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#but they were like just call it a diploma : / its basically a diploma

jessicalprice · 1 year

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christian universalism strikes again

(Reposted from Twitter)

So a rabbi I know came back from LA pretty jazzed about a Jewish addiction treatment facility there called Beit T'shuvah and so we talked about their approach and that got me curious about non-AA approaches to dealing with addiction which, my friends, was fascinating.

I’ll admit that almost everything I know about AA is more or less from The West Wing. I'm fortunate in that no one in my immediate family has dealt with substance abuse issues, and as far as I know, none of my close friends are alcoholics. My knowledge is pop culture knowledge.

But hearing about Beit T’shuvah was very interesting to me because:

I'd heard that a lot of people who aren't Christian have a hard time with AA because it's so Christian.

The difference in philosophy was subtle at first glance but actually paralleled a lot of the differences between Judaism and Christianity if you dug into it.

Anyway, I got curious about whether success rates were different for Christians vs. non-Christians and started googling. I didn't find much in the way of the data I was looking for, but I did find something a lot more disturbing, which is that the whole 12-step thing is not science-based. At all. For example:

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse compared the current current state of addiction treatment to medicine in the early 1900s, when there weren't a lot of standards for who could practice medicine. In order to be a substance abuse counselor in many states, you don't need much more than a GED or high school diploma.

A 2006 survey found "no experimental studies unequivocally demonstrated the effectiveness of AA or TSF approaches for reducing alcohol dependence or problems."

And I want to make clear here that I'm not saying AA is bad--clearly it's helped people. The problem is that it's touted as a universal approach, which is a problem when it's not based on any sort of actual science.

AA claims that its success rates for people who "really try" are 75%. (And boy does that mirror gaslighting diet language.) But the most precise study out there that's NOT coming from AA (https://amazon.com/dp/B00FIMWI1O) put actual success rates at 5-8%. One of the major textbooks on treating addiction ranks it at 38th out of 48 on its list of effective treatments.

So just like most fad diets, it fails for almost everyone who tries it, and then blames the individual for its failure.

A glaring issue is that the 12 steps don't really acknowledge--or provide any guidance or structure for dealing with--other mental/emotional health issues. That’s a giant problem when people with substance abuse issues have higher than average rates of those issues. (Take a moment to consider how the victim-blaming approach of “if you didn’t succeed, it’s because you didn’t try hard enough” is going to intersect with someone’s major depression.)

Now, if 12-step programs were just one available treatment approach out of many, this wouldn’t be that big of an issue.

But 12% of AA members are there because of court orders. Our legal system is requiring people to undergo treatment that is:

Christian-based

Not scientifically supported

A failure for the vast majority of people

I mean, here's a pretty comprehensive breakdown that talks about the lack of scientific support for it, alternative treatments (like those in Finland, and naltrexone), and the fundamentalist origins of AA.

The founder was a member of the Oxford Group, an evangelical organization that taught that all human problems stemmed from fear and selfishness, and could be solved by turning your life over to divine providence, basically. Sound familiar? He based AA on those principles, and given that the only alternative was "drying out" in a sanatorium, and that AA members would show up at bedsides there and invite inpatients to meetings, it must have looked really enlightened to people. In 2022, it bears a queasy resemblance to evangelizing to people in prison, literally a captive audience.

To be fair--to their credit--they were some of the first people out there saying alcoholism was a disease, and not a moral failing. But they didn’t treat it like a disease when it came to testing treatment options:

Mann also collaborated with a physiologist named E. M. Jellinek. Mann was eager to bolster the scientific claims behind AA, and Jellinek wanted to make a name for himself in the growing field of alcohol research. In 1946, Jellinek published the results of a survey mailed to 1,600 AA members. Only 158 were returned. Jellinek and Mann jettisoned 45 that had been improperly completed and another 15 filled out by women, whose responses were so unlike the men’s that they risked complicating the results. From this small sample—98 men—Jellinek drew sweeping conclusions about the “phases of alcoholism,” which included an unavoidable succession of binges that led to blackouts, “indefinable fears,” and hitting bottom. Though the paper was filled with caveats about its lack of scientific rigor, it became AA gospel.

And then Senator Harold Hughes, who was an AA member, got Congress to establish the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which promoted AA's beliefs, and sometimes suppressed research that conflicted with them:

In 1976, for instance, the Rand Corporation released a study of more than 2,000 men who had been patients at 44 different NIAAA-funded treatment centers. The report noted that 18 months after treatment, 22 percent of the men were drinking moderately. The authors concluded that it was possible for some alcohol-dependent men to return to controlled drinking. Researchers at the National Council on Alcoholism charged that the news would lead alcoholics to falsely believe they could drink safely. The NIAAA, which had funded the research, repudiated it. Rand repeated the study, this time looking over a four-year period. The results were similar.

The standard 28-day rehab stay, prescribed and insured:

Marvin D. Seppala, the chief medical officer at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Minnesota, one of the oldest inpatient rehab facilities in the country, described for me how 28 days became the norm: “In 1949, the founders found that it took about a week to get detoxed, another week to come around so [the patients] knew what they were up to, and after a couple of weeks they were doing well, and stable. That’s how it turned out to be 28 days. There’s no magic in it.”

The last sentence here (bolded for emphasis) is especially chilling.

That may be heartening, but it’s not science. As the rehab industry began expanding in the 1970s, its profit motives dovetailed nicely with AA’s view that counseling could be delivered by people who had themselves struggled with addiction, rather than by highly trained (and highly paid) doctors and mental-health professionals. No other area of medicine or counseling makes such allowances.

There is no mandatory national certification exam for addiction counselors. The 2012 Columbia University report on addiction medicine found that only six states required alcohol- and substance-abuse counselors to have at least a bachelor’s degree and that only one state, Vermont, required a master’s degree. Fourteen states had no license requirements whatsoever—not even a GED or an introductory training course was necessary—and yet counselors are often called on by the judicial system and medical boards to give expert opinions on their clients’ prospects for recovery.

And, again, the idea that this is the One True And Only Way to deal with alcohol abuse leads to medical professionals ignoring research and treatment options that could be helping people. They are, in essence, taking all this completely on faith.

There has been some progress: the Hazelden center began prescribing naltrexone and acamprosate to patients in 2003. But this makes Hazelden a pioneer among rehab centers. “Everyone has a bias,” Marvin Seppala, the chief medical officer, told me. “I honestly thought AA was the only way anyone could ever get sober, but I learned that I was wrong.”

Stephanie O’Malley, a clinical researcher in psychiatry at Yale who has studied the use of naltrexone and other drugs for alcohol-use disorder for more than two decades, says naltrexone’s limited use is “baffling.”

“There was never any campaign for this medication that said, ‘Ask your doctor,’ ” she says. “There was never any attempt to reach consumers.” Few doctors accepted that it was possible to treat alcohol-use disorder with a pill. And now that naltrexone is available in an inexpensive generic form, pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to promote it.

I'm not saying that AA is bad. I'm saying its hegemony is bad. It clearly is effective for some people--a minority of people. But it's not for the majority of people, and that's a problem when it's being prescribed by courts (and doctors) as if it's a one-size-fits-all approach.

It’s not an accident that a Christian approach to treating addiction presents itself as the One True Way For All Humankind, insists that courts and doctors privilege it, demands that people take its effectiveness on faith, and blames anyone for whom it doesn’t work for not believing/trying hard enough.

Hegemony is a problem.

(Photo credit: Pixabay)

#christian hegemony #addiction #christian supremacy #aa #maybe courts should be recommending treatment with a better than 8% success rate and actual science behind them just saying

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astrosky33 · 1 year

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heLlo Hi its Me coming to ask you another question, i can’t help it.

I KNOW KNOW

anyways

so you went to college for astrology right? How was that like? I was thinking of doing it because i want a degree and honestly i like astrology.

So any chance if you could tell me your experience with getting the degree and do you need to be really good at maths for it?

OKAY that’s all:)

𝐍𝐎 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒! 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 <𝟑

𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

No you don’t need to be good at math haha! They do sometimes go over mathematical terms when you learn about astronomy but there’s no work you have to do involving math

You do have to pay it’s not for free unfortunately

I did the course online because it’s in Shoreline, Washington and I live too far but if you live near there you have the option to do it in person I’m pretty sure

Basically once you enroll for whichever main course you choose they mail you the books for the courses and you go to online classes every day for 130 weeks

For the electives the times vary since they’re focused on just one specific topic. For the specific electives I chose they were only 5-10 weeks long

𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤

To get a full diploma I had to take 130 weeks of course study, 115 weeks of required courses, at least 15 weeks of electives, and give a final demonstration of learning

The courses I took were astrological fundamentals-natal chart, astrological fundamentals-prediction, astrological counseling and relationships, astrological professional development, astrological heritage, and astromapping

I took some electives as well including medical astrology, horary astrology, traditional predictive astrology, calling and the soul’s transformation, comparisons and composites, intro to psychological astrology, and more

𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬

Astrological Fundamentals - Natal Chart

I thought I knew all the basic information in astrology before taking this course but turns out I did not and I learned a lot of new things as well as lots of info about misconceptions that are made a lot by many fake astrologers online

Astrological Fundamentals - Prediction

This course was for sure my favorite out of all of them because I love learning about predictive astrology and impressing my friends with how accurate it is

Astromapping

I got to learn way more about astrocartography and will definitely be posting more about it now

𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬

Counseling and Relationships

Talks about compatibility (sexual and romantic), relationship longevity and success, attraction, potential relationships, etc

Hellenistic Astrology

Learned about Derivative Astrology in this class which was really interesting to me. I used to think it was a Sidereal technique but it actually originated from Tropical Astrology

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

There’s another course is called Alternative Traditions. I’m not entirely sure what that withholds because I didn’t read about it or take it

There are also over 20 different electives you can take other than the one’s I took but I didn’t have any interest in them

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫

Once you complete the main courses they give you a diploma and you are then considered a certified astrologer!

Once you compete the electives they give you certificates for each elective you complete!

You don’t have to complete all the electives I did to become an astrologer only the main courses and 15 weeks of electives but I took extra classes because I wanted to learn more astrology methods

𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏𝐄𝐃 <𝟑

<- 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧

#astro community #astrology #zodiac #astro placements #astrology tumblr #astro chart #birth chart #Kepler college #certified astrologer #astrologer

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brassdivinity · 10 months

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ABOUT AYLIN || And then I turned away into the shade.

CHARACTER BASICS

NAME: Aylin Feray Bardakci

AGE: Twenty-Seven

GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis Woman, She/Her

FACE CLAIM: Aslihan Malbora

EYE COLOR: Brown

HAIR COLOR: Dark Brown, typically dyed bright blue

HEIGHT: 5′4″

DATE OF BIRTH: October 2nd, 1977

ZODIAC SIGN: Libra

LEVEL OF EDUCATION: High School Diploma

OCCUPATION: Tattoo Artist

CHARACTER HISTORY (TW: DRUG ADDICTION, CHILD ABANDONMENT)

One look at Aylin, and many believe that she’s taken on a vibrant protest against the world. The inked flowers on her skin is only a result of pain made permanent, and her bright hair a call for a squinted glance in the eyes of others. Yet, Aylin’s never fought the wrongs in the world. She’s accepted defeat, and laid in the bed it’s set out for her. Tattoos, blue hair, jewelry beyond a dangle on her ear is no more than taking the canvas given to her by the earth and making it a tribute for its wonders. Precious metals, the blueprint to florals, and the brightest colors fallen in awe from the nature around turned into a halo is not a fight against the world but harmony.

Aylin, however, does have her protests but they sit in the pit of her stomach where she’s let them weigh her down like stones. It keeps her from running too fast into the face of impulse, and weary of a deep end. Her parents moved to New York when she was just fifteen years old, coming into her sophomore year of school right into the middle of the school year.

Specializing in glass making, Aylin was the one creation they had yet to crack. Their sons were broken in the trouble they had in the failure of their work. Her brothers became destructive, and in hopes of keeping her safe from their whirlwind, they took opportunity to run and went. For a couple of years, they flourished but they accepted her brothers back into their lives when they came searching with an apology at hand. It didn’t take long for them to bring what Aylin’s parents tried to escape from. Their ran through their funds, using their family’s money to support their addictions. Her parents did what they could to keep her safe, even if their menagerie was broken and all they had to keep was Aylin. She was expected to do well in school, to create a second chance for them and herself, to find freedom but all she ever found was solitude. They overworked themselves and rarely came home when she was awake to see them, and her brothers lived most of their stay out on the porch where their mother kicked them out for the haze of drugs that was so thick it filled the house in distain.

On the cusp of seventeen, promises withered. They failed to bloom and instead turned frail and so thin that Aylin’s small prayer blew them to dust. The trouble her brothers caused had robbed their family of everything, and love became a justification she grew weary of. Forced to go back to Turkey, her parents moved back and forth before eventually trying to leave Aylin behind to not exhaust her. Many believed she was free, but she was still in their glass cage. It didn’t take long for it to break, though. The fragility wasn’t a secret, and child services stepped in to relocate her until she was eighteen.

Everyone seemed to move along without her. Her brothers were able to clean up their act, get married, and finally have a clear path. Her parents were relieved of raising one more child, of threading expectation for her when they were poor examples, and thrived. Aylin, however, was left alone. They tried to step back into her life more than once, with her brothers attempting to either bring her home or take custody but it all failed.

Once she graduated at eighteen, Aylin no longer listened to their pleas. She pursued a trail they tried to warn her off of, but Aylin learned to not look for any kind road or fair sky where she walked. It would come with trouble. All she had to do was be aware of it, and take risk for herself when there was nothing left.

There was a way to find where she belonged despite going back to an aimless home— she found devotion in the unknown, looking into every corner her parents told her to avoid. She became what they feared for their sons and branded her a deviant and degenerate while all she'd done was devote herself entirely to the art that had brought her comfort for so many years in their absence.

PRESENT DAY

Aylin pursued a career in tattooing and has been able to live her life with minimal halt from her own worry. Specializing in single needle to create every detail of her favorite nature based designs, she’s created a name for herself even if she hushes it. Her tattooing allowed her opportunity to create larger than life pieces on individuals that created stepping stools for her move forward in her career and a place at a local shop instead of solely out of her apartment.

Her struggle now isn't finding her place, but taking ownership of who she is now that her family has completely written her off. She strays from losing control in the endeavors her brothers gave into, drugs and alcohol, but she's used poor judgement to make terrible decisions all on her own. If they want to believe she's a mess, she'll prove that she is and she can clean it up on her own.

HEADCANONS

She has bright blue hair, a characteristic that’s defined her since she was eighteen. She has a variety of tattoos and they are all nature based with florals. Her back tattoo is a mountain range piece that is tailored to every push and pull of her own muscles for each peak. They are all black and white, with the exception of white lilies scattered throughout different designs and a small red poppy in the center of her chest.

Aylin, despite her appearance, is rather reserved and takes time to trust people. She tries to act on impulse like those closest to her but it takes her some time.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

People she’s known since moving to the city at fifteen

People her brothers wronged during their time on the city

Any fellow foster kids, or even children of those who fostered her

Classmates

Clients as a tattoo artist

Enemies, even if its by proxy

Exes and short lived flings

#about.aylin #cleanintro #im me on here or dm me on discord at adambolbi if you'd like to plot (:

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insidiousclouds · 1 year

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!! tell me abt your diy blorbos!! (there’s four ecxclamation point so tell me about two :))

AKFKAJ diy blorbo yes that's the perfect thing to call them. I'll just tell you about my two boys who are best friends with homoerotic tension between them

Kirk

He's around 26, is mixed, and grew up in a Hispanic household. He's got two older brothers and an older sister, but he never really knew his brother's and only remembers his sister faintly since she's like 10 years older than him and moved out pretty early in his life. He never was good in school and was always a trouble maker. He never knew his mom and hardly spent time at home because of his dad (physically abusive). So in his childhood he spent most of his time at Jake's house. He also developed an addiction to alcohol and cigarettes at an early age.

He didn't graduate highschool and needed work.. its really hard to find work as an adult when you don't have a highschool diploma so with a few connections, he quickly became a drug mule, and after a few years of that, ascended the ranks and joined the underground mafia of his city. He actually became right hand man of the don despite annoying the shit out of him but that's another story for another day.

Jake

Around the same age as Kirk, they met in middleschool and became fast friends. A real 'boys will be boys' sort of friendship, doing stupid things in the woods, playing video games together, and making lame sex jokes is mostly how they spent their time (and kind of still is). Jake was born into a first generation Russian family (his dad was running from the Russian mafia), and he's got a really big family. All brothers older than him and one sister younger than him. He's also very tall, 6'10". Kirk is 6'4".

Jake always wanted to be a detective, a private investigator. His childhood heros were Colombo, Sherlock Holmes, and (he'll never admit this) Nancy Drew. So he went to college for it, but... one drunken night of fooling around led him to play chicken on a freeway. He lost his leg below the knee, and uses a prosthetic now to walk.

That really affected his mental health and he became severely depressed, and dropped out of his degree. Kirk wasn't really around for those few years after the accident, despite Kirk actually being present for the actual incident in which Jake lost his leg, and Jake still resents him for that.

But being out of money, out of a degree, Jake needed help, and Kirk offered him a job with the mafia. It wasn't his first choice, but it was good money, and it's what he's been doing.

Now there's certainly waaay more than just that to them, but those are their basic backstories!! Also Jake has had a crush on Kirk since highschool but I didn't know where to fit that in.

#cloud drabbles #cloud infodumps #cloud creations #original characters #kirk oc #jake oc

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artinandwritin · 2 years

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alright I wanna hear all about this ghost hunting au please please please

OH YEAH OFC!! Id love to infodump hehe

As for the "basic knowledge " for this au, cuz ofc I can't do an au without vicariously planning every single detail, we're talking about a modern au type of au here, set between 2015-2021 in the small - kinda haunted - town of Berk. Ghostly appearances and voices that don't belong are a regular for some inhabitants.

Luckily, we got some Ghost Hunters to take care of things, and not just any Ghost Hunters, no, these are famous, inspiring ones. Everyone wants them, everyone wants to be them, cuz they've got money from living off of YouTube. Great.

Spoiler, these Ghost Hunters are the Gang cuz ofc they are. Hiccup's a successful capturer of supernatural evidence and a great exorcist and operates the most dangerous houses with his trusted crew, existing of his wife Astrid, his cousin Snotlout, and friends Fishlegs, Ruff and Tuff. They're having fun and I love them in this au <3

Zooming in a little bit, we're turning our cameras to the biggest fanboy of Ghosts, first year college student Gustav, and his new bestie, Liam Arnesen (my friend's Sol's oc!). Well, Gustav has big hopes and dreams for the future; one, getting rich af, two, get a pretty person to be the love of his life, and three, to start a successful Ghost Hunting company like his big half-brother Snotlout and cousin Hiccup. Sure, he's got no money cuz daddy Spitelout stopped paying child support to his mom, but he's got the spirit and the diplomas from online courses about Ghosts to make up for it.

Luckily, fate decides to be nice to him and brings him a medium, in the form of Solveig Onfroy (another one of Sol's ocs!), Liam's fierce girlfriend. She's an absolute queen who is able to sense Ghosts around her, like a badass, and Gustav's like, "you. I want you. In the company". And Solveig says, "um. Well okay I guess?".

So Solveig, Liam and Gustav schedule a time and date to go visit an abandoned, allegedly haunted house - Gustav takes his childhood friend, high school senior Siri Vínteri, with him as well, just cuz he likes her face and gets all butterflies when he's around her. Totally platonic. Siri is a hashtag rich kid, a cousin to Ghost Hunter Astrid, very sweet, a bit naive, that whole shabang. She's also a horse girl and thinks a 100 bucks is the same as 10 bucks. Yeah, that's what generational wealth does to a person. It's a problem.

The four go on an adventure in the haunted house and after some wacky shenanigans, they decide to finally start Gustav's company and air their show online! The Ghost Hunter. Inc is a fact. This all happens in autumn to winter of 2015, its a wild ride. Soon after this, Gustav and Siri start dating - Siri treats her broke boyfriend to a lot of little presents cuz she doesn't know how to handle money - and life goes on.

Skip to a few years later, to december of 2020, Solveig and Liam have gotten married, the company has gained two more employees, Luka Grimborn and his girl Kristen Everson (two ocs of my friend Chloe, Kris' name might get a change! Idk yet, she's been talking about it), and they've settled into an easy life style. Most of them have part time jobs outside of their Ghost Hunting business, but it's a sincere passion project for all of them - even if Hiccup's company still has more subscribers, lmao.

One night, Gus and Siri do a little haunted house exploration of their own. They had gotten engaged a few months prior and were currently getting ready for their wedding, fun times. However, shit sure does happen in that haunted house, called Edgewater Mental Asylum. Siri gets attacked by the Ghost of an angry mother who had lost her baby in childbirth, called Isabella, now searching for a new baby to raise. Welp, Seer finds out she's pregnant. Fun times for her for sure. After a long struggle and some injuries, the Ghost disappears. GusSiri goes to Solveig and Liam in a panic, not sure how to handle with what had happened.

While Solveig doesn't notice anything weird, her adoptive daughter, five year old Elanor, does notice. A medium as well, she senses Siri's pregnancy and how the baby is a little boy. However, she senses something else as well. Something... Dark, inside of Siri.

Ding ding, our girl's possessed!

No-one believes little Elanor, though. Sadness. However, she seems to have been right as time passes and the signs get more and more noticable, until Isabella fully takes over and attacks the little girl, with Zephyr Haddock, Hiccup's daughter, in the room.

Time for an exorcism! While, after much struggle, Isabella leaves Siri's body, her influence hangs around, causing Seer's son to be born prematurely. After this, Siri temporarily leaves the company, but returns after working things over with Gustav and Solveig about her role in the workplace. She wouldn't go on trips anymore, just stay home with her son and do the work behind the scenes. I have the feeling she would start a podcast and invite other ghost hunters for the hot tea. Astrid would probably be a regular.

So yeah, that's kind of the basics! Since it's a pretty old au, some parts are under construction and backstories are being rewritten, which has forced me to leave a lot of shit out which i think is sad.

Anyways, its more brutal than i show here. It's so, so much more brutal. Isabella nearly murders Seer in the first chapters and Solveig is forced to use violence on her highly pregnant friend. Also, child abuse by cranky ghost. It's fun >:)

Thank you sm for the ask!! I loved answering this sm you have no idea. This au is so dear to my heart - cuz it's my oldest - and i love it sm. All the hugs to you <333

#thank you for the ask!#httyd oc #ghost hunter au #oc #oc x canon #gussiri #siri vínteri #artinandwritin's lore #gustav httyd

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xsweetelegantdisasterx · 2 years

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My name is Aimee and I have a serious problem of ongoing fics, and coming up with new ones in the process. During the midst of my ongoing 40+ Chapter fanfiction I haven't shared quite yet, I decided why not on a new story that will drive me bloody mad.

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

So. . . Here is the newest one: Enjoy ♡

➺ Summary: An unorthodox angel named Keely has been sent to a foreign place to complete a mission, only to find that her heart had one of its own.

➺ Pairings: Choi Jongho/ Female O.C & Park Seonghwa/Female O.C

➺ Genre: Fluff, some angst.

➺ Angel au.

➺ W/C: 2144

➺ Warnings: Language, mild violence.

────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹────────

Keely was called to enter the heavenly meeting room. She was annoyed already from the other Angels getting jobs, while she was stuck in the back burner. Everyday, she watched them enter the room and then leave with missions to accomplish. She had been an angel for a while, and had completed everything that was asked of her. It would seem, to her at least, that they weren’t to keen on giving her jobs.

Keely wasn’t your normal angel though. No one knew if it was just because of her age, but she was different. The word she was called, was unorthodox. Where normal angels were always positive and a protector, Keely was your foul mouthed, blunt angel. She would help you yes, but not in the “normal” way. She spoke what was on her mind, and that was what set her apart from the others. Her nomenclature usually made people shudder, but again, she was blunt about things. Her heart was bigger than her mouth though, which made Michael appreciate her more.

“Keely, come here,” Michael stood in the door as he beckoned her to follow.

“Yes Michael?” Keely quickly entered the room to see the head angel looking into the fountain.

“I have a top quality job for you.”

“Oh really? Thank you,” she stepped closer seeing the girl that would be watched by her.

She seemed to be a loner from first glance.

“This is Seoyun, you will get acquainted with her and see to it that she is safe, even from herself. Become her friend, someone she can look up too.”

“Wait, I’m babysitting? That was not what we discussed Michael.”

“And you will get it Keely. Did you not say you wanted another chance at life?”

“Well yes-"

“Don’t you want to return to earth to have this opportunity?”

“Well I mean since you put-"

“Then you are doing this. Listen, this may seem like a babysitting session, but you are the only one I trust with this girl. You don’t have a family anymore. This will give you a new family.”

She looked down. Unfortunately, Michael was right. Even if she was to return home, she wouldn’t have her family. She’d take on a new appearance, eventually losing all memory of her family. The only reason her memory wasn’t depleted, was because she begged Michael to keep that memory until she could fill the void in her life. This was exactly what Michael was planning to do. Keely was going to be sent to gain Seoyun's trust and be given a chance to build a new family that she could walk with.

“How am I gonna survive? I mean I’m pretty sure angelic currency isn't approved down there. There will be no proof of my existence Michael.”

“On the contrary. You see, I already had this exact meeting planned, with your sarcasm of course, and we made everything you need. Driver’s license, high-school diploma. You’ll basically be picking up where you left off, but in a new body.”

“Wow okay well do I at least get to pick out my own boyfriend?”

“You’re at a 10, I need you at a 2 as far as your sarcasm goes.”

“Sorry,” she shifted weight to the other side of her body, “can I at least keep my sarcasm? I excel in that.”

“Unfortunately, I am not a miracle worker when it comes to changing personalities.”

Keely chuckled, she was probably the only lower angel that had sarcasm that just flowed out of her mouth. She drove everyone crazy with how mouthy she could be, but they tolerated it.

“Do I have a home or a job?”

“There was a slight problem in completing that, seeing as how you need to be present.”

Reading over her dossier, she got nervous. Michael was vague in what she’d be doing. It had been years since she passed away, so many things had probably changed since then.

“When do I leave?”

“Now actually, oh look it’s time.”

“Wait what?”

“I’ll meet up with you down there soon. Don’t get into trouble, and remember your quest.”

“Where will I find her? I know nothing about where you’re sending me?”

“You’ll know.”

Keely woke up on a bus. Michael was quick about sending her away. There were so many unanswered questions she had, but she tried to stay positive. Something began buzzing in her pocket. Feeling around, she found it.

At least he gave me the newest model of a cell phone.

It was a message from a guy named Mikey.

Remember everything we talked about. You’ll arrive at the station. I managed at last minute to set you up in a home. Good luck, I’ll text you again later.

Keely noticed the passing buildings, and how she was the only one on the bus. It came to a stop as she pulled her bags down, carrying them off with her. Before she could thank the bus driver, he slammed the doors in her face.

Yeah a pleasure to meet you too buddy.

Keely looked around as people passed her on the street. One thing she forgot about earth, was how hot and bright it could be. She wasn’t a fan of this. As she turned to look at other buildings, she saw a little shop with the doors open.

“Hello, do I need to just find a place to sit?”

“Welcome, yes it’s so busy I don’t think you’ll ever find an empty chair,” she got a response from a sassy girl.

Ah you must be Seoyun. Lovely, he’s putting me with another sarcastic person.

“Well then I can sit on the window it’s cool.”

“I don’t mean to intrude, but are you new in town?”

“I actually am, just got off the bus about a minute ago. I have no idea what I’m doing, or where I need to be. I have the address though.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket.

Seoyun glanced at the address, it was her apartment. “Wait, is that the address? Well, it looks like you’ve landed right where you need to be.”

Keely tilted her head a little, slightly confused. Seoyun obviously was kidding.

“Wait, I’ll be staying with you?”

“Yes, with me. Your agent, I guess you call him, set everything up. He explained you’re a stylist, trying to make a name for yourself?”

“Oh Michael, he’s not my agent, just a huge pain in my ass. Wait what? A stylist?”

Thanks good buddy, you know I have a weird fashion sense, and you expect me to dress and style other people. This is going to be interesting.

Keely got restless as she noticed people come in and out of the café. This café was smaller than she had ever seen before but it was nice nonetheless.

“Why don’t you make yourself useful and help while you’re here, you can leave when I do.”

Fuck she is bossy. Thank you Mikey, you really outdid yourself.

Keely walked up to the tables as she cleaned them off. A group of guys walked in. One in particular caught her eye. He was almost too ethereal to be real, a mere mortal as a matter of fact.

“Ah I see he caught your attention.”

“Pft who?” Keely turned quickly trying to hush Seoyun.

“Him, although I don’t think you’re drooling enough.”

Her statement caused a chuckle from the guy Keely looked at. He smiled and nodded at her, causing her to freak out a little. She pulled up the tray to cover her red-kissed cheeks.

Keely get a hold of yourself. He may have the jawline chiseled from the gods themselves, but touching it is not the task at hand. Focus.

She hurried into the kitchen feeling faint. The last time she felt that way, was before the accident. No mortal needed to make her react like this. Especially not now. Just like a slave creature, she followed orders to help take food out and clean. Loading things on a tray, she carried it to the tables. Walking out into the lobby, she approached the table where the gorgeous guy was sitting.

“Here is your food guys,” she placed the plates in front of the customers.

“Thank you,” the earthly god spoke to her.

She nodded and forced a smile; one that didn’t show nervousness. As she was about to leave he spoke to her once more.

“What’s your name? I’ve been coming here for a while, and not once have I seen you.”

“My name is Keely, I’m new to town.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I hope I see you again.”

She felt herself starting to blush as she turned around. Seoyun laughed so loud it was the most obnoxious sound she could hear at the moment.

“Keely, it’s almost painful to watch you around guys. I think I’m going to like having you around.”

“I don’t see you doing any better. Since that one is the one you’ve been pinning over for so long too,” she pointed to the guy sitting right across. It immediately shut Seoyun up.

They both stood in silence letting out aggravated sighs. The two girls were more alike than they knew.

“I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I’m sorry, I’ve had a rough week and I’m agitated lately, can we start over?”

“That will be just fine Seoyun, apology accepted. Now, what’s his name?”

“Who?”

“Are we really gonna play coy? The one you subtly glance over at?”

“That’s Seonghwa, and those are his friends. They are probably out of our league.”

“As long as they don’t start charging us for looking at them right?”

They both started laughing from Keely's comment. All in all, Seoyun seemed pleasant as the day passed. Sure the initial meeting was rougher than sandpaper, but they were starting to get along. With Keely there helping Seoyun, she could close a lot quicker than usual.

Keely looked outside as the lights came on. It was different. She never saw so many lights lining the streets. Even though it was dark, the city was still rumbling and full of life. This was amazing to her. In a sense, she was starting to enjoy her time here. That was the last thing she thought would happen.

“Keely, that guy you kept gawking at, was Jongho.”

Keely stopped wiping the tables, allowing his name to swirl around in her brain a bit. It was fitting to him.

“That’s a nice name. How do you know them?”

“They come in here all the time, and they also debuted as a group recently. Don’t you watch t.v?”

“I never find anything intriguing on that’s remotely interesting. Are they any good?”

Seoyun was bewildered. Keely had to have lived under a rock for not knowing anything about them. She pulled out her phone pulling up a video to show Keely. It was time to bring her out of the dark hole she obviously chose to stay in.

Keely watched intently as she noticed he practically danced on air. Jongho was light on his feet. They were really good. The stage presence exuded anything she saw before and they were just alluring.

“This is their group. They will probably never know we exist, but it’s still nice to see them come in here.”

Keely started getting lost in thought. Michael was vague in the explanations, so she honestly didn’t know how to begin. They finished up the tasks, as Keely grabbed her bags. It was finally time for them to go home. Seoyun didn’t have a car, so they were stuck walking. At least she helped Keely with the bags.

They walked up to a rooftop, as Seoyun started fidgeting for her keys.

“I’m sorry it’s not much, but it’s my home.”

“No need to apologize, it’s a roof over our heads right? That’s all we need, plus it’s cute from first glance.”

They walked inside as Seoyun pulled house slippers out for the two girls. The apartment was homey. It was pleasant inside, like a nice hug. There was no need for Seoyun to apologize about it. She was led to a vacant room which was now hers. There were a few blankets and pillows already laid out for her. She put her luggage on one side of the room as she unpacked.

The buzzing of her phone drew her attention.

Michael: Keely, good job on the first day. I know it was a train wreck at first, but y’all smoothed it out. I have complete faith you’ll do great tomorrow. Sleep now, everything will work out in the wash.

She smiled. This was probably the first time Michael positively critiqued her. He was just stating facts. They started off rough, but they figured a solution to their tiny problems. Keely laid out the blankets as she decided to lay down. After all, she had a big day tomorrow.

────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹────────

#ateez seonghwa #cultofdionysusnet #kpop ff #kpop fanfiction #ateez #ateez fluff #ateez fanfic #ateez wooyoung #ateez jongho #ateez fanfiction #my fanfic 👾

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feignedhues · 2 years

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ABOUT POPE || All you’ve ever done is been a noose to hang on to.

CHARACTER BASICS

NAME: Pope Silas Callaway

AGE: Twenty-Seven

GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cismale, He/Him

FACE CLAIM: Mike Faist

EYE COLOR: Right eye blue, left eye blue with half blue iris

HAIR COLOR: Brown

HEIGHT: 6′0″

DATE OF BIRTH: April 18th, 1964

ZODIAC SIGN: Aries

LEVEL OF EDUCATION: High School Diploma

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: N/A

OCCUPATION: Groundskeeper at Cemetery

HOMETOWN: Deadwood, WA

NEIGHBORHOOD: Outskirts

GIFT: Dreamwalking

FAMILY: Unknown mother, Unknown father, Orla Callaway (adoptive guardian)

CHARACTER HISTORY [TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD ABANDONMENT, ILLNESS]

Pope was born and raised in Deadwood-- at least, that’s what the paperwork says to make it easier on everyone. To the rest of the town, some remain a little skeptical with just where he was found. According to the woman who instructed him not to call her his mother, but instead his guide, had told him that she was beckoned to find him by none other than his own hand. She awoke in the middle of the night startled, certain she was still in a dream and ran through the middle of a storm towards the very woodland she was warned against. There, the hiccuping cries of a child and the cold touch of his skin made her realize that she wasn’t dreaming anymore.

She traced her sleepy steps into a circle of darker shade even found in the dead of night. Hemlock trees wrapped around the only cry of violent life, and it took hours before she stepped in and took the child. Some times she said she ran with him, afraid of whatever wanted him more, and other times she said she waited in case whatever forgot him had wanted to take him back. The story ended the same, though. She’d get back to her home, a fortune teller’s trailer that served as work and haven, and would never find the circle again.

The peculiar details she swore to keep to herself for those who liked to pretend Deadwood was quaint the same way people said charming. That was until like many of her practices, there was little belief. It didn’t take long for her to cling to the tale of her prodigy that there were greater forces in Deadwood, and soon enough, Pope Callaway gained a reputation nicked by cautious mutters and snickers.

He was cradled in superstition, and told to trust instinct over any other law. Whether nature means more than nurtured consequence the rest of the town follow, that’s yet to be determined but he stays loyal to it. Pope had been taught that the only thing he could trust aside from his guide was the earth itself, and he’s done so. He lived alongside his guide until he was forced to attend school, and even then, he’d leave as early as he could away from swarms of people picking up their children and concerned glances for a boy no one seemed to know where he came from, and where he went.

In his guide’s teachings, she instilled a sense of worry that could only be aligned through an order than only made sense to him. Even today, there’s an ever present ripple in Pope for those who pay attention closely. He’s never still and there’s always a rapping that follows him but its purpose always varies. Comfort, boredom, protection, and balance have been tossed around in half hearted muttered apologies for his constant disruption if he remembers to. He’s found ritual in routine, discovering peace of mind that he seems to still lack. The whispers of old age practices still make up his life, even when tragedy threatened to strike.

When he was sixteen, Pope returned home after a late shift to find his guide fallen and unresponsive. Panic settled and he succumbed to calling for help against what he knew her wishes would have been. Her state didn’t grow worse, but it remained stagnant. He stayed at her bedside as much as he could, insistent that he knew what she wanted and needed through some belief instilled from a forgotten dream.

PRESENT DAY [TRIGGER WARNING: ILLNESS]

He currently works at the local cemetery as a groundskeeper where multiple shifts bring in cash, and reasons to stay awake.

HEADCANONS [TRIGGER WARNING: MENTAL HEALTH]

Pope made the local paper when he was found, but the details concerning just where his guide collected him was never published. Instead, it was instilled a rumor upon his guide’s attempts to not only solidify her reputation but that of her business where she often used Pope as a means of attracting tourists as her own personal prized occult object.

He had a knack for never showing up to school, or leaving early because of his guide’s own anxiety towards townspeople. He interacts better with those he doesn’t know such as tourists than locals who knew his parental figure.

The superstitions that have been invoked in him by his guide seem to have manifested in a deep anxiety, and while it is undiagnosed, he has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Many of his compulsions come out in placement of objects, particularly those in the trailer he lives in, and maintaining a balance he can’t quite explain but eases his mind. They are twisted lessons from his guide’s occult studies for protection wards that he has created into his own mess of shiny figures refracting light and more. His obsessions lie in routine and more superstition based practices such as knocking on wood, avoiding cracks, avoiding threes and fixating on even numbers,

He has a deep fascination for the Deadwood lights particularly because of his guide’s fear of them. She used to make the trailer they lived in pitch black so nothing could be seen from outside or inside to avoid the call of any creature or the lights. Because of this, young Pope had coped with his fear of the dark by dreamwalking.

The trailer he lives in is hard to miss once you’ve found it. The windows are all tilted in order to avoid lurking creatures from entering as they are puzzled by the shape, the ceiling inside and on the front porch are painted blue to ward off spirits in hopes of mimicking passing water, etc. The outside is also painted the darkest black, an investment that costed a pretty penny years ago that’s only just started to chip away. While none of these means of protection are proven to work, its previous owner was devoted.

#deadwood.intro #about #about.pope

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aix12279 · 1 month

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Localization in Psych!

Localization is a part of the Brain and Behavior subtopic of the Biological Approach in IBDP (International Baccalaureate Diploma Program). If you wanna check out the masterpost of the Biological Approach click here :D.

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SO, WHAT IS LOCALIZATION?

Localization, more specifically localization of function, refers to the idea that every single behavior, e.g. speech, attention, aggression, hunger, etc etc, has a specific place in the brain that takes charge of that function.

But to talk about localization, we need to talk a bit about biology (I don't like it either but oh well here we are). First, we need to talk about brain structure.

You probably know that there's a thing called the nervous system, which is basically a set of neurons that allow your body to communicate with itself. The central nervous system is all about your spinal cord and the one thing we're actually interested in: the ✨brain✨.

The major parts of the brain are:

the cortex

the cerebellum

the limbic system

the brain stem

First of all, the cortex, probably the one you're the most familiar with. Basically it's the top layer of neurons and basically covers the lower layers from the outside. It's also the largest part of the brain and it's associated with more "intelligent" stuff, or 'higher-order functions' if you wanna be all fancy, so for example abstract thoughts (like you thinking about love, its implications and complications a bit too deeply) or voluntary action (e.g. you choosing whether or not to be an asshole to that one teacher who keeps being UNNECESSARILY STRICT about that one rule about not going into other people's classroom). In terms of dear old Charles Darwin's ✨EVOLUTION✨, this part of the brain was the last one to develop :0.

The cortex is a folded structure (you know when it was really popular to just call people smooth brained? that'd mean that their cortex is, actually, NOT folded!) can be further divided into four parts, which are called lobes. You're probably already familiar with some of these (cofcofFNAFlorecofcof) but they're basically:

The frontal lobe: in charge of all your reasoning, planning, thinking, decision-making, voluntary action, complex emotions and so on. So, basically, if you hypothetically were to loose your frontal lobe because of... Idk, a bite, then you'd actually turn very fucking stupid lmao and also would probably have very dull emotions

The parietal lobe: in charge of your movements, your sense of orientation, perception and recognition. So, if you hypothetically were to loose your parietal lobe, you maybe actually won't be stupid, but you'll look pretty stupid walking into walls lmao

The occipital lobe: in charge of all your visual processing. So, if you... hypothetically were to loose your occipital lobe, then you probably won't actually be stupid, and maybe you won't even look stupid! You won't be able to look though. Like ever. Like you'll be blind like actually lmao how does it feel to be BLIND

The temporal lobe: in charge of processing auditory information, memory and speech. So, if you, again, totally hypothetically were to loose your temporal lobe, actually you'd have like A LOT of problems cus not only would you probably be deaf, you also probably just wouldn't be able to speak AND your memory would be messed up. So. Maybe don't loose your temporal lobe?

Now it's VERY important to clarify that while yes we can say that, idk, the occipital lobe is 'in charge' of something, this is only really referred to as associations because while we know that these areas have brain activity when their respective 'functions' are being done - we can't be 100% sure, AND it's also probably not the only part of the brain that's in charge of those things.

Just as well, you also probably already know that there's two hemispheres (left and right), but maybe what you didn't know is that the two of these are connected by a structure of neurons called the corpus callosum.

The cerebellum, also called 'the little brain' (that's just what my friends call me actually wtfff) is a structure that actually just kinda looks like a small cortex (hence why it's the 'little brain'), with the hemispheres and the folded structure too! This one isn't really that complicated, and it's basically just in charge of coordinating your movement and balance. Seeing as I keep falling on my ass everyday, I'm guessing my cerebellum is actually underdeveloped LMAO.

Next we have the limbic system, or in other words, the one responsible for my crippling depression (aka, it's referred to as the 'emotional brain'). Evolutionary speaking, it's older than the cortex, which basically just means that we as humans developed feelings before we developed other, more intelligent-ish functions (which explains a lot, actually). It has many structures, but the four most important are:

The thalamus, which basically is mostly for sensory functions (you know who to blame for the sensory overloads now). Basically all sensory information goes from their respective sensory organs (eyes, ears, skin, tongue, nose) to the thalamus, where they are then connected to the cortex for processing and all that funsies stuff

The hypothalamus is physically below the thalamus and it's involved with emotions, but also with thirst and hunger. So basically the one that's making your stomach do those weird noises when your hungry is the hypothalamus screaming at you to fucking EAT SOMETHING (water/snack check while we're at it? drink/eat something you degenerates)

The amygdala is involved with memory, emotion, and fear. Am I gonna blame my amygdala for my anxiety from now on? Yeah most likely

The hippocampus has a lot of functions, actually. It's in charge of your learning, of your spatial orientation, and of moving your short term memories into a permanent store so that they become long term memories. So, if you're doing bad at school, maybe blame your hippocampus about it! Couldn't be me lol (it is me HELP)

Then we have the brain stem, which is the little kinda stick thingie that's underneath the limbic system and it's basically that regulates more subconscious stuff, like: breathing, heartbeat. It's also connected to the spinal cord! That thing that will NOT stop annoying the shit out of me (God why do I have to have a BODY). Also, this part of the brain is the only one that slightly less smart animals have, like reptiles

In terms of purely theoretical info, that's basically it! However there ARE a bunch of studies related to this topic, both against and for localization as a legit concept (so some people think that it's an accurate theory, some other people don't really think so), which I'll list and post about hereee:

Paul Broca (1861)

Eugene Pauly (Squire, 1992, 2002)

HM: Milner (1966)

LeVay (1991)

Maguire (2000)

Setiawan et al (2013)

Sharot et al (2007)

That's all for now! I'll make posts about these studies later! Have a good life<3

#international baccalaurete #ib #IB #psychology #psych #highschool psych #IB psych #ib psych

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papersandkeyboards · 8 months

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6/13-19: The Hunt for Quite Everything: Comicbooks, High School Diploma, and The Last Moments in Friendships

38th WEEK, JUNE 13-19, 2016.

If you know me well enough or you don’t but you’ve been reading this very tumblr page, I’m not surprised if you find yourself being bored listening to my likeness towards American comic books.

Wait, I’ll rephrase that, because I don’t think I even deserve that status. I like some American comic books, often Marvel over DC, and often only certain issues of certain characters, i.e. Black Widow, Deadpool, Hawkeye, and Ms. Marvel. These comic books were the second thing that popped into my mind when the plane I was in on September 2015 hit the American sky (the first thing being “oh shit, it’s getting real”).

This is my second-to-last week being in the Emerald City, being in the country where I can access these comic books I love dearly for only $2 a piece (in Indo they were like $10-15 AND they don’t even come in full volumes), and this raised an urgency to do what I had decided to do:

a comic book hunt.

But first, I’ll just write the summary of other parts of the week as the following.

Monday, June 13:

The Oceanography class (more specifically, the Salish Sea trip students) went to UW to present the project we’ve been working on since the trip. We finally reunited with the Salish Sea people that we had gotten to know for the 3 days of the trip, and it was nice seeing them again. And who am I kidding, any school trip is always fun, and UW never failed to amuse me with its classy architecture.

Tuesday, June 14:

The school held this thing called Senior Breakfast (I know right, they have so many events for the seniors and it had been fun!) and they held it in Rainier Beach Community Center just across the street from school. The event was pretty self-explanatory: you came earlier in the day before school starts, you could invite your family member, you sat on one of the non-assigned round tables, and you could help yourself to the breakfast buffet in the room. There were speeches and such, but mostly it was the fun of getting free food and hanging out, skipping a wee bit of school hours.

The agenda of the school itself was Senior Checkout Day, where you went to your classes just to get the teachers’ signatures on a form that basically stated you’re a senior and you’ve passed your classes and you were very much welcome to get out of the school (in an honorable way—that is graduation). There were also yearbooks given (for those who bought them) and I had those signed around and I signed some yearbooks myself. I made use of this opportunity not only to take pictures with my dear teachers (and other school staff I wanted to take pictures with), but also to give them little Indo trinkets and some little thank-you cards I wrote for them. Same thing I did with my professors back in Seattle Central.

[let’s pretend I put here the pics with DJ, Ms. Shaw, Señor Cadenas, Ms. Harris, Coach Beavers, Ms. Yip, Ms. Wong, Jurdy, and Mr. Henderson because yours truly had lost 90% of her exchange experience pics gone from damaging her hard drive for good]

(…but here’s the thing! I was lucky to be able to have these pics of me and Ms. Street and Pierce and Tomchick preserved)

So the pose with Pierce was because he told us during one of our classes that he had always had the same pose for the yearbooks (and it was true—he showed us the yearbooks from before). And the pic with Tomchick because this guy was the one who inspired me to get those pair of The Scream socks. Tomchick had been the guy who wears wacky socks all the time—he would show us his socks every now and then—and I kid you not, I never again take socks for granted.

(of course, before this day, I made him wear The Scream socks for Senior Checkout Day so he would match mine and we could make this photo happen)

Wednesday, June 15:

Another thing that this week being the second-to-last week of my presence in Seattle and its everlasting glory of beautiful things, I, of course, had to take some time to shop (despite running out of luggage space). Among other things, I remember vividly buying two things: two shower curtains with printed illustration of a big world map and periodic tables (a request by my mom) from Bed Bath and Beyond, and a silicon ice cube tray in the shape of the US states (my utter hedonism) from Nordstrom Rack. I also hunted the waterfront and their antique shops for (more) wacky socks or simply looking around. In the evening, I took Karen and Eric watched Now You See Me 2 because I was a total groupie of the first movie. (Karen ended up giving bad reviews for the second one, and I agreed that the second one was a bit too much but I still loved it nonetheless ehehehehe)

Thursday, June 16: Comic Book Hunt Day 1 (of 2)

You see, what I had been doing with the way I acquire comic books was that I walked into the store, I looked around, saw anything I like and available, and bought them. Most of times the issues I bought weren’t in order because a) I was too late that they didn’t sell the early issues anymore, or b) the next issues hadn’t come yet. So, by the end of the exchange year, I have found myself with many comic books in the same series but with some issues missing here and there. However, I have found some issues bundled into volumes of 4-6 issues which had better paper quality altogether, though on the other hand it seemed like a bit of a waste because in some cases I already had 2, 3, even 4 issues on the volume. Buying a whole volume of 6 issues would fill me in with the 2 issues I hadn’t gotten, but that would also mean I used my money on 4 issues I’ve already had.

The days before today, in these last weeks of no more waiting, I’ve sorted all the Ms. Marvels that I owned then I listed the issues I haven’t had. Then, I’ve started on calling one comic bookstore I know, listing the issues I was looking for. This comic bookstore I called didn’t have all that I need, which led me to calling for another, and then another, and that was how I basically had several booked issues of Ms. Marvel comic books in different comic book stores all over the city.

Before I embarked on my first store to hunt, I stopped by Elliott Bay Bookstore, hanging out by myself. Elliott Bay Bookstore is the nearest bookstore from home, and it was the second-best bookstore I’ve ever visited (the first being downtown Seattle Barnes & Noble). However, what makes Elliott Bay Bookstore different from B&N was the homy feeling to it. The floors, shelves, and railings were of wood and you can see the vast first floor from the loft-ish second floor balcony. Under the second floor was a little café, and that was where I spent a few hours writing earlier entries of this blog.

(pics from the good and gracious interwebs)

Books and café. Such an ideal place.

After noon I went. My first target would be Phoenix Comics and Games by Seattle Central College, but, if I was not mistaken, they didn’t have any of the issues I was looking for. The next on the list was this store downtown that I’ve forgotten the name of (what I do remember is that it was the store from which Antonio gave me a $10 gift certificate for my birthday). It was pretty easy: I came in, told the shopkeeper I was the one on the phone and asked for a certain issue of Ms. Marvel, they went to the back room and came back with the item of quest, I paid, and I left (well, after some minutes of looking around because why not). Not much time to waste anyway, because I had planned to go to the zoo, now that the day was warm and sunny (compared to my first visit to the zoo when it was winter cold and most of the exhibits were closed anyway).

1 comic bookstore done, 2 more to go!

Friday, June 17: Comic Book Hunt Day 2 (of 2) and, well, Graduation

Ah, right.

I got too excited in telling you about my comic book hunt I almost forgot about graduation.

So we had the graduation ceremony this day in Memorial Stadium in Seattle Center Area. It was not until after lunch-ish so I still got time on my hands. I went to comic book store #2 and #3, respectively Golden Age Collectibles by the waterfront (this was the most complete comic book store by far. Complete as in it also had a whole lot of other geek stuff, like action figures—from regular-sized to life-sized—, really old comic books, and trading cards. All in mint condition) and, after looking around the store for a while, wasted no time and caught the bus straight to Wallingford area to Comics Dungeon.

I did my best, but at last I have satisfied my thirst for American comic books!

I didn’t spend a lot in there as I have other travel plans (squeezing as much agenda as I can in this short time I had left), so I caught the bus and went straight back south to the waterfront for the tourist attraction I haven’t had the chance to visit despite people going there all the time:

Yep. The infamous Seattle Gum Wall.

It was so amazing to the point it didn’t even look disgusting to me. The solo traveling situation got me in a bit of a difficulty taking pictures of myself, so I got a stranger to do it (and then the picture was gone anyway so what’s the point).

/looks at watch/ time to go back home, dress pretty, and off we went to Memorial Stadium to graduate!

You see, I would LOVE to brag to everyone how I graduated high school twice (one from RBHS and one from my original high school in Indo), but unfortunately, that was not the case.

Gretar and I weren’t given (rented?) togas. We also didn’t get any diploma. So all we would do in the event was to do what everyone else was doing, except for the toga-wearing and diploma-receiving part. All the seniors gather sporadically around the entrance of the stadium, all of them wearing togas. I did my best to dress nicely since I was not going to be wearing one. We did get some tassels and colorful necklaces, although I didn’t really know what they were for. The tassels were from the school, and I suppose they symbolize something like the class color or honor students or something—everyone had one but some had more than the others.

Oh another cool thing was that, as a celebration, some people got customized long necklaces from friends and/or family. Some were of flowers, but many of them—and I assume it’s the tradition around here—were of candies. I vaguely remember that people can buy them ready-made for this purpose, that’s why so many people had candy necklaces. Honestly, those are cooler than the flower ones since this one I can actually put to use after wearing them.

I didn’t have any graduation attribute aside from the tassels and necklaces, so I borrowed Jake’s grad cap just for a pic (that I lost). I do remember they were all like “you’re so cute!” with a grad cap without the robe, but I’m pretty sure that’s just me looking 5 years younger than all of RB seniors present.

We all filed in this one long single line from the tribunes and walked outside towards the field where all the chairs and the stage are. Later we found out we would be sitting on the stage, behind the podium and along with the faculties, and the other seniors would sit on chairs provided to them facing the stage. Families were seated on the bleachers of the stadium.

It wasn’t like it was a spotlight, because we were in the back of the stage anyway, and everyone was paying attention to whoever was speaking at the podium. Jurdy, teachers, et cetera. Ceremonially, we received the… case (?) for the diplomas, but of course with no diploma inside. Doesn’t matter. Still cool.

After graduation, I tagged along Gretar’s host family to Cheesecake factory for some big fat cake slices.

Saturday, June 18:

It was a beautiful chill Saturday. It was supposed to be the day of Summer Solstice Parade—which I had been dying to go to—but I had to give that a pass for a couple agendas: one, a visit to Jenny and Seth’s house, and two, Jake’s graduation party.

(a little spoiler of why I had wanted to go to the Solstice Parade: because people said it was hella fun, and a rare annual sighting of cyclists with 100% body paint and 0% clothing. I reckoned people might be a little bit taken aback had they known I was eager to go to the Solstice Parade for—imagine me saying this in my enthusiastic, 18-year-old self—“naked cyclists!” but at this point of time in the exchange year, who am I to care anymore)

It was basically a day of clashing agendas. Supposedly, after spending the time hanging out and watching Pitch Perfect 2 with Harper at Jenny and Seth’s, I could have gone to either of these three agendas: Jake’s grad party, Gretar’s grad party, or the Solstice Parade. Given that I will see Gretar at my own farewell party in the upcoming weekend, and I valued my formed friendships with people at Rainier Beach High School more than some naked strangers, I decided to go to Jake’s grad party at their house.

The party was a lot of fun. It wasn’t like a party party—we chilled in their backyard, having drinks and snacks, we played bocce, we played Cards Against Humanity (my first time ever playing it and boy I was hooked. Then I came back home to Indo to never play it again because it wasn’t sold here and if it did, it was hella expensive). The Seattle sky was gray and cloudy—what else is new?—but the cold and light drizzle was never in the way to stop us from having fun.

On the way home and afterwards, I look back at the friendships I’ve had at Rainier Beach—truthfully may not be a forever and well-maintained one, what with the distance and everyone’s doing their own thing after high school and me being bad at maintaining relationships in general—and I thought,

I obviously was not as outgoing as everyone else, and my other exchange student friends may have better experience, but hey, this was something worth being grateful for.

(besides, if I was not grateful, I would have nothing to hold on to anymore)

At least they had etched a good memory in my short 9 months, and the brief fun I had during that time will be something I’ll cherish forever. Not only for the exchange year in general, but also for my own character development. I was sure as hell that I would have a hard time finding friends—and I might have, at the start, but in the end I wasn’t that much miserable. In fact, I wasn’t miserable at all.

Anyway.

The last day of the week (June 19), the city of rain decided to be a little bit nicer this time. The sky was bright blue, splotches of white clouds here and there, all in all an exquisite day to take a ferry out to Bainbridge Island with Karen and her friend Jen. Not a lot of touristy places in Bainbridge Island—at one point I remembered us going to a cute little craft shop—and we’re back home by afternoon, in which I continued my way to Kira’s place for her good-bye party. Another fun evening party, hanging out with friends and family, wholesome conversations, photos taken, heartfelt hugs exchanged.

Like what a proper good-bye party would be like.

(also, it’s a little strange solely due to the fact that I will be having my own good-bye party the following week, during which I will see many of the same people in Kira’s, so more heartfelt content on my end can wait until then)

So, uh, hooray for the second-to-last week in the US, and therefore, second-to-last entry for this blog (excluding epilogue), I guess?

See you around.

Nabila Safitri

#langkahanakbangsa #school #rbhs #afs friends #fangirling life

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eerienice · 10 months

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OKAY SO

Just had a very nice day with my bf and thought i can share it here since i love telling my imaginary audience what i do

First we had to attend the end of the school year, where basically our homeroom teacher gives us our diploma and prizes and the vacation begins. Except for the diploma I got a fucking rock with a shoe drawn on it because on our schooltrip a week earlier i wore my mary janes shoes and after 19km couldnt walk, so of course my teacher had to make a big deal out of it.

Then we went to drop of our things at Theo’s cabin (his parents rent a little lake house bc his sister is in a sailing club and its just convenient for her to sleep there when she has practice in the morning, but we basically use the cabin to have sex) because its closer than both of our homes. After that we went to dinner and we both ate korean fried chicken (his flavour was sweet chilli and mine was wasabi honey) and shared a portion of tteokbokki.

While we were eating, our friends were out drinking in the park and one guy (Iwo) threw a chestnut into another guys (Filip) throat and had to do Heimlich on him bc he started to choke. We joinded them later, but we basically sat in front of a supermarket for 1,5 hours trying to explain to Filip that there is no way that the chestnut is still in his throat xD

Then we parted and me and Teo went to a cocktail bar for the first time in our lives. It was called Iluzja, and the drinks were pretty expensive so we only got two per person. There was a menu inspired by alchemy and I got drinks inspired by water and Isaac Newton and Teo got drinks inspired by liquid gold and some other alchemist (i cant remember the name). I really loved the Isaac Newton drink since it was apple flavoured.

After the drinks we went to see a ballet. The title was ,,Don Kichot” and I wish I read that book for school earlier bc maybe I would understand more, but overall it was an amazing experience and I even cried during one dance bc I thought that it’s so pretty. During the first act we were sitting on a balcony and we couldn’t see much, but there were empty seats in like main audience so we went down and watched the rest there.

Then we went back to the cabin since we were sleeping there and, of course, had some spicy time. And honestly I think it was one of the best ones we had. He’s actually a lot better than my ex gf, which I didn’t expect bc he’s a man and without much experience (I’m his first gf), but I guess it has a lot to do with me not being under constant stress when it comes to dating him.

Well, overall I think it was one of the best days in my life? Definitely high on the scale. Only too bad I forgot to take a BeReal.

#blog post

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saundersavxhenningsen · 2 years

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What Students Should Realize About IB Biology For IBDP

What Learners Ought to know About IB Biology For IBDP

To start off, do an individual have any concept what IB Biology IA is? That is a subject from typically the International Baccalaureate Degree Program (IBDP) that must satisfy college graduation requirements. This involves college students to take core subjects science, arithmetic, and English which might be linked together by an intensive examine in a single place. The particular requirements for IB Biology IA were released in May 2022.

Advantages

Precisely what Students Ought to know Regarding IB Biology With regard to IBDP

IB pupils are required to be able to study biology intended for their diploma software. One of the key elements of this kind of course could be the employ of scientific technique. In this blog page, we will discuss the basics of technological methodology and just how it impacts IB biology courses.

Scientific Method is a technique of conducting research that is implemented by scientists in order to boost the reliability plus accuracy with their studies. There are four essential steps in a scientific test: designing the experiment, gathering data, analyzing data, and generating conclusions.

Designing the Experiment: Often times, scientists will have a general idea associated with what they wish to research but they gained? t know accurately how you can do typically the research themselves. Within this step, they may develop a program or hypothesis that will guide their own experiments. They could want to gather details from a range of sources throughout order to evaluation their hypothesis.

Accumulating Data: Once experts are suffering from a speculation, they should gather files so as to prove or even disprove it. That they may should acquire physical evidence these kinds of as samples or even specimens, or they could need to secure data from experiments conducted by some other scientists. Data ought to be

Essential Aspects of Integrated The field of biology

What is IB Biology? IB biology is a plan that enables students in order to study the included biology curriculum, which integrates topics from chemistry, physics in addition to biology. The program can easily be studied as a possible elective in substantial schools or colleges, and is some sort of pathway to typically the IB diploma. Typically the syllabus in this system allows for pupils to study matters like genetics, development, biochemistry and inhabitants dynamics.

What are the essential ideas of IB The field of biology? In IB Chemistry IA Ideas of biology, essential concepts would be the basic knowledge of which all students should know to be productive in the plan. These concepts incorporate genetics, evolution, hormone balance and population characteristics. Each of these types of topics will be discovered in more detail below.

Evolution Evolution is the process through which different varieties change over period. In IB biology, evolution is analyzed in-depth since it is 1 of the subject areas covered on the particular

The Mobile

Polypes is a kind of cnidarian found in warm, shallow seas. The particular cnidarians are a group of organisms that have Nematocysts, the cells that secret painful cells for security. Polypes has cellular material called Sarcoplasm, which in turn houses its organelles, such as Mitochondria. Polypes creates foods using photosynthesis in addition to energy from the Sun. They can easily also use their own tentacles to get prey or defend themselves.

Genomes in addition to Transcription

One regarding the most important concepts underlying the particular biology course will be genomes and transcription. A genome may be the entirety of the genetic information within just a cell, while transcription will be the process by which this genetic information is usually translated into molecules that are capable to function in the cell. A total knowledge of these aspects is essential for students intending to go after an IB Biology Diploma Programme.

The initial thing to understand regarding genomes is their size. DNA, the molecule that provides genetic information, contains about 50 , 000, 000 base pairs. This specific means that some sort of genome contains approximately 500 million bits of information! However, since genomes consist of many similar family genes, they don? t have to carry almost all that information at once. Instead, chromosomes (which are constructed of DNA) break down up their genetic payload into smaller units called gene history. Each gene typically carries instructions with regard to one specific job in the mobile, like making a new protein or giving a signal outside the cell.

Now permit? s talk about transcription. The approach transcription works will be simple: a part of DNA called an open reading frame (ORF) will be copied into RNA, which sits within cells and can easily then be converted into proteins. The process starts with a great enzyme called RNA polymerase Ibinding to be able to a promoter

Et? and devo

One of the many debates in evolutionary biology is typically the difference between evolutionary adaptation and evolutionary change. The previous refers to the gradual progress new qualities after some time as microorganisms adjust to their atmosphere, and the latter means dramatic changes inside the form or arrangement of hereditary material due in order to random events. Inside a previous article, we discussed how Daisy Orchids employ Batesian mimicry in order to successfully avoid predation. Here, we'll target on another type of adaptation: novel phenotypes.

A novel phenotype is a phenotype that is not found within any other member of its species. This could happen when whether mutation occurs inside an individual or if a population is isolated from other folks and evolves separately. Novel phenotypes can also be made by selective propagation, which results inside the emergence of animals with particular traits that are usually not found in some other animal found in the population. With regard to example, consider a farmer who increases chickens for their eggs. If he or she selects for energy source and produces ovum that are bigger than those of other chicken breeds, he has developed novel phenotype (i. electronic., a characteristic that is not present in every other bird).

One interesting example of this of a novel phenotype is man intelligence. Until recently, Homo sapiens have been believed to end up being

End of job conclusion

Students should know about IB biology for the IBDP. Since the field of biology is actually a core subject matter, knowing the basics regarding the subject may help students become successful in the IBDP. In this blog, all of us will discuss many of the major points that pupils should give attention to when studying to the IB biology exam. Specifically, we will concentrate on topics such while cells and elements, energy, evolution in addition to genetics, and biomolecules.

#IB Chemistry IA Ideas #Chemistry IA Ideas #TYCHR Chemistry IA Ideas

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brassdivinity · 2 years

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ABOUT AYLIN || And then I turned away into the shade.

CHARACTER BASICS

NAME: Aylin Feray Bardakci

AGE: Twenty-Six

GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis Woman, She/Her

FACE CLAIM: Aslihan Malbora

EYE COLOR: Brown

HAIR COLOR: Dark Brown, typically dyed bright blue

HEIGHT: 5′4″

DATE OF BIRTH: October 2nd, 1996

ZODIAC SIGN: Libra

LEVEL OF EDUCATION: High School Diploma

OCCUPATION: Tattoo Artist at Mad Villain Ink

DEITY COUNTERPART: Eurydice, auloniad nymph of mountains

ABILITIES/POWERS: To identify the divinity of those affiliated with the underworld due to being trapped there so long through a sense of familiarity or dread, instantaneous acclimation to changes in altitude, and strong emotions shifting the earth below them in small cracks in stone pavements, resonate emotions with small earth quakes, lift or break earth to change its elevation

NEIGHBROHOOD: Rock Rose Park

CHARACTER HISTORY (TW: DRUG ADDICTION, GASLIGHTING, CHILD ABANDONMENT)

Aylin, however, does have her protests but they sit in the pit of her stomach where she’s let them weigh her down like stones. It keeps her from running too fast into the face of impulse, and weary of a deep end. Her parents moved to Magnetic Island when she was just fifteen years old, coming into her sophomore year of school right into the middle of the school year.

However, Aylin wasn’t always alone. There was a way to find where she belonged despite going back to an aimless home— a path filled with mischief, companionship, ways to put the bad to rest, and endless color when everything felt so bleak. Aylin had been accepted into a circle of friends when she moved to Magnetic Island and found not just comfort, but the challenge of different antics in the company of Alex Morgan, Thea Halliwell, Logan O’Shea, and Lucas Betancourt. She learned not to fear the unknown, and make amends with certain selfish desires that even she had. They kept her chin up high and made her resilient to consequence instead of being fearful of it.

Thea Halliwell was her comfort, a shoulder to lean on and the first to help her consider any invitation to their thrills. Together, hand in hand, they challenged the other to small steps outside of the mundane. Aylin’s first work in tattooing, after months of practice, graced her friend.

Logan O’Shea wore a halo in her eyes against any second thoughts, an infatuation for how bold he was. Aylin learned from him to give into what she loved even if it wasn’t the expected.

Alex Morgan helped her face the truth, but also allowed her to express that weariness that ate at her. They saw each other at their worst just as much as they’d seen each other at their best. In that vulnerability, they were there to put pieces back together only by altering every edge with the truth that only they knew. He’s her keeper, and she’s his.

PRESENT DAY

Aylin pursued a career in tattooing, and with the guidance of her friends, has been able to live her life with minimal halt from her own worry. Specializing in single needle to create every detail of her favorite nature based designs, she’s created a name for herself even if she hushes it. Her tattooing allowed her opportunity to create larger than life pieces on individuals that created stepping stools for her move forward in her career and a place at Mad Villain Tattoo.

One major hill to climb, though, didn’t come by appointment or even with a knock. It was right in the haven of what she knew in Magnetic Island and that interruption resonated for years to come. A band on tour stopped in to commemorate a show, and as a newer addition, Aylin was sent to handle their violent entrance that carried the smell of liquor and excitement. She tattooed one member and stayed entertained with the man who seemed to be his keeper, and soon enough, she’d met him again backstage at his show.

They moved faster than Aylin ever intended, ignoring any warnings that came from Alex. He was the king of impulse in her life, and for once, she was taking every proposal he had of his antics and putting them into play now. It was like a whiplash when she ended up with a band on a chain around her neck, a hidden promise that only Alex knew about, and in the end, he’d be the one to help her break the hold it had on her.

Aylin was engaged to Rowan Moore, and a love that was fast and heavy did anything but weigh him down. His music was struggling but soon after meeting, improvement was noticed by the record label with a feverish excitement. They believed it was part of the PR stunt they put into play with a relationship with another artist, and because Aylin remained a secret as per even her own request, they paved a public engagement that Rowan couldn’t get out of. His career would suffer, his music, and even his reputation to clip it.

The engagement was cut off three years ago, and all Aylin had to say was that she’d told herself not to rely on promises. She’d only ever accept action after that. Aylin didn’t curse Rowan, but she took the wedding ring he’d given her and broke it. This would be the end of a cycle she felt was endless.

HEADCANONS

Aylin is Eurydice’s first reincarnation, a result of Orpheus’ breaking of Hades’ guidelines for her to escape. While he carried on, she was forced to remain in the same place alone. Despite her steps to go forward with what she knows, Eurydice lies within her determined to break the cycle.

Aylin, despite her appearance, is rather reserved and takes time to trust people. She tries to act on impulse like those closest to her but it takes her some time.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

People she’s known since moving to the island at fifteen

People her brothers wronged during their time on the island

Any fellow foster kids, or even children of those who fostered her

Classmates

Clients

Enemies, even if its by proxy

Exes and short lived flings

#eternal.intro #about.aylin #aylin.about #about

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feignedhues · 2 years

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ABOUT POPE || All you’ve ever done is been a noose to hang on to.

CHARACTER BASICS

NAME: Pope Silas Callaway

AGE: Twenty-Seven

GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cismale, He/Him

FACE CLAIM: Mike Faist

EYE COLOR: Right eye blue, left eye blue with half blue iris

HAIR COLOR: Brown

HEIGHT: 6′0″

DATE OF BIRTH: April 18th, 1995

ZODIAC SIGN: Aries

LEVEL OF EDUCATION: High School Diploma

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: N/A

OCCUPATION: Groundskeeper at Cemetery

HOMETOWN: Ashwick Valley

NEIGHBORHOOD: Outskirts

SPECIES: Unknown Witch

FAMILY: Unknown mother, Unknown father, Orla Callaway (adoptive guardian)

CHARACTER HISTORY [TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD ABANDONMENT, ILLNESS]

Pope was born and raised in Ashwick-- at least, that’s what the paperwork says to make it easier on everyone. To the rest of the town, some remain a little skeptical with just where he was found. According to the woman who instructed him not to call her his mother, but instead his guide, had told him that she was beckoned to find him by none other than his own hand. She awoke in the middle of the night startled, certain she was still in a dream and ran through the middle of a storm towards the very woodland she was warned against. There, the hiccuping cries of a child and the cold touch of his skin made her realize that she wasn’t dreaming anymore.

She traced her sleepy steps into a circle of darker shade even found in the dead of night. A circle of weeds wrapped around the only cry of violent life, and it took hours before she stepped in and took the child. Some times she said she ran with him, afraid of whatever wanted him more, and other times she said she waited in case whatever forgot him had wanted to take him back. The story ended the same, though. She’d get back to her home, a fortune teller’s trailer that served as work and haven, and would never find the perfect halo of plants again.

The peculiar details she swore to keep to herself for those who liked to pretend Ashwick was quaint the same way people said charming. That was until like many of her practices, there was little belief. It didn’t take long for her to cling to the tale of her prodigy that there were greater forces in Ashwick, and soon enough, Pope Callaway gained a reputation nicked by cautious mutters and snickers.

PRESENT DAY [TRIGGER WARNING: ILLNESS, HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION]

His guide has recently passed, but her teachings live on as he’s never quite let go of all he knows. The months leading up to her death left him with night terrors similar to those as a child, keeping him awake at night as long as he’s allowed though falling asleep in the open seems to be much worse. Unknown to Pope, Orla’s teachings were only meant to protect him and dull his own ability. She found his origin but never told him. Outcasted from her own coven, she found a different sense of responsibility in Pope than any other child or stray. She saw herself. In an attempt of an outside coven trying to strengthen their dying bloodlines, they used the only child they were able to conceive as an experimentation of the rumored serum for their origin. It was botched, and many of those who had been given it perished soon enough. In a fever to try and save the only child, he was taken far from the desperation of the coven and away from the third dose that had proven to be fatal. He was left on the outskirts of Ashwick where Orla Callaway found him, magic dull and less than infantile for most of his life. She’d keep it that way as a means of protection and her own distain for the covens that pushed her away.

He currently works at the local cemetery as a groundskeeper where multiple shifts bring in cash, and reasons to stay awake.

HEADCANONS [TRIGGER WARNING: MENTAL HEALTH

He has a deep fascination for the moon particularly because of his guide’s fear of it. She used to make the trailer they lived in pitch black so nothing could be seen from outside or inside to avoid the call of any creature or the moonlight. Because of this, young Pope had coped with his fear of the dark by internalized magic such as dreamwalking.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

Childhood friends

Witches suspicious of Pope’s magic or origin

Those who were part of the coven Orla was casted away from

Neighbors

People who frequent the cemetery

#about.pope #pope.intro #ashwickintro

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borathae · 2 years

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↳ Index [Chapter 01 - Initium]

• Initium (Latin, beginning)

Warnings: none really, just people getting to know each other

Wordcount: 12.1k

a/n: and so it begins, i am so excited for this journey

University. Now you are one of them. Those stuck-up, elitist pricks, who prance around with their fancy diplomas and unimportant “important titles”. You really didn’t want to be one of them, but when fate opens a big, bright door of opportunity for you, you won’t say no. Of course not. Especially if that means moving halfway across the globe to one of the most renowned universities internationally. How they found you and decided that you were worthy of their education is still beyond you. But again, when fate opens a big, bright door of opportunity for you, you won’t say no and also not ask any questions.

Today is the first day of classes. Rainy and gloomy and also surprisingly chilly. But what you learned from your two weeks of living in your new hometown, weather such as today was of the ordinary.

“Thank you good sir”, you thank the cabdriver and give him the required money. You hadn’t quite figured out the bus system yet and in fear of missing your first classes, you decided to take the safe route and call a cab instead. The drive took a good twenty five minutes and was filled with the humming of the old car and the occasional loud coughing of the elderly cabdriver.

“Have a safe day Missy, there’s gunna be a storm later, I can feel it in me bones”, the cab driver tells you, tipping his newsboy hat.

“I will, take care as well good sir”, you send him a friendly smile and then close the door. The cab drives off, leaving you a present in the form of its terribly smelling fumes.

So, now just a hundred meters over the yard and then through the big door on the left wing. At least that is what your hand scribbled notes on your curriculum tell you.

The gravel pathways are almost empty as you hurry along them. Either your fellow students are terribly late or are already in their lectures. You shiver. It is awfully chilly today. You shoulder your worn out backbag and close the buttons on your terribly thin coat and then hurry up the slippery stairs to the entrance.

Thinking the door would open easily, you practically throw yourself against it, only to get the air knocked right out of your chest.

“Ouch, what the?” you groan, rubbing your chest before you try again.

The door doesn’t budge.

“Uhm? Excuse me door? May I enter?” you huff out, pushing at the handle with all your might, but with no luck. It is like the building refuses to let you inside.

“If I may”, a baritone voice says behind you and a second later an arm appears in your vision.

You whip around, coming face to face with a tall, handsome man. Dark eyes, dark hair and pale skin. He gives you an amused smile and pulls the door open with ease.

“There you go. After you, Miss”, he says, giving you a little bow of his head.

“It was a pull door”, you say, flicking your own forehead, “I’m a complete idiot. Thanks for helping me.”

“Of course, it was my honour”, the mysterious man says, entering the building after you.

You study him from head to toe. You are normally not one to gawk at another person like that, but he really is one handsome fella. Long, muscular legs, toned torso and perfectly proportionate arms. And his face, oh it is to die for.

“Are you perhaps a fellow student here?” you ask him, mesmerised by the way he seems to basically glide over the floor in elegant steps.

“I’ve been a student here for quite some time actually”, he gives you another smile again, showing off his dimples, “I can’t seem to quite want to leave this place.”

You have to laugh at that, a shy and quick laugh. You had no idea why you wanted to laugh, but you did.

“So, uhm”, you clear your throat, “I guess this means it’s a great uni? I’m ___ and I’m new here, that's why I ask.”

The stranger repeats your name and hums as if he finds satisfaction in the sound of your syllables.

“Quite the unique name you have.”

“Thank you?”

“You are very welcome”, he sends you one of his smiles again and this time around it reaches his dark eyes and brightens them up just slightly.

“Uhm, who are you?” you ask then, feeling yourself get stuck on the shape of his lips. Plumb and so, so pink against his otherwise porcelain complexion.

“I am, well….” he drifts off then as his eyes land on something or someone behind you, “…another time maybe. I have to leave.”

“What?”

He bows at you, “it was a pleasure to meet you, Miss ___. May we meet again very soon”, he says as he straightens up and then turns his back to you to strut up the stairs.

“What just happened?” you murmur, looking over your shoulder to see who or what might have scared him away like that.

Two men are running up to. You have never seen them before and yet they seem to know you well. They are even waving at you, calling out for you.

“Me?” you point at your own chest.

“Yeah, you”, the first man says and stops right in front of you. He is dressed in the shrillest clothes you have ever seen. Orange bell bottoms with a purple sequin shirt and on top of his nose green lensed glasses are perched. It fits perfectly with his bright blonde hair and painted nails.

“Uhm…do I know you?” you ask him, studying his face. Something must be in the water at those grounds. He is just as handsome as the first man you met. Sharp eyebrows, a perfectly straight nose and dark eyes which seem to carry a lot more life than the ones on the other stranger.

“Nope, my name’s Hoseok. Jung Hoseok”, he tells you and offers you his hand to shake.

You accept it, almost having to gasp at how cold it feels against your palm. A firm grip and two good shakes later he pulls away again.

“And this right here”, he points at the man next to him.

Again. Just as handsome as the other two before him. Long, slim legs, a skinny waist and broad, toned shoulders, all adorned by a black velvet suit. His brown hair is styled out of his face, revealing his forehead and perfectly shaped eyebrows.

“This right here is my best friend Seokjin.”

“Kim Seokjin”, he says and offers you his hand to shake. You go for the handshake only to gasp quietly when he kisses your knuckles instead. Not that his lips actually touched your skin, but the movement still made your heart flutter for the briefest of moments.

“It’s an honour to meet you Miss…?”

“Uhm ___, yeah”, you tell them.

Seokjin lets go of your hand and straightens up again. He looks over at his friend, giving him a nod of his head which the later returns.

“Your name’s unique. It’s funky, I like it “, the first man, whose name you remember to be Hoseok, says.

“Thank you?” you say, scratching your chin, “you are like the second person to tell me that.”

“Yeah? Did Namjoon tell you that too?” he asks, nodding up the stairs on which mere minutes ago the stranger hurried up.

“Namjoon?” you look back at the other two guys, “is that his name?”

“Yep, Kim Namjoon. He’s a dick”, Hoseok says, which earns him a nudge of Seokjin's elbow.

“What Hoseok is trying to say here is that it is no coincidence that we hurried to you”, Seokjin says and points down the hallway.

You start walking, seeing his gesture as the signal to do exactly that. They seem to be quite pleased with it.

“Okay? What’s that supposed to mean? Two unknown men running up to me is honestly a little creepy”, you say, eyeing them, "also why am I following you?" you add, stopping in your tracks.

“Hey, don’t worry we’re chill. We just thought maybe you needed a little help with Namjoon, he can be quite a lot”, Hoseok assures you.

“Quite a lot?”

“He is one of those stuck-up, elitist people, who think they are better than the rest of us”, Seokjin explains.

“Says the one in the velvet suit”, Hoseok retorts and without thinking of how it might look, you chuckle at his words.

“At least I don’t look like a stoner from the seventies”, Seokjin throws back, making you chuckle equally as hard.

“Thank you, that was literally what I wanted to look like when I picked out my outfit this morning”, the other man says and strokes his hands down his toned chest.

You chuckle some more and as if ripped out of their bubble of bickering their heads turn your way.

“Sorry, you probably think we are total weirdos now”, Hoseok mumbles, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Nah, you’re alright. At least I got company, I don’t think I’d be able to navigate through this massive building otherwise.”

“Are you new here?” Seokjin asks, eyes flitting to the crumbled up curriculum in your hands.

“Yeah, I just moved here. Today’s my first day of classes. Yay to that”, you say, chuckling nervously afterwards.

“What class you got now? Maybe we can show you to the classroom”, Hoseok says, taking a step closer to you to take a peek at your curriculum.

You hand it to him and watch him read. He moves his lips as he reads it, handing it to Seokjin after a minute. He looks at you and sends you a bright smile.

“You have really funky classes. Also we have the same history class together, which is funky”, he says.

“Yeah? We do? That’s cool”, you say, having to smile just from him smiling so brightly.

“So you have human anatomy now”, Seokjin murmurs and raises his head, “361, mhm, I think that room’s in the complete opposite direction of where we are walking.”

“What?” you squeak, “no way, where is it?”

“Should we show you to it?” he asks, handing you back the curriculum.

“That’d be so great, no joke I am so lost.”

The three of you make your way back to where you came from until you reach the stairs. Seokjin leads the way, ascending them with elegant steps and his hands clasped behind his back. You and Hoseok follow.

“Are you here for long already?” you ask him, eyes racing over the big paintings on the high walls.

“It’s my third semester here and hyung you are in your..?”

Seokjin looks over his shoulder, “…third semester as well.”

“Ah nice. It’s my first semester, but I guess that’s obvious given how I’m new here.”

Seokjin smiles and looks back to the front.

“So what are you studying?” Hoseok asks, tilting his head to the side in great interest.

“Well, my major is literature, but I’m kind of interested in everything else too. Especially everything with plants. And I really like acting too”

“Oh acting?” Seokjin stops on top of the stairs and turns around, “I’m majoring in performing arts”, he says, pointing at his own chest.

“No way? Really? That’s so neat.”

“Yes, indeed. It is nice”, he agrees.

You and Hoseok join him at the last step.

“We have to walk down this hallway and then it’s the second to last door to the right”, he explains.

The hallway is a lot darker than the one on the ground floor. You blame the lack of ceiling high windows for the added darkness. But they were in no way creepy, especially because of the warm ceiling lights shining down on you.

“So human anatomy. Why is that?” Hoseok asks you.

“I believe that if I get the opportunity to attend one of the internationally most renowned universities I should learn as much as I can about as many topics as I can. Also the human body always kind of fascinated me”, you explain.

“Ah, I see. Funky”, he says and grins.

“Thank you”, you say, “so uhm and you? What’s your major?”

“Modern Dance”, he says proudly, straightening his shoulders.

“Oh nice, a dancer.”

Hoseok makes a little dance move with his arms, looking as smooth as butter as he does it.

“That I am”, he grins and chuckles.

That’s when Seokjin stops and turns around.

“We’re here”, he says and points at an opened door.

“Oh? Well that was easy to find”, you say, having to laugh in embarrassment, “thanks for showing me the way, I appreciate it.”

“Of course”, Seokjin smiles, “have a nice lecture.”

“Thanks.”

You give both of them a little nod of your head and then go to leave.

“Hey ___?” Hoseok however stops you.

“Yeah?”

“Want to get lunch with us? There’s a cool restaurant here on the facility and I think you’d like it. No pressure if you don’t want to though.”

You study them both, gnawing on your lower lip. You were planning on getting lunch all alone, but if they are offering. And also they seem like two trustworthy guys.

“Sure, lunch sounds nice.”

Hoseok and Seokjin look at each other, happy grins on their faces.

“Coolio. Then we’ll pick you up here after your lecture?”

“Okay, let’s do that”, you agree and nod your head.

“Funky, see you then”, Hoseok says and drapes his arm around Seokjin's shoulder, “let’s go hyung.”

And with that they turn around and leave you to your lecture. You watch them until they cross the corner and descend the stairs. Weird, you think, how easy it is to make friends here.

The lecture room is bigger than you had imagined. There are six rows of seating areas descending down to a little podium on which the professor is already sorting through his notes. The stairs squeak as you walk down to the third row, given how this is the only row still empty. Only one other person is sitting there. Back hunched and face hidden in his arms as he clearly naps on the desk. You sit down three seats away from him, taking out everything you need. As you put your notebook onto the table he raises his head, clearly having been woken up by you.

“Can’t you be a little quieter?” he spits, rubbing his eyes. The dark circles under them look even darker because of his pale skin. Why on earth is everyone so pale here? Is it the lack of sunshine? Is this how you are going to look too in four months time?

“Uh…sorry?” you murmur, gawking at him in surprise. Why is he so rude?

He studies your face, outlining the inside of his cheek with his tongue. He scoffs and clicks his tongue.

“Whatever”, he murmurs and puts his head back down onto his arms.

You roll your eyes and turn to the front. Let him be rude, it’s not like you need to make friends with everyone you meet.

“Good morning class!” the professor suddenly calls out and throws his thick book onto his little table.

The grumpy man beside you raises his head in shock, eyes big and brows creasing. It makes you laugh, serves you right Mister Rude. The grumpy man turns to face you, lips turned downwards into a frown. He clearly doesn’t like you laughing at him, but you don’t care. You simply shrug your shoulders, send him one last teasing grin and then turn to the front to listen to the lecture instead.

The lecture turns out to be amazing. You don’t even realise that the four hours have already passed until the professor closes his book and tells everyone to read chapter one and two at home.

“We’ll see each other again next week”, he bids his goodbyes and then leaves through the squeaking door next to the podium.

In the time he said his goodbyes you have already packed your bags. Shouldering your backbag and fixing your coat, you stand up to leave. You are by the door when your grumpy seatmate catches up with you, shoulders bumping with yours on accident. You stumble back, so does he.

“Oh, oops”, you gasp, looking to your side.

“Can’t you watch where you’re walking?” he spits, cleaning his leather jacket as if you dirtied it.

“What? Uhm, excuse me? But I walked here first?” you retort, crossing your arms in front of your chest.

“Yeah? Well, I’ve been at this university longer so buckle off”, he answers you snarkily and then presses himself past you out of the door.

What a total dick…

“Hey!” you run out of the room and call after him, “what’s your problem?”

He looks over his shoulder, granting you one frown and then he turns away again to continue hurrying down the hallway. Somehow the crowd of people seems to magically part where he walks, weary eyes following him.

“What the actual frick?” you murmur to yourself, shaking your head in disbelief.

“Min Yoongi”, a voice says next to you, startling you.

You flinch and whip around, coming face to face with Seokjin and Hoseok.

“W-what?”

“That was Min Yoongi, he is friends with Kim Namjoon. They’re in the same fraternity. That’s why he is such a dick”, Hoseok explains.

“Aah I see”, you nod your head, “stuck-up, elitists pricks am I right?”

Hoseok points at you, “correct.”

Hoseok takes the place to your left and Seokjin takes the place to your right. They keep their distance, which you very much appreciate.

“So how’d you like your first lecture?” Hoseok asks.

“It was fun, I can already see myself enjoying it for the rest of the semester”, you say to which they both hum in content.

The restaurant is a good fifteen minutes walk away from the lecture room, at the opposite side of the university. Chatter is plenty, the clattering of cutlery accompanying it.

“Okay damn that is big as hell”, you gasp, staring down the long dining hall.

“We’re a big university. It needs a big restaurant to accommodate everyone”, Seokjin explains and points at the serving counter, “come now, let us line up before they eat all the potatoes.”

Once waiting in line and equipped with a plastic food tray, you turn to your company.

"So there are fraternities here. Are there like a lot?"

"Oh yes, countless", Seokjin nods his head, "it is a big university and people want to socialise."

"Understandable. So are you guys in the same fraternity?"

"Yes, Hoseok, me and one other guy are forming Sanguis."

"Sanguis? Well that's a peculiar name for a fraternity. Why did you choose it?"

They exchange a look.

"No reason really", Hoseok dismisses you with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

"Mhhm I see, I see", you say, moving up the line. You can already see the food now. Fresh and oh so mouthwatering. Gosh you are so hungry already.

"So your friend. Is he studying here too?"

"Of course he is. He is in his first semester just like you."

"Oh that's nice. Maybe I'll meet him in one of my lectures."

"Yes perhaps you will", Seokjin agrees and shifts his gaze to the front, "it is your turn by the way."

"Oh? Oh dear, I’m sorry. Gosh I'm over here delaying everything", you tell the lunch lady and begin ordering afterwards.

You sit down at a table in the middle of the dining hall. The chairs, although they looked quite uncomfortable, were surprisingly comfortable. The cushion, red and velvety, offered perfect padding for your behind.

“Seriously, why is everything here so pretty?” you gush, letting your eyes travel over the hand painted flower ornaments on the black, wooden table.

“Everything’s just old”, Seokjin says, paying more mind to his rare steak than your conversation.

You snort, “well this still doesn’t distract from the fact that it is beautiful.”

“You have to give her that”, Hoseok agrees with a quirk of his perfectly styled eyebrow.

“Thank you”, you say, eating a piece of potato afterwards.

The food, even though it was cafeteria food, tasted amazing. Fresh, warm and with the perfect mixture of spices. You take a sip of your apple juice with a bite of steak.

“So you two”, you start, “where do you live? Do you have a room in the student's home?”

“Us?” Seokjin looks at Hoseok, “oh no, we have an apartment in town just ten minutes from here. We share it with our roommate Jungkook. “

“Jungkook? Is he your fraternity brother?”

“Yeah, exactly. That's his name. Obviously”, Hoseok has to chuckle, “he is a sports major here and always far too busy to hang out with us. But he is a total sweetheart.”

“A sports major, huh. That’s cool, I never met a sports major before.”

“You’d love him. He is this big, beefy guy with like the biggest bambi eyes ever and a really cute smile”, Hoseok explains, making his eyes big, “also he is really gentle and sweet. And he smells nice too.”

You chuckle.

“That sounds to me like you want to play all wingmen here.”

Hoseok chuckles and shakes his head.

“I really wasn’t. Although he could really need a girlfriend again, that loner.”

You laugh.

“Yah, stop talking about him that way”, Seokjin gives Hoseok's arm a not so gentle slap, “you know why he doesn’t have a girl, stop being weird.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry hyung.”

You let your eyes race between them.

“May I know the reason?”

“No, it’s nothing really”, Hoseok dismisses you.

“It’s kind of personal”, Seokjin adds.

“Ah, yes of course. I understand”, you give both of them a reassuring smile.

A silence rises between the three of you. It is not an awkward silence, nor is it a comfortable silence. It is just a silence. You are all too busy enjoying your food and getting lost in your own thoughts to even realise that a silence had risen between the three of you. The silence however soon becomes far too prominent for your own liking. You raise your head to see what has suddenly changed to make it so unbearable, only to realise that everyone else in the dining hall had fallen silent as well.

You look around.

“What’s happening?” you ask quietly, looking at Hoseok and Seokjin.

They are staring at the entrance, eyes darkening. You turn around. That man, Kim Namjoon, is strutting into the hall, with his head held high and his eyes scanning the room. Min Yoongi, that prick, follows him, frown on his face and hands hidden in the pockets of his leather pants. Another person follows, silver hair and black leather jacket over a turtleneck.

“That’s the rest of the Alpha dirt”, Hoseok explains, “Park Jimin and-“

The last of the four men enters the hall. Dark hair, which was styled out of a terribly handsome face and a long black coat, which moves with every big step he takes.

“-Kim Taehyung.”

Only now do you realise that everyone else in the dining hall is staring at them too. You swallow, not knowing why you felt the need to, and look back at them. They look so intimidating in their dark clothes and with their piercing eyes scanning the crowd. As if they were someone special. At least everyone else in this hall seems to agree on that, judging by their honest adoration.

“They think they’re so much better than the rest of us”, Hoseok growls, distance lacing his voice, “it’s said that they’re all of royal descent. That’s why they walk around as if they owned the place.”

“Royal descent?” you ask, watching as Kim Namjoon smiles at a few girls, which had run up to them just this moment. They are chatting with them excitedly, big sparkly eyes glued to their faces.

“Yeah, royal descent. As if some royal blood means something in this century”, Hoseok says.

You watch as two girls try to chat up Min Yoongi. He lets his eyes flit between their faces, outlines the inside of his cheek with his tongue and scoffs. He presses himself past them, all to their disappointment, and struts to the line. You click your tongue in distaste at his behaviour. He must be a blast at parties.

“It does kind of seem that it means something to those girls”, you mumble, watching how the silver haired man, you learned to be Jimin, drapes his arm over the shoulders of two girls, “or anyone else here.”

Hoseok and Seokjin let their eyes travel over the gawking crowd. Annoyance washes over their features.

“That’s because ninety percent of this godforsaken university is obsessed with status”, Seokjin says, poking his fork in his rare steak repeatedly.

“Tell me something new about society in general”, you murmur.

Seokjin agrees with a scoff.

“You said it”, Hoseok agrees.

Namjoon and Jimin continue their way to the line with their new conversation partner. The dark haired man with the intense eyebrows, you learned to be Kim Taehyung, stays back for a moment, letting his eyes travel over the crowd.

“Okay but they are like hella handsome”, you say more to yourself than anyone else.

Taehyung's eyes travel over your face, stop and then flit back. Your heart instantly starts racing, your stomach tingling. Oh dear lord, he is looking at you, studying your features. He smirks and gives you a nod of his head. Oh dear christ, look at that smile.

“Hey”, Hoseok snaps his fingers in front of your face, ripping you out of your trance.

“W-what?” you stutter, looking back at them.

“You were gawking”, he explains with his eyebrow cocked up.

“Was I?” you sneak a glance back at Taehyung. He has joined his friends by now, chatting to Yoongi passionately. You look back at Hoseok and Seokjin, “I wasn’t.”

“Yeah you were.”

“I wouldn’t try your luck with Kim Taehyung”, Seokjin says, “he is bad news.”

“Bad news?”

“Him and Jimin have this weird relationship going on. They are kinda a couple but also kinda not and they regularly take other people home with them”, Hoseok explains.

“Oh really?” you look at the two men. Jimin has his arm around Taehyung's waist, the latter is still chatting with Yoongi.

“So forget it. You’re better off single than getting it on with any of them.”

“I mean they are kinda cute”, you mumble, earning yourself a glance from Seokjin.

“Seriously not worth it, I mean it”, he says before he takes a big bite of his steak.

“Yeah seriously”, Hoseok scoffs, “you are far better off with us.”

Seokjin face palms himself at that.

“Dear lord, give me strength”, he mumbles under his breath and it makes you snort.

“So modest”, you tease.

“He is always like this. Seriously just ignore him”, Seokjin says, earning himself a hard slap on the arm by Hoseok.

“Stop bullying me”, he whines, pouting deeply.

You would have continued watching their banter if the four men of Alpha hadn’t called your attention. Namjoon leads with his head held high, Yoongi follows with his head lowered. Jimin is next, having his hands hidden in the pockets of his jeans as he lets the last of them, Taehyung, carry his tray of food. They pass by your table.

“Hello there ___”, Namjoon greets you, stopping in his steps.

Yoongi stops behind him, dark eyes landing on you. His jaw clenches tightly.

“Uhm hey”, you answer him.

Your eyes flit to Jimin, who had stopped behind Hoseok and Seokjin. His hands are propped up on the backrest of their chairs. He leans down, dark smirk on his lips as his eyes are glued to you. You must be close to ovulation because holy shit his gaze makes your stomach feel all tingly and warm. You halt and cringe internally. Why did you just think this? What the hell?

“You two”, he says, looking between Hoseok and Seokjin , “have you found a new friend? How adorable”, he coos, eyes lowering and tongue darting out to lick over his lips seductively. Okay have you started your period? Why the hell are you so wet all of a sudden? This feels so wrong to even think about.

“Will you let go of my chair Park Jimin?” Seokjin snarls back, whipping around to send the latter an angry look.

Jimin cackles and lets go of Seokjin's chair, raising his hand in defence.

“Relax Kim Seokjin. No need to become all violent with me”, he coos, eyes flitting over to you again, “we don’t want to scare your new friend away, do we?”

Seokjin sneaks a glance your way.

“Seriously dude, chill it”, Hoseok murmurs.

That was weird. You clear your throat and look up at the dark shadow, which had appeared on your left side. You lock eyes with Kim Taehyung, he wears a deadpan expression, cocking his eyebrow up. Holy shit up close he is even more handsome than from far away. Your heart is literally racing in your chest just from how beautiful he is.

“Uh hey”, you say shyly, raising your hand to give him a wave.

“Hello”, he answers you, voice smooth and deep.

He looks at his friends.

“How much time do we have to waste still?” he asks them.

“Kim Taehyung is right. Let’s just go, I'm hungry”, Yoongi agrees with a grumble.

Jimin straightens up, placing his hands on Seokjin's and Hoseok's shoulders. Seokjin hisses at the contact, flinching away.

“Alright then, let’s go. It reeks of dumpster here anyways”, Jimin says, snickering afterwards.

Seokjin snaps up, almost knocking the chair over.

“You want to go?”

Jimin laughs, raising his hands in defence.

“Hey, hey no need to get all violent here”, he laughs again, “I am already leaving.”

“Good I hope are”, Seokjin spits.

Jimin snickers, turning to his friends.

“Pathetic isn’t he?” he says, pointing over his shoulder at Seokjin.

“Come on dude, it hasn’t been funny since ten minutes ago”, Taehyung grumbles, pressing Jimin's tray in his hands.

“I think it is, you bore”, Jimin spits back, pushing at Taehyung's back to get him to move, “come on move, will you?”

He stumbles slightly, hissing in distaste.

“Christ will you let off of me, you are….” his voice is drowning out in the chatter of the dining hall as they walk further and further away from your table.

“Please excuse Park Jimin's behaviour, he has been in a crappy mood the entire week”, Namjoon says.

“Whatever, just scurry off”, Seokjin growls.

Namjoon looks at Yoongi, who seems as uninterested in the conversation as one could get. When he doesn’t get an answer from him, Namjoon looks back at you and shrugs his shoulders.

“Very well, have a fine day friends”, he says, strutting off afterwards.

Yoongi stops in front of you before he leaves, staring at you through his black bangs.

“You should choose different friends before it’s too late”, he says, his voice resembles that of a deep grumble.

“Excuse me?” you gasp.

“Min Yoongi!” Namjoon calls out for his friend before the latter can answer.

He simply clicks his tongue and looks away, strutting over to Namjoon in big steps. You watch them until they had sat down by the table, Jimin and Taehyung chose. Just one more second of lingering and then your eyes are on Seokjin and Hoseok.

“What the fuck just happened?” you ask.

Seokjin is still standing, jaw clenched and hands balled into fists. He sneaks a glance your way, huffs out air and stomps off. It only adds to the total confusion you are feeling.

“Uhm?”

Hoseok, who is clearly embarrassed by the whole situation, sends you an apologetic smile.

“I’m really sorry you just had to witness that.”

You study him. Should you follow the warning that Min Yoongi told you? It is not too late to get up and leave. The university is big enough for you to find new people to hang out with.

“I promise you Seokjin isn’t normally like this. It is just that him and Park Jimin have history together”, Hoseok explains.

You cock your right eyebrow up, telling him to enlighten you.

Hoseok laughs nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

“I shouldn’t even talk about this, because it’s not my story to tell”, he mumbles before he sighs, “but fine I’ll tell you.”

He doesn’t talk afterwards, staring at you over the brim of his green lensed glasses.

“So? Are you going to tell me or not?” you ask, voice carrying a certain distance to it.

“Urgh okay”, he groans, “I was kinda hoping you’d tell me that you didn’t need to know”, he brushes his hair out of his face and sighs, “Park Jimin may or may not have stolen Seokjin's long term girlfriend from him to only then dump her after two months because he found someone else's girlfriend to steal.”

Your eyes widen.

“Well geez”, you look over your shoulder at Jimin.

The silver haired man is currently throwing his head back in laughter, having a deathly grip on Taehyung's neck. The latter doesn’t seem amused at all, sending death glares his friend's way.

You look back at Hoseok.

“No wonder Seokjin reacted like that. What the hell? I’d have kicked his shin if I was him” you scoff, “and then he has the audacity to call Seokjin a dumpster? He is the dumpster here.”

Hoseok snorts, shoulders relaxing.

“I have never heard truer words”, he says, grinning.

You feel more at ease than five minutes ago. The whole display of testosterone was still totally unnecessary in your eyes, but at least Seokjin seemed to have a good reason for it.

“I guess I kind of know now, what you meant with ‘it’s not worth it’. It totally isn’t”, you say.

“Yeah totally. They’re the biggest snobs, seriously you’re better off without them in your life”, Hoseok agrees.

You look over your shoulder one last time, eyes lingering on Kim Taehyung.

“I guess yeah”, you murmur.

Taehyung's eyes flit up, locking with yours. He smiles softly, chewing his food as he does.

Your heart flutters in surprise of getting caught staring. Clearing your throat awkwardly, you turn around and start poking your fork into your potatoes.

What a weird day you are having.

It is the end of the week, Thursday to be correct, when you meet Seokjin and Hoseok again. They ran up to you in the halls and started chatting with you. It was mostly small talk about which classes you still have to attend or if you even have to attend any classes at all.

“No, I still have one class today. Acting, I’m already so excited”, you tell them, shouldering your backbag.

“Acting? How wonderful. I had mine earlier today”, Seokjin says.

“Yeah? Did it go well?”

“Of course it did. I was asked to read Orpheus. The professor told me that I have the perfect voice for him.”

“Wow, that's cool. I’m happy for you.”

Hoseok, who had listened to your conversation, rolls his eyes.

“You are both boring. You know what I have later?”

“No, what? Tell us Mister-I-am-cooler-than-you”, Seokjin retorts, with distaste lacing his voice.

“A class in hacky sack! Isn’t that funky?” Hoseok exclaims excitedly.

“Yes, immensely”, Seokjin says, sarcasm lacing his voice.

“I know right?” Hoseok agrees, totally oblivious to his sarcasm.

You chuckle, stopping in the doorframe of the classroom.

“Either way. I am here, so see you later”, you tell them.

“Wait!” Seokjin stops you from disappearing into the class, “do you want to get dinner with us after class? I know a nice pizza place you would most definitely like” he suggests.

“Sure, dinner sounds nice. Let’s meet by the fountain in the foyer”, you say.

“Sounds funky, we’ll be there”, Hoseok says, nudging your arm gently, “have fun in your stupid acting class”, he teases.

“Hey!” you call after them but they are already hurrying down the corridor, bickering like an old married couple, “hacky sack class isn’t that much better!”

The classroom is already filled with excited chatter when you enter. They all seem to know each other so well, talking and laughing with each other without giving you a second of attention. You don’t blame them, they had an entire semester to get to know each other. And you are nothing but a mere stranger.

“Hello”, you call out shyly, making a few of them raise their heads.

“Hey”, they greet you with a smile but go back to their conversations afterwards.

You huff out air in frustration, kicking an imaginary stone. That went splendidly. You turn away from the crowd, eyes falling on a dark haired man sitting on a chair in the dark corner of the room where the coat hangers are. You know him. He is one of the Alpha guys. You could say hello to him. Shouldering your bag, you make your way over to him.

“Good evening”, you greet him loudly, making him raise his head.

He straightens up, untangling his legs and closing the book he had been reading.

“Good evening”, he says, fixing his tie. His voice sounds like chocolate, dark and sultry.

“You’re Kim Taehyung, aren’t you?” you ask, slipping out of your coat and hanging it on the last empty hanger.

“Uhm”, he clears his throat, “yes? How do you know my name?”

“I saw you on my first day here in the dining hall, uhm with your boyfriend. Park Jumin? Was that his name?”

“It is Park Jimin and he isn’t my boyfriend, we just grew up together”, he says, quirking an eyebrow at you, “if you would excuse me, but you’re quite weird, I think I’m going to excuse myself to the front of the class now”, he says (rightfully so because you acted like a total creep right now) and stands up.

“Wait, I apologize, I wasn’t stalking you, Hoseok and Seokjin told me who you guys are. I’m the girl you had eye contact with and I don’t know anyone here so I thought I’d chat you up”, you say, stumbling after him.

He sends you a weary look from the corners of his eyes. He clears his throat and scratches the back of his neck.

“That was you…”, he mumbles, seemingly zoning out.

“What?” you ask.

He blinks and averts his gaze to you.

“You shouldn’t listen to them”, he turns to you with a shy grin on his face, “they want us to be together, which is kind of weird given how we are real people and not characters in a movie, but that’s SeokSeok for you.”

“SeokSeok?” you ask with a cock of your eyebrows.

“That is what I call them. Although morons would be a better title for them”, he jokes and sends you a playful grin. He seems so much more relaxed now that his friends, Park Jimin to be more specific, weren’t constantly breathing down his neck.

You laugh, agreeing with a small nod of your head.

“What’s your name by the way? Given how you know mine already, I think it is only fair I know yours too”, Taehyung says, sitting down on the floor with his legs crossed.

You sit down next to him, mirroring his position.

“I guess it is”, you laugh, “I’m ___, nice to meet you.”

Taehyung repeats your name, resting his chin on top of his knee. His eyelids close just enough for him to look at you with hooded, playful eyes.

“What a lovely name”, he rasps, smirking lazily.

You blink. Only realizing now that your body had magically drawn closer to him and that you were actually drooling. You lick over your lips and look away, cheeks heating up. What the hell is your problem? You can’t just drool over a stranger like that, in front of him on top of that.

“Sorry, uhm”, you murmur.

“It is quite alright”, he assures you, giving you a simple nod of his head and a smile so lethal, it sends your insides into a total frenzy. So that is what Seokjin meant with “Kim Taehyung is one dangerous man”, because he totally is. The man talks with you for two minutes and you are crushing over his gorgeous face.

But before you can fall into your embarrassment even further, the professor enters the classroom.

“Good evening class!” he blurts out and closes the book he had been carrying, loudly. “Shakespeare!” he yells, voice bouncing off the walls.

You startle, making Taehyung chuckle beside you.

“William Shakespeare! A British genius!” the professor keeps on yelling and jumps onto the stage. Where the hell did that spotlight come from all of a sudden? The professor lets out an animalistic screech and throws the book onto the ground.

“Shakespeareeeeee!”

Why is nobody laughing? You basically have to press your hand over your mouth to keep quiet.

“As you can see”, Taehyung has leaned in to whisper into your ear, “we will be talking about Shakespeare tonight.”

At that you finally crack, letting out a loud laugh like a total crazy person. The professor stops yelling and stares at you, breathing heavily.

“You!” he points at you, making you swallow in panic, “you are the new girl ___”, he smiles and bows deeply at you, “good evening my lady. My name is William Bumblesbee and I will be your acting professor. Everyone please welcome our new family member accordingly.”

Suddenly everyone screeches your name just as the professor did with Shakespeares. You are left blinking in confusion, cheeks beet red. Taehyung smiles as he keeps on yelling your name, teasing sparkle in his beautiful eyes almost too much to handle.

“Silence!” the professor yells and just like that the class falls quiet. He takes a deep breath and claps twice.

“Perfect, now that everyone is welcomed accordingly. Let us begin with the lecture. Today we are going to talk about Shakespeare. As a matter of fact, we are going to talk about his most famous work”, he pauses dramatically and falls to his knees, “Romeo and Juliet”, he wails, pressing the back of his hand against his forehead dramatically.

“I heard he wrote it for a secret lover”, one of the other students blurts out.

At that the professor nods and hums deeply.

“Ah, yes, yes the good old rumour that Shakespeare had in fact a male lover. Many believe it, many say it is a silly rumour. Well I?” he pauses dramatically and jumps off the stage.

He sits down at a big enough spot in the circle and fixes his purple silk scarf.

“I personally think everyone is allowed to eat what they want. The man was a genius, of course he needed some protein to keep himself strong.”

At that, cackling and giggling runs through the room. Faces get hidden behind hands, heads get shaken in disbelief. You yourself are snorting in amusement. You could get used to this professor.

The professor keeps talking, but your attention falls to Taehyung leaning over to you instead.

“I know that the rumour is true”, he whispers into your ear.

You crane your neck, trying not to stare at his lips. Given how close he is to your face, it is basically impossible.

“What?” you chuckle out of nervousness, “how, how do you know it’s true?”

Taehyung shrugs his shoulders and smirks.

“Let’s just say I have my trusty sources”, he says and straightens back up again to pay attention to the lecture instead.

It leaves you wondering what he meant with that. You study his face. He seemed so sure that the rumour was true. But before you can ask him a screech calls your attention. Professor Bumblesbee, oh what a hilarious character of a man.

The rest of the lesson is just as amusing as the beginning. Every so often the professor falls into impromptu acting, yelling or sobbing a line which wasn’t even meant to be yelled or sobbed. Your abdominal muscles are hurting jolly good once that bell rings and the professor says his goodbyes by letting out one manly growl and then running out of the door.

“I feel I just witnessed a man high on three different drugs”, you say and accept the hand Taehyung offers you to help you stand up. He has really warm hands, like really warm.

“It is quite amusing isn’t it?” he grins, walking next to you to the coat hangers.

“Oh most definitely. I have to be honest with you, I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t fit into acting but with a teacher like that, I just want to randomly let out a loud roar of dramatic passion.”

Taehyung scoffs and chuckles, closing the middle button of his perfectly tailored trench coat.

“Why don’t you?” he teases and reaches for your coat, “let me help.”

“Oh”, and just like that your heart is racing again, “thank you, wow”, you giggle, “that’s nice.”

This is the first time someone is helping you put on a jacket. You feel so special. Taehyung sends you a flirty smile, stroking his hands down your shoulders to fix the creases in the material.

“Don’t mention it”, he says, voice chocolaty sweet.

You can’t even look at him by now, in fear that he might see your pink cheeks. Taehyung takes a step back, keeping his hands folded behind his back.

“Not to overstep my boundaries here, but may I walk with you in the hallway?” he asks.

“Walk with me?” your voice actually cracked as if you were a hormonal little teenager.

“Only if you allow me, I completely understand if you are busy.”

“Oh, no it’s fine. You can walk with me”, you say, shouldering your bag as you study his face. This is the first time anyone has ever asked for permission to walk with you.

“Splendid”, Taehyung grins and twists around so he is facing the same direction as you. He keeps his hands behind his back as you and him leave the classroom and wander down the dimly lit hallway. It is already dark outside and the once buzzing building has quieted down for the day. You raise your head, counting the joists on the faraway ceiling. Taehyung sneaks a glance your way.

“So, how have you been accommodating here? Are you liking the facility?” he asks.

“As of now I do. I still can’t get used to how beautiful all of this is”, you say, letting your eyes linger on an ancient looking painting of some random monarch.

“Ah yes, I agree”, he says and stops in front of a painting, “that feeling won’t go away, I can promise you that.”

You take a spot next to him and gaze up at the painting of three beautiful women running in a green garden. Their white dresses are dancing in the breeze and their golden manes are reflecting the light.

“Have you been here for long?”

“No”, Taehyung shakes his head, “I started here last semester.”

“What’s your major?”

“Believe it or not, Arts.”

“Yeah, that’s really hard to believe”, you say sarcastically, letting your eyes travel up and down his body.

He looks to the side, pulling at his tie nervously.

“You basically look like an artist. A painter or a photographer or maybe both”, you say.

Taehyung lowers his eyes and smiles.

“Well, thank you. That is what I’m aiming for with my fashion”, your eyes meet, his smile growing, “I appreciate the compliment.”

You blink. Oh my god, your body drew closer to him again and there is so much saliva in your mouth you actually have to swallow. What is wrong with you today? The first time may have been an accident, but this right now was unacceptable.

Taehyung smirks lazily, quirking an eyebrow up. He noticed. How wonderful.

“Shall we walk some more?” his voice became even more sultry than before. He steps away from the painting and extends his arm out to point down the hallway.

“S-sure”, your voice comes out croaky, making you clear your throat awkwardly.

You and him share a moment of silence. Taehyung keeps his hands behind his back, his steps are barely audible on the marble floor whilst yours sound like gunshots in the silence. How is he walking that quietly? Is it the shoes he is wearing? Elegant lacquer dress shoes, black, perfectly polished and fitted exactly to his feet. Your eyes travel up the length of his legs. His grey tweed pants seem personally fitted as well, stretching at the perfect spots while cocooning the rest in mystery. And that trench coat, it looks hand stitched and even the gold buttons on it look carved by hand. He couldn’t even deny that he was of royal descent.

Taehyung turns his head, playful sparkle glimmering in his dark brown eyes. He sends you a flirty grin, eyes gazing so deeply into yours you feel yourself stumbling.

“What are your plans for the evening? Can I interest you in a little sightseeing tour around town and then a fine dinner at my favourite restaurant?” he asks, well rasps would be a better word.

“Uhm, I”, you cough, realizing how much closer you had gotten to him again, “I actually promised Hoseok and Seokjin dinner”, you murmur sadly. What? Why the hell did you sound so sad right now? And why does your heart feel so heavy in your chest? Kim Taehyung really is one dangerous man.

“Oh have you now?” he raises both of his eyebrows at that and clicks his tongue, “well, that is indeed a predicament.”

He shifts his gaze to the front and nods his head slowly. He fixes his already perfect hair to make it an even more perfect perfection.

“I have a new proposal then”, he looks back at you, lowering his eyes playfully, “how does next week sound? We can take my car to town so we don’t have to walk that far. I will show you the most beautiful spots and of course I will pay for your meal as well. Would that be something you could agree to?”

“Yes!” you blurt out without hesitation, cursing your tongue for acting so quickly, “I mean, uhm yeah, that sounds doable”, you murmur, practically having to force your legs to take a step away from him.

“Splendid”, he exclaims and claps into his hands, “it is arranged then”, he sends you a sweet smile.

You giggle, having to hide your mouth behind your hand. If your heart doesn’t stop racing you will literally die of a heart attack.

You and him stop at the main entrance of the building, facing each other.

“This is where I need to go. Unless you want me to accompany you to where you are meeting with SeokSeok. It is terribly dark outside already, I don’t want you to fright.”

“You’re such a gentleman”, you murmur and cackle like an idiot, dismissing him with a gentle slap to his chest.

Taehyung looks at where your hand touches his chest, raising his head afterwards to smirk at you in amusement. You gasp, eyes growing big as you pull your hand away, hiding it behind your back.

“I apologize. I, I don’t k-know what’s wrong with me t-tonight”, you stutter, eyes glued to the floor.

Taehyung chuckles, his voice sounding like honey to your ears.

“That is quite alright. I will act as if nothing ever happened”, he assures you.

Your eyes meet again. This time around you can actually feel your body drawing closer to his.

“You, uhm”, you clear your throat, fighting against your own urges, “you don’t need to walk with me. I just need to cross the corner and get to the fountain by the foyer.”

“Ah yes, it is indeed a wonderful fountain”, Taehyung nods in content, “however I wouldn’t mind.”

“No it’s really”, you have to swallow down the unnaturally big amount of spit in your mouth, “really alright. Yeah.”

“Well, then”, he takes a step back and pulls his arms from behind his back, “have a lovely evening ___”, he says your name with such seduction in his voice you can actually feel your knees buckle.

He bows deeply with his right arm pressed to his chest. It makes you giggle again, even if you didn’t want to.

“Thanks, you too”, your voice actually comes out squeaky.

Taehyung straightens up, smile showing off his perfectly straight teeth.

“Until next week. I will count the days”, he says and then he winks at you. He winks at you and it brings you close to fainting.

“Me too”, you choke out, voice terribly dry.

“Very well, goodnight ___”, he rasps and then he turns his back to you and opens the door to the outside.

You watch him strut down the stairs, almost pressing your hands to the glass in desperation. He takes three steps over the gravel path when he looks over his shoulder, eyes instantly connecting with yours. He raises his arm and waves, your body follows without resistance, waving back at him. Then he turns around again, strutting down the path until the night swallows him.

You feel your muscles relax, the funny feeling on your heart disappears and you can suddenly breathe again.

“What the?” you gasp, stumbling back at how light you feel all of a sudden. What is wrong with you tonight? First you thirst over a man you have just met and now your muscles go weak with no reason at all. Seokjin told you that Kim Taehyung was dangerous, but damn that man had you in a complete spell.

You straighten up, fixing your coat. This was so weird and inappropriate. But hot damn. He has to be the most gorgeous man on campus and so polite too. There it goes again, that funny feeling in your chest. With a grin on your lips you skip down the remaining hallway and cross the corner. You can already spot Hoseok and Seokjin waiting for you at the fountain, looking at their watches nervously.

“Guys!” you call out, making them raise their heads.

“There you are!” Hoseok calls out and jogs up to you, “we were worried for you.”

“Yeah”, Seokjin appears by your side, “we thought something happened to you.”

“I’m fine, I just kind of got caught up with chatting up Taehyung. You guys”, you nudge Hoseoks chest, “you didn’t even tell me how sweet he is.”

Hoseok and Seokjin exchange a look, confusion written on their features.

“I mean I wouldn’t call it sweet. He is a total snake”, Seokjin murmurs.

“Yeah, that dude’s bad business believe us”, Hoseok says and grabs you by your arm, “did he touch you?”

“What? No, of course not. He was a total gentleman”, you say, stumbling after him as he drags you to the entrance. Seokjin follows close by, swerving right behind you with his eyes looking left and right as if he was ready for an attack any second.

“Of course he was, typical Taehyung”, Hoseok scoffs, shifting his eyes to Seokjin.

The latter agrees with a low hum and places his hands on your shoulders.

“You know what? I just remembered the pizza place we wanted to go to is closed on Thursdays. How about we finally show you our dorm and eat pizza there?” he suggests happily.

“You guys are acting weird. I don’t like it”, you say, studying their faces with furrowed brows.

“We’re not weird. We just don’t like you talking to Taehyung”, Hoseok says, opening the door for you and Seokjin to walk through.

“What? Excuse me? You’ve known me for like five days, I don’t like being bossed around like that”, you say, shaking Seokjin's hands off.

You stomp off, wanting to get some distance between you and them. They are acting really weird and you don’t like it. They are nice of course they are, but if they turn out to be one of those possessive dudes you are gone. So far gone.

“Sorry”, Hoseok is by your side, even if seconds ago he was still by the entrance.

You startle, jumping slightly.

“What the? How the?” you look at him, startling again when you suddenly feel Seokjin's presence behind you.

“I do track racing. It’s great for speed”, Hoseok says.

“Yeah and I regularly take a run, I hate it, but at least it makes me fast as lighting”, Seokjin explains.

“O-Okay?” you blink, looking between them in confusion.

“So what do you say? Pizza at our place? We can tell you why we don’t want you to talk to Taehyung there”, Hoseok suggests, scratching his neck nervously.

“Bear in mind it is frozen pizza, so we can’t guarantee a great taste”, Seokjin says, making you scoff. You chuckle and shake your head, taking a deep breath afterwards.

“Fine, I’ll give you guys another chance, but only because I’m hungry as fuck.”

“Good, that’s what we like to hear cause us too dude”, Hoseok says, throwing his arm around your shoulder again.

"Don't do that. I can walk on my own", you whine, wiggling in his grasp.

Their dorm is located a ten minute walk away from the university. An ancient looking building, Victorian if you have your architecture facts straight. It isn’t particularly wide, but what it lacks in width it makes up for in height. You are counting four floors, excluding the ground floor. In one of the windows, the one in the fifth and last floor, light shines through purple coloured glasses.

“Oh Kook’s already home?” Seokjin gasps, stopping at the walkway. He stops you as well with a gentle grip to your arm.

“Did that brat skip classes again?” Hoseok says, exchanging a look with Seokjin.

You have no idea what that look is supposed to mean, but to them it seems important. Another look gets exchanged then both of them hum in content and nod their heads.

“That’s settled then”, Hoseok says and skips up the four stairs leading to their front door.

“What’s settled?” you ask them, stumbling as Seokjin pushes you up the stairs gently.

“Nothing really. It’s fine”, Hoseok murmurs, paying you no mind as he unlocks the door.

The smell of aftershave greets you instantly. It is not the bad kind of smell, but the one that would make you look twice if someone with that scent was walking past you.

“Jungkook! We’re home! Did you take the trash out like I asked?” Seokjin calls up the staircase, but no answer comes.

“He probably has his headphones on”, Hoseok states and shrugs himself off his black jeans jacket.

“Probably”, Seokjin agrees, wiggling out of his shoes and looking at you, “we have a no shoes rule.”

“Of course, understandable”, you say and instantly take off your shoes.

Seokjin is nice enough to accept your coat and while he is busy hanging it up at the wardrobe, Hoseok stores your backbag next to theirs.

“So ___ what can we offer you?” Hoseok asks, walking facing you and with his back facing the hallway. Somehow he doesn’t bump into anything, despite the many antiques standing around.

“Water would be nice”, you murmur, busy with inspecting everything.

Their interior is really dark. Black wood and dark purple wallpapers. It should be constricting and yet it makes you feel really at home.

“Water”, Hoseok scoffs, “that’s boring. How about a glass of red wine instead?”

“Well, if you’re offering like that, I won’t say no”, you chuckle.

You reach the kitchen. Pastel green wood with white marble counters, it seems old. They only switched out the oven for a new one, everything else seems to be just as the past wanted it. There is also this big freezer in the right corner of the kitchen, almost hidden behind a shelf of cook books. But you can hear it purr quietly.

“Hyung can you get the wine?” Hoseoks asks as he is busy with polishing three diamond cut glasses.

“Sure, the 1860 or the 1940 one?”

“It’s a special occasion, let’s get the 1860 one.”

“On it”, and like that Seokjin struts to a dark door, which most likely leads to the wine cellar. He opens it, flicks the light switch on and then disappears down the stairs with a happy whistle on his lips.

You join Hoseok by the counter, leaning against it.

“Your house is really cool. It’s so old and antique. I love houses like that”, you say.

“Thanks, we bought it two years ago and kept it just as it is. We kinda think it’s really funky like that.”

“You guys purchased the house?” you gasp, eyes growing big.

Hoseok's cheeks heat up.

“Don’t tell anyone but uhm”, he looks to the side, “my parents are kinda rich.”

“Ah I get it, you’re a rich kid”, you roll your eyes at him, “did mommy call you darling boy and is daddy always putting his hand really firmly onto your shoulder and grunts a deep ‘son’ when he greets you?” you tease, earning yourself a gentle slap to the stomach with the kitchen towel.

“You’re so funny”, Hoseok scoffs, “hey hyung! Get the 1940 one instead, ___ is being mean!” he calls out and Seokjin actually answers him with a quiet “yeah!”

“I was only joking”, you gasp, “gosh so dramatic.”

Hoseok snickers and grins, turning back to the kitchen counter to continue polishing the glasses.

“Hey, should I get the pizzas ready?” you suggest.

“Sure, that’d be funky”, Hoseok answers mindlessly, nodding his head.

You abandon Hoseok by the kitchen counter to strut over to the freezer. You have your fingers already wrapped around the handle when Hoseok yells behind you.

“Don’t open this!”

You flinch back, whipping around quickly.

Seokjin is here too. What? He wasn’t here a second ago. How did he run up the stairs so quickly? They look distressed, both of them.

“What?”

“Don’t open this”, Seokjin is the first to act, closing the distance between you and him to shove you away from the freezer.

“Uhm, what?”

This is so weird and actually really creepy.

“This is our Kimchi refrigerator and we try to keep it closed as much as possible. Unless you want to be greeted by the most intense smelling fart ever”, Seokjin explains.

“Why don’t you just keep it in the cellar then?” you ask.

“We could actually do that”, Hoseok murmurs, sending Seokjin one of those looks again, “I gotta tell Kook to do it later.”

“Yes we have to tell Kook later”, Seokjin agrees absentmindedly and turns his attention to you afterwards, “hey ___ would you mind waiting in the living room?”

“Uhm…” you let your eyes flit between their faces, “…sure?”

“Nice, just down the hallway. It’s the first door on the left, the one next to the entrance”, he says and pushes you out the kitchen.

You look over your shoulder, watching Hoseok and Seokjin have a very heated conversation. They are whispering so you can’t hear them. They look over their shoulders, eyes meeting yours.

“We’ll be with you shortly”, Seokjin sends you a sweet smile and gestures you to start walking.

You look away and start walking, digging your nails into your palms in nervousness. They acted so weirdly right now. Why are they keeping their Kimchi in a freezer? Why were you not allowed to open it? And how did Seokjin get up the stairs so quickly?

You get your phone from your bag before you enter their living room. No new messages, no missed calls, not even your SNS is showing new notifications. Understandable, you literally have no friends and your family doesn’t really talk to you either. If you died here tonight, nobody would really miss you.

Their living room is just as dark as the rest of their house. There is fire crackling in a black marble fireplace, warming the air nicely. There are three armchairs circling a round mahogany table and one two seater, its back is facing the tall window. You decide to sit down there, pulling your legs up to your body and unlocking your phone. You will post one story on your SNS, a picture of a pretty artwork on the wall and with the address under it. Just in case someone would find your body, at least like that maybe someone could connect the dots.

Movement at the door makes your head snap up. You turn to look, coming face to face with an unfamiliar man. Big eyes peek at you from under dark, long curls. Broad shoulders are hidden in a long oversized jumper and his long legs are hidden in black baggy sweats. He is most definitely handsome.

“Hello. You must be Jungkook”, you say, sending him a smile, “I’m ___, nice to meet you.”

“Hi”, is all he says and then he runs away into the direction of the kitchen.

You blink in confusion, tilting your head to the side. Well that was weird. But then, your evening has been filled with peculiar phenomena already. One frat boy running away after seeing you won’t phase you at this point. Maybe he just needed to take a really urgent shit. The thought makes you laugh. Yeah, maybe he actually needed to.

It takes Seokjin and Hoseok another five minutes to finally appear in the living room. Hoseok is carrying a tray of wine glasses, Seokjin follows with a silver bowl of Turkish delight.

“I just met Jungkook”, you say.

“He told us”, Seokjin says and sits down next to you, “he ran off, didn’t he?”

“Yeah”, you say, having to laugh.

“Of course, that brat”, Hoseok murmurs.

“Please excuse the boy, he is really shy around girls”, Seokjin says and reaches for two wine glasses. He takes a sip of both of them, wanting to show you that they didn’t poison it. You really appreciate the gesture.

“There you go. Red wine from 1940 because according to Hoseok you were mean”, Seokjin says, handing you the glass with less wine in it.

“In my defence. If a fellow student tells me, a struggling student, that their rich parents bought your frat house I just have to tease him for it”, you say, sending Hoseok a playful grin.

He scoffs and chuckles deeply, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You’re such a brat. I can already see you and Kook are gonna be great friends”, he says and as if he heard his name, the dark haired man appears in the doorframe.

His eyes land on you for the briefest of moments before they flick to Seokjin.

“H-hyung? I-“, he looks back at you, swallowing nervously.

“Speak Kook, she won’t bite.”

“Unless you want me to”, you joke, which makes Hoseok almost choke on his wine as he starts wheezing in amusement.

Jungkook however turns as red as a tomato, fingers starting to fumble with the sleeves of his sweater.

“N-no s-sorry. Uh, s-sorry”, he stutters, lowering his head and then he runs off again. Up the stairs with heavy steps until you can hear his door fall closed loudly.

“Oh god, did I just say something wrong?” you gasp, feeling awful about how the poor man reacted to your comment, “should I go apologize to him?”

“No, it’s fine. He’ll get over it. Besides, you don’t want to actually send his heart into a frenzy when you come knocking at his door all alone. A girl in his room, the poor boy would die of a heart attack”, Seokjin says and Hoseok agrees with a chuckle.

“Yeah”, Hoseok says, shaking his head with a fond smile on his lips, “our little Casanova.”

Seokjin scoffs and takes a sip of his wine. Their eyes suddenly both fall on you.

“But don’t worry, give him a few weeks and he’ll be less awkward around you”, Hoseok says and takes a sip of his wine.

“I assume that is the reason why he doesn’t have a girlfriend?”

Hoseok and Seokjin exchange a look. It seems as if your question brought them enlightenment. Funny, it was a simple question.

“Yes!” Hoseok exclaims, “exactly, that is the reason. He is really shy.”

“Aww, I get it. It’s fine, when you see him again tell him that I’m sorry for what I said.”

“We will, thank you for understanding ___”, Seokjin says and gives you a smile.

It is not long and the alarm for the pizza goes off. Seokjin is on his feet in an instant, excusing himself with a quiet “I’ll be back shortly.”

Now it is just you and Hoseok. You give him an awkward smile and look at the artwork afterwards. Hoseok returns your smile, taking a sip of his wine.

“You have a lovely home”, you say, “I’m jealous, mine’s still half empty.”

“Oh? So you weren’t even living in this town before?”

“Nope, I got offered a scholarship here so I moved. My actual home’s like halfway across the world. The only things I brought with me are my artworks and my plants.”

Hoseok chuckles.

“Your plants?”

“Yes, I have like fifty plants in my apartment.”

“Damn, you must have the crispiest oxygen at your place.”

You laugh at that, “I guess so, yeah.”

Seokjin returns with the pizza in his hand. The smell of it entered the room before he did. Creamy cheese and sweet tomatoes with crispy bacon. Oh how wonderful indeed. Seokjin had pre-cut it, so you all would get three pieces.

“You can choose your pieces first”, he offers you and you know that he is doing this to again prove to you that the pizza was safe to eat.

“If that’s so, I won’t say no”, you say and pick out the pieces with the most anchovies on them.

“This is so unfair, I wanted that piece”, Hoseok pouts.

“I was quicker”, you tease, sending him a grin.

Hoseok has the audacity to stick his tongue out at you like a little child. It makes you giggle.

“Sorry”, you tease and bite into the piece with vigour.

Hoseok clicks his tongue and tilts his head to the side. He goes to pick the next pieces and Seokjin takes what is left. He eats them with a content grin on his face, seeing you eat fills him with joy.

Hoseok puts more firewood into the fireplace once dinner is over. He pokes it repeatedly with a metal stick, making sure the fire would spread. It crackles oh so soothingly, filling the room with a relaxing warmth. You accept a Turkish delight Seokjin offers you and enjoy it together with your wine.

“So Taehyung”, you begin as your eyes follow Hoseok through the room.

“What about him?” he asks you, sitting down in his armchair.

“You promised me that you would tell me why I shouldn’t hang out with him.”

“Did we?” Hoseok asks, sending Seokjin a suspicious look.

“Yeah you did.”

Their eyes break away, both of them looking at you.

“Kim Taehyung. Yes, yes. Him”, Seokjin murmurs, eyes zoning out.

“Yeah? Him? So? Why should I not hang out with him?”

“Cause he is bad news”, Hoseok states dryly.

“You said that already. Why is he bad news?”

“He-“, Hoseok starts only to be silenced by Seokjin with a raise of his finger.

“Let me.”

Hoseok closes his mouth and clears his throat awkwardly.

“Kim Taehyung is a player. He will act as if you are the most beautiful woman on campus, he’ll draw you in with his charm and manners, he’ll make you stay with his presents and compliments and then-“, Seokjin looks deeply into your eyes, “-when you are sucked dry he will abandon you and look for another victim.”

“Sucked dry”, you snort and chuckle. You sip on your wine and lean back on the sofa, “you make it sound as if he is going to drink my blood or something.”

Hoseok and Seokjin exchange a look, you can see it with your own two eyes.

“Drink your blood?” Hoseok chuckles in nervousness, earning himself a warning click of Seokjin's tongue.

“He’ll most definitely metaphorically suck your blood. That man is on all levels but physical a bloodsucker”, he says calmly.

“Ah okay, I see”, you hum in understanding, “Kim Taehyung is a fuckboy. That’s alright, I can handle fuckboys, believe me all of my short romantic encounters were practically running definitions of fuckboys.”

“But you don’t get it. Kim Taehyung is dangerous. You’ll only end up hurt”, Seokjin insists.

“Yeah, yeah. Thank you for your concern, I’ll keep your warnings in mind.”

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