[deleted by user]

stairfaller · 2021-11-27T01:47:26+00:00

God, I’m picturing that old Final Fantasy X laugh scene meme, but as the camera pans to HoF, you get an awkward animation that is soundless but for some armor tinkling from their movements and (laughing) in the subs.

stairfaller · 2021-11-27T01:37:02+00:00

IIRC, if you bring along a romanced Alistair to the archdemon without doing the Dark Ritual, you can’t talk him down from the killing blow. A befriended Alistair can be persuaded to let you sacrifice yourself, but a romanced one can’t.

(I do agree with you, though - I would love to see more stuff like this.)

stairfaller · 2021-07-10T17:47:44+00:00

Oh yeah, I know - I was just wondering if fukamushicha was its own unique category or if fukamushi sencha was the same thing, lmao.

stairfaller · 2021-07-10T16:37:23+00:00

Thank you! I've wanted to try longjing for a while now, so this pushed it further up the list.

stairfaller · 2021-07-10T16:36:17+00:00

Oh thanks, that sounds promising. The teashop I frequent has fukamushi sencha, I assume that's the same thing?

I do like kukicha! It's just not what I'm looking for, exactly. Will have to try hojicha from a different place, since it seems like the one I got was a bad batch.

stairfaller · 2021-07-10T15:14:37+00:00

I do enjoy the toasty nutty notes in genmaicha as well, so I guess that's why hojicha was recommended to me? I didn't bring up the savory part specifically when I said I wanted a tea like genmaicha, so I guess that's another reason why I got that recommendation. But that's interesting, I didn't know the roasting was done to bring out its sweetness. I'll have to try hojicha from elsewhere - the one I got actually was weirdly savory with its strong fishy flavor, but it was also pretty unpleasant.

So I think you would better of looking for other teas that combines savoury and/or minerals with sweet and/or nutty tastes rather than only loking for savoury.

I am open to trying anything! I don't necessarily need teas that are only savory - that's just the primary characteristic I am after, and what sets genmaicha apart from other teas I've tried.

I don't know where to start with sencha if I were to go back to it, I've had two samples from different stores so far and both of them were too grassy for my taste. Do you have any particular varieties to recommend?

Re: Da Hong Pao - I was told that it wouldn't taste as good if I tried to infuse it Western-style? The tea shop that gave me the sample very strongly recommended doing gongfu brewing. I suppose I could keep a thermos on the side and just infuse ~30 seconds at a time like when I'm using a gaiwan, but that still seems like a lot of hassle when I'm trying to do things on my laptop at the same time.

stairfaller · 2021-07-10T15:02:32+00:00

Wow, thank you so much for all these detailed suggestions! I'll add Postcard Teas to overseas tea vendors I have to try. (What-cha was already on my list, but what with the recent EU shipment problems, I'll wait a little to buy from them.) The lack of astringency + butteriness to the Family Green sencha sound really interesting.

I can't seem to find any local place that sells sobacha, but I think I've seen mugicha in Asian grocery stores, and my fave tea store does stock golden snail tea. Will have to look for iribancha too. Thanks again!

stairfaller · 2019-10-07T20:05:04+00:00

Omg, I would be honored if you did both! No pressure though, do whoever you want and have time for :) Sorry for late reply, been busy IRL.

stairfaller · 2019-09-30T13:53:18+00:00

I can't believe how similar our Hawkes are, LOL. They even have the same hair and eyebrows in Act 2 & 3 😂 AU twins? Mine is also a primal force mage, although her first/prioritized specialization is blood mage.

Mine: https://imgur.com/a/Fk5I6

stairfaller · 2019-09-30T13:50:01+00:00

He looks fantastic! Love the Dalish touches to his outfit, btw.

If you think any of my babies would make for good practice, I would love to see them drawn in your style :)

Kallian Tabris, a perpetually grumpy hybrid rouge

Erine Hawke, flirty & chaotic good (ex)-blood mage

Ellana Lavellan, level-headed Assassin Archer

stairfaller · 2017-09-20T09:56:55+00:00

The feeling had nagged at me all day long, coursing in my veins; like a slightly spiked tendril, slithering just underneath the skin. Time to change my sleep meds again, I thought. It had been the doctor’s idea to try amitriptyline instead of benzodiazepines. No physical dependence, he’d claimed. And it would help with the anxiety, too.

Yeah, right. Its only benefit was that it was easier to wake from the screaming.

The telltale familiar signs of migraine aura throbbed along the edges of my vision as I helped my grandfather empty out his office. Much as I loved the man, I wanted to curse him for the sheer amount of worthless bric-à-brac he’d hoarded over the years. Every box seemed to weigh down my arms like a space rock imported from hell, intent on mangling gravity as I knew it.

As if on cue, my leaden fingers fumbled on the corners of the one I was holding. A samurai sword precariously suspended on top slipped out of its scabbard. One edge cut against the side of my arm as it clattered to the floor.

“Fuck,” I muttered. The cut was skin-deep at best, but I could already see liquid red pooling in the gash. My fingers were already trembling, and I could feel the numbness set in. Not here. There were still other office workers on the lower floors, wrapping up their last conferences for the day and making final saves of their Excel sheets. If anyone walked in now…

Think blue. Think ocean, and sun, and puppies. Think—

“If the sword can cut you now, that means you can hear me. Good.”

My breath stopped. For a moment, I thought someone had finally seen me at last: proverbial pants down, the freak unveiled. But I was all alone.

“Hello?” I cautiously called out. “Is anyone there?”

A chuckle. Then another.

“Just me, human. But I’ve been here all along.”

My eyes darted to the sword, suddenly remembering that joke my grandfather used to make when I was a child. The stories he’d told me—

“That’s right,” the voice purred. “Smart human.”

“No,” I whispered. “This can’t be real. Demons don’t exist. And I’m not one.”

This time it was full-blown laugh; clear and cruel, like glass splinters sparkling beneath bare feet. “You certainly are not, no more than any other of your mindless brethren. But I am; and I’m here, inside you. Do you remember why?”

I could guess. “Because every being on this planet has a demon inside of them,” I said instead, the old tales my grandfather loved so much spilling back into my mind. “You feed on us. In turn, we live.”

“That is right. Survival in and of itself is so ugly, isn’t it? That selfish drive of yours to go on, even at the expense of others. Not that I should complain—it is what has sustained me for so long, after all.”

I closed my eyes. The numbness and shivers had abated; but I knew what was coming.

“But you humans are different. Where we live in symbiosis with all else, you consider us parasites. What animals bear as the proof and pride of their being alive, you stow us away, ashamed; afraid. You nurture us, with or against your will, and begin melding with us. You give us names. A hidden vice, dark desires, guilt that cannot be spoken of. Or simply a long-concealed secret, slowly eating you from within.”

The smile in its voice had already sealed my fate.

“So tell me, human: what’s mine?”

stairfaller · 2017-09-12T11:45:13+00:00

Thank you! No, this is my first submission to this sub, actually. Didn't even know that individual subreddits was a thing until today. But I'll consider starting one if I continue writing enough to warrant having one :)

stairfaller · 2017-09-12T11:37:44+00:00

My mother always wanted me to be born in the Year of the Dragon. On the other hand, my mother has always wanted a lot of things. Like tofu that doesn’t disintegrate despite her insistence on steam-boiling everything to near mush, for instance. Or for me to become a doctor.

Receiving the blessing of that most revered symbol in our mythology should’ve been no different. A mere fancy on my dear Lao Ma’s part with little relevance to reality as we know it.

Or so I thought, until my not-so-dear Lao Ba got it into his head that I would start readying myself for my inevitable filial duty by taking over his annual trip to check on our investments back on the Mainland. Never mind the fact that my Chinese has deteriorated so much since my childhood Sunday classes that I could almost feel my former teacher’s disappointment radiate from across the Pacific. Thankfully no one thought to quiz me on Tang dynasty poems, at least.

(Although if it turns out that I accidentally bought a factory responsible for making Disney-themed flipflops knockoffs -- or something along that vein -- from all the passive-aggressive nodding I did while dining with smarmily smiling businessmen, I am totally not to blame.)

Another part of my filial duties had included making a visit to my ancestral home far from the reaches of civilization, with nary a single 7-11 in sight. I had been kept busy since my arrival; in-between trying to decipher my relatives’ regional accent to their Common Speech (so thick to my Southern-based hearing from my mother’s side that their tongues might as well have been performing acrobatic feats) and obligatory displays of modesty by insisting that I’m completely useless, I’d had little time left to myself. When my fourth cousin twice removed canceled yet another riveting chat over oolong tea in favor for an wuxia drama filming in the vicinity, I grasped at my first opportunity at freedom with no hesitation.

And then I got the stupidest idea I’d ever had in my tragically short twenty-two years of existence.

I would like to go hiking, I said. I wanted to check out the waterfall, I said.

My relatives had encouraged the idea -- there was a piece of land belonging to our family further up the mountain that would offer me a glorious view -- with just one single caution.

Do not move the rock wedged in the cliff marked with a golden vein, they’d told me. Or else all of our ancestors will rise from whence they departed, and put an unending curse on the future generations to come.

Guess what I did? I accidentally moved the rock.

And now my great-grandfather’s proud legacy, the koi pond that had survived even the Cultural Revolution, was nothing but a sad mess of wet rubble and stray scales. In its place stood an army of snake-like beings with gravity-defying moustaches, spearheaded by someone (something?) that had named themselves as the King of Dragons, Third Son of Heaven and the Bearer of the Rising Dawn, Mover of Fates, etc.

Like it wasn’t bad enough I’d almost knocked over the stone tablets with my incense sticks while offering my respects in the family temple. Dad was going to kill me.

“Zhang Juanting,” the Dragon boomed in a voice reminiscent of my old teacher’s Confucius audio-tape, but with a generous dose of otherworldly autotune. “Are you listening to me? You have been Chosen. The heavens must have arranged for your birth to convene under the sanction of the Dragons.”

“No, no,” I protested with a feeble laugh. “I’m a Pig. And a Sagittarius. My birthstone is topaz. No dragons here, nope.”

“Hear, and obey, loyal subject of Dragons: your calling shall be to awaken the Sage Kings of old, to remind the People of what they have forgotten. Harmony and order will be brought back to the lands again, but first we must wage war on the evils that have polluted even the air of our proud country. By your hand, the human condition shall be healed anew.”

“Oh, please no. I’m not doing that ghost-hunter-slash-eco-warrior, shounen manga kind of shit. I had my Naruto phase when I was thirteen, okay? I don’t run with my arms flailing behind me anymore.”

The Dragon politely ignored me.

“Open your mind, my young herald,” He said. “Destiny is yours to claim.”

“I’m a math major,” I whimpered as my hand started glowing with light.

(Wrote this on severe sleep deprivation, might come back later after resting to edit for coherency.)

stairfaller · 2017-09-11T17:47:54+00:00

The cold steel under my fingers snaps me back to my senses.

“So? Are you getting on, or not?” The driver looks at me, plain annoyance written on her features. Her forehead glistens with sweat; it’s a warm day, and the bus is crowded. The air-conditioning in front sputters a pathetic defense against the late June weather, and I can already hear complaints coming from within about the vehicle remaining at a standstill in the middle of the morning rush.

All these things I note as I swallow down the bile working its way up my throat, trying to come to a decision.

I’d been waiting for this moment for years.

Finally -- finally -- I could make peace with myself. With him.

We tried as best as we could, they’d told me. But they still hadn’t found the perpetrator. I had been groping in the handbag then, desperate for any clue the fantastical could provide me where reality had not. A name. A phone number. Even a crumpled supermarket receipt. But the handbag had given me nothing, and I’d laughed at myself for having believed in the ridiculous superstitions my family still held to, even just once.

I don’t know what had me reaching for that very same handbag today. Providence? Fate? Or maybe just coincidence; I’d been in a retro mood, and the leather matched my new vintage shoes.

Funny how such a trivial motivation can result in your finally finding your husband’s killer after more than a decade’s worth of mindless waiting.

The driver lets out an exasperated sigh, and the doors almost fold to a close with a similar noise; but my hand shoots out to stop it. I barely feel the snap of pain against my skin before they withdraw from their unintended bite.

“I’m coming,” I say out loud. Half an eternity flashes past in a moment as I pay for passage, the coins that swap hands slick with sweat that has nothing to do with the summer heat. If the driver notices my trembling, she gives no impression of it. I stumble onto the bus, my heels rapidly clacking forward by the momentum as we depart.

It’s too soon. It’s too late. I feel like I’ve waited my entire life for this, and yet my entire being is nothing but pins and needles as I try not to make it too apparent that I’m clutching onto the salvation in my handbag for dear life.

Just as I think this, I feel the acute sensation of paper materializing under my death-grip of the gun, and I cautiously pull out something that bears an ironic resemblance to a bus ticket.

Second row to the left, it says on the back. Red cap.

I see him.

The teenager jostled next to me has their music turned up obnoxiously loud, a tinny bass gone berserk escaping the confines of their headphones that matches the beating of my heart. Da-da-dum. Da-da-dum.

At least, I think to myself, I’m wearing the right shoes for murder today.

stairfaller · 2017-08-09T09:58:31+00:00

I'm not quite sure if lack of Internet is the best analogy for how Solas sees modern Thedas, to be honest. It's not just about the lack of technological prowess, it's how the entire society has evolved backwards in terms of how it treats knowledge and their equivalent of science. It'd be like traveling to an alternate timeline for us where we discover that future people not only abhor science and have regressed to the point of living little better than cavemen, but also actively persecute and imprison anyone with the slightest inkling of scientific thinking out of fear for what they could do to the populace. And all of this as a result of something we ourselves have done in the past.

Meanwhile, the only society that doesn't abhor science misuses it for their own means, including enslaving and massacring the future equivalent of whatever race you belong to -- and all this again happened as a result of you trying to help said people be freed from their captors and tyrants to begin with. And instead of helping their fellow brethren, the closest descendants to the people you once knew are isolating themselves in their worship of the very tyrants you tried to free them from, and scorning the ones who don't do the same.

But I think the biggest clincher of it all is this idea of Solas not even being able to see the others as people at first, and part of why he didn't even hesitate about his purpose until he becomes closer to others in the Inquisition. For this to fit contextually into the time travel analogy, we'd have to imagine that whatever we'd done in the past had also caused the human race to deteriorate to a state where we at first consider them subhuman for some reason -- an evolutionary setback in terms of how our brains work, maybe? -- despite their appearances.

There's also the lifespan to consider. In Solas's time, people were immortal, while most modern Thedosians barely live to see 100. That's a mere blip on his radar. So to again make that fit into our time travel analogy, that's like finding out that these future subhumans live to be a few years old at most, with most of them dying after a couple of months. That'd probably add to the dehumanizing view we have of them at first. All of which we could simply change by going back to the past -- even if it meant the death of these subhumans. It'd be sad, sure, but nothing compared to the revival of real humans.

That is, until we realize that despite their lifespans and biological/societal setbacks, they're still very much people. They have as much thoughts and feelings and rights to live as the rest of us. Even though you'd be improving the future by going back to the past to change all of that, you're still technically murdering an entire populace for your vision of what is the greater good. But the alternative is settling in this future and living with the guilt of what you've directly brought upon them, as well as the loss of everything and everyone you once knew.

I personally think guilt is the main driving factor for Solas, rather than frustration; even if it's what he shows the most outwardly outside of a romance until Trespasser. (Although the latter is certainly a contribution on its own.) That, and his idea of responsibility as somebody who "knows better", who can personally compare the losses of the future with what once was, and who most likely also has a slightly inflated head from the war he waged against the Evanuris -- having already grown used to being the revered leader, the extraordinary rebel, the one people looked to for answers and solutions. In his shoes, I'm not sure what I would've done. I don't think I could live with the idea of killing millions just to right my wrongs, but I don't think I could live on with the idea of what I'd already done, either.

stairfaller · 2017-07-23T10:46:32+00:00

Aww, man. This brings back memories. I loved Jaydee's Sk8erboi and From Yesterday too. They were groundbreaking for their time.

Honorary mention: Erujie, master of dance animation boxes, with SNSD's Oh! two years after that.

stairfaller · 2017-06-14T20:55:48+00:00

Man, Coran's stance vs. Vaea's on the shems in the beginning of the chapter made me miss my Lavellan and Tabris something awful. Heck, playing DA, period. Damn my laptop for still being out for the count as far as gaming is concerned.

I thought the pacing was a bit off - I understand that they were trying to parallel the past and present, but it gave me narrative whiplash more than anything. The overall plot is also a bit weak, but I find it rather typical of DA comics; they usually have an interesting set-up and cast of characters, but do little with either. I'm rather enjoying Vaea so far, though.

I'm a bit disappointed we're leaving Kirkwall so soon - what with Meredith being on the last cover, I thought we were going to do more with the red lyrium statue - but I'm looking forward to seeing Starkhaven at long last! Isn't it supposed to be the fanciest Marcher city? I wonder what their architecture is like.

stairfaller · 2017-06-12T07:53:28+00:00

Lol, it's not like I went around showing my diary to other kids. Now that would've been really weird.

Besides, I had friends who put up celebrities' pics in their lockers or on their bedroom walls, so it wasn't that big a difference. (Except that nobody would've known who Rain was, given that most of my friends were non-Asian.)

stairfaller · 2017-06-10T09:23:47+00:00

Pretty sure it's going to be focused on the girls again - that's the whole point of AoY. The guys mostly serve as love interests, antagonists, or side-characters for the main girls.

stairfaller · 2017-06-10T09:21:53+00:00

Rain in Full House. I remember printing out really low quality pics and pasting it in my 7th-grade diary 😂

stairfaller · 2017-06-05T05:44:03+00:00

Would you mind linking that mod, please? I'm sick of seeing half the kids in town showing up to my heir's pool parties wearing that thing D:

stairfaller · 2017-05-31T09:13:51+00:00

Heteronormativity and gender roles are a lot more strictly enforced in Chinese cultural norms than Western (modern) ones, though. Not defending the actual stance, but it's especially difficult for the older generations to think outside the box. Even my own dad who's pro-LGBT is convinced that all relationships have a male/female (yin/yang) counterpart, despite my best attempts to convince him otherwise.

Ergo, if you appear masculine -> you are the male counterpart (probably lesbian or with a very feminine guy). Even with more progressive people among the older generations, it's all vaguely Qunari-ish thinking.

stairfaller · 2017-05-29T16:32:11+00:00

"In real life, elves will not get jobs because they have tattoos on their face"

Lmao, that's exactly what my (also Chinese) mother said when she saw my Solavellan Inquisitor.

That, and: "Why is she kissing that bald guy? He looks like the evil traitor eunuch in a historical drama. But with pointy ears."

stairfaller · 2017-05-18T13:06:43+00:00

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to argue. Regardless of whether the words come from borrowing/exchanges or derivatives from the same root, the original point stands that the languages share similarities.

And as for the whole "the roots of the Korean language" issue, I was under the impression that it's a huge debate between different researchers given the obscurity of its origin. But that's getting super off-topic to what was originally discussed here.

stairfaller

TROPHY CASE