with an anxious and cynical audience. In the Vietnam era, The French Connection, The Omega Man, and A Clockwork Orange were in, and optimism and fun were out. The film also had to contend with the declining weekly movie attendance across the U.S, which reached an all-time low of 14 million in 1971 (from 44 million in 1963). On top of this, Dahl didn’t exactly enthuse about the final product. Finally - and this is what the director attributed primary responsibility to: a lacklustre marketing effort on behalf of Paramount Pictures.

But box-office results aren’t everything. Like sherbet - sour at first and then Oh so sweet, Willy Wonka has gone on to gain a mass following of fans and gained the all-desirable ‘cult’ film status. The phenomenon happened over time. Six years after the film appeared on cinema screens, it was sold to Warner Brothers and became one of their best-selling video cassettes. Then, periodic screenings on cable and network television over the following decades meant that it gained an even wider following and stayed within Western cultural consciousness. The never-ending references to Willy Wonka in popular culture - from The Simpsons to Austin Powers to Marilyn Manson’s music videos, is testament to this. The same could be said about the upcoming Willy Wonka origins story, whether it turns out to be a good film or not. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory currently stands as the second most watched film of 1971 on Letterboxd (the Goodreads of film).

Re-watching the film in 2021, it seems almost inevitable that the film has found new and wide- ranging audiences and there’s one main reason for it: a stellar and totally captivating performance from Gene Wilder. The director attributed the film’s longevity to the fact that ‘it was made for adults; it was not made for children’ and it was Wilder himself that brought the grown-up fun. Wilder’s Wonka is sarcastic and witty, ensuring that the final film ended up as a ‘story for children’ only as much as After Eights are for post-dinner treats and Yorkie bars are just for boys. Wilder created a more nuanced and entrancing character out of Wonka than what is portrayed in the book - a Wonka who is dishonest but trustworthy, sarcastic but still empathetic, indifferent but deeply caring, and aloof but charming. Sure, the sets seem slightly dated (the chocolate room in particular) but watching Gene Wilder sing ‘Pure Imagination’ is so wholly captivating that one almost doesn’t notice the set’s limitations. Creating, let alone portraying, such an enigmatic version of Wonka is a tall order, but Wilder made it looks effortless. As evidence of his skill as an actor, Willy Wonka shows Charlie little interest until the very end of the film and then within minutes conveys a parental love to the boy that seems entirely believable. Wilder’s tantalising hot then cold, sugary then sour, sweet then salty performance sustains the whole film.

From the outset, it seemed like the Wilder-Wonka synergy was made to be. Wilder was a relative newcomer to Hollywood in 1970, making his feature film debut in the 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde, but when he walked into the casting room at the Plaza Hotel in New York, Mel Stuart knew he was the man straight away – ‘That’s Willy Wonka!’ he said. Wilder himself immediately seemed to have an intuitive understanding of how to bring the character to life, agreeing to take on the role on one condition: he said to Stuart, “I would like to come out [of the factory] with a cane and be crippled because no one will know from that time on whether I’m lying or telling the truth.’’ Like a magician, Wilder’s Wonka was going to draw you in and keep you in the palm of his hand. To the child actors on set, the Wilder-Wonka symbiosis was very much real. Julia Winter recalled that between takes the kids would crawl all over Wilder yelling, ‘It’s my turn to sit on his lap!’. In turn, Wilder would tell them jokes and stories; he ‘never got cross’. I remember feeling the same captivation as a child watching the film: I wanted to spend time with Wonka. It was only some adults who missed the magic trick. Dahl criticised Wilder’s performance as ‘pretentious’ and insufficiently ‘gay’. Wilder himself recalled hearing talk of mothers saying that the film was ‘cruel to the children’, but he understood that ‘maybe some mothers felt that way, but the children didn’t feel that way...there are limits and they want to know the limits’. The continuing classic status of the film is evidence that the kids (and Wilder) were right. The Wilder-Wonka magic has survived 50 years without souring. The only bittersweetness in watching the actor sing and twirl across the screen is knowing he is no longer with us.

Image source: https://cometoverhollywood.com/2016/08/29/musical-monday-willy-wonka-the-chocolate-factory-1971/

If Gene Wilder carried the film, then what about the story itself? The plot is simple, heart- warming, and doesn’t deserve close scrutiny. Willy Wonka really is a ‘show’, the story is secondary to the individual charisma of Wilder and the spectacle of the image and music. We don’t know if Charlie will be happy or sad once he’s inherited Wonka’s factory. We also don’t know what happens to the rest of the children after they’ve been punished. But who cares? The audience is taken to a joyful fun park where you want to eat everything on screen and play with all the gizmos and gadgets, and where the music is so catchy that you can’t get it out of your head for days and weeks after.

Select ideologues have (and will) taken issue with the story, discarding it as gauche capitalist propaganda. One Marxist criticism of the story even gained enough traction that the director took notice in later years. The parts seem to be there: a businessman running a competition by hiding five golden tickets in his candy bars, competition from other candy makers, the Wonka-Oompa Loompa relationship, and a ‘Rags to riches’ story for Charlie. But one might ask if this is an unnecessary and selective reading. The parts for an alternative vision are equally apparent: from the wild and uncontrolled creativity and experimentation inside the factory to the joy found within the chocolate work itself, and from the relentless drive forward ‘You have to go forward if you want to go back’ to the end picture of the elevator shooting through a glass ceiling and into the skies. If a critic really wanted to make the comparison, such images would sit more easily in Soviet Russia than capitalist America. Wonka might have a capitalist wrapper but take a bite and look closely inside and its ideological filling is incoherent (it is, after all, entertainment). One could imagine how the film might be set in a collectivist community rather than a ‘capitalist’ factory, but it would have made for a worse film. It is the sense of unease that runs throughout the film that has made it timeless, whether its Wonka’s frustration with August Gloop for polluting his pure chocolate river, his fear over someone leaking the secret recipe for the ever-lasting gobstopper, his nightmares in the tunnel sequence, or his anxiety over finding a worthy heir for the factory, which finally manifests as a misjudged outburst at Charlie. It’s the fraught relationship between abundance and greed that makes for such compelling watching. Anyway, as the screenwriter stated in an interview, the film is ‘...not the function of sitting down and intellectualising... it’s the function of scotch tape, cardboard, let’s put on a show!’ Why spoil the fun and examine the parts individually when the sum of the parts is a universal message people need to hear now as much as they did in 1971? Reward honesty and integrity, not greed.

A moral message delivered in an almost subversive tone is another reason for why the film feels timeless. Instead of adults dragging tired and bored children around, the adults in this film are at the mercy of their kids and Wonka. Young viewers can marvel at the gluttony of August Gloop, the smart-mouthed Violet Beauregarde, the wanton bad behaviour of Veruca Salt, and Mike Teevee’s devotion to cable. It’s escapism at its best to watch other kids do what you can’t do: speak back to parents and yell and scream. It’s equally as tantalising when the naughty children are punished in fantastical ways. Augustus, drinking from the chocolate river, falls in and then gets sucked up a chocolate chute. Violet chews forbidden gum and then blows up into a blueberry the size of a small horse. Veruca falls down a garbage chute. And Mike finds himself sucked into a television. Best of all, the parents are equally guilty of bad-behaviour as the kids - and, boy, do they pay for it. Wonka might be a film for children and adults, but you can guess who’s going to really have the best time. It is little Charlie, after all, who wins Wonka’s factory at the end of the day.

In the scene where Willy Wonka drinks from a yellow flower-shaped cup and then eats the cup, the cup itself was made of wax. Gene Wilder had to chew the wax pieces until the end of the take, at which point he spat them out. Adults that once watched the film as children now know that flowers in the garden aren’t edible. Our eyes can pick up the small imperfections in the film - the sweets that look plastic and chocolate river that looks like exactly what it was - ‘dirty, stinky water’. But through a child’s eyes - even coming to the film half a century after its release, the film really can be a ‘world of pure imagination’. In another fifty years, will children still wander into the garden, pick up a buttercup, and bite into it with all the belief in the word that it’ll taste like sweet, white chocolate? As long as parents continue to show children the film, they will - and what a marvellous legacy for a film to have. Fifty years on, it’s safe to say that Willy Wonka has had a sweet and indelible impact on our sadly mostly inedible world.

Sources for post:

Mel Stuart, Josh Young, ‘Pure Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, 2001.

Julia Dawn Cole, ‘I Want It Now! a Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, 2011.

Pure Imagination: The Story (Making) of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yyev_3S_Y4

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#Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory #1971

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angiethewitch · 4 years

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im sorry if this is random but i have no one else to tell. my psychosis has been so bad lately. im hearing things all the time, seeing things, and believing all sorts of delusions. do you have any advice for coping? i could really use it. thank you, take care

hey, im really sorry if this was late, I was asleep! now I can only speak from personal experience, I'll tell you what works for me. it might not all work for you but hopefully you'll find something helpful.

First, you gotta take care of your physical health. that means eating, drinking water, showering, taking your meds, exercise.

if like me, you have delusions about people poisoning your food, make it from scratch. ready meals are always a thorn in my side when it comes to these delusions. so I make my food from scratch, that way I know exactly what is in it. now this won't always be possible to do everyday, so what I do is make it in bulk. for example, I make a lovely butternut squash, sweet potato and carrot stew. I make a huge pot of it and fill a couple of tupperware boxes of it. that way, im cooking from scratch every few days, instead of every day. that way I can plan ahead and make sure to clear my day. I also find cooking meditative, so that helps me. this won't be possible to do all the time, but the aim is to lessen your fears.

with showering. something I struggle with. if youre worried about people seeing you, hallucinations or delusions, get a cheap bikini or swimming trunks and shower in that. or if you cannot shower at all, get towel off hair cleanser and shower foam. I got a good one off amazon for hospital stays, its really good. you just rub it in until it foams and then wipe it off. its a lifesaver honestly. if all else fails, have a wash over the basin. just get your face and torso clean.

if you don't like water, juice is fine. get a big bottle and sip it through the day. try and make a habit of it.

meds: now I have my husband to remind me to take my meds, so I don't have an issue with that really, but people have said setting alarms throughout the day to remind them has helped.

try exercise, even if its just a bit. walk around the block, do some stretches in bed, run up and down the stairs. the goal is to get your muscles moving and endorphins pumping. I like to do simple yoga poses in bed on my bad days.

dealing with delusions:

i find asking a comfort person to be helpful. my comfort person is my husband, so I ask him if something is happening or not. I trust him to tell me the truth. he's very good with me, so if I get it into my head people are watching me, he helps cover up holes and cameras and stuff. he doesn't encourage the delusion, he just helps me deal with it. im lucky I can talk to him about whatever nonsense is going on in my head, if you have someone non judgemental to talk to, talk to them.

honestly im still struggling with dealing with delusions so the best advice I can give you is just to ride it out. do what you gotta do to keep yourself safe, don't look at stuff you know will encourage whatever it is you're believing. tell someone you're struggling, but I just wait for it to be over. try distract yourself if you can, with painting or crocheting or whatever. this is a pretty good article:

hallucinations:

okay so. now this is probably gonna make you snort and say "what a load of hippy dippy nonsense angie!" but my therapist brought up this way of approaching hallucinations in my first session with him, and I've found it very helpful.

think of your hallucinations as a part of you, because they are. my hallucinations tell me im stupid and worthless and all kinds of lovely shit like that. but theyre a part of me, so there's no point in getting cross with them and telling them to fuck off, because then either way, im only putting myself down. so why are they there? my hallucinations are mainly trauma induced, so they're there to protect me, I think. sabotaging me for myself before I get hurt again. nobody can hurt me if I say this shit to myself anyway, right? theyre the embodiment of the most critical part of myself.

so instead of yelling at them, approach them with compassion. instead of having your brain warring against itself, unite it. tell them you understand why they feel that way, and you're thankful theyre trying to help you. tell them you understand why they feel they need to act like this and say these things, but that its okay.

obviously if this doesn't work for you, if a lot of your hallucinations aren't trauma induced, ignore me.

anyway, basic coping:

think of something you cant do when you know you're hallucinating. for example, I know im hallucinating when my cigarette smoke looks different. I can't smoke properly when I'm hallucinating, so when that happens, I know it's not real. find something like that.

never underestimate the power of grounding. when youre hallucinating, its easy to get caught up. grounding for people like us is very difficult, especially since many of us get tactile hallucinations, so many of the traditional grounding methods may not help you very much. so when the Chatter starts up, I recite bohemian rhapsody by queen. it started off as a way to deal with panic attacks but I found its a good way to ground myself. other good ways are: colouring books, walking around barefoot, ice cube in your mouth, squeezing something fluffy (not the cat angie, the fluffy cushion), crochet, dancing wildly. anything to bring you back into the here and now.

I used to take a photo of whatever I was seeing and sent it to someone I trusted and asked them if that was real. you can send it to me if you like! other people have said that their hallucinations don't show up on camera so that helps to determine what's real or not.

if you wanna talk back to the voices, honestly, just do it. don't worry about looking weird. if it helps then it helps. its not unusual to hear me chatting away when I'm working or whatever. I find conversing with that side of me to be helpful in a way.

I just thought I'd mention this but cleaning is a very therapeutic and healing exercise for me. I love cleaning, especially the kitchen. I get a lot of germ based delusions so cleaning is both productive and helpful. the sharp smell of the cleaning products is helpful too.

taking care of your mental wellbeing is essential to your recovery too. so open your windows, change your bed whenever you can. aim for once every week, but its okay if you can't. just whenever you can. do it in bits. change the duvet cover one day, then the pillowcases the next day, then the sheet the next day. make your bed every day, shake up the duvet, plump up the pillows, straighten the sheet. Trust me, with your bed fresh and the window open, you'll feel better. take your bins out, take dishes downstairs, do a load of washing. it doesn't have to be a lot, but do some. take it in baby steps. fill in a prescription when you're running out. try and socialise a bit, even if its just half an hour with your mate over a coffee.

I really hope you find something helpful in all this. theres a site called The Mighty I like, which is a community made of mentally ill and disabled people, who contribute stories and there's discussions and stuff. ive contributed a story before on there. I find the site to be very helpful, so go check it out and see what other psychotics have to say. hearing it from people who actually deal with this stuff is better, I think.

I wish you the best of luck lovely, feel free to message me whenever you like ♥️

#anonymous #schizophrenia #schizophrenic #actuallyschizophrenic #actuallypsychotic #psychosis

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bts-babyjoonie · 4 years

Text

Potion Witch- Namkook AU CH 2

Paring: Namjoon x Jungkook

Tags: Witch Jungkook, Witch Namjoon, fluff, clumsy Namjoon, eventual smut, slow burn, Namkook in love.

Word Count: 2,620

Summary: Namjoon is a potion making witch. He's also very clumsy and prone to making mistakes. Probably not the best thing when your job is to handle delicate substances. Every two weeks Namjoon goes into town with a wagon full of his potions. He delivers them to his buddy and closest business partner Jungkook. Lately, Jungkook has been having trouble falling asleep so he turns to Namjoon to make him a sleep remedy. Of course, Namjoon agrees and makes it for him, but he accidentally mixes up the potions and gives Jungkook the wrong one. The next thing he knew, Jungkook was a bunny.

He’s done it now hasn't he….

“Oh god what do we do”, Namjoon gasped.

Jungkook was small- too small. His dark ears looked soft to the touch and the fluff on his chest was puffed out. His black eyes sparkled in the light.

“Jungkook you’re so cute!”, Namjoon squealed.

The adorable facade faded as soon as Jungkook opened his mouth to speak.

“Well, you know what’s not cute? This mess you got me in. What the hell are you going to do Namjoon?!”

He couldn’t take Jungkook seriously like this. He was a freaking rabbit for god's sake! The adorable high-pitched voice didn’t help either.

“Okay don’t worry, I’m going to take you home with me and we’ll try and find a potion that can turn you back into a human.”

Namjoon assumed Jungkook understood by the silence he gave. His tiny eyelids began to droop. As if he were to fall asleep.

“I’m going to pick you up now okay?”

“Okay”, said the small voice.

In Jungkook's eyes, Namjoon looked humongous. Well, Namjoon was always taller than him but this time he was intimidatingly large. He gently wrapped his arms around the small bunny and scooped him into his arms like a baby. As he laid there, Jungkook suddenly felt very sleepy. Namjoon’s arms were thick and warm, and despite his earlier fear, he felt safe.

Namjoon could tell that the bunny was tired. The transformation from a big to small body must’ve taken a great amount of energy from him. It was best to bring him home quickly so he could rest.

“Are you sleepy?” Namjoon softly whispered. Jungkook replied with a heavy-lidded blink. It felt like his heart was going to explode at how cute he was. Namjoon took the end of his cloak and wrapped it around Jungkook’s small body making a sling for him to sleep. He then grabbed the other end and made a knot securing the bunny.

“I guess we better get going”, Namjoon sighed.

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The trip back to his house went fine. Jungkook was asleep the entire time. Even when namjoon opened the creaky wooden door to his house, he stayed asleep. Inside it was cold and dark. Namjoon snapped his fingers and suddenly the candles were lit, brightening up the dark room. He set the small bunny down onto the living room couch and covered him with a red blanket. The house lacked warmth so he made sure to lite the fireplace as well.

Namjoon went over to the kitchen and grabbed the unreasonably thick spellbook he kept on the shelf. He plopped it down on the counter and started flipping the pages in hopes of finding a solution. After about 15 minutes, he finally stumbled upon a potion that might be able to help Jungkook out. It seemed he had all the ingredients except for the Nightshade. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem except for the fact that nightshade was extremely hard to come across.

“Shit’’, Namjoon hissed.

The only person he thought might have it was the Elder witch. But reaching him would surely be a perilous journey. It seemed he had no choice though. Owning up to his mistake was something he had to do.

But Namjoon had an idea. Perhaps not a bright one but it was an idea alright.

Deathbell had similar properties to Nightshade, and Namjoon happened to have some stored away. Perhaps it could give off similar effects? He was naturally curious and wanted to experiment with this possibility. Excitedly, he poured water into the cauldron and grabbed the ingredients he needed off the shelves. While he waited for the water to boil he found himself zoning out while staring at the tiny bottle of dried Deathbell flowers.

”It’ll be alright won’t it?” he thought to himself.

“Well, I can only hope for the best now. Let’s get to work!”, Namjoon exclaimed.

————————————------------------------------------------------------------------

Jungkook was slowly opening his eyes but they went wide as he began to panic. His heart almost jumped out of his chest; he had forgotten why the world was so... big.

“Right, Joon got me into this mess…”, he thought to himself.

He couldn’t stay mad at Namjoon though. Jungkook saw him as endearing. Even his clumsiness made his heart pitter-patter. Deep down he worried he’d stay like this forever. He would have to close the shop down but most importantly he wouldn’t get the chance to tell Namjoon how he felt about him. Not that he couldn’t- but a human and a rabbit wouldn’t exactly work…

Jungkook’s small nosed quivered as he sniffed the air. It smelled good. What was Joon making? The scent was pleasant, it was making Jungkook hungry. The bunny shook the red blanket off of his body and clumsily hopped down onto the wooden floor. Once he hopped his way around the couch he immediately saw Namjoon in the kitchen. He had a black apron on which hugged his figure rather nicely. His hair was pushed back and his skin was glowing with sweat. Most importantly he was HUGE.

Namjoon was in the middle of stirring the potion when he spotted the black bunny on the living room floor. He gently placed the ladle down on a cloth and began to walk over towards Jungkook. His little heart was pounding with every thundering step Namjoon took towards him. He smiled down at the bunny and then picked him up.

“Hey Jungkook, I think I found a solution to your problem”, he hummed.

“O-oh really? T-that’s great”, Jungkook stuttered. He was so close to Namjoon, he could feel his warmth radiating into his small body. It made his heart beat faster than he thought his tiny body could handle.

“Are you okay Kookie?”.

Oh, how he loved being called that.

Namjoon noticed the bunny wasn’t saying anything so he set him down onto the kitchen counter. “You were out for a good while. About four hours? Luckily the potion is almost ready”. That was good news in Jungkook's eyes. The sooner he can get out of this mess the sooner he can go back to his shop and daydream about Namjoons visits. He’d get around to confessing eventually.

“Are you hungry?”, Namjoon asked.

“Yes actually”, He replied shyly. Jungkook hadn’t realized how famished he actually was. He could eat an entire field of grass right about now.

Wait grass?

Namjoon grinned and made his way over to the basket of fruits and vegetables he had lying on his countertops. He grabbed a carrot and a cucumber and brought them over to the cutting board. The bunny watched as namjoon took a sharp knife and attempted to cut the cucumber and carrots into manageable pieces. The end result was bits of uneven and jagged cut vegetables but they were small enough to eat.

“Cucumbers and carrots have never looked so appetizing before”, Jungkook gleamed.

“Yeah, well I supposed that was what a bunny would enjoy eating”, Namjoon chuckled.

“Please, help yourself”.

Jungkook didn’t need to be told twice. He started going at the vegetables, loudly chewy on the crunchy bits of carrot. The cucumbers felt cool and refreshing against his tongue. True bliss.

Namjoon watched the bunny as he crunched desperately on the vegetables. It was adorable how his cheeks would scrunch up and down as he chewed. He was almost starting to wish he could keep Jungkook like this forever.

“He would finally be mine”, he whispered softly to himself.

“Who would be yours?” Jungkook squeaked.

Namjoon’s face lit up red as he stumbled over his words. “O-oh I f-forgot you could hear s-so well!” Jungkook‘s ears stood up in question. “Don’t worry about it bun bun, I was just murmuring some nonsense”.

“Bun bun?”, Jungkook gasped dramatically. As if he was truly offended.

Namjoon chuckled loudly. “I thought It was a fitting name!” Jungkook stuck his nose up in the air pretending to be offended. He actually liked the nick-name. He just didn’t want Namjoon to know that.

Next to Namjoon was the cauldron that was now beginning to bubble over. A purple foam like substance rising to the top.

“H-hey Joon i think the potion you’re brewing is going to spill over”. Namjoon immediately snapped his head over to the cauldron. He saw the liquid getting ready to pour over and quickly turned the heat down.

“Haha, well I guess the potion is done!”, Namjoon smiled embarrassedly.

He dipped the ladle into the cauldron and scooped up some of the potion up. Then he poured it into a small glass container that sat in cold ice water.

“Let’s wait for it to cool down before you try it okay?” Jungkook hummed in agreement.

“Oh by the way, before I can give you this cure I need to let you know something.”

What is it? Jungkook asked.

“Well, I didn’t exactly have all the right ingredients to make this. There’s a flower I need but it is very hard to come by-“

“So you didn’t add it in, I'm assuming” Jungkook interrupted.

“Yes but also no… I used a flower called Deathbell. Its properties are almost exactly the same, the only difference is their appearance. I used it as a substitute in hopes that the effect will still be the same. It’s understandable if you don’t want to take a chance but in order to get the Nightshade flower, I'll have to travel to a far place. I may not even be able to get my hands on it. Which of course, means the shop is going to be closed forever and you’ll be.... Well you know.”

Jungkook contemplated in silence. Of course he wanted to be human again but what if it went wrong. And if he didnt take the chance, he could stay this way forever. He felt his mind turning to mush, unable to think of what choice he should make.

“You know kookie, if you do decide to try the potion, there's nothing in it that would make your situation worse. The only bad thing that could happen is well- nothing at all!” Namjoon said enthusiastically.

He was right. It was better to take the chance of potentially being cured rather than having Namjoon travel across the country in an attempt to find a flower that might not even be there.

“Okay I’ve decided to go through with it”, Jungkook said confidently.

“Wonderful”, Namjoon grinned.

He grabbed the small bunny and placed him on the floor. Then he took the tiny potion bottle out of the bowl of water and brought a spoon up to the opening. The purple liquid poured onto the spoon until there was nothing left in the bottle. Namjoon carefully got onto his knees right in front of Jungkook and presented the spoon to his face.

“Try your best to drink it all up okay?”

Jungkook nodded.

He began to lick at the spoon. Trying his best to get everything into his mouth. Soon the spoon was spotless. Not a single drop left. The boys sat in silence, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

“I don't think it worked Joon”, Jungkook sighed.

“I suppose not”, Namjoon frowned.

They both were quiet for a moment until Namjoon broke the ice.

“I’ll start packing tomorrow morning so we can leave by mid-day. Hopefully the Elder Witch will be kind enough to help us out. And Jungkook, you're going to have to come with me. I can’t leave you alone in this form. It’s too dangerous”.

“I agree”, Jungkook squeaked as he looked around the gigantic room.

“Well it’s pretty late already, we should probably go to bed”, Namjoon said.

Jungkook agreed. “I am still a little tired. A full night’s rest would do me no harm. Maybe it would even stop my head from racing and my heart from beating so fast”.

Namjoon frowned, saddened by how his friend was put in this situation because of him.

“Alright let’s go to my room then”, he said.

“Y-your r-room?”, jungkook spluttered.

“Of course, I’m not going to let you sleep out here by yourself, so come with me”, he said softly. Namjoon stretched out his arms until his fingertips were at Jungkook's paws. The bunny hesitantly hopped onto his palms and was then lifted up into Namjoon’s strong arms.

Namjoon walked to his bedroom and opened the door with one arm, holding on to Jungkook with the other. The bunny began sniffing the air as soon as they were inside. His little nose twitched as he breathed in Namjoon’s scent. The entire house smelled like him but this room had the strongest scent.

He set the small bunny onto the fluffy bedsheets and walked over to his wooden wardrobe to grab a pair of pajamas. “I’ll be back Kookie. I need to shower first. Uh- I don’t suppose you would want to shower right now would you?” Jungkook shook his head furiously.

“Right, I thought so”, he chuckled.

Namjoon left the room and now it was only the small bunny. His dark eyes peered around his surroidnings. The bedroom was nicely decorated and it fit Namjoon’s personality well. There were multiple plants sitting on his window sill and in the corner of the room was his desk. On it was an opened jar of black ink with a feather pen laying beside it. All of his furniture was made out of light wood including the bed frame. The bedsheets were completely white and soft to the touch. Jungkook couldn’t help but roll in them.

A few moments had passed and Jungkook was beginning to drift into sleep. Suddenly he could hear footsteps down the hallway and soon after the door opened. Jungkook immediately stood awake. Standing at the door frame was the tall and handsome Kim Namjoon with his soaked blonde hair and plaid red pajamas.

Jungkook gulped nervously. If he were human at this moment, the blush on his face would surely be visible. Namjoon ruffled his hair with the towel he had on hand then spoke.“Sorry to wake you up, bun.”

“N-no, it's okay. I wasn’t fully asleep yet” Jungkook said, his voice soudnign higher than it already was.

Namjoon smiled and his half moon eye made an appearance. “You are so cute like this Kookie!” Jungkook giggled, he was happy to make Joon smile after such a long and stressful day.

Namjoon walked over to the right side of his bed and lifted the sheet. He made himself comfortable then motioned his hand to make the bunny come over. Jungkook’s body began to move on its own until he was right next to Namjoons face.

Jungkook huffed. “It’s unfair you can use your magic while I can’t!”

“I know I know, I'm sorry.” Namjoon looked jungkook in the eye. “I promise i'll do everything I can to turn you back into a human.” Jungkook could tell he was being sincere. He realized just how bad he probably felt about his mistake. It wasn’t a complete bummer though, at least he got to sleep next to his favorite person tonight.

Namjoon snapped his fingers and the light on his nightstand went out. The boys closed their eyes and soon enough they drifted away into a warm and deep sleep.

The morning quickly arrived and light filtered through the white sheer curtains hanging on the window. Namjoon’s eyes fluttered open and the first thing he saw was a naked Jungkook soudnly sleeping next to him.

A/N Yeah I used flowers from Skyrim what of it.

And im sorry if there are some mistakes I only proofread it once; I’m lazy.

Also, if you have any constructive criticism you’d like to share with me, please do. I am always seeking improvement.

#bangtan #namkook #bts namkook #witchbts #bts witch au #witchnamjoon #witch jungkook #fluff #namkook fluff #eventual smut #bts #bts au #namjoon x jungkook #bunny hybrid jungkook #jungkook hybrid #bts fanfction #bts fanfic

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13-reasons-ideas · 3 years

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Can’t Go Back Part 17

A/N: This chapter is pretty fluffy. We get a glimpse at how they are moving forward in their relationship since their fight. I’m planning on uploading a part from Monty’s perspective about what he’s doing Friday after school tomorrow or sometime this weekend. I hope you enjoy. Feedback is appreciated as always and much love. -Em

I spent the next week actively not checking my emails. I was too afraid to even consider if I would get emails about schools yet. It had only been a week. But you never know. In an attempt to keep my mind off of the fact that my entire future was now completely and totally out of my control, I tried to fill my time with normalcy. Things I normally did. Things that Monty and I normally did. That normalcy now included carving out an hour and a half for Monty’s physio three days a week, but we made it work.

I tried to get back into my routine. For the most part, I went to bed at the same time every night. Some days Monty went with me, other days he stayed up and did stuff for a while. But he came to bed every night. I went to the game Friday night. Scott and Charlie came over for brunch on Saturday. Justin came over to see his new best friend, I mean me, on Sunday because he picked up a shift Saturday morning. Monty and I did our own things together in the evenings during the week. I pretended to read while he played video games one night. Secretly, I was just watching him. For some reason watching people play video games was highly entertaining. We just did normal things.

We also went grocery shopping Saturday. “Are you sure you want to come with me?” I asked again.

“Yes, I’m sure Addison. Besides, we are over halfway to the store. It’s a little late to change my mind now.”

“Okay. Remember the list please.”

“I know. There’s a list and we get what’s on the list.”

“Exactly.”

At the store, I grabbed a cart and dug through my purse for the list and my pen. Monty took the cart from me without asking. I feigned an affronted look. He smirked back. Cocky bastard. I can already tell this is going to be so fun. I opened my mouth to speak when we got inside. “List, I know. And yes. I remember you’re going to make us get vegetables.”

“And you have to get at least one that you like.” He pouted. “You like carrots.” I offered.

“Fine.” He muttered. We are in a dramatic mood today. It was so peaceful when I went by myself. But I missed this. Monty went and put exactly five bulk carrots in a bag. Not wanting to fight him on carrots, I didn’t say anything. As usual, I was in charge of the rest of our vegetables.

The aisles were an easier task. There were no evil scary vegetable that I would have to force him to eat. I quickly scanned down the list as we entered each aisle. Carefully, everything was placed in the cart just so. “We need this.” Monty said, grabbing a box of cheese its.

“Is it on the list?” In response, he plucked the list and pen from my hand, and scribbled it on.

“It is now.” I rolled my eyes and grinned as he handed it back to me. His cheeky grin made me blush. I turned my back and pretended to look at something when we got to the fruit snack aisle and ignored the telltale thud of a box, make that two boxes, of fruit snacks being chucked in the cart. He didn’t write them on the list.

We both cringed at the price of meat, as usual. But we needed it so there wasn’t a whole lot we could do. I crossed things off that had been missed as we were filling the cart. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like the store was out of anything. “Oh, we need butter.” I muttered.

“Is it on the list?” Monty smirked. Like he had done earlier with the crackers, I quickly wrote it down.

“Yes.” I grinned. He grinned and stopped to kiss me on the cheek.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Now let’s get this done so we can go home and do nothing.”

“Your wish is my command.” There was even a dramatic wave of his arm to accompany his attempt to woo.

“You are so fucking cheesy. I’m telling the guys about that one.”

“Ah, come on Addison. You love it.”

I went to grab a couple of pounds of butter and decided I could trust my adult husband to get some bread and jam on his own. When I found him in the bakery with our cart, I remembered that I married an overgrown child. There was bread. And there was jam. And also, cookies. Four different kinds of cookies. And a thing of strudel. Which, to be honest, I wasn’t that upset about because it’s like the best pastry. But the point is that it was there.

“I asked you to get bread and jam. Not half of the baked goods in the store.”

“But cookies are delicious Addison. And you like their chocolate chip cookies. And for some reason I still don’t understand, plain oatmeal cookies. Don’t even lie and say the strudel was a bad idea.”

“So, the sugar cookies and M&M ones are just to look pretty on the counter?”

“No. Those ones are for me.”

“I married a fuckin’ child.” I muttered softly. We turned when we heard a quiet chuckle behind us. A cute little old couple was watching our interaction with giant smiles.

“Mine still does the same thing dearie.” The woman said to me.

“Remember, we don’t grow up. We just get bigger.” The man smiled.

“I’m beginning to realize.” I laughed.

“See. I told you.” Monty smirked. As if to prove the point they were making, we watched as the man grabbed a container of lemon rolls and placed them in his cart. The woman gave him an exaggerated, exasperated look.

“Wait, how long have the two of you been married?” I asked when they passed us.

“Sixty-five years.” They said together, smiling fondly at each other. Wow. That’s amazing. I was still smiling when we got to the till and checked out.

Our normal routines continued for the rest of the week. School, physio, make dinner, sports, spend time together. The normalcy of it was refreshing.

“You’re scratching.” Monty said offhandedly, without looking up from his notes.

“Am not.”

“You stopped typing five minutes ago Addison.”

“I’m thinking.”

“And scratching.” I rolled my eyes and didn’t respond. I started typing aggressively loud to try and get a rise out of him instead. He didn’t respond at all. Not even an annoyed muscle twitch. We aren’t there yet. Okay. Monty’s phone buzzed on the coffee table beside me. I ignored it. It buzzed again. And then again. Before I could reach for it, he had hobble run over and snatched it out of my reach. I looked at him quizzically. He was trying to think of a reason to be hiding his phone from me. What is going on?

“It’s guy stuff. Jamie is having… girl troubles.”

“Girl troubles.”

“Yeah. His girlfriend but not girlfriend or something is doing stuff.”

“Something and stuff.”

“Yes. So, uh. I’ll be over… over there.” He motioned back to the kitchen table. “You know, dealing with girl troubles.”

“Right.” That was weird. Also, he’s going to pay for the movement in the morning. I went back to my writing and not scratching quietly. Occasionally I would look up over my laptop at Monty. He seemed to be very engrossed in his notes.

“Hey Addison?”

“Hmm?”

“Since the game got cancelled some of us are going over to Jamie’s place tomorrow after school.”

“’Kay.”

“Because girl troubles.”

“Yeah.”

“And stop scratching. You’ll only make the rash worse.”

The next morning, I skipped a shower. Cuddles were too enticing. It was a Friday so I didn’t feel like I had to look all cute. While Monty made himself a smoothie, I grabbed one of his shirts to wear because it was loose enough that it wouldn’t irritate the rash. It finally started to clear up. But now it itches. As though he could hear my thoughts, he called from the kitchen, “stop scratching.”

“Bite me.” I called back.

“If you don’t stop scratching, I will.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?” He looked up when he heard me come in the room.

“I was going to wear that today.”

“You have like… fifty more in your half of the closet.”

“I know mum is a history professor, but dad is a businessman. I know he taught you fractions. What I have is not half of the closet.” I merely shrugged. He waved towards the bowl beside the blender. “Chunky monkey with smooth peanut butter.” I sat and took a bite.

“Yum. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Don’t worry about washing the blender. I’ll do it after school.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

School was pretty boring. It was the middle of November, so we were in the awkward not quite midterms but not quite ready for a new unit time. I met Monty at my locker after the last bell. He was waiting for me with Justin and Jamie. “Hey baby.”

“Hey babe. You guys have fun tonight, okay?”

“Yes Ma’am.” Jamie saluted. I shuddered. Monty tried to stifle a laugh.

“Jamie. Do me a favour and never do that again.” I placed a couple of textbooks in my locker. “I’ll see you at home. Can you stop and grab baking powder on your way home tonight?”

“Sure.”

“Why can’t you stop? You’re going straight there.” Justin asked.

“I have a date with a bubble bath.”

“Ooh la la.” Jamie laughed.

“I guess. Didn’t shower this morning and a bath is better for my itching.”

“Oh?” Justin asked.

“I’ll explain later.” I muttered. He furrowed his brow and looked at Monty. I kissed Monty goodbye.

At home, I went to wash my face so I could do the expensive face mask I had been saving for a night alone. I did an exfoliating treatment first and ran my bath. A few scented candles were set on our master bathroom counter and I poured myself a glass of raspberry juice. The book I had been meaning to get around to reading was sitting on the toilet for easy access. Okay fine. One of the books I had been meaning to read. It was very relaxing. I had to dig in the cabinet for my body scrub but found it behind a backup pack of deodorant from Costco. Luckily, the bubble bath was also right there. I poured some in to give it time to foam.

With my face mask done and washed off, I undressed and settled in the tub. The water was boiling hot, just the way I liked it. I sighed and sipped my juice, enjoying a night alone. When the husband is away, wife will pamper. The hot water helped to calm my itching skin. The scrub made my legs nice and smooth before I shaved them and exfoliated a second time. Once the necessaries were taken care of, I could start to relax. Picking up my book, I settled in for the foreseeable future. My book was so interesting and immersive, I completely lost track of time. I was still in the tub when Monty got home. “Addison?” He called when he didn’t find me in the kitchen.

“I’m in the bath.” I called back.

“Okay.” He was opening and closing drawers in our room. He poked his head in the bathroom. “Do you want a glass of water or anything? How long have you been in there?” I paused for a moment to consider. How long had it been?

“What time is it?”

“Almost seven.” My eyes widened.

“Really? Then yeah, I’ll take a glass of water. I’m going to get out right away.” He shut the door behind him and I threw my book across to the door so it didn’t get wet when I got out of the tub.

Once dry and moisturized, I left the bathroom in search of my husband. I found him on the couch scrolling aimlessly through his phone. “I missed you.” I bent behind the back of the couch to kiss his cheek.

“I missed you too. You look very cozy in your fuzzy pyjamas.”

“Why thank you.” I curtsied. He laughed happily. Settling next to him, I laid my head in his lap.

“How was your bath?”

“Amazing. Very relaxing. Oh! And I exfoliated and shaved my legs.” I grinned and lifted my pants leg. “Feel!”

Again, Monty laughed and shook his head. He still reached out and rubbed my leg though. “Very soft and smooth.”

“How was girl problems?”

“I think they’re resolved. It wasn’t as major or as difficult as we thought.”

“That’s good.” I peeked at his phone. He was watching football injury videos. Oh Sweetie. “Hey, how’s your knee?”

“It’s okay. Physio has been helping.”

“I’m glad.” He seemed to realize then that I wasn’t just asking for an update on his progress.

“Oh. I’m just watching this because some of them are funny.”

“Funny?”

“Yeah.” He restarted the video and adjusted his position so I could see too. He was right. Some of them were pretty funny.

It was family brunch Saturday the next day. Scott, Charlie, and Justin all came over. As usual, the four young men were more than happy to eat relatively work free. Monty did have to help me reach a few things and our guests helped set the table. But for the most part, I did the work. It was relaxing for me. Monty still felt a little uncomfortable having me do most of the work in the kitchen, but I didn’t mind. It was my choice to do it. I enjoyed it. And it made things much smoother when I was working solo.

Since it was just a casual pancake breakfast this week and just the five of us, I didn’t really feel a need to shower before they came over. As such, I was still in my pyjamas most of the morning. They didn’t mind. We hung out for a while after brunch together. By the time everyone was getting ready to leave around two, I decided it was time to shower and make myself feel like a human again. “I’m running Scott’s place for a bit. We have a couple of things to go over with Charlie for next week’s game.” Monty explained when I was going to shower.

“No problem. I’ll just be here writing or reading or something.” From the bathroom I could hear him putzing around our room. I didn’t think too much of it. He was probably looking for a playbook or something.

After my shower, I wrapped my towels around me, fully prepared to throw on a pair of leggings and an oversized sweater for the rest of the day. Instead, I was puzzled to find a large white box in the centre of the bed. There was a bow and a single pink Post it note stuck to the lid. It simply said wear me on it in blue ink. I frowned in confusion but opened it anyway. Nestled inside was a classic, Hepburn-esque little black dress. I gasped and covered my mouth in shock. Gently lifting the dress out of the box I held it out at arm’s length to examine it. It was beautiful. This man is full of surprises. Not wanting to wrinkle the dress, I carefully set it on the bed while I grabbed a hanger.

Once it was hung up, I put on a pair of sweats and an old pyjama shirt. In the kitchen, I found another note next to the coffee machine. This one was on a yellow Post it, also in blue ink. No coffee. Look up. I frowned again. Why no coffee? Looking up on the underside of the cabinet, I found another yellow Post it. This one had an arrow pointing towards the living room. There, yet another Post it. This one was blue. There was another arrow pointing at the coat closet. A green Post it was stuck to the closet door. Be ready at 5:00. Wear your matching black pointy shoes. Now I was even more confused. Well, it says be ready. I shrugged and checked my watch. It was just past two. I rolled my eyes at the coffee note and made myself a cup anyway. I wouldn’t need to be up all night, but note be damned. I wanted coffee. I savoured it while I let my thoughts run wild of what could be in store for my night. At home fancy dress dinner? Going out for dinner? A walk in the financial district in the city? Hmmm. By two forty-five, I had finished my coffee and started getting ready.

I carefully put on the dress after I had washed my face again. I decided to curl my hair in tight ringlets so that when I brushed them out, they wouldn’t fall flat immediately. I let them set while I did my makeup. So, I didn’t get makeup all over my dress, I draped a towel around my neck to cover it. The simple black cat eye and blue red lipstick paired wonderfully with the classic, timeless style of the dress. A neutral blush and light bronzer added colour and balance to complete the look. I carefully brushed out the curls into nice waves framing my face. Using a decorative bobby pin, I pulled my bangs away from my face. Exiting our room after putting on my tennis bracelet-a birthday gift from my Gran a couple of years ago- I looked at the clock on the stove. It was four fifty. I had ten minutes to spare. Slipping on my heels, I went through my wallet and took out my ID and credit card. I had assumed that we would be going out and Monty usually kept my cards in his wallet.

The sound of a car pulling into our driveway pulled me from my thoughts. I opened the door when the car door shut. Monty was walking up to the house in a very familiar white dress shirt and black slacks. Damn, he cleans up good. I thought it every time he dressed up, no matter how often I saw it. His eyes widened slightly, and he stopped to take in my look. I stopped him in his tracks. I blushed and did a little twirl. He whistled through his teeth. “You look. Absolutely amazing.”

“You look incredible. Have I ever told you, you clean up really well?”

“Once or twice.” He shrugged. I smiled widely. He finished his walk up to the house and took my hands in his, really taking the time to take me in. “You really do look beautiful Addison.”

“Thank you.” I blushed again. My engagement ring sparkled in the setting sun. Monty’s black tungsten ring felt cool in my hand. Together, we walked to the car. We took my car, but I let him drive. It’s our insurance. “Are you going to tell me where we are going?”

“Nope.” He said as he pulled out of the driveway.

“Okay.” We chatted quietly on the way to our mystery location. Given the time, I assumed we were going to a restaurant. When we got closer to the county limits, I realized we were going into the city for dinner. I watched the cars speeding past us on the highway in the other direction. People were eager to be getting home from spending their days shopping or running errands.

I tried to figure out where we were going once we got to the city based on the turns Monty made. I was familiar with most of the downtown and financial districts due to visiting my dad at work when I was younger. I was a little surprised when he pulled in the parking lot for the new Italian place that opened last month. I wasn’t surprised because I was concerned about cost or anything like that. We just weren’t really fancy restaurant people very often. It was a pleasant surprise.

When he parked, we walked hand in hand to the door. He was a perfect gentleman and held the door not only for me but for the couple behind us. I smiled at him while we waited to be seated. He squeezed my hand. We were seated at a more secluded table, closer to the back of the restaurant. The table was lit by candlelight and dim recessed lighting in the aisle. It’s beautiful. Our waiter came by and introduced himself as Anthony. I ordered a cranberry juice with ice and Monty got a Coke. Anthony gave us a few minutes with the menus. As soon as I saw traditional carbonara on the menu, I had made a firm decision. Monty and I sat in comfortable silence while we perused the menu. Even though I knew what I wanted, it never hurt to look at the other options.

After we ordered-carbonara for me and lobster ravioli for Monty-Anthony left us to our evening. “This is really nice.” I said, after a sip of my juice.

“I figured we deserved nice. Or rather, you deserved nice. After everything… and I know you’ve been stressed about school. So, I figured you could use a night off.” He left the obvious tension between us and the cause for it unsaid. We both knew the reason.

“It’s still nice. And we do deserve it. This dress is beautiful by the way.”

“I thought you would like it.”

“When exactly did you acquire it?” I asked, with a sly raise of my brow.

“About yesterday…” Montgomery began, “Jamie wasn’t having girl troubles.”

“I kind of figured. Have they even decided if they have anything to have troubles over?”

“No. They’re still not together. But they go places together and buy each other things. And have sex. Apparently, there is a lot of sex.”

“But they aren’t dating.”

“No.”

“Maybe he is having girl troubles.”

“Maybe.” He chuckled. Anthony came by with our orders. Unsurprisingly, the food was delicious. Mouth wateringly delicious. My eyes widened in ecstasy. So did Monty’s after he took a bite of his own food. We each shared a bite with each other and smiled. So good. So so good.

We spent the rest of our evening talking and enjoying being with each other. It was very nice. We hadn’t gotten to do the whole going out and just being together thing in a while. I pushed the last of my carbonara around on my plate. I wasn’t bored exactly. I was having a wonderful time. “Hey. Where’d you go?” Monty reached across the table to take my hand.

“Oh. Nowhere. I was just thinking.”

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“This is really nice.” I paused.

“But…?”

“I would honestly much rather be at home in sweatpants watching the new episodes of Law & Order from the other night.”

“Me too.” He giggled. I couldn’t help but giggle along with him. He motioned to our waiter for the bill. The black holder was placed in between us. Monty placed some cash inside and set it down without so much as a glance at me. He helped me with my coat and took my hand after he put on his own. As soon as we got out of the restaurant, I stopped and turned to him.

“Race you to the car.” I grinned before taking off like a bat out of hell. I heard him bark out a laugh behind me. I didn’t look back. Nor did I turn when I heard his footsteps. He wasn’t running because of his knee. They were getting closer though. Even without running, he was able to gain on me because of his gait. Running in heels was not the easiest thing in the world but I managed to beat him to the car. When he arrived with the keys, I was grinning at him, triumphantly from the passenger’s side. “I won.”

“Yes you did.” He was grinning back at me.

When we got home, the two of us changed into our comfiest sweatpants and t-shirts. I threw on my old Tigers hoodie and popped a bag of popcorn in the microwave after taking off my makeup. Monty pulled up the recorded episodes. I couldn’t tell if he wore his grey sweats on purpose or not. We got comfortable on the couch and hit play. From the get-go this episode of SVU had both of us on the edge of our seats. The popcorn was mostly untouched. I teared up multiple times. When it was over, I ripped the remote from the coffee table and scrolled up to the new episode of Organized Crime. I couldn’t stand to wait any longer than strictly necessary. Our eyes were glued to the screen for the whole hour, minus the fast forwarding through commercials. By the end, we turned to each other in shock. “Wow.” Was all I could say about it.

“The new theme song is pretty great.”

“Yes. I don’t know how to process any other thoughts about it though.”

“Me either.”

“Very worth the wait.” Monty only nodded in response. I yawned and stretched. It was getting pretty late. The afternoon coffee I had wore off a while ago.

“Tired Bookworm?” I yawned again and nodded. Monty carried me to bed and tucked me in. I cuddled up beside him.

Before falling asleep I mumbled, “thank you for tonight. Was really nice. Ni’ night.”

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gallivantingheart · 4 years

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fruits and vegetables

who?: jun x (f)reader

word count: 1305

genre/s: fluff, humour, casual college au

warnings: none (underlying horanghae agenda)

synopsis: cheol is throwing a halloween party - costumes optional.

prompt from cwc’s fall fic fest: “You’re the only one in a costume.”

a/n: yes this is based a little bit off my halloween adventures last year (I did dress up as an avocado). yes everyone at the party still dressed up - it was non-negotiable, thankfully. also, how is jun always the perfect member for halloween fics???

When Seungcheol’s Facebook invite said “Halloween Party!! - costumes optional” you didn’t think everyone would take the optional part so seriously.

Meticulous planning began the two weeks before, trying to coerce anyone you knew was going into dressing up with you. Honestly, it was like pulling teeth, at least with how the year had gone. You thought at least Soonyoung could be persuaded!

You’re waiting at the bustling cafe across from the uni campus, the lifeline of students and lecturers alike. Rowdy and warm, you badger Soonyoung about Seungcheol’s party.

He screws his nose up as he passes you your caffeine-free chocolate frappe. “Not really feeling like it this year. I mean, I have that tiger stripe sweater?”

You pout around your straw. “Nawww, Soonie! Come on! Not even a pair of matching ears?”

“Nice try. I’m not getting hassled anymore than I already will be, thanks. Tiger agenda or not, I draw the line at getting called a furry in any capacity.”

That sounded way too fancy to be coming from his brain, even as smart as he was. You cross your arms at the traffic lights, leaning on the pedestrian button.

“Wonwoo already talked you out of it, didn’t he.” You say flatly.

Soonyoung screws his face up, guilty. “He said he was bringing that chilli craft beer from July. Promised me my own slab.”

You knock him as the two of you cross, almost bumping him into some fellow students. Bribery! You both sit yourselves down inside by the glass wall of the open study space, flooded with natural light. The echo of the tall foyer around the corner isn’t as much of a deterrent to you as it is to others, and you push your work out over the bright tomato red table.

“Fine then.” You grumble.

“Awww, don’t be like that!” He whines, eyes wide and shiny. “I’m sure someone will dress up with you. Next year?”

You hmph, but nod. “Next year.”

So, after going through everyone you thought you could persuade in your close friends’ list, you resolved to just do it anyway. Who cares if your friends had no Halloween spirit? You’d bring enough for the lot of them! Costume and all! And no, you would not be sharing your alcohol - this is not The Little Red Hen’s bread party.

Then you get swamped with work and classes and family. You forget to get your *talented, brilliant, incredible, show-stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique* costume together. So after all you hyping and nagging, you end up dressing as you normally would for one of Cheollie’s get-togethers, hooning off to a department store and buying a five-dollar sandwich board costume. You’re pretty disappointed in yourself, to be honest, as you glare in your rear-view mirror at the plastic bag holding your “costume”.

Pulling up down the street, you rummage around in the back, pulling the tag off and chucking it over your head. You giggle and smooth down the foam-filled fabric, jamming your phone in your back pocket and your drinks bag over your arm. A press of the doorbell has Seungcheol greeting you at the door in a striped button-up and jeans. No trace of spooky get-up anywhere. Not even fake fangs. You wilt a little.

“Hey! Y/N!”

You step in the doorway and squeeze him in a tight hug - he’s always very reciprocal to hugs and very good at them. The hallway is dim apart from a few electric tea candles and a plastic jack-o-lantern on the hall table from the dollar store.

“Cheollie! Uh, fridge?”

He tugs you along to the garage around the corner. “Put it in the one just in here. I think there’s still a free shelf.” As you pile your wine and spirits in, he shifts on his feet, his socks plain. “I, uh, what are you dressed as?”

The hesitation makes you pause to turn. He sits his hands in his pockets, hulking figure shrinking in the muted entry. You pat down the front.

“I, thought it was obvious? A fre sha voca do? Like the vine? An avocado?” Your voice gets higher and higher with nerves until you’re squeaking at him.

He smiles and nods. “Oh! That makes sense! But, um, Y/N. You’re the only one in a costume.”

You rush up to him, eyes wide despite your dark makeup. “Pardon? But the title said -” You sigh. “Everyone took the optional, didn’t they? Even you. Oh my god, I’m so embarrassed!”

You shuck off the avocado shaped fabric and roll it up into your cooler bag. At least you had the sense to dress better underneath.

He laughs, tucking you under his arm and against his side, walking with you out to the patio. “That’s okay! Thanks for trying though. Oh, Jihoon, anything but this song! ‘Kwan’s killed it as it is.”

Seungkwan whines from his perch on the edge of Seokmin’s chair, protesting loudly as Jihoon pics up his phone with his free hand, setting a shuffle of his playlist. You can’t believe Jihoon had the gall to show up in a tee and slides, as if this was another uni lecture and not a friendly drink-up.

Wonwoo, Soonyoung and Mingyu are crowded around the fire pit, so wedge yourself between Soon and Gyu, the resident warm bodies to catch up. You nurse your drinks, always have - which pisses Mingyu off to no end, seeing as he likes to cut to the chase and just damn well drink - so when the doorbell rings again, you’re only halfway through your first. There’s so many of you already, so who else could possibly be coming? You ask Wonwoo as much.

“Oh, just Jun and Minghao. ‘Hao was doing a drinks run.”

There is a cluster of frantic giggles and you swivel your head around eagerly at the familiar voice - Jun. A high shout of complaint reveals Minghao as well. Must have picked him up on the way, then.

“What the hell are you dressed as!” Cries out Chan between howling laughter.

You almost fall off your seat at the sight. Jun parades in with his six-pack of drinks, in bright orange. He grins, preening.

“I’m a carrot! Jihoon got it for me for my birthday.” He chirps, dumping his drinks on the outdoor table amongst everyone else’s and a stray ashtray.

“I didn’t think you’d actually wear it!” Jihoon cackles, flailing about and slapping anybody in the general vicinity.

It was obvious. Of course, Jun would be the only one of the boys with enough good humour to bother dressing up. He looks through the lot of you, searching for something. You think you’re imagining it when he lingers a little longer on you, his grin perking up as his gaze passes. Then the carrot droops.

“Am I the only one who bothered to dress up?” He mumbles. “The title said…”

Seungcheol opens his mouth at his other side, but you beat him to the mark, shooting up to stand.

“Wait! I-I -”

You dash off back to the garage, slinging your food-themed costume on and skidding back over the house’s wooden floors to bump into Jun’s side. He leans back to take you in, slowly perking up to beam down at you. There is another smattering of laughter from everyone as they take the two of you in.

“Y/N! An avocado!” He cries out, slinging his long arms around you to squeeze tight.

You giggle against his chest and nod. “Yeah. We kind of match.” The pretty young man tilts his head at you, his wide eyes dark against the warm firelight. “We’re both the only ones in costume.”

“So we are. Come on, partner.” He smirks as he twists his frame to walk beside yours, an arm slips beneath your costume to curl around your waist.

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