#source: common dialogue

[incorrect-quote-blanks]

Person A: You'll be happy to know I have a plan.

[thegreatwicked]

This obviously needed its own post and here it is, a collection of blog posts and resources I have found and used for my own writing, I hope they help you too! Go forth and write that spice!

The Smut Writers Dictionary By @maybeeatspaghetti Seriously, how many different way are there to write cock? Does anyone else wonder if they've used the word 'lips' too many times? Well, this is a good place to start!

The Ultimate Guide to Writing Smut This is the first one I found and I go back to it frequently! There's also some great information about specific areas of sex that may not be common knowledge for first time writers!

How to Write Smut By @urfriendlywriter Another great source of information from different verbiage to use and a few tips to hel you along (giggity)

Smut Thesaurus By @prurientpuddlejumper just what it sounds like and you can never have too many words at your disposal.

6 Steps to Writing Better Sex By @chaoschaoswriting If you're at a loss or just want some more help this is antoher fantastic blog!

Writing Prompts NSFW By @seidenbros Need some dialogue? Or a story idea? Have a look!

#100 NSFW/Smut Dialogue Prompts By @a-cure-for-writers-block More? More. This is also a fantastic writing blog with lots to offer!

Intimate + Sexual Headcannon Questions By @petalsprompts Good questions to ask your characters to get to know them better and make more well rounded characters!

Smut & Mature (18+) Master List By @pendarling A great list dialogue prompts, scenarios, and helpful bits!

Poly NSFW Alphabet By @smaoineamhsalach Another great way to get to know your characters and maybe a handful of ideas for story ideas.

Kink Prompts Another from the previous blogger above and I didn't know what half of these are! I'll work on a kink dictionary next!

Writing Smut 101: Overcoming Smut Shame @slightlyrebelliouswriter23 There's a lot to be said for this particular subject! It's hard to write stuff like this, so how do you get over it? Start here!

How to Write a Kiss Scene By @youneedsomeprompts Yes!!! I still struggle with this one! There's a thousand ways to kiss, find your favorite!

Smut Oneliners By @deity-prompts you can never have enough one-liners!!

How to Write a (Great) Sex Scene Another great article for new smut writers

9 Tips for Writing Steamy Scenes More tips to help you wirte good steamy stuff!

How to Write Erotica and a Damn Fine Sex Scene A WEALTH if information on writing, structuring, and helpful tips!

@saradikahas a fantatic blog with graphics for you to use to add some fun to your posts. Things like MDNI Banners, 18+ Content Warnings, Support Your Favorite Writers and Reblog banners! They are free to use but she does ask that you reblog her stuff if you do! She's also a very talented writer and she writes some AMAZING Din Djarin stories!

Gay Sex Positions Guide This is a WONDERFUL adition and thank you so much @b7bubby for bringing this to my attention, I didn't have any resources for writing M/M fairings but this is a much needed addition to the spicy community! i've never written an M/M pairing and I feel like such an idiot for overlooking the need for a resource like this!

Writing the Perfect Kiss Scene provided by @writers-potiona fantastic little guide to writing better kisses!

If you find any other great smut writing resources feel free to tag me so I can add them to this list! Good luck with your writing! Now go write that story and LET THE SPICE FLOW!!!!

[janus-cadet]

So, hm, I may have my attention span stolen by yet another god of Discord. Lux was absolutely amazing in his lil disguise, and, well- that leads to yet another tarot card.

But oops, I tripped! There might have been a slight addition to the card, in the form of three other gods of the Pantheon, and one very distressed Doctor.

(Don't be fool, I'm sure he's having a great time. We know how much he likes dangerous murderous people, especially the blondes one)

Why the Five of Wands, tho? Well, that's actually very easy to answer- because that's The card for Discord. What else than the Pantheon to represent it? It's a card that express conflict, as in, you're un the midst of a battle (poor you, Doctor) that you simply can't escape. Don't expect to solve it with nicey dialogues and come to any common ground: everyone is stuck on what they want and cannot be bothered to hear what the others have to say. Maybe they simply couldn't be bother to care, vast beings that they are; all the more frustrating, because you know that if you could have them hear you out, much good could come from an association. It's complete chaos and disorder, from the whole human race driven mad by a giggle, or an entire theater of missing people. All you can do is rise above the mess; if they won't listen to reason (or a proposal to go play among the stars, which may or may not be due to your inability to be normal about blond murderers), then, you'll have to take action. You have to try to LISTEN. If you really do, well- you might actually find a surpringly nice end to the conflict you brought. Looking at you, Toymaker. Gonna make you eat your "and yet", idiot.

The card also stands for change and instability, which is the very thing those gods stand for- as shown by the effect they have on your reality, and the consequences they can bring upon your world. Tho the change, sometimes, can be positive; every transformation is not from flesh to dust. Maybe, sometimes, you'll get to turn into infinite light or something (if you're lucky and don't end up eaten by your own piano, or origamied into your own realm made small). All in all, this chaos is ultimately the source of dreadful inner conflict for you. Your perspective is constantly challenged by someone else, by new informations, and your approach to the growing problem cause you a tone of moral dilemmas.

Unfortunately, it does not look like it's going to get better for you, Doctor. Oopsie!

And there we are, for the eleventh Doctor Who tarot card of the lots! To think that this all started with wanting to draw the Masters, and now, I'm sixty cards in. We're nearing the end....

[tarnishedtwill]

Nevarran Locations & Landmarks

Nevarra City– This is the capital of Nevarra. Home to the Grand Necropolis among other things. This is also primarily where most festivals and balls are held, as well as where the Palace of King Markus is located. Nevarra City is also home to the  residence of the Anaxas house, and location of the Duchess Games. [Though the current ruler of Cumberland hails from this family: Duke Sandral Anaxas.] It is also home to the Castrum Draconis as well as the Minanter River which carves through it.

Castrum Draconis– Vast Botanical Gardens with hundreds of statues depicting Royalty and Heroes of legend [Powerful Generals, Dragon Hunters etc.] Along the roadways leading up to the Castrum are stately columns of black marble amidst which statues of Kings & Queens of Nevarras past are on prominent display. In Autumn there is a festival held [ see Ancestral Pageant in my Nevarran Culture Post] where many great families hire performers to recreate famous moments in the statues lives by lantern light. Often draping the statues themselves with their house colors. Notably the Pentaghasts and Van Markhams tend to compete for the best show each year.

Blackthorne Manor– The estate was gifted to a family who then took on it’s name by Queen Vanneska the Fourth. [codex: ‘A Tale of the Blackthornes’] Twenty Generations have walked its halls, [meaning if a generation is estimated at 25-30 years, I would potentially date both the manner and Vanneska to 500-600 years ago, placing somewhere around 3:50 Towers to 4:50 Black.] That said, the codex this is from is annotated by Emmrich stating this must have been written in better days– that no one knows what horrible fate befell the Blackthornes. Noting rumors of suspicious deaths, untended crypts and salacious affairs. [This means that my date estimates could be to young and the manor could be even older.] At some point since its abandonment, it became the base for the Necromancer Johanna Hezenkoss.

Grand Necropolis– A large mausoleum sometimes said to be at the heart of Nevarra city while other sources say it's on the outskirts of the city. This is the main base of operation for all Mortalitasi, including the Mourn Watch. There are open-air gardens, crypts, and mausolieums. The structure is as large as a city in its own right, some royal burials being described as palaces of their own. [Lead concept artist Matt Rhodes remarked while designing the structure that, at least in early concepts, his inspiration was an inverted Tower of Babel. The Mortalitassi, instead of seeking knowledge from the stars, they seek it from their dead.] It is also of note that the geography of the Necropolis shifts quite a bit. Chambers are known to shift and change sporadically. [Note the Memorial Gardens being lost until Rook discovers they had moved to the Vault of the Beloved & also the lack of panic over the Basalt Hypogeum at first because it was thought they moved within the Necropolis, not that they were stolen.] Though Emmrich does say during the 'Walking the Graves' questline that it is unlikely for a section to move while people are inside of it, impling it's more common for less traversed chambers to shift. Unless I am mistaken it appears the cause of this is shift is largely unknown, if not gently implied that it's something to disuade tomb raiding. [I cannot remember which dialogue it is said in, I will search, but I am pretty sure looting deterents are mentioned at one point.] While some areas like the gardens are open to the public for days of mourning, many of the lower wings are heavily restricted even among the order.

Basalt Hypogeum– A vast section of the Necropolis that was stolen and transported to Blackthorne Manor to facilitate Johanna Hezenkoss’ experiments. Many Watchers were curious of its disappearance as it was sudden, though the Necropolis does tend to shift often. Myrna noted it was a ‘matter of strange obliquity’. Once Johanna is defeated Myrna notes a great magic will be required to attempt to transport and restore the wing to its place in the Necopolis. Design wise we know this is one of the more impressive and old sactums within the Necropolis, the basalt being shipped from Rivain in 4:57 Black. We also know the name of the Stonemason who crafted its impressive halls: Othmar Gerdebrand.

Cascades– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’

Chamber of the Unforged– This is a hexagonal chamber with several small treasure caches on each spoke. Notably this is where Rook faces the Formless One when it possessed the body of a taxidermied high dragon. It is considered one of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’. The hallway leading to this chamber seems to hold several important memorials, as statues, paintings and gated off rooms of gold and urns line each side. [Knowing that the Tanhausen family commissioned the high dragon to be taxidermied it could possibly be a wing for their quite prominent family. However we do know that the ‘last’ crypt of the Tanhausen’s is in the Memorial Gardens.]

Charnel Bridge– Mentioned briefly in banter between Bellara and Emmrich for good places to learn more about undead. It’s briefly mentioned that the ‘nightmare fog’ has overwhelmed it.

Charnel Pyramid– A section of the Necropolis that is ‘disagreeably cursed.’ [Codex entry: From Myrna, on Rediscovering the Gardens] Myrna recommended that the Pyramid should go through a lustration before the next Equinox. [Lustration: a policy that removes public officials or beings from positions of power associated with a repressive regime; this makes me wonder if it is similar to the situation with undead during the War of Banners.] The area surrounding the pyramid must also be quite sizeable as it was debated to be used as a backup location for public days of mourning in the event the location of the Memorial Gardens was not rediscovered in time.

Cobalt Ossuary– A resting place for skulls within the Necropolis. This is the location of the spiritual disturbance in the short story ‘A Flame Eternal’ in which a skull began to hiss and scream from it’s niche. [We know that some royal families and high nobility have full Palaces as their resting places. I would assume an Ossuary with skulls in niches more than likely is for lower nobility, or even commoners if they are able to be inturned in the necropolis, based oh how unextravagant in sound in comparison. But this is just a guess.]

Crescent Fane– Another chamber of burial, described vaguely as having sunken black walls, with bowls of silver flames [I am not sure if this is a descriptor for veilfire or something else entirely.] around each coffin. [‘A Flame Eternal’] The only known person interred here is a woman named Mathilde, whose husband’s skull became restless until they were once again joined together. [Fane, also means a temple or shrine, so it is possible this is a temporary resting place for the recently dead, maybe to prepare them or just until they are moved to a more final resting place, as Emmrich mentions Mathilde passed ‘in her sleep, last midnight.’]

Hollow Belfry– This seems to be a common area, or main spoke. Several hallways branch off into the other chambers of the Necropolis. The center has a lowered portion where Myrna and Vorgoth tend to be stationed, alerting watchers to hauntings & providing the guild market. It also has an upper atrium. Above the chamber sets a massive bell called the Sunken Star. It is responsible for keeping malign spirits from entering certain chambers of the Necropolis (but probably not 100% of them). A ritual is need to ring the bell, so more than likely it happens intermittently through the year as the wards weaken. The direct quote when pertaining to the Sunken Star’s ability: “…in fact any malicious spirit that hears the tolling of the bell will be banished back into the Fade.”

The Memorial Gardens– This is where public days of mourning are held, while we don’t know it’s original location we do know that this chamber went missing before appearing at the vault of the Beloved [Which, in my opinion is in some way the Necropolis foreshadowing Emmrich & Rook getting together (conditional) since this seems to be Emmrich’s favourite spot to wander, and well Vault of the Beloved… anyways I digress.] The Garden is a cemetery that spralls outward amongst an array of flowers and statues.  This includes the Tableau of the Dead, created from real skeletons in 7:20 Storm. As well as the large statuary monument ‘Love in Life and Death’ which displays two skeletons kissing among other posed figures, overgrown with a flower called shrouds kiss. This is a statue dedicated to the enduring passion of those bound by love. We know that the Rites of Rememberance can be performed by Watchers here as well as a meditative puzzle involving the cleansing bells. In addition to that, the only known/named people to be buried here are Rupert & Elannora Volkarin [Emmrich’s parents], and  the last tomb of the Tanhanhausen line. 

The Path of Glory– Just off to the Side of the Memorial gardens. It holds rooms featuring boardgames, grave mist, and such along with it’s skeletons.

The Path of Sighs– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’.

Shrouded Halls– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’.

Spectral Court– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’.

Unspoken Valley- Mentioned briefly in banter between Bellara and Emmrich for good places to learn more about Spirits. It’s briefly mentioned that the ‘nightmare fog’ has overwhelmed it.

Upper Mortuary- in banter with Neve, Emmrich mentions he left several of his books in his apartment at the Necropolis. When questioned if most Mourn Watchers live on the Necropolis grounds, he simply replies that the ‘Upper Mortuary is quite pleasant.’ this to me signifies that he is not the only one, and/or this could be one of many more residential areas within the Necropolis. I would assume if this is an area for high up faculty, students and trainees may be housed elsewhere.

Vault of the Beloved– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’. This is the new resting place of the Memorial Gardens.

Weeping Vale– We simply do not know much about what the Weeping Vale is, but dialogue between Emmrich and Rook (conditional to Mourn Watch) tells us that recently there was a problem solved by the Mourn Watch to stop wandering cenotaphs from appearing. [A cenotaph is a memorial or monument to someone whose body is buried elsewhere. This is typically done to honor those who died in war, but not always.]

Flora of the Necropolis– I cannot find much on plants related to Nevarra specifically, but some are mentioned directly, or visually matched from past games: Variegated Weeping Widower, Shrouds Kiss, Blue Creepvine, Moon Blossom, Embrium* [A flower that is similar in apperance and color except for the ember at the center is found in some of the vases] & unknown willows capable of making their own noises [Codex: New Fauna].

Hunter Fell– A small city west of the capital. This is where King Caspar Pentaghast is from, as well as the location of the tea house that Charter calls a meeting of spies to discuss the movements and motivations of Solas. [Tevinter Nights: The Dread Wolf Take You] The only other thing to really note is that when Tylus Van Markham seized the throne from King Nestor Pentaghast [5:37 Exhalted], several surviving Pentaghasts fled to Hunter Fell. Eventually in 9:42 Dragon, the Inquisiton was called in to investigate Duke Tythas Pentaghst, ruler of Hunter Fell. He commanded a network of spies and warriors called the ‘Five Belles of Hunter Fell’ suspected of being tied to the Venatori.

Cumberland– One of the largest cities in Thedas, it sits South of Nevarra city, where the Imperial highway forks and portside to the Waking Sea. Not only does it function as a major trading port but also as a seat of immense knowledge. Home to the College of Magi, which is thought to bear the brightest mages and scholars throughout Thedas. It is also where many tournaments of combat, and archery are held. The current ruler is Duke Sandral Anaxas.

Diamond Lass– in the ‘Dragon’s Den’ district of Cumberland, this is a luxury inn. Drinks are said to be served with crystal goblets alongside runes said to keep the beverage cold.

‘Dragon’s Den’– This is a walled off sector of town, adjacent to the more wealthy quarters of the city. It functions as a Dwarven trading hub and due to his most of the buildings are described to have distinctly Dwarven Architecture.

Forsythia Estate– This is the ancestral residence of the noble house Forsythia.

College of Magi– The college of Magi sits at the center of the city the Sun Dome’s golden exterior and massive spires making the city itself seem gilded and brilliant.  The palace itself was gifted to the Chantry by  a Nevarran Duchess. Keeping with the Nevvarran tradition of statues, the College of Magi is no different, the entryway featuring busts of ever Grand Enchanter from the last 600 years since this is the place from which they are chosen by a council of First Enchanters. The College of Magi is thought to bear the brightest mages and scholars throughout Thedas, some of which then move on to recruitment with the Mortalitasi.

Additional notes about historical events at the College of Magi [& some Dorian and Ashur lore]: In 9:38 following the Kirkwall Rebellion, the Chantry disbands meetings of the College of Enchanters [Based on context and what I am able to find, it seems the College of Enchaters is the name of the council of First Enchanters.], as well as any unsanctioned mage gatherings. This meant the dissolving of mage fraternities. This is also around the time that former Warden Fiona is elevated to the position of Grand Enchanter. [Wynne blames this as the reason the conclave was disbanded.] Grand Enchanter Fiona was quick to begin campaigning for independence, leading a vote among the College of Enchanters to secede from the Chantry entirely. Though the vote did not pass, the existence of the vote was enough for the Templar order to call for the dissolution of the College of Enchanters. More political unrest insues leading to Divine Justinia II calling for a meeting of the College of Enchanters, now disbanded, to the White Spire instead of their traditional seat in Cumberland. This lead to Grand Enchanter Fiona once again pleading for secession, causing High Seeker Lambert to declare the College of Enchanters treasonous. After a daring rescue of some of the enchanters, Fiona once again led a vote on succession in Cumberland. This time since too few first enchanters remained, some having died in capture, the fraternities casted their votes. This lead  ultimately to the dissolution of the circles and the movement towards mage freedom. The factions mentioned above include:

Aequitarians– This is the most dominant of the fraternities in the College of Magi. Their ideology is moderate, and thus popular. It is that mages must use their abilities ethically, and responsibly within society regardless of Chantry law. They believe mages have the power to help people, and should be doing so. Historically leaders of this group include Wynne & Rhys.

Isolationists– While less popular, this smaller faction simply believes mages should separate from the Chantry, and society as a whole. Creating their own systems and culture without any scrutiny towards the practice of magic or danger towards those without.

Libertarians– This group desires the Circle to become self governed and separate rom the chantry. While on the surface the Libertarians seek to do this peacefully, a subgroup of resolutionists within the faction have no issue usng violent means to achieve this. This group has been led historically by Fiona & Adrian.

Loyalists– As the name implies this group is the most devout, following the word of the Chantry. They are often viewed negatively by other mages for being apologists to the oppression faced by mages.

Lucrosians– the smallest fraternity amongst the College of Magi, these mages simply align themselves with the priority of gaining wealth, and political influence over any social cause.

In Veilguard we receive a conversation between Dorian Pavus and Ashur [who may or may not be Divine Aequitas II] in which Dorian comments, ‘Speaking of brash rebels, remember Cumberland? Spring of ‘38?’ to which Ashur replies ‘I wish I didn’t.’ This has had me so curious as to why they were present, were they part of the fraternities that helped vote against the circles since fraternities voted in the place of first enchanters? Or were they simply there as support to keep templars from intervening the College of Enchanters meeting. Either way. Super interesting additional lore on Dorian & Ashur. We know Dorian was part of the Lucerni [a faction dedicated to redeeming and restoring Tevinter] but that is a group exclusive to the Magistirium and not one of the fraternities of the College of Magi. In fact it is more than likely closer tied to the Shadow Dragons. [If you want a less summarized version of 9:38 Dragon, most of the information comes from Dragon Age: Asunder.]

Thank you all for the kind words on my first lore post. In this next section I tried to break down several key locations. If there are ones you'd like to see that I did not explore please let me know! If there is anything I missed or got incorrect, I am open to corrections! Additionally I would love any additional descriptions or information about the sections of the Necropolis, information is scarce, so any additional notes are welcomed. For more posts on this topic, they will be marked on my page under the tag Nevarran lore.

I hope for this to be a resource for fic writers but also knowledge for my fellow lore nerds. More will be posted soon as feel sections become complete.

Update Edits: More insight on the shifting chambers of the Necropolis, and additional lore on the Basalt Hypogeum. Info on the Sunken Star.

Thank you guys for the feedback <3

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Said

When you write a lot of dialogue, it’s easy to find yourself repeating certain verbs to describe the act of speaking. The most common of these verbs, or dialogue tags, is “said,” and many authors would like nothing more than a reliable way to avoid repeating it over and over again.

How to Avoid Overusing "Said"

The key to avoiding “said” in your dialogue tags is tailoring your word choice around the specific context of your story.

Here is a list of dialogue tags that exploit the potential of English vocabulary and help ensure you won’t have to overuse “said.”

If used properly, these dialogue tags are a tool to help you choose the right word for the most specific of dialogue descriptions.

If your speaker is happy or excited, try:

Laughed

Exclaimed

Yelled

Gushed

Babbled

Gulped

Entreated

Bubbled

Chortled

Chimed

If your speaker is subdued, try:

Sighed

Murmured

Mumbled

Whispered

Assented

Demurred

Disclaimed

Insinuated

Agreed

Relented

If your speaker likes hearing themselves talk, try:

Rambled

Recounted

Declared

Babbled

Pontificated

Held forth

Related

Continued

Emphasized

Remembered

Concluded

Recalled

Resumed

Noted

Rasped

If your speaker is displaying kindness, try:

Consoled

Soothed

Offered

Proposed

Apologized

Reassured

Assented

If your speaker shows signs of being upset, try:

Whined

Cried

Yelled

Shouted

Glowered

Spat

Bemoaned

Pouted

Sobbed

Blubbered

Lamented

Jabbed

Sneered

Hissed

Besmirched

If your speaker is trying to influence someone else’s behavior, try:

Rebuked

Scolded

Cajoled

Demanded

Threatened

Declared

Ordered

Commanded

Boomed

Maintained

Insisted

By using these speech tags, along with other tools like punctuation (exclamation marks, question marks, etc.) and proper prepositions, you can sculpt your story writing to more accurately reflect your character’s actions and the surrounding context.

Source ⚜ More: Notes ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs ⚜ Said ⚜ Overused Words

[drdemonprince]

obviously people who work with The Public have very good systemic reasons to complain about customers, and i would never tone police them for that or say it is not their sacred right to bitch about how the public is dumb. hating on customers is a time honored tradition and an important bonding and stress relief practice

it's just the case that the actual root of their suffering is the exploitation and alienation of the industry in which they are working, and the highly routinized, structured interactions which they are forced to reenact hundreds of times in a day, with a focus placed upon brute efficiency and predictability, such that they only way that they can experience another person who is confused, has questions, or breaks the expected script is as an annoyance or a dummy, rather than as a human being who is not operating with the same information or incentives as them.

not saying anyone should be more patient with customers, truly fuck them, it just ultimately sucks that capitalism creates an adversarial relationship between service worker and customer when typically both parties are being taken advantage of by a common evil.

the more rigidly scripted the customer service dialogue options are on the phone, the more frustrated and stuck the customer calling in is because they have no way of communicating accurately what they need, and the more the customer service worker on the other end of the line (who is forced to act out that script) hates them, when obviously it's the people writing the phone script and forcing it onto people who is the source of the evil, etcetera.

[corvusparallax]

forgot the triangles, whatever.

information below cut:

Competency:

Eloquent but prefers to speak in simple, blunt sentences

Feminine-leaning voice, lofty tone overall

Prudent but off-putting

Always mentions of a higher deity guiding her to her holy task. Does not directly mention violence as a task that she can do.

This side is only seen when BATTER is off-combat.

OBLIGATION:

Eloquent if not outright archaic in phrasing

Masculine-leaning voice, deep and imposing with slight reverb

Unsettling by default but cannot refuse any task given to her

Just like Competency, she always mentions a holy mission in her dialogue, sans any ability to fight.

This side is only seen when BATTER is off-combat. Most prevalent when BATTER is required to talk for longer than 3 sentences.

Purifier:

Mute, the bat does all the talking.

Only "purifies" the objective to the point of immobilization

Prefers to have the Add-Ons fight alongside.

Purifier is only seen in combat settings, specifically against common specters and Burnts.

BUTCHER:

Mute, also sometimes perceived as the Bad BATTER.

Thoroughly purifies the objective, down to the mannequin.

Prefers to personally deal with the entity at hand.

This side has only been spotted to appear during fights against the Genies and the Boss herself, along with Hugo and the Judge. Some sources suggest that they've seen a similar entity eating mannequins, however that has not been confirmed.

that should be all. feel free to send any asks about her. peace ✌️

[directdogman]

Are you inspired by Greek mythology much?

Taking a mythology class which requires a paper connecting a myth to a piece of modern media and I think it would be funny to have my prof read about Dialtown.

So far all I’ve got is that Gingi shares some similarities with Dionysus: an association with nectar/wine, Hera’s feelings about Dionysus are reminiscent of Mingus’ for Gingi- anger at an innocent target because they are a reminder of past events

Curious if you have any thoughts on this :)

Actually, yes, there's quite a few references to Greek legends/history in DT's story!

Gingi is debatably an antihero, a concept generally agreed to stem from Greek dramas/legends. In particular, there's some similarities between Gingi and, say, Thersites (who challenged authority and was struck on the shoulder and back, like Gingi.) The concept of fate is also very important in DT's greater story, a concept common in Greek mythology, but that will become more obvious as the story progresses. The ending of Gingi's ultimately journey has indeed already been written.

The character of God mentions that he was actually Diogenes of Sinope, who is the source of many zany accounts of his life, some argued to be myths. God's face being a dog is a nod to the fact that Diogenes is often shown in statues/paintings with dogs (and ofc, I made DT's universe and my online persona is a dog-man.)

Speaking of, Mingus' appearance of having a cat head but a human body is chimeric, obviously deriving from Greek legend, as many creatures in Greek legend (minotaurs, harpies, gorgons, cynocephaly) are depicted this way.

Crown's arc definitely has ideas taken from Greek mythology. There's a lot of references to flight in his out of game dialogue (like Crown's answers in both of the DT webquizzes) which is meant to be a nod to Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and paid the ultimate price.

All of the Crowns' arcs are written like a Greek tragedy, where they go too far and suffer a pyrrhic victory where a short-sighted aim is achieved, but they lose everything in the process. Mingus becomes a sort of dictator in DT (rigging elections, using the mob to threaten/coerce people into doing her bidding, as well as robbing citizens of the town) while being unable to enjoy her wealth and power as she's stuck grabbing something just out of reach, like she's in Tartarus.

Crown, meanwhile, became so paranoid that he built a safe inside his own head, successfully creating something that nobody other than himself knew how to open, only to lock himself inside it. While Crown's character is inspired by a LOT of historic figures, there's definitely also a bit of Alexander the Great in there, a man that many apocryphal accounts exist of.

There's smaller references to Greek mythology across the game too. Randy quotes a line from Fallout New Vegas in one of his route endings, where he hopes Gingi winds up in a bleak, unending Tartarus. Everett also mentions the story of Sisyphus in Roger's route, a reference to Albert Camus' Myth of Sisyphus. The Ship of Theseus and the Trojan Horse are also mentioned in Roger's route too, come to think of it. I'm sure there's other nods I can't remember off the top of my head.

Interestingly, God's character also takes a lot of ideas from different Greek philosophical concepts. God mentions that the world is in a cycle of destruction and rebirth. While this concept can be traced to the phoenix, the belief that the world did this was common for followers of Greek philosopher, noticeably stoicism, with the word for this idea being ekpyrosis.

This kinda just scratches the surface, but I hope this helps anyway!!!

[mad-hatter-memes]

FunkyFrogBait Starters

A collection of dialogue prompts from the videos by FunkyFrogBait. Feel free to edit quotes as necessary.

TW: Swearing, threats, and suggestive references

"My fellow Caucasians astound us with their ingenuity yet again..."

"This is just an evil, evil thing to do with pasta..."

"No spaghetti for you, sir."

"I could be doing any number of things with my life, but I've chosen to share this moment with you...Don't you feel so special?"

"This feels very forbidden..."

"I don't know what this is but it's not fettucine!"

"I just scalded myself! That was uncomfortable..."

"To be clear...I would not feed this to a dog..."

"This esophagus is rated E for everything!"

"Aren't I a lucky little boy? Only 40% of these are broken!"

"Is this a complaint that I'm hearing? Spitters are quitters, [Name]."

"It's just you and me, [Name]. So...who's gonna union with you?"

"If there is a god, he has abandoned us for celestial milk and cigarettes."

"That looks like something that would leak out of an infected wound!"

"This looks like porridge was spilled on the floor of a gym locker room and left to ferment for forty days and forty nights!"

"Trying to boil Pringles to make mashed potatoes is like trying to send her flowers after she's already taken the kids."

"Hahahaha, that's really cute, how about you go fuck yourself?!"

"Being a dad seems pretty fun; All you have to do is sometimes remember their names and forget to pick them up from soccer practice. "

"Now, now, don't be hysterical, dear. This is a nearly painless procedure...For me anyways!"

"I have not been allowed around a glue gun since...The incident..."

"The caveman method usually works in my experience."

"Aw babe, your texture makes me wanna barf."

"Now the nice thing about turkey bacon is that you can eat it raw! I think..."

"This says it serves twenty four people...They haven't met me."

"Hello, Mr. [Last Name]. I'm here to pick up your daughter."

"Please don't call the police...I know this a weird use of my free time but it's technically not illegal."

"I'm about to give myself an accidental haircut..."

"Can I just call up a priest and have him waterboard me...?"

"Whoookay...This makes me want to join a nunnery."

"Who up praying with they rosary right now?"

"STOP FINGERING EVERYTHING! I AM A CHILD OF GOD!"

"Girl, what foundation is that?! Not a pore in sight!"

"[Name], honey. You're already slaying, you don't need to slay innocent civilians."

"Where did they find this child? The Victorian Era?!"

"ASAB: Assigned Sidekick at Birth. How unfortunate..."

"Who is giving these children access to deadly weapons?! Hello?!"

"The kids like thirteen. Just throw a Roblox gift card as hard as you can and run in the opposite direction."

"[Character Name] is dead, [Muse Name]! And you're worried about the fidelity of this game to it's source material?!"

"Paint a picture for us, [Name]! Don't hold back!"

"I would've bully the fuck outta this kid. And I did musical theater!"

"Where are people getting all this Tannerite?! I want some!"

"Is the cockroach infestation required or optional?"

"I'm being manipulated by a gothic aesthetic and common sense!"

"Yikes! Don't show that to your grandma!"

"That's my heart after the hot girl in my Com Sci class tells me that our star signs are incompatible!"

"I really wouldn't talk how other people look if your eyebrows can't agree on what timezone they're in."

"Is god really rockin' with you? Sinner..."

"Let me eat my oreos in peace goddamnit!"

"I'M GONNA START POWERWASHING THE CEILING!"

"You know what crybaby fumblefingers? At this point you owe me money. Hand over twenty, pretty boy!

"Why is she beckoning me ominously...?"

"That's because you've been selected for ritual sacrifice, [Name]. You know how they are this time of the month..."

"Do you have family, [Name]? Anyone you'd be particularly devastated to lose in a violent and sudden way?"

"You know what, [Name]? I'd probably punch you over a Hot Wheels too!"

"I see god's law not as a restriction...but a challenge!"

"I am deeply dissatisfied with my life choices and I am NOT afraid to make that your problem at five o' clock in the morning!"

"I hope one of your family members is in a car accident this week!"

"It's fucking terrible and I'm overcome by a desire to kill James Corden for some reason!"

"I'm sorry...Do you think mother earth is just lactating blue raspberry surprise, bitch?!"

[novlr]

How can I make my editing process quicker and less stressful? I feel like I’m spending way too much time on it and not really getting anywhere, so I’d love some tips on how to keep it simple and actually productive.

I think that most writers have a love/hate relationship with editing. It feels so good to see your manuscript go from a rough draft to something really polished, but at the same time, the editing process itself is painstaking and laborious.

The editing phase can feel like wandering through a maze without a map. Every writer has been there, staring at their manuscript, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work ahead. But editing doesn’t have to be a source of stress. With the right approach, you can make your editing process both efficient and effective.

Break it down

While some writers thrive taking a do-it-all-at-once approach, this isn’t one that works for everyone. If you feel overwhelmed, you can try to divide your editing into distinct passes, each focusing on a specific aspect:

Story Structure – Focus on plot, pacing, and narrative flow.

Character Development – Examine character arcs and relationships.

Scene Level – Look at individual scene construction and transitions.

Language – Analyse word choice, clarity, and style.

Technical – Look at grammar, punctuation, and formatting.

By tackling one element at a time, you’ll catch more issues and avoid feeling overwhelmed. And you also don’t need to do them back-to-back.

When I do my first editing pass, I look at only story structure and character development. After draft 2, I look at a scene level analysis, with some attention paid to language. If I need to, I’ll repeat this for as many revisions as I need, leaving a deep-dive on language and the more technical proofreading aspects until my final draft.

Create a system

No two writers write alike. Your process will be as unique to you as the writing you produce, so never take someone else’s routine as gospel or as the only “right” way to approach it.

What you will need to do is experiment. Try different things. See what works for you, and what doesn’t. Things you can try might be:

Set clear goals

Before each editing session, define what you want to accomplish. For example:

“Review chapters 1-3 for pacing issues.”

“Check all dialogue in Act 2.”

“Analyse character motivations in transition scenes.”

Having specific targets can help give you focus and give a sense of progress, as it’s a task that you can tick off.

Track your progress

Monitoring your progress lets you actively see what you’re accomplishing. It can be a huge motivator when you can see your manuscript start to take shape.

Keep a spreadsheet of completed editing tasks.

Use a notebook to log issues that need addressing.

Create checklists for common problems you want to catch.

Track time spent on different editing tasks to identify where you might be getting stuck.

Organise visually

If you’re a visual learner, then being able to see your editing process taking shape can be a game changer. You could try to:

Highlight plot threads in different colours.

Mark scene transitions with clear breaks.

Flag areas that need deeper revision.

Use comments or sticky notes for bigger structural issues.

Create a colour code for different types of edits (dialogue, description, pacing, etc.).

Incorporate these colours into your tracking if you decide to use it.

Set a sustainable schedule

Editing can be just as time-consuming as writing (in some cases, it might be even more time consuming), so it’s important to make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself. Don’t expect your editing to be done in a week. To keep a routine that’s realistic and sustainable, you can try to:

Block out specific times for editing.

Set deadlines for completing different passes.

Build in buffer time for unexpected issues.

Schedule regular breaks to give yourself a fresh perspective.

Plan rewards for hitting milestones.

For me, the rewards are the biggest part of the process. I need that little serotonin bump when I finish something and give myself a treat. That can be anything from taking a break, to buying myself something. You can even involve a housemate or family member in the reward!

Keep reference materials handy

If you’re the kind of person who likes to remind yourself of the task at hand, then it can be uesful to keep reference materials or a style guide handy. This could include:

Your story bible or outline.

Character profiles.

Setting descriptions.

Style guide preferences.

A common error checklist.

Notes from previous drafts to make sure you don’t repeat mistakes.

You don’t need to have all references handy at all times. You can pick and choose what works for you, and what is important for that editing pass.

Know when to step back

Fresh eyes make better edits. If you’re tired or overwhelmed, there is absolutely no shame in stepping away. You’ll be much more productive if you approach editing when you’re not exhausted, because it’s very easy to miss things and get distracted if you’re not in the right headspace.

Make sure you take regular breaks between editing passes to maintain your perspective. And don’t be afraid to take a week or two away from your manuscript can help you return with renewed clarity. Read something else. Watch television. Just make sure you do something other than constantly working on your manuscript.

Get outside input

If you’ve done a few self-editing passes and feel you need to start polishing, you might want to look for outside help. This can take many forms. Some are free, while others will cost nothing more than your time. You’ll need to decide what is best for you. You can:

Share your almost-finished product with beta readers (I recommend you read this guide to get the most out of your beta readers, as they can be such a valuable resource).

Consider hiring a professional editor once you’ve done all you can.

Join a critique group for regular feedback during the drafting and editing process.

Find a writing partner for accountability and reciprocal labour.

Trust your instincts

Try different editing processes to see what works for you. Don’t try to force something that isn’t, and be willing to change tack if you need to. If something feels right, stick with it. If it doesn’t, let it go.

But no matter what editing process you choose to pursue, don’t aim for perfection in your first pass. Instead, focus on steady improvement through multiple editing rounds. With practice, you’ll develop a rhythm that makes editing feel less like a chore and more like a natural part of your writing journey.

[snalsupremacy]

Why this is my favorite panel in hgsn

Hgsn has some incredible art and page composition, but out of the entire manga so far, to me this is the best panel of them all. Hell, this might be my favorite panel of any manga ever. (Note: Due to respecting the scanlator's wishes, I blanked out the dialogue and replaced all necessary dialogue with the official English source)

1- Build-up

Before I get to the panel itself, lets first talk about the pages before: For context, this is in chapter 2. Yoshiki has just found out about "Hikaru", and its trying to adjust to this new reality. As they walk from school to Yoshiki's house, Yoshiki asks him if he killed Hikaru. This is how the previous two pages look like:

Notice how the half shading effect is done in hatch marks. This is the first sign the all-black shading is a stylistic choice used to convey something.

Look at the balance the two pages form when you put them together: half white, half black, half black, half white. They compliment each other, both in color balance and in panel shape.

We have to turn the page to hear Hikaru's answer to Yoshiki's question. This gives the control of the narrative back to the viewer. This creates tension and build-up to it, it is a common tactic famously employed by Junji Ito in his famous "page-turner" moments where the viewer has to turn the page to see the monster. Except in this instance we are not revealing monsters, or are we?

2- The page

I'm not gonna get into too much detail on the page itself, I just want to point out the juxtaposition between the page composition of this page and the previous two. The last two were balanced and had all the panels closed while this one is much more liberal, bringing a feeling of unbalance, like something just shifted. I'd say the black and white balance is still there, with the Hikaru on white and Yoshiki on black panel side by side and all, which actually brings me to my next point:

3- Black and White

Honestly this could be an entire analysis post of itself, where do I even start?! Let's go from the very beginning. This is the very first time we learn of "Hikaru" :

Notice how the panel is colored black. In fact, throughout the story, we see black panels being spoken by "Hikaru", usually right before he does something unnatural:

And here are the only two instances we see of the Brain-snatcher's true form:

• He's literally a black blob, just like the text bubbles! And now combine that with Hikaru's white hair, and the fact his name means to be bright, and what's the brightest color but white, and there is a clear color symbolism going on:

Hikaru=White

"Hikaru"=Black

4-The Panel

And now we're back to the original panel! Taking all the other points in mind, we can analyze the panel itself

First, his expression. My G-d, his expression! His raised eyebrows and his squinted eyes, making his pupils way larger, make the expression seem almost childish and pitiful. But the half black-out face turns this pity look to an ominous one. Not being able to see the face or having your face obstructed is easy path into the uncanny valley, which I think is the case for this scene. Immediately 180 from "aww the poor guy" to "what is he hiding?"

The white panel says "I like you" while the black panel says "I'm crazy for you". HOWEVER, The white bubble is by the black side of his face and the black bubble is by the white side of his face. So which Hikaru is saying that? Is "Hikaru" crazy for Yoshiki, while Hikaru just liked him, or the other way around? Did the original Hikaru ever love Yoshiki, or is that the monster's feelings? Well we don't know! That's the premise of the whole manga! In one panel!

And that's why it's my favorite :)

[dr-spectre]

I saw this really great thread on twitter by Grungygrim and it definitely highlights my thoughts and frustrations with the story of these games and the Splatoon fandom as a whole. (be forewarned, i get really tilted in this blog post fyi.)

I made a blog post about 2 weeks ago where i said that i was happy that the narrative online that "Callie is an idiot who got kidnapped and then brainwashed/mind controlled against her consent" is going away. (Here's the link: https://www.tumblr.com/dr-spectre/749710338672525312/im-so-happy-that-the-narrative-online-that?source=share)

Unfortunately I'm gonna have to retract a lot of the stuff i said. I'm still seeing, TILL THIS DAY THAT NARRATIVE ONLINE! IM STILL SEEING SO MUCH MISINFORMATION AND IT MAKES ME REALLYYYY ANGRYYYY!!! As a big fan of Callie, people completely outright ignoring her character arc THAT WAS SET UP SINCE SPLATOON 1 BY THE WAY!!! and not even bothering to look at outside sources for more information and lore genuinely pisses me the fuck off to no end.

No, hypnosis is NOT MIND CONTROL/BRAINWASHING! I DONT WANNA KEEP REPEATING IT! YOU CAN LOOK IT UP! if a person is genuinely uncomfortable and doesn't wish to take the suggestions to heart while hypnotized, THEY WONT DO SO! THEY STILL HAVE CONTROL! Yes, Marie did say "kidnapped" in some of her dialogue, but from her perspective, OF COURSE SHE'S GONNA THINK CALLIE GOT KIDNAPPED! She's known to worry about Callie all the time and ruminate about her, of course she's gonna think of the worst case scenario, doesn't mean she's right though. Was Octavio still in the wrong for hypnotizing Callie in the first place and allowing her to bring out her darker traits more easily? YEAH! NO SHIT! HE'S A BAD DUDE! Not a totally evil person but he has made some awful decisions out of desperation for his people. Why do you think he was so quick to help out the New Squidbeak Splatoon in the finale of Splatoon 3? His people got turned into fluffy monsters by a giant bear, he's all about helping his people.

Hell look at how Callie acts while under the Hypnoshades, she decorates Octo Canyon and her peppy and energetic self is still in tact even during the final boss, she's just more mean and violent. Callie was in an emotional and mentally unwell situation due to her overworking herself and being incredibly lonely as her relationship with Marie was damaged overtime. Callie accepted the suggestions of DJ Octavio and heard him out, AS SAID BY HER FROM THE RELATIONSHIP CHART! She wasn't forced into anything. She didn't suffer "sexual abuse" from Octavio by being forced into skippy clothing as some psychos say online, if she didn't want to wear that outfit she wouldn't cause hypnosis is NOT MIND CONTROL!! I hate having to repeat this over and over again, i hate how the developers basically rushed and ruined this interesting villain arc with stupid shades, only to try and hastily fix it later with an obscure post about A GOD DAMN RELATIONSHIP CHART THAT PEOPLE EITHER DONT KNOW ABOUT OR DONT CARE TO LOOK AT BECAUSE THEY SEE SPLATOON AS SOMETHING FOR KIDS AND TO NOT GIVE ANY CARE TOWARDS!!!!!!!!

I made a god damn giant blog explaining Callie in Splatoon 2 because i felt so frustrated about how my favorite character in the series was being treated and i tried to salvage the story that the writers tried to make. The way that people made her situation worse by saying she got kidnapped and forcibly ""mind controlled/brainwashed"" actually gave me chest pain, thinking about that kind of scenario for Callie actually hurts me... Heck i cant even listen to the Splatoon 2 stage music or final boss music because hearing her reversed vocals makes me feel uncomfortable due to the misinformation online. I hated all the misinformation and i wanted it to stop. HELL EVEN IN GIANT TIMELINE VIDEOS WHERE PEOPLE DO TONS OF RESEARCH THEY STILL GET IT WRONG!! UGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! i guess it'll still be the common and popular notion that Callie is an idiot that got kidnapped and then ""mind controlled"" by some shades... oh well... ugh...

I'm sorry if I'm coming off as really angry, i am. It's just, my brain is really hyperfixated on this squid and she means a lot to me. Seeing the way the fandom as well as the writers treat her makes me really mad. I hope i can find some peeps who feel the same way as i do. Misinformation is so frustrating man... i dont even wanna get into the Octarians because that's a whole other can of worms... anyways im done ranting. have a good night or good morning wherever you live y'all.

[prettyboykatsuki-moved]

caleb is quite literally not mcs brother and it's not in any way reductive to his character to say so. they use brotherly terms bc it's just common in some cultures to do that— including chinese, japanese and korean, where those words that might be literally translated as "brother" are just as commonly, if not more, used as regular terms of endearment that don't exist in english. mcs weird feelings about it also makes sense if she just SEES him as a really close figure, stop tryna twist ur weird ass incest agenda as if you understand the source material better when ur literally just a slow ass westerner who doesn't understand the cultures ur tryna write within 💀 you guys just need to be euthanised i think

okay so. when the game, in canon text, has caleb's companion viper in all three languages except english localization, call him a siscon what do you think that means? what kind of relationship does someone having a sister complex indicate to you?

on another note and i do mean this genuinely: you don't have to interpret the story as incest if you don't want to. just like you don't need to read my fic or be annoying in my inbox about it 💀 telling me you think i need to be euthanized because you're uncomfortable with a very overt narrative theme that i expand on is insane bc you're doing that over pixels but well.

i didn't feel like this was worth answering but you 1. accusing me of being a westerner like im not literally asian disapora is insulting to me and 2. caleb and mc quite literally are adopted by the same person, and are canonically raised under the same roof. they refer to the same woman as grandma. if this does not read to you like a familial relationship ... 💀💀. all of my characterization is based on cn since its the original language the game is written in.

i don't think there is like. any reason to argue over the logistic use of honorifics. i come from a culture that uses honorfics. i know the way older brother can be used affectionately between people. but this is still SO questionable given the actual specifics of how caleb calls mc

it is additionally questionable because caleb also uses 家人 "jia ren" during bigger scenes which explicitly means family member (thank you mao for the translations). this kind of explicitly familial dialogue is also found again the original cn version of chapter 9. the localization butchers the original meaning and completely gets rid of the tragedy aspect. caleb essentially implies in that dialogue that their entire family was a lie, that the memories they had as a family were a farce and caleb did not feel the bond at all. this is the source of her devastation. go watch the cn translation done by a native speaker if u dont want to believe me 💀💀💀

your main argument seems to be that there is some great distinctive line between older brother figure and straight up older brother. and potentially if caleb was a neighbor or someone from a different family with a different guardian then this maybe would hold water.

but they are canonically raised in the same house, by the same person, adopted together. so either - you don't view adoptive siblings as a legitimate form of incest because it's not blood-related incest and you think that's somehow less taboo.

or you're genuinely implying that a person that you view as a sibling, who is raised with you, is on paper canonically adopted together with you from the same orphanage to the same person is, who you call your older brother and all of your friends view your sibling as affirmed in several cards in the original cn... is not actually your sibling but your childhood friend?

incest between people who are step-siblings or adoptive siblings is still incest. its taboo because the nature of the relationship is familial. the story literally uses forbidden fruit? do you think someone whose merely a vaguely older brother like figure warrants that level of intensity? like im crying.

no offense but i do understand the source material better than you also. like. sdkjfjfsdkldmfnksdfksjan

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Speech & Language

Milestones Related to Speech and Language

Birth to 5 months

Coos

Vocalizes pleasure and displeasure sounds differently (laughs, giggles, cries, or fusses)

Makes noise when talked to

6 to 11 months

Understands "no-no"

Babbles (says "ba-ba-ba")

Says "ma-ma" or "da-da" without meaning

Tries to communicate by actions or gestures

Tries to repeat your sounds

Says first word

2 to 17 months

Answers simple questions nonverbally

Says 2-3 words to label a person/object (pronunciation may not be clear)

Tries to imitate simple words

Vocabulary of 4-6 words

18 to 23 months

Vocabulary of 50 words, pronunciation is often unclear

Asks for common foods by name

Makes animal sounds ("moo")

Starting to combine words ("more milk")

Begins to use pronouns ("mine")

Uses 2-word phrases

2 to 3 years

Knows some spatial concepts ("in" or "on")

Knows pronouns ("you," "me" or "her")

Knows descriptive words ("big" or "happy")

Uses 3-word sentences

Speech becomes more accurate, but may still leave off-ending sounds. Strangers may not understand much of what is said.

Answers simple questions

Begins to use more pronouns ("you" or "I")

Uses question inflection to ask for something ("my ball?")

Begins to use plurals ("shoes" or "socks"; regular past tense verbs, "jumped")

3 to 4 years

Groups objects, such as foods or clothes

Identifies colors

Uses most speech sounds, but may distort some of the more difficult sounds, such as l, r, s, sh, ch, y, v, z, th. These sounds may not be fully mastered until age 7 or 8.

Uses consonants in the beginning, middle, and ends of words.

Some of the more difficult consonants may be distorted, but attempts to say them

Strangers are able to understand much of what is said

Able to describe the use of objects ("fork" or "car")

Has fun with language; enjoys poems and recognizes language absurdities ("Is that an elephant on your head?")

Expresses ideas and feelings rather than just talking about the world around him or her

Uses verbs that end in "ing" ("walking" or "talking")

Answers simple questions ("What do you do when you are hungry?")

Repeats sentences

4 to 5 years

Understands spatial concepts ("behind" or "next to")

Understands complex questions

Speech is understandable, but makes mistakes pronouncing long, difficult, or complex words ("hippopotamus")

Uses some irregular past tense verbs ("ran" or "fell")

Describes how to do things (e.g., painting a picture)

Lists items that belong in a category (e.g., animals or vehicles)

Answers "why" questions

5 years

Understands time sequences (e.g., what happened first, second...)

Carries out a series of 3 directions

Understands rhyming

Engages in conversation

Sentences can be 8 or more words in length

Uses compound and complex sentences

Describes objects

Uses imagination to create stories

NOTE

The ability to hear is essential for proper speech and language development.

Hearing problems may be suspected in children who are not responding to sounds or who are not developing their language skills appropriately.

The above are some age-related guidelines that may help to decide if your child is experiencing hearing problems.

It's important to remember that not every child is the same.

Children reach milestones at different ages.

Source ⚜ More: References ⚜ On Children ⚜ Hearing ⚜ Children's Dialogue

[h2ojustaddmako]

As promised, book 1, 'No Ordinary Girl', of the H2O Digital Library Project is live on AO3!

I hope you enjoy the read, especially for all of you who never got to own the H2O book series.

Common FAQ:

• H2O had books? Yes, there are a total of 12 English books, and additional 3 books in German.

• Are these new stories? Nope. The books follow the series by episode, and give an interesting and more in-depth look into the scenes, with some extended to include new dialogue or lore.

• What should I expect as a read? These are fairly standard junior novelizations and are written for a younger audience. Therefore, most of them are fairly short (15 chapters in the first one) and have a rather simplistic way of writing. I made sure not to edit out or rewrite anything , keeping it similar to the source material. Still, they discuss characters from their own points of view and are still fairly interesting.

• Typos, mistakes, etc: Please note that I used a page scanner and some of the text got jumbled, as well as some punctuation marks and such. I fixed what I've noticed, but it might have some errors, still.

Enjoy the read! I'll try to pop these out as fast as I can, but each book takes between 2.5-3 hours to transcribe, and I ain't doing that in one go haha. I might do the German books if I get bored and decide to translate them (I don't speak German lmao). Also, share to reach other H2O lovers!!

And, a fun little poll for every book:

[kastellaran]

Medicine Seller Pronouns

@dharmafox (sarahwatchesthings) in the Mononoke Commmunity asked about the Medicine Sellers' personal pronouns, and I was going to leave a comment, but as always I tend to go on, so I decided to make it a separate post.

I'll start with Kon, since he's obviously the most interesting. Ri's pronoun usage is really obvious and none of them are unusual. In the movie, Kon does not use any pronouns. This isn't unusual for Japanese as I'm sure many of you know. It's generally preferred to avoid using pronouns if possible, and Japanese makes it very possible. Additionally, Kon doesn't speak very much anyway so there aren't a lot of opportunities for him to use one. Nonetheless, in a lot of Japanese fanart you'll see him using あっし (asshi), although it's not 100%, it's such an unusual one that the prevalence of it in Kon fanart/comics is notable. So where does this come from? In the novelization of Karakasa, there are random changes to the dialogue of characters made here and there. I personally don't understand the reason for a lot of them, like they're kind of inconsequential and don't seem like the kind of changes necessary for adapting between media, but that's not the point. In Kon's first scene, when he introduces himself to Asa and Kame, in the movie he says:

只のしがない薬売りでございます。(tada no shiganai kusuriuri de gozaimasu) "Just a humble medicine seller." In the book, however, the same line is: あっしは、只のしがない薬売りでございます。(asshi wa tada no shiganai kusuriuri de gozaimasu) "I'm just a humble medicine seller." So they go out of their way to show him using this pronoun. What is it, exactly. Well, when I looked it up, the English description of it I found was: "Mainly used by dashing males and craftsmen," which was very funny, but also seemed a strange grouping to me. So I searched a Japanese dictionary and found this: 一人称の人代名詞。 「わたし」のくだけた言い方。 男性、特に職人などが多く用いる、いなせな感じの言い方。 "First person singular pronoun. Elided form of "watashi." Commonly used by men, especially skilled workers. An inase style of speech." What is inase? Unfortunately there isn't a lot of information about it in English, so I had to look at Japanese wikipedia and some other Japanese sources to piece it together. I'd like to warn you that this term is very deeply rooted in its historical context, and I am not an Edo period historian or even someone who knows a lot about Edo period culture. I would say I know a moderate amount, but definitely not enough to accurately convey subcultures and feelings of the time, which is what I'm about to attempt. So please take what I'm saying with a grain of salt, and if you find sources that disagree with me, of course take those into account. The word inase originates from a variation of the hairstyle called the ichoumage (ginkgo hairstyle), which is the most common hairstyle you see on men of the Edo period:

This is the image on the Japanese Wikipedia article for the ichoumage. It's also commonly called chonmage which is how I knew it, but according to Japanese Wikipedia that term originally referred to the thin, wispy one that older men would have.

Anyway, so an inase ichoumage (mullet's back ginkgo hairstyle) is a lopsided version of this hairstyle that was popular among young men of the Edo period. According to Japanese Wikipedia: "It was a word enjoyed and used, along with those long-strapped inase ashida they wore, by those quick-tempered and quarrelsome young men of the fish market, such as the skilled workers and chivalrous rogues (侠客/kyoukaku)."

Inase described this kind of roguish masculinity embodied by these working-class young men. Different from the refined sensibility of the upperclasses, it seems that inase could be likened to the kind of masculinity we today attribute to the popular image of, say, deli workers or perhaps construction workers. Young, working-class men with hot-tempers who represent a kind of spirit of the city. So this is the type of image asshi evokes. This is presumably what the author of the Karakasa novelization was calling upon when they had Kon use that pronoun. Interestingly, being a medicine seller, Kon is not actually part of this social class as far as I can tell; he's a merchant, a class which occupied a rather interesting place in society as the absolute lowest class in the hierarchy which possessed a great deal of wealth and social influence, but that's a separate discussion. Basically, it seems like the author of the novel wanted to associate Kon with these inase men, these young, roguish, kind of rough men of the time.

The last thing I want to say about Kon's pronoun usage is that it's possible he might use a different pronoun when speaking to say, Utayama-sama (if he uses one with her at all), but I haven't read that far into the novel. It wouldn't be surprising to me if he did though. As for Ri, as I recall he uses two different pronouns. In Ayakashi Bakeneko, he uses both ore and watashi, and in Mononoke, he uses watashi only (as far as I can remember, though if anyone remembers some instance of him using ore in the 2007 series, please let me know). Neither of these pronouns are unusual; both are in common use today. Before I get into describing them, I want to emphasize that pronouns are a really fluid class of words in Japanese. What pronouns are in use, who uses them, and when they're used has changed a lot and changed very quickly. Even today, one person does not only use one pronoun. First person pronouns aren't really like third person pronouns in English, where a person generally has one set that is used for them in all contexts and describes something fundamental to their person; in Japanese, a person will use different a different pronoun depending on their situation and who they're talking to. They represent your relationship to the people around you (I recognize this is just one way of looking at it). Statements like "X pronoun is used by X type of person" are almost always oversimplified and don't represent the variety of use cases in real life, however it is true that anime characters are constructed using common tropes and character types, so their pronoun usage can be analyzed a little more along those lines than you would do in real life.

Watashi is probably the most commonly used first person pronoun in Japanese, and for good reason. It's pretty neutral and polite, but because there is an overlap between polite speech and feminine speech, if it's used in a casual setting it's seen as more feminine (or just over-polite/stiff). Ri's speech differs somewhat depending on who he's talking to/what episode it is (it is normal to change your speech based on who you're talking to IRL though), but in general he speaks formal-masculine. It makes sense for him to use watashi especially considering he is socially below most of the people he talks to. Ore nowadays is associated with men and is considered to be a casual masculine pronoun, though it is worth noting that in the Edo period it was used by women as well, and in some dialects of Japanese it still is.

It's worth noting that these pronouns don't strictly convey one idea or not convey it; it's contextual. The same goes for any kind of language honestly, but what I mean is that if you're speaking to say, your boss or your teacher or a stranger, you should be polite to them because you either don't know them well, or you want to show them respect. In that setting, using formal/polite speech (pronouns included) is accepted and encouraged. However, when speaking with people in your circle, such as your friends or family, if you started speaking politely, you'd be suddenly putting distance between yourself and them, and it could even be rude. So it's not that one pronoun is always polite, always feminine, always rude, always masculine, it's that they have certain vibes, and that vibe combines with the context to produce an implication. Ri introduces himself to Kayo with watashi because he's a stranger to her and a merchant. Throughout the series, he generally uses -masu forms and some keigo, but also uses the sentence ender -ze sometimes, addresses Ochou as anata/

Oops, this post got away from me. Pronouns in Japanese are not easy to sum up quickly, and I feel like they're often oversimplified. Um...hope this helps!