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sunshine--writes · 4 years

Text

Blood Bound

header image courtesy of one of the biggest Lady Dimitrescus simps i’ve ever met.

This is the first and last time i will ever write anything so be prepared. Also i’m not the best writer so some parts might be very rushed and sloppy sorry. Idk how to post on tumblr either and also i’m on mobile so sorry for weird formatting issues :)

A little background I wrote this as a presentation thing with my friends so it’s not gonna be good. Also this is the first time i’ve ever written smut so sorry i guess?

Warnings: NSFW of course, uh very kinky probably, swears in this warning, f! Reader, reader is a vampire pls let me have this, IT MAKES SENSE FOR THE STORY PLEASE LET ME HAVE THIS, vampires need sleep i guess idk just fuck let me live, fluff at the end bc im a whore for that kinda shit, probably ooc for Lady Dimitrescu but like idk her character other than dom mommy milkers so, blindfolds, binding arms? what is it called??

All of your senses returned to you very slowly. You didn’t know where you were, or why someone had taken you in the middle of the night, but for some reason you felt safe. You could feel the cold damp floor of the cell you could only presume you were in and you could smell rotting flesh and the wet metal that surrounded you. You could hear the dripping noises of falling water coming from somewhere in front of you, and the sound of footsteps slowly approaching. The only sense you never regained was your sight. You could feel the soft fabric that covered your eyes and made a reasonable guess that your host for the evening had blindfolded you.

“Have you awoken my darling?” Ah, speak of the devil. The person that belonged to that sultry voice was one Lady Dimitrescu -- the countess that you have met with several times before and every encounter has somehow ended the same way. You remember the first time you met the 9 foot tall woman. It was 1920, and as the child of a wealthy eastern european count, you were required to attend the galas that were thrown. During one such occasion you happened to run into Lady Dimitrescu, and had unfortunately uncovered her secret. At the first sign of danger a normal person would have run, but who were you to judge? After all, aren't you two essentially the same?

That was the first night, and the begging of a long mutual relationship between the two of you. A whirlwind of passion, anger, misery, and lust was the only way you could describe these past decades you have spent with her. Everytime you left her embrace, you couldn’t help but long to be in it again no matter how angry you were. This on again off again relationship had persisted through generations, and you would be damned if you would give up now. She had introduced you to your friends who had shared the same beliefs, and made you feel welcomed. She had been there during the downfall of your family's power, and she was there for every milestone. You had to admit, your life was tied to this woman if you had liked it or not. Every night you spent apart was agony, and every moment you spent together was bliss. You have eternity, so what's the use in spending anymore time apart?

This night felt different. It wasn't normal for her to seek out your company, so why has she all of a sudden? And since when has she been this gentle? If it was like any other night she would have already had her way with you and thrown you to the side. Tonight was definitely different.

“My dear turn towards me.” She demanded, and you obeyed, crawling your way to the direction you think she might be in. You found her in the corner of what you think is a cell. You could tell she was sitting in a chair so you sat on your knees in front of her.

“Ah, isn’t this better darling? Everything is as it should be.” You could hear the sound of her claws extending -- and then you felt as she dragged the nail across your cheek, across your lips, and down to your chin.

“My love, head up. This way I can see your beautiful face.” She spoke as she lifted your head with her sharp claw. “Ah this beautiful face, the one that has tormented my dreams for far too long. Isn’t this much better?” You nod, what does she mean tormented her dreams? Over these past years you understood that this relationship was not one out of love, so you never gave yourself hope that she might feel the same as you. Even as her words sounded like a declaration of longing, you refused to dream. An intimate relationship with her, even one without love, was enough for you. As long as you could remain at her side for the rest of eternity you would be happy.

She sighed, “No matter, tonight is somewhat of a celebration, and as I am in a good mood I have sought you out. So where shall we start?” You hear the claw retreat back into her hand and her start to stand up, towering over you. “Lets get you out of these clothes hm?” She grabs you by the neck forcing your body down to the ground, cool gloved hands start roaming all over your body, loosening and untying the thin clothes you wore to sleep that night. “Ah beloved, how I had missed this.” Her mouth descended onto your neck where you could feel the warmth of her saliva as she sucked on that tender spot. You whimpered, moving closer into the bigger woman, although this isn't the first time she has marked you like this, it still sends tingles down your spine. Your hands started to roam as Lady Dimitrescu moved her way from your neck to your chin, and finally to your mouth: enveloping you in a deep kiss. Your back arched to be closer to the woman on top, deepening the kiss. You could taste the reminisce of blood and the sweet wine she had been brewing for years. Tonight really was an important celebration. You couldn’t control yourself as both of your bodys moved in tandem, your hands moving down her back.

She pulled away, leaving you gasping for air, “Now now my dear, you know the rules. No touching without permission. Now let's get these hands out of the way hm?” You could feel as the warmth from her body moved away, leaving you semi-naked on the cold floor. You couldn’t tell where she had gone, nor how long she was gone for -- every minute without her felt like agony anyway.

Her footsteps finally came back, “On your knees,” she demanded, and you moved without hesitation. “Both arms behind you.” Again you moved without thinking, obeying every word. You could feel as some soft fabric was slowly wrapped around both of your wrists and then tied, you could guess that it was the same silk as the one around your eyes.

“There, isn't that better darling? Now lay back down, I will loosen you up.” A claw extended and you felt as the rest of your already loose clothes were torn off, including your slick underwear. “Hm?” she laughed, “Already ready for me?”

“Yes mistress.” you nodded, spreading your legs slightly.

“Darling you know I love it when you call me that.” Gloved hands traced their way from your neck, to your breasts, down your stomach, and finally rested on your thighs. “Hm? What should I do darling? Shall we continue?”

“Yes mistress.” You begged, wiggling your body hoping for her hand to end up in that place you wanted it. You begged for her to give you release, begged for the thing you missed the most over these years.

“Hm? Shall I grant you your requests? Maybe you should beg some more first.” Her hands suddenly moved, finding their way back up to your breasts, hands playing with your nipples. You squirmed, wishing that the woman would give you what you wanted.

“Please mistress,” you begged, pushing yourself onto her thigh. Your cries fell on def ears as she continued to play with you. You started grinding on her thigh, pleading with your mistress to take you. “Please Lady Dimitrescu, please help me.”

You felt her hot hands finally leave your chest, “Fine, I shall grant this one request to you my beloved.” Suddenly you felt a gloved finger push its way inside you, forcing itself deeper in, her other hand went back to playing with your breasts. You gasped, moaning as she started moving around slowly inside. You tried to move yourself down onto her hand, allowing sweet relief. Her unoccupied hand made its way up to your neck and she started choking you.

Her tempo picked up as another finger made its way inside. The sounds coming out of you were ungodly, she had you crying out in pleasure. “Do you like that my dear?” she called out from on top of you. You could only nod your head and cry out something akin to the word yes. She was moving even faster and you could feel the pressure inside of you about to explode, you begged your mistress to please release you, but she wouldn’t budge moving faster than she had ever moved before. You were moaning and screaming in pleasure, you silently thanked whoever was up there that you were in a castle otherwise you would probably have a noise complaint by now. Her movements had you writhing around, grasping for anything with your bound hands. You brought your legs and wrapped them around her, opening yourself up for her. You were desperately grinding against her hand, your walls tightening before you could come.

“Eager now aren't we, well my love shall I let you come?” Although you were blindfolded you could see her smirking face. You called out between moans, crying for her to let you. You were begging and pleading, you must have looked so pitiful but in that moment you wished for nothing more than to come undone by this woman's hands.

“Lets see how loud you can be.” You felt your walls close down on the fingers inside of you as you screamed out in pleasure, the pressure finally being released. You could feel your juices coming out as orgasms wracked through your body. The pleasure was too much for you to handle and before you knew it you passed out.

***

You awoke in a very comfortable bed, the feel of the satin sheets under you cooled your body and sent shivers all over. You had realized that both the blindfold and your arm restraints were gone, and your body had been cleaned up from last night's activities. You were wearing a thin nightgown that only accentuated how cold it was in this room. As you looked around you finally saw the face of the sleeping woman next to you. Strange, you had never awoken next to her, no matter how vigorous the previous night's activities were she always left before you woke up. You giggled quietly to yourself, last night must have been a special night indeed. You saw sunlight streaming in from the large windows on the northern wall of this bedroom casting itself onto her. She had never looked more beautiful in your long life. You reached out your hand and started softly stroking the woman's face and hair, careful not to wake her. You traced your way from her forehead down to her lips, pausing there slightly. Last night was different, it wasn't bad, it was in fact very good. It was just something you never thought would happen for the both of you. As you look at the face of sleeping Lady Dimitrescu in front of you, you couldn’t help but wonder what your life would be like if you two had a different kind of relationship. Your thoughts were cut short when you felt two arms snake their way around you and suddenly you were pulled into the woman's arms.

“What are you doing awake so early my little dove? You should rest some more, last night must have been very taxing on your body.” Lady Dimitrescu spoke. You were shocked to say the least. Over the decades you have known the Countess, you have never been in her arms like this. This is what you had dreamt of for so long, wanting to feel true, romantic love from this woman, and now that you are here you felt as if you could cry.

And cry you did. Before you could stop yourself you felt the tears falling down your face and onto the clothes of the woman holding you.

“My beloved what is wrong?” Lady Dimitrescu frantically spoke as she tried to wipe the tears out of your eyes, “What is the matter? Please tell me.”

“It’s truly nothing,” you finally croaked out after minutes of sobbing. You must have looked ridiculous like this. How could you really think that she would love you like you love her. You are nothing compared to her.

“If you are crying then of course something is wrong. Please tell me darling, I hate to see you so sad.”

You hesitated. Was it really alright to tell her the thoughts that have plagued you for generations? You didn’t want things to change between the two of you. Even if you were just treated as a play thing, as long as you could stay with her you would do anything. “I love you. I have loved you for years, and you will never reciprocate how I feel. I am nothing to you other than a toy you can throw away at a moment's notice. But still I wish to stay by your side, even If I am nothing other than that. Don’t let my feelings change our relationship. I only want to stay with you.” The tears came back but you wouldn’t let them fall. You were stronger than that.

You felt her hold on you tighten as she brought you closer to her, lips brushing over your forehead and over your eyes. Her mouth moved around your face, kissing away your tears.

“Beloved who ever said I never felt the same way?”

to those liking this at 2 am: 📸📸📸

#lady dimitrescu #x f!reader #vampire reader #smut #blindfold #binding #idk what else to put in the tags #mommy issues #big mommy milkers #sub! reader #dom lady dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu x reader #you can treat this as a y/n but i never said a name so idc #lady dimitrescu fic #what game is she from?#resident evil?#i don’t remember #i’m not a writer

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mmikmmik2 · 3 years

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If you were to sort the Infinity Train cast(s) into the Major Arcana a la the Persona games, which Arcana would you give everyone?

anon I had SOOOOO much fun thinking about this, thank you so much for sending me this. I sorted all the major characters, plus a few other entries, based on a mix of Arcana symbolism, Persona series character archetypes, and general vibes. I came up with answers I feel pretty good about for all but four of the Arcana. (Was really tempted to say Strength is every human character who doesn't board the train because they can handle their problems on their own lol.) This is going to be a long-winded post, so I thought I’d post just the list as an image (which hopefully won’t be too blurry!) rather than wrestle with Tumblr formatting trying to make a short list, and put a big text wall under the readmore talking more about my picks.

If this list does end up illegible, the same info is under the readmore as text! Plus some characters for Magician, Strength, Justice, and Death that I didn’t want to add to the “official” list because they’re more based on headcanon. (Although my reasoning for some of the “official” picks is pretty weak lol.)

One-One as 0. The Fool

Oh my gosh, what am I?

IT is great at fleshing out character backstories and families, so One-One at the beginning of S1 is one of the few characters who really feels like a blank slate. He's got a lot of his baggage back by the end of the season, and I think One and One-One are more similar than they seem at first glance, but S1 does seem to have been very formative for One-One and how he thinks about what he's supposed to be doing and how he relates to other people. So it does kind of feel like his fool's journey.

Alrick Timmens as I. The Magician

The magician begins the journey... by beefing it on a dirt bike, dying, and sending his wife flying off the deep end. Rip.

Alrick was an engineer like Amelia, so I could see him suiting some of the themes of the Magician, like conscious thought and manifesting ideas. His apparent playfulness and insecurity are similar to the Magician characters in Persona.

Kez as II. The High Priestess

“We can’t make this decision for you, Kez.” “You know what to do.”

I thought really hard about making Kez the Magician because just like every Magician since Persona 3, she's dumb, horny, and insecure dlkjasfdkl

(and also her showing up at the start of the story arc and being helpful but also super needy is very Magician)

But the idea of "intuition" really does suit Kez. Sometimes her intuition is as bad as her conscious reasoning, but I think that's a lot because she's so confused about what happened with Jeremy, and Morgan making Kez feel like she did a bad thing by helping him.

Tuba as III. The Empress

She made me feel like I was warm all the time.

Tuba's a mom. Sorry, this one's not that deep, haha.

Simon Laurent as IV. The Emperor

Highest number! I'm the leader now.

Simon has a lot of issues, but the one that felt the most prominent to me was his unhealthy relationship with power, authority, dominance, and rules. Another quote I considered using here was what he said in Grace's memory of meeting Amelia: "I never thought I'd get to see the Conductor with my own eyes. He's perfect! Everything finally makes sense again." In his emotional crisis, he thought everything could be fixed just by the existence of a huge, scary, powerful, male authority figure, even if they weren't doing anything helpful or informative.

Atticus as V. The Hierophant

I like to think that our stones are sturdy and handsome, like the Corgis that crafted them.

Atticus is a figure of traditional authority who deeply loves the history, society, and culture of his people. He often provides spiritual wisdom and encourages Tulip to get out of her own head and engage with the world around her. Also in Persona, Hiero is the Dad Arcana so it's very funny to me (a) to make the little dog be Hiero and (b) that the little dog really does have the strongest Wholesome Dad Energy of the whole cast.

Jesse Cosay as VI. The Lovers

Don't tell me what to do. I'm not going to be a part of anything like this, on or off the train.

This was my first and easiest pick lol, Jesse is sooooo Lovers. Like, the focus on choice and personal values and relationships? Yep, that's Jesse. It works on an "actual meaning of the Arcana" level and a "vibes with the Persona characters" level lol... popular, upbeat, and having such an identity crisis.

Lake as VII. The Chariot

I'm my own person, who is getting off this train!

I don't know if Chariot captures all the ways Lake grew over the course of S2, but I feel like they had the most externally focused conflict of all the IT characters, which suits Chariot. They've been fighting to stake out their personhood from start to finish, and they took action and used their willpower to achieve that goal. Also they have at least a little jock energy which is a prereq for Chariot tbh.

Frank as VIII. Strength

I dunno, I kinda imagine him as a simple man and easily underestimated, but with a lot of heart. The Cat may say they're keeping things casual but I don't think she'd take him with her on her private vacation unless he had some kind of inner toughness that would let him stand toe-to-toe with her.

Morgan as IX. The Hermit

I need to be alone right now. Kez... maybe... we can talk later.

I like that Morgan embodies toxic self-isolation and stonewalling and rejection, but that she seems to be moving towards the positive aspects of Hermit and taking some time to calm down and process and think. I like it when characters can embody the best and worst of their Arcana.

Tulip Olsen as X. The Wheel of Fortune

We have to adapt to the changes in our lives. It's the only way things can get better.

Tulip has a lot of themes and conflicts, but this one is a clear standout as the most important. I also like it for Tulip because, while she has to handle a lot of difficult and even traumatic situations, some of the change that challenges her isn't as unambiguously bad as e.g. the death of a loved one. It really is just change itself she's struggling with, and that's Fortune babey. Also, from the perspective of the train itself and lots of other characters, by reversing Amelia and One-One's positions again and changing how One-One administrates the train, Tulip is the one giving the wheel a spin. That's fun.

Lucy as XI. Justice

One of my friends once described the Justice characters in Persona as "the ones the player character is ultimately accountable towards", and I like to think of Lucy as kind of being that for Grace (...since Hazel has excused herself). Lucy is the Apex kid we see Grace interact with the most, the first Apex kid Grace admitted to herself that she had harmed (see Grace very briefly showing distress and then regret when Jesse points the harpoons at his face and she stops him), and the first person to confront Grace when she came home in The New Apex.

Min-Gi Park as XII. The Hanged Man

I don't know if we'll sell a single album, but we'll figure that out as we go.

Min-Gi sacrifices his "realistic", "sensible" goals for a more personally (spiritually, even?) enriching life that's beyond his control and outside of the expected norm. Like the Hanged Man, who dangles foolishly upside-down, but as a deliberate choice and in a state of serenity and enlightenment. I also think this arcana suits a reading of Min-Gi's character development as starting off going slower as a way to stall and live in denial, but then going slower with deliberation. Compare his arrogant insistence on refusing to act in The Astro Queue Car to his patience and care in The Castle Car and The Train to Nowhere.

Jeremy as XIII. Death

This isn't about the death of his family - I'm thinking of his reluctance to admit his number was going down. He cared about Morgan and Kez, and it's possible both that he may have really wanted to stay with them despite his exit and that that might even have been a healthy choice - they're real ass people with feelings and everything, not holodeck characters. But I also think Jeremy was using his life with them to avoid moving on out of that fog (because it was hard and it hurt and he didn't want to think about what that would mean for him and Morgan) and Morgan was enabling him.

Ryan Akagi as XIV. Temperance

Maybe the experience is the point. I wasn't just rushing you. I was rushing myself.

I think this one speaks for itself. Also, the other quote I considered putting here, from The Art Gallery Car: "You told me I can't appreciate the song without taking in the rest of the album. I need the whole package."

The Cat as XV. The Devil

I always do the right thing.

Honestly, this is one I really wasn't sure about. The Cat isn't a great pick for a lot of the meanings of Devil. She is definitely consumed by material comforts, and the short-term rewards of ignoring her issues at a long-term cost, though. This is more of a "vibes with Persona characters with this arcana" pick... Devil characters tend to start off being somewhat exploitative or even antagonistic towards the player character, and gradually showing a more conflicted and genuine side.

Amelia Hughes as XVI. The Tower

There's a hole in the universe where Alrick used to be.

Amelia's life is defined by catastrophe and upheaval - both those she's suffered and those she's inflicted on others.

Hazel as XVII. The Star

I'm going to keep loving you like you're still here.

When I think of "The Star" as a small but inextinguishable light in the darkness, Hazel seems like the obvious choice. Although we left her deeply wounded, I think she still has a flicker of her hope, faith, and purpose.

Grace Monroe as XVIII. The Moon

But it's unfair for me to tell you how to understand yourself. I mean, I don't even fully understand me.

Grace is probably the most complex and dynamic character on the show and hence one of the most difficult to place. I considered Empress, Strength, Devil, and Judgement for her... I think ultimately, lies and illusions are the most unifying theme of her character arc. Also, from a Persona angle, her pursuit of status out of a lack of true self-worth reminds me of Ai and Mishima.

Alan Dracula as XIX. The Sun

Brought together by the majesty of a superpowered deer!

I'm sorry dkjasfklads this is largely because I thought it was funny to have this completely inexpressive dead-eyed deer as Sun akfk but also... like... it kind of works okay!!! Think about the genuine joy and comfort and positivity he brings to Lake and Jesse (and me)!

The New Apex as XX. Judgement

"Then what are we gonna be?" "Guess we'll have to figure it out?"

This is kind of a Persona mythology gag again because of Judgement being a group social link near the end of the narratives of P3 and P4, when the protagonists have pierced through the lies and actually figured out who the villain of their game is and are ready to really start making progress.

0 as XI. The World

Ah, train does it again!

It's an ending and the completion of a journey, but also the beginning of a new one. And the world is literally what the passengers receive at the end of their train journey. Welcome home.

#infinity train #infinity train spoilers #protagonists of IT #Anonymous

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

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HASO, “The Patron.”

Sorry guys! I totally forgot I had this ready for you. I was playing with some some audio adjustment software and lost track of time. Might record one of these stories for fun at some point IDK, but I hope you like this story for today :)

The days passed by, and the sun rolled overhead on repeat, rising and falling with the pulse of Anin as day turned into night into day in an unstoppable cycle, that slow march of time that could not be slowed or stopped. If anything time here seemed to speed by and the rising and falling of the sun almost made her dizzy as she sat on the white moss of that mountain, eyes half closed in slow meditation.

The turquoise water before her was completely still with barely a ripple as the days turned into weeks.

Sunny hardly remembered eating, and she certainly didn’t remember sleeping as her entire existence seemed to be fevered waking dreams. And in through her thoughts and contemplations there weaved the voice and words of the Watcher, his face pulling into occasional focus, dark against the light of the moss behind him.

She didn’t know what he said, but he weaved words around her slowly, like a blanket, entrapping her in a cocoon of time and space from which she could not have escaped even if she had wished it so. At night stars spun above her. The southern star shining bright…. Polaris, a star they shared with earth.

He spoke to her slowly drawing her into a state of meditation so deeply profound it felt as if she no longer had a body. She listened to him, falling into the world, entering as close to the realm of spirits as any Drev ever would. Here, she felt almost… embraced by them, wrapped in arms that were familiar but somehow distant.

She knew she needed to be here.

She had to keep her connection with the spirits, and hopefully the more powerful ones would be able to speak with her. He had no long how she needed to stay in this meditative state before one of them approached. Some had died of starvation during the process, but she didn’t feel hungry, so that was not a concern for her, but she supposed that was the point.

She waited.

And waited.

And waited as the sun wheeled around her, as if she was the center of the solar system.

“I’ve been thinking about you.”

She gasped, jolting awake, or so she thought at first, but somehow, looking around her at the frozen moss, she knew she wasn’t awake. She turned towards the voice and froze as she saw him sitting cross legged on the moss facing her. His voice echoed in her head.

“Adam! How did you find me?”

Adam smiled, and when he did, it seemed…. strange , unlike him, that was until she realized that she was looking into two glittering green human eyes. His legs, cross-legged on the ground below him were bare…. And human. He was hole, his skin unblemished by scars, clear and smooth, glowing with an almost pearly sheen.

He wore white.

“What are you doing here.”

“I’m here to help you.”

“Is this real?”

He scooted closer, and the look in his eyes was so familiar that she couldn’t believe that it wasn’t him. It had to be, there was just no other explanation. He reached out a hand taking hers in his, “Do I feel real.”

She shivered, “Yes.”

He withdrew his hand resting it back on his lap, “Regardless of how real I am, the impression I make on you is real enough to matter. You called out to the universe and I came, your voice is loud and echoes in my head when you call for me, and I cannot ignore.” when he spoke, his voice echoed as if they were standing inside a concrete tunnel, melodic and powerful. She felt, if he raised his voice, and shouted he could shake the world to the very core of it’s foundation, turn the planet to rubble, and weave chains of stars with the simple persuasion of his words.

“I need help.”

“Tell me what you need.”

“The doctrine of the Drev, the martial doctrine of our people is broken, or out of date. I need to fix it, and I need your help.”

He nodded, listening intently to her, and when she looked into his eyes, she saw the universe reflected back at her. It was such a strange and usual sight, that she couldn’t look for too long for fear of falling in.

“The martial styles were originally created with different ideals in mind. At first they were created with the idea of spiritual elements, after that it was the attributions of plants and animals. Sometimes the martial doctrine changed dramatically, while other times it was added onto slowly. I plan to change it in a way that it has not been changed before, and in a way that…. Some may not like.”

He folded his hands in his lap, “And what spiritual or natural phenomena do you plan to craft your martial doctrine after.”

She took a long deep breath, and lowered her head humming softly to herself in pleasure.

Sunny didn’t know she had been thinking about it, but it occurred to her just then, that her days in meditation had not passed by without use, “The GA.”

Adam tilted his head, “The GA?”

“Or the species within the GA.”

Adam sat back in interest, “I see.” He looked down in contemplation before standing, and in his hand appeared a spear of pure sterling silver. She stood with him, and together they stepped out onto th moss, their weapons held lightly in either hand.

He moved into stance, “Show me.”

She closed her eyes and spun her spear slowly round and around, thoughtful before snapping her spear upwards in a sharp motion. He followed her movement, “I would describe this style as…. economical .” She hummed pleased with herself on the description, “It does not use any more or any less than what is absolutely needed. It requires precision, and striking just at the right time to maintain maximum results. You don’t have to move too much to do it, you just have to move at the right time.”

He fell into position just opposite of her, and together they slowly moved through a pantomime fight. It was sharp, and precise, almost brutal if it wasn’t so…. So sharp. He smiled at her from across the circle his teeth bared, “Tesraki, economical, striking just as the right time, like in business but with fighting.”

Sunny nodded, “You have the idea.”

He stepped back, “These will take a lot of work to perfect.”

“I am not afraid of a little wor.”

He smiled wolfishly, “Then let us continue.”

She nodded slowly and together with this strange spector of Adam she allowed it to flow through her: she wasn’t sure if it was simply some kind of reactive energy or if it was the spirits themselves bringing her guidance. Perhaps it was simply her own mind opened to things she had not thought of before.

But either way she could see, feel and hear everything around he, she knew what she was looking for, and the spear felt like an extension of her very being.

Tesraki, Economical and quick, Drev powerful and unrelenting, Rundi, teamwork and hierarchy in a way that no Drev fighting style had ever been performed. Where once pairs of two would have been the norm, the new styles allowed for more as well as shield walls and tight formations. The burg was fought with all four hands all at once in a fury of speed and confusion.

And then to her surprise came an idea from the back of her mind she had not once considered, and instead turned to sit on the ground to the mild amusement and even confusion of the Adam that watched her sat down too.

“I have one for the Vrul.”

The other Adam almost snorted in surprise, “Vrul?”

“Yes…. tactics. To control an entire battlefield is to control and entire battle.”

“Drev didn’t have tactics before?”

She shook her head slightly, “Only to a small degree, based more on platoon leaders and group captains than the entire battlefield. Granted we stage fights when there is ash or when we have the high ground versus the low, but it was never thought of to any kind of degree… “ She turned her head to look up at the sky, “I want to bring back the old tradition, reinstate how things were originally intended. If you can still hold a spear.... IT will be a hard thing for the Drev to accept when they have been steeped in their corrupt traditions for so long, but if there is anyone who can change it, it is me.”

He smiled at her, his sharp white teeth shining like the moss below his feet.

He stepped forward reaching out a hand and taking hers, “I believe you…. You will bring greatness back to the Drev. You will bring understanding and power.”

She stared at him for a long moment, “I have one more style in mind.”

He tilted his head in curiosity.

She stepped back and took her spear closing her eyes and conjuring up images of her foes. She began slowly moving with precision and rhythm until she slowly sped up, she was quick, and powerful and sharp and worked as if there were others around her to help, She used everything she had, every part of her body as a weapon, every advantage she could find to defeat imaginary foes that fell upon her like flies swarm to a corpse.

When she stopped she was breathing hard, the air rolling in through her in great gasps, expanding her ribcage in and putin powerful gusting waves of air.

He watched her, “Was that a new style, or simply aloof them meshed together.”

“Both.” She planted her spear against the ground, “Humanity.”

His smile grew wider.

“With humanity as my template I have created the alst style, perhaps the most powerful among my creations for it combines elements from all the above. It is fast, and economical, and requires teamwork and tactics. It utilizes every advantage, ever limb, and every part of the body. It takes into account the environment and the allies by which you fight…. It is the ability to adapt and change to fit any situation, any terrain and any obstacle.” He beamed at her, the sparking universe in his eyes growing and expanding as his smile grew. She felt dizzy as vertigo overtook her, and she stepped back, falling into the moss and staring up at him as he walked over to kneel next to her.

When she looked into his face, she felt a sudden sensation of warmth that spread through her body, safe and comforting. That voice of his, echoing and powerful belied infinity and the kindness that she saw in his eyes.

“You aren’t Adam are you?” Her voice was thin and quavering.

He knelt next to her, “I am Adam, but I am also more.”

She stared at him in confusion, not sure what that was supposed to mean and with no way to interpret it either.

“You talk about him like you aren't him.”

“That's a bit of a human condition isn’t it? The ability to talk about parts of yourself as if you're not you.”

“You don’t talk like him either.”

HE smiled, “I know more than he does, and I've been around for much longer than he has.”

She shook her head, “then how can you be him?”

He smiled, “Quite easily you might find…. But I am afraid my time here is almost over, and I must return to my place.”

She stared at him, watching as the light around him began to intensify. She staggered back blinded hands raised to cover her face falling into the moss behind her. His form was almost obscured by white.

“Good luck, Sunny.”

And then the world began to spin and she was lying flat on her back in the moss the mountains and the sky blending into one eternal round. Smeared together like some sort of strange painting or another.

Her head continued to spin and curl as the light vanished, and finally.

She could feel.

She realized she was awake almost as soon as it had happened, inside the dream or trance, it had been hard to tell what was real, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she knew the difference, and gasped and sputtered for air as she sat up, looking around in confusion and bleary eyed unfocus.

And with her wakening a sudden word came unbidden to her lips, and she sat up with a gasp.

“Deus.”

The word echoed in her head and it took a moment of confusion before she went quiet unsure of what to think.

Deus.

Naktan was waiting for her, crouched before her with a small stone bowl of water, “Drink, you are weak, and thirsty.”

She hadn’t noticed until he said it, but he was right, and she groaned softly as he held the bowl up for her to drink from. Most of it dribbled down her neck, but there was still more than enough to wet her parched tongue. He held her up, crouched next to her and supported her by the back and shoulder.

“Deus?” he wondered, “Is that the name of the spirit that spoke with you?”

She frowned in confusion, “I…. I don’t know…. But it….. It took the form of a friend. I didn’t understand the things he…. It said.”

“These times are strange indeed. Did you find the answers you were looking for?”

“I… believe I did, but it will take more work for them to be realised.”

He reached down helping her to her feet and supporting hre weak and trembling body when it refused to work, “And I will guide you for as long as it takes. I have watched the fall of the Drev for many years now, and I believe you… you are what will lead them into this universe with heads high. Like the sun for which you are named, you will bring them out of darkness.”

Her head spun a little at his words.

She would bring them out of darkness.

Her.

And her patron.

Deus.

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maximumninjavoid · 3 years

Text

Mining for Unobtanium ch 37

Under 18? Go away.

Think that pay wall Tumblr is a great idea? Go FURTHER away.

NSFW, secks, unbetaed, posted on my phone so sorry for the shite formatting too

Time, time and again I see you staring down at me

Now, then and again I wonder what it is that you see

With those angry eyes

Well, I bet you wish you could cut me down

With those angry eyes

You want to believe that I am not the same as you

And now I can't conceive, oh lord, of what it is you're trying to do

With those angry eyes

Well, I bet you wish you could cut me down

With those angry eyes

What a shot you could be if you could shoot at me

With those angry eyes

You and I must start to realize

Blindness binds us in a false disguise

Can you see me through those angry eyes?

You try to defend that you are not the one to blame

But I'm finding it hard, my friend, when I'm in the deadly aim

Of those angry eyes

Well, I bet you wish you could cut me down

With those angry eyes

What a shot you could be if you could shoot at me

With those angry eyes

He reached for me. That huge hand, connected to that big ass bicep, that impossible shoulder, all coming toward me at the speed of imperceptible light and I ‘eeepped’. I couldn’t help it. You try facing that down, see how you do, knowing he is……….. Displeased. Hey, to my credit, I didn’t run, nor did I pee myself. I mean, for an instant, those ~may have been options~. Dishes went flying off the day bed and my face went into the covers. He had a grip on the hair I did have; just enough to grab, apparently and I heard the teeth of his zipper. My pha biang was wrapped around my elbows down to my wrists and it seemed as though resistance was futile.

He slid between my thighs and entered me. I felt every massive inch of his girth and my traitorous body stretched to accommodate him. God, I was already wet. This was no romantic “oh baby I have missed you love making”. I would best describe this as a grudge fuck. Ruthlessly he pounded into me, punishing my pussy, grabbing my hips to get a better angle, thrusting deeper, harder, chasing his release knowing I was just twisted and bent enough to be enjoying the daylights out of this as well.

“ Damn you. You RUINED me. She. Wasn’t. YOU.” Each word was punctuated with a thrust that slammed into my cervix and knocked the breath out of me. He pulled up on my hair and bit my neck where it joined my shoulder. “ and then you made. Me. Chase. You.” More punishing thrusts. My lizard brain wondered how long he could keep that up and my wizard brain hoped he kept going despite the fact that I knew I was going to be sore as all get out.

“ Henry….”

“ Don’t . You. DARE !”

“ Daddy………..”

He stopped; fully seated in me as far as he could go, somewhere in my lower rib cage. I felt him shudder, and he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me to him so his chest was touching my back, fused as one entity, his legs on top of mine. I felt his cock pulse and thick ropes of cum fill me, and he collapsed on top of me spent. I really missed this weighted blanket of a human. I tried to move my arms and couldn’t and he sensed my wriggling and loosened my pha biang and tossed it aside. “ I am less angry. “ “ Well that’s good to know” “ I really should shove my cock into that smart mouth of yours” “ if that pleases you….” “ Cheeky” “ it’s a character defect, I’m working on it”. We laid there a while, and I guess Ganesha left because I broke the silence and asked him if he wanted to talk about it yet.

“ It was so much like that stalker. She hunted me down, you know? It seemed so calculated.”

“ Well, you hunted me down………” “ it’s not the same thing” I waited for more.

“ She was looking for a way to enhance her career, I think. It wasn’t really about me. And that’s the part that hurts the most. I didn’t see it. How did I miss that? That’s what I need you to teach me. I keep making these disastrous choices, and you are the one who sees me, who I am. And I know, intellectually, that you couldn’t stay but I still get to be angry about it. And when you leave again, I have every intention of being furious again, you know”.

At least he knew I was going to leave again. I nodded. "You lead with your heart. I don't want to teach you not to do that. That would be criminal. I couldn't be a party to that…"

He laid out the plan, a day or two to center ourselves in Nepal, then shopping in Bangkok. "Shopping?" I asked. "Well you can't be traipsing after me dressed like a Thai native, I do have an image…" I threw back my head and laughed. "Oh, I get to be the image consultant. And I shall be just left of all the way the fuck out there. Think Tilda Swinton meets David Bowie but very 80's...highly eccentric, I think." I got the one raised eyebrow and a smile.

"Now, darling boy, if I might be so bold as to request some reciprocity? I believe I am down an orgasm or two…. *

" My Lady…. " he said as he kissed his way down my torso" what is it you're fond of saying? I live to serve? "

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thelivebookproject · 4 years

Text

Talking Books With @thereadingchallengechallenge!

[What is this and how can I participate?]

Hello again!

Today we talk with the queen extraordinaire of #LoveOZYA. Get ready, because this is a long interview: we discuss books she likes, accurate portrayals of disability, and reading under the radar.

Important note: I haven’t changed or edited any of the answers. I’ve only formatted the book titles so they were clearer, but nothing else. Because I’m incapable of shutting up, my comments are between brackets and in italics, so you can distinguish them clearly.

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[Image description: a square titled “Know the blogger”. Name & pronouns: Em, she/her; country: Australia; three adjectives to describe her: easy-going, verbose & curious /end of description]

1. What was the last reading challenge/bingo/readathon/etc you took part in?

Oh dear, I don't remember! I think it might've been the "Booklr Reads Australian" event I ran in 2019? I'm very much a mood reader so I find it difficult to stick to specific reading challenges. But I set my own little challenges for myself each year :)

2. Last book that made you laugh?

I've been listening to the audiobook of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones before bed and I keep having to bury my face in my blankets so I don't laugh and wake anyone up 🤣 Howl is the walking disaster I'm looking for and I am thoroughly enjoying reacquainting myself with him and Sophie's antics.

[Everyone says they laughed with this book and I don’t remember laughing when I read it???? Like, it was fun, but not laughing-out-loud fun. Am I broken?]

3. Do you read graphic novels?

I try. I have my favourites - Heartstopper by Alice Oseman 😍 - but I'm visually impaired so if the font in the dialogue and text is too small, I literally can't read it. This has meant I've missed out on iconic stories like Nimona by Noelle Stevenson. I've tried to think of a way to bring attention to this issue but I haven't come up with anything yet.

[Oooof that’s hard, I’m sorry. I don’t really read graphic novels because I’m not usually interested, but not being able to read them because you can’t... Perhaps having transcriptions of the dialogue in a bigger font would help?]

4. What are some books related to a topic you care about?

My ultimate passion when it comes to books is finding accurate representations of disability. With roughly 1 in 5 people around the world having some kind of disability but only around 2% of media including disabled characters, there's a major issue with this. Especially when you consider the fact that a significant amount of disability representation is inaccurate at best and actively harmful at worst. Finding good disability rep has been an enlightening experience during my blogging journey and I've found some great books that represent disability authentically and sensitively.

On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis - a stunning sci-fi novel about an autistic girl in Amsterdam trying to make it to safety when a meteor endangers life on Earth. Corinne Duyvis is autistic herself and is also the creator of the #OwnVoices hashtag which is now used across the publishing industry.

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera - I love a sad story and Adam Silvera writes them like no one else. I loved this story about a boy grieving his first boyfriend while trying to cope with OCD. Silvera writes about mental illness a lot, always with care and respect, and writes beautiful queer romances alongside it.

RUN by Kody Keplinger - I loved this book about two best friends, one of them visually impaired, running away from home to try and seek their fortunes away from their controlling families and tight-knit community. Disabled (and queer) herself, Kody Keplinger is a fantastic author who writes some of the most realistic teenagers I've ever come across. She writes about heavy topics like sex and abuse with such care and realism without it ever feeling sensationalised or over the top. I'd recommend any of her books but this has been my favourite so far.

Everything I've Never Said by Samantha Wheeler - A short, Australian novel, this follows 12-year-old Ava who is living with Rett Syndrome and desperate to find a way to communicate with her loving family. I found this book incredibly emotional to read because of how well Wheeler explained the difficulties disabled people (and their families) face while trying to seek even the most basic of aides and assistance. She didn't pull her punches in showing the ableism and abuse Ava faced in the community, from her doctors, from support workers, while also showing how empowering it is to connect with other disabled people and feel pride in that identity.

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens - edited by Marieke Nijkamp, a disabled writer I love to pieces, this YA anthology features a broad range of disabilities in characters whose identities range right across the board. If you want to learn a little about a lot of different disabilities, from authors who share those disabilities, this is a great book to pick up because it beautifully illustrates how disability intersects with other kinds of identities as well.

If you're looking for other books featuring disabled characters, check out Disability in Kidlit for in-depth #OwnVoices reviews or my "Disabled Characters" shelf on Goodreads.

5. Who do you share your passion or your reads with?

Mostly booklr. When I hang out with friends - remember doing that? - we usually catch up on what we've been reading or we visit a bookshop and I spit recommendations left, right and centre, but for the most part, I just share my reviews on tumblr and Goodreads. Which I enjoy - I love knowing that someone's gonna see my review and get a different perspective on the book than the blurb or how the publisher has marketed it.

I learned early on running my blog that books so often only tickle our fancy because of their blurb but when a blurb completely contradicts the actual story - like, say, The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater - we can miss out on books that we'd really love. So when I write reviews, I always try to present my reads a little differently than the official blurb has in the hopes that maybe someone will give that book another chance.

[I should write blurbs too, but I’m too lazy. I usually just copy the blurb off Goodreads when I review, and then just explain myself what’s going on if I think there’s something missing]

Free space to say/add/recommend anything!

In my search for accurate representations of disability, I have also discovered loads and loads of authors who fly under the radar around here. I love boosting these quiet voices of YA but I thought I'd share a few tips to help other people find these lesser-known books on their own.

Look for authors who aren't from America: I know, I know - the market is saturated by Americans, but it isn't too hard to find lists of books and authors from other countries if you know where to search. If you aren't already acquainted with Goodreads' lists feature, go check it out under their "Browse" tab. Search "UK YA" for books from Britain, search "#LoveOzYA" for books from Australia (and sometimes New Zealand). There are usually yearly lists and if not, there are definitely lists of popular books from other countries. It can be hard to buy these books from overseas but request them from your library, order them through your local independent bookstore - they are always happy to help you find books off the beaten path.

[Good moment to say that you should also read translations!!!! Not everything in this world is written in English, and there are very good books out there you all are missing out on because you don’t branch out!]

Use Goodreads "Readers also enjoyed" feature - carefully: If you use Goodreads on desktop, you've probably noticed the little slideshow in the top right corner of a book's info page with a stream of similar books. But did you know that it tends to group books from the same country together? If the book's American, it shows other American books. If it's Australian, it only suggests other Australian books. An excellent example of technological bias for anyone taking media courses but not too helpful for us bookworms searching for an obscure new read. The easiest way around this is to find one book from a different place and then just scroll through the other books, seeing what strikes your fancy. Go down the recommendations rabbit hole and see what magical land you end up in.

Look at the end of Goodreads lists, not the start: Back to those lists, you'll notice that they're sorted by votes, with all Goodreads members allowed to add books and vote for the ones they love or care about. So, naturally, the most popular books end up at the top - this is most evident looking at the "YA Releases by Month" lists. But if you go to the end of the list and work backwards, you're sure to find some interesting novels that only a few people have heard about before.

Sort your TBR by number of ratings: We've all done that thing where we hear about a book, add it to our TBR, and then promptly forget about it. Use this infinite bookworm problem to your advantage and sort your TBR by the number of ratings a book has, using the bold column titles on your shelf page. You may have to add the function by visiting your Want to Read shelf and selecting Settings > Visible Columns > activate "Num Ratings" > Save Current Settings.

Book shopping? Check the Bargain section: A lot of my early unknown YA discoveries came from looking in the bargain sections of websites and bookstores. Often cheaper, because the bookseller is trying to clear space, it can be really interesting to see what books you find in these sections of stores. You don't always have a lot to choose from but you can often be pleasantly surprised by what you'll find and you're almost guaranteed to come across authors you've never heard of before.

[This is actually a super neat trick, I’ll definitely try it next time!]

All sound a little overwhelming? No worries! I have several lists of "under the radar" recommendations available on my blog if you just want to pick out a few titles to get you pointed in the right direction 😊

You can follow her at @thereadingchallengechallenge and on Goodreads.

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Thank you, Em! This gave us lots of food for thought and your links are super handy.

Next interview: Wednesday, 23rd of September

#talking books with #booklr #september 2020 #thelivebookproject

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yume-fanfare · 4 years

Note

hi i am that anon from like 29th Dec (last dang year) who said i read ur tsuki no hime and loved it and that u understand Aizou. i have read more of ur stuff since then and now i NEED to ask you for writing advice, on both characterization and general writing tips since I didnt mention it before. Sorry about that! i just forgot i sent an ask and i do not get notifs at all (or does anon asks not get notifs?) Also, ART STUDENT! That's why the nice art and art leaning!! I feel smart for sensing it

oh yup, tumblr doesn't send notifs for anon asks! but i'm glad you did see the answer anyway

this post is hideously long, so answer under the cut!

so, on characterization: it is mostly a matter of what would they say, rather than what you want them to say. the joke about "the characters do what they want to" instead of what the writer wants is pretty much true if you want them to be in character lol (that's why sometimes a little bit of OoC isn't too bad)

checking the source material is the most important thing: look at prior similar interactions the characters have had and how they reacted

this is kind of hard with LIPxLIP, as there aren't that many translated texts about them but with honeyworks the most canon and reliable thing to use as reference are the mvs. the mvs are drawn in a way that can pretty much be understood even if you don't have the lyrics, and sometimes it's even better if you can't read them, to properly focus on the images better

look at their expressions closely: while aizou is always explosive in his anger, yuujirou often has a more indifferent expression. so, when they fight, aizou is probably the one to blow up first while yuujirou maintains his composure better. it's kind of the classic "this was only a brief passing panel but i am going to expand on it" www

but the thing about fanfiction is that it's always a bit of a character analysis in itself. you don't start writing having already a color-coded folder of possible situations and reactions a character would have for each setting. you just throw the characters in a scenario and then think from there onwards, and eventually you'll be able to have the folder of situations and what you think their reactions would be like. (though, this links back to the prior point, if the characters have gone through a similar situation in canon, use that as guide! plus, finding little references to canon when reading is always fun)

for general writing, i'm going to mostly talk about my own experiences and process! i'm in no way a professional though

the basic is reading a lot. not just books but also fanfic. in fact, since you're writing fanfic, i Encourage you to read fanfic. even if your story ends up novel length, the way of treating the story is different from that of an actual novel. for example, because you're working under the premise that everyone knows the characters already. the general style of fics is different as well.

in fact, the style is the main reason i'm saying this slfkslfkslkf

read a lot of stuff and find a style you like. think of it as sewing together pieces from here and there to make a frankenstein amalgamation: this person's metaphors, the comparisons from here, the descriptions from there

personally, i adore the "long one-shot with a long title formatted (like this)" fics that are mostly feelings and descriptions and as little dialogue as possible, and some that occasionally play with the "show don't tell" rule, and some months ago i read a book whose descriptions amazed me because you could feel what the character was focusing on the most, rather than being general descriptions of the situation (i actually have a lot of thoughts about descriptions but that's a post for another day). but also i really like dialogue and plot-driven stories, descriptions can get boring and before trying to break rules, you have to be really good at following them

but, let's go step by step: developing an idea

for this i'm going to mostly reference the multichap i finished a while ago as an example

i started with just a few vague concepts in mind: non-idol au with aizou who does some sport and likes music but is insecure about his singing and yuujirou who does some music related thing and encourages him to sing in a way that's somehow related to the hozier song to noisemaking (sing), because it's what inspired me to write in the first place

then, from then onwards i wrote down what would happen in the first chapter of the story bullet-point-list-style, including things like the roommates part or the clubs the boys were in (at first yuujirou was in the choir club lol the change was a last second decision that idk why i took) and then bits of dialogue here and there that would be The Turning Points. those first dialogues were for the fight at the end of ch 1, the apology-date in ch 3 and then some vaguely unused ones for the "yuujirou encourages aizou" part, as those were the first key moments i thought of

because, since it's enemies to friends to lovers, an important aspect was character development

not all fics have character development bc not all of them are long enough (if you're aiming for short and sweet then there's no need). but if they do, i recommend you write down how the character was at the beginning of the story and then how they were at the end and then fill in the middle later, think of what those key turning points that made the character change were (the more little things you add, the more gradual it'll be)

samishigariya illustrates this very nicely: the song starts and finishes with the same lines, but the ending ones feel more light-hearted. the beginning has pre-arisa ken and pre-getting-along-with-yuujirou aizou, when they were the lonely people the title mentioned, and the ending, when they're not lonely anymore. the in between can be seen in depth during the other songs: ken before arisa was a playboy who didn't take love seriously, but after meeting her he realized that games were not all there was to love; and aizou used to be quite cranky and high-key a loner, but then he "meets precious things and knows of love". i will not elaborate on that because this isn't an aiyuu post but Oh You Know

for the fic, aizou would go through that same process, more or less: someone who doesn't really form meaningful connections with people but who, in the end, would end up having quite a bunch of people who care about him as his relationship with yuujirou advances too

since the relationship was the main focus, i wrote a very simple outline for how it would develop throughout 5 hypothetical chapters that was just: 1. civil w each other but mostly bad > 2. bad > 3. half friends > 4. pining > 5. date

and then with that in mind and the bullet point list, the final basic outline ended up like this:

there were scraped ideas and ideas that made it in later, but i believe having a simple outline, a bare skeleton to add things to, is important. stories need continuity, development requires a prior buildup

it's especially important in multichapter fics where you post as you write, you need to have a more or less clear idea of what's going to happen because you can't ignore scenes you've already posted

shorter stories don't need it as much, you can think as you go, but it's still helpful to know where you're going with things to avoid getting stuck

and, on getting stuck: don't be afraid of deleting things. if you can't figure out how to continue things, then delete the situation and start again. it might feel like you'd be wasting time but in the end, it is so much better than being stuck on the same scene for weeks

in fact, you don't have to write in order. jump to the next scene and you'll figure it out later. you Can write the scene you want to write and then build everything else around it

it's normal to write a scene and then realize it would make more sense later in the story, or that it would be better if you added another scene earlier, or sometimes you just find it easier to jump from one part of the story to another. rely on your outline to keep track of what you've written, what you have left to write and what's the best way to arrange your story. make your story understandable

which bring us to editing

there's a lot of much better posts on editing stories, but yeah ctrl+f is your best friend: don't repeat yourself too much. and be sure to vary sentence and paragraph length, as well as sentence structure, to give dynamism to the writing

now, i've mentioned before the show, don't tell rule, but i'm going to talk a bit more about it because it's quite important

once again there's a lot of posts that explain more in depth what it is, so i'm not going to expand too much on that, but, very basically, try to avoid things like "then some time passed and they became friends". explain it: what happened exactly? how did they become friends? if it's important, show it to us, instead of summarizing

since things like these make the story longer, it also gives room for more development and proper explanation for things that happen

for example, the fic was originally going to start with them already in the room, and the whole situation would have been explained in a single paragraph somewhere, but by actually adding the scene where they first arrive to the dorms and argue with the lady at the main desk, the story flows better and it let me actually describe their first meeting

and uuuhhh i think that's all? this took super long to write i hope i didn't forget any super basic stuff lol

i want to add that for enemies to lovers i greatly recommend this post bc it's super good but yeah i think that's basically it, if you have any more specific questions just shoot me an ask

#god this is so long #how should i tag this #tutorials #i guess #anonymous #preguntas

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iseultdeservedbetter · 4 years

Text

Cooking Your Heart Out

(A/N): Hello there, lovelies!

This is my entry for the @tlkfanficfest (I do hope that I did everything alright, Gosh this is my first time in it, so I hope to have done everything alright, if I didn’t just let me know).

I chose the prompt ‘Osferth, he tells people he loves them (platonically) by the food he cooks.’ and I hope that this won’t be cringy or anything, I hope you’ll like it!

(also this is set up in the same modern AU as this fic, if you are ever interested)

SUMMARY: Osferth find much more changing his job and discovering a few new flavors of his life.

WORDS: 4, 2 K

WARNINGS: Family Drama, Domestic Abuse, Talk of Infedelity, Slightly OOC Osferth-Aethelflaed

Osferth, he tells people he loves them (platonically) by the food he cooks.

It wasn’t that Osferth didn’t have emotions.

If anything, it was just the contrary.

He had too many emotions and didn’t know how to describe them, being slow in a way that was related solely to his emotions, as if he couldn’t think about them and rearrange them fast enough, before he had to act on them.

He had to think before expressing himself, and when he ended up finally figuring out what he was feeling and what he felt like saying, the person that he wanted to share those feelings with ended up losing their patience and leaving him alone.

And as a child Osferth had been a very alone child, enough that the cooks of the seminary where he had grown up in had taken pity on him and taught him a few of the many mysteries of the kitchen.

Osferth had been quite a quick learner, soon being able to peel potatoes, cut tomatoes and managed to bake a good loaf of breath.

And by the age he had moved away of the seminary, he was able to properly survive on his own without having to go back to instant noodles and take out.

And most importantly he had learnt a way to communicate his feeling.

A healthy way.

He had started at first cooking for his fellow friends over at the seminary, stealing a few pieces of loaves and a bit of chocolate cookies that he had ‘helped’ make and then he had moved onto preparing the dinner for the priests, even trying to corrupt a few of te teachers with food.

Do take them by the guts, they said.

But when his small world had become less restricted, once he had chosen not to follow up with his vows and enjoy a mundane life with the life allowance that a long-distant uncle had left him, in case he preferred college over seminary, parties over prayers, he had started truly delving in his passion.

He had set up himself in a business degree, although he had started working as a side job in a few restaurants, both as a waiter and both as a help in the kitchen, although he had the bases but not the true experience, and yet he picked up quickly and he loved cooking.

And even more than that he loved expressing his feelings through food.

Although he might be slow at communicating his feelings, he certainly was good at recognizing the one of others.

After he had joined the college life, he had found himself living with three men that were the portrayal of virility, Finan with his kisses to his mirrored image, Uhtred and his desire to fucking conquer back his family property and finally Sihtric and his work at risk as a professional hacker.

Although they did act as ‘true alpha males’, Osferth had learned to recognize exactly when they were down and when they needed a bit of comfort.

And gave it to them through food.

Finan had a rather confusing love life, and it wasn’t unusual that sometimes he might end up being the one with his heartbroken (but could you seriously blame the other poor idiot on the other side, probably having heard one too many cock joke?) and Osferth knew all too well that the best solution for a broken heart was anything with chocolate, experimenting new receipts with it, solely for him.

Uhtred, instead, could be the hardest on himself, not knowing what he was and not knowing what he truly wanted, but following a path that had been carved for him by someone else, so Osferth went softly with him, an homely meal that gave him some resemblance of an home he had never known.

Sihtric, lately, had a crush for a girl.

They all speculated about it, like some old ladies at a tea club, seeing the way he’d just stare at the computer, before blushing intensely at the screen, grabbing his head in his hands and then breathing loudly.

And then he’d go back to his work, like nothing happened.

Well, he got something spicy to get him to gain the confidence he was missing.

When Osferth had finished college, he had thought of following up his dream of continuing to express his emotions through food.

The fact that he was becoming quite good at it did help quite a bit.

But he hadn’t many references and neither he had a license that proved his talent, ending up in smaller restaurants and simple bars.

Although clients keep on flooding there.

An old lady had once insisted on waiting for Osferth’s turn for a whole hour and then admitting to the shy boy that ‘she loved his cooking because he certainly expressed his heart through it’.

Never a compliment had made him feel better.

And never had he been happier when his boss, in the last restaurant he had worked in, had bought him back a small ticket to him, alongside a hefty tip.

At first, he had felt quite awkward seeing it was a number and all his friends in the kitchen had made fun of him, saying ‘how easily he could pick up girls with his wonderous cuisine’.

And then he had turned around the ticket, discovering that it belonged to Aetheflaled Wessex, the daughter of Alfred Wessex, one of the richest people in the whole city, owning quite a few buildings, but much more a lot of restaurants.

And he had left one in particular to his daughter, as a wedding present.

The Mercia.

It wasn’t a big restaurant and not as big as her father’s own ones and her brother’s, but Aethelflaed was told to have the economical genius of her father and everybody wouldn’t have been surprised to see the restaurant become much more famous that her father’s in a few years.

If not months.

Hence he had been surprised that from all the expensive chefs she could choose, she had taken the time to learn about him, taking a meal at his shit of a place, nothing important and neither remarkable, simply to eat one of his dishes, leave him her number and quite the tip.

The small ticket had her number on one side and a small indication of the interest that Aetheflaed felt for his culinary skills, suggesting that she met him at the Mercia to taste truly his talent, although she had already been impressed to learn what he could do in a poor-piss restaurant.

And although the proposal was tantalizing, it had taken him quite a few days to actually pick up the phone and contact Aetheflaed, being directed to her by an elegant male voice.

He was surprised that it wasn’t any secretary to take care of his appointment but instead Aetheflaed in person replied and talked with him to take the appointment, and although Osferth had reasoned that she probably preferred to hand-pick and take care personally of each thing, he was still surprised by the way she seemed truly interested in everything he said.

Even going as far as concluding the call with ‘I was truly hoping you’d give me a call’.

He couldn’t have scored a point with a girl like that, for sure.

So it wasn’t that.

And he wasn’t anyway famous to be called over by people like her.

Maybe she was a psycho although she didn’t look like one.

And in the end, his big dream of learning more about cooking and the professional kitchen, won over his own self-preserving instincts (helped by a few screams and ‘threats of encouragement’ from his beloved roommates).

The day he had met Aetheflaed at ‘The Mercia’ he had found her trying to set up the main hall with tables and chairs, deciding its formation alongside the male voice he had heard over the phone, recognizing him as Aldhelm, a private lawyer, probably working for Aetheflaled and her husband, Aethelred.

Who was nowhere to see it.

But were the rumors true, in that wedding there wasn’t much love.

But he shouldn’t stick his nose in that.

He was supposed to work in the kitchen, and he should have stuck to that.

Again, as soon as Aetheflaed raised her head to meet his face, she immediately repeated ‘how glad she was of finally meeting him in person’, making Osferth, inevitably blush, although he could detect a pretty shade of red on her cheeks as well, obviously feeling as awkward as him.

For which he was almost glad.

Almost as much as when he realized he hadn’t to talk much, because she started explaining pretty quickly the role, saying that she knew he hadn’t any true experience in a ‘proper restaurant’, but he certainly didn’t lack of creativity and passion, which were two things that she hoped to valorize in her restaurant.

‘… if you accept, I do think that it’ll be a good learning experience’ she explained, a focused expression scrunching up on her face, nothing in her was insecure as she slowly continued with the explanation ‘… the pay is good, if it is something that you are worried about it and we can talk about the hours and when you can start’.

‘I am in’.

It was a quick choice, because he had thought about it from the start of it all and he couldn’t help but want to try new things, even more when the chance was right in front of him, offered to him.

And although even Aetehflaled seemed surprised by it, she soon seemed to come back from the shock and smirked, immediately involving him in a soft hug, in which he didn’t know what to do, growing tight underneath her, enough to make her understand his own uncomfortableness and she immediately released him.

‘Sorry, I am just excited!’ she had apologized, and again that awkwardness appeared in Aetehflaled’s eyes, but Osferth was used from the time in seminary to work with his lowered head, so he didn’t say too much.

And in the end the work was indeed a learning experience, enough for him to discover new meals and new ways to express himself, although the turns were of long hours and since they were a new restaurant they hadn’t much free time or free space for mistakes.

Even more when Aetheflaled’s husband, Aethelred, the one who owned half of the actions of the restaurant, certainly wasn’t happy of its opening, thinking that it was a loss and ‘a business that wouldn’t have made them much money’.

He put everybody in the restaurant, Aetheflaed comprehended, at unease.

But everyone was even more determined to prove him wrong.

Starting from Osferth.

Although there was no interest in him for Aetheflaed he admired dearly the woman, a bit younger than him and already so strong and determined in everything she started, wanting everything and taking it for herself, with the help of Aldhelm, who shared her similar views.

Osferth got along quite well with both and many times than not he found himself dining with Aethelflaed, at the end of long hours, and Aldhelm, alongside the kitchen staff, exchanging small trivial thoughts and talks that made her seem more earthly.

And although Osferth had been for a long time sure that he knew nobody who acted like him, certainly Aethelflaed had a few characteristics that reminded him of himself, like his stubbornness and his shyness, although she hid quite them well.

‘When your father is Alfred Wessex… sadly there isn’t space for much shyness’ she had once commented and for a moment she had looked at him, a moment too long to be simply accidental.

But he hadn’t commented it.

Not wanting either of them to feel uncomfortable for something that maybe he had only seen.

But once he had heard something and he had been able to simply blame it on his tired mind.

Although he knew that it was bad to listen on a private conversation between Aethelred and Aethelflaed, he couldn’t do much when they screamed like they thought they were the only ones in the restaurant.

Which was partially true, because the staff had been sent home for the night, but Osferth had slipped inside to take the gloves he had forgotten back in the place.

He had bene exiting the kitchen lockers’ section when he was startled by two voices hurling insults against each other.

‘… I can’t fucking believe that you won’t consider fucking closing this place’ Aethelred’s tone was arrogant in a way that immediately made him unlikable, but he couldn’t deny that he mostly sounded like ‘clichey second-class Disney villain’.

‘Father gifted it to me!’ insisted loudly Aethefllaed, her tone loud with passion and hurt ‘… and I’ll do what I want with it’.

‘We are losing money fast…’ shot back Aethelred and as much as he hated hearing that, it was true.

Aldhelm, who took care of these things, certainly wasn’t very positive about their earnings, but insisted that it was simply the beginning and they were slowly setting up their own clientele, which was extremely difficult to do without losing any money.

“… and changing this whole place in the nightclub you wanted won’t make us regain the money lost!” she replied shouting loudly, as she looked at the man in the eyes, before regaining her composure, but without backing away from him “… this is my place, you have dozen of other things to play with, leave me at least this one…”.

Something on Aethelred’s face softened in some way, almost as if he had been taken by surprise by her comment, by the way that sounded like a plead, and then his face roughed up in a horrible smirk.

Worse than a Disney villain’s one.

“I don’t fucking care” it was so full of disdain that even Osferth, who wasn’t inside the conversation shuddered “… I didn’t marry you, because of your fucking business knowledge, I married you for your fucking money and if I don’t have those, I can easily divorce you and take everything with it!”.

Aetheflaed shivered, but again, she didn’t lose any confidence.

Which was quite amazing, according to Osferth.

Had it been Osferth he would have pretended nothing happened.

Had it been Uhtred he would have punched Aethelred in the face.

Which was something that he shouldn’t have done, since he used Uhtred as a measure to avoid doing stupid things.

‘Would Uhtred do it?’ he asked himself and then he wouldn’t do what he had come up with.

He started to get uncomfortable by the conversation, mostly because it started getting much more personal as Aetheflaed backed up her discourse and pretenses with the knowledge of Aethelred’s multiple affairs, as he presented her the same ones.

But suddenly something caught him off guard.

‘… and you know what? The fact that you are a fucking shitty businesswoman is shown by the knowledge that you hired that shitty cook just because he is your fucking half-brother, a bastard’.

And he didn’t have to do the math to realize who he was talking about him.

And yet the surprise hit him all over again, small hints that had been left on his journey suddenly revealing themselves to him, as he slowly reasoned with them, thinking about whether they were true or fruit of his imagination.

But soon, he had much more to worry about, when Aethelred slapped Aethelflaed.

The woman was surprised by the slap, and Osferth was halfway through to intervene, not certainly to fight the blondie cliché, but to put himself between them to stop any other fight to erupt.

But before he could do something, Aethelflaed answered tenfold the slap with one of her own, enough to make Aethelred back off, then moving another hand to his stomach, but stopping it before it could do some further damage, Aethelred immediately bending himself as if to stop the hit.

“Fucking touch me, again, you, coward, and believe me I won’t give you a warning” the words sounded so tight that he was sure that Aethelflaed’s now conjoined fingers could have snapped broken.

But it certainly was of quite impact on Aethelred, running away as a coward.

The promise of a lawyer, his last words, as Aethelflaed relaxed her expression, some kind of restless tiredness written in her face.

Aethelred might have been a coward, but he was a creepy one.

And one that did need law.

Had he been her, he would have also been worried.

But he had much more traumatic things to take care-

Was he… seriously Aethelflaed’s half-brother?

He hadn’t ever met his father.

His mother had said that it had been a ‘wrong night’, calling Osferth an ‘happy incident’, in her most ‘hyppie’ tone.

He had been too young to properly ask questions and then he had been pushed in the seminary, where every child was a ‘child of God’ and his questions about his paternity had been pushed back, alongside many feelings that he didn’t feel like expressing.

But the knowledge that Alfred Wessex had spawned him was crazy.

To start with the fact that Alfred Wessex was one of the most morally righteous people he had ever read about, truly an enlightened businessman, and he didn’t know how his mother had met Alfred and how she could have hidden such a secret for so long.

And how Aethelflaed might have discovered.

He must have heard wrong.

And whatever it was he had researches to do, at home.

Not where he could easily be discovered as a Peeping Tom.

He was halfway through waiting for Aethelflaed to leave, when the woman moved to also grab something from the lockers, and she caught him.

And that was awkward.

And the normally quiet Osferth found himself trying to stutter some kind of reply.

“… I didn’t… I just…” and then with the highest shriek he could have ever mustered up he uttered “… my gloves!”.

And showed her his faux leather biking gloves, a Christmas gift that Finan had thought funny for the ‘pacifist’ of their group.

“… you heard everything, right?” Aethelflaed’s approach was much more fatalistic.

But she didn’t seem angry.

Although, from what he had heard from Uhtred, a very unreliable source, when women weren’t angry when they should be… it meant you were fucked.

Thoroughly fucked.

“… yes” and his honesty most of the time didn’t pay off, but Aetheflaed simply nodded away, pushing his gaze off of him in a way that seemed thoughtful, as if she was evaluating the entire situation.

And Osferth was sure he’d be fired.

“I didn’t… I won’t say anything” he muttered, also making the awkward sign of zipping up his mouth.

“I don’t worry about that” she commented, before another tired and annoyed breath left her lips “… actually it is nice to have witnesses for when I’ll eat up my husband in court, if he is serious about the divorce thing…”.

“He is an asshole” again that bluntness wouldn’t have saved him, but Aethelflaed smiled sadly at him.

“You are kind of right” she commented “… he wasn’t… he might seem all that prince charming bullshit when I first met him. But believe me those are the worse. I married him as a naïve girl and I grew up too fast with him, not as a wife but as a martyr”.

“… I am sorry” and if there was one way that he could express his emotion other than food it was through one-liners.

Still Aethelflaed seemed to realize the strength of the words and their genuineness.

“Not your fault” she muttered, before she spoke right about the elephant in the room “… did you hear everything everything?”.

‘Don’t say it! Don’t say it, Osferth’ his mind screamed inside of him ‘… don’t ruin yourself more than you already have done’.

“… I did hear about me being your brother”.

What the heck?!

Did he seriously have two different paths between his mouth and his brain?

“Oh” Aethelflaed was too nice to mumble the obvious ‘oh shit’ that followed “… I… this is… “.

“I won’t say anything to anyone” commented tightly Osferth, trying to slowly undo all the wrongs he had done “… I don’t even understand if it is true or just…”.

“It is true” commented lapidary Aethelflaed.

And this time Osferth wasn’t able to stop the ‘oh shit’ from leaving his mouth.

“Oh shit, indeed” commented softly Aetheflaed, echoing his thoughts perfectly “… if it helps… I had a mental breakdown when I discovered it…”.

“How? When? What?” it must be all a joke.

Where were the candid cameras?

“Your mother worked over in my father’s staff in our house, and apparently my father didn’t have the morality he has now back then… your mother fell pregnant with the fruit of an affair with my father” his shocked looked must have been enough to ask for more info “… I found it through… Facebook, you were in the ‘people you should know’ or something like that… and you looked familiar, I checked in you… I admit that I stalked a bit”.

Was he even more confused, now?

Probably.

“… the similarity with me was quite striking and I couldn’t… couldn’t just put it down” she mumbled “… you have to know that before I had this place and everything… I was going through a bad period and I … investigating on you helped me”.

“… I run some check through the staff, I thought that maybe you had worked with us, but I found your mother and let’s just say that I kind of had an hitch about what might have happened, remembering that my mother mentioned about having had problems with the staff back then…” her reasoning was slowly starting to make sense, which made everything much more confused “… and I just put one plus one together, hearing about you and through Leofric… and my father”.

Did Alfred know that he was his child?

Had his rich uncle ever existed or had Alfred simply funded his son’s studies?

But right now, all he could focus on was the fact that Alfred had rejected him, and although he had had his own reasons and had his mind been clearer he would have agreed upon them…

… it still hurt.

And it was a new sensation.

He didn’t know which meal he could cook to soothe it.

“.. I swear I didn’t want to stalk you, but I found out you worked in that bar and you seemed so much interested in food and I needed a cook…” now it was Aethelflaed that was rambling “… I swear that what Aethelred said wasn’t true! I didn’t choose you for nepotism… you are really talented…”.

But Osferth had much more pressing matters at heart.

Like understanding why.

“Why did you search for me?” he didn’t mean to sound that rough, but she had to understand him: he had just discovered of having a father… and a sister, and although the former hadn’t ever wanted to meet him, meanwhile Aethelflaed had fought through much to meet him again, and he didn’t understand why “… don’t you have already a brother?”.

The words seemed to hit deeply Aethelflaed and for a moment he was scared of having hurt her.

“… I do…” her tone was unsure “… but I just… as I have said, I had a tough period…”.

“So, I am a charity case”.

He didn’t mean to sound that intolerable, but if there was one reason why he had repressed many of his emotions was that he knew he was able to accidentally blurt out things like that when he was nervous and under pressure.

The first thing in his mind would be the first on his tongue.

And although people said to appreciate honesty, it wasn’t true on the long run.

“No, you aren’t” now Aetehflaed’s voice was definitely uncomfortable and pleading as if she was the one who had been left shocked by the news.

And he had to reason that maybe it was the truth, indeed.

“… I just…” she didn’t know what to say, and Osferth couldn’t help but recognize that that gesture ran in the family “… I just wished to maybe see you… maybe see if we could get along… I just…”.

And although she didn’t mean anything at all, it had a meaning to him, a meaning he understood.

And even worse than the rambling came soon the tears, as stubborn as their own owners, as if they didn’t want to fall from her eyes, staying there and being held there.

“… I just wanted to get to know you, although it is something crazy to say”.

The words rolled off her tongue with pure honesty and he couldn’t help but feel, indeed, that matching piece settle in his puzzled chest.

The truth was that they were indeed siblings.

And he could have done much with that knowledge.

But for now, he focused on doing what he did best.

‘… do you think they’ll hate us if we use the kitchen for a midnight snack?’

Aetheflaled’s sad smile was a mirror of his own.

And he knew that she meant what she said.

Because he did.

---

@volvaaslaug (I really hope that is will be at least barely tolerable!)

#TLKFFF2020 #Osferth #Aethelflaed #Osferth Fic #Aethelflaed Fic #Osferth Imagine #Aethelflaed Imagine #TLK #The Last Kingdom Imagine #TLK Imagine #The Last Kingdom

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studioweus · 4 years

Photo

This was an article from January 26th, 2016 by Netri! (네트리* I’m not entirely sure what the proper romanization is for their name but I’ll go with this spelling throughout this post). I tried to re-create the article to include the images and videos, but due to formatting limitations, the videos have just been put as links instead. (Also thank you @iyfrr for helping me proof-read!)

Text in square brackets are translator's notes. Asterisks will denote one of the members interrupting another member (LOL) The original article will be linked as the source. May contain minor translation inaccuracies.

[Link to ‘Butterfly, Finding Flower’ Teaser]

We've met with the visually strongest band M.A.S 0094.

A skillful, visual band composed of members born between the years 1994 and 2000.

Aside from their flower-like appearances, they also possess unwavering talent, a trait about themselves that we'll be looking forward to in the future.

[CAPTION: Awkward....]

Please introduce the band~

It was wonderful how we chanced upon one another. At the beginning, the leader [who was Kanghyun at the time], the drummer, and the bassist were the ones who started the group with their respective instruments.

As we started, our bassist friend here brought forth a sub-vocal friend of his. We originally had four members at the time that we were promoting. Then we went to perform a session at a contest where we happened to stumble upon the eldest who claimed his victory. We then had a conversation with him ... and then recruited him? We brought him into the group. So it was around the middle of May in 2015 when we decided to bring him in? It started in May and has been this way since then.

Now that we think about it, it hasn’t been that long since we met but our friendship feels like we’ve been a band together for several years.

Our first song <Butterfly, Finding Flower> was released on the 13th of August.

Please introduce yourselves~

Kang Hyungu (Leader, Guitarist)

My name is Kanghyun. I'm 19 years old. I'm the leader and the guitarist. My nickname is especially ... ah, the members think I'm a genius at guitar but I don't think so. Yeah, that's it.

HYUNGU'S PERSONALITY:

Hyungu: I'm ... a little bit shy.

Netri: It does seem like it. Not once have you maintained eye contact with me.

Hyungu: Yes ... ㅋㅋㅋ I'm somewhat shy. I hate wasting even the slightest bit of time. So when there's nothing to do when I'm in the car, I would either read books or be preoccupied with something else.

Harin: But I think he really is that kind of person. The first time we’ve seen each other was when we were in middle school. We met through this teacher and we were having a conversation, but not once did he look up, and he just stood there. Then I thought, I wanted to get acquainted and familiarize myself with him more soon.

Dongmyeong: But when we actually got to know one another, we suddenly became close.

Harin: He may be very shy, but after a while, he opens up about everything.

Giwook: Hyungu hyung is ... a meticulous person? And he also practices very diligently. He's truly a sincere hyung and that's why he's cool.

Yonghoon: That sounded soulless ㅋㅋㅋ First of all, he's definitely a very shy one, which was the reason why I actually made a lot of effort towards him. Since I'm the older one, it seemed a lot harder to do [the approaching]. So, I purposefully extended phone calls with him at night and sent him lengthy messages bit by bit on Kakaotalk. The first time when we weren't as close, our exchanges were something along the lines of, "Whenever [Yonghoon] hyung says something like this, I feel really moved." But as time passed on and we've grown more close, it's now more of "Hyung, you're being overly dramatic again. Good night" ㅋㅋㅋ A lot has changed since.

Dongmyeong: Hyungu hyung may be a really shy person, but he's also quite bashful. He acts like a real man. ㅋㅋㅋ But he's definitely leader material. The members are actually quite young so we tend to slack off often, but whenever we do so, he would catch us [and scold them for it]. So I think he's exactly like a leader in that respect.

JU HARIN (DRUMMER)

I'm the drummer in MAS, 19-year old Harin. I may not have a nickname though, I think ... Since I have more of a caring nature, I lean more towards sort of being described as a housewife, kind of like a 'housewife' mother. MAS' mother.

HARIN'S PERSONALITY:

Harin: My personality is something along the lines of ... being able to befriend people quick. I don't particularly like being shy so I'm the kind of person who will approach someone first. I'm extremely caring.

Ever since I was young, you could say I was almost responsible for raising a younger sibling. Since I was five, our parents would often go on business trips, so I had to take care of my sister and that's where my family-oriented nature came in. I would cook at home and receive advice from mom, so my overall character just seems to be more of a family-oriented person, like a mother or a father.

Hyungu: Yeah, I think so, too.

Dongmyeong: Elaborate a little bit more on that please.

Hyungu: There's a lot of ground to cover though. But ... he's good-natured. He does seem to have a bit of a lazy side to him, right? ㅋㅋㅋ Yeah, let's just move on.

Giwook: It's true that Harin hyung is the most caring person. But Yonghoon also takes good care of us. And he's also really playful.

Harin: What? Is that it?

Dongmyeong: Ah~ Can I go for it? Can I?

Yonghoon: Yeah ... Giwook and I thought of the same thing ㅋㅋㅋ No, just kidding. As Harin said, he is definitely a family person and he's also quite sociable. He briefly met my younger brother. In about 15 seconds of meeting him, [Harin] already had an arm around his [Yonghoon's brother's] shoulder. And also, as Hyungu said earlier, he can be the lazy type but that's something that he can improve upon himself.

Dongmyeong: Ah, for me ... Harin hyung truly does take care of us well. He certainly does.

Harin: What’s this all of a sudden?

Dongmyeong: It’s true! That’s what he’s like! ㅋㅋㅋ (Just kidding, just kidding). Harin hyung is really friendly. He met my brother one time and it was almost as though the two of them haven't seen each other in 30 years. At home, my brother even said, "That hyung is strange."

Yonghoon: So did my brother.

Dongmyeong: But it was- it was nice.

LEE GIWOOK (MAKNAE, BASSIST, LYRICIST)

Hello, I'm the youngest in MAS, 17-year old Lee Giwook. Ah, that's right. I'm also the bassist of the group. Hmm .. what else .. I'm just the youngest. The youngest in the band.

*The members interrupting* (This particular part denotes the members cutting in) - He writes lyrics well. *He has written two songs in English. - With a bit of ... Googling... did he not (doubts about the translating situation)

I am responsible for song-writing. Please watch over me. ^^

GIWOOK'S PERSONALITY:

Giwook: Yes, hello? I'm the youngest. I am often understanding towards people! In a considerate manner. Hmm ... And even though I struggle to describe myself, I'm striving to live as a kind-hearted individual. Ah, and I often also hear that I'm more mature for someone my age. But despite my mature side, I still look young ... I don't know.

Hyungu: For me personally, he's truly admirable. Since we've been together from the very beginning, I think I'm the one who knows Giwook the best out of all the members. Firstly, I'm so proud of him, and he's never once stayed mad at me for a long period of time as we make fun and joke among ourselves. Giwook also doesn't swear, he's mature, and he thinks deeply. And now you're glaring at me ...? [at Giwook] Okay.

Harin: Next to Hyungu, I know Giwook the most, but I always feel sorry towards him. I was a junior and he was a freshman in high school when I first met him. I must've been a little distressing to him. I would often joke around because we were close, but Giwook must've felt hurt?

But he understood [the nature] of the situation and would come back a moment later saying, "It's okay, hyung~" So I joke around, but particularly more carefully around Giwook.

Dongmyeong: Always Giwook before me ...

Harin: Yeah, that's about right.

Dongmyeong: What's worse is that he doesn't even answer my phone calls.

Harin: No! No! That may be so, but he's very considerate and kind. As you get to know him better, you'll notice he's more reserved towards the older ones. Especially towards the noonas. Awo~ I can't even say it. Let's end it at that. And he does an excellent job at writing lyrics for songs and raps. He is one talented individual.

Yonghoon: Giwook may be the youngest but he is definitely praiseworthy. As the older one, I'd want to be the one to watch over him but I also want him to speak to me when something goes wrong - because I can tell. When there is something that bothers them, whatever it may be, I want them to be able to talk about it, but neither Hyungu nor Giwook say anything. Besides that though, he's amazing, mature, and he's great at writing song and rap lyrics. I think he's definitely the best younger brother.

Dongmyeong: Giwook and I are the same age so ... Even though Giwook comes across as mature, he can still be playful and can mess around like his peers. But I think he can also be under a lot of stress. He’s a quiet person, and even though it appears as if he's under a lot of pressure to be good [at what he does], you can obviously tell. Yet he doesn't talk about it. If he were to say enough, we could help each other out. Yeah, we would.

JIN YONGHOON (ELDEST HYUNG, VOCALIST, GUITARIST)

Hello, I am. MAS' eldest, the vocalist, and guitarist Jin Yonghoon. My nickname ... I always take care of the younger ones with a generous heart.

*Huh? What are you on about?

It's always raining and snowing... [referring to how the members have so much to say]

Heoheoheoheo (we'll cut the downpour of complaints here)

I think I'm like a father who cherishes and loves you

*Absolutely not. It's like ... we'll just leave it at that.

YONGHOON'S PERSONALITY:

Yonghoon: My personality ... since I have a younger brother, I treat the younger members well. Honestly.

Dongmyeong: COUGH COUGH ... So shameless ... COUGH

Yonghoon: I'm not good with hyungs. I can't adjust to their level. And I seem to be the kind of person who has to deal with them one by one. Yeah, that sounds about right. I can't just sit back and watch if someone tries to bother the younger ones.

Dongmyeong: Wah you're a gangster, hyung.

Yonghoon: Yeah, that's right ...

Hyungu: I think Yonghoon hyung is like the pillar of the group. I personally like him a lot. He's filled with charisma. It's the same way when we're on stage, but even when it's just among us, he would be more reprimanding, and when we play around he makes it more fun. I don't think I would be able to do any of those if I were him. But that's just what I think. He does it towards the younger ones often on Kakaotalk.

I personally haven't given the younger members my Kakaotalk. But after meeting Yonghoon, he's been helpful towards me [in that area of connecting with the younger members]. Sort of like a life coach? Yeah, that's all. Hyung. I love you.

Dongmyeong: This is like a healing camp.

Harin: Yeah, Hyungu and I feel the same way. When I can't get it together, [Yonghoon] hyung has been the pillar. And with his charisma ... sometimes he's charismatic, other times he isn't. It comes and goes like a split personality. The first few times I've been with him, he would scold me a lot. But because of that, I am who I am now.

Giwook: Yonghoon has a fatherly personality. Even with just the four of us doing activities as a band, Yonghoon just waltzed in and it suddenly felt even more like a band. He's a great singer and he's really nice. But there's hardly any instances where he doesn't depend on us. We just got back from Lotteria [a fast food chain in South Korea], and he would ask us to do this or that, or throw this or that away. Though he's there when we need someone to rely on, too. Yeah, that's all.

Dongmyeong: Yonghoon hyung gives a lot of advice. He would even give advice on the smallest of things. But he can't do any handiwork. He would always be constantly teasing me about nothing else but singing, but has he ever tidied something up with his own two hands? No, right?

As for instances of that ... We were out eating at Lotteria and there was one time where he saw me just leaving and not cleaning up. But he also really just left [the trash] behind. So then I had to do the clean up in the end. He can sometimes be really childish. He's just whining and making a fuss on the daily...

Yonghoon: Yeah!!! (hurriedly rushing)

SON DONGMYEONG (VOCALIST, PIANIST)

Yes, I'm the vocalist and pianist in MAS, Son Dongmyeong. My foot size is 280 [for reference, that is a 9.5 in NA sizes]. So my nickname is 발동명 [foot Dongmyeong - though the word ‘발동‘ can also mean ‘to instigate/to start something’]

-- But your height is 160 cm.

What's that supposed to mean!! Please don't believe that. Also, I was born in 2000 but since I was born earlier than Giwook, I'm his hyung. It may only be a two-week gap [between him and Giwook] but I entered high school earlier than him.

Netri: So, that makes you a hyung to him?

Yes, but we sometimes talk casually as well.

[It is generally common courtesy to speak to someone in a respectful manner if they're older than you or if you've just met them. But once you've both established a more familiar relationship, especially if you’re the same age, you could also speak casually!]

- You’re in middle school and I’m in high school so you have to call me hyung~

What sort of set up is this.

DONGMYEONG'S PERSONALITY:

Dongmyeong: I ... am also shy at first, but once we grow closer, everything becomes okay. Ah, no? You don't think I'm shy? Hmm ... I'm quite timid.

Yonghoon: He is very talented. You'll know once you see him during a concert.

Dongmyeong: Umm ... but even though I have a lot to say, [those words] aren't reflective of what I truly mean. Isn't that right?

Yonghoon: But you can't ask that.

Dongmyeong: I really don't know ... my personality ...

Yonghoon: Okay, so we will do the talking.

Hyungu: Honestly, Dongmyeong speaks politely. I think he's one of the most kind-hearted kids. And that is truly nice. But that [kind of personality] can also be bad. He is really nice and also very naive. So I think it would be good for him to comfortably express how he truly feels. At first, I was like "how can he be so angelic?" But that was just at first.

Dongmyeong: WHAT DO YOU MEAN!!!

Yonghoon: Now he's more like a sergeant.

Hyungu: I'm usually more of a tsundere towards Dongmyeong. Whenever he asks me a question, I just give a prompt response - but that's not what I'm truly trying to say. Honestly, conversations with Dongmyeong can be quite bothersome ㅋㅋㅋ I don't want to respond ㅋㅋㅋㅋ But he's definitely a good younger brother.

Harin: I don't have much to say other than that. I think his kindness is just a facade. There have been instances where, even though he is nicely talking to me, I can't take it seriously because he sounds too innocent. Even when I'm tired, I seriously go "Ah, stop." but he would punch me and say "Ayyye #%$%$" He can be senseless sometimes.

Yonghoon: He always takes things too far... So he's Do # (Seriously, what kind of gags does this guy have?)

[Yonghoon said '도를 넘어' which translates to 'being excessive/going too far' but can also mean 'beyond Do (as in the note)' ... hence... the Do # pun... Thanks for the dad jokes, Yonghoon. We love ya]

Giwook: Hello, it's the maknae here. As far as I'm concerned, I've ... (taking notice) spent the most time with Dongmyeong. We live 5 minutes away from one another, and our schools were also actually close to each other. Personality-wise, Dongmyeong is kind-hearted, but his talent is no joke either. He is quite skilled. He can be playful. He's a ... really good hyung. The mood maker?

Harin: I think he holds up the role of the energizer [in the group].

Giwook: Without Dongmyeong hyung, things would be terribly dull. And also, when it's just the two of us alone, we tend to have serious conversations, and he seems like a different person. He cries, too.

Dongmyeong: You're so mean~!!

Yonghoon: Dongmyeong ... is definitely the one I talk to the most - the reason being is that we're the most talkative ones. When he's not able to sleep at night, he's always messaging me on Kakaotalk. I always ‘see’ him. Even though I get confused with what goes on with the others, I just see it as is with Dongmyeong. Even just from his clumsy way of walking ... 'Ah, there's something going on with him" - I just see it.

The first time around when he was still really shy, I started a conversation with him like, "Dongmyeong-ah, did you eat" and he goes "Ah! No! Would you like to eat?" But these days, it's more like "Hey, what do you wanna eat?" ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Even now when we joke around, he can still get hurt since he's soft-hearted, but he pretends that he isn't. But then I see that. To tell you the truth, I feel sorry for him once in a while. But then that’s what makes me want to tease him even more ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

A FAVOURITE SONG OF YOURS IS ...?

Hyungu: There are two songs that immediately come to mind - <PEACE> is one of them. It's really good, but above all,

- You wrote the melody for it

Yeah, very much so. I think it's good.

[I unfortunately was not able to find a performance of PEACE anywhere ;-;]

Harin: Yeah, I really like <PEACE> too. The reason being is that, one time, Hyungu and I were staying at my house, and we were both playing guitar and singing, and then the chords just came out nicely ... So we took those and showed it to them [the other members] and were met with good reactions, and because I'm a fan of awesome things [like the song], this song is definitely my style.

Giwook: For me, the song <PEACE> and <Starlight> are songs I've composed ... What these two songs have in common is that they're both undoubtedly dynamic. The beginning starts off quietly but then it unravels at the end part. The lyrics are good, the melody is also good. I think it's just really good. I also wrote the lyrics for <PEACE> as well.

Yonghoon: I also had two songs in mind - <Blessing> and <Starlight>

[I couldn't find a video performance for 'Peace' but here is a video link to Blessing! ]

I wasn't originally going to go with <Blessing> but ... I wrote this one. And it is also rather cold out now. It's winter. The melody for this song is the exact thing that reminds me of winter. It is definitely a warm and dynamic kind of song.

Dongmyeong: For me, it's <Feeling Good> and <A Wonderful Person> [also was not able to find a video performance for this song] The maknae, Giwook, wrote the lyrics for <Feeling Good>, and it's the most well-known song of ours. It's just something that easily comes to mind and that anyone can relate to. And the lyrics are also really nice.

I wrote the lyrics with Yonghoon hyung for <A Wonderful Person> ... I haven't tried doing that with the other members yet, but it's a song for my father.

[Link to a live performance video of ‘Starlight’]

WHY DO YOU DO MUSIC?

Hyungu: Music ... is that not a reason?

Dongmyeong: Music!~ Music is my life.

Hyungu: Honestly, if you were to ask about the reasons, there's a lot ... Or there's none. Right now I honestly don't know. I think I might know if you ask it again.

Harin: I’ve honestly found playing the drums to be fun and interesting since I was younger. When I get hooked onto something, I deeply get into it. The more I play the drums, even the drum sounds become more interesting to me. I also get to be part of a band as well. I feel a different kind of charm when the drum sounds come out. When I share music with this friend (Hyungu), I get to experience new things, too. I want to see this through until the end.

Giwook: When I was in fifth grade, a close friend of mine asked me to form a band with them. I was going to play the drums at first, but then I switched to the bass. The more we do music, the more fun it becomes and I get attached to it. I can also learn about one's personality through music. I think music is appealing. It's fun. I will be doing music until I die.

Yonghoon: Back when I was a student, I went to a Lee Seungcheul concert with my mom and my grandmother. That's when I felt it then - that this is what I should do. I may not have lived for that long yet, but my most honourable memory to date is that connection I had with Lee Seungcheul.

He had hurt me at first. I went to Super Star K 4 a while ago. I got through to the second round, then I approached him only to hear biting remarks. I remember being hurt then. And then I recently went to Lee Seungcheul's studio to record the chorus [part of a song?]. So I did the recording, and had a meal. I was sitting close by and he gave me alcohol as I was an adult by then. That was the most honourable moment to me. I think it was because of him that I was able to do music.

Dongmyeong: For me, it's just ... nice to give everyone what they like. The reason why I still enjoy performing is because people feel happy when I sing. All these people like it and I become interested. So I just like it.

[Link to a video performance of ‘Blessing’]

Netri: Even though they do music at such a young age, their heart and actions are never light as MAS 0094 has their own personal philosophy and thoughts regarding music. This was a moment where I certainly learned a lot from them. Even though they are younger than me, they definitely have a better understanding of [the certainty of] their own thoughts and dreams. I hope you are able to maintain this same genuine passion for music in the future as well. Adios~

#onewe #yonghoon #harin #kanghyun #dongmyeong #cya #translations #this may or may not be on a read more break on mobile #i sure hope it becomes a read more break on mobile though

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unordinary-analysis · 5 years

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Episode 167

Honorable mentions:

Going to ignore Blyke for this week until we have some more development

My analysis of episode 161 is very closely related to this one (give or take a few statements), so I suggest going and reading that, though you don’t have to :)

^^^ like very closely related

If you do read it though, not all of what I said I would like to discuss again in this post because either I am unsure about it or I have better ideas now. I might say something in this post that contradicts what I said in my post about episode 161. Do not consider episode 161 equal to this episode. Everything I say in this post is what I am currently thinking and is more important at the moment. BASICALLY: RELEVANCE>

TLDR at the end

I tried to make the quotes I used in this analysis as easy to read as possible, but there were a lot of parentheses in the quotes I used so whenever I wanted to explain what something meant or clarify something, I completely closed and reopened my quote. Sorry if I made things more difficult to understand. It’s a struggle.

Anyway, this is wordy on purpose and meant to be formatted formally because I really like that style of analysis as compared to my looser commentary type.

Parallels:

Parallels are the best things. They’re phenomenal. And they create this easy way for readers to reflect on stories. And the one in this episode? Ooooooooo boy. I mean, it’s not exactly a new parallel, but it is the best and most important, recurring parallel in the entire plotline of UnOrdinary. And because of the way this parallel presents itself in this week’s episode, it will be discussed in the section below. This section just had to be included to acknowledge the great parallel work in this comic. Parallels are just such a great element and their use in UnOrdinary is extraordinary. Felt this needed to be said, repeatedly.

John:

This section will be the main, and only section for this episode analysis (discluding the small bit above) because it is extremely important and deserves your full attention. The episode this week was obviously very John centered and put heavy emphasis on his unhealthy relationships with Cecile, Seraphina, e.t.c., and though things similar have been touched on in the past, this episode has been the most obvious, the most telling, about this theme.

In this episode, we are reminded, again, of John’s obsession with Seraphina. And I said something similar in my post about episode 165, but, until recently, this hasn’t really stood out to the extent that it should. John has always seemed ‘obsessed’ with Seraphina, but there has never really been proper focus on that, as there is more and more of now. In episode 165, Arlo was explaining to Seraphina his history with John and kept saying that John would work himself up into a rage on her behalf, which, yeah we all knew, but it had never been pointed out as something as extreme as what Arlo described it as, which allowed us to view the whole situation in a whole new light. In this episode, John’s obsession with Seraphina is even more obvious, him growing so overwhelmed with anxiety at the thought of Seraphina not siding with him. He gets violent with Cecile, who really had nothing to do with Seraphina’s actions, and then right after hitting her to the ground, grabs her, and demands that she tell him what Sera said about him. The intensity of the way the panels read is hard to replicate in words. The comic really puts effort (the colors, blurs, etc) into stressing the feeling and passion behind John’s actions and words, multiplying the impact of what he is doing, what he’s saying. John’s anger is meant to be an intense thing and has always been meant to.

Now, the surface level objective of this episode is to stress John’s obsession with Seraphina, as the comic has been touching on and doing for the past couple of episodes. We are working towards a confrontation of some sorts, there is no doubt. But another very standout thing in this episode, and what I teased on in the introductory section, are the flashbacks from John to his past at New Bostin. The images of Adrion and Claire keep plaguing him. They always have. I said in the beginning of this post that they are “recurring”. In episode 161, there were similar flashbacks to this episode, and John kept seeing Claire. Anyways, these flashbacks, though they’ve always been recurring, have been becoming more and more common as of recently. And as I kept repeating in my analysis of episode 161, it’s hinting at how John’s past has slowly been catching up with him, overtaking him. John has been running from his past for so long, but now it’s leaking into his new created personality. This is very important to what my main idea of this post is.

The particular use of the parallels in this week’s episode is very interesting as a development from episode 161 because in ep 161, the images of Claire and New Bostin came in flashes as John’s subconscious saw similar images before him. In this episode, however, John doesn’t only get these split second flashbacks when he sees something that reminds him of his past, he is actively thinking about his past, which is such a huge leap. There is a major difference between being reminded of something because of a similar image and being reminded of something either because you experience a similar emotion (the beginning of this episode) or if you are seemingly unprompted by the current moment (the end of this episode). It is a sign that those images and thoughts are circulating around John’s head more and more (especially considering that there was a time when John would go months without experiencing a flashback). Again, this is teasing how John’s past is overwhelming him bit by bit. I keep repeating this and it’s for a reason. It. is. Important. John has been able to feel angry or passionate in the comic without reexperiencing his past before and the implication that that is no longer true is alarming.

I know I keep referring to the fact that John’s inner self, his past self, has been overwhelming and overtaking his new personality. I literally just said it. I’ve said it multiple times in both this post and in episode 161. And I’ve also just described the stark difference of John’s flashbacks in the earlier days of the comic until now. John rarely would get a flashback, only in nightmares or maybe an image every once in a while. Now, because the last few scenes where we got to see inside John’s head have included flashbacks, it’s safe to say that this is a very common occurrence now. This means that not only is the John of John’s past is overtaking him, but also that it has already made a huge amount of progress. I said in my analysis of episode 161, “His [John’s] evil half (symbolized by Joker) is interacting with, confronting, his better half (symbolized by Sera),” (referencing an earlier comment about how Sera represents the good in John), “. . . . -In both the image of Seraphina and the image of Claire, either John or Joker is standing above them, obviously a more powerful and evil force. And the fact that both are direct symbols of John implies that this [John’s evil side] is the side of John that is much more dominant.” The fact that there was sensible enough evidence in episode 161 that I felt I could tell that John’s dark side, his past self, was already greater than his better side means that currently, as we are now at episode 167, it is even greater. Assuming, of course, that the concept of it’s growth really is how I’ve described it to be.

All of these statements lead up to the same conclusion: John now isn’t the John he tried to be (the cripple, the dreamer, the passive). The fabricated John has been the lesser percentage of John for at least (and likely greater than if we look at the rate of growth) seven episodes now, using my evidence. This means:

John isn’t the John we know, isn’t the character we were introduced to in 2016. He has regressed back into the old John. The John of New Bostin who became king and went on a violent rampage, brutalizing, what was it, half of his class? We don’t know much about him other than that because John tried to hide from that side of himself for so long. And the idea of John not being who he tried to be is confusing as a concept when you realize that we don’t fully understand exactly who this ‘dark John’ or ‘past John’ is. And more importantly, we don’t know yet why he’s come back. I know that I’ve already said that the flashbacks to New Bostin have been evidence of the takeover, but why did they occur in the first place? Why couldn’t John maintain that illusion of the person he wanted to be?

I’m going to be straightforward with this part. First of all, Seraphina actually unknowingly played a huge part in John’s fantasy. We know that he relied on her. We know that he trusted her. But recently, Seraphina has been spending less and less time with John. Because: obviously, she knows now that he is Joker and wants nothing to do with him. Seraphina’s (who, again, for John represents his improved, fake self) absence has strongly affected John’s mind and rationality. The second reason as to why John wasn’t able to continue pretending to be who he wanted is a little more simple. It’s because John’s fabricated self was just that, fabricated. A fake was never going to hold up against John’s true nature or his true mind. And we know that John’s false personality was just him avoiding his old self, as John has canonically said multiple times. Due to the extreme lengths that John went to to delay his past self from overtaking him, old John is coming back strong.

Here’s where things get more interesting for me and more closely related to the concept of the recurring parallel that I was talking about earlier. John’s past self has been slowly manifesting itself into the fabricated John’s mind through flashbacks of their past. And because nothing else seems to get fake John as responsive, I’m going to assume that this is the only way that the true John has been able to make progress towards overtaking John’s body, through unwanted flashbacks reminding John of the reality of himself.

I’ve been very vague this whole analysis, not really using details from the actual episode (this episode: episode 167) to support anything that I’ve been saying, just using the general concepts, but here I want to talk about the flashbacks in particular and their contents. In this episode, the first flashback we get from John is after Cecile describes to him how Seraphina and Arlo have been meeting up and talking with each other. John instantly thinks of something that happened at New Bostin: his old errand boy, Adrion, is telling him that Claire has been meeting up with the jack. Not only that, but that Claire and the jack were gathering a crowd of students to attempt to take down John. Hold on to this because, obviously this mental association is going to impact John’s future actions.

The last flashback in this episode is when John is at home and rethinking his conversation with Cecile. We get the same images from John: his past self being warned that Claire and the jack were recruiting his enemies behind his back to take him down. But this time, after, we get the thought, “Sera… She wouldn’t… would she?” And the use of this particular scene in context of Seraphina and John’s relationship plus their current situation is very obvious about the message it is trying to convey.

The content of the flashbacks paired with John’s current situation suggests that John is relating what is happening to him now to his past, molding them together into this illusion. Because of the images of New Bostin appearing, John has convinced himself that he is in the same situations once again. This is big. This is huge. John’s flashbacks are making it so that John cannot separate the present from the past. He cannot exist at Wellston without his subconscious relating everything that is happening to what happened to John at New Bostin. He cannot tell the two apart, which is what I’ve been trying to express for this whole post and what I’d like to talk about. It caused the downfall of his attempt to reinvent himself and will cause the downfall of John in the future of the comic as both a leader, and as a friend.

But there is another flashback in this episode that I want to point your attention to. It does not appear in the same form as the others. It is not an image. It actually occurs in John’s outburst at Seraphina. It was obviously something so unexpected from John for him to blame Seraphina’s problems on her. Seraphina hasn’t done anything to wrong John, correct? In fact, she is (or was), in a way, acting as his emotional crutch, helping him in creating that illusion of his fake self. And yet, we see this fit from John at her expense, dragging her down, blaming her. I’m here to say that this. Is. A. Flashback. You will see why later, but honestly, because I’ve labeled this as a flashback for you, I’m sure it’s clear what I’m trying to get at and it’s been clear, but just in case you don’t understand my main point:

I keep saying that John cannot now separate his present from his past, but I haven’t exactly stressed what that means. This means that John also cannot separate people at Wellston from the people he knew at New Bostin. This episode’s flashbacks to Claire and situations revolving around her and the comparison to current events revolving around Seraphina, and especially the outburst by John at her; they all suggest that John doesn’t see Seraphina as her own person anymore, maybe that he never has (I’ll give John the benefit of the doubt though and say that for the majority of their friendship, he was able to view her in an unbiased and unaffected way).

It’s become clear that John is, currently at least, viewing Seraphina as another Claire. And I think that I’ve become numb to that after literally days of being obsessed with that fact and sorting through my thoughts to write it down here. But I first thought of this the night episode 167 came out and it completely blew my mind because everything lines up.

And obviously, the outburst in this episode towards Seraphina was formed from pent up anger towards Claire when she betrayed John. It’s pretty obvious now after I’ve told you what I think, but to John, because Claire’s betrayal started in the same way that it is presented that Arlo and Seraphina are talking, John is automatically assuming that it is the exact same situation. And he is channeling all of his anger at Claire for betraying him at Seraphina because he thinks that she’ll do the same thing Claire did because obviously, he has trouble distinguishing Claire from Serpahina, has trouble realizing that just because Claire would do one thing, Serpahina could do something completely different.

This statement helps to clarify all of my previous statements of, ‘the parallels in this comic, and especially this episode are amazing.’ Before now, there hasn’t technically been a clear parallel, but this parallel? It is no doubt the most important in UnOrdinary. So if the praise had seemed a little bit unwarranted until now, I apologize. I just really love parallels.

Anyways, the main idea of this whole post is that: John’s subconscious isn’t able to move past the events of New Boston, and while creating a whole new personality did help John pretend like he did for a while, it was only a temporary fix and is causing him to experience this fresh wave of trauma that wouldn’t have been as harsh if he didn’t run from it. John will never be free from the events of New Bostin and he will never be able to forget it. And: he will also never be able to move past being the person he was, the real him. Becoming his true self, the New Bostin John, is, and always was, unavoidable. And because his subconscious will never develop or evolve from New Bostin, because he can never move on, John is not able to completely distinguish between the past and the present, forever returning mentally to New Bostin. He is not able to fully view other people as separate from his past and automatically associates his friends and classmates with people he used to know, holding on to the biases from his past (ex. Hating on Seraphina because he associates her with Claire). John is also associating any current event with something that happened to him in the past, causing him to act disproportionately or irrationally when the situation does not call for it.

Even shorter: John thinks Sera is Claire and is hardcore relating the current storyline to his past at New Bostin. And parallels are literal works of art. Good day.

Bit of a choppy ending, but I was never good at those.

#unordinary #episode 167 #official #webtoon #unordinary webtoon #episode analysis

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itsconstructiondigitalmarketing · 4 years

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THE HEART OF YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY.

Your website is the foundation of a good online marketing strategy. Just say: the beating heart. Without a decent website, your entire strategy collapses like a pudding. In other words: this is the absolute starting point where you can place your product range. Yet you should absolutely not see it as a product catalog. Translate your products into benefits for the consumer.

A concrete example?

Take sun protection now. People post it because it blocks the heat, provides a lower energy bill and gives a sense of privacy. If sun protection providers know that comfort, money and safety are important factors, they must formulate this as concrete benefits for the consumer. In this case you have to make the consumer feel that awnings solve their problems.

This could be on your website, for example: 'Blessed hey, the sun. Well, not always ... In the summer, the sun often causes your home to overheat. In winter, on the other hand, the sun is so low that it always causes dazzling. Did you know that with high-quality sun protection you will never suffer from the above recognizable situations? Moreover, this lowers your energy bill by at least 5%. Discover all the benefits of sun protection here. ”

That is different from: 'With roller shutters and Verboven sun blinds you keep the sun out of your eyes. We specialize in roller shutters and sun blinds. View our range. ”

Some communication tips for your website

This is just one optimization you can implement on your website. Discover more tips below to transform your website into a lead paradise:

Be inspiring: show realizations and projects . An extra tip here: show what your products and / or services are for in practice. Tell us which products you used for this project and explain this.

Build trust with reviews : testimonials make or break your business. Not convinced? Take the test on yourself. Imagine: you go to a village in the Ardennes. Then you search the internet where you can eat well. Then you come to TripAdvisor and you come across two restaurants. One has not yet been reviewed and the other has four reviews from people who speak highly of it. Where will you be dining?

Speak plain language: avoid technical terms or abbreviations when describing a product or service. Nope, we really don't know what RAL19085 or a PVC extruded clip profile with a Ø3MM fabric string can be combined.

P stearate not about how good you are, but do it. This comes down to a summary of the above: show this in the way you write your texts, with realizations, with reviews, etc.

Respond to online inquiries as soon as you can . If someone enters your showroom and shouts: 'I want a quote!', Do you leave it there? Why do many construction industry companies do this online? Some just don't get in touch, while still providing an online tool for a quote request.

Think of the different target groups that end up on your website. Make sure your website is wide enough to accommodate different target groups.

YOUR COMPANY ON GOOGLE

Another way to be found is to register your company with Google. When someone searches for your brand name, they automatically see a company profile on the right. Below you can see an example of Coolblue:

I will explain how to do this in a short video of just 6 steps.

What are the benefits of this?

Online visibility : the people who search for your brand name immediately get a very visual example of your organization. They see the logo and atmospheric images of the showroom. Then they also see interesting information such as the address (with which they can consult directions with one click), website and opening hours. And what do we also see? Reviews from satisfied customers! You're on the map: When you verify your business information, your business will appear on Google Maps. This way, customers can request directions to your company. All contact details and reviews will also appear. Discoverable on different devices: Whether your customer searches for your brand at home or on the road on his laptop, iPad or mobile phone, he will find the same company profile including the correct information.

BLOGGING: THE WAY TO SCORE AT GOOGLE

Do you want to express your love to Google? Then start blogging. And this is why:

46% of all internet users read at least one blog per day. (HubSpot Science of Blogging)

Blogging is what you should do for this too:

B2B marketers who blog on average get 67% more leads than marketers who don't. (HubSpot State of Inbound)

Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to get a positive ROI. (HubSpot State of Inbound)

Blogs are ranked fifth in the rankings of most trusted online sources. (HubSpot Science of Blogging)

When you start blogging, you have to make sure that you blog about a topic that has search volume . For this you use Google Keyword Planner or alternatives such as Keywordtool.io or Wordstream . Do not focus on short-tail keywords such as 'Insulation', but on longer keywords such as insulation placement, insulation benefits, insulation premiums, insulation material and insulation <enter city>. This way you have more chance of top positions in Google.

Concrete titles that you can simply copy :

Save on your energy bill with these insulation tips.

Find out if your plans are eligible for the Flemish renovation premiums.

With these secrets you place insulation like a professional.

Survive the summer with customized sun blinds.

Renovating a bathroom? First read the following points for attention.

FACEBOOK: SHOW YOUR TRUE FACE

"Is Facebook not over yet?" some will think. Well, Facebook is still not outdated for businesses. It can really grow your business. With 1.6 billion active profiles, chances are that your target audience is prominent.

There are different strategies, formats or creative ideas to communicate to your target audience. Most importantly, just be honest and genuine as a brand . Sorry for the Bond Zonder Naam advice, but we will keep repeating it as long as companies ignore that advice.

So forget your marketing story and all your promotions. Tell your real story. Nobody wants nicely packaged, inflated USPs. Facebook is a social medium. We underline equally socially. It's about two-way street, interaction and relationship building . And in which relationship are you allowed to brag, or worse, lie?

Show photos from behind the scenes. Put your staff in the spotlight, show customer achievements including quotes, and more. The possibilities are enormous. When you have a Facebook page, people will leave reviews on it. Respond to these reviews regardless of whether they are positive or negative. Provide a fast response time so that the consumer realizes that you are dealing with him personally.

A well-maintained Facebook page can cost blood, sweat & tears. When you start looking at the results, your heart sinks completely. "Am I doing all this for 2 likes and 100 impressions?" you wonder out loud. You can ask your friends and family if they like and share your posts, but do you think that will pay off? Another, more correct solution is message sponsorship.

LinkedIn: SHARE RELEVANT CONTENT

Another social medium you should really focus on is LinkedIn. The chance that you will get leads from this is greater than on other social channels. LinkedIn is a business channel. When people follow you on Linkedin, it means that they are really interested in your services or products.

The messages here can be more businesslike. Talk about your business, the environment, and the growth you envision. In the ideal world, share your own relevant blog posts or share interesting articles from your sector . In this way you show that you are concerned with what is going on. This gives the consumer confidence.

Using social media also has a positive effect on your ranking in Google . If your pages are alive, Google will reward you with better rankings. In addition, your company profile on LinkedIn will also be found in the search engines. This effect increases when employees indicate on their personal profile that they work for you. Take the test here .

INSTAGRAM / PINTEREST: THE EYE WANTS SOMETHING TOO

Visual channels such as Instagram and Pinterest are perfect for creating a community . You will not score masses of leads from this, but it is still important to be present in the environment of your target group.

Instagram gives you the opportunity to display your brand, services and in a fun way. As a company in the construction sector you can post beautiful photos of realizations or behind the scenes. Plus, you're on a two-way street so your fans can get feedback right away.

Some #instatips:

Always use the same filter so that you define a clear style.

Make use of Geotags.

Use the correct #hashtags. Be sure to explore and see which hashtags are used within your sector.

With Pinterest, you are more likely to collect ideas for the end user. For example, you can make all photos on your website Pinnable . When those images are pinned, they will often be 're-pinned' and a snowball effect will occur. This way you increase the traffic to your website and you take on the role of influencer.

VIDEO CONTENT: PROVIDE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE WITH INFORMATION IN AN EFFICIENT WAY

In every trend report you can read: video content is getting trendy. Wrong. Video content is hip. How many videos do you watch per day? A lot huh? That in itself is not surprising, because video is one of the most effective channels for conveying a specific message and disseminating it on a large scale . This is because there is too much information to be found these days. Humanity is asking for an efficient channel to find out quickly. And video is the answer to this question.

Deploy video content through how-tos. This way you can develop a concept / video sequence such as '60 seconds'.

Recognize the correct insulation in 60 seconds.

Your shutters spic and span in 60 seconds.

Ask online about your renovation bonuses in 60 seconds

Movies of the atmosphere, projects, walkthroughs, 3D drawings, how to use products safely, ... are also possible. Don't be put off by time. You know what they say: ' It always seems impossible until it's done '

EMAIL: BUNDLE YOUR CONTENT

You can collect all of the above content and email it to your database in the form of a newsletter. Provide a balanced newsletter that also looks good. There may be promotions, but alternate enough with fun, relevant content. Also write a haunting headline so that you trigger people to open it.

So not: 'The overview of Dakwerken Wouters'

Well: "Do you already know these secrets to save on your energy bill?"

For email marketing you can use programs such as MailChimp, Campaign Monitor or all-in-one platforms such as HubSpot.

#affiliate marketing #digitalmarketing

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kumoriyami-xiuzhen · 5 years

Text

Hakuoki Reimeiroku Saito Final Chapter Ending Translation +(small) music update

Witness the fruits of my labour as a result of my bias for Saito! Also, happy anniversary to Hakuoki~!

I actually started working on this chapter’s translation in early August since I really, really wanted it done.... and seriously, this is probably one of the longest things I’ve translated [video for this chapter is just under 15 min]... so far [ha. ha. ha. pity me]. I however have no intention on working on the other Reimeiroku final chapters anytime soon as I have plenty of other torturous things planned for myself.... and as always, this was translated from Chinese.

All images aside from the CG were pulled from a video of the ending [i couldn’t get the cgs without things on them] since I do not have the game [unless someone wants to buy me it for the vita... pretty please? xD]....

Anyway.... forgive my formatting [rather lack thereof] since I didn’t really care to change things from the document that I was working on + tumblr space formatting is not something I like to try doing anything about [aka I hate how the line spacing is never consistent].

Enjoy <3 [also music note is at the end. see what i did there? xD yeah lame pun. i suck at humour]

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

Hakuoki Reimeiroku Saito Final Chapter Ending

Translation by KumoriYami

In Tonami, spring comes late. As the snow melted, and as the earth started to thaw, green shoots/sprouts began to emerge. However, this evening, as if reminiscent of winter, snow fell. Checking that it was completely dark out, I sighed slightly.

Chizuru: It's still snowing, at least until Hajime-san returns, it will hopefully not snow much....

If this continues, it might be better to first take dinner off the stove. Despite how winter passed, spring nights are cold, [and] if it snowed at night, it would get [even] colder......

After work, he should be very tired. Hopefully he would return home [soon], [and then] I could immediately warm him. Still....

Chizuru: Hajime-san is very late. When he left, he said today he would come home early....

At nightfall, dinner and bath were ready. [I] Just needed to wait for him to return.

Now, his body is not as strong as when we first met. After a series of successive battles, his body was weaker than the average person’s.

Chizuru: There shouldn't be anything bad happening. If that were the case, that would be bad...

Ah, I've been waiting for so long, and just as I was about to sigh again ———. (Door opens) Chizuru: ! Standing in front of the doorway, it was the person I was waiting for.

Chizuru: Welcome back, Hajime-san! Is your body okay?

He had snow on his shoulders and looked down slightly as if to apologize.

Saito: I'm home, Chizuru. [My] Body is fine, [but] I didn't keep my word. I'm very sorry to have come back so late....

I smiled at him, as long as he came back safely, I was happy.

Chizuru: It's because of work, there's no way around it. It's very late, you should be very tired!

Chizuru: In any case, your clothes are probably wet from the snow, you should change....

Saito: There's no problem. They’re only a little wet, and will probably dry soon... I was running back quickly.

Chizuru: …………？ His voice, compared to usual, sounded a bit more excited.

Maybe there was something to be excited about, I wondered.

Chizuru: What about dinner tonight? Or do you take a bath to warm yourself?

Usually, Hajime-san eats dinner first. If there were problems at work, he'd take a bath and relax.

But, today he shook his head and choose neither.

Saito: Chizuru. Tonight, before that, I have something I want to tell you... is that okay?

Chizuru: ? Okay. If Hajime-san has something to say, of course I'll listen....

I felt the atmosphere was a little tense, and sat, slightly nervous.

He nodded, and as I did, sat on his knees [not sure bout this sentence].

Saito: This is from the past. Before you came to the Shinsengumi, there was an expert at painting. Although he was born into a samurai family, he didn't want to be 【born as a samurai】...

Hajime-san, with a nostalgic look, spoke of the past.

Saito: I once advised him to at least learn self-defence, but he hated swordsmanship.

Chizuru: It's like water and oil..... This man is the opposite of Hajime-san.

Hajime-san who regarded being a samurai as his way of life, took the initiative to practice kenjutsu.

Saito: Nn. Even though that was the case, Ibuki and I, unexpectedly got along well together........ there was no disharmony.

Chizuru: Then, you're saying that Ibuki-san.... he didn't want to be a samurai, [but then] why did he join the Shinsengumi?

Saito: 「………」 He answered my question with silence. Looking at me with eyes that said: 『you understand』------.

Suddenly I thought of myself being retained at headquarters.

Chizuru: It it possible that Ibuki-san didn't want to be a member in the beginning........

Chizuru: Like me, he had no choice but to stay with the Shinsengumi?

Hajime-san slightly lowered his chin to confirm.

Saito: Ibuki was forced into joining, and was very distressed about his own way of life. Seeing this, I couldn't do nothing.

Chizuru: 「………」 I remembered how Hajime-san once told me that he killed someone in his hometown. He had been in great pain before he met me.

The process of walking with him and my own choices have made me more aware of the pain.....

Saito: But now, Ibuki has decided to be a painter.

His expression was happy, as if he were speaking about his own affairs.

Infected by Hajime-san's appearance, my heart was/felt warm.

Chizuru: Although we have never met, Ibuki-san and Hajime-san must be similar.

It wasn't just mutual respect, they must get along well.

The choice of being a painter should have been made after Ibuki-san's hardships and pains. Because of this thinking, I smiled and told Hajime-san.

Chizuru: I just said that the two of you were like opposites, but the way you made choices was no different.........

Chizuru: Desperately searching for your own path, experiencing hardships and pain, and finally finding [what you were looking for], in this you are the same.

Saito: Chizuru......... Hajime-san was a little embarrassed and avoided my gaze.

Chizuru: But, how did Hajime-san know he became a painter?

I asked casually, [as] he spoke in ambiguous terms.

Saito: Ibuki, he left shortly after the Shinsengumi was named 【Shinsengumi】.

Chizuru: 「…………」 Leaving the Shinsengumi.... I couldn't help but feel a chill down my back when I considered its implications.

Chizuru: I-is it possible that Ibuki-san escaped without going through formal procedures? Hajime-san nodded. Ibuki-san should have been considered a missing person if he left without permission. [That meant] Becoming a person to be targeted/hunted down by the Shinsengumi.

Chizuru:.......So, he should have left Kyoto before the Shinsengumi discovered him/his actions.

After that, he wouldn't/couldn't contact Hajime-san, who was still in the Shinsengumi.

So, how did Hajime-san know that Ibuki-san became a painter, I couldn't figure it out.

Then Hajime-san smiled.

Saito: Ibuki and I, we met by chance when [I was] fighting during the Battle of Aizu.

Chizuru: During such fierce fighting....!? At that time the battlefield was always bloody, and everyday was a struggle.

I had no idea that Hajime-san met him at the time.

Saito: Of course there was no time to talk. As a result, I couldn't introduce you to Ibuki---- Saito: After the war, he finally heard news that we were under the care of the Aizu-han and living in Tonami.

Chizuru: 「！」 His words made my eyes suddenly widen.

Saito: Today, I got in touch with Ibuki. I finally learned that he was a painter as[/when] he sent this to me.

Hajime-san explained as he took something out from his arms.

This is....... What a beautiful and wonderful painting. Silver hair, red eyes, black clothes----.

Chizuru: This is, Hajime-san.... portrayed in the form/incarnation of a rasetsu. This must be Hajime-san from the Battle of Aizu, really, what a beautiful painting.

A rasetsu running in the middle of the night, is clearly depicted on the paper.

Saito: .....The existence of the rasetsu, should be kept hidden away from history, so this painting cannot be shown.

Saito: Of course, Ibuki understands this, and that is why he sent me this painting.

Chizuru: 「………」

I sighed in my heart. This painting conveyed profound emotions that could not be described in words.

The ground was stained with blood and red, which was particularly horrible..... It's like an illusion of still being on the battlefield. Only those who understood it could capture [says draw] such a tense atmosphere of war [not sure how else to say this part].

Just looking at this painting, I felt captivated.

Chizuru: It's incredible. Although it feels scary, it feels so beautiful....

It felt like a so-called "fascinated" feeling. [?????might be something more along the lines of: It left a fascinating feeling] Chizuru: It's not because the war is over that I think the style is 【very beautiful】...........

It's more like saying, that there are moments of life and death, and that this painting conveys the horrors of war.

The grief of taking people's lives, [and] being covered in blood, that moment was reflected in the painting......

It's important to think about life, but I couldn't help but have this come to mind. Chizuru: 「………」 Even so/Still, such a brilliant piece of art still made me feel overwhelmed/speechless.

Then, Hajime-san smiled gently and spoke to me in a gentle voice.

Saito: ……I realized the purpose of fighting. It's to act appropriately as a samurai, to protect people, and then do the utmost/fight at all costs to accomplish it [one's goals]. [honestly, i'm not entirely sure with the entire text here]

The vivid depiction of red blood must give people who understood war/fighting, or those who did not, a huge shock.

Even without knowing the name of Saito Hajime, it should be obvious(/seen/understood at a glance). This rasetsu, is protecting something, and at the expense of his own life.

Saito: I am someone with purpose, changing like water, then finding [my] own path. While staying aware of/true to [my own] ideals/ambitions. [nother part I'm not really sure with....though Saito might be saying something similar to being fluid in adapting to a situation]

Saito: He painted this.... Only Ibuki can paint like this, this is a unique painting in the world [might be style of painting??]. The guy finally figured out what he is going to do.

He spoke with conviction. Chizuru: 「………」 My eyes were still on the picture, and I continued to look. In the painting, he was covered in blood, and he looked even more righteous. In the eyes of Ibuki-san, this was what Hajime-san looked like.

Chizuru:.......Ibuki-san certainly must trust Hajime-san deeply. Chizuru: Even if [you're/while] covered in blood, until the very end, Hajime-san will not lose himself. Looking at this painting, that's what it feels like.

Despite transforming into a bloodthirsty rasetsu, he wouldn't lose himself, and would move forward with conviction-----. He drew the Hajime-san he knew on this piece of paper.

Saito: ………I don't really understand. But, if you think so, [then] that is what it is. Chizuru: 「……………？」 Saito: Chizuru. You always point out what I can't see and lead me in the right direction---- Saito: It's like the existence of a guide/sign post/road sign. No one can compare with you. I've been helped by your strength.

[can’t decide which word to use here as ‘guide’ is the least literal translation.. while the others are more accurate though sound... less nice. if i had to choose though, i’d pick ‘road sign’ as Saito perceives Chizuru as the one helping him with directions on his path. I’ll go machine TL the JP for this later since I did this sentence based on two translations of this chapter]

Hearing this, I looked at him in amazement, and he looked back at me. Saito: ……Chizuru. He smiled. I also smiled.

Saito: ……It is good/great to have married someone like you/......It's good/great to have a bride/wife like you. Truly it's great. I believe/think [that], I am a lucky man.......

Hearing Hajime-san speak happily, I blushed in shyness.

He spoke in quiet voice, lightly whispering, causing my heart to feel warm and my cheeks hot. Although it was embarrassing, it wasn't unpleasant. [alt: unwelcome?] How could I not feel embarrassed, this heat/warmth was from being happy.

Chizuru: Regardless of who it is, their heart [will] have desires. (Regardless of one's background, people will have their own desires). What I want, no matter what happens, is to stay at Hajime-san's side.

Aside from this, there was nothing else. I gazed into Hajime-san's eyes to convey this idea.

Chizuru: Hajime-san will not express his true feelings, only hide them.... Even if it was painful, he would hide those feelings. When he was being consumed by bloodlust, he pretended nothing was wrong and continued to fight.

Chizuru: This kind/type of Hajime-san, in the end, I will be very concerned about/I care a lot about, [as] I have always wanted to know [more about] you /to understand you. So, naturally I will love you. [???]

[I’m assuming the last sentence says something more along the lines of: So no matter what happens, I will always care about you/love how you are. *may just rewrite this part later after getting the Japanese machine translated if whatever is stringed together makes more sense]

Saito: 「…………」 Hajime-san was silent. More shyness showed, [and his] eyes reddened.

I also did not say anything, [and the] two of us were silent. But/However we didn't look away from one another. Shortly after, Hajime-san suddenly opened his mouth.

Saito:......Chizuru. I'm very sorry to come back late today. I really should have returned earlier.

Saito: I wanted you to see this painting earlier. As always, I wanted to see Chizuru’s face sooner, but it would be better if I came home sooner.

Chizuru: Nn, me too. It's very nice to have Hajime-san back [home] earlier..../If Hajime-san can return sooner/earlier [I] would be happy....

Saito: 「………」

Chizuru: 「………」 Conveying [one's] true feelings to [their] loved ones is the right thing to do.... The two of us are both still shy, however [we would] never look away from the other. I feel very strongly felt that staying with the one I loved made me happy.

Saito: Chizuru. You have never complained, [while] staying at my side. Despite the war(/fighting) [we] experienced together. Saito: ......I am so thankful for your presence, truly, you saved me..... The Hajime-san from before, /In the past, Hajime-san was a person that would/would hide his feelings. But, now it is different, he will/would speak his thoughts one at a time(/slowly). His gentle words and heartfelt feelings, filled me with tears/I couldn't help but cry.

Saito: Were it not for someone protecting me, I surely would have lost my way/myself. His words were suddenly interrupted, and I immediately understood what he wanted to say. Tears blinded my eyes, and I smiled.

Chizuru: Although there were many painful experiences in the past, we however, found our own path for the future.

This wish/desire will not end, now, our life is 【here】. In fact, the happiness [we have/share] is incredible. [probably something like: In fact, the happiness (we share) feels impossible/too incredible/unreal] Chizuru: Thank you, Hajime-san. Nothing makes me happier than the fact that both of us can live together like this.......

Saito: ………Chizuru.

He, likely trying to contain the emotions that were coming out of him, quivered/shook, [and/before] shouted/shouting my name. After a few attempts to adjust his breath, he quickly opened his mouth to make a promise.

Saito: Tomorrow, I'll come home sooner. Even if its for a short while [longer], I want more time for us. For our future..... [says for the both of us instead of 'our'] He looked at me with a very serious expression. Hajime-san's honest personality, I really like it/ I really liked Hajime-san's honest personality.

Saito: I will not break my promise this time/ This promise will not broken this time. So, can you wait for me, Chizuru……？[personally i think it sounds better with 'will' instead of 'can'...]

I nodded. Like him I was a little nervous, [with a] slightly stiff expression. Regardless of when, [my desire of] wanting to stay with my beloved would not change tomorrow, [and] I will [/would] wait for him to come home.

Even if it's only for a bit more, I also wanted to see him sooner.

After we became husband and wife, we lived happily every day, and today was also without incident/ also passed/spent safely [says safe and sound as an idiom] . I hope tomorrow will be the same and [that this will] continue. 【Here】is indeed where we've made our home/where we live.

The End

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

I dare someone to argue with me that Saito isn’t the best with Chizuru lol! I shall go and fight you by abusing my power as an amateur barely-decent Chinese translator with waaaaay better editing and dictionary lookup skills than translating and refuse to translate stuff with whomever your favourites are if someone attempts to fight me over this!!

mwhahahahahaaaa!!

lol. xD (i wouldn’t really do that. probably. I think.................................? well i admit that I can be extremely petty at times when the subjects are my fandom favourites..... >_< and I will go down with my ships!

also i’m almost done (90%ish?) with my piano arrangement of Hakumyu Kazama-hen’s Never Goodbye, Forever! Just need to finish adding some articulation/dynamic stuff, and adjust the timing of the RH notes of when Kazama talks, and the notes for Souji, Harada and Shiranui speak.... though I’m not sure if I’ll do all of it since these two sections only use one hand so there’s no real need to worry about matching lh to rh timing of notes there....

then all will be left is formatting and doing any final edits...

wip audio:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pd3nrm6nhin8vsl/Kazama%20hen%20Never_Say_Goodbye%2C_Forever%20v2.mp3?dl=0

#hakuoki #hakuouki #Hakuoki Game Translation #Hakuoki Reimeiroku #Saito Hajime #Yukimura Chizuru #to be edited later

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thegardenandthegrave · 5 years

Text

My Independent Publisher Roadmap:

[Image Description: Indie Street Marketing branded infographic (red and black text and an empty road in the background). There are five slightly transparent gray boxes in the foreground that contain the five stages of publication as determined by indiestreetmarketing.mn.co. All content in the infographic is also provided in the following text. End.]

for @reshiramgirl88

Oh god, I’m sorry this is so long. Worth the read though, I promise!

Five Stage Publication:

Stage 1 - Drafting

[Image Description: This is where the magic begins, where you start off with brainstorming and outlining and writing. This is the NaNoWriMo stage, the 'let me rant about my WIP' stage. This stage ends with two very important elements. The first is a completed first draft manuscript and the second is an Ideal Customer Profile]

So this is the stage that a lot of writers get stuck in. It’s the quicksand sinkhole of starting over with a new project. There’s nothing wrong with living in this stage, but if you want to actually publish a novel worth reading you have to have two things:

1. A Book.

2. An Audience.

One of my favorite quotes is:

“You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page.”

― Jodi Picoult

You have to have a book in order to publish and sell a book. This is the hard part for a lot of authors, the part that they get bogged down by for years and years trying to make their debut novel some perfect specimen of literature.

Guys, my friends, my fellow authors; do not allow yourself to be bogged down by the weight of perfectionism that accompanies years of reading ‘the greats’ and thinking you’ll never be one of them. A favorite line of mine from Charles Bukowski goes:

“ don't be like so many writers, don't be like so many thousands of people who call themselves writers, don't be dull and boring and pretentious, don't be consumed with self- love. the libraries of the world have yawned themselves to sleep over your kind. don't add to that. don't do it.”

The second part of stage 1, the part that is almost unheard of with writers who are just starting out or plan to publish traditionally, is the ideal customer profile. I’m actually posting a series on the ICP in a few days so I’ll give you a basic rundown and link back to it here when it comes out.

Essentially, your ideal customer profile is a character sheet for the person most likely to enjoy and cherish your work the way it was meant to be enjoyed and cherished.

It’s important to develop your ICP near the end of stage one because moving on to stage two without it means missing huge opportunities to throw in the little nods and subtle glances that will really thrill your audience.

Stage 2 - Revision

[Image Description: Your revision process may be your own, but the fact remains that you have to have one. For some, it looks like printing out the book and redlining it. For others, it's about re-writing the entire thing. No matter which way you do it, this is where you will put in your foreshadowing and arch phrases. This step CANNOT be skipped.]

I used to write a book and then think it was done.

I used to write a book and then put it into a spell checker and a grammar editor and think it was done.

I used to read through it over and over and over and then ignore it for months as I tried to figure out where the missing part of the story was.

I’m not saying these methods are invalid. I’m just saying that after I learned to pull up a blank document side by side with the original and then write the whole thing out again many of the pains of plotting disappeared and my work moved into the professional arena.

Maybe it was the way I had to focus on the words as I read the story again, or maybe it’s because I’m a chronic underwriter and re-writing gives me a chance to unpack certain lines to expand the story.

I think it might be a little bit because revising is a lot like moving houses. You have to decide what to pack up and what to leave behind, and when you’re done you’re left with a newer, cleaner house and a sense of exhausted accomplishment.

Stage 3 - Editor/Beta Reader

[Image Description: While many writers try to skip from stage 1 to stage 3, others try to skip stage 3 altogether. Don't. Stage 3 is what brings your book into the professional realm and smooths out those rough edges. Feedback from your editor and beta reader may loop you back into stage 2 for another round of revision.]

So my first comment here is directed more towards stage 2 and how important it is.

I’ve beta-read too many books that didn’t go through the revision process. I’ve seen too many authors kill their own work over comments from beta readers that could have been avoided if the author revised their work before placing it into the hands of someone who could hurt them.

The connection between an author and their editor/beta reader is a very emotional one. My editor and I are sharing a hotel room at a writer’s conference in a few weeks. My beta reader is refused to talk to me for a week because of how I left the cliff hanger at the end of the last book.

These two people are your gatekeepers.

Where traditionally published books have agents and publishers to keep the tide of bad writing decisions from seeing the light of day, indie authors have their own poor judgment and a burning desire to see their works in a published form.

Your editor can save your asses (literally, the word was suppose to be assess and I accidentally deleted an S during the final touches stage. My editor caught it before I sold too many copies).

Your beta reader can warn you if your character’s personality changed halfway through or if the room for your final confrontation is a blank white box in their minds because you maybe forgot to describe it every single time your characters were in there before.

Stage 4 - Final Touches

[Image Description: This is where we clean up our blurb, tag lines, cover, and formatting. Creating auxiliary content for content marketing, and developing a media strategy. At the end of this stage, we push publish (or place the book on pre-order). ]

This is my golden stage.

This is what I’m going to college for and what I plan on building a media and consulting company around. This is something I’m going to be posting a lot about so I won’t say as much here.

If you have questions on stage 4 publications pls send them to my ask box, I am always ready to help with the marketing.

Stage 5 - Continuation

[Image Description: The connection between the reader and the writer is a unique one, and is something that many indie authors tend to neglect. Your readers are people. They need assurances that there is another book coming, someone to yell at for the last cliffhanger, and a place where they can connect to other readers. As a publishing author, it is your job to provide them a way to connect. ]

Continuation is really almost an extension of stage 4. It’s the engagement side of being an author. It’s where the fandom is born.

This is where I think a lot of authors make their last mistake. Those who manage to get themselves to this stage tend to drop the ball because The History Of Authors clearly states that we are ethereal and unknowable creatures who mustn’t interact.

Times are changing, folks. Technology is changing us. We are a social bunch and we want that connection. We want the validation. We want the community.

An author that can give their audience a sense of belonging, who can engage them openly and respectfully, and who can make them feel as though they are remarkable is going to be the author who has the competitive advantage.

tldr: come ask me questions about author marketing.

#original #writing advice #publishing advice #indie street marketing #ISM advice #I'll tag other people later #when i have the spoons for it

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