#i depend on google translate too much

[just-some-user-hunny]

Y'know how nikto drags the blade of his knife against the hard plastic shell of his mask?

That, but you're just scratching your nails against it like you're petting a dog. He must find it amausing- because he'll hunch over for you and remain still as you do your thing. Soft grumbles and raspy jokes pass through the muffling fabric.

"am I your dog, llubov?"

There's no malice nor irritation when he snips these little things. They're said slowly and steadily, as if he could fall asleep right there.

[mandalhoerian]

Repost because tumblr's tags were broken yesterday and it ate my post up 😞 Spoilers and translation notes for Rafayel's intertidal zone & analysis because it kinda floored me, I was just as a blank page as he was throughout this. I had to watch it like 5 times to understand what the story was saying and dig into chinese and japanese versions of this to piece together what was really happening. It may be my idiot brain not getting it and maybe it was like the easiest thing to understand for you but. Yeah. I may be just dumb LMFAO AND!!!! There's also a theory of mine into how Rafayel is actually able to read mc's mind/wishes through their lemurian bond, so stay tuned for that I guess

EDIT: correcting some transcriptions of chinese characters and the translations. sorry about that! google couldn't transcribe it correctly. for clarity's sake i will also include original screenshots. please tell me if anything is wrong!

EDIT 2: Check out part 2 to this as well for stuff I missed!

EDIT 3: An Abysswalker connection I found

EDIT 4: Debunking the myths of non-consent & Rafayel hurting MC in the spicy scene

So Rafayel’s whole deal in this memory, I believe, is dependency. Like, too much intensity, too much need, too much fear -- about scaring her off, about what he sees himself possibly becoming in the future, overall just being too reliant on mc and getting scared by it.

Let's begin with this massive fear of being a taker, not just in the “I’m stealing someone’s fries” way, but in this existential, soul-deep kind of way where he’s terrified of turning everything he loves into something he exploits out of demand for his art. And yeah, it’s sad when you first hear him say it, but it’s also really interesting when you look at how this all ties into his relationship with MC and his inspiration source drying up because of her.

Before Rafayel became an artist, he looked at the world in this super pure, wholesome way. Sceneries and nature were just there, things to admire and feel awe over without needing to do anything about it. Like, imagine standing at the edge of a desert, looking at a sea that’s drying up. Sure, it’s tragic, but it’s also kind of beautiful in a raw, heartbreaking way. That’s how Rafayel saw things, he could appreciate them without feeling like he had to do anything.

But then Rafayel started creating, and suddenly, sceneries weren’t just sceneries anymore. They became inspiration. He wasn’t just admiring beauty, he was extracting something from it, its meaning, its pain, its soul, to turn into art for other people. And that made him feel all kinds of icky, because now he wasn’t just looking at the drying sea. He was taking from it. Just as he's using his people's pain in his art as well, that's also a thing.

Now let’s talk about MC. Rafayel loves her like he used to love those sceneries,,, in this pure, untainted way. There's a parallel here. But here’s the kicker, he’s not the same guy who can just admire something and leave it untouched anymore.

And suddenly, this is no longer only about losing inspiration for him.

This happens after he and MC get together, and it’s like all the pain and anguish that used to fuel his creativity just.. ... dries up. He can’t find that spark anymore because now his life is surrounded by love instead of suffering. In fact, his inspiration starts coming from her and it's starting to clash with how he makes art. In the phone call, he seeks her out and says he needs her so bad and she only needs to talk to help him out. This is the first wink wink nod nod of the story.

So what does Rafayel do? He goes on this big, dramatic trip to "find inspiration" (or at least his muse), but it’s not just about his art. He’s not just looking for inspiration, he’s trying to figure out how to be less dependent on her and becoming increasingly more restless over this. The temparature and physical discomfort is making things worse, he's anxiously overthinking, and imagine trying to fight this and the longest art block as of late off when all you want to do is indulge in this special person and be comforted like a lap cat all day every day.

He understands that if he lets himself indulge without restraint, one day his love for mc will turn into pure need. He’ll become more and more greedy, and he doesn’t want that and is afraid of being abandoned because of that growing neediness and dependency.

This is in relation to his art, because as @/dat-silvers-girl put in the comments, he's struggling with "the genuine fear of not being able to enjoy anything in life because all you're thinking about how to use it (as an artist)" . what if he starts doing this to her? to their love and relationship? take from her, and become someone who only takes in every area of life -- like someone who only exploits things by extracting what he feels about them to use it for his art. he's afraid of that, he doesn't like that and possibly doesn't like himself who does it. so why should she? she would leave him for sure, in his head, that's a solid reason to.

The first time around he brings up his anxiety about MC leaving him out of the inner realization of his dependency, the possibility of just what he can become, and fear of abandonment. she effortlessly soothes his worries. It's heavily implied they did it afterwards and after hearing "her life has already been consumed by him" he tweaked out a little bit and his "obsession" seeped through.

After it fades to black, he says ほら……僕もとっくに……君に侵���されてしまっているんだ…… which means "See... I've already been completely consumed by you too" in Japanese instead of the life being made a chaotic mess localization. While I think MC's line was jokey and lighthearted, I don't think this man is joking at all. Rafayel didn't say his life was consumed by her as well, he said HE was consumed. Ouh.

This took the edge off from him for a while but they hadn't gotten to the root of the problem yet, so he was back to square one after the memorial hall, because remember, he's trying to find inspiration as an act of making this dependency of his better. Pain and suffering are all around him here, which his inspiration feeds off of. The dried up ocean he could hear weakening, the skeleton of the whale, the burden of his people and homeland more prominent than before. And what does MC do? Tear through the perspective of pain and introduce a hopeful alternative, "Isn't it a surprise to see an ocean in the middle of the desert?"

This is a place that gave Rafayel the height of helplessness and suffering when he visited by himself before despite momentarily being hopeful after the locals told him such a place existed. But now, she was there to comfort him through his loneliness and pain, hug him, and give him hope yet again. He brings up how he wanted to come here with the most important person to him when he was still hopeful about it before consumed by the pain of it all, and that wish has been granted. That moment has to be so powerful for Rafayel. Literally light at the end of the tunnel.

It had me reeling that he just sat in the car after all that, staring at her for god knows how long until she woke up. He was probably overthinking again, but my interpretation that it was heavily emotional for him (it could have meant so little for MC but the world for him, she doesn't even know) and he wanted to be in that moment with her, just feel and look without restraint. Indulge a little. (I can just imagine him going just a little bit more, I'll go after she wakes up.) And like. His eyes are shining in the darkness is the description here. Perhaps he was feeling so much here. So much love. So much happiness. And he's about to go in for a kiss (heavy breathing and everything) after that, but holds himself back and actively has to pry himself away. He's feeling the neediness again.

That’s why he makes an effort to actively wean himself off and says he'll be okay on his own. What he says to her after MC is like "spoiling him" being all "hey you're sick maybe don't go? or let's go together?" (which is NOT helping Rafayel at all) is even more meaningful in Japanese and I didn't know why they left out this context, but the rearranged line would be "Do you want me to become a sea creature beached on the sand after the sea recedes, unable to breathe on my own ever again?"

Yeah. YEAH. This is about dependency. (He's saying don't coddle me I'll literally become that wolf tearing his shirt meme 😭)

So of course his stubbornness and anxiety force him to do things without MC and distance himself, he can do it. He’s determined to prove to himself that he can endure it on his own.

I also feel like part of the reason he insisted on going to the salon alone is that he’s still worried mc might come to dislike the version of him who's someone he's so sure she will leave, who isn't perfect and he hides behind the persona he's put up just for her. If he truly becomes addicted to her and shows her everything/his true self, and she ends up leaving him, it would completely break him. He's trying to be like "im so normal about her haha" but he's so not normal about her at all. He's literally obsessed I feel like, and perhaps this is him fighting it knowing it's not healthy.

and OOOH about why he ends up coming back from the salon all hot and bothered.

I have strong context that she flicked the bean in there after he left her high and dry in the car ("hot water washes away the stickiness from my body and his stifled breaths still echo in my ears, enveloping me along with the steam in the bathroom. The warmth from his fingertips lingers in the places where he touched me..." is the english. however, in chinese, it goes "熱水洗去身上的黏膩，壓抑的喘息迴盪在我耳畔，和浴室裡氤氳的水氣一起包裹著我." stating "the suppressed breathing" -- which doesn't have any possessive adjectives when I translated it on google and later explicitly asked chatgpt if it had any his/my adjectives involved, just to be sure. it said no but i'd like it if a real chinese speaking person could give their input on this !!! PLEASE DONT LEAVE ME WITH CHATGPT

so um. if the context is in fact the case that he heard her masturbating to him, the intensity with which he attacked her would be normal, I think 😭

I have belief that MC unconsciously shatters his "training himself to be without her" determination through their bond. She just keeps thinking about him the entire time. about him reading her thoughts, though. we still don't know all about the lemurian bond they share. I’d say it grants him some sort of mind/heart reading ability or connects their minds together (when she was thinking about whether she should hug him, he answered “yes”).

At the salon, I imagine Rafayel was already thinking about her like crazy. Then he realized, or perhaps, "heard" she was still worrying about him and thinking of him (as much he thought about her) and decided to go back. Rafayel probably felt that suppressing himself was only making her more anxious and unsettled. She's thinking all about him, unconsciously calling to him to come to her, she didn't want to let him go at all, wanted to go with him, etc...

but even if it was his own decision and no mind reading was involved... uh. If you ask me. He did quite literally hear her after coming back. That's also something that might make him think she wants him as much as he wants her, which made his self-restraint utterly meaningless from the start.

Disregarding this theory of mine proven wrong until a Chinese speaker helps me out here, MC returned to Rafayel's room. A translation omission happened here from what I saw. There are no possessive adjectives in the Chinese text about the room she returns to, and the Japanese one states she returned to the guest room (doesn't specify which one. She was also able to enter Rafayel's room without needing to knock before.)

so uh. she went into rafayel's room y'all. the line "this is my room, you're the one who walked in here" MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE. (SO LIKE. NOT ONLY DID SHE GO INTO HIS ROOM, SHE FLICKED THE BEAN THERE AND HE POSSIBLY HEARD IT. SHE'S MORE OF A FREAK THAN HE IS, I UNDERSTAND WHY HE LET GO AFTER THAT LMFAO)

I don't put it past him to get worked up after he finds her in his room post-bath even without my theory lmfao (idk why they put her in a dress when she should be in a bathrobe or something 😭)

His conclusion at the end of this memory that "he finds inspiration in pain and the art of creation is a part of his life. mc made him realize love and art are so alike. even if they don't complete him but burn him instead he wants them (love and art) with every fiber of his being" and MC says she doesn't like that, rightfully so.

So like. There's SO MUCH to unpack in here.

When Rafayel says he finds inspiration in pain and that creation is a part of his life, he’s admitting something raw and essential about himself: pain isn’t just a byproduct of his art, it’s intrinsic to it. For Rafayel, pain and art are intertwined in a way that’s almost inseparable. It’s like his muse isn’t just beauty, but beauty that hurts.

But then he takes this further by connecting art to love. He’s realized that both art and love demand the same from him: vulnerability, passion, and sometimes suffering. They don’t necessarily complete him (he’s not romanticizing them as salvation), but they burn him, wear him down, consume him (coincidentally, this is something he said to MC in the JP dub of this memory, that she consumes him), but also give him life. And for Rafayel, that’s the crux, even if they burn him, he wants them with every fiber of his being.

This is such a Rafayel thing to say. It’s dramatic, it’s tortured, but it’s also deeply SUBTLE. He doesn't spell all of these out, mind you, I got a headache trying to understand him. Or I'm just slow, I don't know. It shows how much he values creation and connection, even if they come at a cost.

MC, on the other hand, challenges this perspective. When she says she doesn’t like that he views love and art as things that burn him, she’s pushing back against the idea that suffering is a necessary part of creation, or love. MC doesn’t want Rafayel to see their relationship as something that requires him to hurt. She’s telling him, “You don’t have to destroy yourself to love me.”

When MC says, “You’ll never have to burn for me,” she’s giving Rafayel an alternative to his destructive mindset. She’s saying that love doesn’t have to hurt, that their relationship can exist without him sacrificing himself on the altar of passion. It’s a refusal to let Rafayel romanticize pain as the price of love.

And I love that Rafayel goes, "Will you help me look for other parts in life outside of pain?" in response. This is NOT about art or inspiration anymore, and the way the dialogue is written is just AUGH. Again I had to rewatch this over and over again for the nuances and subtext.

I love MC's response, she knew exactly what to say. “I’ll always be the one who walks along the shore with you. Of course, diving into the sea bed is fine too. If it can snow in the desert, there will be a day when the ocean returns.”

MC’s response is layered with metaphors, but at its core, it’s about unwavering support and hope::

Walking along the shore: This represents safety and companionship. MC is saying she’ll be with Rafayel in the calm, in the moments where they’re just observing life without diving into its depths. She’ll be his steady presence, his grounding force.

Diving into the sea bed: This is an acknowledgment that life and love sometimes require going deeper and they may go through hardships, into the unknown, the murky, the challenging. MC isn’t afraid of this, she’s willing to go there with him too.

Snow in the desert and the ocean’s return: This is a symbol of hope and transformation beyond being a nod to The Sea of Golden Sand. Snow in the desert seems impossible, just like the idea of Rafayel finding inspiration outside of pain might feel impossible to him. But MC believes in the extraordinary, in change, and in the possibility that beauty and creation can exist outside of suffering.

Her words are a promise: she’s willing to stand by him, to face the unknown together, and to hold onto the belief that a new way of seeing the world is possible.

And Rafayel LOWKEY PROPOSES IN RETURN.

By saying “let’s watch the sea together,” he’s accepting MC’s offer of companionship and hope in the long run. He’s recognizing that life doesn’t have to be about diving into the depths alone, it can be about sharing the experience with someone else, even if it’s just standing on the shore and watching.

“Every sea”: This phrase is key. Rafayel isn’t just committing to one kind of life or one kind of inspiration, he’s opening himself up to all possibilities. Watching every sea means embracing all facets of life, whether they’re calm or turbulent, painful or beautiful. It’s a marriage proposal declaration that he’s ready to explore the world beyond pain, with MC by his side.

So. I love that his inspiration returns after his freak is accepted by MC because he literally feels the acceptance through the bond.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. This memory DRAINED me. They were just supposed to bang what the fuck happened. Why did I have to go treasure hunting to find what was going on in this card. anyway...

[blairxbear]

Stranger Things Preferences

Their Pet Name for you.

(Featuring: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Billy Hargrove, Jonathan Byers, Dmitri Antonov, Jim Hopper, Alexei, Murray Bauman, Robin Buckley, Argyle, Henry/001)

Warnings: Mentions of sex. This blog is 18+ Minors do not interact.

A/N: My first preference! There will be quite a few of these across quite a few fandoms so if you'd like to be tagged in future preferences or future stranger things posts please let me know in the comments! :) Also any Russian is taken straight from google translate so pre-apologies if I have butchered it! Enjoy!

Steve Harrington

Steve keeps his pet names quite generic, baby, babe, sweetheart. It's not so much the names he uses but how he says them. Most of the time he's most comfortable using the shortened version of your name or nickname he has for you, but the amount of affection he would put into it would make you melt. If he's being especially flirtatious you'd even occasionally get doll. He doesn't miss the effect it has on you when he calls you that.

Eddie Munson

Eddie is as theatrical with his pet names as he is with anything else in life. He loves to call you princess, especially during Hellfire meetings when he can incorporate you into his campaign. I think Eddie would switch between a few pet names to try to keep it interesting, baby, sunshine, sweetheart. It doesn't matter what he calls you it never fails to give you butterflies. Let's not pretend that if you two are hanging out in his trailer while you joke around and play air guitar together that he doesn't call you his little Rockstar.

Billy Hargrove

Billy's pet names for you depend on two things; his mood, and who you are around. In public you're only getting the less heartfelt pet names, he refers to you as his girl a lot in front of other people. Not only does he love the small smile it brings to your face but it also feeds into his possessive side, knowing that everyone knows you are his. When you two are alone and have been together for a while, Billy finally shoes a softer side of himself. He will compliment you a lot and attach all sort of pet names to those compliments, baby, sugar, sweet thing, still loving to resort to calling you his girl. You're mad at him and he's trying to make it up to you? Get ready for him to bargain his way back into your arms, wrapping his arms around you as he whispers in your ear, "Come on sweetheart, you know you can't stay mad at me."

Jonathan Byers

This soft, shy, adorable baby will probably be hesitant to use pet names for a long time. I honestly doubt you would hear them until you two begin to get intimate and he's too lost in the moment to think about what he's saying. He's pussy drunk and rambling into your neck, pet names would all be soft and sweet while he's chasing his high, beautiful and sweetheart would be at the top of his list. Getting high in his room? This sweet man would be telling you how you're his sunshine, rambling on in his delirium about how you light up his life.

Dmitri Antonov

While this man's English is very good, he still prefers to use pet names in Russian. There's something about the way he looks at you with his intense gaze as he slips back into his native tongue that just turns you into an absolute puddle. His favourites include котенок (kitten) and моя любовь (my love). The thought of this man holding you while you curl up in bed for the night, arms wrapped around you while he whispers endearing words in Russian into your ear is enough to bring butterflies to your stomach.

Jim Hopper

Let's not pretend like for a goooooooood while this man affectionately refers to you as kid even if you are barely a few years younger than him. He's a tough shell of a man that will refuse to open up or show his feelings for a long time, but when he does you realise its worth the wait. He doesn't throw around pet names and words of endearment a lot as he prefers to save them for moments when he feels it's right. When it's just the two of you and you're sharing a soft moment, sometimes referring to you as darling in his softer moments. Occasionally you might even get a cheeky baby.

Alexei

Another Russian baby, this adorable man will always call you pet names in Russian, it doesn't matter how much his English has improved. It just means more to him coming from his native tongue. His regular go to include голубь (Dove) and милый (Darling). Although, Murray taught him how Americans us Pumpkin as a term of endearment as a way to screw with you both and now it's one of Alexei's favourite things to call you. Jokes on Murray because seeing Alexei's face light up as he reaches for you and calls you pumpkin is enough to fall even more in love with him.

Murray Bauman

I feel like Murray cannot find it in himself to call you soft names to start off with. He's still confused by the fact that you even want to be with him, he's not going to possibly embarrass himself further using some pet names that might cross some invisible line he's set up for himself. He refers to as lady a lot, or another unique name that fits your looks of personality. Once this man is comfortable and more secure in your relationship I think the names would still stay light and not too sensitive. You would definitely get honey a lot, I don't think Murray would be able to resist yelling through the house when he gets home, "Honey, I'm home!"

Robin Buckley

Robin would also keep her pet names generic just like her bestie Steve, but less out of originality and more just to play it safe. Robin would have some insecurities going into a relationship after all the careful steps she took just to get to where you two are now. She is hesitant at first to say the wrong thing so she sticks to a lot of sweetheart and babe. One day you were spending time together and she slipped up and called you buttercup. She panicked for a second worrying what you would think of the nickname, but seeing your smile wiped all of those worries away and it became one of her favourite pet names so far.

Argyle

Okay so we all know this cutie is not going to call you any conventional pet names unless he's sober which is not very often. You're going to get a lot of my dude and bro but he does really mean it affectionately with you. Other than that you're definitely going to get a lot of made up names that mean absolutely nothing but to him they mean a lot; wicked lady, cream puff, anything. He would totally refer to you as "my queen" when he lets you into the van which he refers to as your chariot. Your favourite pet name would be the time he said, "My pretty girl is gonna get all the pizza she wants" he couldn't understand your reaction as you couldn't think of what to say next after hearing Argyle call you his pretty girl.

Henry/001

I whole heartedly believe this man would refer to you as pet. He does mean it endearingly but he also can't resist how you scrunch your nose up at hearing the teasing term. He also uses a lot of "My little..." whether it be bird, bunny, dove. He constantly feels the need to protect you and he shows that in his terms of endearment by referring to you as small and innocent. I know this man would call you his good girl, and you will have to pry that thought out of my cold dead hands.

A/N: Hope you guys like this! Reminder that if you want to be tagged in future Stranger things posts or other preferences to let me know in the comments and ill create a tags list :)

[unforth]

As I deepen my study with Chinese, the more I'm struck by how word meanings work. The monolingual USAdians I know or encounter online, who studied only as much as needed to get through school, really do seem to think languages are plug and play: know the word in both languages, and swap.

But that couldn't be further from the truth. There's on Chinese word, 稳当 (wĕn dang), that's really struck me for that. Because my flashcards give three translations for 稳当: reliable, secure, and stable. And in English these words are all fairly different! Clearly related but very much do not mean the same thing. How can one Chinese word mean these three different concepts? Well, of course, it doesn't. 稳当 means 稳当, some fusion of those three concepts we have words for in English but not quite any of them, that makes it appropriate to use in places where English would use any of those three. There are surely shades of meaning, and which interpretation of the meaning is most appropriate to a given context will be understood upon reading.

Now, expand this understanding - that a word doesn't mean (exact direct swap in English) but rather the word means the word, and we approximate it to the closest English equivalent we can - to *every single word in every single sentence in an entire book.*

Then translate that book.

Translation is an art, not a science, requiring tremendous verisimilitude in *both* languages, and an understanding of the story, and a deep familiarity with the culture (social, historical, linguistic, etc.) of the original work, and often knowledge of the authors intent (if possible to ascertain), and a range of other skills. Translation will always be interpretive and transformative, because (word in one language) doesn't precisely mean (word in another language). They're not "the same." If I present you a sentence with 稳当 in it, does it mean stable, reliable, or secure? Well that depends. On what? How it's being used, the surrounding context, other factors, and of course... the reader or translators interpretation.

It drives me insane when I see people present alternate translations as some kind of "gotcha" that one translator got things wrong. And don't get me wrong - of course some translations ARE just wrong, obviously if I translate 稳当 to mean "goldfish" I'm not interpreting I'm just incorrect. But beyond obvious mistakes, a world of nuance exists, and different translators can in good faith reach different conclusions on the most appropriate translation. This is WHY famous books not in English get translated repeatedly by different people, and why a reader would want to read multiple translations of the same work - to see, in different translations, some shadow of the wonderful nuance embodied by the original words that do not, and cannot, simply be swapped 1 to 1 for a perfect English translation. And this is *especially* true of a language like Chinese, which is ancient and beautiful and deeply steeped in understandings of Chinese history and literature.

Why do you think I and many others are studying Chinese for years? For me, it's all so I can read the actual books myself and get that much closer to the story, that much closer to my own interpretation. I'll never have the skills of a knowledgeable translator - this isn't my profession, it's my hobby - but I'll gleen things nonetheless and it's important to me to try.

Too many of yall disrespect those skills so much that you'll throw a sentence of a language you know nothing about into Google translate and then declare the translator Wrong (and sometimes Bad and Malicious) based on that.

稳当 means 稳当. It doesn't mean "reliable." It doesn't mean "the exact translation of 稳" plus "the exact translation of 当". It's a Chinese word with a Chinese definition that we retrofit English on to.

And the hardest part? Look, I'm still a Chinese novice. For all I fucking know, 稳当 actually MIGHT have three distinct definitions. Everything I said about it above might be wrong. I don't know enough Chinese yet to know for sure, and that's a level of nuance and understanding I'll only reach by reading more.

Multiply that by *every single word in both the original language and the language it's being translated into.*

That's what translation is.

Good luck.

[thatnonameuser]

Hi!! Good morning, good afternoon or good night depending on when you read this.

First of all, I want to clarify that I am not very good at English 🥲. It's not my native language, so I'll use Google translator in some parts.

I wanted to ask what it would be like to have a very kind, loving and carefree darling in Yandere TW.

For example:

When the teachers talk about yanderes and darlings in class, our MC just thinks it's a joke, no matter how weird it may be.

When Ace suddenly appears in MC's bedroom, at the night, instead of welcoming him worried and trembling with fear (and with a knife), she welcomes him with open arms and even accep Ace offer to sleep next to her and Grim, even though they would be very cramped and probably uncomfortable.

Or being a sweet pea with every yandere in the Au just, because, yes? Even when the boys show very notable toxic, manipulative and sadistic tendencies that can harm, directly or indirectly, other people, or even worse, her self.

I really appreciate you reading this and just respond if you want. I don't want to bother.

I almost forgot to say it, but I love your Yandere TW stories.

It was night time when I got this, and firstly, thank you so much and don't worry I love to answer these.

I'll make this an imagine, so I hope you enjoy it.

TW: Drugging, aphrodisiacs

Imagine.....

This world is a little strange, but you're in a whole new world so, why should you judge? Sure, it's a little strange, but it has to be a joke. Right?

This is a villain school, right? This is all just to teach them to do that. New world, new rules. There's nothing wrong. Nothing to be afraid of.

Sure. Ace got into your room through the window in the middle of the night, but he was kicked out of his dorm and had nowhere to go. A little desperation is understandable.

"Hey, _____ Lemme stay with you, I'm real slim. I won't take up much space~" Oh, of course you said, yes. What were you going to do, let him sleep outside? He's your friend, friends have sleepovers sometimes. Yeah, you were forced to cuddle in real close to both fit, but it was considering how cold, it was a little body heat was nice.

Sure, you felt his hands get a little close in places, or him holding you too tight in others. But he was sleeping and the bed was already a tight fit.

There was nothing to worry about.

So when Trey offered you a variety of sweet-smelling and delicious-looking tarts....

"I accidentally made too many, ____ would you like some?" Once again, you said yes. Free food, by a baker that made such delicious desserts when cheap ol Crowley refused to give you anything fast, how could you say no? He was just being nice!

Sure, a good half hour after you ate them you started to feel very, very warm. So warm that your clothes became stifling. So warm that your skin felt like it was on fire. So warm that you needed to kick Grim out of your room so that you could relieve the burn. But maybe you were just pent up? You never did feel like that before.

There was nothing to worry about.

So when Jack frequently started offering you and then covering you with his jacket, regardless of whether or not you asked.....

"Put this on."

"Why?"

"Just keep it on." You didn't object, didn't stop it from happening. The weather was getting colder, maybe he was just covering you with it because he thought you were cold, it was autumn and soon it would be winter. He was just being nice.

Sure, it eventually progressed to him touching you more and more, keeping at it until you smelled vaguely of his cologne. And yeah, while it really annoyed Leona and Ruggie, it kept the other beastmen away from you.

There's nothing to worry about.

So when you got into a scuffle that ended with Leona leaving a large bite mark meant to be permanently planted in the back of your neck for all to see.

"Oi, Herbivore don't cover my mark." You did as he said and moved on. It was just a coincidence that after Jack and Ruggie saw it they got very mad. Or the Octavinelle trio. But again it was just a coincidence.

There's nothing to worry about.

So when Floyd squeezed you so tight that your ribs felt like snapping and he wouldn't let go no matter how much you begged him to.

So when you suddenly felt sick after eating whatever Jade prepared for you, which was conveniently when you were spending time with people that were not him.

So when Azul offers you contract after contract, that are meant to tie you to him forever.

So when Kalim gave you gift after gift. Each more expensive than the last. Jewellery, Clothes, Food, and more all exotic or ridiculously expensive. And he'd keep giving them no matter how much you refused.

So when you blanked out mid conversation with Jamil, and woke up, with a headache and no memory of why there was a snake bracelet around your bicep.

So when Epel gets into fights with the delinquents that bother you, beating the life out of them and coming to you to treat whatever injuries he gets. Fights he gets into no matter how many times Vil punishes him for them.

So when things go missing from your room, especially on the days you meet Rook, especially some of your more personal belongings.

So when after the afternoons Vil takes to 'polish' the apple he considers you to be

So when you start to find some hidden cameras in your room after

So when Malleus gave you that necklace charm that you couldn't take off no matter how hard you pulled.

So when Silver visits your dreams, saving you from your nightmares and trying to serenade you while you slept.

So when Sebek, even with his clear dislike of humans, treats you like you're so fragile that he doesn't even consider leaving you alone.

Your conclusion is always the same.

They were just being nice.

You were overeacting.

Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

[yumeka-sxf]

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 1

This is a post series I've been planning for a while and I've finally had the time to complete part 1! 😃 I may have mentioned here before that I got my B.A. in Japanese/East Asian Studies, and even though I'm not fluent, I know the linguistics of the language fairly well. So I thought it would be fun to examine the interesting aspects of the Japanese version of the SxF manga that aren't reflected in the English translation. It might also be an informative experience for those who don't know any Japanese to learn a bit about the language through SxF! I'll try not to get too technical with the linguistics and keep my explanations at a beginner's level.

-----

Part 1 - Twilight's "honne and tatemae"

One of the main themes in SxF is how many of the characters have secrets they want to hide, so they act a certain way in front of others in order to mask their true selves. Japanese has a word for this phenomena called 本音と建前 ("honne and tatemae").

I remember learning about the concept of "honne and tatemae" during my Japanese college studies – a quick google search will yield a lot of publications on the topic and its relation to Japanese culture in particular. While the idea of hiding one's true intentions behind a fake facade can exist anywhere and is not something unique to Japan, it is enough of an occurrence in Japanese culture that there are specific words for it. The Wiki article has a basic but good definition of honne and tatemae, to quote:

A person's honne may be contrary to what is expected by society or what is required according to one's position and circumstances, and they are often kept hidden, except with one's closest friends. Tatemae is what is expected by society and required according to one's position and circumstances, and these may or may not match one's honne. In many cases, tatemae leads to outright telling of lies in order to avoid exposing the true inward feelings.

Sounds very much like the characters in SxF, doesn't it? Twilight especially, because unlike other characters like Yor and Anya, who simply have secrets they need to keep but don't create fake personas for themselves, Twilight does – the cheerful, friendly Loid Forger is a different person from the cold, calculating Twilight after all. Also unlike Yor and Anya, who speak the same way consistently no matter who they're talking to, Twilight uses different speech levels depending on which persona he's using and who he's talking to.

There are many different levels of speech in Japanese, ranging from super formal to totally crude. These speech levels are distinguished mostly by the pronouns the speaker chooses to use for themselves and who they're speaking to, as well as how they choose to conjugate the words they use. For example, 座ってください (suwatte kudasai), 座って (suwatte,) and 座れ (suware) all mean "sit," as in, telling someone to sit down. But the tone being conveyed is different: the first one is polite, the second one is casual, and the last one could be seen as rude if you're not using it with a close friend/family member.

As Twilight, he uses casual speech with the masculine and less polite pronoun 俺 or オレ (ore). This is the speech he uses when talking to a fellow spy like Fiona, and for his own inner thoughts.

As Loid Forger, he uses the polite 敬語 (keigo) speech, which is basically comprised of using the -ます (-masu) conjugation for verbs and the "to be" verb です (desu). He also uses the pronoun ボク or 僕 (boku), which is the standard male pronoun and more polite than "ore." He uses keigo to address pretty much everyone who doesn't know his true identity. When talking to a higher-up like Sylvia, he'll still use "ore" but will use polite speech instead of casual speech.

Anya is an exception to this: with her, he uses his most casual speech, the same as he uses with Franky.

I discussed a bit about this in part 24 of my Twiyor analysis posts, but this could be because Anya is a little kid, so he doesn't feel the need to put on any airs with her (same with Bond, whom he also uses casual speech with).

An interesting side note is that, as a child, Twilight used the pronoun "boku" but then changed to "ore" as soon as he became an adult/soldier.

Another aspect of keigo, besides using the more polite forms of pronouns and verb conjugations, is putting the honorific さん (san) after people's names. Twilight does this all the time with Yor, as she does with him. However, he switches to casual speech and drops the "san" part in her name when addressing her in front of people who (supposedly) believe they're a real married couple, such as Yuri and Fiona – because it would be weird for a real couple who have been married for a year to address each other in such a formal way, especially the husband. In the below panel when Fiona visits them, he's calling her "Yor" instead of "Yor-san" and using casual speech instead of keigo.

Oddly in these situations, while he uses just "Yor" when addressing her directly, he still calls her "Yor-san" when talking about her. During Yuri's first visit for example, he calls her "Yor-san" when telling Yuri how much Anya loves her (talking to someone about her) but then calls her just "Yor" a few moments later when telling her that he'll clean up the spill (talking to her directly). It's strange to me that he wouldn't just consistently use "Yor" whether he's talking to her or about her in these situations...I'm honestly not sure if he does this intentionally or if he just slips up since he's so used to using "Yor-san" in her presence.

*UPDATE* Thank you to @dentedintheworld-blog for enlightening me with the below reply about this!

"In Japanese, when speaking to your spouse's family about your spouse, you address her/him by attaching "san" her/his name out of respect for her/his family. This is also to show her/his family that you respect your spouse. That's why Loid calls Yor with san when he talks about how much he loves Yor to Yuri."

That definitely makes sense for why Twilight switches between "Yor" and "Yor-san" in these situations.

Regardless, this is why the scene in chapter 86 is so significant – when Yor isn't present, there's no reason for him to refer to her as "Yor-san," especially in front of a fellow spy like Fiona who knows he (supposedly) shouldn't have any feelings for her. Yet, even after he just called Yuri by his full name "Yuri Briar" a moment before, he doesn't do the same for Yor and continues to call her "Yor-san" here, much to Fiona's dismay.

In the same chapter, it's also significant that he uses "ore" when addressing Yor directly in his thoughts. Even though he's not speaking out loud, I believe this is the first time he's speaking directly "to" her as Twilight and/or his true self and not as Loid Forger.

But despite all this, I think that both Loid Forger and Twilight are tatemae…they're both masks to hide the person he truly is. The person who fondly talked about his mother to Yor on the park bench, the person who genuinely expressed gratitude for her sacrifice when leaving the resort island, the person who refused to kill Yuri in a life-or-death struggle because he knew it would hurt her…that's his actual honne. But of course, the ongoing conflict of the series is that he has yet to realize this. He won't even show his honne to his closest friend, Franky. Seems like it mostly comes out in dribs and drabs during his interactions with Yor...no surprise there, lol. The man is certainly a work in progress. When he finally starts letting his "honne" show, I'm curious what form of speech he'll adopt.

-----

Continue to Part 2 ->

[distantdarlings]

CRY TO ME // t. nott

RATING: R / 2.1K WORDS

Theodore Nott x Fem Reader Insert

+ SUMMARY - (1960s AU) (Based on this) When Theodore Nott, the best dancer at one of the top clubs in the Wizarding World, loses his dance partner, he asks you to take her place. However, he pushes you too far and you quickly become overwhelmed.

+ WARNINGS - SMUT! (PIV), unprotected sex, kissing, language, inexperienced!reader, sub!reader, dom!theo, brief mention of masturbation, small amount of angst at beginning, fem reader, bad Google translate, not fully proofread (please lmk if I missed any)

+ MUSIC (listened to while writing) -

Cry To Me - Solomon Burke

A/N: Okay so here’s that Dirty Dancing inspired idea I had. I know it’s kind of a weird mixture but I want to see what you guys think, so please lmk below!!!

- - -

“So, why? Why can’t we do the dance this way?” you demanded, pressing your hands to your hips.

“Because the performance is in two days! We’ve rehearsed it like this the whole time!” Theo shouted back, his face becoming red with anger.

You groaned in frustration, pressing your hands to your face. The sweat slipped through your fingers and down your arms. The two of you had been at it for 4 hours, practicing like your lives depended on it.

Your second to last performance of the season was approaching quickly, as was the end of summer. The two of you couldn’t come to a conclusion about what the finishing move was going to be.

You had argued back and forth for weeks trying to decide what was going to knock the rest of the performers off of their feet, and ensure the two of you would be the main entertainment for the rest of the season. Only that would pay yours and his bills.

You’d been partners since the beginning of summer, when the two of you had first met. You’d had no prior dancing experience and had been absolutely terrified to take on the challenge of dancing with Theodore Nott. One of the best dancers you’d ever seen.

The club you agreed to dance with Theo for had been threatening to drop you for another set of partners. They were better, faster, more qualified, but you’d promised Theo that you’d help him keep his job with this club.

But right now, you felt as though he was expecting too much of you. You’d promised you’d be his dancing partner for the rest of the season only to keep him his job. You didn’t agree to become one of the best young dancers on the scene. You weren’t good enough. Theo was, however. And he was expecting too much from you.

“Theo, I told you I’d help you keep your job. When your dance partner backed out, I stepped up to help you immediately. But I told you from the beginning, I’m not a professional dancer. I’m nowhere close to you or even your old dance partner. I’m just me! I’m telling you—I don’t think I can do this move!”

Angry tears had begun to cascade down your face. At the sight of your emotions, Theo seemed to pause and drop his defensive boundaries. His rage seemed to stutter.

“I didn’t—I’m sorry,” he whispered, stepping closer to you. You shook your head and turned away from him, so angry you couldn’t see straight through the tears or your fury.

“I’m sorry…I’ve pushed you too far,” he said. “How about we take a break?”

You sighed, covering your face out of embarrassment. You didn’t want to cry in front of him. You wanted to finish the damn dance and move on.

“Amore,” he whispered, his voice rattling through the air. Your breath shuddered as he reached for you once more, trying to comfort you. The tips of his fingers brushed against your arm. Somewhat awkwardly, he tried to comfort you. Yet the way he spoke, and the way he touched you, led you to want more than his comfort.

Since the two of you had started dancing together, you couldn’t ignore the obvious attraction you felt for him and the tension that often hung through the air between the two of you.

“What does that mean?” You breathed, refusing to meet his eyes.

“What?” he chuckled quietly.

“Amore,” you responded. “What does that mean?”

“It means ‘love.’” You gasped slightly at his words.

When you finally met his eyes, he grabbed your hand and pulled you toward the back of the practice studio.

Behind the studio was a small building where Theo was allowed to stay while he was performing with the club—it had been part of his contract. He led you through the door.

His room was dark and smelled slightly of tobacco smoke. He walked past the fireplace and further into the room. You could feel his fingers unfurl from yours as he cast a small incantation toward the small candelabra in the corner. it was bronzed and quite plain but the boy it illuminated was cut like David.

Theo turned and walked toward you, stopping just before your body. His softly carved fingers traced slowly up your arms. Though you wore a long-sleeved shirt, you could still feel his fingertips through the material. Shocks went down your spine.

He pressed his hand tightly against the small of your back. You recognized this position as the one that he had done while you were dancing just moments before.

Your hips melded against his as he let you fall back against the brace of his arm. Your eyes fluttered shut as you allowed the dark boy to support you with full trust. You sighed as your back craned against Theo’s arm. He dipped you once before pulling you back up. You smiled slightly, allowing your hands to place themselves on Theo’s chest.

It was endearing how Theo seemed to incorporate dance into everything. He was a dancer, that much was clear, but you weren’t. You’d never taken any classes but the way Theo moved your body within his hands made you feel as if you’d always known what to do. Like you’d always felt the rhythm that Theo kept in his body.

He pulled you as close against him as you would go. Your lips trembled as the tall boy leaned you back once again, molding his blushed lips against your neck. You weren’t sure how you felt about this, feeling this boy's touch and wanting more. If your parents knew, they'd murder you but this was your way of rebelling against them. You knew that they'd hate you but you didn't care.

"K—" you breathed out, your chest shuddering beneath the pressure of his closeness.

"What?" Theo asked, his eyes flickering up to yours, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

You looked into his eyes, wanting nothing more than to fall into them. You wanted to feel the brunette's arms wrapped around you and his cold lips on your chest. You wanted to feel the strings of his heart wrap tightly around your throat and suffocate you.

"Kiss me."

Theo exhaled shakily and, without another moment, pressed his lips to yours, holding your face in place with his gentle fingers. Within a breath, you wrapped your arms around his neck, attempting to be closer to him in any way possible.

You felt his hands fall away from your back and slip beneath the underside of your thighs. A gasp slipped from your lips as Theo lifted you off the ground and pressed your back to the wall. The feeling of the wood behind you and his soft body before you made you shudder with delight.

The boy’s lips melded perfectly with your own, allowing you to see that this is what you wanted. You didn't want to be constantly nagged at by your parents about finding a Ravenclaw man or a wealthy auror. You wanted Theo—this beautiful, Slytherin dancer.

You unwrapped your legs from his tight waist, placing your feet gently on the floor. You pushed Theo backwards and over to the lounge chair you’d seen when you first walked in. Theo fell down against it and allowed you to straddle his hips.

You pulled his lips back to yours, feeling the way the boy's chest pressed so beautifully against your own. A small moan slipped across your tongue at the taste of Theo’s lips.

He brought his fingers up to your hair, burying them within the soft strands. Your chest shuddered against his feelings.

Theo’s hands traveled down to your waist, pulling the hem of your training shirt out of the waistband of your skirt. You helped him slip it over your head.

Theo marveled at your body. Your skin was flawless beneath the white fabric, carved with the intricacies of an art form. He dragged his fingertips down your curves, reveling in the feeling of the soft flesh that blushed beneath his touch.

"You’re so beautiful," Theo whispered, his lips parted, a springtime blush painted across his cheeks and nose. His lips were a bit swollen from the pressure of yours.

Without another word, you pressed your lips back to Theo’s, allowing him to turn both of you over.

The small chair caused some issues with that but Theo quickly figured it out, getting to work on your skirt. His nimble fingers moved over the fabric like they were dancers themselves.

You watched his every movement, his chest elevating with each heavy breath. The brunette boy pressed his cold lips to your stomach.

A gasp escaped you at the sudden change in temperature. Your fingers wrapped in Theo’s hair just as he had done to yours.

Once your skirt was undone and slid down the length of your thighs, Theo slowly slid his pants down his legs. You helped him pull the firm material down and to the floor.

Though you both had waited for months to see each other, to touch each other, to love each other, you couldn’t wait another second now. It felt as though you’d miss out if you waited any longer. You were scared that Theo would slip through your fingers and you’d never feel his touch again.

“Can’t believe I waited this long,” Theo breathed against your flesh.

He kissed his way back up your chest, marveling at the roving dips and curves. Your hands which were still tucked within his hair led his head back up to yours. Your lips locked together once more with a fervor that left the both of you—inexperienced and experienced—utterly breathless.

The brunette boy's hands traveled down between the two of you, his pale fingers tracing down your abdomen. His hands slipped gently between the fabric of your undergarments and your flesh.

You moaned against Theo’s lips at the contact he was applying to the core of your body. His hands gently teased the your most sensitive areas, smirking against your lips at the sounds he elicited from you. The sound was intoxicating to him.

The only thing you’d ever felt down there was the touch of your own hands, but now you wondered how you’d ever lived without his. He touched every aspect of your body perfectly—almost like he could read your mind and knew exactly what you wanted. Perhaps he was a Legilimens.

“Theo, I need you closer,” you breathed, just as his fingers had just begun to edge your inexperienced body over in on itself.

Without saying another word, he slid his briefs down his pants and ever so gently slid himself inside of you.

The foreign stretch pushed your face to the sky. Your lips opened wide, crying out in silent bliss. His hand gently brushed your hair away from your sweating face.

“So beautiful,” he sighed. “You feel just as I’d imagined.”

The thought of him imagining you and himself like this had you teetering on the edge of pleasure.

With him inside of you, claiming you as his, you imagined him after one of your heavy, tension-filled practices. Ones where he’d brush his fingers down your body a little slower, a little longer, a little softer than he had the last time…or ones where he’d let his breath fan across your neck when he was standing behind you…or ones where you’d touched yourself after the fact to relieve even half of the tension he forced into your body.

And with one final thrust against you, you came breathlessly over Theo, with him very close behind.

At the tightening of your muscles, he gripped the cushion above your head and released into you, pressing love and warmth into you over and over again. You clutched at his bare skin, begging for purchase on anything as he rode out his high into you, assaulting what little strength you had left.

You could barely see anything—not his gorgeous face above you screwed together in pleasure, not the metal ceiling of the building overhead, and not the black beginning to cloud at the edges of your vision.

“S-stop,” you barely muttered out.

Within a millisecond, he completely stopped his movements. His high had passed and so had yours.

“I’m sorry, tesoro,” Theo breathed, checking to make sure you were okay and desperately kissing your fingers. “I didn’t mean to push you too hard.”

“It seems you have a bit of knack for that, hmm?” you whispered, giggling just a bit.

As he realized you were joking, he relaxed just a bit, returning your lazy smile.

Theo was a hard man to keep up with, whether it was dancing, fucking, or just living, and you realized that. But for whatever reason, his intensity only exhilarated you, no matter if it left you in the dust sometimes.

“I will slow down for you, bella,” he spoke softly. “Resterò qui. I will stay here with you, my love. For as long as it takes…”

- - -

Tag List: @lilymurphy03 , @mypolicemanharryyy , @clairesjointshurt , @bunbunbl0gs , @acornacreacure, @niktwazny303 , @thestarlithideout , @sarahskakskskskajakwwnwjw , @yhiiil, @ravenclawprincess33, @xxrougefangxx , @thatblackthorn, @robinyx , @starsval , @jolly4holly , @blvebanisters , @chgrch, @abaker74

[dialoverswritesssx]

This is kind of curious, but I imagine that if the diaboys (specifically the Sakamaki Brothers) If they had a girlfriend who wasn't sent to them but instead lives alone in an apartment in the city, I can imagine them breaking into her house as if it were theirs. 😂 (yes, I know they would probably kidnap her to live with them)

for example:

Girlfriend: Why are you here? It's three in the morning.

Diaboys: you forgot the window open..

(Sorry if it was confusing, I'm getting it from the Google Translate)

YES! also i have everybodys asks oneshots on a03, im here still , but id rather die then have a regular posting schedule because then everybody would be too happy.

Sakamaki s/o that doesnt live with the sakamakis.. headcannons.

personal space...your personal space? Wrong i think you mean our , as in we ... as in our personal space-that we share...that you dont have.

SHU

He uses your apartment to sleep in.

youll come in from work and he'd be on the sofa or on the bed lying there like he owns the place

drops in nearly every day bro doesnt leave

it gets to a point where hes just too lazy to leave and its almost like hes living with you at this point

shu would never admit it but the best perk is coming into your apartment right after youve left the house , when your bedsheets still smell like you and the bed is still warm

REIJI

he tries to be polite with coming round to your house , but doesnt want to come off as clingy - if that makes sense.

so instead he dresses it up as hes coming over to look after you/the house

theres no warning of course- this man would rather put hot water and then the teabag in than get a mobile phone.

if you were to ask him , what are you doing here?. Imagine him phrasing the most out of case scenario to try justify why hes there but with the most fancy language so that it sounds sensible .eg( what if you get robbed...what if your house spontanously combusts?)

eventually it gets to a point where hed make you a cup of tea and point blank tell you that you are moving in with him ( he phrases it like a pros and cons list - with more pros than cons naturally)

problem solved.

AYATO

at your house at the most random hours.

you legit be sleeping and roll over and bump into ayato at full speed

he comes up with the most bullshit excuse out of any of them

i imagine that hed follow you around the house like a puppy - constantly trying to get your attention ( he wishes he had you as a captive audience - that wouldve been much easier.)

when he gets tired of it he just pick you up and takes you back to the sakamaki mansion , then it gets to a point where you just spend more time there anyway

LAITO

He would HATE to be seen as clingy

tries to guilt trip you into moving in with him with corny likes like "nfu bitch chan i missed you sooo much~~"

his favourite time to interrupt you would be when you are cooking/making meals for yourself ( because then he would have the excuse hes hungry - ho you are a vampire.)

would love sneaking around your house especially if you have pictures up of friends/family , he would use this snooping opportunity to get to "know" you better

youd be surprised but hed let you stay in your apartment because hed feel like hes not really in competition with any of his brothers and its a quiet safezone he could retreat to aswell.

however laito would keep a good handful of his familliars on your house.

SUBARU

doesnt know what to do or say...

when you first showed him your house , he liked how cosy it felt , not to mention it practically radiated you

he would go back to his cold, bleak mansion and start having strange dreams. That you were living together - away from his brothers and completely safe from makai. ( on rare occasions , hed even dream about a happy family)

he tried to restrain himself from coming around - so that he doesnt become too dependant on you - but he feels anxious , like somethings going to happen to you when you are alone

subaru would need assurance that hes allowed in your house and that you want him there

when hes in your house he tries to be useful and takes out of character care to not break anything

some nsfw asks next i fear.

[karaaaak]

More specter infodumping‼️🔥

Firstt, I wanna talk about my favorite specter design, Ada’s

(Random but I love the added detail that the border information thingy is different for each character)

I don’t have to much to say about it so I’m just gonna go ahead and list some things, some are speculation, some are just things I noticed

CW for some of these

Due to the fact that her limbs are separated in her specter (along with a couple other things I won’t go into) I pretty highly believe that Ada was dismembered after her murder. Mostly liking leaving her body unfound (either because it was unrecognizable or simply because nobody came looking for her

The fact that one of her abilities is her scream also ties in with the way she was murdered. It was planned. She was taken out to the woods/forest specifically, so it highly unlikely that anybody would or could hear her if she did or tried to scream for help

Her specters body seems to be growing moss which relates to the place she died, the forest. Same thing goes for the animal bones.

She seems to be able to summon her specter quickly when ordered too. I’m not to sure why this is. It could just be because without her specter she is “useless”, her specter makes her powerful, makes her wanted, something she isn’t used to being.

Going along with the previous one she quickly untransforms when asked to be someone she wants to appear as neat/good infront of, first Annabel, and later Morella. should be noted that she detansforms quicker when asked to my Morella, and was hypnotized at the time. This is most likely because of her fear of being seen as unladylike, unattractive, and/or disorganized.

Im not to sure what to add to that, I feel like Im forgetting some things but idk.

Next, I wanted to originally talk about Morella after Ada (totally not because I ship them and wanted to put them in the same post..) but I can’t find much on her specter, so unfortunately I’m doing Monty

Monty, is a Dybbuk, more specifically, a Son of Belial. Which is “a term occurring in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament which later became personified as the devil”

The Name itself comes from Hebrew and means multiple things depending of how it is translated. Some include “worthless, yokeless, may be have no rising, or never to rise”

In the Bible, Proverbs 16:27-29 (I think) to be more specific, read as follows:

“A man of Belial plots evil, and on their lips it is like a scorching fire. A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. A violent person entices their neighbor and leads them down a path that is not good”.

According to google “In the context of the Bible, "Belial" refers to wickedness, worthlessness, or something that is of no value. A "man of Belial" is someone who is evil and morally corrupt.”

Uhm, I’m not to sure what else to add, since I don’t pay too much attention to Monty’s specter in particular. I would encourage you to do some more on you own, since I can’t provide to much on him :P

If you have any feedback, tips, yada yada, pleaseee comment then, reblog, idc. 😭

[kuroposting]

Branching off this post a bit, specifically Sebastian as the big bad wolf, there was something I noticed from using google translate on chapter 107.

I cannot tell you if these are more accurate or not, I cannot read Japanese. I’m also fairly sure that there is no official translation of the special chapter following the murder arc, which is what I’m going to compare it to:

This part of Sebastian that seems genuinely impulsed to shield himself from these sorts of accusations and take pride (or at least find validation in?) the excuse that it’s all Ciel’s choice; Ciel knows his true nature, yet he still chooses to ally himself and depend on him anyway. I’ve never been able to decipher if it is Yana using Sebastian’s voice to tell the reader how we are supposed to understand their dynamic as a rule, or if it is truly Sebastian’s cope. She has said a couple of times that he is incapable of shame and he’s said that he’s incapable of emotions, and I don’t know, it could just be poor writing on her part- I never thought of him as having the same characterization as Ryuk from Death Note. He does not seem detached, and I don’t know why he has such a habit of being defensive or annoyed when he’s perceived as some sleaze with the qualities you’d expect from somebody who prides themselves on being, well, devilish.

It would be pretty boring if it turned out to just be Yana’s cope instead of Sebastian’s. For a manga that harps on Facing Truth vs Willful Ignorance to allow its most smug, nihilistic character to never be challenged with self reflection and still win in the end. I think Ciel has to constantly contend with it- more than even the readers have, since I still see the most popular takeaway from the Green Witch Arc to be “Sebastian doesn’t care, he only wants Ciel’s soul.” all these years later. I still have a post about that in my drafts that I’m struggling to condense. Basically, with themes like these, it’s all too reassuring to have a premise spelled out to you which 1. Gives you permission to victim-blame Ciel for the sake of having this premise and 2. Tells you point blank not to think twice about any of it’s characterizations, just take them at face value.

Rereading Chapter 35 on black-butler.net, there was a subtitle that I hadn’t seen before

I would appreciate it if anybody had more information on that, like if it was in the japanese version when it was originally published in square’s magazine, or something.

…

I think the true development is that Ciel continues to make strides in accepting himself and Sebastian for what they are, but that never has to dictate WHO they can become- what choices they can still make. Much like all of his servants and allies. No matter how far gone and irredeemable Ciel believes himself to be, he is still giving orders like this:

He is not descending into the depths of depravity, his humanity has resilience. It continues to expand, beyond his capabilities of even the earliest chapters. So much that it even extends to Sebastian.

Which I don’t expect to be something that Sebastian has no appreciation of. Going back to where I started, with chapter 107, some humility and compassion was all Sebastian was asking for.

[miguelsslvt]

SO AFTER READING your ... Miguel smut 😩✊ which is so freaking good and I wanted to ask if you can make an bodyguard/brat tramer !Miguel x FM/sassybrat!reader PLS I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE PLS SMUT please I'm on my knee on this idea like pls imagine Miguel trying n to do his job but FMbrat!reader wouldn't stay put and bend her over any surface and GO ABOUSTLY *Feral*ON her not giving READER ANY BREAK ! ONLY making her an moaning MESS while SAYING such thing like

"Oh? ..f-fu..So... This will shu-fu-ck!~....You so tight huh? You like when.!-.. I treat you like a...~!*fucking*slut" *"Mis extremas*" ( I use Google translate I'm so sorry if it wrong pls correct me I am!😭)

🗣🗣🗣🗣😩😩✊I CANT I NEED THIS PLS GURLL!.mother I love your writing🙌

(Im definitely a normal think about this man ,Miguel ohara)

bodyguard! brat tamer! miguel x brat! reader smut

word count: 445

TW: hugely nsfw, hair pulling, overstimulation, creampie.

A/N: SWEETHEART I FEEL YOU!! i was so excited to do this request because as a brat myself, i love this concept so much. brat tamer miguel has my heart djhisdjdgkl!! anyways, welcome to the club! ^^

god, did you regret not listening to his warning sooner. you were in the kitchen, whining as usual.

'no! i don't want to go see my dad!!' 'y/n your father wants to make sure y-' 'i don't care! who are you for me to listen to!? you aren't anyone special!' you whined. god, you were such a princess.

--------------------

'still not anyone special am i, sweetheart? because i-.. ay coño... i think i'm the one fucking you so hard you can't focus right now.~' he said behind your ear, as you held onto the kitchen counter for dear life. you were a moaning mess, eyes rolled back as miguel relentlessly plowed his way into you.

'aww poor princess.. can't even process a single word other then my name hm?~' he teased, pulling your hair back as you let out a squeal. 'm-miguel!! p-lease~ g-gonna-' 'oh no no muñeca.. only good girls get to cum. and i don't think you've been good have you?' he mocked, as you moaned in response, drool spilling from your mouth. miguel let out a light chuckle.

'aw look at you, you're lucky your dad let me to take care of you, hm? i wonder what he would think if he saw you like this.. all blabbering nonsense as your bodyguard fucks some sense into you~'

god, you couldn't feel anything. you were close, so close. but you knew that if you'd cum, miguel would make this so much worse then it had to be. even though you liked a challenge, you couldn't even form words to think right now, let alone another punishment.

'i-i'll b-be g-good! i-i swear!' you cried out, a moaning mess as tears and drool fell down your face, down to your neck. your hair stuck onto your forehead, as the restr was held by miguel's strong hand, where his other was on your hip, guiding you deeper onto his 9 inches.

'good? yeah? you'll be good for me muñeca?' he panted, feeling his climax arising. 'm-mhm!! y-yes- m-miguel ple-ase!~' you moaned out, as he let go of your hair and started to play with your clit.

you were practically chanting 'yes, please, miguel' as if your life depended on it. 'g-gonna..! i- m-miguel-' 'shh.. cum for me sweetheart, i know i know, you've been too good for me to not let you cum.' he said, as with that, you broke.

as your pussy spasmed around his cock, miguel let out a loud groan as he came moments after you, filling you. you gasped for air, as he panted with you.

wait, didn't your dad request to see you earlier? is that a knock on the door?!

[sergeantbarnessdoll]

helloo, english is not my first language and i'm using google translate but I hope you can understand, Idk if you're still taking requests, but I have one if you do have some time. could you do one where the reader notices signs of emotional dependence and tries to help him with that? after everything Bucky has been through, it's normal to find refuge in his girlfriend but it ended up being too much. thank you, and please feel free to ignore if this is too much, i can understand 💖💖

Lean On Me » Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier

Pairings: Boyfriend!Bucky Barnes x Girlfriend!Reader

Summary: You notice Bucky having signs of emotional dependency and you try to help him with it.

Warnings: Fluff, language, nightmares, kissing, pet names

A/N: Thank you to the lovely anonymous person who requested this🩵

Written on my phone. My apologies for any mistakes.

Header made by @buckys-wintersoldier

GIF IS NOT MINE! Credit goes to the creator.

You and Bucky have been close with each other since you two started dating. You and him are always loving and affectionate to each other, but now lately. You noticed something off about Bucky. At first, you thought he was just tired so you didn’t think much of it, but now you think it’s something else. Sometimes he’s clingy and sometimes he’s not. He also wasn’t as talkative as he normally is lately.

The bedroom was filled with silence. You sat on the bed, watching your boyfriend got ready for bed. You were doing more observing than watching.

“Are you ok?” You asked him, breaking the silence.

Bucky looked at you for a few seconds before nodding his head yes. He got in bed next to you and got comfortable. He always holds you when he’s in bed with you, but he didn’t this time. You assumed that he wanted some space so you gave it to him.

A few hours later, you heard mumbling and felt moving next to you. You reached over and turned the bedside lamp on and turned to face Bucky. His eyebrows were furrowed and a thin layer of sweat covered his forehead.

“Bucky…” You gently shook him. “Wake up. You’re dreaming.” You say.

Bucky’s eyes opened and he quickly sat up, breathing heavily. You put your hand on his back, rubbing his back to help him calm down. He jumped slightly at the feeling of your hand on his back and moved away. You pulled your hand away from him to give him some space.

“I’m going to get you some water, ok?” You say softly.

Bucky nodded. You got out of bed and went to the kitchen to get him some water and went back to yours and his bedroom. You handed the water bottle to him. He took it from you and drank about half of it before putting the lid back on it. You sat down on the bed in front of him. Bucky looked down to avoid your gaze. You put your hand on his cheek, rubbing your thumb against his stubble.

“Feel better now?” You asked.

Bucky didn’t say anything. He just nodded. You laid back down next to him and turned off the bedside lamp. Bucky protective wrapped his arms around you and pulled you closer to him and fell back to sleep.

Over the next few days, you noticed that Bucky had been acting different. He was a little more clingy than usual, but also quiet. You wanted to ask him what’s wrong, but you didn’t want to upset him or make him mad. He’ll talk to you when he’s ready.

You walked in the living room and sat down next to Bucky on the couch. You expected him to wrap his arm around you and pull you closer to him like he normally does when you two are watching TV. You moved closer to him and laid your head on his shoulder.

“Doll?” Bucky speaks up after a few seconds.

“Yea, babe?” You asked, looking up at him.

“Can you move over a little please?” He asks.

“Oh, sure.” You say.

You didn’t think much of it and moved over to give him a little more space. You couldn’t help but wonder why he asked you to move over. That was the only thing on your mind for the rest of the night.

The next morning when you woke up, you rolled over to lay your arm across Bucky’s stomach, expecting him to be in bed next to you, but he wasn’t. You opened your eyes and lifted your head, pouting when Bucky wasn’t there. You rubbed your eyes and stretched before getting out of bed. You assumed he was either in the living room or kitchen so you checked those rooms, but he wasn’t there. You then realized that he was at work so you texted him before going on with your day.

You: I hope you have an amazing day at work. I love you🩵

You didn’t expect him to text you back right away, because he was most likely busy in a meeting or training for a mission.

When Bucky came home later that day, you immediately greeted him at the door. You hugged him and stood on your tippy toes to give him a kiss his lips. Bucky turned his head to the side and you ended up kissing his cheek. You frowned and looked at him.

“Are you ok, baby?” You softly asked.

“Yea, I’m fine.” Bucky says more in a mumble.

Bucky unwrapped your arms from his waist and walked to the bedroom and went in the bathroom to take a shower. You just assumed that he’s tired and wanted to take a shower. You didn’t think much of it so you went to the living room to watch TV.

A little bit later, Bucky came out of the bedroom, wearing comfortable clothes and went to the living room and sat down next to you on the couch. You moved closer to him, snuggling yourself against his side. You didn’t miss the way Bucky moved away, which made you frown again. You sat up, sitting sideways on the couch so you were facing your boyfriend.

“What’s going on with you, Bucky?” You asked. “You’ve been acting different lately.” You say.

“I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong.” Bucky answers.

You could tell that there was something on his mind by the way he was talking.

“I’m your girlfriend. You can tell me anything.” You said. “Please tell me so I can help you.” You say pleadingly.

Bucky sighs and rubs his hands over his face before saying anything.

“I- it’s just- work has been hard this week is all.” He says.

You grabbed Bucky’s hand and held it. You were expecting him to pull his hand away, but he didn’t.

“Is that why you’ve been acting like this?” You asked.

Bucky held his head low and nodded his head yes.

“Oh Bucky…” You cooed softly. “All you had to do is tell me and I would’ve dropped everything to help you.” You tell him.

“I know.” He mumbles.

You put your hand under his chin and tilted his head up and turned his head so he was looking you in the eye.

“Tell me next time and I’ll help you.” You say softly.

A smile grew on Bucky’s face and he whispered an ok. You leaned forward and kissed his lips softly and sweetly.

“Now, how can I help?” You asked.

“Can we cuddle?” He asks.

“Of course we can!” You answered happily.

You laid down on your back on the couch. Bucky laid on top of you and laid his head on your chest, making sure that he didn’t crush you. One of your hands played with his hair while your other hand rubbed his back to comfort him more.

“Doll?” Bucky speaks up, lifting his head to look up at you.

“Yes, baby?” You asked, looking in his blue eyes.

“I love you.” He says softly.

“I love you too.” You say in almost a whisper.

Bucky leaned up and kissed your lips softly. He laid his head back on your chest and watched TV with you. You continued to play with his hair and rub his back to comfort him for the rest of the night.

🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖🪖

-Bucky’s Doll’s

[hheartsdramas]

a year of watching cdramas: my top 10-ish favorites

i discovered cdramas a little over a year ago after several years of mostly watching modern kdramas. i remember viki pushing the double a lot when it aired, so i clicked on it. and at first i was like, "wtf is this?" i mean, talk about a campy introduction. but before i knew it i was sucked in, finishing the series, and looking for another one. i've barely watched anything but costume cdramas since.

so in honor of a year-plus of cdrama watching, i thought it would be fun to make myself pick my favorites! this list could change and re-order depending on the day and on how much i love the next drama i finish (because recency bias is a thing, though i don't see my top 3 getting unseated any time soon).

honorable mentions

story of kunning palace: a natural follow-up to the double, and the first cdrama i rewatched more than once. i got...embarrassingly attached to xie wei. jiang xuening is also the kind of snarky i enjoy, and watching her constantly trying and failing to get away from the palace life was just too addicting. it's the drama that made me realize i can excuse a lot of red flags if i'm having a good time.

night of love with you: still holds the distinction of being the only romance-focused modern that i've finished. it's a sort of transmigration mini in which a career villain character ends up playing the fl in a standard ceo romance drama...but she ends up falling for the villain. fun, smart, and a delight if you're into stuff with a bit of meta.

a journey to love: the found family to end all found families, not to mention the first cdrama fl i truly fell in love with. i would rank this higher if not for the ending, which i have...opinions about. so i mostly pretend like those last few episodes don't exist and i can love ajtl unbothered.

top 10

10. the legend of shen li

a demon general who gets stuck in chicken form after trying to escape a divinely-ordered marriage. a god of the universe roleplaying a sickly human for funsies. one of the ultimate "burn the world for them" couples i've encountered so far. leads that actually feel grown up, believable stakes, communication, and a happy ending. it's practically perfect in every way.

9. legend of zang hai

i don't think this is necessarily one of the best-executed dramas on my favorites list, although it's much better executed than the trolls would have you believe. i just love a revenge quest that cares more about the people than about the revenge itself, and lozh is exactly that. plus xiao zhan is honestly hotter than i expected him to be in this and i got a stabby slinky fl.

8. lost you forever

i'll be honest: this one makes it into my top ten mostly because of one character. it's not that i didn't enjoy the drama as a whole (minus that dream fiasco at the end), because i very much did, but let's be honest: imo this is xiang liu's show, xiao yao is second lead, and the rest of them are there for color. i mostly only rewatch his/their scenes. i don't actually ship them as end game (jing was the right choice imo), but i'm still a xiang liu simp. he's just too damn tragic. but it's visually beautiful and the ost/score are magic. sometimes i listen to 爱之哀叹 (which google translate tells me means "love's lament") and 梅林同焚 (which google translate tells me means "merlin burns together" ???) when i want to feel something.

7. a moment but forever

do you like stories about broken people that question the meaning of loyalty, power, healing, and love? than boy oh boy do i have a drama for you! liu xueyi is a tour de force as the extremely traumatized high priest of the worst clan you've ever heard of, who learns to love the world again thanks to the no-nonsense goddess of craftsmanship who just won't leave him tf alone. i analyzed and meta-d more scenes in this drama than any other, i think.

6. the ingenious one

remember how i said i love revenge dramas that are interested in the human impacts of seeking vengeance? well this is probably the best version of that i've seen so far. a brainiac with no fighting skills is on a quest to avenge the massacre of his family, and along the way he meets one of my favorite fls in dramaland (stabby! sassy! grounded! complex! gets to grow!), as well as a cast of entirely lovable secondary characters that also get to be layered and real. i think this is extremely underrated and more people should watch it and talk about it.

5. under the moonlight

who needs flashy cgi or big traffic stars when you have such a down-to-earth heroine to anchor your drama? a former courtesan becomes a constable and crime-solving savant, but it doesn't feel too glossy or girl bossy. no one in this drama escapes their circumstances entirely, but it's so gratifying to watch how everyone goes about building a life they are happy to live. the main ship is also so well done, in the sense that i went from wanting to scream at the ml to melting into a puddle of goo every time the leads were on screen together. way too underrated for how good it is.

4. love in between

MY BABIES!!!! lib came out of nowhere to absolutely clobber me with feelings. believed-dead marquis's son living as a doctor reunited with the girl who gave him the will to live again when they were kids. they each have an agenda, but one of them is more willing to give theirs up than the other. two more perfect ships round out this angsty, intelligent story that made me scream and cry for all the right reasons.

3. the blossoming love

i thought i was signing up for some candy-colored silly fun. what i got was one of the smartest and tightly plotted xianxia that might exist. i love a chaos agent paired with a starchy mcstarcherston, but i love a chaos/starchy/emo shoulda-been-a-polycule even more. this one has all the tropes but uses them intelligently to weave a story that can unironically ask its characters: who are you? what is destiny? and is that paperwork really so important?

2. the untamed

i don't know what they put in this show. it's crack. it's now one of my most re-watched shows in any language and i only saw it for the first time last autumn. it's massively popular for a reason and it's not just because those boys are pretty (though they are, ridiculously so). i don't have much else to say except that if you haven't seen it yet a) where have you been and b) you should fix that.

1. joy of life

i still can't believe that the first time i tried to watch jol i dropped it after three episodes. i am constantly wowed about how this drama takes what seems to be a basic palace drama with fun characters and manages to create one of the most layered, complex, and human stories i've seen in any language or type of media. there's not a single character that doesn't get dimensions, to the point that you find yourself seriously enjoying spending time with the most twisted villains you can imagine. it somehow balances really dark shit with humor and sweetness. it surprises at every turn. it is killing me to wait for season 3.

think you know a drama that could bump something out of my top 10? i'm always open to being influenced...

[russellsppttemplates]

omg, pls pls, more from oscar piastri and monegasque reader 🫶🏻, where the reader tries to teach him french?

Note: my french is very basic so I had to use Google translate for the things I wasn't so sure about (and hopefully the ones I was sure about are actually right 😅)

"Do you want to learn French because my English is bad? Is that what it is?", you wondered.

"No, sweetheart - I just want to know a few more things! I'm talking ordering a coffee and saying basic stuff at the supermarket like "I'll pay by card" and stuff like that", Oscar reasoned.

"Okay", you sighed, "If you want to pay by card, you have to ask "par carte, s'il vous plaît", can you say that?".

"Par carte, s'il vous plaît", he attempted, "that did not sound like the way you said it", he chuckled, "how do you do that?".

"The letter R is always hardest", you assured, "you can make it sound deeper from your throat or from your tongue - your throat might be easier", you did the sound with your own, "that will help with the accent too".

"Okay, I think I have it", Oscar reasoned after a couple of tries, "it feels funny now", he rubbed his throat.

"It's part of it, you've never had to sound like that and now you do", you giggled, kissing the skin lovingly and tenderly.

"How about "where is", because I feel like I'll get lost one day and I won't find anyone who speaks English", he joked.

"Où est", you said, "the rest just depends, like, if you want the hospital, you would say Où est l'hôpital, and for the school you'd say Où est l'école, but if you want to know where... some house is you'd have to say Où est la maison", you exemplified, "some words are feminine and some are masculine".

"Words have a gender?", Oscar quirked his eyebrow.

"It's something like that, yes, like a grammatical gender", you tried.

"English is so much easier", Oscar mumbled.

"Never told you it would be easy, but I still appreciate it, Osc", you kissed his cheek.

(Thank you for sending this in ✨️)

[gotham-daydreams]

Hello, I really don't know if you are still alive or not with your series or with your account in general but I hope you are well and I must admit that I am absorbing everything you publish because your writing is very good and I am absolutely fascinated with it in "Not [ ]", I didn't really realize the impact it had on me when I read the part where Dick and "we" "confront" each other in some way, even though I felt great anger and pain at the unfairness and It was so blatant about the way Dick tried to justify himself (especially the part where he says we could have tried "another way") but it just gave me the vibe of just wanting to end it all with a big hug and that's it but re-reading it recently really now YES it makes me completely angry and not just sad for that fool 😡, I fell in love with absolutely everything, Bruce's part, the way Albert practically manipulated everything, it's just great and maybe I can relate quite with the reader not so much in the musical sense, more artistic but it's still great, I wonder if something would change if the reader turned out to be trans (because I'm a trans boy lol) and it just completely changed his appearance or what he now has a scar or mark on his face (because guess again, I have it too 😭) from an accident or something and he just looks VERY different after leaving his shitty family even so I'm glad the reader is neutral on regarding gender and everything...it's just perfect, I'm really sorry if all this is too long! I really don't usually comment but I think you deserve a message like this and once again, I hope you are doing well!

Note: I really hope you don't mind that it's so long and I'm sorry if something seems strange, English is not my first language and I'm using Google's shitty translator 😭

I don't mind the length at all!! And thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! I'm glad it impacted you so much, and that you enjoyed the chapter as much as you did!

Honestly, I don't see much changing if the reader was trans aside from the family getting hit with a lot more guilt because, well, not only did you feel as if you couldn't come out to them (and maybe in that instance you could've tried), but didn't. No matter how it goes, they lost and missed out such another big part of what makes you, you - and that crushes them. The changes to your appearance and whole identity would be so glaringly obviously by the time they find you, and I know Dick would genuinely get so much more emotional.

The argument before hand would also be worse, as if your ftm then yeah, Dick would probably end up going as he is better with his words generally and also because of the reasons stated in the chapter - which is really just pure coincidence. Though, if reader was mtf then Stephanie would most likely end up going (I love Cass, but I sort of explained what she'd do in another post of she went instead, so...). Non binary? Then they'd just take that gamble again, and it'd play out like the chapter just with some changes and such again.

Nevertheless, seeing your appearance changed so much would and is definitely bound to make someone cry because it's a physical and very real evidence of how much they have missed. Not to mention all the struggle they weren't there for, none of the help or reassurance they were able to give you, and so on.

Any obvious scars would have the same affect in terms of guilt, but honestly, besides Bruce, most of them are honestly more pissed. Barbara and Stephanie are acceptions to this as of Chapter 2 and them not really seeing the reader in Chapter 3, but that still leaves well over half of the family angry.

Honestly, it would maybe even make Dick more indirectly insensitive as he would ask questions about it - and depending on what is said and when.... well, there may be less people in Gotham afterwards. As long as it's from someone else, the fact if its an accident or not won't stop the most impulsive members of the family - and a good bit of them are. Though if you did it yourself on accident or something... the start of Chapter 4 would be worse, and the treatment in Chapter 5 for sure.

Regardless, thanks for sending in an ask, and I hope you're doing good as well! No need to worry about the English or anything, I understood what you meant just fine - but if there is something I misunderstood, then please let me know!

[amalasdraws]

Hey Amalas! I don't know why I never asked, but how does Tao pronounce his name?

I've been pronouncing it as "Dao" in my head but had the sudden realization that my friend, who was born and raised in the US, his name is pronounced "Tay-yo" but still spelled Tao. Also I've had people read it as "Tao" rather than "Dao." So which one does he use?

Like with me my name's vowel pronunciation changes between an "-ay" and "-ey" depending on the company I'm with, but correct way is still "-ay."

If any of this makes sense.

This, is a really good question!!! And I fear at times I still pronounce his name wrong :D and I bet people around him, as he grows up in the US, are too.

His name in traditional Chinese is written like this 濤 which is more like Táo and an emphasize on the “a” and probably a bit more softer T than some might say it. So maybe Dao is close. Although I still feel it’s more Táo. I was saying as a listening example to just put the character 濤 into google translate but I feel in that listening option they swallow the o too much and I think especially in his more English american version he wouldn’t.

There is this Taiwanese children song Bai lang Tao-tao and it’s the same 濤 as in Tao’s name, meaning big wave. And I feel the way they say it here fits very well

I hope this helps :D I’m so so bad in explaining sound and pronunciation. But yes the song is a great example of how he says it. And maybe when he speaks English he just drops the accent a bit to make it slightly more Americanized but still keeps it very much Táo.

Thank you!!