#like the finer details would be different but overall this is just what tends to happen in fandom

[the-goldsmith]

You're absolutely right that making content out of spite is very much not a healthy mindset to have, and I appreciate that your original post was about encouraging creatives to do the things they want to do because they like them and not due to any outside pressure. I do think that's something that's always worth bringing up considering today's state of social media/fandom and how frustrating it can be.

Re: your other frustrations:

This now has much less to do with the original tweet and more my own personal projections/speculation.

I believe that while farcille is currently the top ship it will very likely soon be overtaken by an m/m ship, and its progression won't see the uptick that the m/m ships have seen.

The reason I feel this way is that dungeon meshi, before the anime came out, was a decently popular work among people who like yuri. This is obviously because it's easy to read farcille as romantic, and the story revolves in some way around them, so while Falin isn't actually around very often it makes for very good romantic subtext.

Now, unfortunately the number of people who like yuri is proportionally very small, they are used to not getting a lot of content, and are a fairly tightly-knit community. Meaning that once a New Lesbian Thing is discovered, most of the people who are likely to take an interest in it will do so right away. Additionally, himejoshi (getting tired of saying "people who like yuri" lol) are used to consuming manga over anime, since very few yuri anime adaptations get made.

So a good majority of people interested in farcille and willing to make content for it have likely already encountered it before the anime significantly heightened the manga's popularity, which is how we get farcille currently having the most fics out of any other ship on ao3.

Meanwhile, people who enjoy yaoi aren't exactly starved for content, so they can just organically come across new stories once they become popular.

This is all to say that I think farcille has already achieved somewhat close to peak popularity (proportionally to the size of the fandom), and while it will definitely get a bit of a boost once we get to the resurrection scene I don't think even that will be enough to garner much more attention.

On the other hand, labru/other m/m ships have only now started to get content because the larger animanga fandom has set its gaze on dunmeshi for the first time, and the larger animanga fandom tends to like yaoi.

So what I think will happen is that as the dunmeshi anime reaches the more interesting parts of the story and its popularity rises, the rate at which m/m content gets made will soon easily overtake the rate at which farcille content gets made, so the fact that it's still in the lead right now isn't necessarily reassuring. If anything, I'm so sure that this is what will happen that it only makes me dread the day it gets "dethroned" (dramatic choice of words but rest assured I'm not actually that invested in this situation).

As for the faults of the work itself, I agree that part of this phenomenon is to blame on the fact there's just not as many female characters, though one counterpoint I have is that the male characters who get the most spotlight in the story itself (Laios, Chilchuck, Senshi), don't exactly have "yaoiful" dynamics between them, and that's reflected on ao3. The two most popular yaoi ships are between Laios and a guy he has a very limited number of interactions with (significant interactions, but still), and two secondary characters who, again, have a few significant interactions but still not that many. Also, while every element in the story matters as it otherwise wouldn't have been included, these relationships are secondary aspects of the story. They inform the characters, but they're not necessarily integral.

Compare that to how farcille is very much a foundational aspect of the narrative, despite the fact that they also end up not getting to interact that often.

The way I see it there's comparatively a lot more meat on the farcille bone that will go largely unaddressed because fandom, as a rule, would rather focus on secondary dynamics so long as they involve men.

I don't want to make this a case of "my ship is better than yours" though, I really don't care about that, and I think I should add that a lot of my opinions on the matter are informed by similar dynamics in other fandoms and not dunmeshi's necessarily (the anime just came out so it's still a baby fandom in many ways), so this might actually play out differently from what I expect for all I know. Though I don't think it will, because so far it reads as another textbook case.

@the-goldsmith It is, though I didn't know it was a tweet until later, just that I saw people making posts about it in the tag.

And yeah, I don't really blame people for needing to vent about stuff, and I definitely think it's worth talking about fandom trends and how they can reflect misogyny, racism, etc. I do also think the form that this venting takes can slip into bullying sometimes, or just be more stressful than helpful for people involved.

The main reason I made that post was for writers and other fandom creative types. If writing from spite is a good motivator for someone then more power too them, but I'm intimately familiar with the feeling of wanting to "prove" something or change the tide of fandom by writing good enough or often enough about the thing I love. It is always an exhausting and demoralizing thought-spiral to get caught in for me, and truly I hope that the people frustrated by the ao3 stuff don't experience the same thing.

However, to soapbox a little... I also think the framing of the situation (in the original post/tweet/whatever) also is kind of disingenuous. Which isn't really the main point I was originally making but also I do find it frustrating. So I'm gonna talk a little about that too

THESE are the top relationship tags for dunmeshi on ao3:

Mar/Fal is still by far and away the most popular relationship. The reason there is more total M/M is because there are is a larger variety of M/M ships.

There are three major M/M pairings here with over 10 fics, as well as three categories of /Reader fics.

There is basically ONLY Mar/Fal for F/F content. Mar/Izu is the next closest, and most of those fics are pretty old, too. I don't think there will be a ton of focus on that category in the future, due to Izu's age and implied aroace orientation. Beyond that there are 4 Ki/Nam fics, as well as 2 Hien/Benchidori ones not in the screenshot.

And this also can be influenced by people not wanting to focus on female characters. Why isn't there more variety in pairs here? Well... to be honest, I think if we are going to talk about lack of content focused on women, we should also look at the source material.

Because like, don't get me wrong. I love dunmeshi. I think it does well by its female characters. But not THAT well. Marcille and Izutsumi are the only real main female characters. Even if we include Falin in this list, that's only three. Hell, let's even throw in Namari! Compared to Laios, Chilchuck, Senshi, Thistle, Kabru, Mithrun, and Shuro, that's barely over half as many major women as there are men in the story.

It's not an even playing field here, and I frankly think that sucks. I think it is a flaw of the story. And I don't think it gets talked about enough. If people are frustrated about misogyny, I wish they would dig into this too, and not just blame fans. And god, I know that gets touted a lot, the whole 'well it's not my fault that media focuses on men!' thing. I'm not saying that there's no biases in the fandom. But it is frustrating to see people talking about dunmeshi as if it's a super yuri/woman focused story when it just isn't. The lack of variety of female characters is the primary reason that total F/F content is less than M/M, and that problem DIRECTLY traces back to the canon.

[rennybu]

Hiii Andy! I've adore your art for years and your characters. Their designs are so lovely!! And expressive!! I was wondering if you had any tips for a cohesive character design? Or even advice on adding little asymmetrical details or features? And help is greatly appreciated! Thanks! Wishing you all the best!

HELLOO!!! AAAH Thank you so much for such a thoughtful question, this makes me so happy to hear! I'm so sorry it took me so long to get back to you, it turns out I have way too many things to say about this topic AKLSDHFKLSDG

(pls take this readmore<3)

For the starting point in a design, I try to stick to whatever rules apply for the setting the character is in, and their role in that setting.

Basic colour theory is always at the back of my mind, as well. I tend to use analogous and complementary colours when I design my characters and their closets. Analogous colours keep a palette contained and feeling similar to itself without being monotone. And then using colours that are complementary to that elsewhere in the design adds contrast while still maintaining that feeling of cohesion :D

The intended use of the character also heavily affects what can make a design cohesive or not - it's very dependent on art style and medium. (A design for use in animation would be extremely different from semi-realistic TTRPG concept art. The rest of what I've written skews more towards the second option!)

I consider the colours, shapes and materials that make sense for what I want to convey about the world, and how the character would want to be presented in it. The Dogwood characters are my current exercise; Mel's clothes fit him perfectly since he works a labor intensive job on the farm, and his identity is wrapped up in it so he never strays far from heavy cotton, straight cut. Ryan and Park both wear ill-fitting clothes in completely different ways (Ryan, butchly. Park, autistic and transly) - and they each have work uniforms. Ryan's work uniform suits her gnc appearance (welding coveralls/safety gear), while Park's uniform completely transforms him into "Just Some Guy" and that changes how others read him, too (cashier). And they all shop at Local Thrift Store / Farmer's Surplus / The Walmart 1hr Outside of Town. Their styles give them each a distinct silhouette, and their levels of social comfort as well as public expression contribute to body language, colour choices, and shapes that make them stand apart from each other despite living in the same small bubble. COHESION!

Asymmetrical details and features are my FAAAAV THEY ARE SO FUN, I find inspiration for these in people-watching, nature documentaries, architecture, my reflection, my friends.. <333 This part is also fun to tie in to the character's setting! Springboard questions like. Are they prone to injuries? Magical injuries? Do they have like, modern dental procedures available? Do they give a shit about crooked or crowded teeth? Are they missing a tooth, or did they chip one? Do they smile a lot and have crow's feet/other wrinkles? Do they get a lot of sun, and do they have/use sunscreen? (Even finer wrinkles.) Did they have acne as a teen? Do they still? Are they in a combat-heavy setting, with the scars to show it? Even more uniform features like freckles aren't symmetrical.

Clothing is really good to use to play with asymmetry - maybe the character rolls their cuffs but one is coming undone a little. Jewelry of all types is also great for asymmetry since it can go anywhere on the body!! Facial and other physical deformities or injuries are also incredible to see, and should be researched to find out if they impact other parts of a person's overall health and mobility outright. The different skin texture of a birthmark, for example! I noticed in certain photographs, the subject's red birthmark changed the texture of the skin, so I started drawing Orson with one drooping eyelid on the side affected by his birthmark. The more you look, the more you find!

Before I get too carried away. I try to use asymmetrical details and features as a way to boost that "world setting" cohesion, and to bring attention to parts of the character I am personally endeared by or want other people to notice. Mahon's snaggletooth is an eternal fav, which made me draw him smiling more, which made me more prone to drawing lines around his eyes. And since the anchor is in his left hand, and he tries to hide it subconsciously, I put thumb-holes in his left sleeves, which he plucks through as a nervous fidget, and as a result, his clothes pull a little across his entire body :D ITS VERY FUN to find the right jumping-off point that lets specific details click into place. For Mahon especially, since so many of those details are derived from the setting and his role in it!

Asymmetry and symmetry are just tools at ur disposal. Asymmetry tends to be more comfortable and natural. Symmetry gives a sense of stability and can be pushed for a sense of power, a sense of being uncanny, rigid, etc. Asymmetry can also be pushed into uncaniness depending on what it's applied to!! (But as a matter of personal taste, I find asymmetrical details to feel more natural and inviting than perfectly symmetrical ones. Which. Again. Depending on the character's purpose, could equally contribute to a cohesive design!!!)

OMG ok my final thought. Asymmetry can also be used as a balancing tool which yet again lends to a sense of cohesion. Adding a detail on the left while leaving it out on the right, repeated throughout with different details where applicable. Loam's colour spots, archery gear, scars and jewelry are all areas I've played with this idea.

[cinemainamerica]

Final Reflection

Between my movie review vlogs and my production project there are multiple similarities but also many differences. For my production project I chose to take on the technical breakdown video. I think the main difference between the two is I went into greater depth within the technical breakdown video, and did not rely on as many movie clips to take up time. I felt that within the technical breakdown video I did far more background research, but also looked at the singular clip that I chose in immense detail. They are similar in the aspect that I used the intro clip that I had created for the final movie vlog, and took the same approach when beginning my research as I felt that I had established a successful method to go about the movie vlogs. I find myself able to edit things far better and navigate Imovie with little to no problems after completing all of the projects. I was playing around in the software and was able to put clips in slow motion, and have an overall greater grasp of how to put different videos together. The first movie vlog took me about 2 hours to edit just because I was trying to get a grasp of the software, and what editing techniques worked and didn't work for me, and by the time it came to editing my final vlog I was able to piece everything together in about 45 minutes as I had gotten a grasp on how the program worked, and the style that I liked to piece it together. It was important to me to create something that was visually appealing and not super boring to watch. While it is important to have all of the information provided to the viewer, I liked to do so while providing visuals so that different things could sink in better with providing the facts and pictures or clips from the movie with it. I feel I reached my goals, and was overall impressed with what I was able to accomplish within my production skills as I had never completed something to this magnitude before. I thought that the different movie clips I provided kept it entertaining. I think the most important skill I learned over this course is my ability to see the finer details that are put into movies. Whether that be how much the certain shot angles add to a scene, or the delivery of the themes because there is so much thought and effort put into making a movie. To me, being able to pick up on even one more thing that I had not previously seen makes the impact of the movie entirely different. For instance, when I was completing the technical breakdown video and was able to pick up on the amount of American flags waving in the background added a huge element to the movie I had not previously picked up on. I appreciate how through this class I am now able to look at movies through a different lens that tends to make the message of the movie more powerful. If I had to take this course again there is not one thing that sticks out to me that I would do differently. I was overall satisfied with my performance on the assignments, and what I was able to take away from this class. If I had to say one thing, going back to the first movie vlog and just going into finer detail and not being so generic when talking about different points. My favorite assignment was the second movie vlog when we were tasked to complete it as if we were one of the characters in the movie. I thought it was a fun twist on the assignment and made it differ from the previous one, and I was then looking at the movie through the characters' eyes, not my own.

[xieyouji-xiegushi]

Just What I Needed (Chapter 1)

Cross-posting my fics while AO3 is down! This is a multi-chapter fic; please check out the contents page for additional tags, overall CWs and other chapters before reading!

Title: Just What I Needed (Chapter 1) Fandom: Supernatural Rating: E Ship: Destiel Chapter 1 CWs: none Summary: All Sam and Dean have to their names right now is $200, a '67 Chevy Impala, and a lead.

Dean walked into the restaurant, fiddling with his shirt, the top two buttons of which were undone, the collar sitting at a jaunty angle. He scanned the room, searching for a vaguely familiar face. His eyes settled on an older man, probably in his early 50s, sitting alone at a table for two. Dean took a deep breath and walked over to join him.

“Hi, are you Max?” Dean asked.

“I am! You must be Charlie.”

“That’s right. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Max looked him up and down, taking Dean’s appearance, his eyes resting for a moment on the patch of exposed collarbone.

“Charlie, I’m quite sure the pleasure is all mine.”

Dean smiled. A cheesy line, but nothing he hadn’t heard before. He sat down at the table opposite Max, who had already ordered them a glass of wine each.

“I have to say, Charlie, I’m thrilled that you agreed to come out with me this evening. A man of my age… you younger types don’t usually look twice.”

“Well, Max, I tend to find that men of your age, as you put it, appreciate the finer things in life. So much more than guys my age do, anyway.”

“Well, if you have the means, why not? That’s what I say. Now, if you don’t like the wine, we can try a different one. Please, order anything you want.”

Dean happily obliged. The restaurant was quite expensive, and fancy, which probably meant the portions would be small. Dean scoured the menu for the most promising option, eventually settling on two simple pasta dishes, ordering both under the guise of not being able to decide. Max didn’t mind – the wine he had ordered already cost more than the entire meal.

Dean picked at his food and nursed his wine. He supposed he should make conversation, as an excuse for his slow eating.

“So, tell me about yourself. Who is Max? What brings a man of taste such as yourself to Nowheresville, USA?”

“Well, you see, my father wanted me to become an accountant, like him. But it wasn’t the life for me. I went to school for it, but after completing my degree, I found my real passion. So, I became a financial manager. Take that, Dad!” Max laughed at his own joke. At least, Dean thought it was a supposed to be a joke.

“Sorry, um, I’m not sure I understand the difference.”

“Oh, there’s a huge difference! You see, an accountant manages people’s accounts, whereas a financial manager…”

Max continued to explain the differences in excruciating detail, and Dean drifted off. He ate and drank just enough to be polite, but still leave leftovers. He made filler noises and asked simple questions to feign interest, whilst keeping half an eye on his watch. As the time ticked on, he began to grow restless. At precisely 8.30, his phone rang.

“Hey, sorry, do you mind if I take this?”

“No, go ahead.” Max smiled at him.

Dean nodded his head, before standing up and walking a few feet away from the table.

“Hey, Sammy.”

“Hi Dean. This is your get out of jail free call. Ready to wrap up?”

“Sure, I’ll come pick you up. Be there in 20 minutes.”

“See you soon.”

Dean hung up, and paced for a few seconds, for effect. He marched back to the table with a frown.

“Max, I’m so sorry, it looks like I have to cut this short.” As he was talking, he waved over a waiter. “I’ve got a small emergency I need to go and take care of. Yeah, can I get these to go please?” he asked the waiter, gesturing at his two plates of pasta.

Max looked slightly taken aback, but quickly recovered. “I’m sorry to hear that, Charlie. Is there anything I can help with?”

“No, thank you, it’s okay. I had a lovely time this evening. Thank you so much for dinner. Take care, Max.” The waiter returned with his food, and he grabbed the bag and left before Max had much of a chance to answer.

Dean jumped in the Impala, which he’d left parked about a block away from the restaurant. He fired up the engine and headed over to the local library. He arrived at exactly 8.50, and Sam was waiting on the steps outside. Dean honked the horn, and Sam jumped up and ran over, clambering into the car. They pulled off, and Dean drove them to the nearest free car park, pulling into the first free space he saw.

“What did we get?”

“I don’t know, pasta something. Truffle maybe.”

“Truffle? Fancy restaurant?”

“Yeah, real expensive. Tiny portions, so I got two.”

“How was it?”

“What? The pasta?”

“Your date.”

“It was fine. He was nice enough. An accountant or something. You know, boring, but harmless.”

Sam nodded. “Don’t you feel bad? You basically scammed some lonely old man.”

“Yeah, not for the first time, and it won’t be the last. As for what I feel, what I feel is hungry. Come on, dig in. This stuff won’t be good cold.”

Sam grabbed some camping forks from the glove compartment, and they ate their lukewarm pasta in silence. After finishing his food, Dean reached over Sam and pulled out an envelope. He rifled through it.

“How much is left?” Sam asked.

“About $200.”

“So, can we get a motel tonight? I don’t want to sleep in the car again.”

“Afraid not. We need gas, and new brake pads. These ones are down to their last scrap.”

“You know, if we’re gonna be in this town for a while, I could get a job. You know, a regular job.”

Dean looked at his brother. Sam was serious. And worried.

“No way. You’re in school – focus on that. Who the hell is gonna hire some 15-year-old anyway?”

“I can lie. Dean, we’re broke. Dad’s cash is literally about to run out. And the only other thing he left us was this money pit of a car.”

“Hey, don’t talk about the Chevy that way. Sammy, I know you’re stressed, but don’t be. I’ll figure something out.”

“What, are you gonna start scamming for McDonald’s coupons?”

“I said I’d figure it out. Now shut up and get to sleep, you’ve got school tomorrow.”

Grumbling, Sam crawled into the back of the car. The backseats were down, creating something approaching a bed. Dean watched his brother awkwardly fold himself up and cover himself with the thin blanket, before turning around and trying to get comfy in the driver’s seat. He drifted off, sleeping lightly enough that he would wake if there was trouble.

The alley is dark; only its mouth is lit by the faint orange glow of a nearby streetlight. Dean limps into the black, glancing furtively at his surroundings, trying to make out whatever shapes he can. His right hand is glued to the gun at his hip.

He hears a snarl behind him, before an ungodly force knocks him to the ground. Claws tear at his back and sharp, white teeth dig into his neck. He hears a crack. A gunshot. The creature – a vampire – springs away from him, towards the source of the bullet, screeching at the sky.

“Dean, run!” calls his father. John is standing 20 feet ahead of him in the alleyway, his shotgun locked and loaded. The vamp bounds towards him.

“Get up, Dean!” But Dean is fixed to the floor. He can’t run. He can’t look away. The vamp reaches its target. It tears into John Winchester, rips him limb from limb. He screams.

“Dean! DEAN-“

“- Dean! Dean! Come on, I’m gonna be late for school!”

Dean was abruptly pulled from his dream, shaken awake by his brother. He blinked a few times to clear the images from his vision, before putting the car in gear and racing over to Sam’s school. After dropping him off, Dean swung around and headed back to the library. He was here for a job, after all, and he had work to do.

[pixie-skull]

If I may add to the conversation too @airasora @puffythepigart and @little-bloodied-angel

1. When I was a consular aid for a school district and another time couple years ago, being an after school aid, we did have couple kids who were listed as trans and guess what… NONE WERE FORCED

2. Transitioning is technically in three parts.

2A. Social which all these COUPLE students were experiencing. What does that mean, practicing pronouns, gender expression, and if a name test out (yes can go through a couple names before settling).

2B. Legal, legalizing name change, gender on birth certificate and other important documents, and more finer details.

2C. Physical, if from medication to surgeries that fall under gender affirming care. Which most places require both prior, a professional or two’s letter of approval (a therapist lets say), the individual be the legal age of adult. The only exceptions if person again has done all above and close like a year or maybe two younger of adult, yet needs parents/guardians approval. However no children are actually rushing this final step.

3. Yes I do think in a way it is better to have the individual wait till late teens to 20’s as there been more success rates if surgery going well. Such trans women who wait are able to convert for bottom surgery more successful as more tissue, size (the size becomes to my understanding the cervix), and overall less complications. The few yet loud stories of kids transitioning like Jazz Jennings are people having access to all aspects of transition the average person can not. As well yes, from who studied psychology and developmental, I think it is important to understand that most when going through puberty are uncomfortable.

I mean I question my gender in end of high school, but when my parents at first were not supportive (being accused trying to fit if my sexuality to asking if one of my friends caused me to question as he was transition). However I was out to friends and peers are non-binary from my late teens to mid-20’s in various aspects. If from asking my relationships at the time call me a partner not a girlfriend, attending to trans events with friends, pronouns, all while watching YouTubers like Jamie Dodger and Sam Collins (even trans women yet no shock I tended watch trans men ;D ).

I even with a past therapist I had in 2021 to evaluate me by my request, of certain personality disorders and other diagnosis that can be mistaken as gender dysphoria. Not to say someone can not have both, just good to try understanding the differences helps confirm. To be fair I really try to do my research and understand (as my pal @little-bloodied-angel told me yesterday which again that made my day they understand I try so be through).

I mean (and I am sorry if this sounds insensitive) couple of my sisters had EDs and one I believe has gender dysmorphia, and when getting my Pysch evaluation I brought these up. After the screening/evaluation my therapist at the time said I do not have body dysmorphia as I showed a good relationship with my body. Minus of course the obvious gender dysphoria results. I mean I had nightmares with no actual SA happened (not constantly but enough throughout my preteen to young adulthood) and once I started my transition those nightmares just stopped. The subconscious even agreed! I mean dang I made self-inserts if were supposed be me and if women often I subconsciously felt unable see myself have the happy endings. However women OCs I would give them range of arches. Since then my OCs+self-interests both equally complex arches.

And yes, YES, thank you everyone bringing up the unethical changes on babies if from intersex to the circumcisions (if count the one to little girls in areas of the Middle East and Africa as I personal those are rooted in very questionable views on women). I mean as much my mother struggles to understand I want to transition, someone in his 20’s, she at least understands the circumcisions are definitely worth a review over. After all this woman in the 1980’s I heard one of her bosses she told another boss (a man), how by the logic of circumcisions on boys should the girls get their breast buds removed to lower chance of breast cancer. No, because foreskin does have a purpose and has more risk than good.

Look at John Money unethical study on twins and that is an example of forcing a child to transition and the actual repercussions of that. That “study” I feel shows why we have the safeguards we do have minors who want to transition and no one trying to do what John Money did.

Granted if I had CHANGE one aspect of the movement, I would say Protect Trans Lives as to not accidentally mislead others thinking only children are being protected under Protect Trans Kids slogans.

How come all the transphobes out there who are openly "worried" about trans children having their genitalia cut off are completely fine with circumcision?

1, no one is cutting off children's genitalia. I don't know where the fuck they got that idea from in the first place.

2, circumcision is technically ACTUAL "mutilation," so... why is cutting some of the foreskin of a baby boy somehow okay, but gender affirmative medical care isn't, which doesn't even involve surgery when you're a minor?

Make it make sense. Please. I'm all ears.

[glowingbadger]

Hi! Could you do SFW and NSFW relationship headcanons for Raphael and Hubert, please?

(P.S. I swear I sent this in a few weeks ago but you must not have gotten it. I am mortified at the chance I accidentally sent it to another blog!)

Your timing is incredible- your request was literally the next one on my list haha :3 So no worries, it got to the right place! I'm just still catching up a bit lol. Let's talk Raph and Hubie!

Raphael, Hubert x GN Reader

SFW (nsfw below the cut)

Raphael:

- Raphael is such an absolute sweetie as a boyfriend. He's very nurturing and just a healthy level of protective, but he also knows that he's not perfect and is willing to listen to you when you need something different from him, or just to vent. He's also endlessly uplifting, always instinctively looking on the bright side of things and eager to open up that sunny perspective to share with you.

- As we all know, the way to Raph's heart is through his stomach. If you're even a little skilled in the kitchen, you've got an easy in to spending time with him whenever you like. If you're not much of a cook, he's happy to be a taste-tester until you've got it figured out. Though it's not like his palette is incredibly refined, so you might not get the most nuanced feedback.

- It is essential that you meet his little sister's approval- it's practically like courting a single father. Her happiness is his utmost priority, so one day when she mentions off hand that she can't wait for you all to spend time together again, he practically starts tearing up and warmth fills his chest. Knowing that you get along with the other most important person in his life just reaffirms his affections for you a thousand fold.

- His idea of a date pretty much always involves food, and with his energetic and warm personality, those kinds of dates are easy to enjoy. If you suggest other ideas though, while he might not be sure it's his "thing" at first, he'll quickly find something to get excited about and invested in. Besides, when he's with you, he has a hard time caring about anything but watching you just be your wonderful self, all with a wide, goofy smile on his face.

Hubert:

- Hubert quietly dotes on you. His love language is absolutely acts of service. This is largely because he finds it so hard to believe- practically disorienting- that you'd want to be with him of all people. As such, he does everything in his power to ensure that you're provided for. You may not even realize the lengths he's willing to go to for some time, as he has a habit of doing helpful or sweet things for you without your knowledge. Maybe it takes a vaguely threatening "chat" with some disrespectful knave who's been trying to get your attention, or perhaps there's a tear in your favorite shirt that he has sent to be repaired without ever mentioning it. Hubert doesn't seek praise- only your happiness.

- that said... He does absolutely melt when you do praise or compliment him. He does his best to appear stoic, but his face turns bright red when you tell him how lucky you are to be with someone so considerate and conscientious. Funnily, when he's riding high on his adoration for you (whatever you would call Hubert's version of feeling warm and fuzzy), not much changes other than that he's less conversational, appearing exceptionally introspective. The truth is just that he can't stop thinking of you and this bizarre feeling you've nurtured in him.

- he will NEVER admit this and will strike fear into the soul of any who would suggest it- but when others give him romantic advice, he does take note. When Edelgard suggests he have flowers sent to you for no particular reason, or Ferdinand recommends he take you riding through the countryside on a particularly lovely day, he does consider them and possibly even follow through.

- listen. The first time Hubert returns to his quarters from a late night "mission" to see you waiting up for him, struggling to stay awake to greet him and make sure he's okay, he's just... A puddle. He holds you so close and so tight, resting his face in your hair without a word. He's simply so overwhelmed that he should ever be so fortunate as to be welcomed home by someone he loves.

NSFW 18+ v

Raphael:

- Raph is a Big Boy and a Strong Boy, and those two facts are never more relevant than when things start getting heated. He's had one or two prior sexual partners (people from his hometown who came onto him- he enjoyed it well enough, but he's WAY more into it after falling for you), so he generally knows what he's doing, but likes a bit of guidance. He worries a lot about hurting you, but also enjoys showing off his strength and stamina for you- so letting you set the pace tends to work best overall.

- He openly loves it when you compliment his muscles and physique, reminding him of just how big and strong he is compared to you and how easily he lifts and positions you. Hearing it from your lips energizes him and makes him more determined than ever to pleasure you and take care of any and all of your needs. He's a bit clumsy about some of the finer operations involved- but honestly, sometimes it's hot enough just to feel his large and powerful fingers spreading you open. It's hard to lament his lack of dexterity when he can so easily fill you and reach your every sensitive spot at once.

- He's really not much one for power-play, or any kind of spicy roleplay. He simply doesn't see the point. Raphael would always rather just tell you openly how amazing and gorgeous you are as you ride his big, thick cock. You're so small even when you're above him, and he can't help wanting to hold you as your stretched out little hole takes him again and again.

- Raphael can resist cumming for a long time for the privilege of getting to fuck as many orgasms out of you as possible. He's got some impressive stamina. He'll lift and reposition you several times, then very carefully ease his huge member back into you, giving you plenty of time to acclimate to him filling you up from a new angle. There's no question that you'll be satisfied by the time he finally cums- but once he's done, he's done. Raphael cums hard, and a good volume, and once he's ridden out his climax, all he wants is to cuddle you on his broad chest and maybe share a snack, then drift off for a nap together.

Hubert:

- I've talked about some general spicy ideas for Hubie before in the past, so definitely check my masterlist for those (I love this miserable bastard so fucking much-). Overall, I see him as a classic, domineering Dom in the bedroom. Hubert needs a certain level of control over everything in his life to feel even a little at-ease, and intimacy is no exception. It won't take long into a relationship with him for it to become clear that he's happiest and most satisfied when you're a good, docile little pet for him.

- It's not extremely obvious at first, but Hubert's body is very sensitive and very touch-shy, simply due to lack of exposure. He's had a few sexual partners, though largely for pragmatic, political purposes, so the experience of being with you and wanting so badly to be truly intimate with you is completely new to him. Add this to the fact that, at his core, he still believes you deserve so much better than he could ever give you in all things, and you've got yourself a complex over-thinker in your bed. This is part of why dominating you is so soothing to him. When you're his personal needy kitten, he can direct you as he pleases, catering your treatment to his comfort level.

- Hubert gets very invested in the finer details of your submission. He takes great care to select a collar custom made for you, and will manage everything from your posture to your line of sight to when you're allowed to cum. He does not suffer brats; misbehaving will result in literal hours of punishment, and you're lucky if it only amounts to spanking. He's much more likely to tie you, or even magically restrain you on his bed completely exposed (or in a shamefully erotic outfit) and tease your clit/head of your cock until tears wet your eyes and you beg him to be allowed to cum.

- That all said, if you're a very, very good pet for him- or if you're someone a bit more shy or anxious in bed, he is capable of being a very soft and caring Dom. This even surprises him, but he can't help brushing a gloved hand to your cheek as you take his cock into your pretty lips, and he murmurs, "That's right, my dearest, just like that. You're doing wonderfully- just a little longer for me and I swear that I'll satisfy you."

[thetriggeredhappy]

hey so I was wondering if you had any advice for dialogue?

I don't have any problems with making it flow or sound natural but I've found that I tend to condense conversations as much as possible. when I write them out really long I feel like it's kind of droning on and people might find that boring, but I'm not sure if it actually is or if that's just part of being an author

I absolutely love the pacing in Taking Shots and am using it as a model for the fic I'm currently working on, and i noticed that the dialogue in that one tends to be pretty long but still so enjoyable to read. how do you do it?

yeah i’ll hit you with a few tips and tricks. welcome to above the cut, meet you down below

-

so step one when you’re writing something is to come to terms with the fact that you’re writing something. no matter what you do, opinions will vary. some people really like meandering dialogue, some people prefer things quick and snappy, and there’s always going to be arguments about it if you put it up for critique. if you’re writing a story or dialogue, longer tends to work well because it helps slow down pacing. with comics and animations and things like that, dialogue needs to be really to-the-point. neither is right or wrong, they’re different toolsets for different situations. you’ll find yourself settling into a pattern more naturally eventually, somewhere on the spectrum between Ulysses and Letterkenny, and trying to get out of the mindset of overall self-consciousness will help a ton. instead, working with it on a level closer to “is this taking the right amount of time in the story” would be a good start. vibes matter.

if your problem is you feel like the dialogue should take up more time, i can break down a couple things i tend to do that make conversations take more time. eventually you start doing this meandering naturally, but like most other things, knowing the vocabulary for it helps a lot.

first on the list is the classic blundering. characters forgetting the word they’re looking for and fishing for it (with the additional perk of making that word emphasized) misunderstanding each other and needing things rephrased (which also helps with stressing and clarifying to the reader that something is potentially important, or to clarify cloudy events or situations), or slips of the tongue that are then stumbled over for a few back-and-forth volleys (helping either endear the character to the reader or make them seem more fallible to whoever they’re talking to). you don’t necessarily need to slam the entirety of Who’s On First into every bit of dialogue, but misunderstandings can be good for comedic potential, stressing important plot information, and overall just making characters seem more human. i have a problem of talking too fast, and the amount of times i hear “what’d you say?” in my day-to-day is staggering. it’s something people do!

second, getting off track altogether. elaborating maybe more than absolutely necessary and having characters go into more detail can give insight into what a character finds important—a quick sidebar to talk about an individual can tell you a lot. a character saying “and i knew his niece, she plays soccer, really nice kid, heard she’s headed to college soon” paints a different character portrait than “he always wears these really clean shined shoes, wingtip, the classic kind” paints a different portrait than “guy is tall, walks with a cane, bushy mustache, talks like he’s always chewing gum”, each telling you different things about the person speaking. what they notice and feel is important to share tells you a lot about them, and sidebars can help fill a lot of gaps. besides that, getting off track to explain something the others don’t really know about and to argue the finer points of things does the same function.

third, you can have characters repeat things, rehash things. a character hears a story and repeats back an overview, occasionally getting corrected, questioning finer points and giving the other one a while to elaborate and defend themselves. you can have a new character be introduced to a joke familiar to the audience, giving them a chance to chime in on it. really, it’s good for establishing where characters stand with each other, whether they’re on the same page. characters bringing up things about recent events, the environment, current tasks, it can all be related to seeing how the characters all individually feel about the situation. clarifying questions make it clear where the characters misunderstood or want to know more, and can help as an insight for the audience to preemptively answer questions.

i’m sure there’s more than that. it helps to essentially slow down while you’re writing, to let the characters meander. you might know where a conversation is headed, but the characters often don’t, and giving them the time to get there on their own terms can get you a pretty solid word count. my most important policy is always that i only ever have characters get in conversations that i care about. pretty much every talk you’ve seen in my stuff—definitely all of them in the RB series—have been ones that i enjoyed, even looked forward to. letting characters riff for a while is really fun to me.

hope some amount of that helps!

[cassthepilot]

Yo! It’s been a while, how have you been??

I was just wondering if you had any art tips and tricks? I’m looking to improve my digital art so I figured I’d ask (no pressure to answer of course)

aaa @edgynoise!! so good to hear from you again! I hope you've been doing well <3

and oh wow, of course! I'm not sure what kind of advice to offer but I'm happy to throw some things out here that might be helpful.

that said; here's some stuff that's personally worked for me

- spend a little time loosening up

this one helps me out a lot. if i go straight into a drawing from the start it's going to turn out stiff as hell for me every time so to combat this I usually spend about 5-10 doodling before getting into the actual meat of any kind of meaningful drawing. really helps wake up the hand meat muscles.

- get your thoughts down first and then tighten them up

i don't know if this would be applicable for everybody but generally I feel it's important to get whole of something down (no matter how busted it looks) before going in to correct certain things or agonize over anatomy. for me, the energy of a piece is it's foundation and that life is what everything else gets built around & up from. I find it much better to draw it messy & broken in the beginning rather than squeek through the whole thing erasing, redrawing & erasing on the same piece.. I feel a piece can just lose too much of it's energy that way. once i have the bare sketch worked out, I just set the sketch to a low opacity & redraw the lines for real-real on another layer over it.

- listen to music!

not always for everyone but i find picking music that matches the mood of what i'm working on generally helps me channel the vibe of something. for the mining piece above i listened to a lot of the old coal mining songs this was inspired by. i feel like it really helped me hit what i was going for.

- feel it out

so this may just be a me thing but when i do pieces i generally try to bring a lot of feeling and acting into them with me. if the character is concerned, i make myself feel that emotion while drawing them. If their face is sad or upset or fearful I make those same facial expressions myself in order to channel it into them. and if there's body language involved i'll sometimes even go the extra mile & act things out with my hands, depending. i don't know what it is about this but i find that it can really bring a lot of life to a piece. also just being aware of those facial muscles and how they feel in certain situations can make emphasizing & drawing them easier in general.

- try to vary your lineweight

this one really depends on what style you're going for but I find that, for myself, varying the line weight really helps add a lot of life to things. my lines in tend to run a little thicker overall but the general rule of thumb is broader / thicker lines where there's gravity, weight or in places where you want to emphasize the energy of something. (ex. bottoms of feet, arms, thighs, clothing, jawlines etc.) and then lighter/thinner lines for more detailed / finer areas like say the eyes, facial features, details in fingers etc.

not the best example but hopefully it more or less gets across what I'm stabbing at haha

as for digital / art program tips I'm not sure what I can offer that may be helpful but here's what I got!

- keep everything on different layers. this is a big one. 100% will keep you from wanting to rip all your hair out & setting it on fire. i'm not sure how familiar you are with layers yet but generally I set them up so that the lineart is on the top layer, the flat colors are on the bottom layer & the shading on the character is inbetween.

- when shading, try to avoid using straight black

unless there's a solid reason to shade with black (like say doing a strictly pen & ink piece) I generally try to avoid it. if you need dark colors for shading I find it's always way better to shade with a really deep red/purple or blue instead. even just that hint of color will make the overall colors in a piece far less dull & muddy.

- take advantage of the hue/saturation feature to adjust colors

this one's a huge time saver for me. basically if I have my characters shaded & i'm not really digging the colors or think they're popping off right I will select the layer or color & then use the hue/saturation function to adjust the areas i don't like accordingly until i hit on something that looks more harmonious. This is especially helpful if you're trying to find the right colors you want for something but just aren't sure what's going to look good. it's also super useful on things like your shading layer or if you're working with warm or cool light sources.

- deepen shadows / brighten up light sources

When a piece is near finished for me one of the small after effects I like to add is a light airbrushing in both the lightest & darkest areas. This helps add more contrast and if it's placed over top the linework layer it can sometime help to create ambient mood, depending on what you're going for of course. Anyway, for me this usually means creating a new shadow layer, deepening them up with a hit of darker airbrushing and then setting that layer to multiply & adjusting the opacity according to what looks good. For the light sources it's pretty much the same deal except the layer will be set to 'overlay' or' vivid light' whichever usually looks right to me.

- tie it together with local color

so this is a favorite trick of mine that i enjoy using from time to time & one i find can really help with pulling the colors in a piece together to make it look nice.

basically if a piece is finished & I just want to make it look more cohesive & tied together i will start by filling an entire layer with a local color (for example if the piece is warm i will make a layer of just straight orange), then i will move that layer to the top of all other layers where it can be king and then proceed to set the entire thing to overlay & lower the opacity to something between 8-25%. how much you lower the opacity depends on what you feel looks good of course but overall i find it can be a useful trick for quickly warming up or cooling down the tones in a piece. Overall it’s just handy for making an illustration look a bit more cohesive color-wise.

this examples a little on the extreme side but hopefully it can kind've show what i mean in the way of unifying the colors.

- study life

so this sort've falls under generic art advice but you can never go wrong studying from life. And I don't just recommend this in a 'it will get you good at drawing the human body' kind of way. What it will do is get you good at drawing people. Just observing the mannerisms people have, the way they gesture when they feel things, the way certain body types carry their weight, the body language that accompanies both stronger & lesser emotions, how people posture themselves to reflect (or reveal!) what's going on inside. When you really sit down & take the time to study & observe people you'll find that there's so much to take away from it. Everything from the way a person carries themselves to how they move their body can say so much about a person (whether they intend it to or not) and I've found that if you want to pull something really convincing out of a character then body language is where it's at. It's equally as important as facial expressions honestly & a good tip (if you're just looking to get better at body language only) is to draw the face last & force yourself to communicate emotions with the hands, body & posture instead.

- andrew loomis

so fun story back when i was studying art in college - one day my media teacher walked in & straight up told the class that if any of us had to drop out tomorrow we could basically just study creative illustration by andrew loomis & it would be the damn near equivalent of what we were all paying to be taught. To this day I've never forgotten that. And to this day it absolutely holds up. Really can't recommend this guy enough if you're looking to understand the fundamentals of illustration! And what luck! all of his books are free! :)

Fun With a Pencil (Beginner) https://www.alexhays.com/loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Fun%20WIth%20a%20Pencil.pdf

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth (Intermediate) https://illustrationage.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/andrew-loomis-figure-drawing-for-all-its-worth.pdf

Creative Illustration (Intermediate-Advanced) https://illustrationage.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/andrew-loomis-creative-illustration.pdf

Drawing the Head & Hands (Intermediate) https://www.alexhays.com/loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Drawing%20the%20Head%20and%20Hands.pdf

study other artists!

one of my favorite things to do! if you like what someone makes - study them. I do this near constantly with a lot of different people for a lot of different things. Everything from the way one artist colors, to the way one artists handles lighting, to the way another artist draws hands - if there's something i see that I like in a persons art or their style - I study it. Even if it's outside of my current comfort range (or skill level) I find there's always something to gain by either attempting to emulate it myself or just breaking it down & figuring out what makes it look the way that it does. One thing I find that's really helpful is breaking apart .psd files whenever an artist will offer them. just looking at the way other people handle their layers or add effects to things can really help broaden my perspective & way of doing things.

That said; if it would be helpful you're more than welcome to check out my own .psd file here if you feel it would help you out any!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yigbm7b9b8eyb0g/run%20with%20us%20-%20full.psd?dl=0

At the moment it's one of the more put together ones I have so hopefully it can offer a better visual insight to some of the things I do. Again, if it's something that you think would help.

Anyway, I guess that's about it. Also wow this was a lot longer than I thought it would be so my bad if I got way too rambly or anything haha. Super excited for your future art endeavors here & think it's really awesome that you're exploring more! I'm so happy & excited for you <3 Feel free to hit me up if there's anything else I can help you out with.

[ceasarslegion]

Did u watch the "Movies That Made Us" episode on BTTF and if so what did you think?

I kept this in my inbox until I watched this episode just because I wanted to speak my thoughts on this

So first of all, I heavily relate to Zemeckis and Gale's talk about their experiences in film school, ie how they felt a little black sheep-y because they just wanted to make fun movies while the rest of their peers were very artsy about cinema to the point of being pretentious and othering. That's almost my experience in film school right now; I wanna make big fun blockbusters that bring people joy and most of my peers are very avant-garde and French New Wave, but at least in my experience, they aren't pretentious about it nor am I made to feel like a lesser filmmaker for having different preferences in a future career, so at least that aspect of the environment has changed for the better

I did know a few of the things they mentioned, like the situation with Eric Stoltz and MJF, how wack the original script was with the nuclear bomb stuff, and that Crispin Glover is just, overall, a deeply weird, weird motherfucker, but I didn't know the finer details. Like how Einstein was originally supposed to be a chimp, the time machine was supposed to be a fridge, and that a Universal exec thought "Spaceman From Pluto" was a better title. And that their justification was that "Back to the Future" didn't make any sense because Marty goes to the past. As if "Spaceman From Pluto" makes more sense?? Man, if that dude can be a studio exec then I can be a director LMAO

Anyway I do like this docuseries a lot because it goes really in-depth about the films it covers and I always end up learning something new, which I can always go for more of in my future career. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist in my own work, but it's always good to be reminded that I'm very fallible and my ideas aren't perfect but can be improved by outside input, and how to differentiate between the "it would work better without the nuclear bomb"s and the "make the title Spaceman From Pluto"s. And I think this episode did a really good job of conveying that through the story of how this film got made

[readingsbylibramc]

birth chart reading for @cafedelasocho

hello! welcome to your reading. I’m gonna give you a quick overview of what I’m going to analyze about your natal chart. feel free to ask me anything if something isn’t clear, of course. you’ll find out your dominants’ influence on your persona, your physical appearance, impression on others and the way you approach the world; your ego, identity, the real you; your reactions, your desires, inner emotions; your way of expressing your feelings, your mind and ideas; your desires and approach to love; your energy tank, instincts and temperament; in-depth analysis of each house with their rulers and analysis of heavy aspects; love life + soulmates/karmic partners interpretation; your relationship with your friends; your family life; your approach to career and work in general + possible jobs suggestion; your style, fashion sense analysis; life purpose and past life description; basic transits’ analysis to describe your current mood and, last but not least, your secret skills, how to make the most out of your soul and manifest what you desire based on your birth chart.

🦋 chart shape, dominants

your chart is a seesaw shape. your life focuses on different ideals and interests, often constrasting between each other. from one side, this gives you the ability to be adaptable and find solutions easily. on the other hand, you may struggle with balance; for example, you might find yourself dedicating your life to your relationships, neglecting your ego or viceversa. you need to learn how to harmonize these energies.

your dominant planets are mercury, venus and jupiter. you are an extremely intelligent person, you're probably very witty and sarcastic and you have a nice sense of humor. yet, you're also very philosophical and vice open-minded. you could sometimes be a bit materialistic, as you enjoy the finer things in life. on the other hand, you're definitely very creative and have an eye for aesthetics.

your dominant sign is libra. you're overall a peaceful person, you try to avoid conflicts if possible, even though sometimes you could have a sharp tongue. you're a romantic person, maybe too much. you hold unrealistic expectations of people, hence you often get disappointed when things don't turn out the way you thought. you're able to see both sides of an argument, and that's both good and bad. in fact, you're very objective, and most probably your opinions are right; yet, it may be annoying for people that are venting to you, as you could constantly point out their mistakes, even though you don't do it out of malice.

your dominant element is air. in your life, you adore seeking for knowledge of any kind. you may be interested in studying different subjects, from those you study at school like science, maths, literature etc. to more unconventional ones, such as astrology, psychology, criminology and so on. you enjoy interacting with people; even if you’re not that sociable, you’ll still be interested in their point of view and their ideals, as you see it as a way to expand your own mind. you’re also interested in vintage, and you may have a retro aesthetic or just like history in general.

🌎 ascendant in gemini, 27° / 3rd decan ruled by mercury and uranus

you enjoy communicating and intellectualism. you’re very curious about everything that surrounds you. you love expanding your knowledge, ideas and mind in general through communication, interactions and media. you have the ability to adapt quickly to new situations; your mind is fast, usually impulsive, even though this energy may not be much prominent; it may be perceived differently due to your libra energy, in fact. that’s because libra prefers organizing things, rather than acting impulsively. yet, this placement still helps you being adaptable to changes, even though you may only be able to see it after a few years if you manage to balance it well. you may also be able to match the energy of the people you’re talking to in order to be perceived as more likeable and connect with everyone on a deeper level. you may be fond of books, poetry, literature… both writing and reading. it’s also a way to let yourself tune to your emotions. since you’re constantly mentally active, physically you may also tend to play with your fingers or hair, or maybe you tend to gesticulate while you speak. appearance-wise, I assume you’re at least of average height, with long limbs and fingers. you have something small about your face; you may either have a small nose, or eyes, lips etc. same thing goes for your bones. you may be naturally skinny, or perhaps you have healthy curves. you also tend to look younger than you actually are, especially when growing up. you may often be, or at least look, sleepy. your eyes have a very dreamy look to them, and they’re probably almond-shaped. possibly, they’re also hooded. your skin may be naturally pale, or at least there’s something light in your face, even like some tiny sparkles in your eyes, and you may have a symmetrical face with full lips and a defined cupid's bow.

gemini ascendant square pisces jupiter: you probably learn a lot from people around you. you're most likely surrounded by wise, spiritual and possibly foreign individuals in your life. they help you to grow up, both spiritually and mentally. you're also very open-minded, and you rarely have prejudices. the downside to this placement is that you may be depend too much from your friends or lovers, especially when it comes to your beliefs. you're easy to influence, and you may change your mind often if others disagree with you. you could possibly have high expectations from others, creating a false idea of those who surround you. at least, you're aware of your abilities and you have the potential to make the most out of them, but you're modest about it. you don't come off as bossy, as other jupiter - asc aspects would.

🌞 sun in libra, 9° / 1st decan ruled by venus

this is the most romantic and kind-hearted libra decan. you are very intuitive, you understand others’ real feelings very easily. you’re very polite and mannered, you have this innate elegance about you that could make people jealous. you may even come off as snob. even though your gemini rising may make you look flaky, once people get to know you you’re actually very reliable and trust-worthy, as you are a person of strong morals. you may unconsciously manipulate people, but you don’t do it with malice. in fact, you’re probably not even aware of it most of the times. you’re reserved, and you don’t like being the centre of attention, despite craving compliments. nonetheless, you still like getting to know new people; you’re the type to know everyone, but you may struggle to find actual best friends, as your bonds with people are quite undeveloped and superficial. you have a nice sense of humor, and you may rely on sarcasm a lot. you’re also the type that doesn’t like to accept her mistakes. probably, when you were a child you used to scream 'it’s not my fault!’ in every occasion. in life, you strive for equality and fairness. for example, you don’t want to give less than someone else, you would feel guilty about it. at the same time, you don’t want to be the one that gives more either; you’re afraid that people could take advantage of you. therefore, balance is what you find the most pleasant.

libra sun conjunct libra venus: you enjoy peace and harmony. you want your surroundings to look all neat and clean, and same goes for the people you surround yourself with. you wish people saw you as easy to approach, even though you may struggle with your image. you try to be as formal and kind as possible with people you don’t know well, unless they start getting on your nerves by disagreeing with your opinions or being too bossy. you’re very feminine, not only in your looks and manners but also in the way you dress. you’re quite romantic too, and dream of having a perfect marriage. the downside to this aspect is that because you take so much care of yourself, people may mistake your self-love for vanity, especially with your libra stellium. also, your self-esteem may depend too much on others’ opinion of you; you may start thinking you’re ugly and unworthy of love just because someone told you you’re not their type, to sum up.

libra sun conjunct libra mercury: you express your ego and identity through your words and ideas. you’re very opinionated and you protect strongly your beliefs. after all, you probably came up with your ideals after thinking deeply about them, you were too precise to be wrong. you’re also probably an avid reader, and you could do well in writing yourself, as you’re able to properly convey your ideals with your words. also, your heavy libra dominance makes you naturally good at writing poetry, or even philosophical quotes or romance. your mind is very active, and you feel comfortable letting all your thoughts out. it’s actually a way to relieve stress. you also have a wide vocabulary, and you’re capable of making a formal speech if you have to. you have a memorable way of speaking, as your words are very sharp. it’s hard for you to be ignored for your intellect.

🌙 moon in pisces, 2° / 1st decan ruled by neptune

hands down my favourite moon sign! you're extremely empathetic and sensitive, you care a lot about others and you treat others' problems as if they were yours, you get totally immersed in them. you have quite a vivid imagination, you're able to idealize and picture anything you want. while this placement gives you an incredible amount of creativity, it can also make you uncomfortable. in fact, you may actually find yourself imagining every detail of every situation, even the worst ones. let's suppose you hear of a rape at the news; you literally start imagining the scene detail by detail, and it makes you extremely uncomfortable. actually, it literally ruins your mood, as it's as if you actually lived that scene. going back to the creativity matter, you have the soul of an artist; you have very enhanced emotions, and you're able to express them through artistic outlets. you could be amazing at writing poetry, books, art, music... also, your particular empathy of human's intellect can also make you an amazing psychologist or actress, as you're able to understand others' feelings and make them your own. you're extremely spiritual, and if you don't feel like that, you just have yet to have your spiritual awakening. you may be able to talk to spirits, for example, or perhaps you have very meaningful dreams. or maybe, you could literally predict the future through them. you're also most probably an avid daydreamer, you tend to get distracted easily because you're too busy thinking about random scenarios in your head. seriously, you could even make a movie out of them. you're also an hopeless romantic, and you dream of finding not just your spouse, but your literal soulmate. to make it simple, you want all of your daydreams to become reality.

pisces moon opposite leo mars: your feelings are very intense. you may tend to react aggressively, or at least overreact. you feel the constant need to express your emotions, but you also want to be understood by others. you tend to be aggressive because you're actually afraid that others may be the first ones to hurt you. you don't really do it with malice, it's your way to defend yourself from eventual enemies. this placement also indicates that your childhood / family life was or will be quite turbulent, even though I don't really think it's your case as your 4th house ruler isn't harshly aspected at all. to cope with this placement, I'd suggest you to be a little bit more mechanic when you express your feelings. you don't have to hide them, just try not to vent all your anger around.

pisces moon square sagittarius pluto: your emotions are so intense that they almost scare those around you. in fact, you're prone to accentuated mood swings; when you're happy, you start smiling and laughing joyfully. when you're sad, you're the type to cry, scream, even throw up in some cases. that's how far you go with your emotions. maybe, you also feel repressed to express your feelings exactly for this reason. you probably also have a conservative/possessive mother (or just any member of your family), with whom you don't feel at ease expressing your emotions. or maybe, your mother was absent throughout your life. on the other hand, you can understand others' feelings, but be careful not to use it to manipulate others. you could also be very paranoid, and might develop addictions and anxiety disorders, especially with your pisces moon. if you don't feel comfortable speaking to someone you know and there's something you need to talk about, I'd suggest you to do it with a psychologist. don't be afraid to face your emotions, you'll only be able to control them if you get know them.

🗣 mercury in libra, 15° / 2nd decan ruled by venus and uranus

you're very diplomatic! you always try to be nice and gentle with your words, you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. your tone of voice is extremely soft, sometimes it could even be hard to understand what you say, as you could naturally have a low voice. you're extremely balanced, you have amazing problem-solving skills as you're able to see both side of an argument. it's natural for you to understand what's right and what isn't, and most of the times you're actually right. when you're with someone you're not really close to, you could even be the accommodating type who allows others to speak over your voice, or maybe you let others speak first as a gesture of kindness. I feel like with your jupiter dominance you have very strong opinions, and you're actually particularly proud of them. luckily, this placement makes you able to communicate them with diplomacy. you could often get angry if someone tries to prove you wrong, but aside from that, you try to be very elegant and formal when you speak. you're probably not fond of cursing, or at least you try to appear as mannered as possible with people you're not comfortable around. last but not least, you're such a charismatic, smooth talker that you result very persuasive. you're able to trick people with your words, which appear very diplomatic and calm.

❤️ venus in libra, 2° / 1st decan ruled by venus

love this placement! you're very romantic, and it helps your gemini rising being less flaky. you're not looking for a partner, you're looking for a whole disney prince. you do care about looks when choosing a lover, but not necessarily a conventionally beautiful person. they have to appear perfect to your eyes, and this usually depends on the way they treat you. in fact, you despise vulgar, rude people. people that act like that immediately become unattractive to you. you're also very picky, exactly because you're looking for the perfect lover. you're probably the type to cry at movies. you're also quite of a cliche; you're into roses, romantic dinners, sunsets... anything romantic that you hear about in fairytales. the problem with this placement is that you may overestimate the people you frequent, ending up having different expectations from reality.

☄️ mars in leo, 27° / 3rd decan ruled by the sun and mars

praise and success are what motivate you the most. your main goal in life is being praised for achieving your goals, you wouldn't feel motivated without compliments. therefore, you put energy in things that make you feel confident and noticed, as you enjoy being seen. for example, if you feel confident being well-dressed, you could spend hours in the closet to look how you want. you are very creative, you get an energy boost through creative outlets, and hence your hobbies (reading, writing, dancing, singing, drawing, etc.) recharge your battery. this placement also makes you very extra, especially with people you're close to. you may gesticulate a lot, you could as well enjoy mimicking others' voices. you're basically very dramatic, you seem like an actor when you react, but at least you're very fun and entertaining to watch and listen. this placement, it gives you a strong charisma that, and combined with your heavy libra dominance, it makes it impossible not to notice you. you could overreact from time to time, and you may also be particularly pessimistic, but above all you appear as someone very bold and strong-minded.

leo mars square sagittarius pluto: with this placement, I assume that when you were younger you were some sort of victim. you could have been bullied, for example, you used to be insecure about the way you looked and were. you could have felt different from others, and they took advantage of that to make you feel even more insecure. or maybe, it was a parent, or every authoritative figure in your life, that restricted you from following your own ideals. because of that, now you constantly feel the need to prove yourself. you probably tend to accumulate a lot of anger all together, which you need to let all out or you could explode. you could find comfort in physical ways to relieve stress, like punching bags, slamming doors, etc. or perhaps, when you're angry you just get overwhelmed by all of your emotions. you may cry, scream, even throw up in certain cases. on the other hand, you are extremely magnetic and attractive to others, you naturally draw people towards you. you're also extremely passionate in whatever you do, you put your whole heart in doing things you love.

🏡 houses

your 1st house is in gemini. your ego feels fulfilled when you express your opinions, ideas and creativity. people probably see you as an intelligent, wise individual. maybe even as a know-it-all. you care about both your inner and outer self, which may be the cause of your confidence issues. you try to fit into society, and you tend to change your approach to people based on who you’re interacting with. while this gives you great social skills, it may confuse you quite a bit. in fact, you may forget who you are. you may often have identity crisis, especially since you always feel as if you have to fit somewhere. the ruler of the 1st house, mercury, is in your 4th house: you are quite private, you don't really expose too much of yourself as you prefer showing your true feelings to people you're sure they deserve it, you need to trust someone in order to open up to them. you may also be very fond of your family.

your 2nd house is in cancer. your family, home and cultural background may play a big role in your finances. you may earn money through your family’s business, or maybe you actually work with your family. you may also work from home, especially online/through social media. your adaptability is your greatest strenght; you’re probably good at a different variety of jobs, hence it may not be hard for you to find something to cope before deciding your definite career. this also confirms that your values, self-worth and security were shaped by your roots, childhood and family. the ruler of the 2nd house is in the 9th house: you may earn money through foreign cultures and languages, hence you could be particularly skilled at them. you may work in a multinational agency, or perhaps as an interpreter or translator. you could also earn through teaching or travelling, so perhaps you may have to move constantly for your job.

your 3rd house is in leo. you’re able to express your innovative ideas and creativity in a way that doesn’t go overlooked. you tend to overthink a lot, especially about your theories but, once you’ve made up your mind, no one is gonna make you change idea. you’re confident in your opinions. the downside of this placement is that you may come off as a know-it-all from the way you communicate your thoughts. you also have your leo mars sitting in this house: when you communicate, you take a lot of pride in your opinions. you hate admitting that you’re wrong, especially since you’re a perfectionist. you could be quite impulsive, and you may speak with a naturally loud tone of voice. you’re extremely good at coming up with plans easily, even though you may have troubles sticking to them, as your fiery nature gets easily bored.

your 4th house is in virgo. this is another placement that points out that you lack something due to your family. maybe they couldn’t spend much time with you, as they were busy with work. or maybe, they were overprotective of you, making you insecure. probably even both. this doesn’t mean that you’re hurt, you may not even be aware that you’re lacking a piece of yourself actually. yet, it’s still there, and it influences you a lot on your day-to-day affairs. your physical home was probably very pleasant and beautiful; you may have a conventionally beautiful family, or at least they’re particularly attractive and charming. your house may also be very well-designed and elegant, doesn’t matter how big it is. you probably see your parents as ideal, they are your role models and you look up to them, even though they could have been a bit restrictive from time to time, but nothing too serious, you most likely had a pleasant childhood.

your 5th house is in libra. you’re very creative, and you try to make beauty out of your imagination. you’re probably into music, art, photography, fashion… things like that. you’d also like to experience light romance, and you may enjoy the idea of socializing with others. you feel fulfilled when you’re able to spend time with your loved ones, even though this may make you struggle embracing your indipendence. the ruler of the 5th house is in the 4th house: your hobbies involve spiritual topics, such as astrology, tarots, meditation etc. you probably also love spending your spare time by yourself. you’re quite of a loner, from this point of view, and you may possibly feel sad about it, but it's the best way to charge your battery.

your 6th house is scorpio, with pluto placed here as well. you may be passionate about routine, self-care, health and work, to the point that it looks (and feels) obsessive. you may attract enemies in your daily life, e.g co-workers that are jealous of your ambition. you might have to undergo different changes in your routine and health throughout your life, which can literally transform you both physically and emotionally. the ruler of the 6th house is in the 6th house: you may have pets, or even work with them. you take care of your health, especially to work. you may also work as a doctor with plutonian traits; hence, you could be a psychologist, a therapist etc.

your 7th house is in sagittarius. you want your marriage to be a constant travel for you, in which you can both relax and learn. you want to marry a witty and impulsive partner, that is also fun to live with. you may often find yourself falling for unavailable people, either physically or emotionally (or even both). the fact that jupiter, the ruler of this house, is in the 10th house, indicates that you may meet your future spouse at work, or maybe even abroad, perhaps during a work trip. they may be foreign, or at least they’re able to speak a different language from yours. they could also have a different culture/religion from yours. overall, they're also very wise, outgoing and surprisingly open-minded and philosophical.

your 8th house is in capricorn, with also neptune and uranus sitting there. you may be prone to die old, and you may feel attracted to people that are older or more established than you. you are most probably going to have an unexpected death. or maybe, you’re surrounded by unpredictable events of loss of any kind in your life. you’re fascinated by the occult, and you may even be/been able to talk to dead people. you’re very intuitive, and it’s easy for you to read through people’s words. you may as well have prophetic dreams. with the ruler of the 8th house in the 11th house, you’re likely surronded by karmic friends and people in general. you may argue often with them, and your relationship with is very intense, but that’s because you have karmic lessons to learn, and they’re the ones teaching them to you. it’s something that will get better with time. also, your friends may have the same interests as you, and you could possibly attract wealthy friends too.

your 9th house is in aquarius, with also your moon placed in this house. you’re an avid believer of your philosophical and cultural beliefs. you may be interested in teaching, and you could do it through innovative and technological tools. you’re also interested in foreign music, books, movies and any type of hobby. you may be attracted to genres like thriller, sci-fi… you could also believe in aliens. at school you may be considered particular, almost weird for your interests. you’re open-minded, as you appreciate the differences in people and cultures all over the world. the moon here gives you the natural need to keep grasping information around not only in school but in your life in general, as knowledge is where you find happiness. you hate being told what to do, you want to be free in the decisions you make. you may have to live unexpected situations, as 9th house is also about experiences. you’re the type to feel proud doing something never seen before, as you aspire to be a trend-setter. this may also manifest in your musical, fashion etc. taste. you’re also very opinionated, and you defend your beliefs pretty strongly. the moon is also about roots and childhood, therefore you may have a foreign background to you. with the ruler of the 9th house being in the 8th, you learn a lot about occult topics, such as astrology, tarots, dreams etc.

your 10th house is ruled by pisces, with also jupiter in a tight conjunction with the midheaven. you may be unsure of your future career, or at least indecisive. you may want to do different things, or maybe you have completely no idea. hopefully, the rest of the reading will shed some light on you. usually, people with pisces in the 10th house’s cusp make great healers, hence you may become a doctor of any kind, especially a psychologist. you may also work in the creative, artistic field, e.g you could be an artist, a writer, a musician etc. finding a career is your ultimate goal in life, as it's what makes you happy. it’s pretty much the source of your confidence and energy, what your life revolves around. with the ruler of the 10th house in the 8th, I repeat that you would make an awesome psychologist, as you’re able to understand people’s deeper emotions. you could also work with death in general, so again as a doctor or even as a detective, maybe as a criminologist. also, jupiter rules over foreign languages and cultures, therefore you could work as a stewardess, as a translator, or perhaps even as a teacher or professor.

with the 11th house ruled by aries, you probably attract a lot of people in your life. whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, you’ll always be able to have someone by your side, even though you may struggle to create stable bonds. friends come and go, basically. you may attract very fierce, almost violent friends. they’re very energetic, and probably extroverted people who like socializing and enjoying life to the fullest. saturn is also placed in this house, meaning that at first you struggle to find friends. you may be very shy and awkward, and you just can’t seem to find someone right for you whom you can truly trust. I don’t have much to say to you regarding this placement, as it’s not badly aspected at all. you may find yourself comfortable with this placement, especially while growing up, as you’re cautious about who you befriend. also, it allows you not to waste time and focus on your duties, but generally it’s something that will get better with time and will naturally give you the ability to relate to others better. as I’ve already mentioned above, you could also have workaholic tendencies to make your dreams come true. the ruler of the 11th house is in the 2nd house: your friends can help you build a reputation, especially since they’re probably quite popular. or maybe, you could actually work with them. generally speaking, you may come across powerful people in your life that will help you boost your self-esteem and career path. you may also meet your true friends at work, or at least while growing up. you probably didn’t have many stable bonds during your teenage years.

lastly, your 12th house is in the sign of taurus. you’re secretly sensitive and affectionate, but you may have issues finding it out at first. in fact, the center of your life is your own intellectuality, these venusian traits are probably yet to develop. you may feel attracted to spirituality, but you’re quite lazy to actually dive into it. using tools like meditation, astrology etc. are important for you to understand what you truly need from life. your 12th house’s ruler is in the 4th house: getting in touch with your hidden, subconscious and higher self will be crucial to help you grow up and gain more awareness of yourself. you may be interested in topics like astrology, psychology etc. most likely to get to know yourself, but your chart points out that you could easily develop some sort of psychic qualities after your spiritual awakening.

❤️ love life, soulmates

in love, you attract sagittarius, capricorn, scorpio and libra placements. your future spouse may also have libra/scorpio energy, maybe a libra - scorpio cusp. you need someone who’s charming, respectful, romantic and polite, but that can also stand up for themselves with no hesitation. you’re also into the magnetic, sexy type. you’re looking for someone independent, but that wouldn’t mind dedicating their time to you. you may feel unlucky in love, as your sagittarius descendant makes you attract people that are usually unavailable, whether it’s physically (they’re abroad) or emotionally. you may marry someone of a different culture/country/religion from yours. you may also meet and marry abroad. you may meet through your family, or maybe at your workplace as I’ve already mentioned before. they could also be someone very well known in their career field, or perhaps they may even be famous. you could also meet them in a place where people usually relax, such as a bar or at the restaurant. your children will most probably have very prominent venus energy, hence libra or taurus; they’ll love to be spoiled with affection, they’ll love material things like toys, food, clothes etc. but they’ll also be very mannered and elegant.

👶🏻 family life

your mother is probably very hard-working, and she has a strong role in your family. she loves being spoiled and appreciated, together with receiving attention. yet, she could sometimes be quite superficial because of that, but deep down she’s very romantic and mannered. she may have leo placements, or maybe virgo, taurus, libra, gemini or virgo. your father is a bit softer than your mother, and he might be a pisces or have any type of fire/sagittarius placement in his chart. your father could be a bit moody and / or unpredictable, and he may also have some addictions in the worst case. yet, he also has a very sweet and outgoing side to him that he may struggle to let out. if you have siblings, they’re probably leos/ fire signs. you have a very pleasant relationship with them, you're all very playful and generous and you used to always stand up for each other, even though there could have been a bit of competition.

📊 career

as I’ve already mentioned above, you could work abroad, or at least with different languages/cultures. you’re probably naturally talented in this field, it would be a shame to overlook it. you also most likely have great communication skills and writing abilities. you’re very logical and precise, you’d definitely do well in a field that requires calm and organization. I can also picture you being an amazing teacher or even professor. based on your other placements, you could also do well at literally any creative career! you may be a dancer, a singer, or even something more complex like a creative director. otherwise, you could also be successful as a designer, an architect, a scientist… something that allows you to be mostly independent, but that can still guarantee you mental stimulation and a decent income, and that also allows you to use your creative neptunian energy. last but not least, I also see you being an incredible healer, therefore you would make a skilled therapist, psychologist or even a nurse.

👚 fashion sense, style analysis

you’re very traditional about your clothes, maybe even basic. you’re the type to have lots of essential clothes in your wardrobe, e.g a white shirt, white t-shirt, jeans etc. you love wearing sophisticated, elegant fits. for example, you may be fond of wide leg jeans, or maybe flare trousers, boatneck sweaters, tiny jewellery… things like that, that are always a must have. you may fancy pastel colors, or even neutral shades like black, white, grey, beige etc. you’re also the type to follow fashion trends.

👁 past life, life purpose

during this lifetime, it is probably easy for you to get out of your comfort-zone. you don't mind learning, making new experiences and challenging yourself, but this lifetime you don't need to go that far. you need to prove that what you learned in your past life is the key to nurture your skills, and be able to apply them in a smaller environment. you may find yourself travelling a lot, gaining lots of widsom from your experiences... in this lifetime, you basically need to learn through the experiences you gained in your previous life to communicate your thoughts. you need to understand how to communicate who you are to the world.

🤔 major transits analysis / may 14

jupiter just entered pisces today, and it will stay in this sign until july. this is an extremely positive time for you! in fact, having the planet of abundance and luck conjunct the planet of your subconscious, means that you're able to manifest anything you want in this span of time! try to keep a positive mindset during these months, as the universe has your back. everything you manifest will come 2x faster to you, it's the best period for you to focus on what you truly want to achieve in tour your life.

🧿 manifest what you want, secret skills

with your water placements, you probably have a 6th sense. you’re able to manifest what you want if you subconsciously predict it, even though it may be hard. you’d have to get in touch with your higher self to do so, and hence I would suggest you to light up some candles and meditate for a bit before manifesting, in this way it will be way more effective. you may manifest something while daydreaming, for example. or perhaps, you can also try listening to your own affirmations while you sleep, as you won’t be consciously aware of that. it’s probably the most effective way.

and this is the end! thank you again for booking a reading, hope it resonated with you :)

- libramc xx

[spanishskulduggery]

Can you do a detailed article on the Spanish word order variations perhaps using the sentence below? -Mi hermano juega a la pelota -Mi a la pelota hermano juega. -A la pelota mi hermano juega. -Hermano juega a la pelota mi. -A la pelota hermano juega mi. -Hermano juega mi a la pelota.

That’s a particular sentence but I can point some things out.

The accepted variations would be:

Mi hermano juega a la pelota. = My brother plays ball.

Juega a la pelota mi hermano. = My brother plays ball.

The second one I would say can sound kind of emphatic.

Modern Spanish tends to follow what English would typically do as far as syntax for normal sentences, with some exceptions.

But “my brother plays ball” is most like the first sentence.

The second sentence places the subject at the very end. That kind of structure is common, but can serve an alternative function of adding emphasis. It can sometimes read as “my brother is the one who plays ball”, as if you were declaring something or offering more information.

So for another example:

Eso dije. = That’s what I said.

Yo dije eso. = I said that.

Eso dije yo. = I’m the one who said that. / That’s what I said.

The first one is kind of standard.

The second and third are more insistent which you can see by the addition of the pronoun yo. Adding the pronoun when it isn’t 100% necessary is a great way to add extra emphasis; dije is only used with yo so adding yo is kind of like bolding or italicizing the “I”

This kind of emphasis can at times be used to sound threatening or to be very insistent:

Cálmate o yo te calmo.

Cálmate o te calmo yo.

Those sentences are interchangeable but they mean “Calm down (yourself) or I’ll calm you down” and that sounds very much like something a parent would say.

For more on your original sentence, there isn’t a set syntax for subjects and predicates, but there are parts of phrases that stay together.

As in, adjectives always stay with the nouns they modify - you wouldn’t separate mi and hermano for example:

Mi hermano dijo que... = My brother said that...

Eso dijo mi hermano. = That’s what my brother said.

Separating adjectives or determiners from what they modify causes a lot of confusion because you then don’t know what they’re related to. Particularly with mi as “my” you run into a problem where if you separate it someone might misinterpret it as being the object mí which is “me”

Mi hermano me lo dijo. = My brother told me that.

Mi hermano me lo dijo a mí. = My brother told that to me. [emphatic sentence]

And verbal phrases don’t usually get separated - jugar a la pelota would typically always be together in that order. To me saying a la pelota juega kind of sounds Yoda to me... either that or poetry. Like I would understand it but I wouldn’t ever say it. It would also make no sense if they were too separated in the sentence.

You wouldn’t break up these sentence fragments.

And you wouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition, so you wouldn’t be seeing that a at the very end ever just as an example. There are some exceptions to that, but they’re more of a different context or there are words like antes or después meaning “before” and “after” that could be used as one word answers. Like “Are we going before or after?” “After”, or things like that.

But basic syntax in Spanish for clauses is to either put the entire predicate at the end, or the entire thing at the beginning.

In some cases that’s for emphasis, and in some cases it’s for poetry. English is much more linear, and we don’t often switch up the sentence except for poetry.

I’m definitely sure I’ve missed some of the finer points, but the overall theme is that the syntax in Spanish can be very changeable, but the individual fragments in the sentence usually have to stay together.

[emilyisabell]

Understanding an Interest Rate Swap Agreement

A number of people will ask, what is an interest rate swap agreement? Is it a good option to consider if you are in debt? It may seem strange to ask, but it will help you understand the finer points behind the basics of this type of agreement. Before getting into any of the details of such an agreement, it will be important to first know exactly why someone would want to enter into one. Understanding the benefits of such an arrangement can give you an overall perspective that can make the decision to enter into one more well-informed and can lead you down a path of success.

Read more

http://harbourfronttechnologies.blogspot.com/2021/03/interest-rate-swap.html

There are several reasons that may encourage someone to enter into an interest rate swap agreement. Perhaps the interest rates have suddenly gone up or perhaps they are in need of a second mortgage or another form of short-term financing. With today's economy suffering as it is, these situations are becoming more common. For those that are in need of a little extra money, this might just be the answer they were looking for. The one problem that often comes with these agreements is that they can end up costing you quite a bit of money in the long run in a swap interest expense tax treatment.

One of the biggest benefits of the interest rate swap agreement is that it tends to lower monthly payments and interest rates. This is something that can save you money in the long run. In addition, you are not locked into a certain interest rate. There are a variety of different interest rates available and when you find a deal that gives you the most for your dollar, it is likely that you will be signing up for it. You need to understand that when you get into such agreements you will have to pay a penalty.

Before you sign up for an interest rate swap agreement, make sure that you understand the fine print. Read through all of the fine print so that you are not surprised by something in the contract. This is something that can cause a lot of stress later on if you do not read through everything carefully. There are many people that do not think that they need to look over the contract for the interest rate but this can end up being a big mistake.

Once you have read through everything and you are satisfied that you understand the contract, you should make sure that you put the terms in writing. Many people forget to do this can cause them to have problems later on. If you do not make sure that everything is in writing, you could end up having a problem one month and then not know about it. You want to be as specific as possible so that there are no surprises later on.

When you sign up for such an agreement, make sure that you read through all of the interest rate information. You need to make sure that you understand the interest rate that will be charged to you on your loan. If you find that you are not getting the interest rate that you were originally looking for, you should look for another one. This will help you save money in the long run and will make sure that you do not have any problems. Also, if you decide that you do not want to use the interest rate that is set, you can cancel the contract and look for another one.

[apparitionism]

Run 2

Other than a few select details—and the overall conundrum of the appropriate role(s) for technological advances in sports—this story is entirely fantastical. Very little of what I’m describing works in the real world as I’m pretending it does here. Of course very little is working in the real world as it usually does right now, so why should this be any different? Honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing. More than ever, I’m writing words down solely to write words down, and I can’t get any sort of tone to cohere, and while I’m sure it would be nice to be inventing calculus or writing King Lear, sometimes all that’s even vaguely achievable in the creative (or “creative”) realm is some poorly constructed fanfictional narrative about too-springy shoes. Which began in part 1.

Run 2

The man sitting next to Helena Wells in first class—his window 5A to her aisle 5B—was a talker. He was in sales, he began explaining the very moment he sat down, and his three vodka tonics over the course of the 90-minute flight did nothing to slow the torrent of information he felt compelled to convey to Helena about the endlessly fascinating (to him) world of medical devices. And the sale thereof. Helena could have informed him, a bit, about certain likely future directions of that field, for Helena knew a bit about a great many fields, but she kept her own counsel. He said nothing of consequence, and she did not feel any need to expend energy on him, even as little as it might have taken to freeze him with a look. “Mm hm,” she would say, when he paused for breath, and after every such interjection, off he would go again.

Not until the end of the flight, not until she had already risen to pull her bag from the overhead, did he bother to ask, “And what do you do?”

Helena smiled a smile that showed only the biting edges of her teeth. “I win.”

She did indeed win. More precisely, she negotiated deals to the best advantage of those who employed her, so her newest position, with the Zelus athletic corporation, suited her competitive nature perfectly. She found it delicious to be facilitating the endeavors of, and even working with, athletes, for they were straightforward, unabashed in their desire to show that, on a given day, they were better than any competition they faced.

Helena did, however, envy them their openness about that desire, their freedom to be visibly coldblooded. While ideals of “good sportsmanship” did keep most athletes from dancing on their enemies’ graves, that sportsmanship at base required going all in to win, and showing it. In Helena’s bailiwick of corporate dealmaking, on the other hand, every position had give; every outcome reflected some of that give—that is, some loss—on each side... or at least, it did so externally. Every party might in fact achieve their desired outcomes, but regret was what one had to perform.

From this, Helena knew that no person or business or any other entity was ever as strong in their supposed stance as they claimed to be. And oh, how they did claim: so many ways there were to righteously say “this far and no farther.” And then so many ways to try to save face when that crumbled to “perhaps, in fact, just a bit farther.”

Where Helena excelled was not in nailing down the finer points of contracts, but rather in discerning weak points and, on their basis, obtaining agreements in principle into which her opposition needed to enter—and out of which they could not wriggle—without causing public embarrassment or shame. She relished in-person meetings, for physical presence could serve as motivation when recalcitrant parties needed goading, or cover, to make the required concessions. Particularly when Helena gave every indication of being entirely willing to walk away. And to talk about having done so.

“Here, ultimately, is what I must have from you,” Helena would say, at an appropriate point, to some such reluctant interlocutor. And then she would, often, present an outsize “ultimate” ask.

Her counterpart would, naturally, be nonplussed, and would sputter something such as, “We can’t afford that!” or “That’s unreasonable!”

Helena put the theatrics undergirding face-to-face to good use: she was quite practiced at engaging in a lengthy process of standing up and restoring implements to their appropriate places in her attaché. “Then I suppose further discussions will be unproductive,” she would say as she carefully housed a pen, her telephone, and various other assorted technologies in zippered pockets. “Such a shame, when I’m sure you could summon some extra effort.” She would, on occasion, sigh.

Observing this production, observing its “finality,” her counterpart would waver. Then would come the beg of “Wait, wait.”

Helena would, of course, wait as requested. As she did so, she would begin to muse, aloud, something along the lines of a quiet, “I might be willing to offer certain... considerations...”

Eventually an agreement would be reached, one in which she would have given up no more than she was authorized to concede, and usually far, far less.

Requesting the moon, being ready to bark about not receiving it, and then yielding some sweetener, was not her only tactic, but it was consistently—surprisingly consistently—effective.

The additional leverage provided by Zelus’s money, prestige, and international reach in such situations was gratifyingly robust. It had made this new position singularly attractive, to start, and would, she hoped, make it satisfying, both in the long term and in the short-term highest-of-stakes dealmaking on which she was about to embark with AAI.

She was licking her chops at having been tapped for these talks, though she knew that Dan Badger—Saint Dan, as he was known at home, with a nationally uncharacteristic lack of irony—would not sully his ethically pristine hands by engaging in them. He had underlings for that. Speaking to Zelus would imply that he spoke to Zelus, and thus that he might be influenced by—that is, that his principles might fall victim to—the company’s money, prestige, and international reach.

Funny that anything of consequence in her life would come down to Saint Dan... but she had no need or time to concentrate on that now, what with her flight with Mr. Medicaldevices, what with getting herself to her hotel and then to AAI’s headquarters.

“I win,” she repeated aloud, as a firm reminder to herself, upon exiting the elevators on the 40th floor to confront the winged AAI logo on the wall of a large lobby. She wasn’t nervous as such, but the initial conferences involved in any such negotiation, particularly one like this with such enormous repercussions, did tend to make her feel as if she were being put through qualifying. As to whether she would qualify, there was no doubt. But having to do so was an annoyance.

“I win,” she said again, as she realized, after some purposeful striding through hallways, that she had no idea where she was, or where she was supposed to be. How could she have been so foolish as to have misread the COO’s office number?

Well. She was considered a shark, was she not? So she kept moving, entering the nearest office space, determined to push her way to a righted course. Someone would know where she was meant to be. She found herself in a large area featuring several desks, at the nearest of which sat a womanly figure, her back to Helena. She had long, dark, curly hair. Helena had once upon a time been dramatically drawn to women—well, be honest: one woman—with long, dark, curly hair... she tried not to be, anymore, but here she was again, drawn, as if no one else were present in the space. She tapped the woman’s shoulder and received an annoyed response, and upon hearing it, Helena thought, Wait...

Then the woman looked up, and Helena thought, Oh no, followed swiftly by, Myka.

She could not summon a single word to say. Judging from Myka’s wide eyes and unmoving mouth, neither could she.

As they gaped at each other, Helena’s thoughts galloped along: She hasn’t changed. She looks like herself. She still has that whorl of hazel in her eyes...

She tried to shake herself back to sense by noting that people’s eyes didn’t change color over time; of course the hazel would still be there. The hazel and the green and the lashes that overswept them both...

“Lost,” Myka at last said, lighting on what Helena vaguely remembered was a word she herself had said.

“Lost,” Helena affirmed. It was all she could do to utter that syllable, even though, standing here, staring at Myka, she felt no longer lost at all. Or perhaps she was lost again, or lost anew, lost as she’d been, nearly two years ago... the distance between then and now had not been sufficiently impressed upon her until this moment. You are different now, this reminder of emotional depth and breadth told her. You are intentionally different now.

A man seated near Myka said, “Call me crazy, but I think you two know each other.”

The ensuing silence stretched into near-insurmountability.

Then: “Yes,” Myka said.

Helena was surprised that she would acknowledge it, but she had, so: “Yes,” Helena echoed.

Nothing else happened.

“Okay,” the man said. After a moment, during which Helena and Myka continued to stare at each other, he said to Helena, “Um. New lady Myka knows, what are you doing here?”

Helena found something like her voice. “I’m from Zelus,” she said.

“When you say it like that, sounds like an alien planet. How many suns does it have?” he asked.

Whoever this was, he was good at breaking tension. Helena coughed a little laugh and said, “You see my healthy tan.”

“So, zero,” the man said. “Mykes, you never told me you knew an alien from a system with no suns.” Then, to Helena, “Okay, alien from the planet Zelus, how can we help you? But I’m not sure I believe you’re from there at all. Don’t they make everybody wear the gear? Where’s your headband or whatever?”

Helena laughed a bit more strongly, this time at the idea of herself in a headband. “Your COO can attest. I have an initial appointment regarding what to do about the shoes. The Deceits, that is.”

The man snorted. “Trust me, we know which shoes need something done about ’em. But anyway you took a major wrong turn at the elevators.”

“Did I?” Helena resumed staring at Myka. Wrong turn? The turn I took was in no way wrong. Or it was, because I am seeing a sight I never thought to see again, and it is reminding me of things I cannot bear to be reminded of.

“You want the bigwig offices. Other side.”

“Do I?” Helena asked. I don’t think I do. I think I want to take up residence right here... or rather, in the past. The part of the past that involves this person who is right here.

“Yeah,” he said, but a bit heavily, as if he had heard her thoughts and wanted to honor them. “Because we’re just certification and compliance.”

In response to that, Helena could think only, Of course you are. Or rather, Of course she is.

She hadn’t seen Myka... since.

Helena’s then-employer had been looking into the acquisition of a company. Helena was sent to visit that company for some days in order to see what best face it could put on for an acquisitive outsider... and what could be extrapolated from that about its value. The books were being gone over by others, and they would provide useful quantitative data on corporate health, but Helena’s nose for frailties was unsurpassed.

All the meetings she attended were watched over by a rotating cast from the legal department. Those types always thought themselves hawklike, their senses finely tuned so as to correct any employees’ statements that might give Helena the wrong impression. Helena was fully prepared for whatever “clarifying” interruptions they would offer.

She was not at all prepared for their intern.

“This is our 3L from Stanford,” said one of the lawyers, explaining that intern’s presence at one such meeting. “Myka Bering. She’s trying corporate on for size. We’re hoping it fits.”

Helena took Myka Bering’s hand for what was meant to be a simple business shake. But at the touch, something happened to her breathing: in-out became out-in, and she coughed. “Sorry,” she said, then coughed again. “Does it?” she asked, sounding nothing at all like herself. “Fit, I mean?”

“Still trying it on,” Myka said, and with a little duck of her head—she was tall—she stepped away, toward the back of the room, a movement that said I know what my place is here.

Helena knew what her own place was, and she tried to occupy it appropriately, sitting in a position of significance at a not-quite-sturdy conference table. Yet throughout the meeting, her attention was drawn to Myka, who was not at the table but in a chair against the wall, drawn to her serious brow-furrow as she took notes. At one point, Myka looked up from those notes, meeting Helena’s eyes, and after a blink of connection, she performed the duck of head again.

Helena spent the remainder of the meeting hoping that some similar blink would reconnect them... well, not only hoping, but also attempting to magically will or engineer it into happening. She took no notes of her own, and when she saw blank paper in front of her, once the meeting’s participants were released at its end, she had to acknowledge, certainly to herself if no one else, that she had been thrown entirely off her stride.

That wouldn’t do, so she had to do something about it.

For a day and a half, the “something” she did was “ignore it aggressively.” If she concentrated solely on the professional tasks at hand, she would surely forget the stumble Myka had brought to her breath. She would surely forget that blink of connection and would give up wishing for it to be repeated. Surely that was what would happen.

As a strategy for regaining her stride, aggressive ignoring was unsuccessful.

Helena then told herself that if she sought Myka out, that if she talked to her one-on-one, whatever momentary spell had been cast would surely break. Myka would show herself to be merely a law student, and Helena could... put her in perspective. She made a plan to catch Myka at the end of the day, which would allow her to dismiss this spell for the mirage it was and start fresh the next morning. Surely that was what would happen.

As a strategy for breaking the spell, seeking Myka out was unsuccessful.

Myka was exiting her small closet of an office when Helena approached her, ready to say a simple “hello” and inquire about her internship. But when she was once again the focus of Myka’s attention, Helena was barely able to choke, “The other day. In the meeting.” (She could not even say, “The meeting about,” because she did not know what should follow “about,” because she did not know what the meeting had been about.) She continued, inadequately, “I... noticed you.”

“I noticed you too,” Myka said. “I mean, you did sit at the big table. At the front. And you did some talking.” Helena did not remember doing any talking. “So of course I would have. Noticed.” Playful? As if she knew that Helena had wanted their eyes to meet again. “Plus we were introduced. Before it.”

If Helena had known she needed to brace herself against so much today, she might have been able to do it; her spine might have remained straight. Instead it bent her body toward Myka’s so that she could murmur, “Would you... would you want to have a drink with me tonight?” Bent so she might now magically will or engineer her into saying yes.

Myka didn’t say yes. What she did was lean back a bit and give Helena a look of appraisal. What followed was a surprise: “When was the last time you had a meal cooked by someone you know?” she asked.

The seeming non sequitur was strangely calming, and that calm gave Helena space to consider how to respond. She contemplated a boastful answer, one that might remind both herself and Myka who they were in relation to each other: “Certain restaurateurs with Michelin stars know my name and have recently cooked meals for me.” She then pondered an attempt at humor: “The chef at my hotel knows that I’m demanding when it comes to room service.” No, the latter was asinine. And the former made her sound like... well, it made her sound too much like the person she wanted to be most of the time, the person whom others feared. She didn’t want Myka to hear that. As it happened, she wanted, uncharacteristically, to tell Myka the truth. “I can’t remember,” she settled for saying.

More appraisal, as if Myka had been waiting for Helena to decide on an approach and now was deliberating in advance of her verdict on the choice. And Helena’s breathing might have faltered in response to Myka, but Myka’s, here in response to Helena, was resolute, measured. Helena watched her body inhale and exhale, once then twice, two very full breaths. Then Myka said, “I do want to have a drink with you. But I think you should let me cook you a meal instead. Or also. Nothing fancy; all I’ve got is some pasta and cheap wine.”

She could have said she had stale saltines and grape juice. Cardboard and lukewarm water. All Helena wanted was to be in her presence. You really shouldn’t do this, some vague conscience-voice said, altogether inadequately.

TBC

In place of a tag essay: This is a short part because my ability to sustain thoughts is limited. But did you see the reveal coming? I thought I leaned on it so hard in the first part, but maybe I should have leaned harder... anyway, I’m going to try to get better, structure-wise, going forward, but that is going to depend very much on the state of the world. With regard to that state, I want to say out loud that everyone in the Bering & Wells community is precious to me. Precious. So please stay as safe as possible: wash hands, physical distance, stay home if you can. And if you’re on the front lines, doing essential work, my gratitude is boundless.

[bhandarimarblekishangarh]

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[happy-haunts]

The Hostess

Chapter one | Constance pt.1 : Constance pt.2

Chapter two | Mister Topper pt.1 : Mister Topper pt.2

Chapter three | Madame Leota pt.1 : Madame Leota pt.2

Chapter four | The Hostess

Chapter five | Captain Blood pt.1 : Captain Blood pt.2

Chapter six | Emily DeClaire pt.1 : Emily DeClaire pt.2 : Emily DeClaire pt.3

Chapter seven | Finale

I walked with Red and Constance behind me as I held my lamp up beside my head, leading them to a door that said ‘Cast Members Only’ and upon opening they were flooded with the overwhelming pinks, on my walls were several prominent heroes, princesses, magical girls, and fantasy posters. I had bookshelves filled with books- sitting atop them were the animes, manga, and novels of the characters on my walls if not more, hanging in a closet with black beads as curtains were cosplays and an assortment of pastel clothing, my bed was just a standard queen with regular pastel pink sheets(and a body pillow of a really hot anime girl), and last but not least my pink desk with my tiny chibi figurines, pink desk chair, pink headphones, and gaming set up.

I felt rather embarrassed that Red and Constance had to see this side of me but I attempted not to show it as I took a seat in my desk chair. Constance sat on my bed while Red kept standing- she seemed visibly uncomfortable in my room.

“Okay so pushing aside all of the questions I have about just this...” Red gestured to everything, “Maybe you can tell us how you managed to break Constances’ amnesia? Because that would be helpful in the future.”

“I can tell you that but it might involve alot more context.” I poked my fingers together nervously.

Red sighed and sat beside Constance on the bed, “Fine! Tell us your life story!” Constance gave a smile as she poked the body pillow.

❧

I am a twin, but my sister and I aren’t very close since she tends to be so depressing! She asks me if I want to know when I want to die, tells me the world is eternally doomed, and will sometimes quote outdated jokes from the internet. I’m the opposite to my sister, I read manga, cosplay, do seances in my room at 2am because I desperately want a date even if that means I need to sign a pact with a crossroads demon, and sometimes I actually drink the recommended amount of water in a day. Our home life was normal enough, we lived in the suburbs of California which could be kind of dreary at times with how sunny it is, so when my sister and I received a letter to work in a haunted mansion (TM) you could see how we would jump at the chance! It was a dream job for both of us! My sister would get to do more research in the powers of the undead and I could spend all day reading manga and messaging my devil boyfriend who won’t return my summons.

And that was that, I was sent to Liberty Square to await the inevitable rising of my undead ancestors and make sure they didn’t do anything damaging to anyone in or around the mansion.

When I arrived to the rather well-put together mansion I was greeted by a gentleman named Fletcher Hodges who was there to welcome me to the mansion. “Ah you must have been the Hostess assigned to the Liberty Square branch of Gracey manors?” He extended his hand for me to shake as I accepted it.

“Yes, I heard there would be ghosts...? Where are they?”

“Oh they haven’t risen just yet, but according to our calculations they should be due to show in a couple months - if they show at all.”

“You don’t believe in ghosts Mr. Hodges?” He adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat.

“Not exactly, I know they exist since I’ve conducted many experiments and what I’ve recorded is that ghosts are seemingly everywhere - dozens of people who have unfinished business (or in this case cursed) roaming on a plane parallel to our own, but we are unable to see or interact with them without the aid of technology or a highly remarkable gift.”

“Wait if they can’t interact with us then what is the threat of this curse? They’ll all just exist on their own plane.”

“Ah, not exactly! I was reading up on this type of necromancy in ‘Necronomicon on the go’ and there is a footnote similar to this situation -it states that if an apparition gains the ability to raise the dead then it can have a dramatic side-effect, which may cause the user and those risen to exist in the same plane as us mortals while also having their spectral bodies.”

“Well that could be a problem.”

“And as a descendant of the Gracey bloodline we believe it is your responsibility to care for your elderly.”

“Would they really be considered elderly if they’re dead?” Mr. Hodges waved his hand at me and handed me an envelope as well as a box.

“Lets not get into the finer details, here is your first paycheck - you will receive one at the end of every week, and here is your uniform.”

“How will you know I’m even in uniform?” He looked at me with a stone cold expression.

“We know everything.” I raised my eyebrows - that was disturbing. “Now if you excuse me I need to be in Tokyo tomorrow - so I must get to the airport.”

“Wait, isn’t there anything you can give me? Maybe a spirit wrangling lasso?”

“I’m afraid not, but Leota’s headstone is out back so perhaps you can ask her once she’s risen.” He gave me a wave and walked back to his car.

“Well that’s not very helpful.” I opened the paystub and almost choked $400 for doing nothing in an empty mansion! “You know maybe I can figure something out.”

❧

I wasn’t sure how long it would take for these ghosts to appear - or if they even would - but I got started on my room almost immediately, painting the walls myself and buying cheap shelves so I could save up for the books and figures that I always wished I had enough money for.

I remember a very specific weekend when I was putting together a second bookshelf (I had filled the other one up already)and was out of uniform - it wasn’t anything awful just a pink shirt with fuzzy blue pajama bottoms. I heard a voice coming from the hallway and quickly threw on my uniform before walking out to investigate - but we will ignore the fact that I had forgotten I was wearing pink bunny slippers.

Walking down the hallway was a blue apparition, he shimmered like water, his wavy hair floating around his features.

“Emily?” He called, but when he turned his head he only saw me. “Who are you?”

“The Hostess - who are you?”

“William Gracey, is Emily here? Have I risen her?”

“I’m not sure? Maybe die again and come back later?” He gave me a skeptical look.

“I don’t think I can be killed again.”

“I could figure it out probably, I’ve been watching this show about two brothers who fight monsters and -.”

“I’ll stop you, I don’t care.” He then kept walking - mumbling something to himself.

“Maybe if it hasn’t worked you just need to try harder?” William glanced back to me with a dark glare- his glowing red eyes piercing me.

“Fine, why don’t I just raise the entire graveyard!”

“No, no, no, no!”

But I guess I hit a nerve because he raised everyone...

Ballroom dancers were swaying in the parlor, an undead horse charged down the halls, some guy kept throwing around hat puns and making his head appear in his hat suitcase - it was overall a mess.

“Perhaps this is better?” William smirked and disappeared into the walls.

“What a dick!” I shouted, but I had a job to do ... oh crap I had a job to do. “Well lets start with ... A catalog.” So I grabbed a spare journal and began to catalog all the names of of the inhabitants and a short description of them.

Constance Hatchaway : Attic bride - I walked into the attic to try and find that William guy who made my life 999 times harder than it needed to be, sitting on a chest was Constance.

“Hello? I’m making a catalog of ghosts in the mansion, could I get your name and if you can recall - a brief summary of your life?” She stood up and when she turned to face me I noticed the hatchet in her hand.

“Constance Hatchaway - the Hatchaway bride, I killed all of my husbands in life because they were trash.”

“Mhm, mhm, ma’am please set down the hatchet.” She looked at her hand and gave a little chuckle.

“I’m not going to do anything to you...” She sat back on a chest with her chin in her palm. “I just wish I had made some different choices when I was alive.”

“If it helps you have a whole afterlife to do things that you wanted to before? I can come back to talk more with you after the catalog is done?” She perked up and gave me a warm smile.

“That would be wonderful if you did.”

Hatty : origins unknown - I had begun to notice when I approached the inhabitants of the mansion over time a lot of them couldn’t much recall their lives, most of those in particular were quite old ghosts, I’m talking Egypt ghosts which made absolutely no sense! But the puzzling thing was when I approached Hatty - a rather skeletal looking apparition - he couldn’t recall his name, life, or death let alone recall the room he just came out of. I took it upon myself to just go ahead and write down a name for him, Hatty seemed rather suitable given that was his preferred pun.

Madame Leota : Psychic and Scorceress - When Leota finally appeared in her crystal ball she was rather puzzled, not knowing that she would be buried on Gracey soil -thus immortalizing herself within the curse.

“Just call me the Hostess.” Leota eyed me up and down before finally flashing a smile.

“Alright, so what else is it that you need of me?”

“I’m glad you asked, I need to have more power over the mansion’s ghosts than that William guy.”

“Well if you remain inside the mansion’s property you’re out of luck, I gave him all the powers he desires so long as he died and was forgotten.”

“Isn’t there some kind of loophole you can give me just in case this dick decides he wants to go on a power trip?”

“I suppose I could give you something to ward off his presence in a limited manner...” She made a lantern materialize before me, “When a candle is lit inside this lantern, any control William has over the inhabitants of this mansion will be lifted - as well as William cannot step foot into the light to do harm to any apparitions he may wish to hurt.”

“This is fantastic!”

“I could, however, give you all the powers I possess if you want to make a deal?”

“Nah that’s okay and anyway the groundskeeper has been complaining about not having a light at nighttime, so this can double as his little walking light.” I exited the seance room and began looking through my catalog - so far I recorded 998 ghosts, but I hadn’t ran into any named Emily? Maybe William’s attempt to bring this girl back from the dead really did fail?

❧

I walked along the large windows of the ballroom as I watched the dancers spin in circles, but something outside caught my eye - a glowing specter in the distance.

“I am not about to lose a ghost on my first day.” I grumbled and marched outside, it was further away than I expected - sitting atop a hill of wildflowers overlooking the river that reflected moonlight from it’s surface. “Hey! You’re too far from the mansion property, I’m going to need to escort you back inside until I see about drawing up some travel papers - because honestly I don’t think those hitchhikers are going to stay in one place very long.” I placed my hand on my hip with a sigh - I needed a raise.

“I danced with a boy on that river.” The ghost mused, her hair was a dark violet, skin purple, and wearing a white wedding dress with a matching flower crown that left petals scattered through her hair. “I remember that ... I remember everything...” She turned to face me, her eyes glowed blue unlike all the other ghosts, and on her chest was a bright red beating heart.

“I don’t think I’ve met you...” I mumbled, sitting beside her and pulling out my catalog. “What is your name?”

“Emily DeClaire, what is your name?” She adjusted herself so we faced each other.

“I’m the...” I blinked, my heart tugged in my chest as I was about to tell her my job description. “I’m Tera Normal.”

“Good to meet you! But you aren’t a ghost?” She hesitantly reached out her hands and passed them through my arm.

“No, I’m the Hostess I work here to try and keep all of you contained - seeing as you aren’t supposed to be on this plane but rather the one parallel to us.” I sighed “But William really missed you I guess and is looking for you.”

“Oh dear, well I can help in any way that I’m able!” She clenched her little hands into fists, smiling with determination. “But I suppose first I should go see William if he is missing me that much.” She bounced up in realization, “Oh! Is Mister Topper here too?”

“I don’t have a Mister Topper listed...” I furiously flipped through my catalog, “I have an Ezra Topper?”

“No, that’s just Mister Topper’s brother.” She gave a huff as another startling feeling came across my heart, I felt like it was breaking in two. “I suppose he can’t be here can he?”

“Not if he wasn’t buried here.” Another sharp pain pierced my heart. “But maybe William can sort this out?” Part of the aching lifted.

“Do you really think so?” She smiled at me then twirled into the air, “Okay! we can go see William, maybe he knows how to get my Topper back!”

But once we walked back into the mansion I noticed there was something strange going on with Emily. “So does this Mister Topper have a first name or is it just Topper?”

“Who?” Emily turned her gaze to me now.

“Um, Mister Topper? The guy you’re missing?”

“Topper... Top hat...” She mused- but was overcome when she thought about top hat and began crying. “He lost his head!”

“Whoa, okay what is going on with you?”

“Hurry back!” She screamed as her deafening heartbeat made the walls shake. “Please, Hurry back!”

“I’m right here, Emily...”

“Now look what you’ve done.” William scolded as he walked from the walls and wrapped his arms around Emily- who cried in his chest. “Hush, just forget and all the pain will be gone.” His hand slid over her head making her blink - a smile spreading across her lips.

“I can’t even remember what I was doing again, you must think I’m an air head.” She laughed to William, but tears were still streaking down her cheeks.

“What did you just do?” I hissed to the man, he glared at me - releasing Emily and lifting his hand to her.

“Emily can you give the Hostess and I some privacy?”

“Sure!” She sniffled and began floating down the hall, “I sure am crying a lot today.” William watched her disappear behind a door and then turned his gaze back to me.

“You can’t mention that name to her, where did you even hear it?”

“She told me his name! Are you the one making her forget? What is your problem!”

“It’s for her own good, you didn’t see her when she first came back ...” He closed his eyes and sighed, “She can’t remember, just trust me.”

“Well forgive me but I don’t trust you.” I lifted my lantern, reaching into my pockets to find some of the matches I stowed away.

“What you’re going to blind me?” He laughed and made a fist, slipping the hallway rug out from under my feet and knocking me to the ground, I clutched the lantern against me to keep it from breaking- William approached me now, I began crawling backwards in a panic. “I know, how about I have you join the mansion? We are just dying to have you!”

“Or you can shove it six feet under.” I lit up the match and ignited the lantern - shining it on William which pushed him backwards, I could see he was annoyed.

“Fine, you can do whatever it is you do - but leave Emily alone as well as make sure no one interferes with her memory, or there will be deadly consequences.”

“Just keep making death puns, I can sit here all day.” His cheeks glowed with a dark blue as he turned away and walked back into the wall. “He is SUCH a dick!”

❧

I sat at my desk and kicked my feet in my chair, Red and Constance looking at me with great interest. “Fast forward to today I had come across Hatty being crazier than normal, and whatever had been pushed on Hatty was spreading into the other ghosts - they didn’t seem to remember who they were or who I was! The ballroom ghosts were in a panic because they all forgot how to dance, and the Quartet forgot how to sing! So I lit my lamp and decided it was time to find the source - I ran from room to room till I came across you two! And now I know why the mansion is acting strange- because you two are prying into ghost business and William doesn’t want you to.”

“Well someone killed Emily and we think the murderer might *be* William, which means we need to confront him.” Constance had determination in her glowing yellow eyes, “Emily deserves better than to be played like a puppet.”

“Enough.” Came a deep voice, I turned quickly to my lamp to see the nub of my candle was out- the flame had been doused by the wax. “If you are all so curious to have a conversation then lets talk!” The voice boomed and my figurines were thrown across the room making me scream, books flying from the shelves, floor shaking, and lightbulbs bursting leaving us all in complete darkness other than the three glowing bodies before me.

Wait.

Three?

There he was, the first ghost I had laid eyes on when the mansion came to life.

“William?” I whispered in disbelief, Red seemed to be unaffected by this as though she might have guessed.

“What? Cat got your tongue? I thought you wanted to talk.” He grinned.

[rigelmejo]

language learning forums sometimes seem like they’re swings between extremes yo...

some will be like “oh learn this in 3 months!” Which... while you can learn SOME things in a couple months, is usually overselling tremendously. 

For example, there’s a lot of proclaimed polyglots that say they can become ‘fluent’ in a few months... Generally, they can read a nice conversational ability where they can talk about specific topics they prepared for in a few months. And usually that’s also what their courses are geared towards, if they’re well made courses. They’re geared toward A1 or A2 conversational ability, usually all you need for small talk and travel and shopping and a little bit about your hobbies. They usually do not go in depth into grammar or into speaking with perfectly correct grammar forms. They usually do not emphasize reading. And if they do learn reading, then it’s likely also a skill mostly only usable in the same areas they can speak. So is that fluency? Well obviously not lol. It is basic conversational ability, survival ability in a travel situation - and those are good skills. Those are skills people who buy phrasebooks desire to accomplish! Those are skills people who only ever take 1-2 language classes in school usually desire! So like... the accomplishment is certainly closer to ‘fluent’ then a typical learner with the goal in mind of being able to do those things may think is possible in a few months. Usually these kinds of polyglots and teachers who teach this way, tend to teach A1-A2 level of the language, and just do it in a more effective way then classrooms tend to do, as far as focusing on what the learner DESIRES to learn and dedicating all time to that goal. Which sometimes means sacrificing grammar for conversational ability, or sacrificing writing practice, or only studying the topics you desire to discuss (and having zero ability in the topics you skip - even if that topic is paying bills, talking about the weather, real basic stuff). Now, this is an accomplishment. I do think its impressive that someone is dedicated to their studies, and aims for a tangible goal, and studies for it. I think it’s impressive that they’re effective, and the goals they’re aiming for usually can be accomplished in a few months to a year if studying effectively. It’s just... not ‘fluency’ as in overall ability to use the language in everyday life, read/watch/listen to all kinds of discussions and respond to them by speaking/writing, etc.

Then there’s the other end of the spectrum. That generally will be like “you can’t actually speak/read/watch/whatever with the language at a decent level, until you’ve studied a HUGE plethora of things” which generally, they will say “takes years and years.” Now, technically, yes, they’re right. The problem with what they’re saying lies mostly in that it... tends to discourage learners.

Learners will hear it, and think “well, I’ve only studied 5 months/2 years, and I still can’t read/speak/write/listen/etc. So I’m still YEARS away from ever being able to use the language! Maybe I ought to give up.” 

And yes, realistically it will most likely take years and years to get comfortable enough with a language you are learning to use it in all the ways comfortably that a naive speaker would. But also... one should try practicing DOING what they eventually want to be able to DO in the language. That act of trying, of actually doing, will give the learner a reason to use what they’ve studied. It will give them payoff for having achieved at least some part of their goals. It will help them pinpoint exactly what they need to study next to improve the tangible goal they wish to accomplish next. It will help them focus on the specific areas in language they WANT to improve in first. Not everyone necessarily will need or want to know how to write articles in their target language for years. Maybe they just want to be able to communicate well, and listen well to all the topics in X interests they have. Or, some learners will need to study a target language so they can go study/work in that language. Those learners may benefit from studying how to read technical writing, listen to lectures, and speak/write academically. But they might have zero need to learn to read literature in the language right away, they may have no use for historical or fictional terms that some history/literature nerd might use way more. 

Basically - there is value in making achievable goals based on what you want to be able to do first, second, third etc in terms of priorities. Before the huge ultimate goal of “fluency” there are many stepping stones. One should not get discouraged that ultimate fluency is a long ways away. There are many goals in between now and ‘ultimate fluency’ that will be achievable in months instead of years, that will be help the learner better able to do things they desire to do WITH the language. And I think that is a middle ground, that’s practical. 

I think there’s sometimes loud voices in either extreme though, that tend to drown out that middle ground. The voices that say “total fluency” should be accomplishable in months (which is unrealistic, and will disappoint learners if they find it too challenging to progress that fast or if they realize their ‘fluency’ achieved doesn’t give them all the actual goals they specifically want to accomplish doing with the language). Then there’s the voices that say “ultimate fluency” will not only take years, it will also be necessary if a learner wants to do anything in said language. Which again... that second part is not realistic. There are tangible goals, and sub-goals you can break your eventual goals into, that are definitely accomplishable in month and year intervals. A learner doesn’t have to wait years upon years before they can start trying to do them, improving in them, and accomplishing some of them. 

I was on reddit today and someone was writing that if you learn all HSK 6 words, around 5,000, then you should only be able to read about 50% of a novel or newspaper’s content (even with a dictionary). Their point has some merit. HSK are specially made lists. The common words in newspapers might be 50% different. The common words in X genre fiction literature might be 50% yet another unique set of words. 

But do you have to wait until you’ve learned all the way up to HSK 6, just to START reading target language material? No. No of course not. Pick the genres/materials you have the goal to read. Start practicing. Start picking up those 50% unique words now. Use your dictionary, slog along to look up the new words, and learn them. Learn them by doing. If you get to HSK 6 isn’t that what you’ll do anyway? Your alternative is to find yet another frequency list of 5k or 10k more words at that point, and drill that before you attempt to read a newspaper/novel etc. But each genre is probably going to have yet more unique words you’ll need to learn to start comprehending it. So like... you might as well get your words your learning, from the stuff you’re actually TRYING to read because you WANT to read it. 

I would be so utterly miserable if I waited until I reached HSK 6 (which I’m guessing will take me 1.5 more years to 4 more years, depending on how hard I study) to start reading and watching what I wanted! 

I suppose to everyone their own though. The way I did it, aiming for smaller goals over time as I work toward the bigger ones... its frustrating in its own ways. Especially in the beginning, trying to read target language content was brutal and draining. It stayed that way for months. It literally took from August 2019 to June 2020 for me to even get to a point where I can read something with a dictionary, and not get drained because I only have to look up words sometimes, and because the grammar’s gotten easier after months and months of studying it. It took me from December 2019 to June 2020 to get from trying to watch a show and my brain feeling completely fried in 12 minutes, to me being able to watch an episode of a show and follow the gist without feeling overwhelmed. And I’ve still got heaps and heaps of improvement to go. This is like me being a 10 year old trying to read all my dad’s grown up historical fiction and sci fi novels with all their technical terms. And me managing to get through some pages, with the basic ideas but a ton of confusion on the finer details that would take me many more years to learn to pick up on and understand and appreciate.