#Anyway English tea and Chinese tea are probably different

[rigelmejo]

Chinese listening experiment, mini update (a big one is coming soon when I get to 300 hours...)

There's several sites in chinese where you can watch pretty much whatever you want, pirating is just as big in chinese internet as in english one, so it's just a matter of searching for what you want to watch free. Basically there's dramacool equivalents, I posted a search terms list and that should help you out (just search the basic words in chinese: 'name of show' 'watch free' or 'watch online' 'watch episode 1').

So anyway I'm browsing and I find 民国大侦探 Checkmate. Which was a show I enjoyed on youtube for about 5 episodes before iQiyi took it off, except the first episode, and made the rest pay-only on their website. iQiyi has some free-always shows on youtube like Hikaru No Go/Qi Hun and Mysterious Lotus Casebook, and some like The Long Night with Bai Yu that go behind a paywall after episode 1. So anyway, I'm thrilled! I'm so excited to find Checkmate again!

I try to watch it. Things I notice right away: I am still reliant on chinese subtitles when watching any show lol. That's fine though, for this show I want to follow the plot more than just focus on listening practice. I can do some reading and listening practice, I tell myself optimistically. I do follow what's going on! At least most of it. Which is better than when I tried to watch Victim's Game last month and felt like I only caught 50%. I probably would catch 50% of Checkmate too, if I had not been able to look at the Chinese subs (like names were obvious thanks to the subs). I am better with crime-solving mystery stories though, so I'm in my element watching any of these type of shows, I'll generally understand their main idea.

Anyway, the big difference is I notice it is easier to watch Checkmate than it was to watch Victim's Game or Day of Becoming You around a month ago. As in less mental effort, and I can read some of the scrolling comments on the episode. I'm sure part of the less mental effort was due to chinese subtitles to glance at, but also I just genuinely think I'm understanding words I know from listening Faster than a month ago. I also tried to watch Goodbye My Princess/Dong Gong this past week, with no chinese subs so just audio, and it was significantly easier than Day of Becoming You a month ago. I figure, partly because I've seen GMP before, but it felt easy enough to listen and also scroll my phone/make tea/do things.

So I think my listening is improving through this month, even though it's not huge enough to notice a big jump in audiobooks I can understand lol. I do notice a significant improvement in ease when watching shows.

Which is a good thing, as I think seeing visuals when I hear words really helps them stick faster in memory. But I am lazy and hate watching things when I can't focus, so I've been relying on audiobooks. So being able to add shows I think will speed up my progress overall.

It feels weird... because my progress with shows, listening wise, is following the same improvement track that watching shows in years 1-2 did when I solely relied on reading chinese subtitles to understand the shows. So I feel like a mid-beginner again, the way I did at the end of year 1 learning trying to watch Word of Honor and reading the chinese subs for dear life to try and grasp the plot. That's how I felt a month ago, with listening to shows. Now it feels a bit easier.

Also, in shows, sometimes they talk so much less clear than in audiobooks - like Checkmate. Also sometimes the Checkmate dialogue does NOT match the Chinese subtitles which I find hilarious, I thought that was only a problem with English subs on English dubbed content. But nope, subs not matching is still an issue in Chinese dramas with Chinese subs. It's good for me to practice hearing how people actually speak, when they aren't teachers on youtube or audiobooks intended to be super clear.

I think I may go back to using HP audiobooks... as I would like to do 5, 6, 7 and get ALL the vocabulary improvements in listening from them I possibly can. I found another audiobook of the series made by a girl who reads everything fairly neutral, so no voices or music or sound effects, and I've been using it for 'practice' recognizing words with much less context than the original audiobooks provided. I'd like to get all the context from the professional audiobooks - that makes it very easy to grasp many words - first. Also the Twilight audiobooks are professionally made, also have multiple actors and sound effects/soundtrack, and I highly recommend them for people practicing listening. The Twilight audiobooks are on bilibili.com if you just search.

I've been doing the Narnia series audiobooks lately, and the thing is... all of the individual words I'm more likely to know, but the audiobooks have far less sound effects to hint what's going on. So I usually hear a sentence, then get frustrated I understood maybe 3/4 of the sentence but not some word or phrase. I listen to a few minutes, and I can place overall what's going on, but still notice there's several details I did not get. It's that situation where it's SO close to your level of understanding, that anything you don't understand is more frustrating. Also it has less context, since it has less words, so less context to guess the remaining unknown words/phrases from.

I do find the more 'easier' stuff I listen to, the less I tolerate harder stuff. I tried to listen to MoDu again, which I've been listening to since the beginning of this experiment. And oh boy was my brain frustrated to hear as many unknown words a minute as it did when I listen to MoDu. But listening to 'harder' stuff definitely helps me stop focusing on individual words, and just focus on the overall main idea of what I'm listening to.

My skills feel like they're going UP down UP down nonstop. Maybe continuing to watch a show will help me feel I'm making progress.

[kloppinthekop]

15 Questions, 15 Friends

Tagged by @kraeki and @ollieflopkins, my tumblr partners in crime hehe

Are you named after anyone? Nope! My name just happens to be something my non-English speaking Chinese relatives can pronounce.

When was the last you cried? Last night I laughed so hard that I cried at a friend’s birthday party when we were playing a silly game. This was a vast improvement over the previous few weeks, when I was crying every day out of frustration over work/colleagues. 🫠

Do you have kids? No. My family’s bloodline dies with me! 😈

What sports do you play/have you played? I am so incredibly not athletic, even though I’m obsessed with watching football (and baseball when I was younger). I did ballet from the ages of about 5-10 years old but I never made it to pointe, which is somewhat of a regret in my life… but I’m very short so I would never have made it as a ballerina anyways. 🩰

Do you use sarcasm? Yes, and it is one of the only ways I stay sane and refrain from saying very brutally honest things at work that would possibly get me fired.

What is the first thing you notice about people? Honestly, I’m not really sure. I think it’s probably different for everyone, but probably hair and face? And if they have a cool/unique sense of style.

What is your eye color? Brown

Scary movies or happy endings? Both, but if I absolutely had to choose one, then happy endings. Especially LGBTQIA+ movies—I’m so sick of sad gay movies that leave you without any sense of hope. There was a time when I sought out the most heart-wrenching stories possible, but now I just want my faves to end up happy.

Any talents? I like to collect small talents/skills here and there when I go into various obsessive phases. Currently I am pretty proud that I can make little earrings and bracelets and such using some chainmaille techniques. I also used to be very good at the piano and violin (my parents have a shelf full of my trophies, and I even won a major scholarship prize when I was younger) but I don’t really touch those instruments now.

Where were you born? Boston! But I didn’t grow up there.

What are your hobbies? Watching movies, listening to music, chainmaille, occasionally cooking or baking, singing along to Kate Bush in the car, etc.

Do you have any pets? No, but I would like to adopt a cat or two!

How tall are you? 5 feet even

Favorite subject at school? English literature — so much so that I got a PhD in it 📚

Dream job? To have no job, lol… But okay, in an ideal world where capitalism does not exist, I’d love to have a job where I could curate playlists, book recommendations, photo and art exhibits, etc. — maybe in a bookshop that I’d own with my queer friends and there would be cats and pretty cocktails and lots of tea.

Tagging (no pressure, esp. if you’ve already done it and I’ve just somehow missed it!): @mebiselfandi @stormoflina @onherereading @lexqa @trenty @photmath @liverpool-enjoyer @jarellquansah @lfc-xnda @moomin279 @immortaltale @trentxaa @endowataru @shob-chop-lai @across-light-and-dark

[cherryvampyyri]

15, 23, 30 for the Langblr ask game :D

Not me accidentaly giving my lap top an electric shock causing it to shut down and losing all I had written when I was nearly done answering :D

Anyway

15. I always dread getting asked why I am learning Mandarin... For a quick-ish summary as to how I ended up here I need to go back to ~2005. That's when manga got really popular in my class. My interest for Japan was intense after that and continued like so until 2012 when I discovered kpop. Then it was all things Korea. And it wasn't ever just about media. History was always my cup of tea. In addition, the cultures were so vastly different to mine that I obviously needed to learn about it! China (as a lacking definition, didn't have much info back then about the vastness of all things Chinese culture and languages) always tagged along in the sidelines. I also went for an English language course in Singapore back in 2014 and tried to learn a little Mandarin before that but I never got far with it.

Fastforward to after upper secondary (Finnish equivalent to high school) when I moved to capital city region and got my hands on the opportunity to choose languages to study. At that point I had set Korean, Mandarin and Japanese as the ones I most wished to learn. So I chose a place offering evening courses. They had Chinese and Japanese available. Mandarin was cheaper by ten euros so I went with that.

These days my reasons for studying Mandarin are probably revolve more around wanting to consume media, learn more about culture and the little spark of a dream of wanting to learn traditional woodwork and joinery. I also admire many drama set designs, architecture and traditional clothing styles. As for Korean, which I am finally planning to properly begin learning next year, it's got a lot to do with kpop and my interest in music video set designs.

23. My time in tumblr has only been some months so I don't have much to go with. But so far I have really enjoyed linghxr and zhuzhudushu!

30. I'm from Finland, a small country in Northern Europe between Sweden and Russia. Most popular foreign language here is English. Everyone learns it at school for about 9 years in total. Swedish is also taught at Finnish speaking schools (and vice versa) since we have a Swedish speaking minority in the country and it is the other official language. So I don't know if it counts as foreign here, but I have no exposure to Swedish in my home town.

When it comes to languages that are non-compulsory to learn, Russian has been a useful language in the Eastern parts since forever. I also learnt it at school, since it was the first one I had the opportunity to learn and we used to have tourists in my town as well.

German was also an option beginning at 8th grade, but it wasn't popular enough to get a sufficient number of students to begin a new class. In my upper secondary we also had Spanish as an option. All of these languages are possible options for matriculation exams. Those are exams almost everyone going to upper secondary take at the end of the studies. The results can then be used to get into a University or a Polytechnic. I have also heard that French is a popular choice in the schoolworld.

[cupcakesmoothie]

painting or photography // dusk or dawn // spring or autumn // movies or tv shows // chocolate or nutella // audiobooks or podcasts // card games or board games // fiction or nonfiction // cookies or brownies // dragons or unicorns // bath or shower // blue or yellow // rollercoasters or bumper cars // iced tea or hot tea // left side of bed or right side of bed  // zip-up hoodie or pullover hoodie // straight hair or curly hair // gummy worms or gummy bears // rain or snow // sneakers or flip-flops // bowling or mini-golf // pasta or pizza

These ones are pretty cool, the ones where it's just info. Bolding and unbolding them was kinda annoying tbh

Thank you for being interesting in my opinions lol

This or That

the other post was getting a bit long so I'm gonna do a new one--

Tåk, @skyward-floored!

painting or photography // dusk or dawn // spring or autumn // movies or tv shows // chocolate or nutella // audiobooks or podcasts // card games or board games // fiction or nonfiction // cookies or brownies // dragons or unicorns // bath or shower // blue or yellow // rollercoasters or bumper cars // iced tea or hot tea // left side of bed or right side of bed  // zip-up hoodie or pullover hoodie // straight hair or curly hair // gummy worms or gummy bears // rain or snow // sneakers or flip-flops // bowling or mini-golf // pasta or pizza

@howl-at--the-sun @antignocchiphase @ludoluck @whatcouldpossiblyg0wr0ng @a-pun-and-ten-dead @goosekee @destructokats @here4dragons @hermitdrabbles56

[vispero]

So, about previous Genshin and Luckae or Kaeluc ship.

I need to clarify some things. (Also don't mind mistakes, English isn't my first language.)

To me fictional content isn't some "example" you should follow irl. It's more about experiencing something you actually -can't- do irl. And as far as you not doing something bad/illegal, you free to like, create and enjoy any character and ships. There is actual laws about content which is allowed or now, and if someone just don't like something but it's allowed by site rules, then by no means anyone should blame, troll or hate people who create -allowed- content. Block button is a thing and it's better to use it than make "fandom" "hatedom".

All my life I was playing games, mostly Jrpg (final fantasy, tales of etc.). And in my childhood translations usually was bad or awful :') Years later I finally was able to check original scripts and yep, there was a lot of "new" facts. So even now, while I playing with Japanese audio and English or other subtitles, I often compare what I hear and what I see, and there sadly a ton of differences, some major, some minor (same goes about just text without audio, and it's more difficult to compare sadly). Should localisation team change facts to make it more appealing for their audience? Idk, honestly. To me original script and ideas always come first and translations and adaptations second, it shows what authors meant initially and I'm here for that. But even if someone prefer translations/localisations, then they shouldn't be arrogant and going so far as telling that only their opinion valid while ignoring Original (in Genshin case - Chinese) version and it's enjoyers.

Now about Kaeya and Diluc. I didn't know anything about them when I started playing. And after some of first quests I actually catched myself thinking "Damn, there is so nice chemistry there, I'm all here for that!" Muuuch later piece by piece I learned about their story. I also found post about Chinese version about their relationship, it was really educational. (I need to clarify that incest isn't my cup of tea, I'm not judging or anything, just not my thing. Idk if I'm bad person because of that but honestly I don't think I should tell anyone what they should like/ship. Also see 1th paragraph.) But in Kaeya and Diluc case I don't see them as actual brothers, adoptive or not. There is more interesting and complicated situation and I'm here for that, I like difficult relationships in media. And if Chinese players explained about "sworn brothers" trope, then it's clear why Genshin creators went with it. Western fandom can accept it or not because of English translation, but they honestly shouldn't force their opinion on those who don't see them as actual brothers. I don't think it's that hard?

I'm not really caring about what some people think about me online. I'm not drawing anything shocking (I hope xD), so people can like or don't like my opinion/artworks, but it's more about preferences than anything else. Most of my works very SFW or with some R rating (because of blood/dark theme), but I strongly support all artists and writers, sfw of nsfw.

And yep, I ship Diluc and Kaeya. In more Chinese trope style (perspective), so if someone don't like it just ignore me. I'm really glad I found this ship, they have complicated and dramatic story and I'm here for that. So "Hi" to all fellow shippers <3

P.S. I'm more Luckae person but you probably won't notice it in my artworks, they mostly G-PG13 anyway.

[miakwat]

@lady-eclipse3 this took me a lot longer than I originally thought but 👁👁

Teen Titans/Ninjago crossover time

Intro:

-The ninja (and maybe PIXAL) end up in the Teen Titans’ Realm through some Tomorrow��s Tea/Realm Crystal hijinks (depending on when you want this to take place) (Leaning towards post MoTO though)

-Maybe they’re not quite able to communicate with anybody because I headcanon they speak a mixture of different Chinese dialects and Japanese (so even if they did manage to find somebody who spoke any of those languages it’d seem to messy to properly grasp)

-They eventually end up in jump and run into the Titans, maybe through them attempting to stop a break in?

-Cole uses his element and for a split second Beast Boy thinks Terra’s back

-Zane remains disguised throughout most of their time trying to figure out where they are

-Starfire ends up being their main translator at that point, but she has to learn their language first since she can only pick up bits of Japanese from them (no romantic subplot, probably just whoever she kissed getting really flustered)

(Maybe Robin can also pick up bits of Mandarin and Cantonese, but like Starfire, can’t really get the main point of what any of them have to say)

-They’re all taken back to the tower, and maybe Raven figures out a translation spell some time after (thinking something like Miss Martian’s mind link translation from YJ)

-Zane (and PIXAL) could also download English into his database

-Later on Raven also finds that dimension travel spell she used in that one tie in comic, but maybe some in story conflict comes up that postpones it?

Extra:

-When Zane’s revealed to be a Nindroid Cyborg‘s just shocked

Like he doesn’t know what to do for a second before

- Jay and Nya are also rather interested in how Cyborg works and I’d imagine he’d get pulled to the side by Jay, Nya, and Zane a lot

-Lloyd notices really quickly how similar Robin and Kai are

Hot headed teens with spiky hair who always put family before themselves and have unhealthily obsessed over mysteries? Lloyd didn’t think there could be more than one Kai (again) but here they are

-Raven notices the slight demonic presence coming from Lloyd and keeps an eye on him

Of course, nothing happens, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful

- Maybe Raven confronts them about it and Lloyd’s like “lmao yeah I’m part oni and dragon” and then gives no context whatsoever

-Beast Boy (and sometimes the others) gets uneasy whenever Cole uses his element and when the ninja ask them about it they dodge the question

- Maybe eventually they cave and tell them about Terra

“My girlfriend turned into the element she used to control”

“Aw Sorry man. It’d suck if Nya turned into water, so I feel you :(“

-Maybe the Terra explanation turns into the two teams sharing their experiences and they see some similarities?

- Lloyd and Raven both prevented apocalypses and fulfilled prophecies

- Kai and Robin both had an antagonist take an interest in them and give them offers to join their side

- They’ve all encountered schools literally designed to train villains?

“Your world just... Let a school for evil people be built?”

“Was H.I.V.E. Academy not legally funded???”

-At one point they realize how similar their slogans are (ie. “Titans go!” “Ninja go!”)

-Robin learns spinjitzu send tweet

Oh my god that was so long oops 🏃

Anyways it’s eleven where I am so I apologize if any of this is confusing, but thank you for sitting through my late night ramblings 😌

[dreamwritesimagines]

It’s CMA-

Okay it took a while to get everything uploaded but here it is:

(This is regarding my trip to a local botanic garden)

https://imgur.com/a/hkSkK9F

This is just some of the Shakespeare garden- I cannot emphasize enough how huge this place is with so many different plants; this is probably a football field of plants for this section alone, but the entire estate is many acres, it’s absurd.

(Off the top of my head, they’ve got a huge conservatory, Japanese, Chinese, Australian, native plant, children’s, ranch-style, South African, and many more gardens, most of which are much, much larger than the one I saw)

Unfortunately the conservatory was closed but I’m going on a tour of it later this year so I’ll send pics then too if you’d like greenhouse inspo. They have a vanilla orchid there that’s hundreds of feet long and very, very old.

This place used to be a person’s estate which is fucking insane. It’s also an art and library historical preservation thingy. They have multiple themed art museums and libraries on the estate. It’s really cool but also weird to think that this used to all belong to one person.

The statues were all titled in their Roman forms btw, idk if that was like an artistic choice or something they preferred or symbolic for the time period or what, but I found that interesting.

No statues of Aphrodite/Venus unfortunately, but there was one of Diana, who I feel like would be clover’s hero lol.

Also it was very sunny and crowded, so if there’s people in the pics or the lighting is off, sorry about that.

There’s also a tea room (fun fact the property has a Japanese and an English tea room. They also put on regency events and stuff that are very hard to get a ticket to) but that’s not open to the public most of the time (neither are the libraries without special permission, which sucks).

There are a lot of benches and stuff so I kept thinking of clover’s reading area or Ben’s art area in there that would be really cool.

Anyway it was super pretty because it’s spring here and everything was blooming. So we’re the Japanese cherry blossoms, but they’re quite far from where I was and it was super hot and crowded, so I’m saving that for next time.

It’s unbelievably gorgeous, but I think the inner socialist within me has a lot of mixed feelings on these sorts of private or semi-private collections in modern days lol, and the fact that I’m so annoyed about it probably means I need to eat, so brb and enjoy I guess, lol.

CMA MY LOVE!

Omg I cannot thank you enough for this, it is such a wonderful inspo! ❤️ Like, I'm so going to use these to get inspiration for the next chapters and aaaaaa-

IT IS GORGEOUS! I need to visit this place😍

I WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE GREENHOUSE INSPO OMG YES, PLEASE YES?! ❤️❤️

There are a lot of benches and stuff so I kept thinking of clover’s reading area or Ben’s art area in there that would be really cool.

I am screaming here, you're so amazing! ❤️ It means so much to me to hear this🥰

Diana would totally be Clover's favorite 🥰

I can't stop looking at these beautiful pictures! 😍 I am totally hypnotized! ❤️❤️❤️

[heroofpenamstan]

—OC PROFILES: JOANNE & MICHAEL

tagged by the lovelies: @shallow-gravy​, @shellibisshe​, @belorage​, @honeysides​, @strafethesesinners​, @faithchel​, @blissfulalchemist​! thank you, dears! x since i’m tragically late to the party as per usual, not going to be tagging anyone since i assume most of my mutuals have done it, but if you want to go right ahead and tag me too so i can see! :”)) also, fair warning: 80% of the questions i answered at ungodly hours overmedicated on paracetamol and it shows because re-reading this in the morning was a Yikes

GENERAL

name: joanne burton alias(es): jo, annie ( mike exclusive ), burton, dep, jr. deputy, rook, traitor, sinner, wrath/pain in the ass ( john exclusive ), rabbit ( jacob exclusive ), heinous fucking bitch—( also john exclusive ), black widow ( new dawn au ) gender: cis. female age: 29 birth: 30th october, 1988 place of birth: meridian, idaho spoken languages: english; may or may not recite some hebrew lines over the holidays sexual preference: bisexual occupation(s): junior deputy of hope county, montana/menace to all cultists everywhere ( in a certain radius of said hope county, montana, anyway )

APPEARANCE

eye colour: brown hair colour: black height: 157cm ( 5′2 ), or approximately 7′11 when balancing on michael’s shoulders to peer inside john’s windows scars: split right eyebrow ( thanks, jake ), minor cuts and incorrectly healed bruises and gashes, scarred bullet wound on left hip ( you’re welcome, jake )

FAVOURITE

colour: orange or yellow or cyan, or whatever is more stupidly eye-catching and not at all fit for her current environment song: i’ve been thinking by handsome boy modeling school food: various stir-fries, fruits and protein ( or anything that she claims to be “healthy” when, truly, bitch is one step away from living off of instant noodles and canned pineapple and cigarette buds from dutch’s stash ) drink: beerherbal teas and infusions

HAVE THEY

passed university: no, but passing the police academy was already a pleasant enough surprise for her had sex: today? no. two weeks ago? probably had sex in public: probably said two weeks ago gotten pregnant/ someone else pregnant: yes, but we don’t talk about it kissed a boy: yes ( derogatory ) kissed a girl: yes ( affectionate ) gotten tattoos: yes, loads: most were practice scribbles for her ex-girlfriend, and the only true meaningful one she possesses is lydia, scrawled into her pinky in remembrance. otherwise, john seed do not even engage with that rusty ass tattoo gun— gotten piercings: yes, loads multiplied; if there’s a place for a piercing in her ears, she has them. also, an old septum piercing she hasn’t worn in a hot second been in love: yes, loads squared ( girl rents out her heart on the weekdays and cries about the scratches she notices on saturday, but still repeats it all over again come monday; falling in love for her is easy, but actually loving someone and getting over her self-loathing to do so is a whole different ball game ) stayed up for more than 24 hours: she’s probably on hour 31 as we speak ( someone knock her out pls )

ARE THEY

a virgin: whitehorse has heard enough horror stories in the break room between her and joey to last him a lifetime a cuddler: closeted cuddler, yes a kisser: most definitely; woman has to play up her natural assets scared easily: her response time is too lagged for that jealous easily: depends; she’s more jealous of what she should have/could have/would have had in a general sense than being jealous of a particular person or a thing trustworthy: in her own way, yes dominant: disgustingly so submissive: not in this lifetime in love: very much so single: very much so part 2

RANDOM QUESTIONS (tw for self harm/suicide mention)

have they harmed themselves: yes, but it’s more by means of unintentional yet severe substance abuse thought of suicide: not as often as one would assume; joanne has a very strong sense of self-preservation, but tends to run from her bleak reality by means of one harmful way or the other attempted suicide: once or twice during her lowest points in life wanted to kill someone: on the daily have/had a job: girl had juggled three part-time jobs; there is nothing she fears anymore have any fears: ( see above ) to fall back into old bad habits, loss of control, death, failure, a bad future, poverty, being abandoned and forgotten, long stays at a hospital, the judges, the bliss, the power of john’s hair gel

FAMILY

sibling(s): micah burton ( older brother ) parent(s): abigail burton née belman ( mother ); jim burton ( father ) children: asher seed ( daughter in new dawn au ) significant other: jacob seed ( circumstantial lover/”could do without” mentor/#prisonwife #prisonhusband #imkidding #kinda ) pets: boomer for the cuddles, cheesecake for the throttles ( bitch naturally attracts the judges but will forget her dog 101 and run away like what does she think will happen then?? )

GENERAL

name: michael scott-hughes alias(es): mike, mikey, mickey ( mary may exlusive ), mike the bike/fall’s end’s bicycle, resistance’s poster boy, manwhore, cassanova, the archangel ( joseph exclusive ), the antichrist ( also joseph exclusive ), war dog, hughes boy ( fairgrave exclusive ) gender: cis. male age: 30 birth: 6th july, 1988 place of birth: fall’s end, montana spoken languages: english, russian, basic chinese mandarin and turkish sexual preference: pansexual occupation(s): residential shady, shady man ( international arm’s dealer, most recently demoted to local resistance leader and occasional general goods store co-owner )

APPEARANCE

eye colour: green hair colour: brown height: 181cm ( 5′11 ), and 6ft on tinder jkjk man’s confident enough to not grasp for that extra inch, unlike someone ( john ) scars: heavily burnt left hand ( from trying to fish out his ex girlfriend’s boiling corpse r.i.p. to that steaming puss— ), gash on his right temple, nicely healed gun wound on left shoulder, not so nicely healed amputated right hand ( man’s not having the best time in my canon, is he ), various incorrectly healed cuts and bruises

FAVOURITE

colour: green and rustics song: wild world by yusuf/cat stevens food: unlike the faker above, michael actually likes to cook and eat healthy meals, so anything from salads to veggies to oatmeal to soups will do ( and meat; man’s been a vegetarian for a grand total of 4 days in his entire life ( or 14, if you count the time he got abducted to john’s bunker womp )) drink: sugary drinkswhiskey, fresh juices, “water can be so, so sexy, annie—”

HAVE THEY

passed university: no, though michael really busted his ass to self-educate on subjects that will be beneficial to his line of work had sex: we stopped keeping tabs and numbers nearly ten years ago had sex in public: we stopped blinking at these types of shenanigans nearly ten years ago too gotten pregnant/ someone else pregnant: yes? no? maybe? ( mike’s too afraid to even think about it, but hopes he hasn’t fathered any babies any time soon ) kissed a boy: yes ( affectionate ) kissed a girl: yes ( affectionate² ) gotten tattoos: yes: the sword of damocles on his left inner forearm, intertwined snakes running across his right ribs, a tiny smiley face on his ass lord save him gotten piercings: yes, and everyone hated his attempt to revive the 90s with his lil earring like c’mon you already have a reputation of being a sleaze— been in love: yes, but surprisingly not as many times as one may think ( truthfully, three times: mary may, lana, joanne mary may again ) stayed up for more than 24 hours: sometimes it just cannot be helped

ARE THEY

a virgin: maybe in a past life as an amoeba a cuddler: yes ( try to escape his hold during a summer night i’ll give you 5 bucks if you can break the deadlock ) a kisser: he just exists to smooch at this point scared easily: truthfully, he’s quite desensitized as is, so it’s really hard to truly rock him jealous easily: no; though he might get a bit petty and bitter if someone mentions merle and mary may becuase, like, c’mon, mary—merle briggs? trustworthy: one of his better traits, but past events have shown that boy tends to lose some of his morals for love dominant: yes submissive: yes part 2 man will accommodate and switch it up in love: often single: loosely, often

RANDOM QUESTIONS (tw for self harm/suicide mention)

have they harmed themselves: michael has bad mental health trips stemming from having a lot of insecurities as a child; these may evolve into bad habits and pure recklessness on his part to prove his worth thought of suicide: these thoughts don’t come often, but when they do, it’s harder for him than most to shake them off and recover attempted suicide: once, during the boiling pit incident wanted to kill someone: yes, but it comes more from need than want usually have/had a job: yes, though no retail until he was 30 and stuck providing hope county with slugs and bullets have any fears: loneliness, rejection, abandonment, repercussions and consequences, not being good enough, powerlessness, loss, the angel pit, the process of dying

FAMILY

sibling(s): none, but: jackson hughes ( uncle ) parent(s): jessica hughes née scott ( mother ), david hughes ( father ) girl i have his whole family tree drawn up like you wouldn’t believe children: andrew hughes ( son in new dawn au and maybe canon ) significant other: mary may fairgrave ( childhood sweetheart/awkward ex/once in a rare cosmic event fuck buddy/volatile lovers ) pets: peaches loves him she doesn’t; she just wants to chew on his hair

[fishylife]

Street Dance of China Season 4, Episode 5

- I love practice montages! I was surprised that we got to see the process of each of the captains (of the competing teams) choosing dancers to their teams. Ibuki and Ma Xiaolong were speaking English to each other, and I don’t doubt that English was probably the main mode of communication across borders for these dancers.

- Okay Ibuki leading Huang Xiao by hand and then Huang Xiao cackling in glee and hugging Ma Xiaolong....very cute.

- So...is Huang Xiao baby?

- Huehuehue love Poppin’C’s laugh

- Ibuki said that Ma Xiaolong helped her a lot with recruitment. I think that’s for two reasons. One is that Ma Xiaolong (and Huang Xiao) are choreographers, so they have a better idea of what styles look together. The other is that Ma Xiaolong knows the Chinese dancers better than she would.

- Moony was saying how Ibuki is the captain but she is the youngest, and is definitely very cute haha.

- Yang Kai was very worried about dancing to a rap song so he recruited as many choreographers as he could. But the issue was that they all had different approaches to choreographing so they spent a lot of time discussing before choreographing and rehearsing.

- Yang Kai deadass brought his laptop to the hotpot restaurant because he was going to turn dinner into a lesson on Three Kingdoms for Boris and Kenken lol. The name of their song was Chitu, which is the horse of Lv Bu. Basically Chitu was just a great super capable horse and that’s why it was so famous lol. Yang Kai was trying to compare their battle to the Three Kingdoms lmao. Kenken was Zhuge Liang, Ibuki was Cao Cao (LMAO), and Chitu Ma was a Ferrari lol. Not gonna lie though, the stories in Three Kingdoms are pretty iconic lol.

- In terms of the performances, I liked them both! I think that Team Ibuki’s performance was very fun in the sense that it was like a story. I don’t think songs like that are popular dance songs, so I really liked seeing how they choreographed the dance and I felt that it was done in a very creative and fun way. I think where it may have fallen short was the cohesion. I like Poppin’C, but I wonder if it was difficult to fit him in because his skill set was so specific. As well, because all of the dancers were wearing different clothes, it was a bit difficult to see their synchronization during the group dance parts. For Team Yang Kai’s performance, it definitely was extremely hype. Whereas Team Ibuki wore different clothes, Team Yang Kai had a dress code so the cohesion was easy to see. But I feel like Team Yang Kai’s performance was being propped up by the fact that it had a very hype song, one that easy to dance to.

- Rochka continues to be the biggest fanboy of every single person on this show. I love him!!!

- Y’all have no idea how much I love hearing Boris speak Chinese. Yes, he has an accent, but he is also very easy to understand. You have no idea how difficult it is to find non-ethnic Chinese people who speak Chinese this fluently. Iunno, he just makes Mandarin seem so much more approachable. Boris said that he’d been in China for 7 years so it makes sense that he feels so confident speaking. A lot of people who are learning languages have to get over that hump where they stop feeling embarrassed about their accent because they have to go out and live their life and buy groceries and go to the doctor and stuff and it’s really interesting to hear Boris expressing himself.

- Henry feeling so pressured when he had to choose which team to pick lmao.

- Yixing went “We’re looking at you because you’re cute!” So bold, Yixing XD

- And Henry went “I feel pressured because you guys are handsome.” XD Two can play at that.

- Then Han Geng went “Henry’s Chinese is so good now!” XD My mom says that to me when I make a good joke in Chinese.

- Yixing has to talk behind his clipboard because he’s so nervous lmfao.

- So the rule is that one judge gets two votes for each matchup. In addition to that, that judge has to cut three members, two to enter a battle and one to be eliminated immediately, not including the captain.

- Ibuki was so upset when she returned to her seat :(

- Ye Yin had his team draw out their feelings as they listened to their assigned song. I thought it was a bit gimmicky, but this visual is cute.

- I thought Team Ye Yin’s performance was cool considering this was a song that would be difficult to choreograph for. I was surprised with how the incorporated breaking and locking elements, as there are breaking and locking experts on their team. But overall I thought the choreography was so nice. It told a story, and it suited the vibe of the song. Props to Bunta for the awesome choreography.

- Han Geng said that their performance reminded him of his youth, and then Henry said that he felt the same, that the performance reminded him of Geng-ge. He was like “ge, do you remember?“ and Geng-ge was like of course! Han Geng said he remembered their romantic days X’D So unnecessary. At one point the director was like did Han Geng and Henry used to have their arms around each other’s shoulders? And both of them were like uhh yeah all the time dude.

- George was asked about his rivalry with C-Lil because they keep getting stuck together lol. Apparently C-Lil became a tea enthusiast which was cute.

- Yuwan clapping his hands while his arms around C-Lil :3

- Team Liangliang’s performance was cut because apparently it was not very good, and the editors cut it out to prevent them from getting haters. I think Liangliang’s Sun Wukong headgear had obstructed his vision, and Yixing said that the performance wasn’t very in sync. A pity :(

- Gogo Brothers’ team is stack af.

- Gogo Brothers + Hilty & Bosch hotel room conference lol.

- AC went for a waacking + krump combo which is cool! Their performance was extremely aesthetically pleasing. Even though the fire power is perhaps less explosive, they worked together as a team very well. I definitely thought the waacking and the krump complemented each other very well.

- AC bought snail noodles for his team members, and apparently it’s one of those very polarizing foods, but Chika really liked it haha.

- Ohh, you know this is gonna be good.

- Team Gogo Brothers’ performance was good, but at the same time...there wasn’t anything new about it? Since there were five lockers on the, most of the performance was going to be high quality locking, but at the same time, the locking kind of overshadowed any attempt to try anything new. It was still good though, I just felt that it had limitations compared to AC’s performance that did something new with combining styles, both in terms of dance and aesthetics (costumes).

- Love to see the baby smile v.v

- Lmao Xiao Jie said that Xiaohai was the good luck charm of their team XD His good luck charm name is Jr. Baby, aka Haibaobao lol

- Yibo and Yixing voted for Gogo Brothers, and Han Geng voted for AC, so Henry, who had two votes, had the final say in who would win this battle. Then we got the theatrics where Han Geng, Yibo, and Yixing went into the audience because their job was done lol.

- Then Henry was like “ge~~~~ didn’t you say you would take care of me?” And Han Geng’s like, I’m letting you have the SDOC experience bro.

- Even though we all know it’s a joke, Han Geng is still so caring and affectionate lol.

- Anyway, after all that shenaniganery, what Henry said was right. It feels so tough eliminating any single member of the team, because it was all of them who helped deliver such a beautiful performance. I know AC had a tough time going up against Gogo brothers but dammit I actually super loved their performance. So cruel!!!!!

- Han Geng felt bad because Auju had said he wanted to be in a solo battle in the 3 vs 3 challenge, but he was put in the 5 vs. 5 battle and then this group performance, so Han Geng wanted to let him have the stage to perform his best. I thought it was a nice gesture, to let him have the stage to show off in the way he was most confident with, to let himself show himself at his best.

- Then Henry was like “what if we had Auju AND Yixing????”

- And then Boi Marble joined!!! Krumptastic

- Yixing said that even though krumpers look really fierce, that aside from the krump, all of them are lil cuties uwu.

- Team Nelson having fun with Hanfu was so cute! :D Sometimes with the non-Chinese contestants, I worry that they find the Chinese culture stuff tedious, because SDOC does try to fit as much culture in. So I’m glad to see that they’re at least finding a way to have fun. I wish I had such pretty hanfu to dress up in v.v

- I’ll be honest though, I don’t think Nelson’s team was very synchronized. He had a lot of very good individual dancers (Bouboo, Zyko, Lil Kev, that firepower is undeniable), but there were parts when I felt like all of the dancers were doing their own thing. Maybe the choreography was too subtle, or maybe the dancers themselves had slightly different rhythms.

- Acky-san giving red pockets to his team, but instead of money, he wrote them letters in different languages T_T

- A full popping team is risky move, but it paid off. Everybody was popping so everybody was dancing to their strength. Compare that to some of the other teams, where there were some dancers who clearly were lagging because they were dancing to a style they were very comfortable with. In addition, the visual style of the performance was fresh and fun. Their costumes were very wacky and fun to look at, and their performance exuded the kind of fun vibes where you felt like you wanted to join them.

- Out of the captains who’d lost their challenges, they would have to battle each other in a round robin style tournament. First place would get to keep two of their "pending” members, and second place would get to keep one.

- Yixing got up SO FAST when Tell Me started playing. I didn’t know this song before so I looked it up and it is a bop haha.

- Yixing dancing along uwu I don’t know the name of this song but it was the second song in the Ibuki vs. Liangliang battle.

- AC vs. Ibuki dancing to It’s Raining Men was A LOT of fun, particularly because everybody including the spectators knew the song haha.

- The first place winner was Nelson who was able to save Tengzai and Lil Kev and the second place winner was AC who could only choose one person to save, and AC chose Fanfan.

- Ma Xiaolong and Huang Xiao comforting Ibuki because she couldn’t save her team members :(

- Ahh I’m going to miss Yuri because she was so cute and fun. AC apologized for not being able to save her :( Gonna miss u bb ;(

- I liked Latrice too T_T Hated to see her go :(

- Brats playing with the microphones. They basically disassembled their standing microphones and waved the part around even after Han Geng already told Yibo not to lmao.

- So this section was supposed to be the captains’ opportunity to tell the dancers what kind of team they were looking to put together. Yixing was so surprised because Han Geng and Yibo had very simple and short statements (though it took a while for Han Geng to get to his point), because the boy deadass prepared a speech. Of course he did.

- Yang Kai said that his speech sounded like a motivational speech from a boss at work. That’s exactly what it is.

- Apparently Henry also prepared a speech XD

- So from what I understand, the captains will recruit a team that they think represents their style. Afterwards, the dancers who have not been chosen will get to choose their team based on which captain’s style they like. I think that’s how it works, we’ll see if I’m right lol.

- Henry trying to gleam information X3 Yibo just deals with the pressure by smiling and shaking his head. Dare I say this is the first time I’ve seen Yibo look shy??????? It’s cuuuute.

- Since the cubicles don’t have ceilings, Henry was like someone could be watching me!

- Nosy housecat in training

- Yibo and Henry and Han Geng were playing mind games being like “oh, you picked Poppin’C? And Yixing fell for the trick ^^;; Luckily he was not allowed to change his answer so at least he’s not going to make a change he regrets lol.

- All of the dancers Yixing picked were not picked by anyone else so he was quite lucky.

- Han Geng had three of his choices matching with Henry or Yibo.

- Henry has no idea how to recruit dancers so he just ends up singing love songs. Of course.

- Zyko’s loyal dude XD I can see why Han Geng is a safe choice though. Han Geng is low on the theatrics, so if I was a low key guy like Zyko, I’d probably feel less pressure being on his team. I could just focus on dance and not on entertaining the cameras.

- I can see why Nelson would go with Yibo. Yibo is quiet but he’s serious and focused and more importantly they both confirmed that they are competitors.

- Henry and Han Geng both chose Ibuki. Here Han Geng is patiently waiting/spying while Ibuki and Henry have their interview.

- Then he was offered a ladder and Geng-ge became the biggest gremlin lmao.

- Yixing the good little helper.

- C U T I E

- When Han Geng was having his interview with Ibuki, he locked the ladder in his own room and kept the key. Then he stole the keys from all the other rooms and gave them to Henry XD Actual troll-ge.

- Ibuki chose Han Geng in the end.

- So all of the people Henry chose picked other captains. This frame lmfao.

- I think last season Yixing had tons of trouble recruiting dancers to his team. In the hotpot preview he said he was super lax about this year and it worked in his favour.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Shinkai: Ginsei no Shou - Saito Hajime Chapter #1 English Translation

well... it’s going to be a long while before I finish translating another chapter from this game, though I will definitely finish at least one more before the end of the year. 

please note that i will not be posting any translations next week on account of me taking a break for CNY and studying... so, to whom it may concern, Happy Chinese New Year~! Alternatively, Happy Lunar New Year~! also happy early family day (Canadians only xD)!

anyway, enjoy! as always, tl is CN->ENG so it may not be 100% accurate while the final edits will be done later though I’m not sure how long that will take with my current schedule. 

Hakuoki Shinkai: Ginsei no Shou - Saito Hajime Chapter #1

Translation by KumoriYami

12 month of the 3rd year of Bunkyū

In order to find my missing father, I left Edo and came to Kyoto……

The night I arrived in Kyoto, I was attacked in an alley by a group of men.

They had ominously blood red eyes, were armed with vicious blades, making one feel one's blood run cold [reword later].

They smiled/laughed eerily at me as they drew/came closer, at that moment/then in a split second, the silver light of the moon flashed, and someone had cut them in half.[reword later]

Those swords that helped me—— [they were from] Shinsengumi First Division Captain Okita Souji and Third Division Captain Saito Hajime. [reword later]

I had accidently caught a glimpse of their secrets, which was why I was taken back to their headquarters and questioned by their executives......

I didn't expect for them to also be looking for my father, which was why I agreed to stay, on the condition that I helped find him.

As a result of that entire incident, I was to be treated as a page by the Shinsengumi.

Even among the executives, Saito-san was especially taciturn.

He doesn't say anything more than necessary, if he is given a mission, he will fulfill it better than anyone else [reword later].

Although I accepted how he was basically a cold person——

I however thought that this was because he always prioritizes devoting everything to accomplish his missions.

That's why he never ridiculed my swordsmanship as a woman [check jp mtl] and calmly evaluated my capabilities, and supported me accompanying the patrols [reword later].

During this time, I already knew how extraordinary his strength was, and in the following days, I witnessed that strength and his seriousness countless times.

For example, during the Ikedaya Incident, when the Shinsengumi arrested a large number of the Choshu [? check jp mtl and game. this wasn’t translated well] who had been flying the Emperor's flag and expelling foreigners.

There was also during the 7th month of Genji, a month after the Ikedaya Incident, at the Hamaguri Gate Rebellion......

While the Aizu and Satsuma were fighting against the Choshu who attacked the Imperial Palace.

Saito-san was facing Amagiri Kyuuju from the Satsuma/who was associated with the Satsuma Domain, who had seriously injured Heisuke-kun during the Ikedaya Incident, and stood his ground, not allowing for the situation to develop further.

Because of these events, at the end of the first year of Genji, I had come to a gradual understanding of who he was.

This is the story of what happened in the winter, one year after I came to the Shinsengumi [check jp mtl if this is more 'in the first year i came to the Shinsengumi'].

11 month of Genji

Approximately half a year after the Ikedaya Incident, and about three or four months after the Hamaguri Gate Rebellion......

I had more or less become accustomed to my life with the Shinsengumi.

Today, in order to look for my father, I was accompanying the Third Division's patrol.

I heard that after the Hamaguri Gate Rebellion, almost half of Kyoto had been destroyed by fire......

Yukimura: Quite a few homes have been rebuilt.

Saito:......Ultimately, it was a very large fire.

Yukimura: …………

The Shinsengumi has been patrolling the streets everyday, doing to their best to protect the people and streets of Kyoto, [though] many people still lost their homes and property in the fires caused by the Hamaguri Gate Rebellion.

Although the division members didn't say anything, they probably felt incredibly remorseful at being able to prevent this disaster from reaching the streets.

Child 2: What are you looking at? If you want to say something, say it/talk!

Yukimura: ?

Hearing a child's/children's voice/s from the other end of the ally, I glanced at Saito-san.  

Yukimura: Saito-san, just now that was......

Saito: That sound was probably from a child playing around with their friends.

Yukimura: But that voice right now, rather than playing, it sounded more like......

It sounded like a fight.

Yukimura:…………

Since we were still on patrol, regardless of what I think, this matter is highly unlikely to concern my father or the Shinsengumi, but I......

Yukimura:......Saito-san, can I take a quick look?

Saito: Right now we're on patrol, I can't waste time on matters that have nothing to [my] division's [our]work [check jp for taishi].

Although I thought he would say that.

Yukimura: Please...... I'll come right back.

I asked him again and again, and he seemed to be in a bit of a dilemma, but......

Saito: Okay, in that case, I'll go with you. You aren't allowed to move on your own/be alone.

Yukimura:......Thank you.

Soon after he gave orders to the other soldiers, we went together in the direction where I heard that child's voice came from just now.

Yukimura: The voice just now, it really did come from around here......

Following that voice, there was a tea house in front of us.

Yukimura Huh [check jp mtl]? Shouldn't it be here——

Sure enough. There were some older kids surrounding a smaller child [/boy. check jp].

Child 2: Aren't you learning kenjutsu? Come on, take your revenge!

One of the children spoke sarcastically, hitting the small child's head with a shinai.

Child 1:…………

But, the child being beaten who was beaten just bit his lip tightly, and resigned himself.

Child 3: Why is the child of an ordinary family learning kenjutsu?

Child 2: Are you wanting to rob my family's store?

Child 1: I don't, I'm not……！

Child 2: Lies/You're lying! Isn't your family's business not doing well?  Furthermore, my parents said that your family's store burned down a while ago.

Child 1: Wu......

Yukimura: What are you doing!

I couldn't continue watching this, and moved without thinking.

The children backed away for a moment, but recovered immediately——

Child 3: What? What's wrong with you? Go away!

Yukimura: You're bullying this child, right? Why do you need to do that?

Child 2: What I say has nothing to do with you. My father is popular around here. If you're going to go against me, I'll make it so that you can't stay in the capital.

Apparently these children are not going to listen to me talk.

Yukimura: Hey, you kids/children——

I was about to start speaking when Saito-san stepped forward.

Saito: Yukimura, as I said earlier, we're still on patrol, time cannot be wasted......

The children froze as soon as they saw his uniform.

Child 2: H-Hey, that haori......! Isn't that what the Mibu Wolves wear [check game if it's Wolves of Mibu or Mibu Wolves]?

Child 3: That's right! My parents said that! We absolutely cannot get involved with them!

Child 2: We might get killed! Run for it!

Yukimura: Ah, wait a moment......!

Before I could stop them, they abandoned [dropped] the shinai as they ran away.

Child 1: Wa-Wait for me......!

Although this child was left behind, he also wanted to escape......

But it seemed that he had no strength, and wasn't even able to stand up.

Yukimura: Are you okay?

Child 1: Ah......! This, I......! I haven't said bad about the Wolves of Mibu.

This child apparently believed in the negative rumours about the Shinsengumi that were going around and was terrified.

Yukimura: Uh......

I don't know what to do......

Without any better idea, I picked up the fallen shinai, and handed it to the child.

Yukimura: This..... does this belong to the children who were here just now? If that is the case, can you please return this to them?

He visibly trembled, as if he were using the entirety of his strength to answer.

Child 1: That...... it's mine......

Yukimura: This is your shinai? Then I'll return it to you.

The child hesitated for a moment, fearfully taking the shinai.

I've heard it from the other warriors before......

Kyoto's populace does not have a good impression of the Shinsengumi, apparently this was true.

Yukimura:......You don't need to be so scared. The Shinsengumi only goes after people who do bad things.

Child 1: But, everyone says that the Wolves of Mibu are extremely scary/terrible......

It was different from me who was in contact with these warriors every day/I was different since I was in contact with these warriors every day...... [check jp]

This child had little chance to be in direct contact with the Shinsengumi, so it was difficult to imagine that prejudice would be eliminated any time soon.

But......

Yukimura: Although those children spoke poorly of the Shinsengumi just now, however [check jp. either reword or remove], do you think that I'm scary?

The child desperately shook his head.

Child 1: N-No no, don't...... I don't think that......

Saito-san had been silently watching our exchange.......

Saito: This matter appears to have been settled. Let's go, Yukimura.

Yukimura: Ah, okay, I know/understood.

I turned to the child again.

Yukimura: You should go home, be careful on your way back.

Child 1: Nn......

I said good-bye to the child, and left there with Saito-san.

After/Afterwards/Later, on our way back to headquarters, Saito-san quietly spoke/spoke softly.

Saito: You're very caring about children.

Hearing him say something so suddenly, I felt puzzled./I felt puzzled to hear him abruptly say this.

Yukimura: Eh? You're talking [referring] to just now/what just happened?

Saito: Nn. I didn't expect you to have a side like that.

Yukimura:......While I lived in Edo, my family's clinic also provided medical care to children. Certainly, I might get along well/be good at dealing with children.

My answer was apparently unexpected to him, and his eyes widened slightly.  

There was silence for a moment......

Saito: No, not only that.

Yukimura: What do you mean?

Saito: Nn, it should be said that I feel like you would be a good elder sister...... No, you'd be a good mother. If you have children, you should be able to guide[tl word can also mean teach or instruct] them well [check jp mtl].

Yukimura: Eh……！

I didn't expect him to say that [I'd be a] "good older sister" or "a good mother"......

It was surprising/I was surprised.

Yukimura: A mother....... me/Me...... as a mother? I've never thought about that until now. Furthermore, rather than saying that I care about children......

In fact, I was bullied by other children when I was a child.

As a result of that, I wasn't able to ignore what happened to that child just now.

Saito:......What's wrong? You've suddenly stopped talking.

Yukimura: No...... it's nothing. However, as far as I'm concerned, even if I can be a good mother in the future, I would need to find the[/a] father of[/for] the [/my] child first. Meaning, I would first have to find a lover.

He held his breath, apparently somewhat nervous.

I was used to seeing him always look calm, so it was hard to imagine how his words were so awkward [now]......

Saito: Th-That's right...... Indeed, that is true. Still, that's probably too early for you.

After he spoke, Saito-san seemed somewhat embarrassed and averted his eyes.

Saito-san had actually brought this subject up first.......

He was so embarrassed as he spoke that I started to feel embarrassed [reword later].

Yukimura: Yes......

Thinking about it, until now, I've never had the opportunity to talk about this subject with anyone.

I didn't expect to actually talk about this with Saito-san..... it was quite astonishing.

Afterwards, we chatted about some other topics on our way back to headquarters.

A few days later.

I was in the middle of sweeping the entrance of the Yagi residence [check game for capitalization].

Yukimura: Mm......!

The winds of the eleventh month were cold and bone-chilling.

I was planning to finish sweeping a bit earlier then go back to my  room.

Okita: Areh, sweeping here?

Yukimura: Ah, Okita-san. Are you back from patrol? You've worked hard.

Okita: That's right..... There was a bit of trouble though.

Yukimura: What was that trouble [reword later].

Okita: While we were on patrol, a kid kept on following us. Since they were in the way, we tried to send them away, but they were really persistent and kept following us/ insisted on following us.

Yukimura: Was that child not one of Okita-san's friends?

Okita: I don't/didn't know them. They weren't a kid who lives nearby/It wasn't a kid living around here. I think/feel that they weren't so much as chasing me, and were rather looking at the [our] uniform[s] to keep up/follow [us?].

Maybe they wanted to join the Shinsengumi? Well, that/it'd be impossible for such a little kid.

Yukimura: That child, where did he go?/Where did that child go?

Okita: Who knows? They seemed to have followed me/us/made it to the Mibu Temple. Though they might have given up already?

Okita-san wasn't interested in saying anything else and went back inside.

A child who was interested in the Shinsengumi......

......I couldn't help but feel concerned.

According to Okita-san, that child had followed him all the way to the Mibu Temple.

……Mibu Temple was right behind headquarters, and many of the warriors went there to practise kenjutsu.

It should be okay/shouldn't matter if I go look there for a bit [take a quick look].

Having thought this, I decided to go check the Mibu Temple.

Yukimura: Huh......?

Okita-san clearly  said that a child followed him here/ had come to this place.

But there was no one around.

Was it possible that they gave up and went home?

Regardless of how close the Mibu Temple is, it's not possible for me to leave headquarters without permission, so I still needed to return.

I was just about to finish my sweeping.

Saito: Yukimura, where were you just now? [might swap this line with the 4th one after. tl is almost the same]

Yukimura: Ah, Saito-san!

Saito: You need to be accompanied by one of the executives when you leave, this should have been repeatedly explained to you/this should have been repeated several times.

Yukimura: Sorry, I thought I'd be able to just to quickly go there and back, that's why......

Saito: Where did you go?

Yukimura: Here's the thing—— [reword later. i don't like how it reads]

I told him everything Okita-san had just said about the child.

Saito:......A child was following the Shinsengumi around?

Yukimura: Yes, I feel that I can't just stop thinking about this. But it seems/appears that no one's no one around the Mibu Temple anymore/ like they're no longer around the Mibu Temple. It'd be worrying if they got lost and were unable to go home.

Saito: That's true/It's as you say. We should try looking around for a while then.

Yukimura:……Is that okay?

Saito: I don't have any particular arrangements now. Of course, if it's not necessary, then I will refrain/stop.

Yukimura: That isn't the case. Thank you.

Saito: okay, then let's go.

Thus, Saito-san and I went to go look around.

As we looked for the child, we walked down the main road.

Yukimura:......I can't find them anywhere. Maybe they're gone home.

Saito: Perhaps. If that was the case, it would be good if these were just groundless worries.

Yukimura: I'm sorry to have wasted your time. Let's go back to headquarters......

After I said that, just as we were planning to go back.

Yukimura:……！

Saito: What is it?

Yukimura: A familiar looking child ran down that alley just now...... I want to go chase after them/catch up and go look at them. Can I ask Saito-san to come with me?

Saito: Nn, there's no problem, let's go.

Saito-san and I started running.

Then, in the a narrow alley that lead to the Mibu Temple——

Yukimura: Hey, don't run [away].

I finally caught the child.

Child 1: Ah……！

The face of the child looking back was very familiar [reword later].

Yukimura: You should be the child from that time......

Child 1:…………

Saito: Is this the child who was following the First Division?

Yukimura: I think so.

Saito: Why have you been following the Shinsengumi around?

This child seemed to be scared of him.

He timidly opened his mouth.

Child 1: I want...... to learn kenjutsu.

Yukimura: You want the Shinsengumi to teach you kenjutsu?

Child 1:......Nn. Adults say that the Shinsengumi is frightening/terrible. But I hear that even if you aren't a samurai/warrior [check audio],  even if you're an ordinary person...... it's possible to join their ranks [literally: team/group. may reword later]. I want to become stronger....... please teach me kenjutsu.

Saito-san frowned and/as he glanced at me.

Although he appeared to be very calm......

I think he was probably worrying about how to respond.

After a while......

Saito: The Shinsengumi is not a place for children to learn kenjutsu, and a child like you will not be allowed to join. [/it is also not something a child can become a member of?]

Child 1: Eh...... But...... I've helped around the store several times already, and I'm not that different from an adult!

Saito: That's not the problem. With your height, do you think that you will be able to fight against ronin [check audio]?

Child 1: That......! That might be true now, but I'm still growing! So please, teach me kenjutsu!

Once the child finished speaking, he bowed deeply.

Saito:…………

He seemed very unaccustomed to this type of situation, and was apparently/seemed to be worrying about how to convince this child.

Seeing how troubled he looked, I——

Choices

[ Asked for his reason/Asked for a reason] <-

[remained silent]

Yukimura: You just said that you were learning kenjutsu to become strong/more powerful, so why do you want to become stronger?

Child 1: Because…………

Saito: If you want to get stronger than those kids who bullied you to then retaliate against them, I cannot approve of that as your/will not acknowledge that as a reason to join the team [thesaurus later]. Kenjutsu is not to be learned for that sort of purpose [reword later?].

Child 1: Ah......

Hearing such strict words, the young boy's eyes were filled with tears.

Looking at his demeanor, Saito-san bearing softened somewhat.

Yukimura: Wait, Saito-san, this child looks like he has something to say.

Having said that, I turned to the boy again.

Yukimura: If it's not for revenge, is there/do you have another reason? Can you tell me?

The boy took a moment to hold back/suppress his tears

Child 1:…………Nn.

He nodded slightly.

Saito:......I really am no good at dealing with children. Fortunately, you are here.

Yukimura: Such a thing......

It was great that I was able to help him.

Child 1: I…………want to learn kenjutsu so I can protect my family, and my little sister. That's why I started going to a dojo to learn kenjutsu. But the other kids told me that "it's strange for ordinary people/civilians to learn kenjutsu".

Saito:……Indeed, to protect your family, that responsibility/duty belongs to the town/it is the duty of the town to protect your family. You do not need to learn kenjutsu  for this. Everyone has their own responsibilities.

Child 1:Those other children's families are well-off, and as long they hire people, they'll be able to entrust someone with that responsibility, but....... my family only has a small store, and during the previous conflict, part of it burned down......

Yukimura: I see……

Saito:……You mean to say that you only want to protect your family, with your own hands, right?

Although I knew that many streets had suffered losses during the previous conflict.......

It was still very painful to hear about someone personally talk about it.

After Saito-san thought over it, he crouched down next to the boy.

Looking directly into the child's eyes......

Saito: I understand your circumstances. In order to protect your family and the weak, those are good reasons for wielding the sword.

Child: Re-Really!?

The child's face immediately lit up.

Saito-san however, still had a serious expression as he spoke.

Saito: But even if that is the case, I naturally cannot teach you kenjutsu. Of course, you can't become a member of the Shinsengumi.

Child: Ah......

The boy's face was full of disappointment. However, it wasn't a face that was on the verge of crying.

Saito-san was taking him seriously, and although he was a child, it seemed that he understood that.

Saito: In order to protect yourself, and one's family, practising in a dojo will suffice. Kyoto is protected by us. No matter what happens, we will certainly protect you all. Please pass that onto your family.

The boy's eyes widened, almost as if he was striving to engrave Saito-san's words into his memory.

Saito-san lightly nodded, then he placed his hand on the child's head as his expression relaxed.

Saito: The purpose of the Shinsengumi is to protect the helpless in Kyoto. For the sake of becoming strong to support those who are weak, we practise kenjutsu together here. In the event that one day, you truly need the assistance from the Shinsengumi...... Then, we will certainly be there to help you.

Child: Really?

As if to confirm this, the child asked this again.

Child: Really....... they'll help me?

Saito: Of course. We — as warriors, if a promise is made, we will never break it.

Hearing Saito-san's words, the boy's eyes seemed to glow with strength.

Finally, he firmly nodded......

Child: Mm, I understand. I..... will believe the Shinsengumi.

Hearing those words, Saito-san, his mouth formed a satisfied smile.

Saito: All you need is spirit. I also believe that you are determined to become stronger.

After saying that, Saito-san slowly stood up.

After we watched the boy return home, we started going back to headquarters.

Yukimura:……Saito-san is such a kind person. Even when speaking to a child, you will treat them so sincerely.

He narrowed his eyes in embarrassment.

Saito: I didn't treat him as a child. While addressing someone [who has chosen to] wield a sword to protect the weak, even if the other person was an adult, I would have said the same thing.

Yukimura: But, I think, to be treated as an adult…… for that child, it must have been a good experience.

Saito:……If that is the case, that's good.

As expected, he was still embarrassed and refused to meet my gaze. [depending on jp sentence, change to as 'really']

Saito: I really am unable to deal with children. It would be better for Souji to handle children/Children should be left for Souji to handle. [depending on jp audio, change to 'as expected']

Yukimura: Is that so? But, I think that if Saito-san had children, you would be a very good father.

Saito: Me, a father……？

He froze with a face full of embarrassment, almost as if he heard something completely foreign.

Saito:……For this sort of thing, I haven't even thought about it until now. After all, let alone a child, I still haven't married yet……

I'm afraid I said too much.

Yukimura: Th-That's right. Saito-san is busy doing work for the Shinsengumi, and can't be bothered about these things……

I quickly retracted my thoughtless words.

Saito: No…… it's not that I'm not a little interested……

Yukimura: Eh?

Saito:…………It's nothing.

He walked away with a shy/embarrassed look on his face.

Yukimura: Wa-wait for me, Saito-san!

Just now he said, it wasn't that he wasn't uninterested…… [reword later...? kinda gave up trying to tho]

Did that mean he had someone he liked?

Or was it……

After, I asked him several times, but he never answered back.

—The End—

after chapter 4 (still 40% done T_T)... i’m probably going to focus on chapter 2 then 5.... tho who knows when that will be since im translating at a severely reduced speed since school> all else, though i will definitely finish translating at least one more ginsei chapter this year (can’t say the same for videos given how painstaking it is to format everything lol). 

anyway, the reason why i say that i need my queued filled up to november before working on translating another ginsei chapter in earnest is cuz i don’t want to worry about meeting my self-imposed weekly translation goal and cuz i prefer having lots of time to work on full chapters given how long they take for me to get done... while also having pleeeenty of leeway for procrastinating lol.

also my laptop had a stupid error so everything shut down (though on the upside to that, i can see all my pc text again). thankfully robocopy makes it so that i don’t need to duplicate everything, but it’s seriously taking a long time for everything to move...

after everything finishes, i think im going to have a calendar that celebrates each month of no computer problems lol. 

[envythepalmtree]

@that-crazy-five-foot-two-chick asked:

FFWF! What's a fic you had to do research for? Did you find the research interesting or were you annoyed at the interruption to the writing process?

SORRY I FORGOT ABOUT THIS

(She sent this through dm when I was on break and had my ask box closed. Then I came back and opened about it and did not answer it ahsjdhdjfh)

I can’t think of a fic (or any prose project I’ve done for that matter) where I haven’t googled random shit for accuracy purposes. Lol. But I will take this opportunity to ramble.

For All in a night's work does bugging people who can legally get drunk count as research? I did have a ton of tabs open about bars and alchohol because I knew nothing. And now I know things! It was fairly interesting. I probably could've BSed it because it was just supposed to be a crack fic, but hey, accuracy is good.

For so I throw stones at walls I'll never climb I spent way too long looking at timelines of Amestris's history and trying to figure out which ones were canon. Just for the little flashbacks. It's important because the homunculi were very involved in Amestrian history!!

But anyway. I also needed to name things after things!! The Clara Mendelssohn Memorial Building is named after Clara Schumann, a famous German pianist, and Fanny Mendelssohn, another famous German pianist. Oh, and she had a brother Felix Mendelssohn who's probably the one you've actually heard of. (If you were ever into classical music, I guess). "Seversky" comes from a WW2 plane. You know how Arakawa got a lot of her names from WW2 planes? Like Mustang, Grumman, Armstrong, etc were all planes? It was kind of annoying to try and find one that 1) sounded like a name and 2) wasn't already taken by a different FMA character. Lol.

And Bernhard Rothmann was a real guy! He was a leader for religious reform in Münster (which is now in Germany). He helped lead the Münster rebellion and died.

To answer your question, all of those things were interesting if tedious to research.

Additionally! The Dandelion Cafe is named that because 1) it sounds kinda cool 2) I was thinking about dandelion tea and 3) The Dandelion Dynasty Series by Ken Liu is SO FUCKING GOOD y'all need to go read it!! I loved his translations of Chinese novels to English and damn his original books are good too.

I also researched how to act like an eight year old, despite being a former eight year old myself. And googled wonderful questions such as "what does it feel like to stick your hand in fire." Google, very surprisingly, did not give me a direct answer, but it did tell me what it's like to feel your skin burning which was helpful.

Also!! The Wikipedia page for Dante's Purgatorio was my friend!! I had to reference the Envy terrace because obvious reasons!!

[danishmiilk]

kiss, marry, kill 🏹 🔪

pairing || kim doyoung (did not appear so tbh what is the point but it’s funny i swear) x fem!reader

genre || crack

warnings || swearing

au || idol!doyoung x haechan’s sister!reader

word count || 1.3k

summary || friday game night at the dreamies’, where they force you to admit that you like doyoung + you’re haechan’s sister and you visit them every friday 

note || you’re a 00′ liner! i decided that there aren’t enough doyoung fics with this kind of setting and i love the party games so here goes

“Let’s play a gameeee,” Jisung whined from his position on the couch, tangling his fingers in Chenle’s orange hair to pull himself up. It was Friday game night at the dreamies’ dorm, which was a big deal. You and the dreamies would sit around the living room with numerous card, board and video games strewn around the floor while ordering takeout for all the food you could get your hands on. These nights normally ended with the ‘127 hyungs’ bursting into the dorm a few days later and cleaning the place up for you. These cleaning sessions were normally accompanied by grumbles of, “damned pigsty” “how do the kids even live in here”. You would like to stress that nobody asked them to come down and clean the dorm because the dreamies were perfectly fine living in the poor excuse of lodgings (after all, dirty was their natural habitat), and to quote CEO Chen’s indignant comment in Mandarin, “Nobody told them they had to clean up for us! We’re perfectly fine! Now what they COULD do would be to actually cook lunch for us, because setting the whole building on fire is something nobody wants to do.” Basically, these nights were a disastrous, chaotic mess. Though everyone had to admit - it was an enjoyable one.

This one game night hadn’t been much different from the weekly ones, except (and this was a very big except) that Jisung had tripped over the carpet and spilled a whole bowl of ramen onto the gaming control, which now ceased to work. “And what do you suggest we play, monsieur Jisung? Our video game night is ruined, so thanks a lot,” Renjun groaned in obvious boredom and displeasure, finally looking up from his phone to slap Jisung’s thigh, “Oh and by the way, you’re buying us a new gaming control. We were just going to pool our money to get one for Christmas, but since you spoilt the machine, I guess our wallets are saved!” “Hyung~ I said I’m sorry! Now please please please let’s play something, I’m about to be bored to death,” Jisung pouted slightly and schooled his expression into a pleading one, with those puppy-dog eyes that always worked on his hyungs. “Fine, fine,” Jeno succumbed to the magical power of those enthralling eyes and reluctantly peeled himself off the ramen-soup-stained floor, “Should we play... blind man’s bluff?” “God, Jeno, you’re really no fun,” Donghyuck threw a rainbow-coloured sequined pillow across the room, hitting Jeno’s face perfectly. “Bullseye.” “What should we play then?” You huffed slightly impatiently. All this banter was getting you nowhere. Seeing a conspirational glance pass between Hyuck and Jaemin, you should have gotten suspicious and said no immediately, but curiosity got the better of you. “Kiss, marry, kill,” identical smug grins appeared on both the boys’ faces as they chorused the name of the suggested game. “How do you play that,” Renjun asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Did he not play that game in China, or was the game they played just another variation? You laughed and explained, “Okay, so we’ll give you three or more names, and you have to choose one person each to kiss, marry and kill. Hyuck can go first!” 

“Hmm... y/n, Mark-hyung and Jeno,” Jaemin leaned forward eagerly, eyes twinkling. “Wait... can we come to an agreement that whatever is said in this game, stays in this game?” Everyone nodded, knowing that there was to be countless litres of tea spilled during this game, making for extremely convenient blackmail. (You realised by now that nobody planned on keeping this promise). “Well... Hyuck?” Your brother shifted uncomfortably in his seat before opening and closing his mouth like a fish. You knew that he’d already come to arrive at his answer, but just could not gather the courage to actually speak it. “Go on, Hyuck, when have we ever judged you?” Jaemin stared at him with a smile that was probably supposed to be encouraging, but ended up looking creepy and maniacal. “Okay, well there was the time he tried to put cheese into his milk tea and you screamed at h-” “No, Jun, we don’t talk about that. Putting cheese into milk tea is literally a crime,” Jaemin slammed a hand over Renjun’s mouth, all the while smiling crazily at Donghyuck. “Uhh... you don’t convince me, but firstly I guess I’d kill y/n? I mean I don’t want to commit incest and she’s my sister so I’ll just throw her a grand funeral and be done with it.” You clasped a hand to your chest, pretending to be mortally hurt by your brother’s words, jerking like you just got shot, “For the 127th time, words can hurt, Hyuck! I-I’m so hurt- I’m d-dying” Ignoring your show completely, Haechan continued, “Then... I wouldn’t marry anyone I can’t kiss, and since we can kiss without any feelings involved, I’d kiss Jeno? And then gargle with holy water. Yeah I’m done, let’s continue.” “One sec, you need to say ‘I’ll marry *your choice*’ before you’re finished,” Jaemin grinned at him. “i’ll marry... Mark-hyung,” the tips of Hyuck’s ears turned red while he spoke, casting his eyes downward. “Hyuck-hyung likes Mark-hyung?” Jisung asked, eyes widening, “Wait, does that mean they’re dating?” “I do not like Mark-hyung! And even if I did, he wouldn’t like me back,” Haechan mumbled in obvious disappointment, “But anyway, enough about me! Y/n can go next!” “OOOOOOH, I KNOW HER CRUSH!” Renjun suddenly jumped up and down with glee, “LET ME ASK HER THE QUESTION.” Your eyes narrowed, shooting daggers at Renjun, whom you had only told your crush to because you were the closest to him among the NCT members and nobody tells their brother their crush. Chenle nodded quickly before telling Renjun in Mandarin, “Renjun-ge, force her to reveal her crush when she answers ‘marry’” “Chenle you little shit- I SPEAK CHINESE TOO,” you yelled in betrayal.

“Whatever, y/n. Hmm, Doyoung, Taeyong and Chenle, kiss, marry, and kill.” “Firstly, I would kill Chenle after subjecting him to hours of starvation and torture,” you basically spat in Chenle’s direction, extracting a sound of displeasure from him, “I’m too young and rich to die!” “Then, uhhh, I guess I’ll kiss Taeyong?” You were getting more uncomfortable by the minute and the dreamies could see it. “And who would you marry?” Renjun wriggled his eyebrows. “I won’t say it! I don’t want to!” You could feel your ears heating up. “Say it, or I’ll tell Taeyong-hyung that you want to kiss him,” Renjun threatened you, completely disregarding the privacy agreement. “Damn you, you bastard,” You called him some very attractive names in Mandarin before muttering at the lowest volume you could muster, “I’ll marry Doyoung, okay?” 

The whole dorm exploded into cheers, like they were cheering for their favourite football team winning the English Premier League or something. “How long have you liked Doyoung-hyung for?” “Would you KEEP IT DOWN? 127′s dorm is upstairs! WHAT IF THEY HEAR YOU,” you shouted hysterically. “HEAR WHAT,” Johnny’s voice floated down from the floor above. “Fuck. NOTHING!” you replied. “And... about two years? Ever since the empathy era?” “Noona, you and Doyoung-hyung should get married! Then invite me! And give me free food! And get hyung to cook, his cooking is amazing!” Jisung chirped excitedly from the side, running around the living room. His next step brought his bare foot into the empty bowl of ramen which he had spilt earlier, and he tripped... falling face-first into the table of food that you had ordered, spilling everything over the floor and making an even BIGGER mess. “Oh. My. God. KUN-GE!!”

[youmightaswell]

Die!

I’d Rather Play with my Words than Eat Them

This week I spent my time at the pool reading the New Yorker’s food-themed issue. It is my favorite of the year. It included past essays written by famous writers (Zadie Smith, Nora Ephon, etc.)  about their memories of food and how it impacted their lives. 

It is no surprise that some of the best writing ever is about this topic. Our memories are so connected with our senses. Coincidentally (is it serendity? sychronicity?) then just this morning I watched an Instagram video by a street artist in which he talked about just that: he entered a place and he just “smelled outside New York.” He talks about how he was immediately transported back to a memory from his younger days. He relays how it was magical being able to relive this memory, the catalyst of which was a mere whiff of a certain scent. That of course the people he had been with when the original event had happened would also have this memory, but because of this chance whiff he got to experience it all over again as if he was really there, years earlier. They could not. 

This concept of our senses being able to act as almost a time machine for us is prevalent in so much art. 

My favorite essay in this issue of the magazine is called “The Year of Spaghetti”. It discusses how we, as humans, are hungry -- not just for food, but for love. The two are forever intertwined.

This got me to thinking about the first time I was asked to write about food. In eighth grade I had an English teacher who was loud, overbearing and a bit of a lech.  He looked and sounded like Rodney Dangerfield. I forget his name but not now nervous and upset me made me feel. He’d often raunchily comment on our teenage girl bodies, eye us predatorily, comment on the length of skirts, and talk about sex as if we were colleagues and not students. I was a very shy, quiet and awkward teen. I tried my hardest to avoid his gaze --everyone’s gaze for that matter. I was wearing thick welfare glasses, handmedowns, and was always the smartest kid in every class. In other words: the complete opposite of sexy. Even the word made me nervous. 

Of course the racier crowd like cheerleaders and burnouts loved him. He would even give some kisses on the mouth at the end of class or smoke a cigarette after school with the haughtier girls.  I am not sure why no one reported him, (It was 1983, so maybe things were just different back then) but he had a legion of sycophantic fans so no authority figure would have probably believed it anyway. 

I remember our assignment post-Thanksgiving break was to write an essay about our Thanksgiving dinner, the idea of which was for us to write very descriptive language about the food served. We were supposed to concentrate on being sensual. 

Most kids concentrated on describing the smell of warm apple pie, hearing the crackling of crisp turkey skin being cut and the sounds of football on in the background of loud family gatherings. 

I debated about whether I should lie and write a fictionalized version of my own day. I didn’t have turkey. I didn’t have a working oven. I didn’t have a functional family. Holidays have a way of highlighting the latter. 

What should have been a quick essay filled with adjectives and cheesy holiday vibes turned into a long weekend of sad rumination for me. 

I finally wrote the truth: we ordered in a modest meal of Chinese food. That was the most special meal we could afford.  And not one overflowing with tons of fun appetizers like shrimp toast, spare ribs, fried rice and Peking duck. I wrote a dull essay about the smells of Chinese tea, the sound of my fortune cookie cracking open and the way soy sauce glistened on matte white rice. It was embarrassing, but true. 

It was such a benign piece of writing, it should be odd that I remember it nearly 40 years later. 

But now matured, I am kicking myself for wasting that opportunity to actually write about how awful that childhood was. How that meal was symbolic of a way greater dysfunction. That essay should have been about how nerve-wracking holidays were when living with a schizophrenic mother who heard voices and who read our town’s daily paper’s horoscope column incessantly looking for clues and messages given directly to her from some omniscient force. Never mind that she didn’t have the vocabulary knowledge to actually understand the big words used in it. 

I should have talked about how the mere thought of watered down NJ Chinese food made me ache with sadness and longing to just be normal and experience normal holidays like everyone else who had the privilege of writing about theirs. 

That while other families were gathering around in matching pjs watching The Peanuts on big color tvs, I sat alone in my room under mismatched sheets watching a tiny black and white, smelling the constant wafting of Marlboro Red smoke in a tiny apartment with closed windows. 

Although technically full on white rice and wonton soup, I was hungry. I was starving for so much. 

[notbecauseofvictories]

FOOD IN THE TIME OF SOCIAL DISTANCING — Day 35, Barbecue Chicken Pie

I realize everyone’s into making bread now, but I think pie crust is really where it’s at. You don’t need yeast to make a pie crust, and for less flour than a loaf of bread, you are gifting yourself with a full meal. (This of course is if you bake savory pies. You...probably shouldn’t be eating cherry pie as a meal, at least not every meal. Dessert does not have enough nutrients for that.)

Anyway, I’m currently avoiding social obligations like “responding to texts” and reading Diane Wynne Jones’ Fire and Hemlock. The latter is mostly because I bought it forever ago during an intense bout of Tam Lin fervor, and never seemed to get around to reading it. (I’m only a 1/3 of the way through the book right now, so no spoilers.) 

 I was never a Howl’s Moving Castle fan---the Miyazaki movie suited me much more than the book---but as an older reader I appreciate how much time and attention Wynne Jones devotes to the mundane. As a teen who wanted to escape into epic fantasy, I found this tendency extraordinarily dull and unsatisfying; as an adult circumscribed by all the small, dull tasks that make up a life, it’s become something honest. I wrote long ago that it’s hard to think of Tolkien’s elves doing anything crushingly mundane; trying to imagine Elrond doing laundry or scrubbing the garderobe seems wrong somehow. But Wynne Jones is all about that sort of ordinariness, even as strangeness happens in and around her characters.

It might even be hitting harder than usual, since “ordinariness, surrounded by the strange” feels like a general descriptor of the world these days. I am still here, my apartment is still here, my job (thank god) is still here, but the whole world is different. I make bread and pie crust---use the same recipes I’ve made dozens of times, across the span of years and multiple state lines---and yet it’s at 2am, or a Saturday that doesn’t feel drastically different than a Tuesday because I do everything in the 600 sq. ft that is my apartment. I go to the Jewel like I always have, while adjusting my face mask before entering; I fanatically wash my hands after taking out the trash, because I pressed elevator buttons and clutched door handles and I don’t know who in my apartment complex might be sick.

It’s wholly fictional that “may you live in interesting times,” is an old Chinese curse. Nevertheless, I would like things to be less interesting. I want to be in a small English town and devote all my time to football and literature, avoiding my mother’s moods, and what I’m going to eat for tea. That would be nice.

[tang-wei]

ONS Guren LN Vol 1 Chapter 5 Part 1 translation~

Title: War and Convenience Stores

Translator: @tang-wei​

Raws: Chinese

If you feel the need to re-read the whole series again, the masterpost is here

Important note: Because the previous sources for Volume 1 have been taken down/ made unavailable, I am translating this for the sake of fans who are not able to purchase a copy of the official English translation that is available. If you enjoy Guren’s story, then please support the author by buying the novel!  

***

“Nooow now, from tomorrow there will finally be the start of the weekly Academic Acceleration Examinations!” The female teacher said as she wrote on the blackboard.

The Academic Acceleration Examinations is in summary, “that”. It seems to be an exam where students fight their classmates directly, and the strong and weak are separated. This of course does not determine everything, but plays a large component in the evaluation. Thus, some of the people in class became a bit more flustered. 

Shinya, who was sitting next to Guren, said. 

“That’s great... for the people who don’t fight seriously but manage to avoid expulsion, this must be relaxing.” 

Hearing this, Guren turned toward Shinya and replied.

“Is the guy who tried to kill me with one strike, also feeling restless?”

“Haha, who asked you to not dodge it? Speaking of which, you really didn’t avoid my attack?”

Shinya looked over, and slowly inched closer.

“You staunchly took my attack. You must really be that stupid, if not you must be…”

“Powerless trash? Truthfully, I’m the latter. You’ve overestimated my power.”

“People who say that about themselves are the scariest, though that’s just me talking from experience.”

“You’re too cautious. Do you really think that a monster that you can fight on par with you would appear? Aren’t you the one that was chosen by the Hiiragis — to be Mahiru’s fiance?”

“…………”

“But, at least I didn’t get chosen. If we’re comparing this, there’s nothing about me worth your attention, no?

So Guren had said it.

And Shinya laughed.

“You… If you really weren’t acting, then you are really too negative.”

“That’s how I am.”

“Haha, looking at you, which part does Mahiru like about you?”

Unable to understand, Shinya asked Guren.

Guren took one look at Shinya, before turning his attention back to the teacher.

The teacher was still explaining the situation with the examination. If even one person from the class got eliminated, it would affect the teacher’s evaluation, so everyone needed to do their best.

At this moment, Shinya said again.

“Ah, right, I heard you and Mahiru met again?”

“…………”

“Ah, what happened? Patched things up with her?”

Regarding this question, Guren replied without looking at Shinya.

“Nothing much.”

“Ah, you don’t need to worry about my feelings. Even though we’re engaged, we aren’t lovers.”

“…………”

“By the way, let me tell you something, since she has met with you, she hasn’t been seen much and her mood isn’t good. What happened?”

It seems that Mahiru and Shinya had already met.

To this, Guren smiled a little and then replied,

“……She was disappointed with how weak I am.”

Shinya looked at Guren with a look of helplessness.

“You really are negative, aren’t you?”

“Really? If you find it detestable, then you can stop talking to me about it?”

“Haha.”

Shinya smiled helplessly.

Guren chose not to see it.

The female teacher was still tapping the blackboard,

“Whatever it is, you must not lose to the students in the other classes! Dismissed!”

Just nice, the dismissal bell rung.

At the same time, all the students stood up. Some went home. Some chatted with friends. Some cleaned the classroom.

This school didn’t have any club activities. If there was free time, everyone would choose to engage in learning and practicing various spell casting techniques.

When the class ended, guren unhooked his bad from his table, and stood up.

And Shinya, who was next to him,

“Ah, shall we go together?”

He extended an invitation,

“Go die.”

Guren respectfully refused.

And then he looked out the classroom door. His two attendants could be seen, quietly looking over.

Sayuri noticed Guren.

“Ah, ah, Guren-sama!”

She said as she waved her hand.

Shigure, who was by her side, said.

“Don’t be like that, Guren-sama has said that if we attract too  much attention, he would kill us. You’ll make him angry again.”

Shigure furiously stopped Sayuri. She then looked over at Guren, head bowed in apology.

Without even trying, they had already caught everyone’s attention.

“When we get back I’ll give you a lecture...”

Guren muttered under his breath.

Seeing this, Juujo Mito who was still in the classroom, looked over with a glare.

“Gosh, you really brought two women to be your attendants, the Ichinoses are really cowardly.”

The other students laughed.

Then Goshi Norito spoke.

“That's right, that's right. And such beautiful women. Anyways, you should introduce them to me.”

He said as he walked over.

The students at the side had an expression where they didn’t know if they should be laughing or not.

Because in this class, Hiiragi Shinya, Juujo Mito, and Goshi Norito, whether it’s ability or family standing, they are all within the top four.

Speaking of the top four, there was another girl from the Sangu Family, Sangu Aoi. Her personality is quiet, and once class was over, she immediately went home.

Not speaking of that now, as the three from distinguished families reacted differently to Guren’s cheeky attitude. The other students didn’t know what kind of attitude to adopt towards him.

Of course, the students from the other classes, the seniors, and the teacher’s attitudes didn’t change much from before, so the level of harassment did not decrease.

Goshi came closer with an air of frivolity.

“I say, Ichinose. Of the two, which one do you have a relationship with?”

Hearing that absentminded question, Guren looked at Goshi.

“What? I thought you guys would not associate with the low and dirty Ichinose family?”

“Beautiful women are another story.”

“What kind of logic is that?”

“Just be honest. So which of them? Your followers? The ones that are always being talked about? Do they also serve in the bedroom?”

Mito’s face turned extremely red in anger.

“Goshi! How crass! Don’t say such disgusting things in the classroom?!”

Sayuri, who was standing outside the classroom also said anxiously,

“Y-yes! Please don’t say such strange things! Guren-sama hasn’t even done anything to me!”

Sayuri shrieked indignantly.

Thus,

“…………”

The classroom became absolutely silent.

Then, a look of surprise appeared on Goshi’s face.

Mito was looking over with an expression on her face that was as if she saw a terrifying animal.

However, Shinya looked like he was enjoying this.

“Hey, Guren. This matter, can I tell Mahiru about it?”

Guren sighed loudly, and walked out of the classroom.

“Ah... I’m going home first.”

At this time, Goshi’s voice floated from behind.

“Oi Ichinose. The Ichinose are really very sly. If you’re going to be playing with women, you should bring one for me too.”

All these slanderous things were said, but Guren ignored it.

He left the classroom.

Shigure lifted her head to look at Guren.

“About that, I will make sure to properly teach Sayuri a lesson……”

“As you should.”

Guren replied.

As for Sayuri,

“Eh? Eh?”

She was looking around in a confused manner, and Guren walked past her on his way out.

But as soon as Guren walked out into the corridor, he realised that he couldn’t just easily go home.

Because opposite the corridor, he could feel a strong killing aura.

“…………”

However, Guren didn’t react to this aura. He still needed to act the part of a weak, useless, stupid character.

Without a doubt, any bystander would have felt it too. Irregardless if it were Sayuri or Shigure, they who trained relentlessly in order to protect Guren, would have definitely felt it.

Therefore they reacted to the killing aura.

But Guren said quietly,

“Don’t anyhow move. Let me.”

He ordered

“Ah? But-”

Shigure, who was standing behind him to the right, was surprised at his words, raised her head to look at Guren.

But by that time, someone aimed a kicked at Guren’s head.

“Guh!”

He yelled out, tumbling down in a sorry state. He rolled on the ground. And then held his head and looked up. He looked in the direction of his attacker.

As far as he could see, a man who led a group of followers was standing there.

Beneath his tea-coloured hair, a pair of narrow snake-like eyes. His lip was pierced. The guy joked in a condescending manner,

“Ah, sorry sorry, my foot just slipped.”

In an instant, the bystanding students laughed.

Shigure was unable to control her anger,

“You bastard!”

She stepped forward angrily. With clenched fists, she threw a punch at the guy with the pierced lip.

Guren wanted to stop her, but at that moment, her fist was grabbed by a girl who was standing behind the guy with the pierced lip.

Shigure was a little shocked. Of course she would be. That punch was considered fast. But yet, it was stopped by that female student. That student said,

“Hey, do you know what you’re doing? That person standing there is Hiiragi Seishiro-sama!”

Looks like the guy with the piercing is someone with the Hiiragi name.

At this school, he is someone with an almost god-like status.

The female student continued.

“You dare to raise a hand to Seishiro-sama, the nerve……”

But, Seishiro interrupted her.

“Enough, Yumi. Either way, the trash from the Ichinose probably won’t be able to understand you. Livestock like these should be taught though our fists.”

Saying this, he raised a hand.

Shigure reacted instantly. She wanted to deflect Seishiro’s hand, but,

“Haha, too slow shorty.”

Seishiro’s fists were faster.

To be honest, it was impossible for Shigure’s speed to beat.

“Despicable!”

Guren stood up, ready to stop Seishiro’s fists, but all of a sudden, he froze.

Because, Seishiro’s fist was grabbed by someone else.

Looking over, it turned out to be Shinya, who had just walked out of the classroom.

Shinya, still holding on to his fist, said.

“Seishiro-sama…… with your high status, making such a scene in public by beating up delicate ladies from the Ichinose, if such news were to spread, it would embarrass the family name..”

Seishiro glared at Shinya.

“Hah? You bastard, how dare an adopted son object to my actions.”

“…… I deeply apologise. But......”

“No buts.”

Seishiro withdrew his fists. Then raised them again. And hit Shinya squarely on his face.

Shinya didn’t dodge it. With a loud thud, his lips started bleeding.

Seeing this, Seishiro laughed.

“Haha, what a good choice. No matter what, you couldn’t have beat me.”

“…………”

“Only because of your sensibility, my father chose you to be Mahiru’s fiancé. You had better realise this.”

“…… Yes.”

“That’s right, since you two are in the same class, tell me. Is that Ichinose rat really powerful? In the second stage of the sorcery exam, my opponent is him....”

So this was the reason.

So that was why Seishiro was here. To test Guren’s strength before the exam.

Shinya replied.

“…… Initially, I thought he would be very powerful…… Since he is the next candidate for the head of the Ichinose family, he must hold a certain level of ability.”

“Hn.”

Then Shinya looked over. His stare was harsh and cold.

“But I’m afraid I overestimated him. Whether it was his female attendants being hit…… or that his comrades had gotten injured, like trash, he doesn’t do anything. Basically, it is the decline of a second-rate family.”

His voice was full of disdain.

Hearing this, Seishiro laughed.

“Haha, what is this? So this is the result. Turns out the Ichinose are all trash. I heard when your father studied at this school, he always trembled in fear when he walked these corridors…… You’re just like him eh.”

Seishiro’s followers also laughed.

The people in class also came out to laugh at Guren. Perhaps when they saw the sudden turn in Shinya’s attitude, they finally understood what kind of attitude they need to have towards Guren.

Seishiro lifted his leg and started to walk away.

“Ah, whatever. How lame. Weak to the point it’s not even fun to play with. Let’s go.”

All the students laughed again.

Calling the Ichinose weak and useless, they continued to laugh mockingly.

As expected, Goshi who was standing in the corridor, looked over with pity in his eyes.

“Oh dear oh dear, you’ve become such lowly trash. Turns out someone who can’t even protect ladies is unreliable.”

Furthermore, Juujo Mito,

“…… Not even one bit of reaction.You were humiliated to that extent, but you don’t feel any shame?”

She shouted angrily.

But the one who replied to her was Guren, who had a look of turmoil on his face.

“…… The people in my family said to never go against the Hiiragis.......”

“Then, if they told you to die, are you going to die too ?!”

There was no reason why she was speaking so loudly. Then, with this look of frustration, Mito left angrily.

Guren blankly watched her walk away, and then stood up.

At this time, the surrounding students, perhaps having lost interest in this messy affair, slowly began to leave.

Except for one person.

Only Shinya, still looking at Guren, spoke.

“It looks like you really are an uninteresting person.”

“…………”

“My bad for having expectations.”

“…… Don’t hold your breath.”

“Ah, you’re right. Towards someone with no ability, a lowly piece of trash, it was wrong for me to have any expectations.”

“…………”

“Forget it. Don’t ever come looking to talk to me again……”

Guren interrupted him.

“The one who first came looking to talk to me, was you.”

Shinya stared at him coldly, and replied

“Ah ah, that seems to be the case. Then, not just me, but don’t approach Mahiru as well.”

“…………”

“You don’t have that right. Originally, this school isn’t a place where people with no awareness or ability could come. With Mahiru at this school…… those who don’t even have the strength to fight, shouldn’t be here.”

A lecture.

A guy who doesn’t even try, is completely unworthy of appearing before Mahiru.

Guren also agreed with this.

People with no strength are unable to raise their heads proudly. Because in this world, to get what you want, one needs to have sufficient strength.

Even to laugh without worry, one needs to have enough strength.

And now, there is still insufficient power.

At least, he didn’t have it yet.

The power to defeat the Hiiragis, he did not even have one drop.

So, Guren replied.

“Then what should I do? I also don’t want to be here. I knew that in this place, there won’t be a moment for me to be at ease. But the Hiiragis called for me to come. So I followed the order. If that was wrong, then tell me, what should I do so that you guys will be satisfied? What do you want me to do?”

He spat out these foolish questions.

He showed his weakness in front of Shinya.

And then, he saw Shinya, from the bottom of his heart, show an expression of utter hopelessness.

“…………”

But, that was all to it.

Without a word, he turned around and left.

The only ones left in the corridor were Guren, Shigure, and Sayuri.

The will no longer be anyone else who would take notice of Guren and his friends. All they turned out to be, are the trash they originally were. Turned out to be dirty Ichinose rats that had no right to associate with Shinya, Mito and Goshi.

At this moment, Shigure opened her mouth to speak.

“This, this was because I was too weak…… I apologise.”

Sayuri also asked, embarrassed,

“B-but, is there really a need to endure these kinds of things? Guren-sama actually.......”

And Guren replied softy,

“Sayuri.”

Hearing her name being called, she stopped.

With a look of intense concentration, Sayuri was trying to control her expression, but in the end, she couldn’t control it, and tears started to come out.

“…………”

Guren watched all of this,

In the situation where the master was being made fun of, and the subordinate was crying as they could not take it,

“…… I’m sorry.”

That was all he could say.

However, Sayuri anxiously shook her head.

“Ah, ah, no, no this……this is only because some sand got in my eye……”

By the side, Shigure looked on with astonishment.

“No one would believe that kind of excuse.”

“Uwah uwah uwah, but-”

“Alright alright, I understand. The master you idolised has been constantly made fun of, I feel the same way as you.”

“Yu, Yuki-chan.”

“But, we must endure. Our master who suffered more than us did not cry. We attendants ended up crying first, how can that be?”

“Uwah uwah uwah uwah, but……”

“Must I report this?”

“Guuah!”

“Alright, don’t cry. We are here for Guren-sama’s protection and comfort.”

As Shigure finished speaking, somehow Sayuri’s crying face brightened up considerably.

“Ah, so that’s it! So that means tonight’s service……”

“No!”

Guren smacked Sayuri’s head.

“Ah, it hurts!”

Looking at Sayuri holding her head, Guren smiled.

“But, looking at you guys being carefree, it’s my best source of comfort. Alright, let’s go back.”

Saying this, he pushed Sayuri’s back and started walking forward.

“Yes!”

The two attendants said in unison.

But at this time, in his head, Guren was thinking about something else.

That being the things that he just saw, about that guy.

Hiiragi Seishiro.

Probably someone who, like Mahiru, is a full blooded member of the Hiiragi family.

Because he never heard that Mahiru had a male twin, so if they are in the same year, it must mean that they are half siblings, sharing the same father but different mothers.

Deep in thought about Seishiro.

Seishiro’s actions.

Thoughts about the blows exchanged by him and Shinya, and Shigure.

Seishiro’s actions were exceptional. Even though he could not determine his true strength from that exchange, but,

“Of course he’s from that family — the Hiiragi family.”

Guren muttered to himself.

“Then, with my power at this level, what kind of moves can I make?”

The opponent in the second stage of the sorcery examination, is that Hiiragi Seishiro.

And that exam, it would begin tomorrow.

~CHAPTER 5 PART 1 END~

T/N: My patience in the past...truly exceptional....part 2 coming! 

<<Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 part 2 >>

[zhuilingyizhen]

A junior hc of how they celebrate the father day and what are the gifts and persons they choose... Sorry for my bad English and thank you for the time

1. Dw, your English is fine! & 2. My time literally isn’t important, as I have devoted my life to fandom.

My first response to this what “what fathers?” bc we all know uncles are where it’s at!

Then I remembered, “oh wait, lsz actually does have good parental figures! who aren’t dead! who knew?!”

Let’s just say his part is going to be the easiest.

Fun fact: Father’s Day is usually celebrated on August 8th in China, because August 8th can be shortened to bā bā (meaning 8 in Chinese, so the 8th day of the 8th month) which sounds like dad in Chinese. Idk if it’s an official holiday tho.

Jin Ling would probably go to JC, ofc, but since they’re not super into showing affection, it might just be a quiet “Happy Father’s Day.” or something. Nothing big, but enough to show JC he’s loved and probably enough to make JC tear up. Just a bit though.

Sizhui, as was said above, has two dads! Woah! He spends the day with them, since ya know, Father’s Day. Probably relives a lot of old memories & makes some new ones, shared stories about lwj raising him. The works. Idk what he would get them as a gift though. (maybe some emperor’s smile? a bathtub?)

Jingyi’s bio father is unknown, so he was mostly raised by the Lan sect. He probably buys lqr a small gift, maybe some rare tea leaves he knows lqr likes? Also a nice gift for lxc, since I think those two were the closest thing to father figures in his life. Or maybe, just this once, Jingyi won’t break any sect rules for a day...? Nah, too unrealistic. Sorry lqr. Better luck next time.

& finally Zizhen. I think that oyzz & his dad have a... turbulent relationship, but oyzz definitely still loves him. Hopefully. I mean, I think Zizhen would be really forgiving, and also very loving towards everyone, especially family. His dad just wants what’s best for his son. They don’t spend a lot of time together bc of their differing interests, but they do have meals together most nights. Anyways, for Father’s Day, Zizhen probably makes his dad something (oyzz seems the crafty type). Like new robes or something!! It’s really pretty and maybe not the best, but Sect Leader Ouyang almost cries and hugs Zizhen very tightly, so I think Zizhen has succeeded. :)