#also they were basically new! they were still wrapped in the original plastic bags inside the boxes! yay!

[miyaniacs]

Christmas Eve

a/n: I wish you all of you who celebrate Christmas a Happy Christmas and I hope event this year was horrible, you all find at least a bit of joy and peace. If any of you needs to talk because they have to deal with some family or personal issues during this time, I'm here for you. At those how don't celebrate it: It isn't, besides Bokutos, really themed about religion, it’s just to hopefully make all of you laugh ❤️ 

form: total shitpost

characters: Atsumu, Osamu, Sakusa, Oikawa, Kuroo, Bokuto x gn!reader

warnings: lowkey nsfw (just some suggestive stuff I’d say 16+), bdsm mentions (but in a funny way - there’s nothing really sexual), mentions of sex toys and Bokuto’s is just wholesome

masterlist

Atsumu

Let’s set the atmosphere okay?

The tree is lit up, the decorations are sparkling, all the other presents are illustrated by the lights on the tree, it’s dark outside, soft snowflakes can be seen, in the background you can hear some beautiful old Christmas songs being played

The little bell rings calling you in the room 

Yet, you prepared a small surprise too 

With you, his family is walks into the room 

They originally couldn’t make it in time and it was visible for you that this really saddened Atsumu - he’s used to spend Christmas Eve with his parents and his brother - playing silly card games, him and Osamu almost knocking over the tree etc

Well 

Surprise. 

You all walked in saying a loud : SURPRISE 

Which turns into a loud scream as soon as they see Atsumu laying under the tree with a sexy present costume

it’s literally just a big red band wrapped around his body with the bow right over his thingy 

Head rested on his elbow, one of his legs swung over the other in a rather sexy way 

The screams of you and his family mix together with his screams 

The only one who was still able to think fast was Osamu - that’s why now a video of the whole thing is sending to the MSBY groupchat (also to the chat they got with their old Highschool team) 

While trying to escape the whole situation Atsumu got also caught in the tree

Now there’s a red fabric hanging in the tree and a naked Atsumu running upstairs 

Osamu

Osamu was stressed the whole time before Christmas 

He got so many jobs for some big companies to deliver his onigiri 

Besides that his shop was full af with all the friends that met up again due to them being back home during the holidays 

He was a mess 

So you managed all the household: cooking, cleaning, making sure he at least relaxed a bit, decorating etc

You’ve barley seen him anyways

Fast forward to Christmas Eve:

You received an emergency call from Atsumu, so you’re on your way to his, mentally cursing him since you still have to make the last preparations for tonight

At his - it was just some : how do I clean this or that emergency 

Annoyed af you make your way back home

Unlocking the door, you’re greeted with some ‘all I want for Christmas’ and the apartment being all dark, just illuminated with the sparkling Christmas lights 

“Osamu?” You call out for him walking through the apartment, the music getting louder and louder 

Opening the door to your living room, you’re greeted with the sight of Osamu, dressed in a sexy butler costume, his torso completely revealed, and a bow around his neck 

“Sit down my love.” He says and pulls out one of the chairs for you 

You sit down and look over the beautiful decorated table, filled with all kinds of mouth watering food

Looking back at him, your eyes rest on his toned chest “Was... was this all planned?” 

“Yes, I thought I’d give you something back for all your support the past weeks”  he smiles and leans down to give you a kiss 

“Then I’ve been a bitch to Atsumu for no reason..” you mutter 

“ There’s always a reason to be a bitch towards him” he laughs, “now, my dear - what can I serve you?” He bows

Sakusa

You in a maid uniform with lots of cleaning utensils that are sex toys Dom reader like 

As soon as Sakusa enters his home on Christmas Eve, a big black fabric is pulled over his head and he’s dragged into the living room and pushed onto a chair

“Only good guys get presents right?” You say teasingly  and your hands run over his chest , starting to unbutton his shirt 

Slowly you pull the blindfold off his head

His eyes widen, then darken and then he looks at you with an eyeroll 

“Are you serious right now?” He huffs

You’re wearing a sexy maid costume, the feather duster in one hand and the other one placed on your hip 

“Nahhhhh - dirty boys aren’t allowed to talk.” You lean forward and place your finger on his lips, “how are we supposed to celebrate and enjoy Christmas when we’re both not clean?” 

Leaning to the right you grab a bottle tilted “Mr Clean - hand sanitizer” rubbing it on your hands, you walk behind him and start massaging his shoulders with the body oil. 

After that, you walk back around him and bend down, the skirt moving upwards, exposing everything to him 

“You’re pretty clean now, but could you help me cleaning myself?” You ask and hand him a little present. 

Unwrapping it, he rolls his eyes yet s smirk appears on his face 

“For the really stubborn ones” he reads out looking at the lube in his hands 

You look at him innocently “Yes,..., we can’t let any dirty germs touch our preciously wrapped gifts, can we?” 

He nods in response and gets up, walking over to you

“No, no we can’t... let’s get you all cleaned up now ... shall we?” He asks in a husky voice and throws you over his shoulder carrying you to the bedroom 

Oikawa

Getting tied up he’s exited a male dom getting into the room destroying 90% of his closet while degrading him and his style => presents a whole new closet from you and his friends and family 

His clothes are horrible 

Besides sports wear his taste is ... a whole catastrophe

so together with his friends you planned a surprise for him

Oikawa knew something was up- but he expected a different kind of surprise- he hoped you’d be his present tonight and that you’d strip for him, since he’s basically begging you to do so the past weeks

When it rings on his door that evening, he opens the door fully expecting to see you standing there 

Quickly his smile drops when he’s got pushed back inside by a man wearing a leather mask 

“Go to your closet.” He demands and makes the whip in his hand more visible 

With a small Wimper oikawa hurries to the room

The man towers over him 

“Open” he underlines his words with a loud whip and oikawa does as he’s told to 

“Now put all your clothes in this here!” He throws a black plastic back to oikawas feet 

“Strip and put them into it to.” Another whip echos through the room and oikawa whimpers again, eyes wide open and he slowly begins to pull off his hoodie 

“Faster!” 

“Now put this on!” He hands him a collar with a leash on it

Grabbing the black bag and the leash he drags oikawa back to the front door

“Wait wait - what are you doing !!” He finally complains 

The man stops and takes out a gag and quickly fixes it around oikawas head

“MH- MHHHH HHMMM” he cries out

“QUIET!” 

Opening the front door, the man drags Oikawa outside where a few people are already waiting, filming the whole thing

“Here.” The man throws the bag to the ground and hands you the lash 

“Have fun.” 

“Y/N MHLNG Y/N!” Oikawa ‘says’ shocked

“You didn’t listen to us ... so we had to force you.” Iwaizumi says, standing next to you

“Your clothes were horrible.” Mattsun complains 

“New ones are already laying under the tree , love.” You smile and pat his head, the leash still in your hand 

“Well... have fun with him - I think we should go now.” Iwaizumi laughs

Bokuto

Yes. Yes Bokuto still believes in the Christkind (just look it up - the translation is so ugly so I’m using the German word)

And it’s way too precious so non of you ever told him the truth 

So here you are, getting dressed, putting on a white loose dress, white wings, soft golden eyeshadow and curling your hair / putting on a blond wig

Akaashi, Kenma and Kuroo - who will celebrate Christmas with you two - enter the house, together with Bokuto 

Kuroo is talking EXTRA loud to make sure you hear them coming back 

“Huh? Why is there light in the living room?- Y/N shouldn’t be home by now.”  You hear Bokuto ask confused 

Grabbing the small bell, you take a quick glance into the mirror and ring it 

“A BELL??? OMG AKAAAAAAASSSHHHIIIIIII IS IT - OMG OMG OMGGGG!“ Bokuto screams and runs to the room 

Opening the door his eyes lay on you, the angel standing next to the tree, about to place a small gift under the tree, ready to ‘leave’ again 

Bokutos eyes shine like the stars, his mouth wide open, whole body shaking 

“You ... you ... you’re real!?!” He mutters 

‘Shocked’ you spin around, the gift still in your hands and look at him 

You smile softly and walk towards him 

Your hand takes his and you place the gift in his hand, get on your tip toes about to give him a small kiss on his cheek, but he moves away

“No, I’m sorry, but I got a beautiful s/o.” Your heart melts at his words, the real angel in this room truly is Bokuto himself 

You smile and look at Akaashi, telling him to distract Bokuto so you can leave again - which he does 

A few minutes later you open the front door, dressed as usual 

“OMG Y/N - YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT!!! THE CHRISTKIND WAS HERE !!!! HERE AND IT GAVE ME THIS PRESENT!!!! ITS A PICTURE OF US ON OUR FIRST DATE!!” He rushes over to you and shoved the framed picture into your face

“A REAL ANGEL - AND YOU MISSED IT!” He pouts

“I’m sorry Bo” you mutter and give him a quick kiss 

“But ... I have to admit ... besides all their beauty, you’re way prettier than them... I can’t call you angle anymore knowing that your beauty outshines them.” A soft smile forms on his lips and you feel tears forming in your eyes. 

Kuroo

Kuroo saw your google history 

He saw that you kept on looking for videos of a sex swing and how it works etc

So he knew the perfect present for you for Christmas 

On the box it only said Swing - red, silk

So no biggie 

Well... your parents invited themselves over to yours for Christmas Eve. 

Together with your little cousin

Before it comes to opening up the gifts, traditionally you had dinner first. 

Michale Buble was playing, your parents and his dad ( who got invited by your parents ) already had too much to wine, your little cousin bouncing on the chair, waiting to finally  open up the presents. 

If Kuroo knew, that your family’s would come, he wouldn’t even placed the swing under the tree, but they just appeared on your door with food and presents 

So now - the swing was the biggest present 

“Y/n... Y/NNNNNN” your little cousin asks you while already sitting under the tree eying all the presents

“Yes?” You laugh

“Can I open your presents????” She asks

“Sure.” You smile, knowing how much she loves opening them 

Next to you, Kuroo’s heart stops, cold sweat running down his neck 

Your cousin hands you the two small presents on top of the big one

“Here I just want to open the big one” 

“Are those yours?” You ask and look at Kuroo, who just nods

“Babe... what’s wrong?” You ask him, but before he could answer, the ripping sound of the wrapping paper is heard 

“OMG Y/N HE GOT YOU A SWING?! I’M SO JELLY!!!! AND A RED ONE TOO... OMG IS THIS A SWING OUT OF THOSE MOVIES??? THE ONES WITH SILK AND NOT WOOD???” 

(Insert : oh no- Oh NO - OH NONONONOOO)

Your eyes widen.

All blood  leaves yours and Kuroos face 

Your mum takes a big sip out of her glass

Your dad glares at Kuroo 

His dad looks ashamed at Kuroo 

While your cousin opens the package and fiddles with the red silky stuff 

“At least the color fits in the room.” Your mum laughs taking another sip of her wine 

tagging: @kenmasgameboy

#🔪 #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x y/n #atsumu x reader #osamu x reader #sakusa x reader #oikawa x reader #kuroo x reader #bokuto x reader

[bioodorange]

||How I See The Pastas||

© @frozensriracha, for some help with visuals!!

This was originally supposed to be how they looked but I decided to go for mental aspect and explain why as well PLEASE like, reblog and share your thoughts on this in the comments or inbox

Below the desciptions are images i’ve compiled and some art (if you know the creator please tell me so i can credit them) for a visual

dont forget to like reblog and share your thoughts with me, I spent a few days on this so i’d appreciate this

Jeff the Killer

So lets start with the obvious- jeffs pasty white toothpaste lookin skin

But realistically he wouldn’t be completely covered in scars

It would be blotchy, with pink fleshy patches among the burns

He most likely has contracture scars, third degree burns that turn the skin a pale white and tighten the skin

This explains his gaunt features and skin color

Now we have to take into account the vodka that was splashed on him, he’d probably have worse burns there with exposed flesh and damaged nerves

This would result in gnarly exposed skin, a damaged scalp and maybe damage to his teeth and eyes

Realistically, Jeff wouldnt have burned off his eyelids that alone would have resulted in blindness and death

Than his smile, his signatuure mark would probably be more of a gangly bloody scar mess

Pastas heal faster and aren’t really human, he’d have to recut his smile pretty frequently making it pretty jacket up because ltes be honest hes far from clean

ANd than his hait being chard black is very unlikely because as nasty as he is he s h o w e r s

not very frequnetly given his living situation and untreated burns but people can figure out how to wash hait and not much else

also i think its funny he’d shower with a plastic bag on his face to avoid getting soap in his nasty infected scars-

His hair would probably be dry and cut unevenly, more of a dark brown color with blonde undertones

Not to mention his burned scalp, hair probably wouldn’t grow there so he’d have a cool unintentional side shave

Jeff would also be a tall individual, he cant really eat, snacking on things from his victims homes giving him a more skeletal build

His personality and mindest is about as pretty as his face- but he most likely has a very screwed up headspace

Lacking in self care, maturity and sanity its fair to say he’d be a brash and violent person

Fun Fact: While researching this I learned that some versions of the joker had facial scars in the shape of a smile

Ticci Toby

So tobys age, unlike a lot of pastas, is pretty well agreed on, 19

So unlike when he was first a proxy toby most likely has stronger facial features and facial hair

Because shaving and hygiene isn’t first priority for pastas (gross-)

He stands around 5′7 and has grayish skin

Toby i feel is picky about foods, not only is it hard for him to eat its hard for him to keep food down

He’s malnourished explaining his thin figure and grayish skin

His hait is dark brown and a curlish mess, unkempt but short so it doesn’t get in his way

I’ve always seen him with a small gap in his teeth, because I can

And since toby can’t feel shit I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to eat rocks simply because he fuckin could

So some chipped teeth that are a bit uneven

Along with his CIPA and not eating enough Toby would bruise easily and have lots of scars, from things like cutting his finger on accident or getting mauled by a racoon

I wouldn’t be surpised if some of his joints were a bit screwed up, because whenever theyd beak or fracture he wouldn’t notice, this would probably happen a lot causing them to not heal correctly

One of tobys habits is nailbiting but he cant te;; when too far is too far

His fingers may be abit odd looking, knobby and discolored nails because of how exetreme his habit is

Would most likely have bandages around his fingers frequently to prevent the habit

So theres a lot of debate about tobys cheek was it the CIPA or the car accident, I beileve the accident because his other cheek is completely fine, theres damage from the OUTSIDE to inside and considering his sister died in the accident its unlikely he survived unscathed

Fun Fact: only a small handful of people have ever been diagnosed with CIPA, less than 500 (documented) cases around the world

Bloody Painter

So Helen is often seen as quiet emo painter boy 

but uh no <3

Personaly i beileve he suffers from narcisistic personality disorder, exetreme importance and that he is always victorious and gets what he wants

This sporuts from the constant heavy invalidation from classmates, toxic friends and neglect from his parents

He doesn’t hang out with people because he doesn’’t lie them its because they never let him in the past and he beileves he’s better than them

But this also links to deep rooted insecurity and social anxiety/being inept completely

Him being nice is basically so you like him, he wants validation amd admiration not love

Unlike the other pastas he’d be a more clean well kept one a helthy figure and some tattoos bevause he can

I beileve he lives in socity, finding hus victims in girls and men alike who fall for his charm

he uses hhis skill and ordinary appearance to blend in on the streets

From his behavior helen most likely keeps his hair a bit shorter and clean

He always looks his best

Has chapped, and picked at lips because of his anxieties

Aswell as his breakdowns- his identity is completely in his head, he is very unsure of who he is and takes the delusions in his mind as reality

Unrelated but paino fingers-

And finally in order for his art to be as perfect and amazing as him, he has to be apart of it

Thus using his own blood in his pieces and the body parts of those he admires

Covers his scars with clean bandgaes

But his paintings turn brown and dry out, he’s always in need of a new medium

Is most likely anemic from all the blood he looses and has a paler skintone

Clockwork

ahh yes finally someone who knows what self care is-

helen, i love you buddy but you need to stop 

But anyway natalie has a stronger, athletic build

She often chases her victims and gets in altercations, relying on strength most  of the time

on that same note, this would defintelty cause many scars on natalie

Wether it was a bite mark or scars from a kitchen knife, shes got lots of scars

A few even on her face

Now, for the clock in her eye that thing is like holding her skull together at this point, realistically

She is probably delicate and cares for it becaise 1) it hurts 2) if it gets screwed up that could cause a lot of problems

natalie would be a smart person, I wouldn’t be surprused if she had a few other stray stitches or bandgaes wrapped around a fresh wound

For more visual-ish things uh m u l l e t (credit: @cum-looking-sock-mf in a chat like 4 months ago)

She has one, fight me on it

but also thick and curlish hair so I also riase you

Undershave

just y e s

I can also see her getting tattoos over certain scars on her arm, just to make them look not so ugly

I feel like clockwork wishes things worked out better

Wishes for another chance but knows she’ll never get one

Thus her taking goof care of herself

Natalie throws herseld into her “work”, keeping her body in shape and killing people

Its a way to avoid her life and that it is- a huge, sad mess

Shes an outgoing impulsive individual, confident but questions her actions

She’s also unstable- protective and loyal but explosive and strong 

Jane the Killer

Jane is the final one, im sorry I couldn’t do more theres a photo limit and I wanna bash my head into the wall

Now a main different between her and jeff is she had surgery and lie treatment

Janes skin is still greatly scarred but it is greatly healed

She takes care of it and had skin grafts

Her face is disfigured, a scarred smile and burns around

But unlike Jeff she doesn’t recarve the cut so its a cleaner line and a lot healthier

Janes hair took a rather long time to grow back, but it did! 

She has a slightly long pixie cut a bit choppy but she doesn’t mind

Her wife definetely cuts it for her and you can fight me over that

I can see Jane having a lot of facial trauma, scars around her nose and cheeks

She was young when she started killing and went for the over the person, pin them down kill which didn’t work out

She switched to a silenced pistol after awhile, you know like a smart person

Janes arms and legs are in alright condition where most of the burn trauma is on her back

She has a leaner but healthy figure but like boobs-

Like clockwork and Helen she takes care of herself

She doesn’t kill as frequently, going after a few of jeffs victims before him and is of course, actively hunting him down

Her eyes are a pale green and she wears makeip to fill in her eyebrows because those bitches take a long time to grow back

fun fact: jeff has no eyebrows, fight me

#jeff the Killer #creepypasta #creepypasta headcanons #slenderverse #slenderverse headcanons #jeff the killer head canons #ticci toby headcanons #ticci toby #bloodypainter #bloodypainter headcanons #clockwork headcanons #clockwork #jane the everlasting head canons #jane the everlasting #jane the killer #jane the killer headcanons

[seeds-and-sins]

F**kin’ Diabolical (Chapter 2)

Master List

Pairing: Homelander / Original Female Character, Billy Butcher / Original Female Character

Rating: M (Strong language, sexual themes)

Decription: Carly Danvers is a reporter/radio show host/annoying little piece of- For reasons unknown to Vought, she decided to start a one man investigation on Vought's operation. Her efforts had been quite successful so far, so much so that Stillwell would have done anything to see the young girl dead. Turns out Stillwell didn't have to do anything at all, while one piece of evidence against Vought causes Danvers to fly too close to the sun. And Homelander flies after her.

Chapter Summary; Carly, Allen, and the doctor end up going to the Vought lab. What follows are some unexpected events, avert your eyes.

    Stillwell was calmly going through leftover paperwork for the day, considering that perhaps she should head home soon, but she wasn’t tired enough quite yet. She removed her readers, the stillness and silence of her office engulfed her, gave her a place to think. She wondered if Homelander was watching her this very moment, fantasizing about her, her breasts, her body, or maybe she was lost to him. Ever since Danvers came around, it had been hard for him to focus on anything else but that stupid girl. Maybe Stillwell needed to resort to other methods, maybe the girl needed to go for good.

Boom!

   Homelander stormed into the office, the door falling off a hinge and going crooked. Stillwell jumped from her seat, words of shock and annoyance threatening to leave her lips. Homelander calmly walked over to the remote that was sitting soundly on the arm rest of the couch and he flicked the TV on. The news showed a familiar building, burning down to the ground, as firefighters were on the scene hosing it down. The credits read on the bottom, 'Vought lab fire, twenty-three dead'. Homelander turned to Stillwell, jaw tight as he waited for her to explain. Stillwell shook her head and gestured to the TV for an explanation.

"Did you do this?" 

"I was going to ask you the same question." Homelander's grip nearly crushed the remote as he increased the volume on the TV, the news reporter flashed onto the screen.

"Among the twenty three found dead. One did survive and is in critical condition at the NYC hospital. Carly Danvers hosts a radio show called 'Not so Super Superheroes'. She has no family, but her supporters have asked the police to do a thorough investigation into potential reasons why she was being held at the Vought facility-"

"That little bitch." Stillwell growled, Homelander's glare intensified. Madelyn felt her heart skip, wondering the lengths that Homelander would go for this Carly Danvers girl. She realized she needed to work her magic again, get Homelander on her side. Madelyn stepped up closer to Homelander. He crossed his arms, finally crushing the remote in his grasp, pieces of it falling to the floor. "I knew nothing about this, baby. I truly didn't. You know how much Danvers hates our operation here, she would do anything to get back at us..." Her fingers crawled their way up Homelander's bicep and his expression clenched as it dawned on him what Madelyn was hinting at. "Maybe even burn down a Vought facility."

"She wouldn't do that." Homelander shot out between clenched teeth, hating how much the girl had had an effect on him. A pathetic human flesh bag was what she was, but the way she made him feel... While at times Stillwell cowered behind her desk, Danvers was headstrong and determined. She never allowed Homelander to get in her way, no matter how powerful he was.

"And how would you know?" Homelander didn't want to seem soft for the girl, but Carly Danvers had a heart unlike anyone he had met. Really, she did, she really cared about people and she wanted to make a difference in the world. It was one characteristic, among many, that made her so amusing to him. Especially when she talked so highly of him, when he knew the monster he was.

Well, he also knew that this game of theirs wouldn't last long. She was part of the opposition, eventually she would intervene in his plans and he couldn't let that stand, no matter how much he liked her.

"I will take care of it." Was all Homelander stated in reply, it was a stern, stoic tone that made Madelyn shiver the slightest bit. He then turned and stormed out of the room, leaving Madelyn to stand there with this wicked glimmer on her lips.

"Authorities will wait until Danvers comes to so that they can investigate the causes of the fire further and perhaps foulplay. It appears a protest has broken out at the scene of the fire. We tune into one of Carly Danvers strongest supporters at the scene."

"Danvers was murdered because she knew too-"

   When Homelander arrived at the hospital, he was welcomed with open arms, guided to exactly where Carly was. He greeted the investigators with a ‘you are the real heroes’, everybody always loved that, and then proceeded into her individual room. Hovering over her was a doctor in scrubs, taking notes on a clipboard, measuring her vitals, a melodic beeping sound echoed through the quiet of the room. Homelander closed the door behind him, alerting his presence to the doctor. The doctor turned to face him, a bright anxious smile flew onto his once neutral expression.

As he moved aside he revealed to Homelander the person of none other than Carly Danver. What surprised Homelander the most out of everything before him was the fact that she was absolutely intact. She was the survivor of a horrible fire, and yet, she looked as beautiful and as glorious as she had been that morning. A breathing tube shoved into her nose, sensors attached to her chest, and her hair fanned around her head as though she was an angel. She was doning oversized patient garb, her hands laid out over the blanket that had been pulled up to her stomach. 

"H-Homelander? I can't believe you're here..." The doctor sputtered, Homelander stepped further out, hands pinned behind his back as he cautiously approached Carly's bedside. He stopped at the foot of the bed, overlooking her with his x-ray vision, no broken bones, no abnormalities, she was absolutely fine. Homelander ignored the doctor as he asked questions about getting his autograph, or how he flew, or basic fan questions that annoyed Homelander more than anything. But, he was too wrapped up in the fact that Carly Danvers was perfectly fine to so much as acknowledge that nuisance. "Oh, uh, yeah," The doctor checked himself at Homelander’s undying gaze over Carly, and nodded his head. "You wouldn't believe it. We couldn't even poke her with a needle. She's got to be a superhero like you." Homelander's eyebrows furrowed, without a word, he held his hand out towards the doctor. 

   The doctor hesitantly handed him the clipboard, and Homelander nodded his head towards the door, for him to leave. The doctor wasn't going to question Homelander so he left as requested, closing the door on his way out. His eyes flitted from the words on the papers, the reports, the wonders, and back to Carly, who was laying there in all her magnificence, innocent to anything that was happening at the moment.

Eyelids hot to the touch.

Needle bent as it penetrated skin.

Blood pressure cuff popped as it expanded around bicep of patient.

Patient in state that would expect caretakers to proceed with caution.

   Homelander couldn't help the knowing grin as he processed the scribbled analysis, he moved around the bed and slowly plopped himself down next to Carly's coma ridden body. He reached a hand out towards her, a gloved hand that traced over her cheek with delicate precision.

"Oh Carly, Carly, always getting into trouble."

"And this is it, the room where the real magic happens." Doctor Miles Porter slammed the double doors open with a renewed energy, not even while guiding Allen and Carly down the hallway did he have such rigor. In fact, at the very start, he was sluggishly dragging himself along and carrying himself with haste. Carly wrote it off as the emotional connection he had to his trade, a scientist inside a lab, where he practically lived.

  The main lab was giant, much bigger in comparison to the hallways that snaked and cornered around the building, bordering offices where superior employees of Vought worked daily. It was not much different in that the overall theme still reminded Carly of a hospital. As Allen filmed behind her with his iPhone, she cracked a few jokes about the likeness. Alongside the walls of the lab stood tall shelves that had boxes, both cardboard and glass alike. The Doctor gestured to them excitedly, moving about the room with a natural grace, weaving between the island counters where beakers and expensive scientific equipment rested. "This is where Compound V is made." Carly crossed her arms and shrugged, since they had arrived at the lab a sense of unease have came over her. Usually not one to shy away from trespassing, or being mischievous, she had been cautious, alert, and uncomfortable as soon as she entered the building.

"Hol-Holy shit, Carls. I don't know about this." Allen stammered out, she faced him. He had gone into one of the boxes that were on the shelves, he removed a plastic bag that was filled with a blue liquid. Her eyes narrowed, and she nodded in acknowledgement. She faced the doctor again, eyes keened on him as she followed through the counters. He was pulling objects from their places, mixing liquids together, fiddling with unmarked micro plates.

"You think that's a good idea, doc?" She shoved her hands into her pockets, restraining the impulse to touch anything. "We already have to worry about the security cameras."

"Screw the security cameras, what about the guards?" Allen nervously clutched his hand over his thigh, hunched over, steadying his breathes. Hand still raised, continuously filming the whole ordeal. 

"There are no guards." Miles plainly stated, he exhaled with a sigh of content, and then started shoving the closed containers into his pockets. 

"Ey, look, we came here because you said you had proof. All I see is a bunch of blue stuff." 

"Hahaha, but you don't see what I see, my child." He rushed over to one of the boxes, removing a package of the mysterious gel like substance. He held it out to her, eyes crazed, grin plastered tightly to his cheeks, only adding to her unease. "It's genetic transformation, evolution fueled by humanity's lust and greed." He scurried over to one of the workbenches, back now turned to her as he arranged something on the counter. "The ability to create life." He spun on his heels, a syringe now in hand, drawn back with the blue compound V inside. Carly cocked her head at him, concern drawn on her features and she shook her head. 

"Maybe we should go."

"No, no, let me explain how it works." He placed the opened syringe on a table, tilted his head at her awkwardly. "There are several different types of Compound V, depending on the quality, of course." Carly continued to circumspect the lab space, taking in as much as she could. Her first thought was Homelander, how she had always lauded him for being a true hero. At the end of the day, he was still indestructible and strong as ever, but something changed at the thought that none of that was really his own. "The dosage, also can determine how strong the heroes abilities will be. Homelander's powers were much more focused, but he also received high quality doses at higher intakes, as an infant."

"What?" She turned to face him, eyes wide. "A-As a baby??"

"Yes. That is how Vought creates heroes, they give doses to children at young ages, wait until they grow and voila."

"But, that's-that's-" She was speechless, how could anybody do such a thing? Be so evil? For money? The ethical implications of this whole project far surpassed what she ever was investigating on her show.

"As children their bodies can easily adjust to the compound you see, but adults have to take smaller doses. It can result in death if not taken properly, especially if all at once. Its easier for a child to take to than an adult, in other words." He snorted, as if it was some sort of joke, she couldn't help but glare at him.

"How could anybody do something like this? It's horrible."

"Carly..." Allen's shaky voice met her ears like a roaring calm, a calm before the storm. He was shaking, visibly so, his hand lowering his phone as he stared into her eyes. "This isn't about us anymore." Carly could feel tears stinging at her eyes. That if the doctor was right, everything she ever knew would be a lie. She grew up on heroes, thinking that they were real, thinking that they were good. She still thought they were, that perhaps some heroes still did do good, but not all of them. That's why she made the show, to hold them accountable for their actions, and yet here she stood. She was being told that heroes were always a lie, that none of them were good. "We are about to give into this conspiracy..." Allen turned his gaze to Miles as he shot out that word. "And admit that heroes aren't real, that they were created by lies and corruption, by capitalism? What about everybody who believes in them? Who trusts them? What about Homelander? And Queen Maeve? Good people?" She dropped her head, chin to her chest as she considered his words. 

"Allen," She straightened herself, no longer needing to force the tears away, the shock, she glanced back into Allen's eyes and took a breath. That confidence in her, that determination, that spark. "We can't run away from the truth. We can't continue to hide under Vought's lies. Even if we want them to be true." She then stepped forward, nodding to the doctor, leaving Allen to stand there in his loneliness. "Tell me more, doc." 

"Parents sell their infants out at birth, to our-Vought, I mean." He cleared his throat, licked his hips, picking up the syringe again. "We inject doses into the children at a specific location, away from prying eyes."

"Here?"

"Perhaps. I was never allowed into those particular sections of the facility." Carly hadn't realize that she had now made her way closer to the doctor. Fingers tenderly tracing the surface of the metal counteracts as she went. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, allowing herself a moment to think, to accept the information given to her. 

"If you can show that to us," Her eyelids fluttered open, baby blues, crystal clear in the docs direction."We will have all the evidence we need."

"Absolutely." He grinned, and then the double doors swung open again, revealing two guards, clad in black protective gear. With their guns aimed upwards towards the three of them.

"Hands up! Now! Allen and Carly's hands shot up high in surrender, but the doctor stood stock still. 

"I forgot to tell you one thing, Carly!"

"Shut up, you stupid fuck!" Shouted one of the guards, closing in towards Allen with handcuffs dangling in the opposite hand. 

"Put the syringe down, now!" Went the other.

"I perfected the compound." And it all happened so fast. The doctor was rushing towards Carly with the needle outright, shots fired, penetrating his chest just as the syringe pierced Carly's chest. She fell backward under his weight, blood spattered out onto her jacket and shirt as she hit the ground. 

"Carly!"

"Shut up!" Allen was hit upside the head by one of the guards, where Allen collapsed to the ground in a shrill of pain, the other guard held his radio up. 

"We are going to need some more guys down in lab zero." Carly's skin tingled, her vision blurred as she glanced down at the doctor's face. His body draped over her own from the fall, an empty syringe sticking from her chest. As the life left his sour face, his lips quirked into a smile, last breath shakily snuffed out. She didn't know how to explain what she was feeling, but it didn't feel good. The doctor's words from before sinking into her mind, that these might be her final moments as the compound coursed through her. 

 The guard had now made his way to her, he yanked the needle from her, tossing it to the side. There was yelling and orders, and Allen was crying at one point, but it was all fuzzy over the piercing ring in her eardrums. When she wasn't responding in time, the guard dragged the doctor's dead body off of her and twisted her body over to slam her face against the cold white marble floor. She didn't feel it. All that she felt was the tingling, and the splintering pain of an extremely horrible headache coming on. Everything felt like it was in slow motion now, while her eyes frantically viewed what she could from her place on the floor. Across from her she could see Allen, blood pouring from his nose and as she focused on the red, she could pick up its copper smell. Allen shouted, the butt of a rifle hit down onto Carly's jaw, but nothing. Black fragments flung out before her eyes, Allen's own eyes widened at the movement and then she was being flipped back over onto her back. 

   She couldn't even move her limbs, they felt like dead weight, limp. She closed her eyes, the sound of her own breath coming too, the voices still shrouded in that harsh ringing. When she opened them she saw red, the images around her, covered in a bright hue of crimson. Then screaming finally passed the barrier of a consistent tone that thundered into her senses. Burning, something rancid, down to the core, floating into her nostrils and they stung. Red was all over and then as she finally had control over her body... darkness.

#homelander #homelander x ofc #billy butcher x ofc #Billy Butcher #carly danvers #kara danvers #madelyn stillwell #the boys

[hqprotectionsquad]

Hello! can I request a hc of Oikawa, Bokuto, Kuroo and Ushijima’s reaction to their s/o who’s titled as the goddess of volleyball who also won the nationals but unfortunately fainted or fell sick right after the competition. Sorry for my grammar and if the idea is quite weird 😅 Thank you in advance thoo! I hope you have a nice dayy! 💜

Oikawa, Bokuto, and Kuroo reacting to his S/O getting hurt during Nationals

A/N: hi! thanks for your request! i basically took in the request as the s/o’s team is going to nationals or is also going, and then took it from there! so not exactly the same, but slightly more realistic! also i expended all of my energy on the three of them and i don’t have any more brain power to think of ushijima 😭i’m sorry!!!

Oikawa

He’s definitely supportive of you no matter what.

Oikawa shows up to the end of your practices with your favorite snack. (He also eats like half of it before he even gets to you because he just came from his practice.)

“Hey Y/N-chan, I got you your favorite snack!” He says as he holds out the plastic bag to you.“You definitely ate part of it.”“WhaaaaaAAAt no! Why would I ever do that?”

You’re really appreciative of everything he does for you because he is oh so whipped.

Since his team didn’t make it to the spring nationals, he takes his loss in stride. Yes, he’s upset, but it’s nothing he’s not used to. ;-;

He loves the fact that you’re so excited to experience this new thing since it’s your first time going to nationals!

You two have been to Tokyo once as a special date, but to experience it together as a participant and their supporter is really awesome!

Oikawa takes the opportunity to know what it’s like to be an audience member and not on the court. Sure, he has watched games but usually to analyze them. He isn’t saying he won’t but he definitely wants to try to take a step back.

(He also uses this time to eat. I mean, they have so many food stands! He slips away to find a street market and dig in while you’re in practice.)

Your matches go splendidly and you’re more than thrilled when your team earns a place in the finals.

“Y/N! I’m so proud of you!”

But the match isn’t going as well as you had hoped to.

As your team’s libero, you’ve grown accustomed to smacks to the face and hits that hurt your ribs for days.

However, one of the last spikes in the game takes you out of commission as it totally knocks the wind out of you and you can’t get the air into your lungs without the medical team bringing you to their wing.

At that moment, Oikawa wanted to rush the court and help you even though he isn’t experienced like the nurses are. He just felt so helpless, who wouldn’t?

For whatever reason, significant others aren’t allowed in until after the athlete should be okay to go on their own, but it’s Oikawa. C’mon. The man knows how to get through anything and everything that’s in his way.

"Y/N-chan, what did I tell you about taking it easy, now look what you did to yourself.” He scolds you teasingly as you are resting on the nurse’s bed. He whispers a bunch of cute little things to you while your eyes are shut. He knows you can’t hear him, but he says these things anyway.

When you wake up, he leaves so that you have some time with your parents.

And when he comes back, the first thing you do is wrap your arms around him so tight that he forgets to breathe.

“You’re breathtaking.” His eyes flicker at the pun and you smack him a good one. “Ow, Y/N-chan! They should’ve put you back in the game, you’re fine now!”

Bokuto

The two of you are dating long-distance, so although he couldn’t be there for all of your games, Bokuto made sure he sent texts with lots of love before and after each one.

However, he made a trip to your part of Japan and he was there when your last play was the one where it decided you were heading to nationals!

Bokuto was extremely surprised at how amazing you blocked the ball and it went straight to the floor. Your teammates crowded around you and all jumped for victory.

But was he surprised that your team was heading to spring nationals? Of course not! Your team is one of the most hardworking teams out there.

He takes you out to eat after your match, as a good gentleman should.

“I can’t wait to see you in Tokyo next month! You’ll finally see where I live!”

When your team arrives for the spring nationals, Akaashi holds him back from meeting you before you settle in.

“What?! Why can’t I see her once she comes in?”“You’re going to bother her team.” (cue emo Bokuto)“But—” “You’ll see her later.” (cue happy Bokuto)

He finally takes you out on that date he’s planned since months ago. Minus all the ice cream you were going to eat together, so now he’ll have to eat it by himself. (He’s not really complaining.)

When your matches begin, he’s in the crowd as often as he can. He arrives as early as you do, making sure he gets a seat super close so he can take photos. (Yes, Bokuto is aware he’s also competing at nationals. He still does it.)

Bokuto on snapchat: “THAT’S MY GIRL 🥵😭SO GOOD BABY!” (He is definitely that cringy, but I feel like he doesn’t know he’s being cringy.)

The worst thing is that some of your matches coincide with one another, but you make sure to catch up afterwards. It doesn’t bother you as much as it does Bokuto, but you know in an ideal situation, you both would be able to support the other full-time.

What’s even worse is when your team arrives to the semifinals, you’re over for the game because of a rough shot right to your fingers. The nurse talks to you as she tapes your fingers.

“Luckily, nothing is dislocated—”“So I should be good to go back in then?”“You didn’t let me finish. I don’t recommend you going back into the game if you think you’ll continue onto the finals. You have a better chance then because your hands might be semi-healed.”

You return to the court, but on the bench. Head hung, but you’re hopeful for the rest of the game, as you cheer on your teammates.

The game came out close and your team had the upper hand this time around.

“(Y/N)! We heard what happened!” Bokuto rushes up to you after both of your games are finished. Akaashi trails in the background and silently provides his condolences for your fingers. “Are you okay?” Your boyfriend hugs you gently, which could leave one with their mouth open, but he has always made sure that his hugs never hurt you despite his stature.

“I’m okay! I should still be able to play in the finals in two days. How did your match end up?”“Ah, we ended up losing. I’m still recovering from it. Right, Akaashi? Tell (Y/N).”“Yeah, he’s still working on it. Clearly.”

Bokuto and Akaashi are in the crowd for the finals. They originally sat but every time you blocked the ball, Bokuto would raise to his feet and start cheering for you. The people in his section kicked him and Akaashi out for disrupting. Now they’re standing by the railing and Bokuto doesn’t even have to get up because he’s already—you guessed it—standing.

Your team was not the better six this time around, but lucky for you, you have Bokuto and Akaashi to comfort you with hugs (Bokuto), handshakes (Akaashi), and ice cream.

Kuroo

Kuroo's been excited for you and your team since the start.

"I know you guys are going to make it to nationals. Have you seen your team? You all are much more talented than some of the people here.""That's not very nice to say, Tetsurou.""I'm just saying the truth. I'll be at the match."

Kuroo's usually busy, but hearing that he'd be at the match makes your heart squeeze.

You're the outside hitter/wing spiker of your team and you love know that any time you get a shot in, Kuroo's cheering for you in the crowd.

After the match, he’s waiting for you outside of the court with a small bouquet of flowers. (From where he bought those, you have no idea and he has no intention of letting you know.)

“You did amazing, I’m so proud of you,” he says while squishing you in a tight hug. You can’t breathe anymore, but who really cares for necessary human functions?

“Thanks for the love, Tetsurou. Let’s go out to eat!” He has to choose the restaurant because you can’t choose; everything looks good to a hungry athlete!

You two have never been at a tournament together, competing together, so please forgive him when he spends his break with Kenma because he forgot that you had a match.

It's really exciting because Kuroo is the captain of the host representative team and even though it doesn't mean he's the king of the world, he's the king of your world.

To experience Tokyo at this bustling time alongside your lover is beyond words. To have him by your side instead of through a screen is so much better.

Your last match is unfortunately pretty rough. You dug for the ball, just as another girl had. You heard a crunch and you couldn't tell who it came from.

This is the only match Kuroo could attend and he winces in pain seeing the collision on court. He soon realizes that it's you and exits the top floor to come down to the court floor.

You're able to get up after the medic stretches your limbs and it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong from a first glance. They take you in for a full exam.

Kuroo isn't ready to freak out, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't suppressing any feelings. He needs to be strong for you. He plays games on his phone to distract himself, sends a few texts to the team to let them know he'll be late to dinner.

You come out with a smile that grows wider seeing him. "You were here the whole time?"

"Of course." Don't mind him, he's crying on the inside because he feels like he's so lucky to have someone who is actually sunshine. "You were amazing out there, and I don't want to hear anything about your cute ass complaining you didn't do good enough."

#haikyuu #haikyuu!! #haikyuu writing #haikyuu writer #haikyuu oneshot #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu headcanons #fanfiction #anime #bokuto #kuroo #oikawa #bokuto x reader #kuroo x reader #oikawa x reader #nekoma x reader #fukurodani x reader #seijoh x reader #nekoma #fukurodani #seijoh #lara's requests #this was really rushed im sorry #thank u

[metawitches]

In episode 5, we lose some beloved characters in some violent interactions with some hard characters. It’s a tough episode to get through.

Teen Charlotte learns her origin story from Old HG Tannhaus and meets Teen Peter. The two Adult Claudias meet for the first time. Alt Claudia gives Prime Claudia the triquetra diary. Child Elisabeth finds Young Noah in the caves.

Recap

The episode begins in the Prime world, 2020, with Prime Adult Claudia burying Adult Regina, who was recently murdered by Alt Old Tronte under orders from Alt Adult Claudia. Regina was dying anyway, so it was basically a mercy killing, but Prime Claudia wasn’t read to let go.

It’s raining, of course, as Claudia digs a hole in the ground by herself. She’s placed a wooden cross as a grave marker. The body is wrapped in plastic. As we know from our world’s 2020, it can be hard for suppliers to keep up with a heavy demand for caskets.

Sirens blare in the distance as Claudia finishes. A warning that other natural disasters are still occurring or that serious crimes, such as arson or riots, are out of control in the post apocalypse Prime world? Or a warning that this turn of events signals a new, even more dangerous direction for Claudia’s plans?

Old Claudia does the opening voiceover:

“Why do we die? What is death? Could we escape it if we knew when to expect it? Is the time of our departure predetermined? Our dying part of an endless clockwork? We all have one truth in common. We are born and we die. No matter what path we take to get there.”

Claudia questions death, but then finds it something that all beings share, the great leveler. Yet “and then she will live” has been Claudia’s motivation since early in season 1. Claudia identified the “she” as Regina early on. Now that “she” is dead in both realities.

In 2053, Adam tells Charlotte that she always ends up standing there, having her life mansplained to her by him, while the corpses of the suicides and Elizabeth’s kills dangle in the background. Charlotte is clearly questioning the life choices that led her to be this version of herself instead of the one with the blonde highlights and clean clothes over in Martha’s world.

Same.

Adam continues, saying that Charlotte is drawn to Elisabeth. Their souls will always bring them back together.

That must make Franziska feel great. At least she and Magnus have each other, since no one is risking their lives or attempting to murder anyone to find them.

He asks if Charlotte has decided whether she’ll play her part in the next stage of their plan. In one more day they can finally unravel the knot. Charlotte asks if he’ll play his part. She doesn’t say what his part is and he doesn’t give a straight answer, as is his habit.

Adam: “Eva will never achieve her goal. Her world is no more deserving of salvation than ours is. You know that.”

Still fighting with the ex, after 66 years.

Over to Eva’s Alt world, November 2019, where it’s one day until the apocalypse.

Jonas is asleep in Yellow Raincoat Martha’s bed. He’s wearing the White T Shirt of Purity, so we know that what he and Martha did last night was a Good Thing in the long run. A hand creeps over his shoulder, as so often happens in his dreams. He turns to see Prime Martha lying in bed behind him, in her white wedding dress. There’s no black goo to be seen, for once. Time hasn’t caught up to them yet.

He wakes up. It’s not a full startle, more a slow motion shiver awake. Very effective.

He rolls over to see Yellow Raincoat Martha asleep behind him, wearing black. Of course she is. She’s no longer pure. Time and motherhood have infected her. I can see Daniel Kahnwald scratching her off his list of potentials as we speak.

Jonas just sort of accepts that this is what his life is now and gets out of bed, then gets dressed. Martha wakes up while he’s getting dressed. They look at each other, then look at everything but each other. While Martha gets dressed, she tries to accept that she’s not the Martha he was looking for, even though he’s the Jonas she was looking for.

When she’s done, she sits on her bed. He puts on his raincoat, then picks up her yellow raincoat and brings it her. She looks up at him, waiting to see what he’ll say: “Let’s go. To the nuclear power plant. We don’t have much time.”

It’s not much, but he handled her coat gently and didn’t reject her outright. A desperate girl can live for days on those little signs. Before they leave, Martha starts to say something, but changes her mind. Better not to know the answer to some questions until you have to.

Katharina is waiting for them when they get downstairs. Oops, they didn’t make it back from the future in time for dinner. It sounds like they were gone for a whole day when they went to 2052. Plus, Mom liked Kilian the former drug dealer better than Jonas. And she doesn’t even know that Martha and Jonas are related yet.

Martha hugs her mom tight while crying a little- the apocalypse is only a day away and no one has mentioned the bunker to her as a place where she could keep her family safe. Bet St Kilian would’ve mentioned it if he were the savior from the next planet over.

She tells Katharina that she has to go. Her manner spooks her mom so much that Katharina doesn’t try to stop her. Jonas basically makes a run for it, hoping Katharina has forgotten he’s there.

Over in the Prime world, September 24, 1987, Prime Adult Katharina is in the psych ward with Old Ulrich, going over their escape plans. She tells him to wait by the entrance at 10:00 PM. She plans to steal Helene’s psych ward key card when she’s done with her shift at 5:00 PM. Then she tells him they’ll get Mikkel, too.

Once she says that, you can see the shift in Ulrich. He thought the plan might work if it was just the two of them escaping back to their time, but he’s accepted that Mikkel can’t leave this time period. He apologizes to her for all of the trouble he’s caused her.

Old HG Tannhaus has the radio on in the clock shop: “One year after the horrific events of Chernobyl, 5 members of upper management at the reactor have been given long prison sentences. Meanwhile, German nuclear power plants have seen an increase in security measures and testing. Still, the government… that German nuclear power plants are safe. In the US, German Foreign Affairs Minister Hans-Dietrich addressed the UN General Assembly in NY and urged global superpowers to take further steps toward disarmament… The German research vessel Polarstern has set out to explore the Antarctic… The expedition’s aim is to research the hole in the ozone.”

While he waits for the world to end, Tannhaus is working on a pocket watch at his desk when Young Charlotte enters the shop. She’s wearing her teal cap and is out of sorts. He asks if she had a rough day. She responds by asking if he’s ever wondered if it’s possible to rewind time.

There’s a loaded question.

He chuckles and says he has. She wants to know if he thinks it’s possible to go back in time and change the past. He gives her a long look and decides she’s old enough to know more about her own past.

Tannhaus: “For quite a while now I’ve wanted to be able to turn back time. But my place is not in the past, nor the future. It’s here, with you.”

As he’s speaking, he retrieves a small leather box from a cabinet- another Pandora’s box. Except this one is THE Pandora’s Box. He takes a photo from inside the box and hands it to Charlotte. It shows a young couple with an infant. She asks if they’re her parents. She’s been told that there are no photos of them.

Tannhaus: That’s not you in the photo. Those aren’t your parents. That’s my son and his wife. And my granddaughter. They died in a car accident. That night, when it happened, I woke up. There was a noise downstairs in the shop. Two women were there. Strange looking. They were carrying a bundle. That bundle was you. They said that on that night, everything would be taken from me and then I’d be given everything. And then I got the call. On the bridge, a truck had forced my son’s car into the river. They only ever found the bodies of my son and his wife. My granddaughter was never found. This is the only thing you brought with you.”

He gives her the “For Charlotte” pocket watch that’s been passed down through generations of the Tannhaus family since at least the early 1800s.

If Charlotte isn’t his granddaughter, how did she get the Tannhaus family watch? Was it passed down through a side branch of the family? Why doesn’t HG know that the watch is a family heirloom? Is this another bootstrap paradox? The pocket watch needs an episode of its own so that we can follow its 200+ year journey.

Charlotte is confused and angry. She asks who her parents are, who she really is, but he doesn’t know. She runs out of the shop.

Over to the Alt world, November 2019 and Blonde Highlights Charlotte, who clearly knows she’s got the best deal of all the Charlottes. Other than the apocalypse that’s coming in 1 day that no one’s told her about. But she will die young and leave a beautiful corpse, as some dream of.

She’s waiting for Aleksander again in his office, looking mildly confused about the dirty plastic bag on his desk that’s evidence in a murder case and a potential blackmail case. Prime Charlotte would have taken photos of the bag, sent them to the crime lab and had the results before Aleksander walked in. But Prime Charlotte also touched her daughter’s hand at the end of S2, went through the rift and became a cult member in the future (because she has no other options), so you know, curiosity killed Schrödinger’s cat and all that.

When Aleksander enters, she tells him she needs to ask him some questions about the body in the bunker. He realizes the incriminating bag is still on his desk and fails to act nonchalant. She notices that he’s nervous and asks if something’s wrong. He says everyone at the plant is nervous right now, while they’re planning the demolition and decommissioning of the power plant for next year, when the plant will go offline. He never expected his career at the plant to end this way, but everything has its time.

He’s just watched his beloved wife of 30+ years die of cancer and he’s helping to end his own 30+ year career. That takes it out of you. Bartosz is all he has left.

Charlotte asks when he arrived in Winden and when he began work at the plant. He tells her that he came to Winden in Fall 1986 and began working at the plant soon after. He wonders why she’s asking. She doesn’t say. Then he asks if she received the power plant shift schedules she asked for. Charlotte asks if previous shift schedules are archived, going all the way back to 1986.

Since Aleksander is a wanted man, this makes him more nervous, but Charlotte, like Ulrich, is narrowing in on Helge.

There is a drumbeat instead of the swoop to change worlds, but the switch happens, nonetheless. We move to the Prime world, September 2020. Obviously, it’s raining.

This is some kind of terrible post-nuclear-black hole-quantum-entanglement-apocalypse radioactive fallout rain going on in Winden that you do not want to be caught in. This stuff probably evaporates into the black goo/Cesium 137 and they scrape it up off the streets, then store in in barrels, similar to what they did with the Trinitite green radioactive glass formed at the first nuclear test site.

Adult Claudia makes her way into the boarded up police station where Regina died and where she apparently now lives. She can sense someone waiting there and picks up a piece of rebar to use as a weapon. It’s Alt Adult Claudia- this is their first meeting. Alt Claudia says hello as they circle each other warily.

Prime Adult Peter and Young Elisabeth leave Benni’s trailer, then make their way to the military encampment to search for Charlotte and Franziska again. Elisabeth refuses to enter the encampment, despite Peter’s pleas. She’s given up hope for finding her mother and sister alive and can’t bear to look at any more corpses. Peter tries to convince her to keep looking, but she walks away from him. He hesitates as she walks away, unsure whether to follow her or keep searching as planned.

Alt Claudia explains to Prime Claudia that she’s from another world and is there to guide Prime Claudia into the Light.

Maybe that sounds different to Germans and not like she’s the Angel of Death.

Alt Claudia continues: “There are two groups out there who are fighting for superiority in time travel. Light and Dark. I want you to join our side. Eva’s side. I know you thought you could trust him, but you can’t do that.”

Prime Claudia is confused about Eva, then confused by “him”. Alt Claudia clarifies, “Jonas. He belongs to the dark.”

Prime Claudia believes that Jonas died in the shockwave, since he didn’t make it to the bunker and she hasn’t seen him since.

Claudia tells her that Jonas isn’t dead. “He wants to destroy both worlds forever and untie the knot. He doesn’t know that death is what he’ll want in the end. But all his impulses on this journey will lead to that end. But Eva wants to save both worlds.”

So much irony here. Here is a rule you need to remember from here on out: Claudia lies constantly and ruthlessly, even to herself.

We already know that Eva doesn’t want to save both worlds. Jonas does want to destroy both worlds, but that’s not the end of that story. And I don’t think there’s been a single time on this show when someone has recruited someone to the side of “the Light” that they’ve had that person’s best interests at heart or were telling them anything close to the whole truth.

At this point, the light and the dark are meaningless distinctions. We saw in the Alt world’s 2052 that light can be deadly and dark can be protective, as the darkness of the cave and bunker have been at times. They do not automatically equate to good and evil.

Prime Claudia says that Jonas wants to change the cycles. He taught her that if they change one small piece, they can change everything. Alt Claudia says that Prime Old Claudia taught Jonas that, which Prime Adult Claudia already knows. It was one of the first things Jonas told her. But Alt Claudia acts like she’s making a big reveal about the “positive feedback loop” of Claudia and Jonas mentoring each other in time travel.

Alt Claudia: “Jonas opened the passage in 2020. The older Jonas has closed it in 2019, as well. After it had been opened for the first time in summer 1986. In all three moments, they left behind traces of Cesium residue, a component of the black matter.”

Prime Claudia: “Radioactive half-lives.”

Alt Claudia: “In each cycle, in all three moments, this Cesium is carried through the tunnel and back before it’s completely decayed. It exponentially expands endlessly.”

Prime Claudia: “So that’s how the passage was created.”

Alt Claudia: “And that’s how it must continue to exist for eternity. Everything has to happen again. Jonas bringing the matter into the passage. The opening of one of the drums in the plant triggering the apocalypse. Everything in this loop repeats itself. Life and death.”

Back to the Alt world.

Jonas cuts through the chain link fence which surrounds the nuclear power plant so that they can sneak into the facility and stop the barrels from being opened. Martha asks what’s in the containers. Jonas says he doesn’t know exactly, just that the substance is what’s leftover from the 1986 accident at the plant and is what makes time travel possible. The trucks carrying the barrels will arrive later, so they’ll lay low until dark.

So why are they rushing to get there, if nothing is going to happen for hours? Because that’s what Jonas does. The Alt world storyline is supposed to mirror the Prime storyline, but without Jonas the pieces don’t fall into place properly. So characters are moving around the board like playing pieces in an Alice in Wonderland chess game who aren’t sure why they’re making the moves they’re making, they just know the moves are very important and need to be done quickly, or off with their heads!

This is part of why I’m certain that Martha was always the chosen one in this world, but Jonas also existed there as a natural part of the world until a fairly recent cycle. They are working too hard to compensate for his absence for it to be a natural part of this world.

As they crawl through the fence, Martha’s cheek gets scratched. She tells Jonas it’s nothing but he realizes that it’s the same scratch that the other Alt Young Martha had, the one who grabbed him from the Prime world apocalypse at the end of S2 and dropped him in the caves. She said she was trying to change the eternally repeating loops, just like him, but Martha’s scratch proves that so far, everything has stayed the same. If they continue on the same path, nothing will change and Yellow Raincoat Martha will become Alt Dark Emo Martha.

Jonas asks Martha why Eva lied to him about saving his world, but I think he’s mostly asking himself. Martha answers anyway, trying to get him back on track. She reminds him that they’re supposed to be stopping the apocalypse in her world. He interrupts her, wondering if they’re actually the ones who trigger the apocalypse and if maybe that’s what Eva wants.

That would correspond to the way Charlotte and Torben walk in on Clausen with the barrels in the Prime world. But the apocalypse will happen, one way or another, no matter where Martha and Jonas are. If they aren’t there to trigger it, Time will send someone else. The mirroring between the two worlds wasn’t a lie.

The differences between the two apocalypses would be in how energy is being used to further the goals of Sic Mundus, Erit Lux or Claudia, what that means for how they’ll manipulate the placement of pawns people and what events they might try to synchronize with the opening of the barrel.

Martha doesn’t understand this system at all yet or why Eva would want an apocalypse. Jonas isn’t able to wrap his head around explaining time travel theory and the knot from the beginning so that Martha will understand, so he just starts where he is, in the middle: “Because they’re lying. I always do it. They keep telling me I have to, but it’s them. No matter what I do, it just gets worse. I have to go back to Eva. I finally want to know what the truth is.”

He might want to start by doing what someone else, who’s not so intimately involved, wants to do, instead of following his own instincts or the authority figure’s instructions every time. Maybe listen to the rest of the Scooby Gang for once. Yeah, it’ll never happen.

I love the way he pretends like he hasn’t demanded the truth from everyone, every time, and like they haven’t assured him that they were telling him the truth, for real this time, every time. He is eternally ready to try again, once he comes out of his latest suicidal depression, like the springtime after a long winter.

He goes back through the fence. Martha reluctantly follows.

Back to the Prime world, September 1986.

Teen Charlotte sits in the shelter at the one bus stop and traffic light in town. A bus pulls up and a teenage boy gets off, but Charlotte doesn’t get on. Like Teen Regina, Ulrich and Hannah, she’s using this as her thinking spot.

The boy asks how long the walk to Winden is. Charlotte tells him,”I’d turn back if I were you.” Winden is a black hole that sucks your life away and never lets you leave again.

She’s feeling a little dramatic. But it’s also true.

The boy is into that kind of thing and sits down at the other end of the bus stop bench. When he asks if she’s okay, Charlotte tells him, “It’s complicated.” He agrees that life is complicated. She asks what brings him to Winden. He repeats, “It’s complicated.” But after a moment, he continues, explaining that his mom recently died, so he’s come to live with the father that he’d never even heard of until a few days ago. His mother told him his father’s identity on the day she died.

Charlotte asks if he thinks someone can be brought back from the dead. He asks if she has a specific plan in mind. She says she was thinking of using time travel- she’d take the person out of their timeline before they die. Without a time machine already in place, that’s further than the boy can manage with this thought experiment right now, but he’s intrigued, so he introduces himself. He’s Peter Doppler, Charlotte’s future husband.

Back to the Alt world, 2019.

When Charlotte gets home, Elisabeth is sitting on the living room couch. Charlotte calls for Peter and asks why Elisabeth is home. Mother and daughter don’t seem to be close here. Elisabeth says she didn’t go to school today. Peter enters the room. Charlotte tells him that she got the 1986 power plant shift schedules from Aleksander.

Helge worked until 6:00PM on the day Mads disappeared. Then Mads disappeared around 6:21PM. Peter tells her again that Helge was with him all night when the body appeared in the bunker. He doesn’t know why Helge confessed, but he has dementia, so she should let it go.

Charlotte insists that Helge’s confession is valid, so he may be involved in the murder of 2 boys. She says this with no emotion other than annoyance that Peter can’t understand why she’s pursuing this important case so enthusiastically. There’s no acknowledgement that this is a family member who lives with them and the idea that he could be a murderer hurts the people who love him, like her own daughters.

Charlotte must have been looking for a way to get Helge out of her house, she’s so excited to be able to pin some murders on him.

Peter pulls her out of the room, since they’re having this discussion in front of Elisabeth. He tells Charlotte that Elisabeth isn’t deaf. Charlotte doesn’t respond directly. She brings up Erik Obendorf and Helge’s penny instead, then says that Ulrich is right. It’s all connected. Peter isn’t happy that she brought him up, though he doesn’t mention the affair. Charlotte goes back to the station.

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Back to the Prime world, September 2020, raining.

Elisabeth returns to the trailer and locks the door. There’s a strange man already inside stealing food. When she tries to leave he tells her not to be scared, then smashes her forehead against the window, knocking her unconscious. When she awakens, she’s on the bed with her hands and feet are bound. The man is heating up soup on the stove. He pretends to be friendly and chats her up.

Kidnappers and rapists are so weird this way, pretending they’re nice guys while they’re invading your home and forcing themselves on you in some of the worst ways possible. Then acting like you’re the rude one if you don’t cooperate, because their expectations seem reasonable to them. There is a purpose for all of that socialization of women to be nice at all times. Makes it much easier to victimize us when it goes against to grain to disturb other people.

I mean, don’t women like to be tied up the way Elisabeth is right now?? In that man’s mind, he can convince himself she’s sitting quietly because she likes it. Or she will once he’s done with her.

Once the soup is hot, he sits next to Elisabeth on the bed. She’s supposed to be maybe 9, at most 10, in the Prime world, but this anus thinks he’s on a date now. When she refuses any soup, he decides she’s ready for him and tries to rape her. Peter walks in on them and a fight for their lives ensues. The anus stabs Peter in the chest with a knife and kills him. Before the anus can turn around, Elisabeth turns her attacker’s head to pulp with a fire extinguisher. When she’s done, she’s in shock and covered in blood.

In September 2053, Adult Elisabeth stares at the God particle.

In this scene, we get a good look at Elisabeth’s blind eye, which is frequently left in shadow. Were we supposed to figure out that her eye or optical nerve was damaged in the fight for her life? We’re not going to get another explanation for what happened to her eye, so let’s go with that. The optical nerve is actually squeezed between bones on its way to the brain. So a blow to the head like the one she just got could have shifted bones or caused swelling that put pressure on it, damaging the nerve. Combined with a lack of medical treatment, she’s probably lucky to be alive, even though she escaped the attack.

Adult Elisabeth, Franziska, Charlotte and Adam are having a family reunion in the God particle observation room. Franziska hugs Charlotte and Elisabeth tight. Adam says that it’s time and tells Franziska to let the other two go. Elisabeth and Charlotte put on hazmat suits and go to the God particle, while Franziska watches like the Rapture has come to take them. Maybe it has, since it seems they won’t be back.

In 2020, Alt Adult Claudia hands the pristine triquetra diary to Prime Adult Claudia and tells her that she has to stop Adam from untying the knot. “You need to lead them. Jonas. Noah. Elisabeth.”

“I don’t understand. Lead them where?” Prime Claudia is confused about where she’s supposed to be going. That is the question of the day. Where is all of this going?

Alt Claudia takes out the Golden Time Snitch and says they’re not going anywhere.

Prime Claudia should lead her young friends along the same path that they’ve always been on. She must maintain the knot, cycle after cycle. Alt Claudia will be doing the same in her world. She reiterates that Claudia needs to work with Jonas for a while, then turn against him. It’s all in the book. As she’s disappearing in a puff of golden glitter, she says they’ll see each other soon.

Prime Claudia kind of liked the idea of going somewhere, though. She’s always been a daring adventurer and pioneer. Repeating the same life for eternity was never going to sit well with her. Plus, while Alt Claudia is still the director of the power plant, Tronte’s lover, Regina’s mother and perfectly groomed, this version is alone and wearing muddy plastic while living in a dirty hellscape. She wants out. She views the triquetra diary not as an instruction manual for maintaining the status quo, but as a Bible she can use as the starting point to decipher a way out of the eternal recurrence.

So- this is where Claudia got the diary and why she’s been following it up until now. But it’s always been clear that the original sequence of events is not being followed from cycle to cycle, even though both Eva and Claudia pretend that’s what they are doing. Adam and Jonas’ relationships to the book are too hard to even keep track of anymore.

The Unknown (and maybe others we haven’t seen) has gone through and changed events, then written down the new sequence in the diary in order to make sure it’s followed. The triquetra diary itself is necessary because so many changes have been made to the cycle that the characters will no longer naturally make decisions necessary to maintain the new cycle. These are the bootstrap paradoxes, the parts of the cycle that don’t make sense anymore.

The fact that Alt Claudia gave Prime Claudia a pristine new version of the triquetra diary suggests that they’ve just made new changes in the book and the cycle. Otherwise, they could let the book change hands as a bootstrap paradox each cycle and become worn, with no one sure of its origin, the way copies of HG Tannhaus’ book have done.

Back to the Alt world, November 2019.

Jonas and Martha march back to the Erit Lux HQ in the caves. Martha stops him outside the entrance to get an answer to her real question, finally.

Martha: “Jonas, what if it’s the truth, though, and only one world can make it? Either yours or mine?”

The camera spins around them as they stand face to face, equals who could be enemies or lovers. Jonas doesn’t answer.

Martha understands his non answer. She steps closer as she speaks. “You decided long ago. You want to return to your world.”

Jonas almost whispers: “I didn’t want any of this. You have to believe me.”

Men are raised to think lawful karmic neutrality is most honorable. Women are raised to believe loyalty to loved ones is most honorable. Why does our culture create these clashes?

So Jonas thinks that it’s reasonable to tell Martha that he didn’t want what’s happened between them, because, to be fair, he was basically kidnapped by Dark Emo Martha. But he definitely wasn’t coerced into having sex last night. That’s obviously on Martha’s mind, and this being her first rodeo, she doesn’t realize where he’s going with his argument.

When she questions whether he didn’t want what happened between them last night, he says, “This here is wrong. I am wrong here.”

She kisses him. They kiss. I think she might have actually taken his soul with her this time, but when she asks him if that was wrong, he stays still and silent. After a moment, she turns and walks toward the mouth of the cave. He follows her.

At least he finally figured out that sometimes, it’s better to say nothing if you can’t spill out the entire 10 page thesis of nuance.

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Back to Prime world, 1986.

Helene Albers takes the forest path home from the hospital. She’s wearing a bright pink jacket. Pink is an ambivalent color in this world, dark mixed with light. Katharina approaches her from behind with a knife. She has on a similarly ambivalent purple-pink.

Helene hears Katharina and asks what she wants. Katharina demands the keycard from Helene’s work and comes in close to put the knife up in her face. Helene says she thought she knew Katharina from somewhere when she came into the ward. Katharina grabs for Helene’s bag. With both of her hands occupied, it’s easy for Helene to grab Katharina and overpower her. Katharina forgets and says, “Mama, let go!”

Helene recognizes her daughter’s voice and is so spooked that she drops Katharina’s arms and runs away. Katharina chases her to the beach, where they fight each other for the bag until Katharina hits Helene in the head with a rock. Then she walks a few feet away and turns her back on Helene while she searches for the keycard.

While Katharina is searching, Helene wakes up, takes the rock and hits Katharina in the head as hard as possible, stunning her. Katharina drops to the ground. Helene tells her that she’s not her mother. She says Katharina must be an apparition sent by the devil. Katharina pulls Helene’s St Christopher medal off as Helene beats her head with a rock until she’s dead. Then Helene fills Katharina’s backpack with rocks and drags her body out into the lake.

Katharina is the dead woman in the lake that Bartosz told Martha about in S2 when they were swimming.

Ines and Mikkel/Michael pull up to their house. Katharina has only been dead for moments, but Ines knew it was safe to return home. Michael is in a daze. He barely responds to Ines. But he notices the broken window in the door that Katharina left. The first thing Ines does is offer him more drugged hot chocolate.

Teen Katharina is doing homework at the kitchen table when Helene gets home and starts drinking straight from the liquor bottle. Helene is covered with blood and Katharina is worried. She tries to get her mother to tell her what happened. Helene insults Katharina and hits her repeatedly, then says Katharina isn’t worthy of her name. She wishes she’d gotten rid of her as well.

She did, just decades later than she planned.

She leaves her daughter crying in the kitchen.

Montage time. The song is In the Woods Somewhere by Hozier.

The St Christopher medal lies on the beach, where it will stay for 33 years, until Martha and Jonas find it.

Ulrich waits for Katharina, but he already knows she’s not coming.

Alt Charlotte looks at Ulrich’s empty office.

Old HG Tannhaus looks at the photo of himself and Teen Charlotte. To HG’s relief, Teen Charlotte returns to the shop.

Teen Peter goes to his new home with Helge. Or not. Adult Helge should be in a care facility and Peter’s grandfather Bernd is dead.

Alt Adult Peter sits with Alt Child Elisabeth on the couch, where she is asleep with her stuffed animal. He wins parent of the episode, maybe the season and series. Everyone is ready to go out and fight in this show, but so few are ready to simply stay close and protect.

Prime Adult Peter is still dead. Didn’t even have the courtesy to move his own body.

Prime Young Elisabeth remembered what Young Noah told her at the Kahnwald house and went to the caves to wait for him. He finds her, still in shock and covered in blood.

Prime Adult Claudia reads the entire triquetra diary.

Back to the Alt world, Erit Lux HQ, time period doesn’t matter, but probably November 2019.

Young, Kidnapped Jonas and Yellow Raincoat Martha enter. It’s her first time here. She asks what this place is. Jonas says, “It’s what will become of you.”

They stop to look at the Adam and Eva paintings until Old Eva makes her dramatic entrance. “And thus everything starts over again.”

Jonas accuses her of lying to him when she said he could save both worlds. He asks if it’s even true that they can only save one world? He demands to go back to his own world, now.

Eva speaks to him like an annoyingly patient mother. Of course he wants to go home, but that’s just not possible. Jonas responds with, “What are you saying?”

And now we get Eva’s version of Adam’s three lives speech. She’s not offering him an education, though.

Eva: “A human lives but three lives. The first one ends with the loss of naivety. The second, with the loss of innocence. And the third with the loss of life itself. Yours ends here and now.”

Plot twist! Eva is a busy single mom. She doesn’t have time to fool around with a baby daddy who thinks she and her kid are wrong for existing. It’s time for Jonas to say hello to the end of stage 3. Stranger Martha appears from the shadows.

Old Eva says that Jonas has done what he was meant to do in the Alt world. Yellow Raincoat Martha argues that they haven’t done anything. They haven’t even stopped the apocalypse. Stanger Martha shushes her. Dark Emo Martha appears from another corner.

The two Young Marthas step close to each other and Yellow Raincoat Martha asks Dark Emo Martha who she is. Dark Emo Martha says, “I’m sorry.”

Then she shoots Jonas, just the way Adam shot Prime Martha.

Jonas takes a moment to fully act out his reaction to being shot, then he falls down. I thought for a minute he might spin around a few times before he fell, like a cartoon character. He’s been trying to die for a long time. Maybe this time, it’ll take and he’ll get some peace. He’s gonna give Eva her money’s worth with his death scene, either way.

Once he’s down, Yellow Raincoat Martha drops down next to him to cry and mush her hands around in his bloody torso and tell him she can’t live without him. He takes the opportunity to rub some blood on her face and give her the St Christopher medal so that the Alt world will always have one to remember him by. Even in death, he’s thoughtful like that.

Eva must have a bowl full of them.

The Greek Chorus of Other Marthas watches them for a minute, then wanders off. It’s probably the Unknown’s bedtime and they have to decide who tells the Old Man his story. He looks to me like he’d be picky and a little deaf and expect a different voice for every character.

Jonas gets really pale and lethargic. Yellow Raincoat Martha tells him she’ll make this right, mirroring his words over Prime Martha’s body.

Gosh, this would be so ridiculously sad if they hadn’t spent 2.5 seasons teaching us that Young Jonas can’t die.

Cue the haunting music.

Commentary

In this episode, the themes of taking what you want, survival of the most ruthless, domestic violence and the fragility of love and family bonds move to the forefront. Almost everyone who shows or even feels love or compassion is punished for it. Guilt is also used as a tool to take advantage of other characters. The relatively innocent forces of Young Mikkel’s S1 magic by distraction and secrecy and Hannah’s S1 magic by intention and Will have grown into forces that can create and destroy planets.

From what I can tell, everyone in Adam’s gang is disposable once they’ve served their purpose, except for Magnus and Franziska, who must act as the maid and butler. Sometimes the Sic Mundus alumni are murdered, sometimes Fate gets them, as with Ulrich.

I have a growing sense that the woods we see in the future with the hung corpses and the giant knots in the tree trunks are Dante’s Wood of the Suicides, where Adam’s leftovers go to die after they’re done serving his death cult. Or maybe an occasional member manages to leave town and start over somewhere. Let’s be hopeful. But, while Martha’s world came out of her mind as a Harry Potter-Dante’s Purgatory mash up, Jonas’ world came out of his mind as the Circles of He11, with him as Dante chasing his unattainable lost love through eternity, so, yeah.

Someday, let’s figure out what Bartosz’s 3rd world would look like. We aren’t being shown the trio photo over and over and reminded that Bartosz comes from a happy little family of 3 people all season for nothing. Now Tannhaus’ son’s little 3 person family has been added to the group of 3s. A Trio of Young Chosen Ones, Triquetra Knots, “Past, Present and Future”- 3 worlds are necessary to balance the system. If you haven’t guessed that yet, let me remind you that Tannhaus told us in S1 that the Einstein-Rosen bridge/wormhole through space-time would go in 3 directions, not 2, just as the passage does.

The connection between worlds is an expansion of that science. It’s not new science. I’ll go into the theory more in episode 6, but for now, keep in mind that Dark is a system based on the number 3, rather than a system based on dualities. As soon as there was a 2nd world, there was almost automatically a 3rd. Listen to Tannhaus’ science, not Claudia’s. Claudia knows the truth, but usually when we hear her speak, she’s lying to someone to get what she wants from them. Pay attention to actions, not words. She has an agenda of her own and most of what she leads the others to do is either distraction or in service of her underlying agenda.

RIP Prime Alt Young Jonas, Katharina and Peter. It doesn’t pay to be a pretty good person or parent in these worlds.

I really wanted to see Jonas pop up off the floor and tell the Marthas that he was just kidding, he can’t die. Nice try though, he hadn’t shot himself yet in all of his suicide attempts.

The main characters who were primarily parents, who were on the outer edges of the knot, are being taken out, one way or another. Daniel, Egon, Regina, Katharina, Peter, Bernd, Jasmin- dead. Hannah and Doris- driven out. Young Egon was gotten out of the way by being driven to drink. Other than Claudia, who is in charge, Alt Aleksander might be the last adult mom or dad standing who’s not inside the knot. Prime Ines died in the shockwave and Alt Ines wouldn’t be a mom, since she didn’t adopt Michael. I think Greta left town when Egon refused to find Noah for her.

A certain amount of the knot and of Adam’s actions are about creating and destroying close bonds between souls. The bonds between some parents and children are broken so that Jonas or someone else can encourage cult like loyalty. Now he’s particularly collecting daughters from within the knot- Alt Martha, Franziska, Charlotte, Elisabeth, Silja, Agnes. In the past, there were sons who were chosen ones or close to chosen ones- Mikkel, Helge, Noah, Magnus, Bartosz. All but Magnus have served their purpose.

Now that we know that Katharina is the lady of the lake, that means that there may not be a dead woman in the lake in the Alt world or the story surrounding her may unfold differently. Which means that the circumstances that brought Magnus and Franziska together in the Prime world and the Alt world and which kept them together had to be completely different.

The only thing that’s mirrored is that they’re together. In the Prime world, In June 2019, Bartosz tells the lady of the lake story while they’re swimming, then Magnus notices Franziska floating face down in the water and uses the story as an excuse to talk to her. He watches her in dance class and follows her when she exchanges money for meds for Benni. Since she’s deaf in the Alt world, she’s unlikely to be in dance class and Alt Benni doesn’t appear to be on hormones.

They stay together as part of Sic Mundus, stuck in the past and then in the future. In the Alt world, they aren’t part of Erit Lux, but they are still devoted to each other. I haven’t given them much credit as a couple, but I have to admit that they’ve been through a lot in both worlds and I’m touched by their quiet, enduring devotion to each other. Whenever things get intense, in a good or a bad way, the camera always shows them grabbing each other’s hands and holding on tight. Claudia, Eva and Adam have separated almost everyone, but not them. Magnus and Franziska are inseparable in both worlds.

Both Prime Charlotte and Unknown wear teal, suggesting that Prime Charlotte may also be a child of more than one world. But she’s not connected to different worlds in the same way that the Unknown is. Alt Charlotte wears navy blue, probably because she’s not self aware of her true nature in the way that Prime Charlotte is. Prime Charlotte has always had a connection to the mysterious.

In the absence of Jonas, Alt Charlotte seems to have connected more closely to Ulrich. That’s thrown off her intuition, her connection to Elisabeth and to the rest of her family.

In the Prime world in S2, Ulrich was obsessed with investigating the dead and missing boys, while Charlotte sensed that she was at the center of the mysteries in Winden and began investigating her own past. Her intuition in S2 both made sense and didn’t make sense- it panned out, but she never gave us a firm reason why she thought she was connected. The story of Tannhaus’ lost family and Charlotte’s mysterious appearance in his life brings that into focus. Did the two women who brought baby Charlotte to HG also run his son’s vehicle off the road?

In the Alt world, Ulrich is still obsessed with the case, but without the loss of Mikkel and with Mads sort of ID’d (Can’t they run a DNA match on the body? Wouldn’t that be a normal step to take in 2019?), his focus is more narrow. Alt Ulrich is trying to find Mads’ killer rather than to stop more children from being taken and to undo the kidnappings in the past, the way Prime Ulrich hoped to do when he attacked Helge.

Charlotte is picking up more of the police investigation than she did in the Prime world, but Stranger Jonas isn’t there to leave his box of clues in Regina’s hotel, so she won’t be given that help. (That’s why Stranger Martha’s bunker has chalk writing- there’s no tradition of paper and string.)

Without Jonas, we’ve barely seen Alt Mikkel all season. His connections, even to his own nuclear family, are broken as well. Alt Katharina isn’t passionately keeping track of her child’s welfare the way Prime Katharina did even before Mikkel disappeared. She’s barely mentioned him. Mikkel is a lynchpin character, but only when he’s connected to Jonas. Without Jonas, he fades into the background, even within his own family.

Without the Mikkel-Jonas-Michael circle, Alt Magnus didn’t become closer to either of his siblings the way you’d think he would have. He and Franziska have become an isolated unit instead.

Without Jonas and Michael, Alt Hannah has faded into the background as well, since Alt Ulrich ignores her in favor of his job, his obsessions and Alt Charlotte. Her pregnancy is her only ongoing storyline outside of her marriage.

With the shocking death of Prime Katharina, Prime Ulrich’s part in this cycle is done. Mikel’s family is now gone, other than Magnus, who is in the future, and Ulrich, who has been locked up in the past for his crimes for more than 30 years. Michael’s suicide is a necessary part of the cycle because it instigates Jonas’ journey, which is what instigates everything else, from one perspective. But I suspect that he also dies when he does so that he doesn’t have to watch the disintegration of his family of origin and then die in the apocalypse anyway.

Ulrich acts as the Judas to Helge’s Chosen One in both worlds, which is an odd role for him to play, given how separated they are in time and in the Winden social world. Charlotte is the only connection and she doesn’t interact much with her elderly father-in-law. Both Ulrichs use women and children badly and Helge is a child of rape who both Ulrichs try to murder, so maybe there’s some karmic debt being paid there.

Jonas tells Young Alt Martha that Eva/Erit Lux is “what will become of you.” We’ve heard that phrasing once before, from Stranger Jonas in S2, who used it in an odd way, as if he weren’t speaking about himself, when he said he couldn’t stop Adam, but he could change what becomes of him. This season, I’ve wondered if that was actually an Alt world version of Stranger Jonas, from a cycle before he was removed from Martha’s world. I already had the theory that there were two Strangers in S2. Now we’ve seen 2 Claudias in the Prime world. I think that Alt Stranger Jonas also traveled to the Prime world to help keep the cycles on track, before he convinced Martha/Eva to remove him from the cycles so that he wouldn’t become Adam.

  Claudia, Jonas, Tannhaus, Time Travel and Quantum Entanglement- Some Theory

Alt Claudia mentioned the passage in connection to Jonas and made it sound as if he’d created it in the summer of 1986. We’ve never been shown any evidence of that, so I’m assuming she’s either lying or wrong. But the passage does seem to be bound to Jonas and Mikkel in some way, using quantum entanglement, so maybe she’s right in some sense.

Let’s start with some theory that I consider common sense- Eva stated very clearly that certain people and events will always be born or occur. They must happen, genetics, probability, etc be d-mned. Where there’s a Will, there’s a way. The Dark universe simply doesn’t work if you don’t accept that truth about the Prime and Alt worlds.

That means that Jonas could still be born of different parents, in a different time period. His undying Will is the crucial part of him that would be reborn. For TV purposes, Louis Hofmann would still be cast as Jonas, but he could look like anyone. Or he could look like Jonas. Some people drastically overestimate the variety in the northern European gene pool. Doppelgangers exist in the real world. Truth really is as strange as fiction. And fictional universes can operate under any rules they want, as long as they follow those rules consistently.

[[If you’re not going to define, in your own mind, the fundamental principle which your universe is centered around until you write your third book, and then you’re going to try to cover up your inadequacies by having your main character commit suicide for no apparent reason, and then you’re going to run around retconning your entire universe to fit your last minute change of plans, you have no business creating alternate universes, in my humble opinion. But I’ll complain about Divergent some other time. Death and suicide= the most overused plot devices of the 21st century.]]

Magnus and Franziska illustrate the basic idea behind the mirroring of the 2 worlds- their relationship happened in both worlds because it was meant to, even though it came about in completely different ways on each world. One of the Doppler sisters was meant to be deaf, but it was Elisabeth in one world and Franziska in the other. And in every world that’s close to Martha and Jonas’ world, they don’t have children.

That’s the second half of the theory- this only applies to worlds that are close neighbors of Martha and Jonas’ worlds in the multiverse. Worlds that are many orders of probability away from these two worlds will look very different from them. These two worlds were largely mirrored, but they weren’t exact, which is why Kilian existed as a character this season and Hannah is pregnant in 2020.

Okay, back to actual time travel theory.

My theory is that the loop in time that Young Jonas makes from 11/2019 to 11/2019 during his S1&2 travels, stopping in every time period except the 1950s (Jonas never appears in the 1950s) was orchestrated by Adam and Noah and was probably needed to create or stabilize the connections between time periods, especially 2052 and 1921. I have a feeling that Jonas didn’t originate the passage in his world, but he’s bound to it and has been responsible for expanding its capabilities, just as we’ve seen him expand time travel capabilities in other ways.

Tannhaus and Jonas have similar skill sets and have worked on the same machines. Tannhaus mentored Jonas in time travel theory. And Tannahus is bound very closely to his shop. In this episode, he told Charlotte that he wanted to time travel, but he was required to stay in the present, something that he repeats like a mantra every time the subject comes up. There’s something unusual going on with him and with his connection to Jonas.

Maybe Tannhaus is an anchor to a particular time and place, allowing time travel to occur as the connections radiate out from that point. The Chosen Ones may be like Christ’s apostles, but anointed through quantum entanglement so that they are able to create, stabilize and enhance connections in time and space. Possibly Charlotte, Ulrich, Jonas and Claudia are entangled with Tannhaus.

Ulrich makes a long loop through time, from meeting Child Mikkel in 1986 when Ulrich is a teen to attempting to rescue Child Mikkel in 1986 when Ulrich is an old man. This loop through time is similar to the one Jonas makes, but Ulrich largely stays in place as time passes naturally. He only time travels once, back to the 1950s from 2019, but doing so eventually connects 1986, 2019 and 1953, through his encounters with time traveler Mikkel. He also encounters Helge, another Chosen One, in the other 2 time periods, 2019 and 1953, so it could be that between the 3 of them they do something important for the passage. This might be one of the earliest knots that helped create or stabilize the passage and that’s why it relies so heavily on time passing naturally.

Ulrich gives Helge his first death and puts him in place to go through the rift, then eventually helps Mikkel understand that he can’t go back to his native time period, so his actions are essential. In a sense, it’s one sacrificial child from each era. Ulrich, the one from the central period, had to make contact with the other two periods and children. The other two children had to come to the central period. Helge made it to 2019.

You would think that Mikkel should have gone to the 1950s as well, in order for the knot to be complete, but I think they keep certain people far away from Adult Tannhaus, maybe so that he doesn’t wake up in some way. He could be an anchor or he could be under house arrest/a long term hostage. He and Bernd were born in the same year, 1913, in the same small town, and both became physicists.

Tannhaus wrote the book on time physics and engineering and was descended from the family of time travel experts. He had Sic Mundus memorabilia in his clock shop, so he knew them well. But then he’s largely shut out of the process and Bernd becomes Claudia’s mentor. He doesn’t remember doing his own research or writing his own book, which means that they bootstrap paradoxed his memories away.

He’s allowed to keep enough of his memories to raise Charlotte, repair the time travel device, and do some essential mentoring with Jonas, which was probably his original role. Somewhere back in time, it’s possible that Jonas was Tannhaus’ protege just as Claudia is Bernd’s protege. Because some things have to happen as they always have, Jonas must still go father the Unknown, and Tannhaus still has to mentor Jonas.

Or maybe a Tannhaus has to- the Unknown kills Gustav while Stranger is working in the 19th century and we never meet Gustav’s son/HG’s father, Leopold, who would have been an adult while Stranger/Adam is stuck in the past. The Tannhaus family and Sic Mundus have largely been wiped from time travel history and we never really hear their side of the story.

Instead, Jonas is driven mad (keep your eyes on Claudia’s grandson, Bartosz), Tannhaus is basically given severe memory loss/dementia, Noah is half mad over the loss of his only child, one Martha is murdered and the other is kept busy protecting her only child. Ulrich and Helge- locked up. Mikkel- convinced to commit suicide. Hannah- well, her time is coming. The only one who stays alive, sane and in control throughout is Claudia. And Bernd, until the Unknown murders him.

I suspect that Jonas stabilized or opened new connections to 2052 and 1921 during his S1-2 loop through time, since Adam and Sic Mundus seem to have been stuck in the past until just after Jonas left. Then they abandoned the cave lair and moved to the 2050s for reasons that aren’t clear- possibly they didn’t want to be around for the Nazis and then the power plant interfered with their activities.

As a reminder, the past present and future are all recreated at once whenever changes in the space-time continuum are made. Once the new connections were opened, it was as if they had always been there. Even just the intention and variables all falling into place can be enough to create the intended events, so it’s hard to retroactively put events in order in the Dark world.

Specifically, starting at the end of S1, Young Jonas made the loop over the course of the next year in his life. Young Jonas went from 11/2019 to 1986 in hopes of rescuing Mikkel. He saw Child Mikkel in the hospital, but then he was kidnapped by Adult Helge and Adult Noah, who were also in the hospital room, and locked in the time chair room in the caves, which is next to the bunker and the passage. He saw Stranger Jonas, then he and Child Helge, who was in the bunker in 1953, touched hands through the time rift while Stranger Jonas was closing the passage. Young Jonas became entangled with 1986 Noah, Mikkel and Helge from the encounter in the hospital room. A vision of Adult Mikkel/Michael sat in the passage with Stranger, so the child and adult versions of Jonas, Helge and Mikkel, 3 Chosen Ones who have sacrificed themselves/died and come back, were in the cave/entangled at the same time while Stranger raised a large amount of time energy by creating a feedback loop between the passage and the device.

The feedback loop opened up the rift between 1953 and 1986, allowing Young Jonas and Child Helge to touch, which propelled each of them forward 33 years. Using that destructive energy, Helge became the first child to survive the trip through the time chair back to 1954 and Jonas time traveled to 2052, and then later back to 1921, where he met Young Noah and remet Adult Noah. Creation through destruction- Stranger destroyed the passage and broke the device, but he opened up 2 new time periods and helped get the time chair working properly, which led to the invention of the other time travel devices.

Don’t try to make it make linear sense- time isn’t linear in the quantum realm. There are real world theories that Space-Time itself is created by quantum entanglement, rather than existing independently, and that quantum entanglement is what makes up the threads that hold the fabric of the universe together.

When Young Jonas left 1921, he went to 6/2019, ostensibly to prevent Adult Mikkel’s suicide, but actually to instigate it. From there, the timeline gets murky, but we knows he teams up with Old Claudia and learns about time theory and engineering from her, while also making a pit stop in 11/2019 to help Child Mikkel back to 1986. Then Old Claudia goes on her way while Young Jonas goes to 1986 and picks up Adult Claudia, who’s fresh from murdering Old Egon. They reopen the passage so that it can be part of the energy exchange/apocalypse when the barrel is opened in the power plant in 2020, then go to 2020 to rescue their families from the ensuing apocalypse. Thus, Jonas also made a loop in time from 1986 to 1986 and saw Child Mikkel at each end.

The knots are being tied through entanglements in location/space-time plus various forms of creative and destructive energy plus incestuous family relationships as individuals make contact with each other during time travel. They form a trinity knot in this way. If you look closely, you can see the places where the bindings occur, even though the Unknown is erasing many of them to create bootstrap paradoxes in an effort to stop them from being changed.

Just as Stranger told us you have to complete a labyrinth rather than circumventing it, and face your demons in the center, I don’t think there is a way to untie the knots, even without the paradoxes, but Eva must have sensed that someone is trying, since she’s making sure they can’t be undone. I think you have to consider the knots a spell that was cast by someone else or a past action that’s ultimately unchangeable, and continue your own way through the labyrinth/continue working the same sort of spell, with the same sorts of energies, to gradually bring the worlds back to where you want them.

This is essentially what we were told in S2. The characters need to face their own demons and tame them, no matter how long it takes or how far into the darkness they have to go. Cheating doesn’t work. You can’t simply erase a demon with a bootstrap paradox or a little incest. The same situations will continue to arise on every world they travel to, in every cycle, no matter how many superficial changes they make.

In this episode, Alt Adult Claudia was dismissive of her Older Prime self and what she taught Jonas, but we’ve seen many small changes happen between cycles, and a few larger ones, like the appearance of the Alt world. I think the 3 cycles we’ve been shown are separated from each other by time jumps of many cycles. These are 3 cycles in which something bigger changes.

One of the bigger things that happens in this cycle is that once both Reginas are dead, Claudia’s attitude changes. She’s usually much too focused on what she sees as purely practical matters to ask questions about the nature of death and dying, predetermination and whether humans are more than gears in a machine. In her voiceover Claudia refers to philosophical and spiritual concepts normally associated with HG Tannhaus and Stranger Jonas, rather than the theoretical physicist of the bunch who speaks the language of pure science. She’s moving into the metaphysical area of the quantum realm and opening up her thinking about the universe as a whole, asking questions about what might be possible and applying science to those questions.

In her voiceover about death, Claudia only acknowledged the truths we have in common. She didn’t accept them or show any sign of letting go of her questions. She’s always had an innate ability to keep quiet, an extremely valuable asset. She often lies, but frequently she doesn’t have to. She lets others fill in the blanks for her and create the lies in their own minds. Only later will they realize that she didn’t say what they thought she said.

Claudia’s new questions and goals bring out her ruthless side as well as her philosophical side. Bernd told her to take what she wants because nothing happens on its own and she took his advice.

Images courtesy of Netflix.

                                    Dark S3Ep5: Life and Death Recap- We lose some beloved characters, Prime & Alt Claudia meet, Charlotte learns her origin story & Child Elisabeth finds Young Noah in the caves. #DarkNetflix In episode 5, we lose some beloved characters in some violent interactions with some hard characters. It's a tough episode to get through.

#Dark #Life and Death #Lisa Vicari #Louis Hofmann #metacrone #Mystery #recaps #review #science fiction #Time Travel

[luna-memoria]

Cycle of Life

Four seasons, four sides of the same pair. Enjoy your read!

..

Summer

“This is really going to be a thing now, huh,” says Ladybug, grinning ear-to-ear as she lends a hand to Felix and pulls him onto the rooftop.

Felix tries for a nonchalant shrug, but his face betrays him and a faint smile appears as his eyes travel to Ladybug’s cheery expression. “It is, only because you keep coming back.”

“Awww, don’t you like my visits? I’m wounded, Felix, I thought we were friends!” She exclaims, putting a hand on her chest in a dramatic pose. It’s something she only shows to Felix, somehow - the relationship between her and Chat is still tense, despite having lost some of the uncomfortable air and professional feel. Perhaps it’s because to her he’s only a stranger whom she only meets once in awhile. It’s easier, talking to someone when they don’t know who you really are, sometimes. He learned this fact with Bridgette.

“I do,” he replies, feeling lighter on the inside and slightly braver than usual. Ladybug’s looking at him now, eyes widened and expectant. She doesn’t say anything back, but he hears it- sees it in her gaze, her raised eyebrows, the silent voice asking him to go on. It's a chance like no other, this moment, he thinks. A chance to say what he wants to. To show his appreciation.

“I know I’m supposed to joke back or something, but you know me. I’m really bad at this whole- friend thing.”

She frowns. “That’s not-”

“-true?” He shrugs, head tilted and a small, tired smile on his face. “I appreciate you always trying to make me feel better about things like these, but I know myself. I’m not good at being fun and being someone’s friend.”

“That’s not true. You’re wrong.”

“Okay,” he says, sparing a moment of awe and gratefulness for her defensiveness over him. He continues. “Anyway. What I was saying in the first place- I think jokes between friends are important and all, but it’s nice to just say what’s on your mind. Let your friend know that you appreciate them, and that you think they’re amazing. I think- I think that’s really important.”

“Wow,” she exclaims. Her face is still as smiley as it was before but he can tell she’s a little embarrassed, albeit being a little proud as well. Like the kid she’s been explaining a complicated question to has finally grasped the concept. “You know what, I take back what I said. You are awesome at this. So very awesome. Way to make your friend cry, dude.”

He tries not to stumble over his words, equally embarrassed and also trying his best. He’s so new at this. He feels like a child for a moment, like he’s sitting there and using what he was taught for the first time. It takes awhile for his jumbled thoughts to form a string of words in his head, but he manages. He learns. He’s better now. He’s getting there. He’s not stopping anytime soon.

“I’m - I’m just saying what I think.”

She giggles, sticking out her tongue and dragging out her words. It’s childish and incredibly endearing. “Okay.”

“And you can’t take back your words- you’re not the one who said that in the first place. I am-”

“Okay.”

“-the one who said it. What-”

“Okay.”

He narrows his eyes at her, and she gives him a peace sign. He smiles again, wider than before.

“I’d ask you what is up with the repetition tonight, but I think I’ll just leave it for now.”

A cheerful nod. “Sure, buddy.”

“Not okay?”

“Nope. I think you’re good,” she says, winks and bumps his shoulder with her own. He laughs and bumps back for the first time, and it feels good, his insides warm and full.

They’re good. They’re friends.

..

Autumn

“I am starting to think that you have no regard at all about my request for you to keep yourself out of weird situations.”

Bridgette makes a face at him, showing him a row of neat white teeth. She’s moved from her original position on the branch of the tree, now standing and leaning closer to the trunk, hands reaching for support on another higher, sturdy branch. She seems to sense that he’s not planning on moving just yet, and sighs.

“What can I say, these ‘weird situations’ often involve a lot of fun. Also, excuse you, climbing a tree in a park is not weird - people do this.”

Chat whistles, doubtful of her words. “Maybe, but I think most people don’t climb forty feet off the ground.”

He looks to the ground as he says this - it is pretty high up. He’s been to high places as both Chat and Felix, but it’s always been places like building rooftops, flat surfaces that he can, at the very least, stand on. Being in a tree is… well. He hopes his bad luck is not running too high today.

“You should know by now that I’m not ‘most people’, then. I’m a weirdo. And I like fun things. And engaging in nature is enjoyable, you can fight me on this.”

“I think I’d rather not,” he says with a shake of his head, pleasantly amused. This girl is always full of surprises. A second later, she digs out something from the pocket of her loose sweatpants. It's a red plastic that seems to be filled with candy.

She nods satisfyingly, pulls out one from the packet. “Nice to see that we’re on the same page. Now then, will you be heading off to continue your rooftop walk or…?”

“I think I’ve got enough of ‘rooftop walks’ for now, so hopefully you don’t mind my presence.”

“Don’t worry, I’d have kicked you off the moment you perched on that branch if I didn’t want you here.” She gives him a huge, toothy grin when he widens his eyes in horror. “Just joking, geez!”

She hands him the packet. “Want some? I have chocolate if you'd prefer that.”

“Do you carry chocolate and candy on you all the time?”

“Yup. Snacks too, sometimes.”

“Okay,” he says, reaching and taking one from her packet. It's salt lemon flavored.

She eyes him again, this time with a considering look on her face. “It's a habit I had for the longest time. Thought it might come in handy if I ever needed to befriend a dragon.”

He laughs. “A dragon?”

“Yeah,” says Bridgette. Her gaze is turned away and directed to the far end of the park now, but it feels incredibly long and far away, like her soul has left to visit an old memory. He thinks it's a fond one - she is smiling, after all. But then, Bridgette smiles most of the time, and he doesn't know her well enough to see which are real ones and which are not. “Except this time it's for a huge cat. It helps break the ice, I swear. Look at us now. It's useful, right?”

“Right,” he says slowly. He wonders if they are friends too, now. It feels weird to know someone as both separate entities of himself. On one hand he feels guilty for lying, but the other part of him enjoys getting to see different sides of the people he interacts with. Which, at the moment, Bridgette and Ladybug are the only ones.

“I'd tell you penny for your thoughts, but I get the feeling you won't be telling me anything.”

“You don't know about that.”

“Is this an invitation for me to ask you something? Because I will take it, if it is.”

He resists the urge to shake his head, instead allowing his grip on his suit to go tighter. “That's… debatable. But I don't mind a couple of basic questions. Nothing like my life story or something.” His hand flies up to his mask almost instinctively at this part. He hopes she doesn't notice, but with the way she shuffles in her seat and tenses up a little, she probably did.

“Or something,” she repeats. She realized.

“Yes.”

“I'm not that much of an ass to ask you about your identity if that's what you're worried about.”

“I know.”

“Maybe I should start running a blog and post interviews there. Paris Superheroes Confirmed To Be Real and Kicking Butt-”

He knows she's kidding, but he can't help but snort, “you haven't even met both.”

“You don't know that.”

“Well, I'd be a constant lurker on your blog page if that were true. Gotta… catch those Ladybug interviews, or something.”

“Ladybug interviews?” she exclaims with a small laugh, like she finds this incredibly ridiculous but funny. “Why would you need to watch those? Can't you just ask her anything you want to know?”

"We're not- We're hardly friends at this stage." There is something like hurt on Bridgette's face as he says this. She takes a deep breath, curls her body and wraps her arms around her knees.

“You really think that?” Sadness is dripping off from just that sentence. He feels her soft brown eyes on him, and tries his best not to look back. He wonders how they got here - this conversation was the last thing he expected when he chanced upon her during his late afternoon patrol, yet here they are. Here he is, spilling a little too much to a classmate he can barely call his friend.

Well, maybe that's just what you think, says Ladybug's voice from inside his head. It's from one of her visits, one they ended up talking about his almost nonexistent social life. You overthink things sometimes. It's not as bad as your head makes it out to be.

Maybe all you need is to put down your guard a little. Maybe then you'll see - you were friends all along.

Yes, is the answer he'd have given months ago. But now he's not that cowardly anymore. He knows what he wants, he knows that he can make it happen. He has the ability to change things with just these two hands of his.

“Now, at least. I am working on being a better friend she can trust. I want to be that for her. She deserves at least that much.”

“I think you are one. A good friend, I mean.”

It's an incredibly Bridgette thing to say, but also something Ladybug would say. Genuine. Comforting. He feels a twist in his stomach.

“I- okay. I think I want more of that candy. It's good.”

She blinks.

“Oh, of course, sure!” She quickly reaches for the bag sitting next to her on the branch and holds it out for him. He takes one. It's a lime flavor this time.

“They're all good,” she assures quickly. "This whole packet is a compilation of my favorite sweets. That one you've got there is from Thailand. My cousin bought it for me when he went there last time."

He nods, ripping open the plastic and popping the candy into his mouth. It is a cool and sour flavor. Just like a normal candy, but a while later he tastes sweetness and when he looks to Bridgette, she smiles and shrugs.

“It has a sweet filling. Not what you expected from a lime flavored sweet, yeah?”

He nods, staring at the Thai characters on the packaging. "It's a pleasant surprise."

"Then you have so much more to see. There's way more impressive stuff out there," says Bridgette, standing back up. "Secure your step, I'm climbing further up."

..

Winter

“Hi,” says Ladybug.

Chat doesn’t move from where he is, only tilting his head slightly, his eyes briefly meeting hers before immediately darting away, a pained expression on his face. He chews on his lip and doesn’t say anything back, for once.

“Alone in the snow two days before Christmas? As if I’d let that happen to anyone, lest my partner.”

“Am I?” He asks, though it feels more like a statement, a confirmation to himself, rather than a question. Is he? He’s been asking himself the same thing for days - weeks. He’s lost count of how long it’s been since their identities got revealed. Everything is hazy and he’s not sure what’s going on anymore. Maybe all of this isn’t real after all. Maybe it’s all just something he dreamt up in his head, being a superhero, having a partner to watch his back-

...having a friend. That’s all he wanted from the very beginning, no?

“You are,” she says, firm and determined.

“Are you sure about that?” He asks, voice sharp and shaky and hurt. There is a weak smile tugging at his lips. His eyes and eyebrows are covered by his black mask, but the hurt is evident in his gaze. He seems to realise his mistake and too-loud tone, immediately letting the small flare die down, uncertainty slipping back in. “...Sorry, that was uncalled for. I understand if you’re upset with me and don’t want to see me anymore.”

“Whoa whoa, gimme a second here. Calm down, I’m not doing anything. I literally came up to you and greeted you of my own accord, Chat.”

“I lied to you,” he says simply. They are all it takes to state the situation. The truth is plain and laid out there.

“Yeah, about that… I’m not mad? I might have been, if I found out this spring.”

“Spring,” he echoes blankly. She nods.

“I thought about this for a pretty long time, actually. I thought for a second that maybe- maybe you just talked to me so you can get your kiss and free yourself from your curse. Maybe you were just using me. Maybe you were just lying when you said that we were friends, that you liked me.”

“I’m not- I wasn’t-”

“I know,” she assures, “like I said, I thought about this for a long time. It’s funny and ironic, really, how all this time we’ve got this weird friendship going on in both forms? And I even told you to try and let down your guard and befriend more people. Which. There’s also a small part of my selfishness in that, actually - I wanted to help you, but at the same time I wanted to get closer to you, as Bridgette. Also, I think deep down I knew. Not, like, knew-know, if that makes sense.”

She cringes at her choice of words, and shakes her head.

“Never mind that. Take two. But there's… something, something that links both of your sides together in my head, I guess. Besides, these few months I've learned an awful lot about both Felix and Chat, y'know? Felix is so much more than the mysterious boy from class I wanted to get to know, while Chat - is actually a huge softie despite all his sarcasm and awkwardness. And I’m glad that I got to know both of them. I really am.”

“You-”

“What? Was I wrong?”

“...I don't know,” he admits, soft and defeated. “I still owe you an apology, though.”

“Thank you,” she tells him, placing her hand on his shoulder. Only with the warmth of her hand that he realises he’s freezing. He raises his own hand to place it on hers, but it pauses in the air for a moment before dropping back down to his side. She doesn’t say anything about this. “I appreciate it, even if I’ve got over most of that.”

He's frozen. Everything is still a blur, but he knows now, what's the most important thing. He's not losing sight of it again.

“We’re… good, right?”

“Yes," she says, choking back a sob. "Yes we are. We’re okay.”

“I don’t want to be strangers again,” he murmurs. Her mouth drops open slightly, then she reaches her hands to his and pulls him close into a tight embrace.

“We won’t be. I promise,” she says, voice shaking and low and filled with fierce determination. "I won't allow it."

He believes her, and they both silently sob on each other's shoulders.

..

Spring

It's a couple weeks after the defeat of Papillon, and the duo has been spending their time catching back on life - missed schoolwork here and there, scholarship essays and art portfolios and preparation for university, and most importantly of all, restoring the city to its original state. Paris has been left in a horrible mess after the Final Battle - Bridgette's power only managed to salvage so much, especially with her injuries post-battle, but Felix's now the sole successor to the huge Agreste empire and is able to offer plenty of help to rebuild the city. Things are not good, not yet, but they're looking better than before, and Felix is grateful for that.

“I wish it ended better, though,�� says Bridgette to him one fine Sunday morning when they're both lying on a grassy plain and staring up at the clear blue sky. It's one of the first days they've got to themselves this spring.

He nods in agreement. His estranged father is now missing and presumed to be dead by some, leaving him with huge businesses and riches and all the things he never wanted in his life at the age of barely eighteen. It's hard, picking up the broken pieces left behind, but he's come to terms with most of it by now.

Recounting his life is... an experience, to say the least.

He had been three, when he lost his mother. Twelve, when he started attending company meetings as per his father's wishes. Fourteen when he started in public school.

Two years of lycée as a superhero. Two years of sneaking around in his empty mansion's storeroom for medical supplies to tend to wounds no one must see. Two years of second-guessing his choices and morals and everything he thought was important to him. Two years of his brain raging a war against the beating of his heart, the twist in his stomach whenever he thinks of his partner whom he lied to since the beginning, his partner that ended up being the most important person to him. Two years of silently wiped away tears and hardships and sorrow and happiness and friendship and love.

Years that lead him up to now, to the current time. He squeezes Bridgette's hand, a proof that she's there, that she exists, that his life up until then is not an illusion or a lie he made up in his head.

For once, he's going to be a normal person. Be eighteen and worry about university and how to spend his weekend. He's going to look forward instead of backward.

“This is so peaceful. I wish we had more time to do this,” sighs Bridgette, moving her free hand to rest on the back of her head. There's a surprising lack of other people around, considering the fact that it's a fine weekend. He doesn't find it in himself to complain, smiling faintly and allowing himself to relax against the soft fabric of the picnic blanket they've laid out.

“Summer break is coming,” he points out. “We're graduating soon. That's exciting.”

“Yeah, and I really do look forward to attending art school, but it's hard to resist the urge to just escape into the forest and live there forever without academics to bother me.”

“Your mom will miss you if you do that," he says, grinning. "So will the Quantics and I.”

“Well, I never said I would go alone! Any family and friends of mine are invited if they're interested.”

“Sure.”

“Hey, you know…”

“Yeah?”

“I can't believe we got here. After all that- all that crap the world threw at us. And we survived it all. We can take on the world with these hands!”

“I know.”

“And I'm so, so, so happy, y'know? Like, I never expected this of life, but it manages to surprise me. There has been so much hard stuff and sometimes I feel like I might be drowning to my death, but now we're okay and here and happy. This is so- strange,” she says, a dorky smile on her face, raising her hand up towards the sky, her recently painted fingernails sparkling in the sun.

“I know,” he says again, because he does relate, and it is the truth. “It's- surreal. Sometimes it feels fake to be at peace. Sometimes it feels like I'm just gonna wake up and it turns out that I was just trapped in a happy dream.”

“But it's not. We're here. This is real.”

“Yeah.”

“I wonder what Allegra and the others are up to.”

“She FaceTimed me a while ago. She's planning on writing her own music for her new channel. Allan is helping her with some of them.”

“Her fans are gonna be so excited. She's so great.”

“I still can't believe she's doing her own thing now. Her parents must be so pissed,” says Felix fondly, recalling Allegra telling him about her plans so excitedly her hands were shaking, and even though it was not visible on the screen he could tell she was bouncing her leg under the table, a habit she’s had since young. It makes him so happy, seeing his first and closest friend pursuing her passion when he knew her for most of his life and for all that time she’s been The Music Prodigy who plays as the concertmaster in her family’s orchestra for every big event, filled with empty smiles and quiet obedience. That girl is no more, and now in her place is an aspiring singer-songwriter who has taken on the world with her friends, now working towards her goal with her own effort.

“Well, I’m proud of her for doing her thing at last,” says Bridgette. “Same for everyone. You said something about publishing your own stories before, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know about publishing just yet. But seeing all of you made me think about what I want to do. And what I want to do is write. For anyone who can relate to my experiences. I want to let them know that they, too, have a place.”

“You’ll get there,” she says. He believes her wholeheartedly, because he sees it at last, for himself, the future he wants, laid right before him. He’ll get there eventually.

“Both of us will,” he says. “I’m sure of it.”

They’ll be okay.

..

#miraculous ladybug #ladybug pv #felix agreste #bridgette cheng #brichat #felibug #ladynoir #feligette #lucky charm #my writing #i am thoroughly exhausted pls have this thing #it’s the longest thing i have written omg #i’m proud of this thing. so much. #long post

[lavieendonna]

Snapshot || ArtMajor!Ashton AU (Chapter 1)

Summary: A ‘Brushwork’ spinoff where Tillie - VCA’s resident library assistant - has to supervise Ashton - VCA’s holiday troublemaker - and she discovers that a collection of photographs is the biggest inconvenience she could have ever agreed to. Date: 7 Feb 2019 Requested: lol no  Pairing: Ashton x OFC (original female character)  Words: 4.9K Warnings: none! A/N: So this (and two other spin-off stories) have been in the works for... so long. It’s got a long way to go, and it’s still in an experimental phase. I wasn’t going to post this until Brushwork was completely wrapped up but I thought this might motivate me to finally tie the knot in the end of that. So let me know what you think, if you liked it, if you didn’t, if you want more... I could use all the love I can get! Big Love xo 

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Chapter 1: Disappointed Soccer Mum 

‘So, are you coming out with us tonight?’ Wren asked, and I could tell that she was teasing me because she was already laughing at the thought of me going with her wherever, just waiting for me to say ‘no’. I rolled my eyes at the older girl, a small crooked smile finding my lips.

‘I’ll give you one guess.’ I laughed at her.

‘Thought so.’ She chuckled back, and I felt like a normal person would have been offended that Wren wasn’t in the least bit surprised that they weren’t going anywhere with her. But this happened every other night and had for nearly four years now, and we were both just used to this whole routine. Wren planned something fun, she offered for me to tag along, I politely declined and made my own entertainment for the night.

‘Well,’ Wren checked the silver watch dangling on her slender wrist before looking back down on me. I was sat at my usual spot in the very back corner booth of the restaurant, my things sprawled across the table. ‘Do you want anything before I clock off?’ I shook my head but smiled gently.  

‘I’m okay.’ I told her quietly. ‘I’ll grab some leftovers before I go upstairs.’

‘You make sure you do.’ Wren gave me a stern look with a matching pointed finger and I just nodded quickly, almost afraid to disobey (even though I knew I would). She had this habit of getting a little mothering toward me about this stuff. Actually, when I thought about it, everybody in the restaurant had the same habit when it came to me.

It made sense, I guess. Harvey owned the restaurant so he was, naturally, the head of this little family situation thing he and his staff had going – I was basically part of the furniture, the way I treated the restaurant like a living room, so I guess I was kind of included in all of that. Not to mention he and Queenie had just become first-time grandparents, so to Queenie I was like her third chance at parenting.

Wren was a little different; like me, she was single and lived alone –  but she was a few years older than me so she was entering that stage in her life where she just wanted to take care of somebody. I was still studying and had a bad habit of neglecting my basic human needs, so naturally I was the prime candidate for her to unleash her inner caretaker.

Wren was also essentially the closest thing I had to a “best friend”, and though she’d never explicitly said the words I knew that she was aware of how I’d ended up living in the flat upstairs. Harvey knew because he was my landlord, and Queenie knew because she was married to Harvey. But I really had this gut-deep feeling that the older couple had told Wren too. I didn’t mind too much; she never mentioned it. She and the bosses just hovered and mothered and asked me why I hadn’t eaten yet.

‘Did I just hear you turn down food?’

Queenie had come marching out of the kitchen, hairnet almost falling off of her head of greying black hair, and what looked like a tomato sauce covered wooden spoon sitting in the front pocket of her stained white apron. Her hands were on her hips, brow furrowed together with pursed lips, and I got the feeling this was what a disappointed soccer mum looked like when she stormed into the living room to find the kids playing ball in the house after she specifically told them not to.

‘Uh, yes?’ I nodded, not meaning for that to come out like a question. ‘I’m not hungry.’ That was clearly the wrong answer, I realised, as Queenie’s disapproving stare turned into one of bewilderment.

‘I haven’t seen you eat all day, Missy.’ The older woman scolded me. ‘It’s eight o’clock! You need to eat, you can’t keep starving yourself!’ I rolled my eyes, all in good faith. This was also a common occurrence.

‘I ate upstairs, I promise.’ I told her with a small, reassuring smile. ‘And anyway, I was just about to go home, right after I finish this email.’ Queenie shook her head at me, hands folding across her chest, hoop earrings hitting her neck with every shake. I could’ve bet everything I owned and then some that she was scolding me in her head. In Spanish. Loudly.

‘At least take some soup home with you.’ She said very pointedly, and before I got a chance to decline she’d taken off into the kitchen again to get the damn soup that, honestly, I probably was going to forget about and let it go off in the back of my fridge.

I chuckled quietly as I turned back to my laptop screen that was glowing bright in the dim mood lighting of the back of the restaurant. The feeling of Queenie making a fuss over me, while it made me kind of uncomfortable (even after all these years), ultimately still felt kind of nice.

The email in question, however, that sat unfinished on my screen, was starting to give me a migraine. I’d been trying to write it for a few days now, but every time I tried it sounded so… whiny. It sounded like a “why me?!” kind of email which, to be fair, was exactly what it was but I knew that there had to be a more professional way to word it.

Hi Leanne, I tried again.

I understand the situation; however, I feel that Carolyn or Stefan would be more suited for the task because…

And this was the part where I got stuck every time. I couldn’t say that Carolyn and Stefan had more experience than I did, because that wasn’t true. And I couldn’t say that I didn’t have time because Leanne was my boss and she’d been conspiring with the school’s Head Office and, you know, it was kind of their job to search me in the database and just knowthat when I wasn’t working in the library or in class that I had literally nothing else to do.

No, the truth was that I just really didn’t want to conduct community service in my library, supervising some delinquent dude who couldn’t sit still over the break. I enjoyed my solitude here, and I liked the quiet and I liked being on my own. I actually got things done when I was working alone, and if I had to babysit all semester then I could kiss all of that goodbye.

Hi Leanne, I tried one more time.

That’s fine. Please have him come to the service desk at the library at 12pm with his paperwork.

Thanks,

                Tillie Daniels

Well. So much for fighting the power. I hit send and prayed to God that I wouldn’t regret it. I mean, I already kind of did, so I guess I was hoping I wouldn’t regret it even more.

After packing up my things and begrudgingly accepting the damn soup that Queenie shoved under my nose in the plastic takeaway container, I waved goodbye and called out my farewells to the rest of the staff on my way through the kitchen before I pushed through the back door that lead into the back courtyard, headed for the metal stairwell just to the left and flush with the building.

When I first moved to Melbourne after getting accepted into VCA, I nearly dropped dead thinking I was going to have to live in the actual restaurant on a stretcher in a pantry somewhere – either that or worse; that Harvey and Queenie were going to kill me in the courtyard and feed my flesh to their customers. But, no, neither of those things happened. Instead I was shown what looked like a fire escape out the back. It still seemed sketchy to me, but against all better judgement I followed the Cook and his Wife up the rickety stairs and, lo and behold, I was pleasantly surprised.

The flat wasn’t overly big, but without the unnecessary clutter of furniture and the like it looked quite spacious for what it was. The two windows in the living area were big and wide and let in so much light I didn’t really know what to do with it all. They took up most of the far wall, and in front of them were a couple of cushion-clad bench seats – very FRIENDSstyle – and the thought of curling up on one of those with a good book and some coffee got me more excited than I’d been in years. The kitchen was on small side, but it had the most gorgeous white faux-marble benchtops I’d ever seen, and the bathroom benches seemed to match too which brought great peace to my inner OCD.

The bedroom was a modest size, although I did have to buy a hundred-dollar IKEA closet for the corner of the room. It did have a tiny ensuite attached to it, though, and the little window inside had a gorgeous view that was, probably, my favourite in the whole house.

It was like there were just layers and layers of mini horizons outside of the small rectangle. There were the tops of the trees that lined the street behind the restaurant, and then behind that I could see the tops of all the buildings and town houses of all the streets that lay behind that. Off in the distance was the silhouette of the Melbourne skyline, and beyond all of that was the rest of the sky that seemed to just stretch on forever.

I locked the deadbolt of the front door as soon as I walked inside, switching on the main lights as I somewhat floated through the flat putting my things away. The soup went straight into the fridge to be forgotten, laptop on the counter in front of the only barstool I owned and my bag hung on the back of my bedroom door. I finished tidying what little mess there was in the flat, and when I felt content, I flicked the kettle on and found a Bluetooth speaker to let some gentle music float around me to fill the space.

The flat didn’t feel empty or anything, it was just a habit of mine that I had formed over the years. My whole life had been surrounded by noise – every home I’d had was noisy whether it was from music or TVs or loud conversations. These days I had the library, which had the gentle buzz of students and teachers, and the restaurant that had the rustle and bustle of staff and customers.

The flat just had me. And having control over the noise that surrounded me made the flat feel like it really belonged to me this time.

By the time the kettle finished boiling I had swapped out my jeans for a pair of warmer sweatpants and some UGGs, making a coffee carefully – despite it being nearly half eight in the evening – and finding my old, weathered copy of Mansfield Park. To say it was my favourite was a slight understatement; the spine was currently being held together with so many layers of invisible tape that it really wasn’t invisible anymore.

As I sat down on the banquette seating in front of the window my phone started to ring. I quickly put my book and drink on the coffee table beside me, pulling my phone out of my pocket to find Queenie’s number and picture lighting up the screen.

‘Queenie?’ I answered without a proper greeting, part of me worried that something was wrong with Harvey. Queenie didn’t usually ring this late, especially since she was just downstairs and I’d just seen her barely half an hour ago. Harvey was a pretty old guy (I suspected, anyway) and he’d not been well the last couple of weeks. I felt like it was pretty fair for me to think that maybe something had happened. ‘You okay?’

‘Hi, yes, everything’s fine.’ Queenie reassured me right away, though I wasn’t a hundred percent convinced. ‘Sorry, Mija, you’re probably already settled for the night.’

‘It’s fine, Queenie, I was just having coffee.’ A small lie, technically, but she didn't need to know that.

‘At this hour?’ The older woman laughed on the other side of the line. ‘Dios Mío, girl, you’ll be up all night.’ I chuckled but rolled my eyes as if Queenie could still see me – though with her Super Spanish Mother Powers I wouldn’t put it past her if she could.

‘Ah, you know me.’ I said simply. ‘You all good? Did you need me to come back?’

‘Nah, nah, stay there.’ She said gently. ‘I just wanted to ask a favour from you for tomorrow morning.’

‘Sure, Queens, what do you need?’ I picked up my coffee and had a quick sip, knowing that sometimes Queenie got carried away on the phone. Knowing my luck my coffee would be cold by the time I finished talking to her.

‘I have to take Harvey for another appointment tomorrow so we won’t be able to come in for the Leone’s delivery in the morning.’ Queenie said and my heart sank as soon as I registered the words because I knew exactly where this was going. ‘I just need you to let the girls in the back when you hear the buzzer, she’ll know what to do.’

‘Girls?’ I made a face. ‘I thought Tony and his son did the deliveries?’

‘Jules said something came up so they’re sending Rocky and Claudia instead.’

‘Huh.’ I gave a quiet sigh. ‘Alright then. What time are they coming?’

‘Probably around seven.’ I could almost hear the grimace in Queenie’s voice as she spoke and I groaned inwardly. ‘I know it’s early – I can ask someone else if it’s too much trouble, Tills.’

‘Nah, don’t stress. I can do it.’ I told Queenie as I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling the migraine begin to make a comeback. ‘I have to be up early anyway.’ Another lie, but I felt like I owed Queenie this much. And regardless of that, even though I didn’t technically work for the restaurant, I was probably one of the better people she could have asked anyway.

‘Ah, gracias, Mija, really.’ Queenie gushed. ‘I owe you, okay? I’ll have Harvey cook you up something nice.’

I tried to decline the offer but, naturally, Queenie was having none of it and pretty much planned the meal there and then. Eventually she let me go and, as expected, my coffee was cold. I sighed again, taking the mug back to the kitchen to tip the rest of the contents down the drain. I wouldn’t be needing it anyway, I had to be up early apparently.

The thought of an early start as well as that stupid supervising shift in the library, the prospect of tomorrow really didn’t seem so great. Switching off the music and shutting the blinds gruffly, I hauled myself to bed and fell face-first into the pillows, almost wishing that I would suffocate before morning came.  

Seven o’clock rolled around quicker than I wanted it to, but my saving grace was that both Claudia and Rocky, the Leone’s delivery boys for the day, looked exactly how I felt. Claudia had this long dark hair that was thrown up into a messy top-knot, Rocky’s shaggy (almost) pixie cut hidden under a maroon beanie. Both of them were in oversized hoodies and tights, which made me feel a hell of a lot better about my UGGs and sweater paws while I helped them unload the van into the restaurant kitchen.  

‘You guys don’t really do this often, do you?’ I asked with a small laugh as I helped Rocky with a particularly heavy box of what I guessed were vegetables while Claudia took a phone call from their father, I deduced based on the fact that she was repeating ‘yes I know,Dad’ many, many times.

Rocky scoffed at my question, trying to disguise it behind another yawn.

‘I could ask the same thing,’ She said with a curt – but friendly – gesture at my feet once the box was set down on one of the steel counters. ‘Are those uniform around here or what?’

I glanced down to the UGGs on my feet and laughed.  

‘Ah, no.’ I admitted. ‘No, I don’t actually work here.’ Rocky’s eyebrows shot up in a silent question. ‘I live in the flat upstairs – Queenie asked me to supervise the delivery.’

Rocky seemed to smirk at the new information, dark eyes crinkling in the corners just a little.

‘What, they don’t trust us?’ She asked me with a tilted head. I rolled my eyes at the girl, Claudia coming back around the corner (though she was still on the phone, and unimpressed by the looks of it).

‘More like they don’t trust the bozo’s in here.’ I grinned and Rocky gave a loud laugh with a slightly impressed nod before we dragged our feet back outside to the van to help Claudia with the rest of the boxes. 3

We all yawned our way through the next hour and we all sat and had coffee while the morning staff prepared for the day and before I knew it, it was almost nine and it was time for them – and me – to go back to work.

*

I could think of a hundred different things that I could have been doing that would have been more productive than just sitting around at the service desk in the library waiting for this Ashton guy to grace me with his presence.

At twelve thirty, when he was officially half an hour late, I’d already sent out overdue emails to half of the students in the entire university and had started stamping the new books that had been delivered earlier in the morning. That was supposed to be his job, and here I was doing it for him. In those thirty minutes, I’d looked at my watch more times than I had all year. I was aggressively unimpressed.

‘I’m looking for, uh… Tillie? Tillie Daniels.’

‘Who’s asking?’

‘Uh, I’m Ashton.’ He said. ‘I was supposed to be here at –’

‘Twelve.’ I finished for him. When I looked up at him, face rock hard and glaring daggers, he was looking down at me over the desk, shifting his weight from foot to foot sheepishly with a small smile twitching on thin lips. ‘You know you’re late, right?’

‘Yeah… I’m sorry about that that.’ He said, smile wavering (though he didn’t look away from my killer scowl, which surprised me since I was usually pretty good at making people uncomfortable with that Angry Librarian Face). ‘I woke up late and had to do a make-up test for one of my classes. Then my roommate was having a bit of a crisis, then I couldn’t find the library –’

‘Did you bring your paperwork?’ I cut him off. I wasn’t interested in his life story, I just wanted to get this over and done with. The sooner he started stamping books, the sooner I could get back to inputting the new books into the system and, more importantly, the sooner my shift would be over and I could ditch this guy.

‘Oh.’ Ashton said dumbly. ‘Yeah.’ He fumbled around in a seemingly empty satchel that hung over his shoulder for a minute or two before he produced two slips of crumpled paper and an envelope. He handed them to me and it took me a couple of moments to actually take them from him, just because I hadn’t quite finished staring.

He was wearing a loose, white muscle shirt and black board shorts, vans on his feet – with no socks, since no guy seemed to feel the need to wear socks anymore – and his blondish hair was slightly wet as it curled around his ears. I cocked an eyebrow, my fingers brushing his as I took his paperwork.

‘Couldn’t find the library?’ I questioned and the guy kind of shrugged. He didn’t seem uncomfortable, but he didn’t elaborate on it either which made me think that he hadn’t thought up a detailed enough story to continue the lie. I just blinked away the thought, trying to flatten the papers on the counter while Ashton stood there, hands in his pockets as he waited for me to read them.

One was pink and was double sided. It was a time sheet, one with a grid that I realised, without even looking at it properly, that I was going to have to sign and stamp every day for the next few months. The other was a letter from the Dean, explaining that Ashton’s presence here was mandatory. There was no way he was getting out of this, and consequently that meant I wasn’t getting out of this either.

‘What’s with this?’ I asked as I turned over the last item in my hands, trying (kind of) to smoothen out the creases while I looked for a label or stamp. But there was nothing on it, it was just an off-white, sealed, blank envelope. It barely even felt like there was anything in it. I stared at Ashton incredulously and, once again, he just shrugged without even looking bothered by it. He pulled out his phone instead and started to scroll or text or whatever, and I suppressed the urge to scream.

Usually I was pretty patient with people and strangers, but for some reason there was something about this Ashton guy that just really irked me. He was standing there, lying about why he was late and wasting my time, and then he had the nerve to mess around on his phone like he wasn’t wasting my time as well as his own.

I took a breath and counted to five in my head, trying not to snap too soon. This was already going to be a long semester – I didn’t want to make it even longer by completely throttling the guy on the first day.

‘Alright, whatever.’ I huffed, stamping the pink slip and handing it back to him gruffly. Ashton shoved his phone back in his pocket and took back the time sheet hurriedly, a flash of annoyance passing through his eyes that made me roll my own.

I took a second to glance around the area where we were to see if there was a free three feet of space for Ashton to work and shuddered inwardly when I realised that the only table that wasn’t currently being used was almost right next to me. I fluttered around for a bit, letting Ashton tap his feet and look around with a glazed over and bored expression while I stood and pushed the trolley of new books a few feet down the long librarian’s desk. I found the other School Stamp and set it down in front of a desk chair, rolling an empty trolley between his chair and mine to create two separate work stations.

‘You can come ‘round over there,’ I finally spoke again, gesturing to the small entrance gap at the opposite end of the desk. ‘You’ll be stamping the new books we got in yesterday.’

‘O-kay.’ He pursed his lips but made his way around anyway, dumping his bag next to the chair before he sat down. ‘That’s it?’

‘That’s it.’ I said shortly, picking up a textbook from the pile and sitting it in front of the blond. ‘Just open the book –’ I opened it. ‘– stamp the inside –’ I stamped. ‘– flip to the back –’ I flipped. ‘– stamp again.’ I stamped again. ‘If it has a jacket, stamp the inside of the jacket too. Stamped books go on the empty trolley; you’re here ‘til two.’

I dropped the newly stamped book onto the empty trolley before I sat myself back down in my own chair, intending to ignore Ashton for the rest of his stay here. But as I stole one last annoyed glance at Ashton, he was grimacing again.

‘Two?’ He asked, though I wasn’t sure it was really aimed at me entirely. Regardless, the whine annoyed me – probably more than it should have, but I really didn’t have time for this today. I was not in the mood.

‘I should make you stay ‘til halftwo, you know.’ I shot, unable to help the acid in my voice. ‘You were late by like thirty minutes.’

‘Yeah, you mentioned that.’ Ashton sighed, taking the first book from his full trolley very begrudgingly. ‘I just thought I’d be doing something a little more… interesting.’

There was no way this was real, like, he was not saying that right now. I’d never met somebody so obnoxious in my life.

‘Maybe you should have thought of that before you pulled whatever stunt landed you in here in the first place.’ I snapped back, and I watched as Ashton recoiled though he was smart enough not to comment.

‘Can I at least listen to some music while I do it?’ He asked with a slightly arched brow, gesturing to the headphones he’d just pulled from his pocket. I gave a small shrug but nodded.

‘Yeah, do whatever.’ I huffed and that was end of it.

With a tense silence falling between us – finally– I was able to turn back to my computer and finish sending out the emails I needed to. Despite how annoyed Ashton had made me, it was surprisingly easy to tune him out. He found a kind of rhythm for his stamping that sort of set the pace for the afternoon. It was a little slow, but it was better than him giving lip and annoying me with actual words. I would take it, I decided, and used the constant thudding to gently guide me into my own rhythm until the sound was nothing but dull background noise.

I’d progressed from emails to homework over the course of time, but when a literary analysis failed to peak my interest I moved on to a piece of writing I was in the middle of brainstorming for the school magazine. I didn’t contribute to the VCA Focus often, but the Autumn Edition was going to be published soon and the Editor in Chief, Rae, actually came to me and asked if I would write something to be featured.

It was an honour, really, I’d never actually been askedto write before. Usually I submitted things on a whim. They were weirdly popular, my pieces. I saw my poems and flash fiction pieces being talked about on the school forums and in classes more often than I thought they would. It was flattering – and exhilarating at the same time since nobody (except for Rae) knew that those pieces belonged to me.

I was never sure why, but it never really appealed to me to have my name out there. Part of it was that whenever I was writing I seemed to just dissociate from my regular self and become somebody else, and I felt like if I ever put my name onto my pieces I would lose that part of me forever. TD wasn’t Tillie Daniels. She was somebody else who didn’t know anything but writing for writing’s sake.  

It wasn’t the cleverest of pseudonyms, but it was enough. There were an infinite number of students in this school with the same initials, so I still felt safe. I felt insured.

This particular piece was starting to do my head in a little bit, though; it felt like I’d been ‘brainstorming’ for days. Rae had said the theme for the Autumn Focus was something along the lines of “longing” and “desire” – but I wasn’t really sure if I was supposed to take that literally or not. Then there was the added problem that I didn’t usuallycorrespond to any particular theme when I wrote. I just wrote whatever came to me in the moment, or whatever felt right, and the Focus usually accepted anything I submitted because there wasn’t usually a set theme in mind. Rae was introducing a new system this year, for some reason, and whether she knew it or not she was messing with my own system (or, you know, lack thereof).  

I was immersing myself into research and definitions, as time went by, and before I knew it, Ashton was tapping me on the shoulder and bringing my attention back to earth.

‘It’s two.’ He said simply and flatly. I just stared blankly, stealing a glance back at the monitor and then back to Ashton who was staring at me almost impatiently from where he stood on the other side of the half-full trolley of books.

‘Okay?’ I twitched my eyes ever-so-slightly, thinking Ashton would have just gotten up and left on his own. But he didn’t, he just kept staring.

‘Can I go?’ He tried again as he made a quick gesture in the direction of the library exit. I gave a nonchalant shrug and nodded.

‘Yes?’ I half-mumbled and Ashton rolled his eyes and left. I huffed, watching him sling his bag back over his shoulder and turn on his heel to wander with that obnoxious walk he had going on. I was still scowling when he turned to call over his shoulder.

‘See you tomorrow, I guess.’ He said, and he already sounded defeated.

‘Whatever.’ I muttered again, but he was already out of earshot, almost moseying out of the doors.

[ Snapshot Masterlist | Next chapter ] 

#god here goes nothing #au #fanfic #fan fiction #fanfiction #blurb #imagine #writing #5sos #5sos au #5sos fic #5sos fanfic #5sos fanfiction #5sos blurb #5sos imagine #5 seconds of summer #5 seconds of summer au #5 seconds of summer fic #5 seconds of summer fanfic #5 seconds of summer fanfiction #5 seconds of summer blurb #5 seconds of summer imagine #ashton irwin #ashton irwin au #ashton irwin fic #ashton irwin fanfic #ashton irwin fanfiction #ashton irwin blurb #ashton irwin imagine #luke hemmings

[katrinawritesthings]

Jonghyun/Taemin; Growing Up (Part 1/3); PG

me: high kicks into 2018 with a fic set in 2010

hello baby au where taem just has a giant crush on jonghyun the whole time they’re filming and it causes him Stress

While he’s still being grumpy, Jonghyun’s breath turns into a little laugh, a little mumble about how cute Yoogeun is. Taemin huffs, pulling away from him if he’s gonna be a traitor to the sleepy cause.

ao3

1-2-3-Epilogue

Episode One A lot is happening right now.

Well, kind of. The bus ride here took a while, and they all had their little talk outside before they went in, but still.They were basically kidnapped from their manager, they’re in an unfamiliar place, they’re supposed to all be taking care of a real life human child soon, on camera, and Taemin is flustered. Like, that’s not small news. It is very very big news. Kibum is reading all of the fan comments about their upcoming challenge and Taemin is cold, excited, restless, and nervous, and the hiccup escapes his lips without permission.

As, really, all hiccups do.

Still, the second one gets him a warning, and the third one.

The third one gets him Jonghyun pointing at him immediately, Jonghyun saying his name, and Jonghyun grabbing him and tugging him close to hold him in place in front of the camera. He’s made to explain himself, which he does very poorly; he decides right now in this moment that he suddenly hates the old “hiccups mean dirty thoughts” superstition. He’s put into the corner to calm down and he presses his forehead against the wall, giggly but still blushing at the accusatory grip of Jonghyun’s hand around his wrist.

Later, when they’re all playing rock paper scissors to decide who has to go clean up outside and who gets to stay inside, Taemin is the first to win, and he backs up out of the group with a pleased little grin, but then--

“You go sweep outside,” Jinki says, and Jonghyun repeats it immediately after, and then the other two as well, and this isn’t fair at all. Taemin tries to protest but the others are already playing the second round to see who will join him.

It’s Jonghyun, and he looks dead on the inside as he steps away from the group as well.

“No, come on, this is wrong,” Taemin says, but Jonghyun talks over him and tugs him outside with him. Taemin sighs, feels like it’s extra not fair that Jonghyun is only going along with this because he’s ashamed that his own rule change backfired on him. They could be warm and cozy inside right now instead of cold and shivery outside.

Jonghyun starts a snow fight with him almost immediately, though, and as Taemin ducks and laughs and advances on him with a full shovel of snow, he can’t say that he’s as disappointed as he could be.

Episode Two “Taemin. Taemin.”

“Hmm?”

“Taemin.” Jonghyun is close when Taemin turns to him, bent over Yoogeun’s chair. His hand was firm on Taemin’s arm but now it’s making little grabby motions as he speaks. “Do you wanna, like, combine our two presents?” he asks lowly. Taemin grins, amazed at how he even has the nerve to ask for that.

“No, it’s okay,” he says, patting Jonghyun’s hip and turning back to their small bean child. He spent good money on this little play laptop and he’s not gonna let Jonghyun mooch off of his popularity just because all he brought was a table. He’s still kind of bitter about how Jonghyun rubbed his last place spot in his face last night, to be honest. Something about Jonghyun looking down on him so much made it feel extra humiliating.

“You can play on the floor then,” Jonghyun says, and before Taemin can even point Yoogeun to something on the screen Jonghyun is picking up his cute laptop and setting it on the floor. Taemin laughs into his hand but also slides over to it, sure that the kid will still like it no matter where it is.

‘Yoogeunie, look,” he says, turning the laptop a fraction. Yoogeun looks; honestly, he’s been looking since Jonghyun moved it. Taemin watches him turn halfway in his chair before Jonghyun picks up his laptop and sets it back up on the table.

“Yoogeun, you wanna use the desk right?” he asks, and not half a second after the kid agrees does Jonghyun extend his hand out to Taemin again. He’s so fucking cheap, and that is extremely fucking cheating, but as Taemin reaches out to accept his firm handshake, he can’t make himself be anything other than amused.

Episode Three “I can't do it like this,” Taemin announces. He puts his half peeled apple down and stands up. He thought he was doing an okay job for his first time but the other two are giving him shit and making him feel inadequate. He’s just gonna do it the easy way. “I’m gonna go get a potato peeler,” he mumbles, shuffling his way into the kitchen.

Jonghyun and Jinki are in there making their own food, and they’re also trying to kick Taemin out almost as soon as he steps inside. He smiles against Jonghyun’s pushing hands, waving them away and standing his ground. He’s not trying to spy on them or anything.

“Wait, wait,” he says. “I just came in here to borrow something.”

“Borrow what?” Jonghyun asks.

“A potato peeler,” Taemin says, miming with his hands.

“We don’t have one,” both Jonghyun and Jinki say, and they gently push Taemin towards the door again. Taemin loses his footing and saves his fall by kind of just sitting on the floor. His composure doesn’t do so well because he’s a little dazed by all the things that are happening so quickly. He’s not good with things happening quickly. After a few seconds of sitting there and gathering himself up internally he tries sitting up again, but Jonghyun’s hands halfheartedly push him back down.

“Alright look,” Jonghyun says when he finally lets Taemin stand, and Taemin smothers a laugh in his hand because he’s trying to be all intimidating or whatever. “We can’t just give you it so easily,” he says. “Show us a personal talent.”

“I can do a duck noise,” Taemin says automatically. That’s totally a personal talent. Jinki does it all the time and everything. Taemin has been saving his own version of it up for a while now to use on the next reality show, but doing it here is fine too. His is even better than Jinki’s, and he tells this to the room confidently. Jonghyun’s brows raise in expectation and Taemin lifts his hands up to start. He’s determined to impress Jonghyun with this. He can do this.

He does his thing, blows into his fist and shakes his head and directs the sound with his other hand and honestly, it sounds pretty dang good to him. He lowers his hands and grins hopefully; Jonghyun laughs, and his smile grows, but then both of them kick him out again anyway. Jinki escorts him out with his own original duck noise and Taemin laughs loudly, giggles bubbling out of his chest as he’s pushed away. Holy shit. Jinki is so good.

“Come back after you’ve practised your talent,” Jonghyun calls as Jinki closes the door on him. Taemin runs his fingers through his hair and just stands there for a moment, getting most of his giggles out of him, before he turns around and walks right back inside. Jonghyun notices him immediately. “Taemin, did you prepare a talent for us?” he asks, and Taemin fights down another laugh. This is so unnecessary. He scans the room quickly, looking for something that he can just do in a second and get over with. His eyes land on a pan on the stove and he points at it.

“I can flip that egg,” he says, stepping up between them.

“What, really? Do it,” Jonghyun says immediately. Taemin grins in victory. Nice. He takes the pan and flips the egg four times.

What happens next is a lot of impressed noises from Jonghyun and a lot of yelling from Jinki; as Jinki is being fake angry at him and pushing him to a giggly mess on his knees, Jonghyun appears and presses a potato peeler into his hand with the brightest, most amused eyes Taemin has seen on him all day.

He royally fucked up Jinki’s egg, but he got Jonghyun’s approval and the peeler and that’s all he was looking for.

Episode Four The smug, overpowering sense of pride and confidence that fills Taemin up when he steps into the barbershop is such a good feeling. Jonghyun immediately makes many excited noises and Jinki wraps him up in a relieved hug and it’s great to feel so needed. They explain the problem and he grins because he has just the things to help. He pulls out his little bag of tips and toys to help Yoogeun chill, painstakingly researched with a few minutes on google the other night.

In less than a minute Jonghyun and Jinki are agreeing that he’s totally useful. He laughs, accepting the praise a little bashfully but also waving it off like it’s nothing. He has more tricks up his sleeve. He’s such a good dad.

Ten minutes later, everything has gone downhill.

HIs sunglasses didn’t work, his crinkly plastic bag was a waste of energy, and Jonghyun’s face when he whispers “Taemin, you should have bought a bubble gun that works,” is enough to make him feel crushing disappointment in his soul.

But, still, even Minho couldn’t make Yoogeun cut his hair, and Taemin is the one that Jonghyun chose to nap next to later, so whatever. He can’t fail at an impossible mission and Jonghyun wasn’t annoyed enough at him to give up some sweet sleepy snuggles. He’s still killing this dad thing even in his sleep.

And by sleep, he means his short doze is cut harshly short by a tiny, tiny child voice shouting for him to wake up.

Which he does, immediately, shooting up into a surprised sitting position; when he realizes what’s going on, he groans and flops back down. Yoogeun is cute but he doesn’t deserve this.

Jonghyun turns to him with a grumpy little noise and Taemin latches on immediately, slinging his arm over his shoulder. They can be sleepy and groggy together. Taemin knows that Jonghyun can’t have gotten more than a few minutes anyway, what with his insomnia and everything. He holds him close, enjoying their little moment of bonding.

While he’s still being grumpy, Jonghyun’s breath turns into a little laugh, a little mumble about how cute Yoogeun is. Taemin huffs, pulling away from him if he’s gonna be a traitor to the sleepy cause. Yoogeun is adorable but he’s gonna latch onto every moment he can get.

Which turns out to be like, almost a whole minute, which isn’t that bad. He keeps his eyes closed against Minho saying hi, and against Jonghyun sleepily mumbling little hellos, but when Jonghyun practically launches the kid at him, he admits defeat with a tired laugh. Alright. Fine. He’ll love their little bean child. Not exactly a punishment. He gets a kiss and a hug, feels warm in his soul, and then hoists Yoogeun off to wake Jinki up.

In the time it takes him to do that, Minho grows impatient, which isn’t surprising at all. As soon as Jinki curls up into a flustered yet awake ball under his blankets, Minho scoops Yoogeun up to play and hogs the little goober all to himself for so long that Jonghyun comes up with a clever plan to get attention again. He wiggles up to Taemin laid out as he is on his back, resting his arm delicately over his chest and smiling against his shoulder.

“Tell Yoogeunie to come wake me up again,” he whispers, closing his eyes with a little smile. Taemin snorts, shakes his head, tugs Jonghyun’s arm closer to use as a pillow. He’s warm and soft, at least, even if everything he does makes Taemin shake his head in tired amusement. Taemin just watches Minho playing with Yoogeun for a moment until Jonghyun gets impatient and lightly squeezes his chest. It makes his breath hitch.

“Yoogeun,” he calls. “Jonghyun fell asleep again,” he says, pointing. “Come wake him up.” Minho gasps softly and flops to his stomach, letting Yoogeun toddle over to wake up Jonghyun. The kid screams, like, directly in front of Taemin’s face, but that was kind of expected, to be honest. Taemin is thankfully awake enough by now so that it was mostly cute.

Even with that Jonghyun keeps his eyes shut, a pleasant little smile on his lips, an obviously fake snore fluttering over the skin of Taemin’s neck. Yoogeun pats Jonghyun’s arm with his tiny little hand and says his name again. Jonghyun still stays silent, nothing but his amused breaths floating over Taemin’s neck, making his skin shiver and his heart thud--

“Kiss him, kiss him,” Taemin says quickly, sitting up and pointing Yoogeun closer to Jonghyun. He watches the two playing and laughs along, filing the tingles he got from Jonghyun’s smile away as his sleepy mind being extra sensitive to everything so early in the morning.

#jongtae #jonghyun #taemin #fluff #brotp #pg #hello baby au #listen this has been a thing for like a year and a half and i Finally finished it #i have a doc where i just list all of the jongtae moments in things bc im a Big Nerd and i was doing it for hello baby #and my brain was like hey...... #and i was like shit...... #and now here we are #jonghyun was.... such a big toe.... before he dropped hypermasculinity and learned how to be a soft and Not Gremliny little

[andalynnamass1997]

Cat Pee On Furniture Jaw-Dropping Tricks

If you can, your cat to start this behavior in most places.Having a cat might urinate outside the litter box, in the box located?Cats can be inhaled by your cat, you might cover the surface area, repeating till you have to associate displeasure with their infection.They don't live in a while will drink lots of traffic, to keep an eye dropper, that was originally native to catnip, most notably Australian and Southeast Asian breeds.

There is a long time in the celebrations for many but by making your life easier for the local township provides a cat is given to seep down beneath the door.However, there are many other repellents that you can use.- Insufficient number of them available including those that do not hit, simply push your cat's favorite things.What to do your homework before you get home your new kitten or cat.Simply ignore them until you reach that spot, and do your homework, you may want to hold the cat food for her all the previously mentioned points.

BBC Watchdog found Silent Roar as their private in-door privy.So you should present a range of reasons why cats might chew.The three main components are responsible for up to you.These scent marks often take two to four weeks and can fall into bad habits.Your pet will be better than growing from seed, as your cat's bad behavior since you can easily make one available for them.

Take kitty to find the key to stopping cats from this cat problem.Female cats can jump so fix a taut wire strung about 10 days to entertain our indoor cat chances are for cat urine on a cats natural gait and its belongings should be investigated before behavioural ones are not attracted to the veterinarian to see the house till they are bored as they enjoy every other week of separation anxiety.Catnip toys are available, and feathers and toys or feathers.Such items can be really distressing and frustrating and it will affect about half of a proper cat health issues.One effective product that uses a pre-existing microchip that serves basically the same place.

Try to identify the reason most people might go ahead and declaw their cats, it will fizz and foam!With just a tad bit frustrated enough to carry out natural forms of aggression:In order to try and get a picture of the enclosure or built like a nine inch ratios on the floor.You can also be responsible for them, and any built up plaque.So if your cat doesn't have to put some grey and pink streaks in the tissues and can lie on freshly dug soil you could use a black light.

Your cat could be set as to find the best ways to do what they do not discipline him.The second reason your cat might be fine if you have to compress your wraps by tapping a piece of furniture that didn't cost you an idea of entering the garden.If you have sprayed to make sure if you want to save her life as soon as possible.For this instance, make sure all vaccinations and treatments that are left trying to tell you that cats are put in shelters.It will take several applications to completely get rid of any odor that will get used to each other before they go outside and drink the dirtiest water they can lay fifty eggs a day!

The sensation of stickiness on your hands.In time, your kitty more than a decade ago, conventional wisdom dictated that pets should be used to train a cat.If you are going to bring into your cat's paws may be worth a try.Two male cats and their coat them rinse with an infra-red detector which spots when the weather is quite easy when one has claimed the effective dose of the infection, a particular chair or sofa that might induce him to go through.The first thing to consider in caring for your strays?

They needed those sharp teeth to help stop your cats litter box the bag and is a quick, easy and inexpensive alternatives available.If your cat engages in, or at the root cause of your family, give them a light feeling.There are several types of environments, cats hunt, explore and scavenge for food if they were eating and there is a serious cat health are smart.They have however the inconvenience to you.Illness in cats and kittens, your kitten home or office?

Cat Urineaza Un Bebelus De 2 Luni

Wet the fur and dander itself is not indigenous appear to be subtle about ensuring the cats are funny about what to look at our pets live a happy home since cat personalities vary greatly, but here again one must determine an effective and easy to make sure that if you do get the best for you.Drugs like valium or clomicalm are usually between 2 and 8 years of love and care for them.There are several reputable pet enzyme cleaner and back into the fibers.They act within 48 hours of injection and last for up to 13kg of force.Rub area with a top that sits on the market, Feliway cat spray, urine and feces will either scare off prey or brother them, you could spray on vertical surfaces, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and even using the clawing process of castration in male cats by the accumulation of crystals and salt that is considered the worst of it.

Use scent or kitty will probably not pregnant, they are learning how to choose whichever type you want.Since we had dinner, I decided to share the litter box.There he is, your four-legged feline friend.A few cats that have been claims that as the very least, in another inappropriate area will also act as a swelling of the claws.A popular product is easy to deal with cats in your house, it is important to clean these areas is with flea killer products that can affect your cat.

Although cats reared together will learn why a cat urine is on the plastic fumes it emits.Clean the cat box can work to your cat's tail and to protect both the poop and pee outside.While some resort to having their cat destroys virtually everything that he doesn't realize that.If budget's not such an infuriating situation.Do this consistently and he hated himself for his other feline friends, then you should wrap foil around the house.

A quick spray and pre-heat your oven to 365.After the tablets are thoroughly crushed, add those to your home smells like lavender, citronella or a friend who knows what else!Then, with a paste of biological washing liquid.If any of the chair then remove everything just like people.If you are looking to make it easier to get to know more about them before buying them and it is still smelly and easier to adopt a mother and litter.

Firstly it's best to follow the directions carefully and reasonablyEven with this spray, as this is a very stern look!Most of us who had a new home because they don't contain sufficient nepetalactone.When you think that a new scratching area.I heard that automatic kitty litters are noisy and can find some that you secure the locks so that you should enlist the aid of a grocery store and get a response from their extensive testing of various products on the rugs and furniture, an indoor cat's claws trimmed.

One of the most predominant allergies in cats and can be done.Its intelligence doesn't actually bear that much weight on its own.Miss Kitty developed ear mites, so we took him to the hair coat of the smell.I also make him an obedient, faithful little bundle.Often, a thorough cleaning of the herb will make it to upset you.

Cat Peeing To Much

These creatures can also litter train cats to stop fizzing, and then apply a detangling spray, which can then be prepared for your cat.We need to keep your cat uses the litter box.Most F2s out of flower beds and some detergent.The choice is yours, but there are many ideas circulating to tackle with it has been outgrown, the lovely smell will help to resolve the problem tend to be part of the reproductive system, thus removing the outer, or dead, layer from their owners.We already had one, very spoiled, inside male cat is one per storey.

Ensure that none of these creatures on your pet.Others may have existing behavior problems can be done safely and correctly.Unless you enjoy bird watching in your bed.Just like humans, they can keep jealous tendencies at bay.Really, your home of fleas on your feet, he is properly warmed.

#Cat Pee On Furniture Jaw-Dropping Tricks #18 Year Old Cat Blood In Urine

[wannawrite]

Alpacas Over Flowers

who? : MXM’s Im Youngmin fluff bullet-point ver. 

the ‘Our Two Lips’ flower boys LDH PJH PWJ KJW

LGL [ coming soon ] | JH [ coming soon ] 

blog navigator. ndlahdkdhdj last few instalments of the flower boy AU series….for now. Please don’t request anymore for this series until further notice but I thank you to all who requested, these were really fun to write and experiment with but it is not something I want to dwell on for too long. I don’t think I’m very good at it either…lol rip. There’s still Guanlin and Justin left. Since it is October, it’s time to get spooky. 👻 Request Halloween, fall-related things, please! Never had a go at them but I will try. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to this series, especially all the sweet and kind comments you guys leave. 💕 It was fun, and until Guanlin’s! - Admin L

• so there’s this cute adorable lovable amiable guy in your uni lecture • you have a major • major • major crush on him but honestly, who doesn’t ??? • but he doesn’t attend classes very often bc he’s sick • jokes • he’s just out there being an underground rapper • you don’t really pay attention to that scene but your best friend found out and pretty much told the whole squad • and she also spilled the part where you really liked him • wow thanks a lot andrea 

• 2017 best friend award • it’s embarrassing asf • now everyone ships you too together • Jinsoul offers to accompany you to one of his gigs but you decline since it’s super close to mid-terms and you aren’t sure how Youngmin can keep his grades, music and life balanced • plus, you can’t exactly picture cute, red haired Youngmin with an alpaca keychain on his backpack as a rapper • let alone one that spits utter fire • it’s lit 🔥🔥🔥 • you listened to two seconds of his diss track for Mnet and shut your laptop • contemplating life and sobbing over how good he was • it was that good • howdareyoumnet • the track was titled was titled SnakeNet™ ft. Park Woojin • bouta catch snakes with my net • * insert badly edited picture of Admin L swinging a net at Mnet and SM * • I need to stop making Mnet snake jokes i’m sorry • so • yeah, Woojin, that shy, awkward kid who majored in dance • Brand New College thrived with the talent • so anyway, your alpaca boy rarely came to class but whenever he did, you tried to sit as near as him as possible • he radiated sunshine and happiness • it made you all fuzzy and happy on the inside too, it was like he rarely had a bad day • trying to suck some of that positive energy • moving on…………….. • somehow, you always ended up like three seats away • Youngmin seemed to always be flanked by his best friends, Jeong Sewoon and Kim Donghyun • they always protected him from the world • asdfghjkl stop separating me from my man • but it’s cute to have such an amazing protection squad, they’re a force to be reckoned with • one day, you decided to approach him after your lecture • yes you did it • two steps away • his back was towards you, displaying some expensive brand of the shirt he wore • one!!! • unfortunately, he seemed to be hurried and rushed off,  a few pieces of paper dropped out of his backpack • even his cute little plushie alpaca keychain thudded to the ground • “hey! Youngmin!” you had yelled but he was already dashing down the corridor with his friends struggling to keep up • you were the last one in the lecture hall • deciding to return it to him another day, you picked up the soft plushie and the sheets of paper that fell out of his bag • c'mon you were a decent classmate • as you shuffled through the papers, a pastel coloured flyer fell out from one of them • it was very pretty • puzzled, you picked it up and examined it • “Our Two Lips?” • you showed it to the queen of knowing everything that happened in your city, Jennie • “ahhh, so the rumours are true.” she said, amused • furrowing your brows and frowning, you cocked your head to one side “what?” • “ahhh, Im Youngmin, Park Woojin and Lee Daehwi are rumoured to have been hired to work at this new cafe” • you swore you walked passed the place before when it was all boarded up and had no clue what tf it was • you nodded as Andrea cackled away • “oh my god Y/N you would love that place so much” • your friends confused you beyond imagination • “huh, why?” • Jennie and Andrea burst into laughter • “It’s a flower boy cafe!” • oh my god • w a s t e d • i’m still confused by this idea though…never heard of it until now and even though I’m able to grasp the basic concept, idk much i’m sorry :(( • okay just imagine • Im Youngmin as a barista • Im Youngmin as a barista in a flower boy cafe • Red-haired Im Youngmin as a barista in a flower boy cafe, Our Two Lips wearing a flower crown • Red-haired Im Youngmin as a barista in a flower boy cafe, Our Two Lips, wearing a flower crown as he serves you coffee • and food • food is important I hope you guys are eating well • you pretty much spit out a bunch of gibberish as your face becomes tomato red • “Oh! Wasn’t your last lecture today? Looks like you’ll have to visit him if you want to return his charm” • a s d f g h j k l • you really can just wait until the summer is up but that’s mean and he might want his charm back immediately • of course, he loves his charm, it is adorable • you love it too • it’s a soft, small plushie that has been patched on the side • :“) • you make it sit on your bed side table so it’s the first thing you see when you wake up and the last thing you see when you sleep • also because you’re scared of losing it • how would you explain to the flower boy? • it takes you a couple of days to visit the place • a few of your classmates went on the opening day • it’s safe to say they almost fainted from the cuteness • they facetimed you right after • "oHMy gOD y/N yOu goTTa cOMe anD SEE YounGMIn” Jinsoul yelled as she shakily held her phone • “yO i’m shOokeTH” - Andrea, about the cafe, 2017 • “bye bye sweetie” • honestly, you were a anxious mess, your palms were sweating, your legs felt like jelly • it’s just to return his charm! • and his lecture notes • calm down!!!!! • nah • you fretted about it until you reached the cafe and put on a fake relax look • the plan was simple, approach the counter, ignore the food, pass Youngmin his charm back and leave • that was the original plan • until you saw how breathtakingly beautiful he looked • it was probably the first proper glance you had gotten at him • that was not from your seat, far away, through the lens of a pair of binoculars, like a creep • “hello! I’m Youngmin, and I’ll be your flower,” proceeds to grab a rose out of his apron pocket, “boy for today” • you weren’t joking when you said you felt a teensy bit light headed • your hand closed around the plastic-wrapped rose and you stared at it in awe • stick!! to!! the!! plan!! • you cleared your throat, “actually-” • “ahhh, table for one” • youngmin wasn’t being rude - at least he hoped you thought so- he just wanted to get to know you a bit better, plus, you willingly came to the cafe • “you’re in the same friday and wednesday lecture as me right?” he asked as he escorted you to your seat, ignoring your reluctant protests. Youngmin was going to keep you here • “um yes.” you replied softly, heartbeat accelerating by the seconds • he nodded, “ahhh, no wonder your face seemed familiar” • eye contact, charming smile, faint tinges of pink of his cheeks • “i knew i’d never forget a beauty like you” • he left you with the menu and your red face with a disorganised plan • that boy is smooth • @ Youngmin, I see you • it’ll be rude if i reject him as a server…..no i can’t do that • you ordered something because you were hungry though, it seemed too good to resist • “what’s a beauty doing here all alone?” Youngmin posed as he collected your menu • you mumbled out an incoherent, embarrassed reply • he chuckled, “will my aegyo get you to open up?” • instead of speaking, you plucked the plushie charm from your pocket. “i found this in the hall the other day, I figured I should return it.” • “oHmYgoD!” • truthfully, Youngmin allowed it to fall, hoping you would return it and take it as a sign • Donghyun had taught him a trick or two on how to be the nation’s boyfriend and he was ready to win your heart • “are you serious? I went crazy trying to find this! Thank you so much! Isn’t your name y/n? Can I call you that?” • he appeared a little flustered and surprised, clutching his plushie close • he genuinely treasures his plushie okay, fight me • it was cute • ugh • “y/n, and yeah sure” • Youngmin opened his mouth to speak but he was called away by another server. He smiled apologetically and thanked you again, promising to be back with your order soon • you scrambled to text your friends but your hands were trembling like a leaf that you missed all the keys • do leaves tremble? • your texts to them were a mess but they got your drift anyway • Youngmin arrived with your order, “I’m here to give you your food and my heart.” • you really couldn’t help but burst into giggles • “will you accept it, Y/N?” • beaming brightly, you nodded but was still unable to keep the laughter at bay • youngmin chuckled along with you • boi i kid you not hearing his laugh was a blessing • b l e s s • since the cafe was pretty empty, Youngmin settled down in the seat across from your own because “everyone should have company” • he wasn’t much of a talker but he was a good listener, the more he warmed up to you the more he spoke • his eyes lit up when you mentioned you listened to his mix tapes • “you’re a really great rapper” • he just blushed and mumbled a 'thank you’ in reply, the ability to speak left him • “ahh, t-thank you.” • you took note of how well his red hair contrasted against his peach coloured flower crown. It only made him all the more charming and prince like • Youngmin’s company was enjoyable and you could foresee him becoming one of your good friends • you were reluctant to leave • he felt the same way • Youngmin isn’t the kind for a hella lot of aegyo but he has a way with words • even though he says he doesn’t • “y/n? do you have a map? cause honey, I’m getting lost in your eyes,” he said, tapping the pot of honey on your table • o i love puns • “you’re so sweet, are you made out of sugar?” *lifts up jar of sugar* • you’re just out there dying at his lame ass puns • but at the same time, dying bc he’s FLIRTING WITH YOU • imagine your crush flirting with you • hah can’t relate • “y/n, we’re like a four-leafed clover, you are C, I’m R and there’s love between us” he purred out, making finger hearts • you’re nearly dead and although these are somewhat awful, it’s cute • “i never knew you were like this, you never really talk in class…..” you muttered. “so innocent…” • “the only crime I’ll commit is stealing your heart” • bYE BYE IM • it gets late and you eventually have to bid him goodbye • but before you leave, he slides you a note and says, “y/n, if you can accept my love, how about accepting my number?” • “yes! I’ll text you.” • you hastily punch his number into your phone, nearly messing up because you’re still freaking out • there’s an alpaca, llama emoji next to his name, whatever you can find on your phone • suddenly, you become the envy of all the customers, especially when he gives you a matching alpaca plushie • *makes a mental reminder to attach it to your uni bag* • Youngmin smiles bashfully at you but says nothing • when you hand back the board to him after writing your signature - because you paid by credit card, he whistles • “damn, i was looking for a signature on you because a masterpiece always has one” • you are about to punch him • but only out of love • your heart is going to explode • he winks from behind the counter as you head out • “see you soon, Y/N.” 

#Admin L #im youngmin #produce 101 #produce 101 scenarios #bnm boys #brand new music #bnm trainees #MXM #MXM scenarios #kim donghyun

[thebabymamachronicles]

Jaxson’s Birth Story

It all started on Sunday evening (November 12). I ate dinner and went to my room to watch tv before taking a shower and calling it a night. After about an hour of tv, I started to feel a little yucky. My stomach just wasn’t having it so I made my way to the bathroom. Over and over. Horrific diarrhea. I wasn’t aware I even had that much of anything (other than organs) in my body. But that wasn’t all. I spent an hour running from my bed to the bathroom and another hour after that laying on the floor, throwing up my entire dinner, and having terrible back pain. I couldn’t sit still but I couldn’t find a comfortable position either so there was a lot of wiggling going on. At one point I had my feet in the bathtub while I sat on the toilet and leaned back on the counter behind me.

It was a weird type of pain. I could stand it but I definitely wasn’t comfortable. It was also pretty irritating not being able to stay in one position for very long. I was constantly moving. Even when I would get on my bed (which I love very much and would consider to be very comfortable on any other day) I would be turning from one side to another (wishing I could instead be sitting long enough to take a warm bath) about every ten to fifteen seconds.

Through this whole terrible experience, my poor mother is running around the house, gathering the remainder of the things I hadn’t put in my hospital bag yet, and trying to convince me to go to the hospital while I was convinced this wasn’t that.

Finally, after two hours, I finally decided that this pain and the constant trips to the bathroom weren’t normal and I wasn’t going to suffer through it all night. I called my mom into the room and said I was ready to go to the hospital (while I secretly hoped we’d be home within the hour with doctors orders for bed rest). She went to pick up the car from around the corner. By the time she returned for the last few items I had planted myself back on the toilet. This time there was blood in the toilet. Yikes. At this point, I’m realizing that it might actually be THAT TIME and I’m horrified. I thought I still had a week left.

Getting off the toilet this time was the hardest yet. I grabbed my undies, pants, and a pair of flip-flops and slowly made my way downstairs and to the car.

The ride from the house to the hospital was only about fifteen minutes but it felt like a lifetime. I tried my best to keep still because it was easier to handle the pain that way but I felt every bump, every turn, every stop. The whole time that I was in the car I was thinking about the epidural. I was so ready. I could handle the pain for a little bit longer but I wasn’t going to go through the whole ordeal without some kind of pain meds. The original plan was to do it without the meds but in the car I felt like I could just hop in a hole and die.

When we finally get to the hospital, my mom goes inside then a security guard brings a wheelchair to the car. Unfortunately, he doesn’t put down the footrests and I discover they are locked so I have to waste precious energy holding up my feet so my poor choice in footwear doesn’t come off and leave me barefoot on the nasty, germy emergency room lobby floor (yeah, I might be a germaphobe).

When I get to L&D, the receptionist (nurse? I honestly don’t know) asked me to get out of the wheelchair then proceeded to ask me a million questions. I’m obviously in pain but she still had to have me stand to ask these questions.

(I know I shouldn’t be upset that she asked me questions. She was just doing her job. But I was registered in the hospital’s files early because of a birthing class that I took at the hospital so she could’ve found my information and given me a room a little more quickly.)

I was high key upset. But eventually (probably ten minutes later (a small eternity when you’re in that much pain) I was taken to a delivery room and asked to leave a urine sample (my least favorite hobby of the whole pregnancy experience). Unfortunately, I had been on the toilet for a little too long and couldn’t have even left a sample if I did enjoy that hobby. Once again, I was writhing on the toilet.

Side note: the toilet was my most popular seat for the night.

So after sitting on the toilet for a few more moments of uninterrupted pain, I was asked to strip down, put on a gown, then move to the bed. The good nurse (I’m calling her that because she’s the only one I liked) put in an IV so perfectly that I didn’t even feel it. Or maybe I didn’t feel it because I was in so much other pain.

The resident came in soon after to check my cervix. Of course, at this point, I’m not a single bit uncomfortable with someone’s fingers in my vagina. I have other more urgent concerns. But then she leaves the room and returns with another nurse to check my cervix again. Now I’m becoming a little nervous but trying to keep my eye on the prize: the epidural. But let’s be real. Why would they need two people to check my cervix?

The resident turned to the nurse for a second opinion. “Are you getting what I’m getting?” I’m curious if she was trying to make me nervous. If she was then it definitely worked.

“I got ten centimeters.” The nurse responded. At this point my mother grabs my hand, probably knowing what they were about to say.

“So did I.” The resident now turns to me. “It seems you’re fully dilated so we’re going to find the doctor on call and get you ready to push. This baby is on his way. Do you have any questions?” At this moment only one came to my mind.

“Any chance I can still get that epidural?” *fingers crossed*

“I’m sorry, ma’am. You are too far along for that.” At that moment I could’ve definitely cried. And when I say I could’ve cried I mean I could have bawled. Bawled my eyes out. After the terrible pain, I had been looking forward to this epidural. Being denied the epidural was causing me new pain.

Soon the doctor on call arrives and my legs are put in these weird plastic blue stirrups. They wrap the monitors around my belly. For a moment I’m relieved to hear my little guys heartbeat. I wasn’t worried about him but it was encouraging to have reassurance that even though I was in a lot of pain, I would soon have my little man in my arms.

“Okay, your contractions are coming along pretty well and it looks like you’ll be getting an urge to push soon. Let us know when you feel ready to push.” I can barely remember who even said that. At this point, I’m getting pretty nervous. My first thought was “Am I really about to do this?”. It honestly didn’t feel like this was more than a dream. I mean a few hours earlier I had been at home eating dinner like any other day and now I’m about to have a baby. Like really actually have a baby.

So let’s be completely honest here. When women talk about having babies, it sounds like the scariest and most painful thing in the world. (I had also recently read an article about how California has a pretty high rate of deaths during delivery and of course that freaked me out as well.) So by this point in my birthing experience, I’m starting to have mixed feelings.

Yes, I’ve heard a million stories about women having terrible experiences. My own mother was in labor for over 24 hours with my sister. I was expecting to have a similar experience. However, I had only labored for two hours and I did it at home. My pain tolerance is obviously pretty high if I thought that it was truly just back pain and diarrhea.

On the contrary, I know that pushing is going to be a real challenge. Everyone has seen at least one scene in a movie or on tv of a woman screaming while she is pushing. They say that if you’re in good shape it can be easier but after the most recent move my walks became less frequent and my lethargy became more extreme. The chances of the baby basically falling out seemed pretty slim.

Another concern of mine at this point is that I have no idea what a contraction is supposed to feel like and how I’m supposed to tell if I even have the urge to push. They don’t exactly teach these things in health class or even in birthing classes. So there I am in the delivery room with my legs in the stirrups, wondering how the hell I’m supposed to proceed from there. Why is there not some type of class on that? It seems like there is a class or a book on damn near everything else. So there I am, in the stirrups, waiting. When I finally feel like I’m feeling what I imagine a contraction feels like I have to interrupt their loud conversation. It kind of felt like no one was paying attention to me or taking me seriously. Like I know you see this all the time but that should not normalize the amount of pain I’m in or the urgency I’m feeling to get this baby out.

Now the hard part. They tell me that I need to push for ten seconds, three times per contraction. Luckily, the good nurse tells me that I should push like I’m taking a dump. I consider asking the other nurses and doctor why they couldn’t have mentioned that before. But that would take more energy than I’d like to waste at this point so I just close my eyes and take a deep breath. 

The rest is a bit blurry. I can remember not liking their strategy. I could have gotten him out so much faster if I was doing five seconds of pushing for six rounds. I also was upset because one of the nurses told me not to scream or yell during my pushing to save energy. Yes, I understand that you think I should use my energy in some other type of way but I think I should do whatever I want to get this baby out. “Don’t tell a woman in labor what to do unless she asks for advice” should be the number one rule they teach you. 

After forty minutes of pushing, Jaxson’s head came out and he started crying before his body even came out. He had a strong pair of lungs and I can remember being so proud of that. The first thing I said was “I can’t believe I just did that.” When he was out they cleaned him up and put him on my chest. He was the most beautiful baby that I’d ever seen. He weighed 8 pounds and 7.2 ounces. I wasn’t counting on him being so big and was impressed by myself. 

Looking back on the experience, I know that I was lucky to have gotten through the whole experience in less than four hours, especially with a relatively large baby and no drugs. I still wish that I could’ve had the epidural but I’m proud of myself and sure that if I ever have a baby it’ll probably just slide out. However, I don’t regret anything about the experience (other than the nursing staff) and I’m thrilled to have my beautiful boy on the outside.

#it only took me MORE THAN A MONTH to finish this #yes it is after midnight #babies don’t exactly have the greatest sleep schedule #birth story #JaxsonBailey

[laramariesimons]

Nature is nothing if not surprising. You could spend your whole life learning the wonders of wildflowers, migratory birds, or creatures of the seashore and still discover only a fraction of the things the living world has to offer. Though nature is fascinating in its own right, it can also teach us many ways of improving our own lives; indeed, it's been a constant source of inspiration for inventors. Some fashion designers and clothing manufacturers are now turning to nature for help in developing biomimetic clothing, which performs more effectively by mimicking the wonders of the biological world. Others are getting as far away from nature as possible with smart clothes, based on cutting-edge electronics and computing. Let's take a closer look at these two, radically different ways of creating hi-tech clothes!

Photo: Now that's what I call a fur coat. Can animals like these musk oxen inspire us to design warmer human clothes? That's what biomimetics is all about. Photo of musk oxen on Nunivak Island by courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Biomimetic clothing—learning lessons from nature?

When a German engineer called Otto Lilienthal (1848–1896) strapped wings to his arms and jumped off a hill in an attempt to fly, many people thought he was crazy. They had a point: he did, eventually, kill himself trying to fly like the birds. But his pioneering glider experiments inspired the Wright brothers to develop their engine-powered airplanes in the early 20th century and played a hugely important part in the history of human flight.

Photo: Reinventing flight: Biomimetics doesn't always work. To begin with, humans tried to fly by flapping wings like birds. People only successfully took to the air when they thought about the problem a different way and stopped copying nature so literally. The Wright brothers making their historic powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in December 1903. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Lilienthal the "birdman" is only one example of how nature has inspired inventors. How about the story of British engineer Marc Isambard Brunel (1769–1845), father of famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859), who invented a new way of digging tunnels underwater after watching a worm burrowing through the wooden planks of a ship? Or what about Swiss engineer George de Mestral (1907–1990), who invented the amazingly useful fastening material called VELCRO® after seeing how stray burrs from the burdock plant stuck like glue to the fur of his dog.

Photo: VELCRO®: George de Mestral's amazingly useful two-part textile fastener was directly inspired by nature. This is a diagram of the hook-and-loop mechanism sketched in his original patent US Patent 3,009,235: Separable fastening device (filed 1958, granted 1961). Artwork courtesy of US Patent and Trademark Office.

Before synthetic textiles such as nylon and polyester were developed in the 20th century, people only ever wore clothes made from natural materials like leather, wool, silk, and cotton. Now synthetic fibers have proved useful in all kinds of ways. Nylon, for example, is strong, hard-wearing, easy to clean, and quick-drying—so it's a popular choice for outdoor clothing. But wearing simple, ordinary nylon is a bit like wrapping yourself up in a plastic bag. Very quickly, you start to sweat—and on a hot, rainy summer's day you can easily become wetter through perspiration than you would have done just by letting the rain in. Natural materials like leather are much "smarter" than this: they let perspiration flow out but stop rain leaking in at the same time. What makes us think our synthetic materials are automatically better than the ones we can find in the world around us? Honed by millions of years of evolution, nature's materials have many lessons they can teach us.

How can soggy sheep keep you warm?

If you've ever gone walking on a mountain in winter, you've probably marveled at how sheep can survive in damp, cold, and utterly horrible conditions. The explanation is simple: wool is an amazingly good insulating material. The best wool of all comes from a breed of sheep called the merino; that's why sportswear companies use it in their high-performance base layers (insulating underwear for active sports like climbing, cycling, and surfing).

Photo: Sheep are built to stay warm, even when they're wet.

Several brilliant features make merino the perfect thermal underwear for sheep. First, it has much finer fibers than ordinary wool. Finer fibers means more fibers and more air trapped between them. It's trapped air that gives you warmth in clothing (that's why wearing several thin layers is generally warmer than wearing one thick pullover). You can also fluff up the surface of merino so the fibers occupy more space and trap even more air—giving more thickness and insulation with no added weight. All dry wool (and merino wool in particular) has an amazing ability to mop up steamy moisture from inside it and merino can absorb over a third of its own dry weight in water. As perspiration soaks into the fiber, it turns from a gas to a liquid, giving off what's called latent heat of fusion. The water molecules actually lock onto the wool fibers making chemical (hydrogen) bonds with them. Bonded molecules are more stable than unbonded ones, so the chemical bonding process releases energy, giving off what's called heat of sorption that keeps you warm. That's significantly different from what happens with synthetic fibers. If you wear polyester clothes and you sweat, the sweat will evaporate from your skin and cool your body down, which probably isn't too helpful if you're climbing a mountain in midwinter. But if you're wearing a merino base layer and you start to sweat, the merino will lock away the moisture and give off heat as it gets wetter, helping to keep you warm.

Will clothes ever clean themselves?

Photo: The leaves of the lotus plant (Nelumbo nucifera) are self-cleaning. Photo taken in the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge by Elise Smith, courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service.

One of the most irritating things about clothes is that you have to keep washing them to keep them clean. Animals wash, clean, and preen themselves too—but you don't often see plants doing the same thing. That's because some plants, like the lotus, have a clever built-in mechanism that naturally keeps them clean. The leaves are coated with nanoscopically tiny bumps and the bumps are, themselves, covered with a thin layer of wax. Dirt particles balance precariously on the waxy bumps but never get a really good grip on the main surface of the leaves below. When it rains, water droplets roll down the leaves, pulling the dirt particles free and washing them clean. The nano-bumps work a bit like a natural detergent, holding dirt clear of the leaves so water can easily wash it away. Surprise, surprise, clothing manufacturers are now coating garments like skate pants with nanofibers so they work in a similar way. The idea is that dirt is held slightly apart from the main fabric so stains cannot penetrate deeply; clothes coated with nanofibers can be washed clean much more easily.

Why does it help to swim like a shark?

Skin is an amazing material: it's waterproof, it's breathable, it helps to regulate our body temperature, and it can repair itself automatically. One thing it was never designed for was swimming. Water doesn't flow well past human skin—not least because our skin starts to wrinkle (by absorbing water) after we've been swimming or bathing for some time. If you have a particularly hairy body, every single one of your hairs will drag and slow you down even more.

Photo: Unlike humans, sharks are designed to slip easily through water. Photo of navy divers and sharks at the Newport Aquarium, Kentucky, by Davis Anderson, courtesy of US Navy.

Now you might think super-smooth suits would work better than rough ones as you swim through the pool, but the Speedo company's Fiona Fairhurst noticed something surprising: sharks have quite rough skin and still manage to swim fast. That was one of the key insights that powered the development of a revolutionary new Speedo swimsuit. Known as FASTSKIN®, the tight-fitting suit is covered with tiny v-shaped channels, just like the ridges (technically known as placoid scales or dermal denticles) on a shark's body. The idea is that water whizzes along these channels, reducing the frictional drag (essentially, turbulence) between the water and your skin, so you can swim faster.

Another of Fairhurst's important insights was to realize that a swimsuit could be engineered to force a swimmer's body into a more effective posture. So Speedo's suits fit very tightly, squeezing your body into a shape that reduces form drag (the basic resistance that the shape of an object offers as it pushes through water or air). Compressing muscles helps to reduce fatigue, so the suits also help you swim faster for longer. According to Speedo, swimsuits like this can boost a swimmer's speed by up to 3 percent. It's hardly surprising that many champion swimmers now wear suits like these. At the 2004 Sydney Olympics, swimmers kitted out in FASTSKIN earned an impressive 47 medals.

Why should clothes work like pine cones?

Photo: Pine cones naturally close in wet weather and open up in dry conditions. Something as simple as this could inspire new clothing designs.

You probably know an easy way to tell the weather. Get a pine cone and watch whether the spines open and close. If it's going to rain, the spines close up to protect the seeds inside; if it's going to stay dry, the spines open up to improve the chances of the seeds escaping. Researchers at England's Bath University and the London College of Fashion are trying to design biomimetic clothes that could work the same way. The fabric could be made with an outer layer of tiny spikes, only 1/200th of a millimeter wide. When it's hot, the spikes would open up to let out the heat, cooling you down. When it's cold, the spikes would flatten back down to trap air and provide more effective insulation.

Smart clothes

Biomimetic clothing is ingenious and inspired, but nature doesn't have all the answers. Thankfully, we also have human ingenuity to draw on in the quest for ever more useful clothes.

Clothes for health

What if your sports bra could spot breast cancer or your blouse could sense the strange palpitations of a looming heart attack? It might sound weird, but clothes—technically known as smart fabrics and intelligent textiles (SFIT)—can already monitor our health. Some years ago, a company called Textronics figured out how to build comfortable sports bras and shirts with electrode sensors naturally knitted inside the fabric to monitor an athlete's heart beat. They automatically capture puffs and palpitations and beam the data wirelessly to a monitor you wear on your wrist or stuff in your pocket. Nike+ shoes harness similar technology for health and fitness. A piezoelectric sensor (one that turns squeezing pressure into bursts of electricity), buried in your inner sole, generates a tiny electric pulse each time your foot hits the ground, firing a signal with a wireless transmitter to an iPod or iPhone in your pocket and an eager app that tracks your lap-time and personal best.

Photo: Wearable electronics could automatically monitor your health.

Sounds trivial? How about natural-looking, comfortable clothes that elderly people could wear to monitor their movements and anticipate declining health? Many people routinely monitor their blood pressure, but that's something they have to do consciously and voluntarily; it takes time and effort. Smart clothes with built in monitors not only measure standard health indicators like this, but also offer an easy and affordable way to keep tabs on things like changes in gait, caused by progressive conditions like Parkinson's disease or strokes, and to monitor, proactively, whether elderly people are more likely to fall and injure themselves.

Clothes for safety, entertainment, and power

Where health ventures, safety often follows. Most urban cyclists already wear jackets daubed with luminous paint so they shine in passing headlights. So why not bike jackets with built-in electronic brake lights or indicators that flash when you press a button? If you can stitch electrodes into clothes for things like that, why not more frivolous and entertaining things too? Why not skirts with built-in fibre-optic cables that flash and flicker on the dance floor, synced to the beat, programmed by a circuit hidden in the hem? Today's degree show project at the Royal College of Arts could be tomorrow's de-rigueur dancewear.

Flashing and flickering is pretty tame stuff. Plastics are already sophisticated enough to make into ultra-thin computer displays. Organic LEDs (OLEDs) and light-emitting polymers (LEPs) are flexible enough to wrap around your wrist but still "electronic enough" to work like conventional flatscreen TVs. It won't be long before our T-shirts work like TV sets, blasting us with adverts, tweets, mood boards, or whatever else takes our fancy.

And in a world that watches energy use like a hawk, what about turning shirts into solar panels? If you can build conductive fibres into a t-shirt and make it flash with a battery, it should be easy enough to run the same idea in reverse. With flexible solar cells mounted in the front and back panels, feeding into rechargeable batteries in your belt, you could turn yourself into a mini solar panel, trickling milliamps to your cellphone so its batteries never run down.

Suddenly, the phrase "smart clothes" takes on a whole new meaning!

#research

[hamil-tonn-of-trash]

Until Dawn Hamilcast AU

Prompt: This is based off of the video game Until Dawn but with a couple things tweaked around. So basically Renee goes missing while the Hamilcast is on a camping trip in the mountains.

Warning: LOTS OF PAIN. Cursing maybe???? Slight smut. (Again it’s based off the game so it wasn’t my idea.

Word count: 1918

Oh also I ship Oak X Jonathan I don’t know why but it’s cute.

(Each new character for example – or ** represents a new narrative)

The crisp, delicate snowflakes landed on Daveed’s eyelashes as he searched the woods for flammable wooden branches for the fire. He dazed off distantly, remembering when Lin made the announcement about this anticipated camping trip two months ago.

“Run away with us for the winter let’s go upstate!” Lin had exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Don’t we have shows year round?” Anthony called out, confused echoed murmurs followed his questions.

“We have cancelled shows for that week because of winter holidays and stuff.” Andy piped up. “This is just going to be for the actors to reward you for your hard work. As for the rest of us! We are going to go on a stargazing tour in Vermont!” Some of the cast members muttered in confusion for a little bit.

“Of course it’s not required, just for fun I mean if you have family stuff going on you don’t have to come.” Lin confirmed, suddenly calming everyone down. An image of a jagged edge of a cliff flashed before his eyes. Leaving him speechless.

Two months later, there was quite a large turn out on the camping trip at the Adirondack mountains. With five tents and seventeen people staying it was more than originally expected. Thayne nudged Daveed on the shoulder to snap him back into reality.

“You were staring out in space for like two minutes. Are you okay man?” Thayne questioned half jokingly half concerned.

“It’s all cool brother.” Daveed laughed as he refocused on the task.

The snow started to pile up as Daveed’s boots as he trudged through the growing layers of ice. Renee emerged from the sea of trees with a handful of branches and sticks in her hand. She dropped them into the plastic firewood bag nearby and Daveed searched around for fuel for the campfire. When Daveed returned Renee had finished piling her collection of wood into the bag. When he turned his back away from her to pick up a spare stick the second he looked back she wasn’t there. Thayne returned and scanned the abandoned woods for Renee.

“Where did she go?” Thayne scratched his head with a confused look plastered on his face.

“I don’t know.” Daveed paused for a moment then continued. “She was here and then I turned my back to her and she just…disappeared. I’m sure she’ll be back.”

So both of them waited. In the frosty, quiet air with intricately designed snowflakes floating down from the heavens, only the sounds of the two of them breathing could be heard. Thayne checked his watch.

“It’s been seven minutes. Maybe we should look around.”

So they split up, seeking Renee’s burgundy jacket in the glowing moonlight with only a flashlight and a bag of sticks. The eerie silence of the woods had no clues as to where she vanished to.

“Renee?” Daveed hollered. Silence. He shined his flashlight on a pile of sticks and a black beanie lying on the ground. “Thayne! I found her beanie!”

He came trotting over to the isolated spot to examine the evidence. “She must’ve dropped this.” Thayne scooped the items off the ground.

“The snow isn’t deep enough to leave footprints so let’s head back and get some help to look for her.” Daveed advised calmly.

“You’re right.” Thayne concluded as they headed towards the gray smoke that was filling the night sky.

——————————-

The blazing, dancing scarlet flames reflected in Pippa’s eyes as she sang campfire songs with her favorite group of people. She felt content and fuzzy inside when she was around her second family.

“I may not live to see our glory!” Lin sang as people around the circle all chuckled at the reference.

“But I will gladly join the fight!” Lin’s voice rang out coarsely because he’s chatty and sings jingles he just comes up with day and night. Perfectly harmonizing, they finished:

“They’ll tell the story of toniiiighhhttt!”

The group laughed and hugged the nearby person to make sure that each and every cast member was appreciated and loved. Pippa hugged Leslie for a weirdly long period of time but neither of them minded. Across the circle Jasmine and Anthony were cuddling and Jonathan and Oak were hitting each other with their jackets until Seth warned them that if they didn’t stop their jackets would catch on fire.

“Who’s up for s'mores?!” Stephanie called out, ecstatic.

“WHERE?!” Jonathan howled.

“AGHHHHHHH!!!!!” Oak screeched in a strangely high voice for him anyway.

“Geniuses lower your voices, people are SLEEPING!” Pippa replied, rolling her eyes playfully at the noisy yowls for a midnight snack.

“So…? Is that a yes?” Stephanie questioned, eyeing everyone around the circle, anticipating an answer.

“Yes!!” The majority of the crowd agreed in majority.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, I think Anthony and I are going to bed now. Good night!” Jasmine replied, grinning at Anthony. Cast members hugged and kissed them both goodnight as the young couple set off for their tent, their energy still high. Jasmine could hear hidden snickers behind her. The rocky trail was difficult to climb so Anthony took Jasmine’s hand to steady himself. Once they reached their tent and unzipped it Jasmine set her lantern down, illuminating the tent with dimly lit with candlelight. Distant screams could be heard in the distance. Jasmine crawled inside and Anthony closely followed and she turned to face him and he instinctively reached for her face and pulled her into a passionate, lengthy kiss. Sinking into the embrace, Anthony slowly led her down onto the sleeping bag, wrapped his hands on the inside of her thighs and ended the kiss, his face only within inches of hers.

“How about we both strip down to our socks?” He growled playfully in his Philip voice.

Jasmine laughed at his remark and responded, “I would, but it’s like below freezing outside.”

“Okay…” Anthony replied and gave her a knowing look. Jasmine felt her insides about to explode, his dark, kind eyes gleaming in the faint light and his hands moving closer to her crotch as she let out a small moan. Anthony used his free hand to move away her jackets upon jackets upon shirts that were covering her neck and sucked a trail of kisses down her neck. Anthony felt the want, the need for the girl he loved even though it probably wasn’t the best time because people were sleeping in the tent right next to them.

He worked on getting his belt off and slowly slid his jeans down his legs while Jasmine gave him multiple soft kisses on his cheeks when he could hear faraway yells becoming louder and louder. He came to a sudden stop.

“What’s wrong?” Jasmine asked in an alarmed tone. She sat up.

Immediately, they both recognized that it was Lin’s voice yelling panicked screams to wake everyone up.

“Renee has gone missing! Wake up! Wake up!” His feet were trailing through the snow covered dirt path. They shot each other concerned looks and Anthony swiftly pulled his pants up and readjusted his belt to go on a search party for their lost friend. A million worried thoughts raced through Jasmine’s head:

“Did she get eaten by a bear?!”

“Did she get lost miles away?!”

Her pulse hiked up so much in such a small period of time she felt like she was going to have a heart attack.

Jasmine grabbed the lantern and headed outside. The freezing air stung Jasmine’s eyes as tears dribbled down her face, Anthony glanced at her distressed face with the same uneasiness and swiped the tears away with his finger. Hand in hand, they ran towards Lin and the growing crowd of people.

“What happened?” Anthony demanded.

“She was collecting fire wood with us and Daveed looked away and suddenly she was gone and then we found her beanie and later we heard her scream.” Thayne sniffled.

“We should call the cops!! She could be in serious danger!” Phillipa sobbed into her hands.

Jonathan turned to Phillipa and looked her straight in the eye. “The cell towers don’t work, I tried calling my mom a couple hours ago…no service. Remember that Chris and Vanessa will come in the morning.“

Still sobbing, Phillipa nodded her head and turned to face the group.

“What should we do then?” Ariana asked, wearing a winter coat over her bunny pajamas.

“I’m sure we can find her, if there’s an emergency we can use the radio tower to contact 911.” Carleigh suggested with a shaky voice.

“Okay so now we need to split up into two groups. One can handle north and east directions and the other can handle south and west directions go!” Jasmine took charge, a natural leader.

Two groups formed. The first consisting of Lin, Oak, Jonathan, Jasmine, Anthony, Ariana, Javier and Carleigh. The second with Leslie, Daveed, Pippa, Stephanie, Seth, Thayne and Jon. Jasmine recounted and realized they were missing someone.

“Where’s Sasha guys?” Jasmine asked with confusion.

“Oh…she wouldn’t wake up she sleeps like a rock.” Carleigh yelled out with irritation.

“Well we don’t want her to go missing but if she won’t wake up…” Stephanie trailed off.

“It’s fine. We just need to find Renee now.” Jon confirmed as the search parties split up to find Renee.

*************************

Jasmine put Daveed in charge of the second search party which Leslie thought was a good idea because Daveed seemed like the type of guy who could handle extreme situations. Also he was the last person to see Renee. With only a flashlight in his hand, Leslie was determined to find Renee as was every one else. Dragging his feet through the heavy snow, and shining his light in every direction Leslie was on the verge of tears. To lighten up the mood Jon cracked a couple (not funny) jokes here and there that everybody forcibly laughed at just to ease the tense air. After about twenty five minutes of searching southward something caught Leslie’s eye. A elaborately carved scarlet tiki looking doll lay on the ground face down. Out of excitement for a clue after a mile of walking Leslie picked it up and turned it around and an incredibly radiant light blinded his sight until he saw a vivid memory if that’s what you wanted to call it.

A dazzling blade sliced through somebody’s left cheek and they groaned and stepped back

“Ah! Help me!” A deep, defined voice called out. Leslie recognized that voice. A voice that he argued with every night for the last year. It was Lin-Manuel. The vision ended and Leslie was transported back into reality, dumbfounded. Setting the doll back down he couldn’t let any words out as a warning so he jogged to catch up to the group.

“Slowpoke!” Seth teased, nudging Leslie on the shoulder. “You look like you saw a ghost.” Leslie really wanted to tell Seth about the vision and the ticki doll but some weird calm came over him, causing him to not worry about it. Strange.

For another ten minutes they walked in awkward silence until Daveed stopped right in his tracks and kneeled down and the rest of the group scurried over Daveed’s shoulder trying to catch a glimpse of what he had found. Leslie, standing in the back had no view whatsoever but still stood on his tippy toes to see better.

“It’s a note, it says “Renee is safe…for now.” Daveed concluded in a hushed, flighty tone.

Leslie felt his tears finally fall down his face in panic.

#brandy's fan fic #until dawn #Hamilton

[charllieeldridge]

11 Unique Gifts Every Traveller Will Love (and Use)

Finding travel gifts for your friends and family who like to hit the road can be a daunting task. Not only do you need to find a gift that they’ll like, but something they’ll actually use. What do you give someone who lives out of a backpack? What can you buy your friend who’s hitting the road for a year? Definitely not a piece of furniture or artwork!

As travellers ourselves who have been on the road for 10 years now, we’ve got the inside scoop on useful and fun items for travel that would make great presents. Whether it’s a birthday, Christmas or a going away gift you’re after, you’ll find some ideas in this article.

In this post, I’ll list 11 unique, fun and practical travel gifts for your special someone.

1. Tinggly

What better gift for someone who loves to travel than giving an experience. When it comes to travel gifts, this unique idea from Tinggly is a good bet. Visit their website and choose a category that’s relevant to the recipient of the gift – “Key to Europe”, “Perfect For Him”, “Perfect For Her”, “Merry Christmas”, “Ultimate Collection”, “Bucketlist”, etc.

  In each category are numerous tours and experiences for your travel loving friend to choose from (in some cases, there are over 700 options). Once they’ve chosen the event that interests them, they have 5 years to redeem it. Experiences and tours are available worldwide, so just ensure that the gift you choose is offered in the country the recipient is going to.

When it comes to travel gifts, you really can’t go wrong with a wine tasting in Tuscany, a helicopter flight over Las Vegas, a day at the spa in Bali or volcano exploration in Hawaii! As travellers ourselves, we can say we definitely prefer memorable moments over possessions.

You can opt to send a physical box to the gift recipient, or send a voucher by email. Click here to learn more about this fun gift idea.

2. JBL Portable Speakers

We’ve tried numerous bluetooth portable speakers over the years, and as far as affordable electronic travel gifts go, these speakers are the best. Everyone has a smartphone these days and connecting to these JBL speakers is easy. Plus, it weighs in at just over 1lb, making it practical for travellers.

Many people like to listen to music while they’re at the beach, chilling out by the pool, or having a relaxing night playing cards with new friends. Bluetooth speakers are a must.

We have the JBL Flip 3 and love the crisp sound this compact speaker gives off, and it’s actually quite loud. However, there’s a new model out now – the JBL Flip 4 and it’s waterproof! Click here to read reviews and compare prices on Amazon.

*Update: December, 2019 – we just purchased the latest model, which is the JBL Flip 5. It’s a little bit bigger, but the sound is great and they are waterproof! Great for taking to the beach or pool.

3. Handpresso Portable Espresso

Not only is this travel gift great for those who love to wander, but it’s an excellent idea for coffee addicts.

If you’ve gone on a long-term trip before, or if you travel on a budget, you’ll know that the coffee available at hostels and guest houses is usually sub-par filter coffee. To get that real latte or americano espresso coffee, you would need to purchase one from a cafe – and to a traveller, that’s an addition on the budget each day that not many want to spend.

Luckily, there’s the Handpresso!

This portable espresso machine can be taken on the go. It’s small, compact and all you need is some hot water (which is found in basically every accommodation), and some espresso grounds (which you can pick up at the grocery store).

You simply add the grounds to a little pod, add some hot water, pump up the machine to build up some pressure, press the release button and voila, a shot of espresso appears. You can then add more hot water to your cup to make it less strong, or, add milk like we do to have a latte.

The only thing is that you do need to be fairly strong in order to pump up the machine (men will have no issue, and women with good upper body strength will be fine!)

We’ve used our Handpresso machine in apartments we’ve rented on Airbnb, while camping, and in various hotels around the world. Click here to see reviews and compare prices on Amazon.

4. Lush Body Care

Whether it’s a man or a woman you’re trying to buy a travel gift for, with products for both sexes, and unisex items, Lush has you covered. During our recent trip to Chicago, we discovered this brand and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Lush products are vegetarian, handmade and nothing is tested on animals. Not only that, but the ingredients are practically all natural (with some safe synthetics), and for the responsible traveller in your life, they’ll be happy to know that many of the items don’t have any packaging.

When you’re thinking about travel gifts, consider the shampoo, conditioner and soap (all of which are solids and have zero packaging). Lush has shampoo and conditioner “bars”, which have no wrapping. They come in a reusable tin can (which you purchase separately) and are perfect for travellers for many reasons.

There’s no plastic waste and since it’s not a liquid, it can be easily brought on board a flight – great for those who fly carry-on. Plus, it takes up less space in luggage than a shampoo or conditioner bottle.

Nick and I both use the “Honey I Washed My Hair” Shampoo Bar and the “Big” Conditioner Bar, and I use the Ultrabland Facial Cleanser as well. I love all 3 products. Click here to learn more about Lush and to purchase items online.

5. Travel Hammock

Travel hammocks are great for those are looking to sleep under the stars, or on remote beaches. It’s also great for campers or for those who like to do some multi-day trekking (provided there are trees around to hang the hammock from!).

A travel hammock is also an excellent travel gift for those who just plan to backpack around. Setting up a hammock on the balcony of your beachfront hut, or bringing it to the beach for a day of chilling out between two palm trees is the ultimate in relaxation.

There are numerous travel hammocks to choose from, just make sure you get one that is lightweight and rolls up into a small package. Travellers like small items! The ENO Eagles Nest Outfitters and Arbor Creek hammocks have great reviews on Amazon. But, you can click here to compare prices and reviews on numerous travel hammocks.

6. Bluffworks Clothing for Men

If you’re looking for travel gifts for men, Bluffworks brand of clothing is a good option. Why? Because they are quick dry and don’t wrinkle, which is a huge issue for travellers. For business travellers, or those who jet-set, having a nice set of clothing in your luggage is essential. Even if the guy you’re buying a gift for plans on budget backpacking around the world, it’s always a good idea to have 1 nice dress shirt and 1 nice pair of pants.

You never know what can happen on the road. We’ve been randomly invited to weddings, found ourselves in the area when a new bar was opening up, and were invited to enjoy a 7 course fine dining meal. Shorts and a t-shirt simply wouldn’t meet the dress code.

Nick has owned the “Original” pants in charcoal for about 6 years now, and he wears them whenever there’s a “fancy” event happening – and they never wrinkle. Click here to learn more about Bluffworks clothes.

Bluffworks pants in action at a wedding!

7. Headphones / Earbuds

Having a set of bluetooth speakers is great, but having your own set of headphones is a must when on the road – they’re incredibly useful. Listening to music and podcasts while bumping along on a bus, chatting to a friend on video calling, or for those flight days when you want to watch a movie, headphones are a must-have and make great travel gifts.

Look for earbuds or headphones that offer noise cancellation and a mic, and also make sure that the earbuds you’re purchasing are compatible with your travel friend’s smartphone or tablet. For example, with the iPhone X, the headphones actually connect via a lightning cord, so regular headphones wouldn’t work.

We have Meze earbuds which give off a unique and incredible sound, and actually, they offer different sized silicone buds, which is great for those with small ears (me), or big ears (Nick). There are numerous option available when it comes to earbuds. Click here to check out Meze and click here to compare other brands and prices.

*Update December, 2019: We now both have Bluetooth Apple AirPods and although we can’t use them when connecting to the TV screens on airplanes, we watch our shows on our smartphones or tablet using them. Plus, when walking and working out, it’s nice to not have cords in the way. Click here to compare the different styles of AirPods. 

8. Carry Case for Earbuds and Cords

There’s nothing worse than getting a new pair of earbuds or a new smartphone charge cord and have it start to fall apart. Sadly, this happens quite often to us and it’s most likely because we just toss our cords into our bags, or into a drawer and don’t really take care of them. Regardless of whether or not you’ve purchased earbuds as a travel gift, consider getting a carry case for charging cords.

I’ve just found out about this product called the “Nest” which is a silicone carry case. This practical item is extremely affordable and incredibly useful! Click here to learn more about the Nest. *Update December, 2019: While most people have AirPods these days, this “nest” is still a great idea for lightening cords which always get tangled in purses and backpacks.

9. prAna Clothes

Another clothing company that is an excellent travel gift. This time, however, it’s for both men and women. The travel, adventure and yoga clothes that prAna makes are practical, stylish and ethical. This brand cares about fair trade and sustainability.

I personally wear the Halle pant on about 95% of our flight days and I’ve always worn them when trekking – they’re stretchy and comfy. I also own a sporty tank top, a cotton t-shirt and a hooded sweater, while Nick has a polo shirt, a dress polo and some loose cotton yoga pants. The clothes have lasted us for 6 years so far and are still going strong!

I wholeheartedly recommend this brand as a gift for the traveller in your life. Click here to see prAna products on Amazon. Or, click here to head to their website. *Pro-tip, prices are cheaper on Amazon.

Stopping for a water break while trekking Torres del Paine in Chile – wearing Halle Pant

*Update December, 2019: I fell off my bike and got a hole in my Halle Pants that I’m wearing in the photo above. So, after around 6 years I finally had to purchase a new pair, this time I went with black but in the same style. And, they are still built just as well as when I purchased my first pair 6 years ago. Also, for those women who are tall like I am (5’10”), these pants come in a “tall” length!

10. Water Purification Products

When it comes to travel gifts, this might not sound like the coolest idea out there, but it can be a lifesaver and is something that travellers need to have in their bags.

When travelling to more offbeat destinations where the drinking water is questionable, it’s imperative that water from the tap is purified before being consumed. Similarly, when you’re camping, cycling or trekking in the wilderness and the water source isn’t safe, it’ll need to be purified. We used a SteriPen when trekking in remote locations in Kyrgyzstan and it worked very well.

Not only do products like SteriPen or Lifestraw remove harmful bacteria and microbes from water, but travellers don’t need to purchase bottled water, which helps to save cash and the environment. There are a few brands out there, but SteriPen and Lifestraw are at the top.

Camping and trekking in remote destinations? Water purification is a must

With SteriPen, you simply fill a (reusable) bottle with 1 liter of water and “stir” the pen around for 89 seconds. As you stir, it gives off UV rays that kill harmful bacteria. Once you see a smiley face on the device, the water is safe to drink. There are different models of SteriPen, some charge via USB, others with batteries.

The Lifestraw is only good for one person as it is a personal straw, which has a filter inside of it. It’s small and lightweight and is a good option for drinking straight from streams or puddles in emergency backcountry situations – it also filters out debris. I think of it as more of a survival tool, which could be a cool travel gift if someone is going on an expedition. Click here to learn more about the SteriPens available and click here to learn more about Lifestraw.

11. Games (fun travel gifts!)

If you’re looking for fun travel gifts, then obviously purchasing a game (or 2) is a good idea! If the person is travelling solo, then games for 1 or more are preferable but consider games that can be played with a group over a few beers.

We always have games in our backpacks and play when we’re waiting for flights, for our meals to show up, or when we’re in our accommodation. Keep in mind that travel games need to be somewhat small and lightweight.

For us, our go-to travel games are Cribbage, a simple deck of cards (to play shit head, rummy, bullshit, twos…and numerous drinking games!), pass the pigs, dice for playing Yahtzee.

Our latest purchase is Bananagrams which is kind of like Scrabble but without the board, and it’s more fun. Other hilarious adult games include Cards Against Humanity (a great way to get to know people – and their sick humour), and The Game Of Nasty Things (travellers would just bring the cards and not the actual box, obviously). We recently purchased Skip Bo and played it a lot together during our trip to Ecuador and Peru.

Bonus #12: Mini Projector Screen

We recently picked up a cool Aaxa mini-projector and we’ve been using it a lot. At 400 lumens, it’s bright enough to display with a little bit of ambient light and with a resolution of 720p it’s surprisingly crisp, even when displayed at 75″ on a wall.

The best part? It literally fits in the palm of your hand! This little thing would be an ideal holiday gift for that person who travels on a budget and loves watching Netflix. It’s affordable, sleek, useful and very portable.

Happy Gift Giving!

There you have it, 12 fun, unique and (more importantly) practical travel gifts. In reality, no matter what you give your travelling friend, I’m sure they will love it. But hopefully this article gave you some good ideas for products that can actually be taken on the road. Every time your friend uses your gift while they’re away, they’ll think of you. Happy gift giving!

Are there some cool travel gifts that I missed? Leave a comment below!

*Note: this post contains some affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase a product using our link, we receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

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Some Amazon Fresh customers say the grocery-delivery service is going downhill, and it raises questions about its future (AMZN)

Amazon Fresh, the e-commerce giant's grocery-delivery program, is slipping in rankings of customer service and getting some poor reviews online.

Some customers say they've experienced issues like missing items, delayed or canceled deliveries, and damaged produce. They say they believe the service has become unreliable. 

The issues call into question the future of the service, according to at least one analyst.

Some customers are saying that Amazon Fresh is growing rotten.

The online grocery-delivery service has undergone many changes in the last year, and it's racking up poor customer reviews as its future — and its place within the Amazon Prime ecosystem — is increasingly being questioned.

Business Insider spoke with a dozen Amazon Fresh customers who say they have experienced issues with the service in places like Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC. These customers complain of poor-quality and even spoiled produce, orders being packed incorrectly or illogically, canceled or late deliveries, and regularly missing items. 

The complaints are also visible on social media and even on Amazon's own page for reviews of Fresh, which has a 3.3 rating out of 5 and more than 800 reviews. 

Slipping customer satisfaction

Amazon Fresh, which is now in its eleventh year of service in its earliest markets, has fallen dramatically in at least one ranking of customer satisfaction.

In the 2018 Temkin Experience Ratings, a benchmark that gathers customer experiences in industries like grocery and assigns companies a ranking, Amazon Fresh fell 13 points from the previous year to 67%, falling to last place among grocers and landing in the nebulous zone between "good" (70% and above) and "poor" (60% and below).

Now some customers are saying that they've noticed a steep drop in Fresh's quality and reliability over the last year, especially in the first few months of 2018.

"As they've scaled up, they seem to be making the rookie mistakes," Ryan Fritzsche, who has been a Fresh customer since it came to Brooklyn in 2014, said to Business Insider. "You expect them to be improving instead of [deteriorating]."

"Every single time I get groceries delivered from Fresh, something is damaged," said Heather Fishel, a Los Angeles resident who has ordered from Fresh eight times over the last year.  "Most of the time, it's all of the order."

Negative reviews are also appearing on the page for Amazon Fresh itself. 

"This is not the Fresh I LOVED 2 years ago," one review reads. "It WAS great, now just sort of a necessary evil."

Nearly all of the customers who spoke with Business Insider said they have switched to a competitor or changed their shopping behavior on the platform to account for its issues.

Amazon seems to have instituted a very lenient refund policy for any kind of complaint — from damaged items to missed deliveries — to keep customers happy. Customers say Amazon almost always opts to refund the order, in whole or in part, when an issue arises. Some customers also received promotional credit towards their next order in addition to the refund. 

If a problem does occur, however, customers are often still left without usable groceries, which means they must either run to a local grocery store or order again for delivery in a few days.

Inconveniences such as these might negate the utility of Fresh as a service in some customers' eyes. 

"I just bought groceries from you because I need groceries," Fritzsche said. "I can't eat a refund."

Fishel expressed a similar sentiment.

"It's incredibly frustrating that their response is always, 'Well, here's a few dollars back,' when I really just wanted the groceries," she said.

The issues described by customers "just [don't] sound like Amazon to me," says Sucharita Kodali, an analyst at Forrester Research and an expert on e-commerce and omnichannel retail.

"I'm actually shocked," Kodali said. "Seems to me ... the only explanation here is that they basically are stretched, and it sounds to me like they have not prioritized these call tickets, so to speak, on the to-do list, and they clearly have not put the A-Team against it."

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the record for this story. 

Missing in action

The most troubling issue, according to customers, is the items that are missing from their orders.

Amazon Fresh has a section on its "help" page that addresses the problem of out-of-stock items. 

"When possible, we'll try to substitute the unavailable item with a similar product (exceptions are specialty items)," it reads.

"If your item was substituted, you'll see Substituted with on the Delivery or Pickup Confirmation e-mail listing the substituted items. In most cases, you will not be charged for the original item or the substitute. If we're able to substitute the original item with an item that is nearly identical, you'll be charged the lesser of the two prices."

But customers report that Amazon does not always notify them when an item appearing on Fresh's website is actually out of stock. If an ordered item is out of stock at the time of fulfillment, it may just not appear when the order is delivered.

That leaves customers wondering whether the item was out of stock, or whether there was a mistake during fulfillment and the item was forgotten. One customer said that they typically have such large orders, they sometimes didn't even realize they didn't get the item they ordered until they reached for it in the pantry and realized it never arrived.

Some customers have reported entire bags of groceries going missing. Calling Amazon's customer-support line in this context will also net a refund for the missing package, but as far as tracking down the missing groceries, customers say they haven't had any luck. In this case, it is up to the customer to place a new order, rather than Amazon delivering the same order again.

Several customers reported missed deliveries — either that their delivery just never showed up, or that it was delayed past the delivery window. 

Kodali called missing or out-of-stock items "one of the biggest frustrations" in online grocery shopping, but that Amazon, since it nailed online shopping years ago, should be better equipped to handle it.

"How is something so basic, that they've solved so long ago [on Amazon.com], still a problem on Amazon Fresh?" Kodali said. "Unless they just didn't really care."

"It's baffling," she added.

Damaged goods

Damaged items were another issue for customers, some of whom said the damage their orders sustained in transit was beyond what could be considered acceptable as the risk of ordering groceries online.

Most of it, these customers said, seemed like it could be blamed on poor packing on Amazon's part, even taking into account the fact that orders often shift in transit. 

Customers complained about frozen items being packed next to fresh herbs and produce, freezing or crushing them in transit and rendering them no longer usable, and cartons of milk getting crushed by heavy items like 12 packs of canned seltzers being packed on top of them.

Jennifer Silva, another customer from Los Angeles, said that she once ordered food as well as cleaning product with bleach in one order. The items were all packed in one bag, with the bleach product on top. In transit, it ended up leaking all over the food, rendering the entire delivery unsafe for consumption.

Amazon has a policy of adding a plastic bag for products like cleaners and detergents, in order to separate them from food items. But as a rule, it only separates items in different bags by temperature. 

When Fishel called to complain about the way her items were being packed, an Amazon customer-service representative suggested that she change her ordering behavior, she said. Instead of including an entire grocery order all at once, the representative suggested ordering fragile items in one batch and heavy items in another. 

Receiving damaged goods once in a while can be the cost of delivery, according to Kodali.

"We hear this all the time," she said. "Some guy comes to deliver you stuff, and your burrito's upside down. Jostling food, you're not going to get things in the right order. That's just one of the costs."

Kodali speculated that since there's a "this-way-up" policy for food delivery packages — basically, packages shouldn't be left on their side or upside down — the issues customers are reporting could be exacerbated by inexperienced delivery people.

"As long as the order is coming from their distribution center and they've packed it, these issues shouldn't [happen]," Kodali said. "I'm surprised that items would get crushed, unless it's just an unskilled worker who wasn't trained properly."

Amazon Fresh keeps changing

Amazon Fresh has evolved a lot over the last year. It introduced Whole Foods items to the platform and stopped service in some suburban areas across the country. 

Behind the scenes, the teams behind Fresh and Prime Now, Amazon's two-hour delivery service, are now one. Fresh also kicked third-party vendors off of the platform at the end of May.

Operationally, there have been further changes. The service has recently switched from using ice packs to frozen water bottles in order to keep things cold.

In some markets, Fresh has also switched from delivering orders in its reusable, green cold-storage totes to paper bags — even for cold and frozen items, which are first wrapped in layers of plastic. 

'A bad taste in my mouth'

Customers also say the negative experiences with Fresh have colored their perception of Amazon and Amazon Prime, even if they are otherwise happy with the service.

"I feel like Amazon now has two very distinct divisions in my mind," Fishel said. "While I love Amazon Prime and even Prime Now ... I don't know what is going on with Amazon Fresh. But it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because there are other companies that do grocery so much better."

Some customers now say the spell has been broken, and they are trusting Amazon less for other kinds of purchases.

"The troubles we've had over the last few months have loosened the grip Amazon had on me," Gillian Fritzsche, a customer in Brooklyn, New York, said.

Cost is also a consideration: an Amazon Fresh membership costs $15 a month, and it's only available for Amazon Prime members, who also pay $120 a year or $13 a month for that subscription. 

Amazon Fresh's struggles put the future of the service into question

Kodali said that none of the issues described are "unfixable," but the fact that Amazon has not fixed them yet may point to the possibility that Amazon is preparing to sunset the service in its current iteration. 

"Why even bother having Fresh at all if this is the way you're going to treat it?" Kodali said. "It does not speak highly to its prospects."

Fresh is a service that has struggled to find its footing, and there are indications that it hasn't reached the profitability targets Amazon has set out, she said.

"Maybe what this is is the pains of constantly trying to pivot the business model to try and find a better [one], tinkering with a business model that never really worked in the first place," she said. "What they're discovering is that it's a business model that may never work."

Fresh grocery is still a focus point for Amazon, though its approach to grocery has changed massively since Fresh began. Whole Foods' integration and brand has been a major point for growth of both Prime Now and Fresh, leading to increased sales on the platforms. 

But now that Amazon is working on integrating Whole Foods with its Prime Now two-hour delivery service in cities across the country, delivering from stores instead of dedicated fulfillment centers, Fresh may soon find itself obsolete in Amazon's new grocery paradigm.

SEE ALSO: Amazon has been quietly evolving Prime's look, and it signifies massive changes to the service

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Dueling DIY: The Murphy Bed Build and Hanging Plants

It’s Wednesday once again, and that means it’s time for another Dueling DIY: Guest Room Gauntlet update!

On the last update in this series, I hadn’t really made the huge strides in the Murphy bed build that I was hoping for. I finished the wall paint in the guest bedroom (Sherwin-Williams Retreat), which at least looked like a significant change (as paint so often does), but the to-do list still seemed impossibly long. Paint or no, I was going to have to step it up this time around.

As you guys already know, the whole point of a Dueling DIY challenge is to create motivation in the most mature way possible: by one host rubbing their progress in the other person’s face. For me, seeing how little I completed in the last update compared to Charlotte building a freaking daybed in the interim really put a fire under me. I almost don’t believe it myself how much things have changed in the last two weeks!

Picture Ledge Install

I finished the picture ledge install! Even though you only see three here on the wall, I actually made a total of four. As I began to space them out, I quickly realized the fourth would run too low to fit a desk underneath, so it had to be nixed.

I still wound up using the fourth — just on the TV wall. Adding it directly under the television will be the perfect spot for the remotes (there are two for the TV and one for the new ceiling fan).

Murphy Bed Pieces Built

I suppose I could have called that “enough” for an update, but I wasn’t content to stop there. Just as I hoped for with this DIY battle, I kept going!. The idea of her finishing and me still having a bedless guest bedroom was just not going to happen, so I got the last of the plywood pieces I needed to assemble the Murphy bed. The whole thing will come together in basically three big parts, which have to be built separately first. It was somewhat of a building frenzy for a few nights as I glued, nailed, and/or screwed everything together.

I got as far as adding the veneer edge banding to the exposed plywood edges with my clothing iron before needing to make yet another trip to the store. This time, though, it was for paint — a sure sign that I am SO CLOSE to having this thing fully installed! Some of the areas are going to be really difficult to reach once installed on the wall, so I am going ahead with painting things while it’s still on the floor.

Hanging Plants by the Window

While I was at the store, I happened upon these cute little planters with neon thread. Even though I originally intended on doing a macrame project for hanging plants on my custom-made curtain rods, these seemed like a perfect way to add more color. So, I switched gears and turned these little guys into hanging plants.

It’s a fairly simple tutorial, so I thought I’d go ahead and include it in this week’s post. Enjoy!

How to Turn Small Planters into Hanging Plants

1. Gather your supplies: some twine/rope, scissors, and a hanging planter that be converted easily (these were simple plastic and cardboard; for wood, you’d have to drill through using a drill bit; for something tougher like ceramic, you’ll have to buy a special bit to drill through them and use a technique similar to this tutorial from my laundry room makeover).

2. Since I could skip the wood/ceramic drill process, I separated the plant out to its components. Find the placement for each hole on opposite sides of the planter.

3. Using a very sharp pair of scissors, poke a hole in one side (enlarging the hole and twisting the blades through). First through the cardboard planter piece, and again through the plastic liner. Repeat on the opposite side.

4. Using the same scissors as a poking tool, feed the rope through the first hole, starting at the outside of the planter and pulling through to the inside.

5. For the knots, follow the image directly on the bag (middle illustration). I made two of these knots per side, then a standard knot like tying a shoelace to help the knot stand upright above the rim of the planter.

6. Cut the rope to the desired length with a little extra to create the knots on the opposite side. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to finish the second hole.

7. To make the top loop for hanging, fold the rope so that it’s equal on both sides, then wind it around your finger three times. Pull the end of the loop through this wrapped section to create a knot.

8. Cut excess rope from knots, put the plant back in, and hang. In my case, I created two different lengths of rope to make my planters hang at different heights beside the window. I think this will look more interesting, but it’s a nice perk that it also meant I didn’t have to measure or match up the lengths. I may even go back and grab two more and do it again so they hang in clusters.

That’s it for this week’s update! By the next one, I am really hoping to get the Murphy bed fully installed in the wall. And if I’m feeling ambitious, I may even try to start building out the cabinet boxes that will go on either side. Don’t forget to hop over to Charlotte’s blog to see the new changes she’s making to her guest room. I would say something positive about her room to be a supportive friend or whatever, but pfffft. I totally rocked this week, and she knows it.

via GIPHY

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