#soi's is very accurate

[iridescentis]

Let's not think about how Valentino is missing from the family photo, here is the Gastina family!

The twins! The responsible oldest sister Charlie, and the reckless oldest brother Valentino! The same age, but Val is still included in Charlie's babysitting responsibilities. Val is of course a Gastina kid but he is basically a spitting image of Gastteo, and not in the best way? He knows his intentions and will do anything to achieve what he wants. The twins are on track to be the top students of the school, but Val doesn't have as much direction as Charlie for his future.

The middle kid, Daniel, is basically the direct reincarnation of Nina, and would rather read in his room than do anything. He loves all kinds of fiction but his favourite is Sci-fi, and later on romance because he's actually a hopeless romantic, there isn't much hope if he doesn't leave the house though.

Jasper is just your classic hyperactive kid, bouncing off the walls running around, the usual, but he's also pretty good at science! He might be interested in doing sports science when he's older, but do not give him roller skates, or he will crash into everything at high speeds.

[seven-stars-in-his-palm]

analyzing some images (for fun)

so i found this pair of promotion images for good omens season 1 on the good omens reference library server and it’s hooked me so so bad im having feelings about it. we’re analyzing them now. not really for meta purposes just fun to see the parallels and differences :)

everything under the cut !

unique traits

aziraphale:

1) his plank background. its older, its crisp, it smells like wood from the screen. mmmm

2) the pencil shavings at the bottom. he does a lot of writing honestly, so i like this. also adds a messy and cozy vibe he always seems to have in that shop…. i like that blessed shop fr

3) his SUSHI. little soy sauce drops near it too—just the right amount of deliberate mess. our first formal introduction to aziraphale in the present day and beginning the Tomfoolery just happens to have sushi... i watch that scene and i go “yeah, that sums up aziraphale i suppose” very nicely. (they dont have sushi Up There) (im literally never gonna forget that)

4) the ray of light shining on the scene. tiny thing, but a bit of the heaven is peeking through..it also sort of blurs the whole image but i think thats just me.

5) and we’ve saved the best for last: the big whopper. the nice and accurate prophecies of agnes nutter, witch. I LOVE THAT BOOK!!!!!!! i cant remember if that ring stain was there but if it isnt in the show on the actual book i’d assume thats to add that ‘thy cocoa doth grow cold’ thing. ALSO. you know what’s being used as a bookmark in the pages?? a check for the ritz. he bookmarked their one chance for living . with a ritz check . MMMMMM. my GOD. that means so much to me even if i cant convey it in words. he KEEPS THE CHECKS 😭😭😭😭😭😭

crowley:

1) let me get my favorite out of the way. crowley’s glasses have fire in their reflection. we’ll talk about the glasses themselves later but the REFLECTION IN THEM. fucking FIRE, BOOKSHOP fire, PAIN, SRIVING THROUGH THE M-25, HELL, I DONT KNOWIM HAVING FEELINGS!!! i do believe this is a bookshop fire reference though, the flames feel too Familiar. the lengths people will go to to attack others 🤧

2) the leather seat background!!!!!!! probably meant to look similar to the bentley’s seats but i cant recall their texture, exactly. maybe just meant to convey modernness—unsure. still, its there <3

3) the tiny little crisp plant </3 its trying his damned best to stay perfect. it might a specific plant that means something, but i cant tell at thsi angle, so i’ll assume its a mini version of the ficus he keeps in the flat. its so SMALL and sitting in ANOTHER POT i CANT

4) the snake slithering!! black and red (in this image it looks orange lol) bellied scales!!!! slithering there, chilling, being crowley, showing hints. love it

5) QUEEN RECORD!!!!! TRYING TO OVERRIDE IT WITH TCHAIKOVSKY!!!!!! the tape over it does a reminisence to crowley’s handwriting, but in a clean ‘this made made to be a font’ way. not exactly just yet. ive become a fan of tchaikovsky recently. amazing darling wonderful crowley, trying to push the rock up the hill for eternity 😞

6) HIS LITTLE DEMON KEY THING. HOLDING A TINY LITTLE BENTLEY CAR KEY OHHH. thats how he doesnt lose the tiny key despite probably not needing one of those. and he CHOSE that intentionally probably. little wings and red circle….URGHHHHHHH

similarities

mmmmm now here’s the good shit. similarities! i’ll bullet point most of them but ohhhhh. ohhhh these. i’ll go from top to bottom as best i can….

1) one of their shoes, obviously. crowley has them iconic snakeskin shoes while aziraphale has his old loafers like the old loafer he is /pos

2) chateauneuf de pape wine bottle labels! (crowley’s is under his glasses, aziraphale’s is next to his shoe). oh my fucking god theyre MATCHING. the labels are old, battered, of course labeling the drink’s age, but mmmmm its these tiny details that get me going….

3) their respective drinks in their mugs—crowley’s a black mug coffee (or what looks to be coffee) and aziraphale’s angel mug tea (or what looks to be tea). i think about that mug sometimes. where did he get that from?? mystery for the ages….

4) their glasses, of course. crowley’s iconic sunglasses and aziraphale’s reading spectacles. i cant really tell the reflections in this pair, but if its supposed to be fucking fire, im done with this. im giving up forever

5) their own watches! aziraphale’s is visibily older while crowley’s is visibly modern, but they function just the same. also, crowley’s is set to 2:56:59 (presumably PM), which is around the time we see when crowley starts checking his watch at warlock’s birthday party. its almost time for disaster to strike!! 😃

6) and finally….their ties!! they have their own ties!!! or more accurately, neck accessories, but i digress. i mesn i assume its crowley’s neck tie, because the fabric looks… different. either way, crowley’s neck thingie is very whispy and aziraphale has his funky little bowtie i love so much,,,

okay thats it. there’s no canonical implications, any fantheories, none of the sort. just saw a pair of images and my mind went GOD DAMN!!!!!! theyre very important to me. i need to look at more promo material 😔

[olderthannetfic]

I have really mixed feelings about the small proportion of F/F fiction (original or fanfic), because yeah sure, people have their desires, they should write what they want, I get it. It all works out when I hear it from person to person. But somehow the logic only ever applies in one direction? "There are more male protagonists because men only care about male characters! Women also mostly care about male characters, because that's the majority of characters they get!" And then somehow we also yet kvetch when men write female characters (because it's incorrectly or something, nevermind if women are writing male characters correctly). Why don't we expect gay men to feel compelled only by femslash for the same reasons (but gender swapped) as the lesbian slashers/fujoshi? All of those very rational justifications are applied selectively, "for me for not for thee," and it all only leads to "idk I just don't wanna write femslash", for Reasons. Do we get to call them microaggressions yet?

--

No, you don't get to call other people's fantasy life a microaggression.

That is indeed "for me but not for thee" in the sense that you get to want what you want but other people aren't supposed to follow their id.

Do you also police gay men who spend too much time on drag and obsessing over female divas? That's an actual real world behavior that's somewhat equivalent. It frequently goes unchallenged, at least by progressives, because men are allowed to do whatever they want with chick stuff, while women are "stealing" if they dare to stray into dude stuff.

(God, I've seen so much more policing of drag kings being ~problematic~ for acting out stereotypical gender than policing of drag queens for the same. It's nuts!)

Fujoshi are often queer, but it's absurd to think we're mostly lesbians. We tend to be bi or asexual women with gender stuff going on, though there is a mix of everybody, including lesbians. There are also a lot of AFAB non-women who get lumped in with us. On the rare occasions I find a man willing to admit to being a similar demographic, he usually does like gender play in his hobbies and entertainment. It's just that men face even more pressure than women do to fit into tidy categories. Bi women get told we're whores. Bi men are told they don't exist.

Yes, I know plenty of lesbians who write more m/m than f/f, but in the big picture of all of AO3 or all of fanfic or all of media, they aren't the demographic driving these numbers. They're vastly outnumbered by the bi women, the asexual women, and the straight and gnc women.

The men we should be looking at as an equivalent aren't cis gay men but bicurious soy boys and the like.

Do most of us fujoshi object to equivalent men doing an equivalent thing? I've seen it sometimes, and I agree it's hypocritical. I'd like us to afford men the same ability to play and take on identities in their art. I remember enjoying Ranma fandom back in the day and reading quite a lot of f/f that was probably by men. It had some of that same sense of distance and fantasy that I so enjoy in m/m aimed at fujoshi. (I do consume some by-cis-gay, for-cis-gay content, both m/m and f/f, but it's often too literal and too bound up in specific named identities for my taste.)

On average, the people I see complaining most about men producing f/f material are the same people who think that because I have a clit, I should center my life around women exclusively. In other words, people spouting radfem ideology, perhaps on purpose or perhaps without realizing.

I do agree that some of the ways of expressing a lack of desire to write femslash can get pretty douchey. I want us to move away from some of the less accurate ones like "There are no compelling female characters" because of this.

But the reason for all these jerkass explanations is that women and people perceived as women who like m/m are constantly asked to explain ourselves. These aren't usually microaggressions: they're openly hostile. People get defensive and try to answer with important-sounding reasons about identity and pain because society at large won't accept "I like this" as the true explanation.

Pleasure is never enough of a reason for a woman to do something.

[thegreatanso]

I’ve started to watch Bleach like… one month ago ? I’m entirely discovering the story, I didn’t know anything about it before !!! It’s amazing !!! I’m skipping the filler episodes/arcs. My partner wanted me to watch the non-canon arc about the Zenpakuto so we’re currently watching it… I’m at like episode 227 ??

I really love every characters but I might have some faves ?? Rukia is my number one baby and then I adore the 4 main characters and some of the shinigamis like the Kenpachi family (cf this very accurate fanart), Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, Ukitake and Kyoraku, Yoruichi and Soi-Fon… omg I love them all 😭😭😭🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

[adrienneleclerc]

Hey there I was wondering if you could write for Henry Cavill and can it be something like y/n is kind of a newly famous younger singer and is on the Graham Norton Show with Henry and you know he’s always kind of been objectified which kind of makes me sad so maybe Graham mentions that y/n is a fan of Henry and he assume it’s mostly about his looks but y/n asks Henry about gaming and stuff like War Hammer and stuff and he’s really happy that it’s not just a bout his looks and it’s a cute moment as they bond about that stuff and maybe turns a little flirty. Hope that makes sense x

This is so cute! I have watched some Graham Norton interviews with Henry Cavill and I have looked up about War Hammer to make it as accurate as possible, Y/N will be 28, I believe that age gap is good, 12 year age gap like my parents’, hope you like it! Like always, it will be Hispanic Reader because you didn’t clarify ☺️

Nerds in Love

Pairing: Henry Cavill x Hispanic/Latina! Reader

Summary: Henry Cavill and Y/N bond over their love for Warhammer and World of Warcraft in the most unlikely place.

Warning: no warnings.

A/N: im sorry if I keep mentioning Eiza González in my Henry Cavill fanfics but she is literally the only Latina that can be linked to him, the only other Latina is technically Shakira and I don’t think they even talked. Also, I LOVE Becky G so she will ALWAYS be like a reference when it comes to outfits or songs when writing about “singer! Reader”

Y/N was in the recording booth, recording her new song.

“Soy muy buena niña, 100 de calificación, tengo todo bien resuelto, vivo chill de vacación, cerveza, billar, dados, tacos son mi tradición, pero tú eres idiota.” Y/N sang but her manager made a signal to stop and the backing track stopped, Y/N took off her headphones. “What’s going on? I thought it was sounding really good.” Y/N got out of the booth.

“It was, it really was, my dear, but I got a call and Graham Norton wants you on his show as his musical guest.” Y/N manager, Milagros, said. Y/N got a water bottle out of the mini fridge by the soundboard.

“Graham Norton? I didn’t think I was popular enough with the UK crowd, I just started.” Y/N said, drinking water.

“Your song was in a movie, you gained a lot of fans from that. Plus, you’d be surprised how many Europeans LOVE Latinas. Would you be interested? He wants you in 2 weeks.” Milagros said

“I don’t know if I can, I don’t even watch the show.” Y/N said.

“Well, i thought you’d be interested since Henry Cavill will be one the guests.” Milagros said, she turned to leave the studio.

“In 2 weeks, right?” Y/N asked.

“Yes! Okay so Henry Cavill will be there with Eiza González, and Henry Goulding. I’m gonna make the call, continue recording, this song is going to be a hit, I know it.” Milagros walked away to make the call.

“Okay compa, do we start from the top?” Y/N asked, stepping into the booth.

“Yes, that would be preferable.” The music producer said.

Y/N was backstage getting her makeup done.

“Oh my god, I’m so nervous. I’ve seen what people have said about Renee Rapp and how she has no media training, these people will rip me to shreds.” Y/N began to panic to Milagros.

“A ver, mi niña, cálmate, You’re going to be great, you’re going to sing your heart out, sit with the Henries and Eiza, and answer some questions that Graham might have about your musical journey. You’ve been working for this, you’ll be great.” Milagros said. Y/N was wearing a decent performance outfit that’s also TV appropriate.

“And welcoming the Latin Pop Princess of the moment, here’s Y/N L/N singing her hit, ‘Arranca’” Graham announced and Y/N walk out on stage wearing this.

She sang her song and everyone applauded. Y/N walked over to sit next to Henry Goulding.

“Y/N, that was a spectacular performance, honestly.” Graham complimented her.

“Oh thank you, I was very nervous, this is my first TV appearance.” Y/N responded.

“Does not seem like it. I’ve heard that you are a big fan of Henry Cavill.” Graham said.

“Oh yes, I really am.” Y/N responded, nodding her head excitedly.

“Are you a fan of his shirtless movie scenes?” Graham asked and Y/N laughed a little before catching a glimpse of Henry who looked a little uncomfortable with Graham’s question.

“No actually, I became a fan of his when I discovered that he’s into Warhammer as well.” Y/N replied and Henry looked at her.

“Really?” Henry asked.

“Yes! I’ve collected quite a few, sometimes I just don’t have the time to paint all of them so there are a few figurines left untouched.” Y/N said.

“Whenever you finish painting, we should play together sometime.” Henry said.

“I’d like that a lot actually, it’s a dream come true to okay Warhammer with the great Henry Cavill, are you kidding?” Y/N said and there a few laughs.

“So Y/N, you’re still new to the industry, only being signed for what, 5 months? How did you get discovered?” Graham asked

“Well, my friend was holding this fundraiser because she runs that performing arts school in New York, the one Timothee Chalamet went too…” Y/N started and there were cheers in the crowd. “Yeah, Timothee is popular, anyway, she needed to replace a performer who got sick, she knows I sing, so instead of playing world of Warcraft that night, I was singing on stage and this woman, who is now my manager, came up to me with this tall guy and said I had a really great voice and if I was interested in becoming a singer.” Y/N said.

The last 6 minutes of the show was just Y/N answering questions because she is new to the industry. When the show finished, Y/N was walking backstage when she felt someone touch her shoulder. She turned around and saw Henry.

“You play world of Warcraft too?” Henry asked.

“Yeah, I do. Along with The Witcher, it’s actually the reason why I became a fan of you. I know I said it with Graham, but it’s awesome that there’s a celebrity with the same hobbies as me, you know? Besides, it’s fun to surprise people who only see me as a pretty face.” Y/N said.

“Yes, I feel the same way, a lot of people see my body and they become a fab of me because they think I’m hot.” Henry said.

“I mean you are hot, but you are so much more than that.” Y/N said

“What do you feel about getting dinner with me right now?” Henry asked. Y/N looked down at her outfit.

“Let me change and I’ll let Milagros know.” Y/N said.

“I’ll wait for you outside the door so we can leave together.” Henry said and Y/N went to her dressing room and told Milagros everything.

“Ay mija, Im so excited for you. Have fun, tell me everything.” Milagros said, giving Y/N her change of clothes.

Y/N walked out and saw Henry on his phone. He looked up as soon as he heard the door open and close.

“You look great. Let’s go.” Henry said, holding out his arm so Y/N could hold on as they started walking out of the studio.

The End

I hope you like it! I was thinking of a part 2 where Henry and Y/N are on the show again and Y/N sings “So American” and they just talk about their relationship. If you think that’s a good idea that is

Taglist: @warriormirkwood

[just-megizc-here]

Jane Doe.

Sorry if it's not very accurate

Sí, es mi favorita, sí, soy otra del montón, a mí qué 😡😡 /j

3 : 43

[dedalvs]

can you make a translator for firish i want to use it in my rps i have with friends

I've actually gotten this question a couple times, which is great! But this type of thing just isn't possible with a conlang. It has nothing to do with the quality of the conlang or the level of completion (i.e. the amount of vocabulary, how much of the grammar has been recorded, etc.), and I'll tell you specifically why.

First, you may have seen "translators" for various languages online like LingoJam. LingoJam not only has translators for a bunch of different languages, but allows you to make your own translators. The way these work, though, is you write down a word in one language and write its translation into another—something like:

English > Spanish

I > yo

am > soy

to > a

the > el

store > tienda

going > yendo

That is, you put in one to one correspondences, and that's what it has to work with. Once you're done, if you ask for a translation, it looks up the words and sees what's available and it spits back what it has, in order. If we had this very minimal English to Spanish dictionary (which is 100% accurate, by the way! That is, all of these English words can be translated as all of these Spanish words), you could ask LingoJam to translate the following into Spanish...

I am going to the store.

...and you would get...

Yo soy yendo a el tienda.

Now, if you speak Spanish, you'll see all the places this went wrong. (Short version: You don't always need subjects pronouns in Spanish; you use a different helping verb for "to be x'ing" in Spanish; you rarely actually use this "to be x'ing" construction in Spanish; the present tense is sufficient; though el means "the", it's the wrong gender for tienda—analogous to saying "an store" as opposed to "a store" in English.) And you can actually avoid this in LingoJam by adding phrases on top of single words:

English > Spanish

the store > la tienda

I am going > voy

But you can imagine how much work that would be...

The reason why things like LingoJam are so popular, though, is because imagine if you knew nothing about Spanish. Typing in "I am going to the store" and having it instantly spit out "Yo soy yendo a el tienda" is pretty darn satisfying! If you don't know it's wrong but you're happy with it, what's the problem?

Now, a language like Spanish is huge, so it's easier to get accurate Spanish translations online than it is to get accurate Korean translations online—and it's easier to get accurate Korean translations online than accurate Tigrinya translations online, etc. The reason for that takes us to Google Translate.

I think most people know that with LingoJam, you get what you pay for. Google Translate, on the other hand, is much more sophisticated, and much more accurate. It's not 100%, but it's pretty darn good—for widely spoken languages. This is why.

Way back when, Syfy facilitated a chat between me and the folks at Google Translate because they wanted to see if Google and I could work together to create a translator for a couple of my Defiance languages at TED in 2013. After all, we had a full two weeks. We could bang something like that out in two weeks, right? (lol no)

I learned then how Google Translate works. Google Translate doesn't actually know anything about the specific grammar of a language—maybe a couple language specific tweaks, but it's not as if you can go under the hood and find a full grammar of Spanish that tells you when to use the subjunctive, what all the conjugations are, etc. Instead, what Google Translate has is a database (i.e. Google, along with Google Books, Google Scholar, etc.) with tons of, presumably, fluent documents written in the various target languages offered on Google Translate. They also have faithful translations of those documents—not all, but a percentage. Google Translate uses that information to predict what a given sentence in one language will turn into in another.

In order to do this successfully, Google Translate needs BILLIONS of documents to troll. And it has that. It has BILLIONS of articles written in Spanish and translated to English. That's why the English to Spanish translation is as good as it is.

Now, having said that, anyone who's bilingual in English and Spanish knows that Google Translate isn't perfect. Sometimes it's pretty good, but sometimes it produces a lot of clunky, unnatural, or even incorrect translations. This is because there isn't a human back there calling the shots.

But that's its best translator. Now imagine translating between English and Samoan (one of the other languages it offers). There are EXPONENTIALLY more online articles in Spanish than Samoan. Consequently, the translations you get between English and Samoan on Google Translate are absolutely no guarantee.

And bear in mind, there's a kind of minimum threshold they work with before adding a language to Google Translate. If Samoan is on there and not Fijian, it's because there's that much more Samoan online than Fijian.

Now let's go back to conlangs. What Google Translate wants is BILLIONS of articles written online in the target language. Forget how complete the grammar of a conlang is, whether you can find that description online, or how many thousands of words the conlang has. How many fluent articles are there written in that conlang that are online? How many can one person to? How about a team of people? And how many conlangs have that?

This is why Google Translate has Esperanto and nothing else. Esperanto has been around for 136 years, and in that time there have been a good number of people who have learned to speak it fluently, and have written things (poems, articles, books) that are now online. It is as much as Spanish? Certainly not, but it is enough to hit Google Translate's minimum threshold, and so it's available.

Assuming you have a conlang with a full grammar and a good amount of vocab, if it were popular, it might have enough available material for Google Translate to work with 125 years from now. But at the moment, it's not possible. That says nothing about the language: It's about how Google Translate works.

And bear in mind, Google Translate is, at the moment, our best non-human translator.

If predictive-AI gets good enough that it can learn the grammar of a language, then it may be possible to produce a translator for a new conlang. That, though, is not the goal of Google Translate. Maybe ChatGPT and things like it will get there one day, but even that isn't a dedicated language learning AI. We need an AI that doesn't work with billions of fluent articles, but works with two books: a complete grammar and a dictionary. If an AI can one day work with those two tiny (by comparison) resources and actually produce translations that are as good as or better than Google Translate, then we'll be at a "translation-on-demand" place that will be good enough to feed a new conlang to. At that point, it will simply be a matter of producing a grammar and lexicon of sufficient size for the AI to do its thing.

So, no, right now we can't do a Ts'íts'àsh translator. :( We can go over things like the sound system and basic grammar and you can create your own words to work with it... A lot more work, but hey, we don't have to churn our own butter or milk our own cows anymore! We've got time!

[mindutme]

Valya Vednesday #5

Today I’ll talk about the (ongoing) development of the writing system for my conlang Valya! What you see above is the earliest stage of the Valya syllabary, written in wax. Valya is spoken on an island on another world, but it’s connected to this one: at various times throughout history, doors have opened up between the two worlds, allowing people to pass from one to the other. It’s how humans made their way to that world in the first place, and it’s how the concept of writing arrived on the island centuries later.

That particular door was a small one. Only a few people came through to the island, maybe a dozen or so. The doors aren’t exactly physical things (I haven’t figured out the details of how magic works yet but it’s rarely visually obvious; it’s more like you get lost in the woods in one place and wander out of the woods in the other) but they do connect specific places in this world with specific places on the island. In this case, the door went to somewhere in Europe, sometime in the Middle Ages. Only one of the people that came through was literate, and he happened to have with him a wax tablet. He was old and never properly learned to speak Valya, and therefore never taught the Latin script to the speakers of Valya, but through him and his companions the concept of writing was transferred to the island.

When it was first written, Valya had a very simple phonotactic structure: every syllable was CV or CVV. There were sixteen consonants and only three vowels, which made it ideal for a syllabary. There were 51 glyphs: 48 for all the possible CV syllables, and three more for i, u, and a as the second vowel of a syllable. Unlike many real-world early writing systems (as well as the first stages of some of my other conlangs’ writing systems), these early glyphs were not representational in any way. Rather, they were based on the sorts of shapes that appeared in the writing on the wax tablet.

Syllabaries seem to be a natural choice when developing a new writing system: the Cherokee Syllabary was developed in the early 1800s, similarly based on Latin writing without actually being a descendant system. In that case, several of the syllabograms are basically identical to particular Latin letters, but without any correspondences between their sounds! The situation with Valya is similar, with certain letter forms getting borrowed but not the system as a whole.

The forms of Latin letters that were used when writing in wax were somewhat different than what we’re used to today, because of limitations of the medium. In order to understand and emulate this, I actually made a little wax tablet of my own—not at all historically accurate, but enough to get the right idea (I think). My “tablet” is the lid of a scented candle, with a thin layer of wax poured in. It’s a soy candle, not beeswax, so it’s quite a bit softer, but I find that putting it in the freezer for a bit helps get something closer to the right texture. I also read a bit on the subject, and found this to be a particularly helpful source—see figure 9 for a very nice reconstruction of the writing on a tablet from the first century CE!

What I found through using the tablet matched up pretty well with what I read. Shorter strokes were preferable, as were downward strokes (toward you as you’re writing). Curves are okay as long as they’re not too sharp and don’t continue for too long. Strokes shouldn’t cross, because wax from the second stroke will get into the groove of the first stroke and mess it up. Two strokes can meet, but the second one should be drawn from the meeting point outward, to avoid the same issue of wax getting into a previously-drawn stroke.

So here are the 51 syllabograms of the first Valya writing system:

The image at the top of the post is this same list (through ti, because I couldn’t quite fit them all). Here are a couple of examples of early Valya written on wax:

Va-miuru lu mii, “The two cats are small.”

Ra visi gi mulii tu luiti, “I found two ammonites on the beach.”

After a time other mediums for writing were developed. The Europeans who came through the door knew of paper (or at least parchment) and ink, of course, so it wasn’t too long before people started using those on the island as well. Once the change in mediums had taken place, there were also changes in letter forms, with separate strokes within a glyph getting connected together and the shapes getting curvier in general. The modern forms of these 51 glyphs are shown here, but there are many more letters besides in Modern Valya, derived from ligatures of pairs of these original 51 letters.

In Modern Valya, the above sentences become Vamüru lu myi and Ra fsi gi mülyi tu lüti. Here’s what they look like:

Back outside of the fictional history of Valya writing, I knew how I wanted the writing system to work, generally (a syllabary with ligatures), but I had a few different ideas as to its origin. I did consider starting from pictographs, like I did with the Mindutme and Tlette alphabets, but that would have been difficult for a few reasons besides just having to come up with at least 51 unique and easily distinguishable glyphs. The idea of borrowing a writing system came next, and since I knew there would be travel between the fictional world and the real one, it seemed reasonable to think that some real-world syllabary might have made its way to the island.

The ones I looked into the most were Japanese kana (likely a combination of katakana and hiragana) and Linear B. However, I also really liked the idea of wax tablets being used, which probably rules out Linear B (as far as I can tell, it was used somewhat before the earliest known use of wax tablets, though not by too long) and definitely rules out kana, unless the wax tablets were independently invented for some reason. Also, it was a challenge to wrangle the glyph shapes of both systems into the sort of aesthetic that I wanted for modern Valya writing. So in the end I decided on a looser approach, inspired by the actual history of the Cherokee syllabary and allowing more freedom with the early stages of the script.

The font for the modern script is coming along nicely—I’ve now made 120 glyphs. Just six more and I’ll have all of the CV and CGV glyphs made!

[p5x-theories]

https://youtu.be/y47qJMmckL4?si=lRJxAkq-NgHB7MT0

Hey I don’t know if you remember this trailer from the second beta test but at the start of it has 5 voices that speak and I was wondering if that maybe you could identify them? I think I got most of them but I’m unsure? But anyways it goes

Voice 1: Closer

Voice 2: Cattle

Voice 3: Wind? or Polter?

Voice 4: Soy?

Voice 5: Unknown Male Voice(Ikenami?)

Oh, wow, been a while since I've seen this trailer, haha! Though, heads up if you didn't know, BuffMaister on Youtube uses AI for all their translations, so- however you feel about the use of AI- do be aware I've seen some notable inaccuracies with their translations because of it.

Anyway, the voices. I agree it's definitely Closer and Cattle, but the next voice doesn't really sound like Wind to me (and maybe not Polter either, though we've heard very little of her)? It sounds more like Yuki, though I'm not confident. The fourth voice sounds kind of like Fleuret, on that note (definitely not Soy, whoever it is).

The fifth voice I also don't confidently recognize, but with the mocking tone of voice, it miiiiiiight be Kiuchi...? In that case the more accurate translation would probably be "Can you handle it?" While I can't prove it's not Ikenami, since we have no idea what he sounds like, I would be a little surprised if he sounded like that, heh.

At the very least, I do think it would make more sense if the voices in this trailer were characters we'd met already, especially given it was only the second beta.

[an-darth-maiden]

🇬🇧English / Spanish post about Castlevania Nocturne

🇪🇦Publicación en Inglés / Español acerca de Castlevania Nocturne

🇬🇧Hi everyone!

Some weeks ago, I posted a theory about what could happen for the 2nd season of Castlevania Nocturne.

Here's another one. This is about Olrox and his possible true identity. /

🇪🇦¡Hola a todos!

Hace un tiempo, publiqué una teoría sobre lo que podría pasar en la 2da temporada de Castlevania Nocturne.

Aquí una sobre la posible verdadera identidad de Olrox.

🇬🇧Remember this is just a hypothesis. Just till 2nd season premiere could see if I get right or not. / 🇪🇦 Recuerden que sólo es una hipótesis. Sólo hasta que salga la 2da temporada sabremos si acerté o no.

🇬🇧When the 1st season came out, we noticed that Count Olrox is now an Aztec vampire. I felt very interested because I'm Mexican 🇲🇽 and I wanted to know how could be his portrayal. On the 1st episode we can see that he transforms in a "Feathered snake", which I found very contradictory. / 🇪🇦 Cuando salió la 1ra temporada, nos dimos cuenta de que el Conde Olrox es ahora un vampiro azteca. Me interesó mucho porque soy mexicana 🇲🇽 y quería ver cómo podría ser su representación.

En el primer episodio, vemos que él se transforma en la "Serpiente emplumada", lo que encontré muy contradictorio.

🇬🇧I know that the original Olrox from Castlevania Symphony of the Night videogame transform on a giant reptile, but... The "Feathered snake" is related to the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl is an Aztec god who represents the light, the life, the wind, the fertility. Sometimes even he's related with the sun. That's why I found his transformation a kind of contradictory. / 🇪🇦 Se que el Olrox original de Castlevania Symphony of the Night se transforma en un reptil gigante, pero... La "Serpiente emplumada" está relacionada al dios azteca Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl es un dios azteca qué representa la luz, la vida, la Fertilidad. A veces está relacionado con el Sol. Es por eso que lo encontré contradictorio.

🇬🇧I found on a Facebook Castlevania fan group a proposal where Count Olrox Castlevania Nocturne is in reality the Aztec god "Tezcatlipoca" , or more specific, "The Black Tezcatlipoca" (black related to the color, not the race btw). And when I read that, I thought "That's more accurate and could be possible. Could explain his personality and his intentions. I'm going to explain why. / 🇪🇦 Encontré en un grupo de Facebook de Fans de Castlevania que alguien propuso en una publicación que Olrox es probablemente el dios Tezcatlipoca o específicamente el "Tezcatlipoca negro" (Negro por el color, no la raza por cierto). Cuando leí esto, pensé "Eso es más preciso y podría ser posible ". Explicaría muy bien su personalidad y sus intenciones. Y voy a explicar el por qué .

🇬🇧Tezcatlipoca is the contrary of the god Quetzalcoatl (Quetzalcoatl is also called the White Tezcatlipoca). / 🇪🇦 Tezcatlipoca es el contrario al dios Quetzalcoatl (Quetzalcoatl es llamado el Tezcatlipoca blanco).

🇬🇧Tezcatlipoca or the black Tezcatlipoca is a god of the darkness and the occult things, he has a fickle or whimsical personality. He's a god of the night and the temptations. Which matches perfectly with the personality of Olrox on the show. Olrox is a calculating man, manipulator, whom in many cases handle the things in his favor, his intentions always have a double intention on his actions. About being "tempting", well, that part was shown about how he makes Mizrak, a man of the church, fall to his temptations . /

🇪🇦 Tezcatlipoca o Tezcatlipoca negro es un dios de la oscuridad, lo invisible, de caracter voluble o caprichoso. Es un dios de la noche y las tentaciones. Eso cuadra perfectamente con la personalidad que ha mostrado en la serie. Olrox es un hombre calculador, manipulador, que en muchos casos maneja las cosas siempre a su favor, siempre hay una doble intención ante sus acciones. Y la parte de tentador quedó más que explícita al hacer que Mizrak, un hombre de la iglesia caiga a sus tentaciones.

🇬🇧Also, Tezcatlipoca is called "The smoking mirror" because he used a shield made with obsidian that made smoke that was capable of killing his enemies. That was very clear when he uses the ability of "invoke phantasmagoric spirits" that seems they seem done of smoke. Matches with the abilities with his original version of the "Symphony of the Night " game and the Aztec myth. / 🇪🇦 Tezcatlipoca es llamado "espejo humeante" ya que usaba un escudo hecho de obsidiana que despedía un humo que era capaz de matar a sus enemigos. Eso queda más que claro al usar su habilidad de "invocar espíritus fantasmales" que parecen estar hechos de humo. Cuadra con las habilidades del Olrox original del juego "Symphony of the Night" y con el mito azteca.

🇬🇧Many times I think about which were the reasons of Olrox to kill Julia, but not to Richter. Or why he said he wasn't in love with Mizrak but he decided to save him from Drolta and the night creatures made by Emmanuel. And for the both, the answer is the same. Richter Belmont or Mizrak, they will end up being sacrifices that Olrox will use to become stronger. / 🇪🇦 Muchas veces he pensado cuáles fueron sus motivos para asesinar a Julia Belmont pero no a Richter. O el por qué dijo que no estaba enamorado de Mizrak pero sí decidió salvarlo de Drolta y las otras criaturas nocturnas hechas por Emmanuel. Y creo que para ambos, la conclusión es la misma. Puede que Richter Belmont o Mizrak terminen siendo sacrificios que Olrox aprovechará para volverse más fuerte.

🇬🇧We need to remember that for different Aztec gods, they used to be made human sacrifices to feed the gods and regenerate their powers. And Tezcatlipoca was one of those gods. / 🇪🇦 Hay que recordar que para distintos dioses aztecas se solía hacer sacrificios humanos para alimentarlos y regenerar su poder. Y Tezcatlipoca era uno de esos dioses.

🇬🇧 Those who were elected for the rituals had to be young man, gracious, strong and had no blemish on their bodies, that last part could be understood as man of good intentions or pure heart, not making reference to the chastity. / 🇪🇦 Aquellos escogidos para los rituales debían de ser hombres jóvenes, agraciados, fuertes que no debían tener tacha alguna en su cuerpo; esto quizás podría ser más bien entendido como hombres de buenas intenciones o corazones puros, no tanto haciendo referencia a cuestiones relacionadas con la castidad.

🇬🇧So, in resume, any of two, Richter or Mizrak could end on a sacrificial stone to Olrox could be stronger now Erzsebeth has proclaimed herself as the "Vampire Messiah" could overthrow her. / 🇪🇦 Entonces, en resumen, alguno de los dos , Richter o Mizrak puede terminar sobre una piedra ritual para sacrificios para que Olrox pueda ser más fuerte, ahora que Erzsebeth se ha proclamado la "Mesías Vampiro", para poder derrocarla.

🇬🇧And that's all, folks!

What do you think?🤔

Which theories do you have of this character?🧠

I read you carefully . 👀 /

🇪🇦 Y bueno, eso es todo amigos.

¿Qué piensan ustedes? 🤔

¿Qué teorías tienen ustedes sobre este personaje? 🧠

Los leo atentamente. 👀

[huellitaa]

bee's record player, june edition 🎀𓂃 ࣪˖

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 INTRO

and to go hand in hand with the may edition and a consolation for how late said may edition of bee's record player was, i present to you bee's record player, june edition! now this month has a LOT in terms of music so i won't stall any further; here is the VERY EARLY edition of bee's record player, june edition! <3 happy pride month lovelies! ♡

──★ ˙ ̟🎀NEW ARRIVALS

give me that, wayv

♡ released 3rd june, 2024

♡ extended play / EP

♡ best songs: not yet listened! ♡

♡ running time: 18 minutes 16 seconds

baby blue movie, cigarettes after sex

♡ released 4th june, 2024

♡ single

♡ running time: 4 minutes 5 seconds

coming home, beabadoobee

♡ released 5th june, 2024

♡ pre-release single

♡ running time: 2 minutes 16 seconds

please please please, sabrina carpenter

♡ released 6th june, 2024

♡ pre-release single

♡ running time: 6 minutes 1 second

na, nayeon

♡ released 14th june, 2024

♡ extended play / EP

♡ best songs: butterflies, heaven, magic

♡ running time: 22 minutes 29 seconds

never be yours, kali uchis

♡ released 21st june, 2024

♡ single

♡ running time: 3 minutes 16 seconds

supernatural, newjeans

♡ released 21st june, 2024

♡ single

♡ running time: 11 minutes 42 seconds

──★ ˙ ̟🎀BEE'S TRACKS: TOP 10

♡ 10. ultraviolence, lana del rey

never gets old honestly. lana ilysm my baby this song is my everything i actually cannot do this. if i die and dont come back to sing "yo soy la princesa " and the whole bridge yall know im dead sorry ab that 💔

♡ 9. complicated, avril lavigne

ONCE AGAIN. ABSOLUTE BANGER. CLASSIC. I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH AND IT'S SO RELATABLE RIGHT NOW TOO AVRIL ILY ILY ILY

♡ 8. my kink is karma, chappell roan

also very relatable right now,,, feeling like this ab several very specific people in or out of my life right now and it's so ridiculously accurate and such a banger and her voice is SO RIDICULOUSLY SATISFYING BRO EUUUHHHHSUEUJJJNNNNFFFFUUUEUU

♡ 7. i'll see you there tomorrow, tomorrow x together

YESSS THIS SOBG IS SO BACK WE'RE SO BACK ISYTT STANS RISE. THIS SONG IS SUMMER IDC. ITS JUST. OH KY GOSH. I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY I LJJJDJJUUEEUUHHHHH (translation: very good song! 🫶🏻💖)

♡ 6. gee, girls' generation

GEE GEE GEE GEE BABABAYAY GEE GEE EGEE GEE BABSBABAB this song is the EPITOME of 2000's girly girl kpop. it makes me feel SO girly and i ADORE girls generation. they're just silly girls making silly songs in the silly 2000's i adore them

♡ 5. naked in manhattan, chappell roan

OH MY GOSH. THIS IS MY FAVOURITE SONG EVER ATM U DONT GET IT. listening to this in a sapphic situationship hits different u guys don't get it. naked in manhattan is my religion . the lana and the mean girls ref make me foam at the mouth

♡ 4. femininomenon, chappell roan

HIT IT LIKE ROMPOMDPUM GET IT HOT LIKE PAOA JOHN MAKE A BITCH GO ON AND ON ITS A FEMININOKEMENON. woahhh chappell again are we surprised? no. my excuse is it's pride month fuck off leave me and my cunty lesbian pop alone. ANYWAY THIS SONG IS FOR THE CUNTY LESBIANS AND THE SEXY MANHATER GIRLS GO QUEENS WE LOVE YOUU

♡ 3. please please please, sabrina carpenter

HEARYBREAK IS KNE THING. MY EGOS ANOYHER. I BEG YOU DONT EMABRASS ME MOTHERFUCKER. the vibes this song has are immaculate and once again absolutely devoured the vocals and the retro style music is EVERYTHING brina PLEASE more of this !!! ♡ unpopular opinion espresso was TOP TIER GODLY HEAVENLY PERFECT but i enjoy this ever so sligjtly more. BITH ARE SO GOOD THOGH I CNAT

♡ 2. coming home, beabadoobee

comfort song. this song feels like coming home. it feels like being in disneyland or being at the top of a tower in the evening with the lamplights glowing and the streets bustling and the music playing and just taking a breath of fresh air and realising you're alive thank you for this beautiful masterpiece i'll never get over this bea. i might cry seeing this live honestly

♡ 1. good luck, babe!, chappell roan

this song saved my life watered my crops fed my children impregnated my children made me fall in love with the world again her vocals feel like i'm ascending to heaven i feel like i'm on shrooms i chappell roan i chap

──★ ˙ ̟🎀ALBUMS

♡ 1. rise and fall of a midwest princess, chappell roan

anddd second month strong, chappell stays on top!!!!!! somehow i've become even more obsessed with her than i was last month but we are not gonna talk ab it. it's pride month don't ask me !!!!!!!!!!!!

♡ 2. the name chapter: freefall, tomorrow x together

gone back to freefall lately because i can't believe we're out of freefall era and i miss it so bad. i love tomorrow so so so so so so much but i miss freefall too (+ growing pains is my everything esp bc of the concert videos that i'd kill a man to see live 💔 KAI KAMAL HUENING. I NEED YOU.)

♡ 3. ultraviolence, lana del rey

in honour of both my crippling summer depressive episode and mother's birthday on the 21st ultraviolence is back up at the top again! the glow up before and after listening to ultraviolence is insane idgaf

♡ 4. our extended play, beabadoobee

SHOOPDOOBDOODOABAODOO SHOOPSODOBADODOD OH YEAH SHOOP im so ridiculously excited 2 see this live

♡ 5. beatopia, beabadoobee

once again in honour of the bea concert in november we beatopia still remaining here which is quite a feat actually considering how much i listen to music GO BEA WOOO

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 ARTISTS

♡ CHAPPELL ROAN (it's pride month.)

♡ TOMORROW X TOGETHER (again. it's pride month.)

♡ SABRINA CARPENTER

♡ NEWJEANS

♡ LANA DEL REY (just barely overtook bea!)

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 SPECIAL MENTIONS

along with the announcement of "this is how tomorrow moves" by our lovely lovely girl beabadoobee, the pop princess, the it girl of western music, sabrina carpenter will be making a return with her new album "short 'n sweet" on the 23rd of august, 2024! ♡

a beyond happy birthday to our mother lana, raising girlbloggers since btd era and onwards ♡ we love you lana ♡

tour dates of both brina and bea have been released this month AND THE BEST PART... ME AND MY BEST FRIEND ARE GOING TO A BEA CONCERT IN NOVEMBER 🫶🏻💘💖 I'M BEYOND EXCITED IT WAS LITERALLY JUST LAST ISSUE I WAS TALKING AB HOW MUCH I WANTED TO SEE HER LIVE I CANT DO TJIS AJDHFIAKTJSKF

──★ ˙ ̟🎀 EDITOR'S NOTE

once again, thank you ever so much for reading this issue of bee's record player: june edition! i really really enjoy writing these and getting the chance to yap ab all my silly little music obsessions to you all. i've made some of my closest friends on here and i treasure you all, love u guys <3

all my love! 💘💬🎀

[chopinski-official]

Good day, Monsieur.

I have a question, simply out of curiosity: do you know movies about yourself? If soy which one is your favorite?

Ah, Fryderyk, mon petit élève!

In my little time here in the afterlife I have indeed heard of several films of myself. For my favourite, I would choose Chopin: Desire For Love as the most accurate depiction. Or I would choose Impromptu based on the fact that as a comedy, it isn’t necessarily trying to be realistic.

Here is my opinion on some of the films about me:

Impromptu— 1991

The depiction of me by Hugh Grant is flattering physically however it is not particularly flattering when it comes to my personality. I find it offensive that I would allow myself to become entangled in a duel, let alone collapse because of it. If I am to appear weak in a film, let it be because of my ill health, not because of nerves. Although I find that it is fairly realistic when it comes to my love life, my opinions when it comes to sex… But it is less convincing in terms of the content. Many of the events in the film are made up.

Also, Grant’s Polish accent kills me.

Chopin: Desire For Love— 2002

This film I feel has the most realistic depiction of my personality. I’m played by a fellow Pole and he even looks a little like me! George also looks a lot like George, and acts a fair bit like her too. However, I find that implication of romance between Solange and I is abhorrent. She was never so impertinent towards me. The actual historical facts end up a little warped too, possibly due to the fact that 29 years of my life are condensed into 2 hours.

La Note Bleue— 1991

I appreciate that my actor, Janusz Olejniczak, is a pianist and Polish but apart from that, this film is not my favourite. He looks nothing like me and I find the salacious tales of me and Solange personally offensive. They portray my personality disturbingly. I find the strange dancing figures very off putting but I suppose you could say they represent my inner demons. And, despite everything, I do like the fact that it’s filmed at Nohant.

A Song to Remember— 1945

A very unrealistic but fun film in that the truth is so bent I might as well be someone else. I may have been for the freedom of Poland but I was no revolutionary. And again, all of the events are twisted and out of order…

[integrityvictim]

Howdy! I know human culture surrounding monsters doesn’t tend to be the most accurate, but from what I know on the subject blood does seem to be a relatively necessary part of your diet. You can survive off of other things of course, but it may negatively affect your lifespan. Vampires are known to be rather long lived, but if my research is to be trusted drinking blood is an essential part of that.

Lucky for you, I’m also something of a blood expert. If you put spinach, salt, banana, soy beans, and gatorade (do you have that down there? any sports drink will do) into a blender, the resulting substance should have most of the same properties as blood, composition wise. I doubt it would taste very good, but most things that are good for your health tend not to. Maybe add some corn for flavor?

There is also the possibility that vampires affinity for blood is magical rather than chemical, in which case you’re out of luck. I’m a scientist, not a magician.

[simplyghosting]

Okay, not exactly a recipe, but great flavor combo I just managed (thank you mother for stocked spices). Note that I never measure, so approximations may not be accurate):

Previously cooked potatoes (small cubes)

Bella mushrooms (sliced)

Fresh ginger (~2-3tsp. minced, then ground)

Sesame oil (~2tbsp)

Tamari sauce (~1tbsp. basically better soy sauce.)

Light brown sugar (~1-2tbsp. More = sweeter dish)

Dried onions (couple of dashes. optional)

Salt and pepper (to taste)

—

Heat pan at medium, adding sesame oil.

Add ginger, stirring constantly. Cook for about 1 minute.

Add mushrooms (arrange spaced, not overlapping).

Add in tamari sauce, light brown sugar, salt/pepper, and dried onions.

Cook for about 2-4 min, flipping over mushrooms as they start to golden on one side.

Add in potatoes to heat. Stir ingredients until potatoes are reheated (maybe 2 minutes)

-Done!-

These are my taste preferences (and approximations) which is pretty salty/sweet/seasoned, so you’ll probably need to experiment (I make it very gingery), but it was fun and tasty for me. I had the ginger and potatoes prepared in the fridge as leftovers, so the worst of the prep is easy to make and store some days in advance or use for other dishes, too.

[heich0e]

As a veggie person, what are your dietary staples? Also do you actually account for protein and nutrition values or do you just eat? I’m not creative in the kitchen so I kind of just eat

oh wowie!! ok to be a responsible person i'm prefacing this by saying i am NOT a doctor/dietician/qualified medical professional in any capacity, i am just a person who is alive and who is sustaining that vitality in this particular way because it works for me!!

i'm a lot like you in that i just eat without being particularly or overly conscious of it. i've been vegan for almost a decade so i have figured out a way to feed myself that meets the needs of my body but that can look very different for every person. pls don't take this as gospel it's just what works for me <3

the bulk of my diet is just straight up fruits/vegetables. lots of whole grains/starches/carbs (rice, pasta, quinoa, etc.—not a lot of bread just bc i don't tend to eat it quick enough but i'm not remotely opposed to it!!) i get my protein predominantly from tofu/edamame (soy)/legumes/HUMMUS!! and I do regularly eat plant-based protein bars/protein supplemented snacks because it's something I'm concious of possibly not getting enough of in my diet otherwise. there's a bit of healthy fat in my diet too from things like nuts/seeds and their butters, and protein from that too, but definitely not enough to say that it's a huge part of my overall consumption.

i eat mainly whole foods at this point in my veganism, so while i appreciate the wide variety of dairy and meat alternatives that are on the market (a LIFETIME away from what was available when i went plant based) they don't make up a large/regular part of my diet. def still fuck w a vegan grilled cheese or veggie chicken nugget every once in a while!! but cheese alternatives are probably like... i buy them maybe once a month? veggie meat is probably only 4-5 times a year tbh! eating out at restaurants is different obviously, but in terms of what i'm eating at home i'd say those numbers are accurate!!

i need to also point out that i DO supplement (or try to lol) iron/b12 (b12 shots usually), and as we go into winter i'm gonna pick up some vitamin d and possibly an omega 3! i think supplementing vitamins is important for lots of ppl (not just vegetarians/vegans!) and if you can you should talk to your doctor about what might be a good option for you :)

love u! eat what makes you feel good! dress warm!

[danketsuround]

sunday six!

(monday six for me) (as always)

tagging @fire-tempers-steel @passthroughtime and @c-cw-f-saeko (sorry if you don't have anything to share lol)(but i must participate) & whoever else wants to do this (lately it's been really forcing me to write a lot)

lost judgement spoilers below:

another bit of a post-LJ au, where kuwana takes care of mitsuru while reiko is in prison. writing to make mitsuru's disabilities more accurate from canon and to mend my broken heart.... :cry:

The beep at nearly-eight is the rice cooker. Kuwana's bones creek, aging him as he pulls himself up from a squat. He paddles two servings of rice into his bowl and pairs it with natto, reheated soup, and a cold karage cup he bought from Seven. The vegetables steam a little longer before he puts a tiny serving in front Mitsuru and hurriedly finishes off the rest.

Mitsuru mashes a piece of carrot with his rubber-banded chopsticks. He ate picky like his mother, and scowled like her, too. Their shared nose and thin eyes crinkled harshly, disgusted by the steamed purée Mitsuru unaffectionally—and ironically—called baby food. It was swallowing practice and a nutritional trick, suggested in a letter from Reiko—a response to his medical documents:

...It's not very difficult to do. Steam them for thirty minutes. If you lose track of time and think you've cooked it for too long, add another ten minutes. I did that when he was little...It should be the consistency of chewed gum or silt...No soy sauce...He doesn't like broccoli. No broccoli. Potatoes are the best for gaining weight, cut them into sixths. Give him small portions or he won't eat it. Smaller than you think...If you can encourage him to practice swallowing, you can encourage him to eat more. He's malnourished now. You know that...Don't push him. I think he'd cry. It would be like trying to make an infant solve a jigsaw puzzle....

Don't push him.

No broccoli.

Thank you.

Kuwana picks a piece of broccoli off of Mitsuru's plate and eats it. It tastes like hot ice cubes. Mitsuru looks offended and unhungry, leaning back in his wheelchair with his shirt over his outie.

"Let's go to the beach later," Kuwana suggests, swallowing the rest of his breakfast whole. "After you finish."

Mitsuru nods while tapping the plastic tubing with his nail. He looks up—almost done. "Tastes like," he exhales slowly. "I wonder."