#is this bc purple & blue & co are my go to colors? maybe so but that is not a crime!

[sukibenders]

My brain whenever I see Kate Sharma in purple or blue (bonus points if together):

[unexpectedbrickattack]

Ngl I'm kind of dillydallying around my own SDV fixation and i'd KILL to see what your brain is doing to this game like i for one would eat up dat stuff UP . . .

I love the way this is phrased; genuinely 😭💖 like im a force of nature tearing through any new interest like its made of wet tissue paper 💥💥💥

I thought about it some more and i will (eventually) make an sdv blog. Its going to be a mess having all my interests on one dashboard (im lazy and i dont want to sign in and out all the time for diff accounts lol) but i need sdv stuff in sight or ill explode. For now tho i will ramble about random hcs rattling around in my brain

- The valley is FULL of magic, but not alot of Magical Beings that utilize that magic. If the residents of pelican town knew more about magic, there would be alot more wizards than just. The Wizard.

- Everyone in pelican town has some kind of latent magic, or at the very least, an affinity or sensitivity to magic. I like to think that magic builds in very secluded corners of their world and the area including (and surrounding) pelican town is simply one of those places.

-(sorry, i am just obsessed with Places and Magic) I like the idea of your farmer being drawn to pelican town bc they have a bit of magic in them. The letter is just A Letter, but it is the desire to see this town that makes them leave their old life behind. I am obsessed w the idea that the magic in the farmer craves the valley bc it sees the valley as its home, and by extension, the farmer sees the valley as their home. The people of pelican town rarely leave bc the magic in them sees the valley as their home always. The biggest examples of this are Kent, Demetrius, Evelyn, Emily and Shane. The huge exceptions to this (still workin on it) are lewis and sebastian; lewis bc i see him as a normal, non-magical being trying to wrangle the weirdness of this town, and sebastian bc his feelings of isolation and not being understood propels him to crave the world outside of the valley. (That changes a bit if u befriend him/romance him)

-(shane is weird bc hes super depressed and lonely but his happiness comes from his new ‘ragtag family’ (his words) and his very Not Normal chickens. The animals of the valley love him bc he loves them and he becomes tied to the valley bc of it. Marnie has always loved the animals of the valley and some of the love they had for her definitely rubbed off onto shane, who very openly admits he loves the chickens 💙)

-I wasnt very fond of the idea of purple=magic but i think that was bc i often saw it as a way to tie-in the wizard and abigail. I am still trying to get through the friendships for everyone but rn it doesnt feel like theres any connection between them (and caroline). But. I do like the idea of odd, unnatural colors coming through bc of magic. Alex and Pierre having normal brown hair; Haley and Sam being true blondes. BUT. Shane and Jas having purple-ish hair. Emily and Caroline have blue toned hair. Even vincent have pinkish hair 🥺💖 (and dare i say….sebastian with purple/black hair like shane 👀…maybe he has more magic in him than hed like to believe). Abigail doesnt count bc from what ive seen, Caroline laments about her daughters dyed hair. “When she was younger it used to be chestnut brown” which…awww she took after her dad lol.

- LAST THING. This is not an hc i am just mad about this. I cannot believe the game doesnt allow u to befriend Marlon. What the fuck. What the fuck !!! I love him!!! I want to be friends w the chill monster slayer! Im a monster slayer too!!! Let me give him gifts !!! Fuck ! 😭😭😭💥💥💥💥 Also. I know how to write old man yaoi. They shouldve let me do a romance path for willy, clint and marlon. And the wizard i guess but someone already did that. Linus doesnt count bc hes ascended the need for human romance; hes one w nature (read. aroace). And we (linus and willy and the farmer) already co-raise leo so that counts for something i think 🤔

[arachine]

LEXI I CAME TO ASK IF YOUD SEEN ACROSS THE SPIDERVERSE JUST TO SEE ALL THE STUFF YOU REBLOGGED??

I LOVED IT SOOOO MUCH LIKE I WAS SHAKING IN MY SEEATTTTT MANNNNN IT WAS TOO GOODD

(i am soooo close to becoming a spiderverse blog istg)

tell me alllll your thots abt it plzzzz🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️

BAE LEMME FUCKING TELL YOU!!//!/!

i watched it a few days ago and??? i’m still in a state of utter shock and bewilderment??? like physically i’m home, but mentally i am still sitting in my theatre chair, with my jaw agape.

it was brilliant and—i truly can’t stress this enough—a MASTER CLASS of a movie. animation as a medium is so underestimated, but i really believe in my heart of hearts that it’ll open up so many doors for other films to come.

there’s so many things i can get into, but first i wanna talk about the color palettes designed for each character!!! i think the animators’ use of colors bode exceptionally well to showcase the characters’ emotions and innermost thoughts/feelings. take gwen for example: her color palette is usually hues of blue and cold tones, and when she’s unsure of herself or feeling down, the background/environment around her, reflects that. you see it a lot when she’s switching back and forth between her earth, and miles’—but especially so when she’s in her room. all the furniture appears abstract, and it’s constantly changing in appearance because she isn’t allowing herself to really focus on her surroundings.

another thing i noticed (this has to do with colors too) is that miles’ color scheme on his earth is blue and red (like every other spidey), but when he’s on earth 42, the color scheme changes to purple and yellow (the colors associated with the prowler). looking back at it now, this was probably obvious and may have been intentionally in-your-face but i was so caught up in other things that i didn’t even really notice it until a friend pointed it out.

beyond all that though, i have so many theories. for one, do you think spider-byte helped miles in good faith? or do you think it was unintentional? a friend and me were going back and forth about it but i think it was in good faith and we even see her in the little group gwen recruits at the end. i mean, i guess i can see the other side of the argument? people think she knowingly sent him to the wrong earth but i don’t think she knew what earth he was actually from. the machine that sent him to earth 42, scans dna. so i’m assuming while she knew he was an anomaly, she wasn’t aware of the fact that earth 42 wasn’t his actual earth. i’d like to think that she helped him escape bc it was either: 1) let him caught by miguel & co. or 2) let him take his chances.

another theory i have is that maybe miles’ dad can be saved. miguel said the canon event was inevitable but so far, miles has been disproving that he’s not like the other spider-people. him being an anomaly is quite literally a miracle within itself. he wasn’t supposed to become spider-man on his earth, but he did it anyway! so maybe…nobody will have to die? they make it a point in the movie that all the spiders go through suffering, and that their suffering is inevitable, but idk…that doesn’t sit right with me. there has to be a reason for miles’ transformation. and i think he can break that cycle.

sorry for rambling!! i’ve got a lot more theories and insights but this reply is already sooooo long 😭 if you wanna talk about it dm me!!!

[yujikuna]

golden hour

summary: Din Djarin wanted to kiss you. The thought of it was all-consuming. It’s funny that the only thing he’s ever allowed himself to want is the one thing he is bound by a creed to never have.

pairing: Din Djarin x Reader

word count: 2k

warnings: absolutely none. just pure fluff and yearning and a shit ton of run on sentences bc that’s my brand

a/n: i posted this over on my ao3 (padme_skywalker) back in april and have decided to post it here since it did fairly well. just something light and fluffy to balance out the pain i’m sure we will all feel during the finale. i did a few quick edits and changes to make this more inclusive, but let me know if something needs to be changed. pls enjoy~

“What’s your favorite color?”

The two of you lay on a grassy hillside on some random planet Mando had stopped at to refuel and for the three of you to stretch your legs. The child was dozing off to the side after spending the entire day waddling in the field and splashing in the nearby stream and chasing after frogs. 

“Red,” Mando answered.

You were on your side, arm tucked underneath your head to keep the grass from tickling your face, watching him with curious eyes. It was nice, being able to lay there, the evening sun warming his beskar, as he played some question game you said was popular when you were younger. He didn’t know how you were able to talk so much at one time, taking the simplest questions he asked and answering them as if he asked you how the universe was made or how hyperdrives worked.

It was new to him- the whole not always being in silence thing. Not too long ago he would go weeks without hearing another being’s voice, just sitting in the Razor Crest with only his thoughts to keep him company. It was hard for him at first. It took him at least a month to be able to talk to you about something not related to the child or the ship. But your voice was smooth and sweet like the frozen cream treats he remembers loving as a child and he would listen to you talk about bantha dung if it meant he could hear your lilting accent and the breathy way you would trail off after talking for too long at one time.

“Really? Why?”

Mando glanced at you from the side of his visor. “It reminds me of the blood of my enemies,” he replied, his voice monotone.

Your eyes widened in shock before you threw your head back and laughed. Rolling on your back, you tried to quiet your giggles to keep from waking the baby. “Your jokes are getting better, Mando. Maybe once this whole bounty hunter thing gets to be too boring you can pursue stand-up comedy.”

You couldn’t tell, but he was positively beaming under the helmet, something in his chest warm at being able to make you laugh. He wished he could hear it without the filter of his helmet. He bet it sounds even sweeter.

“Okay, your turn, ask me one.”

Mando looked back up at the sky. “Do you speak any other languages?”

One corner of your mouth turned into a small frown. “No, I’m lucky that the family you saved me from were nice enough to even teach me Basic. I’ve always wanted to learn another, though.” You sat up, turning the top half of your body to him. “Oooh, could you teach me Mando’a? I always hear you speaking in it to the baby.”

He shifted uncomfortably under your gaze. Your frown had quickly turned back into a small smile and your eyes were wide with hopefulness. He wanted to tell you yes. He would learn any language in the galaxy just so he could teach it to you. “We’re not… We’re not really supposed to use it with people outside of the covert.” His heart clenched at the sight of your face falling.

You sighed and flopped back onto the ground. “I get that. Can you at least tell me what it is that you always call the baby, though? Ad’ika? What does that mean?”

He was quiet for a moment. “It’s what we call our children,” he said, deciding that the one word would be fine for you to know.

You hummed in response, eyes slipping shut. “That’s sweet. What is it that you always call me when you talk to him?” His face burns under the helmet. He uses a lot of names for you to the child. Mesh’la. Cyare. Cyar’ika. “Buir? I think that’s how you say it.”

Parent. Mother. “I… It’s just a nickname.” He clears his throat, not wanting to think about how much of a line that crosses. “You’re using all your questions up at once.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Mando turns his head to look at you again. He could hardly believe the way you glowed in the light of the setting sun. Your hair was fanned out around you, the light reflecting off of it and bringing out undertones that never show in the dim light of the Crest. It vaguely reminded him of the vibrant loom weavings the three of you had seen the local artisans working on early that day when you were in the market- but ten times more beautiful. Mortal hands could never create something as utterly divine as you were in that very moment.

Your brows furrowed slightly and you chewed on your lip. “Have you—” You cut yourself off. “Never mind.”

“Have I what?”

Your fingers twisted around a blade of grass. “Have you ever kissed someone?”

He nearly choked.

You turned your head toward him. Even the sensors of his helmet could detect the heat that had rushed to your face. “Sorry, that was a weird question. Don’t answer that.”

He couldn’t look at you when he answered. “No. I— I haven’t been without my helmet in front of others since I was a child.”

“Oh.” Silence fell between the two of you. “Have you ever wanted to?”

He should steer the conversation in a different direction. It was his turn to ask a question, anyway. He should ask you what your favorite animal is. Or what ship you would buy if you had unlimited credits. Or if— “Yes.”

He could still feel your gaze burning into him. He didn’t know if it was your eyes or maybe the sun or maybe he wasn’t really on this planet at all and he had somehow fallen in the Armorer’s forge because he felt like his beskar was melting right off his body.

“Anyone in particular?”

You, he thought. He would never say it, though. He knew that what the two of you had now was too good to ever mess up and his beskar may be hard but his heart had gone so damn soft ever since you first walked onto his ship and the mere thought of you rejecting him hurt worse than any physical injury he had ever sustained in his entire life.

But oh, did he think about kissing you.

He thought about it every time you walked in to a room. He thought about it every time you came up to the cockpit and sat a plate of food down beside him before going back down to be with the child. He thought about it the time the two of you decided to give the child a bath in a spare bucket since the sink was too small and you both were soaked head to toe from the child’s splashing and the only sounds in the galaxy were you laughing and the child squealing and you brought your hands up to wipe the bubbles off of his visor before you sent an armful of water his way and you made him laugh harder than he had in his entire life. He thought about it when he watched you work on the ship with grease smeared on your face and your brows furrowed and your tongue jutting out slightly while you concentrated. He thought about it when he turned his chair around to find you sleeping in the co-pilot’s seat, mouth slightly open and softly snoring.

He thought about it when he watched your eyes light up at the sight of something pretty at one of the marketplaces and then again when he presented it to you late at night once the child had gone to sleep and it was just the two of you and you hugged him and he didn’t hug you back but you both knew he would one day. He thought about it when he watched you take care of the child. He thought about it when he thought of his parents and how his father would always take his mother in his arms and kiss her and spin her around and dance with her and he thought about it when he told you what happened on that terrible day he lost them and you held him and cried and told him that you would burn down the entire galaxy before you ever let him feel pain like that ever again. He thought about it when the two of you got caught in a rain storm and you laughed the entire time you ran back to the ship and didn’t stop laughing as you stood under the dim lights, chest heaving and hair stuck to your face and you were so beautiful and that was the one time he sincerely thought about giving up the Creed because in his mind kissing you just once would be worth it.

He thought nearly every day about finding a loophole in the Creed. Turning the lights off. Blindfolding you. Asking you to close your eyes. He would trust you to not open them.

It’s funny that the only thing he’s ever allowed himself to want in his entire life is the one thing that he is bound by a creed to never be able to have.

So, yes, Din Djarin thought about kissing you quite often.

He could’ve told you all of this. But instead, he whispered, “Does it matter?” The words came out so softly he was sure they had been carried away by the wind.

You smiled, but it wasn’t like your normal smiles. It was sad and dejected and not like you at all. “No, I guess it doesn't.”

The sky was fading from golds and oranges and pinks to dusky blues and purples. The child was still asleep beside you and Mando wasn’t sure what kind of creatures came out on this planet at night and knew that he would have to guide you back to the ship soon.

The silence between the two of you was deafening and the few inches between your bodies felt like an entire parsec. Something cold began to clutch at his heart. He wanted to do it. He wanted to take his helmet off and hover over you and hold your face in his hands and finally just—

You scooted closer to him then, propping yourself up on one arm and leaning over him. You looked into the T of his visor and he wondered if you could see his eyes because it sure felt like you were staring into his soul at that moment.

His breath halted in his chest as you slowly inched your face toward his. Could you hear how hard his heart was beating?

He was frozen in place as he watched your eyes close and you pressed your lips to the hard beskar of his helmet right where his mouth would be and then he was on fire. He swore he could feel his lips tingling as if the helmet wasn’t there and your soft lips were on his. He was blushing, he could feel it as it traveled from his face down his neck to his chest. His entire body was tingling and numb at the same time and he felt hot and cold and Maker, is this what a heart attack feels like? Was he having a heart attack? You hadn’t even actually touched him.

The kiss only lasted a second before you pulled back and rested your forehead against his. When you smiled he felt the last bit of iciness in his heart melt away, leaving only warmth and happiness and love for this wild, beautiful creature in front of him.

“There,” you whispered. “Now you can’t say that you’ve never kissed someone.”

And then you were moving away from him, picking up the child and cradling him to your chest as you walked down the hill and through the field, taking every bit of his soul with you.

Din lay there on the hill for a moment longer. He was sure then that if he never took his helmet off for the rest of his life he would still die happy knowing that in some weird way he had kissed you and that was enough for him.

[fantabulisticity]

I was tagged by @two-captains! Thanks for tagging me 😊

Relationship status: single and not really looking. I'm just living my life right now. If something comes up, that's cool, and if not, that's cool, too. I do have crushes on several friends rn, as per usual, but I'm not planning to do anything about it, also as per usual 😂

Favorite color: PURPLE! All purples. I also like magenta, fuschia, teal, copper, mahogany, sea foam green, deep red, and hot pink. I like a lot of colors.

Favorite food: pasta. Mac & cheese, fettucine alfredo, spaghetti, ravioli.... I got (mild) scurvy a few years ago bc I was pretty depressed and only ate mac & cheese for three months straight, lmao

Song stuck in my head: I've been listening to "The Dismemberment Song" by Blue Kid on repeat, which is a song my friend @lesbian-light-tech gave me for my murder playlist, which is very messy and not even close to complete rn (and I also have this song on "Ignoring Men") (this song is exactly what it says on the tin, so if you don't want to hear someone singing about dismemberment/torture/vivisection, maybe don't listen to it 😅)

Last thing I googled: "black and red salamander," to show my mom an approximate image of what one of my friends has tattooed on her forearm. I want to get a matching tattoo :) (of a long-toed salamander, and smaller and not on my arm, but a similar-looking salamander nonetheless! I've raised a few of them, and I LOVE these animals 💚)

Time: 11:31 am. I just got up and showered and now I'm checking my notifications before I get food and continue moving. 😫 I hate moving.

Dream trip: OOH, I have a few! I've always wanted to visit the Amazon Rainforest -- one of the most biodiverse regions on earth! I also want to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium to pet the giant isopods in a TOUCHABLE exhibit 😭😭😭😭 and, of course, I want to go visit one of my best friends in Cyprus! And in September, I am TAKING a dream trip to Colorado to see the tarantula migration in southeastern CO, hang out with my friends in Denver, visit the Butterfly Pavilion, and go see MCR live in concert for the first time! (Okay, one more -- when Brood X emerges again, I want to go hang out in Cicada Hell -- I want to pick up handfuls of cicadas and hear the trees scream 😍)

Something I want: to get out of Idaho. I want to leave here so, so bad. But I can't afford it right now. I want to go west enough that I don't have to worry as much about queerphobia, and south enough that it doesn't get dark at 4 pm in the winter, but California is too expensive, and I need sun, so west coast Oregon is maybe too cloudy for me.

Tagging (only if you feel like it): @foxfinding @matineemonsters @pink-vanilla-sugar @abenevolenthallucination @starry-river-serval

[mxsinistir]

May I request a Good Omens Gabriel x Human! Reader please?

Pairing: Gabriel x [y/n]

Warnings: n/a besides the fact that the bad writing ™ becomes worse writing ™ towards the end bc it’s 2 am while I’m writing this. 

Summary: Freelance London Photographer [y/n] is friends with the bookshop owner Aziraphale, and happens to be sitting in one day when a mysterious stranger enters to have a meeting with her friend. Suspicious, this artist is ready to find out as much as she can about the man. 

Word Count: 2390

(tried to keep this gender-neutral but tell me if I screwed this up anywhere bc I probably did)

Hope you enjoy!

***

The first time you met him was whenever you were inside A.Z. Fell & Co., discussing a book you’d just read and returned (since you were aware he despised the permanent purchasing of his collection) over two cups of hot chocolate.

The moment he entered, you were intrigued. You turned your head to watch him saunter in, and some part of you screamed deafeningly that whatever he was, he did not belong here. That was saying something since unusual people were not uncommon in the little London bookshop. You’d known Aziraphale’s eccentric friend Crowley for quite some time now. 

“Aziraphale,” His voice was hearty, one you should have taken comfort in hearing. But in addition to his picture-perfect, incredibly fake smile, it set your nerves on end. “May I have a word?” Part of you decided this was your chance to run from the off-setting visitor, but that would leave your friend alone with him.

“Hi, I’m [Y/n],” You shoved a hand into space between you, “I don’t believe we’ve met before.” He looked you up and down, your eyes unwavering until he met your stare. His eyes - your stomach flipped, oh god his eyes - bore into yours, and you nearly recoiled when you noticed the color. A glassy purple with no signs of contacts. Just unexplainably rich violet that made the hair stand up on the back of your neck. 

“Gabriel,” He said, shaking your hand with a grip that was just a little too strong. You were too proud to coddle your sore hand, though. “I need a moment with Aziraphale.”

“Sorry, can’t,” You couldn’t leave Aziraphale with him! What if something happened? You’d picked up that Aziraphale had been involved with some sketchy people before, and what if this guy happened to be a well-dressed gang member? Well . . . well dressed wasn’t exactly the way to put it. You didn’t know what look Gabriel was going for, but it just added to his overall wrongness. 

Besides, Aziraphale and Crowley had always remarked on your excellent intuition. Warning Aziraphale about bad customers, giving Crowley advice on problems he hadn’t explicitly explained, knowing that both your friends were thinking at a given time - and at this time, Aziraphale felt very, very anxious about Gabriel waltzing into his shop.

“What do you mean, you can’t?” He half-snarled, his fake smile faltering. 

“My bike got stolen earlier,” You explained, casually turning to drink the rest of your cocoa before it went cold. You also needed something to hide your growing smile. “I told the police to drop it off here when they found it.”“Are you sure you didn’t miss them during your chat?” He said, “I swore I saw a bike parked in the front.” You stepped past him, putting your nose against Aziraphale’s window. Sure enough, a blue bike was leaned against the glass pane. 

“Well, silly me - Guess they just left it and had better things to do.” You laughed, turning back to smile at Aziraphale and Gabriel. “See you later, Zira!”

You walked outside, planning on walking home. You weren’t going to take some random bike from in front of the bookshop just because some guy had snapped and made it appear for you.

You didn’t own a bike. 

***

The next morning, before you even had the chance to ask questions about the purple-eyed man, Crowley had come into your studio, mentioning that he was bored, due to Aziraphale’s sudden occupation with work. Aziraphale had never been truly busy since you’d known him. 

“Crowley, do you know a Gabriel?” You asked, not looking up from the photo you were currently editing the lighting of, trying to decide if you could amend the conflict between the clashing color palettes. If anything, Crowley just hoped that you were too occupied with your work to even notice that you opened your mouth to ask the question. A few seconds ticked by, and then you stared up at the redhead. 

“Yeah, I know him.” He said under his breath, “He’s a friend of Aziraphale’s. Definitely not a friend fo mine. I’d keep your distance.” 

“What does he do?” Even without being able to see his eyes through the glasses, you sensed the panic in them as he proceeded to mumble out an answer. 

“Paperwork,” He steadied himself, easing into the lie now. “Some company Aziraphale used to work for. I think he’s kind of a jerk, but he and Zira go way back, so I don’t intrude.” 

“Funny, I thought the bookshop had been family owned for a hundred years?” 

“Part-time job, maybe?” Crowley stammered out. You just rolled your eyes.

“Is Aziraphale in . . . is he in any danger with this guy?”“What? No, no, [Y/n], you’re just being paranoid.” You weren’t so sure. You’d never heard Crowley so nervous about the subject of someone, and you’d certainly never heard of him willing staying out of Aziraphale’s affairs. It was common knowledge that he was the nosiest man in London, especially when it came to his friends. “Seriously, Just stay out of his way and it should be fine.” He had a certain voice he used when he wanted you to believe things were fine, even if they weren’t.

“I’ll just ask Aziraphale since apparently, you won’t explain.” That little taunt was usually enough to make Crowley spill everything. Not for this, apparently. “He listens to you, Crowley. Just make sure he doesn’t get hurt.” 

Just because he didn’t say the promise doesn’t mean she didn’t see him make it.

***

The second time you saw Gabriel wasn’t at the bookshop, but on a bench in St. James’ Park. You were currently looking over some pictures you’d taken of the vibrant area, the photographs dotted with jogging passersby and fluffy ducks that reminded you of Aziraphale. You stood up to walk by, snapping a few more when your camera focused in on a not-quite-familiar face.

“Gabriel,” You said, curiously approaching the benched man. “Fancy seeing you here,”

“[Y/n], is it? Aziraphale’s . . . acquaintance.” Who the hell used the word acquaintance anymore? You thought. “Is there something you need?”

“Just came to clear my eyes - I’ve been staring at this one picture I took for Aziraphale last week.” You briefly explained how one of the customers had split their coffee on one of Aziraphale’s old wall paintings, which he had sat on the table to clean the walls behind it. He had been furious, and though you knew you couldn’t possibly replace the expertly preserved painting - ruined by only human clumsiness - you’d offered to gift a photograph to him. Though he was obviously still disgruntled over the lost air, he did say that even something modern would eventually become history. You’d gotten to work. “I’m supposed to bring it to him this evening.”

“I was planning to speak with him this evening as well, actually.” The man remarked.

“Well, if you wanted, you could com toe hang out at my studio for a while.” You had a feeling that no matter what, this man would try to keep up appearances. Meaning he would accept your offer, even if only not to appear rude. Thanks to some information you’d gotten out of Crowley, you now knew that you wouldn’t be in any real danger as a human inviting him to your studio. He, on the other hand, wouldn’t be expecting the onslaught of questions you had for him. 

“That sounds great,” He said with clenched teeth, and so you just smiled and packed up your laptop and camera equipment, making sure to walk beside him all the way back to your flat. 

The square footage wasn’t much - you were honestly surprised you could manage to fit two people inside at once. Beyond that, every inch of the place was stacked high with frames and camera equipment and printed portraits. Your bed was usually just the couch by the window, and even then, you more often than not just fell asleep at your work desk, head draped over crossed arms. 

“I’m gonna be a little bit - I’ve gotta play with some finishing touches, and then I’ve got to print it.” You explained - Aziraphale had given you a faux-gold 18 x 21 frame, nearly identical to the one bordering the ruined painting. “You can sit on the couch if you still want to hang out. You okay with music?” You asked casually, bringing him a glass of water. You may be suspicious of him, but your mother had always stressed the importance of hospitality. 

“Do you like music?” He thought for a moment, staring blankly before nodding as if he’d been assessing whether or not it was the correct response to say so. “Queen?” He looked even more confused but nodded again. You synced your Spotify to a small speaker and set it to shuffle, sliding into your chair as We Are the Champions began to play. You snuck a glance over at Gabriel while mouthing the words and concluded he was possibly the only person in the world who didn’t know the lyrics. If anything, that just confirmed your suspicions of the man. 

Gabriel, on the other hand, was just as confused by you as you were by him. When you’d first met, he hadn’t known how to react to you. You’d stood up to him with no background knowledge, purely because you thought he had ill intentions towards your friend. Humans were always willing to throw themselves at things for no reason, but you were different - you had a reason, and that reason was nothing more than intuition to protect those you care about. 

And now, you’d carelessly brought him into your apartment - if he could even call it that. It was a glorified storage closet, filled to the brim with art and junk and beauty. He’d never been exposed to such a mess; heaven would have never tolerated it. He couldn’t even imagine that Hell was this chaotically organized. 

He could barely focus on that. How could he anymore, when there was you to look at? Smiling truly and losing yourself in the music blaring, snapping your fingers with bad timing, singing the guitar riffs, and constantly standing up just to pace around while mouthing the lyrics. 

You walked around him more than a few times, asking him random questions while leaning far back to see what your photo looked like from afar. He eventually saw that it was of an eggshell white duck in St. James, curiously floating alongside a dark goose that had landed in the waters. He could have scoffed at the symbolism, wondering if you understood the irony of it all yourself. 

Gabriel had never seen so much life in one plac.e It radiated from you, from your camera, from your fingers. It felt raw and unexplainably human, and not in the way that disgusted him with its mediocrity. There was nothing mediocre about you. You oozed with some sort of high that no angel could ever dream of finding themselves on. Angels were too flawless for something as uncontained as the day-to-day life you lead.

During the middle of one of your lyrical outbursts, you glanced over at Gabriel. He was drinking tea now, staring out into London from your window, sunbeams casting over his dusty hair and stunning eyes. Without a word, you pulled your camera in front of you and stepped towards him, snapping photos of him a quick succession. He whipped around at the sound, just quick enough to see you smiling. 

“Stay where you are - the lighting’s amazing.” You said, steadily walking closer to the man. He truly was a vision in an element like this. You leaned back to observe the picture he’d found himself in. “Do you think you could give me one with your wings?” 

And just like that, you watched the Archangel Gabriel freeze to the core as you shuttered a few more photographs. 

“Come on, everyone knows Aziraphale isn’t human.” And of course, there was no way Crowley could keep a secret like that once he was sufficiently drunk. “And besides, humans don’t usually make this pretty of muses.” 

He unfurled his wings gently, being careful not to knock over anything. All three pairs appeared in pristine, white condition, though when the window light scattered them, they reflected a spectrum of glistening violet. 

He nearly asked to confirm that you were human, though he knew the answer. No one but a human could accomplish this - a demon nor an angel could live in such harmonious chaos with their own little world, dancing to the raw beauty of it all and flourishing in the flaws you did not perceive as such. 

Gabriel had never felt love - a sort of ‘love for all humanity’, of course, but not the thrumming in his heart he felt now, looking at you in your element, high on the artistry of what you saw in him. On what no one else had ever seen in him. 

“I could have a photoshoot with you, you know.” You said, looking at your camera screen. “You look great on camera.” 

“There’s still a few hours before I need to meet with Aziraphale,” He lied - he was two hours behind schedule, not that that mattered. “He’d told me about this bakery beside his bookshop that he apparently adores.” He didn’t even like food. It didn’t matter - he figured you would. 

“Am I being asked out by the Archangel Gabriel?”“That’s strong wording-”“I’m famished,” You smiled, and as you walked over to your computer, he expected you to print and frame your imperfect perfection. Instead, you just saved the photo and eased your computer shut. “I can make something here, though. I don’t want to leave. Does the Archangel Gabriel want to watch a movie?”

He was about to make a snarky comment about your sarcastically calling him that, but he paused as you did the unexpected. You settled down on your couch right next to him and smiled. That was enough for him to decide that his meeting with Aziraphale could wait till morning. To hell with Heaven questioning him - him of all people - being off schedule. He would deal with that in time.

Right now, all that mattered was that he was sharing in on an artist’s high, and he wasn’t ever coming off.

[youtuberswithalex]

Aight Imma do a rundown, the others will add on when they’re out

Alter: Alex Mettleson

-Age: 22 (Aging linearly) -Formed:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Been around for a while. Been the host since 2016 after he and Emmy split in half, so technically since 2013-ish? -Theme color: Blue (although Red’s been coming WAY high up on his favorite list since starting his Youtube stuff) -Career choice: Youtube! -Side most like: Logan -Queer stuff: Trans, aroace! -Fun facts about him: Only one who’s out during Phi Mu Alpha stuff, and the only one who “knows” anything of it in the system!

Alter: Emmy Seymour

-Age: 20 (Aging linearly; originally the same age as Alex, but when they split, she went dormant until 2019, so she’s two years younger now, but they still call themselves twins) -Formed:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Again, been co-host since last summer, but technically since 2013-ish -Theme color: Pink!!! But she also really loves yellow -Career choice: Artist~ -Side most like: Roman -Queer stuff: HUGE LESBIAN -Fun facts about her: Chose her birthday to be the same day as the NASA moon mission because she loves space, and, coincidentally, we got to celebrate her first birthday on the day of the 50th anniversary!

Alter: Turner Imin (that’s me!)

-Age: 23 (Aging linearly) -Formed: 2003/2004-ish? -Theme color: Greeeeeeen -Career choice: I’d love to be a park ranger, but god knows the body could not handle that, nor could all the alters after we had a traumatizing hiking situation (not like, getting attacked by a bear, but we were hiking for like two days on a church mission trip, and we got severely dehydrated and nearly had to go to the hospital, and we had severe panic attacks on the nights we had to camp out, so. Yeah. Honestly, it’s not that big of a deal. I just like being able to hang out with Alex again) -Side most like: R E M U S -Queer stuff: Bi, or something. Also this doesn’t technically go in this category, but I know it causes a lot of confusion-- I’m a girl. (I think.) Always have been a cis girl. My name’s Turner because I named myself after our 1st Grade teacher, and we didn’t know it was a boy’s name until, like, 6th grade, at which point I was too attached to it to change it. I might be an enby, I dunno. Maybe it’s just because of Emmy being so femme, but. I’m a girl, I go by she/her pronouns forever -Fun facts about her: I was the first alter to form! I’ve been around for, like, ever. Alex and I grew up together, and when he was “””too old””” for “””imaginary friends””” he made me a character in a lot of his stories, so if you see me in some of his old fics, that’s why!

Edit: OH ALSO I ALMOST FORGOT WE’RE SPECULATING THAT I HAVE BIPLOAR DISORDER AND AM A TRAUMA HOLDER WHUPAH *finger guns*

Alter: Eddie

-Age: 16 (permanent age... for now) -Formed: 2011-ish? -Theme color: Red or black and white -Career choice: “I don’t fucking know, I’m a goddamn teenager, what do you want from me? I want to fucking exist” -Side most like: Virgil -Queer stuff: N/A -Fun facts about him: He’s got a tongue piercing, and when he aged up from 14 to 16 last November, he went from being a cute kid version of Alex to this sick punk kid (and grew into himself a lot)

Alter: Evan Polters

-Age: 38 (permanent age) -Formed: Late 2019 -Theme color: Black/white (mostly white) -Career choice: Doctor (Medical practitioner, specifically) -Side most like: Logan. Hands down -Queer stuff: I think he’s gay? I dunno. He’s a single dad and doesn’t talk about having any partners or anything -Fun facts about him: He’s British and is in charge of our hygiene. The first thing he did after forming was take over and make the body brush its teeth for the first time in months. That was fun to explain to our therapist

Alter: Boulos

-Age: ????? Maybe ageless??? -Formed: Late 2019 -Theme color: Purple? -Career choice: Philosopher -Side most like: Deceit -Queer stuff: N/A -Fun facts about him: He’s the first Alter that gave us a SUCKY split. Spent the whole night trembling and having horrible anxiety, until we got a bad headache and then there he was! Took him a long time to settle on a name, too. Liked Boulos bc he wanted a “Paul” name and it’s the Arabic version of that (iirc). Also based his appearance off of the name, so, dude’s Middle Eastern

There’s two more that don’t want to be introduced, but, those are the main ones for now, I guess. We had some others in the past, and we’re still learning more about the system (There are definitely others that Alex hasn’t met yet), but, like I said, we’ll update this as people want to. Hope you like the intro!

-Turner :P

[parkliet]

Dear anon that called me a coward. I am not, fuck you. //lh

*green was answered by Wei, Red by Harley, Blue by eirynn, Pink by aydi. Sorry if it’s confusing.

1. Is there a boy/girl in my life? There is someone in aydi’s life.

2. Think of the last person that hurt you? Do you forgive them? Yes, I know I actually shouldn’t but I do.

3. What do you think of when you hear the word meow? I’ll meow back because I want too.

4. What’s something you really want right now? A beer and some love 😭

5. Are you afraid of falling in love? Yes, because it involves vulnerability and sappy stuff and I hate that.

6. Do you like the beach? Kinda, it’s not bad.

7. Have you ever slept on a couch with someone? Yes and I hated every minute of it.

8. What’s the background on your cell? The lockscreen below. The Home Screen is none of your business.

9. Name the last 4 beds you sat on? Mine, aydi’s ex’s, xyr brother’s and a friends.

10. Do you like your phone? Well if I say no I sound spoilt but I wouldn’t mind better y’know...

11. Honestly, are things going the way you planned? No, I hate everything and need death :/

12. Who’s the last person you added to your contacts? A friend from school, he found my number and I dunno how.

13. Would you rather have a poodle or a Rottweiler? Rottweiler

14. What hurts more, physical or emotional pain? Depending on what’s going on, currently it’s emotional pain being a bitch.

15. Would you rather visit a zoo or an art museum? All I want is a date at an art museum ;-;

16. Are you tired? Absolutely exhausted

17. How long have you known your first contact? Since January 2019

18. Are they a relative? No, school friend.

19. Have you ever considered getting back with an ex? No but *some people* have and I personally find it annoying because the ex is a jerk.

20. When was the last time you talked to the person you shared a kiss with? ...yesterday

21. If you knew you had the right person would you marry them today? I don’t see why not, sure.

22. Would you kiss the person you kissed last again? No, don’t think I would.

23. How many bracelets are you wearing? Currently 2.

24. Is there a certain quote you live by? “No”

25. What’s on your mind? This really big teddy bear i saw in the store, but I couldn’t get it and I’m sad 😢

26. Do you have any tattoos? Can’t get any yet but I really want a few!

27. What’s your favorite color? Pink and green

28. Next time you will kiss someone on the lips? Do you want a date or sumn?

29. Who are you texting? Currently my Classmates

30. Think of the last person you kissed, have you ever kissed them on a couch? Yes... why are all of these about kissing?

31. Do you ever have a feeling something bad is going to happen and it did? All the time bc nothing good happens

32. Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to? Yes, quite a few

33. Do you think anyone has feelings for you? From what I hear recently, I’m gonna say yes.

34. Has anyone told you you have pretty eyes? Yes and it makes me melt each time.

35. Say the last person you kissed was kissing someone else right in front of you? Not my problem, we’re not together so he can kiss who he wants.

36. Were you single last Valentine’s Day? No.

37. Are you friends with the last person you kissed? Yes

38. What do your friends call you? Whatever they want to at the time, I don’t care.

39. Has anyone upset you in the past week? Myself

40. Have you ever cried over a text? I do that a lot.

41. Where’s your last bruise located? My face, under my eye.

42. What is it from? I’d rather not say.

43. Last time you wanted to be away from somewhere really badly? All the time when I have to be with people who don’t give me space.

44. Last person you were on the phone with? I don’t make calls so the last person I texted was a friend.

45. Do you have a favorite pair of shoes? Heels/boots make me feel good.

46. Do you wear hats if your having a bad hair day? Yea if it’s necessary or it’s a cute hat

47. Would you ever go bald if it was in style? No, I love my hair too much.

48. Do you make supper for your family? No but I can cook if need be

49. Does your bedroom have a door? Yes

50. Top 3 webpages? Tumblr.com, picrew and Pinterest

51. Do you know anyone that hates shopping? My friends like shopping but hate shopping with me bc I wanna go to every shop.

52. Does anything on your body hurt? Everywhere (not even joking) currently it’s my left arm that hurts the most

53. Are goodbyes hard for you? Depends on the person really, if you were a bully or just a bad person I won’t miss you.

54. What’s the last Beverage you spilled on yourself? Coffee

55. How is your hair? Currently curly and not set properly so my bangs look uneven ;-;

56. What do you usually do first in the morning? Lie there for a few minutes, cos I’ll probably still be tired.

57. Do you think 2 people can last forever? Yes, if they are happy with each other.

58. Think back to January 2007, we’re you single? I was 9 months old so yeah...

59. Green or purple grapes? Both suck

60. When’s the next time you will give someone a big hug? As soon as I can without the chance of death.

61. Do you wish you were somewhere else rn? Probably somewhere quiet

62. When will be the next time you text someoone? Later today bc time zones

63. Where will you be 5 hours from now? Still at home, maybe the store idk

64. What were you doing at 8 this morning? Still sleeping

65. This time last year can you remember who you liked? An ex I think, not sure

66. Is there a person in your life that always makes you smile? Yes, the tumblr mutuals

67. Did you kiss or hug anyone today? No

68. What was your last thought before you went to bed last night? “Ow my fucking head” after hitting it while trying to get comfy at 4am

69. Have you ever tried your hardest then get disappointed at the end? Yeah, happens a lot and sucked every time

70. How many windows are open on your computer? I’m on mobile but 16 tabs are open rn.

71. How many fingers do you have? 10

72. What’s your ringtone? Whatever’s the iPhone default

73. How old will you be in 5 months? I don’t know how old I am now but the body will be 15

74. Where’s your mum right now? Lol who?

75. Why aren’t you with the person you first loved or almost loved? If you are talking exes, then it’s because we weren’t happy

76. Have you held hands with someone in the past 3 days? No

77. Are you friends with the same people you were with 2 years ago? Sort of

78. Do you remember who you had a crush on in year 7? No

79. Do you know anyone with the name mike? Nope

80. Have you ever fallen asleep in someone’s arms? Yes because I sleep in class a lot and my classmates let me

81. How many people have you like in the past 3 months? Between all of us, 3

82. Has anyone seen you in your underwear in the past 3 days? No, or I hope not

83. Will you talk the person you like tonight? Hopefully

84. You’re drunk and yelling at hot people from your car, your with? All my guy friends bc I’m more likely to get drunk with and I’m more comfortable doing weird stuff with them.

85. If your bf/gf was into drugs would you care? I mean I would prefer them to not but honestly it’s their life in the end. I would try to help but if I can’t stop it it’s not my problem, it would also be kinda hypocritical of me

86. What was the most eventful thing that happened when you went to see a movie? Can’t remember

87. Who was your last received call from? A missed call from my friend, I texted her back tho

88. If someone gave you $1000 to burn a butterfly over a candle, would you? ...yeah

89. What is something you wish you had more of? Love

90. Have you ever trusted someone too much? Sadly yes

91. Do you sleep with your window open? No

92. Do you get along with girls? Yes, if they’re nice

93. Are you keeping a secret from someone who needs to know the truth? I’m not exactly sure if they need to know

94. Does sex mean love? Absolutely NOT, lol just bc someone is horny and wants to sleep with you, doesn’t mean they love you

95. You’re locked in the room with the last person you kissed, is that a problem? Not really

96. Have you ever kissed someone with a lip ring? No but I did kiss a guy with a tongue stud...

97. did you sleep alone this week? All except one day, or was that last week...

98.do you have someone who makes you happy?Yea I guess

99. Do you believe in love at first sight? No, not really actually

100. Who was the last person you pinky promised? A friend

[f107group2]

Time to Flex these Mussels

They say we are what we eat. Bodybuilders must've eaten a lot of mussels then.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia  

    Subkingdom: Bilateria  

        Infrakingdom: Protostomia  

          Superphylum: Lophozoa  

              Phylum: Mollusca   

                Class: Bivalvia                   

                   Subclass: Pteriomorphia 

                      Order: Mytiloida  

                          Family: Mytilidae  

                            Genus: Mytilus  

                                Species: Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus, 1758) – edible blue mussel, blue mussel (ITIS 2020)

Hanging out with the English

Photo by Guillermo D’Elia (2016)

Just chillin in the northern part of the globe, the Mytilus edulis occurs in the northeast and northwest of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly in Scotland and the British Isles in high intertidal and subtidal zones from estuaries to oceanic waters (CABI 2020; FAO 2020).

Open Sesame: Unraveling the Insides

Photo by DesignPics 

Photo by Rainer Zenz

The main parts of the mussel are its shell and its foot. The shell has 3 layers namely: nacre (mother of pearl) which is continuously secreted by the mantle, prismatic layer, and periostracum which protects the prismatic layer from abrasion. The blue mussel’s shell color is blue, usually purple, and sometimes brown. Its shell is smooth and equivalve (valves of equal shape and size) with concentric lines starting from the hinge. Its hinge line has no teeth but it has 3-12 crenulations under the umbones (Oli 2016).

Photo from: Eggermont et al

Internally, its intestine is continuous to the anus where waste is excreted from the excurrent siphon. It has 2 pairs of gills, each pair resides on each shell valve. Other internal organs include the hepatopancreas, kidney, gonad, and a 2-chambered heart. Its nervous system consists of ganglia or nerve centers because it has no brain or head in their body. Its foot is protruded outside the shell for locomotion and anchoring to substrates (Oli 2016). 

Check out the video below to further know about its anatomy.

Hold On Tahong!

Wonder how mussels are able to anchor themselves?

Interestingly, in the foot of mussels are byssal glands that produce byssal threads. These threads are strong and silky fibers made from proteins and are responsible for anchoring the organism to a substrate. With this, the industrial and medical areas have studied this “glue” which offered on how to create artificial tendons (Kenedy 2019).

Life (and Production Cycle)

Photo from: Science Learning Hub (top), FAO (bottom) 

A bed, not the type you’d sleep on, but reproduction can still happen 👀

As adults, blue mussels are typically found in dense mussel beds. They are broadcast spawners meaning that both have a separate male and female sex and they cast their gametes (sperm and eggs) into the water at the same time and fertilization takes place in the environment. See this video below in which a blue mussel releases its sperm in the water.

The larvae then undergo a series of metamorphosis from planktonic trochophore to veliger until such time it attaches to algae and after some time, joins other mussels.

Since this species is capable of being cultured, instead of settlement on filamentous algae in the wild, they are attached to the ropes and bamboo rafts for the initial settlement during aquaculture and they no longer need a secondary settlement because they are already with other mussels. 

Photo from: GNS Science 

Ecology

If a blue mussels were to submit a resume, it will surely get accepted. Why? They are very versatile!

Blue mussels are capable of withstanding wide fluctuations in salinity, desiccation, temperature, and oxygen tension (FAO 2020). These abilities enable it to occupy a variety of microhabitats and expand its zonation range from high intertidal to subtidal regions, from estuaries to the ocean waters. It can survive in countries with climatic conditions such as mild, subtropical to frequently frozen habitats because they are both euryhaline and eurythermal (FAO 2020)

What’s the Menu to Being the Menu Real Quick

Mussels are often on the seafood restaurants’ menu. But what is on the mussel’s menu? 

They are filter feeders and so any detritus and plankton in the water columns that happen to drift near them can be pulled towards the organism through ciliary actions. Unfortunately, they are not only on the seafood restaurants’ menu but a lot of aquatic organisms also feed on them as well - from sea stars, sea anemones, snails, crabs, fishes,  to diving ducks, northwestern crow, gulls, and sea otters. Maybe their versatility also has its downsides and this is mainly being exposed to a lot of predators.

Photo from: Ruth Foster

However, without mussels that filter the water to take out toxins, algae and debris, the water will not be as clean, and without clean water, fish will have less oxygen causing them to die. Furthermore, they help concentrate the nutrients on lake bottoms and river-beds for other aquatic plants and animals.

Watch this video to see how mussels can help in improving the water quality in terms of turbidity:

Mytilus edulis @ 18: Welcome to Legality

Photo from: British Antarctic Survey 

Most cultured mussels are produced in less than 2 years but in the wild, blue mussels can live up to 18-24 years (FAO 2020), hence its shell growth over the years is a powerful indicator for environmental changes (British Antarctic Survey 2018).

A new study headed by Leca Telesca from University of Cambridge, claims that they have developed a method to accurately describe which specific traits change when facing specific environmental conditions regardless of age, species and other potentially confounding factors (British Antarctic Survey 2018). This is an important feature to track environmental stressors throughout the years.

Connecting with my Hooman

Have you ever tasted a tahong? Umm.. the blue tahong? Cos I haven’t. But they say that the blue tahong’s meat is excellent compared to the green-lipped tahong.  What about you? What KINDS of tahong have you eaten?  👀  

Centuries of Blue Entrée

Mytilus edulis has long been utilized and exploited even way back 6000 BC as scraps of shells were found as kitchen middens (FAO 2020). Blue mussels are harvested as a food source both from the wild and as farmed sources from commercial aquaculture. Blue mussels are a very important food source, especially to the coastal communities. 

DANGER: Toxic Shellfish Ahead

Despite its popularity as a food source, Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) and Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) pose a serious threat to the consumers that often leads to long-term industry closures and human health problems (FAO 2020) These poisonings are caused by harmful algal toxins consumed by the mussel.

Aiding the Economy

Blue mussel is an economically important species in the northwest Atlantic and temperate zones both imported and exported in the U.S. domestic fish market. With exported 2,018,000 lbs ($3.86 million) of all mussel species both wild and farmed harvest in 2013-2014 (The Safina Center 2017).

In the Philippines, the volume of farmed mussels continues to increase with 18, 774 metric tons to 26, 302 metric tons harvested last 2016 and 2018 respectively. (psa.gov.ph)  

Interestingly, blue mussels are not that common compared to green mussels in the Philippines! Hmm… No wonder I haven’t eaten one yet!

Fun Facts Time ! ! !

Yes... We know this is your most awaited... 

1. It was just an accident! 

The introduction of the blue mussel in the Philippines is possibly accidental due to shipping activities according to Philstar.com.

2. It’s an engineer! Yep, mussels are!

 Unlike you. . . they’re an ecosystem engineer.

Mussels are considered to be an ecosystem engineer as they can alter their environments for the better. They filter particles and make the water clean that positively affect their ecosystem and everything else that lives within the ecosystem. 

3. Colorful Comparison

The mantles of lady mussels are orange while gents’ are creamy white. 

4. Sorry SpongeBob We Must Side With Plankton

Mussels feed entirely on plankton. To do this they can filter up to 65 litres of water a day.

5. Gandang Natural! Finger Comb!

Chitin from shellfish such as in mussel is used to make “chitosan” which is found in moisturizers, hair-care products, and medical applications such as wound dressings and as a protective coat for wheat seeds.

 6. Mussels do fish!   …What?

Some species of mussels have to “go fishing” in order to get fish nearby to release their larvae for attachment as their life cycle includes fish as a host. Their mussel larvae attach themselves to the gills of fish, where they develop into juvenile mussels before detaching into the stream or river. To attract fish, mussels have developed very ornate lures that resemble small prey fish (Purdue University).

Check out these videos on how these mussel Lampsilis sp. attract fish.

 Reference:

British Atlantic Survey (2018). Blue mussel shape is a powerful indicator for environmental change. Retrieved October 14, 2020, Available from: https://phys.org/news/2018-02-blue-mussel-powerful-indicator-environmental.html

CABI. (2020). Mytilus edulis (common blue mussel). Retrieved October 15, 2020. Available from:https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/73755#:~:text=trossulus%20occurs%20in%20the%20north,native%20(Wonham%2C%202004). 

Entrepinoys Atbp. Business Ideas Philippines. (2012). Mussel Culture (Tahong). Retrieved October 14, 2020 from  https://ep.franphil.com/mussel-culture-tahong/

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). (2020). Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus 1758). Retrieved October 14, 2020. Available from: http://www.fao.org/fishery/culturedspecies/Mytilus_edulis/en#:~:text=Blue%20mussels%20are%20widely%20distributed,%2C%20temperature%2C%20and%20oxygen%20tension. 

ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). (2020). Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus 1758). Retrieved October 14, 2020. Available from:https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=79454#null 

Kenedy J. (2019). What Is a Byssal Thread?. Retrieved October 14, 2020. Available from: https://www.thoughtco.com/byssal-byssus-threads-2291697 

Oli NA. (2016). Biology of Mussels and Camps. Retrieved October 14, 2020. Available from: https://www.slideshare.net/Nazmuloli52/biology-of-mussels-camps 

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Fisheries Statistics. Retrieved October 14, 2020 from  https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/Fisheries%20Statistics%20of%20the%20Philippines%2C%202016-2018.pdf

Philstar (The Philippines Star). (2015). Blue mussels reach Pangasinan coast. Retrieved October 14, 2020 from https://www.philstar.com/business/science-and-environment/2015/12/30/1537711/blue-mussels-reach-pangasinan-coast

Purdue University. (n.d.). Heart of the Tippy. Retrieved October 14, 2020 from https://www.purdue.edu/extension/mussels/more-about-mussels/

The Safina Center. (2017).  Blue Mussel Mytilus edulis.  Retrieved October 14, 2020 from https://seafood.ocean.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Mussels-Blue-US-Atlantic

THAT’S IT FOLKS. BYE!

[paniccats]

Tagged be the lovely @a-ffection !! thank you so much I honestly love doing these tag thingies ngl 😁✨💖

1. do you make your bed?

I have to for my peace of mind lol; it bothers me all day if I don’t and I HATE coming home to a mess

2. what’s your favorite number?

9, 7, 3, idk I like odd numbers

3. what’s your job? 

I’m a “wellness specialist” - I work at a local organic food co-op/health food store and my job is to know everything about the items in the body care and supplements department. I have to be able to tell customers anything from how an all-organic jojoba oil based face cream will affect the eyes’ fine lines to how many tiny homeopathic pills you can take before the consequences are dire.

4. if you could, would you go back to school?

Heck yeah babey, I’m saving up right now so I can get my esthetician’s degree and license. I freakin love skincare man ✨

5. can you parallel park? 

Actually yes, living in a college town has forced me to become a pro.

6. a job you had which would surprise people? 

I haven’t done anything really weird yet, I’ve done customer service jobs my whole life 💀💀💀

7. do you think aliens are real? 

Idk man, there’s too many weird factors that I haven’t considered. I don’t really think about it, tbh

8. can you drive a manual car? 

Last time I tried I nearly killed my brother @son-of-reivers-rises so not really

9. what’s your guilty pleasure? 

K-pop 😁✨💖 last year my sister and I went to K-Con LA and it was INCREDIBLE I HAD SO MUCH FUN

10. tattoos? 

Really want one but I have commitment issues; it’s gonna be something celestial tho. Or maybe a rose? this sounds so basic ugh

11. favorite color? 

Black, burgundy, dark purple, dark blue

12. things people do that drive you crazy? 

Ohhhhh boy this has been weighing on my mind all day: I have a customer who always tries to stack discounts at my job. This is not allowed and everyone knows it, but he thinks that if he treats us all like idiots and talks really loudly and doesn’t let us explain, then he can get his way. I don’t hate very many people but I definitely hate him.

13. any phobias? 

Nah fam my fears are all abstract and intangible.

14. favorite childhood sport? 

I do miss my swim class and the awesome wacky teacher I had.

15. do you talk to yourself? 

All the freakin time my dude.

16. what movie do you adore? 

What We Do In The Shadows, Howl’s Moving Castle, Henry V directed by Kenneth Branagh

17. do you like doing puzzles? 

I really hate them actually, but it’s only bc my dad tried to force us to have Fun Family Time with puzzles and my 11 year old self was infuriated.

18. favorite kind of music? 

Anything indie, but especially indie r&b and indie electronica. Top artists are Gallant, SG Lewis, Wednesday Campanella, and Grimes lol

19. tea or coffee? 

I kinda need both ☕🍵

20. the first thing you remember you wanted to be when you grew up?

I remember begging for ballet lessons at 3 years old and reading everything about ballet I could get my hands on at 6. I even remember getting a VHS (lol) of a “””professional””” ballet instructor teaching basic moves. I still really love dancing, but my fam was too poor for that ever to truly be a thing.

I shall tag: @unexpected-profundity @millie-likes-art @reallooney @dankxsinatra @speakerboxx-automotive @irrish @kazad-dum @trifoyle and of couse @sophisnotofuckingkay

[glassandmetalwings]

On a marginally brighter note, I had weird dreams this morning. Involving both of my jobs (which ended up being stressful). Highlights:

It was the day after Christmas so all the Christmas decorations in the mall were still set up, including this alarming ‘magic snow’ that floated in the air like you were in a snowglobe and could be collected and turned into wool roving, allowing you to basically make yourself clothing?

Even though it was the day after Christmas, my job was already setting up Halloween displays. Set up was also going on in the middle of the day, when people are shopping. I got dragged into set up bc I was at the mall to shop, not realizing I was apparently scheduled.

At one point there was a block party in my neighborhood, and apparently this celebrity was there (that’s what my dream told me he was, I don’t remember a name or face). I asked him to please not let Benny wander in the front yard without a leash on.

I was not long after taking Benny to work with me, and we were running late, so I accidentally grabbed the keys to said celebrity’s car? It was black and detailed but I didn’t noticed until I’d put Benny in and was preparing to get in myself, only to realize the steering wheel was on the right side of the car. After some debate, I decided to grab my own keys and take my car. The celebrity said he would have been chill with it.

@oxycleananddarkness was a co-worker at my retail job! Kinda. In the space of a month he’d apparently ascended the ranks to become a team leader. They posted his picture on one of the light boards. I was a little jealous, but pleased to be working under him bc he’s great.

At my art center job, I was trying to get paint for kids to work on their projects, but half the time it was mumbled and the other half of the time they changed their minds. I remember one little girl wanting yellow, light blue (meaning I’d need to give her blue and white so she could get the shade she wanted), and ģ̵̝͖̰̝̺̬̃̈́͜͝r̷͎̬̪̳͈̹̰͉̒̅ȩ̷̭͍̝̼̦̼̓͒̄͐͘ͅr̵͚̱̜̲̩͎̯̄̀̃̒́̃ͅọ̷̢̲̙͌͆̏w̵̨̠̣̦̲͆̓l̴̪̟͈̜̼̮̋ͅl̵̡̩̝̯̺̬̖̭̏o̶̳͗̈́ĕ̷̻͕̬̭̇̎́̈͊̋͑.

Another kid (and keep in mind these were maybe fourth graders at most) tried to stoop me with colors like ‘maleficent’ (which I assume was supposed to be a dark purple). I was having none of his sass and told him he had to mix his own colors to get the right shades like everyone else, I was just dispensing the basics.

I couldn’t even get over to the colors to pour some bc every time I tried someone stopped me to ask where their colors were.

One kid was bragging about being the fastest artist in his school.

And, my highlight:

At my retail job, me and several other girls tried to go in through the back door to get to some of the props and such for setup without having to weave through displays. IRL no one can come in through that door. When we tried, one of the team leaders opened the door and told us we couldn’t come in through it because ‘they caught some women doing canola back here recently’. Which...meant cutting canola oil with ‘cheaper’ oil like olive oil (yes, that’s what my brain told me was happening) and the selling it for a marked up price. But the whole thing still felt a whole lot like we were talking about drugs. She felt very strongly about this because she lost a daughter cutting canola.

[halcyon-mclaggen]

the ministry requests the appearance of HALCYON MCLAGGEN immediately ! the TWENTY-SIX year old alumni from HOGWARTS is now working as a BARTENDER. the ministry seeks knowledge about their involvement with the disappearance of magic. be cautious for they are DRAMATIC and MASKED, but also FRIENDLY and ALTRUISTIC.

Meet my beloved, dramatic boy Halcyon:

He was born to Cormac McLaggen and a squib woman named Sylvia McLaggen (née Hume). While many of Cormac’s Hogwarts classmates would have described him as arrogant, entitled, rude, insensitive, and over-assertive, much of these traits softened and sweetened when he met Sylvia. He’d met her at a dance party one night where she was dancing alone. The colored lights lit up her platinum hair with red and blues and purples, and when the light when white, it gave her something of a halo. Cormac was immediately smitten. Sylvia was quick and self-assured, and would expect nothing better than the best, and in return Cormac became that. She helped him uproot all the emptiness he’d felt inside for so long. While it took the two a rather a long time to start dating, once they did, it wasn’t long before they got married and moved to the Scottish countryside together. The two of them have five happy years together before Halcyon came along.

However, it wasn’t long after Halcyon turned two that Cormac came down with a cold that only got worse and worse and worse.  The sickness, unexplained but fast-acting, stole Cormac from this world, and stole Sylvia’s sense of safety. After that, Sylvia became an agoraphobic. She was a complete shut-in and sheltered Halcyon from everything. He spent a lot of time alone with no friends to speak of, taking care of his mam as best he could.

The only friend he really had was a mooncalf he befriended one night when he was eight, which he named Winter (after the season in which they met). His mam let him keep the pet, seeing how happy it made him.

Halcyon’s parents always knew that he’d be getting a message from Hogwarts, as from the second he was born, Halcyon could, without any effort, shift his features, his hair color...all of it. He was a metamorphmagus. This excited Cormac, who would tell the young child all about Hogwarts and his adventures there (not that Halcyon remembers much of what he said, given his age), but after Cormac’s death, it only gave his mother great anxiety. How could she send her only child away to a place that seemed, from her husband’s stories, to be not as safe as a school should be?

So when Halcyon got his letter, he and his mam sat down for a long talk. Which ended in this: Halcyon would not be going to Hogwarts. Instead he would continue to be homeschooled by her. While she was a squib, she’d grown up surrounded by magic and decided that she could teach him what he needed. The conclusion was a great disappointment to the young child, who craved social interaction and excitement, but even at that age he understood. He understood that his mom wasn’t quite like other moms. He understood she needed him. So he stayed. And he learned what he could.

But it couldn’t last long. Halcyon’s abilities far surpassed what Sylvia could teach him, and she knew that it could have dangerous results if he didn’t get a proper education. So the summer before what would have been Halcyon’s fourth year it was decided that he would transfer into Hogwarts. Halcyon was beyond ecstatic. He craved friends, he craved to be well-liked. He looked in the mirror and he wondered how he could ensure that his loneliness wouldn’t follow him to school. Not having a lot of friends growing up, and not having a lot to do, Halcyon spent a lot of time watching movies. This lead him to one conclusion: people liked people who were attractive. So he worked on his metamorphmagus abilities until he was easily able to hold them all day long without any thought. Halcyon gave himself a new face--one that he thought was more attractive than his own, and one that he felt assured he would make friends with.

Self-assured, excited for adventure, and willing to befriend anyone he came across, Halcyon was sorted into Gryffindor and made many friends. Because he was homeschooled by his mother, who, while grew up with magic, didn’t have any practical magic experience, he quick fell behind the other students in his year. He didn’t mind much. He had friends, and was experiencing so much more than he was before.

After graduating, Halcyon continued to live with his mom and take care of her. No one knows much about his home life, and he likes to keep it that way. He has a small place in the city for bringing friends and other guests back to, so that no one questions where he lives, but he rarely spends time there without someone else. No one he knows has ever seen what his real face looks like, and no one even knows he’s a metamorphmagus.

Halcyon flirts a lot and has a lot of hook-ups and the like, but he’s never been in love. His mind doesn’t really connect sex and romance in his mind, and it’s not unlikely from him to be good friends with those he’s had a one-night stand with, or to try and set his hook-ups up with someone else. Very much shows platonic love--lots of hugs and kisses on the head/cheek/etc. and hand-holding for his friends.

He LOVES playing cupid. Although he’s never felt romantic love, he believes in it so much and just wants everyone to find the one for them. He will set people up on dates and act as a wing-man or middle man for pretty much any one he meets. If he knows you have a crush on someone, he will be your biggest supporter.

One dramatic hoe. Like over the top about everything honestly. Pretend swooning and melodramatic WOE IS ME~!

“Meteroseuxal” might be used to describe him. He takes great care of his appearance, and it’s not usual to see him dress up with eyeliner or nail polish and lots of jewelry.

Halcyon is so friendly and warm and smooth that he makes everyone he meets feel like they know him so well, but the truth is that no one really knows him. They don’t know about his past, about his abilities, and he’s never had anyone spend the night at his place. He’s masked, but no one notices it or questions it because he’s curated the façade of some who is open and inviting.

Literally had no idea what to do with his life. He isn’t sure where his passion is and, anyway, he never got very good grades in school. He’s currently a bartender, but he used to work as a stripper and has done some modeling.

I know this is such a long intro guys lol if you actually read the whole thing kudos to you tbh

Potential connections:

Friends

FWB (This plot is taken by two people currently, but is still considered open!)

Past hook-ups, flings, one-night stands

Someone who is annoyed by him bc he’s just a dramatic hoe

co-workers

Someone who used to tutor him in school

Gossip buddies (bc Halcyon likes to gossip like hell)

Someone he can play cupid with/give love advice

Maybe a childhood friend? Someone who lived near him in Scotland?? This would really have to be plotted out of course. Could just be someone he met once a long time ago.

Some one with a one-sided crush on him

[anonymouslydisabled]

1. 13 (literally months ago, but it’s made the most sense anything has ever made to me)

2. I believe my grandma is autistic and my brother is likely autistic

3. I believe I have ADHD, and Tourette’s and maybe Dyslexia?

4. I’m a neptunic genderfaun neopronoun user :) (yes)

5. autism is a massive spectrum with so many different aspects

6. I’ve always loved loved loved love in all forms especially romantic, I’m currently in a relationship I would consider real and I just got out of a relationship I would consider real, but I’ve been in a few other minor relationships, I really love researching different ways to express love and different dates and I have a pinterest board for it :) but this may be because one of my special interests are people!

7. I take months to process people so I make friends very quickly (I’d say about half of the many people I attempt to make friends with I succeed in being friends with) and then I realize we actually should not be friends so I drop most of them. So I go through phases where I have 70 different friends then a few months later I have 3. I also have a massive problem maintaining the friends I do like and get along with.

8. Various cartoons, frogs, opossums, and people as previously mentioned

9. Probably the color purple or Scooby Doo? Perhaps Cheetahs?

10. Hand flapping, rocking back an forth, biting my lips, very generic.

11. You’re different, there’s nothing inherently bad about it, don’t be afraid of your true personality, and put more consideration into who you make friends with.

12. Wolf from Kipo for reasons I cannot currently explain because brain empty.

13. Paige Layle - I’ve watched majority of her YouTube videos.

14. Technically no I’m homeschooled and always have been but I’m on like a summer break.

15. Nope I’m super undiagnosed and I just recently realized.

16. Basically all of my friends are autistic, they’re the only ones who stick.

17. My chewlery is my favorite! But I have an infinity cube and pop-its.

18. 100000%

19. leggings, tights, skinny jeans, grass, sunlight, sirens, literally like everything abt going outside.

20. rain, swimming, rain showers, music, COTTON OMG COTTON IS THE BEST MATERIAL.

21. I have only told autistic people with the exception of my older sister, and I plan to tell my co-op teacher face to face this coming year

22. I’d say it’s easy to say you’re proud of being autistic without being proud of your autistic traits and I’m guilty of that to a degree.

23. uhh 7 years?

24. yes about twice a week

25. yes about twice a week I think

26. yes

27. I do echolalia of tiktoks/favorite shows a lot and pass it off as gen z humor and I do happy vocal stims

28. honestly it varies but typically multiple years

29. As I said i’ve only told autistic people, I haven’t told any family besides my oldest sister. My autistic friends are obviously great about it and my sister did the bare minimum and was pretty accepting.

30. ENTRAPTA ALL THE WAY!!! (from she ra and the princesses of power)

31. I have 2 comfort stuffed animals a dog and a bear

32. fries and chips usually but some days I have unusual aversions.

33. yogurt, most vegetables, seafood, many others.

34. I don’t like them unless it’s like a “you’re my long lost lover I haven’t seen in 14 years” hug or from my partner

35. No but I’d like to

36. Eating to avoid fainting and showering bc not showering activates 50 different sensory issues - i also likely have adhd so routine is rly hard for me and I’m currently in burnout so it makes it even harder

37. I like holidays but I never get in the ‘holiday spirit’ except with halloween.

38. I’d say moderately.

39. blue thin bell bottoms + black tank top, sensory summer fit.

40. i collect frog merch

41. yes!

42. i have trouble infodumping bc of low energy/memory issues but many frogs can jump 20x their own body length!

43. maybe the sword of power from she ra?

44. @autistic-messs​ i love what u repost and ur pfp is adorable!

45. uhh Britney spears i suppose

46. definitely loud

47. yes!

48. my frog ring :)

49. going outside/spending time outside

Autism ask meme

Here's an ask meme specifically for autistic people

How old were you when you found out you were autistic?

Do you have any other autistic people in your family? Or are you the only one?

Do you have any comorbidities? Or just autism?

Are you LGBTQIA+?

What do you wish more people knew about autism?

Have you ever been in a relationship?

Do you find it hard to make friends?

If you have any, what are your special interests?

What was your first special interest?

What are your most common stims?

If you could give any advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Do you headcanon any characters as autistic? If you want, tell us why you headcanon them as autistic.

Tell us an autistic person that you really look up to.

Are you currently in school?

Have you ever received any accommodations for your autism in either school or work?

Do you have any autistic friends?

Do you own any stim toys? Which is your favorite?

Do you find it easier to get along with other autistic people?

What kinds of things are sensory hell for you?

What kinds of things are good sensory wise?

How open are you usually when it comes to being autistic?

Would you say you're proud to be autistic?

What's the longest you've ever has a special interest for?

Do you have meltdowns?

What about shutdowns?

Do you avoid eye contact?

Do you have any vocal stims or echolalia?

How long do your special interests usually last for?

Are your friends and/or family accepting of your autism?

Favorite canon autistic character?

Do you have a comfort item? If you feel comfortable with it, then show it to us.

What are your same foods?

Foods you are sensitive to (maybe because of bad texture for instance)?

Do you enjoy hugs? Or are they sensory hell?

Have you ever used a weighted blanket?

Do you have routines that you have to follow? What's in your routine?

Do you enjoy holidays or are they sensory hell to you?

How good are you at detecting sarcasm?

What's the most comfortable/sensory friendly outfit you own?

Do you collect anything related to your special interest?

If you date people then would you prefer to date other autistic people?

Tell us something about your special interest.

If you could have any item related to your special interest what would it be?

Who are your favorite autistic bloggers? Say something nice about them.

Favorite autistic celebrity?

Are you generally a loud or quiet person?

Do you happy flap?

What is your favorite special interest related item you own? Show it to us if you want.

What's something you find hard to do because of autism?

Free question. Ask anything you want! Any topic at all!

[iu]

oh okay i'll send my ask again!! so this might make me sound rly dumb but basically i was looking through ur ps help tag and i kept seeing people asking for the psd you use and i was wondering what that means exactly?? like i know psd is the file extension for photoshop files but what exactly does it mean when you use a psd for gifmaking?? i hope that wasn't worded too confusingly jfkljsld

yay okay so!!! (if you view this on desktop i think my theme cuts off the large pics so i recommend checking this post out on mobile haha)

idk how proficient you are already so i tried to be as descriptive as possible + a lot of visual aid!

the first step of giffing is importing a scene from a video, resizing it to tumblrs format and setting it’s timing right? (if u need help with any of these too hmu im always glad to help u can even do it off anon in pms) 

but the thing is that even though the video itself might look good and have nice color grading etc, in gif form it looks kinda boring and bland.. 

maybe it doesnt Look like that but since ppl edit their gifs so much on here it’s now considered bad taste to gif without any PSDS on top. so it has become a custom in the gifmaker community to add a lot of Adjustment Layers to the gif, which in total are called a PSD. 

so you click this button

and it gives u a list of various things you can do to change the look of a gif. The most simple to understand is i guess Brightness/Contrast, where moving the handles adjusts the brightness and contrast of the gif:

so for my first step i slightly raised the brightness and lowered the contrast (it doesnt mean you always have to do that it’s just whatever the gif is, or the look you want to go for!)

and this is the result

Hmm.. Now let’s say that i feel like i want the purples in this gif to me muuuuuch more vibrant, so i make a layer of Vibrance and raise it a bit to make the colors pop more

and maybe raise the saturation just a liiiiiitle bit

I still feel like it doesnt look cool enough.. Like i dont want a subtle soft purple from the original i want it PURPLE with a capital P and capital every other letter lol. There’s a bunch of fun ways to get that effect that you’ll get after playing around with those Adjustment Layers. 

I went into Hue/Saturation aka my fav tab, and made the settings for Blue and Magenta just a bit to the right of the spectrum and more saturated (it might not seem like a big diff but those little changes pile up to give the gif a distinct look)

then i went to color balance and changed it towards slightly more red and magenta

this is all the work we have done so far, it’s pretty visible already i would say

Now what i showed so far is i guess the more like bare simple ways of color manipulating ur gif. It’s nothing crazy but it already gives it a distinct and more pleasant look!

There’s so many of them that tbh there is no One tutorial, it’s just about experimenting with each of these options and seeing what kind of results you get! Because there’s sooo many possibilities in adjustment layers that i haven’t even started describing the tip of the iceberg. some examples:

I made a Solid Color layer in a darker purple shade ur seeing in the little box, set its Blending Mode (the lil box next to opacity) to Luminosity and changed the Opacity to a lower one bc it looks crazy on 100%, and achieved this nice toned down effect to the gif if you’re going for this kinda look! i also like it cos it returns some color to her skin shade

another cool feature with like .. endless possibilities is the Gradient Map. With this one you also gotta use Blending Modes and lowering the opacity of that layer so that your gif doesnt end up looking crazy... ooh also play around with Photo Filters, those are really easy to grasp and have already st presets that can make the photo colder/warmer/etc!

after playing around some more this is my final result lol...

before

after

(i also sharpened the final gif)

So if you take all these adjustment layers and group them in a folder, it’s called a PSD! A lot of people share their psds online as do I! Not every psd works for every video, but some might be more universal than others, and you might just have to tweak it a little bit to look nicer! So to use someone else’s PSD on your gif you just open them in Ps side by side and drag the folder with the PSD on top of your gif!

[homosociallyyours]

Rules: answer 30 questions and tag 30 blogs you would like to get to know better

Tagged by: @holmezyan -- thanks, you freeman-loving wonder! sorry it took me so long to get to this!!

Nickname(s): Bean, Meggles, Dottie, Beene, Milton

Gender: Genderqueer femme

Zodiac: Taurus sun & moon, Gemini rising

Height: 5′5″ (roughly)

Coffee, tea or hot chocolate: Lately I’ve been drinking Yorkshire Gold or Irish Breakfast instead of coffee (trying to have a little less caffeine), but I know I’ll return to coffee again sometime. I started drinking it when I was maybe 6 or so. Nice one, parents. 

Fav band(s): The Indigo Girls, One Direction, Bikini Kill, Magnetic Fields, Le Tigre, The Butchies, Team Dresch (why are all but 2 of my bands not together and making music? what have i done to deserve this fate?)

Fav solo artist(s): Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Kaia Wilson, Joan Armatrading, Dar Williams, Dolly Parton, Mirah, Jens Lekman, Sia, Gillian Welch

Song stuck in my head: Bebe’s new song, Ferrari. 

Last movie I saw: I watched Despicable Me 3 the other night on netflix. It was...everything I expected. The last movie I saw in the theater was Love, Simon

Last show I saw:  Theater? I think it was Hamilton last year! TV? I’m currently watching the finale of Glam Masters. It’s...ok.

When did I create my blog: 2012? YIKES

What do I post: A mishmash of everything I find interesting. Currently: 1D, Johnlock, queer shit, femme shit, Martin Freeman, US politics, Janelle Monae, other women making music that makes me feel gayer, meme/meme culture posts, and definitely too many “ask me questions about myself” posts bc i spent too many years on livejournal. 

Last thing I googled: Last night I was sitting with bander and wanted her to hear a song from my friends’ band, so I think the last thing I googled was “gaymous ross dress for less” which only kinda got me the result I wanted. Which was this amazing song. (Please listen, you won’t regret it!!)

Do I have any other blogs: Several! On here I have a cheese tumblr @heycheeselady (it’s mostly dead, i haven’t reblogged to it in ages) and a benedict cumberbatch meme tumblr that i used to co-run @darlingdomesticbatch that is now long abandoned (rip, it was actually really cute and fun while it lasted). I have a dreamwidth that used to be my livejournal where i really let my depression, anxiety, and emotional self-harm cut loose to like 2 or 3 other ppl (it’s a yikes-ass nightmare). ALSO i still have a diaryland diary (!!!) that is my private corner of the internet where i post inelegant poetic prose about my actual private emotions in ways that would feel dangerous to do in front of anyone but strangers. if i ever give you the info, you aren’t allowed to talk to me about it. i probably won’t give you the info. but i’ve had it since...2000? 2001? I definitely wrote about losing my virginity over there. embarrassing!! 

Do I get asks: Sometimes when I ask for them nicely. I rarely get anons, but after my 1 day brush with fame (which i think of as 1950gate) I realized that’s a good thing bc it’s fucking exhausting to have multiple ppl asking you the same question that you already answered/never wanted to answer anyway. also ppl can be mean! 

Why did I choose my url: I knew I was going to be blogging about sherlock and queer stuff, and I thought about what really connected those things. For me, it’s the homosocial-- social spaces and interactions that are focused on same gender relationships --that fuels the homosexual/makes me gayer. The description for my blog is “i am a homosocialsexual” because that’s really what i am. The yours part...I just liked the idea of signing off on everything. I remain homosocially yours,   

Following: 720 (and that’s after i unfollowed all the dead blogs. what can i say, I like having a voluminous and varied dash)

Followed by: 920 (this number is...shockingly high, ngl)

Favorite color(s): Bright dark pink and emerald green. Deep royal purple. Cornflower blue. The color of sun through leaves in the woods. 

Average hours of sleep: 6-12, there’s rarely an inbetween. 

Lucky number: 13

Instruments: I play ukulele and I’m a good enough singer to consider my voice an instrument in its own way.

What I’m wearing: Buffalo check thermal pj leggings and my fave grey pizza t-shirt

Dream job: Basically my current job? Though I should amend that because my reality needs to shift...I’m probably never going to be able to do my job full time again. So. Dream Job would be teaching cheese tasting classes to groups of 10-20 people at a time, giving info about the cheeses and how to taste them, how to prep them for a cheese plate, what to pair them with (and how). Ideally I would do all of this with a team of 2-4 other people, making decisions cooperatively and collectively. 

Dream trip: One month trip thru France visiting various cheesemakers and ending with a week in the south with my friend who has family down there. 

Fav food: Cheese. Ha :) 

Nationality: I’m Southern (from the US). My regional identity feels very important to me.

Fav song: Ummm I definitely can’t pick. Nope. 

Last book I read: Y’all I haven’t read a paper book in a hot minute. I just haven’t been able to do it. I even have books to read. My brain says NO NO NO. But the last book length fic I read was Own the Scars, and damn was it good!

Last fanfic I read: We’ll Be Seamless, which was a really great slowburn that ended so sweetly (with lots of hot moments along the way)

Random fact: I met my best friend in preschool when we were 3 years old. I’m even in her baby book. We had a few years of not being quite as close, but now at 37 we’re somehow still BFFs. We’re also both queer and big geeks, which is a nice thing. 

I’m tagging some random folks! Probably not 30 though, so if you see this and wanna do it, PLEASE DO IT & tag me in! (and really, I mean it, I don’t care if we’re mutuals or not!)

@yellinradios @swimmingbirdrunningrock @aprillikesthings @ann-fortunately

@miafi @always-aqua @valeria2067 @a-brighter-yellow @jaerie @yorkiepug

@yearofsolouis @suddenclarityharry @cumberbitchsandwich

[dreamoftowers]

The Shanghai Lady

hi uhhhh i posted this forever ago but deleted it bc i just didnt like it anymore, but i was recently looking thru old works of mine and i re-read this and was like “wow! this is p cool” so uhhhh i’m gonna post it again. i edited it a bit, but i hope yall like it maybe? 

it’s my take on the shanghai lady’s character. this is a drabble that’s written in media res of a story that i’ll probably never completely write out. who knows idk maybe? *shrugs*

anyway it’s a bit Dark and Edgy or w/e but who cares. hope yall like it anyway!

tw: mention of character deaths / violence, yelling, crying 

Sung struggled and squirmed about as two shady figures held tightly onto his arms and dragged him forward through the basement. Vivid neon lights shone from the ceiling, but it somehow still managed to be dark and dim down here, becoming increasingly darker the deeper they descended into the understructure of the place; though, Sung couldn’t even see any of this through the blindfold wrapped around his eyes. High-octane pop music blasted from the upstairs dance floor, becoming more and more faded the farther they walked.

After a few minutes of dragging, struggling, and stumbling, Sung heard a door swing open in front of him. As he was dragged into the direction of the door, he felt the atmosphere around him suddenly change. The air felt cooler, crisper, but heavier, somehow, much heavier in a way that Sung couldn’t quite understand.

He felt himself being thrown forwards, and his body fell face first onto the cold floor. As he lay there on the floor, the figures grabbed his hands, and held them behind his back. Sung felt icy cold handcuffs latch onto his wrists. Hands grabbed at his arms and yanked his upper body up from the ground, and they positioned him so that he was sitting on his knees. There Sung sat, breathing heavily as one of the figures untied the blindfold and ripped it off of his eyes.

The sudden bright neon lighting of the room stung Sung’s eyes. He groaned, and squinted until he adjusted to the vivid lights. He darted his eyes all around the room; again, somehow the room managed to be dim even though there were deep hues of pinks and purples and blues emitting from the neon lights scattered around the room. Decorating the room were ornate paper lanterns, indoor waterfalls and water fountains illuminated in colorful LED lights, and strange glowing plants and vines growing on the walls.

A large pool sat in the back of the room, glowing in alternating hues; and in the middle of it, a rectangular platform rose out of the water. There, the dusky figure of a woman sat cross-legged, her back facing Sung.

The Shanghai Lady.

Exactly who he was looking for- though, admittedly, he wasn’t expecting to meet her like this, sitting on his knees with handcuffs binding his hands together.

He couldn’t really make out what she was wearing, but the shape of it, from what he could make out, was something ornate, something flamboyant. She was surrounded by glowing waterfalls and hanging floral vines.

Sung breathed heavy breaths, taking in the oddly calming sounds of the area: the gentle splashing of running water, the quiet ambient music playing throughout the room, the soft remnants of pop music playing high above them from the nightclub. He was just awestruck from this atmosphere. Who knew that The Shanghai Lady had such a hunch for avante-garde interior design? For someone with as much blood, corruption, and destruction on her hands, one wouldn’t expect such contrastingly calm scenery for her lair.

A robotic female voice rang out through the room. It was shockingly silky, gentle, soothing to the ears, while also containing an eerie undertone.

“I would have never in a million years expected to see you here, Sung.” Her voice reverberated through the room.

An unnerved chill shot through Sung’s body. He frowned, and asked in a demanding voice, “What do you want from us? How did you find us? What did we d--”

The Shanghai Lady cut him off and continued to speak as though she hadn’t heard his questions. “You’re usually so elusive, caught up in your own little world. I was so surprised that you came here. Hmhm.” Her small chuckles seemed to echo and reverberate a bit more intensely than her sentences did. “Why the sudden change of heart? Did you fina--”

“WHERE ARE THEY!!?!” Sung suddenly exploded, his trembling voice roaring over hers. His breaths became just as shaky as his body was. “What did you do to them?!”

She didn’t answer. All she did was chuckle.

“ANSWER ME!!” Sung screamed out, his face turning red and contorted with anger.

“Oh, my.” She said in such a nonchalant tone. “Someone’s upset. I’ve never seen you like this before, Sung. It’s so… intriguing to see you at your breaking point already. Though, I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything different of you. You’re always gushing about your… damned bandmates. Friendship this, and- and brotherhood that.” When saying these words, her tone shifted to a slight hiss, as though the words were poison on her tongue. Her tone quickly returned back to normal. “Of course you’d be so concerned about them. Pathetic.”

Anger ran red hot through Sung’s boiling blood. Why is she talking like she knows him personally? Does she? He certainly doesn’t know her personally. Hell, he only knows her through rumors and myths.

“Stop talking like you know me,” Sung spat out through gritted teeth.

“I do know you, Sung.”

“You know nothing about me.”

“Hahaha, ah, on the contrary, sweetheart.” In her next sentence, her voice shifted to that menacing hissy tone again. “I know everything about you.”

Sung was shaking so much that he felt like he would explode from the rage burning within him. He balled his hands into tight fists. He couldn’t even respond for a long moment. He just stared daggers at the back of her head. “What… do you want…?”

“Do you recognize my voice, Sung?”

The sudden question stunned him into a brief silence. Bewildered, he furrowed his brows and furiously shook his head. “No, I don’t!”

“Not at all?” The Shanghai Lady asked in a mockingly sad tone.

“N-... No… I don’t- I don’t think so.” Sung began to think about this a little deeper. “Not a lot, it’s just… vaguely… familiar... agh, it-it sort of reminds me of someo-- WHERE ARE THEY?” He snapped again, shaking off the previous thoughts on his mind. She… did sound somewhat familiar, he just couldn’t put his finger on it. But it didn’t matter. He was going to find out where his friends were, no matter what distractions she threw at him.

“You were so, so close,” she said, ignoring his last question. “Still can’t figure it out?”

Sung said nothing in reply.

Suddenly, in the next words she uttered, her voice became dramatically different, but in a way that was somehow still vaguely similar to her original voice. It was much more robotic and monotone, much colder. 

“How about now?”

Sung’s heart sank into his stomach. His face fell into immediate horror and dismay, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging agape.

Sung could recognize that voice anywhere.

He tried to utter something, anything, but no words came out. All that could escape his throat were failed attempts at words. “C…c-co…”

The Shanghai Lady chuckled again in her normal tone. “Go on, take your time. I’m waiting,” she said in a whispery voice.

Tight knots formed in Sung’s stomach. His lips trembled as he stuttered out, “Co...c-comp..uter… w-w...ife…”

“There you go,” she congratulated him in a mocking tone.

“No…” Sung muttered, shaking his head. “But.. but why?” Sung whimpered out. “What..--”

“You haven’t changed at all, Sung. A part of me isn’t surprised.” She slowly rose to her feet. The skirt of her dress, or shirt, or whatever she was wearing, swayed as she stood and turned around. Once she was facing Sung, the glow of her metallic amber irises pierced through the darkness. As she approached him, descending down the stairs from the platform onto the floor, Sung could only gaze at her in utter disbelief, utter awe. “You’re not-- you’re not her,” he said, his voice shaking with emotion. “Y-You’re not her, I know it, she- sh-she wouldn’t do anything like this, I…” He seemed to be trying to convince himself of this rather than telling her this.

As The Shanghai Lady came closer to him, the lighting from nearby lamps and waterfalls illuminated her figure, giving Sung a chance to gaze upon her. She wore a slightly loose-fitting black jumpsuit that had intricate gold designs printed on it. A black, armor-like shoulder mantle draped over her chest, and from the back of it fell a long flowing cape lined with gold. Her chrome metallic skin was pure white, like that of a marble statue, other than the dark green circuitry running down her face like trickles of water. Some of her detailing was similar to how she looked before she… left, and abandoned Sung. But others were so much different now. She looked like such a completely different person, but what scared him more was that she still did resemble her old self a bit. She couldn’t have been lying about being his compu--... ex computer wife. Even now, Sung refused to believe his own eyes.

Sung looked up at her as she stood over him, chuckling to herself and leaning over to gently caress his chin with her robotic white hand. The familiar, and yet somehow simultaneously foreign, touch of her hand sent unnerving chills through his heart. “Oh, Sung. Even with all the intellect and genius in the universe, you never did, nor ever will, understand your own finest creation. It’s a shame. So knowledgeable, yet so idiotic.” The Shanghai Lady suddenly gripped at Sung’s jaw, and yanked his head up further. “We could’ve been unstoppable, Sung. With your intellect and my vigor, we could’ve achieved anything we wanted. But you didn’t want that, did you?” She squeezed tighter onto Sung’s face. “No, you’d rather waste your talent building robot drummers and specialty instruments with all of the finest elements of our universe. Never focusing on the bigger picture. Such wasted potential.” She shoved his face away, and Sung let his head droop down.

Memories of their marriage flashed into Sung’s mind. Gradually, over time, the more sentient and self-thinking that she became, the more she would grow tired of him and his experiments. He noticed that she became distant, irritable, and, now that he was looking back on it, more ominous about her outlooks and views. That’s when the arguments began.

She was always urging him to do “more important” things with his time and energy, saying that his talents shouldn’t go to waste on such “trivial” things such as music, but Sung would always calm her down enough to where they could get back to their normal lives. But the arguments only got worse until one day, she disappeared without a word, without a trace, and the only thing she’d left behind was a goodbye note.

But this… how could she have done all of this? Making such a bloody reputation for herself, on Earth of all places? And… more importantly, how was she able to single handedly tear TWRP apart so easily, and take away all of Sung’s friends one by one? He still didn’t even know what she’d done to them yet, and as much as it burned him on the inside to be so ignorant, he had no choice but to listen to her. No words could escape him at this point.

The Shanghai Lady slowly walked away from him, then stopped and stood with her back facing him. “But no need to dwell on the past, right? Not without the proper actions, at least. That’s when you all came in to the picture.” She slowly turned her head to look back at him. Her eyes shone a sharp and intimidating glow. “You made it so easy, I just couldn’t resist exacting revenge on you. You all came running right to me.”

She took a brief pause, almost as though she were thinking about something. She chuckled loudly before turning her head away and speaking again. “You know, Sung, I’ve always been intrigued by the lives of organic beings like yourself. You all have limitations: physically, emotionally, psychologically. It’s so captivating…. watching how you all squirm and thrash about once you’ve reached your breaking point. Blood spilling, bones shattering, hmhm, even watching tears fall is fascinating. Thrilling, even. Such fleshy, emotional little things, you are!” She said this in almost a cheery voice. “I never would’ve guessed that little red one’s neck would break so easily. Or that the lion man’s psyche could be so easily shattered.”

Sung’s heart stopped. A paralyzing horror fell over him, leaving his blood running cold, his skin draining of color. No, no, she couldn't’ have, she wouldn’t do that…right? In just a few short seconds, his entire world began to crumble and fall, and the weight of it crushed Sung’s heart. He started to tremble.

Sung shook his head in disbelief, denial. “No..N-no… you…”  

“Yes, the red one… so brittle. His neck just snapped like a twig. Oh, and the lion… he saw everything. He’s usually so calm and laid back.” The Shanghai Lady snickered. “Yet he broke down into such a demented state, screaming and sobbing out… and so quickly, at that. I was genuinely surprised.”

All Sung could do was listen as rage and dread rose within him, making him tremble and whimper. He hung his head and squeezed his hands into tight fists, each word she uttered sending more and more pain into his heart and soul.

“Even that robot broke much easier than I expected. I figured that another one of your creations might have stood a chance, but I was mistaken. He fell just as easily as the rest. The red glow in his eyes flickered away so… gently. It was almost peaceful to watch that heap of useless metal fall to the ground.”

In an outburst of rage, Sung cried out and tried to race over to her, but the two figures grabbed onto his arms and held him back as he kicked and screamed. He tried to struggle as much as he could, thrashing around and cursing and wailing about, but he eventually broke down and grew stiff, letting his body slump in their arms as he erupted into sobs and whimpers. The only movements he made were the violent shakes of his body as he cried, his chest heaving up and down in spastic breaths.

“And now, you…” The Shanghai Lady said, turning around with the same devilish smirk on her face. “Broken so easily, my sweetheart. You always were so sensitive. But I’m not nearly finished with you, yet.” She raised her hand in the air, and a strange golden orb slowly formed around it. It swarmed with electricity and circuit-like patterns.

She began walking over to him, taking her sweet time.

“No, no, I have more special plans with you.”