#like...that song is pretty complex for a beginner! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

redtsundere-writes · 11 months ago

Text

Chapter 7: Potential

King!SukunaRyomen x Servant!FemReader

Summary: You used to be just another servant among the army of humans operating under the command of the terrible king, Sukuna Ryomen. An ordinary human who only knows how to wash, clean and cook. Until one day, he notices something in you that you hadn't seen before.

More Info.

Beginning. | ← Previous | Next →

A cheerful, badly played melody bounced within the dark walls of the castle. For a couple of hours, seemingly random notes sang a song that Sukuna knew perfectly well. One by one, it slowly played. The lovely song lightly drifted into the busy king's office. Usually, he liked to keep the door closed so that no one would disturb him while he worked, but since a pretty musician was playing, he didn't mind listening to the beautiful melody despite the mistakes.

Sukuna stretched his six limbs over the mahogany desk after a long day of reading and doing tedious paperwork. It was a necessary task to keep abreast of what was going on in the kingdom. Every decision he made only favored him, but being a curse, it gave his own race an advantage over humans. Nimbly, he stacked the documents on their respective shelves to finish for the day. He was the only one who could touch his desk, as his greatest secrets were kept there.

Sukuna prowled throughout the corridors, his footsteps echoing to the rhythm of the melody playing in the background. It was important to stretch the legs after spending a full day sitting down. The music gradually intensified as he approached the game room. Taking his time to enjoy the song more. He peeked through the open door to watch you carefully. There you were, in front of the giant piano, as you stared at the beginner piano lesson book you had borrowed from the library.

You had always wanted to learn to play the piano. When your mother used to take you to balls, you always loved watching the musicians move their fingers nimbly and elegantly on their shiny instruments. There was something about the pianists that caught your attention, maybe it was the way they swayed their bodies to the music or their intense focus. Whatever it was, it was fascinating how their hands could produce such magic. Unfortunately, you were from a modest family, so you could never get near a piano. Not until you started serving Sukuna.

The first time you entered the game room, your eyes sparkled at the sight of the magnificent black piano that sat mysteriously in the far corner. You were supposed to clean the library, but admiring the piano for a moment wouldn’t hurt. You approached it cautiously, inches away from the majestic instrument. Your fingers caressed the perimeter of the soundboard, and you smiled to yourself as you carefully admired it. Curiosity led you to inspect its interior, and you touched one of the strings, eliciting a short sound. You quickly pulled your hand away, worried someone might hear you wasting time. Glancing at the door, you waited to see if anyone would peek in to check who had disturbed the icy silence of the castle. Fortunately, no one noticed.

As soon as the king announced you as the winner of this year's hunt, you knew what you would spend on your week off. Every day, after breakfast, you would head to the game room to find the grand piano you had fallen in love with at first sight. You would read the beginner's manual, repeat the exercises to the best of your understanding, and then rest your fingers for a while. Your free time was spent reading books that caught your attention, even though you didn’t understand half of the complex vocabulary. It wasn’t that you couldn’t read, but the intricacy of the texts was challenging. When you didn't want to play the piano or read, you would look for Mrs. Inoue to help her with some of her homework.

Sukuna had noticed your peculiar routine during your week off. Despite having received a wonderful week off from work, you were in the playroom practicing piano, trying to read complex texts or helping the other servants finish their work. Whenever you tried to help Mrs. Inoue, he always stayed in the shadows, watching you argue with your old friend. You would ask her to let you help, and Mrs. Inoue would refuse your kind offers because you deserved a break. It didn't matter if it was hanging blankets in the sun, peeling vegetables or dusting vases, you wanted to help your companions, but they would end up running you out of the room. Sukuna was amused to see you return to the playroom, frustrated at your desire to be productive. You were hardworking, and that was both your best and worst quality.

Your fingers descended one by one on the piano as you stuck out your tongue in concentration. Although you often made mistakes, the song you were trying to play didn't sound too bad. Sukuna could follow the rhythm you had established in the room. Your body moving from side to side mesmerized him like a flirtatious snake in a pretty basket. The temptation to come closer until you released the bite was irresistible. You were lost in your musical world until you heard the door open.

“King Sukuna,” you whispered in surprise when you saw who it was. You stood up and bowed out of fear and respect. “I'm sorry if I disturbed you, I...” You immediately defended yourself, worried the noise had disturbed him.

“Keep playing," he ordered as he approached you.

You didn't expect that answer at all, but you obeyed immediately. You returned to the position where you left the song. Sukuna sat next to you on the stool as he watched you play. Your breathing altered, and your fingers began to tremble as you felt his imposing presence so close. You were making more mistakes now than before. You had to focus to satisfy the king's ear.

“I'm sorry, I'm not very good,” you apologized between stutters, without taking your eyes off the piano.

“I can see that," Sukuna said bluntly. It felt like a punch to your ego, but you didn't give up trying to please him. “Not bad for a beginner.” You smiled softly at the half compliment.

Sukuna watched you for a while before deciding to take possession of the piano. While you played the melody, he helped you with the chords. Little by little, you merged in the music and the intimacy of the moment. Your fingers moved in tandem to create the same piece. At times, your skins brushed fleetingly against each other, dangerously close to wanting to do something beyond just touching. Your heart fluttered endlessly and there was no way you could stop it.

The king was a magnificent pianist. With four hands and incredible hand-eye coordination, it was clear he excelled. He could play any piece of music he set his mind to with ease and elegance. You were so amazed by his skills that, without realizing it, you stopped playing just to listen to him. As soon as your hands moved away from the keys, Sukuna stopped.

“What's wrong?” he asked, confused.

“The song sounds better without me,” you answered, ashamed of not being able to keep up with him. Sukuna took both of your hands with his left arms to subtly place them on the keys again.

“Once you learn, the song will sound more beautiful than you can imagine,” Sukuna promised, waiting for you to play again.

There was something in that sentence that stuck with you. You knew he was talking about a simple piano song, but your heart had been left with the impression that he was referring to you. You smiled broadly before playing again. Sukuna couldn't help but be infected by your smile. He faced away to prevent you from seeing the effect you were having on him. This was the perfect opportunity to ask you something that has been plaguing his mind for the past few months.

“You seem to like spending time with me," he said, glancing at you to see your reaction.

“I was afraid before, but I have gotten used to being around you,” you answered without taking your eyes off the book held by the lectern.

You were sure that Sukuna treated you differently from the other servants and liked that. It made you feel unique and special. Although, it could also terrify you and leave you frozen. However, you loved spending time with him. Whether it was tidying his room or washing his hair, being in his presence stimulated you mentally and physically. You couldn't help but want more of what was allowed, the forbidden fruit in the eternal garden.

“What do you think about spending more time with me?” Sukuna asked you, hiding his nervousness about what was coming.

“What do you mean?”

“Marry me.”

Your fingers fell on the keys, causing a shrill sound. You interrupted the song to realize the situation. "Did I hear that right?" you wondered in shock. Your head turned slowly to face him. Sukuna was looking at you with a poker face. He looked like he was serious.

“Me? With you?” you asked between nervous stutters.

“No, with the piano.” Sukuna answered sarcastically. You looked at the piano in disbelief. “Of course with you, you foul,” Sukuna laughed, offended that you were paying attention to the piano in the middle of an important conversation.

“What? Why? I'm just a servant,” you replied nervously before getting up from the stool to process the situation you were suddenly pushed into.

“Are you going to refuse your king's generous offer?” Sukuna challenged you. Your eyes widened at the question.

“Of course not. I couldn't,” you said so he wouldn't take it as an act of rebellion, still confused.

A blush seeped into your face. You knew the king liked you to a certain extent. You never thought he felt so strongly about you...if he did. It was common for people to marry for the benefits that came along with the papers. Social status, sex in excess, and access to wealth were things your mother talked about every time she instigated the concept of marriage to you and your sisters. The thing was, you had none of those things. Social status? 0. You were just a slave who was treated well. Excessive sex? No idea about that. You were more virgin than olive oil. Wealth? You're lucky your mother received money for you, she would have sold you for a sack of potatoes. In your eyes, you had nothing of value to offer him.

Sukuna approached you and grabbed your chin so you could look him in the eye. A small touch that made your breath hitch. He could read the insecurity in your eyes. It was funny. A week ago, you had jumped into his arms from a deadly height without a second thought, but here you were, hesitating to marry the person you were meant to serve with your life. Sometimes he wondered where your moral line was.

“So? What’s stopping you?” Sukuna asked.

“I want to know what will happen once I accept,” you explained.

“I didn’t expect less.” Sukuna thought, satisfied.

He knew that you were wiser than you looked. You knew you didn’t have where to run. It was written in stone that you would marry him, but you didn’t understand what that entailed. Sukuna approached one of the bookshelves to pull out a map. You got close to the table, where he extended it. Small particles of dust flew like tiny fairies that shined against the light coming from the skylight. You had seen maps before, but never such detailed one. It had a golden edge and the representation of every castle was a tiny art piece.

“You see, I've been thinking about it a lot, and I've come to the conclusion that someday I'm going to leave this earth,” he explained with great disappointment in his own mortal body. “So someone must take my place to rule the lands that belong to me.”

Sukuna pointed to the western part of the world in which they live. On a large peninsula was the kingdom of Sukuna, the only thing separating them from the rest of the world were huge mountain ranges. On the other side, there was the great kingdom of Jogo that was divided into small kingdoms that were owned by other curses... or well, they were owned by other curses until Sukuna conquered them. Now all the kingdoms of the West Coast were his. He only needed to conquer the rest of the kingdoms that were ruled under human hands, like the Gojo and Zen'in kingdom.

“Uraume could do that,” you commented.

“That was my first idea, but Uraume is... too tenuous. They could never rule with an iron fist,” he explained without taking his eyes off the map. “I need to know that the person who will own all this will do a good job maintaining and expanding my legacy.”

“Do you think I can do it?” you asked in amazement.

“You?” Sukuna chuckled under his breath before looking at you. “Never. If Uraume is dim, you are harmless. You're as innocent as a little white rabbit from the prairies,” he said with a mischievous grin before grabbing you by the chin, one of his claws pointed at your jugular. One false move, and he could rip it off with no issue.

You were completely at his mercy, how could you not be? He tripled you in everything. Size, power, intellect, evil... He had you beat in every possible way, and there was nothing you could do about it. You were light years away if you had the stupid idea of reaching him, which you weren't even sure you wanted to do in the first place. You would never have the guts to even try to keep up with him.

“I need someone strong and a born leader.” That last word made you understand where this was all going. “I need an heir.”

Your eyes snapped open as your quick hypothesis was confirmed. "Having a child... with him?" you wondered as you saw the king for his race for the first time in a long time. He could behave like a ruthless human, but he was still an impressive monster. You didn't know if you were capable of giving him what he wanted.

“For that, I need you to become a queen to the level of being able to educate the next great mighty one who will be in charge of this great nation I will be forming until my time runs out,” he explained before rolling up the map to its original form. “Is that clear?”

“You still haven't answered my initial question,” you answered as you watched him put the map back in its place. “Why me? There are plenty of princesses out there who already have everything it takes to give an heir.”

“I can’t risk it,” Sukuna sighed, still turning his back to you. Her tattoos framed her shoulder blades beautifully under the translucent fabric. “Do you think one of those princesses would want to be with such a disgusting being like me?” You felt the need in your chest to say something.

“You are not a disgusting being,” you contradicted. Sukuna looked at you with a small smile escaping from his lips.

“Thank you, but I know what I'm talking about, and I don't mind in the least,” he said before patting you on the head a couple of times. A fleeting act, but it set your body on fire. “If I kidnap any of them and take their bodies by force, they can kill the baby when I'm not looking out of hatred,” he left his hand on your head and lowered his gaze to connect with yours. “You, on the other hand, I know you wouldn't be capable of such an atrocity, would you?”

He was absolutely right. Your mother had raised you for the simple but tedious purpose of being a good housewife and raising a rich man's children. Your life had been manufactured to do what the king was asking of you, and you would do it perfectly.

“You are docile, obedient and attentive to my commands. I trust you will give me a strong heir, and you will do everything necessary to satisfy me with the result,” he said as he examined your reaction. “And I will reward you greatly for it. If you accept, I will fill you with more luxuries and riches than you can dream of, take you to places you have never seen before and give you the most comfortable life in the world.”

Sukuna removed the hand on your head to see you from above as he used to do, a manipulation technique to make you feel smaller than you already were. If you refused, he would kill you. You knew it. His back was against the wall, but you were willing to do whatever it would take to be useful to him.

“Well? What do you say?”

“I agree. I will do whatever you ask gracefully,” you said before bowing to him out of respect.

A big smile appeared on his face. He had already done the hard part of his long term plan: finding a woman willing to be the mother of his children without complaining. He congratulated himself in his mind for accomplishing such a feat by having in his hands what he needed to lengthen his legacy. As pleased as he was, you still had a long road ahead of them.

“There is only one thing I need you to do to know if you are really on my side,” Sukuna said with a mischievous smile. You arched an eyebrow at that unspoken part of the verbal contract. “I know you are loyal to me, but are you loyal enough?”

“What do you need me to do, my king?” You asked in confusion.

“You must kill one of your own kind.”

Your eyes widened after hearing that. It had never crossed your mind to do something as vile as that. You remembered all the blood spilled, the flesh cut off, and the lives lost in front of your eyes during the 11 months you had been living with the king. You thought he was the one who would be in charge of doing that. You were not a murderer. Why should you do it? The question really was: Could you do it? You weren't sure, but you had to.

“As I now understand that this is against your nature. I will give you two months to process it and do it. As a test, I want you to deliver your head into my hands. Once you complete your task, I will ask you to marry me, and after the wedding, we will begin trying for a child.”

You came back from your trip from shock to reality when you heard that he would propose to you. Something every girl your age yearns for with all their heart and soul. If your mother had heard that, she'd be dancing with excitement. Not giving a damn about the dastardly condition that came with it. You could already hear her screaming, "Do it, do it! It's our chance to get out of the shit!" You shook her voice from your mind and focused from what was in front of you. You tightened your skirt from the nerves of accepting something like that. You had no idea how to do it. You were just supposed to give someone's life, not take it away.

“Okay,” you whispered.

“Good,” Sukuna pronounced, satisfied before turning around to leave the room. You swallowed dryly before finding a seat.

“What did I get myself into?” You whispered as you hid behind in your hands.

➽──────────────❥

The faint bells rang at 10 o'clock at night. Curfew for all servants. Everyone headed to the dungeon to sleep. You ran as fast as you could to catch up with the others in time. You knew that the servant who stayed outside would sleep with the curses. You had stayed the rest of the day in the game room trying to come up with a plan to kill someone, but your mind couldn't come up with one. You knew you had to kill one of the servants, since you doubted the king would let you leave the castle, but your chicken heart couldn't decide on a victim. You quickly reached the dungeon, ready to go to rest, when a monotonous voice stopped you.

“Where are you going?” Uraume asked you as they checked the attendance list to make sure all the servants had already entered the cold dormitory.

“To sleep?” You answered confused.

“Follow me," they asked before lowering the bars of the dungeon.

You followed Uraume through the dark corridors of the castle. Corridors you recognized as the visiting rooms that were never used because the king never invited anyone to the castle. Uraume led you to the back room, a place you had never entered before. Your heart and eyes twitched, curious to know what was on the other side. They pulled out a bunch of keys to open the heavy wooden door.

On the other side, there was a beautiful room with a king-sized bed with silk sheets and curtains posing softly at the sides. You slowly stepped into the new environment to inspect it closely. It was larger than the rooms you had cleaned before. There was a giant closet with beautiful dresses hanging on padded hangers, a wooden dresser with a drawer full of jewelry, and a sleek quartz bathroom. Most impressive of all was the giant picture window in front of the bed. A bloody rose with small green thorns posed between navy blue and black glass.

“The king commissioned me to make this room especially for you. I hope it is to your liking.”

Uraume analyzed you as you sat on the bed to look out the window. They still remembered the day the king had asked him to make a special room that was on the level of a princess. They asked him who it was specifically for, but he refused to answer for the moment. At the time, they never thought it would be for you. They knew it had not been an easy decision. He had to take into account all the pros and cons that came with marrying and having a child with someone from the low class as you. Still, King Sukuna had finally decided to put you in training after months of cold thought.

“It is beautiful. Thank you, Uraume,” you smiled at them.

“Rest. The king is expecting you tomorrow at breakfast,” they bowed respectfully to you and closed the door behind him.

Seeing Uraume bowing like that surprised you, as you were not used to it. You lay back on the bed to admire the small stars hand-painted with white paint on the stone ceiling. You smiled as you imagined Uraume painting them one by one with dedication. "The king commissioned this room for me, eh?" you thought as it dawned on you that he had in mind to marry you for a while. Your heart fluttered so much from excitement that it made you forget all responsibilities for a second.

Open fanfic commissions!

Masterlist.

208 notes · View notes

itsatorchwoodthing · 3 months ago

Note

Meowdy! I just got into torchwood (started it on likeee Thursday (?) and im on S2E6) and first: I LOVE your blog, it's so jovial and honestly ty for keeping the fandom going.

Umm furthermore I've got 3 of the audiodrama cds ordered from ebay (Broken, The Death of Captain Jack & Deathbeat Escape (I've heard good things about the first two and it was a bargain)) but I was wondering if you had any recommendations for further listening!!

If not this is a free excuse to talk about anything in the Show you wanna buy nyea you're cool hope you're having a good day :3

Hiii, first of all, i guess welcome to the fandom! I hope you're enjoying season 2, its truly amazing imo!

Yes, I indeed have audio reccomandations: if you're a big janto fan, go with Serenity, it's mendatory listen to all janto fans, its literally fake dating au but they are dating, and its kinda fluffy. especially since Broken IS going to destroy you! another one of my favs is The Three Monkeys because i'll take any chance for more andy (and owen) content. The Last Beacon is a popular one for ianto and owen fans but i did not listen to it.

If you, like me, are a big Jack fan tho let meeee threat youuu: The Lives of Captain Jack is 3 volumes with 4 audios each if im not mistaken, and my favs from it are: Month 25 (explains what happened to jack in the time agency, literally the first thing we know about him in doctor who is that they did steal his memories, so, that eplains it), One Enchanted Evening is about when jack met alonzo in doctor who and what happens right after that, Wednesdays for Beginners is where Jackie Tyler (my queen) and jack team up

and then the one, and only, R&J, that will take you through Jack and River Song's relationship, trough doctor who and new stuff, and how they can never find the right place and time to be together, and their complex relationship with the doctor. it is the best audio imo. buuuut if you want more of the team all together i reccomand the books too! they are so, so good: my favs so fare have been Another Life, The Twilight Street and Slow Decay.

I also liked Bay of the Dead but its set after s2 so!! avoid the spoilers for now.

And that's pretty much all i've read and listened to, that i really really enjoy! Thanks for giving me the chance to talk about my favorite shoowww!!

Everyone who wants to comment more reccomandations: please do!!

#and remember to buy used or (flag with skull emoji)#torchwood #asks

15 notes · View notes

nazrigar · 5 months ago

Note

Hi, I really like reading about your All Sparks AU. May I ask more about your version of Ironhide and Chromia? Particularly their relationship with their daughter? I know one of your arts has Elita mention her family and friends joining a cult so I’m curious about that.

LOVE to! I even made a sketch of them a long while back!

Elita has a close relationship with both of her parents, though she may lean slightly closer to her mom, Chromia. This is mostly, of the two, Chromia interacts more with her during Elita's day job. She's also more supportive of Elita's hobbies, like singing and dancing. She's the one who taught Aerial how to defend herself, before Aerial apprenticed under Leader-1. Chromia helps as a member of the Iacon Watch, essentially citizen volunteers who help make sure the area around the Archival building is orderly and respectful and be helpful to those who get lost in the giant complex, so there's always a good chance she passes by and checks up on her daughter just outside the building. Fun fact, the Iacon Watch are far more well liked than the "Arrest first, ask questions later" approach of the local Iaconian police.

Chromia is the Carcer clan Matriarch, so when it comes to familial issues among the wider family group, she's typicall the one that tries to mediate and help first and foremost, but she always maintains a close bond with her daughter, and does her best to make sure Aerial has enough freedom and personal freedom to figure out what she wants to be in life. It helps that Chromia's life in the military means she knows all to well the experiences of a micromanaging commander and what it does to a person.

Ironhide is a pretty stern and intimidating parent. Don't let his size fool you, he's broad and VERY strong and has a temper. Make no mistake though, he absolutely loves his daughter, and is quite protective of her, which is both his biggest asset and flaw as a parent.

He's not AS supportive of Elita's hobbies for one thing and one thing only: her own safety. The arts is not the typical purview of jet-bots, and being the only flyer from a long line of rollers, Ironhide knows all too well that people WILL judge her for from two direction: Being a jet-bot, she'd have more opportunities than most in the eyes of rollers, who'd think she got any job involving song and dance as undeserved privilege. Most flyers meanwhile, would think she'd be "lowering herself" by doing something she'd like, rather than doing something for the good of all (in their minds) like joining the military or be a top-paying city-to-city courier (better than those wheeled couriers). Examples include Thundercracker (failed writer) and Dirge (failed cameraman), who are stuck in the military with no outlet for their creative visions due to societal pressure, and in Thundercracker's case, pressure from Starscream.

It doesn't help that beginner artists struggle in Cybertronian society, the competition is fierce and safe and steady patronage is not guaranteed.

He's the one that actively pushed for Aerial to apprentice under Leader-1, rather than more creatively minded folks like the writer Alpha Trion (it's amazing what a beard, a different helmet, and more purple does to keep you from people recognizing you as one of the original 13) or Maccadam. As much as Aerial resented it at first, knowing the great Guardian of Cybertron as a person was a life-changing experience, which will be expanded on later.

Clan Carcer has many members, as Kaon (Elita's hometown before moving to Iacon in her youth) is big on large, connected familial groups. Some members include Pipes, Gears and Stockade, and many many others.

One who isn't a member of the clan, but a very close family friend however is a big one, in both literal and metaphorical terms is Blackout. His clan and the Carcers have been friends for generations.

Most of Elita's clan and friends of the clan were working class bots, everything from transport to miners to veterans, and many, many were swayed by Megatron's vision, including the brothers Blackout and Grindor. Grindor eventually realized that what Megatron's increasingly hardline tendencies is a path of no return... Blackout did not.

It's especially painful for Elita because hanging out with Orion meant that she interacted a lot with Megatron's mining crew, and Blackout was such a kind soul and full of big fun and full of laughter.

#chromia #ironhide #transformers #maccadam #anon ask #anonymous ask #blackout #worldbuilding #transformers worldbuilding #maccadams #all-sparks au #transformers au #all-sparks #transformers all-sparks #thundercracker #dirge

32 notes · View notes

skekthesilly · 2 months ago

Note

question question how do yoy make your music. we've done so and we never posted them (although they're just song covers shit edition or us playing around with our flute and purposefully makign it sound awful☹️we should really post our distorted flute songs) but we're just curryous yeaghg -🏙️

well!!! i use two different programs:

beepbox (online, free-to-use web based music maker thats super user friendly!!! good for beginners and can easily be used to make suuuper cool music shit. is a little bit limited however and you can't upload your own audio snippets to use like in moew professional music programs. however!! there are mods of beepbox that let you do more complex things than the og. i personally use jummbox for simple ish musics and abyssbox for more ambitious ones, like the spow remix i made)

bandlab (more of a professional music maker - also web based, but i'm pretty sure you need an account to use it. broken heart emoji. i suck at bandlab so i dont use it often)

i mainly use beepbox though 😁 for my one song however i used bandlab. but i really really like beepbox. ive made a buncha cool shit in beepbox. heres the link if ya wanna try it out!! might look a little intimidating at first but its a-okay!!! theres tutorials online but i self taught myself to use beepbox mecause im not patient enough for tutorials

also jummbox and abyssbox, two mods that i use more!! jummbox is essentially the same as beepbox except better so if youre planning on using beepbox to make shit then maybe also try using jummbox instead

and yeah!! i dont like bandlab allat much so theres NO LINK. but yeag!!! go forth and have fun my pookie. if you have any questions ask me and i can probably maybe give you an answer. im not an expert but i like to feel like i am. giggles

#skek's silly shit collection #skek's music shit

9 notes · View notes

caesarclowningaround · 7 months ago

Note

#1, #8, #16, #41, #49!

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

This might be a weird one (and no i'm not picking it because I just rewatched Violent Night) but Arose Such a Clatter is good for beginners of my work. I feel like it has a lot of stuff in it I'm pretty good at and love to write - crossovers, smut with feelings, a niche ship i had to create a tag for, etc. So it'll give folks a general idea of what I tend to gravitate towards in my writing. Also it's a oneshot that can be read in one sitting.

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

Hotel California AU XD

16. What’s an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)?

Honestly, I'm a huge sucker for horror AUs. I love to stumble upon them and they're always a delight. And I mean serious horror that's baked into the writing and themes. Werewolf and vampire AUs are great, but there's something special about horror AU fics that go all-out

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

The Master of My Fate by GreenArcher just... being able to juggle every thread of this fic is fucking incredible and it draws you in so perfectly. I want to be able to create something that complex and so beautiful someday.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

Working on several WIPS, but my main focus rn is my Caesar/Sanji Christmas fic. Here's a few lines:

Sanji felt a slight waver in his step as he turned off the Christmas lights on deck and returned to the galley. He’d drunk a little too much wine, but it didn’t seem to bother him as much as drinking that much used to. He tried not to consider the implications and set about cleaning up. He had to be up early to prep a big Christmas breakfast and - drunk or not - he wasn’t about to disappoint.

#thestorieswesay #thank you!!

4 notes · View notes

derfisch · 1 year ago

Text

beginner's guide for any first time rhythm gamers:

1) before you even play a song, figure out how to sort by difficulty. usually there will be a button somewhere in the song select UI for it, or there will be a menu you can do it from. if you can't, and there's no obvious way to tell difficulty from the song select, consider picking another game to start. the one you picked isn't impossible, but it might be tedious to create a good learning curve for yourself

2) start on easy, and pick a level 1 song. if it's too easy, keep going up numbers until you find your comfort zone. when you're just starting out, the main challenge should be learning how to read the charting of your game, so take it easy until you've got that down in your visual memory

3) at this stage, stay in your comfort zone until you can read well enough to get a full combo. that's a good sign you're ready to move on to improving mechanically

4) from now on, don't stress out too much about full combos. your focus should be on challenging yourself with higher difficulties, and getting your hands used to doing more complex things. once you're starting to feel comfortable at the next difficulty, you should probably move right along to the one after that

and that should carry you pretty far!

or, if you're a streamer: disregard all this and just jump in. sucking at hard video games is good content. but maybe give it a proper go off stream to see if you like it

17 notes · View notes

soweli-musi · 1 year ago

Text

I was tagged by @lemonade-luvr

Last song: Split by Jhariah, but before that we were listening to the whole of Beginner's Guide (album by the same artist) because one of our guys really enjoyed the themes =^_^=

Favorite color: Collectively blue but we prefer different shades! However I am also a huge fan of cherry red🎶

Currently watching: We always have a few things on the go. I've been watching the Saw movies with friends, I've been watching dunmesh in my free time, and also The Gentleman in the evening

Sweet/savory/spicy: Oh how cruel to make me choose! We have a sweet tooth but we adore spice so very much. Love when food fights me.

Relationship status: Taken bodily! This is actually a pretty complex question (insys relationships) pff.

Current obsession: Layton all the time every day. Help us

Last thing I googled: 'next splatfest' Yeah I know who did that search ehehe.

Tags tags tags... @samthecookielord @dogwithglasses @xxboarpunkxx @catgirldragon if you haven't done this already or would like to! No pressure though!! =^_^=

#mutuals #asks #< kind of? Ehehe

2 notes · View notes

fishnapple · 10 months ago

Note

Hi Sannie, You must have been a lovely and surprising child back then. Did anyone ever try to give you difficult books to test your reading ability?

3 things that are lovely about you:

1. You can match people's energy, getting along easily with people

2. You are a romantic

3. You are good at finding solutions to problem, not easily be bogged down by negativity

Hii River, thank you so much for the mini game 🥰

You could read me pretty well because even being an introvert I can get along well with people and I'm most known as the problem solver 🤣, I just find difficulty in see myself as a romantic lol Seems like it's a part of me that I locked to protect from the world, I guess haha so I think that deep down, my inner self is kinda romantic/delicate towards it. Also, thank you for the compliments ^^

Yes, that day my mom talked about me to the principal, she gave that fable book with a big story because she thought I was a beginner, stutteringly and etc lol but I actually managed to let her open-mouthed lol (They treated it like a big deal while for me it always was very natural, I wasn't aware of why it was so unusual). Another principal from another school did the same and even said I could advance 3 grades in six months. My godmother's daughter used to stimulate my mind by giving me more complex things to read, like the Bible, or I myself, when I was about 6 to 8 years old, liked to read encyclopedias on a variety of subjects. I also liked to memorize the celebrities' names and songs, lol. The most normal thing about me is that I hate math 😂.

I hope you liked to know my little geek self 🤓

Blessed be 💖

Hi, Sannie, thank you for sharing your story. If I were your mum, I would be really delighted ❤️. Were you taught by someone or picked it up yourself? If you don't mind sharing, what do you think the positive points and the negative points (if any) of being able to read so early like that?

#mini game #you're lovely #feedback

1 note · View note

lesbiantalks · 1 year ago

Text

Beginners problems in art

I am looking for courses to improve my drawings, I am browsing through books. One of the books I liked is pretty basic and it feels that it was written for the beginner, but by a person who is very proficient in the profession, so advice placed on the page are basically: “Draw that like me, put a shadow here, sketch everything you see, you got this”.

What would I appreciate more:

- How to frame the view around me, so sketch will be composed better. Cause it is a misconception that reality is composed well. Even when you are taking photos, you need to find a good shot and of course, you need to clean it a bit, erase some stuff from background.

- Some angles are more common in drawing than others, and it is not easy to get at first. If you really look on still lifes, for example vases are usually placed straight and you can’t see the inside of them, but coffee cups are quite often are drawn a little from top, so you can actually see the beverage inside.

- To find good references that push you forward, you need to collect a lot of them and systematize them to doable and undoable. Then you need to select a good proportion of different topics - shapes, light and shadows, work with color (how in eerie and dark images you need to distinguish between a lot of shades of gray, for example), anatomy, animals, plot and composition. I would be glad to have assistance in that process, and usually teachers provide that, they help you to develop a versatile overview of techniques and forms. When you are self-taught by books, you need to rely on your own background. I have some of that, but I can’t find a book that dives in into that. Honestly, most of them just go “Draw everything around you!”.

- “Just draw everything you want” is good when you are surrounded by art for a valid chunk of time. And it is not about museums. I did a lot of that, but you need to actually redraw these paintings to really understand them. And also, you need a lot more than that - you need to know the story behind, the techniques, the limitations of time. So you logically turn to modern artists, you try to find different approaches, you start searching for travelers, for less known artists, for photo reports from galleries, and then - then your mind really start giving you ideas. You can’t generate ideas out of plain air. You need to know it beforehand, to be familiar with it.

- The reason though why they insist to turn to your life is that from some level of skill, the main thing is your own vision. Vision is everything, your experience is unique and your sensing of world around is what every other artist wants to know about. You want to see your colleagues to share more that inner magic and inner self and therefore, this advice is a constant component of every guide. Funny, that in writing where I am not so focused on my skills, cause I am somewhere on intermediate stages, I really take inspiration from that advice and I am pretty sure that I said it a lot of time to a lot of beginners. :) When they just needed some help with literally descriptions or character introducing, I would be like “Be yourself!” >) Cause really, the technicalities will come in time, yes.

- How hard should it be? How much do I need to push myself? Should I get every drawing to perfection? Should I try to do complex works? Should I try to mix materials and approaches? Should I try to draw people everyday? No one can tell you that. You need to rely on your instincts. Or on study group. But it is confusing, I can tell. I want to draw everything - a fantasy about mouse family tucked in their beds, a serious sketch with dreamlike dark forest, a replica of portraits of one of the artists I love, I want to try the textures of shells, I want to draw the slices of fruit in watercolor, I want to fill in my sketchbook with doodles and comics, with citations from songs, with random sketch on the train. I want all of that and I am just sorry I can’t do it all simultaneously. I haven't found a book yet that encourages that passion.

#drawing #drawing problems #artists on tumblr #art on tumblr

0 notes

we-wouldnt-have-hotdogs · 2 years ago

Text

Peace and Love on the Planet Earth Analysis

The entire song is allllll about juxtaposition

youtube

Homeworld gems VS the Crystal Gems, Peridot's integration

The sci-fi setting on Homeworld greatly juxtaposes the simplicity of earth, which is the point of the song. The gems on Homeworld are not used to taking breaks, mostly because they physically don’t need to and because of their utilitarian culture. This is why Peridot is so confused when the crystal gems stop working despite not being done, just to stare at the sky and listen to the ambient noises of the countryside, and she's equally as confused about the concept of making music ("What is the point? You're not 'making' anything" "Interest without meaning? Solutions without problems?").

The song follows a call-and-response format which Steven initiates to help Peridot learn about music. This is meant to parallel how she integrates into Earth and the crystal gems, and how Steven welcomes her to the family. He later helps her harmonize with him, paralleling an 'invitation' to the family. Music is an essential part of the show, so it makes sense that this call and response would be used to introduce a new character to the family, as Steven invites her to express herself through singing and even writing her own little verse. We see the crystal gems sing together for fun all the time.

Another thing worth noting is that, after Peridot sings her verse, the crystal gems take turns singing the chorus of the song. Peridot is the one to finish the song, with that last “Is there anything that’s worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth?” She has finally been integrated into the crystal gems. The end of this song marks a new era in her character development.

The juxtaposition between simplicity and complexity

The song starts with the C major scale, then the entire song is in C major. These are the first 2 scales and keys that a beginner would learn when starting an instrument. This is because they are deemed as the easiest to start with (Peridot: "That's exceedingly simple"). However, the song itself is actually pretty difficult and challenging to play on the ukulele even if it doesn't really sound like it. This would especially be the case for a beginner, let alone Peridot, who literally just learned about the concept of music. This is the first technical juxtaposition present in the song.

The instrumentation is also very simple, being just a single ukulele at first. Later on, as Peridot and the crystal gems join in, it gets a little bit of a deeper texture as it adds a layer of bass in the background. This is meant to mirror the storyline and messages of the show getting more complex and layered, as the viewers along with Steven become aware of more characters and situations.

Melody & lyrics

The melody itself is pretty simple and repetitive. This is done to help Peridot understand the concept of music and be able to repeat the melody easily. Steven says it himself; “If it’s a pattern, then just repeat after me”. Later on, he encourages her to write something herself, which, not only does she do, but the melody is different to what Steven has been singing to her. This mirrors her development, as she goes from not knowing anything about the Earth to being fully integrated into and living on it("What do you know about the Earth?" "Apparently more than you, you clod!!!").

Life and death and love and birth ↑ and peace and war on the planet earth ↓. The notes go up, then down. There is a lot of jumping between lower and higher notes present in the song. This juxtaposition is very technical, but it’s meant to mirror the thematic juxtapositions on Steven Universe: Homeworld vs aErth, simplicity vs complexity, as well as the juxtapositions mentioned in the lyrics.

The lyrics are pretty self explanatory. They are clear and total antithetical concepts, like life, love, birth ≠ death, and peace ≠ war. This, and all the above mentioned, mirror the juxtapositions of Earth, how nature is so simple and so complex at the same time and how many opposing concepts coexist and take place at the same time.

Conclusion

Once again, we are reminded of the juxtaposition of Homeworld vs Earth. This juxtaposition is meant to highlight to the viewer how things on Earth can exist and contradict each other for literally no reason other than to exist. This is a common theme in the show. The intention of the creators is to make the audience think about the things they take for granted every day living on Earth, and to appreciate its sheer beauty.

It is also meant to be a criticism to utilitarianism, I'm not saying this randomly, it's a common theme in the show, hence the exaggerated use of it by Homeworld. The slice-of-life aspect of the show, which was largely (and falsely) deemed as 'filler content', is meant to be a showcase of doing things for the sake of doing things, which forms a direct contrast with Homeworld and Homeworld gems and develops the relationships between the crystal gems as a family.

#steven universe #peridot #crystal gems #gems #song analysis #Youtube

18 notes · View notes

redtsundere-writes · 1 year ago

Text

Tyrant's Favorite | Sukuna Ryomen

Chapter 7 “Potential” is available now!

King!SukunaRyomen x Servant!FemReader

PICK YOUR FAVORITE!

AO3 or Wattpad?

Preview ↆ

Sukuna prowled throughout the corridors, his footsteps echoing to the rhythm of the melody playing in the background. It was important to stretch the legs after spending a full day sitting down. The music gradually intensified as he approached the game room. Taking his time to enjoy the song more. He peeked through the open door to watch you carefully. There you were, in front of the giant piano as you stared at the beginner piano book you had borrowed from the library.

You had always wanted to learn to play the piano. When your mother used to take you to dances, you always loved watching the musicians move their fingers nimbly and elegantly on their shiny instruments. There was something about the pianists that caught your attention, maybe it was the way they swayed their bodies to the music or their intense focus. Whatever it was, it was fascinating how their hands could produce such magic. Unfortunately, you were from a modest family, so you could never get near a piano. Not until you started serving Sukuna.

As soon as the king announced you as the winner of this year's hunt, you knew what you would spend on your week off. Every day, after breakfast, you would head to the game room to find the grand piano you had fallen in love with at first sight. You would read the beginner's manual, repeat the exercises to the best of your understanding and then rest your fingers for a while. Your free time was spent reading books that caught your attention, even though you didn’t understand half of the complex vocabulary. It wasn’t that you couldn’t read, but the intricacy of the texts was challenging. When you didn't want to play the piano or read, you would look for Mrs. Inoue to help her with some of her homework.

Sukuna had noticed your peculiar routine during your week off. Despite having received a wonderful week off from work, you were in the playroom practicing piano, trying to read complex texts or helping the other servants finish their work. Whenever you tried to help Mrs. Inoue, he always stayed in the shadows, watching you argue with your old friend. You would ask him to let you help and Mrs. Inoue would refuse your kind offers because you deserved a break. It didn't matter if it was hanging blankets in the sun, peeling vegetables or dusting vases, you wanted to help your companions, but they would end up running you out of the room. Sukuna was amused to see you return to the playroom, frustrated at your desire to be productive. You were hardworking, and that was both your best and worst quality.

Your fingers descended one by one on the piano as you stuck out your tongue in concentration. Although you often made mistakes, the song you were trying to play didn't sound too bad. Sukuna could follow the rhythm you had established in the room. Your body moving from side to side mesmerized him like a flirtatious snake in a pretty basket. The temptation to come closer until you released the bite was irresistible. You lost in your musical world until you heard the door open.

“King Sukuna,” you whispered in surprise when you saw who it was. You stood up and bowed out of fear and respect. “I'm sorry if I disturbed you, I...". You immediately defended yourself, worried you had disturbed him with the noise.

“Keep playing," he ordered as he approached you.

You didn't expect that answer at all, but you obeyed immediately. You returned to the position where you left the song. Sukuna sat next to you on the stool as he watched you play. Your breathing altered and your fingers began to tremble as you felt his imposing presence so close. You were making more mistakes now than before. You had to concentrate to satisfy the king's ear.

“I'm sorry, I'm not very good,” you apologized between stutters, without taking your eyes off the piano.

“I can see that," Sukuna said bluntly. It felt like a punch to your ego, but you didn't give up trying to please him. “Not bad for a beginner.” You smiled softly at the half compliment.

Sukuna watched you for a while before deciding to take possession of the piano. While you played the melody, he helped you with the chords. Little by little you merged in the music and the intimacy of the moment. Your fingers moved in tandem to create the same piece. At times, your skins brushed fleetingly against each other, dangerously close to wanting to do something beyond just touching. Your heart fluttered endlessly and there was no way you could stop it.

“What's wrong?” he asked, confused.

“The song sounds better without me,” you answered, ashamed of not being able to keep up with him. Sukuna took both of your hands with his left arms to subtly place them on the keys again.

“Once you learn, the song will sound more beautiful than you can imagine,” Sukuna promised, waiting for you to play again.

“You seem to like spending time with me," he said, glancing at you to see your reaction.

“I was afraid before, but I have gotten used to being around you,” you answered without taking your eyes off the book held by the lectern.

“What do you think about spending more time with me?” Sukuna asked you, hiding his nervousness about what was coming.

“What do you mean?”

“Marry me.”

Open fanfic commissions!

Masterlist.

78 notes · View notes

oaklies-side · 3 years ago

Text

I’m bored and procrastinating on an animation, so instead of actually doing it, I decided to rant about animation! Here are tons of my tips and tricks for animating. Feel free to use any of them to improve your own works fellow animators! This post will be divided into four sections; Motivation and burnout, Art/drawing tips, Transitions, and Programs. Please keep in mind I am in no way an expert or claiming to be one, however I do art for a living, and I’ve been animating for nearly six years now, so I feel like I probably know a thing or two. Motivation and Burnout: -Take constant breaks however often you need. This can be every 30 minutes, every time you finish a scene, hell, even every time you finish a frame. Stretch, watch a short YouTube video, get something to eat, ex. I personally don’t have a break schedule, just whenever I’m bored, tired, or have finished an amount I feel satisfied with for the day. Find what works best for you! -Listen to something as background noise. This can be songs you really like, a podcast, a musical soundtrack, youtube videos, streams, audio books, or whatever else your heart desires. You can listen to white noise or rain sounds or something like that, but I personally prefer something that engages my brain. (You can also use this to encourage breaks. If you’re at a bit of a podcast that you just can’t focus on whilst drawing, take a five minute break to focus on it alone! Your favorite song to bop out to comes on? Stand up and dance around in your workspace, sing along, just have fun! -Have a food or drink next to you! I always like having something to munch or slurp on when drawing or animating. Make sure these snacks are smaller though, I’d recommend dedicating actual meal time to break time. -This is a bad habit of mine and I’m sure many other artists, but if you’re demotivated, don’t try and trudge through unless there’s some form of deadline. If you’re simply animating for YouTube or something, just take a break! There’s no shame in doing so, and you’ll find that you actually work much faster when you are motivated, so the break helps with efficiency rather than hinders it. -Set goals for yourself! Make them reasonable and not too out of reach. Say something like, “I’d like to draw 20 frames today.”, “I’d like to finish this storyboard by the end of the week.”, “I’d like to finish this scene today.”, “I’d like the animation to be done within a month and a half.” Make some bigger ones as well as smaller ones to give yourself short bursts of motivation, but also to keep that motivation going in the long run. Art/Drawing Tips: -Choose a simple style. This one kind of goes with motivation, but choosing a super complex art style often leads to the product just never being finished, especially if you’re a beginner. -Practice drawing. Bring a sketchbook with you everywhere and just draw. The better you get at drawing, the better you get at animation -Study other artists work. You can even trace! (Don’t post/claim it as your own EVER), but tracing for personal study is absolutely fine. It helps you figure out the shapes the artist used to make their character look how it does. -Never be ashamed to use references, they help a ton. -Color matters and can make an animation really pop. Choose a simple palate, what I normally do is assign one color per character, have a color for background objects, and maybe some others if I really want a certain scene or object to stand out against the rest. -Shape language is a really cool tool. Learn it. -Don’t worry about developing a style. Just draw. The style will come along the way. Transitions: -(First off, please note that in this section, I say the word ‘character’ a lot. However, these methods apply on objects too! Just wanted to clear that up, you can use them on more than just people.) -Yes, frame by frame looks pretty, and you can use it in that sick action sequence, but also, try making things easier for yourself when you can. The following points will be describing some of my favorite easy transitions. -Bounce back effects, the one I use the most. Basically, think of a ball bouncing. This ball will smoosh down against the ground, then spring back up, looking elongated as it does so. Or think of a car jerking forwards, before coming back a bit and to a complete stop. These are both bounce back effects. If your character is just changing poses, I’d recommend doing the ball method. smoosh your drawing down, then spring it back up. If your character is moving across the screen, move them just a bit further than their final destination, then bring them back. This makes animation look smoother and saves a ton of time. -Smear or smudge frames! These are usually used when a character or object is going really fast. Smear the drawing and add a bit of motion blur in the direction a character is going. -Partial movement frames! Not sure what the technical definition of this is, but this is when a character isn’t fully moving, just a small bit of them is, say they’re waving, or their hair is blowing in the breeze. Copy paste the rest without this bit, and only worry about redrawing that part! -Tweening, okay.. I know what you’re going to say, because the animation community these days is so against tweening. I’ll admit, it doesn’t look the greatest when using excessively, but in small amounts? It can look good. Don’t overuse it, but don’t completely avoid it either. (Tweening is when different body parts are drawn on different layers so that movement can be done without redrawing. However, this only really works for simple movements, so use it sparingly.) -Even when you are drawing frame by frame, these methods can be important. More so smear and smudge and bounce back, but tweening in some cases as well. You can incorporate these tricks into your frame by frame animation to make it look better as well. They aren’t just used to trick the minds eye into thinking there are in-betweens when there’s not. Programs: -Study your program. This’ll make things go much faster and allow for shortcuts. Animation is all about shortcuts. -Start out with something cheap or free. You don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a drawing tablet and expensive programs when you first start. Draw on your ipad or phone if you have one, use flipaclip, imovie, ibis paint, kinemaster, or other free programs. Animation takes a ton of time and if you find in a month that you hate it and want to quit, you don’t want to have waisted hundreds or thousands of dollars. -That being said, the creative cloud is pretty sweet. If you’re invested and have the money, I’d recommend it. -Procreate is also amazing. I love it and actually use it to this day, even with having the creative cloud. You can’t do any complex editing but you can make some neat stuff on there. -Decide what kind of animation you want to do. Do you want it more frame by frame? Get a program like procreate, flipaclip, or adobe animate. More drawn and edited? Try using a drawing and editing program combo. One of my friends uses ibispaint and imovie on her phone. I used to use ibispaint and kinemaster. I now use photoshop and premiere pro. -Watch tons of YouTube tutorials. Google stuff. Chances are, you may find an easier way to do that thing that’s taken you five hours in the past. And that’s it! Thank you for reading all the way through, I hope these helped! Feel free to ask questions, I’ll try to answer any I may get. Cya! Happy animating

#animation #animation tips #art tips #animator #animatic tips #art rants #art rambles #drawing tips #animating tips #oaklie.rants

92 notes · View notes

mirai-studies-languages · 4 years ago

Text

How to practice listening in a foreign language

Hi! Listening is a tough skill to improve, but I’ve found myself gradually improving as time has gone on, so I thought I would try to offer some advice to anybody who needs it. I think the key to improving your listening is increasing your vocabulary, and practice. I’m basing this mostly on my French (B2) and Spanish (A2/B1) studies.

Figure out what you should listen to! It is important to listen to something that is at your level. For complete beginners, just focus on your textbook exercises and beginners podcasts like Innovative Languages, LingQ and Coffee Break Languages (I highly recommend these by the way). For less difficult languages like French and Spanish (or whatever is close to the languages you speak), you might want to try watching a few Easy Languages videos, since they use topic specific vocabulary. I don’t really recommend this for languages that are very different from the languages you speak though, since it might just be confusing. For upper beginners, you can focus on watching short YouTube videos on topics that interest you (for example in Spanish, I watch a lot of YouTube videos about language learning). You can also try listening to learners podcasts. There are also a lot of YouTube videos out there made for learners that are only in your target language for beginners, like the Innovative Languages YouTube accounts. Just look up “[Target language] beginners listening practice” and something will probably come up. You could also watch children’s shows because of the simplistic language. For intermediate learners, it might be time to start properly dipping your toes into native material. TV shows, podcasts and films are good, but if you don’t like them, then there is a wealth of listening resources to be found on YouTube. Make sure to avoid anything that uses jargon or outdated language, like historical dramas and videos about science. The radios and comedy skits are great for learning informal language (e.g. Cyprien for French). For lower intermediate learners, I would recommend to also focus most of your attention on intermediate podcasts (e.g. For French: InnerFrench and Piece Of French are really good). You should be able to understand about half of it, and as you continue learning French this will increase. I’d say you are at an upper intermediate level once you can understand pretty much everything that is said in these podcasts and videos, and can also understand a fair amount of native material. For advanced learners, historical dramas and university lectures might be good for this. You might also want to look into content for more difficult dialects (unless you are only focusing on one). Just listen to anything and everything that challenges you, and you will start to improve over time. Across all levels, song lyrics are good too!

Read and listen at the same time! Audiobooks and subtitles are the best for this. Make sure you are actually listening instead of just reading. This improves both your listening and your reading skills!

Dictate what you are listening to! Try to write down everything that has been said word for word, and make sure you get the grammar correct too. Once you have finished, compare it to the actual transcription or subtitles and make corrections. Maybe memorise any new vocabulary, and review any grammar points you got wrong.

Shadow! This basically means repeat what is said after it is said. This improves listening AND pronunciation!

Research how pronunciation changes! When I say this, I basically mean explore how pronunciation changes in the spoken version of a language when compared to the proper version of the language. Read articles with examples on informal and spoken language, and the way syllables will meld together or be shortened. You might want to memorise the most common slang too. Also, for languages with complex politeness levels like Japanese, research that too. Make sure you look out for these in whatever you are listening to, and make sure you listen widely in both informal and formal versions of your target language.

When you learn topic specific vocabulary, listen to content made about that topic! If you learn vocabulary related to the beach, then watch a beach movie. If you learn vocabulary about furniture, watch those DIY videos on YouTube. Learn topic specific vocabulary, and then put it into practice! You will find a wealth of vocabulary resources on this site alone. At first, learn the most important topics, then gradually expand to more niche ones when you become more advanced.

Listen without any help at first! For me, I will get a short YouTube video and listen to it without any help. Then, I will watch it again with subtitles (in my target language), and will pause to turn any unknown words into flashcards. I will go through those flashcards and memorise them. Finally, I will listen to the video again, and again, until I can catch and understand every word. This takes time, but it gets good results.

Summarize what you just listened to! I would suggest doing this before looking at a transcription or subtitles. Try listening to audio and write a quick summary of what you were told, and then look at the transcription to see how accurate you were.

Replay the audio until you can understand everything! This is especially important for upper intermediate learners, because their goal is to understand everything. If you don’t know a word, then memorise it, and listen again! As time goes on, you will be able to understand everything better.

Adjust the speed of the audio! For beginners and lower intermediate learners, you can make it slower in order to understand it better. For upper intermediate and advanced learners, I recommend speeding it up. The faster it is, the easier you will later find normal native speed.

Just keep listening to your target language! The sounds of a language is something that takes a long time to get used to. You just need to keep on listening, and keep on practicing, and eventually you will start to improve. Listen to your target language whenever you have free time, and over time it will start to pay off. You’ll find that the speed that used to intimidate you will just sound normal, and as your vocabulary increases, so will your listening ability.

Thanks for reading this post! I hope it was useful!

#studyblr #langblr #languages #learning languages #study tips #advice #polyglot #study motivation #studyspo #french #spanish

137 notes · View notes

struwwelzeter · 4 years ago

Note

For a variety of reasons, I got into a bit of a rabbit hole about Richard's guitars, and my brain went "oh I know someone who will probably have opinions on this" so essentially, if you feel like it, pretty please talk RZK guitars to me? Favourite? Retired one that needs to come back? (Though I probably already know the answer, that fancy black one?)

Allrighty, buckle up because this is gonna be long. After much consideration I have decided to split it up in two parts because I don’t think I can make it fit into one post that is still vaguely tumblr appropriate, and I really wanted to do it some sort of justice. I still feel like I don’t. But oh well. Full disclaimer, I am NOT a guitarist, but I lived with a few, two of my best friends are pro players and I’m a sponge so I kind of soaked some bits and pieces up over the last 15 years. But in case any lost guitar hero finds this and disagrees with me over the finer points of tone wood: I know honey, I oversimplified, and I am wrong. I tried? 💜 for easier read I formatted everything specific to Richard’s guitars normally and anything general about electric guitars in cursive.

My main sources besides watching about a 100 a month of guitar tube videos (that is youtube for guitarists) with my ex, my main sources will be this interview and this.

Richard Z. Kruspe (of Rammstein and Emigrate)’s Guitars - In Order of Appearance, Part 1/2

Diamant (Les Paul Style)

“I traded the acoustic for a guitar called Diamant, which was like a Les Paul version in East Germany.” - RZK

Now I’m skipping the acoustic he started out with, because it’s basically impossible to know what that was, and go straight into the electric. Now presumably, it would have been something like this, a soviet build Les Paul rip off. The irony is that these still go for several thousands up on reverb today for being historical and collectors pieces. The thing is, that while anything east build might have used cheaper materials, I would assume this thing isn’t worse than any of the beginner/intermediate models sold today, if not better, and kids all over the world do decent stiff with those.

Something general about electric guitars is that you don’t really so much play the guitar, you play an entire system. The instrument doesn’t make the sound, it only influences it. You play a guitar - but you even more so play the amp. Which makes this a bit tricky, because an e-guitar is a slab of wood and a copper coil, and amps are way more complex. You can make the exact same guitar sound so many ways. Still - there are tendencies. The fact how and why and to which degree the shape and wood of a solid body (a guitar without a hollow wood piece) influences the sound is highly debated and can get a bit esoteric sounding to sane people non-guitarists, but there are some differences in how the general set up and build of the guitar changes things, and tendencies how they are traditionally outfitted. Les Paul style guitars are normally humbucker guitars, Stratocasters and Telecasters normally are outfitted with single coils. Usually a guitarist can switch - between using the bridge, the neck, or both (or more) pick ups and depending on where the pick up is located they pick up different frequencies, different aspects of the sound. Humbuckers produce a richer, deeper or fuller sound than single coils. Very roughly speaking, think the Stones vs. Metallica.

Fender Stratocaster

“Then in East Germany, we had this imagination to get one of the great guitars, to me it was always the Fender Stratocaster because it was the Jimi Hendrix guitar. I didn’t know anything about pickups or humbuckers or whatever. So there was this guy that I met in a café in my old hometown and he was buying all these books because he could get all the books out through customs and he would store them in my apartment. So we became kind of acquainted. He would come over and pick up the books. So one time he came over and I asked him if he could get me a guitar and bring it over. In East Germany, if you exchange money from East to West it would be like 1 East mark and 20 West mark. SO everything I had, I changed it to West Mark and I gave him the money and I gave him the money and asked him to please buy me a Fender Stratocaster. I gave him the money and I didn’t hear anything for like three months, nothing. I wasn’t able to call because we didn’t have phones and stuff like that – it was a different time. So I thought fuck, I gave him 1400 west mark and now he’s gone and never coming back. [...] Then my imagination was so high, I thought the guitar would just play by itself and I wouldn’t really have to do anything, which I found out was bullshit. I was really happy that I had the guitar but it wasn’t really the sound that I had in mind.” - RZK

The first time I heard that story, I literally went “no, no, no, don’t be stupid, don’t give him your money, you won’t even like that guitar, stupid, lost dumbass.” I can not, for the life of me, imagine him play anything other than humbuckers. He apparently does use single coils for some things today again in the studio, but still, it’s so obviously wrong. He did play one again sometime during the late 90s, but I couldn’t find anything on the pick ups he used with that, but can hardly imagine he kept the original, unless he needed it for a specific sound maybe in one or two songs. I get it though. For many, many people the Fender Stratocaster is THE guitar. Jimi Hendrix is the main reason for that, but it’s also the countless idols that picked it up after him for the same reason, people who ended up plastered on the walls of angsty teenagers in their own right. This totally has to do with the whole amp thing aswell. You see your idol play that type of guitar ... but it’s not even half of the sound, and it won’t sound the same. Maybe probably they changed the pick ups, they have an effect rig, the spend hours fiddling with the knobs on an amp you can never afford. It’s never the same. Which is why ...

Fender Telecaster Black Gold

Then I had a guitar that I was very fond of. It was an older black and gold telecaster – there weren’t very many of them made at that point. I put a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck SH-4 in there, like a humbucker. I remember it was like my beauty guitar and I needed someone to put that pickup in and I was with Paul and he had more experience with that stuff than me so he would get out a hammer and a chisel and he start banging away on it and I was like ‘Fuck! Fuck! Don’t do that!’ but we put the thing in there and it was one of my favorite guitars” - RZK

... this one first didn’t really make sense for me for him. It’s even more a classic single coil guitar than the Strat is, and it only really started making sense for me when I learned he Paul indeed put a Humbucker in there. It’s a stunningly beautiful guitar, and weirdly non-modern for him. I don’t know why and this is completely instinctual on my part, but I find it fitting he played it during that time after the wall came down, which seems to have been a rough time for him generally, it seems like a somehow super emotional guitar, this relic. Telecasters were some of the first electrics ever build, it’s such a pioneer, but it’s also one that alot of punk bands used, possibly because they were old and cheap in the 70s and noisy and people customized it and put other pick ups in. The whole putting a chisel to it and adding a humbucker into it is such a “I’m gonna make whatever I have fit for me, and I’ll love it” move. If you look at it, a double coil pick up is really something you have to force to go in there, you really have to break it open. There is also this:

“... and then I think I had to sell it because I needed drugs or something. I was really sad that I sold it because I was at a very low point in my life.” - RZK

If I would get the chance to do one thing only for him to thank him for his music, I would go back in time to that Richard who is just sad about selling that guitar and hug him, and tell him he doesn’t need to worry, because they will name guitars after him in the future. It breaks my heart so fucking much. But of course, it’s what opens the doors to what happens next, which is ...

ESP 901

“That led me to my very first convention in Frankfurt. With guitars, it is like with women, you have to fall in love. Sometimes you get a guitar and you fall in love later but there has to be some sort of connection with it. So I was walking around that convention and I saw that guitar hanging at the ESP stand. It was a 901 ESP Sunburst and I was looking at it because it was such a beauty. And I was walking around for hours – they probably thought I was some weird guy who wants to steal the guitar. I bought that guitar and that’s how I got connected with ESP.” -RZK

He might have fallen for it because it is pretty, but it did come with a ESP double humbucker set up, with an added condensator to muffle up the sound, although not yet an active one (more on that later). It was a 90s metal guitar, one of those things marketed to the Metallica generation, something loud and heavy and full. Also, and this is where I will put in another general insert, there is something else about the choice of electric guitars that we haven’t talked about yet.

Now, I’ve discussed that you can push or pull the sound of a electric quite far in one or the other direction with what pick ups you use, what effects, what amps. But what this ignores is that especially standing up a guitar is a really shitty asymmetrical piece of equipment. And what that does to your body is that it needs to fit you, your hands, and your playing style. Some people prefer it chunky, others like sender. Guitarists, especially the 80s shredders, like to talk about a “fast neck”, which is another one of those things that get slightly esoteric, but which usually means a slimmer neck and slightly bigger frets, that need less way for your fingers to press until the string gets stopped. Someone who plays very bendy blues might dislike that and prefer something to dig in their fingers more down to the fretboard to get more control over how they bend the string. There are different neck profiles, there are different neck lengths, and all of it contributes to how comfortable someone might find their guitar.

I am mentioning this, because until today, Richard’s guitars are build very similarly to that ESP 901. His Eclipse Model is a tad different (again, more on that later), but the one he uses the most, the RZK I, has the same neck scale, similar frets, and that comfortable ESP slender neck. Even the shape seems to be inspired by turning it upside down. He has said in interviews that he hasn’t got very strong hands, and it makes perfect sense to me. I bought my own electric (again, more on that later) purely because I wanted to own one and not even so much because I ever had any real ambitions of learning to play it, but my friends at the time (10 years ago now) forced me to try out alot (!) of models (despite me knowing what I wanted), and the only guitars that I tried that had slimmer necks were Ibanez guitars, which in turn were wider. Ironically Frankfurt is my hometown, so the place to try a lot of different models is That exact convention Richard went to, and I haven’t skipped a Musikmesse in the last 15 years. I was at atleast one were Richard was too (I just didn’t care at the time, yikes), and it somehow greatly pleases me he found “his” guitar at that particular convention. Things have changed in recent years, but electric guitars always were in Hall 4.01, with ESP being left of center in the middle, and I don’t know, I can just see him walking in circles around it, and it makes me so emotional for him because it’s what musicians do at that place. It’s really loud, everyone is playing, there is someone better noodling around at every corner, and it can be quite an intimidating setting I think. And every year you see that one kid coming back and back again to that same stand, staring at that one guitar until they finally work up the nerve and ask to try it (or the staff takes pity on them and offer). And it’s the same everytime, they think “oh god they must think I am crazy” but really, nobody does. Everyone in that hall who owns a heart knows what those dreams are made of, and all it maybe does inspire is a “oh god, I hope that one makes it”. I digress. I think it’s more common now to look for different neck styles and companies started caring about it, but especially coming from Fender and Gibson guitars, that neck is honestly just very, very nice for weaker hands.

This is where I will stop, because it makes a good moment for a break and this post is honestly getting too out of hand otherwise. There will be a part 2 - where Richard starts using active pick ups, starts playing my favorite guitar in the whole wide world (and stops playing it), and finally, set up his own signature.

This is him with that 901 though: when he must have had it pretty much brandnew, while he used it, and right before he sold it.

#richard kruspe #rzk #richard zk #rammstein #esp #electric guitars #can you tell I love him very much #although i might love the guitars more than him #i keep meeting guitarists and I never know if i like them or the fact they play guitar

82 notes · View notes