#so visualising heights like that is very hard for me

[offorestsongs]

just a guy and his cat

is that how a 70cm tall animal would look like next to a human? i don't know! probably not!

[youremyheaven]

Can you elaborate on your experiences with goddess worship? 🩷🩷

I started my journey with goddess worship in 2022. Chanting has always appealed to me and chanting mantras (beej mantras of the deity in question) while visualising the deity is how it started for me. I was drawn to a certain Goddess almost instinctively even though I did not know much about her up until that point and connecting with her energy made me feel really good. I felt bodily sensations that felt powerful and by chanting, it's akin to embodying the energy of the Goddess within yourself and making yourself sacred??? I remember how during the height of my practice, I'd get told often that I emanate a certain "glow" and that I had a very sage like aura lmao. I just remember being stared at often and being perceived in an almost exalted way.

However late 2022- much of 2023 was a tough time for me and I fell out of touch with my practice and really suffered as a result. I felt myself go haywire, I gained more weight, my hair was falling out in chunks, my skin was breaking out and it's like I did a 180 😭 I felt really lost spiritually and otherwise and struggled to feel any kind of balance. And these had very physical repercussions for me.

Then obviously, I found my way back and I regained fresh perspective and how important my practices including Goddess worship have been in shaping my internal landscape. Several months ago, I struggled with severe anxiety and it was prayer that helped me get through it. During those times yoga did feel a bit mechanical or robotic but I kept doing it simply because I'd rather do it than not do it.

Finding my way back into the practice has taught me so much. Spirituality is truly a calling and no matter how much you read/research/practice, unless the Divine calls you, you will remain blind to the true nature of living. This is not to discourage anyone, in fact I suggest deep diving into it yourself and see what you gain from it. It's worthwhile to keep showing up everyday until you're called in further.

Also no spiritual practice makes you invulnerable. You're still human and you'll still make mistakes and be hurt/upset but you will have more grace moving through these experiences. You'll suffer less than others who make suffering their entire personality. One cannot embody the Goddess without also embodying her boundless mercy, infinitude reservoir of strength and tranquility.

It's always amusing to me when people say things like "oh why did the goddess not give you $5 billion and your dream life, what's even the purpose of worship them???" or "how can you be spiRitUaL when you watch movies/listen to music/are involved with men???". Being spiritually evolved does not mean you turn into a Zen master who lives in a cave.

The Goddess is not a vending machine. You want xyz things bc we live in a capitalist society where you're taught to value them. The Goddess gives you internally and when you're sorted within, you can make strides in life. Obviously she also often throws miracles your way but it's important to understand that the purpose of prayer and worship is not making $$$ or whatever. Im not saying you shouldn't pray for money or material things just that you shouldn't look at prayer as some kind of quick fix for financial woes???

You can still have a life, hobbies, interests etc and you don't have to "transcend" beyond them. You don't become less Zen by shaking your ass to Nicki Minaj 😬

However it will be hard to be a part of stan culture and celebrity worship because you won't care anymore and it won't feel right?? We worship money, fame and celebrities because our soul craves for connection and worship is inherently a part of our making. But it's important to not worship false gods (like money, fame and celebrities). Remember you are what you worship.

My personality has changed remarkably in the last couple of years and maybe even every few months, i feel like a new person and that's another feature of one's evolution. It's easier to accept and imbibe fresh insights and be comfortable with growth and change.

The concept of mantra purusha (which is different but similar to all the chanting ive been doing all along) is still very new to me (thank you to that anon who lmk about it) but Im reading David Frawley's book and it's all kind of coming together.

Goddess worship helps me feel connected to a profound nurturing spirit, a tranquil cosmic bliss, divine sensuality and ultimate peace and abundance.

All that said, do not start your Goddess worship unless you're prepared to commit to it daily and tbh once you start and feel its effect, you probably will want to worship everyday hehe

its actually helped me embody femininity in a way that did not feel limiting instead more transcendent, powerful and beyond whatever society tells you to be.

[fruityyamenrunner]

speaking of magic for the jet-set

This technique I commend to you reservedly. It almost did not make it into the final draft because it is, without question, the most dangerous technique in the book. But it is hugely effective if you have the stomach for it. Two pieces of context are necessary before we continue.

The modern western practice of assuming godforms originates with the Golden Dawn and is in and of itself a very worthwhile activity to explore. Briefly, you learn as much as you can about the attributes and mythologies of a particular god/dess, fill a ritual space with objects, colours, and smells associated with the god/dess and then sit there visualising yourself transforming into this being. Think of it like cosmic theatre sports.

Secondly, when I say “annunaki,” I do not mean the actual beings from Sumerian mythology. I mean the beings posited by ancient aliens theorist Zechariah Sitchin. I mean the space lizards who came to earth on nuclear powered rocket ships and genetically engineered mankind to mine gold to shore up the atmosphere of their home planet before getting into a nuclear war with each other, appointing some bloodline families to rule on their behalf and then leaving again.

To put it mildly, this is an extremely unlikely historical scenario. And by that I mean it emphatically did not happen. But after the last thirty years of alternative archaeological books and television programmes we all have a very vivid mental image of the “gods as hostile aliens” motif. It has spun off into about a dozen reptilian overlord conspiracy theories to boot. So, several years ago, after largely confining myself to western Europe for about five years, I was suddenly flying all over the world. New York, Fiji, Los Angeles, Hamburg, Tuscany, etc. It was the Fiji leg in particular that got me thinking about a potential godform experiment. It is one of those holiday destinations where the staff are so deferential it makes you feel awkward. They all but bow as you walk past. Tropical island holidays tend to be things of almost obscene luxury, especially given that they invariably happen in countries with few other viable economic sectors. It is not hard to imagine that if the planet were ruled by hostile alien overlords this is how they would live.

In this case, begin the godform assumption when you are on an airplane as it begins to speed up and take off. Picture your hands and feet morphing into three-taloned claws, your second set of eyelids blinking, your height extending by several feet, and allow a cold, calculating, uncaring personality to arise … like you are being dispatched to sort of a recalcitrant province of disposable ape men. Become an interloping Lord of the Earth.

It all seems fairly innocuous until you try it. The assumption triggers in me a metallic, influenza taste in my mouth that is my indicator I have wandered into a less salubrious corner of the imaginal realm. Retain this impression until about cruising altitude and then let it melt into the background. (For some reason this works better for me on take-off rather than landing. But I am usually pretty drunk by the time we land.) The personality change is remarkable, particularly in someone who is not overly misanthropic. No, really. And I will just add that it was a mere several months—perhaps six flights in all—of trialling this assumption before the startup I was working for was acquired by a large, publicly listed media company, netting me the single biggest windfall of my life so far.

[slashingdisneypasta]

How do you visualise the human versions of the toon patrol? Also their body types? I’m having a hard time picturing them when I read your fics

Ooooh, cool ask! This is how I picture the weasels as humans- your vision may be totally different! Hopefully these help though ^^

Greasy: My man here is CURVY! He's around 5'9, regular height, plus he has a triangle body type- so, a bit of a pot belly (As is in his official canon art ^^ ). His hair's obviously black and slick with grease, and almost down to his shoulders. I also like to imagine him with quite sharp canines for his wolfish grins XD

Psycho: Psycho has frecklesss ^^ All over his nose and under his crazy eyes. He's also like 5'5 in height, very pale, and he is a natural carrot-head (His hair is a literally shock of crazy orange hair. Not curly, just... gravity defying somehow... 😅). He's a rectangular body type, so he's quite slight with no curves. Very skinny like a string bean, looks delicate, but he's surprisingly strong??

Smartass: I agree with everyone else here who says Smartass is the littlest XD So- like Psycho, Smartass is small though he's got more of an inverted triangle shaped body with very broad shoulders. He's 5'4, and if he weren't the boss then no one would let him forget it XD His hair's brown the softest of all the Toon Patrol unless he's slicked it back which he does when he goes out of the house (Though, not to the extent that Greasy does. Smartass knows when to stop with the product).

Stupid: He is our oval shaped man! He's very large in every sense of the word, which means he can break you with his huge hands. He's like 6'3, his shoulders are broad and rounded like boulders, his tummy is round and you do not wanna get kicked by those big feet of his. His hair is the same as Smartass' ^^

Wheezy: For this one I wanna give credit to @marinerainbow because they brought it to my attention! ^^ They told me how Bill Moseley would work great as a Wheezy face-character- and I have to fully agree!! He's very tall, and lanky (6'1). He's got that laid back, casual 'Nothing fluffs me' sort of vibe that can also be kind of disconcerting to be around (At least when he's acting 😅 Maybe he's intimidating in real life too?- I dunno). I fluctuate between picturing him with dusty blue hair and with pale sort of fluffy white hair (Another marainerainbow idea!) for Wheezy ^^

[apocllipse]

not sure if this makes sense but how would you describe katsuki? like how do you visualise him?

m really sorry for getting back so late, i hope you see this

love the question and yes it makes sense dw 💗 m gonna assume you meant this as in physically, you can tell me if it's otherwise <33

i see him being around 6'2- 6'4 in height, shoulders broad enough to shield like three people with em, big biteable tiddies, biceps bulging in every single one of his shirts and tshirts like very VERY noticeable, thick THICK thighs and they're like tense and a lil hard under your hand and big ass hands like he can and he will just place his hold hand on your face and grabs it and kinda shake you and it's annoyingly cute 🥰

a sleeve tattoo. definitely a sleeve tattoo on his left while he has two piercings on his right ear and one on the left.

forrr his hair, it keeps switching for me honestly but mostly i love an undercut on him cause god he carries it so well SO FUCKING HOT SO SEXC SO IRRESISTIBLE HNGHHH

ALSO he tried a fake lip piercing once and now he occassionally wears one cause he knows he looks so fucking hot with it, smirks at you a lot when he's wearing one and plays with it while he stares at you. he's low-key considering to get a real onee ahhh

[soofismom]

Changing our perception of life // REVISION :

We are born in the world to control the reality we live in and thrive in whatever way we want. My worldly circumstances and experiences are a reflection of my inner self. I can change and improvise whatever I want and in whichever way I want in a blink of an eye. All of us are the gods of our lives and we deserve to live it as per our desires and liking.

Life :

‘you’ve to wait to bear fruits of your hard work’ NO. LIES. I can get what I want instantly.

‘Life is tough’ NO. It’s as easy as you want it to be. You’re the god of your reality.

‘Life is unpredictable’ NO. You’re the creator.

‘You need to work hard to be successful’ NO, the only work I need to do is subconscious and I am a master at commanding my subconscious to work in my favour.

‘You can’t change your past’ YES I CAN. I revised it and I healed myself.

‘You don’t choose what happens to you’ NO. I clearly do. I choose everything and how it should happen to me.

Life is meant to be easy, joyous and exciting.

Anything and everything else you’re told is a limiting belief and has no power unless you give it. Self concept is the KEY.

Money:

‘it’s difficult to make money, you’ve to work really hard’ NO. Making money is easy. Money is my best friend and it comes to me all the time from everywhere even without trying.

‘You’ve to work for money’ NO. I can attract money from any source and just relax.

‘Financial security is very important’ YES AND IM ALWAYS FINANCIALLY SECURE BECAUSE I SAID DO.

You can attract free stuff and being spoiled just by working on self concept. LIFE IS SO SO EASY AND FUN.

Health and Appearance:

‘you can’t change your body type or features it’s genetic’ NO. I can change it however I want. It’s very much possible and I do it all the time. We look a certain way because we were told about it all the time. Genetics exist, ofc, But I can change it.

‘You need to workout to lose/gain weight or tone your body’ NO. I will command my subconscious and the job will be done instantly. I wouldn’t have to lift a finger.

‘You need to eat clean to have clear skin and a healthy body’ NO. I can eat and drink anything as per my choice and be happy and healthy. I choose how my body reacts to certain foods and drinks and I can always control that.

‘You can’t change certain features such as eye colour or height’ YES I CAN. And I have. I can change it as per my wishes all the time.

‘You can’t get rid of xyz disease, it’s chronic and untreatable’ NO. I will cure myself. My subconscious is the best doctor. I’m healthy.

Knowing the law has given me a new found hope to be alive and I will not settle for less.

Friendships and relationships:

‘No relationships last long, priorities change’

NO. I can have a relationship last as long as I want. I have the power to flourish in all my personal relationships and be loved by everyone all the time.

‘It’s difficult to find like minded friends or a perfect SP’ NO. I ALWAYS attract like minded people and I have the SP/‘s I want. They come to me with all their love and affection because deserve it all. Why? BECAUSE THIS IS MY REALITY. And ofc, I’m aware of the things I deserve and I attract it all the time.

‘I have trust issues/abandonment issues etc’

ITS A LIMITING BELIEF. And it will be your reality for as long as you believe in it. Change this thought, reject it and replace it with better ones and everything will fall into place.

‘They will find someone better than me’ IS ANYONE BETTER THAN GOD ITSELF? No. You’re the best of your reality. You’re the most prioritised person ever. You’re powerful.

Experiences/talents/karma:

You can control all three. Wanna be a singer? Manifest the voice you like CAUSE YOU CAN.

Want that job? ITS YOURS RIGHT AWAY. You chose it and commanded your subconscious, now there’s no way anyone else can have it.

Visualise whatever experience you wanna have and bring it into life, because you’ve the power to do that. Karma does not exist. Evil eye does not exit. UNLESS YOU GIVE IT THE POWER TO EXIST. Affirm that you’re secure and protected and you WILL BE secure and protected.

You can have any skill you want without practising or being born with it.

You’re a limitless being. You can be anything you want and ITS NOT AS DIFFICULT AS YOU WERE TOLD REPEATEDLY growing up.

Thankyou <3

[marcosmommymilkers]

My AOT Shifting Script - Template

Before I start I would like to mention that it is very important that you use positive language in your script, avoiding words like “no”, “never”, “no one”, “not”, “does not”, “will not”, etc. This is due to the fact your subconscious can’t understand negative language like this and will probably end up doing the opposite of what you want it to do

ME

Name

Age (though it’s hard to do this because there aren’t exact dates given in AOT so i skipped this since I’ve scripted when I’m shifting to in my DR, 2 weeks before the Battle for Trost)

Date of birth

Zodiac

Place of birth

Current residence

Accent

Gender/Pronouns

Sexuality

Hobbies

Likes

Dislikes

Pain tolerance (preferably put high pain tolerance)

Religious belief

Family act (how I act around my family)

Friend act (how I act around my friends)

Self act (how I act when I’m by myself)

Favourite food (+ where to buy)

Favourite drink

Personality

Skills (personally I looked at the AOT wiki page and had a look at the character’s abilities and their ratings out of 10; there are 3 that I would highly recommend using: combat, initiative, wits, teamwork. There’s more I have on my script but I’d say these are the most important)

Additional (any additional info that doesn’t seem to fit a subcategory)

APPEARANCE

Before I go into this I would like to add that visualising how you look is also an option, or even mixing the description of your appearance along with things you have well visualised (I have done the latter, mainly because I suck at describing body parts)

Hair (colour/length/type)

Usual hairstyles

Eyes (shape/colour/lashes/brows/vision)

Lips

Teeth (white? straight? crooked? etc)

Face shape

Chin shape

Body build

Skin (clear? acne? moles? etc)

Height 

Weight

Uniform (normal cadet/scout/MP/garrison uniform, specify the shirt you wear and its colour)

Casual wear

Sensitive areas on my body (this one is optional, but I’m scripting a love interest in my DR and I wanna make things interesting)

FAMILY

Mother

Name

Age (again, optional because of what I said before)

Date of birth

Zodiac

Place of birth

Gender/Pronouns

Height

Weight

Job

Personality

Our relationship

Details of your relationship (optional)

Status (dead/alive, if dead, how did they die?)

Father

Name

Age (optional)

Date of birth

Zodiac

Place of birth

Gender/Pronouns

Height

Weight

Job

Personality

Our relationship

Details (optional)

Status (dead/alive, if dead, how did they die?)

Brother

Name

Age (optional)

Date of birth

Zodiac

Place of birth

Gender/Pronouns

Height

Weight

Job

Personality

Our relationship

Details (optional) (for example, I’m scripting that my brother taught me how to play guitar)

Status (dead/alive, if dead, how did they die?)

Sister

Name

Age (optional)

Date of birth

Zodiac

Place of birth

Gender/Pronouns

Height

Weight

Job

Personality

Our relationship

Details (optional)

Status (dead/alive, if dead, how did they die?)

CHILDHOOD

Basically just little details you wanna add about your childhood (for example, I’m scripting that my DR mother was childhood friends with Carla Jaeger, and that my DR dad worked with Grisha Jaeger, which lead to them having little get-togethers, which also lead to me becoming friends with Eren, and then we both befriend Armin and later Mikasa)

LOVE INTEREST

Name

Age (optional)

Date of birth

Zodiac

Place of birth

Current residence

Gender/Pronouns

Sexuality

Personality

Appearance

Height

Weight

Relationship status (when you first shift)

Details of your relationship

Additional 

FRIENDS/PEOPLE I KNOW

Name

Status of your friendship (best friend, childhood friend, good friend, not close, etc)

Age (optional)

Date of birth

Zodiac

Place of birth

Current residence

Height

Weight

Appearance

Personality

Details

Gender/Pronouns

Sexuality

How I got to know them/Our first interaction

Do this for as many friends as you want, if there’s people you don’t wanna specify as much as this don’t worry about it, your DR is a reality just like this one and all relationships you form will be completely natural

CLONE

My clone will act like me

My clone is immune to raising suspicion

My clone will keep the fact that I have shifted a secret from everyone

My clone will go about my normal activities

HOW I RETURN

Safe word

Safe action

I can return to my CR whenever I please

I can return to my current reality with ease

I will always remember my safe word/safe action

When I return to my CR, shifting is much easier for me

HOW TIME PASSES

This is essentially just the time ratio between your CR and your DR

An example of a time ratio a lot of shifters use is:

1 hour CR = 1 week DR

Refrain from using minutes or seconds and make sure to use safe time ratios (for example, scripting that 1 hour CR = 50 years DR might be possible but it’s not great to use for a number of reasons and I’m really hoping that just by looking at that example you understand why)

DESIRED REALITY

My DR is the world of Attack on Titan

My DR  follows the plot of Attack on Titan (optional ofc, you can come up with your own plot if you want to)

I will shift to the year [...], [...] weeks before [...] (for example, I’ve put: I will shift to the year 850, 2 weeks before the Battle for Trost)

If you’re scripting yourself as graduating in the Top 10, specify the order of all the graduates 8for example, I’m scripting that I graduate in 4th place, which means everyone from Annie and beyond are moved down by one slot)

The spoken language is [...] (if you want the spoken language to be Japanese make sure to script that you are fluent in Japanese)

The written language is [...] (if you want the written language to be the same as the anime make sure to script that you know how to read, write and understand the written language)

Everyone smells good (specify it, for example, I’ve scripted that everyone smells like flowers)

I always smell good (personally I want to smell like eucalyptus so I’ve scripted that)

Everyone’s breath smells good (again specify. I’m specifying that everyone’s breath smells minty)

Everyone’s hair is always soft and clean (you can specify what it smells like if you want)

My hair is always soft and clean (again, specify the smell if you want to)

ODM GEAR

I, along with MANY many others, would highly recommend including these

Using ODM gear is very easy for me

My ODM gear is weightless (this is considered normal)

I am the best in my class at using ODM gear (this one is optional but i included it just to play it safe)

MY HORSE

I always have/am given a fast horse

My horse always comes to me when called

My horse is able to stay calm in the presence of titans

My horse’s fur pattern is [...] (optional but if you want your horse a specific colour I’d suggest including this)

My horse’s name is [...]

ADDITIONAL

This is like the sections of the other categories; this is just for additional info that doesn’t fit a specific category. There are a few that many would recommend including

I am always safe from death

I am always safe from severe and permanent injuries

I am safe from long-lasting trauma

I am safe from developing severe mental health issues

All feelings I develop in my DR only stay in my DR

Any trauma I experience only stays in my DR

I know my way around the Districts

I know my way around the training camp

I am aware of the political situation

I am familiar with the writers and musicians of the world of Attack on Titan

The only things I remember from my CR are: the fact that I have shifted to my DR, my safe word/safe action

SPECIFIC SCENARIOS

These are just little scenarios you want happening in your DR (for example, some of my specific scenarios include saving certain characters from their death, squads I’m assigned to, the day my love interest confesses to me - like where it takes place, etc)

Good luck with shifting everyone! You’ll do it! I know you will! And I know you’re going to have an amazing time when you do :D

[horrorhot-line]

Do you have any writing tips Coz i rlly like your writing ❤😭

This one took a while to answer because of how much I had to say. (Please keep in mind that I am in no way telling you to follow these tips, take whatever you think will work for you and discard what doesn't, okay?)

Alright, first things first, I've been writing on and off for the past seven years, and I can say for a fact that I've definitely improved since my first fic (which was on paper, we don't talk about it). The following tips are what works for me, and what I believe has helped me become better at writing. 

Remember, fanfiction is supposed to be self-indulgent, and therefore you are entitled to write whatever you like because it's your work, so you don’t have to follow any of these tips if you don’t feel like it.

Proofreading, making sense & grammar

Grammar and punctuation make a huge difference. You could have an amazing story, but bad grammar can make that piece of work flop. Stories are supposed to be immersive, but if there are too many mistakes or the words don't make sense, it can ruin it for a reader. (I don't mean your garden variety missing letters, I mean something like 'an he and her goes and u were like oh no'.) I can't name the amount of time I've started to read something online and ditched it because the grammar irks me (your instead of you're, their instead of they're and so on). I've seen a lot of fanfiction writers also switch between past tense, present tense and future tense in the same paragraph, which makes it hard to understand what's happening. 

If you're trying to post and have it get attention, please do check your work to make sure it makes sense. Write down everything first, don't correct anything, and once you're done writing the scene, go back to proofread the whole thing. Get someone to read it for you and point out mistakes or things that don't make sense, if you can. 

If you can't, then there are alternatives. There's 'text to speech', where you can copy and paste what you've written down onto a website, and it will read the text out loud to you. It works the best (for me anyway). There's also grammarly, which is kind of similar to google docs except it points out all the mistakes you may have in your work. (Bear in mind a few mistakes don't matter, but if there's too many then it's likely that your post or blog won't get much attention.) This tip helps you to get a lot of likes on your writing.

Research

If you're writing fanfiction, please study the character(s). My biggest pet peeve when I read fanfiction, is that the love interest is out of character. Whether it be the way they talk or the way they act, if it isn't close to canon, I cannot read it.

So, if you're trying to gain traction and have your work get a lot of positive feedback or likes, then it's best to do research. Most fictional characters have wiki pages where their personalities, relationships and life stories are listed, so why not make the most of it? It's all there for the taking. When writing for a character, rewatch the show/movie to get a good grasp of their personality and then begin to write. The more canon your writing is, the more people will enjoy it.

Reader Inserts

Ever come across an x reader where there's way too much description about their appearance? (Specified hair colour, hair length, named family members etc.) I once read a reader insert where the author described the reader as someone who had pale skin, blue eyes and blonde hair... I was like, huh? That's not what I look like :') 

When you specify or go into details about 'reader's' appearance, it will most likely ruin the mental image your readers have in their heads already. I feel like when one tries to write a story or oneshot with a reader, they should be as vague as possible. There's no need to specify the height, or the reader's dream job or names of family members, or outfit choice- that's up to the people that are reading your stuff to work out. Leave it to their imagination. (This doesn't apply to requests made by others for specific character traits or appearances.)

Write believable characters

If your work has a reader insert or original characters, please make them believable. You don't want to write characters that are 2D and have little to no depth. Please don't make them perfect, that takes the fun out of things and makes your character somewhat boring. You don’t want to write a character that your readers find it hard to care about, so even if you were to kill them, the readers wouldn’t care. 

Make them real, with real problems and a factor of relatability. Heck, give them toxic/bad personality traits while you're at it. Easily irritable, overly sensitive, cynical, selfish, manipulative, people pleaser- the list is endless (we all have our flaws, no?). Contrary to what others may believe, this will make your character easy to relate to or understand, and more people will like your work that way. (this links to my next tip btw)

Mary Sues

I've seen this a lot in the fanfiction community, and oh god, does it make me cringe (this is because of personal preference, though). Mary sues, if you aren't aware, are perfect characters that have no faults. They don't make mistakes, and everyone loves them even if they do nothing. They are basically the perfect hero/heroine, and that makes them boring. My biggest pet peeves are mary sues in fanfiction author's works, (but, this is because I can't stand perfect and over-powered characters that everyone seems to fall for at first sight). 

Fair enough if the entire story is self-indulgent, I'm not here to bash others over personal preferences (this is just how I feel on the matter), but that also means that you take the risk of your work flopping for that sole reason. Your work might not get any traction or positive feedback because it is overly indulgent. 

Don't make your original character or reader insert a mary sue. Throw hurdles and hardships at them, let them make huge mistakes and learn from them, let them mature. Let them have flaws, let them win over the love interest slowly, instead of having the two fall in love instantly. 

Use the right inspiration for romantic relationships

Please for the love of god do not use toxic relationships as your inspiration for the romance you write into your story. 'After' by Anna Todd comes to mind first, as it is a good example of a romance written horribly. If you don't know already, then it's a Harry Styles wattpad fanfiction that got popular and was published, with two movie adaptations out already, (with more on the way)- the classic good girl falls for bad boy cliche. 

So, what's so wrong with 'After'? For one, the male interest is toxic as hell. Anger management issues, substance abuse, trash personality, the list goes on. What does the female interest to about it? Absolutely nothing. She lets him walk all over her and forgives him for it every time. 

Please don't use stories like this as a basis for what the romance in your work is like. Relationships where one abuses the other, whether it be mentally, physically or verbally are wrong and shouldn't be glorified nor romanticised. Relationships are supposed to be healthy, and shouldn't tear the people in it, apart. Use the right inspiration, there's plenty out there.

Writing chemistry between characters

For me, I use inspiration where ever I can find it. Movies, animes, books, real life, you name it. Observe the different types of media around you. How do friends interact with each other? How is it different from childhood friends and family friends? How is it different to lovers? I watch Netflix shows/movies in my free time, mostly romance- and yes, it is for research purposes. From there, I take a particular interaction or scene and get to thinking. If the characters from my works were in that situation, how would they react? 

Ever watched a movie or a show and thought to yourself, 'Wow, the interactions are so awkward'? That's mostly because the script is forced, and that's the last thing you want to write like. Chemistry, whether it be platonic or romantic, should be natural. The best way for you to do this is by thinking about how characters would interact and letting it come naturally to you.

Don't rush it

You have all the time in the world to write chemistry between characters. Why rush it? Slow burns hit the hardest and a lot of people like them. What I mean to say is, please for the love of god, don't let the characters in your work meet and then immediately fall in love. 

The countless amount of times I've sighed in frustration because I've decided to read a story and the first chapter they meet, the second they're already a thing and the third they get married? (This is an exaggeration, but you know what I mean.) What? Why? The time between realising feelings and officially dating should at least take a month, so write with that in mind. (This tip doesn't apply to one-shots.)

Narration

I’ve seen authors skip out on explaining where the story takes place and give the bare minimum when it comes to details, and have realised that it makes it very hard for the reader to understand what’s happening. When there’s barely any context, the story is no longer immersive and is less enjoyable.

Focus on describing the settings. There should be more description than dialogue. The weather, the surrounding, if there are people near or not, smells, sounds, etc. This will help the reader visualise what's happening, and will make it more enjoyable all around. The surroundings should be included in your story to make it more interesting and to keep the reader hooked. I've seen authors do this in their fanfiction and my god, when it's done right, it is so beautiful.

The first paragraph

This is a tip I've only recently started to use. You should always start the first paragraph off with something interesting. It's gotta be eye-catching. This makes sure that the reader doesn't click off of your work before you get to the good bits. There are a lot of writers who start their stories off with the classic 'I woke up in the morning to the alarm clock sounding,' and it is the absolute worst because it's the most overused cliche I've ever seen. 

Reading about someone waking up isn't interesting unless it's important to the story. For example, you can start off with a character waking up, if they're sick, 'I jolted awake only to immediately groan at the headache I was hit with. I moved to massage the bridge of my nose, to ease my pain, somewhat. It was then that I realised I was covered in a thin layer of sweat. Breathing in through my nose, I kicked the covers off of myself in an attempt to try and cool down. Turning my head and coughing into my pillow, I wondered if it was even worth it to get up.'

Internal monologues

Internal monologues give character to the person you're writing about and also gives the reader a good idea of what they're like. They also make your story better as a whole and can prove to lengthen it a bit more. Sprinkle them in where you see fit.

For example, 'The school day dragged on. You gazed at the clock yet again- why did it feel as if the hand on it hadn't moved? You should have stayed home. What was the point of this again? You could be spending your time doing something better. You suppressed the urge to yawn as the teacher droned on about how to calculate frequencies and wavelengths.'

Read

I mean this. When you're not writing, read, and do it like it's a job. Find a good book or a fanfiction that's well written, and take note of things the author has done that you think, 'Oh! That's worded beautifully.' This will help you expand your vocabulary, provide you with inspiration and overall will improve your writing.

hope this helps 💞💞💞💞

[the-darklings]

—𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌, 𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒖𝒈𝒂𝒓;

pairing: detective loki x reader

word count: 1.8k

summary: “Are you always…” he begins slowly, pausing to search for a world that won’t make him sound like a complete asshole. “...like this?”

notes: Never let it be said that I am not an absolute fool!!! This is set pre-movie so no spoilers for the film itself. 

‘black coffee’ drabbles: ... | 02 |

The coffee is good. 

That’s why he keeps coming in. The diner also has that typical, cosy American feel to it and is, in fact, one of the busiest in town. Certainly more busy than the Chinese place across the street he likes frequenting sometimes. 

Coming here has become an odd habit ever since the Chinese place had to be closed for the day due to a burst pipe in the kitchen. He’d been hungry, sleep-deprived, and trying to solve a case and with no other option than to go to the nearest open establishment to escape the harsh October rain.

He came in because he didn’t have much of a choice. He stayed and kept coming back because the coffee is good. 

He’s also become rather fond of his little booth at the back too. Sometimes he would come in and sit here for hours, pouring over reports and case notes, trying to connect all the little dots and make sure bastards that deserve to rot did exactly that. 

“The usual?”

He pauses, his hand lifting from the notes he was scribbling in his notebook to glance up at the source of the voice. Your face is familiar because he sees you around the diner often—practically every day, if he comes in that often which he often does, even if only for a takeaway.

Truthfully, it’s hard not to notice you. You bounce around the place with a smile and a warm greeting to everyone who steps through the door. Like somehow working endless shifts in this shitty diner that could be paying no more than the minimum wage was somehow the height of living.  

Fake.

That’s the first and logical conclusion that came to mind the first time he saw you. There is no way someone can be genuinely this happy and upbeat all day round and mean it. It’s like you’re dialled up to 200% at all times and it’s almost irritating but—

“I have one of those?” he questions slowly, squinting at you, “The usual?”

Your head tilts slightly and a faint smile lingers around the corners of your mouth, knowing and cheerful. From where you stand, it does look genuine but he still has his suspicions. People would do anything nowadays for a good tip. 

“You’ve been coming in daily for almost two weeks, detective,” you reply amiably, twisting the pen between your fingers. “Of course you do.”

His eyebrows jump slightly and he scoffs under his breath. “And that would be?”

Your feet shuffle—nervous?—and you stare at him for a beat of mutual silence. You haven’t missed the slightly condescending note in his voice then. Good. 

“Coffee: black, no sugar,” you say pleasantly, tapping your pen once against the notepad in your hand, and eyes moving towards the ceiling like you’re visualising the order. “For breakfast, you enjoy bacon and eggs. Though I do recommend our buttermilk pancakes. Joey adds magic into them, I swear. Lunch would be a cheeseburger and double fries. Oh, and for dinner, hmm, meatloaf which I didn’t take you to be the type.”

He’s not sure if he should be worried or pleasantly surprised. 

“Are you always…” he begins slowly, pausing to search for a world that won’t make him sound like a complete asshole. “...like this?”

You laugh; a warm sound, pleasant too, if a bit too loud. Your grin stretches and you simply glance at your notebook, fingers fiddling absentmindedly.

“Well, I guess my coworkers would say yes,” you admit, a touch embarrassed. “I would say that anticipating customer needs and making them feel appreciated is a sign of good customer service.”

Huh. 

He wonders if it’s really as simple as that. But every time he comes in, he does notice how you flutter around the dining room, interacting and chatting with everyone who wants to have a conversation. You do try your hardest to make customers feel welcome. Even if it’s nothing more than a job, he can at least acknowledge the dedication you have for a position most people would consider inconsequential. 

“Coffee. Black,” he states after another moment of silence between you, having to fight back a smile at the way your eyes jump to him, amused. “And I’ll try those, uh, magical pancakes. Thanks.”

Your smile is of pure delight and you hurriedly scribble the order down—almost like him somehow taking your recommendation on board just made your entire day. 

“Comin’ right up, detective.”

. . .

The coffee is good.

He can’t help but think it again—both in genuine appreciation and delight. Most places that sell coffee in this town only sell some weak, washed-out shit that’s a piss poor substitute for caffeine. He might as well add some salt and cement and mix it with water for how good or effective it is.

But as he sips on the scalding content in his cup, he can’t help but sigh. He can almost feel the dull twinge against his temple lessen. Fuck, how long has it been since he slept? He should probably try and catch at least a few hours before Captain tears into him again—though that worry has lessened with each new case he closes. As long as he makes the department—and especially the Captain—look good, very little matters outside of that. 

He just wants to get to the new case and the case after that—not much else exists for him outside his work. He’s good at it. He likes it. What more could he ask for?    

“Hard case?”

His eyes lift and he sees you approaching his booth with a plate of steaming, fluffy pancakes in hand. He’s not much for sweets but even he has to admit that the pancakes look rather good. 

“No,” he answers, lowering his cup slightly, “Not really.”

Not for me.

It goes unsaid but the way your mouth twitches slightly to the side tells him that you likely picked up on the unspoken meaning anyway. He regards you critically, accessing, as you lower the pancakes in front of him.

“You work too hard, detective,” you tell him, expression and voice empty of accusation or judgement. It’s simply a statement, and he even notes the slight, worried furrow of your brows. “You need to rest to be productive. Besides exhaustion can place your life in danger.”

He draws a deep breath, peering at you as he blinks a few times, squinting, “That’s rich coming from someone who I see here every day,” he points out mildly, fingers tapping against the rim of the cup with that slight edge of annoyance he can’t quite quell fully. “Today is your eight-day in a row.”

Your face creases with surprise—almost like someone noticing anything about you is somehow shocking, and perhaps it is; you are as invisible as you are seen in this place—and this time around your smile is softer, almost melancholy. 

“Well, we all gotta eat, right?” you ask, but he gets a sense that you’re not really looking for a reply so he keeps quiet, silently observing you because—perhaps—he is a touch more curious than usual. “Besides, I’m saving up. See, I really want to open my own place. Nothing big, just enough space for a kitchen and maybe ten customers—definitely something manageable. Somewhere where I can make fresh food, and stand back and watch people enjoy what I made for them. There would be kids and lots of sunlight and laughter. It would be warm. Someplace I can call my own. Don’t get me wrong, I do like it here—I mean I grew up in this town, so it goes without saying but…”

You trail off and the fond, dream-like tilt of your voice fades too. For a split second, he feels almost disoriented because for a moment he saw it too. You would greet all guests and know them all by their first names. You would be working every day but you would adore every moment of it. He could see you in a tiny kitchen, dancing around and creating to your heart’s content, putting all your positive energy into the simple art of creation. 

“Sorry,” you mutter weakly and clear your throat. “You’re busy and I shouldn’t be bothering you with this type of talk. But yeah, if you want a good thing, you have to be prepared to work hard for it. I will make it out of here one day.”

No, you won’t. 

It’s a cynical thought—and after hearing your dream he almost feels bad for thinking it—but he knows he’s right. If Huntington thought him anything is that life has a way of gobbling up dreamers like you and spitting them back out mangled and broken beyond repair. Time will pass, you will not leave: be it money, family, or whatever else is holding you back from going right this second. Eventually, you’ll be empty of hopes and dreams, living one day at a time in a cycle that’s like a noose around your throat. 

He should know. 

Your joy will grow into resentment, and your drive will sour into bitterness. All that’s left will be someone unhappy with their life and all they could have done with their wasted time. 

It’s a shame though. 

At this point, he can at least admit to himself that perhaps he was too hasty to assume you were playing pretend. Just an endless optimist. It will be a shame to see a fire like yours slowly dim with time. Because given time, you will wither like so many others have.

“Will I be getting a discount at this new place of yours?” he wonders idly, stabbing the fork into his golden pancakes as he takes another slow sip of coffee.

Your embarrassed expression eases, something warmer and happier taking its place, and you suit it a lot more than a frown. Some faces aren’t made for unhappiness. Tragedy and pain become rawer when reflected in them. That’s why happy people are always the hardest to deal with on cases—they don’t know how to hide their suffering the way others do. 

“That will depend entirely on how much sleep you get before coming in,” you say, something joking and teasing twisting your voice. “I would hate for those bags under your eyes to scare the little ones away.”   

His lips twitch into a surprisingly genuine smile around the rim of his cup, and he turns his head slightly as if considering your words.

“You should also smile more, detective,” you add, voice pleasant, thoughtful, “It suits you.”

His eyes lift to look at you but you’re already walking away, waving at random customers as you pass with few passing comments in between. 

His expression twitches and he blinks quickly a few times, but his gaze stays on you till you disappear behind the kitchen door.

. . .

an: anyway I love one stoic, broody detective and giving him someone happy and positive to deal with is so damn funny. hope you guys enjoyed it. this was a fun little exercise (especially writing from Loki’s POV oppose to Reader’s) so I hope you all liked it. might write another few parts for this because I had so much fun but we shall see since I still need to finish Unbecoming. thank you for reading! <33 

[fictional-worlds-are-exquisite]

agajsksns not gonna lie being 10 feet tall sounds awesome. i have no idea how tall that is because the only thing i know about feet (that sounds so wrong) is that google is telling me that i'm 5'6 (sorry to disappoint). which is. average height right? well it doesn't feel like it coz my best friends are giants. they're both 180+ cm tall and they constantly make fun of me for being short. but honestly i win because i can always make them reach things for me.

thank you! that's very sweet, i actually only saw your reply like 20 minutes before the new year so it was right on time! i loved writing to you and waiting to hear back as well, you're a really fun person to talk to!

i know you probably won't see this for a couple of weeks before going on holiday, but have fun!

i laughed really hard at the picture my brain conjured up when reading about you dropping the vampire act and starting to pretend to be a mouse, just straight up scurrying up to the houses on all fours in a bathrobe is hilarious. i'd pay to see that. and yeah! me either. the number of times i've gone outside at night is probably like 3. that's counting that time when i went for ice cream at 11pm to the store on the other side of the street in my pajamas and then had to turn back because it apparently closes at 10 pm. that was a pretty big disappointment

a halloween themed birthday party sounds awesome! it's sort of disappointing though that you can barely remember it. the only themed birthday party i had (or at least the only one that i remember) was princess themed because i was on my princess faze back then (i was 5 or 6 i think). i still remember the sheer joy i felt at being able to wear a long fancy dress. it was brilliant

oh yeah! i'm still slightly scared of blenders because of that time. now anytime i even put my fingers close to the blade i unplug it first. also i saw you got a blender? i think we have one that's similar to the one you described. so i have a couple of suggestions! i like to make banana "ice cream". you just cut up a banana into pieces and freeze it, (i have no idea how long it takes to freeze i just generally always have frozen bananas in my freezer) then you take them out, let them sit for 10 minutes (to not break the blender when you use it) and blend them. i sometimes add frozen berries or peanut butter too! depending on what i want that day. it's great, especially because i'm slightly lactose intolerant too and i absolutely love ice cream. you can also make smoothies as you said. i usually put in mine whatever fruit we have, generally apples, bananas and oranges or grapefruits. or if i'm making one for breakfast (which i know you can't, but this is just a generally more filling option i think?) i also add spinach. you can't really feel the taste but it's supposed to be good for you and it fills you up more (it does make the smoothie super green though!). but yeah i pretty much just mix and match anything i have! also: milkshakes. ice cream, berries (optional) and milk! super easy and my little cousins love it when they visit!

ohhh your grater also seems to be out to get you. i bet it's really painful if it actually falls on your feet, because like metal. on foot. ouch. especially if it hits you with a corner! and i would definitely also get surprised every time it happened no matter how many times it did! bifocal glasses do not sound fun either tho. i would constantly forget how to use them and probably would just get headache really fast too! i get a headache from my normal glasses when i wear them (i usually wear contacts) so bifocal ones would be even worse i bet.

exactly. i had no idea what "hot" means. i thought you were supposed to use it when you thought a person was aesthetically pleasing? or like you thought they look cute? i dunno. i used it a couple of times before i realised that was not what that meant and then i was just like uhhhh yeah i'm gonna delete that word from my vocab. yeah! i think that ace and probably aro too are pretty hard to figure out because it's the lack of something.

ahahsksns i can imagine tiny Lindsey waking up on Christmas morning and running to the window expecting snow in the middle of summer and it's so funny! i can't say anything though because we have this saying in lithuanian which is used essentially when someone does something unexpected and unusual for them so you say "it's gonna snow tomorrow". as in "wow, [name] did [something super unexpected from them], it must be snowing tomorrow" (because like those are equally unexpected things i guess? but it's said in winter too so it's just something you say whenever, i'm sorry it's hard to explain!) but yeah a figure of speech. and anytime i heard that, even in the middle of summer, the next morning i'd run to my window and look for snow and when there was none, i'd just stare accusatorily at my parents. like wow, i can't believe you lied/let someone lie to me

horse races sound fun, i've never been to one though! and a picnic luch sounds awesome! i love picnics but we have them very rarely, i definitely think we should have them more often

and yeah, i get that acid reflux more of an annoyance than a problem but still! i completely agree with you about peanut butter though. it's amazing, i could eat it everyday

I know exactly how tall 10 feet is purely because I’m 5 foot so two of me is 10 foot. I barely know feet but I got used to people being confused when I was like oh, I’m 155cm! so I learnt what my height was in feet but I can really only visualise heights when I put them into centimetres. Someone can be like I’m 6 foot! and that’s great but I don’t have the faintest idea how tall that actually is. 182cm on the other hand is easy. that’s just like one ruler above my height. I can picture that. 5 foot 6 is probably average but as a short person, I consider you tall. That really isn’t saying much at my height but still sdflshdfks. Biggest benefit of tall best friends is indeed making them reach high things though. 

And now we’re almost three weeks into the new year. Time seems to be flying this year. This is a very late reply indeed sdfjhskdfs. I did see this before I left but didn’t have time to reply, thank you though! I did have lots of fun. I had some birds try to invade the unit up in Orewa and I had a dotterel (I think) follow me along the beach at Ngarimu Bay playing some sort of red light green light game with me (it only moved closer and started following me again when I looked away) and I think a blackbird started some sort of mating performance at me which was flattering but uhhhh I’m a bit of a big bird mate. Maybe choose someone else. there was also beaches and gorgeous views etc etc but birds, y’know. birds.

i would 100% do that for money with no regrets. on one hand I could get a job and contribute to society. on the other hand I could do that as my main income. not a hard choice. hire me by the hour to freak your family and friends out. i have no respect for myself i’ll do it to anyone for the right price. damn. only closed one hour earlier. that’s a massive disappointment. i was out at night willingly for my high school prom and for a creative writing night at my uni and inside a car if that counts when I think my family was travelling back from the south island when I was younger. So three times that come to mind. Oh. And if stupid camp burma trails count then add a few times to that but those were not night outings I did willingly.

I can barely remember most of my life, I just assume it happened and I wasn’t just planted here at 12 years old as an alien spy. Anything’s possible though. I remember my birthday cakes more than my birthday parties to be honest with you. My mum always made the cake and when I was young she’d make fun designs. A bee, a bat, a swimming pool and a cat come to me off the top of my head. They were mostly just sponge cats but she cut them and iced them expertly. A princess-themed party seems like a very fun type of party for kids who like that. Kids always seem very happy to dress up in pretty dresses and cool outfits to attend those kinds of parties. I can imagine the joy. I know my little cousin looooves that sort of thing, and her brother isn’t willing to be left out either

thank god you unplug it first now sdfjhsdf that’s incredibly reassuring. Ooo thank you for those suggestions!!! this is great!! I was wanting to try something with bananas and that sounds easy enough. I had an apple and feijoa smoothie while I was away on holiday and all I want is another one of those. So I’m very very very interested in trying out fruit smoothies now because they seem like they can be very very tasty. Spinach seems like such an odd thing to add but I’ve heard that several times now so clearly it’s a thing. I don’t think I’ve ever even had spinach. I’ll keep it in mind though. I suppose if I just try whatever fruit we have on hand eventually I’ll get something that tastes good. I have dairy free ice cream and dairy free milk so it seems like this could work out for me in a way where I’m not regretting my entire life. Normally when I go near a milkshake I regret the day I was born.

It isn’t a super heavy grater but I have intense survival instincts every now and then so it hasn’t actually hit my foot yet. I go diving in the other direction. But I think if it did I’d probably curse a few times before moving on with my life. I don’t think it’d be THAT bad. But I live in fear regardless. oh no. do your normal glasses have a slightly wrong prescription or is this just a thing that happens when you normally wear contacts,,, I’ve never worn contacts because I fear touching my squishy eyeball and also I think my shitty eyesight is too awkward for contacts so I have no idea if that’s a thing.

oh yes haha hot has been solidly deleted from my vocab for many years except in terms of temperature. It has a word that has never naturally come to mind and I’m sure it never will. It just seems weird when I use it. 

I was a fool of a child and absolutely nothing has changed there! I mean I know how hemispheres work now but I’m still a dumbass at heart. Hahahahahaha oh nooooo. That’s incredible but oh noooo. I get what you mean by the saying though, that’d make a lot of sense here honestly since it never snows ever. Locally, at least. 

i think horse races are just a form of betting and losing money that is frowned upon less than actual buildings based on gambling and such. I mean I only ever attended those ones, idk if all horse races are like that, but I know there was buying tickets for whatever horse you thought would win, and if they did you got money, if they didn’t you lost money. I don’t think it was a whole lot of money ? just like a few bucks ? but maybe you could choose to bet more ? I really don’t remember how it worked, I just remember accidentally finding a ticket on the ground and handing it in only to receive some money because the horse won. I think it was like 5 or 10 bucks which seemed like a LOT to my kid self. picnic lunches are fun though. my family keeps a tartan blanket in the back of the car that we use whenever we have picnics and also whenever we get takeaways (we put it in the middle of the lounge floor as the rest of my family eats fish and chips and I eat sushi, normally). But we don’t have as many as we used to. They are fun though.

can confirm i do eat peanut butter everyday and it goes brilliantly.

[koos-euphoria]

Hi 💕saw your post about your ideal guy so I wanted to ask you whats Your ideal type of girls?🙈 -🍼anon

Hi love, okay so I’m a bit nervous to talk about this, as the last time I talked about me finding girls attractive I lost a ton of followers but there isn’t that much of a difference 🥺

Dark hair

Soft features

Either the same height or a bit taller (once again that isn’t hard as I’m pretty small)

Tattoos (It’s not a must but I just really like them🤤)

Dark style or just a unique style in general

Funny (humour is very important to me)

Loves cuddles and are soft🥺

If I was to pick someone from kpop to visualise it, Jennie from blackpink she’s just🤤

[mythicallore]

Bizzare Encounters with Imps

Throughout European legend and folklore can be found the pervasive presence of the tiny, evil little creatures commonly referred to as imps. The word comes from the Old English noun impa, meaning basically the young shoot of a tree or plant, and they are particularly prevalent in Germanic myths and legends. Although the creatures have countless descriptions and appear in numerous forms, there are some basic similarities. They are almost always portrayed as diminutive, small in stature, with ugly, rough features, and they are known as being mischievous, prankish, incorrigible, and uncontrollable. Many of the traditions depict them as rather evil and malicious, and indeed over the centuries they became more and more associated with the Devil and depicted as being demons and familiars of witches, warlocks, and even servants of Satan himself. While this must all sound like pure fantastic folklore very much in the vein of fairies, gnomes, and goblins, just as with those others there have been many purported sightings of what seem to be real imps, or at least something very much like these legends describes. These surprising reports involve some sort of gnome-like creatures with a decidedly demonic feel to them, and a malevolent air of menace surrounding them, and they come in from a variety of far-flung areas.

One such account comes to us from the site TrueGhostTales, from a witness named Joshua, who says that he had been just 12 years old at the time of his strange experience. It all started shortly after they had moved into a new home in Benicia, California, and although he had felt a bad energy emanating from the home from the very beginning, things would get truly bizarre when his mother one day heard a loud banging noise from the bathroom, even though no one else had been home at the time, and when she had gone to investigate she had found that everything from the counter and medicine cabinet had been thrown into a pile in the middle of the floor. This unexplained incident was followed shortly after by his terrified sister reporting that she had seen small glowing red eyes peering out from their darkened closet at night. The witness says that although he had not seen the red eyes himself, his sister had been so upset about it that he had believed her, and he would then in the coming days see for himself that indeed there was something very odd lurking in the home, which would become a regular visitor. He says of his first encounters with the thing:

My sister and I were ready to go to bed, my sister said she saw two red eyes inside the closet. I didn’t see them, but from how scared she was I believed her. We shared a room, and we had bunk-beds. My mom comforted her until she fell asleep. I slept short after. I awoke later that night from a small continuous noise coming from the foot of my bed (I had the top bunk). When I looked at my feet, I could see this dark, black figured shape jumping up and down at the foot of my bed. Every time that it jumped up, it would leer at me with these little red eyes. The eyes seemed to sink into his face until the red would just disappear. I couldn’t see much detail to his facial features, but I did realize that he was wearing a brim hat, like Charlie Chaplin. I started to scream, and within a couple of seconds my mom came in the room. But before she was able to turn the light on, I saw the little man (about three feet tall) hurry and run to the corner of the room and disappear into the darkness just before my mom turned on the light. This was not the first of many experiences we had.  A few days later, I woke up in the middle of the night. I still had that experience fresh on my mind, so I very carefully peaked my head over the railing of my top bunk, and looked around the room. When I saw the little man! This time he was just being very still and quiet, and he was just standing at the foot of my sisters bed, watching her (Our bunks were in the shape of an L, so I could see the lower half of my sisters bed). He then noticed me and looked at me. I yelled, and again, just one second before my mom got into the room, he would again run to the corner of the room, and disappear into the shadow. Every time he would run to the corner, he would stop for half a second facing the wall, and disappear.

Joshua claims that he saw this strange little demonic man over the next few nights as well, finally working up the courage to tell his mother what was happening. Rather than laugh it all off as the ramblings of a child’s imagination, she seemed to think that something was genuinely terrifying them, although she never let on that she had seen it herself. It would not be until years later that she would tell of her own experience with the entity, of which the witness says:

So what she did next, she did not tell us, until years later when we were grown up. If she told us at that time, it would have made us even more frightened because we would have known that it was not our imaginations. She told us that she stayed up one night with all the lights off. She was sitting in a chair in her bedroom, looking down the hallway to the entry way to our bedroom. What she saw next startled her. She said that after about a half hour after she turned the lights out she saw a little man who came into the hallway from the bathroom. He started to walk into our room when he must have sensed something. My mom said he stopped, and slowly turned around and looked at her with those sunken in little red eyes. She said he then turned back around and went into our room. She hurried up, and ran into our room and turned on light on. But he had vanished.  We lived in that house for about another year. We continued to have strange things happen. It didn’t let up until my mom and dad decided to move. Personally, I believe to this day, that the little man had to of been some sort of demon, not a human spirit. One thing that I never liked about it, was the fact that countless times, I would look around in the middle of the night, and every time he would be still, just watching us, either from the foot of my sisters bed, or he would be standing in the corners watching us. I never liked that, because you just never knew how long he could have been watching you as you slept.

A similar report comes from a witness on Your Ghost Stories, who had her own encounter in England with a very aggressive and genuinely evil little imp of some sort. She says that whatever it was had been quite bold, appearing in the middle of the day to harass her and her boyfriend, before becoming a constant presence that haunted and menaced them at all hours. The witness says of the ordeal :

I had a black shapeless entity peek at me from behind the TV one morning last May. It was black, and had tiny pinprick white eyes, extremely bright but the smile was ‘ear to ear’ and red… It rushed at me too, seemed to like chasing me at first, my boyfriend was in the house at the time, and this was during the day, while bright sunlight was streaming in through the window. I was terrified and actually climbed up my boyfriend (poor guy) to stop it touching my feet, which it seemed to find funny…  When it was moving across the floor it would either be a solid black shape, half human height, or a spinning ‘moth’? Which would continually spiral towards the floor. I have no idea what it was, we tried burning sage around the house, it seemed to back off quite a lot but after that a smaller black thing (no face) would sometimes peer at my boyfriend when he was asleep, and wait on the stairs.  Tried the sage, I also screamed at it to f*** off during the day while two people were there, (looked crazy ha-ha). It was actually very active during the morning/afternoon. After shouting at it for a very long time it did leave through the bathroom wall (temporarily). I actually got so desperate I smashed an ornament in its direction to try and frighten it. To be (mostly) rid of him, I had to keep standing up to it; it took a very long time, visualisations of white light enclosing the house, pushing it out… Was very hard mentally to move it at all, seemed very ‘heavy’. We think it moved to the next house, we are in a terrace and the attic has missing bricks in the wall to the adjoining house, I’m worried, but also extremely fascinated by it and wonder if it might return.

No word on if it ever did return or not, and it is a truly frightening and harrowing account, to say the least. From the same area of the world is a report of some sort of demonic imp at Crawfordsburn Country Park, in Ireland. The witness says she was out walking her dog, Missy, by the waterfall on an otherwise tranquil and calm evening. As they walked along the dog became very agitated for some unknown reason, and the witness explains:

Missy ran ahead and i walked quickly to catch up. I noticed she had stopped and had started growling so i started walking even quicker. As i got level with her i noticed what can only be explained as a gnome standing about 10 feet away from Missy. It was about 3 feet tall and at first i thought it was a child in fancy dress but then i noticed its teeth were pointed and a horrible brown colour and It had a bulbous nose and large, deep-set eyes. I got Missy on the lead and watched in amazement as the gnome began to laugh, this wasn’t a regular laugh but a deep cackle. I was terrified and frozen to the spot and watched as the gnome walked into some bushes by the waterfall and disappeared. I quickly ran off back to the car.

What was this thing? Was it some evil spirit or fairy? A demon? Something else? In some accounts it seems like these creatures are indeed very literal demons from Hell, true imps in every sense. One commenter on Exemplore explains of being haunted by tiny creatures that he believes are actual Biblical demons that can be fought off with the power of God. The witness says:

I see faces in figures in clouds, trees, bushes, on the grass and pretty much everywhere else I look. Until the Lord saved my life, these things had overtaken every aspect of my life, I had taken thousands of photos and videos of them, they would appear in my yard and trees as little gnomes, animal-like figures, full on demons, and all kinds of things that are freakier than anything I have ever seen in a horror movie. I’ve had dark clouds moving around my house and some insane visions that would take too long to type on here. My wife and son would see some of them, but not anywhere near the ballpark of what I see. No, I do not have schizophrenia or any other mental diseases. We tried every new age thing to rid our property of these beings, but it only got worse. One day I stayed home alone and prayed for hours trying to figure out why I was seeing these things. The Lord finally let me know in my soul that this was a product of all the sin I had allowed into my life and He was allowing me to see this in order to call me to Him. I was truly humbled and repented of my sins and I told Christ that I would rather die than to continue in a lifestyle that allowed this into my home and around my family. God saved me that day. I coughed out what I can only describe as evil energy out of my body 6-7 times. I was exhausted and felt truly forgiven and free for the first time in my life. The things is God still allows me to see things, they are just no longer in control of my life. I have learned many things from this, what feels like a curse, but I believe is a gift from God. I am now walking in the truth of God. No one could ever convince me that a battle of good vs. evil is not going on around us all the time. Most people just cannot see it.

Other unsettling reports seem to describe these things as a dark force that seems bent on luring children away to their dooms, and indeed in some folklore imps were known to do just this. One witness on Reddit weaves a rather unsettling tale of some sort of gnome that seems as if it was perhaps trying to trick his sister into wandering off with it. The witness says:

As a young child, my sister was visited by a spirit that appeared as a gnome-type creature (small, grey beard and pointed hat). He always appeared at dusk and tried to get her to follow him into the woods. My sister barely remembers the episodes, but I remember her telling me about them and even remember once keeping her from following him into the woods. My mom remembers once when we were swimming in a neighbor’s pool and she came to bring us home for dinner- after being home for about 5 minutes, my mom realized my sister was gone. Instinctively, she ran back to the swimming pool and found her in the pool, alone (she was 3 and could barely swim). We think this also has something to do with that entity, as she could not have walked that far in that amount of time by herself. Has anyone ever heard of an entity that tries to lure children away? At that time, we lived In an area of Western MA known for paranormal activity and there was a well known case of demonic possession nearby.

So, are these real reports of encounters with the demonic imps of folklore, or are they something else entirely? There is little to differentiate them from the numerous other accounts of sightings of gnomes, fairies, and other seemingly fairy tale creatures, but here we have something that seems especially evil and malicious in nature. What are these entities and what do they want? Are they real spirits, demons, interdimensional phenomena, or simply tall tales? No matter what the answer is, these are truly odd reports that mesh in with the long running myths and legends or demonic imps and gnomes, and serve as something to ponder at the very least.

[sandy5214329]

Week 5 -Drawing with CAD Rhino 6 II

Constructing orthogonal projection of a pivot bearing

Improving from last week,  I wanted to begin to incremental saving and approaching CAD with a mindset of a learning pit.  To keep persevering in building my skills, despite the little wonderful moments of frustration.

Reflection

During this tutorial:

I enjoyed..... Having peers like Dorcas, Keith and Hue that help me build helpful habits, even simply watching more experienced users allowed me to understand how efficient and easy CAD can be the more I get the hang of it. I also really liked using the snipping tool instead of screenshotting my progress, it allowed me to crop and save the file on the spot.

I found difficult… doing the text in the title block, I found instead of clicking okay I pressed enter which pushed my text up.   I didn't notice until very closely finishing so I was slower in adjusting the letters again back again. Fortunately, I now know just to click the button ‘okay’. Occasionally my rhino program would freeze so I found it difficult to stay calm,  but I just reopened the file and it autosaved, not everything,  but most of my work most of the time.

Next time... this will be for my project 1 hand tool, I like how I could reuse the border I made in this exercise. I will keep trying to save more often because I still forgot, perhaps putting a timer might be useful. Also looking back at my previous blog and classmates blog will be useful in refreshing skills I have built that will help me become more effective in the task.

Little things that helped:

Understanding you should enter a command before selecting the object 

Keep looking up at the command bar to see what is happening instead of randomly clicking - I think this resulted in me creating a lot of copies of the same object 

Having a calculator cause I left my maths back in highschool

 Title Block Template:

Learning how to add text from the dimensions button, to change the height and to move to the correct space.

A good text style to use was Ariel 

For the A2 size template that you enter the length before the height of the desired rectangle size

I found after reading the engineering drawing textbook, I remembered all the measurements of the title block which made me construct this a little faster

I got to revise using the array tool for the zones and how to group curves and objects to duplicate them. 

I really liked the efficient nature of CAD how you can just save a template and use it again for the next technical drawing you need.  

Learnt how to offset the zone from the boarder 

Polylines:

I was more comfortable this time around in constructing the front view, I really liked typing the exact measurements into the commands bar. 

Smart track:

I got to use recognise smart-track and how to use it by hovering from Hue, it was really helpful in not having to construct extra lines. 

Exploding tool:

I constructed the front view mainly with one polyline so I found it really hard to select certain lines to trim sometimes until Dorcas introduced me to the explode tool which made my work not redundant. 

Fileting tool:

Using the filet tool to construct the right profile of the bearing was also cool to refresh my last use of this program 

Mirror tool:

To save time I also learnt how to use the mirror tool and reflect the constructed lines from the middle plane. 

Projecting lines to the sectional view and top view:

Using the quad snap tool was useful as well as projecting the lines far was useful in saving time from maybe needing to extend the lines later - learnt from Keith.  

Visualising 

It was a little hard to visualise the sectional view but I kept checking with people around me so I could compare the look of everything. 

Hatching 

From the textbook I got to revise how to hatch a cutting plane, being at 45 degrees. Understanding to select hatch 1 then increase the distance between the lines - 20 - in order to be visible 

Dimensioning 

I found dimensioning quiet easy, I really liked how it automates finds all the measurements for you.

I got to be familiar with all the different types of dimensioning available including how to insert leader lines. 

Rotating 

For centrelines, specifically for circles and the 3rd angle projection symbol, I used the rotate tool which allowed me to construct an accurate cross, before grouping it and then copying that for the next circle. 

Printing in A2 

Even though I selected Rhino PDF, the scale of 1:1 and the A2 size the page preview still didn’t line up until I played around and found the window button which allows you to adjust the view through a viewport and selecting the title block. 

[theemptymancometh]

Okay, this has been a week of self-discovery I guess and it won’t stop swirling about in my head so I’m just gonna wordvomit all over my blog about it and see if that takes some of the presence out of it.

I have aphantasia. I’ve always technically known that, I suppose, I just didn’t have terminology for it or a sense for whether it was a specifically me thing, an everyone thing, or something in-between.

Aphantasia (a term I appreciate having but that could stand to be a little less negative sounding) is the inability to produce mental visualisations. (mind blindness.) It seems like a sliding scale of ability; I’m at absolute zero. As far as I’m aware, I’ve never been capable of envisioning or imagining anything in that way. (therefore, congenital aphantasia.) This has just been my life since forever. I’ve always assumed that people talking about being able to see scenes from books in their mind were being hyperbolic - it just sounds like such bullshit, you know? It’s fun to read about, but not something I’d really given much weight to as an actual thing people were capable of.

People seen to be trying to make a lot of connections between aphantasia and other processing and memory things that I feel are a little unnecessary though. (I know this will vary on a person-to-person basis, just like the ‘level’ of mental imagery that people are capable of, but I still feel like they’re leaning a little too heavily on trying to make connections in a general sense.)

One thing I’ve seen mentioned quite a few times is this assumption that aphants prefer non-fiction books and struggle with fiction. I fucking love fiction and I hate non-fiction books. Sure, I struggle to get into High Fantasy novels because they tend to get really dense with their descriptions, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like fiction. It just means that if someone starts describing a character’s outfit or whatever that I tend to skip over it until they get back to plot, because those details are all meaningless to me. (I tend not to remember much more about characters in the physical sense than eye/hair colour and occasionally height in comparison to another major character, if specified.)

And face-blindness? I mean, I guess that depends on what your definition of that is, but not being able to visualise what someone looks like when they’re not around doesn’t automatically mean that you don’t know them when they’re there. I have a very good sense for knowing if I’ve seen someone around a bit, even if we’ve never interacted, but I do often struggle to remember where I know them from if I see them somewhere else. I also have a hard time putting names to faces, but I just have a bad memory for names in the first place, and I don’t take much care to try to remember names if they’re not someone I’m actually talking to. (This includes celebrities. I have a lot of ‘well I know the face but fuck if I know their name or what I last saw them in’ moments.)

As for memory issues, I’ll allow that some of that could probably be attributed to my aphantasia; I can’t bring forth images from my past, so remembering details and events is more difficult. But my long-term memory is also just pretty shitty in general when it comes to my personal life history. What I do remember is almost solely in a factual bulletpoint sort of way, like: I know that X thing happened in Y time period and contextually I guess I probably might’ve felt this way about it. I’ve always had a hard time placing events in a time sense - like whether it happened last year or five years ago, for instance. I can say stuff like ‘when I was at primary school’, but I usually can’t remember specific dates. It’s getting worse since I’m out of high school now because my uni life isn’t consistent enough to really use as a timeline, and even if it was I’ll probably have to use ‘while I was working at X’ as my next method of back-dating memories.

I remember lots of other useless crap though. Like random snippets of plotlines from shows I watched like a decade ago, or being able to identify what anime a character is from even if I can’t remember their name.

Okay, I think that’s all I wanted to ramble about. Hopefully my brain will stop whirring so obsessively over this whole thing soon and I can go back to my regular day-to-day life of not thinking about how other people imagine things.

[sablelab]

Covert Operations - Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander. This is a complete work of fiction and as such is an entirely fabricated tale created in my imagination.

 This story follows Jamie and Claire as they travel to Hong Kong in search of the leader of The Rising Dragons triad group, but along the way they encounter many hurdles in his pursuit. In seeking his capture they have to go undercover on several occasions and in doing so come across members of the triad’s hierarchy who prove to be just as deadly as the Dragon Head of the Rising Dragons … Sun Yee Lok.

Manip - @artistsassenach

SYNOPSIS: After a long flight Claire relaxes in her new apartment, but falls asleep when she lies on the bed and dreams of her partner James Fraser.  Meanwhile back at Police Headquarters, Senior Superintendent Zheng is trying to piece together the information about the murders on the junk.

 CHAPTER 6

Hmmm impressive, very impressive, Claire thought as she studied her new premises. The suite appeared to be very spacious and was warm and inviting. A fresh aroma filled the room and her nose followed the smell to the tiled entry where a table with fresh flowers was set against the wall. There was a card attached to the bouquet addressed to her which she removed from the flowers. Wondering who may have sent them, she slipped her fingers under the rim of the envelope releasing the card inside and read what was written. A longing gleam appeared in her eyes and smiling Claire placed the card to her lips, then leaning down she inhaled the fragrance of the roses and spring flowers that were a riot of colours.

Dropping the keys on the tabletop she was drawn to the large windows overlooking Victoria Harbour and made her way over to investigate. Excitedly she opened the sliding door off the lounge room onto a small balcony and stepped outside to admire the sights. Her senses were captivated. It was spectacular with breathtaking views of the world’s busiest and bustling harbour surrounded by Hong Kong’s dynamic and amazing city skyline. It was a megalopolis abuzz with a peculiar energy and vibrancy. Excitedly, she took in the sight of such a cosmopolitan city while studying the twinkling illumination of the buildings reflecting on the water like fairy lights.

The Harbour was still full of water traffic even at this hour of the day. Claire watched overwhelmed by the scene below her as a myriad of watercrafts such as jetfoils, sampans, junks, ferries and boats floated across the water to Kowloon on the northern side. It was not a sight she would ever forget, nor was it one she had seen duplicated in any other place in the entire world. Pity Jamie isn’t here to enjoy the view too, she thought, although when he was around she had tunnel vision and couldn’t see anything else but him. She smiled pensively. Reluctantly she forced herself to leave the balcony and her wayward thoughts and returned inside to check the rest of the apartment. Going into the kitchen Claire opened and closed the cupboards and drawers and was thankful that someone had filled the pantry and seen to the basic necessities of food for her. Finding what she needed for a welcomed hot brew, she put the kettle on to make herself a cup of tea. That done she ventured into the living quarters with cup and saucer in hand to explore some more. The bedroom was spacious with a magnificent huge bed in the centre as well as having large windows overlooking Victoria Harbour like in the lounge room. Claire looked at the bed lovingly … Ah! What the heck ... she thought as she walked over to the bed and sitting down placed her finished cuppa down on the bedside table.  Placing her hands on the soft comforter she levered herself up and started to bounce on the inner spring mattress. Hmmm! Comfy too and with room to share.

Her thoughts immediately turned to her mentor James Fraser again. He had never spent a night in her real apartment back in Glasgow … as yet. Would he ever spend one here?

Falling back towards the bed Claire closed her eyes and placed her hands across her stomach. In her mind’s eye she could visualise the two of them in here together watching the night-lights of Hong Kong and … doing other more pleasurable things. Lying on the comfortable bed, tiredness suddenly overcame her.  She closed her eyes and Claire soon fell asleep but her subconscious imagination began to run riot as she pictured the two of them in the throes of passion.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (NC-17)

I rock my hips back and forth provocatively to force James to satisfy my burning desire. I can wait no longer … I’m impatient for his thrusts and I need to feel him … all of him inside me. He has aroused me until I am whimpering with unleased pleasure and I’m on the very edge of capitulation. His lips caress my velvet breasts and my nipples are swollen and erect. Moaning incoherently into his neck, my hands begin to claw at Jamie’s back, then I press lower to his buttocks. Propelling him forward, I pull Jamie closer until not an inch of skin separates us, then locking my thighs around him; I squeeze them tightly, never wanting to let him go. I sense Jamie’s need for me too. His hands caress my skin leaving trails of tingling sensations burning me to the core and turning me inside out. Feeling his wonderful erotic hands on my shivering hips; I also feel his penis throbbing … and … paused … waiting against my soft opening.

“Ja-mie …” I moan softly. 

I am so hot … and wet. I wait willingly for his further penetration and dig my heels into his buttocks as James Fraser begins to inch into me. He is so gentle but I want more. Rising from the bed as waves of pleasure cascade through my body, I feel every glorious movement of Jamie’s erection sliding into my depths until he is buried to the hilt. 

“Ahhh! ...  Ja-mie ... Y-esss!”

It feels good … so good. We begin to move in sync slowly at first, but I ache for more … I need …

“Mmm-ore! ... Ahhh!” 

I writhe on the bed … as Jamie erotically utters my name, each syllable a smooth caress from his lips. “Cl-aire”

My name resounds in my ears as he begins the rhythm of love. Jamie enters and withdraws from my depths … again and … again each thrust a little deeper and a little harder than the previous time. The feel of him deep within me is wonderful … more than wonderful … it’s incredible! I am floating in rapturous and delirious euphoria.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “Claire.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I moan against Jamie’s mouth as I hear my name again and feel his erection bursting inside my body. The shivers leave me breathless. Jamie Fraser is driving me to the heights of ecstasy. I clench my body around him flexing my inner muscles to hold him tightly, and prevent him from withdrawing from my depths. He lays still and I clasp my hands tightly across his back … waiting. “Ohhh, Ja-mie!” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “Claire?” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Pressing his body hard against mine … I arch my hips so that his penis remains within me. I love how he is making me feel. Jamie starts moving inside me fiercely rocking back and forth increasing his rhythm as he finds immense pleasure in my softness. I shiver with longing, while our bodies tremble with passion on the brink of capitulation. Then unable to wait any longer, he brings both of us to a shattering climax and we tumble together into sublime ecstasy. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “CLAIRE!” came Fergus Claudel’s persistent cadence in her ear. The shrill echo of his voice in her comm. unit broke Claire from those beautiful, arousing thoughts. “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!” She exclaimed startled by this untimely interruption to her lovely dream. She immediately opened her eyes realising that she had nodded off to sleep on the bed. Closing them once more, her body tingled from the erotic vision she had been having of them in Lyon.

Her voice was husky but hesitant as she slowly uttered, “Y-esss …?” 

“Claire? Are you OK? I thought I heard you groaning,” he enquired inquisitively.

When she realised that the voice belonged to Fergus, she sat up on the bed in Section mode, alert and on guard to what he may have to say. “I was … sleeping.” “Oh, I see!” Then changing tack he asked … “Are you in place?” “Yes.” “Good. The team is in transit.”

Brief and concise with his information, he severed communication just as a knock on the door echoed in the apartment. Looking at the clock on the bed stand Claire realised that the hour had flown by. Obviously all her daydreaming on the balcony and in the bedroom had whittled away the time. Who could that be? She thought stretching her arms above her head to try and shake off the jetlag and the vision of her little daydream about making love with Jamie Fraser. 

Claire wondered if perhaps that someone knocking on the door was indeed Angus Mhor returning to take her to the meeting with Superintendent Xiao Zheng. It was the only conclusion she could make given that he said he would return within the hour.

Meanwhile ... back at Police Headquarters 

The files Mei Ling had retrieved for him of the dead bodies of the man and the young woman found on the junk lay open on Senior Superintendent Zheng’s desk. Pictures of the crime scene also lay scattered over the top, while the scribbling Zheng had written regarding what clues they had so far … and that wasn’t many … covered the whiteboard situated near his desk. 

Xiao Zheng reached for his cup of coffee, but it was stone cold and he grimaced at the taste. Placing the cup back down on his desk he thought of his new recruit and glanced over at her desk. The poor girl, what a baptism of fire she had experienced today. The scene they had discovered on the junk was not a pleasant one but Mei Ling had come through with flying colours. The young woman had held her composure at the sight of the mutilated bodies although he had noticed she looked a little green around the gills when they had discovered the two bodies below deck. However, she had been very professional in her manner and he admired her handling of the situation. Perhaps under the circumstances he should let up a little on her. She certainly had the makings of a good policewoman.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mei Ling sat at her desk staring at her computer. This seemed such a long way from the Police Academy where she had graduated top of her class. She eventually wanted to be a detective and knew that she would have to work her way up the ladder before that occurred. Police work could usually be such drudgery at times but this case was so exciting that the hours she had spent at her monitor cross checking the faces against names in the police data bank had just flown by. She loved it. Having taken to her responsibilities like a duck to water, Mei was so glad that Senior Superintendent Zheng had placed his trust in such a raw recruit as herself in assigning her to this part of the investigation. She would repay his confidence if she could. Mei’s concentration was interrupted when she heard her name resound again as her boss strode over to her desk. “What progress have you made so far Mei Ling?”

Looking her boss in the eye she replied confidently. “I’ve double checked the names and faces and it appears that the three men found on the upper deck were known to police for roughing up a bystander who threatened their employer. They were obviously bodyguards of some sort. The man made a complaint about his treatment which is on file.”

“Ah, good work Mei.” He replied admirably. “Thank you Sir. I’m still trying to find the Police record of the event in Archives though.” “Carry on then.” “Yes Sir.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Returning to his desk Xiao once again studied the information they had on this recent crime. The photographs of the deceased people were attached to the whiteboard with each victim numbered from one to five. Resting against the side of his desk Xiao rubbed his hand over his chin as he contemplated the gruesome photographs of the murdered victims found on the junk earlier today. As he studied the pictures of the deceased persons, he tried to piece together the clues thus far. Although the four male bodies had all been identified, that was not the case for the female victim. The two Chinese men and a Caucasian found on the upper deck had been acknowledged as bodyguards, as Mei Ling had implied, to the man found on the lower deck. The bullet riddled bodies of the deceased male and female found in the bloody bedroom on the junk were also attached. The male victim found in the bedroom was Mr. Chen Yong Wu a prominent Chinese politician and businessman from Repulse Bay a well-to-do residential area favoured by locals. He had been missing for a couple of days, feared kidnapped and now here he was at the centre of a murder mystery. The woman found on the Chinese junk with him had yet to be identified. She was most likely a prostitute, who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but this was only a hypothesis at the moment and they had no clues as to her identification at the present time. The markings on each body were puzzling though. The Chinese calligraphy “Death with Honour” was the signature of the Rising Dragons, the group that had supposedly been responsible for quite a few murders in Hong Kong recently. But why would Mr. Wu be murdered and on a junk with his bodyguards and a beautiful young woman? That was the puzzling thing. Was this just a seedy sexual liaison gone wrong? Or had he done or been involved in something more ominous to warrant death by the Rising Dragons triad? They had identified the murder weapons, ascertained the time of death and one of his detectives was gathering evidence from other fellow employees of Mr. Wu. Zheng mulled that he needed to interview residents of Mr. Wu’s building and track all the names in his personal diary and business logs. Then he would need to work on reconstructing the last seventy-two hours of his life from all that data. Perhaps something of the woman’s identity would be revealed from his diaries as well. Superintendent Zheng could certainly do with some help on this case and was looking forward to the arrival of Claire Beauchamp. Her expertise in undercover work would prove invaluable; perhaps she could even shed some new light and perspective on this baffling case. Xiao massaged his temples as he felt the first signs of a headache appearing. It looked like he would need to make a call to his wife … again!

Yes … this was going to be a long night!

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~to be continued

Should you wish to access the other chapters of this story … https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

Thanks for reading, the likes and @chechzooo for posting your comment on the last chapter of my crossover story.  Much appreciated. xox

[wherespacepooh]

Yuzuru Hanyu Q&A + reporter’s thoughts (Kateigaho 2018.03)

Translated by gladi. Please do not repost without permission. Pictures and content belong to Kateigaho. Thanks!

Interviewed in mid-August, just published in Kateigaho’s March Issue, Komatsu-san handled Yuzuru’s thoughts with clarity and warmth, something that really comes with having worked with Yuzuru for a long time over the years (Their first interview was in 2011 when he was 16). I enjoyed the sentiments expressed in the piece and I think it’s a good companion to the thoughts he expressed in the NNN documentary. Hope you enjoy it too :) –– gladi

Text: Yoko Komatsu        Photography: Masayuki Sakamoto

In Toronto & Tokyo A Love toward Figure Skating, Strict with Discipline

An accident that struck the champion.  Prayers from around the world. For his return at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The first time we interviewed Hanyu was during the summer of 2011. Since then, we have been blessed with his appearance on the magazine almost every year, and after our interview in Toronto last summer (t/n referring to Media Day in August), we were also honoured with his acceptance of our invitation to a special interview in Tokyo. Always in front of crowds of officials and reporters, he must, on many occasions surely, show the speech and conduct of a gold medalist, a world champion. And actually, what I saw in Toronto was the form of someone single-mindedly devoted to his practice on ice, one who dealt with over 100 in the press corps with unbridled confidence.

Perhaps it was due to the lightheartedness of being there with his parents, there were carefree smiles abound and sometimes even a glimpse of weakness at the Tokyo interview––there was the true “Yuzuru Hanyu,” plain and bare. But what he conveyed was the exact same as when we had our first interview 6 and a half years ago, for two hours in a cafe nearby the Sendai Station––an unwavering sense of self-discipline and passion toward Figure Skating. Even when he was 16 and we first met, I was struck by the intelligence in the way he visualised his life plans after winning the gold medal at the Sochi Olympics. Speaking emphatically of his dreams this time as well, for the sake of that future vision which he holds close to heart, defending his title at the Pyeongchang Olympics remains his greatest goal right now.

I had heard that he’d somehow suppressed the pain in his right knee from before Autumn Classics as he approached the NHK Trophy. But an untimely new injury struck… Before the competition began, in both the press room and the arena, everyone seemed lost as to how they might regain composure from the shock of the star’s sudden withdrawal.

He withdrew from the NHK Trophy due to ligament damage sustained in the right foot, and then, furthermore, from the Japanese nationals due to tendon and bone inflammation. Self-disciplined and perfectionist as Hanyu, he must have been desperately undergoing rehabilitation in order to somehow make it in time for the nationals. I can imagine the frustration and regret. Yet I do wish for the grace and beauty of his skating to keep entrancing [us] for as long as possible, so, truth to be told, I was relieved when he chose to withdraw.

“The ice at Gangneung Ice Arena, venue of the Pyeongchang Olympic events, was amazing. Although I did two Quad Toeloops in the second half of my Free Skate at the Four Continents Championships (t/n planned quads in the second half were 4S3T and 4T), the execution felt really good. I also liked the air in the arena, so I think I got immersed in the competition more naturally than I did during the Sochi Olympics.” Even though people have also voiced their worries due to the Olympics becoming de facto his comeback event, the fact that Hanyu himself felt great compatibility with the venue is heartening beyond anything else. Sincerest hopes that he may recover and begin doing run-throughs as soon as possible. And then, on the stage that is the Olympics, overcoming all trials, toward yet greater heights, I pray that Hanyu can skate the programs of his dreams.

Excerpted from a caption on the same page: 

“... Although skating theory and foundation and so on have been drilled into me since my novice years, mentors and coaches in the North America see things from a different perspective, and I was so surprised by the different way of doing things, it was a culture shock. With that, I’ve come to see that the foundation that I had built up until then have progressed in a better direction and that even my jumps have gotten better,” says Hanyu regarding his growth up until this point.)

Exclusive Q&A –– Hanyu’s true thoughts to Kateigaho

Q –– The Pyeongchang Olympics is getting close. You’ve participated in all sorts of competitions up until this point, overcoming many hard battles. Even so, would you say that the Olympics is still special after all?

A –– Yes. I think it’s fine to just admit that it’s special. It’s true that I want to be saying, it’s the same as other competitions! Nothing changes! And that’s what I had been saying in the Sochi Olympics. But in the end, I wasn’t able to keep that mentality up at the Free Skate, and I was so strongly conscious of the fact that––It’s the Olympics!  I’m already well aware of that, and I’ve come to terms with it. On top of that, I’d like to seriously explore solutions to that, while I train.

Q –– Are there differences in how your SP for the Olympic season, "Ballade No.1,” and your FS, “SEIMEI,” feel  as you skate? 

A –– Actually, when the music comes on, I naturally fall into different jumps and different expression. It’s not that I’ve been purposefully differentiating between the two, but the jumps in "Ballade No.1" are fluid and smoothly blended into [the program]. Especially because the piano notes alone express everything, the jumps mustn't become some other musical instrument. Skating, spins, steps, jumps––I try to do it such that everything inhibits the same space and the same dimension as the piano notes. As for “SEIMEI,” it is easy to find its pace and phrasing as a program. The jumps are more rhythmic with greater tempo, and if the phrase lands beautifully right into the jump, then it looks all the more beautiful, and I also feel good executing it. Such pursuits, right now, are what I’m doing in figure skating. That is probably, also, my greatest weapon. When I jump and land, I feel the rush, the flow, the sense of accomplishment. Moreover, when those who are watching also feel good, then definitely the evaluations will be good too, so I want to probe thoroughly into this and I feel strongly about it.

Q –– Both are “programs where you can be yourself."

A –– That’s right. As if it’s already a part of me. My emotions and something like my sense of the music are automatically kickstarted, and I think that’s a good point about these two programs. As well as with ”Notte Stellata” and “Requiem of Heaven and Earth” and so forth… I am able to get into character completely without being conscious of it. I feel good when I skate these programs, and they make me feel glad that I’m in figure skating. Although I do get tired, those are moments when I feel blessed and contented.

“I want to be a skater with common sense and knowledge”

Q –– You’re also a college student right now. What is studying at university level indispensable for?

A –– (Immediate reply) For the sake of skating! But in my case, I’m not the type who can deal with just a little bit of everything, I either go the whole way and see it through, or I don’t do it at all––it’s one or the other for me. I really tend to do things at my own pace (wry laugh). But without a doubt, my skating improved due to my studies, and the reverse is true. Therefore, it’s not that I’m working hard to try have both coexist. Rather, it’s sort of like I do it because it’s essential.

Q –– And it’s indispensable because you actually feel it through your personal experience?

A –– Come to think of it, in figure skating, your time as a competitive skater is quite limited, isn’t it? For the sake of life afterward, I think there is a lot that I must learn right now. Plus, the first thing that my parents taught me, education level aside, was that I must live properly as someone with common sense and knowledge. This is also of the highest priority to myself; it’s fine if I just skate is a thought that's never crossed my mind. I believe that properly doing both will definitely prove to be of use for skating too.

Q –– When we interviewed you in Toronto, you brought up Anatomy as a subject you’re interested in. Are there others?

A –– Bioethics.

Q –– That still sounds hard (laughs).

A –– Actually, Bioethics is a course that I took when I was skating to “Hope & Legacy” and felt that I must ponder over the topic. Hope, legacy, life. How do you think about things that are intangible, how do you express them… I felt that it was really necessary and so I studied, but I guess the decision to do so was very much like my own way of thinking. I don’t intend to be a philosopher (laughs), but I want to be someone who can reflect on such things, so.

Captions for pictures below:

“Even my choice of courses at university is based on skating as evaluation criteria. I really like it after all, skating. Born to skate––that is what Hanyu is. Regarding the outfit prepared [for the photo shoot] with off-ice ease in mind, “Recently I’ve only been wearing jerseys, so (laughs) refreshing!” He could go home in the outfit as is––that’s how much he liked it.

Personally, skating practice is also where I relieve my stress. It’s similar to when you feel refreshed after crying and screaming during rough times. I think there is that in skating.

Sometimes I get tired from being "Yuzuru Hanyu"

Q –– Everything is tied to skating. Changing the topic a little, at the group interview in Toronto, you mentioned this, “There are times when I feel tired being ‘Yuzuru Hanyu’”…

A –– Yes, yes. I did (laughs).

Q –– When does the thought of “Ah, I’m a little tired” come up?

A –– (Taking a while to ponder) What is it… when I’ve lost composure in my heart, that’s it. The Yuzuru Hanyu in my mind, is someone who can skate this well, someone who can show you this much––I have such ideals, after all. When there is a huge gap [between that and reality] and I feel like there is nothing that could be done… to the extent that I wanted to throw away all titles and hide away at home––there are even times like that. But at such times, training with abandon and somehow being able to climb my way back up, that’s thanks to skating as well. That I am able to be myself is precisely because of it––there’s also that part.

Q –– It really is all about skating [for you], be it the reason you’re feeling down, or as a key to changing pace. This photo of you skipping along was taken when we first met in the summer of 2011, when you were in your first year of high school.

A –– So, so young! (Laughs)

(t/n Photo referenced by Komatsu-san, the interviewer. Not part of the article)

Q –– At the time, you spoke passionately, that you “definitely want to get the gold medal at the Sochi Olympics!” and it left such an impression.

A –– That was brazen of me (wry smile).

Q –– As good as your word, just as one would expect! How did it feel actually winning the gold medal?

A –– Regarding performance, be it pre-Sochi or currently, my own personal feelings haven’t changed one bit. But circumstances around me have changed a lot after all. The Sochi Olympics probably sparked some people's interest in watching figure skating, and in many aspects, I believe [the environment] has been broadened. Plus, having experienced my first Olympics, what made me feel the Olympics was indeed spectacular was that even people who didn’t know figure skating came to the venue. Because there were other sports too. From short track, speed skate, to curling––different athletes came to cheer when it wasn’t their time to compete. In such atmosphere, I deeply sensed, “Ah––the Olympics is special."

Q –– Following the Sochi Olympics, you’ve made a second consecutive title at the Pyeongchang Olympics your goal. If you were to reach it, are you starting to find your motivation beyond that?

A –– The Quad Axel! Then again, I, love skating. Deeply. For example, Pluschenko. He participated in the team event at the Sochi Olympics and won, so actually, he went on competing until around 31 years of age. I watched his performance as a 20-year-old at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 and came to like figure skating even more, that, I too would like to be in the Olympics! That time, and the overwhelming strength he displayed as gold medalist in the 2006 Turin Olympics, as well as his performance in his late-twenties at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. They all left different impressions, and each performance had their respective appeal. For that reason, figure skating is something unique, I believe. Producing results isn’t all there is to it––I felt that deeply. That’s why, personally, I’m always able to stay motivated toward figure skating. 

And then, regarding jumps, I was thinking in my mind that I would probably peak at around 23 to 24 technically, but Nobu (t/n Nobunari Oda, pro skater)! He’s amazing! He’s started jumping the Quad Lutz (laughs).

Q –– The fact that [Nobunari Oda] is further evolving from when he was actively competing is really amazing!

A –– Although he did say that he’s been losing stamina (laughs). But seeing someone like that up close, there’s no need to set limits for what you can do, in your own mind––I’ve come to believe that. I gained so much courage from him.

Q – Although it’s a matter for the future, pro skater, choreographer, coach––what would you be most interested in?

A –– Everything! I want to get to a spot where everything can coexist as an entirety. Something that only I can accomplish––I believe there has to be a path towards that, so I want to find it properly––my mission in Figure Skating.

Left:  There is no need to set limits for what you can do, in your own mind––I’ve come to believe that. 

Right: Wearing his own glasses, looking sharp. Taking a mouthful of pudding**, his favourite, he gave his impression: “There is a slight bitterness there too. A very grown-up pudding!”

"I hope to find my mission––something that only I can accomplish––in Figure Skating"

There isn’t much time left until the start of the Olympics. My greatest rival at the Pyeongchang Olympics––I believe that is me myself. When the Sochi Olympics ended, the first thing I realised was that “the demon at the Olympics does inhabit the space within me.” The demon that I’ve been raising acts out at merely the Olympic title… I felt that keenly. Only I myself can suppress and keep it in check, and that’s why my greatest rival is myself, after all. Figure skating isn’t a sport where you come up against each other face-to-face, so rather than to go on and on about other skaters, how I train and how I bring that into the actual competition are more important.

It’s precisely due to my goal of defending my Olympic title that my every day is the way it is. There are several “first-time”’s that I’ve experienced as a Japanese men's single skater, including the Olympic gold medal. As well as imparting [my experiences] of injury and the earthquake and such, I want to think about, and eventually find in the future, a new role that only “Yuzuru Hanyu” can take up through Figure Skating.

––––––Yuzuru Hanyu

“Thank you so much for all your worries and support since the NHK Trophy. Converting everyone’s support into strength, I hope to strive on towards the Pyeongchang Olympics.”––message from Hanyu after the restart of his on-ice training

– fin –

** For those interested, based on some diligent fan sleuthing, the pudding in question seems to be “Enfant” from Libertable, Tokyo. From the product page, “Born from the childhood memories of the chef, a pudding so soft that it could melt. Slightly bitter, lightly-textured caramel gelée and a hint of acidity from fresh berries accompany the rich custard cream.”