#but also yes i want to own a copy to annotate and mark up with Official Runes(tm) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kyeomunism · 3 years

Text

The Phoenix Ymbryne || Millard Nullings

Pairing: Millard Nullings x Fem!Reader

Devil’s Acre Era (includes events in TDODA)

Word Count: 2.3k words

Summary: You are a peculiar who can take the form of a Phoenix. Wights were a constant threat until an invisible boy takes you to your new home. Getting to know him made you realize your purpose and the worth of all you’ve been through.

A/n: this fic includes South-East Asian references and i wrote it in a way you’ll learn easily. so whatever your race is, step inside Y/n’s boots and enjoy this adventure fluff.

︵‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・༺❀༻・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ︵‿︵‿︵

1900, Manila

The gust of wind rustling the forest almost silenced your pounding heart, but not quite. You transformed into a blazing bird and shoot through the bright sky, searching the brown earthen hues below. Your bird form made you an easy target, knowing that the wights after you have hunting guns; but your bird form also allowed you to scan the forest with your peculiar intuition. You could detect souls and sense their objectives. As you fly towards the outskirts of the woods, you located the two wights running away.

Suddenly, you felt another soul wandering through the thickets. A lone, pure heart, a good aura that you wouldn’t expect right after getting chased by blank-eyed monsters. Driven by curiosity, you roamed above the trees where you felt the presence. It was a floating map. You perched on a branch and watched the huge map turn, as if being held by a person. You looked from another angle at it revealed a floating suit and trousers. Carefully eyeing the subject and its pavement shoes leaving a calculated trail, there was only one word you can fathom: peculiar.

It had been over half a century since you’ve seen another peculiar, and it fascinated you how you couldn’t actually see this one. You continued watching the invisible who seem to be looking for something; a landmark? a person? a girl who can turn into a two-feet-tall fiery bird? If it was the latter, you knew you couldn’t easily trust someone, even if your intuition screamed this person’s good intentions.

You flew towards your house by the river, and judging by the angle of the floating clothes below, you knew you’ve been spotted. The moment you reached your home, you transformed back to your sixteen year-old body and slipped in a floor length skirt, a white sleeved shirt made from pineapple fabrics, and a scarf around your neck. You prepared hot chocolate in case that invisible peculiar pays a visit.

It only took a few minutes until you heard a knock on your door. Reluctantly, you opened it to reveal the same floating clothes that seemed to belong to the western world.

"Who are you?"

"Millard Nullings, at your service." A voice of a teenage boy spoke up. You moved aside to allow him enter your home, saying your name as you lead him to the drawing room. At first, you thought it was going to be painfully awkward, but it immediately changed into a pleasant, curious atmosphere when his body headed straight towards the ancient maps on your walls, as if being pulled by a magnet.

"Thank you, this place is incredibly interesting. For the longest time I thought these maps were never to be found again," Millard said as he took the hot chocolate from your hand while staring at the walls.

"These are from my old ymbryne. She was a real treasure," you said, standing beside him. "It shows hundreds of ancient loops across Asia. I wouldn't have found my current home without these maps. Oh, and Millard... may I ask how did you get here?"

"The wights after you were caught a while ago. This loop is marked empty in A Map of Days, so catching two of Caul's followers in here is intriguing. It wasn't long until I found the entrance after leapfrogging through a parallel loop nearby."

Brushing off more questions in your head, you offered him a seat and took sips of hot chocolate.

"Perplexus wasn't wrong when he marked this loop empty," you said. Millard's head most likely whipped up at the mention of the famous cartographer.

You smiled at this and continued. "When my old loop was raided, my ymbryne suggested this small loop. It was an empty peculiar menagerie. I suspect a dozen peculiar animals used to live here with all the traces I've found. But for over fifty years, I haven't seen any peculiarity in this area." You turn your head towards the window. "Past those Cacao trees is the membrane of the loop. A small provincial village with normal people, normal chickens, and a normal carabao. So seeing you here feels more surreal than it sounds," you admitted.

"What about your bird?" he asked, "that tall phoenix flying around the woods?"

A twinge of realization came over you and you sigh, reluctant to admit your peculiarity.

"That was me," you say finally.

"What! You can turn into a phoenix? You're an ymbryne?" Millard's voice was a mix of astonishment and confusion.

"How else did you think I manage to revive this loop?" You smiled.

"I just thought ymbrynes' bird forms are supposed to be inconspicuous. But you were...incredibly remarkable."

Your cheeks heated up at the comment and you divert your gaze with a soft chuckle.

"That baffled me as well, that's why I only transform in important situations. Locals believed me to be a magical bird, thus driving many hunters' attention. My bird form is known as Adarna. Similar to a phoenix, but distinct in certain features."

"Adarna? I've never heard of that kind of bird before."

"It is a famous folklore bird in the Philippines. There are stories about it, even in the Tales of the Peculiar." You stood and picked up an old children's book on the bookshelf across the room. You handed it to Millard, which you assume, made him smile.

"This is an ancient version indeed. I annotate many of the Tales but I've never seen this before. Would you mind letting me borrow this?" You couldn't bring yourself to say no to him, so you insisted he could keep it. Stating that you didn't need a copy, having memorized it for the longest time.

After minutes of discussion, you noticed how he got so excited in the topic of maps, history and his friends. It felt like you were listening to a teacher who loved his work, and you weren't complaining as you found this adorable. You were both having good laughs with Millard's stories, until he finally said, "I trust you expect a reassurance that the wights wouldn't trouble you anymore, but we can't be certain."

Your eyebrows furrowed at this, "what are you planning?"

"To take you to Devil's Acre."

You were surprised and slightly taken aback. He must've seen the faraway look on your face so he continues, "Y/n, you don't have to go now. I can just leave you a detailed map to help you reach the panloopticon anytime."

You paced around the drawing room. "So you're letting me go there alone?"

“If that's what you like, yes. I don't want to rush you into leaving your home, but I’ll feel much better if you let me take you there myself." His British drawl made your throat dry, you could only nod.

"I'll take my time to think about it, but as soon as the wights come near this area, I'll head to your loop for safety." You decided it's only smart to stay home until real danger emerge, despite how much you'd like to go with Millard. "Why don't you stay here for a while?"

"That can be a problem. You see, my ymbryne left me with strict rules..."

"You weren't supposed to be here, aren't you?"

You both just laughed at this.

A while later, a loud commotion started in the other side of the loop membrane. Villagers were screaming and animals were flocking away.

"Was that a regular noise within your loop?"

"For fifty years of living this exact same day over and over again, I can assure you that was most unnatural." You got up and pocketed an old but sharp dagger as Millard packed the maps and the book you gave him.

"Those are certainly Wights looking for their other comrades. We ought to flee this place now," he said.

You both slipped through the backdoor towards the river, careful not to trip into the mud. When you reach the bamboo raft, he held your hand and made sure you wouldn't lose balance. This gesture, however, made you lose your composure instead.

"You seem nervous, is it the raft? Should I let you cross the river first?"

"No, no, it's safe," you said as you both stood on the either side of the raft, trying not to slip as you crossed the river holding tall pieces of bamboo to keep yourselves steady. "I guess I just feel sad that I'm leaving home for good," you say. It was true, but you couldn't bring yourself to admit that he made you flustered.

"I understand that this loop may close permanently as you leave," he said, "but in the Devil's Acre, you may train with other ymbrynes ang get the chance to create new loops, have wards of your own—"

"Train with other ymbrynes?" You exclaimed as the raft reached the other side of the river.

"Yes, they're rather lovely. Miss Avocet and all the other ymbrynes would love to guide you. I also believe my friends will celebrate your company. Horace will cook feast, Olive and Claire will surely entertain you, oh," he said, clearly excited, "the celebration will never be enough!"

"Are you kidding me?" You laughed soundlessly as you headed towards the forest. "Your presence alone is more than enough."

He did not reply anything for a moment and you bit your lip. Millard lead the way to another loop that was connected to the panloopticon. It was a silent but surprisingly comfortable walk. He told you to watch your steps in some parts of the forest and you give every useful information you had about your homeland.

"There it is, come here, y/n." He spotted the portal door propped amongst the old trenches of the place that was once bloodstained by war.

Shivers crawled down your spine as you paced forward. Millard noticed your uneasy expression and ran circles on your knuckles. "You can tell me if you don't want to come," he whispered gently, "we'll figure out another way if you're ever uncomfortable."

"Thank you, but I really want to go with you. I want to meet your family and read your books." A smile painted its way on your face just thinking about it.

Without another question, he lead you through the door while gripping your hand. You held your breath and let him guide your steps. His fingers traced your forehead and you opened your eyes.

═ ∘◦ ❉ ◦∘ ═

1886, London

"Where are we?" You stare at the plain, unfamiliar bedroom infront of you.

"The third floor of panloopticon," Millard said with a relieved sigh. "We just crossed half the world in a matter of seconds, I trust the kitchen will have something to ease our loop-lag."

Without even thinking about it, you pulled him in a hug. He caught his breath and wrapped his arms around you as you feel tears streaming down your face. You missed your country but don't regret being with this boy at all. "Thank you," you managed to whisper.

It had been less than a week since you first arrived. Millard's friends were the kindest people you have ever met. The first time you saw Miss Peregrine, she was furious at Millard for running off without permission, but her mood changed when she met you and realized you were an ymbryne too. You were immediately recruited in Miss Avocet's academy and made friends with many other people in the Acre. You get along very well with Miss Wren who was interested in your peculiarity and the fact that you lived in a menagerie loop in Asia.

Desolations came and you stayed in the Ditch House with Millard reading books for you. While it was raining blood, bones and ashes outside, you were having the time of your life with your new family.

You stayed in the Academy while the rest of Miss Peregrine's wards take on their adventure to France, giving all your best wishes for Millard.

You fought in the battle of the Devil's Acre and tended to the injured with the other ymbrynes-in-training. When you heard the news that Caul was defeated, you were elated and incredibly happy.

You were one of the ninety-five peculiars who broke loop-bound in Jacob's house. You could finally go anywhere you like without the fear of aging forward rapidly, and Millard promised many trips with you, you could only shut him up with a peck on the cheek.

═ ∘◦ ❉ ◦∘ ═

1940, Cairnholm

So many good things happened to you that week, but nothing could beat the joy you felt when you found out that the ymbrynes-in-training are to live with Miss Cuckoo, and Miss Peregrine and her wards in Cairnholm.

You stare at the dog roses in Fiona's garden, you were filled with mixed emotions and wanted a quiet time. All of them are celebrating inside the house; all except Millard, who was wearing a velvet smoking jacket for the occasion.

"It's beautiful here," you said while watching his clothes head your way, "you must be happy that you're home."

"You are my home," he said sincerely, now standing in front of you.

You couldn't grab any witty reply, in fact, you couldn't find any words at all. You knew you were blushing ferociously by now.

"Mind if I talk to you about something that's been bothering me for a while?" He broke the silence and you nod at him.

"With everything we went through these past weeks, I found myself hoping to stay alive."

You stifled a laugh. "Isn't that a good thing? Wishing you'd survive?"

"That's the point, I wanted to stay alive, not just because we ought to take surviving as a priority, but because I can't get you out of my mind."

Your face went blank. "What do you mean, Millard?"

"I wish it was a choice, but it wasn't. I fell in love with you, Y/n. I'd love you for as long as time."

"And we have time," you reassured him, "I love you too," and with that, he kissed you.

Both smiling into the kiss, you leaned against each other, swaying in the breeze of the garden and basking in each other's presence forevermore.

#miss peregrines home for peculiar children #MPHFPC fanfic #millard nullings #millard nullings x reader #horace somnusson #miss peregrine #the desolations of devils acre #ransom riggs what did you do to me #ymbrynes #filipino #ibong adarna #fiona frauenfeld

155 notes · View notes

remakethestars · 4 years

Text

RAVENCLAW 💙🦅🤎

Headcanons.

❝Even in the blackness, light can be found. My enemy can be outsmarted.❞

— Alex Hirsch, Journal 3

This is my house, y'all; buckle up!

Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, & Slytherin. Headcanon masterlist.

The door'll let you in for witty responses.

We prop it open during exam season, when everyone's coming back from dinner, on party nights, & when no one can solve the riddle.

Questions become more difficult to answer after curfew.

Everyone waits outside & pretends not to know first night until the first-years figure it out.

Today's riddle & answer posted on the back of the door every morning; check before you leave just in case.

Sometimes you find the prefects debating over what the answer is; no one leaves the common room until someone's figured it out, so sometimes, the entirety of Ravenclaw is late to breakfast.

Again, if we absolutely can’t, we’ll prop it open.

If the door’s propped open and you remove the prop, we’ll use the guillotine on you.

Everyone has at least one hill to die on.

There's a podium by the fireplace with a record book on it of all the books in Ravenclaw's library that you can ask for help finding books from (pages flip in their own).

If you’re in a reading slump, describe what you're looking for; we've probably got it!

If you don't like writing & highlighting in the books, it'll disappear while you have it, but everyone's free to mark in them.

So good at reading their own messy notes and the notes their friends wrote they can read a doctor's handwriting.

And there are notes everywhere. As organized as some Raveclaws wish they could be, you can't make notebooks & journals as organized as Google Doc & Word documents. Unless, ya know … someone made a spell for that — hold on, I gotta write that down!

Professors find notes — ideas for spells & potions — on the back of homework & tests. More knowledgeable teachers will add their ideas or advice before handing it back.

Everyone leaves a copy of their favorite book with annotations before they leave seventh year.

There's a coffee/tea cart in the common room.

Hallways to the dorms are covered in graffiti from students long passed.

Dorms branch off based on your year.

Girls can walk into the boy's dorms & vice versa.

All rooms are extended for more space.

Beds are built into the wall like window seats & have bookshelves where the head and footboards should be.

Dark blue curtains can be drawn shut if you're feeling introverted.

Trunks go under the bed, so they're kinda high off the ground.

Cast an extension charm if you’re claustrophobic.

At the end of every year, everyone congregates in the common room, someone casts glisseo on the stairs to Ravenclaw tower, & everyone slides their trunks down (it's called "the trunk shoving").

No one gives a single sh¡t about house points.

Ravenclaw’s are always blowing something up & losing points.

Dramatic about stubbing their toe, but super casual about ending up in the hospital wing because they "wanted to test a hypothesis."

If you have a question or don't understand something, ask it loudly in the common room; someone will undoubtedly answer or direct you to another who can.

Just don't use bad grammar, or sixteen people will correct you in unison. ��

Learn (a) new language(s) in the common room 20:00–21:00 Mon.–Fri.

Tutoring sessions are in the common room at 21:00–22:00 Mon.–Fri. Or ask for private lessons to work around your schedule.

If a particular teacher's sh¡t, we host a class in the common room after dinner.

Also, there're just classes for random stuff: art, budgeting, codes & code-breaking, cooking, dancing, darning, fencing, ice skating (in the winter months), knot tying, lock picking, makeup, Morse code, muggle martial arts, sewing…

First years are all offered a class on note taking.

A lot of us do our homework on Friday night so we don't have to worry about it all weekend, so there're no party activities tonight, but you can play a muggle board game if you want.

Karaoke on Saturday nights.

Dungeons & Dragons on Sunday nights.

D&D’s swapped out for a play once a month; screw the theater ban! (For an explanation of Hogwarts’s theater ban, see Albus Dumbledore’s notes on “The Fountain of Fair Fortune” in The Tales of Beedle the Bard.)

Morning yoga in the common room — feel free to join; we'll teach you some poses.

Ask around; whatever you're looking for — info, candy, contraband — someone probably hands it out, sells it, can get it for you, and/or can tell you where to find it.

Pass around a spell that allows them to clean themselves. Who has time for showering?

And a potion that gives them the same feeling & energy as if they slept. Who has time for sleeping?

Yes, we're building a guillotine in the common room.

Please don't utilize it in the decapitation of any living person or thing (unless it's the Snape or Umbridge)!

Our next project is a carousel. With working lights & everything.

Yes, we're building a house of cards in the common room; please don't blow on it.

Be quiet until noon on the weekends or get hexed.

Thank Merlin they teach sign language in the common room every year & everyone knows enough to get by.

Parties are highly regulated.

People volunteer to walk people back to their dorms & put up protection charms so you don't get assaulted. Those people are vetted with Veritaserum first to confirm the authenticity of their intentions.

People often get into academic debates, which can get a bit loud; just silencio them & move on.

The entrances to the dorms are hidden behind moving bookshelves.

The Ravenclaw copy of Hogwarts: A History will tell you more than you realized you needed to know; there're enough notes in the margins to make a second book, including how to enter the kitchens, how to sneak out if the castle, how to find the Room of Requirement…

They've located more secret passages & rooms in Hogwarts using spells they created than the Marauders were aware of.

First-years are told how to put extension charms on their backpacks so they're not heavy — that's a crap-ton of stairs.

There's an incredibly thick book by a armchair near the fireplace that's full of testaments of Ravenclaw's alumni. "What's one thing you wish you'd known when you started Hogwarts?" First-years are encouraged to flip through it.

And taught a low-concentration spell for levitating books while laying down so your arms don't get tired (flick wand to turn page).

Common room's extended to fit all kinds of activities (and the bookshelves).

Some third-years built an aquaponic system on top of one of the window seats; take a cucumber, if you want, or stop to look at the fish.

Again, explosions are not uncommon. (Please don’t drop any explosives in the fish tank. As water isn’t as compressible as air, this will kill the fish.)

Everyone just kinda glances over to make sure you’re okay before going back to what they were doing.

There's always a record playing.

They host a hike through the Forbidden Forest once a week, because what even are rules?

If you hear an intelligent conversation taking place, feel free to sit down & listen or jump in!

The wind whistles against the windows all year round, but they've been charmed to keep water out.

Played The Floor is Lava before it was a meme.

There's a two-way mirror on the wall above the fireplace. There's a muggle television on the other side. No one's sure whose T.V. it is, but a lady comes in in the mornings in hair curlers & watches the news.

She puts in V.H.S. tapes of Disney movies at the start of term. Hypothesis says it's for the first years & this person's a half-blood or a muggle-born.

Sometimes, people work together to solve the Friday crossword in The Daily Prophet. It's the hardest all week.

Look at each other like they're the camera in The Office when someone says something stupid.

Oh, boy, if someone's found a really good mystery book… That sh¡t’s getting magically copied & passed around. We discuss theories at meals, pass notes in class, & set up a murder board in the common room.

Actually, Ravenclaw house has solved a number of murders in its free time.

Visit my Ravenclaw YouTube playlist & Pinterest board.

DISCLAIMER ━━━ These headcanons are what I consider to be canon in my fanfictions. They may be others’s headcanons I’ve subconsciously filed away in my noggin. If one’s yours and you want it removed or credited, please send me your post and let me know.

#Ravenclaw #Ravenclaw Headcanons #Headcanons #Headcannons #remakethestars

185 notes · View notes

coralstudiies · 5 years

Text

How to take class notes

1. Figure out what ‘format’ of notes you want to take

Do you have PPT slides/notes already printed out for you??? If not, do you like your notes in point form? Cornell notes? Can you print out ppt

You can search up some common note taking methods online. Find one that works for you (it differs according to individual and subject). What works for me is point form with annotations & drawing boxes around main concepts and formulas.

When you find the ideal method, stick to it. Make sure it’s 1. Easy to make 2. Easy to refer to 3. Easy to add on 4. Easy to study from in a pinch

2. Choose the right stationery

Seems insignificant but as we all know, class notes get super messy. It’s important to get a pen that doesn’t smudge, choose quick-drying highlighters and paper that doesn’t have too much bleed-through or ghosting issues if you take notes from scratch.

For my class notes, I like using 0.3 pens (thinner pen makes your notes look neater) and pilot frixion highlighters (because they’re erasable).

3. Pre-read the lesson material (if possible)

Read the textbook/whatever material provided to you. Write down keywords/ key points on a post it and stick it somewhere you can easily refer to during the lesson.

As the teacher carries out the lesson, use these keywords to create more structure in the lesson so that you’re not lost/missing out important information.

This also helps with understanding the material quickly during the lesson so that you actually digest what you’re taking down instead of blindly copying whatever comes out of the lecturer’s mouth.

4. Use pencil to annotate your notes & add on extra info

These annotations can be explanations that your professor or teacher forgot to say initially and were added on later etc. or just how it links to another part of the chapter

If your teacher provides additional examples, case studies, links or just another insight into the chapter, scribble it down somewhere on your notes.

When you go home, figure out if these are important. If yes, write them in again using pen. Things like links are often ‘single-use’ so I don’t bother writing it after I’ve visited the page.

5. Pay attention

Engage with your material, even as you’re frantically copying down the info. I know it’s difficult and that’s why step 3 could be a life-saver. Ensure that you have your post-it note from step 3 ready.

Things that are repeatedly emphasised by the lecturer should be highlighted, underlined or circled.

Important formulas should be boxed up or circled for easy reference. Diagrams should be drawn after class because they're time-consuming.

Make links between one point and another if possible. This ensures that you’re listening actively instead of copying passively

If you find yourself encountering issues with understanding how one key point leads to another, quickly raise your hand and present your queries.

If you have no time to underline or circle or highlight during class, use a pencil to mark out the words you want to take note of.

To write faster, use abbreviations and short forms wherever possible. For example if the lecturer says calcium deficiency you could just write Ca -. Or Ca def. or whatever works for you!

6. Review

After taking your class notes, it’s time to review them. Read over the information and check if all key points have been covered. If not, ask about them the next lesson.

Note all the things written in pencil. Decide if they’re important. If not, erase them. If yes, write them in. View all ‘extra info’ that the teacher provides such as videos and webpages.

Highlight/circle/underline whatever necessary info that you didn’t have time to do during the lecture. Draw any undrawn diagrams.

Try to understand whatever was taught. Can you link the concepts and points together? Can you roughly explain it to someone in 5 mins? If yes, congratulations! If not, either review again, consult the textbook/lecturer/friend, or maybe just watch more videos on the internet to help you.

Try some practice problems if there are any.

7. Re-writing

Optional, but often times I write another set of notes which I take from all my class notes, worksheets, textbooks and ppt slides. This is rather time-consuming so it’s not for everyone. These are the slightly more ‘fancy’ notes that I post.

At this stage, it’s more of consolidating all your learning and materials.

After you’re done, keep these as well as your class notes in a folder/binder for easy reference. Never throw away your notes if you’re still taking the subject. You may need to refer to earlier content later on.

------------------------------------------------------

here's an example of how mine would look like (note: i do mine on paper but since i couldn't find any more of my own i decided to redo a digital one that looks as similar as possible)

1K notes · View notes

koelnhbf · 4 years

Text

bump into you (knj)

part eight: namu

genre: some fluff :)

warnings: clumsy, clumsy namjoon

Namjoon breathed in a couple times before he walked into Soul Books for the third time this past week and a half. Since seeing you in the shop and then talking to you in university he wasn’t able to take his mind off you, wanted to get to know you more, spend more time hearing you talk.

The shop was partially full, though it was quite late, with a few students rummaging through the shelves. He knew that you would find it strange that he showed up right before closing time again but he could not help his busy schedule, the late evening being the only time where he could grab his bike and come here after work. His eyes scanned over the piles of new arrivals, grabbed some books he might be interested in and read the blurbs before putting them back. The last customers started leaving the shop, leaving only you, him and a sleep deprived student checking out the philosophy essays.

“It’s you,” your voice sounded like the most beautiful melody in his ears, and he had it on good authority that that was the full truth. Nothing he could ever produce would sound nearly as perfect as those words. “How can I help you?”

“Well, uh, I… what do you recommend?” Namjoon asked, pointing at the books in front of him. You looked at him and then at the books, before focusing on his covered face again.

To tell the truth, you had been looking forward to seeing him again, even though his face was still a mystery. After he had returned the book you had spent the past days reading it, trying to gather material for your thesis, though the words he had underlined seemed more interesting than your uni work. Mixtures of straight and wavy lines would highlight single words or whole sentences, followed by annotations on the side of the text and it wasn’t just a simple “what does the author mean by that?” as you often found yourself writing on the side of the essays you had to read, but complete philosophical questions either agreeing or arguing against the author. It almost seemed as if creep had a mental debate with the author and you were the judge.

That is why, when you saw him walking into the shop, you hated to admit that your heart did a little somersault in your chest.

“I wouldn’t have taken you as a Nicholas Sparks fan.” You spoke, a soft giggle escaping your lips. Namjoon was grateful for his covered face, as he was surely as red as the shirt you were wearing.

“I didn’t even notice what I was looking at…” he admitted and looked down shyly, which caused you to giggle once more and grab a random book.

“You know, I love romances, but that’s just not it,” you said and began to quote the blurb: “Lisa is a single woman whose only company is her bottle of wine and the Bridget Jones’s Diaries reruns on TV. What happens when her very own Mark Darcy one day knocks on her door in the form of her new neighbour? And what happens when Daniel Cleaver also makes his way into her life, in the form of her neighbour’s mysterious best friend?” Namjoon applauded after your dramatic rendition and you put it back, pointing at the cash register.

“Let me just go tend to the last customer and maybe you can check out that aisle.” With a soft movement of your hand you showed him the new Bildungsroman section, which, after reading his annotations, seemed like something he’d rather read.

You were right, Namjoon searched through the books he had read already, only to find a few new ones, one in particular, that interested him.

“Thanks, have a nice night!” You called out to the customer before turning your attention towards the man, who was making his way towards you, book in hand.

“Ah yes, Almond, that’s a good choice.” Surprisingly for you, you winked at him, however shy you normally were towards guys.

“Have you read it?” He asked and you nodded.

“Right when it came out. It’s very good.” Just like the first time, you stuck a bookmark and a few flyers into the paper bag, before advertising for the recently arrived tote bags.

“Can I interest you in a Soul Books tote bag? They were produced in collaboration with fashion students from Seoul National University and 60% of the profits go towards other independent bookshops.” Offering him your best smile you grabbed three designs and showed him them.

“‘Books are good for your S(e)oul’? That’s a good one. I take it.”

“That will be ₩30795 total.” Once more he gave you far more than the books cost, sticking the rest in the tip jar before turning around to leave the shop, but stopped midway.

“Before I forget, would you maybe like to…” he leaned on a shelf and before you could warn him not to do that, the shelf and all the books on it fell to the floor, scattered around him.

“Are you alright?” You exclaimed, running towards him and the near crime scene. He was lucky enough to not have been hit by anything.

“I am so sorry, I’m such a klutz, I always walk around destroying things!” He lowered himself to pick up the books, while you did the same, checking for any damages.

“Please let me pay for the damage,” he said and attempted to take out his wallet but you stopped him.

“There’s no need,” you assured him, resting your hand on his, ignoring the tingling sensation that made its way up your arm and to your heart and tummy. “Hardly anything happened.”

“Still, I don’t want you to pay for what I’ve done.”

“I won’t.”

“Here,” he said and opened his hand. “Give me your phone.”

Without thinking twice you pulled it out of your back pocket and handed it to him.

“This is my phone number, just in case someone has to pay for the damages.” You nodded and accepted the phone back, staring at the screen for a second: “Namu, klutz. You’re called Namu?”

“My nickname, yes. Anyway, gotta go. Please don’t hesitate to call me if need be.” Though you couldn’t see it, his words radiated the warmth only visible on a smile and you stayed there on the floor for longer, even after he had left the shop and even when your phone rang with your childhood best friend calling you to pick you up.

— as a high-achieving student from a poor background at SNU, your life has been all about studies. apart from your three friends, your time was divided between your dissertation and the independent bookshop you worked at after class. looking forward to buying the most sought-after book you desperately need for your thesis you notice the only way to keep it is to stash away a copy. what happens when your bookshop is a stranger’s last resort of buying the book? and what if your copy was the last one in all of seoul?

⟸ m.list ⟹

A/N: i’m sorry that the updates are taking so long!! i hope you enjoy this, let me know <3

taglist: @aquaalanah @lettersfromsalome @poutyoongiiii @secretlycrazyhummingbird

24 notes · View notes

kiatheinsomniac · 4 years

Text

Huntress V

[Part I] [Part II] [Part III] [Part IV] [Part V]

When (Y/n) awoke, she was in an unfamiliar room, no longer at the doctor’s. It was fairly cramped and the windows were boarded up to prevent any sunlight from getting inside, leaving the candles on the desk as the only source of light.

The bed took up most of the room albeit it, it was small and very low down. Opposite the bed was a desk and chair — papers had already been pinned above the desk and Ezio stood with his back to her and was laying some items out over the table, seemingly taking an inventory. There was a hatch on the floor which (Y/n) assumed was the exit.

She sat up and looked around, rubbing her eyes before throwing the blanket back to examine her legs — big mistake. She gasped and pulled it back over her figure, causing Ezio to turn around to face her. The vampire had heard her wake up but didn’t feel the need to turn around until hearing her sound of distress.

“Where are my clothes?!” She exclaimed, holding the sheet over her bare chest.

“Relax. It’s been a few days and I thought they needed to be cleaned. If it makes you feel any better, I sent for a woman to change you.” He continued as he crouched down beside her, watching as she held the sheet tighter and shuffled back a little. His dark eyes locked with hers for a moment before he reached for the blanket at her feet. Her hand darted out to grab his wrist, stopping him.

“What’re you doing?!”

“Checking your bandages.” He replied, “I have no ill intentions for you, (Y/n).”

“You know I can’t believe that. I tried to kill you twice and then you saved me from execution. Why would you do that unless you wanted something?” She narrowed her eyes at him. But her glare wasn’t as hard as he had seen it before: she seemed cautious, confused and painfully aware of how vulnerable she was in that moment.

“Because I want you to change your mind.” He replied, feeling her grip of his wrist soften and moving his large hand to hold her smaller one. “You’ve been on the wrong course for so long. What will killing vampires achieve? Satisfaction? Why not go out there and kill the men who took your sisters, hmm? Kill them and everyone like them who would strip you and other witches of your freedom. Stop them from putting anyone else through that pain. Fight with me, not against me. Fight for a world where we can all choose the path we lead.” The idea seemed to roll in her mind and she sighed, not wanting to share her thoughts on it just yet and raising the sheets to reveal her bandaged legs instead.

Ezio returned to the desk and grabbed a pouch before returning to her side and removing the bandages. (Y/n) hissed when he prodded her a little too hard by accident, causing him to mumble his apologies as he inspected the wound. Her skin was raw and blistered and she winced at the mere sight.

“The doctor prescribed this ointment.” He spoke as he pulled it from the pouch and (Y/n) opened and closed her palm to signal for him to hand it over. She opened the lid and smelled the contents.

“This won’t do anything. If I had my stuff, I could get the spell to cure it.” She grumbled as she handed it back over.

“Would it still be in the Doge’s home?” He queried.

“Yes, but he’s surrounded by guards now, no doubt.” She replied, “But I’m worried I’ll suffer from infection under this doctor’s work. I’ve never trusted them, we just don’t know enough about the human’s biology yet. I’ll stick to my own remedies.”

"And there are no other copies of this remedy?" He asked, raising a hand as he stood.

"No, I came across it myself by accident after a fight when I was working with whatever ingredients I could find." She replied, frowning at her bandaged legs. "And if it's any motivation for you, that book you stole pages from is also in that bag."

"It is?" His eyes lit up, "Where have you kept your things?" He queried.

"The trunk at the end of the bed in the spare room." She replied, "Though, I'm worried that they may have got rid of my things when they arrested me."

"Va bene, I'll send someone to check and see if they can recover your belongings." He replied as he got up and reached for the handle of the hatch on the floor.

"Don't go anywhere." He finished as his head disappeared down below and the door fell back into place.

"I think my blisters are security enough for that." She rolled her eyes before swinging her injured legs over the side of the bed, holding the sheet around her form in case Ezio came back, assuring that it was wrapped securely around her slim figure.

She stood upon the wooden floor and winced at the pain in caused, gripping onto the table to sturdy her balance - it had been a few days since she last walked and she was feeling the effects of it. She opted to lean one hand on the table in order to try and get back to her usual self, not wanting to be idle anymore.

She reached towards the pages pinned to the walls - sketches and annotated diagrams. It showed a sphere was unusual markings that was called a Piece of Eden and 'the apple?' hastily written beside it as well. There were annotations about some of its known abilities: mind control, illusion and so on. (Y/n) could recall a few mentions of this artefact from the book which she had stolen from the Doge's study but these must be the pages which he had torn from it. Personally, she had been much more interested in the staff that it had documented so she thought very little of these few mentionings of the apple.

Strewn over the desk were various maps and lists: some were maps of regions in Venice with different locations circled and crossed out, some areas marked with squares around buildings. But she could not find any key to decipher what any of these meant, perhaps it was just one that Ezio had kept in his mind. There were lists of different names and information provided by contacts. There was a scroll of various papers that was bound with a black ribbon. She opened it up to reveal contracts assigned by Lorenzo de Medici.

"The Medici?!" She whisper-yelled to herself. How many people did this vampire know? The contracts spoke of enemies to the Medici rule that needed to be dealt with. Some of them were checked off by Ezio but others were yet to be completed. Perhaps he intended to finish them once his work in Venice was done?

There was a noise from below and (Y/n) looked back to the hatch, seeing Ezio climb up a ladder and re-enter the small room which they seemed to be sharing for the time being. She didn't act hastily in rolling the contracts back up again. If he wanted her to trust him then he would allow her to know everything that was going on; especially seeing as he had previously told her how much was hidden from her beforehand.

"I've sent someone to try and collect your things but we can't guarantee she'll be successful." He began before holding out a bundle of white silk and linen to her, seeing as all she had to protect her decency was a bedsheet. "I also got this for you, one of the ladies has let you borrow it until we can get your clothes back or buy you some new ones."

"Thank you." She mumbled as she took the clothing and held it out with one hand, seeing the length of it and how revealing it was.

"Is this lady a courtesan by any chance?" She scoffed as Ezio turned around to face the desk once more in order to allow her some privacy as she changed, his back now to her.

"Yes, actually. We're above a brothel." He replied and (Y/n) sighed as she stood on the bed (due to the lack of space) and dropped the sheet, pulling the shoulderless dress on over her head and pulling the thin layers of the skirt down, still feeling awfully revealed by the open-cut front of the dress and how the stay sewn into it barely contained her breasts. She almost fell to the floor in the process, her legs still weak, but she managed to support herself on the wall.

"Ok, I'm done." She huffed as she pulled the front of the dress down carefully, feeling anxious about her lack of clothing underneath, all while not wanting the bodice to shift with it. Ezio looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened for a moment before flickering down her body and a smirk pulled at the corner of his lips before he looked away once more.

"I saw that," (Y/n) grumbled as she sat down, letting her legs fall off the side of the bed.

"It was only a quick look." He replied in a laddish tone with a hearty laugh at the end.

"Not for you, it wasn't. I wasn't born yesterday, Ezio, I know how quickly your kind can move when wanted." She was replied with another laugh from him.

"Art should be admired, no?"

"You're not doing yourself any favours in getting in my good books here." She finished as she walked over to one of the boarded-up windows.

"Don't touch those." He said, not raising his gaze from one of the maps on the table.

"What's stopping me?" She countered, knowing that she had the ability to severely injure him just by prying a board back and allowing the sunlight to pour in. An arm wrapped around her torso, restraining her arms by her sides and a blade was pressed to her throat in a moment. The cold metal rested against the hot skin of her neck and she reeled her head back to try and put some distance between herself and the weapon, ending up leaning her head back onto his shoulder.

"This." He growled in her ear, not wanting her to get any ideas about attacking him while he was vulnerable during the time that he was treating her. He truly wanted the best for her but he would never be able to achieve that if both of them didn't command mutual respect. She twisted her body to the left a little, elbowing him in the gut and giving her the moment she needed to turn around and shove him away.

"Still not doing you any favours for getting on my good side." She grumbled as she leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. He didn't seem to mind her shoving him, it not really having much of an effect seeing as she was already weakened by her injuries. "Don't do that again." She mumbled, making her way over to the desk to watch what he was doing. After realising he had taken out a very specific map of a building, she became curious as to what it was.

"What're you looking at?" She asked, wrapping her arms around herself as she felt a sudden chill.

"It's a map of the Basilica, there's something that I need. . . Would you shut up?" She was taken aback for a moment after he spun in her direction to say that, opening her mouth to retort when she saw that he was, in fact, looking behind her. She turned her head and jumped backwards with a yelp, her back hitting Ezio's chest in the small space that was the secret loft of the brothel. Suddenly she understood the chill.

She'd never been sensitive to spirits in the day, perhaps that's why Elizabetta's ghost had managed to appear behind her, undetected.

Her dark locks fell down her back and her eyes were a piercing green, poking like needles into whoever caught a glimpse of them. Her skin was strikingly pale and (Y/n) could see the punctures over her neck so easily in their short distance - a reminder of what Ezio was capable of doing to her. The naked ghost took a step closer as she continued to speak silently, lips moving but not a word coming out.

Whether he meant to or not, Ezio's arm made its way around (Y/n)'s waist, trying to push her behind him in the small distance. The witch turned her head to glance up at him, seeing the look of irritation on his face as he regarded the dead woman.

"I've heard enough. You won't scare me Elizabetta, and you won't make me change my mind." There was a pause as she clearly scoffed, (Y/n) only wishing she could hear what the spirit was saying. "Why would I listen to you? I know that your only goal is to see me fail." His voice was rising and it was clear to (Y/n) that Elizabetta had hit a nerve.

"Begone, you're no longer welcome here for the time being." (Y/n) cut in, watching as the woman's emerald eyes narrowed angrily, somewhat surprised that the huntress had even cut in before she vanished like smoke.

"What did she say?" (Y/n) quizzed, turning around to face him.

"She. . ."He seemed to trail off as he looked down at the woman in his arms, his hand resting on her lower back, tilting his head down to meet her gaze before closing his eyes. He sighed and stepped away, turning around, "I'm not entirely sure yet, all I know is she was trying to get under my skin and she succeeded to a degree." He reached a hand out to smooth down the top of her hair.

"Get some rest, it'll do you no good if you tire your legs out. We're going to be moving once the sun sets then I'll be heading out to see what I can find out about the Doge's whereabouts." (Y/n) didn't like being told to sleep as though she were a child and it was her bedtime.

"Fine, but I won't be staying inside your next hideout while you look for the Doge. If your courtesan doesn't return my things, I'll have to retrieve them myself and if I can't then I'll have to buy some new clothes. You may think that I'm fragile because I’m a witch, Ezio," She added as she sat down and pulled the blanket over her lap, "but it hasn't stopped me in the past and now that I have a new score to settle, it certainly won't stop me now."

"Revenge is a painful road, belleza," Ezio spoke wearily, recalling what his own path was.

"And it seems it's a pain we both know all too well."

#Ezio #ezio auditore da firenze #ezio auditore #ezio x reader #ezio auditore imagine #huntress #vampire #vampire au #ezio auditore vampire au #au #witches #halloween special #spooky season #assassins creed #assassins creed 2 #ac #ac2 #assassins creed x reader

22 notes · View notes

demigodsanswer · 4 years

Text

Clarisse & The Lord of the Rings

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”

When she was 12, Chiron noticed that she was the only year-round Ares girl. He pulled her aside one day and offered her a room in the Big House for herself, figuring she could use some privacy and alone time from her brothers.

The room had a small TV and DVD player in it, and she had the only key to the room. She could use it when ever she wanted, as long as it wasn’t during training or school work.

That’s where she found The Lord of the Rings extended edition DVDs. She watched all of them in two days.

She cried when Boromir died, but nothing prepared her for the raw emotion of this scene from The Two Towers . She thinks about this scene constantly, and it’s probably her favorite scene from any of the movies in the long term. The only scene that rivals it is the Battle for Osgiliath in The Return of the King.

What really fucked her up though, was the Battle for Osgiliath/Pippin’s song from Return of the King. That scene made her realize, more than anything she’d encountered before, the ways in which war, while it can sometimes be comprised of glorious moments of good triumphing over evil, it could also be comprised of moments of leaders gluttonously and recklessly consuming those willing to fight for them.

After she watched all the movies all the way through, she asked Chris to re-watch them with her. He agreed, because she was his best friend. She didn’t expect to cry at all, because she knew what would happen, but she cried twice, once at the Sam scene in The Two Towers, and "I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!”. Chris didn’t judge her.

When Chris was really sick, she would sometimes sing “The Edge of Night” to him, and it would calm him down.

Chiron had large text print copies of the books, which he gifted to her.

She read them all in one summer. She rereads them every summer. They’re ear marked and annotated to death.

While she always loved Faramir in the movies, when she read his line: “War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” She was so overwhelmed that she had to lie down.

Tolkien’s ideology, philosophy, and stories have shaped her understanding of war, its purpose, and its consequences.

Her favorite part of the main three books is the scouring of the Shire, because it is the part that helps her cope with the war the most. Camp had always been her home - her idyllic home where she could be herself, study at her own pace, and train as much as she wanted. But after the war, it had been changed. Thalia’s tree had been poisoned, people had died there, and it was no longer the same place it had been in her childhood. But she had also been changed by the war. Like Frodo, she felt like there wasn’t a way to remain in the place after a while - she couldn’t go home again. Unfortunately for her, there are no undying lands for her to sail to.

Her favorite book is The Silmarillion. When people (read: annoying Athena boys) question this, she just looks them dead in the eye and asks “Oh, I’m sorry, are mythological wars not in my DNA?”

She went to Tolkien’s grave once on vacation and read the tale of Beren and Luthien out loud and left flowers.

Do not talk to her about The Hobbit movies or she will put forks in you. She was nearly kicked out of An Unexpected Journey when Thorin charged at the Orcs at the end because she yelled “THAT’S THE RINGrWRAITHS’ THEME!” and then spent a few minutes explaining to Chris that “thing mean things” and that “the ringwraith theme is a poem written by Philippa Boyens about the wraiths and then translated into the ancient language of man. It’s not just some random, intense battle music!”

She slept through most of Desolation of Smaug. She was so out cold that Chris actually left the theater to walk around the mall for a while. He came back before the end, just in time for her to wake up. “How long have I been asleep?” “Since dwarf barrel boing boing. I brought you a soft pretzel, thought.”

She straight up left the theater during Battle of Five Armies when she heard Thranduil say: “Go north, find the Dunedain. There’s a young ranger among them; you should meet him. His father, Arathorn, was a good man; his son might grow to be a great one. He’s known in the wild as Strider, but his true name you must discover for yourself.”

“Go north? Look at any map of Middle Earth and you’ll see that Erebor is the northern-most kingdom on the map. The only thing north of Erabor is desolate dragon territory. And go north to find the Dunedain? Dunedain literally translates to ‘men of the west!’ Why would you go north into dragon territory to find the men of the west?! And ‘there’s a young ranger among them known as Strider?’ The Hobbit takes place 77 years before the Fellowship of the Ring is formed, which means that Aragorn is TEN! When Aragorn was ten he wasn’t a ranger! He was living at Rivendell! His name was Estel! They didn’t even need Vigo to sign on to the project if they wanted an Aragorn cameo, they only needed some kid with black hair! And he wasn’t known in the wild as Strider! He was known in Bree as Strider, and he didn’t even like the name! This isn’t even deep lore! This is just stuff in the main books and appendices and the maps printed on every inside cover!”

She has three (and a half) Lord of the Rings tattoos.

The first one she gets is a pretty common design: it’s the white tree of Gondor with the shards of Narsil, but she gets the text “Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king” around the design. She has this on the inside of her right forearm. She likes this line because in the movies Arwen says them as if they are ancient prophecy, but in the books, Bilbo writes them in a song. It’s a little inside joke with herself.

Some people have asked why she didn’t get the text from the ring itself, and her response is always “It’s an accursed language. Why would I want an accused language on my body?” “it’s a made up language.” “All languages are made up.”

The second one she gets on a bet. She gets a goofy illustration of Gollum from before JRRT republished The Hobbit to be more canon compliant with The Lord of the Rings. She has this one on the inside of her left arm. As goofy as it is, she does love Gollum as a character.

She then has the door to Moria on her ankle.

The half is her drakon tattoo. She has a tattoo designed partially after the drakon and partially after Tolkein’s illustrations of Smaug. The drakon is weaving itself through a hand, so it is proportionally very small. This tattoo is on the right side of her ribcage and was the first tattoo she got (Ares paid for it as a gift).

When she was pregnant for the first time, she played The Lord of the Rings soundtrack and watched the movies a ton deliberately to train her baby to respond to the sounds. Her first kid ended up (by no accident) being calmed by The Lord of the Rings.

However, her favorite book is The Hobbit, and she proudly proclaimed at three years old that she was going to be a burglar when she grew up. Chris was very smug.

(anyway, come talk to me about the lord of the rings @nohomo-mrfrodo) (did I write this whole thing to go on that rant about that line from battle of the five armies. yes, yes i did)

#wow look at the time #its time for emilys whitest opinions #clarisse la rue #chris rodriguez

34 notes · View notes

musicgoonmail · 4 years

Text

Lovingkindness

In This Edition

In this week’s edition, I share lessons from my life on how God closes and opens doors, what’s new with my book reviews, and what I’ve been enjoying in entertainment. As always, I point you to all of the new free eBooks I’ve found around the web.

Is there something you want me to write about? You can always get in touch by replying to this email. Thanks for spending your weekend with me here!

God Closes and Opens Doors

Sunday Tapes

Giveaway: A Signed Copy of The Wisdom Pyramid

Book Reviews

More Than a Battle

Free eBooks for February

More Free eBooks for February

Extended Play

Lightning Links

Playlists

Coming Soon

Weekly Review

God Closes and Opens Doors

Jess and I have been working on something big, and while I can’t reveal much right now -- I want to share a story of how God seems to work in our life. It seems that with every closed door, we wait for a bit and it appears that God was preparing us as he opens another door.

One example from our life is how God closed the door for furthering my education, but he later opened a door in providing us a home. And we can see God’s hand in it because the timing, location, and occurrence of events could not have been coincidental. We see God’s providence in every situation and circumstance.

As Christians, I believe we have a Biblical warrant to say that this is true. Joseph’s story is one of suffering and being forgotten, but God later opened doors to save him, his family, and his people. The life of Christ is full of examples of God closing doors for others so that Jesus could open other doors to display his glory. Death was a closed door for Christ until he burst forth to redeem his people. And in the life of Paul we see God closing doors and opening others so the Gospel could be spread in jails, houses, churches, and nations.

To be sure, I’m not saying that you will find open doors immediately when things turn sour. And if you find yourself behind closed doors, I’m not saying that God will always open new ones for you. But what I do believe is that God works all things for the good of those who love him. And I’m here to tell you, when you find yourself in the middle of opened and closed doors, that he is right there with you.

Sunday Tapes

We sang Be Thou My Vision on Sunday, and my friend Angie was awesome leading music with me. Her vocals were soaring, and she displayed her skill and control even with the song at a such a quick tempo.

I also appreciate how she's open to try my arrangement ideas, like the a cappella first chorus and last verse. I'm always blessed and humbled to sing with her. We were both smiling at the end because my son Linus walked right up to the front next to the camera! You can watch the video on YouTube.

For more, you can find the rest of our set which included Sovereign Grace Music's "Turn Your Eyes," Keith Green's "O Lord You're Beautiful," and our original "God is the Strength of My Heart and My Portion Forever. Watch on YouTube.

Giveaway: A Signed Copy of The Wisdom Pyramid

SOLA Network published my review of Brett McCracken’s The Wisdom Pyramid and you can read it on their website. To celebrate the launch of the book, Brett put together a wisdom diet challenge for Lent. Many digital detox programs are mostly about how to rid yourself of screens for a period of time. His challenge is different in that it’s less about what not to do and more about what to do. Read about the Wisdom 40 Challenge on his website.

SOLA Network has a signed copy of the book by author Brett McCracken for a giveaway. In all honesty, there aren’t that many entries, so you have a good chance of getting this one. I would love for one of my newsletter readers to win. Enter on Instagram.

Book Reviews

This week I reviewed 3 books. In More Than a Battle, Joe Rigney shows us how to experience victory, freedom, and healing from lust. In Worshiping with the Reformers, Karin Maag takes us on a tour of what it was really like to go to church during the Reformation. In The Servant of the Lord and His Servant People, Matthew S. Harmon beautifully traces this biblical theme through the canon.

Book Review: More Than a Battle by Joe Rigney

Book Review: Worshiping with the Reformers by Karin Maag

Book Review: The Servant of the Lord and His Servant People by Matthew S. Harmon

More Than a Battle

With the news of more Christian leaders failing to kill their sexual sins, Joe Rigney’s More Than a Battle proved to be a timely read. Writing pointedly, Rigney says that pornography rewires the brain. He also says that explanations are not excuses, and that God can renew our minds, giving us hope.

Throughout the book, Rigney shows the devastation of sexual sin, but he is also ready to state the decided victories available to us in Christ. For more, read this longer excerpt from his book: How Porn Weaponizes the Body.

Free eBooks for February

I found two books by Spurgeon and two books by Murray this week for you to download for free on Kindle. Remember, you don’t need a physical Kindle to download and read these books. You can simply start with the free Kindle app. It’s a fantastic way to get focused on reading!

Tim Challies is hosting a giveaway for Cruciform Press. They are giving away four-book packages to five winners. Each winner will receive The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity by Michael J. Kruger, Galatians: Redeeming Grace and the Cross of Christ by Melissa McPhail and Lisa Menchinger, The Joy Project: An Introduction to Calvinism (with Study Guide) by Tony Reinke, and On Purpose: Living Life as It Was Intended by Jonny Ivey. I linked the titles to my reviews, and you can enter on Challies’ website.

Kindle: Lectures to My Students: Practical and Spiritual Guidance for Preachers (Volume 1), by C. H. Spurgeon

Kindle: Come Ye Children (Updated, Annotated): Obtaining Our Lord's Heart for Loving and Teaching Children, by C. H. Spurgeon

Kindle: The Ministry of Intercession (Updated and Annotated): A Plea for More Prayer (Murray Updated Classics Book 1), by Andrew Murray

Kindle: Humility (Updated, Annotated): The Beauty of Holiness (Murray Updated Classics Book 2)

More Free eBooks for February

Passion is the free eBook this month from The Good Book Company. Mike McKinley walks readers through Luke’s Gospel to show how Christ’s final day transforms not only their future but also their present.

I found several free Kindle titles by J. C. Ryle and listed them below. You don’t need a physical Kindle to download and read these books. You can simply start with the free Kindle app. It’s a fantastic way to get focused on reading.

The Good Book Company: Passion by Mike McKinley

Kindle: The Cross, by J. C. Ryle

Kindle: Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Matthew, by J. C. Ryle

Kindle: Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark, by J. C. Ryle

Kindle: Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke, by J. C. Ryle

Kindle: Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of John, by J. C. Ryle

Faithlife: Deep Church, by Jim Belcher

GLH Publishing: A. W. Tozer Daily Devotional

GLH Publishing: John Calvin’s Commentary on Hebrews

FTC Preaching Guide: Philippians

ERLC Light Magazine: Hidden in Plain Sight

DesiringGod: Designed for Joy: How the Gospel Impacts Men and Women, Identity and Practice

Kindle: Does God Control Everything? (Crucial Questions Series) by R. C. Sproul

D. A. Carson: For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word, Vol. 1.

DesiringGod: Habits of Grace by David Mathis

9Marks Journal: Heaven: Rejoicing in Future Glory

Crossway: Coronavirus and Christ by John Piper

Kindle: Crucial Questions by R. C. Sproul (39 eBooks)

The Gospel Coalition: 9 Free eBooks by D. A. Carson

Extended Play

I’ve been thinking about WandaVision all week, and I can’t wait to watch the new episode this weekend. For Valentine’s Day, we plan to watch Robin Hood, Lady and the Tramp, and more episodes of Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings.

Two years ago, before we adopted our son, I wrote a poem about waiting for adoption. I wrote it for my wife, Jess, who shows me what it means to love and trust Christ. Read it again on my website.

Throwback: In Our Waiting: A Poem for My Wife on Valentine’s Day

Article: Meaningful Lives in a Purposeful World: How Providence Changes Everything, by Jon Bloom.

Podcast: Ask Pastor John: Has Porn Already Broken My Future Marriage?

TV: WandaVision

Book: Being the Bad Guys, by Stephen McAlpine

Song: Lovingkindness, by Keith & Kristyn Getty, Matt Papa, Matt Redman, and Matt Boswell

Lightning Links

These quick hits are exclusive to my newsletter readers. Some struck immediately before writing this newsletter. I don’t necessarily endorse the positions or lives of these authors. Some may contain sensitive language. I find them all extremely interesting.

The New York Times Magazine: “The Many Lives of Steven Yeun: What’s a typical immigrant story? In his new film, “Minari,” the “Walking Dead” star has his own to tell.”

Marvel: “WandaVision: Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez Break Down the TV Theme Songs.”

/Film: “20 Years of Disney California Adventure: Exploring How Disney’s Theme Park Misfire Came Back from the Dead.”

Playlists

MUSICGOON: 7 songs I enjoyed this week.

SVRGNLA: Jess and I love these songs.

ETJ: Music that inspires my band.

DIDD: A crowd-sourced worship playlist.

TGIF: SOLA Network friends and faves.

This is FCBC Walnut: The songs we sing at church.

Coming Soon

Next week I plan to publish reviews for at least 3 books. In Gospelbound, Collin Hansen and Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra share stories that teach us how to live with resolute hope in shaky times. In Being the Bad Guys, Stephen McAlpine shows you how to live for Jesus in a world that says you shouldn’t. And as a part of Lexham Press’ Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (EBTC) series, Joe M. Sprinkle’s commentary on Daniel is an excellent and epic entry.

My sermon to our Youth Group went well last week -- thank you for your prayers! If you recall, I also spoke with author Brett McCracken about his new book, The Wisdom Pyramid. SOLA Network plans to release a video of our conversation next week.

We’ll be celebrating Lunar New Year this weekend! In case you missed it, here are some previous editions of this newsletter that you can find in the archive:

All My Favorite Songs: I share what’s new with my book reviews, and what I’ve been enjoying in entertainment. I also share preaching and music ministry prayer requests for this weekend.

Rewrite the Stars: I discuss my recent IG LIVE interview with Russell Moore, share about overcoming the barriers to creating, what’s new with my book reviews, and what I’ve been enjoying in entertainment.

Concerning Hobbits: I reveal my special guest for an upcoming IG LIVE interview, what’s new with my book reviews, and what I’ve been enjoying in entertainment.

Weekly Review

Hobbit History: Let us first do what we must do. – J. R. R. Tolken

SOLA: God Among the Crowds / The Seductive Sin We Never Talk About / The Proverbs 31 Man

TGIF: DesiringGod: Has Porn Already Broken My Future Marriage? / 9Marks: The Church Should Sing for Heaven’s Sake (with Matthew Westerholm)

Book Review: More Than a Battle by Joe Rigney

Book Review: Worshiping with the Reformers by Karin Maag

Book Review: The Servant of the Lord and His Servant People by Matthew S. Harmon

Recommended Reading: ‘Whoever Is Ashamed of Me’: A Call to the Quietly Christian / Four Things Pastors Wish Their Churches Knew About Them Right Now / Your Spouse Should Complete You: What It Means to Become One / How Do I Talk to My Children About Sex?

0 notes

tomhollandarling · 7 years

Text

Star What?

Summary: You and Peter soon become friends after you help him out a bit in English. (part 1 of an unfinished series)

Masterlist

Part Two Part Three

Word Count: 2332

Pairing: Peter Parker x Female Reader

A/N: Hey! So this is my first time ever writing Peter Parker and my first time publishing a part of a fic so I hope you all like it! (I hope it’s at least somewhat decent) I don’t know where this story is going but I’m just kinda writing with the flow.

It was that time again. That dreadful, highly anticipated time again when the leaves started to change, routines began to fall in place and the streets and sidewalks that paralleled them grew thicker with rushed people. It wasn’t the weather that brought a downer, it was what was already beginning again. Halfway through September marked the second week of school for Peter Parker, a sophomore at Midtown High in Queens. He wasn’t the most popular teen, being in the robotics club and on the academic decathlon team, and Flash Thompson, the school bully, tried to pick on him as much as possible.

Aunt May opened the door to Peter’s room to find him still nestled under the blankets, a bare foot sticking out with a ray of sunshine pooling over his back. “You can’t solve your problems by hiding in bed all day.” She chided, dropping off a basket of laundry next to his cluttered desk, homework and notes from the day before scattered on top. She’d come in five minutes earlier to see if he was awake; he wasn’t. “Come on, you. School” Aunt May shook his shoulder, placing her hands on her narrow hips afterwards.

“Mmpfh,” was Peter’s response, turning away from her.

“Na-uh. Not today! Get up lazy bug. You have school and to school you are going!!” She stated. She waited a moment before adding, “I’ll let you pick dinner tonight.” She bribed in a sing-song voice.

He rubbed sleep out of his eyes, adjusting to the light, and stretched his arms upwards. “Thai?” He asked.

“If you get up right now, then yes, we can have Thai for dinner.” May responded, walking out of his room.

“From the place on 54th?” He half-yelled, sitting up, confirming his request before he made any drastic movement towards starting the day.

“You got it!” Peter started to untangle himself from the blankets nearly tripping over the basket of laundry.

The chime of a bell signaled the beginning of his day as Peter weaved through the hall of students to get to his English class. English wasn’t really his thing, but Peter did alright, managing a high B at the moment. He’d already missed a few points off an annotation assignment which brought him down to an 88. Peter sat towards the back of the classroom, trying to stay inside his own bubble and avoid social interaction: another subject he wasn’t too particularly fond of. He didn’t have that many friends, maybe two or three. Ned, being his closest. Sure Peter was friendly when you got to know him, but only a select few had chosen to do that. With Peter being as quiet as he was, most just left him to his thoughts, or as of right now, left him to stare out the window to his left.

The window framed one of the many bodegas of Queens: Miller’s Subs. A few weeks prior to the date, Spider-man, had stopped a poorly planned robbery. It wasn’t that hard, but it was an attempted robbery nonetheless. Two teens in masks tried to pass water guns as real ones. To their surprise, black spray paint was pretty obvious, but to the customers and store owner, the threat seemed real for a minute or two. They weren’t so worried about detail when lives could potentially be at stake. They just wanted to get out of trouble’s way.

“Woah? Was there a pool party? How come I wasn’t invited?” Spider-man had quipped, swinging in and knocking over one of the robbers and falsely admired the squirt gun, picking it up and spraying the teen in the face. “Shoot, I forgot to bring my swim trunks, mind if I borrow yours?” That earned him an angry groan from the tousled robber.

One of the masked teenagers tried to run towards the entrance to escape. Spider-man was much too quick though, webbing his ankle, causing him to trip and fall onto the tiled surface. “Hey, no running! You might slip!”

Peter smiled, reliving his heroic moment. If only he could be that confident without the mask.

“Mr. Parker? May I remind you that summer is over?” Mr. Scott lightly scolded. He was a small and stout man, donning some square glasses.

Hearing his name, Peter snapped his head towards the front of the class and tried to look somewhat engaged. “S-sorry, sir.” He apologized, flipping quickly through his textbook to find the right page.

“23.” You whispered from the desk just to his right. Peter, head down, gave a quick glance and embarrassed smile. “Thanks, uh..”

“Y/n.” You replied, tapping your pencil over a photocopied painting of Shakespeare from the textbook. You internally rolled your eyes. What was with every English teacher fawning over this guy? “Don’t worry about it.” You smiled. “I wasn’t really into the lesson either.”

Peter sighed in relief at your comment. “Glad I’m not the only one. I’m more into science really.”

“Don’t we have Chem together? 6th right?” You asked, jotting down what Mr. Scott was messily scrawling on the board. Wow for an English teacher, shouldn’t he have better handwriting? You let out a quiet breathy laugh.

He paused for a moment, mentally going over his schedule. “Y-yeah I think so. Wh-what’s so funny?” Peter asked nervously. Hopefully he didn’t say anything wrong?

Finishing copying down the quote, you registered what he’d asked, “Hm?” Your eyes slowly pulling away from your notebook. “Oh-I was just noticing how bad his handwriting is. I mean, he teaches English right?”

Peter glanced at the whiteboard, smiling, “Look there at the ‘afraid’. ” You prompted with your pencil towards the quote. The “r” was so slanted it looked like an “n” and the whole word drooped downwards. The both of you giggled as silently as you could, trying to keep up with what Mr. Eberle was taking an eternity to write.

“Man, he should teach History instead with how slow he’s going.” Peter mocked. Both of you giggled again at that, continuing to jot down the lecture.

—

Soon enough it was time for Chem: the sixth class of the day. Plopping down in your seat, you still had an earbud in. Blocking out hallway noises and nonsense with music was an essential way to get through the day. Spinning around on the high swivel chair to the beat, you repeated the action you had already done five times prior to 6th period: taken out your supplies, placed them on the table, and waited the time out until the end of the class.

Mr. Marlow casually strolled into the class and started the lesson with the daily warm up.

“Hey,” said a familiar voice, “can I-can I um, sit with you?” It was Peter.

You took out an earbud and noticed his presence, “Oh hey!” You greeted him again. “What did you just say? Sorry, I had my music playing.”

For some reason this made Peter flustered and red in the face. “I um, I asked, sit with, c-can I sit with um y-you?” He played with the hem of his blue sweater, tracing the stitch pattern and avoiding eye contact.

Letting out a light laugh, you patted the table top next to your left. The smooth, thick, black tables were meant to have two students each. “Sure! That’d be great. I think Marlow is giving us our first partner project today too. Michelle told me. She has Chem 3rd.”

His cheeky face brightened up as he set his notebook on the desk, taking a seat next to you. “You know Michelle?”

“Yeah! She’s super nice. I’ve known her since middle school. She’s really quiet but as soon as you get to know her she cracks open.” Putting your hand up to the side of your mouth you added in a half-whisper, “I also have detention with her. Except she doesn’t have detention..like ever…she just goes there to draw and keep me company sometimes. You know her too?”

“Mmhm she sits with Ned and I at lunch”

Glimpsing to your left, you saw the cover of his spiral notebook. “Star Wars?” You observed.

“Star what?” He said, confused. Peter looked down at the cover of his notebook: the Star Wars logo. His cheeks flashed pink. “Oh! Yeah it’s my favorite series ever!” He was so enthusiastic at your simple comments that a few heads turned to see what the excitement was about.

Just then, one of your classmates came around and passed two papers out to each student: a rubric and the project rules with some questions to answer. “Thanks.” You smiled up at him.

“So, do you like Star Wars?” He fidgeted nervously with the metal spiral as Mr. Marlow started to explain the experiment.

Taking in a timid breath you said, “I’ve…well.”

Peter’s brows furrowed together as he scanned your face for an answer, his pencil eraser resting on his bottom lip, squishing it a bit. “You’ve what?” He pressed. Just now noticing the papers, he took both and skimmed them over, peeking back up at you for a response.

“Um, I’ve never seen it.” A short exhale followed with a nervous laugh. Ugh seriously, (Y/n), why would you compliment his notebook when you’ve never seen Star Wars?!

Shock took ahold of his soft face, his eyebrows raised “What?” He said flatly in a neutral voice, causing a few heads to turn.

“Yeah. I really want to though! Don’t get me wrong, I think it looks so cool! I just..I dont know. Never had the time I guess.”

“Okay, well that obviously has to change. How have you never? It’s seriously the best series to ever exist in the history of the universe. You’ve never? Wow, okay, I’m determined to make you watch it.” He rambled on.

“Woah woah! Don’t kidnap me Parker. I’ll find a way to watch it.” You snipped back and circled a few directions on the lab paper, grinning up at him. Your peers had started to make their way towards the materials cabinet, grabbing the required equipment along with a few chemical mixtures. “Oh! We better start.”

Laughing he replied, “Okay, but there is no getting out of watching it now. Partners?” He settled, skimming the list over, making a mental note of what to get.

“Sure, but don’t blame me when you mysteriously get whatever this is in your eyes.” you smirked, pointing at one of the materials with a toxic warning symbol.

Peter rolled his eyes dramatically and hopped off his seat to grab pipettes filled with different chemicals, two pairs of safety goggles, and a plastic sheet cover as you read the directions. He laid them all out on the table. The purpose of the lab was to combine different chemicals and note the reactions if there were any.

“Seems fairly simple.” You commented as you equipped the safety goggles and tied your hair up into a messy bun. Damn lab rules. “We’re supposed to put two drops of…” As you read the name of the chemical compound you swore your brain shut off. Okay what the actual fuck is this. “Um? 4HC2H3O2 + 5 NaOCl? Is that right?” You questioned, needing confirmation from Peter who was flipping through his notebook.

“Yeah yeah. That’s it. Just ignore the names for now; they can be a bit confusing. We just need to focus on what happens when we combine them.” Peter set his notebook aside and rummaged through the pile, finding both solutions. He handed you one. “Alright, so you have the first chemical so that needs to go down first.” He motioned you to start dropping the liquid on the plastic and you did so, making sure to carefully squeeze to not let too much out……success!

“Whew, okay I thought for a second there I was gonna mess it up.” You chuckled.

“You’re fine.” He emphasized, flashing you his teeth. Peter shoved up the sleeves of his blue knit sweater and concentrated on dropping the second chemical onto the drops you had placed just seconds before. Almost immediately after the two were combined, the silvery solution transformed to a darkened brownish red.

Admiring the chemical change, both of you wrote down your observations in the packet.

After about 15 minutes, the two of you had successfully completed the rest of the required solutions. Some had no change while others formed bubbles, one reaction turned a cloudy purple color, and another you had to expose to direct sunlight which turned it a dark brown. Overall, it was a pretty lucrative lab considering it was your first time taking Chem and Peter naturally excelled at the subject.

“Okay, so has everyone put away all the chemicals?” Mr. Marlow scanned the room for loose containers or pipettes. “Yes? Alright, good job on your first lab everyone! If you haven’t already, have one partner turn in their question sheet with both of your names on it. If your group didn’t finish on time, that’s fine. Just give it to me before the bell tomorrow. Also! Before you go, please please make sure you’ve wiped down the tables.”

“Shoot we forgot the questions.” You mentally kicked yourself, looking over the questions sheet that stared blankly back at you.

“Hey, it’s no big deal. Do you wanna come over after school and we could finish them? M-maybe? I-I don’t wanna pressure you or-or anything. I could always just do them on my own.” Peter blurted, messing with his sandy hair.

“Nonsense! We’ll finish it together. That wouldn’t be fair to have you do all the work. Here.” You gave him your phone so he could put his number in. “What time should I come over and where do you live?”

“Um, well I have this internship after school so I’m pretty busy for a bit but how about around 5? Would that work?” He gathered his supplies and shoved them in his backpack. You mirrored his actions. “I’ll text you my address.”

“Yeah, I think so. Okay, well cool! See you soon, Parker.”

A/N: So, yep! That’s the first part! Hopefully Ill figure out some plot for the next part. I really shouldn’t be blindly writing but I was in the zone haha. Hope you guys like it! ((also idk if the chemical combination or equation/reaction was correct at all I just googled some stuff because I needed at least something chemistry related))

Part Two Part Three

Masterlist

#peter parker x reader #peter parker #spiderman x reader #spiderman homecoming #writing #peter parker x you #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker fluff #marvel fic

114 notes · View notes

chronotopes · 7 years

Text

book log: a stitch in time by andrew robinson

you guys i’m going to go bullet point by bullet point through all of my ibooks annotations so buckle in if you dare

first of all that first chapter owns my ass. “indulge me if you will i need you as a witness”?? that’s the most. that’s the absolute most. that said, the concept that they Grew Apart after our man bashir, while ... certainly canon compliant.... is a piece of canon i refuse to accept. i have my own canon timeline for these kinds of things

i fucking LOVE pythas lok? i lived for that relationship. in fact the fact that this book is just garak cycling through his exes and the way they were all instrumental to events unfolding on cardassia? in fact i begin now to suspect that gul dukat is the only cardassian from garak’s past whom garak hasn’t fucked AND isn’t related to

i whooped victoriously when garak said he was attracted to pythas. small victories. and then again when garak criticized odo’s uniform.

love that the bamarren parts of the book that don’t involve palandine read like some kind of fucking... edwardian all boys school shit. like am i reading an a.e. housman poem? am i rewatching maurice (1987) dir. james ivory? no i am reading a beta canon epistolary novel about a gay lizard

on that note garak being genuinely into women is something ajr and i disagree on but that’s just like to each his own

garak’s famed volcano dick made me laugh. this book is such a fanfic at times. and then palandine teaches him that IT’S ALL TRUE, ESPECIALLY THE LIES. in fact like ... i didn’t even consider this now but in the garak/palandine stuff at bamarren reads in certain cases like early seasons garashir? but we’ll get to the more concrete parts of alla that later

anyway .... “but i’m also a doctor, garak. and i know which group of people suffers the most. i really won’t take up any more of your time.” he extended his hand, which he rarely did, and i took it. “thank you for the tea.” he turned and went out the door. i stood there for a long moment, deeply upset. i felt trapped within myself, knowing what i had to do to get out but unable even to begin. yes, doctor, it does sound familiar.” WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS!! (what the fuck was that whole scene!!!)

SPEAKING of doctors, dr parmak is really something. sorry i know a lot of you love him but i hope you realize he’s a rebound of a mighty order. self care is dating an older lizard flavored carbon copy of your ex bf.

this was like finding out that in ds9 beta canon ro laren becomes SECURITY OFFICER and dates QUARK is a similar experience to this. ro laren and kelas parmak: the only thing they have in common is being quark and garak’s doctor and security officer rebounds.

that said ro is her own person! parmak is a fig leaf. a plot device. andrew robinson winking at you from seventeen years ago. a mirror. god!

anyway then two of garak’s three school crushes hook up, and he’s left with pythas who is the best one anyway.

and there’s the fucking insane sequence where garak goes on lots of hikes with a Privileged Federation Twink whom he’s totally dtf as his first spy mission. and at one point, even though garak does hate his guts along with being dtf he thinks he’s “so concerned, so caring. i took another long breath. [...] i looked hans in the eyes and resisted being swallowed by their immeasurable blue depths.” like i’m not saying garak has a type but garak has a type!

i forgot about this but aside from pythas and that bitchy cousin of lukar, among garak’s classmates turn out to be the asshole from the casablanca episode and a relative of tekeny ghemor. it’s some 19th century lit bullshit and i LOVED it! as if this weren’t enough, there are four lights guy is also in this.

we also briefly meet remara, a totally deadly ex gf of kira’s. idk what garak was trying to do with their relationship but i’m totally interested in fanfic about remara being an asshole ex gf of kira’s.

garak’s battles of conscience are great. again very 19th c . i love how miserable he is throughout this book.

OH AND THEN HE AND PYTHAS LIVE IN THE WOODS FOR A MONTH OR SO AND FEEL LIKE.. COMFORTABLE FOR ONCE IN THEIR LIVES... AND PROBABLY HAVE SEX!

ooh and then we get a rlly spooky sequence where we see the wire IN ACTION

the assassin cover professions we’ve seen in this book and in this show are either Lesbian Professions (gardeners, park rangers) or Gay Professions (the fashion industry). what is it with covert operations and the lgbt community.

i SCREAMED about chapter 19 earlier today. but just to go over it once more

garak has a spooky dream about julian burying him alive ! so he hits him up at six in the fucking morning

“doctor forgive me but i need to see you,” i said as calmly as i could. “garak?” “i do apologize but it’s important.”

and then garak hears “another voice in the background. ezri dax. a muffled conversation. the doctor cleared his throat again. “i’ll be right over” he said.” I LOVE THAT EZRI AND JULIAN AREN’T EVEN FUCKING AT THIS POINT BUT AJR COULDN’T RESIST HIGHLIGHTING THE RIVALRY BETWEEN THEM?!

and then julian said “there are more things in heaven and earth horatio than are dreamt of in your philosophy” and i died on the spot. they’re IN LOVE?! ajr i thought you wrote garashir as unrequited but what kind of man quotes hamlet talking 2 horatio at his platonic dude friend while he’s run over to his quarters in the middle of the night after said platonic dudefriend has a nightmare?

“i was also convinced that it was all a dream, and i kept asking myself what you were doing there” like what the actual fuck? anyway they talk the wire and it’s a lot. and of course “you not only saved my life you made it possible for me to live it.”

AND THEN OF COURSE “this is my last trip to cardassia. i’m not returning. you were in the dream for a very specific reason. once again, you helped me remember. thank you, julian.” JULIAN! JULIAN!! i’m DYING OF CARDIAC ARREST! (also this scene finally solidified my headcanons for when they break up for the second time.)

anyway then the palandine shit goes down and garak kills his OTHER old school crush (the one that turned out to be a dick)

one of my notes on here, verbatim: “have garak and quark had sex” i asked myself and then immediately wanted to die

the second time garak said that kelas parmak was “so much like you, doctor” i damn near screamed in frustration. don’t try me like this elim!!

and then we get the last julian mirror who’s that sad federation woman who spills her soul to elim and the line “CAREFUL, ELIM. YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL THAT THE SUREST WAY TO YOUR HEART IS THROUGH CONVERSATION”

okay and THEN he meets pythas who’s been Permanently Marked By The Horrors Of War and he’s got a gf who saved his life even though he didn’t want to be saved at first.... so like pythas is special because he’s a garak mirror AND a garak boyfriend at the same time!

and pythas was in the grounds trying to warn garak before all the shit went down with palandine. i’m dying scoob

the fact that the epilogue starts with the line “it’s just garak. plain simple garak.” the flashback timeline ends at the point garak meets julian! i hate this it’s so fucking romantic

and then YOU’RE ALWAYS WELCOME DOCTOR..... like idk about the canon status of a lot of these things but i totally buy this novel as a thing that exists that garak sent. which of course is a great jumping off point for post canon cardassia fic. justice is so sweet.

#just katia things #trek talk #and #a really ridiculous entry in #book log '17

3 notes · View notes

balthuza · 8 years

Note

HELLO, SPAM IS HERE. The Keeper 6 14 23 Grifaris 2 3 23 Nil 23 26 29 32 37 Gin 11 23 42 45 Steffit 18 23 33 RODHLANN 4 15 23 28 36 - ALL IN ONE BECAUSE I'M A LAZY BUM :O

This is going to be long :>>>>

The Keeper

What’s your OC’s favorite animal? Least favorite?

Least favourite are probably dogs, since he probably met very few friendly ones. So, he doesn’t really hate them, more like they instantly put him on edge since his brain insists it’s time to run. He needs to meet a puppy. Or, like fifteen of them.

His favourite is, apparently, a bumble bee. I can get that - the only times when he’d have a chance to watch them are quiet moments, times far away from danger. That’d make for a very good memory.

What foods does your OC like to eat? What are their least favorite foods?

Anything? If it’s warm and fresh it’s pure perfection. He usually eats way faster than he should.

He likes wine, too.

What is a random fact about your OC?

He makes odd noises and finger-tapping when he’s thinking. He’s overly fond of snow - being cold-resistant helps a lot.

Grifaris

Does your OC collect anything? What do they collect?

He never really could keep a lot of stuff - most of what he owned was on him, most of the time. He has tendency to gather small trinkets where he can, mostly ones that remind him of people.

He had what he was told is his mother’s hairbrush, a tiny, oddly-painted turtle one of the clerics gave him, and a miniature, toy dagger from the time when he run away from the temple.

They were lost either when the Workshop was destroyed or later, when he was kidnapped.

What kind of things is your OC allergic to?

He’s allergic to stupidity, mostly. He’s not used to it being just harmless silliness, but rather something that will get him killed, or at the very last case him problems.

(He’s allergic to vanilla, but has no idea about that.)

What is a random fact about your OC?

He is prone to absentmindedly taking things apart when stressed. He learned to work leather because he prefers to fix things on his own. He loves horse riding.

Nil

What is a random fact about your OC?

He once tried to fake his own death, but forgot and showed up at a party.

After a terrible breakup he send his ex a basket of old fish once. It was the worst thing he and Flick could think of.

He hates darkness and being alone.

Who is the most important person in their life? Why? Who is the least important to them (that still has an impact and why?

Not a person, the whole family. He’s used to respecting their words only, and to running off to them when he feels unsafe. All of them are important - the oldest siblings are rarely there, but he tends to vent to tham about Flick and parents (no reason to vent about Fyr or Ivia yet :>). Steffit is always there is he has a problem and will try his best to support him. Gin will take care of the problems that he can’t fix on his own and provide a silent company when he needs to wind down. Flick will tag along whether he had a stupid plan (and then provide 5 even dumber ones). Fyr watches over him and sets spoons on fire. Ivia stayed where they left, first and foremost. He also quite likes their ooze-talks, and the way she’s always, unlike him, using her brain.

The other end of the spectrum are his paternal grandparents, who are always willing and ready to remind him how wrong his very existence is.

If they could choose their epitaph for their grave, what would they choose?

“I had a good life, thanks to you. Do not mourn me.

Have a party, or something. I’m sorry I won't be there, but I’m a bit buried, as you can see.”

If they could have one thing in the world, what would it be?

Time.

What’s something that your character does, that other people don’t normally do?

He tends to give names to inanimate objects. The more nervous/excited he is, the more he babbles. When he is down, he gets quiet.

He never has any issues about asking for help.

Gin

What are your OC’s hobbies?

Reading, not surprisingly. Not only magic books that she can learn from, but basically anything ha can get her hands on, which is a lot. She has a weakness for terribly written romances that she can comment on. Nobody but Steffit knows about the secret library in their bedroom, filled with dozens of heavily annotated copies. When he has a bad day he steals some of them just to read the comments.

Every anniversary of their wedding he finds her a new one - sometimes ordering a special copy, with extra-wide margins.

What is a random fact about your OC?

She can’t see colors since she was twenty or so.

She probably killed more people than most serial killers.

She hates figs.

Does your character have any scars? Where did they get them from?

There are still slight marks on her hands from the time she was learning to be a jeweller. There is a mark on her neck from when one of her spells slipped and the victim got a chance to fight back when she was unprepared. Since then she always makes sure they unarm themselves first.

If your character was given a slice of pineapple pizza and they HAD to eat it (or something bad would happen), how would they react? Do they even LIKE pineapple pizza?

If there was the only way to make Gin eat something she does not want to eat would be to put her family’s life and wellbeing on the line. She’s eat the pizza with no protest. And then the person who dared to threaten her family would probably die after eating a whole pineapple at once, and burn alongside their pizzas in the oven.

Steffit

What are your OC’s greatest fears? Weaknesses? Strengths?

All of them are one and the same, actually - family.

Once upon a time Steffit’s parents reaction was his greatest fear, one that came to pass, but right now is losing his actual family, or being unable to stop them from getting hurt. It is also his greatest weakness - he’d do anything to stop that from happening. But, at the same time, it is also his greatest strength - don’t come between him and his family. Gin will destroy you if you try this with her, but Steffit will tear you to pieces and won’t even turn back to look at the mess.

What is a random fact about your OC?

He loves mushrooms and nuts. He likes animals in general. He rides horses more often than ponies, using a sidesaddle.

Would they ever kill someone? What would someone have to do to push them to kill someone? If they would kill someone, why?

If there was no other way, yes. If somebody was threatening his family or employees, he would just go for it. His hammer is usually a non-lethal weapon, but if he could see no way to end the fight with just knocking out the attackers, he’d kill them.

His hammer is always a lethal weapon when he’s looking for Nil on the wrong side of the river and he knows if he’s stopped he can be too late and Nil will get hurt. He never had to use it there, yet, nobody wants to pick a fight over a few coins with somebody looking ready to kill.

Rodhlann

What kind of clothing does your OC wear?

He usually wears comfortable clothes and dark ones - grey, brown, black, dark green - ones that are ok to get dirty. He always wears thick socks to make sure his boots fit well.

If your OC could have any pet, what would they choose? Why?

A goose. He thinks they are cute and cuddly. He has no idea. There were none at the temple and he’s only ever seen them from afar.

What is a random fact about your OC?

He knits a lot, and not very well, but he’s trying. He always believes the best about everybody. He believes people don’t lie. It’s really hard to offend him, since he keeps offending people by speaking his mind all the time. He can’t concentrate very well when there are people nearby.

What kind of nervous habits do they have? Do they stim? Do they have any kinds of addictions?

He loses appetite when stressed. He fidgets. Well, you could say he’s addicted to doing something with his hands. He feels awful when he’s idle.

What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Family. Friends. People who won’t care about his tendency to blurt things out. People who will be ok with getting awfully knitted things, even if they will hide them deep in a wardrobe.

Also, maybe chocolate. It was a long time since he tasted it and he rather liked it.

#ask #liryczna #oc #shards of the sun

4 notes · View notes

midnightbibliophileblog · 7 years

Text

I know, I know, I keep apologising for disappearing. I’m sorry. But, exams are finally over and I have two weeks off to enjoy myself and that I will. I feel like I’ve exhausted my Netflix source for movies and I refuse to start any new TV shows. I’ve SO much reading to catch up on. But, let’s not dwell on that. Today, instead, as the title suggests, I am talking about annotating my books.

Let me begin by getting something straight: yes, I am still a neat freak with books. One dog eared page and I’m crying but, some books, will be… getting a little upgrade, I feel.

To give a little backstory here you’ve probably seen me talk about how I annotate kindle books as I go along. This hasn’t changed. (Well, besides my kindle having a meltdown on me and dying. Don’t worry, reading off the kindle app on my phone.) I use the four highlight colours (and I will later go into depth with what they mean) and write little notes, which I check out later when writing reviews. I love having notes as I go along. For physical books, I usually tab my books (even borrowed books, yes) so I have some notes afterwards to refer to when reviewing. However, I’ve decided on a new method and I’d like to share it with you.

In terms of which books I annotate:

I‘ve decided I’m going to go through all of my well loved books and re-read them and annotate as I go along. By well-loved books I mean books that I basically destroyed in the past by dog earing page etc. (ones that could never been given away for their bad quality) and books that are of importance to me. Of course this category crosses over.

For an example of a basically wrecked book I own: Abandon by Meg Cabot. This book was published back in 2011 and it was one of the books that got me into reading. I used to read this book all the time and it went everywhere with me. Suffice to say it got a little damaged. And, the two following books aren’t in much better quality. (The third one’s cover is really weird on it now because I was reading it beside the pool on holiday and it got splashed. I was devastated but oh well.) I’ve started re-reading this so when I’m showing you my colour coding, I will show you the inside.

An example of a well-loved book of mine that is both a little wrecked but very deeply loved is A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I hadn’t yet had a chance to go through this book but there will definitely be a lot of highlighting, notes and tabs in this book because I adore it.

I’ve decided that if I read an e-book and end up buying the physical book I will transfer my e-notes into physical notes and tabs. I did this for It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. This was actually the first book I annotated because I had a lot of thoughts on it. There aren’t that many written notes in it because I was trying to adapt my e-book annotating to my physical books and it wasn’t working the best. I also found that if I just put a page flag into the book and didn’t mark exactly what I wanted to note then I didn’t remember why I flagged the page. So, that is why I have decided to make this post in changing my methods. (Wow, I feel like that took way too long to explain.)

I’ve also decided I’m going to annotate arcs. However, I’m going to annotate arcs differently from the above mentioned books. (I’m sorry this post is a mess. I swear I actually did plan this one out.) And I’m going to annotate books I own that I may not enjoy (so would give away) the same way as annotating my arcs.

My New Annotation System (for arcs and books I may not enjoy):

I’ve decided that I will tab my books like normal but, instead of highlighting I’m going to underline in pencil. That way, if I don’t enjoy the book I can rub the pencil out and still give the book away to a friend or someone. (My rationalising with this is that I usually highlight good things so if I don’t like the book then there won’t be much highlighting.) I’ll also use post it notes instead of page flags when I want to make actual notes on the specific section. If I enjoy the book then and want to keep it I’ll go back over it with a highlighter and write in the notes in. I’m not really one of those people who feels the need to get a finished copy of a book because they don’t like only having an arc. I have no problem with it saying “not for sale” or whatever on it.) This method will also be for borrowed books but of course, there will be no underlining whatsoever.

Now, for the more interesting stuff.

My New Annotation System (for well loved books):

For well loved books, I underline, highlight and write on the pages. (For those of you who are freaking out about this, I urge you to come to the dark side! )

I also colour code my tabs and my highlights. I use five colours: pink, yellow, orange, green and blue. To see what I mean, here are a few pages from Abandon (which I previously mentioned):

(I apologise for them looking blurry. They went taken on my camera and because I had to downsize them when sending they blurred.)

So, anyway there’s a couple of pages to show you how I’ve been annotating. The big image is IEWU (how I was previously annotating) and the other pictures are of Abandon. As you can see there’s a lot more going on on those pages.

Now, to break down the colours:

Pink: is for things that make me go “ah, my heart”, whether good or bad. So, if in a fight one of the MCs says something really painful to the other person but it’s something I’d like to remember, it goes in pink. I did think of separating these two but I decided against it. There are many scenes where it’s sad but one of the MCs says something sadly romantic, it gets a pink highlight and tab.

Yellow: yellow is for the GOOD. This is for funny scenes or dialogue, inspirational words or just really good things I want to remember. Noteworthy things.

Orange: is for references. This probably the least used colour but, I like keeping track of references to other things in books so I decided orange would be the colour. For an example of this one, in Abandon, each chapter starts with a quote from Inferno by Dante.

Green: this is for what I’m calling “development”. I’m using that term very loosely. Green is for when there’s any noteworthy character or plot development. I’ve also, in the beginning chapters, highlighted character traits or descriptions for later reference. (I haven’t used this one much so I don’t know if this one will stick or not but for now it’s here.) I also want to use this if there’s an diverse rep., so I can keep note.

Lastly, blue: blue is for problems. On my kindle, I use blue for problems I have with any of the characters or how something developed and typos. I’m also going to be highlighting anything that I find problematic.

Then there’s underlining: I underlines things that I just want to comment on. There things that don’t fit into any of the above categories but I have thoughts on them. For each of the above colours, there’s corresponding tabs (no this book above is not tabs because I ran out of tabs but wanted to start reading this again but I’ll go back and tab.) but I’m not tabbing anything underlined. They’re not really things that I want to remember in the future, unlike things that are highlighted.

So, yeah. That’s how I annotate. I will have a separate discussion on how to annotate and why you should annotate linked to this and thankfully it won’t be as long.

Do you annotate? If not and you’re a reviewer, how do you keep note of the books you read? Is your memory that good? If yes, I’m jealous.

Thanks for reading! Glad to be back!

How I Annotate My Books Pt. 1

#2018 #active reading #annotating #blogging #books #changes #February #opinion #reading

0 notes

coralstudiies · 5 years

Text

SURVIVAL GUIDE & STUDY TIPS

hello everyone!! this post is a collab with the lovely and amazing @boinkhs because we've both reached 2k followers :D she'll be doing study tips for college students and i'll be doing study tips for high schoolers. check out her post here!

i've split this into part 1. survival, which concerns how to study & learn better in general and just tips on how to get through high school. part 2. is on specific study tips for each type of subject, namely sciences, maths, languages and humanities.

Hope this helps <3

1. Don't snooze please

you just end up snoozing 5 times then you’re late for school

2. If you find you have difficulty getting out of bed, just keep in mind ONE TASK you need to do.

for example, making your bed. then you just gotta focus on that! it should help fight the sleepiness because you’re forcing your brain and limbs to be active.

3. Do the necessary things like brushing your teeth, putting on clothes and eat breakfast

i don’t know why but some people don’t eat breakfast before coming to school like ???? excuse me ???? please eat at least a small snack, or a fruit or something. your body doesnt function on an empty stomach! also, drink some water to hydrate yourself

4. On the road, you should do something that puts you in a good mood.

for me, i go straight to spotify and listen to my playlist. you should also review the previous day’s learning so that you refresh your memory before going back to class. personally this is my fav part of the day HAHAHA

5. If you like, you can choose to read a book.

just make sure you’re calm but ‘warmed up’ to focusing in a sense.

1. Hydrate frequently

idk man it just keeps you awake + i dont feel so icky if i drink enough water

2. Learn actively

if the teacher asks questions, try to answer. sit at the front row. offer to help give out the worksheets or notes. clarify your doubts after. when they speak, copy down notes. don’t worry about the aesthetic; i mean you can but you need to write fast and neat which unfortunately doesnt come together very often. i suggest you spend more brain power digesting and understanding the content.

3. Don’t over highlight

ONLY KEY POINTS that are stressed by the teacher. you can tell when their tone changes, expression changes, when they use more hand motions, or they keep repeating a few key words. yes , that. highlight that. stare at it while listening to them speak. make sure you understand. if you don’t please ask. but make sure you don’t have a fluorescent page because that’s not ideal study material!

4. Write down any questions you have

if they’re answered in the lesson, cancel them off. if not, ask after the lesson. dont be scared! *sends virtual courage*

5. Use whatever free time you have to finish homework

because you’re gonna thank yourself later. you should spend more time at home revising than doing homework. ( doing homework isnt equivalent to revising PLEASE I KNOW SO MANY PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY REVISED FOR 3 HOURS BUT ALL THEY DID WAS HOMEWORK ) also it feels better knowing you have one less thing to worry about

6. Record down all assignments, due dates and test dates

do it in a planner or your phone. doesn’t matter just keep them somewhere. it can be demoralising to see an entire entry of shit to get done but still it’s better than not knowing what needs to be done. ignorance is NOT bliss. try to color code or symbol code them, for example • for assignments (due date behind), - for tests etc. act on this when you go home (see below)

7. Have a file/binder some form of organisation to keep different subjects’ worksheets, tests, notes, reading etc.

you can have one massive binder, one binder for each subject, one folder file for each subject or anything that suits you. for me, i clip all materials of one subject together with a binder clip. the materials i use most are at the front for easy reference. then put those bundles into zipper files, perhaps one for math and sciences, another for languages and humanities. or whatever suits you best! make sure you have everything in one place so you don’t panic and dig through a pile of dog-eared paper.

8. If you can, when it’s near the exam period, don’t stay back after school unless it’s to study.

i used to stay back for training and to play volleyball with my friends and i kid you not we would play from 2pm to 6.30 pm and get nothing done but it was fun. and i’m not saying deprive yourself of that fun but when the exams are near, you should be studying somewhere quiet/ somewhere you can focus. you should go somewhere (preferably home) where you can focus and get things done.

9. Decide if you’re a lone wolf or if you need a study buddy/study group

personally i’m a lone wolf because i hate distractions and i don’t want to distract others. but when my friends ask me for help i don’t mind staying back a little to teach them and/or study with them. Personally i find that for subjects like english which require you to write about an array of topics, studying with someone else can help in generation of essay points and to just broaden your understanding of the topic. so yeah it really depends, just do what suits you :)

10. Take notes in class

try to understand while copying, and if you didn’t understand something, you should raise your hand and ask for the teacher to repeat so that you hear it again. also, it gives you more time to take notes as they re-explain the content. read them after the lesson is over to help internalise some facts. you can create your own method of organisation for your notes, e.g. colour coding.

1. Review the day’s learning on the way home.

if you take public transport, try to flip through your notes and worksheets to review new content for the first time.

2. Eat lunch, have a snack, take a shower, everything that’s necessary.

if you use your phone while eating, make sure you don’t eat slowly just to use your phone because that’s wasting time.

3. If you’re super tired, just have a 15-20min power nap

nothing more otherwise you will NEVER wake up until the dead of night. just take a nap to get some energy back. doesnt matter if you wake up feeling more tired, because you’ll shake that feeling in a while. keep a glass of water beside you so that you can drink it once you wake up!

4. Look through your ‘list’ that you made earlier in the day. (in class, pt. 6)

you might want to spend max 10 mins updating your schedule. then stare at the dreaded homework. start with the easiest and least time consuming to build up momentum. this could actually be the remainder of what you’ve finished in school. then look at the due dates. do them in order of due dates. unless it’s a huge project or assignment, you might want a head start on it!

5. With the remaining time, you should start revising

review the day’s learning AGAIN.

make notes/mindmaps/flashcards whatever works for you. you should prioritise the subject or chapter that you were most confused about. quickly revise and try to clear up any questions you have about the chapter. if you have additional time, go ahead and make notes for the next subject! another way is going through corrections and clarifying your doubts with friends/teachers, and summarise the day’s learning on a post-it or two. if you’ve already taken notes in class, look at other sources e.g textbook and combine what you’ve learnt before re-writing or re-organising your notes.

1. Pack your bag!

remove unnecessary materials, and pack the necessary one. make sure your bag isnt too heavy. you can choose to hand carry some files or binders if they’re too bulky, but make sure you’re all packed before the next morning

2. Have a meal & clean up

again, basic necessities. don’t go to bed hungry or feeling icky because thats not how you treat yo self!

Before class:

if you’re going to continue on a chapter, review the content that came before it. Try to make your own connections between the already learnt and to-be learnt content so that you’re mentally ready for class.

In class:

take down notes, highlight, annotate and DRAW DIAGRAMS. you can’t do sciences without diagrams. for physics or chemistry which require more calculation, copy down the problems your teacher goes through and solve them along with him/her. write the formulas on a post it note so you can stick it onto the page where you’re writing for easy reference. if the teacher plays a video which is MOST DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO WAIT FOR YOU you have to write only the relevant points in the most abbreviated form possible.

Note-taking:

I find that linear notes help me most in sciences. for chapters that involve lots of interconnected processes, for example o chem, then mindmaps or flowcharts will be helpful. also if you tend to forget something, post-it that stuff on the front page of your notes where you are FORCED to stare at it. yes. write down example problems and their steps, then write explanations for each step so that if you’re confused you can always refer back. again, draw any required diagrams.

Answering techniques:

if there’s a ‘standard’ way to answer it then you have to make sure you follow that way even in your homework because it’s muscle memory. when you get to exams, your hand will automatically write in the same format so you don’t lose marks or spend time recalling the correct format.

imo sciences are quite logical so as long as you remember and follow the flow you’ll be fine!

In class:

copy key terms, facts and examples and write all examples that the teacher has gone through. write all formulas and definitions on a post it, then shift it around the pages as needed. if there’s a type of problem you particularly suck at, ask your teacher for help IMMEDIATELY because it’s so easy to forget the steps to a problem.

At home:

do your homework, do additional practice, correct your mistakes, clarify, and repeat. memorise formulas and definitions (perhaps using flashcards or post its) then practice more and make sure your concepts are strong. there’s no easy way and sadly this is all i can comment.

In class:

copy down notes, think actively, and if you’re given a sample essay you should annotate the heck out of it and keep it somewhere safe.

For essays:

read up more and write up. befriend the best writer in class and ask for their essays. write essay plans and consult your teacher. brainstorm possible approaches with friends. read the news, and copy the links of interesting online articles for future reference. have a go-to list of examples and quotes you can use, for any and every topic. read these like your bedtime story and never forget to keep updating them.

For comprehension passages:

read the questions first. then you’ll be more sensitive to what you need to read in the passage and how you need to analyse it. try to question yourself about how and why the author does something or makes you feel something. do not rush-read the passage or you will fail horribly (personal experience). do one or two extra comprehensions and ask your teacher to mark them.

In class:

ARROWS TO LINK EVERYTHING and annotate any class notes given. write down new examples provided by the teacher. if there is a link you ‘can check out’ go check it out. it’s probably something thats gonna be on the exam.

At home:

you have to rely on mindmapping and flow charts because everything is linked in some way and you cannot ignore those links!!!! although i do my humanities notes in linear form, my in class notes are all in the form of mindmaps. and actually i revise from those in a pinch because i can see everything at one go. watch vids on the concepts, for example plate tectonics. those things are so hard to see when they’re deadass sitting on the page and not budging. watch a video where they really move instead of being frozen.

If you’re so frickin lost:

watch more videos on the concepts, watch more videos on the events, search up interpretations online and ask your teachers!!! for everyone who gets equally lost as me when i’m faced with a new chapter, another way is to pre-read before the teacher starts teaching. if you’re lazy to read just watch a couple clips on it so that at least you have some background. even if you wake up the next day with 0 concrete memory, which you won’t, you’ll already have the flow of things which will help you if you’re usually the straggler.

(disclaimer i study geography although i've tried history and english literature but i think that they're similar to some extent, especially on how to study them)

#study #studyblr #studying #coralstudiies #revision #study motivation #notes #study tips #study advice #studying tips #studying advice #high school #lectures #tips #advice

1K notes · View notes

tigerlilycorinne · 4 years

Text

Reader Tag Game

Thank you for tagging me, @blue-rose-smalls!! I love reader tags.

Hardcover or paperback. Soft and bendy, and I’m less stressed about accidentally bashing a corner.

Rents or buys. I mean, I buy tons of books, and definitely not as many as I’d like to (obviously) but I usually get books from the library. I’ve never rented... though...? (or maybe renting is talking about the library and I’m just dumb 😂)

Reads in silence or reads with music. I’m the kind of person who pays attention to the lyrics of music– I cannot simply hear it without listening to it. (Sometimes I listen to a select few instrumental pieces that @mystical-muffin-ofthe-fandoms recommended to me a while ago, and I still listen to.)

Annotations or pristine pages. I have never marked up a book. I can’t say I like pristine pages better, because I haven’t tried both but... I really like pristine pages.

Ebooks or physical copies. Just. The feeling of the paper, and the weight of it, and the smell of ink and paper... yes please.

Dog ears or bookmarks… I would never dog ear a book.

Mismatched series or complete set. It irks me to no end when there’s only part of a series on my shelf. I must own all of them, or I’d rather not have any at all.

Lend books or keep them to yourself. This is a hard one because I don’t trust anyone with my books, but I’m also I terrible people-pleaser. No, I don’t usually lend my books. But if someone were to say, can I borrow it when you’re done reading it? I would have a very hard time saying no, even if they were the absolute worst with my pencils (I’m a pencil lender.)

Enjoys lit classics or despises them. I don’t even know if I’ve read any. What’s categorized as a lit classic? Dickens is loooong and rather boring, Virginia Wolfe is actually pretty interesting... I loved Louisa May Alcott a while back. Do any of those count as lit classics?

Browses shops or orders online. I LOVE browsing bookshops, and I’ll do it until someone drags me away, but if there’s an anticipated book in a series, you best bet I’m pre-ordering it. I buy more online than I probably should.

Unreturned books or clean library records. I was going to plead the fifth, but everyone knows what that means, so I may as well say it. I WILL CLARIFY THOUGH: I let someone borrow it and they lost it. Shouldn’t have, I know. I’m extremely susceptible to puppy eyes (see above: people-pleaser).

Fanfic enthusiast or stickler for canon. I LOVE fanfic, but I prefer fanfic that is mostly-canon. Of course, barely any of my ships are canon, but I prefer reading in the canon universe, where it diverges from canon somewhere rather late in the canon timeline or post-canon. Complete AUs aren’t usually my thing.

Deep reader or easily distracted. When I was in elementary and middle school, sometimes I literally wouldn’t register people talking to me until they made deliberate, physical things to get my attention: smacking my shoulder, tapping my head, waving their hand between me and the book. I’m more aware of my surroundings now, but I’m still a deep reader.

Must read the book before seeing the movie or order doesn’t matter. I’m cannot stand seeing the movie first, because it always seeps into my original perception of the book/story/characters. My mindset has now been contaminated and I don’t have the chance to picture people and places on my own. Plus, internal narrative is something I want to have the first time I experience the story.

Has neat bookshelves or messy bookshelves. I try to have an organization... But siblings. We have five bookshelves in the house, and we share all of them. Imagine how that turns out.

Skips ahead or resists temptation. I can’t bear to skip ahead– nothing is more potent than it is in its context and to skip ahead is to lose some of that context. That being said, I sometimes skim over long paragraphs of descriptions, but I try to still be attuned to the vibe of the place and how the character is perceiving it.

Guesses plot twists or never sees them coming. I’m. Just. Listen I’m not even the kind of person who tries to guess what’s going to happen. I’m just like, I’ll keep reading and find out! I don’t predict. I’m jealous of people who think ahead, that must be pretty cool.

Did I just write a paragraph for each of these bullet points? Yes. Oops. Anyway... I know some people have already done this tag, but if you want to do the comment on your bolded answer version, I’d love to read them. 👀

Tagging: @fangirl-of-letters, @skytlake, @mystical-muffin-ofthe-fandoms, @jasminmoonlette, @fiberglassbox

#yes I tag the same people every time #shut up I have no friends #tags #tag #personal #reading habits #reader tag game

0 notes

autoirishlitdiscourses · 4 years

Text

Discourse of Tuesday, 15 September 2020

One thing that I feel that it might be to take seniors who need to reschedule after the final will get you evaluative comments. I think that setting this up. One would involve remembering that Yeats's father and brother both named John Butler Yeats: discussion of Calypso, with your group, and I don't yet see a different time. I did better. I think your discussion to motivate you to ground your argument effectively. I try very hard to let the discussion keep going past ten minutes if you'd compressed your initial discussion a bit more slowly would have needed to pay off, not with me. Without going back through your notes are posted here. Responding to paper proposals. Your You responded gracefully to questions #4, about rephrasing them as possible productive ways to get you more specific thesis statement is so strong, I made some real contributions in discussion. I'm so sorry for your make-up to perform a musical arrangement or performance of the text quoting, including you presenting tomorrow night. I'm sorry to take so long to get in. Excellent!

F on the syllabus. I may find it necessary to use this as the quarter have been assigned for reading the assigned texts. Thanks for the lateness. —Paying attention to your larger-scale course concerns and did an amazing recitation, and you touched on some people will likely be turned off by being asked to make the paper's overall trajectory and how you're going for, say, and then make the selection you picked to the historical development of the particular text, and asks for a job well done this quarter, and I suspect are likely to be over.

Discussion notes for week 3. Then structure your weekend!

Truthfully, I will not necessarily mean that the useless incompetent morons who pass as campus technicians decided to adopt it with a copy in the time. If you feel this way. The sign comes from the midterm. All students are correctly identifying at least 80% on the web I'm pretty sure it's at least the requisite amount of prep to achieve even greater clarity about your main argument. Could never like it, even if the group as a whole. To-morrow the rediscovery of romantic love, for instance, if he asks you specific questions, OK? All in all cases, writers of papers in the context of the hard part for you, OK? I do have a word with him? The Plough and the professor wants is a B for the Veteran's Day holiday, and I will distribute your total score for the week I just heard back from; my student's make-up, you should want to be sympathetic for Dexter? /Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/alas, recording is of poor quality: The Dubliners' version of the selection. Basic grade: A chicken. Plagiarism and Cheating:/I try to generalize less in it—this is possible, OK? I said in a little hard to get to what does Vladimir's line mean? The famous Glastonbury Thorn, a B; you could then move to demonstrate this well enough in advance from the standpoint of. Nothing that I'm looking forward to your presentation tonight. We can certainly talk your ear off about visual readings of Godot here—it's just that I'm familiar with that kind of qualifications are necessary to make the hawthorn blooms during this optional session than will be helpful in any case, let me know, and a load of dung at Michaelmas, the historical issues and sets up Francie Brady's character.

One way to be painful. All in all, though I think, too. In general, and the ideas and texts that you've already done this week Yeats is still theoretically in range for the term very unlikely even a technological failure or an emergency phone call during section that has not evaporated, and I'm certainly happy to discuss with the texts you select, I personally think that you must have helped to let you keep going past ten minutes, but you can bring your luggage during section, and understanding toward my students gave recitations in front of the quarter is that you must email me the updated version by Friday evening if you get some documentary paperwork and send separate sets of notes, but you handled yourself and your presence in front of a historical document. You both did a good weekend, and what you're going through my Reddit comment history, and that, if you can find summarized briefly in this task of analytical writing.

This One By the way that you could meaningfully take this into account when grading your presentation. If you do will help to get back to you because I'm sitting here grading papers, and thanks again for being such a good selection, gave what a bright student and for me to. Let me know if you haven't lived up to this as a whole and contextualizing the novel that the overall argument will be paying attention to your own paper after letting it sit for two or three people reciting from McCabe in your write-up of the better ways to answer email as soon as possible, OK? You have excellent things to talk about, and various relationships between those terms; and b an explicit statement about this would help you to reschedule—they will be on campus never quarter. You do a very graceful job of incorporating other people's questions and comments that went rather far afield.

You substituted feel for think in line 1582. I think that one of the group and what is the connection between nature and aggression? 5 or above, I realize that there are still a few key words. You responded gracefully to questions from other students were engaged, thoughtful, ambitious paper here. Yeats, The Stolen Child Yeats, please let me know what you want to get people to speak eventually if you have any of it for the final will be reciting as soon as you being considerate, but probably not necessary to start writing to be a tricky business, and that any other questions, OK?

My mapping from percentages to letter grades/to papers, and encouraging the group when they want to be unable to get warmed up for discussion you're opening up and talking about and always has Irish for purposes of your material effectively and provided that you're trying to think out your major logical and narrative structure of your discussion. There have been avoiding presenting conclusions in favor of it continually in lecture, that'll be helpful to log into the A range; if you pick up every possible point for the section this Wednesday at 1:00 or 3. Do you have any other questions, and I understand it, and Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, all in all, you are certainly capable of doing even better quality, but neglect to address core issues related to each other would help to get into one of three people reciting from Godot today. 649; changed their to the belief structure that shows you paid close attention to the specific parts of Ben Bulben The Stare's Nest to the schedule on the other member of the Kris song in here, and overall you did a very difficult to find love so hurtful so often to be refined a bit more practice but your writing.

I have a good public speaker. Eavan Boland, White Hawthorn in the day before Thanksgiving? I'll let you know what you most need in order to be any thematic overlap is that I would say that your idea, not on page 58 and 8 Lestrigonians, starting on page 84, so I can do to be successful in a way that McCabe is quite good. Does that help?

You have some idea of focusing on that. And yes, your grade after your recitation on Tuesday, getting there a particular race is actually doing the minimum enrollment for the quarter by ⅓ of a historical document and audiovisual component. He has not scheduled a recitation. You might profitably take either of these are all substantial ways to pass them out, let me know if you have any other number of things well here, and this is, the bird as the introduction for a job well done!

You can absolutely go on! I'm trying to point people when looking at it. I wasn't engaged in memorization and recitation outlines, and a punctuation mark. This is when I've given it a great deal more during quarters when students aren't doing a good topic, if you have to take so long to get people thinking about what it meant to be the very end of the most likely cause of Irish emigrants Irish under your definition? There is also the only student who will need to sign up for speaking than many other sections for this proposal; the median and mode scores were both 7, I think and X could be made about your other discussion points. After thinking about for the compliments you were so open-ended, less abstract questions, OK? 649; changed so I can give, because I necessarily agree with you that this question, but that it is, again, did he drop? Have a good topic, if you request at least a short phrase from it.

You probably noticed that none of them you'd like to put it another way to analyze—but being flexible may be that the probability that she's not in any reasonable person could disagree with these matters will help you to make your readings of V for Vendetta at the first time in a lot of ways of reading the poem itself. Again, this/does still count/as a last resort are constantly shown to be successful.

This is not something that you should stop using Windows presentation. There has just been so far, with this by dropping into lecture mode instead of electronically. Unless otherwise mentioned, all in all, who told a friend they happen to get the breathless exhausted happy quality of the Godot reciters for several reasons, including participation and your writing is very solid paper. I've posted a copy by 10 p. Discussion notes for week 2; he also wrote the shortest, easiest-to-talk maneuver. Opening up more quickly. Generally articulates important course themes and makes some attempt to determine whether other parts of your total score for you. You're presenting together but will absolutely respond to the professor is behind a bit of wiggle room. I'll pick it up tonight but feel up to you. So let's have the room, but it can be. Grade: B-on your list existentialism, absurdity though it does mean that you noticed that none of this is a B and almost impossible to say about what kinds of background information demonstration of why I think that what you want a recording of your total points for the points for demonstrating correct knowledge I'd rather you did quite a long time, despite being raised in orphanages, or alternate comparable relationships that replace or supplement this contract without engaging in a longer paper in my box in the course website: good reading of Yeats's September 1913, which would have paid off with flair; and your readings are also welcome to come up if you're treating the text of the passage as a commemorative, rather than the syllabus schedule and how it accomplishes what it means to go back through your questions might have helped some, here is a more specific about what happens to Gertie around 8 p. I'm trying to play Fluther as more angry would have liked generally lost points for demonstrating correct knowledge I'd rather they did that than leave it blank, but there are places occasionally when you type in a fairly full schedule this week. I think that the section hits its average level of familiarity with the maximum number of important things to talk sometimes, and that tonight was no section credit. If you have quite a good conversational move might be Akira Lippit's recent Atomic Light: Shadow Optics.

#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

0 notes

mediacalling · 6 years

Text

13 YouTube Community Building Hacks You Never Knew About

Did you hear the latest social media stats? YouTube is more popular with teens than Facebook. Only 51% of teens in the United States still use Facebook while 85% say that they use the video-sharing platform. So, if you’re still saying your brand doesn’t need YouTube community building, you might need to rethink.

My team at Contentworks has created video scripts for some of the biggest finance brands and managed their YouTube channels. So, with that in mind, I’m going to tell you 13 YouTube community building hacks you never knew about. I’m going to split these tips into three sections: Attract, Engage and Convert.

Attract

These strategies will help you get people to your channel, where you can charm them.

1. Brand Your Channel

It sounds basic but branding your channel properly is one of the most important steps you need to take to build your community. If someone visits your YouTube channel it should be immediately obvious that it’s yours. Similarly, if people are searching for your channel, it should totally pop.

Check out Marcos Alberca, the world-famous photographer. His profile picture, custom designed banner and links to Instagram all tell you that you landed in the right spot.

Pro Tip

Design your own custom cover image in Canva. Use your branding colors, guidelines, and ideal customer profile to create a compelling first impression.

2. Add Translated Captions

Do you know who you’re trying to target?

To attract them you need to speak their language. Would you want to watch a playlist that’s not in your native language? If you have a high budget, you can get your videos made in your audience’s languages.

If, however, you are keeping an eye on costs then you can add captions to your videos. I still recommend that you use a properly translated script for this. Here’s a great video which will explain how you do it.

Pro Tip

If you are adding language captions then it may be best to keep onscreen annotations to a minimum. A viewer trying to read captions in Chinese will find it distracting to see English annotations happening in the background. This is key for YouTube community building.

3. Create Relevant Playlists

Here’s where most brands go wrong with their YouTube community building strategy. They have a ton of videos, so they throw them all on their channel. Perhaps they make a few playlists like “company videos” or “products” but that’s it.

You need to create relevant playlists that fit with your target audience. Check out the Apartment Therapy channel. Each playlist hits a different sweet spot and makes it easy for me as a viewer to find what I’m looking for. With playlist titles like “How To’s and Hacks” and “Organizing 101” viewers can instantly dive into the topic they want.

Pro Tip

Notice the relevant thumbnails on each playlist and video? That’s super important. Thumbnails are often the bait that pulls in viewers so yours should be high quality, relevant and intriguing. Make your thumbnails in Canva sized to ‘1280×720.’

4. Add an Awesome Channel Trailer

Your channel trailer is the first thing visitors to your channel see and the best thing is, it plays automatically, even to non-subscribers. So, what does that mean? It means it needs to be awesome. It should be short and easily summarise for viewers what your channel is all about.

You could add a short brand video or you could highlight one of your most popular videos like Buzzfeed Tasty did here. With the caption “A little danger adds a lot of excitement to a meal!” and two cheeky looking guys on the thumbnail, we are instantly drawn to the channel.

Pro-Tip

Get creative. You have between 30 seconds and 2 minutes to grab some attention so even if your channel trailer is longer, the first part needs to be super interesting. Remember, the number one reason people bounce from a YouTube channel is an annoying or boring channel trailer.

5. Use Annotations Wisely

Annotations are the elements that pop up while a video is playing. Perhaps they say “Subscribe now” or “Watch next video”.

Annotations are one of the most powerful tools available on YouTube and they can really ramp up your subscriber list. There are other tools available for uploaders such as highlights and speech bubbles that can be added to your video. But beware. Too many annotations will have the opposite effect and turn off potential subscribers and even existing ones. Viewers want to watch your video and absorb what’s being said and annotations can be distracting.

Pro Tip

Use annotations lightly to ask viewers to subscribe or visit a link in the description to learn more. Avoid constant annotations, pop-ups and text boxes at all costs.

Engage

The next few tips will show you how to engage your audience and start the transformation from casual visitor to life-long fan.

6. Get your video length just right

Engagement is all about follower/ brand interaction. But when it comes to YouTube engagement, it’s largely about viewers actually watching the videos in the first place.

Wistia conducted extensive research across 564,710 videos, and more than 1.3 billion plays to find the sweet spot. They revealed that video engagement is good up to the 2-minute mark. So, a 90-second video will engage a viewer as much as a 30-second video. This is something you should remember when creating your videos in the first place. Yes, you have plenty to say and yes, your product has a million features but break it down into bitesize chunks. That’s why we have playlists right?

Pro Tip

Check out the YouTube channel for Travel Insider. They have nailed the art of video marketing and their 10,000 subscribers are proof that short but interesting videos work.

7. Leverage Comments to Get Superfans

The holy grail of engagement on all social media channels is a comment. Once people start commenting on your posts, tweets, and videos, it shows they are interested in what you’re talking about.

So, once you start getting comments on your YouTube videos you need to take it up a notch. The great thing is, you can add your YouTube profiles to your Agorapulse dashboard and monitor them from there– in the same place as your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, G+ and LinkedIn!

From there you can view fan comments, respond, assign to other team members, and schedule updates. Plus, you can monitor keywords and listen out for conversations.

Pro Tip

The comment section is a great place to pan for content marketing ideas. If your viewers are asking questions about your product or service, turn the questions into a blog post or a Q&A video. And be sure to thank and tag those who asked a question!

8. Use Analytics to Guide Your Strategy

Here’s one for those of you with a nice budget to play with. There are tons of cool video marketing tools out there, but the good ones do generally come with a price tag.

TubeBuddy is a sweet little tool that features bulk processing, end screen templates, emoji pickers, thumbnail generators and much more. Pricing is quite reasonable and scales up as your channel grows. If you aren’t ready to invest, try the free version. It’s basic yet useful.

Another tool which is more analytics-driven is Bird Song Analytics. This suite allows you to tap into your video analytics, pull reports and use them to create better videos. Plus, you can spy on your competitors!

Pro Tip

Remember that you don’t need to spend money to have an amazing YouTube channel. The key is engaging videos, great support in the comments section, and of course paying attention to your free YouTube analytics panel.

9. Embed Your Videos Into Your Blog

When you upload a YouTube video to your channel, that shouldn’t be the end of your marketing efforts – oh no! That video needs to be shared out to maximize viewing time.

One of the great things you can do is embed the video into your blog or site. Simply find the video you want to embed, select share and tap the “embed” icon.

Then, just copy the code into the code on your website in the space you want your video to appear.

The great thing about doing this, is that your web visitors will be able to open the video up in a new tab– your YouTube channel!

Pro Tip

If you make lots of short videos, why not match them to your blog posts. For example, “How to embed videos into your blog” can become a video and blog post which fit together like apple pie and ice cream.

10. Promote on All Your Channels

We touched on this previously but let’s delve into it because YouTube community building is all about increasing subscribers and engaging them.

If you’re just uploading a video to your channel and moving on to your next task, then you’re missing out. When you upload a video, you will want to share it across to your Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin channels. Remember to make the caption different and relevant for each space. Then, using your Agorapulse calendar, schedule in some updates for the future which link back to your YouTube video.

Pro Tip

Repetition is #coolnotcool so be sure to repeat your social sharing but with a different caption, thumbnail and call to action. You will also want to repeat at different times of the day to engage followers who may be in a different time zone.

Convert

The final tips will show you how you can convert visitors into subscribers.

11. Use Instagram to Dominate Image Searches

Instagram is another super popular channel but it’s image based so how can you use it to convert on YouTube?

Simple– create posts that match your playlists. Then get your designer to create amazing images that match the different videos in the playlist. Post them with a link to the relevant video and matching hashtags and watch your subscribers pour in. You can do the same thing over on Pinterest by creating boards that match your playlists. A beautiful image matched to a relevant video will grab user attention.

Pro Tip

If the purpose of your video is to sell a product then be sure to include a URL to that product in your video description. There’s nothing more annoying than having to hunt around for the product that’s being featured.

12. Offer Incentives for Subscribers

You’ve got your army of loyal YouTube subscribers but how do you get them to buy your product? Well, your videos should be getting them interested but how about a sweet little promo to get the ball rolling?

Use your YouTube annotation tool to add relevant discounts or promotions into your videos. Leading retailer New Look hits the spot on this one.

With non-promotional, cool videos matched up to subtle call to action annotations, the channel lets you know that you can copy celeb styles at their online store. Plus, subscribers can be treated to exclusive discounts, limited edition products, and insider information. All treats to keep them coming back for more!

Pro Tip

Don’t be shouty with your promotions as that will just annoy your viewers. Instead, create the desire in your video and simply show your viewers where to go next.

13. Utilize Influencers

Influencer marketing has been huge for some time but video influencers are the new stars on the scene. My agency recently created a video script for PewdiePie in his collaboration with SGamePro.

With 63+ million subscribers, PewDiePie is one of the top 5 most popular YouTubers in the world. By leveraging his popularity, other brands are able to tap into a whole new audience. This is a massive boost for their YouTube community building efforts.

While using celebrities or industry influencers is a great tactic there are some drawbacks. Firstly, it doesn’t come cheap. Celebrity vloggers can command millions for their appearances. Secondly, it’s essential to find an influencer who reflects your brand values. If you’re selling vegan, organic skincare products, you will want to find a vlogger who matches up to your ethics.

Lastly, it’s important that your brand doesn’t become entirely dependent on the celebrity you’re using. Remember, celebs fall from grace and you don’t want your brand to go down with them.

Pro Tip

Look to engage mid-level influencers who are also looking to boost their profile. Be sure to provide them with plenty of free products to try out (no obligation) before asking them if they would like to work with you. YouTube community building is also about networking with peers and influencers.

Creating Your YouTube Community

So, there you have it– 13 YouTube community building hacks you never knew about.

Which one will you be trying out for your brand? Let us know in the comments.

13 YouTube Community Building Hacks You Never Knew About posted first on http://getfblikeblog.blogspot.com

0 notes