#how do i communicate this without being impolite''

[diggingoutmygrave]

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[dropthedemiurge]

Love for Love's Sake | Things You Didn't Notice #3 | Learning Korean with the boys

I have (barely) emotionally recovered after the ending of this series, and so I'm back with my usual translation notices and cultural specialties posts ^^ Long post ahead!

// Read previous posts with translations & comments I pointed out //

This time I'll look at the Episode 3 [Yeowoon's Affection level from 0 to -99]. Disclaimer: I'm not fluent in Korean but I've been learning it for years and I've lived and studied in Korea for a while. However, in particular Sangwon and Sia annoyed me so much this episode because their banter is so funny but I cannot decipher their wordplay 100% by ear without KR subs so I have to skip over their dialogues %)

Anyway, there's still some fun language stuff to point out!

- "You're late, Senior (hyung)" - "Senior? (Sunbae?)"

Fun fact: Sangwon, who's the same year as Yeowoon, addresses Myungha as "hyung". Meanwhile Yeowoon addresses Myungha only as "sunbae". Hyung is a term guys call their older male friends (if you're familiar with Thai BLs as well, it's same as "Pi"), meanwhile gender-neutral sunbae means senior, someone who's been longer than you in the industry or some institution (like school).

If I remember correctly, Yeowoon keeps calling Myungha 'sunbae/senior' until the very end of the show. Even when they are sleeping over in the same house after school hours, Yeowoon doesn't call Myungha hyung but sunbae only. In Korea, you use titles or formal full names to people older than you or acquaintances, and you usually use names with the people younger than you. That's why, if you think about it, there wasn't a moment in show when Yeowoon says Myungha's name :D Only sunbae. And that's normal. (this is also why Myungha never mentions Writer sunbae's name at all)

Also, we'll return to Myungha's usage of Yeowoon's name a bit later.

"Keep doing it if you want to die young, Sangwon-ah." "*gasp* You call me by my name when you're mad?"

But Sangwon is talking to Myungha in a very familiar way, using 'hyung' instead of 'senior' every time, making it feel like they are friends (and most of their interaction this episode revolves around Sangwon trying to make Myungha talk to him like a close friend as well xD).

Why is Sangwon so thrilled every time Myungha calls him by his name? Because there are many other Korean words you can use for people, especially if you're angry with them (ranging from the impolite 'this guy' to swearwords). But every time Myungha gives a casual warning to Sangwon who's annoying him, he still says "Sangwon-ah", which is how you'd call your younger friend who's just being a brat. No wonder Sangwon keeps pushing Myungha to get his attention and affection^^

On the topic of names and intonation: I noticed Myungha uses aegyo (acting cute) often when he talks to his grandma. However, with other school students, like I mentioned in my previous language posts, most of the time his speech feels like a patronizing talk of a 29-y.o. adult.

But! I found that one scene when Myungha is deliberately using aegyo with Yeowoon! The reason for it is that Yeowoon finally responded and wanted to meet up after avoiding him for so long, and Myungha is extremely excited.

"Yeowoon-ie, you're waiting for hyung?~" "Don't use that voice".

Two things: Myungha calls himself Yeowoon's "hyung" which feels closer than "sunbae", he wanted to take the next step and make their communication less formal. And instead of saying friendly "Yeowoon-ah" like he always does, he changed the pronunciation of his name to "Yeowoon-ie" — which is, together with the playful intonation in his voice, is so. fucking. cute. However, Yeowoon instantly rejected his aegyo and Myungha returned to the way he always spoke x) RIP.

I already pointed it out briefly in another post but – Myungha cooked a curry rice for dinner with Yeowoon. It might not seem like anything, but I thought it was an amazing detail to show later in the series that even when Yeowoon almost forgotten about Myungha who disappeared, he kept bulk buying rice with curry (yellow packages) for his dinner.

"You act like you're my parent (guardian)." "Well, you're not wrong."

I thought that Myungha telling Yeowoon he's not wrong about him being his "parent" was a bit weird, and indeed, the word they are using here is 보호자 (bohoja), which is "guardian". It can be said about parents but also about anyone who's protecting something or someone as well. Which is exactly what Myungha is striving to do in this world and in this game. To protect and take care of Yeowoon.

"My mom split (ran away) but my dad said she died." "I wish I could split (run away)... I kept running around the field because I felt frustrated. But how could I run away?"

Here I'll need some help from native English speakers, which I'm not, can 'split' be used in this dialogue with the same connotation? Because in Korean, Myungha clearly says "My mom ran away", to which Yeowoon responds "I wish I could run away" and immediately remembering about the reason why he became a runner. And I just loved the accent the show made on this word, which got lost in Gaga subs.

"Don't slack off because you think no one sees." "Maintain your image (Do some mental training)"

This one is surely a mistranslation. The coach says "Do Image Training", in Korea and in some other Asian countries, as far as I encountered this term, this basically means "mental training", or "meditation" and has nothing to do with maintaining one's reputation.

Think "breathe in, breathe out and think how well you'll do and imagine yourself running that race before it starts".

Yeah, probably no one cared about that dialogue or scene anyway, but I hope you're still enjoying my hyperfixation on this show xD Anyway, it's been a long post and I'm done for Episode 3 — but as a bonus, let me share bonus with one of the Sangwoon x Sia scenes.

+

I tried hard to figure out the word that Sia uses when Myungha pleads her to get rid of Sangwoon, and the closest I could get was 분력 (the power of Buddha), but one thing for sure — following Myungha's begging, Sia cross-sprayed Sangwoon with perfume like holy water and ordered him like "Begone, demon!". Lmao :D

[itsaspectrumcomic]

Hello,

I really enjoy your comic. Both from aesthetic and informative point of viev. I have a question about begging stages of your crative process. How did you pick a suitalbe art style for a comic of that sort? I'm asking because I want to illustrate my struggles with OCD in similar form (I can never find any good representation of OCD in media and it's so often used as a comic relief I'm sick of it, so I thought if i want to see it I'd betterdraw it myself) However my usual art style is way too complicated for a comic like that and i don't know how to simlify it without copying anyone else's style.

I am aware asking you about art related advice might be too much, so you don't have to respond. But your comics are really good and i wanted to ask about it a person who does it well. And please tell me if me asking is inappropriate, I have trouble discerning what i am allowed to ask for and what is impolite.

I apologise if my message is unclear. My way of communicating tends to be chaotic and I'm afraid I'll be misunderstood so I tend to talk way too much. Also English is not my first language.

Thank you for hearing me out.

Don't worry, I'm very happy to talk about my art process!

I deliberately simplified my art style for It's a Spectrum since I wanted to be able to draw them quickly and get my ideas across clearly without worrying too much about the art being 'good enough'. My usual art style is closer to what I'm using for my graphic novel:

They have more realistic eyes! And body proportions! They actually have noses!

For It's a Spectrum I focused on simplfying the things I find more difficult or time consuming like eyes, clothes, shading, and backgrounds, and I avoid drawing more complicated poses or angles unless it's necessary to get my point across.

Dots for eyes, no background, just head and shoulders, didn't even draw hands for this one.

One way to learn to simplify your art is by trying to draw really quickly without losing the most important parts of the drawing. Have you seen those drawing challenges where you have 10 minutes to draw an object, then 5 minutes, then 1 minute, then 10 seconds? That's a really good way to practice because in the end you're forced to avoid adding any detail that isn't completely necessary.

Also, look at other comics with styles you like! There's nothing wrong with taking inspiration and mix and matching different aspects into your own work. At first your art might start off looking similar to others, but the more different people you're inspired by and the more you draw your own work, the more you'll develop your own style.

If you do make any illustrations about OCD, feel free to send them my way! I would love to see them :)

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for putting knob covers on the stove that my disabled dad couldn't open?

So I (26M) recently moved back in with my parents (60M and 58F) temporarily because I'm kind of between apartments right now. My dad has Parkinson's disease and has, over the years, become both clumsier and more absent-minded. An important symptom of Parkinson's that will become relevant in this story is that he also has partial anosmia (his sense of smell is impaired).

So anyway, about a year and a half ago, before I had moved out, one day I came home from work and smelled gas as soon as I entered the house. I discovered one of the burners on the stove had been left open, and gas had been seeping into the room. I turned off the main gas supply, opened all the windows, and waited outside while calling my mom about it frantically. It turns out Dad had been cleaning the oven earlier and must have bumped the burner with his head while leaning in to clean the door. Because of his anosmia, he had not smelled the gas. I kind of freaked out and threatened to remove all the knobs off the stove, because I felt my life was in danger, but my mom talked me down into believing that it was just a fluke and probably wouldn't happen again.

Anyway, fast forward to the day before yesterday. I woke up after sleeping in late (I work night shifts now) and went to go make myself some food, but for some reason the GFI circuit breaker to the stove outlet had tripped. After resetting it, I immediately noticed that the lower drawer oven was on, because the knob had been left on. That oven is a little broken because the drawer mechanism is bent, so it doesn't close fully - I'm speculating, but the only thing I can think of is that the breaker must have tripped because the drawer was open and the heating element couldn't keep it up to temperature without getting so hot it exceeded its current rating or something. There was no gas leak this time, thankfully, but I knew my dad must have left it that way since my mom never cooks in the morning, especially not with the oven, ESPECIALLY not with the broken drawer oven. The only logical conclusion was that he accidentally bumped the knob again and didn't notice again. This time, thank God it wasn't the gas again.

I basically just told my mom that I was getting knob covers for the stove, and she agreed. So I got some on Amazon with next day delivery and installed them as soon as they arrived. I then took an afternoon nap, and then spent a few hours in my room playing video games and talking with friends on Discord. I was home the entire day, though, and he has my phone number and is able to text if he thought it would be impolite to knock or something. He didn't say a word to me all day.

Apparently, though, he got furious with my mom because the knobs have safety covers on them now. He told her he can't open them (although I later walked down the stairs, and found one of them open, and I had not left it that way - he definitely can, I think he just had trouble figuring out how at first. They're child safety caps so unfortunately they're a bit tricky to get open) and that now he was unable to cook for himself. He did not ask me to help him get them open though, and I would have done so in a heartbeat. He has not said anything about this to me at all, not even anything subtle or passive-aggressive.

I discussed it with my mom, and we agreed to leave them mostly closed but unlatched - the latch is the difficult part to get open, but they stay closed enough for them to keep the knobs from being bumped even if they are not fully latched shut. My mom agreed to communicate with him better about stuff like this. But if he asks to have the caps removed completely, it's a hard, hard no - I don't want to die in a gas explosion.

AITA for doing this?

What are these acronyms?

[howlingday]

TAURUS TEACHES:

HOW TO BE COOL!

Adam: Hey, hey, dude! Welcome back to another class in coolness! I see you've done your homework~.

Ruby: (Dressed like 90s cool stereotype) Yeh.

Adam: You're looking slick, man! Real cool! Awesome job! A plus for sure! How we feelin', mah man~?

Ruby: Cool~!

Adam: Sick! Today, we're gonna talk about talking. You've got the look, but you talk with a certain lack of confidence. Ya feel me? Quiet like, and like a Signal student like. Ya feel me?

Ruby: (Whines)

Adam: That's what I'm talking about, man! Speak up! How old are you?!

Ruby: I'm 43!

Adam: See, that's not- Holy shit, you're 43?

Ruby: Yeh.

Adam: That's no way for a person of your age to be talking.

Ruby: Well, that's why I'm here, I guess.

Adam: Exactly right, Rube! You're at the right place! Adam Taurus will get you sorted out! First, I want you to project. With your voice.

Ruby: Like- Right now? Here? On the street?

Adam: No better place! Say something loudly, immediately!

Ruby: Well, wh-what should I say?

Adam: The COOLEST thing you can think of!

Ruby: I- I CALL MY DAD OFTEN~!

Nora: (Distant) Oh, that's nice~! I should call my dad~!

Adam: Man, that's not cool! Hm... The projection was right, but the subject matter's lacking. Calling your dad isn't that cool.

Ruby: (Gasps)

Adam: Now, without shouting it, tell me something cool.

Ruby: Hm... I have NO credit card debt~!

Adam: No.

Ruby: Um... I cut drinking coffee because it's too acidic, so now I'm more of a tea gal~.

Adam: No!

Ruby: My apartment is spotless!

Adam: ...I think you're fundamentally misunderstanding what it is "cool". To be cool is to be a bit BAD! Be a RULE-BREAKER! Being RUDE, IRRESPONSIBLE, PUNCHING, KICKING, HAVING SEX, AND EATING BUGS! ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE UP FOR THIS~?!

Ruby: I AM! I AM~!

Adam: Alright! That's what I wanna hear! But you need to start small... Say the worst swear you know!

Ruby: Like, now? Right on the street?

Adam: YES, HERE ON THE STREET!

Ruby: Hm... Heck.

Adam: I'm sure you know worse words than heck.

Ruby: Frick?

Adam: You're not even trying.

Ruby: It's impolite.

Adam: Exactly. Say a swear.

Ruby: Um... Uh, hell?

Adam: ...Okay~! (Nods) Now we're talkin'! Keep goin'~!

Ruby: (Hums) Shit!

Adam: Yeah... Yeah, that's cool~!

Ruby: (Giggles) FUCK!

Adam: WHOA~! YEAH~! Can you use it in a sentence~?!

Ruby: I... fuck... pussy!

Adam: ...That's amazing. Okay, I think that's enough to warm us up. Now, project again, big and loud, and say the coolest, baddest, wickedest thing you can think of!

Ruby: (Chuckles) Okay~!

Ruby: [Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient".] FATHER- [General censorship occurs in a variety of different media, including speech, books, music, films, and other arts, the press, radio, television, and the Internet for a variety of claimed reasons including national security, to control obscenity, pornography, and hate speech, to protect children or other vulnerable groups, to promote or restrict political or religious views, and to prevent slander and libel.] ATLAS ACADEMY~!

Adam: ...

Adam: I- Oh my god. Oh my- Oh my god, you can't say that!

Nora: DO YOU TALK TO YOUR DAD LIKE THAT?!

Ruby: No! No! I-I was just-

Adam: No, no, no. Absolutely not. That's not cool at all.

Ruby: I- I'm sorry~!

Adam: I dunno. That's just... (Takes off mask) You don't really think that, do you?

Ruby: Of course not!

Adam: Okay. (Sighs) God... I'm just- It's my fault, really. I'm the instructor, I could've... I dunno. But that's a failing grade for today. Definitely a fucking F- for sure!

Ruby: Should we... meet tomorrow?

Adam: We definitely should, but we need to leave this part of town immediately. Walk the other way. I'll message you. (Leaves)

Nora: YEAH, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! (Launches grenades at Ruby)

Ruby: (Screaming as she flees)

Nora: SOOOO! RUUUDE!

[antimony-medusa]

Okay prompted by some conversations I’ve been having, but the comment has been made that it’s an unrealistic promise to have been made by a fandom, that if you google your name you won’t find anything you dislike or are uncomfortable with, and boy, does that feel more and more true.

Because like, setting boundaries for your specific circles where you are— twitch chat, your fan art tag, your instagram mentions, your discord— that’s absolutely fair and I support that. That’s healthy. Someone saying “if you comment on my tits I will not be responding and you won’t be welcome at my parties again”, that’s just healthy adult communication. Shutting down sexual comments, or saying you won’t be participating in talk about certain hot-button topics, or saying you won’t be speculating about disability or sexuality or mental health or gender— those are just good moderation techniques of a space.

But like, outside of those spaces that you are sort of in charge of, where people have the expectation that you’re gonna be there— Many of us have had the experience of walking into a room unexpectedly and hearing ourselves discussed, and while that is usually horribly awkward for everyone involved, the people talking about us were not necessarily committing a moral sin, particularly if we’d just done something to attract attention and make ourselves a subject of conversation.

I am not that famous, but I am weird in public, and I’ve walked into a room and heard people going “so wait is she straight or what”, I’ve heard people discussing my grieving process, I’ve heard people speculating about my dating life, and I’ve heard people discuss if I was just uncomfortable with my boobs based on how I dressed. I have walked in on people talking about my legs.

Were those my favorite social experiences of my life? No, but a) in most of those cases no one was doing anything wrong or impolite (one person in the grief conversation was being rude but everyone else was being even-handed), they were simply having a discussion without me in the room b) the victory condition for this experience for me is not to confront them and go “so you can’t figure out if I’m straight” while they stammer, or to vague this conversation later, it’s simply to back away silently and go get some water or something, and maybe text my friends like “guess what!”

The entire internet as it turns up if you name-search yourself is not a conversation that you’re in charge of, it’s a conversation other people are having without you there. And like— it’s most polite to talk about how attractive someone is not to their face! If you see an attractive person on the bus and text your friends about the incredible tits and tattoos on this person, that’s perfectly fine behaviour, while it would be rude to shout that at them across the bus.

I don’t know. Talking about a person, especially if they made themselves noteworthy in some way— ranging from local gossip to major celebrity— is just how human interactions work. This promise that we as a fandom have made to streamers that we will conduct every conversation we have about them like they’re in the room, and thus they will never stumble into awkward or horrifying conversations, is not realistic or sustainable and not how human interactions work with any other social situation. I don’t think it’s fair for the fandom and it’s not safe for the streamer either. I don’t know.

[the12thnightproject]

Chapter Six: Mitsunari POV (gacha) - The Closed Door Conumdrum - We peek inside Mitsunari's brain and discover he's not nearly as absentminded as he seems. Ok. Not as absentminded.

Mitsunari x OC; Nobunaga x Mai

Previous Chapter

Logline - In order to protect a political alliance, Katusko and Mitsunari must pretend an engagement. But this “all business” arrangement is threatened by a coup against Nobunaga… and by feelings.

From the Military Notes of Ishida Mitsunari…

Accurate communication is essential on the battlefield. The ‘fog of war’ can create confusion, cause errors, and even be the cause of self-inflicted casualties. It is essential that prior to a battle beginning, clear lines and methods of communication are established.

Personal comments: Lady Okatsu is willing to eat my carrots, which is a promising development for our alliance.

Additional Note One: Lord Hideyoshi saw the above note and reminded me that carrots are good for me and that I should eat them.

Additional Note Two: Lord Masamune also saw the above and asked me if “willing to eat my carrots” was a euphemism. Am unsure what he meant.

The words of the book he was reading wavered before his eyes, then disappeared. No. It was dark. Everything had gone dark again. Dark and …

Mitsunari reached up and removed the scarf that had been tossed over his head. Mitsuhide stood in front of him, holding a tray that contained several dishes of food (including a main dish that held far too many carrots) and jar of something that looked sticky. Was that a new dessert? And why had Mitsuhide delivered his meal? He dipped a finger in the sticky substance and brought it to his mouth.

“I wouldn’t if I were you. It’s unlikely to kill you, but I doubt the effects would be at all pleasant.” Mitsuhide put the entire tray into his hands. “It’s salve, for Okatsu’s eye.”

“Is she in here?” Mitsunari glanced around the archive room, but the only other occupant was Mitsuhide.

“No. You are to deliver this to Okatsu – I’m certain, that she at least, must be hungry by now.” Mitsuhide paused for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. “I told the maid not to bring her evening meal.”

Why had he done that? Mitsunari was aware that Hideyoshi was upset with all of them, but it was unfair of Mitsuhide to only punish Lady Okatsu. He was also certain that Hideyoshi was unaware that Okatsu wasn’t being fed.

After another long moment, Mitsuhide eventually answered his unasked question. “In order for the charade of an engagement to succeed, you and Okatsu need to figure out how to act like a couple in love.”

Love? Mitsunari liked Lady Okatsu, but he didn’t have the slightest idea how to behave as if he loved her. “What is the best tactic for love? Where would I begin?”

“You need to spend more time with her. Starting tonight. Lovers enjoy sharing a meal together.” He tapped at one of the dishes on the tray. “Lovers converse. Often, they casually touch each other – as Nobunaga and Mai do.”

I wouldn’t be so impolite as to touch her!

Mitsunari’s panic at that instruction must have shown on his face, for Mitsuhide softened his tone. “It is for you and Okatsu to decide for yourselves what feels the most natural.” Mitsuhide gave Mitsunari a light push toward the door. “Having a frank conversation would be the best place to start.”

Lady Okatsu’s door was shut. Mitsunari looked at the tray in his hands and wondered how to slide it open without dropping anything. If he were being honest with himself, he was surprised he’d managed to carry the tray from the archive room without incident.

Well. There must be a trick to it. Maids did this every day and he’d not heard any of them drop trays. But maybe they did? Maybe dropped trays was an ongoing issue that needed solved. What if they were to build small tables outside of each room? That way one could put the tray down, open the door, then pick the tray up again.

Although such a solution might take a while.

Perhaps he should talk to Lady Mai and discuss having the maids deliver meals in teams of two, so that there would always be someone to open the door. Though that would be a waste of manpower, would it not? What if each dinner tray came equipped with an attached stick that could be used as a lever to pull the door open? He was halfway through the schematics of such an invention before he realized that Lady Okatsu’s food was getting cold. Maybe she would open the door for him. “Lady Okatsu?”

He heard her rustling around. “Come on in.”

That… solved nothing.

He started to shift the tray to one hand. It tipped precariously.

Thankfully, before disaster struck, Lady Okatsu slid open the door, let him inside and immediately cleared a space for him to set down the tray. He appreciated her ability to understand what was needed without verbal instructions. It was a good quality to have in a warrior.

Not that she was a warrior. Tonight, she was a civilian, and a wounded one at that. As it had been his slow reaction time that had allowed her to get injured, he owed her an apology. “I’m sorry for-”

“I need to apologize for-” she said at the same time.

“I’m sorry-” Wait… Should he also apologize for interrupting? “I’m sorry you were hurt.” Her eye had turned purple and looked swollen and painful. At the last moment, he realized he’d been about to touch it, and quickly pulled his hand back. “I should have protected you.”

“Oh, no. It wasn’t your fault. I shouldn’t have gone over there in the first place… and once the fighting started, I should have stayed out of your way. It’s my fault. I didn’t think.” She looked away from him, and Mitsunari realized that Mitsuhide had been correct – the two of them did need to learn how to communicate. Not simply to portray love, but at more importantly to be able to cooperate during this mission.

However, medical aid was the first order of business. He handed her the salve and the cloth. “For your injury. Ieyasu makes it.” Second order of business? Determine what had happened at the restaurant. Lady Okatsu didn’t come across as particularly flighty.  “Why did you go to talk to the sailors? You must have had a good reason.”

There was a battered, and unfortunately food splattered drawing on the desk. It was a sketch of a young man, who, from the shape of his face, could be related to Lady Okatsu. “My brother is missing, and the last information I had about him was that he had been imprisoned on a ship of some kind. So, whenever I see sailors – I ask. But normall… Normally they answer my questions.”

She moved the portrait aside and picked up the ointment. After taking a cautious sniff, she dipped her finger in and swiped it across her cheek… missing most of the injury entirely.

He ought to assist her. Perhaps this was what Mitsuhide meant by ‘casual touch.’ “You missed a spot – let me help.”

Lady Okatsu hesitated a moment before sitting down on the futon. She turned her face to him and shut her eyes.

It wasn’t as if he’d never treated battlefield wounds before – but the hurried ‘patch them up and move on’ atmosphere of a medical tent was different from this peaceful summer evening. It was so quiet he could hear the buzzing of the cicadas and the setting sun shone through the window at just the right angle to highlight a hint of red in Lady Okatsu’s hair. Though he knew nothing about women’s hairstyles, he suspected it wasn’t supposed to look like that, with pieces of it falling out of the complicated knot. He liked it though - it made her look a bit more approachable.

Right. The salve. He knelt next to her, dunked his fingers in the jar, and… was that too much? Better too much than too little. He transferred the ointment to her face, doing his best to spread it all over her wound before that extra glob slid-

Oops.

Lady Okatsu shivered.

“Did I hurt you?” Maybe he was putting it on wrong. He reminded himself again that Lady Okatsu wasn’t truly a warrior, for all that she was fierce and efficient.

“No.” She lightly touched the now-oily wound. “It tickled, actually.”

Hm. He had indeed put too much on. He didn’t think it was supposed to look shiny, it ought to sink in. Better try to rub it in a little more. But… now his fingers were all oily too. He tried to get the last of it with his palm, and -

Interesting.

The curve of her face fit exactly into his hand, as if her cheek and his palm were pieces of a puzzle. “There. Done.”

She opened her eyes and Mitsunari realized their faces were too close. And he was still touching her. Mitsuhide’s instructions or not, this did not feel like the prescribed ‘casual touch.’ He jerked his hand away and jumped to his feet.

Lady Okatsu reached up and brushed her fingers across her face in the spot where his palm had been a moment earlier, and he had the strangest urge to put his hand back again. She cleared her throat. “Thank you.”

You’re welcome. But the words stuck in his throat, so he smiled and bowed. He should leave. Yes. It was time for him to leave. This was enough getting-comfortable for him.

Her words stopped him at the door. “Wait. Have you eaten?”

Hm. He had not. Right. Eating together was what Mitsuhide had intended.

She beckoned him back inside. “There’s more than enough for two people.”

Yes, this was obviously true, although… “Yes. If you promise to eat all the carrots. I do not like them.”

She laughed. “Sure – if you do the same with the mushrooms.”

Perhaps that was part of what ‘love’ was. Finding someone who would eat the food you did not like. He settled down at the writing desk and watched as she divided up the dishes, keeping the carrots for herself, and transferring the mushrooms into his bowl. It might be a good idea to keep a list of things he liked about Lady Okatsu, so that if he were questioned about the truth of their relationship, he would be able to respond without hesitation.

She eats my carrots.

She is interested in military strategy.

She made sure that books didn’t fall on my—

In that instant, the memory of Lady Okatsu moving the pile of books this morning was replaced with the memory of the elderly bookseller moving a similar stack earlier this summer. He might not be good with names, but he was good with faces and… yes. He was certain that several weeks ago Lady Okatsu had been in Azuchi. And she had been disguised as an old man. Which potentially meant that… “Are you a spy?”

She paused, her food halfway between her bowl and her mouth, and looked warily at him. “No. Why are you asking?”

Best to simply get it all out in the open. “Because you were in Azuchi a few months ago dressed as an old man.”

“How did you know?” She must have determined that she was ok with him knowing because she returned to eating.

“When we met, you were familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen you. Then, today in the bookstore, when you moved those books before they fell, I realized you had done that before.” And… having put together Lady Okatsu and the old man, he suddenly realized she had also been the young man he met outside the castle yesterday morning. Interesting.

She seemed nonchalant about the whole thing. “Yes, that was me. But I wasn’t spying. I mean, to me, spying is sneaking into some place and stealing information that they don’t want anyone to know about, right? I was observing things that anyone could have seen if they were paying attention.”

“Hrm.” He didn’t quite agree with her definition of spying, but he supposed part of that would depend on who she passed on her observations to. “What were you doing with the information?”

“Generally, it’s for those people who don’t want to be caught in the path of warring clans.” Either she was pretending she wasn’t worried, or she truly was not worried. Or… Mitsunari simply wasn’t interpreting her emotions well at all? It could be that. Reading people’s emotions wasn’t his strength. Maybe he ought to tell Mitsuhide and have him question her?

That idea made him pause – Mitsuhide had a reputation, a well-earned one, for his harsh interrogations. The thought of Lady Okatsu (or, whoever she was) at Mitsuhide’s mercy made his chest tighten.

But she anticipated that thought too. “In any case, Mitsuhide knows about the booksellers – my employer runs it – and if he had a problem with it, he would have put a stop to it. He uses it himself as a message drop.”

Ah. That was ok then. It seemed that Mitsuhide had taken the time to find the most qualified person to portray his fiancée. Okatsu was a professional observer (to use her word) and Mitsunari could count on her as a colleague, rather than worry she was a spy. “I ought to have realized Mitsuhide had taken this into consideration already.” He relaxed… then noticed there was another dreaded carrot in his bowl. He tossed it at Okatsu’s dish.

Even better, she could be counted on to simply play her role, and act as a rather specialized warrior. She could pretend to be in love without truly being in love. “If you are a professional observer, Okatsu, then you aren’t someone Mitsuhide forced into this charade. Nor are you someone whose feelings could be hurt.”

“Why would my feelings be hurt?” There was a hit of something less-than-professional in her voice. He’d apparently said something wrong. But he couldn’t think what that might be.

Not daring to look at her, he tried to explain without making it worse. “I don’t want to be in love with anyone. I don’t have time for it, and I don’t want you to think-”

“No worries. Once our fake engagement is called off, I’ll go back to being a messenger and a scout, and I really like that job.” A wayward mushroom found its way into his dish. “Anyway, I imagine being a wife would severely limit my ability to search for my brother.”

Good. They seemed to have sorted out… er… whatever it was that he had said. “We are in agreement then?”

“We are.” She smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but smile back, feeling relieved that they could now be friends and fellow soldiers without the danger of feelings getting in the way of things. This was good.

This was exactly what he wanted.

That taken care of, he thought back to Mitsuhide’s suggestion and asked Okatsu (or should she still be Lady Okatsu? Maybe he needed to continue to use the formal, otherwise he might get it wrong when they were public? Although maybe an engaged couple were allowed to be less formal?) about her life as a courier and was rewarded with an interesting story about a time she had had to help a ninja out of a tree.

He sat back and listened to her chatter away knowledgably about politics and military strategy. On one level, he had a feeling that she had chosen her topics because she knew that these were things that interested him, but she had to have some interest herself to be able to speak so confidently about such things. “I witnessed a couple of the battles of the Siege of Itami last year. Was that triple column your formation?”    

He nodded. The formation hadn’t been what had proved the deciding point in the campaign, though. They’d won when they filled in the castle’s moat… which had been Mitsuhide’s idea.

Before he could point that out, Lady Okatsu moved on to a different topic. “I bet you’re really good at shogi.”

“I don’t know how to play.” He’d wanted to learn but hadn’t made it a priority. Lord Hideyoshi relied on his battle plans too much for him to take the time to learn a new game on his own and he’d not found anyone willing to teach him.

“I know Mitsuhide plays – half the messages I’ve delivered over the past four years have been a part of a long drawn-out game he’s been playing with Aki.” She picked up a cloth bundle, then unwrapped it to reveal a shogi set. “I could teach you.”

That was an enticing idea. As much as he enjoyed listening to Okatsu’s stories, learning to play shogi sounded even better. If he were playing a game, he would be less stressed to think of things to talk about. “I would enjoy that very much. Mitsuhide has refused to teach me.”

Over the past week, Mitsunari had learned two things. One: he very much liked shogi. Two: Okatsu took defeat remarkably well. Rather than be upset that he’d surpassed her abilities, she instead took it as a challenge to improve her own game. Or games, since they’d branched out to Go and ban-sugoroku.

“You two are playing the less exciting version of Go.” Mitsunari looked up to see that at some point, Lady Mai had come into the room with a bundle of clothing. He’d been so intent on the game he hadn’t heard her enter.

There was a more exciting version? He took a quick peek at Okatsu’s face, but she didn’t appear to be familiar with that either, because she said to Lady Mai, “Alright, since you’re clearly waiting for me to ask – what is the more exciting version?”

“Nobunaga and I play with penalties … and favors.” Lady Mai winked.

“Oh! So, if I were to lose, Okatsu could tell me to eat my carrots?” In the years before he’d been sent to temple to be a page, he had played “Go” with his older brother. The penalties for losing hadn’t been much fun. Luckily, he’d quickly learned how to win, although that hadn’t always stopped the penalties. “That might add an element of daring to the game.”

“Uh, yeah. That.” Lady Mai laughed to herself. “Eep.”

“Serves you right.” Lady Mai and Okatsu seemed to be having a conversation that was flying past him. He wasn’t sure if it was the sort of conversation that Masamune and Mitsuhide took part in, or if this was something that would go into the mysterious vault of “women.” He figured if it was important, Okatsu would tell him later.

Meanwhile, Mai interrupted their game in process by requiring that Okatsu try on her new clothing. While his ‘fiancee’ hurried behind a screen to change, he killed time by setting up a shogi game to play against himself. Then Mai handed him a bundle of fabric as well. “I made a couple new kimonos for you too.”

He hadn’t realized that he’d be receiving a new wardrobe for this journey, but he supposed there might be formal occasions where Lord Hideyoshi would want them all to dress up. Rich clothing was a form of armor, he knew, a way to alert others that your clan had money and enough resources to spend it on luxury.

He peeked inside the bundle and saw the not only the purple hues that he normally picked out on his own (it was simpler for him to acquire clothing that looked similar – less chance of mismatching something), but also something in a dark blue-green shade. He sent an enquiring look at Lady Mai.

“I believe that’s Lady Okatsu’s favorite color,” she said to him softly, and indeed a moment later, Okatsu emerged from behind the screen wearing a complimentary lighter blue-green kimono.

“This is easier to move around in.” She turned from side to side, and the material made a soft swishing sound against her body.

That sound of fabric rustling across her body… it created an echoing vibration in his head, that for a moment blocked out all sound. He shook his head to clear it.

He hoped he wasn’t coming down with something.

When he was able to refocus his attention on the present, it was to see Okatsu swirl around and kick her leg up and out to the side. “This is amazing. Thank you!”

Mai smiled just as the door slid open behind her. “This is what I do. But… don’t tell Hideyoshi.”

Lord Hideyoshi and Lord Mitsuhide came into the room. “Don’t tell Hideyoshi what?”

“How much she spent on the fabric.” Okatsu lied to Hideyoshi so smoothly that if Mitsunari hadn’t known she was lying, he would have believed her. In fact, she possibly was telling a truth, but not the one in question.

And Lord Hideyoshi seemed to accept it without a second thought. “Oh, don’t worry about that. It’s your due as an Oda Princess.”

Mitsunari couldn’t decide how he felt about the lying. As a tactician, he thought her ability could be useful. But personally, he hoped that she never lied to him.

If she did, though, would he even be able to tell?

@bestbryn @katriniac @lyds323 @briars7 @lorei-writes

[lokimobius]

🤲 A guiding hand for Lokius <3

Posted on ao3 if people prefer reading over there!

In which Loki has a surprise for Mobius

Mobius arrived home from the market just after lunchtime. He’d been there far longer than he wanted to, as people kept stopping him to chat. Every time he reached a new stall, they’d ask him variations of the same question: “How’s the gardening going?” “Where’s your partner?” “Did you hear about the village meeting next Thursday?”. It was almost as if they were all reading off a script.   

He didn’t mind chatting with the people in their village; they had been so kind to welcome them into their community with open arms, but he did want to get back home to Loki quickly. They hadn’t had lunch yet, and he promised that they’d make pizza with the ingredients he bought.   

“I’m home!” He called.   

Loki stepped out of the kitchen with a smile and moved towards him to kiss his cheek. “Welcome back, dear. Whatever took you so long?” He plucked the shopping bags out of Mobius' arms and turned back towards the kitchen.   

Mobius sighed dramatically. “Where do I start?” He scoffed, bending down to take off his shoes. “Everyone and their mother wanted to talk to me today, and I couldn’t get away without being impolite.” He heard Loki laugh from the other room and continued his rant. “Can you believe that they’re doing roadworks on the main road again? They weren’t there when I walked into town this morning! And even though I walked home, I had to follow a diversion; it’s ridiculous!”  

“Sounds like you didn’t have much luck today.”   

“Tell me about it.” He said and moved towards the kitchen door.

“If you could be so kind as to wait there for me, Mobius,” Loki called, “I have a surprise for you!”   

He paused. “What’s the occasion?”   

Loki reappeared and leaned against the kitchen doorway, smiling at him fondly. “Can’t I do something nice for my husband without needing an occasion?”   

“Loki, last time you surprised me, you used your magic to grow ivy on the front of the house, but you forgot to limit the spell, so it grew over the front door, and we couldn’t get out.”   

“You said that you wanted ivy growing on the house when we first moved in.” Loki pouted.   

He moved closer to wrap his arms around Loki’s waist. “I do, but we could’ve grown it ourselves and maintained it properly.” He placed a quick kiss on Loki’s lips. “You don’t have to give me everything that I wish for.”   

Loki tipped his head up defiantly. “Yes, I do.”   

He’d told Loki multiple times that he didn’t need him to buy or conjure anything for him to be happy, but Loki always replied with a flutter of his eyelashes and a “But it makes me happy, Mobius.” Loki knew how to use those beautiful eyes to his advantage, and the sweet expression melted Mobius’ insides every time. He’d let Loki do anything if it meant that he was happy, so he yielded yet again.   

“Okay, sweetheart, what have you got for me this time?”   

Loki jumped, vibrating with excitement. “It’s outside in the garden. Something you’ve always wanted!” He held his hand out to Mobius and grinned. “Close your eyes and take my hand.”   

Mobius raised his eyebrows at his husband curiously, and Loki winked at him, wriggling his fingers for Mobius to take.   

It must be something big for Loki to ask him to do this. Normally, surprises were just sprung on him; no secrecy was needed. This one, however, seemed more planned than the average surprise he’d gotten used to.   

He closed his eyes and took his hand, yet again falling so easily into the trap set by Loki. He couldn’t resist how excited he looked, and if he were being honest, he was kind of excited too.   

Just then, a thought struck him, and he opened one eye quickly to look at Loki. “You better not have enlarged another Venus fly trap. Flies are supposed to be outside, y’know.”   

"I won't repeat that mistake,” Loki tsked before guiding him through the kitchen towards the large French doors to the patio.   

He could feel the sun on his skin as he reached the threshold, and Loki let go of his hand to take hold of his arm gently. “Watch your step.”   

“Wait there,” Loki said when Mobius was safely outside.   

Anticipation bubbled in his stomach. What on Earth had Loki got for him? Perhaps it was that barbeque he’d been eyeing at the shop the other day? Or the bench that he’d seen online that was 40% off—that was too good of a deal to pass up. Or maybe it was something extravagant, like a fountain.   

He listened carefully to the sounds of the garden, but all he could hear were Loki’s footsteps as he moved around the patio, obviously arranging things and the wind chime that Loki had bought at the craft market last month.   

He felt Loki’s hands on his arms again, and he moved forward a few steps.   

“Perfect,” he said. “Now on the count of three, open your eyes.”   

“One, two, three!”   

Mobius opened his eyes.   

“SURPRISE!” 

He blinked rapidly and looked around in an attempt to take in the scene before him.    

The patio had been decorated for a party. Balloons were pinned to the trellis that lined the wall by the door, and streamers had been draped over the camellia bushes nearby. A gold tablecloth draped over the patio table, and on top was an array of party food. But what stood out to him the most was a large, key lime pie with candles poked precariously around the edges.  

The garden was full of all of their friends, old and new. He looked over to see O.B., Casey and B-15 hovering by the table, and O.B. waved at him enthusiastically. To the left of them was a group of his friends from the town. He saw a few of the people who held him up at the market, and they smiled knowingly at him.   

Everything clicked into place. Loki had orchestrated the whole thing. The incessant chatting and the roadworks were all part of his plan to stall Mobius long enough to set this up.   

In front of all of them stood Loki, who beamed at Mobius, his eyes shining with what looked like tears.   

“Happy birthday, Mobius,” he said, opening his arms for a hug.   

Mobius felt himself well up. No one had ever done anything so thoughtful for him. He flung himself into Loki’s open arms and squeezed his waist tightly as he tucked his head into his neck.   

Loki kissed the top of his head and ran a soothing hand down his back. “I knew that you’d forget the date that you chose for your birthday,” he said quietly. “So, I thought I’d do something special to remind you.”   

He lifted his head and kissed Loki firmly on the lips, which earned a muffled sound of surprise from Loki and some cheering from their friends. He smiled into it, wondering what he’d done to deserve the love that Loki gave him so freely.   

When he pulled away, Loki had the tiniest blush on his cheeks. Mobius kissed him again quickly, for good measure. He delighted in making Loki flustered.   

“I love you so much,” he murmured against his lips. “Thank you for this.”   

Loki kissed his cheek and whispered, “Anything for you.”   

“Now, what do you say we celebrate with the pie that Casey made for you?”    

Loki held his hand out again for Mobius, and this time he took it happily. He allowed Loki to guide him towards their friends, and they all took turns hugging him.  

He really was home.

[hotchfiles]

i think the reason so many people are pressing against you is that you’re just taking it like a communism vs. capitalism type of game were there are also more factors besides capitalism as to why communism isn’t entirely effective in modernity. it’s not just that but the way you’re acting so cynical about it like when you took the ss of the anon with their usernames on just to have people validate your point which doesn’t sit very well with a 27 year old adult. people who showed you their views because this is a public space and they did so without insulting you while all you could do is be more aggressive about it by actually using insulting names and posting memes about it instead of actually moving on. but well, why do i even bother about it if you’re just gonna make fun of me, anyway. kind of sad that’s all that YOU being LAWYER has to give in such discussions.

the person i took a screenshot from made a new account to bother me because i specifically had closed off the anon option from my blog because i had spent the entire day replying to people (most of all pretty politely when they were polite to me) and i was tired

that was a new account, the screenshot was from a comment they publicly made on one of my posts stating i never take criticism well and i always tell people to fuck off which is simply not true

again, this debate didn’t start with me, its a capitalism vs communism because people came over quite literally defending capitalism

when people send me polite messages i answer them politely, when people are condescending (saying they are sorry for me, calling me weird or acting like i don’t know what i’m talking about, telling me to go china, that i’m poor and unhappy etc etc etc) i reply back with the same level of impoliteness

i had a lot of people sending me actual texts about how lenin was also very ruthless, quotes and all, and not only did i post it but i also agreed with them, because they were sharing information and being polite although they don’t agree with my political stance

all of this was brought TO ME, and i replied to people matching their exact energy, maybe some of you just can’t accept the fact that i can in fact argue back or simply not agree with the arguments sent to me and still be polite

i don’t think you were polite, you tried to, i’ll give you that, but that little ad hominem by the end kinda ruined it.

still, i’m replying to it politely because it truly baffles me how people can come to my ask and act like i’m stupid and then if i’m cynical then i’m the impolite one

[melocherie]

I’m beginning to think some of you genuinely cannot read which is shocking for a writing community.

I'm not going to disclose what Millie did or did not do with Star because that is private information that I don't have the right to reveal and would put a strain on this situation, but again, I'm not acting based on wild speculation. Star already knows about everything, and I gained their blessing before writing anything here. If they were ever hurt by any of my actions thus far then they would have told me, and I’d immediately back off. 

And yes, they are aware of this ask too, and they find it disgusting that you are using the "what about the victim?” card without actually approaching the real victim yet again. They may not always check lavenoorawareness but it’s very, very easy to just shoot them a message and include them in the conversation. The Star who is offended and pressured by my behavior does not exist. Stop using them to argue against me because that’s not the reality we’re dealing with here.

Oh, did I wake up in some alternative reality where it isn't impolite to call someone an idiot (“they didn’t call you an idiot, they called your actions idiotic,” be fucking for real), read their motives in bad faith, and falsely accuse them of slander? Or is it because you agree with them that their excessively hostile tone toward me was totally fine, but it's a bridge too far when I call them a dumb bitch over using intentionally using insensitive language while we're talking about child grooming? A very real, terrible crime, and again, Star, the real human being, read their message and told me directly they hated their response to me. Am I crazy? Did I make everything up? Did that not happen? 

Rather than actually reading the words being exchanged, did you skim over everything and then come to me with your biased defense, and expect me not to react negatively? Sorry, I appreciate your attempt to sound polite, but you pissed me the fuck off with this ask already and naturally, got blocked. This is serious, and I’m not wasting my precious time playing online debate with people refusing to read. 

I find it comical how often I have to reiterate that I don't want anyone bothering Millie, I don’t condone harassment, and don't care what she does after this, yet I'm the one being portrayed as a brutal aggressor persistently attacking some poor innocent woman. If you believe that by removing my original post criticizing Noor's friends actions and then responding to a separate ask prompting me to vaguely speak about Millie for a couple hundred words, I am transferring blame specifically to hurt her, you are once again misreading my intentions in bad faith. Criticism is not hate, criticism is not an attack, criticism is not slander. I'm expressing disapproval of her actions, which I'm allowed to do within reason, and you're the ones who are dragging this situation out by constantly approaching me about it. Even if it was to support me, if anyone else tried to message me about the Millie's situation, I'd silently delete it and move on. The only reason why more and more eyes are on this is because you guys are the ones responding to it, thus circulating it around. 

And, really? Talk to Millie about it? That’s the blessed advice you’ve decided to bestow upon me? Talk to Millie? The person who explicitly stated they’re stressed about about the situation and do not want to be messaged about it? In response, you think I should message her? You think I, the person who would respect her if she apologized but ultimately doesn't care what she does, should message her? You think it’s my responsibility to approach a twenty-five-year-old woman and explain to her that the way she handled her post was insensitive? That’s your advice?

Fuck off. 

[puck-the-devil]

Hi! I heard you can use spells to transform people?

I wish to be turned into a non-human, yet still humanoid creature, still easily recognizable as myself without having to communicate who I am to people I know, without causing any more bodily pain than I already have and with neither curses nor major negative side-effects, leaving my mind unaltered except for what's strictly necessary, such as how to move any new body parts I may gain, or how to use any new magic I may acquire, AND if anything goes wrong by my definition, I will be able to be turned back to my normal.

*yawns, blinking and stretching*

Alright, alright, hold your horses. It's been a while since I've been on here. Asking a guy to grant you a wish without even introducing yourself, hmm? Most Fae would consider that rather impolite, you know. Especially since you're asking for a favor from a fairy without offering anything in return. Just because I can do something doesn't mean I will.

*sighs*

But very well, I'll bite this time since your wish sounds...moderately interesting with its various specifications and it's been a while since I've done one of these. I'll see what I can do. Not knowing your true name only allows me so much to work with.

Furthermore, despite your stipulations, you've still left a rather large amount of things about this wish ambiguous, so I only hope for your sake you don't mind what becomes of you in that regard. Like if you turn into a purple, anthropomorphic giraffe, for example.

Finally, I'd also like to mention that there are very few wishes that can't be undone one way or another (as is the general nature of magic in that by building in a way to break a spell, it usually becomes more powerful), so your little clause at the end is mostly unnecessary, but I'll keep it in mind to humor you.

*takes a deep breath and shuts his eyes, concentrating*

"It is this being's certain will

To not be human and yet still

Despite whatever might befall

Be humanoid and known to all

As who they are with unchanged mind

Unless their new form is designed

With new additions as discussed

Then so must their mind readjust.

They want no pain or side-effects,

And if not what this soul expects,

All magic results of this spell

Can change back until all is well."

[mono-red-menace]

i have a lot of communication issues with a lot of my friends and a big thing is because all of my friends are autistic but i communicate EXTREMELY implicitly a lot of the time, kinda bc like, explicit communication is often considered rude or impolite, like saying "hey, i need you to take me to work bc i forgot to sleep in time" is kinda considered rude, but saying "aw, i forgot to sleep, i probably won't be able to make the bus tomorrow," is considered polite, because it gives the other person like, the opportunity to be in control of the conversation and the opportunity to offer to take you into work yk, rather than a "you need to do this for me, because i made a mistake," it's "oh, i made a mistake, and i don't think i can do this on my own," and it gives the other party the opportunity to be like "oh, hey, i can help with that!" yk?

but like the instant i do my usual, implicit communication around my autistic friends, it's just. completely missed. they see it as an independent statement that means exactly what is said. or they see my "it's fine," as me not wanting to be honest and holding onto my feelings, instead of the implicit "i can handle this, i don't need your help, and talking about it might make you feel bad because it's not a generous way of thinking, so i need to resolve it without your help." yk?

i always kinda felt like a bad communicator not in the "i don't know how to hold polite conversation" way, but in the "i am often misunderstood, oftentimes because i tend to use my larger vocabulary and leave people lost in the conversation" and "i struggle to talk about how im feeling in ways that aren't harmful to the person im having the feelings about" and those things combined with the brick wall of "your usual communication style doesn't work here" makes it seem like im just completely dogshit at talking to people and im constantly hiding what im thinking and meaning and bowing to the opinions of others. when actually im just like. using the neurotypical "polite" implicit communication. and only being a little bit bad at communicating what i need and only bowing a little bit to what ppl say to me.

i think ppl think i'm a huge doormat when im only a little doormat. and i do often become more of a doormat when my communications of my needs are "rebuffed" (they actually just were completely missed), because it makes me feel like my needs are seen as unimportant (when in reality they are just not being understood in the way i am communicating).

[hekate1308]

 “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Prompt: “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Fandom: Endeavour

Pairing: Morse/Jakes

It had been about two months since the incident with the warmth eater, and during that time, Peter had seen quite a bit of Endeavour Morse Thursday. He was usually the one to let him in, always with a smile on his lips (that smile that had no business looking as attractive as it did), and once or twice he had been early enough that he’d been forced to participate in family breakfast because Mrs. Thursday wouldn’t be gainsaid and had heard about what he was working on, since the so-often praised hatstand rule apparently did not count when it came to Joan and Sam listening to what their brother got up to.

Now that he had officially met him and had proven that, while he was perhaps not the most talented when it came to handling certain things, he was not prejudiced against magic or those who had it, the Old Man too had become more communicative when it came to Endeavour, and it quickly transpired that he was just as proud of him as of his siblings. And small wonder, consider he was relatively high up in the Guard considering his youth.

Quite frankly, Peter was busy with pretending to himself that he was not in trouble, which technically, it wasn’t, because really, what had changed? He now knew the oldest Thursday and what he did, and that was all.

Only it was not because Endeavour Thursday also happened to be incredibly pretty and very friendly and polite and –

Oh God, he was in trouble. Thankfully, it was the kind of trouble he could keep to himself and no one else would ever have to know about.

Or at least so he thought until one fateful day.

Even before all of this, it had been a habit of DI Thursday’s to now and then disappear during the day, which office gossip had correctly attributed to him checking up on and helping out Endeavour.

Today, however, they had been rather busy with paperwork, and when Peter brought him another file, he looked up and sighed and said, “Jakes, would you terribly mind bringing these to Endeavour? I’m busy with paperwork…”

“Of course” he said, not quite sure what was expected of him, but he simply pulled out a woollen bag out from under his desk. “Found a few hex bags today… I don’t think they are dangerous, but Endeavour should take a look at them. Just don’t open the bag.”

He nodded and took the bag, as he couldn’t help but thinking this was in some ways a proof of trust.

Once he had arrived, he was quickly shown to Endeavour Thursday’s office and told to wait. He carefully put the bag on the desk, intent on proving that he could behave around magic if he wished to…

Only to fail spectacularly at it again when he got bored.

He was simply walking around the office when he spotted the small cube out of glass on Endeavour’s desk and leaned over it just to look.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Endeavour had entered without him being aware of it, and he jerked back guiltily. “Why? Won’t… take my warmth too, will it?”

He chuckled. “No, no, just a precaution. Spells in glass can be a bit volatile, and if one doesn’t know what to do…”

“I see” he said helplessly then pressed on with, “Your father wanted me to bring these to you… he called them hex bags? Told me not to look, so I didn’t.”

“Ah. Good, good.” Another of these devastating smiles. “Thank you very much, Peter.”

He swallowed and wished he was currently having a cigarette.

He looked into the bag. “Ah, yes. Seems like they’re harmless and spent anyway…” he waved a hand over the bag. “All done.” He looked at Peter. “It’s gone twelve. Lunch?”

He swallowed again. Great. Now they were having – no, they were of course having lunch like he and DI Thursday. What was he thinking?

It would have been very impolite not to, though, so he accepted.

The pub Endeavour led him to proved to be full of magic users and creatures, but really, what else had he expected?

“So how’s it going?” he asked for lack of a better topic.

“Oh you know, the usual” Endeavour shrugged. “Much to do, but I knew there would be when I joined…”

But the woman with the completely black eyes (demon, Peter remembered) behind the bar had spied them and come to greet his… friend.

“Endeavour! I haven’t seen you all week!”

“My apologies, Charity” he said simply as she dragged him into a hug.

She then pulled back and grinned. “And who is your handsome date?”

At least for once since they met, Peter was not the only one blushing.

[culturalcompasswarwick]

Student Accommodation and How to Talk to Your Housemates About Keeping the Kitchen Clean

Before we begin, please allow me to congratulate you on successfully getting yourself a place at Warwick, I sincerely hope that your time here will be an enjoyable one! Like the rest of this blog, this post is designed to hopefully give you some advice that will help make the daunting process of beginning your life at Warwick go as smoothly as possible. Specifically, we’re talking about living in student accommodation.

Depending on when you read this post, you might not know which accommodation you will be living in for the duration of your stay at Warwick. Don’t worry! Assuming you are all set to live in student halls, this advice should be general enough to still apply whether you end up living in Rootes or in Bluebell. This is because, regardless of the number of housemates you end up with or the size of your bedroom, you’re guaranteed to be sharing a kitchen!

Your kitchen is an important place, not only is it where you’ll be making all of your food, it is also a shared social space. If you want somewhere to hang out with friends or do some work without having to stay cooped up in your room or trek all the way down to the library – your kitchen is the place to be! So, you’ll want to keep the space as clean and tidy as possible so spending time in it is pleasant for everybody.

You may think that doesn’t sound too difficult. After all, you’re all adults, how hard could it really be to communicate?

Unfortunately, it can sometimes be very difficult thanks to a linguistic concept known as pragmatic failure. Pragmatic failure occurs when you say something that ‘comes across wrong’ – a statement can be perfect in terms of its structure and pronunciation but if it carries implications you didn’t intend then it is still a pragmatic failure. Additionally, pragmatic failure can have more of a social consequence than some other forms of linguistic failure as people tend to assume you’re being impolite rather than just making a mistake!

As you will be entering Warwick with a different cultural perspective to the UK-based students, it is important that you are aware this is a pitfall you might fall into. Especially when it is a well-known fact within linguistics that you cannot often directly translate the conventions of one language to another without subtle changes in the implications of what you are saying. However, this works both ways and it’s just as possible that you will misinterpret something your housemate is saying to you as they will misunderstand something you’re saying to them!

So how do you avoid pragmatic failure and keep the peace with your new housemates? While I can’t guarantee you won’t have any pragmatics-based miscommunications, I can at least give you advice about to navigate requests and apologies.

Requests: Generally, there are three ways you can ask someone to do something for you. The first and most obvious of these is a direct request like “Please tidy the kitchen when you’ve finished cooking.’ These are easy to interpret and leave no real room to misunderstand what is being asked of you.

The second is what is known as a conventionally indirect request like ‘can you tidy up once you’re done cooking?’ If we were to take this request completely literally and answer ‘yes’, it wouldn’t be a commitment to clean the kitchen, it would be a confirmation that you are capable of doing so. However, your housemate almost definitely isn’t asking you about your cleaning ability. Their intent here is the same as in the direct request – to get you to clean the kitchen – only they are asking you ‘more politely’.

The third and perhaps most confusing type of request is a hint like ‘oh, the kitchen is a bit of a mess, isn’t it?’ Again, if we take this literally and respond with a ‘yes’ does nothing more than confirm we agree with your housemate’s assessment. However, they’re probably not actually asking you for your opinion, they’re asking you to clean.

Unfortunately, research has found that, in English, the two indirect (and arguably more confusing) approaches to making requests are considered politer! In one study, (which you can find here, if you’re interested https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/iprg.2011.018/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOoqRPySHNRbI40fAziqd4-x-YjBc3NpQ-Gr6JCgGZn6aoLFz9Nxf) it was found that conventionally indirect requests (referred to as ‘Query Preparatory’ on page 390) were considered the politest of all request strategies they tested, followed by hints!

The lessons you can take from this are two-fold. Firstly, be prepared that your housemates are unlikely to ask you to do something in a particularly direct manner. If they begin a statement about cleaning the kitchen with ‘can you?’ or ‘could you?’ they’re probably asking you to clean up some mess. Secondly, if you need to request your housemates clean up after themselves, it will probably go down a lot more smoothly if you also adopt a more indirect approach, otherwise they might see you as being a bit demanding. 

Apologies: Despite your best efforts, you’re probably going to do something that will irritate your housemates at some point. Whether its forgetting to take out the bins or leaving your dirty dishes on the side for just a bit too long. Here’s what research suggests is the best way to apologise to a disgruntled housemate.

Just as there are several ways to make a request, there are also several ways to apologise. According to a study (again, here’s a link if you’re curious https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/PR.2007.004/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOoqQYrwIk2iKR89KgryNIZhLe_UAuGLldWXj-59tzxtYl9t9AXfc) the most common apology strategy used by English speakers is a combination of the phrase ‘I’m sorry’ and statement used to accept responsibility (e.g. ‘I know it was my week to take out the bins, I just forgot’). Interestingly, the same study also found that English speakers don’t tend to make promises to do better next time. So, you probably don’t need to insist that you’ll never forget to take the bin out ever again – just admit that you made a mistake this time!  

*** Hopefully this brief introduction to the world of housemate politics is more reassuring than scary! Good luck putting some of your newfound knowledge about requests and apologies into practice when the time comes to move into your new accommodation. Don’t fret if you aren’t immediately a master of pragmatics and managing housemate relationships either. At least as far as the pragmatics are concerned, research suggests that the ability to interact and get involved in a culture in the way studying abroad allows is very beneficial for picking up on pragmatics (once again, a link for those who may be interested, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0346251X14001341 (page 4). So, I have full confidence you will be absolutely fine!

Thank you for reading!

(P.S. if you’re interested in where I got my definitions of pragmatic failure and the different types of requests from, they’re in chapter 7 of this textbook: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4020-5639-0 (pages 129-131))

[dribbonart]

My big Honorverse complaint bag

First thing: I didn’t give Honorverse a proper chance. Once I realized the Haven sections never intersect with the Honor/Manticore sections, I just skimmed them. I’m told this is a mistake, but it’s too late now. I read nine books, now I’m done. I wanted a Horatio Hornblower book, not a series of captains that blow up without ever interacting with the protagonist.

This brings me to my first issue: (Below the fold)

Black Box Haven

Weber has this weird belief that hostile forces simply do not communicate at all. From book one to the end of book nine, Honor briefly interacts with Cordelia Ransom, and that’s it. Despite lots of opportunities for communication, (The Haven captain in book one literally thinks how useful it would be to send a message to Honor’s ship!) they just… don’t. It’s as though there’s an impermeable curtain between Honor’s story and the Haven story. A couple characters cross, but not words. This takes away one of the best things in spaceship stories, the part where the hostile captains face each other on their viewscreens and try to reach some kind of understanding or leverage against each other. Instead it’s just hammering on ships that might as well be staffed by robots. 

Since the bad guys almost always explain the details of their plans to each other, this means that we have to learn about them twice. This is one of the main reasons I stopped reading the Haven parts, I’d much rather find out what’s going on just once from Honor’s perspective.

We’re given dozens of pages about some Haven captain only for them to be destroyed by Honor’s forces without even being aware that something is happening. What’s the point? When I’m told about a character, I want some kind of pay off in proportion to the detail I’m given.

Even the Haven leadership, while suffering enormous losses from a superior foe intent on their extermination, never tries to extend any kind of embassy until the end of book nine. Why? They have nothing to lose by sending an ambassador to ask, “Hey, why are you so intent on killing all of us, and is there anything we could do to dissuade you?” Remember, Manticore has no public war aims! It is a war of extermination, and neither side even tries to gain an edge by the most common thing in international conflict, words. 

When Honor is sent on a mission with an ambassador, everyone treats him as insane for suggesting that they should pursue a diplomatic solution. When he’s talking, people can’t even look him in the eye. He, very sensibly, points out that Grayson and Masada would be better off if they were friends, and the Navy people seem to think that “they hate each other” is proof that peace is impossible. But what’s the Navy’s plan? Have they been reading the chapters that lay out the impending Masada attack?

Info Dumps

Even people that like Honorverse admit this is bullshit, so I’d just add that he infodumps about things other than tech. The history of the Grayson constitution does not need to have an interlude just to have an excuse to give Honor some prize. 

Oh also, someone eyeballs a space battle and says, “our tech people say that Haven has closed the tech gap by 15%, but this looks more like 20%,” which might be the most insane thing in the entire series.

Honor Harrington, you’re right again.

What I would give to have Honor do something, anything wrong. The one thing that’s clearly illegal, (beating Houseman to serious injury) is affirmed by her superior officer as a necessary, but impolitic act. When he says “You did the right thing, Honor Harrington,” he may as well have been giving the series a subtitle. Her only “weakness” is being “bad at math,” which means that when she has to estimate the number of people that can survive in a ship not designed for it, she estimates 1300, instead of the “correct” 1350. (This is genuinely treated as an example of her being bad at math. Possibly the only one?)

Instead of mistakes, Honor makes money. And ranks. And titles. And superpowers. And powerful friends. She’s jumped up three ranks all at once, at a political cost, just so she can be a double admiral, which doesn’t even matter in that book! This is one of the many ways that Honor is an evil mirror of Horatio Hornblower. Horatio is never the greatest guy, he has to struggle to make it in a world that doesn’t care about him. It makes him relatable, and it makes it more interesting to see how he deals with problems that are larger than him. Weber seems to think that this is an error, and a good protagonist is one that gets a new superpower and ten times as much money for every new book.

She loses her first battle in book eleven.

Even before she knows how to use cosmetics, she’s universally seen as unconventionally attractive. Cosmetics let her sand the edge off that “unconventional” and eliminate one more thing that makes her interesting.

Honor becomes a child of two worlds, a very old standard sci-fi concept, but it too is reversed. Instead of Honor being torn between two loyalties, her two nations simply become two separate sources of goodies to make Honor wealthier and more powerful. She’s become an admiral in two different navies, clearly an untenable situation, but no one even seems to think that’s an issue.

Very early in the series, Honor has so much power and prestige that she should be a major player in society, but she’s oddly passive. She still acts like a mid-level soldier that simply reacts to the scenario put in front of her. She barely has likes or interests outside of the military. She likes cocoa, that’s all I can think of.

To make sure that Honor is never wrong, the story has to set up situations so that they align with her desires. When Honor refuses to follow an ambassador’s orders, there happens to be someone else in charge of the mission to countermand those orders. Her duel with Pavel Young is a great example. She decides to shoot Pavel even though he is helpless. This would be an interesting character moment! But! Honor cannot be allowed to be questioned, so the laws of dueling are such that Pavel would have been summarily executed anyway, so she’s not actually doing anything wrong.

Just imagine how much more interesting it would have been to have Honor choose to kill Pavel, when he otherwise would have lived! Character is about choice!

Honor should have been forced to choose which ship to save in the assassination attempt on the Queen. Put the ruler of Grayson and Manticore on different ships, make her choose. But that would mean her decision could be criticized, so it can’t be allowed.

The weirdest part of Honor’s superpowers is that most of them don’t actually change anything in the story. They’re just to make her a “better” character in a childish, “Well, my character is super-strong and a super-genius!” kind of way. Her telescopic vision is used in a way that affects anything maybe once? Her photographic memory that works even when she’s not paying attention is mentioned but never affects the story at all. Her psychic powers could literally be replaced by looking people in the eyes. (This would also be better for the story since it would give us more details about people instead of scanning their brains for emotions. Show, don’t tell.) 

Show, Don’t Tell

There’s showing, where you experience something that happens directly.

There’s telling, where you’re told about something.

Then there’s Weber-ing, where the narrator goes off on their own to directly transmit the data directly into the reader’s brain without anyone in the book interacting with the information at all. Maximum abstraction. Please, just use an appendix! If no one in the story has a reason to talk about or experience something, that’s a hint that you don’t need it in the book!

If we must have endless descriptions of missiles’ statistical chances of encountering the enemy, at least put it in a character’s thoughts. Have Weber stare at a radar screen, frantically calculating the odds! Put us in the room, not in the manual for a missile!

Grayson Is Nothing

Why do people like Grayson? The best thing you can say about their culture is that they’re not as bigoted as their neighbors who seem to be specifically designed to be the “bad” people to contrast with the “good” Graysons. There doesn’t seem to be a single good Grayson that actually believes in their religion. They have a state religion that has, for centuries, maintained a lower status for women, and they just fold on it instantly! Every prominent Grayson thinks that their misogyny is antiquated, at best. When a priest points out that misogyny is a big part of their whole thing, and he doesn’t think a woman should be in a position of enormous power, he’s brutally beaten and expelled from the church! 

When the idea of instant equal rights for women is introduced, the wise people of Grayson say, “that sounds good, but let’s not be too hasty, women aren’t really ready for participating in society.” This is exactly the position of real people fighting against civil rights, but Honor agrees! Could you look someone in the eye and say, “yeah, my type can’t be given their rights all at once!”

And what, other than the parts no one believed in, is the Grayson religion? They mention going to church once, but it doesn’t seem to actually affect anyone’s behavior.

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to think of an analogy for Honor’s position in Grayson society. I don’t think there’s anything in history that matches it, because it’s completely bananas. Here’s my best attempt:

Imagine the Mexican-American war turned bad for America, and Mexico started making territorial gains into the US. Then a dashing British navy officer led a defense of an American port city that turned the tide of the war. This British officer is rewarded with a private state of Texas. He’s the permanent Governor, and is put in charge of the American Navy. But the “American” Navy is in British ships, staffed by British officers and financed by British loans. This Navy is pulled away from the defense of the Union for British military operations. The British Permanent Governor of Texas also has a patent on all railroad construction and gets so much of a percentage of railroad spending that he becomes the wealthiest person in the country. He also rejects the idea of Democracy, but says he won’t actively oppose it.

Reasonable people would say that, hero or not, they do not want the US turned into an extension of the UK! But the idea that Honor’s equivalent position makes Grayson an extension of Manticore is treated as absurd!

Why does Grayson have more details about its history, politics and constitution than Manticore? That’s weird!

Economics

Everyone hates the weird economic moralizing of the Honorverse. I’m surprised there’s not more complaining about how bad it is in its own right.

The conversation about Manticore’s economy was error after error. They genuinely say, “We don’t have an income tax! We believe in free trade! That’s why we get all our income from tolls!”

Haven tries to achieve deflation during a war. Incredible.

Haven’s economy is treated as a garbage fire because they have a lot of debt (Although Weber doesn’t seem to realize that they must owe that debt to another entity, instead it just exists in its own right as a floating negative number at the bank,) but there are riots when they suggest that they stop increasing the basic income more than inflation. This means that the basic income, and therefore standard of living, have been going up for all of living memory. That would make Haven the most successful economy of all time.

Haven conquers planets to exploit them, but then reflexively turns them into social welfare states like Lemongrab turning candy seeds into more candy people. They should have considered not doing that.

Anti-Politics

I suspect Weber would describe his politics as “centrist” or “reasonable” or “non-political”. I think a better title would be “Anti-political.” Everyone in the Honorverse that engages in the basics of politics, delivering benefits to their constituents, is treated as a naive buffoon wounding the nation at best. He genuinely does not believe in popular control of government.

He thinks the problem with a military dictator is the culture clash between people accustomed to a democratic process.

The only legitimate political act in Honorverse is supporting total war against an enemy without a casus belli. The queen even insists it’s not political! “I have not asked you to abandon your principles. I have not asked you to embrace or pretend to embrace any ideology offensive to you or your party members. My only concern is…to win the current war and establish a lasting peace."

As though a war of annihilation did not concern principles or ideology!

The War 

The war between Manticore and Haven is weird. Haven thinks it’ll just wipe out Manticore and its neighbor so it can retire its Navy since it won’t have a dangerous neighbor any more, apparently unaware that there would just be more dangerous neighbors on their new borders. Haven does a few border raids that would be casus belli, but Manticore seems to think it would need to be able to prove their case to justify such a declaration of war, even though there’s no space UN to appeal to. 

Then, once Haven does an act of war so provocative it cannot be denied, Haven’s entire government is decapitated, resetting relations between the two countries. Except it doesn’t, and Manticore starts a war of annihilation against a country that just started that year. The very existence of a country called Haven is treated as an existential threat, regardless of who's in charge. (I’m told the new book Toll of Honor has a whole section justifying this, I don't care. The idea that they don’t even send a letter is ridiculous.)

From the formal beginning of the war in book five, Manticore is the aggressor. It’s undeniable, they’re making massive inroads into Haven’s territory. First they have the goal of seizing Haven’s major shipping lane, then they move on to the capture of Haven’s core worlds and capital. Yet Manticore must not just be winning the war, they must also be the most sympathetic. This means that Every. Single. Battle. we witness is a perfidious Haven attack against a Manticore planet. Manticore is seizing planets by the dozens, but that might make them look bad, so instead they are shown defending their homes.

In case anyone doubts that Manticore must be seen as a victim even as it plots the destruction of its enemy’s capital, Weber makes it explicit: “In a crazy sort of way, the fact that we keep winning battles only makes it even more acceptable to the Sollies. It’s almost as if every battle we win somehow turns the Peeps more and more into the ‘underdogs,’ for God’s sake!”

In the Honorverse, being the underdogs is good, so Manticore are underdogs. The fact that they are winning is irrelevant.

Weber also gives every colonist's rationale for colonization apparently without irony. Manticore doesn't WANT to hold basilisk, they're innocent of those desires. But the colony makes so much money they MUST hold it forever.

No Contest

Honorverse is the only story I’ve ever encountered that gives the good guys easy wins. More than once an enemy thinks, “There’s no way we can win this.” That’s not good for drama? I don’t know what you can say about this, it’s so obvious.

Let's not forget the much maligned pistol duel. Here's my live reaction.

And the sword duel was even worse.

Paul’s death being off screen was a weird choice too.

One Perspective

All good people agree. Even the bad people secretly agree, they just can’t overcome the shame of disagreeing with the objectively correct position.

Everyone says “Manties” and “Peeps.” 

In the first book, Honor thinks, “I’ve gotta be hard on this crew so they toughen up” and another perspective character thinks, “I’m glad Honor’s being hard on us, it’s toughening us up.”

When she meets Alfredo Yu, she thinks about how awkward it is that he killed her mentor. Then he immediately brings it up in conversation. 

When Ransom decides to execute Honor for her murder conviction, even Haven people think it’s outrageous.

Haven had eight years of political purges and official minders for political loyalty, but there are no loyal Haven military officers because all military officers are good and upright people.

Missiles, Missiles, Missiles

Honorverse is all about tech advances. Except it’s hard to think of new technology, so we have to suffice with one new tech, FTL communication, and endless iterations on “More Missiles.” Missile pods, little ships carrying a few missiles each, these are not interesting!

Like Honor’s wealth, the number of missiles multiplies by ten per book. The Grayson Defense fires an impossible 12,000 in a battle, then Manticore fires 111,000 in another instant win, and I’m told the Battle of Manticore has 700,000 missiles in the first wave.

Misc.

How dare he not include the scene where they asked Honor’s mom to get pregnant while everyone was still in mourning.

The first book clarifies that Honor isn’t gay, and that seems to be universal in the series. C’mon, it’s the 2020s, include a gay.

Why is one guy kind of named after a real guy, (Robert S. Pierre), but Saint-Just is the same name as the real guy.

Furry Contralto

“that’s the beauty of hindsight: it always has a lot more to go on than you did when you had to make the decision the first time around.”

The story of genetic engineering in Honorverse is the exact same as Star Trek.

Sure are a lot of women being raped.

The bad members of Honor’s bad crew were planning on damaging the ship so they could escape. And it was going to be exciting to see Honor wrestle with handling a damaged ship. But the bad guys were sent to the brig and died and that plot just… ended.

[nova-amor]

nobody says love that much irl like ghost does in your fic.

are you speaking on the behalf of an entire population or just based on your own experiences? b/c if you’ve taken a survey on what everyone says during sex and got quantitative results, then you should pass that information along over here since you know everything, right?

oh, and let me just tell my partner (who regularly calls me ‘love’ and says ‘i love you’ alot when we’re intimate) that according to an anon “nobody says ‘love’ that much”. ya know, because obviously you know everyone and you know for a fact that no one calls their partner a certain nickname that much in irl.

i’ve put it in my ‘rules’ page that i gather alot of my inspiration for my fics from songs, audios, and conversations i have irl. and, a lot of the inspo i get for my simon riley fics specifically comes from the relationship and conversations that i have with my partner b/c they have a few similar personality traits. so, because of that connection, my interpretation of simon riley is a bit skewed and a lot more self-indulgent than most other fics i write.

if you don’t like how something in particular is written, or how i interpret a fictional character, then obviously my writing is not for you.

i don’t write to gain a massive following. i don’t write to make money. i don’t write for any other reason than the fact that i love to write and i love being apart of diverse communities and connecting with others who have the same interests as me.

sending something like that is so ill-mannered, and for you to send it under an anonymous tab solidifies that you know that it was rude and you just wanted to be impolite without facing actual repercussions.

if you had actual constructive criticism, i’d happily look over your suggestions to improve my writing and maybe adapt some of it into my writing. but, no. you didn’t do that— you just wanted to be rude. and, i’d really appreciate it that for future reference, whether you’re engaging with me or another writer on tumblr, you really thought about something before sending/saying it to another person. especially if you know that it isn’t going to be helpful or constructive.