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elaine-abroad · 11 months

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Volume 3 Part 1

Volume 3

Week 2

The second week was a lot less chaotic and eventful in general than the first. We all felt a little bit more accustomed to how things worked on campus. To start off the week, my friends and I decided to visit some Hangang parks to see the infamous Han River. Our first stop was at Ttukseom Park. This park was a little underwhelming when it came to attractions as the main thing was this tube and a waterpark that was packed to the brim with people. It was still quite busy though. One cool thing about this park is that I was able to see the Olympic Stadium.

Tube and Olympic Stadium in the back

The main reason why I wanted to go to this specific park was because I saw online that there were duck boats you could ride on in the river. Although they were a little janky-looking in how they were made, I still really wanted to go.

Our plan was to do “daytime” activities at Ttukseom Park before making our way to Yeouido Park for sunset, a supposed night market, and the water light show. Before we headed over to the other park, we stopped to eat.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at Yeouido Park, it was only around 6 pm and the sun wasn’t going to set for another two hours. The park itself was a lot bigger than the other one with vendors already set up.

To pass some time, we went to a couple of nearby malls. The first one we went was definitely too expensive for us, but I was in awe of the interior. The many floors and the literal waterfall inside gave for a sleek and elegant look.

We came back to the park as the sun was starting to set and headed over to the floating dome stage. The pictures we had seen had shown jets of water flying out and colorful lights as well so we were pretty excited.

However, even as the sky darkened, nothing happened. My best guess is that it was because we came on a Sunday. A lot of Koreans are religious and don’t do anything on Sundays. Many restaurants we’ve seen are closed on Sunday and consider it as a holiday. We were pretty disappointed and kind of just sat there for a bit before going home. The night sky with the street and traffic lights were still nice to look at though.

Classes started back up the following day and we continued our orchid studies in traditional painting. I like painting with acrylic and watercolor so I thought I’d like this too. It’s actually very difficult and frustrating to use ink because of the water to ink ratio on the brush. The brush holds a lot of water and the paper we use is very thin so even the tiniest amount of water causes the ink to spread out everywhere.

We actually had a field trip for my visual journal class at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. There were a lot of gamified exhibitions for whatever reason and even consoles to play games on like Pacman, Minecraft, and original games.

There was even a station where you could take pictures of yourself like a photobooth. Grace didn’t want to be featured so here’s me.

Because it was a roasting 97 degrees, Grace and I scrambled to get bingsu and then food later.

The next day I learned how to make a traditional Korean stamp. It was very interesting because I’ve done printmaking with stamps before but I’ve used linoleum, a soft rubber, and not a slab of stone. We had to make a stamp of our names in Korean so I learned how to write mine. We also had to use a knife to carve. It was actually really fun until I realized at the end that I didn’t flip it properly so my stamp was backwards, in turn making my name read backwards.

Elaine in Korean spelled out in letters is "illein"

It was raining that day so we weren’t able to go out all that much. I had the idea of going to the movie theater, but we decided against it after arriving and seeing the movie choices. For dinner we decided to get pasta since the pasta place we wanted to go to the day before was closed. It’s been a little bit of a struggle eating out with an introverted vegetarian but we’re getting through it one day at a time.

Here’s my second stamp with a small sheep in honor of the year I was born in. My teacher said a lot of traditional stamps are either your name or your zodiac animal.

In the middle of this week we visited Hongdae again and visited shops we didn’t even see the first time. This included a BT21 store. To give a little background information. I assume we all know the famous kpop boy group BTS. Several years ago, each of the members drew their own character that sort of represented them. These characters later were launched into actual merch. This was a collaboration between BTS and Line Friends, a group of characters based on stickers from diverse applications of the South Korean internet search giant Naver Corporation and the Japanese messaging app Line. My transportation card is Line Friends branded. Anyways, a BT21 store is basically a BTS merch store.

We both felt obligated to visit and maybe buy something because we both had a heavy BTS/kpop phase in high school. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but it’s fun to have someone to talk about that stuff to. This past week I’ve been listening to a lot of songs that came out when I listened to kpop religiously and it’s kind of nostalgic.

We grabbed some Shake Shack after.

We also discovered this artist who created this dumb, booger-looking dinosaur character and accompanying dino friends. For some reason we both think it’s funny and cute so we stalled around for a while. I didn’t end up getting anything then even though I loved a lot of the designs.

We mainly wanted to go to Hongdae again to see how it looked with the night lights and we were not disappointed. It was so colorful.

For the last day of class this week, I learned how to paint chrysanthemum flowers. Surprisingly, they were a lot less of a headache than the orchids. Our teacher said throughout this class we would be learning how to paint something called the “Four Gentlemen”. There are basically four plants that have become the basis of traditional ink brush paintings for whatever reason. We’ve so far completed two of them: the orchid and chrysanthemum.

My take on chrysanthemums

And for visual journal, we went on another field trip to the Piknic art gallery which was basically a huge exhibition for this photographer named François Halard that captured pictures of interiors and architecture. Each of his pictures had a story behind them. He took pics of people’s house interiors like Lenny Kravitz and Rick Owens. In my opinion it was a lot more interesting than the contemporary art museum.

For food that day, we had to go back to Insa-dong. My main reason for this was because the shops seemed to sell seemingly more traditional and less trendy items which is something my parents would appreciate. I didn’t end up getting anything though because I wasn’t sure how authentic things were after seeing the same items sold at multiple stores.

We couldn’t leave before getting more bingsu – tangerine flavor for me this time.

A couple hours later, Grace, Bianca, and I went to this hotpot place right outside campus. To me, we got hotpot, but to Bianca we got malatang. I don’t think I’ve ever heard my parents refer to it as that, but I guess that’s technically the right term. Bianca is an international student from Beijing and insisted we at least learn the right word for it.

We got to grab a bowl and choose whatever was going in it which was really nice. They also made it for us and made it look all pretty.

Now I get to talk about the relatively more interesting part of my week. On Friday I went on a field trip to Nami Island, an island not in the ocean but in the middle of South Korea. It was about a 1.5-2 hour drive. The coolest thing about this trip was that we got to take a 90 second zipline from Seoul City to the actual island.

I’ve been on a zipline before but never for that long at once. It was super cool, especially because we went with a partner going at the same time.

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clairethecutepup · 1 year

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Weekly Update: 5/1/23 - 5/6/23

Entertainment/Art Progress:

Man, I really do believe my work speed doubled, at least, when it came to my new tablet. I dunno if it's the bigger touch screen or the ability to use my computer's mouse, but something seems to be making my work on it more progressive and easier.

Speaking of, I'm nearing the outlining (and possible end) of the "Chapter 1" image for Getting Your Goat. I mean, it'd feel too disorganized to not have that matter of "divider" between comic sections/chapters, ja? Plus, it makes it feel more like a real comic, when it's finally all together. However, I'm feeling the urge to sketch traditionally, rather than outline on the tablet and digitally. I dunno what it is, but I feel easily peeved off with sketching on the tablet... Yet, coloring and outlining? I feel right and happy as rain.

I'm also doing another "writing practice" to help further ease any tedium of drawing and fully original writing, so keep your eyes peeled for more "fanfiction," per se. Hey, just a little something to tide me over, while I excitedly await Peach Creek to finally make its official debut. I've kinda fallen out of using NovelAi for assistance, during "dry spells" and all that with writing... Eh, why pay for the privilege when you can come up with an idea of what to do next, for free, if you're willing to be patient? Also, be prepared for a majority of Ed Edd n' Eddy themed ones, in that regard; but allow me to warn you right now, the canon characters they'd focus mostly on are Sarah and Jimmy, and follow a 2nd person narration of you being an alternate version of Claire that joins them in either simple antics or learning self-improvement. Sure, it involves everyone else, too; but if not something you'd read for fun, I'd say read it to critique and tell me how to do better, so my original works can benefit from that improved sense of quality.

Personal Life:

Well, I've gotten back into Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and it's certainly a nice experience to relive. I recall abandoning it for a couple years, but I've decided on resuming that matter of escapism. I mean, it doesn't take up too much time, you can play at your own leisure... It's a nice little matter of relaxation, when you just want a small break from things and also don't want to get sucked into playing for longer than intended, having to "complete missions" and all that.

I've also gotten my mother into Invader Zim, and it's nice when your parent can share fondness for a beloved cartoon series. She really seemed to enjoy the Gir shirt I got her for Mother's Day: it uses Gir to convey different emotions, with them listed under each picture.

I'm hoping that dedicating each weekday to a certain muscle group, instead of working them all on both days of the weekend, will not only help me better build them up and tone them, but also allow for more time on weekends to further speed up creative work progress.

Misc.:

Since my tablet functions as a replacement monitor (I can only use my traditional monitor or tablet to display things), I've also taken to using it as a new "game device" with my Steam list. I feel like I do better in the likes of Pizza Tower and all that, with the closer screen and tilted angle. So, yeah, that's a pleasant, yet admittedly "unorthodox," use for a tablet screen!

#personal updates #writing #drawing #comics #tablets #muscle building #weight training #parental bonding #weekly update #fanfiction #progress report #ed edd n eddy

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mcrcki · 2 years

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ROWENA RAVENCLAW || A PHONE STUDY

does your muse use any social media? what sites do they use? how much of an online presence do they have?

at the moment, definitely not. y’all are lucky that rowena even knows how to use her phone to call and text. she’s figured out spotify enough, and she had really enjoyed podcasts more than listening to a lot of music. her students talk about using twitter a lot, so she will probably try to figure that out next. rowena texts like she would write a letter so expect the same kind of tweets.

what kind of accounts does your muse follow online? and what do they post on their own accounts?

i think once rowena makes more socials, she would probably just follow her family / friends. maybe some colleagues, and news outlets/political figures. she probably posts a lot of photos of helena, she’s big Proud Mom energy, hence why lena’s her background.

is your muse comfortable with a phone or computer? do they use them often? how literate are they with technology?

honestly, pretty uncomfortable. she really forgets her phone exists, and prefers to have her students submit handwritten or at least printed out papers. she rarely will ever accept anything digital, and tries to have her students meet in person for questions verse emailing. she probably uses her phone once a day? maybe less. she’s more likely to use it if someone calls her instead of picking it up herself.

what kind of profile picture(s) does your muse use on various apps? how often do they change their profile pic/icon?

rowena definitely uses whatever her official staff photo is on like everything. she definitely does not change it ever.

are they someone who takes a ton of photos when they’re with friends or family? do they end up in a lot of photos?

she probably tries to take photos when she can, she enjoys being able to document nice moments with her family. i can’t promise they’re very good, but the newest iphone camera really does cover a lot of errors. rowena is not one to shy away from a photo taken of her so if someone took them, she’d be in them.

if given the opportunity, would your muse prefer to make money through an online channel rather than a traditional job?

definitely not. that sounds awful

do they have any hobbies that take up a lot of their time? what are they? are there any special interests your muse has that they like to share with people? are there any that they keep secret?

rowena probably sounds very boring, but when she is not working or with her family/friends, she just loves reading. she loves to research and learn. she will spend far too much time in libraries and museums, learning whatever it is that this world has to offer. that have been so many advances since her time, she doesn’t want to miss out on any of them. i don’t think any of her friends would be surprised to learn that this is what she does in her free time, so really it’s nothing that she keeps secret but she does wish that she could drag them to museums with her more. founders smithsonian trip!

your muse has a whole day to themselves but not enough time to plan a trip or event. what do they do for that free day?

definitely an early morning walk, spend the morning in the park, probably go and get a cup of tea at the end, and read whatever book she was in the middle of while enjoying that. she might see if someone was free for lunch, but definitely go and see some of the art museums, and bury herself in research, before going home and training with her charms. she doesn’t teach magic any more and does not want to get rusty.

does your muse listen to anything in particular in their private time? if so, are they more of a music person or a podcast person? what genres do they prefer?

rowena is absolutely a podcast girlie. right now she listens to mainly history or news podcasts, but she would love recc’s for more please and thank you. she probably listens to classical music if she ever does listen to music, but it’s something she could live without.

would your muse prefer to go out to spend time with loved ones, or would they rather stay in?

she would prefer being with loved ones, she’s always been very social, but loves that balance of spending the day with her loved ones and then a quiet evening alone.

does your muse use any dating apps, or do they prefer to meet people the old fashioned way?

the old fashioned way, please. i think rowena would hex whoever matched with her on a dating app

if they absolutely had to write a tinder bio what would it say?

if you cannot hold an intellectual conversation, don’t swipe. re-enroll in school.

#r. tasks #r. muse #hwtask11 #long post tw #went with the least intense edit to start lol #since rowena does not use social media

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heavenstrinket · 1 month

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𝖠𝗉𝗋𝗂𝗅 𝟦𝗍𝗁, 𝟤𝟢𝟣𝟧 — 𝖲𝗈𝗎𝗍𝗁 𝖠𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖼𝖺, 𝖹𝗂𝗆𝖻𝖺𝖻𝗐𝖾; 𝖩𝗈𝗋𝗀𝖾𝗇𝗌𝗈𝗇 𝖯𝖺𝗅𝖺𝖼𝖾.

“Salena! Kurumidza (𝘩𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑝!). You know we have guests arriving soon, and you’re lolly gagging around like you have no sense!” A frustrated voice nagged through the intercom mounted on the mural painted walls of the teen’s room. “If I have to come in there— I’m not doing this with you today!”

The constant calls came from Salena’s mother, Denise. Salena was always known to get herself ready last minute, however the night before she had been warned to be ready bright and early for very important guests arriving from America to their palace. It’s not like Salena necessarily cared. Any new arrivals were never there to see her. Business ventures, royal meetings, boring philanthropic projects were always the topics of these visitations, which didn’t make Salena’s absence all too surprising.

Outside of the Jorgenson grounds, Salena sat perched on one of the large sturdy tree braches that gave her a good enough view of the town’s circle. She watched as the residents went about their day, visiting shops, eating at restaurants, mingling, and taking in the beautiful sights of their city. It was the main area that held the heart of Borrowdale. It was nice watching the civilians go about their day as regular, something Salena yearned for in her adolescence. However, the main attraction were the town’s dancers who practiced ‘Jerusarema Mbende’ known as the only traditional dance known for it’s sensual risqué movements.

Salena was fascinated with the art of dance, despite her mother’s demands to focus on other extracurricular activities. She knew her life goal was to become a professional dancer, but achieving this dream in her home country would never work. “She’s so beautiful…” Salena whispered to herself, placing her hands against the rough bark of the tree leaning in for a closer look at the lead dancer, Aneni. She always looked up to the petite older woman, and sometimes would sneak to learn a few things from her. If only her mother knew. Salena’s eyes never left the woman’s body, she was attracted to the way she moved so effortlessly, catching the attention of every person that walked by. One day she would be in the spotlight, one day she would—

A loud whistle in the distance brought Salena out of her thoughts. Her head quickly whipped around to see Mesa her body guard frantically warning her that it was time to leave. “Get back home, before your mother kills us both!” His voice echoed. Salena didn’t waste any time descending the tree just as quickly as she climbed it.

“How long do I got?!” Salena yelled as she sprinted towards him, once she got close enough, Mesa began rushing back with her. “Last thing I heard was her talking about coming in your room. I say you got five minutes to get your tail back in that house. The journalist are already arriving for the press conference.” He responded after a few seconds of heavy breathing. Salena picked up her feet, pumping her arms to gain more speed. “I can make it!” She laughed carelessly.

Four minutes and 30 seconds. Just in time. Salena and Mesa entered the luxurious mansion, sliding across the marble floors as they turned each corner of the hallways. “Salena!!” The sound of her mother’s voice searching for her caused her to jump. “I’m here ma’, jesus!” The teen sounded quiet annoyed, which was opposite from her fearful facial expression as she looked around to see which corner her angry mother would appear from.

“Woah, woah woah! Slow down, cub!” Salena found herself colliding with her father, Michael. “Where are you coming from? You almost knocked me over.” He chuckled placing his hands on his daughter’s shoulders.

“Um…” Salena glanced behind Michael to Mesa, who silently signaled her to make up something quickly. “I was looking for my camera! I thought it would be in the library. I wanted to take pictures of those kittens I saw yesterday.” It was a quick lie that her father had caught onto; the kittens had been taken away by guards once Denise notified them of the strays. Fortunately for Salena there was no time for scolding in front of their guest.

“Think you can put that task aside for a bit to meet our visitors? Nathaniel, Lucas… This is my daughter, Salena.” 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚? Salena’s eyebrows stiched in confusion, as her father turned her towards the direction of two unfamiliar faces; An older man, and a boy who looked to be around her age. Another kid? This was the first. Usually when guests arrived they never brought their children, but they always talked about them. ‘𝙇𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙨’ it rhymed with mucus, but his face was far from it. Americans and their names, at least he was handsome.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” She smoothed out her red dress that her mother forced her to wear for the ‘special occasion’, before offering her hand for them shake. Nathaniel returned the gesture politely, while Lucas reached for her hand to lean forward to plant a kiss on the back of it, which was disrupted by her mother’s sudden entrance.

“Salena, I was looking all over for you, where did you g— Oh… hello!” The adults didn’t notice Salena quickly snatch her hand away from the young boy who was trying to surpress his laughter from her nervous actions. “I see you’ve met our daughter, Salena.” Her mother shot her a quick side glance; translation: ‘you’re not off the hook.’

“Yes, just as beautiful as her mother. I’m sure her and Luke will get along very well during our stay.” 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙮? Salena noticed Luke studying her. Usually she would have found that weird, but it only made her blush.

“You guys are staying here?” She looked to her parents. A week was the longest guests usually visted, but the other man’s tone said otherwise.

“Yes.” Her father answered with a nod and smile. “Nate owns ‘Tellez Resorts’. They’ll be staying in the guest house for a bit while we work on a few projects. He’s going to be building a resort here.” This was new especially for Michael. Having outsiders come in to build companies was never something her father did, it seemed his mind had become more open to diversity, or Nate had become a friend of his. “So I’m sure, you’ll make Lucas feel at home while they are here right?” He gazed at her with a raised brow.

Did she really have to? Salena thought to herself, as she watched Luke’s smile spread across his lips. “…. Yeah, of course.”

“So… how old are you?” Luke questioned as the two walked the path of the back yard area of the estate, surrounded by cobblestone paths, green grass, trees and colorful flowers. The adults had advised Salena to show Luke around the property while they continued with the press conference, and to rejoin them for dinner later.

“I turn sixteen in two weeks.” Salena simply answered as she stepped onto the edge of the large stone fountain, carefully holding her balance as she placed one foot closely in front of the other. “How old are you, Mucas?” The pronunciation of his name was intentional.

“Sixteen, and it’s Lucas. I honestly would rather you call me Luke.” He retorted with a slight glare in her direction.

His attitude made her smirk. “Well it rhymed with mucas. Your parents didn’t think about that when you were born?” She tried to keep some playfulness in her tone to test his humor.

“No princess, people usually dont think about shit like that.” Potty mouth… cool.

“Don’t call me princess.” Salena rolled her eyes, hopping off of the fountain, just as Luke reached towards her pretending as if he was attempting to push her into the water.

“Why not? Aren’t you a princess, princess?” Now it was his turn to tease. “Why didn’t you let me kiss your hand? Isn’t that what people are supposed to do for princesses?” He playfully attempted to reach for her hand again. It was strange, this was the first time Salena had met someone her age who was so forward when it came to interacting. Usually other teens were shy or didn’t act like themselves because of her status. She was enjoying this.

“Well, I’m not like other princesses. I don’t know what weak ass fairytale books you’ve been reading.” She stood in front of him holding her arms.

Luke opened his mouth to respond, but the sight of Mesa discreetly watching them a few feet away caught his attention. “Who’s that?” He didn’t want to make it obvious, and Salena followed his lead by shifting her eyes in Mesa’s direction.

“Oh, him? That’s Mesa. My mama probably told him to come out here to watch us.” She saw it as another embarrassing move from her mother.

“You have a babysitter?” Luke laughed, and in returned Salena jabbed his chest with her finger. “Ow!”

“I do not have a babysitter! He’s a bodyguard… And we’re ditching him.”

“Wait what? Wont we get in trouble for that?” Luke’s eyes widened. He had only seen her mother for a brief moment, and yet he was still intimidated by her.

“Why, are you scared?” Salena looked at him with a tilt of her head. Challenge offered.

“What? No, but—”

“Then let’s go!” With a tight grip to Luke’s wrist, Salena made a B-Line towards the back entrance of the house. Mesa had only looked away for a few seconds before he noticed the teens were no longer in sight. He cursed to himself, before racing towards where he thought they may have gone. Frantically he entered the back entrance, searching for the two delinquents who were dodging anyone who could have spotted them. “Quick here!” Salena yanked Luke into one of the offices, silently closing the door behind them. The two stood in silence listening closely as they heard Mesa charging down the hallway.

“Shit! Vakaenda kupi? (𝑤𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑜?)” Salena and Luke covered their mouths, desperately trying to keep their laughter silent. Once Mesa’s footsteps were farther away the two regained their composure. Luke turned to Salena, for a moment he was quiet as he found himself studying her features again. He thought she was beautiful, maybe even gorgeous. She was funny, with a cute laugh, and fiesty. He liked that.

“You’re pretty…” Two words was all he could manage? 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘓𝘶𝘬𝘦, he thought to himself.

Salena had heard that compliment plenty of times, but the look in Luke’s eyes was something she had never seen before. She wasn’t sure what was so fascinating to him, but it sure boosted her confidence. “I know…” was her response, as she placed her hand on his chest to push him back, before opening the door and leaving the room. She knew Luke would be quick to follow.

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therandomavenger · 5 months

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New Beginnings

This is a big week for me. On Tuesday, the Spring Semester starts, and I will find myself a full-time student again for the first time in 13 years. This will not be my first experience as a ‘non-traditional’ student. In 2009, at the age of thirty-six, I went back to school to get a CIS degree. But that was while I was raising young children full time and trying to materially and emotionally support a spouse with a full-time teaching career. It was a lot. But I did well, even if I ran out of steam and fell about three credits shy of getting my AA.

I think this experience will be different. I don’t have kids at home anymore, and my current partner is also a student, so we will be able to support each other. We’re even taking an ASL class together. No, this should be a completely different experience, though I know it won’t be stress-free. Also, I’m no longer singularly responsible for planning and cooking all our meals, and doing all the housework, the way I was before. My current partnership is much more equal than my last one was.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, though. I’m older than I was, even if I’m just as healthy, I think. In the intervening years, I’ve done a deep dive into how my brain works, and I know how to be productive. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been getting a lot of stuff done, both housework and writing and reading and other stuff. So, I know I can do it. It’s going to be an adjustment, however, having someone else’s external schedule imposed over mine. I’m going to have to get up on time every day (which means breaking my addiction to the snooze alarm, which is already in progress). I’m taking sixteen units, which is kind of a lot. Only one of those classes is online.

The subject matter is different from anything I’ve ever studied before. I’m going back to earn a certificate in Digital Art and Design, so I’ll be in a lot of Art classes. Starting with line drawing and beginning design, as well as intro to digital art. That’s just this semester. Halfway through, I’ll be adding an Adobe Suite online tutorial class. I’m hoping this will give me a new set of skills that I can use to support my writing career. But this is an entirely new area for me.

I spent most of my teenage years obsessively drawing, and I loved doing it, even if the art I produced was terrible. I knew nothing about anatomy, or design principles. S put some nice pictures together but had no hope of making most of my projects match the image I had in my head. Through all those years, I never took an art class. So, getting back to this now, at 51, feels like a return to an old vision of myself that was never quite able to develop. Will I be any better with formal training? I’d almost have to be.

Future classes will take me further into design skills, including graphic design, as well as digital photography, animation, and web design. I’m excited to learn about all of it. My goal is to be able to gain proficiency at formatting my own books and designing my own book covers, and maybe, if I get good enough, earning some extra money by doing that for other people.

But even as I add this new challenge, I’m not abandoning my writing goals. I still plan to produce 30,000 words a month. I have been on my new writing schedule for the last two weeks, just to make sure it’s realistic. 2-4 on Wednesday and Fridays, 11-2 on Saturdays. I need to produce 7500 words in those three days, and I’ve met or exceeded that in the first two weeks. So, I know this is doable. I also need to work in time for editing and other publishing-related tasks. I want to release three books this year.

I think it’s important, as we get older, not to settle into old patterns, but to stretch and grow and learn new things, and expand into new areas. It keeps you young, and studies show it can actually extend your life and help stave off dementia. I’m definitely doing that.

Am I afraid I might suck at this? Absolutely! But really, if I try this, and fail, then I really haven’t lost much. I lose more by never trying, and always wondering if I could have been successful.

So, this week is a new beginning. I’m really looking forward to it. I feel like I am at the cusp of an entire new life, and I welcome its unfolding.

#new beginnings #blog post #school year #life #writing life

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ddarker-dreams · 3 years

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Yan Childe, Diluc, Kaeya, Zhongli, Beidou & Ningguang / Courting Darling.

Warnings: Stalking, implied blackmail, kidnapping, and gaslighting. Note: this is a bit of an amalgamation from different asks i’ve gotten, put into one thing bc i thirst for these six characters so hard .

Childe:

“What’s life without a little adventure? You can stand to miss work for a day or two, it’ll still be there waiting for you when we get back. People have even gone so far as to say I’m an absolute joy to be around. You want to know who said that? Sorry, that source is staying a secret.”

Childe is an erratic whirlwind of highs and lows. You never know what to expect from him, and he likes it that way, always keeping you on your toes. He doesn’t bother with having his friendliness appear genuine. If you want to doubt his goodwill, then so be it, he won’t stop you. It just makes it all the more interesting to keep you around should you be wary of his presence.

He doesn’t care for the traditional conventions surrounding romance. It isn’t his thing, and he’s used to being considered the odd one out of every crowd, so why stop now? Childe doesn’t tone down any aspects of his bloodthirsty personality in your presence. It’s difficult to tell how serious he’s being since most of it takes the form of jokes or other lighthearted jests. In his mind, the fact he’s even spending so much time with you should make it obvious he’s interested. Whether that’s good or not.

You’re going to be dragged all over the place. Childe’s stamina is seemingly an infinite well, as he takes you from activity to activity. By the end of the day, you’ll be exhausted. Unfortunately, he doesn’t take no for an answer, weaseling his way into your schedule despite your protests. Childe is particularly fond of getting into situations where a fight is inevitable, purposefully taking you to areas with monsters to show off his combat prowess.

“Did you get a look at that, [First]? Aha, I haven’t had this much fun in ages! You already want to head back? Hm, I don’t know, the night is still young. Stop dragging your feet or I might just have to carry you. Not that I’m complaining, should that be the outcome. It’s up to you. Oh! Now that’s the spirit! I’ll try not to be hurt by how fast you’re moving now.”

Diluc:

“Ah, [First], I take it you’re doing well. I couldn’t help but notice you eyeing this book at the market earlier. I’ve had a copy of it for ages, but with how busy things are, rarely do I have time to read. I’d be appreciative should you accept this and give it a better home.”

Diluc is self-assured in many areas of his life, romance is not one of them. He knows how to carry himself in the company of businessmen, staying polite and vigilant, but this rigid method doesn’t work in his favor when it comes to wooing you. To soften the blow on his side, Diluc tells himself that it was never about a relationship anyway. That his main priority was and will always be to ensure your safety. He tells himself this, but... isn’t sure if he really believes it.

He’s a perfect example of pining from afar. Subconsciously, he’ll drift towards areas you tend to linger around, hoping to spot you amidst the bustling crowds. Each time he tells himself that this’ll finally be the time he approaches you. The opportunity is set before him, waiting to be taken advantage of, but he rarely follows through with his desire.

It frustrates Diluc to no end how easily others flock to you. He’ll stand there, still as a statue, eyes boring into whatever pest currently holds your attention. This would be the push to finally send him your way. It’s a surprise to you both when Mondstadt’s wine tycoon materializes by your side, politely asking to speak in private. Truth be told, he just can’t stand the thought of another person holding your attention that isn’t him.

“I apologize for my abruptness back there. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you about for some time, and well... would you consider having dinner with me tonight? I’d appreciate your company.”

Kaeya:

“It’s a funny thing, really. How we keep bumping into one another like this. Ah... that suspicious expression, it wounds me deep, sweetheart. When did you start looking at me like that, I wonder?”

There’s no doubting Kaeya’s interest in you, from the first time he sauntered over to you and started a conversation. The problem you have is deciding how genuine his advances are. While Kaeya might not be the textbook definition of a heart-wrenching playboy, you’re familiar enough with the many rumors surrounding him to be wary. It doesn’t help that he’ll point this out to you when guessing the source of your apprehension.

His methods are, oddly enough, effective. Kaeya balances the various aspects of seduction with ease. He reveals just enough about himself to draw out your attention, before focusing the conversation back onto you. You’ll never get to stop and realize how little you know about the man sitting in front of you, he makes certain of that.

Kaeya might hide certain aspects of himself, but his dubious morality is never concealed. He has you entirely wrapped around his finger, words validating his actions falling from his lips with the utmost ease; he’s a force to be reckoned with. You’ll start a conversation heated about something you’ve learned, only for it to end wondering why you were ever upset in the first place.

“Now, now, there’s no need to get all riled up over something like this. Don’t you trust me by now? When have I ever given you reason to doubt me? You need to take a look at the bigger picture. Hey, take a seat. I’ll sit here all night explaining to you if it’s necessary.”

→[More underneath the cut].

Zhongli:

“There must be something that I can assist you with. It may not look it, but I’m familiar with many fields of work, even obscure ones. Please allow me to lend a hand.”

Zhongli, despite having been around for many centuries, is somewhat clueless in romantic pursuits. He’s aware of his fondness for you, but doesn’t know what to do with it. This leads him to becoming your shadow for some time. He focuses on what he knows best: observation and processing new information. Your every little movement will be analyzed and tuck into the back of his mind for later usage.

Zhongli’s soft over the idea of you coming to rely on him for everything. He prides himself on his wealth of knowledge and work ethic, believing it a strong appeal, one that he puts on full display when you’re around. It’s not rare for you to overhear neighbors and friends speak highly about Zhongli. They’ll mention in passing how they were having difficulty with something, only for Zhongli to come around and help without asking for anything in return.

This is exactly what he’s been hoping and waiting for. Zhongli has patience and sets himself up to be a desirable partner in your eyes, the efforts from his labor coming into fruition. Before you even speak to him for the first time, you’re likely to think highly of him, having heard all the ways he’s helped people close to you. Now that the stage is properly set, he’s ready to make his interest in you more evident.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, [First]. Oh? You can say the same for me? Well, I hope I can live up to your expectations. I had just been on my way to Yanshang Teahouse, would you care to join me? My treat, of course.”

Beidou:

“You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced a voyage with my crew and I. I’ll set up a nice cabin just for you, how does that sound? Hm? Special treatment? Don’t worry your pretty little head about that, lass.”

Beidou’s attention is overwhelming and oftentimes dangerous. Traditional social conventions are nothing but a waste of time for her, meaning that common courtesy is disregarded in favor of always speaking her mind. Which might not be so bad if she wasn’t so amorous. Even the most oblivious person couldn’t miss Beidou’s overt favor towards you.

This reverent display of affection is only exacerbated when she’s drunk, face flushed and an arm swung tightly around your shoulder. She doesn’t care who sees, who’s judging, or what gossip will be born from her actions. Beidou makes a point of showing everyone in the vicinity that even if you aren’t officially partners yet, a claim has been staked on you.

Whether it be coercion or some other unsightly method, Beidou is intent on bringing you on her ship at least once. Or that’s how she initially phrased it to you. Imagine your surprise, that when you finally caved so she’d drop the subject, her crew was untying the ropes keeping the boat at port.

“The fun’s just getting started, you haven’t seen anything yet. Don’t get all teary-eyed yet, sweetheart, I know you’ll come around. This’ll be a story sung by sailors for generations to come.”

Ningguang:

“If I’m being honest, not many are given the opportunity to speak to me outside of business-related ventures. I never thought I’d find it this... pleasant. I hope you’ll continue to entertain me as you do now.”

Ningguang starts off her wooing in a subtle, almost coquettish manner. She is confident in her charm and brilliance. Not many have been gifted in the art of conversation to the same extent Ningguang has, her silver tongue paired with quick intellect making it difficult for you to escape. She’ll corner you verbally without you even noticing it.

Ningguang finds amusement in how you stumble over your words, pure of heart and not chained down by special interests. Your forthright but considerate demeanor intoxicates her. She’s used to people cowering in her presence or trying too hard to pursue their goals. You might even earn a rare compliment or two, disguised as politeness, that doesn’t register for hours.

She is a lady of fine taste. The sky’s the limit when it comes to her wealth, which is unrivaled throughout Tevyat, and you’ll be quick to notice this. Ningguang is most partial to sending you traditional Liyue adornments, believing the rich culture behind each piece suits your beauty. She’s also fond of the fact that when you wear her gifts, everyone in the vicinity will know it’s from her, due to its extraordinarily high cost.

“Do you like my latest gift, little dove? It was made custom with you in mind, an unrivaled display of craftmanship, if I may add. Wear this and carry me with you... always.”

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dduane · 3 years

Text

Hair

It’s nice to win an argument with an artistic medium once in a while... or at least fight it to a draw. Since I think I’ve just pulled that off, I can now safely do a post about it, put the whole business (pretty much) to bed, and get on with other aspects of life.

What I’m about to discuss here, at length, is a long stubborn struggle with the hairstyle(s) of the current Sejant of the Throne of Arlen, Holder of the White Stave, Lord by the Lady’s and the Lion’s grace of the lands west of Arlid, blah de blah de blah through five or six more phrases’ worth of formalities... in short, King [that being the best translation of his job title...] Freelorn stareiln Ferrant stai-Héalhrästi: or as his friends, spouses and other associates usually call him, Lorn.

...Don’t know (or care) who this guy is? It’d hardly be a hanging offense. He’s one of the major characters in the Middle Kingdoms books. Among many characters I’ve worked with over four decades, he’s something of a favorite for me... possibly because he’s so very flawed, but over the course of the core trilogy still manages to get his job done despite those flaws (or sometimes because of them). Lorn is a potential poster boy for Characters Who Learn Better—though at the auctorial end you might want to slap them around a little, sometimes, as regards how long it takes.

Not very self-examining at first (until shocked into it), initially way too expectant that others will enable him and his needs, and way too short on agency—except for the wrong kinds of it—until events nudge him toward better behavior, Freelorn has unquestionably sustained some damage from the vicissitudes of his life (the loss of both parents, outlawry and exile, years spent on the run). But he always keeps managing to grow through or around the damaged areas. Becoming more and more sensitive to previous bad choices (as he’s confronted first-hand by their results), Lorn starts trying to put right the things he’s gotten wrong as his lurking destiny drags him into increasingly awful places. He does his best to try to make the burden of his increasingly-unavoidable future fall on him, instead of the people he loves and the people he ought to. And finally Lorn puts his head down and wades straight into the final acts of heroism that will save the world even if they kill him. (Which they do.) His arc, to sum up, makes a King out of some very raw princely “raw material”; but his own hands have been as deep in the modeling clay as the Goddess’s have.

So, as I said, I’m rather fond of Lorn. Which is why it bothers me that he’s been suffering from an unending series of bad hair days over the last half-decade or so.

What follows here is an occasionally fairly technical discussion of the challenges of digital art and media in relation to the never-ending struggle to get your character to actually look like what you’re seeing in your head. This record is intended mostly for fellow digital artists who may be suffering through the same agonies and looking for possible solutions. My tribulations may possibly throw up some useful suggestions for people working in the same medium or on the same kind of thing.

I need to warn just about everybody else that what follows will probably strike you as excruciatingly boring, so most of you should probably look away now. If you continue reading this and get bored, I assume no responsibility. I’ll even put a break here. And a picture of what this is all about: that problematic hair.

Above: When somebody has to tell the King that his hair is sh*t

So: let’s take this from the top, as it’s likely enough that some folks will come across this [screed] and have no idea what the hell I’m going on about.

Writers now live in a publishing ecosystem where one’s backlist is no longer just a sort of annoying albatross hung around your neck, about which you have no power to do anything unless a (traditional) publisher thinks they can make some money out of it. A writer can now manage their own backlist (insofar as their publication-rights situation allows them) and keep it in print, or not, as they please.

Deepest in my own backlist lies my first novel, The Door Into Fire, which kicked off the LGBTQ-friendly Middle Kingdoms universe and got me a fair bit of attention (back in the day) and some award nominations. With this in mind—and encouraged by people who found its early representation of queer characters in fantasy settings positive, or enjoyable, or both—it seemed like a good idea to get Fire and its immediate sequels back into print. So I started looking into this.

One thing became obvious right away. In this marketplace, there’s no launching a series (or re-launching one) without a website. But also... for a website, you need graphics. And there were never any graphics for the Middle Kingdoms books except what appeared on their (originally pretty dodgy) covers and in the occasional magazine where various pieces of MK short fiction were published. Leaving their general sketchiness aside, those graphics—being copyright to the publishers��weren’t something I could use in new-edition web pages or promotional material. It would’ve been nice if there was other art I could have used, but there wasn’t any. And stock photography isn’t that much use for illustrating a world full of magic-users, 747-sized Dragons, and fire elementals that look like somebody just torched a horse.

So I said, “Fine... I’ll just have to do the graphics myself.”

The only problem with this is that I can’t draw. ...But these days, there are ways around that... particularly digital art. It’s come a long way in the last decade or two.

Therefore in the 20-teens I started experimenting with 3D-art creation software—initially with a program called Poser. I was disappointed to find it nowhere near as intuitive as I’d hoped (as a long hard learning curve was the last thing I was interested in: I’ve got enough other stuff on my plate).

Then I came across Poser’s main competition in the commercial digital-art marketplace, Daz 3D. It didn’t take too much experimentation for me to realize that this was more like what I needed—simpler to get to grips with (especially in terms of dressing and moving characters), and with a far larger product base to draw on.

...Because this isn’t a drawing program as such. It’s probably most helpful to think of Daz as a platform for working with digital “paper dolls” of the kind kids used to play with back in the day. You start with a basic figure, and then cut out “clothes” and attach them to the figure. Don’t like those clothes? Pull them off and attach others. (The one below comes from Paper Thin Personas.)

Working in Daz Studio is like that... except in 3D. (Below, a view of the basic dashboard, with a Genesis 8 male figure in the basic “ready to be dressed and posed” position.)

And (because naturally the image-building-and-handling platform is the overlay on a business), there’s a financial component involved. Some basic starter figures do come free. But if you want better ones, you buy them. Want clothes for them? You buy them. Need sets? Props? Character poses? You can buy all of those. They come (mostly) from independent digital artists, who sell their work through the Daz3D website sort of the way independent sellers work through Etsy.

So you can see that this can run into serious money if you’re not careful. (In fact it can run into serious money if you are careful. The wise digital artist hangs onto their receipts, as all this is stuff is potentially deductible if you’re using it for business purposes.)

I spent some time experimenting and finally decided that Daz was probably my best bet. So in sort of 2015 or thereabouts I started the (still ongoing...) business of learning the platform and acquiring character assets and clothes.

My first job at the Middle Kingdoms end (because I was also using Daz to create Young Wizards material, specifically the covers for the New Millennium Editions) was to find 3D figures that looked at least something like the characters I saw in my head. In one case I got lucky straight out of the box. Daz’s in-house-created Leo 7 figure, with the Jonas hair offered with it in the same starter bundle, was so nearly a dead ringer for the way I’d always seen one of the protagonists—Herewiss—that I was frankly kind of astounded.

Similarly, the Gianni 7 figure (with its facial hair in place) was quite close, facially, to the look I’d always imagined for the other half of the original protagonist pair, Freelorn. But there the easy ride stopped... because Lorn’s fair hair, during the years when he was outlawed and on the run, I’d imagined as being worn fairly long. And when I started working on the 3D version of his character, there just wasn’t that much middle-length male-character hair to work with on the Daz platform. There would be various reasons for this, but let’s lean in on one of them in particular.

Daz is an unabashed hotbed of the Male Gaze. There are many, many more available ways to sex up female characters than there are the same for males. Oh GOD so many. Much more flesh-exposing clothing, much more clothing held up by good intentions alone against the depredations of gravity, much more desperately stupid female armor (don’t get me started...!), many more overly-sexualized (or -sexualizable...) female figures. (Could this be because the majority of content creators are (cis) male? As Spock would say, “Insufficient data.” But I have my suspicions.) Only now have same-sex pose packages and gender-fluid figures begun to creep in.

It’s also noticeable that the majority of Daz male figures lean toward Hard Tough Types: warriors, space warriors, urban warriors, cowboys, knights (in too many variants of Male Stupid Armor to even begin discussing here, and again, if I get started I won’t stop, so: some other time...), Vikings, et al and ad infinitum. A lot of these seem to be viewed as inherently short-haired types. Mid-length hair is surprisingly more difficult to find, even when the figures are portrayed as fantasy-universe natives. (Outliers to this analysis would be elves. All the elves seem to be assumed to have quite long hair.)

The best of the relatively few mid-length hair props available when I started working with digital!Freelorn was one called Dorian. (Mostly content creators give their hairstyles and characters names [in the IKEA manner], though I know at least one of the most prolific hair-makers who’s given up and simply started assigning month-and-year numbers to theirs.).

The Dorian hair prop was... all right to be going on with, if not really what I’d been hoping for. I looked high and low and found nothing better. Finally I sighed and said to myself, Yeah, fine, whatever, let’s get on with it... and got busy with creating concept art for the MK site.

Five years went by, and Daz’s platform program, Daz Studio, began to de-emphasize the older rendering engine it was using (3Delight) in favor of an Nvidia-chip-enabled and much more photorealistic rendering engine called Iray. Most things looked way better when rendered using Iray. Some, alas, looked way worse, and cheesier. Chief among these was a lot of character hair... including Lorn’s Dorian hair.

So I began looking around for a better equivalent, and sure enough... there wasn’t one.

(cue here image of frustrated digital artist collapsed on her desk) After FIVE YEARS? REALLY?

(sigh) Yeah.

...For the sanity of everybody involved, I’m now going to compress a prolonged spell of Desultorily Hunting For Better Hair into the shortest period possible. Every now and then, between sort of 2018 and now, when working on one project or another, I’d pick up one hairstyle or another (ideally ones that were on sale, and usable on other characters) with an eye to seeing if they’d work better on Lorn than the Dorian hair. In the meantime I converted Freelorn’s Gianni 7 figure into a newer version based on the newest Daz “basic male” figure, the so-called Genesis 8 Male. This conversion meant (among many other things) that I could put hairstyles on it that had been designed for earlier/different figures… even styles that had been designed for female characters. (Unisex hair has also been starting to become more of a Thing on the platform of late, so the G8M figure could use those as well.)

Finally—specifically, last month, when I got into a chat on Twitter with another Daz user that turned into a prolonged whinge about this problem—I realized that enough time had been spent on it. I was going to need to stop dithering and make some choices... because the renders weren’t looking any better. Local hair technology had improved enough to make Freelorn’s present hair look far worse than it had before.

...And in this case, it was “choices” plural I needed to make... because further (prose) work on Lorn’s character had led me to some realizations about his character arc that I hadn’t previously had. More about that in a bit. ...In any case, when chatting with that Twitter user I’d decided to produce a series of renders in which I tried out all the candidate hairstyles I’d piled up. The intention was to use these for concrete comparisons in situ and work out which hairstyles were at least usable for something on this character, and which (in Peter’s favorite phrase for this kind of operation) should be “flung high and far.”

So that I’d have decent lighting to work with, I stuck Lorn and Dusty into this excellent and beautifully detailed set—rightly voted by people in the Daz user forums as one of the best-made sets on the platform: the ROG Red Crow Inn set. Its indoor daylight is terrific. (This has been turning up in various of my MK-oriented renders for a while now.)

What you need to know about the hairstyles that follow here is that in all cases I had a look at their product descriptions to determine (or attempt to determine...) how adjustable they were “under the hood”. Some styles have so many controls you can barely wrap your brains around them. (See the image right up at the top for the controls on the Dorian hairstyle.) Alternately, some have hardly any adjustability at all. Some styles look terrible until you’ve spent hours adjusting them to work correctly for your character; but some will look fine right out of the box, with little or no adjustment. Some that look good in the demo shots refuse ever to look that good on your character, no matter what you do to them. And some that might initially seem unpromising, turn out to work really well.

The main problem: usually you have to buy them first to find out for sure… and you are not going to be able to get a refund just because “this hair didn’t work on my character”. So this whole operation is something of a crapshoot.

...So that’s one set of conditionals affecting the choice(s). Here’s another, more story-driven.

During the seven-or-so years he was on the run across the Kingdoms as an outlaw, the length and/or style of Freelorn’s hair was hardly any kind of political issue. (At least, nothing compared to the one involved with keeping the head that grew the hair attached to Lorn’s body, and not packed into a bucket of brine to be sent home to Arlen by someone collecting the reward on it.) As it’d generally have been stupid for Lorn to go to the barber—because when you’ve got a dead-or-alive price on your head, do you really want to take the chance of being recognized by someone with a razor in their hand?—he’d routinely have just hacked it off with whatever sharp implement came to hand. And (as we know from canon) he often dyed it as an extra layer of disguise.

Immediately after the events of the great War and his return to Arlen’s capital city of Prydon, no one thought twice about Freelorn resuming his normal hair color and growing it long again... until some people did start thinking twice about it. Everybody knows that the new King was not exactly a model of good behavior in his princely days. And despite the White Lion himself making known that he approved of Lorn’s succession to the Throne, there remain quite a lot of people who would have preferred some other ruler, and who think taking Freelorn down a peg (at the very least) would be politically smart.

Notice was also taken, in the aftermath of his return, of how Lorn almost always carries Hergótha the Great, the (previously lost, now refound) sword of the Arlene rulers, everywhere he goes. Some people talk about this in terms of Lorn “overcompensating” for his past mistakes and using the sword to try to increase the appearance of his legitimacy. (And this of course is garbage. Lorn has his own reasons for this, and by and large ignores the comments.) But when the same people who’ve looked askance at his behavior regarding Hergótha then also start passing comment about his hair, and the fact that he’s growing it out long and “mane-like” again, Lorn pays attention.

So, while Lorn occupies himself with the day-to-day business of working his way into his kingship, he also quietly and gradually starts wearing his hair shorter. The more politically astute of his enemies, noting this, mutter under their breaths and turn their attention to finding other, more effective ways to discredit the new King. ...And Freelorn’s out-of-universe chronicler, on “discovering” this piece of business, abruptly realizes that she now has to find him two new hairstyles: a pre-War one and a post-War one.

(mutters) Great.

(then, helpless laughter) ...Okay. The one note of cheer regarding the post-War hair is that I’m never going to have to worry about how it’s going to look with a crown on it. This is because the rulers of Arlen don’t go in for crowns. It’s the right to sit on the Throne (and your political/spiritual ability to stay there) and the possession of the Arlene scepter, the White Stave, that imply and confer Arlene kingship. Which is just as well, because dealing with hats and headpieces as regards hair in the Daz 3D platform is a huge fecking nuisance. I won’t get technical about this. I’m just glad there’s no need.

...So let’s get the damn hair dealt with.

To begin with: here, using the present updated-to-Genesis-8 version of Freelorn’s Gianni 7 figure, is the Dorian hair that’s been in use for him until now.

Not optimal, as you can see. As it always has, this prop looks awfully 80s and too blowdried, and makes it look like Lorn’s preferred hair product is library paste. So, time for it to go.

Next up: a hairstyle I picked up along the way called “Deckhand.”

At first it looked like if it was adjustable enough, it could be made to work. Unfortunately this turned out not to be the case. It does nothing but make the King of Arlen look like the Knave of Hearts. (Or like he’s been dragged backwards through a hedge. Or both.) So: nope.

Next... a hair prop called “Grayson.”

...It has pretty good length adjustability, but there’s something weird going on with the colors. Also not sure about the complete lack of bangs. Kind of an Errol Flynn-ish look to this, but... Not convinced.

Next... A prop that’s enabled for the Daz3D dForce routine that allows materials to be made to custom-drape naturally for a character, and to be animated. This is called “Rogue Waves”. Here it’s been through the dForce routine with very simple instructions: “just fall downwards, don’t get fancy.” ...Unfortunately these hair props often wind up looking clumpy in a different way from older hairstyles. Not sure about this one either.

(sigh) Next: a prop called “Classic Side Part”.

Uhh... no. (It might have worked a little better if it was possible to change the side the part is on. But it’s not. So: pass.

Next: a prop called “Fallow.” This is a ladies’ style, but because this new improved version of Freelorn is a Genesis 8 character, that doesn’t matter. Here I just slapped it onto him to see what would happen.

It’s... not optimal. Never mind.

Next, a prop called “Thomas.” Again, had it lying around as a leftover from another project: slapped it onto Lorn on a whim.

This is... a bit interesting, but even after an hour or so of wrestling with it, it refuses to lie the fuck down on top. In back, in particular, it looks very odd when his back is turned. (sigh) So: nope.

Next up: a style called Jai. In terms of the Daz product universe this would be a very old style, going back to, oh, 2015 or so… meaning it probably won’t work all that well in Iray renders.

...And sure enough, it’s not great in terms of its texture or its adjustability. So: byebye.

Next: a style called “Varun.”

This one looks kind of messy and unshaped at the moment, but it’s very adjustable and has enough possibilities to warrant playing with it for a bit. The strands are kind of coarse, but depending on the setup of a given shot, that may not matter so much. This one, I think, is a likely candidate for the pre-War hairstyle (and as that’s the hair that Lorn is wearing for the first three books, I’ve got a fair number of renders to redo that will need it).

...And finally: a style called “Zoren”.

This one also looks fairly out of control at the moment, but like the Varun hair, it has possibilities if it can be quieted the hell down and flattened out. This would be a good candidate for Lorn’s post-War hair, once it’s been disciplined. (Which may require a whip and a chair, but whatever: nobody ever said this was going to be easy.)

What convinced me nine-tenths of the way about the usability of this one was a render that came out of the pre-Halloween “dduane is an anagram for Undead” business:

...That’s the Zoren hair, and it looks surprisingly good on Lorn there. I think I can make that work. (Leaving aside the more amusing aspects of this “crossing the streams” moment. I suspect that [in his position as adept/mage-in-training] Herewiss would be having to violently restrain himself from making MK!GrabbyHands at a wizard’s manual. Lorn, meanwhile, in his position as Master of the National Library of Arlen, would mostly be interested because a book was behaving like that.)

Anyway, after a day or three of mulling over those results and doing some experiments, I’ve decided that those last two hair props are going to be the ones I’ll be using for Freelorn going forward. Some art has already been re-rendered, with pretty fair results. Post-War...

...pre-War (or during, actually...)

...post-War...

...pre-War again...

...post-War...

...All not too bad.

So now begins the work of re-rendering all the other images of him on the website. (Some of that work is here already.)

(heaves long satisfied breath) ...So that’s finally getting handled. One less thing to worry about.

...Now where was I?

Oh yeah. :)

#Middle Kingdoms #Freelorn #Freelorn of Arlen #Daz Studio #Daz3D #digital art issues

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rightsockjin · 3 years

Note

Cowboys and cowboy culture did not come from mexico. There were native and black cowboys in America and even regular white ones. Before you post stuff actually know and be factually educated about American history and history of ALL races not just your own especially when its not true.

Howdy! 🤠You’re totally right. At least about one thing. There were cowboys in America of color! Cool! Good job! Now let’s break this down because one thing I never do is speak out of my behind. I am very well educated so I don’t mind helping you learn as well! The “Cowboy” began by the Rio Grande. That’s the river you need to cross to come into America from Mexico in case you were wondering. I know geography is difficult. Hehe. The FIRST EVER cowboys were from SPAIN(there is even an argument that Vaquero culture was already present within the indigenous before that and that the Spanish only helped to “train” them).They colonized the people in Mexico (at this point Texas was in Mexico- weird right cuz now it’s part of the US) and so they pushed that culture onto the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF MEXICO. The NATVIE PEOPLE of Mexico. Again. These were people who were already in Mexico and at this time Texas was a part of Mexico. Keep that in mind when I say MEXICO. Have you ever heard of a Buckaroo? OH WAIT!! Just kidding that’s what the ENGLISH SPEAKING MEN CALLED 𝘝𝘈𝘘𝘜𝘌𝘙𝘖𝘚 because they didn’t know how to pronounce the SPANISH word- Vaquero which means “cow herder” in Spanish.Now. When did I say that there weren’t any people of color who were cowboys?? I don’t remember writing that? Yes I was aware that there were people of color who were cowboys because GUESS WHAT, Mexico is not a homogeneous people. We are of all colors! Furthermore, Mexican is not a race. How about you learn basic vocabulary before you post anonymously? I also mentioned in the post that part of the culture that was associated 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 being a Vaquero was native but didn’t want to speak too much on it because that part of the culture I am not as well versed in and said that if you make FUN OF WHAT THEY WEAR you are making fun of two cultures and that doesn’t sit right with me. Which is why I posted the post to start with. I’m not cool with people disrespecting my culture and parts of other peoples just because they feel like it. Finally, I will end this with what you said to me. Make sure that 𝘺𝘰𝘶 educate yourself on ALL races (including ones that are not races so I will say instead-cultures because apparently you need to learn them all now) not just whatever you THINK you know. I’ll include some links and if you have any questions feel free to ask us! We actually really love history and I just finished taking a class on Mexican art history since I enjoy my own culture and the MANY races that can be part of it so we could have a good convo about lots of other stuff you would like!:) Ah right I forgot, yes- in conclusion, Vaquero culture was brought to the Mexican indigenous people by Spain who colonized us. Then, Americans took that. Are you trying to take that from us as well?? Because they already beat you to it . If your issue is my race- or me being a POC, hi- I am POC. My WHOLE family is very brown. My grandfather, in fact, is a Vaquero. He wears the hats and the shirts and the boots and the whole get up. So is My Uncle. Both men are very BROWN with indigenous features. Do the math. Thanks for your concerns but please educate yourself. Here are some link to help with that and some pics! I hope this a was useful and feel free to message with anymore incorrect assumptions about MY culture. (Lol like that it’s a race and POC aren’t cowboys hahahahahahaha) have a nice day!

I’ll leave you with a quote from my VERY BROWN DAD. “Es mejor mantener la boca cerrada y que piensen que eres un tonto que abrí la boca y despejar todas las dudas” that’s translated to “it’s better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re stupid than to open your mouth and leave no doubt.” (i.e. saying stupid things without research. Google is free)

Side note: I LOVE Vaquero BTS🥰

Scholarly links

Yeehaw link 1

Yeehaw link 2

And here’s a cute little picture of OG cowboys

Please notice their features and how they ambiguous the look.

And also here’s more of the cowboy influence

This is the traditional folkloric dance clothing from Tamaulipas which is the Mexican state closest to the Texas.

Once again, Google is free 💜 🤠✌🏽

This post was approved by all admins.

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namjoonchronicles · 4 years

Text

impression | yg

↳ genre fluff, domestic, established relationship

↳ words 5.5k

↳ summary many forgot that when you marry someone, you marry their family too, at least that’s how Asian family is like

↳ warning that side of adulthood, lockdown because of pandemic, self-worth, over-sensitivity, pisces dude, married life conflicts

↳ song ariana grande ‘pov’

Just this morning you woke him up with ‘Daechwita’ blasting on his ear drums, dancing and prancing around the home gym in your spandex bra and sweatpants, rapping to every word he wrote, with more swag than ten Yoongis combined. Forehead glistened with sweat, rosy cheeks and more life in you than he ever had. He leaned by the door sill just watching in utter disbelief and renewed admiration to just how much you loved his music. It never gets old. But how the tables have turned, two minutes before midnight.

You’ve locked yourself in the bathroom, him leaning his back on the wall, speaking through the closed door, calling out for you.

“Talk to me. Please… Say something. Anything,” he puts his lips inches away from the door, covering his hand over his mouth to direct the sound towards you, hoping it would get through. Fat chance, but at least he tried.

Must be something in his drink last night for him to hear his own song even when he is sleeping, Yoongi thought. But he didn't drink last night? Yoongi pulled the duvet down his head, contorting his entire face and the blaring boom bass music, rippling through the miniature figure standees of famous baseball players he had lined up on the TV cabinet. The music was so loud, the pictures hung on the walls began rattling at each beat drop. Where is this music coming from??

Two seconds in, and the empty spot next to him spoke volumes. All answers were as clear as day.

Yoongi sat up on the bed, duvets pooled around his waist as he yawns loudly and his bed hair flopping on either side leans towards, some baby strands standing in all directions. He scratches his arms, neck and belly as he comes awake. Face puffy, eyes barely open, and cheeks as circle as they could be. He gathered the duvet to the side and pushed himself off to the edge of the bed while shoving his feet into his indoor slippers. He tried to fetch his phone from the bedside table and saw it vibrating on its own from the loud music.

"Better stop her before the neighbours come complaining…"

He waddles about the room lazily, dragging his feet, his arm reaching for the switch panel before he even arrives to have the curtain open and let the sun in. The automated curtain aligned and folded creases perfectly as it gathered itself to each designated side. The bed, the bed will be made up later after he advises his wife not to deafen the whole neighborhood with his albums and he could finally think.

The teal-colored walls that extended along the hallway of the house, decorated with wedding pictures, family pictures, his signed baseball jerseys, picture of his basketball days (the one he jumps for a slam dunk and especially proud of, you know the one), your graduation picture (with him professionally photoshopped in) and some lovely polaroids of your first unofficial date that he insists was official. More on that later. Yoongi walks pass this memory lane with a stern face, shooting glares ahead, marching in the direction of the music, which seems to be coming from the gym. What he saw was a petite figure, all hyped up, sweaty, holding up a water bottle to your lips like a microphone, mouthing his rap like it was your own. You saw him in the mirror reflection but instead of coiling away, shy, you spat his rap to his face with flaming confidence. Yoongi looks down with a shy smile, eyes turning small and polite, skin blushing pink with second hand embarrassment. His face is hot and your sweaty skin, hair plastered to your neck and forehead, in revealing spandex was not helping. Neither is your swag. He clamped his lips with his teeth while you pulled his arm so he would join you. He protested lazily but didn't resist as hard. He throws his head back, whining dejections but you couldn't care less.

"Are you making your own concert here? Plagiarising my songs?"

You heard him and grinned widely at the mirror. He folded his arms and watched you dance seductively and just as the rap got to the 'my tongue sends boys and girls to China' part, the music stops and he is no longer next to you but by the stereo and turning it off.

"Yoongi! I was working out!" "People are gonna come and complain…" "They know who you are…" "They know my name from you…"

Screaming underneath him, that's what he meant. You rolled your eyes at him. He passed you a face towel with a sheepish smile. Wiping your face with it, you watched Yoongi unplug your phone from the sockets. It reveals several missed calls from your mother in law, Yoongi's mom.

"Mom called…" "Really?"

You moved closer to him to see. Yoongi reads the message she sent you outloud and the colors drained down your face.

"What do I cook? What do I do? What does she usually have for lunch? OMG, I don’t know. Do we even have kimchis left? I hadn't restocked…" "She likes fried dumplings and soy garlic chicken stew… it'll be okay. She said she is coming around noon. It's just a little over 8 am… Go take a shower."

You scurried to the bathroom and did as told. Yoongi made the bed while he waited. He turns the cordless vacuum cleaner on but it beeped soullessly because it wasn't charged. He sighed. You always forget to charge them after using them. He opted for a broom and dustpan instead. Yoongi disappears into his home studio, to take the shampoo he had been using and after-shower lotion for you to use. He twisted the knob, knowing you wouldn't lock them when you shower. Knock on the glass door of the shower and told you to use them. You nodded, passing him a look over your shoulder but he was out as quickly as he entered. That cold, cold steely husband.

You stepped out of the shower wrapped in towels with your hair dripping wet, hurrying to the hairdryer to dry your hair. Yoongi walks in with nothing but a towel around his waist. He passes you a chaste kiss on the shoulder first, then your cheeks before he continues to unravel his briefs and showered as well. The water trickles down his face, neck and shoulders, cascading down his speckless back, over the bum of his ass and wetting his happy trails at the same time. He aggressively rubs water over his face, the tips of his hair appear darker as it gets wet. You dressed up in your oversized hoodie, a pair of jeans and red converse, hair tied up in a bun, grabbing your purse for a quick run to the store. If your mother in law is coming, the least you could do is cook an all korean cuisine, prep nicely on the table so she knows that her son was taken care of nicely. Giving her a lasting good impression was your core priority as of now. And Yoongi would have been more than happy to do the grocery for you but this time, just this once, you want to show him that you are dependable too.

If there is anything you learned from korean cuisine is that food is prepared meticulously like you would, a form of art. Everything is placed neatly on a plate, and wrapped tightly. Taste and looks must be perfect. Everything had a sequence. Tradition and culture shapes the good people of Korea to what it is today. And for Daegu native, Yoongi's deep accent and habits become one of the most significant traits that flags a Daegu representative. You are obsessed with getting it right. Although you mostly don't understand the heavy accents he tends to let slip out once in a while, you were expecting to guess the words as it comes. His accents are one of the things that you loved about him. Daegu dialects are strong, and oozing masculinity. They are often direct and unapologetic so it might be heard as harsh. You couldn't tell apart if he is cursing or if he is just plainly just talking about his day when his friends stop by. He caught you a few times, staring blankly at him when he blurted out dialects out of frustrations, and he laughed them off when you accuse him of lying to you about what the words actually mean.

With his mom stopping by, the dialects are going to be thick and you would probably stare blankly most of the time. Communications are limited and Yoongi had to come back and forth to translate some of them.

Korean cooking is not your forte. Let's put that out there, in the open for everyone to see and understand. You are not familiar with it, and although you love some of it, some just don't fit your taste buds. But Yoongi is a full blown Korean. You make adjustments here and there, but it's not like he is always around for you to cook them often. That's why your korean cooking skills deteriorated. Even simple things like choosing which mushrooms to cook with takes 10 minutes longer than it probably should. You went with your heart and took the one you saw first.

Yoongi came out from the baths to see an empty room. Your perfume wafts over his nostril and it tattles about your whereabouts. Just as he was about to investigate, his phone shrieked a calling tone. It was Jungkook. Asking for a chord. He sounds desperate and bored to death. Being a good friend, Yoongi speds to his home studio after clumsily putting on some white tee on top of a grey shorts, halfway through and sending him several chords the little guy could work with, then pulling the rest of the shirt down as it loads. He swore he didn't take long but he found you already changing your clothes and starting to chop things on the chopping board, sloppily. He knows that it was not you to do things sloppily so he offered to help sharpen the knives.

"Soy garlic stew?"

You chewed your lips at him as he asked and nodded. Anxiety was written all over you. Your hands were already so shaky, and that's why you couldn't hold the knife properly, aside from it being blunt. You turned to the sink and began chopping the scallions with another knife Yoongi handed you.

“There are some potatoes I bought in the paper bags, I brought the mushroom I am familiar with, I am not sure if it's the one used in the stew. What time is it already? Is this enough time to even cook the stew? The chicken hasn’t thaw has it? I am not going to have enough time… She is going to know that the dumpling is store bought and I am putting my pride on the line…” you spoke nonstop, didn’t even hear Yoongi if he was saying anything, which you assumed he was quiet, so you became annoyed and, “Why aren’t answering any questions I have??”

Yoongi stood there, with a blank expression, “You wouldn’t even let me talk…”

You answered your own questions, and he was here listening to everything, opening his mouth and closing it before any word could come out because you bulldozed him with words, as he dug out the potatoes you were talking about, as well as the mushrooms.

“I’m sorry, I watched the youtube video on making the stew on the way to the mart and it seems pretty complicated, but doable… I think that the ginger and garlic goes in first,” you paused and sighed, “It’s been awhile since I cooked a proper meal for myself. I don’t know if I had it in me to even do this anymore…”

That’s right. While Yoongi was always away from the last two years, his work trips extended from 3 months to a whole year, and while studying for your master’s degree, you opt for simpler food, just enough for you to get by the day with a filled stomach. Most of your time is dedicated to your studies and laundry. Stopping by Daegu was hardly done, and if anything, you would just send some gifts her way. It is pretty awkward between you and his mother; language barriers, interests, and principles. You didn’t notice when Yoongi was standing behind you, his hand was on top of yours, soothing over your knuckles and he hijacked the scissors from your hands gently.

And he whispered softly atop of your head, “I got this.”

Just like that, he took over kitchen duties and let you handle the simpler stuff like, putting the pot on the stove, fill water in it, skin the potatoes, chopped them into large cubes, unstub the capsicum, peel the skin off of the chicken, peel the garlic and ginger. Yoongi’s instructions are clear and easy to follow. After all the things are chopped and prepared, he hands the ladle to you.

Your eyes widen. And you shook your head. Stepping back. Yoongi clicked his tongue and chuckled through his nose. Coax you. But no, you stepped farther back. He then took your wrist gently and placed the ladle handle in your palm.

“Trust me?” “I trust you, it’s me I don’t trust.”

“I’ll help you every step. Let’s go. Have confidence!” “You’re the multi billionaire, I’m just the struggling degree student with a part time job.”

“You’re Min Yoongi’s wife.” “I find that hard to believe sometimes…”

With another scolding tut of his tongue, you conceded. With a heavy heart.

The chopped chicken pieces are placed in a boiling water pot, and when its reddish flesh turns white and is cooked, it is drained and washed underneath cold running water to remove impurities. You watched quietly as Yoongi cleans them with his capable hands. His veins protrude, extending well over his forearms. The tip of his fingers were pinker than the rest of his hands, and he smoothes over those nooks and crannies the chicken pieces have. As ridiculous as it may sound, you were quite envious of the fact that those chickens have his full attention now. Next, the carrots.

The carotene source is peeled and chopped in large size. Yoongi helped guide your hands over the handle of the knife, because he is pretty particular on how big he wanted those carrots to be.

“Isn’t that too large?” You asked him in a small voice. They are half the size of your thumb. “No, it’s just nice…” he replied in a low voice, his lips just behind your ear, “It has to be in the same size as the potatoes, so it will cook at the same time.”

Your bottom grazed over his front and he learns to just keep you sandwiched in between the counter and him, so it won’t turn to something else. He is just as anxious as you are with his mom coming. Therefore, the percentage of him turning frisky is zero to none. The onions come next. They are chopped in half and then into fours. Yoongi paused and braced himself for tear gas attacks only there was none. He asks where you bought those onions, and you replied, it was grown in your colleagues garden. They were given for free. And he comments,

“They should sell these, we will be their first loyal customer! It doesn’t sting!”

You laughed as you prepared the fruits you bought. It was rock melon and some papayas. You avoided buying tangerine because you know she will bring some from her hometown, knowing how much Yoongi loves them. Daegu’s tangerines are very sweet and plump. There is nothing like it. Yoongi sliced green onions for the stew and extra hot chili peppers because his mom likes them spicy. Then he prepares the mixture for the broth.

“Now watch,” he instructed you, “Soy sauce, rice wine, red chilli pepper powders, minced garlic, two cups of sugar, red pepper paste, sesame oil, pepper. Mix well.”

Yoongi prepared a pot and placed the cleaned chicken pieces in them, added potatoes, carrots and water with the mixture he made just prior. Then, boil. After the chicken is cooked thoroughly, he adds onions. Then the scallions. Then salt to taste. You prepared the oven and Yoongi carried the pot to it to keep it warm until his mom arrived. Dumplings were pan fried. That one was simple. His mom doesn’t like her beverages too sweet, a simple plain water is enough.

When all the food is done, you turn to him at the same time he did. Sweats rolling down his sideburns and his thin white shirt clinging on his skin like he ran a mile. You approached him with a huge smile, swept his hair back to reveal his forehead and dabbed your inner wrist to wipe away his sweat all around his face. He sniggers through his nose. Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, you can’t help but plant a kiss on them. Nuzzling your face on his neck, you draped your arm around his shoulder and mumbled, “Thank you…”

He leans his cheek on your head and kisses one side of your brain, before exclaiming that you both need another shower after cleaning up the kitchen and turning on the air humidifier to chase away the smell of cooking.

“How was the journey?” you chirped. “The weather is scorching hot, the sun is melting me away before I can meet my son,” Yoongi’s mom complained in a thick Daegu accent, and when she stepped in, she gave you a glance and straight away went looking for her precious son. As expected.

“He was just out of the shower, he will come soon, mother,” you said the last word awkwardly, it doesn’t really roll off your tongue as comfortably as it should. She replied to you with a dejected “Hmm.”

You blinked and cast your eyes downwards, then up again to change the topic, “...Let me take you some cold drink… it must have been a torture, to walk around in such hot weather,” you sped to the kitchen and grabbed her a cold water in a tall glass.

“Hello mom…” Yoongi revealed himself from the hallway, gave his mother a hug that you didn’t receive when she walked in. “It wasn’t torture when I’ve come to see my son!” She suddenly changed her words, now she is all bright and cheerful, and you disappeared from her sight completely unless Yoongi looks over to you and includes you in the conversation. That too, wasn’t permanent. Yoongi learned that his older brother’s wife is carrying a baby and Holly had been snuggling to her tummy at every chance she gets. The sight would have been adorable and they were able to take a picture of it so Yoongi’s mom excitedly showed them to Yoongi. They both are sitting on the sofa while you were in the kitchen scooping up cooked rice into bowls of three.

“This sofa is new isn’t it? I didn’t see it the last time I was here,” his mom asked. “Yes, yes… do you like it?” Yoongi said and said you chose them. Then her enthusiasm dissipates. “I like it better without one. Now it’s too westernized,” his mom’s lips turned lopsided, continuing, “Did you know that hanging your legs down will disrupt the blood flow up to your brain? We better sit down on the floor when we eat, too…”

Yoongi prepared a Japanese folded table and pushed aside the coffee table that was there. Everything you’ve prepared on the dining table was moved to the Japanese one. When everything is set, you and Yoongi wait for his mom to start eating before you both do. It’s tradition. Even between man and wife, the older one begins eating first. Yoongi sips the stew and then you begin scooping the stew into your bowl. You were the only one eating mostly with a spoon instead of chopstick since you aren’t too accustomed to it. Yoongi’s mother said in a joking tone that you should start using the training chopstick used by toddlers.

Why are you extra sensitive today? She was just joking, but smiling is so hard right now. Your cheeks feel heavy and your shoulders stiffened. Yoongi carried the rest of the conversation effortlessly. The deep Daegu accent is already shifting your attention towards the fried dumpling instead. It was just a little over 45 minutes since she arrived, why does it feel like days?

“Dumplings, mother?” You chirped, attempted to use the chopstick and successfully landed them in her bowl.

Then she puts them back where they were, and said, “I don’t eat store-bought dumpling, darling,” before resuming to tell Yoongi the story about her neighbour getting into a real estate feud. You hold your breath in your throat and try not to think about it too much. Although you’ve finished your bowl of rice, Yoongi still hasn’t. He was busy nodding away to what his mother was saying. She barely touched the stew. When she turned to her food, you tapped Yoongi’s knee underneath the table and he looked at you wide eyed, darting at the stew. And Yoongi’s lips turned to the shape of an “O”.

“How do you like the stew, mom?” He asked. “It’s okay…” “My wife made it…” Yoongi said with a smug smile.

You smiled, shyly.

“It tastes exactly how Yoongi would cook it. I thought you cooked it, I know how horrible her korean cooking is, Yoongi… You don’t have to lie to me,” his mom passed.

After bidding her farewell at the door, Yoongi accompanied her to his brother’s incoming vehicle that fetches her. His brother made a promise to stop by when the baby arrives and when the Covid cases reduce a bit. You watched from the window from your bedroom and when the car drove off with Yoongi waving goodbye to his mom, your heart thudded differently.

Your eyes stung, and tears impending to fall as it collected around the brims. As you heard the front door beeping open to Yoongi returning, your feet dashed to the bathroom door, pushing it open as your tears rolled down your face like a dam broke.

Sensitive? Too soft? Was I too emotional? Am I not trying hard enough to be enough?

Yoongi walks in, to an eerily silent house. Ridding his shirt by pulling it over his head as he walks down the dimly lit hallway. His heavy footsteps heard across the floorings and you covered your mouth with your hand to not make any sound. He noticed that the bathroom light was on unlike the rest of the room.

“You’re showering alone? Traitor…” he pouted and wriggled the door knob and noticed it was locked from the inside. “I have a stomach ache,” you hoped you sound convincing. Your voice didn’t sound as shaky and you hope he didn’t catch on. “Okay…” he said, after a long pause. You turned the shower on to reduce the sound of you crying, and went back to sitting on the floor by the door, dug the heels of your palm into your eyes socket, and hugged your knees, sniffling.

“Hey…” his voice muffled through the door. “Hmm?” you replied, through a broken smile.

“Are you okay?”

Another dam broke.

Shit, I’ve started crying again. Why can’t I stop crying?! He is going to find out now… Fuck.

“Talk to me. Please… Say something. Anything,” he puts his lips inches away from the door, covering his hand over his mouth to direct the sound towards you, hoping it would get through.

“Was it mom? She says something you don’t like? You know how mom is, right? She doesn’t mean any of it…” now it’s Yoongi’s turned to bulldoze you with questions he himself answered.

Unable to take it anymore, you had to speak out, even if it means behind closed doors.

“I know she doesn’t like me as a daughter-in-law…” you spoke in broken voices. “Nonsense…” Yoongi passed, nonchalantly.

“No, will you please just listen to me?!” you raised your voice a bit, “I am not like your brother’s wife who cooks great Korean food, who sends her nice homemade desserts to her likings, and now is bearing a grandchild for her. I can’t cook, and had to rely on you a lot. She came over and she didn’t give me a hug like she did you, and the whole she doesn’t even speak to me unless I speak to her first, and even then, she shuts me down so I couldn’t say another word. I can’t even use a damn chopstick or make homemade dumplings she’ll eat!”

It’s Yoongi’s turn to lean his back on the door and hug his knees, then hang his head low.

“Suddenly the sofa is too westernized. And the glass doors letting in too much sunlight when I renovated it the way she wanted. It seems like everything I do is wrong and I just have no place in the Min’s household no matter how hard I try,” you sniffed, and, “To make matters worse she brought up the girlfriends you had in high school and how they cook her favourite food! Girlfriends! Plural! Here I thought you only had one… Jokes on me, I guess… It’s fine, honestly.”

There's nothing more terrifying than the word ‘fine’ you threw when you’re sad and Yoongi knows it. It signifies so many things. It indicates that you’re done, and you’re ready to let go of it, by shoving it under the rug like many other things your mother in law did to you ever since you met her. Yoongi shot his head up when the door opened and his eyes followed you in silence, a little solemn. You dried your hair, sitting on the makeup chair table, running the cool air Dyson hairdryer over the lengths of your hair. Yoongi crawled on all four and knelt behind you to hug your waist, nuzzling his face on your lower back. Then the tears returned, and kept falling.

Your gaze is stuck on the reflection of you in the mirror. What have we become?

It was one of those moments where no words seemed to suffice. Regrets and guilt becomes almost the same thing. Pointing the blame is the last thing on your mind. Choosing sides is difficult when so much is at stake. You may have unclasped his arm from around your waist, heard his wordless gesture and refused to see his face, but so much of him is in you. The fact you held on for so long was because of that man you love and married. Is this going to happen everytime your mother in law stops by?

Even then, you didn't want him to go against his own mother, nor do you want him to side with her… It was such a confusing situation.

Yoongi needs to return to the studio. He packs a few toiletries and clothes for him to wear while he is there. You helped him pack leftover food so you are not burdened to finish everything alone. The conversation shifts to what matters now. You carry your duty as a wife, his partner. You make sure that he is able to provide for this family and even though your emotions are once again neglected for the time being, you were glad that it actually occupied your mind and heart.

At the door, his manager carried his things and instead of leaving along with his manager, Yoongi told him to go first. You already know what comes next. But you aren't sure if you had it in you. One look in your eyes and Yoongi knows that you will rather die than have that conversation all over again. He ran his finger through your hair, lowered his lips to your forehead and stayed like that for awhile, and you said,

“Take care of yourself,” you spoke to his chest, breathing in his musky cologne for the days ahead without him. He stepped back, thumbed your cheek and pinched your chin, tilting your head back. He glanced at your lips while biting his own then backed away, to leave. As the view of his back got smaller and smaller, he exclaimed, “I’m going.” Not once did he turn behind to have one last look. And it was something Yoongi would do. Doesn’t matter if it's at the airport, or at the backstage, he will never look at you after he leaves you, even when he knows you’re right there standing, and looking at him. He says that, if he saw you standing there waiting for him, he will not be able to fight the urge to run to you. So he never looks back. The one thing that he always does before a work trip, is to kiss your forehead. Dr. Laurel Steinberg says, a forehead kiss indicates strong emotional intimacy.

But Yoongi says that a forehead kiss to him signifies a bond that goes beyond lust and love, it was your soul. It is to say, “I might be too far away to hold you, but my soul is yours.” It sends butterflies and confettis your way when he does it. It always feels warm and you always feel protected with a stamp of Yoongi’s lips on your forehead. It feels like a talisman. That no matter what, Yoongi is here.

Recovery. The emotional turmoil, the rollercoaster. You fill your time organizing the photos Yoongi took. With your final exams finished a week ago, you’re given a month off before you begin your final year. Yoongi now lives in his studio office because the album recording session begins and he is in every process. He is in charge of doubling and finalizing the tracks, directing and whatnot. Yoongi sends you a 1 minute 23 seconds video. Scowling at it, your face softened at the sight of him, recording himself in the studio. Dark circles doubled in size and his cheeks sunken. Poor thing hadn't been eating well did he?

“Hey, sweetie…” his familiar guttural voice resonated with your heart strings, “Sorry I haven’t been able to properly give you a call. It’s too late when I’m free, and I’m asleep when you’re awake. So I figured I’ll just send you a damn video, to hell with it.” You chuckled softly as your visions turned blurry.

“I think I will be addressing the recent issue we tucked away for later day. It’s later. You have never been good at fighting for yourself. It was something I don’t really understand because I’ve seen you fight my fight for me,” he glanced to the side and smiled fondly. You were unclear what situation he was talking about but you kept listening.

“You told me that I shouldn’t side with you because that would mean I am against my mother. Here’s what I truly think…” he breathed in and sighed loudly, “I think I should side with you. I spoke to my mom a few days ago, asked her how she is, and I told her several things I don’t like, like bringing up my past ex girlfriend, or how you can’t use the chopstick yet, or how your korean cooking isn’t great yet… how upset it made you and me. She told me that she was just jealous. I left home when I was 16. Come back when I am 20, married at 25. I will always be her son, I let her know that. But I am now someone’s husband, and I happen to cherish this someone, her heart and her wellbeing is my responsibility. I am not stolen from my mom, I consciously chose this person to be with me, to be her husband and built a home with her. And if she can’t respect that, then she cannot return to our house…”

You had to set the phone down and wipe your tears with the back of your hand.

“I’m done being a referee,” Yoongi continued after a long pause, “You’re gonna cry again, and I won’t be able to pass you tissue or give you a hug, I hope you understand what I’m trying to say. I am proud of you and all the little things you do. Daegu dialect is difficult to understand ha? That’s alright. You’re getting your degree, and you help pack my things even though you’re sad as hell the day I left. I couldn’t… I couldn’t ask for a better wife, and I hardly think I deserve you. Until we meet again, soon. Your husband, Min Yoongi.”

The video cuts to him winking.

Another text from him,

[Yoongi, 1.03AM] Impression is never permanent. I hope you give mother another try…

Wife is typing...

[Wife, 1.04AM] Erm. [Wife, 1.04AM] Sends a pic.

[Wife, 1.05AM] How’s this for a lasting impression?

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jmoriarty-221b · 3 years

Text

Ok so this idea was inspired by AUs where Tim Drake is a member of the Addams family and thus this cute idea was born

Ok so, Tim’s parents still travel a lot but instead of leaving him alone in a big empty manor they leave him with his aunt and uncle Morticia and Gomez Addams

And Tim is a weird little kid who grows up without fear of the dark figures at night because the boogeyman is actually a pretty nice fellow who was very touched when Tiny Tim gave them a drawing of themselves, the monster in the closet actually gives great fashion advice as well as providing the perfect clothes for playing dress up, and the monsters under his bed are great storytellers and the shadow man gives Tim great advice on how to hide and use shadows to his advantage, etc.

The point is that Timmy grows up under the care of the Addams when his parents have to leave on long business trips or excavation sites and as such, is exposed to Gomez’s great appreciation of swordsmanship and fencing, and the haunted suits of armors are always great at comparing which kind of swords are the best in which kind of combat as well as the the importance of craftsmanship when in relation to having a reliable sword

And then one day Timmy watches the movie ‘The Legend of Zorro’ and becomes absolutely obsessed with learning how to use a sword and fight with it in the way only little kids can become obsessed with something they find completely cool, and Gomez is so excited to be teaching Tim everything he knows and they work together to craft Timmy his very own mini rapier for learning how to fence (swords are heavier so Tim learns those from Gomez when he’s older and can parry more weight)

And Tim becomes very Focused and Serious on learning how to fence and he’s very excited when he manages to finally best his uncle in a fencing duel (not as excited as Gomez tho, “MY CHILD SHALL BECOME THE BEST SWORDSMAN YET MY LOVE, DID YOU SEE HIS TECHNIQUE, HAD I BEEN SLOWER HE WOULD’VE RIPPED OPEN MY THROAT IN ONE SWIPE, I’M SO PROUD” “Our child dear”)

And then the movie ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ comes out and both Tim and Gomez are super fans (as a whole the family’s favorite movies are this one as well as the Legend of Zorro because 1. Revenge is achieved to the improvement of the main character’s well being and 2. The Aesthetic) and Tim just focuses on getting the hang of swords now with Gomez being more than happy to help his darling nephew

So years pass and Tim’s parents have finished one of their most taxing excavation digs so they return to Gotham and Tim has to return too (for the purposes of this AU Janet and Jack actually do give a fuck about their son so they would call him every other night when they’re away and if they can’t then at the very least they would call Tim once a week; they also call Morticia and Gomez at least once a week to check on how Tim is doing and they were also very happy to know that Tim has taken a liking to swords so they try to bring new types of weapons or literature related to weapons from the culture of their latest excavation so Tim can learn how different types of swords are wielded all around the world)

But anyway, Tim is going back to Gotham so he and Gomez work on creating a new sword for him with the family motto carved on the blade “Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc” which translates to “We Gladly Feast on Those Who Would Subdue Us” which is metal as fuck so yeah, and this sword is super durable and strong, inspired by a katana’s durability and a rapier’s gracefulness with a blade that is such a dark purple that it looks black like obsidian and the inscription of the family motto is carved in letters that are ruby red with a black hilt where an image of a drake is engraved in the same ruby red as the family motto (basically it is a Very Deadly Sword that is also Very Pretty with a dark aesthetic)

So Tim gets back to Gotham and one day he’s watching the news and sees The Batman saving the day and what not and sees Robin do a quadruple back flip and figures out their identities and decides that he wants to meet them at some point while on his nightly photography sessions of Gotham architecture; and if he manages to snap a couple of shots of Gotham’s heroes sometimes then that’s a bonus but Tim is mostly focused on capturing the essence of Gotham city (at this point in time when Tim moves back to Gotham he physically looks like 10-12 year old; he did meet Dick at the circus when he looked like he was 4 years old but for the purposes of the timeline Tim, as an Addams, can choose to remain at any age he desires for as long as he wants so while he did appear to be 4 years old at the circus, he had been alive for a couple of years more at this point, this also explains how he can master swords and fencing while physically looking like a 10 year old because he has been practicing for years as well as why he remembers Dick from that night at the circus)

So the timeline continues with Tim figuring out that the Bats are actually his neighbors but instead of staying away from the Waynes, he decides to go ask his parents if he can stay with the neighbors whenever they have to stay later than usual at the company or have to take a short business travel and they talk with Bruce about it and he agrees to take care of Tim, so now Tim has an in to befriend the Waynes and helps smooth out the edges of Dick and Bruce’s relationship so Bruce doesn’t fire Dick from Robin, but rather they talk about their feelings for once and Dick decides he wants to create his own superhero identity and Bruce supports his decision (Tim may or may not have had to talk about how his family happened to be very open about their feelings and worry for one another and how much closer they are due to talking to each other and resolving conflict; Alfred may or may not have been 100% behind Tim every time he made such a conversation) also, Tim is basically a trial run for Dick on becoming a big brother for when Jason arrives

One time Tim asks Dick if he knows how to fence which Dick can’t really answer because technically he knows how to fight with a sword but that’s for vigilante purposes which his civilian self isn’t supposed to know so Dick says that he doesn’t and asks Tim why he wanted to know, Tim proceeds to talk about how his favorite masked hero uses a sword to fight injustice and he has a black cape and a black horse and Bruce comes into the living room they’re in in the middle of Tim’s rambling about his favorite hero using a sword and is Concerned for a hot minute until Tim finishes the rant by saying “. . . and that’s why I like his movie so much, have you seen the Legend of Zorro?” (Cue relief for both Dick and Bruce because for all that they scrambled to put a name to the hero Tim was describing they couldn’t come up with one and were considering the possibility of a new player in the vigilante scene) so then Tim asks Mr. Bruce if he knows how to fence and Bruce says yes and asks if Tim would like to learn cue the “Oh, my uncle taught me how to fence a few years ago and when I lived with them we had a duel at least once a week, it was very fun so I was just wondering if you knew so we could practice if you want to Mr. Bruce”

Dick is 100% on board with this because the idea of Tiny Tim and 6’1” Bruce fencing is hilarious in his mind, Alfred is there to supervise and both Tim and Bruce are provided with the appropriate fencing equipment and protection; Bruce starts off slow and is surprised when Tim manages to beat him before starting to enjoy fencing with someone who can surprisingly keep up with him (Dick is taking pictures because the height difference is just too cute to be ignored and Tiny Tim is adorable in his own mini fencing equipment)

Whenever his parents do have to leave for extended periods of time (any company trip that takes more than 3-5 days qualifies as this) Tim stays with his aunt and uncle, thus starting a fun tradition of having spontaneous fencing duels with his uncle Gomez, basically if one of them is in the library then the other will shout ‘En-garde’ while throwing a sabre towards the other person and engaging in a quick duel; basically, if Tim is reading about the latest poisonous plants produced by Poison Ivy and annotating his research in order to get an idea of what would be a nice gift for his aunt Morticia and Gomez walks into the library then Gomez will grab two of the sabres they have on the wall for this exact purpose while shouting ‘en-garde’ before throwing a sabre at Tim and engaging in a duel, same goes for Tim, it’s almost instinct to the point that Tim has to hold himself back from doing exactly this whenever he sees Bruce in the library of Wayne Manor

Later on, when Jason is already adopted into the Wayne family, Tim still comes over and makes it his sacred mission to teach Jason the art of swords so he has another fencing buddy because “Mr. Bruce isn’t always here and I have decided that we will be friends and you’re pretty cool but knowing how to fight with a sword just ups your coolness level ya know?” So now Jason has smol Tim teaching him how to fence and it’s pretty fun to be able to do a taxing physical activity outside of being Robin with a friend, when Jason gets the hang of fencing Tim decides that he must now advance to the next level: sword fighting (Alfred is always there to supervise and give tips and pointers because he also knows how to fence but chooses to stay in the sidelines and let the young masters have their fun)

The problem with this is that, while the Waynes do have sabres for fencing, they don’t have swords, at least not in their civilian selves, so Tim decides to bring his own swords to teach Jason how to sword fight, Alfred is the first to see Tim’s very own special sword and is both impressed at the craftsmanship and concerned as to why a child has a sword, Jason thinks Tim’s sword is the coolest he has ever seen and Tim is happy to talk about how he made it himself with his uncle’s help when he finally learned all about sword fighting and promises Jason that they can make him his own cool sword when he learns how to sword fight too, Dick also thinks that the sword is a little concerning for a kid to have but he also wants his own cool sword and so now he insists Bruce has to teach him how to sword fight because Tim said he’s not allowed to have his own sword until he learns how to sword fight, Bruce is baffled as to why Tim has a sword, impressed at Tim’s skills in craftsmanship, and a little Concerned as to why Tim’s sword has that Latin inscription on the blade (no Tim, knowing that “we feast in those who would subdue us” is your family motto doesn’t calm me down yet it explains a lot about your mother)

By the time Damian comes along to the family he is very interested in where Jason and Dick got their Very Cool swords from, his father also has one and he wants to have his own Very Cool Sword too, thank you very much, and Tim visits them when Damian is still settling in and asks his customary question of if he knows how to use fence and gets an affirmative answer he asks Bruce if it would be ok for him and Damian to have a fencing duel, Bruce explains the rules to Damian and makes sure that Alfred, Dick, Jason and him are present in order to keep Damian from maiming/killing Tim

The duel does get a little out of hand as Damian gauges that Tim is more skilled than he previously thought so he stops holding back, Tim is positively grinning at this since he always has to hold back with the Waynes in a way that he doesn’t with Uncle Gomez because while an Addams won’t die from a stab to the heart, the same can’t be said for anyone else; the duel ends with Tim winning because he has more experience than Damian but he is positive beaming at how awesome Damian was and how these duels could become a weekly thing before they transition to swords and once Dames graduates from swords he can design his very own sword with Tim’s help as a sort of graduation present for learning how to sword fight and he’s sure that it won’t take too long for Damian to master swordsmanship because he’s basically a natural already and very skilled and this duel was so much fun Damian we have to do this again sometime oh my gosh I want to teach you everything I know it’s gonna be so much fun

And Damian, a poor baby, was mad at having lost to Tim but then Tim hits him with all this excitement and smiles and it’s the promise of getting his own Very Cool Sword is what gets him to agree to learn from Tim, it’s not that he feels warm at getting compliments from someone who also likes swords and knows what he’s doing in a fight, he definitely doesn’t find Tim cool at all, he’s just making use of a resource and he will learn everything Tim has to offer and become better than both Grayson and Todd, that’s all (that’s not all because it turns out that Damian is the younger brother Tim never had and he takes Dami under his wing and helps him adjust to a life outside the League of Assassins and how to find hobbies to enjoy; Damian won’t admit it but he is also Very Attached in to Timothy and feels like he won’t be judged for his past with him and he is also a fellow sword enthusiast so yeah)

Tim decides to do the same thing to Damian and initiating a quick fencing duel whenever he sees that Damian is in the gardens (no fencing inside the Manor on pain of Alfred’s eyebrow of disappointment); this helps Damian with the transition of learning to have fun and also learn to realize that not everybody is an enemy, it also helps keep up his training and burn some energy whenever he gets restless and helps him bond with Tim more

The idea was that Tim and Uncle Gomez would surprise each other with spontaneous fencing duels by shouting ‘en-garde’ at the other person whenever they find one another in the library, and now it turned into a fluff AU where Tim isn’t Robin but he’s still a family friend to the Waynes and an Addams and helps bring the family closer through his love of swords because yes

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bonvoyagenoona · 2 years

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Talking about students, today was my first day at a new school + back to f2f classes, I introduced myself and whatnot (my name’s isabella), then in one of my slides there was a picture of luisa from encanto, and my student just blurted out “teacher you’re perfect just like Isabela” I died on the spot. I know amomk Joon feels like this every time a student compliments him 🥺

Aww, hi Isabella! Congrats on your first day!! Hoping you felt safe and supported as well as welcomed warmly! You have such an important job -- celebrating you! What a sweet story, especially how it fostered a connection with your student! 🥺 Those moments have to be so spectacular for you as an educator!

Namjoon: OK, everybody! Before we have our first round of tests, I want to do a fun little tradition that I learned about when I was in high school.

Student 1: So, like, was your class all dinosaurs and cavemen?

Class laughs.

Namjoon: (too excited to care) They're called Warm Fuzzies.

His class already starts mocking him.

He picks up a box of some art supplies that he got from Mrs. Kim: stacks of small rectangular pieces of paper with a hole punched at one of the short sides. The stacks are grouped by color, and they're paperclipped together.

Namjoon: (starts passing out materials) Everyone take one stack of colored paper---

Student 2: I want red!

Student 3: I want blue!

Namjoon: (trading out for their preferred colors) ---and refer to the attendance sheets that I'm handing out, too. On each slip of paper, write each of your classmates' names, one slip of paper per classmate. On the other side of the slip of paper, write a small, nice note. Something you like about the person. Or something you want to say thank you to that person for. Something that will make that person feel warm and fuzzy. But don't write your name anywhere. It's meant to stay anonymous. (grins) When you're done...

Namjoon points to a table he has set up at the front of the room.

Namjoon: Walk around this table and place your notes in each person's designated stack. Keep their names facing up. I'll spend the rest of the period tying some ribbon in the holes, and then you'll all leave class with a stack of your own Warm Fuzzies.

Student 4: Uhhhh, MISTER KIM!

Namjoon: Yes?

Student 4: What is this for??

Class laughs.

Namjoon: Well, when you get stressed out, like during your tests, or if you need a pick-me-up, just when you're feeling blue, go back to your stack and read these nice notes. Hopefully you'll have a chance to smile!

Students exchange quizzical and sarcastic looks with one another. But the rest of the period runs smoothly, and students even follow his directions.

Toward the end of the period, Namjoon gets up to arrange the now multicolored stacks and start passing them out. Some students even get up to help him tie the stacks together with ribbon, without being asked.

And then one student walks up to his desk.

Namjoon: Extras?

Student 3: No. These are yours.

Namjoon looks down and sees that the class has written some for him, too. He flips through some of them.

I like that we have a smart teacher for once.

You and Mr. Min are pretty funny.

My mom thinks you're hot.

Namjoon chuckles.

You're kind of weird, but in a cool way.

You're a very nice man.

You remind me of my favorite uncle, and I don't get to see him much, so that's nice.

Thank you for being a good teacher.

Namjoon starts to tear up.

Student 4: Look! He's gonna cry!

The class laughs, but then they start clapping, and Namjoon laughs along with them.

#asks #your asks #anon #amomk #a map of mrs. kims #bts drabbles #bts fanfiction #namjoon fluff #bts fluff #the warm fuzzies thing was something we did in high school #i carried that into my friend group in college #i brought it to grad school with me #i do warm fuzzies everywhere i go #it's the best #aw. warm fuzzy namjoon!

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thevictorianghost · 3 years

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If you could rewrite legend of korra and make it your own(or just in general better) how would you do it? The villains would stay the same and korra and crew are the same(personalities you can definitely tweak a bit. I would definitely not have any love triangles and make korra and asami happen in the beginning) how would you do it with your ships being canon as well?

Okay so I’ve never actually watched LOK. I’ve heard A LOT about it through watching countless video essays on Youtube and reading Tumblr posts about it. I know the who, the what and the how, I just haven’t wanted to watch it because, even though it looks cinematically gorgeous, the story was written by Bry/ke and there’s a LOT of it, worldbuilding and storywise, that I just can’t bare to watch.

So here goes. This got long. Enjoy!

1) Remove the Decopunk world.

A Decopunk world is a world where technology is 1920s-ish, but very advanced. We have cars, tanks, radio, bobs and faux bobs, cloche hats, short skirts, nice suits, etc. I adore Decopunk. The 1920s are one of my favourite eras. An optimistic way of looking at the world, partying, illegal alcohol, the remnants of the Great War... I love it. I really do. But it doesn’t work in the pre-established world of Avatar. It brings elements that are far too imperialistic and colonial in nature (which prompted the comics to be imperialistic and colonial in nature, with the Northern and Southern Water Tribe, you can find many posts about that), which came along hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution, as this article puts it so well. Please read it, it’s awesome.

Why did they feel they had to denature Avatar’s world? They already had everything they could possibly want.

The Fire Nation could be more Steampunk, which is a little less advanced than Decopunk (First Industrial Revolution vs Second Industrial Revolution) because there were elements of Steampunk in the Fire Nation Army (such as the tanks, the navy and the dirigibles). But it could be for them only. It could show us how Zuko transformed the Fire Nation from a war industry to a steam-powered country. This could be the new way to channel firebending (and please, no more “anyone can do lightning bending”, you don’t need lightning bending to get electricity and it makes Zuko, Iroh, Ozai and Azula weak in the show!).

We’ve seen waterbending used in clever ways in the Northern Water Tribe. How could Katara’s waterbending and Sokka’s engineering influence the Southern Water Tribe to make them use waterbending more? Canals, waterfalls, waterways, etc.? In new and different ways? Could the Southern Water Tribe use hydroelectricity, but in a clean, sustainable way? Why does the Southern Water Tribe port look so... mundane?

The Earth Kingdom already had a working train system in Ba Sing Se. And the postal system in Omashu. Toph could have taught earthbenders how to follow the Badgermoles way and dug tunnels throughout a nation in peace. Then boom. Subways. But instead of machines pushing the people along, you can have benders do it. Instead of messenger hawks, the postal system could run through the entire kingdom instead of just Omashu and be much more efficient. The Earth Kingdom could be praised for its fast postal system that could, maybe, work as telegrams.

I’ll come back to the Air Nomads.

Those are just examples from the top of my head. I don’t mean “never allow technology to “””progress””” (I use that word veeeeery loosely because it has huge imperialistic undertones). I mean instead of trashing the fun parts of bending to make way for Decopunk technology that doesn’t need bending, work with it! Get creative! This worldbuilding feels... too easy. When Avatar: The Last Airbender was praised for its worldbuilding.

I adore Decopunk. I enjoy it far more than Dieselpunk and it’s much less known that Steampunk. But it has no place in the Avatar world.

2) That doesn’t mean “remove Republic City”.

First of all, it should honestly have a better name. It’s kind of like naming a city “Democracy City”. Which is way too on the nose. Harmony City sounds better, and that’s the first thing that came to mind. Anyway.

I really like the idea of a city being built in the spirit of Iroh and the White Lotus. To allow the Four Nations to live together in harmony in one city. But why is Republic City literally New York City with an “““Asian””” flair? What is up with that? I know New York is the MOST Decopunk city ever (you can’t encounter anything Decopunk without seeing New York, with its Art Deco buildings, the Harlem Renaissance, the Prohibition, etc.). But they do NOTHING with it! They just take New York, change some names, add some Asian flair, and call it a day.

I don’t want 1920s New York for Republic City. I want Zootopia.

What happens in a city where all the Four Nations are represented? How does Water, Earth, Fire and Air work together? Big cities tend to be quartered in neighborhoods, so each neighborhood could be a smaller version of their nation. We could have a Northern Water Tribe next to an Earth Kingdom next to... you know what I mean? Each neighborhood could be a small-scale introduction to the nation for Korra first, then you can send her to that nation afterwards!

Which leads us to this.

3) Have Korra follow a traditional Avatar’s journey.

I really don’t know why they decided that Korra would learn three elements before the age of sixteen (when that’s the age Avatars usually START their journeys) and then only have her learn Airbending during the entire show. Wasn’t the structure of each Book being about Aang learning one element at a time a good structure? Why go out of their way to NOT do that? Why was it the White Lotus’ prerogative to train the Avatar in the first place, too?

So let’s have Korra know waterbending first (and show Katara teaching her, please!), then she can learn Earth, Fire and Air. By going to the Earth Kingdom, to the Fire Nation, and to the Air Temples. This could help develop each nation and show us how they have grown through the years. And it could lead Korra and the audience to figure out that there’s not only Aang who has had children to represent the Air Nomads, but there were other Air Nomads who survived the genocide and we can actually see the Air Nomads as a thriving culture.

So about Republic City. As I said, we could keep it. But now that Korra is going on a traditional Avatar journey, you could have, say, one episode at the beginning and one episode at the end of each season taking place in Republic City. To show us how each Nation’s neighborhood works and as an introduction to Korra before she actually takes the plunge to travel to that nation.

Please! Build upon the Avatar world at large more! Come on!

4) Stop it with the love triangles.

Many have talked about the Mako, Korra, Bolin and Asami love triangles. I’ve read once that they don’t exactly feel like friends, they’re only colleagues who share the fact they all dated Korra at one point. Which is sad. Knowing that the Gaang is so beloved because they’re such GOOD FRIENDS first!

So work to build strong, healthy friendships first, THEN start thinking about romance if you have to. And please, if you want a ship to be endgame, don’t have it so you have to confirm it on Twitter.

Don’t.

Oh! And also. Bolin and Eska’s relationship was unhealthy as all hell and treated as “funny” and “comic relief” because a woman was being emotionally abusive to a man. That’s terrible. Please don’t do that.

5) Don’t let Katara fall to the side like she did.

Many, MANY before me have talked about how Katara got the short end of the stick in LOK. Where’s her statue? Where’s her recognition as the Greatest Waterbender in the World? Why is she day in and day out in the healing hut, when she said “I don’t want to heal, I want to FIGHT”? Does she even have a waterbending school? Or is that completely fanon? Why does she allow Aang to take one of their children on life-changing field trips while leaving their other kids behind? Aren’t they also Air Nomads by birth??

It’s okay to worship the old Gaang because, well, we all love them! I do love Aang, even if I give him a hard time a lot, but I love the character. I just don’t like the way Book 3 Aang was written. But some characters shouldn’t have everything while others have nothing. Aang is LITERALLY THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. But where was Katara’s statue? And also, what happened to Suki?? What happened to Mai or Ty Lee, too?? Or even Sokka?? He died some time ago and... that’s it??

Which brings us to this.

6) Zutara, Taang, Sukka and Mailee.

I’ve seen that picture of Toph, Aang, Sokka and Katara being edited with Zuko and Katara next to each other, Toph and Aang next to each other, and a (suddenly alive!) Suki next to Sokka. I think that’s so good! It feels so healthy!

Not all relationships that started when people were kids work out. Sokka and Suki seem the strongest relationship at the end of the show and they’re probably the only ones I could see working out in the end. Sokka could become the Southern Water Tribe Chief and Suki could become his Queen when she’s retired from the Kyoshi Warriors.

Katara and Aang would be lifelong friends, of course they would be, but I don’t really see them lasting. Aang was twelve when they started dating. They’d date a few years, then they’d decide they want other things. That’s a good thing to show kids!

I’ve written many metas about Zutara, but Ambassador then Fire Lady Katara would show a changing world, where the Fire Nation, now no longer a war industry but a Steampunk country, is moving forward, with Zuko literally marrying a woman the Fire Nation tried to wipe out. They would be equals and leave an equal mark upon the world. Together.

Toph and Aang would be amazing together. They’d be a great team, working in the Earth Kindom, helping rebuild the old Temples when the Air Nomads came out of hiding, and bringing peace around the world. I don’t think they’d be a conventional relationship. They’d do their own thing for a while, find each other for a while, work together on some projects, then continue doing their own thing. Aang being the Avatar who travels the world and Toph teaching metalbenders and working with the King in Ba Sing Se and Bumi in Omashu and wherever she’s needed. I think Toph would be much more fulfilled than what we’ve seen of elderly Katara. She doesn’t have Katara’s abandonment issues (I’ve talked about them here) and she’s more independent, I believe.

I know I haven’t talked about them much yet, but I want Mai and Ty Lee together in the end. Badass ladies challenging their respective stereotypes and create a new world for themselves. Mai could find herself away from the Fire Nation court (I don’t know what she’d do, but circuses love people who throw knives, don’t they? She could be a circus performer for a while), and I think Ty Lee, in this version, could work at the circus and with Aang to rebuild the Air Nomads. I love the idea of Ty Lee being a descendant of the Air Nomads.

All of them should be shown creating Zootopia-like Republic City. Because of course they should be! They’re the Gaang!

So yeah, that’s how I would see the world of Avatar grow beyond the borders of the original show! :)

#atla #avatar the last airbender #anti-lok #anti-bryke #zutara #sukka #taang #mailee #darkcrowprincess

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all-my-love-for-harry · 4 years

Text

The first meeting.

summary: y/n and artemis met a handsome (to y/n) and intimidating (to artemis) man.

word count: 1.5k

a/n: hope you’re enjoying this ‘series’ as much as i am enjoying writing them! (also, i’m sorry if there’s any mistakes regarding y/n’s job. i’m not from the uk so i got the information from the internet)

you can find more of my shy little boy here

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

January, 2018.

If there was something Y/N enjoyed, was playdates. Ever since she got pregnant with she looked forward taking her little baby with their friends, have a conversation with other parents while they watch the kids interact. However Artemis’ number of playdates are limited, due to his struggle to make friends and talk with other kids.

But he did have one good friend, his name was Spike. The way the two boys became friends was still an unanswered question to Y/N, but she couldn’t have been happier when her little one had told her he had made a friend.

The Prendergast were a very chill, very fun family to spend time with, and it didn’t took long for Y/N to become close friends with Emi and Adam. They had started a little tradition to get together every other Friday night at each other’s places, and this particular Friday wasn’t Y/N’s turn to host the dinner.

The Y/L/N’s arrived on time, Artemis being excited to see his friend even though he just saw him at daycare earlier that day. He pulled from Y/N’s hand, making her walk faster.

“C’mon mummy!”

“Wait, we don’t want to drop the cookies we made!”

They made it to the doorway just before Emi pulled the door open and greeted them. “There you are, Spike was starting to wonder were his best friend was”

“Hi, we bought cookies” Y/N said as they stepped into the house, Artemis disappearing into the hallway as he ran towards the living room.

“You look tired, long week?”

“Sort of, collage students can take a tool on you” Y/N replied, sighing.

Y/N had recently taken a job as a collage teacher and while it has been a wonderful change in her family’s economy, it was indeed tiring and sometimes intimidating. But it allowed her to provide better for her little one, so she wasn’t going to complain.

“Well, tonight you can forget about work” Emi said, walking to the kitchen to place the cookies in the microwave to keep them warm. “Oh, I forgot to tell you but someone else is joining us for dinner”

“Oh?” Y/N raised her eyebrows. “Who?”

“His name’s Harry, you’ll love him. He recently came back to London and Adam invited him over”

“I want you to meet him, he’s a nice guy” Emi’s husband, Adam, came into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Y/N’s shoulders. “I bet Artemis will love him too”

“Yeah, right” she chuckled. “As if you didn’t know my son”

“Worth the try” he smirked.

As if it was a sign, the doorbell was heard inside of the house, indicating someone new had just arrived. Y/N walked over the living room to see what the kids were up to, and she found Silver, Spike’s older sister, teaching the two boys how to drink tea properly. She smiled at the sight as she took a seat on one of the couches.

She heard voices coming closer to where she was, but it wasn’t until she heard the stranger laugh that she turned over to see. A handsome man stood beside Adam, he had chocolate curls adorning the very top of his head, along with beautiful emerald eyes joined by little crinkles at the side as he smiled at Emi.

He was beautiful.

Y/N saw as the three adults approached her, Adam smirking at her reaction in a way of telling her I told you so.

“Y/N, this is Harry. Harry, this is our friend Y/N” Harry offered his hand for her to shake and she noticed the rings adorning his fingers.

“It’s nice to meet you, love. I’ve heard wonderful things about you” he said as the shook hands.

“Pleasure’s mine” she smiled. She was gonna talk again but a little body crashed into her legs from behind, clearly hiding. “This is Artemis. Say hi, baba”

The little boy said nothing as he pushed himself further into his mum’s legs, clearly feeling intimidated of seeing a very tall stranger standing in front of his mummy.

“Hi Artemis, I’m Harry” he offered the boy the most friendly smile he could provide but he still wasn’t responding.

“I’m sorry, he’s… uh, very shy” Y/N blushed. “Darling, remember we’re polite to people” she said to her son.

Artemis let go of Y/N’s legs and took another peek to Harry, who was now crunched down to his level to make him feel more comfortable.

“Hello, Sir” he finally said, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink as he spoke.

Harry chuckled. “You can call me Harry, mate. I’m not that old”

Artemis nodded again. Silver and Spike came running to hug Harry, chanting Uncle Harry over and over again.

After the greetings, the kids went back playing and Y/N went to sit back on the couch, knowing how her son always wanted her close whenever he was feeling shy.

“Did I scare him?” Harry came with two glasses of wine. He sat beside her once she took it, mumbling a thank you.

“You didn’t. He’s just not so good with strangers”

“Missing his dad perhaps?” he inquired.

“You can miss someone you’ve never met” she chuckled before taking a long sip of wine.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s okay, I’m joking. I mean, he hasn’t met that piece of shit indeed but its fine”

“If it matters, I bet he’s an idiot” he leaned down to her, as if he was telling her a secret. Y/N snorted. “Anyway, I still hope I didn’t scare him”

Y/N shook her head. “Usually he’s like this, especially with other men, he doesn’t know many”

Harry turned to look at Y/N’s son. He was no older than four, he guessed. He had blonde, curly hair and hazel eyes. Harry thought his facial features were all from his mum, and he was so damn adorable.

“You have a very adorable one, looks just like his mum” Harry said, smirking at her.

“I know, right? Worth every back pain I had during nine months”

The two talked a little longer and Harry moved closer to her as their glasses became emptier. Harry thought she was very beautiful and charming, just like Adam had described her before.

He learned Y/N was 25 and a professor at UCL and she teaches at the UCL Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. He also learned Artemis was indeed four years old and had a passion for my neighbor totoro even though he has never seen the movie before.

“He just really likes the character” Y/N would say.

It was refreshing to see someone so put together at 25, he would admit. Everything that came out of her mouth was interesting for him, as he wanted to learn as much as possible from her.

The entire group had dinner outside, enjoying the beautiful night with light conversations and some more wine. Harry tried to talk to Artemis, but he still refused to answer him something else aside from ‘no’, ‘yes’ and ‘thank you’ for the time Harry complimented his shirt.

Every time, Y/N would send him an apologetic smile but he dismissed it offering her one of his own. He’s met shy children before, but usually none of them would be so closed off to him. He was good with children, heck, he loved them. But the one time he actually needed his charms with them to work, mostly to impress the pretty woman who happened to be the mum of said child, of course they didn’t.

In the other hand, Y/N was not surprised by her son’s reactions and felt bad for Harry every time he would try to talk with Artemis. She knew he didn’t do it to be impolite or rude, he just genuinely got that nervous around strangers. He even yelled stranger danger one time when a man asked him his favorite ice cream flavor, that man was an employee serving them the ice cream.

At the end of the night, everyone said their goodbye’s and Y/N went out of the door with a half sleep four year old laying on her shoulder as she carried him to the car.

Emi pushed Harry’s shoulder, silently telling him to go help her. And that’s what he did.

“Thank you” she said when Harry opened the backseat door for her.

“You’re welcome” he smiled. He observed how Y/N put Artemis on his car seat and buckled his seatbelt across his little chest. He also opened the door for her as the gentleman he was. “I… had a great time tonight”

“Me too. It was nice meeting you”

“Perhaps… we could go out some time?” he asked nervously. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to”

“I’d like that actually” They exchanged numbers quickly and Harry noticed how her lockscreen was a picture of Artemis in a Mickey Mouse costume.

“I’ll call you” he assured her.

“I’ll wait for your call” she smiled at him one more time before closing the door and starting her car and driving away.

☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁☁

Taglist!!

@odetostep

#harry styles imagine #harry styles one shot #harry styles x y/n #harry styles #harry styles x reader #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fluff #harry styles fluff fic #harry styles fluffy imagine #harry styles blurb #harry styles imagines #had to post it again because i had some issues!

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ilovejevsjeans · 3 years

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Daniel Ricciardo on his passion for combat sports, a walkout song and the time he asked Lewis Hamilton to ‘fight’

McLaren Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo, who currently sits seventh in the driver standings heading into this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, is among the world’s best behind a steering wheel. But how would he fare if he swapped his racing gloves for boxing or MMA gloves?

“I’d love to do a charity boxing match or something just to feel that adrenaline of walking to a ring,” Ricciardo said. “It’s on my to-do list for sure. At school I had a few little fights but nothing crazy. Nothing I’d brag about here.”

Ricciardo says he learned the sport of boxing from a friend who fought as an amateur growing up. However in recent years his love of combat shifted more toward mixed martial arts, a sport that is “quite beautiful. It’s an art form and I was just taken by it.”

The Australian — who boasts 4.6 million followers on Instagram — rarely misses a fight night, whether that’s a small card or pay-per-view. Every Monday he gears up for multiple MMA podcasts to hear analysis on what just took place in the cage.

In an exclusive interview with The Athletic, Ricciardo opened up about his love for fighting, which driver would make the best opponent and why Lewis Hamilton turned down an opportunity to get in the ring against him.

You’re an avid fight fan. How did this passion for the sport start?

One of my best friends growing up, when he was growing up, he was doing amateur boxing and got very good at it. I was then doing my racing and he was doing his boxing. We were both on a bit of an unconventional path — both individual sports, not really the typical sports the kids at school were doing. We had that in common. Once I started taking my racing more seriously I began taking my fitness more seriously. So I started going to his gym to just train. I really enjoyed doing it. But the truth is — I don’t want to lie to anyone. I’m not a fighter. As much as I would picture beating the bully up at school, it’s not me. But I just fell in love with not only doing it but also watching it.

I enjoyed watching boxing but it was really when I got exposed to MMA … It just had me. It was back in 2011 when I started properly getting into it. It was the quickest sport I had ever been absorbed by. I was all in.

My whole YouTube feed is just all MMA shows, whether it’s press conferences, interviews, podcasts. It’s just full of MMA stuff. I’m a full nerd now.

Being in Australia and traveling a lot, are you forced to get up at weird times for fights?

The beauty was I was in LA when (Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier 2) was on so it was prime time and I was happy. But normally in Europe, it’s 4 a.m. or 5 a.m., which isn’t as good. Any kind of sporting event that you look forward to, it’s always cool when it’s in the evening because you have all day to get ready and talk about it. If you wake up at 4 a.m. it’s like “ugh,” and then you’re straight into it so there’s not as much of a build-up. But it’s all good.

So do you still train at all?

No. To races, my trainer carries some pads and gloves just to stay a little sharp and change it up. If I’m getting my reflexes with some tennis balls, maybe I throw in a bit of a boxing combination or something. Again, I’m not saying I’m good or anything. But I just enjoy the whole movement part of it.

Boxing was cool and I enjoyed watching it growing up. But there was something with MMA where there’s just so many different disciplines and the matchups … as a contest it was so much more open and for that, exciting. I feel — I know it’s not always the case — you can kind of tell in boxing if someone is getting momentum, the advantage. It’s like “this guy is going to win the fight.” But in MMA, it’s like “this guy is winning standing but if this goes to the ground, it’s back to square one.” So I just loved it. I was really immersed by it all.

Did you have a particular fighter or fight that got you hooked early on?

One of the first events I watched was UFC 116. Chris Leben was on the card and I think he was losing the fight. And then he got a triangle with probably 20 seconds to go in the third round, so that was really exciting. Stephan Bonnar was also on that card and he got a really cool finish on “The Polish Experiment” Krzysztof Soszynski. That was a card for me where I was very taken from that. Then I discovered “The Ultimate Fighter.” I just binge-watched all of those (seasons).

In terms of fighters, Leben was a character, I liked him. Carlos Condit. I’d say Condit and Cub Swanson were two guys I got behind early on. Condit, I love his style and the way he carries himself.

Have you been to a lot of cards in person?

The very first one I did was the best for me personally. To this day, it’s my favorite sporting event I’ve ever been to: (Conor) McGregor-(Chad) Mendes. Vegas in July 2015. Obviously McGregor, but he wasn’t yet a champion and still kind of on the rise. It was the energy and atmosphere. It was just wild.

The whole event too. (Robbie) Lawler-(Rory) MacDonald, which had the fight of the year. Every fight on the main card I think was a finish, so I got very lucky at my first event.

I’ve done (Michael) Bisping-(Anderson) Silva in the UK. That was a great contest as well.

There are a lot of great fighters from Australia and New Zealand like Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski and Robert Whittaker. Have you had a chance to meet any of them?

I haven’t met them. A couple of them I’ve had interactions with on social media. But I love Whittaker, obviously Volkanovski is killing it. I’m fairly patriotic to the Aussie fighters. If they are fighting, 99 percent of the time I’ll be supporting them. But one of my good buddies is roommates with Luke Rockhold, so I got to know Luke the last couple of years. I was trying to do some training over Christmas with him but it didn’t end up working out.

I know you’re a big shoey guy. What do you think of Tai Tuivasa doing it after wins?

I’ve had a bit of contact with Tuivasa as well. It’s obviously great. But one thing I can’t get behind is spitting. That’s a little extra.

Plus he’ll grab some random fan’s shoe.

He definitely takes it to the next level. It’s cool that — as disgusting as it is — we have some traditions like this.

Shifting a bit to F1, have you ever gotten into any big fights on the track? What was the worst fight you’ve gotten in?

Earlier in go-karting there was a bit more. Unfortunately in F1, I guess because you’re on the world’s stage, even if you push someone you probably are going to get a fine or get penalized. At times it’s a little too clean. But I’m still waiting for the day that someone confronts me and I just lay them out (laughs).

You also just seem a lot more laid back than a lot of other drivers, so you’d probably not be my first choice of someone getting into a fight soon.

I’m all talk, it would be nice obviously to not have to fight anyone. But no one would expect it from me. Even when I tell people I’m a fight fan, people are like “oh really? You’re into that? You seem too nice to like that.”

But to get where I have in the sport, you need a bit of a killer streak in you. I do have it, but don’t always show it.

What other driver would make the best fighter?

I know some guys have done — for fitness — hit some pads. Randomly, he doesn’t have a seat this year, but Daniil Kvyat started doing quite a lot of boxing last year for his training. I saw a few clips and it started to look like he knew what he was doing. I would say he would be the guy who has the most idea. I’d put him and myself up there. The rest I don’t think stand a chance.

So if you had a charity event, you don’t have anyone in particular you’d want to go against?

To be honest, I actually asked Lewis Hamilton. At the beginning of 2016, he posted a video on his Instagram hitting pads. I was as well at the time, so I was like “hey, let’s do a charity fight.” I asked him in person. But he didn’t bite on that one so I was a little sad.

I might re-ask the question.

What about Max Verstappen? For people who watched the first season of the F1 show “Drive to Survive” on Netflix, I’m sure they would love to see you guys throw down at some point.

That would have been cool as well (laughs). Max would be a good competitor in the ring. The way he drives, he’s quite stubborn. He’d be a hard guy to put away. He’s probably the guy that you’d choke him and he’s going to sleep and not tapping. That would make an interesting one.

In contrast, is there an MMA fighter you’d like to race on the track?

An obvious one would be Conor McGregor. To hear in his Irish accent all kinds of things, that would make pretty good television. And he loves his cars. It’s obvious, but that would probably be the best.

How often would you say you watch fights now? Not just PPVs, right?

Unless I have something like work or another commitment, I’m watching it every week. Mondays I’m getting ready for every podcast. I sound like a real nerd but it’s just an addiction. I love it. Anyone doing that for Formula 1, I’d be like “you’re such a nerd,” but here I am doing it with MMA.

Is it hard to follow everything during the race season?

If I can’t see it live, then 100 percent I’m going to watch the replay or buy it later. But it’s also a good escape. If I’m traveling and I’m in between races, to get my mind away from my competition, I like to watch it. I also try to pick up things as well. Whether it’s from a mental point of view … I’ll look at the walkouts and how they are behaving. I try to figure out if they are really as calm and collected as they are portraying or if it’s a bit of a facade. I’m trying to work out what I can use in my events.

Do you have a walkout song prepared if you were to fight?

I’ve thought about it. The short answer is no. You typically have to have something heavy and fast, but I fell in love with Chris Weidman’s “Won’t Back Down.” It’s not typically a song that will pump you up but it’s so iconic and now it’s his, it’s very fitting.

I’d go for something more lyrically powerful as opposed to instrumental. I loved Max Holloway’s, I think it’s called Mount Everest (by Labrinth). (X)

#hopefully this is the right one anon #daniel ricciardo #dan #interviews

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