#while other dog owners will have me walk their dog three times a week and not do much other exercise

[weaselle]

i have a little 30 pound klee kai (actually for that breed, i should say i have a large 30lb klee kai) and genetically they are mostly siberian husky, and

running and pulling? His FAVORITE.

i got a bike with an attachment for his leash so i could safely run him as much as he needed (more on that in a minute) and when he was young if it wasn’t hot out forget pedaling i’d spend the first mile and a half with the brakes on because my little 30 pound dog would pull the bike faster than i was comfortable going and let me tell you he LOVES it.

twice now, to see just how much he loves running, i have given a large chunk of dog-friendly chicken jerky (his favorite treat) and then before he could eat it but while it was in his mouth i picked up his harness and asked him if he wanted to go for a run and when i say he spit out a mouthful of chicken to go running i mean he made it to the front door before the chicken hit the ground.

When i got him, i was like “sure he’s got a lot of husky genes, but he’s got short little legs and two other breeds mixed in, i’ll just be sure to walk him more than a normal dog”

He’s a wonderful sweet and trainable dog, but the closest i could get to him not pulling was an agreement to just maintain what we worked out was a reasonable constant amount of tension on the leash.

But the real problem was, no amount of walking him seemed to have any effect on his exercise needs.

So i looked it up, and, for a sled dog...

a race one hundred miles long

is called

a sprint.

300 miles is a medium length race. The iditarod is a little more than 900 miles long.

and if you want to know how the dogs feel about running it, one year the iditarod route went near someone’s property and their pet husky saw what they were doing, thought “fuck yeah,” jumped the fence, and ran the entire second half of the race with the other dogs.

Like, you never see happier dogs than when a dog sled team knows they’re about to go on a run. I work with dogs professionally and every video of sled dogs preparing for their day that i’ve ever seen show dogs that are very clearly either super excited to do the thing they love, or heartbroken that they are not already doing the thing they love, which is running and pulling.

My dog Badger loves running so much that he yells at red lights when they take too long. And after owning him, AND exercising dogs professionally, i will say two things

1: in a perfect world most of the dogs i walk should actually be running instead; i just couldn’t make a living running them because i can only run a max of two dogs at a time where i live, but I can walk six (and i can get into the breakdown of why that’s not nearly as much money as you might think on some other post) 

But more importantly 

2: show me a husky who does not get to run for many miles several days a week and i’ll show you the real dog abuse victim

There's a lot of dumb ass animal cruelty takes in general but my favorite is the people who think you need to force sled dogs to pull.

Have you ever walked a dog before in your entire life? They love to pull. They're the pullingest damn things you ever saw. They'll merrily rip your rotator cuff in half like a phone book for the chance to stick their own face into a pile of old feces. They'll drag you down the road while you go through all 5 stages of grief trying to make them stop.

There are hundreds of products on the market promising to get ordinary non sled dogs to stop pulling their hapless owners down the road and spilling their iced coffees. People have gone so far as to use electric collars to try and zap sense into their poor stupid labradoodle that wants nothing more but to suicidally pull itself and everyone it loves into the snarling maw of the nearest leash reactive pit bull.

A dog that's allowed to pull, nay, encouraged to pull, is probably the most self actualized animal on the planet right after seagulls that live somewhere with food stands outdoors.

[luxaofhesperides]

I'm not sure if you're still taking Ghostlights requests, but if you are: Dick asking Duke to take Haley to the dog park for him in order to set up a meet-cute for him with the guy with the weird green rottweiler

And if you aren't, just know that you're doing great and I appreciate the hell out of you

“Oh, shoot!” 

Hearing Dick rush around as a frantic mess is not uncommon while he’s in Gotham. There’s too many people wanting to spend time with him that he ends up pulled in a bunch of different directions. Dick’s always in a rush, always busy, always making time for people because he has more love than Duke has ever seen in a person.

Dick’s also got pretty good time management skills after years of doing this. He’s only cutting out a few minutes early for their designated three hour catch-up session. 

That doesn’t mean he’s going to do it gracefully, though.

“Almost lost track of the time!” he says, moving to the couch to pick up his jacket. “Hey, Duke, can do you me a favor while I’m out?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Can you take Haley to the dog park? I usually take her twice a week around this time, but I totally forgot to include that in my calendar this week so I’ve got plans with the Titans just outside the city, and no time to take her out.”

“Yeah, man, of course I can take her to the dog park. The one attached to Robinson Park, right?”

Dick nods, shoving his shoes onto his feet. “That’s the one! Her treats are also in the bag hanging next to her leash. Oh, and she has a friend at the dog park! Don’t be scared when you see him, he’s just green.”

“Oh…kay?”

“Great, thanks! Bye, Duke, I’ll see you later!”

And with that, Dick is gone, closing the door to his safehouse as he dashes into the hall. 

Duke is left alone in Dick’s Gotham safehouse, blinking dazedly at the empty space where he once was. He’s certainly a whirlwind of activity when he realizes he’s going to be late. He’s also skilled in just saying things and leaving before any questions can be answered.

Haly jumps up onto the couch next to Duke. They share a look, then Duke shakes his head. “You have to deal with that every day, huh?”

Haly, the good girl that she is, doesn’t say anything bad against her owner and just puts a paw on Duke’s thigh, her tail wagging. 

“I hear ya, girl. Let’s go to the dog park to meet your green friend,  I guess.”

He has no idea what that means, honestly. Is Dick just talking about a dog that got its fur dyed green? Or is Haly’s friend like… a mutant dog? 

Well, he’s not going to find out by stalling. 

Duke pets Haly, then stands up and walks to the door. Her head perks up as soon as she hears the jangle of her leash being moved, and then she’s running to the door, looking up at him expectantly. Smiling, Duke slips the harness onto her, then attached it to the leash. He gives her another quick pet before shoving on his shoes and grabbing her bag of treats and waste disposal bags. 

He double checks that he has his phone, then takes hold of Dick’s spare safehouse key and steps out into the hallway with Haly. She waits patiently as he locks the door, checks that the lock holds, then runs down the hallway, ripping the leash right out of his hands.

“Haly! Wait! Stop, girl!”

She happily ignores him and goes straight for the elevator, leaving him to run after her and quickly scoop up the leash as soon as he’s close enough.

“Of course you’re a little escape artists,” he says to her, “Just like your owner.”

Haly woofs softly, then stands up and scratches at the doors of the elevator. Shaking his head, amused, Duke pushes the button to call the elevator and wonders if Dick has to deal with this every time they go to the dog park. 

On one hand, it wouldn’t surprise him since Dick is absolutely the kind of guy to give in to his dog’s every whims and spoil her rotten. On the other hand, Duke fully believes that Haly is smart enough and cute enough to misbehave only when Dick isn’t around so he never believes people when they try to tell him about all the mischief she’s caused. 

Dogs and their owners really do reflect one another. The internet was right about that.

Duke makes sure to keep a tight grip on Haly’s leash once they leave the apartment building. The streets are busy, as they tend to be on weekends, and the sight of Haly straining against her leash, ready to run, brings a smile to more than one face. 

He plots the route to the dog park in his mind, then starts up a light jog, tugging lightly on the leash to prompt Haly to follow him. 

It’s nice to run just for the sake of it. Haly makes a good running partner as well. 

How long has it been since Duke had time to relax and not be prepared for the worst? All the running he usually does these days is to catch up with criminals or run for his life. Being out during the day, moving through the city, without any lives in danger? Genuinely nice and relaxing. 

Maybe he can offer to take Haly to the dog park from now on. Join Dick whenever he goes. Create a set few hours where he doesn’t do anything but enjoy being outside in one of the few places where the smog of pollution and chemical toxins isn’t so thick in the air. 

He’ll just have to make sure Dick doesn’t agree to something else during those days. It’s still strange to think that Dick could forget to do something involving Haly when he’s such a good dog owner and a pro at juggling various responsibilities and a busy schedule. 

Well, they all have off days. This must be one of Dick’s.

The sidewalks get wider once they reach the street that leads to the park. Families fill up the space, walking with strollers in front of them or lined up at a food cart. The vivid green of spring fills the grassy fields that lead to the large patches of trees, marking the edge of Poison Ivy’s territory. Clovers decorate the ground, bees moving from flower to flower. 

There are other dogs on walks as well, making circuits around the park or running after toys. Duke spots a cat in a walking harness as well and wonders if he can convince Damian to get one for Alfred the cat. 

The dog park is on the other end of the park, as far away from Ivy’s territory as possible. The fenced off areas are separated into big dogs and small dogs, with a helpful guide as to which dogs go where posted at the entrance. 

Duke slows to a walk, breathing deeply to help settle his heart rate back down to something normal. Haly walks by his side, tail wagging, as she watches the other dogs run back and forth behind the fence. 

She’s still small, just growing out of puppy size, so Duke leads her into the small dog area, carefully making sure the gate doesn’t open enough for any quick dogs to make a break for it. He walks over to a bench and sits down before undoing the harness on her, setting her loose. 

Haly licks his hand once, then darts away, barking lightly as she joins the other dogs tumbling around each other. 

Amused, Duke leans back at watches as the other dogs sniff her, then do their funny little bowing stomps, moving back and forth before running off so she can give chase. 

He figures staying for an hour will be good enough. That should get the most of her energy out, and then they can make the long trek back to Dick’s safehouse so he can pick her up before he heads back to Bludhaven. Pulling out his phone, Duke settles in to wait, keeping half his attention on Haly just in case any of the other dogs decide to get a little too rough.

The first twenty minutes pass peacefully. Haly runs around and the owners of the other dogs give her pets when she runs up to them. One even went over to Duke to offer him a pack of fruit gummies. 

Then a loud bark fills the air and Duke jerks upright, watching with wide eyes as a colossally large dog, green and glowing and slightly transparent, comes barrelling down the street, headed right towards them. 

He doesn’t have time to yell Haly’s name before the dog is in the fence. None of the other dog owners look alarmed, though, so he watches carefully, prepared to jump up and save Haly at a moment’s notice.

“Cujo!” someone yells from down the street. A guy with dark hair comes running up and smoothly jumps over the fence. “Cujo, how many times do I have to tell you not to run off like that?”

The green dog, apparently Cujo, barks happily.

“And you’re too big for this park right now, buddy. Shrink, boy. It’s time to be small.”

And then Cujo… obeys? The dog shrinks, and instead of being the size of a bus, it’s now small enough to be carried in someone’s arms. 

Green dog is not enough warning for all of that. Dick owes him so much for this.

Actually, he’s kind of shocked that Dick never mentioned this to anyone. Surely a giant green dog would get people’s attention. Why is this the first time he’s heard about it?

“You new around here?” someone asks, and Duke turns to see the person who gave him the fruit gummies.

“Kinda? It’s my first time coming to the dog park. I’m looking after Haly, that one right over there.” He points out Haly, who is running in circles around Cujo.

“Ah, I see. Dick mentioned someone new would be coming today.”

Duke narrows his eyes. He’s starting to get the feeling that he’s been set up for something, but he’s not sure what. 

“I’ll give you the spiel we tell all newcomers, in that case,” they continue. “Cujo is a ghost dog. Poor thing died during some animal testing, far as we know. Danny looks after him, since Cujo got attached to the kid years ago before he moved to Gotham. He’s a kind one, but very nervous, and we’ve all got an agreement to keep quiet about him and Cujo round this parts. You better be holding your tongue, as well, ya hear me?”

“Sure thing,” Duke nods. “My lips are sealed.”

He’ll just ask Dick about the ghost dog situation and do his own investigation if needed. But Cujo is just a dog, and his owner is just a guy. Nothing threatening, nothing requiring a Bat’s attention.

“Good,” they nod. “I’ll get out of your hair now.” They’re gone before Duke can reply, adjusting the hat on their head as they head back to their group in the back left corner of the dog park. 

Satisfied that things are under control, Duke relaxes back into the bench, watching Haly and Cujo tumble around with the other dogs, barking happily. Haly’s still growing into her paws, so she trips and falls often, but gets up without a moments pause, ready to keep playing.

From the corner of his eyes, Duke catches sight of someone walking towards him. 

He looks over and finds Cujo’s owner—Danny, wasn’t it?—approaching. Their eyes meet, and Danny offers him a sheepish smile and a wave. His eyes are a dark blue that seem to glow with some otherworldly light, and Duke can swear he sees something shifting around him, as if the air has turned visible and twists around his body like wisps of smoke. 

“Mind if I sit with you?” Danny asks, and Duke moves to the side a bit.

“Go ahead,” he says.

“You’re Duke, right? Dick told me about you last week.”

It’s looking more and more like Dick is up to something, and Duke will need to get his revenge. “Did he? All good things, I hope.”

“Aha, yeah, all good things. Um, actually I think I should apologize? I maybe said you sounded like my type so Dick promised that he’d get you here somehow. Sorry if this is messing up your plans for the day.”

Oh. Oh! 

Well. That’s interesting. 

Duke quietly shelves his plans for revenge against Dick and takes a proper look at Danny. He’s shy, but with a bright smile, glowing eyes and strange smoke curling around him still, and messy black hair windswept from chasing after Cujo. There’s a flush in his cheeks and his long fingers fiddle with the string of his dark red hoodie. 

“Don’t worry, I didn’t have any plans today. This is way better than just sleeping all day.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Danny laughs, “There’s nothing I like more than being able to sleep all day. That would fix me for sure.”

There’s a loud bark, and Danny’s eyes snap back to Cujo, who is growing bigger. “Cujo!” Danny yells, voice sharp. “Shrink down, or we go home.”

Cujo grumbles, whines, then goes back to being little. The green dog only has a moment to look sad before Haly is tackling him, sending them back into another chase around the park. 

“Sorry about that,” Danny says, slouching against the bench. 

“It’s all good,” Duke replies. “So. I’m your type, huh?”

Danny’s cheeks turn a deep, charming red. He looks away, then nods and ducks his head down. 

“And that hasn’t changed after meeting me?”

Danny shakes his head, then peeks over at Duke, gaze slowly moving up his body until he meets Duke’s eyes. “Definitely hasn’t changed,” he says.

Now it’s Duke’s turn to feel his cheeks burn, flustered and pleasantly surprised by Danny’s boldness. It doesn’t help that Danny is cute, someone he can see himself falling for. 

“Good,” he says, then knocks his knee against Danny’s. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know you more. On one condition.”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“Tell me what Dick told you about me. I wanna make sure he wasn’t sharing an embarrassing stories about me. If I’m gonna make a fool of myself, then I’ll do it myself with no outside help.”

Danny’s laugh is bright and warm and sends butterflies dancing in Duke’s stomach. “Fair enough!” he says. “And you know what? I’ll trade you for embarrassing stories. Trust me, I have so many. Nothing you’ve done can be worse that the dumb shit I do on a regular basis.”

“Woah, woah, woah, confident, aren’t we? Don’t say that until you’ve heard about some of the stupid situation I choose to throw myself into.”

“Please, I’m an younger brother. If anyone knows how to be stupid, it’s me.”

“I’m part of the disaster that is the Wayne family. I think that has you beat.”

“My parents are mad scientists and my dog is a ghost. Try again.” The teasing smile on Danny’s lips makes him want to be reckless, to keep pushing, to go down this path as far as he can.  Duke can’t remember the last time he clicked with someone so instantly, to be so comfortable with them so soon. 

Damn. He’s gonna have to thank Dick for this, isn’t he?

As if on cue, his phone buzzes in his pocket. Duke pulls it out with an apologetic smile to Danny, who leans back a bit to give him some privacy.

The text that pops up is from Dick. It’s a photo of him and Danny from the side, heads bent close together as they talk with bright smiles. He can just make out the wild red curls of Kori’s hair. 

“I’m gonna put jello in his socks,” Duke says cheerfully, already looking around to find where Dick is hiding. 

He probably already moved locations, the ass. 

“What’s up?” 

He holds out his phone so Danny can see the screen. Danny stares at it, then looks around, then stares at the screen again. 

“...Is he watching us?”

“Yep.”

“...Should we do something about it?”

Duke shrugs. “I mean, I’m up for hunting him down and tackling him if you are.”

“I can do you one better,” Danny says with a sharp grin. He whistles, and Cujo comes running over, Haly at his heels, and he skids to a stop to sit before Danny. “Cujo. You remember Dick?” Cujo barks, as if answering. “Fetch! Go fetch Dick!”

Cujo jumps to his feet, grows from the size of a pug to a bear, and takes off for the art instillation farther into Robinson Park. Moments later, they hear a yell followed by loud laughter, and Cujo and running back, Dick hanging from his mouth, with Kori, Donna, and Roy following after him at a leisurely stroll. 

“I think we’re gonna get along great,” Duke says. “He’s gonna wish he never set us up.”

“That’s the way to do it,” Danny agrees.

“Say, wanna grab lunch together tomorrow?”

Danny blinks, then blushes again. “What, like a date?”

“Yeah, as a date. You up for it?”

“How could I say no? I was promised embarrassing stories.”

He watches as Cujo drops a rumpled looking Dick to the ground, half his shirt soaked with saliva. He dramatically mimes being shot in the heart when he sees them both looking at him, and goes limp when Kori picks him up and tries to set him on his feet. 

Then he tries to act very calm and cool as Danny leans against him. “Think he’s gonna follow up on our date?” Danny asks in a low voice.

Duke closes his eyes and tries not to despair. He didn’t even think of that. “Worse. He’s going to tell everyone else, then we’ll have every available Wayne kid stalking us on our date.”

“Guess I’ll have to rely on you to chase them off, huh?”

“Or we can sic Cujo on them again.”

“Or that,” Danny nods. “It’s always effective.”

He’s really going to have to bring his best to the date tomorrow, just to stay a step ahead of everyone else. Maybe he’ll ask Barbara for a favor and get her to lead them off? And if Bruce gets involved, then Duke is fully prepared to flashbang him, grab Danny, and run. 

It’s going to be a disaster.

It’s going to be fun.

He’s already looking forward to it, and from the mischievous smile on Danny’s face, he’s not the only one.

[afeelgoodblog]

Best News of Last Week - July 3, 2023

🐕 - This dog is 'disc'-overing hidden treasures! Get ready for the 'paws'-itively successful fundraiser, Daisy's Discs!

1. Most unionized US rail workers now have new sick leave

More than 60% of U.S. unionized railroad workers at major railroads are now covered by new sick leave agreements, a trade group said Monday.

Last year railroads came under fire for not agreeing to paid sick leave during labor negotiations.

2. Missing teen found after being lost in the wilderness for 50 hours

Esther Wang, 16, had been hiking with three other people through the Maple Ridge park on Tuesday.

The group made it to Steve’s lookout around 2:45 p.m. that day.However, when they headed back down to the campsite, after about 15 minutes of hiking, the group leader realized Wang was missing. They returned to the lookout to look for Wang but couldn’t find her. The leader headed to the trail entrance to notify a park ranger and police.

“Esther Wang has been located. She’s healthy, she is happy and she’s with family.”

3. A dog has retrieved 155 discs from woods. They’ll be on sale soon, with proceeds going to the park in West Virginia where they were found

Meet Daisy, the yellow Labrador retriever with a unique talent for finding lost Frisbee golf discs at Grand Vue Park in West Virginia. Four years ago, while on a walk with her owner Kelly Mason, Daisy discovered a disc in the woods and proudly brought it back. Since then, Daisy's obsession with finding stray discs has grown, and she has collected an impressive cache of 155 discs.

Mason and park officials have now come up with a plan to return the discs to their owners if they are labeled, and any unclaimed discs will be sold as a fundraiser to support the park's disc golf courses. Daisy's Discs is expected to be a success, with many excited about the possibility of recovering their lost discs thanks to Daisy's remarkable skills.

4. Australian earless dragon last seen in 1969 rediscovered in secret location

A tiny earless dragon feared to be extinct in the wild has been sighted for the first time in more than 50 years – at a location that is being kept secret to help preservation efforts.

The Victorian grassland earless dragon, Tympanocryptis pinguicolla, has now been rediscovered in the state, according to a joint statement issued by the Victorian and federal Labor governments on Sunday.

5. Detroit is going to power 100% of its municipal buildings with solar

All of Detroit’s municipal buildings are going to be powered by neighborhood solar as part of the city’s efforts to combat climate change – check out the city’s cool grassroots plan. Meet Detroit Rock Solar City.

The city has determined that it’s going to need around 250 acres of solar panels in order to achieve 100% solar power for its municipal buildings.

6. Canada Officially Bans Cosmetic Testing on Animals

The fight for cruelty-free beauty in Canada has seen a significant breakthrough as the Canadian government legislates a full ban on cosmetic animal testing and trade, marking a victory for Animal rights advocates and eco-conscious consumers.

This landmark decision is part of the Budget Implementation Act (Bill C-47), not only prohibiting cosmetic animal testing but also putting an end to the sale of cosmetics that use new animal testing data for safety substantiation.

7. Belize certified malaria-free by WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has certified Belize as malaria-free, following the country’s over 70 years of continued efforts to stamp out the disease.

“WHO congratulates the people and government of Belize and their network of global and local partners for this achievement”, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Belize is another example of how, with the right tools and the right approach, we can dream of a malaria-free future.”

----

That's it for this week :)

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[w2soneshots]

Early -W2S

words: 1.9k+

warnings: pregnancy, birth.

summary: the boys surprise you with one last trip before you and Harry become parents but it doesn’t go as expected.

notes: hey! Haven’t done one for bog in ages so here’s the longest one shot I’ve ever written to make up for it😚. This was a request and I think it turned out really cute, enjoy🫶🏼💕

Liked by ksi and 205,381 others

y/username: one last trip🫶🏼

Tagged: @wroetoshaw @behzingagram @tobjizzle @faithlousak

-comments-

taliamar: can't wait to see you!😘

-> y/username: hurry up!!

faithloisak: no not that pic pahahaha

y/nfanpage21: are they all on a trip together??🥺

user41095623: the horse🫶🏼

Me and Harry have been together for around 7 years and got married a two and a half years ago. We had a very private wedding with just our closest friends and family. Over a year after we got married we decided that we were ready for a baby and were really excited about it. It took just a few months before I had a positive pregnancy test in my hand. I told Harry that night and he was elated. Everyone has been so supportive and the girls are so excited. We also decided to keep the baby's gender a secret so have only been buying gender neutral clothes.

Last month the boys surprised me and Harry with a three day long trip to a huge lodge/ house in wales, the reason it isn't somewhere extravagant (like usual) is because I'm almost 36 weeks pregnant and can't fly. It's going to be JJ, Simon, Josh, Tobi, Ethan, Harry, Freya, Talia, Faith, Olive and me, unfortunately Vik wasn't able to make it due to being busy abroad DJing. Since we're going to be pretty busy once we have a baby the boys wanted to have one last trip before we become parents.

This morning I got up early and got ready. Since we're going to be in the car for a few hours I put on some jeans and a simple white top. Then Harry got up, took a shower and once all our bags were in the car, we left.

Faith called me after a few minutes of driving, "hey!" She said excitedly. "Hi! We just left." I replied. "Same, it took ages to get Olive in the car. One second she was in tears, then she needed her nappy changed... that'll be you soon." She laughed. I sighed "can't wait." I said sarcastically. She giggled "well, I'll see you there!" "Bye!" And with that I put the phone down.

After almost a three hour drive we finally arrived at our destination. Harry got out and quickly ran around the front of the car to help me out. "Hey!" Me and Harry turned around to see Tobi walking towards us. "Alright mate?" Harry asked as they did their little bro handshake. "Ye great, how are you too?" He pulled me into a quick hug. "Really good! I'm excited to have some time to relax and this place is beautiful!" I answered. Before anything else was said Ethan's car pulled up. Faith jumped out excitedly and quickly ran to give me a hug while Ethan got Olive from the back seat. "Hi!" Faith exclaimed. I smiled "how was your drive?" I asked. Faith went on to tell me about the fact Olive was crying the entire time, up until the last five minutes when she inconveniently fell asleep.

I took a picture of the boys outside the house and sent it to the group chat along with a caption telling them to hurry up. JJ arrived a few minutes later, then Josh and Freya. Talia text the group saying that they were going to be late. So we decided to go on a walk and explore.

We grabbed our coats and started walking, Olive being carried by Ethan. After just five minutes we ran into a dog who seemed to be all by himself. Just as Faith knelt down to pet it I pulled my phone out and told her to pose for a picture. She awkwardly smiled at the camera and we all burst out laughing. The owner started running towards us a few seconds later "oh my gosh. I'm so sorry!" She said after calling her dog over. Faith smiled "don't worry about it."

As we continued walking we spotted a beautiful horse in a field across from the one we were in, both me Faith and Freya took a photo. Then we made our way back to the house. All the boys went out in Ethan's car to get the food for the next few days while we chilled. They came back after an hour with a large selection of food and we decided that we were going to have spaghetti bolognaise for dinner.

Simon and Talia finally arrived a while later, just after we started making dinner. Faith started making the sauce and I helped her by cooking the pasta and tidying up as we went. Talia quickly jumped in to take my place once she'd put her bags in her and Simon's shared room, telling me to 'go sit down and relax'. Which is exactly what I did. Sitting down on the couch next to Harry I sighed and placed my legs on his lap. "You alright?" He whispered into my ear. I hummed "yea."

We ate dinner together at the huge dining table and it was delicious. We decided to watch a movie so all sat in the living room. Me and Harry sat in our previous position on the couch, along with Faith, Ethan and JJ while Talia sat on Simon's lap in the arm chair and Tobi, Freya and Josh sat on top of some pillows on floor. We decided on a movie and within an hour JJ was fast asleep. I was fighting to keep my eyes open when Harry spoke "do you wanna go up to bed?" He asked quietly. I just nodded. "Come on then."

We said good night to everyone and Harry helped me upstairs. "Are you alright?" He asked me as I took my makeup off. "Yea, it's just- my back hurts." I replied. He walked over to me and placed a hand on my lower back, gently rubbing circles. I hummed and leaned into his touch. When we finally got into bed Harry wrapped his arms around me and placed his hand on my bump. I rested my hand on top of his and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I woke up with a strong urge to pee. I slid out of the bed but just before I made it to the ensuite I felt warm liquid trickle down my legs. I looked down "did I just piss myself?" I thought. My eyes widened "no, it's too early!" I whispered to myself. I waddled to the toilet and sat down. "What do I do? We're in the middle of nowhere!" My brain raced, along with my heart.

Once I'd calmed myself down slightly I stood, took a deep breath and went to wake Harry up. "Haz wake up, Harry!" I shook him. He slowly opened his eyes "what is it, babe?" He mumbled. "I think my water just broke." He immediately shot up, now fully awake "what?!" He exclaimed. "Shh, you're gonna wake everyone up!" I whispered.

When we figured out what we were going to do I got changed out of my wet pyjamas and into some sweatpants and one of Harry's t-shirts, brushed my teeth and tied my hair back into a ponytail. All while Harry tried to calm himself down. "How are you so calm right now?" He asked me. I turned my head to him "everything's fine Harry, I've not even had a contraction yet-" just as the words came out of my mouth a tight pain spread through my stomach "ow" Harry rushed over to me "oh shit- are you ok? Are you having a contraction?" He rambled. I nodded "I think so." The pain wasn't that bad (yet) but I was struggling to focus on what Harry was saying.

Once it finished Harry helped me down stairs. I assumed it was really early, like 5am or something but almost everyone was sat in the kitchen. I glanced the clock on the wall, it's half nine. "Hey! Uh is everything ok?" Ethan asked. Me and Harry shared a look. "What's wrong?" Talia stepped toward us. "Uhm- y/n's water just broke." Harry said. All of their eyes widened and their mouths fell open slightly. "What?!" Faith expressed. "So the baby's coming like now?!" Simon asked loudly. "Well, probably in the next few hours." I answered calmly. "No no no, this can't be happening!" JJ nervously started to pace back and forth. Me and Harry giggled slightly at how stressed they all were.

Just as everyone started to calm down I was hit with another contraction. I grabbed onto the counter and my eyes fluttered closed. Harry gently rubbed my back and everyone went silent. I chuckled lightly through the pain "guys I'm fine."

Faith and Talia helped me to the car while Harry pulled together a bag with some of my things. "This will be a good story to tell in ten years." Faith said as we walked out of the front door. I giggled. Once we got to the car I got into the passenger seat and Harry raced out of the house a few seconds later. Everyone waved us off as we pulled out of the driveway "good luck!" Freya shouted.

The nearest hospital was around half an hour away so I had a few painful contractions as Harry drove, nervously glancing over at me as I breathed through them. I called my mum and told her what was going on, she chuckled "it could only happen to you, good luck and call me when she's here!" "Mum we don't know if it's a girl yet." I told her for the one hundredth time since I told her I was pregnant. "Just a feeling!" She exclaimed "I love you." she continued "love you too, bye."

When we finally arrived at the hospital me and Harry walked inside and were almost immediately taken to a room. The doctor checked me out and told me I was almost 7 centimetres dilated and that it wouldn't be long.

She was right because just an hour later I was holding our beautiful baby girl, mum was right. Even though she's early she was checked over immediately and is perfectly healthy. After getting cleaned up a nurse came in to tell me that there were some people in the waiting room that wanted to see me. I told her to let them in, knowing exactly who it was. A few minutes later Talia ran into the room, followed by everyone else. "Oh my god!" She whispered, careful not to wake up the sleeping baby. "Is it a girl?!" Faith whispered. I nodded with tear stained cheeks "yea." All the boys (except Ethan since he was outside with Olive) gave Harry a pat on the back while the girls fussed over me and the baby.

The next day we drove home. Thankfully we'd already installed the baby seat into the car so we could actually take her home. "I still can't believe she's ours." I said as I watched her from my place in the back seat. "Ye, we're actually parents, it's crazy." Harry replied.

y/username

Liked by tobjizzle and 1,501,923 others

y/username: our baby girl🤍 Our hearts couldn't be more full, welcome to the world little Willow Lewis. Mummy and daddy are so excited to be your parents.

-comments-

wroetoshaw: my girls❤️

behzingagram: congratulations again guys😁

faithloisak: cuties💕

r0sielewis: I'm in tears🥺

y/nfanpage21: OMG!!

user71015839: wroetoshaw and y/n are parents. I'm officially old😭

[angelslittlewritingcorner]

DESIRE

(Adam x Lute x Reader)

After you gave so much love to the first part of the series, I thought I'd post the second this week. A little more fluff this time, but the next part will be very spicy. Have fun with it.

Tags: @mournings-stars

Synopsis: Y/N just wanted to spend some wholesome time with her lovers but they had other plans.

Part 2 (of 3)

Part 1

Warnings: Language

Y/N straightened her shoulders and opened the bathroom door. "Yes, I'm ready," she said and let her eyes wander over Lute. She was actually wearing the dress she had just bought. It clung perfectly to her curves and Y/N had to avert her eyes. Even if Lute was an angel, she was made for sin. Damn, she was already thinking like Adam. He came up behind Lute and scrutinised Y/N. "Woah damn girls you look really hot" Lute just rolled her eyes and punched Adam lightly in the arm. Y/N also looked at her other lover and couldn't help but grin slightly. "Adam? Is that gel in your hair and you're wearing a jacket?" He just grinned and his nose coloured slightly pink. "So can we then?" Lute asked, a little more annoyed and held out his hand again. Y/N nodded and grabbed her handbag before the three of them left the flat.

Holding Lute's hand felt incredibly good. She looked quite petite, but her grip was firm and firm. Adam walked next to them and talked about a dog he'd seen the other day that had totally dragged its owner through the mud because it had seen another dog. "And then he dragged him all over the park. I really thought the ice cream was going to fall out of my hand I laughed so hard." His two girls just grinned at the story and threw in a few comments here and there. Once Adam started talking, he never stopped. Y/N thinks it's because he was alone for so long after Lilith and Eve left him. You could really feel sorry for him.

When she first met him, she thought he was just a jerk who was self-absorbed and reckless. Just like the high school jocks in the TV series on Earth. But after getting to know him better and seeing behind his façade, she realised that he longed for love and acceptance. Things he would never admit to, of course, but were very obvious when you knew him.

The three of them arrived at the elegant restaurant and quickly took the seats they had ordered. As they were all quite hungry, they immediately began to check out the menu. "Really a fancy place," said Adam and grinned at Lute out of the corner of his eye, "Yeah, you'd never have thought of such an idea, you Dickmaster." He just rolled his eyes and grinned behind the menu. God those two were cute when they weren't out for blood and fighting. Y/N thought about the little surprise she had in her handbag. When would be the best time to give it to them? Before dinner? After? She decided to give them the present while they were waiting for the food.

After a few minutes, a waiter came and took their orders. He also placed a glass of crystal clear fresh water in front of each of them. No matter how many times Y/N saw the food and gifts of heaven, it was still a mystery to her how everything could be so clear and clean. Every colour seemed brighter and more intense. Lute took a sip from her glass and then put it down. "Y/N darling … why are you looking like that? What's bothering you?" "N-Nothing's bothering me I… well" she took a deep breath "It's just that I have something for you both because today is such a special day." None of the three would ever admit to dating in public. What would people think if they knew it was a three-way relationship? Unfortunately, they didn't realise that they were so obvious that everyone already knew. Y/N reached into her handbag and handed her two lovers a small parcel each.

Curious, the two opened it and stared at the contents for a moment. The parcels contained a bracelet for each of them with the initial letters of the three of them. "I made them myself. The band is made of leather and the letters are made of silver." "That's really pretty," said Lute, her eyes taking on a warm glow. She took the bracelet and held it out to Y/N. "Will you make it for me baby?" She nodded and carefully put the bracelet on her. Adam was silent the whole time and just held out his arm. Y/N put the bracelet on him too. She had been wearing her own since she had left. Why didn't Adam say anything? Didn't he like it? Too cheesy? Too feminine? But she didn't dare ask, after all, she had her pride. Luckily, the food arrived and took the decision off her hands.

After the meal, they paid and went back to their flat together. "Kitten" Y/N turned to Adam. "We have a little surprise for you too" She raised an eyebrow curiously and Adam gripped the side of her waist and led her in the direction of the bedroom....

[tojiscumdumpster]

CHAPTER TWELVE - TOJI

⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀✧ summary page

 Something fucking hits my chest hard when I watch Y/N from afar, waiting for me by the sit-down restaurant where we agreed to meet. 

 She’s just casually sitting there, scrolling through her phone with a soft smile on her face, and I could bet money that she’s watching animal videos. Something I learned about her. Fucking obsessed that woman is. 

 I’ve never had social media before meeting Y/N, but I solely made an account so she could send me those videos of owners washing their dogs or naked cats fighting each other. 

 But what I’m feeling right now is burning the living shit out of my body… in a good way.

 We’d video chat a couple of times throughout the week, and if our schedules align, meet up on the weekends. I know what Y/N looks like. Her face is engraved in my head. But right now while I’m looking at her, I can get over how fucking pretty she is.

 The fresh loose braids that fall to the tip of her ass. The natural glow she has when she sits under the sun, bringing out the brown of her complexion. The fucking floral-printed dress she’s wearing that she sent me a photo of this morning that had me ripping the skin off my cock, holding tight around her waist and flowing down a little past her knees. 

 Everything.

 Everything about Y/N is fucking perfect. 

 Perfection is a myth. A bullshit concept, but for her it’s not.

 Can’t think of a single flaw when it comes to that woman.

 She’s too good.

 For me.

 That’s what my mind will always tell me, and I’ll believe that shit, too.

 When she finds out the real me, she’ll leave. Probably forget we ever happened. Still, the time she’s giving me now, I’ll take it.

 Like on cue, feeling someone staring at her like a damn creep, she looks up at me and holds contact. That huge fucking smile that spreads across her pretty lips has me thinking when was the last time someone was that excited to see me?

 Fushiguro, what the fuck? Why would you care? 

 I don’t. At least, that’s what I’m trying to convince myself. 

 It’s just a nice feeling to have, alright?

 I start walking toward Y/N and she closes the distance by throwing herself at me. Her arms wrap around my neck, and I fold one of my own around Y/N’s waist to squeeze her tight against my body. 

 So damn sweet she smells. Always like vanilla and warm berries. And soft, comforting, even. It feels almost too domestic to kiss her neck repeatedly, but I do it anyways because it’s fucking addicting. 

 “Hi, big guy.”

 “You okay?” She nods, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “You look beautiful, sweets.”

 She pulls apart from my embrace, but keeps her arms around my neck and looks at me, bashful as shit. “Thank you.”

 I pull Y/N back to me and kiss her. It’s like she was waiting for that because the minute my lips are on hers, she relaxes. 

 The taste of her mango flavored gloss lingers on me.

 No tongue. No lip biting. Just a kiss that felt warmer than our other ones.

 She grabs my face to peck my lips back to back until she feels content, and honestly, I didn’t want her to stop.

 Not when she tastes that fucking good.

 PDA isn’t my thing. I actually hate it. Y/N just makes it hard for me.

 Managing to keep my hands to myself when I see her is like expecting pigs to fly, knowing that shit wouldn’t happen. 

 “I know you feel my dick pressing against you,” I rasped. Because the more she keeps kissing me like that, the more tempted I am to fuck her.

 “Maybe I enjoy taunting you? Never crossed your mind that I’m a sadist?” She asks, teasingly.

 “You? A high school teacher?”

 “Being a high school teacher is my seven to three activities, Mr. Fushiguro. After hours is a different story.”  The sexy smile and wink she flashes me has my cock throbbing even harder than before. A fucking minx Y/N is. 

 The day I do fuck her, I’ll make her regret teasing me like this, but a slap on her ass to help that cute yelp will do. 

 After we sat down, the server came over with water and took our orders.  Our conversation was comfortable while waiting for our meals. I split my attention between listening to Y/N and being lost in my thoughts. 

 Hanging out with her feels good. Always does, but it feels so fucking foreign yet familiar. 

 I don’t do this. 

 I don’t invite women out to lunch or other dates. Don’t sit on the phone with them for hours or video chat in silence just to feel their presence while they’re grading high school papers. 

 I don’t have the urge to kiss them every damn second of the day. And I definitely don’t stare at them with a goofy smile on my face, either. 

 But I do with Y/N. Everything about her, us being around each other, feels too fucking intimate. 

 Like how she giggles while swiping the crumbs off the corner of my mouth or me calling her adorable whenever she shies away from my compliments. 

 Her playing with my hair while talking to me. It’s too fast. We’re too fast. 

 Maybe I should step back a little. Can’t grow attached because I know all this is temporary. 

 Everything good is. 

 You unlovable child. 

 Yeah, I know. The Zen’in made sure to remind me every fucking day. 

 “Toji?” Y/N calls for me, sounding like it was her third time trying to get my attention. “You okay, big guy? You zoned out on me for a second.”

 I shake from my musings and clear my throat. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.”

 “Then you should’ve stayed home and got some rest.” Her voice is soft when speaking to me. She doesn’t seem bothered from my horrible excuse to why I’m tired (I’m not). 

 Just pure concern. 

 “Nah, I’ll be fine. Wanted to see you, plus I think the kid would appreciate having me out the house.”

 “How is everything going with Megumi? Still rocky?”

 I chuckle. “Like walking on fucking eggshells.”

 Y/N rests her chin on her hand and gives a reassuring smile, still playing with my hair. “He’ll come through, Toji.”

 “Why are you so positive about it? Me and Megumi’s relationship?” 

 “Hm, because he’s a good kid and I know you’re trying to be active in his life,” she answers. “Yeah, he got suspended from school because he was fighting. And honestly, I shouldn’t be saying this as a teacher, but the reason for the fight was… valid? Or should I say understandable?”

 I raise my brows with a teasing smirk. “Miss L /N? Advocating for teens fighting?”

 “No, silly.” She returns the banter, rolling her eyes at me. “I’m just saying I see your protective nature passed down to him.”

 I quip a brow, confused. “Yeah?”

 “Mhm, one of his classmates was being picked on by the seniors and Megumi defended him. Well, I suppose calling them friends wouldn’t be far-fetched.” The shocked look on my face has Y/N just as confused. “What?”

 “He left out the part where he defended his friend.”

 “Really? What did he tell you?” 

 I throw my head back and laugh, running my hand through my hair. “That they were making fun of his English. You know he’s trying his damn hardest to convince me he doesn’t have friends?”

 Oh, I’m definitely going to hound the kid now with this new piece of information. To make it even better, Y/N tells he has three friends he sticks with throughout school. 

 Why does this shock me? Because my fifteen-year-old boy is finally making friends. A little sign to show that he won’t be a fuck up like me. 

 Didn’t have any myself when I was in school. Those Zen’in fucks were proud to make me their punching bag. It even spread around the school I went to, so no one wanted to be around me.

 Like I gave a fuck. I eventually dropped out anyway. 

 But Megumi? It’s my job as his parent to make sure he doesn’t experience the same shit I went through. He wasn’t always an introverted or shy kid. 

 When it was me, him, and his mother, he was always animated. Gave me a hard time, but always made sure to show affection to his old man. 

 Papa, carry me on your back!

 Love you, too, Papa.

 Papa… Ha, can’t remember the last time I heard him call me that. 

 Nostalgia weighs heavily on me. 

 Guess I should be grateful he still calls me Dad, at least. 

 The weight of Y/N’s stare reminds me I’m not alone. Big brown, glossy doe eyes casting the softest while looking at me. She must’ve noticed the strained expression on my face. 

 My response would be I don’t need pity, but that’s not the face she’s giving me. 

 I grabbed her chin and leaned forward to kiss her lips, groaning upon contact because she’s has the softest and sweetest mouth I ever fucking tasted. 

 A pleasurable sigh escapes her nose while our mouths become acquainted with each other, but I pull back before it deepens. 

 An old fucking pervert like me getting hard at a deli restaurant ‘cuz he’s kissing an outrageously hot woman? Yeah, calm down, big guy. 

 “I’m fine, sweets,” I reassure, answering her unspoken question before we kissed. “Just nice knowing he’s making friends.”

 “I know.” Y/N rubs the right side of my mouth where my scar sits, something she does a lot to comfort me. But never once has she asked me how it got there.

 Maybe she’s just waiting for me to open up. 

 Maybe one day I will. 

 Her phone timer goes off and she groans. “That hour went by way too fast.”

 “Too late to call in sick?” I teased.

 “Yeah, I think I’m about five hours too late.”

 We enjoy some more conversation while we wait for the server to come back with the bill. 

 But the second I was about to say some perverted joke to Y/N, some fucker interrupts us. 

 “Y/N?”

 She looks up to see who’s calling her and the smile that was on her face drops like she drank sour milk. 

 “Ken? I mean, Principal Nanami. What are you doing here?”

 Principal Nanami? You mean the jackass who submitted her name to that summit crap? Her fucking ex? My posture immediately becomes rigid and I let out a deep breath. 

 I don’t know this fucker from a can of paint, but I know enough from Y/N what told me, and let’s just say I’m not a fan. 

 She never badmouthed him. Y/N isn’t that type of woman. She loves hard because even with the heartbreak he caused her, she still finds a way to stay positive.

 Not me, though. Last thing I want to hear from her is how some motherfucker broke her heart because he didn’t give her the time that she deserved. 

 And if you think I’m supposed to give a damn that he’s the principal at my kid’s school, I don’t. 

 My fist is itching to connect to his face, especially when I see the motherfucker checking her out with the eyes only another perverted ass man like me would know. 

 Y/N notices the change in my demeanor, so she begins talking to relieve the tension and silence in the air the moment her ex felt comfortable coming up to us.

 Us…

 “Uhm, are you grabbing lunch?” She asks, nervously. 

 Not nervous like she’s been caught doing something she isn’t supposed to do. But nervous because she knows her ex is on my shit list. 

 One thing I can say about him is that he has balls. He feels my glare piercing his skull, but instead of avoiding it, we have a stare down. 

 “Yes,” he answers, still looking at me. “Appears that you’re leaving? You were on your free hour?”

 “Yeah. About to head back now.” She stands up and runs her hands down her dress to smooth out any wrinkles. And it only gave her ex a better look at her appearance. 

 That’s when the stare down ended. 

 “You look lovely. I’ve always admired that color on you,” he admits, like I’m not fucking here. 

 This motherfucker is really testing my patience.

 Before she responded, I stood up and interrupted. “Everything’s okay?”

 “Why wouldn’t it be?” He asks.

 I shrug, fisting my hands in my pockets.  “Don’t know much about manners, but it makes sense to speak to everyone in a setting you entered.”

 Like I give a fuck about manners. But he has another fucking thing come if he thinks he’ll talk to Y/N without addressing me. 

 “Oh,” he chuckles. “My apologies. Nanami Kento.” And offers a handshake, which I ignored.

 “Fushiguro.”

 “Hm.” His attention returns to Y/N. “Y/N, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the teacher’s summit. If you could stop by my office after you’re done with your classes for the day.”

 “Alright,” she deadpans. 

 “Well, I don’t want to take up any more of your time. Enjoy the rest of your hour.” Is all he says before walking inside of the restaurant. 

 Annoyance still rolls off my skin even after the fucker, but Y/N laces her fingers with mine, and surprisingly enough, I calm down.

 “That was awkward, wasn’t it?” I know her question was rhetorical. A way to lighten the mood, however, I answered it anyway.

 “No. I wanted to punch him.”

 She lets out a short giggle and shifts her weight onto one leg. “You can’t punch my boss, Toji.”

 “Boss? No. Ex? Yes.”

 “Whatever. Come on before I’m late.” Y/N began pulling me toward the street before the waiter came back, so I left enough cash to cover for food and tip.

 We walk in a comfortable silence to her car, and it’s something I appreciate. 

 I’ll never get tired of listening to Y/N’s voice. It’s calming. But just having her next to me is enough. Hand holding and all. 

 Didn’t take us long to get to her car and it made me fucking wish she parked farther. 

 “Thank you for lunch. That spot is good,” she says, breaking the silence. Y/N takes out her keys to unlock her door and I open it for her. Before she gets in, she turns to look at me. “Sorry… You know… about earlier.”

 “Why are you saying sorry?”

 “I don’t know. He was-”

 “Any fucker would act like that if they saw their ex that they clearly miss out with another guy,” I interrupted. “Me? Probably would’ve sat down and crashed your date.”

 She shakes her head, smiling. “Remind me to never break up with you.” And immediately she realizes what slipped past her mouth, trying to clean it up. “Uh, I don’t mean break up. I mean, uhm… whatever is going on between us… you and me.”

 Us.

 You and me. 

 “Yeah, whatever is going on between us,” I mock softly with a small smile on my face. “Text me when you made it safe.”

 For a quick second, something changed. Y/N looks down and tucks a braid behind her ear, fumbling with her keys. Maybe she’s overthinking the breaking up comment. 

 Yeah, it threw me off, but I can’t blame her for thinking we’re together seeing how fast we’re moving.

 Sometimes I forget my damn self. 

 She needs reassurance, and of course my words are stuck in my fucking head. So I do the next thing I think would help. 

 I tipped her chin upwards and kissed her. Usually I kiss Y/N hard. Libido driven. Aggressively with the intent to make her know how badly I want to fuck her. But right now, I kiss her softly. With tenderness and longing. 

 Kissing Y/N will always give me that burn I crave whenever I need to clear my mind. 

 I sound sappy as shit, I know.

 Only for her. 

 “Text me when you made it safe. Alright?” I repeated.

 “Alright,” she answers softly with a tiny smile. 

 I give her a quick kiss on the temple and tap her ass. She shoots me a playful glare that makes me chuckle.  

 Been doing a lot of that ever since I met Y/N. 

 The only fear in my soul is to lose Megumi because he’s all I have left. But these feelings that’s been brewing in my gut about Y/N these past six weeks are scaring the living shit out of me. 

 I was convinced I couldn’t feel this way anymore, that all my ounce of decency and love I had was buried with my wife. Yet here I am, liking another woman. Probably fucking more than that. 

 And I can’t keep saying I don’t know Y/N.

 Because I do know her.

 Just don’t know from where.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

things are finally starting to pick up. i hope you guys are still with me. thank you for reading. i would love to hear your thoughts. (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) ♡

[envirae]

feels like summer — sim jaeyun

pairing: summer fling!jake x gn!reader genre: angst wc: 1.1k warnings: intentional lowercase, commitment issues lol, not proofread so be nice jake's listening to: summer - keshi

NO STRINGS ATTACHED.

that was the unspoken agreement you and jake had when your whole relationship had started. after all, you only had three months together.

your first meeting with jake was straight out of a movie. everything was in the perfect place at the perfect time, and a small part of you wanted to believe that it was fate that brought him to you. you were taking a sunset walk down the beach while the rest of your family had gone out without you. before you knew it, there was a dog running up to you, softly pawing at your legs and barking. when you bent down to pet the collie, you failed to notice her very cute owner running up from behind you.

the very attractive stranger sincerely apologized for letting his dog run off like that, but you assured him it was no problem and continued to pet the dog. he seemed to admire how much layla had taken a liking to you, because after introducing himself as jake, he offered to accompany you on your walk down the beach.

you quickly learned that you were staying at the same hotel, and he told you that he was visiting from australia, but his accent made that pretty obvious already. jake was practically glowing in the sunset, and you'd be lying if you said walking down the beach with him like this didn't make your heart skip a beat.

over the next few weeks, you and jake continued to have little rendezvous together. sneaking out of your hotel rooms late at night, exploring the foreign city together, or simply chilling around each other's hotel rooms. although both of you were thousands of miles from home, you and jake felt more comfortable with each other than you did around anyone else.

by the time you had realized how hard you had truly fallen for him, you told yourself that there was no point in acting on it. you'd be parting ways in less than a month, likely to never see each other again.

so you tried your absolute best to pretend like there was nothing there, but a small part of you still had hope that jake felt the same way.

one night, jake called you a little past midnight, telling you to meet him in the lobby. he took you by the hand and brought you to a rooftop, where you watched fireworks and rested your head on his shoulder.

"i wish we could stay just like this." you whispered.

he hummed in agreement, stroking your hair. "you look so pretty tonight, y/n."

he laughed when he saw how hard you were blushing, and you simply struggled to choke out a response. before you could scold him, telling him not to say things like that, his lips were capturing yours for a deep kiss.

your hands found their way in his hair, and you two kissed for what seemed like hours. "thank you for spending this summer with me, y/n."

you smiled softly before kissing him again, and the two of you walked hand in hand back to the hotel.

the next couple of weeks with jake were perfect. he was wild and carefree, just the kind of thing you needed during the summer. every moment with him was like a dream, between the stolen kisses and the beachside picnics, jake helped you forget about all of the stress of reality back home.

both of you avoided talking about leaving, as jake thought the topic was too sad and serious for how much fun you were having. and though you knew you'd have to talk about it sooner or later, you decided to let him keep having his fun.

with less than a week before your flight home, you and jake went out to watch the fireworks one more time. what you didn't realize, however, was that while you were watching the fireworks, jake couldn't take his eyes off you.

"i'm gonna miss this. i don't wanna go home." you muttered, letting out a deep sigh.

"hey, let's not talk about that right now. just live in the moment, y/n." he replied, but that only made you more upset.

"jake, i leave in 5 days. what's gonna happen to us after we both go home?"

tilting his head slightly, he scoffs at you, as if your question wasn't even valid. "what do you mean? do we have a choice? it sucks y/n but, we're gonna be thousands of miles away."

you frowned. "but don't you feel as strongly about this as i do? i've never felt this way about anyone jake. i don't want us to end. truthfully, i think i'm in love with you, jake"

your words were spilling out on their own, and you watched as jake became speechless.

"i didn't know you felt that strongly, y/n. i like you- like so so much but i have a whole other life back home, you know? i'm not as careless and free as i have been this summer, i just can't afford to be. and long distance is just- so difficult sometimes, and it hardly ever works out."

"i want to try with you, jake. i want this more than anything i've ever wanted." your voice was pleading, almost begging jake to just see things from your point of view.

muttering a string of curses under his breath, jake ran his hands through his hair and let out a deep sigh. "i never intended for things to get this serious between us. in fact- i never intended for things to get serious at all. and believe me y/n there are so many things i wish i could tell you right now, but i think if i say it, i'll pull you into my arms and i won't be able to let go."

you could tell there was more going through jake's mind then he was letting on, but there was no point in asking him about it. he never wanted to show you his vulnerable side, he thought it made him seem weak. you simply nodded in understanding, turning back to the fireworks that were still going off along the city skyline.

"let's just- stay here. we don't have to say anything else." he nodded in agreement, taking your hand and watching the city with you. the two of you sat there long after the fireworks had ended, and you could have sat there much longer if not for the sun starting to rise.

you knew that jake would tell you he felt the same way if he could, and you knew he was trying to act strong despite wanting you more than anything else.

although it was obvious you and jake were never meant to last, something in you was certain that you were meant to meet. you knew that in some, cruel, star-crossed twist of fate, that summer with jake was meant to be.

taglist (permanent): @kflixnet @youreverydayzebra @rae-blogging @icywhatim @sseyk @iuwon @yyx2 @heebabyy @yjwfav  @baekhyunstruly @enhacolor @eternallyhyucks @junityy @changmin-wrlds @luv3iza @yyxy27 @bbyenha-hyung @heelariously @changmin-wrlds @acciomylove @kaexox @heerinnie (apply here!)

[acciocriativity]

WRITTEN IN THE STARTS - KHJ (FROM THE 300 FOLLOWERS EVENT)

(Pictures are not mine, credits for the rightful owners)

Requested from @redheavenwater

This was the definition of trust the process, but ended up as my fav soulmate! au that I've written. I hope you guys enjoy it just as much as I did. @snwusberry your post pushed me to finish this, so thank you very much, love 💕

Ateez Masterlist

It was obvious, so obvious to the point of being written in the starts, but it seems like your soulmate didn’t know how to freaking read.

Where the actual fuck are they?

You’ve been walking around the lake for hours now. The place was packed, there were kids running around, parents screaming, dogs barking, and you had a headache for the last 40 minutes.

It was the third time a place appeared in your dreams, the place where you’d met your soulmate, and you swore the moment you found them, they would be dead. You being there was all their fault in the first place, since they seemed to like nature so bad.

The first time it was a waterfall in the countryside, 135 km away from the comfort of your home. You knew you had the right place as soon as you found the photos. The where you had, but the when was nothing more than a feeling. Three days later to be exact. You were confident in your powers to be excited about this moment… but they didn’t show up, and you made sure to put in the effort to look out for them still.

Is still fate if I have to put this much effort?

You asked yourself as you looked around the beautiful place. It still was a beautiful place, you had to admit the motherfucker had a good taste.

In the other side of the park, Hongjoong sighed as he took another disappointing photo at that beautiful place. If anyone looked from the outside, they could say it was good, almost perfect. But there was something missing, a certain someone, actually.

Ever since he could breathe, he had this vision of his soulmate when he was asleep. She was in his every dream, first in the background, then little by little the protagonist alongside of him. If he closed his eyes, he could see her blurry figure running as fast as possible from a giant monster, but the tattoos in her arms always stood out. The symbol of the witches was the only part he could find on the internet, the meaning of the rest remained unknown. It wasn’t like he did nothing to find her, but he never felt like any of the girls that fitted the description was the real her.

One more, just one more to finish this project

He put his camera inside his bag, then grabbed all of his stuff.

He needed a change in scenery, now, something good enough so that he wouldn’t hate to look at the photos for the next 6 hours while editing them. The families around almost made him regret the decision of coming today. It was his intention to capture those spontaneous moments, but oh god how much he wished it was him in one of those photos instead.

He looked around once again, searching for an empty spot. The lake caught his eyes first, the light shining in the water would make a good shot. Then he saw a girl, she had curly hair as far as he could tell…

Don’t, don’t do this bullshit again, there are a lot of girls like that around here

Yet he couldn’t control the way his heart pumped fast in his chest. He slapped his own chest. It was like that every time, his stupid heart would make him have some faith just to be disappointed later…. he fooled himself a lot this week, so why not one more time? The pain will be Hongjoong’s future problem.

He walked slowly to the other side of the lake, he made sure to take the longer way around it, and to count 30 seconds before he looked at her again, that was a respectful break, right? right?? His hands were shaking, why his hands were freaking shaking? Did he ever feel like this before? No, he couldn’t remember, actually he couldn’t think at the moment, so maybe he did.

You laid down on the grass, tired of all the walking you did and still planned to do today, but especially tired of your own thoughts. You closed your eyes as you tried to let yourself relax for a moment, but the confusion refused to left your body. More than angry, you couldn’t understand why you were failing so much. You were never so mistaken, ever since you’re first discovering your powers in divination.

What if they don’t want to s…

Something felt weird, so weird to the point where you couldn’t dwell in a hole of self-pity anymore. It was like an itch in your mind, but you couldn’t figure it out what it was. Then it became a heat under the skin of your arm, you thought it was actually going to burn you.

You sat as fast as you could, then took out the jacket you wore on top of your dress. All the black ink in your arms slowly but surely turned into a deep purple right in front of your eyes.

Hongjoong felt tears in his eyes as the burning in his skin turned into lines of purple ink, from the very tip of his shaking fingers to his shoulders. He was crying because of the unbearable pain, but then he recognized the symbol, the witch symbol on his body. He was born nothing more than a human, he was sure of it. Now he was crying for a whole other reason.

He envisioned this moment a lot, how romantic and sweet it would be, and he’d shared it with his grandkids one day.

The moment his eyes met yours… he wanted to run.

“You’re going down”, you said as you got up and ran straight to him.

He was paralyzed. it was exactly like the scene in his dream, but now he could see in the perfect angle to have all of your features memorized and… why wasn’t you slowing down?

He felt all of his air leaving his lungs as you both fell to the ground.

“So that’s how it feels to fell in love?”, he dared to say as you leaned over him. You hit his left arm with all the anger you still feel.“Ow, that one, it’s still hurting…”

“Oh, sorry”, you hit the other one.

“Ow, how are you so strong…”, he whined as he moved his arms out of your reach.

“How did you miss the only girl in a protected national park 103 km away from civilization? Are you blind or stupid?”, you tried to keep yourself mad, but it was getting harder and harder as he stared at you with adoration in his eyes.

“Wha- yo- you mean you were there?”, he was wide-eyed staring at you while you got off of him.

“Weren’t you?”

“I got sick that day, I had to ca- wait, you were waiting for me that day? all day?”, he sat up and scoot over beside you, his smile was way too big for someone who just got attack by his soulmate.

His eyes scanned your face over and over and over.

You had people think you were a god because of your powers, but never someone looking at you like you were a god just by existing like he was doing at that moment.

You didn’t know what to do, nor what to say. This wasn’t going how you planned. You were the one making people shy, not the opposite.

“What is your name?”, he asked after a minute in silence.

It was a reasonable question, but it caught you off guard. That was his first question after you jumped him like an angry animal? He didn’t seem fazed after the initial shock.

“Why?”

“I’ll need it for the formal complaint in the police”.

You were the one left speechless as he laughed so hard he fell on his back.

You couldn’t help but giggle, his laugh was too funny to resist.

“How can I be forgiven?”, you asked as you looked down at him. You didn’t notice how much you were smiling, but he did.

“How about you stay like this while I get my camera?”

“That easy?”, you corrected your posture.

“Yeah… it’s all I need”.

[syrena-del-mar]

July 27....

July 27 has always been a day I struggled with. It's my birthday. Some years, I hate this day and other years, I forget about it, usually busy for some reason or other.

Today, I just feel sad.

If some of you follow me on Twitter or talk to me on Discord, you probably know my profile picture is of my sweet old dachshund, Samantha Jane.

Samantha Jane turned 17 years, 5 months and 10 days old today. As of 5:20 this morning, that will be the oldest that she will ever be. And of the 6,731 days she had on this earth, I was lucky enough to have spent the last 1,375 days with her. I know it's funny to say that I expected so many more years with her, especially at her age (insert the Derry Girls meme), but I have 3 other geriatric dogs and she was by far my strongest. I wanted more time with her.

But I'll never get that time with her again and I can never return to 20 hours ago when she was physically with me. So, instead, I'll tell her story to whoever wishes to read this because it's one hell of a life that she lived. I also find comfort that thoughts never disappear, even when they are harder to access, so even if just one other person reads this, maybe there she will live forever.

Samantha Jane arrived at the local pound back in 2007 with the rest of her litter, apparently with a tag that read the date of when they were born. The pound took one look at this litter that arrived and decided that, no, they must be Doberman puppies because of how big their paws and ears. Funnily enough, her first owner, an elderly lady who had just lost her husband, adopted Samantha Jane at 8 weeks thinking that she would grow up to be a Doberman. Spoiler alert... she never did.

But even so, she was so very loved. And from what I heard, Samantha Jane loved her first owner just as fiercely. But at four, Sammie lost her first owner. While I don't know, and probably never will, what Sammie's life was like in her first home, I was told that when her first owner passed away, she accompanied her the whole night, refusing food and water or even to go to the restroom, until her owner passed away peacefully.

From there, she immediately got adopted out to Mr. and Mrs. V, another elderly couple, who were friends of her first owner. If Sammie had been spoiled before, she was spoiled rotten by Mr. and Mrs. V, particularly by Mrs. V. They traveled everywhere together. From California to West Virginia and every state between, the three would go on spontaneous road trips across America. This is probably where Sammie got her love for car rides. And when they were unable to take her? She had a favorite college student who would babysit her and stay over at their home so that Sammie could watch her daily cartoons in the evening on her favorite reclining chair. Mrs. V would type up detailed notes detailing how many green beans Sammie would eat (frozen not steamed), what channels had her favorite shows, her favorite spot to sunbathe, and every other minute detail you can imagine.

Sammie loved Mrs. V immensely—she loved Mr. V as well—but Sammie has always been a girl's girl, and she loved Mrs. V. But time is gentle to nobody, and at the age of 10, Sammie lost one of her owners again. Like clockwork, she sensed something was wrong as Mrs. V was dying and stayed with her, but this time laying herself on Mrs. V's chest—as if wanting to feel her last heartbeat.

From then on, it was just Mr. V and Sammie at home and on those road trips for the next two years. They cared for each other and comforted one another until they couldn't. Sammie was never great at walking in a straight line without roaming, and in one of those times that she stopped to sniff the roses, she accidentally tripped and sent Mr. V flying. In the blink of an eye, Mr. V was taken by ambulance, and this time, there was no favorite college student to take care of her. So, she was placed in boarding for three weeks.

Sammie was not built for boarding and with two broken hips, Mr. V knew it wasn't feasible or good for Sammie to be under his care anymore. So, in the morning, he started asking all the nurses who worked in the assisted living community where he lived if anyone wanted a 12-year-old puppy. News spread, and like a game of telephone, I was told that there was a beagle up for adoption.

By this point, so many people knew that I was looking for a puppy to adopt. I had spent the whole year prior applying and getting rejected by shelters because I was always a step too late to submit my applications. What everyone didn't know was that 7 weeks prior, I had finally gotten the first place on the waiting list for a Maltese-Cocker Spaniel mix puppy, and on Oct. 28th, I had been told that I could pick her up on the 31st. But I grew up with a Samoyed and two big husky-german shepherds, so in my brain, the math of one small puppy + one medium elderly dog really just equals one whole dog. That makes sense, right?

So I did all my shopping, preparing for a tiny puppy and what I thought was supposed to be a beagle. Imagine my surprise, on October 31st, when I arrived to pick up Sammie at Mr. V's home and found myself with a miniature dachshund instead of a beagle. I was shocked, to say the least. But even in that surprise, Sammie came running to me, barking so I would place her in my car. And I mean barking. She barely even gave Mr. V time to provide me with everything he and his wife had bought her: numerous blankets with her name embroidered, her favorite cross-body carrier, all her comfiest beds, all the ties that Mrs. V had made her, and her 70-page medical history book. By the time Mr. V and I were done, Sammie had fallen asleep on the passenger seat without a care.

I like to say that I was tricked and treated that Halloween. She was not the beagle I expected to own, but she was the best friend I could ever have. After picking her up, we drove 4 hours to San Diego and picked up Luna Ivy, who would soon become Samantha Jane's little kid. But even then, during the first couple of weeks, Sammie struggled. She would be happy all day, but the night fell, and she mourned and cried that she wasn't with Mr. V. I would hug her, place her bed on my rocking chair, and do everything that I could to calm her down. But for two weeks straight, she cried every night because nothing worked.

But we all adjusted. It was the pandemic, but we were gifted that time together despite all the bad things. Still, in our little odd way, we became a family. Samantha became my little shadow. Back then, I was in my first semester of law school, and since we were having classes on Zoom, my two girls were always right there on my lap. Honestly, they probably understood civil procedure as much as I did (which is to say, wasn't a lot).

Sammie got to know me and my moods. Whenever I was stressed, she whined until I picked her up and watched TV with her. If Luna was being too much, she regulated. I would even argue that she did most of the training when it came to Luna. She taught Luna how to pee on a pad, let her feet get washed, bark at the doorbell, know when to chill, enjoy a good snooze, and her love for car rides. For never being with another dog in her life, she took to being a surrogate mom incredibly well.

Five years have passed since then. We've gone on several trips together to the beach, the snow, the desert, and across state lines in cars and RVs. Within that time, she got two more dachshund siblings she loved to yell at, a human nephew who would gently pet her back from the moment he could walk, and countless cuddles. She took as many sun rays as she could sneak in and loved to steal some of Luna's food when I wasn't paying attention. She would humor me and let me dress her up as much as I wanted though she would draw the line at shoes.

Now I have a closet filled with her clothes, her embroidered blankets, and her favorite beds, but no owner. Her collar and harness are still hanging up next to Luna's, Samuel Jackson's, and Serena June's, waiting for a walk that is never going to come. I have a cabinet full of her medications that I'll never have to give again. My hallway will never hear the clacks of her feet as she padded through again. And I will never be able to hold her close again.

To some, they might not understand the love of a dog, and they might just think of me as a crazy millennial who is too absorbed with their dogs instead of others. And maybe I am. But that's okay. Sammie was my family. She was there when I almost quit law school. She was there when I got sick. She was there for every single one of my birthdays. She understood. Sometimes a little too well.

And after seeing two of her owners die, she decided that today it was going to be her turn. At 5:20 A.M., Luna entered the room and snuggled beside her on their shared bed. Sammie, who had previously been looking out the door, shifted her head and placed it on Luna's back, getting comfortable for the last time. Seconds later, she would take her last breaths as she looked at her family. We were the last thing she saw in this world.

And just like that fateful October 31st five years ago, I know she will find her way back home this Dia de los Muertos, where her ofrenda will await her arrival so can be with us once more.

[akirathief]

Y'all i got a buck wild story from yesterday

So for a while now, two weeks maybe, my spouse and i have been seeing this cat walking around the apartment complex we live at. mind you, i live in central texas, and currently temperatures are reaching up to the low 90s (fahrenheit), so it's already immediately alarming to us that we're just seeing this cat in the middle of this heat

the first time we see her, we both agree that if the next time we find her the vet's still open we'll see if we can get her scanned for a chip (at the time, it was evening, well past closing for the vet that's within walking distance of our apartment). several days go by and i swear we keep seeing this cat EVERYWHERE, but never when the vet is open.

this cat is like. pretty chill, too? she is super friendly around strangers, not afraid to get up and rub against people's legs, my partner once caught her playing with some kids the other day too. she's a bit skittish, but super affectionate. interestingly enough, this cat has a collar, so like. she's gotta be someone's cat, right??

fast forward to yesterday. my wife (gn) was walking our dog and comes across the cat again. they come back upstairs, tells me that they saw this cat, and tells me that they just found out there's an emergency vet clinic not that far from us. so i IMMEDIATELY grab my stuff and a cat carrier and am following them downstairs to find this cat. i have to get to the bottom of this. this cat is super friendly and still has a collar on. WHOSE CAT IS THIS?? AND WHY IS SHE JUST WANDERING AROUND ALL ALONE FOR THIS LONG?

turns out the cat is alright with being picked up. we take her to the vet and get her scanned, and they get us into a separate room so that the lil kitty doesn't get overwhelmed by the other animals around. she's chipped! so we're waiting for a while to hear back from the vets if they're able to get in contact with the owners.

during this time. this cat is comfortable enough to sit in my lap.

it takes like 30 minutes to hear anything back from the vet but eventually they come back into the room to talk to us. apparently, there were three phone numbers, an address, and an email registered under the chip. the address is thirteen minutes away from where we live. did they move?? and just forget to update the info???

the vets can't give us the owner's info for legal reasons, but have tried multiple times to call the three phone numbers. two of them are dead, the last one hasn't picked up after several attempts. after deciding to leave a message instead, the vet tells us that they're also going to try to email the owners, but can't keep the cat under custody. until they get a response from the owners, our only options are to either take this beautiful baby to the shelter or to take her home and keep her safe until the owners respond. all the shelters in our area are already at maximum capacity and won't be able to take any new animals

so uh. guess who's watching after a cat for an indefinite amount of time?

turns out her name (according to the chip) is Luna, and she's about 4 yeas old. Luna has warmed up to me INCREDIBLY quickly despite everything i've put her through in the past 24 hours, but she is very sweet and cuddly

I'm currently keeping her in my room to separate her from the dog and she has her own lil space in the closet, but she's been very curious about everything around her. so far her favorite spot is on the window sill.

today, after i got home from work, she peeked out of her hiding spot and immediately did this

i'm losing my fucking mind y'all. what the fuck. this cat just SHOWED UP ONE DAY and two weeks later is asking me to hold her like a baby while purring up a storm. i'm in TEARS.

[elvenferretots]

Not to start a training methodology war, because lord knows what we need in the training community is more cooperation and communication, not less.

But I have spent three years trying to be an R+ trainer, trying to grow my method's efficacy and kindness. In those three years, I have been following expensive and time-consuming plans. I have dug deep into behavioural theory. I have thought through every little micro-choice I made with my dog.

And I have to admit, it made me a better trainer. It strengthened my relationship with my dog and my empathy for dogs in general. It also did not solve the problems it claimed it would fix in any kind of timely or client-friendly manner.

It was frustrating. This really neat and wonderful idea of training with kindness. And all it took was one family member not carrying through on the dog sitting for petting and we have a chronic jumper with zero improvement outside of the humans who have extensive training relationships with him. One mistake during reactivity training and we have a blowup that takes us back three months of work for weeks. A dog who bites for the pure pleasure of biting with owners who do not have good timing deciding whether their dog lives in a muzzle because this behaviour is escalating quicker than they are learning to teach alternatives.

And then tonight I am listening to two world level competitors talk, and it strikes me again. To paraphrase:

"What would you do if your dog is chewing the dumbbell? Because I generally would tell him to stop and praise when he was holding it firm."

"My dog would never make that mistake."

"But dogs make mistakes. How would you handle a client coming to you because their dog making that mistake?"

"I would have them do layers upon layers of other training, sending me video, before the dog even saw the dumbbell. The dog would never get to make that mistake."

Like, on one hand, is there anything wrong with that? No! It's great training. But is the attitude accessible? Not at all.

Over and over, I experience this. Even with the classes I really enjoy, you often spend twice what you would for in-person to spend weeks on things like marker timing over video. You get reactivity courses that depend on more management than training. And its not that they're bad ways to train or wrong ways to train. But it makes it much harder to cross over when the balanced trainer who competed nationally or has dogs loose leash walking in a week is running a $25 seminar and free content for the basics, while the R+ trainer has a $150 seminar in which they lay out their first step to a long term plan for the same skills.

I'm probably beating a dead horse here, but if we want your average Joe Public dog owner or even hobby level competitor to pick up R+ training, it would be so valuable to have more resources that were clear, concise, and accessible.

[hazard-and-friends]

here are my two guidelines for feeling overwhelmed by how much there is to work on with your dog and/or major life changes where you need to overhaul your dog's routine anyway.

these are for dogs over 6 months, baby puppies are another kettle of fish and have their own concerns.

needs, wants, and wishes. - your dog NEEDS some things. maybe daily. maybe weekly. but they're essential. without these activities, the dog's quality of life rapidly degrades and behavior problems appear/get worse. - your dog WANTS other things. these things make noticeable improvements in the dog's quality of life or continue to reduce the appearance of behavior problems. a NEED takes the dog from -10 to 0, a WANT brings them to +5. - your dog WISHES for different things. these things are grand! they're things we both love doing! but if the dog doesn't get them, that's okay. there's no degrading in the dog's quality of life. OR they're super high effort for minimal return. take the NEEDS and make sure there's time for all of them. prioritize getting those done. then add in as many WANTS as are sustainable. any extra energy can go to WISHES.

make a big ol' list of Things To Train in big categories. "nosework" is a big category, "fix the alert behavior" is too specific. big lumps. then pick three. this is because, especially with behavior cases where there's a MASSIVE list of concerns, too many options gives us decision fatigue, while too few leaves us feeling trapped and reluctant to engage at all. 3 choices is enough to have some variety if you're in a particular mood, while not being overwhelming. these 3 are: 1. the thing which has the biggest negative impact in the dog's long term quality of life. this may or may not be a thing that's a regular problem, but it IS ongoing and it IS of concern. eg: a dog who needs to get sedated for vet visits a) is not necessarily going to get the best vet care anyway and b) now the human is disincentivized to go to the vet promptly because it's a Whole Thing and expensive, so any little niggling problems are unlikely to be seen. 2. the thing which causes the most problems day-to-day. is it a welfare issue? maybe! maybe not. mostly it's just irritating you the owner and your problems are valid problems to work on. 3. something fun. it can't all be doom and gloom all the time. tricks? sports? go wild. this is because if all we do with our dogs is stressful important shit, we are going to start subconsciously avoiding training because ouch, it's hard. include something silly.

there you go. that's it. Hazard needs some physical exercise (he can get by on 20 min/day for about a week, but consistently needs more like 30 min/day + something genuinely exhausting once a week), needs some mental work, needs to work for his food, and (this one is mechanical, he vomits otherwise) needs to be fed 3 times a day. he wants even more physical exercise, wants a chew a couple times a week, wants social interaction with other dogs, wants to go to group classes, and wants to push his limits (ie learn new things). he wishes for off leash time, novel locations, and a second daily walk.

so when I'm putting together his routine, it has to have a daily walk, 3 different ways to get fed (puzzle feeder, kong, slow feeder), and at least one round of training. when I'm physically fit, I add one or two weekly classes and a weekly outing where he can socialize, go off leash, and/or explore new places. most days now we're doing 2-3 rounds of training.

our 3 training topics: 1. separation anxiety is having the biggest negative impact in his (and my) life. once we get that back to a 2 hr separation under any circumstances, this will change to car-related separations. 2. nails. does it cause problems daily? not really, but it bugs me. it's not a welfare concern really because he can file them down enough to not see major problems, but I am worried about the long term as he gets older. 3. nosework! fun for everyone.

what I love about this framework is it's flexible, allows for the human to be busy/stressed/disabled/etc, and centers both of you. not just the dog, not just you, but the pair. I ask my clients to train something, once a day, 5 minutes at most. once that habit is well established, then you can get cocky and try 2 sessions a day ;)

[elphabashepard]

Today was a good day.

It didn’t start off that way. Or really continue that way, if I’m honest. Several things continued to or went wrong through the morning. Skye got my keys stuck & couldn’t get in to let Serena out. Jim was being a pain in the butt. Callie suddenly needed information she’d asked Keith for two weeks ago (surprise, surprise 🙄).

But I have awesome neighbours, Jo gave Skye my keys, Helen was home to answer Skye’s knock & it all worked out. Skye is so nice & apologetic & would have driven to Stevenage to get my keys if she needed, whereas Kate always makes me out to be the bad guy. It’s so refreshing.

I had a chat with Sarah, only a brief one but enough to remind me why it’s so good to talk to her. Monika’s lovely & I like her a lot, but Sarah & I are so similar, we know what the other’s going to say three quarters of the time before we even say it. I need that sometimes. She knows me so well, she’d clocked something wasn’t right with me before I was even fully aware of it, & being seen that way always helps. Like I’m not some alien that doesn’t make sense to humanity at large.

Then very slowly, all the problems got sorted out. Sarah sorted Callie. I sorted Jim. Skye sent me stuff about Serena, who was doing amazing & Skye really adores her, which always fills me with warmth & relief.

Monika & I got out for a walk & the weather was so much better than I was expecting. Then together (together! What a novel experience that still is, to have someone else to share all this extra work stuff with!) we put a list together that Keith needs. I bounced a few things off her that had come directly to me.

Then I was able to help out at the IDBS meeting & had another moment of someone just knowing me - Robyn really is lovely, I wish I had more to do with her - which made me glow.

I came home to a very excited Serena that I had been worrying about all afternoon because she was so active, but she wasn’t frustrated or mischievous, she was just happy & excited. We met Mischa & his owner on the way out, always lovely to chat (even if I still can’t get used to the compliments & feel guilty about accepting them in case there’s a behind-the-scenes reason he’s paying them because - no. He’s lovely but no). Serena absolutely adores that big gentle giant, it’s so sweet.

Then we met quite a few others dogs on the way round that Serena got to say hi to or play with & that makes her so happy, which in turn makes me really happy & everyone is usually so lovely & friendly to her & me. Serena had a race with a greyhound & finally got outstripped by a mile!

The sun wasn’t completely out but it was so warm - still is! Even with the sun setting. It’s the first time I’ve gotten this year to sit out in my garden while Serena’s playing her sniffer game for her food. I’ve learned so much from other dog people, so much more than I did at first from looking online, it’s made things so much easier.

I managed to complete all the goals in the PQ app for the first time today, have contributed to the group chat & been honest. I can’t remember right now when the last time I felt this at peace was.

I’m still waiting to hear about my blood tests until next week, but at least I know there’s a potential answer coming now, it’s not just that I’m rubbish at getting sleep of any substantial quality.

I’m not saying that suddenly everything is fixed. It isn’t. Serena’s vet bills have made things very awkward, bank wise. I’m meant to be travelling to Newark tomorrow & that’s more petrol to pay for but I can’t cancel because I really want to see the people up there & I owe them that effort.

But generally speaking? Today was good. I’m happy.

[augment-techs]

Cliché, Fetish, kink, and trope headcanon asks

Javi/Ollie

C, B, D, T, L, N, F

(Still someone should throw me down a river 😭)

*siiiiiigh* This is really not a pair I'm inclined to think on, but okay.

Crying: Ollie is not one for tears amongst other people, even those that he trusts, even his mom. He did it so much when he was really little at the tiniest little things--raised voices, an engine turning over, a car backfiring, a cat ignoring his offered hand for pets, dogs growling at him. He can cry, it is not outside of his experience as a human, he just doesn't do it around other people. Javi cries in movie theaters during rom-coms showings when the protagonist and their love interest are in the middle of the movie when things get tough. He is a loving and sensitive soul and makes no apologies. Body: Javi is all about the hands and neck. What he considers to be his most important body parts; the tips of his fingers, the knuckles constantly under assault because of his guitar strings, the side of his palms near the pinkies and his pulse point as especially susceptible to biting. His neck is very ticklish, but suction just brings him down to his knees. The nipples, the top ribs that graze all of his shirts, and his navel are all places that Ollie has no objection to having handled with tender love and care, but. But--well, his underarms being licked will have him screaming. Disorders: ADHD is definitely part of Javi's personality; hyperfocus for his music, forgetfulness even when he writes things down, and a kind of restlessness that can't simply be cured from taking a walk around the black a few dozen times a week. Ollie on the other hand is somewhere on the autism spectrum, most especially apparent in that he has low empathy but not low sympathy and is prone to his rituals and only true belief in science, the things he can prove; which goes a long way to explain why he and Amelia can't agree about the paranormal IN SPITE of being a Power Ranger. Touching: Ollie is strictly inside the camp of not being comfortable being touched unless it is very temporary, or he needs it as a grounding technique. Holding hands is gross to him because he tends to sweat, prolonged sexual contact makes him prickly, and going through training is about as good as it gets for sudden impact if he doesn't give permission. Basically someone has a better chance of cuddling a feral bobcat than doing anything similar with him. Javi gets emotionally drained and sad if someone doesn't brush up against his shoulders, hugs him from behind, give him head pats, or give him kisses every three days. Lost & Alone: Ollie is too stubborn to admit, ever, that he has gotten turned around or lost. He has GPS on his phone, he has excellent landmark recognition, there is no way he could ever get lost, thank you. Javi has gotten lost a few hundred times in his life, but has never felt especially worried about it unless it was for something to do with being a Ranger. Like a house dog who gets out of the yard and gets to wander around for a few hours until its owner tracks it down by the chip in its neck. New AU: Javi met Ollie before he met Amelia, and while Ollie is the biggest, most prickly asshole he'd ever met before then (except for his own father), he is also kind of interesting when he paused to listen to Javi play his keytar, his mouth organ, his ukulele every other day when Javi was trying to practice while avoiding his dad. Ollie can go on talking about the origins of those specific instruments and what songs they were made famous for being included in, and Javi thinks the man looks very pretty when he's out of his head. The Ranger thing still happens, they still become teammates with the others they were meant to be with, but Javi works up the confidence to shut Ollie down in the kindest way when he's being a jerk, and Ollie goes to tell the Warden buzz right off, "He's an adult, he can have whatever hobby he wants." Fantasies | Frot:

Clothes being something of a necessity if they want to go anywhere being cheek pecks or nose nuzzles, Javi is resigned to Ollie wearing jeans, under garments, a vest an a button up even if Javi himself is in the buff and sweating like a pig. Which is not at all unpleasant, actually; there are ways around that. Ollie does not especially like the idea of someone trying to get him off or make him pop like a bottle rocket, but he finds that he likes the way Javi wiggles under his touch, and even likes the way his length slides across his tongue when Ollie puts his all into getting him off instead. They are both fully obliged to touch themselves in front of the other if asked.

[aonoexpat]

10-01-2024

Happy new year everybody! And as the previous submissions highlighted (thankss friends ❤️), yes, it's been a while, and I do apologise for the radio silence. My mental health has been a bit of a rollercoaster the past month and a half, and I've had to prioritise other things. But I'm not about to let the daunting task of summarising 6 weeks in 1 post discourage me! Let's go.

The talks of politics and philosophy at home have continued, occasionally with extra participants. They sent me down a pretty depressing and nihilistic spiral for a little while, but I feel like I've really managed to climb my way out of that again. I was finally brought to a bit of an epiphany that's made me able to at least pick myself up by my bootstraps, and though I'm currently not very comfortable in any hard political or philosophical positions, I seem to have a bit more grip on a general framework again. And that helped me stop moping around and start enjoying my time here more again. Though I'm still quite fragile mentally and quickly overwhelmed, sometimes to extremes that I haven't experienced in years, all in all I feel like this has been an incredibly humbling experience that has helped me grow tremendously. Who knew the last leg of my journey would be one of this kind? I spent four months exploring the South island, and now I've spent the next two exploring my own mind. Though I think that's a journey that will never truly be over, which is both exciting and terrifying.

I have been extremely lucky to be able to live this last bit of my journey rent-free, thanks to my wonderful housemates (and their adorable little dog):

Which meant that I could get away with only working part time. I still thoroughly enjoy my job and my coworkers (we love singing along at the top of our lungs to broadway songs as we clean up after close), but it's great to have a lot of free time around work to meet up with old friends and eat sushi or go to the beach...

...Play board games...

...Celebrate Sinterklaas...

...Organise all my marked road maps, give myself manicures and haircuts, and, with deep deep pain in my heart: sell Elrond 💔 I will say I was extremely lucky to be able to sell him for DOUBLE what I paid for him back in May 😱 I definitely did improve upon him, with the brand new solar panel, newly constructed bed and shiny new rear brakes. Still, I hadn't expected to get my asking price for him, but I got lucky having two interested buyers who wanted to compete. I can barely believe it, but this means I have almost fully earned back my entire South island trip, car costs and fuel costs combined! And now I don't have to worry about the scenario in which I wouldn't manage to sell him, and would have to leave him with friends. All that was definitely the silver lining I forced myself to focus on as I gave him one last deep clean, both to be able to present him properly to his new owners, and as a sort of closure ritual for myself. I cleaned out all the dead sandflies, dusted all the surfaces, vacuumed the floor mats, and gave the kitchen a thorough wash. Saying goodbye is never easy, and I definitely had to fight back some tears when his new owners came to pick him up and take him away. But they are absolute sweethearts (they already sent me a photo from their adventure with him), so I can rest assured that he is in good hands! Farewell my darling, you were the best first car I could have wished for, and you will not be forgotten ❤️

Aside from all that, I was also very glad to have the chance to go on two more spectacular hikes in this area!

Patuna Chasm

This GORGEous ~3-hour hike definitely justified my bringing my Teva active sandals with me from home, as almost three quarters of the walk was through knee-deep river water. It was a cold and windy morning as we got driven to the start of the track in a 4WD car by the owners of the land, and were told to be back at the drop-off point in three hours to be brought back to our own car. If we were to miss that car, we'd have to wait a full hour for the next ride. So with our route map in hand, we set off on the first leg of the hike, which took us up the hills and back down to the chasm. The views were stunning, with spectacular rock formations and the grass on the hill faces waving in the wind like a green ocean:

Down at the river, we got our clothes and bags ready to get wet, and stepped into the water. As we followed the river, first upstream towards some serene waterfalls (where I may have given myself a brain freeze and mild hypothermia by deciding to stand under them):

And then downstream to start making our way back to the car, it started to slowly rain, but that didn't stop us. We saw eels:

We clambered up muddy hills and over huge boulders, down ladders, through deep and shallow sections of the river, explored caves:

And when we finally got back to the section of the track that would take us to our starting point, two of my friends were kind enough to carry mine and our fourth friend's backpack, so we could go down the alternate route: the last stretch of the river, which required us to swim through neck-deep water. I couldn't feel my feet or forearms by the end, but the adrenaline drowned that out as we sprinted up the riverbank to make it back to the 4WD car, only to catch it right as it was about to leave without us! It was absolutely exhausting, but so much good old childish adventurous fun, and one of the most spectacular hikes I've done in the country! (Photo credits to Liv :) )

Escarpment Track

This was the last hike my friend and I did together, which was a sad fact I tried not to think about too much as we walked. The track took us about 10km along the East coast, and it was quite the climb. The view was stunning though, the path itself was very well laid out, with stairs and ropes to hold onto, and benches along the way, which we happily used to take a lunch break about halfway through.

We were very happy to have some cloud coverage that day so we weren't constantly exposed to the sun. My favourite parts were the two rope bridges that were bouncing wildly in the wind. Standing on them felt a little like flying!

And for most of the track we were flanked by immense amounts of fennel, which gave the whole walk a wonderful background aroma:

I was so amazed by the thought that this hike was literally 15 minutes from my friend's home. That type of easy access to incredible nature is definitely something I'm going to miss when I go home. But that made me all the more grateful I got to do this while I still could! (Photo credits to Liv :) )

Soon enough my birthday rolled around, which was an incredibly emotional day for me. I had to say goodbye to my dear friends, one of whom I won't see again before I leave the country. I gifted her a little hand made photo album of our adventures together, which had taken me a lot longer to make than I had anticipated, but luckily I had managed to finish it the night before:

She told me this wasn't a 'goodbye', but a 'see you next time', and though I'd happily believe that, the next time will be at least a long time from now. She has meant the world to me during this trip, has helped and supported me more than I could thank her for, so I had to bite back tears as I watched her walk away. After that I had drinks at work, where my super kind coworkers surprised me with vegan chocolate and doughnuts, making me struggle not to cry for the second time that day. In the evening I had a video call with home, during which I remotely participated in their game of Memory, and still WON 💪����

After my birthday my housemates and I went straight into Christmas mode, running around decorating the house and cooking all sorts of dishes! It was very odd to have Christmas without the associated weather/season, and without getting to see my family. My housemate introduced me to Tim Minchin's song White Wine in the Sun, which makes me cry like a baby every time I listen to it. So I took a photo of myself and my housemates, drinking non-alcoholic sparkling white grape juice in the sun, and sent it home along with a link to the song to make my parents cry as well 😈 We spent our days here enjoying all the wonderful food and the company of the neighbour and his family, and I even got to sing some songs which I hadn't done in a long while. I also got to give Christmas presents to my housemates, which I worked quite hard on: matching cowl scarves for the two of them and the dog 😊

Of course next on the calendar was New Year's Eve. In honour of my family traditions, I got some non-alcoholic sparkling rose and cocktail fruit from the supermarket, and a couple of minutes before midnight a musician friend and I combined them into portable cups, so we could cheers to 2024 at the waterfront as the fireworks lit up the sky!

I had a wonderful night of music, dancing, playing on the beach, walking in the woods, and eventually sheltering from the rain, and didn't fall asleep until 6 in the morning. My sleeping rhythm still hasn't recovered! The next morning I woke up from my alarm at 11:55, and quickly got up so I could listen to the last minutes of the Top2000 and wish all my Dutch people a happy new year at noon. It felt so odd to do this in the sun in the middle of the day, but in a way that felt more real than the midnight before!

The next days I spent some time looking back at my highlights and achievements from 2023, and I created my own makeshift "Spotify wrapped" by analysing some statistics from my offline music player app. It turns out that (besides Asha, which is the music I play to fall asleep nearly every night) Ghost was my top artist of the year 🎧 Oh and I caught a big spider in my room!

For Sinterklaas, my parents had gifted me a metaphorical voucher to spend where I wanted to, so I got myself a ticket to a tour at Wēta Workshop, the SFX and other movie magic studio behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Avatar movies, and many more. I dragged one of my housemates and a mutual friend along, and I'm really happy we got to go! We were shown around the different stages in the SFX process, we got to hold some movie prop swords, and got to see the original weapons and armour used on-screen in a plethora of different movies. Unfortunately for copyright reasons we weren't allowed to take photos inside the studios and work stations, but I snapped some photos outside!

And while I'd much prefer not to face it... By now I have had to start focusing on my upcoming homebound trip. Slowly plans for when I get back home are trickling in, which feels very surreal. I can't believe it's actually only two weeks until I go home, a fact that I like to hide from as much as I can. It's not that I don't want to go home, I've been looking forward to seeing my family again, eating all my familiar foods, seeing my neighbourhood and getting to hug my friends again for so long now. And I am genuinely excited for that. Part of the reason I enjoy traveling is that it reminds me of what I love about home, and allows me to miss it, and return to it more grateful than before. But it also feels like returning to 'normal life'. I'm afraid of going from a time of adventure to a time of stagnation, even though I know that's not a fair or reasonable thought. I suppose something I was afraid of is happening, which is that I feel at home here now, and happy, and have found the right people, and am enjoying the summer, and so going home (to winter 🥶) actually doesn't sound very attractive at all at times, at least not the way it did when I was living in Elrond. Back then I was struggling a lot more, I felt alone and lost, and so the thought of going home felt like such a relief. Now that I've grown accustomed to the luxury of living in a house again, and being surrounded by a social network I feel safe and appreciated in... the contrast is a lot smaller. And it almost feels like I'm going to feel homesick towards here when I go home. Like this upcoming flight is my departure, not my return.

This thought was solidified even more when my housemate asked if I'd be willing to wear a sweater that I'm not going to take with me as much as I can for the last two days or so, so that it will smell like me and I can leave it for the dog 😭💔 I really struggle not to cry at that thought, and I'm wondering if maybe (i.e. am pretty sure actually that) I'm even procrastinating with booking the trip between here and Tāmakimakaurau out of pure denial. I don't want to leave. I don't want to say goodbye, and never come back. Much more than I ever felt with Australia, I want to return here. I don't care when, maybe that will be when I'm old and retired and have no family left in Europe to miss, or when the most important people to me come with me, or if I find out I have been irrevocably changed and flee back here in a year or two. But I want to come back.

I have procured a second suitcase, and am slowly working on getting all my possessions sorted. I've sold my busking amp and microphones to a good musician friend after we'd used it for a last busking hurrah at the harbourside veggie markets last Sunday. It was a fantastic end to this busking season for me, as we connected with the crowd, the weather was wonderful, and I got to sing all the songs that were important to me. I can't bring my guitar with me, so I'll bring it to my friends' house for safekeeping, and maybe they can get it back to me some day. And the big pink bear who was riding shotgun with me in Elrond? It would break my heart to leave him behind, so I stuffed him into one of those vacuum seal bags:

And I'm going to break my back trying to fit him into the new suitcase! He means too much to me, even if I only paid $10 for him.

My to do list is shrinking slowly but steadily, and I really have to plan well to fit everything that's left into the little time I still have here. I am going to make the most of it, spend time with the people here that have meant the most to me, immortalise the memories and when the time comes, I will get on that plane with a fond smile ❤️

[tallgh0st]

i was thinking about one of the few memories i have from before my accident, so i’m gonna share it here because why not

when i was 16 i worked at a dutch coffee shop called tulips cafe inside of a greenhouse and flower shop

the owner was this lovely man jamed John, and i had a lot of shit going on at home, so he made me assistant manager so i could make a little more money to get out of home faster (which i did the next summer thanks to him)

and while i was there, there was this lovely couple in their 80s, George and Shirley (she preferred Shirl), used to come every saturday morning. they would walk by, her arm in his, and she would go through and smell all the freshly potted flowers.

once they were done, they would come sit at the table by the window. i got to know them quickly, so i would have their usual order ready for them as they went to sit. George always had the leek soup and a hot dog, and Shirl always had her italian wedding soup and an oatmeal raisin cookie

i worked there for over three years, from 14 til i turned 17, and every saturday they would come and do their ritual.

one saturday though, they didn’t come. they’re much older, especially to 16 year old me, so i looked them up in the customer registry and called to see how they were doing. George said Shirl was in the hospital, but that she’d be out soon.

a month later, George came in with Shirl again. she had a walker this time, so they moved a little slowly, but they came by and made their way to smell the flowers.

it went on like this for awhile, until they missed another weekend. i called as usual, George said Shirl was doing a little rough, but that they’d both be back soon.

a few weeks later, they came in, this time Shirl was in a wheelchair, George slowly pushing her. i noticed she had sunglasses on this time as they headed to the flowers. George would pick up each little planter and hold it up to Shirl, and she would do a little lean in and smell.

George told me after he seated Shirl by the window that the second stroke took her vision and that she was fading pretty quickly. i brought their food over, and Shirl just said “thank you for being such a sweet boy to two old birds” and laughed.

the next weekend, George came in a little later than usual, but alone this time. he walked by the cafe to the flowers and stood for a moment. i boticed he was standing there and he asked me “dan would you like to stop and smell the flowers with me a moment?”

so George and i went through the flowers, stopping to smell each little freshly potted flower. we walked back to the cafe and i asked if he’d like the usual. this time he just wanted an oatmeal raisin cookie and a black coffee, and asked me to join him.

so every saturday after that, George would come by the cafe, i would put up my “be right back” sign, and we would smell the flowers, and then sit with our black coffee and oatmeal raisin cookie.

eventually George stopped coming. i didn’t call this time, i felt it in my heart that I had seen him for the last time.

the following weekend, Saturday morning, a solid 15/20 people in their Sunday best showed up. one of the ladies asked for dan, i told her she found him, and she gave started to cry and said her father George always mentioned the nice young man named dan that he would have coffee with. she said that they had all come for his favourite leek and potato soup and a hot dog to celebrate his life after the funeral.

so i put up my little “be right back” sign and we all went to the greenhouse, holding up little planters for each other to smell, before heading back to the cafe so i could make their lunch.

theu asked for a family photo with me, and they all hugged me on the way out.

anyway i’ll remember George and Shirl no matter how many head injuries i get haha, cause i’m sure another is just around the corner