#Bac Ha

[henk-heijmans]

Spring in Bac Ha, Vietnam, 2022 - by Khánh Phan, Vietnamese

[lahilden]

Hoang A Tuong Castle

Hoang A Tuong Castle is located in Bac Ha, Vietnam. The white castle was built in the Asia-Europe architecture from 1914-21 by Hoang Yen Chao, the local ruler and leader of the Hmong ethnic group, about 70% of the population in the area before 1945. He was known to exploit the people, confiscating their land and forcing them to build the structure. The location was chosen according to Feng Shui theory and shaped like an enclosed rectangle. Hoang A Tuong Castle serves as a residence and a fortress. After Hoang A Tuong’s was exiled to France, the region was liberated, and the mansion was left uninhabited for many years. The castle has one main gate and two side gates adorned with elaborate carvings and guarded by soldiers. The palace grounds have 36 decorated rooms with arched balustrades, columns, circular staircases, and tiled corridors. There’s also an emergency exit tunnel behind the palace. The two-story main house has two auxiliary houses on both sides with ceramic tiled roofs. Its walls, bunkers, and battlements were reinforced with mortar mixed with sugar molasses. Hoang A Tuong's Castle is currently undergoing restoration but serves as a popular place for the locals and tourists.

[rocadog]

Meet the Native Dogs of Vietnam: Discover all 4 Unique Breeds

[raycatzdraws]

LU WIND BUT HE'S A ITTY BITTY HUMMINGBIRD

Slingshot Proficiency!

+bonus doodle drafts

[iced-souls]

Uhm, possible spoilers i think for Marble Sky [made by @somerandomdudelmao in which you should go and check out if you haven’t read rn cause they be very cool very cool and very cool]

but—OMG I LOVE THIS BIRB AUUUHGHGHHGUGHUHURHUEHGI—

IN WHICH THEY ARE PERFECTLY FINE AND WE SEE SO SO MUCH OF THEM NYYYGUUH—

Guys guys guys — please trust meee she is A-OK and she is gonna be a teacher to Oscar as they make a pacifist alien befriending club

I am not in denial i have no clue what you’re talking about—

I ain’t got a clue what these so called ‘jars’ even look like yet but i sketched a thing out immediately and then at that point my intrigueness started to fade, and then the ref came out and for some reason that boosted my interest even further. But i know what a bird’s brain looks like now so thats something.

I just think she seems very cool

I may have also did some other doodles a week or 2 ago that i didn’t post cause the social of anxiety was kickin in high those days but I’ll put them under the cut if thou wishes to see

That is all ok buh byyeeee go see marble skiessssss

[sallymew4]

kids when they hear that their dad is back in town VS. kids when theyre hanging out with a conman that accidentally stole their wallet once

im not even joking btw

bonus heres me being crazy about them in dms ^^^

[reegis]

Your design of loki got me to listen to the bifrost incident in full and GOD IS IT AMAZING

Your loki design is very cool and I love her lots

thank you!!!!!!!

they really just left her by herself to wander around by herself like that though huh…

[princeofuchiha]

Sasuke may not show a shred of respect for his teachers but he'll be DAMNED if he's going to be rude to Nekobaa and I love that for him sm.

I need more of her. I forget she exists periodically but it's always a surge of joy when I do.

She's grumpy and she loves both her grandkids your honor <3

[aseuki]

Searching

[woah-uhuh-uhuh-uhuh]

pink hair and pronouns

[sirlancenotalot]

me for a week and a half now

[mamawasatesttube]

i have to speak my truth. i think timkon clone baby aus fucking suck

[therobotmonster]

Okay, so, I want to paint a picture for you.

It's 1985. You're not allowed to watch TV on Saturday because of complex religious reasons, so you get Sunday morning cartoons.

So you find this weird French cartoon on Nickelodeon called Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea. It's your He-Man (see above complex reasons).

And it has two dancing pangolins (you thought they were armadillos at the time because you're from the midwest) that are actually thousands-upon-thousands-of-years-old cyborgs from an underground kingdom of legless people that bounce along on spherical asses.

You try and tell people about this show, both at the time, and throughout your life thereafter, with the patchy memory of an 8 year old.

Most families didn't have cable in 85.

It didn't go well. It was not slogbical

So now you all get to bear witness. You all must behold...

The FLASHBIC.

[flowersdiceandlove]

The burial mounds, a place of mystery, the place of the dead, cannot be comprehended by humans. It is a place warped by time and resentful energy and the intentions of those who inhabit it and who knows what else. It is sentient and has a strong will of its own. It’s said that no one can leave the Burial Mounds, and that is true as much as it’s not. The burial mounds keeps what is theirs; protects what is theirs. No one can escape from the Burial Mounds bc more often than not, once you enter, the Burial Mounds see you as theirs. It does not take well to people hurting and taking what is theirs. (And, maybe this is why a certain demonic cultivator was able to survive and leave that place. Maybe he understood this will and resentment bc he too would do anything to protect those he loves. For him as well, once he considers someone family, they are family. And nothing will change that. No matter what happens, his family is his family, and those under his protection are fully under his protection. They can see a kindred spirit in each other, and so the Burial Mounds let him go, knowing that he will always carry part of the Burial Mounds with him. The souls in his sleeves and the resentful energy he welcomes into his body. The boon that the Burial Mounds grants him.)

It is for these reasons that WWX knows to bring the Wen remnants there. Not only does he know he can defend them if needed in that place teeming with resentment, he knows the Burial Mounds themselves will protect them. It protects its own, and the Burial Mounds knows these people that WWX brought are his, so they are its. It’s as simple as that. And, the Burial Mounds likes it. It likes having these people here, milling about and carving a life on it. It likes how they turns its soil from barren to fruitful. It likes how they are happy and content. It likes being their home and haven. It will do anything to protect them.

When the first siege comes, the Burial Mounds try to protect what is theirs. These people who have made a home on it. But, they are all grieving deeply, and it’s beautiful child, the first to even understand them and want to make peace with them instead of destroying them, is breaking apart. He is breaking apart with the weight of someone who could not protect that which is most precious to him. And he has been breaking with this weight for months now, every day chipping another piece of himself away, every day pulling further and further into himself, every day driving him just a little more insane. The Burial Mounds have no problem with madness. They will still embrace him fully and without question, but it pains them to see him like this. They are all breaking under the pressure of what the world outside its borders do. This is no longer their haven, but now their place of imminent doom. It is only a matter of time until the cultivators attack. The Burial Mounds fights back as it always does to protect those that are its. But, some of these living cultivators attacking are family of WWX and it cannot attack family. And, it knows that even should he wipe all these harmful intruders out, that will not stop more from coming, and more after that. The Burial Mounds would fight every wave they send, but that is not the issue. The issue is that its people are grieving and breaking. The issue is that it cannot do anything to fix that and every attack will break their spirits just that much more.

So instead, the Burial Mounds decide to change it. As the cultivators pour in, the Burial Mounds pulls its energy from defending and into charging its intention.  Some of its people get cut down, but that is fine, it will still work, they do not have to be alive. Just as WWX is about to destroy the Stygian Tiger Amulet (oh, and look at their brave boy, but don’t do that, my child, it will tear you apart) a large pulse of resentful energy ripples out over the battlefield, shaking the ground and seeping into all that is theirs. The air and ground starts to ripple, unstable and warping like swirls of marble, until none can stay standing in this odd happening, toppling over, nauseous from the swirling. Those that are theirs are sucked into the soil, deep into its power, and it embraces them into its depths.

Then—

They open their eyes.

WWX is seven, on the streets of Yiling, and turns his head to the Burial Mounds so close by, calling to him. Come home, my child, it whispers. Come to me; I will protect you.

Wen Ning is eight and Wen Qing 14. They also look in the direction of Yiling—of the Burial Mounds. They too hear the call. There are gasps rippling around their home, and people bursting through doors, embracing each other, crying in joy. Eyes flick around at everyone. They know. All those that were on the Burial Mounds, as well as Wen Qing and Wen Ning remember. They know what Wen Ruohan is planning. They also know what will happen to their real family.

They go to Yiling. Just a few at first. They lost many people in their branch before they were saved by WWX, and those people are more than hesitant to go to that cursed place. Those that remember can’t simply leave them to their fates again. So, some go, while some stay. They will convince the rest later. When they arrive at the base of the Burial Mounds, there is already a large collapse in the wall surrounding it looking to be made recently. The paths open up for them as they start their ascent. The path is just as they remember, the corpses and spirits howling, but leaving them be. They know they are already part of them. Granny Wen and Wen Qing are at the front of the group, leading the way. Wen Qing wishes her brother was there, but that was not something their parents would budge on. They barely let her go, and only because Granny was insisting as well and promised to look after her.

They reach the clearing where their homes were, and there they are. Their little shacks that barely stay standing. The patches of land they’d tilled and toiled over. And there, perched on a tree stump by the side of the road is a boy, even smaller than A-Ning, covered in dirt and grime that can’t all be from the Burial Mounds, spinning a black, bamboo dizi in his tiny hands. He watches them with shining eyes and a large smile they’d know anywhere breaks out on his face, then—

He laughs. The boy laughs loud and clear and bright as he topples off the stump in his joy. Many of them join in the laughter as well. Amazed and in disbelief. Wen Qing, granny, and a few others rush over to the little Wei Wuxian and pull him into a crushing embrace. The laughter soon turns to wracking sobs as they all cling to each other and let it all sink in. 

They are alive. They are together.

And, they will make sure it stays that way.

The Burial Mounds hum around them, welcoming them home.

[charrchan]

I just finished reading Keep The Light Shining by @c-l-y-d-e and ohmygosh what an amazing story! I wanted to create something for the fic and while I was playing my RAV the other day after reading the scene where Slipher comes after Yugi I played this! (or well, something similar. It's hard to replicate improvisation for a recording haha!)

Now to ramble about what I was thinking when playing! SPOILERS for the fic tho so watch out!! - Recently, I've been trying to express more with my RAV Vast playing, I have the scale B Onoleo which offers both minor and major scales with it's 9 notes. I often play light/calm music, but for this I wanted to explore something more dramatic. At the start, I'm running my hands over the drum to replicate the sound of the ocean, I try to keep this up throughout the song along with the beat (which I sometimes mess up since I get nervous when recording but I think that adds to the way Yugi was feeling). The start is when Pegasus sends Yugi off into the water, it's scarily calm for too short a time. The beat starts to pick up when Slipher starts to show itself, reaching it's loudest when he finally appears from the water and Yugi is fighting to keep alive. Everything starts to calm near the end when Atem arrives to help him. Or something like that :p Some audio processing to make it sound better! Tongue drums are hard to record (>.<;) Hope people enjoy this! And I highly recommend reading Keep The Light Shining!!!

[vic-does-battlecats]

Stumbled upon my first Frostpaw concept sketch I did while digging through my photo library .. from October 30th of last year. Mannn I can’t believe it’s been a year since I was first toying with her design. I can’t believe in three days it’ll be the end of having her a protag … I’ll miss her and the a starless clan arc in general so much

These are from November 2023, February 2024 and July 2024 respectively. Designing and drawing her that time has been such a journey.. she is and will probably remain one of my favorite designs and protagonists. It’s been a fun run to keep up with the books as they’ve been coming out this past year!! Frostpaw you will always be famous to me