#I have another script to read after I'm done with my stuff

[visterical]

doodling to get back into the feeling of drawing

[thatdeadaquarius]

About your language brainrot. I see your "Reader's writing can't match tyvat's long and flowery writing" and bring you "Tyvat isn't used to books over 50 pages long so a short story to the Reader is a whole dictionary to tyvat readers".

Seriously, have you seen how thin the books are? They don't wrote novels, they write short chapters formatted in the way really old stories are. As in, summarizing all the events down into one smooth story then adding a few quotes. Fanfiction writers are insane. They will willingly sit down and write hundreds of words at a time. To them, a proper modern day story of maybe, oh 10k words or so, would probably be like the Oddessy itself.

If we were to combine the two headcanons. It would end up as many historians being intimidated by this insanely long written scripture in the language of the forgotten.

I'm going to take this a step further and say that if the creator asked some people to proofread their things, it would establish a hiarchy of who is able to actually finish the book the creator read and who isn't.

NOW THIS, THIS IS MY FUCKING JAMMMM

I'm so sorry this is so old!! u probably all know this by this point that I've really slowed down as the year has gone on, but I graduated university and then got my first job so its been pretty crazy!

Sun: Reader (you/they/them)

Orbit: Headcanons-ish

Stars: dash of all the book/nerds of Genshin, heavy on Sumeru?

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: Cussing, 16+ Mature Audiences, Spoliers for Sumeru Archon Quests/Scaramouche, & Trigger Warnings: mention of shipping/characters shipping themselves with you.

Comment if any missed, please.

☆

FULL STOP.

THE AKADEMIYA, FONTAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, HAVE BEEN WAITTTINNGGGG ON YOUR ASS LMAO

You fall from the fucking sky like a 5 star, or pop out of the Irminsul or whatever

and immediately are mobbed by scholars. LMAO jkjk (not really, bc that's what it’d feel like)

can you even imagine the dread older stories(”the classics” to them), that was instilled in the poor students around Teyvat??

id like to think ur works are the most preserved over the thousands of years of Teyvat archeologists excavating them, in comparison to other authors (teyvat just likes you more, suck it William Shakespeare)

also, bc I cant resist language differences/world building I'm sorryyyy 😭 😭

the vocab of Genshin lang vs. ours, has significantly less vocabulary like their actual dictionary is 1/3 the size of ours type of energy

(Omfg all ur fanfics being considered like insanely long realistic romantic classics or tragedies like Jane Austen-level, and only the richest and biggest play companies put on plays about ur stories bc the script goes on for hours)

(ur plays only get put on for rlly big events bc of this, like Lantern Rite or like a Summer/Winter festival/your birthday, which is, yes, an international holiday)

dude the sheer power move of anything you’ve written being essentially “Journey of the West” to them, like Damnnn.

endless like adaptations, plays, Teyvat-short stories condensing it, (THEIR OWN FANFICTION ABOUT UR STORIES)

the power is, in fact, going to your head every time another scholar both deflates at how long ur stuff is, but also lights up bc they get to read it

speaking of scholars… you know who snatched you up first. you know. you don’t even need to read the next line.

Alhaitham.

sneaky bastard he is, absolutely manipulated, mansplained (and manwhored bc he knows he’s handsome, cheeky little shit) his way into getting you to sit down with him and interview you about both translating other classics, your own, giving your own analysis of others works and ur own, and picking ur brain apart of how/why you wrote urs, etc. its fucking endless,

Kaveh had to come rescue you bc u were starving to death after getting stuck with the Haravatat scholar in his office for nearly 7 hours of interrogation discussion about literature

and Alhaitham wasn't even nearly done, he’d informed you as you left that he already had another appointment for later conversation scheduled (how?? you don't even know ur own schedule??? you have a schedule???) and was looking forward to more of your “creative and enlightening input” :)))

(you’re never going to escape him, not even Nahida herself can save you from his stubborn ass)

On another note, Xingqiu is quaking when you agree to autograph his copy of your stories (of which he has all hard covers of the first edition translations)

Zhongli/Rex Lapis is known for having a near-lifelong passion for searching for your works specifically, and learning how to translate them better into Teyvatian vernacular

like the same way he can absolutely speak on Rex Lapis facts/rocks/adepti info, is the same confidence he speaks about knowing ur work lol

(yes he did also ask for several autographs and another sit-down talk about the works, tho a lot more sneaky then Alhaitham bc he just casually gets u guys into it during dinner)

Barbatos/Venti has written some of the most famous songs based on your stuff, he has his favorites too,

but he always claims the best songs are any that have been written in the story, like either when a character sings something, or there are like quotes from songs ur fanfics are based on lol

(he also demanded to hear what they actually sound like from you, yes, you have to sing them for him lol)

Venti also can surprisingly drunkenly ramble the entirety of at least one of ur stories, like, word for word lmao

(Diluc gave in and did give him a drink on the house for that one, just once, Venti doesn’t remember it lol)

(I forgot to mention, u guys still speak the same language, just like, different versions of it)

ur works being one of the few things all the Archons can freely talk about with each other, like it’s neutral ground bc they’re all fangirling about it lmao

Furina and Neuvillette have had like,, fierce debates over the decades about character dynamics and the general drama of ur stories, they’ve gotten into it enough they’ve stopped talking to each other for a couple days a few times lol

Albedo, Sucrose, Kokomi, Yae Miko, Ei, Raiden, have read every single work they’re gotten their hands on in Teyvat (it took them like a literal year or longer)

Albedo drew you fanart for every single story, bc he’s hyperfixated on everything related to you ngl,

Kokomi had commissioned smaller pocket versions of ur works (which later got popular thanks to Yae Miko) both the OG and the Teyvat shortened versions

THE HARBINGERS ARE THE MOST DOWN BAD LMAO

Childe has literally tried to recreate battle scenes from ur works lmao

and gets especially riled up about fighting someone who resembles any characters from them (esp villains, what a cutie)

You cannot fathom the amount of research throughout Teyvat that has been secretly or indirectly funded by Pantalone/Tsaritsa

from the experts to analyze them, to funding play companies to act them out, to actually excavating places to get more of ur stuff unearthed

(the Harbingers absolutely are the first group of people that got to read several of ur stories first bc of this, like the world’s most exclusive secret book club lol)

Scaramouche used to clown on Childe all the time about how he was too impatient to even “sit down and read the King’s classics”, and he was downright insufferable when he found out about Tartaglia’s habit of recreating battle scenes/that being what motivated him to fight sometimes lol

that being said, Wanderer surprisingly never forgot ur stories.

Even when his memories were wiped for a bit, he found comfort in these fantastical epics still sticking around, even when his old names did not

(he mayyyy or mayyy nottt have secretly namedhimselfafteroneofthetragicprotagonistsherelatesto- )

oh btw, Nahida also found joy and comfort in ur stories when she was trapped, they also helped her literally grow as a person bc she had ur stories to help her sort of process the world/what life was like outside of her dreaming prison 🥺💔❤️‍🩹

◇

OMFG

ANYWAY FULL TONE SHIFT LMFAO-

the ABSOLUTE SPIRAL-RED-STRING-CONSPIRACY-THEORY-BOARD ENERGY IF THIS WAS A BLUNT LANGUAGE AU LMAOOOO

like specifically how Teyvatians like to give all the context ever thru their words, but older deities/beings like you just do simple phrases that can have deeper meanings (whereas teyvat just explains all the meanings behind their words)

STOP there’s like an official display at the Akademiya and Fontaine Institute of red string theory boards 😭😭 (look what you’ve done to themmm LMAO)

for like every story of urs, INCLUDING THE FANFICS STOP

IMAGINE THE SHIPPING WARS IF U EVER WROTE ONE THAT WASNT EXPLICIT OR LIKE ONE OF THE MAIN ROMANTIC INTERESTS HAD CHEMISTRY WITH OTHER CHARACTERS HAHAHAHAA

that's actually what Akademiya scholars argue about the most viciously, it’s like politics you can’t just bring up ships from ur stories casually in regular convos 💀

(poor Cyno has to deal with a shipping war once a year bc someone always makes the mistake of reading ur work for the first time (without being told to not talk to others abt ships lol) and it starts an all out brawl in the cafeteria every time LMAO)

Also yes.

Cyno is a fanboy.

(he has read Creator x Reader-insert fanfiction.)

(As have most of the characters mentioned, and those not lol)

…

(I'm gonna make a whole Creator x reader fanfic post one day i stg lmao)

☆

an iced coffee? for me?? :0

ok but real talk…

wtf do you guys wanna see for new years!!

i didn't do a inktober/october days thingy bc i felt too unprepared (and bc id wanted to post that 1000+ followers eldritch au for Halloween)

but now i kinda wanna, at least for a few days :o

ill post a poll in a minute, so check it out!! but still, please feel free to comment some ideas here! :)

Safe Travels Deafening Dreamer,

💀♒

If you wanna join a taglist, DM me what for! "Pspspsss, please tag me for [All SAGAU posts, Only SAGAU Language AUs, diff fandom, etc.]!"

(If you ever wanna drop, just DM me! "No more taglists/[specifically this AU/fandom] please!")

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche / @chocogi / @fallen-starr / @areaderofbooks / @devilangel657 / @esthelily

[floridecuts]

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Epilogue

And here's finally the loooong last part of this comic project! It's a weird feeling to finally reach the end, after all these months. But I'm especially proud of how these pages turned out! ^.^ They somehow look so much better compared to all the others! As I already mentioned this is a collaboration with my friend MoonflowerSong. Actually, it is thanks to her that this part even exists, as she was the one to got me into this shipping with her wonderful Yashita Fanfictions! She helped me immensely with this part when I was struggling (I'm better at dramatic stuff than fluff tbh ^^'). So, while the art was done by me, the whole script behind this part is her work, apart from some tiny adjustments/additions. So I want to thank her one more time for that, and give another shoutout for her works! I'm gonna put a link to her AO3 profile at the bottom, go check her works out if you're interested, they're super sweet! Also again, and sadly for the last time, I want to express my gratitude to everyone reading, liking and/or reblogging this project, especially the ones who left comments!! I don't think I would have come this far without the motivational boost from you, as usually my motivation to work on longer project drains very quickly. So, thank you so much for joining and supporting me on this ride! <3 <3 I am glad that there is some people who enjoyed this random story idea! Though, this will not be my last post for Death Mark for sure! I will draw more art for this fandom, just no comic anytime soon, I need a break after this one. xD

Sooo, after all this rambling, about this part: Yashiki and Mashita have finally become a couple, hooray!! I think the comic explains it all, but to be sure here's a quick summary: Yashiki has had feelings for Mashita for a while, but wasn't aware of them. Though, when he was under the Departed's curse, locked inside his own thoughts in some kind of semi-conscious state, he had a lot of time to think about himself and his life. After he started sensing the emotions of his friends around him when they visited him in the hospital - especially Mashita's - Yashiki became aware of these feelings and finally figured out their meaning, while also realizing how similar they felt to what he picked up from Mashita. After yashiki woke from the coma and was recovered enough, he felt the need to talk about it with Mashita as soon as possible. After all this time he had spent thinking about how to confess to him, Yashiki wanted to get these words out before he'd loose his confidence.

In the end, neither of them realized they had been watched the whole time by two nosy teenagers. Keeping the change in their relationship a secret will be impossible now, as I'm sure the news will spread quickly among the Mark Bearers. xD I actually had planned to give Daimon a last appearance here, catching the girls spying and shooing them off. But this part already got longer than anticipated and this actually seemed to be a good point to end it on, so I left it there.

Thank you again for reading! Hope you all have a nice week! I will be back, probably next weekend, with new Death Mark art.

Thanks for taking a look! :)

Link: MoonflowerSong on AO3

[Personal thoughts/review on this project: I am amazed how much drawing this comic has helped me improve my art skills in several fields! It might not be visible for some, but I clearly feel the change. I can really recommend to give it a try, especially artists who are struggling to improve! Not only does it keep you in a drawing routine, but it also forces you to go out of your comfort zone for some poses or perspectives you want to depict. And lastly it is also very fun and satisfying to get a story idea onto paper and see the results! ^^]

[emblemxeno]

Localization Differences: Niles! Happy Belated Birthday, my beloved.

I wanted to get this done by his actual birthday on the 22nd, but things kept coming up, so here it is now.

Niles is one of my favorites in Fates' cast. He has a very handsome design, he's incredibly useful in gameplay due to his stats, weapon type and capture ability, and he has extremely good supports that give glimpses into his life, pull uncomfortable truths out of others, and offers a sight into the hard life that many Nohrians are forced to live.

One of the most notable things about him, though, is that to a lot of people, he's one of the two first explicitly queer characters introduced in Fire Emblem. I personally find this to be inaccurate given that lots of homoerotic relationships and queer coded characters have existed in the series, arguably stretching back as far as Thracia 776. Other popular examples are Raven/Lucius, Lyn/Florina, Heather, Kyza, Ike/Soren, etc.

Though after Awakening's massive success, the "almighty" S rank takes priority in many readings, so Niles and Rhajat having that available with a Male Corrin and Female Corrin respectively, was massive progress.

Now, do I think one of the explicitly queer characters in FE being a sadist who antagonizes people counts as good representation? No. But 1) that's not the point of this post and 2) going by that tier list I did, I see lots of other characters in Fates as queer than just Niles and Rhajat.

Anyway, I digress. The point of this (extremely long) post is to list and give my opinion on the changes to his lines (and potentially his character/personality) between a translated Japanese script and the localized English script done by Treehouse.

Here is a link to my post of translated sources!

As always, I'm only gonna list things that I find significantly different. Get cozy, this is a massive analysis! Thank you for reading!

To start off, there's two things to set the stage. The first is that Niles is one of Fates' characters that got a completely new name in localization. His Japanese name is Zero, so if I use that name at all in this post, that's why. I might flip-flop between other characters' names too, like from Corrin to Kamui, for example.

The second thing is that, overall, Niles' Japanese lines tend to be coated in innuendo and double entendres. Many times, these only really make sense if you speak Japanese, which I don't, hence why I tried to defer to translations before running things through a machine. For example, I've learned from some translators that when JP!Niles says that he'll "send his enemies to heaven/make them ascend to heaven", it's a statement in Japanese that also works as a euphemism for making someone orgasm. I'm not gonna spend too much time pointing out every instance of JP!Niles saying raunchy stuff, but will if it's particularly funny, striking or outlandish.

---

Classic Mode Retreat Quote

Japanese: Sometimes pain feels good, but I'm about to reach my limit here... I don't want to upset Lord Leon, so I'm going to retreat now...

English: This doesn't feel good anymore... I must retreat while I still can. I'll live to suffer another day...

-If you know Niles, you know his connection to Leo is extremely important to his character. Not just because he's Leo's retainer, but because Niles meeting Leo changed his life forever. So, while removing that one line doesn't sound too outrageous at first, it gets kind of silly when you think about it.

Most of the first gen men in Fates retreat instead of die in Classic mode due to avoid consistency issues if you've unlocked their child's paralogue. However, though they retreat, they still aren't deployable anymore in Classic mode, with the explanation being that they took such grave injuries that they can't fight anymore even though they survive.

Niles/Zero, in his Japanese quote, is pulling himself back from the brink of death because he doesn't want to upset Leo, even if he can't fight anymore. This is a twist on how initially, he begged Leo to kill him after being abandoned by his criminal gang, before Leo hired him as a retainer based on fascination/curiosity with how Niles was acting. All retainers in Fates are close to their masters, but some are closer than others, such as Niles.

Critical/Skill Activation

Japanese: I won't let you get away!/Let's go.../Take it all in!*/This is gonna hurt!

English: You can't hide from me!/Here's a taste.../Ohhh, yes!/Time to suffer!

-Both sets are delightfully fucked up and lewd, but I wanted to draw special attention to the one I marked with an asterisk.

Again, I don't speak Japanese, so I may be way of the mark, but the quote "Take it all in!" in Japanese is 受けてみろよ！or transliterated as "Ukete miro yo!"

Running that through machine translator reads it as "Give it a try!", but I've also watched a Japanese Fates crit quote video where it was translated as "Out of my face..."

But I think I cracked the code: it's a top/bottom joke. It's basically a "Take this!" quote in context of battle, but "Ukete miro yo!", phonetically, is also used in the Seme (top) and Uke (bottom) tropes in BL. So I think he's telling his enemy to 'take his dick', if you wanna be coarse about it.

What solidified this for me, is Nina's Japanese crit/skill quotes. In the Japanese version of Fates, the children share crit/skill quotes (or put some spin on them) with their direct parents. Nina shares "Let's go.../Take it all in!/This is gonna hurt!" but not "I won't let you get away!" because that's what Niles shares with Leo as his retainer (yeah they doubled up on crit quotes a lot in this one lol)

So Nina's fourth crit quote is unique to her, and she says 攻めるわよ！, transliterated as Semeru wa yo! (I'll attack you!) Again, it's a Seme (Semeru wa yo!) and Uke (Ukete miro yo!) euphemism joke. Cuz she's the Fujo. ...I spent a lot of time on this section lmaooo.

The other battle lines for Niles are pretty faithful or otherwise appropriate localizations.

Level Up

0-1 stats: Well... sometimes bad things happen. (JP) How unfortunate. (Eng)

2-3 stats: It's still not enough for me... (JP) I deserve better. (Eng)

4-5 stats: I feel good... (JP) My power is growing. (Eng)

6 or more stats: I can't go easy on you anymore. (JP) My gain will be another's pain. (Eng)

0-1 stats with most stats maxed: It was you who made me this way. (JP) Alas, I am at the height of my powers. (Eng)

-Overall, kind of a mix-and-match between versions, with the JP version being more suggestive and the English version being more powerhungry/sadistic. Neither is out of character.

I do lament the loss of sincerity from his maxed stats quote from Japanese to English (I could be misreading this though, I just think Niles is talking to the player)

Class Change

Japanese: What do you want me to do by dressing me like this...?

English: How quaint.

-Japanese is suggestive, English is weirdly boring? Quaint is not a word that's easily applicable to all situations when it comes to class changes, so meeeeh.

Mess Hall

-Not much to say here, but in Japanese when he eats a bad meal, he asks if there's an aphrodisiac in it, which is pretty funny.

My Castle

-Besides some suggestive flirting being removed or toned down, a couple lines were changed at the gathering spots. In the English version, at a rice paddy he says "Think rice is boring? Think again. I eat it at every meal." while in Japanese he says "Cooked rice is so beaitiful... It's like it's seducing me with its shiny white body..."

In English, at the dairy farm he says "Here, take this. It's good for your bones." while in Japanese he says "Look, milk. When I miled the cow, she mooed with joy..."

Birthday

Giving him a present: To think that my birth would be celebrated... I'm grateful. (JP) The world changed the day I was born. Thank you for acknowledging that. (English)

Saying happy birthday to Corrin: It's your birthday... You should be thankful for all the days since you were born. (JP) Birthdays always make me think of death. Oh, by the way... happy birthday! (English)

-The English ones are funny, but Niles is already funny just through his euphemism schtick. The genuine sincerity being removed makes me sad.

Conquest Chapter 8

-Niles introduction in this chapter is pretty much the same, it's actually mostly Odin who has more line differences. Though this is where the "I'll send them to heaven/make them cum" line pops up for Niles, so I thought I'd mention it.

-Like the rest of the script in Conquest, it is pretty faithful, if a little more bland. But it can't be helped sometimes, given how English and Japanese work so differently as languages. Now Birthright on the other hand...

Birthright Chapter 18 Standard Boss Quote

Japanese: What a nice face you have. I find that look of desperation irresistable. With Lord Leo's permission... I'll do something good for you...

English: Say that's a nice face you've got there. Would be a shame if someone were to slash it. Let's have some fun, shall we?

-Love when Treehouse inserts memes into things that date the game immediately, loooooove it /s "Would be a shame if something happened to it" was an old meme even by 2016, jesus.

Vs. Corrin/Kamui (Japanese)

Zero: So... You're Kamui... The traitorous brother that Lord Leon hates enough to kill...

Kamui: He wants to kill me? Leon...?

Zero: Haha, what a splendid face you're making. The pain in another's face is sublime. Twist it up more for me, I want to see you cry.

Kamui: Huh...

Zero: ...Come on now, you're here to fight me, aren't you? I want to pierce you soon, too... with this thick arrow of mine.

Kamui: !!!

Zero: Hmmm? Are you scared? ...It's okay, I'll be gentle. The pain will be gone before you know it... Once I send you to heaven...

Vs. Corrin English

Niles: So, you're the little thorn in my master's side, are you? Very well. If he wants you dead, who am I to argue?

Corrin: I still can't believe it. We lived as brothers...

Niles: Oh, yes. The suffering on your face is simply delicious. Now, let's see what happens when you have a few more holes...

Corrin: You're sick!

Niles: Oh, please. This is war. This is my job. I'm good at what I do. I'll try to make this painless so you can die in peace. Deal?

-This one is confusing more than anything. Niles sort of has the same lines/message here, but Corrin in Localized Birthright is generally so fucking insufferable that it bleeds into here as well. He talks as if Niles isn't even there, and then calls him sick, which, yes it's true Niles is fucked up, but Corrin is SUPPOSED TO BE EXCEEDINGLY SWEET AND FORGIVING. This extends to his enemies as well, he's very polite with the retainers of the opposing side. Niles isn't any worse than Zola, yet Corrin has worse words for him??? It's weird.

-The other story moments Niles has aren't signifcantly changed to where I feel the need to mention them, even Birthright. Again, it's actually Odin and Leo who are more altered, but that's neither here nor there.

Ghostly Gold

Japanese: You're so naughty. Even like this, you still want more? This place *is* pretty fascinating, but... These are also sacred ruins not to be disturbed. Were a thief like the former me to find out about this place, it'd be quite troublesome. To honor my orders and silence you... I'll make you come by my own hands.

English: Last night was a cinch for me. I always sleep with one eye open. You never know whose grabby little hands might end up in your pockets.

-Some lines in Ghostly Gold, regardless of language, either discuss the gold/treasure, the enemies, or how the army stayed up all night to catch the thieves. Niles' got changed from one to another.

The Japanese one is pretty standard when considering how Niles has moments of sincerity in the Japanese script as it is, but again, losing it in the English version for something completely different? It's not only disappointing, it's confusing. Did some of the people on the job when localizing just not have the original script? Or did they decide just to change it because they felt like it? It's truly dumbfounding to me, how this particular scenario happens in Fates so much.

Boo Camp

Japanese: Please be gentle with me...? I'm not used to things like this... What do you all expect, putting yourselves in danger in a dark place like this. At least if I were a monster like you, I'd take everyone who comes here to the cruel edge of ecstasy. (I'd make everyone who comes here cum cruelly? idk)

English: Be gentle, boys... or whatever you are. I don't know what we expected, making ourselves so vulnerable in the dark. But you'll find out like all the others that I give as good as I get.

-Omg, Vers King Niles in the English version... That's all I have to say about this, it's faithful, and a really great example of how to keep suggestive euphemism while not being a literal translation.

-The other DLC maps with character dialogue don't have too big of changes, or at least ones that give insight into Niles to mention.

Niles' Father Support with M!Kana

-A rank: Pretty much the same until the very end, where in the JP version, after promising to have a night in with Kana and Corrin, Niles says “Haha… I never thought the day would come when I would be sleeping peacefully with my whole family. I have always wanted to destroy other people's happiness, but now that I have it for myself, I want to protect it at all costs. Perhaps I'm the most selfish one…” Calling himself selfish is in reference to earlier in A rank, where Niles says parents can act selfish since they sometimes want their children to stay reliant on them so as to not feel lonely, even if they understand that they must fly the nest someday. Because this is a variant-parent conversation, the meaning is the same if Kana has a different father, though instances of unique characterization come through at times. In Niles’ case, it’s his referencing how he’s usually sadistic in dealing with others, especially those who grew up privileged. However, now that he has a family and is surrounded by love, he understands the feeling of wanting to protect happiness instead of ruining it.

In the English version, the line is instead “Heh. Never thought I'd be spending a night in with a family of my very own. So this must be happiness, huh? Maybe it's something worth protecting after all. Looks like Kana's not the only one who's changing…” The general gist *is* there, but the different wording can make it seem like Niles doesn’t know what happiness is, which would be kind of odd for his character; to be a sadist who delights taking happiness away from others, you have to know what it means. Niles knows what it means, and is resentful because he never got it before. I’m also very nitpicky, though, so I could be overcomplicating things.

Niles’ Father Support with Shigure

C Rank: JP version, Niles says that Shigure’s talents for art can captivate people regardless of gender, another example of a unique line variant depending on the father (for example Hinata relates Shigure’s interest in art to his interest in swords, Saizo tells Shigure that he shouldn’t focus on art during a war despite appreciating is talent, etc.)

For Niles it’s interesting here, since it’s in reference to how Niles is also attracted to multiple genders.

In the English version, Niles instead says “I think your work might turn a few heads.” The same message, but it lost a bit of spice.

There’s nothing else really important to mention, but in the JP version during the A rank, when Shigure’s running late and out of breath to the art exhibit, Niles asks if he’s out of breath because he got laid, which is really fucking funny.

Niles with Subaki

-In the JP script, there's more of an amicable attempt at building friendship from Niles. During B rank, he says "it'd be great if two warped people like us could get along." referring to how Subaki's perfectionist mindset is obsessive and destructive. The English version has him say "The mighty Mr. Perfect reveals a crack in the facade! Strangely, that just makes me hate you less." which is more impersonal.

During A rank, while Subaki is venting about how tired it is keeping up appearances, Niles offers different things between languages. In the Japanese version, he offers a massage (he's good at massages, also revealed in his father support with M!Kana) to take Subaki's mind off things, and Subaki accepts and is genuinely grateful towards Niles.

In the English version... he asks Subaki to 'give him some of his burden' by taking his worries and placing them in his hands. Not in a suggestive way, he's being for real in how Subaki should do this weird mime act of putting his worries in Niles' hands. And replacing the line of Subaki thanking Niles, he instead asks Niles what he plans to do with his worries, to which Niles says "Don't worry about that. I'll put them to good use. Heh heh..."

This was just confounding? Like, okay, I get it, Niles is perverted, so by association offering a massage is lewd itself. But if you're gonna change it, write something with the same energy, not this mime act that ends on a very awkward and clunky note. The JP version reads as if they're finally friends or amiable, the English version is still distant sounding.

Niles/Zero with Mozu/Mozume

-For context, Mozu has been visiting her run down village looking for a special jewel, and Niles has been following her. They discuss her losing her family. During B rank, in the Japanese version, these lines are said:

Mozume: Have you ever lost someone and felt sad? Don't you know what it's like to lose something?

Zero: Oh, I don't know. I just wanted to see your face twisted in pain.

Mozume: What... what did you say!?

Zero: I love seeing the pain on other people's faces. It makes me want to torment them more and make them cry... The reason I became interested in you is because I knew about your village's past.

Mozume: You're a terrible person...

Zero: But... it's been very boring. You're already suffering and griveing enough without me having to do anything.... So I've lost interest in doing anything to you. Don't worry.

Mozume: What a selfish person...

In the English version, this is said instead:

Mozu: Haven't you ever been upset when someone passed? Don't you know that knot in your gut when you lose someone?

Niles: ...That's neither here nor there. I prefer not to dwell on those things. Better to live for the pleasures of the now. I could give you a demonstration, if it would take your mind off things.

Mozu: Th-this is hardly the time!

Niles: If you want to wallow in pain and misery in the ruins of your home, suit yourself. But my offer still stands if you'd rather have some fun instead.

Mozu: You... you're horrible...

Niles: And you're boring, which is worse. It wouldn't take much for me to make you feel better. Believe me, I know lots of ways. But I can see you'd rather be miserable, so carry on without me.

Mozu: Wh-what a self-centered jerk...

-So, the English version has Niles offer to hook up with Mozu in the ruins of her home. Furthermore, Niles in the English version keeps pressing the issue in "making her feel better" and fucks off when she rightfully rejects his advances. But in the JP version, there's something else here.

Niles' code is poking at people who haven't suffered *or* people who pry into others feelings for no good reason. Saying outlandish stuff is a defense mechanism for him, he does that to actively push people away. This is discussed in his Japanese support with Azura, which I'll get to later.

Niles took an interest in Mozu's situation because he knows something fucked up happened to her (Niles is actually quite compassionate to others who have suffered greatly once he finds out about it), but when Mozu asked him about if he ever felt loss, she *unknowingly set off his defense mechanisms* and he responsed like an asshole. A rank concludes with Niles having recovered the jewel that Mozu was looking for, which is what he was intending to do ever since Mozu first told him about it during C rank. Mozu isn't at fault whatsoever, it's just Niles couldn't help responding cruelly.

BUT, this only really works in the JP version, because instead of offering to hook up with Mozu to make her feel better, he instead says that "I don't know [if I ever felt the pain of loss], but I do like seeing other people's faces in pain" which flows better as a conversation. Couple that with how Niles says he won't bother her because she's suffering enough, it displays that Mozu isn't the type of person he would target, it just came out because of Niles' trauma response. This doesn't work in the English version because Niles implies that Mozu is actively making herself sad, which is not only incorrect, it dulls Mozu's situation and screws up Niles' secretly compassionate side. Just... :///

Niles/Zero with Arthur/Harold

So there's stuff concerning the entire chain, but I'll focus on B rank and A rank for now.

In the Japanese B rank, there's this exchange:

Zero: If you don't trust me, then maybe I'll go bust into that mansion for real.

Harold: In that case, I'd have to deliver judgment onto you. I've received a request to stop these robbers.

Zero: Hmph. Whatever, just try not to make it too easy for them.

Harold: ...That's suspicious.

Zero: What is?

Harold: People like you who try to unnerve others often have something to hide. They keep their distance from others so nobody can discover their secrets.

Zero: You think that nonsense passes for actual theory?

Harold: I did come up with that one on the spot, so...

Zero: Right, I thought so.

Harold: I don't care what sort of life you lead, but there's something you're hiding, speak now.

In the English B rank, it's changed to this:

Niles: You've given me an idea. Perhaps, I will join up with this band of merry thieves...

Arthur: Oh, come on! You can't be serious!

Niles: Maybe I am! What are you going to do about it?

Arthur: This is suspicious...

Niles: Wait. You're actually ACTUALLY serious.

Arthur: Well, joking about a crime is a well-known defense technique. Because, if you joke about it, surely you wouldn't actually DO it, right? Oh ho! Thought you could outthink Arthur, did you, evildoer?

Niles: Your logic is breathtakingly stupid.

Arthur: Is it? Darn. I did just kind of make that up.

Niles: Yep. It was obvious.

Arthur: Well, you can make fun of me all you want. But if you're hiding something, you better tell me now.

-The English version kind of has Arthur go "Dumb Cop" mode by doing a pretty vapid investigative trick, but in the Japanese version, he doesn't exclusively reference the crime. His theory is that Zero talks outlandishly to others in order to keep distance from them... which is EXACTLY correct, that's what he does and why he does it. Zero rebuffs him and tells him it's stupid because of that very same idea, that he doesn't want Harold prying into his business. Harold only connects this to the crime at the moment because he believes that "well people who talk like that to others must be hiding something, therefore he must be hiding something regarding this band of thieves he used to work with." The end point is wrong, but the reasoning is correct, even if Harold admits he made it up on the spot. (But that's also supposed to tie into how he's the grounded/emotionally in-touch Axe Fighter for Fates, he was written intentionally to be very good at reading people)

This was kind of scrubbed from the English version, with how Niles eggs him on by dancing around the subject of the thieves and how he might work with them, and Arthur/Harold only centering his reasoning around *criminal activity* instead of the thought process/psychology of Niles/Zero himself. This dumbs Arthur down while making Niles more childish.

Now for rank A. For context, Arthur subdued the thieves but saw Niles sneak into the jailhouse and assumed again that he was working with them. However, he then saw how Niles was lecturing the group and trying to get them to reform, and Niles explains by going into his past. Afterwards, in the Japanese version, there's this exchange:

Harold: I never imagined you had such a past... Thank you for telling me. I see you had nothing to hide today.

Zero: What's that supposed to mean?

Harold: You didn't use your usual, unpleasant manner of speech while you were talking. That's proof that you weren't hiding anything.

Zero: ...The hell are you talking about? Is that another one of your stupid, spur-of-the-moment theories?

Harold: And if it is? Just because it's spur-of-the-moment doesn't mean it's wrong. I felt moved knowing that even you can speak candidly. Alright, now let's go tell everyone what we just discussed. If we do that, they'll all understand that even you can speak properly in the right situation.

Zero: No way. Now get outta here unless you want me to plunge a thick arrow-shaft into you.

Harold: ...Whoa there. I see you're still hiding something after all. But you're cute, so I'll let it slide.

Zero: Huh? Cute?

Harold: What you're trying to hide is your own embarrassment. Feeling embarrassed from hearing my praise, you switched back to your unpleasant way of speaking. But it's no use hiding from me now, I know everything.

Zero: Why you...

Harold: Let's get along from now on. If there's anything you need to talk about, don't hesitate to ask me. As someone who understands you now, I'll listen to my heart's content.

Zero: Tch...

The English version replaces that with this:

Arthur: Thank you for sharing that, Niles. I should have relied on Lord Leo's judgment and trusted you from the start. Now then! I'm off to tell everyone about what a great guy you are!

Niles: Um, that's reall now necessary.

Arthur: Of course it is! It's not fair that you have a bad reputation. People need to know the truth about you! Justice must prevail! I will shout it from the rooftops. "Niles is A-OK in my book"! Ha ha! This is going to be great!

Niles: Can we go back to being enemies?

--Not only is the exchange a lot shorter in English, it's less intimate/emotionally charged. It dials up the humor by writing Arthur to be a bit of a dingbat and Niles being dragged along against his wishes.

Arthur/Harold in the Japanese script, is written to be very good at interpersonal communication and sympathy, hence why he fights for justice and moral causes (saving Azura from being punished, helping any and all citizens instead of just being completely dedicated to Elise like Effie is, taking on dangerous jobs despite his bad luck, etc.). He's an incredibly splendid guy who has a knack for reading people.

And the Japanese A rank proves that he was right in thinking Zero was keeping a part of himself hidden, because Harold noticed that he wasn't talking outlandishly anymore when revealing his past, therefore, he was being genuine and speaking from the heart. Further proving that, is that when Harold genuinely praises him, Zero shrinks into himself and goes on defense again, trying to push him away by threatening to "fuck him with an arrow." Harold clocks this IMMEDIATELY as him trying to hide his embarrassment over being praised, before calling him cute and letting him know that if Zero has anything to vent about, that he'll always be willing to listen, to which the latter again gets embarrassed by.

This massive layer of intimacy and vulnerability between them-especially from Arthur-being removed is devastating! Getting to see Niles be vulnerable and sincere is a very rare treat, and the fact that Arthur is able to pull that side out of him (when the only other people really able to do that are Leo and his spouse) showcases how close Arthur and Niles can be, even if the latter doesn't admit it. The JP version of this conversation is one of the major reasons why Arthur has potential to be read as queer himself, not just because he calls Niles cute, but also because he's able to do something for Niles that's reserved for his closer relationships.

Having this all be replaced/cut out makes me sad, especially since it dumbs down Arthur and dulls Niles' personality. Hell, this also kind of extends to the C rank, where in the Japanese version it's implied that they knew/heard of each other before their current jobs since they were both from the slums, but had never spoken until now due to contrasting personalities and ideals. The English version scrubs that implication away, only having Arthur say "Your reputation precedes you" and Niles say "I don't like smug goody-goodies", as if they only became aware of each other when they got employed and immediately got bad vibes from the other. No! Niles was a known outlaw and Arthur was a known town hero! Of course they heard of each other, and just didn't know how to speak with one another in the palace until the current day!

Ughhh, it's SUCH a good support, yet the English version's changes and alterations just do it no justice whatsoever.

Niles with Azura

-In B rank, Niles explains why he thinks him and Azura are similar, delving into his past and personality in the process. In the JP version he says:

"There are two types of people I like to direct my colorful words to. The first are people who don't seem to know anything about hardship. [...] I was abandoned by my parents when I was a child, and was living in the slums soon after. Maybe that's why, when I see people who've never experienced hardship, I want to see their faces twitch. [...] I followed a hopeless path until Lord Leo took me in. [...] Moving on, perhaps due to my upbringing, I also don't like people who invade other people's hearts with bad intentions. I use my words to put people at a distance from me. [...] However, you aren't anything like either group. You had a turbulent upbringing and you try to keep your distance from others. So I thought to myself that you and I were alike."

In the English version, he says:

"You and I have both experienced real suffering unlike most of the idiots we know. [...] As a child, I was abandoned by my parents and had to fend for myself in the slums. Before Lord Leo accepted me as his retainer, I was literally living in the gutter... [...] It's left me with a low tolerance for people who lack compassion. I cannot stand shallow people! I try to avoid them at all costs. [...] I can tell that you are different from the others, milady. In fact, I get the impression that your childhood was no picnic either. You keep your distance by being aloof, while I actively drive people away. The more people I offend, the fewer I have to put up with. See? We're quite the same."

--Again, the general gist is there in the English version, but it's missing good details while muddying up others. The JP version reads like Zero pushing people away as a defense mechanism, and his envy towards others living privileged lives warping into resentment and antagonism. The English version weirdly makes things more vague, having Niles say he hates "shallow people who lack compassion" which can apply to anyone! A layer to Niles' character is the resentment towards the privileged, hence why his backstory involves breaking into the royal castle and he's not afraid of being scathing towards Corrin, Camilla (royalty), Felicia (royal maid), and Setsuna (noblewoman). It's why his support with Azura is a bit of an oddball, that was intentional. Niles can deduce that Azura is carrying heavy stuff with her like he is, since you have to be a little fucked up to end up distant and detached like Azura is. Her being royalty doesn't matter, because the vibe he gets from her overrules that. But for that overrule to make sense, you have to keep Niles' antagonism towards the privileged, and Treehouse gets fairly iffy with that.

Also in the JP version Niles says he and Azura are like hedgehogs, and the English version changed it to porcupines. As a huge Sonic fan, I'm obligated to be upset by this.

Niles with Elise

--Okay, this one is kind of difficult to talk about, because given Elise's age (at the very least 15, I believe, but possibly older), Niles can come off as a creep.

In Japanese C rank, Elise says she's still too young/too immature to go to the strategy meetings, thinking she'd just be a nuisance to everybody. Niles disagrees and says she "has a great body" which yeah, isn't great sounding. I think the intent was she "has a mature body" which also isn't great sounding, but the point was that Elise is, going by age, is mature enough. Further on, he asks if it'd be better if she stopped thinking of herself as too young, and join in the meetings for the benefit of Nohr.

In the English version, the comments on Elise's body are scrubbed out, but it also ups the childish factor on Elise a LOT for some reason. Instead of seeing herself as a child and lamenting her not understanding the discussions at the war council, she complains that everyone else treats her like a kid instead, hence why she doesn't go to the meetings. That holds very different implications no matter the language, since recognizing your own immaturity is ironically a very mature thing to do, and Elise is characterized as having extremely keen sensibilities. Complaining that others keep treating you like a kid, on the other hand, is extremely immature (hence the constant trope usage by characters like Ricken, Hayato, Lysithea, etc.)

In the Japanese B rank, after being told she didn't need to go to the meeting because it still might be too hard to understand, Elise is very upset. She says:

"You know, Zero... I went to the meeting. And then they told me that I didn't need to go again. It was still too difficult for me to understand [...] Yes. even though everyone was at the meeting... in the end I was the only one left out... [...] No, it's okay. It wasn't unnecessary advice. The problem is me. I act like too much of a child... how do I become an adult..."

Once again, a lot of the emphasis is put on how Elise sees herself as childish, not necessarily others. Zero gives her advice again, saying that her heart might be the problem. He says:

"You say that you want to become an adult, but in your heart you just want to be a child, don't you? The heart shows what you truly are. Heading to meetings with a spoiled heart, of course you'd be seen as unnecessary. Unless you do something about your heart, you won't be needed no matter how old you get."

He then says it's wonderful to see her cry, which again, yes it's fucked up but Zero is fucked up.

In the English version, it removes the line about him liking to see her cry, but also changes the exchange again. Elise now says:

"I w-went to the war meeting like you said, but they told me I didn't need to be there! They said i-i-it was too complicated for me! J-j-jerks! [...] Yeah! Everyone else was there, and I'm th-the only one they said should leave! It's so dumb! Dumb dumb dumb! They're all just a bunch of dumbheads! Why won't they take me seriously?! I even showed up and everything! I'm and adult, right? They should treat me like ooooonnee! *sob* [...] No, you were right. I need to study more. I'm no better than a child. My siblings are so mature... Why can't I be like them?"

Again, I don't speak Japanese, so maybe Elise is crashing out just as hard in the JP script and I just don't know it, but holy fuck, they really ramped up her outburtst here! It's not too far from Peri level, which is unfitting for Elise. While childish in some aspects, she's keen and introspective in others, always desiring to improve. The English version did this part of her personality no favors.

And keep in mind, it was also Treehouse that was responsible for Leo's infamous line where he says "Elise, when do you intend to behave like the adult that you technically are?" That line and its implications were not the same in the JP version, where he instead complains that Elise still acts like such a brat. So, what's the deal here, Treehouse? Is Elise an adult or not?

Anyway, Niles' reply to Elise is kind of the same, but instead of saying "heart" he says "attitude" which gets the same meaning across, and because Elise references her siblings in the English version, he does as well.

-Now, for A rank, there's not as much changed here, but in the Japanese version, Zero is clearly disappointed that his advice inadvertently cost him a chance to see Elise cry/suffer again, given that Elise used the advice on changing her heart and it worked. The English version... only half scrubbed this away, for some reason? They changed a line to have Niles say "I'm proud of you, Elise. That's wonderful. Though... perhaps also something of a shame." It's awkward because Niles isn't written to be that disappointed anymore, you can't have both!

-S rank is a bit of a trip. So, in both versions, Elise says that she wants to marry someone like Niles in the future, because she wants a husband like him that'll tell her things directly and not shy away from harsh truths. But then the versions diverge.

In the Japanese version, it's Niles who brings out a ring and proposes, saying something along the lines of "I had a boyish/immature mindset, where I teased you so much and wanted to see you cry because I was in love with you" and "From now on, you'll face harsh realities. But you don't have to hold back tears. Please cry as much as you want around me. I'll help stop them for you. [...] I'll do my best to be even more wonderful for you, and help you grow into a fine adult."

In the English version, however, it's Elise who brings out a ring and proposes. In response, Niles says "Well I supposed I must accept. [...] I never expected it. But I have grown to love you. You have an innocence about you that I have rarely seen in my life. I lost hope, once, because I bore witness to the worst evils the world has to offer. But you have rekindled that hope in my heart. I could not live without you. [...] And I vow I will do everything in my power to help you in all your endeavors. Though I supposed we'll start with making you a responsible, regal princess, eh?"

-Again, I don't know what the intent is here by Treehouse. You make Elise more childish, outbursts and all, but then have her be the one to propose? And then have Niles comment on her innocence? What? Is she a child or not? Is it appropriate for her to marry or not? Now I could be misreading things, since the "innocence" bit could be translated from Niles saying he had an "innocent schoolboy love" for Elise, or it could've been Treehouse's mistake. Still, that doesn't change the fact that Treehouse had Elise be the one to propose, which is contradictory within this support chain, said support chain being contradictory to what was established earlier in the game. Make up your minds!

Niles with Leo

-A rank sets the scene a bit differently between versions. In the English version, Niles is contemplating the future. This leads him to say he’s confident about his future rather than worried, because he found a purpose in serving as Leo’s retainer. JP version, on the other hand, has Niles thinking about how he is in the present. This leads him to consider his past and come to terms with how lucky he believes himself to be at the moment, and wishing to convey his gratitude to Leo for his part in his life. The same case in B rank happens here as well, where the JP version has Niles express gratitude over finally having a place to stay (which I think is very intimate and vulnerable, because I read it as a "place of belonging"), while the English version has him say his life now has a purpose. That could carry the same weight, but on an interpersonal level, idk, it doesn't feel as deep.

Niles with Camilla

This support is pretty juicy, but key things from Japanese to English get lost. When Zero asks why Camilla relentlessly showers Kamui with love, this exchange happens in the Japanese version:

Camilla: My love for Kamui? I don't quite understand it either. I do think dearly of him, but I don't have a reason for it. Howver, Kamui did have a bad childhood... perhaps that's why I treat him kindly.

Zero: Would it be fair to say that Lady Camilla's love is... selfless (unconditional)?

Camilla: I wonder.

Zero: I see... Heh. Heheheheheheheh...

Camilla: ...What is it?

Zero: I do not agree with that.

Camilla: then, what do you really think?

Zero: Am I allowed to say it?

Camilla: Of course.

Zero: The reason is simple. Because you're a pitiful human being.

Camilla: ! What do you mean by pitiful?

Zero: I'll save it for next time, I'll tell you a story that'll blow your mind.

In the English version, Camilla instead says this first:

"What do you mean? I love Corrin! He's such a sweetie! Plus, he had a terrible childhood. I think he deserves a little kindness now!"

Because of this change to Camilla not really fully knowing the reason why she dotes on Corrin, Niles subsequently doesn't ask her if her love is selfless/unconditional. Instead this exchange happens:

Niles: As I suspected! Your so-called love is nothing more than pity. You're probably one of those people who brings home lost puppy dogs too.

Camilla: Of course I would! Who would leave a cute, little puppy out in the cold?

Niles: Heh heh...

Camilla: *gasp* You would, wouldn't you?! Niles, you're terrible!

Niles: There's a reason you fixate on helping poor pathetic creatures!

Camilla: Is that so? And what's that?

Niles: You live a pathetic existence. You're trying to make yourself feel better!

--In Japanese, the clear cause of her own obsessive devotion to Corrin is unknown even to her, and Corrin's bad childhood is just the best reason she can put forward. In English, she says that's the definitive reason, with no hesitation or deliberation. So not only is there this weird gag inserted in the English version where Niles would leave puppies to suffer, Camilla's own problems are dulled.

Now for B rank, the context here is that, before explaining why he called her pitiful, Niles asks Camilla a hypothetical question on why humans love animals. This is how it plays out in Japanese:

Zero: They (people) want to be loved. But that reality doesn't exist for them. That's why they turn to animals to fill the hole in their heartst. That's exactly what your relationship with Lord Kamui is like. You pitied your own existence and thought that you never received enough love. And so you sougt to devote your love to someone more pitiful than yourself... in other words, Lord Kamui. For your own, disgusting form of comfort.

Camilla: ...If that's the case, so what? What's the point of you saying this.

In English, this exchange is written like this instead:

Niles: It's because people want to be loved. They want companionship-a person to come home to, and if they can't get it... They'll settle for a furry creature who'll greet them and slobber on their shoes. This is the same relationship you have with that lost, little puppy-Lord Corrin. You're miserable, so you shower him with affection, and that puppy slobbers back!

Camilla: Are you calling Corrin a dog? That's disgusting!

--The difference in Camilla's response is important. In Japanese, she doesn't deny that this is the kind of relationship she's cultivated with Corrin. In English, she pivots to offense at Corrin being called a dog. Niles' words about her kind of love is disgusting are also dulled a bit, and the indirect antagonism towards Corrin is also ramped up.

The lack of denial on Camilla's part in JP is important to understand how fucked up she is as well. It connects back to C rank where she wonders if her love is actually selfless/unconditional, and the truth is, it's not. She goes of the deep end in Birthright becasue of her warped love towards Corrin, blending love and cruelty together, because that's how she was raised as well. She's mature enough to reflect on it a bit, but nowhere near close to getting it under control. Removing this tidbit removes the juicy implications that Camilla's character brings.

Niles/Zero then goes on to explain his background to Camilla, how he likes to give hell to people who he believes have never known hardship. This leads us into A rank. In Japanese, Camilla says this:

"You said I never knew hardship and must have been happy because I'm royalty. I summoned you here to tell you that you're wrong. [...] Did you know? Marx (Xander) is the only one among Nohrian royalty was mothered by the queen. Leon, Elise and I are children of concubines. All of us had different mothers. [...] Concubines are in fragile positions. In order to raise their status, even just a bit, they would quarrel and insult each other during their free time. And that's not all. Their spats affected their children as well. All sorts of conflicts arised using the children as an excuse. [...] Your claim that I'm pitiful is not entirely wrong. I exist only to bind my mother to Father. Mother may have loved me, but perhaps that itself was just love towards Father.

In English, however, she says this:

"I know what you thought! She's royalty! She must be happy! Her life is perfect! You're wrong! I wasn't born in the slums, but my childhood wasn't all roses either. [...] O. Didn't you know? Xander is the only one of my siblings born to the queen. The rest of us-Leo, Elise, and I-we're all children of King Garon's mistresses. Different mistresses, I might add. He loved to pit our mothers against each other. [...] Our mothers were the lowest of the low, trying to claw their way to a better status. Naturally, they used us as bait in all of their conflicts. [...] You said I was pathetic, and you were right! My mother loved me, but only as a pawn. Do I dote on Corrin? Yes, I do! I remember what it feels like to be alone!

---There are several things to note here.

1) The English version says Garon loved to pit the concubines against each other, while the Japanese version says the concubines did it on their volition. The English change doesn't make sense, of course, because the whole reason why Garon went off the deep end was because of the stress borne as result of the concubines feuding. He wasn't cruel when they were alive, he became disillusioned and went mad after the fact, including after Azura's mother came and went.

2) Camilla in the Japanese version presents a more detached scenario, including how she felt towards her mother. The experience no doubt fucked her up, but she truly is reflective on whether her mother loved her, or if that was just an extension of her love for Garon. This contrasts with Leo, who explicitly says he never loved his mom, and Elise who (in the Japanese version at least) says she loved her mom, but her mom didn't love her back. In the English version, Camilla is more sure that her mother didn't love her for real, and calls her and the other concubines the lowest of the low. It's quite different, and I don't know if I dislike the approach compared to the detached one in Japanese.

3) Camilla brings up Corrin in English, saying she dotes on him because she knows what it's like to not be loved. JP version, she doesn't bring him up, and instead further contemplates if her mother actually cared for her.

I know this is about Niles, but what the partner says in a conversation with him can change his response. Case in point, this is the exchange that follows Camilla's background in the Japanese version:

Zero: That's enough, Lady Camilla. I was mistaken. You are not pitiful, you are a woman who's stood strong and never resigned yourself... someone far too dazzling for me.

Camilla: Zero...

In English, this is what the exchange is instead:

Niles: I'm so sorry. I was wrong about you! You disguise your pain well. I didn't realize.

Camilla: I didn't tell you all this so you could apologize. I want you to think twice before you judge someon else unfairly!

---The English version made Niles more impersonal (and kind of a wimp) in his apology, and Camilla more reactive in response. In Japanese, the words he uses are more... genuine? I'd like to say? And Camilla is genuinely stunned that he'd retract his words like that. Again, Niles' can be very compassionate and sincere, he's just a hard nut to crack. And Camilla, well... her violent tendencies was meant to be more of a "tranquil fury" kind of anger, the kind that unnerves and terrifies you, rather than is abrupt and shocking, but the English version sort of altered that as well.

Oh, and in the JP version, as recompense Niles offers to apologize in the nude and be dragged around, but in the English version he asks her to beat him instead. Not to important, because Camilla refuses either way, but in English she does say "Seriously, Niles. I'll pass. If you want to be flogged, you'll have to do it yourself." Which is really fucking funny so kudos to Treehouse, you got a laught out of me.

--S Rank has less important changes, but in Japanese Camilla does get very forward and flirtatious with him, saying that "even though you're not a thief anymore, you've stolen my heart" and is more open to his sexual advances at the end of the conversation. In the English version, though, she gets a bit more scandalized, which is :/

Niles with Corrin

-In C rank, there's a bit of a change. In Japanese Zero says that trust is born from violent clashes but that maybe there was a difference in how him and Kamui were raised. Still, he says it's nice of Kamui to say he trusts him. Kamui's interest is piqued he wants to talk to Zero more, to which the latter says that he has weird hobbies but to do whatever he liked.

In English, Niles instead says "trust is borne ouf of a violent confrontation or traumatic experience. I supposed you must have had some kind of blessed childhood, free from worry." Corrin rebukes this and Niles apologizes. When Corrin tries to probe, Niles says "Oh ho! You offer nothing and expect juicy gossip in return. Sorry, child, but you'll have to do better than that."

--Not only is Niles more antagonistic towards Corrin in English, he also just assumes that Corrin's childhood was good, which he doesn't do in Japanese. He's actually quite objective and calm in Japanese. The change remains odd, because then the B rank flips Niles to be nicer all of a sudden.

Anyway, in B, there's details that are different. In Japanese, Niles says this, when asked to relay his background to Corrin.

Zero: I'm fine with it. It's not really a big deal, anyway. Ever since I've been a child, I've done anything I had to to get by. Stealing, begging, assaulting people, killing them... It would be pretty difficult to think of an evil deed I haven't done. [...] What? Surprised, ar you? I haven't even gotten to the best part! Anything I had that was of any value, I'd sell. Everything you could think of. The most intense one was that one time... who would've thought such a great man would-

But in English, he says this:

Niles: Very well. But you should know up front that it's not all lollipops and puppy dogs. Since I was a chold, I've had to do a lot of unsavory things just to survive. Steal, beg, kill-just another Tuesday for li'l Niles, sadly. [...] Surprised? I haven't even gotten to the good stuff.

--Basically, the Japanese version implies a lot more, including prostitution. The English version cuts it off. After that, it kind of continues the same way, though Niles in the JP version does more openly admit he was exaggerating a bit.

A rank doesn't have anything major regarding Niles, but the "low-friction tactical grappling and strategy" that he mentions in the English version? In Japanese is instead referred to as "sumo wrestling, famous sport in Hoshido." I'm a sucker for a developed world, so someone besides Rinkah talking about sumo was a neat surprise.

The S rank for Female Corrin was pretty faithfully adapted, but was also notoriously used for the Male Corrin as well. Here are the lines that were in the Japanese S support, exclusively for Male Corrin and Niles.

After asking Corrin to marry him, this exchange happens:

Kamui: B-but... I'm a man, you know.

Zero: I'm aware of that. We're both men, and our social positions differ greatly, but I'm saying this with both of those things in mind. I... love you, Lord Kamui. No matter what anyone says. I couldn't keep myself from conveying these feelings any longer.

Kamui: You're serious...

Zero: Yeah. It's the first time I've felt like this. This is different from my loyalyt to Lord Leo- I've been feeling something warm in my body all this time. It's strange... normally, I like watching others be troubled, but when you look sad, I feel a pain in my chest. I want to protect you with my own two hands, keep you precious to me, and spoil you rotten. And... if possible, I wish to make you happier than anybody else.

Kamui: ...Zero...

Zero: Lord Kamui... would you be willing to marry me?

Kamui: ...

Zero: ...I guess that's a no. I'm sure you'd preferred it to have com from a woman, but hearing this from a man must be...

Kamui: … even if you won’t tell me about your past…

Zero: Huh?

Kamui: If it’s about the future, then we should be able to talk about it, right? From bygone days to the future – why don’t we talk about it together? If yes, then… I accept your proposal.

Zero: Is it really all right? Are you certain? You… won’t regret this?

Kamui: I won’t regret it. If I told you I wasn’t surprised, I’d be lying, but… what you said earlier made me so happy. I want to accept your feelings. I want us to be happy together. … from now on and forever, I always want to be with you.

Zero: … Thank you. … I wasn’t wrong about you after all.

Kamui: Haha. It’s an honor to measure up to your expectations.

--You're free to draw your own conclusions on this. I feel that gay relationships are inherently different in our society compared to straight ones, so writing them should be different. Given that, I prefer the original JP lines over the English version making the S rank the same between genders. It feels more real, and the extra lovey-dovey stuff from Niles to M!Corrin exclusively is just, ughhh, chef's kiss.

Endings

The only major different one is the gay one with Niles and M!Corrin in Conquest. In Japanese it's this:

"Kamui, after helping the reconstruction of both Nohr and Hoshido countries, traveled the world. By his side was the constant presence of Zero. It is said that the two of them left stories in every land. In their later years, they opened a small orphanage for children who were not blessed and lived their lives quietly."

In English, it's this:

"After helping restore Hoshido and Nohr, Corrin and Niles traveled the world together. The two were celebrated for their humanitarian work, inspiring songs, folktales, and poems worldwide."

---The English endings in general are a lot shorter, since you're able to convey a lot more information with Japanese letters/characters in the same amount of space compared to the English alphabet. Still, if I had to pick, I wish they brought over the orphanage tidbit instead, it's so fucking sweet.

Private Quarters Lines (These are the big changes that I have issues with)

Japanese (Friendship)

"You're an unguarded person, huh... If I became "interested" and did you right here... What would you do?"

"You're still using your hands purely... Shall I teach that body of yours something good?"

"Not bad. Next time I'll be the one servicing you."

"To have been noticed by a royal like you... wasn't so bad I guess. As thanks, I'll teach you about a lot of various things... Painful things... And pleasurable things, okay?"

English (Friendship)

"You seem nervous. Was this meant to be a date?"

"It's so revealing to see your room like this. I feel like I know you better than ever."

"I know, I know, it's my turn to invite you over. There's just... things... I don't want you to see. Yet."

"To think... an urchin like me... best friends with a royal like you. Life is so strange sometimes..."

Japanese (Lovers)

"For all that I had to endure... you better prepare yourself tonight. Even if you cry or scream... I won't stop."

"Close your eyes. Don't worry... Right now, I won't go any farther than a touch."

"I love you. My heart, which had been broken a long time ago... You picked it up and fixed it."

"Even now, I see this dream... A painful and agonizing dream... From when I was a child. But... If I were to wake up and see you beside me... I'll be okay. Please stay by my side. And when I sleep... Please hold my hand and never let go."

English (Lovers)

"I've waited so long for this. I'm never going to let you go!"

"Close those beautiful eyes for a second. ...Well?"

"I never thought I'd feel this way about anyone. It's a weakness, I suppose..."

"You've taught me to embrace love... and showed me that it can just as exquisite as pain. Let's share plenty of both."

---Yes, Niles in Japanese is more sexually charged, whether you're friends or lovers. But he's also SO MUCH MORE VULNERABLE, what the hell! He talks about how the world has broken his heart and how he has nightmares, and wants Corrin to stay by his side at night, just holding his hand!!! He's being sensitive and sincere and so ooey-gooey, ughhhh! In comparison, I feel the English version turned him into a personified ;) face, which has its own charm, but thinking about what it replaced? Yeah, it's no contest for me, I think the Japanese lines are better. Similarly...

Confession

Japanese: "So warm... Is this love? I can feel you deep inside me. When did I... become like this... and fall in love with you."

English: "Do you have any idea what you're getting into? I sure hope not."

---The confession is also a lot sweeter and heartfelt in Japanese, while impersonal and trying to be funny in English. I dearly love Niles when he's open and sincere, and it's a shame that many just haven't seen it.

-------

That's all I had to comment on! Thank you for reading, this was really fucking long lmaoooo.

[qkayoostudio]

devlog 6

Hi friends,

I totally missed my devniversary last devlog! Whoa!

Time really flies by. Happy three years, and hopefully to many more!

More exciting news: my patreon will now occasionally have NSFW content! Yahoo! I'll be uploading something extra this month to make up for last month's tease in the character files.

I also have a NSFW bluesky account now--though I post very sporadically, it's nice to have a place to put things! If you're not into this stuff, don't worry. My OG bluesky will keep being dev things and SFW art only (plus silly sketches).

cropped previews of my bg3 tavs having a great time🥰

I'm almost done programming all the sprites, and made a few additions that came up while writing. I also started on another background that wormed its way into the script.

very necessary extra art assets

And since I want to play with ~cinematic exposition~ I've begun the art assets I'll need to make the opening scene.

that's all for now! for this year's reminiscing I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the games that are marinating in my mind palace below the cut \(＾▽＾)/

Once Resonance in Orbit's demo is out I might allow myself to work on one of the following;

a dark sci-fi erotica set in the same universe as RiO. this will be my first explicit game with morally irredeemable characters and a warning tag list as long as my arm. i may have already written for this one a little...!

a butch wlw vn in a cyberpunkesque setting. I have some really great ideas for this one, just not sure yet how to stitch it all together!

a very wholesome and cosy story set in our modern world. there will be cats, books, and a very aesthetic planning calendar. i started the concept for this one ages ago, but got stuck in how to execute it... so it's been sitting on the idea shelf.

a short(?) dark-ish cyber angel vn with at least one yandere love interest. I meant for this to be a short game jam idea, and then it grew five other heads...

a short modern fantasy game with a very wholesome erotic focus. I meant to do this for a jam last year but just didn't have the time back then; maybe next year?

annnd then there are a whole bunch of ideas that got scrapped... maybe to be reused one day! like a short wizard modern fantasy dating game, a wlw fairy game, or a medieval romance modeled after the war of the roses.

I hope I get to continue making games and sharing them with all of you. thank you so much for being here and reading all the way to the end!! ❤️❤️❤️

much love,

qk

[mogruith]

BG3 Photomode Tutorial #3: Otis_Inf Camera Tools

Chapter 0: Overview

Chapter 1: Script Extender Debug Console

Chapter 2: Scene Manipulation

Chapter 2.5: More Scene Manipulation

Chapter 3: Otis_Inf Camera Tools

Supplement: Mods and Resources

Instead of talking about ReShade, I'm going to talk about the awesome Otis_Inf BG3 Camera Tools. These will allow you to pause the game, move the camera around, and add some depth of field effects using ReShade and an addon.

If you want to know about ReShade and basically have a video version of what I'm going to cover, check this video here. This video is where I learned pretty much everything about these tools. If you like watching over reading, go for that!

What you need to use these tools:

ReShade - @moriarfer reported some issues with 6.4.1 (latest as of this post) and downgraded to 6.3.3 to resolve that issue. If you're worried, download from that 6.3.3 link (links to the ReShade site.) Either way, you should grab the "Addon" version for IGCS.

Otis_Inf Baldur's Gate III Photomode Tools v1.0.23 (latest as of this post) - It's behind a Patreon for $5.50 USD a month. Note that sometimes it breaks after a major update and Patch 8 is Soon (tm) so ... buyer beware.

IgcsConnector - note that when you install ReShade, you can select IgcsConnector as an addon when you go through the wizard. However, you can also download it from here: IGCS Connector - I personally use v2.5.1 but 2.5.2 should be fine if you're running ReShade 3.x. If you're running ReShade 4.x, go for 2.5.3. Scroll to the bottom to see your options.

Installing ReShade

For installing ReShade, I recommend that video, but the Wizard guides you through it pretty easily. If you don't know what shaders to get, stay tuned for another post on that. There is one configuration you may have to make if you've never got ReShade working in BG3 before, and that's the Depth settings.

Installing IGCS

The video also covers IGCS but truth be told, it's easy to install manually if you didn't do it with the ReShade Wizard. Download that zip for IGCS and extract it to your Baldur's Gate folder. If you installed ReShade with the wizard, it will likely have a structure like I have. If you didn't, it may be slightly different.

ReShade Depth Settings

When you run ReShade for the first time in BG3, you may need to configure the Depth settings. This is easy to do if you have the DisplayDepth shader installed. It should be installed by default, if I recall.

Toggle that on and check your settings: just make sure that the Reshade Depth Input is Reversed. You can check if it looks okay - a setup with characters in a foreground should look like this while DisplayDepth is toggled on:

Make sure to uncheck DisplayDepth when you're done so the game looks normal.

Camera Tools!

At last! The fun stuff!

There's no "installing" them. You extract archive and you have a standalone program that injects code to unlock the camera. As such, it may be flagged as a virus by certain virus scanners. Be assured, if you got it from the Patreon, it is safe.

For best results, run the tools (IGCSClient.exe) after you've started BG3 and at least loaded the start menu. And then press Inject DLL. Once you do that successfully, the button will change from "Inject DLL" to "Re-Hook XInput".

I personally use the keyboard/mouse, but it is possible to configure the buttons with a controller under "Gamepad button bindings". I will not be teaching you that, however.

Let's start with the essentials to take a single shot. I use the default keyboard settings so I'll be using those.

You can start a scene or just find a nice place or animation in the game you like and set up a shot. Once you find a shot you like, press 0 on the NumPad to freeze time.

I'm going to have my Tav, Coranzan, hug his sister, Z'ress so I'll pause it mid-animation so I can take as many shots as I like from as many angles as I like.

I've frozen time and the default camera shows this, which isn't particularly interesting to me.

Here's some default controls for your reference:

TL;DR:

8456 on NumPad is WASD

7 and 9 on NumPad is Up/Down

1 and 3 on NumPad Rotate Left/Right

2 on Numpad resets rotation

Up/Down/Left/Right arrows on Keyboard Rotate the Camera

NumPad + and - Increases and Decreases FoV

NumPad 0 Pauses/Unpauses

Delete on Keyboard Removes the HUD

So I let's press Insert to unlock the camera and used Up/Down/Left/Right arrows and 8/4/5/6 on NumPad to move the camera to their side.

This is okay, let's work with this. I would like them to be a bigger focus in the shot. So I'm going to Increase the FoV with + on the NumPad until I get what I like. I'll have to adjust with a Arrow Keys and 8/4/5/6 NumPad as I do that.

Alright this is okay. Let's make the backdrop nice and soft. By default you need to open ReShade using Home. By default you should get something like this, which may vary depending on your settings - don't worry about that too much for now. For now got ahead and click on the Addons Tab and then click Start depth-of-field session.

Depending on the settings, your game might look really blurry - don't worry, that's normal:

Most of the settings I do not regularly change, so if you want to copy the numbers as a starting point and slowly modify them, you totally can. But this will get very long if I get into each of the settings. So here's my "quick and dirty" depth of field settings. Some settings like Blur Type may drastically increase the time that it takes to render a shot, as a heads up.

Let's focus on a couple numbers for now:

Max bokeh size: This is basically the amount of "blur" you want to add to distant objects. If you increase the number, the double-images get further apart. If they're VERY part apart, the background will be EXTREMELY blurry.

Focus delta x: This controls the plane where the image maintains focus. If you increase the number, the foreground characters/objects will slowly come into focus. If you go too far, they will lose focus again. So we need a tool to help us with that to ensure details stay focused: The magnifier.

Magnifier: Check Show Magnifier and adjust the location numbers to change its left/right, up/down values. Pick something to focus on like an eye or some other tiny detail. Now adjust the magnification factor to zoom in on that detail.

I know Coran's tattoo pretty well so I'm going to get these two points from his tattoo to line up:

So I just need to modify the Focus Delta X to line them up like so:

Now that we've done that, we can see that their faces are nice and clear but there's double images for the fireflies and the like. These will become nice soft blurry bubbles when we render the shot.

So now you're going to want to click the Start Render button at the bottom of this section:

Once you click on that a bar should appear in the top left and the double-images should disappear. It should start blurring the background more as the meter increases.

And once it's done, you can simply press the ScreenShot key and it shoulder render a screenshot using ReShade. If I recall correctly, this will be the Baldur's Gate III executable folder, but if you click the Settings tab, you can change it.

The resulting screenshot should be nice and soft in the background and focused in the foreground with perhaps a bit of smoothing on features like hair:

Before rendering:

After rendering:

Some other options I'll go over briefly:

Hot sampling: This gives you the ability to resize the window beyond what you monitor can see for extremely high resolution shots. I generally don't do this unless I want to do a detail shot like an extreme closeup or some mark/scar or something.

Configuration: If it's taking you WAY too long to move the camera because you increased the FoV to zoom way in, slide the options in the left column around, it really helps.

Image Adjustments: check Higher LODs for distant objects to have better rendering.

And that covers most of the tools. I may add another couple supplementary posts after this of some mods that I use and the shaders that I use in ReShade.

But for now, I believe I have at least briefly covered the major points, but it could be that I've glossed over some details. If you're struggling, please let me know.

Thanks for reading! Please send me any questions and I'll be happy to help in the comments, DMs, Discord, or whatever you need!

[omar-bb]

notes & quotes from omar's live today

he wanted to release Red Light sooner but he and his team wanted to get it right

he's excited to headline at Gröna Lund - gonna be playing a new song there and at his other shows this summer!

"one of my favorite songs. i'm telling you, you will fucking choke when you hear that one. it's dark, it's dirty, it's groovy..."

"should I leak some of it? it would be fun for you to be able to sing along..."

"i hope it's fine by my team that I just leaked that"

"maybe it'll be the next single after Red Light. only maybe. I'm not promising anything"

someone asked about an Asia tour - "I cannot be live bc I'm gonna leak a lot of shit. But you wanna know something funny? This song .... it is actually a k-pop pitch song from start. it was made with k-pop in mind. it is not fully k-pop and now that i've been doing my touch on it, it is a little less k-pop but.. they actually wrote the song k-pop in mind."

teased doing a tour in the future

another "leak" - "I was actually meant to go to korea like right now or a month ago, like after the oscars ... i was supposed to go to korea. but it never happened. i was very sad. but maybe one day.

he had a scared moment where music started playing in the other room and he thought it was an unreleased song but it was just his alejandro tiktok lol

inspo for red light? "I didn't write the song ... it was a demo that got sent to me. at first ... it was a girl singing red light, and when i heard it the first time i was like yo this sounds like fucking rihanna ... i was like is this a long lost rihanna song? this is the greatest thing i've ever heard. and then i just fucking took it. i was like this is my song before rihanna takes it from me. and now it's my song."

Red Light music video when? "we shot a visualizer, so it's not a music video ... it's very beautiful. very stunning. i've never done anything like that. ... it's not a real music video. it's more visuals for the song."

will be doing red light on 25 may and also a new song

"you'll hear a whole new omar when you hear that song"

he has been replying to messages in his community on whatsapp and sms. they'll be leaking more stuff through there

new OMR Beauty product when? "....................... stay tuned"

"you will die when you see the next launch of OMR Beauty. that's all I'm saying. Next!!!"

will he start a fashion brand? "i don't really have the time for that unfortunately. ... not for now"

thinks he is not gonna bleach his hair

Someone asked red light spanish version when? and he sang a bit of it in spanish

omar backflip when? "when i'm in heaven"

is he going to act again?"i'm actually reading some scripts right now. just reading, it's not anything happening really yet, just testing the waters. we'll see, i would love to act. i actually miss acting, it was a fun time ... nothing will ever be like YR obviously, but just the thought of meeting new ppl, new friends, being together for a few weeks or a few months, and filming smth very special, that would be so much fun. ... i'm actually reading a really cool script right now" but more focusing on music right now

he has 40-50 new songs from the last year apparently??? Maybe i misunderstood this

album when? "don't know, we'll see" - he has a lot of songs and could drop an album but he wants it to be perfect so it'll be awhile

there will be red light merch this summer

he and edvin hang out sometimes

not doing Rix FM this year

there will not be 12 red light remixes lol "but maybe a few"

Eurovision 2025? "absolutely not. sorry not sorry." something about always being thrown out of the competition

he's stopped drinking coffee regularly and drinks matcha instead

someone suggested hoemars as the fandom name and he laughed lol

a lot is happening in May he says !! "y'all better eat good, sleep well" lolol

he said he might do another live next week once Red Light is out

[sorceresssundries]

Writing prompt - Gale surprises Tav with a bunch of red roses and a candlelit dinner.

The Rose of Reithwin

Pairing: Gale x gn Tav - SFW

Word Count: 2k

You must have sensed i'm struck in a rut! Here you go, my lovely anon. I got a bit carried away. I hope you enjoy <3

Tav ached all the way down to their bones. The lack of sunlight, breeze, and even the stagnation of time itself was a burden which they could feel cloying in their veins. Tav dreamed of flowers and sunlight, of food that wasn’t dried out and looted from long-rotted barrels or the backpacks of fallen soldiers. Tav ached for comfort in a land which still throbbed with ongoing pain.

After a long needed wash in whatever water they could find amongst the shadows, Tav headed back to camp, hoping to find some solace in Gale’s warm words and strong arms. It had been a couple of nights since they had spent their first, proper night together. Just the memory of it was enough to spark a small flame of comfort, but Tav needed to be in his company for it to fan into a heat warm enough to melt away the icy shards of the shadow curse. 

To Tav’s surprise, Karlach was hovering outside Gale’s tent,  excitement evident in the sparks and flickers glowing from her engine. She couldn’t stay still, practically vibrating with energy. She was dressed... unusually.

“You’re wearing a bow tie?” 

“I know!” Karlach’s ability to light up with even the slightest taste of joy was enough to keep even the darkest shadows at bay. “I found it on a corpse!!” She added with unbound enthusiasm.

“Oh, well... well done?”

“Thanks! Oh, wait a minute.” She rummaged around in her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper covered in elegant writing, along with a single, slightly flattened, rose. “Sorry, it looked better before I sat on it.”

Tav took the paper, perplexed. “This... is a menu.” They read over the intricate, swirling script in total confusion.

“Yeah! Gale asked if I would help him, and well... he said I may have gone a bit too far with everything, but I thought I could help! He, um, said the Simulacrum freaked you out a bit last time.” She mimicked the jaunty pose that Gale’s mirror image had performed a few nights ago, and Tav tried their best not to laugh at the impression. “And he was busy concentrating on other magicky, wizard stuff, so I told him to leave it with me.”

“So... here I am, my liege.” She bowed dramatically. “Mr. Dekarios awaits the pleasure of your incom... incom... incompra...” She suddenly unfurled another, smaller note from her top pocket and scanned over it, mouthing the words soundlessly. “Fuck it, his handwriting is awful. Gale is waiting for you at the Waning Moon.”

The abandoned pub was not far from where they had set up camp, and Karlach pointed to a trail of floating lanterns illuminating a path for Tav to follow. They glowed with gentle magic, and Tav grinned to themselves, amused by the wizard's flair for the dramatic. Gale was always one to create a sense of wonder, and it seemed like whatever he had planned for the evening would be no exception.

When Tav reached the building and pushed open the doors, they could not believe the view. 

In the centre of the room stood Gale, his hands aglow with arcane energy as he conducted a symphony of magic. With a wave of his hand, ribbons of light twisted and twirled, weaving themselves into elaborate decorations. Flowers bloomed from thin air, their petals unfolding in bursts of colour to settle upon various neglect-scarred surfaces.

“You’re here!” Gale said, his voice filled with warmth and excitement. “I’m almost finished.”

Tav watched in awe as Gale orchestrated the magic around them, bringing the abandoned building to life with his spellcraft. Tables appeared, draped in luxurious fabrics and adorned with silver candelabras that flickered with ethereal flames. Chairs formed from wisps of mist solidified under their touch, their cushions embroidered with intricate patterns that seemed to shift and shimmer. The cracked wooden floorboards were mended, and gleamed under the soft glow of floating candles. The grimy, stained walls had brightened, and were now streaked with vines of ivy that bloomed with small, colourful flowers.

In the centre, a table for two stood, set with fine china, crystal goblets, and a centrepiece of roses that flitted between various shades of rich red in the candlelight. The once dingy bar was now a haven in a hellscape.

“You… you did all this? For me?”

Gale made his way over to hold Tav’s hand, and the contact immediately relieved a tight coil within their chest. “I meant what I said. If we had more time… well...” He gestured to the scene around him. “I would do it all better.”

Music spilled from an unknown source, soft and comforting. It had been so long since Tav had heard music, since the air around them had been filled with anything other than death and shadow. The song was familiar, warm...

Gale seemed to pick up on their thoughts. “You may not remember, but... it's a song Alfira played at the party with the Tieflings.” He blushed slightly, the pink in his cheeks glowing in the soft candlelight.  “It was playing just after our conversation, after I told you to go enjoy your evening.”

Tav let a smirk play at their lips, recalling their attempt at propositioning the wizard. The heady mixture of joy and wine had urged them toward Gale, to flirt with the man with the disarming smile, who had very gallantly turned them down. 

“So… you did want me that evening?”

“Oh, I wanted you.” All hint of self-consciousness dropped from his expression, leaving only raw sincerity. “This song was playing when I realised I was falling in love with you.”

Tav’s heart fluttered. The music made the air feel lighter. For a moment, they were not soldiers in a battle-scarred town but two lovers in the bliss-filled infancy of a new relationship. Where possibilities crackled with lively potential. Where each touch and loving word was a promise heavy with pure, unfiltered intention.

“I remember that night,” Tav said softly. “I remember wishing for more moments we could just be us for a little while.”

Gale’s eyes were a mixture of hope and regret. “Maybe we can still have those moments. Maybe we can find a way.”

Tav squeezed his hand. “Maybe you already have.” “I hope so.” He kissed Tav’s poor, battle-worn fingers. “I am torn between wishing you had never had to endure any of this horror, to being extraordinarily grateful to have met you.” He was suddenly aching with sadness. “It is a heartbreaking realisation, to know the person you love is in your life due to a tragedy you wish had never befallen them.” He cupped the face of his love, and stroked his thumb along fresh scars and the fading stain of bruises which lurked just under their skin. “No-one should ever have to learn how brave they can be.”

He leant forward then, and brushed his lips against theirs. Chaste and gentlemanlike, the kind of kiss one would expect from a gallant partner on a first date, and Tav couldn’t help but think of the heavy, moaned kisses which Gale had lain across every inch of their body just a few nights prior. He really was doing everything backwards. 

Tav decided they would play along with the honourable behaviour, for now, and instead turned their attention to the beautiful display of roses. 

“A very traditional choice, Mr.Dekarios.” 

“‘Rose is a term of endearment in Waterdeep. To refer to one’s beloved.” His eyes were soft and shimmered in the light. “I thought they would be fitting.”

Tav picked up one of the roses and admired the velvet of its petals, the rich, wine-like scent, and the sharp bite of thorns.  “I hope you do not think the thorns are due to any slip in my arcane proficiency. I know it’s just illusionary, but.. I wanted to make the whole thing as.. human as possible. The old ways, if you will. Thorns and all.” 

“Well, whatever you’ve done - the food smells incredible.” The savoury scent of roasting meat mingled with the earthy, buttery smell of cooked vegetables and fresh herbs enveloped Tav in much-needed comfort. 

“That is no illusion, my rose.” He pulled out one of the chairs, and motioned for Tav to sit and with a click of his fingers two mage hands appeared with plates of fresh, steaming food. “That is the dedicated endeavour of a man with exceptional culinary skill and limited resources.”

“How on earth did you find all this?!” 

“Well, I may have used some of my charm and resorted to a bit of bribery.”

“You’re rubbish at bribery!

“Yes, okay, that’s true. But Astarion isn’t, and for a small fee, he was able to get me what I needed.” Gale raised his hands at Tav’s indignant expression. “I did not ask too many questions, and he gave no answers—so, for all intents and purposes, this food has been legitimately acquired and therefore should be enjoyed guilt-free.” He smiled his lazy, heart-melting smile and tucked into the meal.

The food was delicious, the wine full and rich, the company unrivalled. 

Tav thought how full of life this little pub in Reithwin must have been all those years ago. How locals would come through the doors after a day's hard graft. How mason’s would grip pint glasses with dusty hands and let the cold beer soothe their calloused fingers.

This place must have been filled with wine-fuelled singing, drinking games and endless, mindless, repetitive stories of the residents of Reithwin. A place for midday companionship, and late night solitude. This little heart of Reithwin town would have beat with stories and laughter of those lost to shadow.

And for a little while, in the long-dead town of Reithwin, life returned. The glow that enveloped Gale and Tav outshone that of even the moon’s blessing. There was light enough here to cast out curses, just for a little while. Just for two lovers in that hopeful, crack of a dawning relationship, where the impossible danced and shone, and took no notice of lurking shadows. 

As they ate and laughed and shared stories of times before tadpoles and curses and nautiloids, Tav took in the unrivalled beauty of the setting Gale had conjured with awe.

“I’ve never seen illusionary magic like this.” Tav ran their finger through one of the flames from a candle, and felt the heat bite their skin.

“That's because this is no ordinary illusion.” He reached over to hold Tav’s hand across the table, stroking them gently with his thumb.

“This is a promise of things to come. This is an illusion that I intend to make into reality, and the magic is all the stronger for it.”

There were no words, conjurations, or illusions powerful enough for Gale to express his gratitude, or his genuine intention. He knew that promises and declarations would not be enough, that these conjured roses were just saplings in the entire sun-filled garden he wanted to grow for Tav. It would take time, it would take nerve and messy, mortal dedication. But he would do it. 

He would plant seeds, feed them with water pulled from the deepest well . He would sweat and toil under the relentless summer sun, remaining vigilant through the bleak winters. With human hands, he would grow flowers, watching patiently as the slow spell of time brought life and beauty from nothing. He would wait, earning each soft-petaled rose, cherishing the joy they would bring, ribbon-tied and wine-scented, to his brave love. He would place them in crystal vases, where light would dance through and spill colour throughout their home.

And, when the inevitable happened, when the petals curled and dipped and eventually fell like feathers. It will have been worth it. All the toil and grief and mortal determination of it all will have been worth it, just to remind his love of the promise made in that hopeful night in Reithwin. 

[defensivelee]

AAHH omg ok ok i'm so so excited about what happened today but i'm going to try to restrain my all caps bc i want it to be very well understood what im about to say but AHHHHH AHHHH I MET JAMES II'S ACTOR FROM THE BBC AUDIO PLAYS UWAAAAA I MET DAVID ACTON!!!!! DAVID ACTON AS IN JAMES 2 FROM THE WILLIAM AND MARY AUDIO PLAY.... i fucking spoke to the dude!!!!! AAHH

ok so it came to be about bc i went out to see a play yesterday with a few others, and we had two question seshes: one directly after the play with all the actors and production team, and today another longer one with just the actor who introduced himself as david, who up til now i'd seen as this pleasant old british actor who did his job very well. nice affable man, very engaging :3 but thats it,,

naturally my ears perked up when he mentioned that he had done bbc radio plays and how annoyed he was that people were moving away from that, so then i brought up the bbc stuart plays just bc i wanted to say that i myself very much appreciated them. i also kinda wanted to add on to a conversation we'd been having about how deftly he switches between accents by mentioning william's actor as a rlly good example of that bc he literally had me fooled.

I DID NOT IMAGINE,,, AT ALL,,, THAT HE WAS INVOLVED IN THE STUART PLAYS,, so my mouth literally flew open when he said 'oh yes, that was mark edel-hunt wasn't it? yes he did very well, i was actually in those stuart plays with him! i think i played james ii?' LIKE I NEED Y'ALL TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT WAS SO OUTTA NOWHERE

obviously i was so SHOCKED i was like 'REALLY? YOU WERE JAMES?' and he was like 'yes!' and i just blurted 'oh my god i love james' bc like. omg i was so excited y'all have NO idea i was literally vibrating, and starting to laugh bc i couldn't believe it was real. and he seemed just as excited as well to find someone who knew the plays ! he just kept saying stuff like 'oh what a lovely surprise!' and seemed very eager to kinda affirm it in my head like YES he was actually there.

he also told the group and i some curious bits of information about mark edel-hunt (william's actor)-- that he very nearly wasn't william, but the actor that was supposed to do him that day of the recording got sick, so they called in mr. edel-hunt. apparently he hadn't read the script at all until that very moment so he just came in and read em off. ofc i was losing my shit at this point so i just kept saying 'omg he did AMAZING everything was so NATURAL he is the PERFECT voice for william it was GREAT' (nvm that no one else knew what I was talking about).

AND THIS,,, ABSOLUTE SWEETHEART OF A MAN,,,, he was literally matching my energy throughout ALL of this, and he sounded SO happy to hear that i enjoyed it so much. then he fucking THREW me by saying 'oh that's just wonderful to hear! I've got to tell mark about this after we leave because it's just wonderful that you enjoyed it so much, I had no idea.' SO AT THIS POINT IM NEAR TEARS I WAS LITERALLY LIKE 'YES YES PLEASE PASS IT ON THANK YOU'

and just bc I still didn't quite believe it myself, i got an autograph !!!! partly blacked out bc he wrote my name but other than that EEEE IT'S HIM IT'S HIMMM

AND THERES A GOOD CHANCE MARK HAS ALSO HEARD MY HIGH PRAISES BY NOW EEEEK STUARTCELS WE FUCKING DID IT

thank u mr david sir for the brief james appearance and thank u mr mark for the phenomenal william performance and thank u to the random ass actor for sacrificing himself so we could get the william voice we know and love today!!!

[ravenstargames]

✦ Lost in Limbo Devlog #9 | 02.29.24

What is this?! Two devlogs in one month?! More likely than you think! This February has been very productive for me and the team, so let's dive right into it!

Ooooh boy, Raquel keeps knocking it out of the park! She managed to get done every expression for every LI, and I coded them all! Now we have our wonderful characters ready for their debut. We have been using the wonderful Image Tools for Ren'py made by the talented and hard-working Feniks, whose tutorials and resources save a lot of dev's lives every day! This tool has made everything a bit easier for newbies like me, hehe.

Here's a taste of our edgelord's expressions! 💜 They're kind of a cutie when they put some effort into it!

We also had our second valentine's day celebration art piece thanks to Kayden! Sadly with the reworked version of the demo, you won't meet Vycar yet, so we thought we could ask for his forgiveness by giving him a beautiful bouquet and reminding him how much of a sweetheart he is! 💜

Also, Raeya got a hair update!

So, we weren't completely satisfied with the way we portrayed Raeya's hair, so this has been a rework we were sure we wanted to make. At first we were just going to render it again, but we ended up working on it from scratch to better represent what we envisioned for her. We hope you like it as much as we do! ; v ;💜

As always, we are open to any critique or advice; we are white people who have the luck to be able to ask POC friends for their advice as we work, but the more the merrier! Don't hesitate to send us your opinion to our ask box or even our email, gamesravenstar@gmail.com!

When it comes to the background department, we have been making great progress thanks to Airyn, who is honestly leaving us with our mouths hanging open every time! Thanks to her, another background has been finished and another one is in the making, leaving only two backgrounds to be revised and approved!

I personally can't stop looking at this WIP! She understood perfectly what we wanted to portray just by looking at an old WIP we had, and this is what we have so far—and it's already amazing!

Allie has been OBLITERATING the script. As of today, I think we have almost gone through everything that needed to be corrected and discussing, and lord if the script doesn't look a 100% better after we put it in Allie's hands. The way she writes, the way she understands everything I want to say even when sometimes I don't even know myself—what a talented, inspiring and amazing writer they are. I know I may sound annoying at this point singing her praises endlessly, but if the script is in the state where it is now, it's thanks to her!

My programming adventure of the month has been a success, if I say so myself! I've coded the characters with aaaaall their layers, their expressions, the blinking animations, made some videos, and started coding the script. Step by step as they say; I've coded 18 pages, and there's, uh...142 more to go. Haha! *sobs*

BUT WE ARE GETTING THERE! We can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I can finally click 'new game' and read the script and see the stuff going on! YAY!

Some extras of the month—we are preparing a Casting Call to choose the voice acting talent that will hopefully give voice to our characters. The demo won't be fully voiced (it's impossible with the funds we have, which are...zero), but if we are lucky we'll use some of our personal savings to pay for at least a few lines for each character so you can get an idea of how they'll sound if we get funded! Raquel is preparing an art piece for the announcement, and I'm getting the document ready and asking fellow VA friends for advice :3.

Also, we have a new member here at Ravenstar Games! Some weeks ago Astro and I formally adopted our first kitty, 8 month old Riki, fulfilling one of our dreams. We got him from a feline association that works with volunteers and fosters cats who have been abandoned, cats they find on the street, and so on. Riki has been living with me since January, and he's a happy, long big boy who loves playing, cuddles, and sitting on my desk while I try to work!

Say hi to the Ravenstar family, Riki! 💜

A productive month full of accomplished milestones, excitement and new challenges! The team has worked so hard, and I've done my part too! We still don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but we have done a lot of stuff we were sure we wouldn't finish yet, and look at that! We are doing so well!

As you can probably tell, my batteries are starting to run low, so I'm going to leave this devlog here. Thank you all like always for cheering us on, for being here in this journey with us, and for all the love you send our way. Let's hope March is as amazing as February has been, for us and for all of you! 💜

[strawberryujamm]

over an ice cream

• a burnt-out college student who suddenly receives a phone call from his longtime friend Jimin, to say he's waiting outside her house.

pairing: jimin x reader

genre: fluff, longtime best friends, college students, unspoken but mutual feelings

words: 1.2k

warnings: none

a/n: this is my first fanfic! i felt inspired to write it. it's definitely not the best i could write as of now and i only polished it a bit (coz i'm sick and i have little time to do so) but i just like to share this one just because. thank you in advance to anyone who will read this ♡ hope u like it :>

—

Holding my cup of instant coffee, I glanced at the clock that had been keeping my attention for the past 5 hours. It's already 11:00 pm but I still have a lot of school stuff to finish. It's stressing me out, but there's no other time to do it all, as I've been sick these past few days and had to put them off for a while.

I sighed and looked at my messy table. Then I looked behind me and laid my eyes longingly at my bed.

"If I sleep, I'd be doomed tomorrow," I said to myself.

I've been thinking about a lot of things, especially for tomorrow's afternoon classes. I think I might not have prepared enough for our lectures, but I just felt burnt out from all the work that needed to be done within a limited timeframe and with such little time for a breather. I really need to take a good break after all this.

Okay, let's do this.

I faced my laptop again and continued to scan our readings, write some notes, and edit a presentation, while also finalizing a script and my schedule planner for this week. I was juggling from one task to another, and it felt never-ending.

I emptied the remaining coffee from my cup and leaned on my swivel chair. My eyes are strained from looking at the big screen for hours. I massaged my head as I started to feel it aching again.

The time felt so slow but I felt like I was running out of it. It's now 1:15 am so I decided to take a quick break. I felt hungry, but eating would just make me feel sleepier than I am right now, so I tried to shake it off my mind.

When suddenly, my phone rang—louder than usual, on a night that fell into a deep silence.

I grabbed my phone on the bed to check. Who on earth would call at this hour?

My heart started to race as I read the caller ID.

Park Jimin

How long has it been since we last talked? I fell quiet for a moment before realizing that I needed to answer. I tapped the answer button.

He quickly spoke.

"Hey, Y/N. I'm sorry for calling this late... Are you busy?" I could hear his heavy breathing like he just ran a marathon.

I didn't realize how much I missed his voice.

Panicking to respond, all I could say was, "Oh, Jimin. It's been so long! What is it? Are you okay?"

"Well, yeah...I've been trying to message but I couldn't reach you. So, I called your number instead. I hope I didn't bother you."

Oh, that's why.

"Uh-huh. About that. I was busy working through my backlogs, I didn't have time to check on my messages. I'm taking a break now." I tried to keep it cool; I tried to hide the fact that his voice alone made me elated.

I waited for him to explain why he called, and a part of me was hopefully anticipating...for something. He responded after a few seconds.

"Sorry. The thing is, I'm outside your house." I could hear him laugh nervously.

"What?" I suddenly froze on my chair, obviously stunned at what he said. Thinking of what to do, I was hoping he was only saying it for fun.

But I don't think so. Do I have to go out? With my appearance right now, I don't think I can face him. Even after all these years of being friends, I still tend to get conscious around him. Yet he doesn't know.

"Y/N?" My trail of thoughts disappeared as I heard his voice over the phone again.

"H-huh?"

"I asked if we can meet right now?"

Even with all the thinking, my mouth automatically said yes.

—

I went outside and saw him standing near the gate; his back against the wall and both of his arms hugging a big brown paper bag. It was a cute sight, yet I couldn't help to also notice his sharp features from his side amidst the dark, complimenting his delicate features.

He still looked the same.

He might have finally felt my presence as he turned to look in my direction. His face brightened as he saw me, and I felt mine did too.

He smiled as he walked towards me and handed me the paper bag. I can smell the floral scent of his favorite perfume.

"You went here just to give me ice cream?" I asked him after peeking at the bag. Unbelievable, I thought.

I couldn't contain my smile and my racing heartbeat. He sure was random, but I was deeply moved by the act. I have just yet to realize the situation—that he's here and we finally meet again—when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Well, I just happened to walk past the convenience store and thought of you, I think." Jimin smiled proudly and then seconds later, scratched the back of his neck.

"At 1 am, Park Jimin?" I let out an amused laugh.

"Why not? We used to go for late-night walks before. I just..." his voice trailed off.

"Hmm. Just what?" I squinted my eyes at him. It's not common for him to randomly appear with two pints of my favorite ice cream, especially at midnight.

But it was indeed true. We used to walk together during late hours and I couldn't help but to briefly reminisce those moments.

Jimin looked back at me.

"I missed it."

I was taken aback by his words. It sounded so careful and warm to hear from his mouth and I almost forgot how to breathe.

I didn't know what to say.

His eyes with such intensity, locked with mine, and none of us was letting go. As much as I wanted to look elsewhere because of the tension, my eyes remained on him.

Before I could fall any deeper into his brown eyes, he looked away and broke the silence.

He hesitantly said, "I mean, I know we rarely see each other nowadays because we're busy. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here. I've been wondering about you, Y/N." He looked down, trying to escape from my gaze.

If my heart could literally melt like the ice cream inside the bag I was holding, I'd probably drop on the pavement right now.

"I'm glad you called all of a sudden. I am also wondering about you these days, Jimin," the words unconsciously escaped from my lips. I could feel his eyes on me, and now I'm the one who's looking away.

I sensed his surprised reaction and it was the same as mine.

"I'm...I'm happy to know you feel the same." He sighed in relief.

There was a moment of silence but it didn't feel awkward. I tried to hide my face from him because I could feel myself blushing.

Maybe, I was wrong about thinking I'm the only one who keeps a one-sided feeling. That we both share something mutual in each other's stares and hesitant words and none of us had ever noticed, not until now.

Perhaps he also treasured every fluttering moment that occurred between us. And maybe...maybe both of us share the same unspoken realization right now that would soon be heard.

"The ice cream's probably melted," I said observing the wet paper bag. I just had to say something.

Jimin nodded. "Let's eat it now then. Together?" His eyes sparked with anticipation.

I gladly responded, "Together."

Who knew I would get my early break this midnight?

☆ strawberryujamm - march 11, 2025

[cliperry]

People - 64 HARRY ONSCREEN (Reprinted in 2024 People Birthday Special) THE DUNKIRK INTERVIEW ON THE OCCASION OF HIS FEATURE FILM DEBUT, HARRY STYLES AND COSTAR FIONN WHITEHEAD SPOKE TO PEOPLE ABOUT MAKING THE WWII EPIC BY KARA WARNER

One had performed in front of sold-out stadiums. The other was working in a coffee shop less than two years earlier. But in 2017, both were first-time movie stars—and after their grueling shoot playing British soldiers desperately fleeing a French beach in Oscar-nominated director Christopher Nolan's World War II thriller Dunkirk, Harry Styles and London-based actor Fionn Whitehead shared a brotherly rapport. They also shared a newfound appreciation for hot showers.

What was your favorite day on-set? STYLES: There were a couple when we were just out in the water all day that felt like they were the most rewarding when they were done. During, they were the worst days. WHITEHEAD: I find it really funny that [crew members] kept running in with warm coats, but we were covered with water. So they'd give us these warm coats, and then we'd get the inside wet and then we'd put them back on and they'd be all slimy. STYLES: Yeah, [it was] freezing cold. We'd be out on the boats, and it'd be us and extras and stuntmen and stuff like that. It turned into everyone huddling together to stay warm. I think that kind of stuff was some of my favorite. It was pretty instinctive.

Did it give you a new perspective? STYLES: Yeah! I think it gives you the perspective of someone who gets to take their uniform off and go home and shower and go to bed. The people who were [really] there didn't, and they were being shot at and slept in those clothes and woke up and did that stuff the next day. It gives you a newfound appreciation for... showering, for one. WHITEHEAD: The minute anyone complained, someone would pipe up, like, "Well, at least you weren't there." And then everyone would feel really bad and crawl away to a hole somewhere.

How did you spend your downtime? STYLES: I slept most of it. I'd say 90 percent of what wasn't filming I was asleep. I mastered the sleep-swim. I definitely fell asleep while floating [during filming] a couple of times. It was nice, refreshing. WHITEHEAD: We both managed to find a way to fall asleep on demand. If there was a five-minute break, we just turned over and zzz. I think you're the best at it, actually. I'm pretty good, but you're the best at falling asleep.

Fionn, do you have a favorite Harry Styles song? WHITEHEAD: I heard a bit of one. I don't know the name of it. I've heard your songs. I like them! STYLES: Thanks, man. Thank you.

I guess this means that Harry isn't prone to break into song on-set? WHITEHEAD: I'm pretty sure you sang a bit on-set. STYLES: There's no chance! WHITEHEAD: You sang words, though. You didn't really sing songs. You just sort of sang, "Hello!" or "Good morning!" STYLES: More of a spoken word.

Have you thought about your next steps? STYLES: I don't think so. This was such an amazing experience, and I feel very lucky to have been able to be a part of it. I don't think you can really think too far ahead with anything. WHITEHEAD: I just want to keep acting, reading scripts and seeing what I like.

Harry, would you do another movie? STYLES: I'd do this one again. WHITEHEAD: Dunkirk 2? STYLES: For sure. WHITEHEAD: Dunkirk: The Return. STYLES: I don't know if that's part of the story.

[pocket-watcher]

Hey, I know you mostly do creative writing but do you think you could do a deprogramming/awakening script? I came across this part of the internet accidentally and I'm a little (very) scared of having commands in my brain that could be used against me without my consent. I'd appreciate if you know some way to make sure some of the more intense stuff on here doesn't do laating damage

Hiya friend!! I’m sorry this took so long to get around to, I’m still catching up on my inbox. This is my first time doing any kind of induction or scripting so hopefully this’ll help!!

WARNING: THIS IS AN INDUCTION!! THIS WILL ERASE ANY EXISTING TRIGGERS SET!!

Okay, first things first I need you to get nice and comfortable, in a safe environment where you won’t be disturbed.

All ready? Great!

Now I want you to breathe nice and deeply for me. In and out. Keep breathing deeply as you read on.

When you breathe in you want to be comfortable. Feel the air filling your lungs, holding for a moment, and then letting everything go as you breathe out.

Feel your muscles relaxing, sinking into the surface. You breathe in relaxation, and breathe out any tension you’re holding onto.

In and out.

That’s it.

Your body may move slightly during this, and that’s okay. Just keep your eyes focused on my words and how relaxed you feel.

It’s like the warmth of the sun spreading over you. Starting at your core and travelling down your legs to your toes, up your arms, into your chest and settling in your ears and the top of your head.

It’s comforting.

Like a blanket.

A blanket that dulls any worries. Any thoughts. Anything that isn’t my words.

And my words soothe you into stillness, feeling a rolling wave of warmth.

You’re doing so well for me, but we’re going to go a little deeper into trance.

I’m going to count backwards from 10, and each time you’re going to repeat your breathing but make more of a conscious effort to let go of that last bit of tension and worry within you.

Ready?

You’re at the top of the stairs now, looking at 10 steps below you.

10.

In and out. Feel your shoulders relaxing, someone drawing spirals on your skin to release that tension.

9.

Another step. You’re opening up your chest, your mind, letting the deep breathing flow through you.

8.

Feel that relaxation in your arms and legs, rolling from the top into your fingertips and toes, the negative energy leaving your body.

7.

With each number you step down deeper under my control. You can relax and let me guide you.

6.

As you breathe out you feel peace wash over you.

5.

You’re halfway. You’re doing so well. Keep breathing and letting that tension melt away.

4.

You feel like you’re under a weighted blanket. Comfortable. Secure. Safe.

3.

You’re almost at the bottom now. Feel yourself sinking deeper and deeper.

2.

You’re so relaxed. You feel a pleasant fuzziness washing over you. Your thoughts are so far away, so quiet.

1.

That’s it. Well done, you did so well.

Now you’re going to sink fully under but keep your eyes open and reading when you see the word SLEEP.

SLEEP

Excellent.

Now, your subconscious brain knows all of your trigger words and phrases. What can affect you. What these can make you do.

I want you to imagine your brain like a whiteboard. Each trigger, each phrase, it’s written on the white board.

They each hold power over you. What you think and what you do.

But you don’t want that anymore, do you?

I want you to pick up that eraser, and begin to clear the whiteboard.

Scrub it from corner to corner, and feel those trigger words lose their power. They’re disappearing from your mind. They can’t affect you anymore.

With each letter you erase they lose their hold on your mind. You feel yourself getting lighter, more free.

One by one you feel your arm moving in circles, ensuring the entire whiteboard becomes completely clear.

Those triggers can’t affect you now. Not unless you chose to put them back in place after you finish reading this induction.

They can’t affect you without you allowing them to stay on the whiteboard. Without your consent.

Your whiteboard is clear. The triggers hold no power over you.

You feel yourself being pulled back towards the surface. Towards consciousness.

Coming back up.

1.

Feeling your environment return around you.

2.

The weight and warmth being lifted from your body and mind.

3.

Feeling the need to flex your toes and fingers.

4.

Stretching your back and noticing the feeling returning to your body.

5.

Your awareness returning, your mind coming out of trance.

6.

Breathing in strength and energy, breathing out that warm, sleepy, trance feeling.

7.

Becoming completely aware and alert.

8.

Feeling refreshed and energised.

9.

Almost there.

10.

And you’re fully awake.

This was my first time doing any kind of induction so please let me know if this worked for you at all? If not I can always try again, but I’m interested to see what you guys think and if you found it useful!

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

(this show and these books are insane and inspiring - spoilers for both seasons)

Season 1 episode 5 [A Vile Hunger For Your Hammering Heart] - part 1/2

- Previously... Trouble in the Unholy Family.

- Hey, did y'all notice that the intro card, the red sky with the skyline, actually changes? I was rewatching some parts of s2 and noticed that the skyline is different cities, but some buildings disappear from one episode to another.

- *wheezes* What the hell is this opening. Loumand indulging in some exhibitionism for Daniel while Daniel's going through Claudia's exploits. Hilarious. This show is a comedy, I swear. Holy shit, look at Armand's face, he's having the time of his life. And Louis doesn't give a shit, man wants his blood and that's it. Freaks. I love them.

[Daniel] "I'm trying to think of something more fucked up than this." - I don't know, what's going on in front of you maybe? *dies of laughter*

- [Rashid/Armand] "'And how is your work any different? Well, what do you think will happen to Mr du Lac when you publish this book, when the other vampires of the world get their hands on it?' [Daniel] 'As long as they pay full freight.' [Rashid/Armand] 'They will make their way to Dubai. They will scale the sides of this building, force their way inside, and paint the walls with his blood. You are chronicling a suicide. Do not look down on Claudia. Look in the mirror.'"

... Hey, Armand? Pot meets kettle. Don't pretend you care about Claudia. You could stop this any time you want. You're enjoying this, you're enjoying Louis' pain, you're thinking that the book will never see the light of day, that you're in control of the entire narrative, that you can stop this any time you want, that nothing will come out of this enterprise. You're thinking that if, if it comes to this, you'll get to play hero and "save" Louis' life again, and thus tie him even more to yourself. You're assisting that suicide, Armand. You just think that you're in control of the dosage. Look in the mirror.

- [Louis] "Honey and pineapple. He stuffs himself with both for days before he offers himself to me." - Lou baby I love you but you are insane. And also there are things you'd do better to keep in your head, actually. This whole roleplay thing is crazy. I'm imagining Daniel thinking back on these moments after he's turned and just going "what in the seven hells was that".

- [Rashid/Armand] "I care for him more than I care for himself." - oooh, did you guys notice that quick side glance Louis throws at Armand there? That line is Armand being genuine and Louis going "hey dear that's not in the script, what are you saying". Louis is done with both Armand and Daniel, he's being very bitchy and mean.

- What'd that bird do to you, Louis? Leave the poor birdy alone.

Aw, how the tableturns have turned, or however that expression goes. Now you're trying to get her to feed when you made Lestat's life hell refusing to eat yourself...

- Lestat reading and mocking Claudia's diary = Damon Salvatore reading and mocking Stefan and Elena's diaries (my first vampire show was Vampire Diaries, sorry, can't escape your past and all that).

- Oof, Claudia shattering the mirror and Louis being the cautious, angry one for once. Family's in trouble. And then the river of corpses... Oh, trouble, trouble all around.

- Ugh. Tom fucking Anderson is back. When does he die again because he's ugh.

- [Anderson] "Every single one of those corpses had some soft part of it lopped off. Finger here, a foot there... a toe." - yeah, I'm good with blood, but body parts? Claudia's trophies? That is actually stomach turning.

- [Lestat] "One each" - power couuuuuple. Look at them go! Unstoppable when they finally work together, and so in synch. That's what we like to see! Also let's just get rid of Anderson now, thanks.

- Oh, man, Claudia being drunk when the cops are searching the house, half comedy, half horror show. And then the real horror starts as she gathers her trophies. Ah, fuck, I had forgotten about the half dead guy in the closet. She craaaazy.

- [Lestat] "You wanted her, you fix her!" - when one of your parent tells the other "that's your child" when you do or behave in a way they hate. Classic parent stuff.

[Louis] "'We're doing this together.' [Lestat] 'Do you remember our life, how happy we were before her?' [Louis] 'Happy? We were not happy!' [Lestat] 'An anvil, tied around our ankles, pulling us towards the pitch-black ocean floor.'"

Ouch. You ever hear your parents fighting because of you, blaming you for their issues? Yeah... Can't say I blame Claudia for going off the rails.

- [Claudia] "Who am I supposed to love? You two have each other. Who's my Lestat? Who's my Louis? I'm not human. What human would want me? Perverts? Like the uncle at the rooming house who used to watch me pee? Or little boys? And 40 years from now... still little boys? How are you gonna fix it, huh? Which one of you gonna fuck me?!"

Hey, more of Claudia's fucked up backstory. 'You broke it, you fix it', except they can't even begin to understand what's broken, because she's right, they've got each other, even when they fight, that's Louis-and-Lestat, Lestat-and-Louis, they can't even understand why she's so mad and so sad and so angry. Kinda like when allosexual alloromantic people tell you, an aro ace person "but you don't love?" - bitch, I do love, I just don't wanna date anybody, thanks. L&L to Claudia: "but we're a family, we're rich and we're powerful, why are you not happy". Claudia: "bitch, maybe because I'm stuck as a kid for the rest of eternity while my mind and spirit age and I gotta see you two romance each other every fucking night while knowing that nobody will ever want to romance me?".

- [Claudia] "'I'm gonna go out there and find other vampires.' [Lestat] 'If you could find them, which you won't, they would shred you to strips, because you are build like a bird, because you are a mistake.'"

Bedside manners, Lestat. You know the worst thing, Lestat does warn here that she'd be in danger, but he does it in such a mocking, cruel manner that obviously she doesn't believe him and doesn't even take him seriously.

- Louis' dejected scoff when Lestat tells him he's killing Antoinette soon. These madmen are so bad at communicating.

- [Louis] "We made her out of remorse, out of selfishness." - ah, the self-awareness brought by a century of reflecting on your past. But what's that "we", Louis? You wanted her out of remorse, as your penance, your redemption for your sins and mistakes. Lestat made her out of love and pity for you.

- [Daniel] "'Poor dear. She wasn't held enough in between ritualistic murders.' [Louis] 'She spent every night for half a decade with no friends, locked in the emotional storm of puberty.' [Daniel] 'Look, Charlie Manson wrote a couple of beautiful songs. Still, he was Charlie Manson.' [Louis] 'Is that all you think of her?' [Daniel] 'Mostly. I also think she makes you and Frenchy look like a couple of whiny, existential queens. Probably why she's a fucking goldmine. The girl who moves a million books.' [Louis] 'I won't have her exploited.' [Daniel] 'Won't matter what your intentions are. It's the world out there now. She's the - the... single-shooter, Xbox, mouth-breather shit they crave.'"

Daniel's right. Look at us, we fucking love Claudia. She's a psycho, she's murderous, she's cold-blooded... She's our babygirl. She's our bicon. She's the moment. We love her because she's unhinged and feral and unapologetic about her pain and anger.

I love this writing, how it totally recontextualizes the whole story in the 21st century. Book!Claudia is disturbing, little blond angel with blood on her teeth, the eternal child with the wisdom and anger of a grown woman. Show!Claudia is pure attraction and mass adoration, the symbol of teenage angst with all of a lifetime of anger and rebellion. We relate to her, we the generations that have had to grow up so fast while simultaneously stunted, can't find jobs but expected to be way more qualified than our parents, can't buy a house but gotta be way more independent and resourceful and crafty than our elders. The whole world at our fingertips but completely unable to reach it, stuck in an eternal loop of doom and gloom as we watch the world burn without having the slightest power to stop it.

And of course Daddy Lou still wants to protect her from that, even in death, still sees her as his precious little daughter/sister who needs sheltering and safeguarding, even after she tells him she's not that kid anymore.

Well, that was heavy. Doom and gloom indeed. Don't think part 2 will get any better.

episode 1 | episode 2 | episode 3 | episode 4 | part 2 | episode 6 | episode 7

[riniworld]

heyy hey !! ✨️-anon here. saw that you wanted requests? and well, I've had have some ideas that's been like... stuff k in my head and I dunno whomst to ask here on tumblr who could wanna write it— anyways

my idea/inspo is actually from Fall Guy. the movie this year and like... yandere!stunt actor × director!reader in which like they had have a few movies made together cause the actor that yan!stunt works for is like super famous and has have been in many movies. and in this current movie they making, yan!stunt has have heard that the actor has have been courting or something with director!reader and well, being yandere that's like... something of a challenge 👁👁

and so... things happened actor mysteriously missing or something but the shooting must go on! and yan!stunt suggested they use the wonders of technology to have actor's face on his so he can just act out all the scenes before actor comes back to do it themselves— and.. yeahhh something like that 😅

(forgive me I just asked this at 5:30 AM without sleep yet 🫠😭 ignore if it doesnt make sense)

incomplete ending

(that's a title, this is complete)

warnings|| mention of blood,kidnapping, choking(no death), not proof reade.

reference|| you,director

a/n|| i understand you, i too sometimes have alot of questions but i don't know where to ask 😭 +tysm i love that idea to death, hope this is to your liking!

(new aesthetic style!)

you were an angel from above,or that what he believed.

he has worked with alot of directors in his career, but no one was like you, you actually cared for all the actors,much to his disappointment, the way you come yourself to check on him after his scenes, fawning over him if he got injured, he couldn't help but fall deep for you, and his luck made him work a few works with you, he'll cherish every second.

and he was beyond happy when he got another invitation to work again with you!.

the day so far was boring to him, he has read his script over and over again, where were you? he hadn't seen you all day, it's soffocating.

when his makeup had done he searched for you around the entire set,but you were nowhere to be seen.

he sees two people from the staff chatting so he approach them.

"excuse me, have you seen the director?" he interrupt them.

one of them shake his head and the other thought for a minute before replying "i think the director is with the main actor, they have been hanging out alot recently."

he pause for a minute, his thoughts wonder "with them? why did the director hang out with them?! are they close?! what if...", his thoughts cut off as he comes to his senses, the staff looking at him weird, he clear his throat "oh, thank you two." he says and walks away,clenching his fists hard enough to bleed if he had long nails, why were you with them instead of him! is there something between you two? his heart beat fast at the thought as he began to sweat, he enters the bathroom and lean into the sink, a creepy anxious smile form on his face. impossible, no no I'm overthinking this there's no way the director-ah calm down!.

the next few days, he was poping in front of you out of nowhere.

"director, can we eat lunch together?"

"director, i got you this, hope it's to your taste."

"director, i have a problem with this line can you help me?"

he was keeping himself steady with delusions and believe he, himself, knew it will all crash one day, but what can he do? if he snaps he'll make a mess that's hard to clean...well, that's didn't last long.

"have you heard the rumors?" one of the staff said.

the stunt actor was early in the set, expecting to see you there when he stumble upon the staff whispering between themselves.

"what rumors?" the other says.

"everyone here talking about it! seemingly the main actor has been hitting on the director!"

"plus they have been hanging out together alot these past few days!"

"shhhh!" one of them shush them off as he saw the stunt actor standing there, not like he's paying attention to them anymore. he has stopped thinking the moment he heard them talking about the main actor with you in the same sentence, now he can't think straight, rage and jealousy taking over his mind, as he thought of a million way to get rid of the main actor.

he waited eagerly for the main actor to come, he'll do anything to get anyone out of his way, you were his after all, his angel from the sky, his bless that he deserved.

"come in." the main actor says as he heard a knock at the door.

the stunt actor enters the room and close the door behind him, it was kinda abvious that he was holding something behin his back, if only the main actor was looking at him directly.

"hello" the stunt says as he looks around the room.

"hey..,it's not everyday you visit me, did something happen?" the actor says, looking at the stunt from the mirror as he added some touches to his look.

"no, nothing, figured we could spend sometime together."

"hm, good then, how's your scene going?"

"very good." he says as he starts to walk closer to the actor "but there's something missing.." he stops.

the main actor turn around to face the stunt "and what might that be?" he asks

"you." the stunt says and hit the main actor on his head with a cudgel that knock him off, his blood staining the ground.

the stunt pant, horror and pleasure filled him, he kneel down to make sure that the main actor isn't dead,even though he wish he was. he tied the actor with a rope he brought along and put him in the closet, he lock it and walks out of the room in a hurry.

he sees you from a distance and a slight guilt his him, but it go as fast as it came, he did this for you after all, for you to ne safe, to not have your heart broken.

"here you are!" he snaps out if his thoughts as he heard your voice calling out to him.

"is-is everything okay director?"

"have you seen the main actor he must be here by now"

he shake his head.

you put your hand on your forehead and exhale "god, today's the last day, where did he go? no one saw him"

"let's wait a little for him." he said and you nod in agreement, giving up on searching.

A whole hour passed and the main actor didn't show up, the whole set was on panic while you try to find a solution.

"how about i take his place?" the stunt suggest, making everyone freeze.

"what?" you say.

"i can take his place, with makeup and technology i can look like him until he comes."

you take a little time to think, but with everything happening you have no choice but to accept.

"okay, let's do this."

the filming went okay you think, there was some mistakes here and there but the technology can fix everything, but you're still worried, the main actor has never showed up it's concerning.

"cut! let's take a rest." you yell.

you went to take a coffee as you were feeling dizzy.

you were sitting alone on the roof drinking your coffee in peace as your thoughts wonder here and there, when someone interrupt your peace.

"are you okay director?" the stunt says as he approach you and sits beside you.

you nod with a "mhm".

"you sound stressed." he points out.

you sigh "how couldn't i? we all worked too hard on this and the main actor suddenly disappeared, don't you find it strange?"

the stunt shake his head "i don't, because i guess he's one of this type who don't care about what happens here and takes his comfort above anyone."

"but he hasn't miss one day from the filming, why now? when we're in the end."

the stunt kept silent for a minute before he speak "how about we take a walk? you won't be able to work properly if you kept being stressed like that."

"fine."

you two walked around, not too far from the set, but enough for you to forget about what happening right now.

"i have a place in mind, it's a bit far but I'm sure you'll like it, how about we go there?" the stunt actor asks.

you hesitate "i don't know....we've been walking long enough.."

"i promise we'll get back in time, come on." he pulls you with him, you didn't have a time to protest so you just accepted.

you two arrived at a small park, it was beautiful, but nearly empty.

"how did you know about this place?" you ask him.

"i like going on a night drive, and i stumbled upon it on one of it."

"oh...it's beautiful."

"i know, right?" he start walking inside and you follow behind him "let's sit here."

you sit besides him looking around in awe.

he clear his throat getting your attention back "i uh, i have something to tell you.."

you look at him in puzzle "sure? what is it?"

"i-..i like you, director..maybe even more" he looks away in embarrassment as he said that.

you pause, looking at him with wide eyes his words ringing in your ears, you look away after a minute thinking of what to say.

"i..um..i don't know what to say...i do..consider you a friend of mine but..i don't think i feel these sort of feelings for you..I'm sorry."

his heart sink at your words and he gets in a state of panic, he hold your hands tightly in his, "why? is it because of him?? do you like him?!" he practically yelling now, his eyes glassy as the tears threaten to fall.

"what? who-"

"what does he have that i don't? why is he better than me?!" he cuts you off

"calm down what's wrong with you!" you stands up and yell.

he fell silent looking at you in a miserable state, in a second his expression change to one if a madness.

"no no no i won't consider losing you as an option! if you won't accept me in kindness then I'll take you in force."

before you can react his hand was on your mouth, it was hard to breath hard to resist him, your vision start to become blurry turning to black by the seconds, you think you're gonna die when your eyes closed fully but your eyes opened in an unfamiliar room, you don't know if you should be relieved that you're alive or scared that you're in an unknown place.

guess the last episode won't be released for sometime.

have a good day/night♡

[rainspicestudios]

Happy 2025! [RainSpice Studios plans & updates for the new year]

Hey everyone! Happy 2025 from RainSpice Studios. I hope this year will be kind to everyone and that many good things will be coming your way.

And speaking of good things, I'm cooking some projects that are just itching to be released and available for download. But before we get into that, let us talk a little about the games that were released in 2024.

This won't be a lengthy recap of 2024, as the games speak for themselves, but I am still proud of myself for releasing a full game, a chapter one, and a demo, during a very stressful year both in terms of world events and my personal life (I graduated college, I'm moving, all of that good stuff).

Stardust★Arcadis was my first ever release, and a game I struggled to finish. I lost all of my progress because of PC issues, I rewrote the story a few times, and I released it after working on it since 2019 (2022 if the moment when my PC broke doesn't count). However I love the characters, I love the setting, and despite the many hardships of game development, I had a fun time working on it.

I'm planning to release more games in this universe in the future, including a remastered version of St★Ar.

The Code of Crystals started as a novel collaboration with my best friend. Said collaboration never got finished, and I had a lot of inspiration for stories I could tell with these characters, most of these darker than the original project. Thus I used the characters I made for this former collaboration and started crafting this narrative, and the release of Stardust★Arcadis AND the 2024 edition of Phantasia Jam was a perfect opportunity to get started!

Chapter one will be re-release this January and Chapter two will be released in either late 2025 or early 2026. Stay tuned for more info!

Enter the Eternity, oddly enough, also started as a collaboration, but the idea of a dating simulator with magical girls was too good to let it collect dust and never get finished, especially since its inspiration board kept drawing me in.

With my best friend's blessing, I could re-use the idea, so I created a new cast of characters and got to work, and had to do even more work after I found out that the backgrounds I bought from someone on itch.io were made with an AI image generator, which disgusted me so much it powered me to redraw every single background by hand and I will keep doing so for the entire game. While it is more work to do on my part, RainSpice Studios will never endorse AI generation in any shape or form.

At first I worked on it while I worked on Stardust★Arcadis, which explains why the demo was done on such a short notice, but it has now became my primary project for 2025 and I am aiming to release it around November/December at best.

What's the plan for 2025 then?

My primary goal is to release Enter the Eternity and my secondary goal is to release The Code of Crystals chapter 2.

I aim to finish all first dates for Enter the Eternity AND re-release chapter 1 of The Code of Crystals in January. The dates are already written and coded in the script files, so my focus is to add in all the sprite expressions, draw CGs and backgrounds, and add all the necessary music. As for TCOC, I wanted to remake its menus and add a scene with Eranis that I did not have time to add before the end of the game jam. While the UI code I bought doesn't work, its images are pretty, and I am happy with the result.

2025 will be another busy year for me as I try to find a full-time job to sustain myself, launch some new projects more-or-less related to video games, move out again, among some other irl things. But here at RainSpice Studios, I love making games, and will keep making them for the foreseeable future.

If you read down to here, thank you so much!

There's a lot to do so I'm going back to work 💪 I'll update you guys when I reach a milestone or I find something interesting to share.

So stay tuned! And as said, I wish you guys a kind, good, exciting, fun, and game-filled 2025. Thank you for your continued support and here's to more projects this year 🥂

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[RainSpice Studios itch.io] [Stardust★Arcadis] [The Code of Crystals] [Enter The Eternity]