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ravenclawprincess1231 · 3 years

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A tale of two lovers (Part 1)!

INFP tightened her arms around her mother’s waist, Her eyes glazed with salty tears.

“I’ll miss you, mom.” She said between sobs,

“Don’t worry, dear. You got into the top college in the country!”

“Yeah, but, I’m just...scared.”

Her mother looked down at INFP’s face with a gingerly expression, and swayed her back and fourth in an attempt to soothe her.

“Your smart, amazing, and your one of the most bravest people I know. But, most importantly, your my daugther, my beautiful, beloved daughter.”

INFP found it difficult to accept all what her mother said. She didn’t feel pretty herself, let alone beautiful. It just seemed too strong of a statement, especially for something her mom exclaimed so confidently. All the kids used to make fun of INFP at school for her two colored eyes, and her niche interests. She often felt frustrated about her stupid eyes, if she didn’t have them, at least nobody would think she was a creep.

Click here for scene music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD9gfThEjHA read at a normal pace! Feel free to take stuff in!

INFP waved back to her mom as she walked towards the van to her dad and her best friend, ISFJ.

“Ready to go?” ISFJ inquired

“Yeah,” INFP replied

“Come in kids!” The dad called, “It’s getting late and you don’t want to miss your flight INFP!”

INFP nodded and slid into the ventilated car. Following suit, ISFJ slid in with her, as her father got the GPS up and running. The drive to the airport was met with fire and fury, multiple cars were packed in lines adjacent to their lanes. Nevertheless, they managed to make it into the airport on time. Before they knew it, they were at the gate, chatting and hugging each other.

“Passengers on Flight 461, please come to gate 5.” The loudspeaker spoke

INFP walked towards the gate with her father standing by one side, with ISFJ by another.

“I guess your going off then, aren’t you?” INFP’s dad said, “Your growing up so fast.”

INFP smiled, “I know, but you’ll always be with me, no matter what.”

“Yes.”

“You will do great!” ISFJ chimed in, “You are always free to talk to me on Whatsapp if you need anything.”

INFP smiled and walked away, she then tilted her head to see her dad and her best friend waving. She felt her legs jerk, and before she knew it, she dashed back and held both of them in a tight embrace.

“I love you, both of you.” She said, “And I won’t let you down.”

Her dad laughed, “You better not, honey! We don’t have much, its a miracle you got that free scholarship!”

INFP nodded and walked once again towards the tall narrow, platform and boarded the plane. She sat in her seat and looked out her small, oval window as the aircraft ascended.

This is it, She thought, as the plane followed with the wind rising, I’m actually leaving.

INFP pulled out her favorite novel and began to read it, with the accompaning sound of cabin noise. Time seemed to soar when she was reading, and it felt weird being lost in her zealous world. She soon fell asleep to the sound of cabin noise, the novel in her lap.

-------

Use this music! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCcclu-gyIo

ENTJ looked up at his friend, ENTP, as he begrudingly carried the cardboard boxes of parts to the yard

“Why do we need these again?” he asked, annoyed

“It’s for the freshman welcome day!” ENTP said, her eyes gleaming, “Dude, do you have any clue that it was today?”

“I did.” ENTJ replied, frustrated, “I don’t understand the point of this, more freshman, nothing much that to sell them like lambs to a slaughter of college with a stupid event.”

A twisted grin spread across ENTP’s face. “hehehe....more people to screw up, and debate with, fine...verrry fine. Don’t you think?”

ENTJ growled in annoyance, “This is boring, when will I actually get real stuff to do?”

“Like what? What could be more real than helping out with this?”

“Like my TF job.” ENTJ said blankly, “I can think of a hundred things better than this shit.”

ENTP gave her friend a knowing look, “Ewww work. Isn’t there anything else, that could be better than work? Anything?”

“Maybe FBI Files, and being president of the MUN team...I guess I could get some fresh meat to join the club.”

The two then dropped the boxes and grabbed two poles and tried to plunge them into the ground before the golden light of the sun greeted them in time for the morning

“I guess it’s morning already!” ENTP exclaimed, “Time for me to go check on the food. ENTJ, print out the papers.”

ENTJ groaned, “Why are you telling me what to do? If anyone has the right to tell people what to do, it should be me.”

“Ugh fine, yes sire, I shall go look after food,” ENTP said in a shrill voice. She then made an attempt to do a curtesy, making ENTJ bite his lip to swallow his laughter.

“Bye then, ENTP. See you later.”

--------

Before long, INFP found herself standing on the neat carpeted surface of the airport as unfamiliar sights and smells followed to get through the building.

Somehow, before she knew it, she was on a bus being transported to her new college. Maybe the fact that she had flew a plane,managed to get out the gate, and walked around, and boarded a bus, all by herself, just started to hit her momentarily. How could she have done it that easily? And as this wave of predicament and the “Great Perhaps” had been following her, she finally got off her last stop and looked up towards the university, fully populated with energetic students. INFP, being the socially awkward person she is, felt her stomach fumble and twitch, “I might need to walk back…” She thought.

Maybe 3, or two and a half steps into her progression she might of had to stop

“Thud!” INFP turned around, The monstrosity of paper flew in different directions, some up, some down, some wet or dry, some fresh and new, some being brown and crppled from the dirt and water puddles, she turned to find ENTJ, sitting a rather awkward position. His legs were out, as one stretched as the other was folded in an upward, triangular position. His hand acted as his only pillar of support

“I’m so sorry!” INFP exclaimed, picking up the papers, “Are you ok?”

ENTJ groaned and stumbled and he got himself up, “Do I look ok?”

“No…”

“Then why would you ask if I was?”

ENTJ looked straight into INFP’s two-colored eyes. She looked...familiar, for some unknown reason, however, he could pinpoint how. Did they know each other before?

“I'm sorry…” ENTJ replied as he picked up his papers, “Just walk were you’re going instead of spacing out/”

“Ok! Sorry about that,” INFP replied, cringing at herself

“It’s fine”

That brief moment, INFP had no clue how to pinpoint what she felt, what was it about that thirty second gaze? It was left unsettling

#infp quotes #mbti funny #mbti humor #entj x infp #infp poetry #infp memes #mbti personality types #mbti #myers briggs #enfj #entp #infj #infp #enfp #intp #intj #incorrect quotes #fanfic

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howtodestroyacharacter · 2 years

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Because I think Ogata Hyakunosuke's death is the result of "tight deadlines"

In case you didn't understand, I really like the character of Ogata.

A few months ago while I was looking for information on another manga I found myself discovering Golden Kamuy.

I state that the first fragments almost always offered me the couple Sugimoto and Asirpa.

Sugimoto has always seemed to me a character of little depth. In 8 years he has basically remained unchanged.

I was very impressed with Tsurumi, who in the course of the reading turned out to be a very good and very multifaceted and sad villain. A tragic figure who, with the passing of the chapters, has shown himself to be more complex than he is.

And then Ogata. a deliberately enigmatic character difficult to understand.

I got to notice that in the fandom he is either loved or hated. I haven't seen half measures.

Yet he is also a tragic character.

For "haters";) Ogata is not a:

• immoral

• antisocial

• asocial

• psychopath

• sociopath

as he does not comply with the requirements of ICD 10 in order to be defined and recognized as such. (ICD 10 "International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems")

After this explanation I arrive to say why I personally believe that Ogata's death, and not only his death, is part of a hasty closure of the manga. If we go to see the last chapters we see that the whole narrative arc that starts from the arrival in Fort Goryōkaku to the death of Ogata take place in less than 24 hours.

I understand that the release of each chapter can make you lose track of time but I think it is important to remember that everything that is happening happens in less than a day.

Not only. From chapter 300 to chapter 310 it all probably happens in less than 1 hour.

Asirpa's group is at Station Kikyo when they get on the train and the train heads to Hokodate Station… between the two points are less than 10 kilometers apart, about 6 miles. A steam train reaches a maximum of 130 km / h, let's pretend that it goes much slower, since Ogata himself gets on the moving train abandoning the horse he was on and a horse reaches a maximum of 80 km / h.

Let's assume that the horse has reached a maximum speed of 50 kilometers and let's pretend that despite the Ogata boycott the train has never gone beyond these 50 kilometers per hour ... but how long can it take a train at that speed to travel less than 10 kilometers of speed. distance???

So in about 15 minutes we have a character who before getting on the train was able to act consistently and "worked" in a self-preservative way and as soon as he gets on the train he becomes an idiot who behaves in an anticonservative way and who continues to make mistakes in his actions. ? I fly over the hallucinations since we are talking about a person who at his first appearance in the narrative path suffered a very serious brain trauma and who in episode 310 was also hit by an arrow impregnated with poison.

Well. Why do I think it's a quick close?

I think Golden Kamuy is a wonderful manga. Excellent care in the drawings and in the accuracy of the setting. Many fans in many countries. This gave the possibility to turn the manga into an anime. But I think, personal idea I have not had any feedback and if anyone can give me information about it I would be grateful, that it has not achieved the desired success. In Italy it is almost unknown. If I have to refer to the news that I find online, I must say that even in Anglo-Saxon countries it seems to me to be a niche product.

In short. Excellent but outside certain areas it is hard to find material and fans. I don't know how plausible my theory is. But I believe that the speed of closing this story, with many characters leaving leaving some questions of the narrative pending, has an answer for me in this personal guess. Returning to Ogata this sudden and ridiculous tragic disappearance, (I am not fully convinced that he is dead and in Golden Kamuy we have more than one character who survived in a daring way) will find in some narrative artifice the way to answer the many questions and situations that remained unresolved, without need his physical presence.

Because he had allied himself with Kiriranke.

What happened to his grandparents (a reiteration of the particular relationship between Ogata and the elderly is a fact that deserves an answer).

Why he ended up working for Central.

Why at 15 he was in Russia with Tsurumi.

And other situations that require an answer for such an important character in the story.

Time is short. And leaving these things unanswered only gives (to me) the impression of a hasty closure. Constructive comments are appreciated. Thanks and greetings 

#doubts #golden kamuy #gk #golden kamuy tsurumi #ogata hyakunosuke

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prue84 · 2 years

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Headcanon: James Kirk’s love for vintage and antiques

Non comprehensive list of vintage or antiques that Jim owns, buys or likes to collect. Includes non-material interests (like music, movies and literature).

Applies to reboot!Jim Kirk, but can be applied to TOS!Kirk as well, if you wish. It’s just easier to give less “classical”, less “educated” vintage tastes to Pine’s Kirk than to Shatner’s Kirk, who’s shown in canon to have refined and specific tastes in vintage collections, as seen in the movies with the antiques on display in his apartment and his preference in classic literature.

Under the read more to make it easier to add more if something else should come to my mind.

Music

He likes classical music from 20th and 21st centuries. He doesn’t have a specific genre. He goes from metal to hip-pop, from ballads to disco. He has some specific eras, niche that very popular back then.

He has favorite bands or singers, of which he knows all the discography by hand. → I’m not making names here because it would just be a list of my own favorites. Feel free to headcanon your own music tastes as Jim’s favorites.

He has some specific songs and playlists he can turn to for any of his moods.

He’s not confined by the language barrier. He has favorites even outside of the ancient English countries-based production.

Movie soundtracks. He’s a freak for those. Both instrumental and compilation of songs, but mostly instrumental. There are some themes he can’t resist, that he plays in his own mind in the most odd of times, even when he’s running from angry natives or during a boring shift. Rocky’s original theme and basically half of the 1985 Rocky IV score are his go-to for his time in the gym. There’s something quite satisfying in speeding up for his last minutes of running routing with the Up the mountain track to then yell a “yeah!!!” when he beats his own previous record.

It’s kinda ironic, but his life turning points seem to be marked by Beastie Boys’s songs. The “car episode” - as in how mom and Sam refer to that time when he drove his father’s Corvette down a gully - happened as the car music player randomly blasted Sabotage: the episode led to his mother acknowledging what was happening behind her back at home and she had the chance to rectify their lives. That night when he picked a fight with Hendorff and his friends he had been listening on loop to Intergalactic. Pike’s convocation to announce his demotion came as Body Movin’ was playing. Jaylah’s choice of Sabotage as the frequency to disrupt Kraal’s swarm was just his life coming full circle. And perhaps destiny telling him something, but he still hasn’t got that memo.

He has a growing collection of original LP records and a genuine LP player that isn’t just an eccentric decorative object, like his guests think. Whenever he’s back at his San Francisco apartment he likes to pull out a record from its sleeve and play it, instead of picking a playlist from his music library.

He has something for the sound the record does when you pull it out from its paper sleeve. Something for the sound the needle does when running on the vinyl surface. Something for the minute different sounding of music played from a record compared to the digital quality. Something for all the imperfections that come with listening from an ancient medium that is ruined by natural wear.

If he can choose, he likes a song better playing from a record than from a file. But, given that he has too few records to compete to his music library, if he were asked to choose, he’d be forced to pick the library.

Movies

He likes classical movies the most. Everything that predates the switch to deepfake first and computer-generated acting later is up his alley. He has a soft spot for Cinescope-era productions, but his personal golden era is that span between the late decades of the 20th century and the first of the 21st. → some of the worst movies were made during those years, but for some unknown reasons, they happen to be also cult movies that survived the centuries. And he isn’t immune to their appeal.

He doesn’t have a specific genre, although he might have specific actors or actresses he likes more. Some of his most hot (and wet) fantasies involve some faces from the 20th century and first part of the 21st.

Popcorn movies, arthouse cinema, classics, black & white, CGI-heavy, historic, English-language or international, he’s omnivorous.

People believe he’s a womanizer, a sexual animal that lives to get laid but he actually strives for romance - and he does like his romance movies, even the cheesy ones. Don’t talk him about Cameron’s Titanic. It might be considered a bad cliché movie since 2002, but he still cries over it. And he’s devastated whenever he has the bad idea to re-watch Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge. Although no one knows and he’ll deny it forever.

There are some characters he feels compelled to. Some he sees himself into. Some of which he dreamed of live the life.

He’s always had a mixed relationship with the self-sacrificing hero character, swinging from hating and loving a cliché that always hit too close to home. It doesn’t look so cool anymore when you literally enter their club. → Note to self: write down that you don’t want a biopic or a movie based on your life made. Ever. Just. No.

He’ll take the original Star Wars trilogy with its lousy sfxs over all the realistic shit produced nowadays. Better a bad drawn CGI starship than any setting that tries to picture a different present. Current authors don’t know how to image different realities, all the ships are boringly similar to the real ones. Most of the times what is written or portrayed as a futuristic (or retro-futuristic) ship is too close to the Enterprise to even get himself taken by the story. No variety like the futuristic-theme productions from Earth when starship didn’t exist yet.

One of the things he regrets the most from his stay in the past was that he never had the chance to see a real F-14. His Top Gun obsession never overcame the disappointment. → Spock’s to blame here. He did want to search the nearest navy base and get a touring, but his All-Work-No-Fun XO doesn’t know what self- indulging means.

If he ever dyed his hair to a very light blonde and styled them into what everyone told him was either an avant garde or a ridiculous cut, it’s because of his Rocky IV and Ivan Drago obsession. He still maintains that it wasn’t ridiculous. → I’ll might explain this in a future Kirkanon series.

His vocabulary include quotes and ways of saying from those decades he assimilated by years watching movies. → It’s disappointing that no one, besides Sulu from time to time, catches his references. Where’s the enjoyment of saying your First Officer that they can be your wingman, if they don’t even know who Iceman and Maverick are?

His knowledge of Earth’s culture, as he learned it from movies, turned out useful when he and Spock ended up stuck in the 2000s. It’s thanks to him that they managed to blend in and they didn’t make the poor show all time travelers do when they end up in a distant past.

He doesn’t own physical copies of movies. No one in their sane mind would want to play an ancient format, when digital is still the best way to watch a movie in the original format and best quality available, without any decaying effect of a physical support.

There are amateurs who like to collect physical formats such as the ancient Bluray disks or the even older DVDs. He has to admit some of their boxes are a work of art, he knows about the golden age of DVDs when boxes were made to look like books, with their pockets and intriguing graphics, but he’s not interested in buying them just for the sake of having them collect dust on a shelf. He wants to own things he can use.

He got some antique movie collectibles.

Original props or costumes are unaffordable. They either are bought out by museums or by nerds with too much money that they literally don’t know how to spent. Not to say he wouldn’t do the same if he were filthy rich, but filthy rich he’s not so...

Original posters are scarce, and the ones in good and pristine conditions are precious collectables reserved to true collectors. Not as pricey as one would think, considering they’re two centuries-old paper things, but the small niche market keeps the prices high. But. When you like some movie that isn’t in the “great classics” list, you can get the chance to own a poster signed by the cast without selling your soul first. He’s the proud owner of one, it hangs on the living area of his San Francisco apartment. → Again, up to you. I fear my interests here would lean toward movies that are considered cults now. Plus, I really am a 80s/90s movie lover.

He inherited a small collection of movie related pics - photoshoots of actors that were sold as movie collectables back then, some signed by the actors and some unsigned. It’s been part of his mom’s family since his gran-grand-something-uncle bought them. When they were released. Ancient times.

Poster copies. They aren’t original, they are replicas made ten, twenty, even half a century after the movies releases as affordable collectibles and are still traded for few credits. They’re virtually worthless and mostly bought for nostalgia because paper isn’t mass-produced anymore. It’s the cheap version of owning a Roman copy of a Greek statue. Still, they look good on a wall. Back home in Iowa, he had his room walls covered in those, and changed them whenever it suited his mood.

He blew his first wage (well, the first twoishtreeish - he never told his mother how much he really paid for it) into a Darth Vader life-size figure. He never regretted it. He's never had the chance to move it to his San Francisco apartment yet, and is currently stored in a very large and very tall box in Iowa.

Does he own an Anakin Skywalker lightsaber replica (the original, not the reboot)? Of course he does!

Tv series

He doesn’t feel he can call himself a fan. With the impossible amount of movies he had on his to-watch list, on top of - you know - living, he never had much time to dedicate to longer formats. But he has some favorites, most discovered after a movie that attempted to reboot the tv series (and usually the original material was way better than the later movie).

Binge-watch is an interesting hobby. Too sad that his duty as captain doesn’t allow him more free time to properly do it. He did ask if they could binge-watch on the viewscreen during boring shifts when they’re in the middle of nowhere, it would be a good way to bond as bridge crew and avoid entering catnap mode, but apparently is against some conduct code. He checked, there’s no regulation forbidding the use of the viewscreen to play tv series. Spock insists that he’s being too specific. Spock. Pot and kettle. The guy’s a pro at ignore rules by playing anal, but suddenly gets all judging brow arched whenever he suggest to do something that isn’t specifically forbidden by regulations. Ah!

He might have acquired a non-official, handmade replica of 1998 Charmed’s Book of Shadows. Everyone who manages to notice it on his bookshelf thinks he’s into esotericism. He never has the heart to explain is just some prop replica from a forgotten tv series.

He might have commissioned a sword maker a replica of the obscure 2008 BBC’s Merlin’s Excalibur sword. It hangs near the Lord of the Rings’ Witch King Ringwraith’s sword. People think they’re two real fighting swords belonged to some ancient European knight.

Anime series

Too many titles, so little time. Sure, many are just transpositions of great manga titles, but there are jewels here an there. → Insert your favorite, if you have any that aren’t strictly derivative from a manga title.

Legend Of The Galactic Heroes. He absolutely love that one. Not the 2045 reboot, not the 2018 anime series. No. The original, as in original, with the OAV and four season of awesomeness. LoGH kept him sane during his Academy second year. He treated himself one episode per day and there were mornings where the power of the cliffhanger or just the perspective of the evening episode gave him the strength to leave the bed - or, like, turn up in class. It was Gary to suggest him the title - Gary has an abysmal taste in movies but refined manga and anime expert he is. Spock’s definitely the Kircheis to his Reinhard. We’ll, if he were into becoming an emperor, which he’s not. And if Spock were cute and red-haired. Ah, if only Spock were open to the noble art of cosplaying...

He’s trying to get his hands on the Reinhard and Kircheis figures (like, any - he doesn’t care for which version at this point), but he had no luck so far. It’s too a niche title and apparently nobody has figures of it (or, if they have, they’re not selling).

Comics, visual novels, manga & related

He does have a specific genre, the superhero kind. He dabs into other genres but, while for other genres he mostly goes by title, he’s fan of superheroes and tries everything that might end up under his nose. → titles and specific arches up to you as it’s personal preference. I’ll include a couple of my most favorite.

There’s so much material that he had to basically jump from a title to the next based on “related” or “if you liked this, try that”.

The biggest the IP the easier was to discover it.

The Authority and all derivative material. When you’re fourteen and you’ve just come out of one of the Federation biggest tragedies in which you have been reminded how much adults suck, it’s hard to resist the appeal of a group of self-called superheroes who don’t adhere to hypocritical stupid ethical rules. Sometimes kill a dictator is the best course of action, if you ask him. One of his biggest dreams, back then, was to to find his own Midnighter (a female version was fine as well). Well, not the violent, sadistic killer, but someone willing to go to hell - literally - for him. → He might’ve find him in Bones. Same grumpiness, same way of threaten (Bones wields a mean hypospray). Bones is a doctor and not a killer? Whatever. At times, Bones’s eyes are the eyes of a Midnighter out for the blood of whom hurt his Apollo. And didn’t Bones follow him through Hell (space) just to keep him safe? That’s true love, if you ask him. In a very non-homoerotic sense. They’re not a couple, for as much as RPS fans of them claim. They work best as friends.

Venom and his half Eddie Brock. He’s much proud of his complete Venom Omnibus Collector’s Edition, thank you. Vol 3 is one of his favorite go-to love stories. Although... well, at times he does have this fear of unintentionally bringing a symbiote on the ship. It would really suck if he reenacted in real life 2018′s Eddie Brock.

Diabolik. All the century-old original run, before the title was bought out by an international publisher and lost its shine. Rules are over-rated anyway.

Chariot. He discovered it after the movies and it immediately entered his top ten list. He’s always dreamed about something similar happening to his own car, whenever he got one. Then 1701 happened. Beware of what you wish for. It’s not as cool as the comic series make it look. → An abridged explanation to 1701, the human!Enterprise, at this post.

Gary has recently dived into the One Piece series. He’s been hearing jokes about him being a straw hat-less Luffy with his own brand of Devil Fruit since then. Spock still hasn’t caught the meaning of the Zoro nickname, bless his bowl-cut obsidian head; he has no intention to explain that one to their resident Vulcan. The Enterprise is cooler than the Sunny Go, anyway - 1701 would have his ass if he claimed otherwise.

He strives to own omnibuses of his favorites titles or arches. He’s a sentimentalist. And a bit of a paper estimator. He’s still missing some. Omnibuses might be easier to come by (there have been plenty of reprints and new collections in the span of decades), but they’re also most prone to get ruined with heavy reading. And people did buy them to read them, not to look cool on the shelf.

Action figures and statues. His mother had like to enforce the “No-more-action-figures” ban at some point. It had become some kind of non-health-harming harmful drug of his. The ban is still active, even now he’s a respected Federation hero, captain of the flagship and generally considered an adult. Although his mom surprised him with the mother of gifts (no pun intended) when she sent him the Captain Britain comiquette to go with his Angel: he’d craved for a Betsy to go with his Warren for ages.

Watches

In a age when watches don’t exist anymore, and the closest to them is a fashion bracelet that answers you with the time whenever you ask, Jim likes wristwatches as in genuine watches. Nothing too fancy that is worthy an apartment or that has a copy at museums but he’s quite proud of his little collections of steels and golds that spans from the WWII decade to the first decades of the 21th century. He’s not what would be called an amateur, he doesn’t know the names of each piece of the complicated mechanism that makes a watch beat, he doesn’t know the brands nor can tell the model at first sight, he doesn’t care whenever the watch is manual, automatic or has a quartz-movement, although it’s easier to use the first two, as it’s not exactly simple to get spare batteries when the rechargeable ones die - it’s easier to find someone for the necessary maintenance and cleaning of the mechanical watches, actually. For this reason, electronic are way cheaper.

He doesn’t bring them with him in space, as they don’t work when removed from Earth’s gravity and magnetic field, but whenever he’s on the planet he puts on a steel one under his leader jacket or you can spot the lug ends of a gold 1960s from under the striped sleeve whenever he dons the dress uniform to a ceremony. It’s a small pleasure of his to lift the wrist and see where the hands point and then decode the exact time, instead of having a device flashing him the numbers for him to read.

He converted Scotty to the appreciation of the mechanical timepieces: his face when he was shown the mechanism, all those little wheels, the delicate balance of all the components. It’s mesmerizing the first time you see it with your own eyes. Even if you’re a genius Starfleet engineer and in charge of the functioning of the flagship.

Engines [I plan to write a one-shot about this specific interest of Jim and some of the things written below will be worked or copy/pasted in there]

It’s a passion that runs down his DNA, as it comes from his father.

Yes, he feels a bit guilty for destroying his father’s red 1965 Corvette: that Sting Ray was in perfect conditions, he recalls how awesome it was to drive it. In his defense, if he hadn’t took that car out for that joyride to its faithful demise, the car would’ve been sold, so it still wouldn’t be his.

Apparently the car was meant to go to Sam, according to Mom. Sam never held its demise against him tough. He’s been hunting high and low for a similar model - perhaps not an exact copy but a convertible at least, to make up for the one he destroyed, to give to Sam as a birthday present or a “Sorry I Destroyed Dad’s Beloved Antiques Car He Wanted For You To Inherit When You Turned Sixteen And Got Your License” present. He still hasn’t managed.

His father left them also an MV Agusta F4 SP01 “Viper” in need of some serious restoring to all the mechanics. His father acquired it as some kind of self-indulging gift to celebrate his second fatherhood, but... well, never had the chance to properly work on it as he had planned to do (he was meant to during his parental leave, but then the Narada happened... and everyone on Earth knows what happened to George Kirk when he met the Narada). Mom never wanted to either sell it or have some professional do the restoring, and left the thing to linger in the barn. Unworthy as it was in those conditions, it didn’t catch Uncle Sam’s interest, surviving his sell rampage. It now makes an impression as the centerpiece of his living area in his apartment: embed in transparent resin, makes for an awesome counter. And it’s literally magic when it’s the only light point in a semidark room.

Photographs

Photography as it’s now called has every bonus point you can get (easy to share, easy to take, easy to store, backlit and even brief animations) but Jim has rediscovered the appeal of prints, static photographs. Sure, you need actual paper, and frames or physical albums to store them, and yes, they can be damaged by excessive light and burn to a crisp. But they stand any kind of EMP attack, you can slip them in your pocket and bring them with you even if you’re on a planet devoid of any energetic source or when the electromagnetic field fries every circuit. And they can even stand the kind of rocking and inexplicable shit that happens frequently on a ship traveling when no one as gone before.

It’s expensive to get photo prints, as it’s a niche production compared to the mass use of holopics, but he had his favorite memories printed before sailing off with the Enterprise to have a physical copy he can access to whenever he feels nostalgic. Also, it’s more poetic to linger in the bed staring at a paper photograph in the hand, compared to holding a padd with a collections of pictures. → Yes, the Wolverine-holding-Jean’s-picture scene might be an ancient meme but it works IRL.

He has a whole album dedicated to his Enterprise family. There’s the pic of him the day he graduated, with the commendation pinned on his chest and Pike near him. There’s the official Starfleet pic in the dress uniform and his first pic in the gold tunic when he came home with the promotion and donned the shirt for the first time, a pic taken by his mom. The first time sitting on the chair. But more daily moments, those pics that people tend to snap, share on their social and not even keep in their online albums. The daily moments are his favorite, a stolen smile from Bones, that epic Spock Lying On The Rail taken by Uhura, the reaction to some joke in the mess hall. But also people he met during an exploration, friends they left on a planet, or disguises they had to use to complete the mission.

Their 1920s attempt at cosplaying as Chicago gangsters is one epic photograph, if you ask him. He loved that Borsalino. And the print was taken by an authentic 1920s camera. One of a kind.

Mom is charged with the duty of having the pics printed: whenever he decides a picture is worthy of that collection, he sends it to her so she can get it printed: the box with all the pics waits for him in Iowa. Unfortunately, with him being the captain of a starship assigned a five-years mission, he can’t really go home to fill his photo album. He’s been told that he’ll need an album part II. And perhaps raise the standards that make a pic printable, else by the time he’s back on Earth he’ll be album part VI.

He had the picture of his adoptive family, the one taken at the celebratory re-christening of the Enterprise, printed and framed for his quarters, but then decided against displaying it because he didn’t want for any officer that came to his quarters to know how much of a sap their captain is. No one knows, they’ll discover only if he’ll be dead and Spock will get access to his safe.

Books & literature

He’s a whore for books. If it were up for him, he’d have an apartment with walls made of book shelves.

He doesn’t care the genre, it’s just the object book he likes.

But yes, classic literature is superior to whatever (crap) is published these days, if you ask him.

His life experiences taught him that paper-books last you forever and, in case, they can even turn into a warmth source. Good luck trying to get a fire out of a book device. Besides, a paper book cannot be censored, banned or cancelled, unless someone literally forces their way into your house and physically destroys the copy. Sharing and licensing might be good and fun, until someone decides to pull back a book and you see it vanish from the face of Earth’s catalogues and non-paper libraries.

Of course he likes the fancy editions, the leather covers, the gold imprinting. But those are almost exclusive to museums, collectors and private libraries that come with the selling and buying of an old mansion. But the pocket books can be read without the fear of ruining something precious so there’s merit in those cheap editions too.

Some titles are simply not meant to be found, out of print even when their authors was still alive a couple of centuries ago and never reprinted. Some weren’t even “digitized”, as the process was called back then, and have been lost. Widely-know and revered classics can easily be found, unless you want a very ancient copy: those are harder to come by.

Apparently even his other self was fond of books, accordingly to what old Spock hinted with the gift he received for his (re)promotion to the re-christened Enterprise. Else he wouldn’t explain the choice of a antique copy of ___ he received from Ambassador Spock as gift. → Insert your favorite book that could be picked by Prime Spock as a gift to the younger and brasher version of his own former captain, something likely meaningful or that would relate with this Jim’s life or future. I'm not much fond nor know much about what we consider classics and to-read- books. My school memories are very blurred, and they mostly consisted in Italian classics anyway.

Miscellaneous objects

Jewelry

Technically speaking is not a jewelry man. But he has built a fascination for old and ancient military rings. It might have to do with his father’s academy ring that Mom kept hidden in the safe, away from their privy eyes (he and Sam learned how to open the safe and then took it out to try it on plenty of times; perhaps she knew, but never let any hint nor had the safe code changed). They are easy to find, although most of the times you’re not even sure if they are authentic or coeval poor replicas - military services didn’t have a specific stamp that cannot be copied like Starfleet’s rings do. He never wears them, though.

He does wear a ring now and then, but just not the military ones. And when he does it’s usually something silver and “rock”. He doesn’t want to look like a refined Southern Gentleman with the golden ring on the pinky like Bones: he’s the cool fake-dumb blond in leather jacket and body-fitting pants, after all. → Please picture Jim/Pine wearing some awesome ring like xDecem ( xdecem.com ). You’ll thank me later for introducing you to these masterpieces.

He doesn’t disdain a chain or a bracelet, but usually he’s trying to be incognito, and the less jewelry the less he’s noticed. And when you get used to not wear any jewelry for your job, you loose the habit to wear it for your shore leaves too.

For Bones' latest birthday he got him a stunning pendant featuring a skull and two bones. He thought it was a good in-joke. Bones didn't appreciated it much, though.

Pens & writing

His is not the best handwriting of the world. His signature is a giant mess. But he does love pens and, for some reasons unknown that Bones would put under the “you’ve been made upside down”, his calligraphy marginally betters when he’s handed an ink pen and paper. Fountain pens are so refined, he always feel an ancient noble lord at his antique desk made of solid wood whenever he picks up one.

He loves sending true, paper letter. Postmail itself is a bit of a niche service offered by couriers, definitely not as handy and quick as a email, but writing a letter is so different than typing it out. And it’s different even from hand-write it on the padd. With paper you can’t just swipe and get a new blank sheet, you can’t press a finger and erase a word. You have to take the time to think what you want to say and how you want to say. There’s not grammar or typo correction, when you’ve written it it’s there, the ink dried and permanent. And for someone who’s used to frantic orders and quick scrawls as signature, it’s both a feat and a welcome change to be forced to take the proper time to write something down.

He abuses of the ancient notes method called Post-it. At home he loves those sticky piece of papers, he attaches them on every surface available whenever he needs to remember something. He used them at the Academy, with his roommates either laughing or complaining. They’re colored and joyful. They have a personality. The Sticky Note app isn’t the same - even if it’s way better than any other notes app.

He did try to keep the habit on the Enterprise, but the third time he failed to turn in a report before it was due (despite the pink Post-It plastered on the monitor at his desk), and was given a dress-down by Pike, he decided it was better to resort to the systems reminder application instead and leave paper sticky notes to things not related to work. Besides, he was getting The Eyebrow™ from Spock every time he surreptitiously slipped pen ink in the list of provisions to send HQ (well, actually it was the officer assigned to provisions that, believing it a joke, forwarded the thing to Spock who then immediately Eyebrowed his way). He does leave Post-Its to Spock. Just to irk him, because he knows how uppity and fussy their resident Vulcan is. →the joke’s on Jim, because Spock actually cherishes those paper notes and meticulously collects them. Even if most of the times are just meaningless taunts like a “Beaten you again! <3″ or some badly drawn emoji. And he did Eyebrow him, but only because it him who had to explain HQ each time for which exact use the flagship needs pen ink.

Final annotations

Bones have know about his liking for vintage since that summer between first and second academic year in which Bones dragged him to Georgia because he didn’t want to face his ex-wife alone, and Jim’s been treated with a visit to the ancient McCoy house. Since then every year Leonard visits an antiques shop to buy him a gift for his birthday (well, since they’ve been assigned to deep space this tradition is a bit harder to keep, but he tried his best).

It doesn’t need to be something precious, it might be a trinket, something with no collection worthiness. Jim doesn’t care for value. He likes that the object had a life, that it saw the passing of times and eras, that more generations used it, he’s interested in its story, and wonders where could it have been, what could have seen, what could it tell if there was a technology to make objects share what their silent eyes had witnessed. And he appreciates that Bones goes hunting for oddities for him.

He doesn’t plan on turning his apartment into a house-museum full of beautiful things you can’t touch and interact with. He wants objects he can use, for which he doesn’t need gloves or has to live in fear of breaking them. A set of glasses for a drink with friends, a bronze desk watch that signs the time, a fountain pen to write actual paper letters, a book that he can open when lingering on the sofa, a lamp he can turn on.

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Crossposted Livejournal: prue84.livejournal.com/86360.html Dreamwidth: prue84.dreamwidth.org/78613.html

#Star Trek #2.0 (Reboot)#James Kirk #Series: KirKanons #Headcanons

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funkymbtifiction · 3 years

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Finding my Si: a submission

I’d like to share 6 things that helped me discover my Si and how Charity’s advice helped me, in case it helps anyone else :)

1.It helps when friends and family tell you what they think your dominant function is. Like a fish not realizing the water is wet, it’s so normal that it’s invisible to you. My mum picked Si the minute I asked her which function described me best; she said, ‘You trust your personal experiences and refer back to them all the time; it’s like an anchor for you. You rely on the past to get you through the present.’ One by one, my friends picked the same, pointing to how I recollect everything from the date we first met to changes in their food preferences to the color of the shirt they wore one Monday morning. I never realized the enormity of the storehouse of detail in my head until they pointed out that not everyone treasures memory-keeping in the same way. I wouldn’t say Si memory is photographic; for me, it’s more like a fisherman’s net, where I gather in what matters to me. I see a living mosaic of past and present when I look at people and places I love.

2. Being willing to question my own assumptions. An unflinching look at what I actually do, not what I think I do.

I considered Ni when I thought of goals I’ve set. For example, I got into the same UK university at 18 that I’d loved at age 14. This story initially sounded as though I’d had a clear future vision, and never let go of the dream (Ni). However, I’d left out winding twists and turns in between. At 16, I was captivated by a Canadian university and considered going there for a while; at 17, I considered studying in New York. Eventually, I applied to a bunch of unis and got an offer from the original ‘dream one’ in England. It was the best offer and I’d remained fond of it, so I wound up going. I was pleased, but I’d been open to other unis and happy to go to them too. After reading the perspective of actual Ni-users on their laser-sharp vision, I realized mine wasn’t as unwavering, intense and single-minded.

Instead, I realized that the reason I treasure this story - 'I visited my uni when I was just a kid and then got to go there for good!’ - is that I liked being able to link my childhood self and adult self. I enjoy connecting the past and present and spotting continuity and change ('Back then, I did this…now I still do this…and I don’t do this….’). My mind always traces back to how things were, which spills over into dinner-table family conversations ('Do you remember when…?’/'You know how we used to…?’). I realized that this type of personal mythologizing and cherishing a living past is Si. I can set goals and work meticulously in a step-by-step IFJ way, but it is not a dominant personality trait in the strikingly single-minded, futuristic, visionary way that is Ni. For anyone considering Ni, I recommend looking up mbti-notes and Charity’s explanations here, as it is a very complex function and it helps to understand exactly how it works.

3. Painful honesty. Confronting flaws isn’t fun. However, as Charity says, it helps to think of pairs (Si-Ne, Ne-Si or Ni-Se) rather than functions in isolation.

I tried to determine which flaw I could most relate to: inferior Te, inferior Se, or inferior Ne.

I couldn’t identify with inferior Te because I’ve always been a careful planner and organizer; even my third-grade report cards said, ‘She loves being efficient and organizing her little space!’ Today, I have multiple administrative responsibilities at work and genuinely enjoy it. There’s something about streamlining systems and attending to details that feels satisfying (dorky, I know). I could not relate to inferior Se either, as sensory engagement has always been a big part of my life. Whether it’s dancing or nature hikes or cooking, hands-on hobbies have always been so core to me that I often find myself feeling one with the natural environment, rather than uncomfortable with it. I haven’t had reckless moments characteristic of inferior Se. But inferior Ne - those descriptions embarrassed me.

As Charity says, if something makes you go ‘ouch’, it might hit the nail on the head.

I thought I had good Ne because I can see multiple perspectives. But this is more a 9 and 2 influence ('Staying open-minded helps to understand people, help them, and resolve conflict’) and a skill honed through my job in peace-building. What trips me up are the problems plaguing inferior Ne users. Newness and novelty feels hard. My 9 probably plays into it, but in general I am not good at out of the box thinking and brainstorming dozens of different approaches. Despite my 2-9 positive outlook, I usually feel fearful of the unknown and find it difficult to speculate or imagine possibilities in the uncertain future.

4. It helps to see where your attention goes. When I teach and review students’ essays, I’ll start leaving comments about their word-choice in paragraph 3; the evidence they used on page 2; how their argument on page 12 risks contradicting their logic on page 10, etc. I can hold these details in my head with ease, suggest a clear structure, and spot incongruities, but I have to consciously remind myself to zoom out to comment on the overarching ideas in the work.

On the other hand, I notice when I do something creative or abstract because it’s not really what I do on a day to day basis. When I first began researching MBTI, I found it easy to recall the last metaphor I imagined because it stood out in my mind. But determining frequency helped. Not just how I think, but how often I think that way. Ne is a ‘play’ function for me - on good days, it’s a whimsical scribble in a poetry journal, occasional daydreams, self-improvement books on my shelf.

5. Being able to tease out finer differences in cognition. I got interested in a Royal Family controversy recently. I thought I was using Ni because I mused on the consequences for the nation (in a Ni-Fe way). However, I realized I was less interested in future possibility and more interested in what was helpful for interpersonal understanding (Fe/2-9) and how the country could preserve the traditions and culture built up over centuries (Si). Rather than preferring to look ahead and predict what would happen (Ni). It’s a fine line, but it helped to think: how often is my cognition located in the future vs the past? Which one feels more natural? Is it an Enneagram or an MBTI influence at play?

6. Avoiding sensor bias. I felt I must be an intuitive because I do engage in abstract conversation sometimes. It’s just that my topics of choice come from my Enneagram 269 tritype. How can schools treat children better? What can we do to promote community mental health? What keeps kids safer? My job is centered around people’s welfare, and I’d be happy to discuss theories of human psychology or relationships or mental health because I’m very absorbed in my little niche of knowledge. However, concrete applications interest me most, and I am not likely to start conversations about, say, 18th century theology or automated cars or space travel. My INFP and INFJ friends seem interested in a much wider range of philosophical conversation.

I agree with a post on this blog that pointed out that modern psychology now understands traits not as bimodal distributions (X or Y) but along a spectrum (how much of X? How much of Y?). People differ in where they lie along the spectrum. I’d say I’m close to the middle. My biggest tell that I lean towards sensing is when I look through philosophy books on human well being. Even though the topic reflects my interests, I’m quickly bored by too much theory. I’m happy to thrash out an idea with a friend, but it needs to be animated by real-life examples and practical applications for me to stay interested.

Above all, I recommend observing where your heart leads. Much of my free time goes into journal-writing, old albums, and time capsules. Detail-driven memory-keeping fulfills me deeply, and it was this deep joy that proved most helpful for recognizing my Si :)

#submission #isfj #istj

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oftenderweapons · 3 years

Text

Mold Me New (4) – Taehyung

A Small Town Swoons story

Pairing: Taehyung x reader (nicknamed Frog — for now)

Wordcount: 4.7k

Genre: ceramic artist!Taehyung, divorced!reader, Strangers to Lovers, Fluff, Angst, Slice of Life

Rating: 18+ (for future smut and explicit thoughts)

Hello to my readers!!! Welcome to the Small Town Swoons Universe!🥰✨

In this episode: Frog and Taehyung have become very comfortable around each other, getting used to each other’s presence. Their bond grows even more once a ghost from the past comes back to haunt Taehyung. His natural response is growing even closer to Frog, relying on her completely for comfort and… a distraction.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Angsty themes in the second part (an “ex girlfriend” comes back, Taehyung puts up a wall, just a little). Frog starts asking herself questions about sexual attraction. There are some innuendos here and there. Taehyung receives unwanted attentions that make him deeply uncomfortable. That should be all.

The parts that look good were edited by the miraculous @joheunsaram (I recced one of her pieces right here in my main blog 💜)

In case you like my writing, here is my directory for idol!AUs, scenarios and imagines. Here is Tae and Frog’s music companion (spotify playlist, the playlist in case you wanna create it on other platforms)

Enjoy 💜✨

Navi: Chapter 1 — Chapter 2 — Chapter 3 — Chapter 4 — Chapter 5 — Chapter 6 — Chapter 7

Taehyung had become a comfortable addition to your life. He was steady and reliable — from your bi-weekly lessons, to drinks with his friends on the weekend.

Terry had extraordinarily managed to stay friends with both Jimin and Hoseok, occasionally taunting them, but overall keeping things neutral and platonic.

However, the one who was struggling with friendly, platonic feelings was you. It was difficult not to notice the way Taehyung always managed to predict your objections, your movements and your needs.

You felt a connection that made you feel weak, queasy, like clay gently sprinkled with water.

His lessons had become a secret guide to people and relationships.

The first time he had actually placed you at the wheel, helping you throw your first small bowl, he had given you the epiphany of a lifetime.

“Don’t let it dry too much. Too much water will mess it up. It will become too pliant and it won’t hold up.”

A revelation had struck you just then and there. That was it. The rule to love. You had bathed your ex husband in reassurance and affection, and just like that he had melted underneath your touch, and he had turned into nothing. And the love had run out.

“Every shape has its specific requirements,” Taehyung had explained, dipping your hands in the basin and letting the droplets fall from your fingertips. “Wet hands, but not drenched,” he had reminded you from the previous lesson. With a small nod he had invited you to press down the pedal lightly. “See, here we go. The clay will show how much water it needs. Easy on the pedal. Very slow. You’re warming it up. Be gentle. You’re not sure it’s good. Just like with people. Easy at first, and once it works you speed up,” he had smiled at the material underneath your hands.

“Gentle. Easy,” he had corrected you, his sinewy fingers gently leading your hands, recalibrating the pressure points. You had watched the greyish water stain his hands as he helped you. “That’s the secret to good things.”

In the following lesson he had taught you the importance of separation and remotion.

“It's been a few hours* what you have right there it's a leatherhard*. It's hard enough to withstand some pressure, but not ready to stand on its own,” Taehyung had shown you how to cut the bowl from the base, to turn it around and let it dry evenly.

“Still it wouldn't survive the kiln yet,” he explained. “You need all the water out. Water weakens the structure and your piece would crumble. And you would need to start anew,” Taehyung's delicate fingertips had lifted the piece, turning it around. “They're like children. One wrong move and, bam, you lose their trust and you need to earn it back, from ground zero. Yes, Frog. Just like that, easy with the pressure or you'll leave fingerprints,” he had scolded you, exhaling and closing his eyes once he noticed the damage had already been done.

You had looked at him with a sheepish grin, smiling apologetically.

What you didn't know is that he had scowled at the realisation that he simply could not keep a long face at you.

Taehyung had discovered an even weaker spot for you.

He had realised he liked you a lot.

You were quiet, observant, and incredibly intelligent.

And he liked chatting with you on your nights at the pub. And he liked your fashion sense.

He liked leaning his head against your shoulder, he was just extremely sorry he had to be half drunk to be brave enough — or to be somehow excused for the excess of clinginess.

He liked you, the cheerful and polite smile you wore while talking to Jimin and Terry indistinctly, like they had the same importance to you, no matter you had known Terry for ages and Jimin for a few weeks.

He liked the way you trapped the tip of your tongue between your lips while you focused on a piece, or the fact that once he had stopped by the bookshop, only to spot you curled up on an armchair with a fuzzy blanket on your shoulders while you read a book.

He had studied the sleepy smile you had offered him as he handed you a cup of tea that had just been brewed in Seokjin’s café. Taehyung had felt young and foolish as his smile mirrored yours. He’d wandered around the few shelves in your shop, studying a few books and asking questions about the organisation of genres on the shelves.

He asked for recommendations and chuckled as he noticed you growing increasingly chatty, disrupting your streak of quiet to passionately discuss authors and plots and publishing houses, little naive art books and detective novels and half unknown poets from entirely unknown countries.

It had been an amazing morning, with a lazy yellowy light floating in from the large windows.

After that, his visits to the bookshop had become more frequent, even stopping by during a reading date — which of course was not the two of you having a date, but rather other people coming in, mostly couples from university, to explore the shelves together, have that niche romantic academia experience, which sometimes meant that professors also came in with their husbands or wives. The loveliest of them all was the Ancient Greek professor, a seventy year old man who always came in with his wife, opening the door for her and walking around with her hand in his, usually stopping in front of the Russian section to see if they could find anything they liked. Taehyung had helped you create some artsy reading nooks that your customers truly appreciated.

The last month or so had been a blessing, for the both of you.

You both liked the steady, warm presence you could offer each other: he liked having you around because he felt less lonely, and because it was so easy to focus on you rather than the discomfort of loss; you enjoyed his respectful guidance, like a toddler still stumbling on their feet finds comfort in the parent walking right behind them; you felt free to move autonomously, but you also felt him there, never looking away in chase you needed a hand to hold. You had found a companion.

And with that many things started getting out of your control.

One in particular.

It was Tuesday afternoon and as usual the bookshop was closed. You parked your bike in Taehyung’s driveway, grabbing your tote and blushing a little as you fixed a classy, old school ribbon in your hair, covering the hair tie of your ponytail. You felt fickle and juvenile.

You felt romantic.

You felt ready to be pampered with tender guidance and soft touches, still strictly limited to your hands, always after mannered glances asking for your permission. With eager joy, you opened the door to the studio, only to notice an extra wheel beside the usual one.

And one extra person.

A woman.

Currently running her hand down Taehyung’s arm, toying with his fingers.

You blinked a couple times before you rebuilt your happy facade. “Oh, hi! Hello there!” you greeted with a smile.

Taehyung immediately took half a step away from the woman.

“Hello Frog, how are you today?”

“Happy,” you chirped in a way that had Taehyung warning immediately. He knew that kind of gleeful tone was dedicated to other circumstances — books, your friends, squealing when you managed to make a good piece. He frowned also because you weren’t one of those easily excited people.

What could have possibly made you want to show off so much happiness all at once?

“I’m glad,” he commented before noticing the extra wheel and suddenly remembering the guest.

“This is Dolly. Dolly is a fellow artist. She’s from a small town nearby. She is designing customised tableware for a resort cottage nearby. She’ll work with us today.”

You nodded, grabbing your apron — the only apron, you noticed — and got ready for the task of the day.

“Would you like to try making a plate for today?” he asked, taking out some premixed clay and preparing it on the table for you to wedge. “Or we could do some glazing while Dolly does her thing.”

“No, I could use two teachers,” you replied, trying to be inclusive, shushing all the unmotivated jealousy. How unreasonable!

“She won’t let you get away with things just because of your cute smile,” Taehyung warned, the stern reprimand sugared by the half hidden compliment.

“I almost don’t make mistakes anymore!” you complained before walking to the table, rolling up your sleeves and beginning to pat the corners of your piece of clay.

“Do you need me to do that?” he asked, feeling twice as apprehensive as usual.

“You could wedge some for me, Tae?” Dolly called, preparing a large disk and bringing it over to the table. “Please?” she cooed.

Taehyung agreed, feeling more comfortable at your side, both your foreheads growing sweaty with the warm spring weather and your arms getting sore as you worked the clay until it reached ideal plasticity.

“How was yesterday? I didn’t manage to bring you breakfast,” he mentioned almost casually as he started giving the final twists to the clay body.

“Oh, it was okay. Slow Monday. A couple teachers brought in some stuff to print. One of my parents’ friends asked me to grammar check her dissertation. I had a few books brought in for safety rebounding. Same old,” you said, sitting at the wheel and throwing the clay down. “How should I go about the plate?” you asked, looking up at Taehyung.

He was suddenly enchanted by your beauty as you looked up, a few rebellious locks escaping your hairband and making you look so unreal, so breathtaking and young.

Sometimes he forgot you were young.

Sometimes he even forgot he was young himself.

He was living the kind of fondness his grandma had always told him about, the kind of fondness she had met once sixty, ready to conclude her earthly struggles by herself. Instead, she had met an honest man, a widower who understood her past and her present.

The two had shared a quiet, tender feeling until she left. They were friends, they talked about the weather and gardening, went on walks, had picnics and went to church together. He always held her hand and kissed her forehead with a reverence Taehyung had never met.

Except for you.

He knew the only love he would never doubt was the one that accompanied his granny through her last days. He knew she passed a happy woman and that relieved him immensely.

Being the son of a single mother meant many complicated things, which included his mom moving half a continent away when he turned fourteen, chasing a man he barely knew.

He was glad he had his grandmother then, and the guys. Jimin and his family, although very complicated.

Taehyung didn’t understand the inner dynamics of relationships, and his lack of experience during high school had definitely not helped.

It’s not like he hadn’t tried, but he didn’t feel comfortable. He was always trying to learn while all the girls he had dated expected some sort of latin lover for unknown reasons — probably because of a rumour started by Jimin and Jeongguk, which had clearly, miserably failed.

All he could do was show kind devotion and gain continuous inspiration by the women in his life.

Pottery itself was an art he had learnt from his mother, who in turn had learnt from her mother. He had liked it from day one, like he had been called to it, made for it, even.

“Taetae please, could you help? I think I’m stuck,” Dolly whined, stopping to look at her attempt of dish. “What do you think?”

You tried to ignore the way her voice hurt your ears, leaving some clay aside to handbuild fruit for decoration to add later. Once done, you remodeled the amount for the plate in a round ball against your apron before throwing it a bit too aggressively on the wheel before starting to center.

“See, I’m not sure about the lip. Should i give it a wider edge or make it a bit… I don’t know. I kind of wanted it flat, with a slightly raised lip,” she pouted through her words, but you kept your focus, centering the piece flawlessly, repeating the procedure a few times, feeling the movements terribly familiar and comforting.

“It’s a good idea,” Taehyung confirmed, “a bit of a modern twist.”

“Aw, you’re so nice!” Dolly cooed, batting her lashes at him just as he turned to look at you.

“You’re still centering? All good?” he asked, noticing you stuck on holding the half dome under your palms, ready to bring it up again.

He let you go through the motion, finding himself the excuse of checking your technique only to stare at your strong but precise hands.

You went on without answering, letting the clay grow against your palms before feeling it peak and changing your grip, pushing your thumbs across and down.

“Good job, Frog,” he praised you, watching your face light up in a shy smile while you kept working the ball onto a large, thick disk.

“It’s a lot more than usual,” you commented with a sheepish grin.

“You’re doing perfect,” he reassured you. “Keep it even. Remember the ashtray-turned-jewellery plate?” he asked.

You nodded.

“Use the side of your hand. Press down harder,” he directed you. “Use your whole body, Frog. You’re handling a lot there, you need to be a bit more aggressive.”

He bit his lip before testing the waters. “Make it wetter, Frog.”

You felt yourself freeze for a second. You swallowed and dipped your dominant hand in the water.

“Don’t make it drip,” he corrected you.

“I’m gonna drench it,” you replied.

“Taetae—”

“Just a second, Dolly,” he replied absentmindedly. “Drench it, Frog.”

You obeyed.

“Gonna touch your back,” he warned you before you felt his forearms on your shoulders, pressing you down. “Use your whole weight. You need to make it to three inches. The thinner the easier.”

You felt his voice close to your ear.

“When it starts to drag, it’s too dry. Hug the side,” he rose and placed his palm against yours. “Just hold it. No pressure. Lovingly.”

“Tae—” Dolly called again.

He closed his eyes. “Just keep pressing,” he told you. “Tell me.”

“Can you help me with the lip?” Dolly asked, batting her lashes.

“First, make the base wider. Flatten it nicely, till the edge, then pinch the wall up. It will fall a little as it dries, but maybe we can find a way to secure it. If you make it short enough it should hold,” he explained professionally.

“Could you show me, please?”

He nodded. “Wait, Frog, stop there. Watch,” he commanded curtly.

You slowed down the wheel before stopping, holding your hands for a second before making sure that your piece didn’t get out of control.

“Okay,” you told him once you were ready.

“Come up here, I need you to see the details.”

You reached the two other people, Taehyung taking Dolly’s spot at the wheel. He fixed his stance before he wet his hands. Instinctively, his left palm went to hold the side while his right fingers grabbed a needle, measuring the thickness of the plate. “Just around two inches. And here it goes thicker, you see? Around three inches,” he showed, sticking the needle in.

“Did I do wrong?” Dolly asked, awfully dramatic.

“You just need to make it thinner,” he commented, already dipping a small sponge in the plate before squeezing it in the plate, still being very careful.

“Now, Dolly first used her fist — the side of it — and pulled it toward her to spread the clay lower. Repeat that several times. At least six or seven, based on the pressure you manage to apply. Then she used her fingertips, center out. Like this,” he said, showing the motion.

You felt ready to throw yourself out across the glass wall head first.

His middle finger pressed down with such firmness that you couldn’t not think of it doing very inappropriate things to your body.

You felt dumbstruck at the sudden thought, like it was some sort of exceedingly vivid dream, too realistic to actually be a dream.

“Rib next. Dolly didn’t use the rib properly here. She was too light.” He corrected the woman’s mistake, using his chest to press down, exhaling loudly as he did. “You have to go deep, Frog. Stay there. Be a bit stubborn.” He grinned. “Hold position.”

You nodded, licking your lips.

Dolly’s eyes were glowing with arousal next to you, his brow arching once he put down the rib after five minutes or so. “Wet fingers,” he reminded you, wiggling as gimey, grey water rolled down his wrists, the vision unfairly erotic for the dirt covering his hands, dripping down the hypervascular back of them, the veins of his forearms significantly thicker.

You shook your head with a grin as he wiggled his digits. “You put one inside, on the outside and press them together. Make sure you dig deep with the one on the inner side. You’ll want to press down firmly to collect all the material you’ll need for the lip. In this case, we keep pushing out, to further widen the plate and give it a short, erect lip.”

You were out of your mind, nodding just in hope to get away from torture.

“Oh, so that’s how I need to do the lip! Thank you Taetae!” Dolly exclaimed, giving you a way out.

You caught the chance immediately, sitting back at the wheel, drenching your hands before reapplying water to your piece.

“Wetter,” Taehyung called immediately.

Oh.

Your brain froze as you realised that wetter you were, indeed.

“Make a fist,” he ordered as he poured more water on your piece. “Press the side of your pinkie knuckle in the middle.”

You looked at him, crouched beside you, his mop of black hair tumbling back as his dark eyes met yours.

They hid so much longing, so much need for comfort. You read them immediately, nodding.

He placed his hand on top of yours. “Push down, Frog,” he murmured, in a way he hoped only the two of you would hear over the sound of the wheels’ engines. “Harder, lovely.”

You held your breath, his fingers and palm swallowing your fist entirely as he slipped his thumb into the hole created by your index and thumb. “Pull it towards you now,” he spoke softly. “Hard and slow, Frog,” he reminded you.

Your brain was far, far away, filled with questions about how you now found yourself comfortable about seeing Taehyung as a potential partner.

Duh. Because he knows you, dummy, the reply came instantly

Because he seemed to do everything just right for you, and when he ended up making a mistake, he seemed to know exactly how to ask for forgiveness and actually learn from his previous wrongdoings.

“Do I keep going?” you questioned, looking at him.

His face lit up slightly. “Yes, darling.” He let you go slightly after, cleaning up his hand.

You missed his guidance, but you convinced yourself you could do without.

“Slow down. Test the thickness,” he reminded you, offering the needle. “You did perfect, Frog,” he murmured with a fond grin.

“Really?” you reacted incredulously.

He confirmed, nodding as he stuck the needle along the side. “We need to work with your fingertips along the sides, here,” he showed, closing down the small puncture.

You wet your digits and placed your middle and ring finger on the center, slightly angled, letting them slide all the way to the edge as the wheel turned.

He assisted your outer hand, supporting it and showing how much pressure was needed.

“Keep going like this for a couple minutes. Make sure that it slims out. Just a few minutes—”

“Tae, do you think this is right?” Dolly asked with her squeaky voice.

His left hand grazed yours reverently as he parted from you.

Taehyung cruelly realised he was head over heels for you.

“It looks just fine to me, Dolly. I think you could give it a last test and then let it dry.”

“Yes, maybe you could give me some hands-on guidance with the next one. I could learn from a… master like you.”

You almost scoffed, giving a choked snort before you could actually control yourself.

“Uhm… I’m sure you just need to refine your timing.” Taehyung tried to evade the request.

During the rest of your lesson, you managed to throw two plates, even building a few decorations that would be added once the clay was leatherhard, in about twenty-four hours.

“I’ll add the decorations tomorrow,” Taehyung told you as you washed your hands. “Unless you want to stop by during lunch break.”

You dried your hands, thinking about his suggestion. “I think I’ll be busy tomorrow. You know, the Spring fair is soon and there’s some stuff I need to do.”

He pouted and nodded. “I’ll trim and decorate then,” he agreed. “If we’re having our Friday lesson, we can bisque them.”

You smiled and agreed.

“Maybe I can throw some plates for you and show you how to decorate while the kiln is working,” he reasoned, helping you to remove the apron once he noticed you were stuck in it.

“That would be lovely, if it’s not too much work for you!” you replied happily. You deposited the apron and caught your bag, fixing it on your shoulder. “It was a pleasure, Dolly!”

“Likewise!” she replied with a smile so sour it would have made milk curdle. “I’ll see you again!”

“Yes, for sure!” you cheered back, making your way out.

Taehyung accompanied you, almost as if you didn’t know the way. “I have a book to return,” he said, making you frown. He didn’t borrow any book from you.

“Uhm,” you started, trying to understand his intentions.

“Come in, I have it in the kitchen,” he said, leading you through the backyard.

“Taehyung,” you called, once you reached the door to his house, keeping your voice low. “Are you okay?”

He opened the door and led you through. His house was incredibly traditional compared to the way you had expected it to be.

“I’m… I just needed to check in on you. Dolly can be a very… loud… presence,” he said, grabbing a glass and a pastel pink porcelain pitcher. “Lemonade?”

You shook your head. “She is indeed very… loud.”

“I’m sorry,” he sat down and drank. He looked sad. Worried. “Are we okay, Frog?”

You stood at his side, looking at him before delicately placing your hand on his shoulder. “I’m okay, but are you? You look terrified of being in there with her.”

He placed both elbows on the table and held his head. “I’m just very tired today.”

Your hand moved to his nape, feeling the corded muscles. “Tell her you’re tired and that you’re calling it a day. I can make up an excuse for you.”

You were reminded just how much he had clung to you for the whole lesson. If she was giving him special attention, he clearly didn’t want it.

“Would you do that?” he asked, suddenly hopeful.

You frowned. “Of course?” you reacted, playfully disappointed in his lack of faith. “We can stay here. I can read, you can nap or watch the tv. We just need to make her understand it’s time to go. I’ll hide my bike and wait for you here. You’ll go in there and tell her Jimin or someone called and they need your help.”

“Are you sure you want to spend the afternoon like this? I mean, it’s your free day.”

You shrugged. Your plans were going home, getting rid of the awful tension running down your back and possibly going to the shop for some cleaning, maybe work on that dissertation… “You’re my friend. And yes, I want to help you.”

Taehyung knew that some people would have been highly disappointed by being called ‘friend’ by their crush, but that made him feel warm, like he was wrapped in a cosy comforter. “Go hide the bike,” he said, grinning like a child.

You grinned right back at him, starting down the corridor with long strides. He helped you choose a nice spot, hiding your bike between the house and the bushes tracing the outline of the garden.

After fifteen minutes or so, you heard Dolly’s annoying voice as she said something like “call me if you need help with Jiminie”, dramatically bidding Taehyung goodbye.

From the window, you watched her get inside a car in front of the house, Taehyung appearing a few minutes after. “We. Are. Free,” he panted theatrically as he flopped on the sofa, throwing his head back.

“Why did you let her come?” you asked, staring at him from your spot by the window.

“Because she’s an old friend. I met her way before she became like that,” he admitted. “I hadn’t seen her in ages. And now she’s clearly trying to get back in my life, using the commission as an excuse.” Taehyung rubbed his temples.

For half a second you wondered whether it was a good idea to ask. Would it make any difference? You realised it would. “Were you… In a relationship?”

“If for ‘relationship’ you mean ‘let’s fuck him so I can complete the friends collection’, then yes.” Taehyung propped his forearms on his knees, exhaling heavily.

You hissed, feeling slightly uncomfortable. You didn’t know what to do. “If you’d like to rest, I can go home,” you said, looking at him with cold, uncertain eyes.

He met your stare, suddenly feeling confused, scared even. He frowned and crossed his arms, trying to put some distance after he noticed his refuge turn hostile to him. “You can go,” he said, shrinking within his shoulders, trying not to show how much he feared being alone.

What he didn’t know is that you could feel the hurt in his voice and the pain in his eyes like needles sinking in your skin. You walked to him, touching his hair hesitantly, feeling wary about not receiving spoken permission.

You watched him bloom under your touch, his lungs inflating with a large inhale. He exhaled way more slowly, taking his time. “Do you want me to go?” you asked, letting your hand slide down the side of his face.

He shook his head, placing his hand atop of yours, holding it there just in case you foolishly thought he didn’t need your touch anymore. “Can you stay?”

You placed both your hands on his hair, cupping his face. “I’ll read, you take a nap.”

He watched you move your free hand away, putting down your tote and grabbing a book. He grabbed your wrist, staring at you with his dark puppy eyes. “Can you sit here? Close?”

You smiled and nodded, settling at his side before he grabbed a blanket, spread it wide and laid down, nuzzling closer, inch by inch, until you found his head on your lap.

“Can I?” he asked, adorably, his cheeks puffy and his eyes glittering vivaciously.

You smiled back at him and nodded. Fondly, you moved your book aside, watching him close his eyes contentedly as your thigh became his pillow.

After a couple pages, you almost thought he had fallen asleep already, only to realise you were mistaken once he reached for your free hand and brought it to his hair.

“Cuddle?”

You smiled even brighter, tracing the shell of his ear before starting to hand-comb his soft, dark locks.

“I’ve got you,” you whispered gently, barely holding back as you looked at his face, peacefully relaxed.

Your heart was a messy thing, but in that moment you realised that, could you have a new one, you would gift it to him and never ask for it back.

Taglist is open

Navi: Chapter 1 — Chapter 2 — Chapter 3 — Chapter 4 — Chapter 5 — Chapter 6 — Chapter 7

#taehyung fluff #taehyung x reader #kim taehyung fanfiction #thetruthuntoldnnet #thebtswritersclub #taehyung strangers to lovers #taehyung angst

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shurelyasreverie · 3 years

Text

Valorant Character Concept/OC: Adam

Warning: Mentions of drugs/illicit substances (Well, if anyone’s curious, here’s one of my OCs 😁)

Code Name Meaning: Adam is a street name for MDMA and the name of the first man and original sinner in Christianity. Real Name: Unknown Gender: Male (He/Him) Country: Unknown Appearance: Adam's line of work means he needs to blend in his surroundings, so his colour scheme is dark and his attire is plain. The only exception are his golden eyes, inspired by his gameplay (explained later).

Lore/Biography: Nothing is truly known about the personal life of Adam, other than how he clearly knows how to make money and cover up his tracks. Venturing onto the black market, he pursued the niche of lacing recreational drugs with stolen Radianite to create a unique service that only he could provide.

That was until he was captured and interrogated by the Kingdom. He expected his operation to get shut down but instead was instructed to continue, having to give the Kingdom a cut of the profits in return. Somewhere down the line, he changed alignments and joined the Protocol. Apparently he had seen or experienced something so horrific in the Kingdom not even his sleazy ways could approve of. What exactly he saw however, just like the rest of his life, is shrouded in mystery.

Personality:

“It's supply and demand, sweetheart.”

A naturally charismatic and charming man. Adam knows how to convince his clients to trust and rely on him and only him. His good looks don't help anyone from resisting his charms and he knows it. He's a master of talking on and on without actually giving away any information. He's a shameless flirt, sweet talking absolutely anyone with every compliment under the sun until he can find their weaknesses.

Despite his life work, Adam has always put an emphasis on honesty. He's lied plenty of times to enemies and unsuspecting clients but if he truly respects someone and views them as equal (such as the other agents in the Protocol), he expects nothing but the truth and he will give it in return. It's all part of holding up your side of the deal.

In rare moments, people can catch Adam regretfully looking back on the past. He's no fool and he's aware that the activities he's partaken in are illegal for a reason. He does have some ethics, there are some crimes out there that he will not tolerate, some that no one can commit and still call themselves human. But despite this, he still believes his negative impact on the world means there's no place more suited for him than hell.

Relationships:

The agents who don't know Adam prior seem to get along with him well enough on the outside, but they all have reservations about Adam and if he can be truly trusted. Many don't hide their scepticism and openly tell him that they're only working together because they have to.

Adam has hired Cypher multiple times to provide information on his clients and competitors before joining the Protocol. They are on good terms and consider each other respectable colleagues.

Viper and Omen do not get along with Adam. Voice lines between Adam and Viper suggest that it was Viper's experimentation that shocked Adam into going against the Kingdom. Oftentimes Adam is condescending to them for their past activities.

“I've seen what you've done, Sabine. Unlike you, it wasn't pretty.”

Playstyle: Adam is classified as a sentinel agent, specialising at preventing aggressive plays and holding back the enemy team. His main gimmick is affecting player vision due to the hallucinations and disorientation his substances induce.

Abilities:

(Signature) Inhale: A smoke that is opaque from both the outside and inside of it. Anyone inside will have extreme near-sightedness (only about a foot), forcing them to rely on sound. [30 Second Cooldown] (2 Charges)

Line Up: A thick, visible strip on the ground that lasts for 30 seconds and slows and dazes anyone who tramples on it. The effects decay once stepped off. The longer a player has stood on the strip, the longer the decay will take. (2 Charges)

The Good Stuff: Adam can give himself or an ally a three second buff where they are immune to all flashes, dazes and near-sightedness. (1 Charge)

(Ultimate) Have a Dose: Adam preps for five seconds before dazing all enemy players within a large radius of him.

That’s the general overview of Adam, let me know what you think of him!

#mod speaks #random ramble #valorant #valorant thoughts #oc #original character #own character #character concept #shurelyasreverie

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nyerus · 4 years

Text

🌸 Updates and FAQs for Watching the TGCF Donghua! 🌸

✴️First, check out my detailed guide HERE if you want to know how to subscribe to YouTube or Bilibili!

Please read through these if you have any questions first before sending in an ask, as it's probably answered here (or the previous guide)!!! If you don't see it here, or still have confusions afterwards, then feel free to send in an ask or DM me!

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✨Important Notes/Updates✨

Bilibili is allowing non-members to watch for free! No region locks, and you don’t even need to make an account. Free watchers will be one week behind paid members. But this is a legal and free way to support the donghua if you’re unable to pay! (This actually means that you’ll be able to see the episodes faster and for free on Bilibili than you would on YouTube, because YouTube has a two week delay instead of just one week.)

Funimation is broadcasting TGCF in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. These are some of the regions which are blocked by YouTube, so this is an available alternative for those who don’t want to go through Bilibili. They have also stated they will launch in Mexico and Brazil this winter.

ALL broadcasts are in Chinese with hard-coded/embedded English and Chinese subs. (I.e., they come with the broadcast itself, on top of the image. Nothing to toggle on/off, they are automatically there.) They are the exact same across all the platforms.

Please support official releases so that we can get more seasons, and high quality! This is still niche content, believe it or not!

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✨Frequntly Asked Questions✨

🔹GENERAL FAQs:🔹

1.) "Where is the best place to watch?"

I still reccomend Bilibili's native website/app over all other streaming platforms. This is due to some key points:

Bilibili's website/app gets the episode the very second they drop. There is no delay whatsoever. YouTube and Funimation have been delayed the last two weeks. It's unknown if this is just a hiccup or what, but if watching new episodes ASAP is important to you, going through Bilibili ensures you will not have to worry about any uncertainty.

Price breakdowns: Bilibili's website/app 3-month membership is $10-11 USD. Their YouTube channel's "MBBM Lv2" membership varies by region, but in many places is similar or just a tad more. In the US, the MBBM Lv2 membership and Funimation membership is the same price ($5.99 per month, or $17.97 for 3 months). So you can actually save some cash by going through Bilibili directly.

In the end, this is largely up to personal choice and comfort. Some people may find it difficult to navigate Bilibili's website even with guides and google translate's auto-translate feature. In this case, YouTube or Funimation are fine alternatives. If you also have an existing Funimation sub or plan to use it to watch other shows, then that's perfectly valid too. Similar with the MBBM lv2 sub on YouTube, especially if you want to use it to see other shows (e.g. Legend of Exorcism which is only English-subbed on YouTube).

2.) "Where do I watch for free?"

On Bilibili's website, you can watch episodes for free! You will be one episode behind paid members, but it's a legal way to support the donghua. You don't even need to create an account!

3.) "What episode will be airing when/where?"

Check out the table below for the differences in airing times. Time is 11AM China Time.*

NOTE: Funimation is technically supposed to be the same as Bilibili members/YouTube MBBM Lv2, but the last few episodes have been delayed so I have no clue.... *Additionally, YouTube's episodes have been delayed by a little bit, but they've aired the same day.

4.) "How can I support the donghua?"

Free, on YouTube: Subscribe to Bilibili's YouTube Channel, give likes to TGCF videos/clips, and leave nice comments!

Free, on Bilibili: Everyone can follow the official TGCF account and page, plus leave likes on videos. All this following stuff requires you to have passed the Bilibili quiz to unlock levels: If you are lv2+, you can leave comments and give coins to offical TGCF videos. (Log in daily to get 1 coin/day if you're lv1+!) If you are lv4+, leave a good 5-star review!

Paid: Buy subscriptions to watch the donghua! Also, merchhhhh~

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🔸YOUTUBE-RELATED FAQs🔸

1.) "What's the difference between Bilibili's YouTube Channel's MBBM Lv1 and Lv2 memberships?"

MBBM Lv2 allows you to watch the episodes on the same day as Bilibili's website broadcast.

MBBM Lv1 has new episodes delayed by one week, meaning you will be one episode behind the others. There actually is zero point in subscribing to MBBM Lv1 (unless you want to watch other subbed donghua) because you can watch the same content on Bilibili for absolutely free, since Bilibili is allowing non-members to watch TGCF one episode behind paid members.

You can also watch two episodes behind on YouTube.

2.) "If I have YouTube Premium/Red, do I still need a membership on Bilibili's YouTube page?"

Yes. YouTube premium is completely separate from the channel-specific memberships.

3.) "Are episodes simulcast on YouTube?"

While originally stated as being simulcast, there actually seems to be a bit of a delay on YouTube as of now. It's unclear if this will change with future episodes.

4.) "Do I need a VPN?"

If you are from one of the restricted countries, then yes, you'll need to use a VPN. You can still pay for the subscription as normal, and then use a VPN to watch the donghua. It will not affect payment.

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🔹BILIBILI-RELATED FAQs:🔹

1.) "Do I need to take that 100-question quiz to sign up for Bilibili or the membership?!"

No, it's totally optional! You do not need it to either watch the free episodes or to buy a membership. It's only if you want to comment and stuff. It might make you think you gotta do it, or enter a code, but it's actually not needed. Check out THIS post for more info!!! (However, you may still want to do it in order to level up and eventually leave a nice review for the donghua!)

2.) "I'm only able to watch 6min on Bilibili's website when I watch from my phone. Do I need the app?"

You do not need the app. Switch your browser to Desktop Mode in order to watch the video in full.

Be sure to download a browser like Google Chrome, Firefox, etc that supports this mode if your native browser doesn't allow for it.

3.) "Can I get the app on iPhone/iOS?"

This depends on if you are in a country where the app is not region locked in the app store. If you're able to download it that way, great! If not, try using a VPN and setting your region to mainland China. It may work. APKs are not useable on iPhones, so unless you know how to sideload apps onto your device, you may be stuck with the app store only.

Do note that you might be unable to pay for a Bilibili membership through the app, depending on version, but you can always simply pay through the website and then use the app as normal. It will apply account-wide on all devices.

4.) "Why are there two versions of the app?"

One seems to be the international version, which is more basic and lets you pay via GooglePay/ApplePay. The other one seems to be made for mainland China, and allows you to even buy merchandise through it (Chinese address/bank acc required). Mostly, both have to be downloaded via APK on Android. But some iOS users have reported different versions of the app being available for them through the app store (namely the int'l ver, and some have said they can use a VPN to get the mainland one).

5.) "Is there any benefit to having the app over just using the website?"

Not really, no. With the app you can buy very cute hualian themed skins for your profile, though (if you have the mainland version of the app). Plus you can save videos for offline viewing.

6.) "Do I need to enter my area code for Bilibili when signing up/in?"

NO, you do not enter your area code in the phone number field. Select your country from the drop-down list and it will automatically consider your area code. (E.g. if you're in America, select 美国 and enter in your number like 5557779999.)

7.) "I didn't get to set a password when signing up, so how do I log into my Bilibili account after being logged out?"

Use the same phone number you did to sign up. Instead of a password, you'll enter in a one-time key that is sent to your phone via text message. (NOTE: some people have reported not receiving these messages, which may vary by phone carrier!)

As mentioned above, don't include your area code when filling out your number.

Also, if you are signed in on the app on your phone, you can scan the QR code on the log-in page through the app.

8.) "How do I turn off the barrage comments filling up the video I'm watching?"

Select the little button that reads "弹" under the video:

(Website vs App)

9.) Is the Bilibili subscription auto-renewing?

No, the 1-month (¥25), 3-month (¥68), 1-year (¥168) subscriptions will not automatically renew. They are a one-time payment only!

Notice that the renewing payments all say "连续" in front of them, which means "continuing" or "successive" types of subscriptions. They are also cheaper than the one-time payment. (E.g. the renewing 3-month sub is ¥45 instead of ¥68.) Moreover, the renewing types are not even available to purchase with PayPal, afaik. You need Alipay or WeChat Pay, etc.

10.) "Can I use the app/membership to read the manhua too?"

Unfortunately, not quite! Your Bilibili account is universal, but you'll need to download the manhua app seperately and topping up M-coins to pay for the manhua. (One-time purchases, either by volume or by chapter as per your choice.)

11.) "What resolutions are available?"

You can watch up to 480p as a free member. Paid members can watch at 1080p and high-bit-rate 1080p. It's possible to chromecast it to TV, too. (I haven't tried it, but others have!)

12.) "Can I watch across multiple devices?"

Yes, you can!

13.) "Do I need a VPN?"

No, Bilibili is not region-locked. However, some particular countries may have Chinese apps blocked.... :(

14.) "I want to leave a comment/review. How do I level up on Bilibili?"

Log in daily, watch at least one video per day, give coins (attained by logging in) to your fave videos, etc! It will definitely take a while haha.

15.) "Will I be able to watch other donghua like MDZS or SVSSS with my membership on Bilibili?"

No, those two donghuas are produced by TenCent, not Bilibili. You will need either a TenCent/WeTV account, or you can watch them on their YouTube channel (free).

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🔸FUNIMATION-RELATED FAQs🔸

1.) "Is Funimation's broadcast a simulcast?"

It is supposed to be, according to their initial announcements. They seem to be having some technical difficulties, but those may be resolved soon. I suggest keeping an eye on their twitter for updates if you are interested in watching through them!

2.) "Do I have to pay extra on my Funimation sub to watch TGCF?"

No, afaik, the regular $5.99 sub covers TGCF too.

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I hope this helps out people further, so we can all have an easy time watching the donghua! And please do support it legally! 🙏

If you still need help, feel free to send in an ask!

#tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven offical's blessing #hob #tgcf donghua

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bisluthq · 3 years

Note

?? I meaN tavi is known but not to gp in my humble one. But with gg 2.0 maybe she will be!!

Okay see we are back to a term y’all love to throw around that annoys me because it… feels a little silly. And that’s this whole idea of a “general public”. Now, no doubt you get SUPERSTAR celebs - Beyoncé, Madonna, Taylor, the living members of the Beatles, Brad Pitt, Leo DiCaprio, JLo, the KarJenners etc - where you do kind of have to live under a rock to not have heard about them. They’re ubiquitous. They’re iconic and legendary and like… yeah everyone’s heard of them, whether you’re a fan or not. You know the name and you know what they do and you can put the name to the face, which you… know.

Then you start getting era specific celebs tbh. Like everyone of a certain age knows the supermodels - Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer etc - but I honestly don’t think all Gen Zs do. They were HUGELY famous in their moment, but that moment passed. If some 16 year old doesn’t know who Claudia Schiffer is, does that mean she’s not known? Like almost on that tier of iconic tbh? Not at all.

And after that, it really depends on your own personal interests. I don’t follow rap, especially dude rappers, so I was last week years old when I heard of Fetty Wap. I was today years old when I heard of Stormzy (I got an anon about him and had to have a young Google). Does that mean those two incredibly successful men are unknowns? No it just means I don’t follow rap and don’t know who the big names are.

I don’t follow KPop. I know that BTS exists and BLCKPINK (sp?) exists but I can’t name a single member of either group off the top of my head. That doesn’t mean that these groups aren’t fucking INSANELY successful and popular. It’s just not something I follow.

Gossip Girl reboot is absolutely not going to make someone superstar level famous. It’s a big show and all but like one can easily not watch. It’s not a cultural moment in the way Game of Thrones was (and tbh nothing will probably ever be again, but that’s a whole separate conversation on the end of the Golden Age of TV and the rise of streaming). And even with GoT the individual actors didn’t get superstar status, their CHARACTERS did, but plenty of people watched the show and can’t fucking name those names.

I think a lot of Taylor fans get confused about this shit because they’re stanning a fucking SUPERSTAR, so y’all seem to think if someone isn’t as famous as THAT then they’re unknowns. That’s just not a reasonable benchmark.

With the rise of streaming and the advance of social media and the death of print media tbh, we’re seeing a lot less superstars in general because we can now watch whatever the fuck we want - there is so much content - and follow our fave celebs. We don’t all need to tune in to the same show, we don’t even know exact numerical ratings for shows/films anymore a lot of the time, and we don’t need to wait for Us Weekly to report on the celeb, we can curate our information about them on socials and articles can be churned out about all sorts of people and get clicks/earn money without needing to sell someone a cover with a huge star’s face (which everyone will then learn to recognize).

So like celebs are becoming a lot more niche specific and age specific.

Gossip Girl can make Tavi popular amongst English speaking teenagers and millennial girls (and some boys). It will not and cannot make anyone a fucking superstar though, and like I say - becoming a superstar is an increasingly nuanced process because you can be HUGE in your industry but unknown by someone who isn’t interested in that.

And on top of that we layer language and region, right, someone can be HUGE in their country, but unknown elsewhere. The stars of Magnificent Century are fucking Turkish ICONS and are very well known like throughout Europe as well but aren’t really known in English speaking countries. Does that mean they’re not a huge deal or that fucking GIANT of a show was a flop?

I hope this makes sense but ya I really wish y’all would stop throwing around that term because it doesn’t ever really make any sense to me.

#nat talks celebs idk

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recentanimenews · 3 years

Text

INTERVIEW: After 13 Years, Indie RPG Masterpiece Ruina is Finally Available in English

All screenshots of Ruina: Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins taken by author

This article was made possible through the invaluable contributions of translators Dink and bool, and further aided by context generously provided by writer, translator, and RPG Maker scene dweller Kastel (@kastelwrites). Sections from their answers were excerpted for this piece and edited for clarity and content.

Last year, at the start of the pandemic, a lapsed member of the RPG Maker community known as Dink stumbled across a screenshot while trawling Japanese free game websites: a black obelisk standing in the midst of ruins. “This is going to make me sound like I've been huffing paint, but this image spoke to something quite visceral for me — like I'd been waiting to find this game. Something about the sepia tones, the light and shadows, the elegance of its very archetype. I knew I had to play it.” Dink had stumbled across Ruina: Haitou no Monogatari (Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins), one of the most acclaimed free RPGs ever made in Japan. Released in the antiquated RPG Maker 2000 engine in 2008 by developer Shoukichi Karekusa, it retains a strong cult following and has even been translated into Chinese. Yet unlike its RPG Maker siblings Yume Nikki and Ib, Ruina is practically unknown in English-speaking countries. Dink decided to change that. “Once I realized that it had yet to be translated into English,” he said, “it was like I’d become possessed.”

Ruina is unique. A role-playing game that takes direct influence from tabletop games and gamebooks, it boldly defies conventions established by classic console role-playing games like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Rather than controlling the main character across a top-down map, the player slowly uncovers a hand-illustrated map of nodes. Survival in the dungeon requires the use of ropes, pickaxes, and oil for your lantern, resources that are all expendable. Your party members are valuable not only for their combat skills but for their out-of-combat abilities: thieving, sneaking, even swimming. Most of all, Ruina allows for choice and consequence, a phenomenon far more common in western RPGs than Japanese RPGs. Say you stumble across treasure in a dungeon, but are ambushed by thieves who want the treasure for themselves. Do you give the treasure to the thieves? Stand your ground? Or attack the thieves before they can do the same to you? Since your ability to save in the dungeon is heavily rationed, you may find yourself having to choose between restarting a save or living with the messy outcomes of your choices.

There’s something to Ruina that grounds it in the Japanese RPG tradition, rather than a straightforward riff on Wizardry or Might & Magic. Those earlier games gave you several choices as to building your party, but little in the way of story or character. Ruina is a far more curated experience. On starting the game, you’re offered four “backgrounds” that align you with certain other characters, just one year before Dragon Age: Origins would pull a similar trick. Rather than being given the full freedom to explore a sprawling world, your options are limited to navigating a single, contained dungeon. The characters available to be recruited into your party have defined personalities and quirks — some are already good friends of yours, others are insufferable, and still others have significant flaws that speak to the kind of person they are versus their gameplay function. These are NPCs out of the Baldur’s Gate school, given the illusion of life, rather than the team of personalized murderers you’d recruit in an Etrian Odyssey game.

Very little else in the Japanese games scene is like Ruina. You could draw comparisons with games like Unlimited Saga and Scarlet Grace, representing the legacy of controversial SQUARE ENIX auteur Akitoshi Kawazu. You could similarly connect Ruina with Yasumi Matsuda’s experimental Crimson Shroud, which takes influence from tabletop to the point that it has the player rolling dice in-game. But Ruina is more accessible and polished than a Kawazu game, and far more fleshed out than Crimson Shroud. Even Etrian Odyssey, with its comparatively barebones story and characters, doesn’t quite compare. Ruina stands alone in the Japanese free games community, a legendary title that people respect but don’t fully understand how to replicate.

A few days ago I reached out to Kastel, an academic, writer, and translator who is very familiar with Japan’s RPG Maker scene, about where Ruina fit in Japan’s wider field of indie games. “I know many people in the furige (free game) scene who love the game to death,” they said. “But they also found it to be a hard sell due to its unique, almost western take on the scene. The fact that the game is even this popular speaks to something.” Despite its crunchy mechanics and niche inspirations, the game is popular enough to have spawned light novels, an honor not unique to it (other RPG Maker games have accomplished the same) but certainly significant. Kastel drew a comparison between Ruina and Darkest Dungeon, another weird and uncompromising game that draws from both Japanese and western RPGs. “Ruina is sorta different from everything, but you also see dungeon crawlers get inspired by it,” they said. “Not all games take direct inspiration, but you can’t help but see a little bit of Ruina here and there.”

So why did it take so long for anybody to translate Ruina? Dink isn’t the only person to try his hand at translating it into English; just last fall, another forum dweller placed an ad recruiting a translation team to tackle the game. The unfortunate reality is that translating text within the RPG Maker engine into English requires intensive and repetitive labor. “There’ve been tools developed by vgperson [a prominent translator of RPG Maker games] for RPG Maker 2000 and some other machine translation tools for newer games, but they all remain difficult to use for translators,” Kastel says. “The way games are scripted uses events inside the map and developers rarely name them. So not only do you need to edit it via the appropriate RPG Maker engine, but you also need to go through each event contextless unless the creator actually notes things down.” So, the enterprising Ruina translator doesn’t just need to translate all the text in the game into English. It isn’t even a question of whether or not to manually edit the game’s many pictures and custom menus into English by hand. It’s the sheer difficulty of navigating between thousands of (often poorly labeled) events and variables in the RPG Maker engine, ensuring not to introduce any new bugs or errors in the process, while also finding the time to do all of the above.

Dink was assisted by a friend of his named bool, who played through the game alongside the translation process and gave invaluable advice and fixes. “Uncovering the mystery in the game's story sort of ran parallel with the translation of the game itself,” bool says. “As the story progressed, the characters would decipher and learn more about the lore of the eponymous ruins within the game, and as the translation progressed, the same held true for us. It really captivated me to be a part of this process, and I started to look forward to each new area that I could explore and each new morsel of the story I could understand.”

Without bool’s efforts, it might have taken far longer to put together something workable. As it was, it took four exhausting months. “I worked long hours — 12+ hours a day, 6, sometimes 7 days a week on top of my day job — and very rarely used my free time on anything else,” Dink says. “I did manually input the text in RPG Maker 2000, which has raised some eyebrows because there are some very nice tools available for game translation that would have saved me a lot of time. However, a huge advantage of working directly in the editor is being able to see the game more or less as it appears to players. A Notepad file streamlines the basic translation process, but it also heavily obscures context, whereas the editor allows you to see what switches and variables are being used, what music is being played, and sometimes even helpful creator comments, all in the same relative order you'd experience it from within the game.” Dink had one more secret weapon up his sleeve: the experience of working with the RPG Maker engine as an adolescent. RPG Maker has a reputation of being a tool designed to churn out Dragon Quest clones with ease; but nobody knows the intense difficulty of forcing the engine to do something, anything, like a former RPG Maker developer does.

The English version of Ruina, as it currently exists, is a workable but inevitably compromised version of the game. Running the game requires installing the Japanese RTP pack of visual and audio resources for RPG Maker to function, along with the use of the EasyRPG player to provide English-language player name entry. There’s the matter of the custom menus, as well. Several of the menus have been replaced with functional English equivalents, but by Dink's own admission they could use an expert's attention to better compare to the original. Other pictures, such as place name displays, have yet to be replaced by English-language equivalents at all. And the strict character limits of RPG Maker 2000 led to some creative truncating when translating from Japanese to English, especially with item and skill descriptions.

But the existence of an English-language Ruina, one that renders the whole game playable from beginning to end with a readable script, is a miracle. Speaking for myself, I started the long process of learning Japanese two years ago in part so that I could one day play this game, never expecting there might one day be an alternative. Others in the Japanese RPG Maker scene, knowing the brutal difficulty of translating a game made in the earlier engines, were shocked that a game of Ruina’s complexity and length was successfully translated at all. Speaking for themselves, Dink and bool insist that their own story doesn’t matter much. What matters is the quality of the original game and the hard work developer Shoukichi Karekusa put into its creation. Anything else is an addendum, another version of the game that — while it cannot ever be the original — might at least make something resembling that original experience accessible to others.

Frankly speaking, I think there’s something to that. The “true” version of Ruina will always exist in its original form, released for free by Karekusa in 2008. It stands as the defining work of a creator who sought to create a unique experience combining the appeal of console and tabletop roleplaying games, with no concessions to market sensibilities. A creator who not only released their baby on the internet for free, but insisted that a game like Ruina must always and ever be free. An austere monolith, it stands side by side with Yume Nikki, Ib, and even Cave Story as one of the great works to come out of Japan’s independent scene. Now any English speaker can pick up and play this new version of Ruina, and learn what that monolith is and where it leads to.

You can download the English translation of Ruina here. For those who want to learn more about the Japanese RPG Maker scene, I recommend checking out Kastel’s page here.

Are you a Ruina fan? Let us know in the comments!

Adam W is a Features Writer at Crunchyroll. When he is not working through exercises in Wanikani, he sporadically contributes with a loose group of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying? You can find him on Twitter at:@wendeego

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a feature, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Adam Wescott

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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secret-engima · 4 years

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It's gonna be interesting to see Lucis's reaction to the existence of the second Prince.

OH IS IT EVER.

-Meltdown just about covers it, but not quite. Like- not only is this a second prince, but he’s OLDER than Noctis by a good seven years. Ignoring the media for just a sec (though OH BOY THE MEDIA) the MOOGLENET (or whatever the FFXV version of the internet is) is gonna have a collective heart attack. Some people are gonna be joining on the media boat of questioning Regis for having a son out of wedlock (and if he still has Nox’s mother in hiding somewhere as a mistress) but others are going to be harping on Nox himself. Like- the theories get WILD. How did Regis’s agents not find him until he was 15+? How strong is his magic? Why does he wear long sleeves in every (rare) photo or video and why are his photos and videos so rare? Where was his mother from? Was she even Lucian?

-Top theories on those are that either his mother/mother’s family HID him from Regis’s agents or he was living in another country until recently (considering the only other “countries” right now are all under Niflheim’s thumb, this immediately spawns the theories that he’s a double agent for the Empire or he was tortured by them and escaped, which would explain the long sleeves). Other theories for the long sleeves is he’s hiding tattoos that would shame the royal family (he already has long hair and strange taste in earrings after all). Maybe Regis is hiding him from the public eye because he’s ashamed of his illegitimate child, or maybe there’s something wrong with him (people who go with the “tortured and escaped the Empire theory assume he has mental issues on top of scars). A really popular theory for his mother was that she was from Niflheim, possibly a Nif agent there to get the royal bloodline in Nif hands, until someone dug up a picture of him hanging out with the glaives and someone else (probably a Galahdian tbh) did a breakdown on how the single braid visible in all of Nox’s photos is a Galahdian braid, which immediately makes the theory that his mom was Galadhian way more popular (there’s also a niche theory that he’s the kid of Queen Sylva and Regis and that Slyva had been hiding him in Tenebrae until recently, but few people subscribe to that one).

-And let’s not forget the DRAMA the mooglenet is waiting breathlessly for the moment his existence is known. I mean- think about it. Much older illegitimate prince with possible scars, mental issues or enemy agent mom suddenly gets found and taken into the Citadel and named the second prince? A lessor inheritor even though he’s older than the Crown Prince by seven-ish years? If this was a drama show, then Regis would end up assassinated by the long-lost son he foolishly took in and Noctis would either die or disappear mysteriously and Nox would suddenly be the only LC left to take up the throne (and possibly turn it over to the Empire if you’re one of the theorists on the “was born and raised in Niflheim and is their double agent” boat). Like- you KNOW that is how the plot would go, and so does all of the mooglenet, who await the descent of their kingdom into Game of Thrones intrigue and murder with baited breath and much frantic typing.

-But those are mostly Insomnian mooglenet users. No, the ones who live out in the wilder areas, the small towns and the outposts where Hunters often come through have a different kind of meltdown that mostly comprises of “hgdgfd that guy who saved me from monsters/daemons/nifs was WHO????” or “That’s my regular non-regular. He and his weirdo Uncle stop by my ramen stand whenever they’re in and bicker over the best toppings. ACTUAL ROYALTY likes my ramen WHAT IN THE WORLD-” or, arguably the funniest one, “HGFGFHGFD THE DRIFTER I REGULARLY HIRE TO DO RANDOM CHORES IS THE PRINCE. OF. LUCIS?? THE KIDDO WHO DRESSES LIKE A HOBO AND TAGS ALONG WITH AN EVEN MORE HOBO UNCLE IS ROYALTY???? I SENT ROYALTY TO COLLECT MY BEAN CROPS??????”

-Basically while all of Insomnia is wary and confused by Nox’s existence, the rest of Lucis is collectively losing their minds because, you know, Nox has helped out his people where he can, which means he has ABSOLUTELY done all those random side-quests where you harvest somebody’s crop or look for a lost shipment or go out and fight HORRIBLE MONSTERS so bring back some of their parts that you need for your dinky little weapon’s shop. Like- everybody thought they were the only ones who got helped out by this random drifter kid, but then THIS happens and the mooglenet explodes with stories from ALL OVER FLIPPING LUCIS of this kid dropping everything to like- help a researching find certain colored frogs or something in exchange for trinkets and petty gil and shop discounts and the occasional potion.

-While Insomnia is busy prepping their Game of Thrones style fanfic and the tabloids are speculating on the mental (in)stability and bloodline of the “brooding illegitimate prince, no doubt embittered over his early life and eyeing the little brother keeping him from the throne”, the rest of Lucis are basically melting into puddles of shock, confusion, and adoration for the royalty that would drop everything to help out random citizens. Care packages start showing up from all corners of Lucis to thank their prince, and after they’re cleared by security, Nox opens them all. And writes thank you cards. Personalized thank you cards that often reference some individual event or factoid of the person/people it comes from (thing’s like, “I hope your ankle is doing better”, or “tell your wife thank you for the knitted socks, they’re very warm and she didn’t have to make them for me, I know wool is expensive in your area”, or “sorry I won’t be around to deliver your next batch of spiracorn tails, my father doesn’t want me going on Hunts right now for whatever reason”) and this proof that he REMEMBERS and STILL CARES just makes them love him more.

-Also there’s this music-based drabble thing I’m working on that happens JUST as the mooglenet/media is starting to calm down and THAT sets everything off again with even more screaming and confusion and Insomnians going “I’M SORRY WHAT????” while the rural Lucians just go “ahh. Ah yes that explains it. That’s our little Drifter.”

-Regis is torn between being Responsible About Security and wanting the Hilarity Factor of letting Nox have a social media account. Like- his son hates public appearances of any kind and he respects that (barring the few mandatory noble balls), but Regis can just imagine the utter chaos Nox would unleash if anyone ever let him have a Twitter account and it’s .... tempting. The nobles haven’t been this off balance in years and for all some (a lot) of the tabloids and media commentators are annoying in their harping and gossip, the collective brain-melt Nox keeps triggering in the collective public/nobles/Council/media is HYSTERICAL.

-Nyx, snickering, announces one day that Nox has fanfiction about him. Like- A LOT of it. He is reigns over a thriving chunk of the Real Person fandom, almost all of which is massively OOC and either filled with political intrigue and assassinations (and sordid badly written romance) or just straight up AUs (vampire/werewolf/supernatural Nox is a stunningly popular AU as is the Usuper Dystopia AU). Nox is morbidly curious but refuses to actually read any of it for fear of losing his mind (she doesn’t tell him about the very fierce Shipping Wars that have broken out, or the fact that most of those Shipping Wars are over various popular celebrities Nox has never met, Noble Daughters he’s met and despised, and Aranea Highwind, who is on the list solely because she’s a famous female Nif officer and the Nif!Nox theory is very popular).

-There would be a segment of that fandom dedicated to works from the common folk who’ve actually met him, but for that part of the population it’s more popular to share various stories about how they met the then-unknown prince for real and how he either helped them or was adorably awkward over something (there is a magazine anthology of those stories, released monthly and very popular out in Lucis proper, Cindy has a subscription that Cid refuses to admit he reads).

-The fandom/theorists even stretch into Altissia and Niflheim. If ANYONE asked, Loqi would refuse to admit, on pain of DEATH, that he is the author of That One Fic everyone knows about/favs/follows/fanarts that features a Nox/Aranea ship, the now ex-Chancellor as Nox’s maternal uncle, and a SCARY in-depth knowledge/breakdown of both Niflheim and Lucian politics (in the context of Nox and Aranea navigating them, surprisingly this is the one Super Popular Nox-Nea fic that DOES NOT feature a Double Agent!Nox).

-The only reason Ardyn does not contribute to the rumors/fanfics/theories is because he doesn’t Understand How the Mooglenet Works™. He has, however, gleefully listened to some of the glaives read Loqi’s That One Super Popular Nif-Written Fic and smirked to himself over how it is so OBVIOUS who the author is, and pleased that Loqi the author is actually tasteful in his courtship subplot and shipping habits.

#SE asks #hamelin-born asks #Nox verse #Melodies and Manuscripts #Secret Engima Rambles #*cackles*

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girlactionfigure · 4 years

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No one knew his name.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, there were stories of an unknown black sailor “who stood on the hot decks of his battleship and directed the fighting.” "This mess attendant, 'who never before had fired a gun,' the story went, 'manned a machine gun on the bridge until his ammunition was exhausted,'" according to Navy Times. Even after the Navy released its list of commendations for heroism at Pearl Harbor, the black sailor still was unnamed. But, when the unnamed sailor's mother heard the news of the black hero at Pearl Harbor, she knew right away, saying “That’s got to be [my son] they talking about.” T. Michael Parrish, a historian and professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, said: "The Navy did not even want to release his name. But the African American press, particularly the Pittsburgh Courier, got a hold of it and went to members of Congress who depended upon black votes in the North to put pressure on the Navy Department to release [his] name." Today, 78 years later, the name of that unknown black sailor will now grace a $12.5 billion aircraft carrier in his honor. "In a Martin Luther King Day Jr. ceremony last month at Pearl Harbor . . . Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly announced that a future . . . aircraft carrier will bear [the name of Doris Miller]," according to NBC News. "The U.S. Navy named an aircraft carrier in honor of an African American for the first time," according to USA Today. The Peace Page, since it first began, has shared several stories about Doris Miller, most notably how he never received the Medal of Honor, but this is a new chapter in his story and we are glad to share it during Black History Month. "Miller, known to many as 'Dorie,' was born on October 12, 1919, during the darkest days of the lynching epidemic that blighted the South in the 20th century’s first decades. Only three years before Miller was born, his hometown of Waco became the scene of one of the most brutal lynchings on record when 17-year-old Jesse Washington was burned alive on the lawn of the city hall," according to Navy Times. As previously shared on the Peace Page, after dropping out of high school to help support his family, he joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 19 when he couldn't find work. According to the Navy Times, "At that time, black men serving in the Navy were not only ineligible for promotion, they were consigned to the lowly messman branch, where they were tasked with making the beds and shining the shoes of their white officers and waiting on them in the officers’ mess." "As one of Miller’s fellow messmen said, they were merely 'seagoing bellhops, chambermaids, and dishwashers.' "By regulation, they could not be trained in or assigned to any other specialty, such as signals, engineering, or gunnery. Their battle station was below decks in the 'hole' or magazine, where they passed ammunition up to the gunners. "They were not even allowed to wear buttons marked with the Navy’s insignia, an anchor entwined with a chain, and had to wear plain buttons instead. "Miller himself stated that 'when the Japanese bombers attacked my ship at Pearl Harbor I forgot all about the fact that I and other Negroes can be only messmen in the Navy and are not taught how to man an antiaircraft gun.'" Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said last month that Miller "had just finished serving breakfast . . . All African Americans were below deck, assigned as cooks or personal servants to white officers." "The Navy relegated black sailors to the worst kinds of duty, the lowest grades and the least respected. They were relegated to the kitchens, to cleaning and swabbing the deck, to being abused and mistreated," according to Parrish, who is also co-author of "Doris Miller, Pearl Harbor, and the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement.” "Doris Miller was the son of a sharecropper and a descendant of slaves," Modly said at the ceremony at Pearl Harbor. "He was not given the same opportunities that men of a different color were given to serve this country. But on Dec. 7, 1941, he would not be defined by the prejudice of other people." After manning the gun that fateful day, Miller also helped move injured sailors off the ship and to safety," according to NBC News. "Modly, who stressed the racism black sailors faced at the time in the country and in the Navy, said: 'When the order came to abandon the ship, he stayed and helped. He was one of the last three sailors to leave the USS West Virginia.'" Although bills were introduced to award Miller the Medal of Honor, "the Chairman of Naval Affairs, averred that Miller’s deeds were not deserving of the nation’s highest award for valor," according to Navy Times. Miller instead received the Navy Cross — at the time, the third-highest Navy award for gallantry during combat. It was the first such medal ever awarded to a black sailor. "Both at the time and since, numerous historians and political leaders have argued that gallant as were the sacrifices of the 16 men — all of them white and most officers and petty officers — who were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions that day, Dorie Miller’s exploits were at least of equal distinction, and all the more to be honored because of the oppressive racial stigma under which he performed so heroically," according to Navy Times. Tragically, Miller did not survive the war. Miller died just two years after his act of heroism, perishing with more than 645 other men aboard the USS Liscome Bay when it was struck by a Japanese torpedo in the Pacific in 1943. "Nearly 650 of the more than 900 sailors on board died when the ship sank, and Miller's body was never recovered," according to NPR. Miller was listed as “presumed dead” and after 365 days was reported as killed in action. "He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart, among other honors." "Doris Miller’s death, however, was not in vain. The memory of his life has burned brightly as an example of how an underprivileged and oppressed young man from rural Texas can rise above poverty and racial discrimination — not only to display great courage, devotion, and patriotism, but to help alter the course of American history," according to writers Thomas W. Cutrer and T. Michael Parrish. "Doris Miller’s heroic actions at Pearl Harbor helped launch a revolution," according to Navy Times. In January 1944, less than two months after his death, the Navy opened a modest officer-training program at Camp Robert Smalls for black sailors, commissioning its first 13 black officers on March 17, 1944. "Miller’s heroism — and the legend it engendered — were directly responsible for helping to roll back the Navy’s policy of racial segregation and prejudice, and served as a powerful catalyst for the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s that brought an end to the worst of America’s racial intolerance," according to Cutrer and Parrish. "He deserves his niche in the pantheon of American heroes, for he provided an immeasurably important symbol for black Americans in their struggle for desegregation and equal opportunity — not only in the armed forces, but throughout the breadth of American society." Navy Acting Secretary Modly "said the USS Doris Miller will serve as a reminder of the nation's pursuit for justice and as a tribute to its namesake," according to USA Today. “In selecting this name, we honor the contributions of all our enlisted ranks, past and present, men and women, of every race, religion and background." "The launching of a new ship bearing Miller’s name is among ongoing efforts to cement his place in U.S. wartime history. Doreen Ravenscroft, executive director of the Cultural Arts of Waco, has been leading an effort for the past decade to build a memorial to Miller in his hometown," according to the Washington Post. Ravenscroft, according to the Post, said Miller is a hero worthy of international recognition: “He used his own instinct of survival to do what he thought he should do, and his instinct was to defend his country. The fact that he went beyond the call of duty, we need that today — doing that extra, doing more than what’s expected.” [Photo from Naval History and Heritage Command]

The Jon S. Randal Peace Page

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