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dansnaturepictures · 2 years

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Boxing Day 2021 at Farlington Marshes

As the cloud lifted and we saw some welcome sunshine today on the way to Farlington Marshes where we came this afternoon there were some stunning sky scenes, with quite low hanging clouds too which was great to see. A Buzzard and some possible Red Deers in a field seen from the car made it a memorable journey. On the way back it was beautiful to see mist starting the shroud the landscape as it got dark including a view of this along the River Hamble a frequent nice vista you can see from the motorway.

The sky looked glorious at Farlington Marshes too with some fascinating scenes created by the clouds and lots of sunshine, illuminating the special reedbeds, field and the sea alike with some dramatically beautiful scenes in Langstone Harbour. I took the first, second, fourth and fifth pictures in this photoset of views here today, and third of the nice sky reflected into a puddle. There were signs that the mist was coming in a little whilst our today. With dark clouds around too there was a rainbow which looked lovely which I tweeted a photo of on Dans_Pictures tonight. When the sun headed down there were some fantastic scenes to take in as well towards sunset I tweeted a few photos I took of these. The Spinnaker Tower one of nearby Portsmouth’s most famous landmarks made a great feature to get into photos today.

It was another great walk of birds with many Moorhens I am seeing so many of these lately, nice scenes of lots of Black-tailed Godwits in wet fields as the light lowered, lovely views of Kingfisher and Sparrowhawk, amazing views of Pintails still and in flight and a decent few Avocets too standing out. There were many dramatic scenes of birds backlit and in lower light.

The star bird today had to be one of the birds of the reserve this being the place I fell in love with them in my early birding days, Brent Geese. It was wonderful to see them in flight, on the lake and piling into fields in numbers, getting a strong sense of being in the outdoors and wild seeing them especially looking great against a blue sky. There were also some intimate views of a couple by the fence in the field near to the cottage, which was lovely to see and was good for trying out my new big lens a present yesterday. Both looked possibly quite young and one maybe wasn’t too well unfortunately as it laid with its head on its back and didn’t move much. I took the seventh and eighth pictures in this photoset of of the Brent Geese nearby and some flying against a sky going a bit red which was beautiful to see.

The ragwort in the sixth picture I took today in this photoset and some horseweed were nice flowers to see on this winter walk, with shadows of teasel around again. I liked how most of the ragwort was brown and past the flower’s end but there were just a few yellow of the flowers on the plant it was a nice contrast to see.

Wildlife Sightings Summary: Four of my favourite birds the Shelduck, Little Egret, Brent Geese and Kingfisher, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Pintail, Moorhen, Canada Goose, Grey Plover, Redshank, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Grebe, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull a bird I am enjoying a lot lately that was nice to see again, Sparrowhawk, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove and nice views of Robins.

At home a Pied Wagtail perched upon the roof of garden furniture in next door’s back garden made a nice sight before coming out, as did a nice little insect on my window trying to get into my room. It was nice to see the sun come through and nice sky scenes as the cloud lifted at home too. Even when home just before darkness truly fell tonight the sky looked lovely I got the ninth picture in this photoset of it from my room there were prominent long shapes of clouds as its already slightly becoming noticeable, when arriving home between 4:30 and 5 anyway how there is some slight lightness for a bit longer following the shortest day. I also enjoyed seeing a spider probably a silver-sided sector spider outside my room through the window I had seen it here before it comes down into view occasionally I took the tenth and final picture in this photoset of this. As my strong spider days continue I also enjoyed seeing some mini spiders in my en suite last night before bed. It did turn into a misty evening which looked quite dramatic out the window in the middle level of the house as a street light revealed the fog which looked beautiful and I enjoyed seeing a spider on this window too.

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copperbadge · 4 years

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I love it when the Cryptids pose like they’ve got a folk-pop album about to drop next week.

[Description: In the foreground, Dearborn is sitting with her back to the viewer on the orange ottoman, but she is twisted around to look up and back above the camera; in the background, Polk is loaf-catting on the crazy quilt covering the orange chair. Both are backlit by the afternoon sun and look very dramatic and groovy.]

#dearborn and polk

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inquartata30 · 4 years

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WIP Whenever Yet Again

tagged by @natsora which is now like:

Tagging @jt-boi-n7 and @foofyschmoofer no obligations

And here we go—

The Initiative’s leaders had gathered in Pathfinder HQ. Captain Praeton, the turian who had run the shipyard, had been the last body recovered and accounted for from the kett attack. Thaia, once Praeton’s second, was now in charge of the shipyard and with that unwanted promotion had come another: she was part of the Initiative leadership now. She’d only found out last night, the news barely registering between Zahra’s meltdown over a broken toy and Carian going missing for half an hour, buried up to her neck in a mountain of clothes she’d accidentally knocked onto herself while playing in Thaia and Lexi’s closet. She’d only been rescued her after Zahra had heard Carian’s muffled pleas for help. At least Zahra had laughed so hard at her sister’s predicament that the toy was forgotten.

With Thaia was Aella, tucked close against her chest in her sling. She hadn’t planned on bringing her infant with her, but the second she’d tried to give Aella to someone else for the duration, Aella had started to cry. Thaia had taken her back and, bewildered as fuck, done a shallow meld with her to find out what was wrong. Once she’d peeked in her daughter’s mind, the answer had been clear. Aella simply hadn’t wanted to be separated. Before Thaia had even ended the meld, Aella had settled and fallen back asleep, the reassuring thumps of her father’s heartbeat providing her the comfort and security she’d needed.

Zahra, Anahera, and Carian were safe in Kesh’s office with Jaal, having been old enough to negotiate with. Bribed. She’d bribed them. However, even then they’d only agreed to the separation for a little while, so this meeting had to be short. So far, it didn’t look like it would be, and that really didn’t bode well for Thaia if this was supposed to be a regular thing. Those present—Kandros, Kesh, Sula, Dr. Aridana, Captain Atandra, Pathfinders Ryder, Sarissa, Hayjer, and Avitus—were silent, waiting for Director Jarun Tann to begin the meeting that he’d fucking called in the first place.

He still waited another annoyingly dramatic beat to do it.

“We must plan a funeral for all those whom we have lost,” said Tann, his speech patterns having slowed further as he’d gotten older. Age had leeched so much color from his skin that the only tinges left were hidden in the crags of his wrinkles. Ancient. He was fucking ancient for a salarian and still fucking alive when he shouldn’t have been.

The idea of a funeral was a joke. There was no body to see to, so how could Thaia fulfill the responsibility left to her by tradition? Lexi was dead but not and there would be nothing to watch rejoin the all is one whatever the fuck there was in the end. There was nothing to return to the sea. There wasn’t even a sea.

If Thaia had possessed the ability to light things on fire with her eyes, Tann would’ve been engulfed in flames. Screaming. Screaming like Lexi had over comms.

Behind his desk and not aflame, Tann glanced in Thaia’s direction and then quickly looked away. He shifted in his chair several times, like his seat had suddenly become padded with venomous snakes. He hesitated slightly before he went on. “For the living, there will be a time of mourning, so we may process our grief together.”

He had no right to grieve.

Tann shifted in his chair again. “This afternoon, I will begin the process of integrating the funerary traditions of each culture for the ceremony.”

He didn’t deserve to grieve, much less take charge of their collective grief.

“No,” Thaia said.

Finally, Tann fully acknowledged her. However, he still looked past her, at some arbitrary point on the wall painted with the shadows of everyone in the room, backlit by the Nexus’s artificial sun. “What?” he asked, rough with frustration. “What else would you have me do?”

The fucking gall, the sheer fucking audacity of him to be the one frustrated with her. She dropped her voice.. “You can start by looking me in the fucking eye.”

Slowly, slowly, he drew his eyes from the wall and looked directly at Thaia for the first time since she’d lost her bondmate. “And now will you tell me what else I can do that I have not already done?”

What he had already done was what had gotten them here in the first place. And he knew it.

Rage surged from the fire that hadn’t stopped roaring since the attack. “Invent time travel and fix your fucking mistakes. It was your fucking choices that led to the Uprising and my sister dying in Hydroponics. If that hadn’t happened, she would’ve been there when the kett attacked. Between her and Lexi, they could’ve defeated the kett. Instead—”

“Or they both could have been exalted,” said Tann, as if it was a perfectly reasonable thing to say.

It wasn’t.

All Thaia saw was Safira and Lexi forcibly transformed into those things, bodies wrenched and twisted and screaming—

Aella was crying. Biotics writhed around Thaia, the flare wiping out the crowd of shadows cast on the wall. It hadn’t hurt Aella and never would, the biotics part of her father as much as her heart, but it had startled her. She would’ve felt the rigid tension of Thaia’s entire body, the intensity that still fueled the flare and Thaia couldn’t stop it and Aella was still crying.

Trusted hands freed Aella from the sling, a trusted friend and mentor softly saying, “I’ve got her,” and then, “we’ll be in Kesh’s office,” as Thaia mechanically passed her the sling. Aella’s crying calmed to sniffles as she was carried down the stairs. The door opened and closed. It was quiet.

Thaia didn’t snap out of it so much as stumble from it, emerging in an empty room, save for one person.

Arms loosely crossed, Sula leaned her hip against the vidcom table in the center of HQ’s middle level. To most, she would’ve appeared at ease, but worry was there in the slight lowering of her brow, along with how her blue eyes flicked back and forth, searching her daughter’s face for... Thaia wasn’t sure what. A sign of sanity, maybe.

“Well,” Sula said, easy as ever, “can’t say I’m surprised. Drack’ll be disappointed that he lost the bet on whether or not you’d throw Tann out an airlock. Tann shuffled out of here pretty quick, though. Didn’t think his old ass had it in him to move that fast.”

“He didn’t have to worry. I wouldn’t have hurt him.”

“Tann’s the only one worried about Tann. The rest of us couldn’t give a fuck about him. We’re worried about you, kid.”

Thaia looked out the window, at the Garson Ward beneath the morning-angled light. A work crew had crowded at the edges of a park scorched black. Another crew was spreading out over a razed field. A gigantic intermodal container meant to carry raw materials for shipbuilding waited on the docks, already half-filled with scrap metal from cleaning up the Commons. The Commons and Hydroponics. Then repairs would begin. Weeks would pass and then Hydroponics would be like new, not even a scar. Like after the Uprising.

Loss lodged a hot coal in her throat.

Sula spoke again. “Might want to consider letting some of that anger flow away. It’ll tear through like a rip current, but it’ll go.”

Thaia turned and frowned at Sula, because Sula should’ve been one of the last fucking people calling for cooler heads to prevail. Her dad should be on her side, not Tann’s.

Sula held up her hands, palms out. “I said some, not all.”

The coal crumbled to ashes and embers, scouring Thaia’s voice when she replied, “I can’t.” It was her only handhold. Fingers scraping into hardscrabble ground as she fought falling.

“This is the most pissed off I’ve seen you since you were that twenty-year-old kid mad at her stepfather, her mother, her dad, and the whole fucking galaxy.”

“What?” Sula had saved her back then. It was what her father did. Only an ungrateful shit of a daughter would be angry with her for that. “I wasn’t mad at you.”

“No? You never got mad that I didn’t come get you after your mom bailed?” The incongruent mildness in her tone infuriated.

Thaia breathed through it. “You couldn’t. The custody agreement was ironclad.”

Sula straightened, questions suddenly thrown out harder, landing as punches. “Because your mother had physical custody of you right then? When she was on Korlus and you on Thessia? Because that asshole turian sure as fuck didn’t have any custodial rights.”

Thaia had forgotten. A few times in those first months, alone in the dark in the middle of the night, frozen in place, lungs burning with the breath she couldn’t catch after waking from her nightmare, she’d questioned why. When she hadn’t come up with an answer, she’d fumed until self-imposed guilt wracked her for being ungrateful. Rattled, she’d focused solely on Aulus, the one who’d hurt her with his hands. Never to anyone had she breathed a word of that small-hours-of-the-night resentment of Sula. But it was still there, smoldering. Her dad hadn’t physically stopped Aulus. The matriarchs in the park had. Sula had been on Illium when it happened, and then it’d been days before she’d gotten to Armali, leaving Thaia believing for all that time that she was completely alone. Now that Thaia remembered, the question wouldn’t go away no matter how many breaths she took. She rotated her left arm, loosening her shoulder before she realized what she was doing. The question persisted. Why. Why. Why hadn’t she been worthy of the same protection as her sisters?

“You can ask,” Sula said and Thaia almost jumped.

The question tumbled out bitter and brutal, her fingers curling into fists. “Why didn’t you get me earlier?”

Where Thaia’s question had been harsh, Sula’s answer was gentle, hushed, and riddled with long-lived regret. “Because I thought she’d come back, too.”

Thaia had spent every day for weeks watching the spaceport after her mother had left, hoping she would be on one of the arriving ships, then pretending she might be because her mother couldn’t really have been gone forever. “She didn’t.”

“No. She wasn’t herself anymore. The Indah Kallistrate I’d known for centuries had died long before I accepted it.”

Sula’s point found its mark.

Lexi’s dead.

Lexi’s dead and it’s time you accepted it. If you don’t, it’ll only hurt your kids.

Goddess, she’d made Aella cry when Aella was the one who’d lost the most, and what kind of monster was she to make her daughter cry instead of helping her feel better? Aella had already lost her mother. Unlike her sisters, she wouldn’t be able to remember Lexi at all.

“Aella will only know the Ietrai.” Thaia’s regret mirrored Sula’s, which suited, in her opinion. Like father, like daughter.

“That fucking kett isn’t her mother. Just like the person who abandoned you wasn’t your mother.”

There was another point there, the one Thaia didn’t like to think about. But, whether she acknowledged it or not, it was still one of many sources of her rage. So, it got its chance to torch, too. “I should’ve gotten there sooner.” Thaia looked out at the ward below, at the repairs being made, at the cargo container now nearly filled to the brim with wreckage. This was what failure looked like.

Sula stepped between Thaia and the window, relentlessly refusing to let Thaia break eye contact. “You didn’t have a choice to go sooner. I did. And I’ve spent a long fucking time trying to make up for not doing what you needed me to. Unlike me, you did everything right. That’s all anyone could ask of you and you need to hear that.”

What Thaia needed was for Sula to make this better, to fix this fucking nightmare, but nothing was fixed despite Sula being right there and Thaia just—goddess, she just wanted to fight. It burned through every centimeter of her body, and she tried and she tried to stop it from consuming her. Taut and shaking like a huntress’s overdrawn bow, Thaia couldn’t stop it all. “Lexi’s gone! If I’d done everything right, she would still be here!”

#prompt tag #tessera au #tessera: the darkest timeline #natsora how could you

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thotwonu · 5 years

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Mi Ángel - b.a.

i had a little too much to drink at dinner and i read something about making out with brandon that liv ( @reveriekuwonu ) wrote. so this one is lowkey based on that post. (and also lowkey how in edwin’s live the other day he was talking about how b wants to get more into speaking spanish or something along those lines-) pls don’t judge this too hard bc i will repeat I HAD A LOT OF VODKA! -rei

Being with Brandon was so easy. You were equals, partners in everything you did. Sure you were still your own people, but you pushed each other to be better versions of yourself. You were comfortable enough with each other to be vulnerable. You didn’t keep secrets from each other. He was your rock and your safe place, and you were his.

That didn’t mean everything was serious all the time though. Tonight you found yourselves with the house to yourselves. The speakers the boys had throughout the living space were playing pop throwbacks and you were both climbing on furniture dramatically singing along to the songs into whatever object you chose for your microphone.

At one point you were standing on the back of the couch screaming along to an old Miley Cyrus song when you lost your balance and tumbled onto the couch on top of Brandon who had been laying watching you. You both broke out into giggles and Brandon pushed some of your hair from your face where it had landed in a wild mess. “Be careful baby, I can’t have you busting your head open just to entertain me,” he kissed your forehead and then your temples, then your eyelids, causing you to giggle at the sensation. You rolled over so you were pressed chest to chest and nudge his chin up with your nose before placing kisses up and down his throat and jaw while an Usher song blare out the speakers.

Brandon grinned and squeezed your hip where he held you to his body. You giggled again and let your lips trail closer to his mouth teasing him the same way he always teased you. You pulled back and sat up a little so you could just gaze down at your boyfriend. You loved when he was like this. Early on you’d gotten used to the over the top, excited persona he got while being with the band because of how passionate he was about the music. But when it was just the two of you, he was just so soft sometimes. His dark hair was a bit wild since he hadn’t done anything with it since you’d woken up, his glasses were a bit askew from laying on the couch, his chains were also bunched up a bit from laying down. He looked perfectly disheveled and you loved it.

But the thing that really grabbed your attention were his eyes behind his glasses. His lids dropped a little in the afternoon sun beaming through the window but his dark irises held nothing but unbridled love for you. You almost started to tear up as Brandon reached up and threaded a hand through your hair and placed his palm against your cheek.

He’d been studying you as vividly and deeply as you’d been studying him. In you he saw all of his dreams coming true and his future perfectly laid out in front of him. The same sun that warmed his face backlit your silhouette over him and the way it bounced off your hair made it look like a golden halo glowed around you. “So beautiful, mi ángel,” he whispered while rubbing his thumb across your cheek. You turned to hide your blush and pressed a kiss to his palm.

The gesture made a grin break out on Brandon’s face and he flipped your bodies so you were pinned under him. You ran your hands up his chest, across his shoulders, and rested them at the back of his head playing with the hair there and grinning up at him. He smiled softly at you and leaned down to kiss you but at the last second moved and placed kisses across your jaw. Your eyes fluttered shut as he murmured sweet things in your ear and his hands traced patterns across your sides where he rested his elbows to hold himself up. When he pulled back with a grin, still having not kissed you properly since you’d fallen into his lap, your eyes shot open and your jaw dropped in a gasp. The laugh that came from Brandon was so smug that you set your jaw before using one hand to grab at his hair and the other to tug on his chains until you had his lips pressed firmly against yours. When you had run out of oxygen he pulled back and rested his smirking lips against yours. “Too much teasing? Or just enough?” He laughed as you rolled your eyes and nipped his bottom lip. “You’re lucky I love you Arreaga.” He hummed and pressed a sweet kiss to your lips, “Te quiero tambien, mami.”

#brandon arreaga #brandon arreaga imagines #brandon arreaga concepts #brandon arreaga headcanons #brandon arreage blurbs #prettymuch #prettymuch imagines #prettymuch headcanons #prettymuch concepts #prettymuch blurbs #thanks liv for inspiring this #maybe i should drink and write more

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jeonsduck · 5 years

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Serendipitous Meetings (Wonho One-Shot

Descendants of the Sun!AU

You’ve unwillingly volunteered to work for Doctors Without Borders for a few months. While abroad, there’s one shining beacon of glory that keeps you going every day, regardless of your workload.

Gender neutral reader x Shin Wonho

Warning: uhhh, extreme thirst??

“Y/N! Wake up! Hurry, here they come!”

You startle awake, to find your bunkmate shaking you awake.

“The doves are about to pass by, you’re going to miss them.” he says.

You leaped out of your bed, nearly falling off of your bunk in your scramble to wake up.

“Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” you scold, rushing to throw on a shirt.

“Not my problem!” your bunkmate retorts, leaving your tent. You grumble and follow him outside. You stumble over to the gate, rubbing sleep from your eyes and squinting at the sun. You slump against the gate and your bunkmate shoves a cup of weak coffee into your hand.

Being banished to the ends of the earth to work with your hospital’s chapter of Doctors Without Borders sucked for a lot of reasons. Yes, the work was important and rewarding, but being chosen involuntarily to join the volunteer group wasn’t super fun. There was no hot water, the coffee sucked, and you saw a fair share of horrifying and sad situations you could do very little to help. But there was one saving grace, one part of this assignment that made it all a little bit more worth it. And it came every morning at dawn, just like clockwork, parading right by your little tent city. And you’d hate to miss it because you overslept.

Outside, most of the doctors and nurses were crowded by the gate, waiting for your little piece of heaven.

Right on time, a platoon of soldiers came over the ridge in front of you. They were singing some army song you didn’t recognize but it wasn’t the song that mattered. It was the soldiers' sweaty, muscular torsos as they jogged by.

A few of the doctors whooped and hollered or whistled lowly, and the soldiers chuckled, some sending winks or finger hearts, or flexing particularly hard. And then they jogged right on by and around the corner.

You sigh dramatically, staring into the last spot they’d been.

“Honestly, that’s all I need to get through the day.” you comment, swallowing down the rest of your coffee.

Your bunkmate nods in agreement, heading back towards camp with the rest of the medical staff.

You head back to your tent and get dressed for the day. You had your long term patients to check on, plus an army’s worth of vaccines to administer. And then check-ups and assessments, so it was a very, very busy day for you. By lunchtime, you were absolutely exhausted. But of course, your 15-minute rest is interrupted by your supervisor coming to add something else to your plate. Even hundreds of miles from a hospital, your responsibilities never ended.

“We got a shipment of specialty supplies, but they won’t come out to the station. Some of the soldiers are going into town, catch a ride with them and sign for the shipment,” she says, reading from a clipboard.

You sighed, nodding.

“What time do they leave?” you ask, eating another spoonful.

“In ten minutes.”

You choke on your food, shove your tray at your bunkmate and jump up. Of course, they couldn’t have told you earlier. You sprinted through the medical camp, trying not to run over other doctors and patients. You barely manage to make it before the Jeep rolls past the gates.

“Hey wait! I’m with the medical crew! I need to go to town with you!”, you shout, running in front of the vehicle.

You’re panting heavily as one of the soldiers waves you over.

“Hop in, we gotta go!”

You jog over, still struggling to breathe. It’s difficult to catch your breath and also haul yourself into the open back of the truck, so one of the soldiers comes over to help you out. He leans out of the Jeep, grabs you by the waist and simply lifts you off the group and into the bed like it’s nothing. And suddenly you have a whole new reason to not be able to breathe.

He sets you down gently in the Jeep and you’re gasping down air in a very unattractive way, while he sits there, backlit by the sun, smiling gently at you. Fuck, no breaks for you today huh?

Eventually, you catch your breath enough to wheeze out a thanks to the Adonis of a man that helped you into the vehicle. His smile turns even sweeter and brighter, telling you that it was no problem at all.

“I see you when we jog by the med staff tents in the morning. Maybe you should join us one of these days? So a quick sprint doesn’t almost kill you.” he offers.

You’re halfway through respectfully declining his offer when the Jeep hits a bump in the road. As you’ve yet to sit down, it throws you off balance and you yelp, before falling directly into Adonis the Pretty Soldier’s lap.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry-” you start, but he just waves it off with a chuckle. He shifts you into the seat next to him and it’s a tight fit because the Jeep is pretty full so you’re squeezed against him.

“It’s fine uhh...” he trails off, looking for your name.

“Oh, I’m Y/N! Dr. Y/L/N, but please just call me Y/N.” you say, sort of blabbering nervously.

“Well Y/N, I’m Private Officer Shin, but you can just call me Wonho.” and there’s that adorable smile again.

What man has the right to be that attractive?

When you get to town, Wonho is nice enough to help you down from the Jeep and abandons his team to help you pick up your supplies. You try to decline, but he assures you it’s not an issue, that they’re just here for a little leisure time. You talk a lot, learning about his time in the military, him learning about your work as a doctor. He laughs when h finds out how you ended up working for Doctors Without Borders and its an endearing sound you want to hear again and again.

“Wonho, they were out the good stuff, so we just got a bunch of canned tuna and chicken.” One of the other soldiers says as he climbs into the Jeep, handing Wonho a box.

“Ah, thanks Changkyun.” h says, settling the cargo between his legs.

You raised an eyebrow. The good stuff? Did they mean Spam?

Changkyun caught your interested expression and took it upon himself to explain.

“Wonho likes to feed the stray cats that hang around the base, so he usually buys them food when he comes to town.”

You turn to Wonho who’s smiling shyly and blushing fiercely.

“That’s so nice Wonho, you’re such a sweet guy.”

“Do you maybe want to help me feed them? When you get a free afternoon that is. You could come eat at our kitchen for dinner too if you wanted. I’m no good, but Kihyun makes a mean pot of ramyun.” he offered.

“Ramyun? Sounds delicious. Count me in.” you say, patting Wonho on the arm, going to jump down from the truck.

“Great, it’s a date.”

Wonho’s words surprise you so much you slip and fall off of the Jeep, nearly twisting your ankle. Date??

#wonho fanfic #wonho fluff #shin wonho #shin hoseok #wonho x reader #wonho x you #Monsta X #monsta x fanfic #monsta x wonho

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artificialqueens · 5 years

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Come Home To My Heart (Biadore) - Shadyqueenie

A/N: Another one-shot? Unbelievable.

I’m sorry for who asked for a Volatile Times’ sequel – I swear I’m working on it :))))) Come Home to My Heart is a high-school/college-ish au: when Bianca leaves her hometown for college, her best friend and neighbor Adore has to revaluate their relationship. I’ve been planning this shot for a long now, thanks @clownandmermaid for helping me out and for being the sugar mommy I obviously deserve (love you lots)

The loud voice of her neighbor wakes Adore from her mid-morning nap. She can’t even remember when she fell asleep, feet planted flat against the wall and back pressed against the mattress, while her record player plays songs about love and broken hearts. The voice outside the window is happy and keeps asking “Why are you here?”, “Can’t believe it” and “Ron, look who’s here!” and Adore knows this high-pitched sound Carol’s voice makes is only for special occasions, as when Bianca comes back to visit from college. But it can’t be because Bianca’s back. She was there just three weekends ago and Adore remembers it very well. Every inch of her remembers it– her mind, her body, her lips. She grabs blindly a pillow and throws it over her face, trying to suffocate her thoughts.

Three songs later and Adore knows she can’t lay on her bed all Saturday. She should shower and prepare herself mentally for this afternoon, when she has to fulfill the perfect girlfriend duties and see her ‘oh-he’s-so-handsome-Adore-you’re-so-lucky’ boyfriend.

And she wants it, she really does. Matt’s nice and - so cliché – let Adore wear his football jacket, and they are the high school’s sweetheart couple since the very first year and all of this makes Adore’s last months’ thoughts utterly unfair. She doesn’t love him anymore, and this lack of emotions makes her feel so fucking guilty, but that is the situation – Adore’s annoyed every time he tries to touch her, let alone when he kisses her. And the only person she wants to talk to is miles and miles away.

Every time Bianca posts a photo or one of her witty statements on a social media, Adore rests her chin on her hand (breathing loudly in a very dramatic way) and whines about how life’s unfair. Bianca left her in their city, in the halls of their school that now are mute without her loud laugh echoing during the morning, because she’s chasing almost every student’s dream – attending a prestigious university, as far away from home as possible. And now Adore has to pretend in front of everyone (their families, their friends, and even herself) that Bianca being miles and miles away is the real issue – even though people and Bianca herself tells her there’s Skype or FaceTime and other millennials’ ways to keep in touch, which Adore should be grateful for. Maybe for quite a lot time that was actually the real issue.

But the real (real) issue happened when Bianca came back three weeks ago, got drunk with her at a party and the last thing Adore remembers about that night is kissing Bianca under the porch of her own house like in a 90s movie – with twinkle light decorating the columns, the cicadas’ chirp on the background and the blistering heat of the upcoming summer.

After that night Adore’s only thoughts are about that kiss and after three weeks she’s not even in denial anymore – it wasn’t a drunken kiss, at all.

Finding the courage to tell this to Bianca is a whole different kettle of crawdads, that’s why Adore avoids answering her calls, or doesn’t comment the posts Bianca is tagging her in. Adore thinks she’s playing fair, though – she equally avoids Bianca and Matt. Someone should give her a medal or some award.

Her phone on the night drawer rings and Adore could hear it even if the pillow over her head dulls every other sound. She doesn’t want to know who it is – Bianca or Matt for sure, and face reality. Not now.

Frustrated, Adore screams against her pillow.

“Trying to choke yourself?” a voice from the door asks loud enough for Adore to hear.

She takes the pillow off and pouts, trying to sound as casual as possible “S’not working”. So, Carol’s voice was high-pitched for the same reason of three weeks ago - Bianca was really back.

Upside down, Bianca’s legs looks even longer and Adore has a hard time not staring at them as they approach her bed.

“You need to press harder. Want some help?” the older asks.

Adore turns her head towards Bianca and says nothing, but pats the empty space next to her “Join me” she whispers eventually.

And Bianca actually can’t say no to those big eyes, so she does as she’s told – feet planted flat against the wall and back pressed against the mattress - as if they are fourteen again when Adore had just been gifted with a record player and they’re listening a vinyl for the first time.

Maybe they both think they need to talk, but no one makes the first move. So they just stay still, listening to the vinyl until the record ends and then it’s Bianca who speaks over the whirling muffled sound of the record at its end.

“Your music taste is still awful”.

Angrily so, Adore pouts “Don’t be a bitch”.

She hears Bianca’s chuckle even if she’s not looking at her, and then the older is mumbling something about how many times Adore could listen to that awful record and yet not being bored by it.

They’re not talking. What they’re having is just a casual exchange of empty words and Bianca has pins and needles on her legs. She turns her head towards Adore and stares at her profile backlit. The sun illuminates its outline with a warm glow and Bianca keeps on staring, trying to memorize every freckle on her face.

But Adore turns towards her and her green and big eyes steals all Bianca’s attention “Why are you here?” she asks eventually.

“You weren’t answering my calls, nor texting me back” Bianca answers flatly and that tone makes Adore both nervous and ashamed.

“I was busy”.

Bianca looks at Adore and raises an eyebrow. She lowers her glance and stares at the stain on Adore’s shirt “I can tell”.

Adore blushes and wishes she was wearing something sexier than an oversized shirt with pizza stains – this scene happened in her dreams more than once and she’s like sex on legs and Bianca’s always mouth open and wide-eyed. Surely, she couldn’t expect for Bianca to show up on a Saturday morning asking why she wasn’t answering her calls. At least not that soon.

Adore tips her head back on the mattress. She stays quiet for a long time, arms wrapped tightly around her midsection “I don’t know” she eventually breathes “I don’t know how to tell you – how to put words to it. It’s a feeling I don’t really know how to express, and it kind of stops me from… You know, be the friend you deserve”.

“Try?”

Adore buys time by chewing her bottom lip as if the words are trapped under the thick layer of the chapstick she is wearing. “Everything seems different since you’re gone. Like, we were always together and I’ve never questioned what you actually meant to me. But you left me here” she pauses again and Bianca is growing tired of waiting, but she says nothing and waits. And waits. “And now I do”.

“Because of that kiss?” Bianca asks as soon as Adore stops talking. She sounds impatient and, again, flat and Adore wants to shout at Bianca’s apathy but she’s aware her mother is right downstairs not really trying to mind her own business. So, she closes her eyes and takes deep breath “Fuck you, Bianca. Of course it is”.

“Is it because you have a boyfriend?” Bianca croaks.

Adore looks at her as if the answer she needs is hidden in Bianca’s piercing eyes. But it’s not, so Adore shrugs.

“But you said you feel nothing for him” Bianca continues, remembering the long and drank speech Adore gave her three weeks ago, trying to find an answer Adore doesn’t apparently have but still Bianca needs so much.

“Why do you care so much?” Adore asks.

“Because you are my best friend” it’s the less harmful answer Bianca can come up with.

“Am I? Just this?” Adore’s tone is both desperate and embittered. The truth has to come out eventually and it makes her chest heavy - but this could be because of the way she’s resting on her bed too. Why the hell does she enjoy listening to music in such a uncomfortable position?! She sits up straight, waiting for Bianca to do the same.

“No. Yes. I don’t know. What do you want me to tell you?”

“I kissed you” Adore seems adamant on the matter, not that Bianca has something to add.

Actually, Adore’s right – along with the softness of Adore’s lips, Bianca remembers vaguely the younger standing on her tiptoes, her eyes closed and a mild smell of alcohol in the air. “You also have a boyfriend” she says eventually, as the last word could be sufficient to erase those memories.

“You think it’s just about me being in a relationship with someone else?” question after question, Adore’s voice is lower and cracked.

Bianca shakes her head “No, of course. More than that” she breathes loudly as she always does when she tries to look for the right words. And suddenly she gives up, both for her and Adore’s sake, looking at Adore straight in the eyes “I was pathetically sure I would die of broken heart because of you”.

“Oh” Adore fights the blush on her face. Now she’s a mixture of weakness and fear and every muscle of her face is motionless trying not to let it show as Bianca speaks. Because she needs to hear what Bianca has to tell her and doesn’t want her to stop, but she’s not entirely sure she’s ready for all of this.

“Yeah. And then I came back for Thanksgiving and things felt different between us and my mind tried to convince me it meant something. And then, three weeks ago, when you spent the entire night linked to my arm and then you suddenly kissed me. I won’t lie, it’s something I’ve dreamed for a lot. But I’m still confused”.

“You’re the confused one?” Adore’s voice is high-pitched when she finally registers the words Bianca has just said and she’s trying her best not to throw the pillow against Bianca’s face. “You always knew you liked girls, and you were so brave during all those schools’ years and I always admired you for that. You’ve always been my rock, my hero, but then you moved to the other side of the State and suddenly everything I can think about is how much I miss you and how bad I want you and not in a best-friend-ish way and – fuck, I don’t even know if I like girls or I just like you and – ”

The rambling is stopped by Bianca’s hand raised in front of her “Let me re-try. I always knew you were the one for me, even when I actually didn’t know what love was and you were six and forced me playing house everyday”.

Adore’s breathing is slightly labored as she catches Bianca’s raised hand in hers and smiles at the memory of a much shorter Adore dressed in her mommy’s clothes and taking the command of the whole game session, with a spoon in her hand and an imaginary cake mix in an empty bowl. She’s lulled by the memory and by Bianca’s words she doesn’t want to say something. And she doesn’t, waiting for Bianca to continue.

“I knew it when we were in middle school and you decided it was a good idea learning ice skating together and I twisted my ankle after two steps. I knew you were the one for me even your first day of high school, when you couldn’t stop talking about that cute guy from your math class. And I definitely knew it when I saw your reflection in the rearview mirror when I was driving towards college last summer”.

Looking backwards, Adore should have imagined it. Since high school Bianca shouted down and Adore was way too blindfolded by her new friends and a new boyfriend to notice it. Her heart sinks and she doesn’t know why – maybe it’s guilt or maybe she’s just angry at herself.

“But I never was the one for you. Then, out of the blue, you say you can’t stop thinking about me and yet you avoid me”.

Adore knows she’s going to be a crybaby in a metter of seconds – watery big doe eyes, pouted lips and all the package, but that’s how always worked between them. Adore would be on the edge of crying at the top of her lungs and Bianca would just sat next to her, cuddling her and playing with her long curls.

“I’m sorry Bea, for me being me.” Adore squeezes Bianca’s hand “I wish we could go back to the days when we’d tell each other everything”.

Bianca’s smile is sad and quiet and Adore wants to slap herself because it’s now crystal clear that Bianca has never told her everything. She crawls towards Bianca until her head rests heavy against the crook of the older’s neck “Fuck,” she whines, defeat in her tone “What are we gonna do?”

Bianca is so used to this kind of situation that without thinking twice she wraps her arms tightly against Adore’s crouched figure, while she cradles her – because even if Bianca is the one who suffered through all these years, in her mind is Adore the one who’s struggling the most “I don’t think there would be a ‘we’. Not if you don’t want to”

Adore raises her head as Bianca speaks “But I want it - I want you" she says quickly, and then adds “I’m sorry it took me a while to realize it”

Bianca’s face is suddenly relaxed and happy as Adore has never seen it. Even if there’s only few inches separating them, Adore feels the urge of being even closer and rests her forehead against Bianca’s, jiggling like an idiot because of their new happiness. And maybe because she has finally found a way to shut Bianca up.

“And Matt?” maybe she’s wrong, maybe Bianca is the same, thoughtful Bianca.

“’Suppose I have to break up with him?” Adore shrugs. She hopes she doesn’t sound like a frivolous person to Bianca’s ears, but when she sees the older stiffen to those words, she adds quickly “Been planning it for a while now”.

“Are you upset about it?”

“Nope. At all. It’s a strange feeling, though. I’d say relieved”.

“Will he be upset?”

“I don’t know. Does it make me selfish if I say I don’t care?”

Bianca’s laugh is quiet and yet so Bianca, and Adore was scared she’d never get the chance of hearing it again “I don’t think I’m the right person to tell you”.

“This is the right thing” Adore mutters, more to herself than to Bianca. She has to do it by herself, and she was sincere when she told Bianca she already planned it. However, she still looks at Bianca with pleading eyes.

“Adore” Bianca’s voice is firm as much as her glance and, for maybe the first time in her life, Bianca’s not enchanted by Adore’s eyes.

“Ok. Ok, I’ll do it” Adore shakes her head as if that motion could blow her thoughts off – because if Bianca wants something, then Adore is going to do everything that takes to give it to her. The younger wonders how long it took her to realize it.

“Ok”.

“Yeah, perfect” now that everything’s sorted out Adore’s nothing but a wide smile and a light heart. She thinks of leaning even closer to Bianca and of noses touching and kissing her, until her phone buzzes again and they both jump at the sound “That’s the unfortunate sign I was waiting for” she stands up and just now she notices her shirt is too short and she should definitely stop wearing undies with teddy bears if she wants Bianca – because Bianca choose her over a shiton of college girls. She deserves having a girlfriend who wears proper underwear “I should get ready for… breaking up with Matt?”

“Right. I’ll see you tonight, I guess?” Bianca waits for Adore to nod before heading outside the room, with nothing further being said (which kind of upsets Adore because who the hell says goodbye to the person she has feelings for that way?!). But as Bianca approaches the door she makes up her mind and turns around.

Adore has no time to register the action, and a moment later she feels Bianca’s hand cupping her jaw and pulling her into what she thinks is the most awkward kiss she has ever had.

“That was…” Bianca says with her hands still cupping Adore’s face and Adore down deep hopes Bianca doesn’t say something cheesy because now she can’t really relate “… awkward”.

Adore sighs in relief “Yeah, it was” and laughs softly hoping it would alleviate the redness of Bianca’s cheeks.

“I’m better at kissing than this, I swear”.

“I know” Adore flashes a sweet smile that melts Bianca’s heart.

She presses her hands harder against Adore’s skin and she knows that now she has to go.

She just doesn’t want.

“I’m not going to disappear” Adore reads Bianca’s mind as if she’s a book she knows by heart and Bianca can’t tell why she’s scared but she is “I promise. It’s going to be a fresh start for us, you know? I’ll be your lovely high-school girlfriend who waits for you to come back and I’ll send you stupid and cheesy texts every two minutes”.

“Please don’t” Bianca says chuckling, which makes Adore think Bianca expects it and can’t wait to read those stupid and cheesy messages.

The younger laces her arms behind Bianca’s neck “Oh, you bet I will”.

Adore keeps on talking about plans for the summer and where she wants to eat tomorrow at lunch with her and Bianca swears Adore’s forgot she was meant to leave long ago, but she let her blurting about everything comes to her mind because that’s the Adore Bianca loves the most.

It feels strange for Bianca being so happy, and free to wrap her arms around Adore’s waist without the fear of scaring the shit out of Adore.

She’s so caught in her thoughts Adore had to squeeze her slightly to wake her up “Did you hear what I said?”

“No, not really”.

“I said I’ll be home again after dinner, will you wait for me at yours?”

Speaking of cheesy, Bianca wants to make a joke about how long she has been waiting for her but she knows it’d be weak. She nods, instead.

“Ok. Go now” she places her hands on Bianca’s shoulders and makes her turn around towards the door.

A smirk touches Bianca’s lips “Bossy”.

Adore hums in approval and closes the door as soon as Bianca’s outside before she regrets it. With her back against the door, Adore looks at her feet clothed in mismatched socks and smiles widely. Everything’s going to be fine now. It has to.

She goes towards the record player and moves its tone arm. The vinyl starts again and Adore turns the volume up to make sure Bianca can hear it from her room.

#biadore #cisgirl au #bianca del rio #adore delano #shadyqueenie #rpdr fanfiction #lesbian au #teen au

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deadlocker · 5 years

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BOUNTY ON @EXCINERIS .

razor - sharp voice rings through the rosy stone valleys, silhouette backlit by the afternoon sun and bracketed by her faithful companions : the viper gleaming golden on her shoulder and bob’s hulking form as always by his mistress’ side . ❝ well ! i didn’t realize that i’d put out a welcome mat for vigilantes recently . ❞ it’s undoubtedly a dramatic confrontation, the gang leader looking down from a ledge upon her visitor, a brazen display of having the high ground, sights from unseen but implied weapons aimed upon the man . ivory canines flash dangerously . elizabeth always did have a flair for theatrics . ❝ what’re you doin’ payin’ a visit to these here parts, soldier 76 ? last i heard, you were down further south . ❞

#* EXCINERIS01. ❞#* v. ⎛ shootin’em up and leaving not a dime left with a grin on your lips » main ⎠ ✶#insert anakin i have the high ground now meme

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creatinginparadise · 2 years

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More at Volcano, 11/9

Tuesday I went back up to Halema'uma'u to take another look at the eruption, this time in the daylight. Walking down the trail under a completely cloudy sky I could see the steam rising out of the caldera in the distance. In the bare limbs of trees on either side of the trail were red birds with a pretty song--my first endemic Hawaiian bird, the ‘apapane, perhaps the most seen native songbird in Hawai’i. None of my photos turned out so:

‘Apapane Song

Seeing the eruption in daylight was different, less dramatic but, in some ways, prettier. As the afternoon got late the glow of the lava reflected off of the rising column of steam. The relationship of the size of the active cone to the caldera was more clear and the distances more understandable. Standing up on the rim we were miles away from the eruption. The setting sun lit up part of the steam and backlit a bank of fumaroles that were sending wisps of steam off of the caldera wall just below us. The eruption was more vigorous, the lava was tossing higher above the cone with splatters, orange against the black, landed on the outside of the cone. Lava was fountaining out between cracks in the lava crust on the surface of the lake and that was something I had always dreamed of being able to see (it doesn’t show up well in the photos, you kinda hafta look for it). The sun went down, the sky went dark and the viewing ledge got crowded. I went back to my jungle hideaway and slept once more to the songs of the coqui frogs. In the morning I said goodbye to the big island and went home to find that the couch and chairs we had purchased had arrived and were available to collapse on.

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frangipanidownunder · 7 years

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Hope you feel better soon! Could you maybe write something with jealous Mulder?

I can’t believe I wrote dog!fic and that it ended up being slightly NSFW.Naughty BoyThe drive back fromOregon is long, tiring. And smelly.

“Did you really haveto bring that thing?” he looks over his shoulder at the dog staring back at himfrom behind the bars of his cage.

“Mulder, that thing isa dog. And how else am I supposed to get him back home?”

“I heard you can traindogs to ride bicycles these days, Scully. The return trip from Oregon to Washingtonis…”

“Mulder! You just sawa monster, a were-lizard, we solved a case, possibly prevented many morehomicides, and,” she draws in a dramatic breath, “I had fun. Why do you have torain on my parade now?”

He puts another seedin his mouth and turns up the air-conditioning. “You’re going to have to changeits diet, Scully. That thing smells worse than the inside of my gym bag.”

“What gym bag?” shesays, turning around to speak to the dog, “Daddy doesn’t have a gym bag, doeshe?” The dog yaps.

Mulder thrums hisfingers against the steering wheel, flexing his jaw. “I threw it out. Alongwith the three pairs of unwashed socks that had stuck to the bottom of it.”

She chuckles and thecar fills with light sparks and fresh air. He turns to her. “Daddy, Scully?”

He finds himselfbuilding a kennel for Daggoo, to a design that Scully clipped from Bark magazine, to which she subscribedfor its ‘thoughtful and well-researched material’. He’s tempted to scrunch upthe pages from the back-issues and use them to line the base of his handiwork.The kennel has a window and a front deck. For fucks’ sake. Why does thisfurball need a front deck?

“Because he likes tosurvey his territory, Mulder. And he can do that from the safety and shade ofthe verandah. Dogs can burn in the sun, Mulder. He’s got white fur. And unlessyou want to rub sunscreen into him every day, I think this is a greatcompromise, don’t you?”

“You never rubsunscreen into me, Scully,” he mutters, hammering the last nail into the wooduntil it pushes so far in that the timber splinters. He crawls back a few pacesand turns towards her. She’s standing there, backlit by the late evening sunthat picks out the gold of her hair. He sits on his heels and takes it in.

“Do you like thiscolour, Mulder? It’s called Aegean Teal. I thought it would be calming for him,you know? Considering his background, it must have been awful being in the shelterlike that.”

“Aegean what?” Helooks at the tin she places on the grass next to him.

“Teal, it’s abluey-green. Like the ocean.”

Daggoo yaps andlollops over to him, leaping up and unbalancing him so he winds up on his asswith the dog licking his face. He pushes at it but it won’t leave him alone.

“Awww, Mulder. Hereally likes you. He doesn’t kiss just anyone like that.”

The dog’s tongue issandpaper against his cheek and he rubs saliva off his skin with the back ofhis hand. “Give me bile, any day.”

“What was that,Mulder?”

He shakes his head. “Isaid, I can’t wait to get on with the painting, Scully.”

It’s not often Scullycooks. Especially not so early on a Sunday morning. The smell from the kitchenis thick and aromatic, and he breathes it in as he stretches sleep away.

“Scully, did you makemeatloaf for breakfast?” he asks, pouring coffee into two mugs. “I’m not surewhat I did to deserve the break from that chia gloop thing you keep giving mebut I’ll take it.”

He slides a cup overto her and she folds the corner of the newspaper down to eye him. She slides abowl of chia gloop over to him.

“I made meatloaf forDaggoo. He needs nourishment.” She looks at him and swallows a spoon of chia.

He rubs his hands overhis gut. “Right. Maybe I’ll get myself another gym bag.” He pulls out his chairand goes to sit down. Daggoo looks up at him.

“He seems to havetaken a liking to your seat, Mulder.”

“Right,” he says,taking the next chair. Daggoo leaps onto his lap. Scully smiles and hishammering pulse softens a little.

“He seems to havetaken a liking to you too, Mulder. You love, Daddy, don’t you, Daggoo?” Sheshucks the dog under the chin and he barks on command, panting out meaty breathover Mulder’s face.

Sunday afternoonsrepresent lazy paper-reading by the fire, or on the verandah, dependent onseason. They represent pottering in the yard, taking the occasional run,surfing the net for cryptid sightings or unusual clusters of lights or weather eventsor Victoria’s Secret runway models and they lead to Sunday evenings whichusually lead to good food, good red, her feet on his lap, shared showers andearly nights. Which lead to…

Or they used to. Now, they walk thedog, play with the dog, cook for the dog, shop for the dog. And then Daggoosits on her lap and she gives him a bath then crawls into bed complaining thatshe’s exhausted.

He pulls her to him, dropping a kissto her head and massaging her shoulders. “Why so hard, Scully?”

“I could ask the same of you,Mulder.”

He chuckles. “And you, a medicaldoctor.” His lips find hers and she reciprocates with a long, long kiss. Hebreaks it to breathe and she whispers soft kisses over his jaw and chin. “Betterthan that dog,” he says.

She pushes him onto his back andstraddles him. “You like him, Mulder. You just don’t realise it yet.”

“You mean it’s some kind of latentreaction?” He reaches under her vest and rubs his thumbs over her nipples whichharden instantly.

She breathes out, “Yeah.” Shepresses her fingers into his chest and finds his nipples with her thumbs,rasping her nails back and forth. She bends and licks each one. “Like that,Daddy?”

He thrusts up and grinds himselfinto her. She pushes back down and the both moan into each other’s mouths.Daggoo lets rip with a cacophony of grating yaps from the yard. Scully pullsher head up and licks her lips. Mulder watches the pink of her skin recedes. Thedog starts again and he curses.

“He’s lonely,” she says.

“Scully,” he says, letting his headflop back against the pillow. “He’s got more toys than Walmart. He’s got aMcMansion and five acres. He receives better health care and nutrition thanprobably 50% of the population. He is not lonely. He is spoilt.” He can’t stopthe pout as she climbs off him and grabs her robe.

“Mulder, he’s a shelter dog. Hecomes with issues. You knew that when I rescued him.”

“You didn’t rescue him, Scully. Youstole him.”

She looks over her shoulder at him. “Whatare you gonna do, Mulder. Arrest me?”

“Only if you let me fleece you andhandcuff you.”

She walks to the window. “I think he’srunning around out there barking at bats.”

“Figures,” he says. He pulls herpillow over his lap and squirms. “Can’tyou lock him in his kennel?”

“Remand him, you mean?” She giveshim the eyebrow.

He sighs out harder than he meansto. “Scully…can’t you just, I don’t know, climb back in with me and forget thedamned dog for an hour or so.”

She eyebrows him again. “An hour,Mulder? Jeez, is that a promise?”

He lifts the pillow and nods.

She snorts and leaves the room. Heleaves it a minute before getting up and limping over to the window. It’s coldand he sighs as his ardour cools along with his bare chest. He finds histee-shirt and pads to the kitchen. He sees his jacket, draped over the chair withhers, and fishes into his pocket for the flashlight.

“Scully? Did you get him yet?”

“No,” she calls from themid-distance.

The arc of his flashlight beam picks her out, angelic in white. Daggoo’sflurry of barks moves closer and she grabs him, picking up the furball and depositingit on the verandah of the dog house.

“Now, you naughty boy. You stayhere,” she says and pushes Daggoo away and he yaps, wagging his tail at thegame.

“You never call me a naughty boy.” Mulderpulls out the handcuffs and dangles them between the dog and Scully.

“Mulder! Not out here!”

He chuckles. “Who’s going to bewatching?”

She holds onto Daggoo’s collar andblows a strand of hair from her face. “Says Mr Paranoia 1994.”

“I’ve got yours too,” he says, bringingout the second pair of handcuffs. “And I found a spare set.” The metallicjangle fills the momentary quiet.

“Mulder,” she says, and her voice ishoarse. He can’t tell if it’s arousal or panic.

“It’s okay, Scully. I’m not thatdesperate. I was going to link them together and make a chain to keep him on.” She goes to speak but he cuts heroff. “It’s only for tonight. Tomorrow we can get a proper chain leash and nextweekend I can build a run for him. Imagine that, his own territory to patrol. Ithink he’ll like it, don’t you?”

She rubs the dog’s ears and hewhimpers into her hand. Mulder knows how he feels.

The straps of her vestslip down her shoulders and he exhales. Scully in white cotton is just aboutthe sexiest thing he’s ever seen. He loves silk and satin and black and red butScully is purest and most beautiful in white cotton. She sits astride him andhe’s hard in an instant.

“You promised me an hour,” shewhispers and her hair brushes his face as she leans over to kiss him. Then sheadds, “Daddy,” and he just about loses it there and then.

She rolls her pelvis back and forthand Daggoo begins a soft howling outside.

“Naughty boy,” she purrs.

“Yes,” he says, “I am.”

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yachtingboat · 6 years

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Interior Insight: Family Sized Serenity on Apogee

The appeal of M/Y Apogee is evident; contemporary glamour for 18 guests, wrapped up in 62-metres of stylish sophistication. On the market for charter with TWW Yachts, we explore how to best enjoy Codecasa's stunning Italian pedigree in the backdrop of the Caribbean.

Launched in 2003, the in-house masterpiece owes its slender and curvacious lines to the Italian craftsmen and construction experts at Codecasa. Ideal for a family escape across The Caribbean, she features five decks to indulge in, each with its own dimension of interior perfection by Della Role Design.

Her refit in 2013, welcomed a refresh to her old-world elegance. This time defying model, utterly elegant in every corner, may have seemed ambitious. Apogee's Della Role Design utilizes the interior space to create a sense of connectivity, both with your charter guests and the great outdoors.

This sense of togetherness on Apogee works beyond simply space alone. A notable interior element that distinguishes this vessel is the 22-foot-long backlit onyx-topped bar modeled after Monaco’s Cafe de Paris and Miami’s Delano Hotel. Galmorous, vast and visually dramatic, if fitting all 12 of your family members is your idea of heaven on the water, Apogee delivers this exactly.

Her rich and sultry textures adorn her physique from top to toe. Draped with burl mahogany and rosewood panelling in the bridge deck saloon, intricate woodwork on the main saloon and stunning granite flooring in the foyer, she brings new meaning to 'stately home' style. Imbued with traditional glamour, rich mahogany notes builds on her gentlmanly appeal where warm tones add an old-school charm. Accommodating 18 guests in 7 cabins, space and style for Apogee is her everything.

For drying off in the afternoon sun, watching the sky slowly shift colour on the sun-deck offers plush panoramic views-and cocktais on tap. The doting crew of 17, alongside al the pleasures of any family charter, ensure you take on your ocean traverse, both on and off Apogee, with ease. After a dip in the underlit Jacuzzi, head to the tender garage to open a world of water toys to glide The Caribbean azure with style. Alternatively, kayak the scenic mangroves, soaking up in the blushing island landscape before hopping back on her majesty Apogee.

Available for charter in The Caribbean in the Winter season with TWW Yachts, her worldly appeal makes her a firm favourite for any family charter, with pleasure and play right at your fingertips.

Interior Insight: Family Sized Serenity on Apogee

#Superyachts.com

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hnd1cjorgiewendy-blog · 6 years

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Tips for shooting natural light portraits

When researching natural light portraits I came across some tips for shooting.

1. Decide what the shoot is for

Before you even think about picking up your camera, the first thing you need to consider is the type of shoot you’re undertaking. Is there a certain purpose to the shoot?

It could be head shots for an actor or business, a fashion shoot, family portrait, for online promotion or just for a friend. Think carefully about the setting and style of the shoot depending upon its purpose. Will you need extra clothes, make-up and time for styling? Is it an environment portrait, depicting the person a familiar setting, possibly at work or at home?

2. Location, Location, Location

Once you’ve decided the purpose of the shoot, you’ll find it far easier to select a suitable location. Think about what might suit the style of the shoot, for example, somewhere scenic with plenty of space, by a river, lake, hills or in the park?

Maybe you want to represent your subject in the midst of a busy city amongst the architecture, traffic and crowds? There’s also the option of using a room indoors. Larger rooms are usually brighter (most large rooms have more windows) and give you a sense of space to work with. Smaller and dimmer rooms will suit a shot that requires more shadows and a more somber mood. Don’t forget to utilize the structures around you, particularly indoors, doorways, windows, staircases and pillars can all make for useful structural support within your image.

3. Determine the quality of the light

One of the most important things to consider if you are planning a shoot outdoors, is the time of day at which you shoot. I advise against working in the middle of the day, because it will be extremely difficult to work with the bright direct sunlight and you’ll find it difficult to avoid over exposing your images. Instead, consider working slightly earlier or later in the day, so up until mid morning or after mid afternoon, this will mean you have sufficient light to work with, but it won’t be too strong. Alternatively, you could try working on an overcast or cloudy day. This might sound like a bad idea, but in actual fact, the colds act as a diffuser and means that you can work throughout the day with a consistent light source. Remember your lighting basics. Harsh or hard light creates dramatic shadows. If that's not what you're going for, you may want to have the subject face the light directly. Soft light can make things look flatter, but allows you to worry less about losing detail in bright highlights or dark shadows. If you’re working indoors, you’ll want as much light to be entering the room as possible. If you know your location, determine what time of day offers the best window light by figuring out which way the windows face (north, south, east or west).

4. Getting your positioning right

One of the main advantages of using a studio light set up, is the freedom to move and adjust the height and angle of the light source to meet your requirements. This is obviously impossible when it comes to using natural light, so it’s up to you, the photographer, to utilise the available light as best as possible. When on location, find what you think might be a suitable place for your model to stand and then work out where the sun is in the sky. It’s essential that you don’t make your model look directly towards the sun, as they’ll just squint and get watery eyes! Begin by having them side on to the sun and work from there. A good tip here, is to get your model to turn 360 degrees gradually and for you to follow them as they turn. This way, you’ll be able to observe the change in the lighting to find the best positioning.

5. Use the light to your advantage

There are a few other techniques that you can try to make the most of the light on offer. Whenever I’m using natural light, I always carry a reflector with me. It can be extremely useful for portraits as you can reflect some of the light streaming in from the side onto the subject's face, highlighting their key features without blinding them and needing them to look towards the sun.

On nice bright days, it’s also worth trying some backlit shots, with the sun directly behind your subject. Again, the reflector will come in handy here, as you try to achieve a warm glow around the shape of your model, and it provides some front facing light.

Remember as well that you have the option of using shade and shadows within your portraiture work. A shady spot under a tree may well be just what you need when the direct sunlight is too bright, although be sure to check that the shade is evenly spread to avoid blotches of darker areas.

Shadows are also a great way to add contrast to a subject, and can be achieved easily by having the light source directly to the side of your subject. Just be sure not to obscure any key features.

6. Window shots

Employing the sunlight through a window to light a portrait shot is a favorite technique of mine and can make for some really engaging and dramatic portraits. The soft light through the window acts as the perfect highlight for a strong and moody image and works particularly well if you have the light cast on just one side of the subjects face, leaving the other in shadow.

The general rule is that the closer to the window you are, the more light you’ll have to work with and the stronger the contrast will be between the light and the dark. Also, if the light coming through the window is too bright, you always have the option of using curtains or a blind to diffuse some of the light.

7. Camera settings

As with any portraiture work, there are a few camera techniques that will really help you to get the results you want. The first is to focus on the eyes. When we look at a photo of another person, the first thing we connect with is their eyes. Make sure that the eyes are the focal point and use manual focus if you don’t trust your auto focus to get it right!

It’s also a good idea to use a large aperture (low f-number) to blur out the background so it doesn’t attract any attention away from your subject.

8. Communication is key

It’s absolutely vital that you interact with your model. Be sure to build up a rapport with them before your begin the shoot. Have conversations leading up to the shoot to discuss ideas and to ensure that all involved have the same understanding of what needs to be achieved on the day.

When you’re actually on the shoot, don’t expect your model to be able to read your mind. They won’t know how you want them to pose or where you want them to look unless you communicate it to them. If you’re struggling to convey the shapes you want your model to make, give them example poses yourself.

Some practical direction will really help, although be aware that some professional models will not appreciate being told how to do their job! Also, just assume that they are working harder than you. Take breaks.

Source <<<<

#seeing #seeingthelight

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minusram · 7 years

Text

1/? at night i see the twinkling

[AU; series here]

Teru’s seen him a few times, the boy with all the sugar daddies. At least he’s quiet about it, the building doesn’t need cops everywhere just because some kid can’t keep a lid on his compensated dating. Teru wonders how he’s managing to pull so many people with such a plain face. Some of the men and women that Teru’s seen him with are even kind of cute, for adults. Though they all dress so boring, just suit after suit after plain black suit. Maybe that’s his neighbour’s taste, Teru smirks as he snaps the wrinkles out of his sheet.

About a month ago, Teru’s new neighbour moved into the empty apartment down the hall. He’s a kid, a middle schooler Teru’s age; Teru first learned about it from listening to 2B and 2C, two chatty women who gossip loudly enough on their adjacent balconies during chores that he can use them as a building newsletter.

They’re out again now and so is he, listening while he hangs his laundry out to dry.

The kid lives alone, like Teru, and now that school’s started 2B knows that he goes to Salt Middle School. She shares this, along with a complaint about how her brother acts so superior, just because he happens to live in a district that lets him choose between two schools for his daughter. The information is good, what’s there, but Teru has to sort through a lot of aural chaff to get anything useful from their conversations. And this is out of date; term started a couple weeks ago, for both Salt Mid and Black Vinegar.

The name of the school is familiar, and in retrospect so is the uniform; he had to take care of a budding gang war from there in the spring. And, of course, that’s where Kageyama goes.

Kageyama. The only other esper of any note he’s ever met. A natural, and yet barely more than a commoner; he folded like wet cardboard when Teru showed him his place. Still, he remains a potential threat, and that’s interesting.

Actually, enkou kid kind of reminds him of Kageyama, if only visually. Maybe it’s just the uniform; he’s never seen either of them wearing anything else. But then, he only saw Kageyama the once.

Their paths haven’t crossed since Teru taught him a lesson a few months ago. Maybe it’s time for a refresher course. It might be fun to cultivate an antagonist, someone stronger than ordinary people but exponentially weaker than himself. It’s not like anything else in his life has ever posed a challenge. Psychic powers truly are convenient.

He goes back inside to make dinner, and thinks about paying a visit.

In the mornings, he sees his neighbour leave for school on foot, half an hour at least before Teru even considers heading out.

The timing implies he walks to school, which is odd, but maybe he likes the fresh air. Teru watches him disappear into the city sometimes while he eats breakfast, when the news gets intolerably boring. It’s slightly less interesting than watching a fish, but at least it isn’t the hundredth ‘urgent news bulletin’ about those five students that disappeared. They’re either dead by now or they don’t want to be found; either way, Teru is sick of hearing the same handful of voice clips from their Tragically Grief-stricken Families.

Teru never sees the boy in the afternoons. Enkou kid always gets home late; stepping out of the same black car but driven by a rotation of strangers.

It must pay pretty well, if he can afford an apartment. Teru’s place is paid for by his parents, who live across the city. His mother calls him every so often to invite him for dinner; once in a while he’ll even go, but it’s better if he stays away, for everyone’s sake.

Teru checks the time and gets up. It’s time for him to go; he has a date this afternoon, to see a movie he’s not particularly interested in with a third-year girl he doesn’t particularly like. He’ll probably have a not-particularly-tragic breakup in a few days, before moving on to another one of his fans.

Still, appearances must be kept. He doesn’t bother with the keys as he leaves, locking the door behind him with a flick of his finger as he walks down the hall.

Maybe it’s time he talks to Kageyama. His life’s gotten pretty routine lately, it could use some shaking up.

A few days later, Teru is loitering outside Salt Middle, waiting for his target and attracting the attention of the local students as he leans against the wall, artistically dappled by the sunlight shading through a tree. They admire him, as they should, and form a suitable backdrop for the coming confrontation. Teru’s been plotting how the conversation will go as he waits, and he’s excited to get started.

“Ah, Kageyama,” he says, when he sees a flash of black hair from the corner of his eye, turning to stand in front of the other boy.

Enkou kid stares at him blankly.

“My mistake, I thought you were someone else,” Teru says, with a winning smile, “I don’t mean to trouble you. Go right ahead.”

“You’re… from the apartment,” the kid says, hands straight at his sides.

“Yes, I am. I’m not surprised you noticed, I’m pretty distinctive,” Teru says, with a wink.

“Hm. You are,” the kid says, and walks away, to the car idling in front of the school.

He gets his clients to pick him up at school? That’s so brazen, Teru is starting to like this kid.

Enkou kid pauses, and turns back to him.

“Kageyama-kun has student council. He won’t be out until 4:30,” he says, and then he’s in the car and gone.

At 4:25, Teru finishes off his cafe au lait and walks the block back to Salt Middle School to find Kageyama.

He sees the rest of what must be the student council as they disperse off-campus from their cluster around their unhealthy looking president, but not the member he’s looking for. There’s something weird about the president, like a haze that hangs around him, but Teru doesn’t concern himself with that; he’s here for his foil, not some incompetent, nameless nobody who trails enmity like a smokestack.

Everyone else is gone by the time Kageyama emerges, but Teru’s grown to appreciate the abandoned schoolyard. Absent of anyone but the two of them, it might even be eerie, if it weren’t so sunny. Clouds would be better, thick stormclouds that would blot out the sun and add an electric current to the air. Dramatic effect; this is the kind of thing that looks better in the dark.

No students means no audience, but it also means no witnesses. Instead of a battle of words, like he planned, maybe they’ll just battle. It won’t last very long, but at least it’ll be something.

Any psychic confrontation between them won’t be much of a fight. There’s too great a difference between them; in power, in skill, in hierarchy. Teru’s simply better—even if Kageyama’s been training full throttle, it’s impossible for him to catch up.

Kageyama’s reached the approximate centre of the schoolyard, halfway between the building and the exit. It’s good staging; Teru steps away from the gatepost and into view, to stand squarely across from Kageyama in the opening, backlit by the afternoon sun. A dark shadow stretches on the ground in front of him, reaching toward Kageyama where he’s frozen in his steps.

Kageyama clutches the strap of his bag hanging from his shoulder. He stares, and his powers rise around him, coalescing into the visible spectrum.

The pecking order’s been firmly established, but Kageyama’s stronger than he was the last time they met; the power hanging around his shoulders is more practiced, and Kageyama manipulates his aura confidently, forming it into defensive spikes.

If Teru were an amateur, he might skewer himself flash stepping over there, but as it stands they really serve no purpose but warning him of Kageyama’s hostile intent. He returns the message, letting sparks play across his fingers and lift his hair. The sun washes out the colour of his powers, robbing the display of some of its effect. Next time, they’re definitely going to meet at night.

“Ah, Kageyama,” he says.

“Hanazawa,” Kageyama says guardedly, staring grimly, his spare hand in a fist at his side, “Why are you here.”

Ah, he’s perfect. Teru smirks, and cocks his hip, planting a fist there as he tilts his head playfully.

“What, aren’t you happy to see me?” he asks, opening up the field. It’s exciting, improvising. He throws out the rest of his old script, calculated for a social climate that no longer exists now it’s just the two of them. Kageyama raises a resentful eyebrow.

“You have to ask?” he says. His spikes writhe into faint corkscrews, their ends splitting into forks with his agitation. Clearly, he hasn’t yet figured out how to keep his powers from betraying his emotions, an advantage Teru is happy to take.

“I thought I’d check in on you, see how you’ve been doing. It’s been a few months, you know. How’s school?”

“Oh, perfect, except I’m being stalked by a blond peacock,” Kageyama says with a smile, brittle and insincere. “Have you just been waiting here since school let out?”

“Someone helped me out,”—an NPC—“A boy, with a bowlcut, maybe you know him? He let me know you’d be a bit delayed.”

Kageyama's manifestations shimmer for a moment, then snap back to solidity as jagged, branching spires of hoarfrost, a crystalline thicket of animosity that wreathes his body with razor fractals.

“Of course…” Kageyama muses, and then spits, “That makes sense, Hanazawa. Like calls to like.”

Teru has found a nerve. He’ll think about it later, why Kageyama feels so strongly about dating for money that he thinks Teru will be insulted by the baseless implication that he does it too, but now he rolls with the opening, keeping the momentum of their conversation.

“Bitter, hm? What’s the story there, someone you liked didn’t like you back? Don’t worry about them, Kageyama. They’re the background characters, the unimportant people. From now on, you can just focus on me.” And with that, he attacks.

Teru surges toward Kageyama, pulls up inches away when his startled opponent swings the bag at his face. Teru bats it away with his forearm, snapping the strap as it rockets away to skid across the ground and thrusting his palm out to send Kageyama flying in the other direction.

Kageyama skips; once, twice, before recovering, rolling with the inertia to his feet and reaching out a clawed hand that clenches into a fist.

Wood cracks and Teru zips back five feet in an instant to watch the tree branch spear through the ground where he was standing. He tucks in his toes and throws his arms out in front of him; a wave of powers hurls the branch’s quivering leaves at Kageyama, a maelstrom stiff and sharp as knives.

Kageyama fields most of them, arms wheeling around his head, but a few get through, opening paper-thin cuts that weep bleed from his face and hands. Ooh, that pissed him off. Kageyama glares, swipes at his face with the heel of his hand, smearing red across his cheek as he pants, then slaps the first two fingers of each hand together, ripping chunks out of the asphalt that whizz at Teru’s head.

Teru lets them hit his barrier, bouncing them off with a spray of gravel and minimum effort as he zigzags in flash-step spurts to where Kageyama’s fetched up next to the school. Kageyama’s looking the wrong way when Teru appears in front of him, and the knuckle-punch to the solar plexus blindsides him, propelling him back the scant distance to slam against the wall of the building.

Kageyama’s impact craters the masonry, and Teru follows up with another stone-cracking punch to the gut which Kageyama spins away from against the wall, whipping up his hand in arc that sends a sharp crescent of power slicing at Teru’s neck. Teru tilts his head and it scythes harmlessly past his face, except for where it’s caught some of his hair.

Teru telekinetically flattens Kageyama against the wall with an outstretched hand as he reaches up to inspect his slightly shorter bangs, then flicks the hair out of his eyes. The shorn pieces float away on the wind.

Kageyama’s aura swells, stabbing out at Teru though his body is pinned, breaking Teru’s concentration so he can move. He hurtles forward, fighting with his hands and feet, jerking a knee up that Teru deflects, throwing out a haphazard haymaker that Teru ducks back from before stepping in and hitting Kageyama with an elbow to the chin that knocks him back for Teru to slam his palm against his chest, pressing him to the wall again and pumping him full of electricity.

Kageyama’s mouth opens but no sound comes out as Teru’s power jolts through him. He twists, muscles tense until Teru cuts it off and lifts his hand to let him slide down the wall.

Kageyama isn’t out, but it’s close. He flops his head back to stare up at Teru spitefully where he sits on the ground. There’s still blood on his face.

Teru drops easily into a crouch so his antagonist doesn’t have to look up as far. He’s considerate that way.

“Nice job. That branch thing was pretty good, but the sound gave it away,” he says, helpfully.

Kageyama flips him off with a finger that still twitches with aftershocks, venomous.

Teru grins. This is gonna be great.

At night I see the twinkling stars And a great big smiling moon. My mother tucks me into bed And sings a good-night tune.

enkou = compensated dating

#mp100 fanfiction #dmtasd #at night i see the twinkling #teru #mp100 #ritsu #fic #the good stuff

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