#i may end up doing research on this and making a more formal post about it

[the-yuri-librarian]

Can I ask, why do you love WLW romance better than Het romance? What makes them better? I did not mean anything negative, and I know everyone have their own like and dislike but I want to know your thoughts....

Also what do you think that made Asian WLW (GL manga/manhwa/manhua) romances different than western WLW romances?

This is a very good question on both fronts!

Answering the first part is easy: I prefer WLW relationships because I'm a lesbian. That's sort of all there is to it? Like, on some level, I have only been reading WLW novels for the past several years (and WLW comics since Sept '23), because hetero relationships in fiction have sort of dominated culture my whole life? I can't name a movie or a book series off hand from my childhood/teen years that did not contain a straight relationship. I would genuinely have to think about it. But, when I graduated from grad school for the first time and started to connect with reading on a level I hadn't since I was a kid-early teen, I made this very conscious decision to focus really really heavily on sapphic fiction, even more so than trans fiction even though I am trans, too. I think part of this is because I just wanted to see myself represented in the works I am reading. Another part of this is I relate more to sapphic romances. For all my life, I have only ever loved women as a woman, and that makes straight romances feel somewhat foreign to me? I think maybe it's because the way relationships are talked about in queer culture versus the way relationships are talked about in straight culture; it feels very different, though I don't have an example offhand to point to. On top of that, there is also a lot of historical precedent for lesbians feeling like their sexuality and their gender identity are somewhat meshed or intersected (if you want to know more I'd have to do like actual research lol), and I think I definitely feel that. The lesbian label is really important for me, and I think that importance draws me to WLW fiction

In terms of what makes eastern and western comics/yuri/sapphic romances different, I think that you could write an entire dissertation on this (but I'll try not to lol). Now, I am by no means an expert on Japanese or Korean cultural studies, in fact I am far from that, but I think the way the romances play out really highlights the way their cultures function differently from cultures in the west. Firstly, I think that eastern cultures place a much higher focus on cultural expectations. I would not say that eastern cultures are necessarily more conservative than western cultures (I mean, just look at any news coming out of the US, we're practically a theocracy). Instead, I would say that people living in eastern cultures are more bound by their culture. For example: in the US, or a similar western culture, it is generally ok to be gay in the 2010s and 2020s. From my understanding, this is also the case in Korea and Japan, but there is more cultural push back. I think this reality is represented in sapphic romance stories from the two places well. Look at any fiction featuring a lesbian main character coming out of America: their sexuality is never treated like some weird thing (unless the story is trying to realistically represent discrimination); instead, they just are gay. And, when a character is beginning to realize she might be a lesbian, she might have to adjust her view of herself, but it's really no big deal. On the other hand, look at Japanese yuri, especially high school stories: there is almost universally a moment where one of the characters will be like "but we're both girls!" to which the other character will be like "it's fine." I think this moment is included in those stories because the mangaka are consciously pushing back on the idea that it's wrong to be gay. A really good example of this can be seen in Rei's "it's ok to be gay monologue" in I'm in Love with the Villainess. In American fiction, something like that would likely feel unnecessary (though, for the record, I think American TV shows and movies are at the point where such a monologue is necessary, but that's a different story).

Another example can be seen in the way eastern comics treat cunnilingus. This is not a universal thing, but one trend that I've noticed in the more NSFW or smutty comics I've read is that, often, when a woman is about to go down on another woman, the one getting eaten out will protest like "no, not there" or "no, I'm not clean," and I think that this too is indicative of the ways women are entangled by cultural expectations in the east. In an America comic or novel, this would not be treated with the same hesitancy. But, in eastern cultures, there seems to almost be this expectation that the women turns down getting eaten out, only to relent and accept it when their lover insists.

I'm not sure if any of that makes sense, but it's the best I got without doing real research. Also, again, I am not an expert, so take everything I just said with about a tablespoon of salt!

[anipgarden]

Adding To or Starting a Garden

AKA, the beginning of the Plants-Related section of this series.

This is my third post in a series I’ll be making on how to increase biodiversity on a budget! I’m not an expert--just an enthusiast--but I hope something you find here helps! 

Got an area of lawn you’d like to convert to a wildlife haven? An area you can stick some hanging baskets in? Want to know how your garden of tomatoes and zucchinis is already putting in a lot of work? This is the section for you!

It would be dumb of me to not acknowledge that the act of gardening can come with a lot of costs. Buying seeds, buying plants, buying soil, raised bed materials, mulch, etc. … it can all get a bit daunting, let’s be honest! But there’s quite a few ways to get seeds and plants for free or extremely cheap, which I’ll be addressing in this section! The next section will be all about addressing the other Costs in gardening and how to mitigate or eliminate them entirely.

Also, do keep in mind; there’s no need to try and convert a whole area from lawn to garden or unused to garden at once. In fact, it could actually be extremely beneficial to do it a little at a time--maybe four or five square feet to start out.

Front Lawn (or Managing Principles)

If you live in a place where you’re required to have a grass turf lawn (HOA’s come to mind…), try replacing it with native grasses instead! You could even possibly use a low-growing ground cover plant like clover to a similar effect! Reseeding/replacing an entire lawn can be a big upfront cost, but even just letting the lawn be a little messy and tall helps. If the lawn gets patchy, leave the bare spots for a little while and something different will likely pop up! Pioneer species will fill the gaps and provide benefits to other plants around them, support animals, and more! If you want to take the guesswork out of it, you could always research what the pioneer species are in your area and plant the ones you like most. 

Obtaining Seeds for Cheap or Free

The cheapest way to start a garden is by far via seeds. However, seeds can be a bit complicated to grow, and some sources make them… way overpriced. Fortunately there are ways to get seeds for little to no cost! 

Some places sell seeds for as low as a dollar, 50 cents, or 25 cents! The packets may not have a lot of seeds, but it’s definitely a good start for a low budget! I’ve personally bought cheap seed packets at Walmart--the Ferry-Morse and Burpee brands are not what we’re looking for here. Typically the cheaper ones I’ve found are American Seed (which is owned by Green Garden Products, which also owns Ferry-Morse, Livingston Seed, McKenzie Seed, and Seeds of Change. Do with that information what you will), but they’re rarely stocked near the Ferry-Morse ones in the Formal Gardening Section. I’ve most often found them on end caps near the gardening section, so you may have to weave through a few aisles to find them, but once you do there’s an array of flower and vegetable seeds to select from! Alternatively, I’ve found seeds at Dollar Tree sold 2 or 4 for a dollar in Spring as part of their seasonal product; however, when they’re out of stock, they’re typically out of stock for the year. Try to check them out early in the year!

Otherwise, other seed companies like Urban Farmer or Botanical Interests will often have semi-frequent sales in spring and fall, when people are stocking up on seeds--joining their email lists can help you be the first to know when a good sale is going on!

Some foods from grocery stores will provide seeds that you can use in the garden as well. I’ve had the most luck with store-bought bagged beans, peppers, and tomatoes. Some people have had luck with watermelons, apples, citrus, squash, and more. Do keep in mind that you likely won’t get the same variety of fruit/vegetable as the one you bought--the resulting plant may look different and taste different.

Give it a shot! Pick some beans you like--if they don't grow well, at least you can eat the rest!

If you live in the US, food-producing live plants, bare roots, and seeds can often be purchased with SNAP benefits. But what does growing fruits, veggies, and herbs have to do with boosting biodiversity? While food crops aren’t typically native, they still provide valuable shelter for native insects. Some plants even have intricate relationships with native fauna--like the squash bee, a solitary bee which exclusively pollinates cucurbits like pumpkins, squash, and zucchini. And we get to benefit more directly as well! If you’re planting a diverse range of foods in your garden (as opposed to the swaths of single-plant farms that typically produce what’s sent to grocery stores), you’re supporting high levels of biodiversity by providing a variety of plants for creatures to live and hunt around.

Most of the time, when we think of boosting biodiversity with a garden, we think of a colorful flower garden teeming with pollinator species. However, if we’re striving to use native species, it can be a bit difficult to find some species in stores. I can say from experience that trying to find any wildflower seeds other than butterfly weed, purple coneflowers, and black-eyed-susans is… challenging, if you limit yourself to stores like Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s. You might occasionally get lucky with an ACE Hardware or a local nursery, but even then sometimes it can be hard to track down who in your area is selling what--let alone if you live in an area where no one really is selling native plants or their seeds. Not to mention, even once you find a local or online store selling the seeds you want, they can sometimes cost a pretty penny. So what do you do?

If you have the option to, consider gathering native seeds yourself! Get good at identifying the native flora and fauna--or at least, a few target plants and their lookalikes--and get ready to go! Learn where they tend to grow, when they’ll be seeding, etc. Try to identify the plant before it goes to seed (for most plants, it's easiest to identify when flowering), then check back regularly to gather seeds. Typically, if I want to learn how to collect seed from a specific plant, I just search it on Google or YouTube--oftentimes, I'm lead to the GrowItBuildIt Youtube page, so it may be a helpful resource for you as well! Of course, make sure to leave plenty of seed behind so the wild population can repopulate, and seed can feed other creatures in the area. A good rule of thumb is to take no more than 1/3rd of what's available.

Buying seed in bulk is an option if you can afford the upfront cost. Try teaming up with a few friends to buy some bulk seeds and split them amongst yourselves--you’ll get tons of seed! Prairie Moon is a popular site that'll sell seeds by the pound if you can afford the price--though they're in the US, and I believe they focus on Midwest and East Coast natives.

If you want to cheat the system, don’t buy bulk sunflower seeds--buy bags of sunflower seeds being sold as birdseed. They’re typically all black oil sunflower seeds, but they’ll sprout, and they’re fairly cheap for the amount you get!

However, beware generic wildflower seed mixes! Many brands like to sell wildflower seed mixes in big box stores like Home Depot, Target, or even Dollar Tree, but they’ll often include flowers that aren’t native or possibly even invasive in your region! Before you make any purchases, double check to make sure the contained seeds won’t do more harm than good! A quality source of native seeds will provide English and Latin names for all seeds included, and will be native to the region or at least non-invasive. 

See this? I don't trust this.

There’s a good handful of programs online that’ll send you free seeds if you’re planning to start a native habitat project! Poke around online and see what you can find; you might get lucky! The best time to start looking for these is fall and winter, I find--by early spring, many of them are either done or beginning to wind down... though some also start up in spring. Ultimately--just check regularly! You never know what you can find!

Other Ways to Get Plants

Don’t want to start from seed? That’s fair! You can try cuttings! Just be sure not to take too much of the plant while you do so. Make sure you’ve gotten a few leaf nodes on your cutting, and cut any flowers you may have gotten. Make sure to leave some blooms and foliage on the original plant for the creatures in the current habitat--you don’t want to destroy one habitat to make another in your garden. There’s tons of methods of rooting cuttings, many of which have different efficacy rates for different plants, but that’s a topic for another post.

If you find seedlings growing in a place where they won’t be able to sustain themselves long-term, or are in danger of being destroyed, consider relocating them! You may be able to gently dig up and transplant the seedling to your garden. Don’t do this if they’re in a place where they can easily survive--ideally, you’ll be taking plants from sidewalk cracks, heavily maintained public gardens, roadsides, etc. Do be careful while doing this--ensure your safety first!  

You’re totally allowed to join gardening communities like clubs, facebook groups, and more before you’ve even put a trowel to the dirt. These are great places to learn information and advice! Many gardeners are more than happy to help out a new gardener, and will eagerly provide seeds, cuttings, or even baby plants! Talk to some people about your gardening journey and what you’re hoping to do, and you just might find some kindred spirits--or at least get more people interested in the topic! 

Seed and plant giveaways and trades happen all the time in gardening clubs, as well as online! Just poke around and see what you can find! Some are explicitly trades, meaning you’re expected to send something in return, but once you get your feet on the ground with some plant knowledge you’ll be stellar! You may be able to explain you’re just starting out, and someone may send you seeds without expecting a trade, but I’d suggest trying giveaways first. 

Poke around online and see if there’s a local chapter of your state’s native plant society. From there, you’ll likely be able to find a calendar of events--many of them will host plant sales in the spring, with a bunch of native plant seedlings ripe for the pickings if you can make it out and have some money to spare! Fair warning, though, you’ll want to get there early if you can. If they say they’re starting at 10, try to get there by 9:45. Year after year, there’s always record turnout, and they sell out of plants faster than ever. Just trust me on this. I’ve been let down; hopefully you won’t have to be.

Some libraries are beginning to host seed libraries! Check around and see if your library has one! Ideally, the system works best if you also have seeds to contribute in return, but if you’re just starting out I’m sure they won’t mind you taking some seeds! Just consider saving some seeds to contribute in the future and pay it forward. If your library doesn’t have a seed library? Consider asking if they’d be willing to start one! Community interest is a great way to get the ball rolling on projects like these, but they’ll only know the community is interested if the community tells them they’re interested!

Volunteer to Garden for/with Someone Else

Maybe someone in your area wants to garden, but is struggling to find the time/energy. Many elderly people who used to garden simply can’t anymore but still would like a garden. Other people may love to have a helping hand in their garden. You might even find a few people in your area interested in renting and sharing a community garden plot with others, so they don't have to handle it all on their own! They may be interested in increasing biodiversity right now, or may be willing to if it’s brought up to them. You might be just the kind of person someone needs! Since it won't be your garden, you’ll likely need a bit of permission and collaboration to get anything in particular going, but it’s worth a shot and a way to maybe even make friends! 

Again, your mileage may vary with some of these. You may not know where there's a bunch of wildflowers growing in your area, or maybe your local library doesn't have a free seed library. That's okay! Do what you're able to, find what you can find, get what you can get! And there's never any shame with starting small--in fact, starting small can make the project easier to manage and expand when you're able!

That's the end of this post! My next post is gonna be about ways to start growing plants cheaply--low cost seed starting set ups, essentially. There's a lot of good options, many of which I've used myself even! Until then, I hope this advice is helpful! Feel free to reply with any questions, success stories, or anything you think I may have forgotten to add in!

[the-cosmic-teapot]

To Be Loved By Nanami Kento

Nanami x reader

WC: 10,705

TW: Slight age gap (4 years), Canon-compliant, fluff, angst, canon-typical gore, big emotions, Nanami is such a gentleman, drinking, reader gets very drunk (Shoko), kinda steamy but no smut, marriage, family, Not a happy ending (ANGST!!!)

*Not proofread (my husband said his word limit is 5,000)

Summary: The story of how you and Nanami fall in love.

A/N: Hi pals, it's been a minute (like a couple months, oops)! This has been in the works for the majority of that time, but I couldn't bring myself to finish it until now. Let me know if you all like the longer fics or if I should break them up into parts instead. Also, I am looking for more proofreaders, if you are interested message me. As always, feedback is welcome!

P.S- The reader has a cursed technique that is using electrical energy and the gloves are what is used to conduct the energy. 

~Cosmic

June 2012

High school graduates are left with difficult decisions to make upon the end of their education. Differing from a typical student, graduating from Jujutsu High in Tokyo meant alternate career options; choosing to become a sorcerer, or leaving the world of Jujutsu for a mundane job. As you pack up your home of the past three years, you ponder this quandary as boxes of memories are put away one by one. On one hand, you were trained alongside some of the best sorcerers in generations, and, if we’re being honest, you’re one of them. Now on the other lives a normal life, and a normal job. One where you don’t face nearly as high a mortality rate. You could find love, have a normal family, and you could live in ignorance of your fellow sorcerers’ sacrifices.

Moving out of the dorms at Jujutsu High was bittersweet, you have a lot of memories with your friends, and even a sparse few with Gojo– as annoying as he can be. You found a nice apartment right outside of the business district in Tokyo and you were even up to get promoted to a grade one sorcerer. Things are looking up for you and your new independent life. 

Before you were able to fully get the rank of grade one sorcerer you needed to do a few missions with current grade one sorcerers, which is now what you were being sent to do.  Usually, you worked with Mei Mei because your personalities meshed well, unlike your fighting styles, but this time was different. Before you stood a tall, well-built man with blonde hair in a suit. The tan suit was a bit plain, but his bright blue button-down and patterned tie really stands out. Ijichi explained what grade-one curse this man and you needed to eradicate in an abandoned nursing home in Osaka. The man, Nanami, is to pick you up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight as opposed to driving through the night to get there. 

As you packed a small bag with a few necessities– the return flight was the following afternoon– you wondered why it took so long to meet Nanami. By the end of your second year, you had met most all of the grade one sorcerers from one gathering or another, but not Nanami. You had a few options now, you could look him up on social media or ask Gojo about the very muscular man. You decided on the former because Gojo would endlessly tease you for asking, plus you could stalk him online from the comfort of your bed. From your extensive research, you learned that there was not a trace of Nanami online other than a post from Gojo a year ago that tagged a deactivated account. Now you either have to ask Gojo or the even more embarrassing option of trying to make small talk with Nanami tomorrow. You were at a loss, was teasing from Gojo worth learning more about the undeniably attractive man? Nanami seems the type to not talk much, so small talk may not even tell you more about him. 

Your phone dings as the latest episode of a trashy show’s credits roll. You didn’t have the number saved, but you could quickly tell it was Nanami because of the overly formal language and punctuation of the message. He asked about where he should pick you up and if you wanted him to grab coffee before getting you. As you respond you also internally scream as this man keeps getting more attractive and you’ve met him once. Is it weird to be this attracted to a man you’ve just met? You suppose it doesn’t matter much, it was just a superficial attraction at best now. 

The following morning you wake up and get ready as usual, skincare, a little makeup, and finally getting dressed. You grab the overnight bag and your backpack for the trip there and head down to the lobby to wait for Nanami. After doing one final look over to make sure you weren't forgetting anything you finally leave and lock up your apartment. When you get to the lobby Nanami is already there holding his phone, probably about to call you.  

“Ah, good. You’re punctual, do you have all of your equipment ready to go?” You give a quick nod knowing you placed your sleek black gloves in the front pouch of your backpack. “Good, let’s go then,” Nanami said. He was in another suit, not a hair out of place. Without another word, he took the overnight bag and began to walk out to his car. 

He placed your stuff in the trunk of the modern black car and got the passenger side door for you. God, he truly is a gentleman. The interior of his car is clean and smells like a new car scent. You noticed a pastry on the middle console and two coffees in the cup holder after getting comfy for the quick trip to the airport. 

“I got you a strawberry Danish, as well as the coffee, I hope you like it,” Nanami says as he buckles in and starts the car. He adjusts his glasses, and checks before backing out of the 20-minute parking spot. 

“Actually, I’m allergic to strawberries… but thank you for the coffee and thinking of me!” You said with an awkward, tight-lipped smile, feeling bad that he wasted his money on you. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Nanami spoke. “I’ll keep that in mind next time” You give him a small ‘hump’ as acknowledgement. 

The drive to the airport is quick, the bright lights of Tokyo pass by in a blur together in a rainbow of color. You wonder what this mission will entail, this was a grade-one curse, so Nanami could handle this alone if needed; theoretically, you should be able to do the same. Being this close to Nanami was strange, it felt almost intimate in the dark morning. You could smell the cologne he was wearing and the heat coming off of his body. He smelled amazing, woody and smokey, with notes of whisky. 

Soon enough you notice Nanami pulling into a parking garage and getting a ticket and finding a parking space. Getting out you go to grab your overnight bag but Nanami already has it in hand with his.

“I can get my bag if you want.” You said quickly. “You really don’t need to.” You say to the back of the tall man as he walks away. 

“It’s fine, it’s not heavy.” He said plainly, walking towards the walkway to the check-in desks. His steps are quick and driven by efficiency. You could tell he will be much more professional than Mei Mei, and way harder to get a read on. 

~~

As the plane lands you listen to the flight attendant about the typical unloading procedures, you worry about the mission and whether you will make a fool out of yourself in front of a grade-one sorcerer, especially one as attractive as Nanami. You remember this feeling when working with Mei Mei for the first time too. After you get your backpack from the floor you reach into the overhead compartment for your other bag but Nanami already has it in hand. 

“I told you I’ve got your bag, '' Nanami says, bending down to get his bag on the floor. You shivered at the thought of him being so close to you. 

“Okay, if you really don’t mind,” you say blushing slightly, moving to get off of the plane trailing after Nanami. 

When you leave the airport the sun is shining and there is a small breeze. It ruffles Nanami’s hair making him look even more divine than he already does. He hails a cab to go to the hotel so you can check in and go over what intel you have on the cursed spirit. The cab ride was uneventful at best, but your anxiety was through the roof. You could feel your heartbeat in your throat and the sweat covering your palms. 

You zone out sitting on one of the chairs with your and Nanami’s things while he checks into your rooms. Suddenly, he appears in front of you with a disgruntled look across his sharp, perfect features. He explains that the hotel screwed up and only has one room (and one bed) available at the moment, he runs a hand through his pristine hair and sighs.

“We can look for other hotels in the area if you are uncomfortable sharing a room, or I can sleep on the couch,” Nanami says in his usual tone. “The woman at the desk said that the former may be unlikely because there are a few conventions in town.” He runs a hand through his hair again, staring down at you through his glasses. 

“I don’t mind staying here, but I can take the couch.” You say it is not fair that he has already done so much for you. “I can sleep almost anywhere.” You say, which was a little lie, but it’s one night. Plus, you are considerably smaller than Nanami, he towers over you and he is broader than you because of the bulk of his muscles. 

“We can talk about sleeping arrangements when we get settled tonight.” He says after a moment of silence. Nanami walks away back to the desk and finishes checking in.

He comes back with two keys in hand and moves to get your bags. You look up at him and take the cards so he has his hands free for the bags. The walk to the room was silent, as was moving around to get settled into the nice room. There is a sort of living room then a small hallway with the bathroom on one side and a closet on the other and finally, the bedroom section was at the back. The bed is massive, most likely a king, and there is a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows facing the foot of the bed. You stand at the window taking in the view of the city and ponder how this mission will go. Taking a few deep breaths to calm your nerves you move back to the living room area with Nanami sitting on a comically small couch. 

“So, the nursing home isn’t far from here, we can walk there,” Nanami said, looking at the packet with all of the information gathered for this mission. He moved over and motioned for you to join him on the couch. As you sit next to him you realize how small the couch really is, it’s more of an oversized armchair. “The curse shouldn’t take too long to exercise, but there are bound to be more, lower grade curses.” He adjusts his glasses and hands the packet to you as he moves to get up. 

You look over the packet and see that the building has been abandoned for a few years after the owners were convicted of selling deceased residents organs without the families’ knowledge or approval. The building has recently been the site of the disappearance of teens, which has made more teens want to break in and do whatever teens do when they break into buildings. The local police have put locks on the doors and tape up to discourage more teens from entering, but this did little to dissuade them. This is why Nanami and you were called here, the 10 missing teens were concerning and the confirmed presence of a curse made this case a top priority for the higher-ups in Jujutsu society. 

~~ 

Nanami lowered the veil over the condemned building and you slipped your gloves on, as you both took in the large structure. It was at least three stories high and there was mention of a basement for laundry from the packet. The smell of mold and mildew hit you in the face as soon as Nanami opened the door. There was graffiti all over the place and vines and weeds sprouting up from the cracked concrete and broken windows.

You mention splitting up to make the search go quicker, Nanami told you to focus on looking for the missing kids while he looks for the grade one curse. Of course, this is not how the mission goes, you run into a horde of grade three and lower curses in the basement hallway. As you fight them off you begin to hear the sobs of a few girls. You make your way to a locked door where you very clearly hear crying, knocking on it, and saying you were here to help. When the door opens about five girls no older than fifteen are trembling and latching on to you for dear life. 

You introduce yourself to them and tell them that your partner and you will try your best to get them out safely. They all mention seeing some of the others they were with being dragged away but not killed in front of them. You shoot a text to Nanami about the girls you found and begin to lead the shaking, but not crying, girls out of the basement and to the outside of the building. Nanami joins you a few minutes after getting the girls out and mentions how you did well. 

Going back into the buildings after talking to the girls a bit more to gather more information about the groups they came from. After another hour of searching you find the bodies of three of the boys, all drained of blood leaned up against a wall on the ground floor. It was shocking to see that a curse did not mutilate the young boys. You move on to the next floor where you run into Nanami and he mentions finding two boys on the verge of death that he brought outside and tended to their wounds. 

Wandering around a bit more you finally come across the grade one curse, its cursed energy was intense. The spirit looks like its melting bodies together, one pile of flesh with multiple eyes and appendages. The largest of their eyes is brown and vertical in the center of the mass and quickly takes notice of Nanami and you and begins to attack, flailing arms and legs towards you and Nanami. You were first to strike the curse with a zap of your cursed technique directly to the center eye. Nanami, quick to follow, slashed a few limbs off with his blunt sword. Flowing through the motions of a fight, zaps, a few punches, and maybe a kick to the curse was the easy part. The more difficult part was knowing if you were doing enough to impress Nanami or at least not look like a complete idiot in front of him. With a final right hook into the curse imbued with your technique, the curse jolted back and collapsed into a disintegrating heap on the dirty floor. 

“Good, you did well,” Nanami says calmly while swiftly dispelling the blood from his blade in a singular smooth motion.

~~

The walk back to the hotel is significantly less awkward for you mostly because you were actually talking now, and not weird small talk. This was an actual conversation, about what you enjoy, what books you like, and so forth. You had a lot in common with the stoic man, you both enjoyed cooking and reading, much preferred over going out. You were beginning to toe the line between a schoolgirl crush based on superficial attraction into a full-blown crush, born from knowing his brain. There are a few outcomes, all but one of which will fragment your heart into millions of pieces. This is dangerous territory you are beginning to tread. 

Back at the hotel you shower and take time to get the sweat and blood off of you. The hot shower felt like heaven on your sore muscles and the steam began to fog the mirror. You wash your hair with your shampoo and conditioner while you think about the day. The thoughts quickly drift from the nursing home and the teenagers you saved to the dashing man sitting outside. He is hard to not fall for, he’s charming and his looks could rival that of a man sculpted by the gods. In addition to his stunning looks his personality seems to be a perfect fit for your own. The list of Nanami’s attributes just seems to grow with the amount of time you spend with him. 

Meanwhile, the blonde man sitting outside on the couch begins working on the report for the case. He begins recounting the day’s events, typing it all out in the correct format. All of the events from what was known to the final death count of the curse. Once again, Nanami’s life became mundane; getting sent on missions, exercising the cursed spirit, typing up a report, and repeating. When he got off of work he would make dinner, maybe try a new wine, most nights were the same for him. Being sent away from Tokyo was a nice change, but not much of one, now he would just have dinner out. However, now there was someone else with him. Someone who he wants to get to know, someone who he can see as a friend. 

He has thought of dating, but with his re-entrance into the world of Jujutsu that will be difficult. There is no way for him to have a “normal” life when he faces death every day. He cannot put someone he loves in a position to mourn him, he has been down this road before and it hurts. Honestly, part of the reason Nanami left after graduation was because he didn’t want to see more of his colleagues fall; moreover, he did not want to see his juniors fall even more so. Despite this, he found himself back in the world of Jujutsu; sitting here with you in the shower. 

When Nanami was told he would be paired with a semi-grade one sorcerer he thought the person would look more intimidating, not the small, cute form he met the day prior. He was pleasantly surprised this morning when you were right on time when he came to pick you up. In the car, he could smell your hair products– vanilla and jasmine– as well as notice how you anxiously fidget with your hands. You were efficient in the airport, which he admired very much, as opposed to Gojo, who would stroll in an hour before his flight with little care about missing it entirely. 

Nanami finishes the report and he hears you step out of the shower. He stands, stretches, and then heads for his bag to gather his clothes to get ready to shower. As he makes sure he has grabbed all of his necessities– underwear, pants, and a top– his phone dings. Sitting back on the bed with his stuff sitting neatly on the dresser he reads a text from Gojo asking about how you both were getting along. Nanami opted to send a short, nondescript text on how you performed today.  

When you finally leave the warm, steamy bathroom you see Nanami sitting on the bed tapping away at his phone, presumably texting. You move your stuff into your bag as your stomach growls very loudly. In your squatting position, you make eye contact with Nanami who now has his clothing in hand to shower and clean up for dinner. 

“I’m going to excuse myself, I’d suggest looking up where you want to eat,” Nanami says standing to his full height, making you feel smaller as he has to tilt his head further down as he does. 

“Okay, I can do that,” you say, zipping up your bag and grabbing socks and your bag with your wallet and other necessities to go out. 

As Nanami stepped into the still-warm and steamy bathroom he could smell your lotion and perfume. Everything smelled like you, even the other towels that are folded under the sink; it’s a smell that is just as intoxicating as the most expensive bottle of wine he’s sampled. He peeled his blue shirt off his body and began the shower, the hot water and steam fogging up the mirror again. Slipping out of his trousers and underwear he steps into the shower with a sigh. He could smell you even more in the shower, the hot steam lifting the remnants of your hair products to his nose directly. 

Nanami thought about the day and Gojo’s text. As with most things, Gojo most likely had another intention than the one Nanami initially interpreted. Nanami could not let himself wonder what it would be like to pursue you in any capacity other than friendship; not even for a moment. There is no denying you are attractive and he could tell that you shared a lot of his interests. He pushes these thoughts of what can never be out of his mind so he can finish his shower and get to dinner. 

~~

You go with a small sushi place with good reviews online and Nanami truly did not mind you picking. Initially, you had given him three options and he was indifferent to all of them. This was new to you because when you went with Gojo he would insist on going to his pick, given he always paid so you had no qualms. 

Walking alongside Nanami was strange, his muscular frame towered over yours and looked ten times more intimidating than you with just his resting face unobscured by the armless glasses he wore. The evening air was cooling down from the high temperatures of the day and a soft breeze flowing and it made Nanami’s hair flow slightly from its perfect position atop his head. He was in a light green sweater and light-wash jeans, which was such a change from his typical suit and tie. Casual suited him, as well as his scent without cologne, it was fresh and kind of minty. 

Getting to the restaurant you seat yourself at a nice table near the window. A server stops by to give you menus and welcome you to the establishment. As you look over the menu you fail to notice how Nanami looks at you. Your hair was pulled back with a few strands falling out around your face, framing it nicely. He thought about what a normal life would be like, how it would be to be in a relationship without the threat of death, and most of all what it would be like to be loved by someone. He once again found himself pushing these thoughts out of his mind. 

The night flows seamlessly from dinner to a little cafe for coffee and dessert. Conversation hardly stopped from when you sat down for dinner to now, in this cute little cafe with cat-themed decor adorning the walls. You were the last two in the cafe with the barista cleaning the counter and display case. This is a night you didn’t want to end, everything has been amazing, from conversation to food, and finally Nanami. The more time you spent with Nanami the more you wanted to spend with him. His presence is intoxicating. 

As you walk back to your hotel there is a light air between you both. The moon is bright and shines on the pair of you. He is close, very close, his arm is close to brushing with yours. To an unsuspecting eye, you looked like a beautiful young couple.

~~

Getting back to the hotel room faced you with the dilemma of the one bed. Nanami initially said he could sleep on the couch, but seeing how large he is compared to the overgrown armchair that had to be out of the question. You could take the couch, but something told you he would never let that happen.

Nanami once again let you take the bathroom first. You dug through your bag for your shorts and oversized tee shirt to get changed into. When you open the bathroom door you see Nanami’s toiletries on the counter opposite your own. What would Nanami be like to live with, being able to see your things with his? He seems like the type of person who has a solid routine and rarely deviates from that. After washing your face and undressing you fold your pants and top neatly to put on for the trip home. The silky shorts felt nice after your legs had been confined all day and the tee shirt fell over the hem of them perfectly. 

Nanami is waiting on the bed with his sleepwear folded neatly beside him. When he looks up at you his hair falls away from his face, most likely from the lack of product. He is so handsome in the dim lighting of the hotel room. You both begin to speak only to stop when you realize the other wants to say something. You smile slightly at the usually awkward situation. 

“You can go first,” Nanami said, standing to his full height. His hair shifting subtly with his change in position. 

“Oh, um, I’m all done in the bathroom,” you said, fidgeting with your clothing you still have in hand.

“Ah, I was going to say that you can take the bed because I really don’t mind,” He said in that deep voice. The voice that could make angels weep. 

“That couch is too small for you, if anything I can actually fit on it to sleep,” you say as you move to place your clothing on the dresser opposite the bed. “We could also share the bed if you really won’t let me take the couch,” you say without thinking of the implications of what this fully means. 

The air seems to stand still as you both process what you just said. Nanami is a man you just met no more than twenty-four hours prior, and you mentioned you could share a bed. If this were anyone else you would call them crazy for how risky that is with a strange man. Given, Nanami is not entirely strange, he seems to have some set of moral compass given how he is dead set on taking the couch. Your face is completely flushed red and Nanami is sporting a light pink blush as well. Why did you have to say that?

“I, um,” he paused, coughing a little, “I don’t mind taking the couch,” Nanami says, slightly blushing at the thought of sleeping next to you. The smell of your soap and lotion still stuck in his nose and mind, the sweet notes of vanilla and the floral ones of the jasmine would keep him up all night. Nanami also knew he would be too stressed trying to be respectful of your space that he would not sleep at all if he had to share a bed with you. “The couch will be okay for one night, I promise I will be okay there.” He finishes still sporting a faint blush across his sharp cheeks. 

You take a breath trying to calm down. “Are you sure?” You asked for a final time, still feeling guilty he will probably not get any sleep on the couch. 

“Yes, I would not have said so if I didn’t mean it,” Nanami says firmly, looking at you directly.

You both hold eye contact for a moment, the air thick between your bodies. It feels like you both want to say something, but words don’t come to either of you. His hazel eyes are intense as they still don’t leave your face. You feel your heart rate spike from being under his gaze. Your face could rival a prize-winning tomato for how red you are; Nanami is faring better, at least on the surface. All of his thoughts from earlier, all of the thoughts of a normal life were flooding back into his mind and he couldn’t shove them away fast enough. You are dangerous because there is something about you that makes Nanami feel like he could be with you in that way. 

The moment is ruined by the phone ringing in the other room, flashing with the extension from the front desk. Nanami takes another second, keeping your gaze before he answers. You are not paying attention to who is on the other end because you are trying your hardest to calm down. It feels like you’ve just run a mile without prep with how you need to catch your breath.

“That was the front desk,” Nanami cuts through your thoughts with his clear, stern voice. “Another group canceled their reservation, so a room on the second floor is now available,” he continues, clearing his throat. “I need to go to the front desk to sort everything out, but now we both have a bed,” he says walking to put his shoes on. 

Nanami is gone for twenty minutes, but it feels like an instant. You try to resume your nighttime routine while he is gone, but you keep getting distracted by your thoughts of that moment. Your flushed cheeks and his intense stare seared into your mind as if it were branded there with a hot iron. 

When Nanami comes back into your room he silently packs his things to move into his own room. You observe him, being as still as you can, scared to move too quickly as if he will disappear like a stray cat. Once all his things are packed he stands tall in front of your seated position on the bed. His posture is impeccable, as he tells you his room number and how the hotel comped one of the rooms because of the inconvenience. As you look up at him his hot gaze is already on you, as if he were studying for an exam. You quietly respond with a soft ‘okay’ and ‘Good night’.

~~

When you wake the next morning you feel calmer, more at ease than the prior night. You were so warm up last night that you took another shower just to try and calm your buzzing body and mind, not that it did much. Nanami was not much better, he was thankful to whatever deity granted him a room away from you. His thoughts were muddled and the clarity he was used to was gone. As he finally drifted to sleep he thought of how the atmosphere shifted in that instant before the phone call. 

Nanami let you know he would meet you in the lobby around 8 to catch your 11 o’clock flight. As you leave for the airport you do a swift look over of the room to make sure you didn’t forget anything. The room felt so much more empty sans Nanami, his large frame taking up physical space, but his aura taking up infinitely more. His presence is warm and calm, much unlike your own anxious one. 

The morning trip to the airport, as well as the airport itself, passes by in an instant. Now you sit at the gate waiting for your flight home; Nanami is on the hunt for coffee, as the hotel only had drip coffee. You are wasting time staring at the pages of a book you weren’t reading, too lost in thought. As a hand with a take-out coffee cup impedes your view and the smell of fresh pastry hits your nose. 

“I got peach this time,” Nanami says with a small smile, handing you a bag along with your coffee. He is back in his jeans and sweater from last night, much as you are in the same outfit. 

You take the coffee and bag and give thanks to the man now eating his own. The rest of the morning goes much like this, quiet and at ease. There is no tension between you, and you wonder if this is what it is like to date Nanami. Are all of his mornings quiet and tranquil? 

~~

Nanami drops you off at your apartment and, as the true gentleman he is, gets your stuff out to hand to you. As you walk away from him you can feel his warmth leave you. This trip was a whirlwind. Nanami is attractive and his personality is unmatched by anyone you’ve met, but he is a coworker now. Plus, he gave no indication that he is interested in you, outside of that moment. That moment could have been anything and he is hard to read so you chose to match his level of professionalism. At this point, the best you can do is friends, which is okay. 

~~

April 2014

So much has changed in the past two years after graduating high school. You’ve gotten to know yourself more, honed your fighting techniques, and become better friends with former classmates and coworkers. Soon after your mission with Nanami, you were promoted to a full-fledged grade one sorcerer, you gathered from Gojo that Nanami’s recommendation was glowing. 

Currently, you are sitting opposite Gojo in a cafe as you both talk about your plans for your upcoming birthday. The lanky man sitting across from you suggested going all out, after all, you are now an actual adult who can drink. Your speed was more like a small group of people and dinner, not the rager Gojo was already planning. Try as you might Gojo is truly an unstoppable force, and his party planning is quickly getting away from you. 

“Gojo, I am not having a massive party, my apartment is only large enough for a few people,” you sigh. “I’ll have dinner with a few friends, but nothing more,” you sternly say to the white-haired man. 

“But that’s so boring, we did that last year,” he whined as if your birthday was supposed to entertain him. 

Most of your afternoon went on like this because Gojo is, well, Gojo. On the bright side, he did pay for your coffee and treats. You have some paperwork to finish, but other than that you are free for the weekend. Gojo drops you off at your office muttering something about leaving it for Monday. 

As you quickly work through the sparse papers on your desk you hear a firm knock, clearly Nanami. Gojo would just burst in and Shoko’s knocks are short and quiet. In the nearly two years you’ve known Nanami, and in that time he has become one of your closest friends. He is the one you go to new museum exhibits with and the one you try new cafes with after said museum outings.

“Come in,” you say, not looking up from the last form you needed to fill out. You sigh for a moment as Nanami’s footsteps enter your office. 

“Hey, I saw you were still here and I wanted to see if you wanted to leave together,” Nanami says, looking down at you with a peacoat draped over his arm. “That is if you are almost done.”

“Oh, umm, yeah,” you say, still not looking at him. “I just need to sign off on this and submit it,” you say sighing as you stand to get your stuff. “Where were you wanting to go?” You ask, finally meeting his eyes.

“I was thinking of that new ramen place near yours,” He says holding his hand out to take your bag, “but I am up to suggestions.” 

“Great, I just need to run by Yaga’s office to turn these in,” you say smiling at him as you turn off the lights and close your door. 

The walk to Yaga’s office is the same as it always is, hallways blurring together. You are looking through the papers making sure everything is in order and Nanami is lost in his own mind. In the time Nanami has known you, you’ve nestled yourself into his life seamlessly. After that first mission in Osaka, the pair of you worked on a few more local missions until you were a full-fledged grade-one sorcerer. Even after that, you made a point to spend time with Nanami, to be his friend. That is something he admires about you, you put so much effort into everything you do; sometimes to your own detriment.

You have an aura to you that draws him in, something that makes Nanami want to know everything about you; not just the superficial things anyone can figure out, but the more intimate things like what your nighttime routine is and how you look when you first wake up. These things are small, but he wants them; he wants you in your entirety, mind, body, and soul. 

Nanami came to these conclusions one night after drinking with you, Gojo, and Shoko. He initially turned down Gojo, but when you asked he couldn’t find it in him to decline when he looked into your bright, beautiful eyes. While going out is not his preferred way to spend a night, especially on a Thursday, he thought your presence made it bearable. Especially when you would join in on teasing Gojo with Shoko after a few drinks. After that night Nanami vowed to keep his feelings to himself because you didn’t deserve him, he is a broken man who cannot promise you tomorrow. In his mind, being your friend was better than not being in your life at all. 

~~

You were finally able to talk Gojo out of a big party at a club in exchange for dinner at your favorite place and a few drinks afterward. Music is loudly blaring from your phone as you get ready in the bathroom, hot water running over your figure. You think of what to wear, taking into consideration the temperature and the cute-to-comfy ratio of your outfit. When you step out of the shower, you go through your normal routine, taking more time on makeup and hair. Now you stand in front of your closet wondering what to wear. You could go with jeans and a sweater, but that’s what you wear when you normally go out; this is a special night, so maybe a little discomfort is okay. You pick out a short, light pink dress with poofy mesh sleeves and a flowy skirt. You also opt to put stockings with a criss-cross pattern on them under your dress. As you situate the stockings at the top of your thighs your phone dings and lights up. 

‘Hey, I was thinking we could head over to the restaurant together so you don’t have to walk alone’ read the text from Nanami. It is not unusual for Nanami to pick you up to go somewhere, but it doesn’t happen as much as you’d like. 

After that first mission with Nanami, you were thankful he seemed to want to be friends too, but never anything more. In the past two years, you’ve only grown to like the tall blonde more. He makes sure that you don’t overwork yourself, but rather that you get paid for the work you complete. When he can he also delivers coffee and a pastry. With every coffee delivery, you felt yourself fall a few more meters, you have yet to hit the ground. 

You shoot a short ‘yes’ and go about finishing your look for the night. Thinking of Nanami makes you heat up, more than usual that is. There are a few reasons for this, but the main reason being you’ll look like you’re going on a date walking to the restaurant together. That thought alone made you squeal like a schoolgirl. 

A curt knock rings through your apartment, signaling Nanami’s arrival, and pulling you out of your head. As you answer your door you notice Nanami has a gift bag in hand, presumably for you. You signal for him to come in and greet him, mentioning something about not being quite ready yet. Digging through your jewelry box for a necklace you ramble about your day to Nanami, who responds with grunts and nods, not that you could see him as he is in the living room. 

~~ 

Nanami fills you in on how his day has been as you walk side-by-side to the restaurant. He is self-conscious, something he has not been since high school, because you look amazing, and he just has a dark grey sweater on with nice pants. The dress is just short enough to see the upper parts of your thighs, but not so short that it is immodest. Nanami tries to not stare too much, but he really can’t given how well the stockings hug your things. The plush fat of them bludged slightly from the restriction from the stockings. This outfit is driving him insane– you are driving him insane. Just for a moment, Nanami allows him to wonder what it would be like to have you look this good for him, and him alone. 

As you reach the restaurant you stop Nanami just shy of the entry, so as to not obscure the entry. He gives you a questioning look, and you just stare back at him with wide eyes. Words fail to escape your mouth as you look into his dreamy eyes. You try to start a sentence multiple times, but nothing ever reaches your mouth. Of course, he looks amazing, the sweater with the collar from a button down underneath. As you finally find the words to say Gojo begins yelling from down the block. You break away from the moment with Nanami and turn just in time for Gojo to pull you into a hug. Shoko is not far behind the lanky man as she holds two gifts, one hers and the other probably Gojo’s. 

The host seats you all at a booth in the corner of the restaurant, and lights dim for the atmosphere. You slide into the space next to the wall and Nanami follows suit, sitting close to you at the smallish table. Gojo is directly across from you and Shoko is across from Nanami. Conversation flows, as do some drinks with dinner, and the food comes and goes. You feel a light buzz from the two drinks– one from Gojo and one from Shoko– as you prepare to pay your bill. The waiter comes back to divide up the bill and you all hand in your cards and discuss where to go next, as the drink portion is to appease Gojo. 

The bar Gojo chooses has soft music playing and comfy sitting areas, the best for conversation. Nanami offers to get you a vodka cranberry, your drink of choice, while you find somewhere to sit. Shoko, being the woman she is, kept getting round after round of drinks. You are certain that you are mostly alcohol now, you cannot see straight and you didn’t want to try walking, in fear that your choice of platform boots will make you fall over. 

Nanami can tell you are out of it, your eyes are not focused on anything in particular, and you are no longer talking in more than one-word answers. He closed out at the bar and told Gojo and Shoko he was taking you home, so as to not cause you more harm in the morning. 

As you focus on Shoko complaining about some of the new changes to her duties from the higher ups you feel Nanami’s warm hand on your back. He looks down at you with concern, not that you can particularly tell right now. His deep voice is calming and rich, like the most decadent chocolate as he bids Gojo and Shoko goodbye. He makes sure you have everything, including the new mug from Gojo and the two wine glasses from Shoko.

When you step outside with Nanami still holding on to you the cool April air hits your face, causing you to shiver slightly. Nanami opts to hail a cab, mostly because he is not sure how far you can walk. As one pulls to the side Nanami puts you in the back and walks around to the other side for himself. You cling to him as soon as he sits, and you are not wanting to let go. He tells the driver your address and just lets you cling to him as if he is your lifeline. 

This is nice, your hair smells just how it did when he first met you. Nanami once again lets himself think of what it would be like to have this all the time; you pressed against his body while you go to a shared home. He thinks back to what you were trying to say before dinner, before Gojo ruined it– typical. 

The ride to your building is quick. Nanami pays and tips the driver and practically hoists you to stand. He can tell you are close to crashing, your body heavy, and your movements lethargic. At this point, he thinks about carrying you, as it may be easier than standing at an awkward angle holding you up, but decides against it so as to not cross any boundaries.

When he opens your door you struggle to take off your shoes and leave them in a pile on the floor, a problem for later you. You drunkenly stumble through your apartment with Nanami in tow as you try to undress. The zipper on the back of your dress seems infinitely further than when you zipped yourself into the dress. You break down and ask Nanami, who is standing outside as you change, to help you because you just want to go to bed. As he opens the door he sees you sitting on your bed swaying slightly. He unzips your dress and turns around to give you more privacy, but your perky butt and back are displayed in the full-length mirror he is now facing. You stand still for a minute, in your stockings and lacy pink panties with a matching bra before stumbling into the bathroom. A red-hot blush expands across Nanami’s face as he tries to not stare like a pervert, but there is something about how your ass looks in the lace panties that makes him insane. 

Nanami leaves to sit on the couch, so as to not invade your space, trying to calm down from seeing you in such a state of undress, after all, he is just a man. For a third time tonight, he finds his mind wondering what it would be like to see you like this for him. What would it be like to undress you and feel how your soft body would squirm under his touch? What noises could he pull from you? How would you sound moaning his name? He shakes his thoughts away and busies himself with getting aspirin and water for you in hopes of getting rid of his little (massive) problem. 

As you reemerge from the bathroom you have no more makeup on and are now in an oversized sweatshirt that reaches the tops of your thighs. You move to lie down and get comfy as Nanami has water and some aspirin in hand for you in the doorway. He gives you the pills first, then the water and you mutter a thanks while yawning. Making sure you don’t need anything more from him, Nanami heads for the door when he hears you, in such a soft voice, ask him to stay. In his tipsy state, he almost misses it, but not quite. 

“What was that?” He asks, making sure his ears are in working order. His eyes intently search yours as you answer.

“Can you please stay with me?” you ask again, this time a little louder. “You don’t ha–” He cuts you off with a very quick acceptance and begins to make his way to the other side of your bed. 

~~ 

The next morning you wake up with a pounding headache and unbelievably dry throat. You reach for the water on your nightstand and gulp what’s left down in a hurry. Taking a breath, you take in your room, and the large man still asleep next to you. He shed his sweater and button down and is now in a form-fitting white undershirt. Sitting up next to this god among men you take a moment or two to admire Nanami’s form; his massive arms holding one of the cutesy stuffed animals you keep on your bed. Oh to be that stuffed cat. 

You get up to get more water and scrounge something to eat from your sparse pantry as your memories trickle back. Your face heats up when you set the tea kettle on the stove as you remember practically begging poor Nanami to stay with you. Given, he wouldn’t have done something unless he wanted to, that much you knew. Does this mean he sees you in a romantic way? Or was this more of him wanting to make sure you don’t choke on your own vomit?

Nanami wakes up and quickly realizes he is not in his home, but rather your home. He also realizes you are not in bed with him, but your spot is still lukewarm. The smell of toast and tea wafts into the room as he sits up in bed. As he looks around he sees the stuffed animals strewn about the room, most likely his doing as he slept, as well as the cute white cat he currently holds. You consume his thoughts, millions of them racing in. Why did you ask him to stay? Why did he stay? Could this mean you wanted him too? 

Sitting at your small table you have tea and toast, with a cup and plate on the counter waiting for Nanami. You have to talk about last night, but more so how you feel about the typically stoic man. There is no going back to before he slept in your bed, his warm body feeling like the missing puzzle piece in your life. He looked so peaceful sleeping with the sun peeking through the curtains of your room and landing on his sharp features. 

Nanami walks into your main living space in his light blue boxers, looking like a Calvin Klein ad. You offer the tea and toast on the counter to the god of a man standing in your home. He takes the seat opposite yours and just looks at you. Your hair is pulled back with a clip with a few pieces near the front falling out, framing you in such a beautiful way. The sun softly shining into your home makes you look ethereal, your beauty outshining Aphrodite. 

“I’m sorry,” you say as he takes a sip of the tea. “For last night that is,” you finish avoiding his eyes. You take a deep breath before continuing, “You should know, I like you,” another breath, “in a more than friendly way,” you say, feeling the sting of tears in the corners of your eyes. The weight of your words and emotions sit on you like a stone as you await Nanami’s rejection. 

“Can you at least look at me when you tell me you love me?” Nanami asks with a small smirk on his pink lips. His eyes meet yours, which are full of sorrow. 

“What,” you respond, taken by surprise at his comment. Your brow furrows as you ponder what he could mean. Your sorrow is replaced by confusion. 

“For such a smart woman you’re quite dense, aren’t you?” He said still teasing you. “I want your mornings, afternoons, and evenings.” Nanami stands and moves to stand in front of you, his large body looming over you. “I want to be the man you look for in a crowded room, the one you get all dressed up for. I want you– all of you.” 

You stare up at him, confused at his sudden burst of affection. His usual stoic demeanor was gone, now replaced by a soft expression on his sharp features. He holds your eyes, waiting for your response.

“Nan-” you stop yourself, now would be the time to use his first name, “Kento, I do look for you in every crowded room, you’re the one I want to give all of my time to.” You stand, still dwarfed by Kento’s massive frame. 

Neither of you says anything for a moment, rather just processing what just happened. He leans closer to you and you meet him halfway, having to stand on your toes. The kiss is tentative as if you are both scared that this is some form of a cruel dream. Once your lips touch his everything feels at peace, you have no thoughts other than Kento and his soft lips on yours. As you pull away from the short, but sweet, kiss you both cannot stop the smiles that threaten to break your faces. 

He goes in for another kiss, this time with more assurance and passion. His lips are hot and needy as his hands begin to roam your body. Kento’s kisses get more needy and his hands pull at you more and more. Large hands grab at your plush ass as he lifts you to his hips, instinctively, you wrap your legs around his muscular waist. You continue to make out while Kento carefully moves the both of you to your bedroom. 

~~

The next few weeks are filled with getting to know Kento in a deeper, more romantic way. As time passes with him you fall even deeper in love, as does he; the only difference now is that you are not scared to hit the ground because he’s there to catch you. You get to see him, who he is at his core, what makes him tick and it is a true honor. There are so many things that are uncertain in your life, but you know Kento will be a constant. 

Kento does not believe in soulmates, there is no reason this cruel world would give people that luxury, but you are the closest thing to his. He never thought he would be allowed to have you in the ways he wanted you, but here you are in his arms. The Morning sun shines through his blinds causing you to snuggle closer to his chest. Kento debates getting up and making you breakfast, but decides against it in favor of holding your naked form against his own, just for a little longer.

~~

August 2016

Kento finishes tying his bow tie and does a final look in the bathroom mirror before turning off the lights and leaving to find you. You are in the bedroom sitting at your vanity in a pretty white dress, something shorter because of the less-than-traditional wedding celebration. The dress has short sleeves with lace detailing at the ends that match the lace on the rest of the dress. You look up at Kento as you finish putting your makeup on and smile at your soon-to-be husband. 

“The car is almost here darling,” Kento tells you, offering you a hand, a smile matching yours. “You look stunning,” He says, leaning down for a quick kiss. 

“So do you my dear,” you say drinking him in, his white form-fitting shirt and light gray suit make you drool at the thought of taking it off of him later tonight. “Ready?” 

“More than anything else,” Kento says, the smile still not leaving his perfect features. 

~~

The ceremony is short and intimate, just what you and Kento wanted. Nothing too extravagant, but still filled with love. After the ceremony, you and Kento go to a late lunch at your favorite restaurant and just enjoy the day as a married couple. You both sit in a cute little cafe with coffee and dessert. Every once and a while there is the soft clink on Kento’s mug from his ring, the one that matches yours. With each clink, your stomach does flips because you actually got to marry this man. 

The rest of the evening is something out of an old film, the couple strolls through the city streets, lit by the moonlight and shop lights. Kento’s hand in yours, you talk about something while he looks like a lovesick puppy. He has an uncharacteristic soft smile across his features because of you. The walk back to your shared apartment is serene and feels right. Nights like this are what you live for, they are simple, but it’s the small moments that make you fall even more in love with Kento. The way he makes sure you have at least two meals a day that are nutritious or the way he makes you feel like you are the most important person in the world– because to him you are.

~~

November 2017

Nights with Kento are quiet and beautiful. On this particular night you lie on his bare chest post-coitus as he strokes your hair gently. You fidget with his wedding band that matches yours, just content to be with him at this moment. 

“Hey” Kento says in a soft voice to grab your attention, “how would you feel about having kids?” He asks, looking down at you. “Mine specifically” he clarifies. 

“I would love to have your kids, but do you really think we’re ready?” you ask not knowing if you were ready for such a big change to your life. “I mean, we would need to get a bigger place and work seems to never stop.” You ramble on for a little about your anxieties of parenthood and Kento just looks at you with admiration. 

“We have enough to buy a townhouse or condo if that is the biggest concern,” Kento says, softly petting your hair.

~~

October 30th  2018

You are abruptly awoken by a loud cry from down the hall of your pristine townhouse. The noise is not foreign to you, as it once was, but more of a routine, a signal to get up and prepare to feed or change the small girl, Yukie, lying in her crib. Kento usually handles the random 3 AM cries, but he has been so worn out recently because he has been training another student, as per Gojo’s request. As you get out of the warm embrace of your husband he grunts and moves to his stomach. 

Just a few doors from your own is your daughter’s, who is in the cutest pink and green flower onesie. You pull her from her crib and get situated to feed her in the comfy chair in the corner of the obscenely pink room— Kento’s doing. The monotony of feeding pulls you into your own thoughts now that your bundle of sunshine has quieted down.

Having a kid with Kento has made you want more because of the attentive husband he was during your pregnancy and how amazing of a father he is. He never complains about getting up in the middle of the night or having to do his errands with her strapped to his chest (seeing him in the baby bjorn for the first time almost made you jump him in the middle of the kitchen). Kento is truly the ideal man to have your children with because of his evercalm disposition, which you saw crack when he held your daughter for the first time in the harsh lighting in the hospital room. 

~~

In the morning you feel light and airy, as if you are floating a few centimeters off the ground as you are making eggs and toast. Kento and your daughter having tummy time in the living room; her bright laugh and babbles are followed by Kento’s soft chuckles and coos encouraging her. Mornings like this are the ones you live for, even if you are exhausted and have bags the size of checked luggage under your eyes. The quiet mundane life is all you need to feel complete, to feel at peace with yourself and the world. 

Kento’s voice breaks through your thoughts, “Love, I have to work tomorrow night.” He says strapping your daughter into her high chair. “I know you had some cute costumes and plans for Yukie’s first Halloween, but this is unavoidable.” Disappointment evident in his voice as he runs his hand through his hair. 

“Is everything okay?...” You trail off wondering what is so important that they would call Kento in when he’s supposed to work less because of his daughter. “I mean, I know there are more curses active around holidays, but do you really have to go in?” 

“Yaga said almost everyone active is needed, not much else though.” He says looking at you while Yukie plays with his fingers. You can’t help but feel anxiety creep up in the back of your mind. 

Thoughts are coming in from all over the place, what’s going on that Kento needs to work? Of course Kento is one of the best sorcerers, but is this a mission he needs to be on? What is going on? 

~~

The following evening you make a quick dinner so Kento has something on his stomach for what will probably be a long night ahead of him. As the rice noodles are finishing Kento walks into the room with his suit and tie on. He looks as good as the day you met him all those years ago. Kento gets two plates down with utensils and glasses for himself and you, as well as mashed peas and carrots for Yukie. 

This domestic bliss will return after this mission, at least until the next year, when Kento needs to go back full time. Yukie is giggling as Kento is tickling her on the floor before getting her into her chair for dinner. He is her favorite person in the entire world, she will always reach for him when he comes home, drop everything the second he comes into her line of sight.

As you set the plates down on the small dining room table Kento comes with Yukie’s bib and food in hand. The rest of dinner is filled with babbles from Yukie and light conversation as you and Kento dance around the elephant in the room. Kento brings up wanting to take the last two weeks in December off to finally travel to Malaysia; which you fully agree with because you could both use a change in scenery. 

Kento starts to gather his equipment and leave after Yukie is put down for bed. The house is silent, and you are stuck in your head again. It is highly improbable that Kento will get seriously injured or killed, but that is always a fear you have given your shared line of work. 

“I should be home by tomorrow morning, dear.” Kento says, bringing you back to Earth in his calming smooth voice. He pulls you into his chest as he holds you close for a little while, planting kisses to the top of your head occasionally. 

“Just come home to me Nanami Kento.” you say looking up at him with a small smile playing on the corners of your mouth. 

“I love you.” He says before letting you go. 

~~

You fill the rest of your night trying to not stress over the mission Kento is on, but most of your attempts of trying to relax are futile. The one thing you find does help is propping up with your laptop in Yukies room with a small lamp giving off a soft yellow light and looking up Malaysia hotels and tickets to surprise Kento with when he gets home. 

As the hour shifts to around 3 in the morning you feed Yukie one more time before heading to bed. Knowing Kento he will be upset if you screwed up your sleep schedule just for him. You quickly shower and change into a silk pajama set before lying down and falling into a dreamless slumber quickly. 

You wake up around 9 to the sound of your doorbell ringing. Kento is still not home, but maybe he is getting ahead on his paperwork so he can spend the rest of his time with you and Yukie today. The house is cold, as you slip a robe on to answer the door. When you get down the bell rings again as you open the door to Ijichi, who is already fully bowed down. 

“I’m very sorry to inform you…”

[yellowraincoat]

I wonder sometimes what the L&Co crew did after they aged out of having the sight. Obviously Lucy makes some mention of them helping DEPRAC clear the other side and you can help with that even w/o sight thanks to the Orpheus society, but I don’t imagine they did that forever or even full time.

I’ve actually thought a LOT about what I think they end up doing as adults so… here’s an extremely long post about it:

George’s path is obvious to me. He becomes a foremost voice on the nature of the problem, and he’s able to go to Oxford for university (or the most prestigious UK university still running) on this basis. He gets a degree in history and goes on to a PHD. He then dedicates several years to writing a complete, multi-volume, history of the problem/agencies/corruption/visitors (which will go down in history as THE TEXT about the problem)

… I’ll put the rest under the cut bc this is fr going to be lonnnng

We also know from the existence of Lockwood and Co the books that Lucy at some point metatextually writes a memoir detailing the antics of Lockwood and co. (Which, go off girlboss, she did a great job.) For Lucy’s career path, I imagine that she is a formal DEPRAC partner for a time goes to the other side more than any of her other L&Co colleagues to help out.

This may be a weird take, but I also think that Lucy’s relationship with the Skull and all the weird experiments on ghosts she witnesses lead her to go all GHOST RIGHTS. She campaigns for seeing ghosts differently and repsecting the dead and works to get DEPRAC to create better regulations for how sources are treated when contained and advocates for figuring out how to release them to the other side rather than destroying sources as a first move. Idk I think it suits her relationship to ghosts; she’s definitely more invested in their humanity than other agents.

I don’t think Lockwood would try to hire young agents as a supervisor to keep the agency going after losing his sight. Especially since he’s aware that the problem is fading and considering he’d still have work available through DEPRAC. I think Lockwood spends his first few post-sight years in lots of therapy and takes time off from working since he’s been running a very intense business since he was like 14. I also think he foots the bill for Flo to get a therapist as well.

They’re both able to work through their grief and trauma from the people they’ve lost, Lockwood works through his habit of repressing his feelings, and Flo works through her feelings of being cornered while in doors. Flo eventually moves into Portland Row, and she and George and Lucy and Lockwood spend most of their young adult lives (whole lives if you ask me) living in the same house or living right next door to each other.

As for Lockwood’s actual career path I think Lockwood’s would make it his life’s work to share his parents findings. He spreads the traditional burial practices and ways to ward off ghosts like that Lockwood’s parent’s researched to help people protect themselves from ghosts around the UK as the problem fades.

I don’t know that I see Flo having a real job. I could see her in advocacy for housing insecure youth (we know London has MANY due to the Problem) but I’d also like to see her have a relaxing-ass life. Enjoy therapy and her friends, date George, plant a vegetable garden. Flo’s never cared much about material goods so I could see her working odd jobs here and there to help contribute to Portland Row Expenses, but mostly focus on nonprofit work and political activism while enjoying her life.

I think both Kipps and Holly stay on at Lockwood and co until it permanently disbands, then I imagine they both work to advocate for the rights of former agents in some capacity. If Holly could further her eduction I think she’d work in the legal system, maybe working in administration/research on cases that are attempting to hold leaders of the Orpheus society and high up Fittes and Rottweil people accountable for compensating traumatized former agents. Oh and she asks out that girl from DEPRAC she was living with (and they were roommates oh my god they were roommates)

I think Kipps might (after he’s matured a bit) get involved with a young adult professional development program trying to address all of the former agents and nightwatch kids who forwent education at a young age to hunt ghosts and help them access free education and classes to gain new marketable skills as the ghost hunting industry declines and kids age out of the sight. He also stops beefing with teenagers (so much) and lives out his destiny as surrogate brother/20 year old adopted father to Lucy George and the rest. And he gets himself a husband bc he deserves it 😤

As for the Skull… I’m in the camp that he does return and he occasionally stops by Portland Row to chat with Lucy and pull poltergeists type pranks on the other residents. When Lucy can no longer hear him 🥲 I still think he sticks around for a while, making his presence known by moving objects and helping keep the house cool in the summer (yayyy ghost chill), he also still speaks to Lucy when she does work on the other side with DEPRAC. But eventually, maybe when Lucy’s in her late twenties, the skull feels ready to move on, and Lucy visits to the other side to say good by and help him pass on.

[kaivenom]

Hi! I love the way you write characters sm! I wanted to ask if you could do some sfw and nsfw headcanons for mihawk ❤️ (thusis my first request ever so i have NO idea how to make one 😩)

Dating Dracule Mihawk HCS

A/N: Well, thanks for the compliment and for letting me be your first request. Here are your headcannonns (i think it got long, i really like this man)

Masterlist

SFW

I think the reason you both met is becuase an argument: with you and other people or with him and you, physical or ethical it doesn't matter.

The thing is that your spirit makes him seem you worthy for a chat.

That chat transformed in ocasional meet ups and then in exchanging den den mushis.

If you confess first, he will just nod and kiss you slowly and gently.

If he confesses first, he will try to do it like the old way: setting up a date, buying flowers and/or chocolate and ask you formaly.

But that would take sometime cause he knows he is a wanted men, even if he is powerfull he knows that life isn't for everyone.

It doesn't matter if you are a pirate, a marine or just a simple villager, at first your relationship will be long distance.

He will ask you to move in with him eventually, because he travels a lot and plus he lives in a castle (i have a whole post about him asking you to move on, check it out) so, after staying multiple times at your places, he decides that you should be in his.

He is a very loyal and capable lover, he knows you like the palm of his hand, somehow.

He may not be the biggest on comunication but he is an excelent listener, even if you didn't think of it at first. Something you said months ago, check, a gift you wanted and you even forgot, check.

He is a big yes on gifts and little details, he lefts them all over the castle for you to find.

He loves your noise, i mean, he is a very silent and calm person but you bring a whole new world to him and that makes him love you, even if he didn't join you in your noise he likes to watch it.

He won't be a lot into iniciating PDA but he won't complain if you do it. In fact, you were nervous at first about him not iniciating it but when you learned that, you just sit on his lap and hug him while he lays his hand on your back.

His kisses aren't savage or animalistic, they are more studied and deep. If he kisses you one time in a heated moment, he will leave you breathless, like he has kissed your soul.

Things with Mihawk take time and comunication, even if it's non-verbal comunication, but it's completely worth it.

His favourite nicknames for you while probably be just to formal or traditional: my love, my partner, my pair, my husband/wife. He is a man of manners, but a little possesive too.

Speaking of jealousy, he says he isn't, he says that you are a grown adult and you can do what you want. But in reality, he can get a little frustated, speacially if it's Buggy or Crocodile.

Crocodile is as cold as him but it's a little more sarcastic and Buggy it's "noisy" so you laugh a lot with him, and that makes him a little mad because you don't laugh like that with him.

You say to him "it doesn't matter, i prefer the silence with you" and he just wants to marry you right there.

Marriage it's just something that doesn't cross his mind a lot. You are his partner and you are happy with him, you both live in a castle, etc but,

If you value marriage he will propose to you. The ring, the ceremony and all the honey moon stuff, but when you came back everything will be the same.

Except that you are now officially his partner and if you are happy with that then he is.

From time to time you try to make him laugh with bad jokes, you even started to research about every kind of humour and started doing experiments... at the end he laughed about some stupid thing his discipule Zoro did with his crew.

You just love his laugh so you are always present when he is reading the news from that moment.

NSFW

He isn't very comunicative thru words and getting to know his likes with his body language it's really difficult.

So, you are very nervous about getting intimate with him, you don't know if he is even interested in that.

One day he just sees you getting lost on your thoughts and asks you about it, you tell him about your concerns about it and he just say "hum".

You couldn't believe how he was so bold about it, and you got even a little mad.

Then, a couple of hours later you were doing some dishes and he approached you from behind. His hands roaming your body and his mouth leaving wet kisses on your neck. You were really flustered and he just pressed himself against you, with his hard on.

Since that moment, you started to get more and more the little details which demostrate his need for you.

His eyes darkening in a strange way, like when he goes into battle, it makes your skin get goosebumps; his touches staying a little longer or a little tougher on you; his abruptly necesity to have you next to him all afternoon; how he spreads his legs instead of keeping his perfect pose.

He doesn't do any sound in bed at first. One day you had to aproach him about it and then he started to make some noise... mostly grunts, groans and gasps.

Like i mentioned on the top, his kisses are deep, all his afection his deep.

Make up sessions with him makes you breathless, he couldn't kiss you as much as past lovers but the sensation it's the triple.

You swear you can just come with his touches and kisses. Picture yourself with your face pressed against a wall while he kisses your neck with intensity and dry humps you with his fingers pressing into your erogenous areas with precision.

Definitely an ass men, he will make you walk in front of him sometimes just to check you ass. *with respect*

In fact, your ass is the only thing that makes him a pervert. He will come home from a long journey and just lay on the bed placing his head on your ass... which can later lead to other things.

I think he is a grower and that means you were surprised the first time you both do the deed, but being so good with his fingers and mouth makes him good with his dick too.

In reality he prefers to pleasure you with his tongue and hands than his dick. I picture him seeing sex as a form for people to use each other. He knows he can be a men a little difficult so he wants to pleasure you as much as he can with making you feel validated.

Sir or Mister kink, Dom/sub dinamics, a little sword and blood kink (never hurting you in reality) and even a little roleplay but never degradation or humilliating kink.

He likes to see your face and expresion so missionary, cowgirl or any other position with your eyes meeting is good for him.

He says he likes the bedroom but he is the owner of a whole island sooo he may sometimes just have a slip and take things out of the chambers (until Perona came)

[the-temple-of-deified-heroes]

Hello travelers, guests, and visitors, I am writing this and putting this before you as an official Apology.

First of all, so we can clear the air and provide the clearest explanation of what is happening, my name is either Camila or Neptune--I go by both--and I am the main "Host"/Maintainer of this Temple--The Temple of Deified Heroes. I created this space not too long ago--a few months, maybe--to provide a space for the "lesser known" aspects of Hellenic Paganism, that you can Worship, Devote, and Work with the Greek Heroes. I was and still am new to Paganism in the public space--I have been practicing privately through my knowledge of religion and Ancient Practices for over a year at this point--but I only started looking at what is going on in the public recently (also a few months ago).

Moving on to the problem I am apologizing for. My intentions of creating this space were entirely pure--if very uneducated. I knew the role I was stepping into would be a big one--I would unconsciously become an "authority figure," simply by being the one to create this space, much less how I put myself out there--but I was ready to do my research and step into it. I wanted to use this space to both learn and teach what I love--both in my practices and in the Mythology--but, unfortunately, I could not keep my promises. I have tried many times to keep up with this space and do my duties in learning and spreading knowledge such as deep dives and providing information many probably weren't even thinking about asking, but each time I have truly and utterly failed. I will stop lying to myself now, because it's really only harming people: I cannot keep up with the promises I signed up for making this space.

Thank you to @hyakinthou-naos and @khaire-traveler along with another poster that I unfortunately did not grab before writing this for educating me on this subject--of how big of a space I am trying and failing to fill. I do not know if they were directed at me or as a collective, but the message was heard anyway. Yes, I am embarrassed and truly and utterly sorry for doing this, but I know how to admit defeat and move on. Doing anything other than making this post would be wrong of me. Their posts, to everyone out there that may want to or need to gain the same information I did, will be linked at the end of this one as resources so we may all know more going forward.

What is the future of this space now? Well, I have spent many hours thinking about this along with our Discord Server, but I have decided this Temple will stay up because, despite my failings, it did do some good to the people it was meant to provide for and maybe putting up this apology will allow people to realize what truly goes on behind the scenes of these Temples. As for myself, I will be converting to a Digital Shrine so that people may continue to come by and offer things but it will be more of my space and very much less formal. I do still want to "showcase" my Deities (for the lack of a better word), but I have realized that this is not the space for it.

Thank you, again, everyone else, for allowing me to realize the severity of my situation. I realize the role that I was trying to assume and I am now finally taking responsibility of my wrong-doings for it. I hope you all can forgive me in some capacity and I hope this post will bring education toward other people who may need it. May all our roads be amusing, pretty, or at least rewarding in the long run, and may we all move forward knowing what is going on and accepting it as we need to.

-Camila/Neptune, Devotee of Lord Perseus

Resources, As Promised:

Digital Temples are really lovely, and I adore the fact that all these temples are suddenly popping up - by @khaire-traveler

Temples, Clergy, and Hellenic Faith - by @hyakinthou-naos

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Four Seasons Manor (四季山庄): Set Layout, Part Three!

This is the third and final post detailing my set sleuthing adventure, looking for the sets that make up Word of Honor's Siji Manor. If you're stumbling over this post in the wild - hi! I draw architectural drafts of cdrama sets, as accurately to the show as I can. A huge amount of research goes into creating my art, and so far no set location has been as elusive as this one.

Split across two sets - one located in Hengdian World Studio's Spring and Autumn Tang Park, and the other in Hengdian's Huaxia film studio - this post is the final part uncovering the layout of Siji Manor. (And nothing will make sense if you read this post first, go back to part one and part two!!)

A reminder, before we dive right back into the breakdown of my completed birdseye view, that this last part will cover the main courtyard of what I have dubbed the "interior" Siji set, highlighted in red below:

Let's dive in!

project list | kofi | prints

The Main Courtyard

The main hall (6), the largest building in this set, is what I and @minnarr, who shares my brainrot 🙏 and has been a great help in this process, have been calling "Everlasting."

This is because sign over the entrance reads, "萬古長青" (wàn gǔ cháng qīng), which to my layman's knowledge translates as "Everlasting and Evergreen," an idiom that can be extrapolated to mean "forever green throughout the ages," which describes a noble spirit or deep friendship that will last forever, like an eternal Springtime:

In the above screenshots, you can see that Chengling's training area (9) is set up in front of this main hall, and over his head in the third picture, you can just about see the moon window that is a feature of WKX's room.

Importantly, the pavilion (10) just about seen behind Chengling's training area, marks a de facto boundary for this set as it appears in WOH, as the camera angles of these episodes never never stray past it. For a long time - until I began to watch Mysterious Lotus Casebook and Heroes, which handed me the final puzzle pieces to rule out this set as part of the film parks - I thought the entire set must finish just to the right of the pavilion.

That is not so. If I pull up some screenshots from MLC and reintroduce the scant few photographs I've found of the "Mansion Scene" Huaxia set itself from part two, you can see this main courtyard in full:

In these photos and screenshots, we can now see the main courtyard almost in full: the main building with its projecting entrance (I'm unsure if the term portico applies to Asian architecture); the pavillion to its left, standing opposite Building 8 which we will come to in a moment; and Building 11 at the end of what, in MLC, is a central pathway - but that I have interpreted in my own drawing to be a path of scattered stepping stones like the rest of the set, considering the smaller courtyard (5) - as discussed in part two - appears to be taking on the role of a more formal courtyard.

'Everlasting' and 'Gentle Winds'

For a moment, though, I need to draw us back to the main building. This building - Everlasting - is very important as, by vehicle of drama magic, this is where the two Siji sets conflate.

In episode 24 we cut from a shot of the main building in the exterior Siji set, whose sign reads "風輕雲淡" (fēng qīng yún dàn), or "Gentle Winds and Light Clouds," to this interior shot of Everlasting:

And to confirm that this interior shot is Everlasting, or building 6, we return to MLC, where we are treated to an outside-to-inside shot of the build, whose inset floor matches that of WOH's Everlasting building, seen clearest in episode 24, above, and episode 28:

(I do have more screenshots that I may add in later, but right now I'm running out of steam, please just take my word for it. 😂)

Cold River Room

Now, unfortunately I've been unable to place the medicine room, in which ZZS grinds herbs, in what photo resources I have of this film studio. Likewise for the room I've taken to calling the "infirmary" (where WKX takes a healing bath after his confrontation with YBY). Equally as unhelpful, there's simply no discernible exterior details seen from inside these two rooms that I can dig my research claws into and try to identify a placement or orientation for them:

The room they spend their first night at Siji Manor in, however, is a different story. That room - dubbed as the "Cold River Room" by Minna - is Building 8.

This was quite easy to place, thanks to this screenshot of a behind the scenes video (that I've since long lost the link to, unfortunately - if you have a link, I'd be very grateful if you share it with me so that I may add the source). Here, we can see the column inscriptions on Everlasting through the window:

So I can confirm this building to be the room they spend their first night as Siji in, seen here behind Chengling as well as in a MLC screenshot - showing its place across from the pavilion clearly:

The Pond

The last part of the main courtyard - and of this set breakdown overall - is the pond and Building 11:

I had suspected their was some kind of water trough or strip of pond between the seating area (4) and the pavilion (10) for a while, but never had the resources to confirm it. I still can't. However, a film studio's entire purpose is to shapeshift from one design brief to another. Sometimes, there is a pond and sometimes there isn't, as these two images show:

The left image is a photograph from the article about Hengdian's film studios linked above, taken from the seating area (4), while the right image is a screenshot from Heroes episode 13, the camera positioned in front of Building 11. I simply decided that I liked the pond there, so I included it in my Siji layout.

As an aside, in this scene in Heroes, with the camera panning just a bit further right, we get a lovely clear shot of the archway from the formal courtyard (5) to this one:

Finally, we come to Building 11. You'll notice that I called the courtyard of the QHZ snow scene in WOH a "formal" courtyard (5), on account of the clearly defined, linear paving.

However, it doesn't have the large gate of a main courtyard:

This courtyard, the one with Everlasting, does. The winding steppingstones used as paving in the Siji set dressing of this location takes away from the formality of this courtyard that, once you see it in its entirety in shows such as MLC or Heroes, it certainly has. To that point, Building 11 - or rather, structure 11, as may be more appropriate to call it now - is actually a large gateway. This is easiest seen in Heroes, episode 13:

Of course, that doesn't mean we have to designate it as a gateway in the Siji layout. I don't think it's meant to have that identity, based on the above - well, it's not meant to have an identity at all. It's never seen in the show. But, given the Siji set dressing and the resemblance it bears to Building 8, the Cold River Room, I might consider giving it the identity of one of the rooms I've been unable to locate - the infirmary, or the medicine room.

Let me hear your thoughts!

I'd like to hear your suggestions and thoughts on that. On all of it! Because despite all of this research, I am still left with the gargantuan task of drafting it all into a finished piece. And as such, I am still faced with the dilemma I began to outline months ago in part one:

How could I merge these two very different sets together? Should I merge them together?

I have rambled ideas at friends about presenting an architecture draft that is simply reportage - showing both sets, and summarizing the information I've given you all here before making suggestions on how they could combine into "one true set".

But on the other hand, do I draft the Siji I see emerging in the crossover of these two sets - the one I can feel starting to take shape in my brain? And then simply offer this research up as the facts.

There's still a long way to go, but thank you for being here! As always, if you'd like to support my research madness and help fuel my many artistic endeavors, please consider donating to my kofi or checking out my print shop:

project list | kofi | prints

And happy new year! I hope 2024 brings you happiness and opportunity in all that you wish ✨

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

[dawnfelagund]

This Week in Fandom, from a Small Site Owner's Perspective

This past week has offered an interesting example of synchronicity in fandom history. On 5 May, a comment on the Silmarillion Writers' Guild Discord about "AI fanart" prompted the mods to collectively make a uncomfortable noise like, "ummmm ..." and swiftly open discussion on whether AI-generated "fanworks" were actually fanworks. (We decided no.) The next day, 6 May, the OTW Signal highlighted the interview with legal chair Betsy Rosenblatt, where she expressed excitement for inclusion of fanworks in AI training and pissed off a bunch of fans. By this point, I'd mostly written the SWG's AI policy but was giving my comods the weekend for further research and discussion on the issue before turning the document over to them for comments and edits.

As a small archive owner, it is interesting to undergo this process, first with my comods and now with SWG members, at the same time as the OTW/AO3 is wrestling through theirs. Yesterday, my afternoon was spent researching and implementing, with the help of my co-admin Russandol, strategies to block as much AI scraping of the SWG as we can. In the aftermath of that work, I wrote this post about a small archive owner's perspective on the issue and how it has unfolded on the SWG vs. AO3.

Then, in a second instance of synchronicity, while I was writing this post, AO3 was clarifying their stance on AI. First, as a PSA to anyone reading this, AO3 does block AI scrapers and has since December 2022 (though I'll be petty and note that it doesn't seem that they've gone as far as the SWG in the tools they're using, at least based on this post). But AI-generated "fanworks" are allowed: "If fans are using AI to generate fanworks, then our current position is that this is also a type of work that is within our mandate to preserve." This is what I predicted in my [synchronous] post, and I was right.

Two big points emerge from my consideration so far of this issue and how it has been handled on a small site (mine) and AO3:

People want/need AO3 to be something it's not because there aren't any other options for the vast majority of fans. (Tolkien fans, you do have options. Not a lot, but trust that there are people in other fandoms wishing they had even the few small independent archives that we do.) OTW/AO3 need to take a principled stand that all fanworks deserve to be preserved. And fans often want spaces where all of the fanworks that ideal encompasses (like AI-generated ...) aren't included. Both are legitimate! But when AO3 is the only option for most fans, they turn their energy to trying to change a foundational value of the one option they do have, and that's fruitless and frustrating and contribute to the comments along the lines of "no one will listen or care."

Big organizations are big, and changing or responding to anything is like trying to port-round the Titanic: It's going to be slow and cumbersome and possibly involve catastrophic collisions with icebergs despite best intentions. In eight days, the SWG went from never having discussed AI formally to having a draft policy in front of members for comment and implementation of AI bot blocking. In the same span of time, OTW managed to rouse themselves to an apology that has been widely perceived as half-assed, and AO3 managed to inform people, after a week of worry, that they've been blocking most AI scrapers for months. This isn't a criticism of those organizations (really!) but an acknowledgement of the difference between big organizations and small ones and an argument for diverse options for archiving fanworks because both options have advantages to offer.

As I said above, I wrote much more about this here.

Of course, what should be done? The options are what they are, right? Right now, yes, mostly. That's the sad place where we've ended up, but we can reverse course. There was a time when many fandoms had dozens or even hundreds of options for archiving fanworks. Those small sites, archives, and communities died due to a variety of factors: closure of the platforms on which they were built (e.g., Geocities and Yahoo! Groups), low to no traffic (due to everyone reading and posting exclusively on AO3), and deteriorating software (e.g., eFiction ... and again at least partly due to low demand, again because everyone thought AO3 would be everything they ever needed).

However, there is hope that more options will become available (or already have).

Neocities is a resurrection of Geocities for personal homepages.

Bobaboard "lets you create moderated, privacy-oriented communities for all your fandom interests."

Dreamwidth is still around, fandom-positive, and underused.

eFiction is being rebuilt, ideally with the ability to host a site through their servers, much as you can build a Wordpress site without downloading Wordpress onto your own webspace.

Fandom Coders is a resource for educating fans who want to learn the skills to build and run website.

I'm working on a tutorial for how to build a fanworks archive in Drupal, the software we use on the SWG. I have the whole thing outlined and will be recording it this summer. Watch this space.

So what can you do?

If fanworks are hosted somewhere other than AO3: post there, read there, comment there, interact there, link there. I cannot overstate how vital this is for small sites.

Make sure your fanworks are archived someplace other than AO3 (like Dreamwidth), even if you're not getting clicks, comments, and interaction there ... yet.

Nearly all of the options for independent sites that I linked above accept donations toward their projects. eFiction is one where I know progress has stagnated due to a lack of funding.

So this turned into another tirade/plea for small sites, but it really is unfair to OTW/AO3 to ask them to be something they were never intended to be, and it's also unfair to fans that they don't have a place to put there work that they feel reflects their needs, wishes, and values.

[sibillascribbles08]

Okay ramble that will probably not get anywhere but I will put it here anyway because I saw yet another post about people struggling to get any writing done. And someone in the comments made a good point. You write/draw so much more as a kid because you're less practiced and ergo less worried about the imperfections that may arise from just gunning it.

And this is true! And this is why I want to tell you if you are struggling to write much, learn to write like a kid again.

You know how with a lot of art you see processes and it always starts with really shitty thumbnails that have silly faces or just blobs of color? Then you have an actual sketch (during which the artist likely moves a lot of shit around on a digital canvas) and then possibly the inking phase or just painting which is more blobs that slowly get sharper and sharper the more the images is rendered.

Yeah uh, do that with writing. Going under the cut because long

Writing as a process is something that is unique to an individual, just like there's 800 ways to slap paint on a canvas. If you look at guide books for writing and none of it is sticking it's not cause you're a failure that technique is just not gelling for you.

And as such I can only speak from MY experience with it but like, here's how I generally stay on top of projects

A) Sketch phase! It's outline time baby! "Ughh but outlines suck" listen I know school made the outline phase of an essay the worst fucking thing ever but hear me out on this. Sure some people CAN write by the seat of their pants but in terms of long projects this does not work out for me. I'm inevitably gonna hit a point where idk where to go from there and it's so hard to map all that out in long form

Listen, outlines are not there to be formal. They're not even there to be fancy. This is time to get down the bare bones and if you have to make it only a paragraph long and then extend that paragraph into multiple then DO it.

Like hell, NONE of my outlines are formatted the same! Some are a paragraph per chapter. Others are just endless bullet points that I split up later. I'm sure in one book due to all the plotlines I'm just going to have a storyline for each character laid out in columns so I can draw lines between them. Whatever works.

And again, do not have to be formal, like here is a legit line in one of my outlines

As for the ruined building… Hypno will cover the damages……….. Right? : )

Go crazy.

B) Now that you have your baselines start working on the actual story. Do you like writing shit out of order? Do it, because with an outline you still have your baselines to reference for any important details you don't wanna forget "Remember [character] is supposed to get a scar in chapter five!" Or write shit in order, and every time you hit a lull consult those baselines to say "oh yeah that's where this chapter was going"

And hey, keep writing it like a kid if that's what it takes to get this crap down. Hit a fight scene you don't wanna write? Slap down some brackets. [Insert a fight scene here where [character] gets his head smashed in so he ends up with this concussion later like a dumbass]. Boom, done, worry about it later.

Worried the dialogue isn't flowing well? Slap open another document or grab some paper and write it out in a play format to keep it moving. Add in all the beats, expressions, and details after.

Not sure if this detail you're putting in is historically accurate? Leave an easy to search symbol in the doc so you can go back to it to research later.

Write the sappy shit. Write with poor grammar (but still like, comprehensible you know what I mean). Slip in adverbs to swap out with strong verbs later. Use a run on sentence.

"But it's gonna sound bad" Who cares who tf cares that's what editing is for ! You go back and refine that shit and clean up sentences and add in all the extra research and pull out the repetitive words.

You gotta quit treating writing like you're supposed to just swing your brush on the canvas and suddenly you have some beautiful scenery. There's layers. There's blobs that turn into refined shapes. There's blending and shading. There's fine lines and thick lines. And sometimes there's mistakes that you have to wait until it dries to go back over it again.

It is a process! Let yourself have FUN with the process.

Okay rant over.

[autisticlifelessons]

Tips for autistic people on making phone calls

Uuuugh I don't think I need to labour the point too much about the particular hell that is making phone calls. From difficulties with audio processing, the lack of body language, the frustration of being put on hold, the anxiety, the procrastination...

Anyway, over the years I have discovered a few things that can make it a bit more bearable to get shit done and win at adulting. Bear in mind this post is made from the point of view of an autistic person who is able (with reluctance) to speak and manage their own affairs independently, but that isn't necessarily the case for everyone.

Double check it's actually worth your time calling - more and more these days, companies offer alternative ways of getting in contact, such as through chat messaging, social media or email. In fact, some prefer you contact them this way as they can sift through and process them much faster than a traditional phone call. However be careful, as they're also much easier for them to ignore, and for some issues you may have to call, anyway. (Bonus tip: if you've been dealing with an ongoing issue with a company or government service, it's a good idea to follow up phone calls with an email or letter, as this creates a record of what was discussed in case you need to make a formal complaint. But that's a separate post)

Plan what you want to say before you make the call - some people like to make a script for themselves. Personally, I find this a bit inflexible as if the other person goes 'off script' I've got no idea what to say. I basically just write down roughly what I'm calling about, any relevant details I may need to provide for security purposes, and what I'd like them to do. Keep it short and snappy.

Arrange for moral support - don't feel afraid to ask someone you trust to sit with you while you make the call, whether in person or maybe on facetime etc. Even just talking through with someone what you're going to say can be helpful. And getting the validation of a job well done afterwards will give you a boost.

Think about the timing of the call - have a look at the company's website for the times their phone lines are open. You may be pleasantly surprised, as a lot of businesses such as insurance firms are open well into evenings and at weekends. It might not always be possible to be picky about when you call, but if you are able to, try to time it for when you don't have anything pressing before or after. Bear in mind that when you face doing something that's anxiety inducing you're going to be keyed up before, during and after, so don't expect too much from yourself for the rest of your day.

You are allowed to stop the call at any time - if you get so overwhelmed you can't take in what the other person is saying, if you can't understand their accent or if the conversation is just not going the way you want it, it's perfectly fine to say you'll need to call back later. There's absolutely no shame in taking a break if you need (even if you end up people put on hold when you call back).

Be assertive but polite - most customer service people are unfortunately used to being berated by customers over issues they have absolutely no control over. Make sure you clearly communicate the issue you are trying to resolve and if possible have done research on the website beforehand. You may be unlucky and get a call agent who is rude to you, but the vast majority of human beings are happy to help someone who is kind and polite to them. Even just a simple please and thank you can go a long way.

And that's it! As I said above the cut, I'm aware following these tips may not be possible for all autistic people. I can't give advice on chat relay services as I have no experience of them, but I do know that for things such as insurance and banks you can nominate someone to speak on your behalf. You may be able to just give permission verbally over the phone or you might have to fill out a form etc, but it's definitely a valid option for some people.

Enjoying my posts and want to support me? You can buy me a coffee here.

[rivvenofthelake]

Misunderstood Mischiefs: Rats (1)

Disclaimer: I am not an essayist, or a formal educator, but I do enjoy teaching people about things I find interesting or important. I try to ensure any knowledge I share with others is true and verified, but sometimes I might make mistakes. Let me know if I do, but please be kind ♡( ◡‿◡ )

I have always had a great interest in the awareness and understanding of creatures that inspire disgust in humanity. Some of these creatures include, but most certainly are not limited to, opossums, snakes, various bugs, pigeons, and (as you might as guessed) rats.

So, as of today, May 11 of 2024, I am beginning digging in into research on rats. As of right now, I simply want to understand them, but who knows how many of these blog posts I will end up making, or what direction it will go in.

The first thing I usually do when researching a topic is look up the topic's Wikipedia page (because yes, Wikipedia can be a valid and useful source of information). I pulled up the rat wiki page, but then I had a thought to go to the News tab on Google and just search up whatever news there was about these infamous rodents.

The first several articles, most of which have been written between the last couple of days, were on the recent health issue in Japan involving at least two different people discovering the remains of rats in their bread from Pasco Shikishima Corp (PSC, as I will refer to them). As the incident is still early on in investigation, I wasn't able to find much unique information. One thing I did find in more than a few of the articles was mention of how surprising this is to happen in Japan, seeing as their sanitation and public health regulations are very strict. On the other hand, I did also see multiple mentions of how Japan has been experiencing a recent spur of similar public health issues (or 'poisonings' as one article put it). It's an interesting difference to consider, but, I ultimately found that this event does not (yet, at least) provide much information about rats themselves.

You could argue that, presuming PSC follows the laws of it's own nation (which I am going to assume, because I have no reason to think otherwise as of this moment), this does say something about the intelligence of rats. There are many ways that a rat could theoretically end up in a deadly situation inside virtually any kind of factory or assembly line, with all of the machinery involved. The thing that I think would make them seem smart is how they manage to *get* there in the first place (again, assuming health regulations are being followed).

Investigation time:

How easily can rats get into places they aren't 'meant' to be in? That is to say, places where humans don't want them. Which is virtually anywhere humans are that isn't a pet store.

I think my next post will focus on that, and I will include some links to articles I use for reference, in case anyone wants to check them out. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for either future topics to research or topics related to rats, please feel free to comment or reach out and let me know!

[solitaire-sol]

Prongsfoot Week 2023 - Day 7

Write/Draw/anything for this ship.

I wanted to try writing something longer and lighter/cuter/sexier? than most of my microfics, but instead this thing showed up and I wrote it in a couple of hours. I edited it as best I could, but I wanted to post it before Prongsfoot Week officially ended (for me) so there may be some stray typos or something I didn't catch.

Title: this universe of you and me (we'll make ourselves inevitable) Wordcount: 2,644 For: @prongsfootweekarchive AO3: Link Notes: It's sort of a soulmate/canon divergence/time loop (?) AU, but it's James and Sirius and their bond being recognized by Magic Itself, which throws up Its hands and goes "Okay, let's make your mad love/codependency official." They're just First Years right now so there's nothing to warn about, but that might change as they get older.

“Some say that magic has a mind of its own, though no evidence of this theory has yet been found by even the most dedicated researchers. It is my belief that magic lacks a mind, as we might consider it; magic is not alive in the strictest sense, or even in the loosest, yet it does have a will, and the foremost instinct of that will is to seek out its own expression in the world. This is why magic forms in the improbable ways that it does, producing all forms of magical plants and beasts without interference from a wizard’s hand. Indeed, in the course of my own work on the subject, I have come to believe that this is why magic works at all: The magic within an individual, what some refer to as “magical essence” or the “magical core,” instinctively moves outward, allowing those with the ability to cast spells and otherwise work their will through the medium of magic.

“Magic perpetuates magic, as like is attracted to like, which occasionally results in the creation of alysída mystika, more colloquially known as a “magic chain” or a soul-bond. Despite the ominous sound, the alysída mystika is generally viewed as a positive effect, a spontaneous event wherein a witch or wizard will find themselves connected to another through the very essence of their magic, forming a bond closer than any that is possible without it. Alysída mystika has only formed between those of unusually powerful magic and often serves to compensate for deficiencies in both parties by making them, in many ways, one whole.

“A proper alysída mystika brings its own benefits, such as the stabilization and even enhancement of previously unstable magic, but its occurrence is such a rarity that some in the magical community still refuse to admit that it exists. Even among those who acknowledge its existence, the difficulty of studying a ‘soul bond’ is immense, both because the parties of such a bond are rarely amenable and because doing so comes dangerously close to violating the First Fundamental Law of Magic. Nonetheless, evidence of such phenomena is undeniable, and if magic can indeed be said to have a Will of its own, the alysída mystika may be the most overt demonstration of that Will in action.”

- Adalbert Waffling, Deep Magic: Magical Theory and Esoterica

This is a story that has been told a hundred, perhaps a thousand times before.

In 1971, a young boy prepares to board a train. He is slight for his age, but he hardly seems aware of it: His fine robes are as well-tailored as any adult’s formal robes would be, and he tows his trunk along with an ease made possible only by the levitation charm that allows it to float behind him like a half-inflated balloon. On the platform, he’s enveloped in his mother’s arms as she does her best to smile through her tears; his father clasps his arm, beaming down at his son, before kneeling (just a little creakily) to hug the boy, too. They look old enough to be his grandparents, elderly without being decrepit, dressed in exquisite fashion because although they will miss their precious child, their little miracle, they want this to be a celebration. It’s his first year at Hogwarts, the school where his parents found each other, and they want him to know that this is a milestone as important as any grand ceremony. Hogwarts, they’ve told him, will change his life.

James Potter detaches himself reluctantly from his mother, and hugs his father one last time before drawing himself up to whatever height he can manage and giving them what he thinks of as a confident, mature nod. He’s never been away from his parents for any real length of time and a part of him wants to cling to his mother’s skirts, to refuse to go-- James has never been denied anything, not really, and he’s sure that if he puts his foot down, his parents won’t make him leave. That would be babyish, though, and James is not a baby, so he carries himself as manfully as possible - his parents’ eyes tear up once more at how much he looks like their little boy, hair mussed and glasses recently-straightened - and steps aboard the Hogwarts Express.

On that same platform, another young boy has already said his goodbyes. His family came with him, one of the rare outings that is not to some exclusive shopping street or the estate of a similarly blue-blooded line, and neither of his parents had tried to conceal their distaste for that brief time spent among the hoi polloi. Orion Black, a rare sight anywhere besides the most exclusive clubs of wizarding London, stands like a statue and regards his eldest son with the eyes of someone whose prized racehorse is about to start down the track. Walburga Black looks as if she’ll be off to some prestigious gala, no less exclusive than her husband’s clubs, and as if she’d rather be there now, were it not for her son and Heir.

Sirius Black stands before his parents like a soldier on parade, childish features already foreshadowing his father’s sharp lines and his mother’s beauty. His black robes are perfectly tailored, every fine black hair in place, and the rich shade of emerald in the lining of his robes makes his future allegiance plain. His mother tells him that this day marks the end of his time with childish things, as if eleven is not still firmly in childhood, as if he hasn’t been disallowed from being childish for years. She gives him his orders: Meet the right people, make the right connections, establish himself as a force to be reckoned with. He is, after all, a Black. Toujours pur. Sirius’ father says nothing but nods once in support of his wife. Sirius’ brother has not been allowed to attend; young Regulus is not as talented as his elder sibling, and it would be imprudent to take him from his tutors just to see his brother off. Sirius gives them a brief but respectful nod each - Mother, Father - and boards the train. His luggage is already onboard; transporting it himself would be beneath the dignity of a Black.

Sirius finds his compartment, checks on his luggage and takes the seat by the window. There are no reservations on the Hogwarts Express, besides needing a ticket to board; it’s one of the school’s nods towards equality, though it doesn’t seem to work as well as the school might hope. Cliques form early, like finding like, but Sirius remains undisturbed as the rest of the train begins to fill up: When the door happens to slide open, he turns and fixes them with a supercilious gaze, grey eyes steadier than any child should be. The air of superiority is enough to chill even older students, those who don’t take one look at his general appearance and decide that they’d rather sit with someone a little... less. Can eleven-year-olds be truly intimidating? If they’re tall for their age, obviously wealthy and clearly secure in their semi-hostility, then the answer is yes. For the more magically-sensitive, the unseen warning is even greater, a certain coldness in the air that spikes at another’s approach. This boy does not want company.

James doesn’t care, in general, what other people want, unless those people are his parents; and since they always only want him to be happy, James has developed a certain blithe arrogance that is charming in a child, potentially less so in the man he might grow to be. James picks a compartment at random, or he thinks it’s random, though in later years he comes to wonder if it was Fate, if it was simply the Will of Magic appearing in his life as it would so many times. James is a miracle child, after all; by all accounts, he shouldn’t have been born. By the time James sets foot on the Hogwarts Express, he’s already accustomed to the idea of being meant for greater things.

James slides open the door of the compartment, fully intending to push his floating trunk into the corner and make himself at home, regardless of who might already be in there. Sirius looks up at the sound of the door, eyes already narrowing as he prepares to shoo off whoever might be intruding on his space. Hazel meets grey.

Something kindles within each boy as if there had been a glowing ember lying buried deep within them, waiting for the moment that would fan it into life.

Their futures, the ones in which they had lived without the intimate, instinctive knowledge of each other’s hearts, go up in flames. They have no words for how good it feels, will have to wait a few years before they have anything comparable to the sensation of feeling someone else’s soul slot into place alongside their own, but it may be enough to say this: Their families are forgotten, the coming school year is forgotten, everything in their lives that is not contained within that train compartment no longer exists as their magical cores unravel and weave themselves together in a new, joint pattern, returning to each with a little of the other.

Sirius thinks of molten gold, a soothing warmth where searing pain should be, spilling over the sides of his heart as it fills the fractured spaces he hadn’t even known were there.

James hears the distant rolling thunder of a twilight storm, dark clouds with a silver lining enfolding him as protectively as his father’s Cloak, silver light like silk against his skin.

James speaks first, as he so often will: “I know you,” he breathes, eyes wide behind his glasses so that he looks more owl than lion, brown and green and amber catching the sunlight through the compartment’s windows and melting into gold. He doesn’t know this boy by any conventional measure, doesn’t know his name or his life or his favourite food or how he cries, but James recognizes him in a way that supersedes such superficial things. It’s impossible to love someone without knowing them, after all, and James loves this boy more than the parents who until now have been his world.

Sirius answers, as he always will: “I’ve been waiting,” Sirius says, without quite knowing why, and his words collide with each other in his throat as it grows tight, and tears spring to his eyes before he understands that he’s crying. Sirius has never met this boy before, doesn’t know his name or his life or his family or the sounds he makes in his sleep, but Sirius knows that his life until now has been a cold and empty thing, a mausoleum dedicated to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. This boy with the golden eyes has thrown open the doors and let in the light; Sirius is loved, and he is helpless to do anything but return that love with all the ferocity of one who has always been without.

James moves instinctively, dropping onto the seat beside the other boy and hugging him tightly, small arms reaching around Sirius’ waist because he’s a little too tall for his shoulders to be in easy reach. James has always wanted to be taller than he is, but now he feels it more than ever; he has to be taller, he reasons, to give this boy the perfect hug. He wants every part of this boy with the pale skin and the bewildered, tear-streaked face to be no more than an arms-length away, forever. “James,” he says, and then he repeats it, lifting his head a little so that his words aren’t muffled by the other boy’s robes. “I’m James.”

Sirius is already embarrassed by his sudden, inexplicable loss of control, by the way that hug makes him feel so much better than he can ever remember feeling yet makes the tears well up again until Sirius has to bite them back. Tongue firmly between his teeth, he masters himself enough to look down into those hazel eyes, to really study the boy who’s attached himself to Sirius’ side like a limpet: Having a name to put to this face, to this heart, is almost too much. James, Sirius thinks. There’s nothing remarkable about that name, especially not in comparison to the many celestial monikers that adorn Sirius’ own family tree, yet he would trade a sky full of familial constellations for this one terrestrial boy. Sirius doesn’t know it yet, but he’ll do exactly that, and it will cost him no more in hesitation than he has at this very moment.

“Sirius,” he says, and James grins whitely, rolls the name around in his mouth like a sugared almond (precocious as always, Jamie) and finds it to his taste.

“Sirius,” James echoes, his arms tightening around Sirius as best they can; the tears have ceased to slip down Sirius’ cheeks, and James wants to make sure that no others follow, ever again, except in happiness. Sometimes James’ mother cries when she’s very, very happy, and those are the only tears that his Sirius should have.

“James,” Sirius replies, head inclined in acknowledgement, a hand coming to rest on the shorter boy’s back. Sirius is not one for physical gestures and has not been raised in a family where anything but perfunctory contact is either warranted or expected, but that doesn’t matter now. The action feels natural, and James beams up at Sirius as if it was expected. Of course. This is his James, after all.

Not long after, shortly before the train is due to leave the station, a girl with red hair plaited neatly into twin braids makes her way down the corridor, poking her head into the compartments she passes and frowning slightly in disappointment when she sees that each is full. A dark-haired boy tags along behind her, slight and slightly dishevelled, lacking the air of neatness that surrounds the girl in her brand-new school robes. The girl tries the door of the next compartment, but the door only rattles a little in its frame.

“It’s locked?” she says, mildly surprised as she reflexively tries to peer through the inset window. The frosted glass reveals only coloured shadows, but the compartment hardly looks full: As far as she can tell, only one of the seats is occupied, though she can’t really say if it’s by one person or two. Her companion clears his throat in a pointed sound of impatience, and the girl shoots him a look before moving away from the door in acquiescence.

“Alright, let’s go,” the girl says decisively, continuing down the hallway, the boy trailing slightly behind her in the narrow confines of the rail car. “There’s bound to be an empty seat somewhere.” Girl and boy continue on their way, and in the train compartment, James and Sirius fail to notice them at all; even the brief rattling of the door had failed to draw their attention, the two already talking furiously, eager to share every notable thing about their individual pasts, in anticipation of their shared future.

The train chugs onward, and the story unspools itself in familiar loops and whorls, similar and yet shaped anew, picked out and rewoven like threads of magical essence. One fated meeting occurs, in a slightly different form, and another fated meeting is delayed; one domino falls in a slightly different direction, and the trajectory of the entire path is changed.

Or maybe nothing changes except the details, and every beat falls exactly where it’s fallen before. Regardless, those boys on the train sit beside each other, hands linked in a physical, unconscious imitation of their newly joined souls as if nothing else matters besides each other.

And maybe that’s true.

[techmomma]

What are they saying in those videos from Palestine and Gaza?

If you're just tuning in, I want to make simple, informal posts for those who know very little about MENA cultures, to help give people a jumping off point in their own research. See here for details.

Some of you watching things coming out of the Middle Eastern and North African countries may have noticed recurring cultural elements or phrases and want to know more about them. Here is a basic FAQ-style explanation of some of the things you may be seeing, or have heard about before (possibly in racist or orientalist perspectives).

Before I continue though, please understand: Arabic is a beautiful, complex language where many words and phrases will have vast contexts and related meanings that will vary, AND vary from region to region. In addition there are different versions, including a Formal Arabic that is taught in schools, and which can differ from a regional dialect quite greatly in some situations. The definitions I'm giving are very limited and do not come near to the kind of nuance and poetry surrounding these phrases.

What's this "allahu akbar" I keep hearing?

This prayer is called the Takbir ( تَكْبِير ), and it means "God is great" or "god IS the greatest" or "god is greater than all." It is very commonly used as a statement of celebration! It is also used as a call to prayer, and can be said at funeral as well--as a way of celebrating the dead, who are going to God, and their suffering has thus ended. It can be used when you see a beautiful sunset, when a child is born--it's used about the same way and in the same frequency as we say "thank god" here in the west. (Praising and thanking God you'll find is a very recurring theme!)

What about these phrases?

The spelling of these can vary greatly, so I'll post some people saying them out loud. Regardless of the spelling, how they're pronounced will generally be very similar.

The first: the Basmaya/Bismillah prayer, sometimes fully spelled (romanized) "Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim." In means, essentially, "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful/Compassionate." This begins almost every chapter in the Qu'ran.

The second: Alhamdulillah prayer, meaning "praise be to god" or colloquially, "thank god."

The third: Inshallah prayer, meaning "God willing," invoked in much the same way westerns will say "hopefully."

The fourth: The Shahada prayer, meaning "I believe in no god but God." This is one of the core tenets of Islam, acknowledging that there is no force in the universe but God. For many Muslims, they strive for the Shahada to be the first thing they hear on being born, and the last thing they hear upon dying. It is a statement of deeply entrusting oneself to God and God's love, as it were.

Wait, so a lot of these phrases I'm hearing in videos are prayers? They're thanking God or asking for help from God?

Yep! :)

Why do they keep saying it over and over again?

Unlike in much of Christianity, which most of the west grows up in culturally, God is invoked in Islamicate cultures for just about everything. In many Christian denominations, God is seen as something of a last resort, it's frowned upon to beseech God for anything. This is not the case in Islam, where God is considered ever present. God is considered very reachable in Islam, and it is encouraged to foster a relationship with God in this way. Believers have the privilege of direct, close contact with God, as such.

About to step into a meeting? Pray to God for help. About to confess your love? Pray to God. About to start something difficult? Pray to God. Despairing because traffic is going to make you late? Pray to God. This is encouraged and very normal. God is considered with you and around you to support you.

Sources:

Islamic Relief.org

About Islam.net

My Islam.org

Islam Basics.com

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review Double Feature: Twister (1996) and Twisters (2024)

Making this another double feature. This weekend, I went back and rewatched the original Twister, an old nostalgic favorite of mine, just in time for the release of its years-later nostalgic sequel Twisters. Does the original hold up, and does the sequel live up to it?

Twister (1996)

Rated PG-13 for intense depiction of very bad weather

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/07/review-twister-1996.html>

Score: 4 out of 5

One of the films that, together with Independence Day a couple of months later, helped revive the disaster movie genre after it had seemingly died with disco at the end of the '70s, Twister is as wild a movie as the namesake weather phenomena it's named for and which serve as the centerpieces of its action. It's a movie that, while not science fiction, has the thumbprints of Michael Crichton, the sci-fi writer who co-wrote it with his wife Anne-Marie Martin and produced it, all over it in its depiction of scientists as heroic working men and women in a way that I, somebody who's had his fair share of experience with what scientific and medical work are actually like, readily appreciated. (Even if Crichton, over the course of his career, had a fairly mixed track record when it came to how his novels and screenplays presented scientific subjects, but that's another matter entirely.) It may have had problems when it came to telling a coherent story, especially when it came to Cary Elwes' character, but it was easy enough to place those problems in the back of my mind when the movie was busy thrilling me with intense, well-shot action and an interesting cast of characters that together dropped me right into the thick of it with them. There's a reason why, even long after the second wave of disaster movies in the Y2K era burned out, people of my generation still fondly remember Twister as a gem of that time.

The film revolves around a group of stormchasers in Oklahoma, led by Jo Harding, a scientist who entered meteorology after watching her father die during a tornado when she was a little girl. They do exactly what their name sounds like, chasing tornadoes in order to track and research them for scientific purposes, specifically with the intention of designing more effective early warning systems that might give people more of a chance to survive when these wicked storms touch down. Our viewpoint characters are Jo's estranged husband Bill Harding, a former stormchaser turned TV weatherman who's come back in order to get her signature on their divorce papers and formally end their marriage, and his new fiancé Melissa Reeves, a therapist from the city who's completely out of her depth in the wild world of stormchasers.

Right away, I fell in love with most of this cast, filled with a who's who of talented actors like Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, and Philip Seymour Hoffman giving it their all. It's a highly glamorized depiction of meteorology that makes it look like a career that combines the advanced scientific work of crunching data with the gritty, hands-on work of actually collecting that data, depicting Jo and her team of scientists as operating highly advanced equipment, at least some of which (most notably the "Dorothy" units they're trying to send into the storms to measure them up close) they designed themselves, out of the backs of trucks, vans, and station wagons covered in dirt and mud. It makes for a very funny contrast with Melissa, the film's comic relief character and audience stand-in who's trying to take calls from her patients even as she's being dragged head-first into the path of a tornado. They may not have been the deepest characters, with Jo's history with tornadoes and her, Bill, and Melissa's rom-com love triangle being just about the only development they get, but I loved them anyway. If I had to pick favorites, they'd probably be Hoffman as Dusty Davies, the very hammy and excitable dude on Jo's team who explains a lot of weather-related concepts, and Lois Smith as Jo's aunt Meg, a little old lady who seemingly can't be put down even after a tornado trashes her house and leaves her injured. Above all else, this is a movie that knows how to make scientists look good, and I'm not surprised that there were a lot of people in the late '90s who got very interested in meteorology after this came out.

And if the cast and the writing did the work in crafting a great cast of characters for me to root for, then Jan de Bont's direction did the work in throwing them into peril and dragging me right along with them. The film takes the opposite tack of Independence Day when it comes to showing large-scale destruction on screen, focusing less on the grand spectacle of seeing cities and monuments get blown up and more on the people running for cover as the houses, farms, tractor-trailers, and drive-in theaters around them get shredded by wicked winds. It's a very ground-level perspective on a disaster flick that still makes it stand out today, when epic-scale scenes of destruction have become the norm for Hollywood blockbusters, much like how Cloverfield used a similar perspective to make a giant monster movie scary. A few shots may not hold up so well today (especially that early shot of a weather satellite that looks like a prerendered cutscene from an early '00s video game), but on the whole, its mix of practical effects work and CGI still looks amazing when it comes time to showing buildings getting torn apart and cars getting tossed around.

Watching and, more importantly, hearing the storms on screen also made me realize how underappreciated sound design is in so many modern movies. All too often, we've seen a trend in action movies especially that I like to call "Nolanization" after one of the filmmakers who helped popularize it, an emphasis on making sound mixing more "realistic" for the sake of realism that, in effect, winds up causing it to turn into a wash where you can barely understand what the characters are saying or where the explosions and gunfire are coming from. If you've ever wondered why you have to turn on the subtitles to make out the dialogue in a lot of movies made in the last ten years, especially movies that were made for streaming, this is why. I had no such complaints here, with the sound of the twisters, often compared in real life to freight trains and jet engines, embellished for effect here but very much drilling into me exactly the mix of awe and terror that the film wanted me to experience. It's repeated throughout the film that tornadoes are not to be trifled with, and as I watched, I very much felt that in my bones. The score by Mark Mancina also injected a ton of energy into the film, especially with its guitars blending almost seamlessly with the rock and country songs on the soundtrack, livening up the film's downtime when the characters are planning or heading out but then falling back during the action scenes and letting the roaring winds take center stage.

The plot of the movie is pretty paper-thin, more or less following a couple of very exciting days in the lives of a team of stormchasers. I liked these characters more because they were played by great actors and had a lot of very cool, funny, and entertaining chemistry and dialogue together, not because they really had any depth. Had the film just been about them, I probably wouldn't have minded. The problem came with Cary Elwes' character Jonah Miller, a guy leading a rival team of stormchasers who we're told are the bad guys because they have corporate backing and are only in it for the money, not the science. When it came to fleshing out its human villain, the film's thin writing and plotting hurt it, not least of all because, despite Elwes doing everything he can to make Jonah into a despicable jackass, the writing never really gives me a sense that he's a bad guy as opposed to just a foil to Jo and Bill. There are ways this movie could've gone about to make me hate Jonah as a proper villain, such as having him not just rip off the design of Jo's Dorothy units but actively sabotage her career for his own gain, having him be the reason Bill left stormchasing and wound up estranged from Jo, or fleshing out the other members of his own team (especially Jake Busey as his sidekick) and having him put them in harm's way because he's a dumbass and a glory hound. The film leans in those directions, but it never really fleshes them out, instead just having Jonah recur throughout the film as a guy who annoys the protagonists only to vanish again. It really needed more Cary Elwes, is what I'm saying.

The Bottom Line

Twister isn't exactly known as a movie with a great story, but there's a reason why a key part of its enduring legacy was an attraction at Universal Studios Orlando that lasted until 2015. This is a two-hour thrill ride that still holds up watching it again nearly thirty years later, and one I'd firmly recommend to anyone who wants to watch a pure, straightforward disaster movie.

----------

And now, for the sequel...

Twisters (2024)

Rated PG-13 for intense action and peril, some language and injury images

Score: 4 out of 5

While Twisters has been billed as a sequel to Twister, what it really feels like is more of a remake in all but name, which is what they were by all accounts originally planning to make. It features no returning characters and only a few minor continuity nods to remind you that the two films are set in the same universe, otherwise following a brand new cast that loosely fits into the archetypes of the first movie but does its own thing with them. More than that, however, it's a movie that recognizes how and why the original still works as well as it does. Like its predecessor, it's a more up-close-and-personal take on the disaster movie that demonstrates how to make this genre work in 2024, in a world where scenes of epic, spectacle-filled destruction enabled with the latest and greatest in special effects have become routine: focus on the people, be they those caught in harm's way or the ones running into it for either science or glory. It's a movie whose real heart and soul underneath the awe-inspiring action set pieces is its cast of characters, played by a host of rising stars who I can see riding this movie to much greater heights of fame and fortune, enough to make up for the fact that it doesn't quite fix the biggest problem I had with the original. There really isn't much to say here other than that it's about as good as the original and the kind of film that's made to be seen on a big screen, one that I'd firmly recommend.

Just like last time, we're back in Oklahoma following two rival teams of stormchasers. Our protagonist Kate Carter, who had been chasing storms when she was a college student, left that way of life behind five years ago and took a job with NOAA in New York City (where a little EF1 tornado that hit Brooklyn recently was considered big news) after a bad judgment call she made got most of her team killed. Her friend Javier "Javi" Rivera, the one other surviving member of her team, convinces her to come back to Oklahoma and work with his new team Storm-Par, a corporate outfit that's employing advanced radar technology that Javi worked with in his time in the military to track storms more accurately than before. While they're down there, Kate and Javi cross paths with Tyler Owens, a stormchaser and YouTuber who's become a minor celebrity as the "Tornado Wrangler" filming himself and his team performing death-defying stunts in and around tornadoes. While Tyler's initially presented as a fame-seeking gloryhound with more followers than sense, Kate eventually warms up to him as they cross paths and she realizes he's not the dumbass he comes off as at first glance, while she and Javi start to question Storm-Par's mission as they do some more digging on Marshall Riggs, the local real estate tycoon who's funding them.

Just as the first movie had a who's who of '90s stars at the top of their game, so too is this one filled with a bunch of modern-day rising stars who, if their performances here are any indication, are probably going places after this. Daisy Edgar-Jones does her best Helen Hunt impression as Kate and does it well, making for a likable heroine with her own tornado-related tragedy in her past for her to overcome, while Anthony Ramos' Javi made for a nice twist on Jonah from the first movie, a version of him who seems to realize what a jackass he's becoming and the kind of person he's working for but also knows that he needs Riggs' money to keep doing his work at the level he's doing it at. The real breakout star here, however, is undoubtedly going to be Glen Powell as Tyler Owens. A guy with a name like a country singer and a truck and wardrobe to match, Tyler is something like a cowboy MrBeast, a YouTuber who makes no bones about the fact that fame and fortune are perks of the job but also, as we see later in the film, seeks to use his platform to do good for the people whose lives are destroyed by the tornadoes he chases. He's initially presented in a fashion similar to Jonah from the first film, quite ironically given how the aesthetics of his team more resemble those of that film's scrappy protagonists, but the more we learn about him, the more Powell gets to lay on his rugged-yet-funny charm and get me to root for him. This is the kind of role that they would've cast Chris Pratt in ten years ago, and Powell brings a very similar energy to this part. Movie nerds have been waiting for Powell to get his big break after years of well-received roles in smaller movies and TV shows, and if this is any indication, he's almost certainly a star in the making.

The basic meat and potatoes of this movie isn't that different from the first. What made that movie work is still in play here, this being a film where, while the scenes of tornadoes ripping apart a highway, wind turbines, a rodeo ground, a motel, an oil refinery, and a small town Main Street are exciting, well-shot, and brought to life with outstanding special effects, they aren't the most intense scenes in it. I've seen other reviews, both positive and negative, call this a movie shot in close-up, with the focus placed less on the action and more on the characters running for their lives and hanging on for dear life as tornadoes roar around them. I've always felt that this is the way to do a disaster movie right nowadays, in a time when most viewers will look at even the biggest action spectacle and quote one of the musicians featured on this movie country-heavy soundtrack ("that don't impress me much!), and director Lee Isaac Chung proved my point by making the action feel about as intimate as you can get when there are tornadoes roaring right behind the main characters. The result was that, even when the camera wasn't focused squarely on the mayhem, it felt more impactful than a lot of comparable effects-driven blockbusters.

Unfortunately, it also has a very similar problem to the first movie: the script, and most notably the villains. Marshall Riggs is given a lot of attention as a background villain who's running Storm-Par as part of his scheme to buy up ruined homes in tornado country and then flip them for profit at the expense of the often desperate people who live in them, a scheme that drives a wedge between Kate and Javi and forces the latter to think about why he's doing this job. The problem is, as despicable as this guy's actions are, he's only in the movie for one scene early on and then completely vanishes, with Javi's co-worker Scott, himself a fairly minor character, serving as the main representative of his villainy. Once again, the film tries to shoehorn in a human villain, in this case a timely representative of gentrification and corporate greed, without really doing anything with him and giving him a real presence in the film. Like with the first movie, I would've either dropped this subplot entirely or made things personal between him and the protagonists. Maybe have Kate's mom, played in one scene by Maura Tierney, know some people who've lost their homes and farms to Riggs and may very well lose hers? Or have him cut costs on Storm-Par's equipment and training, putting them in harm's way? Or have him find out about Kate and Javi's plan to disrupt tornadoes and try to sabotage it because it would mean fewer distressed properties for him to buy up and redevelop? The least this movie could've done is give him a satisfying death, preferably one involving a tornado eating a rich douchebag's mansion or him trying to get the hell out of Dodge in a rhinestone-encrusted Cadillac only to get one of his own billboards dropped on his head. As it stands, it's the same pitfall that ensnared the first movie from a writing perspective, playing out a bit differently in the details but otherwise having more or less the same effect.

The Bottom Line

Twisters is a very well-made throwback to '90s disaster movies that, while suffering from many of the same problems as the original, is also blessed with many of the same things that made it so much fun to watch, especially in a crowded IMAX theater. If you're just looking for a good-time, empty-calorie popcorn blockbuster that hits the spot, this is your ticket.

[pub-lius]

Goreg Washesaton for richie my beloved

so you may have noticed that this ongoing series of my research of "every historical figure" (/t) for @thereallvrb0y has been on pause for a few weeks and thats bc ive been STRUGGLING to find the rest of them, and i cant. so if anyone needs information on those people, i might just post the bullets from my notes bc im not doing all that work again FKSFKSH they still exist somewhere within my 3000 posts, but i cannot find them bc tumblr sucks <3 anyway, now for

George Washington (pt one)

Georgie was born at his family's plantation, Popes Creek, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732, a date that I have memorized for some reason when I don't even have my dad's birthday memorized (sorry dad). His parents were Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. Augustine was a very prominent plantation owner in the area, and also a justice of the county court, so he was a big deal. His first wife, Jane Butler, died and left him with two sons, Lawrence and Augustine Jr., and their daughter Jane.

George was the eldest of the kids from the second marriage. His other siblings were Elizabeth, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles, and Mildred.

The family eventually moved to another one of their properties, Little Hunting Creek, which would become Mount Vernon. They moved again four years later to Ferry Farm.

Augustine Sr. died when George was 11, leaving most of his property to the eldest sons from the first marriage. The remaining income maintained Mary and her children, and George would have been responsible for helping manage their plantation.

George never received a formal education since the funds for that were used on his older brothers. He only received instruction from private tutors. He would have studied reading, writing, basic legal forms, geometry, trigonometry, manners, penmanship, and comportment. I already made a post about his rules of civility, which was a big part of his education.

Mount Vernon, where I got most of my sources from on Washington, of course, has a lot of information on slavery, but I'm not really qualified to talk about all of that since I think it deserves its own separate research, but here's the link for that.

The Washingtons were, however, deeply entangled in the global "institution" (that phrasing makes me uncomfy, it sounds like a business yk). Washington inherited 10 enslaved people from his father, and went on to "inherit/purchase/rent/gain control of" more than 500 enslaved people.

Washington expressed racist sentiments up until the Revolutionary War, which greatly changed his perspective on the definition of liberty and who it applies to. He expressed wanting to free the enslaved people he was responsible for, but couldn't because of the backlash it would cause from him being an international celebrity. He would end up freeing the 123 enslaved people he was able to in his will (that's a whole complicated legal system designed to keep people and their families enslaved for as long as possible and it's honestly exhausting).

Anyway, back to the white people history. Washington got his first job as a surveyor, and it was the only thing he got formal training in. In the mid-1740s he got two surveying jobs (one of which was for a They were going to lay out lots within a large tract along the western frontier of Virginia, and into indigenous territory. He learned more surveying and gained important knowledge of the frontier (*foreboding dramatic movie sound effect*). At the end of the first day, he was shown "a bed of straw with one Threat Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice Fleas etc. (sic)" He made a promise "not to Sleep so from that time forward chusing rather to sleep in the open Air before a fire. (sic)" This experience ended up being very important to him and getting him out of that cushy rich kid life (*another foreboding dramatic movie sound effect*)

His professional career began in 1749, and recieved a commission for the new Culpepper County (*insert Turn: Washington's spies theme song*), which was probably by the recommendation of Fairfax, who was working on the Governor's council. By 1752, he had completed nearly 200 surveys, totaling more than 60,000 acres. Honestly, I think that if he lived his entire life as just a surveyor, he wouldn't have gone gray in his 40's.

in 1753, Governor Robert fucking Dinwiddie that was this man's NAME in REAL LIFE learned that French troops had moved south from Canada to construct forts in the region south of Lake Erie, which was declared British territory. The area had commercial potential, and Dinwiddie was concerned that the French would fortify the forks of the Ohio River. So, he sent Washington, who was a major in the Virginia militia, to deliver a diplomatic eviction notice to the French in 1753. If that date sounds familiar its bc Georgie is about to have a few major fuck ups that you learned about in middle school. This was known as the Allegheny Expedition, but I have never called it that. It is and will always be the Ohio Eviction.

The expedition was aided by Christopher Gist and local indigenous people. They were escorted by O-non-dowa-gah (also known as Seneca) chief Tanacharison, two Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), and one from the Lenape (Delaware Nation).

This trip was rough. During the trip, Washington hiked for days through snowy woods, fell off a raft into the icy Allegheny River, nearly drowned, and had to spend a freezing night on an island without shelter on the 900 mile journey. I hate to say it, but this dad could beat up your dad. They reached Fort Le Boeuf on December 11, thank fuck. Washington's account was published by Dinwiddie in Williamsburg and London, giving him a reputation at the age of 22.

Despite all that effort, the French just ignored them lmao, bc like what's this little freak gonna do??? So, Dinwiddie dispatched Washington, now a Lieutenant Colonel to assert Virginia's claims a few months later with around 150 men.

They ended up skirmishing with French soldiers on the way, and killed 10 men, including the French commander, Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville. The English under Washington (that's fun to say) retreated to a makeshift fort called Fort Necessity. Washington was forced to surrender when the French surrounded the fort with their indigenous allies. In those surrender terms, Washington accidentally admitted to assassination. This was the start of the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War for my European fanbase (im so funny).

Washington resigned after that bc his dick was small and he was embarrassed. But, don't worry, his dick regrew and he returned to the frontier in 1755 to serve as a volunteer aide-de-camp (foreshadowing) to General Edward Braddock, who was kind of serving. Braddock had been sent from the King to drive the French from the Ohio Country.

A battle started near the Monongahela River (none of these places have easy names). There was a lot of confusion and troops fled in confusion back to Virginia. Washington was attempting to rally the troops, and had two horses shot out from under him and four bullets shot through his coat. Also Braddock died whoops.

Washington was given command of Virginia's entire military force. He was ordered to protect the entire 350 mile long frontier with a few hundred men, bc everything that happens to this man is fair. This provided him with very necessary experience in commanding troops in stupid ass situations. Eventually, the British took the forks of Ohio in 1758 and Washington retired.

He married our iconic queen Martha on January 6, 1759 and they kissed a lot. He spent 1759-1775 overseeing the farms at Mount Vernon. He constantly worked to improve and expand the mansion and surrounding plantation.

During this time, he established himself as an innovated farmer. In the 1760s, he switched from tobacco to wheat as his main cash crop. He experimented with new crops, fertilizers, crop rotation, tools, and livestock breeding. He actually had some hot takes, but I'm literally the only person who cares bc that shit is actually boring (in case you were wondering, chicken shit doesn't make good fertilizer).

He also expanded the planation to include flour milling and commercial fishing. THEN he built a gristmill, and then began making whiskey, producing over 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey at its peak. Mf slayed.

This era is referred to as the golden years, which I mentioned in Martha's post and everything is wonderful and fine and Washington is happily retired with his family :)....

SIKE time for part 2

[fungalfren]

Initial Resources for anyone interested in Mycology

Howdy!

I Thought it'd be best to bring any information I can bring to the table for anyone interested in starting to learn fungi and how to forage by introducing the resources I personally use to identify specimen. Do note, however, that I am in North America, and this could vary drastically from where you are (even coasts have remarkably distinct diversity).

Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi - David Arora.

This book is a must have for anyone looking to start, seeing as it has thousands of species at hand. This book gives you the initial jump-in point that many need, as it has sections discussing the ins and outs of how to discern morphology, and how to use the most important concept that you will learn for this topic -- the use of dichotomous keys. If you are unfamiliar, they are essentially flow charts that eventually lead you to the species you have, given that you have correctly identified the physical evidence. Another added benefit is that it uses color plates and other imagery to help get the point across. Keep in mind, however, this book was published in 1979-1986 (in my experience, I have found a good few species that ended up being either completely missing from the book, or have been restructured in its family/genus). Overall, this will give you the best advice on how to get your foot in the door for identification of Fungi.

mushroomexpert.com - Michael Kuo.

This website has been meticulously created by Michael Kuo, a brilliant man with a lot of help from the mycological community. Mushroomexpert.com in my experience has a much more frequently updated AND up to date collection of taxonomy, as well as extra information that you would enjoy having (such as chemical tests, and microscopic evidence). Where Mushrooms Demystified lacks, Kuo's website certainly makes up for it. Now, as he makes it a very important note in the main page of his site -- You will NOT find information on the edibility of Mushrooms on this website, and I support that. If you want to find out what's edible and what's not, that will take years and years of experience with your foraging skill and the environment you live in. Don't expect to be able to eat what you catch for a long, long time.

namyco.org - North American Mycology Association

Now, NAMA may be a little less evident on why you would need this to identify anything! However, this is also a fantastic resource for many things you could need. For starters, you can find your states mycological club and join it! That alone is a benefit -- a community that fosters this research with you. There is also the section about their own publications - which, the more resources the merrier! You can also find many other wings of information that may be important on your way through this wonderful science. (hopefully you heed mine and many others warnings when we say PLEASE DONT EAT THINGS YOU DONT KNOW).

To wrap up this first post, I want to thank you for reading this and I would like to welcome you to Mycology. It's an extremely fascinating field that has grasped my interest to an extreme. The study of fungi is a very new type of field (compared to something, say, like zoology) and still has a lot of wonder and mysteries to be solved. Of course, its not as simple as looking at a mushroom and saying "I know that its this!", you will find that there are many tests and things that you can ponder over to be sure of what you have.

If you want to know where you should start while you wait for your books to come in, id say start here on Michael Kuo's website :

Remember, nothing here is a replacement for formal education and experience, and that I am simply a hobbyist like you. If you have any resources of your own to share, I'll am open to being any information that you have.

Happy Hunting!