#shitty tldr of anecdote 3

[writersneedreblogs]

okay so I'm a broke bitch who's trying to recover from a shopping addiction so I'm avoiding mobile games altogether... BUT. can you tell me pls what actually happens in zaynes third anecdote?? I've googled endlessly and can't find anything, so I'm living vicariously through everyone posting about here on Tumblr. if u could tell me what that anecdote is about (tagging spoilers obviously) I would be eternally grateful!!

Okay I gotchu it’s gonna be shit but I’ll do the best I can

ENTIRE ANECTDOTE 3 SPOILERS VERY LONG

It starts in the pov of a boy named Georgie who was getting attacked by a wanderer that wore human clothes, his mother pushes him out the way of an attack and takes it instead. Suddenly a figure in black emerges and uses an ice evol to kill the creature after it let go of the mother and it dissipates leaving blue fragments. Georgie asks if the figure is the Grim Reaper but doesn’t get a response and the figure leaves after I’m assuming giving a once over on the mother and son

Georgie stalks Zayne afterwards on where he goes (mostly to a store to buy chocolate) so he could approach him, eventually he does and points out that he buys chocolate every day and offers zayne a jar of wrapped chocolate in exchange of finding the person who killed his mother. Zane refuses coldly saying that he should be asking the police

Next part is in the pov of a detective called Ivan who has been tracking down a serial killer they dubbed Dawnbreaker (the name of one of Zaynes battle options) who has left nothing behind at the crime scene except for blue fragments, the victims have no connection to each other except for the blue fragments which reminds him of a wanderers protocore. He’s puzzled on why they leave a similar energy of a wanderer behind and why the killer was targeting people with it so he used an AI to predict who would be next.

It then cuts to him arriving at the scene of dawn breaker attacking his next victim who is an elderly man. Suddenly the old man attacks and transforms into a wanderer injuring dawnbreaker but is immediately killed in response and leaves a blue fragment behind Ivan tries to shoot dawnbreaker but is pinned by ice and is unable to call for back up, mumbling to himself that the old man wasn’t human. Dawnbreaker then leaves and later Ivan discovers that the latest Jane doe was the mother of Georgie who has gone missing from an orphanage he was taken to, leading Ivan to believe that it will lead him to dawnbreaker

We cut to Zayne now and he sees Georgie at his apartment and remarks that he had noticed the same jar of chocolate placed by his door. Zayne ignores it and leaves his apartment, when he returns Georgie is asleep by his door with the jar and is mumbling mom in his sleep.

Georgie wakes up to Zayne crouched by him opening the jar and asking tentatively if he will help him. Zayne says nothing and opens the door to his apartment but lets Georgie come inside.

Georgie notices that the room lacks humanity to the point where the only sign of it is cracked and aged walls, he then spots a hologram of a very old doctor tv show that Zayne is completely engrossed in. Georgie criticises the show and Zayne gets up off the sofa towards Georgie which makes Georgie think he’s made him angry but Zayne only grabs the jar and starts eating from it.

Georgie is puzzled by him treating it as his dinner and asks what he usually eats and is shown that Zaynes fridge only has bottles of nutrient solutions and Georgie drinks it out of hunger, he questions if the drink and lack of meal make Zayne human.

Georgie falls asleep on the sofa and wakes up to Zayne tending to a budding jasmine he kept in his room, placing it on the window sill to get sunlight and watering it and pruning it. Georgie is stunned with the soft glow in Zaynes eyes and asks him about the plant and if someone important gave it to him but gets no response, he gets frustrated with this and gestures to the jar in that Zayne accepted it so he must now help with his mother.

Zayne stops tending to the flower and gets dressed in his dubbed grim reaper clothes, Georgie sees that his bedroom has no other furniture in it except for the wardrobe. Next to the bed is a screen showing a lot of moving green dots but gets no response when he asks about it.

Zayne and Georgie leave and go to a convenience store where Zayne buys a soda bottle and a jar of chocolates which he gives to Georgie, they leave and Zayne pours the bottle out and freezes it into a popsicle. He then follows Zayne to an abandoned plaza and sees him gazing at a patch of jasmines, Zayne then walks to a bench that faces the flowers and Georgie realises the bench is clean, he then asks if he comes here often and gets no response.

Zayne then pulls out a book from his pocket and Georgie reads out loud that it’s a Linkon city travel guide and that he’s marked several locations on it like museums, ski resorts, parks, restaurants and Linkon City’s hospital. He asks why he’s interested in an old book on an old city and Zayne stares at the jasmine and remarks that he often dreams of the place with a briefly different look on his face

The night before, Zayne dreamt that he and a girl bought snacks and froze a soda into a popsicle, he’s been getting dreams like this almost every night. In those dreams he lives out a surgeons life with this girl and hes had those dreams since he was 12 and that they happen in no order. At 12 years old he knew he would meet the girl when he was 27 and he’s thinking the doctor is him but then rather says that he wants to become the person loved by the girl in his dreams. He records as much as he can through the guides because he wants to experience them and have them consume him.

We come back to Zayne stepping out of a shower and looking at his scar ridden body, he gets dressed and see Georgie asleep on the couch, he covers the boy in a blanket and watches the doctor tv show again. Georgie wakes from a nightmare about a monster escaping through his chest and asks of what his mom said about dreams being the opposite of reality is true (to the man desperately wanting his dreams about the girl to come true)

Zayne changes the channel to a story about a man who dreamt that he was a butterfly and woke up with the same feeling and he couldn’t tell if he dreamt about being a butterfly or the butterfly dreamt about him. Georgie is confused but wonders if he’s in a monsters dream, he then asks about who Zayne is when he dreams about Linkon city. Zayne switches back to the medical show in response and he correctly guesses that he dreams of being a doctor which Zayne nods to.

Zayne looks at the boy and notices a small bump under his eye and starts to conjur up an ice blade behind his back. Georgie says he understands that Zayne probably doesn’t want to help him find the killer but asks to celebrate his 12th birthday tomorrow with him and he will leave, the ice blade melts away. Zayne doesn’t respond and goes to his bedroom where he spots a red dot amongst the green ones and says good night to Georgie.

The next day Zayne takes care of the jasmine he has and takes Georgie to a dessert place and orders a macaron, stating that he dreamt of eating it along with another person. Georgie asks if the doctor dreamt of Zayne celebrating his birthday and Zayne says maybe. Georgie is given a birthday cake and Georgie is very happy, stating that the only other person who celebrated was his mother. When Georgie makes a wish before blowing out the candles there’s a blue glow under his skin, he eats the cake and asks Zayne when his birthday is and Zayne says he stopped celebrating his birthday after he turned 12

When Zayne turned 12 on his birthday, his adoptive father transformed into a wanderer and attacked him and his adoptive mother, after his mother died he killed his father in self defense with his evol and that was his first kill. He stopped celebrating his birthday since. Later that night he dreamt of the doctor treating a girl and it became his only solace.

Georgie says he will give Zayne all different kinds of chocolate on his birthday and gazes at the sunset, he remarks how pretty it is and how when he used to live with his mother in the dorm it didn’t have windows. Zayne asks “what if you look at the sunset and feel nothing at all” and Georgie responds with “what’s the difference between that and being dead? Mom used to say that dying with clarity is better than living like a corpse”

All of a sudden dozens of police officers enter the place and surround them and Detective Ivan walks in saying “we can negotiate as long as you let the child go” Georgie argues that they’re just celebrating his birthday and Ivan states that Zayne is the one who killed his mother, Zayne says nothing.

Ivan positions the boy behind him but when he turns to look at Georgie he is no longer human and a tendril erupts from the bump under his eye, hooking into Ivan’s arm. Zayne pierces an ice shard through Georgies chest and he goes down, looking up at Zayne through tears and asking if the monster woke up, Zayne gently closes the boys eyes as he fades.

Afterwards Zayne is seen with two tombstones one big and one small, he places a jar of chocolates at the smaller one. He remembers the woman buried here and that she had approached him asking him to kill as she was turning into a wanderer and did not want to harm her son

He is then joined by the detective who has flowers for the graves and asks if Zayne always knew the child would turn so he kept him by his side. Ivan states he will stop investigating dawnbreaker and destroy the records so no one will know of him. Zayne states that he hopes that this will be their last meeting and Ivan asks for Zayne to kill him the next time they meet as that would probably mean he was a wanderer.

It ends with Zayne dreaming again and this time he is celebrating his birthday with the girl who says that she will always be by his side when it’s his birthday. Zayne couldn’t resist the urge to caress her cheek and spots that they’re holding hands, he reaches over to touch her cheek but the girl is shocked and says that he isn’t Dr Zayne and asks who he was. Zayne wakes up and ponders on what it meant, wondering if the girls saw through time and noticed that he wasn’t the doctor. It ends with him looking at the jasmine flower he was taking care of.

[jeshikawa]

Hi there! I love your blog! I'm an aspiring jet (hopefully to be accepted in April), and I have some body image issues. (I'm not fat, but I have some tummy) I have no idea what you look like, but you seem really nice, so I was wondering if you had any tips or useful anecdotes based on what you've heard from other JETs or your own experiences if relevant.

Hey! First, good luck!

As for your question… I think I can relate. I’m not fat but I have a little weight in places like my stomach and thighs. I’m pretty confident for the most part but getting to this point was a process of acceptance of myself and disregard for others.

I have a few personal experiences and I’ll mention those and how I dealt with them. This is going to be super tldr

1. Free-size. A lot of clothes stores don’t actually sell clothes in multiple sizes. Instead, they have something called “free-size” meaning it should, in theory, fit everyone. And I’m going to tell you 90% of the time this is pure bullshit and that’s only because I’ve been lucky so maybe I’m generous. When Japanese companies design these clothes, they work with Japanese beauty standards in mind. They aren’t design to accommodate the body sizes the same way some places do. You might find that a lot of free size clothes just won’t fit because they’re too small. I came to Japan understanding the beauty standards would be different here but this still got to me after awhile. There’s nothing like trying to update your wardrobe and going to store after store and seeing all of the clothes just won’t fit. After awhile, I just started to feel like an awkward giant.

But you know what? This isn’t just a me problem and it isn’t even a non-Japanese problem. A lot of Japanese people have the exact same problem!!! Men and women will find themselves too big or even *too slim* to fit into some of these brands that only cater to *a very limited range of sizes*. The beauty standard is fucked up in Japan and the fashion industry caters to it. It won’t change for awhile because businesses will always try to find ways to make more for less and by catering to a smaller size, they save money on production time and materials. I’m not the only one having a hard time.

2. There are some clothes companies that are better about sizes like UNIQLO and H&M. There are other import chains like Gap and Old Navy in some places. I’ve had much more luck in these places but it doesn’t change the fact I have limited options. Sometimes you just get tired of going to the same store and having the same style. Sometimes you get tired of looking like a mannequin at one of these stores 24/7. Also, even if these companies have better options, they’re still selling things with Japanese people in mind so you’ll find that clothes can still run on the smaller size. There are more options out there like plus size stores and just smaller, local places that are just better about size. You might have to ask around and do some research about what’s out there for you.

3. And like you know when stores near you suck, you still have online shopping. Go measure yourself and head to Amazon or see if your favorite brands ship internationally. This has honestly my biggest thing here because I can get clothes I want and keep up with my own style.

4. Like I said, Japanese beauty standards are fucked up. It’s not just Japan! Beauty standards all over the world are messed up. When you come to Japan, don’t hold yourself to those same standards. Nothing you do is going to suddenly make you shorter or your feet shrink. Maybe you can lose some weight (I lost a bit) but be realistic and responsible! Don’t try to make yourself fit into a box you literally can’t fit into.

I’ve had a few experiences with this. I’m very lucky to be associated with some pretty cool people at work and socially. I’m a different size. They see that and don’t hold me to the same standards. To them, it’s normal if I’m taller and a little bigger. Not everyone is lucky enough to be surrounded by decent people and I’ve met people who *have* called me fat.

I’ve met a few people who have straight up called me fat. Here’s something to keep in mind here: it’s shitty and not ok but a lot of people *think* it’s ok. To them, they’re just ~looking out for you~. I’ve never met anyone mean but I have met some well intentioned dumbos. But bad things can come from good intentions. It’s weird to explain but the people who say this shit to me remind me of my korean relatives who say things like “you’ve gotten so *big*” and touch my stomach. Or of my mom who straight up calls me fat sometimes and tells me to lose weight. :/ I’ve never met anyone who’s called me fat/etc to make me feel bad here. It was always just unwanted and rude concern or really shit ways to make small talk. Depending on the person or whatever, I just laugh and don’t care but one time I took a moment to explain that hurt my feelings and that person was sorry.

The one time I really got grief over my weight was during my health check. I’m about 5’4 (~162cm) and weight about 150lbs (68kg). Purely on paper based on BMI or whatever, I’m a little overweight by US standards. But there are SO MANY factors to keep in mind here. I weighed the exact same in high school and was *shook* at my physical but my doctor told me a big part of it at the time was because I was working out a lot and all of the muscle in my (long) legs was pushing my weight up. I don’t work out as much anymore but I’ve grown and have kept the exact same weight give or take a few pounds depending on the season. There are things like lifestyle and body shape and weight distribution and even your native diet and your country of origin in mind………………. and my japanese healthcheck didn’t account for any of that. I was told I was just obese and needed to change my lifestyle and everything completely. My supervisor had to be with me for the appointment and that was *embarrassing*. I managed to get my points across and conceded I could make some diet changes and work out more but I disagreed with the doctors diagnosis. We ended up meeting half way but 😕😕😕😕I sure left that check up feeling like a whale. My supervisor told me I had nothing to worry about bc cultural differences and stuff but 😕

This ended up being super long but I guess the tldr here is… don’t stress too much. If you’re like me, you probably will end up stressing regardless so go ahead and do you. But just understand the culture is different here, some things can’t be changed, beauty is fucked in, and some people are dumb.  As a foreigner living in japan, we can have tons of experiences and I hope you and everyone can have more good ones than bad. But at the end of the day, we’re different and in some ways, were just aren’t going to fit in… sometimes literally.

[slapmycans]

TLDR

I hope to achieve some things with this lil blog thing

1. Have an accessible journal thing that isn’t high key emo where I can just talk about shitty things that happened to me that I’ll probs find funny in the future.

2. Have a fun little collection of anecdotes that span from the end of 2017 to the end of 2018. I’m kinda interested to see how this coming year turns out for me.

3. Maybe upload some photos and see how my photography skills improve idk