#myjunknthings

A “Not Dead AU”, wherein Eleanor receives a letter informing her that she’s won two-and-a-half million dollars and a free week-long trip to France with the foxy, humanitarian model, Tahani Al-Jamil.  The thing is... the letter was sent to the wrong Eleanor Shellstrop, the money is actually funding for her “research”, and in order to receive it, she'll have to spend a full week pretending to be the CEO of a charitable organization that she knows nothing about.

…should be easy enough.  What could possibly go wrong?

 “Hi, my name is Eleanor Shellstrop, and I think you guys have a lot of money with my name on it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blinking and licking are good signs of thinking, relaxed horses – if they are not doing this, they are not calm – they’re terrified and possibly a bit catatonic.  Horses who are like this and keep getting pushed are the horses who spook/buck/explode and people say, “it came out of no where!”  No, it did not – you just weren’t really listening.

Horses have tri-focal vision.  The bottom, middle, and top of their eyes focus at different distances.  The top part of the eye is for things that are close-up, which is why horses typically lower their heads to look at you and/or inspect you with one eye when you’re near them.  When a horse is looking through the middle of its eye, then it can see what’s going on around it, while the bottom of the eye is the far-sighted portion of the eye.  Horses that fight to lift their head when approaching a jump are trying to judge the distance between them and the obstacle (so, let them).

Cock a foot (i.e. shift your weight more on one side) when chillin’ – this a relaxed, friendly posture when you’re not asking anything of them (they do this themselves all the time).  

Don’t stare them down if you can help it – predators do this.  We have forward facing eyes for depth perception; prey animals do not as their eyes are on the sides of their head.  Humans are predators.  They don’t know you won’t decide to eat them at some point.  Just because you haven’t eaten them yet, doesn’t mean you can’t later.  Anyone getting stared down by a mountain lion would feel uncomfortable.

Don’t approach them dead-on. Again, their eyes are off to the side rather than forward-facing like a predator. Predators approach in direct lines.  Horses meander, so approach them with your body and path at more of an angle, if possible.

Don’t pat them - stroke them instead.  Horses like feeling safe and comfortable.  Dogs and other predators like higher-energy rough praise.  Horses do not appreciate a pat in the same way that a dog might.  

I could go on for a very long time, but basically, if you stop and consider how your actions as a predator may be interpreted to a prey animal and adjust to accommodate that, then you’ll have a horse that will be calmer and more inclined to trust you.  I am constantly floored by the fact that a prey animal, such as a horse, can feel comfortable enough to let a predator on its back.  I’d say they do it like it’s no big whoop, but it IS a big whoop.  That’s like allowing a cougar on your back (they kill you by attacking your neck, so that’s a very vulnerable position) and being, like, “this is fine.”

Crossroads - Chapter 2 (1-: Annie joins the Survey Corps)

“Life is a series of crossroads.  Eventually, a decision must always be made - every choice a turn into the unknown.  Annie picks several roads and soon finds that every path is a detour that leads straight to Mikasa.” OR That one story that splinters into multiple alternate time streams after the first chapter (which could be a one-shot all its own, if you like) because I couldn’t decide which I wanted to explore most.

~~~~~~

     “Nice hickey, Leonhardt. Didn’t know Ackerman was such a leech.”

Summary:      “I just love you is all,” Korra said, earning herself a raised eyebrow.  She went up on her toes to press a quick kiss to Asami’s lips.  “I was talking to some kids while you were shopping and one of them said something that I wasn’t expecting.  I’ll tell you about it on the ship later.  What was it that you were saying about my green fruit?”            “I said that they were weird and I got you some.”

----

I want a quality LGBTQIA comedy along the same lines of Parks and Recreation or Brooklyn Nine-Nine that makes fun of stupid stereotypes instead of playing into them.  Like, Brooklyn Nine-Nine does a fantastic job with Captain Holt... but I want a massive amount of LGBT+ people of all ages in one space. 

Make it a community center or the Pride planning committee or a coffee shop/bar or something fun....I feel like there’d be limitless opportunities for under-represented groups in a show like that, and if done properly, then it’d be funny as all get-out. 

Give me a whole spectrum of people cast in a positive light in a silly, wonderful show that will make people smile when they’re feeling down. 

I’m bi woman, so I’d like to see a couple made of not one, but two bisexual women in a committed relationship... maybe make them super uptight and the complete opposite of promiscuous. Throw me in a bisexual man somewhere too because they’re too rare of a species on television.