#i'm in mood for reading letters lately and what's a great time to read van gogh's

[vernalagnia-blog]

i impulsively started reading van gogh's letters to his brother, with the goal of going through all 900 of them. the archive has been wonderful and easy to use. i've heard all great things about his letters to theo van gogh and so far, by letter #13, things are very sweet.

i guess my idea of van gogh stuck with the popular image of a sickly man striving for great arts. but if his early letters to theo were of any indication, he was physically active, taking great pleasure in rowing and walking, and he was so very curious about the arts and arts scene in anywhere he lived

he sent a copy of his favourite poem to his brother!

[omitsucoven]

Day One Writober : Lovers To Ennemies (English Version)

Hi ! And Welcome to the first day of the Writober. Here is the English version ! Hope you will enjoy ! The translation is approximative since english is not my mother language.

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Word Count : 828

Letter Count (no spaces): 3k530

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"It was 11pm. I was on my way to my usual rendezvous point in the same ridiculous get-up I had to wear every time I went out. Forced to hide my beautiful ink-blue hair. What a waste. Not to mention the fact that my mask covering the bottom of my beautiful, gorgeous face was suffocating. The only accessory that didn't bother me was the glasses that had to hide my crimson eyes. They were actually quite cool. I rather liked them. Even if in my eyes they weren't very useful."

"I finally arrived at my destination after about twenty minutes' walk. I'd taken a seat on the same bench, in the same park and opposite the same parking space waiting for my beloved. Phone in hand, I realised that I'd arrived slightly early. I was exasperated at the idea of having to wait. I hated waiting. I started browsing the applications on my phone. I used to browse articles and news about myself to pass the time. I had the same smile on my lips. Nothing but good things! As usual, but anyway, back to the point. There was no suspicion of any potential relationship other than a friendly one about me."

"Then, as usual, when I'd finished reading, I went to see what was going on with him. As it happened, he wasn't so great. I was bored. So I started rereading some of the headlines and looking at the images that illustrated some of the articles. I couldn't believe my eyes! He'd been at my group's last book signing! And I didn't even know about it! So I took the time to read the whole article. When I got to the final image, I started looking at the illustration. I had zoomed in as far as I could. Surprisingly, the place was very close to the signing spot, but, important detail, he had a letter in his hands that he was trying to hide."

"Call me crazy if you want, but I clearly recognised the logo of the rival agency to mine. The average person would have thought it was a contract proposal or something, but my instincts told me it was more complex."

"Call it paranoia if you like, but let me finish! I was so engrossed in my reflection, my reading and my analysis that I hadn't noticed that the van I'd been waiting for had just arrived. So I looked at the time on my phone. Ten minutes late? I thought. I think. So I got up from my bench and approached the car, which I knew all too well. As I opened the back door, a red head greeted me with a smile. I wasn't in the mood. I got in, not bothering to close the door all the way. He opened his arms in front of me, signalling that he wanted his usual embrace. I hadn't moved an inch. I stared at him. The delay, the secrecy. Where did he think he was? My boyfriend tilted his head questioningly. I should have found him cute. But I was far too vindictive for that. After a few seconds, I broke the silence and told him about my 'discovery'. As I went on, I saw that he seemed to be breaking down. I was slightly wound up."

"However, his reaction was... unexpected. He simply burst out laughing. He then looked at me. Oh, that look. I'm biting my fingers just thinking about it. I remember it so well. His blue eyes, which had once showered me with love, had allowed themselves to stare at me, to despise me. What he said next was even more disturbing. I listened to his explanations. He was contemplating an affair with the rising star of the other agency. I realised that I too had been a tool in his rise. He wanted to start a relationship with her while staying with me. What nerve. At the time, I didn't really understand. I acted without really thinking and I slapped my former beloved. I didn't cry. I was too angry for that. His eyes went wide. He was in shock!”

"After that, I said something like: 'From now on, don't contact me, don't call me, I want nothing more to do with you. You, Asahi Zurui, are now, in my eyes, a pathetic little Idol who tried to ruin my career. I don't know what fate I have in store for you, but you should know that those who jeopardise my career don't last long". I didn't give him time to finish and left. I was furious. After that, he tried to make amends, but I never replied. After all, our agencies weren't friends. Why should I give him a chance? We'd become enemies indirectly. Anyway, that was the story of the first break-up of the beautiful, wonderful Amaterasu Rei Utate. The old idol who was supposed to be dead! And yet still crying years after her death!"

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[korgbelmont]

Part 4

Eric is invited to a school reunion, but the past is not exactly his favourite thing with the exception of a few people.

Written in the present tense

Part 3

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 863

Notes: The Detective created on cooltext.com

Handing some cash over to a woman with a toolbox in one hand, Eric waves her off as she gets in her van and drives off. He moves the door, happy that it and his bedroom door are now fixed. Just as he's about to go to close it, a mail van pulls up. He walks over and the postman hands him a few envelopes.

Eric - Thanks, have a good one.

He heads in and takes a seat at his desk to open his post. A couple bills, a couple thank you letters, and an invitation.

Eric - You are invited to the ten year reunion of-- oh fuck that! Really? A school reunion?

He chucks the invitation in the direction of the bin. Sighing, he grabs a jacket and heads out, putting a sign on the door and locking up.

'Currently out, back soon'

Walking the streets, he picks up a few bits from different places, food, lightbulbs, the necessities. As he makes his way back home, he can't get the invitation out of his mind, remembering his school days.

THEN

His day over, Eric begins his walk home, but stops as a football hits him in the side of the face. Hearing laughter, Eric looks over to see a few other students in the direction of where the ball came from, but chooses to leave it.

Nina - Eric!

He looks over to see Nina Stevens catching up to join him.

Nina - You alright?

Eric - Yeah. Nothing that hasn't happened before.

Smiling, Nina takes his hand and leads him in her direction.

Eric - Where're we--

Nina - Getting late lunch!

NOW

Things weren't great then, but Nina was the light in his school years.

With everything put away, he checks his emails, hoping someone has reached out to him for a case so he can distract himself, and by chance, he does. Only it's not exactly what he expects.

'Mr Willow,

You are invited to the ten year reunion of your school class, however, I am also hoping to hire you for a job. We have had many mysterious sounds with no explanation, and we believe there is a chance that it could fall into your area of expertise. Please get back to me as soon as possible.

Andrew Jones, Headmaster'

Eric sits back in his chair, crossing his arm and tapping his finger.

Eric - Fuck.

As the moon begins to shine over, Eric sits at his desk with his feet up on the table top as he reads his book. Music playing quietly from his computer, he lets the time pass in some escapism. But he is soon brought back by his computer notifying him about an email. Taking his feet off the desk and setting his book down, Eric leans forward to open the email, smiling when he sees who it's from.

'Hi Eric,

Hope you've been doing well these past few years. I wanted to let you know I'm going to be in the area next week for the reunion and wondered if you would like to meet for a coffee or something. It'd be really nice to catch up!

Look forward to hearing from you.

Nina Stevens'

Only able to smile, Eric clicks the reply button.

'Hey Nina

It's really good to hear from you. I can be free whenever suits you best, it'll be great to catch up! I will actually be doing a bit of work at the school so chances are I may make an appearance at the reunion.

Eric'

He clicks send and soon goes to the email from the school headmaster.

'Mr Jones

I accept your job to look into whatever is happening. Please send me full details along with statements from everyone who has seen or heard something.

Eric Willow Private Detective'

The email from Nina putting him in a good mood, he shuts down his computer for the night and decides to call it a night before anything can ruin his mood.

Reading the email reply from Eric, Nina smiles, ecstatic that she will get to catch up with a close friend after so long. She sets her phone down on her bedside before switching her light off. As she closes her eyes, she smiles knowing she has something to look forward to.

The following morning, Eric boots up his computer to find a reply from the school thanking him for taking the job. He also finds another email from Nina that came in about half an hour ago.

'I'll be arriving in town on Wednesday, so if I text you when I get here, we can work from there. Here's my number, text me when you've read this!'

He programs her number into his mobile and sends her a text.

Eric - Hey Nina, it's Eric. I can do Wednesday, in theory I should have this job with the school done by then. It'll be good to see you :)

Shoving his phone in his pocket, he gets some cleaning done and changes his bedcovers before throwing them in with some of his other laundry, and continues to go about his normal day.

[dropkickspindle]

I have been on-and-off obsessed with Heian Japanese literature since about 4th grade, when my mom got me a picture book about various historical women. One of the women featured in the book was Murasaki Shikibu, author of the Tale of Genji and the Murasaki Shikibu Nikki (Diary). She was a court lady-in-waiting who, in between serving one of two rival empresses, wrote what is often touted as the first ever novel, or at least first ever psychological novel. She was writing during a time of great change and innovation in written Japanese, where the kana syllabary offered writers, mostly women (men tended to use the formal Chinese script that was used in court documents), an easier writing system to use for works in Japanese. Another court lady, Sei Shonagon, in the court of the second rival empress, wrote the Pillow Book, a collection of observations, lists of poetic themes or things that annoyed or delighted the author, memories of better times and funny anecdotes. Izumi Shikibu wrote about her affair with her late lover's brother, and the woman known only as Michitsuna no Haha (Michitsuna's mother; most nobles in this time period did not use their names, but referred to themselves as each other by court ranks or jobs they or other relatives held) wrote about the loneliness and distress of a forgotten wife in a polygynous society. It's a really unique time period in history, and created a lot of great works. In translation they're best read if you really, really like footnotes. The Pillow Book (Meredith McKinney's translation is my favorite English translation) is the most accessible, imo, a look into a work that's half mean girl burn book and half elegy for a woman and a court and politics that were, for Sei, the golden days. Tl;dr I love Heian literature.

In Heian times, love letters (a frequent subject in the works of the time) were knotted after being written, as opposed to folded official or platonic correspondence. Being able to compose poetry was an essential skill in the court, and a precursor of the haiku was frequently used, with 5 syllables-7-syllables-5-7-7 as the format. For a project I have on the back burner I needed to learn to write this style of waka. I also have a huge collection of ink samples that I do eventually want to get through, so several years ago I started writing Heian-style love notes to my beloved, based on the names of ink samples and written in said ink. I also stripe the opposite side of the poem's paper in the fountain pen ink I've used, so they're pretty and colorful and help empty out my sample vials. I've been doing this intermittently for the past several years, whenever the mood takes me. And today it took me through ten poems, which was nice-- it's been awhile since the words have flowed.

(I'm not including any of the poems here, but the Spousewife loves them and that's what's important)

Inks used today, from left to right, top to bottom:

Laban Athena Grey

Diamine Crimson

Private Reserve Black Cherry

Diamine Tyrian Purple

Pelikan Edelstein Mandarin

Ferris Wheel Press Freshly Squeezed Sunshine

Ferris Wheel Press Frivolous Lime

Sailor Man'yo Koke

3 Oysters Delicious Peacock Green

Van Dieman's Wilderness Azure Kingfisher

One day I will take a picture of the glass vase that we keep the finished knotted letters in, but we're in the middle of prepping for a move across the country. Anyway, this project has been a really nice way to marry my love for Heian literature, buying fountain pen inks, and my spouse.