#reading patterns

[welcometololaland]

actually genuinely curious about this because anecdotally I think I've seen a shift, maybe even in my own reading patterns

[bamsara]

"youve already written that trope" yesss. i like it a lots. i will be writing it again. 1000 stories of the same trope over and over again for ten million years

[notbecauseofvictories]

sometimes, you wake up and your first thought is "I cannot be a person today." often---most of the time---you have to then get out of bed and proceed with being a person, regardless of your feelings on the matter.

but sometimes, occasionally, once in a while....it's nice to email your boss, get back in bed, and go the fuck back to sleep.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

me?? checking knitting books out both to support my library and to avoid paying per pattern??? it's More Likely Than You'd Think

[oh-gh0st]

i heart these rivals so much. maybe they'll kill each other. maybe they'll kiss. maybe they'll make ou

[monkesupreme]

who keeps doing this to him....

[call-me-oluss]

My favorite trio ✨

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

Novice sewing pattern: Cut out shapes. Line up the little triangles on the edges. Stitch edges together. We've also included step-by-step assembly instructions with illustrations.

Novice knitting pattern: yOU MUSt uNDerstANd thE SECret cOdE CO67 (73, 87, 93) BO44 (63, 76, 90) 28 (32, 34) slip first pw repeat 7x K to end *kl (pl) 42 * until 13" (13, 13, 15) join new at 30 pl for 17 rows ssk 27 k2tog mattress lengthwise BO and sacrifice a goat to the knitting gods. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WANT "INSTRUCTIONS," I JUST GAVE THEM TO YOU

[viperwhispered]

Notes on Jamil's speech patterns

I was supposed to just pick out some examples of typical Jamil lines. How he speaks, the vocabulary he uses, things like that. Something I could easily refer to when writing to get the tone right.

But then it kinda blew up, oop – because it’s hard to talk about how a character speaks without also dipping into why they say whatever they say.

Plus then I wanted to get examples of Jamil in different moods, and could not resist some poignant things that were more related to his character or backstory rather than strictly the speech patterns themselves, so… It expanded a bit.

Anyways. Some things I noticed he tends to do:

Sighs (more than I realized)

Snarks

Tch (though could be a more general twst writing choice too)

Stutters when he’s flustered / embarrassed / caught of guard (what a cutie)

Goes ahem like an old man when he’s trying to get back on track in those off-kilter moments

Kinda formal with his manner of speech and choice of words (especially in servant mode) (I always worry I exaggerate this but he sure does do that)

But there’s still some animatedness with the way he emphasises words, for example

(so long-suffering and ready to bark out directions to Kalim oh boy - the way the directness just comes through when he loses it)

sugarcoating his opinions if he doesn’t feel like he can say them plainly (tyrant becomes rigorous, etc.)

sarcasm, sometimes with a side of deadpan, sometimes with a smirk

“Good grief” (another thing I didn't realize was that much of a catchphrase)

Very mild on the level of insults & swears honestly, (I mean, "drat"?) but I imagine this is more of a result of the game's rating (I guess for in-game reasons we can say he's been very conditioned by his upbringing)

I put the screenshots that seemed telling, and some related notes, on to a google sheet. That way one can filter and order it in various ways.

The sheet is probably best viewed on a computer or another larger screen, the screenshots might make it a bit difficult to navigate on mobile.

I did go in with the assumption that Jamil might speak differently pre-overblot (when the servant mask is firmly in place) and post-overblot (at least those occasions where he allows himself to be more honest). Like, there’s the sycophantic (as Leona calls it) flatterer, versus when Jamil’s honestly voicing his own thoughts. Which also shows in how I chose to categorize the screenshots.

Of course events are a bit wibbly wobbly in relation to the main story so can’t be placed in the timeline in the same way, but there are still those occasions where it seems you can tell the difference between the servant mask and a Jamil who’s not saying things just for the sake of appearances.

So, to explain the logic of the sheet:

First column has a screenshot of something Jamil says. The second two columns give the source.

The column for whether or not this happened before or after the overblot is only really used for main story things, since event stories are kinda murky timeline-wise.

Next is whether Jamil seems to be putting on the servant mask or speaking more honestly. This is where get more to interpretation territory, and I’ve not applied it to every screenshot (either because that didn’t seem like the relevant part for that line, or because I couldn’t tell).

The last column of the sheet is where we get most to my personal interpretations. So of course you might read these lines differently than I do, and that’s completely fine, these are simply the aspects that seemed poignant to me. Some notes are simply pointing out specific word choices or style of speech, others delve more into character analysis side of things.

Totally fine if you want to copy this file or modify it to your own needs. All I ask is that you don’t pass off anything I wrote as your own thoughts.

Order of lines is based purely on the order the pics were in my screenshots folder, so guess this is also an insight on the order I played things in, lol.

Tagging some jamil peeps in case y'all find this useful:

@crystallizsch @diodellet @moonyasnow @twstgo @lex752

@majestickitty @viperbunnies

[frosted-woods]

autumn time to be gay and totally fine and not miserable at all

[vaguely-concerned]

sometimes I think of all the on-the-surface warm, well-meaning but deeply ineffectual advice and attention john gives harrow through harrow the ninth (make some soup and get some sleep! get a hobby! don't be so hard on yourself! self care harrow! as long as I need take no actual responsibility in this relationship whatsoever I would have loved to be your dad!) set up against the stark truth that with his other hand he has been staging her attempted horrific murder again and again and again like a living nightmare on the logic that it will 'put her down or fix her'. and then I find that I wish there is a hell. a special hell where twitch streamers turned necromantic death emperors go

[brokul-pl]

Found an asexual scarf in some random shop in Poland and couldn't stop thinking about it

[tea-potato-gt]

G/t Trope Bingo:

Borrower stories:

Captured/discovered while out borrowing

The dredded 🫙Jar🫙

Bean, the “no, it’s pronounced human BEING” conversation

borrower with artistic abilities

The “that’s not borrowing, that’s stealing” conversation

Befriends bean of the house

Hurt-Comfort

Drunk giant scene

Dealing with pets/animals

Borrowers named after objects, food, or plants.

Tails or animal ears

BL

Fairy stories:

Losing ability to fly due to getting wet

Magic affinities/powers

Wishing to be human

Collecting human things

Odd names based on plants/magical objects

Curse(s)

Dragonfly or butterfly wings

Merfolk G/t:

Human drowning and saved by giant fish person

Speak different languages/can’t understand eachother

Put in air sack or underwater cave

Tiny fish person kept in a tank

Collecting human treasures

Pirates

Saving an entire sinking ship

Fantasy:

Jack and the beanstalk retelling

Princess/prince is engaged to a giant/tiny from a neighboring kingdom

Magic, spells, curses

Character goes on a quest to slay a giant (fails lol)

Kidnapped by a well meaning giant

Found family

Dark Borrower Stories:

Entire species is discovered

Kept as Pets or exterminated or experimented on

Borrower found by kind hearted bean, who shows them not all giants are bad.

Rac!sm/spec!es!sm

Humans think borrowers are dumb and underestimate them

Size-shifter:

Triggered by emotions (Scared/sad = small) or (Angry/happy = big)

Accidentally growing infront of friends and freaking them out

Accidentally growing in a confined space (room/box) and busts out.

Tearing through clothes or shrinking out of them, resulting in needing to make special clothing that changes size with them.

Modern setting:

Dating app misshap (accidentally unknowingly matching with a giant or tiny)

Disastrous first date

Fear of giants

Recently integrated school/jobs

Adopted by giant or tiny

Using phone twice your size

K!dnapped by school bully

Aliens👽:

Travel to or from other worlds/dimensions

Abduction

Different languages

Science experiments

Giant trying to convince tiny they aren’t evil

Mixed-sized families stories:

“Big” sibling & “little” sibling

Stairs and ramps around the house for easy access and travel

Tiny kid has giant sized room/bed

Extra rooms that are small scale (bathrooms and kitchens)

Small scale furniture next to giant furniture

Adopted kids/married in step kids

Protective parents (either giant or tiny)

Being carried to school/work by giant parent/sibling

Kids not telling friends they live in a mixed family (embarrassed.?)

***

Comment any other tropes to add! Also if anyone wants to make a bingo card 👀👀

I got recommendationsfor each G/t genre if y’all want any 👀 here’s some of my recs

[nefelibatat]

So it's kinda interesting how Jinx is basically Caitlyn's own extremely malevolent genie. Every desire she has, Jinx fulfills, but with such a cruel twist that it almost defeats the point.

Want something new and exciting in your sheltered life? Well, one might say nearly getting blown up is pretty exciting. Looking for a real job to undertake? Here's a convenient pile of evidence leading you straight to the heart of a criminal empire. Good luck getting out of this mess though. Coworkers making you feel excluded? They can't do that now; they're dead. Longing to see Vi again? Don't worry. You will be taken to her, like it or not. Mum being too restrictive? Never again!

It's no wonder Jinx is associated with monkeys when her role in the show is ensuring a monkey's paw curls any time Caitlyn has a vague inclination towards something.

[whump-in-the-closet]

just. A thought.

characters stepping forward to take a blow for the loved one

- the quick dart to intercept Whumper’s hand as they try to backhand Whumpee. “mmmff—” a crack.

- “what are you doing?” Blood dripping to the floor, falling to one knee

- that dark glint in their eyes that either says “don’t fucking touch them” or “no one hurts them except me”

- catching Whumper’s hand as it falls and twisting with a white knuckled grip. Think twice.

- a grunt of pain, a gasp of real fear that’s swallowed down before anyone can hear it

- turning to check on whumpee after they’ve been hurt. “Are you okay?” And whumpee only stares, their eyes wide.

- “stop.” / “no”. Guards yanking them away so Whumper can get to who they want to punish.

- whumper turning on the character who dared to stand up to them, whumpee completely forgotten. Through the blinding pain, all they can think is I can take it. They can’t.

[crowkip]

wips and doodles bc i dont feel like finishing anything atm lol