#but with weird twee language

[cluethegirl]

I don't like anything about this

[bluewithpurplepolkadots]

It seems a lot of the time online when pointing such adverts out: people act like advertisements, which could be taken as sexual as mistakes. They act like they must be written by someone completely unaware of how it could be taken all the time and it’s just….weird. Of course they knew!

Like don’t get me wrong there’s a microscopic chance it could have been a mistake.

It happens.

But in the vast, vast majority of cases it’s obviously deliberate. It, after all, makes you do a double take and look again. It can make them memorable in a sea of advertising if the market isn’t completely saturated with it.

Or in the case of the internet has people online who think they’re clever spread the word of the product or service for free.

Sex sells and all that.

[sergle]

has the huggable twee irritation always been a Thing or did it evolve in response to like, "you're not ugly. i'd fuck you" type comments? like in your personal experience

god, I'm not well spoken enough to describe it exactly the way it Registers In My Brain... but like. It's not the "you're not ugly, I'd fuck you" genre, and that type of comment is so easy to immediately dismiss because it always comes from a certain type of man, and it's like yeah yeah, I could throw a sandwich and you'd fuck it before it hit the floor. But also, that one's so specific, it's a bottom-of-the-barrel "compliment" that dudes will give when a woman has actively said something about feeling like she's unattractive.

The HUGGABLE THING. The oooh squishy marshmallow somft huggable mom shaped 🥺🥰 She looks like she gives GREAT HUGS. Those comments are UNPROMPTED. I'm immediately like. Every keyword you say, I kill another hostage. I will blow up this whole building and everyone in it. Because it is SO FUCKING WEIRD. And I have heard it one million times. And I see it on every drawing of a character who's even remotely plus sized. These comments would not fly for a thinner person, they'd be rightfully received as weird. People aren't gonna comment on a picture of Ariana Grande going omg she's sooo huggable mom friend shaped. WHAT. Simultaneously are desexualized and sanitized to a weird degree in that uwu language way, WHILE also being creepy. Like, why are you describing what you think I'd feel like if you hugged me? Like the only positive thing you can think of to say is that I look like I have some give. As strangers. I'm not going to hug you, I think you're a creep and I think you're giving yourself a big pat on the back for complimenting a fat person. What are we doing I'm arguing at the air. Where am I And you're just supposed to go oh thank you that's so nice, because as a fat person, you gotta take whatever compliment you get, even if it is actually not a compliment. And that's the thing, there are SO MANY ACTUAL COMPLIMENTS TO PICK FROM. But people settle on huggable and somft. Was this person pretty? Were they hot? You could say gorgeous? Handsome, beautiful? Elegant? Stunning? Sharp? Sexy? Stylish? Are you trying to say that you're attracted to this person's body? Are we being horny? Do you think they just look nice in general? Can't we think of anything else to say? Or are we just gonna sit here and say they fuckin look like Santa Claus. Huggable like a pillow. Girl what the fuck

[wedding-shemp]

like you guys do the exact same cringe-ass virtue signalling about media that you did ten years ago, but instead of twee Tumblr sjw language and values it's weird hostile Twitter tankie language and values.

[sendpseuds]

Seven Comfort Films

Thank you @yourfavoritefridge for the tag, especially since you know movies are a bit of a love language for me. Okay, let's see what happens here!

Top Gun [1986] I've seen this movie more times than I can count. I cry every time I watch it. I cried at the sequel. It's just my favorite silly homoerotic melodrama.

Twister [1996] This movie gave me horrible nightmares as a kid and I still insisted on watching it over and over again. There's something about storms and this movie seems to get that part of it, even with cows flying around [still thinking about this AU]

Doom [2005] Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, and The Rock AS A BAD GUY!!! Fuck this is a terrible movie and it rules. It's a video game adaptation and features a nearly 5-minute first-person monster hunting sequence that it just... *chef's kiss*

The Holiday [2006] I'm a sucker for Nancy Meyers and for me, this one just hits. It's absurd and a little obnoxious but I'll watch this one any day.

Mad Max Fury Road [2015] This movie... this movie fucks so hard. I don't know how else to say it. Last time I watched it, I stared it over immediately after it finished [I'm gonna sneak one in here because if you like action movies and you haven't seen RRR please please do yourself a favor it is an absolute blast]

Forgetting Sarah Marshal [2008] Charming and relatable and so fucking funny, this is an easy choice if I need a laugh.

Stranger Than Fiction [2006] This is a movie about stories and what a good story can actually cost. It's very surreal and maybe a little on the twee side, but I really think this is a beautiful movie and would recommend it a million times if I could, especially if you're a person who tells stories.

This is an extremely weird list and I stand by it.

[I'm aware that Star Wars is missing, I just figured that was just assumed]

[rumble-aint-a-rumble-without-me]

alright hi :))

this is a continuation of the one that didn't get finished cause of glitches 😒😒 idk what i typed 🧍🏽‍♀️🧍🏽‍♀️ so here's what i THINK i typed and then some.

• im a girl gemini (diabolically cursed x5) with curly hair that's black at the roots (and then some) and dark purple at the bottom. i have dark brown eyes and im about 5'6 and i have brown skin ! im latina so im just a smidge lighter than johnny :))

• i don't have a personality because i have too many interests and different views with everything. id like to think i'm a combination of everyone and everything i find cool and interesting. which of course means i have a WIDE variety of topics in my head. i love to see the point of view from multiple people and i don't stick to just one overall opinion with things. i'm pretty indecisive but once i have a firm stance on something (like absolutely NO pineapple or mushrooms on pizza) then it's pretty hard to sway me.

• I LOVE MUSIC 🗣️🗣️🗣️🫦🗣️ i want to inject it into my soul and become one with the sound waves....but i seriously love music 💿 i have tons of cds and i caved and got spotify premium because i can't live with the ads 💔💔 i also LOVE to read and write, it's been an outlet since i was a kid so.

• i also don't have a style. like i said, i have a lot of interests and i tend to always try to let everyone know that at all times (im insufferable and pretentious unfortunately) so i'm constantly mixing it up. downtown girl meets david bowie new wave ??? check. whimsical gothic witch that listens to stevie nicks ???? check. 70's almost famous, dazed and confused wannabe ??? check. twee eternal sunshine jessica day meets juno and romana flowers ??? check. I DOMT HAVE ONE AESTHETIC 🗣️🗣️ I JUST DRESS LIKE ME AND HOPE FOR THE BEST 🗣️🗣️🗣️

• i'm not sure what my love language is ??? id assume in a healthy relationship you'd have a generous balance between all of them but idk 🤷‍♀️ leaning more into some though id def say words of affirmation and physical touch but ONLY with a romantic partner. idk why but any other kind of physical intimacy with another person just feels very weird to me and i don't like it. i always do find myself daydreaming though and wishing for affection like that from a partner so yeah 🤷‍♀️

• i slip up sometimes and call people terms of endearment 😞 i try not to cause ik some people don't like that but i always say "baby, honey, and sweetheart". sometimes i use them jokingly but i also just say them as filler tbh

• i'm not the kinda of person to go up to you and strike a conversation but if someone came up to me i wouldn't turn them away immediately. i tend to have a pretty good understanding of peoples vibes so i'd like to think i can tell when someone's being disingenuous. i'm shy at times but that's not my whole trait cause once i get comfortable you are in for JOKES AND JOKES AND JOKES 🐺🐺 i don't take myself seriously very often and i like to try and make other people comfortable around me and what better why to do that than humor :) !!! i'm don't think i'm insanely funny, i just laugh at my own jokes and hope for the best 😞 i laugh a lot and i have a loud laugh 🤬 i try to tone it down though cause i get started at a lot and my overthinking ass can NOT handle that PLEASE DONT PERCEIVE ME

• once we're locked in 🤞as friends or whatever i'm LOYAL😍 someone talking bs ??? not round me partner. not. around. me. 🐺🐺 im not the confrontational type at ALL but i am fiercely defensive over people i care about so if duty calls, i must attend. (im literally batman.)

• one of my go to signature scents is lavender honey and wild fig. do with that what you will 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

OK I THINK THATS ALL SORRY IF ITS A LOT THANK YOU

(note: the format might be weird cause it is NOT letting me type in peace 😭)

Oh buddy, I think Johnny would be obsessed with you. He loves your never changing style, he can't wait to see what you've got going whenever you guys are together. He offers to help touch up your hair too, if that's something you're interested in- your terms of endearment are more than alright with Johnnycake, everytime you call him one, the butterflies in his stomach go bonkahs

[badoccultadvice]

What if we just said a group of cows, a group of crows, a group of lions? Like there's already one word that does the job for each of these. A group of seagulls. A group of whales.

I don't really have a point to this I just think it's weird that it sounds weird to say "group" in front of each of those instead of their specific plural noun. I'm so used to hearing the special twee plural nouns that go in front of those words that just saying "group" doesn't sound normal anymore. The English language has literally made my brain prefer unnecessary complication over efficiency.

[tweewig]

oh no intropost

name’s tweewig

you can use nicknames (twee/twig/etc.) if you want lol. pronouny for (you guessed it !) pronouns

minor 👍 be weird get blocked

pleag commission me :3c

part of demikittycule and milfverse (ckarl blog @t4tsmp)! also follow @bonk-baily for daily cat photos !!

a multi-fandom blog of whatever’s goin on in my brain. lots of smps + podcasts + such. assisted in the ignition of the infamous meow wars

#twee talks : og posts + nonsense

#twee answers : asks

#twee draws / #twee’s ocs : art (i don’t post often lol)

+ most moots have specific tags too

asks are usually always open, dms are open to mutuals only 👍 if you want to be added to my art taglist shoot me an ask kthx

[dkc banner by boygirltitties, faggot gif by trannycrisis, i love transgenderism banner by scramratz, disabled hottie/languages/arachnid/self-made being blinkies by radiotrophicfungi]

[muttfangs]

twee tenderqueer rhetoric / verbiage makes me want to violently retch

and listen. this isn’t to say that I like. dislike cutesy wording or niceness or whatever. I absolutely don’t what I don’t like is the fact that the wording itself makes people *sound* nice and open minded but they’re typically the worst sort of fucking people to get to know, because you can’t get to know them, because getting to know them requires people to have conversations beyond surface level and they hate anything that isnt Soft or Sweet I’m fucking tired y’all. like. I want to have an intentional, natural conversation with other queers without the whole fuckin “is it ok if I talk about ___?” sort of like... stepping on eggshells, transactional, cold, weird shit almost everyone fucking does of course you can talk about whatever. its fine. life is messy and I don’t expect you to be perfect, as I wouldnt want someone to expect  me to be perfect. sometimes people share hard stories to tell. and we should be grateful that someone feels safe enough with you to be that vulnerable rather than pushing people away because you’re contorting shitass therapy language and saying ‘I don’t have space for this right now’ or inappropriately assert your incorrect interpretation of what boundaries are what it feels like to me: you’ve created “Good Vibes Only” for Queers™ and I want to slam my head through a wall

[culmaer]

one of things I noticed in the Netherlands and Belgium, is that menus often list bottled drink sizes as "25cl" or "50cl", and people usually say kwart liter and half liter

whereas in South Africa we always write "250ml" or "500ml" and we'd usually say twee(honderd) vyftig mil and vyfhonderd mil when speaking Afrikaans

now, it's perfectly obvious what all of those mean, like it's all the metric system. but it's precisely these small and subtle differences which I find fascinating ! and that's probably why I enjoy the Dutch language so very much. people always talk about how similar the languages are, and it's true. if communicating is your only goal then they're almost perfectly intelligible. the classic example is wandel[en] which in Dutch means "to walk", but in Afrikaans means "to take a leisurely stroll". if communicating is all you care about, that distinction is irrelevant. the person is going on foot. but — if you're into languages and linguistics or poetry, then that's a huge difference !! (this example might actually work better in Flemish than Hollandic ? but that just adds a whole extra layer of excitement to things)

I find that so much more interesting and rich than the super obvious differences, like how a "receipt" is bonnetje in Dutch and strokie in Afrikaans. or even the false friends like the word aardig, which means "friendly, nice" in Dutch, but "weird, unpleasant" in Afrikaans. because the subtle ones can slip by you unnoticed

[idrellegames]

If there's a one piece of advice I can give to anyone starting their own IF projects:

What works for you, your game and how you like to do things is going to be different from other developers.

Engines are flexible and a singular result can be achieved in more than one way. If one method bugs you, you don't have to do it that way.

For example, some developers hate working in the Twine editor and use VSCode the Twee 3 language extensions to manage their workflow (see here if that's of interest!).

I get it. The Twine 2 editor is weird. It divides passages into nodes on a graph. Making edits can get time consuming when you have to open and close individual passages.

But my mind works visually and spatially, so it's faster for my personal workflow to use the Twine 2 editor, compartmentalize my game into different files, and then combine the files together into a single output with a compiler.

One way is not necessarily better than the other; it's a matter of the game's scope and complexity, and personal preference.

Be patient. Take some time to experiment. If something in your workflow really bothers you, do some research and experiment with other methods to find what works for you. This isn't something that can happen overnight, but with time it gets easier as you learn the methods that work best for you.

[skirwitte]

Random thoughts:

White people do have culture. Saying “white people don’t have culture” is helping white nationalism bc it assumes that white people are a monolith. White people aren’t a monolith, just like black people aren’t a monolith or Asian people aren’t a monolith. Putting people into groups based on skin colour is an American perspective, and it’s mainly due to slavery erasing black people’s heritage and white people building an identity in opposition to people of colour instead of conserving their own heritage. Do you know any folk songs? Are you willing to learn the language and traditions of your ancestors?

England isn’t exempt from this either. If anyone lacks culture, it’s not white people, it’s specifically the English. What is English culture? Football - the most popular sport worldwide. Fish and chips - originates from a Jewish immigrant. Tea - a tradition that’s ten times longer in Asia. The only truly English tradition I can think of is Morris dancing, which has become utterly twee and bourgeois. You aren’t taught folk songs, or traditions or folk dress or ANYTHING that’s older or bigger than the present. English heritage is the manors of those who got rich by exploiting others. English heritage is the aftermath of the suffering caused by the British Empire. No wonder why they feel threatened by people with actual culture. Theirs was taken by greed.

I am a first generation immigrant but I already notice myself having a harder time with my mother tongue since I moved away from home. My sister wants nothing to do with Hungary and doesn’t want to teach Hungarian to her future children. I hope I can convince her to change her mind because to me things like this are very important, and give me a sense of identity and belonging to my homeland that’s divorced from the political situation and the current state of affairs. It’s deeper than that, and in some ways more personal.

And yes, to a point all of these traditions are constructs of the patriotism movement of the 19th century across Europe, but they served a purpose (liberating many countries from oppressive unions/institutions) and they still do! They bring people together, they bring joy and a sense of community that hyper-individualised English speakers could really use! I have started to seek out YouTube videos of people keeping Hungarian crafts and traditions alive and it makes me so homesick that I wanna cry*. See, I grew up on Hungarian folk tales on TV, folk songs taught in school, visiting crafts and traditions with my parents. You English speakers don’t have any of that. Going to National Trust properties that all look the same and their history is “this rich guy lived here” is so depressing. And I know that as a leftist, putting more “Britishness” into the school curriculum is a weird talking point. But I genuinely believe that it would be beneficial. Because when immigrants show off their beautiful traditional dresses and delicious food on heritage day, English kids wouldn’t be stuck with wearing a football jersey.

*If you’re interested, this is a video about Matyó folk art. They are a group in Northern Hungary, and that’s my heritage on my dad’s side. I have transcribed & translated it into English:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17k4E1jqcFR8oEPnyIxrdQrcaMwHTTV5_vbPb-9rCrvg/mobilebasic

[nyehilismwriting]

Hey dear author hope you're having a great day ! This question may sound little weird but im trying to learn twine with your amazing sugarcube template and i find it really hard to write on its interface. [[ my old computer is slowly dying on me (ツ) ]] I was curious about your workflow when you are writing Project Hadea in twine. Do you use Twine interface in your whole workflow or do you write the main outline somewhere else, import it and add the code parts?

so I write in vscode with a twine extension - it has colour-coding, syntax highlighting, lets you keep everything in as many or few docs as you want, and is overall a much more pleasant experience than the twine editor. twine uses a notation language called twee, or tweego - using this in combo with vscode lets you create as many files as you want and compile them into a single html file, similar to the way you'd publish to html from the twine editor. the vscode extension also has a story map feature, which I personally never use 'cause my brain doesn't work that way but I know some people really like the flowchart layout of the twine editor, so that is an option.

installing tweego & setting it up is a bit of a chore, but if you struggle with the twine editor (I know I find it borderline unusable) it's a godsend.

tweego documentation

tweego installer (also contains instructions on setting up file structures)

[rokutouxei]

speaking your language

part 5 of atelier heart

ikemen vampire: temptation in the dark theo van gogh/mc, vincent | T |  2506 | [ao3 in bio]

spoiler warning: key plot points mentioned in chapter 10 and 15 are used in this fic, with the vaguest hint of chapter 24 at the tail end.

also: my deepest apologies to people who actually speak dutch, i’m taking all of your con/crit with an open heart.

The first Dutch word you’d ever learned was hondje.

Dog, you’d learned. Or puppy. Not the worst first word to learn in a new language, but definitely up there if one considers the fact that it was meant to refer to you. It’s not that bad, though, and puppies are pretty cute, so it was easy to let it slide.

Then, knabbeltje. A snack, a little nibble. Not that Theo has any interest in taking any bite at you. He’s made that clear from the first night. For someone who’s so good at smooth talking his clients, that was a weird word to use for you, you’d thought. But, Theo has his reasons, you supposed.

Which is exactly what makes you so keen into learning the language.

You’ve learned that a little bribery can get you a long way when it comes to Theo—as in, get him invested and you’re good to go—so that morning, you take the extra effort. You rise earlier than you’ve ever done to prepare pancakes for him, whipping the egg whites with as much vigor as you can muster to ensure that the pancakes are as fluffy as humanly possible. You make sure every portion is peak jiggly, and they are, because you can’t help but tap them contentedly on the plate as they cooled, watching them wobble. Then, like a cherry on top, you take out the special pancake syrup you’d bought the day before, having come with Sebastian to buy groceries, the one you’d chosen specifically for Theo. (And oh, only for Theo, because no other mansion resident with the right mind about sugar would dare try it.)

You try to keep it a secret as long as you can, presenting the plate of sweet goodness to Theo once he’s come down from his room. The both of you are alone at the dining table, because it’s still way too early. He’s already dressed and ready to go, even if it’s just six-thirty a.m., and if he has a comment about you being already up when you usually aren’t, he holds it back.

Good choice—you want him to focus on the pancakes, and a smile erupts on both of your faces when he begins to munch happily away on the syrup-drenched disaster of a plate. The sigh he makes goes straight under your skin.

But you can’t let your guard down, because you still have a mission, and that is: to convince him.

When his shoulders relax, you finally pop the question.

“Won’t you please teach me some Dutch?”

Theo’s fork hovers in front of his mouth. “What?”

Over the past week, you’d learned two basic Dutch phrases from Theo, in the notes he’d written for you. Tot ziens, which he said meant goodbye for now, and Dank je, thank you. That makes four total things you can now say in Dutch. Not much, but clearly already much more than what you started with. You belatedly realize you don’t actually have a reason you can dare tell him as to why you want to learn Dutch, but never mind that.

“I said, won’t you teach me some Dutch, sometime?” you repeat. “I still have three weeks to spend out here, and while my French and English are pretty fine, I can’t really keep up with your Dutch. I thought it wouldn’t be so bad to learn, especially since you’re bringing me along to work anyway.”

Cringe. That wasn’t a good reason, you were sure. But maybe the pancakes will make Theo’s steel heart a little more malleable for your favor.

What other reasons do you have? Well, maybe he’ll be able to better explain to you certain things about art and their work if he reverts to his mother tongue, right? There are certain things translations miss, after all, and maybe if you learned the language, it’ll be much easier on the both of you? Oh, wait, but does that mean you’ll be intruding on the shared, perhaps too-personal language he shares with his brother? Oh, no, that wasn’t what you meant. Maybe—

“Dutch syllables are very different from English and French,” Theo says, instead, after a long moment, a not-really yes or no.

You narrow your eyes with his response, but quickly realize maybe he’s just testing your will to do it. You are motivated. Learning languages are fun. “That’s fine, nothing practice won’t conquer. It’s really not cute that all I know how to say is stuff like dog and snack.” He snorts. “I mean, if you’re not up to it…”

Theo sighs. A sigh of defeat. “Okay, but you’ll have to work hard for it.”

You grin. That morning, you learn pannenkoek and siroop.

-

The learning curve for languages always differ according to the person, their own mother tongue, the language itself, and of course the work one puts into studying it, but one factor that really ups the vocabulary and grammar retention is being able to hear the language being spoken, rather regularly. This is how you end up having Vincent help you out with your little adventure in learning Dutch.

Having gotten used to conversing in French to each other, the brothers take time to adjust switching to their mother tongue for you. But when you’re looking at them with amazement exchanging words you can barely say, much less understand, there’s little they can’t do.

(Theo is mortified to have to surrender to it, but when he’s transparent to his brother, does he have any other choice?)

All of this happens just in time for the preparation for the exhibit to begin. The three of you spend much time together, selecting paintings, planning the exhibit orders, looking for themes. The two decide that this isn’t just a good opportunity to learn, it might also be in your best interests if they team-teach you the language.

Counting the paintings, Vincent teaches you the basics, hauling canvas after canvas going—een, twee, drie, vier, vijf, zes, zeven, acht, negen, tien. With the chosen paintings laid out on the floor, you point out colors and he teaches you their names—rood, oranje, geel, groen, blauw, paars, roze. He teaches you how to introduce yourself, say your name, teaches you greetings, basic nouns, the kind you will learn in introductory Dutch classes in universities if you were back in the 21st century. Vincent is gentle and kind and claps when you get the words right. (It makes you feel like a child. The word is kind.)

Theo, on the other hand, focuses on teaching you things related to the work at hand: een gallerij, een tentoonstelling, een schilderij—of course, a gallery, an exhibit, a painting. Teaches you words to describe the things you see, like mooi, for beautiful, and interessant, for interesting. He corrects your grammar, teaches you how to say, “let’s go home” or “I’m hungry, let’s eat”. When you don’t get the phrase right, he gives you a look, completely ignoring what you’d just said until you finally say it right. He corrects your pronunciation to the best of both your abilities.

He’s also found great joy in teaching you phrases before telling you what it means, and that’s how you’ve practiced saying misschien ben ik een hond die een jurk draagt as if you were a dog wearing a dress.

But you hear his laughter and it doesn’t matter as much.

-

Theo buys you a notebook to compile the words you’ve learned. In only a few days, you’ve amassed a wide range of words you now sprinkle throughout your sentences like a playful multilingual. You’ve gotten odd stares, sure, but it’s always better to keep using the words you’ve learned, because that’s how you make it seem natural.

So far, though, for the ones you’ve learned, it’s the Dutch verbs that are trickier than you expected. The conjugations keep tripping you up. They seem simple, and in fact a lot of them sound pretty close to their English counterparts, but Theo’s stares and (im)patient waiting for you to correct what you’ve said betray your misuse of them over and over again.

So at night, you practice. Staan for stand. Zeggen for say. Helpen for help. Leren, for learn.

Blijven, for stay.

Sorting Vincent’s paintings at the gallery Marquis Vollard had lent you, you bump shoulders with Theo and ask, “How do I say, ‘I love this’, in Dutch?” as you pull out a canvas from the stack.

“Ik hou hiervan.”

“Hmm.” You put aside the painting and pull out your notebook and pen. “So hou means love?”

“Houden, means to hold,” Theo says. “Like a hand, or a book. Hou van is what’s used for love.”

“So it’s ik hou van…?”

“Ik hou van jou,” he answers, without a thought.

A long moment, before the realization hits.

He turns away from you, and you’re thankful because of how hot your face feels.

“You use the same for other things,” Theo says. His voice is as even as always, and it makes your heart fall a little. “Like paintings, and art.”

“I see,” you say, before dropping the topic altogether.

You’re getting good at this keeping your heart tucked away thing, so you write ik hou van jou in looping letters on your notebook before returning to work.

All the while thinking: to love means to hold.

-

So you hold him.

After the fire.

After wheatfields.

After Gauguin.

Even when it hurts to hold.

Even when it’s him that’s let you go.

Even after you’ve heard the gunshot.

You hold on to him, even if you’re not sure if the both of you are speaking the same language anymore, if you’ll still ever be able to understand the other.

You hold on even if there’s blood everywhere.

Blijven means to stay.

And herstellen… means to recover.

The hospital is rather cozy. Quite similar to the ones in the 21st century, but still different from the sterile whiteness of it. You sit next to Theo on the bed, waiting for him to speak. You are alone for the first time since he’d said goodbye.

You hadn’t left him yet.

That night, he presses the words please forgive me into your lips, praying it’s the last time he’ll ever have to hurt you that way. You cradle his face in your palms and hold his love in your hands gently, as you exchange promises that it will no longer break.

-

You learn a lot of words after that, too.

Like wheatfields, tarwevelden. And forever, voor altijd. Each word learned is linked to a memory, making them hard to forget. Like katje, the day a kitten spooks Theo in the garden. Lekker, once you’ve made him a delicious batch of syrupy pancakes once again. Schat, treasure, and schatje—that is, you.

You’re still years of practice away from being fluent in Dutch, but at this point you’re fluent in Theo, and that’s really what matters.

And one night, Theo’s got you in a kiss when the both of you enter the room. You push at him just enough so that he sees the look on your face. “Teach me Dutch,” you say, half-teasing, and he laughs as he joins you in stripping off your clothes.

There’s no easier way to remember vocabulary than to learn it viscerally, carve it against your skin into a memory, and Dutch is no exception. You both fall into the bed in an entanglement of limbs, righting yourselves up just to catch each other in another kiss.

You cup both his cheeks, and he teaches you, “gezicht.” Face.

You kiss his forehead, and he says, “voorhoofd.”

You gently run your thumbs under his eyes, and he says, “ogen.”

“Kus,” he says, “is like this,” pulling you toward him in a kiss. You sigh into the word without much grace.

Pressing his lips against your throat, he teaches you, “hals.”

Grazing a fang onto your shoulder, “schouder.”

He sucks a bruise onto your collarbone and says, “sleutelbeen.”

The sensation makes your hand fly onto his hair, and with a chuckle he teaches, “haar.”

He takes your hand in his, presses a kiss onto your wrist. “pols.”

You cup Theo’s face in your hand and scour his body for more words, like a dictionary made of flesh. Your free hand grazes the scar on his back and with a sigh he teaches you “litteken.” You wonder if the same word applies to those found in his heart.

“Rug,” he teaches you, the vast expanse of his back.

Your hand goes down to his waist and he says, “taille.” You touch his hip and he says “heup.”

He gives you a mischievous look, one that suited his boyish features so much, your heart nearly stops. “Where is je favoriet?” he asks you, teasing. A phrase you’d learnt earlier. Your face flushes at the connotation but you refuse to give him the answer he wants, tapping his nose (“neus”) with a finger.

“You are mijn favoriet,” you respond, and you know when he steals your lips even more deeply than earlier is only because you’ve made him flustered. You laugh into the kiss and he growls.

Never one to be outdone, Theo pushes you backward onto the bed. The two of you share a short moment of intimacy, staring at each other’s eyes with the kind of searing fondness that always leaves you breathless, before he’s on his way down again to teach you.

“Dij,” he mouths against your thigh; lifts your leg up toward him, pressing kisses all the way down. “Knie. Kalf. Voet.” You nearly kick him when he kisses your foot but he holds you still. “Enkel.”

“But I haven’t taught you the most important one,” he says. Crawling back upward, he cups the apex of your thighs and grins. “Paradijs,” he says, and you hit him on the shoulder, covering your mouth with one hand. The laugh that rolls out of him makes your embarrassment worth it.

You pull him upward to take another kiss from him, and while you could have at it tonight, you just want to bask in his presence. You whisper “omhelzing?” hoping to get the pronunciation right or else he’ll ignore your plea to cuddle, thankful that he pulls you up to switch position.

He rests his head on your chest and says, “hoofdkussen,” with a sigh, and you’re not an expert yet, but you’re pretty sure that’s not what it should be.

You push him off with a groan (“you’re heavy!”) and the two of you switch to your usual cuddling position, Theo holding you in his arms and your head on his chest.

You don’t realize your hand has hovered over the spot on his chest right over his heart until he places his hand on yours.

Whispers into the listening night air:

“Voor altijd van jou.”

---

in the atelier: The Kiss by Gustav Klimt 

also in the atelier, hidden somewhere hard to find, is Gustave Courbet's L'Origine du monde. (and because it is hidden, you’ll have to find it on your own. do be careful when you look it up though.) that painting singlehandedly inspired the paradijs bit, so it has to be mentioned.

[hopelesslygayrat]

im bilingual 😌✌️

✨so imma mention some interesting bilingual things✨

- english is my second language and nothing will ever anger me as much as the r, you pronounce it “arrrr” like a pirate, it is ridiculous and i cannot for the life of me pronounce it

- why is the english language so rOund

- sounds like “th” “sh” “ch” etc. are extremely annoying and ive never been able to say the word “english” correctly, “lish” is actual torture

- most people i know dont speak english unless they’re in english class or infront of english people, i knew my best friend for 2 years before i ever heard what her voice sounded like in english

- i will switch into afrikaans (my first language) accidentally, ive hanged out with my english first language friends and got super embarrassed when i started speaking the wrong language

- speaking english makes my mouth go dry and my throat hurt

- english swear words sound so dumb caus of how ~rounded~ the language is, it carries no hard sounds and is just not crass enough, “fuck” will nEver compare to the afrikaans “fok”

- not knowing the names of household objects in english because my entire family is afrikaans and why would i (and afrikaans person) ever use the word “dishwasher” to my (afrikaans) mother- i solidly spent two weeks trying to remember the word “book shelve” a while ago

- i dont discuss certain topics to my english friends because i dont have the vocabulary to accurately express myself

- directly translating an idiom from one language to the other is a thing i do a lot, likeee you know the idiom exists but you cant figure out in which language

“two birds with one stone” is a idiom, but i have no idea if “twee voëls met een klip” is one- because it makes sense to me as you translate it directly but like- i could definitely be wrong

- the joy of finding out a idiom that exist in the one language exists in the other is immaculate

- the way english people say its half past is really weird-

“half past ten” means 10:30- but in afrikaans (and german) its

“ half (half is the same in both) elf (eleven)” so half eleven means 10:30 because its half way to 11 y knoww

[mycupofstars]

14 and 23?

Thank youuu! <3

14. an artist (of any kind) whose work you look forward to seeing

I am always looking forward to:

* A new show or movie featuring Taron Egerton

* A new movie by Robert Eggers or Ari Aster

* A new book by Nathan Ballingrud

23. the book you just finished and what you thought (no spoilers!)

My last book for book club was My Grandmother Sends Her Regards & Apologies, which I didn’t care for at allllll I found it way too twee and cheesy.  BUT I really loved the pick before that, Amatka.  If you like weird dystopian mushroomy what-is-the-nature-of-language wlw sci-fi, Amatka.  It’s extremely Swedish.