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wickedsrest-rp · 7 months ago

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The sun is shining, the air is growing hot, and the sand is burping out some beach towels after eating whoever was on them. Everyone loves summertime, especially the students, who are out of school for the summer and ready to enjoy everything Wicked's Rest has to offer. Who isn't put in a good mood? So relax, have fun, and soak up the 2 weeks of perfect weather you get when you live in New England. This event will run until September, so there’s plenty of time to enjoy!

Vicker’s Beach has turned into a prime beach party location this summer. On a nice day, you can pack a cooler, towel, and umbrella and enjoy everything Maine’s beaches have to offer: sun, waves fit for surfing and boogie boarding, and tidepooling on the rocks. Every weekend (weather permitting), the township hosts a beach party, which is free to the public and full of activities:

SANDCASTLE CONTEST! Calling all Resters to the beach. While they’re called sandcastles, any work of art made out of sand can and should be entered into the competition (sand mausoleums encouraged). Judging is on July 28th and participants are already mapping out their plans for the most impressive castles and sculptures. There are three categories this year: classic, haunting, and sealife. Anyone can enter! Post your character’s castle or sculpture on their blog some time prior to judging, with the category they’re entering under (and send a link in ModMail). The all-knowing judges have indicated “thematic” prizes this year, which might bode poorly for those entering the ‘haunting’ category. Who knows?

If you’re more of a sporty type than artsy type, you might be interested in signing up for volleyball or water polo tournaments! These tend to be less weird than the sandcastle contest but some of the equipment might not be quite right.

Sea Breeze Boathouse has donated some of their boats for use for these beach party weekends. They usually paint the bottom of their boats red to signal that selkies shouldn’t tip them over, but the paint is missing from a good chunk of these, and people might find themselves in the water with hungry or territorial selkies. Some of the youngsters might just be out to play, but there are a couple of fierce individuals that will gnash on any boats that happen to steer themselves in the wrong place.

Have you ever wanted to earn your SCUBA certification? ADI (Association of Diving Instructors… where did the P go?) is here and offering training courses. There are also plenty of opportunities to snorkel, with or without a guide. If you’re lucky you may even find some very range-restricted species. So restricted, they’re not in any of the field guides of Maine marine life. Weird!

Monsters lurk in the depths. Salques, topnik, and mermaids are sighted in the coastal waters along the shore. Meanwhile, sand chompers and lulluscs patrol the beach. They all love this time of year. The eating is good.

Kids and adults alike enjoy the “pirate’s treasure hunt” that’s put on every year at the beach. The town has buried some neat coins and other goodies in the sand in a roped off area, and everyone tries to find them. As it happens, the beach has some real treasures – some quite cursed – hidden in the sand, and no one can guarantee you won’t find one of those prizes instead.

Mind your location. You don’t want to wander too far south from all the festivities, or you’ll end up in the hungry sand south of the beach. And whatever you do, do not build your sandcastle out of hungry sand.

Wicked’s Rest very own renaissance faire is in town this summer, the Midsummer Faire. Is it safe? No. But was the renaissance safe? Probably not. Danger breeds creativity. Show us your cosplay! And don’t look too hard at the individuals running the faire, because the fae might find that offensive, and you will never be seen again. Oh, right, it’s operated by fae (and a few promise bound humans, plus Larry, who just has no idea what’s going on).

You can find all your ren faire favorites here: games, a maze to disappear in, vendors selling some legitimate old things, and some incredibly impressive costumes.

Fae magic is stronger on the faire grounds, which usually ends poorly for humans on the other end of things. Word binding comes easier, deals seem a little more enticing, and it’s less work for hungry fae to get a human meal. There are an increasing number of disappearances being linked to the faire and those who investigate often end up vanishing, too. The fae, though? Thriving.

Of course there are games. Have a great time with throwing sharp things around – darts, knives, axes, arrows, stars. That’s a favorite pastime around here. There’s also a strength test (a hammer and a bell), “drench a wench” which is a nix who tries to steal the names of those dunking her, and human chess where humans can face off unknowingly against fae (mind the consequences for being knocked out). The games are often rigged – sometimes in the direction of having the human win for a “prize”. Winners tend to receive free vouchers to into the sprawling hedge maze at the faire, which should be entered at your own risk.

Speaking of the maze, be careful where you wander. It looks bigger on the inside, and the fae are exercising some of their best illusions between those hedges to lead people astray. If you get out on the other side as intended, you’re fine. But if you end up turned around, you might be lost in the maze forever, find yourself in an aos si, or be picked off by someone looking for a snack. You might find other people in the maze with scraggly appearances and tattered clothes, claiming to have stuck in there for decades or even centuries. Neat! Fae are fair, though, and there’s an opportunity for a true reward – you can find the exit that leads to a secret garden, which has some supernaturally delicious food, the cleanest water, and the most beautiful flowers. You might find something else you’re looking for while you’re there.

You can both watch and take part in the jousting tournament, which is on kelpie-back. The kelpies eat any humans who ride them and then lose – they’re only interested in respecting humans who lead them to victory. So like, one human should be fine. There is also an aquatic version.

Vendors everywhere! Tinkerbells & Whistles has a very successful pop up store at the fair, which the fae have mixed opinions on but no one can deny the humans love it. There’s a crystal and rock seller who is made out of crystal herself, and a honeybee nymph selling mead, honey, and wax. There are multiple stalls with spriggans selling some pretty sketchy things. Then there are the plant vendors, selling all of the best fae plants and other supernatural varieties alongside some especially healthy normal plants (“hungry grass” and “vegetable lamb” are probably just cute little names for flavor, people think). Some of the vendors are very passionate and wander around to make sure the humans are enjoying things – they have a lot to say!

The wine garden is run by faun, and people tend to get a lot drunker than intended here. Whenever everyone breaks out in dance, it’s assumed that the performers (run by muses) are just that good. To be fair, the faun really love the bagpipe band, harpists, and other bards, too.

It’s seriously impressive how real some of those fairy costumes seem, isn’t it? The fae here don’t always care to keep their glamours up. They’ll take any compliments you give their wings (perhaps literally).

Overseeing everything is a mysterious fae called Swarm. Some of the employees suspect Swarm is dozens of pixies in a trenchcoat and they would be correct, but it would be rude to expose them. Swarm really likes mingling with all the people at the faire so you might make a new friend or thirty if you chat them up.

Every coastal Maine town has some lighthouses, and Wicked’s Rest is no exception, boasting 3 that are functional, and a handful of defunct ones (though some people report seeing lights flashing from them on the darkest nights). This summer, you can go on a special tour to visit each of the lighthouses. Run by Patchy Beard, the owner of Bottomless Booty (and joined by his possibly cursed parrot), these tours operate both day and night. The day tours have been rather uneventful and good for the kids and families especially in nice weather. The night tours, which attract a more adventurous crew, have been a little rockier.

Some locals know about The Keeper – a mysterious figure who is said to haunt the town’s lighthouses, luring sailors to their deaths. Some theorize the Keeper is the ghost of a former lighthouse keeper who drowned in a storm, now seeking to claim the lives of others who venture too close to its domain. Sightings of the Keeper often align with storms and shipwrecks, leading many to speculate that it can manipulate the sea. Despite its fearsome reputation, the Lighthouse Keeper is often depicted as a tragic figure by the locals, doomed to haunt the lighthouses for eternity. Some tales even suggest that it is trying to warn sailors of the dangers of the sea, in hopes of sparing them the same fate that befell it.

Patchy Beard should have paid these stories more heed. One night, his parrot started squawking warnings, and then several tourists fell out of the top of one of the supposedly-defunct lighthouses, as blinding white light flared over the sea. The tours resumed, of course. Patchy just updated the liability waiver.

Some reasonably expect a ghost to be behind this. Whether this ghost is the very same Keeper the locals whisper about, or something else entirely, remains to be seen. But as the tours go on and more people cycle through the town’s lighthouses, the ghost flickers the lights more and more – warning of danger, while causing approaching vessels to crash. Tragic backstory or not, this seems like a problem to be dealt with, before entire tour groups go missing, or a cruise ship pulls up to town.

Anyway, here is the tour itinerary. Have fun!

Deersprings Lighthouse - Despite rumors of being haunted, this lighthouse is generally considered to be reliable, if not a bit boring in its views.

Hanging Rock Lighthouse - A functional lighthouse located right near Hanging Rock, one of the most picturesque.

Stormwatch Tower - Before Hanging Rock Lighthouse was constructed, Stormwatch Tower was the only lighthouse in Harborside. When the lighthouse keeper died suddenly, no one was able to continue using it. Why? According to local lore, anyone who tried to light it was pushed off the top. Instead of trying to fix this in any sensible way the town just put a new lighthouse up by Hanging Rock.

Pointy - It doesn't seem like anyone remembers the actual name of this lighthouse, so they just call it Pointy after the especially pointy top it has. It's found up in the northeastern part of the Pines and no one knows the last time it lit up, or knows if anyone works there at all.

World's End Lighthouse - Out on World's End Isle, you can hop on a ferry to see the most scenic angles. This impressive lighthouse is seen on a lot of postcards. It usually works.

Darkling Peak - Why this lighthouse was constructed by a lake, no one knows. It's not especially tall and it doesn't work, but it does seem to be an actual lighthouse. DON'T GO AT NIGHT.

The Wormhouse - Where else would this lighthouse be than near the Wormwoods? It used to function, but the worms have taken it now.

The first bonfire was an accident, because someone's grill exploded on the beach. But the gathering that formed around it was heartwarming <3 Now, Wicked's Rest has a few bonfire nights toward the end of the summer each year to foster a sense of community. If you're not going to join the shrimp temple, how else are you going to meet people? The bonfire. That's how.

This will be a group-wide thread. Timebound, short replies, and opportunities to branch off if you want something smaller. We'll be doing two of these so we can find a good balance for different timezones and availability. Stay tuned in August for more details and specific timing!

If you prefer to do individual longer form threads for the bonfire, that's welcome, too!

The grill that exploded was cursed, and its magic soaked into the sand. Now, the land the bonfire is held on has some magical properties, keeping anyone able to supernaturally detect others from doing so. Slayers won't know who's undead and fae won't know who else is fae, and so on. Also, the sand smells like hamburgers and kabobs.

Periodical cicadas aren’t in the northeast… you thought. But Wicked’s Rest has its own species of cicada, and these ones are much bigger and louder than those you’d see in other parts of the country. Emerging from the ground every 13 years, the Wicked’s Rest brood molts by the hundreds of thousands, and the 2 foot long adults take flight across the town. Their screams can be heard for miles and give people real headaches.

By most accounts, these are regular cicadas. But huge. For a lot of people, no more horror is needed. The bugs aren’t aggressive and don’t go after anyone, but they can deliver a painful bite with their straw-like mouth if handled. Trees and shrubs aren’t so lucky and are being drained of all of their sap, leaving large swaths of the woods dead from the invasion.

Well… most of them are normal. Some of the cicadas that emerged from the ground around the leg are different. These special bugs have jet black wings and fly in silence. Rather than joining the rest of the cicadas, they appear to just be fluttering around town. They seem curious, smarter, and watch people go about their lives. Once they’ve seen enough, they fly back to the leg and feed on it like other cicadas might feed on trees.

Some of the townies say they remember the last brood or two (or dozen...) emerging, but they used to be bigger. Whether this is true or a 'back in my day' situation is unclear; the university's old specimens indicate otherwise.

While the cicadas' buzzing isn't loud enough to break things on its own, they vibrate a lot and can break glass surfaces (like windows...) if they land on them and then buzz.

Some people are very into collecting the molts of these giant cicadas. They are accepted as currency at the Bizarre.

Karkaskuttles don’t like being the 2nd worst invertebrate around. They’ve been doing battle with any cicadas that cross their path, leading people to see the two species duking it out, often in very inconvenient places.

These cicadas do have one especially damaging habit... they're highly attracted to light at night. Anyone who leaves their lights on after sunset will find their home covered in cicadas. Which, as mentioned, can break windows. There have been a couple of reported instances of cicadas smothering someone to death because they were near a light while it was dark out.

#potw #plot of the week #event

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lilolilyrae · 2 years ago

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Songs & poetry I currently know by heart

Thought it might be fun to start a list of these :) just cause... And because if I don't go through these from time to time, I'll unlearn them again, and I tend to forget half of these even exist, so... List :D

Vaguely in the order I learned them:

Songs:

Amy McDonald - Pretty Face

Halsey - New Americana

Don McLean - American Pie (though I keep messing up the 3. & 4th stanza adsfg)

Coldplay - Viva la Vida (and I can more or less do it on the piano but like. the vocal melody? xD)

Taylor Swift - The Lakes

King Princess - 1950 (... probably need to re-learn hL of that)

Hole in the bottom of the sea (my parents taught me on vacation two years ago or so? Hilarious)

Måneskin - Zitti e Buoni

Jax - Victoria's Secret (2022)

Four Seasons - December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) (Dec'22)

Poetry:

Madelline - Dopamine (french version) (Jun'23)

Jericho (Jul'23)

Theodor Fontane - John Maynard (leider nur noch halbwegs :( also ich kriegs hin aber nur mit viel überlegen lol xD dang it, I used to know this one!)

John McCrae - In Flanders Fields (I'm 99% certain I learned that one bc it was mentioned in some fanfic but I can't for the life of me remember which fic or even which fandom adsfg)

Update 03/23: Caitlyn Seida - Hope Is Not A Bird, Emily, It's A Sewer Rat Update

04/23: Mary Elizabeth Frye - Do not stand at my grave and qeep

04/23: Emily Dickinson - Hope is the Thing with Feathers

Piano:

PotC melody (right hand properly, left hand not rly at all)

LotR (pretty much all of them one finger style, but part of the elves theme I can do with both hands properly)

Good Omens theme (right hand)

Also every song I know the melody of I can pretty much do one finger style by ear... Reminds me I used to know a couple songs by Eisblume and LaFee by heart that are no longer on the above list, o.o (I can still do the melody, but not the words)

... to be taken with a grain of salt though, I've not had access to a piano for a few months now, and while I'm sure I can still do PotC, I'm not certain I've learned the other two by heart enough for them to stick that long without practice

Learning:

Ursula K. Le Guin - Hymn to Time (I can do the first two stanzas now) - update 04/23: three stanzas!

Sappho - On What is Best (haven't really started yet but I have the tab open)

Irish Eyes (Jun'23)

Aaaand the probably largest category of them all:

Shit I've unlearned :((

LaFee - Ring Frei

Eisblume - Louise

Eisblume - Eisblumen

Taylor Swift - Love Story

Amy Macdonald - Spark

Amy Macdonald - This is the Life

ABBA - Mamma Mia

ABBA - Honey Honey

Lena - Satellite

Das verdammte Gedicht mit midestens zehn Strophen das wir in der Schule hatten auswendig lernen müssen, mit einem angeklagten der noch was erledigen muss und sein Kumpel bleibt als Pfand zurück oä?? Weiß nicht mal mehr den Namen (edit: die Bürgschaft)

Idk whether it counts as poetry or what but I used to be able to do large parts of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and Midsummer Night's dream, plus other plays (though usually just the parts I played in drama club)

#x #personal #by heart

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thatishogwash · 6 years ago

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Inuoka x Hinata with “How about you make me?” Yeah, this won’t be my last one, ha ha ha.

Sorry it took me so long to get to this! Hope you like it :)

AO3

Inuoka was doing a headcount as he stood by the door, trying to count up his team even as they moved all over the place. He remembered training camp being much more fun before he had been Nekoma’s captain, but he wouldn’t give up the position for everything. Even the mere thought of his team electing him captain made him feel like he was so full he was going to burst. Haiba had complained the longest about not being captain and Inuoka had agreed to a volleyball related competition where he basically slaughtered Haiba in all categories. Haiba might have taken Inuoka’s position during their first year but that didn’t stop Inuoka from working even harder to gain his position back.

“Sou, you’re phone.” Teshiro, their third year setter and also vice captain, said as he let out a loud yawn before holding up Inuoka’s phone. “It was under my pillow.” Before Inuoka could tell Teshiro that he was actually sleeping on Inuoka’s bedroll, the other teen had rolled over and promptly fallen asleep.

Inuoka grinned to himself as he looked down at his phone, expecting a missed call from his mother. Sometimes when he was gone too many days in a row his little sister panicked and needed to hear from him before bed. It was with that thought in mind that Inuoka pulled up his messages and was partially surprised to see one from not his mother but Yachi from Karasuno.

Nekoma had managed to get a manager by Inuoka’s third year. It was one of the players twin sister, but it still counted. All the captains from the training camp plus the managers were in a group chat so they could easily set things up, but Yachi wasn’t speaking to him from the group chat settings. It was a private message that he pulled up.

Can you meet outside the dorms? Please.

Inuoka glanced at his teammates before announcing he had to go to the bathroom but by the time he came back he wanted everyone in their own beds and on the way to sleep. Anyone still awake and caught on games or phones would be participating in all the punishments tomorrow, which quickly shut up the room and Inuoka exited with satisfaction.

It had taken him a while to figure out what kind of captain he wanted to be. There was no way he could be sly and clever like Kuroo had been, giving embarrassing speeches that actually pumped up everyone and helped ease any of their anxiety or fears. He couldn’t be like Fukunaga, who worked in tandem with Kozume and Yamamoto to make a powerful triple team. But there had always been one person Inuoka had secretly admired the most out of all the captains he had met or seen.

Karasuno’s old captain, the one who had helped bring them to nationals for the first time in years. Sawamura was friendly and generally accepting to anything around him, he stayed cool and collected in most situations, unless they involved Kuroo then he seemed to fit the teenage stereotypes much more easily, but there was something undeniably scary about Sawamura when he got angry. Inuoka liked that, enjoyed the thought of being the easy captain who no one wanted to cross.

“What’s wrong Yachi?” Inuoka asked as he stepped out of the building they were all sleeping in to see Yachi pacing anxiously. She had, for the most part, stopped being terrified of all the tall the muscular volleyball players. Some of the younger and more exuberant players still made her flinch back, but the older players tended to form a sort of force field around her. No one ever attempted to approach Yachi when Tsukishima was with her.

“It’s Shouyou.” Yachi wrung her fingers before tucking a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear. She glanced behind Inuoka, over to the gyms. Inuoka looked over to see a light still on in one of them.

“He’s still practicing?” Inuoka asked, only partially surprised. Karasuno was still an unpredictable monster, and without Kozume Nekoma was having a more difficult time picking them apart but Karasuno had suffered losses of its own. “Why didn’t you tell Kageyama?” Yachi pulled a face and Inuoka stifled a laugh.

Hinata Shouyou was mostly like water, he tended to flow and weave through most situations without flinching. But even water could be dangerous if it was in the form of a midsummer storm in the middle of the ocean. Mostly Hinata was unaffected, but when he was wound up Kageyama was one of the few people that could make him complete explode. No one needed a couple third years fighting, it would be bad for moral all around.

“I tried Tadashi but he’s already asleep.” Yachi said apologetically, looking up at him with a silent question. Inuoka took in a deep breath and willed himself not to blush because his crush on Hinata was a well known thing amongst the third years in every school.

Inuoka hadn’t even been aware of his own feelings until Yamamoto made a wild guess last year and Kozume told him to shut up. Hinata made friends easily and he did it with everyone. When Inuoka had been replaced by Haiba he had done his best to remain positive and help out in every way he could, he knew it was nothing personal and he wanted Nekoma to have the best chance at nationals also. It hurt that their best chance didn’t involve him, but he tried not to allow anyone else to see that. Hinata had asked for his number after their first practice match, and he had been one of the first people to text Inuoka that he was disappointed that he didn’t get to face off against Inuoka. Hinata’s words had smoothed something left jagged in Inuoka, and they continued to message each other regularly.

During their second year Inuoka slowly began to realize that his feelings weren’t exactly completely friendly, or maybe they were too friendly. It was fine though, Inuoka was excited to have his first official crush but he didn’t want to do anything about it. Volleyball occupied most of Inuoka’s thoughts and time, with trying to keep up with schoolwork so he could stay on the volleyball team taking second place. He was satisfied with having a crush but he was also happy just being friends with Hinata, it’s all he wanted out of their relationship.

After Inuoka assured Yachi that he would make sure Hinata got in bed soon, he thought about those unrequited feelings that seemed to have bubbled up inside him even stronger. He.was worried what they would do after high school ended. Hinata had ambitious dreams and as much as Inuoka would love to play for Japan one day, he wasn’t quite sure he fit in with the monsters like Ushijima and Oikawa, even Hinata and Kageyama.

Would Inuoka regret it if he never confessed? If he even did confess than what would be the ideal outcome? Would he want to date Hinata? Go out to the movies or arcade together, Inuoka could show him around Tokyo and Hinata could show him around the country. They couldn’t hold hands out in public, Inuoka might combust at that, but he thought about sitting on the couch with Hinata, close enough that when Hinata drifted off he could lean against Inuoka.

Stepped into the third gym Inuoka took a deep breath as a ball slammed on the ground before bouncing off in a different direction. Over the course of three years, Hinata had continued to grow by leaps and bounds, leaving those who didn’t give it their all in the dust. His jump serves were powerful, though not as scary accurate as Kageyama’s. At least not yet, Inuoka had no doubt that given another year or two Hinata would give Kageyama a run for his money.

Inuoka knew Hinata was working through his issues the only way he knew how but it was late and Hinata was the vice captain of Karasuno, he couldn’t be seen breaking the rules on the first day of training camp. It would set a poor president for the junior members. Karasuno had come up with more losses than any of the other teams and Inuoka knew that loss set heavily on Hinata’s shoulders. His receives were far better than they had been when he was a first year, but he was nowhere near Sawamura or their old liberos, Nishinoya, skill set. It wouldn’t be an issue but their new libero was a first year who seemed to have a lackluster attitude when it came to volleyball.

That left a lot of pressure for the third years at Karasuno to pick up the slack, to guard the holes in their defense. But it meant Hinata couldn’t be used to his best ability, which was offense. They were still doing the same thing where they were evolving rapidly, at a scary pace that left most in shock but for right now they were kind of a mess and Hinata had to spend most of extra practices teaching his juniors about proper form and practicing receives instead of polishing his own skill set.

“Hey Shou,” Inuoka called out, swallowing down his natural instinct to step back when Hinata turned those too intense eyes on him. “It’s late, we should clean up and get to bed.” If his voice came out a little lower and raspier than usual, he blamed it on the long day and late hour.

“No.” Hinata said flatly before turning back to do a run up for another jump serve, which landed out and made his shoulders stiffen even further.

Hinata was just as friendly and open as he was in first year, he used noises to explain emotions more often than not, he still struggled with school even though when he actually applied himself he tended to do well, and he bounced around each team like he fit in perfectly. But there was always that insanely intense look he got about him that made most people take a step back naturally. Inuoka had even seen it throw Tsukishima off a couple times, and nothing bothered that guy.

“It’s time to stop.” Inuoka said, putting more force into his voice. He wasn’t use to ordering Hinata around, he never had to before because Hinata was happy to go along with whatever anyone else wanted.

“How about you make me?” Hinata picked up another ball before staring down at Inuoka from across the gym, eyes intense and a challenge in the tilt of his head. Inuoka suddenly felt warm all over, there was something blooming inside of him that felt akin to how he always felt facing Hinata down across the net, like here was his true rival and beating no one would feel like how it would feel to win against Hinata.

But this was different and much more intense than even that. Inuoka found himself striding across the gym to do what, he wasn’t sure. His hands came up without a thought as to why and he found himself cupping Hinata’s face between his hands. He momentarily wondered if the calluses on his hands felt bad against the softness of Hinata’s face before that thought slipped away. Hinata had grown a couple centimeters in the few years they had been in high school, but so had Inuoka. It left him towering over Hinata but he had never felt so much bigger than the other teen until that moment.

The ball Hinata was holding bumped into Inuoka’s abdomen, distracting him long enough for his mind to catch up to what his body had been doing, or had been about to do. He quickly let his hands drop and took a step back.

“I’ll help you clean up.” Inuoka said quickly, turning around as his face began to burn. He couldn’t believe he had about to- he touched Hinata’s face! Without his permission! How about you make me isn’t an invitation to-to-kiss someone! Inuoka was going to have to change his name and move somewhere very far away. Maybe Haiba had some relatives in Russia who would accept a poor, dishonored Japanese boy into their home. He was a good cook and didn’t mind doing chores-

Something bounced off the back of Inuoka’s butt and he stumbled forward before turning to give an accusatory look at HInata, even though he had mentally promised himself that he would never face Hinata again because he had just tried to kiss him! Inuoka could only make a noise of confusion and disgruntlement, but Hinata had always been able to understand him and now was no different.

“Did you nearly kiss me?” Hinata asked, his hand already picking up another volleyball as if getting his future ammunition ready. Inuoka’s butt smarted, but he was kind of glad Hinata hadn’t thrown it at his back. Inuoka had landed pretty hard on his back during one of the practice matches against Fukurodani. Inuoka knew Hinata’s aim well enough that he knew how deadly his accuracy was, even just by throwing a volleyball. Hinata had purposefully aimed for Inuoka’s butt.

“I’m sorry.” Inuoka apologized miserably because what kind of monster tries to kiss someone when they are visibly upset?

“Oh.” Hinata looked down at the volleyball in his hand and if he wanted to throw it directly in Inuoka’s face, then Inuoka wouldn’t move and would accept his fate. At least Hinata had lost that frightening intensity, his shoulders were relaxed once more. “You don’t have to help me clean up, it’s my mess.”

Inuoka felt like he had been punched in the gut because Hinata didn’t want him around and the worse part was, Inuoka knew why he didn’t. Inuoka hadn’t even had his first kiss yet and if someone had forced themselves on him, he wouldn’t want to spend extended amounts of time with them either. It twisted something awful inside Inuoka but he wanted to at least try and make it better.

“It’ll be quicker if there’s two.” Inuoka stated softly and when all Hinata did in answer was shrug and began picking up stray balls, Inuoka took that as permission and helped clean up.

It went quickly and was completed in silence that weighed down Inuoka. He wanted to apologize again but he didn’t know if bringing it up would make things even worse. Hinata was hardly ever silent, even when he wasn’t directly talking to someone he was usually singing out his actions.

They walked out together and Inuoka let Hinata go through the door first, staying a step behind the other teen as they made the short trip back to the building where they were sleeping. All Inuoka wanted to do was curl up in his bed and sleep, perhaps until training camp was over.

“Hey Sou?” Inuoka turned hesitantly towards Hinata as they stopped outside the Karasuno room. He could heard soft snores and even quieter talking coming from within. “You could if you wanted to.”

“What?” Inuoka asked in confusion.

“Kiss me, if you wanted to.” Hinata shrugged, his cheeks turning pink in the dim lighting of the hallways. Inuoka’s heart pounded in his chest as he stared over at Hinata, felt his hands go clammy. Hinata met Inuoka’s eyes before a slow smile covered his face, and Inuoka could have sworn it got a little brighter in the dark hall. “If you ever get impulse to do that, or ask me out on a date or hug, if you wanted to. When you’re ready.” Hinata grinned before going into the Karasuno room and closing the door behind him quietly.

“Where have you been dumbass?” Kageyama’s angry voice asked immediately, but it was clearly softer than how it had been when he had been a first year.

“Tobio people are sleeping.” Tadashi’s voice said at a much softer decimal.

“Sorry ‘dashi.” Kageyama apologized at the same volume.

Inuoka walked away, towards Nekoma’s room as his heart beat wildly in his chest. It’s as if Hinata had seen all of Inuoka’s insecurities and worries, understood them, and then blown them away. Inuoka didn’t have the courage to kiss Hinata, not just yet, but knowing it was welcome settled something inside Inuoka and made him fall asleep with a smile on his face.

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livingcorner · 3 years ago

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17 Best Garden Wall Ideas to Give Your Yard Stylish Structure

Carlina TeterisGetty Images

Whether really tall, or relatively tiny—those picturesque, surprisingly short stone walls scattered about New England, for example—humans have long been fascinated with structures that delineate and divide. Shakespeare created a character who actually was a wall in A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s fanciful play within a play; other famous walls include Hadrian’s, which marked the extent of Roman incursion into Great Britain.

You're reading: 17 Best Garden Wall Ideas to Give Your Yard Stylish Structure

But when it comes to yards, we’re happy to see that garden walls of all shapes and sizes have been standing straight for years and will for years to come. Garden walls can serve a range of purposes. From retaining walls, which hold back earth or water, to walls that screen, or just ones that make for beautiful outdoor spaces, these DIY and shoppable garden walls will sit pretty in your yard far into the future.

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Bamboo Fencing

Perfect to add privacy to your property, this fence made of thick rolled reed sticks can also be used to create a focal point in your garden.

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Artificial Boxwood Hedge

If you’d love a living wall for your garden but don’t want the muss and fuss, get the next best thing—this stunning artificial boxwood hedge.

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Vinyl Wall Trellis

Whether you want to plant clematis and other climbing greenery at its base, or leave it bare, this durable vinyl wall trellis will keep your outdoor space looking sharp for years to come.

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DIY Sculptural Cement Wall

Built to jazz up the area surrounding a hot tub, this wall was crafted with chicken wire and cement, then cured, stained and sealed. That nifty brick was also etched into the cement and stained.

Get the tutorial at Bliss Ranch.

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DIY Pallet Vertical Garden Wall

Read more: Best Soil for a Raised Bed Vegetable Garden | LoveToKnow

Scoop up some pallets for free at a local warehouse and then get to creating this magnificent living wall, which serves as the perfect divider or backdrop for any outdoor space.

Get the tutorial at Ruffled.

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DIY Retaining Wall

Made to withstand torrential midwestern rains, this sturdy brick retaining wall keeps earth from washing away. If you’re in an area with heavy storms, add gravel for extra drainage capability.

Get the tutorial at Thirty Something Super Mom.

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DIY Retaining Wall to Improve Curb Appeal

With just a couple days of labor, you can create serious curb appeal with this retaining wall that offers room for a raised flower garden. Be sure to lay down about an inch of paver sand to help keep the wall steady over time.

Get the tutorial at A Crafted Passion.

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DIY Stacked Stone Wall

It takes more than simply piling rocks on top of one another to make a stacked stone wall this lovely. Prep the area first by digging around a six-inch trench, then line it with landscape fabric and add drainage stone.

Get the tutorial at Dust and Doghair.

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DIY Vertical Garden Wall With Netting

This ingenious garden wall is crafted from an arbor overlaid over with wire netting. Fill little clay pots with pretty posies, hang them from the netting, and you’ve got a garden wall that will be the envy of the neighborhood.

Get the tutorial at Home Made Lovely.

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DIY Stone Retaining Wall

With a sinous shape, this wall is a showstopper. Built with retaining wall blocks in gray charcoal that match the home it fronts, it also features a garden bed for perennials.

Get the tutorial at Home Sweet Roman.

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DIY Garden Retaining Wall

Long and low, with two circular flower beds in addition to the one running nearly the length of the porch it abuts, this retaining wall provides loads of planting space behind it.

Get the tutorial at Jennifer Maker.

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DIY Wood Vertical Garden Wall

Made of fence boards stained to protect them from the elements, this vertical garden can be mounted against the side of your house in the patio area. Then add succulents, or modify the plans to make deeper troughs for flowers or veggies.

Read more: Deterring Foxes | Wildlife Online

Get the tutorial at Jessica Welling Interiors.

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DIY Wood Slat Garden Wall With Planters

Made to transform an ugly concrete wall into a home for greenery goodness, this project uses 1×4 wood planks as a base from which to hang plant containers. You can make those planters extra eye-catching by coating them with durable rubberized spray paint.

Get the tutorial at Remodelaholic.

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DIY Raised Garden Bed With Wall

This isn’t just a simple retaining wall, but instead a raised garden bed with a back wall made of pressure-treated lumber. Concrete retaining wall blocks line the front for a neat, nicely edged look.

Get the tutorial at Remodelacasa.

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DIY Retaining Wall on a Slope

This project maximizes space in a downward-sloping backyard by leveling it off with a retaining wall. Use interlocking bricks that don’t need mortar for added ease and simplicity.

Get the tutorial at Simple Practical Beautiful.

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DIY Garden Slat Wall

Hide an eyesore like garbage cans or a shed – or just make an outdoor space prettier – with this slat wall made from cedar decking. Stain the wood before assembly, touching up after to save time.

Get the tutorial at Taryn Whiteaker.

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DIY Garden Wall Planter

Featuring a big bottom planter plus plenty of smaller planter boxes, this easy-to-build piece doubles as a garden wall capable of concealing undesirable sights like air conditioning units. The boxes are removable too, to make plant care a snap.

Get the tutorial at The Handyman’s Daughter.

Jill Gleeson Jill Gleeson is a travel journalist and memoirist based in the Appalachian Mountains of western Pennsylvania who has written for websites and publications including Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Country Living, Washingtonian, Gothamist, Canadian Traveller, and EDGE Media Network.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/17-best-garden-wall-ideas-to-give-your-yard-stylish-structure/

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literaryinspiredwebserieslove · 8 years ago

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LIW Review: Bright Summer Night

Before I even start, I have to say that Bright Summer Night is probably the most artistic LIW that has ever been made. That plus the fact that it’s made by The Candle Wasters should be enough of a reason to watch it.

BSN is loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The entire thing is set at a house party in Wellington over the course of one night. There are three main groups, the Lovers, the Fairies, and the Mechanicals, just like in the play, with Puck as a floater between all three, and there are nine point-of-view characters. Everyone is in love with everyone else, and there are drugs and songs about climate change and a shocking lack of running water.

Format:

Filmed entirely in traditional TV style (because The Candle Wasters had actual funding for this one, hurray!). There are ten episodes, nine from the point of view of one of the main characters (Puck, Lena, Petra, Bryn, Zander, Nicky, Deme, Mia, Awhina) with the final episode as the finale.

Realism:

BNS is not even partially a vlog, so that type of realism is not an issue. The whole thing is very surreal, so it might take some concentration to understand what’s happening, but unlike in the original play, there isn’t any magic, so the actual events are pretty grounded in reality.

Representation/diversity:

Amazing. So, so good. NMTD and LLL were both mostly white (with a few notable exceptions). BSN is about as racially diverse as it’s possible to be in New Zealand. I won’t go into the details because I will inevitably get someone’s ethnicity wrong, but the diversity here is excellent.

LGBT representation is also fantastic. In such a short series, it was hard to officially acknowledge characters genders/sexualities, but here’s a breakdown based on the story: Puck is nonbinary (potentially demiboy) and at least a little interested in men. Deme is gender fluid (played by an actual gender fluid person) and is interested in women (and probably other genders as well, we just don’t see it). Thea and Poppy (Mouce Young, aka Paige Moth from LoLiLo) are a lesbian couple. Lena’s sexuality is completely unknown because the only person she expresses interest in is gender-fluid Deme. I won’t name any more because I don’t want to make assumptions about the other characters, but regardless the most that can be straight is probably four (and I’m 99% sure Mia is bi anyway).

Puck has serious mental health issues that, while not explicitly named, are acknowledged much more explicitly than any of the mental health issues in LoLiLo. Lena also has the most horrific social anxiety, and I really appreciate the way The Candle Wasters deal with that.

Also, politics! The Mechanicals talk about Trump, climate change, Palestine, gun rights, and a number of other issues, and a lot of current social and world issues are themes throughout the whole series, culminating in the song “Relationship Problems and the Environment” in the finale.

Film Quality:

Off the charts incredible. They had funding, so they filmed using multiple cameras and angles. The lighting and effects are fantastic. The background music is perfect at all times. AND they got a crane to use in two episodes. WHAT. There are a few moments when the editing could have been more professional, but since it was their first traditionally-filmed series, I think we need to cut them some slack.

My three favorite things about BSN:

1) Puck. Everything about them is so perfect. And, interestingly, more true to Shakespeare than anything else in the series (I’ve always thought that Puck could be played/headcanoned as any gender, and this is a great example of that).

2) The costumes. Deme’s flame jacket, Nicky’s giraffe onesie, Petra’s whole aesthetic. Frankie’s hair. Mia’s bralette. They just all look so good.

3) The amount of depth they managed in ten episodes, which was incredible.

Difficult things about BSN:

There are only ten episodes, so it’s hard to get attached to the characters. There’s a lot of information that isn’t developed or is sprung in suddenly without much lead-up (polyamory mention in “Mia”). Also, the acting, writing, and production design are so good that it’s sad it had to be so short and that we’re never going to see more of these characters. The end of the plot is a little hurried as well, since the first seven episodes only manage to get through about half of the source material, but everything still gets resolved without any loose ends.

Verdict: The aesthetic is fantastic, the music is fantastic, the script and acting are fantastic. The editing only has a few slight issues. The characters are wonderful. It is far too short, but it’s also so, so good. I cited BSN heavily in an essay about climate change and social responsibility, and my teacher loved it.

This series is amazingly well made, but it isn’t quite perfect. The format is so innovative and new that it isn’t quite there yet, and as I mentioned before, it’s hard to get quite as invested in the characters in only ten episodes.

Overall, I give Bright Summer Night 4.5/5 stars.

Awards!

BSN is up for the LIWAs! Nominations are open until April 15, with final voting after that. They’re eligible for Best Costume and Set Design, Best Script, Best LIW, and Best Chemistry for several different combinations of characters. I don’t know what to say about the acting awards because The Candle Wasters haven’t made any formal announcement in that department and it’s hard to know which characters belong in which categories (Are all nine POV characters leads? If they use they/them pronouns, do we nominate them for best actor, best actress, or both?).

EDIT: The Candle Wasters have answered the nomination question. All nine POV characters are leads, with Puck as a little more of a lead than the rest. Meesha Rikk and Dani Yourukova shouldn’t really be nominated because they don’t fully identify as male or female, though they still deserve many awards. Read that post here:

https://literaryinspiredwebseriesreviews.tumblr.com/post/159481476531/hey-just-wondering-how-you-want-nominations-for

Cast:

Puck Goodall – Meesha Rikk

Awhina Parekura – Neenah Dekkers-Reihana

Bryn Alberich – Jack Buchanan

Lena Balavu – Kalisha Wasasala (Jaquie from Lovely Little Losers)

Deme George – Dani Yourukova

Zander Makau – Shane Murphy

Mia Selene – Maddie Adams

Nicky Xing – Gala Baumfield (she has a YouTube channel!)

Petra Quince – Thomasin McKenzie (who has been in actual things like Shortland Street and The Hobbit. no joke)

Frankie Piper – Nova Moala-Knox

Taylor Sutton – Brendan King

Poppy Hoú – Mouce Young (Paige from Lovely Little Losers)

Thea Quince – Freya Milner

Created by The Candle Wasters @thecandlewasters

Ran from July to September 2017. Ten episodes. 1 hour 18 min long, making it the shortest adaptational literary-inspired webseries.

***NOTE: Although BSN does not take place in the same universe as NMTD and LLL, there are several promo videos made by those characters, specifically Jaquie and Costa and Ben and Bea. In-universe, Paige and Jaquie are playing Poppy and Lena.***

Watch Bright Summer Night in full here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4M4eic7acRxRp2L-0Lrcvd_c1PpP1Fp

#bsn #bright summer night #liw #literary inspired webseries review #liwas

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