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creative-hanyou-girl · 4 years ago

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The Witch’s Daughter (Pt.2)

Now with a cover!!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha/Yahahime or any of its characters. All InuYasha characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Sunrise, and Viz media.

Genre: Family/Romance/Angst

Rated: Teen (for some cussing and depictions of violence)

A/N: First off, I want to give a big fat “Thank You” to all of you guys who left likes and reviews and for reblogging the 1st chapter of The Witch’s Daughter! I am so sorry for the long wait. A lot of stuff happened over the holidays and beyond that, and college has kept me pretty busy too. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I’ll try to be quicker with the next one!!!

I should also say that while Touga holds both these titles in the story, in this universe, the title of Emperor is not the same as the title of Inu no Taisho.

Emperor: Ruler over the people, responsible for governing the country; Sesshomaru to be successor.

Inu no Taisho: Commander and General of all armed forces, literally translating to “Great Dog General”; InuYasha to be successor.

(trust me, knowing the difference is important.)

Chapter One

FF.Net

With that said, on with Chapter Two!

Chapter Two

Swinging the sword in his grip at a downward angle, Lord and General InuYasha huffed in satisfaction. His sparring partner and friend, Miroku, had his own weapon knocked out of his hands as a result of the half dog-demon’s offensive maneuver, the force of the technique even toppling the human man over to land on his butt.

Scenting the approaching threat from behind, InuYasha whirled around smoothly, his blade clashing thunderously with the sword that was about to come down on him.

This time facing off against his rival and soldier, a wolf-demon named Kouga, the two demons went at each other fiercely, weapons clashing and clanging loudly and violently at speeds that’d be impossible for a human to achieve no matter how skilled a swordsman they were. Sparks flew as the two sparring men met each other’s attacks with vigour.

Miroku, seeing an opening, grabbed his own sword and went to attack the young dog-eared general. Rushing at his seemingly unsuspecting target, Miroku’s blue eyes widened in alarm when InuYasha ducked, hunching his broad shoulders and back forward to avoid Kouga’s blade coming at him from the side. The human soldier couldn’t stop himself fast enough, resulting in him barreling atop his Lord’s back, only for said Lord to adjust his movements in order to have Miroku’s slightly smaller frame roll over the curve of his spine.

Kouga had no time to react before his fellow soldier rammed into his stomach, losing his grip on his own sword as both he and Miroku toppled over in a heap not too gently on the marble floor.

The two soldiers looked up at their General as he aimed his trusty blade, the Tessaiga, to be level with their eyes.

InuYasha smirked triumphantly down at his fallen comrades, his golden amber eyes dancing with victory, before swiftly shelving Tessaiga in its sheath and offering a clawed hand out to Miroku.

Grinning and shaking his head, the human male accepted, the two friends collapsing hands as the demon lord pulled the dark-haired man up before collapsing his shoulder good-naturedly.

Kouga grouchily climbed to his own feet once Miroku was off him, crossing his arms as he scowled at his rival, “How the Hell do you always manage to one-up us every time, dog-turd? Call me crazy, but I’d think you were playin’ dirty!”

InuYasha glared right back, “There ain’t no such thing as playing dirty on the battlefield, wolf-boy. You know that as well as I do; when you're out there facing a shit-ton of soldiers tryin’ ta lop your head off, ya don’t got the luxury of playin’ fair!”

“Yeah well the wolf tribes know to fight with honor, unlike you and your sad excuse of an army, General,” Kouga retorted, emphasizing the word ‘general’ in a demeaning, sarcastic tone.

The aforementioned general growled, shoving his snarling face into Kouga’s, his large, clawed hand cracking as he stretched the tendons in a threatening gesture.

He and Kouga had never gotten along ever since the wolf-demon was enlisted to serve under the Inu no Taisho’s armed forces, only to be surprised and furious when he found that the Emperor’s youngest son, a half-breed, had already taken charge of many of the imperial forces, as he was set to succeed his father in becoming the next Inu no Taisho. Under that position, he’d serve under the next Emperor, his brother, as the commander of all of their Empire’s armed forces, leading himself and his men into the battlefields while the Emperor governs the rest of the country.

Kouga was angered to be placed in one of InuYasha’s troops three years ago when he enlisted to be under the command of the current Inu no Taisho and Emperor, Touga.

He made it very clear to InuYasha from the get-go that he was displeased to be bossed around by an ‘honorless half-bred mutt’, though he knew better than to say as such around the Emperor and his family.

That didn’t stop the wolf-demon from expressing his disdain for his general with his fellow soldiers, many of whom also shared his bias, and to InuYasha himself when the imperial family wasn’t around.

The feelings were mutual, as InuYasha hated the wolf’s stench and despised his high and mighty attitude. But while the half-demon lord loathed to admit it, as his father had pointed out when the two of them were overseeing recruit training, Kouga was a strong and resilient fighter, quick on his feet and great at tracking scents from miles away.

“Almost as good as you,” his father had commented.

Almost.

Keh!

At the end of the day, InuYasha knew he’d be a fool not to enlist the canine demon just because Kouga held a prejudice against him.

Didn’t mean he had to like it though.

“Well we ain’t in the wolf tribes now, are we ya scrawny wolf!” InuYasha exclaimed back in the present.

The two canine demons continued to snarl and bark back-and-forth, until a previously forgotten Miroku shoved his way in-between the two feuding men, breaking them up after some struggle as his human body was much weaker compared to those of his demonic comrades.

“I believe it’d be wise to step away from each other for a while. We did just return from a five-month trip in the North, after all. Perhaps now’s the time to relax and take a breather after all our hard work, do you not agree?” the human male reasoned, his tone soothing and placating.

Kouga continued to glare as he looked between the two human and half-demon men, before huffing haughtily and stomping out of the in-door combat training room.

InuYasha watched him go before snorting and going over where he stashed his red cloak and armor, stepping next to the large water basin to wash his face of the sweat and grime he’d accumulated from the return journey and the sparring match that he had just won. All the while, Miroku walked along with him, washing his face and grabbing his own gear.

As the two friends strapped back on their heavy armor over their under garments, Miroku looked over at his companion.

“You know Kouga says that stuff at this point just to get a rise out of you, right?” he asked, locking the straps for his armor to his right arm.

“Pfft. Whatever, not like it matters,” the general mumbled, clipping on his ragged and torn up cape.

“Just take a break from him and other troops, InuYasha. Use this time to spend with your family for at least a few hours! Nobody will blame you, and who knows when we’ll be sent out to fight more battles again.”

“Ain’t that simple, Miro. I ain’t no ordinary, run-of-the-mill soldier like you; I’m gonna have to become the Inu no Taisho after my father. I have ta be on my toes all. The damn. Time. Add to the fact that I’m a half-demon, and that makes my job ten times more difficult since more and more people are questioning my authority and capability to lead them into battle. I don’t got time for a break, not yet anyways,” InuYasha argued, a hint of bitterness seeping into his tone.

It had become such a sore spot for him, being a half-breed. A mutt. When he was young, while there might’ve been a whisper here and a distrustful glare there, InuYasha had been fortunate to not have had to face too much discrimination for his mixed blood, but he now knew that was due to his status in the royal family. It was only when he snuck out at age thirteen in commoner clothing that he experienced first-hand how half-demons are really treated by the outside world when they have no status of nobility or royalty.

It was horrible; he returned home hiding the bruises and scars under his clothes before they healed by themselves. He never told either of his parents.

The incident still didn’t stop him from sneaking out to explore, though.

And then he was announced to be the next Great Dog General, the Inu no Taisho, after his father when he turned sixteen, and that news shocked and appalled many in the Emperor’s court and beyond that. Everyone had expected, nay, hoped that Touga would’ve named his eldest, pure demon son Sesshomaru as both the future Emperor and Inu no Taisho, seeing as Touga himself held both titles. No one had anticipated that his younger, impure half-bred son would’ve been named as Touga’s successor to anything!

If he was being honest, InuYasha was shocked too, but he didn’t want the role.

He’d never told his family, since he knew it’d hurt them, but the then teenage InuYasha had always hoped for a life outside of the castle walls. Even after the incident that happened when he was thirteen, the half dog-demon still wanted to go out in the world where nobody knew who he was, and explore with no obligations or responsibilities to anyone. The brief experience with the outside world when he was thirteen had opened his eyes to how fake court-life truly was, and he hated it.

Still, seeing everybody who didn’t even know him, already doubting and questioning his capabilities in such a rigorous, brutal, and powerful position just on the basis of him being a half-demon motivated him to take up the mantle he had previously tried to avoid.

He’d prove to them, all of them, that he was the man for the job, and that his mixed blood didn’t matter.

That was his motivation that still drove him even now.

“Enough about that. Whatta ‘bout you? S’not like your working to become General; Why dontcha go see Sango and the kids. Bet they’ve been missing their old man,” Present InuYasha said, intentionally driving the conversation away from himself.

Miroku suddenly grinned dreamily at the mention of his wife and kids, and InuYasha still couldn’t believe this was the same perverted seventeen-year-old soldier he’d met all those years ago.

They’d met when Miroku joined InuYasha when he had taken charge of overseeing his first troop of soldiers. When he wasn’t giving them orders or training them, InuYasha kept his distance from everyone in his troop as much as possible, just as everyone had kept their distance from him.

That all changed when Miroku approached him one night when they were traveling along the Eastern borders. The human had grinned mischievously, but no less kindly with a jug of sake and had asked to talk with him.

“Just want to get to know our fearless new general, is all,” is what he had said.

From there, their friendship grew, though it took months for InuYasha to start warming up to Miroku. It didn’t help either that the young soldier had the bad habit of rubbing up along any pretty woman’s ass and asking them to “bare his children” for him, whether the woman was human or demon.

And then Miroku met Sango, a female soldier and the only woman who knew how to put him in his place. From that moment on, the perverted soldier only had eyes for the no-nonsense woman, and InuYasha watched as his two only friends grew closer and closer for the next few years, eventually getting married and having a shit-ton of kids.

Now they were awaiting baby number...eleven? Twelve? The half-demon had honestly lost count. All he knew was that they were expecting yet again, and Sango was pissed not being allowed into the troops again until the pup was born.

The kids adored InuYasha, or ‘Uncle Inu’ as the little ones and even the oldest three, Kin’u, Gyokuto, and Hisui, liked to call him, and InuYasha, in turn, adored them all right back.

An old, but familiar lump settled in his throat.

He was happy for his friends. He really was, but InuYasha couldn’t help the feeling of jealousy and longing to swell up to the surface.

He wanted what they had.

He wanted love.

He wanted children.

But he’d never have any of it.

Because he was a half-breed, and half-breeds, royalty or not, never find love, real love, let alone have children.

“My Lord! My Lord InuYasha!!!” cried the familiar, but no less annoying voice of his brother’s servant, Jaken.

The aforementioned lord sighed in aggravation as both he and Miroku turned at the squawking cry, just in time to see the small imp-demon come barreling in only to trip over himself in his haste.

“Lord InuYasha! It is important, your father needs to speak with you at this very moment! It is urgent!!!” Jaken continued on.

Both half-demon and human arched their brows in confusion, exchanging concerned looks.

“You go on back to your family, Miroku. I’ll deal with this,” InuYasha said.

“You sure?” Miroku asked, still concerned.

InuYasha simply nodded.

With that, the future Inu no Taisho with his armor fully on once more, turned and followed the panicky little demon out of the training room without another word.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Making their way through the halls leading to the throne room, InuYasha contemplated the matter Jaken had frantically informed him his father wanted to discuss.

It wasn’t unusual for Jaken to overreact over certain matters, but the half-demon had never seen the servant as panicky as he was at that moment, even during the times he’d displeased Sesshomaru.

When he first followed after the imp-demon to the throne room where his family was stationed, the young general had briefly feared it was another marriage proposition his father had arranged for him. There had been quite a few of those over the years, all of which didn’t work out as they should have. It wasn’t necessarily that all the women the Emperor picked for him were bad choices (although there were some who were stuck-up bitches who only wanted him for the rise in status and wealth), but none of them ever seemed to...click, with him.

He could never explain it, but being with them just felt wrong.

Like he was betraying someone by doing so.

Someone who haunted him in his dreams the few times he slept, but could never identify by face or scent.

Someone he didn’t know.

Or perhaps….someone he didn’t remember.

As they got closer to their destination however, the less InuYasha began to believe the situation to be about something as trivial as matrimony. Jaken wouldn’t be reacting the way he was if it was simply about him being offered the hand of a noble woman.

The more he thought about it, the more apprehension and dread he felt in the pit of his stomach at the unknown situation that awaited him.

Stopping in front of the sliding doors separating him from the unknown, InuYasha glanced down at Jaken, who bowed in understanding at staying put outside the room. The demon lord and general huffed and slid the doors open, expecting but unprepared for the worst.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How’s that feel, sweetheart? Is it too tight?” Kagome asked gently, wrapping the young girl’s injured arm in gauze.

Her silent patient nodded hesitantly, staring at the pretty woman treating her wound and glancing at the silent quarter-demon girl who’d saved her.

Kagome finished wrapping her up and patted the child assuringly on her back, “You're going to be just fine, little one. Now why don’t you take one of the beddings we have here and get some rest, hmm? In the morning, Moroha and I will take you back home, okay?”

The little girl hesitated for just a moment.

“...Th-Thank y-you.” she stuttered in a soft voice, averting her brown eyes shyly when the mother and daughter pair blinked in surprise.

The experienced spell-caster smiled pleasantly, nodding her head.

“You are very welcome, my dear. That’s what we’re here for, and I’m glad that you are okay.”

The child blushed, then glanced at the teenage girl still staring at her in shock, before bowing towards the teen in gratitude, which only served to shock the poor quarter-demon even more.

“...And th-thank you, too. F-for rescuing me from th-those big men,” the human girl said, keeping her upper body lowered in a bow of respect.

Moroha was beyond surprised; She was flabbergasted. Never before had anybody who wasn’t her mother thank her, much less genuinely. She was more used to people belittling and repaying her and her mother’s kindness with cruel words and actions. Yet, here this young human child was, wholeheartedly and genuinely showing them, showing her, gratitude for saving and treating her, knowing or at least suspecting very well who they were, what they were.

The young spell-caster blushed, flustered, “K-Keh! It wasn’t a big deal; I was just passing through!” she explained, defensive.

“Yes...just passing through.”

Moroha froze at the deadly calm tone. Cringing, the teen glanced slowly at her mother, flinching at the angered glare the older woman was shooting her.

Oh crap.

Turning back towards her slightly confused patient, Kagome adapted a cheery smile and clapping her hands together.

“Well, I believe that’s enough for now! Why don’t you go and get some rest, dear, and then we’ll get up bright and early tomorrow to take you home! That sound good?” the woman asked, her tone motherly and upbeat.

The girl nodded, getting up and taking a few steps towards one of the beddings close by. Before she got there though, the young brunette turned her head to look back at her temporary caretakers.

“Miss Pretty Lady, Miss Demon Lady? Really, thank you for saving me. I was really scared,” the child thanked them for the hundredth time, her words more confident and assured.

Moroha’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance, “Demon Lady?”

“Hey kid! We have names!” the spell-casting quarter-demon exclaimed, aggravated.

“Moroha!” Kagome scolded, her message clear.

Don’t dig yourself deeper into the hole you're already in, missy.

Understanding the silent threat, said ‘missy’ gulped and shut her mouth, not daring to utter another word that could get her in even more trouble than she already was.

Huffing, Kagome once again smiled kindly towards the younger girl.

“Please excuse her, she can be a bit brash. She’s right though; we haven’t introduced ourselves yet, have we? My name’s Kagome Higurashi, and that troublemaker over there is my daughter, Moroha. What is your name?” she asked.

The girl, again, hesitated. Only for a split second, though, as she soon opened her mouth and answered.

“My name is Rin.”

Kagome nodded, standing up and leading her previously unnamed charge over to the bedding, a gentle hand on the small of the brunette girl’s back.

“Well Rin, it's late, and you must be exhausted, so go to sleep and we’ll get you up in the morning. I’m certain your family misses you terribly and won’t be too pleased if you come back to them dead-on-your-feet tired, now will they?”

Rin shook her head as Kagome tucked her in. Unsurprisingly, the young girl was out within seconds, the craziness from the day catching up to her.

Once she was sure her charge was fast asleep, the spell-caster turned back to her nervous daughter, arms on her hips as she frowned at the teenager.

“Mama, I-”

Kagome put a hand up, abruptly cutting off her child’s excuse before it could begin, “Come with me over here. Now.”

Moroha shivered at the serious, deadpanned tone. Her mother only used that tone when she was about to give her a tongue-lashing. No doubt about it, she was in trouble.

Deep trouble.

The mother and daughter pair strode over towards the treeline that surrounded their camp. It was far enough away to where they could talk in private and not disturb their sleeping guest, but close enough so that they could still see and check in on the child if any danger invaded their camp.

Sighing and rubbing her temples, Kagome started, “Moroha, what were you thinking! I told you to not go any farther than you absolutely had to to deliver that medicine, and then you come back with bruises and scratches, blood on your clothes, and an injured child in your arms, telling me there was a mob riot in the village!? And that you used magic to eviscerate a demon’s arm!? Do you know what kind of danger you put yourself in!?”

Moroha winced, trying to keep the bruises on her neck hidden from her mother’s sight. When she had burst through the treeline back into their camp, carrying Rin who’s arm wound was still sluggishly bleeding out onto her and her clothes, her mother took one look at the injured child and sprang into action, having to clean and then stitch up the wound before it could get infected. So focused on ensuring the child be taken care of, Kagome had only noticed in passing the light bruises and few scrapes on her own child’s arms and legs, but they were superficial and were already healing, so Kagome and Moroha paid them no mind. Not when they had a much more serious, much more human injury, to be taken care of.

The demon girl was grateful that Kagome had been more focused on the human child as soon as she saw her. Otherwise, the dark, yellow and purple bruises on her neck from where the demon had a tight hold on her would have instantly been spotted on the older woman’s ‘Mom Radar’, as she liked to call it.

Moroha hadn’t wanted to cause her mother any more worry, so as soon as she was sure Kagome was too preoccupied with the human child to pay any mind to her, Moroha had taken the scarf she wore around her neck and readjusted it to hide the bruises that were still there. With how tight the demon had clutched onto her, the bruises were quite nasty looking, and would take longer for her demonic healing to get rid of them completely.

Of course, this act of secrecy equated to not telling her mother exactly why she’d had to eviscerate that demon’s arm with her magic. She still wasn’t so sure telling the truth about that was a good idea, but she had to say something!

“He gave me no choice, Mama! I had to use magic!” the teen defended, hoping her mother wouldn’t press the issue from there.

“And why was that, Moroha? What did he do to make you blow your cover and the cloaking spell to destroy his arm using magic?”

And of course, her mother pushed the issue.

“Uh…” was all that came out of her mouth, her mind running double-time to come up with a valid, but less severe explanation than what had actually happened.

Unfortunately, the world seemed to be out to get her that day. While Moroha fumbled, trying to make up a random excuse, Kagome had finally noticed the unusual way her daughter’s red scarf covered the quarter-demon’s neck, and had reached her hands out to remove the scarf.

“Wait! Mama, don’t-” Moroha panicked once she felt her mother’s hands moving the scarf.

“Moroha!!! What on Earth happened to your neck!?”

Too late.

Moroha winced when Kagome gently poked and prodded the darkened, abnormally large fingerprint marks on her neck. They weren’t as sore as they were hours ago, telling the inexperienced spell-caster that the healing process was already underway, but with how dark and severe the bruises were, it’d take longer for the bruises to completely vanish from her skin.

Prying her mother’s hands away from her injured flesh, Moroha cringed even more at the panicked expression, as well as the unshed tears, that she could see in her eyes and face.

She hated making her mama look like that.

“These were why I had to use magic; he had me by the neck,” Moroha swallowed, figuring there was no point in lying or trying to come up with another excuse anymore.

The older magic-user stared at the marks that dared to mar her baby’s lightly tanned skin before pulling the demon girl tightly into her arms, embracing her most precious treasure like a life-line, her anger completely forgotten.

Surprised at first, Moroha quickly regained her composure and wrapped her arms around her mother’s waist, embracing her just as tightly as the severity and exhaustion from the day finally caught up with her, and she buried her head into her mother’s shoulder as her small frame shook from her emotional turmoil.

For the first time in a long while, Moroha was desperate for her mother’s comfort.

She didn’t cry, but it finally hit Moroha just how much danger she put herself in that day, and how scared the whole ordeal made her, though she’d never admit it out loud.

Even so, the partial-demon couldn’t find it within herself to regret stepping in to help a child in need, and she expressed that sentiment to her mother, her voice muffled slightly from her face still being buried in her mama’s shoulder.

Kagome sighed and pulled herself and her daughter out of each other’s arms, though she still had a grip on the much more petite girl’s shoulders. Her face was resigned, but understanding as she addressed Moroha.

“I understand, sweetheart, and I would’ve done the exact same thing if I were you. But I’m your mother, and I just worry for you is all. I know you can take care of yourself, and I know you did what you thought was right, but I just can’t help it; I want you to be safe. You’ll understand one day when your a mother,”

Kagome grinned when Moroha blushed at the last part.

Moroha coughed awkwardly, shuffling her feet as she looked away from her mother’s grinning face, and Kagome had to stifle a giggle at just how familiar Moroha’s countenance was.

“She’s truly her father’s daughter, that’s for sure…”

“So, um...are we good?” Moroha asked, nervous despite herself.

Taking pity on her poor child, Kagome smiled and looped an arm around her daughter’s shoulder as they walked back away from the trees and led her to their own beddings for the night.

“Yup, we’re good.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You wished to speak with me, Father?” InuYasha asked, bowing respectfully before the Emperor and the rest of his family.

The second he entered the room, InuYasha sensed the tension in the air. His family all had grim expressions upon their faces, save for his mother who had a clearly worried look upon her soft features.

The feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach only intensified when he noticed Sesshomaru and his twin daughters clenching their clawed hands into fists, enough to draw rivlets of blood from all three of them. Sesshomaru’s eyes were also bleeding a light pink, telling InuYasha that whatever the issue was, it was enough to rile up the normally stoic demon lord that he was holding back from transforming.

But the most telling, and ultimately the most concerning, indicator was the absence of his young, cheerful adoptive niece.

InuYasha’s mouth went dry.

“Where’s Rin?” he asked, fear creeping into his heart.

“Missing,” his father simply stated.

A reverberating growl from the Emperor's eldest son rent the air in the room at the word.

“We need you, Sestuna, and Kouga to go and search for her; try to scent her out,” Touga continued, his tone authoritative and resolute like the leader he was.

InuYasha, stone-faced, kneeled on one knee before his father and family, head bowed as he addressed them.

“I will not rest until she is found and safe, Your Highness.” the half-demon general vowed, determination clear in his voice.

The current Emperor and Inu no Taisho nodded, eyeing his Setsuna imploringly. Catching her grandfather’s gaze, the half-demon princess nodded back and stood up, taking her naginata with her as she stepped off the raised platform to her uncle’s side.

“I have already sent a messenger to retrieve Kouga; he will meet you at the front gate. Now go,” the Emperor commanded firmly, to which both general and princess nodded sagely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“InuYasha!”

InuYasha and Setsuna turned at the call, seeing his half-brother striding up to him with a serious glare.

“Father, what is it?” Setsuna asked, her tone deadpanned like her father’s often was.

The future Emperor stopped before his daughter and brother, his gaze steady but no less imposing.

“I urge you, little brother, to not be your stupid, impulsive self with this matter. It does, afterall, concern my daughter,”

Normally, such a reminder would cause InuYasha to roll his eyes and respond with a smartass retort.

But this time, InuYasha knew the severity of the situation, and he could easily spot the worry in his half-brother’s golden eyes.

They were the eyes of a father, worried for the whereabouts of his child.

Something InuYasha was sure he was never going to experience.

He nodded, his face grave and resolute.

“You have my word, Sesshomaru, that I will find your daughter and bring her home,”

The young lord glanced over at Setsuna, his niece catching his gaze.

“Both of them,” InuYasha concluded.

The older demon stared down at his brother, as though assessing the half-demon’s sincerity of his promise, before giving a single nod of acceptance.

With that, the two half-demons turned and made their way to the front gate, set and determined to bring back their loved one.

To be Continued....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed it!

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loptgangandi · 5 years ago

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so! literally no one asked, but these last 3 weeks have been a hell of a ride let me TELL YOU

so happy mun-day now you get to hear all about it!! (with pictures, I’m not a monster)

here’s the cliffnotes version:

december week 1: simultaneously moved back into a place and took classes then moved out of that place while taking classes and planning a 2-day overland trip from sweden to madrid. took said trip.

december week 2: attended the unfccc climate conference COP25 in madrid, got kicked out for protesting in solidarity with indigenous ppl & kids, got let back into COP the next day & proceeded to go to more panels and also protests. no i did not see greta thunberg but she was there. I did not see harrison ford either. I did shake al gore’s hand tho.

december week 3: week #1 with my mom’s new twin one-eyed cyclops kitties (yes both of them), spent the week frantically writing 2400 words of nonsense that hopefully resolved themselves into two coherent enough papers to snag me a nice grade then took a 36-hour trip up to london to see my sister perform at her bitchin new job.

elaboration under the cut.

Hell Week (or) Why You Sometimes Should Fly to Climate Conferences

So, after the nonsense with The Roommate From Hell (reddit rant here), I moved out of my room at her place and back into the dorms (where I still had a lease through the end of December). That required a fair bit of effort, but I moved things bit by bit over the course of about a week, and it was manageable.

But I had to be out of the dorms and have the place clean by the time I left for the climate conference, which in itself was a whole lot of coordination. Wednesday the 4th of December was probably among the worst, most frustrating days I have ever had, and I desperately hope I never have to deal with that level of fuck this fuck you fuck me fuck everything for a very, very long time. Somehow -- by some miraculous act of the gods -- I pulled it out, and managed to get my stuff into my friend’s basement, my plants into another friend’s apartment, my bags packed, my room clean as a whistle, my self moved into my hostel, and to every damn class that week. My interrail tickets came the day I planned to leave -- it was a tight fit -- and I managed to book trains and busses from Uppsala to Madrid with half an hour to spare, and get on the first train (Uppsala to Stockholm) in good time.

The next 48 hours went like this:

Stockholm -> Copenhagen (by train): uneventful, but Copenhagen train station on a Friday night is a little dicey, especially when you’re dragging around a 45 lb suitcase and another 15 lbs on your back

Copenhagen -> Hamburg (by overnight FlixBus): Uneventful, and I was sitting by a window with no one sitting next to me, so I was able to doze a bit on the trip.

Hamburg -> Basel (by high-speed rail): This one I should have booked. The website said that a reservation was recommended, and I understand why. If I’d had a quiet cabin -- or even just a consistent seat for the whole 7-hour journey -- I’d have been able to get a decent night’s sleep. Instead, I kept having to move to give people their reserved seats, and didn’t get more than an hour of uninterrupted sleep.

Basil -> Olten (train): this one was a mistake

Olten -> Brienz (train): where the fuck am I

Brienz -> Lausanne (train): oh right yes that’s the direction I want to go yes good get on that one

Lausanne -> Geneva (train): oh thank fuck, I 100% know where I am and am back on track. Sunglasses & 30 hours without sleep is a Look.

Geneva: Spend 3 hours with my mom, put a week’s worth of clothes into a considerably smaller suitcase, eat dinner. meet mom’s new kittens, Saga and Luna

Geneva -> Lyon (bus): Get confused about which bus to get on, get told off by the bus driver we were trying to convince to let us on his bus, realized mom had been trying to put me on the wrong bus. Get on the right bus. Go to Lyon with bus driver who speaks no French or English, only Spanish.

Lyon -> Barcelona (night bus): Hell. Just. Absolute Hell Bus. Wanted To Die all night. Assigned to aisle seat just before the very back next to a very, very tall man who was quite polite but had no room for his legs. Behind us were two men, one of whom was loudly chewing gum until he took off his shoes and fell asleep, the other of whom snored like a gd bulldozer. Aisle seat and wailing baby a few rows down meant that my chances of sleeping comfortably were 0. I did manage to doze off a bit, but only because I was so strung out from not sleeping the night before. Eventually made it to Barcelona alive and lent my phone to the very nice lady with the wailing baby (plus like 5 other family members, none of whom had cell service).

Barcelona -> Madrid (train): Absolutely gorgeous train ride through the Spanish countryside that I really did want to stay awake to enjoy. Managed to do so until we got to an elevation where it was just thick, dense fog and I let myself fall asleep.

Madrid: I arrived at my hostel groggy, dazed, and in pain from two bad nights in a row. I considered a nap, but also considered that I’d need to wake up early the next morning and would need to fall asleep. Opted to try to set up my COP25 blog instead. Failed due to aforementioned grogginess. Walked to the corner to get some food and tried to pay for it with Swedish kronor, which didn’t work. Apologized, explained to the amused man that it had been a long weekend, paid him in Euros instead. Used the hostel’s dry sauna (!!!!), took a shower, and went to bed.

COP25 - The Old White Fuckening

So, listen, I’m not going to go into detail about COP. If you want to read about how much of a tonedeaf clusterfuck the negotiations were (as opposed to the really interesting, inspiring stuff happening in the side sessions), BBC has some good articles.

If you want to listen to some of the press conferences and plenaries, here they are. I especially recommend the ones by the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus, Fridays for Future, and as many of the Indigenous Peoples’ statements as you can (most of them are in Spanish and/or Portuguese. Because the COP was supposed to be held in Chile, many of the registered Indigenous participants were from Amazonas because it was supposed to not be far to travel).

If you want to listen to some of the side events, the webcasts have been recorded here. Click the link, and then click “Join the event.” I again recommend the ones by Indigenous groups (if you can understand them -- we all had translation headphones in the sessions, but I don’t speak Spanish, so I can’t really go back and revisit them). Also, this "feminist attempt at connecting the dots” on “climate crisis, corporate power, and climate finance” and this one session from a Nigerian NGO and the government about One Health and the connection between climate change, disease, and other health risks -- and how badass Nigeria is at tackling them.

On the subject of tonedeafness, some absolute bullshit went down on Wednesday, December 11th.

Here is the article on BBC, but it’s a bit incomplete.

Here’s what happened.

COP25 2: The Old White Fuckeninger (Starring Military Police!)

So on Wednesday, December 11th, Greta Thunberg -- environmental wunderkind with truly glorious bitchface -- sat on a panel before a hall full of condescending adults in which she demanded accountability and immediate action from national leaders.

At the end of her speech, the delegation of Fridays for Future -- Greta’s own youth movement, which has become a global phenomenon -- stormed the stage. Representatives of Fridays for Future admitted that they knew what they were doing was against the rules, and they were ready to face the consequences: having their admission badges taken away (being “debadged”), and not being blacklisted from future UNFCCC events.

Neither of these things happened. Instead, UNFCCC praised the young activists, and let them keep their badges.

A few hours later, another activist group in attendance -- not an Indigenous one, a point that was raised by a young Native American man during the Fridays for Future press conference -- staged a sit-in outside the main hall where a large plenary meeting was scheduled. Said meeting was full of gimmicks, including a live call to the International Space Station so an astronaut could talk about the view of climate change from space.

I was going to attend the plenary. I joined the protest instead.

Admittedly, the decision was partly made for me by security. After pushing, shoving, and jostling the (mostly adult, heavily Indigenous, mostly PoC, heavily female, heavily Queer) protesters, as well as violently snatching their badges off their lanyards, security started herding them -- as well as anyone in proximity -- out into the open docking area outside the hall. One woman nearby, who hadn’t meant to join the protest and who had just been filming, tried to duck out of the group and got sternly told by a security guard “No. Keep going forward. No turning back.” A similar thing had happened to me -- I hadn’t made up my mind about joining the protest, because I didn’t have all the information -- but security made the decision, and in the end, I’ll always prefer to be with the people facing the police rather than those they’re protecting.

It was... furious. It was emotional. The leaders of the protest had us form a circle and turn our backs on security and the door. WoC -- many of whom were Indigenous -- led not just standard protest chants, but songs. Renewal songs, fight songs. The common theme was the intersection of environmental justice and femininity, queerness and suffering under colonization, anti-capitalism, anti-exploitation, and a call for colonizers to repay the colonized for all of the loss and damage already caused by climate change (climate reparations).

Eventually, UNFCCC made a decision. They decided to close the door on us. Security “escorted” us to the docking bay entrance, and the military police took over. Fortunately, none of them started anything. Obviously, none of the protesters did either. We made it back to the venue entrance eventually, but only those with journalist/media badges were allowed back in; the rest of us were not. Even people with Observer badges (like mine) who hadn’t been part of the protest weren’t being allowed in. But some people who were panelists, delegates, etc. came out to stand in solidarity with us.

Once it became clear that no more joint actions would be taking place, I went home, and waited to see whether the negotiators would be able to talk UNFCCC into letting us back in.

They did. Can you imagine the headlines? “UNFCCC Kicks Out Protesters, Bars Civil Society Observers From Climate Talks.”

Talk about going down like a lead balloon.

Which is about what the conference in general did. I was able to go back and get some more stuff out of it... including another big protest, this time led by Fridays for Future and sanctioned. It was so, so good. Many of the people from Wednesdays protest were also there, and while spirits weren’t exactly high, the emotions being expressed were more along the lines of determination and tenacity than fire and fury. Both are valid, and both have their place, and it was nice to have a balance -- especially at the end of the week, when we were all flat-out exhausted.

The Aftermath

And then I just didn’t stop moving. Saturday and Sunday I spent exploring Madrid and staying out late, Monday I flew back to Geneva from Madrid (because absolutely fuck Spanish busses and also absolutely FUCK FRANCE’s weeks-long general strike that I’m sure was for something very important. I’m sure. Because France never strikes over trivial things).

Tuesday-Friday was a takehome exam that I swear to god was more labor-intensive than my actual undergrad thesis, and Saturday-Sunday I flew to London to visit my sister at her new job as an actor in Shrek’s Adventure. Mom was supposed to go with me, but she has a slipped disk and sent me up alone. Which was nice -- my sister and I almost never hang out just the two of us. But that’s another thing I’ve been dealing with -- quite a bit of extra Stuff To Do that Mom Can’t Do because Back Hurty and there have been days when she literally could not move.

But now I am here! I still have work to do, and it’s holidays so there’s Holiday Stuff happening, but I’m hoping to get back to writing here in the next few days.

And if you’ve read all of this, you’re fucking incredible and I love u and here are some one-eyed black babie kitty gremlins for ur viewing pleasure.

<-Saga | Luna ->

They’ve got little bare patches on their tummies because bbies gotta be spayed

They got this tower two days ago and have learned to share, but the learning curve was steep

Saga doesn’t like cuddles but she likes pats and being in the vicinity of humans

Saga says hello

Pictured: Luna in my arms, Saga in Proximity

Luna stole my Spot!! >:C

If Saga steals something and then tells u to answer a riddle to get it back pls let me know. she does that sometimes. it’s very naughty.

#ooc tag #long post #if u read thru to the end there's kitties :3 #or you can just look at the kitties #it's not like I'll know #anywhere that's where I've been #I have literally Not Fucking Stopped for like a month

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jiminsfault · 5 years ago

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50 questions tag

I got tagged by @yoongs-jeontae ! Thank you💖

What colors is your hairbrush? It’s like a brown-ish shimmery color? Idk o.o

What food would you never eat? I probably would never be able to eat the meat of rabbits or deers, sheep and that kind of stuff

Are you usually hot or cold? I’m always a cozy crispy amount of warmth under my blanket. But when I’m outside I go from both extremes because I’m super sensitive so, spring/summer: always hot, autumn/winter: always cold. There is no inbetween

What did you do 45 minutes ago? I was in an online class and got math tutoring🤠 it was horrible thanks for asking my brain is fried

Favorite chocolate? The really dark kind. It’s the only chocolate I’ll ever really crave. I can bear milk chocolate if I have to

Have you ever been to a professional sports event? I hAve actually omg! It was a handball game and super boring, I didn’t know whats going on ever and only clapped when everyone else did🤡 (I was forced by my ex to tag along I absolutely hate sports)

What was the last thing you said out loud? “Oh my god, that was horrible” right after I ended the call with my teacher skckjs

Favorite ice cream flavor? Brownie fudge? Is that what it’s called? The chocolate ice cream with brownie pieces in it, it’s so fUcking gOOD sorry for cursing it’s necessary

What was the last thing you drank? Some nice crispy wAter

What kind of wallet do you have? A small black one because I didn’t think about practicality when buying it. Currently looking for a bigger one.

What was the last thing you ate? I actually have no clue if that’s the english word for it but kebab? IT’S DÖNER IN GERMAN

Did you buy clothes last weekend? I haven’t bought clothes in months actually omg

What was the last sports event you saw? I watched the soccer game that’s like a really big thing back in 2018 🤠🤠

Who was the last person you texted? My mom cus she’s out buying groceries and asked me what kind of ice cream I want kekdjejd

Do you like camping? I despise camping with my entire being. When I was little my mom always forced me to go on 500 camping trips a year and I feel the biggest rage in me when I think about all the bugs and uncomfortable nights I- will not continue talking about this now.

Do you eat vitamins? No, like not at all. Not one vitamin has entered my body in a few weeks. I used to have these tablets that disappear in water but I stopped drinking that because I only take them bc of my muscles and currently I’m not leaving the house so,,, don’t need them >:)

When was the last time you traveled? The last time I full on traveled like outside of the country was in 2018 when my class went to italy because of our graduation 🤠 trauma

Do you like sunbathing? I can’t really answer that because if I sunbathe I will burn. Like literally I’m getting a sunburn just from walking to the train on a sunny day if I don’t have the strongest suncream on??? My skin is very🤡 so yeah idk if I like it? Never tried

Asian or Italian food? Asian food absolutely. I’m not sure about italian food because I just don’t know anything about italian kitchen but I dO knOw that theres so much variety with asian food? And so far I’ve loved every asian dish I’ve tried so,,

Do you drink soda? Nope. I stopped drinking soda four years ago I think because my skin was sO bad and I gained weight so quickly without eating a lot so I stopped drinking soda and tada! Barely getting pimples now😎 also it’s just tastier like my mouth doesn’t stick anymore and I don’t literally feel the sugar on my teeth?? (Although I do sometimes sip on a bit of coke but only on special occasions)

What color socks are you wearing now? White with a very,, aqua? blue stripe? And the name of the brand in the same color🤠 fashion

When was the last time you were speeding? I don’t drive🤡😔

What are you afraid of? Everything pretty much. Commitment, people leaving me, talking to people, failing, succeeding, should I continue?

What can you see if you turn left? A lot? It’s inside my room (my bed is in the right corner) but first thing would be my switch cus she laying next to me

What kind of housework you like the least? I actually love housework? At least the things that I do. Like I never mow the lawn because that’s not my job yknow? But I like emptying and filling the dish washer, cleaning pans in the sink, doing the laundry, wiping the floor. Maybe I should become a maid?

What is the first thing you think of when you hear someone talking in a language you don’t know? I try to hear what language it is, like I try guessing at least. Of course I don’t know what every language sounds like but it’s a fun little game I have for myself when I’m bored in public transpo

Do you sleep on your back or side? On my right side towards the wall. At least at night, when I take a nap I sleep on my left side towards the room. Idk why pls don’t ask me, I can’t fall asleep otherwise.

You crave fast food, where do you go? So around where I live there aren’t a lot of options? Also in germany in general we don’t have the fast food fest that america has, so I always go for either Mcdonald’s or Subway.

What is your lucky number? 5. I don’t know when it became my favorite/lucky number but somehow at some point in time it’s become the number I always use when someone wants me to guess or answer a question, I use it for picking things and all that🤡🤠 maybe it’s because it sounds rly funny in german

Who was the last person you talked to? In person my mom cus she’s the only one I see nowadays. On the phone would be two of my friends and I also talked to my tutoring teacher through discord so? Pick👁👁

Do you eat meat? I would say no if I wouldn’t sometimes do slip some meat in. It’s very rare and a small amount when I do. Idk how this developed because I used to eat meat multiple times a week but at some point I started only eating chicken and only in smaller amounts and sometimes not even once in two weeks. I eat fish tho? Does that count?

What was the last song you listened to? “Love without tragedy/mother mary” by rihanna because I was feeling the 10’s last night at 5am🤠

Last book? I actually just tried to find the english title of it but I can’t find any sign of it being translated so,, “der Totenzeichner” by Veit Etzold. I read this book twice, once in 9th grade and once just recently and I will not get enough of it. Another one of his books “Final cut” is laying on my bedside table waiting for me to start it. He’s an iconic author.

What is your favourite day of the week? If we were speaking from when it’s a regular routine and I would go to uni, I’d say Monday. I know I sound like a psycho but saying friday or saturday is my favorite day is basic because obviously everyone loves the weekend. Monday is a great day usually because my day starts in third period and does still go 6 classes like regular days but it feels nice to go into uni later in the day so I always appreciate it. (Tho saturday do be hitting different)

Do you know the alphabet song backwards? I don’t even know it forwards 🤡😔

Favorite coffee/tea? I don’t drink coffee but my favorite tea is probably fennel tea, everyone I know hates it, especially without sugar but I love it :(

Favourite shoes? From the ones I personally own I’d say my nike zoom 2ks because they look good and are super comfortable. Shoes that I wish I would have would be Dr. Martens but I’m pOor🤡 I am absolutely a whore for sneakers so I won’t even start listing all the sneakers I love

When do you usually go to sleep? If I’m on schedule around 11-12pm of actually going into the bed physically and falling asleep 30/40 minutes later. While I’m now constantly at home I do still physically get into bed at the same time but I stay up from 2-7am depending on how fun people are, if I play a game, if I read/draw, have a series or movie to watch. I’m insane I am aware🤡

When do you usually wake up? Again, when I’m on schEdule I wake up mondays and tuesdays at 6.30am, from wednesday to friday at 6.10am, on the weekend around 10am. Right now? It’s a surprise everyday. Sometimes I’m up at 4pm, sometimes I’m up at 10am, today I was actually super early with 9.30 so😎

Sunrise or sunset? That’s actually so hard because I do see the sunset a lot more than rise since I have my rOllÄdEn down so I don’t actually remember what a sunrise looks like. Because I have no other choice I say sunset. With doubt.

Do you like your bed soft or hard? I thINK my bed is hard? I once laid on a friend’s bed that was super soft and I’m pretty sure I didn’t like it

Describe the plate you are eating from? They’re from ikea. They’re white with like blue swirls idk my mom bought them I didn’t make the decisions

Your favorite type of alcohol? Currently I don’t really drink alcohol (mainly because of the lack of opportunities) bUt when I do drink I really like sweet sparkling wine (I googled this I’m not sure if that’s the right word idkd)

Do you like board games? Depending on which people I play with. If a person is getting angry that they’re losing it makes the game absolutely suck and since I’m surrounded by those people I haven’t made good memories with board games kcjdjs,,, if the company is fun I like the games too tho

If you had a car, what kind would it be? Unrealisticly I’d love to own a Lamborghini Aventador or Urus because those cars are just mouth-watering to me. Since I most likely won’t ever be able to afford either of those, I’d love to have a Fiat 500. I fell in love with this car like,,, it’s so cute and the inside is pretty too so everything fits for me the way I want it to. I’ll have to settle for a way less nice car tho once I get a license, at least for a while🤡

Do you know how to change car tires? In theory yes

Dream country? Like to live in? Damn idk. I’d love to live in a country with like,, cULTURE you know? Something exciting and cool to look at, less stuck up people almans be really boring 🤡 so maybe something like spain or italy, maybe america if yall vote for a different president. Japan or Korea would be super cool too I- the whole world ma’am? I couldn’t live in countries like idk hawaii or sumn because of the heat so I’ll just mfing stay in germany😔😔

If you could choose from any jobs in the world, what would you like to do? If I would have the chance I’d love to become an actor because that just seems super cool. But like I’m not nearly attractive enough for people to want to look at me on a scEen so nO

What would you like to try to do? I’m pretty set on trying to learn how to dance like that’s probably not as exciting as other things I could do but :/ yeh idk

And what is stopping you? Literally just me being lazy and talking myself into believing I won’t be good without even trying nsncjsks (also yes I seperated these questions because otherwise it wouldn’t be 50)

thIs was sO mUch omg sjjcjs I’m literally exhausted from all these questions😩😩

I’m tagginggg @gallhali @shadowsremedy if u wanna!

#tagged #fairyfriends #yoongs-jeontae

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asterinjapan · 5 years ago

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Of smoke and cherry blossoms

Hello from Kyushu!

I might have arrived in Fukuoka last night, but I wasted no time getting as far away as possible today whilst still on Kyushu, oops. (In my defense, I visited Fukuoka in 2015 already and did my explorations of the city itself back then.) Today I went to Kagoshima, the city almost furthest south on Kyushu.

I had to get up early, because I'd reserved a ticket for my favourite transportation mode: the shinkansen or bullet train. For the record, these trains are not cheap, but I can travel with them as much as I want with my JR pass, so I sure am gonna! My train today (the sakura shinkansen: very aptly named, you'll see soon) took me down to Kagoshima Chuo station in an hour and a half, with leg space for days, and ahhh, this is a luxury I get used to too quickly, haha.

At the station, I picked up the Cute pass that gives me unlimited rides on buses, trams and ferries here (and no, I still don't know where that name came from either, but I'm betting it's a bad pun). Just as well, because I took a bus to the ferry terminal as soon as I could, haha. You see, the symbol of Kagoshima is called Sakurajima, which translates to "cherry blossom island". It is also a volcano, and a very active one at that. That volcano in the Dutch news not too long ago? Yeah, Sakurajima. It erupts so often that it didn't even register on the Japanese news. But visiting the island is relatively safe - you're just not allowed up the actual volcano, and they're constantly monitoring the mountain just in case.

Onto the ferry I went! I was lucky, because I was only just in time for the Yorimichi cruise, which only departs once a day and takes 50 minutes cruising the bay, giving you extra views on the island from almost all angles. (The normal ferries operate around the clock and take just 15 minutes.) So that was a lovely entry on the island!

After arrival, I checked my maps. I could take a bus up, but I decided to first check out the surroundings. There was a shrine a literal stone's throw away, Tsukiyomi shrine, which was placed here fairly recently. Back in the Taisho era, in 1914, there was a huge eruption that buried a good amount of buildings, including the original shrine. It was reconstructed again in its current place in 1940 and has the volcano for a backdrop if you look at it straight on. The shrine is dedicated to Konohana-sakuya-hime, or princess Sakuya for short, a symbol of delicate life and also deity of mount Fuji and all volcanoes. The cherry blossom (sakura) also represents the fleetingness of life, by the way, so that's one theory for where the name of the island came from, although it appears the shrine came later than the name.

After a quick prayer here (seemed like a smart move to appease the nature deities), I walked on, finding it a lot hotter than I had expected this morning, so I took a break with some ice cream and the last of my bread sticks.

Moving on, I found a much better resting spot: the Yogan Nagisa park footbath! It's a 100 meter long footbath (The longest in Japan) and filled with natural hot spring water, pleasantly lukewarm to my weary feet. I soaked them here for a while, enjoying the view of the bay on one side and the volcano on the other under blue skies, because the weather continues to be gorgeous (for now, anyway).

Very nearby is the visitor centre, which is a small museum like building offering information about volcanoes and Sakurajima in particular. This was very informative, nicely done with a lot of miniatures and photos, and a lot of English translations, which was good, because I'm tired and my brain doesn't really compute the Japanese characters very well today, oops. I spent quite some time here and walked out with my very own piece of volcanic rock from the store.

There's actually a sight seeing bus going around on Sakurajima, starting at the ferry terminal and also hitting the visitor centre, so I waited for a few minutes and caught the next one.

The buses used to stop at every viewpoint for a couple of minutes, but they stopped doing that very recently, as it was only announced on leaflets in the bus itself and nowhere online. It didn't really matter, because I only wanted to visit one viewpoint anyway: Yunohira observatory, at 373 metres above sea level the highest viewpoint accessible. The view on Sakurajima was gorgeous, you could really see the details on the mountain from here as the weather was so clear.

I was so busy looking that i missed the bus, but the viewpoint also has a shop and little cafe, so I got some ice coffee and settled in for a while until the next bus arrived half an hour later.

Back at the terminal, the next ferry was scheduled for 15 minutes later, so I was back on kagoshima port within half an hour. It was around 4 pm then, so I thought I'd explore Kagoshima itself too for a bit.

My actual goal was Shiroyama observatory, but shiro here means castle, so I first wanted to check out what little remained of the castle of Kagoshima, or Tsurumaru Castle, which wasn't much to begin with. There was never any amazing main tower or anything in order not to offend the shogun, as the castle was built when there was a lot of tension between the new shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Shimazu clan. The former had defeated the latter in the decisive battle of Sekigahara in 1600, after which Japan was unified and entered a long period of relative peace under the Tokugawa shogunate.

Regardless, the domain ruled from the castle, Satsuma, remained one of the strongest, and you might recognize the name from my Okinawa reports. Satsuma was that domain that annexed the Ryukyu islands back in the 17th century.

Oops, an impromptu history lesson. I just love castles, what can i say, haha.

As it turns out, they're rebuilding a gate here, so half the area was inaccessible, but I found some plates pointing to the remains of a watch tower anyway. On the actual former castle site, they'd now built a museum. There was also a pottery shop with cafe that was open for a bit longer, so i settled down here for a drink and toast with red bean paste, yum!

In retrospect, that should've been the point I turned back, but I wanted to check out the nearby viewpoint anyway. Uhhmm. So Google seemed to assume I could fly, since it claimed I was almost there at the bottom of a cliff, while nearby markers told me it was 1100 metres still. It was slowly getting dark, and you know what? I already saw the view I'd come for, time to go back to the station.

Now, the cute pass doesn't cover all buses, but it does cover all trams, and I remembered I'd crossed some tram rails on my way here, so i traced my own footsteps back to those and found the nearest team stop, which led to Kagoshima Chuo station too. On my way there, I saw a huge plume of smoke coming out of the volcano in the distance, after 2 much smaller puffs earlier today. Told you it was super active!

At the station I got a bento box for the train ride, as the next shinkansen was departing at 6:30 aka dinner time. I'd underestimated how much the train actually moves though. I should've looked into those motion sickness pills from Tokashiki... oh well. Between the box and the toast, I'd basically split my dinner already, haha.

I typed out most of my report on the train to save some time at the hotel, because I have another day trip planned for tomorrow. Although no shinkansen reservation, so I won't have to worry about missing my train and thus my reserved spot.

Time to prep and then off to bed! Wow, I'm tired, haha. Should've tried sleeping in the train. Maybe tomorrow, see you then!

#japan 2019 #report: japan 2019 #places: kagoshima #report

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berlinaura · 5 years ago

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Last spring in Finland I attended a course “German for those who are going to have an exchange year”. They told us about the stages which one usually goes through during an exchange. As far as I remember, the stages were roughly somewhat like this: firstly one views everything and everyone better than in their home country and everything is super interesting and fun. This basically means that the everyday life hasn’t kicked in yet. The next one is getting annoyed at everything and everybody. Comparing the country to your home country and maybe even feeling like it would have been a better idea to just stay home. After this comes the stage of adaptation where one gets used to customs and stops comparing everything to one’s home country. Last phase is coming back to home country and seeing it in a new way. And of course telling stories of the exchange year to friends and family until they are bored to death.

I remember thinking two things when we were taught about this. Firstly, who the hell would go through a phase of hating the country they go to? It seemed so irrational. The second thing was “Now that I’ve heard about this stuff, I can rise above it and use my brain and self-knowledge to avoid it. Yeah... As you might guess, it did not happen. I admit, during last few weeks I have spend a huge amount of my time wallowing in “WHY DO YOU DO THIS LIKE THIS” “Why can’t you do it in the right way” “What the hell is wrong with Germans!”. Mostly my frustrations have been related to my university. The mornings I am usually in a good mood. I drink my coffee, get ready (I have started to care more about what I wear and how I look like now that I am in Berlin hahaha) and go to school. All in all it takes me around 45 minutes to get from my home to university which includes walking, tram and S-Bahn. The way there and back are usually my favorite bits of the day. I enjoy watching people, traveling through Berlin in S-Bahn and listening to music. On the way back from university the people in public transport are usually going to pubs or parties so it’s nice to see happy and lively faces. I try not to overwhelm myself with school even though I feel like I need to be constantly studying to keep up. The thing is, even though the courses seem a bit challenging, partly because I am not used to academic English and partly because I am studying in a new study field, I find all of them interesting and genuinely think they are useful. I think I will shortly find a balance because now I feel super drained after every day and still feel like I have the “responsibility” to do fun things and go to places whenever I am not studying. It’s like a freshman year all over again.

So, what has happened after the last post? Quite a lot. I was on a Wanderlust trip to Dresden in October. We also visited a famous bridge (Bastei) in Saxony. The views and the scenery were incredible! Dresden was also very cozy and historical city. It was a lot smaller than I expected. We only had a few hours to browse through the city but we could easily reach the most important sights by just walking. On the bus we opened bottles of wines we got from Lidl and played some car games with the people who sat around me. I suggested searching “questions to get to know each other” so on the few hour way back we just simply shared our biggest secrets and fears as if we had been knowing for a long time. The french boy sitting in front of me got interested as I mentioned we are throwing a sitting here, so he wanted to help. We formed a committee of 5 people for a sittning, planned it in a cafe and contacted international office. Their response was rather dry and due to International office organizing a similar event in December, we decided to postpone the sittning and start planning it again in January.

Wanderlust trip was good because everything was already planned and sorted out for us. We just had to be on time to catch the bus. I already booked another wanderlust trip to Magdeburg in December. They have a Christmas market there. I also want to see the city that was my other option to have an exchange year in. By the way, I am super glad I ended up choosing Berlin over Magdeburg.

The next day me, the Austrian girl who sat next to me on the bus and her friend went to see a light show in the city centre. There is this light festival held in Berlin where they project things onto famous buildings and monuments. The one projected on Brandenburg gate left me speechless. They projected things like collapsing of the wall, JFK’s speech and techno culture of today’s Berlin.

One Friday evening my friend, my roommate and her friends decided to go to a burlesque show. The bar was super fancy as was the show. I just couldn’t get my eyes of the woman who performed. She danced to a remix of Britney Spears’ Toxic so naturally I had to ask her after the show if she liked Britney Spears. She said they only picked it because they needed something that people would recognize but at the same time something that isn’t the actual song. :( She was amazing tho.

In October I also went to see Prinz Pi live at Columbiahalle. I’ve never been to this venue before and it was so cozy! Man the concert just got better and better and I just had goosebumps for like half of the show. At the encore Prinz Pi said something in the lines of “You know.. The next place I go to.. You don’t want me to tell the audience that the audience of Berlin was dull? Go crazy then!” and I have never seen an audience getting so hyped during a song (”Gib dem Affen Zucker”). I got inspired of this so I already booked a ticket for Sido’s Christmas show in Columbiahalle. Actually I tried to go to his normal tour’s concert which is actually today, but I thought too long and it got sold out. People were asking 200€ per ticket (the original was around 45€) so I gave up. Then I decided to go to his christmas show but AGAIN thought too long because they are held in 20.-22.12. and I needed to sort out my flights to Finland first. But one day I decided to go to eventim’s page to see if someone was selling their ticket (they were, but overprized again) and I saw that there was one original ticket on sale even though it was sold out before. Someone had cancelled their ticket and some forces of the universe told me to refresh that page at a right moment. So now I have my ticket and just can not wait for it!

In the beginning of November I went to Prague to see my friend. The train ride was only 19 euros and I could easily do my homework and watch Kotikatu there. Priorities were sorted out! I navigated to Revnice where we went to a local brewery and shared things about our lives. The beer was the best beer I have ever had in my life which is sad because I literally can’t get it anywhere else than from there. Damn brewery! The next day we played board games, ate well and went swimming. My friend introduced me to a new thing: putting honey in a coffee. At first I doomed the though: ew, who the hell does that? Honey belongs to tea, not coffee. Then I tasted it and... it was delicious. It is yet to discover if it because of the honey or their super fancy coffee maker. Then we went to the brewery again and played a Czech card game called “bang”. I think I got the gist of it and even won the game once. On our last day we were just sightseeing and went to a concert together. The songs were translated to me and for a moment I felt super ambitious to learn Czech. I don’t want to miss out on funny songs just because I don’t know the language!

Last weekend there was a celebration in Berlin due to it being 30 years from the fall of Berlin wall. It was a bit similar to the light festival. We were out with friends two nights in a row and found a super cute place in Prenzlauer berg: Houdini. They have Indian food and cheap cocktails. We continued the evening to this living room looking place that was connected to a Späti. The Späti-drinking culture is something that is missing from Finland. Here Spätis are these small shops that mostly sell drinks (beer, soda, water, cider and so on) and candy.They are open late which is actually where the name Späti (Spätkauf = late shopping) comes from. There are often benches and tables where people can enjoy their drinks which are cheaper than in normal pubs of course. The Späti man asks if the beer is to be enjoyed in the living room and adds a small fee if it is. And there’s a bottle opener on the counter. Everything is sorted out so in my opinion Späti-drinking is a good way to go out and get drunk with small budget.

Yesterday we had an excursion with my German class. We went to Berlinische Galerie which is a museum of contemporary art. They had an exhibition of Bauhaus, the art/design/architecture Academy in pre-WWII Germany that affected modern design and architecture. We were walking around and filling up a worksheet the teacher gave us. I enjoyed it so much and everything seemed so pleasing to the eye.

Afterwards we went to a open stage event which was basically a talent show. There were 10 acts of which everyone had 10 minutes to convince the audience who voted for a winner. We also had beer and wine counter there naturally. My favorite was this one dude in tight ballet outfit who preformed a circus act which was funny and impressive at he same time. His background music was swan lake but the dude sang along in a terrible way which made it less serious. Then he juggled with 6 balls and every time he messed up, he cried out in a dramatic way. Then at the end of the show he turned his back to the audience and we could see he was digging something from his crotch and then he turned around and swiped of sweat from his face with a pile of tissues he had as a crotch-filler the whole time. The tipsy audience laughed so much that the winner was pretty much clear at that point. The dude who went after him performed a horrible keyboard improvisation and his face screamed “ I am sorry to be here, I just want to flee!” hahahahah. The act that came second was funny as well, they performed “Let it go” but with a German translation, the google translate type of translation. Conclusion is: the audience wants to laugh at talent shows, not see real talent.

On top of all the events I have also been attending the hiphop dance class I think I told about. The teacher is super funny (and hot :D) and the dancing is so intensive and so much fun! I look terrible, though but it’s not the main point here. I might continue this hobby when I get back to Finland.

Now I have to start packing my things because I am going to Szczechin (Poland). I heard it is a city where Berliners go to shop because it is cheaper there. I feel like this trip can be either a massive success or a terrible flop. Time shows...

#erasmus #exchange year #berlin

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k-p-p-d · 6 years ago

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Linked (F)

Pairing: Jay Park x OC

Summary: Some promises are meant to be kept.

Length: 1.7k

“In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.” — Maya Angelou

Celeste shifted in her seat as her nerves washed over her body. After years of searching that seemed at times too promising to be real, the day had finally come. She was really going to do it.

It had been odd growing up with the mirror. It wasn’t so much the concept of it since had some form of medium to view their soulmate. It was just odd growing up seeing someone and being so ingrained in every part of their life and vice versa, but never truly knowing them. Celeste’s mirror had been passed down to each woman in her family over generations. While the men had their delicate silver platter, the women had this hulking oak mirror. Honestly, the thing looked like it’d been dreamed up in some twisted gothic fairytale. The varnish needed another application (or two) and some of the pieces had lost their shape, worn down over years of its edges being gripped.

Every night since she was a little girl, Celeste would sit on the edge of her bed and wait for him to appear. It wasn’t like looking into a crystal ball, there was no fog or swirling shapes muddying up the image she was to see. He just...appeared: One moment, she would be reflected in the surface and the next, he would be there.

Her very first memories included him. He was just a boy then, a boy with inky black hair and skin the color of amber-grained fields. She could still remember the sky blue decor of his room and the basketball themed wallpaper. She could still see a much smaller, younger version of the man she knew now unrolling and pinning a life sized poster of Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny on his wall. His name was Jaebum. It used to hang in crisp white letters above his bed. They’d probably been there longer than they should have. Over the years, Jaebum had simultaneously become home and remained a stranger to her.

Every night, Celeste would watch him appear; and every night, he would make his promise: “I’m going to make it easy for us to find each other.” It was everyone’s worry, not being able to really be with their predestined other half. While one could view their soulmate, no one was ever guaranteed to find them. But one thing that never changed was his promise. What started as a boy’s promise made out of desperation and blind hope became a man’s decree of determination and resolution.

They had never met or really spoken to each other. All they had was her mirror and his frame. There were minimal clues as to what part of the world the other called home to make their search easy. But it didn’t matter because every night he would look squarely into his iron and glass frame and recite his promise.

Celeste, having just finished her nightly routine, took her perch on the edge of her bed in front of the mirror and waited for him to appear. Just like clockwork, there he was. The top of his head was bent down. He’d changed his hair again, this time it was short and crimson. It brought a smile to her face. It was one of the traits they shared, styles ever-changing but somehow remaining the same. A paradox, just like them. He was shirtless tonight, she noted, with each of his tattoos in view, muscular physique thickened up a bit more than before. She liked it. Celeste watched him closely and listened carefully to the words he softly spoke. “I promised you I would make it easy for us to find each other,” he began slowly, dragging out each word as if he was trying to hold out for a punchline.” Jaebum finally looked up to face her. “I think I finally did,” he finished with a dazzling smile and disarming wink. “Goodnight,” he whispered sweetly before setting his frame down.

If there had ever been any doubt in her heart that he would succeed, it’d been erased with those five words: “I think I finally did.” That hope flew Celeste’s soul higher than it’d ever flown before and her sheer elation alone carried her through the next few days. Those words had set off a chain of events that carried Celeste halfway around the world.

It started the morning following the tentative yet exhilarating declaration with a link. A coworker who was somewhat of a friend had sent Celeste an email to video to a freestyle she thought Celeste would enjoy. Celeste clicked on without a second thought and suddenly a man called Jay Park rapping in front of Sway popped up on her screen. But it wasn’t Jay Park. Not to her. It was Jaebum, her Jaebum who had definitely been working hard. He had many titles: CEO, singer, rapper, songwriter, producer, model, choreographer, and dancer, but most importantly, soulmate. Her soulmate. She had searched his name so many times and had come back empty handed every time. But now she knew. Jaebum was such a common name, but the name Jay Park was singular and opened up so many more doors for her to explore. Celeste wound up spending the day learning anything and everything she could about him. Not only that, she dug around enough to find out where the AOMG office was located.

A hastily packed suitcase and a plane ticket later, she was flying to South Korea. The language barrier was horrible but people had mercy on her, helping her as much as they could. Soulmate was a common enough word that, once spoken, had people sharing her urgency. A train and a cab ride later, she finally arrived at the building. Celeste looked travel weary—her clothes wrinkled, eyes a little bloodshot, and the puff on top of her head had lost some of its shape. She didn’t care. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to look her best, on the contrary actually. It was just that he was finally so close. She couldn’t stop and waste time changing now.

It was in the midst of her trying to prove to security that she wasn’t some crazy fan that help arrived. Celeste had just ran her hands over her face, not for the first time, in frustration. She was on the verge of tears and being thrown out when a man walking past stopped next to her. She felt his presence before she saw him. Turning, she looked into the face of a man she’d seen in numerous pictures with Jaebum: Simon D. She couldn’t recall his real name at the moment but that didn’t matter, not when he was finally going to get her out this frustrating mess with security. The first thing he did, though, when he was saw her was laugh. Slowly, at first then it grew into a full on howling cackle. After much prodding and the help of someone to translate, it was explained that Jaebum— or rather, Jay—had taken a picture of Celeste in his frame. It’d been the background on his laptop for months. What was making Simon laugh so hard was the irony that Celeste was there but Jay had flown out literally first thing that morning.

After being shown past security and finally comfortably seated on couch in Simon’s studio, Celeste was finally going to have her first real conversation with Jaebum. Blood rushed in her ears as her heart pounded in her chest. Her face was flushed with excitement while the familiar ring of a FaceTime call filled the air. Once, twice, three times it rang. Then she heard his voice and she could barely contain the gasp of excitement. Simon said a few words in the language she couldn’t understand (but was going to make a point to learn). Jaebum’s answering words were laced with incredulity, that much she could tell. Simon wheeled his chair over so that she was in the shot with him.

There he was, in as much glory as the pixels on the screen could provide. “You were right,” Celeste said the words a little raspy as she tried to fight back tears of joy. “You made it easy,” she managed to gasp out before the tears spilled onto her cheeks.

“Stay there. I’m-“ The picture on the screen started to lose focus and the sounds of movement provided background noise as he continued on “-I’m coming now. Stay at the studio don’t leave.”

Those were the first words they’d spoken to each other. As far as she was concerned it was a perfect conversation. He didn’t have to tell her to wait. There was no chance she was walking out of that building unless he was with her. The combination of the adrenaline fueling her to find him wearing off with the stress of the long, spontaneous trip proved to be too much for her to withstand any longer, and eventually sleep overtook Celeste. She wasn’t sure when, but at some point someone covered her with a blanket.

Celeste became aware of warm fingers tracing her face and the comforting scent of sandalwood and bergamot. “Don’t tell me I’ve flown the span of the globe in two days just to watch you sleep.” After years of hearing that voice through a mirror, then in a video, and finally over a phone, she knew who it was without a shadow of a doubt. Nothing soothed Celeste like hearing it in person though. She took a moment to appreciate the smell of his cologne, the warmth of his nearness, the feeling of relief that washed over her being. It felt like she released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. The feeling of comfort and ease radiated through her. The feeling of complete and utter contentment anchored itself in every part of her when she opened her eyes and took him in. Two sets of dark brown eyes held each other in the warmest embrace as no further words needed to be spoken.

Home.

Celeste, at long last, was at home. Her soul rejoiced and her heart sang.

—Creator CoKo

#jay park #aomg #aomg jay park #aomg fanfic #aomg imagines #jay park scenario #jay park fluff #creator coko

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 6 years ago

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Mob Psycho II 9

So…uh…is this the first time we’ve had lyrics for the OP???

For some reason, “you little s***” is a hilarious nickname…in my head.

Is it just me, or did the style of Teruki’s eyes change when he got that stack of hair off his head?

My Roommate is a Cat 9

Please don’t let that random voice be the do-oh no. I was right *sigh* As much as I think dogs are fine and cute and all, this is a show about a cat, so naturally I feel diametrically opposed to dogs when watching.

Long ago, the writer and his cat lived in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Signing attacked! …Yeah. I couldn’t resist the Avatar pun…of course.

Aw…Kawase is a good guy, even if he’s a bit obnoxious to poor Haru.

As someone who’s currently volunteering at a charity store, I forget to say “thanks” all the time. It eats me up, it really does…

That post-credits sequence was funny, but only because I could read the “dying message” (it’s katakana ha <-> kanji hachi -> number 8).

Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 9

Oh hey, a cheerleader stamp (sticker...?) from the Cheerleader vs Megaton Shark movie!

Wait, whaaaaaaaaat?! I thought Asuka was Tamara’s older sister (metaphorically), but…she’s nottttttttttttttt??? Also, why doesn’t Tamara get creeped out by the fact her stuffed toy could be a Disas in disguise?

Why is everyone so…for lack of a better term…gay for Asuka?! Even Tabira…

Ouch for Tabira. I’m just laughing because it’s like seeing SekaTsuyo or Bikini Warriors being torn up in front of my face – I’m thanking whoever made this for that image alone!

Cenobite. Basically…it’s another horror reference.

The Osprey stands out so much…CGI..it’s so garish…

Garish CGI strikes again, this time in the form of a 4WD!

Shield Hero 9

Naofumi’s such a dad…haha.

It’s a Filo-and-fish! Hahaha! (Update: I’m aware there are some of you who might never have heard of a Fillet-o-fish and so…there you go. It’s a McDonald’s meal name. It makes me hungry just thinking about it, to be honest though.)

Why does Motoyasu even care so much for underage girls? Sure, they have their rights too, but…is he a lolicon???

They talk about “white privilege”…so maybe there’s “hero privilege” as well…hmm…

Motoyasu’s “treasure-protection shields” versus Filo = 0 to 2, Filo’s victory! Hahaha!

Morose Mononokean 10

The idea of Rippou being amused by “a mundane world plank”…amuses me. So does the idea of Abeno and Ashiya walking around as a shingami and witch, respectively…Come to think of it, Ashiya’s always the one who dresses like a woman if the need arises, huh?

I feel sorry for Zenko, to be honest…I mean, she’s wearing what’s meant to be Abeno’s outfit! She’s going to trip, y’know? Where are the OH and S concerns (OH and S = occupational healh and safety, though...yeah, I make that mistake a lot)???

Come to think of it, I wasn’t tracking where Abeno’s book went. So he left it in the Mononokean…I see.

Poor Fuzzy! He got taken by Komon!!!

Smol Itsuki…I swear I’ve seen a similar character in a manga before – and somehow I know it’s a manga, but I don’t remember which one…

Double Decker! EX 2

Couldn’t you just ask “Milla” (even if he’s not a Police Academy graduate)? Pretend Valery is Kirill or something, maybe.

I can’t believe they’re still making jokes about Doug’s laundry…

I feel kind of bad at snickering at this crossdressing thing – you know how the LGBTIQ+ community feels about this stuff, don’t you?

Travis’s pick-up lines are too cheesy for this earth…*shakes head with grin on face*

There’s a police bird mascot on the dashboard of the Seven-O car.

When I realised what Mr Goldman was doing to Kirill (potential sekuhara and disguise reveal, if you know what I mean)…my face went all funny…

I don’t think I’ve seen a Kirill and Valery eyecatch before…hmm.

The fact there were two men making out in the change rooms…I wonder if that was played for humour? If so, that’s nasty to the LGBTIQ+ people, y’know?

“Max, that’s mine. Take good care of it.” – Your…what, Deana? Your target???

The next-ep preview had me laughing! Travis, don’t give yourself away!!! But now I get why Kirill was in a wedding dress.

Price of Smiles 10

Y’know, Lily, you shouldn’t wish for a kid to be confined to their house forever. Kids grow up and then need to make a living…at least, that’s what I’ve learnt.

I honestly (almost…?) thought we’d only see casualties on Yuki’s side…guess I was wrong.

Shield Hero 10

Notably, a lot of Western-inspired fantasy works such as this use “runes” based on stylised English…including the map that appears in this ep.

This knight that’s doing all the talking…his name is Ake, according to the interface.

My Roommate is a Cat 10

The irony of that dog bag of Haru’s (the human girl’s).

Cats and Dreams (Neko to Yume) = a parody of Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams).

All these thoughts Subaru has of his mother make me want to hug mine…

“50 inches”, my butt! (The newspaper says there’ll be 50 centimetres of snow...)

I expected Okami to be at the supermarket (Nana, not her brother)…but instead, Hiroto showed up. What a small world it is in this anime…(well, it is all set in the same neighbourhood, with the exception of that signing, so it should be. At least, I guess so.)

F*** it, Hiroto. I thought you were annoying in the past, but you’re nice too! What’s up with this show??? Why do I feel everything Subaru feels??? (Uh…past me, maybe, that’s the point of this show…?)

The cat show is also relatable in how I peel apples…and that would probably carry over to other fruit and veg too…

If there’s one thing I can annoy this show about, it’s how to transition between human and cat perspectives. Aside from that, it’s A-OK!

Morose Mononokean 11

Wait, these birds have one foot (each) and ear wings??? Wuh???

Oh, now that Abeno mentions it, Chungo has a crescent, but one of the other bros has a heart on his belly. Another one has a circular pattern with a round dent where the head is (like a partial moon, with the smaller edge inverted).

One of the “birds” has two dents in his belly pattern (like the one I described just before, but this time with a W shape).

Hmm…in much the same way the police act as a representative of the state, the reason there needs to be a master of the Mononokean is to represent it…and maybe the Legislator. Is that right, people?

Come to think of it…”chun” roughly means “tweet”, hence “Chunichi”, “Chunji” etc.

The name of this episode is Kii (literally, “return to residence” as far as I understand it…I may have misinterpreted that second kanji though).

Is Komon a “she”? It’s hard to tell, really.

Mob Psycho 100 10

“Prime Minister Yabe”, eh?

I think I saw “ONE” written on one of the buildings.

I sort of saw the comparison between Sho and his dad coming as soon as I saw Ritsu and Sho hanging out together.

I found my old first season predictions from summer 2016 and now I just remembr Dimple as a “green cloud”, LOL.

Well…sorry to break it to you guys, but someone’s post was called “Dimple makes the Body Improvement Club PLUS ULTRA” so I sort of know where this is going…

Hmm…this “muscles with psychic power =/= muscles with training” thing reminds me of the tomatoes from s2 ep 1.

Mob Psycho 100 11

(Mob says something along the lines of “you need to rely on others to help you survive.”) - Welp, Mob, that’s a consumerist post-Fordist society for ya.

“…don’t use your psychic powers against others.” Don’t think I’ve corrected any subs in a while.

…and randomly, Reigen.

Post-credits scene. Keep watching!

I just realised these “courses” mentiond in the next-ep previews are related to the Japanese side of things – BDs, DVDs, events and manga.

Egao no Daika 11

Almost done with the season, eh?

Couldn’t Huey have been shown giving the money, rather than keeping it a secre until the rest of the group did it…?

Please say that’s an armistice, Yu-oh no.

I feel like revealing Izana’s death to his family now…is a bit late.

That’s Stella’s fish bowl! Great Scott! (Okay…that was a terrible pun. Y’see, Scott was the one who believed Stella was Layla’s daughter…and he was right.)

Oh…end of credits segment. Keep watching.

Notably, the ep 12 title (”The Price of Smiles”) is written in kanji + hiragana, instead of the katakana of the show title.

Spec Ops Asuka 11

“I don’t want to run.” – Well, with Nozo-chan leaning on her like that, Sayako definitely won’t be running…in more ways than one.

Ken can mean “dog” in certain contexts, y’know. So Kenjou seems like a good name for a dog boi...spirit…thing?

My Roommate is a Cat 11

I’m going to miss this show when it’s gone…

I feel like a better episode title translation would be “Overlapping Feelings”.

Hmm…I never thought he (Subaru) was wearing a tonne of blue because he liked it. I just thought it was a good aesthetic choice on the part of the mangaka…welp, at least there’s a reason for it now.

Rabbiteye blueberries. I’d never heard of them before, to be honest. (Isn’t blue meant to be rare in nature???)

I could tell from the silhouette it was Kawase…

I know that feel…haven’t you seen the meme that goes…oh, I’ll go find it. Then you’ll understand what I mean.

^…This one.

LOL, that image of Haru on Kawase’s computer.

This show makes me wanna hug my parents…Update: Hey, I said that a few episodes ago. That makes me feel really stupid.

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kaynamiteineurope · 7 years ago

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Day 6: The Leaning Tower of Bolognese Yesterday was Saturday, aka our many-a-travel day! We woke up in Verona, checked out of the hotel and *gag* got on a bus *continued gagging* to the train station pretty early. From here, we got on a train to Bologna, where we had planned on spending our afternoon before making our way to Pisa that night. The train wasn't too long--I think 40 minutes or so--and we arrived at Bologna. At the train station (which was giant and confusing and took us about 25 minutes just to walk around and find the baggage lock-up), we made our way to a room on the ground floor where you could leave your luggage for a pre-determined amount of time for a fee. We paid 6 euros a piece to leave our larger bags (we kept our carry-on's with us--which was annoying but necessary to save us an additional 6 euro a piece) there for 5 hours before we set out with Natasha's walking directions to the sights we wanted to see. The first stop was supposed to be a "secret window" that Natasha said people had taken amazing photos of online. However, due to the fact that Italian streets are famous for not actually labeling their streets (or not having signs for the actual street name, but for things you can find once you go down the street--thanks Italy), we completely missed the round by a couple blocks and decided we'd loop around back when we were done with the other things on our list. Next, we kept walking up the main stretch to find a relatively large piazza that had Neptune's fountain, the library, and was close to the oldest university in the Western world and the tallest tower in Italy (spoiler alert: it's not Pisa!). We were looking for Neptune's statue first, but it turns out this was their construction season, because the entire structure was blocked off and you couldn't actually see it unless you stood at the exit gate and sort of peer inside. I think I saw abs. Or a butt. Hard to say. The library was next, which as the original reason Natasha and I decided Bologna would be a great place to stop and see. The library was giant, but the thing we actually came to see was the archives. Down in the basement was an archeological "dig site" which preserved different types of ancient ruins. But one of the coolest things about it was that you could look up and see the people on the main floor from the ruins. The entire center of the main floor was constructed with see-through blocks so you could stand there and look below into the ruins. While some of the blocks were clouded and dirty (I even found a cracked one!), some were easier to see through and the sight was super amazing. Once we finished up at the library, we headed down a couple of incorrect streets (hehe. I say "a couple," but it was actually a pretty big detour, which made walking around on blistered feet--I officially have four blisters and they're my favorite), trying to find the oldest university in the Western world. We managed to find the right street it was on eventually, but then couldn't find the entrance. Turns out it was sort of down and through an alley, but the hunting was well worth it because (even though we didn't spend much time there) the university was beautiful and had some of the most amazing carved architecture on their walls. They had all of these things that looked like family crests and they bunched up together on stretches of the wall, creating this beautiful almost mosaic of history. After this, we walked over to the tallest tower in Italy and took some pictures of it (and I can officially say, having since seen Pisa, that it may have been taller, but Pisa's architecture and columns are much more impressive, and not just because it's sinking). After this, we started back down the main stretch and looked for a place to have a nice, local meal. Throughout our trip, we might not have bought a whole lot of souvenirs, but we definitely have eaten a lot of local food! Not too far away, but still closer to the train station, we stopped and ate at a cute restaurant called Pino Restaurante. If you're ever in Bologna and are looking for a fantastic, Traditional Bolognese Lasagna, THIS IS THE PLACE. The food was amazing, and just the right size. They even had wifi, so Natasha and I could message our parents about our progress. Plus, now that we were out of the major cities, we could just a liter bottle of water to share for 1.50 instead of getting a small bottle for each of us for 2.50. When we checked out at the register at the end of our meal, the man even docked our meal a euro fifty, charging us only 25 instead of 26.50 (which Natasha thinks might have something to do with the fact that during my last bite, I found a small hair in my lasagna, which I decided meant I should stop eating). After lunch, we kept walking down (Natasha found a cute jewelry store and purchased a statement necklace and a pair of matching earrings), stopped briefly at the secret window (which was cool, but part of the view through it was under construction, so that was less cool), and then made our way back to the train station to continue on our journey to Pisa for the night! There isn't a train specifically that goes from Bologna to Pisa, so we purchased a ticket to Florence Santa Maria Novella and then took a following train from there to the Pisa Centrale station. And then we were in Pisa! There were a lot of cobblestone streets like Verona, which made carrying our luggage difficult, and a large population of what we later figured out were Palestinian refugees (they had a rally on our way to the tower) sleeping on the streets on our way to our hotel, which was both heartbreaking and a little nerve wracking since they stared at us as we went by. We found our hotel, Hotel Astor, and checked in, bringing our stuff up to our closet (I mean room). SIDEBAR: Our rooms have gotten smaller and smaller as our trip has gone on. It's both hilarious and a little annoying since it means there's not a whole lot of room for luggage where we won't trip over it and there's less and less power outlets. When we went back downstairs, the really nice guy working the desk handed us a map and gave us directions to a supermarket, sub shops, the shopping district, and two choices of pizza places. PIZZA. So we walked over to the pizza place that he pointed out and said was in a garden, which we thought would be really awesome. It wasn't open yet, so we decided to walk the main shopping road for a bit and then loop back. I found a cute candy store and bought a little jar for 3.50 that I was able to fill up with a variety of sweet Italian treats. We walked a bit more and then looped back for just after 7. La Cereria was ADORABLE. I would HIGHLY suggest going here for pizza if any of you decide to visit Pisa. It's basically run out of a house, with all of the tables set up under canopies in a garden. So. Darn. Cute. Plus, nothing in the menu is translated and the servers only spoke a very small amount of English, which made the entire thing incredibly authentic. Plus? It was DELICIOUS. We ordered a large pizza with half parmigiana and half formaggio, which was basically half cheese, basil, and eggplant and half with four different cheeses (including Gorgonzola, which seems to be a very Italian cheese). While both halves were delicious, the four cheese one was our favorite. And both of us really ended up liking the use of the eggplant as part of the other half. When we were finished eating, we paid inside (which seems to be a regular thing. Most restaurants don't bring you your bill, you just go to the register and they're pull it up for you) and then set out to get lost again on our way to Pisa. We walked around for twice as long as necessary (as was becoming our habit, haha) and finally found Pisa and its surrounding gorgeous structures. PROS: The tower is beautiful. The arches and the color and the brickwork is all phenomenal. Plus, having the matching builds beside it is lovely. The lighting was also lovely in dusk and the sunset. CONS: Some asshat was up in the tower doing a sermon over these giant speakers and they put a spotlight on him, so it ruined a bunch of pictures. Also, getting those stupid tourist-y pictures is really hard with just the two of us. I definitely agree with those who say that Pisa is more of an afternoon, not a whole day. But I'm glad I saw it because the structure was just so lovely. We walked back after that and hung out in the hotel trying to rub the feeling back into our aching feet. Natasha fell asleep while I was in the shower (separate bathroom from the room, we had to unlock it with a key down the hall but at least it was still private), and I got to sleep around midnight, which was an improvement to past nights. My blistering feet are making me miss the conveniences of having a car back home. But I shall overcome! Until I don't! Then I will fall over and not get back up again. Hoorah!

#Bologna #Pisa #Leaning Tower #Italy #Travel #Lasagna

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hamilficsfordays · 8 years ago

Text

New Beginning—Chapter Eight: Tragedy-Prone

Disclaimer: I don’t actually speak spanish so I apologize if any translations are incorrect

Also posted on Ao3

Summary: Autumn in New York has arrived and school has started for everyone including Alexa. Unfortunately, that’s not the only thing that has started.

Rating: M for language (in English and Spanish), teen binge drinking, mentions of rape

Words: 7828 (rip me)

Askbox / Masterlist / Chapter Seven / Chapter Nine

Tags:

@promisesandmore @justanotherfanficreader and @huffleheyguys who asked me to tag them in literally any writing.

September in New York meant the start of school. The slight excitement Alexa had was shadowed by the overwhelming fear of seeing the boys who violated her that night again. Still, she pushed on.

“There’s no shame in being homeschooled until we can transfer you to Brearley next semester.” Lin offered that morning while en route to the school.

“I’m not going to rot in that apartment for the next four months, Lin. I need to do this.”

She had on a plaid green skirt, a white polo, black stockings, and a long sleeve green cardigan. This was within the required uniform standards Alexa carefully adjusted the sleeves of her cardigan to make sure they were covering the bandages on her arms while staring up at Lin from the chair on the subway. The train was packed, full of others headed to work or school that morning.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, glancing down at her, attempting to read her face. She rolled her eyes, a light smile.

“Remember what Dr. Montgomery said?” she reminded him of the doctor’s appointment they’d been to the day before.

“As long as you take your meds as needed, you’ll be fine.” he repeated.

Alexa carefully pulled a full pill bottle of Zoloft out of her messenger bag, She took one pill and washed it down with a sip of water from a plastic bottle that she’d been holding on to. “I took my meds today, okay? So stop panicking. You’re more worried than I am.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Would you like one?” she offered, smirking.

“Very funny.” he glanced out the train window in search of a number as the train slowed to a halt.

“This is our stop.”

They arrived at the school shortly after.

“Okay, I gave you a free ‘worried parent’ pass to travel with me to school this morning. Your pass has now expired.” She gave him a light pat on his arm. “You no longer have permission to escort me to school.”

“Do I have a hug pass?”

“Those can only be redeemed at home or not ten feet from my school.”

Lin hugs her anyway, kissing the top of her head.

“Why do I make rules if you’re just going to break them?” she demanded, feeling him laugh against her.

The laughing stopped however as he saw Eric approach the school after exiting his town car. There was a smaller more sheepish boy by his side, looking slightly on edge, though Eric being beside him seemed to ease his tension slightly.

Alexa caught a glimpse of what had made Lin so serious, feeling a wave of fear wash over her as he looked their way.

He approached them then, the smaller boy beside him.

“You really shouldn’t be over here,” Lin started, stepping in front of his daughter. “It’s dangerous. I wouldn’t want something to happen to you.”

“Lin,” she stepped in between them, facing her father. “You can’t threaten someone my age. No matter how much they genuinely deserve it.”

“Ease off, George Lopez,” Eric started. “I’m here to apologize.”

They both stared straight at him, taken aback by his words. Frustrated, he glared at the younger boy beside him who nudged him forward, urging him to continue.

“Sorry for…” he sighed, glancing in another direction. “Hurting you a month ago. I was a jerk and you didn’t deserve it.”

“Hurting me?” she shot back. “That’s the best you can do?”

Alexa glanced at the boy beside him, who seemed to be curiously fixated on Lin.

“Is that your conscious?” she asked, directing to the younger boy. “He’s not large enough for you to compensate.”

Eric was enraged then, stepping close to her and leaning in.

“Don’t talk about my little brother, okay? I apologized, so get off my back.”

“Did you apologize? Is that what they call an apology where you’re from?”

“Oh my god, you’re Lin-Manuel Miranda!” Grabbing everyone’s attention beside Eric was the smaller boy, pushing past the two teens to stand directly in front of the older man.

“I listen to In the Heights like, religiously. I mean I did, before Hamilton came out. Now I listen to that religiously. I’m Daxton,” he took Lin’s hand, shaking it furiously. It’s an honor to meet you!”

“Th-thank you?” Lin politely smiled back.

“What the fuck is In The Heights?” Alexa demanded, receiving a confused look from both Lin and Daxton.

“Only his first musical and winner of Tony award for best musical of 2008! I was friends with this boy at my old school who was like—well he was Spanish—and we would always spend weekends at his place where he would try to rap all of Usnavi’s lines. It was amazing. You’re amazing.”

“You have another musical?” she asked, prompting another confused look from Lin.

Alexa glanced at Daxton, at Eric, and then back to Daxton.

“Oh my god.” she finally said. “Your brother came out and you gained a conscious.”

“Shut up.” Eric shot back.

“Eric and I have been trying to get tickets for Hamilton since it started at the Public. Right Eric?” he nudged his older brother eagerly.

“Dax really likes the show—” he tried.

“Me?! You sing Yorktown in the shower like every night!”

“Oh my god.” Alexa stifled her laughter, Lin doing the same.

He kissed the top of Alexa’s head again. “Have a good day.”

“You’re gonna have to be more genuine if you want to see that show, Eric.” Daxton folded his arms, glaring knowingly at his brother.

“Okay well… We should go.” Eric lead his brother away, glaring at Alexa who only smirked back.

This would serve as the highlight of her morning, a morning otherwise full of being called a slut or being told that she deserved it while walking in the hallways.

“Hey, how much for a lap dance?” Across the hallway from her locker, someone tossed a wad of dollar bills at her to a chorus of laughter.

And to think Lin and V are paying $47,000 a year so that I can get treated like this she thought, closing her locker and kicking the wad aside as she headed to her first class.

The class was small, quiet when she walked in. She recognized no faces, a relieving fact.

It was AP US History, a class she was destined to fly through—at least partially.

“Sorry, I’m late!” A small, blonde, white woman who could’ve easily passed for a student rushed in, papers in one hand and coffee in the other. “Mama needed a little pick me up before class started.” She shook her paper coffee cup.

There were a few chuckles, though most of the students didn’t find it amusing.

“Okay well, welcome to AP US History. I’m Dr. Rhodes, but you can call me Annie, and this year we’ll be learning how our country came to be. Included in that learning will be a single chapter on Civil Rights that’s only short because this book was written by a bunch of white people.” she laughed, prompting no reaction from her students but a small smile from Alexa, the only non-white person in the room.

“Let’s start with attendance.” she pulled out a single paper from the stack in her hand, listing off each name one by one until she got to Alexa.

“Alexa Jordan?” she asked. Alexa raised her hand.

“The same Alexa Jordan who’s the daughter of that handsome gentleman who wrote Hamilton?”

“Uh… Yeah?” she laughed, feeling the other students’ eyes on her. “I guess?”

“You know I was a TA when I was getting my masters at Yale… They’ve got a lot of love for Hamilton over there. Several of his original documents stored away. I think you and your mancandy father would have a lot of interest in that.”

There was an awkward silence.

“In fact, let’s all go! Road trip!”

More silence.

“No? No Hamilton fans here? You guys are missing out. That show is AMAZING—”

“Okay, can we actually talk about something important?” A girl in the back interrupted.

“Well excuse me,” Dr. Rhodes glanced at the attendance list again to find the girl’s name. “Hazel! I hate to admit it but you’re right. Let’s get started with the rape, pillage, and murder of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans when the white man first arrived here by ship.”

At the end of APUSH, she headed to her locker only discover an array of papers taped to the front.

“Oh great, another smear campaign.” She thought, starting to tear them off. A quick glance at one, however, changed her perspective.

Sign up for the Drama Club! This year, with special permission We’ll be producing a production of Hamilton: An American Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda

She glanced at each of the posters, all of them identical. A safe way to pander she figured. With no friends and virtually no one to talk to, she essentially had nothing to lose. She’d made a mental note to head to the school theatre at the end of the day.

She caught a glimpse of Eric headed down the hallway toward her that made her shiver involuntarily. He made a passing comment at another girl that Alexa couldn’t hear. Her retaliation, however, was loud and clear.

“¡No me jodas, Westly!” she shouted, loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear. “At least I don’t have to drug people to get them to have sex with me. ¡Chinga tu madre!”

“Like anyone would ever want to sleep with you. Don’t you have houses to clean?” he shot back, rolling his eyes. He didn’t stop to converse but continued walking down the hall. “That’s right pinche puta, keep walking!”

When he approached Alexa, she froze. Though she had stood up to him that morning, the harsh fear that came up whenever he approached didn’t seem to go away. Without Lin, she was alone.

The last time she was alone with him, it didn’t end well.

“Oh hey, looks who’s all alone with no daddy to defend them.”

He grabbed her arm forcefully, holding tight despite her attempts to pull away.

He leaned in close, paralyzing her with fear.

“Can I get you anything?” he whispered, recalling what he had said to her that night. “A drink? Maybe something a little more exciting?”

His grip on her arm tightened. She was struggling to manage a response as she continued to attempt to free herself.

“What do you feel like swallowing?” he recited.

There was a sudden jolt as the other girl shoved Eric away from her.

“You wanna fight someone?” she shoved him toward the lockers. He was clearly intimidated though he tried to hide it. Despite him being a few inches taller, the girl overpowered him in overall strength.

“Fight me, bitch!” she continued. “My father is a professional wrestler! I dare you to come at me. ¡Besa mi culo, puto!”

She had him wedged between herself and the lockers. Seeing him clearly shaken up was enough to get Alexa to take a sigh of relief. She moved away from the scene until her back hit the lockers on the other side of the hallway. When there was nowhere else to go, she slid down to the floor, watching the scene unfold.

“Whatever,” he tried to brush it off. “I don’t need to fight you. It would be a waste of my time.” he managed to fight his way out of the small space and fast-walk down the hallway.

“This isn’t over, Pendejo!”

She barely noticed the girl offering to help her up as she sat on the ground, processing what had just happened.

“Cabron,” the girl remarked, watching Eric walk off as she offered Alexa a hand. She took it, slowly pulling herself up.

The girl was Latina (unlike every other student besides Lex it seemed), unmistakably tall and rather muscular, but ever confident with herself.

“Thank you,” she finally said, brushing her skirt off. “He’s um… he’s kind of intimidating.”

“Ay, no, You wouldn’t say that if you saw the way he cried like un bebé when he was being pulled away in a cop car from that party last month.” she chuckled.

Alexa’s eyes lit up at the thought. “Wait, you were there?”

“No, but it was on New York One the next morning.” she chuckled at the memory. “Lo que es un bastardo.”

The shorter teen almost felt kind of stupid for being so afraid of him. The other girl picked up on that.

“Amiga, I’m sure he really fucked you up. He’s a pendejo and you’re allowed to handle that however you do. Just don’t let him steal your light. He doesn’t fucking deserve it.”

A small smile formed on Alexa’s face. “That was really profound.”

She shrugged. “Si, I know, I’m like a fucking latina Shakespeare.”

“I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

Lex suddenly realized she may have been coming on too strong and felt the need to explain herself.

“I mean since you’re the only person at this school who hasn’t called me a slut so far and we hate the same person so I figured—”

“Camila.” she cut her off. “Call me Cami.”

“Cami,” Alexa repeated. “Okay.”

“Relax amiga, if you hang around me, everyone will be way too afraid to call you a puta.”

That afternoon, Alexa ventured to the basement where the theatre was located. As she opened the door to the house, she was overwhelmed by the large population of fair skinned students. As she herself was half black, she stuck out like a sore thumb as she had all day that day.

There were several glances in her direction as she entered to room, most of them other girls staring curiously. She sat in the last row, hoping to remain out of sight.

As she sat, she bumped into someone.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” she quickly apologized, glancing up at the stranger.

The cute stranger. The stranger whom she happened to recognize from her AP US History class that morning.

He had short brown hair, a clean-shaven, cute face and wasn’t particularly thin or muscular, a fair mix of both. At least, that’s what she could gather from under white dress shirt and tie.

He seemed to be fixated on her features as well—her light brown eyes, her curly jet black hair, her smile which was in full force.

“It’s okay.” he finally said, a smile forming. “I’m sure you’ve been getting much worse treatment all day.”

“You don’t even know.”

He offered his hand. “I’m Dan.”

“Alexa.”

“Alexa,” he paused, taking in her features once again. “I know I literally just met you, but is there any chance you would want to grab coffee after this? I know a place around the block.”

“Uh…” she paused, glancing around at the other students. “Just us?”

“Well… Yeah.”

She glanced down at her phone briefly, taking note of the time. She had promised Lin that she’d be home by 3, and it was already 2:45.

“Sure.”

Are you home yet, mija?

As Alexa moved above ground after the meeting had ended, she received a very telling text message from her father.

Hanging out with a friend. I’ll be home for dinner.

As soon as the message had sent she turned her phone on do not disturb, wanting to give Dan her full attention.

She did just that as they sat at the cafe around the corner.

“So where are you from?” he asked, once they had ordered.

“I was born in Florida, but I mostly grew up in rural Alabama.”

“Y—” he glanced at her briefly, waiting for the punchline of a joke. “Really?”

She nodded. “Exciting, I know. The south is already bad enough if you’re black let alone adopted, but I moved around a lot ended up in New York over the summer.”

“Oh, like, in foster homes?” he asked. “I’m sorry if that’s weird to ask—”

“I’m not ashamed of my past.” she crossed her legs under the table, her ballet flat grazing his leg. “Just grateful that my current foster parents stepped in when they did.”

“Right, yeah.” he smiled.

A waitress stopped at their table, setting their cups of coffee in front of them.

“My story isn’t nearly as interesting.” he started, taking a sip of his own. Just grew up in Williamsburg. Still in Williamsburg.”

“Oh, Williamsburg! That’s so cool! I’ve always wanted to go there. I heard it’s supposed to have like… The best coffee in the world.”

“It definitely beats out this Manhattan crap.” he quipped, receiving a steady laugh in response.

“My mom mostly works mostly across the country as a producer and my dad’s a musician.” Dan continued. “He’s on tour pretty often, so he’s out a lot too. It’s just me and my fourteen-year-old sister Rebecka.”

“On tour, huh? Anyone I’ve heard of?” she added a touch of sugar to her coffee, using a spoon to stir it in.

“I don’t usually like to talk about it…” he started, blushing.

“It can’t be worse than being related to the guy who wrote Hamilton.” she pointed out with a smile.

“It’s uh… it’s George Abrams.”

Alexa nearly dropped the cup that she was carefully holding in both hands. “Your dad is George Abrams? He’s like a 90’s rock legend.”

Dan shrugged, still blushing. “He’s just my dad.”

“Right,” she nodded slowly. “No, that’s cool. I mean I can’t even begin to relate your experience to mine. You were kind of born with a famous parent. I obviously didn’t have the same experience.”

“You get used to it after a while. Although I will admit, some of the stuff that he has collected from his world tours over the years is insane. You should come by and see it one time.”

“That would be awesome.” Her hand instinctively reached for her curls, a move that typically only occurred when she was flirting.

Am I flirting? she asked herself, glancing carefully across the table at Dan. He was all smiles, his eyes fixated on her.

I guess it can’t hurt she concluded, placing her other hand flat on the table in hopes that he would take the bait. He did, reaching his own hand out to graze hers.

A shrill ringing sound emerged from her messenger bag and interrupted them.

“Sorry,” she pulled away, frustrated, digging for her phone.

It was Vanessa calling.

“What?” She demanded, obviously upset.

“I need you to pick up Sebastian from daycare.” Vanessa started, disregarding Alexa’s irate tone of voice.

“I’m in the middle of something.”

“Lex, I’m serious. I need your help here.” her mother insisted. “It would mean a lot if you could do this.”

“I just told you I’m in the middle of something! Have Lin do it.”

“He went to the theatre early. You told me you wanted to start relating to me more—this is a great way to start.”

Alexa rolled her eyes as she hung up, tossing her phone back into her bag.

“Is everything okay?” Dan asked, watching her put her things together.

“Not really… I have to go.”

“Oh,”

“Yeah, my foster dad and I are really close. With my foster mom, however… it’s a work in progress. I need to go pick up their son. I’m really sorry.” She pulled out her wallet, tossing a ten dollar bill on the table.

“It’s okay, I’ll just see you at school tomorrow.” he stood up.

“Yeah, of course.” She hugged him, kissing his cheek as she pulled back. “See you tomorrow!”

The next morning was an uncomfortable one. Alexa awoke nauseated, bloated, and triggered by the smell of breakfast cooking.

As she left her room that morning dressed for school and headed to the kitchen, an all too peppy Lin greeted her, singing at the top of his lungs.

“Goooooood mooooorrrrrniiiing, Gen! Happy second day of schooooooool!”

“Dude,” she groaned, setting her bag down on the table as she sat. “Please.”

“Wouuuuuld you like some breeeeaaakfast?” he offered, directing to the pan he was busy cooking with.

Alexa dry heaved, disgusted at the sight of bacon frying in the pan.

“I’ll pass, thanks.” “It’s the most important meal of the day!” he reminded her, holding up a piece of bacon with the pair of tongs in his hand.

“Seriously, I’m fine. That smells disgusting. My digestive system has been terrible lately.”

“Oh speaking of,” he paused, placing the bacon onto a plate nearby and turning the stove off. “Have you done your treatment since you got out of state care?”

Alexa groaned. “I did it just before I left.”

“That was almost two weeks ago.” he pointed out. “You’re supposed to do it twice a week.”

“I’ve been… busy.” she insisted. “Readjusting to life back at home and starting school… my immunodeficiency hasn’t been a priority.”

“It has to be. No wonder your stomach is so messed up.”

“My stomach is always messed up.” she pointed out.

“You know what I meant.” he paused, placing the bacon onto a plate nearby and turning the stove off.

“If you’re done lecturing me on my health, can I go to school now?”

“I’m not done,” he took a piece of bacon from the plate, taking a bite and offering some to her. She quickly refused. “It’s unrelated but important. Vanessa told me about yesterday—”

“You mean how she insisted that my go pick Sebastian was somehow going to improve our relationship?”

“Not the words I would’ve used, but yes.”

“I was busy. I was having coffee with a new friend and she kind of ruined it.”

“Lex, V is doing her best to relate to you, but it can be tough sometimes. You and I had plenty of time to get to know each other over the summer at the Public. Give her a chance to do the same. She’s a great mother.”

She shook her head. “I don’t do well with mom’s.”

“Did something happen in the past?” he curiously pressed.

“Nothing that I’m willing to discuss over bacon.”

“Vanessa’s nothing like that.” he insisted. “She’s the kindest, most genuine person I’ve met. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Alexa rolled her eyes.

“You gave me a chance and you said you’d be willing to do the same for her.”

“Maybe I’m not there yet.”

“You guys could bond over something you have in common.”

“Yeah, you always know how I talk about wanting to be an engineer.” she rolled her eyes again, the sarcasm thick.

“Hey, you and V both love frozen yogurt… maybe you could go get some together.”

She dry heaved again. “Could we not talk about food right now?”

Before he could respond, she rushed off to the bathroom.

Hunched over the toilet, she vomited once, followed by several dry heaves.

As she stood up, preparing to re-brush her teeth, she saw Lin standing in the doorway in the mirror.

“Are you okay?” he asked, a concerned look on his face.

“Never better.” she quipped, reaching for her toothbrush. “I think I’m gonna skip breakfast.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t go to school today.” he suggested.”

“Lin, she started. “I’ve gone to school in much worse condition. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay…” He walked back down the hallway towards the kitchen. “But if you want to go home, just give me a call! And remember what I said about Vanessa!”

The train ride to school that morning was almost unbearable. Partially because of nausea, but also because certain muscles in her body had become overwhelmingly tender. Her messenger bag sat uncomfortably on her shoulder, heavily irritating her chest. By the time she had reached her destination, her symptoms had not improved. She slowly trudged to her locker only to find Dan waiting there to greet her.

“Hey,” he smiled before getting a closer look at her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I thi—” her sentence was cut short by the feeling of bile rising in the back of her throat. She rushed to the bathroom across the hall, locking herself in the handicapped stall before releasing the containments of her stomach—which wasn’t much—into the toilet. She hunched over, feeling the cramps in her torso worsen as her stomach contracted.

When it was over, she was on her knees, her hair carefully hung on the outside of the seat.

She sighed, standing up and moving towards the sink to wash her face.

When Dan saw her exit the bathroom, he offered his only unopened bottle of water. She graciously accepted.

“Are you okay?” he asked again.

“I’m pretty sure like ninety percent of what just came out of me was stomach acid, but yeah I’m fine.”

“Good.” he pulled a ten dollar bill from his pocket, the same one that Alexa had left on the table the day before. “Hamilton’s glad to hear that.” He handed the bill to her.

“What is this?”

“You dropped it yesterday.” he reminded her.

“Yeah… to pay for my coffee.”

“I took care of it. Here, you can keep it.”

“Dan…” She attempted to hand the bill back. “It’s fine. I can pay for my own coffee.”

“I know, but I took care of it.” He thought back to her rush to the bathroom earlier, eager to change the subject. “You should probably eat something before class. At least it’ll keep the stomach acid down.”

“Come with me?” she asked. Dan nodded and they made their way to the dining hall. Inside was an array of breakfast options that were certainly worthy of a hefty tuition. With it came an overwhelming aroma that made Alexa dry heave as soon as she stepped in the room. She stepped back out to avoid worsening the feeling.

“I think I’m just gonna go to class,” she suggested. “I’ll see you around.”

At noon, the cramps had seceded while the other symptoms worsened. While the other students entered the cafeteria for lunch, Alexa stood outside.

The smell was unbearable. She had no desire to get sick for a third time that day and gave in, headed to the nurse’s office.

She’d listed off her symptoms, the bloating, nausea and vomiting, the fatigue, the cramps, and the muscle tenderness. The nurse, a middle-aged white woman who managed to look consistently bitter, visibly rolled her eyes in response.

“Are you sexually active?” she asked, reaching into her desk.

“No.”

The nurse glanced up at her. “Miss, I can’t help you if you’re not honest with me.”

“I’m not,” she shot back. Being a virgin wasn’t exactly something she wanted to brag about, but it was true.

The nurse pulled a small cardboard box out of her desk, handing it to the teen.

“Go to the restroom, follow the instructions on the box, and bring it back when you’re done.”

The box clearly read Pregnancy Test across the front, which made it clear to Alexa that the nurse didn’t believe her.

“Whatever.” She scoffed, bringing the test with her.

In the tiny bathroom stall, she removed the test from its packaging and stared back it. It was taunting her with its simplicity.

She removed the cap on the far end, carefully sliding it between her legs and using it as instructed. The results were still pending as she capped the test and walked back to the nurse’s office.

A change on the display alerted them to the results, a plus sign.

“You’re pregnant.” the nurse announced unenthusiastically.

“This is a joke.” Alexa rolled her eyes back. “You clearly don’t know what you’re doing. I told you I’ve never had sex. That test is probably defective. It looks older than you.”

“I can’t say we’ve had a pregnant girl at Columbia Prep before, but I suppose there’s a first for everything. Especially considering your…” she paused. “Situation.”

“What situation?” Alexa demanded, glaring at the nurse. “That I’m black, that I was adopted two months ago, that I live in the heights or that my parents are Latinx and therefore unfit?”

The nurse ignored the question, unwilling to put her job at risk. “If you’re still feeling sick, I can call your parents and have one of them come get you. Just move to the cot over there.”

“Racist.” she muttered under her breath, angrily grabbing her bag as she made her way to the cot on the far end of the room.

“Okay let’s skip ahead to light cue 145, sound cue 11, and stage cue 78.”

At the Richard Rodgers theatre, the cast and crew were changing up some of the show’s lighting cues a few hours before the afternoon matinee at 2 pm. The stage manager was hard at work, directing everyone through the motions so that they could enter the correct cues into their system.

The actors were still, silent onstage waiting for direction while the lighting technicians were quietly discussing the correct cues upstairs. In the midst of a silence, there was a loud ringing noise, someone’s cell phone.

Tommy Kail, working alongside the show’s stage manager, glanced up at the stage for the source of the sound. “Who didn’t turn their phone off?”

All of the actors onstage glanced at one another briefly. Once Lin realized it was his phone, he blushed.

“Oh shit, my bad!” he pulled his phone out. “That was me.”

Hesitating for a moment, he glanced at the call not recognizing the strange number and picked it up. “Hello?”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Take five, everyone. Lin has a very important phone call to take.”

Everyone else left their positions.

“Sorry, who am I speaking with?”

The voice of an older white woman greeted him, making it clear that she was unsure of how to properly pronounce his name and wasn’t going to bother to try.

“This is Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is this?”

“I’m the nurse at Columbia Prep. Your daughter Alexa is in the infirmary with me and she needs to be picked up. She’s been vomiting all day and—”

The nurse paused. While it may have been practical to inform him of the pregnancy test, she wasn’t sure it was her place to do so. From the other side of the room, Alexa sat up from her curled fetal position. She waited, holding her breath, to see if the nurse would say anything.

“Well, she’s not feeling well.”

“Is she okay?” he demanded, the concern in his voice catching the attention of those in the theatre. “Did anyone get hurt?”

“No sir, not mentally. She’s just physically ill.”

“Oh,” he took a sigh of relief that he wasn’t proud of. The fact that he was so sure she’d had a mental breakdown that involved another student getting hurt was nothing if not slightly unsettling. He was grateful that wasn’t the case. “So she’s with you?”

“Can I talk to him?” Alexa demanded, interrupting their conversation.

“She wants to talk to you.” the nurse announced as Alexa slowly walked back toward the desk.

“Hey, Lin.”

“Hey kiddo, still not feeling well?”

“I must have a 24-hour virus or something. My hormones are off.” she glared at the nurse. “I think I should sleep it off.“

“I’ll come and get you.” he offered, already headed to his dressing room to pick up his things.

“What? No, you’re at work. I’ll just sleep in the nurse’s office until school ends. You shouldn’t leave, it’s too important.”

“Too late, I’m already leaving.” He threw everything he needed into his bag before slinging it over his shoulder and heading toward the exit. “Stay put. I’ll be there soon.”

There was a number of questioning looks he received on his way out.

“Lex is sick.” he explained to the stage manager, who seemed suddenly concerned.

“Oh, is she…” he paused, pretending to scratch his arms.

“Oh, no.” he was quick to reassure them that this wasn’t a mental breakdown similar to the one she’d had a little over a week beforehand. “She’s just been throwing up all day. I’m gonna go get her. Put Javi in for the rest of the run through. I should be back for the matinee.”

Lin opted for a cab uptown, arriving promptly and heading to the infirmary to find his daughter curled up on a cot at the far end of the room.

When she heard him come in, a look of concern crossed her face.

“What are you doing here?”

“I told you I was coming.”

Alexa glanced at the nurse, who seemed confused at their exchange. She lowered her voice to a whisper.

“I thought we agreed you weren’t coming because work is more important?”

“We never agreed on that because it isn’t true,” he whispered back. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

“But…” she seemed desperate for answers. “Work is always more important.”

It was clear that something had triggered her, though Lin wasn’t sure what it was.

“Little girls who stay home from school get punished.” the thought passed through her consciousness as if she’d heard it yesterday, though she hadn’t heard the phrase in years.

Suddenly she backed away from him, up against the wall.

“I’m fine. I’m not sick. I’ll go to class. I’m sorry for making you come all the way over—”

“Hey,” he sat beside her on the cot, trying to interrupt her thoughts for a moment. “You didn’t make me come here. I wanted to come, okay? I’ll take you home and you can sleep it off.”

As expected, her medication helped her calm down a lot faster than she would typically be able to on her own. She paused for a moment.

“I promise, nothing bad will happen to you,” he reassured her. “We’ll go home, you can get some sleep and hopefully you’ll start to feel better.”

“You promise?” she pressed, still hesitant.

“I promise.”

She grabbed his hand for support, following him out of the infirmary and to the cab waiting outside.

“Just hang out here. I’ll make you some tea.” As they got home a few minutes later, Lin helped her over to the couch, putting a blanket over the length of her body before moving away to the kitchen. She had calmed down significantly on the car ride home, taking long calming breaths to ease her anxiety.

“So did the nurse say exactly what was wrong with you?” he questioned from the kitchen.

“Uh,” Alexa paused. While she was certain she wasn’t pregnant, having never had sex, she wasn’t too open to the idea of sharing everything that happened with him. “Nothing useful.” she finally said. “Just offered to call you.”

“You’re right, that isn’t very useful.” He placed the full kettle on the stove, before turning on the burner and returning to the couch to sit beside her. “Maybe we should take you back to the doctor.”

Alexa rolled her eyes. “Hopefully they’re better at their job than that shitty nurse is.”

“Are you hungry? Did you eat at school?”

She shook her head before placing a pillow underneath it to protect her neck. “The smell of everything made me want to vomit.”

“Hold on,” he stood up, headed back to the kitchen. “I think Vanessa bought saltine crackers last week.”

Digging through the pantry, he found a small box of saltines in the back with the package half empty. He grabbed the whole thing, handing it to her.

“That’s all we have, but I’ll go pick up some more—”

Alexa made a noise of protest, turning onto her stomach. “You should go back to work. That’s more important.”

The kettle began to whistle, calling Lin to attention before he could respond.

“Lex, do you want anything in your tea?”

“A spoonful of honey please.”

“Got it.” He prepared it as requested before carefully handing it to her.

She sat up and took a sip, sighing, content.

“This helps a lot.”

“I’m glad.” he kissed her forehead. “Are you sure you don’t want me to pick up more saltines?”

“Go back to work. I’ll be fine here.”

“Okay… but call me if you need anything.”

“Phone’s on,” she assured him. “I’m probably just gonna take a nap. I’m exhausted.”

“Alright well… V’s going to some work event later and I’ll be on tonight, so we’ll probably both be back around midnight. Unless you need me to come back—”

“Oh my god, Lin, go back to rehearsal.”

Lin smirked, picking up his bag and heading out of the apartment.

On her own, the silence was deafening. She could feel the fatigue overwhelming her, but sleep was far off. On paper, she had almost every symptom of early pregnancy. She never really had consistent periods, didn’t she need that to get pregnant?

No. No way. She couldn’t be pregnant because she was a virgin. Virgins didn’t get pregnant. Well, except for that one tv show, but that was fake and didn’t count.

The test I took must’ve been defective she assured herself. If I took another test, there’s no way it would come up positive.

That reassurance, however, did not help her get to sleep any faster.

She threw the blanket off.

“Fucking fine.” she groaned and took a large swig of tea from the mug before picking up her messenger bag and heading out.

The nearest pharmacy was five blocks away, a small business on the corner. She headed in, gravitating toward the refrigerated aisle. She grabbed a large can of Arizona tea—only a dollar, respectively—and left in search of her other purchase.

There they were, at eye level between the tampons and the condoms—pregnancy tests. She examined them carefully, reading each label and what special feature they boasted.

She could feel her heart pounding, her palms sweaty.

This is ridiculous she thought to herself. I’m not pregnant.

One box, in particular, caught her eye, a test boasting its ability to show how far along you were. It came in a pack of two, which she grabbed and headed to the register.

Behind the counter, the foreign older gentleman glared at her as she approached with her items.

“You’re too young to buy this.” His thick accent intruded her overwhelming thoughts.

“There’s no age limit on buying pregnancy tests.” she shot back.

“A young body like yours is too valuable to carry a child.” he insisted. “You could do much better with it elsewhere.”

“Do you want my money or not you fucking pervert?” A wad of cash in hand, Alexa glared at the man behind the counter as he placed her items in a small black plastic bag.

“Twenty-four fifty,” he announced, taking the twenty-five dollars she handed him. He passed two quarters back, watching her carefully as she left the store.

Before heading down the street, she pulled her phone out of the pocket of her skirt—her uniform still on from her time at school—opening Spotify. A quick typed search for In the Heights brought up the album of Lin’s first broadway show, a production she’d virtually never heard of. Cautiously, she tapped the first song, placed her headphones over her ears, and took the slow route home, open Arizona can in hand.

The song was still playing as she got home, tossing the now empty can in the trash. She made her way to the bathroom, the box burning a hole into her palm

She tossed the instructions aside for later, sitting on the toilet seat and carefully positioning the test between her legs.

Once it was over, she recapped the test placing it flat on the counter. It was a three-minute wait.

I’m not pregnant. I’m not pregnant. I’m not pregnant. I command myself not to be pregnant.

The test flashed a result on its screen, a tiny display that read

Pregnant

Alexa dropped the test, her heart pounding. This couldn’t be real. It had to be some kind of dream.

She grabbed the instructions, skimming them again, desperately seeking answers.

Under her result read a paragraph about conception, how the result had concluded that she conceived three or more weeks prior.

“What the fuck,” she managed, trying not to hyperventilate. She pulled her phone out, stopping the music and pulling up her calendar in the hope that a date would jog her memory of something. Perhaps an artificial insemination that she’d agreed to in an exhausted state—being a surrogate mother was a well-paying gig nowadays.

She scrolled back to two weeks prior. Nothing. Three weeks. Nothing.

“This makes no sense,” she said aloud. “There is no way I could possibly be pregnant. I’ve never had se—.”

There it was, a Thursday four weeks back. There was an event marked on her calendar entitled:

Party tonight at CP!

Memories flashed through her mind of the following day, where she was offered a Plan B pill at the hospital, took it, left to shower, and promptly got sick only minutes later giving it virtually no chance to enter her system.

She could feel the breath leave her lungs all at once, her mind going numb.

She had never considered this.

It wasn’t something one considered after having been through what she had.

She dropped her phone—or rather, it fell out of her hands—landing on the tiled bathroom floor. She put the test into the garbage can, covering it with the other items to keep it out of sight.

Her instincts brought her to the kitchen, where she easily bypassed the child lock on the liquor cabinet. She pulled out an unopened bottle of whiskey, an unopened bottle of vodka, and dug through the freezer for a tequila bottle stashed away.

The three bottles in front of her on the counter, she debated which one would be the easiest to chug. She opted for the vodka, popping the cap and downing the bitter liquid. She hesitated for a moment, the burn in the back of her throat causing her to cough, but continued anyway. It would be unpleasant, sure, but it was the easiest thing she could think of to get rid of the thing that was supposedly growing inside of her. Within minutes, the bottle was empty.

The other two bottles stared back at her, making her feel self-conscious. She left the kitchen, pacing the length of the entire house before returning to the same two bottles. Her hand reached for the empty vodka bottle, holding it for a moment before smashing it against the granite countertop. It shattered, leaving glass everywhere and cutting her palm open.

“Fuck,” she winced, clutching the palm to her chest. The blood quickly spread to her white polo, a fact that she didn’t seem to notice as she reached for the whiskey.

Twisting the cap open, she felt nothing as the bottle reached her lips, swallowing as fast as she could. The whiskey was stronger, more demanding. She could feel her throat screaming for a break, but she pressed on until the bottle was empty. The dangers of her decisions were far from her mind as she dropped the whiskey bottle on the tile floor. It didn’t shatter like she hoped it would.

She could feel the alcohol coursing through her as she paced the house again, her hand leaving a trail of blood as she walked.

Returning to the counter, the last bottle sat, waiting for her. She pulled the cork out, taking a swig.

It came then suddenly, like a truck hitting a brick wall. The effects of her binge drinking arrived hard and fast, knocking her down. She managed to pull the tequila off of the counter with her, the glass shattering on the floor beside her as she lay, numb.

“Do you think she’s allergic to something?”

Lin shook his head. “That can’t be it because she didn’t eat anything this morning.”

Vanessa held her sleeping son close, waiting for Lin to pull out his keys to open their front door. They were greeted by an empty couch, a surprise to both of them. Lin glanced at his watch.

“It’s after midnight. She’s probably asleep.” he concluded.

“I’m gonna put Sebastian to bed,” she whispered, starting toward the hallway. As she passed the kitchen, however, she paused, speechless, staring at the ground.

“What’s up, V?” he moved to her side, curious as to what she was so preoccupied with. His jaw nearly hit the ground at the sight of the kitchen floor.

Alexa was there, unconscious, broken glass and spots of blood surrounding her. Her hand was obviously impaled, a large puddle of blood surrounding it.

“Holy shit.”

#hamilcast imagines #hamilcast au #lin x vanessa #foster dad lin au #hamilton fanfic #hamilton fanfiction #hamilton imagines #imagines blog

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renegadesepiida · 8 years ago

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This weekend I snapped back into the realization that, hey, I like to cook. I haven’t been cooking or eating healthy food for a while just cause I’ve been lazy, which is, of course, not good neither for me nor my wallet. So yesterday I went back to the grocery store and only bought food that I need to make into a meal. There, now, I can’t be as lazy anymore.

This train of thought about food makes me reminisce about meals that I have had in other countries, where people can be a bit more adventurous, or where the diets have evolved differently than ours. While some people will find this a bit shocking and maybe even disgusting I would recommend at least trying any of these tasty “meat” treats. *List in order of least to most odd, according to responses from people when I tell them. And I am not taking fish/sushi or shellfish because, one I’d be here all day [a lot of people don’t really like any seafood :( ] and two, because that’s been a staple of the American diet for a while and I only want to count the meat dishes that I thought were strange when I first tried them.

Escargot

Snails – of course, this dish isn’t uncommon here in the states, in fact, Northern California is where I first sampled it around the age of, maybe, 16(?). Escargot is much more common in France when I was visiting Paris for a week in 2014 with my friend Catherine we would always split the appetizer of 6 snails. The only reason that this makes the list is because a lot of people still look at me funny when I say that I’ve had the dish. While the squishier texture may turn some people off (I enjoy it), c’mon, guys it just tastes like garlic butter.

Goose Liver Pâté

This is another common dish for those rich folks, and while I was in France I wanted to try it, just once. I am not personally in favor of stuffing the life out of the geese or duck or any other bird people choose to do this too, and I even now I don’t know if it makes any of it taste better since I’ve still never had a normal goose or duck liver. Or, really, liver of any kind.

Reindeer/Venison

While deer or venison can be pretty normal with people who hunt, it wasn’t something that I grew up with, so when I tried a piece of deer sausage around the age of 12, without releasing what it was, I enjoyed it. After I found out I was a bit sad, but soon after I didn’t really care. Now, though you can get venison at certain burger places, and it’s good don’t get me wrong, but it’s not quite the same. Reindeer on the other side of the world, Norway is where I had it as a delicious lean steak in a traditional restaurant in Bergen. Reindeer tend to be smaller that other deer, and is less gamey, probably because they have been more or less domesticated.

Moose

Yummy Norwegian moose is the only kind of moose I’ve had. It is tougher and a bit gamier than venison, but still good. I got the purest taste, but I enjoyed it most when it was a meat option on the top of a breakfast “sandwich”. Even wanted to bring some home, but customs doesn’t allow any meat to be brought from Norway, even when it’s store bought and still package sealed.

Emu

If anyone has ever had ostrich I assume it tastes like that, but I couldn’t say because I haven’t had ostrich. I just know that emu is good; it tasted like beef to me but was stringier. In the Australia of 2010, I had it on a pizza (and picked it off for the single flavor) at a restaurant called The Australian Heritage Hotel.

http://www.gourmantic.com/2011/03/01/australian-heritage-hotel-kangaroo-crocodile-the-rocks/

Never did try crocodile.

Pinnkjøtt

The traditional Christmas dish, sheep ribs, which my uncle and aunt’s dad once got in the newspaper for is one of the best dishes in the world. While sheep or lamb ribs are common in the US, they aren’t prepared this way. After the main meat has been taken off the leftovers are frozen and then unfrozen and cooked in a big pot for the Christmas dinner feast. While each rib does not have an enormous quantity of meat on each, each bite is well worth it. Melt in your mouth delicious. Pair with mashed turnips (and/or potatoes) and sauerkraut (red and/or white pickled cabbage) or whatever else you want.

http://mylittlenorway.com/2009/12/pinnekjott/

Armadillo and Coatimundi

Most people know armadillos from the southwestern US and Mexico, but they also are so common in Guatemala that they are eaten there, unlike the countries further north. The white-nosed coati is another mammal species from Guatemala. Every day we would see dozens of these animals sniffing around the forest ground searching for bugs to eat. With their tails in the air, they looked like backward brachiosauruses, adorable. One night when we stayed overnight in the city of Flores, on the island in Lake Petén Itza, during the Guatemalan independence celebration. While celebrations were happening all over the island our group of five went out for dinner. The plan was to follow our professor and guide because they told us that they were going to their favorite restaurant, which has exciting food we should try. After some wandering and hoping we found the right place, we walked through a closed door at the opening of an alley and found that we were in the restaurant the professor mentioned, due to the fact that we could see them sitting and drinking at a table. They informed us which of the dishes we should get. And the five of us ended up splitting a few orders of both. I tasted the armadillo first, and while it wasn’t bad, especially with the sauce, there were so many tiny bones, like a fish and it was gamier than I’d like. That was annoying to me, plus the meat didn’t taste good enough to put up with the bone issue. Moving to the coatis’ meat, wow, that meat was good. Light and tender, with a great sauce and no bones. Perfection.

I can’t say where the restaurant was or what it was even called. So for one of the best meals you may ever have, I wish you and myself (when I can get back) all the luck in the world.

http://www.enjoyguatemala.com/guatemala-lakes/

Hamam Mahshi

When I mention that I ate pigeon in Egypt, people in the US tend to tilt their head and ask me if that was such a good idea. Of course, it was a great idea, the culture, including around food is different, but the ideas are the same. Unlike in the US pigeons in Egypt are not ‘rats with wings’ as we see them here, in many countries just like in Egypt, pigeons are raised like any other free-range farm animal. The one to two-year-old birds are killed for their meat, while the older ones continue mating, just like we raise cattle or poultry in the US. Except better because they are not fed hormones and such and have large cages outside where they can fly around on the roofs of buildings in the city. The main way to enjoy pigeon is to have it in a soup or get the full bird that has been stuffed with rice after the inside had been cleaned out. I say, at any time you could, try this meal. Not only is it nice to eat, but tearing it apart the correct way is also a fun challenge.

http://www.internationalcuisine.com/egypt-squab/

Kangaroo

Another delicious meat, which I first had at the Australian Heritage Hotel in 2010 on a pizza. Seriously, this was the best meat I have EVER had. It didn’t taste like anything I’ve tried before and then I get asked, “Oh, then, does it taste like chicken?” NO! It’s WAY BETTER than chicken. And I miss it a lot… Most people probably stare at me because of my over the top reaction, but I also get some people trying to guilt me, cause “kangaroos are so cute”. No friends, well yes, but no. In Australia, they are hunted regularly by “Roo Shooters” because of serious overpopulation issues with a few, if any, natural predators that are not extinct. So don’t feel too bad, plus the used the entire animal for other materials (for example a leather hat).

https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/publications/kangaroo-shooting-code-compliance/kangaroos#poi

http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2013/04/03/a-necessary-evil-the-kangaroo-cull/

Lutefisk

Literally translated, ‘lye fish’ is a fermented fish dish from Scandinavian countries like Norway and Sweden. It is typically made from cod or another plain white fish that is easy to fish up in the North. When I say the name, listeners usually ask, “What is that?” And then when I respond with “fermented fish” I get ewwwws and grosses. It is a very good meal if made properly (like pretty much everything). If the fish isn’t unfrozen properly the meat will turn gelatinous, which is what most people find disgusting. I have found that with food, texture is seriously everything. Even though my aunt and younger cousin both hate lutefisk, even when my aunt’s dad prepares it. My older Norwegian cousin, uncle (mom’s brother), mom, sister, and I all love it but only get to have it up at the hytta (cabin). It is so good, especially with the bacon sauce to put on top (and I don’t even like bacon!) and I eat it with turnips, but potatoes are also an option.

https://whatscookingamerica.net/History/LutefiskHistory.htm

Grasshoppers, Ant larva, and Grubs

While traveling around the various states of Mexico we tasted maybe different kinds of food. The most apprehensive I ever was, was the second year, in central Mexico eating bugs. Yes, when I was a little kid I accidently ate an ant, but these were on purpose, all of them prepared by the cooks in the kitchen especially for us. The grubs were the introduction. Lightly fried and tossed in a bowl. They were the appetizers; both Kat (another girl on the trip) and I were the first to try them. And surprisingly, but unsurprisingly, the grubs seemed to taste good, but actually, they didn’t really taste like much of anything. A little vegetable oil and some salt made each one a savory cloud with a slight crunch. The ant larva was the next dish I tried; in the dish, mixed with a white sauce and probably different vegetables, the tiny balls of larva looked like couscous or quinoa. Because I was not apprehensive about trying this one I took between a quarter and a half of a teaspoon, it was not good. In fact, I wanted to spit it out it was so bad. Don’t let this discourage you, though, when I took the ant larva off the plate alone and ate it, it was much better. So whatever the ant larva was mixed with was what I disliked and not the bugs themselves. The last dish of insects, on a different day, in a different restaurant, in a different state, was little bowls of baby grasshoppers served to us with chips, salsa, and lime. The combination of chips, bug, and lime tasted just like salted lime and vinegar chips. Nothing wrong with that at all, and I definitely ate quite a few before my main dish arrived.

Hvalbiff

Whale – specifically Minke whale from Norway. A highly controversial topic, which I would direct anyone to read a few articles for more information. I am in no sense of the word, an expert on the subject, but I do know a bit about whaling. And while I can never defend overfishing, like what Japan hunters do illegally with any whale they see, I can see the merits of Norway for greatly reducing the intake over the past several years and only hunting species that are not at risk of being endangered. In fact, these whales are of least concern, and just like their ancestors: Norwegians, Icelanders, etc. all use the entire animal. And let me just say, it also tastes similar to a lean steak, with less fat. My cousin and I bought one box from the grocery store and cooked it up for dinner; one box was more than enough for the both of us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_whale

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160331-norway-minke-whaling-fur-farms/

http://us.whales.org/issues/whaling-in-norway

Around the world, you’ll find food that you may not have considered ever trying. But I always like to immerse myself in any culture I visit, not only is it respectful, but you’ll get a whole new experience and widen all horizons. Where ever you go the people living there have been there much longer, years, generations, centuries, and they know what they’re doing. I trust that they want to share the best of their lives with me as I would with them.

GO FORTH AND EAT FOOD!

Meet Some New Meat This weekend I snapped back into the realization that, hey, I like to cook. I haven’t been cooking or eating healthy food for a while just cause I’ve been lazy, which is, of course, not good neither for me nor my wallet.

#cultural #eatingbugs #Egypt #fish #foodporn #meat #memories #mexico #Norway #pizza #travel #tryingnewthings #vacation

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lunar-root · 8 years ago

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"In this morning’s email, I got a post from a would-be healer asking about the spirit-work research that I’ve done about the Nine Sacred Herbs and their use. For those of you who don’t know the Lay of the Nine Sacred Herbs, it contains descriptions of these herbs and their use in spirit-healing, as well as a long list of “poisons” that they cure, and many references to “snakes” and “worms”, and their poisonous bites. (In Old English, as in many of the old Germanic tongues, the word for snake and the word for worm are the same - in the case of Old English, the language of the Nine Herbs song, it’s “wyrm”.) The herbs are sung of as being set against the poisons of these snakes.

Except, pointed out this astute individual, none of these herbs actually have properties that are useful for curing snakebite. They are all medicinal in some way, but they are not antivenom. So what’s all this about snakes and poison? Does it mean that the medicine of our ancestors was all superstitious nonsense, as modern medicine would have us believe?

The questioner was absolutely right that these were not herbs that one would use against actual poisoning with snake venom, whether by a snake or by a malicious human. However, they were missing the point of the charm. First of all, the word “attor”, which recurs again and again throughout the song, is generally translated as “poison”. Certainly it is the root from which we get the term “adder”, or poisonous snake, which occurs in the song as “naddran”. However, what you have to understand is that the concept of poison and the concept of disease were one and the same to our northern-European ancestors. To us, poison is one thing and disease is another, although there is actually considerable overlap that we don’t like to admit. To them, “attor” was “something that made you sick”, whatever that might be.

“Attor” might come from anywhere. Our ancestors had observed that some plants were poison, and eating them made you sick. Sometimes something went wrong with food or water and it made you sick. Sometimes you were bitten by an animal and it made you sick. Sometimes the sickness came out of the blue, seemingly from nowhere. As far as they were concerned, it was all poison of some sort. They did have a good idea that it could travel through the air from person to person; the song repeatedly mentions a kind of poison that is referred to as “onflyge” or “the onflying”, and another that is “the evil spirit that fares across the land”; the final verse of the song wards the directions from these traveling poisons.

But the song also describes the nine herbs being proof against nine and possibly more “wyrm” creatures; Odin strikes the “wyrm” with the herbs and slays it. References are made to a running stream where one can find all the serpents that cause poison. These are not literal adders, and the poison that they spread is not venom. The song is referring to diseases, as can be discerned from the long list of “poisons” at the end of the song. There aren’t that many species of poisonous snakes in all of northern Europe; if you want large numbers of herpetologist’s nightmares, you have to travel to warmer climes such as India, Africa, and Australia. The snake or worm is the symbolic vector that creates sickness. This is the “wyrm” that “com snican” - pronounce that last word as it looks as if it ought to be pronounced, “sneakin’”, and you’ll understand the phrase - and that Odin slays with the herbs. Given this, it makes no sense to examine any of the plants with an eye to their usefulness for actual snakebite. All diseases are a form of snakebite, according to this symbol system. It’s just a matter of identifying which serpent got you, and how to combat them.

For centuries, so-called “civilized” people have dismissed the medicine of traditional tribal spirit-healers as being mere superstition. This was done after having killed off all of their own spirit-healers to the point where their own traditions, and any understanding of them, were lost. One of the biggest points that they used to point out this benighted primitivism was the belief that disease was caused by evil spirits. However, after years of magical, psychic, and anthropological research, I’ve come to the conclusion that this thinking isn’t superstitious at all.

Let’s take a theoretical trip back to our prehistoric spirit-healer. While not all shamans were healers, many were, and most did at least some healing. The shaman or spirit-worker was not the same thing as the early herbalist, although in many cultures the two were combined, and most shamans knew the basics of this art. Spirit-healers went further than just dosing people with herbs for their medicinal effects. Although herbalism was the first line of defense, sometimes it just wasn’t good enough.

Imagine that you are this person on whom the health of your entire tribe depends. You are surrounded by a dangerous environment, and strange maladies can come from any direction. This person breaks his leg, you set it, and he heals fine. The next one with a similar injury becomes ill, doesn’t heal, and dies. Your first problem, of course, is diagnosis. How do you tell what’s going wrong? You can examine the physical body and ask about symptoms, as doctors have done for millennia…but as they have often found, sometimes you can’t accurately figure out what’s wrong in that way. Symptoms may mask entirely different problems, and the outside of the body can only offer so many clues.

Today, a great deal of diagnostic aid is received from being able to see inside the body and its fluids - X-rays, MRIs, biopsies, and most importantly, microscopically analyzing the critters and chemical makeup of the body fluids. However, our ancient healer does not have these ways of seeing inside the opaque bag of skin, especially on that small a level. Physical technology has not advanced that far….so you turn to another sort of technology, that of seeing and working with the astral realm. To do this, of course, you have to have the Knack, which is why although many people could be herbwives and cunning men, not everyone could be a spirit-worker.

(In one account by an American ethnobotanist who went to South America to learn herblore from the shamans, he reinjures his elbow - apparently a recurring problem since a major injury there in college - and goes to the shaman who is currently helping him for some aid. The shaman examines his arms closely, says that there is a hole in his “spirit elbow” that is weakening his physical elbow, and that it requires patching. He does a ritual to do this, and the arm is better for some years. To me, this made perfect sense: he was checking out the astral body and not the physical body, and that’s where he could see the problem. Fixing it, of course, was a bigger deal, requiring all sorts of ritual work.)

To do this, you’ll have to be able to see things on the astral plane, including the astral body of a human being. Sometimes you can look into them in this way and see that there’s something wrong, but you might not be able to pick out exactly what it is. There’s odd energy around the stomach….is it from an imbalance of “humours” or “energies”, or is it from evil spirits? In other words, is it because the body’s carefully balanced chemicals are lacking something, or is it from an outside invasion? To figure this out may mean seeing smaller than you can see while staring with your astral eyes at their astral body. It means taking yourself into a tiny world, and that requires trancework and altered states of some kind.

For this, you need a whole other sort of technology - methods of going into trance that are reliable, work well for you, and don’t cause too much damage to you. Then you’ll need a way to know what you are looking at when you go, and a way to interpret what you’re seeing. This is contained in the symbolic lore that is passed down to you by the spirit-worker who trained you. You may not know what the adrenal glands are, but you have been trained to take a trance journey to the Well of Fire, and to figure out what it ought to look like, and if something is wrong. Each shamanic tradition had its own language for the parts of the body; Inuit angakoks, for example, had to memorize a symbolic language that included every part of the anatomy, including each bone.

So you use your trance methods, be they drumming or hallucinogens or dancing or chanting or fasting or ritual sex or whatever you’ve found works for you. Then you visit the astral stomach of the man lying before you. Here, having transformed your consciousness into something that can see a situation on the microscopic level, you discover that things are wrong. It’s overrun with some sort of destructive creature that seems intent on wreaking havoc in order to create more of itself. Evil spirits! You observe them, getting their astral “smell” down, and return. However, your job has just begun.

If it’s a sort of evil spirit that you’ve “seen” and “smelled” before, and you know that it responds to a certain physical treatment, you administer this. However, if it’s not something that has so easy a cure, what will you do? Your second line of defense is to kill the evil spirits, because, after all, that’s what causes disease.

Before you, the reader, starts reacting to this seemingly ridiculous statement with knee-jerk scorn, hold on a moment longer and consider this: Everyone who has ever worked with any kind of psychic healing knows that it all starts with life force. Respected and enduring systems such as Reiki and Ch'i Gong are based on the knowledge that there is energy that runs through everything, that it has many different flavors, and that it can be moved around and redirected in order to cause physical change. In other words, everything has some sort of soul, and things that live have a soul that is made of dynamic life force. Whether it’s called chi, ki, huna, prana, mana, or by any other name, we all have it. The chi within us takes on our signatures, our “flavor”. If we lose a lot of it, we may get weak and sick; our immune systems seem to be the first things affected. Without any of it, we sicken and die.“

I’ve been staying away from Raven Kaldera because he has such a bad rap but I’ve found a few things of his lately that are really good

#raven caldera #witchcraft #pagan #herbalism #healing

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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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How K-ON! Helped Preserve the Small Town of Toyosato

This article by Daryl Harding was originally published on May 26, 2020

This article is part of Crunchyroll News' KyoAni Month celebration. Check out the rest of our KyoAni features HERE.

This current anime season marks the 10th anniversary of the airing of the second season of Kyoto Animation classic K-ON!, entitled K-ON!! (with two exclamation marks denoting which is the second series). The TV anime series and subsequent anime film were at one point the most popular anime franchise in Japan, breaking home video records with each volume that was released and putting then-newbie director Naoko Yamada (A Silent Voice, Liz and the Blue Bird) on the map. Yamada, at 24 years old, won the Tokyo Anime Award for K-ON! in 2010 and 2011, making her the youngest anime director to do so, and is still — even a decade later — one of the youngest directors in anime at such a high level. You can learn more about her in a piece I wrote back in December.

But Yamada wasn’t the only aspect of K-ON! to be put on people’s radars. The small township of Toyosato (it’s the 20th smallest town in Japan, and of those 20 towns, has the 5th smallest population size) is the home to the Former Toyosato Elementary School, the real-life inspiration behind the iconic school from K-ON!.

The actual town in K-ON! is never named and is purposefully obscured. In Season 2, Episode 4, the girls go on a school trip to Kyoto by Shinkansen — where they pass by Mt. Fuji. Toyosato in real life doesn’t have a Shinkansen stop, it's far too rural — and is only around two hours away by the local line from Kyoto. Mt. Fuji is near Tokyo.

Mt. Fuji in K-ON!!

So today, let’s take a look at how K-ON! has helped preserve the small town of Toyosato, and how the influence of the popular series can still be felt in the region, even a decade later.

A Small History of Toyosato, Shiga Prefecture

Photo: Daryl Harding

Toyosato is situated in the closest neighboring prefecture to Kyoto, Shiga Prefecture, within the district of Inukami. Measuring at only 7.80 km2, it is the smallest town in the district and the smallest town in Shiga Prefecture. The town is known throughout Japan for its agriculture, sake, and the Former Toyosato Elementary School — which gained national attention in the 2000s when the then-mayor proposed demolishing the school building due to its age and lack of earthquake-prevention construction. He was ousted from his position due to the controversy (but later reelected). The school went through the reconstruction needed to bring it up to code, reopening in May 2009 — a month after K-ON! debuted on Japanese TV — as a cultural center and library for Toyosato.

Photo: Daryl Harding

Even now, the town is mostly just agriculture, with the true view out of the real-life Light Music Club windows being that of vegetables being grown across the road.

K-ON! in the Former Toyosato Elementary School

Since K-ON! aired, the Former Toyosato Elementary School, which was built in 1937, has undergone a slight transformation. The real-life room where the light music club would have been in the anime has been recreated to a tee, featuring cakes, cups (including Azunyan’s kitty cup), a Gibson Pre-'08 Les Paul Standard in Heritage Cherry Sunburst (the same model used for Yui’s ‘Giita’), and even a perfect reaction of the name cards from the second opening theme from K-ON!!.

Photo: Daryl Harding

While Ton-chan was absent from the light music club room, the signature turtle and rabbit do exist and can be found on the railing of the school leading up the stairs. One has to imagine the painstaking process the background artists at Kyoto Animation went through in recreating the scenes in the school in flawless detail.

Photo: Daryl Harding

Even walking the halls, I was swept up in the nostalgia for a place I had never been to. I felt — because of my love for the series — that I knew every nook and cranny in the school, without ever having been there. I could picture Ritsu dragging Mio through these halls as I was walking through them myself. Though the school was a lot smaller than I had imagined. While it’s hard to think of how a full high school, in an area with a higher population, would be able to fit into the 2.5 leveled school, it made sense for a small town like Toyosato.

The halls of the Former Toyosato Elementary School with some K-ON! fans walking down them (Left photo: Daryl Harding)

Former Toyosato Elementary School’s Facilities

Other than being an anime pilgrimage site, the Former Toyosato Elementary School has its own facilities — including a museum on its own history that features an original phone (in the booth!) from the 1930s. As a cultural site, the school is home to a daycare center, a cafe (which features K-ON! themed drinks alongside beverages created with hometown products), the town’s library (which was closed on the day), and guided tours of the school, letting you learn more about the history of the school and area.

The closed, and dark, library (Photo: Daryl Harding)

The school can also be rented out for events, birthday parties, and even as a filming location. The live-action Haganai film used the school as a basis for the fictional school in the film, which made for some interesting juxtapositions between the sweet K-ON! girls and the slight raunchy nature of the gang from the Neighbors Club.

On a regular basis, the Former Toyosato Elementary School is used for K-ON! themed events. Every year a group called Toyosato Tea Time holds events for each of the main characters in the series in the school, where people travel from all over Japan to drink tea, eat cake, and reminisce over their love for the series. According to their website, while participant numbers are getting smaller, they were able to successfully hold events in early 2020 for Mio’s birthday in January and Ui’s birthday in February.

Photo: Daryl Harding

K-ON! in Toyosato Town

Outside of the school, little remnants of K-ON! can be seen throughout Toyosato Town. From the above poster being littered on windows of small businesses around the local train station to cut-outs of Ho-Kago Tea Time guiding you to the school, you can see how the town is thankful for the tourism the anime series has brought to it’s less than 7,500 residents.

Photo: Daryl Harding

A majority of the small businesses around the train station are just your usual small-town shops — it even lacks a convenience store, the closest is technically in the next town over! If you walk out from the Ohmi Railway Toyosato Train Station — which only has a train coming every hour and is usually just one carriage — you’ll find an unassuming closed shop during the day.

Image via Google Maps

Or, if you were like me and you spent literally all day at the Former Toyosato Elementary School, you’ll be greeted by a noren (warm curtain) featuring Yui and Azusa peering out the door. When you walk in, you soon learn that this place — which isn’t even on Google Maps — is a K-ON! themed bar and shrine, full of figures, memorabilia, and some of the biggest K-ON! fans in Toyosato.

Photo: Daryl Harding

As I walked into the bar, which was more just a large room filled with more K-ON! gear than they knew what to deal with, I was guided to a table that was full of K-ON! and other Kyoto Animation-related merchandise, with a 5th-anniversary train hidden under the shelving. Key animation sheets don the walls, making for an interesting wallpaper, and even in the toilet, posters from old magazines of the girls from K-ON! watch you. But most importantly, on the menu are K-ON! themed drinks.

Photo: Daryl Harding

As a fan of Mio, I had to try the Mio-themed drink (which can be seen above), and was pleasantly surprised by how sweet it was (and how much drink was put into it — especially after a full day of walking!). I spoke with the owners, who also worked at the bakery next door, and they had no idea what K-ON! was before the anime brought people to their town. So, they sat down, watched the series, and fell in love with everything about it, wanting to share that love with the townsfolk and travelers.

Photo: Daryl Harding

A few blocks over from Toyosato Train Station is Tamaya, which sadly, I didn’t get to visit. It’s a K-ON! themed udon restaurant where patrons are surrounded by more K-ON! merchandise.

K-ON! Helping Toyosato Across Japan

Photo: Daryl Harding

K-ON! doesn't just help boost Toyosato with tourism yen inside the town, but also brings in money using the series through the Furusato Nozei system. Furusato Nozei, or "Hometown Tax" in the closest English translation, is a system that lets anyone in Japan donate to any town/city/region in the country, and in return, they receive an item native to that region. What's more, due to how the system works, it’s fully tax-deductible come tax time, where the Japanese government will return the full amount you donated minus 2,000 yen (US$18) as an administration fee.

Usually, people receive local rice, or sake, maybe meat in return for their donation, but not in Toyosato, where you can get exclusive K-ON! merchandise. While the Furusato Nozei system is currently going through its yearly revamp after the end of the Japanese tax year in April, and no K-ON! gear is currently available, previously you were able to receive handmade K-ON! keyrings in two sets for around 30,000 yen (US$280).

Not only that, Japan Post — the national mail carrier — issued K-ON! themed stamped based on the school, which was sold both online and in stores around the country. According to reports, the first-run of stamps wasn’t exactly based on K-ON!, but used certain real-life shots of the school that mimicked those found in the anime. The second-run used images from the anime series.

This was the highest resolution I could find of a stamp set from 2010

In 2013, the Former Toyosato Elementary School was designated as a Tangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government, giving the building certain rights and hailed as a structure that has “social value” to the Japanese people. This means the owners of the school are able to easily get loans for repairs and gives it protection against being demolished or changed in any way. While K-ON! wasn’t likely a defining factor for the designation, being given more national attention in one of the most popular anime of all time probably helped the paperwork get pushed through.

The Lasting Legacy of K-ON! and Toyosato

Photo: Daryl Harding

The legacy of K-ON! and Toyosato is intimately linked, even ten years on. Walking around the town and school, I met many people who were there for the same reason I was, wanting the experience of walking the halls that inspired the team at Kyoto Animation for a series that I loved.

Waiting for the train at Toyostato Station (which as previously mentioned, only come every hour), I met with a couple from the United States who were visiting anime pilgrimage sites throughout Japan. We spoke for 20 minutes on what K-ON! meant to us, how we first saw the series, and who our favorite characters were. While K-ON! may have ended nearly ten years ago, the emotions, feelings, and economic impact it has had continue to drum along on the beat of time.

I traveled to Toyosato in March 2019 before the impact of what is happening in the world and the devastating attack on Kyoto Animation. Even then, I was overwhelmed with emotion walking into the light music room, unable to hold back my tears. While I didn’t get a photo of me ugly crying — thank Haruhi — I got to fulfill the dream of drinking tea in the Light Music Club room.

Photo: Daryl Harding

Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram — though he's not doing much traveling at the moment.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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accuhunt · 5 years ago

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The Ultimate Vegan (and Vegetarian) Survival Guide for Japan.

Mission frickin impossible. That’s how a fellow traveller described my quest to spend a month in Japan, exploring the country beyond Tokyo, Kyoto and the regular tourist trail – as a vegan.

I took that warning seriously and got to work: A Japanese cafe owner in Bangkok helped me write in the Kanji script how to politely ask for vegan food, a friend whipped up homemade energy bars, I packed a ton of healthy vegan snacks and spent days researching the local cuisine. I was determined to make my mission possible – and I’m thrilled to share that I not only survived as a vegan in Japan, but the journey also led to some incredible local food, beautiful friendships and unexpected culinary secrets across the country!

Also read: Why I Turned Vegan – and What it Means for My Travel Lifestyle

Does Japan have any vegan roots?

Vegan Japanese bento from Evah Macrobiotic Dining in Fukuoka.

On my second night in Japan, I braved the cold of Matsumoto (in Nagano prefecture) and landed up at Itoya Izakaya, thanks to the HappyCow App. The cosy traditional wooden bar turned out to be the home of 60+ year old Itoya San, who spoke a bit of English and had handwritten several cards explaining what local Japanese dishes she could make vegan or vegetarian. Over an immensely satisfying meal of oshoyu-no-mi (black soybeans with rice mould), jaza chizimi (potatoes with wild leeks), soba gaki (kneaded buckwheat with soya sauce) and warm homemade sake, we chatted about Japan, the mountains and her love for cooking.

When I asked why she offers vegan options unlike most other restaurants in Matsumoto, she said that during the Edo period, before Japan succumbed to western influence, their traditional diet was largely plant-based and meat-free! It was only in the late 1800s that people started consuming beef, horse meat and all kinds of marine animals in huge quantities. Both Buddhism and Shintoism, practiced for centuries in Japan, promote compassionate eating.

In fact, many Japanese rulers had banned the rearing of cattle and consumption of meat, because they couldn’t afford to lose more forest areas to practice animal agriculture. I later read that in January 1872, an emperor called Meiji ate meat publicly for the first time, encouraging the rest of the country to follow his lead. Rumor had it that eating meat would let the Japanese become big, buff and blonde like the Europeans! Thus began the Meiji era.

Although plant-based eating has now become an alien concept in most of Japan, the Japanese still say “ita daki mas” before every meal – an expression of gratitude towards the animals and plants whose lives were sacrificed to fill one’s plate.

Also read: Why Visit Japan? Because Everyone Who’s a Friend Was Once a Stranger

What to expect from vegan / vegetarian food in Japan

Yam and tofu based vegan Japanese food at 2F, Yakushima.

I spent my first week in Japan exploring the island of Honshu on assignment for Japan Tourism; we had a fixed group itinerary, and my guide and translator went out of their way to make sure my vegan diet was catered for. However a couple of restaurants – a small izakaya and a soba restaurant – had nothing for me when we arrived, apologizing they could do no vegan food. Through my translator, I explained that I could eat anything with tofu, veggies, soya sauce etc, and within minutes arrived a small feast of dishes at the izakaya, and zaru soba at the soba resto. Lesson learnt: I had to modify my note asking for vegan food in Japan to include what I CAN eat.

Over the other 3 weeks in Japan, I travelled independently – partly with my partner and partly solo – spending most of my time on the islands of Kyushu and Yakushima, and exploring the Kansai countryside. Here’s what I learnt about being vegan in Japan:

It’s not mission frickin impossible, though it helps to be well-researched and well-prepared. Let this post be your guide!

In popular tourist cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Fukuoka, there are plenty of restaurants offering vegan / vegetarian options of local dishes. Get the HappyCow App to map what’s near you.

In smaller, less-visited villages on the Japanese countryside, most restaurants and izakayas only have Japanese menus and hardly anyone speaks English. During this time, I found it really helpful to have a written note explaining what I can’t and can eat. You’ll find the note below.

Since Japanese cuisine is mostly raw, I happened to eat mostly raw vegan food for an entire month and could feel the effect on my mind and body. In retrospect, I’ve never felt more energetic and creative as I did in Japan.

It’s worth engaging in conversations around veganism when locals get curious. When I checked in to my ryokan-style guesthouse in Tokyo, the host told me he wasn’t familiar with vegan food and lamented that he couldn’t offer me any breakfast. But the next morning, as I was stepping out for breakfast, he said he googled for ideas and had whipped up a vegan tofu steak and miso soup made with seaweed dashi (broth) for me! He was so stoked by his little experiment that he decided to add a vegan option to his breakfast menu.

Also read: How to Travel as a Vegan and Find Delicious Food Anywhere in the World

How to ask for vegan food in Japan

Mochitsuki – the tradition of pounding to make mochi, in Nara.

STEP 1: Begin with telling the staff, watashi wa begetarian des (I’m vegetarian) even if you’re vegan. The point is to convey that you can’t eat most of what they’re going to offer. This will likely leave them very perplexed.

STEP 2: Use a written note explaining what you can’t and CAN eat. The Japanese language and Kanji script are complex, and Japanese culture demands that any requests be made with utmost politeness. With the help of a couple of friends, I came up with a note (photo below) that had nearly a 90% success rate for me – for it politely explains that I can’t eat meat, seafood, dashi made with bonito / katsuo (fish), milk products, eggs or honey, but that I CAN eat vegetables, mushrooms, soy beans, seaweed, cereals like buckwheat, wheat, rice, tofu, soya sauce and fruits. At this point, the staff member will usually call other service staff to understand the note, maybe even the chef if it’s a small restaurant, and give you an idea of what they could make. Accept it with a smile!

STEP 3: Whip out some basic Japanese phrases to express gratitude for the meal. Arigatou gozaimas (thank you very much) and oishikatta des (that was delicious) went a long way. I listened to the Japanese – Survival Phrases podcast to learn some conversational Japanese before my trip, and found it super helpful.

Also read: Why Travelling in Japan is Like Nowhere Else in the World

Vegan Japanese food to try

Bento box

If I could go back to Japan and eat only one thing the whole trip, it’ll be the delicious, wholesome, colorful bento boxes, packed fresh for train travellers every morning. I ate them even if I wasn’t getting on a train! My favorite, hands down, was the vegan bento box at Evah Macrobiotic Dining at Hakata Station in Fukuoka. The bento shop near platform 8 at Tokyo Station has a vegetable bento box too. Show them the note, just to be sure.

A vegan Japanese bento box at Tokyo train station.

Sushi

In Japan, I learnt that it is a misconception that sushi means fish. It simply means rice with vinegar, topped with various ingredients, one of which happens to be fish. I loved standing sushi bars (you literally stand around the table eating sushi) and revolving sushi restaurants, and each of them had vegan sushi with ingredients like cucumber, pickled radish, wild mountain vegetables, natto (fermented soybean) and seaweed. Turns out though, that even though avocado grows in Japan, avocado sushi is a California creation.

I was also surprised to learn that it is absolutely acceptable to eat sushi by hand in Japan (you need to be able to use chopsticks for everything else though!)

Homemade vegan sushi in Osaka.

Inarizushi

Inarizushi is a kind of sushi made of sweetish deep-fried tofu, filled with Japanese sticky rice and sometimes other ingredients like sesame or sakura. Often available in supermarkets, and almost always vegan. Just check to be sure, one version contains shrimp.

Miso soup

Made from grains and soybeans fermented with salt and koji (a fungus), miso is a big part of traditional Japanese cuisine, especially as a soup. It took me a while to get used to the fermented flavor; while I found the flavor in some soups too strong for my liking, I had some delicious ones, especially in local homes in Osaka and near Kyoto. The broth of miso soups typically contains fish, but I found many people willing to make a version from scratch using vegetables only.

Vegan miso soup.

Shojin ryori

A traditional Japanese meal inspired by Zen Buddhism is entirely vegetarian and largely vegan (it sometimes comes with egg, so please specify). I tried a Shojin Ryori meal in Nikko, which specializes in making dishes with yuba (tofu skin) – and what a treat it was. Expensive, but so worth the indulgence.

A shojin ryori meal (feast).

Zaru Soba, Udon noodles

Soba (buckwheat) and udon (wheat) noodles establishments across Japan serve only that, and luckily, it is possible to customise a vegan version of both, without fish dashi. Zaru soba (cold soba) noodles come without broth, typically with a garnish of spring onions and soya sauce – and although it doesn’t sound like much, it can be quite a tasty meal depending on where you eat it. Some udon places will offer a vegan version made with seaweed dashi, mushrooms, veggies, tofu and garnish – such a treat!

Zaru soba – cold soba noodles.

Oyaki

The cold weather and mountain terrain in the Nagano prefecture wasn’t conducive to growing rice so oyaki – soba flour dumplings – became a specialty. They are typically stuffed with veggies, fruits and/or bean paste, and mostly vegan.

Yuba (tofu skin)

Sounds strange to have a dish or meal made largely with tofu skin, but boy oh boy, are the Japanese creative!

Japanese curry

Pretty sure it’s inspired by the flavors of the Indian curry minus the spice, < > is a chain restaurant across Japan that serves up chickpea, vegetable and a host of other curries!

Shabushabu

My friend and famous Canadian vlogger Micaela, who’s been living in Japan for a long time now, invited us to try a shabushabu restaurant located in the basement of an obscure building – and as with all things quirky in Japan, it turned out to be quite an experience! We sat on cushions in a tatami cabin, and ordered spicy, seaweed and soya milk broths, with glass noodles, yuba, tofu and veggies. Such a feast – though you definitely need a friend who speaks fluent Japanese to be able to order it vegan.

A vegan shabushabu meal in Fukuoka.

Tempura

The Japanese version of pakoras, basically. The batter is sometimes made with eggs, sometimes without, so ask before you order.

Ramen

Noodles in a spicy broth! I only found vegan options in Tokyo and Kyoto, worth a try.

Gyoza

These half-steamed, half-fried Chinese dumplings are quite popular in Japan; if you see a veggie version, go for it.

Vegan gyoza in Tokyo.

Okonomiyaki

A popular Japanese pancake – a bit like a Swiss rosti – made with flour, oil, veggies and typically eggs and mayonnaise. My host on the Kansai countryside was sweet enough to make me a vegan version; a couple of restos in Hiroshima offer one too.

Onigiri

Japanese rice balls, wrapped in a nori sheet, typically with a tiny filling inside, like red beans, a pickled plum (that one is called an umeboshi). It was a favorite picnic snack for one of my Japanese hosts, and readily available

Natto

Fermented soy beans, available as natto sushi or as beans with rice. Super nutritious though an acquired taste, one that I never did acquire!

Koyadofu

Tofu is available in several forms in Japan, but my favorite was the koyadofu, a dried version which soaks up the ingredients it is cooked in like a sponge! Even if you don’t like tofu in your daily life, I urge you to give it a try (with an open mind) while in Japan. It’s nothing like you’ve tasted before!

Vegan Japanese snacks

Snacks sold on Buddhist temple / Shinto shrine premises: Since both Buddhism and Shintoism promote compassionate eating, many street snacks sold on the premises of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines tend to be vegan. Show the note to find out. I loved munching on rice cakes with soya sauce and seaweed on a stick, soft soyabean sweets and crispy rice crackers with spicy seasoning.

Soy milk and “Soy Joy Crispy” bars (white chocolate, macademia, strawberry flavors) – Vegan Japanese snacks available in most supermarkets.

Crispy rice cake, one of a few vegan Japanese snacks!

Vegan Japanese sweets

Mochi: A traditional Japanese rice cake, pounded with great strength in an act called Mochitsuki, available in many subtle flavors like sakura (cherry), ume (plum), horse chestnut and more. It’s a work of art – and a perfectly light vegan Japanese sweet.

Vegan chocolates in Japan: The Meiji 72% and 86% dark chocolates are accidentally vegan chocolates made in Japan, available in most supermarkets!

Mochi – a work of art and one of few vegan Japanese sweets.

Drinks

Matcha green tea: Though a hipster trend now, the consumption of matcha green tea began with traditional tea ceremonies in Japan, and attending one with a Japanese tea master was quite an experience.

Sochu: Alcohol made with fermented rice, barley and potato. Pretty potent.

Sake: Fermented rice alcohol; I liked hakuba nishi but mostly just went with the izakaya’s recommendations.

Whisky: Well, whisky hasn’t been the same for me since Japan. Nikka has me addicted, yet it’s so rare to find outside of Japan. And Hibitchi was out of stock in Japan too! Who knew Japanese whisky could give the Scots a run for their money?!

Matcha green tea with mochi – often served to welcome someone!

Also read: What I Learnt Volunteering on a Remote Island in Cuba

My favorite places for vegan / vegetarian food across Japan

A vegan Japanese meal based on fermented foods, at Hakko, Nagano.

Osaka

Macrobiotic food in the home of Naoko and Noriko San, through Airbnb Experiences – easily one of the best meals I had in Japan! Macrobiotic Japanese cooking aims to balance yin and yang. The idea is that everything has opposing energies (black-white, male-female for example) and what we eat should be a balance of the two. Vegetables and fruits are in the middle of the spectrum, while meats, seafood, dairy and soy are pretty extreme and need balancing. Over a couple of hours, we cooked together a sumptuous meal of vegan sushi, spring shiroae (traditional creamy tofu salad), daikon radish salad, seaweed avocado salad, miso soup, and khoya dofu (freeze dried tofu) and fuki (a spring vegetable) – and ate (devoured) it together in their traditional tatami room, chatting about life, food, India, Japan, veganism and Bollywood. A most memorable and highly recommended experience!

Fukuoka

Evah Macrobiotic Dining: Incredible vegan food at this all-vegan establishment, located in the Amu-Est shopping area of Hakata Station. Their vegan bento box, burgers and sandwiches were absolutely delightful. I would readily travel back to Japan just to eat here!

Nagano

Hakko: Not far from the Jikokudai Park with semi-wild snow monkeys, Hakko is a local resto that specializes in fermented foods and mushrooms. A fantastic meal – though it’s better to inform them of your dietary preferences in advance, over email with a reservation.

Nara

Totingo sushi go round: Revolving sushi with marked vegetarian options on the menu, including inarizushi, cucumber, pickled radish and natto.

Hanata go: Like an izakaya but fancier. Has an English menu with some veg options. I tried the mushrooms in soya sauce (ask for it without butter), cold tofu in bamboo sieve and edamame, and liked it all.

Nakatanidou: Known for its Yomogi mochi, made of a Japanese wild plant called yomogi. One of the few places in Japan that still pound mochi by hand; watch it happen a couple of times every hour!

Aso

Train station cafeteria: What appeared to be a meagre meal of fried rice in sesame oil with pickles (an Aso specialty) and tofu turned out to be a quite a treat.

East: A small restaurant that was befuddled by my request for vegan food, but whipped up a strangely satisfying meal with steamed rice, tofu, pickles and garnishing.

Kurakawa

The Tofu restaurant: Tofu steak with sauce without meat and tofu ice cream!

Ryokan Wakaba (No 10 on the map): A delightful meal of zaru soba with soya sauce, vegan tempura, some veggies and garnishing.

Yakushima

2F, Miyanoura: An obscure restaurant on the second floor of a souvenir shop, walking distance from the ferry terminal, served up a rather creative vegan meal made mostly with yam and tofu!

Jiijiya, Anbo: A charming old house, run as a resto by the grandson of the family. He speaks a bit of English and was sweet enough to mark the few side dishes on the menu that could be made vegan. I opted for the chilli oil tofu and mushroom dish, both yummy.

Kyoto

Ain Soph: After nearly 4 weeks in Japan, I really needed some comfort food and splurged at the all-vegan Ain Soph, on the softest, fluffiest pancakes, with a side of fresh fruits, homemade jams, soy whipped cream and 2 delicious ice cream scoops!

I didn’t make a note of the other places I ate at in Kyoto, but HappyCow has 34 listings of all vegan spots in the city, so there’s plenty to try!

Tokyo

Vegan bento box: The Bento shop near platform 8 at Tokyo Station has a vegetable (vegan) bento box; make sure you get one for your train ride!

We’re spoilt for choice in Tokyo; start with HappyCow’s highest rated vegan-friendly spots in the city.

Also read: Is the Japan Rail Pass Worth it? A Practical Guide to Bullet Train Travel in Japan

Challenges of being vegan in Japan – and how to overcome them

The charming exterior of an izakaya.

Reading labels: If you’re vegan, your eyes probably hurt from all the labels you’ve been reading in supermarkets too – and Japan gives you a break from that 99% of labels and ingredients are written in Kanji – and Google translate often fails to translate them accurately. Luckily, the supermarket staff often obliged in helping me translate the ingredients in freshly packed food, especially when I showed them my note. I also found the Vegan Japan Facebook group to be super helpful in identifying which products I could buy – browse through the group, especially photos, to see the range of products identified vegan in supermarkets.

Dashi, the bane of my existence in Japan: I often came so close to getting a promising vegan meal, only to learn that the goddamn dashi (broth) was made of bonito / katsuo (fish). Why oh why? The key is to keep cool and ask if making a seaweed dashi is possible.

Small restaurants not always willing / able to customise dishes: Although people everywhere tried to help, small food stalls and establishments were often unable to tweak a dish slightly because of pre-mixed ingredients – or weirdly enough, because there weren’t sure how much to charge for a customization! Oh Japan.

An alien idea: Even though Japan might have some vegan roots, veganism / vegetarianism is still an alien concept in most of the country. My note explaining what I could eat sure helped!

Also read: Japanese Tourist Visa for Indians: Tips and Requirements

Joys of being vegan in Japan

With my hosts Naoko san and Noriko san, after a really satisfying macrobiotic vegan meal!

Despite all the challenges, I have to confess that even as a vegan, I had some amazing meals in Japan!

On average, 8 out of 10 people spent time trying to understand what I can and can’t eat – and that says a lot about the Japanese culture.

Most Japanese menus have photos of the dishes on offer, making it just a tiny bit easier to order (or point that you want tofu!).

There’s no joy like asking about a broth-based dish in Japan and hearing that the dashi is / can be made with seaweed. A joy you’ll relate to only after travelling in Japan as a vegan / vegetarian.

Also read: Secrets Behind Some of Japan’s Most Intriguing Traditions

Tips for travelling as a vegan in Japan

Comfort food – vegan pancakes at Ain Soph in Kyoto.

Get the HappyCow App: Especially in cities frequented by tourists, like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nara, you’re sure to find some amazing food based on the recommendations of past vegan / vegetarian travellers.

Don’t lose hope if you find no vegan listings on HappyCow / TripAdvisor / Google: I was extremely skeptical of survival, but had some amazing food in / around Aso and Yakushima, even though Google returned no search results for vegan food in these places.

Keep the note handy: I can’t emphasize enough what a savior the note asking for vegan food was for me. Don’t be afraid to show it all the time and ask for help!

Join the Vegan Japan Facebook group and browse through old posts for a wealth of information on vegan food in Japan. They’re also pushing a petition for products in Japan to be labelled vegan / vegetarian, which would make life so much easier. Sign it here.

Carry some back-up food, especially if you plan to spend a lot of time on the countryside. I carried a ton of energy bars and quinoa flakes that could cook quickly in hot water, and often made my own avocado toasts with local avocados and bread from the supermarket.

Vegan-friendly places you can always find in Japan: Sushi bars, soba restaurants (order zaru soba – cold soba noodles without broth), MOS burger (order a soy patty burger without cheese or mayonnaise), supermarket food (get soy joy bars, soy milk, onigiri, chocolates).

Ingredients you can always find in Japan: Rice, tofu, spring onions to garnish, soya sauce, chilli seasoning. It doesn’t sound like much, but sometimes the most meagre meals turned out to be surprisingly delightful.

Learn from the experiences of past travellers: Some blog posts really helped me build my confidence to travel as a vegan in Japan:

Never Ending Voyage: Vegetarian survival guide to Japan

Inside Japan: Being vegetarian in Japan: A survival guide

Vegan Japanese food for breakfast at a ryokan!

To tell you the truth, even though I had a few challenging experiences in Japan during my search for vegan food, most of my food memories from the country are incredibly positive. I still yearn for the creative bento boxes, the aesthetically presented meals, the delicate flavors and the energetic, creative feeling born out of a mostly raw vegan Japanese diet.

I hope you won’t forego travelling in Japan or worse, compromise your commitment to a plant-based diet or seeking out local experiences. With some research, creativity and determination, it is absolutely possible to relish Japan as a vegan (or vegetarian). Ita daki mas!

Have you explored Japan as a vegan / vegetarian? What would you most like to try?

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