#therefore they are fresh and shiny looking after years of drawing them

[peachtinzz]

(william afton voice) i always come back

[silhouetteofacedar]

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic Ch. 15: Silk and Salt

Previous Chapter - AO3 - MSR, rated E

A real date.

Mulder hasn’t been on a blatant, show-up-with-roses, ‘I’m into you and would like to get laid maybe’ date in a good five years. Possibly longer; he really doesn’t remember at this point. His life before Scully seems strangely two-dimensional in memory these days.

Part of him thinks that fancy dinners or elegant nights out don’t really seem like their style, but he figures they can decide together after the fact. They have to try it at least once, right? God knows she deserves it.

They’re busy with Mulder’s Gettysburg ghost case for the next few days (he was right, which Scully would not accept), but by Wednesday things have settled down, and he’s able to plan.

“Saturday, May sixteenth, at five,” he announces without preamble on Thursday morning. “I’ll pick you up. And don’t be alarmed, but I’ll be wearing a tuxedo.”

“Okay,” she says, surprised. “I take it this is the date I requested?”

“Yes it is,” he replies. “But that’s all I’m going to reveal. The details are a surprise, and if I recall correctly, somebody wanted to keep personal discussions outside of working hours, so by that metric I’ve already said too much.”

Scully presses her lips together, nodding. “Say no more,” she says. “Now where’s your report?”

He’s not nervous. He’s a grown man; a federal agent, for fuck’s sake. This is nothing compared to some of the tense situations he’s been in throughout his career. Knocking on his partner’s door with a bouquet of red roses under his arm doesn’t even make the list.

Regardless… he’s a little nervous.

Scully opens the door in a flurry of dark blue silk and delicate perfume. “Wow, hi,” she breathes, stepping back and opening the door wider. “Nice tux.”

“Thanks,” he says faintly, drinking in the sight of her.

She’s wearing a silky floor length slip dress with teeny little straps, and he has the fleeting image of snapping them with his teeth, leaving bite marks on her smooth shoulders. She sees him staring and smiles.

“Navy blue; exciting, isn’t it,” she says, gesturing sheepishly to the dress. “I can only handle one fashion adventure at a time.”

His eyes travel her body, appreciating the way the fabric skims her hips. “You look incredible, Scully,” he says, voice oddly hoarse. He clears his throat. “These are for you,” he adds unnecessarily, holding out the bouquet.

“Thank you,” she says, taking the roses. “These are gorgeous, Mulder. Let me put them in water.” She steps into the kitchen and sets the bouquet on the counter. “You know, the last time somebody gave me flowers, I was dying of cancer,” she says conversationally, bending to retrieve a vase from the cupboard under the sink. “Needless to say, this is a preferable occasion.”

“Mark didn’t…?”

“No,” Scully replies, filling the vase under the tap. “I think flowers happen less in real life than they do in movies, at least in my experience. I can count on one hand the number of times a date brought me a bouquet.”

“Nobody’s ever gotten me flowers, so I think I have you beat,” Mulder says.

“I’ll get you some sometime,” Scully says, and it doesn’t seem like she’s joking. She unwraps the stems and places them in the vase. “I’ll give them food and a fresh cut later,” she says, and Mulder nods as though he understands flower care. So water’s not enough…?

“So where are we going?” Scully asks, taking her wrap off the back of the couch and draping it over her shoulders. “I’m assuming - actually, hoping - there’s food involved.”

“I would never neglect to feed a lady,” Mulder assures her. “We have reservations somewhere, but that’s after this.” He withdraws an envelope from his jacket and hands it to her.

Scully peeks into the envelope and pulls out two tickets, scanning the tiny print. “The Kennedy Center?” she says in surprise.

He nods. “The National Symphony Orchestra is playing a selection of Vaughan Williams,” he replies. “Thought you might like it.”

“Mulder, this is amazing,” she says. “I haven’t heard live music in ages. It’s one of those things that’s hard to prioritize.” She slips the tickets back into the envelope and hands it back to him. “So, are you ready to go?” she asks, picking up her little evening bag, gathering the long chain in one hand. She loops the other around his elbow.

He tucks the tickets back into his jacket pocket. “Let’s go paint the town.”

In Mulder’s estimation, one of the best things about going to the symphony is that there’s not much to watch aside from the waving arms of the conductor. Therefore he feels free to close his eyes, absorb the music, daydream a little without risking missing anything important.

The most important thing, after all, is sitting right next to him.

He glances at Scully often, taking in her beautiful face, the rapturous look in her eyes, the elegant curve of her nose, her tender mouth. He loves the way she wore her hair tonight; it’s shiny and wavy, pulled back on one side with a little comb. He fantasizes about slipping the comb out of her hair, sifting his fingers through crimson strands as he draws her in for a kiss. Feeling tendrils brush his face as his lips travel to her earlobe, her neck…

She’s looking at him now, an eyebrow arched. He shrugs, heat in his cheeks as he faces forward again.

He feels something brushing his finger and glances down to see her small, manicured hand creep on top of his, their little fingers intertwining.

The music soars, and he floats away with it.

“That was wonderful,” she says as they walk out of the theatre. “The last piece especially, The Lark Ascending,” she notes, glancing at the program. “It was magical. I’m so glad we did this.”

“Not bad for our first real date?” Mulder asks, hand on the small of her back. He secretly relishes the slip the fabric beneath his palm.

“Not bad at all,” she replies, smiling up at him. God, what did he ever do to deserve that smile? He’s grossly inadequate.

Mulder glances at his watch when they reach his car. “I expected the concert to be longer,” he admits, wincing. “Our reservation isn’t until eight, at that French place on northwest M Street.”

At that exact moment, Mulder hears Scully’s stomach growl.

She looks up at him apologetically. “You can ignore that, can’t you?”

“How hungry are you, Scully?” he asks, leaning against the car. She grabs his elbow and pulls him forward. “Mulder, you’re going to get dusty,” she warns. “And I’ll admit I haven’t eaten much today… I’ll admit I was a little nervous.”

“You were nervous? Why?” he asks, concerned.

“Well, nervous and excited. Because this… this is new. It’s a good thing,” she explains, “But it’s going to take some time to get used to.”

He nods. “Adjusting.”

“Exactly.”

Her stomach lets out another rumble.

“Scully, we should eat now. We can save the restaurant for another time,” he says. “I can’t have you passing out on me; you’re the doctor in this partnership. What’re you in the mood for?”

She licks her lips. “Don’t laugh,” she warns. “Actually, let’s just start walking,” she says, looping an arm with his. “There’s a spot not far from here that I really like. It’ll be a surprise.”

This is incredible.

Mulder wasn’t aware that it was possible to fall this hard for a person, but Scully never ceases to amaze him. Of all the places she could have picked, she chose an ancient, cramped little fish and chips shop down by the Potomac. So here they are, dressed to the nines at a tiny table with two heaping baskets of fish and chips between them. Their ten minute walk had made them both a little warm; his jacket is off, shirt sleeves rolled up, bow-tie undone and hanging loosely around his neck. Scully’s shawl is draped over the back of her chair, her arms enticingly bare as she cuts tender sections off of a slab of crispy battered cod.

“People are staring at us,” she says in a low tone, dipping a bite of fish into the saggy paper cup of tartar sauce. “You think maybe we’re overdressed?”

He grins at her. “Might be. They’re all looking at you,” he insists. “A gorgeous redhead in a silk gown, chowing down on greasy seafood? It’s like spotting Halley’s Comet,”

She locks eyes with him as she chews, a smile quirking her lips. “You think I’m gorgeous?” she teases.

“Of course,” he replies easily, pouring ketchup over his chips. “And brilliant, and compassionate, and adorable, and-”

“Stop,” she implores, holding up a hand. “I can only handle one compliment at a time.”

“Then we gotta increase your stamina, Scully, because I could easily go on.”

“Oh could you?” she says, raising a brow. “I’d like to see that sometime.”

“I’m ready when you are,” he replies.

“Mm,” she hums, busying herself with her fork. “I’ll keep you posted.”

He leans forward, knees bumping hers beneath the postage stamp-sized table. “Can I confess something?”

“Sure,” she replies, popping a chip into her mouth and brushing salt off her fingertips.

“I can’t stop thinking about kissing you again. I would have earlier but your lipstick looked really nice and I didn’t want to smudge it.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Wow,” she says softly. She drops her hand to the table, runs a fingertip over his knuckles. “Well, when we get out of here…” she trails off suggestively.

He hopes she doesn’t notice him start to chew faster.

[sunflowersseemhappy]

The Arcana | Little Romantic Gestures Headcannons

Asra

A lot of Asra’s little romantic gestures are aimed at getting you to smile, he spent so long watching you struggle after he brought you back that all he wants is to see you happy.

Ever since he started travelling Asra has always brought souvenirs from his trips. Things he thinks you’ll like. Although he knows you so well that what he brings you never fails to make you happy at how thoughtful he is. It’s only after the whole ‘saving the world thing’ that you realise this was a gesture of his affection for you all those years.

Tied in with bringing you souvenirs Asra loves to spoil you every once in a while with a outfit tailored to you. Clothes that make you look stunning in the most modest of ways, leading to everyone else complimenting you. Asra has a critical eye when it comes to fashion and making the love of his life look good.

His goofiest gesture is probably making heart shaped foods for you, this only began after his confession of love (before then he made little animals and flowers from the food he gave you). Its an intricate process, but Asra definitely has the patience.

Once every-so-often Asra will ask if you want to bathe together, there is generally no other reason than he wants to pamper you/feel you close to him. Asra will draw a bath and cradle you in the water, and you’ll both just talk and give each other soft kisses.

When the night is waning and the candles burn low Asra will ask to cuddle in close with yo u and puts his head against your chest listening to the beating of your heart. He doesn’t consider it his anymore, he gave it to you, therefore it is yours. But he hopes the connection between your hearts will always be this strong.

Julian

Julian can be a little distracted when if comes to romantic gestures, big ones get lost in his planning for them. The little romantic gestures Julian gives you have no plans, just him and his complete adoration for you.

It’s like clockwork. Julian is awake as soon as the sun rises and quickly brings you morning coffee/tea/or whatever you favourite morning wake up beverage is. It’s simple and maybe you do or don’t notice it, but it’s always fresh, like he knows exactly when you’ll wake up and makes it just before you do. If you manage to catch him after he leaves it on your bedside table you give him a good morning kiss (he deserves it).

If either of you are out and separated from each other for the day Julianhides lovely little notes in your pockets. Poems, quotes, even simple ‘I love you’’s. One is always there, you save each and every one in a box under your bed and look through them while he’s gone. You plan to one day stuff them all in his coat as both a prank and a grand romantic gesture. He has the same idea, so right now it’s a waiting game to see who gets to it first.

He doesn’t necessarily do it on purpose or even in your presence, but Julian absentmindedly sketches little portraits of you in the margins of his books/scrolls/whatever paper is on hand. He’s committed you to memory and when he realises Julian gets flustered, is it weird that he just does that? After you discover a whole sketchbook of you, you pretend not to know even though you secretly love it. He can show you when he’s ready.

If he’s drunk or sober Julian will shamelessly flirt with you when he knows you need some love. He loves it when you do so back. Most of it is PG, but if you want him to Julian will most certainly compliment you on your finest assets *wink, wink*.  

Anywhere and anytime Julian will just stop, look into your eyes, smile and honestly tell you how much he loves you. It’s probably the most beautiful gesture of love you can think of, its just that pure. 

 Nadia

The moments spent with Nadia would usually be considered mundane to most, but that’s what makes them so pleasant. As a countess and former princess, Nadia doesn’t usually get to enjoy ‘normal’ so the moments spent with you are the best sense of normality that she can get.

Nadia is such a busy bee that by the time you wake up she’s off doing her morning duties, so she (like Julian) leaves you little love notes, usually accompanied by breakfast. The notes are always written in her hand, on scented paper and laid with a beautiful flower. On more than a few occasions her notes have made up mini scavenger hunts, just to keep you on your feet and lead you to where she is in the castle at a later time.

If she can avoid morning duties Nadia will spend time helping you with hair and makeup, she likes making you feel beautiful/handsome/gorgeous and just looking at your face brings a smile to her lips. Her skills always seem to make you look better and you wonder how she’s so good at it.

As anyone would Nadia finds your magical abilities fascinating and loves to watch you work on spells and the like, she also asks about things genuinely interested in what you are doing and how you do it. She thinks possessing such a skill as magic is like an extension of you yourself and she loves all of you (therefore she loves your magic). Given the chance Nadia could watch you work all day, alas palace duties call but she always asks you later in the day how that spell you had been working on went. 

Nadia is forever inviting you on long walks through the palace grounds at the end of her day. There’s nothing more relaxing than walking though the palace grounds and just talking about each other’s days. She’ll always let you talk about your day first, no matter how dull it may have been. She likes to find things out, figure out ways to entertain you while she is busy and plan out activities the two of you can try out together. She also just really likes listening to you, she’s had people talking AT her all day. It’s a nice change of pace to actually have a person to talk to about everything.

Tied in with doing your hair Nadia can’t help but play with your hair,she only usually does it in the privacy of your room but when she does you’re on cloud nine. Something about her hands trailing though your hair is so soothing that it sends you to sleep, which isn’t a problem in itself. The problem is; you fall asleep on her, and Nadia hates waking you up. So she just lies there and accepts her fate with a smile. 

 Muriel

Muriel doesn’t necessarily realise he’s making his little romantic gestures, to him they just feel like a normal part of his day but he’s glad to do them. They make him feel close to you and make him more comfortable with being in a relationship.

Muriel can cook, but he’s spent so long making meals that just state his hunger he forgot food could taste good. Since living with you and learning about you Muriel has discovered he quite likes making your favourite meals, not only because they are tasty but it’s nice seeing the smile on your face when you realise he made the meal just for you. Also you seem to like his way of making your favourites rather than your own.

It’s normal for Muriel to do his own chores around and out of the hut, and although you usually tell him to leave your own messes for you to clean up later Muriel can’t help but get itchy fingers. Doing your chores for you, he thinks he might as well, what’s more he wants to. You’re so busy running the shop, buying nice things for him and just making his life brighter, its only fair to lighten the load.

Even Muriel knows people like flowers, and what’s more you give flowers to the people you love. So Muriel finds flowers everyday and gives them to you, it might just be a single rose or a bundle of forget-me-nott’s but each flower he picks out is carefully chosen and perfect. It took him some time but Muriel soon figured out the perfect combinations of flowers to give to you, sometimes they say things better than he can.

Being the big shy boi he is Muriel remains pretty quiet when the two of you are out and about among other people. Even among your friends he can get pretty uncomfortable when trying to love and dote on you, therefore it’s not uncommon for Muriel to pull you aside to compliment you. It’s easier getting words out when it’s just the two of you and he wants you to know that he does notice things. Like how shiny your hair looks and how well your clothes suit you, it’s not just physical things either. He might mention how kind you are after helping a lost child find their parents or that he just really likes being with you. 

Once he’s gotten used to them being enveloped in a Muriel hug is probably always a great feeling.You don’t actually notice at first but he holds you in that embrace for a little longer than a normal hug (especially when you’re leaving to go on an errand, etc...), when your arms loosen his own take a little longer to do so. He gives you a gentle squeeze and sighs in his head, he wants to hold you longer. Forever, maybe. He’s too afraid to ask though, but when you finally do notice his hesitance and think back on all the times he was the last to let go, it clicks. You can be late opening the shop, as long as Muriel knows that you love him as much as he does you. You both hug each other a little longer. 

 Portia

Portia romantic gestures almost make it seem as if you are married already, her little gestures are comforting and you’re always aware she does them because she always states; ‘I’m doing this because I love you!’ She needs to make sure you know because she loves love, and loves you.

A good meal never goes amiss when it’s with Portia, you know how a lot of people leave the best thing on their plate till last? That’s what Portia does. However she always offers the last bite of her food to you, even if you’re eating the same meal. If you’re in the same room, eating at the same time Portia will lift her fork to your mouth and offer it to you. It’s usually quite funny because she kids around, making silly noises as she puts in your mouth or teasing you by holding it just out of reach.She’s a good cook, Portia’s peach cakes are to die for. 

She’s aware of how much you like her cooking, so when you’re off to work in the shop for the day she will pack you a hearty lunch and send you on your way with a kiss on the cheek. She want’s to make sure you have a balanced meal ready for you when you need it, it helps that she makes it because it’s irresistible! The first time you made a packed lunch for her (because damn this girl works hard, and how does she make the time?) she burst out crying saying how happy she was that you loved her enough to make her lunch. You figured out that that was one of Portia’s romantic gestures that day, now you make packed lunches together. 

Days off with Portia are full of sunshine and relaxation, most of which is spent in her veracious garden tending to the plants and chatting away about your week so far. It’s a peaceful pastime, when the sun is highest in the sky and it becomes too hot to work you and Portia take up residence beneath the maple tree she has growing on the fringes of the garden. There the two of you lay back and feed each other berries/fruit/veg from garden, there’s always something ripe and fresh that tastes like sunshine and rain. It’s got to the point where it’s become a part of your day, where Portia and you just flirt and kiss and enjoy the mundane parts of your lives. It’s her favourite thing to do.

She wouldn’t be Julian’s sister if Portia wasn’t a shameless flirt, she’ll do it anytime, anywhere and in front of anyone. She gets a certain kick out of seeing your cheeks redden, but she’s careful to keep it at a comfortable level for the situation. You wouldn’t think a simple ‘I love you’ could sound so... flirtatious but Portia may just be better at this than her brother.

Even Portia doesn’t realise she’s rubbing your back for no reason until she’s actually doing it. It’s not always a situational thing, but it often happens when your uncomfortable/scared, or when you’re relaxing. It makes the both of you feel better, you’re both together standing by each others side and figuring things out together. She’s glad the two of you can be there together, but she’s still not sure why she does it. After mentioning it to Julian, he says something about how their mother used to do it to the two of them when they were upset. Their mother had always whispered ‘I love you’ as she did so, Portia figured out it was her subconscious way of saying ‘I love you’. It was a strange time when you did it back, because for a moment she felt like she had her mother back. For a moment you made her feel complete. 

Lucio

Lucio’s extravagant, and so are his ‘little’ romantic gestures (it scares you to think what his big romantic gestures must look like). But whatever he does it’s with good intentions that become skewered when he goes over the top. You’re his king/queen, he intends to treat you as such.

One day Lucio, left alone as you tend the shop, thinks back to your conversation about favourite meals. He remembers you saying about a dish you loved but could never find a certain ingredient, so a scheme forms in the back of his mind. How better to express his love for his dearest by making their favourite meal. He debates getting the servants to make it, but... When you come back Lucio is nowhere to be found, you search everywhere and almost pass by the kitchens. There are audible crashes and some swearing, when you step in you find Lucio covered in flour. He’s very embarrassed, but explains that he found the ingredients and wanted to make it himself. He got confused and ended up making a mess instead, you can’t laugh because it’s almost too sweet that he tried. The next day you spend together is teaching Lucio to cook the dish and enjoying the fruits of your labour.

Lucio just so happens to like your face a lot, so he brings in an artist and commissions a portrait of you you. Only problem is he want’s it to be a surprise, but the artist can only paint what he can see and you’re not there. The end result is a culmination of his terribly drawn doodles and the vague descriptions he gave the artist. You’re horrified when you find it in your room. Lucio instantly throws it out and begs you to pose for the artist this time, he just wanted a really nice portrait of you so that even when you’re gone he can see your beautiful face. You insist that he poses with you and you get a much better portrait of you and Lucio.

You often humour Lucio while listening to his stories time and again, and he’s kind of aware that he’s probably told you a story before. He does about 90% of the talking in this relationship, but when you tell him stories he hangs on every word. While you let him ramble non-stop Lucio is always politely asking you to elaborate on things because he wants to hear more! No matter what Lucio has never once told you that he’s 'heard that story before'.He’d be fine with you saying it to him, but he could never do so to you. All he wants is to hang on your every word and see your face shift into different expressions, happiness, sadness, excitement and disgust. He wants to see it all because knowing every part of you as a person makes him happy and love you all the more.

Lucio believes the most romantic thing ever is people dancing together (at a point he thought it was fighting together, but the two are close enough), the way he saw people at his masquerades dance together made him long for the perfect partner. Although Nadia was always a good dancer it never felt natural with her, when you came along he found his true partner. There have since been many times where he has led you into and impromptu slow dance. No matter when, where or who is present, its like a natural part of your lives, Lucio loves it. Twirling and dipping you and making you feel like the centre of the solar system, because to him he is just a planet and you are his radiant sun.

I had a lot of fun writing this, but what I really want is you lovely people to send in requests to my ask box! Don’t be shy, I accept any type of request (fluff, angst, smut, etc...) for any of the main six. Anonymous is on, but if you’d like to request with your handle that would be great!

Lots of love! XOXO 

[2-cute-4-school]

𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨

pairing: Lee Donghyuck x gn!Reader 

genre: fluff, a small part of angst but all ends well ;)

word count: 2.4K words

a/n: my part of the christmas collab called ‘The Triangle That Defines Our Existence’, hosted by the lovely, amazing, incredibly talented, the sweetest human being who deserved the entire world @dearncityy (ღˇ◡ˇ)♥, thank you for allowing me to be part of this (੭ु｡╹▿╹｡)੭ु⁾⁾ ᶦ'ˡˡ ᵐᶦˢˢ ᵘ ᵃ ˡᵒᵗ ᶦᶠ ᵘ ᵈᵉᶜᶦᵈᵉ ᵗᵒ ᶜˡᵒˢᵉ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵇˡᵒᵍ ᵉᵛᵉⁿ ᵗʰᵒᵘᵍʰ ʷᵉ ᵇᵃʳᵉˡʸ ᵍᵒᵗ ᵗᵒ ᶦⁿᵗᵉʳᵃᶜᵗ 

my masterlist | event’s masterlist!!!!

You know how souls are connected? How soulmates are created from the stardust of the same explosion, traveling for millions of years through time and space just to end up meeting in the same coffee shop down the road over a spilled latte after living thousands of miles away for their entire lives? How oceans and mountains, galaxies and dimensions, hate and love tear them apart but this small string, thinner than a strand of hair, but stronger than an entire army brings them back together? How fate works?

Do you think snowflakes miss each other? Born from the same cloud, fluffy and blue, the interest of any curious child’s eyes and just the stretch of an arm away, almost like-

“The blue one, please!”

“Can I get the blue?”

The owner of the candy floss shop stared flabbergasted at the pair of you, hands stretched towards him with bills clutched in-between your fingers. 

“I’m sorry but it seems like there is only one left and we’re out of blue colorant.”

At the newfound information, the boy beside you turned to you abruptly, cheeks flushed and determined shiny eyes.

“I believe I was here first, so I should be the one to get it.”

“Excuse me but you believe wrong, if anything, I asked for it first.”

You both scoffed in disbelief and carried on arguing as the owner watched with apologetic eyes while a line of equally impatient children accompanied by their parents whined for their own sweet treat.

“So therefore, as I have stated in my previous point of my thesis, I-”

“Move, we’ve been waiting here for 5 minutes already-”

Your new archnemesis turned to the kid behind him who dared interrupt his essay with burning eyes which might have just melted the frozen snot peeking from the child’s nostrils.

“Shut up, you bogey-eater garden dwarf! Learn how to respect your elders! You should- Hey!”

As you could tell the child’s mother’s eyes bulging out of their sockets and the choice of words directed towards her son, you quickly shoved the money in the owner’s hands, grabbed the stick of the blue candy floss with one hand, using the other one to drag the boy away from the commotion he himself caused before he lost an ear to the mom’s fury.

“Hey! Hey, you thief! How dare you-”

“Oh shut that trap for once, better thank me for dragging you away before that mother pulled a Van Gogh on you.”

He dusted himself off once you let go as if filth has touched him and you heavily debated just slamming the entire sticky candy on top of his head, but you decided against it. You worked to hard for it just to waste it on a head that didn’t even deserve it.

“This isn’t over, I still want that candy floss.”

“Let’s just share.”

He looked like he wanted to protest but he most likely couldn’t come with a better idea so he just sighed and shrugged dismissively. You both settled down on a bench on the side of the Christmas-decorated street and didn’t waste a second to dig into the cloud of sweetness.

“So... should I ask for the name of the person I fought tooth and bone for blue candy floss?”

“You want to go back and ask that kid? I’m not sure you’ll get out alive.”

You nudged his arm with your elbow and you both broke into smiles. He turned to look at you and you met his honey filled eyes, colorful lights dancing in them and it seemed like entire galaxies were celebrating the upcoming holiday too.

“Donghyuck. Friends call me Hyuck or Haechan. So you can call me Donghyuck.”

You deadpanned, but it only made him giggle louder. His nose was even more flushed than his cheeks and you couldn’t help but admire the way the rosy pink blended in with the natural tan of his skin. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he scrunched his nose mid laugh and you could understand why universes decided to reside in him.

“I hope you choke on candy floss.”

He only laughed harder and if Christmas was a laugh, it would have been Donghyuck’s, pure and hopeful.

“But what is my knight’s in shining armor’s name?”

“It’s Y/N. So you can’t call me. Ever.”

Despite your threatening tone, his smile didn’t lose its brightness. If anything, it shone brighter, lights and colors and happiness playing along his features and you couldn’t help but think that the moles on his face created constellations with the stars in his eyes. You saw art in what others saw as incident.

Donghyuck’s eyes widened as he stared at you, an exaggerated gasp leaving his lips before he exclaimed.

“A snowflake! It’s snowing! It’s snowing on Christmas Eve!”

“What? Where?”

“It’s on your nose!”

Your eyes crossed as you tried to catch sight of the small ounce of snow that settled on the tip of your nose. Donghyuck stared smugly as you turned accusingly and pointed a finger at him.

“You’re making fun of me!”

“I’m not! It really is-”

Before he could finish his sentence, you jumped in your seat.

“Donghyuck, one landed on your nose too! It’s there! It’s really snowing!”

And sure enough, one white traveller after another found their ways down in a whirlwind, waltzing on the last steps to their final destination in the eyes of thousands of admirers.

“Now we have matching snowflakes!”

Donghyuck laughed fondly at your excited tone, watching your enraptured eyes light up like a child’s and he thought that he might have found his Polaris. Right under his nose, he had found the brightest star in his sky.

“Yeah, do you think they were competing for candy floss too?”

“Maybe they confused it with their home. Don’t you think it resembles a cloud in this lighting? Maybe they thought they have found their way back home.” You pondered for a while, before grinning. “Mine won anyway.”

“Pffft, mine must have been confused by yours. How could you confuse candy floss for a cloud?”

You just shrugged, munching on the last bit of the sweet treat.

“Oh, Y/N, how much was it? Let me pay for my half.”

You thrust your phone in his directions, cheeks flushed less from the cold and more from the embarrassment of your next words. Donghyuck watched as you fidgeted in your place, his own expectant excitement building up inside of him as he accepted your phone gingerly.

“The cost is your phone number and a promise to share candy floss again. Only if you want to of course, don’t feel obligated to-”

“Let’s confuse snowflakes again, maybe it’ll snow again. My treat.”

You both smiled so largely your cheeks hurt the entire night.

~~~~

Your snowflakes decided to travel together on that fated day so you and Donghyuck decided to take their example. You stuck together and time didn’t seem to pass in the same way it used to. A year turned into a month, a month into a week, a week into a day and this day into a second. A second spent together. A second you cherished more than entire years. The second Donghyuck decided you put the moon and stars in the sky, or rather the single sparkly star on top of his Christmas tree.

“Stick that fucking star on that branch or I swear it’s either you’re taking a dive into the floor or my back will crack so loud your grandkids feel shivers down their own spine!”

“I’m obviously trying, Donghyuck! The branch is too thick, it won’t fit-”

“That’s what she said- oof!”

You made sure to dig your heel into his ribs hard enough to shut him up.

“Don’t you dare taint this holy evening with your bull!”

He grumbled under his breath but didn’t retort anything and struggled obediently to hold you up for long enough for you to put the finishing touch to his, no, both of yours’ Christmas tree: a silver, shining star.

“I told you it would be easier if we simply used a ladder, but nooo.”

“Where is the romance in that?”

“And where is the romance in me cracking your back and possibly falling on top of this tree?”

Your boyfriend groaned at your smart reply, tapping your thigh impatiently.

“Finally! You can put me down, the asshole has saddled up!”

“Never phrase it like that again please.”

After you were lowered, you both stepped back to admire the piece of art that stole- Donghyuck gasped softly once he took a look at the clock hung on the wall. Four hours?! How could that be possible, it only felt like... a second.

He turned to watch you instead of the overflowing tree, ornated in tinsel and lights. You glowed so much more than any view in this world in Donghyuck’s eyes. His Polaris indeed. No matter how lost he would ever be in life, tangled in his own mind, struggling against his own, one look at his brightest star and he’d find his way back to you through the darkest of nights. He deemed it only right for his guiding star to hang the star on top of your tree as if you hung it in a once starless night once he turned off the lights in the room.

Donghyuck thought that maybe he could live in an eternity in a single day with you.

“Ah, it snowed so much outside. It looks so fluffy, I have to!”

“What, no Y’N, wait!”

Before Donghyuck could even react, you sprung away from him, clumsily slipping on some shoes and running outside in only your sleepwear. Your boyfriend ran after you, gathering your jacket before joining you in the snow. He found you a few steps away from the entrance, crouched before a mound of fresh snow, digging your already reddening hands into it and spreading it around to form drawings and words. He sighed as he laid your jacket over your shoulders and crouched beside you.

“Don’t be so reckless, you’ll catch a cold like this.”

“Look who’s talking” you shot him a pointed look “where’s your own jacket if you’re so worried about colds?”

He spluttered for a moment, realising he forgot his own jacket in his rush to make sure you wouldn’t suffer too much because of the cold.

“I need no jacket. Jackets are for weaklings.”

You rolled your eyes, focusing back on the snow gathered in your hands. 

“I feel bad for the snowflakes. They left their home, maybe they were even separated from their loved ones on the way down here. I bet they miss them. But they are trapped here once they landed. If only they would have the chance to fly for a little longer and search for them.”

You threw it in front of you, watching as it spread all around you, floating elegantly in a dance of their own before regaining their place on the spotless white dessert. Donghyuck watched you with curious eyes.

“I feel so bad for them I almost want to take them into my own home and care for them and love them-”

“But they’d melt.”

“Huh?”

“The snowflakes would melt. It’s not the right kind of home for them. Love isn’t always what they need, sometimes it consumes you little by little, it reduces you to nothing.”

“I’d rather melt into nothingness if it meant I felt even a second of pure love.”

‘That’s Y/N for you indeed’ Donghyuck could only shake his head as a small, content smile settled on his face. He scooped a little bit of snow into his cupped palms and brought it close to his lips. You shrieked.

“Don’t eat it! I get it, I won’t bring snow into the house!’“

He laughed so joyfully the shy moon cowered behind clouds at his beauty.

“I’m not planning on eating it, dumbass.”

“Then?”

“I’m wishing upon snowflakes?”

“Maybe we should head inside, maybe you have a fever.”

“Shut up, I’m not delusional. There are no dandelions during winter and snowflakes are our thing anyway, right? So let’s wish upon a snowflake instead of dandelions this time.”

He didn’t wait for you to react before he blew harshly into his palms, sending the small pile of snow flying out of his hands. Donghyuck could only think of a single thing while watching the swirl of the freed snow dancing in the dimly lit street in front of the house.

I wish for you to be my north star, to keep guiding me home to you.

~~~~

But sometimes it gets foggy. And sometimes you lose your way.

Donghyuck stared at his own reflection in the silver globe. He looked anything but Christmas-y. There was no twinkle in his eye, dull orbs gazing back at him almost condescendingly.

He’s always been a spitfire, a follower of his own fate that he made by his own hands. He swore to never let a flame touch, but promises are meant to be broken and his love, too burning hot, consumed you just like warmth consumed the snow. You slipped through his fingers just like snowflakes get separated in the harsh wind.

And Donghyuck was sure that if snowflakes could feel, they would be the most pitiful. A separation so sudden, so forceful, one that leaves you desperate to turn back time even for just a second. To watch them for longer. To hold on tighter.

‘Lee Donghyuck, you dumbass’

He sighs as he lowers the globe, putting it back into the box that would soon go into the basement where it resides for most of the year. One goodbye after another. Undecorating and storing away the once lively Christmas tree felt even more melancholic than usual, because while it meant a ‘see you later’ to the brightness of his house, he might have lost his chance at even saying a proper ‘please let me see you again’ to the brightness of his soul.

He looked up, catching sight of the lonely star sitting atop of the tree, the only decoration left. So far out of reach.

‘Feels so wrong to search for a stool for that after so long. Also feels wrong for me to be the one to take it off. I got too used to you.’

‘Too empty, where are your ridiculous decorations?’

‘Too blank, where are your rainbow vomit Christmas sweaters?’

‘ Too quiet, where are your late carols?’

‘...Where are you?’

Donghyuck had to shake himself out of his zoned out state, looking out the window at the lights still hung around his porch. He should remove those too. He stepped outside, being immediately enveloped by the winter winds blowing around the freshly laid out snow.

‘It snowed a lot this year. Where are your snow-angels?’

Donghyuck touched the scarf wrapped around his neck. The one he searched for for hours just to find it laid around the ‘neck’ of the snowman you both built earlier that day. Despite his scolding, he couldn’t help but think that who needs presents when his biggest blessing is smiling so purely right in front of him?

‘Are you building snowmen away from me now? Are you using someone else’s scarf now?’

His face contorted into a grimace. He grabbed two fistfuls of fresh snow, throwing them into the wind, watching them meddle amongst themselves

‘You talked all that shit about giving them a second chance to find their loved ones after a storm, to find their soulmates once again. So where are you?’

‘Why don’t you give me another chance to find you too?’

Donghyuck watched helplessly as the snow settled down once again. What if soulmates get lost forever? What if they don’t meet again? He crouched in the middle of the alley to his house. The same one you walked on and away from him.

A lonely snowflake landed on his hand, as if to prove Donghyuck a point. He couldn’t help but chuckle sarcastically, pain lacing his usually bright tone.

‘Are you feeling it too, buddy? Are you alone too?’

‘How about you, my love? Where are you, Y/N?’

Another snowflake slowly descended right by the one already settled on his hand. Destined together, by the hands of fate, by each other’s hand, by time itself. 

‘Ah, found your soulmate, have you?’

‘Where has mine gone?’

A crunch resonated in Donghyuck’s ears, right in front of him. So close.

“Sorry for the wait.”

His head snapped up. Did heartbreak cause illusions? Did desperation cause hearings? No, while his brain took its time comprehending, his heart knew instantly. It recognized its owner.

“It got confused and a little scared on the way here, but it finally found its way back home.”

You were home. At home in his arms, nestled in his embrace, face buried in his chest, right above his erratic heartbeat. 

“You know, late comers have to pay for the wasted time.”

“Oh, is that so? How much is it?”

“Just a lifetime spent together.”

Donghyuck’s eyes sparkled again.

~~~~ 

You still haven’t decided what takes the crown as the best replica of the fluffy clouds traveling lazily across the sky. You stick another piece of baby blue cotton candy in your own mouth while internally debating between the two choices. The floss of sweetness you had the luxury to eat at the moment or-

A whine interrupted you. Your head snapped to the side just to meet a pair of puppy eyes staring back at you, waiting for acknowledgement.

“Hyuckie too~”

“Maybe Hyuckie should have bought his own then.”

Despite your seemingly annoyed retort and the roll of your eyes, you still offered him a piece of cotton candy, one that he didn’t hesitate to snatch right from your hand the moment it was presented in front of his lips.

You stared adoringly at your boyfriend as he munched satisfied on the sweet and you could barely suppress the need to run your fingers through his soft locks, bury your hand into your own warm, lavender-smelling cloud.

“I’m getting flashbacks from our first meeting.”

You snapped out of your haze, redirecting your attention to Donghyuck’s words.

“Huh?”

“It’s the same bench. When you stole my cotton candy and then offered to share it with me oh so kindly-”

“I paid for it! And saved you too for the sake of it!”

“And then trapped me with you in order to repay you.”

You slapped his arm, watching fondly as he dissolved in a fit of giggles. You both knew he didn’t mean it, he spent countless hours thanking the world and you for bringing you two together and allowing him happiness. You sighed a bit melancholic, only just realising that he was right, this was the same bench you ate your first candy floss together. Same place, same people, same surroundings, different circumstances.

“It feels like an eternity ago.”

“And at the same times it feels like only yesterday.”

A beat of silence passed before Donghyuck spoke again, quieter, more careful, almost timidly.

“I’m scared too sometimes.”

You leaned into him, nuzzling your cheek against his shoulder. He brought the hand that wasn’t holding your waist already up to your face, cupping your cheek delicately and caressing it with his thumb. His snowflake finally had a soulmate.

“Why?”

He bumped his nose against yours, leaning his forehead against yours. He had you, under his fingertips, breaths mingled, hearts beating together.

“What if it’s over before we realise?”

You hummed softly, your lips brushing against his as you murmured your next words, a secret shared between lovers

“Doesn’t matter. Time is nothing with you, an irrelevant notion meant to hurry us when all we want to do is linger a second more. For you and me, there’s no end and no beginning.”

And sure enough, here you were. Two snowflakes, vulnerable and in passing, sharing a cloud and a timeless bond.

[artificialqueens]

Are You in Love With a Notion? (Diamond Chaney) - Ortega

summary: Ellie wakes up in the Lake District with a hangover, an engagement ring, and her best friend in her bed. It’s not quite Vegas, but it’s still a cataclysmic mess.

a/n: this one goes out to the anon that came to my inbox with the concept “diamond chaney but they impulsively get married one night and have to deal with the consequences later”. it was too good to just headcanon for so it’s now a fully-fledged fic. it’s complete and utter silly nonsense and it’s by no means the most groundbreaking writing in the world, but it is FUN! hope u all enjoy and pls enjoy my continued campaign for u all to board the diamond chaney clown bus xo

(do people still use snapchat? fuck knows, but i needed it for plot purposes. if u like u can pretend this is set in 2016.)

***

Ellie wakes up feeling like a bat has shat in her head.

It feels as if her pulse is contained entirely within her cranium given the way it’s throbbing, and every time she blinks it’s as if each of her eyelashes weigh twenty kilogrammes. She momentarily wonders where she is before the heavy cream drapes and the shiny glass-topped bedside table come into focus and she remembers she’s in the hotel room. A’whora had wanted to splash out for her birthday (“you only turn a quarter of a century old once, ladies!”) and no expense was spared since she’d got that promotion a few months back. She’d covered the difference for any of the girls who wouldn’t have been able to afford to go away and Ellie was thankful for her friend’s kindhearted and generous nature. After all, she’s not the kind of girl who would say no to a treat, and she’ll return the favour as soon as her salon takes off.

(And it will take off. She didn’t study business for nothing.)

But the room right now, even with its four-poster bed and the cosy sheets and the four soft pillows, is providing absolutely no respite from the fact that Ellie is hanging out of her arse. Throwing her arm over her eyes as she squeezes them shut, she gives a small, self-indulgent sob of anguish and suffering.

And as she rolls from her side onto her back, she becomes aware of the fact that she’s not alone in the bed.

The dread and fear that grips her heart reminds her of when she went on school camp in Primary 7 and had to jump into one of those freezing cold plunge pools.

She keeps her arm over her eyes for a few more seconds to allow herself to work up the mental stability she needs to face whoever’s at her side. Maybe it’s a dream. Maybe this has all been in her mind and in a moment she’s going to wake up hangover-free with her bed blissfully empty.

Ellie brings her arm down from her eyelids and, without knowing what possesses her (aside from the copious amounts of alcohol that remain in her bloodstream), bites down gently on her arm in lieu of pinching herself.

She can confirm she is still very much awake.

It’s not that a one-night-stand is beyond her; she would even go as far as to say that at one point both she and A’whora were infamous for it back at uni, and she’s admittedly glad that “Dirty Diamond” just isn’t as catchy as “A’whora” and therefore that particular nickname hasn’t stuck with her into adult life like it has for her friend. No, what she’s surprised at herself for is the fact she’s brought someone back at her big age. She hasn’t had a random hookup for a while now, and the fact she can’t remember it is even worse.

She presses the hand that’s under the duvet against her thigh and her heart almost gives out with relief at the fact she can feel clothes. She can’t have gone too far, then. This is okay. This is salvageable. As she runs her fingers over the hem of whatever the fuck she’s wearing, realisation slowly dawns on her that it’s her pink playsuit from the night before.

Ellie genuinely can’t tell if the situation is better because she’s not naked, or worse because she’s still in her clothes from last night.

Her pulse skyrockets again, however, as an arm gently thuds over her waist through the duvet and the person, whoever the hell they even are, snuggles into her side contentedly. Only…it all feels too weirdly familiar for Ellie’s liking. The body beside her, the closeness, even the rise and fall of the breathing is all that of someone she feels like she knows.

Lifting her arm off her eyes and to her forehead, opening them, and finally ripping the plaster off to see who’s by her side, Ellie doesn’t know whether to be relieved or slightly horrified.

A purple velvet jumpsuit with a belt to tie her in at the waist that’s coming undone. Black and purple painted nails. Endless waves of thick lilac hair that are fanned out in tendrils across the white pillowslip. An entire face of perfectly painted makeup that’s still clinging on from the night before.

It’s Lawrence. She’s waking up beside her best friend. This is fine. This is totally normal. They’ve shared a bed countless times before back at uni, and it’s not something Ellie’s ever been adverse to- quite the opposite in fact, she thinks, as her stomach does a flip.

Something still feels off, though.

And then, as Ellie brings her hand down from her forehead and something bumps against it, it hits her- physically and metaphorically- all at once.

The ring Lawrence always wears; her pride and joy, her grandmother’s ring. The one that looks like the heart of the ocean on her finger, a huge blue diamond surrounded by eight small platinum ones. The ring Lawrence guards with her life and would only take off if it was physically tasered off her. The ring that could single-handedly obliterate Lawrence’s entire student debt and probably Ellie’s too if she was feeling generous enough.

The ring- that ring- is currently sitting on the fourth finger of Ellie’s left hand. As if it’s an engagement ring.

“Lawrence,” Ellie says without thinking. Her voice is croaky and too-loud in the silence of the room, but Lawrence still takes a while to stir beside her. She pulls Ellie close with the arm that’s round her, nuzzles her face into her arm. Usually the feeling wouldn’t be an unwelcome one, but just now Ellie’s got bigger problems. She hisses again. “Lawrence, wake up.”

“I’m not shagging you, Ruth Davidson, you wee Tory,” Lawrence’s sleep-coated voice comes from beside her, and Ellie finally draws back, reaches behind her and takes the pillow out from under her head to thump her with.

“For fuck’s sake! Lawrence, wake up! We’re in the shit here!”

As Lawrence finally blinks slowly, Ellie watches her go through the seven stages of grief far more rapidly than she’s just done. She feels like an idiot for the way her heart dips in disappointment when Lawrence shuffles back from her and draws her arm away self-consciously. She mumbles, grumpy and tired. “Ellie, I’m not alive.”

“Yes you are, drama queen.”

“No I’m fucking not. I feel how Prince Philip looks,” she groans in despair, obviously as hungover as Ellie is. She screws her face up and rubs her eyes, in turn smearing her makeup over her cheekbones. “Why am I even here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we shagged,” Ellie says dryly, before holding the back of her hand up to Lawrence’s face. “Main question is, why the hell do I have this?”

Lawrence’s eyes grow wide in recognition before she groans and thumps her head back against the pillow. “How did you even…? Aw, I don’t know, Ellie, I’m too hungover to be mad about it. Just gies it back before you breathe and lose it or some shite.”

“But why is it…you know. Why is it here?” Ellie asks insistently, pressing her hand against her friend’s face in a deliberately annoying way. Lawrence grabs her wrist and forces it away from her face to get a proper look, and Ellie can see the cogs turn in her head before her face blanches at the implication.

Appearing to try and collect herself, Lawrence frowns, batting Ellie’s arm away. “You were probably getting hit on by some reprobate forty year old man in a suit so I’ll have let you pretend to be married to me. You should be honoured, really, it’s the closest you’ll get to perfection.”

“Piss off,” Ellie rolls her eyes as Lawrence gives a sleepy chuckle. She fiddles with the ring on her finger. It’s a little too small, and taking it off is proving difficult. Combined with the underlying stress of something still not being right, though, and it’s not enough to make Ellie’s dread dissipate.

“Can you remember any of last night?” she asks Lawrence, who’s scrabbling around on the bedside table for her phone.

“Nothing. You?”

“Neither,” Ellie rubs her temples with her fingers as if trying to massage the hangover out of her brain. No such luck.

“A’whora will be worse than us, then, won’t she? Because the last thing I remember is her and Tayce necking the prosecco at pres- oh, shit,” Lawrence has successfully retrieved her phone, and as she cuts herself off she’s frowning at it as if it’s committed a crime against her. “She’s calling just now, actually.”

Ellie already knows A’whora will be perfectly fresh and put together even before Lawrence swipes her phone across the screen to accept the facetime call, and so seeing her looking exactly that plus her girlfriend beside her looking the exact same just makes Ellie want to die even more.

A’whora’s smile is smug on her face as she smirks at them through the phone. “How are you two lovebirds doing this morning?”

Her words are like cold water down Ellie’s spine, and from the way Lawrence’s expression has changed too it seems she’s not the only one. She’s wondering what A’whora’s trying to imply with her joke and really, really hoping it’s just an innocent barb with no meaning behind it. Ellie can’t speak, but Lawrence gets there before her anyway. “What?”

“The married couple! The newlyweds! The babas!” Tayce jumps in, way too energetic and excited and making Ellie feel more hungover just looking at her.

Her words, though, aren’t helping her growing need to spew all over the hotel room floor. “What are you talking about?”

A’whora’s jaw drops open, and she barely conceals a laugh. “Oh my God. What do you remember?”

Ellie doesn’t want to give either of them the satisfaction of admitting that the answer’s nothing, but Lawrence is talking before she can get a chance. “Neither of us can remember anything. All I know is that I woke up in bed with this slut and she’s tried to steal my gran’s ring off me to…fuck knows, pretend she’s married to me. She wishes.”

“Lawrence,” Tayce starts, barely audible from giggling. “You two are married. You got married last night.”

What the fuck.

How can they be married? It’s not possible. Ellie tries to think but she can’t conjure up any clear thoughts. She feels the same smack of dread and fear that she felt when she went on that motorcycle rollercoaster at Flamingo Land two summers ago. Lawrence had been by her side then, too, her hand over Ellie’s white-knuckled one and reeling off ridiculous jokes to try and calm her down. She hates rollercoasters, and this one doesn’t seem like it’s going to be over anytime soon.

Lawrence doesn’t seem fazed. “You’re on the wind-up. Els, don’t give them the satisfaction, they’re taking the piss.”

“We’re not!” Tayce gasps, affronted, and A’whora is protesting adamantly too. “There was a wedding party in the bar last night and the pair of you kept moaning about how single you were and how you’d never find love.”

Lawrence narrows her eyes at her through the camera, offended. Ellie is inclined to feel the same.

“And the pair of you eventually decided you were just going to marry each other. Bimini mentioned they’re an ordained minister, so then you both insisted they married the pair of you in the hotel bar.”

“Get so far to fuck,” Lawrence snorts derisively, but it’s still not helping Ellie’s rising, terrified heart rate. “We’re meanty believe this, aye? Why in the fuck would I ever agree to marrying this wee cow, as if I would lower myself!?”

Ouch. Ellie scowls, screws her face up as she tears her eyes away from the screen and looks at Lawrence pointedly. “Thanks babes, love you too.”

“But you know what I mean!” Lawrence sort-of-not-really apologises. “Right, then, I’ll bite. If we got married, how did we get to the registry office? What registry office is open at eleven at night on a Saturday?”

A’whora shrugs all blasé. “There’s one in the hotel, we just went there. Caught it just before it closed, I think.”

Ellie narrows her eyes. She wants to believe it’s a joke, so she attempts to pick a hole in the story. “If we were that drunk, though, they wouldn’t have married us? Surely? I mean it’s not Vegas, A’whora, it’s the fucking Lake District.”

“Oh no, baby, the registrar said they get couples turning up drunk all the time! And obviously myself, A’whora and Bimini were much more sober than you, so we were the responsible adults. Or bridesmaids, I guess. We were that classy level of prosecco tipsy, you pair were on the vodka lemonades by eight last night,” Tayce explains.

As the story unfolds, Ellie feels more and more nauseous. She wants to crawl up into a ball like a dead woodlouse. Surely not. Surely not.

“Wedding dresses,” Lawrence says argumentatively. “We didn’t have wedding dresses. It would’ve been so obvious we were taking the piss.”

“Oh, neither of you would stop going on about how the colour scheme was pink and purple! Matching pink and purple playsuits! Which I see you’re still wearing, you absolute hounds,” Tayce wrinkles her nose in distaste.

Everything seems to be adding up to a ridiculously clear and yet blurry degree, and Ellie can’t in any way cope with the magnitude of the situation. She throws her arms over her face and curls up into the foetal position with a groan of self-pity. Through the duvet, she feels Lawrence whack her.

“Ellie, shut up! It’s so obviously a joke,” she insists, and Ellie can hear the roll of her eyes. A’whora and Tayce are cackling down the phone like two little Wizard of Oz witches and Ellie’s never identified more with Dorothy in her life.

“Well, believe us or don’t believe us, still doesn’t change the fact you got hitched,” A’whora says lightly. “I mean, you’ll have the marriage certificate to prove it. You had it last night, it’ll be in your room somewhere.”

Ellie pops her head out from under the duvet in horror. Her voice comes out as a horrified squeak. “Marriage certificate?”

A’whora shrugs. “Yeah! If you don’t believe us then maybe you’ll believe a piece of paper.”

“The marriage certificate that doesn’t exist. Aye, nae bother,” Lawrence says, still clearly disdainful of the story. “You coming to breakfast or what?”

“Oh, babe! Been there, done that! We got up at seven, showered, dressed, makeup, breakfast, and we’ve been out for a walk. Get on our level,” Tayce flicks her hair. Ellie fleetingly loathes her.

Lawrence rubs her forehead with her free hand, clearly headachey. “Well I’m starving, so I’m not hanging around to be wound up by the fuckin’ lesbian Prank Patrol any longer. Time’s check out?”

“You’ve got til half twelve. I got us a late one, figured we’d all need it.”

As Lawrence promises to see the other two later and hangs up, Ellie can’t speak. She’s still in shock at the potential truth from last night; that they actually got married. To each other. Over the years, Ellie’s invented made-up scenarios in her head that involve various things: telling Lawrence how she feels, kissing Lawrence, Lawrence asking her on a date. None of them have involved marriage. She’s never even thought to think that far ahead, but now it’s a reality it doesn’t seem like the Disney-princess dream she’s always expected it to be.

It actually feels sort of like a nightmare.

A thud from a pillow brings her back to reality. “Ellie!”

Ellie looks at her friend, who’s managed to crawl off the bed and is standing beside it, looking expectantly at her. Ellie blinks in bewilderment, rubs her eyes before she speaks. “What?”

“I’m gonna go shower and get changed and then we can go down to breakfast? I’ll come back and knock in about fifteen minutes?”

Ellie can’t believe she’s so calm. Sitting up in bed and feeling her head sting again, she looks pointedly at Lawrence. “You’re not in any way bothered about the story the girls just told us? The fact we might have got married?”

Lawrence snorts. “Oh, Ellie, please. You’re so gullible I swear to God someone could tell you Davina McCall’s the new Pope and you’d just nod and accept it.”

“But the marriage certificate, though? The ring? Which, by the way, won’t come off,” Ellie tugs on it again, trying not to panic when it doesn’t budge.

“There won’t be a marriage certificate! You said it, it’s the UK, it’s not Vegas. There’s a reason shotgun weddings aren’t a thing here. You honestly think we could just rock up to a registry office and get married?”

Ellie falls silent. She should feel reassured, but she doesn’t.

“I’m away to scrub the first ten layers of alcohol sweat out of my pores, awrite? You better be ready by the time I’m back.”

Lawrence leaves and Ellie is left on her own with her thoughts, which all seem to ricochet off her brain and pummel it to a husk, making her hangover worse. She still searches lazily for the fabled marriage certificate in between showering and getting ready, looking fruitlessly under discarded clothes on the floor and under furniture. Lawrence is right- she knows Lawrence is right- but there’s still a part of Ellie’s mind that’s niggling away with a what if on a loop.

By the time Lawrence knocks on her door again, Ellie is back not knowing what to think. She finds herself frantically babbling to her on the way down to the hotel restaurant in the lift, but her friend won’t entertain it.

“You’re too easy to prank. How can you believe them, it’s obviously a bam up!”

“Well, it could’ve happened! They brought it up before we even said we couldn’t remember anything, right? I mean, why else would you give me your ring? You barely trust me to hold your phone for two seconds to take a picture,” Ellie runs a hand through her hair, which she didn’t wash and is still in its big curls from the night before.

“Aye! Because you dropped it in the road when we went out for Jazz’s birthday!”

“That was two years ago! And I paid for the screen repairs!” Ellie cries in indignation, but the memory still makes her blush. She grows quiet again before her mind takes her back to the apparent events of last night. “The story makes sense.”

“The story does not make sense!” Lawrence sighs, agitated. “What proof do we have? You’re wearing my ring and our pals have told us the plot of a Hangover film? Honestly, hen, if we got married last night I’ll buy you an Uber back to Dundee.”

As they reach the dining room, the pair of them stop dead in the entranceway. Because there in the middle, almost as if it’s framed, is a table for two surrounded by inflatable red heart-shaped balloons, covered in red sparkly confetti, with champagne flutes and roses and polished silverware.

“What time’s my Uber booked for, then?” Ellie deadpans sarcastically. She doesn’t know why she’s making a joke. She isn’t in a joking mood. She’s nothing short of horrified.

“Calm down. That won’t be for us. A’whora said there was a wedding party last night, remember? It’ll be for them,” Lawrence reassures her, but Ellie doesn’t miss the distinct lack of self-assuredness to her voice that had been there before.

A waiter approaches them and asks for their name. Lawrence speaks (because Ellie can’t quite manage), and in return the waiter fixes them with a bright smile.

“Ladies, on behalf of us all at the Old England, we would like to wish you many congratulations and happiness on this most special occasion. Please, follow me,” he reels off before walking in the direction of the over-the-top, Valentine’s Day-style photoshoot set-up that is apparently where they’re having breakfast.

Ellie is going to be sick.

“You’ve got to be fucking joking,” Lawrence whispers all in one breath, before sleepwalking towards their table and sitting down with a tight smile of thanks to the eager waiter. As Ellie sits in the chair opposite, she notices the affectionate smiles from couples at other tables and feels her face flush with hot embarrassment. The waiter disappears with a promise to be back for their order soon, and the pair of them are left sitting in stunned silence.

“Lawrence,” Ellie says first. Her gaze is stuck on the table, shocked and stunned.

“Don’t,” Lawrence replies. When Ellie finally looks at her she’s sitting with her eyes squeezed shut, her face a picture of strained concentration.

“What are you doing? You look constipated.”

“I’m trying to wake up from this abject fucking nightmare,” Lawrence says through gritted teeth.

Even though Lawrence is right- it is a nightmare, it’s a bad, terrible dream- it doesn’t stop the way her words feel ever-so-slightly like a blow to the crush Ellie’s harboured for an embarrassingly long length of time. She can’t think about that, though. There are bigger issues at stake here. Like the fact they’re married.

“Do you believe me now? Why the hell would the hotel do all this if we didn’t get married in their registry office the night before?”

“It’ll be…” Lawrence begins, trying to explain it away then putting her head in her hands when she realises she’s at a loss. “Fuck, I don’t know. We need A’whora or Tayce down here to talk it through with us. Or Bimini. If it’s A’whora and Tayce’s prank then they might not be in on it.”

“They had to go back to London early for a shoot, remember? They’ll have already left,” Ellie reminds Lawrence, and her face falls in dismay.

The waiter returns holding a bottle of champagne and Ellie watches Lawrence turn over her flute with a little aggressive thud and doesn’t say when until the bubbles climb to the very top of the glass. They both order pastries, Ellie’s appetite completely gone and Lawrence’s appearing to be the same.

Ellie narrows her eyes at Lawrence as she watches her glug the bubbles down. “How the hell can you be drinking at a time like this? Are you not hungover?”

“I am hungover, yes. But I need to be drunk to deal with this situation. So I’m hoping this’ll at least take the edge off a bit,” she says dryly. Ellie rolls her eyes.

“Being drunk got us into this situation, it’s not gonna get us out of it,” she sighs helplessly, realising too late that she sounds too much like her Mum. Lawrence responds appropriately; shaking her head at her moodily and staring off into the distance as she keeps sipping from her glass.

Ellie cups her cheeks, thanks the waiter weakly as he puts down a tray of pastries in front of the two of them. She tries to go over the events of last night in her head but draws a blank every time. According to A’whora and Tayce they’ll have been at the bar, decided to get married…Bimini had married them, somehow and somewhere, and they’d gone to the registrar…then they’d presumably got even more drunk and had a dance, and then…

How had Lawrence ended up in her room? Unless they’d…no. They’d both still had their clothes on from the night before.

But that wouldn’t have stopped them making out.

“Oh, God,” Ellie groans, unable to hold in the regret and the constant pain of her headache. Lawrence shoots her a funny look. Ellie’s loath to explain herself. The idea that the first kiss she’s shared with Lawrence has been messy, drunk, and one she can’t even remember is one that makes her feel stupid amounts of disappointed, but she’s not exactly going to share that with her friend.

“Loz, what if we did something last night?”

“What, aside from get married?” Lawrence talks through a mouthful of croissant. Then, as realisation dawns, her chewing stops. “Oh.”

There’s an awkward silence as they both stare at each other.

“Nah,” Lawrence finally shrugs as she resumes eating. “Because we both still had our clothes from last night on when we woke up?”

“Yeah, but we still could’ve kissed,” Ellie pulls a face, the words feeling too awkward and childish as they come out of her mouth. Lawrence seems to hesitate for a second before smirking across the table at her.

“Aye right. As if I’d ever let you near enough to me for that to happen.”

“Rich from the girl who was wrapped around me when I woke up,” Ellie quirks an eyebrow at her, and it’s Lawrence’s turn to fall silent.

Breakfast doesn’t last long. Between their hangovers and the fact that they’re both trying to make sense of the whole crazy situation neither of them can eat much, and they’re dragging themselves back to their rooms before too long. They continue to discuss everything, purely because there’s not much else they can talk about when the prospect of them being married is hanging over their heads like the world’s heaviest cloud. This time, though, it’s Lawrence who’s doing most of the nervous talking.

“I’m sure it’s easily explained away. They probably just got our table confused with the wedding party’s from yesterday. That’ll be what it is. Just some big coincidence. There’s a reasonable explanation to it all. Have you got that fuckin’ ring off your finger yet?!”

“I’m working on it,” Ellie grumbles. The best she’s managed is getting it halfway to her first knuckle before realising it was cutting the blood circulation off even more and she could get it no higher, so she’d immediately pushed it back down again.

She hears herself huff with annoyance. All she wants to do is sleep but they have to somehow deal with this first, and it’s more inconvenient than she’d ever hoped her first marriage (her only marriage) would be. Thinking for a second, she gives a little gasp as she has an idea. “Why don’t we just go down to the registry office and ask?”

Lawrence stops walking, fixes Ellie with a look as if she’s sprouted another head. “Have you lost the bloody place?! You want to go up to the registrar and go, ‘sorry to bother you, but can you please tell us if we’re married or not?’ We’d get sectioned!”

Ellie thinks that, even though it sounds as if it’s the easiest course of action, Lawrence is probably right.

“Besides,” Lawrence continues. “If there’s the possibility that we did rock up three sheets to the wind last night, I don’t particularly wanty show my face there again.”

“Right,” Ellie agrees. She bites her lip as she reaches the door to her room and puts her key card in. Lawrence waits beside her, a mutual understanding that she’s coming in to continue the conversation.

Ellie supposes she’s her wife now, so it makes sense.

“Who could we phone to confirm it, then? The government?”

Lawrence pinches the bridge of her nose in exasperation. “Ellie, you did not just ask me if we could phone the gov-”

“Oh my fucking God.”

Ellie cuts Lawrence off without thinking, and upon seeing the inside of the room Lawrence is rendered speechless too. There’s more balloons, ones without weights that cover the ceiling over the bed. The bed itself and the floor surrounding it is covered in rose petals, and on top of the pristinely made duvet there’s a box of chocolates and two bathrobes origami-d into swans.

Lawrence is the first to march into the room. She snatches up a small note that’s sitting on top of the chocolate box, unfolds it and reads aloud. “Congratulations to the happy couple, we wish you both a long and happy marriage. From all the staff at the Old England hotel. Fuck me, this canny be real.”

Ellie lets the door swing shut, walks over to the bed and sits on its edge precariously. An idea occurs to her as she retrieves her phone from her pocket. “Here. Check your phone. Messages, photos. There might be clues.”

She doesn’t look up to see if Lawrence is nodding or not, but she assumes she’s following her suggestion. Ellie is busy with her camera roll (where there’s nothing, and the last photo is a terrible, blurry, unflattering selfie of her and Tayce) when Lawrence gives a hum of recognition.

“I got a snapchat from you at one in the morning.”

Ellie cranes her neck. “What does it say?”

Lawrence, oddly, is keeping the phone out of her view. She’s quiet before she brings the phone back into Ellie’s line of vision, and the picture, whatever it was, is gone. “Just a drunk selfie. Nothing that could give us any clues.”

The pair of them are quiet as Lawrence taps against her phone screen. Ellie reflects. They’ve been in the shit like this together before: when they were eighteen and both their phones died before Lawrence’s Mum could pick them up from T in the Park and they got yelled at the whole way home when she’d eventually found them both, when they’d been stopped by the police because Lawrence had carried a traffic cone through the City Centre and tried to put it on top of the existing one on the Duke of Wellington statue. But this is a whole different level of shit.

Through it all, though, Lawrence has always been there with a joke and a laugh and reassurance for Ellie that things are never as bad as they seem. She always has this panicky way of staying positive, delivering comforting words through a voice that’s shaky with her own anxiety. Ellie always helps her in return when she needs it, has done for years: she’s usually good at staying calm, she’s chatty and can talk Lawrence through anything, and she’ll always reach out to take her hand or be there with a hug and a reminder that as long as Lawrence has got her, she’s never on her own. They’ve always seemed to take turns being each others’ anchors, and their friendship is a weird sort of pendulum of support. Today, however, they’re both blindly stumbling through their own process of coming to terms with this situation, and Ellie supposes neither or them are being much of a help to each other. She wishes she could be more helpful, because she cares about her friend so much.

Too much for it to be explained away as a friendship.  

“What are you looking up?” Ellie asks as Lawrence lies back on the bed with a thud, eyes still glued to her phone. Craning her neck, Ellie can see she’s typed how to get divorced into Google.

“Why are there no ordained divorce lawyers?” Lawrence mutters under her breath. “We can get married in a hotel bar but we can’t get divorced in a hotel room? What kind of fucking bullshit is this?”

Ellie lies back too. It’s not lost on her how close together their heads are. “Why are you trying to get us divorced? We might not even be married. I still think we should phone up the government.”

“Nicola Sturgeon’s got bigger fish to fry, babes, there’s an election in May.”

“Not the government, obviously,” Ellie rolls her eyes, scrolls her own phone absent-mindedly. She’d look something up to try and help but she’s at a loss. “Like…the offices! The records of marriage and stuff. They’ll have a department for this sort of thing, won’t they?”

“Will we even be on the system if our marriage is less than twenty-four hours old?” Lawrence wonders out loud. “And if we got married here, would we be registered in England, then? Aw fuck, so many questions and not a single answer.”

Ellie frowns to herself as she thinks. “What if we do have to get divorced? Will we need a lawyer? I don’t have that kind of money, Lawrie, and neither do you.”

Lawrence hums in worried agreement, and Ellie presses her lips together. It’s weird dealing with all of this when there’s a crush at play. In amongst frantically trying to figure everything out and clarify it all, a tiny part of Ellie wonders…would it really be so bad to be married to Lawrence? There’s not really an excuse for them not to date now. It’s really the perfect way of ruining the friendship she’s been so worried about ruining for the past few years; it’s not awkward to say she has feelings for her literal wife, she supposes. But every time those thoughts rest in her brain for a few seconds, Ellie forces herself to chase them away- because really, hen, are you insane? The sheer scale of the situation isn’t lost on her, she knows they have to figure it out somehow and mop this mess up. But pretending would be nice, and safe, and far, far away from this alcohol-soaked bubble of horror she appears to have woken up in.

It’s out before she knows it, though. “What if we just stayed married? If we are. If we just stayed married until we could afford to get divorced?”

“Jesus Christ, Ellie,” Lawrence drops her phone onto the bed, covering her eyes with her hands in resigned exhaustion.

“No, think about it! There must be loads of benefits to getting married,” Ellie explains, feeling as if she has to justify the ridiculous thought now. “You get, um. I think you get extra money from the government?”

“The tories have never given out extra money. To anyone,” Lawrence glares at her.

(Ellie knows it’s not what she should be taking from this, but it occurs to her that the way Lawrence has done her eyeliner today makes her eyes look really pretty.)

“Oh! Here, it says you get tax breaks if you get married. It would be good to not have to pay council tax for a bit,” Ellie says, looking up from her phone where she’s just googled what are the benefits of getting married UK.

Lawrence pauses beside her. When she speaks, she sounds contemplative. “Well, you’d be taking my last name, because am I fuck taking yours.”

Ellie gives a choked noise of indignation. “Fuck off, I’ve got the best last name out of the two of us! Diamond?”

“It’s the last name of a porn star! I’m not living my daily life like that!”

“So you want me to go by Ellie Chaney? A name that rhymes? Like a character from Balamory?”

“You already dress like a fuckin’ character from a kids’ TV show, it wouldn’t be that far-fetched,” Lawrence starts giggling, and Ellie can only fix her with an unimpressed pout. “Nah, this wouldn’t work, Els. We’re already arguing and it’s only been one day. We couldn’t stay married. Besides, I’ve got fucking standards, you know? I could so do better than you.”

It’s silly, Ellie knows, but the last comment from Lawrence stings more than it should. It’s got nothing to do with the concept of the two of them actually being married, but more the fact that Lawrence has basically just rubbished any hopes that Ellie’s ever had of maybe-someday-oneday them breaking out of their little bubble of friendship and trying to be anything more. She’s always done it; that’s Lawrence’s way, to shit on Ellie, to gently bully her, but Ellie has always known there’s no malice behind it. Except today it all hits differently, it hits a sore spot that she’s too tired of trying to keep hidden.

“Sorry that being married to me is such a disgusting prospect,” Ellie snaps without realising, turning over on the bed and standing up so she doesn’t have to see Lawrence’s reaction to the comment she already regrets.

“When did I say that?” Lawrence fires back, and Ellie can tell she’s confused by her reaction.

“We need to find this fucking marriage certificate,” Ellie ignores her, opening the drawers of the bedside table even though she sort of knows it’s a futile endeavour since she’s already searched.

Lawrence pushes, though, never one to back down from a confrontation.  “Why are you suddenly raging at me, what am I meant to have done?”

“You don’t have to act like you got landed with the booby prize on a game show, Lawrence, I’m still your friend. There’s worse people to be stuck with,” Ellie continues as she crosses the room to look in the drawers of the dressing table, hating the way she sounds like a petulant child but being unable to help the way her words just seem to be coming out.

There’s a silence that hangs in the air like fog, and then Lawrence’s voice comes again. It’s softer, a comforting note to it that makes Ellie’s heart lift cruelly. “Ellie.”

Ellie opens the wardrobe doors, realising too late what a ridiculous place to look it is but committing to the idea anyway. She’s still way too hungover to cope with any of this, and the prospect of an argument with Lawrence, especially over this, isn’t one she’s able to face. Accepting she’s not going to find the certificate, she sighs and walks back over to the bed. As she sits on its edge and keeps her back to her friend she fiddles with the ring on her finger, and it finally, mercifully, slides off.

Lawrence’s voice is stripped of all its aggression and incredulity from before as she speaks again. This time she’s quiet and sincere. “Ellie. What’s this really about?”

Before Ellie can consider the gravity of the question or indeed contemplate how to word an answer, Lawrence’s phone vibrates against the bedcovers. Neither of them speak as she reaches up to grab it, but when A’whora’s name flashes up on screen again they share a look of weary exhaustion, neither of them wanting to face their friend’s smug expression.

A’whora’s smiling cheekily as Lawrence answers the call. “How’re the young lovers doing after their breakfast, then?”

Lawrence’s nostrils flare. “I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer.”

“So all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, then. Just calling to see if you liked the wedding presents.”

Ellie feels like a crumbling sandcastle as she rolls onto her side next to Lawrence and looks at A’whora through the screen. “What?”

“The decorations at breakfast! The ones in your room! Just thought they’d really add to the atmosphere,” she smirks, unable to keep from laughing.

More confused than ever, Ellie frowns in bewilderment. “But that was from…the hotel did that?”

“No, I did that. I just phoned down and got them to set it up. They still had a bunch of wedding shit left over from that pair that got married last night. It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it to give the pair of you the romantic equivalent of everyone singing happy birthday to you at a restaurant,” A’whora explains, still giggly.

Ellie and Lawrence are silent as they stare at their friend through the phone. A’whora seems perturbed, then narrows her eyes at them before she speaks again.

“You two didn’t actually…believe you got married, did you? I thought you knew it was a bullshit prank.”

Before she can register Lawrence’s reaction, Ellie’s mouth drops open in shock. She grabs the phone from Lawrence’s hands and yells at A’whora as if she’s in front of her and not in her own room down the corridor. “A’whora! I am going to fucking kill you!”

A’whora’s laugh comes through the phone like a crackly screech, and Ellie doesn’t miss the unimpressed look from Lawrence at having been unable to style out the fact they’d both been duped. Ellie can’t even let that bother her, though, because she’s too busy tripping over herself to retell to A’whora their rollercoaster of a thought process from this morning.

Lawrence shakes her head beside her, loath to admit she’d been fooled too. “I didn’t believe it for a second. She’s talking out her arse.”

Ellie cries out, affronted. “You were telling me I had to take your last name not even five minutes ago!”

A’whora has to wipe tears from her eyes by the time the pair of them have told her the whole story. “Oh my God, guys. This has been the best birthday present of the weekend. I actually think I’m gonna wee myself. Fuck!”

“I can’t believe you told us we got married and we just…believed you!”

“Well, no, you did get married,” A’whora says.

With this revelation, it crosses Ellie’s mind to lock herself in the hotel sauna until she’s cooked through. “What in the name of God-”

As she continues to speak though, A’whora clarifies. “Or at least, you said you both wanted to marry each other. That conversation did take place. Bimini started joking they were an ordained minister. They showed you their provisional drivers’ license and told you it was a minister’s license. You were both so drunk you believed it.”

“Christ in a wheelie bin,” Lawrence groans.

“But you’re not actually married married. It was just pretend. And hey! We had fun. You should do it for real some day,” A’whora cackles.

If she was in the room with her, Ellie would slap her.

They finish the call with the promise to be packed and ready to meet to check out at half twelve, and when Lawrence locks her phone the pair of them laugh softly about the idiots they’d both been. Ellie is glad A’whora phoned. The conversation that had been taking place prior had been about to go down a route she hadn’t wanted it to, and she’s glad there’s no reason for it to be brought up again. She can go back to keeping her crush on her friend a secret, never to be unearthed.

“I should probably go and start getting packed, then,” Lawrence says decisively, getting up from the bed and making to leave. Ellie remembers what she put on the bedside table, and reaches out to pick it up as she tells Lawrence to wait.

As Lawrence turns around, Ellie holds out her grandmother’s ring, feeling a little awkward as she does so. “Here. Since we’re not married anymore. It came off in the end.”

Lawrence looks a little sheepish as she accepts it with a soft thanks. She gives it a little smile, then shoots the same one at Ellie. “Thank fuck for that.”

There isn’t any malice to her words. If Ellie was being hopeful she’d maybe even say there was regret.

Lawrence leaves and she can’t shake the little niggling feeling of sadness that embeds itself under a synapse in her brain.

***

The cold air that comes with the beginning of Autumn is welcome to Ellie as she sits and waits on Tayce to bring the car round. She’s not quite fully recovered from her hangover, but packing, checking out and getting a can of Monster from a vending machine in the lobby has done wonders for her mood. There’s also the fact that she doesn’t have a potential marriage to consider, so that’s good. That’s a relief.

A crunch of gravel behind her makes her turn around, and seeing Lawrence wrapped up in her black hoodie makes Ellie feel mixed emotions. She feels silly for getting so caught up in the whole idea of them having been married, the way she’d panicked and immediately thought it was all real, taking A’whora and Tayce’s comments at face value. She’s embarrassed at how she’d taken it all so seriously, and most of all she’s embarrassed that Lawrence was there for every reaction.

“Hey,” she greets her, already feeling a blush grow on her face. “You recovered?”

“Just about, yeah,” Lawrence laughs softly. She gestures to the mango loco that’s in Ellie’s hand. “Can see you’re clearly feeling loads better.”

Ellie matches her laugh, raises the can up in a solo cheers. As she drops her arm again, she sighs a little.

“Listen, Lawrence, sorry about…this morning. Immediately panicking and getting so worked up and intense with it all. I was just hangy and emotional and I had the fear…you know what it’s like.”

“It’s no problem. Don’t worry,” Lawrence brushes her off. Her expression is troubled though, as if there’s something else she wants to say. The unspoken words are loud and stifling, and then Lawrence finally meets her gaze with a nervous one of her own. “Well, marriage didn’t really work for us. But…d’you think drinks would be better?”

Ellie’s heart is going to give out. She can’t cope with the events of the day at all. She can already feel her pulse speeding up with hope so she frowns at Lawrence slightly, clarifying like a child tugging the string of a balloon to bring it back to earth. “Drinks?”

“Yeah, like,” Lawrence shrugs, looks to the ground bashfully. “For a date. If you want.”

All at once it’s as if her blood has just suddenly exploded in her veins. It feels like Ellie is on some sort of other-worldly come-up as she blinks at her friend, her friend she’s had a crush on since fuck-even-knows-when, and is stunned into silence.

“The snapchat you sent me last night,” Lawrence continues, scrolling her phone and holding the screen out for Ellie to see. “I’ve felt like that too for a while now.”

Ellie is cringing as she reads the white text against the black screen- a screenshot of her message sent to Lawrence at one in the morning, which reads “so glad whe’re marrrued for rwal vc ive reallt luked you for ages and i quitr fancg u a lot acfually x"

“How did you even manage to read what that says,” Ellie screws her face up, failing to address the bigger picture.

Lawrence smiles, a little hint of a twinkle to her eyes that makes Ellie’s heart thump. “I knew what you meant.”

There’s a small pause where Ellie blushes and looks to the ground, handing Lawrence her phone back. Lawrence uses the silence to keep talking.

“I know I like to rip the piss sometimes, and I know I can take it too far. But today all of that was about…verbalising everything I thought you were feeling about me. Trying to reassure you that I wasn’t interested in you because I thought that’s what you wanted. Once I started I just…didn’t stop, I guess. Damage control, you know? I’m sorry, Ellie,” she reels off quietly. She’s not hiding behind any jokes and she’s not making fun of Ellie and she’s not making fun of herself. It’s honest and simple and raw and everything Ellie’s wanted.

She scuffs some gravel with her shoe. “You feel the same, then?”

Lawrence presses her lips together. Ellie can tell she’s nervous. “Yeah. I do.”

“I do? Is that some kind of sick joke?!” Ellie laughs, and as Lawrence joins in she suddenly hesitates. “Wait. This isn’t a joke, is it?”

“Well, I’ve had enough fucking pranks for one day and I’m pretty sure you have too.”

The pair of them share a laugh, and as Tayce’s car appears from round at the hotel car park, Ellie fixes Lawrence with a smile.

“Drinks sound good.”

Tayce and A’whora appear from the car and pop the boot open, and Lawrence and Ellie try and fail to bite back the smiles they’re shooting each other as they carry their suitcases over, a mutual agreement that they’ll talk more about their plans when they don’t have their nosy and shit-stirring friend and her equally nosy and shit-stirring girlfriend with them on their way to drop them off at the train station.

It’s not quite a shotgun wedding, and it’s not quite a marriage in Vegas. But a date and a drink with the friend she’s hidden her feelings from for too many years is a good place to start.

[nailsalon75034]

40 Best Nail salon in 75034 Place Designs 2020

In addition to fashion and makeup, making a beautiful nail model is also one of the endless passion of women. However, they are often quite lazy to "embellish" their hands when thinking about the cumbersome, old, inconvenient designs in daily life as well as looking a few years old. Here, we have a look at 40 nail designs in modern 2020 style that are both beautiful and youthful, can be used to go out, go to work.

Simple, gentle beauty will help you become outstandingly confident that attracts all eyes. Let's refer to the most popular nail designs in Korea below to refresh your hands. The simple models are being chosen by many women. Often combined gentle motifs and combinations of 1-2 paint colors to be elegant and good looking

For the sister association, besides clothes and cosmetics, beautiful manicure is also considered one of the endless passions. Because there is a girl who does not want to have gorgeous and gorgeous long fingers? However, just being slim is not enough, if you want to have a beautiful nail pattern, you should consult a lot

For girls who love to draw simple but still stand out, this will be a suggestion for them. However, if you want to catch the right color trend, choose to combine more coral orange tones so that it is harmonious and eye-catching. You know, the color trends every year change more or less. Obviously, when people themselves are probably bored with a color gamut that is in full use throughout the year, finding a new and different color is like blowing a new breath of style. The girls add more prominence and charm in their beautiful manicure

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_(TV_series)

This French nail style is always trendy and never old. But it works best when you have a hand with long, small fingers and a large nail surface. Perfect for girls who want to maintain an average nail length or longer, Square nail designs make you look more luxurious, sturdy

With these beauty beliefs, in addition to taking care of her skin and hair, her nails are also paid attention. Therefore, it is always necessary to catch up with nail patterns and catch the trends of each season. Grasping that mentality, nail polish companies have released a series of colorful paints for their beauty followers.

The weather will be cold, besides updating fashion trends and suitable hairstyles, do not forget to choose these "hot trend" nail designs to refresh yourself. Guaranteed to make you always score and stand out, let's explore these colors! In the cold of the winter weather, warm colors such as reddish brown skin are always loved by beauties. Because it brings warmth and closeness. The blend of tan with orange-brown and sepia creates a trendy and eye-catching shade, especially with extremely flattering nails that make skin brighter

It's been boring with nail patterns that have been painted over the entire nail area over the years. Instead of following the traditional path, in 2020 the nail salon trend is taken to new heights with colorful nail patterns giving you a line between, creating personality lines and style, making beautiful nails. for her to be more impressive than ever

Because they want to be more beautiful, nowadays, more and more people are looking to nail polish specialists for their service. In addition to giving their nails shiny and clean, the experts also help them put on a new coat for better nails. In the trend of classic paint, not outdated, girls are also creative to make their nails more volatile and sweet.

is always one of the "top concerns" of individual girls. But how to choose color is beautiful "standard", light skin tone is not an easy problem. Choosing paint color according to skin tone will prevent her from getting dull skin error due to choosing the wrong nail color. There are certain guidelines for choosing a good nail model based on skin color

For a long time, "sparkling" fingers are a luxurious and seductive style that many girls love. More than ever, hands with iridescent lacquer or sequin will help you shine in every party literally and figuratively. However, the "inlaid" glittering glitter on all 10 fingers now seems a bit out of date. Korea's trend of sparkling nail polish only covers the shimmer and part of the finger sequin to create a slight patchiness. At the same time, the combination of multicolored beads gives you a more natural and youthful nail look

The gentle beauty is chosen by many women because of the gentle colors that show the feminine charm. This nail pattern is perfect for girls with deep, temperate personality. very suitable for coordinating costumes as well as makeup. With diverse designs, many colors, sparkling stones are dotted on the nails to create great appeal and great attraction for the user. Her luxurious and seductive looks will be beautifully adorned by these nail designs.

Inherently, these environments require politeness, courtesy in style, so finding a beautiful nail model when going to school is also limited a lot. Accordingly, the most suitable models should have simple designs and colors such as single-color paint, ombre or if you want to be a little fresh, you can choose simple nail designs to create highlights.

In particular, during the hot days of beautiful beauty to welcome this New Year, girls let the gentle beauty have the opportunity to shine, typically like "buying" a coral orange lipstick. Or not, "change to new clothes" for more beautiful nails with coral orange is also a not bad suggestion at all. Obviously, for the discerning ladies, there is nothing more fun than having a shimmering nail trim and paint, especially on special occasions like Tet.

For those of you with skinny fingers and brittle, brittle nails, you should keep this round. This is a very beautiful nail model suitable for girls who want to maintain short nails because of the nature of the work. The advantage of the round foundation is that it has no corners, so it is difficult to break and does not get caught in the work

We need to find out, what is nail polish? Literally it is a compound that contains many chemicals to create "color boxes" that have the ability to color up to beautify the hand nails more prominent and more attractive. There are two types of nail polish: regular nail polish and gel nail polish

In addition to using pure brown skin tones for your nails, you can also combine them with other colors and combine a little more shape to have a satisfactory nail set, not boring. Pattern painted patterns are simple but not monotonous. Don't be afraid to dotted your hands with impromptu textures and colors, you will definitely look outstanding and impressive.

Helps overcome short nail shortcomings to bring luxurious and mysterious beauty to girls. This is a great nail polish to appear at parties, or to school and hang out. She does not like to be fussy and too "confused", she can choose gentle coral orange tones for her nails. At the same time, a little emphasis with gold paint will make your "claws" become more attractive and outstanding.

This is also a nail shape similar to sharp nails but is modified to look more pregnant, preferable to those with short fingers, but this shape makes the fingers look quite weak so it is easy to break. If you prefer a lighter feel, don't skip pastel pink. This color gamut is both sweet, gentle, and a bit classic and romantic. Just that much is enough to make this pink tone beat her down in cold weather

Animal skin texture is one of the classic trends in a sexy and wild look. After a long "hibernation" period, the "leopard pieces" come back to stir not only from the runway floors but also in the beauty field. By harmoniously blending wildlife skin details with Korean-style color patches and stones, you will have a beautiful, delicate nail set than ever.

The atmosphere is gradually turning to summer and have you been able to update your seasonal fashion style? Try applying these beautiful nail designs for summer below to become even hotter. At the same time, the color when used should be monochrome, not too vibrant to avoid causing objection to the opposite person. Usually, the most popular colors are gentle colors such as white, pale pink, and beige, so when painted on, it will bring a very delicate and luxurious beauty to the hands.

If you like to adorn your nails with elaborate patterns, this will be the perfect suggestion for girls. Because the coral orange color is quite prominent, the designs that are not too colorful and complicated will make her nails look more fashionable and luxurious. girls who like the classic always choose this style. You must often decorate the surface of the nail with color paint or draw patterns because bare hands will be very offensive.

Although you really love the sweet, romantic color this tone brings, you are afraid it will not match the color of your hand skin. Don't worry, this is a color that doesn't pick your hands off, just adjust the color tone a little to suit your skin tone. Nail patterns are nothing strange to women, but modern girls always default nail styles that look pretty "cheesy". However, studded in Korean style will change your mind

Vibrant and vibrant beauty will bring you exciting summer colorful experiences. If the nail designs for partying, everyday life tend to create simple colors and accentuate the motifs are somewhat fussy, the patterns for the beach season will be a real breakthrough. About the color gamut that creates a lovely and lovely nail set

The girls who love the youthful, leisurely style will surely be "taken in" by these funny nail patterns at first sight. These can be nail designs drawn from cartoon characters like Doraemon, Minions, Pokemon or cute chibi drawings.

Not confident with pure coral orange, she can also choose red tone paint colors. At the same time, to add highlights to the nail, let's incorporate a few more finger to draw the patchy stone. Guarantee just like that is also very pretty.

Choose neutral colors instead of bold colors for sharp nail polish or you will be older and more intense than other nails. This nail model is best suited for girls with short fingers. Like tan tan leather, deep red wine color is always her first choice when the weather turns cold. It brings warmth but equally luxury and power. This is an extremely suitable color for a year-end party, especially for Christmas

Simple beautiful nails with diverse designs, many colors, sparkling stones are dotted on the nails to create great appeal and attraction for the user. Her luxurious and seductive looks will be adorned in a very subtle way. With this model, you can comfortably party or appear anywhere

nude, light pink, or white are chosen by many beauties. This is the color tone for girls who like a gentle style, not necessarily becoming the focus of attention. The nude or pale pink nail pattern is loved by the office ladies and chosen by the gentle, subtle beauty that is not too prominent, and trendy and not out of date

Combined with a variety of fancy colors combined with attractive shapes, summer seascape with coconut trees, trees, sky, birds and trees all contribute to creating a living picture. on the hands of each person. In addition, the paint colors that are often used to paint nails are usually colorful and prominent colors to help bring a youthful, playful look to the girlfriend. With this beautiful nail pattern, you can pair with clothes with a little light color

Or not, blow a new wind for their nails with their zodiac patterns. The combination of super trendy drawing fingers and ombre fingers will definitely make your hands stand out. As a combination of two square and oval nails, the Squoval style is stronger than the oval nail and is slimmer and more feminine than the square nail. This style is also suitable for all shapes of fingers because of its moderate length and rounded corners.

Traditional red wine is always a classic color when autumn and winter come. For women with white skin, do not miss this charming beautiful nail. There won't be a guy who can take his eyes off those beautiful hands. Look best on nails of moderate length, square nails, or light pedicures. In particular, you should stay away from neon colors if you have classic long, pointed nails because your hands will look scary if you combine neon colors with long nails.

Bring you good luck and is becoming a hot color chosen by many women. Try decorating your hands with this color and striking soft motifs. When Tet is coming, the women go back to refurbish their nails to catch up with the coming Tet atmosphere. The most popular patterns such as cherry blossoms, apricot blossoms, red color make women's nails more prominent and attractive.

Who said that only girls "banh beo" could create the momentum for their ivory hands? In fact, girls with strong personalities can still freely express their personalities through these beautiful nail designs. Having to play with all 10 coral orange fingers, she can "turn" the normalized slippery nails with white emulsion and top paint. In addition, the small metal details will definitely make your nails look much more stylish

Like its name, pointed but at the top has a square shape, looks like a pair of ballet shoes, this design is more suitable for luxury ladies and older people than young people because of demand. its wondrous and elaborate. You can recommend this "classy" nail pattern to your mom or aunt

If dark green has become a hot trend color this summer, it will be trendy until this autumn-winter time. is a comfortable and eye-catching combination. Adding a little ingenious combination with nail styles like gradient paint or ombre will make your hands not only unique but also help to pop up your skin tone.

Black nail designs bring personality and mystery to its owner. This is a great choice for parties and you can add a touch of color such as iridescent colors or nail polish. There are so many Hollywood female stars seen with this nail color, rock stars love it. Don't forget that black nails work best for short cut nails

Usually, individual girls will be more rational than emotions, so flying, dreamy images will not make them fall in love. Depending on the aesthetic of each person, most of the individual girls will be easily "fascinated" by logical, angular images such as zigzag-shaped, triangular nails or coated nails. unique mirror

Not fussy but still extremely outstanding, that is when she mixes orange with other basic colors like white or cream white. Half-nail varnish combines metal studded nails, this style is sure to make her nails look extremely unique. Easier in operation and suitable for girls who want longer fingers while still retain a youthful look

Like wine red, navy blue is also a classic nail model, always loved by beauty believers. This is a neutral color that is suitable for both winter and summer but perhaps this color will be more perfect in the cold of winter. Classic black is never out of style. Red is great for girls who have white hands, or have brown hands. Helping you create a strong impression of luxury, nobility and strong personality

These are gentle and elegant feminine colors that many girls love. Possessing a pink nail pattern will help you become softer and easier to combine makeup to go to school, go out or work. Depending on the different circumstances, the girls can choose different to suit. Especially, when attending a party, you have to become more sparkling and outstanding than ever

It's okay not to attach metal, but change the style of paint so that a beautiful nail pattern is not too boring. The style of paint splits like this is not new, but every time you paint on your nails, the girls will surely have to nod. A neutral color gamut for girls who love trendy fashion. If you have picky skin, this is a great choice.

[chilly-me-softly]

“Let’s have a baby” • Ben Chilwell

You can always request something and also you can specify a player if you want something different. I’ll be really happy to write for others too ^^ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The season has just ended and she could finally have her boyfriend's attention all for her. After spending the last few days away from the world, only the two of them and their bed and a TV series ignored for most of the time, they had finally decided to go out in the fresh air. Well, they weren't breathing pure oxygen at all since they went in a mall. But they like to walk around and get lost in those shops even if they almost always came out empty-handed. Although they could afford it, they don’t like waste money on something meaningless.

Anyway, they are taking a tour of the clothes’ floor already planning to have dinner with all the candies they just bought not caring about the diet for a day when, “Ben" she murmurs detaching her hand from his and stopping in front of a child who cannot be more than two years old at most. He’s crying desperately and really cannot explain how no one has stopped yet. And while she is kneeling in front of him, he is looking around for someone who is looking for him or to whom he can ask for help.

"Hi sweety" cooes her trying not to scare him, "Where are your mom or dad?"

"Mommy" murmurs the child crying and rubbing one eye with the back of his hand.

"Yeah, do you know where she is?" she asks again, but the child thrown into her arms still sobbing, so she tries at least to calm him down in order to have some information.

She gets up with the baby in her arms and exchanges a glance with Ben that raises his shoulders, even he is quite shaken by the situation. Only a few minutes before they were laughing and joking about the fact he would have be banished from football by eating all those candies and suddenly this.

"We should ask someone to make an announcement or something" he murmurs looking around, there aren't people in uniform around and it's not every day to find an unattended child.

“Stay here with him, I'll be right back" so Ben finds himself with a baby in his arms without having time to protest or say anything at all. The little one looks at him with two fingers in his mouth, calmer than a few minutes before. He smiles at him because he doesn't know what to do and passes a finger on his cheeks to stop those tears that had come down. A shiny thing in his fist attracts the child's attention and lowering his eyes he sees he’s still holding the paper of one of the candies in his hand.

"So this beautiful child has a name?" he asks casually, seeing that the child is playing with the little wrapper, "I'm Ben"

"Theo" he murmurs and Ben smiles before taking the wrapper from his hands and pretending to be surprised by the disappearance.

In the meantime, she went to the first shop in front of her to ask what could be done to resolve the situation. She had explained everything to the girl she had found at the checkout counter and she very kindly explained to her that their microphone only worked inside that shop, but she had made herself available to call a guard who had arrived in a short time. So she explained the situation again to the agent who had finally told the person in charge of finding a child alone.

She had then called Ben telling him where she was and to join him because shortly afterwards surely someone would show up to claim the lost child and she had heard him giggling on the other side of the receiver and had smiled at his answer. “Theo and I will join you right away" happy that the child had not given him many problems but that he had actually opened up to him. Waiting for the two of them, she added that information to the child’s description.

Then it all happened quickly, Ben had arrived with the baby in his arms and shortly after two people had entered the store and the child had leaned across Ben’s shoulders. So he had put him on the ground and he had ran into his mother’s arms. The lady had thanked them endlessly and even wanted to repay them in some way, but they had kindly refused just happy that the child was safe in his parents’ arms.

And now they're in the car in the parking lot of that big mall. They chat about the episode that has just passed, waiting a few minutes before entering the traffic and returning home, exhausted but still electrified.

She turned to him in the passenger seat while occasionally putting her hand into the bag of candy she has on her lap, she wasn't kidding when she said she would have finished them all even before they got home.

"Let's have a baby" he takes her by surprise, turning to look at her and she almost chokes on that little candy.

"What?" she coughs and he chuckles slightly at her reaction, "What? Now?” she rambling.

"Well not now now, but we can start thinking about it" he asks confidently, still with that smile on his face.

"Stop laughing" she complains, pouting.

"Sorry, sorry. But your face was-" and stops mid-sentence to imitate her and then she bursts out laughing too. He draws her to him as best as he can and leaves her a kiss first on the temple and then on her lips. "Mmmh you taste of strawberry"

*

Ben almost fell asleep on the sofa when the front door slams suddenly making him jump a little. He looks around disoriented for a few seconds seeing his girl enter the kitchen like a fury.

"Hey baby, what's up?" he asks following her, rubbing one eye with the back of his hand.

"I'm on duty desk with immediate effect because oh look I’m pregnant" she says dismissive, furious at the decision taken at work and not paying attention to the main point of that sentence.

"What?"

"I am banned from the lab for the next twelve months or so" she despairs, the jobs involving a desk are not for her.

"(Y/N), are you pregnant?" is instead the only thing he can think of. Not even two weeks had passed since the mall episode and therefore the decision to try to grow their small family. The two had then calmly talked about it again, noting it wasn't just the euphoria of that moment and they were trying. He was ready to have their own little bundle of joy around the house. But surely he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

And with that sentence, something in her seems to be triggered. All of a sudden all those complaints no longer make sense, "I'm pregnant" she whispers still in the realization phase, looking into his eyes. Gradually a smile born on her face and Ben takes her hands in his.

"I'm pregnant!" she says in a happier tone this time, "I can't believe I was complaining about the job when we're having a baby" she chuckles, her eyes fill with tears.

"In fact, you've never been very smart" Ben shrugs and chuckles, gaining a pinch on the arm.

"But how ..." he starts and suddenly something is triggered in her mind and she starts looking like a madwoman at the document that was given to her with the text results, which she threw into her bag to leave as quickly as possible. With trembling hands and still watering eyes she inspects it, "Ben, I did these checks over a month ago."

"No way" he murmurs incredulously passing a hand through his hair, "Come here" and holds her in his arms, some tears run away from him too.

"God, I love you so much"

[pottery-for-home]

Top 4 rules to making food look beautiful, from plating to photo.

Restaurants are splashing out on handmade pottery, with chefs and artists collaborating to match plates to particular meals.

As much as they make the big effort, shared images on social media is the key to gain more customers.

And once at home, have you ever wondered how to make your food look better on Instagram?

Sometimes in a restaurant, when my meal is delivered, I touch the plate, not to check if it’s warm but to feel it and its texture. The desire to serve meals on crockery designed for a particular dish is becoming more popular and the past few years have seen a resurgence and interest in handmade ceramic vessels.

Five years ago, when writing about a restaurant, the crockery would be noticed and perhaps mentioned but now close attention is paid not only to the food but to the potter and designer of the plates.

Fifteen years ago, local artists hand-painted plates. “The appeal was in flowery plates but it’s nothing like today, where inconsistency and slight differences in the finished product are what the customers want.”

This is the "one-of-a-kind" momentum for restaurants and home decor enthusiasts.

Never before the "art de table" or plating had been so known, so are you into taking and uploading photos of your meals on Instagram?

4 Rules for Making Food Look Beautiful

There are four rules for plating and plattering food to look its best. These are the rules to internalize; good cooks often just do these automatically when serving up dinner.

1. Choose a neutral dish, not too big or too small.

High-end restaurants put time and thought into the plates they use, and professional photo studios keep dozens, if not hundreds, of different plates, silverware, napkins, and glasses on hand to meet a variety of different situations. This is totally not reality or desirable for a home cook, of course. Most people have one, maybe two, sets of plates.

Here’s how to make the dishes and serving pieces you already have work for the food, not against it. (Many of these tips and rules apply both to plated food and to platters and even casserole dishes, since often home cooks are serving family-style, not plated.)

Put food on plates (or platters) that make the food feel abundant, but leave a little room between edge and the food. If the plate is too big, the food will feel lost. If the plate’s too small, it will look overstuffed. Therefore, choose a plate (and an amount of food) that makes the dish feel generous, but leave the lip still visible. Plates should have some room around the edges. Bowls should look filled, with food slightly more mounded up. When filling a platter, follow the shape of the platter as you arrange the food, and leave at least a quarter to a third of the plate’s volume empty around the edges.

Opt for terracotta plates. If you scroll through my Instagram feed (or that of nearly any food media), you’ll notice most of the plates are either terra-cotta, and the rest tend to be natural, muted colors like charcoal or pastel blue. This is because bold, pop colors compete with the food (restaurants know this!). You can’t go wrong with earthen, or off-white colors.

Choose curved plates and platters. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, but it’s often easier to make food look good on rounded plates and platters vs. square or rectangular.

Need to source new plates? If you’re looking at a set of bright-red, square plates in your cupboard and thinking you want something new, a good place to look is Pottery Sol y Tierra store. It’s often easy to find beautiful, simple plates there without having to invest a lot in them.

If you are into eating healthy, please read my last post about the healthy benefits of cooking on earthen vessels

2. Place the food to suggest abundance.

When considering between what is pretty and what is tasty, tasty should win out every time. After all, the point is to make people want to eat. Luckily, those two things are not often at odds. Food is often prettiest when it’s most delicious and looks full and abundant — at peak freshness and cooked well. People respond to caramelized browning, bright green herbs, and fresh, ripe colors. Here are some tips to make the dish look even better (and tastier).

Pile food up, rather than spreading it out. If you’re serving a couple of slices of meatloaf, for instance, place one partly on top of the other. This helps give a sense of abundance.

Follow the rule of three. You don’t want everything to look perfectly even, so it helps to include some odd-numbered items. This may mean setting a protein next to two sides, piling three pancakes onto a plate, or only putting the crème fraîche on one piece of French toast, instead of both, as pictured further down in the post.

Leave room around the edges. Negative space applies here just as it does in the art world. Leaving room around the food helps draw the eye to the actual food.

Don’t crowd. Similarly, don’t crowd food onto the plate. Leaving a little space helps add context.

3. Wipe the splatter off the rim.

This is one of the simplest and most easily overlooked ways to make a plate, platter, or even casserole dish of food look more presentable. After putting the food on the dish, but before garnishing, give the rims of the actual plate or dish a swipe with a clean dish towel or cloth, just to wipe off any fingerprints or food smudges.

If there’s something stuck on the plate, don’t bust out the soap! A mild solution of white vinegar and water will help, but go easy — you don’t want the plate to smell vinegary.

Also, to go deeper into cooking healthy, you can read about the top 5 eating habits according to ayurveda here.

4. Garnish! (It’s about romance, not parsley.)

What is a garnish? It’s a final touch, a little swipe of shiny butter or a green shimmer of pesto to give a dish a tiny extra pop of romance. It’s woo-woo but true: The garnish is the little sparkle of love, like putting on lipstick or straightening your collar before a date with your adored partner. You don’t have to do it — you’re committed and going to have a great time regardless — but the garnish, the last peek in the mirror, shows that you’re excited for this encounter. You care. You choose to add a touch of romance.

  So any dish you love and want to romance can and should be garnished. This goes double (triple!) for family-style food that might otherwise look a little heavy — the enchilada casserole (hit it with some fresh cheddar and cilantro!), the radically simple egg casserole (drizzle on some olive oil!), the platter of rotisserie chicken from the grocery store (girl, that’s what pesto is FOR). The days when every single plate had a pile of curly parsley and a bed of lettuce are gone, but garnishes are eternal to food.

Contrast, contrast, contrast. The key to making most dishes look just a little better, pretty enough to draw a moment of admiration, is contrast. White chicken and dumplings? Pop some pepper on. Creamy risotto with butternut squash? Contrast color and texture with a handful of chopped green pistachios.

 And now that you learn how to make food look beautiful what about reading this new blog post about 2 tabletop fall season inspirations here?

[ancientbrit]

Natter #9  10/5/2020

You probably have all realised by now that Karin has volunteered to do some work on the Natters after I lost them all and I was saved from bursting into tears when Jo & Tom, Janet and Cathy sent almost everything that I had ever sent out since 2012. I couldn't believe that we got so lucky and I am so grateful. Of course, now that Karin lives over there in West Seattle she has a rotten drive to reach civilization, not that I am inferring that Seattle is the zenith of civilization,  especially these days. I had wondered how those unfortunates in West Seattle were able to access the east with both bridges unavailable until my little lad Alex had to make the drive to visit a friend there and he told me what was involved I have to feel for anybody having to make that trip as I can vividly remember a somewhat similar trip I had to take years ago, At that time I was working for an engineering firm on Fourth Avenue and on        Wednesdays I used to take the afternoon off to crew for the friend of a friend who owned a 45 foot yacht. These were mixed category events with various sized boats competing on handicap. The only time I was able to take the helm for the race start I was able to jockey this large boat back and forth as the time to start wound down and somehow I was lucky enough to cross the start line just as the starting gun BANGED. We were smoking as we crossed the line heeled hard over with the rail almost under and it was one of the most exciting things I have ever experienced, especially as we almost ran down a smaller Blanchard which was in my lee and therefore out of my line of sight behind the mainsail. The only problem with this boat was that it's owner couldn't afford the price of a spinnaker which was a definite negative as far as winning a race was concerned, The whole fleet would sail south to the I-90 bridge from the start, usually with us in the lead, then go about on reverse course, hoist their spinnakers and just draw away from us. But those races were magic to me as we raced for the turn bouy with the sound of "Stayin' Alive" by the BeeGees blasting away. Magic, truly.   One of my friends at the company,  John, who lived on Bainbridge Island, owned a 25-foot yacht in which he fancied the idea of sailing to work. He wanted to drum up a crew to accompany him on the trip home so I jumped at the chance. Another guy in the office volunteered himself and his girlfriend; they had just become engaged and he thought it would be a tad romantic - sailing into the setting sun. And so, the weather forecast was consulted for a decent evening and we settled. We three crew went out on the day and bought comestibles to suit - cold chicken, ham, cheese, crisp fresh bread, desserts and a few bottles of suitable plonk - we were off to the races - ships biscuit be damned!

5:30 arrived and we collected the provender and all four of us made our way dockside, looking forward to a pleasant trip with a jig in our steps. We stepped aboard and unloaded the provisions below deck and then came back on deck to get ready for the trip. John unbrailed the main from the boom and hoisted the jib. We cast off fore and aft and slowly we moved away from the dock and out into the main waterway, gathering way as John had us haul the main. Once we were out into the Sound we canted a little to the nice warm breeze coming from the south as John set course for Bainbridge.into the setting sun. We brought up the meal into the cuddy and laid it all to hand and everything was great. Sun (and plonk) warming us and the evening couldn't have been improved upon. We sailed on eating, drinking and chatting-up a storm having a grand old time, but as the sun slipped below the horizon the temperature dropped and it got a little darker. Unfortunately, the wind, such as it was, dropped too as habit takes it and we drifted awhile. After a time. it occurred to John that maybe we should start the motor for a while just to make sure we would be in time to be able to catch the ferry back. He put in the key but there was no accompanying roar and after a while he announced that the battery was flat. This meant that we had no navigation lights either which was quite serious. We drifted on as night settled around our shoulders and it seemed now that it had become much colder. We, of course, had come prepared for a warm swift sail and shorts combined with short-sleeved shirts don't really do too much to maintain warmth, especially if you are not moving too much.

Onward we drifted, going at least in the general direction of Bainbridge. I dropped a piece of paper over the side to try and judge our drifting speed, but that didn't work out too well as there was nothing else visible to judge it against and anyway it drifted away and disappeared into the dark. We weren't sure that there was anything that we could do to affect the situation. Cell phones hadn't yet been invented, we had no means of signaling, although it seemed that John had a friend who made the two-way trip everyday and so we might see him and catch a tow later - might, he said! Sitting there without much of interest now to enliven the conversation, I suddenly thought that I could hear something - somewhere over there. I strained to hear it again and then there it was - a low, thrum, thrum, thrum sound which seemed to be getting louder as I listened. By now we all could hear it too as the thrashing sound got louder and louder until we all realised that it must be a ship. Looking into the direction from which the sound was coming, you could just make out navigation lights way up high, Gawd, this was a big ship and it appeared to be heading in our distinct direction. What to do? No radio and even if we had had such an innovation the batteries were dead.No flares do we John? No, sorry about that. We dragged out a scruffy looking table cloth and prepared to wave it. Crouching down low, you could see the rough outline of the ship now against the shiny surface of the water and it was rather frightening to realise just how big it was and now that it looked as if it was heading directly for us - it was absolutely terrifying. We stood and waved our table cloth, yelling and screaming at the top of our lungs, but, on she came relentlessly, obviously crewed by deaf-mutes who were not manning the bridge anyway. As she drove closer it became obvious that we might be missed - just - and we prepared to bail as the waves hit us.We were bounced around for quite a time as water poured over the sides, but eventually things calmed down and we were able to resume our previous aimless drifting, although a little more damp and colder than before. However, before long we could see the ferry coming our way from Seattle and we rather thought we might get some form of assistance from her as a huge ray of light suddenly pierced the night lighting us remorselessly and we were blasted by a rather rude voice censuring us for sailing at night with no navigation lights. The light was extinguished and she moved on leaving us pretty much as we had been before - no asking if we needed help at all. Charming! So much for the camaraderie of the deep. We thought of those who had just arrived on the ferry and moaned that they were probably almost home by now, able to look forward to a warm bed after a quick supper. My stomach growled at the thought.  Oh good  Lord, here comes the ferry again, just starting it's homeward run and again we were treated to the light show and bad mouth treatment as he sailed past in all it's glory of umpteen hundred horsepower fuelled by stinking diesel, leaving it's olfactory signature for ages after it had sailed on. Bainbridge was definately closer now, with the lights beckoning us tantalisingly - so near and yet so far. John seemed to be getting a little excited now and he thought that a boat approaching from Seattle might be his friend and such it turned out to be. There followed a bit of rather rude and good natured chit-chat and a line was passed which we made fast and suddenly we were on our way again, landing at the jetty soon after. As the last ferry would not be arriving for a time yet, we all trooped up to John's house for a warming drink and thence return to the ferry terminal where we waited for our lift home. Eventually our old enemy returned and unloaded its returning Bainbridgers, who filed past the one-way gate closed against the returning Seattle passengers. We waited for the gate to be raised after it seemed that all of the returning Islanders had gone. I checked at the ticket office to find out when we could board. The official checked the gate and said "Oh good Lord, is that gate stuck again?" He ran down to it and gave it a nudge and like magic the gate rose, allowing us to race down to the ferry, which was now about ten feet away from the jetty and accelerating towards distant Seattle.I could have cried; after all that we had gone through, to miss it by such a small amount. We had a few words with the official who was now closing up and he felt badly enough that he volunteered to take us home. And so, we loaded into his car and off we set, driving south and south forever it seemed. He was as good as his word and dropped all three of us at our doors and I finally got to bed around 0330. It had been quite a trip!

Your fearless leader,Gordon

[djnailsspasalonrayford]

Recommend the best nail salon patterns for summer 2020

Besides the main role is to enhance the sensation of the fingertip nerves, the nails also work to enhance the beauty of the hands. Especially when they are put on shiny nail polish coats, they make the hands even more beautiful and seductive. Here are the most beautiful and suitable nail designs for her to unleash the coming summer and good tips to take care of them.

Besides the main role is to enhance the sensation of the fingertip nerves, the nails also work to enhance the beauty of the hands. Especially when they are put on shiny nail polish coats, they make the hands even more beautiful and seductive. Here are the most beautiful and suitable nail designs for her to unleash the coming summer and good tips to take care of them.

Beautiful nail designs hot trend 2020.

If in winter the hands would be mostly covered in thick layers of fabric, summer comes when they will be more visible. So if she has a beautiful nail set , it will be even more beautiful and impressive. Let's take a look at the beautiful nail designs in 2020 .

Nude color nails

For girls with a gentle, feminine style and do not want to stand out, choosing nude tones for nails is the most perfect. Tone nude is not fussy skin skin, luxurious and discreetly beautiful. Some nude tones and close to the nude tone that many girls favor are purple brown, rose brown, milk nude, ...

Simple, elegant nude nails

Beautiful nude nail model made many girls nearly rubbed Nail polish

Lacquer in recent years has emerged as a new nail trend of the decade. They are especially popular among Western European women. This nail template will give your beautiful fingertips a very impressive look. With this nail style you should choose trendy colors such as reddish brown, purple, black, moss green, green, ... to make your nails beautiful, more prominent.

Ombre-colored nails

Ombre red wine is worth a try

Nail ombre brown earth is a beautiful nail color option worth considering

For mischievous and dynamic girls, ombre is a beautiful nail model and worth a try. To create an ombre you need to use at least 2 light dark colors and paint from one color to another. Because of this color combination, ombre is still a beautiful nail for summer 2020.

Stone fingerprints Strange stone pattern, outstanding White tone stone is not fussy

If you want a way, youthful, more prominent, then try a beautiful nail pattern inspired by stone. Nail patterns bring freshness or elegance with extremely unique hot and cold tones.

Nail motifs Fascinated with diagonal striped nail

The polka-dot pattern has been renewed for beautiful nails Using motifs such as polka dots, plaid, checkered or wavy has long been popular in nail beauty. Although they are classic motifs, they are always color variations to best suit the trend of beautiful manicure. With the summer of 2020, hot colors such as rose-orange, orange-red or red-wine will still be popular.

Nail drawing figure

Outstanding beautiful nails with peach-shaped nail This beautiful nail nail is also worth a try

The delicate and lovely drawings are also a good hint for her f5 to leave her pretty fingers for a more fresh summer. It could be a few beautiful flower buds or a small piece of orange, a ripe cherry, ... or whatever she loves. She can also draw the whole table or choose a few fingers to make her nails prettier.

Multi-tone nails and combined motifs Set of nail for her short nails Team passionate about gold tone must immediately try this beautiful nail nail set

Perhaps this is the most beautiful nail style that has rained the rain in recent years. It breaks down classic nail polish when every nail is decorated exactly the same way. With this nail style, you can use different textures, patterns and colors for different fingers but still in harmony. Thanks to that, the beautiful fingers become more prominent, unique and attractive.

Floating stone nails

Nail mounted stone luxury Beautiful with floating stone nails The nail style studded with stone and floating flowers is very popular. They bring more elegance, nobility and charm. However, the downside is that the rocks and floating flowers are easy to fall off if they are not firmly attached. Metal nails

Like studded stones, metal nails are just as common. They are mounted on the nail surface to give a special and sharper feel. At the same time when doing this beautiful nail style you must also pay attention to daily activities to keep metal particles sticking for a long time.

Sticky nails or glitter

Stick nail tips gently and subtly

Nail shine makes nails beautiful and more luxurious

Nail stains have a long history as well. Even so, it still has a lot of charm with girls. Thanks to the emulsion and glitter, the nail color is more beautiful and prominent and more sparkling thanks to the light reflection effect.

Transparent colored nails Transparent nail adds metal personality

Transparent colored nails with peach motifs add a peach pattern to a gentle, feminine girl Although there are many paints available in a variety of colors, more luxurious and attractive, transparent colors are still popular with many girls. like. This is a color that does not stand out or flaunt, but is discreetly beautiful. In addition, if you like the way more, you can decorate a little more motif at the top of the nail for a cute, trendy tone. What beautiful nail polish colors will be hot trends summer 2020?

Factors to have beautiful nails are the colors used on them. This summer, classic hot colors such as red, yellow and pure orange will still be very popular. In addition, beautiful nails with more trendy and luxurious tones such as orange, red wine, earth rose, red earth, ... are also very suitable for this summer. Bass and neutral tones such as light brown, earth brown, cream, beige, light purple. Or cold colors like tea green, moss, emerald green, blue or black will make her fingers more beautiful and attractive.

Nail care tips after nail work

Beautiful nails, meticulously painted, will help beautify and stand out beautiful little hands. However, there are also many girlfriends wondering how to take care of the nail after nailing so that the nail is durable and still healthy? The truth is, whether high-end or universal nail polishes, they are not entirely benign to human health. In nail polishes often contain 3 most dangerous substances are formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate. They are added to nail polish for a silky, lustrous shine and to last longer. Even so, nail polish bottles still have great appeal to women. Therefore, if you want to have beautiful, strong nails while ensuring your body has little impact, you should pay attention to take care of your nails. Regular, proper care will help keep your nails beautiful and keep the polish color for a long time

Use foods rich in protein, calcium to keep the biotin horny layer strong like cauliflower, cereals, spinach, ...

All you need to know about Pro Power Peel at Euphorea

https://djnailsspasalonrayford.tumblr.com/post/635186732310069248/all-you-need-to-know-about-pro-power-peel-at-euphorea

Soak your nails with olive, coconut, or jojoba oil for 15 minutes a day to provide moisture.

Use nail cream to strengthen your nails.

Wear gloves when performing nail-harmful tasks such as washing dishes, cleaning the house, or working with harsh chemicals.

Do not remove nails often because it will thin the horny layer of the nail, easily leading to yellow nails, onychomycosis.

Nail polish with a moderate frequency will still help you look beautiful without affecting your health.

A set of beautiful, pretty, personality or classy nails in your favorite color will be a subtle way to show who you are. Please choose for yourself a beautiful nail style, like to make this summer more meaningful and interesting.

[wesleyhill]

Healing in the Shape of the Cross

Preparing to lecture on the Fourth Gospel this coming semester at Trinity School for Ministry, I was reminded of this homily I preached, on the occasion of a service of healing several years ago, from the story of the healing of the man born blind in John 9:

I wonder if you’ve ever had the experience of being at an art museum and coming to look at a favorite painting and then realizing there is a pane of glass overlaying it? It can be a strange experience. You stand there, gazing at the painting, eager to take in all the details. But at the same time, you can see your own face reflected back to you, superimposed, as it were, on the painting. You are looking at the work of art, but you’re also looking at yourself.

Something like that is how the early Christians felt when they remembered stories from the life of Jesus. They came to those memories like art museum patrons. They returned to those familiar stories, ready to gaze at them again and discover fresh depths of meaning and to notice details that might have escaped them on first hearing. But at the same time, they also saw themselves—they saw their own current situations—reflected back to them in the stories of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Like a museum visitor who sees the outline of her face shining back at her from the Van Gogh she’s looking at, the early Christians caught a glimpse of their present lives in the stories they told and retold about Jesus.

Our gospel reading for this morning is a good example of this. On the one hand, we have a very straightforward memory of Jesus. As he walks, he encounters a man who was born blind. In keeping with the themes of the Fourth Gospel—that Jesus performs signs in order to manifest his glory—the evangelist tells us that Jesus intends to display the works of God in and through this man. “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” Jesus says. Then he makes a muddy paste with his saliva and puts the paste on the man’s eyes. He then tells the man to go and wash his eyes. “So he went,” the gospel says, “and washed and came back seeing.”

So far, this is not an unusual story for readers who know the Gospels. Jesus is portrayed in all four canonical Gospels as a healer who drives out diseases and evil spirits from people, as he seeks to draw people into relationship with himself. But what happens next in our reading for today departs from the usual script. Instead of cutting away to another scene, the narrative continues—and leads into a controversy with the Pharisees.

Because Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath day, the Pharisees seize on this detail as evidence that Jesus is not trustworthy. “This man is not from God,” they say, “for he does not keep the Sabbath.” They are not content to make their own theological case, however. They also press the healed man to give an account of himself and his relationship to Jesus. “What do you say about him,” they ask, “since he has opened your eyes?” Furthermore, they put pressure on the man’s parents as well. They demand an explanation. And, in a telling aside, the evangelist informs us that his parents “feared the Jews, for the Jews [or ‘Jewish leaders’] had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.”

This is one of those details that alerts us to the reflective, mirror-like quality of this passage of Scripture. We know from other ancient texts that late into the first century AD Jewish believers in Jesus were facing the problem of remaining loyal to Jesus’ name and being expelled from synagogue worship, or else giving up their trust in Jesus and returning to the synagogue. So it is easy to imagine those first hearers and readers of the Fourth Gospel identifying themselves with the blind man. Like someone gazing at a painting behind a glass, they saw both Jesus and the blind man and Jesus and themselves. As commentator Andrew Lincoln has put it, the Gospel of John is “a two-level drama, in which the blind man is not only someone healed by Jesus but also the representative of those [later, first-century] Jewish Christians who have been expelled from the synagogue because of their confession about Jesus.”

The story concludes, laconically, “And they cast him out.” The blind man confesses that he was once blind and Jesus made him whole, and the religious leaders will not stand for such a confession of faith.

The final dialogue of this drama takes place between Jesus and the healed man, with the Pharisees nearby. Jesus and the healed man meet again, after the man’s confrontation by the Pharisees. And Jesus says to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” And the man does believe and worships Jesus. Turning to the Pharisees, Jesus declares, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” In their willful blindness, the Pharisees believe themselves to be healthy seers. But Jesus avers, “Your guilt remains.”

This may seem like a strange story to reflect on during a service of healing like the one we are observing today. But if the Fourth Gospel really is a two-level drama that points not only to Jesus and his historical circumstances but to its hearers and readers—to us and our situation as well—then there is something here for us to reflect on too.

What this story invites us to meditate on is what a healed life looks like. We are gathering to pray for God’s healing touch in our lives today, and as we do so, we would do well to ponder what it is, exactly, that we are asking God for.

Some kinds of prayer for healing as simply inappropriate, as St. James reminds us: “You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (4:3). In other words, sometimes we ask to be made well because we want to use our wellness to get what we want on our own terms, to have a fulfilled life according to our own private agenda.

The story of the man born blind, by contrast, shows us what a truly healed life looks like. It looks like being drawn to faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of Man foretold in Holy Scripture and then confessing his name even at great personal risk. That is what healing meant for this man Jesus encountered. His life of wellness, of seeing, was a life of seeing and knowing Jesus, of worshiping Jesus, and of bearing witness to Jesus even on pain of expulsion from his community.

There is the classic saying that the only thing worse than not getting what you want is getting what you want. In some ways, that saying fits this story, doesn’t it? The only thing more difficult, it seems, than being born blind is being healed by Jesus—having your eyes opened by Jesus and being propelled into a life of discipleship to him, in which you join him in being rejected by the world. In a strange, counterintuitive, countercultural twist, the best poster children for what a life of healing and wellness looks like may not be the shiny, happy, “smiling preachers” of American Christian televangelism but rather those twenty-one Coptic Christians, kneeling in orange jumpsuits and exclaiming “Jesus is Lord” moments before their beheading.

Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that this is the shape and mark of a healed life: “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (15:19).

All throughout the Fourth Gospel this has been the consistent refrain. From the very beginning, in the Gospel’s Prologue, we have been told that the light is opposed by the darkness: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (1:10-11). And if this is true of the Healer, how much more will it be true of us who have been healed by him: “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (15:20).

So, friends, let us pray for healing from Jesus today. Let us pray for all manner of healing, of body, mind, and spirit. Let us pray for wellness. Let us pray for sight for those who are blind. But let us remember, as we do so, that we are asking Jesus to make us partakers and bearers of his heavenly light. And, in a strange paradox, that light is a light that leads us straight into the darkness of a world in which God’s kingdom has not yet come in all of its fullness.

As Jesus went about doing good, he confronted the powers of sin and death at their uttermost point, on the cross at Calvary. He, the Light of the world, went down to the deepest point of darkness and was extinguished for our sake. And as he heals us and catches us up into his own life and light, he promises us that our own healing will emerge in the shape of his cross. He anoints our blind eyes, making us whole, and he calls us into a life of cruciformity. He bids us join him on the Calvary road, and he promises us everlasting life as we endure with him the rejection of the world. “In the world you will have tribulation,” he says to us. “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (16:33).

Amen.

[always-the-cleric]

Alex and Saral Lance bff High School HC

so because @queercapwriting enabled me ( and I hope you like this oneshot Cap), and someone actually requested I wrtie this, here is the OneShot that will definitely turn into more parts, because I have more ideas. next part is probs gonna be Alex and Sara fighting crime and stuff.... anwyays here is the One Shot:

Sara and Alex in Highschool

Alex looked at Sara just in time to dodge the punch thrown her way and she blocked it with the side of her arm, before trying to kick out one of Sara’s legs from under her, but she fails and two seconds later a gush of air left her lungs as her back connected to the mat.

‘Okay, Okay, I give!’ Alex said breathlessly and she heard Sara chuckle as she helped her stand back up on her feet again. Sara Lance, little sister of the Legendary Laurel Lance (she was top student in all her classes and beat everyone in everything, set all new school records and probably more) was a fighter. Sara didn’t really care too much about getting the best grades, which disappointed every teacher that had Laurel in their class before her, but she did care about the little fight club that she had created.

School had let her in hope that she could stop beating people up in school, and instead beat people up that signed up for it. Alex was the first person that signed up for the club and after her a few other people followed.

Alex did it mostly to escape the voice of her mother reminding her of all her flaws, ad how she was never as precious as Kara, always had to devote her life to Kara, and never to her own interests. Well this was one of her interests and she wouldn’t give it up for the world.

She and Sara had become friends when they had joined hands after roughing up the kids that tried to bully Kara. That was two years ago, and now they were neigh inseparable.

Alex knew that Sara was bi, and that she was out and proud to the entire school. She admired the courage of her best friend and wished she herself could have that much confidence, and be that headstrong towards everyone that had an opinion about it.

Then a new girl came to school. She came from Blue Springs Nebraska and she made Alex unfocused and fumble every time she was near.

‘Have you seen Maggie Sawyer today? She was my lab partner and seriously, it should be illegal to look good in those goggles.’ Alex said as she and Sara were just about ready to spar again. She blocked Sara’s advance and got in a left hook of her own against Sara’s ribs.

‘This the fifth time you’ve mentioned that to me Alex.’ Sara deadpans and sweeps Alex off her feet, but Alex regains her footing too fast to use it. Alex just shrugs at her deadpan and they continue to fight.

‘Have you seen her smile though? Those dimples are just unfair.’ Alex says while Sara has her in a damned headlock and Sara bursts out laughing that Alex would have her mind on Maggie’s dimples instead of in the fight.

‘Alex do you hear yourself?’ Sara asks when once again she works Alex to the ground without mercy, and she hears Alex groan when her back comes into contact hard with the ground.

‘What do you mean?’ Alex asks looking up at Sara from the ground, still sounding a bit winded. She lost the fight again. She has been losing a lot of fights since Maggie started school here. Not that that’s a problem, but she has started to notice.

‘If you don’t tap that ass, I will.’ Sara says deadly serious and helps Alex up from the ground and throws her a towel for the sweat they both worked up before she grabs one for herself. This late after classes, nobody is crazy enough to still be at school beside them, which suits them both fine.

Alex splutters and stammers as her face grows hot and red and she feels her heartrate pick up. Sure, she has thought about the fact that maybe she doesn’t really like boys as much as the next girl, but that she was into girls wasn’t something she had thought about. Okay, maybe she had thought about it. Sara wasn’t unattractive by far. With a six-pack, and muscles, and good humour. Sara was undeniably attractive. She couldn’t see Sara as anything else but her friend though.

But Maggie. God, Maggie made her think that perhaps yes girls were just what she was attracted to. No boy could ever measure up to the beauty that was Maggie sawyer when her dimples were on full show.

‘Hey Alex, it’s okay. Being attracted to girls is totally normal and healthy, I mean look at me. I am the epitome of awesomeness and I and severely attracted to girls.’ Sara said and elbowed Alex’s side. Alex nodded and calmed down as she smiled.

‘She is just so beautiful. And smart, and sassy, and just perfect you know?’ Alex gushed and Sara smiles and nods. Proud to see that Alex dares to voice her thoughts instead of pushing them away. ‘You’re all of those things as well, you know, that, right?’ Sara asks and Alex waves the thought away. Something to work on still, Sara tells herself.

‘Why don’t you go get the girl. She would be lucky to have someone like you Alex.’ Sara says after a few minutes of silence.

‘But, I literally just figured out that I actually like her. That therefore I don’t feel attracted to boys. Could I do that? Just like that?’ Alex asks surprised and Sara nods and goes on and tells Alex about a few of her first times she asked girls out.

A week later Alex has finally fathered up her courage and after the lessons are done she and Maggie both hang out at the lab a bit longer. They both love it here.

‘Hey uhm Maggie?’ Alex softly says when the last people have left the lab leaving just them.

‘Yeah Alex, what is it?’ Maggie asks and smiles at her with those dimples, and that shimmer in her brown eyes. And whatever words Alex wanted to say died on her tongue as her body moved forward without her brain saying so. She was always more of an action first kind of girl. She draws Maggie in and leans down, cups her cheeks and connects their lips.

The kiss makes her feel like fireworks are going off in her stomach, and she almost gets lost in the feeling, before suddenly Maggie backs away and Alex her eyes widen.

‘Oh my god Maggie I am so sorry!’ Alex rushes and Maggie holds her arm so Alex can’t just run away.

‘What was that about Alex?’ She asks softly, as if she understands. Could she understand. Does she feel the same way, but does she just want to know what this means for Alex?

Alex rushes to explain her revelation from last week, that she understands why she doesn’t like boys and why she hasn’t been able to focus since she saw Maggie. And Maggie listens, and she doesn’t interrupt Alex or criticize her. She just listens and it makes Alex feel so good. But then,

‘Alex, I understand, but I don’t think getting together with someone just fresh of the boat really works out. Everything is still so shiny to you now. I am all shiny to you now, but I don’t think that will last. But I am here for you, as a friend.’ Maggie says and she watches how the excited sparkle in Alex’s eyes dim and the smile she had on her face slips, quickly replaced by a forced one.

‘Are we still okay?’ Maggie quickly asks, because the person she is looking at right now looks like she is about to crumble to the ground.

‘Ye-yeah, of course we are. I-I’ll see ya.’ Alex rushes out. Her heart pounds and everything hurts. Her head screaming at her how stupid she had been for thinking Maggie would want to do this with her. Want to be with her. She rushes out of the lab before anyone can see her cry. She hears Maggie call something to her but her ears are ringing so she can’t make it out. Someone grabs a hold of her and drags her to the gyms where their Fight Club is set up.

‘I just wanna be alone right now.’ Alex mumbles, knowing it was Sara that grabbed her. No one with that much muscle could be that gentle when holding her back.

‘Jup, that’s why you’re not gonna be alone.’ Sara says and wipes away the tears that have begun to roll down Alex’s cheeks. ‘Because you’re gonna say that this all was a mistake, and that I should just forget about it all, but I am not gonna do that because this is who you are, and if she doesn’t want you than she is just crazy okay? You deserve the world and you deserve to be who you truly are. So, I am here to help you with that. I am not gonna let you be alone.’

‘I just feel s-so humiliated.’ Alex stammers out and Sara feels her heart break.

‘Well, I am proud of you Alex.’ Sara says and hugs Alex tight.

[sparklyfanlover-blog]

Duck face and other new words added to

 Duck face and other new words added to

Duck face and other new words added to OxfordDictionaries.com

Try not to be jel, but some xlnt new words have gone into OxfordDictionaries.com in December’s mahoosive update. Whether you’re a shiny bum reading this while eating al desko or taking a break while you respawn, don’t be a keyboard warrior or say IDC – just sit back and enjoy the new words. Simples.

Slang and abbreviations

As usual, popular culture and slang have seen plenty of new additions in the Oxford Dictionaries update, including duck face, simples, choon, fone, handsy, xlnt, and Canadian tuxedo.

Want to describe how attractive you think someone is? This update sees the inclusion of the antonyms hawt (an informal respelling of hot). That person may even be your man crush (a ‘typically non-sexual liking or admiration felt by one man for another’) or someone who is your catnip; the word has long been another name for the catmint, but its effect on cats has led to the figurative sense ‘someone or something that is very attractive or appealing to a particular person or group’.

Several abbreviations have also been added, with their popularity growing partly due to the space-saving demands of social media. These include tomoz (‘tomorrow’), jel (‘jealous’), IDC (I don’t care), PMSL (p–ing myself laughing), WRT (with reference to), PMQs (Prime Minister’s Questions), and MAMIL (middle-aged man in Lycra, said of certain keen road cyclists). On the other hand, the term mahoosive offers an aptly longer version of the existing word massive, perhaps blended with a phonetic respelling of the first letters of huge.

The language of food is always a fruitful area for vocabulary, and additions include arancini, cavatelli, cappellacci, trofie, parm, queso, guanciale, izakaya, and food diary.

Of more interest to students everywhere, there is now an entry in OxfordDictionaries.com for the five-second rule: ‘a notional rule stating that food which has been dropped on the ground will still be uncontaminated with bacteria and therefore safe to eat if it is retrieved within five seconds’. Sadly the operative word in that definition is notional (‘existing as or based on a suggestion, estimate, or theory; not existing in reality’). A caution worth heeding is demonstrated by another addition: food-borne. The adjective is used of a disease, meaning ‘carried by or transmitted through contaminated food’.

More pleasantly, the term al desko has also been added – a play on al fresco (for food eaten outside, literally ‘in the fresh (air)’ in Italian), it is an adjective and adverb denoting food eaten ‘while working at one’s desk in an office’.

Games and technology

The world of technology has, unsurprisingly, provided new vocabulary for this quarter’s update – including camel case, SD card, soft key, digital footprint, keyboard warrior, and a new sense of fire hose (or firehose): no longer simply a hosepipe used to extinguish fires, this word also refers (in computing) to ‘an unfiltered, real-time stream of data produced by a social media website or other online service’.

Outdoor, indoor, and virtual games have all contributed terms to this update. Tiki-taka, total football, and pickleball have taken their place in OxfordDictionaries.com, as have respawn (of a character in a video game, ‘reappear after having been killed’), and permadeath (‘a situation in which a character in a video game cannot reappear after having been killed’). Then there’s park the bus in football (that is, soccer), meaning to ‘play in a very defensive way’. It is typically said of an away team, and comes from the metaphor of parking the team bus in front of the goal.

Perhaps the most amusing addition, and one indicative of the spirit of certain parts of the Internet, is lolcat (or LOLcat): ‘a photograph of a cat accompanied by a humorous caption written typically in a misspelled and grammatically incorrect version of English’ – from a combination of lol (‘laugh out loud’ or ‘laughing out loud’) and cat.

The opinions and other information contained in OxfordWords blog posts and comments do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Oxford University Press.

December 3 / 2014

What do we love about new words?

The lexicographers at Oxford Dictionaries keep watch on our collective .

The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2014 is ‘vape’

As 2014 draws to a close, it’s time to announce the Oxford .

You are far to quick to include words that you consider to be the latest ‘buzzwords’.

These will come and go and when they have gone you will look foolish.

The man on the ‘Clapham omnibus’ isn’t using them and hasn’t even heard of them.

You are simply clogging up the language with rubbish.

We can all get along by using basic simple English.

It’s time that we had an Academy like the French and Spanish to protect our language and prevent dross creeping in.

I agree; we really need to get back to basics. Let’s start with learning the difference between to, too and two.

All I can say is how thankful I am that Oxford Dictionaries waited until we had a mature, responsible, disciplined, perceptive, open-minded, and understanding population before what would otherwise be a cheap attempt to gain relevance among young, naive, reckless, irresponsible, self-absorbed and arrogant young people who may not grow to adulthood until well into their thirties (sadly, they think this is automatic at age 18, but this only has legal significance regarding what is expected; a well-known expression with a slight tweak does a good job showing the difference: if you call a child an adult, does that make him so? I’ll mention the chair, too: A chair has four legs. A dog has four legs. If I call a chair a dog, does that make it a dog? Similarly, if nation chooses a person to be president, but this person chooses to symbolically urinate on the document that defines this country, its government, and is the sole source of a president’s authority, thereby choosing to NOT fulfill the role of president, which is well-defined should any of this country’s “as long as I get what I want, who cares how” believers learn to read – and hopefully NOT using a dictionary from Oxford Dictionaries that has been amended with non-sensical words that, should these people use them in, say, a rational debate as opposed to an hysterical frenzy of insecurity, would be cause to postpone the debate until the group that cannot effectively communicate can find a representative who would likely teach this group new words like specious, spurious, and self-centered before telling the group that what it’s feeling is called humiliation, which can be avoided by the process named by another new word, thinking (specifically, of others, of one’s nation, of why a nation, a government should be made weaker or irrelevant and almost half of its population sentenced to 8 years of being ignored, insulted, and taunted by the person who was elected to be president but, since a president does not do the things this person does and – more importantly, this person deliberately or carelessly does not do the things that are defined as the duties and responsibilities of any person who is president

That’s just some brilliant satire right there.

Way to assist in the dumbing down of America. I weep for the future.

I wonder if Oxford Dictionaries has an entry for “drama queen.”

To stellabystarlite. It was just a hasty typo.(too hasty)

Looking at the other two posts, it would appear that the opinion was well received.

What a bag of weirdness. I read and use the Internet a lot and I’ve never even run across 2/3rds of these. I’m guessing that many of these are ephemera used in tweeting or similar special, informal use. And shabby chic is a trademark.

Scientists have asserted that there is some actual truth to the five-second rule that Oxford calls “notional”: Wikipedia mentions a 2006 study that showed that minute-long contact between food and floor increased contamination over a five-scond contact, about tenfold with tile and carpet surfaces (only).

[aeon-wolf]

Betrayal - Chapter 7

Now that Lena has joined her father and the Titans against the Gods, her loyalties made clear. Her betrayal of all she once held dear haunts her every day. But she made her choice and as the war between the Gods and Titans draws near, Lena’s allegiances will be put to the test. Does she help bring about the end of the reign of the Gods? Or will her love for Kara Danvers and the friendships she made along the way be enough to stop the daughter of Hyperion.

Or

A PJO inspired Supercorp series. Part Two: Betrayal.

Read it here on AO3

I.

Lena grunted as she was thrown to the floor, back smashing against the stone floor. She felt a heavy boot place itself on her breastplate as she looked up at Krios. She snarled at the older Titan. He just gave her a sneer, pressing his foot harder against her chest. Lena knew if she had been human, she would certainly have been crushed under the force her was using. As it was, she would only be bruised in the morning. Nothing that she hadn’t endured countless times before.

Unfortunately for her uncle, he had neglected to restrain her arms. So she flicked out one of the built-in knives in her suit, stabbing it into a chink in his armor. Krios yelled out in pain, lifting his foot off of her, allowing Lena to scramble off the floor, grabbing the sword she had let go of to stab him. She turned to see Krios’ hard gaze. Her own eyes narrowed as she let her fire course through her body, a familiar heat running down her arms to her hands. The fire essence in her swords coming to life and crackling with a dangerous red fire.

Krios gripped his two-handed sword tighter as Lena approached slowly. And she suddenly attacked with a ferocity to rival her father. Her adrenaline pumping as both her swords clashed with Krios’ blade, sparks flying from the impact. Sweat dripped down Lena’s forehead as she used her formidable strength to push against Krios’ blade. The Titan himself frowned as he fought against her strength.

He was rather easily able to force her back, he was about to advance on her when Hyperion stepped in. “That’s enough.” He said firmly. Krios stopped his movements, stepping away from Lena. Hyperion moved from where he was watching the two fight into the center of the arena. “Leave us.” He said to Krios. He nodded, nodding slightly in approval to Lena before leaving the father and daughter alone.

“I expect you to fight with the same ferocity against those halfbloods you once called friends.” He said dangerously. Lena’s eyes narrowed at his insinuation. The last few weeks Hyperion had been rather overbearing during their training sessions. He was constantly reminding her that Kara and her friends were against the Titans and therefore against her. She always nodded in understanding, but deep down, she refused to believe it. To a degree at least. She knew Kara would certainly not approval of the person she had become, but she fought to hold on to the idea that Kara had forgotten about her entirely as her father suggested. James had told her otherwise. Kara was still hung up on her.

That thought was one of the few things still fueling Lena. A couple of weeks after her promotion to ground commander had been rough on the rest of the halfbloods. She had personally overseen their progression alongside her father. She knew she had at least scared them all into submission. She recalled the exact moment like it was yesterday.

II.

"And why should we follow you? I know who you are. Lena Luthor. You spent what? A couple of months at Demos before claiming your cushy leadership role just because your father is Hyperion?” Lena narrowed her eyes at the rather idiotic halfblood in front of her. It was the first day her promotion had been announced to the troops. Their scores of monsters knew how formidable Lena was. Many had witnessed her power and strength first hand. The halfbloods on the other hand… Only a couple of them had actually fought her. But any of the halfbloods that had been with the Titans for more than a year knew that Lena wasn’t to be messed with. But this one was obviously fresh meat.

She glanced at her father who had a protective, angry look in his eyes, staring down the halfblood but making no comment or move. These were Lena’s future troops. It was up to her to earn their respect. “Don’t presume to know what I’ve been through.” She said icily. She noticed in the corner of her eye, a gleeful look coming from Roulette, watching the exchange. No doubt the daughter of Hermes was hoping to see Lena put the stupid halfblood in his place. “Grab your sword and stand up.” She said dangerously. A look of fear passed quickly over his face before it changed to that of pride and arrogance. Lena internally shook her head. She was looking forward to forcing him into submission.

He grabbed a rather shiny short sword and a mid-sized shield, standing from his seat and moving towards Lena. The dark haired woman fought to roll her eyes but drew her own swords. She noticed a few of the older halfbloods shift uncomfortably in their seats, knowing what was about to come next. She turned her full attention to the halfblood in front of her. “What’s your name?” She asked coldly. He puffed out his chest a little bit.

“Ben.” He said proudly. “Son of Hephaestus.” Lena raised an eyebrow. One of Winn’s brothers. Interesting.

“Well Ben, if you think you don’t owe me your respect, I’ll show you why I’m not to be messed with.” She said cooly. Ben raised his shield in anticipation of her attack. Sloppily leaving his right side exposed she also noted just from a once over. She shook her head. They had a lot of work to do if some of these pathetic halfbloods were going to be ready to fight a war in a couple of weeks.

Lena darted forward, faking towards his left, protected side. He went to block her blade before she immediately switched her position, slamming the flats of her blades into his unprotected side. He grunted in pain as she stepped back quickly and hit him with the hilt of her blade right between his eyes. The halfblood yelled out in pain, clutching his now bleeding nose, his sword clattering to the ground. “Pathetic.” She spat. “Does anyone else want to question me?” She asked dangerously to the group. None of them spoke.

III.

The next couple of weeks had been brutal on many of the halfbloods. Some, like Roulette, had shown their mastery of combat and gotten through the weeks rather easily. Some, like Ben, had struggled greatly and earned some personal time with Hyperion. Lena had caught a glimpse of a few of them who returned from their time with him clutching what looked like bruised ribs and numerous cuts. She did not envy those that had to spend time with her father. She knew first hand of his cruelty and although some of these halfbloods were weaklings, would never wish that on anyone.

By the end of the few weeks, most of the halfbloods had been whipped into passable shape to fight alongside their armies against the Gods. And now she stood, listening to Kronos address their war council at their new underground headquarters in National City, just miles from Demos. “We launch our first attack on Demos tomorrow.” He said, sitting back in his chair. He turned his attention to Lena. “You will be leading a portion of our troops to judge their strength.” He said. “I expect we will retreat from his battle. I want to know the strength of their army. The Gods still hide on Olympus and from our spies, do not send additional aid to the halfbloods.” Lena frowned but nodded.

“Of course.” She said, standing stiffly. “How much of our forces will be deployed?” She questioned.

“A few squads of Dracaena, a quarter of our halfbloods, a pack of hellhounds and a few telekhines," Kronos responded. Lena nodded curtly. She could make do with that. It would be enough to launch the first attack. Especially if they had the element of surprise she expected.

“And their defenses?” She asked.

“Taken care of. Maxwell Lord will lower their defenses on our signal.” Hyperion interjected.

Lena nodded in acknowledgment. “If that is all…” She trailed off, silently asking to be dismissed. Kronos nodded.

“You are dismissed. And Lena. Failure is not an option. Your loyalty is to us. You would do best to remember that.” He said coldly. Lena’s back stiffened slightly but she just bowed slightly, not allowing herself to relax as she left their presence. As the doors shut on the war room behind her, she allowed herself to relax a little bit, heading over to their training areas, wanting to oversee her troops for a while. Over the last few weeks, she had come to believe they were ready, most of them at least. And she trusted them to carry her through her first real combat command.

She stopped to watch two halfblood spar, leaning against one of the stone pillars. “Tomorrow huh?” A voice said beside her. Lena jumped a little bit in surprise as Roulette appeared next to her out of seemingly nowhere.

“Fuck. Stop doing that.” Lena protested. “And yes, how did you know that?” She asked the daughter of Hermes. Roulette just shrugged.

“Rumors spread. But your response just confirmed it.” Lena rolled her eyes. “I’m assuming you’re bringing me at least. You can’t lead your first real command of our troops without your best friend, now can you?” Roulette teased. Lena snorted.

“I suppose I could use you.” She relented. Roulette smirked.

“See, I knew you were warming up to the idea.” She said with a wink. Lena rolled her eyes, playfully shoving the other woman.

“I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.” She chuckled. Roulette pouted.

“Well, as I said, the offer still stands if you ever change your mind.” She teased.

“And I told you I’ll keep it in mind. Though I highly doubt I will.” Lena pushed back. Roulette’s offer was the furthest thing from her mind.

“You’re going to see her tomorrow, aren’t you?” Roulette asked suddenly. Lena turned to face the daughter of Hermes.

“Most likely,” Lena admitted softly. “I don’t know if I’m ready.” Roulette put a gentle hand on Lena’s shoulder.

“You are. You’re nothing if not strong Lena. Two years of what you’ve been through prove that. This is nothing. You can do this.” She reassured her commander. Lena shrugged.

“I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow.”

IV.

Lena had a night of restless sleep. Her thoughts keeping her up into the early hours of the morning before finally getting a few hours of uneasy sleep. She rose just before sunrise as she did every morning. She laid awake in bed for a while, staring at the stone ceiling. Today was the day she would come face to face with everything she had left behind. And face the few people that ever had believed in her. And that she had ultimately betrayed.

It took her another fifteen minutes to finally get out of bed. Ever since she had taken her position as commander she was rarely seen among her troops without her armor on, so she removed her sleepwear. She grabbed her belt from its hook on the wall, wrapping it around her waist and pressing her hand on the sun crest on the buckle. Her armor expanded from the belt, covering her body in golden plates, allowing for a durable, but flexible armor. It could deflect most light hits and some heavier and still allow her to be rather agile. She sat on her bed, pulling on her boots before grabbing her swords from a rack on the wall, strapping them to her back.

Lena approached a box she had set on the table, opening it gingerly. Inside lay the dagger Kara had given her, glinting as it caught the ball of light Lena used to light her room. She grabbed the dagger from the box, running her hand along the blade. “I’ll see you again. For the first time in forever.” Lena said to herself before she slid the dagger into a slot in her boot. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but it worked well enough.

She, then, exited her room and headed to their mess hall to grab some food. Most of the halfbloods rarely woke as early as she did so she wasn’t surprised to see the mess hall mostly empty. Lena grabbed a cup of coffee and a bagel, sitting down at an empty table. She picked at the bagel, ripping pieces off and sticking them in her mouth, occasionally sipping from her cup.

“You look like shit.” A rather familiar voice said as some sat next to her. Lena almost groaned.

“I swear, you follow me everywhere,” Lena said, taking a drink.

“Stop deflecting. Not have a good night?” Roulette asked. Lena rolled her eyes.

“What do you think?” Lena said sharply. Roulette just raised her hands in surrender.

“I’m just saying. I don’t want to have to be saving your ass out there today because you want to take a nap.” She jested. Lena just chuckled.

“You won’t have to worry about that. I promise.” Lena said, relaxing a little bit.

“Good, it probably wouldn’t look good if you had to be saved like some damsel in distress.” She teased.

“Kronos and Hyperion would probably have my head, I’m sure,” Lena said.

“Well then, I guess we’ll have to make sure you come back victorious.” Roulette said with a rather dangerous glint in her eyes. Lena knew that look well. And she hated to be any halfblood that had to tangle with Roulette that day.

It's almost here. Next chapter Lena and Kara will come face to face for the first time in two years! Exciting. And probably rather angsty if you're into that. Again, apologies for not updating in a while. Finals, you know? Writing so many essays kind of makes me not want to write fanfiction. But I'm almost finished, so updates should be more frequent again.

I only once over'd this chapter to fix any glaring mistakes that I could catch, so sorry for any errors. It's 1 am and I probably should be asleep, but I wanted to update. Also, I was listening to Warriors by Imagine Dragons when I was writing this chapter, so the chapter is partially inspired by that song. If only because when I listen to music when writing, I unintentionally tend to capture the essence of the song.

Also can I just say: How can Lena and Rhea have more chemistry in 2x19 than Kara and Mon-El have had all season? Well, don't answer that, I know why, but still. Almost depressing.

[infotainmentplus-blog]

Why is my phone so slow? Common causes explained Why is my phone so slow? This is one of the most commonly asked questions about aging handsets. It seems our phones almost inevitably transform from fresh and nimble into bloated and sluggish without any obvious reason why. There are a number of possible causes for your smartphone slowing down with age. Fortunately, a number of them are fixable or preventable with the right knowledge. Here are some things you can do. Background apps You’ve probably heard this one before but too many apps running in the background is a key cause for slow phones. We all accumulate apps over time and probably forget to delete the many we seldom or never use. Many of these apps require background resources, refreshing their data, connecting to the net, or monitoring some part of the system in the background for when it might be needed. Phones have limited resources (RAM, CPU, and the like), which have to be split among all the background and high priority tasks. So lots of stuff running in the background can slow down your system when it comes to a more demanding application like gaming. Android is pretty good at managing resources, but it can’t work miracles on a bogged down system. When Android P arrives things will change, with Background Execution Limits and limited access for apps not actively in the foreground. In the meantime there are a few things you can do. Removing old and unused applications is an important and super simple maintenance practice. Fortunately, recent versions of Android make this easier than ever, offering storage cleanup tools that can automatically delete apps you haven’t used in a long time. Editor's Pick How to stop Android apps running in the background A frustrating problem with any smartphone is a battery that drains faster than you expect. 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Fortunately, Android will display a notification once you’re running out of memory, presenting you with options to clear out unused media and app files. It’s best to keep on top of the situation before that occurs though, either by removing files manually or using your phone’s built-in storage cleaner. Even if you don’t spot one of those “free up space” notifications, memory cluttered from age and old deleted apps can still slow down the system. This is known as fragmentation. Fragmentation also occurs due to failed memory areas that result from age and approaching the drive’s read and write cycle limit, where failed sectors can no longer be accessed. Flash memory and SSDs don’t have moving parts like older hard drives so the random read performance penalties aren’t a problem, but there can be increased latency from retrieving data from multiple unorganized blocks. Keeping track of fragmented files on a very large drive can increase scanning time and there is a notable performance penalty for writing data to fragmented flash storage, as locating available free spaces is a problem. Android and drive controllers do a reasonable job of keeping flash memory from becoming too fragmented via trimming. However, as your memory fills up, it becomes increasingly difficult to move and save new files and apps due to the lack of spare space. If your memory is full or sluggish, a factory reset to wipe it clean (after you’ve saved your data elsewhere, of course) should solve the problem, unless the flash drive is simply too old. It’s also better to save pictures, music, movies, and other files that are changed regularly to a microSD card rather than flash memory because microSD cards can be replaced once they age. Cloud storage is another good option for large files like music, videos, and so on. Battery age Batteries age too — it’s one of portable electronics biggest problems. After two or maybe three years of service, battery capacity falls and our devices can no longer last a day on a full charge (check out these battery charging tips to prolong that). Another part of this aging process is an increase in internal resistance within the battery from electrode film build-up. Internal resistance has two effects on performance. Higher resistance causes the output voltage to fall during a high current draw (V = I2R if you remember your physics lessons). This is known as voltage droop. This wasted energy is then dissipated as heat, causing the battery and other phone internals to warm up, which is bad for performance. CPUs are sensitive to temperature, so the phone’s power management controller might dial back the processor’s speed if the phone becomes too hot due to an old battery. CPU and memory running at high clock speeds also require more current and therefore induce a higher voltage drop. A very old battery might not be able to provide both the required current and a stable voltage, which means further dialing back peak speeds or risk execution errors. Aging batteries have a knock-on effect for processing and storage components. Last year’s iPhone CPU throttling update issued after degrading batteries is a prime example of this type of problem. A number of Android manufacturers claim they don’t follow the same practice, at least not with software updates, and it’s unlikely they’re driving their chips so hard they can’t accommodate eventual drops in battery voltage. Nevertheless, a less stable power supply makes it tougher for CPUs to maintain their highest clock speeds and is just as problematic for RAM and ROM reads and writes. Editor's Pick iPhone CPU throttling is another argument for replaceable batteries Reddit has struck again, this week correctly identifying that Apple is slowing down its older iPhones with iOS updates that throttle peak CPU speeds. The reason, according to Apple itself, is that it needs to … At its worst, a failing battery can cause enough power issues throughout the system that a phone will reboot. The only solution to this problem is to replace the battery with a new one. Unfortunately, the latest high-end smartphones seal their batteries in, meaning difficult DIY repairs or sending your phone away for an expensive replacement from the manufacturer. Failing memory As well as aging batteries, flash memory and RAM suffer from the effects of time too. Flash memory is graded with a maximum number of write cycles. This is because the program/erase process causes a deterioration of the oxide layer that traps electrons in a NAND flash memory cell, eventually making them unsuitable. Just like batteries, memory capacity degrades over time. This certainly doesn’t help with the fragmentation issue mentioned above, and it increases the number of writing errors as time goes on, which slows down the memory from the user’s perspective. Some level of redundancy is built into memory chips so new sectors are introduced as old sectors become worn out. Ultimately, the lifespan of your memory will depend on how much new data you save. In general, you should easily see between two and three years of use. Many chips can last between five and 10 years. OS and app updates? Another very common theory for devices slowing down as they age is that operating systems like Android and iOS, as well as the applications that run on them, become more resource heavy as they are continually updated, to benefit from the latest and greatest hardware. Therefore our old smartphones with dated hardware struggle to keep pace. I am personally skeptical about this theory, at least in the Android space. Most devices don’t see OS updates past two years, so they aren’t running more demanding versions of Android anyway. Additionally, the minimum requirements for Android haven’t massively changed between iterations. An old phone with 1GB of RAM isn’t suddenly unable to run Oreo or Android P. IOS is a different matter. Very old phones might struggle with newer apps and games. It’s possible some apps become more demanding over time as more features are added. Facebook is definitely more bloated than it was five years ago. However, most apps only consume tens or low hundreds of MBs of RAM, rather than GBs. Most applications are also designed with battery life in mind, rather than peak performance, because consumers will likely remove major battery drainers — especially now that Android alerts users to battery draining apps (games being the obvious exception of course). While more demanding software is a potential contributor to devices appearing to slow down, I think it’s a minor factor. The nocebo effect If none of the above is crippling your phone’s performance, it’s possible expectations are playing a role in our perception. We’re constantly being told how fast and superior new products are, which can instill the notion that old products must be slow by comparison. In reality, generational performance improvements are negligible in day-to-day tasks. Older devices that have been well looked after can function just fine for years. Time spent with a phone lets us pick out the niggles and problems we simply didn’t spot when they were shiny and new. We inevitably become more aware of those slightly longer than ideal loading times and app stutters, but it doesn’t mean our phone is broken. Editor's Pick Speed up my phone – what can I do to make that happen? Android devices have a tendency of getting old. And not only in the physical way, prolonged usage can also take a toll on performance, making it seem like you need to upgrade your phone sooner … Smartphones do slow down over time, that’s just an unfortunate fact due the lifespan of the components inside them. But we can take steps to keep our handsets in good shape, so be sure to check out our guide to keep your phone in tip-top condition., via Android Authority http://bit.ly/2zhntYr

[ladyonly01-blog]

How to identify diamonds@mimo.su

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Common jade colors are white, gray, pink, light brown, green, green, yellow green, purple, etc., most opaque, individual translucent, glass luster. Color and texture, there are gem green, bright green, yellow and green, Yang Qiao green, glass green, parrot green, spinach green, shallow water green, light green, frog green, melon green, plum green , Gray green, oil green, and violet and lotus root powder to more than 20 varieties. Buy Emerald points: Texture: should be better to buy a glassy glossy pieces of transparency, but to prevent the glass products (commonly known as material). Identification of the main points is emerald light according to some fog or patchy, glass no fog and patchy, with bubbles. With green jade color of its shades of shades, there are Tsui Dian. While the glass color is basically the same. Hardness: emerald hardness is higher than the king, glass and other jade are hard, can be used to draw glass, such as the purchase can be in front of the seller’s face glass, if the seller does not cheap cartier trinity necklace agree not to buy. Dian weight: Jade than the major, weigh in the hands of a sense of Shen, such as glass is a light floating feeling. China jade jade jade is also a large proportion, easy to pretend to emerald, its color is also close to the emerald, to be comprehensive test. Color: all high green (especially bright) or full green pieces must be particularly careful, because the real price of its high price, the general price is not possible to sell. Such as with a small amount of green head and bright and bright color is better, the price is more moderate. Piece size: general wear area in the 3x 3cm or so, pendant area of about 2x 2cm the most appropriate, Decoration size can be free. But to pay attention to the thickness of the thickness of the goods directly affect the transparency (commonly known as the head), thin transparent high, thick transparency is low, generally 3-5mm the most able to identify transparency, commonly known as 1 minute head, 1 minute head is good The Work: pay attention to watch the process of carving products (preferably with more than 4 times the magnifying glass observation). Character statue is mainly looking at the face is correct, facial features are reasonable; animal statue to see the proportion of the trunk and limbs are appropriate, the shape is natural; flower carving to see if the lines are smooth, the layout is reasonable. In particular, pay attention to carved the sun and the shade and the bottom is polished smooth. Also look at the lines are the same thickness, there is no broken knife or overlap. Bracelet a class to pay attention to whether the cracks.