#makes me hungry for starburst candies

[transmascsunburst]

StarTrixBurst posting go! The First Thing is that they're all clingy af. The Second thing is, they all have too many parental issues to ever consider children. The third thing is TrixBurst is t4t. The forth thi-

[squideo]

How Snickers Nutterly Smashed It with The Mr Bean Advert

This week’s installation of Advert Alchemy is breaking down the success behind Snickers’ 2014 Mr Bean advert, starring the one and only Rowan Atkinson. Chosen by one of our brilliant Video Producers, when asked why this particular advert had become her favourite of all time, Sarah said: “It's relatable! I get hangry, and I know other people do too. It just makes me laugh how a Snickers fixes the moodiness, plus it's Mr Bean and that brings the nostalgia factor.”

Enter the Snickers

The Snickers bar was created in 1930 by Mars Inc., an American brand founded in 1911 that is behind many well-known sweet treats like M&M’s, Twix and Skittles. They also produce non-confectionary treats like Dolmio, Wrigley, Whiskas and Ben’s Original. Allegedly, Snickers was named after the Mars family’s favourite horse – what a life.

Until 1990, Snickers was sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland under the name Marathon. The name was eventually changed to standardise the product in a global market and to reduce confusion, as an American candy bar named Marathon had been produced during the 1970s; some people thought the bar was being sold exclusively in the UK when the two were in fact entirely different. Similarly, another Mars Inc. product – Starburst – had been named Opal Fruits in the United Kingdom until the 1990s.

Not long after the rebrand, Snickers went through a publicity nightmare when it was targeted in 2000 by a series of threatening letters claiming to have poisoned thousands of Snicker bars in Australia. One of the letters contained a Snickers bar contaminated with rat poison. This lead to a massive recall. The culprit was never found, and thankfully no one was hurt.

Snickers Man

Created by AMV BBDO, the British branch of the BBDO advertising agency, the Mr Bean advert came under the larger ‘You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’ campaign that Mars had run since 2010. A rafter of well-known stars had appeared in these Snickers adverts since then, including Betty White, Robin Williams, Aretha Franklin and Liza Minelli.

It took four years for the UK adverts to catch up, still using the slogan ‘Snickers: Get Some Nuts’ from the former Mr T series until 2014. These adverts had been hugely popular, with the exception of one advert which was pulled after accusations of homophobia by a US pressure group. Yes, a British advert was pulled because of complaints by an American group – welcome to the gilded age of the internet.

Like Mr T, Mr Bean worked on an international level despite being a British creation – given the popularity of the Mr Bean films overseas. The Rowan Atkinson character had been absent for two years, since his cameo in the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony. Before that, his last appearance was in the 2007 film Mr Bean’s Holiday. In October 2014, he returned to the screen in the Daniel Kleinman directed Snickers advert.

Fist of Snickers

The production cost for this advert must have been high, but at least the return on investment (ROI) was significant. The video has over 18 million views on YouTube. Factoring in YouTube adverts, the overall campaign reached over 20 million people on the platform. It’s been nine years since the Mr Bean Snickers advert aired, so what made its legacy so long-lasting?

Nice Nostalgia

A generation of children grew up with Mr Bean, when the eponymous television show was first broadcast in 1990. This later progressed into an animated series, and two feature-length films that aired globally. By 2014, this generation of children were now adults with spending power which made a comeback of this character a profitable marketing tool.

Fortunately for Mars Inc., Rowan Atkinson was going through costly divorce proceedings in 2014 and 2015 and agreed to appear in multiple adverts for an undisclosed figure – his first advertising appearance in eighteen years. Due to his lack of appearances as Mr Bean in recent years, the advert garnered a lot of attention.

High Humour

The advert features classic Mr Bean humour, with plenty of slapstick action and mumbled lines that are indecipherable to the human ear. From the offset, the background completely contrasts the character: a British caricature inside a martial arts film. Mr Bean fumbles after three men, all trained in martial arts, failing to keep up until someone finally throws him a Snickers bar. After taking a bite, Mr Bean is replaced by a character more suited for the setting and escapes the mess Mr Bean had ended up in.

The slogan used here is slightly different from the American version: “You lose your focus when you’re hungry, have a Snickers” instead of “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” This slogan merges the American slogan with the Mr T line that had been used since 2006: “Snickers: Get Some Nuts.”

Successful Series

The Mr Bean advert could easily have been a standalone success, but AMV BBDO saw the marketing potential and produced five adverts with Rowan Atkinson. In an early edition of Advert Alchemy, the potential of the marketing series was examined and found that these series have a strong return potential; as people want to see what happens next. This also followed a trend in the British Snickers adverts. While the American adverts often have a roster of famous celebrities, the British versions have stuck with the same actor for several adverts.

Previously, this had been the legendary Mr T. In the campaign, which ran from 2006 to 2008, Mr T randomly appeared in a tank – or helicopter – to pelt Snickers bars at men he thinks need to toughen up. Bedecked in Snickers-themed jewellery, sporting his signature mohawk, and wearing a vest made of Snickers bars, it’s a call-back to Mr T’s role as B.A. (Bad Attitude) Baracus in The A-Team and it quickly became a classic. 

What do you think? What made Snickers’ Mr Bean advert so successful? Watch the full advert below and let us know in the comments.

Get in touch with the Squideo team today to find out how we can improve your advertising strategy with video production, motion graphics, social media management and much more!

[ahappybeginning]

Hi! 👋

So, I honestly didn’t intend for 2 1/2 months to go by without posting here. I’ve just been really focused on my post op journey and making sure I hit all my goals, plus most of my free time was devoted to writing the past couple of months. But now that things have mostly settled, I felt I should check in on here and give an update about what’s been going on since my surgery in October. I don’t even know how many people are still following this blog or care, but I started this mostly for myself so I should probably try to keep up with it more.

So anyway, post op life has been about 85% very positive. Each appointment I’ve had with both my surgeon and nutritionist, they’ve said I’m doing everything perfectly and to just keep going as I have been, which is very encouraging and a huge relief.

I’ve gotten into a fairly good groove with taking all the vitamins and other pills, although recently it’s shifted around a bit because I’m trying to figure out how to make it the most efficient in how it fits into my overall day-to-day schedule. Things got a little wonky over the holidays because I had more days off and it kinda threw some things off, but I’m working on getting myself back into my normal routine again. I’m also adding in a couple new supplements because I’ve felt very tired and sluggish the past few weeks, and I’m worried maybe I’m not getting enough of some things. But overall, I’m doing pretty well.

Food wise, I’m still in the soft food phase for another couple weeks, but after the 20th, I will finally be able to go back to a “normal” diet. Obviously that’s still going to look very different than my old normal, but at least I can add in a wider variety of foods and textures so I’m not just rotating the same 5-6 meals over and over again. I love eggs and cottage cheese but I’m ready for some other options 😅. I’m currently able to eat about 3 oz per meal, which still seems a bit crazy to me that I can be full on so little food, but really I haven’t had any issues with feeling hungry. Probably because I’m supplementing it with a rotation of protein drinks/shakes/shots, and I’m averaging between 120-160 grams of protein a day.

And I’m most happy with the physical results I’m seeing. Not just the actual weight loss (which is fantastic and so much more than I had expected), but also just the ability to move my body more without feeling exhausted or sore. I’ve gotten to the point where I can easily achieve 10,000 steps a day, most of the time by the end of my work shift (I get up and walk around my room every hour or so to make sure I’m not sitting too long), and some days I can get to 13,000-14,000. It’s amazing the difference from just a few months ago, where walking 5 minutes would have me out of breath and having awful back pain. Now I’m walking 30-40 minutes at a time with no problem, and I’m working up to doing even more. And overall, since last May, I’ve lost 134 lbs, 51 of that has been just since my surgery. I honestly can’t be more thrilled with how the physical part of this journey has gone so far. It’s been hugely transformative and I’m so proud of myself for making this decision. Never once have I felt an ounce of regret, even through some of the harder parts.

Which I guess leads me to the 15% not so positive stuff. Thankfully, I’ve not had any issues with not tolerating food, but sometimes my multivitamin will make me a bit nauseous. I’ve tried to make sure and take them right after I eat, but sometimes it still makes me feel icky. And I’ve tried different brands and types, the one I keep going back to is the soft chew, which I like fine (it’s actually kind of like a Starburst candy), but I’m also having a lot of dental work done right now, and they keep telling me to try and switch to the regular pill vitamins. But every time I try, I throw up. So, right now I’m just trying to make the best of it and sticking to the one that I can tolerate the best.

And the biggest not-fun thing: I’m starting to experience some major hair loss. I knew it was one of the more common side effects of the surgery going in, but honestly it was also the scariest thing for me. It’s something that has always been a constant point of pride for me, the one physical feature I had that I’ve always loved and never felt shame or embarrassment about. So now to lose that…it’s more than a little devastating. I had a consultation at a hair salon last week, but there really aren’t any good options that won’t cost me more than I can really afford. So now I’m in the process of grieving my beautiful, soft, full hair and trying to accept that this is just a temporary thing, but it’s been really hard. I’m doing literally EVERYTHING that people have suggested to help minimize the loss and help it grow back faster, so now I just have to wait it out and try to find ways to make it tolerable until things stabilize. It’s honestly been the hardest part of this whole thing, which probably seems ridiculous but it’s the truth.

So the past few weeks have been a bit rough in trying to come to terms with it, but I’m not letting it derail me from my progress in other areas. I just booked my first trip out of state since 2019, finally getting back to traveling, which is a big love of mine and something I’ve been missing dearly. And I’m meeting a friend that I was supposed to meet right when COVID happened and messed up our plans, so I’m thrilled to finally get a second chance for that, and to be in a much better physical and mental state than I was in 2020. So despite the few struggles that I’ve encountered along the way, I’m still 100% happy with my decision and am completely committed to seeing it through. This year is when I start living again.

[yoichichi]

captain crunch (oops! all berries kind), cocoa butter, lowkey the smell of whole milk, my dad (it's like a mix between i think weed and his cologne or whatever but's familiar and comforting) pink starbursts, peppermint candies <3

HI HABYYYYYYYY

THESE ARE SO INTERESTING I LOVE - god thinking of captain crunch is making me hungry 😩 and pink starbursts oh lord…. You’re onto something

[aethyrs-abyss]

coffee, smokes, and diet cokes; that’s what pretty girls are made of.

Goal for the day: OMAD, less than 1000

What was eaten: 997

What was burned: 597

Net calories (what was eaten - what was burned): 400

A breakdown:

Breakfast (380 calories)

1 THINK! Smooth Caramel Protein+ Bar (150 calories)

1 THINK! Brownie Crunch High Protein Bar (230 calories)

Lunch (430 calories)

1 Grilled Cheese Sandwich from Sonic Drive-In (410 calories)

1 medium diet Cherry Limeade from Sonic Drive-In (20 calories)

Dinner (0 calories)

Snacks (187 calories)

2 strawberry Twizzler Twists (45 calories)

1 stick of strawberry Starburst bubblegum (5 calories)

10 Sugar Babies candies (57 calories)

1 snack bar of sharp cheddar cheese (80 calories)

My reflections

I think the candies such as the Sugar Babies and the Twizzlers should be eaten less and should only be used when I’m especially hungry and have a handful of calories left for the day. They’re high in sugar and el make it harder to lose weight.

I need to start taking daily walks (even if they’re short ones) in order to bring my net calories down to 0 or less. If I have any extra calories on me like that, it slows down the weight loss process.

Maybe eat half of the sandwich next time. It’ll give me another meal for the next day and will make it easier to burn off the calories next time.

[curls-cat]

Sugar/Spice; Snips/Snails

for @grimmtober day 1: Candy! Also on AO3 and ff.net under the same name. but I can’t link it if I want this to show up in the tags. :/ AU: Sabrina grows up in Ferryport Landing.

*

There’s a boy in the woods. Sabrina sees him, even if none of the grown-ups do. He’s bigger than she is, with curly gold hair like hers, wearing a big green hoodie. He keeps looking at her through the trees and grinning. There are fireflies around him, even during the daytime, even now that summer’s all the way over.

Sabrina knows better than to go outside herself. Mamma and Daddy and Granny all say it’s too dangerous, that she’s too little and sometimes people are mean and might hurt her. And even when people aren’t mean, the woods is really big, and she could get lost so easy. Mr. Canis could find her, but someone mean might find her first.

But there’s a boy in the woods. And there aren’t a lot of other kids in Ferryport Landing. Especially not ones she can talk to (in preschool there’s Bella and Natalie and Toby and Wendell, but only Wendell is allowed to be her friend. And everything else is secrets, secrets, secrets—don’t tell anyone about Mr. Canis, Sabrina, or about what being a Grimm means, or about why you’re extra excited to get to first grade and see Ms. Snow). And all Sabrina’s Halloween candy disappeared last night.

Sabrina wanted to be Alice in Wonderland for Halloween, but her parents said No and Granny said Politics and didn’t explain what that meant, so Sabrina was Stephanie from Lazy Town instead and had to wear an itchy pink wig the whole night and none of the grown-ups knew who she was supposed to be. And now all her candy’s gone and nobody believed her when she said she didn’t eat all of it.

So the next time the fireflies come out, when it’s just starting to get dark and the shadows from the woods reach all the way to the house, Sabrina follows them. They’re pretty, even though up close they’re too big to be lightning bugs, and they glow too bright. She didn’t really think they were bugs.

She follows them as they dance between the long shadows of the trees. She didn’t have time to put on her shoes before she left, so her socks are getting wet in the grass. It’s gross. They lead her right to the edge of the woods, and then they scatter.

Sabrina is, for a moment, alone in the gathering dark of the woods. Nearly all the leaves have fallen, and it’s gray and brown and so, so quiet. No birds or bugs. No Mamma or Daddy or Granny calling for her to come inside. She can see the house through the trees, and it looks warm and safe and like it’s calling her back.

“Scared?”

Sabrina spins around and pulls her hands up the way Ms. White taught her—you have to protect your face—and sees the boy, sitting in a tree a few feet above her. Up close, he’s different than she thought. Still a boy, still a kid like her, but older. Taller. And dirty. He’s holding her candy in his hand. She knows it’s hers because it’s still in her plastic jack-o-lantern with her initials on the bottom in her very own handwriting.

“I’m not scared of you,” she tells him.

He grins, flashes too-sharp teeth. “Sure. That’s why you jumped a mile high when I said something, little girl.”

“I’m not a little girl!” she says, even though she is, and she knows it. “I’m a big sister!” She balls her fists tighter. “And that’s my candy.”

“Finders keepers,” he says. He unwraps a pack of oreos and pops them in his mouth. His fingernails are too sharp, too.

“You’re rude,” she says, but she puts her fists down. He doesn’t seem mean, just… messy. And gross. And mean, but she said that already.

“So’re you,” he says, and hands her a pack of Starbursts.

Sabrina accepts her candy, unwraps it. Inside there’s two pink ones and an orange one. She wrinkles her nose and eats the orange one. She’s not supposed to have candy before dinner.

She’s also not supposed to talk to strangers. Especially not strangers who are ab-so-lute-ly Everafters.

“Why’d you take my candy?” She sits on the ground. Her socks are already dirty, might as well get mud on her overalls, too. The boy won’t care. He’s dirtier than she is.

“I was hungry,” he says. “I just told the pixies to get me food.”

Not fireflies. Pixies. Sabrina squints at him. “You’re not supposed to talk about magic.” She doesn’t know what a pixie is, but she knows for sure it’s magic.

“I thought this town was full of magic,” the boy says. “A ‘haven for the homeless,’ that’s what your ancestor said when he convinced all of us to follow him over here. Or a prison, if you listen to anybody else.”

“There’s people, too,” Sabrina informs him. “Lots of ‘em. Normal people. Boring people. I have twelve in my preschool class. And they’ve all got parents. Some have brothers and sisters, too.”

The boy looks suitably impressed. Then he wrinkles his nose. “Boring,” he tells her. “I was hoping this place would be fun. But it’s got rules too, huh?”

“Everywhere has rules,” Sabrina says. “My daddy says they’re to keep people safe.”

The boy snorts. “To keep you from having fun, more like.” He pops a Reese’s into his mouth.

Something occurs to Sabrina, then. “How’d you know about my an-cestor?” The new word feels strange on her tongue. She thinks it means like your grandpa, but extra.

The boy nods in the direction of the house. “I watched him build that place. Slowed him down, too. Plus I’ve been watching.”

“I know,” Sabrina says. “I saw you.”

“What’s your name?” he asks. “Other than Grimm. Your first name.”

“Sabrina,” she offers readily. “What’s yours?”

He tosses her another pack of Starbursts. “Puck.”

*

Sabrina brings Puck food for a few days. She likes keeping him secret. Everyone’s busy with the new baby, and Sabrina loves Daphne, sure, but babies are boring and she doesn’t know why all the grown-ups care so much about someone who can’t even do anything. She also feels a little left out, maybe, and it’s nice having someone who’s hers. They talk. He’s a prince, he says. He’s exiled, he says. He’s famous, he says. He’s the coolest. He doesn’t have to say that part. Sabrina thinks so, too.

They spend afternoons in the cool dark woods, and Puck takes her flying, because he’s not just too sharp, he’s also got wings, because he’s a fairy, which Sabrina has never met before. They share her Halloween candy. He turns into animals, and he listens to her tell him about preschool. She’s learning to read, a little. She can read the street sign for their road. Puck thinks reading and books are boring. She yells at him about it.

That’s the other thing about Puck. If she gets mad at him, he doesn’t tell her to stop throwing a tantrum or go to her room like her parents, and he doesn’t start crying or tattle to someone like the other kids at preschool. He yells back. And then they’re friends again.

*

Mr. Canis is the one who finds out. He follows her to the woods and says, “I wondered where all the caramels went.”

“This is Puck,” Sabrina says. If a grown-up did have to find them, she’s glad it was Mr. Canis. He’s not a regular grown-up, not the kind who tells her what to do and gets worried or talks down to her. He just talks, and listens. Sometimes he says weird stuff, but other than that, he’s almost like a regular person. “He was hungry.”

“I know who he is,” Mr. Canis says. “I’ve been watching him.” He looks down at Sabrina. “What I didn’t know was that you knew him.”

“He took my Halloween candy,” Sabrina says. “Nobody listened.”

Mr. Canis doesn’t say anything. He looks Puck up and down. 

Puck stares right back at him, then, at long last, says, “Don’t get mad at her.”

“I am not angry,” Mr. Canis says. “You should come inside and meet the family.”

Puck wrinkles his nose. “I’m not going to move back inside. I’ve finally broken out of being civilized.”

“I am not asking you to,” Mr. Canis says. “But inside there is food that will not rot your teeth.”

“Everafters don’t get cavities.”

Mr. Canis laughs. It sounds like a dog barking. It always does. “I can assure you we do.” He shows Puck his own too-sharp teeth, points at a shiny silver spot in one of them. “I had this filled myself.”

Puck’s eyes go wide, and his hand comes up to his face. He gives Mr. Canis another long look. “What kind of food?”

“Weird food,” Sabrina informs him. “Granny’s cooking tonight.”

Puck thinks for a second, then shrugs. He grins at Sabrina. “I like weird.”

*

Puck keeps living in the woods. Sabrina has to tell a grown-up before she goes to see him, now. The grown-ups all have a long conversation after Mr. Canis tells them she’s been going in the woods to visit a Strange Boy (he’s not a strange boy, she tries to tell them, but nobody listens). After, her parents sit her down and have A Talk with her about Danger and how Not All Everafters Are Nice. She listens, even if she thinks they’re coming at it wrong. Puck isn’t nice. She doesn’t want him to be nice.

They grow.

*

At age nine, Sabrina runs out of the house, ignoring the sound of her dad shouting after her. This time, at least, she’s wearing shoes. She heads straight for Puck’s trash throne. The pixies greet her on the way, rising out of the shadows of another gathering dark, as they always do. She appreciates it, though she barely needs it, can find her way to Puck without any help.

“What’s Hanky yelling about?” Puck asks instead of greeting her. He’s sitting, as usual, on his porcelain throne atop a mountain of broken furniture.

Sabrina throws him a bag of fun size Milky Ways—it’s the family’s Halloween candy, and her mom’s going to be mad that she has to buy another bag, but Sabrina doesn’t care. She doesn’t care about anything and it’s not like they’ll even be here in a few weeks and her parents don’t care about what she wants, anyway, so why should she care about them?

Puck catches the candy, opens it, and pops one, fully wrapped, into his mouth. He spits the wrapper out onto the ground a few seconds later, covered in spit and melted chocolate. He does this a lot. Sabrina always calls him gross and makes a stink about it. Today all she can think about is how she’s not gonna be able to see this anymore in a few days, because—

Puck notices her silence. “What, Grimm? Finally seen sense about ‘the environment’?”

Sabrina isn’t sure she wanted him to notice. She thinks maybe she wanted him to act like everything was normal and maybe then she could pretend it really was, for a bit. But she sort of also wants someone to listen, someone she can yell at who won’t talk about safety. Someone who cares about what she wants, even if he pretends not to, instead of pretending to when they don’t, like her parents.

“We’re moving,” she says, and she keeps her voice flat, even, because if she doesn’t, she’s going to cry.

Puck stops chewing and stares at her. “You can’t. There needs to be a Grimm in Ferryport Landing.”

“Not all of us,” Sabrina says. “Granny’s staying. But Mom and Dad, and me, and Daphne… we’re leaving. Dad says town is ‘too dangerous.’”

“This is about the stupid ‘Scarlet Hand’ or whatever.” It’s not a question.

“Did they talk to you?” Sabrina asks.

“Nah,” Puck says. “Everyone knows I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah,” Sabrina says. Because they’re friends. He’s her best friend, better than Wendell, even, even though Wendell goes to school with her and they’re in soccer together and he gave her a valentine last year that he’d picked out especially for her, the only one in the pack with a lollipop and a sticker.

“I won’t join anything that I can’t be the leader of,” Puck adds, because he can’t just be honest, ever. That’s okay, though. Sabrina understands. Honesty is hard.

She sits down on the edge of the pool, feels rough concrete under her hands, looks at the murky water, the level dropped low enough that she can dangle her feet in and only the very bottoms of her shoes touch it as they sway back and forth.

“When?” Puck asks.

“By the end of the year,” Sabrina says. “Mom got a job, and Dad asked me if I wanted—” her breath hitches, half anger and half rage— “if I wanted to help him pick out an apartment. Like this was exciting.”

“You could run away,” Puck suggests.

Sabrina laughs without humor.

“Plenty of woods,” Puck says. “You don’t have to stay here. Hey, I know! You could go up to the asylum with the other crazy little girls!”

Sabrina halfheartedly throws a piece of concrete at him. It clatters down the side of his trash mountain nowhere near him and rolls to a stop nearly at her other hand, still resting on cracked cement.

“Mr. Canis would find me,” Sabrina says, at length. “And they’d just make me go, anyway.”

“How? The old lady can’t leave, and neither can he. Just run away again before one of your parents comes to get you.”

“And leave Daphne?”

The younger girl practically worships the both of them. Losing Puck is going to be hard enough for her, but losing Puck and Sabrina… It’ll break her heart. And there’s no question about bringing Daphne with them. 

For a long time, neither of them say anything. Sabrina had sort of been hoping Puck would have an answer. A real one, one that would work.

“You can visit,” he says at last. “They can’t keep you away forever.”

“Yeah,” she says. Because Mom had said that, too. Said that they could come back on weekends and over holidays, as long as Granny said things seemed safe.

She looks up at the boy she’s known for half her life, who’s been her best friend almost as long, who she’s going to stop being able to see soon. He’s been exactly the same the whole time she’s known him. When she sees him next, she’s going to be closer to his height. She might even outgrow him.

She knew it might happen. They don’t talk about it, but they both know. Someday, Sabrina’s going to have to be an adult, and Puck won’t. She’s not sure she wants to be an adult, but she doesn’t think she wants to be stuck, either. Doesn’t want to be powerless forever.

There’s nothing else to do, though, so she rolls her head to look at Puck upside-down, who’s eating another Milky Way, and says, “Pass me one of those.”

*

There are Everafters in New York City, of course. Sabrina sneaks out over the weekends, meets Puck’s brother. Gets in trouble. Finds out the Scarlet Hand is here, too. Tells her dad, hopes it’ll get them moved home. It doesn’t, it just gets her in a different kind of trouble. She doesn’t care, keeps sneaking out to get in the right kind of trouble, the kind that means she’s part of her family, still sort of connected to Puck.

In three years, when the barrier comes crumbling down, and the Everafters start trying, really and truly, to take over the world, it pays off. Because now nowhere is safe. And she wants to tell her dad she told him so, but she’s busy trying to watch the news that her parents won’t let her see and find out if her friends are safe and everything is loud and angry and dangerous and she tried to prepare but it wasn’t enough.

They still make her go to school. It’s stupid. None of this matters, and she tells them that over and over, but they make her go anyway, and when she’s proven right because there’s a lockdown on the third day since the Everafters declared war, she’s just angry about it.

She’s hiding in the bathroom with two other girls who got caught between classes, and the other two are crying, when noises come down the hall in their direction. Sabrina looks around for something she can use as a weapon. 

The door swings open.

Sabrina prepares herself for a fight.

She’s hit in the face before she can do anything, by a small projectile—a bullet? Since when do Everafters use guns? She’d have thought getting shot would hurt more.

She looks down. No blood on the ground. 

Just a green skittle.

She doesn’t have to look up to know who’s going to say “Hey, Grimm.” She doesn't know what's coming next, but as soon as she hears Puck's voice, she knows the can handle it. Together.

[sleepysheikahtortl]

Hi, wherever you are! Since it’s almost Halloween for me (might already be for you, idk), I thought this might be fun:

Name what YOU think would be your favorite character’s candy-in a modern setting ofc. And you can do multiple characters too, don’t worry!

I did not mean to offend anyone who doesn’t celebrate; I completely understand that different people celebrate different things!

Thanks! 

For me: (These are characters from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity)

Impa: 3 Musketeers. She strikes me as the kind of person who really appreciates chocolate. She also likes Milky Way a lot, but thinks it’s better without the caramel. She also loves stuff like Snickers and Kit Kat, y’know, all the good chocolatey stuff.

Purah: Nerds. Or Nerd Ropes. She loves the flavor, and plus, she loves to aggravate Impa by taking FOREVER to eat them. Sometimes she’s up till midnight eating even a small box of those things. Don’t even get me started on a normal box or a rope.

Robbie: Starbursts. He is a big fan of all of the fruity, chewy stuff, and these are one of his favorites, not only because he likes the flavor but also because they are quick, easy, and clean. I am going purely on Hcs now, but since he doesn’t like eating things that are messy, inconvenient, or take long, they are perfect. He can just stick a few in his pockets since they’re individually wrapped and eat them when he’s feeling hungry. Maybe it doesn’t fill him up, but it can take the edge off of the worst of it, especially when he sucks on it. No one really approves of this, especially Purah, since it can make him forget about mealtimes even more easily. But hey, for him, they’re the best.

[ufuckingpastry]

So I tried an ADHD tip from my therapist/things that I found online modified in a way that I hoped would actually work and??? It did???

So my job has me doing a lot of reports. I don't mind doing these reports, but also it's honestly kind of boring and repetitive and my brain just does not want to do them. So I can't keep focused on my work whatsoever.

So what I did today was for every 2 hours I was working, I treated myself to a starburst. Nice candy, makes me happy to have it, plus sugar to spike me up from crashing in the middle of the day. So at 9, 11, 1, and 3, I had my treat. And like? The weirdest fucking thing happened. I was able to stay focused.

Like, 11 am, I hit a mental wall and my brain just threw its hands and said "nope! No more on this!" But here I am like, "oh wait it's 11, have your treat" and suddenly my brain was fine with focusing again. Or at 2:30 today, I wanted to try spacing out like I normally do, but my brain would not let me. Cuz if I space out, then I'm not working and I might not get that treat!

I picked starburst not just cuz I like it, but I also like stimming with my mouth, since it keeps my hands free for using. And sucking on starbursts are a nice texture thing so boom.

I'm honestly just surprised by how well it worked. And it was just super easy to do. It did make me hungry so um, slightly mixed results.

[whitehotharlots]

Liberal cruelty has consquences

This semester is winding down. As I am desperate to avoid grading student papers, I’ve spent the morning reading longish-form online articles. I just came across one that I feel very conflicted about. The online reaction to it as been troubling. So I don’t know if I have anything particularly coherent to say, but I’d like to talk about it.

The anonymously written piece is titled “What Happened After My 13-Year-Old Son Joined the Alt Right.”  It documents a young man’s journey from a garden variety, liberal-leaning goon to a frothing neo nazi mutant.

The piece is understandably sympathetic, seeing as it was written by the boy’s parent. The writer’s whiny and heavy handed tone caused me, and most of my e-pals, to dismiss it. If anything, the essay showcases an immense failure of parenting. If my child were to ask me to take him or her to a “Traditional American Culture” rally, I would slap the everloving shit of them. Lord knows how many times the kid’s parents had dropped the ball before it ever got to that point.

But then I re-read the start of the article, in which the parent identifies the trigger point for their son’s downward slide:

One morning during first period, a male friend of Sam’s mentioned a meme whose suggestive name was an inside joke between the two of them. Sam laughed. A girl at the table overheard their private conversation, misconstrued it as a sexual reference, and reported it as sexual harassment. Sam’s guidance counselor pulled him out of his next class and accused him of “breaking the law.” Before long, he was in the office of a male administrator who informed him that the exchange was “illegal,” hinted that the police were coming, and delivered him into the custody of the school’s resource officer. At the administrator’s instruction, that man ushered Sam into an empty room, handed him a blank sheet of paper, and instructed him to write a “statement of guilt.”

No one called me as this unfolded, even though Sam cried for about six hours straight as staff members parked him in vacant offices to keep him away from other students. When he stepped off the bus that afternoon and I asked why his eyes were so swollen, he informed me that he would probably be suspended, but possibly also expelled and arrested.

If Kafka were a middle-schooler today, this is the nightmare novel he would have written.

At a meeting two days later with my husband, Sam, and me, the administrator piled more accusations on top of the harassment charge—even implying, with undisguised hostility, that Sam and his friend were gay. He waved in front of us a statement from the girl at the table and insisted that Sam would need to defend himself against her claims if he wanted to prove his innocence. But the administrator refused to reveal the particulars of the complaint (he had also blacked out identifying details, FBI-style) and then hid the paperwork under a book. He declared that it was his primary duty, as a school official and as a father of daughters, to believe and to protect the girls under his care.

Eck… who edited this? It would have worked so much better without a fucking Kafka reference.

So, maybe it was the tone. I dunno. But most readers seem to regard this section as exaggerated, possibly fabricated.  The takeaway was “boo hoo, the nazi kid got punished for sexually harassing  a girl.” Heck: If a reader is truly dedicated to the #BelieveAllWomen mantra, then this description doesn’t warrant sympathy even if it’s entirely true. The kid said something that upset the girl. It wasn’t directed to her and it wasn’t about her. But still, he upset her, and she’s a girl, so he is bad and deserved whatever punishment was doled out to him.

And this got me thinking about my experiences in high school, as a student in the late 90s and a teacher in the mid-aughts. Administrators seemed to always be adopting some or other policy of harsh punishment for bad behavior: zero tolerance toward weapons, drugs, hats, disrespectful posture, electronic devices, swearing, Simpsons t-shirts, and mentally unhygenic reading materials. During dances and social gatherings, my middle school allowed students to bring in CDs from home. That was a decent policy, but anyone who attempted to play a “hip hop” track would receive an immediate suspension for “endorsing violence,” regardless of the track’s lyrical content. My high school adopted a firm anti-bullying policy, but once a boy came to school wearing a gothic dress as some kind of vague transgressive statement, and two separate male teachers called him a fag--out in the open, in front of everybody, as part of the official business of teaching.

Once, in 8th grade, two kids were caught taking over-the-counter caffeine pills. They didn’t get sick or anything; a girl saw them and she narced. They were arrested by the school resource officer, taken in a cop car to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped, and then summarily expelled, their young lives effectively ruined over 50 milligrams of a safe and legal stimulant. At an emergency assembly held the next day, the frog-faced principal croaked out a dire warning that the use of such drugs was strictly forbidden and we would all be subjected to the same fate, should we attempt to sneak in any No Doz. As he issued his stern warning, he slurped gluttonously from a 22-ounce mug of gas station coffee.

The point is, zero tolerance never really means zero tolerance. Rules are always--always, literally always, without exception in the whole of human history--enforced arbitrarily. Harsh policies rarely make anyone safer. They are employed instead to further humiliate and brutalize those who have already been rejected by the system. In my last two paragraphs, I cited the dumbest and most conspicuous examples of arbitrary cruelty that happened to pop into my head. This doesn’t cover the everyday, petty cruelties that teachers and administrators would exact upon kids they simply didn’t like. Without exception, these were the kids who were already marginalized: effeminate boys, masculine but unathletic girls, kids who dressed poorly, kids who spoke with accents, black kids, kids with learning disabilities or behavioral problems. These kids would be given detentions or even suspensions for minor infractions--looking away from the chalkboard, slouching, sneaking in candy, laughing at importune times, etc. It wasn’t the teacher’s fault, of course: zero tolerance and all that. But, strangely, the zero tolerance policies never seemed to apply to the popular, athletic, and/or well-connected kids. If Suzie Creamcheese was caught sneaking some Starburst during Algebra--well, she’s probably hungry, seeing as she works so hard. If Raul, Roofus, or Sheena were caught doing the same? God help them.

Some teachers were nicer than others, of course. Some were downright supportive. Others were simply evil. There was one, when I was in 7th grade, who was particularly repulsive and cruel--no kidding, his admiration of Rush Limbaugh was formative in my early-adopted hatred of American conservatives. He had matted red hair and teeth like a cracked picket fence and would wear a leather jacket out to lunch. Anyhow, he would prattle on about his hatred of kids who “Just. Refuse. To. Learn.” These kids were almost always black. Pure coincidence, I’m sure. He’d make a show of tossing them out of class--sometimes physically--for infractions as minor as getting an answer wrong when called upon. One time, a twitchy white kid who wore the same t-shirt every day called him out: It’s unfair, he said, that I’m getting thrown out of class for getting an answer wrong, when right before me another kid got several chances to respond.

The teacher turned beet red. He got on his knees and put his face two inches in front of the twitchy kid’s eyes. 

“I’m not throwing you out because you got the answer wrong,” he explained. “I’m throwing you out because you are you.”

Again, these are the conspicuous examples. The everyday stuff is harder to describe twenty-five years after it happened.  Most people were not brutalized and they didn’t have a single moment that ruined their life, but they were still exposed to a deeply unfair and cruel system, and such exposure naturally engenders feelings of betrayal, hopelessness, and anger.

Here’s my story--it’s particularly stupid. 9th grade. One day,  I walked into Spanish class, and the large woman who teaches in that classroom before my section grabbed me by the collar, physically lifted me out of my chair, and shoved her moist biscuit of a hand into my face. “What is this,” she demanded.

This was all very sudden. I could see nothing but her hand, which had a distinct fecal aroma.

“I don’t know,” I said.

She removed her hand. I looked down toward desk. She stood silently. I had no fucking idea what she was talking about.

“You’re gonna tell me what you did, right now, or I’m gonna double the detentions.”

I was still silent. Seriously, no idea what was going on. This enraged her. She began to count upward, starting at 3 detentions and stopping at 10, by which point tears were welling up and my face was flushed. I said I seriously did not know. She pointed to a small pentagram someone had engraved into the desktop. The desks, by the way, were movable. Anyone could have done it. She blamed me because she didn’t like me. I served 10 detentions and had to pay over a hundred dollars (a shitload of money for a 13-year-old) to get the desk refinished.

This isn't the end of the world, obviously. But it really, oddly broke me. Before, I had thought that so long as I did was I supposed to and didn’t break any rules, I’d be okay. Now I realized that was bullshit, that any vindictive cunt with a few ounces of power could punish me for any reason, at any time, and I wouldn’t be allowed to mount a defense. That’s the sort of thing that fucks with a kid’s head.  I mean, christ--it’s 23 years later and I’m still kinda pissed about it. I hope that woman is dead.

I regained a sense of control by stealing books from the woman’s classroom. A few times a week, I would grab a textbook when I came in, use it during class, and walk out with it. At the end of the school year, some friends and I burned them in a glorious bonfire along the banks of the Mississippi.

My response was petty and destructive, but I don’t feel any pengs of guilt or shame in remembering it. I had to do something to reassert agency, to feel like I had some control, and I managed to find a way to go about doing it that didn’t hurt anybody or get me into trouble. Regardless of the morality of my particular response, we can agree that kids are now much more surveilled than they were 20-odd years ago, and that minor mischief is now much more harshly criminalized. If a kid finds themself on the outs within their school, there’s really no way they can push back. Their only available avenue of asserting control over their lives is to wander into welcoming communities elsewhere…

One more anecdote then I’m done….

My sister was in high school during 9/11. The attacks were on a Tuesday, and the whole rest of the week was assemblies and talking circles and other such activities meant to assuage fear and gin up the hatred of the dirty brown bastards that done this. Two of my sister’s friends, older boys, were the sort of kids who read Howard Zinn and listened to Jello Biafra’s spoken word records. During one meeting, they expressed exasperation at a girl who was sobbing because she just, like, didn’t know why anyone would do that. The boys certainly didn’t approve of the attacks, but they tried to explain the whole concept of the US being an unhinged and murderous imperial power that had done much worse stuff all over the globe. The audience gasped. The boys were hauled into the principal’s office. They were charged with verbally assaulting the crying girl. One was suspended. The other expelled.

So, I dunno… go ahead. If you think due process is evil, that all victimhood claims are valid and should be taken at face value, and that kids of lesser social status should be demonized and made into criminals for upsetting members of the fair sex, then you do you. That’s fine if that’s what you believe. But please don’t be so naive as to think that the bulk of these newly criminalized behaviors are going to actually be malignant, or that the genuinely malignant behaviors of secure kids will be curbed in any way. Please respect yourself enough to realize that school admins aren’t magic sages with mature moral compasses--a plurality of them were business majors in college, for fuck’s sake. And most importantly, don’t be surprised if the kids you dismiss wind up doing some crazy or awful shit in response.

[lovemesomesurveys]

Hello there, can I have your name? Stephanie.

Have you gotten close to anyone recently? Not anyone new, no.

Out of all your friends, who do you spill ALL your secrets to? I spill everything in these surveys.

Do you miss the way things used to be? I miss the way a lot of things used to be.

On your “lazy days” what are you doing? So what do I do everyday? Lie around in bed switching between social medias, watch YouTube videos, watch TV, read, scroll through Tumblr, do surveys, play some Animal Crossing: New Horizons, sleep...

Do you remember the first conversation you had with the person you have feelings for? I don’t have romantic feelings for anyone at this time.

Are you anything like you were at this point last year? Unfortunately. Have you ever got a D or F on your report card? No.

If you could go back and change something in the past 5 months would you? How about 5 years?

Do you like anybody? Not in the romantic sense.

Do you believe that people talk about you behind your back? I don’t think I’m on anyone’s radar.

If you had twins, would you give them rhyming names? Not having kids, but in the hypothetical scenario where I had twins; no, I would not.

Do you remember what you were like a year ago? Yeah, like I said I’m the same now, which means I haven’t changed much. And that’s not good.

What are you listening to? An ASMR video.

Would you rather go back a week or forward? Forward.

Did you do something mean to someone today? No.

What holiday is your birthday closet to? 4th of July.

Is there anyone that you wish was IN your life who used to be? I do miss having Ty in my life and the way things were between us a few years ago. I’m such a mess now, though. :(

Give us a lyric from a song you’re listening to: I’m not listening to any music right now.

Is your birthday in less than 6 months? I already had my birthday 3 months ago.

Do you think your zodiac sign fits your personality? No, I’m so opposite of how a Leo is said to be.

What brings out the worst in you? My mental health has.

How’re you feeling right now? Tired and kinda hungry.

When’s the last time you ate at Taco Bell and with who? I haven’t ate at a Taco Bell in several years.

Are you closer to your father or mother? My mom.

Are you a morning person or a night person? Night.

What are you supposed to be doing right now? I mean, I should be asleep at 630 in the morning, but that just wouldn’t be me now would it?

Would you ever get a tattoo? I’ve wanted one for several years, but I just don’t see it ever happening.

Are you one of those people who hate crying in front of others? Most definitely.

Is anyone on your mind right now? No. 

What’s the greatest thing that happened today? Nothing much has happened so far.

Are you afraid of the future? Very.

Do you believe in true love? Yeah. I just don’t see it happening for me. 

Has anyone ever given you jewelry on Christmas? Yeah, my family.

What do you prefer, Skittles or Starbursts? I liked the strawberry Starbursts. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I had Skittles or Starbursts, though. It’s been a longgggg time. Like honestly, probably not since high school.

Mike & Ikes or Jolly Ranchers? Jolly Ranchers. I don’t think I’ve had those since high school either to be honest. The watermelon ones were the best. Anyone remember the Jolly Ranchers suckers? Those were really popular when I was in middle school. My school used to sell candy and ice cream after school and I’d always get some of those and/or those caramel apple suckers, and a Superstar (chocolate banana ice cream bar). 

How are you feeling right now? We’ve been through this already, I feel tired and kinda hungry.

Could you go the rest of your life without smoking a cigarette? I’ve gone 31 years so far and have no desire to start.

Were you happy when you woke up today? I haven’t gone to bed, yet, but I never wake up happy. I wake up feeling like a zombie.

Do you believe that every one has a soul-mate? I don’t know, man.

Have you ever fallen into a mud puddle? No.

Do you like winter? I love it.

Do you wear your seatbelt in the car? Always.

Will you talk to someone on the phone tonight? Not likely unless my mom calls me on her lunch break like she sometimes does.

Was today a good day? It’s only 6:46AM.

What woke you up this morning? ...

Do you prefer to take showers at night or in the morning? I always take them at night.

How did your day go yesterday? Typical day for me.

Are you talking to anyone? No.

Do you look people in the eye when you talk to them? Yeah. I look away now and then, but yeah.

Have you cried on somebody’s shoulder? Yes.

Have you ever played naked twister? Uh, no.

Will this weekend be a good one? *shrug*

Do you call people Douche-bags? I’ve said it about people, but not to anyone.

Would you marry for money? Absolutely not.

Did you kiss or hug anyone yesterday? Nope.

Can you sleep in jeans? I couldn’t now as someone who only wears leggings and hasn’t even worn jeans at all in like 3 years.

What color are your eyes? Brown.

Is your hair longer than your shoulders? Yeah, it goes down to my butt.

This time last year, can you remember who you liked? I wasn’t interested in anyone in the romantic sense last year.

What are you doing at this very moment? Hmm, take a guess.

What was the last piece of clothing you wore that didn’t belong to you? I don’t wear clothing that doesn’t belong to me. <<<

If you had the chance to see ONE band, (past or present) live, who would you pick? I wish I got to see Linkin Park while Chester was still alive. </3 :(

How long have you been in your current relationship? Sighhhhh.

Are you a patient person? No.

Would you get in trouble if you came home drunk? No, I’m 31 years old.

Do you ever think about things and start to worry? Haha only all the time.

Are you one to get annoyed easily? Yes. Somedays any little thing can do it.

Do you have any pets? Yep, a doggo named Princess Leia. <3

Is the last person you kissed yours? I don’t own anyone.

Are you a player or do you keep to one person? I’m certainly not a player. I’ve been played, though.

Was it a boy or a girl to text you first today? No one has as of now.

Are you scared of spiders? Uh, extremely.

Do you hate the last boy who talked to you? No, I love my brother.

Where are you? In my room sitting on my bed.

Do you think that crying is a form of weakness? No. I’m just hard on myself because I feel like such a crybaby. I’m like, jeez you’re crying again what’s wrong with you? Or about how I cry over the same things, but not actively or even trying to do anything about them. I’m just not very understanding or kind to myself.

Do you tend to make things complicated? Yeppp. :/

Have you ever slept on a couch with someone? No.

Have you ever gotten to the point where you’ve said “I’m done trying”? I’ve felt that way many times throughout my life. And there have been times I did not stop trying when it came to certain things. I also have neglected myself and my life in a lot of ways these past few years, so I feel like I haven’t been trying at all. Do you miss someone? I’ll always miss my loved ones who have passed away.

Do you think things will change in the next few months? No.

Have you cried this past week? Of course.

Do you think two people can last forever? It happens.

Last reason you threw up? I had a stomach bug or something. 

Do you think relationships are even worth it? Yes.

Does it bother you when people try to make you jealous? No one tries to make me jealous, but yeah it would. Like that’s just stupid.

Is it possible to be single and happy? Yeah, there’s lots of happy single people. 

Do you like when people play with your hair? I loved that when I was a kid.

Are you mad at someone right now? No.

Best memory? I couldn’t choose just one.

Do you remember your dreams? No, for some reason it’s like they vanish as soon as I wake up.

First off, single or taken? Single. As if that hasn’t been made abundantly clear by now. 

Do you wear a lot of makeup? No. I haven’t worn any makeup in like 3 years.

What are you wearing right now? Leggings and a Scream shirt.

Is there someone you want to fight? No. I’m not a fighter.

What kind of hairstyle do you have right now? It’s up in a bun.

What’s annoying you right now? Mehhh.

Do you have your license? Nope.

Are you tired? Of course I am.

Who will you be with today/tonight? I’ll be with all my family at various times because they each have work but different schedules. We’ll all be home together tonight when they’re all off and home for the night. I’ll be with my doggo all day.

What color is the shirt you are wearing? Black.

Last person to call you? My mom.

Do you have any piercings? Just my earlobes.

Have you ever kissed someone who you weren't dating? Yes.

What was the reason for your last tear shed? Blah.

Do you go to school? If so, what one? Nope, I finished 5 years ago.

Ever feel like you have been replaced? I’ve felt that way many times before. I definitely know my former friends have replaced me, but that’s completely to be expected. I hope they have found better friends than me.

What are you doing tonight? Same stuff I do every night.

Who were you last in car with? My mom.

Would you rather write a paper or give a speech? Write a paper. I definitely do not miss having to give speeches or do presentations in front of the class. 

Are you lying to yourself about something? Maybe.

What is your favorite thing to eat with peanut butter? Toast, PB & jelly, bananas, chocolate. 

Your mood summed up into one word? Blah.

Is the person you last texted single? No.

Are you a happy person? No. Have you had your birthday this year? Yeah, three months ago.

Do you think any of your exes will eventually want to be with you again? Nopeee. And that’s perfectly fine cause I don’t want to be them either.

Was New Year’s Eve enjoyable? It was okay. I miss how we were all like, woo roaring 20′s and 2020 vision we’re gonna see things clearly and how we had absolutely NO idea what was soon to come and how quickly the world would change. Although, I will say I think we have seen a lot of things more clearly this year, it was just a lot bigger and more serious than we thought. 

If you could move away, no questions asked, where would you move to?  Hmm. Not sure. My family and I do really want to move in the near future, though.

What would you change about your life right now? A lot of things...

Has anything upset you in the past week? Yes.

Are you on the phone? Nope.

What’s your favorite color? Pastels, rose gold, coral, mint green, and yellow.

Which do you prefer, relationship or a one-night-stand? Relationship. I’m not interested in a one night stand.

[staytheb]

Gotta Go

Pairing: SF9′s Youngbin x OC [Seul] || TBZ’s Sangyeon x OC [Yeon] Genre: slice of life, slight fluff, slight angst Word Count: 3,482 Summary: Seul and Yeon are both at work, but suddenly have to leave. Although Yeon returns to work and Seul doesn’t. KYB: errands/acting secretary || LSY: report

Warning: um... nothing i guess? lol

well, hello! it’s been a while. got in a mood to write a bit and to distract myself and came up with this. this again is originally another work i had, but re-did it for this. so i combined Seul and Yeon in this bit tying them in a little better compare to separate stories of theirs. other than that, not sure how this will go as i just found an old work and this came about. sorry that it’s not like a full story or anything, but i hope you enjoy it as much as i wrote for it. lol but yeah the title is bleh and i just need to title it with something and just came up with that. well, happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

Seul sat in-between Inseong and Dawon as the Marketing Department was having one of their quarterly meetings. This was the first meeting that Seul was present for since she started working for NEOZ Group a few months ago.

"Ms. Lee, you sit right here next to me." Youngbin stated as he motioned to the seat left of him for Seul to take.

"To better assist me."

Youngbin cast his personal assistant a friendly smile and Seul nodded with a small smile as she quickly stood while the two males sniggered knowingly at her. Seul slightly hushed them to stop it before making her way towards her boss and sat to his left while glaring at the two males who only cast her playful smiles. Seul cast Youkyung a smile who was sitting to the right of Youngbin, but the female only rolled her eyes before turning away from Seul. Seul brushed her off and got herself situated and glanced up to see that Dawon had purposely chosen to sit across from her with a playful expression.

"Why are you sitting right there?" Seul whispered as Dawon grinned before answering.

"So that I can watch you fall asleep like you've done back in school."

"That's messed up and I've never fallen asleep. I always doodled and pretended like I was paying attention. Thank you very much."

"Now that's messed up."

The duo's conversation was interrupted when Youngbin started the meeting.

"Good morning, everyone." Youngbin greeted the employees as he held a small remote control for the powerpoint presentation.

"For this meeting, we're going to discuss last quarter's activities, the activities for this quarter, and the social media and video advertisements for Mrs. Bages' product launch."

Within ten minutes of the meeting Seul already lost interest and began doodling on the agenda out of boredom to keep herself awake. Of course she listened in on what was being talked about, but for her she retained information better when taking partial notes. A moment later Seul's attention went to a small balled up piece of paper thrown by Dawon. She shot the male a blank look as Dawon signaled for her to open it. She did so and saw that Dawon had written 'you're gonna get caught' and in response she crumpled up the paper again with the male pouting.

Soon enough Seul was snapped back to reality five minutes later when she felt something hit her arm again. She looked towards Dawon who grinned at her while pointing at the papered star he had flicked at her to open it. Seul ignored him and pushed the paper back towards the male as to not wanting to deal with the whole note passing situation if they were caught. Dawon quietly rose from his swivel chair to retrieve the note and once he successfully got it back he had sat down only to crash to the floor with the chair rolling away once he tried to stand back up. All eyes were on Dawon as he silently laughed at his embarrassment and continued to just sit on his knees instead of back onto his chair.

"Is everything alright, Mr. Lee?" Youngbin asked while pausing in mid-speech.

"Ah, yes, I'm fine. Just wanted to test out the rolling chair." Dawon replied nonchalantly as he attempted to do just that.

"I thought you tested that out the first time we held a meeting." Youngbin said in amusement while Dawon coughed to hide his embarrassment again.

"Did I? I don't remember."

"I see. Well, let me finish this up and you can present your data analysis with Yoonho afterwards."

Youngbin continued on with his talk for another few minutes before handing it off to Yoonho and Dawon afterwards. Seul paid attention for a few seconds before realizing that she already knew what it was about as she had helped Dawon and Yoonho prepare this just a few days ago. Seul's attention went back to the paper before her as she continued to doodle various things. Unconsciously her right hand had slipped into her dress' pockets and was surprised when she pulled out a strawberry starburst. She had forgotten that her outfit actually had pockets for once. She happily unwrapped the sweet-tart treat and popped it into her mouth.

"What do you got there, Seul?"

"Nothing for you."

"That's not nice."

"Yeah, well, you should probaby shut up as we're in a meeting."

Seul wasn't aware that she was casually speaking with Youngbin as she was more focused on her candy.

"Really? Anwyays, are you going to share, Seul?"

The same male voice asked her and she automatically responded with something she would say to her sister upon hearing her name like always still not aware of the sitaution.

"Not with you."

Before realizing that it wasn't Yeon, but her boss that had asked that question. She hastily looked over at Youngbin with a sheepish look.

"Ah, sorry about that, Mr. Kim. I didn't mean to be so frank with you. My apologies. Um, but here you go, sir."

Seul whispered in embarrassment as she slid a lemon starburst towards the male while thinking why he had called her so casually within the work setting and of their different ranks. Youngbin chuckled softly as he took the item hiding the fact that he enjoyed the reaction he got out of his personal assistant.

"It's okay, Ms. Lee."

Seul just nodded although she just realized that he had addressed her properly this time. She didn't have much time to think about it until she noticed a small piece of crumpled paper coming into her view. Seul raised a brow wondering who it could be until she noticed that Inseong was looking at her expectantly. She realized it was him as he shot her a knowing look. Seul rolled her eyes, but actually went to read it since Inseong wasn't anything like Dawon. That was until she read the content and knew that he was just like him as Inseong had written if she liked their boss or not. Seul shook her head as a response, but Inseong didn't believe her. She didn't care if he did or not.

Once the meeting was over, Seul returned to her desk tired and hungry as she felt drained for some odd reason. It wasn't even lunch time yet. She tiredly placed her head on top of the files of her desk while her desk phone machine was flashing red indicating she already had a voicemail to respond back to. Seul sighed as she closed her eyes to recuperate before going back into work mode. It didn't last long as her short break was disrupted when she heard a file or two slapped against her desk. Seul lifted her head to come face to face with a gleeful looking Dawon. She did not like the look on his face.

"Yes, Dawon?"

"So, you and the b-"

Seul interrupted him.

"There's nothing going on between us."

"Oh, c'mon, don't lie."

"I'm not. Seriously. There's nothing going on between us."

Dawon was gonna tease Seul some more, but she glared at him.

"Don't you have some other work to finish?"

"Well, yes, I do."

"Then why are you standing there?"

"To bother you like always."

"Gosh you're so annoying."

"I know, but anyways, you an-"

Seul shot him a dark look.

"You should probably shut up."

"And if I don't?"

Dawon grinned at her mischievously.

"hen I'ma beat you up."

Dawon backed off from the subject.

"Okay, whoa, whoa. Calm down. Usually that's Yeon's line, but alright."

Seul rolled her eyes.

"Because you talk too much and like bothering people for the fun of it."

"You right."

He chuckled.

"Anyways," Dawon changed the subject, "I need to discuss with you about what cake to get Hwiyoung for his birthday coming up soon."

"Why do you need to discuss that with me?"

"I wanna get everyone's opinions and help on it."

"You don't need my help. You can do that by yourself."

"I could, but I remember that you used to bake, right?"

"Not really."

"But don't you make cookies for Jangmi?"

The phone on Seul's desk rang and she ignored Dawon to answer the call.

"Hello, this is Seul Lee of the Marketing Department of NEOZ Group."

Seul reached for a pen and paper as she took down the caller's message and Dawon reluctantly returned to his desk. For a good hour and a half Seul had been constantly talking on the phone with clients about business ordeals that she hadn't realized her own phone going off as it was muted, but set to vibrate mode. Seul also hadn't paid attention to the beeps that sounded when she was speaking with the clients indicating that another caller was trying to reach her. So when she heard her name called by her sister while in mid-talk with another client she was confused.

"Yeon?"

"Yo, we gotta go." Yeon told her as she came up to her desk almost out of breath.

The others in the office watched the interaction between the sisters.

"What do you mean we gotta go?"

"It's Mom."

Seul made an annoyed face.

"So? What about her?"

Yeon's face turned serious. This caught Seul's attention.

"Yeon. What about Mom?"

Yeon stayed silent, but Seul noticed how her sister's eyes glistened over and face read with worry.

"Hello, Mr. Kwon. I'm sorry, but I'll have to call you back another time. Something urgent has come up. Goodbye."

She hung up with a current client before gathering her things.

"Seul, is everything okay?" Dawon suddenly asked upon seeing Seul packing her things in a hurry.

"Sorry, Dawon. I gotta go."

The pair anxiously waited in the waiting room of the hospital along with their mother's boyfriend, Yongin, and their father, Kisuk, and his girlfriend, Sanghee. Yongin has been waiting for more than two hours while the sisters have been there for less than an hour, and  Kisuk and Sanghee just arrived several minutes ago. Yeon only informed Seul that their mom had fainted as Yeon was the only one that had picked up Yongin's phone call and he only informed her of that small information. Other than that the sisters didn't know anything else as they awaited news.

"Hello, good evening. I'm Doctor Oh." The doctor greeted the quintet as their attention turned to him ten minutes later.

"How is she? Is she doing well? Nothing's wrong with Narae, right? Oh please tell me that she's alright and that's nothing wrong with her." Yongin fired questions at the doctor before Doctor Oh shot him a reassuring smile to calm the male.

"Ms. Jung is fine. Are you the husband?"

"Ah, no. I'm Narae's boyfriend. Um," Yongin motioned towards Kisuk, "He's her ex-husband."

The doctor shifted his eyes towards Kisuk as everyone felt awkward at their current situation.

"What's wrong with our mom?" Seul asked, breaking the awkwardness and just wanting to get this done and over with.

"Nothing serious, but your mother is eighteen weeks pregnant." Doctor Oh informed them of the news.

The quintet went silent once more. They weren't sure what to feel, but it was Yeon that broke the silence.

"Are you saying that our mom is having a baby? At her age?"

"Yes, that is correct."

The sisters breathed a sigh of relief and the worries that Seul had disappeared although she was now slightly annoyed.

"I can't believe she got herself knocked up."

"You're telling me." Yeon agreed with a shake of her head before looking over at Yongin.

"Well, congratulations, you're going to be a father."

"Yeah, Yongin, congratulations. You're gonna be a father of a tiny human." Seul mused as Yeon nudged her playfully.

"Uh, thank you." Yongin responded while still trying to process the information.

"Yes, congratulations, Yongin." Sanghee congratulated Yongin with a happy expression while looking over at Kisuk fondly. "Hearing those words are such wonderful news, isn't it, dear?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, it is." Kisuk responded a bit distracted although he looked over at his two daughters.

Yeon and Seul avoided eye contact with him and just looked at the doctor.

"Is that why she fainted, Doctor Oh?" Seul asked a moment later.

The doctor nodded.

"Yes, although it was mainly due to fatigue and malnourishment. I also believe there was some added stress over the past month that had eventually overwhelmed your mother causing her to lose consciousness."

Doctor Oh handed the sisters a piece of paper which Yeon took.

"I recommend for her to rest plenty, take vitamins and supplements, eat properly, watch her stress and activity levels, exercise accordingly, and to schedule monthly or even bi-weekly check-ups with her obstetrician or her main doctor that she's currently seeing."

The sisters nodded as Doctor Oh looked to the time on the wall before returning her gaze onto the quintet.

"If you would like you're all more than welcome to visit Ms. Jung for the time being, but only one of you can stay the night."

Before Yongin could suggest for one of the sisters to do it, the pair gave it up to him.

"You should stay, Yongin. We're fine."

"Ah, yes. I think that's a good choice." Kisuk agreed with his daughters.

"Good. Ms. Jung's should be fine with visitors in a few minutes." Doctor Oh informed them with a polite smile before walking away.

"Yongin, I believe you should go in first to see Narae." Sanghee suggested as Yongin nodded absent-mindedly before doing just that.

"So," Kisuk began, but Seul cut him off.

"You and Sanghee can visit Mom. Yeon and I have other things to take care of."

"I see." Their father responded a bit dejectedly. "Well, take care."

"Thanks. You, too." Seul curtly responded before she and Yeon bid them goodbye.

Yeon was the only one to return to work as Seul had to meet up with a lawyer that finally got back to her and could only meet today and soon to go about legal procedures concerning Seokwon. At the same time something had come up for Yuna and she was unable to care for Jangmi for the rest of the day. So that left Yeon to babysit her niece at her job even though she could've just not gone back, but she remembered that she had to finish a few reports that were already due by the end of the week and didn't need more piling up.

So when Yeon appeared with her niece at the lobby Chahee beamed at the child and told Yeon that her daughter was adorable and looked just like her. Yeon had to immediately correct Chahee who quickly apologized for the assumption. After clearing up that situation Chahee had issued a special visitor pass for the child with an image of some cartoon character featured on the pass. Soon afterwards they rode the elevator which Yeon forgot that her niece found very amusing and almost continued the mini ride for Jangmi until remembering she couldn't play. Walking hand-in-hand with Jangmi who seemed to look around the office in awe, Yeon's path was stopped by two of her colleagues, Kevin and Jacob.

"So, Yeon, who is this?" Kevin asked in almost a sing-song like tone while he and Jacob crouched down to Jangmi's level.

"Hi." Jacob greeted the toddler in a soft tone. "I'm Jacob."

"And I'm Kevin. Hi." Kevin followed after.

Yeon didn't bother answering as she just let her niece greet the two males.

"Hi." Jangmi greeted with a toothy grin. "I'm MiMi."

"How old are you, MiMi?" The duo asked.

Jangmi held up three fingers as the males were impressed.

"Wow."

Jangmi giggled at their reactions. The pair continued to gush at the toddler and Yeon had to finally drag her niece away from the two males who still wanted to interact with Jangmi. Yeon finally made it to her desk as she got Jangmi situated before she herself could get herself all settled in when she heard her boss' office door opened a few seconds later. Sangyeon hadn't noticed the child while speaking to his secretary in a firm tone.

"Welcome back to work, Ms. Lee. I see that you've returned two hours and fifty-seven minutes later when I wasn't aware that you had left in the first place. Could you tell me why that is please?"

Just as Yeon was going to apologize for her abrupt departure, but she momentarily paused curiously at how detailed the time was that her boss had stated. She shook the thought away and had barely opened her mouth until hers and Sangyeon's focus turned onto the toddler when Jangmi greeted the male.

"Hi."

Sangyeon's demeanor changed as he cast the child a warm smile and greeted the young child.

"Well, hello to you."

Yeon was weirded out by her boss' sudden behavior, but didn't comment on it as to not return the attention back to her. Instead she amusingly watched the two interact with one another thinking that she was off the hook. That was until Sangyeon remembered that he was at work and reminded himself of that before he righted himself.

"Um, why is this child here, Ms. Lee?" He asked, facing Yeon again. "Is she your daughter?"

"She's in my care for the time being." She answered him. "And no, she's not. She's my niece."

"Oh. Okay, but you do know that it's not a place for a child to be. Correst?"

"I'm well aware of that, but some things came up and I'm the only one that can look after her."

"I see. Is that why you left all of a sudden?"

"No. It was something else."

"Then why didn't you pick up my calls?"

Sangyeon changed the subject in a nonchalant manner, but Yeon quirk a brow in confusion.

"When?"

"I've been calling you since I found out you left wondering why you suddenly left without my knowledge or informing me."

"Oh? twelve times?"

"I say it was less than that." Sangyeon commented casually, but he knew it was more than that if you looked through the call history.

Yeon didn't really care as she continued to speak in a nonchalant manner.

"Ah, so that was your number. Yeah, I don't pick up random numbers I don't know even if they call me many times."

Sangyeon scoffed at his secretary's answer.

"Well, now you do and you should save it just in case something like this happens again, Ms. Lee, especially as my secretary."

"Will do, Mr. Lee."

"I believe that you should do it right now."

"Do what?"

"Save my number."

"Oh. Um, sure. Just give me a moment."

Before Sangyeon could actually get his secretary to urgently do that, Yein from Sales arrived to deliver some documents to Sangyeon, but was without a doubt distracted by Jangmi.

"Aww, hi." Yein greeted the child while becoming eye level with her. "What's your name?"

"MiMi." Jangmi answered with a giggle. "Hi."

"Aww, you're so adorable." Yein continued to gush over the child. "Did you come with mommy to work?"

Yeon didn't bother to correct her colleague.

"Auntie isn't my mommy." Jangmi corrected the female instead.

Yeon slightly chuckled at her niece's words as Yein felt a bit sheepish.

"Oh, sorry."

Sangyeon coughed to get Yein's attention.

"Ahem, Ms. Ahn."

Yein didn't hear him as she was too busy communicating with the toddler. Sangyeon coughed louder and said her name louder than last time.

"Ahem, Ms. Ahn."

Yein heard him this time around.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Mr. Lee."

Yein straighten up as she handed the files over to Sangyeon.

"These are for you from Ms. Jung. She wanted to make sure they got to you before lunch time."

She bowed before hurrying away and waving goodbye to Jangmi. Sangyeon scanned the files before casting his eyes onto where Yeon should've been standing, but no longer was. His eyes wandered to find her and spotted her holding the child while making her way somewhere.

"Ms. Lee." He called out to her.

"Ah, yes?" Yeon answered while momentarily stopping to look over at her boss.

"Where are you going?"

"To the toilet. Jangmi needs to go."

"Goooo." Jangmi stressed as Yeon reassured her niece.

"Yes, MiMi, we're going, we're going."

"But I need you to in-"

Sangyeon didn't finish his sentence as Yeon paid him no mind and basically rushed off to get the child to relieve herself without causing some type of accident if she didn't get her niece to the restroom. Sangyeon tsked in annoyance before letting out a controlled breath.

"Deep breath, Sangyeon. Life happens. Just make sure she gets to these by the end of the week and everything's all good."

He let out another calm breath before placing the documents that Yein had handed to him earlier onto Yeon's desk before making his way to his own office.

[joi-in-the-tardis]

Primrose, peony, magnolia. (What? I'm hungry.)

PRIMROSE: Favorite kind of soup?

I’m not much of a soup person, to be honest.  I mean, I’ll eat it but I rarely make it for myself.  

Hmm...  My crockpot stew is probably as close as I get: any veggies/beans that are in my pantry/freezer + whatever meat or meat substitute I have on hand + potatoes + veggie broth + a ton of seasoning.

I do crave chicken noodle soup when I’m sick, though.  And, I can tell you straight out that I’ve never seen the appeal in tomato soup.

PEONY: What’s your favorite hot beverage?

Day-to-day it’s usually a medium or dark roast coffee.  But there’s something about a black tea that, I swear, touches the soul.

MAGNOLIA: Favorite kind of candy?

Pink Starburst (near about the only thing strawberry-flavored that doesn’t taste like burning) or Sour Patch Kids

If we’re talking chocolate, I’m pretty fond of Snickers, Butterfingers, and Almond Joy.  I like my chocolate with stuff in it lol  I used to love Reese’s, but I OD’d on them when I was a teen

Send me some flower asks?

[thisstableground]

I hope you get to sleep soon. I’m hungry so what is the first California food that Vanessa got her boys to try?

this requires a lot more knowledge of the difference between california food and new york food than a lil british girl like me has. honestly i actually feel like she looks in the rental car, sees how many empty candy wrappers and chip packets usnavi’s been accumulating in the footwell of the passenger seat and the first thing she makes him eat is an apple. its not particularly californian but “i ain’t nursin’ you through scurvy, eat a damn fruit”

“i already ate fruit!” he protests

“i told you that starburst are not one of your five a day,” ruben says

“well then they shouldn’t say they got real fruit juice in, should they?”

[wehappywhispersstudent-blog]

Deceit (1)

Pairing: Jungkook x reader

Work count: +1.5k

Warnings: Triggered, Slight cursing

Genre: Angst

A/N: I AIN’T dead! Lol, I’m sorry I said I was posting yesterday but my laziness got the best of me. Btw there is gonna be a 2nd part which is the last! And I hope you love it! Jungkook isn’t like he is in real life. I know for a fact he isn’t like this. This is just for entertainment only. 

Masterlist

Finale

We met when were in high school. The old cliche story where I was the new girl and he showed me around. We talked a few times here and there when we would bump into each other. But after just talking a few times, we became friends, and then best friends. Cool right?

I mean unless you have fallen in love with your best friend then I guess it is pretty cool. I just wish it didn’t happen to me. Even if we were best friends, there are still some boundaries we shouldn’t cross. I mean what if he doesn’t love me back? It could ruin our whole relationship, and I wouldn’t want that to happen to me. I want him in my life and I wouldn’t want to lose him no matter what. Besides, I’m sure he wouldn’t want to date a kid like me. He prefers noona's as he told me once before.

Can’t blame him though. I’m sure they’re far more respected than me.

When he was in 11th grade he tried out for BigHit Entertainment. He had a beautiful voice, I have heard him sing for a while and so I encouraged him to go.

And guess what happened? He made it. I was happy for him for sure.

I met his band member, and they were all so kind and caring. They’re like a second family to me, so welcoming. It was like having 6 older brothers which were amazing since I always wanted older siblings.

I usually go to their dorms whenever they have time and I don’t have much homework. I would spend time mostly with Jungkook. But after a while of visiting them. Jungkook wasn’t there at times, blowing our plans off, or just simply being ‘busy’. It was honestly getting on my nerves, more so, whenever I ask the members what was up they wouldn’t tell me. Simply just changing the subject.

Also, whenever I'm there for movie night, he walks out without a 'hey' or a wave, not even making eye contact. I tried getting him to explain to me, but one day I just exploded.

"C'mon! It'll be fun!" Someone said cheerfully as they tried to get her to say yes.

"Hobi-oppa, you know I would love to but I got homework and-" She was immediately cut off with the same cheerful voice.

"Pah! C'mon! You can do it tomorrow anyway. It's Friday! Besides, you promised movie night.."

She sighed into the phone. Homework wasn't necessarily the problem. She just didn't want to experience the heartbreak again. Seeing him and not having the same bond or relationship was slowly breaking her. Has she done something wrong? Did she say something to infuriate him? Has she-

Her train of thoughts was interrupted by him once again that made her rethink her decision.

"We got all types of candy: white chocolate, Starburst, Reese's, etc. Got coke too." She could hear the sly smirk that was plastered on his face while she cursed under her breath.

He knew her weakness, and he just so decided to use it against her. She sighed for the second time before responding. "Fine, I'm going. But only because of the oh so heavenly food gods are calling me. Then I'm leaving."

She heard a groan at the other side of the line. "I don't know why I'm surprised. But okay deal. See you in an hour!" After that, he hung up.

'No going back now' She started getting her stuff ready, extra clothes, PJs, toothbrush. Anything she needed because after movie night she usually stays over.

She looked at the clock and realized she still had over half an hour until she went over there. She shrugged and started heading out, not before she locked the door, and headed towards their dorm.

She arrived a few minutes early and knocked. She heard a thump inside before hearing whisper-shouts that made her giggle.

"Shit, she's early!" "Put those over there!" "Where!?" "The food isn't ready!" "Just get the popcorn! We'll worry about the food later!"

After hearing them scrambling and shouting random things. Someone finally opened the door. And out came Yoongi with his perfect gummy smile. He was already wearing a silk pajama that fitted him perfectly. His hair was a bit messy and eyes a little droopy.

He greeted me with a simple nod before stepping aside and allowing me in.

"Good for you to join us. We were waiting for you." She snickered at his lie and simply went along with it.

"It's a good thing because I'm kind of hungry right now and would am craving for some chicken." She turned around once she said the last part and nearly started laughing.

He had his eyes wide and tried to cover it with a sneeze. He opened his mouth to say something but cut him off.

"I'm just kidding, later when the movie is finished probably." She said turning around and leaving him terrified as she let out a chuckle.

Walking towards the living room, she met with 5 other men sitting comfortably with blankets and pillows on the floor. She made herself notice by giving out a small cough.

They got up from their spots to greet her one by one. She was happy to see everyone after a long weekend with just school. Stressful moments. After greeting everyone, they sat down on the floor in front of the tv.

After half of the movie, they heard a door open. Looking towards it they saw Jungkook half asleep with hair messy and lips a bit red. Jin looked towards her direction so she wouldn't get the wrong idea. But all he could see was pure hurt and betrayal in his eyes and that hurt him seeing his dongsaeng like that.

Everyone looked at Y/N then back at the TV and started entertaining her so she wouldn't see him. But she was too stubborn, not taking her eyes off of him when he walked into his room and said "I'll be back guys. I need to do something."

They all sighed worriedly as she walked towards Jungkook's room and they hoped for the best.

She knocked on the door and said "Jungkook? I- it's me... Y/N"

No answer.

She sighed "Please Kookie... I just want to talk."

After a few moments of silence, she finally decided to head back before the door was opened.

She took in his appearance. He hadn't changed from his clothes when he entered. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding before being cut off by Jungkook walking away from the door.

She guessed it was a way of letting her in. She hesitantly wet in before closing the door.

Jungkook being on the bed laying down and hand over his eyes, he finally spoke. "What do you want?"

She jumped a little, his voice catching her by surprise before she began. "What did I do wrong?"

He sat up, propping himself with his elbows, as he looked at her with a confused expression.

"I mean... Why don't you talk to me anymore? Why don't you hang out with me anymore? Why don't you look at me? Why don't you smile at me the way you used to before? Did I do something wrong? Why did you come home late and in a bad shape? If there's something I did or something wrong... you could-"

"Shut up" His voice stone cold with a hard expression scared her as she whimpered out a small "what?"

He gave a cold chuckle and said "First of all, Why I'm in this shape isn't your business. Second, I don't hang out with you anymore because I'm tired of it all. I'm tired of how loud you are. I'm tired of how selfish and obnoxious you are. I'm also tired of how you think you can be so clingy just because we were friends. I'm tired of how you think the rest of the BTS members are actually friends with you. They're just pitying you. I need my personal space too. I'm human also."

By now, she had tears running down her face. She's never been so hurt in her life. So... broken. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry for being in your business when I had no right but just wanted to make sure you were okay. I'm sorry I have a very jumpy attitude. I'm sorry I'm selfish and obnoxious. I'm sorry I've been clingy... I'm sorry of it all." She choked back a sob.

“I just thought…” She stood for a moment before closing her mouth. “Nevermind…”

He only scoffed and rolled his eyes before he played back down.  "Just leave. Everyone just wants to be left alone."

She started walking out, stopping at the door, not looking back and saying. "I love you.." in a really low whisper. She wasn't sure if he heard her but she didn't care at the moment. She quickly walked out, passing the living room, grabbing her stuff, ignoring the shouts of the others, and finally sprinting home.

'Everything was a mistake...'

[lpfreakification]

Xmas (+ work) was ok

Work was surprisingly slow this year. Guess people did their shopping, are broke, traveled, + the wind chill's been brutal. Had 4 or 6 deliveries.

The main adventure was picking up KFC for my coworker in the middle of the shift. I like it when they send me on an errand/mission/side quest XD it's a nice break from monotony :)

*chops my nails off*

(Much better for texting!)

The KFC crew was playing a certain Mexican xmas song in the back.

Me: "Oh no!" XD

KFC lady: "What's wrong?"

Me: "oh! Nothing at all! It's just that song reminds me of my childhood."

KFC lady: "I'll go change it."

Me: "no no no no no, its actually a funny memory. When I was a kid, on the way back from xmas parties, I'd use to rock my head back + forth to this song."

I just keep smiling + thinking of the many times I've done that 😂 I dont like showing my interest of the song in front of fam. Every time they bring it up, they like to rub it in my face in a way. Thus, I frown. Its definitely a guilty pleasure.

When I got home from work, I went straight up to my room. People were in the house XP I knew it was coming but I really dont like to interact with family (when they're physically present). I wont say my reasons again bcuz it's too long.

Instead, I wrote + painted my brothers' names on yellow envelopes. I placed a Dunkin gift card for Elias + 5 packs of pokemon cards for Freddy. Then I wanted to do something shiny for my sister's husband. It helped me avoid people :P

The hour b4 midnight, I ate posole, French silk pie, + brownies. I found two pillows + a hidden corner behind the wine cabinet for me to lay there. For some reason, I kept tapping my foot. I figured out that it wasn't really anxiety (only a little bit) but it felt sorta meditative. It's not the 1st time I felt this sense of peace from foot tapping. (1st time was at a different church).

When midnight struck, everyone came up to the tree. I had to stand + say hi. Didn't look forward to that. I just stood there disgruntled. I snoozed as the little kids opened their presents 1st. Then it was the adults' turn.

I got:

Smoothie skittles

Starburst

A fancy candy apple

9 pairs of food socks XD

A nice fitting brown jacket from Super-Dry X3

Blue gloves

A kh coaster

A blue kh shirt :)

A gray long-sleeved shirt

A red sweater closely resembling my OC

A makeup palette? (I am 100% not a makeup person XP + definitely the least favorable thing I've been given. Luckily the giver already left b4 I opened that. Just, no.)

A fancy winter coat

A corgi sticker :3

A book about the FAQ of the universe

I gifted myself 4 hand sanitizers from Bath + Body Works, 2 yaoi manga, + OHSHC stickers :D

I definitely remember not taking my meds on purpose this morning as an excuse to really sleep in (better not ever make a habit of that). I nearly mistaken my q-tip box for my medicine box. I dreamt of my parents dropping me off to a gang school + i was pursuing a former classmate to retrieve a textbook that they've "borrowed" from me. It definitely felt like hours wandering around the same building.

I woke up, ate some more posole, + played two rounds of Jumanji XD that board game really does make you exercise.

"We should play that more often." XD

I continued with watercolor experiments again until I got hungry again. Ate, finished choosing a certain blue watercolor, + been lazy-ing around watching cat videos X)

Now that that's done...

ITS TIME FOR THE MAIN EVENT!

KINGDOM HEARTS: BIRTH BY SLEEP

*sets up game*

(Let's go!)

[av3da]

i don’t have anything to say about this one but uh there wasn’t as much fluff as i wanted but like i’m still uninspired so oof i’m so sorry for this terrible-ness. luv y’all though!

includes: drinking & swearing (barely??}

1977 words

fidelity – jasmine thompson

"With the number of times you've said something like this to me, it's kind of hard to believe if you're telling the truth this time." I rolled my eyes as I held my phone between my shoulder and my ear, folding my laundry while doing so. My fingers lightly trembled as I made the fabric pleat together quickly but nervously.

"Yeah, well... it’s real. We can’t keep doing this, and I can’t keep subduing myself to this misery. I'm done, which makes us done. Have a nice life." The voice retorted, ending the conversation with a raised tone which frightened me, making me jump and my phone slip from my shoulder.

That was my now ex-boyfriend, but as I said to him if he was being serious. And even so, if you loved someone so much, how could you choose the easy way out by leaving every time hit things got tough, even in the slightest. We'd always get into fights where I was convinced we were going to break up, only for me to fix things before they were forever broken. It seemed like he always just wanted to break up with me rather than to tough it out, and that's toxic for a person's mind to withstand for months at a time.

I picked up my phone and let out a sigh, this hasn't been the first time something like this has happened to our relationship, so I really wasn't sure if it was real or not this time around, if he would call me in a few minutes or text me an hour later after the loneliness caught up with him that quickly. And for that reason, I couldn't bring myself to react accordingly.

I tossed my phone across the hall to land on my bed, walking away to the living room with the empty laundry basket, nearly having a heart attack as I turned the corner, dropping the contents in my grip.

"What the fudge?" I shouted, making the four boys jump as well and turn to face me, all with food stuffed into their mouths.

"Fudge, really?" Michael replied, picking up the bag of Doritos again and eating straight from the bag.

"It's a new thing, I'm censoring myself..." I tried to defend myself, pouting slightly before remembering that they all just intruded into my house. I marched up to Calum and poked him firmly in the chest before grabbing the  Doritos from Michael to eat them myself, "The key is for emergencies. Don't make me take it back."

"It was an emergency though!" Luke cried out, holding his stomach that he stuck out, then pointing to his mouth to signal his hungriness.

"You're rock stars, you can get free food like anywhere. Just call Crystal for some PR deals, sure she can hook it up." I replied with a sight snarky tone that was unintentional, surely blowing my cover. I huffed gently and just walked off to my living room, continuing to eat the nacho Doritos.

"Is it the time of the month?" A voice spoke out and I didn't have to look to know it was Ashton.

I snarled and rolled my eyes, looking back at the boy with a death glare, "Excuse me? Is it my time of the month? So I can't have emotions unless I'm on my period?" I slowly stood as I spoke my words in a low voice.

"Be careful boys, it's a snake habitat..." Michael replied, placing his arms across is friends chest, slowly backing them up.

Calum just sighed and pushed Mike's arm off of him and walked towards me, coming forward to reach out for my hands, "Love, what's going on?" His tone was soft and sweet, and it warmed my heart at how caring he was to me.

"I don't know, I think we broke up but I don't know. It's been like a half an hour, and he hasn't said anything else and he's done this before, like five times. I just don't know." I let it all out, something about Calum made it so easy to tell him that, considering I haven't told any of my friends about my relationship.

His eyes softened and he pulled me in for a really tight hug, closing my eyes so I didn't have to look at the other boys that I knew were just standing there awkwardly.

"Can we take you to one of our parties tonight? We'll get a makeup designer and a stylist for you, our treat." Ashton spoke up, his form of an apology and I admired him trying. While as stupid as it sounded to go partying literally post-breakup, but I wasn't feeling the right emotions of a breakup other than the anger, and maybe I needed to go out.

"Look, you don't have to, but we haven't hung out with you in so long because your boyfriend never wanted us alone with you, which is stupid. We're like family, please come." Luke chimed in, shrugging his shoulders. What he said was true, I've known these boys for so long and they've been by my side as much as they could and as much as they were in the area. I loved them with all of my being and I couldn't ask for better friends.

I just sighed and nodded, explaining to them that I didn't anyone else's help and that I just wanted to do all of that personally. Then Ashton yelled at me to start getting ready because they knew it would take me an hour or two if I wanted to go full glam, in which I did.

By the time I made my way back downstairs to greet the boys, not reasoning in my head that I had taken an hour to get ready, they were gone. I checked how I looked in the mirror by the front door one last time before picking up my phone and sauntering out of my home. A laugh fell from my lips as a Range Rover sat in the parking lot, Ashton in the driver seat and Luke riding passenger. I strolled up the vehicle and climbed into the back, squealing softly as bowls of my favorite candy surrounded me.

"How did you do all of this in an hour and a half?" I asked them before taking a handful of pink unwrapped Starburst, trying to pull them apart so I wasn’t just stuffing a pink wad into my mouth.

"You said it yourself, we're rock stars. We get what we want," Luke replied, watching me in the rearview and laughing at my childish excitement for the sweets, "Cal and Michael are already at the party, they're a little too impatient to start drinking."

Oh great, we're going to get shit-faced tonight.

A few minutes passed and we pulled into the party venue, which looked to be some hot shot's mansion, people already spilling in and out of the house, all accessorized with plastic cups. Luke was quick to get out of the vehicle, then opening my door and putting his hand out for me to grab as I got out of the automobile. I thanked him for gentlemanliness as the three of us waltzed inside together.

The first person I noticed when I walked into the house was Calum, he was sitting on the couch next to Michael and a bunch of girls that were probably  Instagram models. He was laughing at what seemed to be a terrible joke from Michael, and his smile was so bright it was like it illuminated the room.

Both Ashton and Luke have their hand on my shoulders, shimmying our group through the group of dancing people, leading us to our friends. I looked around the room, slightly in awe of my surroundings as this was my first party.

"Wow... you look breathtaking." A voice said in my direction, causing me to look forward to where it came from. Calum.

A deep flush mounted my cheeks, they would usually compliment me but there was something about the way that he was acting towards me lately. More protective, jealous, and kinder than ever. A non-existent lump formed itself in my throat as I tried to marshal any words to respond to the boy who slightly towered over me.

He then took my left hand and lifted it to his lips, a sparkle in his eyes as he looked into mine again. This was new, but I definitely cherished the newfound gestures. He then turned around to hand me his cup, and I definitely wanted whatever he was having, taking a sip immediately

Tonight is going to be a night to remember, or a night that I wouldn't be able to remember in the morning.

I laughed loudly and grabbed Calum's hand, pulling him to the bar where I ordered a few shots, the drink didn't matter, they all burned my throat the same. After that, I don't remember drinking more or to be exact, what I drank but I was having the night of my life and it was really good to forget everything and the pain I had endured for the months I was with my last boyfriend.

Calum never left my side since I arrived at the mansion, and he clearly didn't want to. We danced together, played drinking games with the other three boys that were a tad difficult to track down, and just really enjoyed each other presence. Well, as much as you could enjoy another person with ample liquor in your system.

"Hey, babe! Can I tell you something real quick?" Calum started over the music as we danced like drunk idiots on the dancefloor that was really just a beige carpet that was probably perfect before this party but now stained with a multitude of liquids.

"Yeah?" I replied, shaking my head around while throwing my arms in the air, swaying my hips to the music. I didn't know what they were playing truthfully.

"This might not be a good time to mention this, and maybe too soon for your situation, but I'm kind of in love with you. And I don't expect you to feel the same or anything, but I drank a looooooot of liquid courage in the past two hours, so I'm like brave as hell right now." He told me, still moving to the beat as he watched, snaking his arm around my waist as I stumbled around slightly.

I giggled at his words, trying to retain the information he was giving me but my head pounded to the music that was entering my ears, so instead of saying anything, I just got close to him with my arms around his neck and danced against his body. His words didn't make much sense to me and it was because of the alcohol coursing through my veins. He seemed pretty delighted to how I replied though, pulling me closer as we continued to dance on the other.

My eyes fluttered open, a low groan emitting my throat as I looked around, a bright sunlight coming through the window sill that was directly in front of me. My hand went to touch my forehead, grimacing as the hangover pains started taking it's course already. As I tenderly shuddered from the brisk air hitting my bare skin, I recognized my elegant dress from the previous night was gone.

I look to my left and saw a half-naked Calum Hood, gasping rather loudly but not boisterous enough to wake the heavy sleeper next to me. I then shrunk back under the covers, glancing around the room as I knew what this could mean.

"Fudge..."