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phantompearlsalt · 4 years

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Sour Cherry, Chapter 2

A series of Kuvira x Reader drabbles — each chapter will correspond to a specific scenario. Feel free to follow on AO3!

“When you learn early on in your relationship that Kuvira is into bondage, it doesn’t surprise you in the slightest.

Kuvira naturally carries herself with an impenetrable assertiveness that is difficult to match. You have seen her meet with massively respected political leaders and watched them bend to her will within moments.

When a situation needs to be neutralized, she is not one to compromise. She is more than willing to supplement orders with physical force when needed. She’s partial to the metal strips that line the back and upper arms of her uniform, often using them to subdue combatants and subordinates by temporarily restricting their mobility or vision.

Though within the first few weeks of your relationship, you quickly learn Kuvira is nothing if not creative.”

“Report back in the morning. I have made my offer clear and expect a full concession from the governor by sunrise,” Kuvira orders. Her voice is muffled by the metal door that separates the two rooms and you continue organizing your paperwork in silence.

You hear murmured conversation for a few seconds before the door slides open and Kuvira enters, flanked by Baatar and Bolin who are both stricken with exhaustion. Any other time you would give them a sympathetic smile, but Kuvira is clearly irate and you don’t intend on stoking the flame.

“Update on the latest agreements?” she asks. “I can confirm that all documents from the last three states have been thoroughly reviewed and verified. All relief shipments have been dispatched as of this afternoon and will arrive over the next two days.”

She nods once and firmly sets her hand on your desk. The pens in your case clink together. “Be in our quarters by nightfall,” she says so quietly it probably sounds like an indistinct threat to your colleagues.

The words slip through her barely moving mouth and you nod. “Yes, ma’am.” You struggle to maintain a cool expression for the sake of Baatar and Bolin but internally, you are absolutely cheerful. For a split second, you see the anger in Kuvira’s eyes turn into a visceral lust before settling back to her stony appearance.

She straightens her back without looking at you again, folding her arms behind her back and walking away. Baatar follows suit while Bolin remains a few steps behind, looking at you curiously. You shake your head and cock your chin, indicating he should get moving.

Some things are better left to one’s imagination, you decide.

---

In the evening, you are especially mindful of the time. You make quick work of your remaining documents and file them accordingly. You confirm your meetings for the next day and are just about to walk back to your room when you pause, your hand resting on the heavy metal door.

Kuvira is an absolute stickler for punctuality, particularly when she has predetermined the conditions. But you know what’s waiting for you in your quarters...and you thrill at the prospect of what could unfold if you walk in past the designated hour.

Nothing unacceptable of course — you wouldn’t dare test her poor resolve that deeply. Yet there is something so exhilarating about the image that emerges in your mind, of Kuvira’s sharp jaw clenched in sheer displeasure with her hands curled into fists behind her back.

Oh, the things she’ll do if you show up five minutes late.

So you do.

You take your sweet time folding away your projects and organizing your workspace. You even stop to chat with Zhu Li for a couple of minutes before continuing your way to the room.

As you near the door, you don’t try to cushion the sound of your boots against the floor. You don’t try to hold your breath in an attempt to sneak in. The element of surprise is essentially nonexistent with Kuvira. Especially in moments like these. You know she is waiting for you so there’s no use in attempting to abate her reaction.

You push the door to the side and confidently stride in. Perhaps too confidently because you don’t expect Kuvira to be so near the door. Luckily, you manage to halt before taking the step that would plunge you straight into her chest.

“K-Kuvira...I—” you stammer, mentally cursing as you slide the door shut behind you. You don’t mean to sound so flustered but she’s actually really taken you off guard.

She raises her hand as if to caress your face but stops, the backs of her gloved fingers mere inches from your face. She’s still in full uniform and the fact makes your spine tingle. “I don’t believe I have to remind you what time it is, do I?” she inquires, her voice devoid of any emotion.

Her eyes certainly tell a different story, brimming with indignation.

“No,” you respond defiantly. “I’m perfectly aware of the hour, Kuvira.”

You gasp as her hand clasps around your jaw, roughly pulling you towards her face where she looks down upon you fiercely. “Watch your tone,” she warns, pressing her fingers hard against the bone.

“Not much of a threat if you ask me,” you shoot back provocatively. “So what? What are you going to—” But your voice cuts off as her free hand moves to your neck, clamping around it just enough to quiet you but not enough to hurt. Yet.

“You will not talk back to me,” she hisses, her mouth grazing against your ear. You’ve barely been in the room for five minutes and you can already feel your legs start to tremble beneath you.

“I’ve had to deal with incompetent so-called ‘governors’, subordinates who barely know their way around a simple negotiation, and now I’m faced with this blatant insolence?” she scoffs, nearly spitting the last word.

You’re about to respond when the faint tightening of her hand around your throat makes you sigh. “I’ve had more than enough nonsense today and I’m going to teach you some respect,” she croons. Her hands drop from your body and for a moment, the heat in her eyes dissipates as she inhales deeply and moves several steps away from you.

“Is this okay?” she says quietly. You nod once and look straight into her emerald eyes. “Yes,” you breathe and bring your arms together in front of you. In that instant her eyes glaze over, ravenous, and she throws her arm out so a metal whip is suddenly wrapped around your wrists. It’s cold and digs into your skin but not enough to hurt terribly. Nevertheless, you can’t help the way your body bristles with excitement.

Kuvira’s head tilts to the side, watching you with intrigue as she wraps her hand around the cord and pulls you forward. “Get on the bed,” she commands. Without a word, you release yourself to the tug of the metal and sit on the edge of the mattress.

She pulls the whip away so it flourishes back in its place and uses her boot to push your legs apart, standing between them. “Take your clothes off. Slowly. And don’t stop unless I tell you to.”

You don’t hesitate to settle your hands on the metal belt, unhinging the clasp and placing it on the ground. You push the metal plates off your shoulders and place them next to your belt, making quick work of your boots and socks.

You stop for a moment to look at Kuvira and her chin lifts up. “I didn’t tell you to stop,” she reminds you firmly. Instinctively, you nod and pull your jacket over your shoulders until all you’re left in is a thin camisole and your pants.

“Stop,” she says, just as you move your hands to your hips. “Get on your back and place your hands above your head.”

You gulp and pray to the spirits that it wasn’t as audible as it sounded to your ears, quickly letting your back fall onto the sheets with your arms resting above.

Kuvira appears to grin for a second and suddenly there’s a whirl of movement and something frigid and stiff clamps around your wrists, pushing them together. You peer up and see a metal band twined around your skin.

You look back at Kuvira and she’s leaning over the edge of the bed, her body between your legs. “As lovely a sight as this is...I’m afraid it just won’t suffice, will it?” she asks, rolling her shoulders back and looking down at you dauntingly. You shake your head once and bite your lower lip with anticipation.

Another flurry of motion and suddenly Kuvira’s sword extends out of her left sleeve and she points it just at the base of your neck. An inhale too deep and your skin might graze the edge, so you breathe carefully as you do everything in your power to conceal your arousal.

“This camisole is lovely,” she says wistfully, pressing the blade against the lace trim. “But I can always get you another.” And with that, she slides the blade right down the middle of the fabric, quickly enough that you don't hear anything tear but carefully enough that there is no danger of the metal piercing your skin. With two quick slices, she undoes the tiny straps and finally pulls the silk away.

Her eyes graze over your bare upper body hungrily and you notice your breathing grow unsteady as the blade sinks back into her sleeve, and her hands curl around the waistband of your pants.

“Lift your legs,” she orders and you immediately comply, pushing your hips up with your feet firm on the mattress. Kuvira takes a moment to remove her boots and metal armor, leaving the rest of her uniform on, before slowly pulling the remaining fabric down your legs and resting her knee against the edge of the bed.

Her eyebrow lifts when she notices you have nothing else to remove, your body completely bare. “Somebody was eager,” she observes. “Yes, ma’am,” you respond shakily.

It’s impossible to miss the way Kuvira’s entire body swells with gratification as soon as the word leaves your mouth. With a voluptuous flicker of the eye, she pushes your legs backwards until her hands are holding the backs of your knees in place.

Your arms struggle against the metal restraints and she chuckles once, her expression burgeoning into something absolutely sinful. She turns her face so her lips brush against your calf, pressing her mouth against the bare skin there and making you whimper.

She massages circles into the tense flesh as she murmurs, “Such a shame you disobeyed my orders. I’m afraid that warrants a punishment, don’t you think?” Kuvira shifts slightly so she is facing you again, pulling your leg against her cheek.

You nod once and gasp when her fingers grip your thighs with enough force for it to bruise. “You will address me directly,” she commands.

“Yes, ma’am! Please...I deserve it...” The words fall out as she’s barely finished speaking and something intimidating dances across her expression. Slowly, she removes herself from beneath your legs, stepping away from the bed until she’s back on the ground.

You manage to pull your body up so you can watch her and suddenly a metal strip is hanging just before your mouth. “You don’t get to say another word tonight unless I allow it,” she informs you. You blink twice and the metal is wrapped over your mouth, effectively eliminating any possible sound from breaking through.

Kuvira walks to the right of the bed, observing you intensely and clearly admiring the sight of her metal restraints. “You knowingly went against my explicit instructions. Tonight, I’m going to fuck you until you’re begging for me to stop. But you won’t get to see a thing either.” And with that, a cool piece of metal is laid across your eyes and all you’re left with is the feeling of bed sheets beneath your body.

You hear the rustle of Kuvira’s uniform falling to the ground. Eventually, the mattress dips below you as her body joins yours and the sensation of her bare skin against your own is enough to draw goosebumps. In this state, the slightest feeling of an unannounced touch evokes a conspicuous reaction from you.

Of course, this doesn’t escape her view. “You’re growing awfully sensitive these days,” she chuckles, brushing her fingertips along your arm. “Just the simplest little…” She punctuates her sentence with a kiss beneath your ear, making you squirm against her. “And you’re already melting in my hands.”

There’s a pause and you attempt to even out your breathing, but then Kuvira’s voice is in your ear and the sonorous words make your breath hitch in your nose. “You look absolutely breathtaking this way, you know,” she purrs. “Completely unaware of what I could do to you. Of what could come next.”

You can’t tell when it’s about to happen but Kuvira’s mouth eventually moves to your neck, where she presses a deep kiss before running her tongue along a pulsing vein. “I bet I could make you wet just by staying right here,” she whispers against the damp patch of skin. Her teeth sink into the area just below your ear and you groan loudly, muffled by the metal band.

She soothes the spot with her tongue, slowly rolling it over the faint bite marks while her hands roam your chest. Just as you feel the urgency fading, Kuvira’s mouth latches at the base of your neck, sucking the skin between her teeth. Your body arches against hers and she pushes you down, grabbing you by the hips and forcing you into the mattress.

She pulls away from you with a wet smacking sound, her hand returning to wrap around your neck. A heavy sound buzzes in your throat as her nails dig small crescents into the flesh, pulling downwards so hot, angry streaks appear along your skin. “As delighted as I am watching you squirm from this alone, I won’t give you that satisfaction.”

Kuvira shifts so her body aligns with yours and rests between your legs. Her hands drag along your sides, scraping against the skin while her mouth moves to your breasts. Despite the constraint on your sight, your eyes clench as she carefully hooks her teeth around one nipple. Her other hand rolls your breast against her palm, squeezing enough for you to grunt in pain.

Although you can’t see a thing, you can feel how patient and methodical she’s being. You sense it in the slow drag of a wet tongue along your collarbone, the calculated pinch of fingertips along your breasts, and the dull ache of bruises carefully forming along your neck and shoulders. She wants you to revel in every single sensation, knowing she could stop everything at any moment.

Breathing deeply through your nose, you focus your entire attention to each movement of Kuvira’s hands and body against yours. Every touch against your naked skin is like the sudden strike of a match, burning suddenly and deeply. She bites and scratches her way down your body until she reaches your hips. There’s a soft crinkle of sheets shifting beneath you while her hands push your legs apart and over her shoulders.

Just as you’re resting your heels against her back, her mouth crawls along your inner thighs and you struggle to pant beneath the metal. She peppers kisses against the sensitive skin there and you feel two fingers stroke near the wet heat between your thighs. At this point you wish you could pull her hand there but you push your body towards her face instead.

In an instant, Kuvira’s hands grip your thighs and hold them firmly against her shoulders. “I see you have yet to understand,” she hisses. She scrapes her nails against you and you whine, struggling to keep yourself from moving any further.

“You don’t say a word, see a single thing, or move a muscle unless I allow it,” she reminds you. “I am perfectly willing to drag this out all night. You could orgasm any moment now. I can see how wet you are already — you’re soaking and I haven’t even touched you here yet.” Her face moves closer and you feel her warm breath wash over that throbbing area.

“But I can wait. I can drag it out even longer and make it ache so badly you’ll still feel it as you walk through those halls tomorrow,” she continues. “And what a delight that would be. I bet you wouldn’t even make it ten minutes into our morning assembly without running out to touch yourself in your office.”

Your chest is heaving and you feel your arms throb against the metal links. Kuvira’s just talking for crying out loud and you’re afraid you’ll climax from the image she’s illustrating alone.

“I just don’t have that kind of patience tonight,” she sighs mournfully, stroking a fingertip along the creases of your vulva. You don’t bother holding back the moan that vibrates through the room, your muscles quivering with the force of holding still.

Her finger pulls away slowly and you sigh hard through your nose. There’s a moment of stillness, where you can’t feel Kuvira anywhere except for where your legs rest on her bare back. Your chest is just about to stop heaving when she brings her mouth back to your inner thighs, nipping at the soft skin and your arms instinctively lurch upwards, digging your skin into the clasps around your wrists.

Yelping in discomfort, you push deeper into the bed and can’t help the shivering of your legs as you resist pulling them closer. Kuvira drags a wet line from your hip bone to a spot close to the throbbing, wet area between your thighs, but as she feels your muscles shift under her hands, she pushes away and moves towards your face.

“You are trying so hard...” she exhales amusedly. The fingers on your hip squeeze deep enough to leave marks and you groan, your entire lower body shuddering uncontrollably. As the pressure dissipates, she keeps one hand hooked firmly around your hip-bone while another comes to twine around your neck.

At first she uses a thumb to rub against the blemishes she’s undoubtedly left and within minutes she’s applying just the right amount of tension to make you even wetter. “I don’t think you’re going to hold out much longer,” she sighs. “But it’s not like you really have a say in that.”

She punctuates her sentence with a delicate movement of fingers against your clit and you are unable to stop your legs from spreading wider. Tears brim against the warm metal across your eyes when she pulls away yet again, a sticky fingertip grazing across your thigh.

“You insist on behaving most intransigently this evening,” she says, pressing her finger back between your legs and slowly dragging a finger up the soaking flesh. A moan buzzes low in your throat, causing Kuvira’s hand to tighten so faintly it’s almost imperceptible.

“Let’s see how much you can take then,” she growls, gently rubbing against your clit at a tantalizingly slow pace. Your mind is shattered between focusing on the delicious sensation of those masterful fingers versus holding yourself still and the resulting strain makes you howl against your binding.

Several moments pass as Kuvira increasingly speeds the pace of her fingers, and it catches you off guard when you feel a tip press inside your body. “Is this okay?” she whispers against your cheek. You hate how cool and calm she sounds while she gradually brings you to senseless pieces.

You manage to nod once and instantly keen as her finger fully sinks inside, smoothly pushing in and out for a handful of minutes before a second finger joins. A cacophony of wet sucking sounds join the stifled groans vibrating in your throat and from Kuvira’s mouth.

Her fingers start curling inside you until the tips are touching that lovely spot that makes your body buzz with delirious pleasure. She starts moving her fingers back and forth and in a dizzying circling motion that makes your head fall even heavier against the pillows.

It feels like you are moments away from your peak yet again when leisurely, she pulls her fingers out and rests them on your vulva. You realize it’s probably ideal Kuvira has your mouth clamped shut, lest you subject her to the stream of exasperated profanities currently streaming through your thoughts. You feel your clit swell and throb between your legs, so close to the edge and aching from the denial.

“You’ve gotten close, haven’t you?” she inquires tauntingly. “When I sucked those bruises into your neck, or when I had my tongue right here,” she continues as she trails her finger along your inner thigh. “You look so pretty like this, an absolute mess with just the faintest touch.” The hand that was resting on your throat moves into your hair, winding into the loose locks.

An instance of silence passes before those long, elegant fingers are pressing inside your body again and your body arches upwards and into Kuvira’s. “I’m not that cruel, though,” she whispers. “Go ahead. Let go. You’ve suffered enough.”

Her fingertips press against that spot just hard enough that waves of pleasure pulsate across your nerves, making your toes curl and your legs slam shut, effectively trapping Kuvira’s hand. She uses the pressure to deepen her movements, rubbing side to side while her mouth rests near your ear. “Go on now. Come for me,” she says and you feel your body quake.

A carnal sound emanates from deep in your chest and you feel yourself pouring into Kuvira’s hand, soaking her fingers and her palm. For a moment, you swear your blood has become electricity and you see stars behind your eyelids. You are vaguely aware of the breathless moans that fall from Kuvira’s lips into the air around you.

Your body clenches hard around Kuvira as she guides you out of your climax, her fingers growing slow until she stops altogether. You inhale heavy breaths as she removes her hands from your body and then bends your restraints off.

You instantly start gasping for air through your mouth. For a moment, you fear you’ve forgotten how to open your eyes. But then you feel Kuvira sprinkling reverent kisses across your cheekbone and your eyelids flutter open. Slowly, her blurry image materializes into something more coherent.

Despite the darkness of the room, you can see the faint glistening of sweat on her face. Her hair hangs loose and messy, with strands clinging to her temples. She licks her lips once before leaning down and carefully pressing them against yours.

Before you can even ask, she says, “I’ll run us a bath.” She briefly holds your face between her palms, pressing a kiss to your forehead, before stepping off the bed and offering her hand. You shakily accept the gesture and take a moment to adjust to being on your legs again.

Kuvira wraps some sheets around your bodies as makeshift robes as she walks you to the bathroom. She wastes no time in opening the faucet and filling the tub with warm water that drapes the room with a pleasant film of steam. When the water is ready, she helps you step in first before joining you, sitting behind so your back rests against her chest.

Her hands massage what feels like every part of your body. She starts with your head, moving down to your shoulders and neck, your hands and fingers. She pays special attention to your wrists, holding them tenderly and bringing them to her mouth.

“Are you alright? How was it? How are you feeling?” she asks. You chuckle and lean heavier against her body. “I’m alright. It was fantastic and I feel fantastic. Though more than a bit sore,” you admit bashfully. “You do realize you’ve subjected me to several days of turtlenecks, right? Not even those uniforms will be able to hide these things,” you explain, pointing to the bruises all across your neck.

Kuvira hums behind you, pleased, and merely continues massaging away any remaining aches and tensions in your limbs.

Eventually you return to bed, hair damp, muscles relaxed, with your fingers and toes wonderfully pruney. She’s decided to grab a spare blanket, tossing the soiled sheets to the ground. “A dilemma for future us to deal with,” she says.

You curl up underneath the soft fabric together, and she tucks you close within her arms. Despite the relatively short-lived history of your relationship, she has intimately committed to memory each method of caring for you after such intense...activities. She knows exactly how and why to carry out each act the way she does and it fills you with a glowing sense of security and tenderness.

You lay there in comfortable silence, tranquil in each other’s presence. Kuvira’s hands float up and down your spine before resting somewhere along the middle. You press your lips to her collarbone, smoothing her wet hair behind her ear.

“So about that morning assembly…,” you say drowsily. “Not a chance,” she responds instantly.

You feign disappointment but can’t avoid the grin that spreads on your face. “Worth a shot.”

“Rest now,” she whispers, and within moments you fall asleep to the soothing sound of her leveled breathing.

#kuvira #kuvira/reader #kuvira x reader #kuvira headcanons #kuvira legend of korra #kuvira lok #kuvira tlok #avatar lok #kuvira smut #x reader #mature #18+#sour cherry

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kristallioness · 4 years

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Here's a piece I started work on for pride month last June, in 2019, but left it unfinished since I was exhausted from my internship and barely had time for anything else.. And apparently, I forgot to post my notes / (short) review of "Ruins of the Empire: Part One" as well. TT_TT

BUT, I'm gonna make up for my mistake by posting them at once. I hope you like it! I really loved this trilogy (well, so much that I felt the need to draw these two gay lovebirds, as you can clearly see..). I mean, look at Korra's cute, excited face when Asami kisses her on the cheek in this panel:

She's soooo adorable and in love! (｡◕ヮ◕｡) (They both are.) This scene was practically begging for a redraw, I couldn't help myself. You can read my review under the cut.

Twitter | my art / sketches

Varrick has to schedule a date with his wife.

That subtle handholding between Korra and Asami when Zhu Li greets King Wu. I'm grinning like an idiot and my heart's bursting with joy. That's so sweet!

Please note that Mako's hand isn't in a sling anymore. Kya has done an amazing job. I'm so proud of my lesbian cloudbaby (and so is Katara).

Grandma Yin is still great, she has a portrait of Wu, too.

Wu getting nervous before breaking out in song is a relatable feeling when public speaking.

In the panel where Zhu Li takes over to answer the journalists' questions she seems so beautiful and elegant and intelligent. I love that this trope for women is represented in the Avatar world as being successful in life, especially since she's a rather quiet type of person and a.. conservatively dressing one.. and slightly nerdy-looking, if you will, but she's one badass President.

Besides Irene Koh, the previous author of the "Turf Wars" trilogy, I'd like to thank these authors for also drawing a character wearing a hijab in the background of the panel where Kuvira's war crimes are being read aloud.

I love the world map in President Zhu Li's office and the modest, but cosy interior design.

Korra looks forward to meetings with her, she's so sweet to say that.

How do Korra and Asami look so pretty in every single panel in this comic? (I'm talking about the one where Asami reminds Wu that Kuvira surrendered to Korra.)

Reading this comic reminds me how much I loved Book 4 and all the new characters like Wu and Kuvira and how much I loved this series in general. Gosh, I desperately need a rewatch, it's been 3 4 YEARS!

Aww, poor Bolin! I hope he finds his calling soon.

Korra and Asami are holding hands again, I'm squeeing.

Again.. the handholding when Korra comforts her.

Korra's freaking adorable face when Asami kisses her. I can't handle the cuteness in this panel!

"And let's not forget how she ruined my coronation!" Oh my gosh, Wu, not the best timing! Everyone's expressions / glares are hilarious.

"I promised I'd always have your back Korra. So I'm in." Mako is making me cry, that was his last line in the series. This is so nostalgic and heartwarming!

"We might be working together, but we are not teammates. If you step out of line, or do anything to harm my friends, I won't hesitate to take you down. Do we have an understanding?" This threat reminds me of Katara's talk with Zuko right after he joined them and began his redemption arc.

Republic City's silhouette / landscape is still breathtaking and beautiful.

"Let's go, Wu. It's starting to stink in here." "Sorry, I tooted." Okay, this was pretty funny.

Korra comforting Wu that the United Republic took time to iron out its political kinks. That's really cool she's talking about the history of the fifth nation and its origins. Katara must've taught her so much, being there together with Aang when it all began after all...

I freaking LOVE protective and fierce Asami defending herself and her girlfriend from Kuvira. I mean: "I'm exactly where I want to be-- protecting Korra from YOU. So whatever little game you're playing it's not going to work. You're not going to drive a wedge between me and Korra."

"I've seen what lies at the end of that path-- DEATH AND DESTRUCTION." This is such a powerful line.

Naga is growling as Commander Guan hands in his candidacy, good girl!

Korra's lit up face when she mentions Toph.

We all knew Toph was gonna come back, but we didn't know WHY and now we do and I'm excited!

All in all, I am thrilled to have read this book and to own a copy of it 'cause, exactly like with "Turf Wars", it felt like an actual episode of the series. It was just.. SO.. GOOOOD!

#Korrasami #Korra #Asami Sato #TLOK #Ruins of the Empire #my art #mine #shards of Kristal

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i-am-an-accidental-hipster · 5 years

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Anime and Animation Recommendations (Includes shows I would never recommend, please read the accompanying text)

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: I feel like this is what would happen if the album Clockwork Angels by Rush was turned into anime, but the main character was replaced by two brothers who actually have a personality and an interesting backstory. Essentially, it is a mix of a compelling take on western philosophy from an eastern perspective, good character writing, and FANTASTIC art direction. Characters undergo meaningful development, it has no filler, and it avoids the problem of power creep fairly well. Adding to that its heavy use of Sakuga an minimalist animation, and it is one of my favorite anime of all time.

Mob Psycho 100: Criminally underrated. With a plot borrowed from a japanese web-comic maker who is surprisingly good at making comedy and relatable themes meld seamlessly, and animated by Studio Bones which is basically my favorite studio, this show is absolutely fantastic, to the point at which it competes with ol’ Fullmetal for my favorite anime. Like its sister anime One Punch Man, this show uses VERY heavy use of both Sakuga and minimalist styles of animation, switching between them in a way that is hardly noticeable but also really captures the feel of the situation; it even switches art styles regularly, and the animators are not afraid to try new things, making the show an absolute blast to watch. Despite its comedy focus, the main characters undergo extensive development, sometimes in the span of a single episode, and the combat sections are mesmerizing to look at.

One Punch Man: Really good show, slightly overrated, but mostly deserving of the attention it gets. As someone who was unemployed for a long time, this show really captures the difficulties of someone in that situation. The plot, such as it is, is pretty repetitive by it’s very nature, but it’s animated by Mad House studios, and is basically composed entirely of Sakuga with short spurts of minimalist animation to remind one of the original web comic (you may notice a theme in the anime I like), making it a blast to watch. Would recommend.

Hero Academia: The Naruto of our generation, and it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. The character designs and personalities are all memorable (such that you can actually remember all their names), and basically all of the main cast gets at least some screen time; as a result, it is really easy to remember basically everyone’s names. Because of the memorable character designs, it is no surprise that the fandom is bursting at the seams with shippers, but for the most part it’s non-toxic and results in a lot of pretty good fan art. And of course, as you guessed, it has Sakuga, and makes good use of it. Finally, as an aside, it has one of the best portrayals of a paragon archetype character I have seen in a long time, in the form of All Might. Would recommend, but I really don’t have to because it’s all over the place.

Guerren Lagann: Good animation, good character designs, stupid nonsensical plot. A really fun anime if you turn your brain completely off and just watch the GIANT ROBOT FIGHTS.

Kill la Kill: Good animation, but I can’t stand the character designs and the plot is so physically painful I couldn’t watch past the fourth episode (I only watched in the first place because some idiot on youtube said it had interesting themes, which it does not). Do not recommend.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team: Good anime, but the fanservice is too much for me. Just as I was getting invested in the plot (a treatment of the Gundam war from the perspective of the grunts on the surface), BOOM NAKED BOOBS HERE. No seriously, it came out out of nowhere so suddenly it gave me a heart attack. Mixed feelings on this anime.

Death Note: Good anime. A little melodramatic. I love L, ‘cause he’s basically me but smarter. Would recommend.

Bleach: SO MUCH POTENTIAL WASTED. Season 1 was GREAT, season 2 was ok, and then I couldn’t get past the Bount arc. Would recommend for the sake of the first two seasons.

Attack on Titan: two words: CRIMINALLY OVERRATED. It’s basically edgy trash with little depth or nuance, and a plot that seems ripped from Starship Troopers.

Assassination Classroom: Really good, actually. Well animated, decent character designs, a little weak on character development. Korosensei is my spirit animal (I’m a teacher). Goodness gracious, he embodies everything I want to be in terms of being a teacher, except perhaps his obsession with big boobs. Would recommend.

Psycho-Pass: Very cerebral, very interesting, very mesmerizing, has complex themes. Only downsides are that it’s basically a torture porn during the entire first half of the first season, which means you don’t want to eat before you watch it, and really only the main two protagonists and the main villain have good character designs. Would recommend for those who don’t mind seeing a lot of mutilated bodies and who like complex themes.

Now for shows that look like anime:

Avatar the Last Airbender: No surprise, this is a really good show. Minimal filler, and what filler there is doesn’t feel like filler. Good action, excellent handling of complex themes, good magic system. The plot starts out okay and then ramps up significantly after the season one finale. Where this show really shines, though, is it’s characters, who are almost all memorable and have great voice acting. Better yet, almost all of them get character development. Also a good exploration of eastern philosophy. Would recommend to those three people who haven’t seen it yet.

Legend of Korra: Good action, good art direction, really good animation. Not sure I like most of the characters, though. to be honest, Varrick, Zhu Li, Bumi, and Bo Lin are the only protagonists who I like in this show, besides of course the returning caste from the previous show. Season two was pretty bad, but the plot was very strong for seasons 1, 3, and 4. Some things felt very shoehorned. Almost all the villains were so incredibly compelling that they almost made up for the bland protagonists, and each one represented an individual theme, which was a very nice touch. Kinda screwed up some of the lore and the magic system, though. Mixed feelings on this one.

Dragon Prince: Season 1 was good, introduced a really cool magic system, nice complex themes, and a diverse and likable cast. The down side was that it suffered from some... questionable choices in animation style. Season 2, on the other hand, is... just really, really, really good. It has a good chance of becoming the next Avatar the Last Airbender if it keeps this up. It explores the magic system in fascinating detail, the themes are developed with a depth that rivals that of Korra, the plot has thickened, and the characters have developed significantly in likability and relatability. I highly recommend this one.

Voltron Legedary Defender: Starts out really good with Sakuga all around, kick-ass action scenes, and a decent plot. Unfortunately the shippers infested the fandom to the point where they were actually influencing the direction of the show, and the plot suffered as a result. Over the course of eight season, the show slowly decayed into a hollow shell. Mixed feelings on this one.

Ben 10: Kinda overrated, but still good. A nice watch on day you just want to relax and watch well-animated fights, but don’t expect it to make much sense.

Generator Rex: Criminally underrated. I love all the characters, all the action is great (even if it doesn’t make sense sometimes), animation is pretty good throughout, and it actually has really good technobabble. Honestly, it is my favorite show out of all of the ones on the list, despite its problems, just because of the really cool aesthetic. The main character starts as an obnoxious stereotypical Cartoon Network Protagonist, and develops into my second-favorite depiction of a paragon archetype. All the villains are memorable (even the silly ones). The first season has the best stand-alones (with some absolutely hilarious comedy episodes, dark edgy episodes, and fascinating pieces of science fiction); the second season has a season finale so good it made me cry, and the third season has by far the most interesting plot. I have a recommended watch order if you want to watch it.

Samurai Jack: Minimalist, very stylized, has some kick-ass fight sequences. Each episode has it’s own plot with not much in terms of overlap, but even the minor characters are memorable. My favorite is the Scotsman, but that is really no surprise if you watch the show. The Yin Yang dynamic between Jack and Aku is really interesting in its own right. Would highly recommend.

Teen Titans: Starts out mediocre, quickly gets good by the end of the first season, then ramps up to amazing by whichever season had the Trigon arc. Characters are almost as instantly recognizable as those in Hero Academia, and each one gets character development. It also has some standalone episodes that are almost as good as the standalones in Generator Rex. YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS SHOW.

Young Justice: Very similar to Generator Rex in many way. Memorable characters with good character development, good sci-fi, good action, and a similar season structure. It’s having a new third season right now which, despite the drop in animation quality due to limited funds, still manages to be engaging (especially the Vandal Savage origin episode and the three-episode arc devoted to Cyborg’s origin). Would recommend.

Transformers Animated: Criminally underrated, largely because of its... different animation style which is more like the animation for Teen Titans than the original G1 series, and the fact that they changed a lot of the lore. It has surprisingly complex themes, the voice acting is spot-on, and they do a good job of handling power creep. Though many of the protagonists start out kind of unlikable, they get really good development as the series goes on. By season 3, every single character has become so likable that it becomes legitimately distressing when they get hurt, and they play it to good effect. To give you an idea, when my sister saw the season finale of this show, she had an enormous melt-down at the end when her favorite character died (not telling who). It took three days to calm her down (the only way to do so was to introduce her to the idea of fan-fiction. I HIGHLY recommend this show.

#fullmetal alchemsit brotherhood #anime #young justice #dragon prince #generator rex #my hero academia #mob psycho 100 #transformers #samurai jack

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scriptura-adrepticius · 6 years

Text

A Heart of Ice - Zhu Xingjie

Uncalled for and unrequested, but inspired by Beauty and the Beast, some beautiful fanart I CANNOT FIND, and because Xingjie looks like a prince.

Pairing: Zhu Xingjie x OC/reader

Genre: fluff, angst, royalty!au

Word Count: 7.2k

Zhu Xingjie has a heart of ice, and unbeknownst to you, you’ve been tasked with melting it.

Masterlist

if he looked at me like that i’d melt

Deep in the forest lies a forgotten palace, a forgotten land, a forgotten king. Cursed, he wanders the stone walls, unable to even glimpse the outside world.

The king used to be vain, you see. He was pristine, perfect, his skin pale and smooth, his eyes sharp but charming, his voice sweet and alluring.

He had everything. And that was his trouble.

The king grew up a spoiled child, used to flattery and gifts, unaccustomed to want. Whatever he wanted, he had or would get by whatever means possible. And when his father died and he ascended the throne, his requests only became more and more impossible.

It was a wintry day when the fairy came, disguised as an old woman seeking shelter, to see just how horrid this king truly was.

“Please, just one night, my good king… Please…”

She found out when he ordered her away.

In return, she cursed him. He stared in horror as she began to glow, a brilliant white light rendering him blind.

All the nobles and ladies around him vanished into thin air.

The candles flickered once and went out.

The drapes blew shut and when he ran to open them, the fairy simply laughed. “Young king,” she chuckled, “you would not want to see the sunlight.”

Frozen, the king could only stare at the now-beautiful fairy, who appraised him with a cold smile. “You will live forever as the king with a heart of ice, cursed to never see sunlight until you have learned to love once more. If exposed to the sun, your heart will melt too fast, and your time on earth will be gone.”

The king felt a stabbing in his heart, bringing him to his knees, and he clutched his chest in pain. He felt himself grow colder, saw his skin turn paler, felt the color drain from his face and his lips.

A cruel laugh echoed in the ballroom.

“Farewell, young king, and may we meet again soon.”

. . . . .

It’s cold.

Stupidly, that’s the only thing you can think at the moment. A snowstorm is brewing, and all you can think is that you’re cold.

“Well, I’m not wrong,” you mumble.

The wind is howling in your ears, the snow obscuring your vision. You clutch the reins on Xing harder, huddling down into your cloak as you urge him on. Xing obediently tries, but he can’t see either, and the snow on the ground is impossible.

The sun is nearly down, and the sky is darkening fast. If you stay outside longer, there is no guarantee on how long you can survive. Survival instinct spurs you on, and you doggedly continue with Xing.

It seems like a blessing when you finally see what seems to be a wall through the whirling snow. As you get closer, the wall grows larger, until you can just barely make it out to be a sort of very large house. Xing perks up, as though recognizing the house as a safe haven, and he speeds up slightly, slogging through the deep snow.

“Just a little more,” you encourage, patting his neck, before squinting through the snow to take a good look at the place.

“Oh my god,” you whisper.

It’s not a house.

It’s a palace.

A large, imposing gate - the wall that you saw - rings the grounds in which a tall, stone castle stands. You swallow, looking around nervously. It’s getting dark, and though you aren’t in a blizzard yet, the snowstorm very well might develop into one. So you steel your nerves, jump off of Xing, and lead him forward.

Once at the gate, you pause, unsure of how to get in, as the gate is made of heavy stone and metal. However, it seems you need not worry, because the gates suddenly swing open though not a single person is in sight. You look around suspiciously, but worry for Xing and the strengthening wind push you forward through the gates.

The gates are almost taller than you. Xing could probably just jump over them if he tried. There’d be no way for you to get out.

You shudder, not because of the cold this time, but because of how ominous this all feels.

You wonder if it’s too late to turn back.

A loud neigh jerks you around, the reins ripped from your grasp. Xing suddenly spooks and you shout, trying to calm him down, but he turns, rearing his neck, before running through the gate.

“Xing!” you yell, racing after him, but the gates clang shut right in your face, the loud noise ringing in your ears and rendering you frozen, unable to move.

You gape, stepping forward, but an invisible force repels you, sending you stumbling backwards.

Cold terror settles over you, but you force yourself to breathe deeply and turn around.

“Well, that settles it,” you mumble. With Xing gone, you have no way of going anywhere else. So you continue, hurrying to the doors of the palace as the wind continues to pick up speed.

The large, stone doors open surprisingly easily when you push, looking around for any sign of something living. “Hello?” you call, allowing the doors to close behind you.

There is no reply.

You shiver in the darkness, glancing back at the door. Again, you wonder if it’s too late to leave.

“Hello?” you try again.

Silence.

“Hello.”

A shriek builds up in your throat but you swallow it down, whipping around to see a lantern in the darkness, illuminating the side of someone’s face. A wave of relief and anxiety washes over you, and you bow slightly in their direction.

“I’m sorry for intruding, it’s just the storm outside was getting worse and my horse spooked and left and this was the closest place…” Your words die away when the person - well, the man - gets close enough for you to see his face.

He is striking, handsome, but inhumanly so. Perhaps the right word to describe him is otherworldly.

His skin is pale, so pale it’s nearly white, but not sickly. He stands with an elegant, cool grace you associate with nobles. His coal black hair contrasts sharply with his skin, and on anyone else, the combination would repulse you. However, it just makes him seem more aloof, even further away from you, a mere mortal.

His nose is tilted perfectly, his mouth unsmiling. A severe, wintry coldness seems to emanate from him, making you shiver even more.

But it’s his eyes that truly captivate you. And yet at the same time, they repel you.

They are dark. So dark.

And so, so cold.

“What brings you here, traveler?” he asks, gazing idly as though you are just a bug waiting to be crushed. You swallow, shrinking under his cold gaze, but you make an effort to hold yourself tall.

Your voice is steady when you speak. “I was trying to reach the next town, but I got lost when the snowstorm picked up. This place was the only place I saw, so I… I tried to come here. My horse spooked and ran away, and I have no other place to stay. I ask for your permission, please, to stay for the night. I will leave tomorrow morning.”

That disdainful gaze, that aura of cold, that wintry anger- is it anger? You’re not quite sure- makes you want to run away, but you swallow and stand your ground. “Please,” you plead again. “Just for tonight.”

The cold laugh that the man lets out sends chills up your spine.

“Traveler,” he says, staring directly at you. “I don’t think you understand.”

You take a step back involuntarily. “W-what...” You take a deep breath, steadying yourself. “What don’t I understand?”

There’s a long silence, and you’re about to bolt, blizzard or no, when he speaks.

“Once you enter this palace,” he says slowly, “you cannot leave.”

. . . . .

You jolt awake, panicking when you see that this is not your room. It takes a good thirty seconds for you to remember the events of yesterday, and when you do, you burrow under the thin blanket again.

“Please tell me this is all a dream,” you mumble, poking your head out of the covers once again, holding on to that stupid, vain hope.

Alas, the stone walls of the room shatter that dream. You sigh, kicking the covers away, before padding over to the small closet where you’d stuffed your things last night.

“I hope I brought that extra shirt,” you mutter, swinging the door open.

“What the fuck?!”

The closet is not empty, or even close to empty. Clothing of all types and designs fill the space with a rainbow of color, a stark contrast to the dark stone walls that surround you.

You blink.

You blink again.

You close the door and reopen it.

The clothes are still there.

You close it and open it again.

Everything is still there.

“Is this magic?” you murmur, hesitantly tugging on one of the shirts. To your surprise, it feels solid beneath your fingers, and you pull it out.

Dark blue, with intricate white designs bordering the collar and sleeves. You look between it and the rest of the fabric in the wardrobe.

“Why not?” you finally say, switching your rumpled, scratchy shirt for the new one. The cloth is comfortable and warm against your skin, and you pluck at it in curiosity as your stomach rumbles in hunger.

Food. Right.

You exit the room nervously, peeking around for any signs of the cold man from yesterday. There are none, so you venture out, stepping quietly on the stone floors. After wandering around for a long time, you finally locate what seems to be the dining room. There on a table lies a small assortment of fruits, breads, and other foods.

“Where does this all come from?” you ask yourself, eyeing the food uncertainly. You cautiously pick up an apple and examine it before biting into it.

Well, it tastes fine. You shrug before devouring the rest of the fruit.

“Magic, perhaps,” you murmur. You can’t think of any answer.

Once you finish, you take to wandering again, as there’s nothing better to do. You walk through the halls, taking random turns and opening random doors. You find a lounge, what seems to be a study, a lot of bedrooms, and then you find a library.

The room is large, filled with shelves that are in turn filled top to bottom with books. Mesmerized, you step inside, gazing in wonder at the book-laden shelves.

“Am I in heaven?” you squeak, breathing in the welcoming scent of old books. You pull one book off a shelf, scanning the title eagerly before sitting down to read.

The day passes in this manner, devouring one book and then pulling down another. It’s only when the clock strikes seven that you finally pull yourself from the fictional world to come back to reality.

You carefully mark your place with a scrap of paper, taking the book with you as you attempt to find the dining room again. It takes a good fifteen minutes, but that’s better than the thirty it took you this morning.

Still locked in a slightly dreamy haze, you step inside the room, ready to eat. However, you snap out of it quickly when you see the man from yesterday standing by the table.

Cold.

You shudder.

“You’re late,” he says simply.

You don’t sit down. “I wasn’t aware that there was a set time for dinner,” you reply, eyes flitting back and forth between the table and the door, wondering if you could just skip dinner like you skipped lunch.

“Well, now you are,” he replies indifferently. “Sit.”

You don’t particularly want to, but something tells you that you can’t disobey. So you sit down gingerly, placing the book down next to you. You notice the man’s gaze travel to it, but you ignore it, instead filling your plate.

The meal is uncomfortably silent. You want to talk, but at the same time, you don’t. There is no noise at all save for the sound of chewing and silverware clanking on plates.

“Where does the food come from?” you ask impulsively.

Then you want to throw yourself out the window because Xinyi, what the hell kind of conversation starter is that?

“Magic,” the man replies without even looking up.

You blink slowly.

Okay… so I was actually right.

“You don’t believe me?” he says, raising an eyebrow. You nod vehemently. “I believe you,” you say with conviction.

Well, how else could you explain the clothing and the food? You’re pretty sure he didn’t cook it all himself, at least.

He just raises one eyebrow. You kind of feel like he doesn’t believe you, but what does it matter? So you busy yourself with your food again.

You finish your food in silence, standing up awkwardly. “Uh, where should I put my plate?” You shift your weight from one foot to the other nervously.

“Just leave it,” he replies, standing up as well.

“Magic, huh,” you mumble to yourself, placing the plate down. You pick up your book, ready to leave.

“Xinyi.”

You freeze.

How does he know my name?

“The magic only keeps you from leaving the grounds,” the man continues, looking at you boredly. “You can still go outside.” He begins to walk away.

“How do you know my name?” you demand.

He turns back, a ghost of a smirk tilting his pale lips. “Magic.”

What an annoying jerk-

“And if you must know…” He pushes a lock of hair back, the simple motion rendering you speechless.

“My name is Zhu Xingjie.”

He walks away, leaving you to wonder just how he knew your unspoken question.

. . . . .

“Zhu Xingjie,” you mumble to yourself, wandering through the library. It’s a name that fits him, for some weird reason. You shrug, plucking a few books off the shelves. You’ll read those today.

A peek outside the heavy curtains tells you it’s sunny outside. You remember what Xingjie told you, that you could leave the castle, just not the grounds. You haven’t gone out in some time, so you think why not? and head out.

It’s cold, as expected, and you shiver even with the warm coat wrapped around you. You walk around for a bit, exploring the massive grounds, poking at a few strange statues here and there. They’re creepy, almost gargoyle-like, but interesting.

You find a large tree, and after climbing up the branches, you settle yourself in and continue reading.

Evening comes and you start to get hungry again, even after snacking the whole afternoon, so you reluctantly climb down the tree, shuffling inside the castle with rosy cheeks. You’re not sure if you’ll see Xingjie again, and you don’t really want to, but hunger wins over and you enter the dining room.

Xingjie is there. You don’t particularly care to sit with him for another meal, after they’ve been so awkward this whole week, so when you’re done filling up your plate, you start to walk away.

“You went outside?” he suddenly asks, a strange wistfulness in his tone.

Startled, you nod slightly. “Yes.”

He nods silently, turning back to his own food. You notice his expression turn from a blank face to a frown, but you stay no longer.

That strange display of emotion stays with you. You can’t help wondering why he seemed to have felt the way he did.

Still, what is there you can do about it? It’s hard enough to be in the same room as him- how can you get him to open up to you?

It’s a difficult question, one that you don’t have the answer to.

. . . . .

You decide to start by initiating conversation at meals. But wow, it’s hard.

First of all, you have no idea what to ask.

Second of all, it’s really hard to talk in Xingjie’s chilly presence.

Third of all, he doesn’t want to talk.

A few months drag on this cold manner.

“So what do you do during the day?” you ask one day, forcing yourself to keep the words flowing. It’s hard, and you’re running out of ideas, but you forge on anyway.

If you’re going to spend the rest of your life in this godforsaken place, you might as well get along with the only other person being held captive.

Xingjie looks up uninterestedly. You fight to keep your eyes steady, staring at him, though you want nothing more than to back away into the wall.

It’s not just that he looks scary. He certainly does, in a stupidly handsome way. However, it’s that unreadable expression in his eyes that makes you want to flee.

“Why do you want to know?” he responds, raising a single eyebrow.

Oh my god.

He’s been like this the whole past few months, and you now want to punch the stone wall, despite the fact that you’d probably break your hand.

Scratch that. You want to punch him.

He’s not making this easy at all.

“No particular reason,” you say evenly. “I’m trying to maintain a conversation, and I’m curious.”

He looks at you impassively. “Why do you want to maintain a conversation?”

You squeeze your eyes shut, willing your anger to go away before you throw food in his face. If you threw food, he could probably freeze you right then and there with that apathetic gaze of his.

“Because if I’m supposed to stay here for eternity, I might as well attempt to get along with the only other person being held captive in this godforsaken place,” you snap.

A cold expression passes over his face, and you involuntarily shiver, chills running down your spine.

“You will never know what it feels like to stay here for an eternity,” he says lowly, standing up.

You stare, shrinking slightly under his cold eyes. He walks over slowly, and you scramble to stand. You want to get away, because he’s seriously scaring you, but it’s as though his cold gaze has you frozen in place, unable to move.

He stops in front of you, his face only a foot from yours. You shiver, his cold aura hitting your skin.

Perhaps he really is the embodiment of winter.

“You will never know,” he whispers, his eyes angry and… is that helplessness you see?

His hand comes up, almost as though to grasp your chin, but just as he’s about to touch your skin, he drops it to his side quickly as though he’s just remembered something. Without another word, he stalks out the room.

Your hand comes up, touching the skin where he almost touched you. You shiver when you feel just how cold it is.

. . . . .

The events of last night come back with full force when you wake up the next morning. You groan, shoving your face back into the pillow.

You really don’t want to face Xingjie today.

It’s strange. In that moment where he nearly touched you, you saw so much emotion in his eyes, so much emotion that you’d never seen before.

Perhaps you’re so shocked because you couldn’t even think of him as a human with feelings.

The thought makes you feel really guilty.

Your thoughts turn back to that moment, your hand coming up to touch your chin as you gaze into the mirror. It’s bright red and prickles, though it doesn’t seem to be any worse than that.

“Oh god,” you whisper.

He nearly gave you frostbite from touching you.

Actually, he didn’t even touch you, which makes things even worse.

Is he even human? You feel guilty for thinking that, but it isn’t natural, his ice cold touch. His wintry aura isn’t normal either, as is the pallor of his skin.

You swallow, swinging your legs out of bed to get a closer look in the mirror. The frostbite is mild, alright, but you can already see the blister that’s supposed to form afterwards. You prod at it, wincing in pain.

“He may as well be the embodiment of winter,” you mutter.

You stay in your room the whole day, save for sneaking a couple plates of food out of the kitchen. But by late afternoon, you’re getting antsy, so you set off to the library to find a new book.

You push the door open, only to see him browsing the shelves. He looks over and you stop short, nervous and a little scared.

Xingjie’s eyes narrow, and he walks over, staring at your chin. His hand comes up and you jerk away reflexively before realizing he has gloves on.

“Relax,” he says quietly, though a bit haltingly, as though he isn’t used to speaking with such gentleness. “The gloves will prevent what happened yesterday.”

You relax slightly, allowing him to touch your chin gently. You look anywhere but at him, unsettled yet transfixed by his sudden kindness.

He takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” he says, voice serious. “I lost control of myself. I shouldn’t have done so.”

You swallow, forcing yourself to untense despite your proximity to him. “I have to apologize as well,” you say. “I didn’t know that what I said would affect you so much. I’m sorry.”

“It’s… not your fault,” he says, taking a slight step back. “You didn’t know.”

You want to ask why what you said hurt him so much, why it made him so angry, but the look in his eyes tells you that that is a question for another time. So you swallow your curiosities in favor of nodding.

“It’s not your fault either,” you say. “If someone had said something to anger me, I can assure you that my reaction would have been much more than touching their chin.”

It’s unexpected, what happens next, but Xingjie smiles slightly. Not a smirk. A real smile.

You gape.

“Perhaps,” he replies, “but I also must apologize for being so rude to you over the past few months.”

You make a face. “Let’s put that behind us. It’s fine.”

Xingjie raises an eyebrow, moving over to let you inside. “You certainly let go of things quickly.”

You shrug a little. “I don’t like holding grudges. I forgive, but don’t forget.”

Xingjie nods, looking thoughtful. “Well, I’ll leave you now,” he says. The look in his eyes softens the smallest bit as he bows slightly, about to walk away.

“Wait,” you say, before you even realize you’re speaking. He looks at you, surprised, but you swallow and forge on.

“Please don’t leave on my account,” you say softly. “You don’t need to go.”

Xingjie opens his mouth, staring at you in mild shock. You don’t hear the thoughts echoing through his head, but if you could, you would have heard Why would she want to be in the same room as a monster?

And yet something possesses him to stay.

You smile as he nods slightly and a little awkwardly, then steps back into the room.

. . . . .

Your friendship with Xingjie is tentative at first. The blister on your chin stays for a while, reminding you of just what he can do. It’s hard to relax yourself around him, though you make an effort to do so.

It’s also a little difficult to maintain a friendly relationship with someone whose beauty is so utterly cold and ethereal.

But it happens, bit by bit. Though you don’t see him around much, the castle doesn’t feel so uninviting anymore, and when you do see him, conversation flows. Not very smoothly, but it’s a start, and you find yourself more comfortable around him.

You still have a couple of questions, though. For one thing, besides when he apologized, you’ve never seen Xingjie outside of dinner.

What does he do during the day?

It’s a simple question, one that you should have no problem asking. However, something stops you. It feels like you’re invading his privacy, somehow, like it’s something private for Xingjie and Xingjie only.

And yet you ask anyway, because the scholar within you won’t rest until she gets her answers.

To your surprise, when you ask, Xingjie just kind of looks down. He looks… almost embarrassed.

Embarrassed.

Who knew the almighty ice prince Zhu Xingjie could look embarrassed?

You look at his expression. It’s… cute. You almost coo in amusement.

“I… make music,” he says quietly, barely able to look at you.

You tilt your head, unable to see the reason behind his reaction to his statement. “Music?” you echo.

He nods.

“So you play an instrument?” you ask, leaning forward.

Xingjie hesitates, then nods. “Piano, guitar… basically all of the instruments in the music room.”

You’re too excited to notice his slightly confused expression. “Can I hear you play?” you ask, gazing at him eagerly.

It seems to take a moment before your question registers in his mind, and even then, Xingjie is still a little out of it when he answers. “After dinner,” he promises, and you have to fight to keep the wild grin off of your face.

. . . . .

Xingjie is confused.

Very, very confused.

First of all, why weren’t you… fazed… at all… by the fact that he liked to make music in his free time?

His parents had devoted their entire lives to telling him that his passion for music would take him nowhere, that it was useless, that he had to devote his life to running the kingdom and not to such stupid trivial pursuits. As such, the nobles of the court devoted their lives to telling him the same thing.

Even after his parents died and he became the cold shell he is today, he hesitated to go to music even though nobody could stop him.

All because of that stupid stigma against the arts that he was brought up to believe in.

So when you expressed enthusiasm in his interest, in his music-making, he was shocked. And what shocked him even more so was the genuine delight in your eyes.

In all his years in the court, he’d never seen anyone look at him as genuinely as you did.

When you continued to ask him about playing instruments, he was so lost. He couldn’t believe that anyone was speaking to him like this. Especially a monster like him.

Really, did you just not realize the pure coldness that he emanated? The fact that he was literally a frozen, animated… semi-human?

And then when you asked him if he could play for you… well, Xingjie really can’t explain the slight feeling bumping around his chest. It’s been so long since he really felt something for anything other than his music that he really just doesn’t know how to explain it.

Whatever the feeling is, it isn’t unpleasant.

It’s then that he learns you can play the instrument too, not as well as he but granted, he’s had decades of practice compared to your mere eighteen. It’s then that the feeling grows, filling his chest as he watches you play with your simple grace and charm.

You confuse him so, so much.

And yet… this confusion… it isn’t unwelcome.

Xingjie sighs, getting up abruptly.

He’s never felt like this before, and he’s not sure what to make of it at all.

. . . . .

You lie in bed, still on cloud nine because of the beautiful music this night had given you. Or, more accurately, that Xingjie had given you.

His fingers danced on the instruments, making sounds that were almost too beautiful for your ears. He was talented, sure, but you could see just how much dedication he had to music and how hardworking he had to have been to reach that level.

You turn over, humming one of his melodies quietly. It had been a wonder to watch him play, to watch how he transformed from a cold, awkward being to someone with so much passion.

A smile crosses your lips involuntarily.

It’s like you’re seeing Xingjie in a whole new light now. First he was the cold, unwelcoming prince of the castle. Then he became more like an awkward, shy transfer student from another school.

And now he’s more like the dreamy musician with a passion that’s infectious, that inspires you to do better, to do more.

Your heart thumps, thinking of his bashful smile when you complimented his playing, and you feel yourself reddening slightly.

Who knew such a cold person could make you blush like this?

Really, if there wasn’t so much… mystery… behind Xingjie, and if you knew more about him, you wouldn’t hesitate to say that you could definitely fall in love with him.

But there’s those other questions that continue to prod the back of your brain and force you to stay vigilant and guarded against these feelings in your heart.

Just why is Xingjie here? Why is the castle always so dark, and why are the windows never open? And why is Xingjie so… cold?

. . . . .

Now that you know where Xingjie is during the day, you don’t hesitate to enter the music room quietly, sit in a corner with a book, and read as he fashions new melodies and harmonies that bless your ears with their beauty.

Xingjie doesn’t hesitate to join you in the library either, with him giving you recommendations every now and then. He doesn’t say it, but you have a suspicion that he’s read everything in the library.

Which brings another question to your mind: how long has he been here?

“You look like you’re thinking hard about something.” You start a little, not having noticed that Xingjie’s stopped playing and is now looking at you with slight concern. “Penny for your thoughts?”

You really want to ask the questions you have in mind. But for some reason, you also don’t. It feels like… taboo. You don’t know why, but it’s like you just can’t ask.

So you opt for something else. “What’s the extent of the magic of this place?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, like…” you trail off, trying to put your question into words. “Does everything necessary just… appear? Or is it like if you wish for something, it appears? Or what?”

“If you wish for something within reason, it will appear, I think,” Xingjie confirms. “I haven’t fully tested this magic either, despite-” He stops suddenly, then shakes his head. “Never mind. I just know that after I learned the guitar, I wished for more instruments, and the next day they were here.”

You notice his sudden hesitation and you want to pry further, but you don’t. Silence falls, and unlike other silences you’ve had before, this one is awkward.

Xingjie seems to know that wasn’t the question you wanted to ask.

“So what did you really want to ask?” he says quietly.

Damn, you were right.

You swallow. The air suddenly seems colder, and you shiver involuntarily, scared to verbalize your thoughts.

Fuck it, you think. And you open your mouth to talk.

“What is your connection to this place?”

Xingjie immediately clams up. You can see it. And you feel really bad for making him so uncomfortable, but you also really want answers.

“I…” He starts, then stops.

You’ve never seen this look in his eyes. To you, Xingjie has always been confident, cold, shy, embarrassed, sweet, and so many other things, but never… nervous.

And this expression makes you scared. What could be so bad about your question that the ice prince is now nervous?

“I can’t tell you that,” Xingjie finally says. “I’m bound by the magic of this place. I can’t tell you. At least… not yet.”

You nod slowly, putting down your book. “Then can you tell me why it’s always so dark?” You think for a moment, coming to a sudden realization. “Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you go outside either.”

Xingjie looks even more helpless. “I can’t tell you that either.”

“Okay.” You nod again, feeling awkward. The atmosphere is tense and uncomfortable, and you quickly stand up to leave. “See you, Xingjie.”

“Alright, Xinyi.”

You leave the room hurriedly, eager to escape the tense silence.

. . . . .

A week passes. Then another. And another. And another.

And, slowly but surely, the friendship you’ve built with Xingjie begins to crumble.

It’s your fault, you suppose. If you hadn’t asked those stupid questions, things wouldn’t be this way.

You’re miserable. You never realized just how much you enjoyed your time with Xingjie, how much you enjoyed talking to him.

You never thought you’d feel this empty without him.

It was your decision to stop going to the music room after that tense conversation. You stay in your room or outside for the most part, knowing that you won’t see Xingjie there. Dinner is awful - you’d forgotten how bad the silences used to be.

Without Xingjie, you feel empty and desolate. It’s like he’s become an essential part of your being over the past months, and you’re incomplete without him.

But if you’re miserable, Xingjie feels worse. He doesn’t blame your curiosity - he mostly blames himself for not being able to tell you what you want to know.

If only he could explain why he was so cold, why he couldn’t go outside, why the castle was always dark and how he was bound to this castle.

He sighs, his head in his hands. He’s sitting at the piano, but today, inspiration won’t come to him.

It’s strange. Whenever you were with him, lying quietly in the corner with your book, ideas came naturally to him. Seeing your smile inspired him. You made him feel that strange feeling in his heart, that strange feeling that he couldn’t figure out before… but now he’s pretty sure he knows that it is.

Love. That’s what it is.

Love.

But Xingjie’s afraid. He’s never loved before, for one thing. The only people he’d ever cared about were his three friends, all of whom disappeared when he was eternally bound to suffer here. He’s never felt this raw emotion for another human, this longing for someone that makes him almost physically ache for want of you to be near him.

For another thing, Xingjie has only one shot at getting this right. If you aren’t the one, and Xingjie only mistakenly thinks he’s in love, then things could go very, very wrong. For you and for him.

And the last thing, the scariest thought of all.

What if you don’t love him back?

Xingjie finds it difficult to believe that you could ever care for him in the same way he cares for you. He’s literally subhuman - his heart of ice confirms that.

How could you ever love someone who’s barely human?

The days drag on, with you slipping through his fingers with each passing moment. Xingjie becomes desperate to see you, but even when he does, it’s like there’s a wall between you two. An invisible wall that makes communication more difficult than ever.

It’s killing him. Well, probably not really, since he’s literally immortal and bound to this fucking place until he learns to love. But it really feels like it’s killing him.

And so he makes a decision.

. . . . .

You’re standing, ready to leave the dining room. You cast a glance at Xingjie, who looks conflicted about something.

You turn, but Xingjie’s voice calling your name has you stopping in your tracks. “Xinyi.”

“Yes?” You look back to see Xingjie walking up to you.

“I… um…” Xingjie looks down, then back at you, a slight blush on his face. “Would you dance with me?”

It takes a few seconds for the question to register in your mind.

Dance?

“Here?” you ask, perplexed.

Xingjie quickly shakes his head. “No. In the ballroom.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to tell you something, but in a livelier situation.” Xingjie smiles slightly. “And from my past experience, dancing is livelier than me sitting you down at a table to tell you.”

“But I have nothing to wear,” you say, looking down at your trousers and shirt. They’re undoubtedly nice clothes, but for a dance, you need a dress. Unless Xingjie plans on being unorthodox.

Xingjie laughs a little, a sound you’re glad to hear after so many weeks of silence. “Xinyi, remember that this place is magic?”

You blush. “Right.”

“Go check your closet,” Xingjie says helpfully. “I’ll meet you there.”

With that, he walks around you out the door.

. . . . .

Icy blue silk, white satin gloves, a rose pin in your hair, light blue shoes. You watch your step, doing your best not to trip on the stairs.

It’s with nervousness and anticipation that you walk to the ballroom, hoping that you don’t look a total mess, but all those thoughts fly out of your mind when you see Xingjie.

He looks so, so handsome.

His blue silk shirt matches your dress, as do his white gloves, contrasting with his black pants. His eyes are still as dark and deep as you remembered, but it seems that they’re… twinkling. An expression you’ve never seen before.

“You look very handsome,” you say shyly, taking his outstretched hand.

“And you look very beautiful,” he says back, unable to take his eyes off of your face.

You blush under his gaze, allowing him to lead you inside. “Are we dancing without music?” you ask, looking around at the various instruments leaning against the wall.

“Magic, Xinyi,” Xingjie says, whirling you into position. You attempt to recall the dances you were taught back home, hoping that this won’t be too different.

You look around, startled, as music begins to play. You catch a glimpse of a violin floating in the air before Xingjie is moving, placing his hand on your waist and yours on his shoulder, and clasping the other in his.

“Let’s dance,” he whispers, his cold breath hitting your face. You shiver slightly, but in delight, before following his lead.

It’s strange, awkward almost, to be the only two dancing in this enormous ballroom. But after the first dance, your surroundings melt away, your attention focused only on the man in front of you. And you become comfortable enough to ask the first question.

“So,” you say, “what did you want to tell me?”

Xingjie twirls you under his arm slowly, looking suddenly serious. “You had questions before that I could not answer.”

You nod.

“I’ll answer them now,” he promises, “but don’t interrupt me until I’m done, okay?”

“Okay,” you reply.

There’s a short silence as the music dies, signaling a new song. The opening bars are soft, eerie, and haunting, and you shiver in Xingjie’s grasp.

“I was once a king,” he says, looking into your eyes. “I was vain, selfish, and horrible. I had everything. I wanted for nothing. And if I wanted for something, I would get it. No matter what. In short, I did not love.”

You remain silent, unable to look away.

“One day a fairy came, disguised as an old woman seeking shelter. I refused her.” Horrible pain twists Xingjie’s face and he looks away for a moment to compose himself. “It sounds terrible, but that was the person I was back then.”

You find it a little hard to believe, but seeing the pain in his eyes, you know that he’s telling the truth.

“In return, she cursed me.” Xingjie swallows. “Everyone around me vanished. The lights flickered out. And when I tried to open the drapes… Well, in short, the fairy had cursed my heart. I did not know how to love - my heart was proof of that. So it literally became a heart of ice.” A bitter smile crosses his face. “So I’m not even human. I’m a monster.”

“You’re not a monster,” you say staunchly. “Get that idea out of your head.”

Xingjie laughs a little sadly, adjusting his grip. “Alright, if you say so.

“Anyway, if I went outside,” he continues, “if I saw the sunlight, that ice would melt, and I would live no longer. As long as I remained in the dark, I would live, eternally bound to this castle until I learned to love.”

You nod slowly. Then, unable to restrain yourself, you ask, “But why couldn’t you tell me earlier? Why tell me now?”

A slight smile twists his pale lips. “If I told my story to anyone I did not love, I would die. Immediately, painfully, I don’t know.”

Your heart pounds painfully in your chest as Xingjie stops dancing, the music coming to a rest. It’s so silent in the huge room that you can hear your breathing, shallow and quick.

“You love me?” you finally ask, voice barely a whisper.

“I think I do,” Xingjie replies, his voice equally soft. “Do you love me as well?”

You nod once, twice, three times. “I think I do,” you whisper.

Xingjie’s gloved hand finds its way to your cheek, caressing the skin with his thumb. His touch is cold but dulled by the cloth of his glove, and you revel in the way his hand brushes against your skin, gently pushing away a fallen strand of hair.

You lean closer, cupping his face in your hands. You stare into his eyes, those dark eyes you fell in love with, those dark eyes that hold you captive in place. You are spellbound, feeling his breath ghost across your lips.

“Are you sure you love me? A monster?” he whispers.

“I said, get that idea out of your head.” You glare at him teasingly. “And yes. I am sure.”

And you press your lips to his in a gentle, sweet kiss.

. . . . .

It’s cold.

Xingjie’s lips are so cold.

It repels you and you almost pull away, but you force yourself to come closer, allowing Xingjie’s hands to rest around your waist as you cup his face in your hands. You force yourself to stay pressed against him, against the man you are sure you love.

And then, gradually, his lips become warmer. And warmer. And warmer.

You open your eyes, staring into his, before breaking away.

Where pale, white skin used to be, there is now a hint of pink and color in his cheeks. Your eyes roam his face, seeing pink lips and twinkling eyes.

Is that a tear you see? You reach up, brushing it away with your thumb.

“Xingjie,” you breathe. A tear wells in your eye, threatening to spill down your cheek. “Xingjie.”

“Xinyi,” he whispers, brushing it away.

And then he kisses you again.

Around you, the drapes blow open, the music begins to play again, and chattering begins to fill the room. But you don’t notice, focused only on the man whose heart you have melted.

“I love you,” you sigh against his lips.

He breaks away for just a second, just enough to say, “I love you too.”

#idolproducernet #idol producer #idol producer zhu xingjie #zhu xingjie #fluff #angst #royalty!au #idol producer scenarios #zhu xingjie scenarios #gramarie entertainment #a heart of ice #scriptura-adrepticius

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architectnews · 3 years

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Guilin Lebei Homestay Hotel, Guangxi

Guilin Wanda Cultural Tourism Exhibition Center, Public Building, Chinese Architecture, Images

Guilin Lebei Homestay Hotel in Guangxi

23 Aug 2021

Architects: TengYuan Design Institute Co. Ltd.

Location: Guilin, Guangxi Province, China

Guilin Lebei Homestay Hotel

The project is located in Guilin, Guangxi, a famous scenic tourist city. The climate is mild and pleasant, with lush trees and a small river flowing through the site. The Guilin Lebei Homestay Hotel is located beside a small river. Based on the local climate and environment, creating an immersive accommodation experience close to nature has become the main goal of the design.

The history of the hotel can be traced back to ancient civilization. It is a kind of shelter with a wide view and practicality, while avoiding danger. We applied the concept into the project, enabling visitors to have a closer relationship with nature.

The building is raised to a height of 5 meters. The elevated building is light and interesting and can have the widest view. At the same time, the height of the treehouse is aligned with the tree canopy. Looking out of the window, there are lush trees, giving people the experience of shuttling through the jungle.

There are 13 units, each with different forms, areas, and shapes, with an area of approximately 27 square meters. The main activity area is concentrated on the first floor, and the second floor uses the triangular space to create a crawling space for children to play. For the other apartment types, the children’s bedroom is located on the second floor, with the first floor as the public area and bedroom for adults.

This area is approximately 45 square meters. Indoors, the first and second floors are connected by climbing ladders that allow children to play in the room.

Type B and Type C use an outdoor slide to connect the second floor and the first floor in order to provide a place for children to entertain. Type D has an artificial thatched roof, curved, with a natural feeling. Unit E uses wooden slats as the façade, spliced to form an ellipse in a unique and childlike style.

Along the winding and floating plank roads, you can find the house in different positions. At the same time, the plank road is connected to the second floor of the inn, leading people to the room area. On the plank road, we set up slides, slings, and other entertainment facilities, which are connected to the ground garden vertically and convenient for children to play.

At the same time, there is a leisure space for viewing, allowing people to gaze out and relax among the treetops. The overhead of the trestle bridge and hotel allows the ground floor to escape to the maximum, reducing the impact on the surroundings, and also creating a free panoramic garden. Under the shelter of surrounding buildings and trees, it is also cool and comfortable in summer.

Guilin Lebei Homestay Hotel in Guangxi, China – Building Information

Design: TengYuan Design Institute Co Project Type: Hotel Project location: Guilin, Guangxi Built status: Completed Building area (square meters): 608.01 square meters Owner: Sunac (Beijing) Cultural Tourism Planning Research Institute Co., Ltd. Design time: March 2019-July 2020 Completion time: June 2021 Design unit: aoe project team

Lead Architect: Wen Qun Design Team: Jiahan Liang, Liuqing Liu, Jianxin Li, Ruixue Fan

About aoe aoe is headquartered in Beijing, China, staffed by a team of designers who balance scientific exactitude and creative innovation. Comprised of individuals from an international background, the team provides solutions to modern urban life based on scrupulous in-depth research. The firm’s work includes commercial, complex, cultural, office, hotel, high-end housing, education, planning, and interior design projects in more than 20 provinces and cities in China, with each design project winning the praise of its owners and producing a positive social impact. Its insightful, market-ready designs are a testament to its all-around excellent service. In an era of rapid development, aoe is a vehicle of progress with its vision for human life in cities of the twenty-first century.

Photo: Runzi Zhu

Guilin Lebei Homestay Hotel, Guangxi images / information received 140617

Location: Guilin, Guangxi Province, China

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Website: Guilin

The post Guilin Lebei Homestay Hotel, Guangxi appeared first on e-architect.

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ahhhsami · 6 years

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Spoilers:

Here are my reactions and favorite parts of Turf Wars Part 2. Spoilers under the cut. Spoilers are in the notes too, so don’t click those if you haven’t read it.

It’s in sequential order of the comic:

1. Tenzin accepting Korra and being happy for her. 2. Happy to see a little Kainora as she saves him. :D 3. Bolin is too precious for this world. 4. I like that Lin doesn’t react about Korrasami, but Bolin’s handwriting. 5. Bending Bros are in full force in this comic. 6. Raiko’s still an ass, but at least Wenyan got what he deserved from Korra. 7. It’s officially canon that Asami and Zhu Li are the best together. 8. Raiko calling out Korra’s vacation to turn the people against her. Like damn you held nothing back man. Korra looking at his finger was pretty awesome, lol. 9. Asami and Tenzin standing up for her. Like yes. 10. ZHU LI FOR PRESIDENT!! 11. Asami waving to President Moon... I think my heart skipped a beat. 12. The little touches in the next scene. Like Asami’s hand on Korra’s leg, the close proximity, their fingers lightly touching. Good stuff. 13. Bolin narrating. Like really, too pure for this world. Also Mako sweating when thinking about his exes dating, lol. 14. Bolin turning out to be the bad cop, while Mako’s the good cop. Adorbs. 15. Asami’s always so self aware. Like she’s already reaching for her glove before she even knows what’s happening. 16. Jargala Omo... that is all that needs to be said. 17. That panel with Asami holding the electric glove up, dayum girl. 18. I really like the character design of all the Creeping Crystal members. 19. Zhen makes valid points, but he’s a dick. He gets even worse as the plot unfolds. He is the worst. -_- 20. Did not expect the tentacle arm, but coooooooolllllll. Once again TLOK comes through with a cool villain. 21. Lin doing the earthbending sensor move. It’s so cool every time. 22. Mako risking himself once again to save others. He’s so selfless and has grown so much as a character from Book 1. 23. I didn’t actually see the twist of Wonyong Keum being kidnapped. I truly thought he was working with Tokuga, but obviously not anymore. 24. Korra calling Asami her girlfriend... and her girlfriend being so happy to see her. My heart just got two times bigger. 25. Korra instantly closing the space once Asami tells her about the Creeping Crystals and their visit. 26. Korra was so cute being all protective, but I also love that Asami is confident in her own skills and knows that she doesn’t always need Korra to protect her. Sometimes she just needs her girlfriend. 27. Korra admitting how much she cares for Asami. <3 <3 <3 28. And once again the little touches. Asami’s such a tactile person. 29. Sounds perfect :) 30. Varrick being Varrick, lol. I love the dynamic between him and Zhu Li. Also the fact that he was 1000% in support of his wife. True love my friends. 31. Korra dressed up for her date. And the fact that she instantly knew something was wrong when Asami was late. :*( 32. Bending Bros in full support of Korra, even to the extent of following her blindly. That’s true friendship. 33. Korra likes to kick down doors. It’s her thing. 34. Using the crystals as weapons, well done. Quite aesthetically pleasing. 35. Jargala just being cool once again. I like her so much. 36. Got a nice film noir vibe from the panel when the light is only on Korra’s face when their in the police vehicle again. I dug it. 37. I like that they brought back Kuvira’s weapons. Nice tie in with Book 4. 38. Korra’s utter surprise on her face when she sees Tokuga and her attempts to try to talk him down first. She wouldn’t have done that in the past. She would have gone straight in to fight. 39. I like that Tokuga still uses a hook sword in his normal arm. It’s one of my favorite weapons. 40. The panels when Korra figures out that Tokuga took Asami. My good. Now that hit me in the feels. First the fear and then the intense anger. Wow. 41. AVATAR STATE! 42. Holy shit... guess who’s back. Fucking Zhen and he’s holding a firedagger to Asami’s neck. Yeah, I hate that dude. 43. Korra blaming herself. Like no, poor baby. Don’t do that to yourself. 44. Knowing that I have to wait until June now... not cool. 45. The story was so much better and this is what I’d wanted and had expected from Part 1. Part 1 was definitely for the fans, but Part 2. Now that was some quality stuff for everyone.

#Come talk to me about Turf Wars Part 2!#Turf Wars Part 2 #Turf Wars #spoilers #spoilers under the cut #TLOK #LOK #I probably missed a lot of stuff but these were my reactions on my first read through

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lceylee0826 · 3 years

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Shaping smell

Project Description:

This project made a playful visualisation of transient smells into sculptural forms, examining the world through texture and gesture.

Eventually, this project used the outdoor experience space to attracted audience(Who live busy, urban lives, and lack time to observe surroundings), hoping to change public perception of their own city environment by introducing a new perspective of experiencing familiar surroundings through sensory techniques and cross-modal communication.

Process Video Link - https://youtu.be/ul9L09mTmdM (Click it!!!!!)

Inspiration

In once daily design practice, me and my partner searched for an district in Xu hui, Shanghai and made a ‘smell mapping’.

The range and category of different scents can be clearly seen through the map, however, when I interviewed the people who lived or worked there, they told me that it‘s hard to feel the smell around them. Besides, when I asked them to rank the senses in order of importance, many people ranked the sense of smell last.

Vision in the main sense that how they feel the city and the world.

This inspired me to think wether if I could heighten the sense of smell, so that could encourage people to feel surroundings in a unique perspective?

But firstly, I do some research about the potential of our smell sense.

Research

A ‘YiXi’ speech’ What should we give up when we give up the smell?’ By Zhou Wen

https://www.yixi.tv/speech#/speech/detail?id=556

Through Zhou Wen’s ’YiXi’ speech’ What should we give up when we give up the smell?’ I found some people often overlooked the sense of smell, but smell does have lots of potential and possibilities. (Find spouse, detect diseases and dangers, etc.)

‘Verbeek the historical significance of smell’ By Caor Verbeek

<https://www.ted.com/talks/caro_verbeek_the_historical_significance_of_smell >

“What if we would combine the latest technology with all this more meaningful historical and art historical uses that we can really start to use smell in a much more meaningful way and even without the technology , we can just start now” “They say an image can say more than a thousand words well , I say a smell can say more than a thousand images.” By Caor Verbeek

Scent can help us feel the things around us in a new way, and can enhance our memories, emotions, and experiences.

‘Bee’s’ By Susana Soares

https://www.dezeen.com/2013/11/20/honey-bees-can-be-trained-to-detect-cancer-in-ten-minutes-says-designer-susana-soares/

This project uses bees to sense the smell molecules of cancer.

‘Smell+’ By Auger Ioizaeu

http://www.auger-loizeau.com/projects/smell

This project explores the human experiential potential of the sense of smell, applying contemporary scientific research in a range of domestic and social contexts.

Then I found some artist research about exploring between humans sense and space, I drew inspiration from thesis case studies.

<while nothing happens> By Ernesto Neto

The designer was trying to use a new way to enhance people's experience. He spread difffferent scents into largescale installations. Each corner of the room emitted difffferent flflavors. The sense of smell could help us perceive a space again.

<Small Room Prototype 4> By Walter Pichler

The designer aimed to solve the problem of personalized life between design, architecture and art. He created a small enclosed space in which vision and hearing are magnifified to the extreme. Could we focus on the sense of smell and let people feel the world through smell?

Based on this, I would like to test if the sense of smell is enhanced, can it allow people to reshape the world in another way?

Experiment1

Conducted two experiments，outdoors and indoors.

Collected some representative flavors which belonged to this street and tested them in a closed space. Hoping to explore whether people could better perceive different odors in a closed space and whether they can reconstruct a space with different odors.

Summary:

In a quiet room, people can draw conclusions through analysis. For example, when you continuously smell flowers, coffee, perfume. Most people think this is a shopping mall or office building, and most people use cool colors to describe these flavors.

When smelling different foods, people tend to think of it as a market or a commercial street. Mostly use warm colors to describe.

Experiment 2

Invited the audience to use the sense of smell to explore a street which was unfamiliar to him. Later he would reconstruct the impression of the street based on his smelling experience.

I found people could use color, shape, even 3D model to reshape surroundings through smell.They also told me that visualize smell can strengthen the feeling of things.

It drived me to consider use the method of cross-modal communication to reshape the familiar things and encourage people to feel them again.

‘The Color of Smell’ By Hannah Weise

https://muep.mau.se/bitstream/handle/2043/21031/TP1_HannahWeiser_June2016.pdf?sequence=2

This artist is also doing research on smell, he invited everyone to come and create a unique scent brush with him, which I was attracted very much.

Because the sense of smell is quiet special, abstract. I hope in this project I could include more samples to determine the shape and color of the installation. In ‘The Color of Smell’ By Hannah Weise, he engaged people to draw sketch in order to visualize the smell. Thus I decided to use the methodology of participatory design in this project.

At the same time, I read a lot of literature about the importance of smell sense.

<Sex Differences in Human Olfaction: A Meta-Analysis> By Piotr Sorokowski ,Maciej Karwowski, Michał Misiak, Michalina Konstancja Marczak, Martyna Dziekan, Thomas Hummel and Agnieszka Sorokowska <Relationships between personality traits and attitudes toward the sense of smell> By Han-Seok Seo , Suji Lee a, Sungeun Cho <Research progress on olfactory function in schizophrenia patients> By ZHANG Huijuan，JIN Jin，LI Chunbo

Summary：

The sense of smell affects human behavior:

Environmental Safety：1 Detection of microbial risks (feces/rot/corruption) 2 Non-microbial risks (gas leakage, etc.) 3 Perceived danger

Personal identity：1 stimulate emotions 2 detect age 3 sexual interest spouse selection 4 retain memory

Personal Safety：1 Detecting diseases (Alzheimer's disease/Parkinsonism/Autism/Severe Depression/Mental disorders, etc.) smell may become a standard for early identification of high-risk groups.

<https://yixi.tv/#/speech/detail?id=556> By Zhou Wen

The human sense of smell is not degraded, and the human sense of smell is very powerful. But our sense of smell reaches its peak when we are in our 20s and 30s, and then gradually declines. MHC (HLA) will affect our judgment on the gender of others, so as to make spouse selection. Research has shown that most couples have a large difference in HLA. So when scientists use androstadienone (male hormone) and estrogen (female hormone) to make people judge gender based on their bias. This also proves that when the visual gender cues become blurred, smell can indeed help us to judge the gender of others. Women's olfactory ability>male. Young people's olfactory ability>old people. Women are easy to judge by smell.

<Olfactory disorders and olfactory function test> By Ni Daofeng

In the 1970s, the National Neural and Communication Disorders and Stroke Advisory Committee estimated that 2 million Americans had taste or smell disorders. According to recent statistics, the National Earth Society and the Monell Chemical Sensation Center reported that 1.2% of the 1.5 million participants had permanent anosmia and 62.4% had temporary anosmia. There are no epidemiological data on olfactory disorders in our country, and there are few related studies. Dysosmia has not received enough attention. Patients often do not mention changes in the sense of smell. Doctors often ignore changes in the sense of smell during medical consultations and even medical record writing.

Through these article research，I have come up with the idea B———Use virtual reality to visualization smell, identify the safety of objects. Then I do some other research，mainly focused on smell visualization.

‘DESIGN OF OLFACTORY INFORMATION VISUALIZATION ——OLFACTORY AR WATCH "OWATCH" ’By Yechen Zhu

‘Bioelectronic nose and its application to smell visualization’ By Hwi Jin Ko,Tai Hyun Park

It is very difficult to visualize smell. There are extremely high requirements for professional knowledge, graphic control, and data collection and research.

‘One and Three Chairs’ By Joseph Kosuth

Joseph used three different forms to define a chair. It led me to think to different forms to expressing the same thing to expand people’s experience.

Combine with Sarah Sze‘s Ted talk ’How we experience time and memeory through art ’https://www.sarahsze.com , I learned that memories, and experience brought by real objects cannot be replaced. which made me want to use a physical way to simulate smell.

Finally, I decided to use those two forms: photography and 'smell visualization' installation.

‘Reverse of volume ACG’ By Yasuaki Onishi 2010

The Japanese artist is good at using multi-media to visualize the invisible in the form of a three-dimensional installation.It’s the same direction as I wanted to try.

‘Water Line’ By Maya Lin.

‘Heo’ By Seung Mo Park https://www.seungmopark.com

They’ve inspired me to use materials (Aluminum wire / Hot melt glue gun) to make installations.

’Pixel Forest’ By Pipilotti Rist

https://necsus-ejms.org/confronting-the-screen-pipilotti-rist-pixel-forest-at-the-new-museum/

In order to enhance people's viewing experience and discuss the relationship between people and the screen, designer created a device to isolate the outside world.I am attracted by this form of creating a small isolated space.

When my installation is hidden in a sheltered environment, it may help people to focus on it and let people experience better. Based on it, I'm going to build dark boxes which can contain my smell installations.

Design concept

I decided to build an outdoor experience space that contains 4 smell visualization installations and 4 photographs through all the research. Let the audience actively visit these ‘Smell Models’ naturally and playfully while they could feel the surroundings differently. Besides, they could pay more attention to our smells sense.

Design process

Based on previous interviews, I focused my audience on those who lives busy and lack time to observe the surroundings. I hope to create special experiences to attract them naturally. I communicated with them on the subject of work, stress, and the city environment.

Many office workers (32) told me that it is difficult for them to have time to observe the city in daily life. Thus I decided to set up my installations near a office building and to pick some object that we are usually familiar with. Combined with daily observations, I finally planned the scope of objects into 4 categories：flowers and plants, living organisms (animals), and artificial composites.

Finally, I found 4 representative objects outdoors nearby some offices.(flower, grass, stray cat, half bottle of water)

’What a smell looks like’ By University of Colorado Boulder studies the fIuid mechanics of fragrancesa lab

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/what-a-smell-looks-like

This team’s study showed that the smell looks like 3D figure and will continue to diffuse. From seen this, I will use those shapes to make the installation.

Participatory design

According to previous interviews, I found 4 representative objects from a platform of an office building. (Grass, flowers, stray cat and a half of water bottle). I invited people who work around there to observe and try to draw the smell’s shape and color.

I found that there are some similarities from the sketches. The output will based on these and the artist reference.

Material test & Prototype & Feedback

According to research, I first tested different materials and made a prototype.Then I found that the aluminum can be affected by light and perspective in the dark, thus producing a fIowing effect.

Then I tested the effect of dark box. Besides, I use lights of different colors to change the color of the aluminum wire.

Feedback

1: The dark box should be more prominent, black can easily invisible at night.

2: The dark box needs to be more ergonomic. It can be made deeper, which is convenient for viewing; a special pipe can be added, and the viewing angle can be easily changed without exposing the device; make pillars to support the dark box, because the viewing posture is not very comfortable.

Then I tested which material is better to remain attractive in the dark. In the end I decided to use silver tin foil.It can be recognized in the dark. And silver is more neutral and mysterious.

Also，I adjust the dark boxes.

Final effect of installation

According to research early, I found these 4 representative things outdoor. Then took the photos of them and finally made these special ‘smell installations’.

Half a bottle of water 56cm*28cm

A small grass 54cm*28cm

A stray cat 56cm*30cm

Small flower 36cm*40cm

Sketch

Details

Experience space

My experience space is build on the platform of an office building, where many office workers will be attracted naturally. And I prepared a manual to introduce the concept of this project. But I did not deliberately show it to others, I put it next to the boxes.

Feedback and reflection：

1: The length and material of the pipe need to be tested again. I will measure more samples for data analysis later.

2: The lighting could be more dim, I think dynamic projecter can be added in the future. Installation can also be made more dynamic,(Fans, smoke, etc.) Better materials can be found in future.

3: How these installations can constantly stay? I will consider to use interactive website and digital 3D model (interactive website/3D model) to have a better connect with audience.

4: From the environmental point of view combined with the broken window theory, although this is a temporary outdoor exhibition, is there a better location and props to choose? And how to collect user feedback more naturally rather than through interviews.

Bibliography：

1: ‘Research progress on olfactory function in schizophrenia patients‘ By Zhang Huijuan, JIN Jin, LI Chunbo.

2: ‘Bioelectronic nose and its application to smell visualization‘ By Hwi Jin Ko, Tai Hyun Park.

3: ‘Smelling Shapes: Crossmodal Correspondences Between Odors and Shapes‘ By Grant Hanson-Vaux, Anne-Sylvie Crisinel, Charles Spence.

4: ‘The Color of Smell A cross-modal interactive installation for individual expression‘ By Hannah Weiser.

5: ‘https://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization‘ By David McCandless.

6: ‘https://www.ediblegeography.com/smell-designing-sheffield/’ By Victoria Henshaw.

7: ‘Design with smel:Practices, Techniques and ChallengesEdited‘ By Victoria Henshaw, Kate McLean, Dominic Medway, Chris Perkins and Gary Warnaby.

Thank you for watching

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ourimpavidheroine · 7 years

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I was commenting to @marezelle that Baatar Beifong Jr did some sort of miracle genius thing to build that Colossus and its weapon.

Well, sure, he’s a smart dude, but Varrick’s the real genius, right?

Au contraire mon frère.

So let’s break this down, shall we? (And for the record, if you are looking for the cool science part of all of this, then head right over and read this brilliant post about it. Me, I’m just talking about the time and smarts involved.)

First off, we know that it was Varrick (or Zhu Li) who built the mecha suits for Kuvira and her Earth Empire troops. I’m not giving him a lot of credit for that, however, because he’s just building off of Hiroshi Sato at this point.

Let’s start with The Battle of Zaofu. In this episode Kuvira actually takes Zaofu; she also gives the orders for the platinum domes to be dismantled. Su and her family (sans Opal) are imprisoned by Kuvira. Varrick is considered a traitor and is forced to continue working on stabilizing the spirit vine energy, which he hasn’t figured out yet. Kuvira wants it stabilized so she can build a weapon out of it; Varrick disagrees and as part of his escape blows up all of his research. That being said, Junior immediately picks up on what he was doing when Varrick shows it to him and assures Kuvira that he can not only replicate Varrick’s work but also fix it in order to get the weapon ready to go. He does this just by looking at what Varrick was doing. Not by looking at the plans. Not by getting a physical run through of his work by Varrick, who refuses to actually help him out. Nope. He looks at the machine that Varrick has built and, right then and there, not only figures out what is going on but also figures out what went wrong and how to fix it.

(I also have some pretty strong beliefs about Zhu Li being the brains behind Varrick and how it is she that does all of the actual work while he just swaggers around shooting off his mouth, but that’s neither here nor there when talking about Junior’s smarts.)

So at this point, we know that:

They haven’t even started to build the Colossus because they need the platinum from the domes for that (I’m going on the assumption that he had already designed it, however; thus why Kuvira knows he needs the domes).

The spirit vine energy has yet to be harnessed safely and that needs to happen.

The weapon itself needs to be built once the spirit vine energy actually works.

So, you know, lots and lots of work to be done at this point. Now! Moving on!

Reunion takes place pretty much immediately after The Battle of Zaofu; Korra has just returned to Republic City and hasn’t even seen Asami or Mako yet, which is why she meets them for lunch. We’re talking probably a day or two at most.

Remembrances happens next; we’re not given a timeline, but we know that Bolin and Varrick are still making their way to Republic City and Wu and Mako are at the Sato Estate. Not long at all. I’d venture to say only a couple of days, at most.

Beyond the Wilds opens up and again, Bolin and Varrick are still trying to get back to Republic City and Opal is upset that no one is helping her imprisoned family. Raiko et. all are meeting about the information they got that hello, Kuvira took over Zaofu by force (which they obviously knew from Korra and Opal plus the airbabies). We do have to take into consideration the time it took for Izumi to be radioed and for her to get there for the meetings, but even at that, we are not talking about weeks or anything. We’re talking ASAP. Days, not weeks and certainly not months. By the end of that episode, Bolin and Varrick have returned and have told Raiko et. all that Kuvira is attempting to create some sort of super weapon that is powered by spirit vines and is planning to attack Republic City. Varrick wasn’t actually able to complete said weapon but he assumes that Zhu Li and Junior are working on it, which is exactly what is happening. Raiko takes action and Wu comes up with the idea of evacuating the city. By the end of the episode Lin has had it with everyone’s (Tenzin’s) pussyfooting around and takes Opal and Bolin with her to rescue her family. Again, we are assuming days here, I have a very difficult time thinking Lin sat around with her thumbs up her ass for weeks just letting Kuvira do whatever to her sister and her family. She knows better; Su especially is in danger of being executed for treason. (I mean, how long did they keep them in there? How did they use the toilet? Why, when they took away all metal including Huan’s innocuous little eyebrow ring, did they leave Baatar with his metal-framed eyeglasses? I have so many questions!)

Operation Beifong happens immediately following Beyond the Wilds; the Beifongs are rescued, the spirit vine weapon is seen in action and Zhu Li is rescued and can give intel on it. Everyone assumes that it will be coming by rail, including Zhu Li herself.

(One thing I noted in this episode is that Kuvira tells Junior to take Zhu Li to the blasting site in order to kill her with the weapon. This is after Junior catches her as Kuvira flings her down the stairs. When we see Bolin and Opal rescue her they untie her from where she’s been tied. She can’t have been handcuffed, however; neither Bolin nor Opal can bend metal and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that neither knows how to pick a pair of handcuffs. So I think we can assume she’s been tied with rope, right? If that is the case, then Junior himself must have tied her, because any of Kuvira’s guards would have simply have fastened her with metal. This will come into my fanfic later, believe me.)

The Beifongs (minus Junior and Toph) all head back to Republic City.

Next is Kuvira’s Gambit, which takes place directly after Operation Beifong. We know, from Zhu Li, that Kuvira plans to attack Republic City with the now working weapon in two weeks. Everyone in Republic City is preparing for the imminent attack; the evacuation is now mandatory and they blow the train tracks in order to stop her/slow her down. Iroh is gathering the United Republic’s forces towards Republic City’s defense. Varrick and Asami kick it up a notch, frantically trying to build some air defense with the hummingbird mecha.

But she’s early! Like...over a week early!

So we are talking a very short amount of time here. A month at the very most, and I think I am being pretty generous with that. From the time Kuvira takes Zaofu to the time she attacks Republic City, Baatar Beifong Jr had to:

Figure out how to stabilize the spirit vine energy

Build the weapon in order to fire said energy

Build the entire Colossus - which not even Zhu Li knew about!! - from Zaofu’s lotus petals

And get the entire show on the road and into Republic City.

That is a pretty astounding feat of engineering genius, is it not? And the Colossus does not piggyback off of Hiroshi Sato or Varrick or anyone else. It is technologically speaking way past anything else we’d seen at that point. Not to mention, no matter what gets bent at it, it does not go down. Mako is the one that manages to bring it down, and that is from the inside, and by attacking the spirit vines. But that thing gets attacked from the outside by the best benders in the world - including the Avatar, might I add - and still keeps moving. Obviously Junior was paying attention when his brothers got bending lessons, hmm? Because he knows exactly how to design something that is able to withstand bending attacks from all four elements and I think that is just, to be blunt, FUCKING AWESOME. So you know, GO JUNIOR.

#my fanfiction #i know he's bad #but he's genius bad #so I'm not playing him up as smarter in my fanfic believe me #he really is that smart #uh #not that @marezelle disagreed with me!

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bestchopstickscom-blog · 4 years

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Chinese Chopsticks Culture

The Chinese character “箸” is translated as chopsticks, which are a unique eating utensil invented by the ancient Chinese. During the Neolithic Age in 7,000 BC to 6,000 BC, ancient chopsticks were primarily made of animal bones. Today, among the various eating utensils available, chopsticks best embody Chinese cultural characteristics, becoming an important symbol of Chinese tradition.

1. The origin and development of Chinese character “箸”(Chopsticks)

Chopsticks were pronounced “Zhu” in ancient China, while it is known today as “Kuaizi.”

It was written in Shuo Wen Jie Zi - the radical “bamboo”( 竹 ), which is the Chinese dictionary of words and expressions. The Chinese character “箸” means an eating utensil with “竹” as the meaning element and “者” as the sound element. It was noted in Cihai Dictionary that chopsticks were a flexible tool in ancient China. Thus, the original meaning of “箸” was defined as a tool for picking up food.

“箸”(chopsticks) was also named “jia”, “ti”, among others. It had various other Chinese characters like “筯” and “櫡”, etc. Originating in the Ming Dynasty, it is generally called “kuaizi.” The Beans Garden Notes written by Lu Rong recorded that everywhere had taboos in its folk customs, especially when people spoke. Thus, many avoid saying “zhu” (English: prevent) and “fan” (English: capsize) when ships are proceeding, so the Chinese character for “chopsticks” was “zhu” (箸) in ancient China, but was replaced by the pronunciation for the character “kuai”(快)，meaning quick and the Chinese character for leaning cloth pronounced “fanbu” (幡布), but finally replaced by the pronunciation “mobu”(抹布). The Chinese character “箸” first appeared in the Curse on Chu in the early Qing Dynasty.

2. The characteristics of Chinese chopstick culture

Chopsticks are composed of two pieces of sticks with the same shape, size, and material, created with integrity, tenacity, and honesty. The two chopsticks have no mechanical linkage, but they can coordinate well with one another through the operation of fingers, which is the materialization of what China considers character.

The primary component of Chinese chopstick culture:

Popularity: 1.3 billion people in China and Chinese people that are abroad know how to use chopsticks from an early age (3 on average). In terms of necessary appliances, its popularity is second to none.

Diversification: the chopsticks are made of a wide range of materials including bamboo, wood, animal bone(horn), ivory, beautiful stone ( bowler, crystal, jade and Shoushan stone），mental（gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead, alloy and stainless, etc.), rare materials(dragon horn, rhinoceros horn, turtle, and the bone of peacock) and others (fishbone, coral and plastic, etc.), combining as more than 200 types of chopsticks. The chopsticks are designed with engravings in various colors, from short lines, and spiral lines to poems and couplets from ancient times, paintings and pyrographs.

Inheritance: Chopsticks are representative of Chinese culture. Whenever and wherever Chinese people are they find it difficult to have a meal without chopsticks. In addition, chopsticks can be presented as a gift or function as a unique handcraft for people to distribute and express their feelings.

Global Presence: According to the statistics, over 1.8 billion people use chopsticks. Chopstick culture has great significance around the world having become a common cultural marker of “the circle of Chinese food culture” which includes many other Asian countries, such as “Chopsticks Day” in Japan, “Golden Chopsticks Award” in France and the trend of “for your health, please pick up your chopsticks” in western countries.

3. The use of chopsticks:

The correct use of chopsticks can be described as follows: the right-hand holds the chopsticks with thumb and forefinger pinching the upper end of the chopsticks and the other three fingers naturally holding up the chopsticks, and both ends of chopsticks must remain aligned. Before a meal, the chopsticks are neatly placed to the right of the bowl and after the meal in the middle of the bowl in a vertical direction.

4. Chopstick Taboos:

Unexpected misfortune:

Putting chopsticks uneven in length on the table is regarded as a sign of misfortune.

Immortal guiding:

The chopsticks are pinched by the thumb, middle finger, ring finger and little finger while the index finger reaches out, which refers to blame.

Sucking chopsticks with a sound:

Having one end of chopsticks in the mouth and sucking it repeatedly with a sound is an impolite behavior.

Striking the cup:

Striking plates and bowls is considered disrespectful and is despised by others.

Holding chopsticks around the table:

Using chopsticks to select food in the plates over and over again indicates a lack of self-cultivation and defiance, resulting in disgust.

Stirring for choices:

Taking chopsticks to “search” through foods on the plates is poor form as that is often known as “grave-digging.”

Dripping food:

Do not Drop soup into other dishes or on the table when picking up food with chopsticks, as it is deemed disrespectful.

Heaven and earth upside down:

When seated for a meal, using chopsticks upside down means that you are a beggar and a beggar cannot be a chooser.

Key stand:

Using a chopstick to stick foods on the plates is perceived as humiliating to others at the table.

Burning incense in public:

Chopsticks should not be left vertically in a bowl of rice, because it resembles the ritual of incense-burning that symbolizes “feeding” the dead.

Cross:

During the meal, chopsticks should not be crossed on a table as it is perceived negatively. This is seen as the same when students make mistakes on their homework and are given a cross by the teacher, the accused sign across to confess their crime.

Falling chopsticks disturbing the immortal:

At a meal, it is discourteous if chopsticks accidentally fall to the ground, because falling chopsticks stand for a disturbance of buried ancestors.

5. Chopstick Culture

Chopsticks originated in China. Though simple and little, they are a great invention in the history of mankind. “Chopsticks, although only two pieces of wood, represent the Leverage Theory in physics,” Dr. Li Zhengdao stated. He is a famous Chinese physicist in China. According to modern science, the long-standing use of chopsticks makes fingers flexible, which is beneficial for physical and mental health. Thus, among the various eating utensils available today, chopsticks have a special charm stand and are popular for people.

Chopstick culture can be seen around the world. In Japan, people set August 4th each year as Chopsticks Day. In South Korea, there are chopsticks lessons in primary schools. How to use chopsticks correctly is a part of the curriculum. In 1974, American President Nixon visited China where he talked immensely about China’s miraculous chopsticks. According to statistics, there are now over 1.5 billion people using chopsticks on a day-to-day basis worldwide. Thus, it can be seen that the chopsticks that were invented in China have become one of the most popular and important eating utensils in the world. Through the distribution of chopsticks around the world, people have been able to learn more about China.

Chopsticks symbolize the age-old Chinese civilization and epitomize the 5,000 years of history China has had. Whether a Chinese person is living in China or abroad they cherish their bond with chopsticks.

“A chopstick can be broken easily; ten pairs of chopsticks hold each other tightly.” People are familiar with this fine and enlightened song by Fu Disheng, a well-known singer in China. Indeed, a chopstick is so useless and delicate that it can be broken readily. However, ten pairs of chopsticks possess strength, which is indestructible under any circumstance. All Chinese people draw on this unity and spirit, with which they boast perseverance and power. It will always influence, inspire and encourage people.

There is a poem by Cheng Lianggui, a famous writer during the Song Dynasty, who praises the selfless dedication to using chopsticks. For thousands of years, the reason people embrace chopsticks is not only because of their function but the spirit of the chopsticks.

In a word, chopsticks are a part of China’s catering culture that has a long history.

6. Chopstick Facts

One major characteristic of the culinary custom of China involves the use of chopsticks. Chopsticks, also called “zhu”(箸）in ancient times, have a long history in China. “One can’t have a meal without chopsticks,” which was started in the Book of Rites. We know that chopsticks were used as early as the Sang Dynasty.

1. Chopsticks

Lan Xiang, the curator of folk chopsticks pavilion, said that historical records date ivory chopsticks back to 3,100 years ago. As written in the records, “Zhou” (the emperor in late Sang Dynasty) used the ivory chopsticks while Ji Zi, Zhou’s uncle raised concern,” because it was too luxurious. After the emperor killed the elephant to show his wealth as an emperor he sawed the ivory for making chopsticks which are known as the first chopsticks in history. Historically, it was not the first chopsticks but the first ones made of ivory in China.

The existence of Chinese chopsticks traces back to almost 1,000 earlier than ivory chopsticks. The earliest chopsticks were made out of bamboo because China’s ancestors lived in primitive forests. They broke down branches to get cooked food out a pot. It was impossible to grab food by hand because it was so hot. Thus, they came up with a way of using branches to pick up food. Alternatively, people took food by hand when it cools down. If people want to eat hot food, they had to use branches as chopsticks. We can assume that ancient chopsticks differed in length and size in contrast to chopsticks that are used today. Ancient people in China transitioned from eating food with branches to chopsticks.

Since the Sang Dynasty, chopsticks with the same length and size have been popular. They have about 4,000-years of history from the time they appeared in primitive times.

In ancient times, chopsticks were made of local materials such as branches, sticks, animal bones and horns. Chopsticks were mainly made of wood and bamboo in primitive societies. Ivory chopsticks and jade chopsticks emerged in the Xiang and Sang dynasties, while copper and iron chopsticks during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States (from 770BC to 221BC), flamboyant lacquer chopsticks, delicate silver and golden chopsticks in Han-Wei and six Dynasties (the kingdom of Wu, Jing, Song, Qi, Liang, Chen). Today, there are chopsticks made of various materials including, ivory, rhinoceros horn, gilded ebony, and assorted jades.

2. Legend of Chopsticks

Chopsticks, two sticks, have various functions that include selecting and taking food. They are cost-effective and convenient to use. People who have used chopsticks, including Chinese people and foreigners admire the inventor, but many don’t know who he is. When and where were the first chopsticks invented? No one is able to answer this question. There are no specific data to record this invention which has made significant contributions to human civilization. Some believe that increased illiteracy among other reasons has created a lack of information linking the creation of chopsticks to a specific timeframe. There are, however, circumstantial evidence materials to study chopstick culture. Below is a summary of the three legends of many that center on the origin of the chopstick.

A. Jiang Ziya and Chopsticks

The legend was spread in areas such as Sichuan province. It was said that Jiang Ziya was capable of nothing but fishing. So poor he was that his wife couldn’t bear to live with him and planned to murder him to marry another man.

One day Jiang went back home after fishing, empty-handed. His wife said, “You must be hungry. I cooked meat for you. Come eat!” He was hungry so he stretched his hands to get the meat. Suddenly, a bird from the window pecked at his hand. The pain caused him to yell. Even in pain, Jiang tried to drive the bird out of the window but the bird pecked him a second time. Jiang was so confused; he didn’t understand why the bird kept pecking him. To figure it out he tried to get the meat again but the same thing happened. He realized it was because the bird was a divine bird and went after it to send it to a hill so no one could see it. Standing on a branch of bamboo, the divine bird was singing, “Jiang Ziya, don’t eat the meat with your bare hands, use what’s beneath my feet.” On hearing this, Jiang took two small sticks from the bamboo tree and went home. However, his wife urged him to try eating meat again. So, he took the meat with two sticks. After he did that smoke came out of the bamboo. Jiang pretended to be unconscious of the poison that had been released, stating to his wife, “What’s going on with the smoke? Could it be toxic?” He picked up the meat for his wife who hurried outside with her face turning pale with fear.

Jiang Ziya knew that the magical bamboo given by the divine bird could detect poison. Thus, he ate every meal with them. After the incident, his wife dared not to poison his food anymore and his neighbors learned to eat with a bamboo branch. Later, more and more people followed, so the custom of eating with chopsticks has been passed down through generations.

The legend was an outcome of Jiang Ziya worship, which is inconsistent with historical records. Ivory chopsticks emerged during King Zhou in the later period of the Shang Dynasty where Jiang lived. King Zhou had ivory chopsticks and Jiang Ziya’s bamboo branch chopsticks were not invented simultaneously so the dates are inconsistent. But it is true that chopsticks were made of bamboo in that period of the Shang Dynasty.

B. Da Ji (the wife of Zhou emperor in Sang dynasty) and chopsticks

The legend was spread throughout Jiangsu province. The emperor of the Sang Dynasty was unpredictable, when he had a meal, either complaining that the fish was not fresh enough or the chicken soup was too hot or too cool to eat. As a result, many chefs were killed by him because of his disapproval. Da Ji, a new chef, and his wife knew it was difficult to serve him. Thus, she would taste the dishes before the meal, to ensure that the emperor was not disappointed. On one occasion, it was too late to change the hot dish as the emperor approached the table so she took down her emerald hairpin to pick up the food blowing on the food before putting it in his mouth. As he enjoyed the service offered by Da Ji, his wife was required to do this every day. After, Da Ji asked a craftsman to create a pair of emerald hairpins to pick up food for the emperor. Thus, this was the first type of chopsticks.

This legend is not full of myths like the first one, while it is similar to historical accounts there are some elements that are inconsistent. The steel chopsticks excavated by archaeologists in graves from the Sang Dynasty in Anyang, Henan province is proved to be earlier than the late Sang Dynasty (the times of Zhou emperor) in textual accounts. Obviously, chopsticks were not invented by Zhou emperor or Da Ji, but the product of an earlier dynasty.

C. Da Yu and Chopsticks

This legend was spread throughout northeastern China. It is said during Yao and Shun times, Shun ordered Yu to control the flood. After receiving the order, Yu swore to eliminate the flood disaster. He tried his best to fight against the flood day and night, even to the point of not eating and sleeping, let alone rest.

Yu went to an island by boat because he was so hungry that he used an earth pot to cook meat. After the meat was well-done in boiled water, he was unable to take the meat by hand and didn’t want to waste time to wait for it to cool so he took two branches to pick up the meat from the soup. After, to save time, he always took small branches and bamboos to take out food from the hot pot so that he could save time. For a long time, he was skilled at picking up food with small sticks, which was imitated by his subordinates who believed this way of eating could allow them to not touch hot and greasy food by hand. Thus, the first types of chopsticks were born.

Although the legend isn’t historically inaccurate, it showed people’s way of thinking in the past. Compared with the first two legends, people were more convinced by the accidental process of discovering chopsticks in the third legend, because it was simple and realistic.

The main reason chopsticks were invented because of the hot temperature of the food. In ancient times, due to the lack of utensils and animal bones being short, flimsy and difficult to process, Chinese ancestors used fine branches or bamboos to eat. Furthermore, people lived in the wilderness where branches and bamboos were the most convenient materials to use. Through research on the shape of chopsticks, people can find chopsticks today that still have primitive characteristics. Even with over 4,000 years of development, the original features remain.

There is no doubt that a legend is formed with people’s selection, omission, fiction, exaggeration, and even illusion, and Da Yu’s invention of chopsticks is no exception. Da Yu’s legend was no more than the integration of chopsticks into one character, Da Yu. The creation of chopsticks could be ascribed to time and how humans have evolved to use utensils to eat. However, it is also possible that chopsticks stemmed from the time where emperor Yu used it to eat in the Sang Dynasty.

7. The composition of chopsticks

Chopsticks seem simple and flexible, but they vary in types and composition. There are over 100 types in Chinese history, of which the most common are made out of wood, bamboo, and melamine. Lan Xiang divided China’s chopsticks into five types according to his collection and research. They are as follows: bamboo chopsticks, metal chopsticks, ivory and bone chopsticks, jade chopsticks and chemical chopsticks.

The first and most primitive, wood and bamboo chopsticks remain popular today. Among wood and bamboo chopsticks, bamboo chopsticks are made out of different types of bamboos including, nandina bamboo, mottled bamboo as well as Phyllostachys pubescens, among others. Out of the many types of wood chopsticks, the most renowned are those made of nanmu, arbor, and mahogany, and the most popular are ebony chopsticks in the Qing Dynasty. In the book, A Dream of Red Mansions the grandmother, Liu, went to the Prospect Garden, where Wang Xifeng gave her a gilded ivory chopstick during a meal. While grandmother Liu was not accustomed to it, it was similar to ebony chopsticks that were the most universal chopsticks with silver on the top, middle and bottom.

The materials that metal chopsticks were made of include bronze, gold, silver, iron into stainless steel present-day.

Ivory and bone chopsticks refer to chopsticks made of ivory and bone of animals like cow, camel, and elephant, etc. Camel's bones are often used in northern China.

The fourth type of chopstick is jade. The materials vary from the use of white marble, white jade, emerald used by Empress Dowager Ci Xi of the Qing Dynasty, as well as gilded emerald. Another type is the youngest chemical chopsticks made of melamine and plastic, etc. Many uncommonly used chopsticks today include those made of bamboo palm, silver ivory, ebony inlaid with silver, and gilded walrus ivory chopsticks.

Reference:

https://www.chinaculturetour.com/culture/chinese-chopsticks-culture.htm

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falconridgegrp-blog · 6 years

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ISH Shanghai & CIHE: 5.6% rise in visitor numbers and doubling in size of European Pavilion

Thanks to the growing demand for diverse heating solutions in East and Central China, ISH Shanghai & CIHE, which took place from 3 – 5 September 2018, was widely praised as an effective business platform. The three-day event hosted 217 exhibitors (2017: 188) and welcomed 18,963 visitors (2017: 17,965), a 5.6% increase compared to 2017. These indices have again proven the fair as one of the most influential HVAC and home comfort exhibitions in East and Central China.

While North China is the more-established HVAC and home comfort market in the country, in East and Central China end-users are particularly enthusiastic about the design of the products. This trend has led to strong demand for renowned HVAC companies from Europe, who are increasingly employing ISH Shanghai & CIHE – Shanghai International Trade Fair for Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning & Home Comfort System as a gateway to tap into the Chinese market. This evolution was well illustrated this edition by the enhanced international profile of the fair, with the European Pavilion more than doubling in size. Leading brands from Germany, Italy and the UK, including AeroFlow, Afriso, Bampi, Brigon, Dephina, Detal-Met, HOFFER, KANE, Radius, Sanica and WKL presented their impressive HVAC advancements across an expanded exhibition space to satisfy domestic buyers' thirst for state-of-the-art heating and home comfort technologies.

Furthermore, to capture the pulse of the market, the 2018 edition introduced new zones and display areas to expand fairgoers' knowledge and perspectives. The Premium Area made its debut appearance this year to infuse new concepts into the market revolving around four themes, namely Technology, Quality, Design and Technical Skills. The Floor Cooling and Heating Systems Experience Zone was also established for the first time to provide an exceptional opportunity for visitors to get a taste of the latest advancements in this field. On the other hand, fairgoers immersed themselves in inspiration and creativity at a display area dedicated to the award winners of the China Home Comfort System Design and Installation Competition.

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Key figures at a glance – Visitors: 18,963 (2017: 17,965) – 5.6% increase – Exhibitors: 217 (2017: 188) – 15.4% increase

Exhibitors' feedback “Dephina develops and produces residential ventilation systems for private households. Many domestic visitors are impressed by our advanced technologies from Germany, including fresh air systems for large-scale villas and ventilation systems for bathrooms. We see China as a strategic market. Humidity and indoor air quality are the major issues of concern in East and Central China. Visitors were particularly keen on our pipeless wall-hung ventilation units which can deliver dehumidifying effects with low noise and high energy efficiency. ISH Shanghai & CIHE gathers a wide range of suppliers from heating and ventilation to energy-saving. It is one of the most influential HVAC and home comfort fairs in the East and Central China.” Mr Jack Chen, Deputy General Manager, Dephina Luftqualität GmbH

“I have been hearing how strong ISH Shanghai & CIHE is for years. That's why our company would like to be part of it and expand our business here. The water infiltration systems we develop are a great option to accommodate diverse market needs in East and Central China. Located in the Premium Area, our booth has caught fairgoers' attention. I am pleased with the visitor flow, and the show helps us to increase our brand awareness. We are looking forward to exhibiting again next year.” Mr Jim Ellis, CEO, Paragon Water (Xiamen) Corp Ltd

Visitors' feedback “I have visited this show many times already. Our company mainly produces and sells steel panel radiators. I came here to find out the changes and developments in the current market. The scale of the show has been getting bigger, which demonstrates the success of ISH Shanghai & CIHE. The fair itself is also becoming more international. In addition to domestic products from emerging Chinese brands, European style radiators can also be found. China is increasingly important in leading global heating trends. The show is an exceptional platform to tap into the market. The fair gathers everybody together and I met people from different provinces. I will definitely visit the show again next year.” Mr Murat Telek, General Manager, ISG Heating Equipment (Shanghai) Co Ltd (Turkey)

“Our company develops equipment to manage temperature and we are searching for thermostats here. During the fair, I have found what I want and have established cooperation with an exhibitor. The heating market in East and Central China is characterised by household-based systems, but high-class residential areas are gradually adopting central heating systems too. I can see promising potential in the sector. Several concurrent building technology fairs were held, offering visitors with a more efficient sourcing experience.” Mr Li Xiang, General Manager, Clover Energy Saving Co Ltd

Speaker's feedback “Today we explored how to employ floor heating systems for cooling. Summer is sweltering and winter is chilly in the East and Central China. While underfloor systems are commonly used for heating, cooling becomes the next issue to resolve. More research and development are needed to build an integrated system. More than a procurement platform, ideally a trade show should act as a platform of knowledge exchange. Engaging forums and discussions are a great supplement to illustrate the outlook of the industry in addition to the products on display.” Mr Li Dawei, General Manager, HVAC8 Cross-enterprise Training Center for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning

Seminar attendee's feedback “Our company focuses on rubber processing and mould design. We came to the show to attend this seminar. Currently most of the end-users make procurement decisions based on the price level. There is an urge to educate them about product specifications. Trends such as fresh air systems, floor heating and integrated floor heating and cooling systems provide enormous market potential in East and Central China. The discussion gathered industry elites at one place to explore the latest developments, which is a great driving force for the industry.” Mr Zhu Lipin, Chief Engineer, Shanghai San Shan Xin Bang Technology Co Ltd

The next edition of ISH Shanghai & CIHE will be held from 3 – 5 September 2019. Another ISH event in China, ISH China & CIHE, will be held from 6 – 8 May 2019 at the New China International Exhibition Centre, Beijing. For more information about ISH Shanghai & CIHE and ISH China & CIHE, please visit www.ishc-cihe.hk.messefrankfurt.com or email [email protected].

ISH Shanghai & CIHE is headed by the biennial ISH event in Frankfurt, Germany, which is the world's leading trade fair for the combination of water and energy. The mother event will take place from 11 – 15 March 2019 (Monday to Friday). For more information, please visit www.ish.messefrankfurt.com.

Furthermore, the next edition of ISH India powered by IPA will run from 28 February – 2 March 2019 at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai. For more information, please visit ish-india.in.messefrankfurt.com.

Background information on Messe Frankfurt Messe Frankfurt is the world's largest trade fair, congress and event organiser with its own exhibition grounds. With more than 2,400 employees at 30 locations, the company generates annual sales of around €669 million. Thanks to its far-reaching ties with the relevant sectors and to its international sales network, the Group looks after the business interests of its customers effectively. A comprehensive range of services – both onsite and online – ensures that customers worldwide enjoy consistently high quality and flexibility when planning, organising and running their events. The wide range of services includes renting exhibition grounds, trade fair construction and marketing, personnel and food services. With its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, the company is owned by the City of Frankfurt (60 percent) and the State of Hesse (40 percent). For more information, please visit our website at: www.messefrankfurt.com | www.congressfrankfurt.de | www.festhalle.de https://constructionlinks.ca/news/ish-shanghai-cihe-5-6-rise-visitor-numbers-doubling-size-european-pavilion/ Established in 2003, Construction Links Network is a peer-to-peer network sharing platform for the construction, building and design community. This one-of-a-kind platform provides the tools necessary to source and distribute the latest news, videos, events and innovative products / services the industry has to offer which helps our members plan, design and build great projects around the world. #construction #building #architecture #engineer #safety

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