#also. this ones a more obv translation note but.

[wutaijiemei]

english tl from amis/japanese ❤️

o nani cowaay kita? where have we come from? nani tira i kahadakan no cidal from the place where the sun rises tatalacowa kita? micelemayto ko cidal where are we going? the sun has already set malingad to kita! we are setting off! pasiwali kita heading all the way east

a~a taiyō ni se o mukete katana o futte with the sun behind me, i will carve my path forward michi o terashite kureta hachibōsei as the eight-pointed star¹ guides my way yoru no tobari ga orita kuroku nure night falls and slowly dyes the sky black “sonata wa doko ni mukau?” “where are you going?” oshiete please tell me

awaay ma’araw ako ko soda i ca’ang no kilang. we may know nothing of snow-covered branches awaay ma’araw iso ko taneng niyam. but you know nothing of our wisdom latek cowa kafana’ kako to kararoman no miso. perhaps i am simply unable to understand your struggles kaorira i, caay ka patadoen ako kiso a malalo’od. but i will not fight your battles

tatalacowa kita? micelemayto ko cidal. where are we going? the sun has already set minokay to kita! we’re going home!

a~a higashi ni mukatte yama o koete to the east, past the mountains mimimoto de sasayaite ita hachibōsei the eight-pointed star whispers in my ear and guides my way boya no kiri ni daka reta aoku nure the fog of night surrounds us and slowly dyes the world blue “sonata wa nanto yoba reru?” “what is your name?” oshiete please tell me

a~a kyokujitsu ga iranai ya jū o sutete abandon the rising sun, lay down your guns hirahara ni shizunde ita hachibōsei as the eight-pointed star sinks beneath the plains akatsuki ga akete kita akaku nure day breaks and slowly dyes the sky red darenimo nozoki koma renai yukusue and we reach the end of our journey, safe from prying eyes

¹reference to an important amis/pangcah cultural symbol, visible in the cover art in the center of the soldier's hat. i could not find the actual word for it in amis and, interestingly, it only appears in the japanese sections of the song. will edit the post if i find it T-T

this song is the story lead singer (and lyricist on this song) Natsuko once heard from her father about her grandfather's experience as an amis volunteer soldier during the final days of WWII. full translation of the portion of the interview that talks about this particular song in very great depth here. brief excerpt for basic contexts:

In 1945, the US military began bombing Taiwan, and Japan was on the verge of facing the reality of their imminent loss. A group of young Amis men were at the Takasago volunteer military camp in Taichung, witnessing the chaos firsthand and fearing deployment under such circumstances. They resolved not to fight any more on another nation’s behalf, and a number of them decided to desert and return to Taitung on foot. Natsuko’s grandfather was among them.

[elizaleclerc]

Hello, I love your writing, can I request Charles Leclerc x singer!reader where they already knew each other back when they were teenagers but the reader moves to LA to pursue her career so they kinda feel off cuz of the long distance, so years later Charles decides to surprise her at one of her concerts and tries to shoot his shoot after all those years they end up together and it's all fluffy and cute.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense english is not my first language, thank you <3

love this!!! tysm <3

birds of a feather ✿

charles leclerc x reader

summary: fem singer!reader reignites an old teenage love with famous driver charles leclerc

songs: birds of a feather by b.eilish, the 1 by t.swift

author’s note: mostly cute and fluffy but had to add a bit of angst oops! inspo from billie’s new album obv bc that’s all i’m listening to rn. also some google translate involved so oops again if it’s wrong :)

word count: 4k

In the luxurious city of Monaco, you and Charles were cruising along the winding roads late at night, a favored pastime for the two of you. The cool breeze tousled your hair as the windows were rolled down, filling the car with the scent of saltwater and adventure. You stole a glance at Charles in the driver's seat, his face adorned with that familiar boyish grin, his eyes sparkling just as they did on the day you met him.

The car zoomed down the winding road, its expensive engine purring like a contented cat. Despite its luxurious interior, Charles had no qualms about letting you put your feet up on the dash. The scarlet sky painted with streaks of orange and pink was the perfect backdrop for this drive at sunset.

One thing different about this drive at sunset was that one of your own songs was playing on the radio. At only 19 years old, your song “Birds of a Feather” was reaching the top of the charts worldwide. At any chance he got, Charles would blast it at full volume whenever the two of you were together. It only made sense considering the song was about him.

You and Charles had been inseparable since childhood, a bond that felt unbreakable and essential to your very existence. Over the years, you both had your fair share of romantic partners, but it seemed like none of them could compare to the connection you shared. Despite any ups and downs in your own love lives, you and Charles always found your way back to each other, like two ships anchored together in the stormy sea of life.

Of course, there were fleeting moments when you wondered if there could be something more between you and Charles. The thought would cross your mind as his hand brushed yours or when he made you laugh until your sides ached. But those thoughts remained just that - fleeting and unspoken. You both cherished your friendship too much to risk changing its dynamic.

But deep down, underneath layers of familiarity and comfort, there was a quiet longing that neither of you acknowledged. A shared understanding that there was something more between you than just being best friends. And although it was left unsaid, it was an unspoken truth that added a layer of depth to your friendship.

The bass of the song throbbed through the car, drowning out Charles' words as he spoke to you. You strained to hear him over the music, but all you could see were his lips moving in time with the beat. "What?!" you shouted comically with a grin, and he reached for the volume knob to turn it down.

"I said, it's only a matter of time before you're touring worldwide," he repeated with a small smile. You shook your head in amusement. Charles always had grand visions for your music career, dreaming of reaching the stars and achieving the highest goals even when you couldn't imagine them yourself.

“You’re only saying that to be nice,” you playfully bantered with him, knowing deep down he truly believed in your talent.

A wistful smile crossed his face as he replied, “I’m serious. Before you know it, you’ll be in L.A., living your dream and making music for the world.” His words had a bittersweet edge to them, causing your own smile to falter. There was truth in his statement - Charles had just signed with Ferrari and would soon be the busiest he's ever been in his career as a Formula One driver. You were endlessly proud of him and all that he had accomplished. It feels like just yesterday when you both were just kids with big dreams, but now here you are, actually making strides towards achieving those dreams. Even with a hit song on the radio and promising opportunities ahead, you still felt like you were ages behind in becoming someone big in the music industry. And the thought of possibly leaving your best friend behind as you pursued your dreams weighed heavily on your heart.

He noticed the solemn expression on your face, his eyes full of understanding and affection. "Ah, come on," he said gently, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. "You know I mean that in a good way." His voice was warm and sincere."L.A. is a hotbed for the music industry right now," he continued, his excitement palpable. "And haven't you always talked about wanting to go to the States?"

You nodded slowly, unable to contain a small smile at the thought. "Yeah, but...I can't even imagine us being apart for so long," you admitted with a hint of sadness. "We've never been separated for more than a week. And even then, you were blowing up my phone every day." You couldn't help but laugh at the memory.

His own laughter rang out, contagious and genuine. "So now you know that when you're in the U.S., you won't have to worry about us not talking," he reassured you. "Clearly, I can't get enough of you." His words made your heart swell with love and comfort. Despite any ridiculous or anxious thoughts that may cross your mind, you were always reminded that the bond between you two could stretch thousands of miles.

About a week later, you had hired a manager with the help of your parents and were looking at record labels to sign with. Your social media pages were blowing up with new fans anticipating and begging for new music. It was a rightful step for a singer who had just had a song blow up, to make more music.

After many phone calls and contracts, you decided on the best deal to sign with the record label you had always wanted. With a location in Los Angeles, Sony Music Entertainment was your new employer. 

As the days passed, the familiar childhood bedroom in Monaco slowly transformed into a maze of boxes and packing materials. The bittersweet scent of nostalgia clung to the air as you said goodbye to the people and places that had shaped you. It was early February, just before the newest Formula One season started, but Charles seemed to be swallowed up by his work, juggling the responsibilities of being their rookie driver. In those fleeting moments between racing events, he squeezed in time for you, knowing that soon you would both be consumed by your separate paths. On the last night together, you took a nostalgic drive around town, savoring every street corner and landmark. As the sun dipped below the horizon, you returned to your house - now empty and cold without all of your belongings. The silence hung heavy in the air as you sat side by side, cherishing these final moments together.

You both sat on your bed as you rested your head on his shoulder and asked, “How did this even happen?” 

“Your talent will always drive you towards success, how could it not happen?” He replied and it made your eyes water. You weren’t sure how you were going to adjust with your time apart. You’ll miss his advice and little jokes. You’ll miss your late night drives around Monaco with him, taking in the cool air.

As he turned to face you, his piercing eyes caught the glistening trails of tears streaming down your cheeks. His own expression shifted from concern to sadness as he took in the sight of your heartbroken state. With a heavy sigh, he reached out to gently wipe away a stray tear from your cheek and murmured, "Please don't cry." Your eyes met his with a solemn understanding, but your bottom lip began to quiver despite your efforts.

You couldn't help but notice the glimmer of tears in his own eyes, which only made your own tears flow even more freely. Together, you both sat on the edge of your bed, gripping each other's hands tightly as you cried until it became almost comical at just how much emotion was pouring out of both of you. In between sobs, he managed to let out a small laugh and said, "It's not even an actual goodbye, I'll see you again soon.”

You couldn't help but laugh along with him through your tears. "I know," you replied with a watery smile. "I'll see you before I know it.”

But as the night wore on and the hour grew late, the reality of tomorrow morning's early flight to L.A. began to sink in. Despite wanting to hold onto this moment for as long as possible, you both knew it was time to say goodbye. You stood up and shared one final embrace, his arms enveloping you in a tight hug while yours rested around his neck. The warmth of his body and the familiar scent of his cologne brought a sense of comfort amidst the pain of parting ways.

“Tu vas me manquer mon amour,” he whispered by your ear, which made you squeeze him tighter. 

“Tu vas me manquer davantage, Char.” You replied with a raspy voice, your cheeks still wet with tears. He blew you a kiss before walking out the door.

~ 5 years later ~

The electric energy of Los Angeles, California pulsed through the air as you walked towards the venue on the opening night of your highly anticipated second tour. Fresh off the massive success of your second album, fans from all over the world were eagerly awaiting your performance tonight. You could already hear their screams and see their signs, some bearing your name since the very beginning of your career. Your first tour had been small, just a few cities in the U.S., but now with your skyrocketing fame, this tour would take you to stages across the globe. The thought of performing for thousands of people in different countries sent a thrill through your veins. As you approached the entrance, excitement and nerves intertwined within you, ready to take on this new chapter in your music career.

As you nervously waited backstage, dressed in a stunning white gown for your highly anticipated opening night in Los Angeles, your mind couldn't help but wander to a familiar name: Charles. The two of you had been inseparable during your first year in L.A., constantly talking and supporting each other's dreams. But as time went on, his calls and texts became less frequent until they eventually stopped altogether. You found yourself relying on social media to keep up with him and were happy to see that he had found success with Ferrari, but also couldn't shake the feeling of hurt and confusion as to why he had suddenly disappeared from your life. You debated reaching out to congratulate him on his wins, but deep down, you knew it wouldn't make a difference.

The next years after that became hard, and you struggled to make genuine connections with anyone in the industry. You found that often other artists wanted to use you for their fame or publicity. But you had found one genuine person, your boyfriend. The two of you dated for two years, but two weeks before the opening night of your world tour, he broke things off. You were devastated, as he had become someone you loved dearly and could trust with your whole being. His reason was that he realized he couldn’t handle your level of fame and that it was becoming too much for him to handle. 

So here you were, backstage, reminiscing on your career up until this point. Your mind ran over the setlist a thousand times. “Birds of a Feather” hadn’t made the cut for this tour, and you stopped performing it all together once Charles had stopped communicating with you. You weren’t sure why he was on your mind so much for your opening night. 

As you stepped out onto the stage, a wave of excited nerves washed over you. But with each step and movement, your confidence grew until it radiated off of you like a second skin. The bright lights illuminated your white dress, making it glow against the dark backdrop. You knew this dress well, having spent hours upon hours rehearsing in it, mastering every twirl and flick of the sleeves. And now, as you sang and danced flawlessly, you felt like a true star. Every note was hit perfectly, every movement graceful and deliberate. It was as if you were born to be on that stage, commanding the attention of everyone in the audience. The familiar click of a metronome and the muffled directions from backstage played in your in-ears, guiding you through the performance like a well-oiled machine. You had become a masterful performer, honing your craft to perfection.

You wished you could remember every moment of this night as you went through the setlist. You performed “the 1”, a song from your most recent album. Fans speculated it was about the recent split with your boyfriend, but really in your mind you knew it was about Charles. Your fans mostly were unaware of Charles and the old friendship the two of you had. He rarely talked about you in the media, and you were never asked about him, even though the two of you were individually growing more famous by the day.

As the final song ended, you returned backstage, the sweat dripping down your face and your body heaving with exhaustion. This tour was more physically demanding than your last one, with intricate dance routines and high-energy performances. But it was all worth it as you heard the crowd's roar of approval after each song and saw their hands in the air, singing along to every lyric. The adrenaline rush and satisfaction of a flawless opening night kept you going despite the fatigue setting in.

You got a flood of compliments from your team and the crew backstage as you felt the dewy feeling of sweat on your forehead cool down. Your manager came up to and wrapped you in a big hug, congratulating you and updating you on the next steps for the tour.

“I know you don’t typically meet people after shows, but there’s actually a visitor here for you. He was pretty persistent.” She told you as you stood outside your dressing room. 

“Who is it?” You asked tiredly, not wishing for long interactions with people after the show. You were worn out, and typically napped or slept through the night after a long show. 

“He said his name is Charles Leclerc. Went on about how you guys were childhood friends. He showed his ID and credentials so we allowed it.” Your manager explained everything and as she was speaking your face became flushed. Charles was here, in L.A? And your management had allowed him to meet with you. You were partly in shock and partly frustrated with how easily he was able to persuade your team.

“Well…where is he?” You asked, and your manager pointed to your dressing room door. “He’s in my dressing room?” You questioned in a surprised voice, lowering your voice in case he could hear you.  

“We weren’t sure where else he could’ve waited. He made it seem like he needed to have a serious talk with you.” She explained further and you put your head in your hands. You couldn’t believe the words that had come out of her mouth, and thought that maybe she was joking. You thought that you’d open up your dressing room door and it would be empty, earning a loud laugh from her and a “Got you!”

As you slowly opened your door, still clad in your flowing white dress, your heart caught in your throat as you saw Charles sitting on the plush brown leather couch. The air was thick with surprise and a tinge of nervousness, evidenced by Charles' fidgeting hands rubbing against his pants. You could barely breathe as you managed to utter a breathless greeting, "Hi."

He stood up abruptly, his body language tense and unsure. “Hi,” he replied.

The silence hung between you like a heavy curtain as you asked, "What...um...what are you doing here?" Your fingers instinctively ran through your slightly tangled hair as you waited for his response, feeling both overwhelmed and curious about this unexpected visit.

As he stood before you, he seemed to struggle with his words, his voice catching and pausing as if trying to contain an overwhelming emotion. You gazed at him in awe, taking in every detail of his changed appearance. The dimple in his cheek still deepened when he spoke, the same crystal eyes sparkled with unreadable emotions. But now his shoulders were broader, defined muscles rippling beneath his shirt, and his neck had thickened with strength. It was clear that time had passed, but it had only enhanced his features instead of diminishing them. "I," he finally managed to say, his gaze never leaving yours, "I came here to apologize." You couldn't believe he was standing in front of you after so long. And in this moment, all you could think about was how much you missed him and how different things could have been if he had stayed.

“Apologize?” You repeated, awaiting further clarification. 

“I’ve missed you terribly.” He began to pour out, finally getting a grip on his words, “Every day we haven’t been together has haunted me. You’ve plagued my dreams, my every waking thought.” He took a swallow, “I see you online, doing amazing things, and I just feel this guilt that I’m not there with you.”

You could hardly believe the words he was saying. You felt the same, you missed him every morning you woke and every night you went to sleep. Yet you felt a tinge of resentment. He could have been there, he could have responded to your dozens of calls and texts. 

“I’m sorry, mon chérie.” He finished his speech.

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion and your eyes watered with emotion, your face contorted with hurt. Your voice came out breathless as you spoke, "Char, why didn't you call?" Your heart ached with longing and you couldn't understand why he hadn't taken action to bridge the distance between you. The unspoken desire between you was almost tangible, making the current situation even more painful for both of you.

“My ex-girlfriend, once we got together she saw how often we communicated and told me that I couldn’t talk to you anymore. And I thought I loved her so much that I was willing to do whatever it took. But…it turns out…” He paused, looking you in the eyes. 

“What?” You questioned, waiting for him to spit it out. 

“It turns out as the years went on, that I just loved you.” He said as he stepped closer. 

“You don’t mean that,” You denied shaking your head, a single tear running down your cheek. 

“But I do,” he grabbed your hand, “I think I’ve always loved you.”

You broke out into a grin while tears still fell, and wrapped your arms around him, burying your head into his chest. “What took you so long?” 

“I’m sorry mon amour, I guess I was just too stupid to actually do anything. But I love you, I love you so much.” His arms wrapped around your waist, kissing the top of your head. 

You pulled back and placed your hands on his face, admiring his mature features. He took his thumbs to wipe off the tears on your face. “I love you too,” You told him and he grinned. “Will you finally kiss me?” 

His lips met yours in a gentle, yet passionate, kiss. As your heart raced and butterflies fluttered in your stomach, you couldn't help but smile as his lips moved against yours. It was your first kiss with the love of your life, a moment that you would never forget.

You had always known deep down that he was the one for you, but you had spent so long convincing yourself that a friendship was all it could ever be. But now, as you felt the warmth of his embrace and the intensity of his kiss, you realized that the love of your life could also be your best friend - the person who knows and understands you better than anyone else in the world. And in that moment, you were grateful for every step that had led you to this perfect moment with him.

Charles had to return to his Formula One season, but the two of you called every day. He made it to shows on your tour when he could, and when you traveled to France to play your home show, he was there for every minute of it. 

The crowd knew that this show was special, and fans had picked up on the new romance between you and Charles. Everyone was loving it, and older fans finally put the pieces together on the connection the two of you had. So for your home show, you played “Birds of a Feather” for everyone as a surprise, with Charles in attendance. The song had only changed meaning slightly, as you sang it with more love towards him than you’ve ever had before. Headlines were soon filled with your name along with his.

As the next year rolled around and January came, the two of you were inseparable at award shows, him proudly by your side for every one of your achievements. His smile lit up the room and his hand always found yours in the sea of people. Even when you won your first Grammy, he was there in all of your acceptance speeches, his eyes sparkling with pride.

As the year went on and you took a break from touring, you joined him on the road during his racing season. The roar of engines and smell of burning rubber filled your senses as you watched him race with skill and determination. The paddock quickly became like a second home to you, with fans flocking to meet the both of you. The Ferrari team welcomed you with open arms, treating you like family. It was a dream come true to be able to share this passion with him, and you couldn't imagine a better way to spend your time off.

Charles never dulled your shine; in fact, he basked in its radiance. He was not intimidated by your fame, but rather, he reveled in it. As you both shared stories about past relationships, Charles' understanding became apparent. He may have been known for different reasons, but he knew the highs and lows that came with celebrity status. Together, you formed an unbreakable bond of understanding and support. Life had become akin to heaven with Charles by your side, a constant source of love and grounding amidst the chaos of fame.

Together, you moved into a luxurious apartment in the heart of Monaco. The spacious living room had been transformed into your personal music studio, with instruments and recording equipment scattered about in organized chaos. The walls were adorned with posters from your past tours and handwritten lyrics. Charles stood by the window, looking out at the stunning view of the city below, while you strummed your guitar on the plush couch. The sense of security and stability he brought to your life was palpable - his presence assuring you that he would always be there, no matter where your music took you. As you played him your latest compositions, his fingers effortlessly danced across the keys of the piano, adding depth and richness to the melodies. Together, you created magic in that space - harmonizing not just in music but also in life.

As you laid in bed one night, your head rested on the pillow turned towards him, you caught him staring at you. You grinned, “What?” 

“Nothing, I’ve just never seen someone more beautiful before in my life.” He told you in a low voice, smirking at you. You rolled your eyes playfully, knowing you should’ve expected him to shower you with compliments. 

You placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, “Je t’aime chéri.” 

You both settled into bed, cuddled up next to each other. He kissed your temple, “Je t’aimerai toujours plus.”     

[judaismandsuch]

Where do Jews pray?

Aside from the "technically true" answer of 'wherever they happen to be' this is going into the words used English for the specifically chosen buildings.

You run into a few different common ones: Synagogue, Temple, and Shul.

Each have different histories, and implications that many people may not know.

So I want to break down the etymologies, implications, etc. as well as mention some less well known ones.

1)Synagogue: Linguistically arguably the most correct. It comes from from french, latin, and ultimately greek, and ultimately is from the translation of the Bible into Greek. The word be created as a translation for the word Knesset. It literally would translate (in the original greek) to 'meeting place'. overall: 10/10, cannot go wrong with using this word.

2)Temple: A fairly Common word, but one that is rife with theological implications that many are unaware of. Basically it goes like this: There was the first temple and the second, and we are waiting for the third (in theory). When the Reform movement started, one aspect was that the Temple was no longer felt to be a necessary and lamented missing aspect of Judaism, and that the places of prayer were equivalent.* So they began to call their Houses of Prayer 'Temple's. No one in the Orthodox movement would use that term, nor would people in the Conservative movement call their houses of prayer 'Temple'. (at least none that I have seen, and very much none at the begining, I am sure that there are some conservative shuls nowadays that do use the term 'temple'). Now, this means that the use of the word 'temple' to describe a Jewish house of worship is also a theological position. So hearing people use the term 'Temple' as a catch all term instead of Synagogue will annoy a lot of more religious Jews. Now there are a few disclaimers about this: 99% of people aren't aware of this. I have met many a reform and conservative individual that was unaware of the history. So like all pieces of information on a small aspect of theology, don't assume a use of a term implies full knowledge of ramifications. Of course, there is the other issue "Temple" refering to loads of other religions' houses of worship, so it isn't really a good identifier. 2/10, find another word people.

3)Shul A loan word from Yiddish, it actually is the same linguistic root as 'School'. A place of learning. I like it, but a lot of people won't know it, so you'll need to then translate the word. 8/10, but I am biased.

Other words that you may see:

Jewish Church: The issues are obvious, but for some reason I like it.

Beit Knesset: The Hebrew word, 'House of Meeting' it's good, but y'know obv. issues of using hebrew in english.

*I am summarizing and simplifying a large religious movement, obviously this misses some nuance.

NOTE: There are a lot of terms! This is "Common ones you run into in North America" But there are def. terms for it from other Jewish communities that I never heard!

If you have one you didn't see on the list, put it in the notes! (or a direct comment, I'm no cop)

[jolynejay]

I think Ch. 7/4 may have just given us both Crowley's identity as well as the identity of his "dear esteemed benefactor"

Obvs. Spoilers Ahead in this analysis and speculative hypothesis (which will link the prologue to the current events in Ch. 7):

This moment is the moment that sent me down this rabbit hole:

General Lilia essentially calling Lady Malenore Briar Country's "most evil" princess.

I went over the prologue again semi-recently to see if the knowledge we have gathered since the start of the game recontextulizes some things. And while the purpose of the analysis then was different, what I did take special note of was that Crowley is speaking to a different but very specific person. To quote the man himself (from the English version):

"Ah, my dear esteemed benefactor...

My proud, beautiful flower of evil.

You are truly the fairiest one of all."

The way Crowley addresses this person is very interesting because it at once seems very subservient and almost intimate.

But what is even more interesting is the original Japanese phrasing. I will go through the lines one by one to point out the notable details:

ああ‥‥‥愛しい我が君

"愛しい" (itoshii) is generally used to describe something that is lovely, dear. "我が君" (waga kimi) is generally understood to mean "my lord/ruler/master". The translation as "my dear esteemed benefactor" is... alright, though it does seem to detract a bit from the portrayal of this person as someone that has a lot of power over Crowley.

What I'd like to note though is that since Japanese is a very context dependent language this line might also be read a very different way: if "kimi" was used in the context that Crowley knows this person very well, being allowed to address them directly like this... then the line could also be read as Crowley calling this person "My beloved." There is still the underlying power dynamic underneath but it is more finely tuned and something that reminds me more of a pair of royals.

This would certainly not be the first way for someone to understand this line but subtext and double meanings can reveal a lot.

気高く麗しい悪の華

Notable here is mainly that Crowley is using a lot of archaic words to describe the person he is speaking to (e.g. using the kanji "華" instead of the modern "花" - both pronounced "hana," meaning flower). This may indicate that this person is of a people whose culture does not move as fast as the rest of the world's - still bound to old ways of speaking and thinking.

貴女こそが世界で一番美しい

Now, this last line is spicy. The English version of this line is pretty gender neutral after all - the fairest of them all. But what the original line makes very explicit is that Crowley is talking to/about a woman.

"貴女" (anata) - not "貴方" (anata), not "我が君" (waga kimi) but "貴女"

Crowley is addressing a noble woman directly in a manner that implies they are of equal standing. Like a husband addressing his wife.

Now let's circle back to that conversation Lilia, Silver, Sebek and co. are having about Malenore for a minute.

Because what Lilia also calls Malenore is this:

Malenore is the only daughter to Queen Maleficia and she the ruling Lady of "Wild Rose Castle" (野ばら城). Which is known to Silver only as "Black Scale Castle" (黒鱗城).

In other words, Malenore is one of the most powerful noble women in the Twisted Wonderland, she is strongly associated with with Wild Roses/ Briar Roses, and on top of that described as the "most evil" princess by her own general (whether in jest or not is of little consequence).

And this description should ring very familiar after going over Crowley's introductory monolog. A noble, beautiful "Flower of Evil" as it were.

But if that is the truth, then the familiar way Crowley addresses Malenore can only mean that Crowley's true identity is Malenore's husband. Who else would be allowed to speak to her im such an intimate and familiar manner.

Malenore's husband whose status hasn't actually been confirmed, other than he is missing in some capacity. And while I have seen a many transcriptions of his name, no one seems to have gotten it right yet:

"竜眠公レヴァーン"

The Sleeping Dragon Lord Raven

And what is the associated animal of our dear Night Raven's headmaster?

A crow.

A corvid.

A raven.

Crowley did always had something of the mad hatter to him, didn't he? And he might just have something with a raven and a writing desk..

After all, a raven is nevar the same front to back as back to front.

And thus, at the end, we have the lost parents of a little dragon, summoning a human with no magical ability to this Twisted Wonderland - a human that cannot be influenced by blot.

Curious, curious...

Curious indeed...

[sixtysixproblems]

disaster ramble about my headcanons for how the batch got their names & etc*

*this is related to a fic of mine (fluorescent mistakes/mistakesverse), tho having read it is 100% unnecessary to understand the post, and I'll likely use some of these for other fics as well.

the only HCs you (sort of) "need" to know is cody, fox, and wolffe are "triplets", and i say fuck canon and Rex is 3 years (1.5 years) younger than CC batch. bits in italics/blue are less applicable outside of the fic itself, but still make sense without the context or i give the context.

Cody (Kote) - got the name Kote pretty young, changed it to Cody tho around 16-17ish?

>Jango gave it to him, when he was 10ish..? Possibly even a little younger. Jango intended as more of a nickname for just him to use, but obv it didn’t stay that way. Was very proud of "earning it" for a long time. >Changed it to Cody later in a not-so-subtle rebellion against Jango/the Kaminoans, and partially in an attempt to choose something for himself/have a part of his identity outside of his skill as a commander. >Still uses Kote on very rare occasions with the batch and other old friends from kamino ONLY (only exceptions to use it more being Fox who gets to call him Kot'ika, Rex who get a free pass for anything/everything) >his name backstory is probably most plot relevant cause his arc deals a LOT with identity issues & such. Might even have a flashback to him snapping at Jango that "it's cody now" > The final nail in the hammer for changing it was probably Ponds getting reconditioned**, and him partially blaming Jango for it :(

Fox - before rex was around (so pre 13)

>Got called a “fox” due to him being a sneaky clever bastard, but it wasn’t a nickname until he made it one >chose it not long after cody,  probably? >this was a pretty big deal since it wasn't a) widely used by trainers, mostly other vode, and b) he made it clear it was his name. not a nickname, not a title, his name, as opposed to his designation number >I'm considering backstory that him & colt worked together to come up with the idea to bulshit the kaminoans with "it's actually more tactically useful in battle to have recognizable nicknames for the clones", which is true, but also to limit consequences for getting caught using names. >in addition to joint guilt in the creation of Ponds's name, he's also responsible for Thorn's name by repeatedly calling him a "prick" and "thorn in my ass" on kamino (tho that's it's own post lmao).

Wolffe - before rex was around (so pre 13)

>inspired by fox, but also spells it that way to spite fox (cody gave him the idea for it lol) >cody was annoyed that wolffe clearly chose it to match fox (bitey twins, lol) since they're supposed to be triplets. wolffe enjoys pissing him off but didn't want him to feel actually left out...so cody got to help with the god awful spelling. >confused some people into thinking it was pronounced "wolf-y". this is brought to you by my friend reading fluorescent before any other piece of star wars media and assuming that. >i love the potential meaning u can take from it of him being family/"pack" oriented and how that translates over to him being very loyal, protective, etc. Aka on the surface level he's this scary grumpy guy, but deep down is just a bit of a softie/just wants to keep his family safe. >but on a less serious note, i also love all the jokes i can make cough cough omegaverse

Rex - age 10-11ish

>encouraged to pick a name out by cody to help cope with being newly reconditioned/placed with the CCs as i imagine there’d be some identity issues after that :(  >perhaps nicknamed king or little prince or smth and that's where he got the rex idea. tho tbh i have no idea >abridged fluorescent lore is that he was a particularly talented/borderline defective CT, tho albiet from a "troublesome" batch. consequently he was reconditioned pretty heavily around 9-10ish, and Jango came up with the great (sarcasm) idea to use him sort of as a "test" of what CTs were actually capable of, and had him mixed into CC training. >this is how he met the batch, after not remembering his own/many details of his life pre-recon. they were supposed to train him once or twice, but predictably adopted him.

Bly - after rex arrived (and rex got his name) but not long after, so 13?

>litterally just chose a name they liked the sound of and thought fit them like a sane person. literally the only one to pick a normal name a normal way out of the whole batch. we stan >i like the hc being short for smth (like butterfly, etc) but i dont think it works for fluorescent :/ maybe in another fic. >possible them & rex worked together to find names that fit them bc i think that'd be sweet. i dont focus on their relationship much at all so maybe a little bonding, albiet in backstory only, is in order. >she's very likely gonna be trans (mtf) in fluorescent (tho it wasn't always the plan + she is not out yet (to herself or others) in the fic itself) so I'm considering implying Bly is traditionally a female/gender-neutral name in whatever star wars culture it's "from" (aka i make shit up) >considering a joke where someone asks her if she's picking a new one after she comes out and she's like "absolutely not, it was so hard the first time i refuse to do it again".

Ponds - last to get one, 14-15ish?

>went by “four” or 54 before he got his name. >Bly sometimes jokingly called him “squared”/ ”square”/ ”cubed”/etc when they were tweens cause of the two fours in his designation number + 64 is a perfect square in math. the vode assumed he'd pick one or one would eventually catch on permanently. >...and then he shoved three separate trainers in a pond, on three separate trips no less, during off-planet training (and since I'm guessing off-planet training was very rare, wtf buddy) >and the triplets went “you know what would be funny” and just. Picked it for him, and wouldn't stop calling him that, and eventually it caught on. And there was nothing he could do about it <3 >**yes, he was reconditioned at 16-17ish. Yay....Not much of a spoiler hopefully? this may somehow be related to why he was the last to "choose" (read: accept defeat) a name, despite being a outspoknen/protective ori'vod nightmare for the Kaminoans. >dw it's not too angsty. they didn't fuck with his memories much, and were trying to change his behavior to be "less inclined to rebelliousness/contempt for authority". And if you've read his arc in fluorescent, you know they failed spectacularly at making him less likely to break the rules. >tbh I think its fitting for (how I write) his character that his name was chosen by his siblings. i think he was and is "salty" about it, but not-so-secretely touched and/or proud about it.

this whole thing was very ramble-y and i'll be surprised if more than 2 people read it, lmao, but i couldn't stop myself. a lot of this is sort of "background" and may not be actually referenced in the fic itself...but who knows.

[1moreff-creator]

DRDT + Milgram AU: Undercover (Introduction)

Finally succumbed to the Urges and came up with ideas for a full Danganronpa Despair Time - Milgram AU, and now I feel like sharing. This means giving each character a MV + VD concept (not a full VD though I ain’t writing that much dialogue, and not a full MV because who do you think I am), plus this Undercover post! I’m not sure if I’ll commit to this for a full three trials, or I’ll just drop it after just one, but I can guarantee I’ll do this trial in full. Feel free to make analysis posts (no pressure obvs), but also obvs don't expect this to be that good, I'm doing this for fun.

And if you come from the Milgram side, uh... have fun? I am curious about what people with no prior conceptions of these characters would think, but I do recommend DRDT if you haven't watched it (the overlap between the fandoms is non-trivial, I imagine you'll like it). If not, you should probably look up the character designs at least, but be wary that there will be DRDT spoilers.

As an obvious disclaimer just in case, I am not affiliated with either DRDT or Milgram in any way, this is just a fanmade AU done entirely for fun.

Basic Concept

Pretty simple. What if the 16 students of DRDT were prisoners in Milgram? This means they're all "murderers" by some loose definition of the word, implying most of their backstories must be changed to acommodate for that. For the prisoner pairs, I just paired them based on the Chapter 1 recap. The rest is pretty self-explanatory provided you know how Milgram works; three trials, vote Forgiven/Unforgiven, etc. I won't repeat it all here. You can go to the official Milgram YT channel for more information if you're not familiar.

Meet Es

Although they are of unspecified adult age, this universe’s Es is very similar to canon Es from the main series, at least in appearance. The only differences are red highlights in their hair, as well as sharp yellow eyes and taller height. They also wear arm sleeves on both their arms, being particularly adverse to people touching the left one, and their voice is slightly higher pitch. As for their personality… well, you’ll have to wait for the VDs, right? But as a heads up, they’re quite a bit nicer than canon Es, though they can still get pretty strict with the prisoners. 

(Can you tell who they’re connected to yet?)

Their uniform is the same as canon, including the band thing which in Milgram runes reads “reciffO eciloP”. The only difference is that their other band thing is longer and has the following runes:

(As a heads up, since there's no rune for 'q' I just used the rune for 'c/k' in its place. You probably don't need to translate it all to know what this says if you're familiar with DRDT lore)

Jackalope is replaced by DRDT canon MonoTV, no big changes to its personality. It still breaks the fourth wall and talks to an audience,which is odd for the prisoners (and Es) seeing as there is no audience in-universe (at least, that's what it claims). 

*Es’ VD is mostly the same, besides changes in dialogue caused by the difference in personalities. The only real difference is that there is no ‘extra cell.’

*Cover is still Hibana. 

Alright, let's get to the fun stuff.

Undercover

(It is highly recommended you know what the canon Undercover looks like before reading this, since a lot of it is pretty similar)

The opening is still the same minus Es' different appearance and MonoTV replacing Jackalope, and only starts changing when the prisoners begin showing up.

(Don’t- Don’t expect this to actually work as a song btw. I’m not insane enough to make that work)

UNDER Split in between decisions, my conscious is made up of torn stitches

Levi (01) holds a mostly neutral expression as he holds up his prisoner card, which displays his face alongside an image of an alleyway. His pose keeps changing slightly in smash cuts. Levi’s face darkens right before there’s a switch to the next prisoner.

(Note: I won’t mention the pose switching and the face on the card all the time, since that’s part of canon Undercover. Just assume it always repeats)

UNDER The beauty in simplicity, wilting with rising complexities

Arturo (02) has his chin up arrogantly at first, showing a prisoner card with a picture of a bathroom. He scoffs and turns around before the switch. 

UNDER A liar? No, that’s wrong! My honesty shines like a star in the night

David (03) (speaker persona) smiles nervously, rubbing at his cheek with a finger. His card shows a bedroom. He covers his face with his free hand, sighing before the switch.

UNDER A sinner? No, you’re kidding! I’m innocent as can be, just don’t mind the gaps

Whit (04) throws a cheeky grin to the camera, doing a finger gun with his free hand. His card shows a park. He nervously rubs the back of his neck before the switch.

(Note: Yes I gave him 04 because of the tetraphobia thing sue me-)

UNDER With a fury and a passion, unstoppable, show them your fangs

Ace (05) snarls at the camera. His card shows a city street. He throws it to the floor angrily before the switch. 

(Note: Sometimes I wasn't quite able to tie their talent to their murder, so it's either tangential to their story or has been replaced with something similar. I am mentioning this with Ace for... no reason in particular, sure, you'll believe that)

UNDER Your fears and anxieties, Respond to the stress, show me fight or flight

Nico (06) hides under the part of their cloak which looks like a scarf, peeking out nervously. Their card shows a locker room. They take a step back as the scene switches.

INSERT CHORUS HERE

UNDER Each existence is like no other, Lucky, unlucky, showtime reaches all

J (07) holds up her card with an unsatisfied expression. It shows a bridge surrounded by camera equipment. She rolls her eyes as the scene switches.

UNDER And yet, it’s all the same In the end, this wretched still life goes on

Rose (08) yawns as she holds up her card lazily. It shows a large dining room. The card slips from her hand as she falls asleep.

UNDER It’s too much, too much, I’m high strung, please forgive my sins

Hu (09) looks nervous, glancing around as if to find a place to hide. Her card shows a zither in a non-descript room. She drops her card, and closes her eyes with a pained expression, a hand on her chest. 

UNDER Please do condemn me, Bloodletting, the horror inside us is what makes me feel.

Veronika (10) spins and gives the camera a bright smile as she pulls out her card. It shows a rooftop. She throws the card in the air dramatically, laughing as it spins around and falls beside her. Her eyes fall back on the camera, and she smirks menacingly. 

UNDER  Unopposable, incontestable Merry kings, life’s queens, for me they bow down.

Arei (11) is sticking out her tongue and looking to the side dismissively. Her card shows a bowling alley. She laughs into her hand before the scene switch.

UNDER My weakness haunts me, Alarm bells are ringing, there's no going back.

Eden (12) fidgets with her hands, shaking nervously. She hides her face behind her card as she shows it, but her teary eyes are still visible over it. The card shows a bedroom full of clocks. She cries into her hands before the switch. 

INSERT CHORUS HERE

[The music winds down, a bridge of sorts. As it plays, a few scenes are shown, where only the characters’ silhouettes are visible, white noise covering them]

[01: A steaming kettle covers most of the foreground. In the background, Levi is seen sitting at a table, head slumped forward. Most of the table is visible, but no one else is in the frame]

[02: Arturo is seen to the left, holding a white turtle neck shirt in his hands. Behind him, an open suitcase sits on a bed, clothes splayed haphazardly around it]

[03: David stands alone on an empty stage, arms wide out. The spotlights are all on him. The entire stage and some of the front row seats are visible, with David’s silhouette only covering a small part in the center of the frame]

[04: A computer monitor covers almost the entire frame. There are countless photos and words, but they’re all too blurry to see, with the exception of a small message on top which reads “Analyzing profiles…” Whit is reflected on the screen, resting his head on one of his fists]

[05: Ace sits on a motorcycle, looking up and admiring the night sky which takes up most of the frame]

[06: Nico is crouched beside a cat, holding out a pink mouse toy for it to play with. Only their legs are visible, but there is a puddle of water under Nico]

[07: J has her palm spread out all over the screen, as if blocking the camera. There are flashes of light behind her, but the source is impossible to see]

[08: Rose sits slumped in a chair, hands on her face. All around her, dozens of canvases can be seen, painted entirely in black. Small bits of color poke out at the bottom, but no full paintings are visible]

[09: The camera is entirely focused on the top of a zither. Hu’s hand is visible, touching the strings with her plectra]

[10: Only Veronika’s footwear is visible over a dark floor. The rest of the scene is filled entirely by blood]

[11: Arei stands in front of a bathroom mirror. She’s holding the right side of her hair, the only part that’s visible. It looks very unevenly cut]

[12: Eden is holding her head in her hands, slumped over a work desk full of small machinery. Behind her are a multitude of analog clocks of various designs, all showing the same time; 6:00]

[13: Min is sitting on a chair, slumped forward and apparently collapsed over a notebook. A pen sits just beside her right hand. A bit of the writing can be seen, showing this:]

[The brown part being Min's hair. Don't make fun of me I'm using Paint and have zero art skills]

[14: Xander, the focus of the shot, stands in front of a crowd, standing on a simple chair. His fist is in the air, and so are the fists of everyone in the crowd]

[15: Charles is kneeling over a grave, the name on it hidden behind the silhouette. Charles is pulling at his hair with his hands. Other graves are visible around him, but the edges of the screen are darkened and it’s impossible to see them well]

[16: Teruko’s hand is reaching out to a black figure, this one without white noise. The figure is completely non-descript, more a simple shadow than a proper silhouette. Blinding white light surrounds this figure] 

UNDER No mistakes, no corrections, 100% Perfection, results shall not vary. 

Min (13) wears a neutral expression, and she holds her card perfectly upright. Her pose changes only to match the exact angles actual mugshots use. Her card shows an untidy bedroom. Before the switch, she lowers her hand, and looks briefly to the side, before turning back to the camera. When she does, her left eye flashes magenta behind her hair. 

UNDER Fighting for true justice, Stand strong, a reflection of the will of the many

Xander (14) is glaring at the camera, moving his card around flippantly. Said card shows a window overlooking an entire city. Xander throws the card away before throwing a punch at the screen.

UNDER Leave no room to hide, No hesitation, a chain reaction of truth unfolds

Charles (15) looks serious, if a bit annoyed as he holds up his card. It shows a laboratory table with several test tubes. He turns his back to the camera, adjusting his goggles, but gives one last, softer look behind him as the scene switches. 

UNDER Or shall the secrets remain? What lies beyond the lies, armageddon untold

Teruko (16) looks at the camera with cold eyes, but a hint of a frown on her lips. Her pose never changes; unlike everyone else, her segment is one continuous shot. It starts with her holding her card at an angle such that only her face is visible on it. She closes her eyes solemnly, before finally flipping her card around so only the backside is shown. It has the Milgram logo combined with the DRDT logo. She never shows the rest of the front of the card, as the scene switches moments after. 

[Pre-chorus, as the prisoners hold their hands to their mouths before a scene of them smiling plays. At the end, for a few frames, a white camellia blooms, before there’s a sudden shift in scenery as we hit the final chorus. All the prisoners’ silhouettes have a still shot each with Es, with a blood splatter always under the latter. The scene starts to focus on each individually]

[Levi’s punching Es in the face, Es thrown to the floor from the impact. Brass knuckles are barely visible on his hand. Levi’s shouting, as are all the other prisoners]

[Arturo is kneeling, facing away from Es. The latter is laying on the floor behind him in what would be a pretty uncomfortable position. Arturo is holding his head in his hands, his mouth visible from the side and open in a shout. One of Es’ shoes is off]

[David is holding Es by the neck of their shirt, shouting at their face (from now on I’ll stop clarifying that they’re shouting). The following symbol appears over where his eyes would be, glowing yellow: 正] EDIT: I forgot to mention one of Es’ shoes is off. RIP to the theorists I’m so sorry-

[Whit is pointing what looks to be a gun at Es, who is recoiling as if they’ve been shot in the heart]

[Ace is seen running, Es’ body falling to the ground beside him and twisting as if they’d been bumped into]

[Nico sits on top of Es’ back. With one of their hands, they’re grabbing onto Es’ hair and apparently pushing it forward. With the other they’re holding two ends of a wire firmly planted on Es’ neck]

[J stands normally, pointing what seems to be a remote control at Es. The latter is face-up on the floor, their limbs contorted in unnatural angles]

[Rose is standing, facing away from Es, who is kneeling and grabbing at their throat. A small jar sits beside them, the cap taken off]

[While standing, Hu is grabbing Es by the throat with both hands, blood coming from the Warden’s throat]

[Veronika is kneeling besides Es’ face-up body. Her hands are on her chest, and there is blood under her as well as the Warden. Meanwhile, Es’ limbs are contorted in unnatural ways, and one of their shoes is off]

[Arei is violently swinging a bowling ball at Es’ head, causing their body to twist around as it falls]

[Eden is standing, covering her eyes. Her right hand has a Ⅵ symbol glowing bright yellow. Es is uncomfortably laying face-up on the floor]

[Min is standing with her back turned to Es, who is kneeling on the floor and grasping at their neck. Min is shouting into a landline phone. Along her arm, an equation glows bright yellow:

ln(x³ - 2 . 13) = 0]

[Xander is grabbing Es’ shoulder, plunging a knife into their stomach]

[Es is standing neutrally, but there is still blood on the floor. A glowing yellow question mark floats above them. Charles is nowhere to be seen]

[Teruko is kneeling calmly besides Es, who is lying face-up with their hands crossed over their chest as if in a coffin. A question mark glows on Teruko's left hand. Teruko is the only prisoner besides Charles who is not screaming]

[The song winds down while a sped up and translucent version of the video plays in the background. A shadow begins growing in the middle, and for just a moment, two sharp yellow eyes stare at the camera from the center of the screen. The finale simply has Es exiting to the left as they do in canon Undercover]

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

And there's Undercover! How we feeling? Hope you enjoyed! Take care!

[thursdayinspace]

20 questions for 20 writers

tagged by @thatfragilecapricorn30 @randomfoggytiger and @baronessblixen thank you!! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 21

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 70.063 -- this is my new AO3, so that's why it's still so low, haha.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Only X-Files now.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? spectacular (glasses sex!), it's the day the world didn't end, from this morning forward (that makes me so happy), got you covered, wild side

5. Do you respond to comments? yes. if I ever don't, I'm sorry, it's not because i didn't love your comment, but i just don't get around to it right away sometimes. but i try to reply to every single one because i love them all.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? ohhh. i don't write super angsty endings . . . I guess mend into pieces bc it's season 2 and they know they're making a mistake, but we all know they'll figure it out eventually, so.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? they pretty much all end happily. i'm going to more or less randomly pick five ways to say i love you. because i loved writing that ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics? so, okay. there are two stories here i want to tell from an old fandom. one is funny. one is kind of great, really?

the funny one: i got a looooong comment on a fic, like several paragraphs long, going into great detail about why the fic sucked and why i sucked and why i had personally offended them by writing fic at all. they obvs meant to comment anonymously but forgot to log out. by the time i got to my computer, they had deleted their entire account. of course i had their name in the ao3 email. i laughed so hard at that.

the kind of amazing one: i got a very rude anon on tumblr, and i responded by saying i'd be happy to discuss their criticism, but i wasn't going to have a conversation with a hockey puck with sunglasses, and asked them to come off anon so we could talk. and they did! they showed up in my dms a short while later. we solved nothing and did not part as friends, but i actually have mad respect for that. wherever they are today, i hope they have taken some anger management classes and are doing well!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? yeah, i certainly do. idk what kind? the porny kind? lol no i mean it's kind of lame but fun.

10. Do you write crossovers? i wrote a stargate atlantis/firefly crossover centuries ago but that was it. or maybe start trek with sth else, i don't remember.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? i don't think so, no.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? yes! it's so much fun and i would do it again.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? mulder and scully!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? i plan to finish all of them.

16. What are your writing strengths? it used to be dialogue but i don't think it is anymore. idk? i think i can create an atmosphere?

17. What are your writing weaknesses? i tend to repeat myself a lot and then skip over other things completely. i'm not good with transitions between scenes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? i haven't done it, but if it would make sense for a fic, i might do it.

19. First fandom you wrote for? stargate atlantis. i was very late to the fanfic party.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? it's called 'ellipsis' and is still with the beta. but of the ones i've already posted, either from this morning forward or yesterday's future.

Randomfoggytiger added additional questions:

1. Is writing a hobby or way of life? i mean it's a hobby but it's definitely also a way of life. there isn't ever a time when i don't think about writing and everything all the time connects in some way to a thing i'm writing and i can't imagine what i'd do without writing.

2. A journal full of writing notes or a clean, completed manuscript? completed manuscript! or notes? uhh . . . both?

3. Who (or what) is your writing inspiration? everything. random things. i can't think of one specific thing, it can be literally anything.

4.Which is worse: someone you "idolize" reading your first draft or listening to you sing? both thoughts are equally awful lol

5. Has writing from someone else's POV ever changed your own perspective? yeah, i think so. not in any big way, but about smaller stuff, just the way i look at certain things? yes.

6. Tumblr, AO3, LiveJournal, or FFN? ao3!!! my tinkerbell brain loves the comment section, haha. also it's just so much nicer to read on ao3 and there's the download option, so also as a reader, def ao3.

7. AO3 wordcount, and are you satisfied with it? 70.063 - no, i'm not satisfied with it. i used to write multi-chapters with more words. but it's a new account so yeah starting small again.

8. What movie/book/fic gripped you irrevocably? jasper fforde's 'thursday next' series. it's where i stole my name from. literary detectives? oh man. it's the kind of story where you wish you'd had the idea first. go read it!!!!!

9. What's the highest compliment you could ever be given, and have you been given it? i am really really lucky to have been given so many amazing compliments and i appreciate every single one. i couldn't say what means the most to me . . . probably when it's personal to the commenter? when someone tells me sth i've written touched them in some way. bc that's what i want to achieve.

10. What defines your writing style? lol idek man pretentious purple prose? i think i live somewhere between overuse of metaphors and focus on the rhythm of a text. i love writing in english bc it flows so nicely. idk is trying to make it sound nice a style bc then that's at least what i'm going for.

who hasn't been tagged? no pressure tags for @backintimeforstuff @nachosncheezies @actual-changeling and everybody else who wants to!

[borderline-off-fangame]

Yesterday was the anniversary of the development.. uuuuu. I missed it, but oh well...

There isnt much to add, other than the fact that i have not been working on the game as much, and when i do, its always revisions and adding new things, removing old things, the such.. basicly life in a shellnut. The game constantly goes through changes, whether it be in dialogue or assets, or story wise the such. May as well add in those changes.

The Guardians

The guardians have since been replaced with fresh blood as lore wise they have been defeated and these Inhabitants took over, except Pablo/Judge who is still alive and kicking.... Except he got quite fat over the years. Allow me to introduce them to you...

Ananiel is the Guardian of Zone 1, clad with the coat of the old Guardian Dedan and a pair of floating arms, she ensures that the Zone runs as smoothly as she possibly can. Design wise, her floating hands compensate the lack of arms and originally she was to have tree stumps for legs, but has changed for overworld sprite wise it would not translate so well.. and as an accessory she possesses Dedan's old and tattered coat which is... Too big for her, but she wears it with pride. Personality wise, while she shares similar traits to Dedan with her temperament and 'take shit from no one' mentality, she is kind at heart, however she shows that love to Max, whom she overly coddles to Hell and back.

Raphael is the Guardian of Zone 2, he wears a necklace made of Japhet's feathers, he slithers in the footsteps of the firebird by ensuring peace and solitude across the Zone. He was suppose to have wings, but the design done by @sothomy is quite gucci if you ask me!! Like Japoop, he has 2 forms, 1 being the small snake form, and the other, a big snake. Personality wise, Raphael is a soft-spoken serpent, who's also a wee bit anxious to say the least. He tries his best to ensure the denizen of his Zone are at peace, however shit ensues from thereon and Raph has to do everything in his power to get his status back from the impostor.

Jeguriel, the Guardian of Zone 3, the supposed 'Assistant Director', he possesses the semi-sentient head of Enoch himself. I'd say he looks more like a young Leshy with humanoid traits (given the arm and a bush for hair), and his face can open up to reveal a big mouf. Personality wise? Read up on his name it'll give you a hint... well.. the fact that he has someone's big ass head for a weapon should be an indicator to his personality obv!!

The assets

If you have followed along for the time being, and regarding my last post, I am working on remaking the assets from scretch... so if you notice a sudden drop in quality, that's why... I am trying my damnest, it's not great, but at least it's something... on the bright note, the cutscenes should look a little bit more crispier to say the least..

WHICH REMINDS ME!!

NEW RESIDENTS

Meet the Heipei, triangular faced creatures with branches growing out of their ears! They are very babey yes!! They are native to this world, and probably smell like spices...

Originally their loincloths were to had the vertical eye symbol, but that was removed because the placement would be a reminder of the female labia... I have words to say but people would get offended so I'll refrain from commenting.. Point of the matter is, Heipei are much more different than the Elsen, they are more friendly and outgoing than their counterparts. Elsen of course aren't native to this world but they have the same rights as the Heipei! Elsen in this world cannot burn, instead the Heipei 'burn' for them, i.e. a Heipei loses their natural form and begin morphing into tree-like abominations called Metamorphs. Originally the Elsen would turn into plant-like monsters, but since the addition of the Heipei, I decided to put them in the torture box!

The future

Don't ask me what the future holds, at this point I don't even know if I'll ever finish the game.. the game goes through constant development hell, and with me having a real life, I basicly work on the game from time to time, in small amounts... one day it might be released, if not as a full release then as an unfinished demo.. if I disappoint you with that revelation, I'm sorry... All I know now is that I'm taking the time to refurbish the assets, and just quietly working on the game.. thank you for following the development, even if I wasted almost 10 years on this shit... least I learned new things that could help me when I make a future game or smth..

sorry if there's not much contribution to the game development as of late... lots of rl shit happening..

[meatriarch]

overview cont. i guess lmao. no one asked but its been something in the back of my mind for a while now & i got an anon tonight telling me i come off intimidating and i feel the need to just. make note of some things so that hopefully if anyone feels a certain way with how i run this blog then like. know and understand both my side as well as that my dms / disc is open for anyone to pop into -- just obv depends on the headspace at the time.

i know this is long & am sorry if it doesnt make sense but. just setting it gently out there.

but, again, my disc ( same as my url ) is open for any mutual. its open to shoot the shit. open for plotting. open for memes. what have you. i may not always get to every message. i may not be in the headspace for certain things or certain energies. but its open for anyone as long as we are mutuals & if handles are different between here & disc then i just get a heads-up abt who you are so i know lmao

likewise, i am fairly fucking slow writing-wise and alot of that is because of offsite issues chipping into me but also because most, if not all, of the things i DO have in the inbox or drafts are from my affiliates at this time ( tho i do have some more from the archive i need to move over from a couple people ). alot of my spoons and drive to write and post is because of the dynamics and plotting built between our muses. im not a blog centered on plotting but, it does help to have a better idea on how to navigate between muses c: esp for those technically outside of my kiddos' texas canon obviously. that being said, anyone is welcome to like any inbox calls i put out there. and my inbox is always open and accepting, even if i havent reblogged prompts in a while -- i have my tag linked on my pinned and its available always & for whomever. it just comes with the understanding that i may take a while to respond to them & they may not get as expansive as some of my posts can get with my affiliates; which again, is just simply from how much we've been building together that helps with that!

on that note. my connections with my texas pals are very dear to me. both ic & ooc. as i noted in my overview post, i talk about the dynamics we've built openly and freely here because theyre so integral to my portrayals. they & their kiddos have my entire heart and i unapologetically love having fun with them and going on tangents with them and bouncing thoughts off of each others posts on the dash.

my experiences in other corners of tumby rp have not been particularly kind. and its been a long time since ive felt comfortable especially ooc with writing partners. and i understand if i may come across closed off or intimidating or unapproachable. i understand if i also come across partial to them / play favorites because frankly... i am. i do. thats because they've built bonds not just between characters but also with me. ill be very transparent and say that i am very particular in who i get close with and that translates into here too. but thats also just something that easily can also happen with literally anyone. again i do understand if i come across closed off in any sense but genuinely? im not scary and i have options open for continuing to grow more connections with people c: theyre open always. what im not going to do, however, purely out of personal experience is chase after interactions. the last fandoms i wrote in i did so and it wore me down into my last hiatus. i will show equal enthusiasm to whats given. but i wont fish for it, either. its just not my cup of tea.

i like to think im fairly patient and understanding in a lot, probably moreso than i should in some cases -- sincerely though if theres issues know that im fine with it being brought up. but im also not going to be welcoming nor tolerate my boundaries being disregarded or disrespected, im already dealing with that with an offsite friend. not dealing with it here. i do not like feeling so uncomfortable existing on my own blog or in my own disc. and i get that already with my personal disc & this offsite friend in particular. im not dealing with it here too.

which on that note, i also wont be receptive with issues regarding what i post, what i talk about, who i write with, who i choose as affiliates or mains or w/e. my blog & my dash are my safe & comfort zones and these muses often help me alot with navigating when my headspace is at a fucked up level. if any of that is a concern yes youre welcome to come to me and talk it over but end of the day? my comfort & mental state is a priority to me. if thats ever an issue i truly would just recommend you do what you feel is best for you. everyone existing on this hell-plane are entitled on curating their space in whatever manner they see fit.

again. i promise im not scary. im not an ass. but i do curate my space to be in my best interest and at my age & experience across the 10+ yrs ive been rping on and off here, ive seen alot, heard alot, experienced alot. i do apologize however if i do come across unapproachable or intimidating. i do apologize if i seem closed off to only a select few. i dont mind if you follow / we're mutuals solely just to keep up with what i write! thats completely okay too and i thank those who are <3 but if i seem unapproachable i literally just gently gesture again to my disc or prompts tag etc! i welcome any to get to know myself or my muses. regardless of how much time has passed since following one another. just again, comes with the understanding that my social battery & headspace often does work against me. and thats not personal against anyone, ever.

[hushed-chorus]

20 questions for fic writers!

Thank you for the tags @wellbelesbian @orange-peony and @you-remind-me-of-the-babe! I’m always curious about how others respond to these things! I’ve been a little distant from tumblr recently so hoping this can get me engaging properly again!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

12!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

223,290. 

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Carry On/Simon Snow! I love them boys too much, and I love all the weird speculative shit you can get up to in the World of Mages.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Accidents Happen

What Remains After The Storm

Call of the Sea

Just Say The Word (The Word is Hedgehog)

Worst Disney Princess Ever

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! It’s just lovely to chat a bit with people, and I also want them to know I appreciate their comments. Sometimes it’s a little while before I respond but I always do.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I’m a happy ending person, or at least hopeful ending. That being said, The Danse Macabre ends on a glum note.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That’s a tough one (see above), but probably What Remains After The Storm.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not these days, but I got a couple as a teen. The silliest was someone angry that my fic was a canon divergence–nothing more, nothing less. It was silly.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sometimes. I struggle with smut. If sex seems right for the story/plot, then I’ll add it, but I don’t tend to write it for its own sake.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No, the closest I’ve come is an idea for an AU, but even then I’ll probably strip out all the characters from that setting

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t think so!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Currently co-writing For All Intents and Purposes with @erzbethluna. It's been such a blast! I'm hoping to get back into writing soon

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Snowbaz (obvs)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I had an idea for a Piranesi-inspired fic. Wrote a bit of it by hand almost a year ago. I’d like to keep working on it, but realistically I don’t think it will happen.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Plots, maybe? I like writing little twists and reveals.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Smut or otherwise physically intimate scenes. 

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Personally I don’t like it. If I can understand the meaning contextually, then that’s great. If I don’t need to know the meaning, also, great. But if that text is relevant to the scene in some way, I don’t like it, even if translations are provided at the end. No shade on anyone who does this, but I find it brings me out of a story. Edit: Now remembering I did this in When Pigs Fly, and while it wasn't plot relevant, I understand if anyone thinks me a hypocrit.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Good Omens (I think)

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

That’s a tough one to answer, but I’ll say What Remains After The Storm. There are definitely parts I think, in retrospect, I could have done better, but overall I’m really happy with it. Also, it just combines so many of my loves. The Ocean! Moors! The Fae! Stupid Sexy Mermen!

That being said, Accidents Happen will always have a special place in my heart.

Tags! Would love to see your answers @cutestkilla @artsyunderstudy @aristocratic-otter @shrekgogurt @theearlgreymage and anyone else who fancies joining in!

[forgotteneabha]

OOC | House Calleary

so my brain woke up today and went: SO WHAT ABT MOTTOS laskjfkjsdf so im here to start bugging everyone about thoughts on ~that bahahaha

ok so by no means exhaustive but some ideas for house calleary include but are not limited to:

(so 'calleary' roughly translated means 'descendant of the spear-wielder' hence some of those sorts of references ;D)

note: until you get to --- these are the ones i suggested for malconaire w the tree/ivy/etc ones removed, the ones that 'x' are mottos from specific historical figures, w all mottoes the 'i' is also 'we' depending on context bc its meant to be true both of individual and unit etc

‘truth daughter of time’ 

‘always the same’ 

‘loyalty binds me’ 

‘the time will come’ 

‘the most happy/fortunate (the word had both meanings at the time’

‘to be useful in all I do’

‘humble & loyal’

‘Bound to obey and serve’ 

‘god (guardians) send me well to keep’ 

‘I always remember’ 

‘humble and reverent’ 

‘method & order’ 

‘without changing’ 

‘in my end is my beginning’ 

‘gods (guardians) will sufficeth me’ 

‘keep troth’

'i nurture the good and extinguish the evil'

nothing without labor

faithful to the end/faithful forever/faithful even unto death

conscience is our sure shield

here i am, here i remain

to serve with right good will

i endure

while i breathe, i hope

on grace depend

to be rather than to seem

let peace be made, justice be done

(with) faith stronger than fortune

ours is faith and fortitude

we have been/we have made our mark/we are

guard well

i am the shield

this is the valour of my ancestors

i prefer what is honourable to what is useful

shame to him who evil thinks

justice and fortitude are invincible

much in little

death before dishonor

while i stand, they flourish

i give succor/aid

yield not to adversity

neither to oppress or be oppressed

not for us, but for all

take me such as i am

ready for my country

of ancient astairan stock

for our altars and our home

attend well

by reason not force

ever ready

i govern/rule by serving

more illustrious by serving

thus we guard our sacred rights

love is the token/proof/reward of peace

to rise again

virtue alone ennobles

judge us by our actions/let us be judged by our actions

of good hope and courage

good/virtue/honor is my hope (and guide)

truth/faith/honor/virtue endures

under the law there is liberty

with/in honor there is liberty

increasing both in sunshine and shade

yield not to misfortune

a safe refuge

i seek a useful end

virtue increases under burden

deeds not words

flying, i keep my eyes upon the stars

---

certain good

labor conquers all

diligence and industry

boldness and industry

magnanimity

not without danger

let us advance

let us dare

never despair

always ready

nothing risked is nothing gained

virtue lies in action

through hardships to the stars

the stars my guide

s/he seeks liberty by his spear

by sea and land

the same way by different steps/course

she (fortune) favors the bold

be ever mindful

god (the guardians) will fill the sails

a way is made by labor

follow me

fortune so wills it

forget not

i bring back

(be) vigilant and dare

without fear

Upright in prosperity and in peril

by the spear

i cast my nets and capture fortune

the guardians will it

i serve

the winds be my guide

to a valiant heart, nothing is impossible

i love as i find

either do not attempt, or complete

he conquers twice who conquers himself

the guardians my sails

i sail on waves of possibility

from the waves, i reach for heaven

mine is the sea

from beneath the waves i (still) sing

we sail on

i abide

to live before i die

you can find soooo many more [ here ]

obv so many other possibilities but yeah!! id looove to hear any suggestions <33333

[icedteaandoldlace]

20 questions for fic writers - tagged by the fantastic @frosty-the-killer-doll ☃️🔪🪆

How many works do you have on ao3?

13.

What's your total ao3 word count?

72,472

What fandoms do you write for?

The Flash, Glee, and Gossip Girl.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Flying Free (or Free Kurt - Emma Pillsbury Style) ((Glee obvs))

Heartless (Glee)

Smoke and Mirrors (Glee)

Maybe Our Real Soulmates Were The... (Flash/Arrow)

As Frightened As You (Glee)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

It depends. Direct compliments, yes, I'll reply to say thank you. I'll also answer questions, or drop little bits of behind-the-scenes info if there's something fun attached to a detail that a reader pointed out. If the comment is simply "wow!!" or "oof" or something else that doesn't really call for a response and that I don't have anything to add to, I'll just leave it as it is.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Toss up between two:

Heartless ends with Kurt getting hit with another wave of grief after having Finn's letterman returned to him, and while he's hugging it and sobbing, for a second it feels like Finn's hugging him back.

The Longest Distance Between Two Points Is Arm's Length ends with Cisco accidentally vibing a moment from earlier in the fic, and misunderstanding what's happening in it. If he'd had context, he would've realized he was seeing proof that his mom loves him, but instead he takes it as a painful reminder that he'll never be enough for her because he's not Dante.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Alive Again. Just two dorks playing in the rain, on the brink of falling in love.

Do you get hate on fics?

None so far.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Absolutely not.

Do you write crossovers?

Not usually, but I have a few. Maybe Our Real Soulmates Were The... is considered a crossover fic by AO3 and FFN's standards, but not by mine. My most ambitious crossover (and the one I'm most invested in) is Preppy In Pink, which is gonna be so much fun when it's ready for posting.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I certainly hope not. Doesn't look too likely, though.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Pretty sure I haven't had that happen, either. It'd be cool though.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Smoke and Mirrors started as a few lines of dialogue that @kurtbastian-land had sitting in her notes app that she didn't have a full story developed for, and posted on Tumblr for anyone who wanted to expand on it. I wrote a very dramatic continuation (the majority of chapter 1), and then @jwmelmoth gave it a happy ending (chapter 2). But then she realized we left a couple loose ends untied, so the two of us collaborated on how it should end, and wrote a few more chapters together.

What’s your all-time favorite ship to write for?

I honestly don't know. I think I have the most WIPs for Kamisco at the moment, but Barrisco and Kurtbastian are both incredibly fun as well.

What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I started a crossover AU ages ago where Kurt Hummel ends up with Eric van der Woodsen. I don't think I'll ever finish it, but I like to reread the snippets I've already written every now and then.

What are your writing strengths?

Viscerally describing emotions, setting a scene, nailing characters' voices.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Titles, titles, titles, and titles. Oh, and also titles. They HARD!! Also, I'm very bad at following my own advice to write badly and edit later. I want everything to sound pretty immediately! This is how I get stuck on the same paragraph for weeks with a whole big chunk of the fic still unwritten.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Not something I'm going to attempt a whole lot of in the near future. I have already slipped a little bit of Spanish (+1 word of French) into a couple fics, but only like a single word/phrase at a time, spoken by bilingual characters in mostly English sentences. There are also a few spots where a character says more in Spanish, but I don't write the actual dialogue, I just imply a general idea of what they're saying. I'd love to include more, but I'm not about to make a fool of myself with Google Translate—I'm sticking to very minimal Spanish until I can speak it better.

First fandom you wrote for?

First fandom I finished a fic for was Gossip Girl. As for first one I started writing a fic for, it was either Gossip Girl (not the same fic) or Boy Meets World (a still unfinished Shawngela fix-it).

Favorite fic you’ve written?

I mean, A Little Help From Your Friends is pretty hard to beat. It's got everything—humor, angst, fluff, ambiguity, movie references, ROOMMATES!! And funnily enough, I gave it a title with a little help from my friend, @daftydraw (and by "a little" I mean she suggested the whole title and I ran with it).

And tagging: @starstruckpurpledragon @fictionandmusic @orangesunsets12 @thequeenofshebasays @queer-cheer @elledelajoie

[convexicalcrow]

we're gonna talk about pharaoh cub again. bc i am brainrotting hard over this skin and it's honestly kinda ridiculous. usual caveats of i am not an expert but do know enough to be like, wtf is that skin cubby?, and ofc there are exceptions and variations and wraps and cloaks and overskirts and other ornamentation as well depending on the occasion and time period. so it's def not wrong per se, just an ... unusual choice.

another caveat is that i love what he did with the pyramid and the approach he took, not making it a recreation but making his own twist on it, and i adored that mix of ancient and cub design. it was such a good way to do it and i'm not even mad. i'm not even mad about the skin. i just have. Questions. mr cubfan sir.

(also this will probably be quite Long and image-heavy but I need to get this shit out of my head so.)

i'm gonna start with a screenshot of some skins from the egyptian mythology pack on bedrock, which is the version of minecraft i mostly play bc it's what my partner plays. now, these skins are arguably not necessarily java-friendly, but i wanted to give you some sense of how you can do egyptian pharaoh skins in minecraft as a comparison so you can see how they translate.

obvs there's some variation in design (and for some reason, Tutankhamun - second from the right on the bottom row - appears to have been made to look like his sarcophagus, poor boy) but i've separated out the queens from the kings just so you can see the difference in style. the sleeve-ish look on a couple of the queens is more likely to be representing a shoulder wrap more than something with actual sleeves even though they'd made them look more like sleeves bc there's only so much detail you can get on a minecraft skin. but the important difference i want you to note is the queens all have ankle-length dresses/skirts, and the kings do not.

this is very typical of egyptian dress styles. men are usually shown with knee-length kilts, though, as i said, sometimes they are shorter or longer, or have longer overskirts over shorter kilts, or have more ornamentation. but the basic male style is a knee-length kilt. you'll see that more often than not.

women are usually shown wearing (something close to) ankle-length skirts and dresses. dresses are usually sleeveless and commonly skin-tight (or close to it), and they can have shoulder straps but some will sit up under the breasts instead. sometimes they will just be wearing a long skirt on its own. they will have shoulder wraps or longer body wraps for extra layers and these usually just cover the upper arms and can sometimes look like 'sleeves' but they aren't. just fabric covering the arms. they don't look anything like what cub has going on with his sleeves.

so, given all of that, this is a quick sketch of what i expected pharaoh cub to go with:

plz excuse the 5 min sketch and my shitty handwriting (bc it's been a long time since i've drawn in this style), but you can see all the basic things i would have gone with that would be easily replicated in a minecraft skin. the nemes headdress with uraeus (cobra), the beaded collar, the kilt, and the arm bands. the fake beard is probably the other essential but may or may not work depending on your skin's face.

but that's your basic pharaoh look. like, there are more ornamented and detailed looks, with cloaks and longer skirts and overskirts, and different hats and headdresses and whatnot, but that's really the basic look that you see in statuary and art. the nemes headdress is what sets him apart as pharaoh more than anything else (and the tail, but that's optional and difficult to do on a minecraft skin).

let's compare that to wtf cub did:

the kilt is long, and much more typical of female styles. an usual choice but not an incorrect one. like i said, this isn't actually wrong? just weird. he could have easily made it a shorter kilt and the design still would have worked. it's just not the typical style you will see for male Egyptian dress, is all.

also i fully appreciate, given the skin change in s8, how you can see old man cub as representing the fake beard bc it was never really his face, just the one he used for so long. it's a nice touch, even if it wasn't perhaps intended that way.

the sleeves tho. like. i do not understand the sleeves. egyptian styles just do not have sleeves like that. it may be he was trying to replicate the shoulder wrap look, but that's usually tied in the middle of the chest or at the waist and they usually only come down to the elbow and are not bound by the armbands or bracelets but sit over them. and they are more commonly seen on women. and there's no visible shirt or anything under the beaded collar to suggest the sleeves are part of some weird tiny undershirt. it's just skin.

also iirc from the pharaoh cub plushie he has bare shoulders? which is actually quite hard to see on the skin itself so idk maybe that's right, but it's even weirder if that's the case. he's just gone for arm warmer type things, with gold bands on either end, bc ... idk??? so i am baffled at this man wanting to show off his torso but not his limbs. weird flex, but okay cub, you do you.

it's why i keep saying the pharaoh cub skin is inherently feminine, bc it has these styles that are more typically female (but not exclusively so). hence, it's not wrong, just an odd choice. gives off bellydancer vibes as well fwiw. like he's a temple dancer and his torso is bare to emphasise his hips and belly and tiddies moving as he dances. like without the sleeves, it would be fine and it would lose some of those more feminine associations, but the sleeves tho, i am confused cub. wtf is up with the sleeves. they make absolutely no sense.

but do you know what the really fucked up weird thing about all of this is tho? i made this egyptian style self-portrait in a nonbinary style 9 years ago or so and guess who also used a long female-length skirt and a male head with a fake beard to queer my gender up. >_>

(i modelled myself off canonically bigendered Nile god Haapi tho. >_>)

(i did not give myself sleeves tho >_>)

honestly between this and the skulk cub thing i stg it's beginning to feel like cub and i share like one braincell XD

[shatterspin]

Hey, it's me again. I just re-read what I sent yesterday, and, dude (gender-neutral), I was fasting when I sent that, and I was barely awake, and it sounds like I was hating on the Arabic dub...? I mean, sure, I think they're horrible, and part of me dislikes them, but they were still my childhood.

And about the jokes thing, I get that not every single joke can be translated, but at least they can replace them as you said, or when they translate them, they should try to make it less of a mess than they end up being (like the tashkeel usually ends up wrong when they translate everything literally, and you'll have me, kinda likes e3rab, being like, "No, that should be mansoob, it's maf3ool behe?")

It's been a long time since I watched Zane's Sacrifice in Arabic, but I remember little me found it really funny (on an unrelated note, I have a cousin called Zain, and I hated him, so that might have contributed). With Garmadon getting possessed, his screams were... well, I found them funny. It sounded more like he was pooping than getting possessed.

I watched Ninjago on CN Arabic. I don't remember that much of it since I was little (again, I was about 4-5 when it started, and I started watching it on CN MENA in English when I was about 11; I'm almost 17 rn), and I asked my little siblings about it, and they barely remember anything. But I remember most of what @localguy2 said. I don't think they aired the pilots as I didn't know about their existence recently. CN was obsessed with replaying the same episodes over and over again. They also skipped many parts in the episode itself (like any romantic parts), and they ended up cutting some other parts of the episode, where it got confusing. But I do remember S1's finale airing, like I vividly remember watching Wu get out of the Devourer, sipping his tea, when I was little, so I think @/localguy2 just missed it or something. Which just reminded me of another thing. CN Arabic was so inconsistent with its timings. Like let's say, they would air Ninjago from Sunday to Thursday at 5pm. They would randomly decide to put the new episodes on 1 pm on a Friday, and they'd repeat the old episodes between Sunday-Thursday. So, even without CN itself skipping episodes, we already lost many episodes because of that, and catching up with the plot was practically impossible. I don't think I ever watched SoG on CN Arabic, so I either missed the episode, or for some reason, CN decided not to air that one. And wait, DotD got released in Arabic? I never saw it, and I was so confused how Cole was human again. But I never watched DotD in Arabic.

As of Hunted, I switched to watching Ninjago on CN MENA where they air the episodes in English. They still have the thing where they cut out "romantic" scenes and other stuff (for example, in Crystallized, you know the scene where Harumi is getting the Overlord back? They skipped the whole thing. Like you had Lloyd begging Harumi to be good or something idr, and one second later, the Overlord was walking towards Lloyd). They still skip some episodes (not sure if that happened with Ninjago there, but it's currently happening to Monkie Kid). I recently watched some Ninjago on MBC3 (in Arabic obv because I was bored and they were there, so yk?), and I think they're doing a better job than CN Arabic.

Anywayyy, I should probably go back to sleep; I woke up for su7oor, and I ended up typing my whole life story... sorry

ah it’s okay to be a bit mean to such things

i get what u mean abt the jokes thing needing to sound properly but the fact that ur even MENTIONING e3raab to me should be illegal. i already graduated i should not be subjected to thinking about e3raab anymore 😭😭

mbc3 and CNa had unusual rerun times and it was always a mess trying to figure out when the rerun of an episode of a show would air and would require watching the channel for so long (oh the days of me trying to find out when son//ic x reruns were on mbc3 bc they used to show the new episodes when i couldn’t watch tv (i still remember that it’s reruns were at 3 am 😭)) so some of tkose repeating episodes could’ve been the reruns.

even on netflix when i was looking thru the arabic dub for double trouble they just cut the whole scene between nya n bizarro jay which i thought was weird of netflix but i guess that’s just because these episodes were the ones that were shown on TV. but i remember seeing a video on youtube abt the cut off lmk really weird and random scenes off?? i get the whole thing abt the arab world and not showing kids any sort of pda but they used to sometimes allow non-pda but still implied things thru? the cut offs r more lenient these days but they’re still extremely weird and very obvious. i remember spacetoon used to rewrite scenes and edit the scenes so heavily just to not let any romance plot thru, it usually just made them funnier but kids wouldn’t notice much of a difference

[tyrannuspitch]

hey i love the book carry on & ive never read its sequel bc CO felt like it ended exactly where i wanted. i do love the charactrs tho& would love to see more of them. ive seen u very briefly mention its sequel so i think uve read it, even if u werent a huge fan. do u think reading it might be worth it or is it better to stick w CO? (obvs u dnt know exactly what i like from 1 ask & also if u dnt feel like talking abt sequel i get it. just thought id ask.) have a great day! :)

okay um. i'm afraid this is a subject i am entirely incapable of being objective about.

i thought the sequel was quite literally one of the worst books i've ever read in my life. i made a goodreads account solely to write a very long 1 star review of it within a week of it coming out (here.) i wrote angry notes all over my copy (i found something to hate on every single page!) then threw it in the recycling because i didn't want to dignify it with a second-hand shop. i have vowed never to read the threequel because the amount of anger and betrayal i felt after reading WS was genuinely bad for my health.

i would say... there is very little, if anything, to be gained from reading WS. it's not like more of CO. it's a very different book. the tone and atmosphere are completely different. removing the context of the archetypical fantasy story and the war means the characters need to be reimagined significantly (and, in my opinion, a lot of depth is lost in translation - so they don't really feel like themselves. or like real people at all.) the themes, such as they are, don't really pull together to say anything like what carry on said, or... anything in particular, honestly. CO treats its characters incredibly gently, but at times WS feels outright cruel, especially in its portrayal of vampires. and frankly, the writing quality is just much poorer than CO's. prose, dialogue, pacing, you name it. it reads like a first draft.

however, a lot of people DO seem to enjoy it, some of whom have since written fanfiction which i think displays a good and nuanced understanding of the original book, so... it's hypothetically possible to get something out of it. i guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[is-very-sad]

I've been reading your obey me x genshin crossover and absolutely loved it. It also gave me some ideas to expand some lore.

In God!reader au we pretty much created teyvat right? It wouldn't be too far fetched for us to have created beings similar to angels and devils. Since we have control on what these beings could and would act, we have the liberty to pretty much mould them however we want.

Angels could have more free will in our world, acting as guardians for those in need, or maybe strong warriors created to protect this world from otherworldly beings. They don't have to worry about turning into a fallen angel since they could only do so if they committed a grave sin towards you, which would be kinda hard since you are pretty lenient than other gods.

Devil's could be the ones managing the teyvat version of hell. They aren't exactly bad people, it's just their job to manage the punishments. They just act as prison guards I guess? Maybe hell in teyvat is more of a prison for beings that have committed grave sins in their time being alive so the devils are there to monitor them.

It would also be fun to see them respecting each other. Like the angels respect the devils for being able to contain such entities while the devils respect the angels for protecting everybody 24/7.

Imagine Diavolo seeing that angels and devils actually take care for each other lmao.

Anyways, the reason why the angels and devils couldn't help you in the imposter!au is because of your last orders telling them not to hurt anyone in teyvat no matter how big their sin is, since we don't want to control what happens in teyvat to much. They just try to follow your orders while trying contain the urge to just purge teyvat. They would lead you to shelter or maybe alert any hilichurl of your location so they could help.

Idk this concept just sounds so fun since in obey me its clear that 2 of the realms have a lot of bad blood, so it would be mind boggling to them to see that these 2 realms actively help each other.

This is just a brainrot that I have and have to go to google translate a lot to get the words right. Hopefully its understandable.

Yesss I love all of this

Obvs Diavolo is just fascinated like he won't leave until he's met at least half of each side. He sees this as proof his plan could eventually work so you bet he'll be taking notes (or at least he'll have Barbatos do so)

Would we have an order of angels for each nation with like a council or something to govern all of them or would we be the sole leader when we're there? Because idk about you but I wanna make a seraphim for each nation just because I can. What if we did this, then named our greatest seraphim after Lucifer to spite his father? Lucifer meets our heaven and hell and he's just staring when we introduce Lucifel or some other similar name. It would be even funnier if we intentionally made them very different to Lucifer, more casual or the like.

Would we make our demonic gate keepers with horns still? Would our angels have halos or would we make a different symbol? There are so many possibilities-