#whenever i get an art advice ask it may easily take me an hour to fully write it out

[bogkeep]

i have tragically uncovered a new Pet Peeve and it's when someone shares a helpful art resource and calls it "not gatekeeping." it makes me so annoyed that it keeps me from reblogging the post with the resource. guess that makes me the true gatekeeper

#i heard this was a thing on the clock app but now ive run into it twice on tumblr TODAY #first of all this isn't what gatekeeping means!!!!!! #second of all lots of artists are so happy to share tips and tricks and resources and their entire process #third of all giving good art advice is genuinely a lot of work! it's labour! #whenever i get an art advice ask it may easily take me an hour to fully write it out #fourth of all ive seen like... enamel pin designers not share their manufacturers because doing so would overwhelm that particular manu #people usually have reasons not to share info and it rarely keeps you from making your art!!!!!! #the fact that art tools cost money is normal!!!!! #god im sorry i sound like the monthly art discourse on twitter

[justalilmc]

Hi again, it's @decadentwastelandtrash!! May I please get a matchup for mcu, Harry Potter(marauders era if you're familiar with it) and stranger things? I'm a straight female, she/her and I'd prefer a male please!

Physical description - I'm 5'9 and I have long and curly dark brown hair and brown eyes. I have a fair skin tone, I'm slim and I've got full lips and slight dark circles under my eyes. I wear glasses and I have broad shoulders. I dress mostly in relaxed suits, blazers and coats and I love the occasional dress or sweaters layered over a white button down! I also love wearing red lipstick!

Hobbies/likes - I love reading, my favorite genres are poetry, Russian lit, and mysteries! I also love true crime very much. I love learning about new things and knowing a little bit of everything, I'm very interested in psychology, history, mythology and folklore, and fashion! I adore adventures, mischief, witty and playful banter, joking around and having indepth discussions on anything and everything! I adore all forms of art and I have quite a few creative hobbies! I listen to a lot of modern/indie rock and I love watching psychological thrillers and romcoms.

Personality description - It takes me a while to feel comfortable around new people but once I do, I become really talkative and outgoing. I love helping out and I'm the therapist friend, people come to me to vent or for advice and comfort. I'm smart and ambitious; I love being the best at everything I do. I sometimes struggle with the hardwork and conviction needed to get there though, and I'm deathly afraid of failure and disappointing the people I love. I'm quite the hopeless romantic and I love being in love! I also daydream a lot and I can get lost in my own world for hours. I can be quite dramatic and stubborn and I tend to be withdrawn and distant at times. I get frustrated easily and I'm quietly competitive. My love languages are acts of service and words of affirmation.

I'm a ravenclaw, I think I'd have done well in potions and defense against the dark arts, and struggled with care of magical creatures? If I were in marvel, I definitely would have loved to have elemental manipulation as my power

Thank you very much!! I'm sorry if this got too long! I hope you have a lovely day <3 <3

Absolutely no need to apologize, I love the detail. That makes it so much easier for me to be detailed too :)

1.) MCU

I ship you with Bruce Banner!

- Okay this would be so wholesome

- You would keep this man from absolutely disappearing into himself

- You would hang out in his lab together a lot, talking about what each of you are working on. He values your opinion more than anyone else’s.

- He would absolutely love hearing about what you’re working on or honestly he’d love listening you talk about anything you love, seeing the way your face lights up

- Whenever you space out he’ll always ask you where you went, he always wants to know what you’re thinking

- This man will unashamedly watch any romcom with you almost any time you ask. He literally always cries at the end, I don’t know what to tell you

- I feel like the two of you would communicate very well and would come up with strategies to make sure he doesn’t hulk out at random times

- Y’all would build a little sanctuary in the woods where the two of you could meditate and connect with the elements

2.) Harry Potter

I ship you with Remus Lupin!

- This one was the most obvious one to me, it would just be so nice

- I feel like the two of you would be so comfortable around each other that you could just sit in the same room and read in silence

- You could be sitting around for hours and Remmy would occasionally look up at you and smile, feeling utterly content

- I feel like y’all would always be having really deep conversations that started out as some kind of joke and turned into an intense yet friendly philosophical debate

- Like you two, Sirius, James, and Peter would be hanging out and all of a sudden you and Remus are discussing what happens after you die and Peter’s like stressed asf, but Sirius and James are watching like it’s a goddamn quidditch game

- You would def be raiding his closet, wearing his jackets and sweaters and he just absolutely eats that shit up

- He is so proud that you’re his and literally cannot comprehend that you love him as much as you do

- We all know how insecure Remmy boy is but you are always prepared to tell him how much you love him and make him feel loved

- Y’all would be also be low key competing when it comes to who’s the top of the class, like I feel like the other marauders are constantly betting on it lol

3.) Stranger Things

I ship you with Jonathan Byers!

- Okay so this one is just so aesthetically pleasing to me

- Him with his ratchet ass clothes and you slaying in a blazer

- He’s literally gonna start combing his hair because of you, he simply does not understand how you look so good all the time

- Y’all would exchange mix tapes a lot as a way of expressing how you feel about each other

- I feel like y’all would motivate each other to express yourselves creatively

- He would take pictures of you all the time, just doing normal everyday things like tying your shoes or doing your makeup

- You would definitely have regular movie nights, he loves watching the psychological thrillers with you and talking about what they mean afterwords.

- He would often go to you when he’s feeling anxious because you know how to talk him down

- He would take polaroids of the two of you and give them to you to use as a bookmark

Hope you enjoyed it!!!

#harry potter #harry potter ships #marvel #marvel ships #stranger things #stranger things ships

[castieltrash1]

Hi!! Happy valentines day <33. Can I please get a ship for mcu, both eras of Harry Potter, criminal minds and lotr? I'm a straight female so I'd prefer a male please!

Placements - I'm a ravenclaw, my mbti is infp and my enneagram is 4w3.

Physical description - I'm 5'9 and I have long wavy dark brown hair and brown eyes. I have a fair skin tone, I'm slim and I've got full lips and slight dark circles under my eyes and I have broad shoulders. I dress mostly in relaxed suits, blazers and coats and I love the occasional dress or sweaters layered over a white button down!

Personality description - It takes me a while to feel comfortable around new people but once I do, I become really talkative and outgoing. I love helping out and I'm the therapist friend, people come to me to vent or for advice and comfort. I'm smart and ambitious, I love being the best at everything I do, though I sometimes struggle with the hardwork and conviction needed to get there. I'm quite the hopeless romantic and I love being in love! I also daydream a lot and I can get lost in my own world for hours. I can be quite dramatic and stubborn and I tend to be withdrawn at times. I get frustrated easily and I'm quietly competitive. My love languages are words of affirmation and physical touch.

Hobbies/likes - I love reading, my favorite genres are fantasy and poetry. I also love learning about new things and collecting knowledge, I'm very interested in psychology, history, mythology and folklore, and fashion! I adore adventures, witty and playful banter, joking around and having indepth discussions on anything and everything! I adore all forms of art and I have quite a few creative hobbies! I listen to a lot of modern/indie rock and I love watching psychological thrillers and romcoms.

Thank you very much!! I hope you have a fun valentines day <333

so sorry for the wait with this!! i hope you like all the characters i chose teehee ❤️

(THIS IS A SHIP ASK FROM VDAY SO PLS DONT SEND ME THESE LOL)

for marvel, i ship you with...

matt murdock! 

he might not be able to see it himself, but foggy told him enough about your appearance to catch his attention, even if your personality and non-verbal cues already held his interest. it's hard for him to keep his vigilante life a secret from you because of how comforting your presence is; matt feels like he could tell you all of his deepest darkest fears and that scares him. he might pull away, which can be frustrating, but you'll always pull him back in with your playful energy, riveting conversations, and endless interests that he always wants to learn more about. sometimes he jokes that you're his own personal encyclopedia but he'll only cut off your cute rambling if he's extremely busy, otherwise he'll listen for hours about different greek gods and this one random war in history that you're currently hyperfixating on. movies are a little difficult to watch together, especially if you're not in the mood to describe what's happening, but matt loves holding you close and dancing to your favorite songs after a long day at the law firm <3

for harry potter (marauders era,) i ship you with...

remus lupin!

how does it feel being this guy's dream girl? he won't tell you that, obviously, but it's true -- sirius can vouch, but remus' blush whenever you're around is a big enough of a hint. you can be quite the classic ravenclaw, which he loves, but he may worry you'll be too studious to hang out with him and his wacky friends, which you quickly prove wrong! you're a perfect addition to the marauders and get along with all of them, but remus is always your favorite. i think you two would get together after you found him scarred and bloody after a tough full moon and your reassuring words and gentle touches (instead of screams of terror) would make remus realize he can trust you. he already did, but his insecurities held him back from opening up completely. after you two are officially together, it's hard to pull you apart. the other guys tease you but they're glad that moony has someone he loves. remus will talk about anything and everything with you but he especially likes your rambles about mythology/folklore and seeing the finished art pieces you make. bonus points if their subject matter is remus, himself <3

for harry potter (golden trio era,) i ship you with...

neville longbottom!

immediately, he’s attracted to your sense of style! the first time he sees you out of your hogwarts uniform, your androgynous/masculine style intrigues him; enough that he follows you around like a lost puppy until you finally start up a conversation. your relationship is definitely one that grows from a mutual pining friendship that mainly takes place in the library late at night or by the pond on weekends. neville tells you about all the plants and frogs in the area, then listens to you ramble about stories you’ve heard from the paintings or read in the old dusty books no one picks up anymore. sometimes, he’s worried he can’t keep up with you - you always have a new hobby or interest to show off, and he can feel a tad..boring in comparison. thankfully, your words of affirmation will always reassure him and he’ll return them tenfold (amidst a decent amount of stuttering, he prefers complimenting you through poetry.) all your fellow students have grown used to seeing you walk around the castle, hands intertwined, giggling amongst each other. and everyone knows not to mess with neville anymore, since you caused quite a scene the last time that happened!

for criminal minds, i ship you with...

spencer reid!

i know this answer is a bit cliche, but it just felt fitting! it’s fair to say that all the male bau members (and even the ladies) would enjoy your company (matt and penelope especially), but you and spencer are like two peas in a pod! you can butt heads sometimes with your competitive natures, attempting to outdo the other with random knowledge, but you also complement each other’s personality traits well! when you’re feeling more extroverted, you help spencer break out of shell - and when you’re daydreaming or frustrated with yourself, spencer’s logical thinking can help ground you. it takes a little while for you both to open up and grow comfortable in your relationship, but then you’re the cutest pairing since derek and penelope! you can be found wearing matching sweaters, playfully bickering over which author is superior, or dissecting the thriller movie you watched last night while snuggled on the couch together. you’ve also made spencer a lot more comfortable with physical touch! at the very least, he’s always got his pinkie wrapped around yours <3

for lotr, i ship you with...

faramir!

ok ok hear me out, because this ship means something to me <3 you and faramir are just destined to be together! at first, it’s a simple admiration. faramir sees in you the studious, brave, kind, and unique person that he wishes he could be. not only are you physically beautiful, but you have an enticing personality to match, and it doesn’t take long for faramir to realize he’s falling for you... and quickly. he might not be the best at showing it, since he struggles to be emotionally vulnerable, but you both ease out of your shells together over time. he’s amazing at praising you and gets adorably flustered when you return the sentiment, attempting to stoically look away and maintain a poker face. but, that never lasts. around you, he’s all smiles, even if they’re small soft ones. for once, he feels enough, more than, even - he feels worthy of your love and everything that comes with it; the late nights reading, days spent joking around and laughing, and the quiet moments where you hold him close and he finally feels content.

#me posting this 7 months later: :) #like tati WHAT THE FUCK #sorry anon ily #answered #anonymous

[robin-the-enby]

Hey! I love your matchups and I really want one with on the black butler characters.

I am ISTJ and even though I was born in America I come from a Mexican family. So I am fluent in Spanish and English. Along side of Mandarin Chinese (still learning) and Japanese (still learning)

Appearance wise, I have olive skin, long wavy/curly hair that reaches my tailbone (i like putting it in side braid). I also have long bangs that quite often fall over my glasses. And just too lazy to move them. I also have dimples when I smile. I will bite anyone who try poke them.

Personality: I can get hard to know at first because I have trust issues (my heart has been broken okay) . Not too mention people don't try to get know me because of my major Resting Bitch Face. They think I am judging them or that I am scary. But I am not... I am attentive so I will stand up for myself and anyones else. I am patient. Also, after you get to know me you will realize I am a chaotic crackhead with a melodramatic persona. Like "your star is here!" "The stage is calling for me. Move out of my way" "the spotlight is on me so could you move you crusty face?" I like to tease and flirt with the people I am close to. I zone out or daydream a lot. And in the worst times. It could be a serious meeting and I am chuckling because of something in my head. Which have scared people. It could be during a conversation and I will stop listening. But I will always feel bad and apologize.

I also like to scare people. Like tell them the unsolved cases or horrific cases that I know (I love unsolved cases) . This is also why my little siblings hate me. Turns out talking kids murder cases and disapperinv cases was not appropriate for bed time story... woops.....

I like to pop out of nowhere and either flick or playfully punch my friends and say boo. I do accidentally roast people. I don't think before I say things. And don't realize until hours or days later. And I am like "shit"

I am sarcastic and that has gotten me in trouble before. My friend asked for my advice and I didn't know she was being serious. So I gave her a sarcastic advice and she came back to me mad. I was like "shit you believed me?"

Likes/hobbies: i like my anatomy class and I like to read, write, meditate (because I get stressed a lot). I really like to dance and listen to music. Which my music taste is everywhere: Kpop, classical music, jazz, jpop, Spanish songs, rock, metal. Every music genre except for country. I like to play the violin.

My passion lies in the arts and crafts. I would like to do illustration and photography. More specifically street fashion photography and and event photography. Like weddings and funerals. Yes funeral photography does exist and I will like to do it. Since it is also special event. I draw a lot of portraits and landscapes. I have been told that my art is either scary or mysterious. Though I can get a little caught up with my passion. I practice to get better with no rest.

Flaws/toxic traits: I am not empathetic or sympathetic. People always thought I didn't care about my friend's issues. I do i just don't understand them. My compassion does make up for this and will give advice. My other flaw, is the high walls I build to protect myself. I am there for other people. But people were never there for me. People have manupliated me and that cause me trust issues. I don't know how to handle negative emotions like depression, anxiety, self doubt, procrastination. So I just isolate myself in these moods. They really take a toll on me and make me think I can't do my passions. I am afraid of commitment because of toxic relationships i had before.

Love language: I am not obvious with affection. (Because no one ever gave me it). I show it through my teasing and flirting. My love language is however Act of Service. I will help my s/o with anything they need. Chores, work, advice, etc. Sort of the mom of my friend group. But a Savage mom as I have been told. "Stop crying, here I made you a cookie" "do I need to hurt someone" "don't worry I can get coffin with a lock in it". I am also an aggressive supporter. Like "No YOU are beautiful. YOU are gorgeous!" (This happened when someone gives me affection and time try to turn the attention to them as way to hide my fluster)

I will call my s/o like "stupid" "idiot" but in a endearing way. Okay. Occasionally I will use "beloved" and "Cariño/cariña"

I am not good receiving verbal affection or physical affection. I was never given affection so I am not used to it. I will start blushing and stop working. I will also probably say "idiot" or turn the attention to them like "no.. u" but I think fails because I am terrible at hiding my blush. I get easily flustered with affection okay. But I won't ever admit that I like it. Though it is obvious.

Sexuality: i am bisexual so it doesn't matter what gender I am paired up with.

Funt fact i guess?: I love small plants, plushies, and banana milk. Like I have hundreds of different kinds of plants and they each have their own name. Like GGmo, Lily, Melody, Edward. I love Banana milk as I said. I drink it every evening. It always get me happy so when I am sad or had a bad day. I drink banana milk and I am happy. It is also to make up for my coffee addiction. I am addicted to coffee. My friends said no coffee and I was like fine banana milk then :)

This is getting long now... bye.

I'm glad that you like my matchups, I'm trying my best tbh😅 I match you with:

Sebastian Michaelis

Sebastian is very curious in nature, so he definitely wants to know what you're really like, not the front you put on.

He's also very charming when he wants to, he makes it very easy to open up to him and get comfortable around him.

Sure, he, as a demon, doesn't really care much for humans, so when he doesn't have to play the polite, kind butler, he probably has a RBF as well, however, I think that changes when he's interacting with someone he loves.

His sweet words may have been a mask at first, so he could see the real you, but the closer you two become, the more he means every word of praise, encouragment or comfort he utters.

He would most certainly be amused by your crackhead self once you do get comfortable around him, but it's not really his vibe. He wouldn't scold you for being loud, brash or inapropriate, like he does the other servants.

If he's in a really good mood or when the situation calls for it, he can be dramatic as well. Sometimes he'd do it just to get on Ciel's nerves XD

One big pro of being with Sebastian is that he lets you off the hook a lot. If he was talking to anyone else and they'd space out, oh honey, he would stare them down so hard, it's sending chills down my spine just thinking about it. But if it's you it's like a complete 180, Sebastian can't possibly be mad at you, everyone spaces out sometimes, those things just happen.

The other servants make sure to be on your good side so that you could intercede with him on their behalf.

You can't scare him with your true crime stories, but you sure as hell can scare the others. And you can bet your ass Seb's gonna help! The plan is: You tell the story and then he's gonna pop up out of nowhere behind them, giving them mini heart attacks.

If you try to scare him though, you'll need to be on guard 24/7 until he gets you in return. And even if your on guard all the time, he finds a way to scare the life out of you.

Your humor is practically the same, I mean, Sebastian is great at off handed remarks/roasts and sarcastic comments that you have to look for to really see them. You two could be talking shit about anyone and everybody would be like "Oh yeah, normal conversation, yes"

Sebastian would love to dance with you. And trust me when I say this, he is good at any type of dance. If you two are ever at a ball, prepare your feet, because he's not gonna let go of you the whole night (unless his master is in danger of course).

He would be your #1 supporter, he'd go with you out to take photos, and if you asked him to look at some, he'd take a good long look at each and every one of them and describe in detail how he feels about them. Also would go to any art shows you'd host if it came to it.

When it comes to sympathy and empathy, Sebastian also has a hard time showing these feelings. He's been alive for far longer than any human on Earth and he's a demon. He's never had any of the problems humans have, so naturally he doesn't kniw what it feels like to have them. Plus, before you came into his life, he didn't care much for them either.

However, he's gonna be there for you whenever you need him, emotionally or practically, even though he doesn't get your feelings.

You both have walls put up, you because of bad past experiences, him because as a demon, he has major issues with being vulnerable in any way. And I'm not talking just emotionally here, but demons are almost undestroyable, yet they have very few weaknesses that they just need to hide away.

It's rare Sebastian has a problem, but even if he had, you wouldn't know, because he thinks you, as a human, wouldn't understand and so he won't burden your mind with it. However, he's very perceptive and so if your behaviour changes, be it due to anxiety or a depressive episode, he'll know.

Now, he's not the type of person to try and break down your walls by force, but in situstions like these, where he's not sure how to help, you gotta talk to him and he won't leave you alone until you tell him how he can help.

He's not above carrying you around and doing everything for you until you're embarassed enough to tell him

He is very appreciative of your help around, since the other servants are good at everything but what they're supposed to do.

You with your tough love and Sebastian with his teeth rotting compliments and affection, it'd be honestly really funny to watch. He adores how you show affection, because it's different from most people he's known. But on the other hand, you can't expect him not to spoil you afte all the hard work you do every day?

He would really shower you in love and affection, because you deserve it and because it makes you flustered XD

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #black butler matchups #matchups #requests open #black butler x reader #black butler x y/n #sebastian michaelis #sebastian michaelis x reader #sebastian michaelis x y/n

[blueorangemusic]

Hi!!! I love your ATLA music, I found you and just fell in love. May I ask for some advice? Iwrite a lot of poetry and want to turn them into music but I don’t know how as I’m not a natural music person the way words come to me as a writer, and I don’t play any instruments, and it may be silly but I feel I’m too old to learn. Do you have any tips to start?

(Well this turned into a whole “how to get started with music” post. I hope you don’t mind 💜)

Oh my god oh my god oh my god, I love your ask so much! I love all the art I see in fandom, but we don’t have a lot of songwriters yet, and if I can help even one person get started with music this blr has not been in vain.

Now is actually a very good time to get started with songwriting without having to pick up a lot of music background upfront. And despite being a former choir kid and piano student, I had to learn songwriting from scratch in a similar way, since the way I was taught music focused very much on performing your part to perfection rather than understanding how the parts all fit together. So the advice below is part experience (and part best-guess as to what might work in your case).

Since you say you don’t play music I’m going to recommend you start with pre-made instrumental tracks (I’ll explain below). Now, it can feel a bit weird using an instrumental someone else made in your own creations, so think of them as basically pose references for your music. Music is tricky largely because - as with any art - you need to finish a few pieces in order to start developing your ear, but - unlike with writing or pencil drawing - you need to frontload comparatively more skill (and gear) acquisition if doing it all from scratch: where do I get instruments from? how do I use this audio software? what are chords? what all goes into making the music sound laid-back (upbeat, dramatic)? how to make the bridge sound different from the verse? We’re gonna circumvent all that - at first.

So the following writing prompt is for quickly getting to a finished piece - I hope it will help you get a feeling for how your poetry can sound when set to music,  the process of turning your poetry into lyrics, and help you understand the direction you want to take your songwriting. And if you (or anyone else reading this) decide to follow the choose-your-own-adventure steps at the end and get stuck, drop me another ask - once you have an idea of what you want to do the answers get much shorter!

Writing prompt below the cut! Thanks again for the ask! If you or anyone else found this helpful and got started on some songwriting, I would love to see your completed songs or WIPs whenever you feel ready to share them 💜.

Writing Prompt: Song-ifying an existing poem

Pick one of your poems! Go to https://app.sessions.blue/ - it’s just one of many many sites offering prerecorded instrumental loops and tracks (theirs are free if used for non-commercial purposes), but the cool thing about it for this writing prompt is that their website makes it easy to browse and play the tracks without having to register, and that they offer a wider variety of genres than most.

Set a timer for 15 minutes max and browse through the tracks until you found one you like that you think can work as a song (if you don’t know where to start, set the “Tags” filter to “Indie” - it seems to have a good quantity of tracks that are song-shaped). Grab your poem, let your chosen track run, and launch into speaking or singing the words over it. You can do a single phrase, repeating it over the music, or you can run through the whole poem.

You can start with speaking or half-singing/half-speaking if making up a melody sounds a bit too intimidating at this point, but speaking can be a cool thing in its own right. Here’s a track for inspiration - Dessa’s Talking Business (lyrics here) - she used to be a poetry slam regular before she became a singer, and this song is basically a short story told in verse. Note how she is telling it in a soft voice, and though she’s half-singing, most of the musicality and impact of the song comes from the variation in the rhythm. If that sounds appealing to you, it’s something you can easily explore and practice at this step. (Don’t worry if this track doesn’t speak to you, I have more examples from different genres below).

Here’s another track that can be softly half-sung/half-spoken - Octave by Half Waif (lyrics here) - Nandi Rose, the singer, also writes poetry and this track always felt to me like a poem set to music. Note how it leaves a lot of air between each line, unlike the lyrically dense previous track. Here, a lot of the musicality comes from the echoing, etherial vocal effects that create a moody soundscape. If that sounds appealing to you, earmark it for later - you’d need to install some software and spend a few hours figuring out how to use it. (This concludes the more electronic-driven examples, onwards to other genres!)

Or you can start with a melody in a more conventional sense. Check these two tracks - Blue Caravan by Vienna Teng (lyrics here) and Empire by Dar Williams (lyrics here). Empire is an example of introducing song structure - it has distinct melodies for the verse, second part of the verse (or pre-chorus), chorus, and post-chorus. This is something you can pay attention to at this stage if it appeals to you. Or you can use the same melody throughout, like Blue Caravan does.

Uff! That was a lot of examples! But I wanted to give some inspiration of the possibilities in laying out your own words over the instrumental track you picked, and possibly help you out if you got stuck. Anyway, set your timer to 30 minutes (or 45 minutes, or an hour), keep replaying your track and singing or speaking over it. Grab a recording app (any free one you download to your phone is fine) and record yourself, phrase by phrase as you go. Listen back often, note parts that you vibe with and parts that don’t work for you. Don’t hesitate to plain out copy melodies and rhythms from songs you like at this stage, it’s all good. You might find you want to drop or repeat some of the words and phrases in your poem - experiment with that. In the end, record your best version start-to-finish so that you can listen to it again in a week’s time.

Repeat for a couple more tracks, a couple more poems.

Where to next?

Well that was a lot of words! Your next steps will depend on what appeals to you about the songmaking process.

If you listened to the instrumental tracks and thought, wow, I wish I could learn how to make my own - you’re in luck! There’s a whole world of loops and samples (small audio files used as building blocks in songs), and instead of spending time learning an instrument you would spend time developing a good ear and learning a music software where you put those building blocks together into a song. If you ever used a graphics software, the learning curve for a music software will look about the same, and same as graphics software there is a whole spread of music software from easy-to-learn to complex and from free-to-use to expensive. The examples you find online skew towards electro genres, but any genre is possible, even if you want to make acoustic guitar songs without playing acoustic guitar.

If you listened to the instrumental tracks and thought, cool, where can I get more of them? - you’re in luck too! There are a lot of people out there who make and share instrumental tracks, and most audio companies offer some of their pre-made tracks for free. Where to find them will depend on what genres you’re interested in.

If you listened to the instrumental tracks and thought, actually, all I want to sing my songs to is that cheeky ukulele sound, or those clean piano chords, or those chunky synth soundscapes - what I mean to say is, if you fell in love with a specific type of sound - well, as it happens we live in a time where inexpensive great-sounding instruments are widely available, and it doesn’t take that much time to learn the basics.

#asks #this is a creative process blr #THANK YOU for giving me the opportunity to nerd out about making music #poetry #stardust-steel

[assetsliterature]

7 ways to earn money while you sleep

: Creating money while you sleep. Whenever I get this in my mind, I always remember a quote from Warren buffet “if you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”

First, let me tell you something. If you haven’t been heard this type of thing before, then believe these things:

Every way I share in this blog works.

Ways which can make money while you sleep are called: “Passive income.”

You cannot achieve multiple income sources just reading ``always remember “1 hour of doing > 5 hours of thinking.

Passive income :

Just imagine you wrote an ebook and publish it on Kindle, then people who are interested in your ebook will buy it, I know that selling a book on a huge level can be a hard task, but after doing this, you will make money while you sleep ;

This is just an example of ‘selling a digital product online.

~ Please scroll down if you don’t want intro~

Don’t let your area influence your mindset:

When I was living in my hostel, sometimes I used to to the terrace for stargazing at 3 a.m. with my best friend. One night he asked me to give my best advice to him because I haven’t got any advice for him in my mind.

But now I have one

:

You must have heard that- “the people you socialize with influence you so much.” That’s why you should be with people who have a positive mindset ~~

People around you affect your life in many ways. Let’s understand this with an example- “imagine you’re a student and your classmates don’t take their studies seriously, they only study one night before an exam, they bunk classes and waste so much time on not-so-good things.” Then there is a big chance that you can be like them too!

“Sociologists tell us the most introverted of people will influence 10,000 others in an average lifetime” every person you come in contact with is impacted in some way.

So, in my opinion, train yourself to not learn from negative minds. Stay with people you want to be. They will always lift you!

Remember: Just because someone is so confident at saying something doesn’t mean they are right!

How much you can earn:

Creating Passive income in your 20s is not something that everyone does, and for making your passive income source work good you have to put in some effort and time. You have to invest your money in it.

You can start with investing a little, and then you have to invest from your profit to make it work well.

So it depends on you; however, there are so many ways that have a huge income compared to another passive income source.

7 ways to create passive income for beginners :

1.Sell Digital Products:

If you’re a newbie, then this can be a good start for you!

There are a lot of things to create and sell online! I.e., ebooks, online courses, podcasts, graphic art bundles, photographs, music, templates, and so much more.

If you like blogging, you can create podcasts, ebooks, online courses related to your niche. Visit this for more examples of digital products_ If you’re interested in photography, you can sell your pictures at reasonable prices. Just pick your interest and go for it! It is not effortless, but you can learn and earn a lot from this!

Requirements?

All you need to have is a phone, a good internet connection, an urge to learn, and a lot of patience.

How much can you earn?

If you choose to write an ebook and you list it on Kindle for 1$, and you get one buyer a day, then you can earn 30$/month easily; stock photos earn approximately 25–45 cents per image, it depends on how many people are buying from you. The prices of online courses are usually 8$. If 1 thousand students buy your course, then you can get 624$ from it!

The more you work, the more you’ll earn but make sure to be creative and unique and don’t forget- “quality over quantity.”

# Don’t give up too easily if you’re here to earn.

2.Start a blog:

You may have heard that before, but it’s because it’s work. Even I was thinking about this so many times before starting this blog, and it’s good to have something on your bucket list to work on. When you are free, you can start a blog and give your six months in it.

Remember, it’s worth the hustle. Imagine if you started a blog one year ago. Do you believe you’re that useless that you can’t even get 50,000 views on a blog after working one year?

You can check this out if you’re interested in starting a blog.

Requirement:

I know a friend who is planning to start a blog. I asked him about his blueprint, and he said, “i will write and earn” he is stupid; I hope he is now seeing this right now, first learn about blogging in-depth and decide how much time you can give it, if you don’t have a plan then you will be lost for a moment, trust me I know that, been there.

These things are a must for starting a blog :

A niche

A map for both before posting an article and after posting an article

And expect the hard time will come, and if it will not, then it will.👁

How much you can earn:

Blogging is something a small blog can be a bug business after some time, many bloggers who just started blogging for a hobby leave their 9–5 from it,

It’s from google AdSense website;

Google will pay you according to your niche, but if you create a finance blog and you get 50,000 visits per month, you can make 15,012$/year.

# for blogging, you should learn daily and use google sheets for planning. You can download the sheets template from here

3.Join the affiliate program and use Pinterest:

You can join the Amazon affiliate program by just signing up to their website. By doing that, you can share your link, and if someone buys a product from your link, you’ll get paid depending on the product category and price.

So there is a problem in that like who will buy products from your link, I know, so that’s why you will use Pinterest,

If you don’t know about Pinterest, you can download Pinterest from any app store and use it.

You can share pics with links on Pinterest, and it’s called creating pins. So people can see your shared photos on Pinterest, and if someone sees a product they like, they will click on the pic, and then they will redirect to amazon.

Requirements: you don’t even need a laptop for it, just 1 hour a day and a little bit of Pinterest SEO, and it’s the best thing I love about Pinterest; it has so easy SEO compared to google.

How much you can earn?: amazon affiliate earning has no limits; you can increase it as you grow anywhere online. Once you achieve your target on Pinterest, you will thank you for just starting.

4.Rent your apartment on Airbnb:

Airbnb is a platform where someone can rent out their couch, room, or home.

Since hotel prices are so high in major cities, it’s been obvious that before booking hotels people check Airbnb.

If you have free space in Airbnb, you can try this out, and after some time, you can hire a cleaner and an assistant to manage everything.

Requirements: you have to live in a developed city, if you are like me then AirBnb is no use for you, but I will wait when my hometown has so many travelers all around the world XD!!

How much you can earn?: That depends on the level you are receiving orders from AirBnB, but for a try, you should register on it and try yourself how often you get a call !!

5.Write an ebook:

If you love the idea of digital products, then you can choose to write an ebook. In that case, you don’t need any investment. You can check this out for more category ideas !!

For creating book covers or any graphic, use Canava. You can choose something related to your studies or interest. But do remember this ‘getting readers for your book is not easy. Everything is hard, so choose your hard.

Requirements: just an idea about your ebook, map of where you will share your ebook(like Facebook groups. Forums related to your book title etc.), and you have to know good writing and your target audience but don’t worry and don’t afraid of failure, you should give 30 days to write your ebook and see what you can do

How much can you earn?: As I mentioned earlier, it depends on your readers. If you get 80 readers at a 1$ price per month, you get 80$/month without doing anything. It’s just a starting future. You will get more readers if you write valuable content for your target audience.

#write an ebook like you are talking to your friend about something

6 .Dropshipping:

Dropshipping is like selling products online, but you don’t store your product. You use a third-party supplier (like wholesaler or manufacturer) to fulfil product needs; I am sure you have heard Shopify’s name before from Shopify; you can create your dropshipping business; I highly recommend you check out Shopify website. If you use Shopify, don’t worry; no one will know if your eCommerce website is Shopify.

From here, you can learn how to start an eCommerce dropshipping store from scratch.

Requirements: A niche, a supply for your store, build your online store and then market your store after that to improve your store.

How much can you earn?: It’s just like a store but online, but it can be a lot more profitable than an offline store. You have to put a lot into it to succeed, so your earning cannot be defined by just typing and thinking !!

7. Create an app:

I am not saying that it’s not risky, but you can create an app that solves people problems or help them with something like if you use android, then you might have some problems and wish that there was a solution for it _

Some time ago, I was searching for friends interested in fantasy books, so i wish that I had an app where I can just find them ~

So if you can solve the problem from your app, then try it.

However, you have to invest in it first because everyone is not an android/ios app developer.

Requirements: an idea, some money to hire a developer, and a plan

How much you can earn?: when you upload your app on any app store, and user use it, you earn money, so it depends on what’s your planets

Like you can sell the app to every user or add a subscription fee or monetize your app.

So it will worth it when it achieves its meaning!

_____

Thanks so much for reading this article, I will share more business strategy in-depth and if you really want to earn from passive income please accept my suggestion and plan something and go for it because i know a lot of people who learn and never take actions ~~

You can subscribe to us if you love this topic!

Assets- Literature

Original article: https://www.assetsliterature.com/2021/05/how-does-cryptocurrency-work.html

You can check our website for other contents like this.

#passiveincome #financialfreedom #entrepreneur #investing #money #business #entrepreneurship #bitcoin #investment #success #forex #motivati

[lveclouds]

pianos and coffee (myg x reader)

(in which yoongi is a music major and you, the reader, pass by the music room occasionally to watch him as he plays the piano)

dedicated to: @dylanxmin @agustd02 @agustkive @yoongislovecult @softguks @joonglows @sketchguk @sweetheartjeongguk @flowerseok @yourdelights @dreamingofkoo @jksmoongf @gukwluv @gguksbby @yoonminos @minsprings @yoongismykink @outroshooky @kimcritique @brilliantlybasicb @thinksshesawolf @roguebangtan @nahfamily @jungkooksmoon @swanqook @koosgrl @yoonsgiggle  @daechwitas​

word count: 1k (my first drabble thats at least 1k hehe)

genre: fluff, tooth-rotting fluff, college/university au, music major yoongi, arts major reader 

rating: pg (for mild swearing) 

(lowercase intended)

a/n: another yoongi drabble for you all because why not? yoongi’s been providing us with so much content lately, like i stg we are so spoiled:((( anyways, please stream D-2 for good grades, clear skin, and clear skies. also, yoongi is the cutest bub ever and i wanna put him in my pocket but agust d makes me want to light stuff on fire you feel?? 

a soft, tired sigh escaped your mouth as you trudged down the empty hallway, feeling both mentally and physically drained. the late afternoon sun shone through the massive glass windows that took up the right side of the hall, bathing the tiled floor in golden beams of light. your arts professor was bombarding you and your peers with endless projects, and, top of that, you also had a literature essay due in two weeks. stress and anxiety were emotions that constantly plagued you, and it seemed as if they would never go away, due to the veritable mountain of assignments your professors were throwing your way. so far, your second semester of college wasn’t looking all that great. Your parents’ words lingered in your mind constantly. “do well in college so that you can get a good job and be able to provide for your own family one day.” “don’t become a college dropout, ok? promise us?” “don’t become a college dropout, my ass.” you mumbled. your schedule was quite hectic, and you barely had anytime for yourself, and you felt as if you were going to reach a breaking point sooner or later. 

“feeling great” you muttered, your tone dripping with sarcasm. suddenly, soft piano music filled your ears, and it occurred to you that you were standing right in front of the music room. you closed your eyes and allowed yourself to get lost in the gentle and soothing notes of the piano keys. the piano was an instrument you found to be quite beautiful, as you thought it possessed a delicate sort of nature. after the music had subsided, you opened your eyes and snapped back to reality, sighing heavily.  as you were about to leave, something, or rather, someone caught your eye, and you felt your face flush scarlet when you realized who had been playing. 

min yoongi, music major, and the guy you’d been crushing on ever since your first year at college, was sitting at the piano bench, delicate fingers hovering over the keyboard. not only was he one of the most talented guys on campus, but he was absolutely stunning, breathtaking, even. with messy, raven hair that was always falling into his eyes, feline shaped eyes that could pierce your soul with one look, a cute button nose, perfect eyebrows, and the softest pair of lips you’d ever seen on a guy, yoongi was, if not one of the most breathtaking guys you’d ever laid eyes on. everyone on campus was intimidated by yoongi and usually avoided him at all costs, due to the “cold” aura that radiated around him. however, you knew that yoongi wasn’t really what people on campus made him up to be, at least, according to your classmate, jeon jungkook, who happened to be close friends with yoongi. you had met jungkook on your third day on campus, all smiles and doe eyes bright and sparkling, and he was someone that you quickly became fond of. when he had asked you if you knew yoongi, you had shook your head, admitting that you were a bit scared to talk to him, due to the rumors that yoongi was extremely intimidating. to your surprise, jungkook had giggled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “yoongi hyung? intimidating? don’t believe anything those people say. he may look intimidating, but he’s actually a big softie with the biggest, kindest heart and is really caring, trust me. he’s one of the kindest people i’ve ever met and has the biggest amount of patience and is really calm, even in stressful situations. he also gives great advice and is a great listener; i rant to him all the time about my problems.” despite this, however, you were still too shy to try and talk to yoongi, which resulted in you pining after him from afar, refusing to initiate a conversation, much to jungkook’s dismay. “you just need to talk to him.” jungkook would say, making it sound like something that was as easy as breathing. “kook, it’s not that easy,” you’d protest, causing him to pout. “why?? yoongi hyung’s not going to bite you, if that’s what you’re afraid of.” that earned him a light shove to the shoulder. the real reason why you were so terrified of talking to yoongi was the possibility of being rejected, and now that you admitted it out loud, you felt kinda pathetic. 

you were sensitive and your feelings were easily hurt, even from a young age. if yoongi knew, you thought, he’d probably laugh in my face, you thought, your heart sinking down into your chest. you were snapped out of your trance when the door to the music room suddenly swung open, and min yoongi was standing right in front of you, expression unreadable. “can i help you?” he asked. his voice was deep and a bit husky, which sent a shiver down your spine. “I-i “ you stuttered, face flushing scarlet. your mouth suddenly felt dry, as if you had swallowed sandpaper at the sight of yoongi right in front of you. yoongi sighed. “you’re one of jungkook’s friends, right?” “w-what? h-how do you know?” “the kid keeps talking about you.” yoongi stated plainly. “o-oh. well, i’m y/n.” “i’m yoongi.” after a long, awkward pause, yoongi cleared his throat. “wanna get coffee? there’s a cafe that’s a two minute walk from here.” a shade of pink settled across your cheeks. “s-sure.” yoongi nodded and gestured for you to follow him. 

minutes later, you and yoongi were tucked into a booth near the back of a cafe, with warm cups of coffee in your hands. “so, what’s your major?” yoongi asked, taking a long sip of his coffee, dark eyes fixed on you. “i’m an art major.” “ah, so you know you taehyung?” your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. why does the name sound so familiar? you thought. “he’s also an art major too, so i thought you might’ve seen him around campus.” “ah! wait! wasn’t he that guy whose watercolor painting everyone was raving about at the art exhibit last year?” yoongi nodded. “ok , then yes, i have seen him around. I’ve never talked to him, though.” “taehyung’s a good kid, a bit clueless at times, but he’s one of the nicest people i know. plus, he’s pretty fashionable, at least, that’s what everyone says whenever they see him.” “i like his fashion sense, its unique.” “so, how long have you been playing piano for?” “ever since i could walk. my parents weren’t really into music, but i knew from the moment that i had my first piano lesson that i wanted to pursue some kind of music career.” “i’ve heard you play, you’re incredible.” a light blush spread across yoongi’s face. “t-thanks.” you felt a small smile forming on your face. jungkook was right, you thought amusedly. yoongi is really a softie. Then, you and yoongi ended up talking for hours, and your conversation with him was halted when one of the employees, a tall, handsome man with the plushest lips you’ve ever seen came over to tell you that the cafe would be closing soon. before you could say anything, yoongi’s face suddenly broke out into a smile, gums on display, and you thought your heart was going to jump out of your chest. The corners of his eyes crinkled, and his feline eyes were bright with happiness. “hello to you too, jin-hyung.” “wait? you know him?” the older male rolled his eyes. “yeah, he does, and often takes advantage of the fact that i work here so he can get a discount.” “i do not!” yoongi protested, a slight pout forming on his lips, and you tried not to melt at the sight. “yes, you do, now take your girlfriend and go.” jin said plainly, but his eyes were alight with mischief and the corner of his lips curved into a small smirk. “she’s not my girlfriend, hyung. we just met.” yoongi mumbled, blush deepening. “ok, ok, whatever you say, yoongi.”jin teased. “we’re leaving.” 

jin laughed as you followed yoongi out of the cafe, waving cutely. “bye yoongi!! use protection, ok?” “i’m sorry for him.” you waved off his apology. “it’s fine. jin seems nice.” “he is, but he teases me too much.” “but he makes great coffee.” yoongi smiled. “that he does.” and before the two of you parted ways that night, yoongi slipped a folded napkin from the cafe into your hand. “just text me if you ever need someone to talk to.” and with that, he left, giving you a small wave as he went. you finally allowed yourself a smile. not only had you managed to talk to your crush, but you had his number. jungkook’s going to be so proud of me, you thought as you walked back to your dorm. talking with yoongi had made all of your worries melt away, and you squared your shoulders a bit. maybe college won’t be so bad after all, you thought. 

a/n: omg this is my first drabble that’s at least 1k words!! I hope you all enjoyed this drabble, and please let me know what you think!! my next drabble may or may not be a jin one hehe

#mine #drabble #1k #heartsforbts #bangtanhq #btswriterscollective #networkbangtan #armysource

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 19

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Hazel gives Calypso some advice.

A/N:  Keeping things short and sweet this time. Time to bring Hazel back before we finally get to some important 'talks'! As usual, I hope you guys enjoy and please comment because that's the best motivator I can get!!

Characters in this ch: Calypso, Hazel, Frank (mentioned)

Words: 2300+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

…

“Hey,” Hazel gently grabbed Calypso’s sleeve after an art class when they were about to go home. Calypso had been pretty quiet (quieter than usual) during the class and she had been worried that Hazel would notice that. As she turned to look at the speaker, Calypso felt she should have known she wouldn’t get rid of her that easily.

“I’m going to meet my friend Frank in an hour but I don’t have time to go home before that, so I’m going to kill some time somewhere nearby. Would you like to join me?” Hazel asked.

Calypso admitted to herself that she had been dreaming about locking herself into her room and maybe screaming into her pillow just a bit because she had felt very frustrated ever since the ‘Percy incident’ had happened. In the history classes she and Annabeth no longer talked to each other if they could avoid it. One awkward time their professor had ordered them to do their group work together but instead of actually spending time discussing the topic (or other matters) Annabeth had told Calypso to make some notes at home while she’d make her own and send them to her then for her to combine. Calypso had wanted to protest and say the whole situation was ridiculous but she had already learned to know that Annabeth was very strong willed especially when she wanted to be and arguing about it would most likely have caused more harm than good.

Aside from that they hadn’t interacted much, but from Piper, Calypso had heard that she and Percy were having a bit of a rough phase. Calypso herself wasn’t doing much better with her flatmate who had recently been spending more time with his family and friends or working behind the shut doors. Sooner rather than later she knew she would have to deal with both Leo and Annabeth but it was easier said than done. Especially because in her old home the issues had been just brushed under a rug and never talked about again.

Thinking about all that, Calypso had almost forgotten what Hazel had asked in the first place, but when the younger girl cleared her voice to get her attention, she finally responded: “Oh, sure, why not? I don’t have any place where I should be right now…” She tried to convince herself that maybe this would be a good thing, to get something else to think about. “Where do you want to go?” She asked Hazel “There’s a nice coffee shop nearby!” Hazel replied, casting a slightly worried look at Calypso. She could sense the older girl didn’t have her brain fully present. “And they have student friendly prices. Can you believe I once saw a coffee shop where they sold a regular cup of regular coffee for over four dollars?

“Wow, that really is expensive,” Calypso agreed but had nothing else to contribute to that topic.

“Yeah…” Hazel simply nodded and the girls continued walking for a while in a silence.

“Um, listen…” Hazel eventually spoke. “I can’t help but notice that something’s on your mind… If you don’t want to come with me, that’s OK. I understand.”

Calypso felt embarrassed, not wanting her new friend to think that she didn’t care about her company.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry! I do want to join you. You’re right, though, things have been a bit weird in my life lately but I promise I’ll try to push that into the back of my mind for a bit. I think this will be good for me.”

“Alright,” Hazel accepted. “Just so you know, I’ve seen a lot of weird things in my life… so if you do want to talk about it at any point, feel free.”

“Okay, I will.” Calypso promised.

The coffee shop they went into was small but cozy, lots of students either hanging out with their friends or perhaps doing some homework after classes. Hazel and Calypso did still manage to find free seats from a more quiet corner and once they had made their orders (fruit tea for Calypso, latte for Hazel), they discussed the art classes for a bit. Hazel hoped to get more experience with portraits soon while Calypso admitted that she was more interested in painting landscapes. The younger girl also revealed that she was planning to draw something for Frank’s birthday, which made Calypso wonder again what the relationship between those two really was like.

“You and Frank seem really close based on what you’ve told me,” she commented. “I probably sound too curious, but are you two really just friends?”

Hazel chuckled a bit. “Don’t worry, you’re not the first person to ask me that. And the answer is: sadly, yeah. I mean… I’ve told him I’d be ready for a relationship but… Frank seems to be worried about how it might affect our friendship. We’ve been friends for a long while, after all. And recently his grandma hasn’t been feeling well so that’s taken a lot of his time and attention. Frank doesn’t have other close relatives so he’s the one who’s been taking care of her.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Calypso said sympathetically. As weird as it may have sounded, somehow hearing other people’s stories made her feel less alone in her situation. “I hope things will get better for both him and his grandma.”

“I have a feeling they will,” Hazel said mysteriously, not explaining why she felt that way. “And Frank is strong; he just isn’t aware of his strength yet.”

For some reason that comment made Calypso think of Leo, and ironically Hazel’s next question was: “Since I was honest with you, what about you then? Any special someone in your life?” Calypso felt her heated cheeks betray her yet again.

“Um, no, not really…” she replied, pretending to focus on her drink.

“Hey, I can detect a lie pretty easily,” Hazel noted calmly. “You wouldn’t have blushed if there wasn’t someone…”

“Well… it is true that I am not seeing anyone.” Calypso tried to dodge Hazel's comment.

“But…”

“But… the situation is a bit complicated.”

Hazel watched her curiously while tasting her drink. “Oh, how so?”

Suddenly Calypso noticed she was telling her new friend a lot more than she had intended. Something about the girl��s aura just made her feel she could trust her.

“I… There’s this guy called Leo. He’s my flatmate. He can be a bit irritating and immature at times… For example, one time he tried to make me eat a very hot chili pepper even though he knew how hot it was… To be fair, though, I only ate the tip.” Hazel chuckled at that comment. “And he tells a lot of bad jokes and doesn’t seem to have a filter. I think he may be covering some of his insecurities with his jokes. That’s just my guess, though. But either way…”

“You like him,” Hazel finished for her.

“Uh… Like? I don’t know… No? Maybe…” When Hazel raised her eyebrow, Calypso was forced to say: “Okay, there is a small chance that I do like him. Sometimes his jokes are kind of funny. And his stupid grin has grown on me and his fluffy hair makes me want to ruffle it. It’s frustrating! He’s good with his hands - I mean, he can build machines from scratch - and he’s also really smart, like, he can solve problems I couldn’t even imagine trying in a very short time. He loves his dog and his family a lot. He can make pretty great tacos. And he’s trying very hard to get over a fear of his… but…”

“But it’s complicated because he’s your flatmate?” Hazel guessed this time.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Calypso said. “I mean, of course that is something to be considered. If we ever got together and then broke up, it would be really awkward to live in the same flat. But I’m not even sure how he feels about me. There are moments when we have a lot of fun together. But sometimes I feel like we can’t be 100 per cent honest with each other, and recently… he found out that I used to, well, I think ‘date’ is not a correct word to use because we only met once in real life, but I did use to talk a lot with a friend of his online, with a relationship in my mind. It happened over two years ago and we never were serious, but… it seemed to bother Leo and I’m not sure what I should tell him.” In reality, those weren’t the only reasons why Calypso thought the situation was complicated but she had to draw the line somewhere.

“Did you already tell him what you just told me?” Hazel asked while stirring her hot drink.

“I did try to explain it when Percy came to our place to pick his girlfriend… Who is, or was my friend and she’s not talking to me either… but I don’t know. He’s been acting very distant ever since that happened; just talking to me when necessary and even then it isn’t more than a couple of sentences. It’s getting pretty frustrating…”

“I can imagine that,” Hazel nodded. “I’m not a relationship expert by any means but there must be some reason why he reacted like that, right?”

“I guess so.” Calypso shrugged. “But… I don’t know. It could be anything. Maybe he’s worried about his friends.”

“I may be wrong but to me it kind of sounds like he wasn’t happy to hear about you and his friend because he might like you back. If he didn’t care at all, he wouldn’t be giving you silent treatment,” Hazel noted.

“You really think so?” Calypso, a tiny hope rising in her even though she knew she shouldn’t wish too much.

“Hey, why wouldn’t he?” Hazel nudged Calypso’s elbow. “Haven’t you noticed that some of the guys in our art class keep whispering about you? One of them actually asked me if I knew if you are dating anyone. They are all over you. Don’t worry, though, I told him that even if I knew it wasn’t my business to tell.” She smiled at her encouragingly.

“Oh… thanks for taking my side there. I had no idea… But why didn’t they ask me directly?” Calypso asked, a bit flustered.

“I have a couple of guesses,” Hazel replied. “Either they consider you a bit intimidating… because you are pretty and smart and what not… or they think that someone like you possibly couldn’t be single and wanted to make sure before asking you.”

“That… feels weird,” Calypso said quietly. “I am not used to being a center of attention. Or in general being noticed by people who don’t have something to do with my family.”

“But how?” Hazel asked. “You’re exactly the kind of person who the others will notice.”

“It’s a long story… one I don’t like sharing… but the short version is that when I was a teenager I didn’t get to leave my house unless it was something really urgent or necessary. I was basically a…” Calypso couldn’t finish the sentence, the reality of that situation hitting her still very hard whenever she thought about it.

“A hostage,” Hazel said, looking shocked. Calypso nodded as a response. “That’s… that’s awful.”

“It… yeah,” Calypso said sadly. “We had a big house so I did have room to do a lot of things there but… my communication with people other than those who worked or visited there was cut to minimum. But… my father had reasons for doing so… I can only blame myself.”

“What do you mean?” Hazel asked with confusion.

“I did something…” Calypso hesitated. “I’m so sorry, I’m getting tired of saying this but… I can’t tell you. I haven’t told anyone…”

“I see.” Hazel nodded. “I’ve had some difficult experiences as well so I know where the limits go… Don’t worry, I won’t ask more. But if you do ever want to talk, you can trust me.”

“Thank you,” Calypso said, giving Hazel a small smile.

“No problem. Hey,” Hazel decided to change the topic, “you gotta introduce me to this Leo of yours at some point. He sounds like an interesting guy.”

Even though Calypso knew Hazel was just teasing her in a friendly matter, she couldn’t help but say: “He’s not ‘my Leo’! He’s just a flatmate. And sometimes he can be quite a pain in my butt.”

“But you already confessed that you may or may not like him,” Hazel said, sipping her coffee calmly, smiling into her cup.

“Whatever,” Calypso mumbled, without realizing it sounding a whole lot like the young man she was thinking of. “Well, what about this Frank? When will I get to meet him?”

“He will be here soon so if you want to, you can tag along with us for a bit.” Hazel looked at her watch.

“Do you think that’s OK with him? I don’t want to be the third wheel or anything.” Calypso asked.

“No worries, I’m sure Frank will be happy to meet you too.”

“Oh… OK. If you guys don’t mind, then I might come with you. I am not feeling like going home quite yet.” Calypso sighed, thinking about the sulking boy back in her flat.

“Alright! And hey, Frank is a nice guy, I think you guys will get along.”

“OK, I believe you,” Calypso nodded.

The girls continued talking about other things after that until Frank called Hazel that he had gotten out of the work and was waiting for her nearby. He said he was cool with Calypso tagging along and soon she learned that Hazel’s description of a teddy bear in a real bear’s body was quite accurate. He and Calypso had a shared love for animals so they talked a good while about Frank’s internship and other things related to the topic. Hanging out with Hazel and Frank, Calypso thought that it felt good for her to notice that there were people who did seem to like her company despite her background; maybe there was hope that Leo and Annabeth would come around eventually too.

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #my fics #caleo uni au

[oceanaestheticangel]

Obey Me! OC (Kind of?)

(I’ve had this fella ever since I was four years old and I’ve patched him up over the years. He’s now my MC in Obey Me! and I’m glad because I don’t think Obey Me! has a lot of fans where their MCs are male. THIS ART PIECE IS MY OWN.)

Name: Renamaki Tsuriji

Sex: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Race: Indian-Japanese

Class: Angel

Birthday: February 25th

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Sexuality: Pansexual

Love Interest: Asmodeus

Personality: Fun to be around, a comedian at best, a slight prankster, easily sociable, rarely ever gets angry, absolutely a chaotic angel, sweet and kind when he needs to be

Likes: Chocolate milk, fuzzy socks (who the hell hates fuzzy socks?), ocean, seashells, worms on string, sweaters, horror genre, axolotls, geometry, games

Dislikes: Extremely selfish people, hypocrites, ladybugs (has an intense fear of ladybugs), easily angered people, history in general

Habits: Eating flour straight from bags

~Miscellaneous~

Renamaki Tsuriji is your happy angel raised in the Celestial Realm under the archangel Michael. He arrived in the Devildom as an exchange student, even though he technically wasn’t supposed to be there. He’s a jokester who spews out jokes like he’s a machine, and loves loves pranks. He’s also really soft and sweet whenever he’s there to give advice (which isn’t much, he’s not really an advice giver).

~When he arrived, he got off on the wrong foot with Lucifer, due to him absolutely going nuts. And I mean absolutely nuts- joking at the first born when ordered around, not taking everything that seriously, running off to find people to socialize with, eating flour straight from the bags- you name it, this angel did it. Even now Lucifer is still pissy with him because of his crazy attitude, and often punishments make Renamaki try to push his buttons even further by continuing to disobey. I’m pretty sure Lucifer had multiple heart attacks trying to deal with the angel.~

- “What in the hell are you doing now, Renamaki?!”

- “I wanna become a sock!”

- ANGRY LUCIFER NOISES

~Due to his extroverted contagious crazed personality, he became partners in crime with Mammon. They almost hit it off instantly, and you can expect that whenever Mammon is up to something, Renamaki is right by his side. However, it’s worth mentioning that the angel loves the horror genre despite being crazy with a hint of softness, and he loves watching horror movies or playing horror games with Mammon just so he can hear the demon scream loudly and wake everybody up in the House of Lamentation late at night.~

- “Hey, uh, Mammon?”

- “Yea?”

- “You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

- “Yeaaaah, let’s try to get a picture of Luci sleepin!”

~Renamaki was rather indifferent towards Leviathan at first, simply because they were both on opposite ends of the socializing spectrum- with the angel being extremely extroverted and the Avatar of Envy being introverted. However, this all changed when he watched the TSL series, and the demon inviting him to play games. Being a gamer himself, he got along well with Levi, and to this day they are actually gaming buddies. Renamaki’s cheerful and humorous personality sometimes makes him come out of his shell, which is a good thing unless if he’s on his side dying of laughter.~

- “You may be a gamer, but you’re still a normie.”

- “I may be a normie, but this boi ‘bout to slam our car into a river!”

- “W-What are you doing?!”

- “MURDER TIME FUN TIME!”

- LEVIATHAN SCREAMING NOISES

~Like Lucifer, Renamaki didn’t get along at all with Satan. The angel doesn’t like anything to do with history or any kind of reading as he prefers mathematics, which pretty much solidifies their split. It also adds to their rivalry when Satan discovers Renamaki doesn’t even bother with people who are quickly angered, and he keeps his distance from the angel. However, they do make some interaction since the demon wishes to know all about the Celestial Realm where Renamaki came from, as he had never been there himself.~

- “So, is it true that there are hierarchies of angels in the Celestial Realm?”

- “Bro, why does the sea smell like the sea?”

- “You’re not answering my question, fool!”

- “Well, neither are you!”

~Oh boy, this angel is head over heels for Asmodeus, the Avatar of Lust. They also hit it off almost instantly due to their extroverted personalities. He always loves to crack him up with never ending jokes, and grew a liking towards makeup despite never having really liked it before. Asmodeus takes him out shopping to Majolish almost every single day, along with constantly going to spas, but Renamaki doesn’t mind at all! It’s also worth noting that the angel always had a thing for flirtatious people, as flirts and compliments easily flusters him.~

- “Honey, come here you little cutie pie! I just gotta apply this blush!”

- “tHAT TICKLES-“

- “Oh, I know a better way to tickle you~.”

- “lord forgive me for I am about to sin”

~He was also sort of indifferent towards Beelzebub at first, as he thought the gluttonous demon was just serious all the time. However, once he learned that he cared for his family, Renamaki started treating the demon like he was his own son. It turns out that the angel is in the class of guardian angels, the lowest class of the angel hierarchy. Even though Beel is a bit confused as to why he’s treated like a baby, he doesn’t mind usually. It’s also good to know that Renamaki has stopped eating flour straight from the fucking bag at this point (hooray!).~

- “Hm, you’ve finally stopped eating flour from the bag.”

- “I FORGOT MY FLOUR EATING HOUR! BE RIGHT BACK, IMMA GET MY FLOUR!”

- “...”

~Renamaki is... not really on good terms with Belphegor, which is understandable. They’re on the opposite ends of the social spectrum, with almost completely different viewpoints and likes/dislikes, and of course that murdering thing. Almost. They both love to prank people, and Belphie found the angel amazing simply because the little flour-eating sucker defies Lucifer and gives him migraines constantly.~

- “What is it now? I told you not to bother me when I’m sleeping.”

- “Lucifer is gonna decapitate his own head because I’ve decided to litter his room with toilet paper and eggs.”

- REAL SHIT?

~You bet your ass the angel is on great terms with Diavolo! Seriously, Renamaki kind of looks up to Diavolo as the great master of chaos, and it always makes him absolutely delighted when the demon king is clapping at his schemes while poor old Luci is ripping out his hair from his scalp. If not for Asmodeus, Renamaki would’ve probably fallen in love with Diavolo. Just saying. :)~

- “I can watch Shrek in 15 seconds.”

- “Really? How?”

- “Allow me!”

~He also looks up to Solomon, another worthy being of chaos. If he wasn’t partners in crime with Mammon, he would’ve been partners in crime with the sorcerer. They would’ve been carrying out so much chaos that probably the Devildom itself would’ve collapsed into a vortex. Let’s be grateful that he’s partners in crime with Mammon.~

- “Punk ass bitch.”

- “Mop flavoured lollipop.”

- “What?”

- “What?”

~Renamaki sort of admires Simeon, and he’s known him from the Celestial Realm. These two would be talking about their memories from their home realm, and how they miss it. If anything, he goes to Simeon for advice the most, because he’s a bit more comfortable asking for advice from a fellow angel around his age.~

- “Hey, Simeon! I got a question for you!”

- “Go ahead, ask!”

- “What happens if I stand on top of a fridge to establish my dominance over Lucifer?”

- “...”

~Ultra protection mode for Luke. He adores the chihuahua and wants to protect him from the harsh world. He also recognizes the little angel from the Celestial Realm, and boy does the kid’s face light up when he notices Renamaki. The guardian angel has now two sons- Beelzebub and Luke. Oh, and the chihuahua angel is most likely scolding Renamaki because he eats flour from bags all the time.~

- “Simeeeoooon, Renamaki is eating flour again!”

- “THIS IS MY SECOND BAG OF FLOUR WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.”

- “That doesn’t make it any better!”

~Honestly, let’s hope Renamaki doesn’t get really acquainted with Barbatos. You wanna know why?~

- “Head, hands, knees, and barba-toes.”

- “what”

#obey me #asmodeus obey me #mammon obey me #my ocs #leviathan obey me #lucifer obey me #obey me satan #beelzebub obey me #belphegor obey me #diavolo obey me #luke obey me #solomon obey me #simeon obey me #obey me barbatos

[nad-zeta]

Match up 🌅

Hello! I hope you’re doing well during these uncertain times ^^ I found this blog after my tumblr break and I’m always hungry for ikemen content so here we are. I’m also happy to see more fans of harry potter, the arcana, castlevania, and black butler!! But intros aside, may I request for an ikemen series matchup?? (any boy from the three games im okay) Thank you!!!

I’m gonna break this down into categories so I wont get confused as I write it and I hope it’ll be easier on your part too ^^

About me: she/her, Aries sun/Gemini moon, intp-a, Slytherin, enneagram 5, love language touch

Interests: writing, drawing, watching cartoons/anime/musicals/stageplays, history, culture, philosophy, fandoms in general ^^

Personality: I see myself as an aloof type of person until you become a close person to me, then I’ll never shut up about my interests that can go from fluff to nsfw to angst in a snap. Basically a mess inside and out. I also have quite the temper once you reach the end of my patience so I try my best to keep a cool head (keyword: try) ^^ I also dont have a filter when it comes to swearing and can be apathetic at times so I try not to be around children too much. However if you ask me for advice or just plain comfort I don’t mind and will do my best.

It’s probably obvious from my previous description but I’m very awkward around people and I find it hard to connect, but once I do find people who I can relate to I try my best to keep the friendship ^^

I do value the opinions of people who matter to me and try to learn from it. As for dealing with problems I fluctuate from taking them head on or just outright ignoring them. I also have this tendency to bottle up my emotions until I can’t anymore and it all comes flowing out… I’m also not easily grossed out by things unless its bugs then pls get me out of here. Good food is a surefire way to lift my mood!!

Fun facts abt me ig

1. I dream to be a diplomat once I graduate

2. I get way too engrossed in analyzing politics

3. Im just a nerd for languages (know a lot of words but cant speak)

4. I have a sweet tooth, but I cant stand too sweet sweets (dark chocolate all the way)

Hi love! Thank you so much for the request <3<3! I hope you enjoy it and have a super good day! And soz for making you wait soooooo long for this O.O! Also i hope this satisfies your thirst for more ikesen content <3<3

Content warning: swearing or should i rather say one swear word lol

So I match you with……………….. Nobunaga

So I was definitely between three bois that being Nobunaga, Shingen and Yoshimoto

The first time Nobunaga meets you after you rescued him from the flames of the burning building, he is in awe. He is amazed at how a mere woman was able to pull a man x2 her size from a burning building. He was even more intrigued with your aloof personality and at the fact that you had no interest in receiving any reward or compensation for saving his life. He at that moment decided that you must be some sort of lucky charm sent from the heavens to protect him. He took you back to Azuchi Castle with him and named you as the Oda princess. Mamabear was incredibly suspicious of you, of course, no shocker there given your cold, distant unapproachable exterior. It didn’t help that you slapped Nobunaga’s hand away after he tried to make an unwanted advance, causing mama bear to fume at you. Your patience was wearing thin with the man who now held a sword at your throat, threatening you. Luckily Nobungaga defused the situation before you could complexly loose your temper.

You work incredibly hard for the castle and its people, you took pride in your work, and it definitely showed. Even Nobunaga was impressed with the excellent work you were doing and has noticed that since your arrival things around the castle has been running much smoother. He summons you to his room to thank you and to give you the opportunity to *ahem* warm his bed. To which you just replied “No fucken chance in hell”. He narrowed his eyes and asked why not, to which you just answered, that you had only just met a week ago and that you weren’t that type of girl. Nobunaga was shook he had never been refused before, he also found your lack of filter genuinely amusing. The way you would just swear and just say whatever was on your mind.

You looked around his room and couldn’t help, but notice is vast collections of historical artefacts. Your eyes lit up in curiosity at all the fantastic pieces. Nobunaga couldn’t help but smile at his lil lucky charm who seems to have made herself at home in his room now looking at all his collection of art and trinkets. He would walk up behind you and explain the origin and backstory of each of the pieces. The two of you actually spent the whole night talking about history and different cultures. And that is when you accidentally let it slip that you were from the future. This definitely caught Nobunaga’s attention. At first, he didn’t believe you, but after you showed him the contents of your handbag, he was convinced. 

You found yourself slowly but surely opening up to the man as time progressed. You nightly visits to drink tea in his room and chat for hours had become somewhat of a regular occurrence. Nobunaga absolutely loved the way your eyes lit up whenever you would talk about topics that interested you. He also loved how open-minded you were, listening and valuing his opinion. And you loved how open-minded he was, the two of you learned a lot from each other, through these regular tea dates.

Nobunaga had found out that you loved stageplays/musical so he would often find you randomly in the middle of the afternoon and drag you with him to one of his random nearby territories. He wouldn’t tell you where you were going, just simply put you onto of the horse and ride. He loved the way your eyes lit up as you neared the stage and figured out his plan. He would always reserve the best seat for the two of you and ensure that Masa had made the two of you the best snacks to munch on during the show. You count help but smile a bright, radiant smile at the sweet raven-haired man. 

You looked over at him, devouring the sweets that Masamune had managed to sneak into the basket. Both of you loved these trips away cause it meant that the two of you could indulge in sweet sugary candies away from the watchful gaze of Mother dearest. After the show, the two of you would spend hours discussing it over even more sweets, at one of the nearby tea houses. Needless to say, the two of you had spent so much time together its no wonder that you were head over heel for each other. 

Your relationship with the devil king started off a little rocky cause of your crazy awkwardness, but luckily Nobunaga actually found it really cute and lived for those moments when you would say or do something super awkward and turn a deep shade of red.  For you see, this feared ruler is also a bit awkward and clumsy when it comes to love. For example, when he asked you to become his one and only queen, he did so in the cutest way possible. While the two of you were having tea after a show, he started to doodle a little picture on a napkin, at first the two of you were drawing the equivalent to memes and giving it to each other for a good laugh, but then he gave you something you never expected. A clumsy doodle of himself confessing his love for you, you couldn’t help but smile and kiss him right then and there. After all, you can go from fluffy to NSFW in 0,2 seconds, luckily the two of you kept things PG in the teahouse.

Nobunaga loved how diplomatic you were and after you told him about your dream of becoming a diplomat, he was right there by your side supporting you. You had found out about the conflict between him and Shingen and of course you just had to do something. You at this point had Nobunaga wrapped around your little finger, so when you requested that he share custody of the Kai with Shingen, he agreed as long as you act as diplomate between the two.

One day a powerful daimyo and his daughter came to visit. To say that you didn’t like the pair would be an understatement. The woman would constantly pine for Nobunaga’s affection and make your life a living hell. You couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous, sad and frustrated as since they came to visit you hadn’t seen Nobunaga at all. Of course, you bottled up all these emotions and put on a smile, pretending like everything was okay, but honestly, you were ready to bust. You reached your tipping point at the banquet. You hadn’t seen Nobunaga all week as he has been in and out of councils. You waled into the hall to see the woman all over Nobunaga. You went to take your seat beside Nobunaga like you had done for countless banquets and that’s when this woman made the rudest comment towards you “Um excuse me you filthy maid, the servants quarters are back there, and if you don’t leave Nobunaga and me alone I will have to call a guard over to escort you to the dungeons”. Honestly, you were shook, even if you were just a maid, that didn’t give her the right to act so rudely, just because she has some fake ass title. You slammed your fists on the table finally losing your temper and boy oh boy did the insults fly.  TBH you even threw in a few insults from their home language, just to prove that you aren’t just some daft woman. 

Needless to say, the woman was looking around to the fellow warlords to help her out of back her up, but they were all way to busy howling in laughter at their princesses foul language. Finally, the woman looked to your lover for aid. He simply chuckled and started to speak. “It seems there has been some misunderstanding as to who this woman beside me is” He looked down at the daimyo’s daughter giving her the cockiest grin. She was now looking at you with a devious smile, thinking that Nobu was about to summon you away. 

“For those who do not know, I will make my intentions clear and known. This woman beside me is my dearest fireball, the love of my life, my equal and my queen, she is and will be the only woman in history fit to rule the world by my side.” He took your hand in his and gently tugged you to fall into his lap, he then kissed your temple and continued “To her, I give my heart, body and soul” He then pulled out a beautiful ring and asked, “Will you marry me, my dearest love”. To say the daimyo’s daughter was shook would be an understatement. You simply nodded, while wrapping your arms around your fiance’s neck to meet his lips in a passionate kiss.

Other potential matches……………..Shingen

Hope you enjoyed it dear ^_^ ❤🥰@hilarythemermaid

#oda nobunaga #ikesen nobunaga #nobunaga oda #ikemen sengoku nobunaga #matchups #ikesen matchup #match ups #matches #nobunaga matchup #submission

[tonal-modulator]

Mortal 101, Lesson 1: Mortals lie

I wrote a thing for a prompt from @nirnwrote​. The prompt was “Why are you lying to me?” for Minmari.

This is based on a silly headcanon-turned-canon that Ildari had to train Minmari in how to be a mortal, and another silly slightly-more-canon that Vivec moves in with Ildari after the events of Morrowind and is very annoying on purpose but occasionally pulls out wisdom that makes you remember ze spent 3,000 years as a god, and then promptly goes back to being annoying.

Story under the cut!

The workshop of Tel Uvirith housed an odd bunch this afternoon: Ildari, the wizard-lord of the tower; Vehk, who had taken up residence with hir friend after the Nerevarine prophecies had been fulfilled; and Minmari, the Demiprince of Plans, Daedric child of Mephala and Boethiah. Minmari had recently arrived on Nirn for their very first prolonged stay in order to deal with some upcoming threat from Mehrunes Dagon. Originally, Azura planned on sending Ildari, her champion, to face the threat, but Mephala and Boethiah thought the girl had been through enough and sent their Demiprince instead. The catch, however, was that Ildari was expected to train Minmari in the art of fitting among mortals.

They were a few days into the training, and it was already proving difficult. Vehk was of no help whatsoever. In fact, Ildari believed hir to be doing more harm than good. Whenever she would make a point, Vehk would butt in with a counterpoint that was usually not only false, but utterly ridiculous. When she suggested that Minmari limit themselves to two arms, Vehk suggested that they convert some of the other four into legs, claiming that almost a third of hir subjects had had anywhere from three to six legs. When Ildari informed Minmari about the concept of sleep and exhaustion, Vehk explained that the average person is awake for a mere thirty minutes a day, and then hibernates for the next four to twelve weeks.

Of course, this did keep things interesting. But it also got old fast, especially when Ildari was the one left worrying what would happen if this relatively unfamiliar Demiprince got fed up and decided to unleash Oblivion on her tower.

When it came time for lunch that day, Ildari decided once again that Minmari was not ready to learn about cooking, or generally be allowed in a kitchen, and so she left them with Vehk and went off to make lunch for them all on her own.

"Be good," she said, pointing a finger at Vehk before leaving the two alone.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Vehk began spinning more falsehoods.

"Better get comfy," ze said, floating easily in a casual sitting position. "This could take hours. She told me she's making fried clannfear. It's a delicacy, of course, but it takes ages to prepare. First she has to open the portal to Oblivion, hunt one down, kill it, salvage the meat, and bring it back here. Then there's the matter of marinating it—well, you'll learn all about that in due time. I wonder where she'll get it from. The best ones come from Boethiah's realm, as I'm sure you're aware, but they're easier to find in the Deadlands. Of course, she could always—"

Minmari interrupted Vehk with a silent wave of the hand as they dismissed their ever-present, slightly indiscernible knitting project.

"Why are you lying to me?" they asked, reverting to something closer to their Oblivion form. They grew a few feet taller, sprouted two new pairs of arms and folded all of them across their chest and abdomen, and regarded hir with eight glowing red eyes. "Why do you insist on lying to me at every opportunity, mortal?"

Not to be outdone, the comparatively small mer simply floated higher, keeping hir usual faintly smug expression on hir face.

"'Mortal?'" ze laughed. "It's been a while since I've heard that one."

"Is it not accurate?"

Vehk shrugged. "Debatable."

Minmari waited. If Vivec wanted to claim immortality, then they should have all the time they needed.

"But, back to your question," Vehk continued. "Why am I lying to you? I ask you this: Why would I not lie to you? Do you think you are the only one skilled in the craft? I served in Mephala's role for the Dunmer for over three millennia."

"Three millennia?" Minmari scoffed. "Do you have any idea how old I am, how long I have been serving Mephala and Boethiah? I was born of their alliance. I rule over the union of their spheres."

"I meant no slight, friend," Vehk said, hir face still devoid of even the slightest hint of unease. "Just listing my credentials."

"I care little for your credentials."

"You asked why I was lying to you."

"Yet your credentials are meaningless when you lie about things of such little consequence. Do you have a goal, or are you just trying to infuriate me?"

"That's part of it, I admit," Vehk said. "But there's a lesson in it too: Mortals lie. That's just a fact of the world. They do it all the time. Sometimes they mean to deceive you, sometimes they're hiding something, sometimes it's just out of habit. Sometimes they don't even realize they're doing it. Do you have any idea how many lies I heard as a god, even from my most pious subjects?"

"I'd ask how many, but I doubt you'd answer truthfully."

"Now you're catching on!" Vehk said with a bright smile. "You see, out in the world you'll encounter lies every hour of every day. Do you really think the best way to handle the situation is to go Full Daedra?"

"And what would your wisdom suggest that I do instead?" Minmari asked.

"Come on, Demiprince!" Vehk said. "What would your Prince Parents say? Listen, watch, pay attention! Ask yourself why they are lying and what you can learn from them. You can revert to your Oblivion form for intimidation purposes if absolutely necessary, but I'd advise against it. You'd be surprised how far a kind smile and open arms can get you."

Minmari nodded contemplatively as they returned to their more mortal appearance.

"Thank you, Vehk," they said slowly. "Your methods may be deeply annoying, but your advice should prove useful."

"I aim to please," ze said with a flourish and bow from midair. "Now, I think the next thing we should work on is your tact."

#razak writes #minmari #ildari #vivec #razak's ocs

[your-dr-imagines]

Will you be accepting mods? And also can I have Rantaro,Shuichi,Kokichi,Gundham,Fuyuhiko and Nagito as fathers?

Hey there! As of right not, I don’t have any immediate plans to have mod applications. Since this is a brand new blog, I’d like to first get used to actually running the account! I do believe that I will eventually open applications, though!

This request was a lot of fun to write! Please tell me if this wasn’t what you had wanted!

SDR2 and NDRV3 Boys as Fathers

Gundham Tanaka:

- Despite what people may think due to how he acts and appears, Gundham is a fantastic father.

- He’s extremely accepting of everything his children do! If they want to learn how to skateboard, he’ll take it upon himself to take them to the store to buy one. If they want to learn how to do ceramics, he’ll sign them up for classes. If they want to act, he’ll start taking them to plays and musicals.

- Even though he’s quick to help his children grow, he still sets a limit to what he’ll do. If they say they want to take care of sharks for a living, he’ll calm them down in the most dramatic and heartfelt way possible before bringing them along to work the next day to instead help out with some smaller animals.

- Gundham is still an abnormal father, of course. Not only does he still act how he always has, if not in a slight subdued way, he still dresses the same. To draw less suspicion from other parents he comes across, he pushes the reasoning for the entirety of his outfit to his job. His kids know better.

- Believe it or not, Gundham is great at handling problems that occur at his children’s schools with other children or with adults. He’s able to mix the perfect amount of intimidation and intelligence to get exactly what he wants.

- He’s not always the best with things like nightmares.

- His dramatic flair more often than not backfires, as he makes his kids believe that the nightmare is actually real and that they must be careful to not be attacked. That’s where his partner will come in and take care of the situation.

- Overall, Gundham is a wonderful father. He has his quirks and does things differently than others, but he raises his children well.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu:

- To put it bluntly, Fuyuhiko is a strict father. It’s not so much that he wants to be, but he has to be. He has a clan to run and his children are the successors to it.

- In reality, he’s strict for their safety. He sets rules so they don’t get in trouble and they don’t get hurt. He sets some type of curfew most of the time so they’re not out too late. Everything that he does for his kids is so that they’re safe and they’re taken care of.

- He refuses to raise his children with the same mentality and surroundings he was raised in. He doesn’t want his children to see or hear their parents trying to kill each other. It can be traumatizing.

- When Fuyuhiko gets time off to be with his kids, he’s actually extremely fun!

- He likes to train with them, but he never does it with actual weapons. If they have to train with guns, they use paintball guns. If they have to train with knives or any other type of melee weapon, they’ll use wooden or styrofoam replicas of the weapon so they don’t get severely injured.

- He also like to be able to sit around like a normal family and have movie or game nights. He prefers those over going out.

- He never has trouble with resolving problems at school. His position is enough for him to not even go in.

- Surprisingly, Fuyuhiko is good with things like nightmares. This is when he has a level head and is able to talk his children through the problem.

- He may be strict, but every single thing he does in his life is so his kids have a better one.

Nagito Komaeda:

- Nagito’s luck catches up to him when his children are born.

- His luck was greater than it had ever been, so of course that meant that his children would gain his luck as well. He was terrified at first. Would they only be lucky? Would they have luck similar to his own? Would they eventually only have bad luck?

- His worries are pushed to the side a few years later when his children’s luck has no counterpart.

- When that comes along and when his kids are older, he talks to them.

- He tells them that they can’t try to abuse that luck if they ever learn how to somewhat control it. He tells them things he wished he could’ve been told when he was younger, like how they really do have a talent and how they’re no less than other people. He doesn’t want that engraved in their brain.

- Other than, Nagito really can be somewhat of a normal father. Of course, there are many aspects of his life that are abnormal such as his wealth and his ups and downs of luck, but he did his best to give his kids a normal but good life.

- Nagito is good when it comes to school related things, often there to fix the situation. He is also always there cheering his kids on in anything they do. He wants to help nurture their talent and hope, after all.

- His relationship with his children is amazing, making it easy for him to calm and care for them whenever need be.

- Nagito tries his best as a father and while he can still fail, he always does whatever he can for his children, no matter the cost.

Rantaro Amami:

- Rantaro is easily one of the best fathers any child could ask for.

- Because he helped raise and take care of his younger sisters, he knows what to do in many situations, whether it be diaper changes when their babies or taking care of burns when they first learn how to cook.

- Rantaro’s personality is perfect for him being a father. While he’s kind and relaxed, he can more serious and stubborn when the situation calls for home to act that way.

- He’s extremely supportive of every single thing his children do. Did they paint a nice painting in art that day? It’s going up in a giant board that’s in the living room. Did they make the soccer team like they wanted to? That calls for an ice cream run. Did they get the lead role in that school musical they tried out for? Opening night, the family is going out for dinner.

- He’s very calm and collected if something happens. He has his facts straight and he knows what should happen.

- If a kid has a nightmare or a bad day, he’s ready to cuddle with them and listen to everything that they have to say.

- Overall, Rantaro knows what he’s doing. Every single thing he does is balanced and is done to a T.

Shuichi Saihara:

- Shuichi isn’t the best father at first and even he admits that.

- Even a few months after his first child was born, he was getting used to the thought of being a father.

- He was running on about three or four hours of sleep everyday and an ungodly amount of coffee, which made it hard for him to really care for his children.

- As his child grew older and his partner grew more weary, he realized exactly how large of an impact his overworking and bad habits were having. He quickly turned himself around, getting enough sleep and making sure he took breaks to help. After that, he was one of the best fathers you would see.

- He became very invested in their life, taking interest in every little thing they showed him, whether it be a drawing or a painting or even just some random leaf they liked that they found outside in the backyard.

- Shuichi is still himself. He can become overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being a father and can accidentally pushing himself into an oversensitive state where he can’t help for over an hour.

- He typically tries to leave any kind of school or activity problem to his partner, since he’s not the best in that area.

- He’s fantastic with calming his child down, though. He’s able to figure out what happened without even asking and can usually do the right thing.

- Even though it took him a while, Shuichi is a great father, to his child at least.

Kokichi Ouma:

- Kokichi is probably the worst father at first. He doesn’t exactly know how to care for a baby, so he leaves a lot of the work to his partner, save for things like walks and keeping them busy.

- However, when his child gets a bit older and along comes the second one, he starts to get a hang of it. This is when he slowly starts to do more things to help with the baby and he starts doing a lot more with his older child.

- Of course, oftentimes the things he does with the older child revolves around D.I.C.E. They’re going to be his successor after all. They have to know from the start what they’re going to be getting into.

- That being said, that means that the older child isn’t the best-behaved kid in the world. Kokichi teaches them prank upon prank. That eventually leads to lying, but it’s always harmless and he knows how to figure them out.

- Kokichi isn’t good at dealing with problems. Once he was sent to a conference and he could’ve easily gotten his child removed from the school due to that meeting.

- That means he’s left to taking care of problems with nightmares and emotions.

- He’s good at this part.

- When this happens, this is when he lets his walls fall. He pushes away the lies and instead talks to his children with genuine emotion and advice.

- Kokichi knows how to be a father, a good father, but he sometimes has trouble.

#danganronpa imagines #danganronpa imagine #dr imagines #dr imagine #gundham tanaka #fuyuhiko kuzuryuu #nagito komaeda #rantaro amami #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #sdr2 #ndrv3 #your-dr-imagines #mod hajime

[datura-foxglove]

(ADA Week Day 3), Family

Summary : Kyouka may has lost her parents, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t find new family with the agency.

Characters : Izumi Kyouka, Nakajima Atsushi, 1 OC for victim of being robbed.

Prompt : Family

Rating : PG (Gen)

It was raining when she finished with weekly grocery shopping. The sky was dark but people colorful umbrellas somehow lifted up the gloomy mood. Unfortunately, Kyouka forgot to bring her umbrella and had a moment of uncertainty. She could run home, the dorm wasn’t that far and she didn’t mind being wet… but that would mean her groceries would also got wet. While she could use the Demon Snow as replacement for umbrella, the sight of her ability would make civilians panic.

Deep in thought, Kyouka snapped her head up when she heard a pained shout from outside of the supermarket. “Thief!”

Her blue eyes caught the scene of an old lady sprawling helplessly on the wet ground with her hand pointing towards a young man who had the lady’s purse on his hands. Remembering Kunikida’s words to never bring shame to the Agency’s name and her own determination to redeem herself by doing good, Kyouka carefully put her groceries on the floor and pursued the thief. People watched curiously as a young girl in red yukata caught up easily with a grown man and tackled him down to the wet ground. The former assassin instinct was to reach for her hidden blade and finish her victim but she determinedly trampled that impulse. Instead, she remembered how Kunikida and Atsushi had taught her of how to take down her opponent in non-lethal way. Her hands expertly caught the man’s hands and twist them behind his back and keep her knees on the man’s legs. The man struggled, but Kyouka held on without any leeway for him to escape.

A passerby quickly called for a police and a few even helped her to restrain the man. Kyouka left the thief when she could see that he wouldn’t escape and quickly picked up the fallen purse from the ground and returned to the old lady. A store clerk had helped her up and picking up her scattered groceries. Kyouka approached the old lady and offered her purse back.

“Here.” The old lady saw her purse in Kyouka’s hands but she didn’t take it. Instead, the old lady carefully grabbed Kyouka’s shoulder. The former assassin flinched but managed to not pull away.

The old lady worriedly checked her face and her hands. “Are you hurt? That was so reckless of you to catch up with the thief! What if he carried a weapon? You could get hurt!”

Kyouka blinked and averted her eyes. She wasn’t used to people blatantly showing their worry for her. Back when she was with the mafia, no one would bat their eyes even if she got hurt. In the agency, people knew her abilities and sometimes they would get worried but they trusted her to take care of herself. “I am fine. I am strong.”

“The young ones shouldn’t get hurt in order to help the old ones.” The old lady’s eyes were full of worry but Kyouka could also see the depth of gratitude in them. “But thank you. You are such a sweet child.”

Kyouka blushed a bit when the old lady fondly patted her head. Purse returned and groceries collected, the old lady stood outside of the supermarket. Kyouka picked up her own groceries and approached the old lady. “Are you waiting for someone?”

The old lady smiled, her face seemed so kind with all the laughter lines and wrinkles. “I am waiting for my son. I don’t bring an umbrella and I called him to pick me up. My house is quite far so it will take time until he is here.”

Kyouka knew that the chance of another thief robbing her was slim, yet she determinedly stood next to the old lady. “I will wait with you.”

The old lady’s frowned. “Are you sure? You already helped me by catching the thief.”

“I am fine. I also don’t bring an umbrella.” Kyouka smiled a little, which was returned with a warm smile from the old lady. “My name is Kyouka. Pleased to meet you.”

“My name is Biwako. Pleased to meet you.”

“Oh my, Kyouka-chan, you are already working?” Biwako covered her gasp, startled to hear such a young girl already working full time job. “What about your parents? Do they agree with this?”

Kyouka nodded, feeling no shame from not being in school like the typical girl her age. “My parents are already passed away. I have no relative so I have to support myself.”

“My… what a tragedy…” Biwako’s saddened voice reflect her sympathy. “I am so sorry for your loss.”

“It’s okay. My parents may have died, but they left me behind their proof of love.” Kyouka smiled as she could feel the presence of Demon Snow within her mind. While it couldn’t talk, Kyouka could feel the fierce protectiveness it carried within it. Just like how her parents last act in this world was to protect her.

Biwako watched Kyouka’s fond smile and her hand patted the young girl’s hand softly. “I am sure they must be happy that you think of them so fondly. If I had a daughter like you, I will be proud. You are so sweet and kind, helping an old lady like myself.”

The old lady’s words made Kyouka’s heart warm and her smile became less restrained. “Thank you.”

“How is your work?” Biwako asked. They had been chatting to pass the time. Kyouka now knew that Biwako had two sons and three grandchildren. Her eldest live abroad while her youngest son’s family live with her. She also liked bunny, but her favorite animal was raccoon. She bought ingredients for hot pot to congratulate her grandchildren’s great marks on their exams. Kyouka also told bits about herself, heavily censored to omit any parts about her past with the mafia, her ability, or confidential about the agency.

“Work is busy sometimes, but my coworkers are nice people. Our boss is quiet, but he lets me work there despite my past. Kunikida-san is strict, but he always guides me whenever I need help. Naomi-san and Tanizaki-san are kind of weird, but they take me along with them whenever they are shopping. Kenji-san always smiles at me and treat me to beef bowl. Yosano-sensei treat my wounds whenever I got hurt. Ranpo-san sometimes shared his sweets, but he always takes my candy art. Dazai-san offers advice whenever I got lost of what to do. Atsushi…” Kyouka stopped a bit before she closed her eyes and smiled. “When I was trapped in the dark, he showed me the light. Without his help, I wouldn’t be able to work at that place now and be surrounded by such good people.”

Biwako listened to her stories about the agency members patiently, laughing whenever Kyouka told her about the weird things happening because of Dazai, Fukuzawa being heartbroken because cats keep running away from him, Kenji’s optimistic attitude, Tanizaki and Naomi’s questionable relationship, Atsushi being down because Akutagawa’s pay was way higher than him, Kunikida’s yelling about ideals, Yosano’s new victims, and Ranpo’s confidence. Kyouka didn’t realize when she had talked more than Biwako’s, somehow finding new stories to tell about the agency members.

When Kyouka finally stopped, her throat was parched and her eyes widened. That was the first time in a long time she had talked for so long that she forgot the time. It was only less than half an hour, but for Kyouka to keep talking like that it was weird.

Kyouka coughed a little, embarrassed by her tirade of stories. “My apologies, I talked too much.”

Biwako laughed, she genuinely looked like she had fun. “It’s fine! It’s normal to want to talk about your family. My, you must see the face of my friends whenever I bragged about my grandchildren. They always said ‘not again’ or ‘this is the fourth time you tell me about your grandchildren giving you a cicada shell as present’.”

Kyouka froze. “My… family?”

Biwako smiled warmly, her wise eyes knowing. “Isn’t that what you feel for your coworker? A family?” she gently patted Kyouka’s cheek. “Family don’t have to be bound by blood. Sometimes, you choose your own family. Like how you choose your coworkers as your new family.”

Kyouka looked down towards her hands. Was that truly what she thought? That she could build a family with her new friends? That she had stopped just seeing the agency as the place she belonged, but also where her family was?

While she may had lost her parents, did she gain another family?

“Kyouka-chan!”

Kyouka whipped up her head as she watched the running figure of Atsushi approaching her. Atsushi panted, with how breathless he was Kyouka could deduce that he had been running all the way from the dorm to the supermarket.

Before he could breathe normally, Atsushi had already begun his tirade of worry. “I am sorry I am so late! My workload was doubled because Dazai-san skipped his paperwork and I had to stay behind before Kunkida-san let me go home! I was worried because I remembered you didn’t bring your umbrella today and I ran back home to get your umbrella before coming back here. Dazai-san stole my umbrella so I couldn’t ran straight here—“

“Atsushi.” Kyouka put her hands on his shoulders. “Breathe.”

Atsushi stopped talking and focused on breathing normally. When he no longer panting like overheated dog, Atsushi gave her bunny printed umbrella to her. “Sorry about that. You have been waiting long, right? Let’s go home.”

Kyouka took her umbrella but she looked back behind her towards Biwako. “You can go home first, I am waiting for Biwako-san’s son to pick her up.”

Atsushi just noticed the kind looking old lady standing beside Kyouka. “I-I’m sorry for my rudeness!”

Biwako laughed, her eyes glimmered with amusement. “It’s okay, young man. You have such a kind and worry wart brother, Kyouka-chan.”

Atsushi yelped. “B-brother!?”

Kyouka was surprised too, but most of all she remembered Biwako’s words and the way her eyes lit up knowingly. Before she could stop her own words, her heart had blurted out what she had kept deep inside all this time. “Yes. Atsushi always worry about every little thing, but he is my kind brother.”

Atsushi’s eyes widened as his purple and gold colored eyes looked at Kyouka in wonder. Kyouka peeked at him before looking back to Biwako. She could feel her cheeks warmed up, but there was also a really genuine and content smile on her face.

Biwako nodded and smiled at Atsushi. “You two get along so well. If only my grandchildren can get along for five minutes before tearing their hairs or biting at each other.”

“Mother!” Kyouka noticed a grown man in his thirties running towards them. “Sorry, I got caught in the traffic. Are you okay? I heard that you got robbed.”

Biwako laughed and patted Kyouka’s shoulder. “You should see this young lady catch that thief! When you are her age you can’t even lift up the table!”

“Mother!” Her son embarrassedly shushed her, but he obviously didn’t believe her story. “Thank you for keeping my mother company. She must bore you with her stories.”

Biwako protested, but Kyouka’s words stopped her. “Actually, it’s the opposite.

I have talked so much about my family that she must be bored.”

After saying goodbyes to Biwako and her son, Atsushi and Kyouka walked back home in silence. The rain had stopped not long ago, but Kyouka still used the umbrella that Atsushi had taken pains to get for her. Atsushi carried the groceries for her and he keep looking at her. His mouth opened and closed, clearly unable to say what was in his mind.

When they arrived at their dorm, Kyouka rushed and climbed the stairs. Atsushi followed close behind, not knowing what prompt her to rush towards their room. Kyouka quickly unlocked their room with her key and coming inside, leaving the door open for him. Atsushi was about to come inside when Kyouka stopped not far from the door.

Kyouka suddenly turned around and smiled widely, her cheeks flushed but her words clear and warm. “Welcome home, brother.”

Atsushi was taken aback for a second. His cheeks flushed as he struggled for a few moments before finally he chuckled a bit and entered their home.

“I’m home, sister.”

#bungou stray dogs #adaweek #izumi kyouka #nakajima atsushi #oc #fluff #kyouka and atsushi is a cute siblings and you can rob that from my cold dead hand

[queenforanight]

2017: The Year of The Blaise

I'm here to set the world on fire, my flame just isn’t ready yet.

2017 was a big year for me, not only as Jessica but as regular ol’ me as well. I’ll keep the male stuff to a minimum (it’s still interesting I’m sure, but it’s not exactly what you’re here for), so let’s just get that shit out of the way:

Moved into my own house

Quit teaching and went back to my freelance ways

Went to Disneyland Paris

Got engaged

All got that? Good, let’s get to the juicy bits then.

Jessica Going ‘Out-Out’

I’ve been outside as Jessica before, but it had only ever been in my back garden or quickly around the corner to a friends house at 3am in the morning where anyone who did see me was too drunk to notice.

Going out into actual public spaces was something I had always wanted to do, but I always felt I had to have a reason to do it. So you can imagine how I leaped at the opportunity when a few friends asked if I wanted to see Kinky Boots in London.

It wasn’t so much jumping into the deep end as it was leaping off a cliff,  but I feel that if I hadn’t gone all-in then I may have shied away from other occasions to be Jess in public. 

A Home Of My Own

I mentioned earlier how I moved into my own house earlier this year. Obviously this was huge news for me as a general life milestone, but even bigger news for Jess as she could come out to play more often!

I haven’t had anywhere near as many ‘photoshoots’ this year, simply because I haven’t had to plan them around having the house to myself. I no longer have to wait until the house is empty, no one is coming over and the planets have aligned into a shape that resembles a 20-sided dice before being able to be Jessica. Now I can simply throw on a dress whenever I like.

With that in mind, I haven’t spent as much time as Jess as I would’ve liked too. I’ve still kept her on a bit of a leash so I can prove to my fiance that I’m not going to take every opportunity I can to be Jess. She doesn’t mind Jessica and certainly encourages it, but she was concerned that I would spend every waking hour as her if I was given the chance.

Always Room For Improvement

If you had asked me last year “Hey Jess, do you think you can get any prettier?” I would probably have screamed something about being the definition of fabulous and pulled some lit sparklers out of my arse (don’t try this at home kids).

If you asked me the same question now, I would easily list off at least 50 things that I need to work on. I still think I’ve dramatically improved since 2016/15/14 etc, but there’s still plenty for me to learn with makeup, photography, lighting, posing, clothes... everything.

This year I mostly spent practising different styles of looks. I’ve done glamour, casual, posh, emo and so many more. It’s really opened my eyes to how much I still don’t know, but also opened up so many more possibilities to what I can show the world. 

And All That Drag

Remember earlier how I said I might have shied away from going out as Jess again if I didn’t go all-in? I was everything but shy for this event.

Going out for Drag World UK was so much easier than Kinky Boots, despite how much more open I had to be about it. At Kinky Boots I was driven up to London and back, and all I had to do was sit there and watch a show, all at night-time. For Drag World I travelled from deep Essex to London by public transport in the day time, had to mix with thousands of people and even present myself to people I knew who didn’t know about Jess (they still don’t, they just thought I was getting into the spirit of the event).

On paper it looked like it would take a lot more balls (ironic, I know) to do Drag World, but I didn’t feel uneasy at any point. Not when people were talking about me on the train, not when I ordered my coffee from a very-surprised barrister, not even when I was miles from the event itself and just looked like some random Queen going about her business.

The Rise and Fall of GenderMag

Gender Mag was a big project for me, and it was such a shame that I had to stop due to lack of interest. Making the magazine each month did take a lot of my time and energy, and I simply couldn’t justify continuing it when it wasn’t breaking even after 3 months.

That being said, I still enjoyed every second of doing it. I got to speak to a lot of other crossdressers and learn about why they started the art, I spent time trying outfits and styles I would never usually imagine wearing, and the feedback I received was always inspiring.

If I can find a better platform which doesn’t rely on financing, I might try the magazine again next year. Until then, I can guarantee I’ll keep posting right here!

Bring On 2018!

Funnily enough I don’t have any pictures for this.

I can’t say that I’ve actually got too much planned for next year, but that’s mostly because I don’t need to plan it this far in advance any more.

I’ve made some new CD friends over the past year, and I certainly plan on going out with them within the New Year (and yes, there will be pictures). I’d also like to visit Drag World and other Drag events, and in general just go out more as Jessica.

I feel like I haven’t done anywhere near enough fan service this past 365 days, and I want to change that in 2018, so here’s where I pass it over to you!

If there’s anything you want to see from me in 2018, let me know!

Outfits, makeup, general advice, absolutely anything! Just send me through your ideas or challenges, I’ll throw them on a list and then do everything I can to make it a reality!

And remember, the more you like and reblog my work, the more articles and pictures I post!

To all my readers and fans over the many years and the many years to come: Happy New Year, I’ll see you in 2018!

- Jessica Blaise x x

#crossdress #crossdressing #xdress #xdresser #xdressing #boy to girl #mtf #m2f #male to female #boys in skirts #boys in dresses #boys in makeup #boys in heels #boys in drag #drag #trans #transisbeautiful #girls like us #girlslikeus #fashion #makeup #lifestyle #fashion blogger #makeup blogger #lifestyle blogger #new year #2018 #dragworld #kinky boots

[studyari]

26 trying to become an engineer. (2nd attempt)

Hello everyone :-)

Today I’ve been feeling pretty down and thought, well, I may as well do something that might get my mind off of my mood. I thought, “hey maybe I’ll share my story on tumblr.” So, here I am spiraling.

This is not my main blog but I did notice that over the years it was hard to find blogs that were active. Somehow, I came across the ‘studyblr’ community and couldn’t believe how many people were currently using this platform in that way. I’m starting school in the fall so I thought it would be a cool idea to also make one, and maybe it would keep me motivated! We will see. I have a good feeling because there are already sooo many amazing resources and advice tips. It’s very reassuring.

I guess I should start my story off with a few details about who I am and the type of life I had before coming to this point. My name is Ari and I love learning but I never had the vision or drive to look forward into the future very much. I did not concern myself with the responsibilities of adulthood when I was in high school. During that time, I wasn’t really focused on anything in particular. I didn’t sign up for the AP Classes, I didn’t see myself going to college, and the classes I wanted to take, I never was able to get in (my school already had overcapacity classes and it was the oldest high school in my city picture the not having enough books, packed classes, and old and worn learning materials). I really wanted to get into horticulture and signed up for it 3 years straight to no avail. Even though I lacked the competitive spirit and drive, I still had high enough standards for myself to try my best in school even if I didn’t know exactly why I was doing it. I did well and my class rank, I found out was #3. I only found out because the teacher I worked for would tell me “hey you’re really close to having to give a speech” to that I was like HUH? I also was way too shy to even think about that so I just kind of brushed it off. But to this day, I wonder what I could have accomplished if I had the same goals my peers had. 

My counselor nominated me for a scholarship to which I was surprised but I applied to the school (the only school I applied to) and wrote my essay. I did this because I was honored someone actually thought of me. The school could only put up one person per scholarship per university. I’m sure she put me up because of my math scores if I’m being honest. 

By that time I had decided to go into the military, because some guy from the Navy came and talked to our class. I thought, I’m sure I could do that? I was basically doing the things I needed to do my senior year so that after I graduated I could have a job. But unexpectedly, the teacher that I worked for pulled me aside one day and asked me what my plans for the future were. I told him I’m most likely joining the military and that I applied to a university but there’s no way I could pay for it. I already had received a letter that I was denied the scholarship. He sincerely looked at me and told me that I could do anything with my life and that going into the military is great but that I could join that whenever. He told me “not everyone gets to go to college.” I shrugged because I didn’t feel like I was in control of any of that. But then he did something while I was in his computer lab and it was near the end of the school year. He had called up the university I applied to and asked them about my application…. He did that for me. And after getting off the phone with them he told me the lady said “she’ll be very happy.” Although not disclosing any details. For some reason the small gesture moved me and I’m pretty sure that was the moment that I started believing that I could actually accomplish things. I started being able to think about the things I wanted out of life. I could make the decisions of what I want to be, not some recruiter. 

It wasn’t until I got my acceptance letter stating that I had received a full ride scholarship that it all became real. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think I would ever go to college but now I have a way?

Fast forward to my freshman year of college. I was 17. It was in a new city, I was on my own for the first time in my life, I had met a lot of new people, and I was a first year engineering student hoping to graduate in electrical engineering and I was proud of it. I had felt like I had already accomplished so much just off the fact I was accepted into that program. However, reality started to sink in quick. School was HARD, the classes were HUGE 200 students in most of my classes. I procrastinated, stayed up too late, was not understanding my homework, and failing my tests. I felt like a failure and I failed Chemistry I that year. The next semester, I hoped things would be better but in fact it was much worse. I was horrible and completely lost in my computer engineering course and couldn’t create a working program for the life of me, I couldn’t even create a FLOWCHART. Because of the class size I was deathly afraid to raise my hand and just ask a question. I just kept my mouth shut hoping for the best, for a miracle really. I struggled in Calc 2 and especially in Physics I. I didn’t fail any of the classes but with the grades I received it felt no different. I received D-’s for two of my classes and I felt hopeless. I felt dumb. I thought I need to figure something out, because my scholarship covers 4 years for me. I can’t afford to retake a class I just can’t.

And during that summer I transferred out. I told my mom about my experience and she didn’t have much sympathy for me. Just heard things like “well if it was me, I would have made an A”. I tried explaining to her how hard and difficult it was but I didn’t receive any emotional support that day. In my eyes I thought I tried my best. Honestly, that interaction just furthered my belief into thinking yeahhh it is my fault. I just can’t do it. 

I was in this space where I didn’t know what I wanted to do anymore and it scared me. I talked with an advisor and she helped me make a schedule to explore more majors. I explored art, math, and environmental tech. I ended up completely dropping Calc 3 because I was making like 20% on my first test *sigh*. But I did well enough in my gen eds. I truly thought school wasn’t for me. And keep in mind I also was working the entire time through college and it would take me an hour to walk there and an hour to walk back to my dorm. I really needed money T_T. My priorities were all mixed up back then. I also was dating someone who was very very bad for me. He was a cheater, never wanted to see me, and I would miss classes just because we were arguing. I ended up losing a lot of friends because of my terrible relationship as I was spending all my time on him and not on other aspects of my life. I broke up with him my junior year of college.

After that I found myself really focusing hard on my grades, wanting A’s, wanting to do well. I told myself the difference between an A and a B is just effort. My senior year I was working as well as taking 21 credit hours a semester just to graduate. I actually had to submit paperwork to be allowed to take that many hours per semester. I had little time to myself really and I would sleep on the benches outside in between classes. I was so tired my entire senior year but I know for the first time I was doing my absolute best to graduate. I needed to graduate AND do well.  I ended up graduating in environmental tech which is under the college of forestry at my university. So it was very different than what I started off in. I was proud for a little until I moved back home.

When I got back home I couldn’t find a job in my field. I would get interviews and I would get ‘almost’ hired but I would be rejected last minute. It’s either a hiring freeze, simple rejection, or the ‘you need a car’ to work here. But I didn’t have a car, I didn’t have job to get the car and so what I did was say Fuck IT. I got a job as a cashier making $7.25 an hour at a donut shop. I could hardly save money because my family would always ask me for some. I ended up talking to a recruiter and I was about to join the military for real as I’m from a military town and jobs that weren’t the hospital or military were virtually nonexistent. That’s what I planned to do and I remember writing on my calendar in my room to “save $400” before I left. And that was a goal looking back now, made me realize how much I was struggling in that environment. 

I left. And I joined the military. I knew that I could get a free education and housing so that’s why I did it. It wasn’t a very good reason but I’m so glad that’s what I did. I grew up so much while I was there. I earned an electronics degree while I was there. In fact we went over the same exact things I learned in computer engineering, but this time I could understand and it came easy to me.  Learned a new skill. Learned social skills. Learned how to stand up for people. Learned how to manage others and really really show them that I cared. I got my first car, got my first apartment, and I learned what it meant to live comfortably and securely, even if work itself was more stressful than anything I’ve ever known. I accomplished a lot in the four years I spent there, I met so many people that are now all over the world, I have a network, and I even met my current boyfriend.  

I am now 26. Those four years I spent in the military allowed me to think about my future and what I wanted to do. I am still trying to be an engineer. I think I gave up too easily when I was 17 and I was not in the right mindset. I didn’t think I was as smart as everyone else around me. I didn’t think I deserved to be there. But I was wrong. I did deserve to be there. Now that I’m older I understand I was going through a lot of things and had very little support and I didn’t believe in myself enough. I believe we can do anything we set our minds to, because it’s about effort. This is where my new journey begins.

I’m 26 years old and I don’t think it’s too late. I’m going to be starting my nano-engineering courses in the fall and retaking chem and physics. And I will do well no matter what it takes. I’ve been talking to someone at the university here and they say that I have a good chance at getting into their Materials Science and Engineering M.S. program. Me, someone without an engineering B.S. This is where I’d like to update my story. And hopefully someone out there can relate or share their journey as well. It’s been hard understanding that I am deserving to be here and to ask questions and actually succeed. I’m not giving up this time. No way. The things you love and are passionate about will always come back to you.

#me #its not too late