#i would also appreciate being a shark girl but it's not a requirement

[biomic]

if you had to join a sentai team what color would you want your costume to be?

this shade of blue

[six-eyed-samurai]

Hi I was wondering if you could do a amajiki x reader where reader is on her period and has really bad cramps and mood swings and amajiki has to ask mirio and nejire for advice

SUMMARY: Very apologetically Tamaki has no idea how to handle your shark week, so Mirio and Nejire are here to help him out! A/N: Very apologetically I too am not sure if things were accurate I'M SORRY I DON'T EXPERIENCE THIS so I'm literally trying to remember what my ex gf was like FORGIVE ME ALSO FOR BEING SO LATE I HAD TO STOP HALFWAY BECAUSE OF EXAMS WARNINGS: Fem!Reader, period, maybe inaccuracies (refer to above)

🌸Let’s set the scene.

🌸Please pity him. It was in the middle of a cafe date that suddenly you stopped slurping your drink, freezing with a funny expression and your waffle piece halfway to your mouth. Obviously Tamaki’s voice peters out and away as he sinks into his jacket….oh crap, did he say something wrong? Maybe his breath smells bad?

🌸Then you ask to borrow his jacket. He gives it over, relieved, thinking you must’ve just been cold or something - wait, why are you tying it around your waist and heading to the toilet?

🌸When you finally come back out you awkwardly ask to cut the date short with much apologies, but you really wanted to head back and change….why? Oh right, your period kind of….leaked.

🌸”….”

🌸”Sure, sure! All’s to worry, not to fine!” Tamaki’s just happy it isn’t because of him - it’s your third date after a year of hopelessly pining and finally using up all the courage he had in this lifetime to confess and ask you out.

🌸Then it actually hits him.

🌸Silly boy’s even more panicked than you are, and YOU’RE The one on your period. It’s mostly because he wants to help you cover up and not have the date ruined but he has no idea how, not having much experience in this - come to think of it, Nejire never brought up her period with him and Mirio, so honestly he had no idea what he was doing.

🌸Hell, he’s suddenly forgotten how the menstruation cycle works - where did all those science lessons go??? Help???

🌸You have to assure him it’s not a big deal, his jacket is enough, could he help get a doggy bag for the waffles and get the drinks though?

🌸After he drops you off by your dorm Tamaki is immediately whipping out his phone and googling about periods, but it’s only explaining to him why and how it happens…wait, you’ll get mood swings, headaches, loss of appetite, lethargy and cramps? And girls go through this every month?

🌸That sounds worse than a villain attack; Tamaki’s respect for you probably broke the meter.

🌸He’s gonna be the supportive boyfriend! This is his chance to show you you didn’t make any mistake in choosing the quiet weirdo to be your partner! Tamaki nods, trying to hype himself up.

🌸Problem is…what is he supposed to do…

🌸Nejire and Mirio are more than happy to play wingmen once more, of course!

🌸All his plans collapse when you didn’t show up in class the next day however. Not only that, you’re pretty dry when he texts you and you’re - you’re ending the conversation first?!

🌸*>>sry im not feeling my best rn and dont wanna take it out on you*

🌸*>>ill talk to you ltr?*

🌸Tamaki ends up overthinking as usual, picking away at his lunch so obviously, leading to Mirio and Nejire’s interrogation and him spilling his guts. He wants to go check on you to see if you’re fine, but do YOU want him to go check on you?

🌸Nejire scoffs and tells him of course you’d want him to check on you! Girls could get clingy on their periods, of course you’d appreciate it if he came over…hey, you both could always do a stay at home date, nothing fancy! You’d surely be up for movies to cheer you up - Nejire would gladly lend Tamaki her account, no payment required.

🌸What’s he supposed to do? Nejire’s winking not so subtly as she slyly suggests cuddling under blankets with - oops, he looks like he’s about to faint now. No surprise, Tamaki nearly had a heart attack when you both first brushed fingers.

🌸Tamaki’s social anxiety having him debating between being the object everyone in the corridor must surely be gawking at or running somewhere far far away? No worries either, Mirio’s there to stop him from getting a concussion slamming his head against the wall.

🌸Mirio helpfully knocks very loudly on your door, calling out Tamaki’s name when your groggy voice drifts out. He gives his stunned, dark-haired friend a thumbs up and shoves a box of chocolates into his arms, mouthing “give this to her!” before taking off.

🌸Regrettably Tamaki’s first words to you were not…er…

🌸”You look terrible.”

🌸Immediately Tamaki backtracked, yelping about how it was probably the dim lighting that made him see things wonky, he’s SORRY, he didn’t mean it he was just surprised, please FORGIVE him, uh, uh, please have this box of chocolates as apology! 🌸Oh dear, he’s just too cutely flustered to be mad at, so you accept the box (thrown at you accidentally) with a hoarse laugh, self-consciously trying to smooth down your mussed hair and wrinkled sleeping clothes, asking what brought him here.

🌸Tamaki didn’t miss the way your arm was wrapped around your abdomen, or the way your eyes were a little screwed up from the pain and sleepiness, but he decided to go ahead and ask anyway if you were okay and why you didn’t show up to class today.

🌸Awkwardly you explain your cramps were really bad and after going to Recovery Girl she decided you were better off resting than doing anything physical for the day, admitting you probably shouldn’t have succumbed to the temptations of cold boba the other day.

🌸”Can….can I…can I stay with you? I brought a movie and uh, chocolate and I can bring blankets we could make a fort if you’re not too mad at me-”

🌸”Mad at you?” You tilted your head, surprised and confused. “Why would I be…oh. Is it about our earlier texts?”

🌸He nods, and you reach out to take his hand comfortingly. “Dummy, I know it’s probably a lot for you, but no matter how bad my mood swings are, I’d never get mad at you, alright?”

🌸Tamaki must have some real good karma from his past life to deserve an angel like you.

🌸”So…about that movie date?”

🌸The next day Mirio and Nejire eagerly await news of what had transpired; Tamaki hides his face when you grin brightly and say “I wouldn’t mind having cramps that bad again if he’ll come and cuddle me like that.”

[hizashis-lil-bunbun]

BNHA Valentine’s Day Headcanons!

Happy first day of February! Some of my Discord friends and I were brainstorming how different My Hero characters would celebrate Valentine’s Day. So let’s give ‘em a whirl! All characters are adults or aged up to be 18+ in these scenarios.

Big thanks to @varnienne, @emmappelle, @sweet-darling91, @donica95​, and @katsontherun for letting me bounce ideas off of them. 💖

⚠️MOSTLY FLUFF BUT THERE IS SOME NSFW AHEAD!⚠️

Hizashi Yamada (Present Mic)

SFW

Gotta start with my blonde bby. And the best way I can describe his ideal Valentine’s is BIG and LOUD!

He’s never been one shy away from telling you how he feels, but he’s especially talkative on V-Day. Going on and on about how lucky he is, how much he loves you, etc.

It’s love songs all day, baby! From blasting modern pop songs while he makes breakfast to sweet, old-fashioned tunes that he makes you slow dance with him to in the living room. He’s a true romantic (and a surprisingly good dancer to boot).

And he might even (re: definitely will) serenade you. The man is a musician after all! In fact, don’t be surprised if Hizashi wrote a song just for you.

As far as gifts go, Hizashi goes all out. He’s a hero and a celebrity, with the salaries to match. So you can expect a few big ticket items. Plus, he’s a good listener. If you ever mentioned something you needed/wanted/expressed interest in, chances are it will arrive wrapped up in red and pink paper on the day.

“Hey little listener! Remember how ya said you might wanna try painting? No? Well I turned the spare room into a studio for ya anyways! Maybe you can make me something to hang up at the station, yeah?”

But just because his gifts are expensive and flashy, that doesn’t mean he devalues your own. Hizashi will blubber and gush over anything you give him, from lavish luxuries to a something as simple as a homemade card. Loudly I might add. Make sure to have earplugs handy.

Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of having a radio star as your partner is that he’ll most likely have to work on Valentine’s Day. It’s even worse if he had teach that day as well. So don’t count on any fancy dinners until after the 14th.

But if you tune into his station on the day (and you will), there will be at least three or four songs dedicated to “his favorite little listener.”

NSFW

Even if he can’t be with you on the actual night, he’s definitely going to make up for lost time. Mood music, candlelight, the whole nine yards. He wants to romance you. To make you feel as good as you make him feel everyday.

Oral and overstimulation are the name of the game, and Hizashi is a giver through and through. He’s happy as a clam once he’s got his face buried between your legs, making you cum for the umpteenth time that night. Seriously, does he ever come up for air?

Praise is also a big thing for him. It flows from his mouth like the sweetest wine. And with his quirk, every whispered word and groan against your body feels just as intoxicating. Good vibrations indeed.

He also loves it when you’re vocal. No love song can compete with the way you cry and moan under his touch. He’ll make you sing for him all night long and into the morning hours.

“Damn, baby. I love you so damn much. Love the way you look cumming on my tongue. Think you can do it again?”

Eijiro Kirishima

SFW

Okay. This boy adores Valentine’s Day! Like it’s his favorite holiday.

And how can he not? Everything in the stores is red! He can stock up on red merchandise for the rest of the year in the span of a week. And believe me, he does.

This means his partner should expect a lot of the cliché gifts on the big day: teddy bears, heart-shaped boxes, and red roses to name a few. Oh, and he’s definitely got a stockpile of cheesy, punny Valentine cards centered around his and his friend’s hero personas.

His favorite is the one that says “I think you’re a Red Riot! Be my Valentine?” But maybe that’s partially because it came from you.

Kirishima doesn’t just shower you with crimson trinkets; he buys treats for everyone! Especially his closest friends. To him, Valentine’s is all about showing the people he loves most just how much he cares. And it’s honestly adorable to see him practically bouncing off the walls in excitement when he finds a little red treasure for this year’s celebration.

“Babe! Look at that red shark plushie. It looks just like me! So manly!”

*proceeds to buy seven of them: one for him, one for you, and one for everyone in the Bakusquad + Tetsutetsu*

But at the end of the day, once all the chocolates and stuffed animals have been given away, he’ll make sure you know there’s no one he loves more than you. He spends the final hours alone with you, eating a home cooked meal and cuddling on the couch. Times like these are his favorite, just being to hold you close and appreciate your presence in his life.

Fair warning though. You’ll probably end up watching some some cheesy romcom, cuz he loves those too.

NSFW

Of course, the red theme continues in the bedroom: red rose petals, red sheets, even a set of red lingerie he bought just for the occasion. Which he proceeds to rip apart minutes after you’ve gotten them on. Hope they weren’t too expensive.

Kirishima tries to be gentle with you, he really does. Savoring your pleasure and letting your orgasms crest and fall naturally. He wants to see you cooing and boneless by the end of the night.

But sometimes he underestimates his own strength and gets a little rougher than expected. Maybe he gives too sharp of a love bite, or squeezes your hips a little too hard. But it’s all done out of passionate love, so you don’t mind too much.

You might actually prefer it if he gets a little rougher.

However, if you wanna get kinky, there is one thing Kiri’s always down for: pulling you over his knee for a good, old-fashioned spanking. His quirk is perfect for it, hardening the palm of his hand just before it smacks down on the soft flesh. It’s like he has a set of built-in paddles. Trust me, if you let him get into a good rhythm, by the end of the night your ass will match the Valentine’s decor perfectly.

“Not pushing you too hard am I, beautiful? I know I can be unbreakable sometimes, but I never want to break you. I love you too much to do that.”

Mirio Togata

SFW

TBH, before he met you, Mirio was a bit of a player (which is kinda canon). Like “has a different date every year” player.

And can you blame him? He’s a total heartbreaker with that (le)million dollar smile and those baby blue eyes. He got so much Valentine’s chocolate from girls in high school, it was sickening! But with you, things are different.

For starters, he’s not so big on material gifts. Giving or receiving.

“How could I want anything more when I’ve got my sunshine right here?”

No, this sweet himbo is all about making memories with his partner! Sharing experiences and spending as much quality time together as possible.

So he plans everything days, sometimes weeks, in advance. Budgeting his time and money to squeeze as much love into a single day as humanly possible.

The moment you wake up on February 14th, he hits the ground running. Quite literally! He’s practically doing laps around your bedroom in his excitement to get the day started.

Valentine’s Day with Mirio turns out to be a marathon of couple activities. Bike riding to a local café for breakfast. Sight-seeing in Tokyo followed by ice cream in the afternoon. He even manages to sniff out a carnival for you to go to in the evening, letting you run amok on the rides and games. And yes, he definitely spends too much money trying to win you one of those giant stuffed animals.

By the end of the day, you’re thoroughly spent and just want to snuggle up next to him. And maybe have a late night snack of chocolate. Mirio is more than happy to indulge you, even offering to carry you home. Anything to be close to his precious sunshine.

NSFW

Despite your sleepiness and aching feet, Mirio insists he has one last surprise to give you. So he asks you to lay face-down on the bed and wait for him. Naked of course.

Once he finds what he’s looking for, he straddles your tailbone with his thighs and squirts something slippery onto your back. You yelp at the cold sensation and that earns a laugh from Mirio. He tells you it’s massage oil. One specifically designed to relieve muscle tension.

It’s like he knew you’d be sore after his day of non-stop adventuring. Almost like he planned it... What a smooth criminal.

It makes sense though. Maybe it’s because his quirk requires him to pass through things, but physical touch is his primary love language. Nothing grounds him quite like having you in his arms, worshiping every inch of your body.

He works you over, kneading at the muscles in your back, hips, and legs with steady pressure and prescision. He even rubs your feet, making the earlier pains melt away into bliss.

You’re almost too sleepy and relaxed to realize one of his hands is creeping up your body until it’s too late. Next thing you know, he’s curling his fingers into you, amplifying the pleasure of the massage in a new way. Like I said, Mirio’s a smooth criminal when he wants to be.

“Feeling good, sunshine? Yeah, I’ll bet you are. You always look so cute like this... just makes me want to kiss you all over. Maybe I will! But I think you’re still a little tense right... here.”

[mediioxumate]

nonnie is enabling me! 

Do you have headcanons for your arknights characters?

im so glad you asked. heads up for too many snow leopard references. 

SilverAsh

the gap moe of it all. i think it’s really interesting that the general facade he puts forward is actually his gentle smile, and that his e2 art is where he drops it, implying he trusts the doctor enough to not necessarily keep up the (terrifying) pleasant boy demeanor. generally, he has 3 levels, his pleasant persona -> ruthless/cold -> snuggly cat mode. 

he’s very very protective over his family - and considers all of those close to him family. he has a self sacrificial streak that’s easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it. 

seeing as he’s like 6′3/192cm, he hit a serious growth spurt very young. threw his balance, and was definitely very gangly for a bit until he grew into himself. it did help solidify his more pacifying, pleasant persona, meant to be non threatening. 

absolute sassbucket. no one asked, cio. no one. 

well versed in business (obv) as well as law, and could veritably represent his family in court if needed, and allows his to retain his footing around the nobility he so opposes. 

also has an assortment of Rich Boy talents: ballroom/formal dancing, well read, polyglot, and to a lesser known degree, he’s a painter - but this is primarily for himself. to others, he is simply well versed in art. 

though many expect him to run cold with the whole ice prince aes he’s got goin on, seeing as he’s snow leopard adjacent, he’s actually quite warm.

relationships:

pram: they are estranged at best.  he made the deal with her to become a saintess in her as well as the family’s best wishes, but being taken away from what she knows, and metaphorically dunked into the shark tank hasn’t boded well for their relationship. he would still defend her without second thought. 

cliff: remain close but in the background, and he feels responsible for his youngest sibling. she has been known to give him headaches, but he’s very fond of her, and will always be in her corner. on the short list of people that get his true nature. appreciates the good name she makes for the clan. 

courier: boyfriend. emotional support twink. but in all seriousness, they have one of those long, slow burn relationships (in canon) and the inherent eroticism of a boy dedicating his life to you. also in the short list of people to get him all the way to grumpy/snuggly/more himself.  

ethan: as an artist, he has a lot of respect for ethan’s work, and thinks it’s very nice. but as a raised noble, he has an...adverse reaction to graffiti. 

aak: he will sell him to satan for one corn chip. 

shirayuki: not close, but relationship of mutual respect. there’s a certain alienating factor added when she is fairly close with pram. 

Pramanix

lebsiam. lesbiab. lebs. le. girls. women. 

beneath her serene exterior, she’s quite carefree and on the silly side. she’s playful and has dry humor that often goes unnoticed. few get to see this side of her when the serenity is so expected. 

essentially a political prisoner. her position of saintess is less a power thing for her, and much more shackling. she’s removed from her family, and surrounded by too many people whispering in her ear. rhodes island is a welcome escape for her. 

she is as religious as her post implies, but her relationship with her faith is extremely personal. her holy bell is kept close at all times, and treated almost reverently. it is as powerful as terrifying for her. one mistake and she’s doomed, and she’s learned not to make mistakes. 

textile work is one of her passions, and something she’s gotten to do very little of since ascending to her position. weaving, knitting, dying fabrics, all manner of things. most of her wardrobe is made and maintained by herself. 

those she cares deeply for receive little gifts from her - typically pieces of embroidery, small dyed cloths, simple things that can be displayed around the home or carried close. once she’s at rhodes island, these grow into sweaters and scarves - bigger, warm, wearable pieces. 

additionally, growing up in an elite family, she’s well read, and her love for reading has never faded. it aids her well in her position, absorbing religious texts, history, anything necessary, but she also enjoys a simple novel. it’s not uncommon to find her curled up in a corner of one of the dormitory rooms with a book she’s scavenged to wind down after a long day and recover. 

her other passion is tea! if one of the medics will teach her to maintain her own tea plants, she’ll be over the moon. over all, she finds it calming, and likes teas across the spectrum. with such low to connection to her usual hobbies, it’s often that she finds herself offering and making tea for those she meets with. 

much like a cat, she requires more sleep than average - at least 10-11 hours at night, and a nap somewhere midday. rumor has it, it’s the toll being a vessel for the divine takes on her, and she would not disagree. it could also be depression. 

relationships:

silverash: as mentioned prior, they’re estranged. she was younger than advisable when he made the decision to have her ascend to saintess. while aware it was likely the best move for her and the family, she struggles not to blame him for the stress and loneliness associated with her position. less inclined to stand up for her brother. 

cliff: neutral relationship with her sister. while she holds no ill will, being separated hasn’t done anything to improve their relationship. there’s a bit of underlying bitterness that cliff is still free and able to pursue her passions. does not know about cliff’s infection. 

shirayuki: future gf. she appreciates someone that matches her energy, and isn’t terribly demanding on her when her position is demanding enough. rhodes island has been her first chance to breathe in so long, those asking her to shoulder too much end up on her shit list. not that they’d ever know. 

cliffheart:

funky little nb bisexual. unstoppable. she/they pronouns. 

climbing calms her, and she sees any vertical surface as a challenge. it’s not uncommon to see her in spots she shouldn’t be around rhodes island, and she’s been known to scare some of the operators by scaling walls etc in the dormitories just to hang out. has had it joked that she should be a mountain goat not a snow leopard until she reminds them that they belong in the mountains too, thank you very much. 

incredibly spunky and a huge prankster. and with SA as an older brother, she’s not easily intimidated or frightened by others. plus, she’s very nimble, get away is never a challenge. 

also very flexible. will fold herself into seemingly impossible positions to scare someone when they walk in. much like the cat she is, her resting positions only make sense and look comfortable about half of the time. 

as for her oripathy diagnosis, very few people know. she is careful to hide it, and is thankful for the lower stigma in kjerag to be able to continue to lead a mostly normal life. in all honesty, she’s terrified of it, and what will happen, but she also uses it to boost her desire to live in the moment, try new things, and remain adventurous. 

after initially suffering the puncture wound, she wasn’t able to climb for a bit, still recovering from the trauma and getting the oripathy under control. it wasn’t long until she was itching to climb again. 

generally hikes solo, but always excited for anyone that can keep up with her on the mountains! also into journaling and photography along the way to document everything. this often includes towns she visits and the stories of people she meets and talks to along the way. 

relationships:

silverash: lovingly calls him cio. a little better than he can’t have much of a relationship with her publicly, but she loves him a lot and she wants better for him. hopefully, rhodes island can improve things.

pram: neutral and loving. she hasn’t spoken to her sister since pram took her position, and she’s fairly distressed about the deteriorated relationship with their brother. cliff plans to use rhodes island and the time there to reconnect with pram, and hopefully eventually connect her back to cio. 

ethan: fast friends - and a killer combo. give a graffiti artist someone who can get him to the weirdest spots with ease. they have a similar prankster nature, and click fairly naturaly. 

aak: fast friends as well. matching chaotic energy. she trusts few medics with her condition, but he’s one of them. his penchant for experimenting resonates with her, and she offers herself for whatever tests he wants to run willingly. 

[realbodyrevolution]

Practical Guide for Body Acceptance

By Real Body Revolution

I hear this question a lot – “How do I begin to accept my body?” or “Where do I start?” If you’re asking this question, you may already intellectually understand body acceptance and even support it (particularly for other people), but how do you apply it to your own life? How do you take theory and put it into practice? Here’s what worked for me and I sincerely hope it will help you. Remember, the journey will be different for each traveller, but maybe this will get you going in the right direction!  

1.     Learn! Understanding the social context and history of beauty standards was very empowering for me. It helped me realize that this isn’t a “me” issue. I am not alone in this and the self-loathing I’ve been feeling was generated externally and had been nurtured since early childhood. I also discovered that all this “thin = health” stuff is BS, along with dieting and weight loss in general. The messaging we keep receiving from this War on Obesity is not in line with the science and is actually more like a faith-based religion that irrationally hates fat. Here’s a list of books that were pivotal in my journey: Body Acceptance Arsenal. Check your library if funds are tight!

2.     Update your internal beauty standard. This is the idea of beauty you hold in your mind, shaped by decades of external influence and formed by seeing the same unrealistic, unattainable versions of beauty over and over again, until you believe that it’s the only way to be beautiful. It’s not.   To update your internal beauty standard, you can use my Tumblr or any others that regularly post images of diverse bodies.  I created my Tumblr to serve as a library of images that do not conform to traditional beauty standards with the purpose of nurturing body acceptance and updating the viewer's internal beauty standards to include a diverse range of bodies. This is a counter measure to the millions of messages we are exposed to daily so please, check in often to maintain a more inclusive view of beauty for yourself and others.

Also, curate your social media feed by unsubscribing from accounts that promote traditional beauty standards. You’ve seen enough of this to last a life time and will continue to be exposed to it on the daily just from magazine covers at grocery store checkouts to billboards when you’re walking to work so, no need to see it on your feed. Subscribe instead to accounts that promote body acceptance or diverse imagery. Here are some suggestions of people to follow (it’s not an exhaustive list at all, just something to get you started): https://www.verywellmind.com/body-positive-influencers-4165953 I also recommend: Christy Harrison, Fat Girl Flow, Margie Plus, Dexter Mayfield, Yulianna Yussef, Baddie Winkle, Ruby Roxx and Advanced Style.

3.     Create a support system of like-minded individuals. You can do this by sharing what you’re learning by those around you, but not everyone in your life will be receptive to this (sadly). So I would suggest joining some online support groups, like on Facebook. Make sure the groups are diet-free zones and for every body.

4.     Start healing your relationship with food and ditch diet culture for good. If you do the readings I suggested, you will learn the truth about dieting. Knowing the truth isn’t enough though, you have to actively break-up with diet culture. Throw out your scale and if you can’t stomach doing that yet, get someone to hide it for you. Out of sight, out of mind. I would also strongly suggest exploring and practicing Intuitive Eating. There are a lot of great resources out there for this, but my favorites are The F*ck It Diet book and Julie Duffy Dillon’s podcast “Love, Food”.

5.     Rebuild your self-worth. Being beautiful is not rent you owe the world for existing and your appearance and weight do not define your worth.  What I’ve found super helpful is developing an inner nurturing voice to counter my inner critic. I wrote a separate post on how to do this here: Silencing Your Inner Critic and Developing a Nurturing Voice to Replace It.

6.     Practice self-compassion. Touch yourself lovingly, especially the parts of your body you’re disconnected from or feel the most animosity towards. Stroke these parts softly and say loving things to them while you do it. For me, it was my tummy. I started referring to it as my marshmallow and thanking it for turning food into energy and keeping me alive.  Treat yourself the way you would treat a loved one or a child and stop punishing yourself! For example, don’t wear or hang on to clothes that are too tight for your current body and remind you constantly that you’ve gained weight. Self-care can mean doing a closet purge. Get rid of your “skinny jeans” because they are a daily subconcious message that you’re “hoping to get into them again some day”. Go through everything, try it on. If it doesn’t fit, it comes out of the closet. You can either purge these items or tuck them away in a storage bin. Replenish your wardrobe with items that fit (the size doesn’t matter, only the fit) and that make you feel confident. If you’re on a budget, you can do this process one item at a time, as you can afford it.

7.     Let go of the dream of future weight loss. This part was the hardest for me and I went through a grieving process when I had to finally let go of some future skinny version of me. One thing I did is write down all the things that I imagined being thinner would get me in life and then address each of those things individually. For example, one thing I identified was that I had this fantasy of wearing a bikini on the beach with confidence. Turns out, I can wear a bikini on the beach at any size if I have internal confidence. Also.. what beaches am I even dreaming about? Tbh, I don’t even like the beach and have no strong desire to go to one regardless of what size I’m in – I don’t do well with heat, sand, water in my face or sharks. A lot of the fantasies I had in my head about being thin had never been challenged before and did not hold up to scrutiny so were surprisingly easy to demolish.

8.     Face your internalized fat phobia. It can be a really uncomfortable process, but you need to face your deepest, darkest, hidden feelings about fatness. For me, body acceptance was okay for everyone else, just not for me. I still (secretly) wished I was thinner. I still (secretly) felt like my fat body wasn’t worthy as it was. Similar to the process above, I wrote out everything I was telling myself about what fat means for me. One thing that came out of it was the fear of not being attractive to others. Here’s the thing I now know with certainty - I don’t want to be chosen by others for what I look like. I flat out do not respect people who body shame or dismiss people based on appearance. And I recognize appearance changes with age, so anyone choosing me based on my appearance is only choosing how I look in that moment – it’s a temporary, superficial choice. So why would I invest my time and energy into someone like that? The one thing I can count on in life is that my body will change over time and with age, so I will not commit for less than unconditional love. Also, quality over quantity! If you are conventionally beautiful, you may have more people chasing after you.. but what kind of people are they? And how exhausting and frustrating would be it be to have to sort through all these superficial, shallow people who only like you for what you look like? In my humble opinion, it’s not a benefit, it’s a time waster. I now look at being fat as a super power when it comes to relationships of any kind – my fatness will expose someone’s fat phobia, shallowness or body shaming tendencies lightning fast and I don’t have to waste any more time with them.  

9.     Stop comparing yourself to others! Comparison is the thief of joy and another person’s beauty is not the absence of your own. A useful metaphor is to think about flowers. There is a huge range of diversity among flowers. All different shapes, colors, sizes and formations. All beautiful in their own way. And people all have different tastes when it comes to flowers - some prefer calla lilies, others prefer the black bat flower. Remember: “A rose can never be a sunflower and a sunflower can never be a rose… all flowers are beautiful in their own way and that’s like women too” – Miranda Kerr. Take this a step further and actively lift other people up on a daily basis. This can be people you know or complete strangers. If you see someone walk by with a killer outfit, tell them you love it. If your friend is considering dieting, tell them they are worthy exactly as they are – no diet necessary.  This can help move you beyond jealous feelings caused by comparison and help you develop an appreciation for others instead of competition.  

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Keep in mind that this journey is tough and requires effort. You’ve been bound in self-loathing for decades and it all has to be undone, one knot at a time. It’ll feel daunting and will be full of ups and downs. While you are healing your relationship with your body and food, you will probably be triggered often. Whenever this happened to me, I would use the trigger as a tool to show me what I still needed to work on because part of why it bothered me was because I believed it was true (otherwise, I would have dismissed it as rudeness or ignorance on someone else’s part). To move beyond feeling triggered or discouraged, do something to remind you of your goal of body acceptance and your worth (listen to a podcast, view some diverse images, reach out to your online support group, re-read one of the books in the list, etc).

You can do this. <3 

[ginnysims4]

Mia Takahashi

A super bubbly Japanese girl. Her traits are Cheerful, Childish and Perfectionist. She lives in San Myshuno and aspires to be a stylist and create a line of super cute Tokyo inspired cllothing line. I feel she’s super outgoing but very shy when it comes to relationships. She can be a bit clumsy and innocent but is very lovable and warm hearted. 

I can see her being besties with my sim Analyn Chiu and being envious of how outgoing and sure of herself she is. They could even be roommates if you like both of them! :) they pursue the same career so you could also go to college with both of them and make them dorm mates. 

——-

If you want to dress her as you want you can simply download the genetic mods and use any CC you’ll like, but i will include her clothes here so you can have all the looks picture above.

Tray files here: http://www.simfileshare.net/download/1638719/

GENETICS/HAIR (required for sim to look the same as pictured)

Cien No EA Eyelashes

Ms Blue Default Skin

Female Skin Overlay N12 by @remussirion

Skin Overlay by @pralinesims

Kakao Eyes N155 by @pralinesims

TAMO Eyebags Set

Realistic Lips Rope’s Workshop

GPME Face Contouring by @goppolsme

GPME-GOLD F-Eyebrows G10  by @goppolsme

3D Eyelashes V1 by @mmsims

Eyelids Set by @stretchskeleton

Evie Freckles by screamingmustard

Kalewa Buns by kalewa (original mesh)

Kalewa high bun by kalewa (original mesh)

Kalewa Long hair by kalewa (original mesh)

Kalewa ponytails by kalewa  (original mesh)

MAKEUP

GPME Liner cc14 by @goppolsme​

GPME MIX N’ MATTE LIP DUO by @goppolsme​

GPME K-SET C1 by @goppolsme​

GPME Classic Shimmery Smokey Eye by @goppolsme​

S-Club WM ts4 Blush 09 by @sclub-privee​

Matte Short Nails N09 by @pralinesims

Blusher N06 by merci

ACCESSORIES

Diamond 4 Ya Earrings V2 by @pralinesims​

Silva Choker by @pralinesims​

Love Blossom Set by @pralinesims​

Micro Leather Shoulder Bag by @theslyd​

SLYD Purse Feline

Pom Pom String Choker by @waekey​

Elisa Glasses by @serenity-cc​

Heart Backpack by @jennisims​

Earmuffs by @suspiciouslypinklady​

Winter gloves and Scarf by @imadako​

CLOTHES

Love Maze Shirt by @trillyke

Love Shot Jeans by @trillyke

Trillyke - Mermaid Swimsuit Set by @trillyke

fire jeans by @serenity-cc

Cat Collar Shirt by @waekey

TT Off-Shoulder Sweatshirt by @waekey

I Like That Top + Skirt by @waekey

Bow Slides by @theslyd

Classic Mule by @theslyd

Shark Tooth Sneakers by @mmsims

ChloeM-Cute Pajama 02

ChloeM-Off-the-Shoulder Dress

GOTG - T-Shirt Blouse Top

Mona Skirt by @clumsyalienn​

Jessi Sweater by @clumsyalienn​

Madlen Leona Shoes

Bobby socks (it’s a whole set for school uniform, but you just need the bobby socks)

I would appreciate if you share and credit me! Also feel free to send me your sim requests! I would love to work from a request to see what I can come up with :)

[am-imagines]

Legendary Pt. 3  Morgan!Reader

“O’Hara! Put me down!” You shriek when your best friend decides to carry you over her shoulder.

This is not the first time she does something like this, but a warning would have been deeply appreciated. You’re not that lucky, and Janice only laughs at your disgrace while carrying you all the way to breakfast.

You only have half a day of practice, and then you’re free to explore the city.

You’re excited not just because Australia has a ton of places to visit, but because your mom will be there too. Maybe hanging around their parents would have been embarrassing for most people, but when your mom is a living soccer legend, your biggest idol and the coolest mother ever? You’re glad to have her around as much as possible.

Besides, Kelley will be joining too because this is Australia; the paradise for any surfer.

You are almost vibrating with excitement during practice; much to Janice’s amusement. You’re an emotional player, and no, that doesn’t mean you cry all the time. What it means is that your game reflects your emotions, and most of the time, the team feeds from your energy. If you enjoy the game, so do they. If you’re angry, you play harder and they become a wall to back you up. When you act like a puppy; imaginary tail wagging behind you, they’re compelled to pat your head once practice is finally over.

A few minutes later, Janice and you meet with your parents, and no time is wasted before you jump into Alex’s arms. She laughs but holds you tight for an extra second.

“I’m so proud of you,” she whispers against your hair.

Moments like these make you remember that yes, Alex Morgan is your mother, and she looks at you with pure adoration. She doesn’t have to say those words for you to feel them, but doing so makes you smile a little wider.

Winning three world cups in a row is a giant accomplishment, unmatched by any other team, but when she’s asked about the most important victory of her life, you’re the first thing that comes to her mind.

Lifting the cup is something she won’t forget, or bending to accept a gold medal, but for her, nothing compares to the first time she held you.

“Thanks, mom.”

“What is this? Aren’t you going to hug your favorite aunt too?”

With a chuckle, you hug Kelley with just as much enthusiasm. She has been there since you can remember, and you wouldn’t be surprised to know she changed your diapers too.

The car ride to the beach is filled with hilarity while Kelley and Alex wonder what happened to Taylor Swift and what exactly you call music nowadays.

“You two are old,” Janice says offhandedly.

“Excuse me!?”

Alex’s outraged question makes you laugh until your belly hurts. One doesn’t call Alex Morgan old and gets away with it. Janice will pay for that once you make it to the beach, and the mere thought makes your mother smile.

Soon enough you arrive at your destination.

Being an L.A. girl has its perks, you decide with a surfboard under your arm.

Kelley taught you how to surf when you were just a kid. Living five minutes away from the beach meant you fell in love with the sea before you could even walk properly. Still, things are a little tougher here; higher waves that look unforgiving, and a permanent alert for sharks that you don’t know how seriously to take.

That’s why you stay close to Kelley; surfing waves that you can control and enjoying the afternoon with your family. There’s no need to risk an injury that could cost you the World Cup. There’s no way to know what will happen on the field; accidents happen, but not like this.

At the end, being careful pays off and you make it safely back to the shore.

Exhaustion takes over you once you’re back in the car. Kelley is the one at the wheel, and you fall asleep resing your head in Alex’s lap. She runs her fingers through your damp hair like she has done since you were a kid. It works like magic, and the tension vanishes from your shoulders.

This is your first World Cup, and you’re glad to have your family there.

The most intense, chaotic and wonderful month of your life has just begun. And you’re glad not to be alone.

One match down. The rest of the World Cup to go.

And you’re ready.

***

“I’m ready,” you mutter to yourself after tying your shoes. “Totally ready.”

A chuckle to your left makes you turn to face “Krash”. Her smile is confident and it helps you calm down. Even when you’re technically ready, the nerves refuse to go away.

“Take a deep breath, Morgan. We know these guys. We face them quite often, right?”

Your next match is against Mexico. Their team has improved greatly over the past few years, but Harris is right. They’re one of the teams you face the most. You know how they stand on the field, how they move, and more importantly, how to stop them.

“It’s the World Cup, and they’re gonna play their asses off, but so will we. We’re determined, disciplined, and hungry. But our biggest advantage is here.”

Harris taps your chest and you feel the way your heart beats; stronger than ever.

This team craves a chance to rise from the ashes; an opportunity to write their own story in a book filled with legends. There’s talent around you, but the passion is tangible beyond anything else. You’re not the only one with a known last name or number, and as such, everyone wants to prove they’re more than handy down.

You’re ready to leave everything on the field; except hope.

“We’ve got this,” Harris says once again.

“Aye aye, captain.”

Harris knows how to be a leader on the field, but also out of it. Sonnett’s trust pays off every time Krash keepers her head cool during a heated moment. It pays off when she keeps pushing you to do more; to do better, even when a game seems lost or won. Her mentality is to never give up because most of the time a match lasts more than ninety minutes.

Your job doesn’t end until the whistle is blown, and even then, there’s a lot of work to do.

You step into the field with a renewed sense of excitement and awe.

This is the second match of the World Cup for the USWNT; winning would put you closer to direct elimination. The next round is just around your corner, and so far, destiny is in your hands. 

But you don’t think about that when the game starts. You can’t think about the future when this moment is so big. You don’t think about “what if’s” because the world only follows what you do right then and there. So, you move and run; touch the ball with the delicacy and precision the moment requires. You treat the ball right, and spaces open in Mexico’s defense.

You’re patient when you don’t have the ball, but explode like a firework when you do.

You follow Long’s lead, and a perfect pass turns into an assist to Press.

              “The USA is on the board! Morgan with the assist and Press didn’t                        hesitate to convert. Only ten minutes into this game, and our triple                        threat proves to be a nightmare for the rival. There’s no better way to                    start this match. USA 1, Mexico 0.”

The roar of the stadium is felt more than heard. It makes you vibrate with adrenaline when you jump into Press’ open arms. She doesn’t know how to celebrate, so you  both laugh and wait for the rest of the team to join your hug.

Somehow, that’s a good enough celebration.

“You’re next,” you tell Harry once the match resumes.

The blonde shrugs although you can see the smirk on her face.

It doesn’t really matter who scores as long as the team wins, but Long deserves a goal too. She’s always grinding, but her efforts aren’t always appreciated by the rest of the world. But you see it; the way most of your goals came from her boots, and when you have an open look is because she pulled the mark. Your numbers wouldn’t look as good as they do without her, that’s for sure. And when all eyes are on the USWNT, you want to return the favor.

Fifteen minutes after Press’ goal, the match is closed up.

You don’t find spaces, but neither does Mexico. It’s a tough battle just to retain possession of the ball, but it’s mostly fair play. Their team has improved, their league has grown and that’s obvious on their National Team as well. It doesn’t look like a team willing to receive another goal, much less five like they did so often in the past.

The world stops not long after. You see it happening; someone in a green jersey taking a shot within an inch of free space. You see it soar with crazy effect, and a moment later is already on the back of the net.

               “That’s an equalizer. USA and Mexico are tied to one. They found a                     way to get through the dense, and boy, they didn’t look good on that                     one.”

There’s a general sense of frustration while Mexico celebrates, but there’s nothing you could have done better. The defense was tight as it could have been. Harris stretched as much as she could, but it was one hell of a goal; finding its home in the right corner.

However, the frustration doesn’t go away for the rest of the half, but it turns into annoyance when the public boos you all at halftime.

It’s like they don’t see Mexico playing. They don’t see what they do right, and instead focus solely on what you do wrong. It’s a fair point of view, you guess, but then again, you couldn’t have done anything better in that play. People don’t care.

Winning this game won’t matter if you don’t win the next. And whatever you do in the group stage will be in vain if you don’t win the Cup. It seems unfair, but after so many years of nothing, the entire nation has lost faith in you.

              “Is this the beginning of the end for this team?”

             “I think it is. After what we saw versus Germany, I feel like they don’t                      know what to do now. Maybe they found an accidental victory last time,               but that won’t happen again. They won’t be able to top this poor                           performance.”

            “What about the talent on this team?”

            “It’s moment to reconsider if it’s actually there of if it’s what we want to                 see. Everybody wants the dream team back, and with two members of                 the golden era leading them, it was easy to believe. But let me tell you                 right now, this isn’t the dream team even with all those kids with big                     names on their backs. The USWNT won’t make it to the next round.                    They won’t be able to win tonight, and they won’t win against Japan. It’s              over.”

          “There you have it, folks. It’s time to go back to the action to see the end               of this match.”

“Heads up, girls!” Harris shouts when you jump back to the field.

You have a new strategy; simple and crazy at the same time.

A position switch is made. Long will be a forward while you take her place as the right wing. The change should be enough to confuse Mexico’s defense; more so when the change is subtle at first. But finally, after what feels like forever, you get a single chance to change the game.

You can’t stop even when you see the hit coming from miles away; you’re surrounded by green shirts and they don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do. You don’t shy away from the contact nor give up an inch. If you did, then the team would have a free kick, but Mexico’s defense would have time to recover.

So, you wait until the last second possible; until Long is on the penalty spot with no mark, to nutmeg a Mexican player and fake an auto pass. It’s only natural for the same player to block your path, but it doesn’t matter.

The contact is hard but Long has the ball and plenty of space.

The hit sucked the air from your lungs, but you couldn’t care less. Hitting the turf is the last thing on your mind when Harry shoots.

The whistle goes off. The stadium breaks into cheers. Long did it.

You want to laugh, but air refuses to make it back into your lungs and pain hits you out of nowhere with a vengeance.

            “Unbelievable! They scored! WIth one of the most questionable                            decisions we’ve seen on this World Cup, the USA retakes the lead.”

Janice makes it to you faster than anyone. She helps to bend your legs until you’re able to gasp. It hurts like the devil, but you chuckle anyway. A muttered thanks is all you can offer before the medical team reaches you.

Everything happened so fast that no one thought you were hurt until you didn’t go celebrate with Harry. You’re not seriously injured, and you thank Heavens for that, but another moment to fully catch your breath does wonders.

The game only has seven minutes left, and Pinoe decides you can catch it on the bench.

There’s no need to risk you, and you trust your team completely.

Even when the pain subsides, it’s impossible to breathe normally until the match ends.

You’ve secured three more points, but that’s not the reason you celebrate. You join your team and hug everyone that comes your way, if the crowd cheers or not, it doesn’t matter. This victory belongs to the team, and no one can take that away from you.

“I told you, you were next!” You say holding Long by the cheeks. “And you scored!”

Before you can say, or do, anything else, someone is carrying you out of the field.

“O’Hara! Oh my God, right in front of the cameras?”

She just laughs, but you accept your fate by wrapping your arms around her neck. You’ll have your payback at some point, probably once she puts you down. Damn it, everybody is watching you.

“I hate you.”

“Yeah, yeah. Love you too, Morgan.”

You can only roll your eyes at that. Best friends, right?

[robbyrobinson]

The Time I Met the Upside-Down Face Man

For @slimyswampghost (happy birthday)

Many may find it crazy what I am going to say, but I have seen this man. Except he was a crude, cardboard cut-out of one. I don’t know why he singled me out in particular, but ever since that fateful day, I feel that he is always close to me more than I would appreciate. I was a family man with a wife and three kids, the eldest of the two being girls and one baby boy around 2 months old. They were all riding in the back of my mini-van with the wife up front. We were all heading out on a trip to see my wife’s parents. We left our house roughly at 4 in the afternoon. 

We traveled along the highway without much issue. I was driving the required speed limit, and the other vehicles around us were also heeding to the rules. I don’t remember what I have done at that moment, maybe it had to do with my wife wanting to ask me something, but whatever the case, a cement truck suddenly hit a bad place in the road and skid in the direction of our mini-van. The last I remembered was my wife screaming at me to swerve and my daughters’ panicking. I tried the best that I could to move at the last minute, but the cement truck slammed against the the driver’s side. I yelled at my family to shield themselves from the brunt force as best as they could. Before my vision became immersed in absolute darkness, I heard more vehicles attempting to hit their breaks to slow their speed. 

Around two hours later, I regained consciousness and saw that I was in a gurney. Even with the slightest movement it hurt immeasurably. I looked to my side to see an IV needle injected in my right wrist. Over me there was a dark-brown haired nurse observing me. She explained that when I lost consciousness, the paramedics arrived and tended to the wounded. She mentioned that I had sustained two broken ribs and my leg needed a few stitches. But otherwise I was okay. But when I asked her about my wife and kids, she was hesitant in her answer, but I didn’t even have to wait for a response because I saw from the corner of my eye I beheld four body bags being lifted into the back of an ambulance truck. My eyes widened in disbelief. I was stammering. No...no!! I did not want to believe it. It must’ve been a bad dream. It had to be. I was just sleeping and any minute, I’d wake up. My sights were becoming fuzzy from the hot tears seeping from my eyes. A few more ambulance trucks arrived and collected roughly around 10 more body bags the last being the driver of the cement truck.

I spent roughly a week in the hospital recovering from the accident. It was unbearable. News spread about the horrific car accidents getting heavy coverage on news stations. Of course, the photos were leaked out of the accident, but opted to censor out the more graphic photographs. I was browsing the television channels when the first photograph appeared. It was of the truck driver. Somehow, despite being horribly mangled, he was able to crawl about an inch away from his driver’s door. The metal pieces of his truck were deeply implanted in his leg with a trail of blood accompanying him. Gruesome, but something seemed...off. I didn’t recognize it at first, but it became more clear to me: there was a man standing there in front of the truck driver.

It was something that was not of this world.

He was dressed in black with a blood-red tie. He stood at a starkly tall 9 ft, 2 in. But most bizarre about his appearance was his face. By god, his face. Dark black hair was in the place where his chin should be. He had a manic glare in his eyes that looked directly at the photographer. His mouth was twisted into a wide, ludicrous smile delighted at the events around him.But his orifices were all wrong: his mouth was on top and his eyes at the bottom of his feet close to his black hair. His physique was as an emaciated skeleton with nary a bit of fatness on him. He towered over the man when the truck driver did an odd thing: he extended his hand in the direction of the mysterious man. He expired no less than a few seconds when the photo was taken.

More photos appeared with the same upside-down faced man in them and doing the same gimmick: standing close or by the dying, and the dying seem to acknowledge his presence and are asking him for assistance. But for whatever nefarious reason, he refused to grant them it his wide grin growing progressively larger and more deranged. I cupped my hands in disbelief at what I was seeing. One more picture was up. I grimaced, but I knew I had to see it. I opened my eyes and saw that same horrible man practically levitating above my wife. Her legs were broken and beyond repair but she somehow managed to crawl to the passenger’s side. My second born daughter was impaled by the shards of glass and bleeding out badly. Mercifully my other daughter and son died upon impact, but that was really as comparable to getting a bee sting than getting attacked by a shark. My daughter was quickly losing consciousness. Before going into shock, one of my nurses mentioned her saying something of the Tall Man jeering them. 

My hands formed into tight fists. Whatever this man was, he was not of this realm. I knew deep down in my heart that he was some sort of parasite whether from space or a parallel dimension it did not matter. Whoever -- pray whatever -- this creature was, he took sick satisfaction in completely desecrating my life I believe to feed on the negative emotions like some energy vampire. I spent the rest of my life sleeping with one eye open because I knew through hell and back, and snow and sleet, he was always watching. Contemplating his next move.

[chiseler]

When Nature Was Golden

Let’s open with a few passages of deathless prose from the classics.

EMORY’S SOFT-SHELLED TURTLE (18 in.; to 35 lb.) is the only Southwest member of an edible group with long necks and short tempers. Handle with care.

BELTED KINGFISHER Where there are fish there are Kingfishers, beating the air in irregular flight, diving into water with a splash and emerging with fish in their beaks.

THE EASTERN MOLE or common mole makes the mounds that dot your lawn. You are unlikely to see any moles, for they stay underground unless molested.

You saw them in the basement of your third-grade best friend, or in your school library. If you were lucky, you had one or two at home—your older sister read them first, years ago; maybe they’d even belonged to one of your parents. Paperback books just a bit smaller than pulp fiction novels, though equally thick, their illustrated pages of a glossier, higher quality. The typeface was Futura, that design marvel of yore, also seen in the old Hall of Dinosaurs in the American Museum of Natural History. Insects, Seashores, Mammals, Reptiles and Amphibians—which did you have? The Golden Guides gave us our natural world in all its glory, and managed to do it in a singular style, dry yet affectionate, concisely informative and never, ever dumbed-down. They were written for children, but each, too, is a cracking read for any adult eager to learn. Or to remember.

Naturalist Herbert S. Zim, who founded this series of guides and wrote many of them, was born in New York in 1909. Raised there and in Southern California, he finished his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D at Columbia University. He was then a science teacher for twenty-five years—at Ethical Culture schools in New York City, and later at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. One wonders where on earth he found the time to crank out so many books. Each was a loving collaboration with other educators, not solely Zim’s effort. But the synthesis of these people, the meticulous research required to bring together all the info, was his responsibility, from 1949 until the early 1970s. Zim, in 1969, was also the editor of an 18-volume set of encyclopedias named Our Wonderful World.

Of the 84 Golden Guides, Zim wrote or co-wrote 24. Is it confirmation bias that makes me believe those are the best of the bunch? The simple style is charming, with phrases like Rock Ground Squirrels, found in the Southwest, are our largest terrestrial squirrels. What grace: with a hint of pride to be from the United States, he said that the squirrels are ours. (I also appreciate that he uses the word “unique” correctly, without qualifiers. The Barn Owl is unique, not “totally” or “somewhat” unique.) The occasional anachronism amuses. Once in awhile Zim tells us which kind of turtle or ground squirrel makes a good pet, if captured.

You have been seeing birds as far back as you can remember and you will continue seeing them wherever you may be. It’s a real pleasure to see them. You can see more birds and more kinds of birds by learning how to look. This book will help you. It is not written for the expert, but for people who want to see birds just for the joy of it.

First become familiar with the mammals pictured and described. Look through the Key to Mammals on the next pages so that you can recognize the major mammal groups. Try to see the mammal well enough to decide, for example, whether it is a rodent or a shrew.

Familiarity with fishes gained by thumbing through pages at odd moments may enable you to make rough identifications at sight. Use this book as an “arm-chair” guide, but also take it into the field with you, for that is where it can be used best. On fishing trips take it along in a plastic bag.

Originally named the Golden Nature Guides, the series name was shortened to “Golden Guides” when they began branching out into other topics—for example, Guns, Sports Cars, and Casino Games. But these adult subjects did not make it into most family rooms, and the more popular guides about flora and fauna, insects, weather, stars, and the like are the ones most frequently found today. The illustrations by James Gordon Irving and others are remarkably detailed, the beauty of pure accuracy from a time when nature photography was rare.

A particularly enchanting feature of the Guides is the family tree, usually a two-page spread of swooping, color-gradated branches, each limb ending in a small picture of an animal in its biological order, labeled something like “Cutlass Fishes” or “Scorpion-Flies.” No less an artist than Matt Groening would eventually parody this format for his Life In Hell comic, describing the evolution of record-store clerks from sullen teens.

Herbert Zim, in his long career as an educator, was the one who brought lab instruction into science courses at the elementary-school level. Anyone who looked through a microscope before they reached ninth grade might have him to thank. And one attribute of Golden Guides is the way they expect one to get involved, not just in the field, but with “amateur activities” like building a birdhouse or preserving animal tracks in plaster. Through such deep engagement, the reader is encouraged not just to appreciate nature, but to discover new things about it, making new contributions to science.

He demanded no less of himself. Going through what biographical information there is on Zim, which is all very straightforward, one notices the list of scientific associations he belonged to, numbering more than twenty. They included the Audubon Society, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Everglades Natural History Association, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Truly, this was a vigorous and busy man.

Like so many cultural products of their time, the Golden Guides can look antithetical to today’s progressive values. Just ask the Yuman Indian woman who sits weaving cotton, bare-breasted, in one of the pictures in a guide to the American Southwest. In little vignettes we see depicted dozens of trappers, fishermen, tourists, birdwatchers—all white, mostly male. Under the entry for “Other Suckers,” Zim claims “some are so easily caught that every boy knows them.” If the Guides were written just for boys, this is a great shame, though their ubiquity meant that many girls of all different backgrounds would find them. The scientific language is devoid of prejudice, by its nature, and is there for any young person dedicated enough to study it. It prizes the natural world above all. One passage recently took me by surprise for its passion, on a page about the fishing industry: If you are interested in fishes, conservation—the wise use of all our natural resources—is your problem too.

Maybe it’s our current predicament that makes one particularly fond of the outside world, and of non-humans. Back in March, I started watching a live online feed from The Aquarium of the Pacific each night, comforted by the variety of fish, sharks, and rays that swam peacefully by. Curious about a small fish with long, showy gold fins, I consulted Fishes to identify it, and Irving didn’t disappoint. Meanwhile, Herbert Zim informed me that the species, named Lookdown, belong to the mackerel-like family of “jacks” and are fine eating.

In 1934, Zim married the Russian-born Sonia (Sonnie) Bleeker, who had studied anthropology at Columbia. The couple had two sons. Bleeker, too, worked in the book world—as an editor at Simon and Schuster, then as a full-time children’s book author. They eventually moved to Florida. Just like the descriptions in the guides, these biographical facts fall well short of being dull. They force me to imagine how energetic, how full life must have been in the Zim household as the kids grew up; and how many subtropical species kept Herbert company in his later years. After Bleeker’s death, he married Grace K. Showe in 1978. He died at Plantation Key in 1994, of complications from Alzheimer’s.

LIVE OAK has become a symbol of the South. The low, spreading tree, often covered with Spanish moss, marks old plantations and roadside plantings. The elliptical, blunt-tipped, leathery leaves are evergreen—that is, they remain green and on the tree throughout the year. The acorns are small but edible; wood is used for furniture. Two other southeastern Oaks (Laurel and Willow) have leaves of somewhat similar shape, but they are thinner and more pointed than Live Oak. Several western Oaks are evergreen. Botanists apply the unqualified name Live Oak only to this species. Height 40 to 60 ft. Beech family

In a Manhattan backyard in the middle of June, a couple of mourning doves fly between the trees. I’m aware that the gentle woop-woop-woop sound they make is not their voices but their wingbeats. The dogwood’s cream-yellow blooms have begun to fade, as is proper at this time. Above me a juvenile blue jay, still fluffy, shrieks out his typical noisy cry. I’m intrigued to see a red speck moving among the hairs on my arm—it’s a clover mite, an insect I haven’t noticed in decades. As recently as 1982, I was a four-year-old marveling at the rolling movement of clover mites on a windowsill—smaller than pin heads, bright candy-apple red. Somewhere along the line they stopped showing up, at least with the frequency they did back then. Now, seeing even one evinces a swell of emotion. (Incidentally, the same is true of another brightly-colored beauty, the red eft, which used to be so numerous in summer that we had to tiptoe on New York State gravel roads to avoid stepping on them.)

We learn more from Zim’s texts than he bargained for. His Golden Guides speak of a midcentury United States where all these animals and plants were still commonly seen. Just based upon my memories from the past 20 or 30 years, there seem to be fewer animals everywhere; in the 1950s, then, was the Earth just teeming with them, in every corner of every suburban lawn? Having learned that the biomass of insects, in particular, has started to fall fast, I yearn for the spectacle of clover mites and hastily do a search for them. Yes, the internet reassures me: we in New York City still have lots of the red bugs, enough to warrant a FAQ page from a pest-control company. They’re harmless to humans, pets, houses, and furniture. They munch grass and reproduce parthenogenically, which means every individual can lay viable eggs, without mating.

Of course, the sites telling me this haven’t worded their data quite as eloquently as Herbert Zim would have. Still, I thank him for the spark of curiosity that got me there at all. He taught me not just how to identify a clover mite, but how to care about her.

by Amanda Nazario

[prism-sakura-s]

Animal Skins AU

Finally have the courage to make my own au and release it into the world so here it is: an animal brides au inspired by overly sarcastic production’s latest video and cosmo sheldrake’s “the moss”

(Warning: murder/hunting mention, death mention, gun mention, lmk if there’s anymore)

Setting: a mythical world similar to ours, but quite different because I didn’t want to worry about where specific animals lived. so basically the only differences is where all the animals live

Characters

Logan Tala

species: human

sexuality: aromantic asexual

gender: male

raised in an orphanage run by nuns

graduate of The Saint Teresa College, also run by the nuns he grew up with

having been brought up in a catholic school with a mostly conservative staff, it wasn’t until he met Sister Tanya, a closeted lesbian asexual nun, that he started to accept his sexuality.

loves nature and space, but is strangely indifferent to robots, stating that “The truly compelling kind of science, is the kind that was not created by mankind, and therefore can never truly be understood.”

he’s poetic like that

while very intelligent and appreciative of the goals and services the educational system provides, he also (rather surreptitiously) absolutely hates it due to its outdated method of shoving information down students’ throats without giving any real thought or care to keep the pupils interested. not to mention the fact that homework and projects can keep a student up late at various hours, thus throwing off their circadian system and not letting them get the required time for sleep

is the kind to scroll wikipedia for hours

Patton Uycoco

species: human

sexuality: bisexual

gender: demiboy

went to the same school as Logan, and is his closest friend

also struggled with their sexuality as well as their gender, not really experiencing dysphoria but feeling like something was off

was introduced to Sr. Tanya by Logan, who helped them come to terms with their orientations

loved animals, but mostly just mammals, birds, and cute fishes. anything creepy-looking or said to be dangerous (snakes, spiders, nautilus, sharks, octopuses are a bit in-between, etc.) were squicks for them

cartoon and musical lover!

loved Dodie (yes she exists in this au because I can and also she’s basically a goddess and deserves to be in every universe) as well as some other mainstream artists (still loves 1D, cried when they broke up)

Roman Sanders

species: therianthropic (deer)

sexuality: gay af

gender: male

brother of Remus Sanders

ADHD

half therianthropic, half human. his mother was therianthropic, a deer capable of turning into a human. she fell in love with roman’s father and married him, giving birth to Roman and Remus shortly after. however, only Roman inherited her (technically) shape-shifting powers

his mother was killed by a hunter when he was 15

was homeschooled by both his parents along with his brother, but after his mother died was educated by his father only

not incredibly fond that his “spectacular skill” consists of turning into a deer. often wishes he could be something more “brave and dangerous”, like a lion or bear. has even occasionally said he’d settle on a horse, because “at least those beautiful creatures can knock a b*tch out”

not that he disrespects his mother, of course

Roman really misses her

loves his brother, but is also incredibly creeped out by him so he never admits it

loud

loves (hyperfixates on) musicals, the occasional video game, cartoons, mythology, greek and latin history and architecture, and literature

met Logan at a history convention, swapped numbers and eventually became close friends. was introduced to Patton shortly after and bonded over their shared love of cartoons and musicals

Virgil Noctis

species: therianthropic (leopard cat)

sexuality: panromantic, asexual

gender: genderfluid

hard of hearing due to a gunshot they heard when they were very young

ran away in a panic and ended up at a small cottage owned by a sweet farmer lesbian couple

was adopted by the lesbians and grew up under their care

attended Greenfield for grade school and high school, but never attended college as they didn’t have enough money to afford it

very very anxious, especially about their disability

(they can’t hear people, though they can read lips well, what if they react wrong? they can’t even hunt properly, what if they get eaten in the wild?)

they can, in fact, communicate and hunt well :)

often uses their phone to communicate with others

was very nervous when they came out to their moms about being genderfluid, and while their parents were confused at first, they eventually learned to understand and accept their child’s gender orientation

needs to have headphones or loud speakers in order to listen to music

likes emo music (mcr, tøp, p!atd etc. because those exist here too yay) as well as dodie, tessa violet, orla gartland and lauren aquilina

(plus billie eilish of course)

very interested in conspiracies

met Roman while hanging out in the woods

(they saw him turn into a human and freaked out before remembering that it was a thing some people did sometimes and oh yeah they are one of those people)

Remus Sanders

species: human

sexuality: aro-spec, a-spec (questioning)

gender: trans male

twin brother of Roman Sanders

actually a bit jealous of Roman for getting all the cool powers, but still loves him nonetheless

also loves annoying his baby brother to death

(yes, baby brother, albeit by an hour)

also misses his mother a lot, though he’ll admit he was closer to his father

dysphoric, always tries his best to feel like a guy though he hates polo shirts or... anything with a folded collar

loves creepy/scary animals, movies, games etc.

watches conspiracy videos on the daily like Virgil, but likes to focus more on paranormal activities

speaking of Virgil, when they first met he did creep them out a bit, but discovered they both watched conspiracy videos and bonded from there

met the others through Roman

Dante

species: therianthropic (timber rattlesnake)

sexuality: queer

gender: agender

human contact whats that

yeah so basically they only learned how to speak from the passing hunters and hikers in the forest as well as the other therianthropic animals

sometimes they would obtain and collect books (doesn’t matter where from and how, not important) and eventually taught themselves how to read

kinda sick of being the kind of animal that humans screamed at and ran away from upon seeing them

and if it wasn’t that, it would normally involve being captured

he always escapes of course

the first time they were handled by a human without malicious intent was by a 16-year old Remus, who tripped over them while on a leisurely stroll to find some tarantulas

Remus brought them home and housed them kindly

he was the first person Dante revealed his human self to

long story short Dante moved in with the Sanders family and perfected their English during their stay there

also Roman screamed like a little girl upon seeing Dante for the first time

he denies it’s ever happened

Remy Diaz-Picani

species: human

sexuality: gay

gender: deminonbinary

a nature photographer

married to Emile

Emile Diaz-Picani

species: human

sexuality: gay, aceflux

gender: male

a zoologist, works in tandem with Remy

married to Remy

Anyways, that’s all I got for now, I might add some stuff later on. Also if I made any mistakes regarding Virgil’s disability or the like, please let me know, this would be my first attempt at writing disabilities in a (hopefully) pretty big project like this.

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: DokiDoki May 19

I was kind of disappointed in how my review for the TokyoTreat went yesterday, I mean, even though it annoyed me through various means I wouldn’t not recommend the box still.

Meanwhile, I was very excited for this one. I’ve realized that after doing two really big box reviews, I come to really appreciate the much smaller ones, DokiDoki and YumeTwins. In turn I feel like that makes me do a little better... maybe.

This months theme: Sweet Dreams

“Drift off into dreamland with May’s crate. This month’s theme, Sweet Dreams is all about getting you ready to settle down and get cozy for a good night’s rest. Oyasuminisai is the common saying in Japan to wish someone a good night, so this month Doki Doki Crate is wishing you sweet dreams and a good night!“

This month, the booklet features a fun illustration featuring Tomomi with the girl mascots of Japan Crate and KiraKira Crate having a slumber party. I love how they have cute crossovers between their brands like this x3 it’s a fun touch- did you know Tomomi’s boyfriend is the mascot from Umai Crate?

I also like how even though they quit making the comics, they’re still making original art now and then.

Suteki Crate

This month the Suteki Crate (special crate all subscribers have a chance to win, in case you’re new here) focused on the theme and stuck to the characters featured in this box. It makes me want to nap just looking at everything~

(and I just woke up like an hour ago...)

But I will point out that they have offered a Kirby Otamatone before. Probably a year back or so, I remember seeing it. Also, the adorable Sleepy My Melody plush goes great with the photo contest prize, a sleepy Kuromi plush~

My Melody Mesh Case

Our first item would come in handy when staying out of the house for the day, it’s a mesh pack/bag/case, which can hold many toiletries; hair brushes and accessories, toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, soap, etc. It features an adorable pale pink zipper to match the adorable patterned band around the bottom, which is covered in My Melody with some small forest friends doing various activities (and lots of adorable English phrases).

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

You know, I wasn’t ever into mesh containers like this, I always thought they looked kind of gaudy and they just didn’t appeal to me; but now that I’m older and I’m actually looking at one, it isn’t that bad. This would have come in handy when I was younger, I used to visit my grandma and spend the night/weekend a lot and my suitcase was always a pain dealing with. This could have lightened the load a little, or at least organized it better.

Also, it’s pretty big, I was able to fit in a lot of items and it didn’t feel too heavy or bad carrying. I did notice something though, the inside of the bottom section is sort of... thin cloth-ish, that kind of has me concerned that it might not be a good idea to get it wet, compared to the outside, which feels like it could handle that. Oh, I also noticed two holes in the mesh from the tag being cut, but I feel like it doesn’t really hinder anything.

San-X Towel

Also for bathroom/washing preparedness prior to bed or in the morning, we have a cute mini-towel featuring Sumikko Gurashi or Rilakkuma. As you can see, the Sumikko Gurashi group are out enjoying what looks like an autumn excursion :3 perfect timing considering it’s going on that season now. 

And yes, it’s on one of my cats. He wouldn’t leave me alone while I was trying to get pictures, so I tried making him comfortable enough to go back to sleep.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Well, besides being cute, I’m always impressed when we get towels like this because I don’t usually seen any around here. We have slightly bigger hand towels/rags, but nothing like this. It feels soft and nice, so I feel like this would be ideal for washing your face, drying off the hair, wrapping around the shoulders, using as a hand towel; it’s also the perfect size for wrapping up adorable pets~

(also, I noticed that when held up to the light you can see noticeable tag holes again. Not a huge deal though.)

Pajya Shark Plushie

Of course when you go to bed, you need a cuddly companion by your side to ensure sweet dreams or to help chase away the bad nightmares~

This month, we have an adorably colorful, pastel shark. The name Pajya is inspired by the fact that this was made with common Japanese Sleepwear in mind, which is usually in various soft tones and made from fluffy, soft material. 

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I love fluffy-soft things~ and I also happen to have a fondness for sharks; it’s a weird combination when you think about it, but I love it! He is very soft and sweet looking, and he isn’t threatening or have any teeth, so he’s a good buddy for all types and ages x3 I admit, the sewing could be a little better, but it’s not bad.

(This box has made me super-sleepy~  As of now I’ve only been up an hour and a half >3< But it’s probably because I stayed up until 4am, and I’ve been hungry and didn’t eat yet...)

Kirby Eye Mask

As we prepare for bed, our next item is an adorable eye mask :D featuring Kirby or Waddle Dee. I have a few eye masks and I enjoy using them sometimes (they especially come in handy if you have a headache or just need to relax, unless they squeeze your head too much...) but I don’t use them too frequently.

The mask has a sleek feel and is thin and made from shiny material. It has a really stretchy light pink strap, and the inner-side is cloth, featuring a dark blue star pattern. It also has a small black nose flap...? I’m not entirely sure how that works or what its for, none of my others have one, but I assume it’s just for a little additional comfort or to help support the mask.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It’s very cute, and I love the concept of bringing in Kirby for this sort of theme. In preparation for the review I was very excited to use this, and it feels very comfortable. Sometimes when I use eye masks I end up pulling them off after a while because they’re kind of uncomfortable or start squeezing, and I admit that this one felt like that after a while- but at the same time it wasn’t nearly to the same extent and didn’t bother me as much. The thin material makes it feel sort of breathable as well, which is nice when my poor nose is stuffed up and I can hardly breath as it is.

I can’t help but relax when I wear an eye mask, so I can’t imagine a more suitable item for this theme~

Kirby Night Light

Our last item is an adorable partner to the Kirby eye mask; a light! Again, this is another great and perfect bed item, especially if you’re someone you might feel a anxious in the dark or need a back-up light. It would also just be cute for a little desk light or something.

This requires 3 AA batteries (not included) and it is available in 2 styles; this parasol blue one I got, and a pink one covered in black and white old style manga or pop art Kirby. We all know how much I love pink, but I also really like the rain, and have a lot of fun playing with the parasol ability/item in Kirby games, so I think I’m actually really happy I got this one.

And of course I wouldn’t leave you guys hanging. I did get it working:

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The light is warm yellow (you know, the lights that seem kind of dim when you compare them to white lights? and yes I know it looks white in the pic, I had to brighten the image to make it see-able clearly) but still very bright; it ended up surprising me. I found it to be really soothing~

I also like the practicality behind this, if you didn’t want to use it as a night light you could use it as a backup flashlight (cause if you’re like us you have a bunch and they either die and you don’t replace batteries, or you lose them), or just to help create a mood- like telling spooky stories during a slumber party. 

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 5 out of 5. I have no complaints, I love these items :3 They’re very sweet and cute, and seeing them (and doing this review) makes me want to lay down to snuggle up with some of them~

Theme: 5 out of 5. I’m really happy to finally have a theme like this, I wish we’d get more bedtime items or themes. I feel like this is also suitable for all times of the year, and everything definitely went together to create a near-seamless box. I say near because some could argue well the bathroom items don’t count: but many people have a routine prior to bed, and some enjoy taking bathes before bed, so in a way yeah, they do count. Suteki Crate and the prize were also spot-on.  

Total Rank: 10 out of 10 Cuties. I know to some people they might argue that a bedtime theme isn’t very exciting but everyone could use a little unwinding, especially at bed. I wasn’t feeling tired when I began writing this but I’m probably going to go back to bed when I finish. I didn’t have anything going on today and I fully plan to take advantage of that. As much as I liked our prior box, I love this one even more! Keep it up Doki Doki~

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

1. Kirby Nightlight - I love how it resembles an actual lamp x3 and I adore the pattern/print on both of the options. The glow made me feel relaxed- the only way it could be better would be if it had an actual rain effect or color change feature like my oil mister~

2. Pajya Shark - It’s colorful and sweet, it’s perfect for bed or just in a sugary sweet pastel setting. Very soft and cuddly. 

3. Kirby Eye Mask - I kind of find face-themed eye masks to be kind of corny, but when it comes to Kirby it’s very cute! It felt really nice against the skin and I can’t wait to use it again (probably after this review).

4. Towel - It’s very cute, I can’t say the color scheme does all that much for me but I love how it’s fall/autumn themed and goes with the upcoming season. The cats really like it too.

5. My Melody Mesh Case - I think it’s sweet and soft on the eyes, but I know I won’t get much use out of it. I could use it now to do some organization of my items in the bathroom (or some others, which I’ll probably do) though, so it’s really practical.

[kazlifeadventures]

Trinidad & Tobago - Carribean dreams...

I am so ‘vex’ that I won't be ‘liming’ in this beautiful place any more. I have been one lucky person to have been able to come here and hang with a local for almost a week. Jasmine has shown me her Trinidad and for that I am truly grateful. I have eaten so many local foods and they have all been fantastic. I have impressed the locals no end with my love of pepper sauce. The food here is tasty, spicy, and pretty much specific to this island. ‘Nah boy’, I am so very much enamoured with this country! One of my friends asked me if I had posted photos of the food. Truth be told, I don’t have a lot of pics, its not the most photogenic, and I seriously just wanted to eat it! I have partaken in the local speciality of doubles, with ‘plenty’ I might add - for those unaware that is with extra hot sauce and/or the mango bone that is infused with more pepper. Doubles is made with 2 baras filled with a curry channa (chick peas), it originally started as a breakfast food, progressing to be an anytime of the day food. It’s nutritious, tasty, and sold at street side vendors everywhere. Apparently even pizza and KFC taste better over here. This I can now say I agree with. Not sure if the food tastes better, or if its adding the ketchup, mustard, and pepper sauce that assists with the taste upgrade.....

Jas took me to the home of street food a little town called St James, and made sure I got to have saheena, (seriously amazing spicy little deep fried spinachy deliciousness ) as well as alloo pie...amongst other things. The locals only really eat out at restaurants on special occasions so that meant Jas cooked for me a lot of the time, and wow, just wow. I loved the chicken curry (brown), smoked herring, baigan choka, salt fish, home made roti, the fabulous goat curry.... I could rave on, but google Trinidadian food and you’ll understand. Jas lives out in the ‘country’ to the South of Port of Spain, the capital. We spent one evening heading around to some of the local rum bars. Rum bars are everywhere here. Beer is cold and cheap (and made here - love the Stag and the Carib!). I got to meet a few of the locals. Over here they will buy you a drink even for something as simple as the fact that they had to order over you slightly. At the bar. They loved to meet the ‘white girl from Austalia’, as out here they dont see a lot like me... The good thing is none of it was them just trying it on with the foreigner. These are genuinely lovely, polite, caring people. I had a dance off with some girls from Venezuela, and ended up drinking way more drinks then I paid for, eating (they sell bar snacks and’cutters’ only at the rum shops) some tasty wontons at one place, and some really tasty fried chicken at another. We then got some free food from another lovely local who bought us a drink, and also then brought us across some Souse and Corn soup from his food stall (across the road from the rum shop). Anyway I can now say I have tried Souse, not sure I’d eat it again, it was flavourful, but pigs trotters in broth with onion and cucumber is not on my list of things to eat again! I think I have decided that I need to come back to Aus and start my own Trini food store, I think it’d be a huge hit. Love the local beers. Love the rum here. Jas made sure I tasted the Puncheon rum - 75 % and you never get a hangover or upset stomach... I wanted to bring some home, but alas no room in the suitcase! One of the biggest things, I was not aware that this is the home where Angostura bitters is bottled. It was first created in the town called Angostura in Venezuela by a German surgeon stationed in Venezuela, originally produced there between 1824 - 1830. In 1875, the plant was moved to Trinidad and that’s where it’s secret recipe is still produced today.

One of the main religions here is Hindu, they have a giant (85 feet - 26m) statue of Lord Hanuman Murti located in the grounds of Dattatreya Yoga. The statue is the second tallest in the world, and the tallest one in the western hemisphere. When we pulled up onsite there was one man looking after the bookstore who allowed us to enter the grounds and take photos. We weren't allowed to enter the temple/yoga centre as we weren't appropriately dressed. The gentleman then showed us the book explaining how the statue had been built and answered all my gazillion questions. It was like having our own private tour! Jas then took me down the road a little further to show me the temple in the sea. This temple was originally constructed by hand 1947 -52 by Sewdass Sadhu an immigrant from India. It has since been added to, and tidied up, but it's an amazing place, and a site of pilgrimage for Hindus. It's also one of the designated locations for Hindus to perform the funeral pyre. Hindu religion requires that the dead are burned near water and a holy place.

Brian Lara is still HUGE here. He is a home town Trini boy so I completely understand. Cricket is massive, and the new Brian Lara stadium is a huge landmark. They had a cricket game on when I was here (Trinidad vs Jamaica) but they had sold out the tickets otherwise we would have gone.

I spent a day at the beautiful Maracas beach, located on the northern part of Trini. On the way there we stopped at the lookout and had a quick look at the food stalls. I got to try some ‘Chow’, a garlicky spicy way of preserving such things as Pineapple, apple, mango, cucumber... its yummy and not too spicy and I really appreciated the stall holder giving me a taste ( and Jas’s friend Isabelle for buying some of the pineapple one). Maracas beach is a favourite with the locals and its a thing to do to have a ‘bake and shark’ when you go to the beach. Betcha cant guess what I had... Can I say amazing (again!!) You not only get your bake (which is a deep fried Roti) You get beautiful fresh deep fried shark fillet inside it, then you go to a buffet like area and add as many of the additions as you want . Yep, of course I added a bit of EVERYTHING . I had to taste it all. Seriously that thing was amazing. BTW I do taste everything first before adding pepper sauce... pepper sauce heightens the flavours. Jas’s friend Isabelle got her son in law to give us a shout out on the radio station he worked at ( they had it playing at the beach), so ‘Karen from Australia’ is now Trini Famous... love it!!

Jasmine took me out to the Pitch lake, in La Brea, and I’ll admit, I had no idea what it was ( I thought it was a lake!!) Anyway, some how we ended up with a colourful local as our personal guide, he was You tube famous and has apparently featured on David Attenboroughs visit to the lake. I have to sit and edit my ‘documentary’ when I’m back in Australia, it’ll be awesome.. I promise. Suffice to say the lake is the most amazing tar pit. Seriously amazing tar pit. The roads leading into the area are all like travelling over mini crazy hills due to the impact of the tar movements in the area. You have to use an authorised guide on the site, which is fair enough as a wrong step could see you disappear forever into the tar... literally... Trinidads pitch lake is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world (estimated to hold about 10 million tonnes) Its covers about 100 acres and is about 250 feet deep. There is a cool legend involving the origin of the lake the involves a hummingbird (I like the story), Historically Walter Raleigh re-discovered the lake on his expedition there in 1595. It has that charming rotten egg smell, and the mud and sulphur water apparently have healing properties. Locals were there immersing themselves in some of the pools while we were there. As we didnt have swim suits we had to settle with getting coated in the mud on our legs, and for me, also my face...lol!!! I didnt get a chance to put it on myself, out guide was very keen to smear it all over my face... (and shirt and hair.. etc...). Rinsing it, after it had set, was a whole other process involving splashing what looked Iike green water all over my face (and legs), all I wanted to do was rinse my face with some fresh water afterwards - and it took over an hour or so until I finally got somewhere to do it. Let’s not talk about how much scrubbing it required later that night to get the last bits of our skin! A great fun day though, made all the better for our colourful guide! I have had a crash course in some of the Trinidadian slang/words and between that and their accents I am sometimes lost in a conversation... (definitely accents particularly when you are trying to enter the country and the border control guy is talking to you and you have to continually say, sorry what??? ) I’m a lot better now!!

Jas couldn’t make it over to Tobago as she had work scheduled at her house that she needed to be around for. So I decided to head over for a night, hire a car, and see what I could see. Its literally a 20 min flight over (only costs about 50 US return) FYI 24 hrs isn’t really enough to see everything. I didnt get to the water fall or national park. I had headed down to Store bay beach when I first arrived with instructions to try the curry crab, conch and dumplings in Tobago (its their local specialty, amongst a few other things). Have to say I liked the conch, crab was over cooked and dry, and dumplings were kind of chewy. The ‘provisions’ that I got with it were really nice though - Plantain, Potato, green banana, avocado ..I would have liked to have tried another outlet to give a second opinion, but didnt have the time. I did get to the beautiful Pigeon Park, a natural reserve area, filled with some shops, water sports hire, beautiful beaches and glorious spot to watch the sunset. I also got out to the Fort of King George in Scarborough hiking up the giant hill to take in the glorious views. Hilariously there was a traffic hold up on my way there due to some goats being herded along the road. Island time boy. I would have to say, as much as its a part of the one country, Tobago island is completely different to Trinidad. Its a lot more touristy for a start, it has more servicible beaches. The roads are not as pot holed as Trinidad. The people are still lovely, but you get the tourist scouters who are looking to sell you on anything they can. Its a beautiful place and I’m so glad I got to go across and visit. As always, I can always go back!

My time in the Caribbean has come to a close. (9-16 Oct). What an adventure. I have had a fabulous time, and recommend to anyone to come here and see this place, taste the food and meet the people for themselves. The country has their own issues with government corruption which impacts the improvement of infrastructure like roads etc. And there are warnings around safety as there are elements involved in crime that impact locals and tourists alike. This just makes Trinidad Tobago, not unlike a lot of other countries that I have visited on my adventures. It just means the more prepared you are to be open to new things, different ways of doing things, different cultures. The more you are aware of your own safety, and that of your belongings , the more you can avoid crime. Crime can impact you anywhere in the world, countries like this dont have it any more or less than others, it just seems to be in the media more....

[diamond-song42]

Card Shark 24: Weather Mare, Shocking!

Hey, look what I found! It's another new Card Shark to celebrate Derpy Appreciation Day today! I picked this card specifically to continue my cycle through each card expansion - and boy, does it look like something that could come from Absolute Discord. Time to look at "Weather Mare, Shocking!"

(Side note: I don't plan on this being a one-time thing! I plan on publishing special Sharks for each special pony-themed day, so you can look out for those throughout the year! Now onto the critique!)

The first thing I want to note here is that we are looking at a bonafide Rare entry-level Friend. That's a positive right from the get-go. She also has Swift, meaning that you can pay 1 AT to play her and keep one to move her later. Then it gets a little more random: When she is moved, she either gains a +1 power counter or she is frightened. That is a really hefty chance. Your 1 power, 1 AT Friend can go up to 2 power or she’s just frightened. This could be a good option as a last resort if you just can't find other decent Blue entry cards for some reason. I can also see this being used in old-fashioned Pinkie Pie Random decks since it does have 1 printed power. I’m not sure if an anti-frightening card like Maud Pie, Not Amused or Appleoosa would affect this since it is a random choice, but if it does, you’d be golden to keep this in play (should she have enough power, and there are ways to distribute that onto her that I won’t go over because this rule is a bit fuzzy to me). Not to mention she could surprise your opponent. “Oh, I see you’re getting ready to play a 1 cost entry-level Friend HEY WAIT A MINUTE YOU HAVE THAT THING?!” Despite the fact that this card is Blue, she sure does have a lot of Pink qualities!

Though we are giving our love to Weather Mare today, I feel obligated to highlight the downsides of this card. She’s 1 power, 1 cost. Though her ability has a niche, it really doesn’t do anything beyond that. In the end, she’s just a 1 power, 1 cost Friend. Chances are you won’t want to play this card later in the game. You’ll have most of the color requirement to play higher-req cards and more AT to spend. Think of it like this: If you had the chance to play this card or a different, more expensive, rare, Blue Friend like Wild Fire, Speed Racer or Prince Rutherford, Quick to Judge, which one would you pick? Sure, you could play Weather Mare, but I’m gonna guess your chances of hitting hard are higher with something like Wild Fire or Prince Rutherford. I wish this card had something like a Chaotic ability that would make it a worthy flip during a Faceoff. There are several low-cost, 1 power Friends from Absolute Discord that have Chaotic abilities that would make me consider using them in a deck (look at Rarity, Sudden Inspiration). Unless you have really weird cards that could do really weird things to your opponent, I would advise against using this card.

Now here are some cards that might bake a good (but weird) muffin concoction with this card:

*Pinkie Pie, Pokey Pony. Continuing on with the Random theme, this specific Pinkie Mane can not only activate Random, but can retire Weather Mare’s low power to dismiss an opposing Friend. I remember when I first started playing the game that this Mane was pretty popular - I HATED going up against Random because it was so good. And from what I can gather rule-wise, Pinkie’s effect can also be activated if Weather Mare is frightened!

*Sea Poppy, Guessing Game. I never thought I’d actually be recommending this crazy card: Let’s say you’re moving Weather Mare and don’t have any of the frightening precautions in play. If you guess what the random choice will be correctly (that is, guess whether Weather Mare will be frightened or bulked up), then Sea Poppy can get you an extra point. There aren’t many widely-circulated cards that provide the option of a random choice like this (because, you know, random choice and all), so Sea Poppy has been shoved to the side. Will she make a reemergence with the help of Weather Mare? Probably not, but a girl can dream!

*Changeling Drone, Fear Eater. If you want to use Weather Mare’s ability to frighten herself to your advantage, Changeling Drone can do something funky with that. Drone has +2 for each frightened Friend in play - it isn’t limited to your opponent’s frightened Friends. Oddly enough, Weather Mare can actually mesh well with other frightening cards! Who knew?

Thanks for reading this special edition of Card Shark! Go eat a muffin! Gonna cover Equestrian Odysseys this Tuesday! Diamond out!

[margridarnauds]

6, 12, 23, and 45 please!

Thank you!

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

So, I have no idea what we’re talking about as far as levels of involvement, but here are the ones I read fanfic RELIGIOUSLY for back in the day. So, behold my shame. 

Cats (oh, my sweet, innocent 12 year old self) - Mistoffelees/Victoria. 

Phantom of the Opera - Raoul/Christine/Erik, tbh. I started off E/C, then shifted to R/C when I realized E was a trashfire, then went to R/C/E when I realized that I loved garbage after all. 

Van Helsing - Anna/Dracula. Which is impressive given I’ve never. Actually. Watched it. Sue me. 

Carmilla - Carmilla/Laura.

The Pirate Queen - Graínne/Donal, one of the first fics I ever wrote. (And then never published.) Yes, he is a garbage fire in the musical, but in my very specific rewrite of it, he wasn’t. Though these days, I kind of lean towards Tiernan/Donal or Tiernan/Gráinne/Donal. Garbage pirate OT3 is garbage. 

Dracula - The Countess (from Makt Myrkanna)/Lucy Westenra. The first explicit femslash I ever wrote, and it might very well never see the light of day because I do not forever want to be known as The One With The Blood And The Lesbians. Though, who knows? It might cleanse me of Printing Press. 

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Yes. Really.): Twilight/Princess Luna. I keep telling myself that my AO3 profile’s eventually going to be nothing but period dramas, my (1) Terra Nova fic, and…a My Little Pony fic, along with various Barbie Movie fics. For old time’s sake. 

Terra Nova - Wash/Mira, due to @janetcarter‘s influence. 

The Flash - Barrison. Specifically, Eobard/Barry. In many ways, it was my prep for 1789 with the whole “I murdered your parent” thing.  

The Avengers - Loki/Tony Stark.  

Les Miserables - Valjean/Javert 

The Golden Compass - Mrs. Coulter/Lord Asriel 

Arthuriana - Galahad/Mordred

Star Wars - Reylo or Finnlo. I don’t particularly have a preference, just let Kylo screw one of his various archnemeses straight to the side of the Light.

Star Wars: Rebels - Kallus/Zeb. Oh. Another enemies to lovers ship. Who would have guessed? 

1789 - Peyrol/Ronan (Was there any doubt? If there was, I need to write more.) 

Revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre - Madame Roland/Marie-Anne. In progress, but A Ship for me. Mainly because I’m a contrarian little shit who writes things when people tell me I can’t and then gets attached to the result.

Brennus, Enemy of Rome - Ahmet/Nissia. Which…I still need to. Write. My fanfic for that one. So that fanfic for it exists.  

Lord of the Rings - Boromir/Aragorn

Friedrich: Mythos und Tragödie - Countess Orzelska/Wilhelmine and Fritz/Katte. Pretty much equally, though Orzelskine (?) Wilhelska (?) is starting to edge out Fratte. 

La Legende du Roi Arthur - Leia/Guinevere in the French and Morgane/Guin in the Takarazuka. 

Irish Mythology - Bres/Sreng. I will defend this one to the death and I will do it with citations and footnotes. 

Scarecrow of Romney Marsh - General Pugh/Dr Syn. Yet another one I. Need to write the fic for. 

Star Trek: …….. 

………You know, my favorite thing about Star Trek is that, regardless of shipping preferences, we can all find something to enjoy. Kor/Kirk. While I can’t speak for DS9 Quark/Brunt, my current favorite from Discovery has to be Michael/Tilly, which might very well be the single most wholesome thing I’ve shipped in a very long time. 

Ace Attorney: Phoenix/Edgeworth. 

12. Who is your current OT3?

Chauvelin/Percy/Marguerite from The Scarlet Pimpernel. I do not accept constructive criticism on this one. Because Percy/Marguerite are sickeningly sweet on their own, Marguerite/Chauvelin has That Sexual Tension in Where’s the Girl and The Riddle, and Percy/Chauvelin fulfill all my requirements as far as enemies to lovers ships are concerned.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

I’ve talked a lot about Forgiveness being one of the very few things I’ve written that I’ve ever liked and the ONE thing that I feel…gets my idea of how L/R WORK together and probably shows off my style best, along with Fowl Play (WHICH HAS FANART NOW. WHICH I’M STILL NOT OVER BECAUSE MY BABY HAS FANART.) So, instead, I’m going to shift to Pour la Peine, which…is my messy, messy child in many regards, not the least because it’s so much longer + still isn’t finished. 

(Warning for various and assorted personal, squishy feelings, as well as cancer mentions)

When I first got the prompt from @fallenidol-453, it was January of 2018. Two months before, I’d received the news that my uncle had Stage Four Esophageal Cancer and my mother had moved from our house to his house to care for him, leaving me without her help for the first time in my life, which I deliberately kept as low-key about on here as I could be, given that, to be honest, dealing with the endless “I’m so sorry to hear that”s gets very exhausting after awhile and I was a college student with a schedule to keep. And he and I had a very…contentious relationship, despite the two of us being alike in many ways. Possibly because we were alike in many ways. And, by May of that year, he was dead. And I would learn shortly afterwards that my paternal grandfather had died in January, but no one on my father’s side had bothered to tell me. I spent a lot of time trying to deal with the stress of that time, juggling that with my schoolwork and my fanfic, which I tried to work on from the time I received the prompt onwards. (Tbh, I’d had the opening scene in my mind for awhile before, but I hadn’t had a larger plot + ending until the prompt.)

At first, I thought that I would publish it like I’d later publish Forgiveness, in one straight chapter, but as time went on and on and there became less and less of a shot of having it done any time soon, I ended up just publishing the first chapter and deciding to update it from there. And that chapter got a lot of ribbing from friends. “Her brother is dead” really came off as a very melodramatic first line, but I also decided, very early on, that I didn’t care about what the objective quality of it was; all I cared about was creating a snapshot of a time in my life, just like when I go through the stuff that I made when I was twelve and I laugh about the various and assorted OCs and questionable phrases but love them all the same because they’re my twelve year old self’s. And, where I was at that point in my life, writing Solène mourning a family member who she had a difficult relationship with while I mourned a family member who I had a difficult relationship with, it was the only line that felt right to me.  

There’s a lot of things with this one that I’m still not sure about. There’s a plot twist that I’ve tried to be quiet about for all this time (that I’ve probably been really terrible about keeping, tbh) and that is either going to be the Jumping the Shark moment or the defining moment of it, and I’m obviously not sure how that’s going to be received though I want to believe I’ve foreshadowed it enough to not make it too much of a swerve, I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, there’s a lot there that’s murky and probably more reflective of my writing a year ago than not, and I’m not sure about how I’ve handled the character dynamics given what we’ve got in canon or the dynamic I’ve put them into, or whether the choices they’ll make reflect THEM or what I WANTED them to do. Hell, with a few things, I’m not sure how I’m even going to GET to the ending. 

But, I’m really proud of how much I’ve had the chance to work with Solène and Olympe, I’m really happy with a lot of the work I put into sequences like the two chapters long March to Versailles, which involved looking into a LOT of personal accounts as well as secondary sources analyzing it, and I liked trying to flesh out Solène’s world. But, more importantly, of everything I’ve written, it and Le Cri are probably the most directly personal to me, and even though a part of me still says Her brother is dead is a hell of a melodramatic opening line, it fulfilled its purpose. And, tbh, sometimes that’s all a fic needs. 

45. What is your all time favourite fanfic? 

This is so hard for me, because there are so many fics that have left a huge impression on me throughout the various fandoms I’ve been in. In 1789 alone, I was thinking of at least two different fics at a given point, which is both fantastic and minorly stressful given how small this fandom is (one of which, incidentally, was Little Dove Heart, since that really gave me a huge push as far as Laz and his backstory and his characterization and his relationship to Artois, even if I tend to keep the latter more in the background). And there have been so many fics I’ve read that I’ll remember and go back to periodically, and that really helped me as far as looking at how character voices could be developed and how description would work and how to work a time period and a setting into a story. 

Overall though, I think I’m going to have to give it to Vae Victis, which is a work by @sineala‘s. I’ve never been quiet about my undying love for the Gauls and for Brennus in particular. Brennus is one of my historical favs, and I felt like this fic did a really, really fantastic job of bringing that much-neglected period of time to life and developing the characters on their own, without me having any background in the source material. With fanfic, especially with a more active fandom, there’s kind of an expectation that everyone knows the characters involved, so to be able to work in a different time and to get the reader fully invested in the characters and their relationship in their own right is a really fantastic accomplishment, and to be able to show the Gauls and Brennus (in what little time he gets, because my boi’s not the focus and I accept that) as three dimensional figures rather than a rampaging horde is always much appreciated. And it has a WORKS CITED page at the end, AKA the eternal key to my heart. 

[phil-and-a-corgi]

highschool bandfic in a nutshell - chapter 2

chapter 1

rating: t/m (swearing and also irene’s writing.)

word count: um i dont know a lot ( 2083 )

summary: uhh we have that on the first page

here if you want to read it here then here you go materinos(doesn’t include behind the scenes bants though

here read it on google docs yeah i know so professional(this one has behind the scenes banter)

SECOND CHAPTER (2)

(written by renee @dan-and-a-shibe - pete’s pov)

after finally putting on my eyeliner (i had no time to do it this morning and i looked like a garbage can filled with shit on fire) i hopped off the sink counter. sighing and putting my MAC charcoal liner back into my bag.i dabbed just a wee bit of eyeshadow because WHY THE FUCK NOT. the bell rang, signalling that i was late for first period. why do i let a bell, a mere beep for 5 seconds control where i go and when i go. it just shows how even though everyone tries to be themselves that everyone ends up being dragged by the trends of society. so i decided to sit in the background and look through tumblr. on my phone. ten minutes of scrolling through poetry and kittens. i should get going now. so i did. i walked into mr armstrong’s class.

“mr wentz may i ask why you’re late.” he asked, jokingly in a teacher’s voice. “sorry it’s required to ask that” he whispered, winking at the class.

“i know why, because he was busy being a GAYLORD”(dh quote) that try hard kid justin bieber teased.

“ok justin please explain how your bleached hair isn’t gayer than his amazing eyeliner.” mr amstrong retorted back as the whole class “oohed” at justin.

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

(written by Irene - @feckboy69-aol - frank’s pov)

Fuck Ms. O-Conner. Fuck her class. It's the only class that I don't have with my beloved Gee and the rest of the guys I hung out with and the only class where the teacher actually expects me to do shit. Like okay, maybe there’s some nice chicks in this class and I sit in the back next to a window where I can stare out of and think of my beloved, beautiful Gee, but so what? Lorde’s (yeah, that's what her preferred name was, what a joke) a fucking bore. Honestly, so would this school be, if not for my beloved, precious, beautiful Gee and the shit going on with Ryan and Beebs’ tea drama. Oh, that and the whole of Beaver’s crowd; it was fun watching them get owned by literally everyone here.

Anyway, English class. Lorde Bitchface was screaming about the importance of “putting emotion into your poems” and using “meaningful symbolism” to give your writing “depth” like the edgy bitch she was, so I just tuned her ugly mug out as usual, grabbing my notebook and turning to a fresh page. I gripped the #2 mechanical pencil in my hands and let my mind wander and think about my beloved, adorable, precious, and beautiful Gee, which wasn't very hard. I thought about the last time we had made out (in the bathroom near Bitchface’s class in the stall that no one used) and let my hand draw what I thought. I never was a good artist, but my beloved, handsome, adorable, precious, and beautiful Gee had taught me a couple things (some about art, some about other things), so I had become pretty good. I concentrated for a good 5-7 minutes on the drawing, making every line count, and then smirked to myself at the finished masterpiece. It was stunning; well Gee was.

“Ah… Mr. Iero, why don't you tell us?” said Lorde Bitchface, looking at me with that stupid fucking teacher look that Mr. Armstrong had copied perfectly from her and would use to joke around. But I, being me, tried to pass it off with a smartass answer, something I always did that got on the bitch’s nerves.

“See now I would, but I don't do things like that for free,” I said, giving her a mischievous look. Several girls in front of me (except Hayley, that sassy lassy, who just rolled her eyes and went back the crap that Bitchface was teaching) turned around and giggled, playing with their hair in a vain attempt to try and get my attention. They knew about Gee and me; the whole school did (that's a story for another time), but they still thought they could get me. But I played along anyway, winking at them and giving them the Frank Iero Famous smoulder. The girls seemed impressed, but Bitchface clearly wasn't, her ugly face (okay, I knew she wasn't ugly, she probably got a lot of action actually with that figure, but I despised her so fuck off) morphing into one of disgusting bitch anger, her nose and eyebrows scrunched up and her lips pursed into a tight, white line. I knew she was about to blow, when a kid sitting all the way up in the front who I didn't even know existed until he spoke his next words (that would definitely be his last if I ever found him alone in a dark hallway, by the way) said, “He's being inappropriate and drawing repulsing images in his notebook, Ms. Lorde. I saw him when I went to sharpen my pencil, Ms. Lorde,”

He then turned around and smirked at me, his wavy ginger hair following him as he did, an aura of smugness about him that I did not appreciate.

I saw the anger drain from Lorde Bitchface’s face and have it replaced with a look of calmness that was actually more efficient in scaring people than her anger.

Fucking asshole, I thought, momentarily losing my cool before reminding myself that I was Frank Iero and bitches wished they could kiss the ground I walked on with their crusty-ass, chapped as fuck lips.

So when that fucking whore of a teacher gave me detention, I simply smiled and said a cheeky, “Can't get enough of me as it is, Lorde? Not that I can't see why you wouldn't want more of this,” running my hands through my hair, knowing that this was definitely gonna make the ugly hag throw a fit, which would be far more amusing than if I had just accepted the offer of yet another detention.

It worked; I got sent to the principal's office, but like hell I was actually gonna go there. I smiled to myself as I walked outside the door, giving Bitchface a cheeky salute as I went out, not staying long enough for her to scream more shit at me.

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

(written by renee @dan-and-a-shibe - ray’s pov)

geez well this is frank's seventh detention this week and it's only wednesday. how is that even possible. well, lorde's most recent detention got him a saturday detention for the whole day and i knew he was supposed to go hang out with gee. gerard would be heartbroken if he couldn't make it to their next date. they have date night in saturday. i had to convince lorde to get him out of detention. she hadn't hated me yet, so i had a chance. while we were supposed to be writing deep poetry, i went up to her desk.

                 “hey um, ms lorde, uh sorry about frank. his family isn't really okay at the moment, and well, he's been acting up. more than usual. his parents have been really hard on him, especially with the detentions. i hope you can withdraw the multiple detentions from the past three days. don't mention this to him, or anyone else. please.” truth was that franks family wasn't doing to well but they weren't being hard on him, they didn't care anymore.

          lorde paused for a moment. “ok then, ill withdraw the detentions. only for this week. why don't you go down to the office and tell him this detentions are withdrawn.” i knew i could do it. most ladies have more vulnerable emotions, they’re more sensitive. and that's why women are so great. and now he only had three after school detentions..

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

(written by Irene - @feckboy69-aol - tyler’s pov)

It was lunch for the Sophomores, so as usual, I was trying to find my best fren Josh Dun. It was strange, he wasn't anywhere to be seen, when usually I could spot his vibrant colored hair in any crowd (it was a bright yellow today). So when I entered the large circular shaped cafeteria, and didn't see him, I started to panic a bit.

He was there in the morning, we walked here together, he was there in first period, I saw him when I went to go to the bathroom, he was there during third period because I was there with him, oh no, he got kidnaped… he got bullied he's in a locker somewhere stuck I have to go, he's hurt I have to sav-

“Tyler!” I heard someone scream from behind me, interrupting my very important thoughts about Jishwa. I turned around in pure panic, ready for the news that was going to be solemnly sorrowful; news about Jishwa’s untimely death.

Alas, it was only Jenna Joseph Black, a pleasant surprise at that. I smiled in spite of my internal mental struggle, watching Jenna smiling and running up to me. The cafeteria was now starting to fill up, with cliques of people banding together in their own respectable tables, as usual.

Jenna grinned at me, giving me a friendly greeting. I didn't want her to get worried for my stupid overthinking habit. She wrapped her arm around my shoulder, leading me to our lunch table which consisted of me, Jish, her, Hayley (Kiyoko) Adam, Jack, and Ryan. The others weren't there yet, me and Jen usually arrived early, Josh not too far behind us, with the rest walking together, usually bringing some mundane news about whatever they considered important in their lives. Usual conversations involved Jack and his frens coming in with their loud but awkward selves, Hayley not too far behind them, her hands crossed in silent disapprovement at almost everyone and everything. They all would then come in to our table, interrupting the meaningful conversations that Jen, Jish and I would be having, usually conversations about the possibility (or plausibility) of whether coconut sharks could or not exist, (if they did exist, where would they be swimming?) with talk about the latest song from so-and-so’s band or whether Ryan and Brendon would ever get back together, or at least make up.

But that's not what exactly happened today because Jen, ever the one to notice and care, gave me a caring concerned look that depicted exactly how much she cared and was concerned about me and Jish, her eyes gleaming in the bright-lighted cafeteria, her mouth morphing into a depressing frown.

“Where's Jish?” She inquired, the proportions of her face perfectly in line, to the point where she made everyday curiosity look like it was the epitome of perfection, suddenly standing up, probably (or plausibly) realizing that if Jish were here, he would be right now.

I slouched further into my seat, gulping, my throat feeling dry, “I don't Jen… I don't know…”  

[jessipalooza]

Of Unseen and Eyes, Part I

Whether people wished to admit it or not, the sea changed from land to land, place to place. In Quel'Thalas, it was fresh and teemed with magic. In Stormwind, it was sturdy and bland. In Booty Bay, it was rotten and unruly.

In Drustvar, it was ancient and stank of blood, fish, and rotten earth. 

Karsteth had manged to find an island off the coat of Drustvar, within sight of the Crimson Forest, tucked down in the south where it should have been cold - but it was not cold...it was damp, it was humid, it was uncomfortable. Nobody wanted to be there, and so it was the perfect place for a man that wanted nobody around him.

With his ship docked on one side of the small island, he trudged along the beach, rounding the large hill (or perhaps small mountain). Even Booker remained back with the ship, leaving the one-eyed, hand-scarred captain alone. He listened to the waves, the cry of the gulls as they circled fish nearby, and the crunch of shells and sand beneath his boots. 

The island was silent of people, his men far enough away that their shouting drowned out beneath nature. But that was how it needed to be in order for his gruff voice to carry as he bellowed: 

"DASIA!!"

Her home had grown smoky with the burning of offerings, and so when she felt the call to sea-soaked climes, she took it. It was simple to her-- when certain clients called, and with such need, she came. There were deals to make, things to win... and she had been hoping to hear this voice through the shady betweenplaces. 

When Dasia' feet touched the sand, though, she gasped softly, full lips parted to taste the air, the mist, the blood thick in both.

Kindred, she felt. Kin and kith alike. Welcome home, the land said. Where you belong. Amethyst-bright eyes flashed over the rocky outcroppings, the thin trees for this blasted and small islet, and she shivered with delight. She took a step, and almost lost her footing. Her magic, so well heeled for centuries, raced and dragged at her leashes, bright and eager for the hunt. She knew this place then, and her laughter filled the wave-wracked wind.

"Oh, my Captain, you always know the best places for our dalliances." She replied to him, her bare feet light on the soaked leaflitter. "My heart sings."

There was a distant call for more tar. The repairs were getting started in full swing, but Karsteth made not even a glance up. He knew where his ship was, he knew what it needed, he knew what his crew was doing...and his crew knew better than to dally. Thankfully, where his ship was wounded, he was not. 

“Cut yer weird shit, Dasia,” he said, as gruffly as ever. “We ain’t here for a lover’s triste. Y’know that well enough. Guessin’ ye even know why I called ye here.”

She hummed softly, eyes tracing over the man's features. He may not want her now, but her appreciation for him was certainly not purely professional and it showed in the smile that curled her lips. "To business then, my Captain." There was always special emphasis on that title; she had helped him secure it, and maintain it-- a possessive shade that lingered when she spoke it. 

"I know what the winds tell me; that you engaged and were so close to your goal that the blood was all but on your lips... when it again, was snatched back."

She tossed her wine-dark hair and stepped forward. "I also know she lived, and that your work is far from done, and that you need something to help you keep your shadow close and tucked neat between your boots, so as not to tip your hand to any." She stepped around him, eyes trailing from his features to his shoulders, circling the man while we words would wrap them in a thick mist.

Soon, even the sounds of his ship seemed to fade in the murk, and the scent of copper permeated, combining with the seasalt and the scent of dried herbs that clung to the witch.

"In short, you wish to make another deal, and my Captain, I am very happy to oblige."

Karsteth looked unimpressed at her 'guess'. With a deep breath in, he ran a callused hand over his face and scratched at his scruff-ridden chin. He unhitched his bow from his back, swung it to rest against a nearby rock, and sat himself down. With a wide spread of his legs, he rest his arms across his lap.

"In short, aye. I want another fuckin' deal." 

He turned his eye - nay, his eyes - up to the witch. One green and wispy with the taint of fel. One all different colors and teeming with her own magic. 

"She had a fuckin' war ship. I could sit around all day and wonder how the fuck that lil' bitch got a war ship, but it won't do me any fuckin' good. I didn't kill her, I know that much. And if she's been huntin' me'n'mine, she'll know I'm comin' next time. So I wanna make sure she doesn't. I want her fuckin' blind."

"You want more than just one girl blind." Dasia corrected, her voice almost chiding. "She hunts you now, but you know that as soon as word rises that the White Widow was wounded, there will be other sharks chasing the chum in the waters." She clucked her tongue to teeth softly. "I know your enemies are many because they are sniffing after anything that will bring them an edge... even seeking witches." 

There was always the risk he would grow violent with her, of course; she liked it, he was chaos made man and she loved that he was one of the few who could end her, wholly, upsetting so many years of planning. Still, she wanted him to know-- she was courted by others, and had not given them nearly as much as she had given Karsteth.

No other had given her two sons, despite the firsts faults. "I have not bothered with them, but they seek anyway." She finished her circling and stood before him, arms crossed beneath her heavy bosom, hip thrust out becomingly. "I will make you a deal to blind them all; they would need to have their soles on your deck to know where you are."

Leaning down, she purred softly to him. "Imagine, Karsteth, lord of the waters... unseen. By any foe. Arrive like mist over the shore, disperse just as invisibly." She closed the distance, stepped up to where he was seated, and recklessly slid her hand over his unscarred cheek. "I could make you this way."

“Who the fuck else is lookin’ for me?” He all but growled, watching her come closer but keeping his hands safely down, dangling between his legs casually. He was a predator and knew another predator when he saw one. He knew better than to take his eyes off of her. 

Without waiting for a response (it didn’t matter, after all, they’d all be dead sooner or later and he had a more pressing matter to handle), he scoffed with a whiskey-scented breath. He leaned back and gestures loosely to the witch in front of him. 

“That’s why I’m fuckin’ here, Dasia. What d’ye need this time? Some rubies, some fuckin’ flour, and the cock of a general or some weird shit as usual? Name yer price.”

As he leaned back, her hand was drawn away, and she clucked. "Other captains, other pirates. You make no friends with your white flag." She shook her head as though sadly, but he could still see her smile. "They circle, but I will help you evade."

She opened her hands to him, and in them red mist swirled. "I need very little this time; hiding is what me and mine are very very good at." Dasia purred and in her palms grew a small stone vial. "Drink this, and follow the tracks of white light amidst the red; you will find what remains of... something I need. Something I cannot get."

Dasia's voice softened, a serious note growing in the dulcet tones. "Use it where your ship is docked against safe harbor, but no step you will need to take. Get me the glowing fragment, and I will make you invisible to all your enemies. I have the stones and bones and things I need to hide you, all I ask is for this one thing; an eye lost in the Nightmare."

Karsteth arched a long brow at her words. She was a woman of deals and didn’t give anything freely. Whatever she required must be valuable enough. She must have been desperate enough. But he wasn’t going to question it and ruin an upper hand. The two had their dance. He would stick with it. 

“Glowin’ remains of what exactly?” He asked, looking to the mist and then the vial as it materialized. “Ye said an eye? How am I supposed to know where the fuck it is in all this place yer sendin’ me?”

"It will glow." She said it with surety. "It doesn't belong there, and the Nightmare is trying to consume it and it is not being consumed. You have the... easy part, it has been moved part of the way to the edge of Nightmare, and just needs the last steps to bring it back to the world of living and breathing."

The danger, of course, was that he would smell enough of her or just enough of life to bring the things that hunter Nightmare to hunt. But she could not traverse those lands for this item; she could not touch it, while within the Nightmare. Her deals had been clear, no matter how she chafed against them these many years later. 

Simpering, she pitched her voice softer. "It won't appear like an eye. I do not know what shape it has in the Nightmare, now that it has been there so long, but it will glow and stand out against the wilds."

Karsteth's attention dipped down to the vial in Dasia's hands. His tongue ran along his teeth again and he leaned back - not just for comfort's sake, but to sit taller, straighter.

"So, ye don't know what the fuck it looks like. Might not look like an eye. But it'll glow. And it'll be fairly fuckin' close to wherever the fuck I dock my ship. But if I take this shit ye got, find the glowin' piece'a'shit, and get it to ye, then ye'll see to it that that fuckin' bitch won't see me comin'. That she won't be able to find me."

Dasia's eyes met his. "I will make it worth your efforts. I want this eye, and you want to be unseen. A trade made by fates, yes? Steal an eye and steal sight with it." She laughed, but there was no humor in it.

If he had not called her, she would have sought him-- or sent one of her other debted dealmakers into the Nightmare. She needed this, and the sooner she had it... the sooner she could begin. Things were unfolding, becoming, far quicker than she had hoped. If Karsteth could obtain this...

"I will do exactly as you say; bring it, and you will move over waters unknown and unseen, until you so choose to be seen." Her tone grew serious, and she leaned in, eyeing his features once more with clear evaluation.

"Do we have a deal?"

As Dasia leaned in, his eyes dipped down briefly to the humorless smile. It was business, and he knew that. But it was something else, and he knew that too. He couldn't shake the feeling that she was fucking him over somehow. He knew she wasn't telling him the whole story, but he didn't give a fuck about what all of these eyes, tongues, secrets, blood, and stones were for. And yet....

Rather than offer her a gruff, verbal answer, he reached up and forcefully grabbed a fistful of dark, wild hair. Tugging her down, he smashed his lips against hers for a hard and open mouthed kiss. There was a sort of hunger to it, one that came from the sheer power of both of them being in such a close space. But he had also not had a whore for nearly a month. 

Releasing her with a bite of her lip and a taste of blood, he made a grab for the vial and tried to stand all at once.

"Aye, we have a deal."

The potion grabbed from her hands, Dasia let herself fall back a step after the rough assent. With a toss of her hair to right the mussed locks, she reached up to touch her bleeding lip with a smile. Chaos made man indeed; she was never caught so unawares as she was with him. Hunger and demand in him was always met with a surge of her own, and she had not the time to delve into such now. Yet, her smile was as genuine as a witches ever could be, and there was smug satisfaction in her words.

"Sealed with a kiss, then." Her fingertip traced in pink, she made a symbol in the air that seemed to trail fire briefly, before burning up-- and in the burning, so too did the mists finally fade. "I would linger for... further amusements, but this spell is in need of reagents, and I have perfect faith you will return to me soon with what I have requested; I would not keep my Captain waiting." There was a note of resignation in the words; she would have enjoyed a dalliance, but he had been right when he said this was no place for a tryst.

"And I don't have any time to waste," he said easily. 

Slipping the vial away on his person, he watched Dasia for a moment longer. He had seen the fire well enough, but he knew better than to question such things with the witch. There was no purpose in it. He would not get a straight answer. And neither did the answer matter. 

"I'll get whatchye need and bring it back here. With the seas as stormy as they are and the fuckin' trolls fightin' the Kul Tirans, they won't come near here. Right under their fuckin' noses."

He already started to leave, but stopped and glanced back at Dasia. "Ye will be here when I fuckin' need it, aye? Or are ye gonna pull some creepy shit and materialize on my ship when I got the eye?"

Her laughter was bright. "Here is well enough; I promised the riding of rough waters to another, I will be here on land for you to find." Dasia took a step away, not bothering to leave Karsteth with a linger glance-- she had what she wanted, and promise of his return.

Maybe they might have time then, maybe not, but she had smarting lips and heat to remember him by and that was enough.

As her gaze slid over the rock, she glanced to the mainland as well, and lifted a hand-- marks, inky and dark appeared on the skin in a rush as she felt the wind that blew from it, and the scent of magics that swirled within. "Oh, I will be here." Her smile grew sharp as she stepped between shadows of a tree, and seemed to disappear, only her words remaining. "Afterall, you brought me exactly where I need to be."

Karsteth watched as she stepped forward. He saw the blow of the breeze, and then he saw the shadows encompass her until she was not but an echo of her voice. He took in a deep breath of the ancient-scented land and sea - the blood and rotten earth of it all. 

"Right where ye need to fuckin' be," he murmured, repeating her sentiments. With a shake of his head, he turned fully and announced himself as he headed back to the White Widow, as the voices and sounds reached his ears once more.

"Get ready to make way, men! We're leavin' within the hour, repairs done or not!"

Part I | Part II | Part III

@thesunguardmg | @stormandozone