hawthorneasphodel

[hawthorneasphodel]

Morning Diversions

So the other day I had a little time off and decided to get rid of my writer’s block once and for all and this is the result ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*All recognizable characters don’t belong to me

“Guys, are you ready for tomorrow or what?” asked an excited Sasha as she skipped ahead of the group of friends.

“Potato girl, only you can muster up this much excitement at 6:30 in the morning. Give us a chance to wake up,” replied Ymir as she grumpily walked along with the rest of their group. 

Sasha cringed, “sheesh, she’s truly not a morning person,” she thought to herself.

“Never mind her Sasha, she’s only upset because Krista is going to be out today,” snickered Connie

Ymir shoot a nasty glare at him and gave him a hard punch on his forearm.

“Ouch! Chill woman,” complained Connie.

“I still can’t believe we got the VIP tickets for the amusement park for free! I’m pumped!,” exclaimed Eren excitedly.

“Yosh! We’ll go on all the rollercoasters!” seconded Hanji as she high-fived Eren.

Armin meanwhile looked at both of them and began resigning himself to his fate. There was no way these two would forgive him if he opted out of the thrill rides. 

“Mika, will you be making snacks for tomorrow?” asked Sasha as she finally slowed down to allow for her friends to catch up to her. A few seconds after not receiving a response she turned back, “Mika?”

“Huh?” asked a confused Mikasa, who had been completely unaware of the conversation her friends had been carrying out.

Next to her Levi tsked, “Braus, we’re discussing our training schedule for the school decathlon. Don’t interrupt us for nonsense.”

Sasha looked like she wanted to protest but was interrupted by Ymir before she could put a word in, “Training schedules huh?” asked a skeptical Ymir.

“Yeah,” replied Mikasa, “we have to win if we want to keep the funding we receive from the student council.”

This reply only made Ymir smirk, “please, who’re you trying to kid?” she then made her way towards Mikasa and Levi and made a motion as if to slice the air between both of them, “you can practically cut the sexual tension between the two of you with a knife.”

Mikasa blushed and looked affronted. Levi, on the other hand, just raised a brow, “I’m sure any so called ‘sexual tension’ we have doesn’t exceed your salivating over Reiss.”

Ymir scowled, “don’t compare true love to mere lust Ackerman.”

“Alright enough, let’s just get to school and finish this day in peace,” said an exasperated Mikasa who just wanted to change the subject altogether.

Everybody nodded their ascent and they resumed their walk. “So Mika…,” said Sasha as she approached Mikasa.

“Yes Sasha?”

“Will you be making your sandwiches for tomorrow?” asked Sasha looking hopeful.

Mikasa chuckled, “you never change. But to answer your question, yes. I guess I can make some so we have something light to eat throughout the day.”

Sasha gave a little jump and squealed in delight, “You’re the absolute greatest! No other friend compares to you.”

Mikasa just blushed and looked down as she buried her face in her scarf and Sasha made her way to Connie to talk about how much fun they were going to have the next day.

“She’s right you know,” said Levi as he looked straight ahead and avoided direct eye contact with Mikasa.

“No, she just likes my hummus,” dismissed Mikasa.

“I meant Ymir,” said Levi as he looked around and grabbed a hold of Mikasa’s hand to get her to follow him to a secluded corner of the school where they could converse without the risk of nosy friends around. He put a hand to wall in front of him and encased Mikasa, whilst he gently grabbed a hold of her chin with his other hand, “when will you finally agree to go out with me?”

Mikasa blushed and found herself unable to look away from Levi’s eyes. He generally had this disarming effect on her and she didn’t know what to make of it. “I’ll tell you what. If by some struck of luck you manage to beat me on the decathlon, I’ll go on a date with you.”

“Oh? Prepare to lose then,” said Levi with a smirk as he gently let go of Mikasa’s chin and guided her towards the entrance of the school once more. 

“But, if I win you’ll have to kiss Erwin,” said Mikasa with a smirk, “on the lips.” 

“What the fuck Mikasa?” asked an outraged Levi.

“Well it’s only fair. If you win you get what you want and if you lose Hanji pays me $200,” answered Mikasa with a smile.

Levi still looked peeved and refused to look at Mikasa, who began to feel a little remorse at angering him.  

“Well, this is my stop,” said Mikasa as they arrived to her homeroom.

Levi nodded stiffly and made to walk to his class until Mikasa stopped him and gave him a light kiss on the corner of his lips making him blush.

“What was that for?” stammered out Levi uncharacteristically.

“A little incentive so you win the decathlon. I’m rooting for you,” said a blushing Mikasa as she turned and went into her classroom. 

“Damn brat,” said a smiling Levi as he continued on to his classroom.

[hawthorneasphodel]

Japanese Masterlist

 Reading and Writing

Lang-8 // http://lang-8.com/

Single Sentence Summary: A website where you post journal entries in your target language, native speakers correct it and vice versa.

Why You Should Use It: NATIVE. SPEAKERS. CORRECTING. YOUR. ENTRIES!!!! It also has an abundance of native Japanese speakers which is always a plus and forces you to actively utilise what you’ve learnt vs. your knowledge just passively withering away.

Possible Pitfalls: Correcting other people’s grammar is weirdly addictive and you might find yourself spending hours on it or maybe that���s just me whoops. 

Rikaikun & Rikaichan // For Chrome // For Firefox

Single Sentence Summary: A web browser add-on that automatically translates Japanese if you hover over words.

Why You Should Use It: It’s extremely useful when reading articles online, especially when it comes to unknown kanji. It provides an efficient way to access definitions.

Possible Pitfalls: They’re potentially a little too helpful - you could get reliant on them and not actually learn the kanji D:

Maggie Sensei // http://maggiesensei.com/

Single Sentence Summary: A site filled with Japanese lessons taught by ‘Maggie Sensei’, a French bulldog.

Why You Should Use It: The grammar lessons are really helpful as they provide a lot of context rather than just telling you how to form the structure. Maggie Sensei is also ridiculously cute.

Possible Pitfalls: I don’t actually use it on a super regular basis so I’m not sure how many resources there actually are, but the explanations I HAVE used from the site are all A+.

Children’s Newspapers // Asagaku // News Web Easy

Single Sentence Summary: Japanese newspapers written with simple vocabulary and grammar that are aimed towards children.

Why You Should Use It: Because the articles are aimed towards children, they’re much easier to digest and take in. Also keeps you up to date with how awful the world is haha ;)

Possible Pitfalls: The articles all come with furigana above basically ALL the kanji which can get a tad annoying. If you’re looking for something more challenging, consider trying the original newspapers such as The Daily Asahi and NHK News.

Listening

Japanese Youtubers //

Native Japanese speakers with English subtitles: PDRさん 

Native Japanese speakers without English subtitles: MAHOTO //  はじめしゃちょー (Hajime) // Sasaki Asahi

Non-native Japanese speakers with English subtitles: MIMEI 

Note: There are probably plenty more Youtubers out there but for time and convenience’s sake, I’ve only listed the ones that a) make videos mainly in Japanese and b) I actually watch myself.

Why You Should Use It: Youtube videos are short and snappy so they don’t take up as much time as say, watching a film. Furthermore, because a lot of them are humorous, you can pick up more natural sounding phrases.

Possible Pitfalls: You might get sucked into an irredeemable blackhole of no return and never leave your house again.

Japanese Anime, Dramas and Variety Shows //

Why You Should Use It: Dramas/anime/variety shows come in episodes so they are also quick and easy to watch. COVER THE SUBTITLES (or better yet, have no subtitles) so you’re actually learning from the experience, not just wasting time. Don’t hesitate to replay sections again if you didn’t quite catch everything the first time.

Disclaimer: Anime characters (and certain drama characters) say some pretty weird stuff so please use your common sense when picking up phrases. DO NOT run around screaming 「だってばよ」 like Naruto or referring to yourself as「 俺様 」just because Atobe from Prince of Tennis does. Always check that what you’re learning is actually applicable to real life.

Possible Pitfalls: See the disclaimer above. Also just as a general rule, slice-of-life stuff tends to have more vocabulary that you can actually use in real life for obvious reasons. 

Meeting Friends and Speaking

HelloTalk // Google Play Store // Itunes

Single Sentence Summary: An app that allows you to connect with native speakers of other languages. You can do so by text, audio messages and voice + video calls.

Why You Should Use It: Essentially you can practice reading, writing, speaking and make new friends all at the same time. What’s not to love?

Possible Pitfalls: This is a minor thing but I keep forgetting to reply on HelloTalk because I want to reply properly but I never have the time to do so. Apart from that it’s been great so far. :)

Japan Guide // http://www.japan-guide.com/penfriend/

Single Sentence Summary: An all-purpose forum about Japanese culture but it’s particularly useful for finding language learning partners.

Why You Should Use It: As stated above, it’s good for finding penpals and language learning partners. You can filter by age, gender, country, language etc. which is pretty good. Also, all messages are sent through the site so on the off chance that you do meet a creepy weirdo, they won’t have access to your contact details.

Possible Pitfalls: Since all the messaging is done through the website, I tend to forget to check my inbox a lot of the time. Also they automate the passwords which makes them easy to forget too. For these reasons, I would recommend messaging on LINE or something once you’ve ascertained the other party isn’t a serial killer or something along those lines. ;)

[hawthorneasphodel]

Foiled Plans & Pity Chocolate

*All recognizable characters are not my property.

Valentine’s Prompt: “That better not be a pity rose. Pity chocolate I’ll take, but that’s it.”

Mikasa couldn’t believe she actually had had high hopes for today. Everything had been planned out weeks in advance. She had even started practicing making chocolate with Krista since the beginning of January in preparation for today. No store bought chocolate would have been appropriate for what she had in mind.

“Of course, I have no one else to blame for this but myself,” thought a bitter Mikasa as she started making her way to the library.

The signs had all been there, she had just blinded herself in an attempt to keep her desired outcome alive.

You see, today’s Valentine’s day and Mikasa was determined to finally confess her feeling to Eren. She had been in love with him for years. Since freshman year of high school to be precise. They were now both Juniors in college.

“I shouldn’t have waited so long to say anything,” thought Mikasa as she took a seat at her favorite table in the campus library.

“I don’t want to hear ‘I told you so’ Armin. I’m doing a fantastic job at feeling shitty without your reminder.”

Her friend Armin smiled lightly as he pulled the chair in front of her to take a seat, “I wouldn’t do that to you . If anything I wish I had been wrong if only to not see you like this,” he finished with a frown.

Mikasa smiled lightly at him at placed one of her hands of top of one of his, “thanks Armin, you’re truly one of my greatest friends,” she squeezed his hand lightly before letting go. She then held up her finger asking for a moment as she dug through her backpack.

“I did not forget about you by the way. I know how much you like chocolate so I made some especially for you,” finished Mikasa as she dug out a medium sack of homemade chocolate truffles and handed them to Armin.

“Thanks Mikasa,” said a truly touched Armin.

“Don’t mention it,” said Mikasa with a ghost of a smile which immediately turned into a sad frown upon seeing who was coming into the library.

“Oh great, I’m not ready for this,” murmured Mikasa to herself.

“Eren coming this way?” questioned Armin.

“Yeah with Annie,” answered Mikasa with a pained look in her eyes.

Both turned to look towards the door where a beaming Eren was holding the door open for Annie. They must have felt gazes on them because they waved and made a sign that they’ll join them briefly before heading to the coffee shop annexed to the library.

Mikasa then felt tears begin to fall from her eyes again as she started to laugh lightly, “you know what the worst part is?”

“No,” replied Armin as he handed Mikasa his handkerchief, “what is it?”

“That I can’t hate Annie because she’s my friend and overall a great person. Eren deserves someone as amazing as her,” finished Mikasa as she wiped her eyes and looked down at the table.

“Mikasa, look at me,” said Armin.

Mikasa raised her gaze to meet his.

“You’re an amazing girl as well.  The fact that Eren fell for someone else doesn’t change that fact. Understand? This just means that he isn’t the one for you.”

“Thanks Armin,” said Mikasa with a small smile that reached her eyes. “You know what though? I think I’m going to head home. I’m happy for them. Truly. I’m just not quite ready to face it at this moment. I need to go home and unwind.”

Armin nodded in understanding, “go ahead. I’ll come up with something to tell them.”

“Thanks Armin,” said Mikasa as she finished gathering her things and started walking towards the exit.

“Hey Armin, where’s Mikasa going?” asked a curious Eren as he pulled out a chair for Annie to seat before taking a seat himself.

“Sasha called her right now, I believe she had an emergency with her Valentine’s chocolate and needed backup.”

Eren snorted, “I’m sure that emergency is that she ate the chocolate she intended to give to Connie.”

Annie smacked him for this comment, “whatever the emergency is I’m sure Mikasa was the best person to call. She’s highly resourceful.”

“True,” answered Armin with a smile.

With that they all proceeded to take out their respective assignments.

  ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ In the end Mikasa ended up opting for heading to the park instead. Being on the swings was likely to calm her and at the very least she wouldn't be alone to deal with her thoughts. She just wanted to let go and try to make the best of this day. It hadn't been terrible. It would've been a complete disaster had the whole Eren-Annie ordeal all happened before she made an ass of herself declaring her love for him so that was a plus. She made her way to the swings, threw her backpack on the side, and started swinging as high as she could go with her eyes closed in an attempt to prevent further tears from pouring out.

She swinged until she could feel herself begin to smile again and felt comfortable enough to stop. She opened her eyes slowly only to find herself looking at a rose.

She raised an eyebrow and looked up at the person holding the rose. It was Levi. Her neighbor and graduate student in the engineering program.

“That better not be a pity rose. Pity chocolate I’ll take, but that’s where I draw the line," said a peeved Mikasa.

"I wouldn't bother with a pity rose," replied an equally peeved Levi, "this is just me giving you a rose."

Mikasa took the rose gingerly from Levi, "thanks," she said softly.

Levi nodded and took a seat on the swing next to her, "from your expression earlier I take it your day didn't go according to plan."

Mikasa scowled at him, "just how long have you been standing there looking at me?"

"Not much," answered a non-plussed Levi.

Mikasa just sighed at his response and answered his question, "no, it didn't."

"Hmm," was Levi's only reply as he started to swing slowly

Mikasa had never spoken much with Levi. If there was a good term to describe what they were it would be friendly acquaintances.

If she was honest with herself she had been highly intrigued with him when she first moved to the apartment next door to his. He always seemed serious and highly dedicated to his studies; not to mention the fact that he was incredibly attractive. In fact, she had initially developed a crush on him that had made her momentarily forget about Eren. A crush that she decided to push to the back burner the moment she found out he had a girlfriend.

"Levi," said an unsure Mikasa

He turned to look at her and raised a brow.

"Would you mind eating my chocolate with me? I don't want it to go to waste."

Levi pondered her inquiry for a few seconds, Mikasa was almost sure he would decline.

"Sure, but not here. We're going to my favorite tea house. My treat."

Mikasa smiled, "that sounds good."

Levi stood and grabbed her backpack, "come on brat, we have to get there before they run out of the good food."

Mikasa made a displeased sound at the nickname, "whatever you say shorty."

"Tse, annoying brat."

Mikasa only stuck out her tongue at him and started following him to the tea shop. She didn't know what it was about Levi but she truly felt like she could let out her inner child and be playful. She didn't often act like this. She wouldn't generally act this way even with her best girl friend Sasha.

"I could get used to this," thought Mikasa as she smiled to herself and walked faster to keep up with Levi.

"We're here brat," make yourself comfortable in the corner table. I'll get us some drinks.

Mikasa took her backpack from him and nodded. She started heading down towards the corner and decided to take the seat that would face the café. It truly was a charming place. It had an 'old world' feel to it that made it immediately feel cozy and rather like at home. Seeing that Levi was already paying she decided to take out the chocolate and have it at hand for when he came.

"Here you go brat. Peppermint tea, plain," Mikasa smiled at Levi and gratefully took her cup.

"So what took you to the park on Valentine's day? I thought an old grouch like you would prefer to hide in your cave and avoid all the blinding ridiculousness that abounds today and pleases us mere mortals."

Levi scoffed, "for your information I happen to like holidays just fine... Though maybe this one a little less than others.

Mikasa chuckled lightly and proceeded to sip on her tea.

"To answer your question," began a pensive Levi as she looked away from her tea and gave him her undivided attention, "I was just walking back home and happened to see you at the park. You looked upset so I figured I'd stop by and check on you."

"Thanks, you really didn't have to go out of your way though. I really hope I'm not intruding on any Valentine's day plan with your girlfriend."

At this Levi lost his blasé attitude and almost spit out his tea, "girlfriend?! What girlfriend?"

Mikasa raised an eyebrow at him, "The pretty redhead that always comes by every Wednesday afternoon."

Levi smirked at this.

"Not that I stalk you or anything!" exclaimed Mikasa, "it's just that I alway see her when I get home after lab and she always stops for a chat. She's really nice."

Levi leaned forward and took one of Masa's homemade chocolates, "that would be Petra, my step brother's girlfriend," he informed as he put the chocolate in his mouth and ate it, "surely after all this time stalking me you would've figured I have a roommate?" finished Levi with a teasing gleam in his eyes.

Mikasa blushed and looked down at her tea, "as a matter of fact no I hadn't but thanks for elucidating me on the matter of your living arrangements."

Levi chuckled lightly, making her blush, "kill me now. How embarrassing," she thought to herself.

"I got to give you props brat these are delicious. If your cooking is as good as your dessert making and you ever have leftovers you don't know what to do with please feel free to give them to me."

Mikasa smiled softly at him, "thank you Levi."

Levi raised a brow, "for what? I'm not throwing out compliments just because. If anything this will be for my benefit."

Mikasa chuckled lightly and reached out for his hand to give it a light squeeze, "for approaching me and completely turning this day around for me."

Levi blushed, "anytime."

After that, the conversation simply flowed between them. They hadn't even noticed the time until one of the servers had approached to let them know they were closing. Levi paid the tab against Mikasa's wishes and then they both made their way back home in silence; simply relishing in each other's presence.

"Levi," said Mikasa as they had finally reached her apartment, "thank you for today. Truly. I hope we can see more of each other."

"Count on it brat," said Levi as he tried to remain nonchalant to the young woman in front of him.

Mikasa gave him a gentle smile and leaned down to give him a light peck on the cheek. "I'll see you around Levi." She gave him one last smile and walked into her apartment.

Levi stood there dumbfounded of a few seconds before he grinned, and started making his way home. "I won't let you get away this time Mikasa."

[hawthorneasphodel]

All According to Plan

*All recognizable characters don’t belong to me. This story is just written in good fun. 

“So let me get this straight. You want to hire me to be be your date to a Valentine’s party?”

Levi looked at Mikasa irritated, “did I, at any point of my request, stutter?”

Mikasa, still too shocked to properly react to his inquiry, looked at him in disbelief, “no, you didn’t stutter at all. That’s the problem. As far as I know you are close to hating me. Why in the world would you want me to accompany you to a party? Why not ask Petra? I’m sure she’d love to go with you. Word on the office is that she’s waiting on you to ask her out.”

The slightly shorter man tsk’d in annoyance, “This is hardly rocket science. I need a yes or a no.”

Having gone back to her senses, Mikasa scowled at him, “and just how much is in it for me shorty?”

Levi grimaced at the nickname. He hated being mocked for his height, especially when it came to her. ‘Better swallow my pride this once though. This party could make me or break me and there’s no one else I’d rather go with than this damn brat,’ thought Levi as he composed himself and got ready to answer Mikasa.

“Well, I’ll pay you $1,500 for going to the party with me plus a stipend for what you will wear for the night,” he raised his hand once he saw Mikasa had every intention of interrupting him, “there is further for you to gain from going to the party with me that isn’t monetary.”

“Like?” questioned a skeptical Mikasa

“This party is organized by the top business leaders in the city to gather funds for charity,” replied Levi whilst making slight mockery of this fact, “ultimately I’m sure you can surmise that the focal point of this event is meeting up with other influential people to gain key contacts among different industries. I know that’s what I’ll be using it for. You can’t tell me you don’t have people in particular you want to meet.”

Mikasa looked at Levi long and hard. The bastard was right. As much as she hated to admit it, she could greatly benefit from meeting key business people in their city. Specifically, she would love to meet with member’s of Sinna’s largest publishing houses. This all seemed great in writing but there was one problem. Could she really stand to be Levi’s companion for one night? Since she had been assigned as his secretary there hadn’t been a day in which they weren’t at each other’s throats.

“Well?” asked Levi impatiently.

“I’m only expected to accompany you to this party correct? No funny business of any kind?” questioned a wary Mikasa.

Levi scoffed loudly, “of course not. You’d be the last woman I’d look into hiring for that kind of business deal.”

’Son of a …,’ thought Mikasa as she flushed in anger and tried to control her breathing to make herself calm down, ‘shame this is too much of a good opportunity to simply let pass by.’

“Very well. I will accompany you to this party.”

Levi was pleased, things had turned out like he wanted. Not that he would externalize this to his secretary. “Perfect, take the day off tomorrow and have all calls directed to reception. All messages should be directed to your inbox for reviewing tomorrow.”

“But,” started Mikasa.

“No buts. Its already Wednesday and the party is this Friday night. You need to go find a dress. I will not show up to that party with a date wearing a sub par dress. I already made you an appointment at Saks with Krista Reiss for tomorrow at 10:00. I’m sure she’ll be able to find something to make you look decent.”

Mikasa seethed at this, “you bastard! Were you so sure I’d say yes?”

Levi made as if flicking lint from his suit, “don’t occupy your mind with menial details. Finish your assignments for today. I don’t want you leaving any open items for tomorrow.”

Mikasa scowled at him one last time before nodding and going back to her desk.

Once she was out of the office Levi let out a breath he had been holding since the beginning of his talk with Mikasa. From now on he would need to play his cards carefully to ensure all pieces fell into place the way he wanted them to.

“Mr Ackerman, I have Mr. Erwin Smith on line two. He says he has a call scheduled with you but I’m not seeing anything on the schedule.”

Levi pressed the button for his private communication system with Mikasa, “Mikasa please transfer him to my line 5 and block any calls for the next 30 minutes.”

“Understood.”

Levis phone rang once, “Erwin.”

“Levi, it’s been a while since I heard from you.”

Levi scoffed, “cut the crap Erwin. Has Arlert sent his RSVP?”

Erwin chuckled, “Eager are we? Yes, he sent it in this morning.”

“Perfect,” said Levi as another part of his plan fell into place.

“You sure are making a lot of effort for this one girl,” said Erwin in a nonchalant tone, “why now? Why her? You’ve never been too keen on anyone from the opposite sex before.”

Levi sighed and got himself comfortable in his chair, “she’s different. I knew it the moment Hanji brought her in her first day. I almost hated her for hiring Mikasa.”

“Not into breaking company policies?”

“Of course not, much less when I implemented that policy.”

Erwin remained quiet for a few seconds, “you do realize that she doesn’t think highly of you? And I mean it’s not unwarranted. I’d hate to work for you. You have a horrid temper.”

“I do know that. Thanks for the friendly reminder,” replied Levi bitterly, “it’s why I asked her to go with me to the party in the first place. I want to show her I can be a decent human being.”

“And you’re hoping that her meeting with Arlert results in a job offer,” concluded Erwin.

“Yes, that would mean she would work on editing and writing as she wishes and she wouldn’t be my employee anymore, which would give me the green light to date her.”

“Well, I wish you the best of luck on this. God knows we’d all benefit of you finally having a semblance of a love life.”

“Thanks,” said Levi sarcastically.

“Anytime,” replied an amused Erwin, “I have to hang up. I have a meeting in five. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Ok, bye;” said Levi as he hung up his phone.

He attempted to go back to the paperwork he needed to complete for his big meeting tomorrow but he found that he couldn’t. Too many thoughts about the outcome of the party kept on coming to his mind. With a sigh he turned his chair to face the window and allow himself a moment to enjoy the view of the city.

“This is it,” he said as he turned his gaze to the sky, “she’s the one. I know it. I will make her see that I can treat her right if she gives me a chance.”

With this last though he nodded to himself and went back to work. He knew everything would turn out the way he wished. His gut never failed him.

[hawthorneasphodel]

Mujer del Anochecer

Bueno, este es mi primer intento de escribir Rivamika en español.  Inicialmente había empezado a escribirla en inglés pero por algún motivo me entraron las ganas de cambiarlo. Siento nervios porque es algo nuevo para mí pero hay que intentarlo, ¿no?

¡Espero les guste! :)

“¡Mikasa, bienvenida a casa!”exclamaron emocionadamente Sasha y Krista en cuanto abrían la puerta del apartmento para que Mikasa pudiera entrar.

“Hola chicas, No creí que las iba a encontrar despiertas,,” dijo Mikasa mientras se quitaba su abrigo y su bufanda cuidadosamente y los colgaba en el perchero.

“Nos nos íbamos a perder de tu llegada; además, es sábado por la noche. Ordenaremos comida, ya tenemos las bebidas y aprovecharemos para echarnos un chal*,” dijo Krista mientras Sasha emocionadamente, y sin gentileza alguna empujaba a Mikasa hacia la sala y la obligaba a sentarse.

“¿Cómo estuvo Nueva York? ¿Hiciste algo emocionante?” preguntó Krista con una sonrisa.

“¿Que si hizo algo emocionante?” bufó Sasha, “aquí lo que deberíamos preguntar es, ¿CONOCISTE a alguien interesante?”

Mikasa les sonrió gentilmente, “ustedes saben que fui estrictamente por mis clases. Todo tiempo que llegué a tener libre lo utilicé para visitar museos y lugares de interés. No iba a dedicar algo de mi preciado tiempo libre a alguien sin importancia.”

“Ugh, ¿porqué te haces esto? Eres una mujer preciosa Mika. Deberías darte la oportunidad de salir con chicos y disfrutar un poco de tu vida,” contestó Sasha exageradamente.

“Déjala en paz Sasha. Mikasa tiene una personalidad muy diferente a la tuya y ella decidirá cuando y si acaso quiere salir en citas. Lo que a te divierte a ti no tiene que tener el mismo efecto en ella,” la regañó Krista.

“Saben, vamos a camber el tema. Que tal si llevo mis cosas a mi recámara y mientras tanto ustedes van pidiendo pizza y comida china. Yo invito,” sugirió Mikasa con una sonrisa.

“¡Amo como piensas Mika! La verdad es que tengo hambre, “ contestó Sasha

“A mi también me agrada la idea. Sacaré el vino y ya completamos la noche,” agregó Krista.

Una vez que tuvo la aprobación de ambas chicas Mikasa se dirigió a su habitación con sus maletas, “darme la oportunidad de salir con chicos,” murmuró suavemente. Ante este pensamiento imágenes de lo que podría ser se vinieron a su mente. En ellas podía verse caminando con un hombre apuesto e inteligente disfrutando de un helado. También se podía imaginar como se sentiría estar con su ser amado, tal y como había visto en las pel��culas que veía en casa para estudiar interacciones humanas.

“Imposible,” se dijo a si misma con amargura mientras entraba a su cuarto y pensaba en la única regla que le dieron para mantener su anonimato mientras completaba su trabajo.                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

La mañana siguiente trajo consigo una cómica visión de tres jóvenes dormidas en lo que simplemente se podía definir como las posiciones más incómodas posibles en los sillones de la sala.

"Ugh, nunca volveré a comer tanto en mi vida. ¡Me muero!” gimió Sasha miserablemente en cuanto comenzó a despertarse.

"Uh huh, como si fuera posible para ti mantenerte alejada de la comida por tanto tiempo. Apuesto a que en una hora estarás comiendo de nuevo" le contestó Krista con todo el escepticismo que pudo expresar tan temprano en la mañana. “¿Porqué estamos despiertas tan temprano?”, cuestionó Krista.

“Dijiste que querías ir conmigo de compras. Creo que mencionaste algo acerca de como yo no tenía sentido del estilo,” contestó Mikasa desde la cocina," si necesitan un incentivo, les informo que ya empecé a hacer unos waffles para desayunar."

"Yay waffles!" gritó con emoción Sasha.

Krista le mandó una mirada de incredulidad, “ni siquiera aguantaste cinco minutos. Increíble.”

“No estaremos desayunando unos simples waffles; estamos hablando de los waffles de Mika. Simplemente no hay mejores," contestó Sasha alegremente mientras se levantaba para encaminarse a la barra por su porción del desayuno.

Mikasa sonrió ante las reacciones de sus amigas. No podía negar que la convivencia con ellas era la mejor parte de su trabajo. Nunca esperó que en algún momento de su estancia llegaría a sentir aprecio por ellas, o cualquier persona con la que ella interactuarla. “Supongo que tuve suerte,” pensó Mikasa mientras terminaba de preparar los últimos waffles y servía el desayuno a sus amigas.

                                             ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜

“Bienvenida señorita Ackerman," saludó una mujer mayor que aparentaba estar en sus sesentas.

“Buenos días señorita Lotte. Por favor llámemeMikasa," contestó Mikasa con una sonrisa cortés mientras se acercaba al escritorio de Lotte para acomodarse su mochila apropiadamente.

“Muy bien, Mikasa," contestó Lotte con una sonrisa propia “antes de que te vayas, aquí tienes un mensaje que la professora Zoë dejó para ti. No estará en la oficina esta mañana. Tuvo una junta ”

“Gracias Lotte,” dijo Mikasa mientras se retiraba sus cosas del escritorio. “De casualidad le dijo la profesora Zoë si pasará por la oficina una vez que termine?”.

“Me temo que no Mikasa. Sólo se que su junta al parecer era con sus amigos de la infancia, los señores Smith y Ackerman.”

“Oh, Me parece que llegó a mencionarlos alguna vez.,” dijo Mikasa con una expresión pensativa. “Supongo que algo nos comentará después. ¡Que tenga un buen día Lotte!”

“Igualmente Mikasa.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cuando Mikasa se adentró en la oficina que compartía con Annie y no vio rastro de la chica se sintió aliviada. No era que no le agradara su compañera, pero últimamente sentía que ella sabía sobre su secreto y el peso de la incertidumbre comenzaba a afectarle. De hecho, su viaje de estudio había funcionado como descanso de la tensión que la situación en la oficina le daba.

Dejó sus cosas en su área de trabajo y sacó su laptop para encenderla. Tomó asiento y leyó el mensaje que le dejo la profesora Zoë.

“Mikasa, Imagino que Lotte ya te informó que estoy en una junta. Imagino que estaré terminando alrededor de mediodía. Tengo en mente salir a comer con el Sr. Smith & el Sr. Ackerman; pienso traerte conmigo. ¡Procura no botanear para que vayas con hambre!   Por favor ve trabajando en las revisiones del primer borrador que presentaremos al decano. Por cierto, Annie no vendrá el día de hoy. Al parecer contrajo un resfriado.”

Mikasa volteo hacia el reloj de su computadora y via que eran las 11:15 am.

“Supongo que empezaré con las revisiones,” dijo mientras abría el archivo en el que necesitaba trabajar.

Este semestre Mikasa estaba trabajando de asistente de la profesora Zoë en un projecto ‘new age’ que pretendía comprobar la existencia de seres sobrenaturales. Un tema excéntrico para una profesora de su caliber y una institución de estudios superiores, pero era innegable que contaba con material que comprobaría que estaba en lo correcto tarde o temprano.  

Verán, no era simple coincidencia que Mikasa trabajara como asistente de la profesora Zoë. Mikasa había sido mandada específicamente a supervisar los estudios de la mujer y evitar que se expusiera la existencia de seres como ella. Todas las pruebas que Hanji Zoë había logrado acaparar indicaban que alguien intentaba sabotear el arduo trabajo que el consejo sobrenatural había hecho los últimos centenarios.

Una vez que Mikasa se aseguró de que no hubiera información que delatara la existencia de sus semejantes exhaló con alivio.

Estaba a punto de revisar la hora nuevamente cuando Hanji entró a la oficina anotando la puerta con una sonrisa de oreja a oreja al ver que la había sacado un susto a Mikasa.

“¡Señorita, vamos a comer! Guarda tu progreso de las revisions y vámonos. ,” dijo Hanji con una sonrisa.

“Claro profesora” dijo Mikasa mientras guardaba sus archivos y se ponía su abrigo.

“Por cierto, no tienes que ser formal durante la comida. Iremos con mis amigos de la infancia así que siéntete libre de llamarme Hanji en lugar de profesora.”

Mikasa sonrió levemente, “claro Hanji. Estoy lista.”

“¡Yosh!” exclamó Hanji con entusiasmo en lo que tomaba su bolso y guió a Mikasa hacia su auto.

                                            ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜

“Erwin recuérdame una vez mas, ¿porqué accedimos a salir a comer con la cuatro ojos de mierda?” se quejaba un hombre de poca estatura con una cara de fastidio que, contra todo pronóstico, no hacía nada por aminorar su atractivo.  

“Bueno, no la hemos visto en algún tiempo y esperaba que re-entabláramos nuestra amistad con ella ahora que estaremos viviendo todos en la misma ciudad después de tantos años,” contestó un hombre rubio de una estatura considerable.

“Tse, solamente tú querrías durar mas tiempo del estrictamente necesario con ella,” murmuro irritadamente el hombre mas bajo de los dos.

Erwin suspiró, “Levi, es nuestra amiga de la infancia. Somos los tres mosqueteros;  esta comida era absolutamente necesaria.”

“Como quieras, yo solo digo que esta situación no me tiene muy contento. Además, ¿cuál es el propósito de traer a su estudiante a comer con nosotros? Con lo loca que es cuatro ojos imagino que su estudiante será igual y no tengo paciencia ni ganas de aguantar a otro espécimen raro,” finalizó el hombre llamado Levi.

“Disculpe alteza,” empezó a contestar Erwin con sarcasmo, “a la próxima tomaré en cuenta su hora de siesta para evitar su mal genio.”

Erwin se adelantó a Levi para entrar al restaurante y empezar a pedir la mesa. Levi aprovecho ese instante para empezar a quitarse el abrigo y doblar su bufanda. Entrecortadamente pudo escuchar como Erwin empezaba a coquetear con la joven que les estaría proporcionando la mesa y rodó los ojos.

“Típico, nunca deja el ‘encanto’ guardado por mucho tiempo,” pensó Levi, “mejor estaré al pendiente de que arriben los especímenes raros.”

Levi volteó a ver hacia la puerta y de pronto sintió como si su mundo se saliera de órbita, “seguramente esa chica no puede ser la asistente de investigaciones de Hanji. Me lleva la fre..”

“¡Levi!” exclamó Hanji con efusividad al verlo parado una vez que ella y Mikasa entraron al restaurante. Lo menos que ella se imaginaba eran las cosas que pasaban por la mente de su asistente y su amigo de la infancia.

Levi estaba completamente absorto en la belleza de Mikasa. Había algo en ella que llamaba a su ser de una manera que no podía comenzar a comprender y eso lo comenzaba a aturdir.

Mikasa por su parte estaba con el ‘corazón en la boca’ e intentaba no realizar ningún movimiento brusco para mantener control de si misma.

“Me lleva, esto debe ser un error,” pensó Mikasa en pánico, “esto no me puede estar pasando,” pero la negación no la llevaba a ninguna parte. Ya comenzaba a sentir los cambios en su ser y sólo quedaba una alternativa. Tenía que salir de ahí lo más pronto posible.

“Hanji, discúlpame pero me tengo ir,” dijo Mikasa con rapidez mientras salía del restaurante y llamaba a un taxi para escaparse del lugar.

Una vez que Mikasa llegó a su casa fue a su cuarto e inmediatamente tomo su poción para reprimir cualquier cambio y calmar el instinto de súcubo que comenzaba a revelarse al ser negado estar con su pareja.

Se volteó a verse en el espejo con una expresión melancólica. Desafortunadamente los cambios habían alcanzado a empezar a manifestarse y la poción tardaría en tomar efecto. Sus ojos, que antes eran de un hermoso color marrón ahora se manifestaban grises y en sus manos pudo notar el crecimiento anormal de sus uñas y emitió un quejido antes de derrumbarse en su cama.

Porque sí, Mikasa era una criatura que los humanos creían mítica y esta situación ahora solo le traería problemas.

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👏🏻

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news der spiegel deutsche welle die bild die süddeutsche zeitung die tageszeitung die welt die zeit nachrichtenleicht wissen youtube deutsch für euch dw - deutsch lernen easy german germanpod101 german with jenny get germanized sunny suphot learn german with ania

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Tips That Can Save Your Kid’s Life.

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Learning Japanese Master Post #01. 

Here’s a master post for the first 50 video lessons in the Learning Japanese video series, all view-able for free on YouTube! That’s right, each topic gets its own episode! All arranged in order and linked below. Check out all 200+ video lessons at the official YouTube channel here. And so, the journey of learning Japanese starts with lesson one, mastering Hiragana:

Intro to Japanese - The Hiragana Syllabary, Vowels, Pitch Accents, and More

The Katakana Syllabary

First Person Pronouns, or, Ways to Say “I” in Japanese

Second-Person Pronouns, or, Ways to Say “You” in Japanese

Basic Phrases (How-to Greet, Thank, Introduce Yourself and More)

XはY(です/ではありません) as “X is/is not Y”, Noun Modification with の, も as “also”

Existential Verbs (Aru, Iru, Irassharu/ある、いる、いらっしゃる)

Locational Markers へ, に, で

The Particle に as an Object Marker and Indirect Object Marker

The Particle で as an Instrument Marker

ね and よ as Final Particles

Introduction to Verbs, Dictionary Form, ます-Form

VERBing Alone with 一人で (hitori de) and Together with と一緒に (to issho ni)

Expressing “From X to Y” (Time and Space) with から and まで

Pre-ます Form + ましょう as “Let’s VERB” or “Shall we VERB”

Noun Verbs/Verbal Nouns

Polite Past Tense Form of Verbs (ました-Form) 

How to say “I intend/plan to VERB” with VERB + つもりです

How-to say “Won’t you/Would you like to VERB?” with Pre-ます Form VERB + ませんか

X は Y があります as “X has Y”

X から Y as “because of CLAUSE X, CLAUSE Y”

How-to say “Why is that?” or “How come?” with どうして

Listing Nouns Indefinitely with NOUN X や NOUN Y など

もう as “already” and まだ as “yet”

Negative ない Form (Verb Conjugation)

How-to say “Go/come/return to do VERB” with Pre-ます Form VERB + に + (行く/来る/帰る)

How-to say “I can VERB” with Dictionary Form VERB + ことが出来る

Answering to Negative Yes-No Questions

Introduction to Adjectives (い-adjectives and な-adjectives)

Basic Introduction to the Particles は and が

X でYがある as “There is Y (an activity) in/at X”

Introduction to Adverbs - Common Degree Adverbs 

The Particle が as “But/However”

X は(どう/いかが)ですか as “How is X?”

XはどんなYですか as “What kind of Y is X?”

Kochira (こちら)/Sochira (そちら)/Achira (あちら) as “this/that way”

Introduction to the て-Form (Verb Conjugation)

How-to Say “Please do VERB” (て-Form VERB + 下さい/下さいませんか)

How-to Say “am/is VERBing” (Ongoing Action) (て-Form VERB + いる)

The Particle まだ as “still”

How-to say “I like/love/hate Y” with X はY が(好き/嫌い)です

How-to Say “X is good/bad at Y” - XはYが(上手/下手/とくい)です)

X にする as “decide on X”

How-to Request an Object with X を(下さい/くださいませんか)

た-Form VERB +ことがある as “have VERB-ed before” 

かかる as “it costs X/it takes X time”

ぐらい and ごろ（に） as “about/approximately”

Comparing 2 Objects/Entities (XとYとでは、どちらの方がAですか) 

Comparing 3 or More Objects/Entities (XとYとZとでは、Xが一番A) 

Modifying Nouns with Clauses

Support Learning Japanese on Patreon! Please do consider checking out our milestone goals on Patreon and becoming a patron to support the continuation of this video series and expansion of the curriculum! https://www.patreon.com/learningjapanese

This video series is presented by becauseofdreams http://becauseofdreams.com/

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This is glorious and even thought it doesn’t fit in the range of all the paranormal, I MUST share

It works like this: You tell Kitestring that you’re in a dangerous place or situation, and give it a time frame of when to check in on you. If you don’t reply back when it checks your status, it’ll alert your emergency contacts with a custom message you set up.

It doesn’t require you to touch anything (like bSafe) or shake your phone (like Nirbhaya) to send the distress signal. Kitestring is smarter, because it doesn’t need an action to alert people, it needs inaction.

MORE INFORMATION

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Pokemon GO PSA

Fire types can be found at gas stations and during sunny days

Water types at lakes and other bodies of water as well as while it’s raining

Electric types are found near transforming stations and during thunderstorms

Ghost types can be found at night

Grass, bug, and normal types can be found in parks and other green landscapes

Normal types can also be found in urban areas

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How women prepare for first dates

Bonus: How men prepare for first dates:

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Please help i want to start learn Japanese

Can anyone recommend any good materials to learn the Japanese?

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Say you’re going to Japan. Then you realize that you don’t know any Japanese words.

Or, you’re learning Japanese, and you want to make sure you know some of the most important words in the Japanese language.

This is a list for you.

These 100 Japanese words will get you through an untold number of situations, problems, and feelings. I’m not saying that there are not other important words out there, but I do think this list of 100 Japanese words will get you really, really far, if for some reason you are limiting yourself to a mere 100 words. If you want to go beyond that, then perhaps a resource like WaniKani is going to be a better long-term solution.

Also, if you’d like to get the most out of this list (and your trip to Japan), I highly recommend that you learn hiragana and katakana, two of the Japanese “alphabets.” We’ve made a free learn hiragana guide, and a free learn katakana guide just for such an occasion.

Let’s get started!

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this tip tho!!!!!!!!

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Here are some podcasts to practice for the listening part of the AP French exam! It’s always good to be familiar with different parts of francophone culture, so I’ve done my best to get varied stories throughout. 

Radio France Internationale (news)

Le Savoir Faire Du Street Artiste

Les mystères de la pâtisseries japonaises

Accents d’Europe

Journal en français facile (part of RFI)

News in Slow French

One Thing In A French Day (everyday culture)

À l’école avec Noé

Concert au théâtre du Châtelet 

Au musée de la mode

Rituel du matin

Dans le mauvais train

Vélo le soir

Another thing that I’ve found to be helpful is French lectures/podcasts on iTunes! Below are some that I’ve found useful, whether during AP French or in previous years. And yes, they’re all free!

NYU: lectures

Agnes Scott College: really basic refreshers, plus a classroom setting

Tu Sais Quoi?: little snippets of conversations on lots of topics

The Open University: cultural videos, etc

I hope that helps to get you started in your practice for the AP exam! If you have anything to add, or if any of the links are broken, please let me know!