#yes i have already read it but those were fan translations. this is an official eng translation

[fruixtii]

I DIDNT EXPECT IT TO COME SO SOON???? MY HANDS ARE LITERALLY SHAKING BDJSHHSFJSKD37)&::?:)&:@/$/BSJAHSJSOSU&)@(&;@;

YUUKENNNNNNNNNNNN

[karereiko]

Hello, everyone from Yuumori fandom.

Guess what, because of Concert that will be held in July all parts of Moriarty the Patriot Musical (op1-op5) are available to rent and watch online. With my Morimu fanarts or other talks about it I often get asked where you can watch it, often my answer is that you have to buy DVD or Bluray to watch this wonderful adaptation of Moriarty the Patriot manga. I know it's a big cost and hard to get for some so Streaming like this is a great opportunity to watch Morimu.

Official twitter posted few days ago about this possibility and here is the post with all information about it:

1600 yen is great amount to check if you will like it and wach it because I think it's worth any money, director who made morimu clearly loves manga, he treats source material with care and even makes it batter at some times, there is also a lot less cuts than in anime, like a lot. May be little spoiler or not, but Baskerville arc is there and Durham date too, as well as many Sherlock and John stuff that was cut in anime, some things from Moran arc etc. this is already big selling factor, right?

Actors are amazing and they love and care for characters they play. I wasn't into any actor adaptations before Morimu, I was ok with musicals but not caring too much about them and Morimu sold me since first part and it only got better and better each part even if you think that's not possible. Songs are there to make emotions and moments deeper or to have real fun with plot they show, they are not there just for song to be there. So yes high recommendation for you all to check Morimu if you didn't saw it yet. The most amazing thing is that you don't need VPN to buy those streams.

I was going to write about this few days ago and was busy, good I didn't because I talked with friends in Yuumori fandom who knows morimu and we were troubled to recommend this stream to people who doesn't understand Japanese. Morimu is faithful adaptation so almost like 70% lines comes from manga and you should understand what's going on if you read manga. Still, with subs it's a lot easier.

Kana did amazing job in creating English translation for Morimu Op1-Op4 at this point, all who bought DVD/Bluray versions of Morimu are using those subs and if you decide to buy own copy after seeing stream then those subs works great with DVD/Bluray versions.

So we talked over the stream matter and from what we checked with this plugin to Chrome it's possible to play subs with Morimu stream after you rent it (It works only with Chrome but if you know other program like this you can try it on different browsers, we only checked Chrome and this plugin) :

The only matter is that Kana saved subtitles in .ass file format, but you can easily format them to .srt file format that this plugin plays with this site:

You just open subtitle file and save it as srt, and open it with plugin to your Morimu stream. If you will have any more problems with subs them write me a message and I will try to help as soon as work let's me.

I think this is the easiest option that creators gave us now to watch Morimu, it was never so easy to buy or rent it until now, you had to use crazy VPN programs and other stuff to just check on it. So this is best option since for sure it won't last forever. Such promotional streamings are only around when new part is coming up, currently Concert I mentioned.

So for other things I wanna to say. If you get your copy of Morimu then please don't share it, don't post it to any social sites. Company that makes Morimu is quite strict with that matter and they do search who uploads those musicals and strikes them down/ deletes files even on places like google drive. Even without it, it's a matter of love for Moriarty the patriot. As much as fandom wants more people to watch those musicals, any piracy might destroy our chances to get Op6, possibilities for future streams and other stuff. Currently with Op5 we reached end of Final Problem arc and there is hope that maybe one day New York arc will be done in op6. Any piracy, sharing and messy stuff might destroy such chance, so please if you hold dear MTP then respect those rules. Watching streams with your friends in closed groups after you buy it isn't bad but please hold from any public sharing (they would be taken down anyway, but it would still put us fans in very bad light).

I know end of this post was not nice but it had to be told. I hope this possibility will help you see Morimu and fall in love with it like I did. I would recommend at least seeing OP1 and OP2, it should hook you and OP3 is where everything hits even more than op1-2, more hits from songs, more hits from sherliam stuff.

Hope to see you in Morimu cult :D... ehem... fandom. May you have "wind" (for some Great Detective) in your heart like William....

[fallloverfic]

Han Yoojin's Black Choker

This post isn't going to be everything, but it's going to hopefully be easier to find/navigate than the handful of posts I'm seeing floating around and that I've responded to: a summary of official art with Han Yoojin wearing the black choker in S-Classes that I Raised, its maybe appearances in the text of the novel, and its maybe relationship with fanart. For the short answer, yes it appears in multiple pieces of official novel art, and maybe at least once in the novel text. But it might also be a fan design that's sort of accepted as official at least in some cases? Explanation beneath the read more.

Yoojin's black choker is most likely Grace, the protection item Myeongwoo made from Shalos. Other folks have said it's the translation item he gets from Yoohyun, and I disagree, but I'll get to that.

The novel text

Text-wise the "choker" is possibly from novel chapter 109, where Grace turns into a sparkling choker at one point (which Yoojin notes is more over the top than a bracelet during his struggle to get her to turn into something less ostentatious). Some folks looked at different text in the novel here for how it and particularly Grace look, but just as a warning, there is no official English translation for the novel outside what we get in the manhwa, which is somewhat modified because it's a manhwa adaptation. There are fan translations for parts of the novel, but a lot of folks use machine translation, which can be very dubious.

In other places in the novel she's just described as turning into a necklace, not specifically a choker, though in novel chapter 176, it's described as sitting close around Yoojin's neck (which sounds like a choker). Whatever jewelry she turns into is specifically described as having a blue/silver jewel from which her bird form emerges (as she has in novel chapter 156, which is the chapter one fanwiki lists it appearing in, and in which she is described as turning into a necklace, not specifically a choker). So there's very little textual support for him to be wearing a choker, though he does at least on occasion wear necklaces.

Revised ebook novel volumes

SCTIR the novel was (and still is) originally released chapter by chapter on Naver, Munpia, and Ridibooks (currently Side Story is only available on Naver, but the chapters of the main story are on all three). The main story was eventually collected into 35 volumes and partially revised or at least given additional scenes in places. Each volume contained at least two pieces of art. For volumes 1-14 this was seemingly a character portrait with their bio (e.g., age, height, likes, dislikes), and 1 piece of interior art, with the latter at least being by 비완 (the manhwa artist). Volumes 15+ switched up interior artists, for a total of I think at least 3-4 artists, and those volumes had at least 2 pieces of interior art, with volume 35 having 4. The individual chapters didn't have this, it was added for the ebook release.

The volumes themselves are available on Ridibooks and Naver (they might be somewhere on Munpia but I couldn't find them).

The first volume of the ebook released in May 2020 (the Ridibooks release lists an earlier date for some reason than the one on Naver, which is November 2020). By this point, fans had already been drawing Yoojin wearing a black choker with a gem (usually blue or silver) on it since at least 2019: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. <This fanart is by onlyraii, the artist who went on to make the new cover for the novel published in April 2022 (included down below). So at least some of the official artists were involved in the community and knew of popular fan designs (though notably, Yoojin is not wearing the choker on onlyraii's official book cover).

Just want to emphasize: there's a difference between an author drawing/commissioning art and ensuring that it complies with their specifications in the text/their vision and their publisher commissioning art that might not even get approval/comment from the author. I don't know how much geunseo had a say in any of the art for the novel. If there's some interview or something somewhere where they state clearly how many/which pieces of art they approve and the level of control they have over what the art looks like, I haven't seen it. It's not unusual for third party artists to have more freedom to do stuff and draw fan designs/things that aren't accurate in "official" art and for it to get approved (e.g., some of the interior art for the official English translation of "Mo Dao Zu Shi", which actually goes directly against what's on the page; it's kind of unclear how much control MXTX had over this stuff, and heavily implied she had little to none; it's possible that's the same case with geunseo). So whether or not you view this stuff as official is up to you. But it is in the official ebooks, though designs are not really consistent, which implies there was a lack of strong direction in what artists were/weren't allowed to do.

비완 potentially drew Yoojin wearing the choker in volume 13, for the Chuseok art (September 2020, I'm going by the Ridibooks release dates). It's very hard to tell whether that's his shirt collar or a choker. But it sort of looks like it.

The next time it was potentially drawn was by a different artist in volume 18 (July 2021). It's hard to tell because he's holding a bouquet that mostly covers his neck, but on the right side of his neck seems to be part of a black choker.

You can kind of see something that looks like a black choker near Peace's front left paw.

The clearest earliest example of him wearing it in official art is in volume 19 (April 2022), where he's clearly visible wearing a black choker with a blue gem on it. I don't see it mentioned as something he's wearing in the text of that chapter, at least from a brief browse.

He's also definitely wearing it in two pieces (one each) of art for volumes 20-21 (April 2022). Here's the one from volume 21:

In volumes 22 (April 2022) and 25 (August 2022), Yoojin seems to be wearing a cat collar with a similar design in two other pieces of art (one each volume). Not exactly a choker, but he's at least wearing something on his neck. Here's the one from volume 22:

The other art of him with the cat collar in volume 25 is a lot more similar to the other interior art choker designs, with a black ribbon or whatever it is and a blue gem in the center, rather than a blue ribbon.

After that, they switch artists at least once if not twice and none of them drew Yoojin with the choker - or any necklace at all - that I can see. He didn't lose Grace for good in the novel, though he doesn't wear her all the time, but no other artist for the interiors drew him wearing the choker for the last 10 volumes of the revised ebook novel release, if not the last 14. Whether that's a narrative choice or the inclusion of the choker at all is random/whatever the current artist wants/what was geunseo/the publisher's mood, who knows?

The manhwa adaptation

This is how manhwa episode 103 depicts Yoojin trying to get Grace to turn into something wearable after first receiving her (art by 비완), when the alleged "choker" description appears in the novel text:

I'm not seeing a black choker anywhere. The black line near his neck is the collar of his shirt.

As of posting on June 21st, 2024, at least on the free to read Webtoons page and Tappytoon English chapters of the manhwa, there is no art of Yoojin wearing the choker, either as Grace or the translation item he got from Yoohyun. The manhwa depicts the translation item differently, and Grace has only appeared as fancy necklaces or a bracelet. If 비완 drew the choker on Yoojin in the Chuseok ebook novel art for 2020, although the manhwa hasn't gotten there yet, they have drawn him wearing the choker before in official artwork, and yet have not drawn him wearing it since in the manhwa, for whatever reason. We'll have to see how the scene is drawn when the manhwa gets to Chuseok.

In the manhwa, Grace is shown turning into a simple bracelet after negotiation in episode 103:

You'll note he often wears shirts with black collars on them.

This is the translation item that Yoohyun gives Yoojin as it appears in manhwa episode 55:

Which is roughly how it's described in novel chapter 68, absent any specific color description for the metal ornament. Someone else said this is actually what people are drawing when they draw the choker because the design is vague enough to match a choker, which is strange to me, because from what I recall of the novel, Yoojin has this in his pocket/inventory most of the time. He's not wearing it constantly (he also already had it when he got Grace). It's kind of implied if not stated he doesn't like wearing it much and only puts it on out of necessity and takes it off at the first opportunity. He does, however, typically wear Grace (though he does, for various reasons, take her off a decent amount).

The April Fool's 2022 art by ? and the 2022 official novel cover by onlyraii

Someone else pointed out the "sketch" for the official novel art by onlyraii (final art below):

And here it is when it was released seemingly originally on 31 March 2022/1 April 2022 (KST).

In the other post I'm seeing about the "sketch" for this, the unfinished "sketch" listed was actually the April Fool's Day joke for 2022 that seems to parody onlyraii's cover, but with all the guys being bald:

(A lot of manhwa and I think Korean webnovels do April Fool's Day joke posts with fake "new" art done by official artists; 2022's SCTIR manhwa April's Fool's Day joke was magical girl themed, and this was 2024's, which had most of the cast become dinosaurs).

You can also see that while there are similarities, this is very much not what they ended up with, and again, it's dubious this was an actual sketch for the cover: it's not on onlyraii's twitter, though that doesn't mean it wasn't posted elsewhere, and seems more in the style of 비완's art, so it's likely this is the manhwa team doing a jokey post (the manhwa started in November 2021, and 비완 was still doing art for the novel ebook revision at least around 2020, so they'd have been around, and serikachan, the lead storyboard artist, does post about recent novel chapters on twitter, so at least some of them pay attention to the novel). I think it's intentional that all the men are bald as well, to note it's a joke; a lot of the Korean commenters are commenting on their baldness.

A core issue is the similarity and that they were released 11 hours apart (the gag went up around 11 hours before the official cover was released; onlyraii commented on their work for the cover around 40 minutes after the official cover was released). The "sketch" seems to show maybe a planned choker, but if it was an actual sketch in whole or part, it was clearly nixed for the final design. Who made that decision is anyone's guess.

"Sketch" or not, again, onlyraii has drawn Yoojin with a choker many times in their fanart dating back to 2019: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Before the 2022 piece. If onlyraii and/or 비완 wanted to incorporate a fan design into the official art in some way, again, they wouldn't be the first fanartist/community member to do so on official artwork.

In conclusion:

At this point I don't fully know if the design/his regularly wearing a choker comes from the novel or fanon that was later incorporated by fans into canon when they worked on the official art, or if geunseo suggested it or at least okay'd its inclusion on official art, but these things at least are true:

Grace is apparently mentioned as being a choker at least once in the novel text, but it's described as being rather fancy

the fan design/idea of the black choker with a small gem in the middle predates at least the official release of the ebook art with him wearing a choker (if they were released earlier than that on an artist social media post or portfolio or publisher post somewhere, in some form, encouraging fans to use it in fanart prior to the book releases, I have no idea), so at least the stuff pre-2020 was not inspired by the ebook interior art, and potentially nothing before 2022 was inspired by interior art because the clearest art with him wearing it wasn't out until then; it was likely inspired by the potential single/two times Grace is described as a choker in the text, or just generally popular fanon about him wearing a choker (wouldn't be surprising, there's a lot of emphasis on Hyunje grabbing Yoojin's neck all the time and how Yoojin's neck feels when he's not grabbing it)

Yoojin wears a black choker/collar with a gem in the middle of it in at least 3 if not 6 pieces of official ebook interior art, and a blue ribbon collar in at least one piece of official ebook art

after the choker/collar shows up on those 3-7 pieces of interior art, it stopped appearing at all (his neck is visibly bare of any necklace of any kind in multiple art pieces), and he doesn't wear anything on his neck in the artwork for at least 10 volumes; furthermore, despite the manhwa artist potentially drawing him wearing the choker in one of those pieces, they have not drawn him wearing it in the manhwa in the years since that ebook art was released, even after he had both Grace and the translation necklace item, both of which have been suggestions for what the choker is

So does he wear a choker? In the novel text and novel art, maybe, at least sometimes, but not currently in the manhwa. Does it look like it does in fanart? Maybe: it's not really described in the text and the few novel art pieces we have don't quite match each other. The publisher and/or possibly geunseo okay'd at least some official art with it on (though I don't know how much control geunseo has in that decision, and the author of the original work okaying art is different than the publisher okaying art, particularly depending on what degree of control geunseo had over any changes/what could be drawn, or if they were just allowed to say yes or no and that's it).

I'll try to keep this updated if new information/art comes out, so if you're seeing this as a reblog, check the source post to see if there's an update.

[omentranslates]

Owari no Seraph chapter 131 english fan translation

Howdy tumbly vampire fans, please enjoy this text only fan translation of the new chapter. The official has already been out for a little over 12 hrs at here so this is just for fun pls make sure to read that one if you haven't ;)

Color page text: Determination set in eyes gazing straight towards the future

Owari no Seraph chapter 131: All Are Forgiven

Yuu: So heaven is up there, I guess that makes this Hell.

Mika: Ah, Yuuchan there's one there!!

Bear: *roaring*

Yuu: Sorry about this, I'm gonna eat you.

Mika: What number was that?

Yuu: Third one. Oh, sweet.

Mika: We've gotta get enough food stockpiled up, since Yuuchan's gas mileage sucks.

Yuu: You're the one eating all the power, we'll preserve this stuff so I'll have it while we're on the move.

Mika: Mmk, I'll start the fire. Yuuchan, you do the gutting and stuff.

Yuu: K.

Yuu: Gonna take this off so no blood gets on it, be a pain in the ass to wash off.

Yuu: Man, I really want curry or something.

Mika: We had curry the last day I was human, didn't you eat my share?

Yuu: WHAT, NO I DIDN'T I SAVED YOU SOME.

Mika: The last curry the kids had, did they enjoy it?

Yuu: They said they wished you were there too.

Mika: No shit? Guess the play's less fun when it's missing its lead.

Mika: Got me thinking how I wanna eat curry together with everyone when we bring them all back to life.

Yuu: You can eat curry???

Mika: Well since the Great Mikaela will doubtless be human again.

Yuu: Someone's looking ahead all of a sudden.

Mika: I mean that's what we decided, I can't help it. Would you rather I stop?

Yuu: Go ahead. Actually no, help me dress this meat.

Mika: Can't, too busy scheming.

Yuu: *screaming*

Mika: So to summarize, what we have to do is gather the sin keys and resurrect Mikaela. And...the people who've been gathering them all ready are Ferid and Guren. Whatever their thought process is.

Yuu: Pretty sure Guren's goal is to resurrect humanity. With no Mikaela.

Mika: Any ideas about Ferid?

Yuu: I don't think anyone has any idea about Ferid. Probably whatever the worst possible thing in the world is.

Mika: Oh, ok but if the past we saw is factual, then you ARE Mikaela.

Yuu: Oh?

Mika: Meaning, for Guren to get what he wants, everyone except you will be resurrected.

Yuu: Uhhh, this got complicated. Really?

Mika: Well isn't it? Mikaela's resurrection will require those sin keys, but so would humanity's.

Yuu: Yeah.

Mika: But the angel Mikaela was actually Yuuchan.

Yuu: Seems that way

Mika: So then, yeah.

Mika: And that turns our whole situation around, doesn't it? I actually don't care if anyone else gets resurrected, so this is great for my goal being to just protect you no matter what. Realized that somewhere along the way.

Yuu: Oh, so that's where the sudden burst of motivation came from. Like how you used to be.

Mika: Ta-da!!! All the Fool Yuuchan must do to succeed is come along with the Great Mikaela!

Mika: I will definitely save you!

Yuu: You sure are excited about that.

Mika: I can't have you dying on me now, Yuuchan. Not after we've come all this way.

Yuu: I mean sure.

Mika: Huh, I thought for sure you were gonna say something like 'well then I'll become the sacrifice and it'll turn out fine.' Yuu: Well it's not like we really know which is which. Seems like I was a lot smarter in the past.

Mika: True, true. None of that carried over, for you anyways.

Yuu: You mean to say that I'm even smarter now, right?

Mika: Why yes of course.

Yuu: We still can't choose a course of action 'til we know, though. If we don't resurrect the angel Mikaela, one of us could die and then we're in trouble.

Mika: Ok but is the angel Mikaela a separate person? And to resurrect THEM we need those 7 keys? We'd be seriously stuck if resurrecting them caused you to disappear.

Yuu: I dunno actually I'd be fine with that

Mika: I wouldn't.

Yuu: Well, I wouldn't be fine if it was you either.

Mika: Yeah.

Yuu: So, so far we have that the First's goal is to resurrect the angel Mikaela and then use their life to resurrect all the angels, right?

Mika: Most likely yeah

Yuu: And Guren's goal is to use those keys to resurrect all of humanity?

Mika: Right

Yuu: So then my....or the angel Mikaela's goal was to..?

Mika: They kept saying they wanted to save the First.

Yuu: Yeah

Mika: And there's no way to do that without first resurrecting all of the angels, right?

Yuu: Ok

Mika: But we have to remember that every time there's a resurrection, divine punishment is dispensed. Who's going to be the next sacrifice?

Yuu: Alright, then my goal will be to do this without bringing punishment down on anyone.

Mika: I hope I'm right in presuming that no one receiving heavenly punishment will include you?

Mika: For you to perform the resurrection as the angel Mikaela and accept punishment in place of the First, in order to resurrect the angels and the humans, and that be it....you understand why we can't do that, right?

Yuu: Aren't you supposed to be thinking of a way I don't have to?

Mika: Yeah, I am. But if the decision comes down like that anyways, promise me you won't sacrifice yourself.

Yuu: ...

Mika: I'm not lifting another finger to help until you promise me that you won't give up on yourself, even til the very end.

Yuu: If you wanna be like that, if we find out along the way that the angel Mikaela really was you, will you promise the same thing? That you won't sacrifice yourself?

Mika: Yeah, alright.

Mika: Y'know this whole story, as long as we keep just sacrificing ourselves over and over, it won't end. The despair and obsession will just repeat themselves.

Mika: But...I've already died once. If we're fixing everything on this meaningless life anyways

Mika: This lifetime, we're going to move forward sacrificing no one and winning it all. That's the promise I want to make, Yuuchan.

Yuu: It's really like....you're seriously starting to remind me of the way you used to be again.

Mika: Whatever, just promise me Yuuchan. That you won't give up on yourself.

Yuu: So do you have a plan, then? Our enemies are real smart. Guren, Mahiru, the First, Saitou and Ferid.

Mika: No way, we've got someone way smarter on our side.

Yuu: Oh wow you mean me?

Mika: But actually, we're the ones in first place right now. Since everyone else still thinks the angel Mikaela is me. If we can keep them from finding out about that...I've got a plan that'll knock every one of them off their feet, I've thought of the meanest scheme in the entire world.

Yuu: Whoaa!!! I expect nothing less from the most infamously mean-...

Mika: DON'T YOU EVEN

Yuu: Then let's get to it!!

Mika: Right!

Yuu: ...so what are we getting to again?

Official Lodging of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army

Saitou: Well hey there, what an unusual caller. What have you come for?

They've finally made a move towards accomplishing their goal.....!!

[mdhwrites]

I Will Never Be a Hoyocreator Because I Am a Writer

This somewhat a lamentation more than it is even criticism of Hoyo or even myself. It's not even saying that I couldn't potentially care enough about any of their games to do more stories for them. I'd love for people to submit story ideas for Fuqing, Bronseele, Zhuyabi, Guishang, etc. because I have lots and lots of pairings I like and there are just fun elements of their worlds that I could play with if I got pulled just a little harder.

No, it's more that Hoyo has no interest in its writing community from what I can tell. As an example, the GIANT creator competition that had animations, art, comics, etc... Didn't include writing. They did a 3D modeling focused one for Penacony. Still no writing. Hoyofair has no writing component. As far as I know, writers are simply not a part of the official Hoyocreator tag, to the point where one artist I've followed has reminded his fans that they need to show more respect to the fanfic writers of the community.

Unfortunately, it's not surprising. At all. On a lot of levels. It's pretty much all business but different angles. The first is bang for your buck. Currently, very few, if any, social media platforms really incentivize long form writing. They're almost all much more geared towards more visual, immediate forms of creation, to the point that the one that spooked all the others was the one who has like a cap of two minutes? What the fuck is a writer supposed to do with that besides like two paragraphs narrated? For a company like Hoyo who works with these creators, artists, video creators and even singers are simply a better investment for getting people into your games.

Second is just how good is writing as a marketing tool? How many of you read fanfiction of things you don't already know about? Even with official books, how many people's first introduction to Star Wars were its books? Or Halo or Magic, etc.? Written works within a universe are commonly pretty fucking insular and more for those dedicated to the work. You're not going to really use it effectively as an add, unlike this. (And yes, this is a real ad that plays on Youtube for Zenless. That's not me throwing shade, just that I first found it because of it being an ad.)

And if you're going "It doesn't matter if it's a good story," well... Are you calling all of my works bad stories? Because getting someone into a work for an established property they aren't already into is just like trying to get them into an original story and despite a LOT of people loving my fanfiction, it has never translated to mass migration to my original works. That's because without that immediate connection and incentive of it being a world and characters you already know and love, the barrier to say yes is DRASTICALLY higher.

The third big reason is legal. While fancomics can run into this a bit too, most companies just straight up aren't supposed to acknowledge the existence of fanfiction. This is because if one of your writers acknowledges having read something that then happens to line up similarly to something that you actually have happen in your story, you open yourself up to being sued for having stolen the person's idea. It's why game companies don't want you to send them your ideas on a fighting game character or a new Pokemon because suddenly, they can't make something even similar to that without opening themselves up to liability. Writing is the one where this can most easily happen on accident but also have some of the strongest case for those accidents. As such, most companies just stay far away from it.

But... That doesn't really make it sting any less, does it? To know that within your community, you will always be seen as lesser by the very creators of the work you enjoy. That you will never be given the same respect as the creatives who have mediums that are simply better for those companies to work with. I am not trying to even make a war or the like. I LOVE the artist communities for these games. The bops the songwriters put out are fanfuckingtastic. I ADORE that there are some content creators who are helped to make this more of a proper job for themselves because Hoyo is willing to work with their fans like this. I would like it if more companies did stuff like this and they are doing more stuff like this, like how Wizards of the Coast commissioned a good few Youtube singers to make an album of music for them.

I just wish us writers could expect to be able to join in that outside of the exceptionally rare franchise that does bother with books. Paper books though that are probably gotten through the same literary agents that anyone looking for a book to be made goes through. It's not through their communities. If you know of stories otherwise, I'd love to hear it, but until then, see you next tale.

======+++++======

I think the one franchise that I might expect to be surprised about this with would be MtG. I know they'll release books from time to time and it's not impossible those might come from their community. Then again, if it did, The War of the Spark book wouldn't have had so much no homo in it since the writer would have been able to go "People are going to get pissed about this."

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[bearsanpancakes]

Mitsuki Izumi White Special Day! Rabbit Chat - Part 3: Thoughts on the campaign

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

ㅤ

Tsumugi: Mitsuki-san, thank you for your hard work! Today is the official preparation for the entire campaign, thank you for helping out! Are you free right now?

Tsumugi: I’d like to talk to you about the songs you’ll be performing during the joint performance with Re:Vale and TRIGGER on White Day…! Sorry to disturb you while you’re exhausted!

Mitsuki: It’s alright! I’m already back at the dorms and resting in my room!

Mitsuki: Has our set list been decided?

Tsumugi: Yes! I talked about it a little the other day, but it has been decided that IDOLiSH7 will be performing “PARTY TIME TOGETHER”! MEZZO” is also planning to perform during the joint performance, so they will be performing “Koi no Kakera”.

Tsumugi: Whereas TRIGGER will be performing “Last Dimension”, and Re:Vale will perform “SILVER SKY”!

Mitsuki: Oh, I see!

Mitsuki: There are some lively songs within that set list, so it should be easy to hype the audience up, I’m looking forward to it!

Mitsuki: But the number of songs is still less than in past performances, we have to think of a way to compensate for that. I hope that the audience still enjoys the live despite the lesser amount of songs…

Tsumugi: Let’s see… even if the MC segment is accounted for, the entire performance’s run time is still significantly shorter.

Mitsuki: I want to do something to make sure that we can convey the message “I want to give back to all the fans since it’s White Day!”... I’ll try to think of something!

Tsumugi: Thank you! I’ll think about it too, and I’ll tell you if I have any ideas!

Mitsuki: It would be a great help!

Tsumugi: Also, it has been decided that artificial snow will be used for the special effects during the performance!

Mitsuki: Oh, snow! Speaking of snow, it reminds me that Nagi would look like an elegant painting whenever there’s snow around him.

Tsumugi: Nagi-san pairs well with snow…!

Mitsuki: He is of Scandinavian descent, after all. What about you, Manager? Who comes to your mind when snow is mentioned?

Tsumugi: Let’s see… other than Nagi-san…

ㅤ

Choices:

Option 1 - I guess it would be Tamaki-san?

Mitsuki: I think he’d be the happiest if we were playing with snow. I can imagine Tamaki and Nagi’s excitement, even if the snow’s artificial lol

ㅤ

Option 2 - I guess it would be Kujo-san?

Mitsuki: He is a modern-day angel after all. To be honest, I think feathers that are meant for dancing fit him better, but thinking about his cold attitude, I think that snow may also fit him well lol

ㅤ

Option 3 - I guess it would be Yuki-san?

Mitsuki: Like a Mille-feuille [1]…? No way! (lol)

Mitsuki: But I can instantly imagine Yuki-san standing by the beach during the winter season, so I think it kind of suits him. Has he ever acted in a movie with a scene like that?

ㅤ

Mitsuki: I look forward to witnessing the artificial snow!

Mitsuki: Doesn’t matter if it’s snow or confetti, they glitter once the stage light lands on them. It’s super pretty!

Tsumugi: I truly understand! I believe that it must look lovely from the audience’s seats too!

Mitsuki: Tamaki really likes those things! Things that flutter gently in the air, I mean.

Tsumugi: He has mentioned that before! Do you have a favorite stage effect then, Mitsuki-san?

Mitsuki: I like ones with an idol feel to them! So I guess I’d say lasers? The smoke effect and bubbles are pretty interesting, but we have to be careful if Riku’s also around.

Tsumugi:

Mitsuki: Alright! I’m starting to get pumped up for the live performance!

Mitsuki: Let’s do our best together, Manager!

Mitsuki:

Tsumugi: Okay! Let’s do our best!

Tsumugi:

Tsumugi: Thank you for chatting with me late into the night! Please rest well!

ㅤ

Part 3 end

ㅤ

[1] - This is a pun with a long explanation. Please feel free to skip this if you don’t really care about the context lol

The original text reads “千层雪糕”, which translates to “Thousand layered ice cream”; otherwise known as Mille-feuille.

ㅤ

Mille-feuille is a layered pastry, and its name means “(a) thousand sheets”.

Yuki’s name (千) means both snow and a thousand.

ㅤ

With that knowledge in mind:

The first word, “千”, means a thousand, which is also Yuki’s name. 

The third word, “雪”, means snow, which is what Mitsu and Tsumugi were discussing, and is also Yuki’s name.

ㅤ

So in conclusion: The pun plays on the double meaning of Yuki’s name (“a thousand” and “snow”) and ties it in with Mille-feuille, known as a “thousand (Yuki) layered ice (Yuki & snow) cream”.

[seeyounexttime]

This is Part 2. Please read Part 1 first.

Whenever you scroll down, a red square that says MENU appears in the lower right-hand corner

Tap that

You get a menu like this:

新着情報 "What's New"

Sends you to the same place that the ARCHIVE button from the home page did.

チケット・劇場情報 "Ticket - Theater Information"

This is only in Japan: those who go to the movie premiere will also receive the special volume 23.5 "Sword of the Wizard King" written by Johnny Onda (who wrote previous Black Clover light novels), with the original draft by Tabata.

"Wait there's light novels?" you may find yourself asking. The answer is yes. Yes, there is. There's 3 of the them. Part of the first light novel was adapted into the two "The man named Fanzell" episodes from the anime. Fanzell, Domina, and Mariella were all introduced in that first light novel, and later they appeared in the manga in the Witchs' Forest arc.

There is no official translation, but there's a fan translation available here:

https://blackcloverdatabase.tumblr.com/novels

Apparently this new novel will also contain interviews with the voice actors.

イントロダクション・ストーリー "Introduction - Story"

Takes you back to the home page. I already covered this in the previous post.

キャラクター・キャスト "Character - Cast"

Click on that one. Here's a direct link while I'm at it:

https://bclover-movie.jp/character/

It just gives a little description of the characters. Nothing we don't already know.

They have their designs from the 6-month timeskip (Yuno is listed as vice-captain and Julius is a child too), but the movie will take place before the Dark Triad's attack.

Then there's some info about their voice actors like awards and some roles, but you can find more thorough info about them on Wikipedia or myanimelist, etc

So let's go the actual interesting part: the new characters 👀

Conrad Leto

The 27th Wizard King. Attribute: ???

Julius's Wizard King predecessor. He was respected and loved by the citizens of the Clover Kingdom, but suddenly rose in revolt against the Clover Kingdom.

Edward Avalaché

The 20th Wizard King. Attribute: ???

A person who was once Wizard King. He was also a Father in the church; a presence who was idolized and depended on by the people. He thought he needed to change the situation of weak people.

The description of his voice actor, Hōchū Ohtsuka, actually adds a bit of information about Edward:

He plays the resurrected 20th Wizard King Edward, an original movie character. Pay attention to how he plays Edward's strict personality.

Princia Funnybunny

The 11th Wizard King. Attribute: ???

A person who was once Wizard King. A larger than life mighty warrior who took pride in having one of the best combat abilities among successive Wizard Kings. She was feared by people because of that strength.

The description of her voice actor, Miyuki Sawashiro, also includes a bit more about Princia:

She plays the resurrected 11th Wizard King Princia, an original movie character. Pay attention to how she plays Princia, who has a cold and cruel personality, but relaxes her guard around companions she can trust.

Jester Garandros

The 16th Wizard King. Attribute: ???

A person who was once Wizard King. He is sometimes seen speaking and behaving like he looks down on others, and has a flippant attitude like a clown, but he possesses a calculating strategist side.

From the description of Jester's voice actor, Fumiya Takahashi:

He plays the resurrected 16th Wizard King Jester, an original movie character. Pay attention to how he plays the calculating Jester.

Millie Maxwell

Magic Tool Research Lab: Branch 0

As the coordinator of the "Magic Tool Research Lab: Branch 0", she conducts research with Sally. She doesn't like unfounded ways of thinking that leave it up to chance such as "doing something without a plan", and people who take action with nothing but sensibility are not her cup of tea.

After that is the Black Bulls. Again it's just a short description that we already know. But there was this: they wrote Zora as Zola, and Henry Legolant as Henry Legorant.

Then it's the captains, some magic knights, and others. Again, stuff we already know.

Lumiere

Clover Kingdom's prince 500 years ago. He protected the kingdom from a demon, and later became known as the "Wizard King." He left behind numerous magic tools for future generations.

Considering that one of the original characters is a researcher for the Magic Tool Research Lab, I wonder if one of Lumiere's magic tools will become relevant in the movie?

Sally

A magic scientist who loves research and experiments. She used to belong to the terrorist organization "Eye of the Midnight Sun", but is now conducting research on magic tools at the "Magic Tool Research Lab: Branch 0"

スタッフ・音楽 "Staff - Music"

Talks a little bit about the previous work of Tabata, the director, character designer, (background) music, and studio – which as previously noted, is the same folks behind the anime.

TREASURE, the same boyband that provided the anime's 13th ending song "Beautiful", will again contribute a song to Black Clover (I assume the ending song)

世界観 "World"

This page gives a quick rundown of the Black Clover world, such as: the Clover Kingdom, the Wizard King, the Magic Knights, the Black Bulls, and grimoires.

ムービー "Movie"

Videos related to the movie's advertisment.

TVシリーズ "TV Series"

That takes you to the website about the anime series.

⁠☆ﾟ⁠.⁠*⁠･⁠｡ﾟ

And that's just about it for the website besides some bits of information from the newsflashes.

Remember the Date: March 31st

[spankpjm]

FYI

When I checked Most of those accounts who were spreading hate under IU's account were Blinks or trolls who have 0 followers and 0 posts. They spammed the comment section with hate pretending to be army. Yes there were some Armys too who were hating but most of that drama was caused by these antis/trolls.

There's toxicity in almost every Fandoms in this world. The size of Fandom increases, more the percentage of vile people increase. Army, as you know, is one of biggest musical Fandom now so obviously it will have evil people especially in its socials. I think majority of it can be avoided by curating the timeline well.

Just some tips, you may already knows but still, if you feel you are not mentally strong enough to go through all these hatred just follow main accts who post regularly abt main stuffs, other focused topics and genuine translators. Mostly keep updated only from BTB, Lives, official BTS accounts which won't have any negativity in it, if u don't want negativity in your personal acct you can always turn off the anons.

Please don't hate boys or stay away from them just because there are many toxic fans here. There's much more genuine army here who think like you and in it for real enjoyment of BTS contents.

💜

There will always be a bad group in every fandom, i feel like it definitely gets worse the more popular they become, that’s another reason I’m so grateful for this break, as much as i miss them I’m hoping this will kinds cleanse the fandom a little bit, i mean most of the toxic fans are just young and a little to overly excited and that’s totally fine, hopefully change happens once they mature.

I wasn’t really posting on here but i didn’t have anything to do with the boys and I’ve still kept up with everything, i stopped just scrolling and reading everything on twitter and on here. It’s definitely helped!

[shijiujun]

Just A Few More Notes on MXTX EN Official Translations

SO...

1. Yes, MXTX IS getting money from this set of publications! However, as reminded from a friend in the industry, Seven Seas’ FAQ says rights holders and not MXTX herself, and it’s likely the contract was made with JJWXC so... we can only trust their word that money DOES go back to MXTX. Not casting any doubt, it’s just what it is based on what we can see on the FAQ page

2. ALL translators across all three books are fan translators that have been hired to do the job properly. This does include Suika and Pengie for TGCF and others for MDZS and SVSSS - So for all of you who shitted on fan translators, fan translators are making it happen for yall right now

3. ALL of them will be uncensored

4. Yes, there’ll be hard and soft copies! I KNOW that the EN copies are definitely way more expensive than those who can read Chinese and buy Chinese original versions are used to but there’ll be soft copies which should be cheaper - And hey if you want freebies and all that stuff, you can still buy the cheaper Chinese copies hahahaha

5. Any fan translations of these three books are NOW illegal basically, for real, since there are official ones coming up - I do feel sorry for proper actual respectful fan translators who were taking on MDZS and SVSSS who were doing re-translations and now have to stop etc.

6. SevenSeas will decide whether or not to do further translations of other popular danmeis based on this pre-order so do support if you can

7. Suika found SevenSeas to publish at least TGCF from what I can see from her tweets, so she made it work. With plenty of help of course, but she really, really made it work, even while people were hating on her during the entire translations and buying drama. Now you really can support so no more excuses!

8. What I said about there being no impetus for EN translations: This wouldn’t have been possible if Suika and other translators didn’t push hard for this, and if SevenSeas wasn’t willing to listen to the fan translators, and also give MXTX a proper cut of the profits. What I’m saying is that EN-speaking fandom now, in an economic sense, SHOULD be profitable for authors to want to have their books licensed in EN, and have proper and great translators we’ve seen doing proper work. I’m happy to be wrong definitely, if more EN official translations pop up from SevenSeas, but like I said, this was a concerted effort based on mutual respect on all parties, and we don’t get that very often, so now’s the time to support.

9. And am I ever so glad to say that once again MTL etc. really cannot compare to actual, proper translations, and I’m so happy for Suika and the other translators that they’re now ACTUAL translators and wannabe “I learnt Chinese for 6 months or 1 year and now will translate this terribly difficult novel because I am Smart” and everyone who’s given them trouble can now really shut up, because Suika really made it happen (along with many others yes!). She be all action and talk, I love that

10. Will there still be problems? YES, I think there will be. Despite everything going on official right now, we can all probably agree that troublemakers in the EN-speaking or international fandoms still exist. There’ll always be issues. Especially with new people joining in on the fun now that these super viral and hot titles are available in English, yes we can expect a lot more stupid questions and stupid people coming up. I don’t deny that overall it’s a huge thing, but as always, fandom is fandom, and with new entrants coming in? We definitely have a hell of a ride on our hands

11. Should you take the EN translations as honest gospel and it being THE one translation? I mean not in the sense of publishing or creating fan translations but if any people who speak CN and EN have different takes on translations in terms of expression I’d say those are equally valid and correct. I expect people might go “oh but the official translation version” blah blah but... language is nuanced. Although these translators for the books are the best there are out there, language can still be interpreted or expressed differently in translations! So yep, don’t go accusing smaller translators or content creators for “wrong translations” especially when they speak and lived Chinese all their lives thanks

12. The purest form of the content is still the Chinese version - I’m not being a wet blanket here, but the most, most original form of it is definitely the Chinese version, and things ARE still lost in translation regardless, so personally I of course still prefer the CN versions for all

13. Will novels like 2ha and SPL get official translations? I’d say it might be a bit hard for 2ha because there’re already so many haters in the EN-only speaking fandom for all the “immoral” stuff so yeah. SPL maybe? I honestly think Priest is not that interested in having EN translations for her books tbh unless the money is really boomz, so that one is up there for anyone’s guess as well. 

14. In the meantime, Via Lactea does have licensed books for smaller danmei prints so do support them as well!!!

[todomitoukei]

Japanese vs. English Dabi - A 292 Comparison

As other people have already pointed it, the official translation is sometimes a little biased to the point of adding things into the text that aren’t in the original Japanese version or changing phrases to the point where the villains come off colder than they actually are.

The current chapters are highly important to Dabi’s and Shouto’s characters and so the official translation, unfortunately, can lead to people getting the wrong image of Dabi. This is not to say that Dabi is actually a super friendly guy - however, I don’t think you can get a full picture of all the layers to his character without taking the original text in mind.

Since there are a few panels I’m going to talk about from this chapter - comparing the Japanese version with the official translation and also dissecting and explaining the original Japanese phrases - I’m going to put the rest of this post under the cut because it’s a bit lengthy otherwise.

Let’s start with these panels. Though these aren’t mistranslated per se, just like with the “dance with your son in hell” line from the previous chapter, the furigana next to the kanji have a different meaning here. As discussed before, whenever this is the case, the furigana are what the character says, and the kanji represent what the character actually means.

The line in the second panel is: 「轟家の過去が消えるわけじゃねえだろ。」

轟家 「とどろきいえ ; todoroki ie 」-> the Todoroki household

の　「 no 」-> particle to indicate possession, works like an apostrophe

過去 「かこ  ; kako  」 ->  the past; a past (i.e. a personal history one would prefer remained secret); one’s past

が 「 ga  」 -> particle to mark the subject of the sentence

消える 「きえる  ; kieru  」 -> to vanish; to disappear

わけじゃねえ 「 wakejanee  」 -> It doesn’t mean that

だろ 「 daro  」 ->  right ? (used to ask the person you’re talking to for confirmation)

The two words that have a different furigana reading than they should have, are Todoroki household and past. According to the furigana, Dabi says:

「 うち 」-> house; one’s own home

「 じじつ 」-> truth; reality

So going by the kanji reading you get:

“This doesn’t mean that the past of the Todoroki household just disappears, right?”

Whereas what he actually says is:

“This doesn’t mean the truth of our home just disappears, right?”

In comparison to the “dance with your son in hell” line, these two versions don’t differ as much from another. Caleb actually addresses this in his twitter threat and sort of mixed the two versions into one: “This doesn’t change the hard truths about my family’s past!”

Personally, considering he is directly talking to Shouto here, I find the choice of translating the Todoroki household/home part into “my family” a bit weird. Since he seeks Shouto’s confirmation here, it would make more sense to translate it as “our family” in my opinion. The “my” makes it feel a lot more self-centered, even though there is no indication for him to only be referring to himself here.

Switching the word to vanish with “change” also slightly changes the meaning here. Though both are accurate, I feel like their past disappearing holds more weight. The line is, after all, referring to the fact that Best Jeanist has appeared, despite Dabi earlier announcing that the hero had been killed. So even though Dabi was wrong about that part, it doesn’t make his other facts go away. It’s not just about changing his words, but making it like they were never spoken in the first place. It’s a small difference, but a difference nonetheless.

Finally, the “hard truths” part instead of reality/past. It’s interesting to think about why Dabi says “truth” when he means “past”. But I think one way to look at it is that to Dabi, he has accepted the past. He has lived with it and carried it with him in silence for so long, but was always aware of it. Despite him not having told anyone else about it, he didn’t deny that past to himself. He shows his scars and he fights back. That is who Dabi is as the person that rose from Touya’s ashes. Meanwhile, he says “truth” while talking to Shouto. While we, the readers, and those around Shouto know of his hatred towards Endeavor, Dabi doesn’t know about this. To him, Shouto really is just Endeavor’s little doll. And so in Dabi’s eyes, Shouto has yet to see the truth. To acknowledge their past and the pain they all went through. And though Dabi might not be completely right about Shouto, he isn’t entirely wrong, either. Because even when Shouto hates Endeavor, even when he says he is just going to use him for his own gain, at the end of the day, regardless of his reasons, his actions are still what Endeavor wants him to do - to train hard and want to become the Number One Hero.

I included one the alternative meanings “a personal past one might prefer remained secret” because it also fits well with that interpretation. That the true meaning behind him saying “truth” is not just the mere past, but the part of the past they don’t want to share. Whether that’s because it’s an ugly one that could haunt them for the rest of their lives, or because it’s just difficult to talk about. Either way, it’s more than just memories from when their family was still young. In that, I think “hard truth” is actually a fitting translation, even when it doesn’t have the exact same nuance as the Japanese version.

While Shouto and Dabi are in many ways similar to another, they have slightly different goals: While Dabi wants to kill Endeavor, Shouto wants to save his mom. To both of them that is liberty, just with a different approach.

And the ending of the sentence, where he seeks confirmation from Shouto, sort of indicates just that. He wants Shouto to admit it. Pushing him into a corner and asking a question that only has one right answer. This is also similar to a few chapters ago when Toga confronted Uraraka with the question “Was Jin not a person?” It’s asking something with an obvious answer, yet the people being asked seem to not yet be able to give the right answer, even when they might already know it.

Next of, Shouto confronts Dabi about the villain he sent to their house, who could have killed Natsuo. As you can see in the panel above, the English translation has Dabi say: “Almost killed? What a shame. That would’ve really hurt Endeavor.”

Meanwhile, the Japanese version says: 「それならそれで。エンデヴァーが苦しむ。」

「それならそれで ; sorenara sorede 」 -> even so (expression frustration); still

「 エンデヴァー ; Endebā 」 -> Endeavor

「 が ; ga 」 -> particle to mark the subject of the sentence

「 苦しむ ; kurushimu  」 -> to suffer

As you can see, “Almost killed? What a shame” is kind of very far off from the actual meaning. While the official translation makes it almost sound like Dabi is disappointed and wants Natsuo to be killed, the fan translation has him say: “Then that would mean Endeavor would suffer.” This is a lot closer to the Japanese version and focuses on the more important part: the goal is for Endeavor to suffer. Dabi’s intention isn’t to get anyone else in the family hurt/killed in the process, however, he does have this tunnel vision where everything is about Endeavor and doing whatever to hurt him.

“What a shame” sounds like he is upset Natsuo didn’t actually die. While, as stated above, the first part can show frustration, that frustration more likely refers to the disappointment that Endeavor doesn’t suffer as much as he could.

While both versions translate the second part as Endeavor “would” suffer/be hurt by this, the Japanese uses the present tense for suffering. In a way, Dabi is saying “Well, though he could’ve been more hurt, he suffers.” Maybe he hasn’t been as damaged as could be, but it doesn’t matter, because the fact remains that he does suffer from this, present tense. So Dabi doesn’t recognize this as a loss or “a shame” that Natsuo didn’t die. Instead, he recognizes that Endeavor suffers, even when he isn’t met with the worst-case scenario.

In response to the last panel, Shouto asks whether Dabi is insane (please don’t ask people that) and Dabi’s response in the original translation is “Sure am, Shouto. See, your brother’s not so big on “feelings” anymore.”

A couple of thoughts on this. First, this is a downgrade in comparison to the fan translation of “You got it, Shouto! Your big brother has completely lost any feeling for anything!”

Something the phrasing coupled with Dabi’s wide eyes and big smile make me laugh and this panel now lives rent free in my head. 

Anyway, the Japanese line goes: 「そうだよ焦凍兄ちゃん何も感じなくなっちまった。」

「そうだよ ; soudayo 」 -> that is right

「 焦凍  ; Shouto 」 -> Shouto

「 兄ちゃん ; Nii-Chan 」 -> big bro (in a very endearing way, but can also be used to be demeaning)

「 何も  ; nanimo 」 -> nothing

「 感じ ; kanji 」 -> feeling

「 なく ; naku 」 -> adverbial form of nai; attaches to a verb to mean “without”

「 なっちまった ; nacchimatta 」 -> to have become (unintentionally; regretfully)

The fan translation, in my opinion, is far more accurate, but there is still something missing. 

First of all, I don’t know why the official translation put feelings in quotes as if Dabi didn’t actually say it? mean it? It just feels like an odd choice that I can’t find a good enough justification for.

Second of all, “not so big on ‘feelings’ anymore” and “has completely lost any feeling for anything” is a big difference, and would make sense if the fan translation was inaccurate. But it isn’t. The official translation makes it sound like Dabi more or less chose not to feel anymore or pay attention to his feelings. He could, but he doesn’t want to. You could argue that both sentences still carry the same meaning: Dabi doesn’t feel anymore. "To be big on something” usually refers to having a strong interest in something and prioritizing said interest, which implies that one chooses to prioritize it. While I’m not arguing that some people do choose to ignore their feelings instead of confronting them, in this case, it’s actually the opposite of what he says.

Looking at the actual Japanese sentence, it begins with Dabi confirming Shouto’s words. Yes, I am crazy. There is no denying, nor shame in this. There is almost a bit of pride in that - so little bro actually recognizes that I have gone crazy from this.

Nii-Chan is an interesting choice of words here. The Japanese language is very much based on hierarchy. There are different levels of formality (shown through words, expressions, and verb forms) depending on whom you are speaking to. To summarize: When you are talking to someone who is of higher status (based on job position, age, experience). This also applies to siblings. Since those of higher status can be more direct/less formal with those of lower status, older siblings can address their younger siblings by their given name alone. 

Meanwhile, the younger siblings would use some kind of honorific/suffix. In this case, the “Nii” means older brother. “San” is the standard suffix you would use to address your older siblings (and other people in general). “Chan” is a suffix that you usually use for kids/girls, - where it has a cute, endearing connotation - wherefore it becomes kind of rude when used for older people (as in people who aren’t children anymore). But it can also show endearment - a close bond between the siblings.

So why does Dabi call himself “Nii-Chan”? While you can interpret this as a sarcastic remark to mock their non-existent relationship, I think here Dabi uses it here to humanize himself to Shouto. Kind of like an “I know you see me as a villain right now, but I also am your bro, remember?” He isn’t just this “evil criminal” - rather cute lil Touya is still inside of him. Dabi isn’t just Dabi. He still is Touya, too. So if you fight Dabi and if you call Dabi insane, you also do those things to Touya. Dabi might be the stage of “having completely lost it” but that doesn’t just suddenly happen. It’s a process. While we can say Dabi became Touya on the day Touya “died” yet it’s important to recognize that there was a gradual transition where both Touya and Dabi existed.

Now that we have that part aside, let’s focus on the actual point of that phrase. The part about his feelings.

何も感じなくなっちまった。 Nanimo kanjinaku nacchimatta.

“Nanimo” means nothing and comes with negative verbs that it refers to.

As mentioned before, “kanji” means feeling and is paired with the adverbial form of “nai” - “naku” which negates “kanji” to turn it into not feeling. Pair that with “nanimo” and you get a meaning of “feeling nothing”

Now for the actually interesting part of this phrase (apologies that it took so long) - “nacchimatta”. This word consists of two seperate words: “naru” and “chimatta”. “Naru” means to become and is here merged with “chimatta” which is the colloquial past tense version of “teshimau”. The verb “shimau” expresses that an action (the verb it attaches to) has happened either unintentionally or has yielded regrettable results. So in this case, it is unintentional/regrettable that he has become something.

Putting this together, Dabi says that he has turned into someone who doesn’t feel anything anymore and this was not his intention, nor is it a good thing. To be fair, “shimau” can also mean something happens completely, however this meaning is rarer and while we can say that this is the meaning here, it’s more likely and more interesting to consider the more common meaning.

With that in mind, I want to quickly address the panel next to it, where Shouto asks him whether he has gone insane

In Japanese Shouto says:「イカれてんのかてめェ！」

「イカれて ; ikarete  」 -> (*ika is written in katakana here to emphasize the word since you can’t use italics in Japanese) to be beaten; to be crazy

「 ん  ; n 」 -> ender is used when explaining something; often with emotion*

「 の ; no 」 -> explanatory particle; used at the end of a sentence like a question marker, but you want the listener to answer and give you the reasons why

「 か ; ka 」 -> ender indicating doubt or uncertainty

「 てめェ！; temee! 」 -> you (derogatory) *meme not intended

The reason why these nuances are important to take into account is that when Dabi, in his reply confirms that “Yes, you’re right, unfortunately, I have become unable to feel anything” he is not just confirming the statement, but emphasizing just how tragic this all is.

*[edit because someone pointed this out to me: the ん here is actually more likely to be the casual form of いる (iru) that attaches to the て (te) form of a verb to turn it into the current/ongoing state (= In this case "are you being crazy).]

The official translation simply made Shouto say: “Are you freaking insane?!” which isn’t exactly wrong but misses the nuance of the “nnoka” in the middle of the sentence. While the official translation sounds rather cold and dismissive, the original shows that Shouto cares. There is emotion, and more importantly: there is a desire to hear his reasons. “Why do you think it was okay to put Natsuo in danger?” By the way, the “n” ender that shows emotion when explaining something is also used by Shouto earlier when he says “Remember him? The brother you cried to every day?!” - It’s no surprise that he is emotional right now, still, it’s important to note that he isn’t just showing his emotions through his tone or his expression, but also through his words in order to make it as clear as possible to Dabi how much Dabi’s actions affect the rest of them and hopefully be able to get through to it.

It’s an emotional and tragic conversation that takes place between them, yet the official translation turned it into a much colder, less-caring one.

I know this was a lengthy post with a lot of information, so congrats and thank you if you’ve made it this far. The reason why I decided to make this post was that initially, the “Nii-Chan can’t feel anything anymore” part stuck with me so much and even more so when I dissected it.

Again, other people have pointed out that the official translation is very biased at times, which is not just sad for those of us who care about the villains, but it’s also just not professional. A lot of the panels I talked about in this post aren’t inherently incorrect, they are simply missing nuances that the English language doesn’t provide. Still, I wished that a professional translator would figure out a way to at least slightly incorporate these anyhow (which btw is literally part of the job). Aside from those, it’s just frustrating when the emotions get almost entirely removed from phrases. I get it - Dabi is apathetic, as he says himself. And yet, Dabi is also constantly shown to put extreme care into which words he chooses; this chapter being no exception. So why does such an important conversation between two brothers get changed in ways that make people who don’t bother checking other translations/the Japanese version unable to get the right image of them?

I understand that it’s important to support the official translation and I do. But it’s also very much important to read other versions, too. While the fan translation might have errors and mistranslations in it here and there, it tends to be a bit more literal and thus includes the nuances more than the official translation does. So please don’t just read the official translation and treat it like the only valid one, when it also comes with its flaws and just isn’t a good sole source for when you want to understand the characters.

[organabanana]

What spring does to cherry trees || Supercorp

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Supergirl (TV 2015)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: None

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor

Characters: Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor

Additional Tags: mostly fluff, with some porn for flair, pre-canon, but also, post-canon, tooth-rotting fluff.

Summary: I want to do with you what spring does to cherry trees. What does that even mean? It's taking a simple I love you and putting lead-lined glasses on it to keep its power contained. No offense, Mr. Neruda, but that's just weak. Kara doesn't like poetry. Until she does.

Notes: Written for a very patient anon who prompted me with “Seeing the cherry blossoms in Washington DC” but I got sidetracked by Neruda and my favorite of his poems and it turned into This.  It's poem number fourteen, found in "Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada" (Twenty love poems and a song of despair) by Pablo Neruda, which you can read here (Spanish) or here (English). I mostly translated the lines I needed myself, so I can't guarantee they'll match the official translation (I'm also not sure there is such a thing as an official translation, so there's that). With special thanks to the most patient anon in history for the prompt, to @lavenderrry for praising my vibes, and to @emiltons for the gorgeous graphic.

[ao3 link]

The first time Kara encounters Neruda's poetry she's nineteen and bored. In her defense, she thought taking a poetry class would make her feel sophisticated and cultured, but all she feels is annoyed at the insistence of using language to obscure your message rather than share it.

And yes, yes, she gets it. It all sounds very pretty and evocative. It's just Kara has been hiding her true self in plain sight for the last six years, and she can't understand why anyone would willingly and needlessly do that to themselves. To their feelings. She may never have been in love, but Kara is pretty sure if she ever is -- if her heart ever feels full to the brim with the kind of big feelings her professor keeps making them read in metaphors and symbolism -- she'll want to make them clear as day.

I want to do with you what spring does to cherry trees.

What does that even mean?

It's taking a simple I love you and putting lead-lined glasses on it to keep its power contained.

No offense, Mr. Neruda, but that's just weak.

***

Kara doesn't take any more poetry classes, and she doesn't think of Neruda (or any other poet, for that matter) for years. She has so many other things to think about. She moves to National City and starts working for Ms. Grant. She grows into herself, she thinks. She becomes Supergirl and feels more like herself than she has since her pod left Krypton. She dates, a little bit. Dips her toe in the dating pool, if you will. She meets Lena Luthor.

And that's the second time she runs into Neruda. Right there on a shelf in Lena's living room, on a book that looks well loved and well read, spine full of small cracks and lines from being opened over and over again. Kara has always thought you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their shelves.  

"Pablo Neruda," Kara says, one finger tracing a line down the spine of the book like she's trying to read something in the pattern of the cracks, "I didn't know you liked poetry."

"I don't dislike it." Lena's heels click-clack on the hardwood floor before she sets the bottle of wine and two glasses on the coffee table and sits on the couch. "Have you made up your mind on what we're going to watch?"

Kara can hear the faint electrical hum of the TV being turned on, but she's a bit too distracted by the book to focus on deciding whether tonight is a night for a romantic comedy or an epic drama. She couldn't say exactly why this book feels important. It just does. Maybe it's because Lena keeps so much of herself hidden somewhere not even Kara's X-Ray vision can reach, and finding little clues about her thoughts and feelings feels a lot like she's struck gold.

Yeah. Maybe that's why.

Her fascination with the book only grows when she pulls it out of the shelf only to find the title written in Spanish. "Veinte poemas de amor--"

"And a song of despair," Lena finishes in English. "Atonement? I've heard good things about it."

"No way. I said I could be persuaded to watch a tear jerker, but I did not sign up for actual depression." Kara brings the book along when she walks over to sit down next to Lena. She's so focused on the book, still, that she miscalculates her landing just by an inch or so and her thigh bumps against Lena's as she settles on the couch. But Lena doesn't move away, and Kara figures there's no reason why she should. They're friends, after all. Close friends. Figuratively and now very, very literally close.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish." Kara speaks again, breaking the silence before it solidifies into something potentially awkward.

"I don't. It's a bilingual edition. Can we please pick a movie?"

Kara would love to do exactly what Lena wants. In fact, giving Lena everything she wants has become sort of a constant in this fledgling friendship between them. It just feels nice, you know? Giving her what she wants and making her smile. But this book. It's all so very distracting.

"So. Do you prefer the twenty love poems, or the song of despair?"

Lena rolls her eyes, but she can't quite hide the amused smirk behind the glass when she sips her wine, so Kara knows she's not nearly as annoyed as she's trying to appear.

"What is it with you and Neruda? I didn't know you were a poetry fan."

Kara scoffs. "I'm not." She still remembers the feeling of relief washing over her when she saw her passing grade on that stupid course and realized she'd never have to read another line of poetry in her life. "I don't even like poetry. I'm just curious, that's all."

Lena cocks one eyebrow at her. Studies her, in a way that makes color rise to Kara's cheeks and has her wondering if Lena can see through people, too. 

"Anyway!" Kara shakes her head like she's hoping that'll make the blush fade. "The love poems, or the song of despair?"

"The poems," Lena finally concedes, "and I'm very surprised you don't like poetry. You seem the type."

"What?" Kara is already thumbing through the edge of the book, trying to find the place where it'll open naturally and hopefully show her which of the twenty love poems Lena happens to like the most. "What does that even mean?"

"Well, you have a big heart. Big feelings." Lena looks into Kara's eyes like she's trying to read all those feelings right there in shades of blue, and Kara finds herself looking down at the book just in case. Just in case all those big feelings she can't even name herself are there for Lena to read. "Seems like a recipe for liking poetry."

Kara shakes her head and pushes her glasses up, just in case. Just in case the lead in them can shield more than just her powers. And just as she's about to argue -- just as she's about to tell Lena precisely why she doesn't like poetry -- she opens her book and her gaze lands on a familiar phrase.

"Quiero hacer contigo," she reads out loud from the page on the left, and her fingertip is already finding the next verse on the right when Lena finishes for her.

"What spring does to cherry trees."

If Kara was just Kara Danvers, she'd have missed it all. She'd have just heard her best friend speak a line from a poem that -- much like most poems -- means very little to her. But she's not just Kara Danvers. So Kara hears the way Lena's heart beats just a little bit faster. The way her breath catches just so. The exact fraction of a tone her voice drops when she speaks. The faintest hint of a sigh.

"See? This is why I don't like poetry." Kara chances a look into green eyes, and she's so very grateful Lena has no superhearing to tip her off to the way Kara's heart seems to trip all over itself.  "'I want to do with you what spring does to cherry trees'. What does that mean?"

Kara swears -- she swears -- she catches Lena's pupils dilating just enough to make her think she knows exactly what the poem means. 

"It's not about what it means, Kara. It's about what it makes you feel." Lena lets out a soft chuckle, something light and airy like this is just a silly little conversation with no weight to it at all. Like she can't feel the way the air itself seems to have changed into something new. 

"Is it your favorite line?" Kara pretends she can't hear the way her own voice has changed, too.

Lena shakes her head. "No. My favorite is actually--"

Kara hears the DEO alarm before Lena's fingertip can make contact with the paper, and she almost considers ignoring it. She almost considers letting whatever danger is looming over this whole city have at it because finding out what's Lena's favorite line in her favorite poem seems far more important right now.

But of course, that would be crazy. Crazy! Kara would never.

"I'm so sorry, Lena, I--" Kara stands up, already hearing Alex's voice telling her where she's needed as she pulls her phone out of her pocket and pretends to read a text, "I have to go. I forgot I had this thing with--"

"Go." Lena's smile is just small enough to make Kara's heart twist in an uncomfortable way that's become familiar since she started lying to her friend. "Sounds important. I understand."

Kara nods, just once. "Tomorrow?"

Lena's smile doesn't grow, but it suddenly reaches her eyes, and something settles in Kara's chest. "Of course. Tomorrow."

Five hours later, foe defeated and safely locked away at the DEO, Supergirl touches down on Lena's balcony. There isn't a single light on inside the apartment, and Kara hesitates for a second by the sliding glass door. She shouldn't sneak into Lena's apartment in the middle of the night. That's a little creepy, right? Even if she knows Lena's said over and over again Kara's welcome any time.

It's just.

That book.

Lena's favorite line.

Kara may never be able to sleep again if she doesn't find out what it is.

So with a non-zero amount of shame at her own choice, Kara ends up sliding the door open and slipping into Lena's living space. She listens for Lena's breathing to make sure she's asleep, and once she's satisfied that's the case she makes a beeline for the shelf and the now-familiar book. It doesn't take her long to find the page she'd been reading before, and soon enough she's reading the lines Lena had been pointing to.

How you must have hurt getting used to me, to my savage, solitary soul, to my name that sends everyone running.

The words wrap around Kara's heart like a vice. If she could do it without blowing her cover and putting Lena in danger, she'd go in her room right now just to wake her up and tell her what Kara thinks about her soul. About her name, too, while she's at it. She'd tell her everyone else is free to run if they want, but Kara isn't going anywhere. 

But she can't do any of those things. 

***

The two lines stay with Kara, sort of swirling under the surface of her thoughts. She never actively thinks about them -- about poetry in general, for that matter -- but they're there. 

She remembers them sometimes. When their friendship grows and strengthens and one day Kara realizes Lena may be the person she loves the most in the world (tied with Alex). When the secrets and lies catch up with her and she thinks she may have lost Lena for good. When she finally gets Lena back.

It's been five years since she snuck into Lena's apartment that one night to find out about her favorite line in her favorite poem. Five years since she's actively thought about Neruda and the book and the words inside it. But for some reason, when Kara wakes up a couple hours earlier than she needs to and finds herself unable to sleep, she feels like that's precisely what she needs to read to soothe her brain. Maybe poetry will have the same sedative effect it used to have in college.

Wearing only an old t-shirt, Kara walks out of the bedroom and into the living area, scanning the shelves where she thinks she last saw that book. It's hard to keep track when your book collection has multiplied and turned into more of a home library situation than anything else, but she eventually finds it -- spine still cracked and pages still well-loved and well-read -- and settles down on the couch.

Kara flips from poem to poem, not really paying attention to any of them. A line from the third and then two from the eighteenth and a word or two from the seventh, eyes flicking between the Spanish lines and their English counterparts on the other side of the page. It's soothing, in a strange way. Like white noise, she figures. Nonsensical but calming. Until she lands on the fourteenth. 

"Oh, those cherry trees," Kara half-groans in a whisper. The cherry trees and the spring and the convoluted way to say I love you. And Lena's favorite lines. 

Kara feels it all over again. The pang of pain at the sight of that line.

My name that sends everyone running.

It lands different this time, five years into a friendship that turned out to be so much more and nearly went up in flames at one point. Because of names and lies and... well. Everything else. Lena was right after all, wasn't she? It's not about what the poem means. It's about what it makes you feel. And right now Kara feels a lot more than she'd be able to put in words if she had to.

Maybe Mr. Neruda was on to something after all.

"Hey," Lena's voice is laced with sleep, and Kara smiles as she listens to her footsteps bringing her closer, "what are you doing? It's the middle of the night."

Kara wouldn't call it the middle of the night -- more like a very early morning, really -- but she's not about to argue. "Reading. I couldn't sleep."

"Everything all right?" Lena reaches the back of the couch and makes the most of the rare height advantage over her girlfriend to press a kiss to the top of blond hair. "Why couldn't you sleep?"

Kara opens her arms before Lena can even think about sitting next to her instead, and smiles at the familiar weight of Lena sliding onto her lap. Even as she shrugs off Lena's question, Kara is already burying her face against the soft skin of her girlfriend's neck, breathing her in and letting the familiar scent filling her lungs soothe her like no amount of poetry ever could.

"Kara," Lena's fingers slide into blond hair, blunt fingernails scratching at Kara's scalp and making her hum in delight, "that's not an answer."

"No reason. I'm just not tired anymore I guess." A deep, content sigh. "Baby, you're so good at that."

There's still a slight crease between Lena's eyebrows, but that doesn't stop the smile Kara's praise brings to her face. "You'd tell me if I had to worry?"

Reluctantly, Kara pulls away from the warmth of Lena's neck. Her arms wrap around Lena's waist as she looks into green eyes. "You know I would."

And Kara watches Lena let the words sink in. They've had this conversation before, and Kara knows they'll have it again. They both have sore spots that need special care from time to time. And just to keep Lena's mind from going down any sort of rabbit hole, Kara decides it's time to continue a conversation they left unfinished five years ago.

"It didn't hurt at all, you know. Getting used to you." Kara shows Lena the book she's been holding, and grins when Lena smirks as the reference clicks.

"I thought you didn't like poetry," Lena chides, taking the book and flipping through the pages until she lands -- unsurprisingly, if you ask Kara -- back on poem fourteen.

"I don't. It's like... giving feelings a secret identity."

Lena arches one eyebrow, looking somewhere between amused and curious. "Care to explain?"

"Well, you know," Kara leans in to steal a quick, soft kiss, "say I want to kiss you. I can just say it. That's better than hiding it behind some kind of... flowery metaphor that'll make you wonder if I'm even saying that in the first place. Right?"

There's this look on Lena's face. Kara knows it well. It's like a challenge. Like she's playing chess and she's already thinking six moves ahead and knows you're toast whatever you do from that point on. Kara finds it nothing short of delicious.

"So you're saying," Lena says, and there's victory right there simmering under the surface of her words because she knows -- she knows -- she's won, "you'd rather I say 'this is a lovely sunrise we get to see together'," Lena's gaze drops to the open book in her hand to refresh her memory on the line she's about to quote, but she makes sure she's looking into blue eyes once again when she speaks, "than 'so many times we've watched the morning star burn, kissing our eyes, and over our heads the grey light unwind in turning fans', right?"

Kara swallows, hard. Her cheeks burn with a blush that will simply not be contained, no matter how hard she tries to keep some semblance of dignity. Her mouth feels dry all of a sudden, heart beating just fast enough -- hard enough -- that she's sure even Lena's plain human hearing can pick it up. And the look on her girlfriend's face lets Kara know she knows exactly what's currently happening to her.

"W-- well." Kara blinks, shaking her head like she's trying to physically clear the fog inside. To her credit, she thinks she manages to sound more indignant than turned on. "I mean that's unfair. You made it hot."

Lena lets out a delighted chuckle that hits Kara right in her heart, like a little pinball ball making it ding with the knowledge that Lena Luthor is happy enough to laugh. Really, truly laugh. 

"What?" Lena asks, still grinning, fingertips teasing the soft hairs at the back of Kara's neck like it's nothing -- like she doesn't know what she's doing to her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Ohh no, ma'am," Kara grins, cheeks still burning with the feeling simmering down low in her belly but too charmed by her girlfriend's teasing smile to stop, "you don't get to pretend you didn't do that on purpose."

"Kara," Lena says, in that way, because she knows, she knows, she knows Kara's weaknesses so perfectly well, and Kara wouldn't have it any other way, "I was just quoting Neruda, I didn't do anything."

"You did the voice thing!" 

"What voice th-- Kara, if you can't just admit plain language and poetic language are simply not on the same level I--"

"You purred the words! How is that fair!?"

Kara presses her lips together like she can retroactively keep the words from exiting her mouth. Too late, though. Lena looks positively delighted.

"I purred the words?" Lena echoes, barely able to keep a straight face. Actually, you know what? Scratch that. She's openly pleased with herself. Smug, even.

"I mean. I mean," Kara says, and she touches the bridge of her nose with one fingertip because for a moment she's forgotten there are no glasses to push up at all, "obviously it's not the same. Poetry and prose, they're inherently--"

"Different, right," Lena finishes Kara's thought, "so you see how you'd use one or the other depending on how emotionally charged--"

Kara shakes her head. "But you don't need flowery metaphors to convey emotion! You can just say what you mean and mean what you say."

"But you just said it yourself. It felt different when I just said it's a sunset, and when I quoted--"

"You purred poetry at me, Lena, of course I'm going to feel a certain kind of way!"

And there it is. Kara feels it in her bones. The checkmate Lena had seen coming a mile away. She sees it right there in the smirk on her girlfriend's face. In the way Lena's pupils dilate just so. The way her tongue peeks out to lick her lips as she looks at Kara like she's lunch.

Or, you know. Breakfast, as the case may be.

"You feel a certain kind of way?" Lena shifts on Kara's lap and they've been together for long enough that Kara absolutely knows there's nothing innocent or coincidental in the way Lena's night shirt (Kara's high school gym t-shirt, mind you) rides up to expose Lena's lace-covered ass. "What kind of way is that, Supergirl?"

Kara perks up at the sound of her name. Her other name. Because maybe it wasn't checkmate after all. Maybe it was just check. Because the thing is, it's not just Lena knowing all of Kara's weaknesses. That knowledge very much goes both ways. And Lena calling her Supergirl? 

Oh, Kara is absolutely not the only one who's feeling a certain way.

"You know." Kara shrugs slightly, pretending to still be the mouse in this little game. She rests one hand on Lena's knee and lets her palm slide up her thigh, slowly, listening to Lena's heartbeat speeding up with each inch of skin Kara explores. "You know the way I mean."

Lena's breath hitches just so when Kara's hand slides further up, and Kara savors the sound of Lena's heart tripping over itself when her fingertips drag along damp lace.

"You're listening, aren't you?" Lena cocks her eyebrow, but her lips stay parted and her breathing comes in short, warm puffs so the whole thing really doesn't come off as stern as Kara is sure Lena would like. 

"Hmm?" Kara knows she's probably pushing her luck, but she bats her eyelashes anyway, her face the very picture of innocence as if her fingertips weren't tracing the very edge of Lena's panties, hinting at what they could (will) do if she just happened to push that fabric aside. "Listening to what, baby?"

Lena tries not to -- Kara can see the struggle right there in her eyes -- but she whimpers anyway, quiet and just barely audible to the human ear. 

"Kara." It tries to sound like a warning, but it falls just this side of pleading instead. Lena blushes so very pretty when she's feeling a certain kind of way.

"Yes, Lena?" 

"You're listening," a breath, slow and measured like she wishes she could take in a deep one but her lungs can't quite cope with that right now, "to me."

"Well, I mean," Kara shrugs slightly, like she can't feel the warmth of Lena's pussy against her fingertips, "I try to. I feel like it's good girlfriend etiquette."

Lena is trying so hard to look at least moderately annoyed. It's not working at all, but Kara can see that's her intent. She also knows exactly what Lena means, too. She means Kara is listening to her. To the beat of her heart and the air in her lungs and all the tiny, inaudible (for everyone else) sounds that tell her exactly how much Lena wants her. 

"You're listening to what you're doing to me." Lena drops the book on the floor to wrap both hands around Kara's neck, hips shifting forward just enough to get more contact with Kara's hand between her legs. Kara knows Lena doesn't need superhearing to notice the way Kara's breath catches in her throat. 

"And what am I doing to you, baby?" Kara won't cross the barrier of Lena's panties just yet, but her fingers becomes more purposeful, less teasing as two fingertips press against Lena's clit through damp lace. Lena's eyes flutter closed and she takes in a sharp breath that sounds almost like a gasp, and Kara rewards such a gorgeous sound with a kiss to Lena's jaw. "What Spring does to cherry trees?"

Lena must feel Kara's teasing grin even if she can't see it, because she lets out a breathless chuckle even as her hips start rocking to meet the movements of Kara's fingers. "Just admit poetry can express richer emotions than prose ever cou--"

Kara's mouth is on Lena's before she can finish her thought, and Kara would maybe feel a bit guilty for interrupting, but Lena's fingers fist in blond hair and pull her close and there's no way someone who's offended would kiss her like that. And Kara isn't even listening anymore, because Lena's tongue is in her mouth and all she can hear is her own heart thumping along anyway.

When she breaks the kiss, Lena keeps Kara close. She's panting slightly, breath hot and wet against Kara's lips and pupils so dilated Kara wonders if she can see her at all. A quiet, hitched moan escapes parted lips, and Kara swears there's nothing in the world -- in the universe, really -- more beautiful than Lena when she's like this. Like putty in her hands. And Kara just can't resist. 

"Admit you purred," she whispers against kiss-swollen lips, knowing if there's one chance for her to win an argument with her girlfriend this must be it. When she has Lena rocking against her fingers, wet and wanting and just the right amount of needy to get her to give in, for once. 

"Kara." It's practically a whine, and Kara swears it sounds like victory. Until she sees the glint in her girlfriend's eyes, and Lena gets her checkmate move after all. "Shut up and fuck me."

Kara feels the words rather than hears them. They hit right between her legs and spread all over her body, and you know what? Kara really is okay with losing under these particular circumstances.

Two fingers hook under the crotch of Lena's panties and Kara tugs lightly, almost like she's testing the strength of the lacy fabric. "Do you really like the..." Kara's voice trails off as Lena pulls the t-shirt up and over her head, blue eyes staring unabashedly at her girlfriends breasts as she struggles to finish her thought, "...these?"

It's just polite to ask before tearing someone's panties to shreds, if you ask her, even if you're currently transfixed at the sight of her breasts.

"I don't care." Lena's voice is doing that thing again, except this time Kara is pretty sure she's not doing it on purpose at all, it's just that's what Lena sounds like when she needs Kara now and isn't that just the best thing ever? "Baby, please, I don't care."

Kara doesn't know if she rips the panties off first and then leans in to catch Lena's left nipple with her mouth or if it happens the other way around, but she honestly doesn't care either, as it turns out. All she knows is two fingers slip inside Lena in one smooth, firm thrust, and her free hand grabs Lena's right breast, and then--

"More," Lena moans, breathy and greedy, but when Kara starts thrusting harder into her Lena shakes her head, "no, no-- more fingers," and Kara lets out a quiet whimper around the stiff nipple between her teeth. 

Kara pulls her fingers out of Lena and stretches her ring finger to join the first two before sliding them back inside. Her movements are slow and careful, all of her senses focused on detecting even the slightest hint of discomfort in her girlfriend until her three fingers are fully inside Lena. 

"Go on, Supergirl." 

Lena's tone is just the right amount of teasing to make Kara chuckle lightly, mouth leaving Lena's breast to trail kisses up her sternum and to the freckles on her neck as her arm starts pumping once again. She's so very close, Kara can tell, and even more so when she turns her wrist just so to press the pad of her thumb against Lena's clit.

Lena's fingers dig into Kara's scalp, into the strong muscle at her shoulder as Lena holds on and rides Kara's hand, hips rocking hard and fast in time with Kara's thrusts. Kara couldn't listen to any one thing if she tried. It's a symphony of sighs and moans, whimpers and ragged breaths and stuttering heartbeats that nearly overwhelms her senses until she feels Lena clench around her fingers, hips losing their rhythm as Lena comes with Kara's name on her lips.

Kara pulls her face away from Lena's neck just so she can look at her. Watch her come around her fingers and then relax, chest heaving with the effort of trying to catch her breath. Kara swears there can't be a more beautiful sight in the universe, especially not now, with the sun rising and bathing Lena's damp skin in early morning light. And as much as Kara tries to suppress it, there's a thought running through her head. A line from that stupid poem with its stupid cherry trees.

A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body... 

"You're thinking very loudly," Lena whispers, already resting her head on Kara's shoulder as her fingertips play with the hem of Kara's shirt, "what are you thinking?"

For a second, Kara considers telling her, but Neruda's words aren't what comes out when she opens her mouth. "Just how beautiful you look," she says, which is in fact the truth. Kind of. She can't let Lena win every single time, right?

***

"Apparently the first cherry trees got here in 1910, but they had to burn them all because of a bunch of insects." Kara holds the little guide book in her hand as she reads, her other hand safely in Lena's as they walk along the Tidal Basin. "These ones are newer, from 1912."

 "Oh, like the Titanic!" Lena looks delighted with the coincidence, and the bright smile on her face makes Kara lean in to steal a kiss from her lips. Her fiancée is super cute when she lets her inner dork show, if you ask Kara.

"See? I told you buying an actual guide book would be worth it!" Kara holds the small book in her hand with the pride of someone who's just won an argument (for once). "Where else are you going to get that kind of high quality trivia?"

"You do know the prototype L-Corp keychain I gave you last week can access Google, yes?"

"Not the same."

"Not to mention the actual supercomputers we all carry around in our pockets. Or the high-tech communicator in your wat--"

"Lena!" Kara groans. "Look around! The cherry blossoms! The quaintness of springtime! A romantic stroll along the river! Where's your sense of romance?"

Lena chuckles lightly, her free hand sliding up Kara's arm to wrap around her bicep. And Kara would complain about the obvious use of one of her many Lena-related weaknesses, but you know what? It works.

"Kara Danvers," Lena says, voice low and teasing, "that's all very poetic."

Kara rolls her eyes, but she can't quite stop the bright smile that's already appearing on her face. "Don't you start with me," she warns, not very convincingly. 

Lena presses a kiss to Kara's shoulder, and it makes color rise to Kara's cheeks even through the soft fabric of her cardigan. Even after all these years. But she figures if there's one day to be particularly enamored with one's fiancée, that's the day she's scheduled to receive a Presidential Award for her contributions to science and the betterment of humanity.

Not to brag. But Kara is proud.

"I love you," Kara says, because she can't not, "and I'm just so proud, I--"

Lena presses a finger to Kara's lips, stopping what was potentially about to turn into a whole speech about the many ways in which Lena Luthor could not possibly be any more perfect if she tried. 

"Kara," Lena warns, all cocked eyebrow and slightly pursed lips, "you promised. You promised you wouldn't cry before the actual ceremony."

And Kara would argue. She'd argue that she's perfectly capable of going on about Lena's many virtues without actually crying, but you know what? Her eyes are feeling just a tiny bit misty already so she's just gonna go ahead and trust Lena on this one.

"You know what I also love?" Kara presses a kiss to the pad of Lena's finger and obediently changes subjects. "Sushi. Let's go get some." Kara starts walking away from the beautiful soft pink trees and in the general direction of the street festival, tugging Lena along. She's all for the romance of blossom-watching, but she'd be lying if she said hearing about the culinary side of this whole festival hadn't excited her a bit more than that.

It's only when she hears a sigh coming from Lena that Kara's focus shifts from food to the woman next to her. That wasn't a happy sigh. 

"Are you okay, baby?"

Lena smiles. It's not a fake smile, but there's a hint of something in it that isn't fully happy, either. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine. It's just... between the cherry blossoms and all this talk of sushi, I guess it made me a bit nostalgic for Sendai." 

"Sendai?" Kara looks at Lena with curiosity written all over her face. "What's Sendai?"

"Oh, it's a city in Japan. I lived there for a few months for an exchange when I was in college. Did I never tell you?" Kara shakes her head, her face the picture of delight at getting to learn something new about Lena. "There was this little restaurant near Tohokudai, I swear they had the best sushi in the world." Lena hums, letting her eyes flutter closed for a second like she's trying to imagine the taste. "I'd do anything for some negitoro maki from that place right about now."

Kara listens intently to her fiancée's words. She knows it's just a silly little comment. She knows Lena will be perfectly happy eating the undoubtedly delicious sushi currently being sold at the street festival. And yet.

She can't resist a chance to make Lena just that little bit happier, can she? 

So Kara looks around to make sure they're not being watched, and lets go of Lena's hand. "Be right back."

"Where are you--?"

But all Lena gets is a quick kiss and a gust of wind on her face before Kara disappears.

She's only gone for a couple of minutes -- just enough for Lena to wander back towards the cherry trees -- and when she comes back she's holding a small box which she immediately presents to Lena.

"Sushi for my... sushi," Kara lets out a chuckle, her now-free hand coming up to scratch at the back of her head like she's aware she may have gone just a little bit overboard but she's hoping it won't be too much, "Sendai's beautiful, by the way."

Lena's smile is soft, and Kara has a feeling -- not to toot her own horn -- if she'd been listening she would've heard Lena's heart skip a beat. 

"Kara Danvers," Lena sighs, shaking her head like that'll do anything to hide just how charmed she is right now, "you're something el-- what's that?"

"Nothing," Kara shifts slightly and puts her hand -- and the little carton box it's holding -- behind her back, fully intending on letting the focus of this moment be on her romantic gesture, but Lena raises one eyebrow and Kara loses her resolve. "Potstickers." Kara's voice is quiet as she shows Lena the box. "What? I was in the neighborhood!"

"In the neighborhood of," Lena squints slightly as she reads the words on the box, "Shanghai?"

"Well, China is next door to Japan, if you think about it."

Lena chuckles, clearly too charmed by this whole thing to even continue teasing Kara about it. "Thank you. For this. You didn't actually have to fly all the way to Japan to get my favorite sushi, but I appreciate it."

Kara shrugs, chopsticks already grabbing the first potsticker in the box. "I'd go way farther than Japan to make you happy. You know that."

"I do know," Lena nods, looking just a little thoughtful, like she's just now realizing she fully believes Kara would stop at nothing to make her happy, "you even promised when you proposed."

Lena wiggles her finger, flashing the kryptium ring that's been there for a few weeks now along with a teasing smile, and Kara can only shrug. "Well, I meant it," she says, popping the potsticker in her mouth and leaning against the trunk of a nearby cherry tree.

"I know," Lena says again, but this time she's smiling, amusement shining in her eyes, "if only Lex had figured out the one true way to have the world in the palm of your hand is to make a Kryptonian fall in love with you."

"To be fair, I really don't think your brother is Kal's type."

***

Eight hours later, they're seeing the Tidal Basin from above, the cherry blossoms looking nearly white in the moonlight. They could be in National City already, but Kara figures there's no reason why she can't take the scenic route with Lena in her arms and enjoy the view without the crowds and the bustle they experienced earlier today. Perks of being your own private jet.

"Go a bit lower, baby," Lena's voice is soft against Kara's ear, like she's afraid if she speaks too loud she'll break the spell and they won't feel like the only two people in the world anymore, "I want to see the flowers."

Kara doesn't make her wait. Lena's just been awarded an actual medal by the President, and spoiling her a little is the least Kara can do. So she dips until they're hovering just above the soft pink blossoms and then a little lower still, close enough that Lena can smell the sweet, fresh scent of Spring.

The night is clear and quiet, just cool enough for Lena to reach for Kara's cape and pull it forward to wrap it around herself. Kara holds her a little closer, just enough to hopefully provide a bit of extra warmth, and she figures it was the right move when Lena slips one arm from under Kara's cape to reach for the tree and pick a particularly pretty blossom from one of the branches that's closer to them.

Lena looks at it for a moment, twirling the little stem between her fingers like she's pondering what to do with it. And then she turns and tucks Kara's hair behind her ear, sliding the small flower between soft blond strands and smiling when she's satisfied it'll stay exactly where she wants it.

"Happy?" Kara chuckles, something soft and quiet and a little teasing because there's something equal parts amusing and endearing about Lena's perfectionism when it comes to silly little things like putting a flower in Kara's hair.

"Very."

And there's something about the way Lena smiles, more with her eyes than with her mouth, that makes Kara see, clear as day, just how serious Lena is. How sincere, when she says she's very happy. 

Maybe that's why Kara gets a little transfixed just looking at her, suddenly aware of just how different this Lena -- the Lena wrapped in her arms and her cape, wearing her ring and smiling with a smile that's just Kara's -- is from the Lena she first met all those years ago.

"Kara Zor-El," Lena's voice is soft just like the sound of Kara's true name on her lips, "what are you thinking about?"

And Kara wishes she had the words to tell her. But how does she even begin to explain what she's feeling right now? How she's still the same Lena that made Kara's heart trip all over itself the first time she saw her, but she's so very different all the same time. Brighter. Lighter. Loved. God, she's so loved, and Lena knows it, finally, and that's what's different, maybe. Not just Kara's love, because Lena's had that from the very first day, probably, but the fact that Lena can feel it now. 

How do you put that in words? I love you just doesn't feel like enough. 

And then it hits her.

"I'm thinking," Kara smiles, cheeks pink with the knowledge that she's just been proven wrong, "about what Spring does to cherry trees."

[polishksiezniczka]

Hello! Can I request a fic or whatever u want about Carmalengo falling for a single mother. It can be NSFW if the mood strikes u. :)

YES! I have been waiting for the opportunity to delve into Patrick's soft parental side (I say this like he isn't the kindest, sweetest human ever normally).😂 As I am not a mother myself, I apologize in advance if any of this is a little unrealistic or misrepresented in any way. But I hope you like it, and I'd love to do a pregnant!reader piece in the future! ❤️

A Mother's Love | Patrick McKenna x Single Mother!Reader

A delightful little set of headcanons about the camerlengo falling for a single mother

Notes: S/D = son/daughter; C/N = child's name. Showers of praise on @thisbreakableheaven for being the best beta reader/co-conspirator anyone could ask for! ❤️

“I watch you raise C/N and fall deeper in love with you each day.”

He sees Mary, the Mother of God in you

When he finds you with your S/D asleep in your arms, his heart melts

Telling you how much your S/D looks like you: “(S)he has their mother's stunning eyes.”

Patrick would be a wonderful father figure to your S/D, and he would strive to play a greater role in your child’s life than his own father (even if the child wasn’t his)

It would probably be okay if your child referred to him as "papa"; it would raise little suspicion anyway because his official title is "Padre"

Your S/D loves Patrick, and Patrick absolutely adores them

If you have a baby, they relax and quiet immediately in his strong arms

His soft tone and warm voice are naturally soothing to fussy babies and children

If your child is in primary school, their favorite activity is reading with Patrick

Patrick always makes time to read to C/N on evenings when he’s able to visit

Speaking softly to them—you know he would never raise his voice against your child

He’ll hum lullabies or psalms to C/N as they slowly fall asleep

If C/N is a toddler, they absolutely love to play games with him!

Hide ‘n’ seek, color by number, board games like Chutes & Ladders

And the pet names he uses! 🥺

If you have a little girl, he calls her “sweetie,” “piccola,” or “topolina”

For a little boy: “little lad” or “bambino”

One of your favorite little things Patrick does is when you’re holding C/N in your arms, Patrick comes up to plant a kiss on each of your cheeks

Tickles and hugs abound when he visits!

Seriously, he is one of the best partners anyone could ever hope for

A bonus lil' NSFW drabble because how could I not?

“Caro mio,” Patrick greeted warmly as he kissed you. “Where’s my little boy/girl?” He looked around, expecting C/N to have come running into his arms by this point. You smiled, easily melting into his loving embrace. “They’re with their grandparents for the weekend.” You gave him a light peck on the lips before happily contemplating his handsome face. An ever-so-subtle shift in those dazzling cerulean eyes made you pause, their nascent desire failing to escape your notice. He hummed thoughtfully for a moment, the low timbre of his voice sending delicious vibrations through your whole body. He spoke lowly in your ear, “Angelo…vita mia....” He paused.“...I-I have a proposal for you.” “And what might that be?” you inquired breathlessly, nerves set alight. “This weekend. Just the two of u-us. Alone together. En-entirely devoted to you.” He punctuated his words with wicked intent, hot breath fanning over your skin like flames from a glorious pyre. The sensation of his warm, calloused fingertips stroking the delicate arch of your collarbone caused shivers to run down your spine. You hadn’t been able to spend a weekend alone together since you first began seeing each other, what with both of your busy work schedules, your own parental responsibilities, not to mention Patrick’s very public position in the Vatican. So, in many ways, this weekend would be the closest thing to a honeymoon you’d share with him. Obviously, you were no blushing virgin when it came to sex, but you simply couldn’t calm your nerves as Friday night approached. You were consumed by a heady mixture of schoolgirl-esque giddiness, extreme agitation, and ravenous desire. If only you could’ve seen Patrick suffer.

Oh, but when Friday night came! Sweet mother of mercy.

Lots and lots of lovemaking

On the couch, a relaxing movie long forgotten, a spontaneous session or two in the shower

Of course, in your bed, Patrick’s preferred location (your scent is intoxicating to him)

Taking a relaxing hot bath together

With the time you had together, you wanted to savor these moments.

You loved waking up with him in the morning, and by the time Sunday morning rolled around, you pouted like a child when he needed to leave very early to be on time for morning Mass

Not before you squeezed in one final session

One quiet evening, you lay across Patrick’s chest, both of you thoroughly spent after several passionate rounds of lovemaking, your hand intertwined with his while the other stroked his sprinkling of soft, ginger-blonde chest hair. You felt completely at peace in this moment, the quiet rhythm of your breathing perfectly matching Patrick’s steady heartbeat. You wished you could stay like this together, uncertain of where your body ended and his began—not that you particularly cared. Your core tingled in delight, still reeling from the waves upon waves of pleasure coaxed out of you by Patrick as only he could. You smiled fondly, burying your nose in his chest like an affectionate puppy. He hummed in appreciation, bringing your hand to his lips, where he began to lay light kisses across your knuckles. “I’d love to have children together,” he whispered hoarsely against your wrist. Your breath hitched, hardly believing the words you had just heard as you sat up to face him. Your eyes were wide in apprehension. “Patrick…” your voice trembling, “Do you mean that?” When he didn’t speak immediately, the blood in your veins ran cold. What was this, some kind of cruel joke? Your experiences as a single mother in the present day—the rush to judgment, the patronizing attitudes, the intentional devaluing of your worth as a romantic partner—had you bracing for the hurt. No, it couldn’t be, he wouldn’t do this. But what would you possibly say if he did? You were snapped from your reverie when you felt a warm hand gently take yours. “With God as my witness.” And in that moment, you looked into his eyes, trying to find any trace of ridicule or doubt there, but you simply could not. Instead, they were overflowing with complete, unconditional love. Tears leaked from the corners of your eyes at your realization. “I love you,” you whispered, your voice shaky and breathless, face flushed from embarrassment and something else you couldn’t quite identify. “And I you, angelo.” You kissed him deeply then, fingers sinking into his hair in a mix of elation and desperation as a whimper escaped your already kiss-swollen lips. You felt him begin to harden beneath you, followed by that familiar ache pulsing between your thighs. “Let’s start trying right away then,” you whispered hotly in his ear before pulling him down for another searing kiss. Translations piccola = "little one" toporina = "little mouse" bambino = "little boy" Caro mio = "My dear" Vita mia = "My life"

[admirableadmiranda]

I just read a fic that was tagged “not Jiang Cheng friendly” and I was ready for the backstabbing, mass murdering, torture-loving, bitter, friendless and ungrateful purple fiend to get his just deserts, but alas that doesn’t happen and it was instead a depiction of Jiang Cheng as he is in the text. And I’m like… this is “canonical Jiang Cheng”. Have we sunk so far as a fandom that depicting Jiang Cheng as he actually is is considered not Jiang Cheng friendly??? I mean… what is more friendly that showing his jealous, bitter, lying ass the way he actually is?????

Ah, anon I'm sorry you were so frustrated! I decided to wait for a while and think about what to respond to you because I feel like there's a few intersecting things I'd like to address. First off, I still kinda like the terrible grape man, he fills a necessary role in the story and I'm kind of a sucker for any story in which he's busy narrating like an idiot while the plot happens around him, being baffled and justifiably left out of the loop. I don't mind him being in a story, I just want him to be recognizably Jiang Cheng, warts and all with natural story comeuppance for his actions.

Second off, AO3 has unintentionally done us a disservice in this in lumping together several tags that while in other fandoms might reasonably cover the same thing, actually mean very different things when used in this fandom. Not Jiang Cheng Friendly or Not For JC Fans does not mean bashing, it means that it's not fanon. It's a signal to those of us looking for something different or canonical that this is more up our alley. The fact that those tags are combined with JC bashing just means that people looking for either run the higher risk of being disappointed. I know some people are attempting to get this changed, given the current state of the fandom, but I'm not sure how their efforts are going.

The third thing I want to address is the "sinking of the fandom," as you called it. Yes, there are definitely some very real problems right now. Things that went unchecked for too long, where the people pushing back felt too isolated to fight fully against the fanon Jiang Cheng on their own. But to me, to imply that we have sunk so low, feels like giving up. Why should we give up? Sure, right now it's almost impossible to go into the Jiang Cheng tag on AO3 and find fics that are about him as he should be, but I know that will change. And likely it will change soon. We have official translations coming out! Things that will reinvigorate the fanbase and more importantly give us the tools we need to source, quote and adjust our own works as we go. Already I know that the tumblr tag for Jiang Cheng is becoming more balanced again, that anons are coming and talking to more and more people because they see the shift already coming. Change is slow and long work and we've just begun it, but I can smell it in the wind and see it in the tags.

Don't lose hope anon, someday there will be a day in this fandom where you can click on a Jiang Cheng tag and see him depicted as how he is in canon, or even if he's adjusted, the story is about his working to adjust and be a better person. Where you can click on the JC bashing tag and only get works about him being cement sealed inside a dam or brutally murdered in various ways. There is never a need to give up hope. The wheel spins, we listen, we speak.

There is a change on the rise.

[remmysbounty]

best friend to lovers trope where Torres and the reader end up working together during the blip and Sam can see the way they look at each other and teases them. maybe a confession at the end

ooooo hello new friend!! omg yes I love love love the idea (i’ve always been more of a fan of the best friend to lovers trope than the enemies to lovers trope anyway) hehehehe ENJOY ♡

"So, when are you going to tell him?”

You turned around, a fairly-obvious look of shock sitting on your face, “Fuck Sam, you scared me.”

“I know,” that teasing smirk that you’d been seeing more and more recently once again showed up on his face, “and you still haven’t answered my question.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Sam,” your own face betraying you as you stopped looking Sam in the eye after answering.

He merely laughed, “Ya, sure you don’t.” 

This had been happening a lot recently, but then again so was you being caught admiring Joaquin when you should be working. You hadn’t realized you were doing it at first, but when you let your thoughts fly, it seemed as though yours eyes had started to seek him out- like now. 

Joaquin was busy typing away on his laptop when you looked in his direction once Sam stepped away, and in a way it reminded you of the day to the two of you met. 

Silence.

That’s all you felt now as you walked into work. It was so unbearably quiet as you stared at all the forms you still had to fill out... all of this just to prove to some government official somewhere that yes, the rest of your team had disappeared in “The Blip” and no, you weren’t entirely sure what you were going to do because one of the people that disappeared was also your boss. 

What a mess.

You knew you had to fill all of that out, but what you really wanted to do was throw all of them in the trash... maybe even burn them.

Your third sigh within the past 30 minutes escaped your lips and you dropped your head on your desk with a *thunk*.... that is definitely gonna hurt later.

“Are you alright?” Your head shot up.

Standing in the doorway of your office was a soldier. The first thought running through your mind, he’s cute, and then... wait, what is he doing here?

“Um.. I’m alright. Can I help you with something?”

“Yes, actually,” he took a couple of steps forward, “I’m looking for,” he looked down at a paper in his hand and then read the name off of it- your name.

“That’s me,” you stood up from your desk, “What can I do for you?”

You weren’t sure why but his eyes seemed to widen at the revelation that you were the person he was looking for, and you were pretty sure his ears even turned a bit red, “I was told that you were the person to go to for this mission I’ll be going on later. I know it isn’t usually policy for me to come directly to our intel agent, but... well...” He seemed at a loss of words.

“I get what you mean,” your eyes skimmed over all the documents you had and finally stumbled upon the one you were looking for, “Here it is.”

You held it out to him, but instead of grabbing it and walking out the door like you expected, he just stared at you, a small smile growing on his face, “Would you like to join me on this mission?”

“What?”

“I could use a guide and you are the expert-”  “What should I take with me?”

“Just yourself,” he stuttered, “a-and the information, obviously.”

As he walked with you out the door, you turned to him, “You know you never gave me your name.... if we’re gonna be working together I should probably know it.”

“Sorry about that,” his ears once again turned red and you couldn’t help but feel enamored by it, “it’s Joaquin.”

“Joaquin,” his name just rolled off your tongue, and from the way he smiled at you, you wanted to imagine that it was because he liked the way it sounded when you said it.

Then he repeated your name in the same fashion, and you wondered if there was anyway you could get him to repeat your name just like that. You’d learn later though, that was just the way he said your name. 

“Whatcha thinking about?”

Your head snapped up again. Only this time it wasn’t Sam who scared you, but the one person who seems to be living in your thoughts all the time nowadays.

“Joaquin,” you couldn’t stop it, the way his name just dripped off of your tongue, much like honey. You had hoped he hadn’t heard it, but like all those years ago when you first met, the tips of his ears turned red.

You shook your head, your eyes finding safety in looking at the papers sitting in front of you, “Wasn’t thinking about anything.”

“You sure about that?” You looked up, his own smirk sitting on his lips as he waited for your answer.

The second your eyes met, they were stuck there. He wasn’t really expecting you to answer, you knew that, but you couldn’t help but wonder his reaction if you told him the truth. 

“You. I was thinking about you.”

If you hadn’t already been sitting you were sure that your knees would have gone weak right there. Why? Because of what Joaquin did next.

He pulled the empty chair next to you, as close as possible and sat on it, and just cupped your face. Your noses were touching, your eyes constantly drifting up and down from his eyes to his lips and his eyes doing the exact same thing. 

“Estaría mintiendo si dijera que no pensaba en ti,” his thumb ran down your cheek, “siempre estas en mi pensamientos.”

You closed your eyes and just let yourself feel. You opened your eyes, “Date me?”

He leaned in, and your lips touched. 

--

translations:

Estaría mintiendo si dijera que no pensaba en ti: I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think of you

siempre estas en mi pensamientos: you’re always on my mind

--

Joaquin Torres: @pascalpanic @cleversturmhond @booksmusicteaandanimals @cooluncleboba @autumnleaves1991-reads  @marvelouss-marvel @mischiefmanaged71 

[duchess-of-mandalore]

Concordian Mando’a in TCW

TW: Suicide, suicide imagery

This could be considered Part Three of my fan speculation / exploration into the constructed language of Mando’a and Mando names seen in The Clone Wars. 

Part 1: The Mando’a of “Ben” Kenobi and “Korkie” Kryze Part 2: The Mando’a of “Satine” and “Bo-Katan” Kryze

If anyone has any other ideas for more posts in this series, let me know!

“Calhava bru’chun dralshye’ran.” - “Compassionate leaders will burn.”

The meaning of the Death Watch terrorist’s proclamation has never been officially canonized, but the writers appropriated the phrase from an old forum post in which a user had compiled a list of fanon Mando’a words and phrases, including this one, which was translated as “Compassionate leaders will burn.” The translation makes sense within the context of the episode.

Bomber: Se solu, se kad, se darasuum kote. Kadi, se norm'iim. 

Satine: Ki, kadi norm'iim.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any canon information for the translation of these lines, but we can speculate on some things.

Se solu, se kad, se darasuum kote. - A rough translation of the bomber’s words may be something like “The unity, the saber, the eternal glory.” This seems to be a dying man speaking of the afterlife, of what he expects/hope to find. - I’m assuming se is the Concordian derivation of the Mando’a te, meaning “the.” - Solu is likely related to the Mando word solus: “alone, vulnerable / each, one / united, as one.” I could see this having a double meaning, touching on the idea that a person dies alone, but is united in death with those who came before. - Kad is the word for saber/sword. I’m unsure of what significance it would have in relation to the Mando concept of the afterlife, but it’s ironic that this comes before the revelation of the Darksaber. - Darasuum kote is Mando’a for “eternal glory.”

Kadi, se norm'iim. - If the first line is the bomber speaking of what he expects in the afterlife, this line seems to be his wish to be released into that afterlife. - Kadi is perhaps related to the verb kadiilir, “to breach, pierce.” (Again, note the relation to kad, “saber.” - Mandos are a warrior people to the very end.) - I can’t find any inspiration for norm’iim. My four semesters of high school French keep whispering “dormir” (to sleep) into my ear, and since there are other Mando’a words/names that seem to derive from French/other Romance languages, that’s what my wild guess is. I could see norm’iim meaning something like “eternal sleep.” - So, my very rough translation reads “May I enter into eternity” (literally: “May I breach the eternal sleep.”)

Ki, kadi norm'iim. - Satine’s response seems to be a benediction. If the bomber’s last line is him asking to be released into the afterlife, Satine affirms that desire and gives him a blessing as he is released. - Ki seems to indicate a command, and is likely a Concordian derivation of the Mando’a ke/k’, which function the same way. - Thus, her line would be something like, “Yes, enter into eternity.” More colloquially, you could say “Go with God” or “Rest in peace.”

-

Little of what we knew of the Mandalorian concept of the afterlife remains (techincally) canon, but in Legends, the concept of a literal afterlife fell out of favor with the Mandalorians and was replaced with a belief in the manda. According to Wookieepedia:

the manda was the idea of a collective oversoul described as the very essence of being Mandalorian. A Mandalorian ignorant of their heritage and culture was considered to be dar'manda—soulless—and would have no place in the manda after death. To be dar'manda was considered a terrible fate by Mandalorians.

I note this because we already know that the Death Watch’s fight against Satine is more than just political or cultural. It’s religious as well: Pre Vizsla calls Death Watch the descendants of the “true warrior faith,” and Din Djarin says that as a Mandalorian, weapons are a part of his religion. 

To them and those who believe like them, Satine is the very essence of dar’manda. Pre Vizsla says she “tarnishes the very name Mandalorian.” Though we don’t know what Satine believes, she’s definitely aware of what others think of her. She’s aware that as a “compassionate leader,” they’d rather she were dead. 

And even though that sentiment is exactly what the Death Watch bomber proclaims before throwing himself off the roof, Satine meets the man’s threat with the very compassion that he says should necessitate her death. She—the dar’manda—repays her would-be assassin by listening to his final words and offering him comfort and dignity. And in that last moment, he seems only to appreciate—not revile— the compassion that she gives him.

[heavenunderthemoon]

Line Without A Hook- Jennifer Jareau x Reader

summary: You were brought onto the team as a tech analyst to help with the new workload and find a certain blonde has taken an interest in you. 

warnings: none just some angst and then some fluff

I would recommend listening to Line without a hook by Ricky Montgomery while reading bc that’s what I listened to while writing (hence the title), always, enjoy! Also go check out my other works here

"Hey, hot stuff."

Your fingers tightened around the black, government issued telephone you had been holding up to your ear, eyes flickering to Penelope who was finishing up typing in a code to help filter your search results for the unsub.

Jennifer Jareau's arrogantly smooth (in your own, professional opinion, of course) filtered through the phone with ease and successfully made your cheeks tint pink.

"Jennifer." You said curtly, and Penelope spun around in her chair, her face twinged with amusement already.

Ever since you had started working at the bureau a month ago, the team had noticed a...flirtation between you and the blonde former media liaison. You remembered your first day, how her hand had gripped yours tightly and the way her lips had quirked up when you pulled yours back just a bit too fast.

The team had watched for a whole month as the blonde had found fun in her flirtatious poking, the first time she had expressed interest in anyone since her divorce. And you hadn't had any complaints- well, any real complaints. Sure, you answered her stiffly, choosing to only call her Jennifer (because, according to her, only  friends called her 'JJ' and you would vehemently attest that you were not friends), but, if you had actually been bothered by the constant poking you would've voiced it. So, she continued.

"Now, that's no way to greet your favorite co-worker." The blonde teased and you could swear you could hear the smirk in that overly-confident, pompous, velvety voice of hers.

You rolled your eyes as Penelope hit the button to put it on speaker, eyes glued to your face as if to gauge your reaction. But, over the last thirty days you had become excellent at putting on a poker face. With a dry tone, you responded.

"You're right, I'd never greet Emily that way." You cracked wittily, and a small chuckle ghosted from her lips.

They had only been gone for six hours and you knew she probably hadn't changed. She was probably still wearing that wonderful little blazer that fit her slender, toned arms so well. The one that made your eyes follow her as she moved throughout the room, that annoying, adorable little smirk on her lips because she knew it too.

"Ah, how you wound me, Y/N/N." The name grated against your ears and your lips twitched in annoyance.

You hated that nickname. You had never had a nickname before, which, you supposed should be surprising because you were well above the age that nicknames were typically given but no one had ever bothered to give you one and now that someone had (and that someone was Jennifer), you couldn't help but have your annoyance spike at the usage of it.

"Have I ever told you how much I hate when you call me that?" You asked sarcastically.

"Every time I use it." Jennifer responded cheekily, and you rolled your eyes, scooting in to your desk while Penelope giggled.

And just like that she was asking you for an address and you were dutifully searching for it. This case was similar to most you had worked on so far, though the likeness to the others did little to numb the severity of the situations these people found themselves in. You didn't know how they had all been doing it for so long. Looking at this team from the outside in had made it seem like a safe haven, a group of untouchables, of the elite. But now that you were one of them you could see that it was the opposite. That, eventually, this job chipped away at them, piece by piece. You wondered how long it would be until the first part of you left too.

The address pinged onto the corner of your screen and you were speaking into the phone once more, giving it to Jareau woman as she showered you in thanks. Perhaps it was the heat of the moment, or perhaps it was the case itself, the way the women all had blonde hair- it wasn't like Jennifer's hair, no, Jennifer's blonde was golden, like the sun itself had ventured down to earth to lay a kiss atop her head, bleeding some of its golden rays onto her long locks. Whatever the reason may be, you wouldn't particularly know because you were speaking far before you could think twice.

"Wait, Jennifer?" There was shuffling on the other end, the agent most probably gearing up as she walked to the squad cars, preparing to catch the man that had started the whole chase.

The blonde noticed the change in tone immediately. Of course she did, because you had developed a certain tone whenever you spoke with her. An exasperated, breathy, really adorably annoyed sort of tone that she knew was just for show because that cute little smile that you had, the smile that tilted down at the corners because you were trying so very hard to suppress it, always tugged at your lips. That tone was gone, stripped bare and all that remained was you.

"Yeah?" And now you noticed the change in tone, because the tone she normally used with you was irritatingly confident and poised and so frustratingly perfect that it made you automatically go in defense mode because, let's be honest, you were very far from it.

"Be safe." You said, and it seemed more like a plea than a statement and the back of your neck felt extremely hot when you recalled Penelope's presence behind you, the very excitable woman practically shaking at the small interaction and you hung up the phone before Jennifer could even respond.

"Not a word." You warned the Garcia woman, keeping your eyes glued to the screen before you. There was nothing to be done, at least, nothing pressing. You had given the address to the team. Now, what was left was the waiting. The waiting to confirm you had the right guy,  waiting to make sure your team turned out okay (the standards for okay, you had learned, was that everyone was in one piece or not in jail by the end of the case), and that the paperwork was filled out.

Penelope Garcia, being that she was Penelope Garcia, did not follow your request. Her earrings jangled as she rolled her way to you, your shoulders touching as she occupied the space next to your desk. She hadn't been too thrilled at the idea of a new occupant in her bat cave. In fact, she had detested it, all but striking where Emily had brought up the idea. But, the Prentiss woman had been quite adamant about the new addition, claiming that the technical analyst needed help with the new workload as they began to take on more cases, not to mention your resume had been nothing short of sparkling.

Grumbling, Penelope had met you, her eyes landing on the woman staring at the rows of action figurines on display on the righthand corner of the room. She had watched the way you peered at them, the recognition flashing in your eyes and successfully called you out on being a nerd (a secret nerd, as she called you, because you didn't broadcast your 'dorky' interests quite like Penelope liked to.) And that had been that, the Garcia woman clearing out a space for your desk and promising not to tell anyone about your weird niche interests that she had all but pried out of you.

"'Be safe', I think I'm swooning." The Garcia woman fanned her face teasingly and you huffed, refusing to meet her eyes.

"What part of 'not a word' needed to be translated into Penelopian-"

"Peneloponese is actually my official language, but continue."

And this time you did turn to face her with a cross look, arms folded. "Very funny, we'll have to get you on Seinfeld." You said flatly.

The blonde let out a laugh, as she so often did around you. As adamantly against she had been on your presence in her bat cave, she was grateful you had come into her life. Previously, she had relied on figurines and plush animals to bring her happiness when the darkness threatened to breach her area of sanctitude but now she had you, her secretly dorky, outwardly cool coworker who very obviously had a crush on one of her oldest friends.

"I tease out of love, Y/N. Speaking of love,"

You turned back to your computer, cutting th Newman off swiftly. "No."

Penelope let out a whine. "No? You don't even know what I was gong to say." She argued, though she knew you did.

And you did. You knew that she was going to ask what the latest gossip was on you and Jennifer was because that's what she always asked and, yes, while you typically playfully denied anything going on you didn't quite this you could do that this time because this time you were far too trapped into your own brain to dig yourself out long enough to lie. You were stuck, deep, deep in there, think about all the ways in which you thought Jennifer Jareau was an actual angel sent from Heaven above, starting from the golden color of her hair and ending with the way she twirled her pens out of boredom. And you hated that you noticed all those things, mostly because it meant you spent more time than you cared to admit sneaking Ito the bullpen, making excuse after excuse just to stand there and observe the funny way she did things (she ate Cheetos for almost every meal and it baffled you how she was still standing).

But you also hated it because it meant that you liked her and you could not like Jennifer Jareau. You couldn't like her because there was no way in hell that you were dumb enough to set yourself up for failure like that, you weren't that sadistic.

You would never be able to handle the crushing weight of rejection that would inevitably come from unrequitedly liking Jennifer Jareau and, of course, it would be unrequited because how could she like you? How could she like you, someone who simply refused to read a book unless it was a physical copy (you didn't understand the appeal to e-readers because you couldn't smell the old pages as you flipped them or run your fingers along the spine as you read it. Someone who had learned seven languages, one of which was Klingon just because you wanted to see if you actually could (it hadn't been too hard but now you had to live with the fact that you actually knew Klingon). Someone who hated polka-dots. Someone who had a fear of walking over sewer grates because you thought you might just be the one person unlucky enough to fall in. How could Jennifer Jareau, the woman who always walked in to work, never a wrinkle in sight or a hair out of place, possibly like you?

Surely, the flirty nature of your conversations was just something to tease you with, something she found satisfaction in and you hated it because as much as you wished it was true, those sultry looks and kind smiles, the shoulder squeezes and over the shoulder smirks, the walks to the car and greetings in the morning, it wasn't. It wasn't true and it never would be because she was Jennifer Jareau, a newly divorced mother of two.

"Drop it, Pen." And before she opened her mouth once more your tone was softening, shoulders deflating from the tense posture you held before, slumping in vulnerability. "Please."

Penelope's lips pursed shut, the two of you sitting in that silence you had created for what seemed like eternity. The hum of the machines, something that had typically served as a sense of comfort to you, seeming to mock you, a symphony of interruptions that added to the very loud, very panicked screaming currently happening in your brain.

It was the kind of silence that you asked for but once you received but, you regretted it. The silence that enveloped you in its entirety, consuming you whole and dropping you right into the belly of the beast. You started to drown in that silence because, for you, it wasn't silence at all, it was just a big, large, bottomless abyss that served as a chasm for your thoughts to fill and boy did you have a lot of them, none of them entirely pleasant and almost all of them torturous. You felt yourself teetering onto the edge of that metaphoric chasm, tiptoeing the ledge of hate and love for Jennifer Jareau.

But, Penelope Garcia was nothing if not a savior, and her hand latched onto your still one with gentleness.

"She likes you too."

And just like that the chasm was emptying, mind going blank, going absolutely numb because your ears were ringing at even the slightest notion that Jennifer Jareau liked you. Your face must've displayed that because Penelope was continuing.

"She does, I swear, she told me. Well, she told Emily but it was Girls' Night Out and I went to get more drinks and she told Emily but you know that JJ can't hold her liquor all too well and I don't think either of them know that I know and I can't tell them that I know because then they'll know I was eavesdropping- which I wasn't! My eyesight is just really bad so I think my hearing is just hyper-sensitive-"

Your mind raced attempting to keep up with the blonde. "Wait, hold on." You throat felt dry, full of cotton and closing up by the second so you forced yourself to breathe. "She...likes me? Not as a friend but actually likes me?" And you hated how juvenile it all sounded, cringed at the concept that you had to ask your friend if the girl you liked, liked you back, but you had to.

Penelope took a breath of her own, that brilliant smile she always adorned coming back into play. A nod toddled out of her head and she squeezed your hand. "Yes! She never told me, though I think that's because everyone thinks I can't keep a secret. But she always talks about you, never shuts up actually, and the look on her face-"

"She likes me." And as cool as you always tried to look, as mature as you always claimed to be, that childish little smile that overtook your features demolished all of those walls in an instant. Your heart beat quickened and you could've sworn they were singing, singing her name, cheering it, really.

Jennifer. Jennifer. Jennifer.

"She does." The Garcia woman confirmed.

The phone ringing cut off your inner symphony, your hand flying to the phone as you answered it.

"Hello?" You were breathless and you couldn't quite help it.

"First ring. Nothing better to do than answer my calls, huh, Y/N?" And Jennifer was back on the line, the sound of sirens haunting her background. It had been almost an hour since your last call and you could safely assume she had gotten out of the situation alive, the unsub apprehended and the team beginning their victory laps.

"Don't flatter yourself, Jareau, I thought it was someone else." And because your mind had emptied, because your thoughts had gone blank, your quips weren't;t as lethal as they always were, your guard lowered.

JJ snorted. "Oh yeah, like who?"

You spun your chair around, blurting out the first name that came to mind. "Penelope." And instantly your hand was slapping your forehead.

"Penelope? Is she not right next to you?" A breathy little laugh escaped her lips and you stared at the blonde tech analyst, eyes widened and hands gesticulating wildly to which she merely shrugged.

"Uh, yeah, she is...it's a, uh, game...we play." Your excuse was weak and asinine but it was the only one you could think of and if you could astrally project out of your body to smack yourself you would but you couldn't. "Anyways, did you catch the guy?" You asked, quickly changing the subject.

If JJ noticed the awkwardness, she didn't mention it. "Yup, so you won't have to wait too long to see this face if that's what you were wondering." That confidence, the confidence that you know understood was her way of flirting and also would probably be your cause of death.

And with that new understanding, your mind simply stopped working. "Good." And at the realization of what you had just said you attempted to recover. "I mean that's good that you'll be home soon, not good that I'll see your face- not that I don't want to see your face, it's a good face, symmetrical and all that-"

Penelope was waving her hands, signaling for you to stop and your hand was covering your own mouth to stop yourself.

JJ was silent for a moment, the sound of a car door closing before she was speaking once more. "Are you okay, Y/N? You're being...weird."

"Ask her out!" Penelope hissed and you smacked her shoulder.

"Was that Pen What did she say?"

"Nothing!" You shrieked, before clearing your throat, voice returning back to normal. "Nothing, just, uh,"

The Garcia woman was back to miming and you watched as she panto-mimed a date (very poorly, you might add, but it was enough to make you relax, shoulders regaining some movement).

"Do you want to go out for dinner sometime?"

The silence you had so loathed had returned with a sickening fervor and your stomach flipped at it. "With me...in case that wasn't clear." Your hand scratched the back of your neck, hot with embarrassment toward the entirety of this exchange.

And just when you thought you might die from the embarrassment or Penelope might faint from the whole ordeal, Jennifer responded.

"Yes."