ask0608

[eringobragh420]

💜 Pairing: Damian Priest x f!Reader 💜 Summary: Damian’s girlfriend loves teasing him, and sometimes she loves the punishment for teasing him, but this punishment? 🛑 Warnings: NSFW. Thigh riding, spanking, sex, cum 18+ 💜 Notes: Spanish translations are at the end of the story. I do not speak Spanish, so if anything is incorrect, please let me know and I'll fix it! 💜 Taglist: @eddiesrockstargirlfriend If you'd like to be added, please click here! 💜 Requested By: @rripleyfan. Hope you enjoy!

“Papi, please,” she whines, “I can’t do this anymore.”

“Sure you can,” Damian replies, though it seems he’s paying more attention to his phone than his writhing girlfriend. In fact, both her hands are planted on his pectoral muscles, and she’d give up her first born if he’d just take the damn thing off, but both his arms are bent in front of her, the phone between his hands blocking at least some of her from his view. “I think this one might be my favorite.” He turns the phone so she can see the picture he’s referring to.

It’s the one she sent him a few days ago. She’s wearing one of his shirts in the photo, one he’d cut the sleeves and most of the sides out of. The shirt is bunched in the middle of her chest, her breasts poking out through the huge sleeve holes. She’s on her knees in front of a full length mirror, phone in her hand and in front of her face.

“So sexy,” Damian comments, turning the screen back toward himself. 

“Papi,” she breathes, reminding him of the her that’s here now and the precarious situation she’s in. A position she’ll never admit she got herself into, maybe on purpose. “Please? I swear I’ll never do it again if you just let me cum.”

“Oh, we both know that’s not true,” her boyfriend replies. He sets the phone down on the table beside them. “Don’t we?” She chooses not to answer, instead continuing to roll her hips in the most torturous rhythm, bare, drenched pussy benefiting from the friction, but it’s not near enough. “Don’t we?” Damian firmly repeats his question.

“Yes,” she rasps, hands fisting his shirt. Her eyes roll back and her head lolls, tiny bolts of electricity originating from between her legs launch themselves throughout her body and she shudders.

“Because you like it, don’t you? Faster.” She almost misses the command, and wishes she had, but she picks up the pace regardless. “You like when I open those pictures when I’m around other people … isn’t that right?”

“Yes.”

“Open your eyes. Look at me.”

Obeying, her eyes fall on the man under her. Damian Priest. His hair is pulled back, beard immaculate, dressed in a simple black t-shirt, black jeans. She’s made his shirt tighter by clenching it in her hands, consequently outlining every muscle in his broad chest. She gasps, jaw dropping, because sometimes he does that to her just by being beautiful. Christ, she’s not gonna last. 

“Now look at you,” he growls, nodding toward the mirror on the wall.

She turns her head, unprepared for what she sees. Damian, in all his hugeness and black wardrobe is a stark contrast to the much smaller, completely nude, woman set atop his right thigh, rutting against his jeans like a horny teenager. His dominance, and the difference in sizes, and Damian’s sexy … everything … is more than enough to shove her right over the edge. She doesn’t mean to fall, but she falls just the same, eyes closing, trembling as the orgasm washes over her. She breathes an obscenity, maybe even her boyfriend’s name, she’s not sure. Afraid to open her eyes, her hips come to a slow stop, pussy still contracting, and her hands release Damian’s shirt. She waits for him to speak, but hears nothing. Waits for him to touch her, but there’s no movement. Not knowing and knowing the expression he’s wearing are equally terrifying, but the not knowing is killing her, and so her lids slowly rise.

Damian is glaring, he’s fucking glaring, like she’s Dominik Mysterio or something, and she knows he’s trying to be imposing, but the man is never not sexy. So while (more) punishment is certainly in order, there’s a small part of her that’s looking forward to it. However, under the weight of Damian’s angry eyes, she begins to curl in on herself, one thigh rising at an attempt to close her legs.

“Over my knees now,” Damian grumbles.

Slowly she stands, still hyper aware of her nakedness, especially when her boyfriend’s dark eyes follow her every move. She hesitates only a moment, but it’s enough for Damian to tilt his head, daring her to resist further. The wet spot she’s left on his black jeans is impressive, as is the small pool of her cum, some of which sticks to her still sodden pussy. Damian licks his lips, shaking his head, and he sits up in the chair, curling his fingers. Though reluctant, she moves with purpose as she crawls across Damian’s thighs this time. She feels the wet spot on her skin as she lies down, careful not to crush her breasts between his leg and her chest.

Damian’s rough palm glides over her soft, bouncy ass cheeks, and she holds her breath as she waits for the blows to come. “Count ‘em out,” he orders before the first slap echoes throughout the room. Her body jerks and she has to readjust her position to keep from crashing to the floor.

“One,” she says. Smack. “Two.”

The spanks become increasingly more painful as she counts higher and higher. She's squirming now, much the same as when he wouldn't let her cum, hands clawing at his jeans.

“En español,” Damian interrupts. She takes a few moments to answer because suddenly she's forgotten what number she's on. By the time she opens her mouth to reply, Damian says, “Let's start again. En español.”

She gets the numbers right this time, without hesitation, but her ass is still raw and she's on the verge of tears when she finally reaches diez. Damian’s arms are around her suddenly and he's standing and she's in the air. He deposits her on the bed, positioning her onto her hands and knees, and she hears the familiar sound of a belt being unbuckled. Completely at his mercy, she feels him slowly enter her from behind, hands gripping her sore ass cheeks to remind her that this isn't about her pleasure. Although she would argue that fact the minute he slips inside her pussy.

“Fuck,” Damian sighs, easily settling into a rhythm that has the bed knocking against the wall. She fists the blankets and presses her knees into the mattress to keep from shifting forward. Damian’s belt buckle digs into her skin because he hasn't bothered to disrobe. “Count ‘em again.”

“No!” she hollers, finishing with a squeak when the man behind her slaps an already sensitive ass cheek. She collapses, chest and face bouncing on the mattress.

“Qué?” Damian replies. He wraps her hair around his fist and pulls her back up onto her hands. She whines, biting her lip, bucking her hips with each of his thrusts, dripping cunt clenching around his cock. 

“I said, in English or Spanish?” she corrects breathlessly.

“Eso es lo que pensé,” Damian mumbles. “En español.” He emphasizes with a spank.

“Uno,” she starts at the beginning, learning her lesson from last time.

Damian doesn’t make it to ten before he explodes inside of her. She waits patiently for him to finish planting his seed, satisfied smirk on her lips. He eventually pulls out, and she collapses onto the cloud-like comforter. Damian crawls next to her on his side, and she turns her head to face him.

“My ass hurts,” she whines, giggling.

Damian grins. He traces the tips of his fingers along the warm, pink skin, her muscles twitching from the sensitivity, and Damian nods fondly as her ass jiggles. She loves how it tickles her nerves, calming the angry ones from the spanking. “Well, your ass asked for it,” he says.

“But you liked the pictures!”

“Of course I did. I don’t like when I can’t just come home and teach you a lesson. I had to do a show, take a flight, deal with a layover, another flight, and a drive home. My dick could have fallen off!”

She rolls her eyes. “How do you say dramatic in Spanish?”

Damian growls, jaw muscles clenching. He grabs the back of her neck and their lips collide, and they both know she’ll do it again. It’s only a matter of time.

🎀 Papi - Daddy 🎀 En español - In Spanish 🎀 Diez - ten 🎀 Qué - What 🎀 Eso es lo que pensé - That’s what I thought 🎀 Uno - One

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Like a Stone 2

Warnings: non/dubcon, power dynamic, age gap, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Characters: Loki, Tony Stark (Professor AU)

Summary: your work as a TA is complicated by more than your advisor. (tall reader)

Part of the Bad Professors AU

Note: Please leave some feedback and reblog <3 As always, I love to chat with you all. 

‘Acceptable’. Not exceptional, acceptable. That word needles at you. 

You knew if from your first meeting, from the fact that the professor would not even look at you, that this would be difficult. Nothing worth doing is easy. But why can’t it be? 

You take a deep breath and let it out little by little. You make the suggested changes, although you would argue that some are unnecessary. Yet, you applied to be a TA as much for the learning experience as the extra money. 

“You okay?” Olive asks as she looks up from a paper streaked with eraser marks. 

“Fine,” you insist. “It’s early in the semester. I'm still getting back in the habit.” 

“I know what you mean,” she says and cradles her chin again. She furrows her nose at the textbook. 

“Need help?” You shift your laptop to the side. 

“Prim, don’t tell me you can do physics too,” she sighs. 

“My dad is a physicist,” she says. “I dabble.” 

“Wow, but... what about you?” 

“What about me? He told me to choose my major and I did.” You explain. 

“Right, sorry. I only...” 

“He wasn’t happy with my choice,” you shrug and reach for her textbook. 

“Oh, whew, I got it,” Cerise interrupts as she drops into her chair, scraping it loudly as she does. “Cider for Primmy and a white hot choccy for my Oli!” 

“Can you yell a bit louder?” You ask as you look around.  

“Sorry, sorry,” Cerise says and lowers her volume. “I just got a bit lost and I left my phone so...” 

“Thank you,” you accept the cup, “it’s appreciated. I’ll help you with that Norse once me and Olive get through this formula.” 

“Oh, Prim, I can figure it out,” Olive insists. 

You look at her. You don’t want to push. She probably can do it herself. It must be your new gig. You taught your first lesson and now you think you know it all. 

“Here,” you set down the physics book and gesture to Cerise. 

She digs around in her bag and pulls out the bright orange Norse grammar book. You look it over. It’s brand new but the same edition you used. 

“Cerise, do you still have the receipt?” You ask. 

“I just bought it today, yeah,” she answers. 

“Take it back. You can use mine. I’ll have father Fedex it overnight.” 

“Oh, but... okay, thanks.” 

“Not at all,” you flip through the pages, “you have your notes?” 

You take out your first-year binder and spread it out on the table. Compared to Cerise’ notes, it’s immaculate. You want to help her but you also can’t do everything for her. She’s smart in her own right, people just underestimate her. 

You remember the first lesson pretty well. As you go through the week’s vocabulary list, it gets easier. Cerise nods along and rewrites her note. You notice how closely she bends over the table though. She seems a little less stressed at the end. 

You sit up and rub your neck as you tilt your head one way then the other. You have a horrible habit of hunching at these tables. You push your fingertips into your muscles and hold back a yawn. 

“How about you, Olive? Did you figure it out?” You ask. 

“I think...” she answers but you don’t hear her full response. 

A tingle ripple flows over you as your eyes are caught by another pair. It’s strange. You were sure that hovering sensation was nothing. You ignored it for the Norse translation but now you’re assured of that smattering paranoia. 

It’s that man. The one you’d run in your first day. With his gross leer and his grosser words. You don’t hide your derision as you frown. He seems amused as he smirks and winks. Does he recognise you or is he just a sleaze to every woman on campus? 

“Can you check my work?” Olive nudges you with corner of her notebook, jarring you back to the table. 

“Yes,” you answer abruptly and take the book. 

You bend your head and look over the numbers. Hm. She had it but then she missed one step. 

“Right here,” you put the book down flat and point with your sharp nail. 

She reads it over and clucks, “I knew it...” 

You slide the book over and she takes it. You peek back to where that man stood. He’s gone. You roll your eyes and go back to your revisions. 

A new email pops into the corner of your screen. It’s one of those dozen emails the college sends every week about a new conference or event. You can check it after. 

Nope. Another email. This one alerts you. Doctor Laufeyson. You tap the notification. It’s a forward of the last campus email. 

‘To attend.’ 

That’s it. The only message. For a man with a doctorate, he does not expand very much on his points. Well, you guess you understood exactly what he means. You’ll mark your calendar and RSVP-- $150 attendance fee? And it’s out of town. 

You rub the side of your nose and respond to his email to confirm that you understand. 

“Prim?” Olive utters. 

“Headache,” you tear your hand away from your face. It isn’t a lie. There’s a pinch right above your eyebrow. Usually that waits until midterms to come around. 

“Sorry, guys, I gotta go,” Olive checks her phone. “I have a group assignment in my photography class.” 

“Group work. Lovely,” you remark. 

“Oh, you know, I have to grab something to eat before I head back to my dorm,” Cerise says. “I still haven’t gone shopping.” 

“Right, guess I’ll stay and finish. Have a good night, you two,” you drag your fingertips around the mousepad. 

“Well, I can stay,” Cerise offers. 

“No, I gotta focus,” you insist. “Really, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“Sounds good,” Olive says. 

They leave together and you’re thankful for the solace. You work best alone and yet, those two keep you from going completely over the edge. Before them, you would’ve locked yourself in your room and not come out. 

“Is that the prickly one they call Primrose?” The voice crawls up your neck as a body slides into Cerise’ empty seat. 

You glance up at the man with the silver temples and dark brown eyes. Your brows arch in disappointment and agitation. He’s a bit old to be bothering you. Wait, how did he know your name? 

“You are Laufeyson’s new pet,” he says. “Good luck with that. Shoulda guessed what put that stick up your ass.” 

“Excuse me?” You blink. 

“Ah, trust me. I get it. He’s a fucking treat but if you need to take the edge off, I got a few tricks,” he leans forward and smirks. 

“I don’t know who you are and I prefer that,” you say crisply. 

“Professor Stark,” he answers as if you asked. “Your dream man.” 

You purse your lips and lower your eyes back to your laptop. You start typing as you do your best to ignore his silhouette on the other side of the screen. He chuckles and hums. 

“Oh, baby, this will be fun,” he slaps his hands on the table and stands. “Took me nothing to get your name, I can figure out the rest.” 

[apenitentialprayer]

hi, this is a legitimate question, I'm not trying to start any kind of argument or debate. Where does the idea in Catholicism that the Virgin Mary was free from sin come from? Again, I'm merely asking for informational purposes, not to start anything.

Okay, lets hit this real quick.

The sinlessness of Mary was a majority, but not unanimous, opinion of the orthodox Christian community by the late fourth century. Saint Augustine can confidently say that out of all the saints, she is the only one who did not sin; as does his teacher, Saint Ambrose. Maximus of Turin likewise takes this position, but instead of talking about her lack of sinfulness, he focuses on a positive formula: she has "original grace." The Syriac Fathers, of whom Ephraem of Edessa is probably the most well known, also love, love, love drawing parallels between Mary and Eve, as well as giving her titles like "all-pure" and "most-holy."

(Lest anyone think this is a post-Nicene development in Christian theology, Hippolytus of Rome also taught that Mary was free from corruption. This is especially interesting, because Hippolytus is said to be a student of Saint Irenaeus, who could trace his teaching back to Saint John the Apostle).

But by the Middle Ages, all that was universally agreed on was that Mary was never personally responsible for committing a sin; there was a question of whether she was still under the effects of Original Sin. It was an 11th Century English theologian who first formulaically proposed the idea that Mary was free from sin from the moment of her creation; he said it was possible, it was fitting, and so God did it. (Notice that this argument expressly does not argue that Mary had to be immaculate in order to give birth to the Savior). It wasn't until Franciscan theologian Blessed Duns Scotus took up the cause that it became the controversy that it did. Duns Scotus (who, it should be noted, was also the major proponent for the absolute primacy of Christ in the Middle Ages) provided arguments from Scripture, tradition, and reason to argue in favor of the Immaculate Conception.

That being said, Mary's Immaculate Conception remained a pious opinion for a long time; even the Council of Trent, which affirms the Virgin Mary's freedom from personal sin, only suggests Mary may have been exempt from Original Sin. It is not until 1854 that the Catholic Church elevated the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception to dogma and formally defined what that doctrine meant.

As I said, this is a very, very fast overview; if you want a Scriptural reference, I would suggest Luke 1:28, in which Mary is referred by the Archangel Gabriel not by name, but by a title: κεχαριτωμένη, or Kecharitōmenē, translated as "Favored One" or "Full of Grace." This word, which is unique in Greek literature to Luke, indicates that Mary is some sort of beneficiary of God, and (as Fr. Charles Grondin says) is an identity; it's connected to her personhood.

[kepnerandavery]

Bridgerton season 3 (part 1) review

Thoughts on polin this season:

I stand corrected, people. I loved Penelope and Colin this season. I found the writing of those two as individual characters and a couple (on the show) to be mediocre before, but my god, it's like they jumped straight out of the fourth book this season. It's like I finally got to meet book Penelope and Colin (especially Colin). And the chemistry of the leads really surprised me too. I don't know what was going on before this season, but they are great together now. The writing/portrayal of the personalities of the two characters and their connection was spot on, and I honestly have no notes. I wish they had kept this same essence since the beginning, but I get why they were saving this until their season. As I expected, the execution of the translation of this season and couple from the book to screen was the best out of all three seasons. I wish the past two couples got the same attention and treatment (specially kanthony), but alas, there's nothing to be done about that. RMB is my fourth favourite book in the series, but this season is honestly my favourite. The dialogue, costumes, locations, aesthetic of the sets, and even the silent moments between the leads were so poignant. And this season made it clear how a show having a female show-runner can impact it so positively.

Now, on to the other things:

I really liked how they handled Penelope and Eloise's friendship and its fallout this season. Their friendship was written more subtly and with care this season and resembled the one in the books for the first time ever for me. And how they both changed as individuals by the absence of the solace the two of them found in each other in the past as they stood against the confoundedness and cruelty of society was written so well.

Kanthony were adorable and really cute and it's such a shame that we got so few scenes of them. At least they are together and happy.

I hate how they keep making a mockery of Benedict's character. It's clear that he should have already met Sophie and gotten his story cause his character feels lost among everyone else, but the poor boy is still smiling, so that's something I guess. I just wish they would for once properly focus on his love for art and improvement of his talent instead of his little dalliances. It's almost like the writers think that he has no other values/interests beyond that. I feel like the writers are so much better at handling Eloise's character and preparing her for her season than they are at writing Ben's. For god's sake, they should at least give him a best friend, or further build his relationship with one of his siblings or Violet to give his character some substantiality.

Eloise was really great this season and seemed so much more mature and grounded. Her costumes were immaculate too. I just wish we had seen her bond with Francesca more cause they're really close in the books.

As for Francesca, I'm sorry, I didn't like how her character or story was written this season. She was never meant to be this.. idk... plain and quirky? (no one come at me cause I'm a book Fran apologist). After watching these four episodes I feel like Ruby had a better grasp on Francesca's character than Hannah does but it could also have something to do with the very bland writing. But then again, most of what we know of Fran is from WHWW and she is more mature in it, so like polin, her character could also get major development later on as she gets older. But I don't have high hopes for that. And dare I say, I also didn't like how John was written either. He was always way more confident and outgoing in my mind (I also expected them to cast an actor of a larger build and screen presence to play him). But I do see how this version of him suits the new version of Fran. But all in all, neither of them were this particular in my imagination. I hadn't had any hopes for the adaptation of Michael's character since last season came out, so this is literally the nail on that coffin for me. At this point, I'm very desensitised to being let down by this show and prefer to be pleasantly surprised, so who cares.

The soundtrack was great (though nothing can beat season one's in my opinion). But Snow On The Beach playing in episode four at the exact moment it did was really poignant and sweet so it's my favourite song they used this season (so far).

Favorite quote:

"Eros and Psyche battling it out." "What you are trying to say, Miss Cowper? Are they not old friends?" "The oldest of friends, really. Ever since the Featheringtons moved in across the street." "Across the street from the Bridgerton house?" 😭 (argghhh! why is that the cutest thing? whoever wrote that deserves a raise!!!)

Suffice to say, I'm very excited to see how the rest of the season is written. I hope they handle the whole LWD thing with care too.

[onomatopagu-et-cie]

Cyrus, Katerina, Campbell

First impressions after re-reading DGM Some theories and observations Notes on Link, part 1 & part 2

Have a nice week-end!!

Again I'm sorry for the awkward english!!!!

(SPOILERS UP TO CH247!!!!)

▶ « Cyrus » and Cross

After focusing on Skulls and Link’s names, I wondered if there was something for Cross and Katerina, two enigmatic characters!

In volume 24, サイラス (‘Sairasu’), which is localized as Cyrus in the English translation, Mana and Neah’s ‘uncle’, is mentioned. This could add to the ‘Cross = Cyrus’ theory:

Cross’s name in Japanese is クロス, which is pronounced ‘Kurosu’. The ancient greek form of Cyrus is Κῦρος, pronounced ‘kuros’ (like how you would pronounce ‘hybris’).

Is Cross the name Cyrus adopted after whatever happened at the Campbell mansion (and also, a symbol of the heavy cross he has to bear for Mana, Neah and Katerina)? Though it’s interesting to note Neah calls him Cross in ch215.

Now in the French translation, his name is localized as ‘Silas’, and the Japanese prononciation could lead to both localizations so I don’t really know if this holds any meaning!

▶ « Katerina »

Katerina is a variant of the name Catherine.

The name became attached to the ancient greek adjective καθαρός, ‘pure’. Also, « Marian Cross » might be a reference to a kind of religious cross:

A SAINT, you say....................

A side note: on the miraculous medal, there were twelve stars, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel and the apostles. There are two hearts on the medal. One heart bears a crown of thorns — the Christ’s Sacred Heart —, the other is stabbed by a knife — the Immaculate Heart of Mary —. Joined together, the two of them represent the Christ and Mary’s love of the world.

I don’t know if it’s relevant or not, but in ch121, Lavi managed to get out of Road’s dream by stabbing Allen’s illusion in the heart, which ends up piercing through Road’s own heart. And volume 13’s cover features a colorful focus on Lavi and the knife spilling blood in the foreground, which contrast with Cross, two crosses and the coffins coloring the background.

Not to mention:

1) Grave of Maria accompanying Cross: her dress is adorned with roses which are associated to Mary, sometimes represented with a rose crown (the rosary also originates from them). The ‘saint’ from Luberrier’s family is drawn wearing a (presumably) white rose, symbol of purity, innocence and devotion. The black ribbon that covers Maria's head ends up in a butterfly-shaped bow. In christianity, butterflies symbolize rebirth after death like the Christ’s spirit. Though rare, Mary has been represented with butterflies (I also saw that butterfly in spanish is 'mariposa' and its etymology was sometimes supposedly linked to Mary, I wish I could read in spanish ;;).

2) The association of Maria to what looks like a memory of Katerina:

3) In volume 13, Allen says Maria is the corpse of a parasite-type accommodator that is now controlled by Cross’s magic. Though it’s a forbidden spell, he was granted an extraordinary permission from the Order.

On the other hand, Cross suggested that Allen searches for Katerina in the mansion. This leads to the belief that she's pretty much alive, so perhaps Maria and Katerina are unrelated and Cross just remembered Katerina because the two are similar in personality. Their association is really tempting, though.

Especially since her whole face is concealed by her ribbon and we were recently given this page linking the two together!

Or who knows, maybe her soul got separated from her corpse or some other magic happened? We know so little so anything could happen!

It's a great stretch in all this, but Katerina’s name origin has also been linked to Hekate, a goddess of, among other things, liminality between spaces/worlds (entrances, exits, city walls, doors, gates, boundaries and crossroads, the living and dead realms ; one of her epithets was Enodia, ‘she of the road’), the underworld (she was considered the guardian of Hades’s keys, served as a guide), witchcraft (eg. in greek tragedies) and the night. Throughout history, she was also sometimes confounded with other divinities eg. Demeter, Artemis, Persephone. The dog was one of her sacred animals (represented accompanying her and also her sacrifice).

She wasn’t originally associated to the moon, but it became one of her main attributes with witchcraft later, as well as ghosts. In wicca, she is related to the Triple Goddess, which is associated to the archetypes of life (birth, death, rebirth), the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone or the moons (waxing, full and waning).

She was also later said to have a great knowledge of plants, especially to make poison.

The story uses these symbols a lot. The symbol of liminality especially reminds me of Road. (Of course I don’t believe there must be a correlation, references can just be references for the sake of it and highlight meanings, but the research was very fun!)

▶ « Campbell »

A CROOKED mouth…...... ? It’s THE telltale characteristic of the Noah’s memory, while Noah’s physical appearance features golden pupils and stigmata!

Now I don’t know where the story is headed with the Campbells, but I’m really curious to learn more, especially their link to Mana, Neah and the Noah!

[oswlld]

oswlld's monthly wrap up: april

note: i am trying something a bit different this year, so bear with me as i figure out how i want to format this. i wanted to spend more time sharing what i consume, beyond what i rb, and put my thoughts in one place. these posts are okay to rb

--

This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone [started 04/04, finished 04/09] *drags my hands down my face until the end of time* I want to meet you in every place I ever loved. I want to meet you in every place I ever loved. I want to meet you in every place I ever loved. I want to meet you in every place I ever loved. I want to meet you in every place I ever loved. I WANT TO MEET YOU!!!! IN EVERY PLACE I EVER LOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4.75⭐️ in storygraph. — Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell [started 04/12, in prog] I am about 100 pages in and still not sure if I want to keep going or DNF it. idk what isn’t sticking because the writing is beautiful and the pacing is great. And I do care about the characters, I really do. I love the way the author borrows from future grief, it’s what I am enjoying most about this read so far. Maybe I’ll give it 50 more pages and see if it finally sticks.

23.5 Degrees, GMMTV [started: 03/08, ongoing] As mentioned, I am caught up on eps 3-8. I’ll likely not be able to watch it live in may but I will be keeping up with the series til the end. It’s so lighthearted and charming! Not sure how they managed this, but I am constantly surprised by the character group dynamics. It’s def due to the great chemistry everyone has with literally everyone. I need NEED to discuss the score of this show because it’s IMMACULATE. The celestial themes, from the props all the way down to the music, is so rich. I’m so excited to see how this story unravels. — Devil’s Plan [started: 04/23, ongoing] This is a bestie pick, a show my best friend chose to have us watch on our facetime calls. We are 1.5 eps in and it’s a grower. The first game is hella complex and we’re slowly picking up on what’s happening. The people on this show are incredibly intelligent, so I feel like I have to work extra hard to keep up. It does feel rewarding, I’m hooked.

Oppenheimer, Peacock [watched on 04/05] I am a self-proclaimed Nolan girlie, I’ll admit it. I do enjoy his work and the many ways he translates time into film. When I wrote this, it had been a few days since I watched it and I still think abt the little moments that blew me away. Moments like the accentuated dust particles, how the coloring of the movie can be an unreliable narrator, and the utilization of a crowded hall stomping their feet to create tension. The last eight minutes still haunts me. I find more value in the technical side of film, but I will give credit when credit is due: every award Cillian Murphy got this season was so well earned. He carried all three hours of that film with such powerful quietude. And lastly, my heart now belongs to Jennifer Lame. Upon seeing her accept the award for Best Film Editing for Oppenheimer, I have come to learn that she also edited Tenet. HER MIND!!! She has such a bright future ahead of her, to be up there with the minds of Thelma Schoonmaker and Anne V Coates. — Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-Fi Film Club [watched on 04/14] This film needs to be studied in film school. It’s incredibly meta in some ways, having renown directors be the subjects, talking about their passion for film. The production being so stylized and the editing feels very reminiscent of Our Beloved Summer, with the way the found footage and the aspect ratios are intertwined with current day quality shots. This film will hit everyone right in the millennial. A true surprise for me is discovering that Bong Joon Ho and I are more alike that I had originally thought. The way he speaks in casual conversation and his story of setting strict rules for their film collection had me hollering because SAME. The most jessi thing he recounted was how all the VHS tapes were labelled. Yellow Door is somehow the opposite of the "doesn’t take itself too seriously" mentality; it’s actually so great that they made the film like that. By fully immersing us with gorgeous cinematography, cheeky editing sequences, and lush music to tug at your heartstrings, it bewitches you into loving film as much as they did. And still do.

Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé [relisten] I’ve given this several good cycles to confirm my first impressions: it’s def one of her most cohesive albums to date and still stands as a spectacular album. This passion project of hers takes such great care and attention to the voices she amplifies. I can feel the hunger, the innate need for her to make this album. If you haven’t heard how this album came to be, I insist you take the time to educate yourselves. It makes the listening experience so much more empowering. Good for her… GOOD. FOR. HER!! Current favs: Ameriican Requiem, 16 Carriages, Bodyguard, Jolene, Spaghettii, Ya Ya, Desert Eagle, II Hands II Heaven, and Sweet/Honey/Buckin’. — Older, Lizzy McAlpine [first time listening] Coming off the heels of my Five Seconds Flat hyperfixation last year, I haphazardly went into Older hoping its a natural progression in production value. I was shocked that it turned out to be a completely different sound. I soon learned that she actually didn’t really like how Five Seconds Flat was produced because it didn’t feel true to her as an artist. Tbh I was feeling a little lost after the first listen but after digesting this new info, I went back into it and appreciated it a lot more. In fact, the third listen was when I realized that it gave off the same energy as Laufey. I’m excited to listen to it again soon. — Stick Season: Forever, Noah Kahan [first time listening] Having stumbled on all the collabs on Alexa earlier this year, Forever was the only new song for me from his latest release. I’m OBSESSED with this song!!!! The way his voice carries the entire weight of every hurt inside me and just takes it away. Something healed in me. I play it in the car every time I leave the house. I cry in the car every time I leave the house. — The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift [first time listening, standard vinyl ed.] I am going to get this out of the way and say that this album is great. Just great. I understand more than ever why she felt the need to make this album. Having only listened to the standard version a couple times and the anthology twice through, I sit here in this kind of… discomfort. And I’m kind of okay with that feeling. But… it pains me that I can’t share this album with some people in my life and it’s largely due to how she depicts her struggles with people with mental illness/addiction. It’s one, if not the biggest, strike I have against this album and by extension, her. Songs cycling in my head: Down Bad, So Long London, Guilty as Sin?, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?, loml, imgonnagetyouback, Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus, How Did It End?, I Look in People’s Windows, The Prophecy, Peter, and The Manuscript.

EXPO Chicago [attended 04/13] Yes, I am doxxing myself a bit if you didn’t already know. During college, I used to attend EXPO yearly and occasionally went back long after I finished school. I haven’t attended in a long time, so I made it my goal to attend this year. And I had a blast! My mother tagged along and she’s not one to attend shows like this or art museums in general. It was a beautiful day trip to the city and it was nice to have her company. She mostly trailed behind and took pics of me as I floated around the exhibition hall. I have 50+ artists I tracked on my phone to actively research in my spare time. I sat in on one of the panel talks (ON COLOR), discussing color theory in today’s bipoc landscape. I took so much away from that conversation, it was very charged. I'm kinda obsessed with Alteronce Gumby, I need to do an artist deepdive on his work. — Coachella [watched from 04/12 to 04/14] I work for a big tech company and one of the biggest events to be on standby for is Coachella. I had to be on call for Friday and was backup support for Sunday lineups. Thus, Saturday was the only day I could sit back and relax while watching. My first time lineups included: Hatsune Miku, Peso Pluma, Late Night Drive Home, Jon Batiste, Ateez, le Sserafim, Purple Disco Machine, Bleachers, No Doubt, 88rising Futures, and Latin Mafia. Of all of the performances, I want to take a full deep dive into Ateez and Peso Pluma’s discography in the near future.

[pink-vacancy]

who's in the vacancy supergroup line up the people must know

Ok so this ask has put me into a group building spiral. I have chosen my roster and drafted a logo and I'm building the debut concept

PVE (Pink Vacancy Entertainment) presents:

I want to add a music note icon and sword icon with similar styling to the text so the icons combined can also be like a little mini logo.

The visual concept is y2k armored gals with colored transparent 2000's technology weapons and armor. Like the transparent mac book type look except cool armor outfits. Pretty ladies with sword.

I'd also want to do a winter sports videogame concept like 1080 avalanche or SSX Tricky as the concept B for the album.

Soundwise, I'd want to replicate the fast pace beats of those video game soundtracks with some Jungle Beat/Hip-Hop and Pink Pantheress type songs. I'd also want some early '00s sounds like Britney and NSYNC lol.

Here is our 10 gal roster. I stole six of JYP's girls (basically my 2 bias lines lol) and I broke it down into 3 medieval military themed sub units:

The Command Unit

2. The Artillery Unit

3. The Melee Unit

Park Jihyo - The hardest part about making the group was choosing a leader and I realized I'd be so nervous if anybody but Jihyo was the leader. Also I want to hear her on a Britney Spears type track!

Myoui Mina - Wow! A huge surprise right? But honestly Mina brings everything to a group. Vocals, dancing, elegance, humor, Minecraft. So choosing her is a real no brainer even besides the fact that she is the love of my life. She's the face of the group for sure! I didn't make her leader cause she needs her gaming laptop time.

Minatozaki Sana - Sana is another obvious choice to me, bias aside. She has such mass appeal and talent for entertainment that she would create so much success for the group just by existing. And girl groups gotta have someone who will just full on smooch the other members.

Hwang Yeji - The second in command. I imagine her as being in charge of the younger half of the group. JYP holds this gal back possibly most of all. Here at PVE, we are giving her all those louis vuitton deals and what not, cause that will translate to bigger success for her and the group (JYP is certified big dumb). Plus she is an S tier performer, leader and visual.

Shin Yuna - Yuna is obviously another of my all-time favorite gals but hear me out. After seeing her live I know now she is an all around ace. She can sing, dance, and you can tell when she is on stage she is loving life! Also her rap from 'Twenty' is one of the few K-Pop raps that i actually enjoy and doesn't make me wanna kms lol.

Lee Chaeryeong - Chaeryeong is honestly such a talented singer and dancer. She’s super sweet and charismatic interacting with the crowd! And she is so funny just by being herself in the ITZY reality content. One of my all time fave idols and a must have for the group.

Miyawaki Sakura - Sakura would be the leader of the third unit. She's an incredible multi talented idol and her vibes are immaculate. She's super funny and beautiful and sweet. Plus she and Mina could be gamer friends together. I feel like she would really kill they2k aesthetic with like some cat ear headphones like she likes.

Jeong JinSoul - Jinsoul's voice has always been really soothing to me. Like it always sits very nicely within the melody of the song. I want that kind of sound for choruses on softer and popier songs. And she is a visual queen so she is a lock for the group.

Cho Miyeon - I wanted a group with two ultra feminine gals in it. Plus her and Sana are already friends so it works out very nicely. She has an amazing voice and is one of the prettiest idols out there!

Lee Saerom - I am honestly just starting to get into Fromis 9. But I have watched enough performances to understand the Saerom has incredible stage presence and has an awesome physique! Her muscles and her charisma will add to the groups flavor for sure ^^.

Maybe i'll do some concept art later to illustrate some ideas. If you read this far you are allowed to be a hater on the group. It will help me prepare for the debut.

[seirclys]

SUOL-nim Season 4 Livestream recap!

Note: This will only be the English portions since I don't speak Korean or Japanese (ノAヽ)

Reminder: DO NOT SHARE IMAGES OR SCREENSHOTS OF SUOL-NIM'S STREAM. WE AREN'T ALLOWED TO DO THAT.

Season 3's recap

Thank you to @eloise-writes-things, @leila-lirui, @bluebutterflyrose, and @karmablacks for helping supplement some of this information when I was outside or when I was sick ^^

This time she's streaming on Youtube instead of Twitch! However, the VOD will still not be saved afterward.

As speculated, the cover is Winter and Siyeon(our transmigrator FL), with the necklace Winter gave her in the caves :)

volume 6 will be out this summer(approximately)

Unfortunately, she doesn't know when the English translation will be licensed since it's between Gyeoeul-nim and the publisher,,

Her voice is so nice... she speaks Korean, English, and Japanese too!

Return of the pink underlayer for the magenta hair!

She talked a little about the Alice in Wonderland dress! The color was specified in the novel as "sky-blue", and SUOL-nim thought it would be fitting for Siyeon to wear such a dress while adventuring with our White Rabbit, Winter

Ahh I had to leave the house for a few hours so the stuff below are all my panicked notes. Some of these are out of order, sorryyy

SUOL-nim showed us the concept arts of the characters individually.

Fun fact, Siyeon and OG!Penelope's concept art has them wearing the same colored shoes, but Siyeon's shoes have low heels, almost like flats.

She says that out of all the characters, Callisto is the hardest to draw. This is especially since his golden hair has narrative importance and the aesthetic is hard to nail down.

The webtoon is mostly SUOL-nim's own work! She doesn't really speak to Gyeoeul-nim about work matters or help in adapting some scenes.

It takes her a week to finish a chapter, so she doesn't really have a "backlog" of progress. This is also why there's an extra week of break after four weeks.

One of the most memorable changes she made in the adaptation was changing the Empire's name from "Inca" to "Eorka". She reasoned that because "Inca" is the name of a real Empire, it would be confusing. Thus, she changed it.

The anagram of "Eorka" to "Korea" was completely accidental.

She has an Instagram for her SUOL account(like how she has a personal and a work Twitter) but has no plans on using it since her Twitter is overwhelming.

She doesn't have a favorite dress, but one of the ones she's especially attached to is the white Goddess dress since most of Penelope's wardrobe is dark.

She shows her folders occasionally, and we get little peeks of concept art for characters like Ivonne, the assassins, Penelope's male disguise, Cedrick, Emily's Hunting Competition dress, Winter's layered clothing, and minor characters, as well as the tiny bird monsters.

She also showed the dress concepts for Season 3!

In addition, we got to see a rendered concept of Penelope(think the promotional portrait) as well as a version of that style for Reynold and Penelope's faces in her folders.

There was also a WIP with Eckles and Penelope, perhaps a small illustration she scrapped, hasn't released yet, or just a concept.

We also got to see a silly doodle of Penelope, a redraw of a Crayon Shin-Chan frame(it's a popular kids manga/anime in East Asia).

The original was Shin-Chan trying to decide between a few identical outfits; the VADD version is the one where Penelope is surrounded by objects representing each ML.

The ointment from Reynold, the scroll from Callisto, Winter's mask, Eckles' collar, and Derrick's bird cage.

Her rendering is immaculate; Siyeon glows off the page.

The info after this is second-handed since I'm still sick and I fell asleep an hour before it ended ;-; but my throat is killing me and my ears were ringing

The Eckles Penelope art is the preliminary sketch for the physical Vol. 6(from my calculations!)

She moved to sketches around this time ^^

For the top row, SUOL-nim drew a Penelope, an Eckles getting dressed, and a sulky baby Reynold in a onesie. To the right of him is a doodle of him and Derrick in high chairs, with the Duke and a heavily pregnant Duchess watching over them.

On the bottom row, we have Emily in a noblewoman's dress and a fan with her hair pinned up(with feathers!), the head butler Pennel, and an overworked salaryman Cedrick on his phone.

Edit: He's chatting about Callisto with his feet on the table while thinking about strangling Callisto loll.

The stream was approximately 6 hours long!

Also, something she reiterated for a bit: Season 4 is planned to come out in August/September. The dates are tentative but she wants to get it out to us by that period.

It was nice seeing a lot of the discord and tumblr crew!!

Also, the stream tea: SUOL-nim requested that we translate our comments that weren't in Korean, English, or Japanese since she has to moderate the chat still and she doesn't want to feel left out of her own stream. Even if it's conversing amongst themselves, they should still translate.

A group of Arabic-speaking viewers actively ignored her and there were small fights in chat, and she even addressed this issue TWICE.

And in the end they still didn't do it, so... PLEASE RESPECT SUOL-nim's stream rules! At the end of the day, it's still HER stream! She has to moderate it! Don't make it unnecessarily difficult for streamers to stream!

This is basic chat etiquette.

[animebw]

So the live action One Piece is really, really good.

I know, far from the first person to say it. But it really must be stressed how absolutely bonkers it is that One Piece, of all anime properties, is what breaks the live-action adaptation curse in the West. So many attempts at adapting far more live-action friendly stories like Death Note and Cowboy Bebop ended up complete disasters, and yet it's perhaps the most unabashedly cartoonish anime franchise, the one defined by how it takes advantage of drawing and animation to portray people, places and things that would be completely unfeasable in the real world, that shows how to translate this medium to live action without losing what makes it special in the first place. It's not a perfect adaptation, but it pretty much nails everything it needs to, capturing the heart of this story in all its most important moments and making smart changes that serve its new form as a binge-worthy Netflix drop. So let's talk about the things I liked, the few areas I think it fell short, and how I think future seasons should play out! Spoilers, obviously.

The Good:

-The most important thing to get right was the casting, and they nailed it: all the Straw Hats and their supporting cast are just about perfect. Inaki Godoy just is Luffy, Emily Rudd does a fantastic job shouldering the season's core emotional weight as Nami, Vincent Regan steals the show every time Garp is on screen, and Jeff Ward is an absolute riot as Buggy. Special shout-out as well to Morgan Davies for nailing Koby's expanded screen time.

-Speaking of, I love how Koby and Helmeppo's title-card story is fleshed out into a proper B-plot throughout this season. Following their journey under Garp's command is a perfect way to introduce us to the Navy's inner workings and the more explicitly political side of the story up front, as well as foreshadowing plenty of future story beats to come.

-The action. Is. So. Good. Thank god we're finally remembering how to film proper hand-to-hand brawls, cause every punch-up is a blast to watch.

-Luffy actually has more of an arc here than he does in the manga! Manga Luffy can be a pretty static character a lot of the time, which I know is kind of his appeal, but this adaptation gives him a bit more to work with as he grapples with the responsibility of being a captain and the consequences his mistakes can have for his crew.

-Seriously Buggy is so fucking funny they nailed him so perfectly

-Putting more of a focus on Nami's struggles throughout the season was a great way to give it more structure for a binge format. Her emotional journey is really the heart of this adaptation as we watch her go from a paraniod recluse to fully embracing the Straw Hats as her new family.

-One benefit to being live action and produced in America? Way, way less casual sexism. Dare I hope that future seasons will avoid ruining Sanji's character among other pitfalls Oda fell into? Fingers crossed!

-The production design is immaculate. It strikes the perfect balance between the wacky cartoonishness of One Piece's world and the demands of filming in live action.

-Fantastic soundtrack too! It knows just where to deploy instrumental renditions of We Are while charting its own musical identity.

The Bad

-Some of the dialogue is a liiiiiiittle cringey? I know dialogue has never been OP's strongest suit, but there are definitely a few moments that feel overly anachronistic and "how do you do fellow kids?" There's a moment Buggy jokes about toxic fandom that really made me roll my eyes (especially since the OP fandom has by and large really embraced this adaptation, so it comes off like a cheap shot at a demographic of haters that doesn't even really exist).

-While the camerawork and editing are pretty great, the color grading is very much... not. Can we please stop shooting everything in boring desaturated yellows and greys and start lighting our night scenes so we can actually see what's going on?

-Shockingly, it's the strongest parts from the manga- the backstories- that I feel suffered the most here. Some of that's due to most of the child actors not being that great, which, well, that's a risk you take with child actors. But it also cuts out a lot of the personal culpability that made a lot of those backstories so compelling? Like how Sanji used to be pretty wasteful with food until his experience stranded on an island taught him how important it was to respect every bite? That aspect of his character is completely missing in his flashback here.

-Hoo boy, they made some... choices with how they depicted Arlong's crew. I know the Fishmen are a big racism/discrimination metaphor, but between the trap music that plays whenever they show up, their overall "urban gangsta" fashion aesthetic and the design of Arlong Park, the fact Arlong himself is played by a black actor... there is some coding going on here, is my point. And considering how much I hated the direction this story arc went in Fishman Island, that does not give me confidence in this adaptation's ability to escape sucking just as much on that front.

Future Season Wish List:

Season 2: The Alabasta saga, starting with the arrival at Roguetown and ending with Vivi's send-off

Season 3: The Water Seven saga, maybe with a brief stop in Skypiea beforehand but not long enough to get bogged down in there like the manga did

Season 4: Possibly controversial, but I think this should take us to the timeskip. Spend an episode or two in Thriller Bark but cut out all the bullshit, one episode in Sabaody for the Shit Gets Real(tm) section, one episode in Amazon Lily, then onto Impel Down and the Marineford showdown, with one episode dedicated to the fallout of that battle and getting us to the timeskip.

Season 5: Big focus here should be Dressrosa IMO. If you must spend some time in Fishman Island then do it, probably don't need that much time in Punk Hazard since barely anything happens there, then get into the thick of Dressrosa.

Season 6: This should be the Wano season. One episode in Zou, maybe a couple in Whole Cake Island to set up Big Mom, (honestly we might not even need the extra Sanji backstory if this adaptation gets rid of his worst traits), then get straight into Wano so you have all the time you need for all those moving parts. Also, Gear 5 Luffy in live-action should just be him turning into his anime self Roger Rabbit style. Tell me that wouldn't rule.

[papasbaseball]

Raphael x Tav (Clubs and Spades: Chapter 1)

Pairing: Raphael x F!Tav

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Alcohol

Summary: Tav finds herself on the bad side of the President of the Fae Run Country Club. She agreed to work there as a favor, but he's determined to make her life a living hell. Will they both make it out of the summer without catching feelings?

Word Count: 2,187

Notes: I changed some of the names to help blend in the characters better with the AU setting. Here is a translation if you would like to know:

Tav - '' "Tav" Baldur

Karlach - Karlie Ackerman

Raphael - Raphael Hope

Mizora - Ms. Zora

Wyll - Will

AO3 Link

If all the stories were true, the president of the Fae Run Country Club was the Devil himself. I’d had the fortune of not running into him all summer, enjoying the close proximity to what otherwise might be considered ‘good people’, as I served drinks, folded towels, and did whatever else my manager had sent me to do. That particular day, I limped after my coworker Karlie — the cooler filled with ice and Evian between us making us as useful as a horse with a lame leg — as we brought the beverages out to the 8th hole of the golf course. The community carts had been forbidden from use, much to the dismay of my shoulder.

A quarrelsome two stood beside the green, too rich to stop their argument for us. The one’s shoulders were cast back, face tilted up as if God was also privy to the conversation he was having with the pink-faced man. I’d seen a dozen of his type infesting the green lawns of Fae Run. What set him apart was how quickly he cut down the man with words I’ll never know, courtesy of the lawnmowers. Weak arms were quickly uncrossed and the WASP wannabe buzzed back to the safety of the clubhouse hive.

“Ha!” Karlie scoffed, setting her end of the cooler down with a hard rustle of ice. “Bob had that one coming for a while.”

There were a half dozen members named Bob, but she came to know every one of them over the 8 years that she’d been working there. I’d barely met any of them and I’d been there for 2 months.

“Is Bob a problem?” I asked, setting my end of the cooler down. The ache of carrying it almost a mile thrummed in my arm, thrilled to have been released.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to be his server at dinner,” Karlie said. Her face fell and quickly she was tucking her polo back into her khaki pants, slicking back the wild fly-aways the walk had earned her.

“Ladies.” The remaining man approached us, his shirt unbuttoned past regulation to show off the tan earned from hours spent by the poolside. “Less chatting more working, yes? I would hate to have to speak to your manager about disciplinary action. I want this golf course as immaculate as possible.”

“Yes, sir,” Karlie replied.

“You’re breaking the dress code,” I offered, nodding to the undone button and soft curls of chest hair it guarded. If he wanted everything to be perfect he could start with himself.

He whipped off his sunglasses, mouth disgusted as he gave me a once over. “What is your name, girl?”

“Tav,” I said.

“I doubt that.” He hooked the glasses into his illegal shirt and turned to Karlie. “Ms. Ackerman, does Tav have somewhere to be?”

She stumbled over her words, unable to make eye contact with him.

“I know you are short-staffed,” he cut in, “but I could make much better use of her as my personal caddy for the day.”

“That’s not the job that I applied for,” I said. I had no interest in following some dumbass who only got to his position in life because his daddy foot all his bills and covered up all his mistakes. It was bad enough that I was working here — I owed my friend Will a favor — but I refused to sequester myself to such agonizing mediocrity.

“All employees of the Fae Run Country Club are required to know how to perform any duty they may be called upon at the drop of a hat,” he said. “Clearly you’ve missed training in more than one area.”

I opened my mouth to shoot back a retort when I heard Karlie’s voice tremble.

“Mr. Hope, please.”

She could have poured the chest full of ice over me and it would have been less bone-chilling than those three words. My eyes dart over him, trying to place those features to the portraits of board members that hung in the hallway leading to the main office. Maybe the sunglasses and casual attire had fooled me, but the disappointed frown was unmistakable: I was standing before the Devil.

“Tell your boss to make the necessary shifts,” he said. “I will take care of our darling Tav, here.”

Karlie tucked tail and turned back to the clubhouse. The sun baked a degree hotter with each step of hers, pushing me further into the custody of the Devil of Fae Run. The urge to run after her pressed itself, but I held it back. I couldn’t get myself fired: I still owed Will for lying for me, getting the charges dropped, and scrubbing my record. I just needed to get through this summer free and clean.

“Don’t worry, I will take good care of you,” he said. The words reeked of lies, but I tailed after him anyway. His cologne whipped back with the breeze as I followed him to the golf cart. The sweetness and warmth sent a shiver through me. It must have come from abroad, the undernotes speaking of warm sands and late-night dinners, and probably costing twice my seasonal salary.

I hesitated as I slid into the fine leather seat next to him, not any further than I had to, and watched as he turned the key.

“You really think I am going to bite you?” he said. He pressed the pedal and the cart jerked forward.

I slid further into the seat as I saw the sharp grass zipping by the floorboard more quickly than I would like it to. His chuckle at this was quiet under the whine of the cart. It was going to take more than the threat of turfburn for me to take his treatment lying down. I couldn’t refuse his orders, but I didn’t have to like it.

“You were threatening to fire me and Karlie a few minutes ago.”

“Was I?” he asked. “You’re not very good at listening, Tav.” The corners of his lips pulled back in disgust. “What is your real name? Tav sounds like something you’d call a dog. Although, you would make a pretty picture fetching my golf clubs.” He paused at the thought.

“My friends call me Tav,” I said. Mr. Hope steered the golf cart back onto the path and I almost gripped his leg to steady myself as the cart wobbled back onto its steady charge forward. I tucked my hand quickly under my black golf skort, taking comfort in the weight of my thigh.

“I’m not your friend: I’m your employer.”

“If you want to know it so bad, why don’t you just look it up when we get back to the clubhouse?” I should have bit my tongue, but Mr. Hope was not going to be calling me by my government name if I had anything to say about it.

The cart coasted to a stop, the clubhouse within sight. “If you want me to call you like a dog then you can get out and run after the cart like one.” He nodded for me to step out. “Go on, Tav.”

My legs were still twitching from the hike out to the 8th hole and I was maybe enjoying the custom fans on the cart a little too much. But between that or telling him my full name, I stepped out, cringing as the sun baked my skin once more. It didn’t take long until he was pressing the cart forward. He drove it just fast enough that I was always on his heels, no matter how hard I ran.

As my sneakers thumped the white pavement I imagined they were stomping that stupid handsome face of his. It looked all-natural – there was a small scar on his forehead and plenty of wrinkles that cut from his amber eyes – but the soft curl to his hair and all-linen outfit told the world that he could afford plastic surgery if he wanted to. He could probably afford to buy the plastic surgeon too if the rumors were true.

Mr. Hope parked the golf cart with the herd of others after what felt like a day of running. I heaved heavy breaths in and out, hands on my knees as I considered a nap on the blinding concrete.

“I’m surprised that you made it, Tav. Such a good girl.” Mockery highlighted his voice, but the words caught me off guard. I turned them over in my mind, wondering what other sweet praises the Devil liked to stab with.

“It was a piece of cake,” I lied.

He turned and headed towards the clubhouse, tossing a come-here whistle over his shoulder. I scrunched my face up, swallowing the nasty names I was already starting to come up with for him. I’d share those later with Karlie and Will.

The clubhouse wrapped its welcoming chill around us. I didn’t even mind the goosebumps on my arms, rubbing them only once as I followed him back to the foyer. He pulled out his phone and shot off a quick text before stopping a server carrying a saran-wrapped tray full of chicken salad croissants to the meeting room.

“Have you seen Ms. Zora?” he asked.

“I’m right here.”

Ms. Zora’s white polo and black skort could have gotten her mistaken for club staff if it wasn’t for the glowing pearls that encircled her swan-like neck. She was the secretary for the board and seemed to have a habit, I noticed, of showing up when you least wanted her to.

Raphael waved off the server, not even watching as she scurried away, head down muttering a prayer of thankfulness. He gestured to the walls and ceilings of the foyer.

“Where are all the banners that we ordered?” he asked.

Ms. Zora rolled her eyes, huffing a sigh of exasperation. “Supply chain issues. Don’t worry: I got us a full refund and have contacted that little print shop down the road.” She laughed, “You should have seen how grateful they were that I wanted everything ASAP and at a discount too.”

“I do not care about a discount. I want this foyer decorated now,” he said.

“I’ll give them a call,” Ms. Zora smiled. Her cunning gaze soon fell on me, her smile dropping with it. “Is there a reason why you are here Ms. Baldur?”

“Oh, so she does have a name?” Raphael laughed. “Ms. Baldur is my caddy for the day. I do have to say, I have grown quite accustomed to calling her Tav, though. It has a certain peasant charm to it.”

My clean-cut nails bit into my palms as I balled my fists up. Just get through the day, that’s it. If he used my name any more times I might have to start going by my full name just to get the stink of him off of it.

“I need to go make that call,” Ms. Zora excused herself. He didn’t watch her leave, instead smirking and staring hungrily down at me as if I were the chicken salad sandwiches.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

“Ms. Baldur,” he said, rolling the r with a flourish. “Such a nice ring to it. Maybe I’ll call you that if you do a good enough job today. Please me and I’ll please you.”

“I-“ He knew he had turned my nickname into an annoyance. I expected him to sprout horns any minute now. “What makes you think that I want you to please me? Can’t I just do my job?”

He turned, heading back out to the golf course. A group of men had managed to gather in the few minutes we’d been inside, chattering and guzzling Bud Lights as if they were college frat boys born again in the heat of the summer.

“Raph!” one of them exclaimed. “What took you so long?”

“I was just making sure everything was ready and attending to a few stray animals.” He looked at me with that remark, before continuing, “Nothing exciting.” He popped his sunglasses back on as the cloud cover retreated. My eyes were drawn once more to the unbuttoned violation. I stared a bit too long as I found his eyes peeking out the peripheral of the shades, waiting for mine to see them. He gave a smile and I went off to his golf cart to sulk in my rosy cheeks.

They chatted and chatted until one of them finally clapped his hands together in anticipation. Beer can after empty beer can clunked into the trash can, and one by one the carts started.

“Out,” he said.

“What?” I said.

“Do you have cotton in your ears? Out. You want to be named like a dog, you’ll run like a dog.”

I got out, folding my arms as I watched him get in. “I thought we were done with all this.”

“Oh, I’m sure you are, but I’m not done with your lesson, Tav. If you keep up, I’ll drive you back after the 18th hole.” And with that, he backed the cart out and zipped off after the pack.

[b0ustr0phed0n]

Over-Dubbed:

How to Lose a German Character by Making them Speak German

(I've never posted on Tumblr before, and this essay is longer than I intended. Hopefully the formatting works okay.)

Getting lost in the translation

When people say something was “lost in translation,” they are speaking of incorrectly or incompletely rendered meaning—a joke that doesn’t land, a pun that doesn’t work, a reference no one knows. But there is another kind of loss. The paradoxical loss that occurs when a translation creates meaning from incomprehensibility.

I went to see Anatomy of a Fall last week on a whim, in a German theater, in Germany, where I live. I didn’t know anything about it going in except that it was about a murder case and had won awards. And I will confess, I grew nervous when I saw the wall of French text that precedes the film. It was unsubtitled, which I thought was a bad sign. And it was, just not in the way I anticipated. Soon a voice started speaking German and I relaxed. For a while.

Now first, let me say that the dubbing was excellent. Germany has a long-established dubbing industry and the translators, voice actors, sound mixers, et al. are good at their craft. Side note: Let me also thank the German marketing department for recognizing what a gift they had in the title translation (Anatomie des Falls) and letting it stand. There always seems to be a strong urge in German cinema to tack on a superfluous secondary title. The film could have easily ended up called Anatomie des Falls: Tot in den Alpen.* The voice actor for Sandra, the main character, does a wonderful job—she is calm, she is desperate, she is sometimes enraged. She stumbles and hesitates and sometimes seems to search for words, and the sounds of the hesitation markers are well-timed to the visuals. At no point did I feel—as I often do when watching German dubs—that the actors were struggling to get all the syllables out in the time it took the original actor to say the same thing in their language. But there is also another reason the voice actor does such a great job.

*You should also be proud of me for not titling this essay "Anatomy of a Fail"

If you have seen this film or read about it, or if you are aware of the main actor, Sandra Hüller, you will know that she is German. She’s dubbing herself. I did not know who she was, and so I began the film assuming she was French and so was her character. Not long into the movie, however, I began to feel like I was missing something. Something more than the usual flattening of character that takes place when actors with various regional accents and speaking patterns are all dubbed into flawless Hochdeutsch. It took me a while to pin down what was going on. It wasn’t until midway through the film, when Sandra looks over at a court interpreter before she starts speaking, that I realized that all of this immaculately overdubbed German was masking something important: Not everyone in this movie speaks the same language.

The film gives you a few clues in the dialogue that point to her being a foreigner, but they are easy to miss. And why not? To anyone listening to the original voices, it’s abundantly clear. Possibly there is some crucial information in the opening conversation between Sandra and an interviewer, but I couldn’t hear most of it over the booming music that is the real point of the scene. At one point in the film, she mentions that she had been happier living in London with her husband. She also says something about “starting in a little German village and ending up in a little French village.” She surely wasn’t speaking German, though, because that’s what I was hearing and her mouth didn’t match. So I figured she was probably English.

If you aren’t an experienced lip reader—and I’m not—it’s not easy to pick out what language someone is speaking underneath a dub. You have to translate backwards in your head very quickly, try and get slightly ahead of the script, and then watch to see whether the person’s mouth matches the words you think they ought to be saying. I definitely missed some visual details in the courtroom (apparently they had a big tapestry of Justice in there?) because I was staring intently at Sandra’s mouth. 

But eventually I was able to determine she was speaking English. Okay, I thought. Presumably she’s from England and prefers to speak her first language in a courtroom. Understandable. So would I. I must have misunderstood the line about Germany. Perhaps that line was changed in the dub script to reduce cognitive dissonance, since everyone listening would be hearing her speak perfect, accent-free German, the same as every other character.

This mystery solved, I moved on to the next: When is she speaking English? In court, obviously, but how about at home? Is she speaking English to her lawyer, who’s clearly an old friend? To her son? Did she and her husband communicate in English? Reader, I couldn’t tell. For one thing, it’s distracting and exhausting to spend the whole 2 ½ hours reverse-engineering English dialogue in real time (there’s a reason I’m a translator, not an interpreter), and for another, much of the dialogue between Sandra and her husband is reported speech, recreated through re-enactments, retellings, and audio recordings. There was no way to know how many layers of translation were involved.

Translation as theme

I’d like to pause for a moment (and I will!) to discuss some of the themes of the movie. If you haven’t seen it, don’t worry—I won’t spoil the ending. Sandra is accused of murdering her husband after their mostly-blind son finds him dead in the snow outside their home in the Alps. The film follows the investigation and trial, slowly revealing the secrets, struggles, and private grudges of the household. Sandra and her husband are/were both writers—one more successful than the other. They live in the village of his childhood. They argue about normal things: angst, guilt, feelings of inadequacy, who has sacrificed the most, what’s best for their child. At one point Sandra’s husband accuses her of stealing his ideas for her books.

In court, Sandra is tasked with interpreting these arguments for a hostile audience. A great deal of the runtime is spent clarifying feelings, relationships, moods, tones of voice, volume levels, et cetera. The media following the trial seem to find her interesting, but largely unsympathetic. In a flashback, her husband points out that she rarely smiles. Did she kill him? The film stubbornly refuses the audience access to unmediated facts. Even when we know there is more evidence, we have to wait to find out from an analyst in court like everyone else.

So: this is a film about translation. How do we translate observations into evidence? How do we translate our private lives for an audience? If you’ll permit me to wear my nerdiest of translator hats: In essence, all communication is translation. When you speak to someone, you are translating your thoughts into a new medium—spoken words—and hoping the listener will succeed in translating these words into thoughts that approximate yours. The fact that this is an imperfect process is evidenced by all the ways we misunderstand each other. Every layer of mediation results in a slightly altered reality. This is a crucial and often misunderstood aspect of translation: the translator’s job is not to recreate the same words in a new language or medium, it’s to recreate, as much as possible, the same effect upon the audience. That’s why your favorite foreign songs sound lame when you throw the lyrics into Google Translate: Only a fraction of a song’s power lies in the literal meaning of the words. When translated as prose, they turn into rhythmless husks.

Pass the language, it’s my turn

If you ever played the game “telephone” as a kid, you know how hard it is to send a simple message around a room in one language. Sending a message through multiple languages is what’s known as “relay translation,” and while it is sometimes necessary, it is never ideal. Have you ever amused yourself by putting the same text through a translation machine a dozen times? Professional human translators are better than machines, but there’s only so long you can stretch a chain of translation before the ends start to look very different.

When Sandra, who, by the way, is explicitly a translator—it’s stated in the film that she earns extra income through translation, although she does not say which languages she works in—has to explain her arguments with her husband in court, she is translating not only her own thoughts, but also what she believes his thoughts to have been. This is then translated again through the court interpreter, and then AGAIN, separately, in the dubbing process. (For simplicity’s sake, we’ll skip all the additional translation layers external to the film: writing the script, reading the script, acting, voice acting, filming, editing, the medium through which the film is played, etc.) The chain of translation, as I understood it while watching, looks like this:

Diagram 1: Translation chains*

Before you think I’m here to condemn dubbing as a practice, the chain for an audience reading subtitles would be just as long. That’s just what happens when a film reaches international audiences.The reason I’m illustrating the different routes meaning must travel to reach these audiences is because language does not exist in a vacuum. Our interpretations of words depend heavily on context. You may be wondering why I’ve included the court’s thoughts in this diagram. Well, the knowledge that the court is hearing Sandra’s words through an interpreter informs the way you listen to her. A French-speaking audience is aware that some of the people in this film are hearing Sandra differently, but they themselves are forced to interpret her through the medium of a language they may not speak fluently or at all.**

*Since we are shown Sandra speaking, I assume this split trajectory is present in both the undubbed and dubbed versions—that the audience hears her words rather than the court interpreter’s. In case you were wondering, if I tried to explain the husband’s motivations to you, you would be Audience C, three more steps and another language shift down from Audience B.

**I would be interested to know whether Sandra gets subtitled when this film plays to francophone audiences. I found one French review complaining that she wasn’t, but I don’t read enough French to search adequately.  

Context is everything

Imagine for a moment you are walking down the street in some American small town and you pass a clothing store with t-shirts hanging in the window. Each features a design and a phrase, and all the phrases are nonsensical. The context of this store tells you this is on purpose—this store markets to people who enjoy the absurd. You may read the shirts, laugh, take a picture. Lol, look at this: [photo of shirt with an image of a ghost and the words “bump of chicken”]. You would then carry on with your day. Now imagine you walk past this same store in Japan. You could of course react the same way—Japan is equally capable of absurd humor—but now another option presents itself. After a few moments spent pondering the chicken shirt, it clicks: Goosebumps. Not an attempt at absurd humor but a casualty of mistranslation. The shirt has not changed; it is the context that prompts you to read deeper. Awareness of translation affects its interpretation.

It’s time for my grand reveal that is not a reveal to anyone familiar with the movie or who read the title of this essay: Sandra the character is not English. The line about the village was not changed—like the actor, the character really is German. I discovered this because I looked up the film during the bus ride home from the theater, not because I was able to tell at any point while watching it. What does this mean? It means this is a film about translation in which the main character is German, her husband is French, and she communicates in English both with him and with the court. Remember when I said there’s another reason the voice actor is so good here? It’s Sandra Hüller—she’s dubbing herself.

If we return to our chart, Audience B is aware that they are watching a French film. This means, when interpreting the plot, they can take it as presented in German, or try to put themselves in the shoes of Audience A and interpret it as they believe a French audience would. However, without the benefit of hearing Sandra and her husband speak, this is a difficult task.

Diagram 2: Audience A as imagined by Audience B

Depending on which languages you assume each person speaks, this chain may be as simple as French-French-French-French-French-German, as complicated as French-English-German-English-French-German, or anywhere in between. I believe Sandra’s careful deliberation of her words is meant to add ambiguity to her character. Is she simply struggling to explain her relationship, or is she using the time to come up with lies? By having her speak a language foreign to both her and the audience, the filmmakers make the situation even harder to judge. Audience A is hearing her speak English with a German accent, a constant reminder of all these layers of mediation. Audience B is hearing her speak German with a German accent, the same as every other character.

Hey, you dropped your accent

When I say “the same as every other character,” I mean that not only is everyone in the German dub speaking German (obviously), no one has an accent. Or rather, they all have the same accent, which amounts to the same thing. Accents and other dialectical features tell us a lot more than simply whether or not someone is foreign. In fact, they tell us more when the person is not foreign, because we are more attuned to minute differences in our own native language and dialect. Often, the first few words out of a character’s mouth tells us not only where they grew up, but also their social class, how they view themselves in relation to the person they’re talking to, and how they wish to be perceived: Are they trying to sound more or less educated than they are? Are they putting on a particular accent to blend in? Does their way of speaking gel with our expectations based on their physical appearance? Is it supposed to? Can we the audience even understand what they’re saying? Is their incomprehensibility meant to be funny or tragic?

When dubbing over a performance, we must return to our question of effect: To what extent can we replicate the effect of these dialectical markers on the new target audience? This is obviously a difficult task, and would necessitate looking critically at stereotypes and prejudices both at home and abroad. But I would respect the German film industry a lot more if they would even make an attempt.

Again, this is not a condemnation of dubbing as a practice. In fact, dubbing creates an opportunity here that is not present when subtitling. We cannot expect a foreign audience to pick up on dialectical cues in a language they do not speak, but we can replace them with similarly-weighted cues in their own language when those exist. German voice actors sometimes put on silly voices or use odd inflections to spice up a performance, but there is a stubborn resistance to using regional accents and dialects. Which is a shame. Like any language that evolved across a wide area for hundreds of years, German is secretly 47 languages in a trenchcoat, pretending to be the same thing for the purposes of national identity. Imagine if, in every British movie, all the actors were forced to speak in BBC English regardless of who they were and where they were from. Imagine if Jack Sparrow, Oliver Twist, Tony Soprano, and the cast of Bridgerton all sounded like they went to the same high school. How much of their identity would be lost? All of these characters are native English speakers. And none of their stories are about them struggling to defend themselves before a court in a foreign country.

As always, it comes back to effect. Not every character needs a regional accent. But sometimes their regional accent is important, and their actions and relationships make less sense without it. Many of the same associations exist internally between various German accents as exist among speakers of different types of English or French or Arabic. It doesn’t have to be a 1:1 equivalency. But why not make the effort to convey something? Am I saying all Texans in German dubs should have Bavarian accents? Yes.

So what?

I want to head off some criticism from people who will say I’m reading far too much into this, that no one is thinking about chains of translation while watching a movie about a murder trial, that dubbing is such a long-established practice in Germany that most Germans are hardly aware of it and consume films as if they were written and filmed in German. Perhaps. But this is also a problem. Not necessarily for all films—that’s a matter of taste—but certainly for this one.  I read every non-professional German review I could find, and not one of them mentioned that German actor Sandra Hüller speaks English throughout this entire film. Three people did suggest it was better to watch it undubbed. Everyone else, even those who praised the film’s dialogue, did so without any acknowledgment that the film is bilingual. One German reviewer on Amazon seems to think this is a German film.

As I write this, Anatomy of a Fall has 4 stars on Amazon.com, 4.1 on Amazon.fr, and 3.8 on Amazon.de. Many of the German reviews there and elsewhere complain that the movie is boring. And why not? It’s slow-paced to begin with, and then, chances are they were only allowed to hear half the story. And how ironic is it that Hüller’s primary performance as a German actor playing a German character is inaudible in German theaters? Give the woman some more awards—she had to make this movie twice.

Germans’ over-reliance on dubbing accidentally erased the German identity of a character. If everything is always dubbed, a film could contain half a dozen languages and you wouldn’t even know. It’s easy to assume that underneath the German lies another monolingual script. Maybe you’ll wonder why, in a brief scene, Sandra’s son is making her repeat nonsensical phrases. To be honest, I feel the translation is partly at fault in this scene. I don’t remember the German phrases emphasizing any particular phoneme. I think it was nonsensical French for the purposes of speaking practice translated into nonsensical German for the purposes of nothing. This is a classic example of meaning-based rather than effect-based translation.*

*This is another difficult case, since normally you could focus on a particular German phoneme that is difficult for non-native speakers, such as /ü/. However, since Sandra is supposed to be German, we run into a recursive translation problem where, in order for the scene to make sense on its face level (Sandra is practicing her accent), it has to be illogical on another (Sandra is practicing her accent in her native language). Any solution is going to be imperfect, but I’d argue that it’s more important to understand what is going on in the scene.

Other ways this could have been handled

The obvious solution

Subtitle everything. This is an obvious answer, but not my favorite. For one thing, it risks driving away much of its potential German audience, who are used to dubs and generally prefer them to subtitles. For another, it implies that dubs are inherently inferior, which I do not believe is the case. They are both important translating tools and have different strengths and weaknesses.

My favorite solution

Dub the French parts, but leave the English parts in English and subtitle those. This is my favorite option. Why limit yourself to one tool? It doesn’t shorten the chain in Diagram 1, but it brings audiences A and B closer together by clarifying Diagram 2. Plus, are we to believe that German audiences are any less capable than French audiences of handling a bit of English?

The one I would love to see that will never happen

Dub everyone, but give all the other characters French accents. I think this is often considered hokey, but I personally love it. If I can’t hear the original language itself, at least give me some of its flavor.

Coming soon: A (hopefully shorter) post wherein I complain about subtitling practices

[nattikay]

Kaltxì!! i'm just here to say how much i adore your art & your content!!! it brings me so much joy to see you draw the sully family, they're just so cute :") especially the newest art of jake, neytiri, neteyam and kiri - it's just so nice to see them happy together like this <33 your ocs are amazing too, btw!

this question is kinda random but i'm still going to ask, do you have any sully family headcanons (or na'vi headcanons in general)? i'm just curious, my brainrot is way too strong i can't stop thinking about them fsjdjdh

have a nice day! :] Eywa ngahu!

Aww, thank you!

Headcanons? hmmm.....I don't think I have many at the moment, but perhaps a few:

A silly one is that Balto is Lo'ak's favorite movie no I do not take constructive criticism. How did he watch the movie, dunno, the kids seem to hang around the scientists often enough, perhaps Norm introduced them to a few cartoons one day idk

The whole family is of course bilingual but stick mostly to Na'vi by default. On that note, none of the Metkayina know any English at all; everything we hear from them is translated from Na'vi for the audience.

I know it's a fairly popular headcanon in the fandom right now that Kiri is autistic; as for me I'm a little on the fence about it. On the one hand I highly doubt that she was intentionally written to be autistic. On the other, though, as an autistic person myself who also grew up as the awkward weird kid (a tearful "why am I different?" to Grace's spirit hit kinda hard)....I can definitely understand where the theory's coming from. I know people who dislike this headcanon say that just because an autistic person relates to a character it doesn't mean that character is autistic, and yes I absolutely agree with that--I relate for many reasons to many characters that I don't view as autistic--but I can see where people are getting those vibes with Kiri and can sympathize with wanting to view her that way. So.....maybe? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Speaking of Kiri, based on what we've seen in the movie and until we get further evidence to contradict it, my theory on her origins is that she has no biological father--she's a genetic clone of Grace's avatar somehow spurred into existence by Eywa. How, exactly, we don't know, but given what we know thus far it seems to be the most likely possibility imo.

...on that note, though, can we please stop calling her "space Jesus"? I get why people draw the comparison, apparent immaculate conception and divine abilities and whatnot, but unless her purpose on Pandora is secretly somehow to sacrifice her life to atone for the Na'vi's sins (which I very much doubt is the case), the connection doesn't quite work, and feels a tad disrespectful. ^^;

Lastly, I don't think Jake became a "military dad" until after the RDA returned. I hesitate to even call this one a "headcanon" so much as simple analysis given what we saw in the opening montage, where he is shown to be very warm and playful with his kids. The military side only emerged out of necessity when suddenly the family was at very real risk of one wrong move getting them killed in the reignited war. (also there's nothing wrong with Neteyam and Lo'ak calling him "sir". Like, if Jake was strictly enforcing that they only ever call him "sir" at all times then yeah I would agree, that's kinda cold and harsh, but he doesn't, they call him "Dad" most of the time; an occasional respectful "sir" when they are in trouble is nowhere near the big issue some of y'all are treating it as).

[deathbirby]

What does Sothis's dragon form look like?

Title speaks for itself. I'm here to speculate what Sothis's dragon form looks like.

These posts come from my Reddit account! I'm reposting them here. However, I'm also editing these posts with newer information. You can consider these to be the "final" versions.

Let's unpack!

Surely you can't be Sirius

In a post on reddit, I talked about how Sothis could be connected to the wolf-beasts that guard the Blue Sea Star. Why?

Sothis is the Greek version of the Egyptian goddess Sopdet, the personification of the star Sirius.

What's so special about Sirius? The Blue Sea Star is likely meant to be the star Sirius. Sothis's special in FEH is called Sirius. Seiros is an alternate name for Sirius. Rhea's theme is called Gazing at Sirius. It could not be more obvious.

There is one small issue with this: Edelgard's note in the advice box. She says that it's been calculated that the light of the Blue Sea Star would take million of years to reach the planet. MILLIONS. Sirius is like 9 light-years away from Earth. Sure, Fodlan could just be on an entirely different planet, but that's boring. Sirius isn't going to be the brightest star in the night sky on just any random planet. Not that it really matters if Fodlan is on a different planet.

So, I did a little bit of digging, and Edelgard doesn't say millions of years in the Japanese version. Instead, she says it takes the light tens of thousands of years to reach the planet. Looks like it's just a translation issue.. Moving on.

What's so special about Sirius? It's known as the dog star. A good boy, if you will. Now here is where it gets interesting. Aelfric says that the Ashen Wolves got their name from the beasts who guard the Blue Sea Star. Rhea named the house herself. This could just be Rhea making up some random bullshit, but I'm gonna take the plunge and say that she's speaking some kind of truth here.

Sothis is Sopdet, the personification of Sirius, the dog star. The Ashen Wolves get their name from the beasts who guard Sirius. Beasts that look like wolves. Dog Star. Sopdet. Sothis. You get it. Sothis is connected to these beasts in some way. She could be one of them, or she created them and then went off on a little adventure.

All of this leads me to believe that Sothis's dragon form has canine features. If you're still not convinced that Sothis is a doggo, then take a look at this:

They're the same picture

Going back to the OST for a moment. There is a track called Scales of the Goddess. SCALES! Alright alright. We're getting there. Sothis's dragon form also has scales. We've got more of an image here. The Goddess's true form has canine features and scales.

...Would her transforming in her amnesiac state result in a puppy dragon?

Oh my god. We need more information!

Your momma so fat, she created Fodlan just to sit on it.

So, how big is her dragon form? It can be anything ranging from the size of the Immaculate One:

Exhibit A: Immaculate One concept art

To the size of a meteor:

Oh man, that star is getting real close

Exhibit B: Opening cutscene flashes (Seasons of Warfare Collectors Edition)

To the size of the fucking planet:

Exhibit C: Ashen Wolves banner

So... pick one of three! Option B is the most obvious one. She's called the "Fell Star" by the Agarthans. That could mean that she's evil as in the "Fell Dragon", but it could also mean that Sothis came to Fodlan as a falling star (a fucking meteor).

Still, a planet-sized wolf-dragon sure is an image. It would put Grima to shame and adds a whole 'nother meaning to Sothis saying she cannot reveal her true form in Askr.

But what else do the Agarthans say about Sothis? Well...

DAMN, that's an ugly sonofabitch!

You might have read the book in the Shadow Library called "Romance of the World's Perdition". If you haven't, don't worry. I've got this post that translates it from Japanese: https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemThreeHouses/comments/hd82ec/jpen_translation_comparison_of_the_abyss_shadow/

Here is what it says:

In the land of Thinis, where the old god(s) was/were supposed to have lived, at last the one who is not god awakens. The grotesque monstrosity resurrects to sink the world to watery depths.

The book is presumably from an Agarthan's perspective. It says that the False God is a grotesque monstrosity. Are they talking about Sothis's human form? Hell no! Have you SEEN mural Sothis? Anyone who calls her a grotesque monstrosity is in denial. 99% chance they're talking about Sothis's dragon form. Of course, you can't ignore the fact that the Agarthans are EXTREMELY biased.

One more thing to add to this. Remember how Rhea goes absolutely batshit in the ending of Silver Snow for some unknown reason? Yeah. Her dragon form is burning from the inside out and she's covered in vines. It's fucking horrifying and disgusting. But what does the game say?

"This child of the goddess, revealed in her truest form, possesses power beyond humanity's understanding."

That is Rhea's truest form.

Another piece to the puzzle! Sothis's dragon form has canine features, scales, is most likely the size of a meteor, and is grotesque to (some) onlookers.

What else?

Exteeeeeeeeeend

We've all seen the Sword of the Creator. It's made out of Sothis's bones and looks like a spine, but some speculate it's made out of the tail.

It can also extend... I guess that means Sothis can just stretch out parts of her body REALLY far? Huh, no wonder the Agarthans call her an abomination.

There is also the possibility of her being an Eastern Dragon! They do have long noodle-bodies. Personally, I think she's some weird eldritch being, but you can always come up with your own theories!

I can paint with all the colors of your wardrobe

COLORS ("COLOURS" if you prefer it that way)! What about the look?

This is where it becomes 100% speculation. There is no information here. None. She can have natural colors like her children (brown/yellow, white, grey), or look like she fell into a bucket of paint.

Obviously, I'm picking the bucket of paint option. The Immaculate One is white, right? Her Japanese name is "The White One". Is there white in Rhea's design? Yes! She ALWAYS wears white. So, the outfit might give a hint to the dragon's colors? Quick! What is Sothis's color scheme?

Purple/dark blue, black, pink, white, and gold. There is also green, but we're ignoring that because none of the Nabateans have any green in their dragon forms. All the green goes straight into their veins when they transform.

So, Sothis's dragon form has a mix of purple/dark blue, black, pink, white, and gold. I guess that makes sense? Sirius is sometimes called a rainbow star because of how it shines with different colors. All of the colors I just mentioned are colors that have been observed in Sirius.

Guess we cracked the code.

TLDR: Sothis's dragon form is wAIT

WAIT

HOLD ON, I JUST FOUND SOMETHING Y'ALL. SOTHIS'S TRUE FORM HAS CONCEPT ART! AND THEY HID IT FROM US.

I'm gonna find it. I'm gonna find it and...

Oh dear god

[r-lestrcnge]

Starter for: Estelle Delacour @fcrox Where: Rosa Lee Teabag When: late afternoon

Rabastan had been surprised to receive a note from Estelle. Having been recovered for a while, he had not expected to hear from anyone else wishing him well. But despite the timing, he thought it natural that she reacted with polite courtesy upon hearing of his accident. The witch's manners were nothing but immaculate. So he had thanked her and invited her to join him for tea. Though he would have done so nonetheless, he also had another motive in mind; a goblin treasure, taken from a cache retrieved on one of his excursions for Gringotts. Knowing Estelle's expertise with languages, he wanted to show it to her and to hear the translation of the text that marked its surface. He could hardly ask the goblins for this favour, considering he had concealed it from them. There had to be some perks to the job, aside from the thrill of imminent danger and the reward of towers of gold. Rabastan knew a precious item when he saw one; much like he knew an unusual witch, when one crossed his path. Estelle was proving herself as such, the more their acquaintance grew.

After they settled into a private corner, replete with tea and other refreshments, he took a moment to study her, then lightly smiled. "It's good of you to join me, Estelle. Now, I have a confession: I would like your help with something."

His eyes lingered on her a moment longer, before lowering to his cup, into which he heaped several lumps of sugar. The woman was striking. Unlike most other attractive witches, this fact did not seem to become normalised. It occurred to him every time they met, pervading his thoughts with subtle, unavoidable recognition.

[itwoodbeprefect]

i've been rewatching together with me*, which is not a show i can earnestly recommend anyone watch once, let alone twice, but also. it's FLAWLESS trash tv. the utterly fucking silent tv watching. the "why are you suddenly drinking beer" as if that's a weird thing to do somehow. the way they're sharing seemingly one (1) normal sized can of beer between the two of them but it's also implied they're at least a little drunk after that slide transition. tHE SLIDE TRANSITION, just in the middle of a scene! for no reason! which yeets us RIGHT into "what is love?" in the most delightfully jarring, stupidest of ways, delivered while staring straight ahead at nothing. followed by korn's achingly sincere answer (not pictured - he says he doesn't know either, but he feels guilty about it sometimes, but he'll gladly feel guilty for the happiness it gives him), and i'm sorry, but what's a person even supposed to do when the tea leaves in the trash tell you something unexpectedly real and insightful for 5 seconds. and finally, last but by NO means least: the absolutely immaculate experience of watching this type of media through a fan translation, with added translator's notes at the top of the screen, alternating between genuinely helpful language/culture notes and snarky comments on what's happening that 90% of the time feature the word bitch in there somewhere.

(worth noting also that after some agonizingly bare bones tension they (korn, right, and knock, left) do end up kissing in this scene, and then we IMMEDIATELY cut to a girl (a different character's girlfriend) stANDING ON A BALCONY. PHONE IN THE AIR. ALREADY FILMING THEM, just out of nowhere. i truly deeply cannot emphasize enough how absolutely fucking nothing prepares you for that. we as viewers have NO clue how she even got onto that building, or that there WAS a building with a perfect view there for that matter, and i don't even think we know for sure that the room these guys are in has windows, but i guess it does!! it must, because some girl is standing there now with her phone in the air!! and of course we're then taken right back into the intimate setting of this bed where korn (gay, single) asks knock (constantly leading korn on, actively dating a girl) if he's okay, because korn is the only halfway normal and decent person in this thing, and then we get the most totally sane of continuations of a scene like that. by which i obviously mean a VILLAIN REVEAL (surprise! the girlfriends are ALL VILLAINS, and they have unionized under knock's girlboss girlfriend for Evil Girl Schemes™. for some reason somehow. there is slow motion and Cool music involved as we learn this) and then we cut from villain reveal music and editing immediately back into korn and knock fully making out now suddenly. as any emmy worthy tv show would do.)

[sherryzade]

Hit me with those music recs, darling, my family forbid nonAmerican music when I turned 14 lest it make me Less Well Assimilated and I need to catch up

i gotchu friend, it's a crime that u were robbed of experiencing arab music and we must right this injustice !!!!

pls note that its late and i am who i am meaning i will gush endlessly abt my love for arab music and culture so there is a read more. also i'm MUCH less familiar with farsi and persian music than i am with arab music so i can't give many recs for that but spotify has a nice persian essentials playlist and a contemporary farsi playlist, and rly if you look up iranian/persian/farsi music, you will find a TON.

dammi falasteeni (my blood is palestinian) by mohammad assaf ⁠— [youtube w translation] ⁠— i think this is like. THE quintessential arab song. the unofficial palestinian national anthem. absolutely no one is normal about this song, and why would you be when it slaps so hard? a huge symbol of palestinian resistance, and recently removed from spotify for "antisemitism" (huge lie, the song is just a celebration of palestine)

nassam alayna el-hawa (the wind blew over us) by fairuz ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— fairuz is one of the most iconic arab singers and she drops classic after classic. her music is v traditional and i always joke that it's old ppl music (bc all arab parents adore her) but she's universally beloved. also translation note: in arabic, "hawa" i.e. wind is a metaphor for love!

yalla tenam reema (let reema sleep) — [spotify] [translation] ⁠— very popular levantine lullaby that feels like home 🥲❤ lots of versions of this song exist, but this is the most popular. fun fact: i forgot abt this song for a long time until i read it in a book documenting syrian culture and it unlocked hidden childhood memories.

sah sah (wake up) by nancy ajram ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— nancy ajram is a rly popular contemporary arab musicians, very hip w the youngins on the tikky takky, and her music is a blend of traditional arab elements with western pop! very fun, very upbeat, immaculate vibes

lamma bada yatathana ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— ik i said fairuz is "old ppl music (affectionate)", but this song is like. about 800 years old so it takes the cake lol. it's from ye olde andalusia, so lots of versions of it exist. the singer here is lena chamamyan, a syrian singer whomst i adore.

cha'am (damascus) by lena chamamyan ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— i have to include this song in particular bc i'm incapable of listening to it without tearing up. it's about the experience of being displaced from syria, and lena sings it with so much emotion that it's just. very cathartic and painful and beautiful all at once.

el hantoor by saad el soghayar ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— this song is so unbelievably cute and also like. the VIBES. what else is there to say. i, too, wanna ride a carriage around egypt.

el tannoura (the skirt) by fares karam ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— listen. yes this song feels a little sexist but like. it fucks so hard and it is my feminist kryptonite. also, PS on the translation: it says that he calls her "conceited" but imo that's not a great translation. the song more has a vibe of "oh she's hot shit and she knows it," but its not like outright insulting. you could very much make the argument that this song is not objectifying and more just sex positive.

the police are not ours by jowan safadi ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— remember kids: acab applies to west asia too !!!

boshret khair (good tidings) by hussain aljassmi ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— gang i'm so normal about this song (lie). literally such a bop with such a lovely message about solidarity among your countrymen and beyond. if i wasn't so busy shaking ass i'd be crying. s tier song, this is what healthy patriotism looks like !!

hadal ahbek (i will still love you) by issam alnajjar ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— this song blew up on the tikky takky and i mean. for good reason. so catchy, so wholesome, so romantic. literally no notes, its a perfect song.

fawda (chaos) by carole samaha ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— absolutely banging song with the sole message of "get these drama queens away from me, god i need to breathe" and she's so real for that

holm (dream) by emel ⁠— [spotify] [translation] ⁠— tbh i just stumbled across this song and thought it was dope, but just now i checked the singer's about page on spotify and i need to listen to more of her stuff cause she's got an amazing history. she's a tunisian singer and was a huge voice for the tunisian revolution. her voice is fr angelic, so its dope to know that she's an incredible person on top of being an incredible singer.

fuqaati (my bubble) by ruba shamshoum ⁠— [spotify] [translation + interview] ⁠— this is a very small niche artist but she's literally so talented and has a more jazzy style than the other recs on this list so !! i had to include her bc her style is super unique and pretty. also we always hype up palestinian artists in this household !!

there's literally no shortage of dope arab music basically, this is literally just a sampling of my faves. spotify has a bunch of dope arab music playlists that they update weekly and if you like the general sound then i highly recommend listening to more of it! also even though arab music def has its own like. unique sound, there's tons of artists that do tons of various genres. there's arab jazz, arab reggae, arab rap, etc etc etc, we love cultural exchange and cultural appreciation, amen