#also don't feel the need to match length i just needed to set some background info and setting

[kunstpause]

Welcome to a little interactive Tav/Astarion Au fic.

Hello, I'm your writer and DM today. This will be a story where the major decisions and dialogue choices will be determined via twitter poll. I am aiming for this to be a gender-neutral Tav, so you can headcanon whatever you want in that regard, but we are gonna give them some character nonetheless. Also: It's an AU, so we won't touch the main plotpoints of the game. This is for the silly romance feels and perhaps some vampire steaminess. So be aware that, depending on choices, this could get nsfw.

And because I am very tired of the constant Spawn vs Ascended discourse, we are going with a secret third option, the details of which you might find out in the story, again, depending on choices, of course. ^^

You can find the interactive version here on my Twitter

Setting: Countess Sierran is known for throwing the social events of the season in Neverwinter, raising money for good causes, and giving people a platform to meet all sorts of new acquaintances. You know that this is also an inofficial welcome to someone fairly new to the city. A white-haired man who bought a sizable estate but not that many people have met yet in person. Rumor has it he has left his home of Baldur's Gate behind for good, but why and what for is the source of much gossip. Perhaps tonight, there will be some answers, or maybe just a lot more questions.

But before we can start: Character creation!

The options are under the cut and on twitter, under this post with the matching polls to vote for.

Pick a name, I've tried to pick suggestions that work for any gender. 1 - River 2 - Ash 3 - Morgan 4 - Storm

What brings you to the palace tonight? (Background)

1 - The Hero You are a seasoned adventurer that has been through a lot and made a name for themselves. Even when not being part of nobility, your deeds have granted you an invitiation nonetheless. Everyone in the city knows your name, after all. If its generosity or a political move, you cannot say. Yet.

2 - The Commoner You are an oridinary person, a commoner living in the city and making ends meed by working as a tailor. One of your oldest friends has married rich and keeps sending buisness your way. And one day, an invitation along with this. You are here on their good graces, trying not to leave a bad impression.

3 - The Servant You are a servant of the palace, having worked for the countess for a while. You keep your ear to the ground, hearing far more of what the nobility gossips about than anyone could possibly imagine. It's a simple life, but your employer is fair and you can't complain. Tonight, you're responsible for seeing to the guest's needs, even thought o msot of them, you are mostly invisible.

4 - The Criminal You've spent your childhood on the streets, learning early that no one gives you anything, and you have to take what you want by any means necessary. Nowadays, you are a blade for hire, and your current employer has sent you here with an invitation and a target. You know how to blend in perfectly, dagger hidden beneath clothes as you wait for just the right moment.

What do people think of you (Personality)

1 - The Closed Book You are a closed book, you rarely talk, and especially not about something personal. You are so stoic, people have a hard time getting to know you, and many don't put in the effort to try.

2 - The Charmer You are upbeat and easy to talk to, but you know how to play an audience. You use charme to set people at ease, but what you truly feel and think is often a mystery.

3 - The Open One You are friendly and open, not seeing a point in hiding how you truly feel. You wear your heart on your sleeve and often disarm people with how genuine you are.

4 - The Liar Telling the truth is for peple not careful enough. You have an easy time lying and utilize that skill to keep yourself safe and others at arm's length.

What do you strive for (Goals)

1 - Riches and Comfort You want more. No matter where you are right now, you know there is something more for you out there, and all you need to do is go after it with all your heart.

2 - A Different Life Everything is wrong. You know you are not who you are supposed to be. You need to get away from the status quo by any means necessary, even if that means accepting help.

3 - Peace and Quiet All you want is to rest. Life has been troublesome enough, you just want something quaint and peaceful where you don't have to be "someone" anymore.

4 - Nothing You are perfectly content in your current situation, you want nothing to change at all, and if you have to, you are ready to put the work in or even fight to keep what you have.

What frightens you (Fears)

1 - Lonelyness You can't stand the thought of being on your own. You need someone with you, someone who fights for you and you for them.

2 - Death You fear nothing more than the cold finality of death. It lurks around every corner and you know you have to be smart to outwit it.

3 - Betrayal You have difficulties trusting people, the thought that someone who knows you intimately turns your back on you is petrifying.

4 - Obscurity The thought of being forgotten, of your life not mattering to anyone in the long run and leaving no impact behind once you are gone sends chills down your back.

If you wanna influence the main character you have until the weekend to vote on it here.

[hiro-doodlez]

Similar to my last post about Spanish or Portuguese , this is how to tell the difference between chinese and Japanese, because of just how similar they look! (Keep in mind I'm only studying Japanese and don't know ANY Chinese, so some of this may be off! SORRYYY!!!)

GENERAL HISTORY AND BACKGROUND:

One of the big things that makes Japanese and Chinese writing so similar is that Japanese takes many words from Chinese and puts them into in the Kanji writing system, which has over 50,000 separate characters, although the average native japanese speaker knows between 1500 and 2500. Along with hiragana, which is used for words in/from Japan. Then theres katakana which is used for foreign words, (like names and foods) and each writing system is used interchangeably and can be mixed up even in the same sentence! (Its REALLY confusing)

In Japanese too (but not for foreign words) each word can have 1 or 2 translations, either in hiragana or kanji. All Kanji does to a word is turns it into a more complicated, but more comprehensive version to make it more recognizable and faster to read. (SO CONFUSING)

For example, the word for cat in hiragana is ねこ, (pronounced Ne-ko) while in kanji it would be 猫 (also pronounced Ne-ko!). They're pronounced the exact same, but written differently.

a good example of this would be numbers! The translation to japanese would be either いち (hiragana) or 一 (kanji) both the hiragana and kanji pronunciation would be the same, which would be I-chi. In chinese, one would also be 一, but pronounced Yī this time! same writing, different pronunciations!

Although, not all Japanese words have Kanji set to them. So to fill in the gaps, they have to use the other writing systems like Katakana and Hiragana. Every sentence can be written multiple ways!

VISUAL DIFFERENCES AND.. NOT HISTORY:

So, lets say I wanted to translate "My brother Oliver is from the united states" into both Japanese and Chinese. In japanese, words like oliver and United states would be translated into katakana since they are foreign words. while in chinese they would find the closest character to match the sound.

In japanese, quotation marks are represented with 「 and 」 , while in chinese its still " and "!

Keep in mind that compared to kanji, katakana and hiragana are much simpler!

(im taking these translations from google so take the writing with a grain of salt!!)

so, in katakana, oliver = オリバー and united states = アメリカ . these translations basically sound out the words, so if you were saying it it would sound pretty close to english! (O-ri-ba, and a-me-ri-ka)

the direct translation to japanese would be 私の弟のオリバーはアメリカ出身です. pay attention to the complexity of each symbol and now look over at the chinese translation, which would be 我的兄弟奥利弗来自美国. the characters are MUCH more complicated! To make up for that, sentences in japanese are more likely to be longer length wise because of the breaking up of the words (but not always!)

So, lets try with a couple more examples! make sure to be looking at the characters and the complexity of each of them!

Sentence: I need to go to the convenience store Japanese: コンビニに行かなければなりません Chinese: 我要去便利店

Sentence: Which curtain should we get? Japanese:どのカーテンを買おうか？ Chinese: 我们应该买哪种窗帘？

Sentence: Can I get another chip? Japanese: 別のチップを入手できますか? Chinese:我可以再买一个芯片吗？

Sentence: I was responsible for what happened to John F. Kennedy Japanese: ジョン・F・ケネディに起こったことの責任は私にあった Chinese: 我对约翰·F·肯尼迪的遭遇负有责任

Sentence: I like to play video games in my free time Japanese: 私は自由時間にビデオゲームをするのが好きです Chinese: 我喜欢在空闲时间玩电子游戏

Sentence: He asked me, "Can I pet that cat over there?" Japanese: 彼は私に「あそこの猫を撫でてもいいですか？」と尋ねました。 Chinese: 他问我：“我可以摸摸那边的猫吗？”

Many things i have said in this could be wrong, so feel free to correct me! I just am tired of people mixing up these languages and these are some of the things that I have learned (other than knowing some japanese lmfao) have fun in whatever you choose to do with this!!

[nicolos]

Hi, this is very random but I LOVE your edits!! SO SO much!! And I wanted to ask (if you feel like elaborating but no pressure!) about your editing process (I am a complete newbie). I am in awe of the connections you draw in your edits - do you first choose a song and then try to match the content to it or the other way around? And if you don't mind me asking which program do you use? And how do you get clean audio without the background music? ((I would greatly appreciate your advice if it wouldn't be too much of a burden, wishing you the loveliest of days<3))

hi there!! first off this is so sweet, and I really appreciate hearing that you like my edits!it's always so exciting to get that kind of feedback, esp since video edits arent smth ive done a Lot of or my primary form of fanwork, i guess

For some elaboration - I assume you mean the black sails edits (?), so I'm going to be answering for those. On the whole, I don't have a super well-defined process, so it definitely varies edit to edit, but in general, I tend to work off themes or ideas rather than audio! Especially since I'm not usually working with lyrics, in which case it would be a totally different story.

A lot of my black sails edits specifically are about highlighting a specific theme and how its paralleled over the show, so finding parallels usually is just me trying to remember different scenes which demonstrate the same concept, kind of. I have a file of the whole shows subtitles pasted into one place, so I do a lot of Ctrl+f with keywords (the 'you and i' video was built off literally just that) - and then try to arrange it in a way that makes sense for the BS narrative as well as the point im trying to make in the video. i also really love finding completely different conversations that feel like call and response, and setting them up against each other. Parallels! Contrasts! Etc

I try to work with an audio already in mind, though, generally, just because the flow is kind of determined by that. I didn't for the partners video, and I think it's a bit weaker for it, though i did adjust the music to suit it later. Picking a song if I have a theme in mind is really just going thru my soundtracks playlist, which is like 30% of all music I listen to, and picking smth with a vibe that fits + a pace and length that I think the video will match. (Sometimes I will also just cut the song down a bit)

The program I use is kdenlive, which is an free and open source video editing tool! It's not got quite as many features as smth like davinci resolve, but I find it works for my purposes, which are really just cropping, pasting, and a tiny bit of sharpen/recolour. that said kdenlive has a bunch of other features and options that I simply don't use and also don't know how because I haven't experimented, so its not like snip and move clips around is All you can do with it.

re: the background audios... this one is actually a process lol. i have high qual versions of all the BS eps with 6 channel audio, and ive made versions of each episode where ive isolated the central channel which usually has dialogue. however this channel also will have some slight background music or ambient sounds, so it's not really just the dialogue - but it works for the purposes of the video, where lower sounds like that may get hidden by music anyway. ymmv, it depends scene to scene, but I don't need it to be perfectly clean so it works for me. Ive isolated these channels through ffmpeg, which is a command prompt based editing thing, and isn't difficult to learn but isn't exactly the most user-friendly thing, i guess? However I understand ( @dykementality confirm?) that davinci resolve lets you just isolate audio channels of any clip you're editing, so like, that's an option. i Can give more detailed instructions on ffmpeg, or at least on the code that I use to make files w isolated audio, though honestly I've forgotten how to install ffmpeg (though it can't have been too difficult or I wouldn't have bothered)

I hope that helped you a little, pal! If you have any further clarification I'd be happy to help w/ what I know! And I hope you have a wonderful day also!

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Hiiiiii! I hope you don't mind doing a match up for me! I go by Matilda, Liana, or Lia.

Fandoms: Howl's moving Castle and My Hero Academia

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: honestly probably asexual? I'm not aro, just ace. I don't really have a preference to either gender either. I would like to be matched with one male and one female from mha in particular if that's okay!

Zodiac/mbti: Scorpio, intj

Appearance: 5 foot 1. Shoulder length brown hair which has layers from a now outgrown wolfcut, and hime-style bangs. Brown eyes. Fair skinned. I think I'm pear-shaped. I'm an adult but i look like a 15 year old, which can get annoying. I have dark circles under my eyes due in part to allergies and also genetics

Personality: Like I said I'm an intj. I'm also mildly nd. My sense of humour is sarcastic. I'm pretty introverted and my social battery runs out fast if there are too many people around. I can also be pretty sensitive but i tend to brush that off rather than actually correct anyone or set boundaries, which i find difficult. I'm the eldest daughter so I have the typical eldest daughter syndrome. I enjoy having affection from others and will return it too, however i rarely initiate it despite longing for it. I'm also smart but lack confidence especially when speaking in class. I get very quickly enraged by misogynistic talk and often have the urge to fight someone, but i talk in a way which is misunderstood.

I am compassionate, and if someone comes to me with a problem my first thought is to work out how to solve it, and I tend to give logical advice. I can feel like my own feelings are overlooked and I am probably affection-hungry.

Likes and Dislikes: I like ramen, countryside, cottagecore stuff, notebooks, crystals, toys, playing with my hair, sweet nicknames, and i dislike math, loud noises, and snoring.

Hobbies: reading, writing, art, crochet, games

Hi Lia! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took so long. I hope you like your matchups!

In Howl's Moving Castle, I match you with...

This was a close call here between Howl and Sophie but I think you and Howl would get along better due to your differences.

He’s surprisingly good at noticing when your social battery is getting low and will be more than happy to help you get out of the situation or give you some personal space.

Howl is so glad you like cottagecore, that’s one of his main aesthetics. The fact that you like that only makes his cluttering tendencies even worse.

There are a lot of loud noises in the castle but Howl’s magic means he can mute the sound somewhat so it doesn’t bother you.

This man is very attention hungry as well so it’s a win-win when you’re showing each other in affection. Howl’s really good at giving you attention so if you’re the same, it will be a great time for both of you.

In My Hero Academia, I match you with...

Tamaki is almost as different from Howl as possible but that doesn’t mean the two of you won’t get along amazingly.

You both lack confidence in yourselves but are supportive of each other so it balances out well. You can help each other when confidence is low.

Greatly values your compassionate nature. Tamaki needs a kind soul in his life to support him and he’s grateful for your presence. He’s also very compassionate and will reciprocate that nature for you.

Loves spending quality time with you, especially if you’re reading together or doing art. He finds it peaceful.

No loud noises to worry about when you’re around Tamaki. He’s avoiding them as well. If loud noises are unavoidable when you’re together, he’ll probably want to hold your hand for the mutual support.

In My Hero Academia, I also match you with...

Tsuyu is a good balance between Howl’s extroverted nature and Tamaki’s introverted personality. She’s an ambivert through and through, happy to be in the background or talk to new people.

Please crochet something for her! She needs to stay warm through winter so she’d love anything that fits that category. Scarves, gloves, jumpers, anything. She’ll treasure everything you make her.

I see Tsuyu as someone who likes crystals as well so she’ll bring some home if she’s out and about and finds some new ones you don’t have.

Really good at hyping you up when your confidence is low. She just knows what to say and when to say it to help your confidence build back up. She doesn't have many moments of low confidence but when she does, she would appreciate it if you do the same for her.

Respects your low social battery and will be more than happy to just spend time relaxing just the two of you. Especially during winter when her frog genes are acting up, she’s more likely to have her social battery run out as well so she likes being able to just be with someone she cares about.

[starlostastronaut]

DAY 10 | ALL WE ARE

PAIRING: kim seungmin x reader

GENRE: college au (not mentioned), rivals (more like annoyances) to lovers

WC: 1.70k

CW: reader finds seungmin annoying, dancer!reader, photographer!seungmin

PROMPT: "i don't need your help" "are you sure? cause it sure looks like it"

marking 22:16 and completing another day haha. somehow the biases get the long oneshots (*cough* day 3 *cough*) but i genuinely had so much fun writing this (while procrastinating learning bio lmao). anyway, i think i can see this having a part two, so maybe in the future... hope you enjoy <3

title from border - years & years

general masterlist here

<< previous | mctc masterlist | next >>

You threw your bag on the floor, not really caring where it was going to land. You rolled up your sleeves and made sure your hair was out of your face before you walked towards one of the barres in the dance studio. You and the dance team were going to take some promo photos for your Instagram, so naturally, as the captain, you offered to come early and set everything up. Hyunjin and Felix, two of your teammates, were supposed to arrive soon to help you move everything, but you decided you could start on your own.

You prepared the background and removed all unnecessary objects that would get in the way and pose as a distraction in the photos. Then you took out your own decorations and began carefully placing them around the scene to create the illusion of a frequently used place. You were sure the photographer would move at least a half of them because he was an annoying perfectionistic dick, but you needed to keep yourself busy somehow. It was better than just idly sitting and waiting for one of the guys to show up to help you move the heavy stuff.

But now everything you could do was prepared, and Hyunjin and Felix were still nowhere in sight. You were sitting on the spot of the photographer, trying to see if anything could be altered to look better or be pushed out of the way before the equipment was moved to its correct place. As you began to feel frustrated with the two dancers, you got up and walked over to your bag, digging through it to find your phone. A new message awaited you.

Hyunjin

got lost buying coffee. me & lix will be there in 20!!

Me

hurry up!!

Shaking your head, you pocketed your phone. Trust Hyunjin to get lost at the most inconvenient times. You would bet anything that that wasn't even the real reason; Hyunjin could find the way to the studio blindfolded, given how much time he spent here. The more plausible reason was that the two dumbasses simply forgot, and Hyunjin was trying to cover their asses.

Well, the reason wasn't important. More importantly, the photographer would be here soon to set up his equipment, and the barres still needed to be moved. “How heavy can it be, right?” you murmured to yourself and wrapped your hands around one end of the barre. You managed to lift it up just fine, but the other end was still on the ground due to the barre's length. You tried to drag it across the floor, and to your surprise, it moved, but once you heard the ugly screech the floor made, you dropped the bar with a thud. It was not worth damaging the floor.

“Do you want help?” someone said as they walked through the door. A relief washed over you, thinking it was Hyunjin at first, but then you realized the voice and tone didn't match. As you turned around, the relief quickly turned to annoyance because the photographer had arrived.

Kim Seungmin, also known as the pain in your ass. He had been working with you for close to two years now. You weren’t sure how he even got the job in the first place, but you assumed it was Felix's doing since the two were friends. But Seungmin was good, so you kept him around. Much to your dismay, it was always Seungmin's photos and videos that went viral on social media. As a photographer, he was simply amazing, but as a person, not so much, despite everything Felix tried to convince you otherwise. Seungmin was always brutally honest, always had some witty remarks, and wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He would make jokes about anyone and anything. You weren’t an exception to his humor. When he committed to a vision, no one could tell him anything. His attitude made you lose your mind at times. He was an organized rule-follower, but at the same time so carefree, energetic, and just himself. You had to admire that about him. He didn’t care about anything, which was something you secretly envied. You were always too quick to crumble under the judgment of other people, another reason why his jokes affected you so much.

“I'm fine,” you spat out, turning your back to him again. “You can set up over there.” You pointed towards the empty spot close to the window, chosen carefully for natural light. You heard Seungmin scoff, but he did go set down his camera and other things he had brought. You heard footsteps, and then his face was back in your field of vision.

He got rid of his jacket, standing there in a simple t-shirt. He was never the one to dress up, preferring casual clothing, but he had this personal style that looked good on him. You had seen him dressed formally at events, but you liked this Seungmin much more. He looked more relaxed, more like himself. It was this soft style that enhanced his natural beauty the most. That was another thing you would never say to him. So what? You were allowed to think he's pretty while also thinking he's annoying, were you not?

Seungmin grabbed the other end of the barre. “Come on, on three.” He counted it, and together you lifted it up and carried it where it needed to be. You repeated the process with the other barre as well. What surprised you was that for the whole time, Seungmin hadn't uttered any wannabe funny jokes. That was unusual for him. But you could come back to that later. The costumes still needed to be brought in. You went to the hall to find the storage. As you entered the cramped room just down the hall, you spotted the box you needed right on the top shelf. “Perfect,” you muttered under your breath and stood on your toes, trying to reach the box. You managed to somehow wiggle it closer to the edge, and you were praying it wouldn't fall on your head.

Suddenly, you were pushed out of the way. “Wait, let me,” Seungmin said, effortlessly taking the box down. “Anything else?” Stunned, you wordlessly pointed to a smaller box, funnily enough also on top. With his height, Seungmin had no trouble reaching that one either. He placed the box on top of the first one, and before you could say anything, he carried both boxes back outside to where you were going to do the shoot, leaving you alone in the storage closet. You locked it up quickly, and you ran after him. You caught up to him just as he was setting the boxes down in the corner.

“Why are you suddenly nice to me?” you asked, leaning on the door frame. You were confused. Normally, Seungmin would take the piss out of you for your poor planning. But so far, he has been nothing but helpful and kind. “Are you feeling sick?” you added after a few seconds, feeling brave.

“What do you mean?”

You shrugged. “I don't know. Usually, you'd make fun of me. Tell some stupid joke.” You watched carefully his reaction. His body tensed up but then relaxed again. There's something defeated about his attitude now.

Seungmin ran a hand through his bangs. "The truth is, I was trying to get your attention. Clearly, that didn't work,” he mumbled, all of his usual confidence and ease gone.

Oh.

“Well, I'm not surprised,” you scoffed. “If that was your idea of flirting, it sucked.”

Seungmin laughed bitterly. “Yeah, Felix told me that much. Which is why I'm trying a new approach.” He looked up, and you found his eyes bright and sparkling with energy, despite his mood right now. He looked like a puppy, which was so adorable that it was unfair.

Double oh.

Kim Seungmin was trying to flirt with you? In what alternate universe have you found yourself? Never in a million years would you think that was what all his teasing meant, but apparently this was the reality. With horror, you realized you weren’t opposed to the idea. No, you were intrigued. This sudden change in his behavior, what he was telling you now... Looking back at your recent encounters, you realized he was, in fact, nicer than he used to be, but those were still a far cry from today. He still teased you at any given chance. And deep down, you knew that Seungmin was a kind man, but to help you without saying a word like he did just now must have meant something. Maybe what he was saying was really true.

Feeling genuinely curious as well as enjoying the feeling of finally having the upper hand and finally being able to tease him for a change, you voiced your next question. “Why? You like me or something?” You cocked an eyebrow, a smile playing on your lips. You peeled yourself away from the door frame and slowly walked closer to the photographer.

Seungmin seemed to go through all stages of panic in about three seconds. Subconsciously, he began playing with the rings he was wearing as a form of grounding. It was a rare sight to see Seungmin, always so calm and collected, fidgeting and feeling nervous. As evil as it might have sounded, a part of you enjoyed seeing him like this, being put down from the pedestal of confidence he himself built. It made him more like you, more human.

But before Seungmin could answer anything besides a stuttered "I", the door flew open. You had never in your life wanted to smack Hwang Hyunjin more than right now. He barged in, holding a half-empty cup of iced Americano and apologizing loudly. Felix trailed behind him like a lost kitten.

“We're so coming back to this conversation after the shoot,” you said in a hushed voice towards Seungmin, who just dumbly nodded and retreated back to his equipment while you went to scold Hyunjin (and Felix, but you could never be truly mad at him). As you made your way towards the two boys, you didn't notice the proud and amused smirk on Seungmin's face.

taglist: @stayconnecteed @saintriots @vivioluh @ivaneedssleep @jazziwritesthings @darkypooo

©starlostastronaut 2023 | do not repost/translate my work without permission

[xastcriiax]

Visiting Hours || Open

It’d been about three years now since Jaden Harkness found herself in this wretched cell. She’d been keeping track of the days with tally marks etched discreetly in the wall hidden away from prying eyes. Three years left chipped and powerless and caged like an animal. It was a far cry from the position she’d been in before. Pride of the Nephilim with the world as her oyster. Personally, she blamed Uriel for this; if he hadn’t gone batshit on the whole city of Pansaw after C.A.R.M.A attacked Mari perhaps she wouldn’t be in this mess. Sure, she’d been pissed off about her girl getting hurt too, but sometimes precision and calculation did better than raw power and strength. What had their onslaught on the civilians really done back then besides unite everyone in Pansaw together in the most disgusting fashion? It was a lot easier to blame someone else than admit she’d made the mistake of dropping her guard for a second in a crucial moment. 

The magician hardly had access to her powers since the day of the attack, C.A.R.M.A keeping her beautiful magic trapped under their deactivation chip in the back of her neck. There’d been a couple times where they’d turned it off for a few seconds for the sake of registration and quick research notes, and in those split moments, Jaden could feel something different. Her magic felt stronger, more powerful, like Uriel’s aether enhancement had never faded away. Oh, how she longed to feel that power running through her veins again. It was hers – how dare these government controlled monkeys think they can rip away something that was part of her? Whatever. She’d be out of here before they even knew it. This grey tank top and orange pants look was getting so old.  

Just then she heard the heavy door to the prisoner area open and footsteps approaching. She sat on her cot in her cell, legs criss-crossed as she performed her daily “meditation,” as she called it. “Oh joy. A visitor,” she drawled, cracking open one eye to look at them through the shimmering energy field trapping her inside. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

@wotnastarters​

[kaijime]

picture perfect

includes. step-brother! hinata shoyo x f!reader

cw. step-cest, mentions of nudes, masturbation, blackmailing, toys [butt plug], fingering, use of pet name 'bunny', video recording, praise kink, vaginal penetration, creampie, theres a mirror?

wc. 2.1k

a/n. this is for @dilfhub's everything-cest collab, hope you like it!! also i might make a pt. 2 for this

hinata knows what you've been doing, the pictures you've been posting, and the videos you've been sharing for anyone to see, and he plans to use it for his own benefit.

tit started with atsumu showing him a picture of a girl online, 'some girl on onlyfans' he said, but as soon as hinata saw one picture, he was hooked on your body. he quickly asked atsumu for a link to your account because he couldn't get enough of you from just a few pictures.

that night when he finally arrived to his room he was eager to follow the link atsumu had sent him. he paid for the exclusive photos and delved into them.

the most recent one was a picture of a girl's body, posing in front of the mirror, a pastel pink bralette and thin, lacy panties adorned her figure. he could swear he recognized that phone case from somewhere, but he brushed it off as a casualty.

but as he scrolled through the gallery, he kept recognizing things from the background. a jewelry box, the bed sheets, some shoes on the floor.

and then it clicked in his mind.

your jewelry box, the one he'd seen you open thousands of times when he still lived in your parent's house. your bed sheets, he remembers the day you bought them, claiming this color would match your room aesthetic. your shoes, the one's he specifically remembered you wearing for your family reunion.

it was too specific to be a coincidence, but you wouldn't do this kind of thing, right? when he still lived in the house, you never seemed like that type of girl. you never invited any boys over, and you never wore such revealing clothes like the ones you wear in these pictures.

he's scrolled too far, and every single picture he's seen has only driven him to his position right now, cock in his hand, stroking himself to you. he didn't care if it was you anymore, he needs relief after seeing your body with those different poses, different underwear that made his mind run wild with thoughts of making you his.

but his hand around his cock isn't enough to satisfy him. now that he's convinced you took those photos of yourself, he only wants to be buried between your legs, he wants to see how much of his cock you can take before whining and pawing at his chest, moaning that its too much for you to handle.

as soon as he pictures you sprawled out on the bed beneath him, panting his name as he ruts into you, he's a goner. he cums quickly, thick ropes of his cum falling on his stomach and dripping down his toned body.

he makes a reminder to confront you about it the next time he sees you, which is conveniently right now as he stands in front of your bedroom door. now, he's not sure if he really wants to do this. what kind of step-brother would he be if he blackmailed his pretty little step-sister?

after spending the whole day with his family, he decides to stay at his old childhood house for the night, and the only thing he can think about is how pretty you'd look wearing the pretty lingerie set you wore in the last picture you posted. he knocks on the door once, twice, until he grows tired of waiting and opens the door, surprised to find out it was unlocked.

he doesn't know what he was expecting when he decided to open the door, but he certainly wasn't expecting to see you posing in front of the body length mirror, a frilly pair of panties adorning your hip and a lacy bra that barely covers anything. even though you're posing in the mirror, there are still other props sitting unused on your bed, bunny ears and a butt plug with a little fluff at the end, a bunny tail.

he stands on the door frame, not daring to move an inch as you stumble to cover yourself with a blanket. despite not moving much, he closes the door behind him and locks it, leaving you with a confused, blushing face.

you can practically feel your heart beating out of your chest in anticipation, waiting for his next move, too embarrassed to say anything yourself.

"you're beautiful" he mutters under his breath before slowly approaching you, caressing your arm and coaxing you to take off the blanket that covered you.

"what are you doing? y-you shouldn't-"

"i know what you were doing" he says, pulling the sheets from your hands and throwing you over his shoulder. he throws you on the bed and towers over you, reaching his hand over to find the bunny ears.

"were you planning on wearing these?" he asks, when he really thinks about it, you would look nice as his little bunny. he puts the ears on your head and runs his hand over your cheek, soft skin trembling under his touch. he could tell you were scared, yet you didn't put up a fight. "they'd look very nice on you"

he reaches over again, fidgeting with the little butt plug between his fingers. "you gonna take another picture in them?" he asks.

"wh-what are you talking about?" you ask, acting innocent to his accusations.

"don't lie to me" he says, flipping you over so you're laying on your knees, your flimsy panties doing little to cover up the skin of your ass, completely exposed to him.

"i-i don't-"

"c'mon, i've already seen all of your photos" he says, a warm blush creeping into your cheeks.

he knows.

you can't do anything but keen at his words, bucking your hips back towards him where he rubbed the plug against your puckered hole. "i've seen you" he continues "in your cute little lingerie" he runs his hands up and down your body, pressing at the curve of your ass. he just can't believe you're finally like this, laid beneath him just how he imagined. "you looked so pretty, i knew i had to make you mine when i saw you like that"

"we can't" you protest, trying your best to slap his hands away from your body, but instead he takes both of your wrists in one of his hands, using his free hand to insert a finger into your ass. he works you open slowly, thrusting one of his knuckles to fuck into you until you're ready to take the metal plug.

you mutter curses under your breath when he pulls his fingers away, only to be replaced with the hard metal as he pushes it in. "ah!" you exclaim, gasping when its finally all inside and he pets the fluffy tail.

"good girl" he praises while he toys with the tail. when he's done admiring your ass, he slides your panties to the side and runs his fingers through your folds.

"you got so wet from me playing with your ass?" he asks teasingly. "my little bunny"

the pet name makes you drip down your thighs and he notices, he can see that your hole is drooling with your essence, eager to be filled to the brim, and who was he to leave you all high and dry?

"don't play with me shoyo" you whine, squirming and struggling to get his hands off of you, feeble attempts to make him stop.

"i'll play with you all i want" he says "unless you want me to show them what a little slut they have as a daughter"

he's blackmailing you. you're stuck between a rock and a hard place, nothing to do except do whatever he wants. you shouldn't have posted those stupid pictures, and you curse to yourself for getting involved in such a stupid cashgrab.

"no..." you shift your hips closer to him, grinding against him in hopes it would change his mind.

he knew you'd cave in as soon as he threatened you, but he didn't expect you to be so receptive. when you grind your wet panties against his clothed cock, how can you expect him to hold back?

"god, you're gorgeous" he sighs, the feeling of your wetness on his fingers excites him, drives his crazy as he sucks on his fingers, reveling in your lovely taste.

he inserts two of his fingers into your clenching hole, imagining it was his cock instead. he grows harder by the minute, biting his lip to hold back his want for you, and he swears he could cum on the spot when you moan his name.

"shoyo, please!" you whine when he curls his fingers to hit that perfect spot that left your legs weak, barely able to keep you kneeling properly on the bed. "'m gonna cum" you warn him.

"not yet" he says, releasing your hands and spanking your ass, then he lightly pulls on the plug buried between your cheeks.

"fuck! p-please let me cum!" your pleas fall to deaf ears, he's focused on getting your phone from the nigh stand and pulling out the camera app. he starts recording you, zooming in the camera in on the sight of your drooling hole, and capturing all your noises in the video.

"cum, bunny" he orders. you don't hesitate to let go of the built up pleasure, cumming around his digits and coating them with your slick juices.

"f"-fuck!" you say between sobs, tears streaming down your dainty face as he takes his fingers out. he pulls them apart, showing off the string of juices that cling to his fingertips to the camera.

he stops the recording and grabs your hips, rough calloused hands leaving dark marks that would probably be visible tomorrow.

"did you like that?" you can't even reply, still lost in your own pleasure and clenching onto the sheets. you're so buried in your mind, you don't even notice him taking his cock out of his pants and positioning it to your entrance. he covers it in your slick, using it as lubricant to slide into you.

he fills you up perfectly, leaving you gasping for air when you feel the head of his cock pressing against your cervix. you're stretched out beyond your limit, cursing under your breath at the burn he sends throughout your whole body.

shuddering under his grip, he starts his pace, rutting his hips into you at slow pace. he treats you so carefully, as if you might break if he makes a wrong move. you're a porcelain doll for him, a porcelain doll that clenches around his cock deliciously every time he hits your sweet spot.

"doing so good for me, bunny" that nickname again, it drove you crazy.

you pant and bury your face deeper into the pillow, trying to suppress you moans from him. you didn't want to give him the benefit of your moans, but he makes it so hard when he angles his thrusts to hit your g-spot over and over, prompting more and more sounds for him to drink in.

"taking me so well in your little hole" he keeps praising "this greedy pussy was made just for me" he pulls you closer with a hand to your tummy and drags it lower, low enough to roll small circles to your clit. you can't help but buck your hips against him, driving him insane with the way your little tail jiggled every time he thrusted into you.

he grips one of your cheeks with his hands, spreading you open to get a better view of the little plug, pushed neatly into your tiny hole.

"sh-sho- fuck! 'm cumming, 'm cumming!" you exclaim, your walls pulling him deeper into your cunt.

he almost cums along with you, but he remembers to take your phone and start recording again, capturing your hole as it clenches around his cock in the frame.

a few curses and he's lost in the pleasure, barely conscious enough to hold the phone correctly as he spills everything inside your tight hole. he records your trembling figure, and he puts the phone closer to your cunt, focusing in on the sight of him pulling out his cock and his cum seeping down your thighs, oozing out of your little hole as you pant and drool all over the picture.

the last scene he captures with the camera is the one of him pulling you up, positioning your body to have you kneeling on the bed, facing the mirror. he records your fucked out body, struggling to stay up and look towards the mirror.

its a sight enough to make anyone cum. its a sight enough to make atsumu cum as he sits in his bed, imagining its his cum that drips down your legs and makes a lovely puddle of slick on the bed. he sits in disbelief as he watches the next video, because he recognizes the red head that kneels behind the fucked out girl, caressing the skin of her hips lovingly.

he definitely has to talk to shoyo when he's back from his trip.

© kaijime 2021 | all content belongs to kaijime, do not modify or repost

[writingandmore]

hello!! is your match up still open? i would like to request one if you don't mind. if not, feel free to ignore this!

i like to be matched with someone from persona 5, bsd and genshin.

i'm an intp, 5w4, a cancer, a straight female with height of 5'2. i have brown eyes and black hair with shoulder length.

for my personality: the characteristics of my mbti have it. i'm a person who seeks excitement and investigating or adventuring to the unknown. instead, i'm trap on my workspace or comfort zone! i'm in need of someone to drag me out and walk around. i love nature really and i'm connected with wind so despite my introvert self, i love to go out and go home energy drained. you can say that i'm organized but it really depends on my mood if i should follow my schedule. i'm a curious and analytical individual. easily intrigued with theoretical and philosophy things.

i'm socially awkward so that's why i don't usually attend with idle chatters. but if i have a mood to it, i try to engage with them. i sometimes do intimate gestures to my friends without realizing like leaning my chin on their shoulder or squishing their arms or hands. i am careful with people so when someone is uncomfortable or new to physical touch, i step out to their boundary and respect it. when things gets overwhelming, i isolate myself and slowly constructing my thoughts before getting out to my comfort zone. i'm a chill person but i can eat tons of sugar and randomly release my energy. for example, shaking someone or shouting a word or two in the middle of the crowds. i'm a background or a supporting character who witness and enjoy the drama. i'm can be your watson so if you need an assistance or someone to rant, you can approach me. i'm a good listener! but bad at giving advices. i'm afraid to share my thoughts to someone because it might offend them. but i can give them my full support and quality time. plus i am very patient!

i'm very insecure and i questioned my existence if someone complements me. not that i don't like it but i appreciate them really.

i have a habit to study people from afar (usually enigmas). if i make them uncomfortable, i don't bother them anymore (i try not to. i'm just curious ok?).

i also like someone who is chill with my personality. someone who's willing to listen my ramblings and remember some small parts about it. yes and someone who talks too. they can ramble whatever they want and i'm willing to listen. it's ok if they're not much of a talker. well, action speaks louder than words.

likes: psychology, musics, sweets; chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, COFFEE--

hobbies: studying, singing, dancing, sketching, playing games

i hope i gave you enough information needed. and i love your fics <33333

P5: Joker!

-Joker enjoys exploring places he's never been before, and would be happy to take you out so that you can explore too! He can be very convincing when he needs to be, so needing someone to give you a little push to go out wouldn't be a problem with him. That being said, he also can enjoy a quiet night at home sometimes too, so there would be a good balance.

BSD: Kunikida!

-Kunikida would really appreciate an intelligent, inquisitive partner like you! He has a strong set of personal morals, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be curious to talk about philosophy and such things with you-in fact, he quite enjoys discussions like that. He can also be a bit awkward if he doesn't feel like he's in control of the situation, so that can be something you could bond over as well.

Genshin: Itto!

-Itto is a very, very touchy person, so he wouldn't mind at all if you showed you affection that way, as he would be the same. He's pretty loud, and though he almost always means well, you may have to talk to him about what to do when you get overwhelmed, since his first instinct would be to try to distract you. Once he understands what you need, he would be very good at getting you out of situations and to a calm and quiet place where you can rest for a bit (he's very strong, so even carrying you wouldn't be an issue).

[xtruss]

Which Players Have Been The Biggest Losses to Cricket This Century?

Mohammad Asif, patron saint of what-could-have-beens Getty Images (A Boak Bollock who involved himself in a match fixing crimes and killed his own promising career. Otherwise he would be the most fiercest, formidable, intimidating and dangerous fast bowler of the Cricketing World.)

— Jul 9, 2020 | ESPN Staff

In this edition of Rabbit Holes, Osman Samiuddin, Andrew Fidel Fernando and Sidharth Monga gather for a round of lamentation and breast-beating over cricket's greatest unfulfilled talents and shed tears over what might have been.

Andrew Fidel Fernando, ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent: So, the biggest losses to cricket this century. I think given the people involved in the conversation, this will quickly degenerate into a Mohammad Asif support group. But there are so many others who've not had the careers we all wanted them to have.

Osman Samiuddin, senior editor: Wait, what? This is not the Asif Anonymous Group already?

Fernando: "Hi, I'm Osman, and it's been ten years since I last watched Asif bowl. (breaks down sobbing uncontrollably)"

Sidharth Monga, assistant editor: And the thing is, Asif don't care. Or at least doesn't seem to care.

Samiuddin: Although the thing is, I think Asif does care. In that interview with Umar Farooq it was clear he cares about how people remember him. Maybe just not enough to get bogged down by it.

Monga: He has moved on better than us. Which is him being kinda, "Yeah, this is life, what are you going to do about it?" But I also like that he is turning out in domestic cricket despite there being no hope that he will ever bowl at the highest level again. This is every ball of his first two spells of the QeA final in 2017-18. Cruelly, captained again by Salman Butt, who chose to field first, which is something you don't do in Test cricket these days. And the first two comments on the video!

Samiuddin: For the longest time - and even now - I believe that the careers of Kumar Sangakkara and AB de Villiers would have turned out different had they had to play Asif often.

Fernando: Sanga would have got out cheaply to Asif five times in a row one series and retired in shame in 2012 - that's how your fantasy goes, right?

Samiuddin: Earlier, ideally.

Monga: Hashim Amla, AB and Kevin Pietersen didn't even play him that much, but the little that they did was enough to convince them he was the best bowler they faced. Ahead of all the other legends of the time.

Samiuddin: But with the advances in batsmanship - though, I guess mostly in white-ball cricket - how would Asif have responded? It's not a bad time to be a Test bowler though, so he probably would have been okay still.

Remember when Asif took 6 for 41 in Sydney in 2010, in a losing cause? Getty Images

Fernando: I do think Asif would have loved some of the tracks Pakistan have played on in the last five, six years.

Samiuddin: The UAE? I mean, imagine Misbah captaining Asif - would he have turned him into an offspinner?

Fernando: Hah, true, but I meant more outside the UAE. Those New Zealand greentops where you can only see the batsman from the helmet up, because of the grass cover. He would also have adored a lot of the tracks Pakistan played on in Sri Lanka, in the middle of the last decade, when they were visiting every other weekend.

Samiuddin: Also can't help but think how he would have gone in Australia. He had one great Test there - in Sydney - but that surface was green that first morning and it had rained and clouds were around, so it was ideal. I think that's probably the last time Australia had anything other than a flat track. His set-ups were like Warne in conception - this one of Clarke especially. He bowled four-five balls to Clarke before this, all good length, on off-stump line, either not seaming or seaming away. Two-three he left alone to keeper. One he drove. This one he tried to drive again and it was the first one that seamed in. So, so, so simple.

Monga: Did you say set-ups? And he did it all without a perfect upright seam the way Mohammed Shami's is. Or maybe bolt upright is not perfect, who knows. Also, Marcus North getting out in three balls reminds me of Asif once saying he is sometimes disappointed with batsmen who don't let him set them up properly and get out before the payoff.

Samiuddin: There was also a great set-up of Shane Watson in a previous Test, where Asif bowled to an 8-1 off-side field for a couple of overs and well wide of off stump. Like, really wide outside. Almost unnoticed he was pulling Watson further and further out to the off side. And then suddenly, when literally nobody was expecting it, he bowled one a little straighter, quicker, it swung in a fair bit. Watson had moved out to off stump in anticipation and the ball ended up missing Watson's leg stump by millimetres. I don't think I would ever have seen a dismissal like that. All that work for one ball and it only narrowly didn't come off.

Fernando: I feel like we could be on Asif all day.

Samiuddin: The point of all of which is that I don't think I have regretted not seeing more of any cricketer than Asif. So that's decided. How about some others?

Though, I mean, Pakistan could put out three XIs of these players who were lost and they could play a pointless tri-series among themselves. Like Mohammad Zahid. Fastest four balls Brian Lara faced in his life.

Monga: Would Umar Akmal qualify?

Fernando: And if we're doing a long Pakistan lamentation, is Fawad Alam in the mix?

Samiuddin: Hundred per cent. Not lost so much as ignored. Overlooked. Spat upon. Trampled.

Monster on a monstrous pitch: Jesse Ryder cut, drove and hooked to 83 in the 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Mirpur, while other batsmen struggled Getty Images

Monga: But we're drawing the line at Ahmed Shahzad?

Fernando: I'd like to throw two Kiwi names into the mix. Both of whom played 18 Tests. Both players of extreme quality. Lost to the game for reasons very different to Asif.

Samiuddin: Martin Guptill?

Fernando: Hah, no one so painfully vanilla. The first I'm thinking of, of course, is Jesse Ryder.

Samiuddin: Did you not once spend an entire six-month period of your life trying to chase him down?

Fernando: For a potential feature, yes, highly unsuccessfully. He was still playing. And still burning bridges. It was like the story hadn't actually stopped unravelling, so no one really wanted to talk about it.

Ryder just had such an instinctive feel for the game, whichever format he was playing. A rock-solid defence, a brutal pull shot, threw all of himself into those drives. When he middled it, you couldn't actually see the ball before it reappeared outside the boundary rope.

Monga: Underrated bowler and exceptional catcher to go with it. And he sold out stadiums. People came to watch Jesse Ryder.

Fernando: He was a monster at backward point.

Samiuddin: In that 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Dhaka, pitch like porridge - that was the only time I saw Ryder play and, my lord, if that wasn't the innings of that tournament. His timing that day was freakishly good. On that pitch - and the thing is, it's difficult to articulate - the difference in watching him bat and others that day was just so, so vast that you had to question yourself. Like, were you assessing the pitch wrong and were the rest just crap?

Monga: New Zealand is so not the country for Jesse. I remember him scoring a flawless double-century against India in Napier, and then breaking a chair or something in disgust when he got out. You can guess what got reported the next day.

Fernando: So I remember this crazy Ryder innings, where again, at the end, a chair got smashed (after a lot of Sri Lankan bowlers had also been smashed).

Samiuddin: I'm seeing a pattern here...

Monga: If I were the coach I would carry extra chairs.

Fernando: It was in the 2009 Champions Trophy. Ryder pulls a hamstring or a calf very early in this match. I think he was 7 off 7 or something like that. Basically can't run. And so he just starts blasting boundaries. Ten fours and a six - 74 off 58 balls.

Monga: He wasn't much for foot movement anyway, but somehow always played close to his body.

Forget the batting for a minute: Ryder also took blinders, like this one to dismiss Upul Tharanga in the 2011 World Cup semi-final AFP

Fernando: Opening partner Brendon McCullum, who is supposed to be this shining paragon of Kiwi aggression, ambles to 42 off 74 at the other end. Eventually Ryder gets out, and he's clearly not happy. Just when he thinks he's out of view of the cameras, he absolutely lays into a plastic chair. Just destroys it with his bat. Except, of course, he wasn't out of view. This was seen and replayed many times. I'm sorry but I loved everything about that.

Samiuddin: Actually more than anything else, New Zealand need(ed) Ryder in their team to shed themselves of the "nicest guys in cricket" tag. I mean, yeah, of course, runs and stuff, but they need a guy in that side who does things like that.

Fernando: The New Zealand hill I will absolutely die on is that they would have converted one of their two World Cup finals into a win if Ryder was in the team. I don't blame the people who kicked Ryder out, really, because he's been given chances by many coaches in various continents - both domestic and international - and he's not managed to rein his behaviour in. But if Ryder had managed to improve the behaviour to juuust within that line, I think we would think of New Zealand as one of the great teams of the last decade, instead of just a very good one. And also just the thought of Williamson trying to captain Ryder - there could have been books written and films made just on that relationship.

Monga: I just feel cricket, especially the international variety, is very tough on someone like Jesse. It would have been a miracle if he had survived. Ross Taylor and Ryder were both discovered together. Neither came from a privileged background, but Taylor's privilege was that he had his act together. Mark Greatbatch, one of their earlier coaches, I remember, told me how Ryder was more skilled but Taylor was more rounded as a person. Ryder would throw up in the bin at the nets, Taylor would come home with a bottle of wine.

Samiuddin: Without knowing the details and insider stuff, was he so, so, so difficult to handle that they really couldn't find a place for him in the team at all? Or make it work somehow?

Fernando: They didn't throw him away lightly, tbf. They gave chances. And many people - agents, coaches, mentors - have tried various approaches and it's not worked out.

Samiuddin: I think that is the other point about these players, that they make so much of an impression, you're always left feeling somehow if the others - boards, teams, managers, agents - had just done something else/more he would have been okay.

Monga: More than anything, they also tell us that sometimes you have to accept things as they are. Especially when a team such as New Zealand does all it can get to keep you in. What joy it was to watch him in full flow. But it wasn't meant to be.

Samiuddin: Who was the other Kiwi?

Fernando: Okay, yes, enough Ryder. Someone who was at the other end of the spectrum in terms of temperament, but also glorious to watch in full flow. Guesses?

Samiuddin: Bond. The name is Bond.

Fernando: Nailed it. Like, Shane Bond with his yorkers.

Samiuddin: Bond is long gone as a bowler, but I feel like he's everywhere in the actions of so many modern fast bowlers.

Shane Bond, destroyer of Australia, failed by his own body Getty Images

Fernando: Huge influence on Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

Monga: Strike rate of 38 but couldn't play enough to get more than his 87 wickets.

Samiuddin: Adam Milne, Matt Henry - all their actions. Naseem Shah.

Fernando: And if we agree that aughts Australia had assembled the greatest ODI batting line up, Bond was the greatest destroyer of that top order. Seventeen matches v Aus: average of 15.79, SR of 21.4, economy rate 4.41 - there's no touching that in ODIs

Samiuddin: Bond, in a very different way, is the epitome of what Monga said earlier, about how it's just meant to be for some. No off-field issues (that I can think of), great guy to have in a team. But just had a body that couldn't sustain it.

Monga: In a way I agree, but you can continue working on the body, you can even come back as a bowler with less pace but more wiles, you can still cut yourself a career, but it is different with mental health.

Fernando: Bond just was incredibly, incredibly fragile, though. I'm not sure even turning himself into a medium-pacer - which he has said he was never interested in, btw - would have worked. There were unusual things as well: I remember he once went off the field in a match with a migraine and couldn't bowl, and caught absolute hell on talkback radio in New Zealand for being soft.

Samiuddin: Incidentally, Bond talked about the injuries stemming - ironically - from that action, in this great piece on him by Rahul Bhattacharya, at the 2007 World Cup. He talks here about losing a little of that pace.

Fernando: His last Test, which was a fantastic game against Pakistan in Dunedin, he blew them away with pace in the first innings, iirc.

Monga: It was a great Test. Akmal was unleashed in this game, right?

Fernando: Yes, Asif took 4 for 43 as well. Pity Ryder didn't play. It would have been the poster Test for everything we've talked about.

Monga: Ryder was a veteran of wistfulness by then.

Fernando: Fawad Alam was in that Test as well! Here's the wicket description from the first dig: "Bond's breathing fire here, he hits the deck hard from over the wicket, lands it short of a length on middle and Fawad barely had time to react and fend it off, he fails to drop his gloves down and the ball shaves his glove before landing safely in McCullum's hands."

Underrated, but celebrated: would Ryan Harris have had a greater impact had big names not kept him out of the Australian team early in his career? Getty Images

Monga: While sticking with fast bowlers, I have a name that I am not sure you will agree with. It is more down to having been kept out by big names throughout his 20s, but what we saw of Ryan Harris in 27 Tests in his 30s (also cut short by a back surgery, which he went to after taking a last wicket in the dying moments of a momentous Test) makes me wonder with a little disappointment what a great bowler we lost out on.

Samiuddin: Absolutely, only four more Tests than Asif.

Monga: And what an Asif-like bowler too.

Samiuddin: But I also feel with Harris that Australia celebrated him so much, that he was part of so many big moments against South Africa and England - big series - that he kind of lived a full career… which, of course, he never did in reality

Fernando: And I guess that the injuries came at an age when you expect those things to happen to a quick. Whereas Asif's exit seemed so premature.

Monga: His wrist admittedly did less magic than Asif, but his accuracy was stifling. He lived by the Asif philosophy: if I beat the bat, I should be hitting the pad or the stumps; if I take the edge, it should go to keeper or first slip

Samiuddin: Except, quicker than Asif. Always felt Stuart Clark was the more like-for-like Asif bowler

Monga: We love Asif for the highlights reels his wickets make it to, but arguably Harris has provided us with better seam porn. Have a look at this. This also reminds me, I recently saw Harris seam a ball in the IPL. That I would never have believed had there been no video evidence.

Samiuddin: Asif seamed some balls in the IPL too - 2008.

Fernando: What a trip it is now to think that Pakistan players actually took part in the IPL.

Monga: The greatest loss to cricket: Pakistan players missing the IPL.

Samiuddin: Snap.

Fernando: Genuinely, though, they would have changed the dynamic of that tournament so much. And you suspect the IPL would have changed Pakistan cricket as well.

Samiuddin: But the PSL may not have happened also... Or maybe it would have happened earlier.

Fernando: Umar Gul would have cut it up.

Samiuddin: And Sohail Tanvir as the greatest T20 bowler ever?

Chris Lewis: the blueprint for Jofra Archer? Getty Images

Fernando: Lasith Malinga would still have crushed it, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Samiuddin: I know I'm being old and boomer-y but Malinga in Tests, I feel, is an unfulfilled thing.

Monga: Malinga would have made a bowler of great spells in Test cricket. Innocuous for long whiles, but then a switch would flick on and he would run through three-four guys in one three-over spell on a humid day at the SSC.

Samiuddin: Yes and that three-over spell would have turned the day, the Test, even the series.

Fernando: If you can hustle a fantastic batsman with a bouncer in Galle, you're a decent bowler. But then with Malinga, it's kind of a double-edged sword. You don't have Malinga if you don't have that action. And you probably can't have that action and a long Test career. What makes him is what breaks him. Unlike, say Bond, who could conceivably have had a long career with a better body.

Samiuddin: Before starting this I had made a list of all the players that would feature here: Shaun Tait, Vinod Kambli, Mohammad Zahid, Asif, Ryder, Wasim Raja, all of South Africa before return, Chris Lewis…

Chris Lewis, man. I watch Jofra and I get strong Lewis vibes. Not in terms of the pace or anything, but in how easily he did things, without showing any signs of the strain and toll it takes on a body. Though who knows how quick Lewis was - no speed guns in his time and he was never celebrated for his pace. But he could bat a bit, great in the field, loose and easy action.

Monga: Did we get enough of Steve Harmison?

Samiuddin: Yes. Harmison played 63 Tests.

Fernando: But I think we've mostly exhausted this chat now. We're dipping into the '90s, and now discussing players who actually had decently long careers. We'll be talking about Kevin Pietersen next. I've just sat in on too many conversations in England about what a loss KP was. And he played 104 Tests.

Samiuddin: In England if you don't play 150 Tests, you ain't nothing.

Monga: And now the rhinos have him. Poor rhinos. Though I think he is actually doing something for them.

Fernando: He's probably trash-talking them behind their backs. Anyway, I think this conversation has degenerated. Like the actions of so many fast bowlers gone before their time.

Osman: Yeah, I think we're done.

Fernando: Let's call it. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to put on some Asif highlights reels, eat huge quantities of ice cream straight from the tub, and cry myself to sleep.

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

You may have heard – Shovel knight has finally made his way across the ocean to Japan! We’re very excited about the leap. We’ve invested a lot of time making sure our localization is fun and smartly done. Wait, what is localization? It’s the process of translating text and adapting a game for a local market, of course! We partnered with the super cool experts at 8-4 to make our localization the highest quality possible. Today, we wanted to talk about some of the neater changes we’ve made to the game to really go the extra mile for Japanese gamers.  

History

But before we jump in…it’s time for a history lesson! Way back in the day, game localization was the wild west. There was no standard or ruleset for what was appropriate in localizing a game. Sometimes developers would make translation changes that were absurd and riddled with typos, and other times, developers would put so much effort in that they’d completely change the name and create a whole new series.

(On the left is Bubble Bobble’s poorly worded text. On the right is Wonder Boy, a Japanese game that was changed to Adventure Island when ported to the NES/Famicom. The game actually split off into two distinct series.)

(Update 8/1/16: It’s come to our attention that Adventure Island was converted from Wonder Boy during its port from arcades. We were confused because often porting and localization are intermixed due to Famicom->NES transition. We apologize for the error!)

This inconsistency created a lot of interesting localization changes in games as developers learned with each title what were the appropriate changes to make. Also, due to the restrictions of the NES, lots of changes were required when bringing them from Japan. Some issues including complexity in fonts, technical limitations, or game design observations and learning that happened post-release. We’re going to discuss just a small sampling of the changes they made to games back in the day, so you can see where the reasoning came from for the changes we’ve made to Shovel Knight for Japan.

Before you read any history from us, it’s best to learn from the expert himself, Clyde Mandelyn: http://ift.tt/1bVVtHS. He’s put together really awesome pieces (and books!) on some famous game localizations and the changes they made post Japan release.

Common Japan to North America Localization changes

Obviously, lots of small or large text changes happen when localizing a game as a result of the complexities of translation. But we’re going to instead show some of the visual, sounds, and gameplay changes that you might have seen during the NES/Famicom era.

Graphic Changes

Of course, usually one of the big changes to a game was the title screen. Sometimes this could be a complete replacement, or sometimes it was just the removal of some Japanese text.

Sprite changes were very common in the NES days. Often, the logic was that players might not understand Japanese specific sprites like food:

Or alternatively, North American localization teams might think the Japanese characters or sprites wouldn’t be appealing. Below Power Blade, known as Power Blazer in Japan, changed its main character to look cooler instead of cute.

Common 80s Knowledge: Arnold Schwarzenegger makes every game sell.

Sometimes these changes were made to make the gameplay more clear and understandable:

Oh hey! I didn't know there was an enemy there before!

Super Mario Bros. 2 (known as Doki Doki Panic) in Japan is a case where Nintendo of America went to great lengths localizing the game. It’s a great example of what was typically changed at the time…they turned a game that wasn’t Mario into Mario!

In some cases, they decided to change sprites so they were now animated! Below is an example of one change where it made the gameplay objects really stand out:

Maybe I should pull those plants up!

Sprites could also be changed to be less or more complex. Or maybe they’d be changed to improve over the Japanese version. Here’s an animation change of that kind from Mario 2:

Sometimes these animation changes were due to restrictions in hardware between the Famicom, NES, or Famicom disk system. Here’s an animated sprite (actually a background tile that appears animated) in Zelda 2 that was removed in the NES version as the NES wasn’t able to manipulate VRAM in quite the same way as the FDS:

Wow...I actually believe it's water now!

Font changes

Fonts were often a big area where changes were made. Creating a game in Japanese was difficult due to the common character set, Kanji, being nearly impossible to contain on the small amount of memory that the NES could afford. Kanji can contain thousands of characters (a common newspaper might include 2500+)! To get around this issue, sometimes games chose to use the smaller Kana character set (up to around 100 characters), or they decided to use the much smaller English character set! English is somewhat common in Japan, so it didn’t make the games completely unplayable as you might expect (especially given the typically small amount of text in NES games). Here are some examples of Kana text on the NES/Famicom:

Here’s an example of Zelda using English in the Famicom version:

Notice the difference in font here. The NES had a standard 8×8 thick font, so the North American text was re-appropriated to use what players were accustomed to seeing. You might also be realizing that all the letters are in uppercase! This is to cut the number of characters needed in half. Shovel Knight already does the same thing!

In cases where text readability was very important, the developers dedicated more resources to represent more complicated text. Below, you can see how Final Fantasy on the NES broke the lower case barrier:

Ah! Much easier on the eyes.

You may notice the odd looking ‘g’ in the letter king. This is due to NES/Famicom games only having space for 8×8 characters. A lowercase g, to be properly spaced would break this boundary, so they’ve instead positioned the character higher. This is another reason why Kanji was so hard to represent on the NES/Famicom. Each character’s complexity is nearly impossible to represent clearly with only 8×8 pixels. But there were limited cases where developers were still able to pull off Kanji on the NES/Famicom. Take a look at Faxandu:

As you can see the font is much larger than the typical 8×8 size. This is due to how Kanji’s complexity is almost impossible to clearly represent with an 8×8 pixel block. Faxanadu doubles the size using 16×16 blocks (where the characters fit in 14×14). On the Super Famicom/SNES, developers had a little more freedom, so Kanji fonts often were 12×12:

Audio

It wasn’t just visuals that were changed, sometimes game localization teams changed the sounds associated with a gameplay object.

[embedded content]

And they even went as far to change music compositions. This was sometimes due to differences between the hardware for a Famicom, NES, and Famicom disk system. Or as we’ve stated previously, this could be due to the difference of the actual cart technology. Check how different Castlevania 3’s soundtrack is between versions:

[embedded content]

Gameplay

Finally, sometimes the NES transition from Famicom would go as far to changing gameplay. This could be anywhere from making the game easier or harder, removing glitches, accounting for hardware differences, or simply trying to make the game more fun.  Here are a couple of rooms from Zelda where they decided to add bats!

And infamously in Zelda, Pols were weak to sound in the Famicom version, but the NES controller didn’t have a microphone, so they were instead weak to arrows:

[embedded content]

Shovel Knight Localization Differences

So when we went about localizing Shovel Knight, we wanted to recreate some of the fun differences you might find between regions. We even went through the process of trying to “reverse” localize it. That meant to us, asking what features Shovel Knight would have had if it started out as a Japanese game. We had a few rules in all our changes though: 1) We wanted the gameplay to remain consistent 2) We didn’t want any significant change that made you feel like you missed out by not playing the original version 3) We didn’t want to do something that was traditionally considered bad localization. To us that meant, no typos or bad English, and nothing that would diminish the quality of the game. We also didn’t want to change too much! In the end, we wanted create a great localization by today’s standards. But we had to add a little fun! So we made a few subtle changes here and there that we think really made a big difference!

Graphic Changes

The title Screen is an obvious one. We wanted to match what you’d expect out of a Japanese game in the era, which meant having Japanese text alongside the English logo:

After that, we made some more changes to the static sprites. Below you can see that when upgrading your health, Gastronomer sometimes will randomly serve up a Rice Ball dish.

Additionally, the Midas Coin now has a hole more representative of some Japanese coins:

Also, the Hall of Champions statues have an alternate design.

We also made some slight color changes. Certain Wizzem and Iron Knight palette types have changed as you can see below:

The final static sprite change we made was reworking the character portraits for Reize, Baz, Polar Knight, and The Enchantress. We tried to make them have a slightly more anime-esque art style.

After that, we decided it was time to make some static art be more animated – really show off the power of the Famicom! First up, in Plains, we decided to animate the grass:

For Dragon Whelps (green and blue), we originally created sprites with a lot of frames in their flying animation, but decided to cut it back as it didn’t look like something that could appear on the NES. But we left it in for the Japanese version!

For the Village Fountain, we created a different design and animated it to flow with water!

And the last graphic change we made: sleeping Shovel Knight at the Campfire now has a snooze bubble!

Font Changes!

Font was a really tricky decision for us. We wanted to use Kana characters because that was most representative of the NES era and its limitations. That said, most Japanese players would rather play the game in Kanji. Kanji can be considered nostalgic and retro as well as it was widely used on the Super Famicom. Additionally, Kanji would require us to redo every text box in the game, as we created our menus, dialogue boxes, etc to fit 8×8 font characters. So obviously the easy way out would be to do Kana…so after much deliberation, we caved and decided to do both!

The game has officially been translated into both alphabets, and supports the player switching between both on the fly:

You might see that we opted for 12×12 pixel sizes on the Kanji font. This allowed us to get a look most closely aligned with the Super Famicom.

Notice also, that we haven’t changed the HUD text from English. We felt it was very common at the time to use English words for the HUD, and we decided to stick with what we had:

Sounds Changes

Not much to go on about here. We already took the Famicom route with themusic and included a VR6 chip. So we instead decided to change a few sounds:

Gryphon death SFX and Bubble Dragon death have been swapped

Wizard Fire (and Shovel Knight’s fire rod) uses the burner SFX instead of magic SFX

Fairy enemy plays different SFX when attacking with a bite.

Extra Cheats!

We couldn’t just stop there! We decided to add a few more extra bits. Remember the X&BUTT cheat code? Well, butt is sadly not exactly the funniest word in Japan, so we’ve come up with a different replacement scheme. Along with text replacement, the cheat also enables two new graphic replacements that we thought were a little too far for the graphic changes in the main game.

Carrots are replaced with Daikon Radishes:

And Gold coins are vertical, more closely resembling koban style coin.

We’ve also made it so this Japanese specific cheat turns on localization changes in all languages. Pretty cool, huh! But if you don’t want to use a cheat, you can switch to Japanese at any time to see all the changes!

Thank you

Hope you enjoyed a little look at the extra efforts we put into the Japanese localization. Translating a game is a ton of work, and we hope more people will now see how much love goes into each and every release of a game. You should give it a shot once our update with the Japanese changes are out in the wild!

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

You may have heard – Shovel knight has finally made his way across the ocean to Japan! We’re very excited about the leap. We’ve invested a lot of time making sure our localization is fun and smartly done. Wait, what is localization? It’s the process of translating text and adapting a game for a local market, of course! We partnered with the super cool experts at 8-4 to make our localization the highest quality possible. Today, we wanted to talk about some of the neater changes we’ve made to the game to really go the extra mile for Japanese gamers.  

History

But before we jump in…it’s time for a history lesson! Way back in the day, game localization was the wild west. There was no standard or ruleset for what was appropriate in localizing a game. Sometimes developers would make translation changes that were absurd and riddled with typos, and other times, developers would put so much effort in that they’d completely change the name and create a whole new series.

(On the left is Bubble Bobble’s poorly worded text. On the right is Wonder Boy, a Japanese game that was changed to Adventure Island when ported to the NES/Famicom. The game actually split off into two distinct series.)

(Update 8/1/16: It’s come to our attention that Adventure Island was converted from Wonder Boy during its port from arcades. We were confused because often porting and localization are intermixed due to Famicom->NES transition. We apologize for the error!)

This inconsistency created a lot of interesting localization changes in games as developers learned with each title what were the appropriate changes to make. Also, due to the restrictions of the NES, lots of changes were required when bringing them from Japan. Some issues including complexity in fonts, technical limitations, or game design observations and learning that happened post-release. We’re going to discuss just a small sampling of the changes they made to games back in the day, so you can see where the reasoning came from for the changes we’ve made to Shovel Knight for Japan.

Before you read any history from us, it’s best to learn from the expert himself, Clyde Mandelyn: http://ift.tt/1bVVtHS. He’s put together really awesome pieces (and books!) on some famous game localizations and the changes they made post Japan release.

Common Japan to North America Localization changes

Obviously, lots of small or large text changes happen when localizing a game as a result of the complexities of translation. But we’re going to instead show some of the visual, sounds, and gameplay changes that you might have seen during the NES/Famicom era.

Graphic Changes

Of course, usually one of the big changes to a game was the title screen. Sometimes this could be a complete replacement, or sometimes it was just the removal of some Japanese text.

Sprite changes were very common in the NES days. Often, the logic was that players might not understand Japanese specific sprites like food:

Or alternatively, North American localization teams might think the Japanese characters or sprites wouldn’t be appealing. Below Power Blade, known as Power Blazer in Japan, changed its main character to look cooler instead of cute.

Common 80s Knowledge: Arnold Schwarzenegger makes every game sell.

Sometimes these changes were made to make the gameplay more clear and understandable:

Oh hey! I didn't know there was an enemy there before!

Super Mario Bros. 2 (known as Doki Doki Panic) in Japan is a case where Nintendo of America went to great lengths localizing the game. It’s a great example of what was typically changed at the time…they turned a game that wasn’t Mario into Mario!

In some cases, they decided to change sprites so they were now animated! Below is an example of one change where it made the gameplay objects really stand out:

Maybe I should pull those plants up!

Sprites could also be changed to be less or more complex. Or maybe they’d be changed to improve over the Japanese version. Here’s an animation change of that kind from Mario 2:

Sometimes these animation changes were due to restrictions in hardware between the Famicom, NES, or Famicom disk system. Here’s an animated sprite (actually a background tile that appears animated) in Zelda 2 that was removed in the NES version as the NES wasn’t able to manipulate VRAM in quite the same way as the FDS:

Wow...I actually believe it's water now!

Font changes

Fonts were often a big area where changes were made. Creating a game in Japanese was difficult due to the common character set, Kanji, being nearly impossible to contain on the small amount of memory that the NES could afford. Kanji can contain thousands of characters (a common newspaper might include 2500+)! To get around this issue, sometimes games chose to use the smaller Kana character set (up to around 100 characters), or they decided to use the much smaller English character set! English is somewhat common in Japan, so it didn’t make the games completely unplayable as you might expect (especially given the typically small amount of text in NES games). Here are some examples of Kana text on the NES/Famicom:

Here’s an example of Zelda using English in the Famicom version:

Notice the difference in font here. The NES had a standard 8×8 thick font, so the North American text was re-appropriated to use what players were accustomed to seeing. You might also be realizing that all the letters are in uppercase! This is to cut the number of characters needed in half. Shovel Knight already does the same thing!

In cases where text readability was very important, the developers dedicated more resources to represent more complicated text. Below, you can see how Final Fantasy on the NES broke the lower case barrier:

Ah! Much easier on the eyes.

You may notice the odd looking ‘g’ in the letter king. This is due to NES/Famicom games only having space for 8×8 characters. A lowercase g, to be properly spaced would break this boundary, so they’ve instead positioned the character higher. This is another reason why Kanji was so hard to represent on the NES/Famicom. Each character’s complexity is nearly impossible to represent clearly with only 8×8 pixels. But there were limited cases where developers were still able to pull off Kanji on the NES/Famicom. Take a look at Faxandu:

As you can see the font is much larger than the typical 8×8 size. This is due to how Kanji’s complexity is almost impossible to clearly represent with an 8×8 pixel block. Faxanadu doubles the size using 16×16 blocks (where the characters fit in 14×14). On the Super Famicom/SNES, developers had a little more freedom, so Kanji fonts often were 12×12:

Audio

It wasn’t just visuals that were changed, sometimes game localization teams changed the sounds associated with a gameplay object.

[embedded content]

And they even went as far to change music compositions. This was sometimes due to differences between the hardware for a Famicom, NES, and Famicom disk system. Or as we’ve stated previously, this could be due to the difference of the actual cart technology. Check how different Castlevania 3’s soundtrack is between versions:

[embedded content]

Gameplay

Finally, sometimes the NES transition from Famicom would go as far to changing gameplay. This could be anywhere from making the game easier or harder, removing glitches, accounting for hardware differences, or simply trying to make the game more fun.  Here are a couple of rooms from Zelda where they decided to add bats!

And infamously in Zelda, Pols were weak to sound in the Famicom version, but the NES controller didn’t have a microphone, so they were instead weak to arrows:

[embedded content]

Shovel Knight Localization Differences

So when we went about localizing Shovel Knight, we wanted to recreate some of the fun differences you might find between regions. We even went through the process of trying to “reverse” localize it. That meant to us, asking what features Shovel Knight would have had if it started out as a Japanese game. We had a few rules in all our changes though: 1) We wanted the gameplay to remain consistent 2) We didn’t want any significant change that made you feel like you missed out by not playing the original version 3) We didn’t want to do something that was traditionally considered bad localization. To us that meant, no typos or bad English, and nothing that would diminish the quality of the game. We also didn’t want to change too much! In the end, we wanted create a great localization by today’s standards. But we had to add a little fun! So we made a few subtle changes here and there that we think really made a big difference!

Graphic Changes

The title Screen is an obvious one. We wanted to match what you’d expect out of a Japanese game in the era, which meant having Japanese text alongside the English logo:

After that, we made some more changes to the static sprites. Below you can see that when upgrading your health, Gastronomer sometimes will randomly serve up a Rice Ball dish.

Additionally, the Midas Coin now has a hole more representative of some Japanese coins:

Also, the Hall of Champions statues have an alternate design.

We also made some slight color changes. Certain Wizzem and Iron Knight palette types have changed as you can see below:

The final static sprite change we made was reworking the character portraits for Reize, Baz, Polar Knight, and The Enchantress. We tried to make them have a slightly more anime-esque art style.

After that, we decided it was time to make some static art be more animated – really show off the power of the Famicom! First up, in Plains, we decided to animate the grass:

For Dragon Whelps (green and blue), we originally created sprites with a lot of frames in their flying animation, but decided to cut it back as it didn’t look like something that could appear on the NES. But we left it in for the Japanese version!

For the Village Fountain, we created a different design and animated it to flow with water!

And the last graphic change we made: sleeping Shovel Knight at the Campfire now has a snooze bubble!

Font Changes!

Font was a really tricky decision for us. We wanted to use Kana characters because that was most representative of the NES era and its limitations. That said, most Japanese players would rather play the game in Kanji. Kanji can be considered nostalgic and retro as well as it was widely used on the Super Famicom. Additionally, Kanji would require us to redo every text box in the game, as we created our menus, dialogue boxes, etc to fit 8×8 font characters. So obviously the easy way out would be to do Kana…so after much deliberation, we caved and decided to do both!

The game has officially been translated into both alphabets, and supports the player switching between both on the fly:

You might see that we opted for 12×12 pixel sizes on the Kanji font. This allowed us to get a look most closely aligned with the Super Famicom.

Notice also, that we haven’t changed the HUD text from English. We felt it was very common at the time to use English words for the HUD, and we decided to stick with what we had:

Sounds Changes

Not much to go on about here. We already took the Famicom route with themusic and included a VR6 chip. So we instead decided to change a few sounds:

Gryphon death SFX and Bubble Dragon death have been swapped

Wizard Fire (and Shovel Knight’s fire rod) uses the burner SFX instead of magic SFX

Fairy enemy plays different SFX when attacking with a bite.

Extra Cheats!

We couldn’t just stop there! We decided to add a few more extra bits. Remember the X&BUTT cheat code? Well, butt is sadly not exactly the funniest word in Japan, so we’ve come up with a different replacement scheme. Along with text replacement, the cheat also enables two new graphic replacements that we thought were a little too far for the graphic changes in the main game.

Carrots are replaced with Daikon Radishes:

And Gold coins are vertical, more closely resembling koban style coin.

We’ve also made it so this Japanese specific cheat turns on localization changes in all languages. Pretty cool, huh! But if you don’t want to use a cheat, you can switch to Japanese at any time to see all the changes!

Thank you

Hope you enjoyed a little look at the extra efforts we put into the Japanese localization. Translating a game is a ton of work, and we hope more people will now see how much love goes into each and every release of a game. You should give it a shot once our update with the Japanese changes are out in the wild!