#i just made it /p jia
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crescent-rolls4 · 8 months ago
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happy pride month bitches
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firestorm09890 · 4 months ago
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stray canto vii part 1 thoughts (warning: long)
so many cool new designs!! it made me realize how few of interest we got in Canto VI. Then almost everything was pretty standard (classic maid and butler outfits, lots of suits, Cathy had a fancy dress at least? and everything was brown. yes I know, T Corp color drain, but still. and Öufi came before season 3 ended so that didn’t count), but this time we have Camille, the P Corp guys, Fanghunt Office, Hugo I guess, Hong Lu’s sister, the firefist guy? if he counts? he barely appeared, Sansón, and all the fancy dressed up bloodfiends. woo babey!!
speaking of Jia Xichun, I like her! She’s cute! I didn’t expect to see anyone related to Hong Lu, but in retrospect I probably should’ve, since his turn is next and his family is massive. I hope nothing bad happens to her. I've never read Dream of the Red Chamber
also speaking of Hugo, lol. lmao. when he was talking about pressing the button to get the reward I was like “oh hopkins 2, got it” and then Ryōshū sliced off his hands so I guess… not hopkins 2
ALSO the blonde Fanghunt guy is named Romero, which is apparently the name of a character in Vampire: The Masquerade. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an intentional reference
Sinclair cursing that one guy out was so awesome. I remember when Canto V part 2 came out and he censored himself saying “Bitch Brother” people were worried that the new translators were making him softer than he actually was, but, nah, he tries his best to be a polite boy but when he’s actually genuinely pissed off he does not hold back. Ryōshū correcting him BUT THEN SAYING HIS INTERPRETATION WAS GOOD absolutely killed me. my son demands respect
it’s a good day to be a Leviathan fan
The scripted loss encounter was so cool. They set you to level 45 no matter what level your LCB Don is, and take away all your EGO except the base (which you can’t even use), and I don’t know how far you can actually get in this fight because I flipped tails every single time and lost every clash
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let’s talk about the Barber! leave it to Project Moon to look at the character who didn’t have very much of a personality who stuck around with the priest and attempted multiple plans to bring Don Quixote back home so he could become sane again (and burned a bunch of Quixote’s chivalry books, also with the priest), and turned him into an insane vampire woman with big scissors and a shrill cackle who stitches masks onto people’s faces.
interesting choice to have Sancho and Dulcinea both named in a single line and then not acknowledged or mentioned again
Sansón! so based on his story log portrait background being bisexual, the blue name, and him resembling someone in Demian’s group in the Limbus Company PV, I feel confident saying he’s part of Demian’s Group. The spot where his Sign would be is covered by his mask, though, so no one in-universe knows
I think this is why Sinclair was cast in the role of the Knight of the White Moon: he also has the sign, which Sansón (who is the Knight of the White Moon) would be able to see, and even if other sinners have it too, they’re not Demian’s special guy. everyone else, though, seemed to be cast in the most humiliating role possible: horse to be ridden for Gregor, wild animal for Heathcliff, random peasant for Rodya, presumably homeless old person for Outis
ok Sansón. in the book, he’s a young college student who read the first part of Don Quixote and, in part 2, approaches Quixote saying he’s a big fan and encouraging him to go back out and do more knight stuff. However, he actually just thinks Don Quixote’s antics are very amusing and isn’t actually an earnest supporter, and is conspiring with the barber and priest to get Quixote back home to stay. the way they (priest and barber try to bring him home in part 1 is by tricking him with an adventure that’s conveniently in the same direction as their home village, but then they get sidetracked in an inn for a long time so they just put him in a cage and drive him home. in part 2, they want to play on Quixote’s terms for a more effective result. near the beginning of the second part, they have Sansón dress as a knight (called the Knight of Mirrors/Knight of the Forest. these titles have no significance in the book but apparently the mirror thing forces Quixote to see himself as the frail old man he is in Man of La Mancha), say his lady is fairer than Dulcinea to get Don Quixote to duel him, and then make Quixote promise to stay home for a year when he loses. however, Sansón is the one who loses, because he wasn’t expecting Quixote to actually be good at jousting. Later, near the very end, which iirc is 3 months after the first encounter, another knight called the Knight of the White Moon issues the exact same challenge to Don Quixote (it’s just Sansón again, and "White Moon" has no significance in the original book either), but this time Sansón wins, so Don Quixote goes home, dejected, and then becomes “sane” again and dies.
Since this Sansón is part of Demian’s group, I don’t think his intentions will be the same- the Barber was a bloodfiend, and he sees beyond the ambitions of the bloodfiends now- but it’s fun to know how he is in the source nonetheless
I really like how he didn’t show up after the Barber’s defeat to say something cryptic and then leave, he told us quite a bit, and though his methods were… questionable, he DID force the sinners to actually finally pay attention to Don Quixote
speaking of the stage play, I like the juxtaposition between Sansón’s play and the Barber’s. in a different context, what Sansón did might’ve been framed as horrifying, and we’d be talking about how uncanny and unreal this is, but I don’t think that’s the intention here. the sinners might be playing roles, and all the enemies are cardboard cutouts, but it’s better than putting targets on real people (though I guess they’re not “people”, they’re bad, bad, bloodfiends). the cheerful music in La Manchaland is distorted and out of place, while the stage play is nice in comparison. the music for the talking sections is a bit too upbeat for the situation, but the music during the battles really immerses you. guitar! trumpet! maraca! this music is clearly composed to emulate spanish music, and it’s very earnest, which I think is important, with how easily music sets tone in media.
in both cases, Don Quixote is in a delusion. nothing in the stage play of her adventures is real, but she’s also completely wrapped up in the narrative of evil bloodfiends without the knowledge that she is one. a violent nightmare and a peaceful dream, both of which she needs to wake up from.
they both do this thing with black-and-white thinking, too. there’s a difference between the “good” bloodfiends, which you should get along with, and the “bad” ones, which you need to kill (though Don sees them both as bad), and then the bandits in the stage play are cartoonishly evil and love to bully the weak. except it seems the first is the narrative the Barber wanted to sell, while the second is Don Quixote’s reality… I mean, the play is definitely inaccurate, but we’ve seen how Don behaves
if you follow me for kingdom hearts and are for some reason reading this you know how much I love Nobodies in kh. people who used to be human, but aren’t anymore, who look close enough but are different on an intrinsic and physiological level, that everyone automatically treats as unreasonable monsters that need to die when they’re more complicated than that… I love it so much, I’m cheering and clapping whenever bloodfiend morality is brought up. Moses said that Larierre was cordial and offered her a place to sit and talk, but then also said bloodfiends are insatiably hungry and you shouldn’t underestimate them. agh I love it
also THE MUSIIIIIC every fight theme so far has been a banger. songs that were already good but with typical carnival instruments, big brass swing, the aforementioned nice spanish music, and the fucked up and evil sequel to dubstep electroswing featuring evil laughter
and finally, the helm of mambrino. in early part 1 of Don Quixote, he sees a barber (COMPLETELY unrelated barber to the other barber btw) carrying a basin on his head, and thinks it’s the amazing mystical Helm of Mambrino, so he attacks the barber and steals the basin. Don Quixote wears it as a helmet a few times and everyone thinks it looks really stupid. they did not fight a bear for it, nor did they go into a cave. idk what this might actually be in the City. either we’ll see or we won’t
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shindayyume · 7 months ago
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Who are you? ˚ ༘♡ ⋆。˚
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The POV of the mystery girl in @simmetrycal’s fic !
Creds to Sim for their oc(s) involved. (Ex. Raymond and Jia.)
Highly recommend you go over to their page and read their vers first!
『••✎••』
“Mooooommm! I need help!” A young boy yelled out from the cracked bathroom door. Somehow he had gotten both his legs stuck on one singular pant hole.
“I’m coming!“
This was a regular occurrence in the life of a single mother.
Vanessa’s routine was always the same. Wake up at 5am, always before- never after her alarm.
Give herself thirty minutes to shower, brush her teeth, do her hair, and throw on clothing that made her appear put together.
With thirty minutes to spare before 6am, she was in the kitchen preparing a simple breakfast. Sometimes it would be waffles, pancakes, and even the occasional crepe for special occasions. But no matter what, the plate always included her son’s favorite- bacon.
Around 6am was when it was time to wake up the man of the hour. Her five year old, Eli.
Despite having his own room, it was a common occurrence for him to crawl his way into his mother’s bed during late hours of the night. Vanessa would always have to drag him out of the covers by enticing him with the fresh smell of food.
She gave her son plenty of time to eat, usually 10 minutes was enough while he sat in front of the Tv scarfing down whatever meal he had. Their doberman, Lady, always sat with him- eyeing his plate like it was her first time seeing food.
In the meantime she prepared his outfit for school, laying it on the sink counter within the bathroom.
She returned out into their compact living room, picking up his plate that he left empty besides a few crumbs.
“Eli, go get dressed. We have to leave early today.”
He had given his mom this wide eyed look, “But mom- Bluey is going to the beach for the first time ever!!” He was always so exaggerative with his words. Almost like his entire body moved when he spoke.
Vanessa responded with a light smile, glancing at the TV displaying the brightly colored dog characters running in the sand, then back to her son. “Yup! And if you don’t hurry to get dressed and brush your teeth, you might miss it! Then you can’t go to the beach with Bluey.”
Eli audibly gasped in shock, jumping out of his chair to run towards the bathroom- it doesn’t take much to convince this kid of anything.
She rolled her eyes with a smile, hitting the record button on the remote before washing up the dirty dishes from this morning.
Despite always stating they had to leave early, the two always found themselves rushing out of the apartment. It was a miracle each and every time Vanessa got her son to school on time.
Unlike most children, Eli always enjoyed school. It kept him occupied, and he was quite popular with the other kids in class for being the well known chatterbox.
But for Vanessa, she relied on it. Keeping a five year old entertained throughout the entirety of summer and winter vacations weren’t exactly easy-
Just before Eli rushed into the building, he would stop and turn- bulldozing his mom with a big hug and a quick “love you!” before running off to his friends.
She looked forward to that moment every morning. It was the only part of her daily schedule that made her life a little less boring. Surly that doesn’t make her lame-
I mean, no one really ever talks about what keeps them going the entire day. For her, it was always that hug and the shared “I love you”s.
Though with Eli departing with his friends, it was time for Vanessa to meet with hers.
She worked at a fairly busy tattoo shop. It was small, and blended in easily with the other shops on the street. Definitely easy to miss if you weren’t looking to get inked. Always the first one there, she had the duty of cleaning up and restocking for the other artist.
Now she didn’t have to do it- but it kept her mind occupied. She hated cleaning. But throughout the years of raising a kid, its muscle memory at this point. Enough so that she would hardly even know she was cleaning in the first place.
Despite this, her station was always a mess compared to how she left others. Her pens, ink cases and paper sketches always scattered about in a disorganized fashion. Most of the time she would get so caught up with cleaning around the place that she wouldn’t hear the jingle from the bells attached to the doorway—
A taller man stepped inside, most of his important features being covered by a bikers helmet and gear. He had taken the quick stop to the next door cafe to pick up two special drinks. Despite the shop being nearly quiet, and dead empty- his steps were just as silent as he approached behind Vanessa. innocently holding the two large drinks in hand like a child waiting to be called on by the teacher-
All she heard was,
“Coffee.”
That deep ghostly voice spooked her enough to turn around with a slight jump- “Jesus- how many times do I have to tell you to take that thing off before you give someone a heart attack.”
There were two blankly different drinks in hand- one in a styrofoam cup, steam still emitting from the lids cracks. The other a sweetly looking iced coffee- She took the hot one. Pure black, bitter hot coffee. “Thanks..”
The stranger spoke again, giving his head a tilt. “You okay? You look tired. Is Eli okay? Did you eat today?—” Practically spouting out questions- until he was interrupted.
“—Yeah yeah, I’m fine. Just exhausted.. Eli was up nearly all night crying over a nightmare. But he’s alright now.”
It was never anything that kept her worried, usually Eli would just wake up in the middle of the night and then be afraid he was left alone in the dark.
“That seems to happen a lot.. he's always in the way of your sleep.” His voice was stern, but not in any negative manner. Unintentionally intimidating-
“My son is never in the way of anything. He’s just a kid- he’ll grow out of it..”
“In another few years, maybe. You deserve a break.”
She scoffed over the thought. It was almost enough to make her laugh. A break? How could she ever possibly get one. And it’s not like she wanted to anyways- sure her life is repetitive.. but it's mostly due to her having the responsibility of keeping her and Eli afloat. What would she even do on a vacation? Probably spend the entire time worrying about her son anyways–
But hell, it would be nice.. maybe even something simple and short, like a trip to the pool? Or maybe she could finally get the opportunity to try out the new bar that opened up across her apartment-
But no.. she has to work, for Eli.
“I'm good. When are the boys coming in?”
“Ethan at one, and Davis at three if we’re lucky.” Finally separating from Vanessa’s space, he entered his personalized cubby. Detaching the helmet over his head as he spoke – “Did you do it?” masked gear in hand, he shook out his hair. Revealing the platinum blond and brightly dyed orange hair combination. Vanessa will never understand why he always made it his mission to hide his face with that helmet -He had perfectly framed features, a few complimentary piercings, and some light freckles to soften his glow. Hell– if the guy wasn’t into men, She would have taken her chance long ago. But in all honesty, she’s glad he's a friend she can rely on from time to time.
‘Did you do it?’ banged in her head like an irritating drum. “No, Collin, I did not download tinder. I don’t need anyone right now. I told you that already.”
“Mhm. And I also told you that you’re a terrible liar. Dating would be good for you. Could get you away from the kid for a while. When was the last time you got some dick?”
“Around the same time you got some.”
He rolled his eyes, “touché.. Seriously though- you're still young, men will go crazy over a hot single mom, you know.”
“I don’t think many people find me being covered in dirt all the time and a billion random plastic dinosaurs hidden in my pockets very attractive.”
“A man's dream, actually.”
Dating wasn’t a common thought in Vanessa’s head. She was always so preoccupied by work and taking care of Eli that she rarely looked after herself anymore. However after having her son, she found it difficult to care about relationships anymore. Especially after the situation with Elis father– a man she despised with her entire being. Blinded by young love, she was fully convinced he was a man capable of fulfilling his promises. That they’d run away together, free from media and stress- and oh did he run without her. The second she revealed her pregnancy, he had washed her away like a stain on his carpet. Ghosting her completely as if she never existed.
But it's not like she can change anything– She was foolish for falling in love with a popular actor. A big shot in Hollywood, who flaunted his pretty little face every chance he could– but was so desperate to keep Vanessa hidden from his public life. She mistakenly, never saw the red flags.
Now, It's just her and her son.. Still trying to stay within the career she loved, she was always working long hours for the both of them. Even if it meant returning home with carpal tunnel.
The two were always the shop's openers. Collin was more responsible for piercings, while Vanessa handled the ink work. If she was lucky, She would snag a few quick walk-ins during her waiting time on regular scheduled clients. She was well known in the office for taking anything she could get her hands on for an extra buck- and it's not like anyone minded. They understood her situation, and she clearly needed it the most. But god, did they feel terrible watching her overwork herself to death.
Although school normally ends at 3pm, Vanessa had Eli enrolled in the after school programs. He wasn’t due to be picked up until around 5. Which meant there was still plenty of time to–
“--MOM!!”
The five year old had the lungs of a tiger. Shouting hello loud enough to echo through the entire shop. Everyone turned their heads- spotting a man that can only be described as a lumberjack, carrying the young boy on his shoulders. The older man mimicked him, yelling out to purposely annoy Vanessa. “Mom! Mom!”
She shot her head up- surprised to see him. Afterall, she was in the middle of tattooing some poor girl's ribs- giving an apologetic smile, “Uh- how about a quick break?” The client happily agreed. Especially since it meant sweet relief- getting out of the chair to make a quick trip to the bathroom. Vanessa stood from her seat, carefully putting aside her tools and removing her gloves while her son was placed onto his feet by the man. “Hey, sweetheart. What are you doing out so early?”
“Dave picked me up! I got to go on the motorcycle!!” He greeted his mom with a hug, before running off to the cubby next door to see what his old pal Collin was up to.
“Wow- that's greeaat. After I had told him multiple times not to take my baby on that bike.” She gave Davis a spiteful grin, crossing her arms.
“Oh calm down. I was going the speed limit! He's fine, the new helmet fits perfectly.” Davis returned her smile with one of his own, giving a thumbs up.
With a sigh, Vanessa couldn’t seriously be mad. She was always happy to see her kid. “Thanks, Dave.. surprised you actually made it on time.”
Davis was one of their artists in the shop. He was a big guy- and with his bear-like appearance, many people were oftenly put off by him. But deep down- the guy is no scarier than a fly. With kids of his own, he was always looking out for her and Eli. Vanessa always saw Davis as Eli’s cool uncle, so naturally, she added him on the additional names list that were safe to pick up her son from school. days like this- he would surprise everyone by bringing the kid over. Sometimes without even telling Vanessa- him and Eli would take secret ice cream trips.
Probably good to not tell his wife either, he’s supposed to lay off the sweets.
“Yeah, me too. But the wife was getting tired of me snoring so I had to get my ass up. And! That means you can finish up this client and head on home yourself.” He gave her a stern pat on the shoulder.
“Well- I–” She was left a bit stunned. This was her last client after all, and normally she waits out the last remaining hours for anyone looking to make some bad life decisions- but considering now that she had her son around, it would be a good idea to get him out and about instead of being cooped up with a bunch of edgy artist. “Alright.. Just this once.”
-🕰️-
After wrapping and ringing up her last client, Vanessa had packed up her personal belongings before going around the shop with Eli to say their goodbyes to everyone. Holding his hand while they walked through the parking lot to their vehicle. Out of the array of motorcycles parked up front- she was the only SUV in the mix. Popping open the back door for Eli and helping buckle him in-
“Hey, how about we take Lady to the park early? That way mommy can stay up for movie night?”
Eli cheered with a loud “YEAAA!!” Park visits were his favorite time of the day- and he was already so eager to destroy ant hills and get covered in mud with their pup.
-🕰️-
Upon arriving at the park, Vanessa always allowed her son to venture off into the playground area with the other kids. She never strayed too far- just enough to keep close eyes on him while she walked around with Lady.
Per usual it was warm, and calming. She always felt her stress melt away underneath the sun. It reminded her of the beach- sunbathing over the crystal sand, listening to the roaring waves, and enjoying the fresh scent of sea salt…
Oh what a dream..
Her lips were curled into a blissful smile as she drifted off over the idea. Until the leash in her hand yanked her with a firm tug- enough to quite literally pull her back into reality.
“Lady—“
She was no match for a nearly 80 pound dog. It seemed like Lady’s attention was taken by playful barking coming from down the pathway- and she was taking Vanessa with her.
She spotted another dog up ahead- a Shiba Inu seemingly being chased by a man.
To avoid running into the pair, Vanessa did her best to hold back Lady. But it seems like her attempt at restraining her dog only made it worse- now both pups were avoiding their owners. Running in circles the closer they got- enough to entangle their leads tightly around Vanessa and the stranger.
Before she could get a word in, the man took them right out of her mouth- “oh, I’m so sorry!”
The moment she looked up, she got a clear view of his face- and by the gods was he stunning. Her face turned just as pink as her hair- making a nervous laugh as she spoke, “no no, oh my gosh! it’s my fault”
There was a short moment of the two just inspecting one another- I mean, it’s hard not to take a look when you’re tied up. She couldn’t help but gaze over his perfect, slick back blond hair, down to the unexpected eyebrow piercing- with the way he was dressed in semi formal attire, that silver jewelry sparked her curiosity.
As the dogs settled, she took the opportunity to snap out of it and bed down- nearly pressing their bodies against one another as she unclipped Lady’s leash from her collar. Now able to comfortably unravel herself from the mixup- stepping back with an apologetic smile. “I’m really sorry about that— lady just gets ahead of herself sometimes..”
She stood and watched as his dog was attempting to tug and yank away- but the guy was practically melted into the concrete.
“no, it’s my fault, bruce is so disobedient, i can never get him to listen,”
She laughed, “I’ve heard they’re a pretty stubborn breed.” Now rolling up Lady’s leash within her hands. Allowing her dog to roam freely and greet the other pup.
“I’m Vanessa, by the way.” She waited for a response- but it seemed like those last words completely flew over the guy's head. It was hard to pretend like she didn’t notice him staring her down. Not that she particularly- minded..
He was quite attractive after all, even if he had all eyes on her chest. But just to give the guy benefit of the doubt- she just took it as him looking over her visible tattoos.
Finally after an excruciating long moment of silence-
“so, do you come here with lady often?”
Yeah. Completely flew over the guys head.
“Yea, almost every evening. It's our little routine. What about you and bruce?” She had the idea that maybe taking the path might loosen the guy up- now walking side to side with him as the dogs explored ahead of them.
“first time here, actually,” he admitted. “we’re trying to get used to new places.”
“We?”
Considering that she brings Eli along- her first thought wasn’t Bruce. But honestly- she was hoping he meant the dog.
“yeah, i don’t venture out much..” he seemed almost embarrassed to admit it.
Cute.
Fuck- what? Cute? How is she already crushing on this guy- all because she thought his shy responses were attractive. Not only that but, if he was new around the place- it could be a good idea to give him a good first impression. Maybe he’ll come back often.. and there will be other opportunities of getting tangled in their dogs leashes again-
“maybe bruce and lady can become park buddies? she gets along well with other dogs.”
Seriously? Setting up the dogs on a date is the best idea you could come up with? She was honestly starting to feel embarrassed herself instead of just asking for the guys number-
He nodded, “i’d like that. and maybe you can show us the best spots around here.”
She was quick to respond- looking up to the unnamed man as their eyes met again. “I’d be happy to.”
And just as simple as that, they took the short stroll around the small park. With her being a frequent visitor, she introduced him to all the best spots. Especially those where she would just sit and relax in, away from a ton of crowds and screaming children. She hadn’t even noticed that she was going on and on about her experiences around the place- talking the poor guys head off. But, it was a first that she noticed he was actually.. listening.
He wasn’t all that responsive, but just based on his body language and eye contact, she could tell he was fully enticed by her. And damn did she adore that-
They took a short break- seating themselves down at a shaded park bench.
“I’m so sorry for going on and on- it’s nice having someone to talk to. especially to someone who doesn’t mind my rambling.”
“I enjoy your rambling. it’s refreshing.”
And he admitted to enjoying hearing her talking about a park of all things? Either this guy is just easily entertained- or she truly just scored a jackpot.
Though there was a slight pit in her chest- while he seemed perfectly interested, she worried that maybe he might just be considering taking this onto a one time thing. Flings were never- her interest. Though, hardly we’re committed relationships either. Trust was not something so easily shared.. but- for a split moment, they sat silently. Locking eyes as that worry lifted off her chest- she could feel their body heat radiation as he seemingly began to lean in closer.
“Mommy! Look what I found!”
Damnit.
She turned her head away- spotting her son Eli running up with a rock in hand. How could she hate him for interrupting- it was impossible with his scruffy face. “Woah! That’s wonderful, sweetheart.”
Oh- right—
“So sorry,” she turned back to the stranger, smiling proudly. “This is my son- Eli.”
Most of the time, she found it that men would dash away the second they found out she was a mother- but nonetheless, she was never ashamed of her son. He was her pride and joy after all.
But deep down- she was anxiously waiting for his reaction.
And to her surprise- he was.. smiling? It was a warming smile as well, as if the guy hardly even took it as a bad thing. She watched as the two interacted and talked back and forth.
And he’s good with kids? She questioned herself. Maybe it’s too good to be true-
Eli was never shy to strangers, promptly showing off the rock in his sand covered hands. “I’m gonna go find more!”
After Eli ran off to go dig around for more pebbles and stones, the two were left alone again.
“What a great kid..”
“Oh- thank you. He’s my entire world..”
his lack of response gave her the hint. She knew he was probably thinking about it- husband? Boyfriend? Anyone at all must be in the picture. But- he seemed almost surprised to hear her admit, “it’s not easy, you know. Being a single mom and trying to navigate everything..”
hopefully he got the memo-
She watched him nod, tension loosening. “I can only imagine. You’re doing an incredible job.”
Stunned by his response- she stared at him with an admirable expression. From all the men she’s ‘tried’ talking to.. no one’s ever told her that before- and like the other few times they gawked over one another, this time made her heartbeat ring in her ears. Almost Instinctively, their bodies were drawn to each other-
Noticing their eyes dart to one another's lips, she could hardly believe he was fully willing to try again for a kiss-
“mommy! look! lady is chasing dis dog!” And just like that, Eli once again cuts through their moment.
They both laugh over it- and damn, was his laugh enough to stab her right through the heart. For a guy who looked so quiet and stern, it definitely boosted his morale.
“Kids, right?” She jokes, embarrassingly.
He only made her excitement worse by unexpectedly reaching out- moving a few loose strands of her hair out from her face and tucking it carefully behind her ear. “Yeah, they have great timing.”
Now her heart is beating in places it shouldn’t be-
With her cheeks darker than her hair, her eyes darted downward. “Look, um- maybe we can pick this up another time? When it’s a bit- quieter?” To hide her flustered expression, she tried to cover it with a friendly smile-
“I’d like that.”
Is she serious? Swooning over this guy who she didn’t even have a name on- wait- what was this guys name anyways?
“Hey- I never got your na-“
Instead of being interrupted by the five year old, this time it was a loud ringtone. Coming from his phone-
“Ah- sorry-“ he stumbled over himself, reaching into his pocket to check the contact calling him-
Vanessa paused as she saw his expression grow almost.. irritated. Clearly whoever was calling, wasn’t his favorite person. So much so that he actually- declined the call. Lowering his phone into his lap.
“What were you saying?”
Must just be bad timing- “oh, I was just going to ask for your-“
His phone went off again.
This time, she caught the name of the contact-
Jia Taylor
Wife? girlfriend? No, don't jump to conclusions- for all she knows, it could be his sister, or a colleague from work- hell, maybe even his mom?
It seemed like each time he tried to decline, this Jia person would just call right back. Eventually his frustration grew enough to apologize- “sorry. I just have to take this really quick-“
Vanessa nodded politely as he finally answered the current call. All he said was- “Hello?”
And the other end of the call went off. She was loud- not loud enough for Vanessa to understand what was being said, but enough for the poor guy to stretch away and try and keep distance- responding with a few muttered words.
She tried not to eavesdrop. Just putting her focus on watching Eli throw sticks for the dogs to chase.
It didn’t seem like they had a long conversation- he stood as he ended the call, tucking his phone away. “Again, really sorry. It’s um- work related..”
She had a bit of suspicion by his hesitation- but pushed it aside, standing as well. “I understand if you need to go- I have to take Eli back home for dinner anyways. It was nice to meet you..”
“Likewise..”
Cmon. Ask.. his number- name, anything??
“Mom mom! Can we have pizza today??”
Eli.. she smiled, handing her son Lady’s leash. “Of course.. do me a favor and put this on Lady? Then we can go get pizza..”
“Okay!” He excitedly snagged it from her hands, running over to the giant Doberman. Despite being such a massive breed compared to the kid- she was always so gentle and obedient with him. Sitting down the second he came over- and letting him clip her leash on.
“Bruce!” He called out, getting the shiba to trot over.
Considering there was no more room for talk, she gave the stranger a final smile goodbye.
“See you again sometime?”
He nodded, “Yeah.. I think I just found a new favorite spot.”
~
That night started like every other. Vanessa and Eli hung out on their small living room couch, devouring an entire small pizza together while the credits from their watched movie rolled on the TV screen.
She had carried Eli to bed, tucking him in while Lady laid guarded at the end of his bed.
She leaned down and left a soft kiss goodnight on his forehead, moving aside a few strands of hair from his face. Each and every time she did that, she was reminded of his father.. mostly due to the kid being a splitting image of the unspoken man. She hated it. She hated that her son had to live without a dad in the picture.
Was it selfish? To hate having to spend every aching moment worried for her kid? Even if she asked for a break, she would feel guilty taking it. If anything were to happen to her, he would have no one else to take care of him..
Maybe all this time, Colin was right about it all. That she needed to branch out and find someone to trust.
But- why was the stranger who she had met at the park the first thought to pop into her head?
Afterall, she didn’t even get the guys name.
On her way to bed, she loomed over the thought. Staring blindly into the ceiling. Would she even ever run into him again?
Wouldn’t that be something..
no way.
She sighed, replaying today's events- His cunning smile, hypnotic voice, and rich vanilla cologne.. she can only imagine if his lips tasted the same.
Fuck.
*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*
Anyways!! I’m not the best at writing but Sim has inspired me to get back into the hobby 👍 hopefully I can post some more fics of my other characters in the future! Ty for reading :)
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minquiec · 1 year ago
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hhhhoooolllkkkkkyyyt shijjjjjjjtiiiiiittttt brain goes crazy moment
Omg
So obviously everyone and their mother knows abt the moon and sun trope yadayada and I was like thinking abt jipunk (what's new 😞)
And at first I was like oh yea hb is DEFINITELY the sun idfc right but then I get to jia and I'm like uhhherrrmmmmm what would jia actually be 🤨❓❓ cause I was like mmmm iddkkkk I don't rlly think she would be the moon maybe she'd be a distant star or smth iddkkkk
BUT NO
SHE REALLY WOULD BE THE MOON BC
That one song the moon will sing where the specifically the lyrics
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Ok ignoring how I took the photo I was too lazy to screenshot cause my ipad was alrdy pulled up on spotify ANYWAYS
Especially on the 'bore the shadows that you made with no light of my own, I shine only w the light u gave me'
AND I REALIZED HOW TRUE THIS WAS BC if y'all remember (you won't but I sure will heuuurhhghrhh) I said before that jia needs hb more in some sense and comparing it to the implications of how the moon needs the sun to shine, it kind of works
And this is like literally even further idk solidified(??) By prowler jia au (even tho I have zero lore on it but we ignore that)
I've literally said this nowhere but in p!jia's world she doesn't actually have a hb in her life and at the same time she doesn't actually become spidergorl
But she still has these losses that happens to her which literally drove her nuts cause ofc it would EVERYONE AROUND U DIED ID GO A LITTLE COOCOO INSANE TOO
So in a way u can see p!jia as the jia that COULDVE been if she never met hb (that's crazy girl WAKE UP /J I love them)
AND I JUST GOTTA SAY IDC HB IS LITERALLY THE SUN but not like in that textbook sunshine definition but more so how he literally like
Like like likelike
He's
Like
Freedom??? Does that make sense to anyone or am I talking to myself
LIKE ITS HIS WHOLE CHARACTER RIGHT HOW HES FREEDOM AND SURELY THE SUN REPRESENTS FREEDOM (source: trust me brouh)
Like it's soooo it drives me insane bc he rlly ellylelylley would be the sun bc he's a symbol of probably freedom, light, hope, goodness the whole shebang and it's the whole thing behind why jia would LOVE HIM
LIKE THE
FIICKIJNG SUN
shes just so in lov w him it's a little pathetic actually (same girl tbh)
Anyways that's it I literally thought of this while I was airing out washing and I looked a little crazy giggling to myself while doing this
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toonilumi · 2 years ago
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have you ever thought about what kind of chaos your characters might wreck if they had access to social media like we do?
I havent made nowhere content in a bit so i think this might suffice.
Marley: a fandom blogger, really nice and somehow always stays out of drama. Youve probably met a marley before.
Lillia: already a social media star, completely anonymous absolutely crushing it in osu or something.
Saya: Types just like this. Kind of like an older individual unsure about this social media thing. Ironically.
Disco: soundcloud rapper.
Polaris: overuses emotes like :D or :P or :3 much to the chagrin of his comrades. definitely enjoys a little bit of trolling.
Henundher: would only touch it once in a blue moon for google or something.
Backenforth: spends her time starting fights online for fun.
Min Ji: only follows her friends, ratios everyone she talks to.
Cozimo: extremely out of touch business guy trying to be marketable.
Stealer: would never have social media as it is a security risk
Helena: a mix of saya and henundher
Tybalt: Fortuna canyou come help me at the Elevator please Stop Recording I said Stop. (he has no hands)
Fortuna: facebook mom but less anti vaxx
Twelve: backenforth but worse.
Felix: genuine wholesomeness, just posts about his works. Might have a meme page.
Jia Li: has no time for social media
Archibald: runs a group chat for the trainmasters and nothing else.
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falindrith · 11 months ago
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some things in here are good points (larger watermarks, for one). However, it is also full of weird not really true info about the glaze project itself:
"glaze is a grift" - Glaze is an academic research project released for free. Only people being grifted here are grad students (that's a different post entirely). The paper itself won awards at a peer reviewed conference.
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(USENIX Best Papers, https://www.usenix.org/conferences/best-papers, Retrieved on 2/28/24)
"glaze violated gpl/stole code" - True to the letter, however extremely easy to show that this was rapidly resolved by the researchers. 3 days! complete rewrite!
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(Release Notes, https://glaze.cs.uchicago.edu/release.html, Retrieved on 2/28/24)
"glaze uses the same tech as stable diffusion" - yes because it was designed as an attack against a class of models called diffusion models, of which, stable diffusion is the most well-known open source implementation. It uses the same encoders to develop image perturbations that interfere with the latent embedding of the image in a way that is honestly pretty cool:
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(Shawn Shan et al., “Glaze: Protecting Artists from Style Mimicry by Text-to-Image Models,” in 32nd USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 23) (Anaheim, CA: USENIX Association, 2023), 2187–2204, https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity23/presentation/shan, p. 7)
To understand the above, you need to know that diffusion models represent what they're generating in a "feature space" (numbers). The authors noticed that style transfer could be combated if you knew which numbers in that feature space affected artist style. They then did something pretty clever: they computed what something would look like if you applied a public domain style to it, and then made it so that your input would look like the public domain style in the feature space. This is why there are artifacts in a glazed image; it's actually changing the image data so it looks different when the machine runs its encoder. The researchers' choice to then use stable diffusion (it's cited, [67] in section 5.2 step 2) to run style transfer should then make intuitive sense: if mr. AI then uses the same encoder the researchers did to fine tune his model, then their modified image will clog up his machinery just as shown in the paper.
"de-glazing images is as easy as upscaling it" - no it's not lmao read the paper. this is directly addressed:
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(ibid, p. 13)
The overall point of this not being a perfect defense is actually something I agree with. Glaze is so narrow that it only encompasses fine-tuning (e.g. Dreambooth) so it wasn't really a global defense to begin with (nightshade does better, but not perfectly, in that regard, read their paper, it's cool). However, the actual claim that you can "just upscale it" in this post is easily proven false.
As an aside, Glaze can be de-glazed pretty well, but it is not a simple process. There is even a paper and open source code that does this (and it, too, is pretty cool): https://github.com/paperwave/Impress. Just to show that it's also like a published paper, here's the citation:
Jinghui Chen Bochuan Cao Changjiang Li, Ting Wang, Jinyuan Jia, Bo Li, “IMPRESS: Evaluating the Resilience of Imperceptible Perturbations Against Unauthorized Data Usage in Diffusion-Based Generative AI,” in The 37th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), New Orleans, Louisiana, USA., 2023, https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.19248.
way too much effort to put in to this post but like fr cite your got dam sources it's so easy (and free!) to do.
(and use a big watermark/low quality images when posting online that's also free and easy)
the darling Glaze “anti-ai” watermarking system is a grift that stole code/violated GPL license (that the creator admits to). It uses the same exact technology as Stable Diffusion. It’s not going to protect you from LORAs (smaller models that imitate a certain style, character, or concept)
An invisible watermark is never going to work. “De-glazing” training images is as easy as running it through a denoising upscaler. If someone really wanted to make a LORA of your art, Glaze and Nightshade are not going to stop them.
If you really want to protect your art from being used as positive training data, use a proper, obnoxious watermark, with your username/website, with “do not use” plastered everywhere. Then, at the very least, it’ll be used as a negative training image instead (telling the model “don’t imitate this”).
There is never a guarantee your art hasn’t been scraped and used to train a model. Training sets aren’t commonly public. Once you share your art online, you don’t know every person who has seen it, saved it, or drawn inspiration from it. Similarly, you can’t name every influence and inspiration that has affected your art.
I suggest that anti-AI art people get used to the fact that sharing art means letting go of the fear of being copied. Nothing is truly original. Artists have always copied each other, and now programmers copy artists.
Capitalists, meanwhile, are excited that they can pay less for “less labor”. Automation and technology is an excuse to undermine and cheapen human labor—if you work in the entertainment industry, it’s adapt AI, quicken your workflow, or lose your job because you’re less productive. This is not a new phenomenon.
You should be mad at management. You should unionize and demand that your labor is compensated fairly.
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trickandmxgic · 4 years ago
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Favorite kinks? 👀
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Jia pulls out a GIANT book titled “MY KINKS (VOL.69)” and starts reading from it out loud--
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yumpty-dumpty-inactive · 3 years ago
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dear @mooscutely, @disoriented-fish, @humans-are-rubbish, @coralsparklingtea, @tiredzephh, @axrioly, @thehutaomain, @luvajax, @kxllmelia, @mayple, @myluvkeiji, @abyssheart, @spookii-does-stuff, @mikan-ronpa, @cynettic, @skyward-pride, @kazuichi-soda-pop, @almondoufu, @guhua--geek, @hopefilledimagines, @salami2, @cerasus--flores, @catisnerd, @keijisnumber1fan, @socksthefemboy, @hushyouu, @0ddlyfamiliar, @chichikoi, @valberiyah, @wangshuu, @yumir3, @help-wtf-am-i-even-doing, @freshgenshinmemes, @nolawritesfanfics, @k-kazvha, @thecruxcaptn, @hqrbinger, @ophelia-writes, @kouyun, @ventirain, @simp-lyzity, @0utrid3ramb3r, @alonelysimp, @aweebstuff, @almond-adeptus, @severedftaes, @azurawashere, @simplyxsinned, @icecappa, @heyitslane-sl, @monsternotinthecloset, @whowho-who, @bookuya, @noirkkat, @catcze, @witch-hazels-musings, @ohmykazuha, and to all of my other mutuals and followers,
hey, i'm back. sorry i haven't been super active, lately, but I've missed you all <333 . just wanted to remind you of something. you are amazing. and I love the fact that no matter how many followers i have, no matter how much I post, or how tired I am, you all have been there for me. stress has been piling up lately, and I've barely made enough money to get presents for my family. you all, whether intentional or not, have taught me what it means to truly love and care for someone, family or not. even if one day I leave genshinblr, i'll still remember all you've taught me, and all the memories we've shared. I still remember aeri, jade, and jayee, and miss them all dearly. I hope one day they pop in to say hi, but i don't expect that any time soon. I hope to continue to be friends with you all, and just remember each and every one of you mean the absolute world to me. please look for your name below to see a special thank-you. (IF YOUR NAME IS IN BOLD) + (i only did this if i know you well)
moo, I love you so much. you always manage to make me feel loved and special, even when I feel ugly and useless. (mooscutely)
disoriented-fish, I don't know you that well, but you seem like a kind and caring person, and I hope to interact with you more in the future. humans-are-rubbish, same with you :))
gale, your writing is amazing. i loved the headcanons you made, and i think you have a very bright future on genshinblr. i wish you nothing but the best. (coralsparklingtea)
my lovely tired/sleepy anon, you never fail to make me chuckle or smile whenever i see you interacting with me or dropping into my inbox. love you. /p (tiredzephh)
mayple, dear lord. bestie. that's all i gotta say. (mayple)
koi, you were one of my first friends on genshinblr. I will always have your back, feed you diluc brainrot at any time, or just be there if you ever wanna talk. love you. /p (chichikoi)
catte, ugh you listened to my rants so much, i feel so guilty oml. i've been seeing your blog growing, and i hope you continue you grow much more <333 (catcze)
hazel, you're so pleasant to interact with, i envy you. you get along with everyone so easily, and i hope we can continue to get along in the future :). (witch-hazels-musings)
jia, firstly, I love you. you are unbelievably kind and have a good heart, and I wish you the best of luck when it comes to anything, honestly.
saki, thank you so much for all your support. you always seem to pop into my inbox and the times I need you most, and i'm forever grateful to you and in your debt. (hopefilledimagines)
dango, you're super funny and just lovely. i literally love you. /p (aloneysimp)
alex, thanks for simping for cyno with me ;D (ventirain)
I love you all, and might not be on a lot over the course of the holidays, so happy holidays to all of my lovely mutuals and followers!! remember that you all are outstanding writers and I adore reading your works whenever they release!! I love all of you so much, mwah <333! /p
possible brainrots for y'all coming up,, but don't get your hopes up too much lol
with much love /p,
- abbie
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girlinthetardis04 · 1 year ago
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Monsterverse game:
Godzilla (2014)
Best (in no particular order):
1. The first time he charges his atomic breath. Just the sound design asdasffshhds.
2. The big ass Godzilla skeleton at the start.
3. Godzilla arrives in Hawaii.
4. The MUTOs get bus-ay (I just find it funny that KotM reveals their heads are their genutals so it was basically Titan p*rn-)
5. BEST ONE IN THE WHOLE MOVIE THE KISS OF DEATH ARE YOU KIDDING ME HE LITERALLY DECAPITATED THAT BIGASS PREHISTORIC BUG ADSHDAADHADJDSS 10/10 I want that scene injected in my veins.
Worst:
Anything with the humans tbh.
Kong: Skull Island (2017):
Best (in no particular order):
1. That whole scene with Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Especially how the audio cuts out when they see Kong and then the whirring of the helicopter motors blends in with the bass it's so good.
2. The Ghibli buffalo
3. Anything with Marlowe, but especially when he tells the story of Gunpei.
4. Also "Skullcrawlers?" "I just made it up. Sounded cool"
5. Kong looking at the stars. Let my boy chill.
Worst:
Sensless sacrifice.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019):
Best (in no particular order):
1. Ghidorah's awakening. It's so cool man. SO COOL.
2. Mothra's awakening. SHE'S SO HECKING PRETTY YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.
3. RODAN'S AWAKENING. MY BOY THEY MADE HIM LOOK SO BADASS YES YOU GO AND FUCK UP THOSE JETS I'M SO PROUD OF YOU. LOOK AT HIM!!!!!
4. Local 11 year old cusses out giant three headed lightning space dragon (ft. Ghidorah) (NOT CLICKBAIT)
5. BURNING GODZILLA, SPECIFICALLY THE FINAL MELTDOWN WITH MOTHRA'S WINGS IN THE PULSE AFAGDSJHSFHJS
Worst:
Emma's "sacrifice". Like, no, if you have the deaths of millions upon millions of people on your hands you don't get to redeem yourself. Bitch.
Godzilla vs. Kong:
Best (in no particular order):
1. Godzilla and Jia recreating that scene from ET.
2. Kong finding the axe
3. That asshole woman from Apex dying horribly (suck it)
4. Godzilla and Kong are fighting right in the middle of Hong Kong- BUT WHAT'S THAT? BY GOD IT'S MECHAGODZILLA WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!!!!
5. Godzilla just casually BLASTING A WHOLE THROUGH THE EARTH. In one breath too, congrats on the lung capacity, Big G.
Worst:
The scenes with Madison. She basically had nothing to do the whole movie :/
Rules: Name 5 of your most favorite scenes from each Monsterverse film and 1 scene that you don’t really care for/dislike. Then tag 3+ others who’ve at least seen GvK.
Godzilla (2014): Best: Godzilla entrance/ Godzilla escort/ Halo jump/ Godzilla and Ford share a stare/ Kiss of Death. Worst: Joe death.
Kong: Skull Island: Best: Kong vs choppers/ Randa explains/ Meeting the Iwi and Marlow/ Kong saves Weaver/ Post credit scene. Worst: Randa death.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters: Best: Ghidorah emergence/ Rodan vs jets/ Mothra’s waterfall emergence/ Godzilla rebirth/ Godzilla arrives in Boston. Worst: Graham death.
Godzilla vs. Kong: Best: Godzilla attacks Apex/ Mechagodzilla reveal/ the Hollow Earth/ Godzilla and Kong team up/ Truce. Worst: Mark doubts Godzilla.
Tagging the following: @star-going-supernova  @true-king-of-monsters  @hrodvitnon 
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andjanuary · 3 years ago
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what's p-word poppin u guys it's jia (s/h, gmt+8, 20, also @20scmethings) n i give u:
GO YUNA. manhwa artist, with the #2 weekly webtoon in the horror/thriller genre, who can’t sit through horror movies because she knows everything that’s coming but still gets scared.
like n subscribe if you’d like to plot (disc avail!). i’m slowly losing it i fear but anyway.. links + tldr below!
STATISTICS
BIOGRAPHY
born n raised in chicago, babey! moved to seoul with her family when she was 14, and started attending school there. was kinda shy because she’s a heritage speaker and felt awkward expressing her, so she started writing, and then eventually, drawing.
mom’s ur typical overachiever (had an econs degree she never used) and enrolled yuna in lots of supplementary classes when she was younger. when she found out yuna liked to draw, she enrolled her into a hagwon that did... absolutely nothing but waste her time. yuna ended up quitting and got into a huge fight with her mom about it, where some very hurtful words were said. mom brought her a fruit plate afterwards n neither of them ever apologised for it and are just pretending like nothing happened. 
they focus their attention on lil bro, who’s much smarter than yuna. (was accepted to med school in uchicago recently!!!) in her second year of hs, mom moved back to chicago with lil bro to take care of her parents (also bc lil bro is a fucking genius when he’s doing the american syllabus lmaoo) & yuna stays in seoul w dad to finish high school up.
the first chapter of her manhwa is released in 2018 (3rd yr of hs), and slowly starts to gain popularity and a bit of a cult following. there are even forums dedicated to talking about the comic & theories (!!!!!!) and for the first time yuna feels genuinely passionate abt something. instead of studying, she just draws for the manhwa.
eventually oversleeps and misses the csat. laughs about it on her public instagram and wishes the other test-takers good luck & goes back to sleep. 
(her mom gets on a flight back and chases her around the house when she finds her daughter’s name trending at #2 on naver for missing the suneung. her dad thinks it’s kinda funny.)
bc of this, she finally explains to her parents that it’s #notaphase and she’s actually earning money from it! mom’s still pissed n dad wants her to retake the exam tho so :/
just in time, she herself goes viral after the suneung incident! it’s not everyday u see a cute high school student drawing body horror, and the manhwa’s popularity and viewership go up bc of it. she’s offered a proper contract with a Real Monthly Salary, and moves into a goshiwon to focus on finishing the manhwa & to escape her parents’ nagging.
moved into maehwa vvvvv recently (like. a week ago?), because after finishing mitm, she’s started work on a new series! premise is a haunted house (based off maehwa, ofc!) and that’s... really all she knows so far.
PERSONALITY
brash in a new york type beat but means well!!!
sometimes just settles in the most inconvenient places to draw. srry ur muse has to step over her to use the bathroom.
either doesn’t sleep at all or sleeps for 17hrs straight. pitfalls of not having a schedule for self-regulation.
hasn’t unpacked, but has already had so many of her online shopping packages shipped here that the entire 2nd floor is a fire hazard. srry neighbours... she is aggressively american tho and so she’s gonna go around knocking on doors and actually talking to people n offering them extra food she ordered/made.
again, no plots. my brain is smooth like... smth smooth.  just like this n i’ll hit u up here for both yuna n hanna tqtq kisses smooch mwah mwah xoxo
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i-did-not-mean-to · 3 years ago
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Boys and sticks - Chapter 15
Fandom: Hobbit (College AU)
Characters: @linasofia x Thorin, me x Ori, @laurfilijames x Fíli
Words: 1,7 k
Warnings: reference to smut, teasing chapter
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The pizza dude – it was always the same one – lifted one eyebrow as I paid him.
“You have company, Miss Jia?” He grinned from one ear to the other as if he had just made an amazing joke. Sometimes, I did have company, it was not like I was a complete hermit. Either way, I lived with another girl in a shared room, so what was he insinuating?
My mood dropped even further when there was another knock on the door as soon as I had closed it. Handing over the pies, I opened the door again and found myself face-to-face with that depraved girl from the library, and the bushes, and probably every other surface on campus.
“Hello, are you Jia? You’ve signed up for the tutoring program,” she spoke as soon as the door swung open; I blinked, I dimly remembered having put my name on the list at some point, but being in no clubs or associations, I was the least likely person to be called upon to take someone under my wing.
“And what exactly do you need tutoring in, darling?” I asked suspiciously.
“Oh, the regular stuff, inscriptions, administrative steps to take, library cards…The name’s Lo, by the way, as we’re to be friends from now on!” She had the audacity to wink at me.
She was popular with capital P; she – undoubtedly – was better informed about the goings-on of the campus than me, and I saw no reason whatsoever why she would seek out the friendship of someone as utterly boring as me.
And then the penny dropped.
“Oh, I am to be your excuse for that picnic, am I not?” I hissed, stepping outside of the room, and pulling the door closed behind me with a small bang. “You want to come to do stuff with that kid under the picnic table and I am to stick my neck out for you, because there is no way in heaven or in hell you both can pretend that you’re there by accident, is that it?”
I was fuming. I felt used and betrayed.
“No…yes, but you seem like a nice person as well. You haven’t ratted us out this far, have you?” She looked at me pleadingly – big, wet eyes that made you feel like a criminal for denying her.
“I told my roommate, but she won’t tell Thorin I guess. Maybe…no, she won’t talk about other girls.” I mused out loud, honestly pondering the question, but – ultimately – having utter faith in my roommate.
“Please? I’d love to meet his family and friends, incognito so to say,” she asked in a well-modulated but still slightly beseeching voice. My heart mellowed; I knew all too well how difficult it could be to try to get close to someone who perpetually slipped through one’s fingers.
This was either a brilliant or a recklessly stupid idea, but I longed to see Ori’s discombobulated face when he understood who the girl I brought along really was.
“You’re Ori’s girlfriend, right?” She then asked and I froze.
“I’m not Ori’s anything at all,” I replied with a minute shake of the head.
“Oh, I thought…No, Fí definitely made it sound like you’re his girl,” she contradicted, headstrong and utterly convinced of herself as she was.
“Well, in that case Fí had better tell the dear man in question about that,” I grumbled, wondering how bad my mood could get today before the day was over.
“Maybe, I can tutor you in a few things,” she grinned brightly, “when you next see him, tell him you’re thirsty and if he springs up and gets you something before you have to repeat it, it’s an indication.”
“You don’t know him, he’s the kindest, most caring person ever. Of course, he’d get me a drink. He provides me with pens and walks with me through the darkness in winter. It doesn’t mean anything, there are no indicators of anything at all…I don’t even know what you’re hinting at, to be frank,” I sighed.
“I’ve seen that kiss, you know? I am also curious to see that play out live and in colour. Bring me tomorrow and I promise you to give you my objective outside-perspective, but this far, my assessment is that Fí’s friends are just terribly incompetent.”
Shaking my head, I returned to my room without another word, finding Ori sitting on my bed. The sight of him on the sheets I had spent the early afternoon in did things to me I couldn’t quite explain to myself, and – suddenly – the air in the room was stifling.
“Jia? What is it?” Tova had not waited for me to dig into her pizza and her mouth was covered in tomato sauce.
“I have been part of a program to tutor some of the younger students and, apparently, our queen bee has decided that this was the moment,” I explained, urging her with my eyes not to let anything slip in front of Thorin.
“So, I’ll spend tomorrow with her.” I shrugged, thinking “Talking about dicks, no doubt”.
“Bring her, the more the merrier,” Thorin offered, generous as ever, while Ori scooted over so I could sit on my own bed next to him; the thought of eating him up without any cutlery being involved crossed my mind again.
The idea of having that girl explain seduction to me seemed suddenly less alluring if she was to do so while Ori was just there, but – as far as I could tell – she didn’t mind indiscretion so terribly much, which made me nervous.
“I’m thirsty,” I declared, not having taken a single bite of my pizza yet and – as expected – Ori jumped up and offered to get me a drink from downstairs.
“I am done packing, so we can eat in the common room and leave Tova to work her magic in peace,” I jumped on the occasion and grabbed my backpack as well as my – now lukewarm at best – pizza.
“Text me!” The usual demand from my roommate. Surprisingly, she got up thought and hugged me, whispering: “No broken hearts”, but there was a questioning note in her voice.
“I love you,” I replied in a whisper and squeezed her tight before letting go.
“So, what are your plans for tonight?” Ori had insisted on actually buying a can of soda for me while I munched on my pizza in the now empty common room.
“Thorin has given me the key to the physio-room, so I’ll take a bath and…” I had not gotten any further with my plans.
“Oh…” Ori had gone over from chewing his food to chewing his lip again, “so…I do not expect you’d want to…come back to mine after what happened yesterday?”
I swallowed the last, awfully dry piece of crust, and stared at him, wordlessly, for a few seconds.
“I cannot simply invite myself to your room, I’m not that presumptuous” I finally said with a small smile.
“Ah…well, you’re always welcome, I mean, if you care to…I am sorry about last night though. I don’t know…” He sounded excessively miserable again.
“Why are you sorry?” I asked, annoyed, and hurt in my own pride.
“I wish I was better at all these things; I wish I could sweep you off your feet, you know?” He sighed then, a deep, heart-felt exhalation that came from the bottom of his soul, and my hand fell on his gently.
“I’ll trade you a spot in the bathtub against a spot in your bed?” I offered slowly, observing his widening eyes.
In my room that I apparently sublet for free
“So…” Tova tossed the empty boxes into the bin and turned to Thorin expectantly.
Within a second, his hands were on her body and his lips on her neck as he pushed her against the wall just behind her.
“What did you wear that dress for?” He groaned, shimmying it up her thighs slowly.
“It was a date until you invited my roommate and her crush to have pizza with us; thankfully, she’s smarter than you,” Tova purred into the dense beard covering his jaw, already pulling up his shirt to bury her hands in his flesh.
“You are driving me half-insane woman…Sitting there looking like a picture…” he moaned, pushing the straps off her shoulders so the dress was a weird kind of bandage wrapped around her middle.
Pressing against him, Tova started seductively writhing – in small, concentric circles – until the garment pooled at her feet like a puddle of fabric the colour of the sea and almost as soft.
“Thank you for coming to the game, by the way, it meant a lot,” he sighed when she proceeded to rid him of his shirt and pants as well, breathing in the freshly showered skin steaming with heat.
“You lost!” she laughed.
“I know, but…really, I don’t even mind. We don’t get too many spectators or supporters except those who come to mock us or who need to be seen,” he said, retreating step by step and pulling her along with him as he did so until they collapsed onto the bed together, Tova straddling his muscular thighs and his hands steadying her gently.
“Think nothing of it,” she grinned, “we’ll be your official fan club.”
At that, he surged up on kissed her hungrily, his hand slipping into her hair with a hint of possessiveness that she didn’t really mind in this situation. Oh, she could get used to the feeling of his hard body under hers.
Having seen him in action – so forceful and driven – dashing over the court with his stupid stick, Tova had a good idea what she was getting into when she unclasped her bra and saw his eyes go round.
“Tova…” he muttered, already writhing under her, his eyes wide with apprehension, while his hands scrabbled towards the edge of the bed.
“What are you doing? Do you need something?” Tova cocked her head and lifted her hips a tiny fraction for him to go through the pockets of his jeans and bring forth a tiny square foil package.
He had gone and bought condoms, Tova realised, and her heart gave a small leap; he really was considerate.
“Oh darling, I would have been prepared, but thank you so much for taking care of things,” she grinned, took the piece of foil from him, and dropped it on the nightstand before plunging into another, deep kiss.
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ohmykazuha · 3 years ago
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hellohello jia!! i saw you're day wasn't great today and that you wanted smthg happy in your inbox so here you go ^^
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today may not be the best but i'm glad you pushed through and made it through today regardless <33 please remember to take care of yourself today. drink lots of water, eat something, and get the rest you deserve. i hope your day gets better soon jia ily /p mwah <33
ielyyyy TuT dear goodness im going to cry thank you so much for this lovely message :") i guess its been snowballing for a while and today was just the tip that pushed it over asdgfjhgfd ilysm though, thank you for sharing this!!! have a good rest mwah <3
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of-foolish-and-wise · 5 years ago
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mega-list of book recommendations
saw a mega-list of literary recommendations going around recently and was struck by the dearth of titles by poc, so i made a list of just poc titles to course-correct. keep in mind that i can only in good faith recommend what i’ve read, so i’m sure i’ve absolutely missed some integral titles. drop me an inbox message if you have more recs, i’m always open
canonical
the narrative of frederick douglass - frederick douglass
incidents in the life of a slave girl - harriet jacobs
the souls of black folk - w.e.b. dubois
montage of a dream deferred - langston hughes
cane - jean toomer
their eyes were watching god - zora neale hurston
the bean eaters - gwendolyn brooks
a raisin in the sun - lorraine hansberry
invisible man - ralph ellison
native son - richard wright
the autobiography of malcolm x - malcolm x
the fire next time - james baldwin
sister outsider: essays and speeches - audre lorde
things fall apart - chinua achebe
the garden of forking paths - jorge luis borges
one hundred years of solitude - gabriel garcia marquez
the color purple - alice walker
the woman warrior - maxine hong kingston
satanic verses - salman rushdie
beloved - toni morrison
sula - toni morrison
the house on mango street - sandra cisneros
the joy luck club - amy tan
DAMN. - kendrick lamar
plays
a tempest - aime cesaire
for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf - ntozake shange
fences - august wilson
dutchman - amiri baraka
the american play - suzan-lori parks
memoir
the light of the world - elizabeth alexander
how we fight for our lives - saeed jones
between the world and me - ta-nehisi coates
persepolis - marjane satrapi
men we reaped - jesmyn ward
heavy - kiese laymon
black boy - richard wright
the yellow house - sarah m broom
brothers and keepers - john edgar wideman
zami: a new spelling of my name - audre lorde
poetry
american sonnet for my past and future assassin - terrance hayes
the tradition - jericho brown
night sky with exit wounds - ocean vuong
citizen: an american lyric - claudia rankine
twenty love poems and a song of despair - pablo neruda
don’t call us dead - danez smith
eye level - jenny xie
life on mars - tracy k smith
a fortune for your disaster - hanif abdurraqib
postcolonial love poem - natalie diaz
i can’t talk about the trees without the blood - tiana clark
i wore my blackest hair - carlina duan
an american sunrise - joy harjo
oculus - sally wen mao
short stories
her body & other stories - carmen maria machado
interpreter of maladies - jhumpa lahiri
exhalation - ted chiang
ficciones - jorge louis borges
what is not yours is not yours - helen oyeyemi
sour heart - jenny zhang
essays
how to write an autobiographical novel: essays - alexander chee
trick mirror - jia tolentino
bad feminist - roxane gay
they can’t kill us until they kill us - hanif abdurraqib
we were eight years in power: an american tragedy - ta-nehisi coates
borderlands/la frontera: the new mestiza - gloria anzaldua
this bridge called my back: writings by radical women of color - ed. cherrie moraga and gloria anzaldua
white girls - hilton als
non-fiction
the new jim crow: mass incarceration in the era of colorblindness - michelle alexander
stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in america - ibram x kendi
bunk: the rise of hoaxes, humbug, plagiarists, phonies, post-facts, and fake news - kevin young
an alchemy of race and rights - patricia j williams
looking for lorraine: the radiant and radical life of lorraine hansberry - imani perry
the next billion users: digital life beyond the west - payal arora
fiction
passing - nella larson
caucasia - danzy senna
trust exercise - susan choi
on earth we’re briefly gorgeous - ocean vuong
corregidora - gayl jones
the fifth season - nk jemisin
the brief wondrous life of oscar wao - junot diaz
the round house - louise erdrich
there, there - tommy orange
little fires everywhere - celeste ng
the supervisor - viet than nguyen
kindred - octavia butler
the known world - edward p jones
the underground railroad - colson whitehead
the god of small things - arundhati roy
the vegetarian - han king
theory
playing in the dark: whiteness and the literary imagination - toni morrison
black skin, white masks - frantz fanon
mama’s baby, papa’s maybe: an american grammar book - hortense spillers
discourse on colonialism - aime cesaire
scenes of subjection - saidiya hartman
the signifyin(g) monkey - henry louis gates jr
pedagogy of the oppressed - paulo freire
feminist theory: from margin to center - bell hooks
black noise: rap music and black culture in contemporary america - tricia rose
decolonizing the mind: the politics of language in african literature - ngũgĩ wa thiong’o
black marxism: the making of the black radical tradition - cedric robinson
black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment - patricia hill collins
black and blur (consent not to be a single thing) - fred moten
young adult
diary of a part-time indian - sherman alexei
the hate u give - angie thomas
emergency contact - mary hk choi
i am not your perfect mexican daughter - erika sanchez
poet x - elizabeth avecedo
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tiramisiyu · 4 years ago
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【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: 【夏彦拜访剧情】 Xia Yan’s Personal Story 2-14 Translation
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Translated parts: Xia Yan’s Personal Story Chapter 2: 2-1 / 2-2 / 2-4 / 2-5 / 2-7 / 2-8 / 2-9 / 2-10 / 2-11 / 2-13 / 2-14 Translation Masterlist: here
Video: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1xV411m79T?p=11
A quick explanation of how this feature works is that each boy has their own section that you can “Visit”! Part of it is like MLQC’s GSH feature, where you can talk to the boys (with Live2D!) and raise intimacy by interacting with them. The other part of it is a storyline that centers on the MC running around with the respective boy to deal with a certain case or situation.
Antiques Shop
After sending the girl home, Xia Yan returned to his own antiques shop.
He sat on his sofa, flipping through his copy of “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”.
Yang Xiao: You must have had a lot of fun if you came home this late, right?
Xia Yan: …
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Xia Yan: Brother Yang, there are some places in my room that have security mechanisms. It’s not safe for you to come and go as you please.
Yang Xiao: I did want to give you a call before I came in, but I was afraid of interrupting your date.
Yang Xiao: Oh, I’m returning this to you.
Yang Xiao tossed the glinting ring that had fallen on the car before.
Xia Yan: Just like your style of taking action from before… you didn’t even put it straight into the last storage cabinet.
Yang Xiao: I originally did want to do that, but after, I thought that I should give you a chance to turn over a new leaf.
Yang Xiao: After all, something like proposing marriage should be done by the person themselves.
Yang Xiao: But if you still wanted to leave her after today, I would have directly given the ring to her, dragged her to confront you, and watched you deal with it.
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Xia Yan: Aren’t you being too ruthless – I’m a sick patient, after all!
Yang Xiao: Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Being brave enough to take risks is my style as a doctor.
Yang Xiao: Plus, a patient like you needs shocking methods. Only by getting stimulated well, will you have a vigorous will to live.
Xia Yan: …
Xia Yan: Alright, I already no longer plan to leave her. Return my box to me.
Yang Xiao: Since you already plan to accompany her, then it shouldn’t be a big deal for them to be returned to you, one by one, by following Sphinx’s riddles.
Xia Yan: Brother Yang…
Xia Yan: I bothered asking you for it because I wanted to act with etiquette. I didn’t want to intrude into people’s homes like you.
Xia Yan: Or do you think that there’s a place on earth that I have no way of coming and going from as I wish?
Yang Xiao: …
Yang Xiao: Xia Yan, I’m actually thinking for you.
Xia Yan shot a glance at Yang Xiao, with “Keep spinning your lies” written all over his face.
Yang Xiao: I’m telling the truth!
Yang Xiao: Think about it. If I return the box to you now, how will you explain to her how you defeated Sphinx?
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Yang Xiao: You can’t tell her that the two of us conducted and acted this out, right? Hey, don’t glare at me… alright, consider it as me conducting and acting this out.
Yang Xiao: But with good friends like us, she’ll definitely think that we joined hands to mess with her, right?
Xia Yan: …
Yang Xiao: Today, you lied when you helped me cover things up, right?
Yang Xiao: The taste of lying to the woman that you love the most is definitely hard to bear, right?
Yang Xiao slapped Xia Yan’s shoulder, his face full of sincerity.
Yang Xiao: Take your time. Take your time in weaving this play full circle. Don’t rush.
Yang Xiao: This way, you’re good, I’m good, she’s good – everyone’s good.
Xia Yan did his best to control the twitching in corners of his mouth. With a calm and collected face, he knocked off the hand that Yang Xiao had placed on his shoulder.
Xia Yan: …
Yang Xiao: Plus, with the box at my place, you’ve also got one more reason to set up a date with her – isn’t that pretty decent!
Xia Yan: You’re too much…
Yang Xiao: Alright, I’m leaving the physical examination schedule on your table. Remember to come on time.
Yang Xiao: Your sister-in-law has stewed some dinner for me. I should get home to eat it.
After Yang Xiao finished talking, he stood up. Xia Yan sent him to the door.
Xia Yan: Brother Yang… thank you for today.
Yang Xiao: I’m just contributing all the humble effort within my power.
Yang Xiao: The one who makes the decision is you yourself.
Yang Xiao: That year, I could save you. I can still do so now. Live well for me, young man.
Turning away, Yang Xiao waved at Xia Yan and walked into the night.
Xia Yan returned to the place in front of the computer and sat. He held up that lost-and-found ring, staring at the centrepiece ruby, and fell into deep thought.
That heart-shaped gem, red as fresh pigeon’s blood, was crystal clear. The carefully polished facets sparkled resplendently.
Surrounding the gem, there was a circle of densely-packed little diamonds. The ring of platinum formed the base, stably holding this splendour in place.
It was a most typical look, but it was unique and unmatched in this world – it was a ring that Xia Yan made himself.
--
[Flashback]
Infirmary
When Yang Xiao pushed the door open and came in, Xia Yan was sitting on the hospital bed, holding sandpaper to polish the gem.
Yang Xiao: Yo, still busying yourself?
He glanced curiously at the gem in Xia Yan’s hand, his eyes full of smiles.
Yang Xiao: Working so diligently… looks like this stone really is important to you.
Yang Xiao: You don’t know how tightly you held it when you were undergoing surgery.
Yang Xiao: Me and the other two team doctors – three grown men – couldn’t force open your hand even when we combined our efforts.
Yang Xiao: With much difficulty, we managed to touch the stone, but just when we shifted it a bit, you started shaking and crying out.
Yang Xiao: Scared us so much that we rushed to put it back.
Yang Xiao: Say, are you Jia Baoyu* reincarnated, with this stone as your lifeline?
Xia Yan’s hand movements paused. He didn’t speak for a while.
Yang Xiao: Although, I also need to thank the lucky influence of this stone.
Yang Xiao: When we stuffed it back into your hand, your will to live clearly increased significantly.
Yang Xiao: Otherwise, with the potency of the toxic gas you breathed in, I wouldn’t be able to save you even if I were Hua Tuo** reincarnated.
Yang Xiao wasn’t wrong.
At that time, it wasn’t just him. The moment he was pushed on the surgery bench, even Xia Yan himself had already lost all hope.
Toxic gas in his body – he was vaguely aware of how many of his teammates that came here before him had died in this way.
It was just that he hadn’t completely resigned yet… he wanted to see her. He wanted to see if she was living well right now…
And then, he heard it.
That familiar voice came from far to near, gradually amplifying beside his ear.
“Xia Yan, you must return. I’m waiting for you to return.”
A ray of light penetrated his chaotic field of vision. In the depths of the radiance, the girl’s figure was outlined with light. 
She extended her hand to him. Unconsciously, he started to sprint.
When their fingertips touched, the white figure dissipated in all directions. There was only the girl’s hairclip, which fell into his hand.
Something took root and grew in his heart, and his will to live suddenly went up!
He would continue to live. He would personally tell her of the feelings he had hidden for many years in his heart…
Thus, in the middle of that difficult operation, he miraculously survived.
And the “hairclip” that had fallen into his hand was the source of this gem in his hand. 
Yang Xiao: Although seriously, this stone really is pretty magical, with there actually being a natural heart-shaped ruby inside.
Yang Xiao: If you used that to propose marriage, it would be so romantic… wait!
Yang Xiao suddenly looked towards Xia Yan.
Yang Xiao: Young man, could you be using this for an engagement ring?
Yang Xiao: Explain obediently – when did you get a girlfriend?
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Xia Yan: … Do I look like someone who has time to establish romantic relationships?
Yang Xiao: Then it must be someone from before. Who is it? How old? How’s her personality? Is she pretty?
Xia Yan: I…
Patient A: Brother Yang, don’t scare young people.
Xia Yan hadn’t finished refuting this when the male patient on the adjacent bed started talking first.
Patient A: To me, Little Comrade Xia must have encountered a heavenly girl by destiny on his missions and fell into the river of love.
Patient A: Just like those 007 movies that they often make. An exceptional girl living in a foreign country, stimulating and romantic.
Xia Yan: Your imagination is so rich that you might as well become a screenwriter.
Patient A: Hey… don’t be shy.
The male patient took out a bag of something from under his pillow. Supporting himself with the bed’s guardrails, he hopped over and moved it to Xia Yan.
Patient A: Here. Encouragement from a senior’s love.
Patient A: Just a ruby is too drab. Set these diamond pieces on the side – it’ll be prettier.
Patient A: I originally kept this to give to her, but these legs of mine… I’m just afraid that I’ll be a burden on her.
Patient A: Do your best. When you get together, remember to invite me to drink the wedding wine!
[Flashback end]
--
“Reality often doesn’t go as planned.”
“After hearing about those experiences she had, I…”
“But I won’t be confused anymore.”
“I’ve made a promise with her.”
“That when she’s lonely, she has me. When she’s experiencing difficulties, she has me. When she’s being capricious, she has me… for all of time, she has me.
“For this, even if I’m struggling on my deathbed, I’ll work my hardest.”
“I want to always accompany her, by her side.”
“… If I can’t, then let me be her family member, and accompany her to walk just a little bit further…”
--
TL Notes:
*Jia Baoyu is the main character of a Chinese novel called Dream of the Red Chamber, born as an incarnation of a magic piece of jade.
**Hua Tuo is an ancient Chinese physician, known for his skill in surgery, as well as his use of anaesthetics.
I checked my translation over several times when I read “most typical look” (about the ring) because I was like??? Why would they write that after talking about how beautiful it is?? But there simply wasn’t another way to interpret that line…
Xia Yan also voices the end bit. 10/10 would recommend listening
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archiveofprolbems · 4 years ago
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On Space Art by Xin Liu & Xin Wang
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Xin Liu, Orbit Weaver, 2017. Production still of artist's performance during a parabolic flight. Image courtesy of the artist. Photo by Steve Boxell.
During the prolonged lockdown that defined much of 2020, the Xinjiang-born, New York-based artist and engineer Xin Liu juggled multiple roles. These included participating in a volunteering network that supplied PPE to medical workers in dire need of protection against Covid-19; designing an indie game, Sleepwalk (2020), which reflected on the conditions of confinement and hyper-connectivity; engineering a series of hypnotic sound experiences with her partner Gershon Dublon titled The Wandering Mind (2020), which guides the dreams of a sleeping audience with source materials organized by an AI system; and live-streaming an ambient soundscape recorded on Whitehead Island, off the coast of Maine, for the Camden International Film Festival.1
As the Arts Curator at MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative and an artist who makes work for exhibition spaces, film festivals, and astronautical conferences, Liu’s ongoing fascination with space as a medium and destination for new art has seen her send a wisdom tooth into outer space, cultivate potato seeds that had travelled to the International Space Station, and imagine weightlessness as an intimate, “body-opening” condition. In this interview, we spoke about the past lives and expansive futures of Space Art, her unique mixture of academic and identitarian backgrounds, and the creative strategies of innovation and resistance while working at the juncture of art and technology.
Xin Wang: You’ve recently been referred to as a “famous space artist” in a panel discussion poster, which suggests that this is a solidified genre.
Xin Liu: It is a genre! If you google “Space Art,” there’s a Wikipedia page that defines it, though it’s very much about visual artists depicting the vision of space exploration, like images of Martian colonies, weightlessness, spaceships, etc. It was also called Astronomical Art, with notable artists such as Chesley Bonestell. These artists really tried to define the aesthetics of space, which even changed the way we would later color actual scientific images captured through different telescopes. Even now, if you look at NASA’s art programs, that’s still basically the main concept. Slowly it diverged into art in space, or art that uses space and environmental textures for creation, experimentation, and storytelling.
For me, Space Art conceptually connects more to Land Art in the seventies; the questions they were asking—regarding spatial-temporal dimensions and the way we engage with geological transformation—are more related. However, there is this jump in the Space Art medium from astronomical paintings right away to “art in space.” It is a gap in our understanding of Space Art; in my position as the Space Art curator at MIT, I have made sure to take into account Land Art, science fiction, and so on, in lectures.
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XW: What questions do you want to ask with your Space Art?
XL: First of all, the duality in our perception of the world: being a human being walking, eating, sleeping, drinking, and laughing on this planet; and on the other hand, knowing that we exist on a gigantic rock spinning around another hot rock in endless space. The epistemological jump is exciting but also problematic when we distance one from the other. People talk about science versus culture as if they are the polar opposites. I’m trying to reconcile the two views of the world and find places to live in-between. My other interest has more to do with the body, our sensations, our death, and the cycles of life and materials.
XW: Your works have always struck me as poetic—you sent one of your wisdom teeth into space in Living Distance (2019), which was inspired by childhood folktales and executed with robust engineering. But the whole debate around the idea that culture and science are antithetical has a long history. Susan Sontag wrote about it in the sixties, for example; what are you seeing in terms of new manifestations of, and challenges to, that tension?
XL: The philosopher Yuk Hui has proposed the concept of cosmotechnics, which argues that science and technology aren’t objective but are born of human cultures. One of my current projects, Unearthing Futures, is a collaboration with the Peruvian artist Lucia Monge, the International Potato Center in Lima, and the International Space Station (ISS).2 We are interested in potato history as human history; native to Peru, the potato’s journey becoming one of the most widely grown crops in the world mirrors colonial history. As we set foot and grow crops beyond the earth bond, one option here is to engineer the perfect potato that survives all conditions, while the other is to trust the possibilities of biodiversity, where a consortium of diverse species that are mutually dependent yields a higher chance of survival in extreme environments. Both are questions of science and technology, but at the same time they reflect philosophies—ones about how we survive.
We selected six varieties of native Peruvian potatoes with different characteristics, sent the potato seeds to the ISS to spend a month in microgravity, and exposed them to environment stressors such as radiation. The project has not grown potatoes in space, but it’s a significant step to understanding how environmental stressors affect thesis seeds. Having harvested the first generation in our respective studios, we plan to grow multiple generations and increase the numbers that we can process. Maybe in the fourth or fifth generation we can cook them and use them in workshops that involve the general public (we are working with public elementary schools in Portland) to think about the possibilities of food and agriculture in space exploration. Space potatoes are the protagonists in our stories and would facilitate these dialogues.
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XW: When we were reviewing proposals for Sojourner 2020, an open call for artworks to be sent into low earth orbit by the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative, there were equally visible tendencies to flatten the crossover between art and technology into very gimmicky projects. In your position as both curator and artist working in this increasingly hyped juncture of art and tech, what are some of your goals and challenges?
XL: With the dropping costs of space launches and privatization, we are entering the New Space Age. Space Art is truly at the frontier now (no pun intended). There are many amazing art practitioners I’ve been able to invite to MIT and imagine together what this practice can be. The artist Agnes Meyer-Brandis, for example, created The Moon Goose Colony, where she trained geese on planetary science and different flight patterns to prepare them for the Moon.3 She even incubated and hatched the eggs herself. In 42-The Large Meteor T-R-A-P (2014), she uses electronic magnetic devices to guide the movement of meteorites, which can be viewed as a planetary defense system. In fact, the first planetary defense systems launched by NASA (the Double Asteroid Redirection Test) this past year also had to do with devices latching onto the meteorites to change their course of movement. I really like projects that are ambitious, beautifully executed, and which explore scientific possibilities as well as artistic ones. Unapologetically inserting yourself into other domains is also something I’m passionate about.
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XW: What are some examples of such insertions?
XL: I recently had a conversation with the researcher Weng Jia, who looked into the detailed history of weather satellites beyond the pragmatics of weather forecast—itself a form of weather control that generates state power. It’s important to understand that history, but at the same time we can ask, as cultural producers, what now? We can either involve public engagement and sign petitions to request open access, or we can learn from the hackers—there are so many amateur enthusiasts who eavesdrop on state-owned radio signals, and through listening we are able to understand so much already. During the pandemic, my partner Gershon Dublon and I have tinkered with software-defined radio. Using just a tiny, 20-dollar USB dongle with an antenna we built from our clothing wires, we could receive the signals from retired National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather satellites as they pass through the sky.
Even before the pandemic, my partner was looking into personal monitoring of air traffic, as most aircrafts have to broadcast their locations after reaching 18,000 ft. This was a fun plane-tracking activity at home. But later on we were put in touch with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, who were protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline encroaching their territories. They were being illegally harassed and even sprayed with unknown chemicals by aircraft flying over their encampment, but couldn’t track the perpetrators. We helped them set up the aforementioned system using a computer, a 20-dollar dongle, and electrical metal wires, with which they were actually able to “see,” ID, and track the aircraft. Using that data and US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the water protectors were able to pursue their harassers and hold them accountable. Is it art practice? I think it’s important and exciting to examine the “wall”; there’s no wall that’s perfect—there are always cracks. You can find things between the breaks and slowly percolate, and, in a way, take back those powers—I found those processes most exciting.
XW: I think this is a powerful approach that counters the general pessimism towards big tech, technocratic states, and surveillance to the point that people don’t even want to think about the possibilities of cracks.
XL: But that’s a facade, and I don’t know who marvelously crafted it. A lot of these things, such as the radio, are not so complicated. Given a week and the internet, most people can figure it out; it’s not rocket science. You know who is most interested in amateur radio nowadays? The fifty-plus generation, sometimes grandpas. There is a big community in Staten Island in New York. However, in the arts, these systems and disciplines are rendered unfathomable, which prohibits further investigation. That’s the problem.
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XW: When you were speaking about “the cracks in the wall” earlier, I had a very dark thought—in the future, planetary warfare will look drastically different and be much more deadly than the wars currently taking place on Earth.
XL: Future wars may not be quite so physical as we imagine—the virus is a powerful model for what could happen. It shows how fragile and resilient humans are; cyberattack, trade wars, geoengineering manipulation of nature—these are all struggles on different planetary scales, and we have to constantly self-educate as citizens and decode what the decision makers are actually saying.
XW: You received your undergraduate training at Tsinghua University, which is known for its rigorous focus on scientific training and as a place that has groomed many of China’s top technocratic leaders. It’s also considered the Chinese counterpart of MIT, where you completed a graduate program. How do those experiences compare and inform your trajectory?
XL: When I was in Tsinghua, I studied mathematics, physics, and mechanical engineering; my degree was in precision instruments. Nowadays I still practice them in my sculpture in its manufacturing and fabricating processes. It’s a craft. I later went to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), not because I wanted to be an artist, but out of a sad realization. In China, we separated art and science education since high school, and my liberal arts education was limited.
It was a selfish desire to study fine arts after college just to become a “complete” human being. I am very grateful that my parents didn’t disapprove this decision. At the time I told myself that I’d probably still end up working for Google and Microsoft; I had interned at both places during graduate school, thinking that’s how I would make a living eventually. But those two years were transformative and gave me an absolutely new way of looking at the world. Even graduating with an MFA from RISD, I still couldn’t commit a hundred percent to being a professional artist, as it is really difficult financially. I’m a practical immigrant. I had to figure out a way to stay in the country and feed myself. Then I went to MIT, because it was fully funded and I had the luxury to do research; after another two years in school, I decided that I wanted to work freely, and “artist” is the title that offers the most freedom.
XW: Do you still believe that?
XL: I do. If you tell people you are an artist, whatever you do doesn’t surprise them as much. It’s harder to talk about sending a tooth to space as a physicist.
XW: I’m struck by the way you describe gravity as a “momentum of feelings” on your website.
XL: That’s something I was thinking about when I first experienced weightlessness in 2017, during a parabolic flight. The plane literally free-falls in the sky, and in reference to the cabin, everything inside the plane is weightless. I had a bit of a performance background in dance. The experience was shocking: there was no “free from gravity”—gravity is always there. It was just everything falling together. The experience was less about me floating or flying than about the ground beneath me dropping. It’s not liberating in the way that you are accelerating and going up, which is what we associate with space exploration probably, but rather a kind of letting-go and descending. It was an eye-opening—body-opening—experience for me, and a bitter-sweet moment as well.
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XW: Speaking of bodies and embodiment, do you find this excessive attention to—often performances of—an artist’s identity shows up more or less or differently for you, given the curious juncture of disciplines and identities you inhabit?
XL: It depends on who is seeing me. The tech aspect of me can seem alarming to people who are used to traditional practices, and in the so-called media/tech/science art world, gender might manifest more. The audience decides who I am. My name reads as gender-neutral in both English and Chinese. Sometimes people assume I’m a man initially, because I’m working with technology; but a bit more engagement with the work might compel one to realize that I could be a woman, because of the way I deal with technology. Still deeper into it, you might realize I’m Asian.
Another interesting aspect comes from the fact that I don’t just participate in art events; I also present my works at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), where it’s just pleasing to see my portrait—that of a young Asian woman—next to attendees that are largely from different demographics. And I enjoy that—inserting myself in different systems. It’s not just gender, but also geographic. I am an outlier in many ways—I went to a military-affiliated high school, so the instinct to fit in was strong growing up. But here, as people of color and women, we naturally stand out and have more identities. It could be tiring but it’s also our power—meaning that we can potentially empathize with more people. People like you and me—when we talk about America in a positive light in China or criticize the Chinese government, we are perceived as brainwashed by Western liberalism; but when we talk about Chinese companies like WeChat positively here, or the effective Covid-19 responses and technological innovations in China, we’d be considered brainwashed in the other direction too.
XW: I always feel that exposure to different systems of brainwash leads to utmost clarity. What do you think the future of space art will be, or what you hope it could be like?
XL: I think it will mature like digital art, bio art, internet art, AR/VR art—all these sub-domains. I read extensively on space policies, which obviously figure prominently on many nation states’ agendas. At the IAC conference in 2020, eight national space agencies just signed the Artemis Accords, which is an international agreement on the principles for corporations and civil explorations for the moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids. Particularly notable is the encouragement and protection for private entities to participate in the future of space exploration, and its effect on commercial activities will be significant; even the ISS is going through a commercialization process already. Space will become more commercial and privatized; it will engender more conversations and force us to be involved and investigate the industry.
XW: What’s your favorite Space Art piece?
XL: I was struck by Ilya Kabakov’s The Man Who Flew Into Space From His Apartment (1985) when I first knew about it. I have been (and am still) confined in my apartment due to the pandemic. It is the absolute desire to break the ceiling and get out. Though both are heading towards outer space, the Soviet campaign in space exploration and a personal desire to leave, to be free, cannot be more different. In fact, one is defeating the other.
_____________________
Xin Liu (b. 1991, Xinjiang/China) is an artist and engineer. She is the Arts Curator in the Space Exploration Initiative in MIT Media Lab, a member of New INC in New Museum, and a studio resident in Queens Museum. She is also an artist-in-residence in SETI Institute and the recipient of numerous awards and residencies.
Xin Wang is a curator and art historian based in New York. She is currently planning an exhibition that explores Asian Futurisms for The Museum of Chinese in America, New York. While pursuing her PhD in art history at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, she’s also been conducting a series of public zoom webinars on topics of technology, new media, and Asian American perspectives for the Whitney Museum of American Art since spring 2020.
Source: https://www.art-agenda.com/features/372727/on-space-art
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justkpopjokes · 5 years ago
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Apartment 1331 || Roommate!Jeonghan
Ft. Jeonghan + two made-up pets I love v much
AU: roommate + supernatural
Anon: hiii if you have the time, can you write #9 (roommate au) with jeonghan? thank you uwu love your work a lot!!
A/N: Thanku bub, I hope you love this too, despite it being p crackhead-y and all over the place! Also, disclaimer I got some ideas from a writing prompt hehe. I’ve been trying to write less ‘normal’ AUs bc I’ve written a bunch already lol so be ready.
Reminder that drabble requests are open :D (as well as other things I do tbh)
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Jeonghan is a little broke rn ngl
He has enough money to live, but his rent is so HIGH
like dang
So he has to give up some luxuries and move into a cheaper apartment
a cheaper apartment with you!!!!!!
the important part is that he was able to keep his cat, his queen, Jia
Jia is a pretty snowshoe cat that Hannie adopted about a year and a half ago
she’s v affectionate & also kinda protective? for some reason
which is weird bc she’s a house cat that never likes going outside
like where’s the danger lmao
he was kinda worried bc some of the other apartments didn’t allow pets
which SUCKED bc he could never give up his QUEEN
thankfully, he found your apartment complex, which allowed pets as long as they were quiet and didn’t disturb other residents
Jia is a quiet kitty so she’s fine lol
The new issue is making sure your pet and Jia were ok with each other
You work from home most of the time, so you have more than enough time to take care of your recently-adopted puppy, Bomi!
(I based Bomi off of an actual puppy but the link is now gone, which hopefully means she was adopted :') I regret not saving a photo)
she’s a smol mixed breed who is always happy, which is v contrasting to your apartment building
if it wasn’t for the fact that no other buildings in the area allowed pets (and the fact you can’t afford a house), you would’ve moved somewhere else
oh well. but anyway
When Jeonghan contacts you with interest in being your roommate, y’all chat a bit abt how the pets would react
the solution is to let them chill w/each other for a bit lol
so Jeonghan brings Jia over to your apartment one afternoon
it’s 2 birds with one stone yknow: he gets to check out the room & the pets can interact
You meet up with Jeonghan outside your apartment, chatting a bit as you take the elevator upstairs
just some casual stuff, like “how has your day been?” and “aw your cat is so cute”
once you get upstairs, Jeonghan lets Jia out of her carrier and y’all leave Jia n Bomi in the living room alone
when you first left them there, they weren’t hostile but also not super friendly
however, after you show Jeonghan the room, u return to find them warmed up to each other a little!!
you and Jeonghan have warmed up to each other a little too; he’s a bearable person and someone you wouldn’t mind as a roommate
So after a week, Jeonghan starts moving his stuff in
Jia is first ofc LOL his queen
After a couple nights in the apt, he’s solidified his opinion of the building
it’s… an ok quality; good overall with a lot of nitpicky things
like LOUD NOISES at night when you’re trying to sleep or doors that just woN’T CLOSE PROPERLY
(can you tell I’m taking this from real life)
Aside from that, y’all are able to adjust to each other p quickly
Jia & Bomi don’t adjust to new roommates immediately, but they do spend time together
they hang around a lot of random, small, dark, secluded areas in the unit together for some reason
since you work from home and Jeonghan goes outside for work, you get to see more of their interactions and report back anything cute/funny to Jeonghan once he gets home LOL
which is like >50% of your conversations
You: “oh my gosh Jia was like THIS close to tipping my mug over this morning!”
JH: “LMAO sounds like a you problem—”
You: “Jeonghan!”
JH: “Sorry, sorry. I’ll buy you some snacks in return.”
It’s like a little frenemy situation lol
you may bicker, but you aren’t actually mad at each other
like gdi he naps so much that he forgets to do chores sometimes
he does clean and does other favours to make up for it thankfully
like making you food w/o you asking bc he knows you’re working late into the night
and if he really does a lot, in return you’ll make him breakfast and help prepare his things in the morning so he doesn’t need to wake up as early
so the bickering is all fun & games
which, coincidentally, is how Jia and Bomi interact; play-fighting between just chilling near each other lol
Unbeknownst to you and Jeonghan, your pets have bonded
…but not in the way you’d expect
we’ll get to that later tho lol
After a while (let’s say… at least a few months?), you and Jeonghan are good-ish friends
you both chat a lot abt random crap
whether it be ranting abt the rude person you met at the grocery store
or discussing the small trophies Jeonghan won for being mvp in his old sports teams while y’all organize each others’ closets or smth
like,,, you’re one of the only people who’ve seen him without a shirt on after a shower and he’s seen you sick af and/or drunk
what else do u have to lose?? your dignity??? lmao no, that’s gone already
you’re not ‘hey I need to go to a wedding and I need someone to go with’ close
more like ‘hi ik you just got here but can you help me blow-dry my hair’ close
yknow, nonchalant chit
Your FAVOURITE topic to talk abt is your babies!!
you obviously love ur bby Bomi
and although Jeonghan won’t bring it up unless you really persuade him, he’ll definitely gush abt his Q U E E N Jia!!
You also talk abt how this apartment kinda sucks bc you guys have a hard time sleeping at night
there’s just so much sounds and ajsdfks gdi I just wanna SLEEP
which is why u started having dinner or movie nights every other weekend, just to make this old apartment seem fancier
once in a while you’ll even decorate!!
it’s typically when you notice Jeonghan having a tough week at work
he comes home to ur preparations + pizza and immediately has a smile on his face
it’s a fun time!!
Anyway back to the old building with eerie sounds at night
it’s ur typical ‘haunted old building’ smh
like, cmon. the creakiness, the growling, the scratches on the floor, the flickering lights,
What’s weirder is that, a couple months later, it all kinda starts to go away?
you bring it up to Jeonghan after an unusually good night of sleep
he’s like “oh shoot ur right??? I got a ton of sleep too??”
even Jia and Bomi are getting more sleep adflsj they sleep so much during the day
like Jeonghan will be getting breakfast and Jia’s napping on a bookcase
you’ll be working and both Jia and Bomi asleep at your feet
This also contributes to the issue that they don’t eat a lot??
usually Jia eats like the queen she is and Bomi likes her treats
but they haven’t been eating a lot lately; Jia especially
which definitely concerned u and Hannie
So Jeonghan took Jia to the vet, worried that she maybe ate less than Bomi bc of smth related to being in a new home
JH: “she pounces the air a lot too. I assumed it was just odd cat tingz, but I thought I should mention it just in case”
the vet was chill tho like
Vet: “??? maybe she’s just eating behind your backs, she’s perfectly healthy lmao. your roommate’s puppy is probably the same, they might even be helping each other steal food.”
that’s when Hannie remembers seeing Jia lick some things off of her paws
he remembers it bc he thought it was a glowing substance, but lol what would that be then? fluorescent milk?
anyway bc of that, they checked if she had eaten anything poisonous, but she seemed fine lol so J2 went home
In hindsight, it sounded kinda sketchy, but you both trust the vet’s words
not enough to avoid spying on your own pets tho lol
tbh your spying only really revealed to you how much time Jia & Bomi actually spend together :3
those 2 cuties playing around brightens your day :D
so ofc it really concerns u when they sleep all day and don’t eat when you’re watching :(
on top of that, you’re generally tired bc flickering lights still bother you late at night and you get slightly scared when you hear noises coming from inside your closet
One night, you hear those noises and smth snaps in u
You’ve had ENOUGH of these heckin noises
so you scoop up Bomi and go out to the hallway to knock on Jeonghan’s bedroom door
“Jeonghan? Are you awake?”
he opens the door almost immediately, Jia at his feet
JH: “You can’t sleep either?”
You: “Yeah… Noises in my closet. Bomi kept growling at it too.”
Once he hears that, he pulls you into his room and seats you next to him on the edge of his bed
You: “Jeonghan? What—”
JH: “Just watch.”
he points to his closet sliding doors in front of you two
Jia is seated in front of it, motionless as Bomi plops down next to her
You: “What are they doing?”
JH: “I’m not sure, but Jia’s been awake since the noises started.”
You: “What nois—”
as you’re speaking, Jia turns around to you, as if telling you to shut up lmao
All 4 of you sit perfectly still
there’s only silence
…until you hear a faint scratching sound
the sliding door starts to move as the sound gets louder
slowly, a claw emerges from the side, pushing the door open
your hand flies up to cover your mouth as you desperately try to hide your shaky breaths
Jeonghan’s face is frozen, only lifting his feet slowly from the floor and moving further onto the bed
Jia and Bomi are still motionless, staring straight at the thing coming out of Jeonghan’s closet
as the closet door opens more, you start to see the body(?) of whatever mass of darkness this is
it looks rancid and smells deformed…
(ik what I wrote and that’s exactly what it seems like)
the shadowy figure rears up on its… hind legs? does it even have legs?
and starts to tower over you and Jeonghan, not to mention Jia + Bomi!
you look to Jeonghan, still terrified of what you’re seeing
your eyes are telling each other the same thing:
What the HELL is THAT?!?!
you want to scream so bad
right before you do, Jia and Bomi slowly rise to their feet (paws? whatever.)
and you hear Bomi growl for a split second before she heckin LEAPS ONTO WHATEVER THE FRICK THIS THING IS
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Let’s take a quick break from the drama for a sec
too much neon nae giogeul jiwoya dwae ya feel me?
lemme finally explain what’s happening if you haven’t already pieced it together
in this au… CATS EAT GHOSTS & DOGS EAT MONSTERS
(*cough* this is the part I got from this writing prompt)
When Jeonghan noticed Jia licking “fluorescent milk” off of her paws, she was actually just finishing the remnants of ghosts she caught
and when he assumed the pouncing of the air was just “odd cat tingz”…
NAH she’s been saving him from being haunted in the time he’s had her
their old apartment was a little fancier, so there weren’t many ghosts and only a few that wandered in once in a while
but hooo boy this new grungy apt building is FILLED with ghosts
so Jia’s been chatting w/babie Bomi like
Jia: “Sis??? This place is so ghastly????? Have you not been doing your job?”
Bomi: “Wha?? I’ve been doin my job!!”
Jia: “Then why is this place still so haunted?”
Bomi: “??? Do you not mean monster?”
Now Jia’s like lmao I’m sorry what the fudge?
turns out Bomi’s been hunting down the monsters under the bed and in the closet in an attempt to protect you!!
she so cute, ily Bomi
usually, dogs eat the monsters, but Bomi was like “no ew the monsters are too big for my tummy” so she just chases most of them away LOL
but now that they’ve realized their differences, Jia + Bomi are the dream team!!!
they start helping each other out to chase away the ghosts and monsters right under your noses
Jia even gets a taste of monster while Bomi gets to taste ghosts
ghosts are like milk and monsters are like oatmeal, so when they eat both it’s… cereal?
^ I mean vibes alsjdfh they aren’t literally cereal
I’m hungry now
Now you may be wondering: Lin I thought this was supposed to be a Jeonghan au not a Jia + Bomi au
I know, I can’t take it no more
I SONEUL NEOMJI MOTHAN NAREUL—
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You and Jeonghan are still in shock even after the monster has been defeated
having just witnessed your pets attack a monster and essentially beat it up until it’s shrunk down into what looks like mochi, you’re s h o o k
and to your temporary horror, Bomi takes a big MUNCH
Jia finishes the rest that Bomi can’t eat bc dang thas a big mochi
I’m even more hungry now dammit
I apologize to anyone just as hungry as I am from this fic and its many unintentional implications of food
and then your saviours turn to you with the sweetest faces
as if they didn’t just murder a monster in cold blood
You turn to Jeonghan, who has instinctively moved semi-in front of you to protect you
…he moves away real fast out of embarrassment :/
Jeonghan then gets up and rolls his closet door closed before squatting down to pet Jia’s head
she purrs and rubs her face into his hand, again as if nothing strange had just happened
Bomi tries to jump onto the bed but fails LOL so you lift her up into your lap
You: “Bomi, you smol bean, have you been eating the monsters for us? Have you?”
JH: “Y/N… what do we do with this info?”
You: “Can we even do anything?”
Nope™ Not Really™
So yeah, you have to go on living as if you didn’t just figure out your pets eat monsters
but!! there’s still more to learn!!
As your life goes on (with a bit more intrigue towards your pets), there are less creepy noises at night, but creepy things still happen
not to mention the number of questions and fears haunting your brain every night now that the possibilities are opened up
you don’t sleep with the door to your bedroom closed anymore in case Jia has to rush into your room
and that’s when you actually sleep in your room!
1. sleeping is hard
2. either you’re in Jeonghan’s room or he’s in your room
at this point there’s no shame in sharing a bed because it’s safer
One of these nights that Jeonghan is sleeping in your room, you both wake up to Bomi’s growling
you open your eyes to the side table light flickering
the air is eerily chilly and your chest feels tight
Jia tackles the air, only for the ‘air’ next to your bed become a semi-transparent figure INCHES from your body
you start to hyperventilate a little, backing up into Jeonghan’s arms that are already prepared to protect you
not that he needs to though, since Jia bites it until its ‘body’ folds in on itself, becoming a floating blob of fluorescent milk glowing ghost matter
she laps it up, leaving a little for Bomi to leap up and get
…and that’s how you figure out Jia eats ghosts
After this point, your haunted apartment isn’t super scary; there’s always new monsters and ghosts creeping in
sure, you get surprised, but Jeonghan helps you get through it
(he’s not particularly happy abt not getting enough sleep, yknow)
1 thing is for sure:
this apartment is gonna need some ghostbusters and monster exterminators!!!
Why not you four?
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