#108 Cherry Blossoms

[simplymariac]

Season 1, Episode 108 Cherry Blossoms - Nick vamped out. #ForeverKnight #GeraintWynDavies #Vampire

Just having fun with these screenshots. Sony has all the rights to this screenshot set. 😉

[pix4japan]

Resonance of History: Gumyoji Temple's Belfry・桜と弘明寺の鐘楼堂

Location: Gumyoji, Minami Ward, Yokohama, Japan Timestamp: 18:47・2024/04/09

Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter ISO 160 for 20 sec. at ƒ/11 Classic Negative film simulation

In this long-exposure photo of the bell and belfry at Gumyoji Temple in Yokohama, Japan, I tried to capture the serene atmosphere of the temple grounds. This nighttime scene showcases the traditional Japanese architectural style of the belfry, with its large, curved roof and wooden beams. I especially like the cherry blossoms that are in full bloom in contrast with the bare branches of other trees, all subtly illuminated by ambient lighting.

The bronze bell hanging in the belfry, which was cast in 1798, is central to the Japanese Buddhist ceremony Joya-no-Kane held on New Year’s Even, where it is rung 108 times to symbolize the cleansing of 108 earthly desires accumulated over the past year.

Check out the full write-up here: https://www.pix4japan.com/blog/20240409-belfry (2-minute read), which also cites sources and a glossary.

[maerinhearts]

All The BL I Have Read

If you're not interested in BL, scroll away. If you are... well...

Welcome. Hello. My name is Mae. I read a lot of BL in my free time because it's incredibly entertaining and I have a lot of fun. None of my friends read BL and the only one I share this information with is my best friend. Because I have a touch of the 'tism, I have compiled a list of every single BL I have ever read and I would like to share it with you.

ETA: This posted very oddly, and I've tried to fix it several times to no avail. I'm sorry.

Please keep in mind that these are in no particular order.

Let's start with the finished works:

Insecret: 102 Chapters

Again: 60 Chapters

Aporia: 108 Chapters

Dear Door: 163 Chapters

BJ Alex: 96 Chapters

Mad Dog: 51 Chapters

No Love Zone: 70 Chapters

Checkmate: 103 Chapters

Love or Hate: 106 Chapters

The New Recruit: 45 Chapters

Hold Me Safe: 49 Chapters

Love So Pure: 113 Chapters

Fake Romance: 37 Chapters

The Unquenchable Mr. Kim: 65 Chapters

Vanilla Soda Sky: 49 Chapters

The Big Apple: 65 Chapters

Darling For Dessert: 72 Chapters

In My Closet: 116 Chapters

A Life Without You: 65 Chapters

The Words In Your Snare: 82 Chapters

Snake Bite: 30 Chapters

Fuck this story.

A Man of Virtue: 131 Chapters

How To Snag An Alpha (Omegaverse): 106 Chapters

My Way With You: 4 very long chapters

Do you like pain? Same. I sobbed while reading this.

Tell Me You Love Me: 15 Chapters

Don't Build My Hopes Up: 50 Chapters

Love Shuttle (Omegaverse): 98 Chapters

Cherry Blossoms After Winter: 151 Chapters

Easy To Read: 50 Chapters

Solar Eclipse: 86 Chapters

Love In Kitsch: 52 Chapters

Broken Boy: 75 Chapters

Seriously… do you like pain? Because same.

On or Off: 91 Chapters

Assorted Wildness: 65 Chapters

The Sweetest Man: 115 Chapters

Surge Towards You (Omegaverse): 61 Chapters

Sign: 115 Chapters

Do you like angst? Same.

Mayday Mayday Mayday!: 50 Chapters

Do you like red flags? Same.

Anti P.T.: 63 Chapters

Top to Bottom: 56 Chapters

Lucky Paradise: 90 Chapters

DO YOU REALLY LIKE BEING IN PAIN? DO YOU ENJOY SUFFERING? FUCKING SUFFER. THE ENTIRE TIME YOU READ THIS. SUFFER.

Secret Therapy: 39 Chapters

Blind Play: 80 Chapters

My Bias Is Showing?!: 48 Chapters

Lying In A Dream: 66 Chapters

Love Me, Doctor!: 55 Chapters

BL Motel: 155 Chapters

Turn Off The Camera: 99 Chapters

Viewfinder: 89 Chapters

Undercover Partners: 174 Chapters

Siren's Song: 72 Chapters

Lover Boy: 81 Chapters

I know you love pain by now…

Unromantic Romance (Omegaverse): 64 Chapters

The Ordinary Lifestyle of a Universal Guide: 63 Chapters

Shame Application: 60 Chapters

Red Candy: 92 Chapters

Paid: 55 Chapters

If you read this, be nice to my baby Heejae… He a lil dumb… for a good reason, too.

Love For Sale: 93 Chapters

Kiss Me Liar (Omegaverse): 32 Chapters

Fuck everything about this one.

Heat and Run (Omegaverse): 107 Chapters

Gold Gray (Omegaverse): 126 Chapters

At this point, all you know is pain. This one is fucking SAD.

One Roof, Two Strangers: 56 Chapters

Crash Into Me: 48 Chapters

So you really love pain…

This handles some very difficult topics, please tread carefully.

Love Percentage (Omegaverse): 69 Chapters

Melting Into You (Omegaverse): 60 Chapters

My Master, My Jooin (Omegaverse): 64 Chapters

Blood Link (Omega...verse...ish...?): 135 Chapters

Uhmmmmm….???????????? Top is a vampire??? Bottom is a female lycan???? Uhm? He bites the bottom???? And like??? What???

Okay... Now onto stuff that I am currently reading and is still releasing. There will be an asterisk (*) next to works that are currently on hiatus:

Painter of the Night

Low Tide in Twilight (Omegaverse)

Limited Run*

Speak of the Devil

The Pawn's Revenge*

The Pizza Delivery Man and the Gold Palace

Legs That Won't Walk*

I don’t know what’s happening.

Idk why I’m here anymore.

Jinx

Pearl Boy

TREAD. CAREFULLY. I cannot stress this enough.

Opposites Attract

Anemone Theater

The Ghost's Nocturne*

Tread carefully with this one too. The top is a literal demon from the underworld.

Vanilla Taste

Stranger Than Friends

Odd Love (Side stories ongoing)

The Dangerous Convenience Store (Side stories ongoing)

Semantic Error

Liveta*

Steel Under Silk

Love Jinx

Payback

Under The Green Light*

Stay With Me

Honey Trouble (Omegaverse)

Hold Me Tight (Side stories ongoing)

The Hunting Game

Yakuza In Love

I kinda dropped this one, but also kinda didn’t. I need to pick it back up.

It's Just A Dream... Right?!

Trapped In The Dark* (Considering dropping)

Miscreants and Mayhem

Punch Drunk Love

Missing Love: A Married Man

Prepare… to fucking cry your eyes out…This one is so fucking sad. I’ve never cried so much in my life. You can’t even enjoy the smut. Tread so carefully with this. It is not for the weak-hearted.

You Get Me Going

Kill The Lights (Side stories ongoing)

December (Omegaverse)

Love Is An Illusion (Omegaverse) (Side stories ongoing)

Bongchon Bride

XXX Buddy/Perfect Buddy

Hard-Boiled Love

Hard-core BDSM. Tread carefully.

Origin of the Species* (Omegaverse)

Heal, Heal, Heal!

My Suha (Side stories ongoing)

Work Love Balance (On or Off Sequel)

Shutline

Double Trap

Cold Blooded Beast

DROPPED:

No Reason

Even If You Don't Love Me/Love Me Not

And now for my list of must reads (my faves) in no particular order:

Love For Sale

Man of Virtue

Hold Me Tight

Love Or Hate

Missing Love (this one is incredibly hard to read, but so good)

On or Off

The Dangerous Convenience Store

The Pizza Delivery Man and the Gold Palace

The Pawn's Revenge

Sign

In My Closet

Aporia

I want to put Blind Play on that list so bad, but it's so fucked up it's not even funny. I loved it, but the top is a literal murderer. So please keep that in mind before reading.

And so there it is. A list of everything I have read so far. If you ever want to message me and talk about BL, I'm down. If you want the link to any of these, message me and I will send it.

[projectmoon-smash-or-pass]

the 6th day's results are here!!

punishing bird was the most voted abnormality with 231 votes, but was unfortunately ratio'd to hell with 184 passes.

old lady unfortunately also got ratio'd into her grave with 199 votes and 173 passes

keeper of the black forest (punishing bird's friend in library of ruina) was the only smashed abno with 189 votes and 118 smashes

skin prophecy should've been on yesterday's post but i forgot about it. with 188 votes and 148 passes, it also got ratio'd

meat lantern got 183 votes and was passed 134 times

a lot of people thought about smashing the tree and not the thing inside of it, but grave of cherry blossoms got 180 votes and was passed 108 times

this means the only abno that was smashed was keeper of the black forest!

[conanmythbusting]

The Fog Tengu Legend Murder Case

Chapters 108-110

Days: 2

Deaths: 1

Essential? Well, this case introduces the speaker sticker gadget, so if the speaker sticker gadget comes up in any important capacity, then yeah, it could be essential.

Notes: cherry blossom season :( WHY IS IT CHERRY BLOSSOM SEASON :(

[nihongoseito]

I posted 891 times in 2022

That's 114 more posts than 2021!

92 posts created (10%)

799 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ohitoyoshi

@todayintokyo

@warau-okami

@tokidokitokyo

@onigiriforears

I tagged 890 of my posts in 2022

#写真 - 261 posts

#vocab - 138 posts

#絵 - 130 posts

#sasha.txt - 122 posts

#冗談 - 62 posts

#langblr - 61 posts

#grammar - 52 posts

#japanese - 43 posts

#phrases - 41 posts

#芸術 - 36 posts

Longest Tag: 49 characters

#へへこういうことを読んだのは初めてだけど彼氏とハイキングに行ったことがあってめっちゃ楽しかった:)

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

風物詩（ふうぶつし） = signs of the season

when you think of your favorite season, what comes to mind? is it seeing cardinals in a snowy winter scene? maybe it’s when the 桜（さくら, cherry blossoms） bloom in march or the 紫陽花（あじさい, hydrangeas） bloom in june. in japanese, the word 風物詩 refers to things—events, objects, plants and animals, flavors and scents, even products—that evoke or are reminiscent of a certain season of the year. here’s weblio’s definition of 風物詩, plus an example:

その季節の感じ��よく表しているもの。「金魚売りは夏の風物詩」

here, 金魚売り（きんぎょうり, goldfish selling） is mentioned as a summertime 風物詩. there are also lots of examples on ja.wikipedia:

春（はる, spring）

See the full post

108 notes - Posted March 25, 2022

#4

「習う」と「学ぶ」の違いは何？

what’s the difference between these two verbs for “to learn”?

well, as it turns out, the difference has to do with how you learned the information you’re referring to—namely, whether you learned from another person or not. check out this explanation from a hinative thread:

習う・・・人から教わる（おそわる）こと / to be taught by someone

学ぶ・・・知識や技芸を身につけること / to acquire some knowledge or skill

学ぶには、学習する、勉強するという意味もあります / 学ぶ can also mean to 学習する or 勉強する.

so, 習う is for things you learn from people and 学ぶ is for things you learn from books, etc., or as a synonym for studying. here are some examples (from the same hinative thread):

本を読んで英語を学びました。 (never 習いました)

ピアノを母から習いました。 (not 学びました)

example 1 specifies that the new information comes from a book, while example 2 specifies that it comes from the speaker’s mom. it seems like such a fundamental difference between the two, but i know i for one had never heard of it before! 

anyways, i hope this quick little lesson was helpful. また今度ね！

156 notes - Posted February 27, 2022

#3

「大体」と「たいてい」の違いは何？

i recently posed this question to the seitokai discord and @onigiriforears came up with a lot of resources, so i thought i’d share what i learned! example sentences are adapted from jisho. 行くよ！

大体（だいたい） = roughly, approximately

this word is used in situations where you have to approximate or estimate something. it’s kind of similar to 約（やく） in that way.

大体正しいです。 = that’s mostly right.

大体わかる。 = i get the gist.

大体息子と同じ年齢です。 = he’s about the same age as my son.

大体準備ができた。 = everything is more or less ready.

See the full post

159 notes - Posted September 29, 2022

#2

how to form basic verbs in keigo / 敬語の動詞の形

n.b.: if you don’t know the difference between 尊敬語 (sonkeigo) and 謙譲語 (kenjougo), or much about 敬語 (keigo) in general, i recommend a quick google search or glancing over an article like this one! also, i won’t be glossing any kanji, bc i’m lazy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

みなさん、お久しぶりですね！ today i’m going to guide you guys through the verb forms for japanese 敬語. 敬語 can be pretty tricky, but the rules for forming 敬語 verbs (like many rules in japanese) are actually quite consistent. 

there are three 尊敬語 (honorific) forms i’m going to go over today: the Vください form, the Vになります form, and the “simple 尊敬語” form. i’ll also give a brief list of verbs that have specific forms in 尊敬語. after that, i’ll go over one 謙譲語 (humble) form, the Vします form, and then a list of 謙譲語-specific verb forms. さて、行きましょう！

尊敬語：お・ごVください

this form is used to say “please” to a superior, but it doesn’t use the 〜て form like in 丁寧語. here’s how to form it with ichidan, godan, and する verbs.

ichidan/godan verbs: おVますください

かける → かけます → ソファにおかけください

入る → 入ります → どうぞお入りください

する verbs: ごNするください

注意する → 閉まるドアにご注意ください

尊敬語：おVになります

this form is used as a more formal replacement for the usual Vます form, but shouldn’t be used with する verbs* OR verbs that have special forms in 敬語 (see below).

ichidan/godan verbs: おVますになります

書く → 書きます → この教科書は鈴木先生がお書きになりました

帰る → 帰ります → 何時にお帰りになりましたか

する verbs: ❌*

❌ ご説明になりました*

⭕️ 説明なさいました・説明されました (see below)

*according to the textbook i’m using (see sources), these are incorrect. however, i have seen some posts online that say ごNになります is an acceptable form, so it’s not impossible you’ll see it in the wild (perhaps the times they are a-changing?).

尊敬語：簡単尊敬語 (aka the “active passive”)

have you ever seen a japanese verb in the passive and said to yourself, “actually that makes no sense at all���? it was probably one of these “simple 尊敬語” forms! they are used like the active voice but written like the passive, so you have to tell the difference from context. also, they are NOT used with ください.

ichidan verbs: Vないられます

食べる → 食べない → 刺身を食べられますか

godan verbs: Vないれます

読む  →  読まない → 今朝の新聞を読まれましたか

する verbs: Nするされます

紹介する → 先生が新しい学生を紹介されました

ください form: ❌

❌ 英語で話されてください

See the full post

165 notes - Posted June 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

okami fun fact!

while all other characters in okami (as far as i know) are labeled with their canon names in issun’s paintings, shiranui is labeled NOT as 不知火 (shiranui) but as 初代 (shodai), which means “first era” or the “first one” in a line of something! it makes sense since he’s meant to be ammy from a hundred years ago. 

in this painting above, ammy is labeled 天照 (amaterasu) and oki is labeled オキクルミ (okikurmi). also, issun appears to sign his paintings as 天道太子 一寸 (tentou taishi issun), meaning “celestial envoy issun.” while the homophone 大使 (taishi) means “ambassador,” which is closer in meaning to envoy, the okami devs have written it 太子, which usually means “crown prince.” maybe they chose to do that to emphasize issun’s tiny size using the character 子, which means “child,” along with 太, which can refer to the sun? honestly i’m not sure. or maybe issun has since appointed himself ammy’s earthly heir LOL 🪲👑

anyways, i just thought this was kinda interesting! if anyone knows any other examples of this, please feel free to add them on!! またね :)

289 notes - Posted July 2, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[xe-company]

CHIKAFUJI CHIYO [TWICE] PROFILE & FACTS

➢ BASICS:

STAGE NAME: Chiyo

BIRTH NAME: Lee Yeseul

JAPANESE NAME: Chikafuji Chiyo

NATIONALITY: Korean

BIRTH PLACE: Seoul, South Korea

BIRTHDAY: April 23rd, 1999

ZODIAC SIGN: Taurus

HEIGHT: 167 cm (5’6″)

WEIGHT: 48.9 kg (108 lbs)

BLOOD TYPE: AB

➢ SOCIAL MEDIA

INSTAGRAM: @ chi.yoyo

TWITTER: @ chikafuji_chiyooo

YOUTUBE: N/A

➢ GROUP INFORMATION

GROUP: TWICE

SUB UNIT: N/A

POSITION: Visual, Sub Vocalist, Sub Rapper, Sub Dancer

FACE + VOICE CLAIMS: YOUHA [SOLOIST]

➢ FACTS

She was born to a Korean mother + Korean father; they gave her up for adoption when she was three.

She was then adopted by a Japanese couple who moved her to Japan when she was five. 

She mainly speaks Japanese; basically had to relearn Korean.

Her Japanese mom used to call her Suzu (little bell) when she was little. 

She mainly goes by her Japanese name since that is the name she was used to hearing and using since she was a child. 

She is a former CASSIOPEIA trainee [2012-2014].

She eliminated during the filming of SIXTEEN and didn’t debut in the original lineup of TWICE; though she was often termed one of the fan favorites.

Joined YG in late 2015 after not debuting in TWICE.

She was apart of YG’s predebut group Future 2NE1, that was supposed to debut in 2016 but was cancelled, but left the group when she left YG entirely in mid 2017. 

JYP gave her the opportunity to temporarily join the group while Mina went on hiatus in 2019.

Representative emoji: 🌸 [CHERRY BLOSSOM] / 🪷 [LOTUS]

Her and Chaeyoung share the same birthday.

[letswaitforme]

I posted 1,211 times in 2022

92 posts created (8%)

1,119 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@peaceoutofthepieces

@pinof 💝

@heartstoppercentral

@loveallthegays

@calvinahobbes 💖

I tagged 1,201 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#heartstopper - 489 posts

#dan - 108 posts

#dnp - 75 posts

#kit connor - 43 posts

#heartstopper spoilers - 41 posts

#joe locke - 39 posts

#chloe talks - 36 posts

#text - 36 posts

#heartstopper cast - 30 posts

#phil - 30 posts

Longest Tag: 60 characters

#🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Alice’s Instagram Story, 20/03/22 🌈🍂

63 notes - Posted March 20, 2022

#4

See the full post

66 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

#3

Season 1 filming wrapped 🍂 - Season 2 filming wrapped 🍂

114 notes - Posted December 4, 2022

#2

See the full post

128 notes - Posted April 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

🌸 we planted a cherry blossom in the garden last year and it’s just bloomed!! 🌸 hanami picnic time

502 notes - Posted March 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[ireadathing]

A small, perfect book

"In October there were yellow trees. Then the clocks went back the hour and the long November winds came in and blew, and stripped the trees bare. In the town of New Ross, chimneys threw out smoke which fell away and drifted off in hairy, drawn-out strings before dispersing along the quays, and soon the River Barrow, dark as stout, swelled up with rain." (1)

"It was a blustery afternoon in April; beyond the wide, clear panes, a blizzard of white blossom was being torn and blown off the roused-up cherry trees, and Furlong had opened the pane a little as she had never liked being in a closed room" (22)

"As he waited for the kettle to boil up once more, he thought of the hot water bottle Ned had given him all those Christmases ago, and how, despite his disappointment, he'd been comforted by that gift, nightly, for long afterwards; and how, before the next Christmas had come, he'd reached the end of A Christmas Carol, for Mrs Wilson had encouraged him to use the big dictionary and look up the words, saying everyone should have a vocabulary, a word he could not find until he discovered the third letter was not a k. The next year, when he'd won first prize for spelling and was given a wooden pencil-case whose sliding top doubled as a ruler, Mrs Wilson had rubbed the top of his head and praised him, as though he was one of her own. 'You're a credit to yourself,' she'd told him. And for a whole day or more, Furlong had gone around feeling a foot taller, believing, in his heart, that he mattered as much as any other child." (26-27)

"When he let down the tail board and went to open the coal house door, the bolt was stiff with frost, and he had to ask himself if he had not turned into a man consigned to doorways, for did he not spend the best part of his life standing outside of one or another, waiting for them to be opened." (58)

"He gave Furlong a welcome, as always, and soon began to reminisce over him being brought as a n infant into the house, going over how Mrs Wilson used to come down daily to look in at him in the basket. 'She never once regretted it,' he said, 'or said a cheap word about ye or took advantage of your mother. The wage was small but hadn't we a decent roof over our heads here, and never once did we go to bed hungry. I've nothing only a small room here but never did I go into it to find so much as a matchbox out of place. The room I live in is as good as what I'd own - and can't I get up in the middle of the night and eat my fill, if I care to. And how many can say that" (82)

"What most tormented him was not so much how she'd been left in the coal shed or the stance of the Mother Superior; the worst was how the girl had been handled while he was present and how he'd allowed that and had not asked about her baby - the one thing she had asked him to do - and how he had taken the money and left her there at the table with nothing before her and the breast milk leaking under the little cardigan and staining her blouse, and how he'd gone on, like a hypocrite, to mass" (87)

" And of this was truth, hadn't it been an act of daily grace, on Ned's part, to make Furlong believe that he had come from finer stock, while watching steadfastly over him, through the years. This was the man who had polished his shoes and tied the laces, who'd bought him his first razor and taught him how to shave. Why were the things that were closest so often the hardest to see." (100)

"As they carried on along and met more people Furlong did and did not know, he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?" (108)

"He thought of Mrs Wilson, of her daily kindnesses, of how she had corrected and encouraged him, of the small things she had said and done and had refused to do and say and what she must have known, the things, which, when added up, amounted to a life. Had it not been for her, his mother might very well have wound up in that place. in an earlier time, it could have been his own mother he was saving - if saving was what this could be called. And only God knew what would have happened to him, where he might have ended up.

The worst was yet to come, he knew. Already he could feel a world of trouble waiting for him behind the next door, but the worst that could have happened was already behind him; the thing not done, which could have been - which he would have had to live with for the rest of his life. Whatever suffering he was now to meet was a long way from what the girl at his side had already endured, and might yet surpass. Climbing the street towards his own front door with the barefooted girl and the box of shoes, his fear more than outweighed every other feeling but in his foolish heart he not only hoped but legitimately believed that they would manage." (109)

[penhero]

A new beautiful collectible Century II ballpoint from Cross!

Each Cross Century II Cherry Blossom finish features a delicate deep engraved enamel filled pattern.

Translucent Blue Lacquer Ballpoint Pen - $112

Pale Pink Lacquer Ballpoint Pen - $108

The Century II features a moderately wide barrel for a comfortable writing experience and a classic look that never goes out of style.  About 4.9 inches long.

Available in our webstore:

Also on eBay (search CENTURY)

[simplymariac]

From Season 1, Episode 108 Cherry Blossoms - Partners, Det. Nick Knight & Det. Don Schanke #ForeverKnight #GeraintWynDavies #JohnKapelos

Just having fun with these screenshots. Sony has all the rights to this screenshot set. 😉

[aurrai]

Story beats: Showing the main character's mindset change at the start of Act 2

Summary of the story so far:

In Act 1, Chiyo was forced out of the Normal World of her hometown where she lived with her father, mother, and older sister into the Special World of Kyoto where she lives in an okiya, a geisha house, and is in training as an apprentice geisha. Chiyo's goal is to run back to her hometown with her sister but she is caught and sent back to her okiya where her punishment for trying to run away is for her geisha training to be forfeit and her status reduced to that of a maid. She then finds out both her parents have passed away and her sister has run off. Now she has no Normal World to return to. Here is how Act 2 begins:

From MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden, Chapter 9 pp. 105-108.

---START OF TEXT---

Around the time of my sixty-fifth birthday, a friend sent me an article she'd found somewhere, called "The Twenty Greatest Geisha of Gion's Past." Or maybe it was the thirty greatest geisha, I don't remember. But there I was on the list with a little paragraph telling some things about me, including that I'd been born in Kyoto—which of course I wasn't. I can assure you I wasn't one of Gion's twenty greatest geisha either; some people have difficulty telling the difference between something great and something they've simply heard of. In any case, I would have been lucky to end up as nothing more than a bad geisha and an unhappy one, like so many other poor girls, if Mr. Tanaka had never written to tell me that my parents had died and that I would probably never see my sister again.

I'm sure you'll recall my saying that the afternoon when I first met Mr. Tanaka was the very best afternoon of my life, and also the very worst. Probably I don't need to explain why it was the worst; but you may be wondering how I could possibly imagine that anything good ever came of it. It's true that up until this time in my life Mr. Tanaka had brought me nothing but suffering; but he also changed my horizons forever. We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course. If I'd never met Mr. Tanaka, my life would have been a simple stream flowing from our tipsy house to the ocean. Mr. Tanaka changed all that when he sent me out into the world. But being sent out into the world isn't necessarily the same as leaving your home behind you. I'd been in Gion more than six months by the time I received Mr. Tanaka's letter; and yet during that time, I'd never for a moment given up the belief that I would one day find a better life elsewhere, with at least part of the family I'd always known. I was living only half in Gion; the other half of me lived in my dreams of going home. This is why dreams can be such dangerous things: they smolder on like a fire does, and sometimes consume us completely.

During the rest of the spring and all that summer following the letter, I felt like a child lost on a lake in the fog. The days spilled one after another into a muddle. I remember only snippets of things, aside from a constant feeling of misery and fear. One cold evening after winter had come, I sat a long while in the maids' room watching snow falling silently into the okiya's little courtyard. I imagined my father coughing at the lonely table in his lonely house, and my mother so frail upon her futon that her body scarcely sank into the bedding. I stumbled out into the courtyard to try to flee my misery, but of course we can never flee the misery that is within us.

Then in early spring, a full year after the terrible news about my family, something happened. It was the following April, when the cherry trees were in blossom once again; it may even have been a year to the day since Mr. Tanaka's letter. I was almost twelve by then and was beginning to look a bit womanly, even though Pumpkin still looked very much like a little girl. I'd grown nearly as tall as I would ever grow. My body would remain thin and knobby like a twig for a year or two more, but my face had already given up its childish softness and was now sharp around the chin and cheekbones, and had broadened in such a way as to give a true almond shape to my eyes. In the past, men had taken no more notice of me on the streets than if I had been a pigeon; now they were watching me when I passed them. I found it strange to be the object of attention after being ignored for so long.

In any case, very early one morning that April, I awoke from a most peculiar dream about a bearded man. His beard was so heavy that his features were a blur to me, as if someone had censored them from the film. He was standing before me saying something I can't remember, and then all at once he slid open the paper screen over a window beside him with a loud clack. I awoke thinking I'd heard a noise in the room. The maids were sighing in their sleep. Pumpkin lay quietly with her round face sagging onto the pillow. Everything looked just as it always did, I'm sure; but my feelings were strangely different. I felt as though I were looking at a world that was somehow changed from the one I'd seen the night before-peering out, almost, through the very window that had opened in my dream.

I couldn't possibly have explained what this meant. But I continued thinking about it while I swept the stepping-stones in the courtyard that morning, until I began to feel the sort of buzzing in my head that comes from a thought circling and circling with nowhere to go, just like a bee in a jar. Soon I put down the broom and went to sit in the dirt corridor, where the cool air from beneath the foundation of the main house drifted soothingly over my back. And then something came to mind that I hadn't thought about since my very first week in Kyoto.

Only a day or two after being separated from my sister, I had been sent to wash some rags one afternoon, when a moth came fluttering down from the sky onto my arm. I flicked it off, expecting that it would fly away, but instead it sailed like a pebble across the courtyard and lay there upon the ground. I didn't know if it had fallen from the sky already dead or if I had killed it, but its little insect death touched me. I admired the lovely pattern on its wings, and then wrapped it in one of the rags I was washing and hid it away beneath the foundation of the house.

I hadn't thought about this moth since then; but the moment it came to mind I got on my knees and looked under the house until I found it. So many things in my life had changed, even the way I looked; but when I unwrapped the moth from its funeral shroud, it was the same startlingly lovely creature as on the day I had entombed it. It seemed to be wearing a robe in subdued grays and browns, like Mother wore when she went to her mah-jongg games at night. Everything about it seemed beautiful and perfect, and so utterly unchanged. If only one thing in my life had been the same as during that first week in Kyoto ... As I thought of this my mind began to swirl like a hurricane. It struck me that we-that moth and I-were two opposite extremes. My existence was as unstable as a stream, changing in every way; but the moth was like a piece of stone, changing not at all. While thinking this thought, I reached out a finger to feel the moth's velvety surface; but when I brushed it with my fingertip, it turned all at once into a pile of ash without even a sound, without even a moment in which I could see it crumbling. I was so astonished I let out a cry. The swirling in my mind stopped; I felt as if I had stepped into the eye of a storm. I let the tiny shroud and its pile of ashes flutter to the ground; and now I understood the thing that had puzzled me all morning. The stale air had washed away. The past was gone. My mother and father were dead and I could do nothing to change it. But I suppose that for the past year I'd been dead in a way too. And my sister . . . yes, she was gone; but I wasn't gone. I'm not sure this will make sense to you, but I felt as though I'd turned around to look in a different direction, so that I no longer faced backward toward the past, but forward toward the future. And now the question confronting me was this: What would that future be?

The moment this question formed in my mind, I knew with as much certainty as I'd ever known anything that sometime during that day I would receive a sign. This was why the bearded man had opened the window in my dream. He was saying to me, "Watch for the thing that will show itself to you. Because that thing, when you find it, will be your future."

I had no time for another thought before Auntie called out to me:

"Chiyo, come here!"

// SCENE BREAK //

Well, I walked up that dirt corridor as though I were in a trance. It wouldn't have surprised me if Auntie had said, "You want to know about your future? All right, listen closely . . ." But instead she just held out two hair ornaments on a square of white silk.

"Take these," she said to me. "Heaven knows what Hatsumomo was up to last night; she came back to the okiya wearing another girl's ornaments. She must have drunk more than her usual amount of sake. Go find her at the school, ask whose they are, and return them."

---END OF TEXT---

Some things I noticed:

Paragraph 1: The chapter, the start of Act 2, begins with distant narration and then circles around to Chiyo's current situation.

Paragraph 2: A summary of events that have occurred so far

Paragraph 3: Introspection and summary of the rest of the spring and all that summer following the letter. Story moves forward.

Paragraph 4: Introspection and summary of early spring, also showing that Chiyo is starting to transition from child to teen through her looks. Story moves forward.

Paragraph 5: Introspection and summary of very early one morning that April. Story moves forward.

Then onwards we start to get into the scene, though there is still a lot of summary and introspection. The summary helps convey a lot of information in few words and the introspection helps make the character feel more human.

Chiyo's change of mindset explicitly stated: I felt as though I'd turned around to look in a different direction

Grounding in the new scene:

I had no time for another thought before Auntie called out to me:

"Chiyo, come here!"

Come to think of it, I think I've seen something similar in another book.

From PRINCE'S GAMBIT pp. 331-334, the start of Ch. 4

LAURENT, JUST TURNED twenty, and possessing an elaborate mind with a gift for planning, detached it from the petty intrigues of the court and set it loose on the broader canvas of this, his first command.

Damen watched it happen. It began when, after their long night of tactical discussion, Laurent addressed the troop with a portrait of their shortcomings. He did it from horseback, in a clear voice that carried to the farthest of the gathered men. He had listened to everything Damen had said last night. He had listened to a great deal more than that. As he spoke, there emerged nuggets that he could only have obtained from the servants and armourers and soldiers to whom, over the last three days, he had also been listening.

Laurent regurgitated the information in a manner that was as scintillant as it was scathing. When he was done, he threw the men a bone: perhaps they had been hampered by poor captaincy. They would therefore stop here in Nesson for a fortnight to accustom themselves to their new Captain. Laurent would personally lead them in a regime that would tax them, trim them and turn them into something approximating a company that could fight. If they could keep up with him.

But first, Laurent appended silkily, they would unpack and make camp here again, from kitchens to tents to horse enclosure. In under two hours.

The men swallowed it. They would not have, had Laurent not taken on their leader and beaten him, point for point, the day before. Even then, they might have baulked had the order come from an indolent superior, but from the first day, Laurent had worked hard without comment or complaint. That, too, had been calculated to within a hair.

And so they got to work. They hauled out tents and hammered in posts and pegs and unsaddled all the horses. Jord gave crisp, pragmatic orders. The tent lines looked straight for the first time since they had ridden out.

And then it was done. Two hours. It was still too long, but it was better by far than the sprawling chaos of the last few evenings.

Re-saddle, was the first order, and there followed a series of mounted drills that were designed to be easy on the horses and brutal on the men. Damen and Laurent had planned the drills out together last night, with some input from Jord, who had joined them in the grey hours of the morning. Truthfully, Damen had not expected Laurent to take part in the drills himself, but he did, setting the pace.

Reining his horse alongside Damen’s, Laurent said, ‘You have your two extra weeks. Let’s see what we can do with them.’

In the afternoon they switched to line work: lines that broke again, and again, and again, until finally they didn’t, if only because everyone was too weary to do anything but mindlessly follow commands. The day’s drills had pushed even Damen, and when they were done, he felt, for the first time in a long time, as though something had been accomplished.

The men returned to camp boneless and exhausted with no energy to complain that their leader was a blond, blue-eyed fiend, curse him. Damen saw Aimeric sprawled by one of the campfires with his eyes closed, like a man collapsed after a foot race. The stubbornness of character that had had Aimeric picking fights with men twice his size had also had him keeping up with the drills, no matter the barriers of pain and fatigue that he had had to push through physically. At least he would not be able to cause trouble in this state. No one would be picking fights: they were too tired.

As Damen watched, Aimeric opened his eyes and gave an empty-eyed stare at the fire.

Despite the complications Aimeric presented to the troop, Damen felt a stirring of sympathy. Aimeric was only nineteen, and this was obviously his first campaign. He looked out of place and alone. Damen detoured.

‘It’s your first time in a company?’ he said.

Here, too, the start of Act 2 begins with a new chapter

Paragraph 1: the chapter begins with distant narration

Paragraph 2: Summary of events (eg, their long night of tactical discussion,) but also moving forward with the story (Laurent addressed the troop)

Paragraph 3 onwards: Summary and introspection (Damen's interpretation) of events. Story moves forward.

Eventually the Writer grounds the scene: Damen saw Aimeric sprawled by one of the campfires with his eyes closed.

Where is the main character's mindset change? Maybe it's that Damen is starting to feel hope that the company he's found himself in might actually be able to be trained to win a fight? The day’s drills had pushed even Damen, and when they were done, he felt, for the first time in a long time, as though something had been accomplished.

So I guess this is a technique for starting Act 2 if you've got nothing else:

Start a new chapter

Summarise events in the story so far

Move the story forward by summarising some event/s leading up to the character's mindset change

Be sure to show the main character's feelings about everything through introspection and voice

Explicitly state the character's mindset change

Ground the next scene

[sxs-a]

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[foreverknightalways]

Nick tells Natalie, If I have to leave, I'll get in contact with you somehow. Natalie says, Hey, promise me one thing? Whatever happens, you won't ever stop trying to become human.

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Listened to calm music and drew the lad.

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