#to tackle once i've done a few more kids books

[unforth]

Question for Chinese-speaking/reading danmei fandom: which book would you most recommend to a novice who wants to really start getting down-and-dirty with translating? Like, what do you think is relatively "easy" to read? Manhua would work too, as long as I can access it in the US (doesn't have to be free).

Suggestions don't have to be one of the "big names" of danmei fandom, and I'm absolutely prepared to go on JJWXC and buy raws. I just want something to read/translate/practice with that's more fun/interesting than children's books.

Thanks in advance!

[determined-magi-archive]

Hey red guy, You seem to be pretty Pretty close to Miss Gilrin. I've been meaning to ask... she seems to be pretty damn passive in comparison to you all, have hardly ever seen her really angry. Irritated? Annoyed? Frustrated? Yeah. But not angry. Does she ever get angry at all?

“ I wouldn’t say she doesn’t get angry… We just… don’t get to see it often nowdays… “

“ You see… she’s the daughter of an inn keeper, she was taught to be so, that way there wouldn’t be troubles arasing, from people or from the income they needed to get by. She wasn’t of blue blood like Braigon, Thanneth or me. She wasn’t royalty like Belle either… So she had to do so to get by. For her family… She just couldn’t go out her way, not without some repercutions, or so she often fear… funny thing, She never got a harsh treatment for getting that lesson… as I heard Thannor had… And yet, you could see her being just as submissive, if not more… “

“ Didn’t stop her from being angry though… her parents told me she often went to the forest to relax, kinda like we all often do. And sometimes she could spend a whole day outside trying to calm down… “

“ Then in came the adolescence, and with it came changes. Although she remained submissive at first, then returned to it after a while, she was bad in handling anger. Much like we all are when we do allow ourselves to feel it. And she was even worse hidding it. She… got often on talks with the teachers, and with mentors that didn’t take well to it. Which only worsened things really, even if she was subjecting herself to a bigger authority. And you may ask, how? The answer was simple, her magic: It was a mess. “

“ And it only got worse from there, really… we entered further into adolescences, and… well that dam was open. “

“ You know why our academies are often far away? Why we try to keep it relatively low in terms of figuring out where they are? human magic users can be… a sight.“

“ We don’t get too bad, if we are well taught to… have some self control and obedience, and all those basic manners a civilized human can have. But… yeah, for some it isn’t as easy, particularly strong mages, we… kind of go through something alike that rebelious teen phase… but worse. And more handfull. “

“ She… didn’t get too offhand… usually, she was pretty tame as far as mages in our category go, but she did get pretty rough at times. If she was in a bad mood she WOULD let you know, and she gave you plenty of forgiving stances. But… heh, if you got a punch out of her… there likely was a reason for it. I know I got mine out of my own bullshit… “

“ Hmmm… Never really thought about it, but… her anger is rather quiet, kind of like her magic when outside of place of comfort. In a way it downplays itself alone unless it is really bad. Haven’t really seeng that yet… Probably chances are the moment it does she’ll do the same Braigon does, and tap into that Úlfhéðnar blood of hers. Which is… really worrying, usually by now mage of norse descent often already have experienced it once, by drawing it out themselves or by accident. And go on their ways to learn some control on it… but she hasn’t, and  it is not that it isn’t there, old man told me she has it. “

“ Not that her anger hasn’t gotten the best of her… “

“ Back when… when I got hurt badly, she was damn tense often, I suppose our of the helplessness, since she couldn’t do anything to avoid anything that had happened then. Even if it was a massive load of stress… she was pretty damn adamant to keep watch on me, while I both studied and recoverd from it. Her mentor suggested she leave to rest even, she was… nearly as bad as Thanneth while it lasted, wasn’t as evident in her behavior… but her magic? It was an open book that spoke that this really was upsetting her. Things were… somewhat manageable, usually. Still… they were pretty bad. “

“ I remember one time… there were these bullies. I I would fend them off in my own accord, and ways. but… Since I wasn’t really on shape. They would try to make use of the advantage, when she wasn’t around you, that is. And there was this time where she caught them. They had managed to corner me in my way to check on Rho’s lessons… They went straight for my weak spot, making use of me trying to keep some hold on myself, last I needed was then to snap myself. Since I knew I myself would kill them… I knew that would get me in a lot of trouble then, self defense or not, with or no control over it. “

“ So there am I… with these assholes picking on my temporarily dissabled, weak and pathetic ass. Taking their time to savour the chance. Then walking  into the scenery comes Gil, eyes worried. Likely thinking I’m having some attack or something, and she sees the assholes. Grabbing me by my clothes, by the chest… likely bleeding because I’m pretty sure I smelled blood, so they opened the wounds while at it. I don’t know what look she had, but by the look of the guys tackled off from me… probably she had a signature murderous look on hers. Or that of a very rabid animal. They bluffed about, but it was clear they were getting the flight instinct more than the fight one… “

“ And who wouldn’t really? Rho’s teacher came in rushing. “

“ Remember her magic was a mess, and an open book? If her gaze on them was bad, then her magic was the incarnation of the sentiment behind. You could feel the animosity of it on the air, and hear it. Which… I will not lie, coming from her was worrying just how clear it was. Usually you’d hear it muffled in a way, but then? That meant they were an inch of getting a bad beating, or an inch away of murder… She just… was really pissed off. Enough to not tell the different if she was going to do something or not. “

“ She didn’t move when the teacher came, and tried to get me and her away, as the kids then scurried away before he got sight of them. She just kept trembling before rushing to where I was, Rho then showed up too. He also looked very worried then… wasn’t the worst though… “

“ Thannor got that luck. “

“ He told me about it only once. Said it was worse than me getting my ass handed to me, when she was done with my bullshit. And that he was honestly surprised she didn’t get berserk then and there, she was… pretty much out of it entirely and didn’t really want to stop, they had vent her magic of. and even then she had tried to struggle against their grip on her. Reason? Guy had been actialy trying to worsen the damage on Tei’s hands and arms, and was… actually managing some, by ripping of the pieces of metal burnt and burred on them. He was doing… not so well on the fight, but it didn’t look like he was helpless as I did look… but… eh, I guess after getting a lot of stuff happening to us, it must’ve gotten under her skin then… Enough to leave the guy on some watch, and her isolated for a while… “

“ Then you have the times she was angry at our bullshit, Belle, Thanny’s, Thannor’s and mine truly… We allways end up on physical bickering, They don’t happen often, but they do happen… and If I remember I had one a while ago with her… she… made it hard to take seat for like a month. We rough housed quite hard then, both of us had sprains and cruises everywhere, perhaps a few bones a little cracked. But things got healed and all… and we made peace of it. “

“ To answer the question? She does get angry, she… just deals with it differently, and tries to express it indirectly through other emotions, like frustration… and the like, doesn’t serve much when she does however…  “

“ Which reminds me, She and Rho are in need of a chat about supressing emotions and feelings, they drag me enough on it. I think its about time I switch the roles. “

“ They’ll probably hound me, but hey, if they do it to me, it is fair I do it to them, right? “

[mona-rei-is-not-okay]

Hello, hun. So here's my imagine for you: How would UT, MT Sans and the US and UF brothers (I'm sorry if I've exceed the character limit, feel free to choose any skeles you like in that case) react to an artistic s/o who has insomnia and they often spend the night sketching/sculpting/painting until the early hours of the morning, and the next time the s/o looks at the art peace they destroy it because it's a reminder that they lost another night to the insomnia? Who would try to stop/help them?

omg YOU’RE the sweetie ya sweetie

i just realized that i headcannon many of the boys as insomniacs jeezums but this is some unique prompt, holy carp i love

UT!Sans: At first, he’s really happy to know you’ve got a creative outlet. He has trouble with insomnia himself due to some reoccuring nightmares, so however and for whatever reason your insomnia manifests, he’s very supportive. He’s really proud of your creative endeavors, and often drapes himself over your shoulder to watch if you’re comfortable with it. He finds it soothing to see all that really cool stuff in your head gradually appear out of nothing.

He wonders where they all end up, of course, but he’s pretty sure the insomnia art is personal and he’s really not one to intrude on that sort of thing. The first time he catches you punching through a canvas, he’s more confused than anything else. He doesn’t know how you distinguish a good piece from a bad piece, but that portrait sure did look like a person. This worries him. He’ll wait until after you’re done and try to break the tension a little. “guess that portrait was a bust, eh? heh…”

Once you tell him why, he understands, but something about it feels wrong to him. He just can’t see your art as a product of a wasted night. If you gain some sort of catharsis from destroying your pieces, he sure as hell isn’t going to stop you, but his soul twinges whenever he sees you do it. Secretly, he starts looking up ways to start fighting insomnia and tries to open the topic to you. He can see how destroying the art might be harmful, and maybe if he expands your options you’ll start to keep them. In any case, he won’t try to directly stop you, but he will try to divert your coping mechanisms to something less… smashy.

MT!Sans: Your art is a breath of fresh air in his chaotic world. He also has trouble with nightmares, and will often stay up with you to watch you work or just read a book beside you. It does him proud to know his s/o finds such pure and creative ways to spend their time. Watching you is one of the few things in his life that’s truly peaceful, that makes him feel at home.

Which is why when he first catches you ripping up a sketch, he immediately snatches it up and asks what the actual heck you’re doing. He’s usually off doing jobs during the day, so he figured you were just stashing them somewhere when he wasn’t around. But this? It feels like sacrilege! Why would you destroy your own pieces?

Once you explain, he’s tempted to argue, but stops himself. Obviously he loves your art, it makes him think of you and the time you spent together when you made it. He never really considered that you might’ve had a more complicated relationship with your pieces, but it makes sense to him. Still, thinking about all those works being torn up or broken… it opens a void somewhere precious. One night though, something hits him. If you just want them gone, he might know a guy.

“‘ey doll, ever think of puttin these up for sale?”

UF!Sans: Color him impressed, kid. He’s the opposite of a creative type, so he doesn’t really know what’s good from what’s great, but you seem to have this stuff down to a T and he couldn’t be prouder. His night terrors and resulting insomnia is significantly worse than his Tale and Mob self, so he tends to come watch you for comfort after an episode. It’s almost surreal, the way are your art comes outta nothing like that. Sometimes it’s enough to help him wanna sleep again.

The first time he sees you smashing a small statue, he’s shocked and a little afraid. At first, he doesn’t connect the violence to the statue, and thinks something unrelated is making you angrily break things. And hey, he’s been there, but it still triggers a slight panic response. After taking a breath, he just gently swipes away the rubble of your statuette with magic and asks what’s wrong. He’s trying to formulate a short lecture in his head on how harmful getting into the habit of breaking things when you’re angry can be and how he can try to help you learn some better ways to cope, but then you tell him why you’re destroying your art specifically.

And he gets it. He really gets it. He’s broken some things that reminded him of times he’d rather forget, too. He checks your hands for any scratches or wounds from the clay, and treats them if he finds any. He’s not at all good with words, but if you’re comfortable with it, he’ll try to talk with you about his experiences with this stuff, and ways to work through the lack of sleep and the low moods and the urge to break the pieces. But he won’t try to stop you. In fact, those situations are some of the few times he’ll actually help you clean up a mess without complaining. He just wants to help you through it as well as he can.

UF!Papyrus: He loves your creativity. He’s not much of an artist himself, but he has quite an eye for detail and has a knack for finding that THING in a piece that’s bothering you, and offering gentle critique. And that’s nothing compared to how much he gushes to friends about you and your art. Everybody look at his wonderful artist s/o, they’re doing so much and so well! He has experience in supporting a loved one with insomnia from helping his brother, but he himself doesn’t have it. His sleep schedule is tight and short though, so he’ll likely catch you working in the wee hours of the morning sometimes and stop for a while to just… bask in your skill. He really admires your dedication, even though he’s concerned about your sleep schedule and will try to get you into daytime habits that’ll help you get in a couple more hours.

When he first sees you wrecking a pot you’d made, he panicks, swiftly lifts you out of reach of any breakable objects, and pulls you into a so-called “Calm-Down Squeeze,” in which he hugs you really tightly and hums a soothing tune until you either stop thrashing or soften your tone. His brother used to have a habit of wrecking things in anger, and he wasn’t about to lose another vase. Since you aren’t actually in a bout of rage, the Squeeze is short lived and he puts you down, tapping his foot and coolly asking for an explaination.

Once you tell him about your struggle, his finger, in the air and poised for a lecture, lowers. He didn’t expect to hear that it was about ridding yourself of a reminder. Edge can understand wanting to destroy the past, or wanting some sort of revenge against your issues. He’d felt that way for a long time, heck, he still felt that way sometimes. But maybe he could help you feel better? He starts with helping you with the mess, then tries to discuss better ways to deal with your resentment towards your sleepless nights. He’ll definitely try to get you to meditate with him more often, teach you some breathing exercises, and will likely start squirreling your pieces away after you’re done when he can, so that you don’t have to face them until you’re ready. And hey, now you’re familiar with the Calm-Down Squeeze and can have one whenever you need one!

US!Sans: He is immesurably proud of your artistic ability. He’ll probably try out some of some of your art mediums to support you, and try to get you to take classes with him to expand your artistic muscles together. He’s always wanted to tke up painting, but never seemed to get around to it until now. He’s not exactly an insomniac, but his sleep schedule isn’t exactly healthy. He pushes himself to stay up too late and get up too early, and though he can function well enough on little sleep, it’s still to his detriment. Seeing you struggle with insomnia and supporting you actually helps him admit to himself that he should be sleeping more, too.

When he first sees you ripping up a drawing, he assumes it’s due to some manner of art block. Goodness knows when he was particularly frustrated with a piece, he felt like destroying it, too. He figures that that plus and an extended lack of restful sleep didn’t mix very well. He sits beside you and touches your arm, asking if you’re okay.

Once you tell him what’s really going on, he’s a little surprised. He was pretty proud that you’d figured out a way to endure those nights, he always figured these pieces would remind you how well you survived, just like they remind him. He tells you that, but also that he won’t stop you from breaking the pieces, but he’d feel better if you looked into better solutions together. So now, every early morning while you’re awake, he tries to get you to meditate or paint with him while the sun rises, before you see that night’s piece again. He tends to hide them, but leaves one out every once in a while to test the waters. Art is just such an important part of what you do, and he doesn’t want it to act like a reminder of failure, when you use is so often to persevere.

US!Papyrus: He’s happy to see that you’re following your artistic passion. As a person that has had little to aspire to, seeing you tackle your work with such skill warms up a part of him that’s been been left mostly unattended. He’ll watch you work and ask questions about your technique, and offers pretty good criticsm if you ask. He has a way of letting you know what could be improved without making it sound like something’s really wrong with your piece. His insomnia doesn’t have anything to do with nightmares, but his anxieties drive him completely up the wall at night. As much as he wished you’d sleep more, he’s sorta glad that you’re awake during these times. Seeing you work gives him something to focus on when he feels like freaking out, and it can help him settle down after an attack.

When he finds you tearing up a painting, he doesn’t process exactly what you’re doing until he recognizes it as the painting from last night. He walks up and squeezes your shoulder, asking what it did to deserve that. When you explain, he shrugs. Makes sense to him that the process of creating would be helpful even when the creation reminds you only of the struggle. Shame about the canvas, though. Try to clean up after yourself if you’re gonna do that, okay?

But the thing is, now your works seem to just… disappear after you make them. At least the ones you make at night. If you ask Stretch, he’ll just shrug and say they’ll turn up eventually. He’s obviously squirreling them away somewhere, but he knows you won’t look for them. He just likes your art, and it’d be such a shame to waste the materials on something you’re just gonna break. Plus it’s satisfying for him to look at the end product of something he watched the making of. If nothing changes, he might never outright tell you that he keeps them. He’s also just a touch more active about trying to get you to come to bed. He realizes that it probably won’t do much, but maybe both of you could get an extra hour in edgewise if you were committed.

[dxmedstudent]

Hi dx. I'm a med student and I often find it hard to follow complex instructions - i tend to filter bits out/forget bits. I usually get round it by asking people to repeat themselves/with skills, i just practise doubly hard in the lab. Today my driving instructor suggested that I might have processing problems. Tbh i've thought about it, but never took it seriously as i usually get round it. I always thought I was just very dopey! Part 1

Not sure if i do have it, and if i should do anything about it/try and get a dx. I’ve heard health profs scoff at stuff like this and say it’s just people trying to get a label. Most support stuff online seems to be for kids. Do you know of any drs with stuff like this? Would be nice to have some strategies to tackle it so i dont have to work so hard!            Hello! I’m really touched that you decided to share this with me. I don’t think you sound very dopey at all! Quite the contrary, you’ve clearly been working super hard because in some way you/your brain processes things a bit differently. It’s probably been a bit harder for you than for most people, but you’ve worked super hard to do your best; and achieve what others do with less effort. I’m proud of you for the work you clearly put in; it may often go unnoticed, but I can understand that it probably takes a lot more than most people would realise. I don’t believe in scoffing, and I think quite a few profs are rather out of touch with the world, or at least what gives people meaning today. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting or appreciating a diagnosis. We’re not silly; when we notice that we are different from other people, we want to know why. We want to know if there’s anything we can do to help, and if there are any more people like us. I think that’s a perfectly natural and reasonable response. Yes, people might attach importance to labels, but the reason that people look for a diagnosis to begin with is to make sense of symptoms which disrupt their lives. Any profs who look down on why labels might be important to some people have clearly not thought much about what it must be like for your body or mind to do something weird or hurful, and for you to have no idea why that might be, or what can be done about it. It can be a really isolating, experience. As an aside, I always just thought I was dopey and dumb for being really bad with faces, particuarly out of context. I’ve always really admired how some people will see a person once and say ‘yep, I’ve defintely seen that person before’. It turns out, some people just aren’t good at recognising faces; it’s called prosopagnosia. It can be a spectrum, from mild to really severe (like picking up the wrong kid at school because you didn’t recognise your own child), and it’s probably missed a lot of the time because who on earth would go to their GP and say “doctor, I can’t remember faces”? I had no idea, and I was a medical student. Until I read one of Oliver Sacks’ books; he described this so well, not only because he was an excellent neurologist, but because it affected him, too. I burst into tears. Because this exists, and there’s a name for it, and I’m not just really really dumb person who just isn’t trying hard enough to be polite to people. And that’s why sometimes a label can help. Even if like me you’re not severely affected, or there’s no treatment for it. Because we often subconsiously blame ourselves for things outside our control. I never asked my docs for a formal diagnosis (though there are research groups out there looking for people, I guess I could ask them), but it didn’t matter; for me even just knowing that it’s not just me is enough. I definitely know docs with things like dyslexia or ADHD, so I’m sure you’re not alone. There are probably plenty of people in medblr who can step in with their own experiences.I don’t know what condition (if any) you have, and where you might be on the spectrum, but sometimes even just knowing that you’re not imagining it can help. More importantly, in your case perhaps there’s some support that might help, or ways in which work or university could accommodate you. You could also see your doctor about it; universities can diagnose stuff like dyspraxia, dyscalculia or dyslexia, but sometimes not more complex things. So your doc  might have ideas about whether there’s a team which could help get you some answers. Don’t worry if you’re not sure what you might have; it shouldn’t be all on you to ‘find out’ everything. Sometimes we aren’t sure of which diagnosis (if any) fits ourselves best. But then again, that’s why even doctors have to go to doctors (much to our own dismay); sometimes what we want is reassurance from someone who can view things independently, and who is there to listen to our story with compassion. Who can say “I believe you are having these symptoms”, and who may be able to give you a reason why they are. Where something feels like it’s a part of us, this can be trickier; the differentiation between ‘this thing I have’ and ‘who I am’ can be difficult, and it’s hard not to feel or be judged for something that is very much a part of us. Most universities (at least in the UK) have a disabilities service/department that can assess students for dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia, so it’s always worth going to your university’s relevant department and explaining how things affect you, so you can be assessed. That would benefit you in 2 ways; firstly it helps the university to know you may need more support if you are struggling, and that if you struggle, it’s not a sign you just didn’t try hard enough. And also, if you have a diagnosis, then you might be eligible for more support from university; including extra time or other things. Sometiems this has made a huge difference to people I know. I always advise people that it’s usually better (at least in medicine) for it to be on the record. Particularly if you feel that it might affect your work or training. The reason is this: the law protects people with known disabilities and conditions. University and work should make reasonable efforts to accommodate you, as long as they know that you need help. I’ve known people to struggle at work or university, and risk looking like they are flaking out, when really they are struggling alone. Whereas the people I know who disclosed that they needed support have always got some kind of support, and been accommodated. If they don’t know that you have a diagnosis, there’s a risk that you could be accidentally or more deliberately descriminated against, if your condition affects your studies or work. Whilst people with conditions that aren’t affecting their work may well choose not to seek a diagnosis or keep things off record, if your condition is more severe it usually works in your interest both to know what it is, and also to make sure you get any support available, and make clear to employers/uni that you are doing your best. Good luck, and let me know how you get on :)