Constantly-reading31 - The Fandom Place

Wasting time.

Aka. I just wanted to draw kitty cat.

#pascalcampion

Caves are weirder and more varied than you think

meet the archons

better quality

Wild horses crossing a river in Iran Photo: Eydi Heydari

Auriana's Take On Love

Auriana was a romantic at heart. Yes, it's true her ventures in romance were many, and she admits that she may not stick around for long. But she loves love nevertheless. There's just so much to love about it afterall.

Falling in love, for one, is always a blast. A sudden bout of carelessly slipped passion that has her cursing underneath her breath. Playful foot fights and knocking of the knees, leading up to shy shoulder brushes, and the ever hinting touch of the fingertip. The tell-tale rhythmic pulse of rushing blood and drenched palms. Stolen glances from the other side of the room that either break off immediately or turn into heated stare-downs with neither wanting to back off.

Ah yes, the falling. Ironic, seeing as it isn't a fall at all. Rather, when her heart jumps onto the cart, there is no falling but anticipation until the top. Unsure of the new course as she reaches further and further up, until she is hanging off the edge. It's always the highest hill that's first, the one that takes up your whole view because all you can see is down. A guaranteed promise of risk and adrenaline, and a slight bit of stomach turning. Exactly the kind of ride she signed up for. Auriana knew this since her first kiss with the court magician's son. (He tasted like Iris's attempt at lemon curd pie)

But as nice as the metaphor is, whereas a rollercoaster, with all their dips and loops, can never satisfy her needs with a single monotonous attraction, her loves had no such blueprint. They may buck like an untamed stallion and throw her off the rails, damn safety. They may tease her with a swerve as she settles into the dips. They may ease her with steady winds lapping her face as they cruise with leisure. Auriana prides herself to picking only the interesting after all. (Her standards are not recommended to be followed)

So is it all a sport for Princess Auriana of Volta? Does she simply ride until another catches her eye? Or until she decides that this one has not the strength to move her heart no more? Many would say yes, her bandmates included. But nay, the lady herself thinks otherwise.

Although she has been called flippant in her attitude towards love, there's a lovely hope, deep in her heart, that this one would be her last adventure. For them to be her last ride.

Of course, she has had no luck thus far. The trail of broken hearts and cut strings are plenty proof of that. Indeed, there were many sweet Earthlings that pulled at her heartstrings, some rather spicy ones that intrigued her curiosity, not to mention the roughened Ephedians that come by and remind her of home.

Despite that, she still dreamed of cuddles late at night, gazes meant for only one other so often shared by lovestruck couples, holding hands to the annual Dawning Festival in hopes of future luck, sharing scarves to shield from the cold, lazy bedtime kisses…

Maybe her expectations are too high. Or perhaps, as her close friends have hinted many times, too low. In Auriana’s hopeful (albeit unlikely) opinion, perhaps the Great Destinies of Volta had put her in a lover’s path and she has guided them to a better part of life in what seemed at the time to be an insignificant, now fateful action and would thank her for the rest of their life? A stretch, but not one without evidence. They have gathered at least three Oracle Gems from her voyeurs afterall.

For now, as Auriana sips her strawberry kiwi smoothie, she still hasn't quite found "the one." But that’s alright, she mused as she purveyed the small sandwich menu. Iris’s shanila just passed, Talia hasn't murdered her for tardiness yet, and Lolirock keeps getting more and more popular. Time is everything, and everything moves in due time, as her Father always said.

Maybe she should take a break from love. Focus more on sightseeing and taking back her kingdom after they defeating Greymore.

“A steak and cheese sandwich please,” Auriana ordered to the part-timer, deciding on the first sandwich that caught her eye after all. Checking her phone, she realized that for once, the schedule was subjectively free. (subjective because Talia had scheduled a strategy meeting; like they ever actually use any of the strategies against the twins in the heat of the moment.)

Sucking down her smoothie as she waited, she considered her options. Iris and Nathaniel are going on their not-double date with Carissa and Lyna, so she can't risk interrupting the romantic atmosphere. Talia was studying Borealis spell formations back at the house so no way in hell was she going near that place. Ticking off names off her mental list of friends, it was then that she realized that everyone else that came to mind all had plans or were her exs. What to do, what to do…

Skrrrck

Settling down onto the stool, the newcomer looked at the menu nervously. She looked to be around Auriana’s age with long blonde hair and a face that reminded Auriana of Earth’s bunnies.

Turning to Auriana, who was faking choosing a drink but was secretly side eyeing the new girl, she seemed to be quietly debating to herself about whether or not to risk talking to her before making a decision. Stuttering a quick accented greeting and introduction, the blonde turned to Auriana.

“Uhh.. Do you know any... good food?” asked the girl slowly, peering at Auriana through her lashes. Her head was faced down, most likely from the nerves talking to a foreigner. She’s cute, Auriana thought as she turned toward the nervous girl.

“Oui, les smoothies sont à tomber par terre,” Auriana answered cheerfully. Whipping her head up, the girl grinned toothily, happy in finding someone to communicate.

“You know French?” she asked, switching to her mother tongue.

“Yep!” Auriana said enthusiastically, just as happy to find someone to talk to.

“I went to France for work and picked up the language. It’s pretty cool how you can go from sounding like a gorbleck to a swiggle in a sentence, Like right now,” Auriana said, thinking back to the days when she and Talia were still searching for Iris.

The girl giggled, thinking it was some kind of joke. As the two talked, it wasn’t until she got the French girl’s number that Auriana remembered that she had left her sandwich at the smoothie bar.

Kunugigaoka's Garden of Eve Podcast: The Introduction

Kunugigaoka, Japan's top junior high school. All thanks to a man having climbed to the top with his bare hands and sheer ambition. After such a harrowing journey, he then selflessly chose to pass down his wisdom accumulated from the top to his humble students, inside the classrooms of Kunugigaoka.

Kunugigaoka: where Class A reigns supreme with their academic, athletic, and all around perfect aptitude, while the rest fall at their feet in order to learn and educate themselves to be even greater. Our grand leader and son of the possibly omniscient principal, embodies this system with his whole being.

And yet this year, End Class, bottom of the barrel, the shadows of Kunugigaoka's light, has soundly beaten the rest in one very clear aspect.

Now, you may be wondering what this aspect is, wondering if it has anything to do with the sudden competence 3-E has shown in the second quarter midterms. Some students, such as Takebayashi-san and Kataoka-san have even risen to unexpected heights, directly challenging the kings of the school.

And let's be honest people, Class A are not ones you want to tussle with. The likely-hood of you coming out unscathed, mentally sound, and without a lawsuit after you is not great. Luckily Class E's accomplishment isn't so grand as to warrant such actions, seeing as the majority of them were in the average zone. (Akabane totally dropped big time)

Besides, grades can be won back with enough studying, which is simple enough for the cream of the crop.

However! There is something no hour long study session can hope to overcome unless you resort to either a) plastic surgery, b) spend time on pampering that you could be spending on studying your ass off for the next exams, or c) the most difficult of all: be a good person.

(Not that I'm thinking of anyone in particular for the latter…)

End Class, better known as Eve's Garden between the illustrious academy whispers, are all hot as hell!

How do they, those who will grow to shine the elite's shoes and kiss our asses in hopes of a promotion that will never come until the day they die, have such charming features that seduce our on-campus companions till this day?!

Victims who have since gone back to the right side are reportedly ashamed of their transgressions and claimed that they were deceived and manipulated by Class E's honey-sweet words and their devilish reputations, pleading for the purehearted to fall into sin alongside them.

But I don't think a few well placed compliments would be enough to sway such a vast number of our kind. Something was amiss.

It was right then and there that I decided: in order to protect our dear students, I shall arm them with weapons of knowledge. Knowledge of 3-E's weaknesses and most importantly of all: their strengths. For whatever better way to prepare oneself than to face the threat head on, albeit in simulated form?

Join me, an unnamed/anonymous member of the Light Radio Club as I bravely dissect and disassemble all of Class 3-E's succubuses and their wicked charms, each spell designed to bewitch the good student's minds and lead them off the path of virtue.

I am AC, host of Kunugigaoka's Garden of Eve Podcast. Tune in next time for my next report on the dangers of Class E and how to defend against their devious tricks. [Peace out!]

(BTW, don't listen to Kunodon. Beauty on the inside matters the most in the end kids! Also, don't worry Class President-kun, you're still number one on the hotness chart and in my heart ;p)

Lookit I made a gif

Meilin of Zhong [Spirit Animals] Doodles

A doodle session of Meilin from Fall of the Beasts in really inconsistent art styles. (And an unnecessary story below about her clothes)

According to Google, Zhong (Meilin's country if you're unfamiliar) is based primarily on China and a few other Asian influences. While looking at the cover art on some of the Spirit Animal books, I've determined what Meilin is wearing kinda resembles a white cheongsam under a blue puffy parka looking thing.

(I'm not an expert on clothes, just a rabbit hole diver)

Looking up what dynasty would have their women wear cheongsams and blue parkas, Google says that women apparently wore cheongsams in the Ming Dynasty. So I said great, I'll base off her clothes off of the hanfu (Chinese historical clothing) from the Ming dynasty.

But then I got deeper into the rabbit hole and thought, "Wait... The Tang Dynasty looks pretty cool and pretty accurate to her outfit in the beginning"

You know the fancy ceremony outfit that Meilin wore for her Nectar ceremony? According to the book, she applied gold flakes, rouge, and white face paint among other things to her face. Tang Dynasty women wore gold flakes on their faces too (I looked up Ming Dynasty and their makeup seems totally different)

Tang Dynasty is also more accurate to what I imagine Zhong was at the time, open to the other three countries and flourishing in trade. It reflects in the fashion, as women's fashion became more diverse with so many different influences. I've also read articles that the fashion was seen as more aggressive, which suits Meilin.

However, I cannot ignore that the cover art Meilin's fashion was most likely made in the likeness of Ming Dynasty clothing. (As it turns out, the not-cheongsam is actually an ao)

And that's how I ended up deciding that (headcanon) Zhong's fashion is mainly inspired from the Tang Dynasty, especially the outfits popular in the imperial court, but there's Ming-esque athleisure I guess. (Conveniently ignoring that women wore pleated skirts and preferred pastel colors)

For her court outfit, I decided on a qixiong ruqun, which uniquely has the waistband above the chest paired with a scarf. As for her casual Hero of Erdas outfit I have her wear a double layered top called an ao (well, ao is the shirt in aoqun the word, so I'm assuming it's just called so), which is worn untucked above the waist over a skirt or in this case a pair of pants.

Obviously I took artistic liberty in literally everything, so please forgive me if I am inaccurate in anyway in the explanation. Just looked up a bunch of stuff and tried to piece everything together, so don't take this explanation too seriously.

Note: @ziseviolet is a good source for those who want to learn more; I simply browsed through their stuff this time, but I plan on reading more cuz it's super fascinating

uh racing au??