#tea-lin

[qilincha]

I saw your post about sending asks with my fav tea so you could draw qilin. So, black honey oolong.

Sorry for the wait! One black honey oolong tea coming right up ❤️

[arc-hus]

Clear Water Tea House, Nantou, China - Behet Bondzio Lin Architekten

[cinswitch]

by blackshirtboy

[zishuge]

RNZ taking every available opportunity to stake his claim on Lingling The Spirealm 致命游戏 (2024) | Ep. 16

[sound-under-the-sea]

Izumi after trying some tea in RC: This tastes like leaf juice.

Lin: Isn’t that what all tea is?

Izumi:

Lin:

Izumi:

Lin: What?

Izumi: I cannot believe you would say that to me.

Lin: But it is…?

[teabeexo]

𝚃𝚎𝚊'𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: 𝚃𝚊𝚋𝚋𝚢

✿ ↳ ❝ You need to go,

to where the dark remembers you

Open up your heart

Like the gates of Hell

You stay soft, you get beaten

Only natural to harden up... ❞

✧˚ · . - "Stay Soft" Mitski

𝚃𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚊 𝙻𝚢𝚗𝚗 𝚆𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚘𝚛

✿ The Basics ✿

Age(s): Step 1 - 10, Step 2 - 14, Step 3 - 18, Step 4 - 22

Birthday: April 3rd

Gender: Demigirl (she/they)

Ethnicity: Hawaiian and Swedish

Height: 5'4" (as of step 4)

Significant Other: Qiu Lin

Role: Main character in my OL:NF universe.

✿ Lore (past) ✿

Tabitha Windsor was born in Orono, Maine on April 3rd. Her mother, Opal Windsor, had Tabitha through artificial semination. Growing up, her household only consisted of her and her mother. Though considered unorthodox by many of the locals in her town, Tabitha was perfectly happy with the serenity and closeness that was garnered as a result of her upbringing.

The Windsors were not particularly wealthy during Tabitha’s childhood. Though most of her early memories originate from Orono, the Windsors moved around quite frequently in order to keep up with her mother’s job. Despite the fact that Opal would do her best to relieve Tabitha of any sort of stress or worry in relation to their finances, Tabby would internalize a lot of the anxiety that she perceived Opal was feeling. In response, she developed a complex where she often viewed herself as being her family's caretaker and protector.

Their norm changed when Tabitha, who preferred the nickname Tabby at this point, and her mother moved across-state to Golden Grove, Oregon. This bode well for the Windsors, seeing as they’d moved for a huge promotion in Opal’s work. Practically, the move was fantastic for them. They’d never been so comfortable! Internally, though, Tabby was struggling.

Tabby was in full self-preservation mode and would shut down around anyone except her mom. Trust is the fundamental aspect that Tabby needs to even have the bare bones of a relationship. Naturally, she didn't have that with anybody when she first moved. Everyone was a stranger. Thus, nobody warranted her trust or friendliness.

This pattern was disrupted when she met a certain kid, who just happened to double as her neighbor. Qiu Lin. It was odd. He was odd to her -- in the best way. Regardless of how cold or snappish she was, his attitude towards her remained the same. And, somehow, she seemed to intrinsically trust him because of his overtly accommodating nature. Here, a fixation with him starts.

Her first interactions with her other neighbor, Tamarack, start off rather iffy. Tabby immediately closes Tamarack off because she sees Tam as unpredictable and erratic (exactly what Tabby loathes). Tabby could tolerate her, but never tried to approach the bubbly ginger as a friend. Over time, though, they slowly develop a positive relationship. As aforementioned, it's all about building trust for her.

Unfortunately, all the positive rapport made seems to regress as she approaches adolescence. Her crush on Qiu develops into a more severe fixation. In a sense, they become like the crux of her life. She bases her worth around their approval of her -- and actively changes herself to fit the mold that she assumes they would like. It's very self-destructive for her esteem. She's not very liked among her peers in highschool because she is seen as unapproachable and harsh. That’s mostly due to her chronic resting-bitch-face. She's actually extremely patient and compassionate when approached, but most don't bother breaching that barrier.

Her mom eventually intervenes whenever she realizes that Tabby's feelings towards Qiu need to be addressed and worked through. And, eventually, it does get better! It just takes her a while. By the time she’s nearly fifteen, she actually has a heart-to-heart with Qiu about it. They both agree they have feelings for each other, but make the active choice not to date because they both have issues they want to sort out first.

Tamarack and Tabby's relationship, in turn, deteriorates because their older personalities begin to grate against each other. Tamarack's serene and bashful nature strongly contrasts Tabby's. Tamarack's personality entirely changing undoes a lot of the trust they'd established, since Tabby views Tamarack as an entirely different person.

By the time Tabby turns eighteen, she starts publicly using she/they (with no preference). Her and Qiu also start dating slightly after they both turn eighteen. Tabby starts volunteering a local animal shelter which is really good for her mental health!

Her and Opal are still extremely close, but they've mellowed out quite a bit and take a step back from her protective tendencies.

Them and Tamarack are able to establish strong communication once again, and can eventually overcome to the awkwardness that tainted their relationship. Really, it just required effort on both of their parts. They’re able to be good friends, but never become best friends, as Tamarack would have liked when they were children.

Everything is likely to change as more OL:NF content becomes available. But for now, this is the overview of Tabby!

✿ Lore (present/ongoing) ✿

N/A until Step Four comes out/we get more info!

✿ Relationships ✿

Parents: Opal Windsor and unnamed sperm donor

Siblings: N/A.

Aunts: Currently N/A.

Cousins: Currently N/A.

S/O: Qiu Lin

Notable Friends: Tamarack Baumann, Diana (my OC), Renee Murray, Jade Foljn, Mina Linwood (my OC)

(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

𝙰𝚛𝚝 𝙲𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎

Tabby’s S1 and S3 designs. (Art done by me)

(Art below by @humanlypotsand)

✿ Epilogue (Artist/Author's notes) ✿

Hello everyone! Thanks for bearing with me while I finally decided what/who my Qiu!MC was going to be! It was definitely a wild ride, and in total I cycled through two whole characters before deciding on Tabby.

Tabby herself has turned out to be a character that I really enjoy writing and drawing. I like the themes that I chose to explore in her lore, and I find myself relating to them in a lot of small ways.

I didn’t overtly talk about it above, but Tabby’s whole motif is cats/felines — hence the nickname Tabby! In S2 she even hides a litter of kittens in Qiu’s fort. And, of course, she later dedicates their life to the care of animals.

Thanks for reading this far!

Also thank you to @lov3-from-loserlane and @humanlypotsand for letting me yap about them!!

𝙴𝚡𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚜

Spotify playlist: coming soon! (wip)

Moodboard: coming soon! (as soon as I figure out how to make one)

Pinterest Board: coming soon! (wip)

[risingsoleil]

That murder plot is really intriguing. What if Pema actually managed to poison Lin? Do you think Tenzin would be able to figure out who did it?

To make things a little more complex, what if the White Lotus knew about Pema's interest in Tenzin and approached her to pull this off?

They weren't direct about it, but planted the seeds in her brain and didn't tell her that it was poison. They only said that it would weaken Lin's fertility, and it would accelerate Tenzin's need to break up with Lin. Pema is compliant bc she doesn't think that the poison will cause much damage to Lin.

The White Lotus figures if anything goes wrong, then they'll blame Pema and make her take the fall for such a malicious attempt to murder Lin. There are many other girls who would love to replace Lin, so finding another replacement will not be difficult.

So Pema does it.

She puts a full dosage of poison in Lin's tea and has it served.

Lin only has one sip of tea and her body reacts immediately to it, and as she feels burning in her throat, she knocks down the tea. As the tea spills on the table, it instantly corrodes the wood and Lin's eyes widen. It takes all of her energy to try and throw up whatever she swallowed.

Some of the acolytes help her get to a healer. Tenzin is distraught and concerned over her. Lin will be fine and it doesn't seem that she has a lot of internal damage, but it's very clear that there was an attempted murder on his woman.

With so many conflicting emotions arising, he probably isn't able to clearly think and even pinpoint who would dare do this.

He sits at Lin's bedside, holding her hand and making sure that she's only consuming water and clear broths to flush out the poison. An acolyte enters the room, watching for anyone else who is around.

She is an old woman and raises a finger to her lips when Tenzin is about to speak. The acolyte retrieves a small sheet of paper in her pocket and hands it to Tenzin.

"Do not speak," she mouths to him. "They will hear."

Tenzin nods and unfolds the message, his jaw dropping.

The White Lotus and Pema orchestrated this

[sixofravens-reads]

📚☕

[aprettyweirgirl]

Do linzumi know eachothers coffee orders?

YEAH OBVIOUSLY except Izumi doesn't drink coffee BUT YEAH

[avatarfan11]

And here is chapter 3

@wingchunwaterbender

[rabbitsinwonderland]

dear riley

it was definitely set out like a letter <333333333

ppps to your pps I think I'm in love w u too pppps <333

dearest lin

i did have a pen pal for a bit so i should be better at this. hmmmggg

I hope you are having a lovely time with your poetry and schooling and life in generalllll <3333333

ps did you know we are literally kismet

pps <33333

[cinswitch]

hai! very random ask but, do you have the still art of Margaret from the title screen? ps ilyyyy ur game is awesome and epbic

Here's the image straight from the file directory. And while we're at it, here's the version from the title screen once you complete all the main routes:

And we're happy you've been enjoying it!

[judgeitbyitscover]

A Magic Steeped in Poison & A Venom Dark and Sweet (Book of Tea duology) by Judy I. Lin

Cover art by Sija Hong

Feiwel & Friends 2022

A Magic Steeped in Poison (March 2022)

I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother." For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu. When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life. But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

A Venom Dark and Sweet (August 2022)

A great evil has come to the kingdom of Dàxi. The Banished Prince has returned to seize power, his rise to the dragon throne aided by the mass poisonings that have kept the people bound in fear and distrust. Ning, a young but powerful shénnóng-shi—a wielder of magic using the ancient and delicate art of tea-making—has escorted Princess Zhen into exile. Joining them is the princess' loyal bodyguard, Ruyi, and Ning's newly healed sister, Shu. Together the four young women travel throughout the kingdom in search of allies to help oust the invaders and take back Zhen's rightful throne. But the golden serpent still haunts Ning's nightmares with visions of war and bloodshed. An evil far more ancient than the petty conflicts of men has awoken, and all the magic in the land may not be enough to stop it from consuming the world...

[teabeexo]

𝚃𝚎𝚊'𝚜 𝚂𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚊

☘︎ ↳ ❝ I had a dream that the sun in the sky

Was feelin' so lonely, he started to cry

The rain on our window kept us inside

All of the morning, and into the night... ❞

(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

❝ Alone in my dream room, I want to love you... ❞ - "Man on the Moon" By Zella Day

𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚊 𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚍

☘︎ The Basics ☘︎

Age(s): Step 1 - 10, Step 2 - 14, Step 3 - 18, Step 4 - 22

Birthday: December 17

Gender: Female (she/her)

Nationality: French

Height: 5'4"

Significant Other: Dante Rhodes (belonging to @captian-insecure)

Role: Side character in my OL:NF universe.

☘︎ Lore (past) ☘︎

Sonia Linwood was born in Nice, France on December 17th to her parents Baptiste and Sabine Linwood. She has four elder brothers: Jude, Beau, Raoul, and Quincy. She grew up primarily speaking French among her family and peers, but would catch some English from the occasional tourist in her mother's bakery. She spent most of her early childhood snoozing in the warmth of a patterned hammock or listening to her brothers' prattle about their school adventures.

This monotonous comfort would change whenever her family, alongside her extended relatives (including her aunts, cousins, and grandparents), moved to Oregon. Namely, the beloved Golden Grove. However, unlike her cousins Mina and Maël, she didn't live in a small cul-de-sac. Her house ended up on a hill about ten minutes away from them. Like all the houses in the town, her abode was hugged by blushing leaves and whispering briars.

She completed fifth grade at the same school as her cousins but wasn't in Mrs. Murray's class -- not that it made much of a difference to her. After the move, Sonia and her cousins drifted slightly. They lived farther apart now, had different classes, and new social groups. Sonia could already see how close the two were with their new friends. She wasn't going to try to wedge herself between that.

Instead, she made new friends, too. Despite lacking some significant English vocabulary, Sonia was very easy to talk to. She attracted friends as easily as she deflected them. Her mother liked to call Sonia a social butterfly. But she preferred the term 'a social paper bag'. Butterflies choose where they fly, purposefully picking the most beautiful of flowers. They select their meals with careful consideration. But that was not Sonia. She went where she was beckoned, by whatever beckoned her. She followed the current of socialization like a paper bag that flies away in the ripples of the wind. Sometimes they got stuck in nooks and crannies, but they usually found their ways out. That was Sonia.

She didn't really develop a consistent social group until she was fourteen, whenever she and Mina reconnected. Through Mina, she met Tamarack -- whom she had only previously known as Mina's good friend. Sonia also established strong bonds with Mina's other friends: Diana, Maxine, and Rex.

Though, at times it was hard to really say they were her 'friend group'. Sonia still sat and chatted with whoever she pleased, though most often she chose them. The paper bag couldn't be tied down. Not yet.

Whenever she was roughly fifteen, Sonia was officially diagnosed with Narcolepsy. From that point, she started taking the necessary measures to make sure it didn't impede her daily life too much. She doesn't often bring it up but is open about the diagnosis if asked.

During her later teenage years, Sonia began learning how to embrace her own style, and opened herself up to the world of romance. During her adolescent years, the concept hadn't interested her much, despite a handful of individuals expressing their interest in her. She'd seen the emotional turmoil of those around her. She wasn't keen on replicating it for herself.

She dated around a bit, but nothing ever stuck. Nothing seemed to click. Flings were boring while they lasted, and though the physical intimacy was moderately satisfying, she didn't feel as though anyone was truly seeing her.

Not until she met Dante, anyhow. They'd briefly glimpsed each other in passing before, but nothing was pursued until a link-up between mutual friends. The relationship moved faster than anything Sonia had experienced before -- much to her delight. She was certainly enraptured by his love of music, but it was his demeanor and empathy that ultimately stole her heart.

'Spiny on the outside, mushy on the inside'. That's how she first described him to her brothers and parents.

And upon meeting him, they didn't need much more convincing.

☘︎ Lore (present/ongoing) ☘︎

Following the solidification of their relationship, the two got a small apartment together -- where they live in present. Dante is still pursuing his music, waiting in anticipation for his girlfriend to come home from another of her late-night shifts at the hospital she does part-time work for. Time together is sporadic, but they treasure what they do have of it.

Sonia has been affectionately dubbed 'Sleepy' by Dante, which she wholeheartedly lives up to by dozing off whenever they're even slightly comfortable.

Her social presence narrows as well, as she become more devoted to certain friendships rather than floating between cliques. She maintains strong contact with her cousins, often trying to arrange times to meet up. Even with Vérène, who lives all the way in California, is among her closest confidants. She doesn't see Rex, Diana, or Maxine, as often -- but chats over phone aren't uncommon.

On her days alone, Sonia likes to use watercolor sometimes, often depicting the fields of landscape of France or a saturated scene from one of her dreams. She has also found herself collecting quite the abundance of unique, noisy windchimes to decorate her porch with (much to Dante's chagrin). But of course, the most common usage of her time is simply curling up on a sunlit armchair and sleeping the minutes away.

As she always has, Sonia takes life one thing at time. But now that she's an adult, things are a bit different. For once, being the paper bag stuck in a nook for a while doesn't seem so bad.

☘︎ Relationships ☘︎

Parents: Baptiste and Sabine Linwood

Siblings: Jude (M), Beau (M), Raoul (M), and Quincy (M)

Aunts: Opal and Sophie

Cousins: Vérène (F; child of Sophie), Mina (F; child of Opal), and Maël (M; child of Opal).

S/O: Dante Rhodes

Notable Friends: Tamarack Baumann, Rex (my OC), Diana (my OC), and Maxine (my OC), Dex and Christin (OCs of a friend, neither of them are mentioned above)

(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

𝙰𝚛𝚝 𝙲𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚎

As you may have deduced, this is Sonia and Dante together!

Sonia headshot art. <33 (both art pieces were done by me)

☘︎ Epilogue (Artist/Author's notes) ☘︎

Hello, everyone! If you've gotten this far, thank you for reading! I hope that this was relatively satisfactory in answering any questions you had regarding Sonia. As always, if there's anything that I left unanswered, feel free to ask!

If I remember correctly, Sonia was first conceptualized in February of this year, in which I was actually building on a pre-existing character. She first only existed to be a counterpart to Dante, but I quickly got extremely attached to her design and she kept popping up over and over in my sketchbook. Ultimately, I made the choice to make Vérène and Sonia related -- which is what generally solidified her as an important character. Of course, that also branched out to include being related to Mina and Maël, to whom she lives more closely to and can interact more directly with.

Sonia herself is very much one of my comfort characters. Her design is extremely fun for me to draw and replicate. I also enjoy playing around with her because she's very flexible to fit in a multitude of scenarios.

As always, I encourage questions. I recognize that the format of this post doesn't really touch on her personality itself very much, so if you all would find a separate post about that interesting, I'll consider making something about that too.

𝙴𝚡𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚜

Spotify playlist: coming soon! (wip)

Moodboard: coming soon! (as soon as I figure out how to make one)

Pinterest Board: coming soon! (wip)