#his speech pattern is so unique and fun

[mintdinostuff]

i can’t believe i’m spending my work break watching Scar obsessively to get his speech pattern doen for a fanfic where Grian gets carbon monoxide poisoning

[vanderdyks]

I geniunely cannot stand when allistics try to say Resident Alien is actually making fun of autistic people because they believe Harry is too childish now because I JUST-

In the beginning, Harry tried SO MUCH HARDER to fit in with the humans around him. He mimicked their speech patterns, consistently observed them, emersed himself in their activities so they wouldn't suspect he was different.

The Harry now? He doesn't care. He's loud in places he should be quiet. He talks how he wants. He laughs FREELY. He's learned large crowds of people? Not for him. He doesn't like being touched by strangers.

He's just Harry. Himself. Because he can be. Because he's realized even if some of the people of Patience find him strange, it doesn't matter. They'll never guess he's from outer space.

Have you noticed that every other alien we have seen is not like Harry? Not the greys, or the half human hybrids, not even Heather. When Heather is around humans who know she is an alien, we get to see the difference, but when she isn't? She fits in so well with any other neurotypical human.

Not Harry though. So yes, he is autistic because I said he is. Because I am autistic. And if you're allistic, you don't get to tell autistic people they shouldn't headcanon Harry as autistic (even though it is very obvious they're purposefully playing him as neurodivergent now.)

When you take an autistically coded character that a lot of autistic individuals relate to, and try to argue the character is actually a "child" and being "infantalised," you're actually being ableist.

You're saying that the traits we have resonated with are childish... Harry seems like he's "regressed" because instead of trying to adapt and pretend to be human, he is becoming something else entirely. Not human, but not fully alien either.

The body of doctor Harry Vanderspeigle was once just a disguise. Now it IS Harry's. It's his body, his own skin. And he's gotten comfortable in it and you know this because you deliberately witness times where he might be holding his hands like he would his claws (primarily when he's sleeping.) His brain doesn't realize he's not in his normal form, because in many ways, this is his new normal form.

He has emotions. He cares. He's in completely new territory and finding himself. And in doing so, that carefully crafted human mask? It's fallen a bit.

So that thing you label as "regression" is a thing I label as progress. He's learning still. Let him learn. Let him be. And give it time. And I hope to GOD Harry never becomes fully human to the point we can't recognize him. I hope he never loses his unique inflictions, or his love for pizza and pie. I hope he continues to love the quiet. I hope he ALWAYS laughs obnoxiously. I hope he always runs like he doesn't know what to do with his limbs. I hope you always see his emotions throughout his body because they simply cannot be contained. I hope he continues to jump when excited or pace when he's angry. I hope he stays obsessed with Law & Order forever.

Because if you take all that away, you're taking away the bits that make him Harry. You want a carbon copy human. I want the autistic alien struggling to understand human nature.

That being said, of course you can express your opinion him. And it can be discussed because everyone is going to have a different perspective.

But you don't get to dictate an autistic perspective if you are not autistic. Or try to cancel anyone for it either.

I love Harry. And I relate to him SO MUCH. And I love how much representation I can see him through him for me. Because I personally believe Alan and the writers have chosen to keep presenting this character as ND.

It's okay to dislike the direction of his character development. It's okay to find the flaws. It's okay to share that perspective. What's NOT okay is dictating the feelings of others because they might not agree with you.

I don't find him childish. I see him as an autistic individual trying to navigate a society that his brain hasn't been hardwired to understand.

And if you think he's too childish, please look closer at the why you think he is. Really be introspective on this one.

Because Harry is a parent. And has a child. And he has relationships. And he takes care of himself. Not only that, he is the town doctor and takes care of everyone else too. He is the smartest. He is the strongest. None of the characters have had to worry about the wellfare of Harry specifically. Its why no one realizes the greys have captured him. Because of course Harry would be fine, hes the alien expert. He knows what he's doing. So while everyone else spent so much time worrying about each other, no one was left to worry about Harry.

So ask yourself why you believe Harry has become "too childish" and if your answer comes down to any of his quirky traits or his misunderstandings of human nature, then you really need to consider if what you're actually uncomfortable with is autism/autistic traits.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I genuinely felt that Book 7 had a strong start. I didn’t know it could go down hill so quickly once the dreams started dragging out. Its pacing issues really destroyed any hype it established during the earlier parts. I think Book 7 was the strongest up until Silver confronted his inner turmoil. Idia’s dreams were also reasonable as well. Hopefully Malleus and Lilia get more screen time to compensate for their absence during the middle bulk of book 7.

[Referencing this post!]

IT’S SUCH A SHAME 😭 The first third of book 7 (parts 1/the start to 100ish/the end of Lilia’s dream) was SO good… and then as soon as hit the dreamventure portion, we crashed and burned OTL

Sometimes I’m generous enough to extend the part of book 7 I thought was good from parts 1-100 to parts 1-115 (the end of Idia’s flashback explaining how he had been woken up). I basically only think Idia’s dream was “meh, acceptable enough” because when experiencing it for the first time, I thought Idia’s dream was the ONLY one we were seeing in this capacity. I believed that Idia’s dream was getting this “special” treatment since we had also witnessed Ortho “waking” in a unique way. Both of them are the main “villains” from the previous book, so I thought this was book 7’s way of bringing them back to take down Malleus. It… technically was that, but I wasn’t expecting Idia to announce his “recruit everyone!!!1!” plan 2 parts later 💀 I expected, now that we had reunited with both Shroud brothers, there would only be like maybe 2-3 updates left for book 7 to account for strategizing, finding a way to truly wake up in the real world, and then kicking Malleus’s tail. BOY, WAS I WRONG ON THAT FRONT 🫩 (<- deeply traumatized, this is my OB origin story/j)

The pacing problems were but one of the many factors bogging book 7 down; I also dislike the inconsistent tone between dreams, lack of stakes/urgency, lack of learning anything new and meaningful, over-explanations, focus on fanservice and contrivances, lack of focus on relevant characters, frequent in-your-face declarations of character development, and the very obvious patterns set for every dream (meaning they were mostly predictable). It sucks specially for the OB boys because their segments are the longest, involve the “I have/will become a better person”/“my past self was pathetic” speeches, and have the most contrived scenes I have ever witnessed (such as everyone in their dorm having to use their UM at least once, even if it makes little sense to). And because everything drags on for SO long, they try to make the build-up super emotional to compensate. But it gets to the point where it feels insincere or unearned by the time we finally get to the “shouting as they wake up” part because the dreams are held together with painter’s tape… 🙂‍↕️

I’m only left feeling like I’m a rag doll that was tossed onto a roller coaster and jerked everywhere. It’s fun and makes my emotions run high in the moment, sure. But once I’m off that ride (I’ve consumed the content) and sat with the experience for a while, I reflect on it and realize I did not actually enjoy it and the roller coaster was shaky (from meh writing + plot holes) and about to collapse the entire time I was on it.

Malleus really got shafted hard in his own book too??? Like this man hardly shows up 😭 and Lilia is gone for 2/3 of a book where he should be relevant?? They honestly NEED a book 8 so they both have a Mouse Mandated excuse to come back and actually do something more. Malleus especially needs that because book 7 also did us the disservice of TWO time skips after his OB (one X days, another X weeks) and completely glosses over any complicated feelings or struggles he may face in the aftermath. We immediately jump to him when Malleus is at a point where he claims he understands what he did was wrong???? When that feels inconsistent with how he has previously struggled to understand these things? Some OB boys recognized the error of their ways automatically, but I find it a little hard to believe that Malleus (who failed to learn anything about humans in the 2-3 years he has spent at NRC in his Dorm Uniform vignettes) suddenly “gets it”. It feels like an easy cop-out for Twst to write themselves out of the hole they dug with Malleus’s character and now it’s on book 8 to follow up on that and patch up all the new holes 7’s writing creates.

[ducksido]

Lisp with accent (overblot boys)

nayeonlove asks: (from my lisp post)

THIS IS LITERALLY SO ME!! Can I ask if you could do them w/ a S/O that has a lisp when they talk which can lead to them having an accent when they speak🙏? (Coming from someone who has a lisp,mostly comes out when im speaking Spanish sometimes english)

Riddle Rosehearts

At first, Riddle mistakes your accent and lisp for a result of nerves or improper enunciation—he might sternly (but not cruelly) correct you out of habit.

Once he realizes it’s your natural way of speaking, his tone softens immensely. He actually blushes the first time you say his name with your slight lisp—“Riddle” becomes “Riddleth,” and it melts him a little inside.

He’s surprisingly protective. If anyone mocks you for it, expect him to go full dorm leader mode—angry, elegant, and furious.

Over time, he grows to find it endearing, especially when you’re passionate or flustered, stumbling over longer words.

“You needn’t feel embarrassed about how you speak… It’s quite charming. I meant it.”

Leona Kingscholar

He snorts the first time he hears it. Not out of cruelty—just surprise. You hit him with something like “Thun’s too hot today” and he nearly chokes on his drink.

Teases you mercilessly at first. “Gonna melt in the thun, huh?” But the more time he spends around you, the more fond that teasing becomes.

Secretly really likes hearing you whisper to him—your voice has this soft cadence that soothes him. It makes him feel like he’s hearing something special.

If anyone else makes fun of you? They’re getting a glare sharp enough to kill on the spot.

“Tch. It’s cute when you talk like that… Don’t go changin’ it.”

Azul Ashengrotto

He overthinks it at first. Tries to "help" you speak more clearly, not because he wants you to change, but because he assumes you want to change it.

Once you express that this is just how you talk—and that you’re okay with it—he immediately adjusts and apologizes.

Your unique way of speaking becomes something he cherishes. It makes your voice stand out in his mind, and he starts to recognize your presence even from across the room.

He finds it soothing—there’s a softness to it he grows addicted to. And when you say “Azul” in your way? Instant blush.

“May I ask… could you say my name again? I… like the way it sounds coming from you.”

Jamil Viper

Jamil notices it immediately and clocks the accent it creates, but says nothing—he’s too polite and too self-aware of people’s discomfort around speech quirks.

When you notice him being quiet and ask if your lisp bothers him, he immediately reassures you: “No. Never. It’s just… I didn’t want to make you feel self-conscious.”

He secretly thinks it makes your voice sound musical, almost like a rhythm. He finds it beautiful, especially when you get excited and talk fast, tripping a little.

If you’re ever insecure about it, Jamil goes into full comfort mode. He’d even start mimicking your cadence to show solidarity.

“I think your voice suits you. Don’t change it—not for me, not for anyone.”

Vil Schoenheit

Vil definitely notices. He’s hyper-attuned to speech patterns, after all.

He may offer you pronunciation exercises only if you bring up wanting to improve clarity—but not to erase your lisp. He’s very firm that your voice is part of your charm.

Actually? Vil starts to think your voice is marketable. Unique voices stand out in stage performances, and yours has that soft charisma that sticks with people.

He never lets you feel inferior because of it. In fact, he will publicly praise you for your elegance and “refreshing natural tone.”

“Your voice is like a whisper caught in sunlight. Don’t let anyone make you dull it.”

Idia Shroud

Freezes. First time you talk to him, his brain blue-screens because the combo of your lisp and accent makes you sound like a character from a niche game he loves.

His inner monologue is a mess: “Why is this NPC-voiced angel talking to me?! Oh no they’re cute—wait, focus!”

He finds your voice soothing, like white noise. He starts memorizing every voice line you speak around him and replays them in his head like a comfort loop.

If you ever joke about your lisp being annoying, he panics: “NO?? IT’S SOFT AND PERFECT AND I—I mean. Uh. It’s... good. Very good.”

“I-if you were in a game, I’d never skip your dialogue. Ever. You sound... special.”

Malleus Draconia

Malleus listens very closely when people speak, and your lisp catches his attention instantly.

He becomes genuinely curious about how your accent and lisp affect your speech patterns, and he asks questions very respectfully.

When he hears you say “Thpelleldom” instead of “Spell-Dome,” he smiles—not at you, but because it’s different. And Malleus adores the different.

He’ll sometimes repeat your speech patterns affectionately, like when couples mimic each other’s quirks. It's his form of love.

“May I hear you say that again, child of man? I find your voice... fascinating. And rather enchanting.”

[stoat-party]

Big fan of The Charon Situation being just so incurably screwed up. If ever there were a person equipped to have full control over an adult man’s free will, it’s definitely not the Lone Wanderer. Even the most educated, well-meaning, and genuinely righteous LW couldn’t handle the responsibility. She’s a teenager raised in an insular totalitarian ant farm who’s suddenly been thrust into a world with no authorities, no guidance.

Which creates a wonderful dynamic with Charon. If Ahzrukhal is to be believed, he was raised this way - he never had the chance to be an adult, taking risks, shouldering responsibility, gaining independence. His parents probably weren’t in the picture for long. I imagine his lack of agency causes him to be emotionally immature sometimes - how can you learn to solve problems like an adult if all the adults in your life treat you like a weapon or a dog or a houseplant?

This guy has to be so screwed up in every way. According to the game guide, he just doesn’t sleep?? Or Azzy never let him sleep? He has that idiosyncratic formal speech pattern, he worries a lot, and the only personal detail we know about him is that guns make him happy. He also kind of openly hates the player’s guts sometimes (he’s sarcastic when given certain commands, is joyfully mean about the GECK, and basically sentences you to death in the non-canon base game ending). No matter how hard the LW tries, some damaged part of him will always resent her authority. She could be a thousand times kinder, fairer, and more just than all his previous employers combined, but she’s still one of them. He still doesn’t have free will.

That power is illegitimate for a reason. There’s no way not to misuse it eventually, especially for a teenager with endless stress and trauma of her own. You’re fighting and you tell him to shut up so you can have the last word. You get a significant other and he gets left home with the dog some nights. You take a quest path he doesn’t approve of and he has to grit his teeth and go along with it.

It’s not fair, can never be fair, and that’s the perfect dynamic to explore. Because as much as he hates her, he loves her too. She literally saved him from Hell on earth, gave him the opportunity to be a force for good. He’s not dumb, he knows that the problem is the contract, not her. Over the years they’ll mature together and learn how to fix a lot of these problems. There are so many unique challenges to creating a healthy relationship out of… that.

(A lot of writers have the contract get destroyed, especially for 😉 reasons. There’s nothing in the game indicating that can’t happen, and it works fine for their purposes. I just think it’s more fun for it to be a continuous obstacle.)

[memen18-m5r3]

I love how u practically made centricide your ocs (good thing)

like sometimes I forget that centricide is literally just some guy changing clothes ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´ω`ﾟ)ﾟ｡

Tbh I don't think it's fair to say that it's just one guy changing clothes! Imo Jreg is a pretty good actor, he creates characters through unique mannerisms, speech patterns, etc. Despite his budget he managed to create multiple different personalities, and that's something I admired about centricide since the beginning. Especially when you remind yourself all these characters are being played by just one guy.

Like, I'm not gonna say these are particularly deep characters, but a lot of them are memorable and distinguishable. Jreg really made Posadist to me; I think his acting is the reason I came to love the creechur in the first place (and the eldritch-like design, did you know I was into eldritch horror? just making sure) and it just wouldn't be the same without him. And this applies to many other characters I like (Ancap, Commie, etc.)

Could the show be deeper? Have better explored characters with richer backstories? Have better established lore and worldbuilding? Sure, like with all things, there's room for improvement. But does it need to be deeper? I think for that, it would have to be something different completely. It presented itself as a silly comedy show with archetypical characters, maybe a plot along the way. It delivered on that promise. And for me? It worked that way.

So while I do add stuff from my own imagination (that's the main fun of fandoms), a lot of it is inspired by Jreg's acting! And I think it's only fair to acknowledge his part in my fanon designs and ideas :3

[riality-check]

hi, love your viktor fic! since you say you find him easy to write and you feel like you've really got his speech down, could you give some advice on how to write his dialogue/these unique dialogue things you say you've noticed? I've watched the show 3 times but still find him so hard to write!

Anon, you have no idea the yapping you've unleashed. I love discussing the intricacies of speech, and I love discussing Viktor, so strap in and prepare for quite the long post.

Don't feel bad about not getting his voice down! Character voice is difficult, and it's even more difficult to maintain consistently. I have it a bit easier; I have a knack for memorizing speech patterns very well. So, once I metaphorically store the file in my brain, it's pretty easy to test all my writing for the "he would not fucking say that" phenomenon.

In my opinion, Viktor's speech can be summarized - though this is quite the reductionist summary - as having a lot of the same quirks as that of those who learn English in a schoolroom setting. He speaks very "standard" (in quotes because I don't feel like getting into the linguistic debate over that categorization right now) English. This entails a lot of things; for Viktor, this manifests as speaking in a register that is slightly more formal than many other characters in the show.

(Of course, these phenomena transcend learning English specifically. I actually run into them frequently when I speak Italian. But because the show is in English, I'm taking English as Viktor's assumed second language and will be using that reference throughout this post.)

Specific ways that manifests in my writing for him are outlined below. There are a lot, but I've listed my top three for brevity's sake.

No contractions

This one is difficult for me! I naturally write how I speak, which means I frequently clip my words. Plus, most of the characters' whose POVs I write from have very casual speech. Viktor is the exception. Changing your "can't"s to "cannot"s, your "didn't"s to "did not"s, etc. will help you achieve that slightly more formal register that Viktor tends to speak in. It's a bit of a pain, and it feels strange at first, but to me, it's one of the simplest ways to get your writing on the way to sounding more like Viktor.

Minimize your slang (and swearing)

I'm mostly taking this one from the "crank it" scene. A lot of second language learners aren't specifically taught slang in their target language; they have to learn it as they go. In that scene, Viktor encounters a phrase that is new to him, hesitates, understands, and then adopts it. Slang, for Viktor, is acquired. Demonstrating that in your fic rather than having him use it completely organically like a native English speaker would is another way to get your dialogue more in character for him.

Additionally, to my knowledge, Viktor doesn't swear in the show. I do have him swear in my fic, but extremely sparingly and only in cases of extreme emotion. Second language speakers (in my personal experience) are rarely taught profanity on purpose, and it often takes a while to use it fluently in their target language. So if you're having Viktor swear, do it sparingly, or write it out in whatever real world analog you think his native language is for some fun flavor!

Use specific verbs

There's a writing post I saw a while ago but cannot locate that describes this better than I could. The gist of this is to eliminate verbs such as "is," "has," "seems," etc. in favor of more specific verbs. This is less of an "English as a second language" quirk and more of a "Viktor is intelligent and Academy-educated" quirk. Viktor is precise and specific with his words whenever he speaks. Some examples of this that I've used have been "permits" instead of "lets," "inquires" instead of "asks," "fabricate" instead of "make." This also extends to nouns; "quandary" instead of "problem" is taken straight from the show. Using some of those higher-register words is very reminiscent of Viktor.

I hope this helped, anon!! This was super fun for me to make, and if anyone else has any additions, pls add on to this post!!

[sweet-hearts-and-destiny-knots]

Mizuki's pattern of speech is... relatively unique.

She frequently mispronounces words, but no one can decide whether or not this is something she does purposefully. Another quirk of hers is interspersing Kantonian into her sentences, saying things such as: "This is so not sugoi." "Nothing about this is daijoubu." "Sounds like a dandori issue to me."

Mizuki also uses terms and phrases like: redonkulous, dingus, bunkus, whackadoo, whomps, crazy bonkers, kromer, and oopsie doodles.

In summary, she's a fun character to write for.

Mizuki: All according to keikaku... HAU! Hau: (to Gladion) 'Keikaku' means 'plan'.

Shortly after befriending Mizuki, Hau takes it upon himself to act as her translator since he feels someone probably should (he also believes it will be fun and he's correct). So whenever she uses any foreign or seemingly nonsense word in a conversation, expect him to immediately chime in with the definition.

Several of her Mizuki-isms are gradually adopted by Hau! And Gladion as well, much to his annoyance.

Gladion: This whomps... *eyes widen with realization* Hau: *GASPS* Mizuki: Watch your language, young man!

[overseer-picard]

Ask time!

This is something I've been thinking about recently, and I'm so curious. I've read some of your ST fics (amazing btw) and was wondering if there is any POV character that just flows for you. Doesn't even have to be POV, either - are there any characters whose dialogue just ... appears on the page w barely any effort on your part?

If so, which character(s) is it and can we see an excerpt of dialogue you're particularly proud of? 🥺

So, I had never really thought about this but it was so fun to do so!

Beverly is the most natural for me. She expresses herself pretty directly and speaks with a 'present day' vocabulary (as opposed to stiff 'future speak'). Getting into her head just flows for me.

Riker is fairly easy to write as he's also very open in his communication and speaks quite casually for a Star Trek character. Lots of Americanisms and lighthearted banter, which I find fun and engaging.

Data is surprisingly nice to write for me because he has such a specific cadence and speech pattern. He's also the only character where his outer dialogue matches his inner dialogue exactly, which is quite unique.

Deanna gets fourth place because she's not difficult to write, per se, but she's got the empathic thang going on and that shifts a lot of her internal monologue in unique ways. It's also rewarding to write because you get to reveal more information to your readers than other characters would allow.

Worf is 50/50 on difficulty. He's simultaneously easy due to his very specific cadence and speaking patterns (like Data) but difficult because his inner dialogue is a mishmash of emotions. An emotional honor soup. Which is difficult to get across when one has a proclivity for single syllable answers.

Geordi is harder for me to write because he tends to be more awkward in his social interactions and he often doesn't say what he means when under (social) pressure. However, when he's relaxed, he's up there with Beverly and Riker in casual vocabulary choice. But he can't be relaxed due to Constant External Narrative Tensions™️.

Picard is the hardest. Which is very ironic since he's the shiny apple of my eye. But I struggle with him because he's incredibly formal and reserved yet still very expressive. He makes specific vocabulary choices that the other characters don't, but it's not as predictable as Worf or Data. Part of the difficulty is self-inflicted though as I tend to dig deeper into his psyche than the other characters (he's just got such succulent suitcases of trauma, ya know?)

Thank you so much for such a fun ask!!

(and for reading my stories)

[phightingheadcanons]

https://www.tumblr.com/phightingheadcanons/771689683666288640/skate-headcanons-hes-a-bit-of-an-adventurous

Skate headcanons!! (part 2/?) i love this lil guy

•Skate will get very offended if you mention or make fun of the way he talks.

•Everyone who knows Skate is used to his unique speech patterns.

•Vinestaff finds him… fascinating to say the least.

•He’s actually really good friends with Vine (though sometimes Vine gets tired of his antics).

•Whenever Vine gets too annoyed with Shuri and Sling, she goes to Skate for a bit to chat.

•She’s very fond of playing pranks.

•Skateboard will never play another prank on Coil again.

•Skate might be chill overall, but he’s still got a bit of that “playgrounder” in him.

•He typically avoids fights, but if someone starts it, she’s going to finish it.

•She has a lot of freckles. Sling and Vine have tried to count how many, but they always lose track.

•He hates snakes (it’s a long story)

•She’s actually a good artist but doesn’t draw that much.

•He has a sketchbook full of rough sketches and doodles. He also makes graffiti.

•Some of her graffiti is just straight-up government slander.

•She’s very vocal about her dislike for the government and makes wild conspiracy theories about them.

•Did I mention he doesn’t like the government?

•He has a bunch of hangout spots. Some are private because he enjoys spending time there alone.

•He's banned from the library (permanently)

•He’s not the famous playgrounder he claims to be.

•He’s a loser masquerading as a cool guy, but secretly he’s just a big dork /pos

•Sometimes he gets scared that people will see through his façade.

•She’s more sensitive than she lets on.

•He cares a lot about what people think of him but will never show it.

(skateshot warning)

When they first started dating, Skate desperately tried to keep up the “cool” facade.

Skate was actually the first to confess. The confession was super awkward at first, but Sling helped him through it.

Say anything mean to Sling even once, and Skate will find you.

One time, Skate got horribly drunk and got into a massive bar fight. He ended up breaking a long list of things (glasses, chairs, tables, the bartender’s nose, etc.). Sling had to escort him back to his apartment because she knew he couldn’t be trusted alone in that state. He let him crash on his couch for the night. What a good friend :)

They’re so casual with each other that no one can tell if they’re dating.

Skateboard’s gang hates Sling and is vehemently against them being together.

ok thats all im tiredddd

ok thats all im tired

dude what happened the one time skate tried to play a prank on coil

[megidoreyn]

Hey anon! Sorry I had to redirect you to my tumblr blog, but as Marshmallow now limited their responses to 1,000 characters only (versus having 10,000 characters before), I do not feel comfortable truncating so much information in solely 1,000 characters LOL.

That being said, here's my lengthy response to this LOL (Removed the Read More cut on June 7th 2025)

Oh anon, there's a lot to cover! And it'd be difficult to list all of the differences especially since some require cultural + historical context and knowledge (and I'll be completely honest, a long time has passed since last touching this game in 2021).

🌟One of the most interesting differences that I feel confident discussing would be the unique personal pronouns used by characters, which add an extra element to their personalities and how they view + interact with other people in their world. IE: Lucifer and Merky using the archaic 汝 for others and 我 for themselves, some using お主 and other pronouns showing rank/hierarchy, Burroughs using ワタシ in katakana to denote that she's robotic/a program, the contrast between Walter's オレ (+ his casual speech) and Jona's 僕 which later adds an extra element from Jona's initial respectful/amicable demeanor + softer speech patterns VS his shift into extremist beliefs and harsher speech patterns, etc. 🌟Also fun fact: Merkabah's Phase 1 voice is actually pitched up to sound feminine versus Lucifer's Phase 1 voice being pitched down to sound deeper and more masculine. My friends that played this game in ENG were surprised to hear Merky's vocal distortion purposely sound notably feminine in his Phase 1 form in JP LOL. Personally, I've always believed this is due to Merkabah representing the Divine Feminine and Lucifer representing the Divine Masculine. (spiritual concepts that go beyond human social constructs of gender, sex etc). Even their designs push this idea further and depict this concept literally, with Merky's revealing female chest + curvy silhouette and Lucy showing off his masculine torso as he wears a revealing traje de luces--an outfit from a sport heavily associated with masculinity. In spiritual contexts, the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine aspects of your soul come together within yourself to form a "Divine Union", which is the concept of achieving stability, wholeness and balance. Though, a Divine Union can also be extended to include achieving harmony within relationships, etc. Interestingly enough, you find out that Lucifer and Merkabah fuse to become Satan in SMT4 FINAL. Thus, both Lucy and Merky have achieved their own Divine Union--not to mention how as Satan, they are also effectively the other half of YHVH as well. See also: "Wounded Divine Masculine/Feminine Traits" to see how those personality traits are just Walter and Jonathan's gradual character progressions into becoming Lucifer and Merkabah too, LOL.

(I actually wrote wayyyy more about this with in-game screenshots from the Neutral Route as well, but ended up deleting it since it was super off-topic LOL. If there's interest, please leave me another askbox message and I'll discuss this a bit further! Especially within the context of Walter and Jonathan's unique relationship. and why I love them so much LOL) 🌟Getting back to the main topic: The usage of personal pronouns in JP is difficult to properly translate into ENG, especially with some characters denoting their rank or position of power against others. Japanese is a hierarchical language and sometimes has 曖昧/ambiguity that requires reading the atmosphere to perceive indirect meanings. Even within video game text, these things can be tricky to TL into ENG without someone having a strong understanding of these concepts to faithfully translate (or localize) the general gist of what is being said without erasing or heavily editing the original intent. There's so much more you can discuss, but as I am not 120% fluent in JP, nor am I claiming to be (and I don't ever claim to be an authority figure on explaining these types of things), I definitely encourage you, especially if you are learning JP as well, to look more into the unique nuances + cadence that each personal pronoun has.

🌟Another thing I found interesting was how Luxorors and Casualries, in the JP version, are called "Luxuries" and "Casualties". Perhaps the change in ENG was to not give away too much of the story, or to perhaps lessen the harshness of the word "Casualty" itself. → There's also the potential link between the necessity of having Demonoids and Nourishers VS Mikado having Luxorors and Casualties. It's an interesting brainworm to think about and can imply many things, leaving you wondering about the original true purpose of a Luxoror/Casualry system to begin with LOL (knowing what we know about King Aquila from base SMT4 and SMT4FINAL). Like, the fact that they are so overtly called "Casualties" makes it incredibly obvious of their oppressed status and fate.

🌟And finally, one of the last things I'll mention for now since this is getting super long (LOL) is the very obvious implications of Jonathan being gay and his discomfort with females which got removed in ENG.

(And the whole 「僕は本当は．．．猫さんなんだぞぉ～」 comment plus the double entendre of calling yourself a 猫 as a gay man)... SMT has never shied away from double meanings or topics like these, so I've always thought this double entendre was intentional. Like, "if you know, you know". (The way my eyeballs comedically popped out of my skull when getting to this part of the game when reading this dialogue back then was WILD. I thought I was just being a delusional ワルヨナ腐男子 until coming across THIS LOL.) 🌟There's also the extra audios of the SMT4 JP voice actors from the official SMT4 website that never got TL'd into English. There's a lot of them from different characters, so check them out! The audio messages on Hiroshi Kamiya's side (Jona's VA) very much indicate Jonathan's discomfort towards women, (and perhaps his family background comprising of 3 sisters having to do with this) and feeling more comfortable admitting certain things around men: https://megaten4.jp/mega_spo/01.html

🌟I remember showing screenshots of the iconic "Let's go to the bakery" scene in the beginning of the game with my friends in 2022 (I literally went back in my Discord history to find this LOL) and they all found it crazy that the JP version blatantly mentioned Jonathan being uncomfortable with the concept of flirting with females.（僕はそんな．．．女���とだなんて．．．) whereas the ENG version removed this completely.

I was definitely surprised that the ENG version removed the mention of females to begin with. Personally, I would've translated it along the very rough lines of, "Doing such a thing… with girls…!" (and his flustered sprite obviously giving away that he finds the idea uncomfortable, thus doing more Showing than Telling LOL). There's other moments that show this side of Jonathan more too, which is also again, another story for another time LOL.

🌟In essence: I hope this encourages you to play the game in JP if you're learning the language, and allows you to gain more context regarding their world and a deeper understanding of these characters. Thanks for the question!👋

Admittedly, because I've only experienced the duology in a different language, I feel like I don't have the right to interact with others who like this game too LOL (???) due to these slight differences that affected how I perceive the SMT4 world and these characters, and perhaps that can also explain my own isolationist tendencies. But trust that it does not come from a bad place--rather my own insecurities and anxieties regarding interacting in online spaces LOL. Despite this, I really do appreciate you reaching out and your genuine question. ✊

[faffreux]

what about his speech pattern? it’s engrish isn’t it? which is apparently an actual language

Engrish isn't a language, no skfsdf. It's a term for what English looks like when it's poorly translated from east Asian languages. This is what Fawful's speech is meant to resemble since the writers thought it would be funny (and it is!)

But a fun thing to note is that Fawful actually has a different speech quirk in every language the games are translated into! So the way he speaks isn't only limited to how English speakers know him as - he speaks like an aristocrat in one and stutters and/or repeats himself in others.

As a side note, a lot of the time when Fawful appears in my dreams he has a very unique way of speaking but it's only sometimes (but not always) in the Engrish-style we're most familiar with - so I always point to other translations (and even the original Japanese version) where that wasn't even the case!

[richincolor]

Q&A with DeAndra Davis

Today we have debut author DeAndra Davis sharing with us all about her new novel “All the Noise at Once” which publishes tomorrow,  April 15th. The novel takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions as it is about the story of Aiden, who is on the autistic, as he deals with the fallout of a traumatic incident that involves his brother. This novel is both funny and heartbreaking, but full of heart and love throughout.

K. Imani: This novel had me experience so many emotions and even had me putting down the book to take a breath. To have such a story told from a character who is autistic gave us a fresh voice. What was your inspiration for this novel?

I definitely used myself, because I am autistic, and my kids as inspiration since I have autistic and neurodivergent children. It took a lot of tapping into my own sensations though and the experiences of what I have seen beyond just myself, and then finding words for that, to get the voice to come to life. Though Aiden is bits and pieces of my and my kids, he is definitely also unique in speech patterns and thought and getting to know him as someone else on the same spectrum but different was so fun!

K. Imani: I really loved Aiden’s voice and the growth that he experiences in the novel. What was your favorite part of creating Aiden’s character?

I think my favorite part of creating Aiden’s character was getting to know his humor. Aiden is funny! Funnier than me at least, which is odd to say because I wrote him, but I really do get into my character’s heads when I write and they aren’t just me on the page. Aiden is unintentionally funny in a lot of ways too, funny without trying and I loved scenes like that. Even the opening scene with him pondering how hot the devil’s ass crack is specifically, I love it. It’s not something I would do or the way I would process, but he definitely came to me that way and I loved it because he really brought levity in the times that were needed.

K. Imani: The Wright brother’s relationship is absolutely beautiful, and I especially love how they communicate with random facts. Where did you find all of those fun random facts? 

I did a lot of research! Haha. It’s funny, because I couldn’t tell you what made me choose that to be their thing, but I knew I wanted Aiden to have more than one special interest. Football is a thing for him, but it isn’t his only thing. I’m that way too in that I have many special interests and there are subjects where I know all these random facts that are ready to go if someone needs them (they rarely do). I loved the idea that it was Aiden’s interest that Brandon took part in to consistently keep up with his brother. It was a really fun way to show, without telling, how much Brandon really loves and cares about Aiden and is genuinely interested in the things that Aiden is interested in. But yeah, a whole lot of National Geographic went into those facts. The armadillo fact is my favorite!

K. Imani: This book at times was a hard read as you did not hold back with the racism and ableism that the Wright brothers experience. What was the hardest scene or chapter to write? 

So, at first, I would say that the hardest scene was the incident, but when I consider it truly, I don’t think so. The hardest scenes for me ere the scenes with Aiden and his parents. So much of this book is him figuring out authority and where he fits in with authority and him maturing in so many ways. The scene with Aiden and his dad at the courthouse was a hard one for me and I cried a lot while I wrote it. The cake scene with his mom was also a hugely poignant scene that made me cry and was hard to write, especially since there’s very little dialogue but so, so much happening. Those heavy emotional moments stuck with me more than moments of action. The quiet moments.

K. Imani: Can you share what you are writing right now? 

Yes! My sophomore novel is in currently in development and I’m very excited about it. I think it will be good for fans of my debut and it will bring in new readers as well. It follows a teenage girl, right after high school graduation, who decides to go looking for the mother who abandoned her. It’s set in Jamaica and explores ideas of what it means to be the child of immigrants, how we deal with abandonment, how we find ourselves(and maybe even our sexuality)  through discovery, and how we find new family along the way. In some ways it’s heavy but again, there are moments of levity just like my debut. Expect breaking and entering, ice cream heists, and those classic games of never have I ever and truth or dare.

K. Imani: As for reading, what books by other Black authors are you looking forward to?

So, so many! An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole, Eternal Ruin by Tigest Girma, Blood in the Water by Tiffany D Jackson, An Ocean Apart by Jill Tew, This Could Be Forever by Ebony Ladelle, and Under the Neon Lights by Arriel Vinson are just a few that I am super excited for!!

K. Imani: Thank you DeAndra for taking your time out to chat with us. We appreciate it so much.

And fans, look for my review on Friday.

[horsetailcurlers2]

nobody cares but i finally watched all of scandal and have now seen the full trifecta of TGIT shonda shows so here are my thoughts:

-it’s very interesting to me now having watched all three of the main OG shondaland shows just noticing all of the parallels and similarities between shows. obviously they’re all their own things with their own unique writers rooms and casts, but i think there’s definite thematic parallels and even just a familiarity to all of the dialogue. like how siblings have similar speech patterns.

-it’s also fun (for me especially because i watch so much fucking television and i love going on imdb) trying to spot all of the actors that have been in other shonda shows. (there’s also a surprising amount of crossover between shondaland actors and mad men actors)

-i really really liked olivia pope for the first four seasons. seasons 5-7 were rough. but i have to give shonda props bc i do love screwy and morally flawed female characters. although i have to say i think annalise keating from HTGAWM was much more compelling and had a better and more coherent story. she’s prob my fave of the three main shonda ladies.

-i got a little sick of B613. i gave it a chance when i thought it would just be maybe a season arc (even though i liked it better with the history they’d first established about it in “spies like us”) but oh my god it just got so fucking exhausting and ridiculous. the case of the week format was much better and more interesting than the B613 show.

-this is more specific than any of my other thoughts so far but i can’t stop thinking about in season 5 episode 12 when liz north tells david “down boy” and he immediately gets on all fours thinking it’s a sex thing.

-i hated fitz less by the end than i did in the beginning but i still don’t care for him. they couldn’t make me care about olitz at all. that relationship was more tiresome than merder to me.

-MELLIE MY LOVE. my darling. my president. bellamy young is fucking dynamite.

-i’m abby whelan’s number one defender im sorry. i TRY my best not to put too much stock in other people’s opinions of shows before i watch them but i’d seen some stuff online about a lot of people hating abby so i was nervous as i progressed through the show. but i still loved her by the end. i think it’s interesting how in a show of people who all do horrible fucked up shit, people hold all of the characters to such wildly different standards. i wonder if people were less willing to forgive abby because they found her “annoying”. fortunately that trick doesn’t work on me because i think annoying women are sexy.

-abby and olivia’s relationship was so beautifully complex and flawed and interesting to me. i think that dynamic is very underrated and unexplored. it reminded me in some small ways of annalise and bonnie’s relationship in HTGAWM.

-david rosen did not need to die. not narratively. not logistically. killing off an original character in the finale of a show honestly feels like a really shitty thing to do.

-i think that cyrus should have died. not even just personally i just think that would have been the best way to wrap up his story. i really thought he was going to have another heart attack by the end of the show.

-susan ross was maybe the only truly good person on the show and she deserved better than she got

[iwriteasfotini]

Humanizing a Villain

“I am unsure what that would feel like. ‘Affection’ is a concept highly entwined with romance to me.”

“But don’t you consider people your friends?”

“Certainly, I consider any person I spend time with a friend,” Voldemort said. “But I feel no affection for them—fondness, perhaps—but it is most typically purely utilitarian.”

“Those are synonyms, my Lord,” Bellatrix whispered. 

- Keep My Candle Burning, Chapter 43 Aquarius sun, Taurus moon

To @keepmycandleburning -

I love this story arc. Taking someone as generally hated as Lord Voldemort and giving him a meaningful backstory is not only fun, but takes talent. You wrote Voldemort so well, I often forgot he was the villain of the whole series as I read your story. The things he does are truly horrific, and yet I found myself justifying them on behalf of who he is as a person. He is immensely flawed. And he is also someone with real emotions. Someone capable of building deep and meaningful relationships, even if it takes him decades to discover this about himself. And yes he is a bit of a predator who targets vulnerable young people who are usually dealing with emotional turmoil, but he doesn’t force people to like him. He genuinely thinks he is being “helpful” to all these people. 

Something very interesting which stuck with me is the way people spoke of Voldemort as beautiful. They were fascinated by his physical characteristics rather than repulsed. Not everyone was in this category, mind. But those he was closest to became accustomed to his distinct features: flat snakelike nose, scarlet eyes, seemingly lack of hair, long thin limbs, delicate spidery hands. It made him far less creepy and far more fantastical. People look all sorts of different ways, yet we tend to see only a few representations of beauty in the real world. 

You wrote his dialogue and speech patterns so well. Because I saw your patterns so often, in scenes where you reverted to canon dialogue, Voldemort almost felt off from himself. I know you based your dialogue and speech strictly off canon, and it isn’t that which made me want to hurry through those canon dialogue scenes. It was that he felt flat in the canon scenes. Your Voldemort is far more robust and it comes through in the words he uses, his unique turns of phrase, and the times he chooses to speak at all. I almost wish you would have stayed less strict in your canon compliance and rewritten the dialogue to suit your Voldemort. Anyone who has delved into this character cannot deny how IC his mannerisms, speech, and movements are. And yet, I think what you do with him yourself is far superior to anything he does in canon. 

The complexity of his relationships was so sad and also so beautiful to me. I loved watching his progression through the story. It took me a while to get used to a physically affectionate Voldemort, but once I did, I just needed more and more of it. His constant seeking of warmth, much like a snake, his struggles with his ability to engage fully in sex - always making it about the other person, and the slow development of new physical relationships were all things which stood out to me. It all felt so authentic to his character. The man likes to be touched. He seeks it out. And he finds people who are willing to reciprocate. It is such a stark contrast from my HC of Voldemort being touch adverse. And in your story it works because it is complicated! He has some excessive needs and also some extreme aversions. 

All his romantic partners were also a surprise and felt perfectly IC. I know this is a Bellamort fic, but there are several other romantic pairings which are just as important if not more so, in my opinion. By the end, I can clearly define four relationships which carry the weight of a monogamous partner which he has had through his life. And some of those relationships overlap with each other. That didn’t weird me out at all. I never thought twice about it. For whatever reason it made perfect sense in the context of your story. He is someone who is so needy one person cannot be enough, he would suffocate them. Voldemort needs almost a ridiculous amount of love. And he gets it! 

[badbatchposts]

Ahhhh! Okay okay okay. Question for you on Quiet Corners of the Galaxy… I’m always so impressed by how well and natural sounding you write dialogue with multiple characters in a scene. I feel like the more voices in a scene the harder it is to get right but you do while keeping them all in character.

Any hot tips you’ve picked up in doing so??

Thanks for the question, friend, that’s so nice of you! I always thought I was quite bad at dialogue so that’s actually something I’ve been practicing with this fic specifically, so it means a lot to hear! Basically my trick has been getting a real sense of how to imitate canon characters first, which is really helpful with the Bad Batch because their manners of speaking are so distinct and well-developed. Tech for example is really fun to write because he never uses contractions and will always use very formal syntax and more formal, precise vocabulary. So I spend a lot of time listening to his patterns of speaking in the show and imagining everything I write for him in his voice. Same with Crosshair and the others, of course.

It’s harder to do with my own characters because I can’t really hear a unique voice in my head for them, so when I’m writing them in conversation I always try to get a sense of their major characteristics that might inform their manner of speech as well as what specific emotional tone they have at a certain moment.

Sometimes when it’s a lot of characters in one scene I’ll actually sketch out the dialogue without knowing who is saying what, just what sort of conversation needs to happen in the scene, and then I’ll go back and try to figure out who is the sort of character who’d be most likely to make X point, and what kind of language and tone would they use to do so? And I’ll rewrite the discussion that way.

Thanks again for the ask!