#might continue on this topic when I'm not procrastinating sleeping

[saremina]

thinking about the casual touches between these two and how Sephiroth is so awkward with it that it has to be new for him, and how he's probably mimicking Zack and still trying to figure out the best way to go about it with this new person who's become a friend to him

because when Zack reaches for Sephiroth the next morning it's natural, and he has to have done it a dozen times by now because he's like that. He's the guy who tackle hugs his friends so casually touching people he likes isn't new to him. He'd probably struggle with not touching them

the tragedy with them really is that they just didn't have enough time to grow a little closer to each other

(also the fact that Sephiroth is the one to initiate the first touch but that's a topic for another time)

[base-set-remastered]

Patch 1.11

First of all, thank you for all your continued support! Excuse this incidental blog post, but I want to address the state of the project at this moment. You might have noticed a lack of updates in the recent times. On one hand, I have always intended for this project to "end" at some point but, on the other, I was actually sitting on some changes I wanted to bring into the format. The reality of the situation is that, in recent months, I have switched jobs a few times, making it quite a chaotic time. It's all good now - I have found a studio making a kick-ass game that I am sure will compete with the best in the business. I am also working on my own RPG project on the side. All of this is to say, Base Set Remastered has taken a back seat during this time. That is, until now. If you've visited the Set List recently, you might have noticed that all the pictures are missing. This is because Discord has stopped allowing hosting images outside of their platform. This has forced me to re-upload all cards to a different host website and, given that it's quite a bit of work to fix the Set List, I have procrastinated of this task. This is because I also wanted to make a Patch at the same time. But enough self-deprecation - if you're reading this, I have done it, all the pictures are back on the site and these are the new patch notes.

Putting "Special" back in "Special Conditions"

One of the first changes I've implemented in this format, before the cards were even finalized, was to make a blanket rule - or more specifically, remove a rule from the original game - that all Effects on a Pokemon stay on it, even if it was retreated. That, to me, was sensible at the time - for starters, just from experience I knew that this rule was confusing to new players. If an Effect says a Pokemon cannot do something "this turn", it stands to reason this change sticks around for "this turn" and not just for as long as the Pokemon is Active. Additionally, I wanted to remove cases where double-Switching a Pokemon would just remove all effects and make it brand new. In reality, the latter case would never happen, as I made it impossible to double-Switch a Pokemon during a single turn - on purpose. As such, this rule doesn't really apply anymore. Additionally, it's somewhat inconsistent with the video games - in the games, it's the Special Conditions that stick around, while all effects, good or bad, wane from a Pokemon once it's switched. As such, the rule is changed - all Effects are cleansed from a Pokemon when it is switched UNLESS it's a Special Condition (that's not Confusion, of course).

Now that we're on the topic of Special Conditions, there are a few changes in that category as well.

Resident Sleeper

After many games of testing, I really felt like Sleep is in a weird place. In many ways it's just a "better Paralyze", that needs flips to go away. That said, it doesn't feel satisfying even for the attacking side, as Sleeping Pokemon tend to get immediately Benched until they wake up, which they usually do quite fast. Any attacks such as Nightmare have a low chance of succeeding, as nobody would stick a Sleeping Pokemon in the Active Spot. There had to be a better way. We had a few great discussions on our Discord (thank you!). Ultimately my thoughts wandered back to the video game for the inspiration. The video game sleep has one major difference from the TCG Sleep - the owner of the Sleeping Pokemon chooses an attack, then a check is performed if the attack went through. If it did - great, the attack goes through! If not, the Pokemon continues sleeping. Now, this was NOT the case in Generation 1, but since the theme of the format is to bring "modern design to the old game", that's a piece of official balancing that I'm happy to bring back. So, what's the rule exactly? Sleep is now a permanent effect - it doesn't go away on its own, and stays on the bench. The only way to get rid of it is to announce an attack (or pass the turn) when your Active Pokemon is asleep. After you do, you flip - just like you would during a Confusion. If you flip tails, the Pokemon stays asleep, and the attack does nothing. If you flip heads, the attack goes through and Sleep ends permanently. What does it mean? This Special Condition is now completely different and plays differently. For starters, it objectively has 50% chance of doing nothing. Your opponent might flip heads on the attack and render the effect useless. However, unlike in the official game, where you get that information immediately at the start of your turn, here you get it after you announce an attack. This completely flips the planning on its head - are you going to risk your attack to wake up your Pokemon, or are you going to retreat into a fresh attacker? If you do, the Sleep sticks around to annoy you another day. I believe the old Sleep and new Sleep have roughly equivalent power levels, meaning I won't change the costs of any attack that afflicts it. I am excited to see how this change will affect gameplay.

Toxic

In design you often spot mistakes that need to be fixes. Sometimes you can manage to do it on your own and, the better you are, the more likely it is you'll do so. Often, however, these mistakes will be pointed out by your coworkers. And when you work by yourself on a project, like I do here, it is very likely that some mistakes will be spotted by the players themselves. So was the case with Poison.

In my hubris I thought I came up with a cool way to manage Poison - each Poison Counter would deal 10 damage to a Pokemon. If a Pokemon would "become Poisoned", that would mean placing a Poison counter on them, if they don't have one yet. Certain cards, most notably Nidoking, expanded on that idea and allowed the player to place more Poison counters on a Pokemon. This is where trouble started brewing. Look at this Nidoking card below.

What does a "second Poison counter" mean on this card? It's easy enough to understand when that Pokemon is not Poisoned, but what if it already is Poisoned? Also, why does the last sentence specify the effect of the Poison counters? If that Pokemon had, say, four Poison counters on it, would the last sentence change how the damage behaves? It is just an extremely confusing wording for this effect. Now, take into account Ekans as well:

Ekans allows you to move a Poison counter. This is less confusing after I explained the Poison mechanic, but the point stands - such advanced effect shouldn't exist on a Basic Pokemon, allowing you to stack Poison counters for massive damage.

As such, here is the full explanation of the Poison mechanic: A Pokemon is "Poisoned" when it has at least 1 Poison Counter on itself. Each Poison Counter denotes 1 damage counter the Pokemon takes at the end of its owner's turn, if that Pokemon is in the Active Spot. When a Pokemon is "now Poisoned", a single Poison Counter is placed on it unless that Pokemon is already Poisoned, in which case nothing happens. When a Pokemon is "no longer Poisoned", all Poison Counters are removed from that Pokemon. Effects might place or move Poison Counters.

As for the changes, Nidoking receives a new wording. Ekans, on the other hand, receives a pretty standard "apply Poison" attack - I always felt like the "Jessie & James" deck was lacking a good, early-game Poison applier.

Stand Up Applause

Finally, a small change that's all about fanservice. I have learned that, apparently, many people consider Wigglytuff's "Do the Wave" attack to be iconic. I have moved this attack to Gyarados to better suit the Water type but, in all fairness, it's also true that Normal-type has access to all effects. As such, I have gave back this attack to Wigglytuff and replaced the frankly overdesigned alternative.

[cancerfairy]

TG 🫀

Sooooo your blog gives off very whimsical vibes. It’s definitely like I stepped into a fantasy with the utopian nature header. If you weren’t Uranus dom I would have said you give off Neptunian vibes. With that said, begin a Uranus dom, you’re probably not our typical fairy cancer stellium. You’re unique. And you stand out. And your blog does too. Love the lav background nice color choice👍🏼 but it blends with the header telling me your eye for aesthetic might be strong as well. Enough said.

Try not to roast me too hard with my worst trait

🥺👉🏼👈🏻

THANK YOU I LOVE THIS DESCRIPTION and honestly it's really accurate!! it made me happy to read this so i really appreciate it <3 mwah

☁︎︎ your best qualities:

you're someone very intelligent and you tend to pick up on topics very quickly. you're like the jack of all trades. so talented and skillful and you're probably really good at manifesting even if it's not your intention to. it's like all good things just naturally gravitate towards you. you're spontaneous, creative and original plus i see that you're pretty confident too. i'm sensing that you're just generally a powerful person. you're someone who's always hungry for success and wealth. you're not afraid to take risks when it's something you want and you're someone naturally very curious. your curiosity aides you in experiencing new things and this can help you on your spiritual journey. i see that you go through life very innocently, like you try to have fun with whatever you do. you can be very playful but you also know when to be assertive and hold people accountable when they do something wrong. you also hold yourself accountable and tend to reflect on past mistakes... a very deep thinker. because you think so deeply, when you're doing work and you have to evaluate it, you might be too hard on yourself or unsatisfied but just know that you're someone who will be or is very successful! you're naturally abundant so never forget that!

☁︎︎ your worst qualities:

(i bought out my shadow side deck for you bestie 👹👹)

sometimes you get overwhelmed with all your responsibilities and it makes you feel like you should give up. you struggle to find the balance between your hobbies and your work and you might lack the strength to continue so you just procrastinate and lay in your bed. you probably also sleep too much and daydream about finishing your work but it never actually gets finished. you're also probably also put others needs before yours and you might have one-sided relationships. yeah i'm seeing you're generous almost to a fault. you sacrifice too much for others!! also although you tend to be successful and a leader, you can be pretty bossy and demanding. you most likely make other people feel inferior.. you might want to check your anxiety and depression. even tho you're bossy at times, you still take the things people say to heart so be careful with emotionally overreacting. try to balance your feelings as well as your responsibilities and don't be so quick to accuse people. recognize that you're not always correct and try not to be so overly blunt to others <3

[meimae]

I assume not, but I'd like to ask if you ever go back to a novel after you have read some other stuff. Perhaps I'm weak willed but paying attention to so many things are rather difficult. Going through them so slowly is unsatisfying thus I'd mine words first, then read another one the same way, after that going back to the previous one to mine sentences, paying attention to grammar etc etc. Do you think it's better to do them at once or seperately?

Hello! As someone who likes intensive reading and is obsessed with looking up and learning every single word, this interesting question speaks to me, so thanks!

As of the moment, I haven't gone back to reread anything yet (except for some manga and a couple of books I read in English years ago which doesn't count for this question), although I do plan on doing that far into the future just to see if there are improvements in overall comprehension and ease in reading.

I do however switch reading materials a lot when I find something too difficult (looking up multiple words in a sentence continuously for several paragraphs). I'll later then go back to it if I feel like I've mined enough words to tackle it again.

Right now, the "hard level" book for me is 1Q84, because although I read it in English and have context for what's going on, there's just so many words to look up that I feel like reading it too early would do it injustice. After mining a couple of hundred words, I usually go back and check the first few paragraphs again. There's always some improvement, but I have yet to hit that perfect balance of reading continuously enough and looking up words occasionally to not get bored.

I get how overwhelming it is to look at a page where you don't know like 40-60% of the words/grammar. Do not force yourself to read anything so far beyond your level of comprehension because that's the perfect recipe for a burnout.

I never did this with English books in Japanese, I' ve turned into my worst nightmare - a serial starter and reading procrastinator help, but I literally have 4 books, 5 VNs, and a ton of manga that I have been shuffling around and reading when I'm in the mood for them. A lot of them are interesting, but are either too hard or too long or easy that it puts me to sleep or have topics that puts me off, so its hard for me to stick to one thing at a time. Occasionally though, when something does grab my attention, even if it's above my level I never put it down for like a week or however long til I finish which feels great! So always try to find something that interests you first and foremost. It's easier to get comfortable with ambiguity that way.

You can always try VNs with its one sentence at a time feature. Its great because you only have to look and concentrate on so little at a time, so it makes reading less overwhelming which enables you to read for longer periods given that you've been consistent at doing so.

Anyway, don't be afraid to switch to easier material when reading! You might think it's useless because you know most of the words, but even reading easy material is practice and helps cement what you already know. I have a book review coming out soon regarding this so stick around!

Also, and this is not for everybody, I like hoarding keeping a large backlog of words to learn that I have encountered in previous material, usually from novels and VNs, labelled accordingly in their own subdeck. For example, I have all the words I have mined from the visual novel Island in a subdeck that I've been slowly reviewing alongside a few other VNs. A lot of them have pictures, and most of them have word audio from Forvo, and even sentence audio if I bothered recording, so I always have some context even though it's been a few months since I've read it. Knowing that after I review everything necessary in those decks would mean that I can go back one day to Island and have close to full comprehension gives me enough motivation to review them. The words being a good chunk of N1+ words is a bonus. So yes, I read and mine at the same and I keep my precious them to review at 20 new cards a day.

If you want a gauge of what level a book would be and how many new words you will encounter based on your existing Anki decks try jpdb.io . Rating difficulty is both word frequency and opinion based so take it with a grain of salt, but its a great resource to look into to find your next read. Also look into vndb.org for VNs. You can always filter by all time ratings or by your own preferences, too.

Other than that, TheMoeWay Discord, a Japanese language immersion learning community, holds reading clubs for novels, visual novels, and manga every month. They have both beginner and intermediate picks that anyone can read, and if those are not your cup of tea, there are a bunch of other recommendations that people share in different channels. August is about to start, so this is the perfect time to join in on the fun!

A bit of a word vomit, but hopefully something here helps you!

[radiorenjun]

I Don't Need It

• Pairing: Na Jaemin x Reader

• Genre: Angst, Comedy, Fluff

• Na Jaemin despised the idea of soulmates, he wanted to fight against fate for choosing his soulmate for him. Even if it means his stubborn childhood best friend wouldn't stop trying to make him accept about the similar tattoos on their wrists.

• Masterlist here!

• Chapters: v, vi

After the incident at Jaemin's house, you received a small scolding from your parents the next morning for leaving early as you pretended to be asleep when they came into your room to talk after the dinner party. (Even though you continued crying til dawn after they closed the door.)

You came to school with puffy swollen red eyes, messy hair and dark bags under your eyes that couldn't go unnoticed by the other students who just gave you a pitiful smile when greeting you. You tried your hardest to give them a decent smile back but the ache in your heart wouldn't go away, all you wanted to do was cry and sleep in your bed all day.

You felt hopeless and exhausted. You were seriously contemplating on skipping school today as you gathered your books and a pen from your locker until you heard a familiar voice behind you calling out your name.

"Y/N."

You turned your head back to see Huang Renjun who gave you a soft smile, stretching out his arms wide to give you a big warm hug. You felt tears lining up the brim of your eyes when you felt his arms comforting you, but you took a deep shuddering breath against his chest.

You felt Renjun pat your head, pulling away to wrap an arm around your shoulder and leads you to your next class. "Stop crying, ugly." Renjun chuckled as you sniffled tilted your head up to keep your tears in. "I'm sure I would if I don't feel like absolute shit right now, Renjun." you deadpanned.

Renjun rolled his eyes at your sardonic tone, taking a few agonizing moments of silence to think of what to say. He clicked his tongue, "so, are you going to finally stop?" he spoke quietly, the amusement in his voice had now disappeared.

You leaned your head against him and sighed heavily, closing your eyes for a moment before responding. "Enough is enough, I guess. I was bout to give up sooner or later anyways," you laughed bitterly, looking down.

"It hurt alot, you know." you chuckled, wiping your eyes to stop the tears that you couldn't hold in. Renjun bit his lip, his chest clenched at the sight of you crying as he lead you to your class. Guilt for bringing up the topic filling his heart as he sat beside you, watching you bury yourself in your arms and try to keep your breathing steady.

Renjun patted your back, unsure of what to do or say as the teacher walks into class. Although, he couldn't pay attention to the lesson, he couldn't stop thinking bout how much in pain you sounded when you accidentally buttdialed him.

Renjun was casually laying on his stomach on his bed while playing some animal crossing when the sound of his ringtone blasted from his phone. He sighed, picking up his phone then furrowing his brows at the name that popped up his screen.

Y/N L/N The Hopeless One

Why was she calling? Shouldn't she be at her monthly dinner with the Na's? More importantly, why is she calling in the middle of his animal crossing session? He swore that he remembers that Mrs. Choi didn't give homework today, so why else did she call?

Renjun swiped his thumb to receive the call, putting his phone beside his ear. "Hello? Y/N?" all he heard from your side of the call were soft sniffles, it sounded as if you were trying to calm yourself down. Wait, what's going on?

"Renjun, I'm so sorry, I sat on my phone and I think it accidentally-" you spluttered, choking on your words as you spoke. Something's definitely wrong. Renjun sat up completely, putting down his switch as his concern grew even more. "Wait, are you crying?" he asked hesitantly.

That seemed to silence you. But a hiccup elicited from you was enough to give him an answer, "no? Why would I be crying?" you cried out, sobs breaking out of your throat and through his phone speakers. Renjun bit his lip as he heard your cries, reading to hear you out.

"Y/n, it's okay. I'm here. Tell me what happened." He chuckled, laying down on his bed to prepare himself of what's to come. He heard you inhale deeply before telling him the whole story in explicit detail.

He was thankful that he got the main points considering your cries and gasps had muffled the words you spoke but either way he couldn't blame Jaemin for snapping, but he was beyond livid at the boy for letting his anger and annoyance get the best of him.

Renjun sighed as you finished your explanation, continuing to sob. Sounds of spoon hitting a plastic tub of ice cream (which you had grabbed in the middle of your explanation with an "I need to fill the emptiness inside me with some ice cream, I can't explain this without ice cream") in the background.

"That's a dick move." Renjun tsked. "I can't believe he broke your music box, the music box! I knew how special that thing meant to you." he exclaimed angrily. You sniffed, "I know but I can't blame him for yelling like that."

"That still doesn't give him an excuse for breaking what's yours." Renjun added. "Jesus Christ, he's supposed to be your soulmate, for Pete's sake! The one person in the world who's suppose to cherish your heart," he growled.

"Unbelievable, I'm going to kill him when we get to school." he muttered. "Renjun, don't. Please. Just leave him be, it wasn't completely his fault." you cried. "But-" Renjun started before you cut him off with a sob.

"I mean it." you told him boldly. "Leave him be. Please. Even though he crushed my heart to a gazillion pieces, I still love him with all my heart and I can't stop loving him. Please, Renjun." you pleaded, the desperation in your tone causing Renjun to nod and let out a small "okay".

He heard you sigh, hiccuping afterward. "I love him you know. I really do," you hiccuped. Renjun sighed, chuckling afterwards, "I know. You say that every 30 minutes in school, to an almost creepy level if I do say so myself." he teased.

You didn't laugh though, he knew your chest was still aching like hell to do so. "He said he'll never like me like that." you spoke in an almost audible tone, "I don't know what to do with myself anymore, Renjun. What am I supposed to do without him?" it seemed the tears had came back considering you started sobbing again.

Renjun sighed, "you really are an idiot." he chuckled sympathetically. "I know I am." you agreed, grabbing a tissue as you let out another dramatic sob.

"Is she okay?" your friend, Yeji, mouthed at Renjun, nodding her head at your sulking form that was poking your food mindlessly with a plastic spork. Renjun glared at your friend, his expression screaming 'Are you blind or stupid?'

Nancy rolled her eyes, nodding her head up at Renjun as if to say 'what's up with her, you idiot'. Renjun bit his lip, subtly pointing at you before making a heart with his fingers, tearing the heart apart slowly before pressing a finger down his eyelids to his cheeks with his face scrunched up.

Renjun then pointed at Na Jaemin who was a few tables away, chatting with Jeno and the other members of the Football Team along with a few girls from the cheer leading squad. Your group of friends furrowed their brows at the sight of Jaemin nodding his head along with his friends, smiling brightly as if he hadn't just broke a valuable possession of yours.

Hyunjin looked back at Renjun with wide eyes, pointing at you then at the boy who was sitting tables away from you. Renjun nodded before taking a spoonful of his lunch. The group exchanged expressions of sympathy before Yeji gave you an encouraging hug.

"Cheer up, babe." she said, trying to lighten your mood. "People fight all the time, I'm sure he'll make up for it eventually. Boys suck, anyways." Nancy added in agreement, receiving an offended "hey!" from Hyunjin beside her.

"Don't you have a lesson with him after this?" Chani asked, receiving a smack to the back of his head by Renjun afterwards. "I'm just asking, sheesh!" he hissed in retaliation, but the stoic expression on Renjun's face remained.

"Right, I have a class with him." you groaned, rubbing your swollen eyes with your palms. "I wish I could just skip," you muttered under your breath. "Don't we all? I mean I have Mr Park's after this and I forgot to do that essay he assigned yesterday." Yeji agreed.

"The essay bout Isaac Newton's discovery?" Jinyoung questioned, raising a brow. "I don't know, but it was that guy who had an apple fall ontop of his head though." she explained, pulling out her phone idly. "Yeji, that assignment was assigned three weeks ago."

"So? I am a busy person okay."

"Busy, my ass. You text me literally every hour of every day saying that you were tired of being bored and single, you damn procrastinator."

"Shut up would yo-"

"I'm going to head to class early, okay? I'll see you guys later," you got up, unable to stay in the same room as the guy who broke your heart who was having the time of his life, oblivious to the fact that your heart and mark was burning like hell.

"Y/N-" Nancy called out but you cut her off with a sad smile. "I just need some time alone right now," you sighed, grabbing your bag and started walking out of the cafeteria. You heard footsteps behind you, feeling a hand on your shoulder as Renjun's figure came up walking beside you.

"I'll walk you to class," Renjun smiled. "What part of-" you huffed before he cuts you off with a finger to your lips, "I wasn't asking, y/n." he giggled. You inhaled sharply, pushing his hand away from your mouth. "Don't get your hand near my mouth, I might die from whatever virus you have transferred onto your skin with the amount of paint water you consume everyday." you joked, a small smile evident before it faltered to a frown.

"Oh please, I don't consume paint water on purpose, you idiot. My fingers are cleaner than a germaphobe, chill out." he giggled before frowning when he noticed your eyes getting teary again. Memories of Jaemin yelling at you fluttered through your mind once again, your heart began to ache in your chest and your soulmate mark was burning against your skin.

Renjun bit his lip nervously, contemplating what to do next to make a smile appear on your face. 'Fuck it,' the boy thought, before wrapping an arm around your shoulders in the empty hallway before giving you a bright smile. "Why don't we ditch school for the rest of the day?" he offered.

Your eyes widened, "what did you just say?" you exclaimed with a gasp. "Let's ditch," he replied with a bold tone, nodding in encouragement, his eyes shining bright. "You? Are encouraging me? To ditch school?" you gaped, pointing to yourself and to Renjun in disbelief.

"Who are you and what have you done to the Renjun who cares bout his pristine reputation and nags bout how important perfect attendance is?"

"Oh come on. I'll even treat you to Baskin Robins, " Renjun poked your side teasingly, causing you to squeak and flinch in response. "So, what do you say?" he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as the arm around your shoulder pulled your closer to his form.

You thought bout it for a moment. Will Ms. Lee give you extra work as punishment once she finds out that you had ditched class? Without a doubt in mind, obviously. Are you willing to bare 25 minutes of half of the class muttering and whispering bout you, wondering why you aren't sitting next to Jaemin? Nope. Is this worth it? Probably.

"Alright." you gave in with a chuckle. "Only if you buy me fries and Baskin Robins though," you pointed a finger at him which he shrugged in response. "I'll be penniless by the end of the day but I'd do anything to stop making you feel like shit"

"It's cute that you care bout me."

"Don't take it to heart, this is a one time thing."

"Sure it will."

"Y/n, I'm serious. I need to save money for the next release of Kingdom Hearts."

It was a shame that you missed Jaemin's presence staring at you from afar the whole day. The way his eyes would subtly glance at you every few seconds during lunch, carefully watching you depressed figure poking tteokbokki with a sport.

Your friends hugging you and comforting you by your side. Jaemin felt guilty bout what happened that night but he knew that it was the last straw and it was the only way you would get off his back. Nonetheless, why did he feel sad when he saw you walking like a lifeless zombie on the way to the bus stop this morning as he drove to school?

He figured it was because he wasn't used to you coming up to his car every morning asking for a ride. Why did he feel his heart getting heavy when he saw you walking around like a kicked puppy waiting for it's owner as you open your locker.

He couldn't stop thinking bout how broken hearted you look when he yelled at you that night. He honestly didn't know what to feel. Relief now that you had stopped clinging on to him like a sloth hanging on a tree branch? Guilt because he had broken a gift you had given him? But why would you cry over a cheap music box when you just smiled at him when he had broke your favorite camera?

Jaemin watched you leave his room without another word. His gaze went down to his now dirty floor, pieces of wood scattered across the floor and a small figurine laying in between the pieces. 'It must've been an old cheap music box or something.' he thought.

Jaemin clicked his tongue angrily, kneeling down to run a hand through his hair. "Shit," he sighed softly, feeling the stress from earlier pile up in his head once again. His eyes went to the wooden pieces to the photograph of you and him when you were kids.

His eyes grew soft at the sight, remembering your high-pitched voice practically screaming at him to stop shooting his transformer action figures at your barbies while they were getting their hair brushed. He chuckled at the memory, his hand slowly picking up the photograph of you two laughing with your toys in hand.

He remembered how your grandma had barged in to take a photo of the two of you, commenting bout how adorable it would be to have Jaemin as your soulmate and future grandson in law. "I miss those times," he muttered, caressing the photo with his thumb before pulling out his wallet.

He folded the picture and snuck it into his wallet, smiling slightly. Jaemin looked at the scattered pieces and grabbed one of the empty boxes you had presented him when you gave him that new watch for his first goal. "I'll just throw this away later," he said as he gathered all the pieces and puts them in the decorated box.

Jaemin then got up to his window, stretching his curtains to peek at your room. He could see your window which was now covered by your curtains, your lights were turned off but he could see your figure collapsing on your bed. Did he go too far?

Jaemin didn't understand why it was making him feel down to see you frown like that. To hear the students around you gossip bout how sad you looked today. He didn't understand why he felt like he had done something awfully terrible.

"Holy shit, you did that?" Jeno gasped, almost dropping his spoon dramatically onto the table. Jaemin nodded sheepishly as he explained the whole situation with you at the dinner party. "Yep."

"Isn't that a little too far? I mean she looks really really sad. Sadder than that time when she got an F on maths." Jeno raised his brow, sitting up straight as Jaemin shrugged in response. "It was the only way to get her off my back for a while, I'm sick of it." he groaned.

"Dude, what if she actually stops for good? Then what?" he added, disbelieving the fact that his best friend would hurt his own soulmate like that. He never really understood why Jaemin was so defensive bout the soulmate topic, either.

"Then? Then great! I wouldn't have to worry bout her nagging to me everyday of my life. As if that's gonna happen though, she's gonna get back to it in a few days, trust me." Jaemin chuckled. He knows you like the back of his hand, once you calm down, you'll be back to annoy the living hell out of him again.

"Dude, isn't that a little too far?"

"What if that music box actually meant something to her? I mean, she looks as if she had seen herself die or something!"

"Jeno-"

"What would you do if she stops and the tables starts turning?"

"Jeno that's not possibl-"

"I said 'if'!! What IF you grew feelings for her when she stops feeling like that? What are you gonna do?"

"Jeno sto-"

"What are you two gonna do now huh? Remove your mark-"

"Jeno, fuck off!." Jaemin barked, his eyes growing dark. Jeno closed his mouth, realising he had spoken too much. He couldn't help it. Not when he knew his friend made a huge mistake. "Sorry," he mumbled, looking down shamefully.

Jaemin sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. Please don't bring this up again," he muttered, getting up from his spot in the table.

He felt sick to his stomach. He excused himself and passing by the cheerleaders gawking at him on one of the tables. Once he stepped out he saw your lonely figure walking alone in the halls.

He didn't know why he wanted to talk to you at that moment. And he sure didn't know why it made him feel irritated to see Huang Renjun come up and comfort you, eliciting a smile from you with a few words.

"Why don't we ditch school for the rest of the day?"

Jaemin almost let out a laugh. You? Ditching class? The day that happens is the day that pigs fly. You couldn't possibly accept his offer, right? You two do share a class after this, you wouldn't give up any opportunity to spend time with him-

"Alright." you gave in with a chuckle.

Jaemin felt something inside of him ache. He couldn't understand why you would skip class for the rest of the day to spend time with Renjun instead of him. He couldn't understand why you look so happy walking out to the corridors of the school with him by your side.

Jaemin stood in his place, his pupils began to shake as he watched Renjuns embrace tighten around your small form. His hands now balled up into fists as he gripped onto the fabric of his white hoodie. He didn't understand why he felt his blood boil when he saw you two happily in each others company.

More importantly he was too busy pondering a million questions in his head go acknowledge the pain in his chest and the slight burn of his soulmate mark on his left skin beneath the fabric covering it.

I want to cry this took forever uGh. I love writing this series hehe

Tags: @12am-musings @cherrystay

[159potterhead]

Oh! I'm just dumb. I woke up today and I didn't saw any post from you so I went through your blog and their were a few post so I scrolled like crazy to get down and then it started showing posts frm 2 days ago and I thought maybe my ask got lost again. I think I might have scrolled past this one and assumed wrong.

Sorry for late reply bestie :DD To wrap up within few words my day is just me complaining and wanting to go to sleep. I wake up early for classes and stuff and I log in Tumblr ao3 and good docs while sitting in class then if I get time I try to continue that fic but I just lack motivation all I do is stare at the screen. Then we have a little break and the same thing continues till 5 pm. Then rest of my day goes with watching tv while doing file work and assignment and me complaining again. We have this presentation thing in afternoon where students have to prepare different topics so at night I prepare notes and make a ppt and complain more. I know I've said this before but I really want to go to sleep last few days were tiring by the time I go to bed it gets around 2:00-2:30 and then in morning I've to wake up early. I want to watch spn again from the start and I'm putting it off from a long time coz I feel bad for my eyes already. I've to sit in front of the screen a lot and my eyes are like give us a break. And I take a break and read a fic so my eyes are like are you freaking kidding us? Do you wear glasses coz I do and I think I need to go for a check up🤔🤔

I hope your days are better how does your day goes?

oh no you’re not dumb, I just post a lot💀 so it makes sense that you don’t see it. plus tumblr doesn’t let you know that someone answered your anonymous ask so there’s that. follow this tag, maybe they’ll let you know when I answer?

dw bestiee;) I feel you on an emotional level there buddy. yk idk if this is healthy or not lol but I find complaining therapeutic, like if I complain enough then it won’t piss me off as much anymore. woah wifey you need to get some rest, do you find it hard to fall asleep or do you not have time to fall asleep? I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THAT BREAK TO READ FICS, MY EYES DO THAT TOO😭 hmm maybe you do🤔 and oo my gf wears glasses;) also no I don’t wear glasses but I think I might someday with all this screen time thanks to everything closing. speaking of everything closing, how’s the whole covid situation over there?

aha thanks. well my schedule changes a lot but recently it’s been consistent for a couple months. so i’ve got classes that start at 11, and I always go to sleep with the hopes that I wake up early and have a productive morning. but of course I end up leaving my 10am alarm, and when it rings I snooze and stay in bed until I realize it’s 10:30 now and jump out of bed and get ready. by get ready I mean wash my face and brush my teeth and check tumblr💀 I spend like an hour trying to think of what to have for breakfast, by then it becomes brunch. after I’m done with my classes I either stay and do some work or make lunch, something light usually. then I do some more work and finish off whatever essays I have postponed handing in. after sunset, I’d make some tea and watch a movie or two. I’ve been trying to log as many films as I can on letterboxd lately. and i’d read for an hour or so, sometimes write. then come midnight I realize that I haven’t studied, so the panic of procrastination kicks in and I attempt to do my most in two hours. works like a charm everytime. I sleep and the cycle continues.

🎶if I could be with you tonight, I would sing you to sleep, never let them take the light behind your eyes🎶💕

[lackadaisycats]

I don't know if this a bit of an inappropriate question, but how do you deal with procrastination in terms of art. I'm an artist myself but I often draw things months apart and I wanna make myself draw more. Any advice?

It’s not inappropriate. It’s a good question.  Different things work for different people, and I’m not sure my thoughts about it will be helpful, but here they are. (Pardon the excessive verbiage. I didn’t edit…because I should be working >_>)-Break the work into pieces.  Staring down a sizable comic chapter or complex illustration like you have to charge at it wholesale can be daunting. Even if you’re excited about it initially, reality eventually sets in and whatever reservations and anxieties you have stored at the back of your mind quickly become tactics for negotiating yourself out of doing the work. Sometimes even a smaller project can have that effect if you’re thinking of it in terms of how many total hours you’re bound to spend poking at it.  So, parcel it into whatever bits make it manageable, whether it’s looking at the writing, layout, penciling, color flats and final polish as separate tasks or deconstructing it into time segments like ‘however much painting I can get done during the 2 hour duration of this podcast I’m listening to’, then break and strategize your next move.

-Take breaks and reward yourself.  Sometimes I’m really in the zone and I’ll happily work a 10-14 hour shift on something without distraction. More commonly, though distractions do arise, the cat keeps trying to sit on me, my neck hurts, I’m not firing on all cylinders on a given day or I’m not feeling too enthused about the work.  That’s when it helps to use breaks like mini-rewards for each completed task. Stop and watch a half hour of Netflix, play a game, take a walk, stretch, have a snack.  Reward progress. 

-Do stuff you love and are interested in.  Mix as much of the “want to” into the “have to” and “ought to” work as you can. Granted, if you’re doing art for a living, it’s not always an option to focus on your personal interests, but if you’re trying to do your own creative projects, working on a school assignment in which you have some license to choose your subject matter, or if you’re able to be a bit selective with your freelance gigs, pick things that genuinely interest you, or add some of your pet topics to the mix - whatever will heighten your emotional/intellectual investment. I find I’m far more eager to do the work when there’s something about it that I can really glom onto, be it a favorite character, an animal I like to draw, a certain mood I want to translate, a historical setting or costume, a color palette or motif I want to toy around with, etc.

-Step away if it’s not coming together.  Struggling with a frustrating piece of art can be a lot like having a heated argument with someone.  Eventually it devolves into irrational appeals, antagonism and hurt feelings and any chance of productive discourse leaves the scene. Instead of sticking around and making it worse, turning the project into miserable drudgery, set it aside and come back to it later with your composure and sense of perspective intact. That’s not to say all projects must be or should be followed through on, and not all projects will be a continuous bowl of cherries to bring to completion, but it might not be as hopeless or unappealing as it seemed upon returning to it.

-Mindspace and workspace matter.  Find things that help you get into the rhythm of your work. Listening to podcasts, audiobooks and music helps keep me focused when I’m in the midst of the long-haul on comic pages - doing all of the value and toning work that takes hours.  Being in the right place with a comfortable seat, in a comfortable (but not so comfortable you fall asleep) position, with minimal distractions, tools within reach and good lighting is important too.

-Collect inspirations.  Keep things on hand that you can look at for ideas or simply for that motivation to keep on trucking. Personally, I have a lot of art books around, a lot of historical material like 20th century fashion books, books about old cars, books about flappers, comics with great art, funny collections of syndicated strips, character sketches hanging on my walls, and many gigabytes of inspirational and reference images collected off the internet. Sometimes just browsing through one of those folders sparks ideas and makes me want to pick up my stylus.

-Sleep right and eat right.  I have had a deep seated, lifelong terrible relationship with sleep. I’m still working on that part. If you’ve got a pretty consistent sleep schedule, though, you’re probably off to a good start.As for food - it seems perfunctory to say that it matters what you eat. On some level, we all know that, but, yeah, it really truly absolutely does matter..a lot.  When I was 20, I could live on ramen noodles, goldfish crackers, microwave ravioli and energy drinks. I could pull all-nighters on top of that and still keep chugging merrily along.  Boy, the years run like rabbits, though, and eating like a deranged dumpster goat catches up to you sooner than you might think.  I eventually found myself struggling with perpetual malaise, brain fog and a sour mood that made it hard to do anything or to enjoy doing anything. I’m ashamed to admit to how long it took me to realize - after blaming it alternatingly on allergies, anemia, depression - that my apathetic diet was not conducive to basic life functions, let alone fueling creative fires. I started putting some effort into food selections and it has made the difference between fumbling through life in a semi-conscious state and feeling bright and motivated and - in spite of myself - even happy.(And, contrary to the way society romanticizes connections between depression and artistic impulse, most people work better when they feel better.)

-Practice self-discipline.  Here’s the thing no one likes to hear.  Sometimes, no matter how many devices you have in place to make work fun and comfy and something you look forward to, you just won’t feel like it. You will have to be an adult about it. You will have to simply muster the willpower. You can be that “creative” person who has lots of ideas but never anything to show for them because a million vectors for instant gratification circle around you constantly like distracting little red-devil imps. Or you can be a self-starter building toward something, playing the long game with goals in mind; you can dig your heels in, grit your teeth, take a swig of coffee and get down to work, dammit.

[stolenfootprints]

Hi lovely 🌻 I'm going to be a junior and I've followed your blog since I was a freshman and I see how good you are at your studies Do you have any back to school tips?

haha honestly i feel like the main reason i am such a good student is because i have pretty bad anxiety and know this so i don’t let myself procrastinate or i will stress out and break down. Like not turning something in on time and doing it will gives me a lot of stress. 

That aside, some other tips (idk if you are in college or high school so if some of these relate only to college and you’re not then just ignore them or save them for if you do go):

USE YOUR PLANNER. like i seriously can’t stress this enough. I take mine with me to every class, meeting, study sesh etc and i write down everything. never assume you will remember to write something down later, keep it neat and organized!!!

Go to office hours, write all your teachers office hours down in your planner somewhere or save them to your phone and do not hesitate to go to them. Not only are teachers normally much more helpful during office hours but it also kind of gives you a leg up in the class because you are showing your teacher that you care and put in the time and work outside of class to. If you are in high school this can also translate to not feeling scared to talk to teachers outside of class and ask for help!

Make lists, write the tiny things down to (feels good to check things off and will make you feel more productive aka less stress)

Study breaks!!!!!! I personally do not study well in the library because it is too distractionless(?) and then i get stressed (lol see a theme here?) if i am studying or doing homework for a long period of time i focus and work hard for a certain amount of time (depends on the day) and then i will get up and walk around the block, or walk downtown for coffee, or do some yoga etc and then i am able to come back to my work with a clear head and continue working instead of getting too stressed/burnt out and quitting

Find a place that you work well where you can go when you have a lot. This might be the library, or a cute cafe downtown, or the park etc. for me it in a little cafe/bakery and i will go get some soup and tea and i can work for a while there. I tend to work in my room normally but then if i can’t focus there or have a lot to do i will go to my fav cafe and it helps me a lot!

Outlines are everything when it comes to a paper. Step one for me is to always just get something down on the work document and just start typing ideas or fact or topics i want to go over or whatever it is down and then working that into a paper

I have never had much of an issue with procrastination but during times that i do i will break the assignment into different parts and give myself a due date for each (say i have a paper due in a week, on monday in my planner i write that my sources are due, tuesday i do research, wed i do an outline etc etc) it makes it seem less huge and therefore easier to complete

Take care of yourself (especially during finals week and times like that) Your brain and body are not going to function well if you don’t give yourself sleep, water, healthy food, and breaks!!! Sometimes it is better to quit something a little early so you can get some rest or go make yourself a good healthy meal

Reward systems, if i really don’t feel like getting things done but i have things to do i will tell myself if i get something done i can go get a cookie downtown with my coffee later

Hopefully some of this is helpful to you!! Good luck babe!

[frogsandfries]

Irritating

Some people open their mouth and don't stop their incessant, endless prattling even when no one is interested or even listening. I'm not interested this morning.

Last night, someone was cooking while I was trying to go to sleep and I had this honestly kind of every sensation like I could feel my bronchiols (sp) having an allergic reaction.

I tried to finally file my taxes the other day only to find out, a) I went to the wrong place to get my missing W2, and b) the missing W2 got sent to a wrong address. Whatever address that is, I couldn't say, since I thought I changed my address. So c) I had to borrow five dollars from my dad to pay for the retrieval of the document, and I still have to wait up to a week for the W2 to come in. But not because of any mistake I made? Or maybe I did. But d) now I have to wait another week to finally finish filling my taxes. And this, folks, is why procrastination kills.

There was a journal story thing on TV about multi-generational families living in the same home. They briefly mentioned adult children living with their parents (believe me, with my emotionally abusive mother and near-neglectful father, this is not my ideal), and adult children with their own children having to live with parents, but the story seemed to focus more on parents having to move back in with their children.

After the childhood that I had, trying to self-medicate on the worlds inside my head, I would sooner have my reproductive organs removed than raise my child around my mother. Speaking of which, so my sister wants to know if I want to go to Japan or Disney in Orlando. I know it sounds weird to juxtapose those two topics, but I was going to get my fertility consultation when I get my license, and after that, after knowing kind of what I might need to do, I wanted to start saving for it, or some of it, if I can have a repayment plan. But a trip to Japan, especially if I'm footing the whole bill myself--we're going to want to eat out and we're going to need somewhere to sleep and shower, the plane tickets, and souvenirs. We're going to also want to visit museums and other attractions. Then apart from that, we're going to need to get around the islands, and we're not going to want to waste a minute with a poorly planned itinerary, so we're going to need that.

How much could a trip like that cost?

Not to mention she's not giving enough time to carefully plan or save.

Additionally, I know this probably sounds a little vain, but I want my kid to be about the same age as their cousins, and I can hear my clock ticking loudly in my ear. Additionally, I'm going to want to know that I can provide my child a comfortable and safe living space, so I'm going to have to continue persistently chipping away at striving for my perfect dream van.

Let's talk about that. So I'm going to have to pare back on my ideals to start with, and then build up to them as I can afford. So I'm going to start with doing the roof and the floor and having the futon. Then I have to fix the van itself, so while I save for that, I'm going to try to wrap up what I can, build my water cart and try to arrange for a work surface. Then as I work through my immediate goals, with luck I can integrate my resin charms and work toward working for myself.

I have a lot going on, or a long waiting list, and I feel like I have to keep reminding myself all the time or I'll forget.

Fix the brakes, new battery, new tires, suspension. Driver's license.

Roof, flooring, bed.

By that point, it'll probably be time to make some modifications for staying a little warmer or cooler. I might use timers. Once I can confidently keep a pet in the van, it'll be the right time to start my family, but knowing me, I'll just jump the gun because this is something I want and when I want something this badly, I just jump in with both feet.

I want it all. I want the van with the studio space, I want my degree and I want to start my family.