#why does that language EXIST.

[cerise-on-top]

König Teasing Reader in His Dialect

I finally got around to writing for König being sappy with his S/O in his native tongue! Native dialect, in fact!! I'm not gonna include any translations for this one! And don't bother putting it in Google Translate either, it won't work :3c

“Du host so a liabes Gschau.”

A gentle twilight it was, the sky donning a beautiful coat of orange. With the few fluffy clouds floating by, you watched your boyfriend glow in the soft evening light. It was almost magical, the way the sun set behind the mountains, the way it created a halo of utmost pulchritude on König. He was a rough man, who found it within himself to be as gentle as one would never imagine. His hands were calloused, but the way he caressed your face made it seem as though he was a lover by nature. Although he may have killed more people than you have ever known in your lifetime, that fact barely came to mind when his voice would call for you. Strong his accent, yes, but with it came a sense of familiarity that you would get nowhere else. König was a beautiful man. If you could have, then you would have knelt in front of him, allowing him to tread his fingers through your locks. If you could have, you would have slung your arms around him, burying yourself in his warmth and scent. But alas, all that came to mind was confusion. What did he say this time?

“You know my German isn’t that good just yet. You gotta be patient with me. Can you translate?”

With a certain glimmer in his eyes, he smiled as he shook his head. “No, I’ll let you figure this one out. It would be boring if I translated everything for you.” But even so, he walked towards you, quiet as a cat, hunting for its prey. All there was to devour was you, unity through the purpose of consuming one another. He stood still in front of you, eyes almost hazy as he seemed a little unfocused. He was a hunter, but whenever you were around he laid his weapon to rest, craving your attention more than he felt the bloodlust. You calmed him more than any restful night ever could. Your touch was the remedy for his loneliness, his fear, his anger. And this time, it was his turn to repay you, gently running his thumb across your cheek.

“Du bist mei ois. Für di leib i. I bin dir so vü schuidig. Söbst wenn i dir die Wöd gebn darad, warads ned genug. Danke für ois. Bitte bleib bei mir so laung wies nur geht. Hah, i reid grod so vü Scheiße, aba des stört mi ned. Du mochst mi so fertig, aber i hob di so lieb. Eigentlich wuid i heite schiacha zu dir sein, oba i kauns afoch ned. I bin so verliebt in di.”

Should you feel angry at him? For all you knew he could have been cursing you worse than any string of English words ever could. And yet, his expression betrayed him. That gentle smile, that soft gaze, that tender touch. König let out a content sigh, placing his hands atop your shoulders. It was evident he wanted something, he wanted more, but all he could do was stare as love overtook every fiber of his being. In that moment, he wasn’t a hunter, he wasn’t a fighter, he wasn’t a soldier. If there was one thing he could call himself, it was yours. Your boyfriend, your partner, your loved one. It didn’t matter as long as it was in relation to you. He pulled you into a tight embrace. His pride was a wall made of steel, but you burned yourself through the metal and settled down in his heart. All you knew was that he was so much kinder towards you than he gave himself credit for.

“Love, I’ve got no idea what you’re saying.”

“Brauchst a ned. I wü afoch nur so mit dir bleibn. I mechat di für imma so hoitn. Du bist so liab. I hob so vü Scheiße im Militär durchgmocht, oba es wor’s ma ois wert wal i di kennanglernt hob. I darad ois no amoi so mochn. Bitte sei ma ned bes, oba i glab es is gscheita wennst ned wast, wos i grod sog. Du suist mi ned als schwochn Maun sehn. Oba nur damit du’s wast, es gibt kan Menschn auf dera Wöd, den i liaba hob als di. I hoff, dass ma ewig zaumbleibm kennan.”

“Are you being sappy right now?”

But the only response you got was him holding onto you as though you were a beautiful, fleeting memory. Wrapping your arms around him in return, you resigned yourself to your fate. He could so very easily snap you in half, and yet he chose to use his strength to make you feel protected. Indeed, König was a different man with you. You knew him as the anxious colonel that was still capable of leading people. Deadly precise, viciously efficient, always successful. And today he felt as giddy as a child watching its first rainbow, all because he was with you.

“Ich hab dich ganz doll lieb.”

Finally, some words you could understand.

“Love you too, König.”

[blujayonthewing]

[beevean]

A theory I've read more than once is that this one frame of Lenore entering Hector's cell for the second time is proof that she is not actually enjoying what she has to do:

The wiki describes it as such: "Lenore has a sad expression when entering the dungeon to visit Hector the second time."

Also this, from a comment I found:

Like for example when she goes to meet Hector the second time, you can see sadness on her face when she is walking alone in the dungeon, but as soon as she approaches Hector she puts on a smile. I.e. may be she already knew she had to use the ring at that point and felt bad about it but didn't want Hector to realize that. A lot of such small animation details really provide a glimpse into what the explicit writing was lacking.

(edit: turns out that they were the same person)

Okay.

First things first: I doubt she has the ring in mind already. It's hard to tell because Lenore pulls it out of her ass with zero foreshadowing whatsoever, but with the way it was framed, the ring was likely a direct response to Striga's idea of buying mercenaries to make Hector unnecessary, which comes later into the story: Lenore even uses the information she eavesdropped from Striga as a way to lie to Hector about her loyalty to the sisters. In theory it makes sense, because Hector needs to be reliable to be allowed to live, but the ring is... a very poor solution the more you think about it, even if you ignore how S4 neutered it, because it only addresses one of the many logistic problems that come with forcing Hector to make an army of Night Creatures, and it's not the dead bodies/living livestock paradox. And going with the story, it's unlikely Lenore was already thinking of raping the ring into Hector: why would the sisters be amazed at her plan if they were the ones suggesting her to speed up things? And if Lenore came up with it, why would she be remorseful at her own idea? Did she have so little faith in her own manipulating skills that she already felt that she had no choice but to use "brute force", after one understandable incident? Then why even bother interrogating him to understand his motivations and needs? Just skip straight to the sexual molestation to make him believe she likes him. As I pointed out, that interrogation was not for the sake of painting herself as particularly caring: she was collecting intel, intel that she wouldn't need if her plan was already tricking Hector into slavery via a magic ring.

Second: that expression honestly doesn't look sad to me. I would be willing to give the interpretation some credit, because she's looking downwards which can be a sign of sadness, but after that one frame, she switches to this expression:

Now she looks mildly pissy, like the idea of talking to Hector is just soooooo annoying, ugh. She even has the sassy cocked eyebrow lmao.

Of course that can't be it, so I propose the most obvious interpretation: she's serious and deep in thought. That is because their first encounter ended up disastrously: Hector assaulted Lenore with the intent of threatening her, which pissed her off, and she assaulted Hector by beating him to an inch of his life, which is not the best way to win a pet's trust. So she's most likely thinking the best way to approach him again.

And I'll even praise a small detail: the first time Lenore fed Hector, she made him crawl towards her to eat from her hand. The second time, however, she tosses an apple to his feet. Both gestures are demeaning, but after that incident she seems to be more cautious towards him, and being more careful into manipulating him. I'm honestly surprised that her final solution is stupid as fuck when she can be intelligent when she wants to. real reason she's hector's soulmate: both of them have braincells like christmas tree lights :V

Third: oh, do you want to talk about explicit writing?

These are not freeze frame bonuses. The scene lingers on this expression on Lenore's face as Hector is screaming in pain over the ring she put on him.

So, you're willing to believe Lenore didn't want to use the ring but felt forced to because in one frame she has an expression that mildly looks displeased... but somehow you ignore this blatantly sadistic reaction? This screams, at the very least, "haha, sucker, I've won"; but add to this that Hector is visibly and audibly in pain, shocked and scared at the curse overtaking his body during a vulnerable moment...

This ties well with how she beat Hector to a pulp not just out of self-defense, but because she wanted to feel strong and powerful when surrounded by people who underestimate her - the writing might imply that she was offended that Hector too saw her as vulnerable and stupid, but she was explicitly laughing and mocking him while showing off her strength (a strength she doesn't display when, say, Isaac enters her cage: he easily intimidates her). You might read the implication that Lenore spoke about Hector so disgustingly to the sisters to be taken seriously as a vampire mistress and didn't actually want to dehumanize him, but explicitly, even ignoring the forced pet play that showed she had fun treating him like a dog, she reduced him to a "problem to be solved" when complaining about her woes, and when she could have apologized or explained herself she minimized or doubled down on the harm she caused, never once expressing any remorse or doing anything worthwile to make up for it (like, for example, talking about the ring and how it's a shame Hector is only there because he has no choice because she feels they'd be good friends without it: that would imply guilt).

In fact, going back to the moment when Lenore decides to use the ring, it is far more likely that it was in response to this part of the conversation Lenore has eavesdropped:

Striga: We can possibly push east as far as Lake Balaton before I run out of soldiers, but that exposes our Western border. Morana: Sleep. Striga: We can't do it without Lenore turning the forgemaster, and she's just taking him out for fucking walkies. Morana: She will land him. Striga: It's going to have to be soon.

Considering that it's shown that Lenore highly resents being seen as a stupid animal lover, it's far easier to think that this is when she got pissy and decided to use a quicker method, even if it destroyed all the hard manipulation work she had done.

One frame might paint her as a reluctant villain only trying to make everyone happy and being stuck between a rock and a hard place, but multiple scenes paint her as a vile bully and abuser who enjoys feeling in power and control, whether she uses kindness or harm to achieve her goal.

I'm sorry, subtext can absolutely enrich the understanding of a story or character, but not when it actively contradicts the text.

Do you want my personal example? I'll play the same game of overanalyzing expressions. When Isaac attacks the castle, Lenore goes to rescue Hector first thing, instead of checking on Carmilla. For one moment, she even looks torn on where to go:

I will praise this moment: this shows her concern for him quite nicely and that she believes his safety is the first priority, without having to spell it out - no declataration of love, no "you're too important to me", the action speaks for itself. However, there is also her reaction when Hector severs his finger to get rid of the ring, after he explains that "command and control flows through [him] to Lenore here and to her friends":

It could be simple disgust because, well, there's a severed finger and pools of blood lying near her. But I also see what the commenter saw in that frame in S3: sadness. Defeat. Lenore has lost control of the Night Creatures. She can't do anything to protect Carmilla and the castle. And she has lost control of Hector, who has gone behind her back and is protecting her at the expense of her sisters and home: he may chose to stay with her, but he also gave Isaac all the tools he needs to destroy her life. She's powerless. Everything she has worked for went up in smokes and was pointless. Which, as it was shown and told, greatly bothers her. (this is also why I believe her suicide makes sense for her state of being, an opinion apparently not shared by her fans)

I see all of this encapsulated into that expression that mixes disgust, concern and quiet, horrified realization: and it's also fully backed up by the context.

This leads to the message I keep insisting on and which is something that more people need to learn, and the reason I keep eviscerating this character because the writing and the fandom piss me off something fierce: abusers can care about you. They can care about your safety and well being, they can want what (they think) it's best for you. What makes them abusers is that they place more importance on their own need of control. Lenore wanting to save Hector because she pitied him, has grown close to him and eventually finds in him someone who listens to her doesn't at all erase in the slightest all the harm she has caused him: which, I reiterate, includes lying to him and taking advantage of his feelings and need for love to trick him into sex with the objective of placing a slave ring on him, and enjoying his suffering when she won - and when Hector called her out on this, her response was "SHUSH, YOU WERE HAVING FUN".

At the end of the day, she has never stopped behaving like a vampire, a creature whose definition of love is "acting to keep something with you for as long as you can". Even in her most wholesome scenes, like this one or the one where she pleads for more of Carmilla's patience, it's easy to see at the core of it all a need to control the situation and people involved, and reluctance to admit her needless cruelty. This is nuance, not "she's actually good deep down, pls ignore all the sexual abuse because it was for Hector's own good 🥺".

On one hand, it's true that when you do character analyses, you will always be biased, because you come in with your ideas and preconceptions. I am biased too, of course, you can tell. On the other, it's dishonest to cling only onto the most convenient hidden details to look like you have fully understood the text, when you dismiss the most obvious ones that are so obvious you have to actively try to.

[torahtot]

ok ive had enough of queering judaism. can we start judaizing queerness now. or something

[cloudiness]

ughhh give me a weekly podcast by Carlos Sainz Jr, one weak it has to be in English, the next one in Italian and then the other one in Spanish. PLS!!!!!

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[mochayoubi]

i try so hard to set up 会話テーブル and none of the people from japanese club come and im like ah.... do they see me as too hardcore. do i expect too much and im just here being insane. but then i see my partner who has self-studied consistently for years and has transcended the need for such things and im like yeah no i could be way more hardcore these people just dont wanna commit

[bluberimufim]

The Sheep

Wassup. I realized I can post snippets literally whenever I want without there being a tag game as an excuse. Soooooo I decided to share a snippet from "Devourer of Souls" that I just wrote and am pretty proud of. I even gave it a title for the purpose of this post bc I'm Fancy like that.

trigger warnings: horror, animal death, animal body horror, vomit, gore mention

This snippet is nothing like the rest of DoS in terms of vibes. Please don't be scared. I promise this story is (mildly) normal. This also technically has a lot of context behind it but I like this bit and it works somewhat independently so fuck it we ball!

Taglist: @wildswrites and @little-mouse-gardens

(I tried to post this multiple times but tumblr stopped me, so I's like to thank the nice people who helped me, @ellierenae and @owlsandwich, they were very lovely <3)

Some days later, at the market, the sister whose arm she'd healed approached Seth. She had a messy air about her, with bags under her eyes and thrown-on clothes. Her expression showed panic she seemed to be trying to hide, with little success.

"Seth..." she began, hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"I have a... strange request for you."

Seth raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"What is it?"

The woman seemed to grow more nervous.

"Can you heal sheep?"

She stared at her for a moment, still processing the words.

Heal sheep?

"I must confess I've never attempted it, but I can try now."

The woman nodded.

"Thank you. Come with me, please."

Still a bit confused, Seth followed her, giving Theo a signal to do the same.

They already knew the path to that house. They'd traversed it less than a week ago. But now, the farm seemed to be steeped in silence. It took her a while to identify what was missing, but, when she did, she felt a chill creep up her back.

The sheep, she noticed, were quiet.

With grave steps, the sister guided them to the stable.

Was there a disease among livestock? She'd heard of them, but, in all of her time living there, she'd never been through one. She'd heard it said, from the oldest inhabitants of the town, that they were almost always devastating and that they could ruin the town for months – sometimes, years.

She took a deep breath. If she could heal people, she could heal animals. The life force that flowed through all living things was the same. Healing magic should work on them.

When she was about to enter the stable, she was pulled back. Theo held her wrist tightly, stopping her from going any further.

"Theo..."

"Something's wrong with the sheep," she whispered. "Their bodies..."

"Can you see if it's a disease?" she asked, also in a low voice.

"They weren't sick when we came here. If it's a disease, it acts extremely fast. Their state... it's not natural...

"Not natural? How?"

"Their organs, Seth. They're all... I can't describe it... They're distorted. I can feel them. I can feel the shape they are inside, and that shape doesn't make sense."

Theo loosened her grip on Seth's wrist and she took the opportunity to hold her hand and squeeze it.

"I have to check. If it's a disease, I should eliminate it now. It could put the whole town in danger."

Theo nodded and let her go, but she seemed reluctant to do so.

As she grew closer, Seth noticed a stain on the floor, right in front of the divide where she knew the sheep slept. It was hard to discern from that distance, spread over the irregular straw. When she was close enough to tell what it was, she had to force herself not to trip.

Blood. In a trail leading to the sheep.

"I think it's an illness," said the woman, with her eyes trained on something inside the divide. "But it's much more horrible than any I've ever seen."

Seth reached out with her magic. She could feel the souls of the sheep, although weak. Something was interfering with them.

"Please be careful," the woman asked. "I don't think it's contagious for humans, but..."

Seth finally reached the other side of the divide. She had to swallow the scream that threatened to escape her throat.

The sheep were lying on the floor, some with their bellies up. Their paws were stretched before them, with some contorting in painful spasms. Their eyes were blown wide, but they were looking at nothing, as if they were blind. Their mouths were open, ready to scream, but they made no sound.

Through their sheared skins, she could see shapes trying to pierce them. Some were thin and sharp, like broken bones, but some were made of soft flesh and muscle, almost like bubbles. And some of their organs appeared to have changed places. One of the sheep, closest to the entrance, seemed to have a heart where its stomach should be, stretching the skin every time it beat. Another, in a corner, had its ribs turned upside down, jutting out of its back. Another still, clearly dead, had wool growing out of its mouth and nose and, by the shape of the bulges that filled its abdomen, on the inside of its body too.

The sheep spasmed in agony, turned into something that only vaguely looked like an animal. Their mouths remained open and their eyes wide.

Seth had seen many horrible things when she'd been at the hospital, near the front lines of the war. She'd seen men disfigured, burnt, missing limbs. But this was the first time one of those things had made her puke.

After she emptied her stomach onto the straw, still heaving and with her back turned to those horrifying sheep, she felt a hand on her back. When she straightened, she was hugged from behind and let herself slump onto Theo's chest, comforted by the presence of that soul with hints of divinity.

"You saw them too, right?" she asked.

Theo said nothing, but she felt her nod against her hair.

"How are you taking this so calmly?"

Theo still did not respond, pulling her closer.

"Um... Seth?" called the woman who'd taken them there, her voice shaking. "Can you heal them?"

She vehemently shook her head.

"No," she replied, breathless. "Each one of these sheep would need a huge amount of energy just to make them look close to normal again." She turned to the woman, who took a step back. "End their suffering. Buy new sheep."

Everything I touch turns to supernatural horror. Help.

Btw the sheep thing is 100% Theo's doing (but on accident). She just came back from the Plane of the Gods and has divine body horror powers. Not my fault where my ideas are taking me. B&W originally also wasn't horror but then it just happened, ok?

Please tell me if you feel the snippet is too long. It feels a bit big, but I wanted to include the whole scene. I've never posted a snippet like this before. Still a bit confused about what to do.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Can't wait to share more snippets!!

[a-being-of-pure-vitriol]

"do you mind *insert various circumstances*?" no! I don't mind! but if I say no, there's a 50/50 chance it'll be taken as a negative response as opposed to a positive! please! why is it like this!

[thedreadvampy]

callout posts will truly be like:

and the post they're talking about will be like

and then they'll be like "what do you mean I'm overstating harm?"

[bat-the-misfit]

oh no

[podcastingpineapple]

Me, doing stuff, listening to amca 61 Solo: A Star Wars Story: :)

Austin: "She, of course, is a master of teraas kaasi--."

Me, suddenly dropping everything and standing very still. Not moving a muscle. Vivid memories of seeing the movie. Two words on the bottom of the screen. A subtitle that says 'Teräs Käsi'. I fight the urge to flee.

Amca crew keeps talking about it for a bit. I google the game Austin mentions. It is real.

And then the moment is gone, like that one line in the movie. Life continues on. I go and get my laundry.

[ukulelegodparent]

Heartbreaking: This German almost died bc they had to manually select Germany as their location on a German-language website, bc the default was Switzerland or Austria bc that's where the company is from

[virtue-boy]

Its kind of insane like genuinely insane how many people on here have no idea what life is like for average people in the third world / global majority and the Neo-colonialism that creates those conditions to support conditions in the North and how insanely cruel they can be as the absolute baseline and the type of killing and death that maintains the boundaries between the north and the south.

Like tell me you've never met an immigrant or refugee without telling me. Do you genuinely not know what happens to people who get deported, or work in the farms or meatpacking factories that feed the North?? The child deaths in the border crossings? The mines all over the globe? The people that die from lack of baseline vaccinations and sanitation and healthcare trademarked by western companies? The literal MILLIONS of third worlders killed in the wars across the globe defending US economic hegemony? The agent orange, the land mines, the carpet bombing, the drones? What the fuck is wrong with you?

[tea-and-tea]

uncontract isn't it and you get 'is not it'

[hi-note]

no thoughts, head empty, thinking about how the splatoon 1 startup screen has the OFFICIAL squid research lab tumblr in it

LOOK AT IT.