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gisachi · 5 years ago

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12 Games: Shinichi and Ran Game #3 – Old Maid Rating: T Summary: She hoped that once he made the call, her phone would ring. But it didn't. Of course not. There's no way that he'd dial her, right? After all, he's supposed to dial the person he likes. AU

(Read here or in FFN! Link provided.)

-o-o-o-o-o-

"I don't think this is a good idea, Sonoko."

"Oh c'mon. Don't be silly! You just told me the other day that you're bored to death. I'm not even surprised though. Your life only basically revolves around school and karate, Ran! Now thank me because I'm going to make your life a bit more interesting."

The cheerful, light ginger-haired lady did not even give her friend a moment to reply, because as soon as she finished talking, she grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her along with her out of their classroom and into the direction of the adjacent room.

"I will introduce you to Sonoko-sama's 'after-school 'club' activity'!"

For socialites like Sonoko, classroom hopping was a thing after school. That's how the likes of her garnered so many friends in campus. But this long-haired brunette friend of hers, Ran, was the opposite. Sure, she's pretty popular, being known as the karate queen in Teitan High because of her unmatched prowess in the said martial arts, but it was precisely because of that that most students in her school found her kind of intimidating and thus unapproachable. Which was sad because in reality she's very far from that. She's sweet and lovable and all kinds of good and Sonoko could certainly attest to it, having known her since they were kids.

Through the glass window from the corridor, Ran saw some students sitting in a messy circle near the teacher's desk inside that adjacent room. They looked rather – how should she put it – poised and rich. Not that she had any problem with that, but she hated small talks and if she had to deal with it later, she'd probably just rely on her friend Sonoko to keep her afloat in the boat. Her friend never ran out of topics, which made her such a valuable, life-of-the-party kind of person.

Sonoko slid the door open and casually barged in like it was her own classroom. "Yo, minna!"

"Hi, Sonoko-san. We were just talking about you." The girl with a long wine-red hair standing by the window greeted her. Her voice was high-pitched but not the annoying kind. Ran thought she was really pretty.

"And I see you brought a friend?" The student sitting by the desk near the pretty woman spoke this time. He looked like a serious gentleman. Though he spoke fluent Japanese, he didn't look like one. His blonde hair and light brown eyes screamed English. A foreign transferee, perhaps.

The dark-skinned guy sitting on the teacher's desk inspected her from head to toe.

"Wait a sec. Could this nee-chan be, Mouri Ran?" the guy inquired.

"You mean, the karate queen? A pleasure to meet you! I'm Ooka Momiji." Momiji extended her hand at her which she gladly accepted. As Ran shook her hand, she couldn't help but notice the curly-haired girl's incredibly huge front.

The dark-skinned guy spoke again. "I'm Hattori Heiji. That obnoxious looking dude right there is Hakuba, while the woman beside him is Akako. Both folks are from class 2-A."

"And this guy right here," he patted the back of the guy sitting on the teacher's chair next to him, "is Kudo Shinichi."

Ran’s eyes brightened at the guy who was just introduced. Either it was her unsureness or his impulse that the guy’s eyes glimmered as well in reaction to what she herself did.

“Oh, I know him!” Ran said.

“Right, everybody in this school knows about Kud—"

“He was a classmate in middle school.”

Everyone in that room stared at her as if she had said something off.

But Shinichi smiled kindly, effectively disrupting the problematic expression of the others.

“Oh—yeah. You’re right, Ran-san.”

Sonoko nudged Ran’s shoulders.

“Ran! That’s Kudo Shinichi, the great detective! He sometimes teams up with Hattori in solving cases, and the two of them are currently the heartthrobs in campus! You didn’t know that?”

“Stop Sonoko. That’s not really important, is it?” It wasn’t obvious that Shinichi was embarrassed, but from the likes of it, he seemed to have already gotten used to this treatment and had already mastered how to react when people introduce him as THE Kudo Shinichi.

“But that’s not a lie, nee-chan. Currently though I am number one and Kudo is number two.” The guy named Heiji butted in, ruffling the hair of his companion who was reading a Sherlock Holmes book on the side. She rather found the dynamics of the two cute.

“Really? That’s awesome.”

Of course she knew Kudo Shinichi to be a great detective. But she didn’t have to tell and she wondered why. Perhaps because she remembered him better when they were in middle school; they were paired up for a project and even if it was for a week she felt herself developing a small crush on him. Not because of his looks (though she did factor that in, how his face was so charming and almost too perfect, a wonderful product of a beautiful actress mom and a handsome novelist dad) nor his popularity (she didn’t even know he was that popular when they were still in middle school), but because in the short time that they’d worked together, she was captivated by his strong principles and ideals. She remembered having a small conversation with him while they were doing the project. They were talking about aspirations in life, and when she learned that his father was a crime novelist, she asked if he wanted to be like him. His answer was a remarkable no. “I don’t want to write about detectives. I want to be one.” Unadulterated conviction reflected in his eyes. It astounded her how someone in the prime of his age had already decided on what he’d become and how he’d do it. And when he went on further on how he’d like to be the modern Sherlock Holmes, and how he would never let a culprit die even if they did wrongful acts because that would make him, the detective, no different from a murderer, or how reason and logic aren’t necessary to help a person regardless of what kind of life that person had lived, she couldn’t help but admire the way he viewed and understood things from his own perspective. She saw a young boy who was principled but kind; a boy that would seek the truth to its end but would make sure that lives wouldn’t be in danger along the way.

That short interaction stayed with her even after the project, after middle school, and even until now. Her simple crush wasn’t a big deal, she never talked about it with Sonoko. It was just a puppy-admiration thing, and it wasn’t like they’d meet and talk to each other again after that project, so she just let her puppy-crush feelings settle at the corner. That’s why to have the opportunity to sit with him in the same circle came as a surprise. She doubted he even remembered their interaction though because it was a long time ago and they just talked for a week, in person and through text for the sake of the project. Maybe it was a good thing to let him remember by bringing that up instead of acknowledging his grandiose status in school. He probably had enough of that already as introductions.

“This is Ran, Teitan’s karate champ and my best friend since forever!” Sonoko hugged Ran as she proudly introduced her to the others. Ran awkwardly smiled at them and waved. So this was what it felt like standing in front of a crowd of ‘elite’ individuals looking at you. She didn’t feel outcasted though, because they felt all welcoming and fun although it wasn’t apparent on their faces.

“Ran, now that you’ve been introduced to everyone in this room, you’ll have to participate in our ‘club activity’.” Sonoko led her to sit on one of the student chairs.

After Ran asked what kind of activity that would be, Sonoko revealed a pack of cards from her pocket and tossed it on the teacher’s table.

“Actually, nothing. We do nothing. Just random stuff, whatever we feel like. But as the initiator of this group, today I, Sonoko-sama, feel like playing cards.”

Cool, Ran had never played cards before. It’s nice to try something new.

“But if you may know, Ran-san, we don’t care much about the random stuff. We care more about its results.” Akako approached the girls and sat on a nearby chair.

“Because the one who loses gets a dare!” Sonoko added, grinning slyly at her now bemused friend.

“Last week Hakuba-kun had to sit on Heiji-kun’s lap until we finish all rounds and it was the loveliest moment I have ever seen,” Momiji reminisced and everyone laughed except for the two scoffing guys.

“And you know what? Today’s consequence is going to be more fun – the loser must call the person they like and confess!” Sonoko declared.

“Oh, juicy.” Akako commented. “I wonder who from this circle will call me.”

Turning his head slowly to face her, Hakuba stared her down with a straight face. “Akako-san, not everyone is in love with you.”

“That’s what you think, Hakuba-kun,” she contended, with a matching wink.

The tables were now rearranged so that all of them were facing each other like they were in a meeting. Presiding that ‘meeting’ was Sonoko, who had now dealt the cards and announced that they’d be playing Old Maid. She explained the mechanics and everyone got it right away.

“Right. So I just need to get pairs for all my cards.” Ran mentally noted. She looked around her and everyone was focused discarding paired cards from their hands.

Across her was Shinichi, who, with a disinterested face, nonetheless participated in the game.

She paused and admired how he looked. His appearance was different from the last time they were together – his face was much younger then, but now his hair was more refined, shoulders broader, jaw much angular. Yet his eyes still reflected that same old confident vibe. She silently wished that he would look at her direction so that she could admire his beautiful hazel eyes better. And surprisingly, he did. He must have noticed her staring at his direction for a while now that he had to look back at her and acknowledge it. But once their eyes met, she got startled and immediately looked away, embarrassed. She felt like a creep. Meanwhile, Shinichi just pulled a questioning look before returning his eyes to his own hand. Nobody saw, not even Ran, how the corner of his lips tilted slightly for a smile.

“Alright! Let’s start the first round!” Sonoko picked a card from the deck of Hakuba, the person to her left. Lucky for the woman, the first card she picked had a pair.

The game continued clockwise, with Hakuba getting from Ran and Ran getting from Momoji, who got from Akako, then Shinichi, then Heiji then back to Sonoko. Cards were discarded so quickly until finally there were only two people left.

Shinichi with two cards, and Ran with one.

The girls cheered at Ran. It was her turn now. There was a 50-50 chance that she’d be the Old Maid. If she got this one wrong, she’d have to reveal to Sonoko and to these new acquaintances her crush. And it’d be very awkward. Because that would be him. The guy right in front of her.

Closing her eyes in nervousness, she decided to pick the card on her left and on Shinichi’s right.

And she got it.

Ace of spades paired with the ace of hearts she held.

“Oh my gosh it’s Kudo-kun!” everyone in the room laughed.

“Nice one, Ran-san,” Hakuba winked at her. Judging from everyone’s reaction, it’s as if they had been waiting for this moment, for Shinichi to lose. And now that it happened, everyone was thanking her for doing the honor of defeating him.

Ran let out a sigh of relief. By sheer luck, she was saved from a sudden revelation of her hidden crush, who, unbeknownst to the people in the room, was in that same circle. Her contender, even. Glad of her narrow escape, she grinned widely like the rest of them.

“Now, who are ya gonna call Kudo?” Heiji basked at his friend, who just grunted in annoyance.

“I told you, there’s no one,” Shinichi grumbled.

“You’re a bad liar Kudo-kun. Your ears are turning red.” Akako pompously flipped her hair to the side, watching the teenage detective glare at her with warm cheeks and red ears.

“I know who! It’s Uchida Asami-san, right? That pretty senior who gave you your favorite lemon pie during soccer practice?” Sonoko jested.

“Uchida-san? Oh, that senpai is rather pretty. A lot of guys swoon over her. Ya didn’t tell me you’re one of those guys, Kudo!”

“Go on, call her! What a lucky girl.” Momoji raved, looking at Shinichi endearingly.

Ran, who remained silent all throughout the scene, just watched each and every one of them make their guesses as to this mystery woman. For some reason, at that moment, she felt rather invisible. Not because of their doing or that she felt excluded or something. But she was hoping that maybe anyone, Sonoko perhaps, should mention, even in passing, her name. You know, just to suggest, even as a joke. But no one seemed to have noticed. Well, she wasn’t making it obvious to anyone either, even to her best friend. And with all the beautiful people in Teitan High, Shinichi certainly had many options and the odds that he would indeed have a crush on her were nil.

The detective just stared at all of them with half lidded eyes. It wasn’t in his personality to shun everyone, and he didn’t seem like the type who’d chicken out on the last minute. Taking a deep breath, he took out his phone and flipped it open.

“Fine. I will do it. But do me a favor and don’t make any silly reactions, got it?” Shinichi enunciated.

It was only for a split moment but Ran may have noticed him flick his eyes into her direction.

The group cheered when Shinichi started to dial the mystery person’s number. He then positioned the phone near his ear and waited for the call to connect.

She hoped that once he made the call, her phone would ring. But ten seconds in and her phone didn’t. He was already waiting for the person on the other end of the line to answer it, so of course that person couldn’t be her now. She pursed her lips and stared at the window, trying to mask her crestfallen expression.

Not a big deal.

Totally not a big deal.

A minute passed but the call didn’t connect and he was just directed to voice mail. Wondering what was up, he dialed the number for the second time and waited, but still to no avail.

For the third time, he dialed and his phone continued to ring, until finally the person he was trying to call, answered.

Everyone was staring at Shinichi but to their surprise he didn’t speak. Instead, his eyes were wide and he looked confused, and nervous. Ran couldn’t understand what was happening but she had a feeling that his surprised look was not because the call connected, but because the call did connect when he was perhaps expecting that it shouldn’t.

So Shinichi just sat there and everyone’s attention was on him. They could hear the voice on the other end but the words the person was saying were unintelligible.

“Yes. I-I’m sorry. I thought—” Shinichi spoke in a flustered manner.

The voice didn’t even let him finish. It just hang up.

For several seconds, Shinichi was left staring at his phone. His face was a bit flushed. Then he lifted his head and looked at Ran first, then at Sonoko, and then at the other people in the room, all of whose expressions were as confused as he was.

“But that’s a guy’s voice.” Heiji started.

Slowly and cautiously, Momiji went near him and placed one hand on his shoulders.

“I’m sorry Kudo-kun, we didn’t know you’re…”

Shocked at the result of what had just transpired and how the others were interpreting it – rather poorly, that is – Shinichi opened his mouth to explain.

“Barou! That person was –”

Before he could even comment, his phone rang.

“Oh, Megure-keibu. Yes. Yes. Got it. Right now? Okay. We’ll be there shortly.”

He closed his phone and grabbed his bag, motioning Heiji and Hakuba to tag along with him.

“Hattori, Hakuba, we’re leaving. Megure-keibu wants us to go to TMPD. They need our testimonies regarding that robbery case we solved last week.”

“Aww, you’re leaving already? That sucks. I guess that ends our club activity for today.” Sonoko mumbled.

“You got away this time, Kudo-kun! You owe us an explanation next week, okay?” Akako exclaimed loudly to the figures walking past her.

Shinichi shrugged, rolled his eyes, and left the room together with the other two guys.

-o-

After she bade farewell to Sonoko and the two girls, Ran walked home alone, lost in thought. She still couldn't make sense of what just occurred, for it all happened so fast. She was introduced to new people, met and interacted with her crush again, and had her heart break just a little for confirming that he already liked someone else. A guy or a girl, she didn't really care. All that stuck with her was the fact that during that time she might have hoped for a slim chance on him, only for that hope to be completely flushed down the drain.

Sigh. Life goes on, she thought, cheering herself up.

Not long after, she was already in front of her apartment.

“I’m home.”

Ran opened the door to the detective agency and was disappointed to see her father, with two beer cans on his working desk, watching a horse game live on television. He had been drinking again and it wasn’t even night yet.

“Geez! What will you do if a client steps in and sees you like this, otou-san?” She rambled, hands on her hips. But Kogoro didn’t seem to pay much attention as he was intently concentrating on that horse race while clutching on his race tickets tightly.

Seeing that it was no use reprimanding her inebriated father, she turned around and decided to go upstairs in order to prepare supper.

She was stopped by her drunk father scoffing behind her.

“Ran! Before you *hic* go upstairs can you please take your *hic* phone with you? It’s being annoying and disrupting me from the *hic* h-horse race!”

Surprised, she checked her uniform pockets and realized too late that she actually didn’t bring her phone to school today. She probably placed it on the center table of the agency when she took the trash out this morning and forgot to get it again before she left.

She rushed to the table and grabbed it before closing the door and ascending the stairs. Several notifications popped up on her home screen when she opened her phone, with unread messages from her dad and Sonoko. There were also a missed call from the laundry shop across the street. She could’ve stopped there and closed her phone again, but there were still unchecked notifications in her call history. She clicked on it.

Two (2) missed calls.

Kudo Shinichi - Cancelled call 16:30 Kudo Shinichi - Cancelled call 16:32 Kudo Shinichi - Incoming call 16:35 10 seconds.

Eyes widened like saucers, brain lagging for a considerable amount of time.

Kudo…Shinichi… called me?

She rushed to her room, closed the door, leaned against it and stilled her heart, allowing herself to process the name appearing on her cellphone screen. The number of ideas popping in her mind all at once was overwhelming her, and all those musings directed to a certain incredible realization – a realization she wanted so much to be true.

Just in case her eyes deceived her, she double checked the caller. She had already forgotten that she had saved his number, but this was still back in middle school. And now once again his name was right before her very eyes. For the many times she hit back and clicked her call history, the name didn’t disappear, confirming that this was the real deal.

Not that she was jumping into any ridiculous conclusion, but if she remembered correctly, Shinichi did call his crush thrice. The first two were a miss, and the last one, the recipient hang up. She remembered the recipient being a male.

Is it possible that the recipient who hang up was actually… Ran’s dad?

So does that mean that the person Shinichi meant to call…was her?

The call Shinichi made in school? At around 4pm? While they were playing that game? A call that was meant for his crush?

A call that was meant for her?

Mouth still agape, she covered it with her free hand but her eyes remained shocked. This has got to be just a coincidence. She clutched her phone with her other hand tightly, and without even realizing it, she accidentally clicked his name and the phone automatically dialed his number.

Before she could even react, the call had connected. Her phone was now ringing.

Crap.

Panic hit her like a speeding train but she had to pull herself together fast because after four rings a voice spoke on the other line.

“Hello?”

Her throat clenched upon hearing a handsome voice. Certainly, she couldn’t mistake that timbre for someone else.

“…Shinichi-san?”

A momentary pause, then the person on the other line dispelled air before speaking, in a much lower voice this time.

“Yes. And this is Ran-san, right? So you finally have your phone.”

Finally, implying that he somehow knew her phone wasn’t with her earlier.

She nodded her head, pretty stupidly in fact, because it wasn’t like he’d see that.

“You… c-called my phone?” She feebly asked.

“Yes, I did. A while ago.”

“Are you sure you called the right number?”

There was once again a short pause before he answered. She wasn’t sure but with his breathing patterns she thought she could hear him smile.

“Yes, I’m sure now. You witnessed me call, right? In school.”

“Oh.”

Oh.

Wait.

Just. Wait.

Don’t tell me—?

“T-that’s ridiculous.”

“I’m sorry?” he spoke.

“That’s ridiculous! I mean, b-because… that means I’m-… I – Y-you have a… on me…”

The way she struggled to find the right words must have sounded so funny in the phone that the only response of the voice was to heave a light chuckle. She felt a bit awkward. Ran could definitely picture his expression at the other end of the line – probably a smirk that could make her so embarrassed but at the same time let her swoon for ages.

“Yes, I do.”

That short statement. He said it too confidently, too certainly, with the same amount of conviction she had heard from him a long while back.

No matter how hard she tried to speak, no words came out. She couldn’t even close her mouth. She just leaned there against the door, heart accelerating twice as fast as normal, her breathing clipped and producing short croaks that sounded like she was choking.

This time, it was he who tried to decipher her facial expressions. He could almost make sense of her disbelief through the silence in between them, the sound of nothing but static and her irregular breaths.

“Ran-san?”

No response. Feeling that the silence might probably take forever, he decided to speak again.

“You don’t have to say anything back, it’s okay. I hope I didn’t freak you out. I just want you to know, because it’s true. Up ‘til now I’m still thankful for that middle school project because through it I was able to meet and know you. I’m happy you still remembered that.”

Someone pinch her. He remembered!

“I—”

If only his friends didn’t arrive sooner, he would’ve stayed on the line longer.

“I’m sorry, I have to go, Ran-san. I hope to talk to you again soon!” Then he hang up.

Ran stood still, immovable, frozen like a statue, except that she wasn’t cold like marble. Warmth enveloped her whole senses, the source of warmth coming from her heart which she believed had just exploded. The only thing keeping her from thinking that this was a dream was this soothing warmth spreading on her cheeks and hands like fire. She felt her chest tighten.

That phone call really just happened. And there Shinichi manifested that he liked her.

He. Kudo Shinichi. Likes her. Mouri Ran.

The person she liked – no – likes, likes her back.

The next thing she knew, she had already slumped in her own bed, marveling again and again at that one name on her cell phone screen, unable to contain the giddiness she was feeling.

For sure, it would take a week or more before that smile disappeared from her face.

-o-

“Kudo! Who was that?”

Shinichi closed his phone quickly before Heiji and Hakuba, who had just stepped out from the police department, could see the caller’s name on the screen.

“Just – a call I had to attend to. None of your business.” He answered coolly before descending the front steps of the building.

His two friends looked at each other quizzically, then back at him. Expecting their pestering, Shinichi quickened his walk way ahead of them, not attempting to look back.

“Lemme guess, did your guy crush regret that he slammed the phone at THE Kudo Shinichi and called ya back to apologize?” Heiji shouted from behind him.

“Or maybe, it was Kudo-san who tried to call the guy again. He couldn’t move on from the fact that the guy ended the call so now he’s pretending he wasn’t affected.” Hakuba surmised. It was loud enough for Shinichi to hear, and because of that the latter had to face the two ungratefully but he didn’t stop walking. Through his narrowed eyes, he wanted to show to the two that he wasn’t laughing and make them understand that they were being pathetic friends.

“Idiots. Anyway I’m going home.” He walked ahead and waved his hand lazily, leaving the two behind.

The two guys stood there and watched him disappear from sight.

“Oy Hakuba. Are ya thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That our friend is gay and in love? Yes.”

But had they paid more attention to his face as he walked away, they would’ve seen that unique radiance in his eyes and that crimson shade on his cheeks. Those should’ve been noticeable because he had never worn that expression before.

And had they pressed him on further, they would’ve discovered about that short message he had just received. A message that easily caused him to curve his lips into a huge smile and made him thank the heavens for being more alive than ever.

From: Mouri Ran Subject: Thank you.

I’m happy you remembered it too, Shinichi-san. I thought it was just me. And now I’ll have something new to remember again. Thank you for making the calls.

-Ran

P.S. I like you too.

#dcmk #fanfic #shinran #detective conan #kudo shinichi #mouri ran #fluff #uggghhhhhh i still struggle sometimes huhu #but i love my bbs so much i want them to be happy

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profoundlytenaciousgalaxy · 6 years ago

Text

Captured Blue Flame

I wrote a drabble! This is going to be split into 2 parts: the first part is the capture, and the second is the escape.

I am prefacing this by saying that Feuergeist while generally having the blue flame around her left eye, she does not have it here. The purpose of that blue flame was that she suffered an ice attack from the mage when she attempted to have the monsters help her. Here, she was summoned and made to serve the mage thus having no reason to try and ask the monsters for help. So, she was entirely purple save some scars

Minna is referred to as “blue flame” since that is what Feuergeist refer her as. Feuergeist also used they/them since she doesn’t know what gender Minna is and isn’t interested in finding out. Plus, she doesn’t understand monster language to know if Minna was he or she.

Minna belongs to @drawing-intherain

Feuergiest and the mage (Varick) belongs to me

Drabble under cut =3

Feuergeist watched the mage walk about the tent, muttering to himself as he picked up various objects before placing them down elsewhere. He was looking for a particular book for dealing with burns. Feuergeist was not sure why he needed to find that book instead of using a healing spell or go to the infirmary. As for the burn, it was not caused by Feuergeist, who was a fire elemental. No, it was from a blue-flame fire elemental just a room away. Feuergeist herself was purple-flamed.

Feuergeist was summoned by the humans and was given to the mage as a gift. She was told to be his bodyguard, to fight and die for him. The mage overruled that and made her into his little experiment. She did not like to remember those times when he tested the extent of her endurance to the cold, water, and ice. It began a slow process of teaching her the chilled magic.

It been long years since then. Feuergeist were taught how to read and write, mainly math, magic, and the monsters in general. To be a decent fighter, the mage felt she needed to understand enough about the various monsters and their weakness along with the elementals that were included in their ranks. If not for his teachings or magic training, she would be partnered up with a human for sword fighting.

"There!" the mage's voice interrupted her thoughts as he pulled out the book he was looking for and began flipping through it. Feuergeist watched him for a moment then moved her gaze to the other room, enclosed from view. She knew what it looked like beyond the drapes.

She was there when the soldiers somehow managed to bring in a captured blue fire elemental. She saw the blue flame before and saw the recognition and anger in their eyes when they met hers. It was not that long ago they fought against each other on a battlefield. The blue flame saw Feuergeist killed many monsters and had traded blows with her. Feuergiest, likewise, saw the blue flame attack the humans before she met them in battle. Unlike the clear anger in the blue flame's eyes, Feuergeist gave a passive stare. The mage broke up their eye contact by having the soldiers bring the blue flame in the other room and set a seal to prevent her escape.

Feuergeist had went in with the mage after the blue flame wore out from attempting to escape. She was ordered to release the shackles which she thought was a bad idea. She did what he commanded anyway. It took some time for the blue flame to understand that she was there to get the shackles off not to attack. What happened next came as a surprise. The blue flame had outright attacked the mage. The mage got burned as a result, but he retaliated, binding the blue flame with ice and an ice shard in the shoulder. He left cursing, ordering Feuergeist to follow suit.

Feuergeist heard his order to get the healing bandages once he found the right page and started to magically cool his burns. She went over to their stash, sneaking some in her shirt before coming to him to wrap the burns. The mage stood up once she was done and ordered Feuergeist back to her small desk to do paperwork. The mage had other places to be than deal with the second fire elemental. Feuergeist settled on her desk, working. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the mage busied himself in getting things before leaving.

Feuergeist quietly counted to 50, waiting for the mage to be out of range. Slowly, she stood up, grabbing her work, spare papers, and her writing utensils. She slowly walked to the other room, stepping in. She left her things by the entrance and carefully drew out the healing bandages. She could tell the blue flame was cold. They looked up briefly before stubbornly looking away. She inches to the bound blue flame, taking in the damage. The biggest thing she had to take care of was the ice shard embedded in the shoulder. Then, she could deal with the ice bounding them.

The blue flame flinched from her hands when she placed them on the ice shard. She heard a warning growl from the blue flames before she started pulling it out. The blue flame did their best at not screaming once it was freed. Tossing the ice away, Feuergeist applied the healing bandages. She was quietly feeling how a fire elemental was like under her hands. It ignited a curiosity she never had a chance to explore.

Feuergeist was brought out of her thoughts when she looked up to see the blue flame kept stubbornly ignoring her. Right. They're still enemies even if she was caring for them. It didn't stop her from getting the ice bounding them off. It brought memories she rather not relieve through again. Once freed, the blue flame shoved her aside and started running to the entrance. Feuergeist winced when the spell held against the blue flame's attempt to escape then their attacks.

Realizing that her things were close to her flames, she dashed over to get them away. The blue flame saw her and immediately moved opposite of her, ignoring her again. Feuergeist sighed and sat where she was, doing her usual work.

She realized that she lost track of time when the mage swept aside the drape and shouted, "There you are!" making her jump. "Why weren't you-?" He finally noticed the blue flame who had looked over upon the voice before looking away. Feuergeist spared them a glance before watching the mage. There was a deep frown on his face before he turned to Feuergeist. "Come with me, now."

Feuergeist followed the mage out, awaiting what punishment he had in mind. It came a surprise for her that he placed the blue flame under her care to feed them and keep them calm. However, the mage was smart, knowing that he did not want the blue flame to have adequate access to food and thus limited how much food Feuergeist could take to between them. Feuergeist was slightly disappointed that her meal was going to be smaller than usual, but she accepted the conditions the mage placed on her.

The following days followed a new routine where Feuergeist would deliver food to the blue flame and often sit in the area whenever she was assigned paper work. The mage had given up forcing Feuergeist to use the desk after the second day of freeing herself from the ice shackles. He still didn't like having to walk in every time he needed her.

Feuergeist for the most part attempted to communicate to the blue flame. She sneaked some drawings to them while they stayed stubbornly looking away and attempting some small signs on rare chance they were looking at her. The drawings were simplistic, but it gave her something to do. She drew some random things like flowers, items, weapons to see how the blue flame reacted to them. She attempted to draw herself on several occasions, drawing the performances she did, doing magic, and so on. She tried to avoid fight drawings, feeling uneasy with showing them. Instead, she would attempt to explain what the mage did to her. Most ended up with scribbles over them, frustration over her attempts. In fact, most drawings had words or scribbles when she tried to draw something to convey a point. An idea came later, and she doodled the hearts with the top with flames following down as each heart gained more ice. Other days, she would sometimes attempt to draw the blue flames, keeping those to herself.

The sixth day, the mage came in to see them side-by-side where the blue flame was watching Feuergeist writing. He had seen the gap getting smaller as the days passed. Wanting to separate them, he spoke a simple spell and swiped an arc of ice at them. The blue flame had looked up upon his entrance and quickly attempted to get away. Feuergeist was a little slow in noticing his presence, but she heard his spell and moved to counteract the spell. It was only when the arc of ice sailed above the two fire elementals that she looked up. Having their attention, he sent another spell at the blue flame. He watched her leaned over to knock aside the ice away.

It had been awhile since he had set chilled magic at them, so Feuergeist was perplexed why he did so and then left after that. She looked over to the blue flame who was putting up a brave front. Slowly, she looked back to her work, struck by the reality of her situation that she been trying not to think about. The blue flame wasn't her companion.

She set aside her work and brought up a blank sheet to draw on it. It took awhile since part of it was trying to remember the elementals or those monsters she had seen while fighting against the blue flame's group. The blue flame was up among them. Below the group was an art of herself with the mage. She pressed on despite the pain when she circled the top and X-ed out the bottom. It took some effort to show it to the blue flame who hadn't moved back beside her.

~Continue in Part 2~

#Minna #Feuergeist/Grape #Grape #my writing #drabble #Captured Blue Flame #Human summoned Feuergeist

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yoshi4sushi · 6 years ago

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(purupurupuru) (purupurupuru) (gocha!) (coo!) (coo!)

Howdy dandy Monday, minna-san! I hope everyone is doing well. Spring is near, and cherry blossoms are blossoming like darling dears. Be sure to be safe from those awful pollen. Getting the sniffles is no fun. Well, with that said, let’s this show on the road, we got loads to tell so you know the drill. First off, last week’s chapter is getting intense. We first meet another Kaido’s goons who’s a head jailer name Solitaire that ate some monkey type zoan fruit. Anyway, she’s all getting upset after the guards are failing to capture an intruder that stole the keys to the cuffs. It was none other than Raizo who is on the mission. Meanwhile, Luffy took out another head jailer name Daifugo who is some type of scorpion zoan type. Everyone is in shocked to see that Luffy broke the iron rule of attacking any of Kaido’s goons. The prisoners can’t help but stay away from the situation. Old man Hyou gives gratitude to Luffy for sticking up for him. Hearing the commotion made another head jailer name Babanuki who ate some elephant type zoan fruit that turns his stomach into a canon. He got angry for Luffy’s defiance and shot him straight on. Poor Luffy took a hit. Suddenly, the All-Star Beast member, Queen, shows up doing his dance show and settle the situation. Seems he has crush on Komurasaki, and wasn’t aware of the news of her death. Anyway, he asked Babanuki to rank the terrible situations. So he ranks no.3: Eustass Kid escaped, no.2: keys to the cuffs are gone, and no.1: Luffy is on the run. All three situations made him go nuts about it and demanded them to get the situation fixed. Back at Ebisu town, Law, Ussop, and Franky are hiding out at Tonoyasu’s humble home as he welcomed them with a kind smile knowing that they are friends with Zoro. Apparently Zoro was chasing someone and ran off far who knows where. Sanji is elsewhere looking for the bathhouse to check out the girls. Meanwhile, Nami, Shinobu, and Robin are enjoying a relaxing time at a unisex bathhouse with men giving the old perverted look. Anyway, Shinobu explains that it will be difficult to gather 5000 members for the rebellion looks at a possibility of gather only 500 members. She goes one further saying that gathering more members would be easy if they had help from Hyogoro of the flowers. Apparently, she says that 20 years ago, Hyogoro was a big time yakuza gangster that ran the underworld of Wano and influence many yakuza leaders and villagers. People admired his chivalry attitude that even Lord Oden admired him as well. However, when Orochi took over Wano, he refused to serve him and disappeared. The leader of the Oniwaban, Fukurokujuu, was loyal to the Kozuki clan, but decided to serve Orochi instead. A traitor that Shinobu could not forgive and left the Oniwaban group. Now these days, Hyogoro is now a myth. At the end, back in prison, old man Hyou and Luffy are face to face with Queen. He makes a deal with Luffy that he would ask Kaido forgiveness and to join his crew, but good ol’ stubborn Luffy refused. Queen then tells old man Hyou that it’s a shame that back then Kaido and Orochi tried many times to convinced him to join their cause due to his reputation back. Old man Hyou is none other than the legendary Hyougoro of the flowers. Poor old man Hyou begs to forgive Luffy and instead punish him. Queen says came up with an idea to settle the situation. While Raizo is in a pinch to try to help Luffy, a voice from behind the cage calls out to him claiming to be a man name Kawamatsu. An old friend perhaps? Who is this Kawamatsu? What has Queen decide to punish both Luffy and Hyougoro? SO MUCH INTENSE! Don’t miss this week’s chapter! Episode will resume this week so don’t miss it. Now on with the goods. First, Tongari-san is a bit busy cuz this week is the anniversary so we’ll do the announcing in his place. First, on March 31st, it’s free entry day. You must some accompany of a friend, or group, or family. Single is not allowed to enter the park free if you don’t have a buddy to join you. Next, the tower are giving out free anniversary stickers. Sanji’s restaurant and Cafe Muigwara are giving stickers of Sanji and Robin if you dine there. Ticket and Tongari store are giving out stickers of Luffy and Nami. On the 4th floor, the Tongari carnival are giving out sticker of Zoro, the original medal coin maker will give out sticker of Ussop, Chopper’s Sunny tour will give Chopper’s sticker, if you dine at Franky’s cola bar, you’ll get Franky’s sticker, and if you play another mini game, you will receive Brook’s sticker. If you collect all the stickers, take your sticker to the ticket counter, you’ll get a sticker of Tongari-san himself. Speaking of Tongari-san, his birthday is this Wednesday. To celebrate, if you follow his Twitter page and leave a bday message, you’ll get a special anniversary bromide card. This is only on Wed. Also, these two medal coins are the new anniversary coins that has Luffy and Tongari-san. It’s 600 yen to have it customized. Next, all arcades will stock the new World Figure Colosseum of Sanji in Diable Jamble attack. It will be in color and b&w version. Wanna this prize? You have the power in your hands. Beat that devilish crane. Moving on, here are the new bday goods of Franky and Sabo. For Franky, stores are selling his artboard, letter cup, and bromide card set. For Sabo, stores will be selling his birthday button, art board, yummy sweet treat, and a wanted poster folder. Next, starting this Friday, Jump Shop will be holding a stamp rally. If you collect stamps from Straw Hat stores and Jump Shop, you’ll get a free prize. If you visit 3 or 12 Jump Stores, apparently, you’ll get an even more amazing prize. Details will be explained more. You can follow their Twitter page. Event will go on until Sept.30th. Next, Animate stores will be holding a special Jump event. From March 15th to April 4th, if you shop for goods, you’ll receive a free random bromide card of any anime. For OP, they’ll give out bromide cards of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji from Wano chapter. Next, check out the cover of vol.20 of WCI that has the awesome Carrot in sulong mode. It will be released on April 3rd. Next, this summer, Log Collection will released new DVD package of Zou. On July 26th, Zou will be released. ON Aug.30th, Mink will be released. And on Sept.27th, will be released. Last, but not least, here are more designs of the Straw Hats in the upcoming movie, STAMPEDE. Phew! I think that’s everything. Also, we’ll leave upcoming episode titles. That’s all we got! Tune in next week for more news and goods. All righty, boys, let’s call it a night.

Episode titles:

Ep.876: “The Man of Humanity and Justice! Jimbei, a Desperate Massive Ocean Current”-March 17th.

Ep.877: “Time for Farewell! Pudding’s One Last Request!”-March 24th.

Ep.878: “The World in Shock! The Fifth Emperor of the Sea Arrives!”-March 31st.

Ep.879: “To the Reverie! Gathering of the Straw Hat Allies!”-April 7th.

Stamp rally event: https://twitter.com/OP_stamp_rally

#one piece #merchandise #event

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lindaliukas · 7 years ago

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Year in review 2017

Fourth year in review. This year I did more work with schools and was excited to see school districts start to embrace my work. Ran roughly 400 kilometres around the world and read 60 books. Flew over 120 flights and did over 60 talks. Published the third book in Ruby series.

2017 was a weird year. On the other hand I felt like I found professionally the guidelines I had been looking for: maximising freedom, maximising curiosity. Early on in the year I stumbled upon Robert Irwin who “decided to step in to his own curiosity” and knew I had found what I had been looking for. On the other hand I experienced first hand how easy it is to tip out of balance and ignore the things closest & dearest to you, resulting in a big mess.

Here are 2016, 2015 and 2014. And here is 2017:

January

Changed the year in Långvik with minimal hassle, maximum friends. Moved offices to Maria, again in snow & cold. Enjoyed the quiet days after Christmas and found kindred spirits. Met Andre Agassi at NBF (whose book I loved a few years back), but was most impressed with his charismatic manager who told me war stories about building schools.

Saw Arrival and Jackie. Loved this Tumblr story on Harry Potter and the CS classics list. Celebrated Nils' and Saku's birthdays. Ate more veggies and bought a Vitamix!

Went to Hawaii with Ville and enjoyed St. Regis & hiking. Kauai was green and lush and beautiful. Rode around the island to get one of my magic books of the year: Seeing is Forgetting (more on that later).

Washed my passport in the washing machine. It was a bad year for passports: I lost all together three.

Read:

The Girls.

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. (Ended up studying a lot more physics this year than I originally anticipated!)

Juniper. From this Radiolab episode. If I were to start a tech company it would be in this space.

Where Wizards Stay Up Late.

Tale of Shikanako #1. I forgot to read the next parts, need to put it in my reading queue.

Whiplash.

Mothers.

The Gene.

February

Spent most of the month in US: New York, DC and Boston. Visited DC public schools, took mom to see Bowery Poetry Club in NY. Had really wonderful, snowy, concentrated days in Boston and got to hang out with Jie & rest of LLK team + dinners with friends.

Atlantic wrote about Ruby & the philosophy behind it!

Did my first STEM Institute with Roxanne and the CS4All team of New York Department of Education. Was exhausted, happy, loved the thorough feedback and can’t wait to run the course again.

Left my laptop in an Uber in Boston and ran around like crazy trying to get it to New York in time. Bought a new iPad and started experimenting with tools like Astropad, Apple Pencil and PS Sketch that would later in the year replace my old system of drawing.

Wined and dined with Henrietta in a very random evening.

Read:

Beloved. Loved this. More Toni Morrison for 2018.

Association of Small Bombs.

Seeing is Forgetting the Name of The Thing One Sees. On of the three most important books of the year. Oh Robert Irwin. His entire doctorate acceptance speech:"All I want say is that the wonder is still there." Walks away.

The End of Absence.

The Underground Railroad.

March

Went to Melbourne for a few days to speak at NGV Victoria (and Australian TV!). Started my David Hockney obsession that would last the entire year.

Settled into New York life and the TED residency. Started new routines with hip hop yoga! Did an Arduino workshop at School for Poetic Computation and enjoyed feeling like a beginner.

Worked a lot on the Internet book, reading a ton of the original research papers of WWW and Internet. Fell in love with Fermat’s library. Spent a lot of time thinking how to structure the book between software, hardware and culture of Internet.

Visited Switzerland shortly and was chosen as one of the 50 most inspiring women in tech in Europe.

Saw two plays: Tove Jansson in Helsinki with Jemina and an immersive piece Strangest in New York with Paul. Had a really fun, magic, sparkly afternoon with Hugo in Whitney Biennal.

Read

Small Pieces Loosely Joined.

The Vegetarian.

Homo Deus.

Commonwealth

April

Tried to balance living in two continents. Wrote a lot, but also saw a lot of friends. Went to see Puerto Rican / New York Poetry Slam with Roxanne and loved it. Brunched with Jason & Sara, went flywheeling with Zach, had dinner at Farhad’s insane apartment and cooked for Otto.

Saw Ghost in Shell and a live version of Israel Story (and got many ideas for my own performances). Backed Climate Change Coloring Book, which was one of my favorite Kickstarter projects of the year.

Turned 31 in New York. Got to go to Sesame Workshop!!

Got a new, beautiful goddaughter.

A quick trip to Barcelona to see Hola Ruby out in Spanish & Catalanian. Had a magical midnight dinner with a locals and visited one of the most eclectic schools. Continued working on Internet (and concept stage boardgame).

Tried to read David Foster Wallace, but gave up. This year maybe.. Still, always, Björk.

Read

The Handmaid's tale

A Tale of Love and Darkness. Enjoyed this one a lot.

In the Woods

May

The spring was starting to catch up and felt mostly jetlagged for the entire month. On the upside: lots of wonderful encounters with new and old friends. Saw Mikito for the first time in a long time and talked art & technology (TBC!!). Met Fawn! And Karen! Had breakfast with Yon & left with the biggest grin. Celebrated Eve’s engagement.

Celebrated Vappu in Central Park and had one of those funny, warm, random New York dinners where there just happens to be some of the most celebrated musicians, cooks & tech people of Nordics all under same roof.

Saw the Commes des Garcons show in Met and felt Rei Kawakubo’s personality. Saw Georgia O’Keeffe (+Marimekko, Finnish pride!) exhibition with Tiina (and later read this great article). Organised Computing & Stories summit in SFPC and felt the future of computing.

Did another PD on Internet with the NYC teachers (and tested ideas for the book, win-win!) and also in Sweden for Swedish teachers.

Fell in love with China. 你好 Ruby! Hello Ruby won the prestigious DIA Award by China Academy of Art out of 2700 applicants. My visit in Hangzhou was short, but can’t wait to go back and learn more about the country and it’s technology & education culture. Here are a few stories: 1, 2, 3

Read

Startup.

The Wangs vs. the World

See you in the cosmos.

Americanah. LOVED this.

June

Ended TED Residency with a talk. Really wish I would have prioritised the residency more, but luckily the community doesn’t come with an expiration date.

Took my parents to Japan and was really excited to show them all the experiences I loved. Visited Kyoto & Osaka for the first time.

Flew to Birmingham CAS conference. Miles and the UK computing organisations have inspired me a lot and I was glad to be able to give back. Loved being back in London for a few days and spending time in Kew Gardens with Minna and her family + seeing house of Minalima with Emma. Celebrated Tuula’s 60th.

Worked too much. Had a familiar midsummer stretch with Ruby 3. Me & mom going through proofs at 4 AM in the morning. Decided to move the next deadline to May to avoid the summer panic.

For most of the year my phone only had data service. Realised how much I hated being interrupted with calls. Ville had also sold his car, so we were for the first time in 5+ years a car free household. Felt like the future.

Read

On China.

Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees. Finally finished. Best book I read all year.

American War.

July

Had my traditional summer vacation month and lived it vigourously by going to the dentist, eye doctor, doctor.. Oh well, ran and swam also and enjoyed the cold Nordic summer by biking in the soaking rain. Got Nintendo Switch and played hours and hours of Zelda.

Visited Berlin and danced my worries away with girlfriends. One of the most important weekends of the years with big consequences.

Celebrated the wedding of Pete & Liisa, met Juha 6/5, watered plants with little Isla, saw Valerian and had lunch with Miki with omnious predictions.

Did a biking trip to Kristo’s & Anna’s island with Ville and loved the archipelago and sense of summer childhoods. Visited the new Moominmuseum in Tampere and can warmly recommend it. Visited Meidän Festivaali, summer tradition.

Found A16Z AI Playbook and got inspired for the next book - it’s really amazing how much good educational material is out there. Some of my favorite newsletters on the topic for the entire year were: ImportAI, Exponential View and Creative.AI

Read

Artificial Intelligence: What everyone needs to know.

The Thirst. My summer tradition with the Nesbo’s..

In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia. Reggio was a lot on my mind through the year.

Sweetbitter

New York 2140

The Thing About Jellyfish.

August

Had a lot of family problems and overall a very sad month. But was also much more gentle towards myself and had a very strong idea of persisting. Stark contrast to the PR stuff happening around same time. Talked to everyone and everywhere. Cried a lot.

Third Ruby book came out in Finnish. The tetralogy is one step to being finished. I wanted to talk about the Internet, but everyone else still wants to talk about coding. Oh well. This was a nice, long talk about the book, although in Finnish.

Spent a lot of energy making home feel like home. Hosted dinners, spent a fun evening in Lonna, celebrated Flow weekend, had dinner in the Marimekko factory floor, went to the wedding of Johanna and Kalle.

Did two really important things for myself: started seeing a therapist and joined an all-girls running club. Monday evenings of track, hills and forests were the highlight of the week for the entire fall. Thanks Helsinki Core Trainers & Jarno. Went also orienteering for the first time in 20 years and found it very soothing.

Favorite things of the month: Melissa Kaseman’s art project, Preschool Pocket Treasures and Young Explorers.

Read

Rikinkeltainen taivas

The Idiot

The Sellout

Walkaway

September

Went to Copenhagen for Techfestival and enjoyed the small, weird, ambiguous, quality driven discussions. Felt fresh for a technology conference.

Worked on the English version of Internet book and started planning an illustration exhibition around Ruby with mom. Did some play testing at the English School.

Nelli had a masquerade party, dressed up as Alice in Wonderland and made a special dress! Celebrated Marjaana’s birthday in Lonna, ended up at an old friends apartment eating pizza at 7 AM.

Organised a surprise birthday party for my sister together with her friends and baby shower to my cousin’s wife. Hung out with goddaughter on a crips autumn day. Enjoyed doing small things for others.

Judged a hackathon at Marimekko and ended up doing my first machine learning project inspired by it! Found Liu Cixin’s books and mind exploded.

Went to Amsterdam and did a teacher workshop. Walked alone around a lot. Month ended up in better news.

Kept running. Kept reading this essay by Robert Macfarlane. Influenced my work a lot.

Read:

The Beautiful bureaucrat

The God of Small Things

When Marnie was there. Still haven't seen the movie!

Standard Deviation

Sophie's Choice

Sourdough. Loved this. Bought five immediately to giveaway.

Three Body problem. One of the other important books/series of the year.

A Mind at Play

River Town

October

Weird month. Mostly happy and relieved, but also way too much travel. I feel dizzy only reviewing what happened.. Was really happy to get a good review of the second Ruby book in US. The timelines of publishing really kill me.

Ran the Sipoonkorpi Trail and admired the baby kitten of a friend. Had a 15 year old intern who was bold enough to apply! Met with a lot of school people. Was back in Berlin for a few days, fell in love with my German publisher and their worldview.

Had pizza and watched Lady Gaga documentary with friends. Enjoyed this drawing from Aura.

Did an insane around the world few weeks: started with David’s birthday party in Copenhagen, followed by a very hungover flight to South Korea. Ran the best run of the year at Namsan Trail in Seoul, hung out with friends old and new. Saw Hillary Clinton live! Bucket list. Flew to Wisconsin and met with very cool librarians (and woke up to the news I had won an award on future of culture in Finland!). Spent a day in New York: saw friends, did a book event at my favourite bookstore, ran in Central Park.. and met my biggest kidlit idol, Oliver Jeffers, accidentally!

Visited four Finnish cities and three Swedish ones in a week. Did a project for Swedish teachers and tried reading Ruby aloud på svenska. Sounded like moomintrollet, but whatever. Flew to Japan.

Read:

Hold me tight.

Close to the Machine. This was like Patti Smith with computers.

Dark Forest.

Machine Learning: the new AI

Room of One's Own. Thousand times yes.

Little Fires Everywhere.

November

Went to Japan to accept the Rakuten Technology & Innovation award. Loved the other prize winners - among them an 80 year old app developer lady. Soaked for a rainy Sunday in onsen and visited the new Yayoi Kusama museum.

Went to Lapland with Ville. Enjoyed season's first skiing and started knitting again. Saw Tuntematon Sotilas movie. Dear friends got married and we got to be the witnesses. Met a new baby relative.

Very briefly visited Malmö and Oredev - wish I could have stayed longer. Flew to Miami and played Super Mario Odyssey almost entire flight. Got to visit an amazing school in Coconut Grove.

Finished Liu Cixin’s the Remembrance of Earth trilogy and a la Emily Dickinson: “I felt a cleaving in my mind / As if my brain had split; I tried to match it, seam by seam, / But could not make them fit.”

Went to Greece and had the warmest & most enthusiastic crowd. Hope next year will bring more collaborations.

Thought a lot about this essay from Stephen Wolfram and this one from Cory Doctorow.

Read

Forest Dark.

Stoner. This was the suprirse Ferrante of the year: kept popping up everywhere..

Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process. Loved this.

Death's End.

The Obelisk Gate.

The Fifth Season.

At the Existentialist Cafe. Took me almost a year to finish, but I can sense the reverberations..

December

I MET AL GORE. Everyone who knows me (or the 1.6 million people who watched the TED talk..) knows this was a huge deal, like a circle closing after 17 years. (The biggest daily of Finland also wrote a piece about the meeting on their economy pages. Teenage girls & their enthusiasm change the world <3). (Also, had lunch with Prince William, which on any other day would have been a huge deal, but all my excitement had already been used on Gore..). Slush was everything it promised: late from everything, random encounters, techno parties in the tunnels of Helsinki that went on until morning.

Went to Australia, spent half of the trip with a flu and lost my bank card, passport, and a few other gadgets. Decided it was time for a vacation. Loved seeing Australia beyond Melbourne and promised to come back for more than a few days..

Got a bit emotional about Finland turning 100 after being pretty nonchalant for the entire year.

Met with more childhood idols and got feedback on my projects. Met with a mentor and planned a trip to Dubai. Took a metro to Aalto University and heard about their AI research and quantum computing. Got really excited about visiting India. A teacher in NYC dressed up as Ruby for Computer Science week. Wrote about work and worked on writing.

Finished the Hockney book and was happy as a child with the Hockney-Falco-thesis. Perception (be it AI or art) seemed to be the theme of the year. Read Sherry Turkle's work and found direction(s).

Made gingerbread cookies with goddaughters family, took another goddaughter to movies to see Moomin. Celebrated Maija's doctoral dissertation (and surprise wedding!). Went to Christmas concert with Nelli & Juha, had many Christmas celebrations with friends. Saw Star Wars (if I had to choose, liked the new Blade Runner better) and Mozart's Magic Flute (loved the Komische Oper Berlin visuals). Watched the Crown.

Had girls over for wrath meaning and planning the new year. Spent Christmas together with Ville, just the two of us. Loved our tree, the new traditions and the quiet.

Read

Dinner at the Center of the Earth.

Manhattan Beach.

Minun Amerikkani. Felt this strongly.

True to Life: Twenty-Five years of Conversations with David Hockney. One of the big books of the year.

The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit.

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keepthingslocal · 5 years ago

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Parsons Green Art Festival

Ad Lib Gallery would love you to join us at the #ParsonsGreenArtFestival featuring over 50 awesome #artists from UK & Europe, and numerous art workshops throughout February. We're open daily from 10.30am until 6pm (5pm Sat & Sun), and we're open late on all other Thursdays through February. Parsons Green Art Festival Monday, 3 February - Thursday, 27 February Ad Lib Gallery 725 Fulham Road Fulham, London SW6 - 3 minutes walk from Parsons Green tube station. 07932559361 [email protected] https://www.adlib-events.com/ https://www.instagram.com/dylanadlibevents/ https://www.facebook.com/adlibartmusicevents/ Art Workshops For the duration of the festival we have a number of artists hosting unique workshops for people of all abilities; so whether it’s sculpture, ceramics, painting, collage or more we have classes for you, with many especially designed for children. Some of the workshops on offer: * art-K Fulham, adult & child classes * Portrait sculpture with award winning sculptor Emma Elliott * Mindful painting with Victoria Obolensky * The art of collage with The Looking Glass Collective * Ceramics with Erika Albrecht * Create your own artwork, with Melody Travers FIND OUT MORE & BOOK TICKETS HERE Exhibiting Artists KM Gavaghan, Minna Mazzone, Koola Adams, Matt Mackman, Johnny Morant, Marina Borozna, Judith Watson, Giacomo Giannelli, Mada Vicassiau, Victoria Obolensky, Arthur Craig, Alanna Eakin, Agnieska Laskus, Jay Read, Barbara LT, Paul Taffs, Rosa Roberts, Janek Janikowski, Carolina Piteira, Beatriz Uva, Louisa Tebbutt, Eye Kona, Sena Shah, Richard Birch, Natalia Fundowicz, Richard Zarzi, Jane Bristowe, Troy Ruffels, David Horgan, Kym Haverson, Natasha Archdale, Emma Elliott, Tamsin Pearson, Margo Random, Mandana Khonsari, Simon Chinnery, Nick Jackson, Sandy Dooley, Tita Petita Chihuahua, Darren Azgard, Anita Swarup Alexander, Tim Motion, Vicky Kong, Melody Travers, Kerry Edwards, Emma Haines, MJ Forster. Designer scarves by Ennis More Ceramics by Vanessa Conyers Hand-painted leather bag charms by Boyarde Art House and others soon to be confirmed...

Read the full article

#ArtFestival

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cthulhubert · 7 years ago

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I was tagged by @shrimp-bird

5 things you’ll find in my bag:

bits of cloth (a pack towel and a scarf, not like, random scraps)

tools (pliers, bit driver, bike multi-tool, caliper, etc)

paper, pens, and pencils

baggy with tea, cocoa mix, and a granola bar

pouch with chargers, cables, USB drives, and a deck of water proof cards

5 things you’ll find in my room:

cthulhu statuette

batsumaru and tux having a stare down

variegated snake plant in a pretty pot my grandmother made (hopefully to be joined by a dwarf broadleaf ladypalm soon)

fancy headphones connected to a fancy headphone amplifier connected to a fancy DAC

big plastic tubs filled with camping/backpacking supplies or sewing or electronics projects

5 things that make me happy:

making food that my friends and/or family enjoy

inclement weather

let’s be honest: good drugs

couldn’t pick one kind of physical activity I liked best so any of these: weights, martial arts, swimming, or hiking

sappy romantic comedy manga (other manga too, but little compares to bitter virgin or bokura wa minna kawaisou)

Things I’m currently into:

finally got around to playing bastion and transistor and they have consecutively consumed me. eclipse phase the tabletop RPG has one of the most interesting and well realized settings I’ve seen lately; the game rules themselves aren’t perfect but that’s okay. In the same vein I’m reading the ultra-deep-future science fiction story, the quantum thief, and it’s wild shit. I really wish I could say I’ve been into learning to draw but my sketch book has not been opened in some time. this demented music video with art by the guy who did double king

I’ll tag @sugar-dollie, @jemariel, and @honey-and-vinegar. No presh, do it if you want.

#had me a nostalgia moment for deadjournal #these kinda quiz things really helped me explore my developing personality in high school

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harocat · 7 years ago

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late June and July YOI LOOT POST

Our amiami box arrived, and before we could get ANYTHING out, JoeJoe made himself very at home in it. He is very much a box cat and we love him for it. Amiami boxes are huge and wonderful and he is so, so excited whenever they arrive. Not only are they boxes, but they’re filled to the brim with all the paper!!

These are Bushiroad’s ‘rubber strap rich’ collection. I have no idea why they’re called ‘rich.’ They’re big, high quality rubber straps though with really cute art. I ordered them way back in January, which is quite a long preorder time for a series of rubber straps. o.o

On the contrary these had a really short preorder period; went up in late April or early May and came out in June. They’re A3′s second series of YOI acrylics. I really like this series a lot. The skating ones are a little unoriginal pose and outfit wise, but the art is super cute, and the non-skating ones are fantastic. They’re a pretty good size too! ❤

Hasepro’s second series of YOI mini acrylics. They say ‘mini’, but they’re more medium sized than small. I like the art a lot it’s so chunky and huggable. The biggest reason I was excited for this set was these boys:

Barcelona date night husbands!! I love them so much. Precious as can be.

Anyway this set came with a couple duplicates so I’ll be selling those (sorry no Barcelona duplicates though :( ).

Yuri!!! in Ice Water-in Collection by Kadokawa. These are hard to photograph. They’re those squishy pvc keychains with water in them where the characters float inside. Since it’s YOI, there’s snowflakes along with the glitter. It’s a really cute set. The cutest is definitely the KATSUDON Yuuri. He’s so excited, and the background is literally like--- a photo of katsudon? It’s hilarious. The onsen Victor is almost as good.

The kitty ears Yurio came out of his package a bit damaged, which I’m not happy about. It was slightly leaking and due to that it’s kind of foggy. I can seal the leak, but it still looks not quite right. At least it wasn’t one of my absolute faves, but it’s annoying. It’s not amiami’s fault of course, but it’s irritating that it happened.

Not from amiami but @aitaikuji. I bought two Thai Animate blind packs from them a couple months ago and they finally arrived. I ended up with watergun Victor and Phichit on Ice Phichit. Of course, I really wanted a Yuuri, but this is the Phichit I definitely preferred and I was happy with either Victor. I’m going to try to find a lot with both Yuuris now so I can have a set that’s Victor and Yuuri and Phichit and Yuuri. How much I’ll have to bleed for that, I don’t know, but... ahahah #doitforhim.

The second thing is the clear mascots from Furyu that were released recently! Victor has his biggest HART MOUF ever seen in YOI merchandise, I swear. It’s so adorable. They all look so happy. They actually... didn’t have an option to pick secondary characters on the site. You just bought a main character and got a random secondary character. But I wanted secondary characters! So I asked if I could pick mine and they said yes, and I asked for Leo and Phichit.

I opened Movic’s YOI mini clear file box and immediately cringed because they were all blind packed which I did not know or expect. RIP this is going to take forever. I didn’t want to damage the envelopes too much because I planned on selling several of these, and I couldn’t use the exacto knife I usually use to quickly open boxes because it would probably damage the clear files.

Anyway here they are. Unluckily for her @abarero was stuck on the couch cramping so she volunteered her idle hands on it. They’re ADORABLE and all the characters look super cute in them!! I love this art and wanted some good merchandise with it, but unfortunately the acrylic keychain set of it put the two Yuris together on one keychain which ummm wtf?? Why would you do that with two of the main characters. That just killed it for me. This clearfile set instead put Mickey and Emil together which makes a million times more sense.

Not from amiami but @aitaikuji. These came earlier this week. The hand cream is by... I don’t even know. It smells nice and the pattern on it is ADORABLE. I want a sweater with this pattern. I will wear it every day during the holidays. Or something.

The plush are the pitarest by Eikoh. They’re extremely cute. They also came with magnets and... straps so you can attach them to your collar and they can ride on your shoulder. lol. I love them.

Yuri!! on Ice Pita! Deform FS Acrylic Keychain by Takara Tomy. Those weird keychains where everyone is squished. Listen I love them. They’re glittery and funny and silly. Also:

They’re shopping in Barcelona. I’m so easy.

Contrary to this post, I don’t often buy clearfiles because I don’t really have much of a way (or room) to display them, but the Ministop art was too effing cute. And when I’d already ordered the Pita keychains on FromJapan and this was so cheap on Otamart, I decided it was irresistible enough and I threw it on my order.

Kotobukiya’s Pitanui plush. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW CUTE THESE ARE IN PERSON... if you have not seen them. RIP in pieces, self. Also they hug and their heads can pivot and wow, amazing.

Using them appropriately.

I bought this acrylic stand because I love this art of Yuuri and Victor so, so much and outside of this expensive perfume I really didn’t want that much, this is the only way I’d seen it available. I admit the hand placement for Yurio is kind of um, weird though. What were they thinking. Still pretty though!

Eros in the sheets

...Agape in the sheets too I guess.

These are Kotobukiya’s reversible dream cushion covers. The art on them is fantastic. I don’t have pillows for them yet because they require these weird special pillows that only Kotobukiya sells and they’re forty-five dollars a piece+whatever it costs to sell those big pillows to the US (a lot). As such @abarero is just going to make ones that fit. Anyway they’re really pretty.

The little pillow in the middle is a MochiMochi Collecushion of Yuuri by HN and Associates. He is SO squishy.

I put this blanket on my couch and before I could even open the camera on my phone, Ritz was on it. It could not have been more than two seconds before he’d made the blanket his new home?? It’s SOFT and it’s new and it is his.

The History Maker cushions are by Kadokawa. They big and fluffy and they’re half bean bag-esque. Very comfortable. Ritz is our biggest cat (a big, ginger baby). The blanket is the OhizadeGoodNight!!! Blanket by Avex. I didn’t order the Victor because I actually thought the art of him for this particular merchandise was... really bad. He looked kind of sleazy and weirdly like he needed to take a bath? Also Makkachin was licking his armpit. IDEK. Bad job. Yuuri was cute though.

The blanket is a soft sort of fleece-y material, which is very cat approved. It’s not super thick, so maybe a spring and autumn weight blanket instead of a winter weight one.

hours later, Ritz moved.

Lastly I played a few rounds of the June ‘Enjoy Your Trip’ Minna no Kuji with @sunyshore. I won this Yuuri Towel, which is pretty awesome!! I love this art of him. It’s fantastic.

I also got this Yuuri can badge, which is like the biggest can badge I have ever seen. I won the Otabek and Minami rubber straps, both of which I’ll probably try to sell or trade. Then there’s two Yuuri themed sticker sheets I found at a tiny local con!

I’m going to post the non-YOI stuff in a separate post since this ended up longer than I thought because I included a bunch of stuff not from the amiami order.

#yuri on ice #yoi merch #yoi merch post #long post

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