#assigned vegetarian by stop and shop

[amusementofaprincess]

I get my groceries delivered thru Peapod/Stop and Shop, whatever it’s calling its self these days. The delivery fee and tip are worth it to not have to carry my groceries up to my apartment (I live on the 2nd floor)

Last time in addition to my actual order I was given 2 extra bags that had several bags of Morningstar farms vegetarian sausage, some “chikin” also from Morningstar farms, some broccoli/potato veggie bites shaped like dinosaurs and stars, some frozen veggies, a bag of French fries, a box of waffles and a package of frozen broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken breasts. Stop and shop told me to keep/donate/toss what I was given in error. (The 4 boxes of frozen spinach are going to the food bank down the road, possibly with some of the “sausage”) I’m keeping most of it- free food is free food, donating some. Luckily most of the frozen veggies are types I eat regularly.

I’ve tried the “sausage” and veggie bites. They are both ok. The sausage definitely needs maple syrup (which I have, it’s real and it has edible glitter, a gift from a friend) and the bites need mustard.

This all to say - I’m getting more of the chicken breasts when I do my next order. I looked up the brand and they have a Brie and apple version.

Thank you delivery driver who accidentally gave me part of someone else’s order. You helped me a new tasty easy protein option!

TLDR: I got extra food due to stop and shop’s error in my grocery order and discovered a new chicken option for nights I need to change up my routine

[roamingtigress]

So I had a dream where the ladies went out shopping and Tilly assigned me duty of watching the men. I apparently thought it was a great idea to go around petting everyone and this is how it went (I try to remember to jot down all my dreams in a notepad file): Jack: Jack BIT me. Yelled "mean mean mean!" and also kicked my shins and ran away somewhere before I could react. Kid was feral. John: Thought I was weird. I patted him on the shoulder. He accused me of 'you probably eat babies!" I told him I was vegetarian and he was like 'wtf is a vegetarian' and when I explained to him he was even more 'yeah, you eat babies!' Like . . . Did he think babies are vegetables?! I asked him if he thought his own kid was a rutabaga and he just stared at me and said 'that confirms it, you eat babies.' I apparently eat babies with my salads. Dutch: He was surprisingly shy (!) and then when I called him 'aw Babygirl Kitten Whiskers" he blushed and got all softy and booped his forehead against mine. I booped him on the nose when he sort of bit me when I was scratching his chin. Proceeded to follow me around camp, I kept an arm around his waist and kept petting him and anytime I touched him around waist/belly he leaned into me. Attention whore. Arthur: Kind of liked it at first, and then after a moment he was all "I got a satchel to make!" in the same tone as "you sir are a fish!" So I petted him when he worked on a satchel and was all 'i hear you're one of those vegetabletarians, I could help you find some wild carrots!" essentially mocked me :P Word spread through the camp quickly about the wild carrots. Pearson: Threw a fish at me and said 'this isn't a petting zoo, why are you petting everyone?' :D Hosea: Yelled 'you slut' and at first I thought it was directed at me but no it was his husband and while he was OK with me petting Dutch, he reminded him of who he belonged to. When I petted Hosea he was like 'why are you petting me' and then came around to liking it (I rubbed his shoulders) and the three of us went around the camp. Micah: Micah BIT me and laughed at me and said something like you know there's a place and time for petting, heeheeheee." Charles: Understandably weirded out by some stranger touching him as anyone would be, but happily mocked me, telling me there's some Yarrow outside camp that I could have with my wild carrots. All of them teased me about wild carrots. Thanks, Arthur. Uncle: I patted him on the head and he was amused, telling me that if I'm not careful, I could start something :D Reverend Swanson: I think he was weirded out but didn't resist much. Gave me a look, took a swig of whisky and continued to read the bible. Kieran: :( Ran and hid under a wagon before I could give pets. He was still among those who teased me about wild carrots from his hiding place, that his horse needs them. Javier: Got weirded out as I decided to pet him while playing the guitar (dream me apparently has no boundaries). He stopped playing for a moment and decided to play duelling banjos with Sean. Sean: 'Aye, I could tell you're part Irish from how you touch me, fkin hell!" He liked it. Gave me a bottle of Irish whisky and I drank it in one go. He was amazed. Bill: Drunk and passed out on a table but I still gave pets. Trelawny: Went in hiding with Kieran.

[hanabeeri]

i miss doing silly diary entries 🥹 so here we goooo!!! 🩷🩷🩷 lately ive grown to love this grey jacket and so i ended up wearing it often over the span of a few days haha. its so cozy and fits the autumn season i think 🦊🍂 last week i visited a friend of mine and we both made things out of pearls, i made a new phone charm while she was making a tiny stitch figurine. he was so tiny and cute!!! i cant wait until next summer, i dont like the new disney movies, but i am looking forward to the lilo and stitch movie! my friends and i already made plans to go and watch it together 🩷🩷🥰 i also bought two frieren manga, completely in japanese!! i havent begun reading them yet, but i flipped through the pages and the artwork is soooo pretty. much prettier in person. i want to buy the other books too, because unfortunately neither volume 1 nor 2 have my favourite scene :( its the scene where himmel puts a ring on frierens finger. also i would like to mention that i cried when i flipped through the first volume ahaha himmels and heiters death always get me 😭

its been getting a lot colder these days so i started to wear my long warm coat and a pair of fluffy earwarmers. and although its not as cold with those items, i end up getting sleepy. both the warmth and the lack of sun make me sooooo verrrrryyyy sleepy 🥹🥹💤 oh and my vegan lifestyle has been going great thus far!!! i keep finding lots of alternatives and yummy products. sometimes i buy vegetarian food accidentally.. i still end up eating it because i dont want to waste the products and my family pretends like anything with a vegan/vegetarian label on it is disgusting :( personally i prefer vegan options, theyre also easier for me to eat because they dont have that greasy and soft texture meat products tend to have.

today in class we had a poem that went like this: 可奈思伊毛乎 / 伊都知由可米等 / 夜麻須氣乃 / 曽我比尓宿思久 / 伊麻之久夜思母 (reading like: かなし妹を / いづち行かめと / 山菅の / そがひに寝しく / 今し悔しも) and my professor made this silly joke about kanasi imo being a sweet potato because kanasi can also mean beloved and imo in this context means girl but it sounds like potato. kanasi imo... sweet potato. i cant stop thinking about it. for anyone curious the poem says something among the lines of, "oh my sweet girl wont leave anywhere surely as i will sleep turned away from her, now i regret it" (it being thinking she wouldnt run away after a fight ahaha). its an ancient tanka from the man'yoshu mhm. book 14, 3577.

my plan until thursday is to finish writing an assignment and send it in by 7am , make rice later in the morning, attend my classes from 12pm until 4pm, then do some shopping. and once im home i want to eat dinner, take a nap and then get my mamma from work. and then... then at 12am i will fall asleep for fourteen hours straight. and then ill have to get up and go to an appointment.. and then i planned to meet my brother to discuss the plans for my nieces birthday party 🥰🥰🩷 i need to look forward to these things, because then my soul wont find the time to rest and be so incredibly sad and heavy. i always find comfort in Gods words but sometimes its still hard even when i feel Him being near. it just makes me yearn to go to heaven and cry cry cry until all sadness will be washed away 🥹🥹 its a different kind of homesickness

[scarletsaphire]

Mayhaps some Shallow Amethyst aka my new fave Sam ship

The knife flashed in the red and blue flashing lights, and Sam heard the scream come from her right. She swallowed down her laughter as the scare actor continued to flail the knife through the gap in the fence, strategically placed just far away from the path that it couldn’t actually reach any of the people walking through the haunted house. Beside her, she heard Paulina do her best to stop her own laughter. She was able to get it down to nothing more than a wheeze.

The haunted house they had decided to go to was not in Amity Park. Amity Park didn’t have haunted houses anymore. Though, depending on how you looked at it, every house in Amity Park was haunted nowadays. Sam had thought it would be a cute date idea; the drive had been nice, especially with the trees in their fall colors, and the town the haunted house was in had an ethically and environmentally friendly jewelry shop that the two girls were planning on stopping at afterwards. Of course, driving an hour out of Amity meant that the haunted house wasn’t quite up to their standards of scary.

Paulina leaned in closer to Sam’s side, resting her chin on Sam’s shoulder so she could whisper in her ear. It made walking a little challenging, but considering the other three members of their assigned group were shaking so bad Sam had already asked them if they were having a seizure twice, it wasn’t that big of a deal. “Did you see the makeup that actor was wearing? It was so patchy and fake looking!”

“It really was. And they really went with a steak knife? For their cannibal serial killer character?” Sam whispered back, rolling her eyes. “At least if they went with a butcher's knife it could be considered a classic, but a steak knife?”

“Honestly, this whole place is kinda tacky,” Paulina said. “I think we should’ve skipped it and gone to dinner instead. There was a nice Thai place I’ve been hearing about. Supposed to have some good vegetarian food.”

“We can still go there after,” Sam pointed out. A section of the ceiling fell away, and a tattered skeleton fell directly into their path. Neither of them broke stride as they stepped around it, even as one of their group members screamed and stumbled backwards. Again. “Plus, I thought you said you wanted to get some pictures here for your instagram or whatever.”

“That was before I knew this place would be so lame. No one’s going to be interested in seeing this when its so…” Paulina trailed off and gestured with her hand not tucked in Sam’s pocket at the haunted house. 

“I think most of the people on your instagram are just interested in seeing you,” Sam pointed out. 

Paulina smiled smugly. “Very true.” 

“C’mon, we’re almost at the end. We can go grab something to eat, and look around town for a bit.” Paulina hummed contemplatively. “Let’s enjoy the last few moments of Chicken Little over there,” she tilted her head to the terrified patron. “There’s no need to rush. Besides, I like spending time with you. Even in trashy haunted houses.”

[irismfrost]

July 31 - Shoyoen, Library, Liouhe Night Market

I am sore- mostly the muscles around my hips and ankles. I thought my calves and thighs would be hurting the most, but I guess all my practice taking the stairs instead of the escalators at the Taipei metro had been silently preparing me.

Yesterday I had some good pizza (again) for dinner at this place called Pizza Rock. It's crazy how many people in my group don't like olives on their pizza, but there are a few real ones here too. The one I got had green and black olives, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes - it was great. This is one of the first places that made it easy to split the check because we all ordered separately at the beginning.

It's the last day of July! It's crazy to think that we're already over halfway done with the program. We started the day off with some class time and I finished an assignment that's due tomorrow so I felt good about that. I had some coffee from the OK Mart next door and as good as the coffee was, it did not sit well with me. Maybe I need to stop drinking caffeine or maybe it's because there was probably a lot of milk in the coffee. I'm not lactose intolerant but since I've started consuming less of it, it hurts my stomach when I have too much. I wanted to continue some more class stuff while we had 2.5 hours to break for lunch, but I ended up doing practically nothing.

We watched the Harbor Bridge swing open today at 3pm.

Our first stop was Shoyoen, or Happy Excursion Garden. It was a cool building built in the Japanese colonial era known for its synthesis of Japanese and Western elements. It had a little cafe and gift shop downstairs and you had to take your shoes off when you went upstairs - there are many historical sites here where they require you to take your shoes off.

Next, we went to the Kaohsiung Main Public Library. It has 8 floors plus a basement level and a rooftop (with a skyway). The second and third floors were actually the same floor. The hole in the middle was cool and the view from the top was awesome. The building is supposed to be a green building and was meant to revitalize the area. There were a lot of kids in the library and it was cool to see so many of them reading - I don't think many kids go to the library in the US. I couldn't read anything except on the 5th floor foreign language section. There, I found a few vegetarian recipes that I might use when I get home.

Our last stop was the Liouhe Night Market. I got some cooked sweet potatoes with some sort of glaze - they were pretty good and I was pretty hungry. I caught up with the rest of the group at a banana pancake stand. I got one with chocolate sauce and even though I don't really like bananas, it was still pretty good. After I felt satisfied with my dinner, it was time for me to head home. The metro station was pretty awesome and had some cool ceiling lights and a colorful mural type of thing in the center. I have been feeling worse and worse all day so it was past time for me to go back to the hotel.

Reflection

Shoyoen was inhabited by Japanese religious leader and advisor at Taiwan Governor- General Office, Otani Kozui. He was also the brother in law to the Emperor Taisho of Japan. The building was designed with a unique architectural style with Japanese and Western elements such as wooded terraces and porous spaces while also incorporating columns and arches (made out of wooden materials). The bottom floor was also fitted with an air raid shelter - this was built during WWII and located near the Armed Forces General Hospital, a potential target for US air raids. The surrounding area was also fitted with air raid shelters and in total could accommodate up to 240 people. The entire building had very thoughtful design - everything seemed to have a place and was compact. I thought it was interesting that there was a downstairs dining room, upstairs entrance and waiting room, upstairs dining room, and upstairs lobby. They all seemed to serve different types of people and slightly different purposes. The majority of the structure was made for receiving guests.

The maintenance of Japanese culture here is impressive. There are many who romanticize Japanese rule. Our amazing tour guide, Peter, shared a personal story about when he was a kid. When he went to school, Taiwan was a single party state under the rule of Chiang and anti-Japanese history was taught in schools. He would come home to his grandparents and say something along the lines of "grandma, I am so sorry that you were treated so horribly under Japanese rule". Grandma tells Peter that this isn't true and that Japanese were okay rulers. Peter is being told one fact by school and another by his grandma. There are many older people who dislike(d) Chiang and post Japanese rulers because they didn't do a better job and spread propaganda about the Japanese. During Japanese rule, the literacy rate in Taiwan rose from 3.7% to 90%. It was also hard for many people like Peter's grandma to accept new rulers when they didn't speak the language. They already had to learn Japanese and now they can't understand the language of the new rulers. It makes sense as to why so much Japanese culture is well preserved here in Taiwan.

[yashsinha499]

The Ultimate Guide to House Party Catering: Tips, Tricks, and Menu Ideas for Every Occasion 

Everyone knows hosting a house party is equal parts exciting and stressful. You want your guests to have a blast, but the thought of working in the kitchen all night can dampen the fun. That's where the magic of house party catering comes in. 

Home catering services are your secret weapon for stress-free entertainment. They take the burden off your shoulders, allowing you to be the social butterfly you were meant to be. But with so many house party caterers, how do you choose the right one and create a menu that wows your guests? No worries; this guide is your one-stop shop for conquering home catering for small parties.  

Know Your Crowd 

Before finalizing menus, consider your guest list. Are you hosting a casual get-together with close friends, a fancy soiree with colleagues, or a wild pool party? Knowing the vibe will help you tailor the house party catering to their preferences.   

Guest count is also crucial. Home catering services typically have minimum order amounts, so ensure you have a realistic estimate to avoid overspending or getting stuck with a mountain of leftovers.  

Decide Party Theme 

Level up your party with a theme. It can be anything from a luau with Hawaiian treats to a murder mystery dinner with a gourmet spread. A theme helps guide your house party caterer in menu suggestions and can spark conversation among your guests.  

Menu Magic - Crowd-Pleasing Ideas for Every Occasion  

When it comes to food, here are some crowd-pleasing ideas for different party themes, keeping in mind options for both home catering for small parties and larger gatherings.  

I. Casual Get-Together 

Finger Foods 

Mini pizzas, skewers with veggies and grilled meats, bite-sized quiches, spring rolls, and samosas are perfect for grazing. Consider offering vegetarian and gluten-free options for dietary restrictions.  

Big Batch Delights 

A crowd-pleasing pasta dish, a hearty chilli with cornbread, or a platter of assorted dips with crudités are budget-friendly choices for a small gathering.  

II. Pool Party Extravaganza 

Light and Refreshing 

Opt for a variety of salads, grilled chicken or fish tacos, and fresh fruit skewers. Don't forget the crowd favorites - hot dogs and hamburgers!  

Sweet Treats 

Keep it cool with popsicles, ice cream sundaes, or a DIY shaved ice station.  

III. Elegant Soiree 

Passed Hors d'oeuvres 

Fancy finger foods like mini crab cakes, cucumber canapés with smoked salmon, and bruschetta with goat cheese are perfect for a sophisticated gathering.  

Plated Dinner 

Consider a home catering service specializing in gourmet cuisine. They can create a multi-course meal with dishes like herb-roasted chicken, roasted vegetables, and a decadent chocolate mousse for dessert.  

Pro Tip: Be sure to discuss any dietary restrictions with your house party caterer beforehand. They can easily accommodate vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and other needs to ensure everyone enjoys the delicious spread.  

Beyond the Food - Drinks and Service  

House party catering goes beyond just food. Many caterers offer beverage packages with alcoholic and non-alcoholic options. You should discuss your preferences and budget with them to create a drink list that complements the food and keeps your guests hydrated. 

Home catering services can also provide staff for serving and cleanup. This lets you focus on mingling and enjoying your party, leaving the dirty dishes to the professionals.  

The Final Touches - Setting the Stage for Fun  

While the food is a highlight, don't forget the ambience. Set the mood with music, decorations, and comfortable seating. Consider the theme when choosing these elements.  

Bonus Tip: Delegate! Assign tasks to a trusted friend or family member, like helping with decorations or keeping the drinks flowing. This will ensure a smooth-running party and allow you to relax and have fun.  

House party catering is a game-changer for stress-free entertainment. With some planning and the help of a skilled home catering service, you can throw a bash that your guests will love. If you are looking for house party catering services, choose Soul Chef. Being one of the renowned event caterers in Mumbai, they provide catering services for weddings, corporate events, sundowners, birthday parties, outdoor events, house parties, and many more. The culinary professionals understand your requirements and curate a delicious menu that suits the purpose of your event.  

[mi4011vihangarathnapala]

Assignment 02

Mike Scott

Character Moosebox created within the rough sketches from a waiters pad actually bought from a print shop in South Africa. Alexi Wheeler from Nickelodeon saw the sketch and taught it is funny to see a box like cat. surprisingly he was added to one of the program giving him opportunities to show his talent and made the pilot through Triggerfish Studio.

A Dogshow with Cat

The show was created eventually within a short period of time to replace "Bru and Bogie" in a premiere league soccer event. Even on DisneyXD the pilot was played catching so many eyes on DisneyXD youtube channel. unfortunately it had been deleted by the team at this moment. Now its uploaded on his youtube channel as his work.

"Catlyn" and "Doggie Poggie" play the main roles in this short show. Mike, Flake, Todd, Tina, El Diablo, Peep and Monster Survey's Big Toe are the sub characters created in the main show.

Steve Box

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Stop-motion animation created using plasticine (clay animation)in forty-two different colors. Steve Box and Nick Park collaborated with DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Animation to make it a go. They needed the animation to be comedic, dramatic while having a horror feeling.

A small part of the frame to be filmed took around two hours and more. other than clay wood, foam board, latex were used. The evil characters made by an wire armature to make the structure and movements to look more realistic. It was quite challenge to create the were-rabbit in the scene. The most challenging part for the team to create the scenario which Wallace transformed into the were-rabbit. The slightest sound effects and other are studio recoded. This movie was known as the first vegetarian horror film in the world.

on the other hand the movie contain more than seven hundred shots with CGI and digital effects.

Sally Cruikshank

Fun of Mars

Quasi at the Quackadero

This is a hand-drawn animation, the artist drew every single frame of this animation by her hands with the help off a light-box. Sally Cruiksank used cell animation and cut-out animation for her animations. Various material like glitter, beads, water colors, acrylic and color pencils were used to bring color to her artwork. In her imaginative world her surrealistic designs were showcased as her own style.

Don Hertzfeldt

Simpsons

His most famous piece work put together which was created for commercials for the Family Learning Channel was named as "Rejected" However it was no a go and went on it as a solo art. tha name was originated because they were rejections of companies. Best part is they were nominated for Academy Awards.

Surreal, Dark humor, cult theme animations was kind of his style of expressing art.

Don Hertzfeldt animated a scene on Simpson where simpson was chilling and trying to watch television on his couch and that moment he shifted to another unrealistic world.

Yuri Norstein

Tales of Tales

Russian animator Yuri Norstein works for Soyuzmultfilm the state-r un animation studio in Moscow. His major was creating stop-motion animation idealizing philosophical, detailed, clamming films.

Hedgehog in the fog short film shows up in his way to meet a friend different things, challenges and situations that comes in his way. this film gives a feeling of off track feeling.

when he walk towards a dark forest and after the end of the forest a owl comes behind him giving creepy vibes. Traveling through a huge mist shows he is kind of lost in that place and catch his eyes on different things that shows fear and excitement at once.

[cedlens]

My Experience

I have grown up as a white, appearing cis-gendered woman, straight passing, middle class human where I have been able to perceive myself and live in a society that caters to me. My only experience of having a minority cultural identity is being queer. In one of my other posts on this blog I discussed how seeing or meeting another queer identifying person in public makes me feel excited and like they are a safe harbor in a sea of heterosexuality. Based on my own experience and feelings related to being around other queer people or attending queer events, I can imagine how significant the Hmong Village and Hmong International Freedom Festival must be for the Hmong people of Minnesota. I know how thrilling it is to be at PRIDE or attend a drag show/brunch so learning about how the Hmong culture has been given space to celebrate their culture made me feel happy and proud of the Twin Cities. I mentioned feeling a sense of pride from growing up in the Twin Cities and moving there is a matter of weeks. But with that being said, I have never before gone out of my way to learn more about the Hmong culture. I've never gone to the Hmong Village or the Hmong International Freedom Festival even though it has been occurring for 40 years. My sense of pride and happiness at the celebration of the Hmong culture has stopped at the bare minimum. There was no action from me. And to be honest, I didn't even find the time to go to the Hmong Village for this project (although I would love to go once I live in the area). This barrier comes from my own cultural identity, and from my ignorance and ethnocentrism of not needing to learn more about a culture different from my own. These events have ben ongoing in the area that I grew up in and yet the most I knew about the Hmong community was that there was a young actor who was Hmong and from Minneapolis and was given a role in the film Gran Torino. The only other times when I have taken the time to learn about the Hmong culture was from classmates I worked on a research project with, this assignment, and when I worked with a client who was Hmong for reunification with his family. Not needing to learn about other cultures is a privilege that I have by coming from the dominant cultural group of the United States. Minority cultural groups experience the dominant culture in their everyday life and therefore acculturation is a process that is mostly felt by those from a minority cultural group.

By going out of my comfort zone and shopping for groceries at Hmong Grocery Store, I was taken out of the familiar and put in the unfamiliar. I felt out of place and like I did not belong, which is a feeling that due to my privilege, I am not used to. I wanted to rush though the grocery shopping experience to get away from the discomfort, which being able to walkaway from bot belonging is also a privileges that I was able to identify. I purposely took my time and stayed in the grocery store so that I had to sit with the discomfort until I had found all of my grocery list items. Another aspect of privilege that I thought about while doing this assignment was my privilege to have options and to be a picky eater as well as a vegetarian. As I was researching the Salvation Army Cure Hunger program, I looked at images of the different meals that they give out. Most of the pictures that I saw did not allow for the recipients of the food to have a lot of options for what they wanted to eat that day. They could not sit down and look at a menu with a variety of options and choose what they wanted to eat. I tend to not eat meat and I am not very good at eating and trying new things, therefore I love the option of having a menu with a lot of options. This is a privilege that I have and that I have taken for granted. The other day my partner and I were talking about my pickiness and fear of trying new foods and how that will impact our desires to travel the world. It didn't occur to me until I started doing this project that even that conversation was one of privilege. I have the privilege to worry about how my pickiness will impact world travel rather than how my pickiness would impact a situation that could happen much closer to home, food insecurity.

Overall this project forced me to expand my horizons and educate myself. It made me get out of my comfort zone and reflect on the comfort zone that I have been allowed to live in.

[londonhalcyon]

Does it count as a prompt if I just ask for some Barnaby content? I don't really care what he's doing as long as he's 1. Enthusiastic B. Confused. I guess I would like it if he was interacting with Mer in a friendly way, but I don't know if they ever became friends in your world.

I didn't even try to keep it under the word limit this time, simply because I had so much fun writing this. Barnaby is always one of my favorite characters to write. He's not exactly confused in this, but he's definitely enthusiastic.

Did Barnaby and Merula ever become friends again? Pfft, did they ever.

Word count just under 2,700 words for anyone daring enough to click below the cut.

* * * *

Poffle for your Problems? (Merula)

Merula could tell she was going to have a bad day the moment Scrimgeour called her team into his office. Without her. The Head Auror had called her team…into his office…to give them their assignments…and she wasn’t invited. She hadn’t been informed, of course, but she had seen them specifically not look in her direction when they had entered, which could only mean one thing.

Her suspicions were confirmed when they left the office a half hour later. Winger beelined for his desk with the focus and direction of an abraxan with blinkers. Robards, on the other hand, approached her desk. She could see the plans for damage control flashing behind his eyes from across the room.

She argued with him, but only for the sake of tradition. They had worn out their points long ago. Every time they had this argument, she was left with the same two options: 1) sit down and shut up, or 2) take it up with Scrimgeour. She hated both those options. So did Robards, or so he claimed. He never did anything about it.

Robards forced an end to their conversation when he shoved some money into her hand and told (someone might say ordered) her to buy a pasty from the Atrium cafe. She accused him of bribery. He told her to arrest him. She might have laughed, if she wasn’t pissed off.

With this horrible start to her morning, her day became even worse when she reached the Atrium. The line to Ministry Munchies (she despised that name) stretched all the way to the lifts, so it took a full twenty minutes of agitated shuffling and internal grumbling to get anywhere near the cart. She was the next person in line when they announced they were out of pasties. The internal grumbling turned to internal screaming as she ordered a single black coffee instead. She didn’t take her coffee black, but she had been too focused on restraining herself from lighting the entire cart on fire to ask for milk or sugar.

With her horrible morning having now transitioned into a bitter afternoon, she stalked back towards the lifts, resigning herself to a day of mind-numbing parchment pushing. If she was lucky, the reports would come alive and swallow her whole. Then she wouldn’t have to finish them anymore.

“Merula! Hey, Merula!” Heavy footsteps echoed on the black tile floor. Barnaby was running after her, waving excitedly. If she knew what was good for her, she would have ignored him and kept walking, but for some reason she stopped to allow him to catch up. He gave her his usual broad, goofy grin. Like a golden retriever. “All right?” he greeted.

“What do you want?” she said.

His grin didn’t falter. It took a lot more than a terse greeting (or lack of) to deter Barnaby Lee. “Liz said on the next street over there’s a new pie shop with a vegetarian menu.” He pointed next to the Ministry entrance, from which Lizard gave a shy little wave. Both Magizoologists had stripped down to their cardigans and neck ties, their usual Beast Division robes nowhere in sight. “I’m going with her to give it a try. Do you want to join us?”

“No,” Merula said before she could think about it. “I’m not hungry.”

“Oh no,” Barnaby said, and she knew she had made a mistake. His eyes had gone round. “That’s not good. Are you feeling all right? Normally you’re only not hungry when you’re sick. Or upset. Are you upset?”

“No, I’m not—! Ugh. Look, forget about it. Go enjoy your jackalope food.”

“Want us to bring you something? They have more than vegetarian stuff. I’m probably gonna—”

“Forget about it.”

She stormed away before he could say anything else idiotic. She had no desire to keep looking at that sad cruppy expression. It only made her want to light something on fire even more.

With nothing but a cheap coffee and barely suppressed rage to sustain her, her bitter afternoon transitioned into a miserable evening. When everyone was leaving for the day, she was still hunched over her desk, blurry eyed and neck deep in paperwork. Robards told her not to stay late. She scoffed at him. What better things did she have to do? There was nothing and no one at home except frigid rooms, judgmental paintings, and an owl that was fully capable of taking care of himself.

By nine p.m., the Auror Office was empty except for her and the scattered handful of Hit Wizards on call. She was slumped across the surface of her desk, her head resting on her arms. She had finished her work an hour ago, but she wasn’t feeling particularly motivated to walk all the way to the Atrium fireplaces. She had been in her chair so long, there was a good chance she was glued to it.

A shadow passed over her. Then halted in front of her. She tiredly raised her head to see Barnaby, wearing his golden retriever grin and dull brown work robes. There was a messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

“Busy?” he asked cheerfully.

“Wha…?” she said, half-asleep.

“Come with me. I want to show you something.”

“Now?”

“Yeah!”

She grumbled as she climbed to her feet, but she didn’t attempt to say no. Mostly because she didn’t think she had a choice. You didn’t say no to Barnaby when he decided within that thick skull of his to do something. She had tried. Repeatedly. For years.

They took the lift two floors down to Level Four, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. When they stepped out into the Beast Division, he tried to take her hand; she slapped his away. A tiny, cowardly part of her soon regretted her instant rejection however. Most of the lights in the division were out, with a few scattered lamps turned down low. She could see the outlines of cages but not the dark silhouettes that snuffled and rattled around inside. When something buzzed by her ear, she walked closer to her bulkier companion than she would care to admit. Barnaby hummed to himself as he led the way, quite unbothered.

He stopped before a large red door to fish a ring of keys out of his bag. She squinted at the sign next to the door, which was fuzzy in the low light. “The Poffle Room?” she read.

“Isn’t it great?” he said. “It’s my turn to exercise them today. It’s the best job in the whole division. I should have done it earlier, but I wanted to wait until you were done with work first. You took a while.”

Her brain tried and failed to process this information. How long have you been waiting? she wanted to ask, but all she managed was, “Exercise the…poffle?”

“Yep!”

He unlocked the door, which opened into a wide room that smelled vaguely of…she didn’t know what else to call it but fur. Not wet fur, exactly, but definitely fur. He flicked on the light, illuminating a fake grass floor and a number of structures scattered throughout—structures like cat towers, fake rocks, crup show hoops, and other assorted pet furniture. There were plenty of hidey holes too, in the form of little houses and felt cave beds. And in those hidey holes, things were moving. Round custard-colored things that were beginning to bounce and hum now that the light was on.

Barnaby shut the door and stepped out into the middle of the room. “All right, everyone?” he called. “Playtime!”

A wave of puffskeins seemed to rush out of every nook and cranny, chirping and humming as they flooded the entire floor. The yellow furballs swarmed Barnaby, bouncing around his feet and climbing up his legs while he laughed. A few bounced over to cling to Merula’s boots too. She crossed her arms and tried to ignore their chirps for attention. She knew what Barnaby was doing, and there was no way she was going to let him win that easily. It would take more than round, fluffy, cute…

Oh, Merlin, there was a purple one.

Tentatively, she detached the violet puffskein from the leg of her trousers. It hummed happily in her hands as she ran her fingers through its, oh, so soft fur. It half-closed its eyes, which were a striking shade of sky blue.

Ugh, they were really cute.

“What are you looking at?” she demanded, when she realized Barnaby was still grinning at her.

“Nothing,” he said unconvincingly. Seconds later, a puffskein smacked her in the face.

She spluttered, spitting out fur. “Barnaby Abernathy Lee!” she roared and then launched the purple puffskein across the room. It flew through the air with a delighted “Wooooooo!” to ricochet off his forehead right into his hands.

“Puffskein fight!” he crowed and threw it back at her. She dodged, scooping up an armful of fluffy ammo as she did so.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” She started lobbing puffskeins like her life depended on it, all of them singing as they flew. She might as well have been throwing them at a statue; they bounced off Barnaby as if he was made of stone. Then he had all the puffskeins, and she had none.

The tables having swiftly turned against her, she sprinted around the room, desperately trying to escape the onslaught that was being launched from the center of the floor. She ducked behind a cat tower, which offered meager protection from the hurricane of bouncing furballs. They clung to her exposed arms almost faster than she could pull them off.

“Surrender to the Puffskein King!” he commanded, and she couldn’t help it; she giggled.

“Never!” she declared. She returned fire from behind her mini castle with enough speed and precision that she began to overwhelm him. Little balls of yellow, beige, and purple clung to Barnaby’s robes and climbed on his shoulders, weighing him down. Or they appeared to—right up until he charged her position.

She fled with a squeak, shouting, “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare!” while he chased her around the room, laughing like one of those Muggle cartoon villains. Puffskeins pelted her in the back, knocking her off balance so that she stumbled with every step. Her downfall came when she made the mistake of looking behind her. Another puffskein smacked her in the face and down she went, literally, to the floor.

Barnaby stood over her, a huge pile of puffskeins in his arms. “Surrender!”

“Never!”

He dropped the puffskeins on her. They hit her stomach (“Oof!”) and hopped all over her body. She laughed involuntarily as they nibbled at her hair and clothes and tickled her face.

“Last chance to surrender!”

“I said never!”

He dropped another armful of puffskeins on her. She could barely breathe between the laughter and the fur pressed against her nose. And she couldn’t stop laughing. Their bouncy little feet tickled her stomach and their happy humming tickled her ribs and their soft fur tickled her face. She was laughing so hard it was almost painful. Then one licked her ear with its long tongue and she shrieked.

“Okay! Okay! I…I surrender! I surrender! Make it…make it stop!”

He scooped her out of the pile as easily as if she was another puffskein. She was forced to wrap her arms around his neck so he wouldn’t drop her; she was still laughing too hard for either of them to stay steady. She pressed her face into his shoulder, wheezing.

Once she had calmed down enough to yell at him to put her down, they both slumped against the wall, exhausted and content. The original purple one had made its way back over to her, so she sat stroking its fur in her lap.

“This was fun,” Barnaby said. She hummed her agreement. Her puffskein hummed too. “Liz and I applied for a puffskein research expedition so we’ll be able to hold them every day. We want to know the difference between arctic and tropical puffskeins. I think the arctic ones will be fluffier.”

She rested her head against the wall. “Expedition, huh? How long would that take?”

“Five years.”

“Oh.” Her puffskein chirped. She had stopped petting it.

“It’ll be weird,” he said, “being the one to leave. So many of our friends have already left. Charlie left. Ben left. Ismelda left. Lily left. Even the ones that are still here…it doesn’t really feel like it. I never see Penny or Badeea at all. It’s kind of lonely.”

She hummed noncommittally. Her fingers had tangled in the puffskein’s fur.

He perked up. “Lily writes all the time though. She sends me pictures. See?” He reached into his bag and pulled out a somewhat bent photograph. In it, Flores crouched close to a pearly white dragon, which was studying her with pupilless multicolored eyes. The Magizoologist had the biggest, stupidest smile on her face. Something tugged behind Merula’s navel at the sight. “I still miss her,” Barnaby said.

Merula almost said something cruel. Then she almost said something dismissive. When she realized there was no one else around to hear her, she said the truth instead. “Me too,” she whispered, because Barnaby wouldn’t judge. He never did.

He had always been much kinder to her than she had ever been to him. He was also only the second person to have forgiven her for it. The first was no longer here.

She could feel his gaze on her, but she had closed her eyes. Whatever his expression was, she didn’t want to see it.

“I’ll write to you too,” he said, his eagerness bordering on overwhelming. “I’ll write to you every day when I’m gone.”

“Maybe not every day…”

“Every week.”

“I wouldn’t mind every month.”

“Done! If you promise one thing.”

She opened her eyes to give him a wary look. “What?”

“You have to find something to make you smile when I’m not here. You don’t smile a lot, and it worries me.”

She closed her eyes again. The concern on his face was making her nauseous. Or maybe it was just hunger. She hadn’t eaten since that morning. “I don’t know how to promise that.”

“Then I’ll just have to send you pictures of puffskeins every month so you do smile,” he said, as if it was the simplest solution in the world. She did chuckle at that.

“Deal,” she said and laid her head on his shoulder. He wasn’t the most comfortable pillow, but he was softer than the wall. She was exhausted, but for once, it was a pleasant exhaustion. She wished she could pause time, keep everything as it was, at least for a little while longer.

Her stomach growled, breaking the sleepy silence. Her face heated. He laughed. “Here, I have something for you,” he said and jostled her while he rummaged in his bag. He withdrew a paper takeaway container, which he placed in her hands. “Steak and mushroom. It’s cold now, and I’m pretty sure a porlock stepped on the box at some point, but it should still be good.”

A kinder person would have said thank you, but the words stuck in her throat when she tried to get them out. She settled for, “So, the pie shop was good, I take it?”

“It was! We’re going back tomorrow. I want to try their steak and ale next, and Liz wants another Italian cottage pie. Want to come?”

“I…” She cleared her throat to force the words out. “That would be nice,” she said, which was about the best she could do.

But it was good enough, she thought, while Barnaby passed her a fork from his bag (she didn’t want to ask) and she nudged the purple puffskein away from her dinner. It had to be.

“No one is to know about this,” she warned him.

“About what?” he asked innocently. She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but it didn’t really matter.

For now, this was good enough.

[igotbulletproof-insomnia]

Adopting Bangtan 08

01 previous

Supermarket Sweep

You were never going grocery shopping with seven kids ever again in your life.

The chaos. The absolute chaos was something that you somehow never expected. You actually thought that shopping with all seven kids would be the most efficient way to accomplish the task. Sit Kookie in the cart and let him “help” you by picking out the area to shop and hold the bags while you pick the vegetables. Send Yoongi and Namjoon to buy the snacks because they were the most sensible of all of the children and wouldn't have you spending way more money than necessary. Let Taehyung and Jimin retrieve the bread and the milk. Let Seokjin pick the meat because he was surprisingly talented at the job. And then everyone was supposed to meet you back at the shopping cart, still located in produce, so that you could pay and you all could go home. It should have taken thirty minutes, tops.

Instead, you found yourself chasing Taehyung around the store while Jimin kept an eye on Jungkook and you really, really hoped that he didn’t grab the most expensive apples on display, but you have the feeling that he would — because of course, he would. Prices didn’t seem to exist to any of the younger kids.

Instead, Jin was throwing a fit because all of the meats on display were apparently complete rubbish and he refused to let you spend money on anything but the most expensive cuts of beef so you “just have to” make another stop at the actual butcher’s shop. Granted, if Jimin spent all of your money on asparagus, your family would be eating vegetarian this week.

Instead, as soon as you managed to grab Taehyung, who apparently just wanted to replace Jungkook as your shopping partner, Namjoon appeared with a reasonable request for more variety in tea for the house. Which opened up a whole new can of worms as Taehyung realized he can ask for things too. This had him running back to Jimin and the shopping cart with a grin on his face, demanding that they find the snack aisle because you were going to buy them extra snacks if they asked, and Jimin’s face lit up with a smile so bright that dammit, it was going to be hard to explain what a budget was and why it wasn’t a good idea to exceed it.

(and yeah, you checked. Jimin grabbed the most expensive radish and lettuce he could find, and you were going to have to break out the vegetarian cookbook.)

(except for the bananas. It seemed Jungkook picked up the bananas)

Thankfully, Yoongi — lovely, beautiful, blessed Yoongi — had been returning to the shopping cart with his arms full of a variety of snacks, all low in price but high in popularity at home. He took one look at the chaos of whining and fussing children, rolled his eyes heavenwards, and took control.

“You get one.”

His tone left no room for argument; even you stood straight and stopped making a scene. Yoongi led the group back to the snack aisle and replaced everything he picked and let the others run wild. Together, you watched the others pick out snacks and place them, one by one, into the shopping cart.

“... They’re going to blow the snack budget like this,” you commented idly.

“I know.”

“That’s why you put the rest back, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“And these snacks aren’t going to last as long as they usually do, will they?”

“Not at all.”

“Thank goodness you’re so smart,” you ruffled his hair. “This is why I keep you around.”

“You keep me around because you don’t want me living by myself and I save you from going broke.” Yoongi’s tone was as matter of fact as ever and you couldn’t help but grin.

“Like I said, smart kid.”

Yoongi grinned back. You liked the fact that these kids didn’t take you too seriously. You had a good balance of deference, respect, and playfulness with all of them, even if you weren’t sure who actually ran the household most of the time. “Go pick you something, Yoon. You don’t have anything for yourself.”

“You can’t afford what I want.”

“I probably can’t afford what anyone wants, they aren’t paying attention to the prices.” And indeed, Taehyung and Jimin, your babies with the most expensive tastes, were debating the merits of two snacks that were way outside of the price range you would normally consider. But again, Jimin’s smile was so broad that you were reluctant to tell him no and watch that fearful, nervous look fall back into place. You would talk to him about budgets and restrictions another time. “I’ll make it work, don’t worry about it right now.”

With a grateful smile, Yoongi asked you to grab the snack he wanted, placed just out of his reach on a top shelf. It wasn’t priced too far out of budget, but it was different from the things he normally selected for your busy household of eight. You made a mental note to pay attention to how much Yoongi enjoyed the snack and check the stores for similar ones. The kid did so much and asked for so little, it would be nice to do this one thing for him.

“Wait a moment…” you frowned, counting off. “Where’s Hoseok?” Immediately all of the children quieted down, looking to each other as if to confirm that yes, someone was missing.

“Wasn’t he supposed to go with Jin-hyung?” asked Namjoon.

“No, I thought he was keeping Jimin and Taetae company?”

“Oh my God, you lost Hoseok.” That accusing tone came from Taehyung, and you watched Jimin’s face go from lightweight confused to completely devastated. You hated it, had suspicion that he was wondering if you would eventually do the same thing to him, if you would get bored or disappointed or angry and cast him off, lose him in a store or at a park like Hoseok explained happened to him, like all of Jimin’s previous parents did to him.

“Okay, boys,” you shouted, uncaring of the stares you attracted. The boys startled, but gave you their full attention, which was one hundred percent more than you’d had the entire grocery trip. You continued to speak firmly, and could tell the show of authority did more to calm their panic than the shouting. You decided that they needed to focus on something other than their lost brother. “This is what we’re going to do: Namjoon, you’re going to take Taetae and Jimin and get the bread, milk, and all the dairy stuff like I told you before, okay? Add eggs to that list. Yoongi, go get the paper products. Get the brands we used to get, not the ones we used last time, they’re cheaper and sturdier. Seokjin, we’ll go to the butcher’s if we have the budget when we finish here, but I promised we could have meat for dinner, so take Kookie and find something, okay?” All of the boys nodded at their assignment. “Good. Yoongi, Joonie, find Jin when you’ve got your things. Seokjin, when you’ve finished, wait for me in produce. You all understand? I’m going to go find Hoseok. He probably got distracted and can’t find us.” Hoseok had a habit of doing that. He often got lost among the chaos, because while everyone was being loud and boisterous, Hoseok was often quiet and did the things that went unnoticed. If you assigned dairy, meat, and snacks, then Hoseok probably went off to grab paper towels or rice or something you needed at home but forgot about. You wouldn’t be surprised if he came to the store with the list Yoongi and Jin never felt the need to write.

So the kids separated, worried and mumbling to each other, but occupied with their tasks. They were trusting in your ability, in your promise to locate their missing brother before you all went home. Whether these kids were abandoned by their parents (or maybe ran away from home, Seokjin never discussed why he chose to stay with his former teacher) , you found them and chose to take care of them. It was understandable that they would be worried. Up until now you had probably seemed like some sort of savior to them. Maybe not infallible, and definitely not… whatever it was that made other adults seem parental, but you had taken care of them, kept track of them, and protected them. Losing one of them had probably shaken their hearts.

It didn’t take long before you Hoseok as you predicted, standing in the frozen section, a piece of paper and pen in his hands. He bit his tongue as he read through it, humming to himself and ticking off items. A hand basket sat at his feet, overfilled with supplies.

“I’m pretty sure you should have an actual shopping cart for that,” you told him. Hoseok startled, jumping nearly a foot in the air and shouting in surprise. The petty, upset parent part of you feels satisfied for it, like Hoseok got what he deserved for scaring you the way he did. The more rational part of your brain is just glad that you were right and he hadn’t been kidnapped. Casually, you looked over the basket. “I didn’t even think about checking the spice cabinet. You’re a clever kid.”

“I just wanted to be helpful,” Hoseok replied with a shrug.

“It would have been helpful if you told me where you were going.”

“... I didn’t do that?” Hoseok’s eyes went big and wandered left and right. He seemed to be making himself smaller, pulling his arms close and leaning away from you.

“No, you didn’t.”

“I… oh.”

“We got very scared,” you explained. “We thought you got lost. The other boys were panicking.”

“I didn’t mean to scare you, I just… everyone else got an assignment and I didn’t, so…”

“So you thought I wouldn’t notice if you disappeared for a bit.” You nodded and ignored Hoseok’s flinch when you crouched down to his level. He wasn’t terribly short, he was actually almost as tall as your shoulder, but it was always easier to have these sorts of talks when you weren’t looming over him. “It’s okay, I’m not mad about you shopping on your own. I’m actually really glad that you took initiative to do something helpful. But you did scare me. I didn’t know what happened to you. I didn’t know if you got lost or ran away or if someone stole you from me. I’m glad I know you well enough to assume you brought your own list, but I was still afraid of being wrong. I really, really don’t know what I would do if you went missing, Hoseok. I haven’t had you for long, but my heart would hurt. I care about you that much, okay? So please, communicate. Tell me when you’re going to wander away, and tell me where you’re going so that I know you are safe.” Hoseok nodded fervently, most likely an effort to convince you he was sincere and wouldn’t disappear on you again. You opened your arms for a hug, You opened your arms for a hug, partially to comfort yourself, but mostly to soothe Hoseok. He looked like he might burst into tears and needed the comfort.

“Okay, good.” You squeezed the kid tight, your hold unrelenting until you felt the kid push away. “Alright, let me see that list of yours.” Together, you and Hoseok went through his list, and you were amazed that he was so thorough. Apparently the kid started taking stock as soon as you mentioned the intent to go to the grocery store earlier in the week. Hoseok noticed that you had a habit of leaving something out and he thought that making a list would be helpful. When you decided that you were going to take all of the kids with you, he decided to just hold on to the list himself.

“From now on, you’re making grocery lists,” you decided as you made your way back to Jin. “Maybe even all of the lists if you’re this organized. What do you think of that?”

Hoseok grinned, obviously proud of himself. “I think that sounds awesome!” He cheered. “Is this like how Yoongi gets to be in charge of the budget and Jin is in charge of the kitchen and Joonie is in charge of all of us?”

“Kind of yes, something like that,” you said. “Because obviously I’ll lose my head otherwise.”

“I’m sure we’ll keep track of your head too if you want.”

“Ah, why are all of my kids so snarky? I don’t deserve this,” you cried, hugging Hoseok more tightly to your waist. “All I do is give them love and a home, and they pay me back in sass.”

“But you love us, right?” Hoseok asked. His voice was a little softer than before, and you saw it for the genuine question that it was, not the joke that it would have been had it come from Jin, Joon, or Yoon.

“Of course,” you told him. “Don’t you doubt that for a second.”

When you went searching for the rest of the kids, you found them standing by Jin with the shopping cart, all lined up on the side of the aisle and eerily quiet. Even Jungkook in the shopping cart was holding his hands in his lap, eyes down cast.

“Do I want to know what happened here?”

“No,” was the resounding answer.

“Okay, good.” You shake off your curiosity. Whether that was because you trusted Seokjin or because you were afraid of the answer, you were undecided. “Hoseok, do you want to delegate tasks? We have a few more things on your list, right?” Hoseok noded, and set about sending his brothers off in pairs to retrieve the remaining items on his checklist. After the two sets had wandered off, Hoseok looked up again.

“Could you…?”

“Seokjinnie, you good by yourself?”

“I’ll have Kookie with me, it will be great.” Jin shrugged and you rolled your eyes.

“We’ll still meet over in produce when you’re finished, okay?”

Jin huffed his frustration at the meat selection. “I think we’re just having fish tonight. Is that fine with you?”

“If it’s okay with your brothers, it’s okay with me.”

“They’ll be fine with it,” Seokjin declared. His tone said he was still very irritated with whatever happened while you were gone.

“Get some cheaper produce when you’re finished, please.”

“Sure thing,” Seokjin agreed absently, wandering further up the aisle.

“Holler if you need me,”

“I will.”

“Just don’t scare everyone when you do.”

“Now you’re just taking away my fun.”

After all of that, you spent another fifteen minutes in the store. The trip to the butcher’s shop was put off for the following night, and you all made the unanimous decision to eat ramen and kimchi for dinner. You were also very loud about never bringing seven kids grocery shopping ever again.

That was, until two weeks later when Jimin’s adorable pout convinced you that they would be on their absolute bestest behavior (spoiler alert: they weren’t).

To find more of my child-bangtan fics, select the "Collecting Strays" tag at the bottom of this page ^_^

[crushzone]

relationship hcs for akiteru 🥺🥺🥺

Hi yes yes YESSS! More love for Akiteru, here we go! 💕

Being in a Relationship with Akiteru Tsukishima 🥰

Let me start off by saying this: if you ever find yourself in a relationship with him, then congratulations, you have very great taste and a wonderful boyfriend. 😘

How it all began:

You met Akiteru at your university. As someone who greatly values academic and genuinely enjoys going to classes, you always wake up a little earlier than you had to, just so you can get a head start. Little did you know that you’d run into the cutest fellow early bird on the first day of your second year.

As expected, the building is peaceful, so quiet, as the only sound are echos from your shoes. But to your surprise, you come across a silhouette of a tall male, sitting with his back to you, in front of the massive window that overlooks the empty university.

When your footsteps come to a stop, he turns to you, lowering the book that he’s holding on to his lap. “Are you here for World War 2 in Cinema?” He asks with a smile.

His smile widens when you respond with a nod, turning around to fully face you with an arm outstretched. “My name is Tsukishima Akiteru! But you can call me Akiteru.”

You walk up to him and shakes his warm hand, as you can’t help but be infected by his genuine smile and warm demeanor.

Also noting how calloused his palms are. Hmm, what could’ve caused that 🤔

From that day on, you two would come to class even earlier; from 10 minutes, to 15, even up to 20, just so you can chit chat.

He’d bring whatever he thought was cool to show you before class too. For instance, he’s gone thrift shopping with his other friends once, and came across a children dinosaur book. It made him very nostalgic as it reminded him of Kei, but he’s also way too excited to share it with you, so he bought it on the whim.

His friends totally gave him a weird look, but they’re like: ok, yea, Akiteru’s just being hella nerdy. The usual.

You would also bring cool things to share with him before class as well, and it makes him really happy when you do.

He’d come home everyday, since the day he’d met you, with a fuzzy feeling in his chest. So he likes to snuggle his side pillow with his warm cheeks squished to it with eyes closed, day dreaming about you.

In a way, you remind him a lot of younger Kei; when he’d have someone to share his interests and passion with. However, he’s well aware that you are not his brother and that his excitement to see you every morning is way too intense for it to be something that’s just platonic.

Is also a very observant person; if you’ve gotten a haircut, re-painted your nails, or is wearing something new, he will instantly compliment you on that. And the bizarre thing is that he’s not even trying to suck up to you, it’s actually how he felt and his eyes automatically notice new things about you, even if they may be subtle.

He’s usually the one asking a lot of questions; he wants to know more about you, where you’re from, your family, your passion, hobbies.

So you were pretty surprised when you found out he’s on Kaji Wild Dogs Volleyball team. You didn’t even know what a Wing Spiker or anything is because you were never really a big sports fan.

When you frankly told him that you do not know much about sports, but is still fruitlessly trying to come up with questions, just so he can talk about his passion some more, he just laugh, a wholesome grin on his cute freaking face. 😩

“It’s okay, Y/n-san, It means a lot to me that you’re trying to understand the sport that’s meant so much to me, but that doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to speak about it for my sake. I have other passions too, and I’d rather speak about what makes the both of us happy.”

Ughh, like how are you so observant!! It’s the big brother intuition, I tell ya. Since Kei barely communicates with him verbally, he’s gotten really good at observing micro-signs.

Which MEANSSS that this man KNOWSSSS you are into him and that he’s got a chance. Oh yea, he knows bby, and he may or may not have denied it for a day, before he’s like, nah dude, I like them too, so I’m going to go for it.

Your name keeps popping up in conversation with his friends, even without his awareness. BUT if there is ever a chance for him to promote you in a conversation, he will not hesitate, and totally go all out.

He is addicted to your smile, and he wants you to keep doing whatever makes you happy.

Will go out of his ways to support your hobbies; e.g. staying up late at night to brainstorm paper ideas with you, and he’s not even in the class your paper’s for.

Speaking of assignments, you guys are the POWER STUDY BUDDY. Like wow, you know those times when you meet up with your friends for a study sesh, but it turns into a distracting mess. No no, not with you two smarties.

There’s this mutual unspoken agreement, the moment he’s asked you to study with him at the library during mid-terms. You’ll be chit chatting about anything in the world on your way to the lib, but the moment you’ve found your work desk, you’re both completely silent as your eyes skim through the pages of your textbook, while his hands scribble like flaming wheels on his notebook.

The only time one of you would speak is when you’re hungry, and you want to stop by the library’s cafe. He will always ask you if you want anything, even if you already have your sandwich in front of you.

And even if you’ve said no, he’ll still buy something extra for you anyway, cuz he knows it’s going to be a late night at the library.

Knows your class schedule by memory, will always walk or offer to drive you home. And he’ll always make sure you actually enter your apartment before leaving.

On days when he cannot be there to drive you home because of practice, he can’t relax until you send him a photo of your cat at home or something haha.

He’s basically your main ride for almost anything, including groceries. He just enjoys spending time with you in general, it doesn’t have to be anything grand, just as long as you are with him, something as dreadful as waiting at the DMV no longer sounds as bad. 

There was never really a distinct moment of when your first date was, because your relationship started off with a very stable friendship of shared interests.

It’s likely that he’ll confess his feelings for you even before he’s officially asked you on a date, because you are so comfortable with each other’s presence. And you’re cool with that, you’ve always wanted a relationship with an S/O who’e like a best friend anyway.

When he confessed, he did it at least expected moments. It was when you were on your way back from grocery shopping together, you noticed a cheesy-looking Halloween shop, so you asked him if he’d be down. You didn’t even have to beg, he’s already turning his car around.

Can I also add that he’s a very smooth and calm driver?

You’ll be trying on the goofiest looking costume, and he cannot help but smile at how perfect you are to him. Then it slips.

You: Look at me, I’m a cat meow meow. Akiteru: *laughs* Wow, what an accurate imitation. You: I know right? I’m not as cute as my cat though. Akiteru: You are very cute to me. 😳

Wow okay, but was that like platonic cute, or romantic cute. You know? Sometimes, people are vague, what can I say. But not Akiteru.

Akiteru: and I meant it. I like you a lot, Y/n-san. He confesses, looking at you with a smile. Like how are you going to say no to that.

Earlier stages:

Congratulations, Akiteru is now your boyfriend. ✨

A lot of the things that had been mentioned above still remains: he’s still just as attentive and observant as he had been from the start.

He has a list on his phone, of all the things you would eye when you go window shopping, the food you crave when you are extra broke that month, and the different things that make you smile so widely, he could’ve sworn your cheeks were about to explode.

He may not be the richest person in the world, but he will go out of his way to bring your cravings/wishes to fruition. For instance, you were craving some vegetarian Ethiopian food, but it was way too pricy for you to splurge, and you can’t decide on just one. Akiteru will go out of his ways to gather all ingredients, and cook everything from scratch, just so you can experience it as identically to the original thing you had craved for.

You also like to cook together a lot, and he’s pretty great in the kitchen. Loves chopping things for you, especially onions, because he hates the way it makes you tear up. 🥺

Calls you pet names that are inspired by all the children books and anime he’d read and watch with Kei, such as “Olive Baby (Olive Oyl from Popeye the Sailor), Dokin-chan~ (From Go! Anpanman), and Lil Tweety (Warner Bros.) ”

He will just text you with “Cuddle Bug? 🐞” and that’s just code for “I want you to spoil me with cuddles right now.”

It’ll usually happen randomly, but you’ve been noticing him doing that a lot after you’ve had a long day at work or after studying. You often wonder if Cuddle Bug was actually meant to be for him, or if it’s because you looked like you needed one. Regardless, you are grateful.

You can never say no to his cuddle requests because he gives some of the best ones you’ve ever experienced.

His favorite cuddle position is when you are laying on his chest, as he bring both arms to wrap around your shoulders, tucking his nose to your hair as he ingrains the memory of your scent to his mind. The feeling of your warm hand on the dip of his broad chest, makes his heart beat a little faster, as he relishes in your presence.

But on days when you know he needs Cuddle Bug most, are when he’d return to university housing after his visit home.

On those days, he will be the one to lay on your nape, face down, as his long arms wrap around your waist, and underneath the curve of your back. Automatically, your fingers find its way to his honey hued hair, running it through his soft strands, massaging his scalp, as you occasionally brush his temple with your thumb.

You could’ve sworn he purrs like a cat whenever you do.

When you ask him how his visit home went, he always assures that it went well, but you wonder if that was the entire truth.

He always seems a little silent after his visits, not being as playful about his teasings, and his smiles being a little less energetic than what you’re used to. 

You were so concerned, you even asked some of his volleyball friends, and all they know was that Akiteru’s brother gives him a hard time, sometimes.

Strange, because Akiteru had only ever said great things about his brother to you: how Kei is a regular player in the team, and that he is killing the game at his blocks. Whenever he talks about his younger brother, his eyes sparkle and his voice booms proudly.

Knowing him, you decide to leave it at that, and not pry further into it. If he wants to tell you, he’ll tell you himself.

He’ll include you in all of his social events, as long as he’s allowed to, and likes to bring you with him whenever his friends want to hangout.

You felt a little bad, because you didn’t want to take away his guy time, but his friends genuinely enjoy your company. They even ask him how you’re doing sometimes, and for him to say hi for them.

Long term:

Okay, so when I say long term, I mean that it’s past the honeymoon phase.

At this point, you guys know each other so well, like it’s the back of your hands.

You also live together now, in a two bedroom apartment, where you turned one of the bedrooms into both your study rooms.

A very adventurous couple: would go hiking and camping all the time. But he’s also kind of a big introvert, so he’s totally down for chill movie nights at home.

And when you watch movies at home, you both SPRAWL out ALLLL over the couch, doesn’t even matter if you are short or tall, you both will take up every inch of the couch.

He’ll occasionally surprise you with some spontaneous dinner dates at home too, because he knows how badly you wish your cat could join you for all the dates you’ve gone to.

On those spontaneous dinner dates, you’ll come home and he’ll greet you in some nice button ups, 3 buttons undone, black trousers, and black dress shoes. When he draws you in a hug, you can smell the faintest cologne on his neck: a mix of caramel, and something subtly spicy but refreshing.

You also understand volleyball a little better now, and is always there to cheer for him to the fullest extent of your lungs, jumping up and down in excitement every time he score.

Whenever he’s feeling a little too exhausted than he intends to, all he needs is to look over at you, and just like that, he’s instantly recharged as he jumps up and down to your wave with a peace sign.

Is also not a clingy boyfriend at all, he trusts and respects you, and you are both very independent with your own set of interests. He’s totally fine not seeing you ALL the time during the day, but you ALWAYS make dinner together a thing (or if not, at least you’ll spend one of your meals together.)

He may not be the best at communication, such as when something’s bothering him, but that is just his way of protecting you of his burden.

And being around Mr.Perceptive, had taught you to be one as well. You pick up on subtle micro-signs, such as when he would count the grains of his rice with chopsticks, before pulling one grain to his lips at a time. You KNOW something bothersome is plaguing his mind when he plays with food.

He opens up to you about his past mistakes and the reason why Kei no longer talks to him very much. He’s very bothered by the way his little brother holes up in his own room when he visits, it makes him feel like a phantom, a walking failure that just occupies his parent’s home.

And every time his facade shatters, you instantly pull him into a hug, just the same way he’s always liked, his long limbs on top of yours, with your digits entangled in his hair.

You got him to work on his communication, clearly expressing the importance of it to you. And though he struggles sometimes, he’s still doing his best to improve.

Is a very clean person, kind of obsessed with keeping the kitchen clean; he cannot enjoy dinner until everything is in place.

Not that uptight about it though, there will be days when he lets it slip. But then he’ll be right back at it, after you’ve gone upstairs to prepare for bed: quickly washing the dishes and wiping everything down.

If that is not some husband energy then I do not know what is. 😩🥰

You jokingly told him how sexy he is, whenever he does home chores, and it’s now become an inside joke. Every time one of you wipes down the counter or puts the dishes away, you’ll turn to each other and wiggle your brows suggestively, before bursting into laughters.

At this point, if you were never good at teasing, you bet you’ve improved significantly just from dating him.

You’ll really worry when Akiteru gets home late from practice, so sometimes, you’ll stop by with his dinner to find that he is alone in the gym, just practicing his spikes.

When that happens, he’ll sit outside to eat with you, stargazing. Then he’ll return to the gym to lock it up,

But on days, when you’d stop by to say hi at the gym, in the morning, his team would great you very warmly. They’re pretty much your family now, and you like to host them at your apartment for potlucks.

Now, every time Akiteru visits home, he’ll bring you with him.

His mother LOVES you, she finds you to be one of the loveliest person she’s ever met, and keeps thanking you for taking such great care of her son.

With you there with him, he no longer feels lost when he’s home, he’s got you! And anytime he gets to see Kei for dinner, he’s just grateful.

Speaking of Kei, he suppose he does not mind you. You share a lot of similar interests with him — well, that would make a lot of sense because you and Akiteru does too, and that man had such a big influence through Kei’s adolescence.

Sometimes, Kei will chill with you and Akiteru at the balcony, your favorite music playing softly in the background as Kei watches his brother practice. You can’t help but smile, when you see that the brothers are slowly reconstructing their relationship.

Kei totally hates how you and Akiteru cheers so loudly at his matches though. Now he has to deal with another person embarrassing him at the stadium lol. (Though he is low key happy you both do 🤭)  

You spoil Akiteru with head massages every night, without fail. And in return, he gives you foot rubs every morning. 

Here’s how it usually goes: You’ll give him a head massage for a good minute, before patting his head, leaning down to gently pucker your lips against his forehead. Then he’d lift his chin with eyes closed, and that is when you’d give him three gentle pecks on the lips before crawling under the covers beside him. “Thank you”, he’d breath gratefully with a content smile, eyes still closed.

You no longer cuddle every night, especially during the hot summer, but you will link your middle and ring fingers as you both drift to sleep, bodies facing each other in a fetal position. 🥺

And on days when he’d wake up before you, he’ll spend a minute studying your adorable sleeping face with a smile. He wants to protect you from the world, to keep you safe in his arms as you both grow stronger together as individuals.

He has no idea how he’s ended up with you, but he thanks the sky every day for granting him your existence. He loves you so much, way more than he could ever put to words. With a gentle kiss to your forehead, you stir awake to see his warm smile, you’ve grown so accustomed to.

“Good morning, y/n-san. I love you, my lil Tweety.” 😘

---------

Taglist (open): @shhhlikeme @ceo-of-daichi @karasu-hoes @super-noya @nonexistent-social-life

[healnsootheinfo]

Heal N Soothe - pain Relief Supplement, Price, Benefits And Side Effects

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What are the Ingredients?

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Clinically proven to be effective in chronic pain relief, Soothe and Heal components have been clinically confirmed. The best thing about the supplement is its clear listing of components. The 90 capsules contain the probiotic supplement combination of high quality herbal components. This is a difficult to source. After taking the medication, you will learn the importance of the enzyme and ginger rhizome essences.

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Use blood-thinning prescriptions to lower blood pressure

Sensitive stomach: Heartburn or gastric problems

May stimulate lymphatic seepage, and short-term runny nose.

What is the best way to heal and soothe?

Heal n Soothe Info contains a unique combination of essential components and systemic proteolytic protein. Your body makes specific characters from the proteids found in soreness and white blood cells that treat injuries.

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To transport oxygen to all areas of the body, excess fiber must first be thawed. Otherwise, joint soreness and outwardly oxygen can occur.

Systemic proteolytic enzymes break down the glutinous fibres and take away the tracks for red blood cell. This improves the bloodstream and supports oxygen-rich cells to serve and carry out their functions efficiently. Heal n Soothe is a biocatalyst, which speeds up the restoration process.

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This medication ensures that your joints receive adequate bloodstream and effectiveness so they can serve you exactly, even if your age is older.

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This supplement is recommended if you are looking to stop relying on pain-relieving sprays and medications.

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Heal-n–Soothe supports Bone Health, Aid and Furthermore Versatility. Each tablet of Heal–n–Soothe contains a powerful combination of Proteolytic enzymes, Organic Turmeric Extracts, Bromelain Extract, Boswellia Extracts, Papains, Rutins, Devil's Claws, Citrus Bioflavonoids as well as Alpha Lipoic Acid, Ginger supplement, and Bromelain. These components work together to relieve joint pain, soreness, and other common aches and pains.

Properly Formulated Proteolytic Enzymes to Support a Healthy Immune System: Heal n-Soothe was designed to be the most efficient and powerful vigor proteolytic proteins formulation. To relieve joint pain, all dosages have been clinically tested.

Heal n Soothe reviews

Heal-n'Soothe is better than ordinary turmeric Curcumin Medications. It contains 60mg of curcumin, a well-known antioxidant that reduces free radicals in the body. It didn't end there. Heal-n'Soothe, which is a combination of turmeric and 12 rustic elements, is designed to provide the best common joint maintenance. Heal-n-Soothe has been recommended by standard turmeric prescriptions.

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It is 100% organic, vegetarian, non-GMO N Filters Binders Or Preservatives. This high-quality, all natural, non-GMO, gluten free description is of the highest quality. This medicine has not been associated with any side effects. The Heal-n–Soothe joint medication is a great choice for anyone who wants to improve joint mobility and health.

Heal-n-Soothe helps you get back to living life to the fullest. Simply take the recommended daily dosage. You'll soon be able to live your life as you want.

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Heal n Soothe was created to provide comprehensive care for multiple health issues.

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Heal n Soothe muscle loss reconstructions

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Medical communications are subject to more insufficient analysis.

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An all-natural arthritis remedy is recommended if you need to stop taking medicine. You may be experiencing unbearable pain. You can now check out the Heal n Soothe arthritis supplement, which has been long-lastingly assigned to you. According to the official website, all elements have been clinically tested and are medically approved for relief of arthritis symptoms.

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[foxy-exy]

Minyard & Doe - Twinyards Appreciation Week

@twinyardsappreciationweek Day 1 - Misunderstandings

AO3 Series

Aaron Minyard had a class to get to, and he didn’t know why the fuck he was here, waiting in line in the cafeteria with a strange, redheaded, scarred man who’d called, “hey,” sidled up to stand much too close beside him, and started holding his hand for no apparent reason.

Aaron, of course, immediately withdrew his hand and glared, and the man’s inexplicably fond gaze melted into surprised confusion.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I — Neil. Andrew, we’ve been dating for months.”

If Katelyn could see Aaron now, she’d joke that his sneer could get stuck that way. But she would also probably just keep holding this guy’s hand, to be polite. So, whatever. “I’m not Andrew, idiot.”

Neil’s eyes widened as he searched Aaron’s face, pulling back. “No…you’re not.”

“You don’t even know the face of your own boyfriend?” Aaron turned to where the vegetarian dish had opened up, hastily shoving helpings onto his plate. The quicker he could get away from this guy, the better.

“I guess not…”

Aaron only spared one last contemptuous glance at Neil as he walked away, but he felt Neil’s thoughtful gaze burning on his back all the way across the caf floor.

-

Andrew Doe had a class to get to, and he didn’t know why he was here, on the receiving end of a far-too-warm smile from the coffee shop barista who was mixing his hot chocolate as she called him…baby.

“I’m surprised, baby. You never ask for sweet drinks.” She curled a stream of whipped cream into the foamy chocolate and slid it across the counter to him. Her nametag read Katelyn. He thought that maybe Katelyn should mind her own business and leave him alone. “Not that you need any extra sweetness, though.”

She was much taller than he was, and could actually lean across that counter, which she proceeded to do, lips puckered, like she was going to drop a kiss on him — he stopped her with a hand directly to her upturned button nose.

“A-Aaron?” she faltered, and he narrowed his eyes at her.

“I am not Aaron.”

Her jaw worked in shock, speechless, and she stared him up and down. “But…but you look…you’re just like…”

Andrew left her to her life-questioning-meltdown that seemed to be brewing. He had other things to do.

-

“Andrew?”

Andrew flipped the page of his criminal justice textbook and hummed quietly. Neil was spread across his couch, fiddling with his half-worn-down sneakers for track, like he thought duct tape would actually fix the holes. It was dark outside, and raining, and this was the kind of cozy routine they had. In a while, Neil might pull out his calculator and start tapping away at it while he worked on his own math assignments, and the persistent clicking and the patter on the roof might lull Andrew into enough of a peace that he would convince himself and Neil to put everything away, turn on the TV, and pull a blanket around them both until they nodded off.

“Do you have any family?”

Andrew stilled, felt a tremor in his hands as they paused in their following of the line of text. Neil and him did not talk about family. They both knew without sharing details that the other had had enough of “family.”

“No.”

“You don’t…” Neil sat up now, to look at him. He sounded apologetic, but urgent. Andrew wouldn’t return the gaze. “You don’t have…a brother, maybe?”

“I’m a fucking abandoned foster child, Neil. And I don’t have anyone I’d count as a goddamned brother.”

“I just —” Neil’s voice was faint, spoken into the back cushion of the couch. “I saw someone who looked…just like you, today.”

“Isn’t that fun,” Andrew bit out.

Neil looked at him, and Andrew stared unseeingly at his book, and when the silence snapped, the tension was too much, Andrew slammed his book shut and went into his bedroom, wrapping his sheets around himself until he could not hear the rain, or maybe the beginning of calculator keys being pressed, or the sound of Neil’s quiet feet when he came in and knelt down next to the bed. He heard the mumbled, “I’m sorry,” and let the hand resting on his blankets stay there, until he was no longer awake to hear his boyfriend’s quiet breaths even out in sleep, too.

-

“Aaron,” Katelyn whispered, and her finger tracing at his chest roused him from almost sleep.

“What,” he mumbled, turning to wrap arms around her, pull her closer. She was very soft and cozily plump, his Katelyn, and always smelled nice. God, he was so fucking lucky…

“Aaron,” she said again, more insistently, and he opened his eyes to frown down at her.

“You didn’t come to the coffee shop today.”

“Was I supposed to?” He let his hand skim her hip, and she swatted at it, laughing quietly.

“No, baby. There was just a man there who was your spitting image, I swear.” She pressed full lips to his chin, and left a smattering of yet more soft kisses across his face, ending with a smooch on the tip of his nose, because she liked when he wrinkled it.

“Huh.” He couldn’t dedicate a ton of brainpower to the thought when the fact that she had scooted up in bed to kiss him meant that her very impressive boobs were right there, but he processed it after a minute. “Wait, what?”

“It was weird. He looked nearly identical to you.” She nestled into his collarbone, and Aaron blinked into the darkness.

“Somebody came up to me and called me a different name,” he offered. “I don’t know who the fuck he was. Tried to hold my hand.”

“You have some kind of doppelganger on campus, huh?” she teased. “We need to find him, line you two up next to each other. You’ll see. It was uncanny.”

Aaron lay awake for much longer than he should have that night, thinking about uncanny resemblances to complete strangers.

-

Andrew did not want to be among a crowd of screaming, jumping people that seemed to be way too invested in sports. Neil, however, was in his track uniform of tight orange shirt and shorts and seemed intent on cheering for some even more sporty friends of his, and Andrew would be damned if he missed the chance to see his boyfriend’s ass in those shorts.

***

Aaron would rather skip this pep rally. He’d never had school pride, he was here to study and make it into med school. But Katelyn was in the mass of cheerleaders shouting and waving their pom-poms down on the field, and he wasn’t gonna be the boyfriend who didn’t show up.

***

Andrew decided halfway through the first quarter of whatever game it was they were playing that nothing was more important than obtaining some terribly sweet and appallingly overpriced snack from the vendors. Neil shook his head, still enthralled with their home team, when Andrew asked if he wanted anything. So down the bleachers he went, catching sight of a cart and attendant down by the front.

***

Aaron has abandoned his seat not long into the game, preferring to lurk behind the cheerleaders’ bench where Katelyn occasionally turned and smiled sneakily at him, even reached up to blow a few kisses at him. He glared at the food vendor who slowly walked past, bellowing snack advertisements and giving him a stink eye. He would stand wherever he wanted to, this wasn’t some professional game. They were in college, for chrissake.

Somebody stopped the vendor right next to Aaron, however, and began ordering what sounded like the entire selection of candy in a remarkably apathetic tone. After the fifth item in the list, Aaron’s jaw twitched and he leaned around the attendant to kindly tell the customer he’d die of a heart condition if he didn’t eat right only —

***

Andrew made eye contact with his slack jawed mirror image and let his own voice peter out.

He did not think Neil was lying. But he had not prepared for…this.

“Asshole twins, huh?” the man holding out the candy to him said, but Andrew shoved the money at the man, snatching his food, and pushed him bodily out of the way.

Aaron — it must be Aaron, that was what Katelyn said — breathed an incredulous, pathetic kind of laugh at the look that the man must have shot his way, and returned Andrew’s gaze, searching and disbelieving.

“Eating that shit’s gonna kill you, you know,” he said, weakly, like he did not care in the slightest.

“I know,” Andrew said, and bit off the end of his Snickers, before offering it to his twin.

Aaron pressed his lips together, to try and fail to suppress a smile, and took it.

[pbandjesse]

I am back in Baltimore!! I am sad that I am not with Jess anymore but I am really glad to be in my own bed. Today was a nice day. I feel happy about it. Going back to work tomorrow will be hard. But thats okay. 

I did not sleep well last night. I could not for the life of me get comfortable enough to rest. I was super itchy just all over. And scratching at my psoriasis made me even worse. So I was a mess. And So I was just pretty unhappy. I was able to even see the clock change over from 159 to 3. Clock changing is weird. 

I fell asleep after that though. And woke up at 8. A little unhappy, but fine enough. 

I got dressed and soon Jess did too. We got ready to go out and get bagels. 

And the bagels were great. And then it was time to get ready to go to goodwill.

We had a lot of stuff to bring there that we had sorted out last night. Some clothes but a lot of kitchen things. We had to call a car to take us because it was all just to heavy. 

Donating was just fine. And we went in the store to look just for a minute. But we had some weird interactions. We were excited to see that they have a steamer trunk and that is something Jess was looking for. But they were using it to hold ties. Had price tags though. But when we asked they seemed annoyed that we even asked and said it was display only. And when we went to say um no. The security guard stepped up and said yeah that has price tags call in the back. And so they did. And it took way to long but they let Jess buy it eventually. Stellar. 

I looked at some soft pants. Didnt find any I loved but I wanted to try this one pair on, but then when I went to go in an open dressing room an employee was very rude to me saying he was cleaning it.But I had been looking at clothes for a couple minutes and he had just been standing there talking to the other guy. He was very snarky and not in a good way. So I go to the next one and I was so upset about the way he talked to me, and the fact that this one had a bunch of clothes in it too (which was his snark about why I should have known he was cleaning the other one) so I took the pants out but I also rehung all those clothes and brought those out too and hung them up right next to him. Where he was just standing again. What a jerk. It really rattled me. 

But I was excited about our trunk find, so together we carried it to the subway, got it back to the apartment, dropped that off, and went to the botanical garden. 

I had a really nice time here. I liked the swamp part of the conservatory a lot. And the koi fish!! But the one thing that really soured it for it was the cafe.

We lucked out at first. This place is fancy and we got the last available table for an hour. We ordered and everything was fine. 

But then things started going wrong. Our waiter just. Disappeared. So our biscuits took a long time. But while the sauces were a little weak, the actual biscuit was wonderful. But then the mains took. Forever. Its all good but still. 

And then it was all wrong. Jess's "salad" was. Like super gourmet and did not even resemble a salad even a little. And my quiche which was supposed to be broccoli rabe, but instead it had those hen of the woods mushrooms that are haunting me in every vegetarian food lately. And it was super salty. I was pretty disapointed because this thing was almost $20. And then no one came back to check on us. At all. 

I tried to eat it but it was just not good. I did get a little side salad that I liked and shared with Jess to make her weird thing more salad like. I wanted to talk to the waiter. But legit he never came back. We waited. Finally I had to go to the hostess and ask if she could get him. He came back and didnt say anything, just started taking our plates. So  I stop him and I tell him the food was super salty and so he just mumbles "Ill take it off the bill" and walks away. ???? My guy. So then he leave for 10 minutes. Finally brings the check, cool the bill is half as much, thats good. But then he didnt come back. We literally waited 15 minutes before I went back to the hostess and asked if I was actually supposed to pay her. Nope our server. We wait almost 10 more minutes. I was starting to loose it. She could see this and came over and took the credit card. And finally after another 5 minutes of waiting, literately Im vibrating with anger, he comes back and puts it on the table and says nothing. 

I was super pissed, but I had to let it go. 

We went back outside. The weather was really nice. It helped me feel better. I liked the touch garden for the blind a lot, and the shakespear garden. The koi pond was the part that made me feel the best. So when we went to the gift shop I got a little ceramic floating orange koi. Made me feel happy. But it was time to go. 

We went to get my stuff from the apartment. Headed to the station. It was a fine ride, though my bags were heavier because Jess gave me things. But it was all good. But then the line for my gate was a lot longer then expected. Jess gave me a big hug though and headed out. And I waited. Listened to my podcast. But then figured out that the line was long because the 330 bus had never left. These poor guys were the earlier bus. 

Eventually someone came out and said they were going to get the 330s on their bus, but she wasnt super loud and no one understood and were getting upset. So I put on my best teacher voice and said "If you have a 330 ticket, move to the door, if you have a 430 stay put youre all good!!" and everyone was like "thank you!!" and then had a couple chats with people about teacher voice and it was funny and nice. 

I got a good seat on my bus. And got comfy and packed all my belonging around me. A nice lady sat next to me and told me she thought we had assigned seats. She had never been on a greyhound before. I told her its a free for all and to just get comfy. 

And it was a nice ride. I slept a little. I had a snack. I enjoyed the sunset and how late the sun went down. Day lights savings is here!

I was really happy to be back in Baltimore. My lyft driver was nice, we had some laughs. And I was so happy to be in my apartment. 

I gave sweetP many hugs. I unpacked. I made outfits for the week. I took a bath and scrubbed the hell out of myself. Try to deal with the itchy. 

Now I am chilling and eating popcorn. I put a differnt color nail polish on my one gelled hand. Because my hair stained the pink color. But now its a pretty blue. 

I am now just waiting for James to get home. I am very excited to see him. And I am excited to sleep. 

I hope you all have a great night tonight. Enjoy the worm moon tomorrow!! 

[thesustainablejournalist]

• how do you become a better minimalist (ethically like vegan etc) when at university? • how can i make my digital life and computer/phone more minimal and in a minimally organized and neat? • what can i do to start becoming more minimal and “minimalist”? what are beginning steps and things i can do as a resolution for the new year? thank you so much hun and being so helpful xxxx

Of course! I’ll start point by point :)

1. University is a unique time. I had the priviledge of already being vegetarian when I started, and I commute, so I still live at home. However, planning is essential. Most universities are accommodating when it comes to vegetarian or vegan options, but plan what you’re going to eat. Check restaurant menus ahead of time, and be knowledgeable about your food choices! The book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safar was amazingly helpful and insightful. As for other ethical minimalism ideas, research low waste practices. Shelbizleee on YouTube is great.

2. Digital minimalism is so important! I’m at the place in my minimalist journey where I’m moving away from physical copies and keeping things on hard drives, but it’s still difficult to stay organized. I use Google Calendar to plan my days, but I still keep a physical daytimer for my assignments. I also use Edison for my email inboxes. Edison makes it super easy to see all your emails, clean your inbox, and unsubscribe from unwanted messages. Apps like Good Notes will keep all your files in one spot, and Office 365 is free for students! With all minimalism, it is vital to stop purchasing. Stop purchasing meat products for veganism; stop purchasing clothing, books, trinkets, etc. it’s easier said than done, but once you stop shopping, the whole process becomes so much easier.

3. Supplement shopping for un-shopping. Get rid of what you don’t need! Be ruthless. Turn on a podcast by The Minimalists, or Tidying Up by Marie Kondo to get you motivated. Start by getting rid of things you don’t wear, things you don’t use, read, or like. It doesn’t matter who gave it to you, where it came from, or why you bought it. If you don’t like it or need it, don’t keep it! Donate to places like goodwill, sell on apps like Mercari, and consign at a local thrift shop! Go HAM on your living space. It’s addicting, so be careful! Try Project 333 and hone your clothing style. Get rid of items of clothing that don’t fit you or your style. Watch the documentary Minimalism on Netflix for more information.

It’s okay to start slow. I stopped eating meat before I stopped eating fish, and I still eat dairy and eggs. I became a minimalist before researching low waste living. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns!!

[reysim]

Tuesday, March 17 / 2020 Simon had today off from teaching, so we arranged a day of sightseeing with Ping's assistant. Originally we were planning to go east to Taroko Gorge National Park, but the distance was too far (several hours by high speed train) and the English speaking park ranger assigned to look after us was off sick. So instead we put together a last minute car trip to the west. We went to Beipu: a rural town with a pedestrian street day market and several old Japanese mansions. Beipu old street was interesting place with lots of dried fruits, green tea's for which you can choose the nutty ingredients, and vegetarian dumplings. I didn't even know what some of those dried fruits were but I bought 3 bags: small peach, large kumquat, and something like radish. The tea shop gave us unique local samples to try. These were like a green tea smoothie, that I didn't like, with a dozen ground ingredients (nuts and dried fruits), that Simon liked. Then we met an eighty seven year old lady, who was preparing dough for dumplings. She was using chopped bamboo shoots and shredded white radish to stuff them. She was hardly able to walk but she was taking care of her shop and clearly had great pride in what she was cooking. Watching her brought tears to my eyes! Simon had heard about Lions Head Cave Mountain, but our driving host said there were four of these in different directions within an hours drive of Beipu. We finally figured out which one we wanted to go to (Shitoushan) and we were definitely not disappointed. We parked at the foot of the mountain and climbed up several steep sets of stone steps following the Liuliao Historic Trail that connects a dozen ancient Buddhist temples. Along the way, we passed hundreds of prayer wheels: ornamental cylinders that spin when you turn them by sliding your hands across them (good way to transfer corona viral infections). These are a way to pray without having to speak the words of the prayer that are engraved on the cylinder. At the top of the stairs, we came to the first temple, Quanhua, built 200 years ago on the mountainside around the caves. It was the most ornate we have ever seen. Devotees carried all the building materials, carvings, paintings, and religious symbols up the many stairs before combining them out of respect for Buddha. Simon was in tears over the shear beauty of the place and the effort of the people. I was extremely moved. We continued up more stairs to visit more temples. At the fourth temple, Kaishan, we saw a nun dancing between the Buddha statue that get prayed to and the incense cauldron where they initially pray from. She danced back and forth with sweeping arm motions, low to the ground and high in the air. She moved all around twenty paper lanterns arranged in a pattern on the tile floor. She burned these after dancing. She was beautifully dressed, had a noticeable peaceful manner about her, and she was burping frequently, while chanting. She was a spirit cultivator. Apparently, as a divine calling, some religious figures allow themselves to become possessed by a deity in order to find and get in touch with their own original spirit. This practice is unique to Taiwanese Buddhism. We watched this ritual, the only westerners among six people, and looked at one another to see we were both crying. Simon was struck by the commitment of the nun to her beliefs, while I saw the love and radiance in her face and the strength and power of her practice. We quietly left and discussed our emotions on the walk back down. We stopped at the first temple and enjoyed a vegetarian meal prepared by the nuns. Our host drove us for about a hour to the New Tile House: a Hakka cultural district in Hsinchu. This turned out to be several 200 year old homes in the traditional Hakka style. Hakka are the Han Chinese (20% of Taiwan's population) who migrated here from southern China, 300 years ago, as guest households who eventually stayed. Hakka means guest house. Their ancient homes had been preserved, restored, and turned into a farmers market, restaurants, and some art stores. We stopped at Fangliao Yimin Temple on the way back to our hotel. It had a lion theme with several carved lions instead of the usual dragons. Their lions look like pug dogs, so China must have had a lion, at sometime, that did not look like a African lion. We were on our own for dinner and went to the only open restaurant in the Inspire Park area around our hotel. It did not have vegetarian food, so we visited the 7-11! What an emotional day.