#// very yulan

[northern-passage]

Hello! I was curious... Do the coins in TNP have designs, or are they completely smooth? :0

they do! the gold Adranian coins (which is what Clementine has) have the symbol of the king/king's house which is the swooping hawk that we'll see Duncan wearing later. that's basically the royal sigil of Adrania, and we'll see wardens, soldiers, and other high-ranking politicians or wealthy Adranian families wearing it throughout the game.

silver coins have a merchant ship on them, and bronze coins have the moon on one side, and the sun on the other side (to represent the Wolfmother's children, but to avoid directly printing the image of a god on money). Gael is different in that their gold coin actually has a whale on it, since whaling and fishing is their main source of income (versus Adrania, which in the south has decent farming and functions as a massive trade hub between/with Gael and Yulan). their silver coins have a wolf on one side, sun and moon on the other (same reason as Adranian's have it on their bronze) and then Gaelish bronze coins just have a silhouette of the southern mountain range and sea stacks.

Gael also has whale bone coins and Yulan has shell coins, but those don't get traded with Adrania. only the metal coins, and that's just because gold is gold; it doesn't change much of the value, it's only aesthetics, and the flow of coins between Gael, Adrania, and Yulan (Adrania's main international trade partner) is vital for all three countries.

[soliloquics]

@grislyintentions : "You're a bad idea, but I like bad ideas." [Gotta have Zhongli disturbing Yulan KBDKJBDJK]

❛    it   should   be   illegal   that   you're   actually   hot   enough   to   get   away   with   being   such   a   fucking   weirdo.   ❜

[neriyon]

Few shots of Yulan's new whm glam + one of his (equally new) drk glam

[redmemoirs]

the zeno stuff in the latest chapters is making my oc's onesided beef with him a lot funnier (derogatory) tbh

[niteshade925]

April 20, Beijing, China, National Museum of China/中国国家博物馆 (Part 2 - Dehua white porcelain exhibition/德化白瓷展 continued):

This was actually the very first piece I encountered at the entrance to the exhibition, a gigantic basket of flowers (probably over 1 meter tall and over 1 meter wide?), the entire thing made of porcelain.

And to reiterate, every part of every piece is porcelain. Though I will say that despite the ultra-realistic shape of the flower petals and leaves, the only detail that hinted at these flowers being made out of porcelain was that the painted colors weren't as vibrant as real flowers. That's it. If you don't examine it up close you really can't tell that it's all porcelain.

This is a good place to roughly introduce the technical side of Dehua white porcelain. The color of Dehua white porcelain mainly comes from the clay it uses, which is a special kaolin clay (gaolingtu/高岭土 in Chinese) found in Dehua. The clay mineral used naturally contains sericite and quartz, both of which are silica minerals and may have contibuted to the almost translucent look of the finished pieces; it also contains comparatively high amounts of potassium oxides, while the amount of iron oxides present is low. Due to the intricate designs of the pieces, the firing success rate may be very low. All those pieces involving super thin parts representing fabric or paper or flower petals? They may bring the success rate down to about 5%. Which means many of these pieces may be the 15th-20th try that finally survived firing. For people who are more interested in the chemistry of Dehua white porcelain, this paper goes into depth about it. There's also a great book in Chinese that goes into depth all about Dehua porcelain. (link goes to the first chapter only)

Continuing on, this is one of many Guanyin/观音 (Avalokiteśvara) statues at the exhibition, again with light clothing made out of porcelain:

More Guanyin statues in various classic depictions/forms, of which there are 33 total. This particular form is called Yulan Guanyin/鱼篮观音 (鱼篮 means fish basket), and comes from a legend where Guanyin transformed into a beautiful female fish vendor in order to guide mortals.

I believe the text here reads 持经观音 (Guanyin holding scripture)? The Guanyin here is holding a vase instead of a scroll though.

This is a classic depiction of Guanyin with a little bit of a modern-ish twist? Guanyin is often depicted with a vase of divine water, but here it forms a circle.

Despite some of the Guanyin statues having the amazing ceramic "clothing", this one remains my favorite, just because of the sense of space and serenity that this simple "frame" design creates:

And this very literal take on "thousand arm Guanyin" (千手观音). It's giving me that "biblically accurate angels" vibe:

Buddha floating atop.......idk what that is but the texture is amazing:

A fully painted statue of Guanyu/关羽. The gradient and detailed patterns on his robes is amazing:

Two identical (I think?) statues of the daomadan/刀马旦 (female commander archetype) character Mu Guiying/穆桂英 as she would appear in Chinese traditional opera, one painted and one unpainted. The word 巾帼英雄 in the title means "hero in women's headscarf", which is a term used exclusively in reference to female heroes. There's also the phrase "巾帼不让须眉", which roughly means "those in women's headscarves aren't inferior to those with beards and thick brows"

Porcelain depiction of Dunhuang's famous feitian/飞天 figures, in the classic pose of playing pipa in reverse (called 反弹琵琶). The clothing on this figure is made of porcelain, but this time also painted:

A porcelain statue of a couple in traditional Lhoba/Luoba/珞巴 clothing. The Lhoba/Luoba people are one of China's 55 少数民族 who mainly live in the south-eastern region of Tibet Autonomous Region, and as of 2019, it is the 少数民族 with the smallest population

A porcelain statue of a woman in traditional Miao/苗 clothing. I love how the artist recreated the traditional Miao silver crown in porcelain.

Painted porcelain bust of a woman wearing the Xunbu/蟳埔 "flower crown", named a zanhuawei/簪花围. The town of Xunbu in Fujian province is known for its tradition of zanhua/簪花, or wearing flowers in one’s hair.

Porcelain statue of a Buddhist monk wearing a zhiduo/直裰 (the robes on the inside) and a jiasha/袈裟 (काषाय/kasaya; the garment on the outside that drapes over the left shoulder). From its looks, one can tell that zhiduo originated from hanfu, but with some minor changes (sidenote, this is not the same as the zhiduo of Ming-era hanfu). Jiasha evolved from the clothing of Indian Buddhist monks, but there appears to be a lot of influence from Central Asia and ancient Greece as well (link goes to pdf; this article is in Chinese).

Some modern-themed pieces. Look at those dresses omg

A porcelain statue of Hua Mulan/花木兰, the character from traditional Chinese literature and opera that inspired the Disney character. I will say though this pose reminds me of someone else.......

[bones4thecats]

LMK Characters When Their Kid Is Born

Characters: Ao Lie, Azure Lion, Nine-Headed Demon (Xiangliu), and Sun Wukong Inspired By: My love for these characters A/N: I loved writing this so much. Took some time, but I loved it so much. I literally fell asleep writing this like three times, so I've been taking longer to actually get it done, I apologize for that! But still, enjoy! ⚠️ Spoilers/Trigger Warnings for: Mentions of being delivering a baby, maybe hints of generational issues(??), slight angst, fluff, and the character's friends being just too much😂 ⚠️

Disclaimer: The Reader is female in this (cause y'know... pregnancy)

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Ao Lie ════════════════════════════════╝

🐲 You were there when the Samadhi Fire was sealed away. And you would be lying if you said you weren't terrified for the life of your husband, Ao Lie, when he blocked an oncoming blast with his draconian form

🐲 Ao Lie still acted the same, but he did seem to have a slightly different aura. It wasn't a huge change, but it wasn't very small either. Despite the changes, you were so happy he was okay, so much so that you cried in front of the other Pilgrims, Ne Zha, Demon Bull King, and his infant son

🐲 It was years later that you two decided to finally start a family, and that happened with the blessing of your twins, one named Tang after your friend, Tang Sanzang, much to his joy. And slightly later your daughter you had named by the Pilgrims group's decision. They all, after a couple hours of debating, decided you name her Xuelian, after the same lotus that you had put on her hat after birth

🐲 You looked down at your second-born with a gentle smile before drifting off to sleep, leaving Ao Lie wide-awake and lightly tickling his son's stomach, causing the tiny being to giggle at his actions

"Who's a cute little baby dragon? Who's a cute baby Tangy?" He cooed at the newborn.

🐲 It was after Ao Lie began to check the surrounding area for any off-putting aura, as he was protective over his children and now unconscious wife, to a degree that nobody else saw but you three

🐲 Ao Lie's eyes burst open as he looked down at his son in his arms. He felt something wrong with his aura... like there was something blazing inside of him that shouldn't be. Because there was

🐲 Your husband shivered before he started to cry. The fourth ring of the Samadhi Fire was now not inside of him, but now inside his oldest child. In his baby boy...

"No... no..."

🐲 As the young boy laughed and the sound of you and your daughter's snoozing breaths echoed in the room, Ao Lie sat there, his face above Tang's as he cried. Why did this have to happen... why couldn't he suffer with the ring inside of him. Why was this world to twisted...

🐲 How was he going to explain this to you...?

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Azure Lion ═════════════════════════════╝

💠 You and Azure smiled at one another as he held his son. He looked almost exactly like his father, minus the fact that his father had extremely long hair while his was like tiny stalks of vegetables

💠 Azure was excited to become a father ever since you had told him, and he was even more stoked when you guys found out you were having a son. It was only a few hours afterwards that Azure and you finally picked his name; Wangshu, after the hope that you both held during your battles together

💠 Yellow Tusk, Peng, Sun Wukong, Demon Bull King, and Macaque were all sitting outside of your room. They had been ever since you went into labor, but, as your two midwives' orders when the painful-yet-happily-ending process started

💠 The midwives, Yinghua and Yulan, looked at you two and smiled. Yulan asked if you wanted to see the rest of the Sworn Brothers or if you guys wanted more time alone with your baby

💠 Azure looked up at you and said it was your call. He knew he wasn't the only one who could make these decisions, so he left some up to you. Here, he could care less, he just wanted his son in his arms and his wife next to him

"Go ahead and bring those stinkers in..." you said lowly.

💠 Your husband played with Wangshu's tiny hands when the two women left the room to tell the others they could come in and see you. Thankfully, your doorways were all modified so that the rest of the boys didn't destroy them when walking into a room due to heights and wingspan's

💠 Funnily enough, it was Macaque and Demon Bull King who ran into the room first, with Yellow Tusk and Wukong next and Peng being the last, and calmest one out of the group

💠 Wukong smiled happily as Azure held his son out for the others to look at, and he just laughed when the others began to make their comments on the matter

"He looks just like you, Azure!" -> Yellow Tusk

"Yeah, if I had a say in it, I would've guessed he was purely yours." -> Peng

"Why is he so small... is this what babies are all like?" -> Wukong

"Yes, Wukong. That's what all babies are like at first." -> Demon Bull King

"Yeah, they don't come out all grown up. Do you know how much that would hurt a woman when pushing the thing out? It's like a bean versus a watermelon." -> Macaque

💠 As they continued their conversations, you reached over and grabbed Azure's arm, causing him to look at you. He knew what you wanted, you wanted to hold your son again. And he obliged that request

💠 Azure handed your son to you and kissed your forehead before saying;

"You did amazing, my love. Thank you for giving me the best gift I could ever ask for."

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Xiangliu ═══════════════════════════════╝

🐍 Xiangliu and you always shared the same wish in life; the wish to be back where you belong and not stuck in the Underworld surrounded by the idiots who called themselves a 'court'

🐍 You both played your parts in your plan perfectly. But it all went awry when you found out you were pregnant, and let me just say this for you; it was a hard one due to your differentiating parts that the baby got from your lover

🐍 He was nervous when you went into labor. Oh who am I kidding, he was beyond scared. He may portray himself as heartless, but this guy does have a heart deep down in his scaly chest

🐍 Xiangliu looked around as he played with his hands and snake-headed hair. The snake acted the same as him, scared, but as they had no actual form out of his, they shivered whilst he heard the screams coming from you

🐍 Yes, he knew it was pathetic to be waiting outside of the delivery room in this scenario, since it was your first child, but he just couldn't stand seeing you in pain. So, while he sat there, he waited to be called in my either the Underworld's doctor or one of their nurses

"Tenth King, sir. Your wife's delivery-"

"How are they?!"

"-was fine. There were hardly any complications, just a hint more bleeding than normal, but nothing we couldn't fix easily. If you want, we are about to get your daughter back in here, the nurse is just cleaning and wrapping her up."

"Y-yes. Thank you."

"It is of no problem."

🐍 As he practically ran inside the room, he saw you sitting there asleep. No doubt you were extremely wore out from the ordeal, which was understandable. If he went through that pain, he'd probably pass out too

🐍 You rested while the Nine-Headed Demon sat in a nearby chair, which he pushed up next to your bed, and laid his head down on your upper thigh, rubbing in it a comforting motion while he waited on your daughter to be brought to you both

🐍 The nurse walked in just a couple minutes after you awoke, much to Xiangliu's joy. The woman handed you the baby and the snake-haired demon smiled gently as you laid there holding her

🐍 It was only when the nurse left the room and he knew that nobody else could see you guys that he pulled down his hood, revealing the handsome man that he was in your eyes. You smiled gently as he kneeled slightly and allowed his own serpents to coo around the tinier ones that made up your child's hair

🐍 Hopefully, your wish would come true soon so you could get your daughter the experience you wished that you had all of your life. So that not only she and you could be free, but so that Xiangliu could be free too. Free to teach your daughter everything she wanted to know without any limits

"What should we name her?" You asked, lightly rubbing your fingers around her blanket.

"Hm. How about Yong? It means eternal."

"Our eternal ball of chaos... I love it."

"I love you, Y/N."

"I love you too, Xiangliu."

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Sun Wukong ════════════════════════════╝

☀️ He was pleased when you announced your pregnancy. Wukong really wanted his own family growing up, and while the monkeys on Flower Fruit Mountain did suffice for a bit, he just wanted a real family

☀️ And as the nine months passed, he studied as much as he could and tried listening to the others (Li Jing) as best as he could to gain some knowledge on fathering

☀️ When your baby began their journey of bringing you pain, Wukong had gotten a surprise door-knock-down from Ne Zha, whom was panting and just grabbed his arm before pulling him up to your home on the mountain. It was a mere half-hour or so later when the Monkie Kids arrived

☀️ As you screamed in pain, Wukong held your hand, falling to his knees at the grip you held on him. He knew you were strong, but sweet Heavens!

☀️ Wukong fell to the ground when you finally let him go as when he heard the baby's cries, he snapped up and looked at his child with widened eyes and a couple tears forming in said eyes

☀️ You smiled at him and leaned your forehead against his, and while your baby was getting cleaned up by the nurses, Wukong stayed with you in the same position, occasionally moving to kiss your head in comfort

"You did good, baby."

☀️ Staying there until the nurse came back in with your baby, she told you the gender, that being a little boy, and asked you what you guys wanted to name the little Monkey Prince

☀️ Looking up at your husband with a quizzical face, you asked him what he wanted to name him

"How about... hmm... Chan-Juan? It means moon... I think."

"No, that doesn't sound right..."

"Uhm, Huojin? Means fire and metal."

"No! Damn why is it so hard to name a kid?"

"Y/N!"

"MK? How did you get here?"

☀️ Monkie Kid smiled and lightly scratched the back of his neck nervously before walking up to you and awing at your son that laid in your arms sleeping. Like father like son...

"Tang used his staff to get us here. Apparently he can do that, weird right? Anyways, what's this little guy's name?"

"Not sure... Wukong's recommendations just don't sound right."

"Hey, I tried."

"Yes, honey, you did. Remember that Bull King's first name choice for Red Son was Prince Burnson."

"Hey!"

"What about Hong? It means rainbow! It sounds cute 'cause, y'know... Sun Wukong and Y/N, the Goddess of Rainbows and Color?"

"Hong Wukong... I like it."

"Heh, nice job, kid!"

"Thanks!"

[ninjakk]

I'm always surprised when I see people outright condemn WWX for "being an asshole" when he is actually being so incredibly sweet and thoughtful. WWX is never an "asshole" anyway, he's one of the kindest, most empathetic characters in the novel! But I find it so odd how people could read his actions so negatively and come to such a conclusion when there is so much evidence to the contrary.

According to some, WWX bringing the rabbits to LWJ was just him trying to annoy the other. Now people can argue with me all they want, but I will never be discouraged that WWX gifted LWJ the two rabbits because he thought he was a little lonely.

On this day, he was once again swarmed by seven or eight youths to go out. As they passed by the Lan Library Pavilion, he took a glance up. Through the light-concealing yulan magnolia branches, he could see Lan Wangji sitting there alone by the window.

Chapter 7S translation

WWX looks for LWJ, hoping to spot him. It's obvious because he instinctively looks up at the very window of the room he sat with him in during his punishment. He was hoping to spot him! And luckily for him, LWJ was actually sat there looking back at him.

One thing I think is very apparent in the above scene, is the comparison between WWX being surrounded by others and LWJ sat alone. I don't think this goes unnoticed by WWX either, who is always very emotionally aware and certainly likes to make a fuss over LWJ - even in his first life!

So I think it's extra sweet when he brings him the bunnies a few hours later 🐇💕🐇

“This place of yours is weird too. No pheasants, but lots of wild bunnies, and they’re not afraid of people. What do you think? They’re chubby, right? Want them?”

It's just so cute how excited WWX is to present these two bunnies to him. He's so eager for LWJ to want them! Yes, he mentions cooking them, but I'm pretty sure this is a joke and a way to provoke LWJ into accepting the bunnies. After all it's totally within his character to "trick" people into doing something or accepting something they need or want. *Disclaimer! I'm not going to lie though, I think WWX would have barbecued the fluff balls if he truly thought LWJ didn't want them! That boy is hungry 😂

Wei Wuxian started snickering, sitting on the windowsill. “Now you want them? Look at you, always acting like this.”

Contrary to what WWX sometimes believes, he can read LWJ extremely well at times. He can tell, just like LXC did when he said he didn't want the loquat WWX was trying to give him, that he is saying 'no', but he really wants to say yes!

To me, the whole bunny scene is just adorable and shows how kind WWX is. How much he thinks about LWJ and just how desperately wants his attention! How anyone can think he's being horrible, is beyond me!

[nemainofthewater]

Best character surnamed: Lu

Come and vote for the best characters with the same surname!*

What does best mean? It's up to you! Whether you love them, are intrigued by their characters, love to hate them, or they're your '2 second blorbos whose personality you made up wholesale', these are all reasons for you to vote for your favs!

*note, the surnames are not exactly the same in all the cases, as often there will be a different character. I am, however, grouping them all together otherwise things got more complicated.

Propaganda is very welcome! If I’ve forgotten anyone, let me know in the notes.

This is part of a larger series of ‘best character with X surname’ polls’. The overview with ongoing polls, winners, and future polls can be found here

[lizhly-writes]

for villain fiance - a thousand words and/or fusion dance with classic fantasy setting isekai 👀

classic fantasy isekai…  not otome isekai, hmm?  actual isekai? okay!  i have aged everyone down accordingly (everyone's like, 16 in these kinds of stories, right?)

...

In fantasy land, they called Chen Lihua Lady Saintess, or Lady Hero, or just Hero.  Never her name, but then again, no one used her name back at home either.  “Hero” was, frankly, a lot more flattering than “Ungrateful Waste of Space” or “Dead-faced Little Bitch” or “What, It’s Her Again?”  

Truly an unimaginable improvement. Truthfully, everything was an improvement.  Anythiing and everything she could eat, instead of her family’s leftovers; anything and everything she could wear, instead of bargain-bin rejects.  No insults, no sneers, no whispers.  Everyone treated her with more kindness and respect than she had had in the last five years combined.

This was the best kidnapping that Chen Lihua had ever been involved in.

The only person who hadn’t been 100% friendly towards to her was Knight Jovis, who was her designated guard by virtue of, as far as Chen Lihua could tell, being the most talented knight that happened to be around Chen Lihua’s age.  This seemed to be more important than the fact that Knight Jovis hated Chen Lihua with every fiber of her body.

There really didn’t seem to be anything Chen Lihua could do without provoking her, which is the reason why Chen Lihua had decided to deliberately provoke her, just to see what would happen.  The results were entirely uninspiring. Some gritted teeth, sure, but no violence.  Maybe a comment, about how Chen Lihua could be making better use of her time, but no snide remarks at her appearance or parentage or anything.  

People really were very nice to her here, even if Chen Lihua wasn’t particularly nice back.

“She’ll warm up to you!” Prince Yulan said, who had vastly higher standards for niceness than Chen Lihua did.  “Eventually!”

“You really think so,” Chen Lihua said.  Chen Lihua was not the kind of person that people warmed up to.  Chen Lihua was not the kind of person that people liked, in general.

Prince Yulan nodded enthusiastically.  “Of course!  You have plenty of good qualities!”  He even really seemed to mean it too. Chen Lihua wondered if he had something wrong with his eyes.

Prince Yulan, the third-born prince of House Zether, was quite possibly the most optimistic person Chen Lihua had ever met.  This was most likely why he was her tour guide.  He was sunshine-y and cheerful and perfectly willing to account anything and everything in the best light possible, which was probably a bonus, if people were trying to get her to like the place enough to truly protect it.  He never got frustrated or annoyed; he didn’t seem capable of getting frustrated or annoyed. 

It was disturbing.  Chen Lihua almost preferred dealing with Knight Jovis, because at least Knight Jovis openly hated her.

“It’s not really you,” Prince Yulan said.  “Truthfully, Micaiah doesn’t much like anyone, ahaha. She’s not really a people person.  The only person she really does like is Haakon – aaah, don’t look at me like that, Micaiah!  It’s the truth!”

“Haakon?” Chen Lihua said.

“My fiance,” Knight Jovis said, deigning to speak for the first time today.  There was a warning growl to her voice.  It reminded Chen Lihua of girls warning her to stay away from their boyfriends.

What fun memories.

“What, you have a fiance?” Chen Lihua said, more to irritate Knight Jovis than out of an actual disbelief.  “You?”

Knight Jovis bared her teeth.

Prince Yulan blithely ignored their interaction.  “Haakon’s nice!  He’ll actually be accompanying you next week, by the way, instead of me.  I’m going to be called away on business…”

“So Knight Jovis’s fiance will be around me all week?”

“....That’s an odd way to say it, but yes?”

Chen Lihua smiled brightly at Knight Jovis.  Knight Jovis gave her a look that said she would like to set Chen Lihua on fire.

Chen Lihua would love to see her try.

unusual fic-specific asks for authors

[mixelation]

if you go into the notes on this post, or any of the other tumblr posts about it, or even this reddit thread about it, you will get so many people very patiently explaining how natural selection works and then explaining how it made these flowers look like birds (looking like a bird deters insects somehow! looking like a bird keeps other birds from eating you!) and i need you to know that every single one of these "explanations" is actually just that person spewing literal bullshit

those photos (and i want to stress that googling "magnolia bird" just returns the same 3-4 photos and NO reliable sources) look like birds to you. but please. use your brain before you go loudly posting your weird hypotheses like they are fact, because I'm not kidding about scammers on amazon piggybacking on this weird fixation on the bird flowers, so maybe we shouldn't all join hands repeat the asme type of misinfo on popular posts over and over. ignoring that the photos are probably fake or else are a very rare phenomenon based on other photos of yulan magnolias from actual websites that aren't 30% ad space (or lily magnolias-- no one can actually agree on what type of magnolia it IS).... do you personally know what challenges a magnolia faces and what might deter those challenges? do you actually know that looking like you have a flock of birds on you will deter insects, a benefit you only need during the time of the year that you are actively flowering for some reason? if the flowers are to keep other birds away, do you know what birds bother magnolia trees so bad they'd evolve a whole new flower morphology? can you confidently say these flowers look like birds to insects or other birds or anything but a bored human on pinterest? no! you can't! because you just made that up to sound smart on the internet!!

mimicry is a term used in ecology & evolution to describe a phenomenon in which an organism (the mimic) resembles another species (the model) to a third player in the game (the receiver), presumably as some sort of benefit to the mimic. (Note that the model and the receiver can be the same species, i.e. orchids mimicking female insects to trick male insects to pollinate them). there are some truly remarkable examples of mimicry out there, but note that the pretend armchair hypothesizing can't even point out a good model. the flowers look like birds..... what birds? can you show me an actual bird sitting in a magnolia tree that looks like the flower? who is the receiver? why is this receiver avoiding birds and what cues do they need to recognize something as a bird? do they think the flowers look like birds? how is it that these geniuses on reddit know all the answers but i can't find one single botanist talking about these incredible flowers??

OR maybe it's just that human brains evolved to be able to look for patterns and you are just seeing birds because evolution and life experience taught you to see them and i mean the photos are most likely fake anyway

EDIT: found some blossom photos that look kind of like the flower ones here-- you can see how these could be easily manipulated (by hand, clever angling by a photographer, and/or in editing software) to look like birds

EDIT OF THE EDIT: at least a couple of the photos being passed around seem like they might come from here? at least this is the oldest place I've found them posted, and the writer claims they took the photos themselves. note that both these sources are chinese news sites, which i don't know enough about to assess reliability (but which i will take over a rando clickbait website)

ah, my old enemy, the yulan magnolia, has a new post for people to be wrong on again

[that-dinopunk-guy]

Massive Gondolend concept sketch dump

Hey look, it's my only artistic output that ever gets more than one or two notes: drawings of dinosaurs (and other animals)!

The whale-sized filter-feeding pliosaur Pelagititan melvillei (labeled here Aquatitan because I changed the name after I drew this), and the orca-sized mosasaur Zallingeria orak. These were drawn way back in 2002, before we had a better idea of what their tails were supposed to look like.

An updated orak that I started in 2016 and never got very far with because I hated it.

Deinonychus antirrhopus.

Yurgovuchia doellingi, which made an appearance in my short stories "The Hunter" and "The Prey."

Assultornis pteronyx, also known as the drop bird. This is a fictional dromaeosaurine found throughout the Democratic Republic of Samaraland that hunts by dropping down onto prey from above and then dragging its kill up into a tree to avoid getting it stolen by something bigger and meaner. One of these guys appears in my novella The Beasts of Kulig County, which barring any fuckups on my part I should start serializing online again in...November.

The wooly rinic, Cryonyx borealis, a fictional species of baryonychine originally native to Gondolend's frigid northern polar region, but which I have since retconned to be a southern polar animal instead. (I'll have to change that species name if I ever decide to do anything more with Gondolend beyond my current revisions.) While this drawing is relatively recent this is the first fake dinosaur I ever came up with for this project, and as you can see I went full Rule of Cool with the teeth. Which then led to...

...The horrormouth, Cryonyx phoboris. It took me years to actually draw this guy in the flesh; for the longest time it only existed as skull and skeletal reconstructions, which someone eventually tried to pass off as real on some random dinosaur battle forum.

The elma'cho, Elmachosuchus gayi. This was a land-croc that I made as a reference to a gloriously stupid website that a friend of mine made and which is now gone.

I forget the scientific name for this guy, but it's commonly known as a crested dragon. It's a meter-long drepanosaur found in the Cassowary Valley, and makes an appearance in my novella Eleven Days in the Valley, which I'll be serializing on my website starting in September.

Domnosuchus, a giant land-croc native to the island of Yulan. This was the largest known species of land-croc, but it was quickly driven into extinction once humans settled the island.

A giant water bug the size of your hand. The Isani consider them a delicacy.

The gartum, a softball-sized dung beetle that cleans up sauropod shits on the Samara. Yes, its name is a reference to the garthim from The Dark Crystal.

The giant hopper, Macropodotherium. This highly derived and infamously belligerent species of hypsilophodont is native to the island of Vona, but a feral population has become established in the Democratic Republic of Samaraland. These also show up in The Beasts of Kulig County. I also hate how this picture turned out and I can't fathom how I thought eschewing outlines was a good idea.

Two pterosaurs that appear in The Beasts of Kulig County, the tai (Istiodactylus) and the turu (Dsungaripterus). The tai is a full-time scavenger and generally non-aggressive, while the turu is a part-time scavenger and doesn't give a single fuck.

Giraffatitan, known in Samaraland as the twiga. One of these also appears in The Beasts of Kulig County.

Isisaurus, which in ancient times was used by the armies of Garacania as mobile battle platforms with archers (and, later, musketeers and then riflemen) on top.

Zuniceratops, known in Garacania as the gergedat, was a popular cavalry mount. Famously, the legendary Garacani princess Denika Agares I led a gergedat cavalry into battle on many campaigns. (She also appears riding one in my short story "The Messenger.")

Nigersaurus was used as a beast of burden throughout Garacania (and presumably other neighboring areas), and domesticated specimens often had their tails docked at a young age to avoid them getting in the way and whapping people in crowded urban environments. The first two concepts in the second picture were serious, and the others...progressively less so.

A very quick and dirty sketch of a scene in the Garacani territory of Ulaan Bok, showing several local Hahn Gar (an ethnic group inspired mainly by the Hmong) passing by as a Rubeosaurus grazes in the foreground.

An Isani boat, as seen in Eleven Days in the Valley.

A pachycephalosaur.

I forget what I called this guy; it's a giant relative of the alligator snapping turtle native to the Cassowary Valley, where it spends most of its time on the riverbed waiting for prey to swim into its mouth. You can't see it here, but it has a very long neck.

A rough concept for a condor-sized alpine scansoriopterygid that never really went anywhere before I put my Gondolend project on indefinite hiatus.

...And that's it for now. Yeah, there's more. See you in part two, dickheads!

[soliloquics]

yulan is a skilled pianist; in his canon setting he has spent hundreds of years perfecting his skills and enjoys playing only when nobody is listening or if someone he is incredibly close to is around.

given those skills are eternally tied to a life that wished to see him dead and tortured, he finds it intensely irritating to have anyone listening to him without consent.

[neriyon]

Glamtober - Day 1: On the Road

Iridescent Acton of Aiming

Wayfarer's Fingerless Gloves

Bridesmaid's Tighs (Soot Black)

Ishgardian Thighboots (Soot Black)

Wayfarer's Earcuff

[milolov3nutella]

I'll be returning the favor to you 💖 What would your Ocs (Specifically Primis) think of my Primis ocs?

alright let me try :D

Xiu (Wei): He sees Lena as his big sister, since he never had one. She's kind and caring to him, so he listens to her the most. As for Ji Eun, he's kinda afraid of her. Constantly getting yelled at because of his reckless behavior, but he still respect her. He isn't the most fond of Arthur for pulling pranks on him, but he gets him back sometimes so its mutual. He sometimes gets babysit by Dragomir, which he doesn't enjoy but still see him as a big brother.

YuLan: She calms whenever Lena is around, although they don't tend to talk much, she feels safe around her. Ji Eun is like her spirit animal, the similarities between them made her very comfortable around. She sees Arthur as a tall guy, but also a gentle giant to her. Dragomir and YuLan don't tend to talk a lot either, but she cares for him and sees him as a good ally.

Viktoriya: She loves seeing another woman who like science (Lena is a medic, while Vik is a chemist). She also find Lena amusing to tease whenever she asks question about Nikolai. She treats Ji Eun with respect, mostly to avoid getting called names. She sometimes loves to joke around with Arthur, she loves talking to him. Vik is always happy when Dragomir asks questions about her and Nikolai, always willing to listen.

James: He seemingly respects Lena, he enjoys talking to her, sharing stories about each other. He sometimes enjoy teasing Ji Eun, getting brave to joke around the little grumpy bean, but deep down, he enjoys her company. Seeing Arthur made him more confident to work on the investigation, he felt happier seeing another British fighting along with him. He would sometimes share his latest findings with Dragomir, mostly because he asks lots of questions and James loves questions.

[fff777]

Watched this clip of WayV talking about their November 2023 showcase tour :3

Airport roleplay

I did not know that WayV went to a film event in Shanghai.

They joked about Ten being a Shanghai native. I'm guessing that he'd filmed Great Dance Crew in Shanghai?

Hendery's Shanghai memory is eating with Chenle's dad XD

Apparently Yangyang and Xiaojun were occupied so only the others could eat with Chenle's dad :o

Yangyang: Shanghai's flower is the Yulan Magnolia Kun: How did you know?! Hendery: You're so smart!! Yangyang: They wrote it for me to say :)

WayV: How do you say this in Shanghainese? Xiaojun: I'm calling Chenle now

Chenle picks up the phone: Nghh??????? He literally said it in the cutesiest way XD Babygirl princess Chenle always.

Chenle: Why don't you get Kun-ge to ask my dad? Two things, one is that Chenle's dad has adopted all of the Chinese neos. Two is that Chenle has told Kun-ge to bypass him and just ask his dad lol.

They have a chart lol

Xiaojun: 綴點 Kun: ...點綴??

Yangyang: 德俊, 你從頭到尾都有紅色啊 Xiaojun: 謝謝 My guess is that they're referring to how red also means famous.

Learning the local dialects is fun :P

WayV: Practising Chengdu dialect Ten: 很有感覺, 很 sexy

They keep not being coordinated about whether they call themselves WayV or 威神V

Xiaojun was writing really small and Winwin literally went "who's supposed to look at those ants"

BEIJINGRRRRRRR We know Winwin loves the erhua.

Ten said he was in Beijing too, so I'm going to hazard a guess and say that he filmed Great Dance Crew in both Beijing and Shanghai lol.

Ten couldn't really understand Beijing dialect at first but later he could understand it. As expected from the language king.

Winwin lived 10 years in Beijing and hadn't tried 豆汁兒 which is apparently a fermented bean dish that is very polarizing.

Xiaojun insisting that he was already writing bigger and the other guys not agreeing

Winwin's totally unreasonable erhua XD

Kun told Xiaojun to fill the box with 兒 and Hendery's like lol he didn't even XD because of the space still left on the bottom.

Winwin & Kun: 早茶! Hendery: 找誰的茬? Kun: 找你的茬!

Xiaojun mentioned Cantonese soup 老火湯 <3 As I grow older I appreciate Cantonese soup more and more :3

Hendery mentioning the kind of soup that he heard of often

WayV: Why do kids need to run faster? Winwin: Faster on the path of life! A save, I guess

I didn't know that Guangzhou was also Sheep City :o Apparently it came from an old legend.

Kun: We don't have to look up Cantonese phrases! Xiaojun: ANY of us can do it!

Yangyang and Winwin doing their alternating speech :P

Yeah the guys must have picked up soooo much Cantonese.

上有天堂, 下有蘇杭 I actually went to Hangzhou and Suzhou a long time ago when I was a teenager. It is true that Suzhou especially has a reputation for being very beautiful.

Xiaojun is excited to go home and speak 家鄉話 which I guess in this case can refer to both Mandarin and Cantonese

Hendery breaking the board after Winwin broke it earlier

[anotherescsite]

HEROES: Junior ESC 2023

Personally, Junior Eurovision is an abomination that creeps me out and make my poor ears bleed. That said there are songs in the Senior Eurovision that do that also (yes - I'm looking at Iru who consequentially came from the Juniors and won with Candy).

While there are entries that are travesties and screechy, there is sometimes quality as well. Needlessly you watch and sometimes a song sticks and you have it on your playlist: I still listen to 'Shut up' from Belgium and Antes Muerta Que Sencillas from Spain. And of course what seems great in a film could be a squealing disaster on the night.

So let's see what we have this year:

ALBANIA: Viola Gjyzeli - Bota Ime

Interesting entry from Albania that could be their best entry ever or a crashing mess. It has potential depending on the staging and Viola's vocal. The film is pleasant without going overboard with colourful lighting on trees.

ARMENIA: Yan Girls - Do it my way

The Armenian entry is a pack of girls with a modern hard hitting entry. This could do well; choreography is ready, the outfits will be flashy and it will be attractive to the children voting. May be a bit repetitive.

ESTONIA: Arhanna - Hoiame Kokku

This is the first Estonian song in the Juniors. The film says that it's about friendship, but hidden within is maybe something more Sappho-ic. The song does not sound interesting or memorable for me.

FRANCE: Zoé Clausure - Coeur

Defending champ nation has an interesting peppy entry that will present well, but not win. I think they will place her behind a piano for some of it and I expect there will be a dancer of some sort.

GEORGIA: Anastasia and Ranina - Over the sky

Now this could be interesting. There are three of them and while it is crediting Anastasia as the lead, the other two put in the work too. The harmonies are very nice and the song is a gentle lullaby of a song. The video is more a loopy trip than a film.

GERMANY: Fia - Ohne Worte 

I read Fia's story on the Juniors website and I am a little emotional half way through the song. It was unexpected. I don't know if it will do well, but I was engaged by seeing Fia and her sister, and the signing makes sense. I do hope it does better than expected.

IRELAND: Jessica McKean - Aisling

Gaelic always seems to give a song some whimsy and that's were this has gone. Children will not appreciate the beauty of this ballad. I'm sure that it will be presented nicely on the stage. I'm not sure if last year's Irish entrant will also be appearing, but it worked.

ITALY: Melissa and Ranya - Un Mondo Giusto

I don't know about this one. I'm not getting it. One of them has a better voice than the other and there are points where I expect there will be Italian yelling vocals which I'm not a fan of.

MALTA: Yulan - Stronger

This song is interesting as this could be a major moment of the night or a let down. Yulan seems like someone who can perform and if she can pull it off could go well for them.

NETHERLANDS: Sep & Jasmijn - Holding On To You

Another modern number with synth elements. I guess it will come down to chemistry on stage, if they can sing and dance, but I like it. I think it has good lyrics and a good beat.

NORTH MACEDONIA: Tamara Grujeska - Kaži Mi, Kaži Mi Koj

The introduction goes for almost 30 seconds and I was wondering if she would begin singing at all. For me, it is too much moan-singing and because of that I don't like it. Don't think it will finish highly.

POLAND: Maja Krzyżewska - I Just Need A Friend

Poland has had a good run lately. This could do well depending on styling, performance and choreography etc. Not sure if it will with though.

PORTUGAL: Júlia Machado - Where I Belong

A very quiet song, but maybe a very personal song. It has no sparkle to make it stand out so I don't expect a high place for this one.

SPAIN: Sandra Valero - Loviu

Hmm. It's an upbeat number which has the kind of feeling you expect from a little girl singing. Her voice could be annoying if she sings higher. Simple enough that it could score well.

UKRAINE: Anastasia Dymyd - Kvitka

A very young girl singing an age appropriate song. It's a bit repetitive and simple but it's okay to listen to.

UNITED KINGDOM: STAND UNIQU3 - Back To Life

This one will do well. There is a lot of space for choreography and vocals. The sound of the song is different to everything else sounding almost like a 1930s swing number.

Who will win is anyone's guess. I'd maybe put my money behind Malta, Armenia or Georgia and the UK as a dark horse. I may be completely wrong.