#how to write a chinese

[cubbyhole-for-flea-bee]

Once the theatre monkey discovers angsty broadway musicals its all over y'all

or: I got a new personal project I'm workin' on! I'm at the first pass on the animatic rn! I forgot that 'generate matte' is a thing you can do in SB Pro for a whole hour!! I'm suffering!!!

[crabsnpersimmons]

Sun! Sun! MaKe mE SpRiNg RoLlS PlEaSE

‐hungry anon-

oooh springs rolls sound yum! what kind of spring rolls are your favourite?

[thousand-lights-temple]

holding it the right way makes his hand hurt…

[kusanagihaku]

i will turn into clouds sanguine 

⭢ lyca and mc, 1.2k

q is for qilin. ˖⁺‧₊⟡ alphabet series | ao3

The front door of Obscuary creaks open under your touch. 

Rui must have left it unlocked for you after you texted him earlier today about leaving paperwork for some new missions – you step inside and let the heavy door groan closed behind you. You make a left turn into where you told Rui you’d leave the files…

…only to come face to face with Lyca and a huge, huge canvas. 

You blink. Woah. 

It lays flat on the Obscuary dining table, long and white and half-covered in fine, black pen strokes. If you had to guess, it’d be Lyca’s height when propped upright, with a width double that. 

“You’re here,” Lyca says. He flicks a glance at your shoes. “Did you get lost?” 

You flush. You did make a wrong turn or two in the forest but… you made it, didn’t you? “Um. No.”  

Lyca sniffs, frowning. “You smell like the soil from Rui’s garden. That’s not on the way in.” 

“…maybe?” You can’t help the sheepish grin that breaks onto your face, and are rewarded with Lyca’s triumphant snort. “Anyway, what’s this?” 

Lyca glances back down at the corner of the canvas he’s bent over. “Rui asked me to draw something we could hang in the bar. He promised he would buy me paints if I did it, so I did.” 

You walk closer to the canvas to get a better look. The fine lines coalesce into four large shapes under the dim dining room light, vaguely reminiscent of mythical creatures you might have read about once upon a time. “What are these?” 

Lyca points to his left. There is a small book propped open beside the pen he has just set down – comparing the yellowed page to his canvas, you realise he must have been using it as a reference for most of the details. “The idiot grandpa gave me this book and told me to do this. It was the only thing he suggested that Rui agreed to.” 

You wince; you don’t want to imagine what else Ed suggested to Rui. You turn your attention back to the tangle of black strokes on the white surface. 

Nearest to you is a completed tortoise, mouth open and claws pointed and sharp. It is seated atop a stone, and is angled to face a phoenix floating down from the top left. The phoenix, despite being only rendered in swift, short lines, is striking – its wings are outstretched and its glare fierce. Hidden under the furrow of its eyes is a desperate sort of determination you had no idea could be captured in pen. 

In the top right corner, snaking down from a hastily sketched set of clouds is a majestic beast, teeth bared and horns like fire. Scales slick off its back in flames, and its claws extend towards the foreground. It is lit in part by the warmth of the overhead light, but in part by the soft moonlight streaming in through a nearby window; the silver of moonlight makes the creature almost glow. 

You let out a low whistle, impressed. “Is that a dragon?” 

Lyca nods. “They’re supposed to be the four is- es- suspicious beasts.” 

You pause for a moment. “…auspicious?” 

Lyca scrunches his nose. “Yeah. Anyway, Ed says Rui is supposed to be the dragon.” 

You wrack your brain for mentions of the Four Auspicious Beasts – you know you studied something similar for a class two or three months back. “Isn’t it supposed to symbolise power or strength, or something like that?” 

“Yeah.” Lyca scratches the back of his neck. “Rui has the most power out of all of us. Given his curse and all.” 

You half-smile. Once upon a time you’d have said Ed was the strongest in Obscuary – knowing him now and thinking about the dynamics of the house, it makes more sense that their harried and lively vice-captain would be their dragon. 

“What about the tortoise?” 

Lyca frowns, as if it is obvious. He picks up his pen. “It’s that moth-eaten Casanova, of course. Slow and can’t do anything but make gross jokes.” 

Well. You can’t refute that.

“Also, he said it was supposed to represent longevity and stability,” Lyca adds, adding a few pen strokes, “and he’s supposed to live forever, so.” 

You look carefully at what Lyca is sketching. It is half-complete, details on its face yet to be finished. “Is that you?” 

He nods. “Rui said this was a…” he squints back at the tiny reference book, “a Qilin.” 

Makes sense. From what you remember, the qilin symbolised righteousness and integrity, both qualities Lyca possesses in bounds. 

You hum, watching his hands work. “Did you know that qilin are said to be so gentle and respectful of life they don’t step on blades of grass?” 

Lyca looks up at you, briefly. “I step on grass.”

It pulls a laugh out of you. “Yeah, well, but you’re still one of the most respectful ghouls I know.” 

You feel Lyca straighten a little at that, almost like he’s holding back a beam. He lets out a small huff. “Well. That’s what Suba told me to do.” 

If his tail was out it’d be wagging. You bite back a smile. “That’s good!” 

A silence lapses over the both of you for a few minutes as you watch his pen glide across the canvas. Your eyes wander back, again, to the eyes of the phoenix. 

Come to think of it, aren’t there only three occupants in Obscuary? You know that the set needs all four to be complete, but if Rui was the dragon, Ed the tortoise and Lyca the qilin, who was the phoenix? 

“Lyca, who’s that supposed to be then? Since there are only three of you.” 

Lyca slides a glance at you, brows furrowed as if he cannot fathom why you would be asking. “Isn’t it obvious? That’s you.” 

You blink. 

He taps the back of his pen on the reference book. The little taps are heavy on the lump growing in your throat. “The old man said phoenixes mean rebirth. After you’re cured, you’re gonna have your second life, right?”

His tone is so matter-of-fact, as if he has never had a doubt that you’d be cured, that whatever response you might have had swells in your lungs and stays there. 

The weight of his conviction sinks into the surface of your mind. You know the Mortkranken ghouls have been working overtime for you, you know the Hotarubi ghouls have been poring over dusty old tomes for more information, you know the rest of the ghouls have been working on your curse in their own ways and yet… 

And yet some part of you has never dared to hope for the success of a cure. 

You swallow. 

But here they are, holding a torch you have never dared to light – you will break your curse before the year is up. You will be cured. You will get to return to normal, life irrevocably changed by your time at Darkwick and bound to the ghouls that you’ve helped and been helped by, for better or for worse. You will get to live. 

Your nose burns. 

Lyca looks at you curiously. 

“Nothing,” you say, quickly. You cough to cover up the thick in your voice. “The fact that you’d accept me into Obscuary… that’s really nice to hear.” 

Lyca snorts. “Of course you’ll be with us. Where else would you be?” 

You grin. It comes out watery, probably, but you don’t care. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

[kasirose]

Prompt: 'A Window Into an Empty Room'

For the By the Angel Bingo hosted by the @malecdiscordserver

Aka season 3 episode 6. Or the episode I mostly remember as the one where Alec is real salty about a spatula and then gets drunk and rambles about Magnus XD

So I decided to take the prompt both kind of literally and also not?

This one took quite some time to finish as I've never really drawn an environment before but I hope it turned out ok! 🙃

[randomingoftherandomness]

Clingy drunk zhao yuanzhou fic

A/N: Just a short one :)

It's hard to do anything when your left and right arms are the favourite gripping toys for an ape of a demon and a child prodigy who really should stop whining right into your ear about how it's unfair that Zhao Yuanzhou gets the privilege of having your arm and have it slung around his waist.

Xiao Zhuo really does not want to have this talk about the birds and the bees, though judging by the life Bai Jiu has had, he's sure the kid knows more than most his age about the matter.

As is, he resigns himself to blinking pleadingly at a silently chortling Ying Lei who, thankfully, takes pity on him and quickly swoops in to pick the boy off him.

"Let go." He shakes his arm where it is still being latched on to by Zhao Yuanzhou. The demon stinks of wine, though Xiao Zhuo can't say he hates the scent of peaches on his breath when he laughs softly, nuzzling into his cheek.

"Don' wanna..." He sighs. "It's comfortable here."

Switching tactics, Xiao Zhuo shifts to hold him by the waist. "You'd be more comfortable in bed." He coaxes.

"Mm... In our bed? Will you be there?"

The words are a quiet question and even under the fondly amused attentions of their friends, Xiao Zhuo can feel himself being even more enamoured than he already is. Smiling a little, he tilts his head, leaning in. "Mn. So be good for your Xiao Zhuo-daren, go to bed."

Zhao Yuanzhou lifts his face from where it is pressed to Xiao Zhuo's shoulder. "Come with me?"

"Of course."

With a careful sweep, Xiao Zhuo takes him into a carry. Deftly tipping his head in goodbye to their companions and resolutely ignoring how their smiles grow at how he does not scurry away with an armful of a giggling demon.

He's coincidentally, all of a sudden, pretty tired himself too. Nothing wrong with going to bed early.

[yingdu-lover]

"这一辈子 能和值得信任的伙伴在一起 是多么难能可贵的事"

"In this life, it is so precious to be with a trustworthy partner."

[moccakisucrafts]

Wdym I can’t immediately be the best at all hobbies I pick up 😟

[vaetis]

A letter from Sylus.

[kaurwreck]

curious to know why you like gin so much!

Gin is a teenage girl sage king. She personifies love without ego and is also an ambush predator. She is divine grace if divine grace were an assassin with peach scented lotion. She thinks the urban legend that cherry blossoms are so pretty because they feed on bodies buried beneath them is neat. She chose hell, and transcends it.

Metanarratively, she is the archetypal Mary conceptualized by Ryunosuke Akutagawa in Man of the West:

We sense a bit of Mary in all women. Perhaps in all men, too.... In fact, one could say that we feel a bit of Mary in the fires burning in the hearth or in the vegetables fresh from the field, or in an unglazed pot or solidly built chair. Mary is not the one who is eternally feminine. She is the one who eternally protects us. After all, as the mother of Christ, Mary spent her life traversing the "vale of tears." And yet, she lived with great fortitude. In her life, one finds worldly wisdom, folly, and virtue.

...

[People] have had to take lessons from Mary, more so than Christ, to find the way that leads to peace.

Gin is clever, decisive, perceptive, poised, and impish. She loves her older brother. She likes lace and florals and gourmand scents and play aggression. She reflects rippling, concurrent shades of black, gray, and white (e.g., when her eyes are black, she wears gray, when her eyes are gray, she wears her black hair down like a veil; depending on the context, she is either dressed or masked in white). She's quick to blush.

I like Gin so much because she's Gin.

[xinyuehui]

Scissor Seven S5EP5 Trivia

Dai Bo made a joke about how inns in martial art films is often a place to gather information. One of the most prominent inns in martial art media is Dragon Inn.

Screenshot from Dragon Inn (1967)

Reference to a famous Chinese meme "eat shit"(?) from As Tears Go By (1988)

Seven says the exact same line "eat shit" a minute later.

No idea how they will translate 白云凤爪 officially, the direct translation is White Cloud Phoenix Claws. Which happens to be the exact same name of a famous Cantonese dim sum dish cold marinated chicken feet. (I will spare the western audience from a picture of this delicious dish 😂)

The nine-fingered demon of the qin is a reference to the Wuxia novel 六指琴魔 Six-Fingered Qin Demon written by Ni Kuang. In the novel the character is known to have six fingers on one hand.

The English behind him on the blackboard is a throwback to when Seven flexed his English in season 2 episode 7.

Miss Mei, this rose is for you!

The classes are 7 and 13!! The "Qing" and "Chun" on the back of the shirts mean "youth".

This part in the ED is a reference to a conversation Eleven had with He Dachun in season 3 episode 4.

Speculation that the Eyeless mage and Thirteen's dad know each other?

They seem to be doing fortune telling here. 申(shen) represents Yang in Yin-Yang, metal in Wuxing (five elements), one of the Earthly Branches which represents 3pm-5pm or monkey in the zodiac or southwest position in 24 cardinal directions. I do not know about fortune telling so I have no idea what any of this means, it could mean war is coming or Thirteen's dad have no son luck lol take your pick.

Here we see Ouyang Zan using a Mu Ren Zhuang, also known as a Wing Chun dummy. While the Thumbs-Up martial art is a fun pun on Zan/thumb. Throughout the series we can see the style of martial art he practices is Wing Chun. Ouyang Zan's name is a reference to the martial artist Leung Jan (Liang Zan in pingyin). Leung Jan is one of the earliest practitioners of Wing Chun, he's also known as Mr Jan of Foshan. Modern martial artists such as Ip Man and Bruce Lee was his grand-disciple and great-grand-disciple respectively.

In EP4 we see Seven use Foshan shadowless kick. A famous technique used by Wong Feihung, although Wong Feihung practices Hung Ga style martial art. This kick is also practiced in Wing Chun. These styles all fall under the category of Nanquan - southern Chinese martial arts.

[lydiahosek]

[Image ID: A pair of traditional pen drawings featuring Mai from Avatar: The Last Airbender as a child. In the first, she holds an ink brush in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. She smiles at the paper and blushes. In the second, we see the paper from her perspective. On it is a drawing of Mai and Zuko as adults, though still with their childhood hairstyles, and wearing royal Fire Nation headpieces. They smile at each other and hold hands. /.End ID]

Maiko Week Day 6: Childhood

Prince Zuko and Princess Mai...

[casscainmainly]

hi so sorry to bother you i’m still new to the batfam but i have a question about your bat relationships you’d like to see more of post

who’s the second sister? im probably overlooking someone obvious😭

Hi!! Welcome to the batfam internet the best and worst place in the world <33 Anyway the second sister is a reference to the current/previous Nightwing run, basically Tom Taylor in his infinite wisdom gave Dick a half-sister (daughter of John Grayson and Meili Lin who was Tony Zucco's first wife). I just think it's hilarious that Dick now has two Wasian sisters and they're both Chinese!! And they're completely unrelated to each other!!

Spoilers for Watters' current run, but basically it's setting up a conflict between Dick and Melinda (his sister). So I thought it'd be the perfect time to bring back his long-standing beef with his other Wasian sister. Imagine we get this again, but it's two Wasian girls beating him up at once!

You definitely weren't overlooking anyone obvious haha, I doubt anyone knows about Melinda unless they're reading the Nightwing run. But anyway Dan Watters if you're reading this include Cass in Nightwing and I will buy all your comics forever and ever.

[rev-xce]

im redrawing frames of a rw mv that i really like :)

Here's the original mv, you can find it on bilibili/or if u cant access bilibili, its on Youtube

It's a seriously well done mv, yall shld check it out ;))))

Timelapse:

[around-your-throat]

one of my favorite videos is an interview where they asked patrick and pete to copy some chinese characters and patrick looks so proud after doing it

[carmelves]

Lmao???

I know it's probably different characters/tones but what???