#is it obvious I like English figures of speech?

[eolewyn1010]

Oh, wow, our Victorian himbo makes another entry! Didn't think that'd happen. Hi, Jonathan! Mina tells him of what went down, and having van Helsing confirm all the horrors Jonathan went through as a reality, he can finally be sure of his own mind again and starts to feel better. So of course, van Helsing is delighted to get another virile young specimen of healthy man meat. Eh, anyway, they get on like a house on fire, especially in their opinion that Mina is just the bee's knees. Jonathan hands him all the papers that might be of interest regarding Dracula, the three of them have breakfast together and then Jonathan sees van Helsing off at the station. Van Helsing is upset about the newspaper articles; he should know of Lucy's postmortem activity now. And he's still speaking German, not Dutch...

Jonathan is not the only one who has picked up on his diary habits again; Jack is back to journaling, too. Renfield is back to flies and spiders and apparently behaving well enough, Arthur and Quincey have written from their gay little mutual comfort party and seem to be recovering okay-ish, Jack uses odd words again - his pain over Lucy has become "cicatrised"? Had to look that one up. But then van Helsing comes back with newspapers and is all, "call in the dude squad; your shared girlfriend is a vampire!" Jack doesn't catch on immediately, he just thinks the kids' puncture wounds have a common cause with Lucy's, and when van Helsing finally gets to facts, Jack has a hard time believing him. Van Helsing even chastises him for being too narrow-minded and not having cottoned on - DUDE. You knew all the time and didn't open your friggin' mouth! There's a lot of bs from Victorian para-sciences, and I hope Stoker didn't believe half of what he wrote into van Helsing's mouth there. Jack asks to be his "pet student" again. That's... kinky? Or sycophantic. He has van Helsing run him through the entire explanation, and is left baffled.

Van Helsing takes him for a visit to the latest kid Lucy has hurt, and then to the cemetery to see Lucy. Who has made quite an impression on her kids-for-drink btw; the hurt child just wants to go see her again. After that, van Helsing buys Jack dinner and brings him for some twosome time to the Westenra tomb. Ehm, okay, not so twosome. Also, sperm from van Helsing's candle dripped down in white patches? Sperm?? When has that ever been synonymous with wax? I can't even make a queer dreams joke; this is just weird. Oh, Lucy's coffin is empty; that's also weird, I suppose. Jack correctly deduces that the absence of the corpse means only that the corpse is not there. Way to go, smart guy. Then it's churchyard watching time and I wanna point out that Jack is seeking cover under a yew tree, so he might be inhaling taxines and be not quite there. He's also getting pissed at van Helsing. Eventually they see a child slipping into the cemetery, and van Helsing brings it out again deeply asleep. Lucy hasn't had the time to hurt the kid and... these fucking idiots don't even hand it over to the police! Because they don't wanna make statements on how they found the child (that's not sus at all, you guys), they just leave it lying around somewhere a policeman can find it once they've gotten away! Assholes!

Van Helsing wants to take out Jack for another date soon, but Jack is not too thrilled, and frankly, I agree. This was a moronic nightly enterprise. Does Abe actually think this is convincing of anything, really??

[dedalvs]

My brother and I absolutely cackled after that Aemond and Aegon Valyrian exchange!

I wanted to ask (and I'm terrible at conlangs, so forgive me) what grammar/syntax Aegon is stumbling over here and how to properly say what he intended to? Any why is he making thise mistakes (simply lacking the vocabulary, or rules of the language he hasn’t grasped)?

Let's take a look at it. This is what he said:

Nyke koston... Bēvilus... Sētegon bīlīvāzmi?

The subtitles say this:

"I can... Have to... Make a war?"

Prior to this Aemond is, essentially, showing off. He knows that Aegon has simply not put any time into studying Valyrian (or studying anything). At this stage, Valyrian is no longer spoken by the family on a day-to-day basis—especially as Alicent probably never learned it at all (or if she did, only in a few scattered lessons here and there; not to actually use). In order for either of the boys to gain any kind of fluency in the language, they have to study constantly and find ways to use it. There's simply no daily need for the language—and plenty of reasons not to use it, as very, very few people they'll encounter on a daily basis speak the language.

Now, if we were talking about two random people in Westeros, this wouldn't mean anything. But these are the children of Viserys Targaryen, himself a descendant of Aegon the Conqueror. They brought their family line and their culture with them to Westeros—and, of course, their language. If someone like Alicent Hightower doesn't speak High Valyrian it means nothing. If a Targaryen doesn't speak High Valyrian, though��� See, they're supposed to be able to speak Valyrian. Failing to do so carries with it a sense of shame that isn't present for a random person who doesn't speak Valyrian. Aemond knows this. Aegon is annoying him, so he goes poking at that wound.

Aemond could have fed him a short line with an obvious answer to help Aegon out, but instead he threw a whole mess of Valyrian at him. The longer it goes on, the more lost Aegon gets, desperately trying to catch up and figure out what was just said and thereby missing what is being said at that instant. From the whole speech, Aegon probably only figured out that he was being asked a question, and it was something having to do with planning.

So, back to what he says. The beginning student of a language is quite adept at doing a single verb in a present tense sentence. In a discussion like this, though, you're typically saying things like "I think that" or "We should" or "I suggest" or "Perhaps we might", etc. All that stuff that we need to offer opinions, make suggestions, hedge, etc. Much more than simple narration.

Aegon is attempting to do this without a sufficient command of the language. He knows some vocabulary, he knows some grammar, but he simply did not put in the work to actually speak this language. Thus, he has to overcome a lot of Common Tongue (i.e. English) interference.

There are many differences between Valyrian and English, but the biggest one by far is the major word order. In English, the verbs come before the rest of the junk; in Valyrian, they come at the end. And this is how things get all messed up.

In English, you start the sentence saying things like "I think" or "We should" or "It seems". In Valyrian, those things come at the end. If you start with the Valyrian equivalent of "I think", you will quickly realize (presuming you know enough of the grammar) that you're sunk, because once you've said it, the sentence should be done. Thus you get Aegon's false starts.

Starting at the beginning, Aegon says Nyke koston, which is kind of like saying, "I could". But there's nowhere to go. This is how a sentence ends. For example, if he wanted to say, "I could fly to Harrenhal", he would say Harenhalot sōvegon koston—literally "To Harrenhal fly I could". If you're thinking English-ly, you're essentially thinking backwards, and if you simply translate what you're thinking, you'll immediately have nowhere to go. You'll have to take a pause and think about how to get started again. And that's exactly what happens here.

Now, leaving aside that Valyrian is a pro-drop language and starting it off with nyke "I" is unnecessary and makes you look like a beginner, koston isn't bad (I mean, if used sentence-finally). Once he realizes he can't start there, though, he loses confidence. It's those old High Valyrian lessons all over again, and some maester suggesting he hasn't studied. That self-doubt makes his facility with Valyrian worse. This means his chances of recovery are severely hampered.

But onward he presses, and he decides to say "We have to" or "I have to". Now, the problem here is in Valyrian that requires the verb bēvilagon. This verb isn't used in the usual way. Literally it means "to lie on". If you wanted to say "We must mobilize our dragons", you'd say Īlvī zaldrīzī mazannagon īlo bēvilza. That's literally "Our dragons to mobilize us it lies upon". The one who must do something is placed in the genitive and put directly before the verb. If you start with the verb, well, you missed your chance to say who it is that must be doing something—let alone what they must do. Another false start.

It's also worth noting that he says bēvilus as opposed to bēvilza. Let's ignore that it's the aorist and focus on the fact that it's the subjunctive (just like koston). You use the subjunctive with your main verb when you're hedging—when you're suggesting. Not when you're commanding. Kind of an odd thing to say "We must do this" with the subjunctive. Kind of like saying "Maybe we might considering having to do this".

At this point, his confidence has completely evaporated. Everybody's staring at him like he has no idea what he's talking about; Aemond's eating it up. He knows he's cooked. He's got to say something, though, so he says sētegon which isn't even conjugated. It means "to make" or "to create", which might make sense in English (e.g. "to make war"), but doesn't make sense in Valyrian (a bit like saying "to construct a war" or even "to bake a war") and then tries to pronounce vīlībāzmi "war" (wrong case/number, wrong order) and fails, saying bīlīvāzmi, which means nothing (also he wanted vīlībāzme. Vīlībāzmi is "wars").

Long story short, he doesn't present himself very well—and we didn't even talk about his general pronunciation or intonation. It's kind of a great big mess in only five words. A true disaster.

But if there were no expectation that he should be able to speak Valyrian, none of this would matter! If there were no shame associated with him specifically not being able to speak Valyrian no one would expect it of him, and this challenge would mean as little as someone challenging him to speak the Old Tongue or Asshai'i. It'd be meaningless.

In short, this small portion of this scene is about being a heritage speaker of a language. It's the exact nightmare scenario all heritage speakers fear: To be put on stage and made to perform despite being unequal to the task while simultaneously feeling that they should be equal to it.

It'd be so cool if it was okay to be kind of good with a language—if that level of mastery was acceptable. In the real world, anyway.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Writing Advice #?: Don’t write out accents.

The Surface-Level Problem: It’s distracting at best, illegible at worst. 

The following passage from Sons and Lovers has never made a whit of sense to me:

“I ham, Walter, my lad,’ ’e says; ‘ta’e which on ’em ter’s a mind.’ An’ so I took one, an’ thanked ’im. I didn’t like ter shake it afore ’is eyes, but ’e says, ‘Tha’d better ma’e sure it’s a good un. An’ so, yer see, I knowed it was.’”

There’s almost certainly a point to that dialogue — plot, character, theme — but I could not figure out what the words were meant to be, and gave up on the book.  At a lesser extreme, most of Quincey’s lines from Dracula (“I know I ain’t good enough to regulate the fixin’s of your little shoes”) cause American readers to sputter into laughter, which isn’t ideal for a character who is supposed to be sweet and tragic.  Accents-written-out draw attention to mechanical qualities of the text.

Solution #1: Use indicators outside of the quote marks to describe how a character talks.  An Atlanta accent can be “drawling” and a London one “clipped”; a Princeton one can sound “stiff” and a Newark one “relaxed.”  Do they exaggerate their vowels more (North America) or their consonants more (U.K., north Africa)?  Do they sound happy, melodious, frustrated?

The Deeper Problem: It’s ignorant at best, and classist/racist/xenophobic at worst.

You pretty much never see authors writing out their own accents — to the person who has the accent, the words just sound like words.  It’s only when the accent is somehow “other” to the author that it gets written out.

And the accents that we consider “other” and “wrong” (even if no one ever uses those words, the decision to deliberately misspell words still conveys it) are pretty much never the ones from wealthy and educated parts of the country.  Instead, the accents with misspelled words and awkward inflection are those from other countries, from other social classes, from other ethnicities.  If your Maine characters speak normally and your Florida characters have grammatical errors, then you have conveyed what you consider to be correct and normal speech.  We know what J.K. Rowling thinks of French-accented English, because it’s dripping off of Fleur Delacour’s every line.

At the bizarre extreme, we see inappropriate application of North U.K. and South U.S.-isms to every uneducated and/or poor character ever to appear in fan fic.  When wanting to get across that Steve Rogers is a simple Brooklyn boy, MCU fans have him slip into “mustn’t” and “we is.”  When conveying that Robin 2.0 is raised poor in Newark, he uses “ain’t” and “y’all” and “din.”  Never mind that Iron Man is from Manhattan, or that Robin 3.0 is raised wealthy in Newark; neither of them ever gets a written-out accent.

Solution #2: A little word choice can go a long way, and a little research can go even further.  Listen carefully to the way people talk — on the bus, in a café, on unscripted YouTube — and write down their exact word choice.  “We good” literally means the same thing as “no thank you,” but one’s a lot more formal than the other.  “Ain’t” is a perfectly good synonym for “am not,” but not everyone will use it.

The Obscure Problem: It’s not even how people talk.

Look at how auto-transcription software messes up speaking styles, and it’s obvious that no one pronounces every spoken sound in every word that comes out of their mouth.  Consider how Americans say “you all right?”; 99% of us actually say something like “yait?”, using tone and head tilt to convey meaning.  Politicians speak very formally; friends at bars speak very informally.

An example: I’m from Baltimore, Maryland.  Unless I’m speaking to an American from Texas, in which case I’m from “Baltmore, Marlind.”  Unless I’m speaking to an American from Pennsylvania, in which case I’m from “Balmore, Marlin.”  If I’m speaking to a fellow Marylander, I’m of course from “Bamor.”  (If I’m speaking to a non-American, I’m of course from “Washington D.C.”)  Trying to capture every phoneme of change from moment to moment and setting to setting would be ridiculous; better just to say I inflect more when talking to people from outside my region.

When you write out an accent, you insert yourself, the writer, as an implied listener.  You inflict your value judgments and your linguistic ear on the reader, and you take away from the story.

Solution #3: When in doubt, just write the dialogue how you would talk.

[crepes-suzette-373]

Love (愛) without 情?

Back when I wrote my post about "emotions 感情 and emotions 情", it's not actually trying to figure out what Sanji's bros are missing, but what they still have.

Even as much as "情" is a vague term, it can also be pretty compartmentalised. Therefore, if someone has their 情 removed, it's rather ambiguous what other emotions will be affected/blocked and what can they still feel.

For example, a break-up speech that I sometimes see is something like this: "I don't feel 愛情 for you anymore, but I still feel 情".

In English terms: "The spark's not there anymore, but I still care for you".

I've also seen a blog/article where the author says that 愛 (love) and 情 are different feelings. In that particular article, the author describes 情 more as something like "pity" or "sympathy".

There are various explanations that I've seen, but now I'm starting to wonder if it's possible that in One Piece, someone can feel 愛 without 情.

Considering feelings can be tampered with through science and "DNA" (lineage factor/bloodline elements) in One Piece, it's possible that maybe in Oda-sensei's conception, "feelings" can be compartmentalised even further in ways that are different from how it works in real life

Once more, I present these:

If they have no mercy or pity or sympathy, what's all these, then?

That Ichiji one might be not entirely noticeable, but he is relieved that Sanji and the others made it out safely. He did care. Even if he had called it a mission, he still cared in a way that's different when he was handling the Broc Coli mission.

The common/obvious explanation is that Sora's medicine did also work on the others, even if not as completely as it did with Sanji.

Still, it would be an interesting situation if Oda-sensei declares that it's possible to feel "love" 愛 despite missing 情.

If somehow the mods were meant to just take out 情 without disabling their ability to love 愛, that's a whole new set of questions to consider. The brothers aside, this also could lead into unexpected ways for how Sanji's powers and modifications will be handled in the story. 愛 is the power of love that Sanji keeps talking about, after all.

At the end, this seems to be more on philosophy rather than strict meaning of language, so I can't really theorise too deeply about this.

[whoopsyeahokay]

October Sun

summary: you hadn't talked about it. had believed you'd never have to. but then you'd been alone in a classroom with a madman and the walls had been closing in, no hope, no escape. and then it'd screamed, LET ME OUT.

pairing: Wally Clark x fem!reader

warnings: panic attacks. eventual smutty smut smut. and mad spoilers. and obvious Canon divergence. very involved, very dense plot.

bon reading, frens

___________________________💀

OCTOBER SUN pt.18

tick. tock.

tick. tock.

Question 1: Why did Frankenstein create the Monster?

Mr. Anderson sat behind his desk, marking that morning's pile of tests. Yours was underway, everyone's heads down, the room silent apart from the scratching of pens on paper and the occasional creak as someone shifted at their desk.

As soon as you'd received your copy, you'd read through the questions; simple enough. Determine metaphor and allegory, write about what's between the lines, not what's on the page.

This wasn't your first rodeo. You loved the practice of analyzing books, finding things the author probably hadn't meant to give deeper meaning to but had, for the sake of high school English. It was where you excelled, earned As and A-pluses, 10/10s, 99/100s.

Mrs. Boudreaux, your junior English teacher, had been the driving force behind your application to the English program at Berkeley. With her guidance, you'd applied in your final semester last year and already had the acceptance letter stashed where your mother wouldn't snoop.

You were really fucking good at English.

And yet...

tick. tock.

tick. tock.

Question 1: Why does Frankenstein create the Monster?

You couldn't focus. Your mind kept slipping, the edges of cordoned-off memories bleeding under the tape. What you'd almost said to Simon earlier—"I'm gonna end up going after him with a—" crowbar crowbar crowbar—your stomach churned. You'd bitten the threat on your tongue and swallowed it back down before it'd had the chance to spill into the world.

Why that? Why, of all things, that? You hadn't...you'd never use...you wouldn't DO that.

"Sissy May! You're not looking! You have to look!"

A quiet, sharp inhale. Like sucking air through a straw. It wasn't enough, but you didn't want the attention. You folded over your desk to lay sideways on your arm, putting your back to the class. Pen on paper, unmoving, blue dot growing as ink seeped through the pages.

Write. Do it. Write something. Anything.

But you couldn't. Half of you was pulled in one direction while time wrenched your other half in another, fracturing in impossible countermotion. Existing forward and backward at the same time.

tick. tock.

tick. tock.

Question 1: Why does Frankenstein create the Monster?

Your vision swam as memories wedged themselves between the seconds, left hand singeing where it was cradled in the crook of your neck and shoulder. The pain shot from the outermost knuckle up to your elbow and struck outward in Lichtenberg figures behind your ribs.

"—the Split River police are considering this a missing person investigation—he lures her to the boiler room—blood blood blood on the walls—and you chose that person to be there—you're stuck here?"

Dialogue ran into each other, warped, distorted, a record played in reverse. Mr. Hartman's speech on Monday, your conversation with Wally, Simon's despair, and private thoughts emulsified into an incoherent sludge that pulsed in your ears.

"—she's stuck she's stuck she's stuck—body could be anywhere—I know this is alarming news, but we have every hope she'll be found safely—aren't friends supposed to trust each other?"

tick. tock.

tick. tock.

Question 1: Why does Frankenstein create the Monster?

Hesitant, careful, you tried not to draw attention as you sat up. Your left hand felt wet and when you looked down you saw tiny pinpricks of blood beading within the crevice of your scar. The pinpricks swelled into each other, more and more, scar tissue splitting up the middle and folding back. Blood gurgled out around the bone and spilled onto your desk. Drip-dropped onto the floor. Dribbled across blank test sheets.

You snatched your hand into your lap—don't look, it's not real, don't look—and clenched your eyes shut, dragging in quick, rabbitty breaths as best you could without making any noise.

"—if you know anything, anything at all, please come forward—he's hiding Maddie in there—I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry—no questions asked, remember?—get your stuff and let's go—I'm sorry I'm sorry—Sissy?"

Your eyes snapped open, immediately trained on the supply closet door. Ominous. Unbelonging. Dry, grey wood and rusted handle. You looked down at yourself, at your hand, open wound spewing a pool under your desk. Clothes and skin stained red. Hair in tacky strings that fell to your waist, much longer than it'd been when you woke up that morning.

Blood. So much. Blood.

tick. tock.

tick. tock.

"LET ME OUT!"

The rusted handle rattled furiously, wood expanding and contracting like the lungs of a nightmare. You were paralyzed in your seat, joints completely fused, unable to open your mouth and scream for help. Tears welled in your eyes, streaked down your face, as you watched the hinges loosen and the doorframe splinter around the strike plate.

"You can't keep me here! Do you hear me!? LET ME OUT!!"

Suddenly, there were hands on your face, a voice in the distance calling your name.

"Go get the nurse." Mr. Anderson instructed, spooked, standing from his desk and rushing down the aisle.

"With all due respect, sir," Xavier said over his shoulder, crouched beside you, hands staying firm on your jaw, "You do it. I'm staying with her."

He turned back to you, repeated your name, told you where you were, that you were okay, that he had you and wasn't going anywhere, shh shh it's okay, I'm right here. Until, finally, thank Christ, finally, your eyes refocused and you seemed to recognize Xavier.

"I need you to breathe for me, kiddo." He said in as soothing a tone as he could given his panic. He grabbed your left hand and put it over his heart, settled his open palm on your sternum, and inhaled deeply. "Come on, May, you can do this. You're okay."

The old nickname stung like a lash, defunct for a reason, but despite wanting to tell Xavier off, you couldn't speak. Your throat was too tight, tongue too large, fuck, you were going to die. Not there. Not in the school. Not where you'd never get out.

Not like this, you pleaded. And then, all at once, you were released, gasping and wailing, toppling out of your seat and onto the floor, into Xavier's arms. He tucked himself around you, protective, safe, and held you as you sobbed.

Outside, Wally almost doubled over, uneven contractions of pain in his chest, over and over, worse and worse. Disoriented, he held himself up on the side of the bus stop.

Rhonda was ranting at Charley about secrets, Maddie's secret—Simon could see them!—and Charley was frantically apologizing and Maddie was gone—where had she gone? It didn't matter—nothing mattered, he had to find you.

"Where are you going?!" Rhonda yelled after him as he took off toward the side door.

And all he could think of to explain his sudden departure was, "I just need some space right now!"

Right then, he didn't care if she believed him. If either of them believed him. If they followed him and found you and found him with you—he didn't fucking care.

He just had to get to you.

Mr. Anderson returned with the nurse, pale and uneasy. Xavier ignored them both as he helped you to your feet. The classroom had thankfully been on its way to empty when Xavier had noticed you'd been unresponsive. Sat stiff as a board at your desk clutching your left hand, the whites of your eyes visible as you'd stared into nothingness.

"I'm taking her home." He said, brooking no argument, holding you against him with an arm secured around your waist and you were almost out, almost away from the terror that had gripped you, but Nurse Laine had to shine a flashlight pen into your eyes first.

She asked questions that you answered with curt nods and shakes.

"Are her parents home?"

Xavier informed, "Her grandmother. I've already said I'm bringing her back." Between convulsions. Had reached into your bag to fish out your phone. Punched the code in easily and found Abigail's number in your contacts. Why the hell was it still 0-6-1-1? Why torture yourself?

It was then that Wally barreled through the closed classroom door. He looked every bit as shaken as you felt. In four long strides, he was at your side, observing Xavier with more scrutiny than he gave to the scene itself.

"I want to go home," You said, weak, wet, directed to everyone in the room, but especially to Wally. Because you couldn't talk directly to him, couldn't touch him; no matter how much you needed him to be who held you, you weren't so far gone not to recognize that that wasn't possible.

Mr. Anderson spoke as Xavier guided you to the door, "You can retake the test on Monday. It's no problem." And it was both a relief and a kick in the gut.

You couldn't look at him. At the man who had abducted Maddie, hurt her, abused her, forced her out of her body.

"Sissy?"

You wrenched forward and vomited into the garbage pail beside the door.

Mr. Anderson took a single step and you whimpered, curling into Xavier as if attempting to hide from the man. Xavier looked between you and Mr. Anderson, a dark expression of suspicion seeping into his features.

"Don't worry about it." Mr. Anderson said of the garbage pail like that's what you were scared about. Like that mattered at all. "I'll take care of it. Just get her home safely."

Xavier gritted out a thank you to Mr. Anderson on your behalf and practically carried you out of there, stopping only to peek into the hallway first to assess how to get you to the car without witnesses.

Minus a couple of students jogging to their next class a few minutes late, the hallway was empty.

Wally remained a stalwart presence at your other side, down the two flights of stairs and out the door into the parking lot.

Lead-rubber limbs caused missteps, scuffing the toes of your sneakers against the gravel. Xavier never let go, every stumble counterbalanced, patient as you found your footing again only to lose it moments later.

He bundled you into the passenger's seat—sideways against the back with your legs still outside the car—and crouched to tell you, "I'm going to grab my bike. I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay."

After a hard press of his lips to your forehead, he was gone, and Wally took his place.

It felt too much like your sophomore year, Xavier swooping in to the rescue, leaving Wally in the dust. Only, this time, Wally knew you could hear him. More than that, Wally knew you'd answer when he asked:

"Baby, what happened?"

You shrugged, fragile, tired, and, "Panic attack," you said simply. "I think this whole thing with Maddie is getting to me."

Wally nodded as if he understood, but he didn't, though he so wished he did. What he'd felt, what the connection between you and he had delivered into him...if he'd been alive, the pain Wally had experienced would've killed him, he was certain of it.

Are you okay? He almost asked. Instead, he dropped to his knees and wound his arms around your waist, coaxing you forward until you tilted out of the seat and allowed Wally to take your weight. He leaned back and sunk onto his haunches so you were entirely seated in his lap, face under his chin, arms around his neck, fastened to him in a way he was beginning to prefer.

Eventually, "Something happened. Six years ago," you revealed, so quiet Wally nearly missed it.

He kissed a crown into your hairline, "You don't have to tell me, pretty girl, it's okay."

"I want to." You insisted, but Wally felt the tension in your back when you said it.

Plastering on his best smile, he craned his neck so he could see your face, practically melting as those big, marbled eyes blinked sweetly up at him. "Some other time, then, huh?" He suggested and was pleased when you agreed. A little nod and then you nuzzled yourself back into his throat with a sigh. Cute as a baby bird.

Xavier returned a few minutes later and set about preparing the car so he had enough space to deposit his bike in the trunk. Once finished, he climbed into the driver's seat and tapped you lightly on the shoulder.

"Ready to go?"

Contrary to last night, when you'd slammed back into your body at speed, you seemed to simply rouse as if from sleep. A far gentler experience that you hoped was the new norm.

"Get some rest, baby," Wally said and stood, dusting off the knees of his sweatpants. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

You answered with a smile since Xavier was watching you; refusing to start the car until you'd positioned yourself properly with your seatbelt buckled and the car door closed.

As Xavier drove out of the parking lot, the warmth of the connection between you and Wally fell away like a cloak slipping from your shoulders.

Xavier didn't hesitate to reach over the console and take your hand as if he could sense you needed the comfort. He squeezed and promised, "No questions asked."

You kept your head turned toward the window, heavy on the headrest, and squeezed back.

💀___________________________

PART SEVENTEEN - PART NINETEEN

also available on AO3!

MASTERLIST

[catsharky]

Wanted to post these separate from my Art Fight post because I spent too long on these references (really just Fallstreak's tbh) to keep them hidden away on the AF site. Also cause I love these guys and I haven't really talked about them much on here.

So for anyone who was curious about the previous art I posted of these OCs, have some actual information about them!

Nell

Full name Abnell Roache (will also accept 'Nella', but loathes being called 'Nelly'). A health and safety inspector for an interstellar cargo company, Nell becomes stranded on an ocean planet when the ship she's auditing- the ACS Endurance- experiences a catastrophic engine failure and tears itself in two.

Adrift on an endless alien sea with no guarantee of rescue and little emergency food, she has to survive with the help of Bas: an (illegal) AI inhabiting the chassis of her life pod's survival assistant. With her only goals being survival and finding any other survivors, she's unprepared to find herself making humanity's first contact with another sapient species; an alien biologist named Fallstreak who has also found himself trapped on the planet. 

She's thrilled to learn about Fallstreak and his people, as well as teach him as much as she can about humanity, and if she has an immediate, massively obvious crush on the tall faceless alien? Well, the only other person there to complain is Bas. Which he does. A lot.

Bas (Pronounced 'Baz')

An illegal AI inhabiting the chassis of a life pod survival assistant (though to clarify, in this universe all true AI are illegal because they require a human brain scan to be made and that's a legal rights nightmare). After years of only knowing his 'father', Richter (the engineer aboard the Endurance who purchased and programmed him), he boots up to find his home destroyed, his father dead, and himself in the company of a total stranger; Nell. 

He has a lot to deal with: keeping Nell alive, figuring out how to interact with someone other than Richter while also mourning his death, and acting as a middle-man/interpreter between Nell (who he has rapidly developed what seem to be romantic feelings towards) and Fallstreak (an alien biologist who's captured Nell's interest without even knowing what he has). 

And to top it all off? He has a text-to-speech Australian accent.

Fallstreak

An alien biologist with a bio-mechanical body, named after the cloud formation (look up 'Fallstreak holes', they're neat!) that most closely resembled an event that occurred on the day of his birth.

Extremely curious and wants to learn everything about his two new companions, as well as share his knowledge with them. Verbal language is all but entirely unused by his species, however, so the language barrier between Fallstreak and Nell+Bas is a large one. Thanks to Bas' assistance, he's able to understand spoken communication fairly well, and speaks (in very broken sentence structure) by vibrating the membranes in his gill openings, resulting in a voice that sounds somewhat like early English vocaloids; understandable but clearly not a natural voice.

Living a fairly solitary life isn't uncommon for his species, and he hasn't had the opportunity to experience romantic interest before, so when he meets Nell and begins to fall for her, he's more than a little confused (oblivious) about what his emotions are doing. Unfortunately draws some jealous ire from Bas as a result, but is pretty oblivious to the AI's attempted rivalry. 

--

All three of these guys are from a WIP comic called The Rive that I hope to finish some day. I have most of the story figured out, and quite a bit of it scripted and ready to go, I just need to actually draw the damn thing.

[sfstranslations]

how hard(?) would you say it is to translate? Ive been kinda curious about that, like does anything get lost in translation/ just not make that much sense without knowing the og language? or anything like that? 🤔

Hm, maybe 7 or 8 on a scale of 10? Though it can easily go higher at times, haha. (Always when Sung Hyunjae is in a scene because his name is a misspelling and it pisses me off.* This is a joke. Only half, though.) Basic word-by-word dictionary lookup is simple, which is why machine translators can do it well enough. But then you have to string all of it together in a sentence where you:

figure out and find a way to convey any difference in connotation between this specific chosen word and other words that mean the same thing (think the connotations of "regal" VS "royal" in English), and

do the same as above, but on a sentence-wide level translating the nuance of a particular grammar/sentence structure (thousand and one sentence endings in Korean, I swear -_-), and

make sure distinct character voices are retained or translated from the original Korean (think Song Taewon's stiff formality VS Han Yoojin's more casual speech VS Sung Hyunjae's middle-aged rich guy-type speech), and

make sure this sentence flows with the overall paragraph/chapter.

All those priorities have to be juggled throughout the chapter and add up to make it a fairly hard task. It definitely gets easier with practice once you're more familiar with the language (especially the nuance/connotation stuff), though, and I did get lucky in that my native language shares some aspects with Korean so the grammar is easier to intuitively grasp. Of course, I'm still learning, so I do have times I need to call in more experienced speakers for help.

(I definitely wouldn't say I'm good with the language period. Recently I've tentatively picked up a new novel—people following my personal blog will know which one—and it turns out I'm familiar with the way Geunseo talks and familiar with the vocabulary typical to dungeon fantasy novels, but kind of. Majorly hopeless when it comes to other stuff. The phrasing is juuust off enough that I keep getting tripped up and taking thrice as long to understand what's being said.)

There's definitely stuff that wouldn't make sense in English—certain idioms, cultural stuff, and all that, but that's why I try to localize wherever possible and add footnotes with relevant info/links if not. And there is stuff that gets lost in translation—you can look at the chapter titles from 302–307 for an example of that, where the joke is much more immediately obvious in Korean but had to be translated differently as chapter title VS in-chapter text messages and lost the clear parallel. I also remember being grumpy back during the virtual reality dungeon arc because Yoohyun would use 네놈 (ne-nom but typically pronounced ni-nom, a derogatory way to say "you", LMAO) towards Sigma and there was no concise way to get that across in English except having him be aggressive and direct. Especially since he isn't the type to swear by word of god, so I couldn't have him addressing him with "asshole" or "jerk" to convey it.

TL;DR: Fairly hard to translate, but gets easier with time, and there is stuff that's lost or difficult to understand, but I do what I can to make it understandable in English!

--

* Sung Hyunjae uses "ae" at the end, but that implies it's 성현재, which is wrong—the correct spelling is 성현제, which should be "Sung Hyunje". (If you wanted to go the full Revised Romanization route, it'd be Seong Hyeonje, but I've weathered my share of name changes and that's a step too far even for me.) I've been meaning to make a poll about changing it like with the Lauchitas spelling, but I keep forgetting.

[amphibious-thing]

This is maybe a dumb question, but looking at the portraits of Hervey, I have a hard time noticing anything about how he's dressing that seems out of the ordinary or especially more 'feminine' for the time period (barring that one where he just has his coat buttoned super low and his whole shirt out?). Am I missing some obvious detail (material they were made out of maybe?) or was the his effeminacy/the perception of him as effeminate just more based on behavior than 'presentation'?

Not a dumb question at all. It was combination of his sexuality, his diet, his androgyny as well as his clothes & makeup. While Hervey's femininity was almost certainly exaggerated in satire written by his enemies there was some basis to this satire.

Sexuality

In the 18th century there was an association between effeminacy and sodomy. I don't think we can discount the role the rumours surrounding Hervey's sexuality played in the public's perception of him. William Pulteney's 1731 pamphlet A Proper Reply to a Late Scurrilous Libel satirises Hervey as Mr. Fainlove. Pulteney describes Fainlove as a "delicate Hermophrodite", a "pretty, little, Master-Miss" and insinuates that he's a pathick who "enjoys every Moment and Fruits of his Guilt". The 1739 pamphlet The State of Rome, Under Nero and Domitian satirises Hervey as Sporus (an allusion to Pope's satire of Hervey) describing him as a "Male-female Thing," who is "Fit only for the Pathicks loathsome Trade".

Pope's choice to satirise Hervey as Sporus in An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735) was itself a comment on Hervey's sexuality. Sporus being the boy that Nero is said to have castrated and taken as a wife.

Diet

Hervey was epileptic and suffered from a chronic colic. He details his medical history in An Account of My Own Constitution and Illness. At the recommendation of his doctor's George Cheyne he adopted a milk and vegetable diet. Cheyne believed that such a diet was "absolutely necessary for the total Cure of the Epilepsy” and also prescribed milk and vegetable diets in cases of “extreme Nervous Cholicts”. (The English Malady, p167 & 254) Hervey ate no meet for three years before reintroducing white meet. This diet was seen as effeminate by his contemporaries. Lady Louisa Stuart cites his refusal to eat beef as an example of the “extreme to which Lord Hervey carried his effeminate nicety”. (Stuart wrote this anonymously in the introductory anecdotes included in the 1837 edition of The Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.)

Hervey also drank "ass’s milk with powder of crab’s eyes and oyster-shells" for his heath. This is mocked in the poem The Lord H-r--y's First Speech in the House of Lords (1733-4) that calls him "a perfect curd of ass's milk." Alexander Pope included a similar line in An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735) describing him as a "mere white Curd of Ass's milk".

[Certain City Macaronies drinking Asses Milk, print, c.1772, via The British Museum.]

The association between effeminacy and asses milk features in the satirical dialogue The City Macaronies drinking Asses-milk, at the Lacteum, in St. George's-fields published in the November 1772 edition of the Oxford Magazine which was accompanied by the above illustration. The dialogue mocks macaroni for drinking asses-milk as a treatment for "nervous cases" and "hysterics" claiming that it's "delicate men" such as the macaroni "whose fine feelings are sensible of the slightest pressure, that are acquainted with hysterics". The son of the milk woman wonders aloud whether the macaroni are men or women. His mother tells him "they're neither, they are a kind of half and half breed."

Androgyny

With his slim figure and a bit of a baby-face Hervey was considered to be naturally androgynous. When Lady Deloraine said to him and Miss Fitzwilliams that "in her opinion a woman could never look too much like a woman, nor a man too much like a man" Hervey admitted that "considering the two people she said this to, it was certainly well said; and I can forgive her having bragged of it to every creature she has seen since" (Hervey to Stephen Fox, 18 September 1731)

Satirical descriptions of Hervey liken him to a cherub or a fairy describing him as pretty, little, soft, dainty, delicate.

In A Proper Reply to a Late Scurrilous Libel (1731) Pulteney satirises Hervey as "pretty Mr. Fainlove" who he describes as a "delicate Hermophrodite", a "pretty, little, Master-Miss", a "pretty, little Scribbler", and comments that he shouldn't "sully those pretty Fingers with Ink" that "a Fan would become them much better than a Pen."

The Lord H-r--y's First Speech in the House of Lords (1733-4) describes him as "the softest, prettiest thing". In An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735) Pope describes him as having a "cherub's face". Tell-tale Cupids (1735) satirises him as the "pretty baby fac'd Lord Dapper".*

In A Fairy Tale (1743) by Horace Walpole depicts Hervey as a literal fairy describing him as a "Dainty little Figure", "most delicately Fair and light" who "would have been vastly Pretty if it’s cherry-lips had ‘nclos’d any Teeth".

*quoted in Lord Hervey: Eighteenth-Century Courtier by Robert Halsband

Clothes & Makeup

Pope didn't describe Sporus as a "bug with gilded wings" and a "Fop at the toilet" because of Hervey's natural androgyny, clothing & makeup absolutely played a role in the public perception of him.

The Duchess of Marlborough described Hervey as a having "a painted face, and not a tooth in his head". Pope described him as "painted Child of Dirt that stinks and stings". And the The Court Garland refers to him as "Thou powder-puff, thou painted toy". (see The Opinions of Sarah Duchess-Dowager of Marlborough p42, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot & Lord Hervey: Eighteenth-Century Courtier by Robert Halsband p138)

The fashionable look of the period required pale clear skin, flushed red cheeks and dark eyebrows. While washes and creams were used to achieve clear pale skin, white cosmetic paint could also be used to lighten and smooth the skin. Rouge was used to give colour to the cheeks. Burnt cloves could be used to darken the eyebrows. While some of these cosmetics contained lead or mercury not all of them did.

[Lord John Hervey, oil on canvas, c.1741–1742, by Jean-Baptiste van Loo, via Art UK.]

It's hard to know how reliable the accounts of Hervey's makeup use are however his portraits do depict him with this fashionable look (in particular the rosy cheeks of the Jean-Baptiste van Loo portraits and the Enoch Seeman portrait). While modern depictions of 18th century fops will sometimes exaggerate makeup depicting men with pure white faces and almost perfectly round red circles on their cheeks, Hervey's portraits are more accurate to the look these cosmetics were trying to achieve.

The use of cosmetics are highlighted in satirical depictions of effeminate men throughout the 18th century century. As early as 1691 Mundus Foppensis: or, the Fop Display’d was mocking men for the "wanton use" of "Spanish Red, and white Ceruse". In 1773 The Old Beau in an Extasy depicts a "Fop at Sixty two" who uses "Chinese Paint for Artificial Bloom". In 1812 Regency A la Mode depicts the Prince Regent applying rouge to his cheeks while he gets laced into stays. The Court Garland's satire of Hervey is just another example of a satirical depiction of a fop in makeup:

Thou powder-puff, thou painted toy, Thou talking trifle, H----y; Thou doubtful he, she, je ne sçai quoy, By G-d, the K--g shall starve ye.

[Left: The Old Beau in an Extasy, print, c.1773, by John Dixon, via Lewis Walpole Library.

Right: 1812, or, Regency A la Mode, print, c.1812, by William Heath, via Lewis Walpole Library]

As for clothing I have to admit I'm better at late-18th century menswear. That being said material and colour seem to have played a role in what was considered effeminate.

A letter to the Read's Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer published on the 8th of May 1731 complains; "Rich and coloured Silks are in themselves effeminate, and unbecoming a Man; as are in short, all Things that discover Dress to have been his Study- 'Tis in vain for a Fop of Quality, to think his Title will protect him." In particular the article criticises poke sleeves and green waistcoats. While poke sleeves are absent from Hervey's portraits the Seeman portrait depicts him wearing a green waistcoat.

Green waistcoats are also mentioned in a story published in the Universal Spectator and Weekly Journal on the 18th of October 1729 describing and effeminate man's clothing as follows:

He had a flower’d pink-colour Silk Coat, with a Green-Sattin Waistcoat lac’d with Silver. Velvet Breeches, Clock’d Stockings the Colour of his Coat, Red-heel’d Pumps, a Blue Ribbon at the Collar of his Shirt, and his Sword-Hilt he embrac’d under the Elbow of his Left Arm,

This green waistcoat is laced with silver. In the Jean-Baptiste van Loo portraits you can see a embroidered silver waistcoat peeking out from beneath Hervey's coat.

[Left: Lord John Hervey, oil on canvas, c.1737, by John Fayram, via Art UK.

Right: Lord John Hervey, oil on canvas, by Enoch Seeman, via The Collected Verse of John, Lord Hervey]

While the quality of the photo leaves much to be desired I wonder if the coat from the Seeman portrait is supposed to be silver. The coat he wears in the The Hervey Conversation Piece could also be silver but it might simply be grey. Sarah Osborn thought that silver coats looked effeminate. She wrote to Robert Byng on the 2nd of June 1722:

I believe the gentlemen will wear petticoats very soon, for many of their coats were like our mantuas. Lord Essex had a silver tissue coat, and pink color lutestring waistcoat, and several had pink color and pale blue paduasoy coats, which looked prodigiously effeminate.

Hervey wears a "prodigiously effeminate" pale blue, possibly paduasoy, coat (possibly a long sleeved waistcoat?) in the Fayram portrait.

The low buttoned waistcoat is somewhat interesting and consistent throughout his portraits, buttoned particularly low in the Fayram portrait. The effeminate Captain Whiffle from The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748) is described wearing his waistcoat "unbuttoned at the upper part to display a brooch set with garnets" but Hervey is broochless and looking at other portraits from this period the low buttoning doesn't seem to be unusual.

[Left: Detail of The Hervey Conversation Piece, oil on canvas, c.1738-40, by William Hogarth, via Fairfax House.

Right: Lord John Hervey, oil on canvas, c.1741, by Jean-Baptiste van Loo, via Art UK.]

Fur-lined suits like that worn by Hervey in the Jean-Baptiste van Loo portraits were imported from France or Italy and could be very costly. Mary Delany describes Lord Baltimore wearing "light brown and silver, his coat lined quite throughout with ermine" at a ball where "finery was so common it was hardly distinguished". (Mary Delany to Ann Granville, 22 Jan, 1739/40)

Fur-lined suits were somewhat of novelty in England and would become a feature in Grand Tour portraits. Peter McNeil explains in Pretty Gentleman (p123):

The novelty and glamour of new fashion goods generated excited responses to Lyons silk waistcoats, Italian velvets and fur-lined suits. There was a well-established tradition of wealthy men acquiring clothing on the continent and then having themselves painted in them, either in Italy or back in England.

(see Benjamin Lethieullier 1752, Lord Archibald Hamilton 1755-56 & John Scott 1774 all by Pompeo Batoni an artist well know for his Grand Tour portraits)

Hervey's buckles in the Jean-Baptiste van Loo portraits look to be set with paste (glass) or gems (buckles could even be set with diamonds). While it's impossible to tell what Hervey's buckles are set with these buckles could get very expensive. Later in the century macaroni were mocked for their expensive taste in similar buckles. (see McNeil p90)

[Left: Shoe buckle, metal & paste, 18th century, British via The MET (83.1.103).

Right: Detail of Lord John Hervey, oil on canvas, c.1741, by Jean-Baptiste van Loo, via Art UK.]

While Hervey was certainly a fashionably dressed man he doesn't take it to the extent you might imagine of the archetypal fop. Satire exaggerates. Hervey's enemies chose their words deliberately to humiliate him. The amphibious thing of Pope's poetry was in reality a chronically ill queer man with a taste for fashion.

[desired-fantasy-writings]

Mixture Of Headcanons - Maxime Le Mal

Requested by: Nobody

Warnings: Sexual headcanons below NSFW cut

Readers Gender: Gender Neutral

Fanfic Type: Headcanons

Fanfic Genre: SFW and NSFW

Word Count: 737

A/N: As I'm writing this, I feel a tad embarrassed and confused that somehow a badly written French cockroach villian man pulled me out of my 2-3 year writer's block. Wtf-

Anywaysss, onto the regular headcanons and some relationship headcanons, a mixture of things.... for this whimpy whiney shit (I say this lovingly.)

[Headcanons and some ramblings in the tags contain some spoilers. If you haven't watched DM4 yet feel free to swipe by this]

SFW

• Mans will not shut the fuck up about himself, how great he is and how everyone else fucking sucks and he's perfect in every way. VERY sassy, self absorbed, snobby, has anger problems (obvious), and secretly clingy. He thinks he's the shit. You'll just have to... "indulge him" by listening to every small thing he got bothered by that day. Every little thing can set him off. Cannot let grudges go.

• Obviously his thing is that he talks with his hands... a lot. It's one of many ways to tell what type of mood he's in at that moment. Frantic, heavy hand movements, and fingers twitching? He mad. Quick bursts of movement, doing quick little claps and finger tapping? For sure in a good mood.

• Maxime cannot hide his emotions, like at all. One of his weaknesses. He's VERY animated with his body language and voice.

• Many people will not agree with this one, so bare with me. From my own observation he has many traits and behaviours of someone who has a undiagnosed narcissistic disorder, or some other type of undiagnosed personality disorder. [This is just a headcanon of mine please don't jump me- 😭]

• By his fascination and obsession with bugs, I wouldn't be surprised if he was autistic or ADHD... or not, idk. He kinda act like me fr.

• I can imagine when he was still partly cockroach he wore gloves due to increased sensitivity, before the transformation he only wore them as a fashion choice. After AVL de-transformed him, they couldn't reverse everything. What was left was the antennas, some of his strength, and the heightened sensitivity - even afterward he still continues to wear gloves to prevent himself from overwhelming his senses.

• Seen many people theorise that Maxime feels phantom pain often and a great need to spread his non-existent wings and extra limbs after the de-transformation. It makes a lot of sense... It's quite interesting, as sad as it is...

• Fixing, fiddling, and tinkering with anything is one his ways to calm down, also could be considered a type of stim. Uses his cane for the same purpose. Maxime has to fiddle with something in his hands or he'll get absolutely fidgety and agitated with the extra amount of energy he has built up. Often wants someone to be by him as he tinkers and talks away.

• Has a fine taste in fashion (maybe not the giant ahs green coat he has.. but it find it cute.) The outfit he has at the end of the movie though? GAWDDDDDD where do I ever start? BLUEEE IS HIS COLOURRR. (Alsoooo I 100% believe his outfit was inspired by Balthazar Bratt, btw-)

NSFW below the cut! Don't read if it makes you uncomfy.

NSFW

• Soooo his voice... he's well aware people find accents a turn on, so uses it to his advantage when he sees fit ...And on his partner especially (let's just pretend Valentina isn't in the picture). Often when he wants their attention he slows his speech, making sure to drag out every word he says as he flirts with them, letting his French accent go on full force - seeing if he can get any reaction of them. As he does he impulsively switched between English and French. If his partner don't know a single bit of French.... Just for fun he'd speak so many dirty words to them in French, often leaving them confused trying to figure out what he just said to them. If they do speak French like he does, it's fair game. If he doesn't get a reaction out of his partner, he'll keep being persistent til they do, the man does NOT give up easy. (Being mean and teasing his partner is 100% his love language.)

(If his partner have a voice kink, and Maxime finds out, good luck never having a moment of silence ever again-)

• Maxime's kisses are so divine. IT'S not because he's french and that's the stereotype... But he certainly does live up to it. How he kisses his partner can determine how he's feeling in that moment, either wanting attention and love from them... or more, his kisses leaving them a gasp every time. There's never a dull moment, especially when he dips them out of nowhere to give them the best french kisses... Also best be careful, he bites. ;)

• I can see him being the type of man to not rush things, but make it so painfully saken slow for his partner til they break and can't stand it. He loves to be in control, and controlling when his partner can have what they desperately need for some sort of release... He thrives off of it. Torturing them and watching his partner squirm and beg is one of his greatest pleasures.

(If his partner "wrestles with him" and wins, which most of the time unlikely... Maxime's all theirs, their in control now. His partner can do whatever to him.... But careful, he likes to fight back.)

• Will make his partner suffer by making them watch him please himself, knowing how much his partner needs him and want to please him as they watch, struggling to stay put. He just smirks and chuckles the whole time, his accent tickling his partner's ears, adding even more to the torture and pleasure they'd feel later on.

• With how expressive he is, he does not hide it at all in the bedroom. From groans, moans, growls, whines - this man does everything. He feels no shame showing his partner how much they affect him. The look of amusement that covers his partner's features hearing him being so loud gets him even more turned on.

• Is very grabby. By the end of it his partner will be covered in scratches, bruises, hickies, and bite marks. Maxime is surprisingly stronger than he looks, easily pinning his partner down with his skinny frame. Can grip too hard sometimes. When this man gets horny.. HE'S horny.

• Maxime's antennas are extremely sensitive... According to him in DM4. I can imagine them being an extremely sensitive erectile zone if rubbed just right. Depending on his mood it can either go both ways - a wholesome cuddle session with his partner... Or they'll be in either of each other's lair for the rest of the day not leaving the bedroom.... His partner is in for an aggressive, loving ride. I can imagine his antennas twitching more too.

• Maxime is thicker than most. Has an average length just enough to be comfortable with, but his girth will definitely take some getting used to at first. It starts curved upward from the middle, has many veins and textures for his partner to experience.

• Is a very cleanzy man, trims himself quite nicely just enough to have lovely peach fuzz.

• If his eye twitches when he's angry..... Imagine it twitching as he gets close, ahahahah...

• Again, WILL NOT, shut up. Not a single moment will there ever be a silent moment. Talks SOO much shit, so much filth it can honestly get overwhelming with how much he is saying as he pounds into his partner. He's such a little shit as he does this. He knows exactly what to say to get them squirming, whimpering and their blood pumping.

• It's hard to understand him half the time - his English words getting mixed with his native tongue French. In the heat of the moment it's incredible to see, seeing him get so into the intimate moment between his partner that his words get all jumbled up because of them~

A/N: I have so many more ideas and theories for this french fella. I may or may not write more.... If the people demand for it... 👀👉👈 (Hold me accountable plz I'd hate to go into an writer's block again-) I'm pretty rusty from writing atm I'll probably rewrite this a bit later.

[punkeropercyjackson]

@cassieopeiia said yes when i offered to repost my afro-dominican Jason Todd headcanons so they could finally have some accurate latino Jason content so here!!

Both sets of his grandparents were inmigrants who made sure to teach their kids their culture and Bruce,Talia and Alfred did research so he could still grow up in it after he was adopted so he's not disconnected from his culture like you'd expect

Is darkskinned with a big nose,full lips,green eyes and shoulder length black dreads with one of them being white from The Lazarus Pit.As Robin,he wore his hair short and natural(as in,his classic curls but even thicker)

Speaks spanish often enough that it's a consistent part of his speech patterns but dosen't have an accent since he's so good at both it and english

90s/2000s anime kid but specifically watched the episodes and read the mangas in latino spanish whenever he could(Definitely a merch collector too!!!Nothing weird though,i feel the need to say that,he just loves buying volumes and figures and replicas of weapons and plushies-The last one is a secret though)

Has his pre-reboot Robin characterization but got victim blamed and a bad rep anyway because of antiblackness and xenophobia

Bullying Tim for being a gringo is one of his favorote hobby's

Duke and him compare their similar yet different experiences with blackness and got along even quicker than canon thanks to it

Mentors Damian's team The All New Teen Titans and next to Damian,the member he's closest to is Nell

Takes great care of his hair and will sometimes wear red beads-He actually has a couple sets in different shades!!!

Says his favorite color is red because it represents blood on his country's flag and nobody can tell wether he's joking or not

Sometimes feels guilty for 'being a stereotype' due to the whole being born to poor parents who were also addicts and growing up to be a huge asshole with anger issues and a thirst for violence but rarely lets it get to him because he thinks he's the coolest mf to ever exist(but we all know he's actually a boyloser)

Aave user,with his favorite word from it being 'deadass'

And he makes the obvious 'Concha' jokes too for irony because he's demisexual and aceflux

Loves his country's cuisine-especially flan,it's tied with neapolitan as his favorite dessert!-but his favorite type of latino food is mexican!Tres leches cake and tacos and burritos and mexican hot chocolate and all that make his mouth water like Atlantis

Wears traditional festive clothes for special occasions and if he can't,he'll just refuse to go("I'm not going out in public in that!" "It's literally a tux???" "You call that a tux?It dosen't even have shoulder pads!Don't patronize me,Dickardo.")

Listens to bachata for nostalgia reasons and has some songs memorized but generally a female rappers/death metal bands/punk rock kinda guy

Black and latino memes connoiseur,both the classics and newer ones

Adores dominican folklore and uses it's horror mythos as inspo as Red Hood

Thinks 'showing affection means you aren't tough!' is gringo nonsense so he's pretty open about if he likes someone,be it platonic or romantic

Poc4Poc strictly and has a thing for black women

The only thing him and Kyle can agree on is that latinos are superior

Very autistic,with no masking game now or ever due to the norms he was raised in never giving him the chance to learn to.It got him bullied at school and things didn't get better into adulthood until we got to my Rhato rewrite and he got to make REAL friends i.e Reconnecting with Eddie and my self-insert Summer Kent(i got into DC through watching Utrh and starting to selfship with him),Robin-ing up Duke and vice versa and meeting Rose,Artemis,Kyle,Thad and a bunch of ocs by @moonage-gaydream @theautisticcentre @refrigeratedboombursts @mayameanderings and @insomniac-jay

Punkero Gótico(Goth Punk)who's a straightedge as trauma coping,seeks out latino/black run thrift stores,goes to basement shows and charity events and protests when he has free time and usually just asks around for them so he can know,wears dominican themed corpse makeup and is an agender transmasc who describes his gender as 'Mostly nonbinary but being a guy makes things funny as hell and Not That Kinda Girl by Mcr describes me pretty well')

His love for classical literatiure ofc includes latino authors and he played JuegosJuegos.com tons as a kid

Calls Talia Mamí,Damian 'Duende',Duke 'El Real'(Real=Spanish for Royal but also means the same thing it does in english so it's basically him saying 'You're so fucking real' like the slang)and Summer 'Strawberry Pop'(Jason has a thing for pink-coded black women specifically m'kay?)

His favorite Marvel character and lucky for him his Marvel Variant too is Miles Morales.He thinks it's Hobie Browm though(PLEASE He's so obsessed with his non-existent coolness and relatedly Duke's actual DC Variant is Duke 'El Real' Thomas)

And his books Variant is Percy Jackson.The only real differences are 1.Percy is transfem instead of transmasc and 2.Jason's arc is about him being a self-made tragedy and highkey bad person who works his ass off to redeem himself and only works when he's not getting coddling and Percy's is about how she's never done anything wrong in her entire life yet gets treated like shit anyway and deserves to be treated kindly for once no matter how strong she is

My fancast for him is Aubrey Joseph.Everything i've watched of him-Acting AND as himself-is literally just irl Jason Todd.There's no better fancast for him out there,we've found Red Hood y'all

If you call him any version of 'Papí' and you're not Talia or one of his kids:'Lights Out Bitch!!!!'

Canon bonus':His birthday is on Dominican Restoration day,at my villa we sell mini packets of neapolitan cream with little spoons at our schools,his Lego movie is called 'Family Matters' which is the name of an iconic black sitcom and Leon from Pokemon's VA voiced him in the Wfa dub!!!

[wyrm-with-a-why]

hiiii :3 I'm here with a barrage of sociolinguistic centered transformers headcanons. Most of this is my musing about the tfp universe, but i guess it could apply to other continuities. this is a thinly veiled info dump but i would like to hear some of your thoughts and ideas on this ^_^

I want to preface this by saying that language is the key component of every culture, at least in my opinion. As a texan, I consider my accent and the way I phrase things to be a strong part of my culture. I figure the same should go for cybertronians, considering all their variations, including different frametypes and castes and origins and all that jazz.

First and foremost I wanna talk about how quickly language changes. vernacular is ever changing. There are many examples of words becoming outdated or ‘cringe’ within just a few years of them existing in the public vocabulary. and if you think of how cybertronian life spans compare to humans, it's obvious that cybertronians must live through many many many changes in language. like complete evolutions of dialects and the births of new languages. so i think it would be fair to assume that just about every mech is a polyglot.

I also think it's fun to think about how the caste system could affect the common speak of certain areas. I imagine that most high class regions are more productivity/efficiency focused than, say, tarn, so a common language is more important to them. therefore they might have a ‘cybertronian standard’ that everyone speaks and maybe some few dead or actively dying languages still floating around. However, in a ‘lower caste’ polis like tarn or kaon, without that sort of structure and with a sort of individualistic culture, different dialects are more likely to spring up and thrive. like there's no distinct ‘kaonite’ language, but instead a collection of dialects that vaguely resemble each other originating in kaon.

That point brings me to conclude that decepticons found it hard to communicate with each other when the war first began. mechs came from all over cybertron to fight for the decepticon cause. and in life during wartime, there were things to worry about other than language, as important as communication may be. i suppose they MUST have adapted to each other's speech at some point over millions of years, in close quarters. hell, they might have even used their mixed up language to confuse the autobots and evade intel breaches. and maybe different units of the decepticon militia could've developed their own dialects, being on their own for years and years (similar to antarctic english!!)

ok now (entirely self indulgently) i wanna talk about my language based megatron headcanons. I figure he must speak uniquely, given his origins. I'd guess his mother tongue originated in tarn. more specifically, a dialect spoken almost exclusively by miners. a language most likely VERY different from any other tarnian tongue, due to the physical barrier between miners who never see the light of day and every mech on the surface. I like to think their dialect is derivative from their profession and a tight knit relationship between miners. Then of course he becomes a gladiator, and learns their language, which has probably developed distinctly due to their unusual profession as well. I imagine megatron would study other languages in his free time, and translate his own poems and other works to reach as many as possible. When megatron would give his speeches in the arena, and later to the greater public, he would try to hide as much of his original accent as possible. Not because he was ashamed, but because he knew it would make him 'agreeable' to the higher castes and more persuasive to a larger demographic. He still very much believes that what he's saying is more important than how he says it, but he understands the impact that language has on persuasion. After a while of constantly making speeches to the masses in his ‘charisma voice’ it's become his standard way of speaking (basically my reasoning of why he talks Like That). He only ever speaks his native language to soundwave, and a bit to orion pax before the war. and he almost exclusively talks to soundwave in the kaonite gladiator dialect. Basically it's considered a high honor to hear megatron speak without his regular inhibitions, even though he is deeply proud of his origins and consequently his language.

oh goodness i just realized i've basically written you an entire essay-length rant (T▽T;)

sorry if this was a messy read, i just wanted to get my thoughts down lol. Every paragraph is basically its own thing 😭. Tell me what you think though!!! (if you actually feel like reading all that ToT). I'd like to hear someone else’s input on this; its one of my fave talking points (> w <)

We have a lot of similar ideas!!! I’ve always headcanoned the miners to have their own specific dialect that no one else can understand so unless they’re a Tarnian mining caste bot Megatron sounds like he’s just making noise. I headcanon that hell often curse in that language but his curses aren’t anything translatable (like some French curse words) they’re just a swear word specifically for the language

I also love the idea of accents and different accents, Megatron’s accent randomly slamming into his voice at full send catching everyone off guard even himself sometimes

And I think it would be hilarious if Megatron would talk shit to himself about everyone and no one can understand what he’s saying. I also think it could be interesting if this idea was ever explored : let’s say there’s an important message written in something but it’s in miner Tarnian or something along those lines of situations

Cybertronian language is so fun!!!

Also, tossing another projected headcanon that Megatron has dyslexia and has to make sure his writings, poems or messages are written in the proper dialect and not in old Tarnian or kaonite dialects. Soundwave could help him with the kaonite parts, basically peer reviewing his work for accidental slip ups in language change because Soundwave can catch his only other dialect, kaonite, faster than Megatron who had to learn kaonite then other dialects (like many others probably did) when the uprising started

[gemharvest]

boyfriend from fnf for the ask thing!! :)

favorite thing about them: I reaaaaalllly love his whole beeping thing idk. IDK !!! Maybe it's a neurodivergence thing but I really connect with characters who are depicted in communicating in ways outside the norm. Also there's something very funny to me abt how he beeps absolute gibberish but people understand him anyways. Like just as a comedic bit, not reading it any deeper, that shit's gold to me.

least favorite thing about them: Ok this is a take from my artist brain but fuuuuuuuck his hat fr that shit is way harder to make look right than you'd think. That or I just have a weird perfectionism issue. Which is also a likely contender.

favorite line: the best part of Friday Night Funkin' was when Boyfriend said "Beep bo bop" and funked all over those guys /j /ref

brOTP: I think you could get a really funny dynamic out of Boyf and Darnell. I need to get more confident in my read of Darnell b4 I do anything with that thought but it's There.

OTP: RGB polycule ftw you couldn't even claw these fuckers from my cold, dead hands. You know the ship is good when it's got me making friends through it. /silly

nOTP: I don't knowwww. Like there are ships I can think of for this where I'd never engage with them but I don't feel strongly enough about it to call any of them a nOTP. SORRY LMAO.

random headcanon: This guy would fw chewable stim toys but he'd have to get really tough ones. Guy who would shred a kong if you gave it to him without monitoring him.

unpopular opinion: What evennnnnnnn are the popular opinions in this fandom I barely go to wider fandom here. Unpopular opinion I wish more people depicted his beeping ??? Maybe ?? But that's a tentative one since I know for more serious works it's kinda. Hard to run with that. In my writing I have my workaround of "all his dialogue is in quotes cuz he's beeping so what's written is actually a translation" but liiike I still haven't figured out a pleasing way to do it in art. Like the best I got is speech bubble with beeps and translation underneath but it feels like. A Lot. So like, all of that to say I wish the beeps were worked with more but I can see where people come from just writing plain English for him. And maybe it is worked with more in wider fandom idk.

song i associate with them: OUHHHHHH HUMOR ME. I'm posting two. CW for suggestive themes in both (lyrics/ samples).

eyestrain/ flash warning on this next vid

favorite picture of them: IT'S SO HARD FOR ME TO PICK JUST ONE THERE'S SO MANY OFFICIAL THINGS WITH HIM THAT I FW. Here's the ones I rotate a lot in my head:

^ I think I've made it obvious my proper fave would be the beach poster art that shit's just Peak to me rn but I am always incapable of picking just one favorite.

[character ask prompt]

[ichinoue]

In the lust arc, ichigo never said the "her" kanji in the original Japanese scan, this kanji: 彼 was nowhere to be seen. It was ichigos instinct to protect that made him get up; he didn't know who was calling, but since someone was, he ahd to protect, that's who he is.

The translation for the original Japanese scan is:

“呼んでる. 呼んでるんだ. 聞こえる. 立てよ. 立て. 俺が. 俺が. 俺が護る."

“Calling. They are calling. I can hear it. Rise. Stand up. I…I…I will protect.”

I don't know why viz chose to add a non existent her, but in the original scan, there's no her.

Now you can ship what u like, just don't mischarecterize ichigo for the sake of it. We know you want it to appear that ichigo was down bad for orihime, just don't do it at the cost of ichigos charecter. This was a moment for ichigo to show his instinct to protect, no matter who, and his will as a shinigami.

You also say that in terms panel that ichigo blasts orihime away and off her feet, that he wasnt attacking her because "his sword was on the other side". If he raised from the DEAD to save her, why wouldn't he more cautious of her? That blast flew orihime off her feet, you dont do deliberately do that if ur protecting someone.

I've seen some people use the data book as an arguement to say it was about orihime since it says he was "bound to orihimes screams" when that was 3rd person. That was from a readers perspective, because we as readers knew that orihime was calling out to him, ichigo didn't.

If vasto lorde/ichigo meant to protect orihime, he wouldve said the her kanji in the original scan, and he wouldn't have blasted her away after that. By all means, enjoy ur ship. I don't give a fuck abt that, what I do give a fuck about is ichigo mischarecterization or a false narrative being pushed in order to enjoy ur ship. Ichigo rose from the dead to protect who was calling out to him, because that's what he does. The ichihime ship doenst need this moment to stay alive, once again I know ichihime shippers love to use this as a basis of thir arguement as to why its canon, but it simply didn't happen the way u guys say.

Call me an ichihime anti, call me an orihime hater, I don't give a fuck. Stop pushing false narratives to make ur ship appear any better than it does, its quite frustrating to see mischarecterization happen because of shipping. And I say this too any shippers who want to twist the narrative or mischarecterize charecters in order to validate their ship or prove that their ship is good.

Well guys, it's 2023 and here's another dolt ranting about pronouns in the lust arc, just like the IH Fail essay that ended up being a fail in and of itself.

When will these people learn that Japanese doesn't require pronouns the same way that English does?

Hell, English doesn't even require pronouns when it's redundant and *this* incredibly obvious who is being talked to and/or about:

Seriously. Even if the only thing Ichigo were saying here is the word "protect"...or furthermore, even if we were not meant to know what he was saying at all, and it was just some mumbled, broken speech that the reader was not meant to decipher...It's still blatantly evident that whatever it is he's saying, he's talking to/about Orihime.

I mean this is just hilarious to me. Here's Orihime and Ichigo, literally placed together in side by side panels as Ichigo continues to chant about protecting...And ichiruki shippers are like, "hmmm well, it's not super clear who he's talking about because there's no pronoun so...I guess we'll never know 🤷‍♀️."

When literally, she's...she's right there on the page lmao. That's Orihime, she's right there! You can't miss her!! Like c'mon, dude. This is basic reading comprehension. You really need a pronoun to help you figure this out when her face is right there? Directly adjacent to his? When she's listening to what he's saying, so that it can then dawn on her that, "oh shit, it's my fault, he's doing this for ME."

This is the very next page following that last one, with a flashback of the moment in question, of Orihime screaming out for Ichigo, the moment he could hear HER calling before he rose up from the dead, chanting about protection. Confirming for the 47 thousandth time that yeah, he rose up from the dead for her.

You think Kubo drew this^ entire page, at such a pivotal moment, to show that Orihime's...wrong? Like some sort of gag? She's just *imagining* that Ichigo rose up for her, but it's not actually true? That's...certainly an interesting way to interpret things lmao.

Here's the page the flashback references, of Orihime screaming, placed directly next to Ichigo just as he begins to rise up. But yeah, it had nothing at all to do with Orihime. Just a total coincidence, I'm sure.

And if that weren't enough, here's the Bleach Unmasked Databook:

完全虚化した一護は, 織姫が発した叫びを反芻 しその目的だけに縛られた。

"The perfectly hollowfied Ichigo ruminated over Orihime's screams and was bound only to that purpose"

You...mentioned this? Kind of?

"I've seen some people use the data book as an arguement to say it was about orihime since it says he was "bound to orihimes screams" when that was 3rd person. That was from a readers perspective, because we as readers knew that orihime was calling out to him, ichigo didn't."

The readers aren't the ones who bound Ichigo to Orihime's screams (especially not you, anon, since you keep insisting it had nothing to do with her lmao). Kubo did that. That's how he meant for this scene to be interpreted: that Ichigo was bound to Orihime's screams. But you're still here fighting against it for some reason lol.

Ichigo did know she was calling out to him. It was part of his internal monologue, as she's screaming, before he hollowfied. Whether the pronoun is there or not (because again, the pronoun for her doesn't *need* to be there to make it clear who he's talking about when she's clearly the only person screaming, placed directly next to a panel of him rising him up...) he could hear her voice. He could hear her calling him. He ruminated over ORIHIME'S screams and was bound to ONLY that purpose. Only her.

You can try to downplay it and remove her from the equation all you want, but it's impossible. It's impossible because she was the only one on her knees by his side when he died, the only one screaming, the only one whose voice he could hear, the only purpose he was bound to. The only one whose face is side by side with his as he speaks about protecting. The only one featured in a flashback to the crucial moment of her screaming, placed side by side with a panel of him about to rise up, confirming it was for her.

Try to crop her out of all the pages leading up to the moment Ichigo rises up and see how much is left. Try to make sense of him rising up because he can hear someone screaming, without her there...literally screaming. Try to erase her when she was the catalyst to it all.

And I guess at this point I just don't understand why that's so hard to believe? That Ichigo rose up from the dead for Orihime? Considering Kubo has confirmed that he planned the final chapter revealing the endgame couples after writing chapter ONE.

Is it really that difficult to fathom? That Kubo wrote Ichigo doing such a thing.....for his future wife? Considering Kubo *knew* they would be married in the end when he wrote the lust arc?

Honestly like, it's been seven years. What is the point of digging in your heels and shouting at clouds that scenes like this between Ichigo and Orihime were not romantic when their relationship was literally...planned out...to be romantic?

It's over, it's canon. You can either accept the high likelihood that you were misinterpreting Ichigo and Orihime's relationship from the way Kubo meant for it to be interpreted all along, or continue to rant in my inbox on anon. The choice is yours lol.

[luxuryandbrown]

Amal Clooney

the perfect embodiment of feminine & masculine energy.

Feminine in her mannerisms and how she presents herself but rightfully masculine in her career, Amal Clooney is a beautiful representation of what it means to balance your feminine and masculine energy.

who is she?

Amal Clooney, now 44 years old, is an international lawyer, human rights activist, mother, and wife to the famous George Clooney. When she’s not representing powerful clients before international courts, she is advising political governments and individuals on legal issues. She is a brilliant woman known for her high profile cases, accomplishments, husband, and fashion. She is described as “a brilliant legal mind” and “knows her brief inside out”. Her accolades make her the ideal role model and inspiration for young women.

her background

Amal is a Lebanese-British lawyer and activist specializing in international law and human rights. She was raised in England by her educated father and entrepreneurial mother. Following high school, she studied at Oxford University and graduated with her bachelor’s before attending New York University of Law where she got her Master of Law degree. 

influenced by strong women

Amal is a product of her environment. As mentioned, she was raised by an entrepreneurial mother. Her mother, Baria Alamuddin, is an award winning journalist. Baria has interviewed some of the most notable and prominent figures in the world. Amal’s mother and grandmother both are strong supporters of women empowerment and education which you can see in Amal’s philanthropic work. Another example of being influenced by strong women is when she worked in the office of Sonia Sotomayor, the first woman of color and Latina to serve on the supreme court. She even had the pleasure of working with the judge for the United States Court of Appeals and a NYU Law faculty member. It’s obvious that Amal was fortunate enough to have examples of strong and powerful women not only in her home but in the workplace.

personality

I admire Amal for her intelligence, wit, and ability to keep most of her personal life private. Not much is said about her private life, but colleagues have mentioned that Amal has a ‘commanding presence”. This is obvious when watching her interviews — her energy fills the room. She never overshares or says more than necessary, but when she does speak it’s worth listening to. As you probably guessed, she is an intelligent woman. Fluent in English, French and Arabic. Her cleverness and well articulated speeches immediately captivates those around her.

love life

One person who was captivated by her mind is her husband George Clooney. In the world of law, she was already a celebrity but became one in the literal sense when she became involved with the well known bachelor, George Clooney. George had a long history of dating gorgeous, famous women but never settled down. He even publicly said he would never get married... this was until he met Amal in July of 2013, in Lake Como Italy.

Similar to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, the two met through a mutual friend. This is why your connections, network, and personal brand matters — those can open more doors for you than a dating app can. While most women would fall at the feet of George, Amal didn’t. In fact, he chased her for months before they became serious. He claims he fell for her because of intelligence and personality, but I assume the chase also had a huge impact. Amal is highly intelligent and understands seduction. She knows if she were like every other woman, she would get treated like every other woman. Instead, she stayed committed to her career and mission while making time for him when she could.

In 2014, the two love birds became engaged only after a year of dating. The Clooney’s were married in Sept of 2014 by no other than the former mayor of Rome. Their beautiful multi-million dollar wedding was in Venice, Italy and was one to remember. After they said “I do”, the couple moved to a multimillion-dollar estate built on a small island in London before having their twins in 2017. Together the couple committed to philanthropic work for women’s and human’s rights. It’s rumored that they’ve donated over $22M to a variety of charities. In 2016, her and George Clooney founded Clooney Foundation for Justice. She has partnered with several other charities, such as Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, and has her own scholarship program to send young girls to college.

awards & achievements

I would love to end this off not talking about Amal’s love life but the amazing things she’s accomplished. Her list of her achievements and awards are way too long to cover so I’ll mention the few I thought were most notable. Amal was awarded the most fascinating person in 2014, the World Economic Forum’s 2016 Young Global Leader, and Time magazine’s Woman of the Year in 2022. Her fight for human rights has made her a noble activist, leader, and role model. She uses her celebrity status to shed light on political issues that may have otherwise been thrown under the rug.

Amal has shown us that you can be a feminine family woman while being successful at your career. Her brilliant mind has captivated the red carpet, magazines, and one of Hollywood’s best actors. Amal is an inspiring mother, wife, and activists. Her poise, style, and grace are just a few elements to her feminine charm. Her healthy balance of masculine energy is portrayed in her ability to relentlessly peruse her career, fight for meaningful causes, and excel in a highly competitive field.

X, @luxuryandbrown | You might like: Meghan Markle: Femininity Breakdown

[paingoes]

little note about language 

this is a bit of a retcon but i was talking w my friend about conlangs on discord and i decided i wanted to canonize this.

Empire’s official language is basically Space Latin. It’s what they use in official speeches, when speaking with authority figures, and in any formal settings.

However, the more common language spoken in the entire galaxy is Space English. I consider this Common, just because this is a story written for an english audience!

space latin has heavy imperial connotations for obvious reasons. none of the rebels speak it on purpose, though many of them do understand it. its also common for young people living in Empire to speak Space English/Common just because Space Latin is also seen as kind of an old people thing! its very stuffy and formal and if theyre cool they just speak like the common people. for that reason Common is seen as being more crass.

Since Destroyer is mostly told from Delta’s perspective, and because i dont want to alienate the audience by forcing you all to learn latin, everything is written in english anyway because he understands both fine. you can kinda just infer from the setting whether its formal or not — if its a very high stakes event, it’s probably in space latin.

delta speaks both space latin and common fluently, but latin is his first language and he will default to it if hes really sick or tired.

paris and lorelai are also fluent in both, but almost exclusively speak in common unless theyre on official business

the reason the latin actually reads as latin in Rubies is because that section is from Apollo’s POV and Apollo does not speak Space Latin! its just meant to immerse the viewer. i probably wont pull that again because its a lot to explain but i really wanted the language barrier element in this section so thanks for bearing w me :)

also the reason im calling it space latin and space english rather than just latin and english is because. well theyre in space. its silly to think theyd be speaking english at all, because they arent! english is just the language this story is written in and fiction is its own translator unless you really want to make an entire conlang. in the same way they arent really speaking latin, i just chose latin to represent it because Empire is so greco roman inspired and its a helpful signifier to the audience that a different language is being spoken.

[kaddyssammlung]

I want to nerd out for a few minutes here:

In his interview with Drumeo II said about the process of coming up with drum parts for the music:

“Most, if not, all of the time, I try to pay close attention to the vocals and figure out any specific syllables that can benefit from accents on the kit. I sometimes use the vocal line as a guide of sorts to dance in between what's being sung to. Filling in those gaps. Typically speaking, songs don't start from a particular drum part. Although, this isn't necessarily deliberate. Another element I look for when writing are any specific syncopations that the drums must match. This could be a pattern on the guitar, a breakdown of some sorts or something electronic. But I feel this takes away a lot of the guesswork when initially writing parts and provides me with a clearer idea of the song in question.”

This made me think of something.

I once saw a video by Adam Neely. It was about something in American Hip Hop Music called “scotch snaps”.

The way that we speak has something to do with the music that we write.

Here is some science stuff about what I mean. I took that from Adam's video which I will link.

This rhythm of a metrically accented sixteenth note followed by a dotted eighth note has a name. It's called the scotch snap, named because of its use in traditional Scottish song and dance, as well as the Lallans Scottish accent.

So why is this rhythm showing up so much now in American pop music?

Well, it might have something to do with how Americans speak English.

A foot is a basic unit of rhythm used in language.

A trochee is a foot that has a stressed syllable followed by a weak syllable. So, for example, Teenage, mutant, ninja, turtles. The stressed syllable in this case falls on what we might consider the musical Downbeat. In many dialects of English, the accented syllable is very short. One corpus study suggested that among European languages, English had the highest percentage of patterns with very short stressed syllables, many as short as100 milliseconds.

This number is significant in music making, because a hundred milliseconds corresponds to the length of a sixteenth note at 140 beats per minute. As L.A. Buckner on PBS Sound Field has mentioned, modern trap hip-hop tempos range from about 110 beats per minute to 140 beats per minute. So what this means is that by using the cadences of certain English trochees, we will naturally, in fact, tap trap rap Scotch snaps.

Now, the average distance between short and long sounds in a given dialect can be measured by something called the Normalized Pairwise Variability Index, otherwise known as the NPVI.

We alternate very quickly between short sounds and long sounds. Latin languages with lower NPVI, like Spanish, often use the foot of an Amphibrach, or a stressed syllable placed in between two unstressed syllables. For example, Lo siento, te quiero, el mundo, mañana. The rhythms used in modern Spanish rap follow that pattern, like in the song Mi Gente, which itself is an Amphibrach. (which leads to reageton) It would make sense that the rhythmic characteristics of languages would be reflected in the vocal rhythms of rappers and singers, right?

It just kind of makes sense.

But what's interesting is that those very characteristics might show up also in the music itself.

For example, consider the Dembo drum groove, characteristic to Caribbean-derived Spanish hip-hop and pop music. (reageton)

The English musicologist, Gerald Abraham, would write that the nature of a people's language inevitably affects the nature of its music, not only in obvious and superficial ways, but fundamentally. Some interesting new research has actually backed that up.

One study found that the NPVI of American jazz musicians and their speech patterns was reflected in their musical choices, how quickly they switched between different subdivisions.

Thank you very much Adam Neely.

I love his videos.