#also why is tumblr automatically retaining tags? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wild-mare-of-prosecution · 4 years

Text

Drowning In Seine - Chapter 1: Stage 1 Hypothermia

A/N-

I AM SO SORRY! THIS IS SO LATE! THIS WAS DUE OVER WEEK AGO!

This is part 1 of my Christmas gift exchange with @ao3bronte

I have no excuse other than writing is hard and really intimidating, when you’re writing for one of your Tumblr fandom idols! Also I sort of cheated, and got some help from my good friends, @passagesthroughpages , and @mattw83 to even get the story moving (because I’m so lame! oTL ) ! ~ [Translation notes: ¹ - Merry Christmas, and happy holidays! ² - Merry Christmas, and happy holidays to you, as well! ]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It was late December, but not yet Christmas and there was quite the bustle of activity at the Jardin des Tuileries. It was where the Christmas Market was relocated for the year. Parisians and tourists alike were pursuing the various booths with handmade toys, trinkets, decorations, and goodies. The scent of baked goods, spices, and holiday fair wafted through the cold evening air. There was good cheer be had as friends and families, took in the wonder of brightly colored lights that lined the streets, trees, and light poles along the way. One could even hear the delightful sound of laughter, bells, and carols being sung, accompanied by a few intruments in the distance.

So, it was no wonder Adrien was drawn in to lovely sights and sounds the Christmas Market offered. Gorilla tagged along at a respectable distance, allowing the young man a bit of space and freedom for a change. The reason he was there was because he wanted to enjoy the sights and sounds of the holidays, just as his peers and friends had been doing so for the past week. However, his official excuse was to shop for suitable gifts for his friends, which he fully intended to make good on. But for the moment, he was just looking to get something hot to drink, as the chilly evening air was turning colder than even the weather report had expected. Thus he pulled out his beloved scarf from his satchel, careful not to wake Plagg who was nestled inside.

After donning his scarf, he pulled out his gloves from his wool trench coat, along with a pair of earmuffs. Once he was properly attired, he quickly made his way to a stall selling various hot drinks. He was very much tempted to get some mulled wine, now that he was old enough. He decided against it, for a number of reasons. So he got a couple crepes, a vente chocolat chaud for himself, and a vente noisette for his Bodyguard. After finishing their snack, Adrien went to resume his search for the perfect gifts for his friends with his half finished drink in one hand. He quickly gulped down the rest of his drink, and tried to decide where he wanted to go next.

That’s when he heard it… that oh-so-familiar, sweet laughter that he longed and loved to hear. At first he thought he was hearing things. But that joyous sound; all warm, bright, and contagious was unmistakably hers. It had to be! No one else could make him feel so warm, and full inside. This caused him to smile and suppress a happy chuckle of his own. She was nearby- she had to be!

He turned to see the familiar glimpse of red - not just any red but her red and it made his heart do a little flip. There she is. The most beautiful woman and queen of his heart - his lady.

She’s as gorgeous as ever. Laughing and leaning in for pictures with a couple children with gap-toothed smiles. Adrien found himself just staring at her, watching as she straightened giving each of the children a light hair ruffle as their parent dropped a donation into the box that was set up nearby. According to the sign next to the donation box there were instructions on how to “spot” Ladybug. It seemed like a fun little event. And he was eager to join in. So, he made a donation, and was handed a ticket.

However, a frown tugged a his lips. Something was off about this though. Not on the outside- just something about her was strange. No one else seemed to notice, and Adrien couldn’t put a finger on it- at least not right away. It isn’t until he sees her rubbing at her arms and puff out an icy cloud of breath from her lips, that he figures it out.

Her lips, which usually a faint petal pink, were discolored. It wasn’t lipstick or lipbalm, though. It’s definitely because she’s cold. Not just cold, beyond cold… freezing. How long had she been out here in her suit? It certainly couldn’t be comfortable to be out too long like this in a suit like hers- he knows first hand that suit doesn’t retain much heat.

Then he remembered that he had already had his gift for her in his satchel. He took it out, waking Plagg up in the process. He quickly and quietly hushed his kwami, promising him extra fancy cheese later- and waited patiently for his turn with her. It was only a few minutes, as the line was mercifully short at this hour- but it felt like forever. The longer he stood in line, the more he worried about his Lady.

Why had she been out here for so long? And why hadn’t anyone noticed how cold she was? He couldn’t get mad though- because after seeing how she handled the last couple of kids, it was easy to see that she was enjoying herself despite the cold. Finally it was his turn to take a picture with Ladybug.

“M-L…. Ladybug. Joyeux Noël et bonnes fêtes!"¹, he greeted with a shy smile and the slightest of stutters- his heart fluttering as it always did whenever he got to see her as himself.

"Joyeux Noël et bonnes fêtes à toi aussi!"², she responded automatically with her signature smile, before actually noticing who she was speaking to.

"A-Ad-Adrien? Adrien Agreste? Is it really you?”, her eyes widening in surprise, as her voice trembled in what he believed to be from the cold- but actually was out of nervous habit of being around her longtime crush. Not that he could know that, of course.

But before he could answer or even give her his gift, a police officer came running up to Ladybug. After a hurried whispered exchange, she gave Adrien a sad sort of smile.

As she excused herself to the crowd- assuring that she would be back shortly and that it wasn’t an akuma.

“I’m very sorry, Adrien- but duty calls.”, she apologized gently with a soft, rueful smile. leaning in to give him a quick peck on his cheek.“I won’t be gone long, so please stay if you can.”, she announced before zipping off towards the river.

Her cold lips left him with a chilled sensation in more than one way. He was the only one who noticed her condition, and the slightly clumsy way she left. But he couldn’t sneak off to transform while Gorilla was still with him. But after a pleading look and a promise to be careful, he was allowed to go on towards where Ladybug had been heading. -

#a03bronte #mlsecretsanta #Miraculous Christmas #Miraculous Ladybug #ML: Ladybug #Adrien Agreste #LAdrien #ML X-Mas gift exchange #tw: Christmas #tw: holidays

13 notes · View notes

impracticaldemon · 5 years

Text

Hijikata’s Holiday

by impracticaldemon for @nollatooru ~ from Your HakuSanta

fandom: Hakuouki words: 1500 (laugh track)(oops, no) ~ 5100 words read also on: AO3 | FFN [added December 27, 2018]

Author’s Note: This story is intended to take place in the winter after my story Do As I Say (also for nollatooru, so this isn’t just a shameless self-reference). I was thinking December 1865, which could work; however, although Itou and his faction joined the Shinsengumi in late 1864, they are not mentioned in this story. The word count was already out of hand with the original cast alone. Nollatooru requested Hijikata, HijiChi, Okita & cats, or anyone & cats. I’ve tried to deliver. Posted first on tumblr!

tags: @shell-senji @eliz1369 @rainylune @nalufever @petri808 @hidetheremote @resshiiram @kondo-hijikata @hakuyamazakisensei @flower-dragon @shibuemiyuu @writer-appreciation @sabinasanfanfic @eheartangel @hakuokisecretsanta2018

Hijikata’s Holiday

It started with an absence of noise. Still half-asleep, Hijikata turned puzzled eyes on the window screen. How odd. Judging by the light filtering through the thick paper, it was past dawn—in fact, it was past his usual time to get up. Today was a festival day, but that usually meant more of a clatter, not less. There wouldn't be captains and sub-officers nursing hangovers until tomorrow.

He sat up reluctantly. Winter in Kyoto was cold, and he felt no inclination to leave the warmth of his futon to go find out what could account for the strange silence. Given the time, he'd probably missed his chance to write, which dimmed what little enthusiasm he had for facing the chill weather, today's major and minor headaches—Sōji usually accounting for both—and the dinner meeting he had with the new Sub-Comptroller of Kyoto to discuss the Shinsengumi's urgent need for extra rations over the winter months.

It took several moments to register that the room wasn't cold. In fact, it was quite pleasant, if not precisely warm. A glance at the brazier told him that somebody had tended it during the night. The fact that he hadn't woken was worrisome, but he wasn't altogether surprised. He'd recognized the tea that Chizuru had brought him last night as Sannan's 'special' blend, which meant that it was laced with soporific. He would have objected, but the girl had poured it with a soft smile, and murmured that "Kondō-san sent his best regards, and would Hijikata-san please rest well this evening." The last time he'd refused the evil brew, Kondō had brought it himself, tricked him into drinking it, and then refused to let him work late for a week straight. (1)

A quick—and slightly apprehensive—look around the room gave him a modicum of reassurance that although somebody had been in his room, it was more likely Saitō than Sōji. He'd like to think that he'd have woken for anyone less familiar, or less soft-footed. The whole thing was idiotic anyway—what kind of military force gave their Vice Commander a sleeping draught?

Huh. He'd misplaced his inkstone yesterday, but now it was sitting on his desk. And... there was a small bowl containing an evergreen sprig and something leafy with red berries. He doubted—really doubted—that the arrangement was Saitō's. Not that the art of flower arrangement was necessarily beyond Saitō, but there was an air of subdued festivity about it... if there was such a thing. He refused to accept even the possibility that Sōji might have made it for him. For Kondō maybe. If he lost a bet. And even then, he'd cut the greenery with his sword.

It was quite a quite an attractive grouping, actually—

The enduring fir supports the crimson berry that braves winter's chill.

He was out of bed and reaching for his writing materials before he realized it. Well, damn. He glanced again at the window. Nobody had come for him yet—or been sent by Sannan, in a fit of hypocritical concern. The man had once told Yukimura to wake him, on the pretext that he was late for breakfast. He'd been dressing when she'd arrived, which had annoyed him and flustered the hell out of her. Although... her comments to herself in the immediate aftermath had been pretty funny, poor kid. Yeah, but you didn't mind the admiration, did you? He had found it very... honest... after the careful flattery of the Shimabara geisha, and the half-fearful simpering of the city girls.

Hijikata couldn't see, and would have denied, the reminiscent smile that hovered on his lips. Meanwhile, he had drawn his writing book from his desk, and was quickly preparing ink in the ceramic tray. Minutes passed, while he inscribed his new haiku. Satisfied, he set aside his materials, replaced the book under the patrol log kept on top in the (so far utterly vain) hope of keeping his hobby from prying eyes, and took out fresh linen and his carefully folded hakama.

He was half-way through changing when there was a polite "Shitsureisimasu, Hijikata-san, Yukimura desu," at the door. (2) For one, wild moment, he was overwhelmed with déjà vu, and some part of him contemplated not saying anything just to see what would happen. Happily—probably—the moment passed. A second, soft, "Hijikata-san?" got him out of his fugue.

"Just a moment, Yukimura." Then, impelled by the gods knew what: "Unless you'd prefer to come in while I'm dressing?"

There was a pause—the kind of pause that you can hear—and finally, "I will wait, Hijikata-san."

Unlike last time, there was a murmur of conversation, and he realized that somebody—presumably one of the captains, was with Yukimura. Annoyingly, that brought a touch of heat to his cheeks, but it faded quickly, and he stalked over to the door and slid it open with a snap.

It turned out that Yukimura had been expecting him to call her in. She was standing just outside the door, a tray with tea and breakfast—both still miraculously hot and steaming—clasped tightly in both hands. Thanks to her lack of inches, and his expectation that she'd be farther from the door, he saw Saitō before seeing Yukimura. …Not only Saitō. Yamazaki was there as well. They stood behind Yukimura on the engawa, looking for all the world like retainers to some under-dressed, underfed princeling.

"Saitō? Ohayo, Yukimura, Yamazaki."

Fortunately, Saitō didn't seem to mind, or care, that he'd been missed from Hijikata's "good morning." Indeed, Hijikata rarely found Saitō's lack of expression to be off-putting; most of the time he found it a welcome calm in the daily drama that running the Shinsengumi entailed.

"Ohayogozaimasu, Fukuchō. I will come in with Yukimura, if I may."

Hijikata stepped out of the way, but his gaze was irresistibly drawn to the garden beyond the wooden walkway. There was a fine layer of snow on everything, but it lay completely undisturbed, with the exception of the footprints of—presumably—his companions. He observed that Yamazaki had taken up a position not far from his door, but the whole morning was beginning to take on such a surreal aspect that he couldn't quite bring himself to ask about it just yet.

Once the men were seated opposite each other, and Yukimura had set down his breakfast tray—he felt his eyes widen a little at the carefully-prepared meal—Saitō began his report. Not that it was precisely a report, it was just that Saitō made everything sound like a report. He was a first-rate swordsman, and an excellent officer, but he couldn't tell an interesting story to save his life. Nagakura swore that he loosened up when he was talking to inanimate objects, but that only happened when he was very drunk, and Hijikata was rarely around for that kind of serious drinking these days.

"The Commander was concerned by your absence at dinner, Vice Commander. As you requested, I told him that you were speaking with officials at the Comptroller's office in order to set up a meeting to discuss the current shortage of rations."

"Did you remind him that the last load of rice we received was not only short-weighted, but full of freaking weevils?! We had to toss out four bags, and decontaminate the kitchen storage area!"

"Commander Kondō remembered the incident, Vice Commander."

"Excuse me, Hijikata-san—your tea. Saitō-san—your tea."

Hijikata automatically thanked Yukimura for filling his cup, then felt his brows contract inward—well, further inward—when he saw her look furtively at Saitō, who clearly blinked in return. It reminded him to pursue his original question, once he'd wrested back control of the conversation.

"You flirting with Yukimura now, Saitō? Didn't expect it from you."

"No, Vice Commander." Saitō left it at that, but Yukimura reddened and leapt at the bait.

"Oh no, Hijikata-san, o-of course not! But Kondō-san said that Saitō-san shouldn't let you get too worked up—I mean, too worried—about the rice, because—"

"Colonel Sannan has already agreed to pursue the matter on behalf of the Shinsengumi," interposed Saitō, in his uninflected voice. "He said that he would be delighted to attend the dinner meeting this evening."

"Delighted," muttered Hijikata.

"Sannan-san said that he hadn't had the chance to meet the new staff at the Imperial Comptroller's office. He truly did seem very pleased, Hijikata-san." Yukimura smiled cheerfully, and just as Hijikata was concluding that she had no idea how scary the soft-spoken man could be, she added thoughtfully, "I realize that the last official quit after Sannan-san investigated the Shinsengumi's rice allocation, but we didn't have problems for many months after, right?" Her expression had become unusually serious. "Sannan-san said he would do whatever was necessary to protect the needs of our men, and Kondō-san agreed that healthy food was very important."

Hijikata risked a look at Saitō, who met his gaze without comment. Yukimura could be surprisingly fierce when it came to looking after the Shinsengumi, and Hijikata should have remembered that she'd taken the latest food shortage to heart.

"Fine. But why are you two here explaining all this to me anyway?" He gave them both a 'don't mess with me' look, or tried to. Chizuru was too busy pouring him more tea to notice—she had a way of making it just the right temperature from the start, so that he tended to finish it quickly.

"The Commander suggested that you would appreciate a holiday," said Saitō. "Yukimura, Sōji, and I were given the task of ensuring that you are able to enjoy the day." Being Saitō, he stopped there, having expressed the salient point.

"A holiday?! No, wait—Sōji is supposed to make sure that I enjoy a holiday?" Hijikata automatically looked around for the green-eyed… man. Menace to my existence is more like it… Not even Kondō would expect Sōji to—well maybe—no, surely not?

"Hai. Along with Yukimura and myself." It took Hijikata a moment to recollect himself and realize that Saitō was answering his question.

"But everyone is helping out," Yukimura rushed to reassure him. If 'reassure' was the right word. "Kondō-san was worried when you missed dinner—as Saitō-san mentioned—because it was the third time this week." Hijikata thought there was a disapproving edge to her voice, but her expression was as sweet and earnest as ever, gods help him.

"Yukimura noted the frequency of your absences," murmured Saitō, gazing down into his tea.

"R-right! But Sannan-san agreed to go to the dinner, and Nagakura-san and Harada-san said they'd conduct an early morning patrol today, and no drills, so that nobody would be around this morning—but also because it makes sense to check that things are safe for the holiday crowds—"

"Uh-huh." Fascinated despite himself, Hijikata began to calmly eat his breakfast. The room was warm enough that his delicately flavoured miso soup was still remarkably hot. It was obvious that Sōji's help—whatever it was—hadn't extended to breakfast, thank the gods.

"And I asked Heisuke-kun if he'd be willing to hunt ducks or geese this morning so that I could make us all a nice holiday dinner later this afternoon before everyone goes out for the evening. He thought that was a great idea until—um…" Yukimura suddenly stopped talking.

"Sōji reminded Heisuke of the last time that we shared a meal of Yukimura's duck hot pot." All three people present shared a moment of silence as they each visualized Heisuke's piece of duck flying through the air and hitting Hijikata square in the middle of the forehead. It had not gone well for the cheerful Eighth Division Captain after that.

"Y-yes, well, Okita-san just said that this was Heisuke's chance to make up for it, and so—and so, that's all settled!"

"Really, now?" Hijikata couldn't quite visualize how such a comment would settle anything, but he was willing to bet he would find out.

"I needed to discuss a scheduling issue with Sōji at that point, and I believe that Yukimura arranged any further details with Heisuke, Vice Commander."

"I see. So Harada and Nagakura just happened to volunteer for an early patrol—"

"That is correct, Vice Commander."

"And Heisuke's off hunting ducks, or geese—are you sure he'll be safe? The marsh area is very cold this time of year." Heisuke was a lot tougher than he looked, but he was also a magnet for disaster—according to his own view of things. Most people felt he invited disaster in with open arms, although he was ably aided and abetted by his brothers in idiocy.

"Shimada-san went with him, Hijikata-san. He said that he would be happy to spend time out bird-hunting with Heisuke-kun. I made sure to pack them a good lunch, and I included a few sweetened rice cakes."

Saitō didn't bother to elaborate on this, since Shimada was known for his love of sweets, and was very fond of Yukimura. He also adored Kondō, and had probably stepped in quite willingly to help out with this wild scheme to "give" Hijikata a holiday.

"I'm still a little puzzled on a few points," Hijikata said, with an air of polite inquiry. Like, what the hell is Sōji up to?

"I made sure that this courtyard was secure overnight," noted Saitō placidly.

"Oh—oh yes. And Yamazaki-san will be on duty this morning. To… to make sure that the courtyard remains secure—and peaceful, as is proper for a holiday."

"Needed to get some use out of the scarf, Saitō? Or did it dawn on somebody that leaving me defenseless to assassins for the sake of a few hours of sleep was less than optimal?"

Yukimura looked suitably concerned by the mention of assassins, but Saitō obviously felt that he had already dealt with that topic. He addressed Hijikata's first question with no trace of the sarcasm with which it had been asked.

"I was adequately equipped for the cold. The Commander allocated me extra coal for a brazier." Saitō bowed. "Please excuse me, Vice Commander. Sōji and I will be sparring together this morning over at the Mibu Temple grounds, and then we plan to visit a swordsmith who is reputed to be better than average at sharpening blades."

"You won't be sticking around Saitō? What will Yukimura do if I suddenly try to exert myself by doing my job?"

Saitō said nothing, and Hijikata finally relented and waved at him to go. Yukimura was very slowly tidying his now-empty tray.

"Since I have my writing things, am I at least allowed to get through some of my back-log of reports?"

Yukimura shook her head, looking anxious, but determined.

"Kondō-san asked me to bring him your list of reports to be filed."

"And?" How did Yukimura even know that he had that list, or where to look? Although technically she was his page, and these days she managed to spend some of her time running errands for him, despite his original plans for her (or lack thereof).

"He said that only the marked items were to be dealt with today." She brought out a piece of scrap paper—his scrap paper—and handed it to him.

There were only two marked items, and one of them had clearly been added by Kondō: 'finish summary of important points to make perfectly clear to the goat-fucking asswipes at the comptroller's office'—that hadn't been meant for Kondō's eyes! Or Yukimura's, now that he considered it—and 'buy a new coat'. Seriously? Buy a new coat? They needed food! And they were still dealing with the reputation as deadbeats foisted on them by the late, unlamented Serizawa Kamo.

"Yukimura."

"Hai!"

"Did you see this list?"

She obviously had. It showed in little ways—such as how she was practically staring at the admittedly threadbare haori he'd brought with him from Edo. But if he didn't let its condition bother him, then what was the problem?

"Kondō-san told me which items to point out to you, Hijikata-san."

"I don't need a new coat. The coat I have is fine. And when I'm out on patrol I've got my blues."

"You never wear your coat when you go out, Hijikata-san, even though you dislike the cold."

"I don't mind the cold."

There was a long silence, during which both combatants reconsidered their tactics. As a junior, and a subordinate, Yukimura should not contradict Hijikata. Or as a woman, especially since she wasn't his wife. Another good reason not to get married, as if I needed another one. Anyway, it had been tactically unsound for Yukimura to say that he disliked the cold. A true warrior didn't let the elements bother him, and he knew that she didn't want to offend him.

"…Hijikata-san?"

"Yes, Yukimura?" He held out his cup for more tea, feeling that he could be gracious in victory.

"I asked Kondō-san whether it would alright for me to improve your old—I mean, current—coat, by adding a new lining."

"You asked Kondō-san? But why—" Hijikata broke off, perturbed.

"Well, Kondō-san and Inoue-san were discussing the time you all spent together at Shiei Hall, as they sometimes do, after dinner two nights ago, and I happened to be cleaning up the dining hall, and Kondō-san asked me if you still had the haori you used to like so much. I asked him what it looked like, just to be sure, and then Inoue-san described it, and he told me that it was made especially for you by a good tailor, and that you were very fond of it."

Hijikata resisted the urge to smack his hand into his face, but it was a near thing. Unfortunately, Yukimura continued on, nearly tripping over her words as she tried to get it all out.

"And I was surprised to hear that, because you never wear that coat, so I asked Kondō-san if maybe I should fix it up a little, but Inoue-san said that you preferred to wear nice clothes, that weren't patched, and then Kondō-san agreed. So I suppose that's where it all started." She was slightly breathless, but added: "And even if you don't mind the cold, I worry that if you don't wear a coat in this weather, then you will get sick."

Many words floated through Hijikata's head, mostly unprintable. He drew a deep breath, and tried to ignore the half-anxious, half-stubborn look on Yukimura's face that always reminded him of—oh, his sister, his sister-in-law, his aunt, and the countless other women he'd grown up with. It didn't work, so he reined in his temper—because at the end of the day he was a practical man—and turned and examined his old coat. The truth was that he didn't wear it because it looked shabby, and fucking Serizawa—he rarely thought that name without an epithet—had been right about appearances, but he really didn't like being cold, even if he wouldn't say so.

"So I'm supposed to buy a new coat?"

"Yes?"

"Because to hell with rice, you're worried I'll get a cold?" He was giving in, but determined to go down fighting.

"Sannan-san will deal with the rice situation, I believe in him. Also, he is taking Okita-san with him this time."

"…As long as they don't tell me where they hide the bodies."

"Hijikata-san?" Yukimura had that reproving look again. "Okita-san said that he would smile and be very polite. He knows that we don't want you to worry."

He stared at her, but she seemed genuinely confident about the whole thing.

"And is that Okita's contribution to my, ah, day off?"

"Okita-san said that he wanted to help in any way that he could."

"Uh-huh."

"And Saitō-san said that the best way to help would be to stay out of the compound."

"Good man. I'd give him a raise, but I need to buy a new coat."

"…Yes? So I'll go get ready then?" Yukimura looked both relieved and pleased.

Hijikata debated telling her that he could damn well shop for a coat on his own. But the look on her face… She'd be crushed, probably, and he had a feeling that Kondō had already told her to go with him. So for her sake, and Kondō's—since they'd obviously spent so much effort on all this—he'd take her along. She'd slow him down by staring at all the people in town for the festival, but he'd manage. And if he was going to spend the money it would cost for a decent coat, then he could afford to spend just a little on a couple of sweets for her, and maybe a small souvenir.

"Right—go get ready, and I'll meet you at the gate. I need to add a couple of things to this memo for Sannan-san on the… rice situation." And I want to tell him to make damn sure Sōji doesn't 'accidentally' kill anyone.

"Hai!" Yukimura immediately stopped fussing with the tray, and hurried off as though Hijikata might change his mind if she didn't leave fast enough.

Chizuru spent a blissful morning and early afternoon out shopping with Hijikata. She made sure not to talk too much—although Hijikata-san didn't seem to mind her questions, for once—and she tried not to skip—something that Okita-san had teased her about in the past when she'd been excited about leaving Shisengumi headquarters—and whenever they stopped to look at coats she tried to remember to behave like a boy, and not a girl. She was extremely embarrassed when one shopkeeper told her that she obviously admired the Vice Commander a great deal, but that he, for one, didn't think that boys should be recruited so young.

They saw both Harada's and Nagakura's patrols in the distance a few times, but somehow, they never actually crossed paths with one. Even Chizuru began to suspect that this was not just by chance (or mischance). Fortunately, Hijikata-san seemed to find it amusing, so it didn't turn into a problem.

Eventually, Hijikata-san chose a coat. Or rather, he chose a style, and a material, and paid to have a coat made for him, which impressed Chizuru a great deal. After that, they stopped at a shop for tea, and although Chizuru meant to serve the tea, Hijikata-san said not to bother, so she didn't. He said that if others found it strange for the Vice Commander of the Shinsengumi to stoop to having tea and snacks with his page, then so be it.

"I suppose you should get back so that you can cook dinner," said Hijikata, when they left the tea shop. "Although it's optimistic of you to believe that Heisuke can catch anything but a cold. I predict you'll be trying to find yet another way to cook salted fish."

"Heisuke caught two excellent ducks last time."

"Ah, but flailing around in the water I can see. It's the patience required for winter hunting that I'm not so sure about."

Chizuru firmly quelled a momentary qualm or two. "He'll be fine. He has Shimada-san with him. They'll come back safe and sound, with food."

"Hm. Well, Shimada is very reliable; but he's with Heisuke, so who knows what will happen."

When they eventually returned to headquarters, they discovered that they were both wrong, or alternately, both right. Heisuke had caught not one, but two birds—migrating geese—and poor Shimada had slipped and fallen into the swampy muck. The big man brightened up considerably when Heisuke assured him that nobody needed to know about the incident—other than Chizuru, who wouldn't tell—because he could keep his mouth shut, and knew what it was like to be teased by certain people who should be kinder to their fellow officer. Chizuru declined Heisuke’s help with dinner, but praised him so effusively for catching the geese that he left to warm up in excellent spirits.

Harada and Nagakura popped their heads into the kitchen part-way through the afternoon, to say that all was well, and that Hijikata was sitting calmly at his desk writing—though whether it was personal correspondence, or work, they didn't know. Chizuru bowed to both of them, and thanked them earnestly for their hard work that morning. They exchanged knowing looks over her bent head—they'd seen her out and about that morning—and when she straightened, they were both grinning affectionately at her. As tired out as she was from all the walking, and now the dinner preparations, she had to smile back.

"He was in a damn good mood just now, Chizuru-chan," Nagakura told her, "so maybe we're the ones who owe you—he even said not to worry about curfew tonight." He paused in the act of turning away, to add, "Although I still don't know how you kept Sōji out of his hair all day, especially when he was so annoyed over the whole coat thing, and Kondō-san fussing about Hijikata-san not coming to dinner."

"Um, I—I'm not sure what you mean."

She looked so uncomfortable that Harada grabbed his friend's bicep and hauled him away. "Come on, Shin—let's go congratulate Heisuke on providing dinner without either getting hurt, or ticking off the boss."

"Yeah, fine, but you're curious too, Sano."

Their voices trailed away, and Chizuru turned back to her cooking, feeling relieved. She'd promised not to tell, and even if Okita-san thought he was just threatening her, she knew it was very important to keep her promises to him. And he had been a bit upset over Kondō-san saying that Hijikata-san should have a new coat. She didn't completely understand why Hijikata-san and Okita-san didn't get along, since both of them cared so much about Kondō-san and the Shinsengumi, but for now it was enough that she was learning not to be so alarmed by their disagreements.

In the few minutes of quiet time after dinner was prepared, and before it needed to be served, Chizuru took advantage of Inoue-san's offer to watch over things, and slipped away to a smallish gardening shed near the wall of the courtyard. The door slid open before she could knock, and Saitō pulled her quickly inside.

"They're all fine," he said, tilting his head toward the back of the shed.

There against the wall, and carefully concealed from the door by a rack of large burlap sacks, was a kind of nest made up of discarded rags and soft paper. In the center sat a thin black cat with a white muzzle and a white belly. It couldn't be called an attractive cat, since one eye was swollen shut, and it appeared to be missing part of one ear. The four kittens nestled around it—or rather, her—didn't seem to care. They mewled and gently bumped her with their heads, and periodically peered around her legs at the quiet, green-eyed man who was holding out a dish of meat scraps to her.

"It's quite a feast you got her, Chizuru-chan," commented Sōji, watching as the black cat delicately picked out another morsel of goose innard. "Just what she needed."

"I'm glad she's doing better, Okita-san. And oh—the kittens are so sweet!"

"Oi, don't move so fast, or they'll run again. They're not too quick, but it's a pain to catch them, and then mama here fusses."

"Sumimasen, Okita-san." Chizuru put her hands behind her back to keep herself from scooping up one of the fuzzballs for a cuddle.

"Ehn, it's okay—they'll probably be more up to playing tomorrow, ne, Neko-sama?"

Chizuru laughed a little, then quickly covered her mouth. "I'm sorry, Okita-san, but she doesn't look much like a court lady…"

Okita shook his head at her. "You shouldn't be so quick to judge, Chizuru-chan—you don't look much like a lady either, you know."

"Um… that's true, I suppose."

"Anyway, she's a fighter, like the onna-bugeisha."

Chizuru just nodded. She wasn't especially familiar with the women warriors of the samurai caste families, and she still thought the mother cat looked more like street fighter than a noble lady. Not that Chizuru minded, though. She thought the little family needed all the help they could get—and if Okita-san wanted to look after them, then she would help Okita-san.

"Yukimura must return to the house, Sōji. And Sannan-san will be expecting you soon."

"I know, I know." Okita turned to Chizuru.

"You promise to come by with food again later? I don't want to leave any because I don't know if she's up to handling another fight right now."

"I promise."

"And you'll check the water?"

"Hai!"

"Sōji."

"Fine, fine. But we have a deal, right, Chizuru-chan? You don't tell anyone, and you help me look after them while it's so cold."

"It's a deal, Okita-san. And I haven't told anyone."

"Well, I guess we'll see how it goes."

Okita stood up and stretched, his green eyes glinting in the faint lantern light. He almost asked about Hijikata's new coat, but then decided it wasn't worth it. He'd gotten to save the cats—plus a chance to go out with Sannan-san, which might be entertaining, although there were sure to be some dull bits—and Chizuru and Kondō-san were happy, so… he could let it go. Besides, the spar with Saitō had gone well, and he hadn't felt too out of breath, for once.

"Okay, oyasumi, neko-sama."

They all filed out of the shed, careful and quiet in the cold, dark courtyard. And if Hijikata happened to see them returning to the house, and happened to check in the shed before going in to dinner, well, almost nobody knew about it. The one silent observer had been aware of the whole thing from the start, having watched the various comings and going of the headquarters' inhabitants throughout the day. However, since Saitō-san already knew about it, and Hijikata-san didn't seem inclined to interfere—had even appeared to be smiling, just now—Yamazaki certainly had no need to do more than wish, very briefly, that he too were getting a new coat.

End Notes:

(1) See Do As I Say (not just shameless self-referencing, since nollatooru did say she'd enjoy another similar story!)

(2) "Excuse me, Hijikata-san, it's Yukimura"

A/Note: As always, your comments and reviews are very much appreciated. Please never think "I have nothing interesting to say." While a detailed review is a wonderful, precious thing, you can make an author's day with a simple "This was great!" or "Thanks, really enjoyed this!" or even "Eep!" Knowing you're out there, and enjoying my work helps so much! (To those on tumblr: yes, I read all the tags)

I'm taking the time to say this now, because I'm seeing fewer reviews and comments than ever, whether it's on tumblr, FFN, or AO3. I know it can be hard to figure out what to say, but if you can find a minute or two to type some positive feedback, it can help a writer to want to write again. And if you have constructive criticism, or you've seen a typo? All the authors I know, myself included, are grateful for that kind of feedback as well, although it's even better if you can do it directly by private message or something similar.

Note to reviewers/ those who comment: I try to write back to everyone, but it's taking me longer these days. If I haven't written back, I sincerely apologize. If you comment on Anon or Guest, I can’t write back directly, but thank you! Please know that all of your feedback is important to me, regardless.

#hakuouki #haku fanfiction #hijikata toshizo #hijichi #hakuokiss #impracticaldemon #imp writes #nollatooru #haku gift exchange 2018 #i hope you enjoy it!#i enjoy your art and sketches and comics so much!

90 notes · View notes

mcl-socialites · 6 years

Text

just facts

I really want to wrap up all this anni stuff or put it away for the time being, but the inbox is piling up with more and more evidence and anons/people who wish to stay anon sharing their experiences with her.

someone has shared her long “woe is me” excuse post already.

she is trying to frame this blog as the bad guy in this situation, which i think is a very bad idea. as we already have plenty of evidence her actions and attitude towards others, and we’ve gotten confirmation that she is mass deleting from people who follow her, as well as mass blocking from those who have openly shared their experiences and thoughts, or have anonymously done so, but their stories are specific enough for their identity to be narrowed down.

also, scrolling through this blog you will see that 1.) prior to anni publicly picking a fight with us, we were as a blog and as followers unanimously shifting this blog’s dynamic from personal gossip to jokes, venting, and game-based confessions. again, she publicly started a fight with [admin milk] and attempted to make it personal, then when called out publicly for her behavior she 1.) tried to threaten us and 2.) attempted to manipulate her own followers via victim complex.

please notice how in her excuse post she claims we have no proof, then does not link to anything. that’s highly suspicious. also please take note that when anyone makes claims ((unrelated to personal one on one experiences/exchanges)) about her i always ask for the evidence to be submitted. You will see this if you go through the annidraws tag on our blog. To those who are sharing your personal stories with her on anon, i would like to extend this invitation to you as well. Please submit any evidence you may have. If you are worried about your identity being open to the public i can assure you that i will automatically block out your personal info or anything that can be traced back to you, unless told otherwise. That being said, I urge you to block anni before doing so because even with your personal info blocked out she will likely remember who you are and that can make you vulnerable to an attack. As stated before, she likely sends anon hate to people calling her out and disagreeing with her herself (not all but most, as evident by the screenshots i posted).

also i notice she tries to claim that there are people out there who hate her so much that they would start lies, and concludes her post by saying that “...if you had felt this on your own, you’d know how much this hurts. And right now, I really wish those people would know, what kind of bullshit they are publishing and how much this can hurt people”.

All I have to say about that is that this an emotional manipulation tactic she is trying on her more naive followers. it’s difficult to believe that a bunch of strangers on the internet all met up in secret to conspire specifically against her and come up with several personal based experiences, and several of the same publicly-know experiences in their own free time for no reward, benefit, or personal gain at all, and that this one person with so many enemies is completely innocent and resolved of her wrongdoings. And she wishes how people would know how it feels? Well, according to what’s been shared, they do. And it’s all thanks to her and her “army”.

As for the photo evidence that is being submitted to us, we are keeping them in a file to be shared on a mass post, so that everything is neatly pulled together and easy for anyone to find.

Again, these people and ourselves have nothing to gain from making up lies about this girl. And where we are wrong, or proved to be wrong we will willingly admit to our mistakes and ignorance and come forward and apologize.

And for anyone worried about this blog or any of the evidence on it going away due to her threatening to report us; it’s a useless cause.

Callout blogs/posts/websites are a regular occurrence on tumblr and all over the internet, and in order for it to be libel or defamation the things shared here would have to be 1.) Proved untrue and 2.) The source of the info. Which we are not. And in order for it to be be cyber bullying worthy of being controlled by any larger power (such as staff, etc) her life would have to be threatened, or her personal well-being in danger, which it clearly is not. Personal opinions on another person may count as gossip, however this cannot be stopped by the law.

To her claim of being “hacked” about the bitch-anons my final word is this:

she is completely lying. She claims she reported the person, but doesn’t know who it is. Then how did she report the person? To report a person you’d have to have some sort of shareable information of them to find them. To report a general hacker to tumblr’s staff... well good fucking luck honestly. you can tell tumblr that your account was hacked and although they have no policy or guideline for this specifically, i’m willing to bet that’d they’d merely encourage you to step up your password security and not to click any suspicious links in an email, just as any other website would. And for those with little to no knowledge on how hacking works here’s an easily digestible break down (coming from a former hacker)

1.) Personal hacking. A hacker is a person, and retains your account information somehow- it’s more than likely they’d have to have at least a minor personal relationship to you (although this isn’t entirely necessary) as well as a drive to hack into your account. Someone would have to be skilled enough to break into someone’s personal account (so in anni’s case- we’re talking about someone who either doesn’t know her at all but is a complete cyber genius who managed to get her private info just so they could send the word “bitch” to a few people- and mind that besides at least one person, they still opted to keep her identity anonymous. okay, lol sure that sounds believable- OR someone that knew her personally and was close enough to her to know her password- but again she “doesn’t know who it is” hmm. smells fishy.) Edit: Now mind that anon messages can be sent WITHOUT a tumblr account. I mean log out of your tumblr and go onto someone’s account who has anon on and send a message if you don’t believe me. So again- why would someone so skilled do something so stupid and pointless and time consuming??

2.) The alternative is a bot hacker. A bot hacker, which is created by a human- technology does nothing without command keep in mind, is normally a virus obtained by clicking on a suspicious link. Remember a few months ago how everyone was saying they were getting messages from their mutuals to send them bitcoin? Or those random non-descript blogs that ask people to review “their new game” or some other nonsense (typically ask for a donation as well) and have a link? Those are bots. The bots’ goal is 99% of the time to 1- ask for money or steal personal information which could lead to stealing money and 2- infiltrate more accounts to keep spreading the virus. Bots although they follow an algorithm and may vary the words used, always expedite their actions the exact same way every time- aka always through a pm, always through fanmail, etc but never through anon- there’s no benefit, and no info shared by the answerer can be sent back through the anon and to the hacker.

So, in conclusion, she absolutely did send those anons (and accidental non-anons) calling people a bitch. It’s a fine example of her poor temper and inability to control her outbursts and impulse toxic behavior.

please keep in mind that i am posting this without reviewing my grammar and spelling. and thank you to all the people who have been brave enough to confess their experiences and submit evidence.

-admin milk

#my candy love #annidraws #annicent #loonylein #admin milk #admin speaks #long post #mcl burnbook

26 notes · View notes

activebodi-blog · 4 years

Text

Which Social Media Platforms Should You Use (or Start With)?

You’ve heard of this Social Media thing, right? You’re looking to build an audience by picking the right platform (or platforms) to make it a reality.

But where do you start?

I can’t give you a straight answer. We’re all individuals and we have individual strengths and needs for our goals.

So what I can do is you give you some insight into my experience, having run a number of identities and niche sites across social media, I can offer some advice and then go further into helping you figure out which is best for you.

So in this video, I talk about which Social Media platforms I’m using on my websites and the thought process I use – and how you can apply it to your situation. Alternatively, I have it all written out below the video also :)

Please Note: By playing any videos on this page, you hereby consent to the use of YouTube’s Cookies.

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel Here

What Platforms I’m currently using

Let’s paint the picture.

With a little information, you can gain some insight and better wrap your head around what I’m about to discuss.

So here are the social media platforms I’m using with a little “why” behind them:

Instagram – It’s primarily visual and one of the most popular social media platforms being used today. I also find it relatively easy to grow a following compared to other platforms like Facebook.

Twitter – It’s very easy to automate, you can reach more people by tagging others as well as get retweets, etc. It’s also easy to grow and you can be flexible, yet you can rely on visuals also if you like.

Facebook – easy to keep up to date and it’s a great place if you go viral. It has perhaps the most potential but I actually find it the most difficult to grow in and continually reach your audience (although some have great success, many struggle and don’t go past Facebook). Unless you want to pay dollars for ads, Facebook is one of my least favorites but is still worth a little effort. It’s great if you have an expansive personal network you can promote to.

Pinterest – Again, it’s visual. I’m a designer and creating attractive pins is easy enough to do and Pinterest is quite powerful once you learn the ropes.

YouTube – Another place to let your content go viral. It’s a lot more work as you are creating content that takes hours at times but then there’s a lot more ‘stick’ to your work as it becomes a part of the YouTube search engine and not just a passing update.

It’s not social media – but always funnel toward an Email List. Email is king for reach, the least amount of work and converts visitors to buyers far more effectively than any Social Media platform (generally speaking). I feel it’s worth mentioning since many use social media to retain their audience when email is vastly superior (I show you how to get started with a newsletter here)

Also, find Social Media platforms unique to you!

Notice something above? I place a lot of emphasis on ‘visual’.

This is why I also occasionally post some of my imagery with links to the blog posts to Deviant Art, Behance, and other visual places. The reason for this is I’m an artist and professional graphic/web designer.

My skillset lends itself to visual platforms because I can easily create eye-catching visuals.

What are your strengths?

If you’re into audio, try Soundcloud. Video? Try YouTube, Vimeo, or share your videos on a Tumblr blog. Whatever interests you most and you believe will reach the most people, you should go for it.

Audio, video, and imagery always perform well on most platforms, but finding little extras very specific to your skill and even niche can yield great results as the competition for attention is less fierce.

Try and test them out and eliminate those that give you little results.

So do some research and find other places that are specific to you, where you can reach more people. I think of these as secondary networks. But they are great when you are trying to grow aggressively.

OK, You have a bunch of accounts – that seems like a LOT to start with!

Well it is, and I don’t recommend starting that way. Starting up 6 social media accounts and running them from the beginning is daunting and just plain confusing.

A lot of gurus say to be everywhere, while others say focus on ONE platform. So which is correct?

Both ways are correct.

Confused? Well, I have an explanation.

All of these platforms hinge on your knowledge and the action you take based on that knowledge. You need to learn them and master them to be effective and reach people. They all have individual strengths and methods for succeeding with them.

In saying that, there are some universal concepts that help you succeed on social media:

Focus on building an audience and find ways to get in front of more people (hashtags, groups, etc)

Create content people want

Be consistent and keep delivering that content

Figure out how to apply the above to each platform.

Learn one by one.

So pick one platform and get started. Use it, learn it and become efficient at posting to it and getting a good response. Then move on. Give it a few months to truly understand it and establish yourself.

Over time you’ll have a solid understanding of what works for you. As you slowly learn each one and add to your network then you can eventually begin to be everywhere.

Some posts work better than others

Constantly linking to blog posts is a stale method and doesn’t work. Most social platforms don’t want you going offsite.

On average, Video & Images reach the most people and get the most interaction. So try to use those mediums the best you can. If your focus is audio, then create videos by popping an image or some footage in there in place of video, playing the audio over the top.

Discover the media type that works best for you: Imagery, Video or Audio and make your choice from there.

Heres some examples of how you could start:

Prefer Imagery? Start with Instagram, move onto others

Better at Video? Get onto YouTube and move from there.

Audio? Maybe start a podcast, copy those podcasts to YouTube and move on as above.

You can take whatever route is most attractive to you. Then as you progress, link everything together and it will become more manageable.

Now you’re rolling, so automate between networks for efficiency.

This is another example of what I personally do.

When I post on one social media network, it filters through to other networks.

I’m a graphic designer, so I share to Pinterest when I create a blog post, but I share more regularly (for my niche sites anyway) on Instagram, which then auto-posts to Facebook and Twitter.

When I release a video on YouTube, the link is automatically posted to Twitter. You can do the same for Facebook.

By figuring out these little shortcuts you can start to see how you can stay consistent on a number of platforms with a lot less work.

Now you’ve got the flow set up, use scheduling software.

I use the Buffer app to keep things flowing.

So I automate and schedule posts to one primary network like Instagram and it takes care of the rest….

…mostly.

I also make sure I add a little something to the others. I share links to my blog posts on Facebook, which autoshares to Twitter.

Since Twitter is best when posts are more frequent, I then add some extra posts (links, text only, images) to my Twitter stream. Twitter is the platform that is the most easily automated and receives a lot of automated content from my other social media platforms.

You can start to see how focusing on one main social media platform and occasionally adding to your schedule on the others you can give you a constant stream of content across them all.

Then check-in and interact.

Don’t just shout your updates into the room and leave. Interact.

This is where automation becomes powerful. Since all you have to do is log in and reply to people. Your posting is done in batches and then takes care of itself, leaving you to simply be social.

Always be aware of change. Be ready to move.

Don’t just keep going, once you are getting results on a handful of top platforms, stay and don’t stretch yourself too thin.

However, social media platforms die, and new ones are always on the rise.

Be prepared to discard what no longer works or explore exciting new avenues that pop up. It’s important to keep with the times or you’ll be left behind and you’ll see your reach slowly fade.

So be in the game, keep your finger on the pulse and be consistent.

Focus on learning what people want and master the art of good content and the rest will become effortless.

I hope my crazy rambling has given you some insight. Hopefully, you found it useful. If you did find it useful consider subscribing to my email newsletter.

Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!

source https://creatorimpact.com/social-media-start-with/

#blogging #internet marketing #social media

0 notes

lachryphage · 7 years

Text

So I’ve been getting interested in ball-jointed dolls again (liked them in middle school but only now have the money for REAL interest) and let me tell you this has been a wild fucking ride.

Coming into this hobby from a lolita background, i thought i was prepared. Both interests are a luxury and quite expensive, both communities are supposedly full of drama and mean people. Although I don’t participate in my local lolita community, I’ve spent a huge volume of time both on tumblr and other blog-hosting sites getting to know lolitas around the world and garnering a sense of how coms work irl. The reputation of mean, “brand-whore,” overly dramatic lolitas is like a ghost story and the closest thing you see to this behavior is satire. I’m sure there’s some really nasty lolitas out there, but I’ve never come across one. The high prices involved in the fashion are mitigated by a thriving second-hand market and a huge amount of support for those who wish to sew their own.

Like I said, superficially the ball-jointed doll hobby seemed pretty similar in many aspects, but I had no idea how wrong I could be.

(below the cut is a very long rant full of personal opinions, it in no way is meant to target specific individuals)

So, to start, those of you who know me might find it odd for me to put such a disclaimer as the one before the cut -- I’m pretty confident in making posts about some of my “controversial” opinions because I have so little followers that it just doesn’t matter. But I’ve honestly been worried about expressing some of my thoughts concerning this hobby because that’s just how bad it is.

Where do I start? Well, what’s bothering me the most are the damn confession blogs. They make up about 50% of the “bjd” tag on tumblr. (I’m gonna block them soon, I just primarily use mobile and I’m not sure how to block blogs on there) When people say they’re worried about interacting with people in the hobby because of how mean-spirited the confessions are, long-time members of the community reassure them that the confession blogs are no measure of what the majority of the community is like. Seems reasonable. Lolita also has confession blogs, but honestly I don’t know what those blogs are like. You wanna know why? Because they’re drowned out in the lolita fashion tag by posts concerning what lolita is actually about! -- the fashion!!! I wouldn’t exactly say that this is evidence that the bjd hobby actually has more awful people than lolita, but something is up.

Ugh and these confession blogs don’t even work like confession blogs! Rather than having confessions of things you might never want to say in polite conversation, or just shocking things in general, these blogs are often used as a discussion platform. Confess about how you don’t like a particular hobbyist, doll, or company? Prepare for a barrage of comments telling you to be more accepting!! Like what’s the point? Am I missing something? Are those who confess “mean” things the kind of people who actually say those things irl and really do need a talking to? I honestly don’t know, but I feel like confession blogs are specifically meant for things you’d never actually say to someone because you’re actually a polite and decent human being. Is this a criticism? I don’t know, but I find this phenomena fucking bizarre.

A brief note: any criticism of individuals or the whole community concerning issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, or fetishization will automatically be completely shut down. Perhaps some of the criticism of the hobby in regards to these issues is an exaggeration of the actually situation, but no discussion about these issues is even allowed; the attitude is “we’ve already discussed this and concluded none of these things are problems in the community therefore bringing it up again is harmful.” Apparently a hobby with thousands of people involved has none of the issues inherent in most global societies.

There are a lot more things that bother and deeply concern me about the “community,” but let’s move on to the money aspect. This hobby is incredibly expensive, but that doesn’t bother me because I recognize that the dolls are luxury items that have a lot work put into them by the sculptors who create them. What I do find bizarre, apparently dolls don’t depreciate. Most objects you buy depreciate over time, oftentimes losing a significant part of their value the moment they are purchased. A good example is cars. You simply cannot sell your brand-new car for the same price you bought it, no matter how good the condition it’s in. This is a reality that many people who get into antiques learn the hard way. Just because something is old does not mean it is worth anything. The things you see on Antiques Roadshow valued and thousands of dollars are usually rare, unusual, made with materials still valued today, and/or created by a well-known artist. What they don’t show you is that most of the people who come in, even those with really cool stuff, find that their objects have very little monetary value. This is something reflected in small luxury hobbies such as lolita, where the majority of items can be considered rare and made by well-known brands (i.e. artists). But guess what? Most of the second-hand items sell for considerably less than their original price, with only the rarest most special dresses retaining their original value and even fewer that go up in price. This isn’t sad or unfortunate, this is a well-accepted fact that makes buying and selling second-hand easy and allows people who can’t afford new items to still participate in the fashion.

(new paragraph because that last one is long) Now, most of my commentary on the bjd second-hand market is from what is see on a specific forum’s marketplace (DOA), tumblr sales, and confession blogs. I do not have a facebook and lots of sales are conducted there so I simply have no idea what the market is like there. With that in mind, let’s get to the meat of it. Very few second-hand dolls are sold for less than their original price. It seems standard practice to sell a doll for the same price you paid for it (if not more) with the benefit of buying second-hand viewed primarily as not having to pay for shipping from another country (which is not always true) or having access to dolls that are no longer available new. I mean, I cannot be the only one who finds it ridiculous that even old, yellowed dolls that are still available new can sell for the same price as a new one. It’s just!!! So weird!!! Dolls don’t seem to depreciate unless they’ve been HEAVILY modified or are very broken. And this isn’t an issue of sellers charging to much, it wouldn’t be this way if buyers weren’t willing to pay the price.

I am just so so confused and exasperated. And this is only like half of what I could talk about.

#dear lord this is so long #i just have so much to vent about #i was bottling it up #personal shit

5 notes · View notes

norihisahyuga-archived · 7 years

Text

tagged by @chlance for this 10 + 1 facts about me thing. i’m not entirely sure i’ve seen that floating around before now. also, i’m incredibly boring.

click the read more at your own risk.

i’ve been writing for 11 years. it’s weird to think about it in terms of time now because i used to talk about it in high school, joking i’d have been writing for a whole decade soon. but nonetheless, it’s true. i started writing when i was very young because state standardized testing is terribly boring, takes too little time, and i needed to fill in the huge empty gaps of waiting with something. i’m still not entirely sure what drove me to write in the first place, but that’s what i did. and i’ve almost always been exclusively fascinated by stories about lgbt people and lgbt relationships even before i knew i was lgbt.

i like shitty movies and hate good movies. that’s only half a joke. there are plenty of movies that are considered “good” that i like, but when i actually tried watching a lot of classic movies that people have raved about, i ended up not liking a lot of them or just being terribly bored. it’s not even just a matter of not appreciating the themes present, but more that the films just don’t hold my interest for very long. in contrast, i can binge watch shitty horror films until i pass out in the middle of them. creature feature weekends on syfy used to be my favorite parts of the month for a reason.

i have a fear of ghosts and demons. i’m not entirely sure what caused it or why it’s become such a part of my life, maybe it’s just too many possession/demonic horror films at the wrong point in my life. maybe it’s just that i was raised religious and though i’m not religious anymore, i still can’t shake the fact that i believe these things do exist and can be malevolent. maybe it’s too much reading too late at night. i don’t really know why, to be honest. it’s ironic, because i’ll purposefully seek out movies and books that feature ghosts and demons. the grudge came out in 2004, and to this day i still have a paranoid and irrational fear of stairs late at night and can’t shake the creepy feeling that something is in the dark. might sound crazy, but it’s true.

i suffer from mental illness and personality disorders. and they all most likely result from the abuse i suffered at the hands of my mother for most of my life. i have very high key anxiety, which makes it difficult for me to initiate conversations with people and make decisions that are risky in nature. it also makes walking my dog at night very difficult. there is also depression mixed in there, which makes me very tired and decreases my motivation significantly. i have bpd and avpd, as well. bpd makes it very difficult for me to manage my emotions, as everything feels very intense or very numb, and contributes significantly to my self-loathing as there’s a constant stream of uncertainty in my head. avpd makes it very difficult to talk to outside sources about my issues, which makes therapy at the moment an absolute impossibility. i’m finding my own ways to cope as i can, and i think it’s starting to work.

tadanobu asano is my favorite actor. and he has been since i watched ichi the killer when i was in sixth grade. that was a very pivotal point in my life for several reasons, and he’s very important to me. believe me when i say that silence might have been a shitty movie, but i really enjoyed everything he did in it. i’ve been steadily tracking down and watching his films ever since. he’s the real reason that i started watching j-horror in the first place, which is pretty much what led me to the place i’m at right now and led me to the fandoms that would become the most important to me and the most important in my life. there’s a LOT i would like to thank him for, tbh. he means a lot to me.

i love animals, and they love me. and i’m not exaggerating when i say that. i’ve encountered animals and been told that they’re dangerous, but they liked me just fine. i’ve had stray animals grow warmer towards me and allow me to pick them up and hold them. my grandmother had kittens in the barn next to her house and i was the one who made it possible for my cousins to touch them since they trusted humans by trusting me first. i’ve had people’s dogs who usually bite approach me and let me pet them. and i really love animals. i don’t kill bugs if i don’t have to, i used to play with the daddy long leg spiders that showed up in my veterinary science room in high school, and i raised praying mantises as a kid and kept a pet frog for just over a year.

i have a natural talent for academic writing. when i was in my last two years of high school, my grades absolutely tanked and a large part of that had to do with returning to an abusive environment and being so isolated from everyone that i had no way to cope. my grades suffered heavily, except for my grades in english. my senior year, i was taking a college freshman level class through a university and i was able to get great grades in it even when i often scrambled to complete assignments or worried i didn’t understand the material. i had a teacher comment he never understood how much english meant to me until he saw a test score of mine that was incredibly high when most people hadn’t scored that high. had i kept my shit together and gone to college, i probably would have studied it. i might still some day if i ever get my shit together enough to consider attempting anything academic.

i have a sleep disorder. it’s largely caused by working the night shift and developed the longer i worked there. while left to my own devices, i usually develop a nocturnal sleep schedule and spent an entire summer sleeping during the day and staying up all night several times. that didn’t really translate well to working for some reason. as time passed, it became more and more difficult to sleep during the day to the point where i now have to take sleep medication to ensure i sleep for more than three to four hours before i go to work. during my days off, my sleep schedule almost always tries to revert to me staying up during the day and sleeping at night, and it’s an active issue trying to resolve it. i’m strongly considering changing what hours i work as a result.

i’m agnostic. i was raised in a nondenominational christian church and ended up not going back once i entered public school. when i lived with my grandmother, i encountered several denominations, which were apostolic, baptist, and pentecostal. needless to say, i’m very apathetic at best to religion. that doesn’t stop me from watching movies that include religion or make me automatically dislike media with religious themes. i’ve also retained a lot of information about christianity from my time in the church and my own studies which makes me very critical toward people misusing the faith. i don’t mind people who are religious! i just merely ask that you don’t approach me about the topic unless you’ve asked first.

i’m gay and trans. it’s in my about and my description and if you somehow missed both of those, i talk about it a fair lot. my identity is very important to me. i knew for the vast majority of my life that i was not straight or cis, but i didn’t have the terms i needed to really describe how i felt and wasn’t really able to admit it to myself until recently. however, that’s who i am. being lgbt is very important to me and is a very important part of my life.

i’m a restless perfectionist. it’s why you’ll see my theme change often (though this one is lasting well). it’s why my icon and mobile banner change. on my old tumblr account and on twitter, my @ changed very often, as did my entire layout + color scheme. i want things to be perfect, and that often means changing them. that also means i pretty much bust my own ass on my writing and my gifs and edits, and it also means i hate a whole hell of a lot of what i create because it’s never up to scratch and never what i envisioned it to be.

since i’m supposed to tag 11 followers, i’ll tag @halfpastmonsoon @yoshimiyahagi @hironoshimizu @sparktaekwoon @complicatedmerary @chatcsantana @underjacksumbrella

look that’s enough anyway if you actually read this... i’m so sorry

#txt

3 notes · View notes

oranges8hands · 3 years

Text

latest anon under the cut

(just read through your recent asks) it feels like maybe your only consuming one "side" of this fandom tbh. there's a LOT about how people prioritize booker, a lot already written about bias/racism regards to joe and Nile (who's... ignored a LOT, esp her past as a marine) and also a lot about the blatant xenophobia in regards to nicky (and luca) and the med identity and accents (like those nicky/luca is stupid b/c of accent posts that people just found funny). its all been talked about at length part 2 i guess - there's been so much bullying in this fandom to poc that im actually TERRIFIED of having my screen name here, so anon. just let this stuff die, don't vagueblog (people get BULLIED over that), and talk to people directly instead of making people anxious about the discourse and nasty atmosphere coming back. people are leaving this fandom bc of it. white ppl are constantly talking over ppl of colour in this fandom. bc if we disagree, we're wrong. its just got to stop.(dif anon btw) _____________ Hi anon,

So to clarify, my Booker post (which started this) was based on A03 fanfic, not tumblr. Actually, except for the stuff about n/j t/b, all of this was based on A03 fanfic. I agree, my tumblr experience (and frankly people's fandoms experience in general - that's how fandom works) definitely tend to fall to one (of many) sides, especially because my tumblr experience for this fandom is incredibly small and I've barely made the rounds in my 'fandom circle' much less the rest of it. But yeah, of course even my fanfic experience is somewhat curated, considering there's certain ships and/or tropes I will just automatically skip over, and again it's A03-centric (and English-only) which definitely does not cover all of the fanfic being written, but it's also not a small sample size. [1] I'm not really disagreeing with your ask (or the previous ones?) I've definitely seen the Nicky/Luca + stupidity/accent, I've minimally seen the Nile + lack of focus/("good") marine stuff mentioned. I haven't seen the Booker/exile meta, which is partly why I wrote up the first post - so I could provide a link in a comment I was leaving on A03 so the author could dis/engage as desired, rather than potentially spiraling their comments into a comment thread they didn't want to engage in. (Again, not to say it doesn't exist, but like I said in that post I haven't seen it yet.) I've removed character tags and the actual fandom tag since placing them five tags back didn't keep it out of the tags, I've been putting stuff under the read more to hopefully help block tumblr's search function even more, I deleted the vague n/j tags because I agree they sound like they were related to n/j t/b discourse and re-opening that can of worms is unnecessary and not something I wanted to touch on even before, uh, this, and didn't mean to touch on with those tags either. Like these posts should now be retained to my blog alone, and out of the general and/or character specific tumblr tags, which I didn't want them in in the first place. (Like if the read more thing actually makes a difference, I'm fine deleting the first anon post and re-posting it under a read more since it mentions the n/j t/b thing if that needs help being invisible, if that post is still showing up.) As for the last point - I don't think people are wrong for disagreeing with my take for my Booker or my Joe post. Again, most stuff is fandom circle based and like I said in the Joe post, that's my interpretation of a pattern I noticed and ymmv.[2] But if the interpretation is one you agree with[3], I do find it unconvincing to say racial bias managed to not be a (subconscious) factor in how that interpretation came to be, considering a) the general mindset of how race/racism (and other isms) affect fandoms (and everything else) and b) how similar subtle trends like the ones listed have connected to racism in other fandoms. Like sure, maybe it doesn’t, but it’s a mindset fans of color have been talking about in multiple fandoms, over multiple years, and I agree with that side of the argument.... so I guess yeah by default I do think you’re wrong. [I feel like we’re meaning two different things by that word? In which I mean people in fandom have different takes and if your take is in disagreement with mine, I’m going to think you’re wrong, whereas you mean it more as I find you as a human/fan/poc wrong. And if I’m correct in how you’re meaning the word, I’m not saying it comes out of left field - for fandoms in general or (esp) for this fandom specifically - and like I said in the Joe post, I'm not going to say you a fan of color have to interact with fandom a certain way with regards to racism in any direction, or have a specific opinion about it, it is 100% not my place. But like yes, for the first definition, we’re going to disagree on interpretations and how those interpretations came to be.] On my end, in general there's not a monolithic reaction on how/if (white) fans should/shouldn't talk about racism in fandom, so while this fandom circle (aka the anons about these posts) seem to think it's a topic that shouldn't be touched on (in general or possibly by white fans specifically), I came from fandoms were you are supposed to - if not talk about it, not ignore it either.

However, like everyone has been saying and like I've been agreeing with, real people within a fandom are more important than fictional characters.

____________ [1] There's a kind of implied point in the first part of this ask that a) conversations in fandom are supposed to be one and done (possibly just meant if they're contentious?) and b) that someone is expected to know everything that happens in a (very large) fandom that I don't think are very reasonable. Not everyone was in the fandom to start with, not everyone is going to be able to touch on all fandom discussions or search in depth before interacting with it, and fandoms in general go through waves of similar discussions. [2] Not 100% sure what the vagueblog is commenting on? The Nicky/Joe tags? I agreed, I removed them. I don't think the Joe post is vagueblogged because I tried to focus on specific versions of the attitude I was noticing, and I do think there's a difference between vagueblogging and talking about general patterns. The Booker post I don't think of as vagueblogging until arguably the last footnote, which the Joe post expanded on. It's also hard to get too specific because a) I'm definitely not going to list a bunch of fic as examples in a post; b) there's not some specific sentence that triggers it, but just this feeling I was left with and kept being left with; and c) what happens in one fanfic doesn't have the same... issue? weight? problem? (actionable sentences that can be pointed to?) as it does if it happens in multiple fanfics and/or across fandoms. [3] tbh I can't tell from how it's written if you agree that racism/xenophobia plays a role in the things you list in the first part of this ask, or if you think those issues (again, if you think they are issues in fandom and not just people accusing fandom of things) are separate from that.

#a and a #fandom repeat fight #anyway I didn't want to use the name/acronym #so when I say fandom sometimes I mean this specific one and something I mean the general fandom world

48 notes · View notes