#the art history professor allowed us to pair into groups for the test and I got stupidly lucky

[hplonesomeart]

Art from today/yesterday! Idk take a silly humanized Puzzle rendition from the depths of my mind (clearly I took some minor influence from others interpretations around the web, so I can’t quite say if it’s my own definitively? But then again isn’t that the case for everything design related in this world lol. At some point your gonna accidentally bare resemblance to pre-existing media)

Just wanted to try and bridge the gap between the child design I gave him a long while ago into a more adult-centric look. Kept the lines on the hat, film reel pattern, and also the braces (the idea is that it would be colored according to how his T.V screen teeth are usually shown canonically. Plus smoking with braces is known to cause discoloration or jeopardize/damage the function of it—kinda similar to how Puzzles has that one crazy realistic-looking crooked teeth screen? Just a thought)

And then pony. I shall name Stratus Stride :3

[doctorjeremyxvandamme]

“Yesterday, upon the stair, / I met a man who wasn't t h e r e! / He wasn't there again today. / Oh how I wish he'd go away!”

Below the cut, you can find Jeremy’s basic info, key story points, full bio, and a handful of possible connections, although I am open to most plots! Triggers include death mentions, blood mentions, and a handful of horror elements. Please do feel free to reach out if I can provide context without mention of those topics.

basics

Name: Dr. Jeremy van Damme

Gender/Pronouns: Cismale | He/Him

Date of Birth: January 22, 1981

Age: 39

Hometown: Jersey City, NJ

Length of time in Crescent Harbor: 5 Years

Neighborhood: Hemlock Docks

Occupation: Professor of Anthropology at Crescent College

Faceclaim: Matthias Schoenaerts

key points

An only child, the son of a Belgian-born painter of some renown, but primarily among art types with an interest in niche work 

Has a doctorate in anthropology from New York University and now teaches the discipline at Crescent College. Completed his undergrad education in Washington

Devotes most of his research to modern folklore, urban legends, and what he calls ritualistic play: games like Bloody Mary or Charlie Charlie, the latest variation of Juego de la Lapicera, meant to summon something, communicate with something, or achieve specific ends through strict adherence to pre-determined rules or conditions

A history buff. Knows much about the origins of Crescent Harbor and is now actively involved in historical preservation efforts. His interests encompass the periods both prior to and following the actual founding of the town.

Something of a pack-rat. Collects oddities and antiques and allows visitors to poke around his overcrowded house. 

full bio (tw: death, blood, horror elements)

If he angled his neck just right, face pressed against the glass, held there by tiny, marker-covered hands, he could just barely see the monster from his bedroom window. The gangling, wide-eyed thing, all teeth and blackened pupils, was caught in an eternal snarl by the glint of the corner street lamp (which had been broken for some time and blinked erratically every few minutes). The light has stay on because the light keeps it there, he would think. So long as the light stays on, it has to stay there and cannot come here. For as long as the boy could remember, though, this massive graffiti creature, the handiwork of some unknown artist or another, had been spray-painted there, overseeing its domain from the red brick facade of an already defunct paper packaging warehouse. And it certainly had not escaped yet. But this particular piece of street art had long frightened the young Jeremy van Damme, who would spend his nights watching it from the safety of his heightened perch.

At that time, he lived with his father (a native of Flanders and painter of some niche surrealist renown) and mother (a full-time college dean and part-time muse to her artiste husband) in a tall brown apartment building that swayed with the wind. The groaning of the foundation, the creaking of the pipes, and the unpleasant damp sweetness, an almost bloody smell, that occasionally wafted out an uncovered vent after a storm, instilled in the boy an early sense of fantastic terror. More often than not, Jeremy van Damme was afraid. At the age of six, he discovered in a forgotten photo album a picture of himself he could not recall taking. And there, he abruptly decided some other Jeremy, a doppelganger or double or mimic, not only existed, but was waiting for the opportunity to strike and swallow him whole. At the age of seven, he got it into his head that a family of venomous lizards had taken up residence in the basement washing machine; he could hear them hissing if he listened closely. And at the age of eight, the death of the elderly woman down the hall gave birth to a new series of existential horrors, of the terrible uncertainty of the afterlife, of restless ghosts, and of white-haired specters that stalked hallways by night in search of little boys to do whatever it is ghosts do.

Nevertheless, the apartment was not vacant for long, and in the weeks that followed, Jeremy struck up a new friendship with a girl his age who had moved into the building with her family. And with how cheery they had painted the place, one could almost forget what happened to poor old Mrs. Hansen there. It was through this new companion, however, that Jeremy himself, albeit wide-eyed and screaming, was introduced to the sort of ritualistic play that would eventually guide his career. With nothing but a pack of stolen matches and the misguided goal of “putting the spirit to rest,” the pair of them locked themselves in her bathroom to chant into the mirror, spin in circles, and search for faces in the glass. And while they never found them, these games did instill in the young Jeremy a new sense of bravery and morbid curiosity. After all, if a ghost could be banished away by something as simple as blowing out a match, maybe they were not so frightening after all.

Still, he had always been curious. His mother was, after all, a career academic, and to that end, Jeremy had little hope of genuinely shirking his homework. He did well in school and read often. Small and eager to be helpful, he was even, in some ways, a natural teacher’s pet, eager to spend more time among the adults than the playground bullies. Eventually, Jeremy attended a nearby “all boys” Catholic high school, and while the AV Club was already dying by that time, he and a few friends began borrowing their camera equipment to “record psychic phenomena,” which largely consisted of them trying to unsuccessfully move rubber balls with their minds.

At sixteen, however, one of the boys got his own car, and the unlikely group was able to finally take part in a bit of local legend that involved circling an abandoned house several times, honking one’s horn, and then flashing one’s headlights. The result was the ghost of “Clarice” appearing in an upper story window to chase the intruders away. Every time they did this ritual, someone in the vehicle would shout that they had seen her (although it was never more than one person at a time). Following one such excursion, one boy disappeared from school with the flu for a week, and there was, at least, a successful rumor he had been spirited away. That was sort of fun.

Upon graduating, near but not quite at the top of his class, Jeremy ultimately attended the University of Washington, eager to spread his wings to the West Coast although Stanford had rejected him. While he began his higher education as a History major, he eventually shifted his focus to cultural anthropology, in which he earned his Bachelor’s degree. Graduate School, a Master’s degree, and a Doctorate from New York University eventually followed, and Jeremy began focusing his field of study more specifically on the role of folklore and legend in the modern world. His first and only full-length book, a small academic piece, entitled Creating Clarice: An Anthropological Case Study on the Invention of a Ghost, sprung to life when he, upon digging through an academic database, discovered the phantom woman he had tried so vehemently to conjure as a teenager had never actually existed.

Combining local interviews, in-depth real estate research, historical records, and a dive into the roots of ritualistic children’s games themselves, he tried, with varying levels of success, to trace the story to its source and frame it in the context of the community that had created it. This research, while mostly published for classroom use, did eventually earn him a position at Crescent College, where he still teaches today.

In his five years in town, Jeremy has since become something of an undisputed expert in local history, collecting trivia in the same way others might collect stamps. That said, Jeremy remains, to this day, a collector in the most traditional sense. His small home, an old building near the docks, has its charms and is known to be full of oddities, antiques, and other things that have caught the owner’s fancy. Most are of local interest, and Jeremy has rather seriously involved himself in town preservation efforts.

possible connections

The Student - Jeremy is a professor at Crescent College and teaches a variety of anthropology courses for all skill levels. This person is either a former or current student. Perhaps Jeremy mentors them, or perhaps they were an eternal thorn in his side.

The Curious - Jeremy collects all sorts of odd objects he finds. From 19th century tea sets, to old letters and photographs, to “haunted” mirrors and dolls, he welcomes this person regularly to poke around the antiques and maybe even goes shopping with them.

The Adventurous - Jeremy’s primary areas of expertise are modern folklore and ritualistic play. He and this person team up to test out the latest spooky games and legends, from trying to summon up a mirror ghost or see if they can get someone from beyond the grave talk with them through a disconnected telephone.

The Historian - Jeremy is well-versed in the history of the town and its founding families. Perhaps this person wants or needs to learn more about some obscure local topic, and the professor is here to help.

[jjkpls]

The Freaks (m) (Harry Potter!AU #4)

> genre : filth, fluff

> pairing : jung hoseok x reader (f)

> words : 5.4k

> warning : unprotected sex (stay safe kids, but they’re wizards so u know they take care of those things), derogatory terms

> Jung Hoseok (Hufflepuff, 7th yr) is a freak and a pervert. He spends his whole time in Hogwarts between intensive sexcapades with you, his girlfriend, and intensive research in magic to find new ways to spice up said sexcapades. (public sex, use of magical sex toy, anal, mention of cum play...)

/The Harry Potter!AU Masterlist/

It's Tuesday morning, 9am just clocked in and most students struggle to keep their eyes and ears opened. Professor Edgecomb had just finished going through the reminder of the last lessons, introducing the three new potions they will be working on for the month ahead and after having wasted a good fifteen minutes waiting for someone to raise their hand to either ask a question or answer to one of his, he's decided he had enough of standing in front of those dumbfounded gaping mouths staring at him like he was some kind of intellectual performance their tiny brains could not grasp. Therefore, he deemed it was time to just let them be.

Assigning them to different cauldrons they'll share by pair, he proceeded to summarize, once again, the whole procedure to make a successful Wiggenweld potion -they were supposed to master it the year prior, but he's not that gullible anymore-. Besides being a healing potion, it's also one useful to reverse the effects of a Sleeping Draught and he hopes, secretly, that the vapours the room will be filled in soon enough will have some effect on those apparent sleep-deprived teenagers.

And then and there, the lesson becomes more pleasant. It's sad to admit, but him staying at his own desk, manipulating his own sets of jars and test tubes and mess of recipe sheets, sorting them out and organizing them, has become way more fulfilling than attempting to teach anything to these kids. He's realized quite soon after the beginning of his career as Professor of Potions in Hogwarts that youngsters were simply not interested in this art. Because it is a form of art. It requires patience, talent, delicacy and respect for the elements and ingredients, none of those butchers could find within themselves. And it's a hard discipline too. Not given to the first moron that wants to try a shot at it.

The students, in Hogwarts, fancy Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration classes. Which he can understand. The satisfaction is way more immediate and proactive in the execution of strong and decisive wand shakings. He also heard about how successful History classes -both Magic and Muggle- are and this, he deems the incoming of career orientation is responsible for. Because those lessons open so many doors, especially within the Ministry of Magic which a lot of young wizards seek a position in.

Potions, on the other hand, leads to a path, ambushed, full-life-committed, long and complexed that, inevitably, is not met with a glorious and profitable life. Alchemists spend their existence enclosed in dangerous fume-filled labs, they hardly leave to introduce a new invention once in a very long while -because those discoveries take time, and some actually waste their whole life away not finding any. As useful ground-breaking potions and spells tend to be owned in a way or another by the Ministry of Magic, they don't make much money out of them. If one desires to make a living out of making potions, they shall commit to producing mass love potions and everklena* ones. It's hard to cope with: lowering yourself to make those miserable preparations when you dream of grandeur and wonderful historical discoveries. Therefore, yes, he is become a professor in Hogwarts teaching a subject that rises very low interest.

Sometimes, Professor Edgecomb gets a glimpse of hope and joy from teaching. It's when he, exceptionally, has to teach one of the first years to cover another's professor lesson that they can't attend to. They're too young and inexperienced, so eager to be blown away to have any opinion on Potion making yet and it's terrific, he feels like a miracle maker, floating around the room, spreading herbs and mythical animals' claws in the air, in front of those wide shiny eyes. There's also the lessons he gives to the late-year Ravenclaw wizards. Most of them, like most of their peers, couldn't care less about his lessons but the ones that do, really, really do. They listen, ask questions and even share opinions on methods or big names in the Potion history. They're interested. As opposed to all those Slytherin slackers and Hufflepuffs morons.

Professor Edgecomb, fortunately for him, doesn't know to what extent he is right. How uninterested some of you are. He thinks the group of girls chatting away about the latest Quidditch game, or the loud pair of energumens too close to his own desk are obnoxious and disrespectful. But he would probably lose his marbles if he were to notice the young couple, occupying the last row of desks.

Hoseok's mouth is attached to your neck, lapping and sucking hard, biting where he knows the bruised skin to already feel tingly from prior ministrations. He's chuckling against your ear when he hears you whimper, your hand sprayed on his crotch clenching his hidden hard member in its grip. “Babe, you need to be quiet.”

Except if you'd like to get caught. And honestly, the thought is so tempting you can feel a gush of arousal soaking your panties.

But it's not your boyfriend's plan for the day. Maybe he'll want to do it on your last day at Hogwarts. How salacious would that be, you think with a grin painting your lips. You'll have to mention this to him. He'd probably say yes. You know your Hobi not to be good at denying any of your resquests.

But for today, he rules as he is the one who came up with the very elaborate spell allowing you two to mess around during class without nobody noticing. More than noticing, they can't actually see you. Two perfectly conform copies of you are standing at your desk, seemingly working on your cauldron, obliterating your real bodies. They hide what's to see but not what's to hear. Hoseok didn't master that just yet. Apparently, the whole screen thing behind which you're hiding is very complexed. It's a sort of a hallucinatory cloud. Anyone who would attempt to look your way would be met with this cloud that would distort their perception into interpreting precisely what they're expecting to see: Hoseok and you, chatting away while working on your potion. Certainly not him devouring your neck and collarbones, squeezing you hard against him for your ass to grind on his cock.

It feels hot. So dirty and bad, it should make your head spin and your pussy dripping gallons. But it doesn't. You're hot and bothered because it's Hoseok, he's always been excellent at toying you into becoming a powerless rag doll. But this whole trick is not enough. It's great but you already want more. You wish they could see you. You wish they'd see how Hoseok is treating you, how harsh his fingers are owning your cunt and how red and gaping he's letting it each time he's pulling back. You wish you could raise your eyes and meet the pair of someone else's, staring right back and ogling shamefully at you two.

Until you do. You meet those eyes. They're Do Kyungsoo's. He's watching you from two tables away, his big round eyes wide and mouth agape. He doesn't seem embarrassed though. His dark bushy eyebrows are frown and he looks about to interject.

And here, the thought of you two getting caught by the whole room actually hits you. You realize maybe it's not a good idea. For the last day, yes, but definitely not now, only two months in when you'll have to spend the rest of the year looked over by all of those same peers. If you even get to stay and don't get expelled for the worst case of public indecency to ever take place in Hogwarts. “Hoseok, he can see us.”

Mistaking your claim for role-playing, the tension in your tone simply flying over his head, he mutters hotly in your ear, “You love that, don't you? My little minx gets so w-”

“No, I mean, he can actually see us. We're not invisible.”

“What?” Hoseok turns around, so fast his hair flaps audibly on his forehead, to witness their classmate, obnoxiously watching you. In the swiftest of movement, he slips out of your panties -making you wince when his fingers sting a bit by the haste- and sits properly, adjusting his robe and pretending like nothing has happened, as if his crimson cheeks were not telling enough.

After some time, Kyungsoo, smiling like the little shit everybody knows him to be, turns around and gets back to his own duty.

“What happened to the spell?”

“I don't know.” His eyebrows drop sadly when he finally looks at you again. His mouth is shaped in an upset pout you have to look away to not place a bit smooch on. He caresses your thigh gently. “I'm really sorry, baby girl...” You're frowning too now. You were so close. So close. You're sure if you were to open your robe for the air to hit your clit, you might actually come. “We'll finish later.”

You gasp aloud.

Probably too dramatic.

Some heads turn around, throwing you a curious gaze to which you simply smile, waving a friendly hand until they're all back to their conversations.

There's the clock on the wall, stating 9:39. There's still an hour and a half to go. There is no way you're not having your release now. “Hoseok, I can't wait.”

“You'll have to, babe.” His voice is strained and his back stiff. He's not mad. You can tell he's just frustrated and probably feels guilty for having fucked up, resulting in that guy seeing you in this position. You want to make him feel better, along with yourself. That's your reasoning behind your hand slipping discreetly under the table, and sneaking under your skirt uniform.

The thick wooden table will hide you, if you're stealthy enough, you're sure you'll be fine. When it comes to sex -and especially sex with your boyfriend- you know what you want. You know what to grant yourself. And he knows it too. Therefore, when he takes a glimpse at you, checking to ask you about an ingredient he thinks he's never heard of -even though he did, as it was the one used in all of his fourth year recipes-, he's not surprised to see you hunch slightly over, smiling mischievously at him, with your clothing shaking obnoxiously over where your hand is working.

His pink tongue swipes over his grin, the tip stopping on the edge of his canine. He doesn't really know how to keep his composure. You're incredibly hot, like that, acting like a slut in the middle of class after having been caught; looking at him this way, with that familiar spark winking at him, you're so hot and so sweet, when he knows it's not even to tease him but so you can share with him a likeliness of release. You're so dirty and you're his. He wants to lean over and swallow you whole.

It doesn't take long for you to reach your climax. Grinding on your chair, like a bitch in heat, he can tell when you really hit it from how hard it's become for you to minimize your movements. Through the haze of your blurry gaze, you can see his lovesome eyes and bright smile. God, is he handsome.

“You're crazy.” He lets out behind his hand, concealing the blatant grin he can't withhold. You grab the said hand, dragging it and sneaking it between your legs for him to touch and feel the mess he's responsible for. When he brings the hand back to his face, he kisses the fingertips, pink tongue peeking out, tasting with utter pleasure your nectar like a pollinating bee.

“Wow.” She sounds unenthusiastic. Blank and fairly bored. Half of your face scrunched up by the hand holding your head up from hitting the top of the table, you stare with a wondering eye. “You're so whipped for... this guy's dick.” She notes, pointing with a lean finger at your textbook.

The book is opened on the index page, messed up on the corners with traces of ink here and there, scribbles of pieces of information concerning the lessons to be found ahead. You're not responsible for those. Your personal touch consists of little drawings of penises and pointy noses and slender hands gathered here and there. Your quill stops mid-movement when you realize that you're drawing one of those shafts again.

Maybe you're a bit obsessed with him, yeah.

“By 'this guy' you mean my boyfriend?” Your best friend rolls her eyes before bringing a hand to her mouth and feign to stick two fingers in to make herself throw up. You're the one rolling your eyes now. She's always been dramatic. Icy queen pretending anything more or less romance-related irks her to no end. She tries so hard though, you're sure she hides something.

The thing is your best friend is not, necessarily, the sweetest of soul. She's actually very far from it. So as much as the questions have been piling up in the back of your mind -especially when you see her disappear for hours on end to then come back to you, with a new glint in her eyes, throwing suspicious glances to this one younger Slytherin guy who always seems to be sulking- you decide to let them just where they are, not ready to be lashed out by the furious dragon she can turn herself into. If she wants to open up about it, probably she will. It's complicated sometimes to be friends with someone so secretive. But you chose her.

“D'you have some gold?” She asks. Her attention is not on you. It's focused on something or someone else, far behind you. You're tempted to look but you're not sure, given the expression on her face -it's the one look she harbours when she's up to mess with someone. You're still frustrated from this morning virtual blue balls. You're planning on getting Hoseok's glorious dick in three hours time, and it's all that fucking matters right now. Hence the bunch of precum beads winking at you from the top of your doodled cocks. Would he think those representations are accurate? Maybe you should ask him to pose for you. All naked. Damn. “Do you?”

For good measures, you ask, knowing you won't get involved in anything today, no matter what her response happens to be, “What for?”

“I'd like to send someone a letter.”

Oh?

“That's nice!” You clap your hands quite loudly, handing her generously more than she needs to purchase a magical card and even pay the fee to send it away as happy as you are that she's doing something sweet for a change.

“It is nice.” She smiles at you in a way you don't like. Eyes dark, grin resembling a wolf hungry snarl. She's more Slytherin than most. Way more than you. You sigh, deeply.

“Miss, I'd appreciate if you would quiet it down a bit. It might not be your case, but some students here have a future they would like to study for.” Your friend is staring at you with a smirk biting her lips. You raise your face, smiling the most honey-coated beam you own at Mr Filch. He's not happy about you. Which you can understand. You tend to be loud and obnoxious. But you don't even remember being loud just now. It is "study hours" but you are in the Great Hall, not in the fucking library. Still, you know better than to upset the old man so you excuse yourself smoothly leaving him to mumble and grumble away between his teeth.

“He's right. Look at you drawing all those mushrooms,” You chuckle loudly at that. “-instead of thinking about your future-” “I thought about my future for your information. I'm planning on becoming the biggest legend of Quidditch's bitch for the rest of my life. Isn't it great?”

“Wow. Sounds phenomenal.” The sarcasm is dripping from her very breath.

“It is! You know, Muggles, they have this thing called sugar daddy and I've decided that Hoseok will be mine.”

“You know I hate Muggles. Stop talking to me about the weird shits that they do.”

“It's not weird!”

“MISS Y/N!” Yells Mr Filch from the other end of the Great Hall. And when you see him lumping furiously through the whole room, expression looking like he's ready to grab you and throw you in one of his alleged torture basements, you pack your things in a rush, waving goodbye to your friend who's cackling her ass off on top of her parchments.

When Hoseok walks in through the door, you're waiting for him, your fingers prepared in the air, ready to catch his ear in a crab-like hold. Catching sight of you, he loses too much time startling and is left with not enough to avoid your attack, therefore, you seize him and pulling hard on your prey.

“Aa-ah-aah-” He screeches, voice loud and high, trying to follow your movement to limit the pain but you're mad and make it so that it hurts as much as possible.

“Where were you? I've been waiting for you forever!”

“The team had- AAAH” Your nails dig in the sensitive flesh. Irritating. This stupid team. You do want him to become the next Quidditch legend of the wizarding world, sure. But you know he's already good enough to become it. He doesn't need extra training, unlike those lame asses that compose the rest of the team. He's been carrying the team and its victories for years, since the very first game he's played, five years ago. Why they drag him through never-ending extra practices is beyond you.

Usually, you wouldn't be scorching his ear but the rest of the Slytherin team's. It has happened before when he's come back to his or your dorm at fucking ridiculous hours of the night, sometimes hurt because that's how bad his team players are. But you're not in the mood today. The three hours you thought you had to wait for your boyfriend to come back to you and spoil you the way you need, turned into seven. It's not anyone else's fault but his now.

“You made me wait all fucking day, Hoseok.” You're a sulking mess, now. Letting your grip go, you walk backwards for him to witness the pouty lip, the sad puppy eye.

Massaging his red ear mindlessly, he breathes out, “I'm sorry, baby.” Shoulders shrug dismissively -he's here now- allowing at the same time your robe to slide along your arms to reveal your naked form. Your skin is shimmering slightly from the body lotion you've applied carefully earlier while waiting for him and he catches sight of it immediately, smiling softly.

You lie on your back, watching him trying to undress so fast, he almost knocks his own forehead on the bed frame when he tries to rip his left foot free from his pants. His face is all cute frowns, funny grimaces and corny winks; his voice all overwrought groans, adorable whines, he's biting on his lip, savouring with his eyes what his mouth can't feast on just yet. You're overwhelmed by excitation. It's your Hoseok and you're about to have him all for your own. You're delighted.

“Are you that hard from me pinching your ear, Hobi?” He flushes, minuscule dimples poking at the corner of his silky mouth, eyes darting to the straight, hard haft waving your way.

“You know how hot you look when you're mad.” He climbs over you, predatory gaze melting with the mirror of its own. His mouth smashes against yours as his hips do yours, one set of slender fingers wrapping around your neck. He's grinding insistently, ending in you panting already, mouth wide open for his tongue to lap inside.

“Fuck, Hobi...” He falls down from your gaping lips, teeth grazing your neck hard enough to turn the skin red while your fingers deep in his mop of satiny chestnut hair, scratching his scalp, pulling at the strand to make him grind harder, groan and breath louder.

“You smell so good...” You grin to yourself. You deserve a tap on the back for the choice of lotion you've made. It was new and expensive as hell, as tend to be Muggles' cosmetics, but it was worth it from the way he's lapping at your skin with such eagerness, inhaling obscenely, his pretty eyes reflecting the shimmer recovering your body. “Uhm. Should I eat you out?”

“No...” A harsh bite, a whimper. “Later. Once you've filled me up.”

His chest constricts, letting the loud and notably high in pitch laughter of your boyfriend bursts in your ear, rendering you deaf for a second. When he relatively succeeds to calm down, Hoseok raises on his arms, taking a good look at your inquiring expression.

“You're so fucking nasty, baby girl...” He thrusts downward, his tip grazes precisely where you need him and you decide you are done waiting. Pushing him away for you to turn around, getting on all fours, ass shaking for his greatest enjoyement.

“Hobi, I've waited so long, please, I'm ready.” And maybe you sound a bit desperate, look a bit obscene with your ass straight in the air, shaking for the sole purpose of making his determination to take his time waver and just fuck you already. You just don't like to wait. If your little sexcapade from this morning tells anything about you, it's how impatient you are, how spoiled you like yourself to be, especially by your boyfriend. He has another rhythm in mind but no matter how exciting it feels to have his big hands spread on your ass cheeks, squeezing and parting so he can see you better, no matter how nice the idea of his gaze burning your sex, his heavy breath hitting the wetness you're covered in, it's not enough and you don't want it now. “Baby, please. I deserve it.”

“You do, baby girl. I'm gonna give it to you.” He is so hard, tip an angry crimson and balls tight as hell but he can't help but lean over to bite the flesh of one of your cheeks and place a sloppy kiss on the other. Merlin, he hopes he'll have more time later to indulge in his urges to eat your ass until he makes you tear up enough for you to be able to taste the salty yet sweet pearls on your lip.

The first thrust feels painful for the both of you. You're so wet he just slides in but the sensation of being filled up again, so nice, so full, by Hoseok makes your walls hug him roughly; and he can feel you, hugging, compressing him too many times, he doesn't know if it's simple projection from his dick but he found it harder for him to breathe.

You're getting used to him progressively and soon enough he's able to back all the way out to slam back in, even further than he had before. “I've missed you, ___.” He chokes out, mouth pressed to your shoulder blade, kissing pure love that aims and shoots directly in your heart.

You're buried in the pillows, mumbling, “Missed you too. So much.” It's been less than a week, actually, since the last time you were able to get in bed and have him buried deep in your cunt. Fucking school assignments, fucking Quidditch practices and matches, fucking ridiculous new dormitory policies, and fucking uncooperative housemates. The past week had been a bitch.

Your relationship is based on way more than sex -even if this is how it actually started, with you walking on a certain freaky Hufflepuff rubbing one-off in the middle of the little pool-like bathtub of the prefects' bathroom-. Hoseok is hilarious, dorky and exuberant. You match, carrying around the same riotus energy and you two are each other's ideal crowd. Also Hoseok, when he needs to be, can be the sweetest, most tender shoulder to lean on. He is easy to talk to, about anything. He's funny, he's soft, he's so good, benevolent, and you're in love, so deeply in love with this boy. That being said his dick is a piece of art and works a magic none of the biggest wizards of this world could ever attempt to master. And, when you don't get to feel it, not only do you miss it but feel an upsetting emotion constantly troubling your mood. I guess your best friend is right: You're pretty whipped for the guy's cock.

You know you're not the only one feeling this way though. The way he melts into you, showering your back with kisses and bites, hands digging everywhere, trying to tattoo your skin with his love, he misses you as much as you miss him.

When he's done being so overwhelmed by finally feeling you the way he craved to for days, he can tear his chest away from you to stand straight and tall on his knees, allowing himself to pound into you the way you both love. It feels amazing, you like to think that it's the idea of being with you again that helps him reach new hidden resources the four hours he's passed on a field playing Quidditch with a bunch of losers did not manage to dry out.

Hoseok sucks his thumb in his own mouth, soaking it in saliva before he's pressing it between your ass cheeks, circling tentatively on your surprisingly not so tight ring. He chuckles to himself. Because it's always like that. He's not complaining, he knows -and he can feel it as he moves his finger in and out, at a terribly slow path as opposed to the hard one followed by his hips- that you did not overdo it. You always make sure to prep yourself to not waste any fun time, not too much though so to guarantee the lovely stretch will still be here. It's once he's fit three fingers in that he squeals, “I almost forgot! Babe, I've made something!”

He gets fidgety behind you, reaching out for something you can't see, as you sigh, struggling to contain your impatience. He's thoughtful enough to hold your hips still with one hand, either it is for your comfort or by fear of his dick catching a cold, you're not quite sure. “You're gonna love it.” He prophesizes once his attention is back on you, leaning on his heels to have you relax on his lap.

His voice turns low, focused on each syllables as he enounces a bunch of different words you never would fit together, so close, in the same sentence; pronouncing a self-made spell you know won't ever appear in one of Hogwart's textbooks -which is probably for the best.

There's a warmth finding itself and spreading around your empty hole and slowly, something seems to grow from nothingness, progressively filling your ass up entirely. It's bigger than Hoseok's lean fingers, hotter, wetter, soft like the silky skin of his cock, rather than the rougher one of his hands. It starts moving in and out slowly, and you assume Hoseok has grabbed the end of it and is now testing it apprehensively. “I've been working on it for weeks.”

“Fuck, Hobi-” You choke out between pants and whines, back bending always further, desperate to get the most of the experience.

“How does it feel?” Ugh. “Wait, there's more!” He's picking up his wand again, shaking it in the air and mumbling more words that this time, brain so fucked up and intoxicated, you can't even decipher. Not that you really try.

Suddenly, there's a little buzz. You hear it before you feel it because it wavers, it faints away and comes back but never quite strong enough to be shaking you from the inside. Observing you from up there, he giggles, “From now on, please refer to me as Genius- Genhobi? Hobi-brai- Hobrain? That sounds a bit off but-”

That's when you burst out in a fit of laughter, so strong it shakes you up more than his spell did and makes his cock slip out of you. Hoseok grins in return. With a quick gesture of his wand, he turns his spell off. Leaning over your back, he brushes the hair out of the way to get a good look at the hilarity rolling down your cheek, fondness burning painfully his heart.

“It's not-” A wheeze. He's all ears, mouth stretched from one ear to the other. “It exists already. Muggles created this decades ago, probably a century even...” His face falls, mouth in a button and big wide eyes sceptical hanging under a set of terribly sad-looking droopy eyebrows. “What?” He asks quietly.

“It's called a vibrator. They make it and sell it in sex shops and-” You're mid-cackle when his whole demeanour, slopping down miserably on himself, eyes shiny with so much disappointment, you suspect he might actually start crying. You stop right away, turning around and reaching for his neck you wrap your arms lovingly around, pressing his face to your breast. “Oh, baby... It's okay.”

“I thought-”

“I know, it's fine. I appreciate you trying, hm? That's really cute.” He groans, nose scrunching up. “You're cute. Come on!” Getting back on all fours, you smile brightly at him. “It's whatever! Don't you wanna come? Cause I do...” Hoseok grabs you by the thighs, dragging you hard enough for you to lose balance and fall flat on your stomach, before he flips you over and leans in between your legs, mouth pressing to yours on reflex when his face is close enough.

“It's your fault. If you didn't know all those Muggles' stupid shits-”

“I grew up as a Muggle, dickhead.”

“And then why-” He hisses when he finally slips back in the comfort of your sex. “-did you not bring one of those for us?”

“To have my dad find it during one of his impromptu friskings through my stuff?”

“Fair-” His hips stutter at a particularly unforgiving squeeze of your walls around him, he groans loud mouth pressed hard to your ear, “You feel so good, baby.”

“You feel good. You fill me up so well, Hobi.” He does. He'll never know, no matter how many times you say it, how much you mean it. How perfect he fits in you as if your walls were craved for his cock only. And he fucks you so good. Hips rolling expertly against your pelvis to make sure your clit is taken care of, brushed over and pressed hard between you two as he's just started doing, knowing the both of you are not that far from finishing. You love when he does that. It's harsh, ruthless and stimulates you just right but it always leaves you red and abused and stinging a little for the hours and sometimes days to come. You love that. With Hogwarts' decency policies, you can't even wear a few purple marks on your neck as a reminder of who owns you and how well he's treated you. That sting is sometimes all you have to do so, to distract you when sitting in History of Magic class you wonder why the hell you're still wasting your fucking time with all those informations you couldn't care less about.

“Hobi, m'gonna come.”

“Come for me, baby. Come with me-” He's panting against your face, sweat droplets threatening to fall on it from how hard he is beating his hips against yours.

“Fuck! I need-”

Of course, Hoseok knows exactly what you need, therefore he hastens to growl, “Iloveyou- fuck, Iloveyou! Comewith-” The ball of light that has been growing inside both your bellies burst, blinding you both for a few seconds, rendering you deaf to the earsplitting, probably embarrassing, screams and earthshaking moans. You can feel him, coating your walls, as they clench repeatedly and smother him entirely, milking him out of every last drop he has to offer.

“Fucking Merlin...” Hoseok mumbles, body melting into yours as you tighten your grasp around him. You're stuck in a blur, barely conscious it seems, actively trying not to cry for some reason. It's Hoseok's lively laughter that brings you back from how far you've gone. “How come you're so nasty but you only get there when you're reminded how much I love you? You big baby.”

You're already too hot and red-cheeked to flush at his teasing, but your ego bruises a little bit. Not much though as you know how right he is. And how alike you two are anyway.

“Isn't your mouth supposed to be doing something else right now?” Hoseok shoots you his glorious grin before he's sliding down along your body, disappearing from your sight, eager to give you what you asked for earlier.

[sapphires-and-gold-fics]

Fictober 2019 Day 5: “I might just kiss you.”

Fandom: Game of Thrones / ASOIAF

Characters: Jaime Lannister / Brienne of Tarth

Read on AO3

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Note: College AU. Why yes, this does take place in a library... Professor Tully of the Medieval History Department at Stormland University (Go Stags!) doesn’t like tests. The mysteries of the past had always been her specialty, and she loved giving her students a challenge that would not only force them to work with someone else to reach a goal, but give them some access to the restricted section of the library where the oldest and most valuable volumes were kept, encouraging both teamwork and responsibility.

Stormland University was home to the most extensive epistle and journal collection in Westeros, though budgets being what they were, the upkeep wasn’t as up to par as it should have been. They were still losing a volume or two every year to poor climate control or misuse. So this term, Catelyn only offered access to the restricted books in one of her classes - MH302 - UNSOLVED HISTORIES - as a way to control the use of the texts but also recognizing that this group of students could help perpetuate the historical knowledge kept there in the basement.

Brienne Tarth was a brilliant student, except in maths; she was actually good at maths, but begrudgingly so. And as a history major she was hoping to not need maths so much. Her compatriots in Professor Tully’s class were for the most part very bright as well, but there was only one other history student - everyone else was an art, political science or anthropology major, all trying either to meet the course requirements, or trying to gain some knowledge adjacent to their course of study. The only other History major was Jaime Lannister, a senior working on his 10th term because he’d messed around too much in his second term, and he’d missed his 9th term due to some personal thing. Catelyn had had him in classes before and had almost not accepted him for this one, but she wanted him out of him out of her hair sooner rather than later, and if granting him access to this course would speed up his exit, then that worked for her.

Brienne had been in classes with Jaime before, too. And it had never gone terribly well. He was always poking at her for being too tall to sit in the front of the class (could she help it that shorter people always arrived early and took up the back seats?), or he would ask to borrow a pen and then never give it back - little things that all added up to a headache. In her second year, they’d been in a class on medieval languages together - that’s where he picked up her nickname. She’d hoped he’d have dropped it by now but not Jaime. Jaime with “wench” was like a direwolf with a bone.

The pairs for the midterm project were picked at random in week 3 of the course. When Catelyn had said Brienne’s name immediately following Jaime’s, he’d poked her shoulder with one of her pilfered pens and said “Hey wench, that’s us!” She’d rolled her eyes and ignored him.

In week 4, Catelyn assigned subjects to the pairs, also at random, giving them four weeks to do the research and pull their project together. One pair was assigned a project on the fabled fashion of dragon-age armor. Another got assigned a project on the missing mythical weapons of Westeros - Excalibur and Oathkeeper, and the like. Still another got assigned a project on the mysterious death of King Renly Baratheon.

Brienne would have loved any of these, especially the latter. But it wasn’t to be.

Instead, Brienne and Jaime had been assigned the unknown fate of the lost maidens - following the trails of Sansa and Arya Stark.

Jaime had rolled his eyes, but Brienne being an excellent student had already marked out the necessary research periods on her calendar, and had reserved time in the restricted section of the library for her and Jaime. He dragged his heels and she had to pull him to the basement by the wrist, but they finally sat down and divvied up the project, taking over a large table at the far end. The library assistant for the restricted section was a bear of a man who glared at Jaime until he took his feet off of the table, but otherwise he was innocuous.

They’d been on the trail for two weeks (or rather, Brienne had) when they found a record of a person clearly matching Arya’s description disembarking a ship in Braavos. The harbormaster had even noted the presence of her narrow shortsword--

“Needle,” whispered Jaime, seemingly half-engaged.

Brienne looked up at him in surprise. She didn’t think he paid attention in class at all, but unless he’d been doing some independent reading, he couldn’t have known the name of Arya’s sword otherwise.

They had established from journals of the maester for the Night’s Watch that Arya had been secreted from the capital after her father the Hand’s execution, by a member of the Night’s Watch. He’d sent a raven ahead saying as much in code, yet neither Yoren nor Arya had made it. But the existence of those missives alone indicated that the Boltons had never possessed the real Arya, a fact that had long been argued in historical circles. Furthermore, there was slight evidence that she might have spent time in a prisoner camp at Harrenhall with some Braavosi, and it was that information that led them to examine the harbormaster’s ledger. She had most certainly not been present when her family was slaughtered at the Twins, else the Freys would have claimed it. The next logical step for her had been to go east.

Sansa had been a very different story - in some ways, she’d been easier to track. Unlike Arya, she would have been more inclined to trust the people around her, and that included people who were close to her family. The records from the Eyrie were incredibly brittle and Brienne didn’t like trusting them in Jaime’s hands, but he’d sworn to her and the library assistant that he would wear gloves and be gentle with the tomes. He kept this promise for three days by not touching them at all and instead playing a game on his phone. But then slowly he picked up the work.

In the middle of their second week working on the project, he met her outside the library with two coffees - one in hand which he gave her, and one clutched in his elbow which he shifted into his hand once it was free. She’d seen him fumble with books and such in his right hand before, but she’d also seen him playing the phone game with his right hand.

She didn’t think on it too hard, instead she thanked and then immediately admonished him for bringing coffee when he knew there was no food and drink allowed in the restricted section. He offered her a lopsided smile in return and just said “Sure, but isn’t it nice to catch up out here in the cold with something to warm you up before we go back to the basement?” She’d nodded reluctantly and thanked him again before swallowing a few gulps and then depositing the half-full cup in the trash by the door.

From that point on, he and Brienne pored over their separate books side by side, translating for one another when the words were too faded or obscure or, for Jaime, simply moving around on the page too much.

They had confirmation that Sansa had arrived in the Vale, but from there the trail seemed to go cold. There was mention of a girl about the same age, but the description was wrong. Brienne thought it unlikely that a maester would lie, but Jaime had never trusted maesters, so he kept digging. When the trail went cold, he wrote down a handful of words on a bright pink post-it and told Brienne he was going to go “look for something else.” She assumed that meant that he was going to go hide in the stacks and play his game again. It was no matter, really. They’d tracked Arya, and that was more than they’d expected - it would be enough to focus the project on her.

Jaime had been gone for 10 minutes before Brienne realized that his phone was still sitting on the table - wherever he’d gone, he’d apparently gone in earnest. She got up and stretched her legs and decided to go in search of him.

After another 10 minutes she found him on the floor in one of the dustier corners amid some familiar volumes from the Night’s Watch, his knees bent, with what looked like a very heavy thick text propped up on them. The light here was dim, and he was squinting to read the words on the page. He heard her approach and looked up at her only briefly before patting the linoleum next to him. She walked over and sat down, bringing her knees up as well.

“How can you read back here, it’s so dark!”

He hushed her. “I think I found something.”

“Jaime I thought we agreed that Arya went to Braavos. We don’t know that she ever made it north.”

He looked at her wide-eyed with mischief, “We did. I’m not trailing Arya. I’m trailing Sansa. And I think she made it. I matched up the approximate time frames, and it’s all here. The girl that’s mentioned being at the Eyrie after Sansa - I would swear that it’s the same girl that’s described arriving at Castle Black.”

“Jaime, brown hair and blue eyes - that could be anyone. Gods, it could even be any one of Robert Baratheon’s bastards - it could be a literal white walker.”

“And there’s nothing about her chewing on anyone - pretty sure this was a living girl. And not brown, chestnut. The maesters at both the Eyrie and Castle Black use that exact word. Chestnut - it’s practically auburn. Sansa stark had red hair… they could have used some kind of dye to dim it but the red would have continued to show through.”

“Wasn’t the maester at the wall blind?”

“Yes!”

There was a loud shhing sound from a few stacks over.

“Yes,” Jaime whispered, moving closer to her, “This is what I’m talking about. Someone must have given the maester that description with purpose. Perhaps it was Sansa herself. Perhaps she used the same words that Petyr Baelish used in order to protect herself.”

Brienne wasn’t convinced. “It’s a stretch…”

“Wench, she was escorted by a knight.”

Brienne’s breath caught. “Well that’s unusual. A woman at the wall on its own is not unheard of especially during that time, but a knight for an escort?”

“A very tall knight. No other description. I thought - and you’ll probably think this is a stretch for sure - but I thought maybe it was that knight who’d shielded her in the capital. The dog one - the Hound.”

Brienne shook her head. “That is a stretch...but not impossible. There was another person looking for her at the time as well. Also quite tall. Fashioned themselves a knight but they weren’t one… I always wondered what happened...”

“If it were the Hound they might have mentioned his face.”

“If it were the heir to the Evenstar they might have mentioned she was a woman.”

Jaime’s lips curled up into a sly grin, and he swallowed. “You’re right… and I think they did. Later on - in the texts we looked at before - there’s mention of a woman sparring with the men. If it was her, that makes--”

“--a lot of sense, yeah. Holy shit, Jaime.”

He gave her a rueful smile and looked back down at the book.

“All that time we were looking at the Night’s Watch stuff I thought you were playing Candy Crush or something.”

He tilted his head like a dog and peered at her, the realization of what she meant coming startlingly across his face. “Oh, the phone!”

He brushed at his pockets.

“You left it on the table - that’s why I came back here, I figured maybe you were actually onto something.”

“Ah… I’m sorry, Brienne. I promise I wasn’t distracted, it’s not actually a game - not really.”

His use of her actual name should not have thrilled her as much as it did. “It doesn’t matter--”

“--no, no. It does to me - I want you to understand, I’ve been paying attention the whole time, but I have to keep at it. My physical therapist says that my grip might not improve but if I can work on my dexterity in my fingers then I should actually be able to get back to typing okay.”

“Your… what happened?”

“My sister. She… well there’s no nice way to say it, she had her giant boyfriend beat me up and then while I was on the ground, she ran over my hand with her car.”

“Oh my god!”

“Shhhhh,” said the faraway stacks.

“Oh my god, Jaime.”

“Yeah...she kinda sucks.”

He was easing the heavy book off his knees but she saw his right hand struggling, so she reached over and helped him lower the tome to the ground. Their faces were very close while she reached across him and he caught her start to blush bright strawberry in the dim fluorescent light before yanking her hand back to her side.

“So… does that mean… I don’t mind - being the one to type up the report and stuff.”

He grinned. “Actually the practice might be nice. Can we just do it together?”

“Yeah of course.”

“Cool.”

They sat staring at each other’s hands. Suddenly Brienne started, and grabbed his arm.

“Wait, Jaime - you found her! You found Sansa Stark. And maybe someone else, too. Someone really important. Oh my gods, Jaime - this is… this is very good.”

“Well we did it together, right?”

“I mean yeah but if you hadn’t… gods, Jaime I might just kiss you! I can’t believe you found her!” She froze then, and the strawberry blush was back. So was his sly grin.

He forced himself to look at her eyes and not her lips, and then he brought his right hand over and slipped his weaker fingers under hers on his arm, using the slightest pressure, like he was trying to squeeze it. “Maybe we can save the kissing for somewhere where we’re less likely to get asbestos poisoning.”

“Jaime, I--”

“We have a week to finish this project. Let’s get through it. If we haven’t killed each other by the time we turn it in, have coffee with me - finally - and then I might just kiss you first.”

His eyes were wild watching the tides churn in hers, but she pursed her lips and grinned, nodding.

He exhaled, coughing at the dust that had settled around them. “Let’s get out of here, wench. I’d really like to live to see next week.”

They made note of the tome number and headed back to the table, his right hand in her left.

[pedagrouchy]

Week Seven: Pop-Culture in the Classroom

1. Morrell provides an in-depth look at five units of study that formed the year-long curriculum of a senior English class. Of these five units, which did you find the most interesting? Why? Could you see yourself using elements (texts, activities, critical frameworks) of this unit to inspire a unit in your future curriculum?

The first unit, which pairs The Odyssey and The Godfather, jumped out at me immediately -- in part because I’ve been reading The Hate U Give for my Young Adult Lit class, and just this morning thought “huh, this would be neat to teach with The Godfather.” As far as treating power relations and violence for ethnic minorities in America, those two texts would pair well. But to address group identity, tribal power structures, heroism, the epic, and history, I can hardly think of a sharper combination than the one Morrell describes.

I can certainly see using either of these texts in a classroom, especially in a way that puts them back-to-back. I loved Morrell’s strategy of drawn-out film viewings -- it had never occurred to me to stomach my fears about continuity ("would the experience be the same, in such small increments?”) in the interest of finding out what opportunities such a form might open. From what he described, it seems like it was worth it. And it certainly can’t hurt students’ skills at close-reading, communal discussion, and critical engagement with visual media.

For a last, more superficial point, I was so excited to see the exam format he chose. This seems like a weird fondness, but I love tests structured that way, and I’ve found that the few professors willing to use them are the ones I learn from (and retain what I learn) the best.

Part Two: I reached out to a good friend of mine who teaches 10th grade English in San Diego and asked for an upcoming unit essential question. Using the unit essential question she shared, create a set of texts (5 ish) that you think could help 10th graders explore this question. Here's the catch: You are only allowed one traditional print-based work of fiction. All other texts have to be multimodal in nature (songs, podcasts, video games, art or visual texts of any kind, graphic narratives, articles, films, digital media, etc.)

For each text, list the name, author/creator, a brief sentence summarizing what the text is and is about, and a short description of how students might use this text as a way to discuss the unit essential question.

EQ: How do we know what we know?

Wow, well, that’s a doozy of a question, so here’s my best shot:

1. Othello, William Shakespeare

Traditional, sure, but it’d probably be lying around in a district closet somewhere, there are great film and audio versions, and I think it bears on the essential question directly. As the story of a man whose knowledge of his wife is slowly eroded and replaced by new, insidiously designed “knowledge,” it has a lot to say about how we go about knowing things, and how other people -- sometimes with bad intent -- can influence the process.

2. Introducing Wittgenstein, John Heaton and Judy Groves

This might be a reach, but I think the graphic narrative format, the biographical details, and the intro-level approach would get high schoolers to at least start to engage with its ideas. Most of all, I’d want to get across the point (and if this is the only point they get, I’m happy) that knowledge is a thing that’s totally inextricable from language. From there, interesting questions about other texts ought to flow more freely.

3. Manufacturing Consent, Mark Achbar, Peter Wintonick, and Noam Chomsky

Again, maybe this documentary is shooting high, but I think that breaking it up into little manageable pieces, the way Morrell does, would give students the chance to engage with a lot of lively, provocative ideas. As one of the most accessible windows into the already pretty-accessible work of Noam Chomsky, it’s hard to beat. Ideally, this would be the point at which themes from Othello might return, and we could discuss how knowledge is often able to play stooge to power.

4. This American Life #670: Beware the Jabberwock!, Ira Glass & Co.

For a more contemporary text, I think this TAL podcast episode on the world of online conspiracy theorists -- and Alex Jones in particular -- would be an entertaining and (hopefully in a good way) frightening way to develop the themes already running through the course. At a time when the ability to generate dangerous, misleading knowledge is so democratically available, it’s more important than ever to ask how that knowledge works, who’s making it, and who it serves. This podcast answers at least the second of those questions in a way that’s gripping, funny, and surprisingly sensitive.

5. Hurricane, Bob Dylan

To round things out (and, in a slightly off-smelling way, to end how we started: with a story-in-verse about the unjust treatment of a Black man, written by a White one), I think this classic song of the counter-culture would engage a lot of our prior texts while directing questions of created knowledge toward matters of racial justice in America. Since it’s so short (well, not for a song, but you know what I mean), and since this curriculum is so White (whoops...) it’d be nice to pair it with some work by Black authors that engages the same issues. What I like about this song especially is its more local treatment of created knowledge, which might stand as a nice counterpoint to Chomsky’s State-Department-level critiques.

[thedefinitionofbts]

A Story that we paint (Ch. 1)

Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Epilogue

Pairings: Jeon Jungkook x Reader | Kim Taehyung x Reader 

Genre: College Au, Future, Scifi, Slight Fluff and Angst

Words: 9K

Description: Butterfly Dream: In which the lines between virtual and reality are blurred.

You think you can remember his touch, the sound of his voice, the scent of his freshly washed hair against the cotton pillowcase. In your dreams he is real, he is everything you knew and everything you didn’t need to know. You could always find him in the crevices of your mind no matter how elaborately your thoughts are tested or how convoluted the maze of your consciousness is intertwined.  

“But if you happen to get lost, you had faith that he would find you”

 “Welcome to Virtual Universe 101. My name is Professor Kim Namjoon, and I will be your primary instructor this semester. ” Your eyes follow the tall and surprisingly youthful looking man as he walks to the front of the lecture hall. He smiles kindly at the crowd of students and proceeds to look down and expertly types some commands into his hand held tablet device. The screen behind him immediately opens to display the introductory slide of his presentation.

Virtual Universe 101 was one of the first classes added to the new university curriculum that aimed to combine the traditional liberal arts and the engineering sciences, two major fields of study that had always been divided by a wide gulf due to their contrastingly different ways of thought. Virtual Universe, or VU, is a technology developed sometime after the discovery of true artificial intelligence (machines with consciousness) and slightly before the invention of brain downloading (the process of downloading yourself into a virtual world where you could live and do things as you would in the real world). Now it’s officially a class students can take as an elective in college, and its especially appealing to those who have a knack for both the arts and the STEM subjects, in other words, the overachievers who pride themselves in being equally creative and logical.

“I assume most of you have a general idea of what VU is, so I’m going to go over the introduction rather quickly.” The screen flips to the next slide, giving a brief description of the history of VU and its real world applications. “As you all know, VU is an interdisciplinary area that essentially combines every subject you’ve studied in your educational careers up until now. It’s as thought-provoking as it is rewarding, so if you’re up for a challenge, you’ve come to the right place.” He smiles again, an action that causes his lips to stretch from ear to ear, and a pair of deep set dimples to appear at the corner of both his cheeks.

Professor Kim Namjoon was right. VU was as interdisciplinary as it gets, as it involves the design and implementation of an alternate world, which meant it wasn’t a standalone class. Signing up for VU 101 meant you had to simultaneously take Storyboarding (a literature class taught by the quirky Professor Kim Seokjin, who apparently jokes around more than he is serious), Design Engineering (and art and structural design class taught by the lively Professor Jung Hoseok who you’ve heard is literally the manifestation of the sun), and Mental Environment Homeostasis (a course intended to aid in the maintenance of psychological wellbeing taught by the mysterious Professor Min Yoongi who no one really knew much about).

“This semester you will be assigned a semester long project which requires you to build a virtual world.” He begins to go over the syllabus. “VU has various applications in the real world, ranging from video game design to medical research simulation.” He flips to the next slide. “For this course, you will be randomly assigned a genre for the virtual story you create.” He continues to go over all the due dates of homework assignments and midterms, which didn’t look too bad, since most if not all were just parts of the project divided into different stages to prevent students who had a habit of procrastinating from leaving everything until the day before it was due. “Lastly, at the end of the semester, you will have the option of deciding whether you want to live the life you create.” There’s a glint in his eyes, fleeting, but you were able to catch it before the crowd of students began to stir.

His last statement earned him his first audible reaction from the crowd who had been silently listening and taking notes up until that moment. Gasps erupted through the lecture hall as the students began whispering to each other in hushed yet alarmed voices. You didn’t know what the professor meant by that last sentence, but it sounded like he was implying you could download yourself into the system, which was something you had heard of being previously done, but still uncommon in real world society.

The whispering dies down as Namjoon begins to speak once again; his lips are still curved upward into a smile. “I know it sounds confusing now, but it will become more clear as we proceed into the semester.” He reaches the last slide, which contained all the usual contact information, office hours, and miscellaneous information. “The TAs will be available to help if you can’t make it to any of my office hours.” He says. “Oh, and don’t forget you also have your other professors who I am positive will be more than happy to answer any question you may have.” And with that Professor Namjoon dismisses the class.

You gather your belongings and make your way out of the lecture hall. Many of the students where still chattering amongst themselves, all this project talk had gotten everyone overly excited, which seemed a bit excessive and naive in your opinion. Little did they know of the challenges that lie on the road ahead, as the design and implementation of VU was very complex to say the least. You briefly glance at your phone, taking note that it was almost noon. You had agreed to have lunch with your best friend Park Jimin today, something that had basically become a tradition ever since you met him freshman year.  

As he had promised, he was waiting for you outside the engineering building. You could recognize that smile of his from a mile away.

“Y/N!” He shouts as he spots you walking through the large group of students that had just gotten out of class. He stands on his tippy toes and waves his hands in the air as if you hadn’t already seen him.

“You can put your hands down, Chim. You’re kind of hard to miss.” You joke as you approach him.

He laughs, eyes disappearing into half moons. “So how was class?” He asks as you walk across campus to the noodle shop a block down.

You sigh, and proceed to explain the whole project thing to him. Jimin wasn’t exactly up to date with VU technology, so you gave him some background info on that too, sparing him the confusing he would otherwise be met with later on. As the two of you stroll along the oak tree lined sidewalk, and across the autumn leave covered lawn, you tell him about the things Professor Namjoon had mentioned, VU applications, designing a virtual world…

“You can choose to live in your self-constructed universe?” Jimin’s eyes widen in surprise after you mention that little teaser Namjoon had hinted at during lecture. “Isn’t that still taboo???” He huffs, eye open wide as they go. He was listening so intently, he didn’t even notice the waiter place his steaming bowl of noodles in front of him.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s what I thought, but I guess this professor is more open about these things than society is” You shrug, pulling your hair back and leaning in to eat some of your noodles that were still piping hot.

 …

 “VR2000 is an artificially intelligent operating system that will act as the canvas of your virtual world. It is located in the Human Computer Interaction Lab, the place where I assume most of you will be spending many sleepless nights over the course of the semester.” Namjoon’s voice echoes through the lecture hall once again. There were sounds of students typing notes on their laptop and the occasional cough of some kid four rows over. Namjoon was going over the logistics on how to get started with the project and the resources available to get started. “It provides a human-machine interface where you will be able to enter the world you are building and experience it for each test run. This allows you to make adjustments as necessary, fix problems as they occur, or just optimize user experience.” He explains, while simultaneously showing a demonstration on the big screen.

“Wow” You hear Jimin voice directly into your right ear. He had decided to tag along and sit in on your lecture, even though he isn’t in your class.

“Calm your ass, you’re not the one doing this project” You roll your eyes. “I still don’t understand why you’re even here.”  

“What?” Jimin responds clearly offended. “I don’t have class in the mornings, and I just wanted to see what this class is like. You were the one who made it sound cool.” He blames. “Besides, I may or may no want to take this class next year.” He grins, eyes narrowing into half crescents.

You shake your head defeated. “Again, I don’t understand why a psych major like you would ever want to take this class. Aren’t you afraid it’s going to mess up your psychological wellbeing or whatever? Especially with the whole ‘you will have the option of deciding whether you want to live the life you create’”. You mumble, imitating Professor Namjoon’s voice when he had voiced that particular sentence.  

“Isn’t that what ‘Mental Environment Homeostasis’ is for?” Jimin smirks, knowing he had just won the argument with one rhetorical question.

You mentally facepalm, completely forgetting that, that is exactly what ‘Mental Environment Homeostasis’ was for, and realizing that your own argument was now invalid.

“You have all the tools you need to successfully complete the project at your disposal. I advise you all to use the university’s resources wisely.” Professor Kim Namjoon’s voice pulls your attention back to lecture. “Each of you will be paired up with another student in the class, and each group will be assigned a genre.” He pauses, as the students begin whispering and partnering up before he was finished. “As I was saying” He raises his voice and a hush falls through the crowd. “The genre each group will be assigned will be dependent on random draw, so I don’t want to hear any complaints about unfairness or requests to switch topics.”

“What do you think he means by ‘genre’?” Jimin whispers to you.

“Shhhh” You hush him before the professor gets annoyed again.

“You may come up to the front after class, with your partner, to receive the your project packet which will contain the genre and all the requirements listed.” Namjoon says. “But the one warning I will continue to reiterate throughout the semester is that you must take responsibility for what you create.” He pauses once again, but this time, not because he was waiting for the students to quiet down because the lecture hall was so quiet that you could hear him sigh into the microphone attached to his collar. “Any form of artificial consciousness deserves to be treated as a human.” He slowly looks around at the students in the crowd with deep philosophical eyes. You didn’t fully understand what he meant, but there was no doubt in your mind that he had just shared with the class the most important piece of information about the project.

A student in the crowd raises his hand.

“Yes?” Namjoon looks over at the dark haired boy in an oversized white t-shirt and beanie.

“How are you defining artificial consciousness?” the boy asks.

Namjoon smiles and looks down at the floor for a millisecond before raising his head and answering the boy’s question. “To put it simply, any person you create in your artificial world who has his or her own thoughts and is an independent agent.” He claps his hands together. “I hope that answers your question, and with that, I will give you guys time to partner up.”

“Wooow, this class is awesome” Jimin comments as the other students begin standing up and finding partners.

“God Jimin, your not even in this class. Do you know how hard this project sounds?” You groan, thinking about all the work that’s coming ahead, long sleepless nights trying to get programs to work and who know what other frustrating endeavors.

“But hey, at least you get a partner” He pats you on the shoulder with a wide grin.

Shit. You think to yourself before frantically looking around. You had totally forgotten you were supposed to be finding a partner right now. Half the class was already in line getting their packets, while you were here screwing around with Jimin.

Jimin notices you biting your lower lip and nervously looking around the room. “How about that guy over there?” He suggests, knowing exactly what you were thinking at that moment

Your eyes trail over to the person Jimin was pointing at and low and behold, it was the guy who had asked the question earlier, the one in the white shirt and beanie. He hadn’t even stood up and was just staring at the dark screen in front of the lecture hall like he was waiting for his partner to just magically appear.

“B-but, I don’t even know him” You stutter, weighing out your options.

“Do you know anyone in this class?” Jimin retorts.

You tsk and glance at him annoyed. “Fine, I’ll ask” You mutter while making your way over to the boy who was seated three rows in front of you.

As you approach, you notice that he was kind of zoning out, so you had to wave your hand in front of him to grab his attention.

“Hey, ummm, sorry to bother you…but I was-“

He looks up and interrupts you before you could finish your sentence.

“Partner?” He says with an anticipating smile.

You somehow get lost in his innocent doe eyes for a fraction of a second longer than you had intended before managing to nod your head slowly.

“Cool” He says, as he stands up and proceeds to get in line behind the rest of the students. You stand rooted in the spot, not quiet registering what had happened and wondering if this was all real. Ironic because this was happening before the project even started. “You coming?” He turns and asks after realizing you were still in a trance of some sorts.

“Oh, uh, y-yeah” You shake your head in an attempt to clear your mind and quickly hop over to his side.

“The name’s Jungkook by the way” He comments as the two of you wait in line patiently. There were shouts from students in the front who had opened their packets and got assigned genres that they were probably hoping to get.

“Y/N” You respond with a smile.

 …

 Given the choice, what kind of story would you choose to live out with the love of your life?

“Think of it as a choose your own adventure game, and try to have some fun with it.” Professor Kim Namjoon’s voice echoes in your head as your eyes attempt to focus on the words printed on the first page of the packet.

This was insane. You had expected to be tasked with making some sort of video game, adventure simulation, or something more practical, but a love story? Unbelievable! At this day and age? But the words on the page were concrete and undeniable. That was the genre you and Jungkook were given. The objective that would inevitably dictate all the hard work you would sacrifice for the entire semester. A love story. 

“It’s so lame” You sigh as you toss the packet on the table and burry your face in your arms.

“I thought girls liked these things,” Jungkook comments. He picks up the packet to flip through it one more time. He re-reads the guidelines as he twirls his pen in his free hand.

You guys had met up to discuss the first steps after Design Engineering class with Professor Jung Hoseok, who you soon found out, was indeed the embodiment of the sun itself. That guy literally never stops smiling and he walks as if he’s dancing ballet or something.

“Don’t tell me you actually believe we could make anything interesting with a topic as boring as romance.” You remark, as you sat across from Jungkook in the large library study area. Since it was the beginning of the semester, it was relatively empty. If this were finals week, you’d be lucky to even find an open table.

“Love stories aren’t always centered around romance” Jungkook replies as he lifts his pupils from the pages to glance at you. “They can be…tragic.”

“What? You mean like Romeo and Juliet?” You finally lift your head to look at him. He looked really young, fetus-like almost. His baby face made you question if he was maybe younger than you, but at the same time, his body was quite developed…not that you were directly taking note of that in particular. “We just met and you’re already trying to kill me off?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant” He defends, shaking his hands. “Besides, they both die in that story don’t they?” He voices after remembering the actually ending of the age-old classic tale.

“Oh yeah, never mind then” You mutter.

“We could just base our project off of some really famous romance novel. They’re all pretty cookie-cutter anyways.” He says.

“We could…” You pause to think, realizing that you didn’t want to just settle for something generic. You had an entire semester and the world’s most advanced tools to make something amazing and novel. Why waste that just because you didn’t get an “interesting topic”? There was a limitless amount of room to be creative, the possibilities were endless. “But, I want something unique, something never written before. Something that could be deemed the greatest love story in the history of love stories.” You state in a resolute tone while looking up at the stain glass ceiling of the library, sunlight was pouring in and changing all sorts of colors due to the painted glass.

“Wow, your mindset changes in a hurry” Jungkook says with a side grin. “Good thing we have Storyboarding class next.” He says as he stands up from his chair. “Let’s hope Professor Kim Seokjin has some good advice about coming up with a plot.”

…

 “Good afternoon, class” Professor Kim Seokjin greets the students who all looked very enthusiastic and eager to get started, to your minor annoyance. “I heard you’ve all received your project genres this morning. I hope you all have some amazing ideas swimming in your minds because in this class we will be doing a lot of creative exercises and brainstorming.”

Storyboarding was a new Lib-Ed class adapted specifically for students enrolled in Virtual Universe 101. It had been adapted from the more traditional literature classes such as Creative Writing and the like, and as unnecessary as it sounded before getting your project genre, you appreciated how it managed to help get you reoriented with the project goals after the disappointment you were met with this morning in regards to the project genre you received. Professor Kim Seokjin had said something along the lines of figuring out the main characters of the story before you start planning each stage of the story in separate steps.

“Aren’t our main characters just….us….?” You voice cautiously, after the professor had called for discussion time with your partners.

Jungkook sits up from slumping back in his seat and clears his throat before replying. “Not necessarily” He says. “According to the packet, our story is from the perspective of one of us, not both.”

“Oh right” You murmur, turning to look the other way before Jungkook can notice the flush in your cheeks. You bite the inside of your lip, scolding yourself for being so direct and inaccurate about the words escaping your lips. Of course, how could you forget? The packet specifically stated for you, the participant, to choose the love story you would live out with the love of your life. Not ‘come up with a love story between two people’.

“Y/N?” Jungkook’s voice snaps you from your thoughts. You jump a little in your seat, startled by the clarity in his voice. “I was thinking that we just have to decide which one of us goes into the simulation as the perspective side, and then we can decide whether we want to create a second main character or just have the simulation work its magic.”

You’re lips part as you try to register what Jungkook had said. “You mean, like the concept of soulmates?” At this point, you didn’t even know what you were saying anymore. You didn’t even believe in soulmates, in fact, the idea had always made you want to scoff.  

Jungkook pauses and furrows his brows ever so slightly. “Sure, I guess if that’s what you call it.”

“That’s probably easier anyways.” You cut in, while laughing nervously. “I can’t imagine trying to create an AI.”

“Yeah, an AI….” Jungkook whispers to himself at a barely audible volume.

“I guess I can volunteer as tribute.” You shrug. “Unless you want to.” You look up and notice Jungkook had that blank look in his eyes again, just like the way he was the first day you “asked” him to be your partner.

“Huh?” Jungkook hums, snapping out of his thoughts.

“The perspective roll. I can be the one going into the simulation.” You repeat, waiting for him to either agree or suggest he go in instead.

“Oh, yeah. You do it.” Jungkook says, nodding his head in agreement. “I’ll monitor the stats while you’re in the simulation.”

 …

 The weekend hits you like a breath of fresh air after being locked up in a dusty attic for days. You needed a break from the project, even though the hard part had barely even begun. The creative process was harder than you thought, and you blame it on the lame topic you were stuck with. It was obvious you still weren’t over the “unfairness” of random draw because you had spend a full half an hour complaining about it to Jimin on Saturday while the two of you were grabbing a late lunch at the café near campus.

He had tried to make you feel better, insisting that love stories could be overwhelmingly emotional and there were a lot of elements you could play with, but it hardly changes your opinion because Jimin was into that stuff, as opposed to you, who brushed it off like it was all generic and uninteresting. Despite the futility, you still appreciated his well-fought effort.

It wasn’t until two days later, on Monday, that things started to get interesting. Because two days later, you receive a call from Jungkook telling you to meet him in the Human-Computer Interaction lab, aka the place where the project simulation was supposed to take place and the place you would be spending most of your time in the next coming months. He hadn’t contacted you since Storyboarding class on Friday, and you thought he was just out drinking with his friends or hungover the whole weekend, but as it turns out, he had actually been cooking up a surprise. A real one (figuratively, or so you think…).

“Wow, I’m impressed. He’s…he’s… fucking hot.” You comment, as you stare at the sharp features of the man on the screen. He had large sultry eyes, a tall perfectly shaped nose, and full lips. His skin was smooth and sun-kissed, hair a dark shade of golden brown.

“Well, I figured you’d want someone physically attractive, since you know, he’s going to be the male lead of your love story.” Jungkook says as he places his hands on his hips, proud that his past 48 hours of non-stop work had paid off.

“You mean, our love story,” You correct with a smirk. “I’m just playing lab rat here. He’s not real.”

“Oh, but he will be.”

You freeze in place at Jungkook’s last comment. “What do you mean?”

“Artificial consciousness.” He states. “I made him fully conscious. True AI.”

“W-wait, what?” 

Jungkook chuckles. “It won’t make for an interesting story if I’m just controlling him the whole time, especially since you and I aren’t actually lovers. It should be as real as possible, right?”

You feel your face heat up at the mention of being lovers with Jungkook. “Yeah, of course. What was I thinking? We could never be lovers. Not even close.” You lie, hiding the fact that you hadn’t felt what you did the past few days when you were with him, and pretending that it was the farthest thing from your mind.

“It’s less work for me, and it’s more natural for the story.” He says, eyes still looking at the young male on the screen. “He’s so good looking, I’m almost jealous.” He’s still admiring his work of art.

“H-how did you do it though?” You question, remembering that this was not an easy feat, in fact, not long ago, it was literally impossible to make truly conscious AI.

“Hours of coding, help from the awesome resources the university provides, and a small part of my own brain.” Jungkook grins, looking at you and waiting for your praise. 

You feel your lower jaw drop. “You downloaded you brain into the machine?”

“Yup” Jungkook nods. “Do you know how long it would take to make him fully from scratch? Probably couldn’t even finish it if I spent the whole semester fully on that.”

“So doesn’t that mean he’s basically….you?” You raise your eyebrow.

“He’s 50% similar to me, the other 50% he’ll evolve into as the simulation goes.” Jungkook explains. “In a sense, I’m part of him. Or more accurately, part of him is me. The difference is subtle, but it’s there.”

A moment of silence passes, and the only sound that can be heard is the loud rumbling of the lab machines.

“I shouldn’t have made him so hot” Jungkook finally blurts out after the sort of awkwardly long pause where neither of you spoke. “It’s hurting my pride a little.”

“I’m lucky you’re only realizing that now that you’ve finishing making him” You grin, throwing the joke back at him.

“Ouch” Jungkook says, pretending to grip his chest.

The two of you burst into laughter, and you get a glimpse of the way his nose and eyes scrunches up until they disappear. It was a heartwarming sight, even though your own laughter prevented you from seeing him as clearly as you wished at that moment. You had only known the guy for a week, and it already felt like you had been friends with him for years.

After the laughter dies down, you glance back at the virtual image on the screen, taking in the idea of the pending adventure ahead.

...

“So how are your projects coming along?” Professor Kim Seokjin had been checking in with all of the groups on Monday, making sure everyone was progressing at a good pace, when he finally made it to you and Jungkook.

“Oh, it’s going” You reply, startled by his near silent approach.

“You two are partners I’m assuming?” Seokjin questions, eyeing you and Jungkook back and forth.

“Yeah” Jungkook replies, nodding his head so that his bangs bobbled up and down.

“May I take a look at your topic?” Seokjin requests. You turn to dig through you backpack for the project packet and finally find it hidden amongst your other papers fully of sketches from Design Engineering.

Seokjin takes the packet from you and glances at the front page. “Love story?” Seokjin voices as his eyes glide across the words written in bold. “Interesting.” He looks up and glances at you and Jungkook with a mischievous expression.

Jungkook clears his throat and averts his eyes.

“We’ve already decided on the main characters.” You quickly announce, hoping that Professor Kim Seokjin’s mind wasn’t traveling to a place you didn’t want to deal with right now.

“Oh?” Seokjin raises his eyebrow.

“Umm, yeah, it’s going to be from the perspective of me and an AI that we, or Jungkook, built over the weekend” You explain, hoping that he wasn’t going to point out some major problem with what you guys had planned so far. It didn’t occur to you until now, but it probably would’ve been better to get the plan checked out by Professor Namjoon before going ahead and creating a being who was artificially conscious, as Jungkook had claimed it or he was.

“AI?” Seokjin repeats. “Simplistic model or conscious?”

“He’s –“ You begin, before Jungkook cuts you off.

“He’s conscious” Jungkook says.

Seokjin nods slowly, expression on his face very difficult to read from what you could tell. He doesn’t speak for a good minute, clearly taking his time to register what Jungkook had said. “Have the two of you spoken with Professor Min Yoongi in Mental Environment Homeostasis yet?” He suddenly asks.

“We’ve been going to class, but we haven’t spoken to him directly.” You respond, recalling the black haired professor who always looked tired yet retained an unexplainable type of sharpness in his eyes. You wonder why Professor Kim Seokjin would suddenly bring that class up, after all, the simulation stage had yet to begin. Surely people weren’t having mental breakdowns yet were they?

“I’m assuming you cloned part of your own brain circuitry into the Connectome?” Seokjin says, turning to Jungkook.

“Y-yeah” Jungkook nods, eyes widening and body stiffening up. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights, and you weren’t sure why he seemed so nervous. You had no idea what cloning brain circuitry entailed, but it must’ve been what Jungkook meant when he said part of the AI was him.

Seokjin nods again, and finally smiles. “Impressive.”

You faintly hear Jungkook breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of the professor’s warm smile.

…

That evening, Jimin invites you to study with him at his dorm. He was one of the more well off students who could afford to have his own room in one of the more “luxurious” residential halls. Luxurious as in, he didn’t have to share his bathroom and his room came with a little kitchenette so he could prepare simple meals on a stovetop rather than be limited to using the classic microwave. Since, you had already agreed to work on the project with Jungkook that day, you decide that it couldn’t hurt to bring him along to Jimin’s place. Jimin practically already knew who he was anyways.

“Come in! Come in!” You hear Jimin’s high-pitched voice vibrate through the wooden door that you had just knocked on. You turn to look at Jungkook who just shrugs, waiting to follow after your steps.

“I brought Jungkook” You announce as you open the door, in case Jimin wasn’t prepared (as in dressed) to receive extra company. Even though, he should be dressed somewhat decently knowing you were going over anyways, but since Jungkook was still a stranger to Jimin, it was only respectful to give him a heads up regardless.  

“Oh, great!” Jimin chirps, poking his head out of his opened bathroom door. “The more the merrier.”

You roll your eyes at his optimism and invite Jungkook to sit on the couch under Jimin’s lofted bed.

“So I heard you two made a real person,” Jimin says as he walks over to the two of you, completely unaware of how he conveniently arranged his words into a sentence that could be taken the wrong way.  

“Yeah, well” Jungkook scratches the back of his neck. “He’s not real per say. He’s just conscious in the virtual world.”

“Ohhh” Jimin says, pretending he understands the weight of Jungkook’s words, which he doesn’t. “So he’s fake real”

“Uh, no…he’s real real” Jungkook furrows his eyebrows. “He’s me but not me”

“R-right…” Jimin says, nodding as if it would help him understand if he kept telling himself he understood.  

“Ok, can we just get to work?” You cut in, barely able to handle another minute of this nonsense. “We still have to plan our plot and begin putting our designs in the code,” You sternly remind Jungkook, who nods and quickly pulls out his laptop.

“So does this person look like you too?” Jimin asks Jungkook as he scoots closer to the chocolate haired boy. He was evidently not yet finished with the previous conversation.

“Ummm, heee’s…” Jungkook stretches out the pronoun to buy time to think of a response. “…better looking“ Jungkook finishes.

Jimin bursts out laughing. “Is that even possible?” He says in between his giggling.

Jungkook’s cheeks flush a light shade of pale rose. “Yeah, ask Y/N…she can confirm it.”

You feel both of their eyes rest on you, tentatively waiting for a response.

“Yeah, like he’s super attractive, but he’s not human, so….” You trail off, trying to figure out exactly what you were trying to say, because at this point, you didn’t even know yourself.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier if you two were the main characters of this whole story thing?” Jimin blurts out. “I mean, I can totally see you two as a couple.”

You’re eyes widen in horror and you hear Jungkook choke on the water he was drinking.

“Shit.” He mutters, trying to dry the water that made his white shirt half see through. “You mind if I use your bathroom to dry off?”

“Sure, go ahead” Jimin answers, pointing in the direction of the bathroom.

When Jungkook had closed the door and was out of sight, you punch Jimin in the arm. “What was that?” You whisper angrily.

“Ow” Jimin yelps, while rubbing the spot you had probably left a light bruise on. He’s not in pain for long because he starts giggling at your angry expression. “Stop pretending like you don’t find him attractive. I’ve known you long enough to tell when you like someone.”

“We’re just project partners.” You sternly remind him.

“You like him” Jimin repeats, still looking at you with that knowing smile of his.

You bite your bottom lip, and turn away. “It doesn’t matter”

“There’s nothing holding you back”

“He clearly doesn’t feel the same way.” You huff a laugh. “I mean, he created a virtual person just so he didn’t have to play the role of my lover.” You say. Although it might not completely be true, that’s how you decided to interpret it as.

Jungkook comes back from the bathroom before Jimin could come up with another “unreasonable” response about how you should still go for it anyways, or you shouldn’t come to conclusions so soon.

“Sorry about that.” Jungkook apologizes, as he sits back down.

“It’s fine.” You and Jimin reply simultaneously. You turn to him, making a threatening face to prevent him from saying another sentence that would throw you back into the inescapable depths of embarrassment.

“So how about we start planning the first meeting?” Jungkook says, completely avoiding the topic you guys were discussing before.

“Sounds good.” You quickly reply before Jimin could interrupt in any way.

Jungkook sits back down next to you on the couch, while Jimin pulls out his labtop and begins doing his own homework, finally getting the hint that the two of you needed to work things out on your own.

“So there’s the classic, meet accidentally, destiny type stuff.” He begins. “Then there’s the love at first sight ‘soulmate’ scenario.” He continues, emphasizing the word “soulmate” like the concept was absurd, which you would agree, was. As he’s talking, you just stare into space, listening to his slightly husky voice, iterating all the options he was probably just pulling out of his ass on the spot. “fairytale meet in the magical woods, male lead saves your life, or just the plain old classmates, new neighbors...” He trails off, probably realizing that it all sounded very scripted.

A long moment of silence passes between the two of you, in which only Jimin’s typing on his laptop can be heard. Jungkook finally sighs and turns to face you, giving up on his brainstorming part.

You casually turn to face him. “Surprise me” You say.

“What?”

“You decide. I mean, you did design the dude. Why don’t you also decide how he navigates the world, responds to stimuli, and ultimately behaves in the simulation? I’ll take care of my half of the work, and you take care of his or yours or however you want to refer to the you/him dynamic as.” You reply, nonchalantly, reasoning that it’ll all work out more naturally if you don’t purposefully try to make this story all lovey dovey. “I mean, of course we’ll work together designing the world, but I’d rather not know everything he’s going to do before witnessing it.”

Jungkook pauses again. “I-I guess, that works too…” He says, trailing off again. “It’s just….”

“What?” It was your turn to ask the question he had previously shot at you.

Jungkook jumps a little on the couch. “Uh…nevermind” He answers quickly.

…

The day of the simulation came quicker than you expected, or even wanted it to. This was it, test run number 1 out of who knows how many to come. The past week had been hell, and that was putting it nicely. Long hours of coding, taking all those sketches and blueprints you and Jungkook had conjured up during Design Engineering and making it a virtual reality. The initial design process was still fresh in your mind, long and confusing, reminiscent of all project beginnings where you didn’t even know where to begin.

Thankfully, Professor Jung Hoseok was more than willing to help at the time. He wasn’t one of those kinds of professors who were more focused on their own research than genuinely helping their students succeed. He was extremely compassionate and had given you and Jungkook an array of starting ideas about the physical world that you were constructing.

“Normally your story genre dictates the setting of the physical world that you’re aiming to build, but in your case, you can really make it any way you want.” Hoseok had explained when you told him you and Jungkook were building a world for the setting of your self-designed love story. “ You can start by considering time periods. Figuring out if your story is set in the past, present, or future. Or you can make the setting ambiguous, and design a world which combines things from the real world and fantastical elements.”  

After speaking with Professor Jung Hoseok, both you and Jungkook agreed that it would be more interesting to make the setting ambiguous. A completely innovative design would be more fascinating, and in your opinion, a love story would need all the help it can get to be even remotely intriguing.

The outline of your virtual world was built by taking inspiration from nature, the real world, and fictional worlds from classic books and movies. Since you were the main character, much of the features included in the design would be tailored to you, and you didn’t want to be thrown in completely unfamiliar territory, while at the same time, you wanted there to be enough room for creative engineering. And so you both agreed that your story would take place on Earth, in an alternate universe, and the time period would be in the present. Jungkook thinks that it’s better to focus on the visual effects of the simulation rather than coming up with a bunch of random things that don’t exist in the real world. “You can’t fall in love with a person if you’re too focused on other things” He had said. Meaning that if you felt lost and uncomfortable, it’d be hard to enjoy yourself in the simulation, which surprisingly made sense when you thought about it.

“Like we should focus on making the colors of plants more vibrant, and the structure of natural landforms more… grandiose ” Jungkook suggests, while the two of you were sketching in Design Engineering.

“Just sounds like more work,” You mumble, hoping he isn’t able to detect the lack of motivation in your voice.

…

Simulation Test # 1 “The First Meeting”

The rays of the distant sun were beating down on your face, causing beads of sweat to form on your exposed forehead. Fluffy clouds drifted across the smooth bluish gradient that was the canvas for the sky, occasionally blocking the solar glare and casting your surroundings under a cooling shadow.

As the physical world comes into view, you notice the giant arbors of forest green trees, planted behind park benches. A man was selling large oval shaped balloons, their colors captivatingly vivid and their movement jumbled and light as the breeze swept them against each other.  

You hear sounds of children laughing, a girl giggling as her boyfriend whispers something into her ear, the voices of people you didn’t know, and….screams?

Your eyes dart around in search of the source, there were fences, colorful machinery-like contraptions, a booth selling pink and blue cotton candy, some fake horses attached to poles, decorated, and arranged in a perfect circle.

“Real funny, Jungkook. This is exactly what you should refrain your boyish mind from letting you do.” You say out loud as if he could hear you while you were in the simulation. You roll your eyes as you realize you were standing in the middle of an amusement park, and the scream you had hear seconds ago was from a group of people on a roller coaster.  

“Jungkook?” You hear someone say as they approach you. Turning to identify the person, you instantly recognize him as the hot guy that Jungkook had designed, aka the male lead of your story. He was even hotter in person.

“Are you looking for someone?” The brown-haired male asks, confusion evident in his baritone voice.

You have no idea what is going on, but you’re desperate to get answers. “Ok, can you just stop pretending for a second and tell me where it is you’re going with this story. I’m not about to fail this class because you wanted to play games, fyi I didn’t give you a pass to do whatever you want with this project, you know.” You shout into the surrounding, unsure if Jungkook can hear you from the other side. There is no response, and you can feel the mild annoyance bubbling up, which you address by placing a hand on your temple and begin rubbing to relieve the irritation.

Hot dude’s lips part slightly, and his tongue peeks out to wet his bottom lip. He’s still staring at you, but you’re looking around the park to see if there’s someway to contact the real world in this made up reality. After a good five minutes of fruitless attempt, you sigh and decide that the only thing you can do is play along until the simulation ends.

“So what’s your name?” You ask, turning back to Mr. I’m-too-hot-to-be-real, like literally.

He blinks a few times, and you almost being to question if Jungkook even gave this guy a name. “M-my name is Kim Taehyung.” He finally blurts out. “and yours?”

“Y/N” You reply, narrowing your eyes and wondering if Jungkook is working some controller on the other side of the virtual world you see in front of you.

“Uhh, you want to go on one of those rides?” You ask, thinking what the heck, might as well do something while you’re stuck in this simulation.

Taehyung turns his head and looks at the roller coaster you were pointing at, trying to take in the new piece of information you had presented and calculating how to respond to such a novel type of stimuli. Seconds later, he turns back to you and nods his head eagerly. There’s a familiar spark in his eyes that you swear you’ve seen before somewhere else, but the fraction of it that is foreign prevents you from recalling where exactly you’ve seen such stars.

The two of you get in line. People look normal, in fact, so normal that it almost feels like you’re in the real world. None of them were acting out of the ordinary or as robot-like as you had imagined before entering the simulation.

The two of you were sitting side-by-side, waiting for the cart to begin sliding down the path outlined by the tracks. Glancing over at Taehyung, you notice he looks a bit stiff, like he was really nervous and anxious.

“Are you ok?” You question, looking at his face intently.

“Uh-y-yeah” He swallows, causing his Adam’s apple to bobble up and down. Then his pink tongue pokes out again and wets his bottom lip. “I’ve just never been on one of these.” He adds.

Oh right. You think to yourself. All of this was new to him. He was literally “born” two weeks ago.  

“But I’m somehow able to recall being in love with thrill rides like these.” He continues to explain, making you take back your previous conclusion, and throwing you into a state of confusion.

“What do you mean?” You question.

“My older brother took me to amusement parks all the time when I was little, and I’ve never stopped loving roller coasters.” He says will a silly smile plastered on his face.

What the hell was this dude talking about? Older brother? The fuck? You think to yourself as the cart finally begins to move. “But you just said you’ve never been on one” You shout, as the speed of the cart picks up and the wind is blowing loudly in your ears.

“Yeah, I haven’t” Taehyung shouts in between loud giggles. “Ahh, this is so great!” He laughs happily as the cart makes its speedy descent down the steep slope.  

You squeeze your eyes shut as you feel the approaching thrill of the pending first drop.

After the ride ends, you make a mental note, reminding yourself to tell Jungkook to change Taehyung script or something because a lot of what he was saying was evidently contradictory. You think it might be some bug in the code or some mistake in writing up his dialogue.

In just a half an hour of walking through the park, you learn that Taehyung really like animals. Dogs in particular. He can’t stop cooing and petting them, hopping around like a little kid who just received his long awaited birthday present, and in return they seem to be unable to stop jumping all over and licking him. Taehyung is also quite the foodie. Literally requesting to eat something from every other food stand you guys strolled past, and still complaining about being hungry afterwards.

“You want some?” He says, turning to you and holding out his icecream cone, offering you a lick of the half scoop of frozen confectionary placed atop a perfectly shaped waffle cone.

“Umm, no that’s ok” You reply, politely rejecting his offer. You watch as he smiles and takes another lick of the creamy concoction. “So…Taehyung, why did you come here today?” You question, wondering how omniscient his AI was. Was he aware that he was part of a simulation? Did he know he was a product of this project? He didn’t seem to know about Jungkook, at least, judging by his confused response when you had shouted the latter’s name upon meeting.

“I…I don’t really know” He responds, mid swallow. “I just came because the rides looked fun, and when I saw you, I thought you were really pretty, so I approached.” He looks at you and flashes you another one of his boxy smiles.

You feel you face heat up ever so slightly, but before you could get caught up in feeling flattered that you just received a compliment, you shake your head and remind yourself that this wasn’t real.

“Is that all?” You poke, wanting to make sure you could collect every last bit of information about him, so you could make adjustments as needed.

Taehyung takes a bite out of his waffle cone before replying. “Yup” He chirps.

The two of you continue to walk in silence, with on the sound of other people at the park. The sky was growing dark and you wonder if this was also part of Jungkook’s plan of meeting your “lover” for the first time at the amusement park. The wind picks up, and you feel cold water pellets hit your exposed forehead. It wasn’t long before they became more frequent, and you and Taehyung were rushing to find cover.

“What luck” You huff as you attempt to dry off your hair that had quickly become soaked from the rain. Just as you had voiced that last sentence, you vision gradually blurs.

“Y/N….?”

You hear Taehyung whisper you name one last time before you find yourself back in the pod with wires connected to your skull.

………….......................

“Jeon fucking Jungkook!” You shout when your eyes flutter open.

His eyes widen when he sees you charging towards him angrily right after you hopped out of the pod. He raises both of his hands in the air in surrender.

“I-I can explain”

“Oh, you better think you can” You spat with an annoyed huff. If this was some kind of joke on his part, you were going to threaten to switch partners.  

“He looked bored, and I couldn’t think of a better place to give him his first adventure.” Jungkook explains. He points at the scene displayed on the computer screen. “He just looked so lonely, and I felt bad for the guy, so I thought an amusement park would be a fun first meeting spot.”

You peer over at the man who appeared on the large projector screen in front of Jungkook. It was Taehyung, and he was sitting on what you presumed to be his bed, in a small apartment in some city that didn’t quite exist. His hair disheveled from towel drying it after getting soaked in the rain, and he had changed into his striped pajamas.

“We can watch him from here?” You question in astonishment.  “Wait, he’s actually real? Like he does things when I’m not in the simulation???”

“Yeah…about that…..” Jungkook begins cautiously. “Didn’t you hear what Professor Kim Namjoon said? The part about us having to take responsibility for any form of consciousness we create. He may be ‘artificial’ but he’s…alive”

You’re mouth drops at the realization. Jungkook hadn’t exactly explained this to you fully, in a way that you could understand correctly, prior to creating Taehyung, or maybe you hadn’t taken this artificial consciousness thing serious enough because this is starting to sound like something you did not sign up for.

…

“I’ve heard that all of you have begun the simulation phase.” Professor Min Yoongi’s voice rings through the classroom. The students confirm unanimously. “Good. Now this class can really begin.”

You ears perk up at his statement. Mental Environment Homeostasis had gone on for over two weeks, and you’ve even received homework assignments. What was this talk about really beginning? You pray that he doesn’t mean there will just be more work because that was the last thing you needed after the first round of VU testing.

“Those of you who went into the simulation. How did it feel?” Yoongi questions the students in the crowd. He waits patiently for a student to raise their hand and offer feedback.

“I was fully aware that I was in a simulation, although, I did reach a point where I was confused as to what I was doing and began to question the main objective.”

“How long were you in there?” Yoongi asks.

“Two days.” The student replies. Some of the students in the crowd gasp.

The professor only nods his head before proceeding. “You got lucky then.” He says. “I wouldn’t go over the 6 hour mark on your first test.” He pauses. “You see, the longer you are in the simulation, the more your brain becomes accustomed to its environmental stimulations.” He walks over to his computer at the front of the room and pulls up a few graphs from past studies on human-computer interaction onto the big screen. “Studies have shown that a person’s psychological state can be altered in a way which makes them think the simulation is not virtual.”

“But isn’t there a way to bring a person back even if they’ve been confused by the simulation?” Another student in the crowd blurts out.

“Only if their conscious mind is still rooted in reality.” Yoongi replies. He looks down at ground, seemingly recalling something for a brief moment. “If their minds have consciously fully merged with the virtual world, they are said to have reached the point of no return.” He changes the slide on the screen. “In such a scenario, said person will believe that the virtual world is the real world and vice versa.”

…

“Butterfly Dream” Jungkook says, startling you as you were just about to drag the scene you had designed into your virtual universe.

“What?” You turn your head to see Jungkook look up from his laptop.

“You know, the phenomenon coined by a famous philosopher some thousand years ago.” He explains. “When you lose your point of reference and you wake up from a dream not knowing if you’re awake or dreaming?”

“Wow, that was the worse explanation of said phenomenon I’ve ever heard.” You reply sarcastically.

“It’s like what Professor Min Yoongi said, when you lose your grip of reality and start to believe the virtual world is actually the real world and the real world is virtual.” Jungkook explains.

“What, you afraid I’m going to go in and not come out?” You smirk, saving the work you just completed and preparing to go in for round two.

“Uhh…” Jungkook pauses, and you can literally feel the hesitation in his voice.

“Calm yourself, I’m not planning on staying in that simulation for longer than 6 hours.” You retort. “You don’t have to worry about losing me to the void.”

….

[xavierfiles-blog]

Anatomy of an X-Team: The Template

There are a lot of models for how to assemble an ensemble cast.  Some of it is going to be dictated by the show’s concept and setting – Star Trek modeled its cast after the functions of a ship at sea (or space as the case may be): A captain, first officer, helm, security, medical, engineering. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is about a police precinct, so you’ve got a captain, sergeant, admin assistant, and a bunch of detectives. B99 is instructive here because you have a finite few jobs that need to be filled and an ambiguous pool of other characters. How many? How do you choose? The answer is going to lie in both the way you want the characters to interact with each other (group dynamic) and the types of stories that you want to tell.

Over the X-Men franchise’s long history, the size and membership of the rosters of the various teams has changed a lot. Sometimes a set of characters works very well, and others not. While there are a lot of contributing factors to whether a particular run is successful, the team roster is the foundation on which the stories that make up that run are built. They are the ingredients that the creative team uses to make their X-Men cake. I would argue that there is are seven necessary roles to be fulfilled in an X-Men (and X-Force, X-Factor, etc) team which give a creative team the tools they’ll need to tell solid X-Men stories.

I call these roles collectively as The Template – mostly because it seems to be the model that Marvel used in the 80s and 90s when expanding the X-Men franchise. They are: The Home Fires, The Team Leader, The Girlfriend, The Best Friend, The Heavy, The Innocent, and The Outsider. Together, they make up the essential structure of an X-Men team and allow the book to tell the types of stories we’ve come to associate with the franchise – stories of redeemed adversaries, outlandish adventures, and finding a family in a hostile world.

The Home Fires

This character usually stays at the team’s base of operations, working as a point of communication for the team as they go on their adventures. Professor X was probably the most notable example of this type of character, and while his role had a lot to do with holding the thematic “Dream of peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans” core of the books, that isn’t an essential part of the role. In fact, the function of this role is usually about technical and logistical support and spouting exposition for the benefit of both the team and the reader.  “Team, you have to go to the Canary Islands because there is a mutant in distress!” that sort of thing.

Often, this is an older character so in the team dynamic, they played a parental or mentorly role, dispensing wisdom along with moral guidance. This isn’t a requirement, though, and in some runs, this role is more like a dispatch operator.

Art by John Byrne, Terry Austin, Glynis Wein

The Team Leader

This character is the most classically heroic on the roster. The Boy Scout.  He (or sometimes she) does as it says on the tin – leads the team in the field, directing action in a fight, thinking strategically, always trying to do the right thing and the most good. The Team Leader is the team’s ethos in application, featuring in stories where that ethos is put to the test.

The Team Leader feels responsible for all the other members of the team and usually has a closer relationship to The Home Fires than the rest of the team, both because of the mentor\mentee dynamic and because the Team Leader’s feelings of responsibility for the team make him feel isolated. The Team Leader is often paired up with The Girlfriend and\or The Best Friend in order to alleviate that. Team Leaders without those relationships tend to come off as robotic, aloof, or off-putting which can cause a problem for the roster as the Team Leader is the face of the team to the readership.

Many times, The Team Leader is meant for the reader to project their aspirations onto. The Team Leader is who the reader feels they are (or who they could be) at their best.

Art by Andy Kubert, Matt Ryan, Joe Rosas

The Girlfriend

This character is most defined by their frequent emotional support and nurturing behavior. Like The Best Friend, The Girlfriend is often a supporting character in other character’s stories (with some famous exceptions), opening up isolated characters like Team Leaders or Outsiders or nurturing Best Friends or Innocents. This character is often female (the name comes from the most famous example: Jean Grey), but not always. As a matter of fact, Banshee often finds himself in this role.

The Girlfriend is often relegated to a supporting role, rarely getting the spotlight (with a few notable exceptions). And to be clear, not all romantic interest characters are The Girlfriend. Trish Tilby, for example, couldn’t claim this title. This is a role about supporting and nurturing the team, not just who a team member is dating.

Art by Stefano Caselli, Frank Martin

The Best Friend

This character is genial, charismatic, and typically lighthearted. But don’t be fooled, he’s ride or die and when the chips are down, he’s got your back.  This character is often a fan favorite.  Where most characters have their share of detractors, few fans can say an ill word against most Best Friend characters.  

Best Friends are usually featured in buddy-duo type stories, and give more isolated or closed-off characters a way to open up.  In many ways this character is the hetero-male counterpart to The Girlfriend, serving a similar function, but in a different context. Where the Girlfriend’s tone is soothing, The Best Friend is often more lighthearted.

Art by Larry Stroman, Al Milgrom, Glynis Oliver

The Heavy

Cape books are all about punching and astounding feats of strength and so they demand that there be one character to lift the heavy stuff, endure the unendurable, and to punch harder than anyone else can punch. Someone’s gotta carry that weight, and it’s usually The Heavy.

Because this character has very simple requirements, The Heavy also sees the widest variety in form and personality, from the gentle giant Colossus to the goofball Strong Guy, to the angry and revenge driven Warpath. The Heavy can also be the Team Leader as in the case of Captain Britain. If any character exemplifies how flexible The Template can be, it is The Heavy.

Art by Paul Smith, Bob Wiacek, Glynis Wein

The Innocent

If The Team Leader is the character that a reader is meant to aspire to be, The Innocent is the character the reader feels they are. The Innocent is meant to be a reader insert. This character is young and naive and emerging into adulthood with all the discoveries and pitfalls that entails. Sometimes The Innocent is a rescue, a victim given refuge or a stray orphan that the team has found (sometimes both!).

As well, this role gives the book the opportunity to plainly explain its themes as if it’s new information. The Innocent is a character who is constantly learning lessons, but ironically, is also the least flexible role in The Template – it takes a very long time for an Innocent to be allowed to grow into another role. X-Men stories often don’t use their regular Innocents, instead inventing brand new one-off characters to serve that role (for a lot of reasons).

However, The Innocent fits into the widest variety of stories, from the standard Marvel coming-of-age-super-powers-as-metaphor-for-entering-into-the-adult-world stuff, to supporting characters to remind Outsiders, Home Fires, and Team Leaders what they’re struggling for. They also play off of Heavies, Girlfriends, and Best Friends – letting them explain the team’s ethos and giving some lower stakes situations in which to play their own roles. Although many times The Innocent can be a cloying, cutesy, annoying tag-along, (or even a Mary Sue) The Innocent is critical in helping a book convey its central themes.

Art by Sam Keith

The Outsider

The Outsider is just that, an Outsider. He is a loner, a wild card. He is unfamiliar or even hostile to the group’s core values, the role is about revealing the themes of the story by way of contrast. The Outsider does something out of line which gives the Team Leader or Home Fires (or sometimes Best Friend or Girlfriend) a teachable moment. “Bishop, in the dark future you come from you might have killed suspected criminals, but that’s not how we do things here.” In this way, they share some purpose with Innocents.

But unlike Innocents, The Outsider is a more flexible position – a major part of their story is redemption and reconciliation into the group and that can only remain unfulfilled for so long before it either leads to conflict or fizzles out.  Rogue, for example, entered the team as an Outsider, but quickly integrated and transitioned into a Heavy, and even a Team Leader.  

Outsiders tend to be fan favorites – they’re often independent, roguish, and appeal to the id of the typically adolescent audience in a different way to Team Leader (superego) and Innocent (ego).

This role is often where an X-Men team is out of balance, either with too many because they’re often fan favorites and their loner streak gives some space for development into a solo series or too few instead relying on the antagonists to carry the weight of this role.

That’s the theory, anyway. It’s no panacea – no matter how closely the team roster adhered to The Template, it wouldn’t make The Draco a good idea. But I’d argue that the tightest, clearest, and most consistent runs on the various X-Men franchise books all had this team structure in common. And similarly, the roughest and most directionless runs are those that feature teams with vacancies in The Template or doubled-up on too many roles. Bear in mind, too, that this isn’t a rigid rule. These are tropes and can be as valuable when adhered to as when subverted.

Next time we’ll put the theory to the test by looking at some case studies where we’ll see how closely teams followed The Template, how those characters played off each other in their roles, and whether the stories told during that time were served by the team dynamic.

Anatomy of an X-Team: The Template was originally published on Xavier Files

[hannahgoesabroad]

Thursday night brought with it an air of uncontainable excitement amongst the study abroad students: it was finally the night of the boat party. The rain refused to halt as my sizable motley crew of friends boarded the double-decker boat. The first floor had a bar and tables for people to sit and chat while the second floor had another bar as well as a dance floor. Towards the back of the boat, you could walk through a pair of doors that opened out onto a deck. People were out on the deck all night snapping pictures and taking in the gorgeous sights around them. A sense of calm was felt out on the deck, while inside the boat you would have thought that Penn State football had just won the National Championship! (It will happen next year, I already know it.) Our trip down the River Thames lasted around 3 hours, plopping us back onto solid ground right as the London nightlife was starting to pick up. 

Roundabout Pub was our next stop on the list for the night. The atmosphere of the crew was giddy as test tube shots slid down our throats and the music started pumping. Before we knew it we were already on our way back home to grab some of the famous food at Nando’s. After our delicious meal we all hit the sack, endlessly excited about all of the things we would be experiencing while studying abroad.

Friday morning soon came ‘round and there was only one thought in my mind: I needed a day of relaxation. With school starting on Monday and Saturday and Sunday being packed with pre-arranged activities, Friday was the day to do some local shopping and exploring. Twenty minutes away from my school is a big shopping area, with plenty of foreign brands, a few American brands sprinkled around. Primark is a company that just recently expanded to the U.S.. I would describe their clothing as great and unique fashions for affordable prices. You definitely wouldn’t be breaking the bank if you wanted to splurge a bit (or in my case, a lot) in this shop. (Sorry Dad, you probably shouldn’t look at your credit card statements anytime soon…) So off towards Primark I went with cash in hand and my friend Brenda in tow. Since Primark isn’t far away, you think it would be easy to get to, right? Think again. Two trains and a bus later we finally found ourselves in front of the Holy Grail. What a trip that was! We ended the night with cupcakes and Harry Potter (there’s really nothing better).

Saturday was the day my inner English nerd was finally allowed to appropriately show her true colors; it was tour day for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The tour provided a lot of information about the history of the theatre itself and how theatre in general has evolved since Shakespeare’s time. Did you know that the Globe theatre that’s currently standing in London is actually the THIRD Globe Theatre that has been built? If you want to be completely geographically accurate, it isn’t even in the same spot as the original Globe. The original theatre is in the middle of the river under a bridge located right next to where the current theatre stands. Shakespeare had little involvement in the production of the second theatre, and had absolutely nothing to do with the third Globe due to the fact he wasn’t even alive when it was built (aka 1997). So while it was a little disheartening to find out that Shakespeare hadn’t actually been in the theatre that currently stands, the fact that his ideas could still be deeply felt and heard throughout the levels of the Globe made it equally exciting if he had been there. 

Sunday Funday was packed with activities. By the end of the day, I accomplished getting a stadium tour of the famous Chelsea Football Club, seeing astonishing pieces of street art on an East End walking tour, and participating in the legendary Jack the Ripper tour.

The Chelsea F.C. stadium tour was fascinating; seeing inside the locker rooms and walking out of the tunnel onto the field was invigorating. I felt a sudden deep nostalgia for my childhood filled with sports, one of my favorites always being soccer. Putting myself in the shoes of some of the most famous players in the world was insane; I suddenly thought, “And why am I at school when I could definitely be participating in the World Cup?! Oh wait…” My feet carried me to the edge of the field, where grass turned to turf. The urge to run onto the field became unfathomable, but I knew if I attempted it a video of me would most certainly turn up on Youtube, no doubt being chased and eventually taken down by some big burly security guards. With a sadness, I turned myself around and slunk back to the rest of my group, struggling to accept the fact that my professional soccer career would never happen (hard to swallow, honestly).

The East End walking tour was something I had been mildly excited for, but had really only joined because I wanted to meet new people. Turns out, this was one of my most favorite things I’ve done so far in London. Walking around a different part of the city and getting to see the busy Sunday markets and feel the multiple different energies was something else. Our guide was extremely informative; you could see the passion on his face when talking about the different street artists and their works. One of my favorite parts of the tour: I finally got to see a Banksy work in person! For those who don’t know who he is, Banksy is one of the most famous street artists of all time. He’s stayed anonymous for decades, creating art designed to get humans to think about the bigger pictures in life. Check out his work online, you won’t regret it. While we took a look at big street artists like Banksy and Robbo, we did stop to appreciate some artists who are still up and coming in the art world. One of the designs in particular that we saw, our tour guide didn’t even know who the artist was. It had just recently been put up, and the attention it was garnering was massive. Crowds began to grow around the ‘grafitti’ making it almost impossible to reach our next destination (one that I was overly excited for). A famous donut shop and bagel shop stood side by side down the street from the new art work. Making a beeline for the bagel shop (spelled ‘beigal’ on the door sign), I quickly got in line and order a donut and chocolate croissant. Only 1.30 pounds less in change, I walked out into the cold with my two warm purchases. Scarfing down the donut, I packed away the croissant for my morning breakfast. The art tour ended, with the fantastic guide telling us multiple stories of Banksy pranks and how the artist still manages to elude discovery to this day.

My favorite part of the day began at 7p.m. that night. Jack the Ripper tour! As the night grew later, the East End of London turned from a bustling neighborhood full of people to a ghost town, effectively transporting us back to the year 1888. The atmosphere grew tense and fearful as our tour guide took us to different places around the East End, including some of the scenes of the murders committed by Jack the Ripper. The mystery surrounding the serial killer coupled with the gruesomeness of the crimes put every member of the group on edge. Even after the tour ended, I found myself online trying to find any information I could that would lead to a definitive killer. Alas, just like the FBI detectives assigned to the case, I found nothing conclusive. Laying in bed on Sunday night, the thoughts of murder and prostitution in 1888 drifted out of my mind, and in came thoughts of Monday morning: the first day of classes. 

Barely getting two sips of coffee down, I rushed to my first and only class of the day, conveniently located on the first floor of my housing building. The usual first day of class jitters set in the moment I sat down. Luckily, my teacher swiftly ran through the syllabus and released us, leaving time for me to do whatever I wanted for the rest of the day. That brings me to the current moment: sitting in a café while typing all of my memories down.

More updates to come as the week progresses; I’m sure I’ll have tons to say about all of my English professors. Thanks for reading!

Signing off,

Hannah

[vatt-world]

URSE DESCRIPTION The theory and practice of lighting techniques for single camera film and video production. COURSE OBJECTIVES:  Understanding the importance of lighting to the art and craft of film and video production, by combining a strong coalescence of theory, history and practice.  Establishing the culture of minimum technical/monetary investment to achieve the desired impact.  A solid command of fundamental lighting strategies and techniques for location and studio work.  Development of a strong film and video lighting vocabulary, as well as the ability to effectively communicate concepts to others.  Understanding the nature and physical properties of light and their impact on aesthetic choice.  The ability to deconstruct professional cinematography, and understand the aesthetic/technical choices of professionals.  Significant exploration into the varied approaches toward developing a project’s visual style.  Developing a habitual consideration for all production elements and their impact on lighting (e.g. camera, location, actors, sound).  Developing an imaginative approach to problem solving within the context of cinematography.  Emergence of the cinematographer’s sensibility, intuition and instinct. REQUIRED TEXTS Brown, Blain. Cinematography: Theory and Practice. Focal press, 2002. Viera, Dave and Maria Viera. Lighting for Film and Digital Cinematography, 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005. Additional class handouts & reserve reading and media in library. GRADING: Plus/minus grading will be used in this course. A 93-100% A- 90-92% B+ 87-89% B 83-86% B- 80-82% C+ 76-79% C 70-75% D 60-69% (Does not count toward major) F 0-59% (Does not count toward major) 2 ATTENDANCE Attend all classes/ labs on time and stay for entire class/ lab. Two unexcused missed classes and/ or labs will lower your final grade 1 letter; three unexcused missed classes and/ or labs will lower your final grade 1.5 letters; four unexcused missed classes and/ or labs will lower your final grade 2 letters. Late arrivals and/ or early departures will lower your final grade. Three late arrivals and/ or early departures will lower your final grade 1 letter; four late arrivals and/ or early departures will lower your final grade 1.5 letters; and so on. REQUIRED HARDWARE All EMF majors (and pre-majors) must own their own LaCie FireWire drive. The VML Equipment Policy Handbook states: "You must purchase an approved FireWire drive to use the VML edit suites.” Contact VML Supervisor, at 410 704-3433 for a list of these drives." ACADEMIC INTEGRITY The EMF Department adheres to the Towson University “Student Academic Integrity Policy.” Any form of cheating or plagiarism is prohibited by the policy. Please visit www.towson.edu/studentlife/judicialaffairs/academicintegrity.html for details. Any violation of this policy will result in a failing grade for the course. DISABILITY NOTE Requirements for EMF Department classes follow Towson University’s disability policy; see www.towson.edu/dss for details. Any student who may need accommodation due to a disability, please make an appointment to see the instructor during the first week of class. A memo from Disability Support Services authorizing your accommodation will be required. INCOMPLETE POLICY A grade of Incomplete is not given unless you are unable to complete the work required in the course because of verifiable medical reasons or documented circumstances beyond your control as stated on page 26 of the current Undergraduate Catalog. COURSE SCHEDULE Week one Course Overview, course expectations & syllabus discussion In-class writing exercise “the function of light” Practicum: Equipment introduction; the one-light portrait; lighting the face; basic lighting concepts; basic exposure. Assignments: 1) “Go to the Movies.” Attend a movie selected by the class. Write a one-page critique on the lighting and cinematography 2) Read Viera, Chapter 1, “Basic Lighting Concepts” (p.3-15) 3) Read Viera Ch 4 “Basic Exposure Concepts” (53-66) 4) Read Brown, “The tools of lighting,” (p.142-156) 3 Concepts covered in session: The importance of light to film/video craft; fundamental lighting; equipment use. Week two Practicum: Equipment use; basic lighting placements (key, fill, back, etc,) Lecture/Practicum: Lighting analysis; reading/preparing overhead diagrams Lecture: Visual design/lighting design; the importance of other visual works as reference. Assignments 1) Project #1 - Still photographic re-creation of selected visual material DUE: week four 2) Review Viera Ch 2 “Lighting Set-ups” (p17-39) 3) Find 1 article from any issue of American Cinematographer, read the article, lighting analysis and diagrams. 4) Read Brown, “Color Theory” (p128-140); “Controlling Color” (p168- 176) Concepts covered in session: lighting analysis; referencing other visual works; fundamental lighting; equipment use. Week three Lecture: Physical properties of light & color, part I. Practicum: (multiple 16mm stocks and video formats): Testing exposure/contrast ratios, testing latitudes with over & under exposure, testing color saturation. Assignments 1) Continue work on project #2 Week four Reviewing student work – Project #1 Lecture and in-class demonstration: Lighting interior interviews. Assignments 1) Project #2 – design a lighting strategy & shoot an interior location interview (not in the studio). DUE: week seven. 2) Read “Placing Shadows” lighting interviews (Handout) Week five Lecture/field trip: The intrinsic value of Home Depot to the innovative gaffer. Assignments 1) Buy/Construct 2 low-budget lighting or grip devices 2) Read excerpt from V.F. Perkins’ Film as Film (handout p. 83-88). 3) Read Viera Ch 6, “Creative Exposure” Concepts covered in session: Lighting and grip on a shoestring budget; using production limitations to your advantage! 4 Week six Lecture/Practicum: Logic, consistency & continuity in lighting. Lecture/Practicum: Exposure Assignments 1) Continue work on project #2 2) Read Brown, “Lighting as Storytelling” (p.158-167) Concepts covered in session: Logic and credibility in lighting; lighting as a storytelling element. Week seven Reviewing student work – Project #2 Lecture: Working with natural light in uncontrolled and time sensitive conditions. Practicum: Shooting an exterior scene Assignments 1) Introducing project #3: design and shoot an exterior or naturally lit interior interview. DUE week 10. 2) Read Essay on natural lighting by Arthur Miller, ASC (handout) 3) Read selected portions of “Some Thoughts on My Profession” from A Man with a Camera (handout p 8-21) by Nestor Almendros, ASC 4) Collect 1 film/video example of effective/innovative use of natural light Week eight NO CLASS – SPRING BREAK Week nine Lecture: Cinematographer’s duties; developing a shooting plan Assignments 1) Project #4 shooting plan proposals – Student pairs will breakdown a selected short screenplay, breakdown the script, find and photograph a suitable location, generate a shot list, lighting design and basic video storyboards. Be prepared to pitch your proposal by week 11. 2) Read Viera, Ch 10 “Setting up a Production: The Cinematographer’s Duties.” (p 145-153) Week 10 Screening and evaluating student work – Project #3 Lecture: Physical properties of light & color, part II. Assignments 1) Project #5 Using a scene chosen from a professional visual work, write a lighting analysis, develop a lighting design and re-create your selected scene. DUE: week 14. Week 11 Students pitching prospective shooting plans & locations (project #4) to class and guest professors. Assignments: 1) continue work on project #5 2) Read Brown, “Set Operations” (p 242-256) 5 Week 12 Lecture/practicum: Conducting the production meeting The shooting plan/design is chosen. Students will be assigned crew positions. Our first production meeting will be conducted. Assignments 1) Project #6 – On location, class production, based on the selected shooting plan. Individual assignments will vary based on crew positions. Week 13 Production meeting Assignments 1) Preparations for project #6; individual assignments will vary based on crew positions. 2) Read Brown, “Technical Issues” (258-282) Week 14 Production meeting (ad hoc) Reviewing student work – project #5 Assignments 1) Preparations for project #6; individual assignments will vary based on crew positions. Production day! Crew call at the Media Center - 7am Week 15 Student evaluations Exam review Take-home essay exam distributed Assignments 1) Complete take-home exam Week 16 (session scheduled according to the exam matrix) Final exam is due Screening and evaluating student work – Project #6 Project Descriptions – Lighting for Film and Video Project #1 – Still photography re-creation of selected visual material. Choose an image from one of the cards provided in class. Study the image for light, shadow, and subject placement. Using any basic still or video camera try to reproduce the lighting aspects of the image. You are not required to reproduce the exact content of the image (i.e. clothing or setting) unless they are critical to the overall lighting design. If you have a still camera with manual settings, bracket your exposures. Use a tripod. Project #1 – 10% of overall course grade. Weeks 2-4 Equipment: Lighting Kit; any 3-chip video camera (if students don’t have their own) 6 Groups/#of projects: 5 groups of 4 students (4 total projects produced in ea. group; 20 total projects produced in the class) Time allowed to complete project: 3 weeks ________________________________________________________________________ Project #2 – Interior Interview. For the interior interview project, your focus will be to learn the aesthetic and technical production of an interview segment using an indoor lighting situation of your own design. Consider your depth of field for your interview. Will you make up a special background using lighting or will you try to use a window? You must light an interview subject on location, in their own environment (i.e. don’t bring them into the television studio). You must design your own lighting plan using traditional three-point lighting or some variation. You must use lights from lighting kits obtained from the VML. Project #2 – 10% of overall course grade. Weeks 4-7 Equipment: Lighting Kit; Panasonic DVX100B kit (w/audio); grip equipment Groups: 5 groups of 4 students (4 total projects produced in ea. group; 20 total projects produced in the class) Time allowed to complete project: 3 weeks ________________________________________________________________________ Project #3 – Exterior or natural light interview For the exterior or natural light interview you will shoot an interview segment much like the interior interview but without setting up lights from one of the VML. You can use reflector cards/ bounce cards to redirect sunlight or other devices you may obtain from Home Depot based on our class field trip. Imagine you flew to a location to shoot an interview and none of your lighting equipment made it to the location with you. You need to improvise with non-professional lighting equipment and still produce a professional looking interview. Project #3 – 10% of overall course grade. Weeks 7-10 Equipment: Panasonic DVX100B kit (w/audio) Groups: 5 groups of 4 students (4 total projects produced in ea. group; 20 total projects produced in the class) Time allowed to complete project: 3 weeks ________________________________________________________________________ Project #4 – Location/shooting plan In pairs, students will be given a short script, and will be required to breakdown the script and find a location they believe is suitable. Students will be required to shoot photographic stills and prepare diagrams (based on the locations floor plan); engineer a lighting design; generate a shot list and shoot basic video storyboards. The project is designed to emulate what a cinematographer’s process in developing a shooting plan and 7 style for a prospective project. All students will be given the same script. Project #4 – 10% of overall course grade. Weeks 9-11 Equipment: any 3-chip video camera Groups: 10 groups of 2 students (1 project produced in ea. group; ; 10 total projects produced in the class) Time allowed to complete project: 2 weeks ________________________________________________________________________ Project #5 - Deconstructing and re-creating a scene from a professional’s work. This project will entail the step by step analysis of a professionals work, which includes identification of lighting sources; analysis of lighting qualities, intensities, colors; a physical re-creation of the lighting design in the studio or on location; and the accurate rendering of the re-creation on video format. Individuals will cycle through a production schedule. Groups will be formed and will serve as a rotating crew. Project #5 – 15% of overall course grade. Weeks 10-14. Equipment: Lighting Kit; Panasonic DVX100B kit (w/audio); grip equipment Groups: 5 groups of 4 students (4 total projects produced in ea. group; 20 total projects produced in the class) Time allowed to complete project: 4 weeks ________________________________________________________________________ Project #6 – Class production One shooting plan will be chosen by a volunteer panel of EMF professors, based on the quality of strategy, innovation and feasibility. The two students will serve as cocinematographers. The instructor will serve as the director. All class members will participate in the production. Based on the shooting plan and script, we will spend one day in production on location. This will most likely be on a weekend – be prepared to make whatever arrangements are necessary to attend. Crew call will be at EMF. Project #6 – 15% of overall course grade. Production scheduled for week 14 Equipment: TBD (Instructor checks out all gear; instructor is on set at all times) Project Grading Criteria Projects are expected to be submitted on time and to demonstrate technical proficiency of the task at hand. Projects are expected to be free of major technical issues (e.g. focus, composition, basic exposure, an image free of debris, scratches, fogging or smudges). While technical proficiency is a must, projects will also be graded on creativity and aesthetic considerations. Technical proficiency will account for 65% of the grade, and will reflect how accurately images have been analyzed and rendered according to the intention of the student. Creativity and aesthetic choices will make up 35% of the grade, and will reflect the quality and consideration of the student’s intention in determining a lighting design. 8 Late work policy Projects drop 1/3 grade point for every three days late. More details will be provided later. Final Exam Take-home essay exam based on all class materials (lectures, readings, demonstrations, projects and field trips). Scheduled according to the e

[avenger-equalizer-blog]

The Nature Cure (from Reader's Digest International, December 1, 2017)

Doctors from California to South Korea believe they’ve found a miracle medicine for our mental health and creativity BY FLORENCE WILLIAMS FROM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO: CHRISTOFFER RELANDER WHEN YOU GO TO the desert with Professor David St raye r, d o n ’t be surprised if he sticks electrodes to your head. A cognitive psychologist at the University of Utah who studies the mind’s ability to think clearly, Strayer understands the relentless distractions that pummel our modern brains. But as an avid backpacker, he thinks he knows the antidote. On the third day of a camping trip in the canyons near Bluff, Utah, Strayer, sporting a rumpled T-shirt and a slight sunburn, is mixing an enormous iron pot of chicken while explaining the ‘three-day effect’to 22 psychology students. Our brains, he says, aren’t tireless 1.3-kilogram machines; they’re easily fatigued by our fast-paced, increasingly digital lives. But when we slow down, stop the busywork, and seek out natural surroundings, we not only feel restored but also improve our mental performance. Strayer has demonstrated as much with a group of Outward Bound participants, who scored 50 per cent higher on creative problem-solving tasks after three days of wilderness backpacking. “If you can have the experience of being in the moment for two or three days,”Strayer says as the early evening sun saturates the red canyon walls, “it seems to produce a difference in qualitative thinking.”Strayer’s hypothesis is that being in nature allows the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s command centre, to rest and recover, like an overused muscle. If he’s right, when he hooks his research subjects –in this case, his students and me –to a portable EEG device, our brainwaves will show calmer ‘midline frontal theta waves’, a measure of conceptual thinking and sustained attention, compared with the same waves in volunteers hanging out in a car park in Salt Lake City. Strayer has his students tuck my head into a sort of bathing cap with 12 electrodes embedded in it. They adhere another six electrodes to my face. Wires sprouting from them will send my brain’s electrical signals to a recorder for analysis. Feeling like a beached sea urchin, I walk carefully to a grassy bank along the San Juan River, where I’m supposed to think of nothing in particular, just watch the wide, sparkling water flow by. I haven’t looked at a computer or mobile phone in days, and it’s easy to forget for a few moments that I ever had them. IN 1865, THE GREAT American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted looked out over Yosemite Valley and was so moved that he urged the California legislature to protect it from development. “It is a scientific fact,”he wrote, “that the occasional contemplation of natural scenes of an impressive character …is favourable to the health and vigour of men.”Olmsted’s claim had a long history, going back at least to Cyrus the Great, who some 2500 years ago built gardens for relaxation in the busy capital of Persia. Paracelsus, the 16th-century German-Swiss physician, wrote, “The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician.”And 19th-century Americans Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Muir built the case for creating the world’s first national parks by claiming that nature had healing powers for both mind and body. There wasn’t hard evidence back then. Being in nature allows the prefrontal cortex to rest and recover, like an overused muscle There is now. Researchers from the University of Exeter Medical School in England analysed data from 10,000 city dwellers and found that those living near more green space reported less mental distress, even after adjusting for income, marital status and employment (all of which are correlated with health). In 2009, Dutch researchers found a lower incidence of 15 diseases –including depression, anxiety and migraines –in people who lived near parks or green space. Richard Mitchell, an epidemiologist and a geographer at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, found fewer deaths and less disease in people who lived near green spaces, even if they didn’t use them. “Our own studies plus others show these restorative effects whether you’ve gone for walks or not,”Mitchell says. People who have window views of trees and grass have been shown to recover faster in hospitals, perform better in school and display less violent behaviour. Japanese researchers led by Bum Jin Park and Yoshifumi Miyazaki at Chiba University quantified nature’s effects on the brain by sending 280 subjects for a stroll in 24 different forests while the same number of volunteers walked around city centres. The forest walkers hit the anti-anxiety jackpot, showing a 16 per cent decrease in the stress hormone cortisol. From fMRI experiments, South Korean researchers found that the brains of volunteers looking at city scenes showed more blood flow in the amygdala, which processes fear and anxiety. In contrast, natural scenes lit up the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula –areas associated with empathy and altruism. Miyazaki believes our minds and bodies relax in natural surroundings because our senses adapted to interpret information about plants and streams, he says, not traffic and high-rises. People underestimate the happiness effect of being outdoors, says Lisa Nisbet, an assistant professor of psychology at Canada’s Trent University. “We don’t think of it as a way to increase happiness. We think other things will, like shopping or TV,”she adds. “We evolved in nature. It’s strange we’d be so disconnected.”In some countries, nature is woven into the government’s official mental health policy DR NOOSHIN RAZANI is director of the Center for Nature and Health at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in California. She is one of several doctors around the world starting to counter this disconnection as a means to heal the anxious and depressed. As part of a pilot project, she’s training paediatricians in the outpatient clinic to write prescriptions for young patients and their families to regularly visit verdant parks nearby. To guide the doctors and patients into a mind-set where this makes sense as treatment, she says, “we have transformed the clinical space so nature is everywhere. There are maps on the wall, so it’s easy to talk about where to go, and pictures of local wilderness.”In some countries, nature is woven into the government’s official mental health policy. At the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the nation’s high rates of depression, alcoholism and suicide led a research team to recommend a minimum nature dose of five hours per month in an effort to improve the nation’s mental health. “A 40- to 50-minute walk seems to be enough for physiological changes and mood changes and probably for attention,”says Kalevi Korpela, a professor of psychology at the University of Tampere. He has helped design half a dozen ‘power trails’that encourage mindfulness and reflection. No-nonsense signs say things like “You may squat down and feel a plant.”AT THE HEALING FOREST in the Saneum Natural Recreation Forest in South Korea, a government employee known as a ‘forest healing instructor’offers me elm-bark tea, then takes me on a hike along a creek, through shimmering red maples, oaks and pine trees. We come upon a cluster of wooden platforms arranged in a clearing. Forty firefighters with post-traumatic stress disorder are paired off on the platforms as part of a government-sponsored three-day healing programme. Among them is Kang Byoung-wook, 46, from Seoul. He recently returned from a big fire in the Philippines, and looks exhausted. “It’s a stressed life,”he says. “I want to live here for a month.”In industrial Daejeon, the South Korean forest minister, Shin Won Sop, a social scientist who has studied the effects of forest therapy on alcoholics, tells me that human wellbeing is now a formal goal of the nation’s forest plan. Thanks to the new policies, visitors to South Korea’s recreation forests increased from 9.4 million in 2010 to 12.8 million in 2013. “Of course, we still use forests for timber,”Shin says. “But I think the health area is the fruit of the forest right now.”His ministry has data suggesting that forest healing reduces medical costs and benefits local economies. What’s still needed, he says, is data on specific diseases and on the specific natural qualities that make a difference. “What types of forests are more effective?”Shin asks. MY OWN CITY BRAIN seems to like the Utah wilderness very much. By day, we hike among flowering prickly pear cacti; by night, we sit around the campfire. Strayer’s students seem more relaxed and sociable than they do in the classroom, he says, and they give much more persuasive presentations. His research, which centres on how nature improves problem solving, builds on the theory that nature’s visual elements –sunsets, streams and butterflies –are what reduce stress and mental fatigue. Fascinating but not demanding, such stimuli promote a soft focus that allows our brains to wander, rest and recover. A few months after our Utah trip, Strayer’s team sends me the results of my EEG test. The colourful graph shows my brainwaves at a range of frequencies and confirms that the gentle fascination of the San Juan River succeeded in quieting my prefrontal cortex. Compared with samples from research subjects who had stayed in the city, my theta signals were lower. So far, the other research subjects’results also confirm Strayer’s hypothesis. But no study can offer a full explanation of the brain-on-nature experience; something mysterious will always remain, Strayer says, and perhaps that’s as it should be. “At the end of the day,”he says, “we come out in nature not because science says it does something to us but because of how it makes us feel.”NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (JANUARY 2016). © 2016 BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE, NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM