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gold-gguk · 6 years

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pjm || drabble

prompt ↠ “Don’t you sleep anymore?” ↳ a smol mochii is overworking himself, so you come to the rescue

genre ↠ FLUFF, idolverse member ↠ park jimin warnings ↠ v soft jimin: may induce serious feelings of “hold-a-pillow-and-cry” word count ↠ 1.4k

moodboard by @jiminspjm || my love

You wipe the back of your hand across the hills of your eyelids, the weight of your knuckles attempting to rub away the sleep induced fuzz clouding them. Yawning lazily, you pull the soft pads of your feet along the dimly lit corridor, wrapping your arms over your middle to pull the oversized, well-worn denim jacket tighter around your frame in an effort to salvage what small amount of warmth remains. With lethargic steps and heavy limbs, you finally reach the entrance to the studio at the end of the vacant and dark hall, the stream of light filtering out of the crack in the door all the confirmation you need to know that Jimin is still inside.

Soft, lilting music, the now familiar tune to the boy’s newest release, meanders through the wood, getting a little louder and more distinct with each stride closer. You gingerly lean into the door, pushing the dense obstruction open wide enough to slip your head through and peek at the scene waiting for you inside.

Jimin is alone, oblivious to your intrusion as he throws all of his focus into the lithe, powerful, and languid movements of his body, his muscles coated in a thin sheen of sweat as they contract and expand under his pale skin. His muted blonde hair is tousled with exertion, the damp strands hard evidence of the hours he’s devoted to being holed up in this room today working.

You stand for a moment longer, leaning your head on the door frame as you quietly breathe in the sight of him. Even at almost 2 in the morning, sweat covered, and worked over, he still manages to embody all things good and sweet in this world. You watch the blush red of his plump pout in the reflection of the mirror, his plush lips hung slightly open in a pant. The plain, white t-shirt he’s fashioned in clings to his narrow and defined shoulders, sloping down into the dip of his spine with the weight of sweat. The joggers that sit loosely on his slim hips sag just enough for the bottom of his tummy to peek whenever his hands raise too high, causing a shy and sweet smile to curl the corner of your lips as you admire. He never ceases to set the butterflies free when you see him. Whether it’s been a month or an hour, his presence fills you with a sedated warmth the equivalent of home mixed with a lethal dose of pins-and-needles excitement.

Squeezing the prickly feeling from the tips of your fingers, you languidly swing the door open, traipsing inside with gentle steps until Jimin catches sight of you in the mirror’s reflection. His movements stutter at your appearance, his head whipping around to confirm your presence before a lazy smile spreads across the span of his cupid lips. Ceasing his practice, he stands straight, lifting a small remote from the floor nearby to decrease the full volume of the music to a delicate whisper in the background.

“What are you doing here so late?” he wonders, extending a hand in your direction to usher you over to him. You don’t hesitate, a tender grin that matches his own beginning to grow as you slide towards his panting stature, reveling in the tingles that spread throughout your palm as it’s encased in his. He gives a playful tug, pulling you into his sweaty embrace as he snakes his arms securely around the span of your shoulders, pressing his cheek into the waves of the sleepily disheveled hair that you hadn’t bothered taming before leaving the dorms to find your Jimin. A low and satiated moan rumbles through his throat as he breathes deeply, his overexerted body mollified by the ginger menstruations of your nails combing up and down his back.

“I was just going to ask you the same thing,” you hum in response, your sleep filled eyes on the edge of giving up as you lean your head against Jimin’s chest. The damp feeling of him underneath your touch is a familiar and welcome sensation, much preferred to the empty and cold bed you were in only a half hour before.

“We got some new choreography today, and I just wanted to get it right before coming home,” Jimin explains, stalling when you pull your face away from him and meet his eyes, an adorable and sleepy pout manifesting over your features that makes his heart thump excitedly.

“It’s almost 2 in the morning,” you blanch sulkily, a slight whine in your voice as you scan over his porcelain face, his eyes slightly squinting with hidden amusement as he looks at you.

“I’m sorry, love, I didn’t realize how late it was getting,” he mewls in apology, the perfectly unfair purse of his lips pecking away at your resolve. “I’ll be home soon, I promise. I only have a little bit more to go. Go back and get some sleep.”

It’s with great dismay that you feel his arms release their hold on you, only after a swift and sweet kiss to your forehead is left behind to burn. Jimin turns and begins to resume the disciplined and diligent expression of the choreography, moving with enough grace and ease to convince you that he’s had it right for a while now.

Huffing with indignation and perseverance, you stumble forward, your own arms finding purchase around the thin circumference of his mid-section, halting his movements once more as he stares into the reflection with humored confusion. “Don’t you sleep anymore?” you ask--whine--pressing your face into the dip between his shoulder blades, squeezing him ever tighter in your arms in hopes that your insistence comes across. He’s been in the studio after hours a lot more than usual lately, and his lack of body heat at night has left you wanting and upset.

Jimin’s beautifully child-like chuckle echoes softly around the room, the sound of it settling a degree of your annoyance. “I’ve scheduled a nap a week from next Tuesday,” he teases, smiling fondly at the peeking of your frame behind him.

“You’re warm,” you venture, your sleep-deprivation tugging your subconscious thoughts into the open.

“I’m sweaty,” he corrects through the remnants of his sweet laughter.

“Same difference.” You adjust your stance so you can place a chaste and lingering kiss to the back of Jimin’s neck, an innocent prodding. “The bed is cold without you in it,” you whisper sadly, your lips curling down behind the cover of Jimin’s back.

Something in the serenely endearing way you speak those words tugs Jimin’s heart, his fond grin giving way to something more sympathetic as the weight of your current state, streets away from where you should be sleeping, settles in. He gazes longly at the mirror of your bodies stuck together, soaking in the feeling of the small prods of your fingers at his stomach, the tickle of your hair at the nape of his neck, and the way he can feel your petaled lips carefully massaging across the plane of his shoulders. Your safe touch has him melting in your arms, the tiny whine of your voice sending him careening into your hands.

He suddenly shifts in your embrace, surprising you as he turns and coils his arms around you once again. He stares down at you affectionately, only half aware of the way his lips twitch with doting as he stares. Slowly and deliberately, your body hyper aware of every move, Jimin’s hand falls away from where it had been wrapped around your waist, trailing up to rest warmly around the curve of your sleepily puffed cheek. You steady yourself as Jimin leans down and carefully situates his soft pout against yours, sending vibrations through the entirety of your limbs as he leisurely pushes and pulls. The kiss is coated in an innocence, a delicate desire to be intimate in the smallest of ways, and it’s pure bliss, the protective and steady hold on you making your knees go weak as you feel Jimin smile against your lips.

He pulls away all too soon, but you’re too weary to protest, your body falling victim to the early hours quicker and quicker as you lean limply into Jimin’s chest. He reaches up to lovingly stroke the messy strands of hair away from your forehead as he leans down to finally whisper, “Let’s go home, Jagiya.”

“Really?” you beam like a child, wide and hopeful eyes amusing your boyfriend’s gaze.

“Yes, really,” he responds, laughing as he quickly kisses your nose before you have time to flinch away. “And tomorrow, I’ll come home right after practice. I promise. I don’t want my baby getting cold without me.”

You don’t even try to hide the lazily giddy smile that spreads in victory across your mouth, your eyes wavering with the weight of ensuing sleep. “Let’s go home.”

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chibimochii · 1 month

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Ugly sweater for me? Nah, it's for you~♡

Wahhh @xsezzie you wrote a fic for me for secret Santa- and I was gone from tumblr- it slipped past me and I've read it and I adore it- and I'm sooo terribly sorry that it's taken me an embarrassing amount of time to react to it- so I offer you all I can offer- some art. For the record I loved it-

Pls do read it, I've linked it right under here-! It's perfect bc it's neuvi rerun tomorrow~ who else is hyped??🌟

#mochiispeaks #genshin tickle #genshin impact tickle #tickle art #genshin impact #mochii speaks #tickling #mochii doodlees #lee!neuvillette #ticklish!neuvillette #ler!wriothesley #neuvithesley

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krashingallalong · 5 months

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For shits and giggles, give me a number 1-100 and I'll put my Spotify Wrapped on blast.

#krash speaks into the void #mochii #foof #corvid #fin #soap #alphie

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squiditis · 6 years

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I just wanted to say I love your art and Mochii/Squidfresca's art so much! Your splatoon oc's have inspired me to start creating my own (which I'm still learning to draw), and the diversity of your characters, and their fashion and personalities has honestly helped me become more comfortable with expressing myself as a non-binary and pansexual person of color! Whenever I see your characters, I feel accepted because they're so diverse and beautiful and expressive

@squidfresca BITCH YOU SEE THIS SWEET SHIT RIGHT HERE

I know I can speak for both of us that we’re VERY VERY glad we helped in some way to get you to this point! May the planets keep your confidence and even when it wavers it comes back stronger than before!

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chanoyu-to-wa · 6 years

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Nampō Roku, Book 1 (17): the Utensils for the Small Room.

17) With respect to the utensils for the small room, it is better if everything is [somewhat] lacking¹. There are people who detest things that are even slightly damaged², [but] this [kind of attitude] is completely unacceptable.

In the case of newly-fired [pieces of pottery] and objects of that sort³, if they have developed cracks⁴, they are difficult to use⁵. But things like imported chaire and other “proper” utensils⁶, when they have been repaired with lacquer⁷, can still be used in the future.

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Besides this, when [we] speak of the way to combine the utensils⁸: a recently fired chawan [used together with] an imported chaire -- [you] must know how to do [things] like this⁹.

In Shukō's period, even though the things [used for chanoyu] were still splendid¹⁰ at that time, he put his treasured ido-chawan¹¹ into a fukuro, handling it just like a temmoku¹²; and [he] initiated the practice of always bringing out a natsume¹³, or a recently-made chaire, together with it¹⁴.

_________________________

◎ The chawan known as the Kanamori ido [金森井戸本] and the Honnō-ji bunrin [本能寺文琳] chaire. Two examples of damaged utensils that continued to be used for chanoyu in the small room after they were repaired with lacquer.

¹Yorozu-koto taranu ga yoshi [よろず事たらぬがよし].

The auxiliary verb taru [たる] means “is enough;” “is sufficient.” Taranu [たらぬ], then, means “not enough;” “insufficient.”

²Sonji [損し].

Sonji [損じ] means injured, damaged, cracked, defective.

³Ima-yaki nado [今やきなど].

Ima-yaki [今燒] means pottery that has been fired recently. Nado [など] means “(and) things of that sort.”

Recently made things are “difficult to use” if they have become damaged (through misuse -- whether because of carelessness or otherwise) because they can easily be replaced: so using them seems inauspicious (or niggardly).

⁴Ware-hibi kitaru ha [われひゞきたるハ].

Ware-hibi [割れ罅] means to crack or split through use (it does not refer to the natural crackles that are present in certain glazes).

Kitaru [來る] means to develop, be due to (literally, “to come,” “to arrive”). In other words, damage that has come about after the piece was in the host's possession, due to improper handling (whether accidental or through negligence is not important).

⁵Mochii-gatashi [用ひがたし].

Mochii-gatashi [用い難し] means something is difficult to use, difficult to make use of.

⁶Kara-no-chaire nado-yō no shikarubeki-dōgu ha [唐の茶入などやうのしかるべき道具ハ].

Kara-no-chaire [唐の茶入] means a chaire that was imported from the continent (kara [唐] means Tang China, though none of the chaire were made before the Southern Sung period, and most long afterward; the word kara, though more commonly when it was written phonetically, was also used to mean Korea in pre-modern times).

Shikarubeki-dōgu [然るべき道具]: shikarubeki [然るべき] means proper, appropriate.

This refers to objects that were “real” utensils, on account of their pedigree and history of transmission*. Comprehending this statement on a “gut level” depends on an attitude that we -- surrounded by imitations (while the originals are almost unknown, and certainly unapproachable; not a part of our reality or experience) -- are not really able to assume. ___________ *In contrast to things that the host found (or made) by himself.

⁷Urushi-tsugi shite [うるしつぎしても].

Urushi-tsugi [漆繼ぎ] means something like “repaired with lacquer.” Urushi-tsugi suru [漆継ぎする] means “to stick something together with lacquer.”

In the period when Nambō Sōkei wrote down these entries, there was no such thing as kin-tsugi [金継ぎ], where the lacquer-repair is sprinkled with gold powder as it is drying. In his time, the person undertaking the repair work usually tried very hard to approximate the original color of the piece as closely as possible, so that the damage would be (almost) undetectable. Which did not mean that people tried to pass such things off as being in perfect condition: famous utensils were known, as was any damage that befell them; the purpose was to make them usable again, with as little distraction* and as possible.

Between Sōkei's day and the appearance of kin-tsugi in the Edo period, there was a time when such repair work was done in a more perfunctory manner, using ordinary black lacquer. Here the idea was simply to mend the damage, without bothering to try to obscure it, let alone enhance it (by adding gold). This was the most wabi sort of repair†. ___________ *People worried that the piece would come apart while they were using it, which unsettled the guests as well as the host. This is why the effort was made to efface the damage to the extent that it did not catch the attention of the conscious mind.

†The vertical cracks on the front side of the Kanamori ido (shown above, in the text of the entry) were repaired in this way.

This is possible to do because lacquer -- unlike most paints -- does not change its volume (through evaporation of the solvent) as it dries. Thus the dried lacquer occupies precisely the same area as it did when it was wet, and it is this that allows it to form a water-tight seal.

⁸Dōgu no tori-awase to mōsu ha [道具ノ取合ト申スハ].

Tori-awase [取り合わせ] means the way to combine the utensils together to produce a pleasing effect.

The sudden shift from using hiragana to using katakana for the remainder of this entry (which is why I inserted the dashed line, to separate the text of the first part of this entry from this) suggests that this was originally a separate topic that Jitsuzan either conflated with the text (on using damaged and repaired utensils) that went before, or that was inserted into this place (by someone else), with the intention of introducing certain ideas that seem to be foreign to the period in which Nambō Sōkei wrote these memoranda -- but closely connected with early Edo sensibilities (or, perhaps, attitudes that chajin were being advised to adopt during that period). The rule that is being laid out -- and, even more, the example that is used to illustrate that rule -- is an oddity, a non sequitur not only to what has gone before (in this entry), but also to the kinds of teachings expounded more generally in the Nampō Roku.

⁹Gotoshi kokoroe-beshi [如此心得べし].

Gotoshi [如此 = 如し] means like, as if, the same as, in the same way.

Kokoroe [心得] means to know, understand. -Beshi [べし] means should (do something).

Prior to Rikyū, people involved with chanoyu tended to feel that all of the utensils used during a given chakai should be of similar quality (all costly antiques, or all new), and that the host should always make an effort to use the best utensils that he could afford*. (And many modern schools also hold this to be true even today -- a legacy of the damnatio memoriae that was imposed on Rikyū following his seppuku.) People of means amassed a modest collection of expensive utensils†, while the hermits and recluses who pursued chanoyu as a method of Zen training used worthless things that they discovered here and there.

But what this passage is advocating is that the host not be afraid to combine a newly made piece with an estimable and renowned utensil -- not to contrast their values, but because they combine in a pleasing way that is appropriate to the setting and circumstances of the gathering. In other words, be content and use the things you own, rather than covet objects that are beyond your means. ___________ *Since only one representative example of each of the necessary utensils was all that was required.

†Because the “goal” was always to use the finest utensils that the host could afford, people tended to continually upgrade their collection, replacing their former treasures with new ones (while passing on the old pieces to other people whose collections were yet at a lower level).

A comment should be made regarding Ashikaga Yoshimasa and his huge collection of cha-dōgu. Prior to the destruction of his storehouse -- which was apparently a political statement, rather than one motivated by avarice -- Yoshimasa had access to a great collection of largely imported pieces of art. However, these were not his personal possessions. Rather, the collection represented the tribute that had been paid to the Ashikaga family over the years (though this “tribute” was called by different names, depending on the circumstances under which the object had been gifted to the government), and he had access to it simply because he was the shōgun (and then the de facto regent during the rule of his immature successor). The dōbō [同朋], who appear to have been descended from functionaries in the Koryeo court, were employed primarily to sort through the contents of the official storehouses, appraising the worth (or lack whereof) of each object stored (since there appear to have been almost as many worthless pieces in storage as there were authentic treasures). Noticing that certain of these objects were suitable for use in chanoyu, these things were brought to Yoshimasa’s attention because he had shown an interest in chanoyu, and the dōbō Nōami then instructed Yoshimasa in their use.

Thus, in a sense, this was all an experiment in seeing how many variations on the theme of chanoyu were possible with the objects found in the storehouses, rather than an exercise in collecting and flaunting his wealth.

¹⁰Imada mono-goto kekkai ari-shida ni [イマダ物ゴト結構ニアリシダニ].

Imada [未だ] means as yet, still, only.

Mono-goto [物事] means things, everything (i.e., the arrangements and the utensils employed for chanoyu).

Kekkō [結構] means splendid, nice, wonderful, excellent.

¹¹Hizō no ido-chawan [秘蔵ノ井土茶盌].

Hizō [秘蔵] means to treasure, prize, cherish.

Ido-chawan [井土茶盌] is usually written ido-chawan [井戸茶碗] today.

While it is true that Shukō owned an ido chawan (the bowl that is now known as the Tsutsu-i-zutsu [筒井筒]), there appears to be a distinctly Edo period flavor to this story -- since Shukō most probably used his ido-chawan as a kae-chawan, as was the convention at that time*.

It is extremely difficult to sort out the stories related to these early chajin, if only because of the deliberate distortions and conflations inflicted on history by Kanamori Sōwa. It appears, however, that Shukō arrived in Japan as a refugee, and he may have had very few utensils during the first years of his life in Japan -- and likely used whatever he could at that time. But there was obviously something special about this man, suggesting that he had already established a reputation as a master of chanoyu while still on the continent, and over time, as his finances (and social position) improved, he began to acquire utensils that were more and more suitable.

Ido-chawan -- bowls with a high foot -- were (originally) made to be used (in Korea) by the lower classes, when making offerings to the dead, or during the indigenous Ancestor Worship ceremonies. So placing such a bowl in a cloth bag† and handling it formally on such an occasion certainly would have been appropriate (even if it would also indicate -- if the ido-chawan was truly the only bowl that he used -- that Shukō was of a somewhat lower social class than is generally assumed). But it is the apparent surprise over this kind of handling -- which clearly originated in the mind of an Edo period commentator who was ignorant of these foreign customs -- that smacks strongly of anachronism‡.

The same can be said of the statement (see the next footnote) that Shukō regularly used a natsume with this chawan -- which also illuminates a distinctly Edo period sort of sensibility**. This all, in turn, suggests that at least part of this section of the entry is likely spurious, perhaps added (as an illustration or encouragement?) by someone intent on making a certain kind of statement, or establishing a precedent for a certain kind of behavior. It is possible that Jitsuzan did this, though it is more likely that this material was added by the same person who inserted the Kanamori Sōwa version of chanoyu history into the third entry. ___________ *The kae-chawan was not usually used to serve tea. The exception to this rule, however, being when a nobleman-guest was accompanied by attendants, and he asked the host to serve them tea as well. In the early days, since tea was exceptionally rare and precious (so the host would usually grind only enough to serve the single guest -- this is why the tiny ko-tsubo chaire were preferred as the tea containers at that time), “serving them tea” usually meant that the tea remaining in the chawan after the nobleman had drunk (the cha-no-ato [茶の跡]) was diluted with some more hot water, and this koicha-hot water mixture was then poured into the kae-chawan, and offered to the attendants (who shared the bowl of usucha by passing the kae-chawan around among themselves).

It seems that the occasion when Shukō offered the guests tea in his ido-chawan took place shortly after his arrival in Japan, apparently while performing a memorial service for his teacher -- who had either been killed during the persecution of the Amidaists in Korea beginning in the second half of the fifteenth century (which precipitated Shukō’s own exodus from his homeland), or perhaps had lost his life during the dangerous voyage of escape to the Korean expatriate communities (Sakai and Hakata) in Japan.

In fact, if Shukō owned both a temmoku-chawan and an ido-chawan on the occasion of that famous memorial service (as seems likely -- if he truly did not have a temmoku, then it is difficult to imagine that he would have gained the respect of his contemporaries for his practice of chanoyu), it is probable that he prepared the tea and made the offering using his temmoku-chawan. And then, after taking the temmoku down from the altar, a little hot water would have been added to the temmoku and the koicha-hot water mix was then poured into the ido-chawan, and the ido-chawan containing something resembling thin usucha was then passed around for the (two or three) guests, as well as the host, to share. This is how the nobleman-shōkyaku’s attendants were usually served -- and doing so on this occasion would mean that the deceased master was the true guest, while all those present were merely his attendants (an especially apt way of viewing things: in a similar vein, passing the chawan around after making the offering, so that each person present could drink a little of the tea -- as a sort of way to come into communion with the deceased -- would have been similar to the practice of drinking of some of the shira-zake [白酒] that has been offered to the family’s Ancestral Spirits, a custom that persists in modern-day Korea).

†In the early days, utensils did not have boxes (a few of the early karamono chaire had ivory or lacquered wooden hikiya [挽家], but this was by and large the exception rather than the rule). Boxes first appeared in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries, for chaire (the earliest examples suggest that these boxes were originally made as hitotsu-iri sa-tsū-bako [一入茶通箱], boxes for a single container of gift tea; and, when the boxes were of high quality, they were later reused by the host as storage containers for his own chaire).

Traditionally, treasured utensils were provided with cloth bags, to keep them reasonably dust free when not in use. This practice began to fall out of favor during Rikyū’s period of influence, since he disliked displaying anything but the chaire in its bag (considering that the old cloth bags made the chawan dirty, from accumulated dust that fell into the bowl prior to the bag’s being removed at the beginning of the temae). Thus, when speaking of Shukō’s period, it is hardly surprising (and certainly not exceptional) that his ido-chawan was provided with a cloth bag -- even if this struck the Edo period reader as being unusual.

‡If Shukō used his ido-chawan to prepare tea (because he did not own a temmoku-chawan at that time), it was most likely done only until he had the means to acquire a temmoku, since he is eventually recorded as having served tea to other people using a temmoku-chawan on a dai on ordinary occasions. (This temmoku-chawan is often shown resting on a Chinese tsui-koku temmoku-dai [堆黒天目臺] in modern publications, but this is anachronistic since this temmoku-dai seems to have come to Japan in the Edo period. Shukō would have used a plain black Chinese dai, most likely one of the 36 meibutsu kazu-no-dai [数の臺], though the specific dai has apparently not been identified by scholars.)

It should be pointed out that, following the dissolution of the Koryeo court, chanoyu began to spread out among the different ranks of Korean society, and it was at this time that the foundations for the different kinds of practice (including the thread that we would identify as wabi no chanoyu -- which rejected the use of the temmoku in favor of locally made bowls that were not placed on a dai) began to appear.

What we can say with reasonable confidence is that Shukō lived in Japan for between 30 and 40 years, following his arrival from the continent (which seems to have been during the 1460s), and that he practiced chanoyu for that whole time; that he owned both a temmoku chawan and an ido-chawan (both of which are shown above), as well as a second large chawan (known as the Shukō chawan -- it was destroyed in the fire that consumed the Honno-ji following Nobunaga’s seppuku); and that, according to the story (which has been circulated since the early sixteenth century -- and possibly even earlier, during Shukō’s own lifetime), on one occasion he passed around the ido-chawan for the guests to share (which was significant since it was the actual guests who drank from the bowl, not their lower-ranked attendants). How these points have been interpreted after the fact, then, depends on who is doing the interpreting -- and his reasons for wanting to do so.

◎ Above is a photograph of Uesugi Kenshin’s [上杉謙信; 1530 ~ 1578] collection of tea utensils, which he kept in the lacquered box shown behind the other pieces. Kenshin was a daimyō, and one of Jōō’s chief disciples. He also seems to have been a follower of the Ikkō Shū [一向宗], the Amidaist Sect of Buddhism closely connected with the early chajin (and from the teachings of which much of the early philosophy of chanoyu was derived). Kenshin retired around 1553, and spent the remainder of his life practicing chanoyu and writing a commentary on Jōō’s Chanoyu Sanbyak’ka Jō [茶湯三百箇條] (the Three Hundred Lines of Chanoyu). What is important about this photo is that, with the exception of his kama and mizusashi, it shows the entire utensil collection of a man seriously devoted to the practice of chanoyu in the middle of the sixteenth century. The reader is asked to take note of the two ordinary chawan (both of Seto ware, the smaller one brown, and the other white), and how shallow they are. Thus Jōō spoke of the ido-chawan as being “deep” in his collection of the Hundred Poems of Chanoyu. (The objects shown in front of the carrying box are, from left to right, a smaller brown Seto chawan [瀬戸天目茶碗] -- “Seto temmoku” referring to the glaze, not the shape or how the chawan was used --, a chasen [茶筅], an ivory chashaku [象牙茶杓], a Seto kake-hanaire [瀬戸掛花入], a larger white Seto chawan [白瀬戸茶碗], a Chinese yu-teki temmoku [油滴天目], a shin-nakatsugi [眞中次], a bronze oki-hanaire [唐金置き花入], a maki-e temmoku-dai [蒔絵天目臺] -- probably of Japanese make --, and the cloth bag for the nakatsugi.)

**This section of this entry clearly deals with the idea of tori-awase, but the concept of tori-awase (as the word is used here) did not begin to appear until near the end of Rikyū’s lifetime (specifically, after he entered Hideyoshi’s household), as a consequence of the concatenation of the very recent idea (originated, many say, by Furuta Sōshitsu) of producing utensils specifically for use in chanoyu, coupled with Rikyū’s sudden access to Hideyoshi’s large collection of tea utensils (which he was encouraged by Hideyoshi to use for various -- often political -- reasons: this is why I included the photo of Uesugi Kenshin’s collection of tea utensils above, since these are the things that he used every time he served tea, with the use of the temmoku being linked to the rank of the guests, while the two ordinary bowls allowed him to employ kasane-chawan if there were many people to serve). Only then, when a large number of things of different types suddenly were available to the host at the same time, and (outside of Rikyū’s personal situation) for a reasonable cost (pieces of pottery were generally sold based on size at this time, and since most tea things are small, their prices -- at the outset -- were very low), could people begin to acquire several examples of each of the required utensils, and so begin to pick and choose -- and then devise “rules” governing what was suitable on different occasions, according to the weather and the guests being entertained.

In Shukō’s day, people assembled a single set of utensils, which contained one of each of the necessary things, so the idea of “tori-awase” (if they even used a name for the concept) could only guided their purchases; it was not a thought process that was employed when deciding which utensils to use when serving tea to people on any given occasion (if you have only one of each of the necessary utensils, then that is what you use). And this remained the usual state of things well into the sixteenth century.

When Shukō used a shin-nakatsugi or a recently-made chaire -- or a large karamono katatsuki or a precious ko-tsubo -- he did so because those were the only utensils he owned at that time. And as his finances improved (and as more and more of his contemporaries died without leaving heirs who were interested in practicing chanoyu, resulting in their collection of utensils being put up for sale), he was able to acquire successively better things. But as these new utensils entered his collection, the old things were given away or sold, rather than hoarded.

¹²Temmoku dōzen ni ashiwaruru ni ha [天目同前ニアシラハルヽニ��].

There is an odd feeling in the narrative here. Ido-chawan were certainly “inferior” to the temmoku bowls, but they were really not competitors for the same purpose in the system. Originally, while the temmoku (as “small chawan”) were used to prepare and serve the tea, the ido bowls were used as kae-chawan (the “large” chawan in which the chakin and chasen were carried into the room, and in which the chasen was cleaned at the end of the temae). Their functions were not interchangeable*.

Asserting that Shukō handled his the ido-chawan like a temmoku seems to be a misunderstanding of what Shukō actually did -- as discussed in sub-note “*” under the previous footnote.

Sometime between Shukō’s death and Jōō’s period a sort of wabi transformation did begin to occur†, where the pieces that had been neglected (for example, the bowls that had been used as kae-chawan) began to be used as main utensils, while the subsidiary positions were filled by newly-made pieces. But it is very unlikely that the change occurred any earlier than the early to middle sixteenth century. ___________ *Even when, as occasionally happened, the ido-chawan was used to serve tea, it was tea that was to be offered to the nobleman-guest’s attendants that was put into the ido-chawan -- people whose rank put them below consideration of the use of a temmoku -- never to the nobleman himself.

†Perhaps as the disparate threads of gokushin practice and wabi no chanoyu began to sort themselves out.

¹³Kanarazu natsume ・ ima-yaki nado no chaire [カナラズナツメ・今燒ナドノ茶入].

Kanarazu [必ず] means constantly, always.

However, there are several major difficulties with the narrative here:

- the natsume is said to have been created by Jōō (Rikyū states this several times in his writings), while Shukō is credited with creating the shin-nakatsugi, thus Shuko could not have used a natsume (Jōō was born the year that Shukō died); and,

- there were no such things as “ima-yaki chaire” -- in the sense of the word as it was used by Rikyū and Sōkei -- in Shukō’s day.

During Shukō’s lifetime (he died in 1502), chaire were not being made commercially -- there were no tea utensil shops in the marketplace comparable to what we know today (these kinds of firms came into existence in the Edo period). Potters traditionally focused on making things used in daily life, and starting to make pieces specifically for use in chanoyu (that were sold in the pottery market) only during the last couple of decades of Rikyū’s lifetime.

In the fifteenth century, if someone wanted to buy a newly made chaire, it had to be specially ordered from the potter (usually through direct consultation with the potter, with the purchaser explaining the details of the size and shape of the piece that he wanted); and while the cost might not have been very high (since the prices seem to have been based on the amount of space that each pot took up in the kiln), getting one required considerable effort (and probably a wait of up to a year or more, since most kilns were only fired at certain times of the year). People used contemporary chaire not because they were inexpensive alternatives to the imported pieces, but because that was all they could get (since trade with the continent had come to a stop in the fifteenth century, and most of the expatriate chajin -- who constituted the vast majority of practitioners in that period -- had escaped from the continent without the luxury of bringing their utensil collection, or their money, with them). Because these chaire were ordered by experienced chajin, the early Japanese-made pieces were similar enough with the continental originals that they were considered to be essentially their equals (such made-on-demand chaire had first appeared in Korea early in the fifteenth century) -- according to Rikyū -- and were to be handled in the same manner. Thus the condescension toward locally produced pieces expressed in this entry is anachronistic.

In Rikyū’s day, newly fired chawan were viewed in something resembling this manner because they were made to order, and easy to obtain (some of this has to do with the fact that when chawan became dirty, they were replaced: this had been the practice since antiquity, and the reason why chawan were always inferior to chaire -- which, like the cha-tsubo, were considered to improve the longer they were used). But newly made chaire were still acceptable, and perfectly suitable for use in chanoyu, though they were not held in the esteem accorded the earlier pieces (whether imported from the continent or made in Japan).

Using natsume as a general word for all lacquered tea containers (assuming that whomever wrote this knew that Shukō was actually associated with the shin-nakatsugi, rather than the natsume) was another convention that arose during the Edo period.

¹⁴Dasare-shi to nari [出サレシトナリ].

Dasare-suru [出されする] means to bring something out (for the first time), to start doing something.

In other words, while his contemporaries were still restricting themselves to elegant arrangements, Shukō started doing things differently -- by using distinctly wabi utensils during his service of tea.

The way this is written suggests a total ignorance with the actual historical development of wabi-no-chanoyu, and it is hard to accept that Nambō Sōkei would have been guilty of such anachronistic sentiments.

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gosatsuvns · 6 years

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Weekly Update #190 - The Differences Between GENBA & SHINRAI

Now that the demo for GENBA no Kizuna is finally out and you can get a first impression of what it is going to look and feel like, I thought that for today's blog post, it might be a good idea to once again compare it a little to our previous murder mystery visual novel. Especially in regards to how they actually differ from one another.

As you have most likely noticed, there are a lot of similarities between GENBA and SHINRAI, even on just a visual level. The GUI, logo, sprites or backgrounds, for example, should all feel rather familiar.

There are also a lot of story and character-related connections, however, some of which you might have already noticed. This is actually a topic I have talked about a little before, so if you're curious to learn more, you can check out this blog post.

GENBA is not a sequel to SHINRAI. As a matter of fact, it chronologically takes place before the events of SHINRAI. It's not a prequel either, though. I personally see it more as a spin-off. A spin-off that, nevertheless, will eventually tie into the overall story and have a strong connection to SHINRAI's actual sequel titled Withering Without Hope.

Still, the main reason I'm referring to GENBA as a spin-off lies in the differences between the two games. So let's talk about those.

For one, the writing style is different. This game is mostly going to be told through dialogue, so there aren't going to be long stretches of narration this time around. Keiichi and the others will still have their inner monologues, but they will be much more restraint compared to what you might be used to from Raiko. Consequently, this also creates a somewhat faster pacing.

Another major difference is that we don't have a single protagonist this time. As stated before, GENBA will be told through the eyes of four different characters, even if Keiichi could still be seen as the "real" protagonist among them.

Speaking of which, this brings me to another point. One major idea I had for GENBA was to do the exact opposite of what I did with SHINRAI in multiple regards, the main character's personality being one example of that.

Whereas Raiko is a very young quiet girl who is rather smart and very difficult to shock, Keiichi is the exact opposite of her. He is often nervous, somewhat incompetent, very talkative and... it's extremely easy to shock the poor guy and throw him into a panic.

But it's not just restricted to that. Even when it comes to the case itself, I wanted to do the opposite of what you experienced in SHINRAI. I talked about this in last week's blog post, but in GENBA, you are thrown right into the action while in our previous game, it took until the end of the second chapter before things took a grim turn.

Raiko was able to see all the mysteries unfold around her, while she was present at the scene herself. Keiichi and his team, on the other hand, arrive after everything has gone down and therefore need to reconstruct the chain of events from scratch.

Then there is also the fact that they deal with unknown people. The suspects, the witnesses, the victim... the police team has absolutely no connection to any of them, whereas Raiko (and therefore the player) already knew a lot about the people involved in SHINRAI's case, as they were her classmates.

There are many more differences, some more on the subtle side, some a bit more obvious. I will probably talk about this topic again in the future, once we have reached a point where I can reveal even more. But I guess for now, I will leave it at this.

This posting was, most of all, meant for those who have played SHINRAI more recently and have no idea what exactly GENBA is about. Again, there are going to be many similarities, but I think there will be just as many differences. SHINRAI was originally written as a novel, never intended to become an interactive VN. GENBA on the other hand has been created with the very idea of interactivity at its center. That alone should already indicate that this is going to be a somewhat different experience.

Withering Without Hope is certainly going to feel a lot more like Broken Beyond Despair again, even though with that one, I naturally want to do quite a few things differently, as well. After all, I'm not fond of doing the same thing over and over again.

Anyway, in the end, I would still say that, if you have enjoyed SHINRAI, GENBA should (hopefully) be just as enjoyable to you.

But I guess that's about it for today. Just one last thing before we wrap this up! I have updated our gallery once again as we have received some beautiful artwork by Mochii (commissioned by Xolf) as well as a super cute and funny piece to celebrate the GENBA demo release by the ever-so-talented KUNA. They're so great, I'm just going to post them here as well (click to enlarge):

Now please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, until next Saturday, take care! :3

#shinrai #genba #visual novel #visualnovel #visual novel development #vn #evn #interactive fiction #game development #gamedev #indiedev #indie #Ren'Py #renpy #murder mystery #detective game

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ryumikaidan · 4 years

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Part 10

Kagetsu: AW, YEAH! Onward to the final battle!

Aoki: Indeed.

(Scene: Kaii Town. The five, the fox family, Mochiie and the tsukumogami head through the streets.)

Mochiie: Well, I must say, not once in my life did I expect to assist in saving the realm.

Nakaari: It’s not just the spirit realm that’s at stake. Shina obviously plans to use the jewel to do whatever she pleases to humanity.

Shigeto: Yikes. Good thing she didn’t count on us.

Hisaaki: So, the yokai in charge lives at the center of town?

Bunto: Yup! Ya can’t miss it! He’s got a big palace and everything!

(As they near the palace, there is a commotion: some yokai are trying to break in using a nurikabe as a battering ram, while others watch, concerned and alarmed. Maka goes up to an abura sumashi.)

Maka: What’s going on here?

Abura Sumashi: Lord Nurarihyon‘s been taken hostage. We’re trying to get inside to rescue him, but the entrances are sealed.

(A taka onna peeks into one of the higher windows.)

Taka Onna: Some spider lady and a giant spider’s got him! There’re monkeys helping them, too!

Shigeto: Oh no...

Hisaaki: We’re too late!

Ryumi: Not yet.

(She steps forward, and holds out her hand.)

Ryumi: If Mom can do it, then...

(After a few moments, a portal opens in midair, stunning everybody present. This portal leads to the lower levels of the palace. A hone onna’s jaw literally drops.)

Ippondatara: Sweet child of Yamauba...!

Maka: She actually did it...!

Ryumi: C’mon guys.

(The others follow her through. In one of the higher floors of the palace, Nurarihyon is brought before Shina by two of the sarugami, who are dressed as samurai. She steps out of the shadows, brandishing a scepter onto which she has attached the jewel.)

Shina: (to the sarugami) Good. Guard the door. And this time, do. Not. Fail me.

(The sarugami oblige, leaving the room with the tsuchigumo.)

Nurarihyon: Of course, you do know that you’ll never get away with this.

Shina: (chuckles darkly) I already have. Now bow.

(Meanwhile, Sana and Mego are suspended in a cage made of webbing. Mego is downtrodden, and Sana takes notice. She puts a reassuring hand on the younger girl’s shoulder.)

Sana: You shouldn’t blame yourself for all this.

Mego: Why shouldn’t I? I listened to Shina. I gave her what she wanted, just for something I’ll probably never get.

Sana: You couldn’t have known.

Mego: Well, I should have known...

Sana: It’s okay. We’ll get through this.

Mego How do you know?

Sana: Because there’s one thing Shina didn’t count on.

(As if on cue, the door opens, and...)

Ryumi: Mego! Mom!

Sana: You see?

(The five enter the room.)

Shigeto: We came to rescue you two and squash some spiders!

(But as they approach the cage...)

Mego: Be careful! That big spider may come back any-

(There is an awful chittering noise from above: the tsuchigumo is now on the ceiling, and it’s furious.)

Ryumi: ...Oh-

(The tsuchigumo pounces, forcing the group to scatter.)

Sana: Ryumi!

Ryumi: It’s okay, Mom!

(As the tsuchigumo thrusts its barbed leg towards Ryumi to impale her, she concentrates, and quickly levitates out of the way of the attack, landing on a rafter. Sana is stunned and impressed. As Ryumi looks around, she spots a large decorative gong displayed on a platform. An idea forms in her mind.)

Ryumi: Shigeto! Hisaaki!

(They, too, see the gong, and get the hint. As Ryumi, Akako and Maka keep the tsuchigumo occupied, the two boys climb onto the platform. Hisaaki pulls out a tantō blade and cuts the gong loose, while Ryumi leads the monster beneath him and Shigeto. Just as the spider is about to bite her in half, the gong falls. The two sarugami guarding the door hear the sickening CRUNCH, and go to investigate. The youths are cheering, as Maka uses her neck to help Sana and Mego climb down from the cage.)

Youths: Yeah!/Alright!/We did it!/We killed the monster!/Nice one!

(The sarugami enter to see Shigeto triumphantly kicking a leg sticking out from underneath the fallen gong.)

Shigeto: How’s it feel being so dumb?!

(He kicks a little too hard, and the leg breaks off.)

Shigeto: WHOA!

(The sarugami proceed to freak out and bolt. They run into their leader along the way.)

Sarugami Leader: Hey, where are you goin’?!

Sarugami#1: (terrified) Those guys killed the big spider!

Sarugami#2: We can’t fight them! No way!

Sarugami Leader: That’s preposter-

(Just then, the group show up, Shigeto brandishing the tsuchigumo’s leg as a weapon.)

Shigeto: (noticing the sarugami) Oh, hey.

(The sarugami leader takes one look and runs, his cohorts following after.)

Shigeto: What’s their problem?

(No sooner do the screaming sarugami literally launch themselves out of the palace in a panic then they find themselves confronted by the other yokai, the tsukumogami and the fox family included.)

Sarugami: Uh oh.../Oh, no...

Kagetsu: Y’know, it’s a shame that we don’t get to see the monkey beatdown.

Aoki: That’s not important, now.

(Meanwhile, the group run up the stairs to the room where Shina and Nurarihyon are.)

Shina: Don’t be so arrogant, old fool. Either you kneel, or I take this realm by force. Make your choice.

(Nurarihyon, however, fixes her with a firm, unwavering look.)

Nurarihyon: Do with me as you will, but you will never take this land.

Shina: So be it.

(Her scepter charges up with energy...)

Ryumi: He’s right, Shina! It’s over.

(As Nurarihyon calmly moves aside, Shina turns to see the group... and recognizes the leg in Shigeto’s clutches.)

Shina: (seething in rage) You... murdered... my baby...?! Ryumi Kawakami... You... and your friends...

(Before the group, the irate Shina rises up, revealing the legs of a golden orb-weaver spider.)

Shina: ...ARE ALREADY DEAD!!!

(She lunges at the group, who scatter, as Maka elongates her neck to defend the youths.)

Maka: DON’T YOU DARE HURT THEM!

(She coils her neck around Shina, trying to restrain her as the jorōgumo furiously attempts to blast her in the face with the scepter. Finally, Maka pins the arm holding the scepter to Shina’s side, but the spider lady whips out a kaiken dagger with her free hand and begins slashing at her adversary’s long neck. Akako, seeing her chance, quickly hops onto the scepter and begins tugging on the jewel, until she finally yanks it free.)

Akako: I GOT IT! I got the jewel, Ryumi!

Shina: NO!

(Before Shina can stop her, Akako throws the jewel to Ryumi, who catches it. With a scream of rage, Shina breaks free from Maka’s neck and lunges at Akako. There is no time for her to dodge the attack. The dagger strikes Akako, and, as the others look on, she falls to the floor, where she lies prone.)

Ryumi: AKAKO!

(The good guys gather around Akako.)

Ryumi: Akako, speak to me! Say something, please!

(Akako is still alive, but barely breathing. Shina rises up behind them.)

Shina: GIVE ME THAT JEWEL!

(The group scatter a third time, Maka clutching Akako close to her chest, as Ryumi runs out of the room with the jewel, pursued by the enraged Shina. The girl shimmies up a pillar, only for the jorōgumo to pull out a wakizashi sword and cut it down, sending it and Ryumi through the wall. Ryumi jumps up and grabs onto the roof and pulls herself up.)

Yokai Citizens: On the roof!/Look!

(Ryumi climbs onto the roof and looks around. Behind her, Shina crashes through the roof and shoves the girl down with one of her legs. The jorōgumo smiles maniacally as she raises her sword. Ryumi squeezes her eyes shut. Shina brings the sword down... CRACK.)

Shina: Wh-

(Ryumi has teleported away, leaving only the jewel... which now has Shina’s sword thrust into it. As cracks begin to form, it begins to glow, dimly, then brightly. Immediately, a vast surge of magic bursts forth as the jewel completely shatters. Shina lets out a bloodcurdling scream as magical wave after magical wave strikes her. She dissolves like a lump of sugar in tea, still screaming in agony all the while, until there is nothing left of her. The night sky is illuminated with colorful energy, as Ryumi, having found herself back on the palace steps, watches. The others look on as well, until their attention is drawn by Akako glowing and rising out of Maka’s arms: the magical energy has reached her.)

Maka: What the-?!

(The group watch until the glow surrounding Akako slowly subsides, and she floats back down to the floor. She stirs, then opens her eyes. The others are stunned, but relieved.)

Akako: What happened? Did we win?

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coffee-for-himchan · 7 years

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Mochiiphobia (Zelo x reader)

Requested by: a lovely anon

Word count: 4.3 k+

Genre/warnings: fluff ❤

Summary: Your and Junhong’s relationship has been like a movie scene from day one, and there was almost nothing you ever wanted to complain about. Just one little thing prevented you from calling the situation “perfect”, that thing being his beloved dog Mochii. Yes, he might be a ball of fluff on four legs, but you were still scared of him nonetheless, just like you were scared of every single other dog in this universe. Not wanting to hurt Junhong’s feelings, you kept your fear a secret for as long as possible, but when Junhong finally found out the truth, he simply laughed, trying his best in order to help you overcome your fear - if not from dogs as a whole, then at least from Mochii.

(A/N) I’m aware the title is quite stupid, but my sleep deprived mind came up with it and I thought it was cute, so I left it in! ^.^

It was a regular autumn day, and you were walking down a busy street in order to get home from your just-finished workday. Tuesdays were your favorite, because you got to be home earlier than any other day of the week. It was barely mid-afternoon, and you were already free, happily making your way back to the place you could relax and get some rest at... or maybe not? You suddenly came to a stop just to inspect the situation. There was a rather small park to your right, and a zebra crossing to your left. It was such a nice day, and it's been ages since you last took a walk, so you stood there, considering if you should head to the left and go straight home or if you should maybe spend some time at the park. People kept bumping into you, and the more they did it, the more you understood you didn't want to be like them - hurrying to different destinations and not seeing the beautiful view around them. With another quick glance thrown at the park, you soon gave in to the beautiful view of colorful leaves and the yellowish sun poking right through them and creating beautiful silhouettes of light on your coat, and walked over to the tiny gate that parted this autumn wonderland from the grey and lifeless, crowded street you were on. You walked down the cracked pavement, and wondered why this place seemed so abandoned even thought there were quite a few people around. The cracks and the grass that was poking out of them indicated that no one thought it was necessary to keep the park in mint-condition, but you didn't quite mind. It was charming in a slightly unusual and different way, giving you a feeling of peace, gratitude and solitude. ... Until a certain moment when someone managed to ruin it. It was a man, dressed in mainly black and with a phone that he was angrily talking on in one hand. He was too caught up in his own world to notice anyone around him, and, when he passed by you, he bumped into you quite harshly, knocking the few file folders that you were holding in one hand and the brown leather bag that was hanging on your right shoulder down on the ground. If only you'd be less shy, you'd maybe give him a piece of your mind, as he didn't bother to stop and say sorry or even spare you an apologetic glance. But, to your surprise and maybe even luck, you didn't have to bother speaking up on your own, as an unfamiliar voice said all that had to be said instead, sparing you the trouble.

"Hey, watch where you're going! Don't just bump into people without even saying sorry afterwards!!" you heard a male voice right ahead of you, and soon enough there was a young man kneeling in front of you, helping you to pick up those folders while you got hold of your bag. A young man... Yeah, he looked so surprisingly beautiful, with a shy smile on his face and the cutest little dimple on his right cheek that appeared when he silently chuckled right after picking up the last folder.

"Some people just have no manners, right? Here you go.." he stood up straight in front of you, passing you the folders. You didn't even notice how close he was until he straightened himself out to his full length, and you suddenly felt so, so tiny, as now his face was basically hovering above you. "Is everything fine?" he asked when he saw the way you looked up at him, hesitant to take back your belongings. A blush crept across your face as you realized you were incapable of moving and were simply staring at the face of a stranger, and your mind started racing, thinking of what to say to make yourself look normal, or at least somewhat close to normal. "Oh my God, you're so tall..." you blurted out, instantly regretting it. There was exactly one second of silence, and in that second your whole life passed in front of your eyes, as a little voice inside your head spoke. "(Y/N), you'll be alone forever because you keep scaring cute guys like this one away by saying stupid things." He laughed, his laugh piercing right through your ears, and maybe even your heart, as it was so melodic and simply beautiful. "Oh, yeah, sorry if I intimidated you with my height. There's nothing I could really do to stop my body from stretching out to such extents, you know.." he said and chuckled when you finally took your folders, still mesmerized by how you'd just met such a beautiful and genuinely nice stranger by complete accident. Feeling like you've been awkwardly staring at his face for too long at that point already, you turned you head away a little. "No, no, don't get me wrong.. it's not really scary, it’s..." "What is it then?" "Kind of cute," you said quietly, but apparently loud enough for him to hear as he laughed again, scrunching up his nose in the most adorable way possible while doing so. "Good to know it isn't intimidating at least. I'm Junhong, by the way," he said, offering you his hand for a rather playful handshake. "Junhong-ah..." you took his hand in yours and repeated quietly, realizing you'd just unintentionally and unconsciously added the little "-ah" to his name. Oh, and probably said it too loud again as well. He gave you a questioning look, raising a brow, and if he didn't smile even more than previously about it you'd think he actually took offense on it. "J-junhong, I mean," you quickly corrected, wanting to fade away from the spot, or wanting to run home and hide under the blankets. And possibly even cry while you were at it, because you seemingly couldn’t stop embarrassing yourself today. "No, no, keep the "-ah" attached to my name, simply "Junhong" sounds kind of plain and boring. And less cute," he made your heart skip a beat, and as you thought of what to do next (because a cute tall guy standing too close to you and showing interest wasn't an everyday thing that you were prepared for and knew how to handle), you suddenly heard something you never really liked hearing not too far away in the distance. Barking. "Cody, stop!! Come here, boy!" you heard a man yelling in the distance, and saw a bulldog running your way, the dog's leash dragging behind it as the man tried to get a hold of it. Dogs... Yeah, they were a rather.. Touchy subject. You've never had a bad experience with a dog, but for some reason you were still terrified of them. Just because a dog hadn't bitten you yet didn't mean it couldn't or wouldn't sometime in the future, so for as long as you could remember you've always been tense and wary around them, not really wanting to be in the area if any type of dogs were around. Junhong, on the other hand, seemed not to mind at all. He stepped away from you a little, and knelt down, gesturing to the animal to come his way. "Come here, buddy. Let's be friends," Junhong simply said as the dog ran to him, and petted him instantly once he was in reach. You stood there, trying to hold onto your folders with both hands so it looked like you simply couldn't join in to pet the dog because your hands were full and not because your heart was about to give up on you and you were scared to the last bone. The owner ran up to you in seconds, panting heavily from all of the running he'd done, but seeming happy he could finally stop now. "Thank you so much," he said, looking at Junhong who was still busy becoming friends with the dog, "He's a harmless but sneaky one. Escapes me from time to time, and then I have to run all around the place to collect him." "No worries," Junhong replied, giving the dog one last stroke and picking up the end of the leash, slowly standing up and handing it to the owner, "Just make sure he doesn't scare anyone running around like that." "He's talking about dumb people like you, (Y/N) - people who are scared of dogs for no reason" you thought to yourself, trying to relax your muscles and look unfazed by the unfolding event. "Thanks again, may you and your lady have a good day!!" the dog owner smiled and waved, walking off into the distance. You yelped a little at that statement, and even Junhong looked a little surprised at first, but he soon collected himself, smiling at you and making you relax a little with just one reassuring look. "I never really got around to finding out your name, my lady," he teased, and despite his seeming confidence you could see a blush creeping up to his cheeks as he wasn't sure if he was being too bold or not. "(Y/N)..." you said, adding a quick "-ah" at the end of it, just to make it fair. He chuckled in response. "Yeah, yours sounds cuter with the "-ah" too," he said, and started slowly walking, "I was just going for a walk, trying to clear my mind from all the work. Mind joining me? If you aren't in a hurry, of course..."

You joined, and kicked off what would become a new, beautiful relationship. That was how you met Choi Junhong, your new best friend and, as it later turned out, boyfriend as well. In your eyes, he was one of a kind, as you’ve only seen guys like him in movies and books, and were convinced no real person actually acted this way. He was a very tall, very cute dork. Despite wanting to come off as a serious adult and a grown up who knew what he was doing at first, his baby face and the fact that he was a living meme made it hard for him to be taken seriously, especially by you, so at some point he simply gave up, accepting all of the cute nicknames you gave him and joining in to the jokes and the fun.

Every time you saw him in the distance, taking big steps to get to you as soon as possible, you remembered how you first met him, and how beautiful he looked back then. With that long coat of his that looked shorter on him than it was actually supposed to be, and with that giant scarf he covered half his face with, the same scarf he struggled with later on when he wanted to gracefully kiss you for the first time, but wasn’t able to do so because it was in the way.

That was only weeks after you’d met each other, but even at that point you were already used to the both of you being two young and clueless walking disasters, who didn’t quite know how to act gracefully and non-awkwardly around each other because of the confusing mutual feelings you shared. You remember how you brought both of your hands up to that scarf and pulled it down a little, letting him kiss you right after and tell you that he may be tall and awkward, but he’d shower you with love if you accepted him as your boyfriend.

And boy, he wasn’t lying.

He was simply amazing, and you quickly became attached to him, liking his presence emotionally, as well as physically. He was nice and gentle, and just right for you. And, on top of everything, there wasn’t a thing you had different opinions on. Well, except one...

“You know, I have a dog too,” he told you at one of your walks in the park that became a regular thing after you’d bumped into each other accidentally back then, “Believe it or not, he’s even cuter than me.”

“Why wouldn’t I believe?” you teased, trying to sound careless, but actually feeling slight tension building up inside your gut.

“His name’s Mochii,” Junhong said happily, trying to find a picture of his little buddy on the phone, “And he’s the only one who’s absolutely never been mean to me, everyone else has been at least once in my lifetime..”

“Hey! Stop lying, I haven’t been mean to you like ever!!” you told him right as he stopped walking and shoved his phone in your face.

“Now that I think about it.. Yeah, you’re right. You haven’t been mean yet.. Or no, you have! You just said Mochii was cuter than me, now if that isn’t mean!” he exclaimed while you held his phone in your hands, carefully examining the picture.

You chuckled as you heard that phrase slip out of his mouth, and it warmed your heart when you saw him getting a little shy because of it, since, even if for everyone else around you it was more than bloody obvious that you both were head over heels for each other, none of you two knew how to go about it and how to admit it.

Mochii was actually cute, you had to admit. But nonetheless, Mochii was still a dog, and you didn’t trust any dog, even if it was Junhong’s.

“How is that being mean? You said that yourself,” you said, giving the phone back to him and starting to walk again, “Okay, don’t get offended. You’re both cute.”

“I can’t wait for you to meet him!! I promise you’ll love him,” it pained you to hear how excited Junhong was, simply because you weren’t excited at all. Only managing to give him a faint smile and a nod in return, you tried to hold yourself back from screaming in frustration, because you didn’t want to meet the dog at all, no matter how small or cute he was. Or fluffy.

You took notes that day, and have been avoiding the inevitable meeting with Mochii ever since. Whenever Junhong asked you out to go for a walk or something, you always made sure he came to meet you straight from the studio or anywhere else where he couldn’t have possibly had the dog with him. The few times he invited you to his place you always told him you were tired, and asked if he could come over to yours instead. You somehow had managed to stay away from this significant part of his life for a few months already, until one day he surprised you by knocking on your door late in the evening.

“Junhong-ah!” you happily exclaimed as you opened the door, but froze dead in your tracks when you saw the thing he was gently holding in his arms.

Mochii.

“Look who I’ve brought with myself!” he said, and your heart broke into a million pieces when you saw him smiling brightly, really looking forward to this evening where two big, important parts of his life would meet for the first time.

You were very glad he didn’t want you to take the dog from his arms into your own the second he set foot into the apartment, and you immediately excused yourself to the kitchen, telling him you’d get some tea and snacks while he could pick a movie and make himself comfortable on the couch.

You hoped he didn’t notice how tense you were, and you hoped he didn’t see how fast your walk to the kitchen was while he was struggling with untying his shoes and taking off his jacket. You put on the kettle and leaned against the kitchen counter, breathing in and out a few times, trying to calm your nerves and think rationally.

There was a dog in your house.

You knew how much he loved Mochii, and the fact that you weren’t accepting something that was so important to Junhong made you feel like the worst girlfriend he could ever have.The fact you weren’t even trying to accept Mochii because of a stupid fear whose origins you didn’t even know, yeah, that’s what bothered you the most.

That wasn’t just “a dog”. That was Mochii, and you had to be nice to him and get along with him.

With another deep breath, teacups in hands and snacks on the table, you made your way into the living room to set the cups down on the coffee table. Junhong had somehow managed to take up the whole couch, lying on his back and bending his way too long limbs in mysterious ways as he tried to find a movie that interested him. You were surprised to see Mochii was nowhere to be seen, so you tried to shake it off, and walked back to the kitchen to grab snacks.

After you’d put them on the coffee table, you were about to join Junhong on the couch when you heard a quite high-pitched but well audible bark somewhere not far away from you. Your reflexes instantly made you jump, and that didn’t help at all as at that exact moment you were in an about-to-sit-down position, so instead of gracefully sitting down on the edge of the couch like a lady, you popped down on the couch and onto Junhong with a thud.

He instantly understood what had happened, and started laughing his head off.

“Oh god, (Y/N), did Mochii scare you?!” Junhong said in between his giggles while you were sitting on the couch, feeling more than just grateful he didn’t think you were clumsy or anything. Mochii probably found it amusing too, as he barked a few more times, making you slightly flinch every single time his high-pitched voice rang through the whole room.

“C’mere, buddy,” Junhong tapped a spot that was right next to you on the couch with his hand, and Mochii started sprinting towards it, being on the couch in no time and letting Junhong pet him and give him some much needed attention.

“Hey, (Y/N), don’t you wanna...” he trailed off as his eyes met yours, and you cursed to yourself. He stopped moving, and simply looked at you for a while, making sure he wasn’t mistaken in all of these assumptions his brain had just come up with on the spot.

You were sure now, he knew.

It wasn’t really hard to tell, because your eyes displayed utter fear, and you’d moved further away from where Mochii was, keeping your body tense and stiff for this whole time. Junhong’s hand wrapped around the dog, and he held Mochii in place while he sat up, keeping a strong grip on Mochii so that he wouldn’t be able to escape, no matter how hard he tried.

“You’re afraid of dogs, aren’t you?” Junhong asked quietly, and only got a silent nod in response. Silence hung over the room for a moment, and you started feeling a knot forming in your throat. You’d ruined the moment, and it was your fault it had come to this.

“Junhong-ah... I’m sorry.. Mochii is cute as hell, but for some reason I just can’t bring myself to relax around him...”

“It’s okay I guess..” Junhong drifted off, trying to think of a solution, “Should I lock him up in another room, or should I maybe bring him home and come back later again?”

You hated being the cause of this situation, but even more than that, you hated your stupid fear of something that was so tiny, cute, fluffy and... harmless?

“I mean, Mochii has to be harmless, right?” you thought, and sighed.

“(Y/N)-”

“Junhong-ah, I really want to like Mochii. But I’m going to need your help. A lot of it,” you said, trying to smile a little, “So if you promise he won’t bite me or anything.. And if you promise not to laugh because I might scream in fear at first.. You can.. Let him go, you know..”

“How about this instead...”

He let him go, setting him down on the floor and acting fast before Mochii could be back on the couch. Junhong’s arms reached for you, and he pulled you into his lap, pinning your body close to his and putting his chin on top of your head.

“Okay, (Y/N), now listen. He’s tiny and cute, and I assure you that even though he knows how to bark more than well he will never bite you. He’s only barking because he is used to being the only one who has my full attention, and now since you both have to somehow split and share it, he’s just curious who his new friend that he’ll have to share the attention with is...”

“I’m right here, so don’t worry. I’ll call him over now. Be ready, but don’t be afraid,” Junhong said as he mentioned for Mochii to come over and climb into your lap.

He felt how tense you got when Mochii hopped on, so he placed a kiss on top of your head, whispering and reassuring you that you were doing great and that you had nothing to be afraid of.

Junhong’s hand started patting Mochii, and you tried to do the same, but flinched as when your hand came into contact with the fur, Mochii threw a curious glance, turning around in your lap and poking at your hand with his wet nose.

Junhong chuckled, and the rising and falling of his chest made you calm down a little.

“Here, put your hand on mine..” he said, and you did as told. He slowly put his hand on Mochii, stroking him a little before simply letting his hand stay still on top of the dog. You felt his hand slipping from underneath yours, and soon it was gone, leaving your hand to rest on Mochii.

“Don’t be afraid now, stroke him a little,” Junhong instructed, and it took you a second, but again, just like the previous time, you did as told, being a little surprised by how soft Mochii was and how he didn’t mind the attention you were giving him at all.

The fact he wasn’t barking anymore or turning around that much made you relax a bit, and Junhong felt your body leaning back against his. He smiled as he toyed around with Mochii, making sure he wouldn’t scare you with any sudden movements.

“You still alive?” Junhong asked after a few minutes, chuckling a little as for this whole time you’d stayed quiet. He watched you getting less and less scared and worried every passing moment, and felt his heart flutter at the sight of you getting along well with Mochii this well, despite your fear of dogs.

“Hey, Junhong-ah,” you questioned, the tone in your voice indicating surprise, “Why isn’t he scary anymore?”

“He’s never been scary, I guess you just aren’t that afraid of him anymore,” Junhong laughed, making you chuckle along as well.

Mochii loved the attention, and soon enough started being a little jumpy, wanting to officially make you his new friend by licking your hand a few times.

“Mochii, stop-”

“No, it’s fine,” Junhong was surprised at your happy tone and the chuckling that followed, “He’s not doing anything bad or misbehaving, is he?”

It took Mochii a few more minutes to finally decide he had had enough, and with a last quick look he jumped out of your lap, hopping down on the floor and running off to inspect your apartment, as apparently that was much more interesting at this point.

“Junhong-ah,” he heard you say, and felt you moving and turning your head so you could face him, “What was I scared of this whole time?”

“You tell me, I really don’t know,” Junhong chuckled, pulling his body away from yours a little so he could look into your eyes, “You know, there might be evil dogs out there, but Mochii isn’t one of them.”

“Yeah, cute and harmless. Like owner, like dog, I guess...”

There were a thousand different feelings in Junhong’s heart at that moment, and they all screamed at him to lean in and kiss you, so he did. His kiss displayed true gratitude and pure affection, as well as admiration for the fact that you’d just faced one of your biggest fears in order to keep him happy. He took only short and little breaths in between, not wanting to take his lips off of yours even for a second, and as he wrapped it up and let you lay your head back on his chest while his fingers played around with yours in your lap in the meantime, he said a few words that you swore you'd never forget.

“Thanks for facing your fear for me, it felt so good to have the two things that matter the most in this whole world to me in my arms, both at the same time..”

You almost felt a little sad when Junhong said his goodbyes that evening and held Mochii on a leash, about to go back home to rest a bit before another hectic workday. Almost.

“Junhong-ah, bring Mochii over next time as well,” you said, laughing slightly, “He still scares me a little and makes me jump at times, but I feel like we could become friends..”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, smiling and showing that dimple you loved oh so much, soon leaving after another set of goodbyes and a sneaky kiss he stole, simply because he couldn’t resist you.

The door closed, and you stood in front of it for a little while, thinking about today’s surprising events.

Dogs were still scary, you were more than certain of it. They barked loudly and had big, sharp teeth, and they could be quite mean and unpredictable at times. But there was one thing you’d understood today - not all dogs acted this way.

Mochii was nothing but a ball of energy and fluff who only wanted attention and affection, and you couldn’t help but feel a little foolish for being scared of him at first. You laughed to yourself, turning around to go into the living room and clean up after the little movie evening you’d just had.

“The things I do for you, Junhong-ah,” you thought to yourself, smiling at the fact your only worry about this relationship had been cleared today, “You better know exactly how much you mean to me and how much I love you.. And Mochii as well, of course.”

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