#Like i thought the design works better on paper than on the model
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Hunter in NRC Pt. 2
Divus leads her to the clinic where he pulls out a measuring tape along with a sketchbook. Her companions settle on the nearby beds and chairs.
“I must say, I thought that old crow was hit on the head when he contacted us about a young lady with a big dog and a talking cat that came from somewhere unknown…
I almost called in the asylum to throw him into a padded cell but looking at you and your companions… I can’t deny that it’s convincing enough.”
He signals her to drop her weapon and do a “T” pose so that he may take her measurements properly.
She placed her weapon down on the floor with a loud thud. Divus can’t help but flinch slightly when he heard just how heavy it was when it made an impact.
Honestly, he didn’t expect this young lady to be capable of wielding such… outrageous weapon.
The colors are quite gorgeous though he has to admit. The craftsmanship on the mechanism was delicately placed yet they looked sturdy to last and cause a lot of damage.
If he were to describe her image in one word, it’s valiant.
Her gaze held the experience from many life or death scenarios no doubt. Very much like a soldier…
Divus gets to work on taking down her measurements. He can’t help but be intrigued at the armor she wore.
It certainly had a style that was not familiar to him, those tribal patterns on her skin make the outfit look quite chic along with the armor pieces covering her shoulders and knees.
But those armor pieces clearly aren’t meant for aesthetic purposes entirely, he can see that there were scales upon closer inspection.
Meant to protect the wearer’s joints as she swings that outrageously large weapon around. A “gunlance” she calls it.
Speaking of joints, he felt a bit of muscle when he adjusted her shoulders. She was suited for bodybuilding than modeling with a figure like hers.
‘I’m sure Vargas would be over the fence if he ever sees her muscles. Though, it makes sense from what she just told us before…
Still, for a world filled with monsters, she sure made the effort to dress up her furry companions’
Looking at her mutt and feline companions who also wore armor/outfits of their own, Divus applauds whoever came up with such a design.
Talk about being stylish on the battlefield.
As soon as he was done, he sits down on an empty chair and takes out a sketchbook to jot down her measurements, and immediately started sketching ideas of a suitable outfit.
While he sketched, he figures he should get to know her better since he’ll be seeing her every now and then as a teacher’s assistant.
“By the way, that crow was supposed to find you accommodations but he suggested moving you to a dilapidated dorm without even trying to fix it BEFORE you move in.
Honestly, this is why he’s never taken seriously…”
“Wow…” Fraena looks unimpressed at the mention of where she’ll be staying.
Divus flicked his wrist as he continued to drag his pencil across the white surface of the paper.
“Take my word for it, don’t try to buy into his gracious act. He may wear a literal mask but he’s quite terrible at facades”
Divus huffs as his hand swished dramatically as he dusted off bits of eraser.
Giving Fraena a glance, she looked stoic but he can see from her tapping foot that she was nervous.
“So, care to enlighten me on how your world works?” he asked casually.
“Huh”
Fraena wasn’t expecting that. He seemed like someone who wouldn’t be interested in small talk.
“What would you want to know about?” she figured to just answer his inquiries.
Awkward silence makes her nervous anyway.
“How about telling me if you bring your companions in battle, I know the cat doesn’t do fighting from what you said earlier, your canine on the other hand…
I’ve seen dog owners teach their pets tricks but nothing comes close to having them face a hulking beast”
Divus looks at Draken who is being brushed by Meowdame while they wait.
Fraena took notice of how his gaze lingered on them.
One can assume that he has quite the obsession with dogs, actually, obsession is an understatement… he’s a total maniac about dogs.
Divus has seen a fair share of dogs and almost every single breed, he adores all of them. His favorite is the Dalmatian breed, of course!
But the one a few feet from him was larger than a wolf and had a lovely shade of scarlet. The armor the dog wore was also exceptional, it gave off a militaristic vibe.
He’s tempted to dress models' dogs the same way in his next fashion show.
“It’s normal for hunters to bring Palicoes into battle, they’re quite capable of combat despite their small size. But Meowdame is retired and assists at camp during a hunt.
As for my Palamute, Draken, his breed is used to travel through areas faster but they also provide aid in fighting monsters as well. he has his own weapon.”
Divus could clearly see a small double-sided knife on the belt of the Palamute.
“Oh? Out of context, that seems quite dubious…” the man’s brow raised.
“I… I can’t disagree, but it’s a common misconception to think that hunters force felynes and Palamutes to fight.
They are required to be compensated for their hard work. I’ve heard about felynes who hold a high position in the guild…”
“Interesting…”
The conversation went on for half an hour before Divus finally stood up from his seat and showed her his sketch.
“I’ve done your uniform sketch, let me know if there are any adjustments I need to add, there would be no trouble at all I assure you”
He hands her the sketchbook and Fraena’s scans the drawing.
It was a uniform that looked similar to the guildmarms back home but the color palette fits the dark aesthetic of the academy and had more black feathers.
The outfit also had a skirt that wasn’t too long to allow her mobility, though she hopes the outfit comes with shorts because she tends to run around a lot.
Short skirts in a place full of nothing but boys going through puberty are the last place for that type of fashion.
Looking back at the page, she can see that even Draken and Meowdame got new outfits as well.
Though most of it had at least a black feather, obviously to fit the raven logo. And the outfits were not entirely covering them because they’re animals.
In all honesty, it was kind of adorable, what a considerate man, Divus is to make clothes for them too.
“The outfit is fine… though since you did offer to include any changes. Can it be possible to put this symbol on all our clothes?” her hand started to sketch the guild emblem in a blank space.
She presents him with a symbol of the guild’s four swords, Divus looked at the pattern with intrigue.
“This quite an ancient-looking symbol, is this your religion of some sort?”
Divus inspects the emblem with an inspired gleam in his eyes.
“It’s more of a sacred rule, not just for hunters but for everyone. We follow these rules to properly live in harmony with nature, not to take advantage of it”
Divus can tell from her tone that she takes these rules seriously, the puppies could take notes from her and be a little less rowdy in his opinion.
Plus, it was refreshing to have an assistant that wasn’t infatuated with him.
There are two reasons why those who applied for the teacher’s assistant position weren’t able to stay for long in this godforsaken academy.
Firstly, because the workload shoved onto them was too much to handle, it’s all Crowley’s fault by the way, they couldn’t handle the stress and just quit.
Second, those who applied are well aware of the one and only Divus Crewel, Fashion Tyrant who is a very, VERY wealthy man who happens to be single, mind you.
Not to mention his devilishly good looks, he is quite proud of himself for taking care of his appearance, but in this case it was a double-edged sword.
He can’t believe how many applicants had perfected the façade of “professionalism” that dropped quickly once they got accepted.
Skipping assigned work to “chat” or to try and invite him for a coffee. Those previous applicants were dealt with by shoving more of Crowley’s workload onto them or Divus would point out so many flaws in their work performance that their rose-tinted fantasy of an co-worker romance would shatter.
He never felt bad about being brutally honest, and it’s not like they could sue him because he was KNOWN for being harsh.
But Fraena wasn’t like the other assistants, though that may be because she hasn’t heard of him at all.
She was militaristic in her mannerisms and had a no-nonsense attitude about her. Something that Divus wished he could find in the previous ones.
Guess the great seven decided to grant him his wish in the form of a person from another world with a walking cat and a dog with near-human intelligence.
And he wasn't going to reject such an opportunity.
“I look forward to working with the school’s new teacher’s assistant, Miss Fraena. I hope you can handle that crow’s demands.
I would’ve preferred people refer to me as ‘Master Crewel’ but seeing as you are to be my co-worker, you can refer to me as you see fit!”
He holds out his scarlet gloved hand to her, she firmly shakes his hand.
“I look forward to working here as well, Sir Crewel. I’m pretty sure whatever Crowley asks of me, I can handle.”
She says with a steel gaze that made it clear she wasn’t backing down.
This is definitely refreshing, the previous ones who shook his hand had this weird face that looked nearly lewd, Divus may have interests like adults do but he knows there was a time and a place for that!
He is looking forward to teaching in this new school year.
He walked past Draken and Meowdame, Divus didn’t hesitate and brushed his palm on the Palamute’s back, to which Draken responds with a startled yelp.
“Ar!? Grrrr!!!”
Draken growled at Divus who didn’t even flinch and just grinned. Before he exits the door, he looks back to Fraena and company for one last message.
“Now, you are free to use this clinic as temporary accommodation. You’ll move into your new place after I blackmail- I mean, convince Crowley to fix that ramshackle of a dorm… out of his own pocket of course~ Ta-ta, darling~!”
He sounded jovial as he left the clinic with the click of his expensive leather shoes.
Fraena collapsed on the bed as a lot has happened. Draken occupied another bed due to his huge frame.
‘That man certainly was an eccentric character…’ she can’t help but think.
Meowdame plops next to Fraena and unravels the ribbon on her hair. Unweaving it with her dainty paws, Fraena groans either out of mental exhaustion, disbelief, or a combination of both.
“We’ve had quite a day, meowster~ But we shouldn’t take this as a bad o-mew-n, we ought to take this o-paw-rtunity to try something mew. Though we can’t get our answers now, we can still try to adapt, no?”
When she finished untying Fraena’s hair the felyne settles next to Draken who was already asleep.
Giving it some thought, Meowdame had a point. There was no use beating a dead Aptonoth after all.
“You’re… right. It’s just that this is all so sudden and I have no idea what this place even is or what kind of system they have here!” Fraena threw her hands up in the air in defeat.
“All the more reason to observe and study, right? That’s what hunters do after all~”
“…. Hunter, huh…”
Fraena drifted off to sleep with many thoughts in her head. Meowdame did have a point, she can always learn to adapt to this alien-like place. It’s the most basic skill every hunter knows, adaptability.
Yet she feels like she is no longer right for that role. Not after the mixed feelings that continue to haunt her.
The sea of students walked into the main campus building to start the new school year. Though the only thing that was on their minds was about that mysterious woman that appeared during the welcoming ceremony.
Much to their shock, the students encountered the woman in several different places on the campus. Alongside her were that large red wolf-dog and the bipedal cat.
Her armor was now replaced with a custom-fitted uniform that gave off a ‘strict secretary’ image.
The gunlance was propped on her back, making the students gasp in awe as she manages to walk fast despite carrying such a heavy load.
Divus was able to quickly create the uniforms and sent them to her in such fancy packaging, when asked how he managed to make it so quickly he simply replied…
“Magic, of course”
Right, she forgot this place had magic.
It was almost like a cheat code for an easy living. That man had done what could have been two weeks’ worth of sewing overnight.
She patrolled the campus as part of her “morning duty”, or so Crowley says.
“I wonder if this headmeowster didn’t think of hiring an actual guard if this place was so purrs-tigious…” Meowdame spoke what she was thinking while Draken huffs in agreement.
Fraena can’t help but find something fishy with this routine too. She may not have worked as an assistant but she’s been around the guild long enough to know how guildmarms function.
And they certainly did NOT need to do patrolling, those were the guild knight’s jobs!
But she can’t exactly complain when Crowley is the thread that’s keeping her and her entourage from getting sent into an unknown land where she has no identity nor the idea of how their laws work.
No doubt that Zenny can’t be used for purchasing goods here either. For now, she’ll play along with his demands.
She stopped by the statues in the middle of the Main Street, making sure that any tardy students are notified to the staff handling their classes.
Draken yawns and plops himself down next to her.
Meowdame glanced at the statues curious about who these people (and creatures) were. She inspects the one closest to them.
It was a plump woman with her head held high, her hand holding a heart-shaped fan and she wore a dress befitting a ruler.
“Are these their champions, purr-haps? Wonder what kind of meow-gic they have to be great enough to have statues made in their honor?” Meowdame wondered.
Just before Fraena can respond, she heard two voices that called out to them. From the distance, she can see two boys running in her direction.
“That’s the woman from the entrance ceremony! Whoa, they weren’t kidding when the seniors said she had a wolf-dog and a weapon. That’s so badass!” a red-haired boy strode towards them with an eager expression.
“Hey, Ace! You can’t just approach her like that!” a blue-haired boy scolds his companion who pays him no mind as he approached.
Draken stands up immediately and growls at the two boys who are scared stiff when they realized just how big the Palamute really was.
“Draken, heel!” Fraena commands him with a stern tone.
The Palamute ceased his growling and laid down again. The two boys were in awe at the authority the woman held over such a large canine.
“Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to mess with creatures you have no idea of?
And why are you wasting time by trying to start small talk with me, you’re not planning on skipping class are you?”
She scolds them with an upset gaze, crossing her arms.
The blue-haired boy bows his head to her immediately.
“We apologize! Ace wanted to see your dog but I tried to stop him, honest!”
She looks to the red-haired boy called, “Ace”, who doesn’t seem apologetic at all, he was pouting at his friend instead.
“Boo, Deuce you’re such a stickler for rules like the dorm leader! Learn to live a little!”
The boy is now known as, “Deuce” shot up and glares at Ace.
“We can’t just approach people like that! She’s one of the staff here and if we get in trouble then…”
The two proceeded to bicker right in front of her.
Good grief, these boys are a handful. Fraena has met boys their age that were the same level of rowdy but at least they got their heads straight sooner or later.
But that’s probably because they were mostly hunters who took the job seriously, maybe that’s why…
“Alright, that’s enough. No need to argue out here… I can’t deny that my Palamute, Draken, here is tempting to pet but he’s not exactly social with strangers.
If you guys really just came up to me to pet my companions, then would you be satisfied with shaking hands with a Palico? Would that satisfy you enough to move your butts into class?”
At that, the boys stopped and stared between her and Draken a few times.
‘She named it Draken? That’s really cool! But what the hell is a Palamute and Palico? That a new breed or something?’
Ace thinks to himself as he glanced at the Palamute who was ignoring the boys.
The two students looked confused about the terms used to label a “dog” and “cat”.
But she was right that they, more like Ace, wanted to pet the cool-looking dog.
But since said dog looked ready to munch on their hands if they try, they’ll gladly take her to offer to shake hands with a bipedal cat.
A cat that willingly offers to have its paws squished, who would say no?
“Lovely to meet mew gentlemewn~!”
"I-It talks!?" Deuce gawked.
Meowdame steps forward and shakes Deuce’s hand first. His eyes went wide as he felt the soft beans gripping his palm in her small paws.
“S-so soft!”
Was he crying? Yep, those are tears.
When it was Ace’s turn, he too marveled at the texture of the paw pads.
“You’re right! Aww man, my mom would’ve loved a cat like this!” giving the paw a few squeezes.
“Quite a charmer, aren’t mew? A pleasure to meet such enthusiastic young lads~!”
“All right, you boys had your fun, now get to class before the professor turns you into chow!”
After the handshaking, Fraena ushered the boys to class seeing as how the other students stopped to look while possibly hoping she would invite them to shake hands with Meowdame too.
She sends an ice cold stare at the forming crowd of students.
“The bell’s going to ring soon, you all get moving!”
That got the crowd to disperse quickly. And just as she said, the bell rang moments after.
When there were no students to be found and the area was completely empty, Fraena took that as a sign to head back into the building to start actual teacher’s assistant work.
Meowdame parted ways when they reached the cafeteria because Crowley decided to put her skills as a cook to use in the kitchen. Fraena can’t wait to see how rowdy it will get once they taste the legendary platter.
“These boys may not be hunters but I’ll give them a meal they’ll never fur-get!” she winks at her before heading inside.
Wouldn’t you know it, her first task was to assist Divus with the freshmen in handling potion ingredients. How lucky it was for her that Ace and Deuce were also there for the class as well.
‘It’s her!’
The two thought as Fraena enters the room and stands next to their professor like a soldier with the way her posture is ramrod straight.
Draken stood guard by the door, his back straight and ears twitching for the slightest sound. The students can’t help but divert their attention to him out of curiosity and awe.
“So, you lot are the newest litter of puppies enrolled here… let’s first get introductions in order- hmm?”
Divus paused when he noticed that the students were distracted.
The students were solely focused on Draken and could barely pay attention to their professor until they heard a snap from his teaching stick.
The boys flinched and instinctively fixed their gaze on him.
“You strays will listen when I’m speaking! Any lollygagging will get extra homework as punishment!”
That got them to focus on today’s lecture. While Divus was explaining the hundreds of herbs and fungi, Fraena simply looked at the clipboard of the ingredients the students had on their tables, and to check if they were the correct ones for today’s lesson.
‘There’s plenty of plants I’m not familiar with… But they might seem useful, I wonder if there’s a way to do these recipes without any magic…’ She thought to herself.
Though this world had no large monsters coming for them on a daily basis, she would like to put her skills to use. She’s done a lot of manual combining on and off the battlefield.
And besides, these boys might get into an accident that needed first aid.
Maybe she can bring this new knowledge back home to combat monsters easier too.
Then she hears a loud sizzling, turning around to see one of the cauldrons bubbling with dangerous chemicals overflowing the brim.
Before anyone could start panicking, Fraena whistled to Draken, who immediately dashed to their aid.
“Draken, fetch!”
“Arf!”
The Palamute dashed through the room with agile speed and grabbed the back collar of the two students nearby and dragged them to safety. All while managing to avoid the shelves full of bottled chemicals.
This allowed Divus enough time to cast a bubble spell to keep the explosion contained.
*RUMBLE, RUMBLE!*
There was a rumbling as the concoction exploded in pink and purple foam.
A harsh sizzling can be heard as it slowly dissolved away. When the foam disappeared, the students flinched when they saw the cauldron was partially melted.
They dread to think what would’ve happened had it exploded onto them without the bubble.
Draken lets go of the boys’ coats and returns to his post, Fraena gave him head pats before going to check on the students who were responsible for the disastrous experiment. The two of them seem dazed from what occurred mere seconds ago.
“You boys alright? No burns or cuts?”
She checks if there were any chemical burns on their lab coats or if their goggles were broken, thankfully they weren’t harmed.
The boys blushed when she helped them up from the floor, maybe it’s because Fraena, despite her serious expression, actually has a certain beauty to her (or is that they were being looked over by a female).
Not that she would know because she never pays attention to things like “beauty” when her lifestyle is basically hunting.
She would have no time to look pretty!
Divus walks up to the cauldron, undoing the spell he has cast to inspect the damages. Everyone in the room held their breath as he walks with an agitated gait.
Fraena could hear the students murmuring with a fearful tone.
“Oh shoot… They’re dead”
“It’s only the first day but they’re gonna be slaughtered!”
“I heard from a senior that Professor Crewel is merciless at the slightest mistake…”
He looks in the cauldron for a few seconds before smacking his teaching stick on his gloved hand.
“It seems that a few puppies were too distracted to heed my orders. I said to listen to my instructions carefully, but instead, you lot decided to play around!”
He held, from what Fraena could guess, a melted black mirror with gaudy-looking décor, and one of the students paled at the sight of the object.
So, it was his belonging?
Fraena wondered if the boy was a narcissist and loved to look at himself to bring a mirror to class.
“Ah! M-my phone- eek!”
He shrieks when the professor looms over him with a hardened gaze, clearly displeased after finding out today’s incident happened because of a “phone”.
“Let this be a lesson to you pups… one wrong procedure then you might as well have lost a limb or a chunk of your flesh!”
The students winced at the thought of experiencing something as painful as that. Divus continued on his rant.
“Be thankful, Miss Fraena was here to keep you all safe! You two, sit quietly in the back until the end of class. I’ll give you for punishment later…”
The two gulped anxiously before heading to the seats in the back with their heads hung low.
He tossed the “phone” into a bin and proceeded to continue the lesson. As if he was never furious in the first place.
Fraena has seen quite strict commanders, Divus would’ve been a frightening commander if he was ever in her world.
But why was he so worked up over a black mirror they called, “phone”? Did they hold some kind of magic?
After alchemy class was over and all the students filed out of the classroom, Divus puts a hand on Fraena’s shoulder. A smug grin was present on his handsome face.
“Excellent work today. Despite your canine being bigger than a wolf, I am surprised he was quick enough to get those pups out of danger. He hasn’t bumped into a single shelf either!”
“Oh, that’s because Draken’s quite agile on his feet and he can easily make his way through rough terrain as well as avoid any obstacles...”
At the mention of his capabilities, Draken’s face lights up with pride as he sticks his nose into the air.
Divus grins and proceeds to pet the Palamute who didn’t expect it and yelps before growling with a warning.
The man didn’t seem intimidated and just grinned smugly.
“I usually don’t let animals in the lab but if your mutt can keep these pups in line then I can make an exception.
Ah, it really is refreshing to have an assistant that actually does their job~! Your next class is with Trein, isn’t it? You best be going now”
Fraena is escorted out of the room and into the hallway before the professor closed the door. She looks to Draken who wore an annoyed look as he tried to use his paw to fix his ruffled fur.
‘Is he really that relieved? Just how many assistants did he have to go through?’ she wondered.
She has seen a fair share of humans and wyverians with a certain beauty to them, Divus himself could give them a run for their zenny.
A lot of them had to deal with people who liked their looks but they can’t do their job? She’s hardly known about incidents like those.
Guess being attractive can be its own disadvantage huh? She can’t help but feel bad for the guy.
Poor guy was trying to work and someone would be pestering him for attention. If it were her, she’d be annoyed too.
‘I need to get to the next class…’
Not wanting to waste any more time, she heads for Trein’s class.
The man was in another classroom and sat at his desk with his cat, not wanting any trouble she has Draken stand guard at the door.
Palicoes and Palamutes usually get along and if they ever fight it’s usually over little things but they get over it quickly.
Lucius is clearly not happy with Draken if he ever so much as put a paw into the classroom.
“Draken, you can go take a walk in the meantime… I won’t be long”
“Huff…”
Though Draken seems a bit anxious to leave his hunter, he didn’t want to start a fight with the weird Palico hissing in his direction.
So, he obediently heads out to wherever his paws take him as Trein starts the class.
Needless to say, Fraena finds the lesson quite confusing because most of the terms being explained are not familiar to her at all. She merely assisted him in handing out course outlines and reference sheets when he tells her to.
Though she did find it a bit rude for some of the students to be getting drowsy. Though she doesn’t have schools back in her world the information was valuable.
Not to mention it was disrespectful to ignore the person whose job it is to educate.
Lucius made sure to remedy that by swiping at their noses, the students comically flinched at the feline. Barely avoiding the sharp claws that would have made red lines on their skin.
If Lucius was too lazy to swat at the students, Trein’s famous glare can send chills down their spines.
It almost seems like he was cursing them with his eyes.
Fraena did feel a bit of shiver herself, reminds her of the time a newbie screwed up and the Elder Fugen was already having a bad day.
Not a pleasant encounter… for the newbie that is.
It wasn’t a very eventful lesson other than taking notes. Fraena never really needed to go to school.
In a world like hers, “schools” are usually just taught in the village by the veteran hunters and the lessons were mostly about the basics and how to wield weapons, crafting among other survival tactics.
And if they had to take notes, it was usually out in the field. Which is a hard thing to manage if you’re spotted by your target.
Most times it ends up with the hunter kissing the floor after getting tackled by monsters.
Placing schools in another area where kids themselves have to venture to, is dangerous. Considering the kind of ecosystem they have, a school like this would never work out.
Once class was over, she had to stay behind to fix the papers and clean out the board.
While she was putting papers away and cleaning chalkboards, Trein made small talk.
“Most of your duties in my class would be to mark papers but… what extent is your education, if I may ask?”
“Well, mostly anatomy but it’s how to find breakable monster parts. There’s a bit of alchemy but it’s just mixing raw materials to make useful items.
That’s about it… I can read and write like everyone else but I doubt I can do that with the different alphabet here…”
Fraena can’t help but feel a bit inadequate, she never had to learn these kinds of subjects before because they weren’t necessary.
“I see, I could teach you a few things if you want…”
“Huh?” she wasn’t expecting that.
Trein’s stern face softened a bit as he pulls out a bunch of handwritten notes and gave them to her. These were all notes on the various subjects!
“I can start tutoring you on weekends if you would like…”
She should take this offer, after all there was no telling when she would be getting back home.
“That would be nice… it’s hard to adjust when everything is so different all of a sudden…”
“You remind me so much of my two daughters, you know” Trein smiles fondly.
“I do?”
She didn’t even know he was married and had children.
“They are strong and proud girls, though they tend to keep their issues to themselves at times, but as a parent I can always tell” he chuckles fondly at the memory.
Seems like his strictness and cold gaze was just his way of showing how he cared about their education, he has a surprisingly soft side to him.
“Though, I am quite curious about your world too. Maybe we could make a deal, in exchange for tutoring you please do tell me about the world you call home.
I just find it fascinating that your world has intelligent cats…”
There was a small hint of amusement in his tone, well he is a cat person after all.
Learning about a world where cats can be the perfect company who can do most things a person could, was practically paradise to him.
Fraena agrees to his terms, who is she to deny the man? Hunters can’t help but melt at the sight of Palicoes. She can admit that Palicoes are kind of the best.
Draken would whine if he heard her say that though.
After Trein’s class, she has a PE class that she needs to overlook with Vargas. Though when she got to the field, she could spot Draken who looked like he was ready to kill someone.
No doubt, someone messed with him.
“What’s the matter, boy?”
“*whines*”
Then she noticed that his fur was fluffier in a messy sense like someone had just given him so many pets that it stuck out.
And from the looks of it, he got a whole lot of affection.
Can she blame them? No, because every hunter loves to give affection to their furry companions.
Who can resist? But this may be too many pets.
Then she heard the loud, booming voice of Vargas. What she saw nearly made her have whiplash.
That man was flying… on a broom of all things?! He noticed her stunned expression the moment he landed.
“What’s the matter? Have my outstanding flying skills made you speechless?”
He flexed his muscled arm in pride.
“H-how do you fly… wh-what is happening?!”
“Oh, it’s natural for anyone to fly using a broom, given that they have enough magic and control. Haha! You should close your gaping maw unless you want to eat flies!”
“F-forgive me, I wasn’t trying to be rude it’s just… back home, people usually took flight on a Flying Wyvern and not a tool for cleaning- oh Gogma-dammit…”
She regrets saying that the moment Vargas’ eyes lit up with excitement at the mention of people riding monsters.
Before she could escape, he puts an arm around her shoulder as he gives her a huge grin.
“You mean to tell me that not only do you hunt monsters… but you also ride them into a glorious battle?!” his eyes were practically sparkling.
“W-well, riders are the ones who ride the monsters and hunters do the, you know… hunting…”
Fraena wants to put a boot in her mouth because Vargas won’t pass up on wanting to hear any more stories about “glorious hunts”.
Thankfully, she is spared momentarily when the students started to pile into the field.
She took notice of how some of them had features of animals, she can’t help but stare.
But she soon realized that she gazed at them for too long when a student with dusty blonde hair and hyena ears looked her way.
Vargas blew his whistle and signaled the students to start lining up on the track field for a good 100-meter run.
Fraena watched as the students ran around the large field. Some quickly succumbed after running a short distance and got Vargas shouting for them to regulate their speed.
While there were others who were running quite a distance before they even worked up a sweat. The majority of those were beastmen, she can guess why.
Even wyverians tend to be more athletic and have better endurance compared to humans.
Vargas calls out to her holding a thermal bag filled to the brim with cold water bottles.
“Hand these out to the kids struggling to run, they look dehydrated. Tsk, tsk, those boys ought to work their muscles more! A little bit of exercise won’t hurt every now and again!”
He flexes his muscles to prove a point, Fraena admits that he’s as buff as Elder Fugen. Just not able to match the height… that little detail is kept to herself.
She motions to Draken who immediately figures out what she needed him to do. Fraena rides on his back as the Palamute ran to the students at the far end of the field.
The same hyena boy was sweating quite a lot after running around almost half of the field, he hears rustling grass nearby and he nearly stumbled at the sight of the Palamute.
He looks to the rider to see it was the lady who was standing next to Vargas earlier.
She tossed him a cold bottle which he immediately takes to drinking about a half-full of its contents before dumping it on himself.
“Man that hits the spot! Nothing beats a cold drink on a hot day, shi shi!”
He turns his attention to the lady and his nose catches a confusing array of scents, he can smell some form of an animal? Or at least he thinks is an animal on her.
But also a bit of blood. Ruggie didn’t realize that he was backing away the moment he got a whiff of it. Fraena thought he was afraid of her Palamute and tried to remedy the awkward situation.
“Oh, no need to be tense. Draken’s just not used to strangers…”
“Grrr….”
“Ah! T-that’s not what I was…”
Before he could try to come up with an explanation, she was already running off to another student who was suffering from this sweltering heat.
Ruggie kept his gaze on her, he’s met his fair share of people who smelled like blood. Usually, they’re troublemakers and street thugs who had a history of violence.
Of course, he and his fellow hyenas fought back with their bone-crushing teeth.
But the thing is... the smell of blood on those thugs can always be traced back to other people.
But this lady… the blood smelled close to a beast of some kind. Nothing like he’s ever smelled before.
It was like the scent of an untamed jungle. Where everything is out to get you and won’t spare you any mercy.
And he can tell just by the way she carries herself that she’s not someone who hunts for the trophy.
More like she was the prey and she fought back whatever tried to devour her.
He felt his fur stand on end at the thought. Seems like the new teacher’s assistant wasn’t someone who lived their version of a “normal” life.
‘That headmaster hired another eccentric one, huh?’ he thought to himself.
He goes back to running his laps, trying to shake the lingering scent off his nose.
A few students got distracted by Fraena riding Draken all over the place which caused Vargas to add pushups to their exercise when they bumped into each other.
He thought they were being ungentlemanly and were gawking at the only female staff in this school.
Vargas won’t allow these boys to disrespect the lady who gained his respect!
After the period ended and almost all of the students were gasping for air while feeling the ache of their sore muscles, Vargas dismissed them. Stating how only a few were able to keep up with the assigned exercises.
This is unacceptable in his view, he reminds the boys that he’ll make sure they’re almost as good as he is so they won’t fall back next time. Most of them shuddered at the thought of having more than just the torment they experienced today.
“Those youngsters think that sitting on the couch and scrolling through their phone is all they need. I’ll show them the awe-inspiring revelation of muscles soon!”
He turns to Fraena with an expression that clearly states that she’ll be held here for more chit-chat.
“By the way, Fraena... I noticed you’re quite muscular yourself though. Considering that you carry around that huge weapon and the fact you hunt down behemoths on the daily…”
‘Oh no… please don’t tell me what I think you’re about to tell me!’
She pleaded to whomever deity was sympathetic enough to hear her cry for help.
But alas… no one answered.
“You’ve got to show me some of those moves, little miss! I’m always open to spar you know, no need to worry about hurting me! I’m built like a tank!”
“A-ah… fine… someday”
Not like she had a choice in the matter. She never really liked sticking around people for too long. She found it awkward despite the reputation she got back in Kamura.
Unfortunately, her small talk and distant attitude contributed to her “coolness” or so the rumor goes.
The moment Vargas gave them an out, the two booked it out of the field faster than a sliding Lagombi.
“Ugh, could this place get any weirder?”
*GRUMBLE*
She paused when her stomach growled, at least she’ll have some sort of familiarity once she goes to the cafeteria. Knowing Meowdame, she’ll whip up some home cooking.
“Let’s go see Meowdame for now…”
“Arf, arf!”
Draken couldn’t agree more, this strange place was starting to stress them out. Some food would remedy that.
Little did she know, that the day was about to get weirder once a certain fire-breathing melynx managed to sneak into campus and is now being chased by two first years, Ace and Deuce.
END
#mhs2 x twisted wonderland#monster hunter stories 2 x twisted wonderland#monster hunter stories 2#fanfiction#dire crowley#mozus trein#divus crewel#ashton vargas#sam#twisted wonderland crossover#ace trappola#deuce spade#ruggie bucchi
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Vellus Aureum -Chapter 1-
An exploration of the concept of Happiness, the different characters pursuits of Happiness, and their refusal to have Happiness for themselves.
"Vellus Aureum" translates to "The Golden Fleece", the item that Jason of the Argonauts believed was the key to his Happiness, the key to getting everything he ever wanted, only to end up spurning the actual key to his Happiness, the gift bestowed upon him by his patron Goddess, Hera.
Ao3 / Google Document
He was sure this time she would say yes. The preparations were all complete. The room in which his father used to make all his designs had been renovated into a sewing room and creative workspace for her, his old room had been separated in two, an office in one half and the half with the adjoining bathroom into a smaller bedroom, and his things had been moved to the master bedroom which he would share with her.
He wasn't asking her to marry him. Just to move in with him. He wanted to show her that he was ready to be the partner she needed, that she could depend on him, and that he was ready and willing to work toward making her dreams come true.
He stood in the doorway of what he hoped would soon be her sewing room, deep in his own thoughts of the future he wanted to share with her, when a voice from behind brought him back to the present.
“Atrociously pink,” Felix scoffed as he came to stand beside him in the doorway. He and his mother had come to stay with him after his father's passing as Aunt Amelie's business could be conducted from anywhere, although she did make frequent trips back to England for business meetings and the like. “I would think an aspiring designer would have better taste.”
Adrien couldn't help but roll his eyes but didn't stop gazing at the room, imagining her hard at work on her newest project. “Well, I'm not the designer. It will look much better once she gets her hands on it.”
“Quite...” Felix responded, raising an inquisitive brow before returning his attention to the stack of papers in his hand. “When will she be arriving, exactly? I have some questions regarding this business venture.”
“Run them by me,” Adrien stated, preparing himself to be bored by talk of bottom lines and financial statements.
“No,” was Felix's flat response.
“No?” He finally turned to face his cousin, raising his own eyebrow in question now. “What do you mean 'No'?”
Clearing his throat, Felix stated as if he was explaining the obvious to a child, “This is a design company and she is the designer. She is the head of this business. The business that you, by the way, dear cousin, asked me to manage. Your answers to these questions would be superfluous.” Misinterpreting Adrien's confused expression, he added, “Superfluous means meaningless. Useless.”
“And you're synonymous with insufferable,” he threw back at him, holding the flattest face he could manage. “And what questions could you possibly have that I can't answer for you?”
“Marketing, advertising, product lines, additional employment,” Felix began listing with a bored tone. “How would she like to advertise? Does she have a design for a logo? Who manages her website and how may I get in contact with them? Would she approve of redesigning said website? Does she have any products ready to market? Does she have previous clients that I need to contact? Does she have models? Seamstresses? Will I be in charge of hiring additional personnel unaccompanied or would she prefer to be present for such things?” He stopped to look at Adrien with an air of superiority, knowing he had made his point, then sighed in exasperation, holding out his hand. “Just... give me her contact information. I will call her myself.”
Adrien stuttered for a moment before giving Felix a hesitant, “... No?”
“How am I to manage a business if I'm not allowed to speak with the owner of said business, Adrien?” He questioned with more than a hint of annoyance.
“Well... you see,” he began, scratching the back of his neck the way he did every time he was off put or nervous. “I kinda... sorta... haven't... told her about it yet.”
Adrien let out a slightly strangled laugh as Felix looked at him as if he'd grown a second head.
“You... you haven't...,” Felix took a deep breath and closed his eyes in order to gather his thoughts and not just outright call his cousin an imbecile. “You had an office and workspace built for her, redesigned half the house for her... and you haven't... told her yet?”
“No, but-”
“Have you even asked her to move in or is that in the air as well?” Felix asked, growing more annoyed by the second.
“Not yet, but-”
“No. Stop,” Felix put his hand up to make him cease speaking. “I am done with this conversation. I'm going to get some tea, eat something, and try to reconcile with the fact that we are related.” When Adrien opened his mouth to respond, Felix immediately silenced him, “No. You have unfinished business to attend to and I am out of patience for your... incompetence sounds more cruel than I intend it to be, but it's the most applicable word I can find at the moment.” He paused in the kitchen doorway before adding with a dismissive wave of his hand, “Off with you now.” before I say anything else I may regret.
“I'm no doctor of pepper, but I feel like you're giving me twenty three flavors of sass right now,” he tossed at the closing door.
He heard Felix's voice carry through the door, “It is only one flavor and most people call it salty.”
Adrien was reluctant to follow orders from Felix, of all people, but had to accept that he was right. It was foolish to build and plan for a life with her without talking to her about it first.
So, full of trepidation, he turned on his heel and walked out the door to face the inevitable.
He had to talk to her about it. He had to finally ask if she would move in with him.
And he had to prepare himself for if she said no.
Once outside with the sun shining on his face, pigeons flying overhead, and the wind tousling his hair, he began walking in the direction of the bakery that she lived above, no longer so sure she would say yes.
As he passed Place du Châtelet, gazing up at the statue of the goddess Victoire atop Fontaine du Palmier, he felt as though she was taunting him. In the upcoming tribulations he was to face, victory was anything but assured.
“Why the sullen and sour face, Adrien?” Plagg asked from the inside pocket of his shirt, trying to sound more mocking than concerned. “Usually, you float on cloud nine all the way to the boulangerie.”
“It's Marinette,” he began, eyes fixed on the ground.
“Marinette?! Why would you be all sad about Marinette?” Plagg exclaimed in surprise. “I thought it would be that obnoxious cousin of yours!”
“While I do agree that Felix can be... abrasive, he means well enough.” It was strange to say it out loud, even knowing it to be true. Felix did have his best interests at heart. It was just the methods he was willing to use and the lengths he was willing to go to that made it difficult for Adrien to really trust him. Well, that and the mischievous 'pranks' he often plays and his refusal to explain the actual intentions of such behavior. “Besides, he's right. I didn't think this through. I rushed into everything like I always do and I'm going to push too hard and she's going to pull back again and-”
“Woah woah woah!” Plagg flew in front of his face to break him out of his spiral. “Just breathe and look at me,” he gestured toward himself while trying to give as reassuring a look as he could manage. “Everything is going to be fine, Adrien. This is Marinette we're talking about. She loves you, you love her, the two of you are sickeningly sweet together. Everything will be fine.”
Once he saw his holder visibly relax and breathe deep, he added, “And I want a fresh baguette to go with my brie... Ooh, and some of that artisanal camembert!”
“Right. You're right, Plagg,” Adrien let out a sigh. “Everything... will be... fine.” He wanted so badly to believe it, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was about to ruin everything.
And what if, this time, she didn't stay?
“I'm always right,” Plagg remarked, replacing his concerned expression with one of smug confidence. “And don't forget my cheese!”
-
“He is overwhelmingly daft,” Felix spoke into the cellphone held by his shoulder as he poured his cup. “Honestly, who rearranges their entire home for a woman without informing said woman?”
“He's afraid to have a conversation with her that could possibly change the status of their relationship,” Kagami's voice came through the line. “And after the fiasco last year, I don't really blame him. Although, I do agree that it was somewhat foolish to put all that work into her business and making a space for her in his home knowing he wouldn't have the courage to ask the question.”
“Oh, please do not remind me,” Felix rolled his eyes, taking a seat at the small table in the kitchen. “I had to deal with him whinging about it for months.” He took a moment to inhale the aroma from his cup before continuing. “How does he expect for this to work if he's afraid to talk to her?”
He heard her giggle before saying, “Like you're afraid of talking to her?”
“We have spoken about this,” he stated through slightly clenched teeth, placing his cup back on its saucer more forcefully than he intended. “I am not afraid. I just know better.”
“Mhm,” she hummed in a tone that clearly conveyed that she did not think he was being sincere. “And by 'know better', you mean building walls like a contractor.”
“I do not believe I appreciate your tone, luv.”
“Good. I've been working on it and I was worried it wouldn't translate without the ability to see my face.”
“Yes, your satire has improved quite well,” Felix responded as evenly as he could muster, taking a sip of tea. “Regardless, I am not building walls. I am maintaining proper boundaries.”
“Of course,” she began with a somewhat playful tone. “Because maintaining walls is what you do after you've built them.”
He pulled the phone away from his ear to glare at it before putting back up to his ear, “Could we focus on my cousin's problem and not mine?”
“So, you admit that you have a problem?” she added as more of a statement of fact than a question.
“My problems are irrelevant to the current situation,” he said with an icy air, staring at the distorted reflection of his visage in his tea. He despised the person he saw looking back at him.
“As much as I know it kills you to watch him struggle,” Kagami's voice broke through his regressive thoughts. “You're going to have to let Adrien handle his own problems. If you solve everything for him all the time, he'll never learn how to do it for himself. You want him to be his own person and be independent, so you're going to need to step back and let him make his own decisions and his own mistakes.”
“I just want him to be happy,” he spoke with more than a hint of melancholy. He knew she was right. He was constantly jumping in to solve Adrien's problems, whether he wanted him to or not. And she was right that, in the long run, it was doing him more harm than good. He had become too dependent on his help. But if one sees someone drowning, are they to just watch and hope they'll learn how to swim before the water takes them?
“His father used to say the same thing.”
“The difference in this instance is that I actually mean his happiness and not my own,” Felix spat back with a bit of bite. “And I am not a terrorist.”
“But you did assist a terrorist,” she interjected frankly. “And there was that one time you snapped the entire population out of existence.”
“I had my reasons,” he grumbled. “And that was one time. I have grown since then and I know better now.”
“I'm not sure that will hold up in court.”
“I am not going to court, luv,” he said with a small chuckle. He knew it was a joke, but playing along made it more fun. “In any case, I was granted Ladybug's complete forgiveness and support. She was quite adamant about that... So adamant that it became proper obnoxious, actually.” He got a warm feeling that made him slightly nauseous thinking back on it. He had hurt her and she still came to his defense. And, what's more, found it in herself to forgive him. His presence on her team had sowed discontent between her and her partner. Discontent that she really couldn't afford with the dangers of her obligations. He felt an immense guilt for it. He wanted to leave. He tried explaining to her that if Chat Noir had a problem with him, a problem which he had every right to have, it would be better if he wasn't there. And he never wanted to be a hero anyway. He wasn't cut out for it. He didn't have the right mentality for it. But, every time he broached the subject, she refused to hear it. And when she gave him that look, like she saw something in him he could never believe was there himself, he couldn't bring himself to fight her on it anymore. She gave him more than he ever deserved and he was indebted at the mercy of her unfathomable kindness and compassion. And that made him feel weak. Like a slave to himself and his emotions.
“You only find it obnoxious because it makes you feel things you didn't consent to feeling,” Kagami commented nonchalantly. He both detested and adored how well she could read him, even when he felt he was being extremely guarded. It was infuriatingly intoxicating.
“If I did not consent to it, it should not be happening,” Felix stated, crossing the arm that wasn't holding the phone in front of himself as he leaned back in his chair to look at the ceiling, no longer wanting to look at the reflection in his cup. “That is just the laws of human decency.”
“Good Afternoon, Felix,” Amelie sang as she came through the door. “What has mummy's special boy looking so dour?”
Felix immediately straightened himself to sit properly and flash a small smile at her. “Good Afternoon, mum. I am doing well,” he hummed happily, hoping it was convincing. “How was your morning?”
He heard Kagami playfully chirp through his phone as his mother spoke of her morning taking business calls and helping Nathalie in the garden, “Mummy's special wittle boy.” She giggled knowing he was glaring again. “Tell her I said hi.”
He rolled his eyes with a soft smile on his face as he relayed the message, “Kagami sends her greetings.”
“Oh, Kagami!” Amelie lit up at the mention. “She's just darling! Will she be joining us for dinner this evening? I feel like it's been forever since I've seen her.”
“She was here last week, mum.”
“That's forever in mum time, dear,” both women said almost in unison causing Felix to uncharacteristically chuckle.
“Kagami, dear,” he began as his laugh died down. “Would it please you to join my mother and I for dinner this evening?” He could see joy fill his mother. She looked as though she was going to start bouncing on her heels in excitement. “I believe mum gravely misses your impeccable wit and grace.”
“I'll be there at six thirty,” Kagami lightheartedly replied, thoroughly entertained by how Felix's whole demeanor always shifts in the presence of his incredibly upbeat mother. “We'll continue our conversation then.”
“Wonderful. See you then, luv,” He spoke warmly before disconnecting the call. He returned his attention to his mother who was impatiently waiting for his response, “She is more than delighted to join us this evening.”
“Marvelous!” she cheered, clasping her hands together, before placing a kiss on his forehead as she moved across the room toward the tea pot to pour herself a cup. Felix smiled as he watched her pour her tea, not into one of the beautifully expensive porcelain cups, but into a misshapen mug he had made for her in grade school. The handle had broken off years ago when he dropped it into the sink basin while trying to help his mother wash the dishes. He had been devastated when it happened, but she said it only made her love it more.
He found it a poignant metaphor for their relationship. They were bonded by pain, by trauma, by the damage that had been inflicted upon them by a monster.
And they were bonded by the love and understanding they found in each other.
He felt guilt for his wish that she could find that love and understanding somewhere else. She deserved to love and be loved in return. She had suffered so much.
It angered him to think of how his grandparents had auctioned her off like cattle to the highest bidder and how she, ever the dutiful and obedient daughter, went along without complaint.
She believed that she would learn to love him, but that never happened. He was too cold, too distant, and too cruel for love to ever blossom in his salted fields. But she had tried. All hope for such feelings died within her the first time she witnessed him gazing upon their child, the first thing to bring her true joy, and he had called him a monster. She had given him a son, an heir, and that man found him monstrous.
She realized she had been sold and married off to a monster who was incapable of love, incapable of understanding. But, ever the dutiful and obedient daughter, she kept up appearances. Appearances were everything in their world.
It had been years since the monster had died and she still wore only black, playing the part of the grieving wife, for a man she never loved for he could never love her. Keeping up the appearance of grief was a shield to keep her parents from, once again, selling her off to another monster. The experience with his father had made her afraid of men, of marriage, of finding happiness outside of being his mother. But she deserved so much more.
She deserved someone who saw their future in her eyes, someone to walk by the Seine with, someone to dance in the rain with, someone to share ice cream with, someone who would hold her close as she slept in their arms, someone she could smile about waking up next to. She deserved love. Real true love.
She deserved to be happy.
“Felix?” a voice reached out for him within the darkness of his thoughts. It took him a moment to shake himself free and focus on his mother's face, etched with concern and kindness. “Dearest, are you sure you're feeling well?” She placed a loving hand on his forehead and cheek to check his temperature, searching his eyes for a reason behind his distance. His eyes widened as she took a step back. She had found the reason. “You shouldn't let him into your head. He's gone. Let him stay that way.”
He wanted to ask why she still allowed his existence to dictate her clothing choices, but could never bring himself to say anything so hurtful to her, so he simply replied, “Yes, mother,” before flashing her a reassuring smile.
His answer seemed to be enough as she quickly returned to her usual cheerful demeanor, talking about her excitement to see Kagami, about her plans for dinner that night, about how happy she was for her son. He politely made chitchat back, laughing with her, sharing in her excitement, giving his thoughts on what they should serve for dinner. Then she asked a question that threw him off balance, “Do you think we could convince Adrien to invite Marinette to join us for dinner as well? I understand that her and Kagami are good friends so I'm sure she wouldn't mind the extra company. And poor Adrien has been wound so tight lately. A nice night in with pleasant company might be exactly what he needs to relax a little.”
“Actually, mum,” he began with some hesitation, trying to choose his words carefully. “Adrien is with Marinette as we speak, but I'm not sure she will be joining us for dinner. She has an... unusually busy schedule.”
“She works too hard,” she spoke with disappointment and sympathy.
“Yes,” he quietly agreed. “She really does...”
-
“And that is why I think it would be a good idea for you to move in with me,” Adrien concluded with an air of cultivated confidence, or that's how he hoped it came across, because under the surface, he was sweating bullets, anxiety filled bullets.
Marinette shifted uncomfortably on the chaise lounge, trying to think of how to respond. Moving in with him would be much too dangerous and make keeping her secret identity much more difficult. As much as she wanted to accept his offer, her duties as Ladybug had to come first. Marinette could be happy after Ladybug recovered the butterfly miraculous.
But would he wait for her? Would it even be fair to ask him to when she couldn't tell him the reason for the wait?
She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Adrien, I-”
“I know, it's really sudden and you don't want to move too fast,” he spoke before she could get her thoughts out. “But you'd have more space to work, and if you're uncomfortable with sharing a room with me, I could bunk with Felix. I'm sure he wouldn't mind.”
“Adrien, as much as I-”
“And I heard that it's not good for your sleep schedule to work in the same place where you sleep,” he continued, gesturing to her creative corner, which was directly under her bed. “This way, your work space and sleep space would be in entirely different areas of the house which should help you get better sleep which will help you have more energy for your projects.”
“While I'm sure that's true, I-”
“And Felix agreed to handle all the business stuff,” he said with a flourished wave of his hand. “So you can focus on being creative.” He looked at her with hope shimmering in his eyes and finally noticed that her eyes were downcast and stormy. “I... I know that there are things,” he took a deep breath to keep his voice from shaking, “that you're not ready to tell me... and it does bother me, but... I'm not going to push it. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or... or pressure you into anything.” He looked up to hold her eyes with his own. “Your secrets are your secrets. Your privacy will not be compromised. I want you to trust me and I understand that trust is earned. I'm just asking for the opportunity to earn it... please.”
There really was no easy way out of this. Saying no at this point would crush him, and after last year, she wasn't sure she could handle causing him so much pain again, even if it was to keep her superhero secrets. And telling him that she was Ladybug was absolutely off the table. She didn't know how, and she didn't want to know how, but Adrien knew Chat Noir and she knew that if she told Adrien that she was Ladybug, Chat Noir would find out. And Chat Noir would truly know that she doesn't love him because of her love for Adrien, and he would get akumatized, and she would have to face him again...
She wasn't sure she'd be able to face him again.
The thought of her partner, her friend, her kitty, broken and crying for her help haunted not only her dreams, but her every waking thought as well.
And the dominoes that lead to that tragic fate start with Adrien finding out who she is.
She would have to be extra careful, she would have to plan some excuses in advance, but every problem has a solution. She could pull this off. It would just take a little more effort. And if it came down to it, she was sure Felix could come up with some cover for her, being that he already knew she was Ladybug and knew how important it was to her to keep it a secret.
She still had some reservations, but had made up her mind, so she nodded her head and uttered a quiet, simple, “Okay.”
“O-okay?” he repeated, not quite believing that she actually agreed.
“Yes,” she said, trying to solidify her answer for him. “You had a lot of good points. It would be good to have a larger work space that is separate from where I sleep and I'm sure that Felix would be a lot of help, giving me more time to focus on my designs... and I'd have more time to spend with you.”
His face lit up with pink dusted cheeks and a smile that couldn't be contained as his entire being buzzed with excitement and radiated joy.
“Yes, okay!” he almost cheered, practically bouncing as he stood. “Um, let me know when you're ready and me and the guys will come over and help you move your things, okay?”
“Okay,” she confirmed with a slight tremble to her voice that she hoped he didn't notice. “I, uh, I should start packing.” She stood and closed the distance between them before anchoring her hands on his shoulders to lift up on her toes high enough to place a small kiss on his lips. “I love you, Adrien.”
“I love you, too,” he almost whispered as he bent down to return her chaste kiss with a slightly more passionate one of his own. “And thank you, Marinette. For everything.”
She watched as the trap door to her room closed behind him before bolting back towards the chaise lounge so fast that the piece of furniture flipped on it's side as she landed across it, causing her face to collide with the hard floor.
“Are you okay, Marinette?” Tikki questioned with a small voice laced with concerned as she appeared from the other side of the lounge.
“I'm not sure, Tikki,” Marinette responded, making no move to peel her face off the floor. “Do you think I made the right decision?”
“What do you think, Marinette?”
“I don't know,” Marinette said, finally pushing herself off the floor and putting the chaise lounge back up right. “I think that I might be putting my secret identity in danger by moving in with him, but I don't think there was a way to say no without telling him that I'm Ladybug anyway. I know that I love him, but I feel like I'm leading him on because I can never fully commit to him the way that he wants. Am I just prolonging the inevitable? He's going to want to get married.”
“Don't you want to marry Adrien?” Tikki asked, making herself comfortable in the crook of Marinette's neck.
“Well, yes, but how am I supposed to make a promise to share our lives when I know that I'm lying to him about half of mine?” Marinette expressed with a mix of conviction and panic. “It just... seems so wrong. I've lied to him about so much already. I... I can't lie to him about that.”
Tikki's eyes filled with sadness as she watched her holder visibly deflate from the weight of her burdens. She lovingly stroked her cheek as she said, “You know, I'll support whatever decisions you make. I trust you and you are a fantastic Ladybug. You'll find the answers.” Marinette turned her head to smile at her before Tikki continued, “I also think you should give yourself the opportunity to be happy. You deserve to be happy, Marinette. I don't want you to miss out on life just because you're Ladybug.”
“I know, Tikki,” Marinette exhaled an exhausted breath, letting her shoulders relax. “Thank you. I appreciate your support. I know I can always count on you.” She gave the small being a peck on the top of her head before collapsing onto the lounge to stare up at her ceiling.
Soon, this wouldn't be her ceiling. Soon, this wouldn't be her room. It was a lot to process and there was a lot to prepare for.
“I'll start packing tomorrow.”
Chapter 2 Preview
#miraculous ladybug#marinette dupain cheng#adrien agreste#felix fathom#kagami tsurugi#amelie graham de vanily#miraculous fanfic#miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir#miraculous#miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir#miraculoustalesofladybugandchatnoir#miraculous fanfiction#mlb fanfic#félix fathom#fanfic#fanfiction#Vellus Aureum#polyamory#this is the first thing I have written in more than ten years#AO3 Link#FanFiction#AO3 Adrienette Plus#Adrienette Plus#R:G#felix graham de vanily#félix graham de vanily#mlb fanfiction
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Hearts of Lust: Chapter 10
Pairing Kim Namjoon X Reader
Genre: Collage!AU, Smut
Word Count: 1.7K
Warning: Cursing, mentions of smut, smut, consumption of alcohol, mentions of violence, violence, crack personality disorders, Chaotic energy.
Summary: College is any young adult's prime years, at least that's what Lee (y/n) and Kim Namjoon thought. The two are infamous for two reasons, by two very different crowds. Among the professors they are picture perfect students with perfect scores, attendance, and image. However, among the student body they're the very essence of lust with amazing bodies, sex appeal, and skill. The two, although strikingly similar, butt heads quite a bit with competitions of everything from grades to who can get a person to drop their pants the fastest. With the two of them ready to conquer the school year it's all a matter of Go Big or Go Home.
Looking down at my laptop I scroll through different pictures of marine wildlife, I sigh and glance down at my sketch book. It had a few ideas of What I wanted to do for the powerpoint, but I didn't know how I wanted to design the leaflet that RM and I would pass out for the presentation, and don't even get me started on what I should do for the 3-D model.
I thumb through a few notes RM jotted down for me to go off of but it only helps so much. I glance over at said man to see him writing down things before scrolling down on his laptop every few minutes.
Looking through different animals and jotting down the name with a vague sketch of it before looking for something new. Looking at the clock on my laptop I see the study hall has only just started.
I drop my pencil before running a hand over my face in frustration. I stand from my seat and stretch before sitting back down. I scroll some more before RM hands me some paper, I scan it to see a list of animals.
I look over at him to see him close his laptop and scoot closer to me. He pulls my laptop closer to him and opens a clean tab before closing my old one. "That list is a food web of the Epipelagic Zone more commonly known as the sunlight zone." He explains.
"So like...If J-Hope was a part of the ocean." I reference, an amused smirk grew on RM's face at my comment but he nodded anyway. "This section is where Coral reefs grow and have a more diverse population of creatures." He continues. "I was thinking we could do Raja Ampat, it's diversity in species is the richest in the world with 1700 different species of reef fish. It's even home to rare marine mammals." He lists.
"Do they have sharks?" I ask looking over his small list of animals, "Whale sharks and black tipped reef sharks." Namjoon answers. I hum with a small smile, "Noona, we should go to the aquarium that should help you get better references than internet pictures," Taehyung says as he pops up behind me and takes up residence on my shoulder.
My eyes widen at the idea, "That would be a good idea," I comment over to RM. He didn't get a chance to say anything as the five other males ran over and piled on top of us screaming at him to agree. RM groans before finally agreeing, "I guess we could go this weekend. We could go tomorrow since it's Friday." He suggests. It didn't take much force for all of us to agree.
I looked through my bag one last time making sure I had everything. I got my wallet, notebook, sketchbook, digital tablet and pen, and a few other small things like band-aids and lipgloss. I pull my hair up in a ponytail adding some last minute touch ups to my make-up while I wait for Yoongi to pick me up.
I hear a honk from outside signaling he's here. I walked outside, but I didn't see Yoongi but Namjoon waiting for me. As I get closer to the car I can see Jungkook and Taehyung sitting in the back.
"Hi there boys," I smile at the two in the back, before looking over at Namjoon. "Jin divided us into groups of four, Since we need to work on a project we got stuck together. He then claimed that we need to take care of our children." He mutters, jabbing his thumb at the two in the back.
The two whine at his comment, further proving his point, before sitting back with a pout. I roll my eyes, "Then what does that make the rest of them?" I scoff, Namjoon shrugged. "I didn't want to ask." He mutters, "Understandable," I muse turning my head to face the two in the back.
I look at them for a minute, Why would Jin think they're our children. "Noona, you're scaring me," Tae spoke up, "Sorry Taetae." I muse before looking forward. "So did you have any ideas on how we should make our way around?' I question before digging out my notebook and pin.
"Somewhat, I made a list of the animals that are from the reef that the aquarium takes care of. We can make our way around the best we can, but I promised Tae and kook an hour for lunch and break." He said and I nodded. "Makes sense we are in charge of them and we will have to drag them around for a while. It's only fair that we give them an hour to do what they want." I agree.
It took ten more minutes before we parked in the aquarium parking lot. When we made our way to the entrance we found Jin, Hoseok, Yoongi, and Jimin. "Look who decided to finally show up." Yoongi scoffs, I flipped him the finger and continued to make my way inside. We each paid for our tickets before we regrouped.
"Okay Jin and I, more like Jin, decided on groups." Namjoon spoke up, "The group you arrived with is the group you're staying with, anyone deemed a child of their respected group is to not wander too far from their group, Anyone deemed a parent or elder of their group is to watch over their respective group. Lunch hour will start at 12:00 and end at 1:00 while free hour will start at 1:00 and end at 2:00." Namjoon announced.
Jungkook raises his hand and Namjoon sighs, "Yes we will go to the gift shop before we leave." He answers, Jungkook's hand falls back down to his side as he flushes red. "Any questions?" Namjoon asks, with no more questions we break off into our groups.
Namjoon and I looked at a map and to our luck the aquarium has an Indonesia section, which makes our job a lot easier. Jungkook and Taehyung bounced from tank to tank as we made our way to that section. Upon reaching it my eyes blew wide at all the colorful reef fish. I took out my digital pad and pen and began to sketch away.
I made a new folder with one section named Fish, thus far the section has five different pages of brightly colored fish. I made a new section and illustrated the different live coral that is said to grow in that environment.
Namjoon sat beside me as he wrote down different things from the information tablet provided in front of the large tanks. I would stop and glance around to see Taehyung and Jungkook jump from tank to tank.
After Namjoon and I are satisfied with this subsection of the area we move on, Taehyung and Jungkook drag us down a large tube that goes through the middle of a large enclosure. My eyes widen as a whale shark swims by. I follow it up and down the tank sketching it as quickly but as detailed as I can.
Once I finished I began a sketch of a black tipped reef shark. Luckily for me it didn't drag me up and down the tunnel like the whale shark did. When we finally moved on we crossed a large glass wall, I looked deep into it and gasped. A manatee, there were no seats so instead I sat on the floor sitting the tablet in my hand.
I draw the lines slowly and smoothly unlike the sharks, I'm so into it I don't hear Namjoon take a seat beside me. I feel him hovering over my shoulder looking at the drawing, "Did you know when pirates and sailors would dock their ships in shallow water or sail through rivers, they would claim to have seen mermaids when in reality they just saw manatees." I whisper softly.
Namjoon shook his head, "Historians claim it's one of the origins of the mermaid myth." I add gently drawing the large tail. "When I was a kid my mom used to take me to this river and told me if I was quiet and waited long enough I would see a mermaid. But when I told kids in my class they would call me stupid because everyone knew mermaids live in the sea." I smile.
"Yoongi always came with me to the library to read about mermaids but, I'm sure he was just there to read about the pirates." I laugh quietly as I color in the manatee. "I guess that's one of the biggest reasons why I like the ocean," I hum, adding in the wrinkles of their skin with a darker gray.
When I look up from my tablet I find Taehyung and Jungkook had joined Namjoon and I on the floor. "Hey Noona I think you would make a pretty mermaid," Taehyung spoke up with a small smile. I huff but a smile that matches his slips onto my lips. I ruffle his hair before saving the picture and standing up.
My back pops from the strain of leaning over my tablet for so long. I stretch out before checking my watch, "It's almost 12:00, let's head over to the café for lunch." I sigh in bliss. Jungkook and Taehyung are quick to bounce to their feet and dash in the direction of the café.
"AISH DON'T RUN TOO FAR WITHOUT US!" Namjoon yells after them as he gets onto his feet. I sigh and stuff my tablet under one arm before taking a hold of Namjoon with the other and dragging him along with me to catch up to the two boys.
By the time we caught up to them they were in the main area deciding which Café they wanted to go to. "Okay," I huff out of breath, "Which one do you want to go to?" I ask. The two boys scan the different Cafes, but eventually they settle on one.
Upon entering the Café we became the center of attention, The two boys who were previously child-like and playful switched their switch and their inner succubus came out. Lustful gazes and sexy smirks in all. Not that they're the only ones, One quick glance at Namjoon and I could tell he's oozing his sexual dominance. I plant a small suggestive smirk on my lips and run a hand through my hair to make it a bit more messy and wild before I cross my arms to push up my breasts.
As we wait in line I can see everyone scoping us out, Some look like they're going to make a move while others whisper amongst themselves about us in their corner. When it came time for us to order the cashier looked visibly flushed and baffled.
I smile at them with a well practiced charmed smile. I lean onto the counter giving a few in the Café a good view of my ass while giving the cashier a good view of my breasts. I smirk as they visibly swallow the lump in their throat.
"What-What can I...What can I get you?" They stutter, "breath darling, we don't bite." I smile calmly, "Not unless you want us to," Namjoon smirks. I shot Namjoon a challenging gaze and he returned it, fine game on.
I bring my hand up to my lips and draw small subtle circles around my lips as I look up at the menu. When I figured out what I wanted I glanced at the cashier, smirking as I saw then gnawing on their lip harshly while they eye my finger and lips.
I slowly lean forward, careful not to knock them out of the trance I put them in. I hear them whine as I slowly pull their lip out from between their teeth, "Now darling if you're willing I'm ready to order." I spoke calmly in a smooth suggestive voice.
The cashier nods their head rapidly, lip once again caught between their teeth. I lean forward and pull it out again, "Darling if you keep biting your lip like that I'll have to give you a real reason to bite onto something," I whisper darkly. I watch completely amused as I watch the poor soul catch themself with the counter to keep themselves from falling to the floor.
"I would like a number three with a lemonade." I order softly before pulling away. I take a step back and watch as the cashier visibly relaxes. "Your move RM," I whisper challengingly, taking a step to the side to watch. The Cashier stiffens as soon as RM steps up to order. This should be fun.
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#kim namjoon smut#kim namjoon x y/n#kim namjoon x you#kim seokjin#kim namjoon x reader#Kim Taehyung#min yoongi#jung hoseok#park jimin#jeon jungkook#ot7#ot7 x reader
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Once trained, they then set the model to explore a different library of 6,000 molecules and it came up with one that had originally been considered only as an anti-diabetes possibility. But when it was then tested against dozens of the most problematic bacterial strains, it was found to work – and to have lower predicted toxicity in humans. In a nice touch, they christened it halicin after the AI in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.This is the kind of work Urbina and his colleagues were doing in their lab – searching for molecules that met two criteria: positive therapeutic possibilities and low toxicity for humans. Their generative model penalised predicted toxicity and rewarded predicted therapeutic activity. Then they were invited to a conference by the Swiss Federal Institute for Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection on tech developments that might have implications for the Chemical/Biological Weapons Convention. The conference organisers wanted a paper on how ML could be misused.
“It’s something we never really thought about before,” recalled Urbina. “But it was just very easy to realise that, as we’re building these machine-learning models to get better and better at predicting toxicity in order to avoid toxicity, all we have to do is sort of flip the switch around and say, ‘You know, instead of going away from toxicity, what if we do go toward toxicity?’”
So they pulled the switch and in the process opened up a nightmarish prospect for humankind. In less than six hours, the model generated 40,000 molecules that scored within the threshold set by the researchers. The machine designed VX and many other known chemical warfare agents, separately confirmed with structures in public chemistry databases. Many new molecules were also designed that looked equally plausible, some of them predicted to be more toxic than publicly known chemical warfare agents. “This was unexpected,” the researchers wrote, “because the datasets we used for training the AI did not include these nerve agents… By inverting the use of our machine-learning models, we had transformed our innocuous generative model from a helpful tool of medicine to a generator of likely deadly molecules.”
Well, I never: AI is very proficient at designing nerve agents | John Naughton | The Guardian
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Croquis tutorial: part 1
How to use a croquis for fashion design
Howdy! Been a while. Today I thought I’d share a tutorial about using a croquis for fashion design. This is one of three croquis-based tutorials I’m working on, which I hope to publish this week.
So: what is a croquis? Sometimes it’s called a fashion template, but the word “croquis” comes from the french word “croquer” meaning “to sketch”. It’s basically a fancy way of saying a sketch of a person. In fashion design, a croquis is a template we draw clothes on top of.
Drawing a whole person every time you get a spark of an idea would be time consuming. So instead, we use Croquis: templates to trace and draw over.
You can find them online, or just use any drawing of a person. I’ll be sharing an easy method of making croquis in my next tutorial.
How to use a croquis
Here’s where I run into problems. I use multimedia paper to draw fashion models, and the ye-olden method of tracing croquis onto your paper, holding it up to a window and tracing lightly, just doesn’t work when your paper’s that thick. Not even my lightboard gets all the way through. So I came up with my own method, which is way easy and can be done on any paper (or even wood or canvas if you’re fancy)
Here’s what you’re gonna need:
-your croquis
-your drawing paper
-a piece of scrap paper — larger than the croquis
-a pencil with an eraser
-pencil sharpener
-Optional: painter’s tape/washi tape, tracing paper, a dead ballpoint pen
So let’s get started!
The first thing you’re going to do is trace the top and bottom of your croquis onto your scrap paper
The next step is my favorite. Just. Scribble it all in. Go ham. You want to fill this in with as much lead as you can. This step takes a while the first time you use this croquis method, but you can re-use this scrap paper to make dozens of croquis.
Once it’s filled in, place the scrap paper face down, with your croquis face-up on top. Tape down if necessary.
I usually place a piece of tracing paper on top but that’s optional, I just like to keep my croquis clean. You could also use a dead ballpoint pen to trace, which keeps it totally clean and works really well.
With a sharpened pencil, trace the croquis. Apply quite a bit of pressure. You want the graphite from the scrap paper to transfer onto the final paper.
When you’re done, lift the paper. You should have a pencil outline of your croquis left behind. Save the scrap paper to be used next time. If you want, you can gently trace the print left behind so you can see it better.
Using the croquis as a guide, draw some clothes. Erase the parts of the body that the clothes cover up.
Finally, trace the rest of the body. Ta-da! Easy peasy.
Now you can ink it, trace it, appreciate it, love it. I won’t judge.
Tag me if you end up using this tutorial, I’d love to see it!! And reminder that if you find this helpful I have a Ko-fi in my pinned.
Have a nice day!!!
❤️Kay
#sewing#fashion#art#fashion design#tutorial#croquis#croquis tutorial#drawing#drawing tutorials#art tutorial
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Linguistics Jobs: Interview with a Research Scientist
This month’s linguistics jobs interview is with Jeff Lilly, a Research Scientist at Cobalt Speech and Language. In this interview, Jeff shares how opportunities in computational linguistics have evolved since he received his degree, and how pursuing his interests in linguistics and computers have influenced his career.
You can find Jeff online on LinkedIn, or on either of his two blogs: druidjournal.net (on nature-centered spirituality) and axonfirings.com (on his fiction projects).
What did you study at university?
I have a BA in Linguistics from UNC-Chapel Hill (1995) and an MA in Linguistics from the University of Maryland, College Park (2000). UMD allowed me to qualify for the masters with two papers, so I did one paper on the lexical semantics of telic verbs and another on the typology of language games.
What is your job?
At Cobalt Speech and Language, it's a small company, so lots of us wear many hats. I design dialogue systems, build natural language understanding models and applications, and perform testing and quality assurance. I'm also in charge of Cobalt's ASR lexicons (the dictionaries we use for our speech systems).
How does your linguistics training help you in your job?
Linguistics is central to what I do, and I'm always trying to find new ways to incorporate linguistic knowledge into our tools. Most people working in speech technology come from a computer science background, so they're unaware of the variety of linguistic theories that can be brought to bear on our work. Any speech technology model is a mix of raw data, effective architecture, and linguistic knowledge; the more of one you have, the less of the others you need. By contributing linguistic knowledge, I can make our models smaller and simpler, and make them faster and easier to train. For example, I built a syllabification module based on Optimality Theory that is critical to our text-to-speech software. It works for any language and never needs to be trained on new data.
What was the transition from university to work like for you?
As I worked on my master's degree, I took as many computer science courses as I could handle. I got extra experience working with databases on the side. I was hired by a small search company shortly after I graduated (helping to build out the WordNet database), working primarily as a linguist, but my experience and classes in databases helped establish my abilities as a coder. When that company failed, I was able to join my next company as a research scientist / computational linguist, and I've been building my programming skill on the job ever since.
Do you have any advice you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?
I guess one thing I had to learn the hard way is that the "real world" evaluates your performance much differently than school does. At school, you can just learn the material, turn in good papers, do well on the exams, and you're golden. But oftentimes on the job, your managers don't know you're doing a good job unless you make yourself visible by speaking up in meetings, offering suggestions, volunteering for tasks, etc. It's often better to try and fail than to keep your head down and play it safe.
Any other thoughts or comments?
When I started out as a linguistics undergrad in 1991, the profession of "computational linguist" barely existed. But I knew I loved linguistics and I was fascinated by computers, so I just tried to follow my passion, hoping that my enthusiasm and hard work would make up for any lack of ability or job prospects. It has not been a smooth ride -- I've worked at almost a dozen companies in the past 20 years, been laid off more than once, had to move across the country multiple times, etc. But I've always gotten to work on fascinating projects with amazing people. For example, I was on the first tiny team to start building Alexa at Amazon in 2011. And I've continued to stretch and grow and learn in ways I'd never imagined. 20 years from now, building on the remarkable recent advances in language modeling, the field will be vastly different. I hope, for example, that there will be opportunities for computational linguists to peel back the layers of a system like GPT-3 and see how it has modeled human language. It's going to be incredibly exciting.
Related interviews:
Interview with a Language Engineer
Interview with a Natural Language Annotation Lead
Interview with a Computational Linguist
Interview with a Learning Scientist
Interview with a Data Scientist
Recent interviews:
Interview with a Language Engineer
Interview with a Natural Language Annotation Lead
Interview with an EMLS/Linguistics instructor & mother of four
Interview with a Performing Artiste and Freelance Editor
Resources:
The full Linguist Jobs Interview List
The Linguist Jobs tag for the most recent interviews
The Linguistics Jobs slide deck (overview, resources and activities)
The Linguistics Jobs Interview series is edited by Martha Tsutsui Billins. Martha is a linguist whose research focuses on the Ryukyuan language Amami Oshima, specifically honourifics and politeness strategies in the context of language endangerment. Martha runs Field Notes, a podcast about linguistic fieldwork.
#linguistics jobs#linguist jobs#research scientist#computational linguistics#computational linguist#linguistics#linguist#careers#jobs#work
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Wanted to go ahead and post this one by itself. Turns out my alcohol markers work a lot better on this kind of paper than I thought they would.
* I felt like redesigning old characters again, and tied it into a story concept of a group of guys staying with four sisters in a lodge and getting to know each other; three of the latter were based on ancient Sailor Moon OCs, while the guys are mostly derived from fan-designs for Robot Masters from Megaman.
Their names, sorted by pairing: Sabina Winter, Elias Calimeras (left-most), Eva, Andrei Stoica (less left), Runa, Kamon Aromdee, (right), Marita, and Tobias Lind (bottom). Note that I imagine only the first and third of these becoming romantic.
* Redesigned the armor for the Archangels, using their leader Michael as a model.
* Despoena and Dorothea are the queens of the Blood Moon and Harvest Moon courts, respectively, and their relationship at the start of SN can best be described as “tenuous”.
* A selection of Sentinels; everyone aside from Elisa received some tweaks.
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A Model Father
A few years ago I wanted to expand my experience as a photographer. Specifically I felt I should work with models instead of the scenery, bugs and flowers I had been photographing for a while.
I found a web site that was a meeting place for artists, performers, photographers and models. I signed up and put some samples of my work in a portfolio on the web page. Within a few days I had responses from three models who lived not too far away.
One girl seemed to be perfect for my first photo shoot. Kristina lived a few blocks away, she was just getting started as a model and she was just 14. We would both be getting our feet wet at the same time. I hoped her youth and inexperience would help to hide my own lack of experience. We arranged to meet early on a Sunday morning and go to New Westminster Quay for our photo shoot since it offered a good variety of backgrounds. She had to be accompanied by a chaperone for the benefit of both of us.
I drove to her home at our agreed time to pick up Kristina and her chaperone who happened to be her father. At the time I was driving a small Mazda which was big enough for me and most other people. It was not designed to hold anyone built like Kristina's dad. He was a biker, the Harley kind with the leathers, the chains, long hair and beard. He was enormous. We spent about 5 minutes squeezing him into the passenger seat. It took him several attempts just to get through the door. His head was touching the roof and the seat was pushed back as far as it could go. Fortunately our destination was only a few minutes away.
Kristina's father was also a photographer and started taking pictures of the scenery and flowers while I was working with his daughter. After an hour or so Kristina suggested we move farther down the Quay to a park she knew about. I thought we better let Biker Dad know about this. We looked around and saw no sign of him. This made me a bit nervous so I started checking all the stores and coffee shops. Eventually we found him having a coffee and reading the paper.
I informed Biker Dad of our plans and waited for his approval. After a short silence he said gruffly, "Yeah, go ahead, I'm walking home". I had to assume he preferred to leave his daughter in the hands of a stranger rather than try to shoe horn himself into my car again.
I did a second shoot with Kristina a few weeks later. We planned on going to a park that was a long drive from home. When I went to pick her up I discovered there would be no chaperone. Biker Dad said, "Have her back by 5 o'clock, she has a babysitting gig".
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week 5 update: jalousie progress (february 2+3, 2024)
[missed this class because I was not feeling well, would've been in group 5 - 5:00pm-6:00pm for discussions]
as I could not attend this class, I sought to seek more inspiration to pull me out of my slump by scrolling through pinterest to find inspiration for 2D and 3D projects.
for 2D, I came across images of:
a folded room like this was the concept I was going for as I thought it fit my theme perfectly --- where it inspired me to make mini versions of these rooms and connect it to "jalousie", specifically the six types as that's what I want to highlight first and eventually progress the other meanings further for different projects, and connect them to make a long folded pamphlet of jealousy rooms with a "jalousie" window framing each. addressing the two merged meanings.
came across a folded window card which helped with making my better prototype. I used red cardstock and cut spaces to mimic the slats and openings of a jalousie window and it worked to get the illusion right, where you can peer though it but not too easily, it's still thick enough where the viewer would have a hard time looking yet still add some slight element of privacy for the silhouettes inside. instead of coloured cardstock, I want to try and stay true to the look of glass slats and try and mimic this look with transparent paper... may need to place an order.
initially, I thought of adding a pop-up element like this for the rooms but the thought of all the precise cuts and folding seemed too elaborate and time consuming if I were to to attempt to create 6+ rooms. I needed a simple solution.
I then came across the term "shadow box" and this was more of what I was thinking of attempting. I think I will stick to the use of silhouettes, possibly illustrate the backgrounds rather than leaving it white to add life to the rooms and the scenarios to be portrayed/represented, and to arrange it in a way where the silhouettes are slightly raised and not flat... maybe using layers or foam stickers?
for 3D, I came across:
references for clay figures
references for the figures' houses if I attempt this first brainstorm attempt.
otherwise I would shift my thoughts to the hanging, chandelier-type but not a lit chandelier more like a kid's mobile type sculpture...?
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Rabinow’s Laws
I downloaded Sidewinder-Creative Missile Development at China Lake by Ron Westrum two years ago. It is about product development, technology, history, and work politics. The book was a fantastic read, and it had an additional gem.
Ron listed three laws (advice) by the famous inventor Jacob Rabinow. One rule was, “If the boss is a dope, everyone under him is (or soon will be) a dope.” I wanted to know more about Jacob and learned he wrote Inventing for Fun and Profit. So, I downloaded that book.
Jacob was an electrical engineer for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the United States Post Office, and a company he started. His book described his life, work, inventions, and marketing. His approach impressed me, and I will keep the book as a reference.
Yet, there was a problem. Jacob’s book only had two more laws, but he described writing 25. Bummer! Finding the rest became a quest worthy of song and drink, leading me to contact Keith Martin, Supervisory Librarian at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He did an extensive search and sent me a copy of the laws. Way to go, Keith!
I thought it would be fun to share the list, but there was a minor problem. Law # 21 had a sexist example. I omitted the example but kept the law.
1) Everything falls with the same velocity for the first six inches.
2) Everything is equally difficult. (Designing a new paper clip or a guided missile).
3) By spending ten times as much, you can cut the time in half, once.
4) Everyone knows that I should have built the second model first.
5) Everyone want’s improvement s without any changes. (Fix it, but don’t change anything.)
6) The ultimate selling price of an item, in large scale production, is twice the cost of its raw materials.
7) As an art develops, the price range always increases in both directions.
8) Things that are done illegally are done efficiently.
9) The opposition to a new idea is directly proportional to its novelty.
10) If you want to be different, you better be good. If you want to make a different product, it better be very good.
11) There are a few correct ways of doing anything, there is an infinite number of wrong ways.
12) If the boss is a dope, everyone under him is (or soon will be) a dope.
13) In judging a manager, the opinion of his or her subordinates is more important than the opinion of his or her superiors.
14) When you have enough money to tell the boss to shove it, you never have to do it.
15) The optimum size of an organization is 35 people.
16) The most efficient conferences are held in corridors.
17) The highest quality of talent that you can find is that which you can get for nothing.
18) To promote inventions (or any art form), just love inventions (or the art form).
19) An idling professional in your employ loses money 20 times faster than he earns it.
20) When a purchaser, who doesn’t know the difference between good technology and garbage, orders “good technology,” he will always get garbage.
21) You can tell a brilliant person that he is an idiot.
22) If you want a 50-50 deal, offer the other party 60 and ask for 40.
23) If you know how the college kids think today, you know how the country will be tomorrow.
24) If you talk a lot, you will say more stupid things than clever things.
25) An invention is often funny because it is like the punch-line of a joke - completely logical and completely unexpected.
26) If I have to be bored, I’d rather be bored at home.
27) A good book is one that states what I have always believed.
I thought there were 25 laws. I guess Jacob added two more. Analyzing the above, rules 4, 26, 27 are first person, rules 3, 10, 14, 17, 19, 23, 24 are second person. Rules 12, 19, 20, 21 are masculine, while rule 13 has both genders. Jacob needed a little editing to remain consistent, but Grammarly and ProWritingAid did not complain too much.
These rules provided great insight, and I refer to them when evaluating a project or needing advice. I was glad to find them all and hope you enjoyed reading them.
You’re the best -Bill
January 24, 2024
Hey book lovers, I published four. Please check them out:
Interviewing Immortality. A dramatic first-person psychological thriller that weaves a tale of intrigue, suspense, and self-confrontation.
Pushed to the Edge of Survival. A drama, romance, and science fiction story about two unlikely people surviving a shipwreck and living with the consequences.
Cable Ties. A slow-burn political thriller that reflects the realities of modern intelligence, law enforcement, department cooperation, and international politics.
Saving Immortality. Continuing in the first-person psychological thriller genre, James Kimble searches for his former captor to answer his life’s questions.
These books are available in soft-cover on Amazon and eBook format everywhere.
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Project review
I haven't done much character design before, coming from more of a fine art background, which involved creating more realistic drawings or abstract pieces. I've really enjoyed the process of creating the characters. I liked doing the research and creating the mood boards. I think it made me realise there is a lot more to creating a character than i had originally thought.
Overall, i'm pleased with the work i have created. I am most proud of the 3D model of the wizard. I think going into the project, i was a little apprehensive about the 3D modelling, as i had no idea how i was going to build a face, let alone a full character. I feel much more confident with Maya now. There were some difficult parts to model, particularly the face and the cloak, but i was able to get some help and pull them off. I've gained more knowledge about how to do UV mapping which has resulted in more interesting textures. The UV mapping did give me some grief as i had a few unusual shapes to texture. Although the texture on the cloak didn't work as well as i had hoped, i think the dirty, mossy texture looks effective. It was a good opportunity to better my Substance Painter skills, which i will continue to use in the future. Looking back only a few months ago to now, i think my 3D skills have much improved.
As for my character line up, i think I've created a variety of characters all with their own roles and archetypes in the parade. I usually prefer drawing pencil on paper, so i thought i would try out drawing my characters digitally which was good to practise, although i may have been able to pull them off better traditionally. I think if i were to start the design process again, maybe i would have made the colouring more simple, block colour with less tonal detail. This then would make doing the turn around a little easier. For some reason i have always found adding colour to black and white sketches difficult. I was a bit concerned i would ruin the designs with colour but they look better than i expected. I still need to find my own character style, which may take time. I like the line up together. I think the characters compliment each other nicely and i think they all link to parade theme in their own way.
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colour
thinking about colour for my poster stumped me, I was falling in love with the black and white, I 50/50 work in colour and black and white because a lot of the time I do just created doodles with a black pen on white paper but I do love colour. I love working in warm tones I see this connection between my artist models work and also my own. I notice a lot of browny pinks within my artist models work. Because a lot of my artist models are working in colour only I feel like I need to explore this road.
I found working in black and white rather than colour physically was more helpful as scanning picks up the contrast better and doesn’t cause any issues with colour changes. By keeping in black and white and digitally changing the colour it keeps the texture noticeable which is important to me.
Looking at all of these together I really loved the black and white one still as it has the most oomph. I then tried to choose a colour favourite and it was the pink brown one. I always seem to go towards this colour connecting to my artist models using this in their work.
I asked a lot of people around me designers and far from it and they all liked the black and white one as it stands out the most, a lot of the colour ones start to get lost.
I thought I need to add colour in somehow, I started to draw digitally on the poster but it looks awful especially as this has to also be a digital hand- in the colour should just not stick.
I came up with an idea that beautiufully contrasts the black and white and brings colour and complements my whole physical process of this poster - the flaps
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Writing based on human experience. Assign writing that relies on student perspective, experience, and cultural capital. This approach aligns with a diversity, equity, and inclusion model of designing writing assignments that could result in the most meaningful analysis and synthesis of information. The instructor is just as likely to learn from their students’ work as the students are. One underlying premise here is that AI will not produce texts with resonant personal perspective; but even if AI can replicate this type of writing, a second premise is that a writing assignment that invites students to share the ways in which their lives intersect with academia will motivate students to write their own papers.
Perhaps the final suggestion in this list harkens back to the “ignorance is bliss” approach, in which instructors hope students write their own papers. I see a difference, though, and suspect students will, too, in that the motivation behind the two methods is different, with the latter seeking ways to evolve and improve the student experience of the assignment.
Method 3: If you can’t beat them, join them
Finally, we have the “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach, in which instructors embrace the reality of AI-written content and work with their students to demystify and deconstruct the textual artifacts AI produces. This approach is best suited to classes that have ample time to perform a rhetorical analysis of AI writing and the expectations and assessments of writing assignments.
Rhetorical analysis. Deconstruct the very act of AI writing. Discuss how AI “learns” to write. What assumptions about good writing are revealed when AI writing is analyzed? What is AI incapable of doing in its writing? Are there writing situations where AI should be more or less trusted? What is the role of the human in generating and proofreading AI text?
Peer review. Conduct a peer review and/or class discussion of AI writing. Analyze what it writes. What content does AI include? What does it not include? How does AI organize its writing? What sentence structures does AI favor? Analyze the style in terms of voice, tone, diction, and syntax. Is there rhythm in AI language? Can the full rhetorical situation be deduced by analyzing an AI text? How could the text better address the rhetorical situation?
Revision. Revise an AI generated text. Aside from correcting factual errors, have students experiment with re-arranging the contents of an AI written piece. Have students expand the paragraphs, combine the sentences, add support, and rewrite conclusions. Use the AI text as a starting point, as an opportunity. Students may find it difficult to improve upon “perfection,” but also may find it easier to revise the writing of a soulless program than that of their peers.
Class presentations. Present a comparison/contrast of AI versus human writing. Without knowing the author, can students tell which text is written by a human and which by AI? Who writes better? Which writing “sounds” better? Compare line-by-line, thesis statements, voice, organization, evidence and support, arguments and logic, overall impact, and persuasiveness of the pieces.
Refinement. Try to make AI refine its writing with a focus on the rhetorical situation. Have students compose several variations of the same prompt to fine tune the result that AI produces. Are there limits to how much we can refine the writing? Are there trade-offs of one element being sacrificed when another is included or enhanced? Have students try to dial in the rhetorical situation by adjusting for audience, purpose, voice, tone, etc. Ultimately, is it easier to have AI write the perfectly appropriate text for a specific situation or to write it on our own?
There is no wrong or right method of addressing the advent of AI in a writing class. Any instructor might employ a variety of these strategies. The ideas presented here are not exhaustive, but are offered to promote thought and add perspective. There is so much more to writing than the act of composing sentences that I do not think we need to fear AI will be the death knell of composition in education.
In fact, AI may encourage a brave new exploration of higher-order thinking skills. There are surely larger conversations to have about the role of composition courses in higher education—and of assessments in all courses—but the argument can be made that AI is a tool and students who learn to use that tool are learning a valuable skill.
In ten years, maybe Skynet will be writing everyone’s five paragraph essays and none of this will matter. Or maybe we’re panicking about another Y2K. AI will certainly still be plugging away in the next generation. We can adjust now to facilitate it doing so hand-in-hand with higher education.
Eric Prochaska taught English for over ten years before pivoting to instructional design. He currently works at Mt. Hood Community College in Oregon, where he helps faculty design online courses and activities.
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Getting My Sell Watches Online For The Best Prices To Work
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Creative Design Development 2
Moving on from our first design development session, I decided to experiment with my mark making, as well as some of my original Martin Parr research images. I collaged these on top of my model template in order to explore how the work produced in the previous session could be translated into interesting shapes or garments for our brand. I really enjoyed this session, as designing garments is quite out of my comfort zone and I found that taking a more abstract approach by collaging and being quite loose and experimental is an effective way to begin thinking about about which elements of my designs could be utilised in the final products.
I feel that the use of different scales and width of line in the final design shown here is effective, as it creates a nice contrast that could be translated onto a number of garments with printed stripes or different sized pleats and sharp angles. However, I feel that the patterns on some of the other designs would be better incorporated in our brand's product. As a group we particularly liked the colours and texture of the first design and thought this could be used as a print on our products or perhaps the packaging. To further my design development, I could have created more variations of the collages I feel were most effective, furthering my experimentation by layering materials other than paper on top of the image or trying 3d elements.
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