#He just adds more and more elements that go nowhere | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

raifuujin · 14 days

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It's been more than 20 years and for some reason I feel that Gosho hasn't given Kaiao any development, how can more than 20 years pass and Aoko dynamics, relationship and feelings remain the same? At this point I feel like Gosho is just going to make them date because "they already liked each other" they remain in the same status quo

Hey, if we go by DC romance progress, they've been going too fast. We've already had suspicion of identity chapters, and that didn't happen until more than 400 chapters in DC. /j

Since heists have taken over any character development recently, I don't even know if Kaito and Aoko will even get any romantic progress. Maybe the actual identity confrontation will happen down the line, since that's thief drama, but atm, it really wouldn't surprise me if they only ask each other on a real date at the very end of the manga.

Like. I'm sure Gosho would love to make MK a love drama as well, but he writes MK so rarely, and usually as hype for something Kid related in other media. So the MK stories tend to be heavy on drama that can only take place at Kid heists. (To the point that the new chapters just. Use Kid as the plot device to show off a new character. Even Hakuba's never gotten so much 'look at this character being a detective' treatment in MK.)

-sighs- I just feel bad for MK as a series at this point. I like the characters, I like the general story idea, but. It's been going down a very steep hill with Gosho wanting things exciting, but not wanting any real progress in. Anything. But unlike old MK, the new stories aren't even nice standalone setpieces of story, they're... mundane. They could be high stakes, if you purely look at the scenarios on paper, but. We all know nothing's gonna happen to Kid. Nothing even happens to him when the actual bad guys show up, much less one-time antagonists.

We need actual character focus and development, not heist drama. Badly. Not even romance, though that'd be a nice change. Just any character expansion of our limited cast of characters. Gosho wants big, all the time, meaningless big stuff, when small would be so nice.

#And also he probably won't care to expand on KaiAo when he knows it's already canon #Like; not in the same way that ShinRan is canon endgame and he just needed to write it out #But in a 'I said these two were dating in another manga; they will exist even if I haven't written it'#And his story atm does feel like it could be left off with an ambiguous note on if they're together or not #And then just leave them dating in Yaiba for people who care about confirmation #MK is not in a stable enough state; I really don't know what he's planning with anything #And it's been so. -gestures to all the 'meaningless big stuff'- lately #I don't know if it'll ever get any shift in focus in the future #We barely get anything; all we have now is a new character people are divided about #And the tiniest continuity of Aoko thinking to herself that Kid is teasing her by reminding her of Kaito #Like; part of the problem is continuity as well; at least if Gosho wants to stick with DC-ish MK #MK has all the potential for callbacks or returning characters that could be interesting #But none of the potential that fans enjoy is ever /used/#We got all our KaiAo up front. We have suspicion arcs where it's barely mentioned that Kaito's proven his innocence in the past #They could go back to the amusement park and Aoko could mention the movie and Kaito can be sweating #Because he never saw the movie; that's then he peaced out to go heisting #There's so much. Gosho's good at adding potential to his story #But everything he comes up with to make canon ends up disappointing because he never fully uses any of it #He just adds more and more elements that go nowhere #MK is a mess that gets more and more fun to play around in; but the actual chapters are. Bad #Which might be for a reason similar to DC of we wait so long and get something extremely meh #Except instead of the months between DC cases; it's years for MK; and DC fans complain the entire time #So when MK fans are fed crumbs of... anything. It's just not as enjoyable as new content should be #(I got rambly in tags; sorry ;._. )

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anarkhebringer · 8 months

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Okay so I'm awake now and am back to thinking about Viper Arkhe. His thick Spanish accent and usage of a class never before seen in Eorzea won't do well to let him blend in at all, but he's stubborn as fuck so he'd still be refusing to tell where he comes from until 6.5 when it finally comes up.

#category 7 autism event tags incoming but #this giant Au Ra walking into Eorzea out of nowhere and in clothing never seen before #you ask him where he's from and in the least expected accent possible he just snippily asks who wants to know #it adds to why Hearers lost their shit at him hanging out around guardian trees until the elementals starting going ''safe'' and ''love''#this is Eorzea and the population sucks so a brown man with mysterious blades‚ a thick accent and an attitude?#recipe for disaster #GOD SPEAKING OF HIS SKIN COLOR THOUGH THAT NIGHTTIME AREA REVEAL #I COULD *SEE*. HE WOULDN'T BE AS INVISIBLE THERE #but yeah TLDR I am excited about building up on more empty pieces of Arkhe's lore #oh and also established that Arkhe can and will scare the shit out of you and start yelling in Spanish or Nahuatl when pissed sometimes #grumpy Indigenous Au Ra wandering about helping so he gets his paycheck more news at 11

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septembercfawkes · 11 months

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Directionality in Fiction: Why You Need it & How to Create it

Every successful story has a sense of direction. The audience wants, and even needs, an idea of where the story is going. If the audience literally has no idea what could happen next, then that often means what happens next doesn't really hold any value one way or another. It's like Willy Wonka's river ride into darkness--confusing, awkward, and a little bizarre. It's hard to trust Willy Wonka to get you anywhere. Writers should avoid being like Willy Wonka, for several reasons.

Wait! you may be thinking. Don't we want our stories to be unpredictable? Isn't not knowing where the story is going more exciting?

Many beginning writers make this mistake (including yours truly back in the day). They think having no clue where the story is going makes it more of a page-turner. They may recall audience members happily describing a story, saying, "I had no clue where it was going!" or "I had no idea what was going to happen next!"

These are just expressions of emotion. In reality, for the audience to even have those emotions, they usually must have a sense of direction first.

It's a similar concept to being vague versus being ambiguous. Vagueness happens when you don't have enough context to tell what something is, if anything. Ambiguity happens when there is enough context to interpret something in two or more ways, and you aren't sure which it is. When audiences say, "I had no clue where it was going," often what they really mean is, "I didn't know which of the critical directions it would go."

A story that has no sense of direction is almost never as effective as one that does. Without a sense of direction, the audience can't measure what is progress or what is a setback. They can't get invested, because they can't anticipate anything. They can't feel tension or suspense or even surprise, because they can't hope or fear for what could happen, and don't have expectations for what is going to happen.

Instead of Willy Wonka's tunnel of terror, imagine taking a hike toward a beautiful waterfall (it can still be made of chocolate if you want). A twisted ankle, closed trail, or nearby predator is a bigger setback than if we had nowhere we were trying to go. A shortcut is a bigger leap in progress if we are trying to reach a specific destination. And discovering we're actually on a trail that leads to an active volcano is a bigger surprise.

There are two critical plot elements that will automatically inject directionality into your story. Then, there are a lot of alternative methods you can use to reinforce it, or that you can rely on when performing a rule break (more on that in a bit). First, let's go over the two major ones:

1. Goals

A character's goal immediately gives the audience a sense of direction. This is because goals are about an outcome. They instantly convey what the character wants to happen, or doesn't want to happen. In order to be effective, though, they have to be achievable and relevant. Who cares if your character wants to do magic, if magic is literally impossible in your setting? That's not a real goal--it's a wish.

There are three basic types of goals: obtain, avoid, or maintain.

Convey a clear, relevant, and achievable goal early, and your audience will not only have a strong sense of direction, but they'll be more invested--because they'll want to see if the character gets the goal.

Then, if you add how the character plans to get the goal, you'll reinforce the goal and sense of direction even more.

2. Stakes

Many like to define stakes as what is at risk in the story. I feel like it's more effective and more accurate to define them as potential consequences. It's what could happen if a condition is met. If Voldemort gets the Sorcerer's Stone, then he can return to power. If Frodo destroys the Ring, then he saves Middle-earth. If Katniss cuts down the tracker jacker hive, then she can get away from the Careers.

As you may have noticed, stakes are often tied to goals. They are often the potential consequences of meeting or not meeting a goal.

Stakes are about conveying to the audience what could happen. This gives what does happen, meaning.

Stakes also innately convey a pathway, a direction. If X happens, we'll go down path A. If Y happens, we'll go down path B.

I've never seen a story with too many stakes. I've seen lots of stories that don't have enough stakes. Walk the stakes out to create strong directionality.

And don't assume your audience will simply imagine the stakes on their own. Almost always, they want the story to tell them (explicitly or implicitly) the stakes. Almost always, the story is better when we clearly communicate the stakes. Avoid being vague. Help the audience imagine which important pathways the story could take.

These are the two most important, and most effective, ways to create directionality--they accomplish multiple major things at once.

However, this doesn't mean they are the only ways to create directionality.

And while they are almost always critical to a solid plot, that doesn't mean you can't ever break the rules and have them be absent on occasion.

If they are absent though, that usually means something else needs to be used to create directionality in their place (unless, of course, you are working with a teaser--but even they can arguably have a sense of direction). So how do stories without legit goals or stakes still work? Well, they probably incorporate at least one of the following things--which you can also use to reinforce directionality when you already have goals and stakes in play.

3. Dramatic Irony

Dramatic irony happens when the audience knows something the character doesn't. Often this is a critical piece of information, and frequently (though not always) it is implied that the character will learn the same thing at a later point in the story. In a horror, we watch the villain enter a dark room, and later see the heroine, oblivious, go in that same room. It's likely only a matter of time before the heroine realizes the villain is in there, and the audience anticipates that encounter. This creates directionality.

Even if the character never learns the critical information (such as the fact that Juliet isn't actually dead in Romeo and Juliet), the audience still anticipates how the character will interpret or react to what they do encounter (a Juliet who seems to be dead).

4. Convergence of Plotlines

In a story that contains multiple viewpoint characters, each with plotlines, it's often implied or assumed that these plotlines and characters will converge. We may start a story with a rich man eating a feast for breakfast, then taking his recent earnings to the bank. And after, we may cut to a scene where a poor, starving woman is begging, perhaps a block away from the same bank. The audience anticipates that these two characters will cross paths.

Sometimes the two viewpoints or plotlines don't seem to have anything in common, but the audience expects they will relate to each other on some level--they are in the same book after all.

Promise your audience a collision of plotlines, and you'll promise them a sense of direction.

5. Countdowns

A countdown automatically implies direction--whether or not the audience knows the consequences tied to it. We show a clock counting down, and we wonder if a bomb will go off or if another catastrophe will hit once it reaches zero. Or, it could be a countdown to a celebration, like the New Year.

Countdowns on a timer are obvious, but there are other types of countdowns too. A simple calendar can work as a countdown. In Christmas Vacation, an advent calendar is used to count down the days until Christmas. Each Harry Potter volume fulfills one school year, each chapter brings us closer to the year's end. So even when there isn't a dire goal in play, there is always directionality.

A deadline works in similar ways.

There can be a countdown when using up resources: Fuel is running out. Oxygen is limited. There is only one loaf of bread left to eat.

Illnesses and maladies can work as countdowns. There may be a countdown to when cancer wins, or when a spell leaves its target as an unseemly beast, permanently.

Countdowns always imply direction.

Knowing the potential consequences--the stakes--creates more tension and suspense, not knowing them creates intrigue.

6. Geographical Destinations

A destination naturally implies direction. In The Emperor's New Groove, Kuzco needs to make it back to his palace. Every step closer is progress, and every obstacle that blocks or pulls him off course is a setback.

But destinations can still work even when there isn't one specific destination yet established. Whenever you open a book that starts with a map, it implies a sense of geographical direction. You may not know exactly which place is the desired destination, but the map promises that the characters will be venturing to different places.

7. Passive Mysteries

Passive mysteries work by withholding context from the audience. Stuff is happening, but the audience doesn't really know what it means (think: vagueness). Because of the lack of information, no one is really doing anything to solve the mystery--there aren't any "leads." (In contrast, in an active mystery, the character has the goal to solve the mystery and has leads to follow.)

Teasers often work as passive mysteries (which is why I said sometimes even they have a sense of direction). The audience is promised that if they stick around, they will get the context they need, to understand what is going on. The audience is promised a direction.

Passive mysteries often can't hold an audience for very long, strictly because they work off vagueness. You need other elements in play to get readers to stick around.

Nonetheless, the promise of context does give readers somesense of direction.

Active mysteries create directionality too, but in the same way that goals do. In an active mystery, the goal is to try to solve the mystery, so the audience is promised a direction with that.

Directionality is important in every story, and not only is it important in the whole narrative arc, but it is important within acts, sequences, and scenes, too. Nearly every scene should have directionality, which should be established early on.

Once the audience has directionality, you can make the story more exciting and dramatic (and even "unpredictable"). They think things are going X direction, but something comes along that threatens that direction or even throws the characters off course and onto a new pathway, a new direction. Just like our (chocolate) waterfall hike. In any case, there should almost always be a sense of direction.

#writing tips and tricks #writing tips #writing help #writeblr #writing advice #writing reference #writing tip #writer #writing #fanfic

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hazshit-hotel-hater · 2 months

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Could you talk about the designs Viv makes? I don't see many posts talking about this and I wanted some design tips, I intend to post my own cartoon designs (I just don't know when) and I wanted some tips <⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠>

Hey hey!! Id love to talk about designs!

I actually answered this entire question and then uh…. Tumblr deleted my draft so let me try to redo all this lmao

Vivzie has a problem with bodytypes I’ve noticed. Almost all of her cast is insanely skinny and the only two “plus-size” characters I can think of are Millie and Mimzy. Meanwhile, Angel Dust, Vox, Stolas, & Alastor are a few very skinny characters I can think of off the top of my head.

For the best example, I’m going to be using Vox for now. Here is my Vox design next to his canon appearance

They don’t look too different right? This is still easily identifiable as Vox because his main characteristics are there; stupid little hat, tv head, thats about it.

My design also keeps elements of his suit with the stripes and shoulder pads, though in my design his body is a bit wider and his shoulders + waist make him look more commanding and intimidating while still maintaining a sense of professionalism. As for his canon design, he definitely looks sketchy, but he doesn’t really give me that commanding sense of popularity or authority that I feel an overlord should have, especially one with such a wide range of influence as Vox. His canon design looks top heavy and a little pathetic in that “he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone” way. Don’t get me wrong, a small waist can do wonders for a design, but when your designs start to look like… this

I think you might have a problem.

Now, I know I am nowhere near the best character designer in the world, but I have designed my fair share and I think I have enough experience to flatter myself a little.

This is a very simple design choice to make. Body types are probably some of the most intricate and interesting parts of a person in my opinion, and with a lineup like this where everyone looks more or lest the same from the torso down, it’s kind of a dead and sad looking cast, and not in the intended way.

I’m aware my designs are very detailed and wouldn’t be easy to animate with my style, but it’s very easy to draw extra body types with a style fit for TV.

Gravity Falls is a great example of stylised bodies and also using them to build personality. By looking at these characters you can generally tell what their base personality is probably like right? You can do the same thing to an extent with the Hazbin Cast, but all of their designs get muddled into the other. Can you even tell where half of these people are positioned in this screenshot

It’s so pink and red im going to start seeing green when I look away. There are so many colours, use them!!!! You can still slap a red overlay over it and make it “look like hell” or whatever, but you’re still gonna have more variety.

Here’s my body/fur references for Angel and Husk. They are almost entirely opposite to eachother but you can probably get an idea for how they are based on colour and shape. I recommend studying other TV shows and things like anime or movies to see how body types and colours impact character design, but general things I always think of are, like I’ve said, body type, personality, colour, and silhouette. Silhouette is a bit harder to pin since a character can have a very recognizable silhouette and still not be a good design, but honestly to me as long as you can tell which character is which from silhouette you’re good to go on that front.

- Generally just don’t reuse the same colour palette over and over (heres some of my hazbin colours)

- Give diversity in shapes when you can and when it benefits the design

- Try to show their personality through their clothes and pose

- Don’t be afraid to add little physical or personality details that other people might not notice, a good design should keep you interested in tiny details like that or surprise you later on

- Pay attention to what would and wouldn’t make sense (ex. A character that doesn’t like modern fashion wearing modern fashion)

Im not the best at explaining all of this but I hope you could grasp even just a tiny bit of an idea from this! At the end of the day as long as you’re having fun and not actively harming people with the designs then you should be good to go

#raimble #hazbin hotel #hazbin critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critical #anti vivziepop #hazbin hotel rework #hazbin hotel rewrite #hazbin hotel redesign #hazbin redesign #my art

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juminies · 4 months

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when it rains

storms and how to dance in them

♡ — jumin han x reader, 1500 words. happy valentines day!

♡ — dividers by @/cafekitsune

“Have you ever experienced a place like this during a thunderstorm?” Jumin had asked you two days ago. It was a passing question if anything, sitting on the tiny dock out back, hidden from the wandering eyes of old walls by an unkempt weeping willow. Your feet barely grazed the water below you—toes shallowly submerged in the cool of the lake accompanied by a shallow jealousy of Jumin’s requirement to roll up his slacks so as to not get the bottoms of them soaked.

“I haven’t. I’ve never experienced anywhere like this at all.” This is something he knew already, you’re sure. “Without you, at least.”

“Then perhaps you’ll witness it. Storms are relatively common around this time of year.”

You had pulled your legs up after that; carefully turned on the rough oak below you to throw wet feet over Jumin’s lap and wiggle your toes in a weak attempt to shake off the water. Jumin laughed and leaned in to kiss your forehead, easily ignoring the damp patches it left on his thighs.

He had simply not elaborated on why he’d ask such a thing in the first place.

The rain starts while you’re eating out. Tucked away in a cosy Michelin star place that Jumin had taught you how to properly pronounce the name of during the walk over, hands interlocked as he tapped the syllables against your thumb. One side of the restaurant half overlooks the lake through floor-to-ceiling windows and the clouds had seemingly come from nowhere, cloaking the sun as they did. As it turns out, however, the drizzle adds a pleasant atmosphere that makes your lunch feel more intimate even amongst the other diners’ soft chatter.

“I believe a Pinot Noir is an appropriate choice in both warmth and rain, no?” Jumin says as you scan the menu.

“Sure,” you hum. “You know I’ll always trust your judgement on wine. It’s sort of a shame about the weather, though.”

Jumin smiles, a sparkle in his eyes captured by the accent lighting. “It could snow for the rest of our trip and still I would rather be here with you than anywhere else.”

Both food and conversation are delightful as expected; so much so that the rain is resigned to nought but ambient noise or a light accompaniment to the live piano. You drink maybe one too many glasses of wine, maybe eat a little more than you had planned. Jumin even lets you pick his dessert for him when you can’t decide between two but insist it would be a waste to buy both just for yourself. You end up ordering a tiramisu alongside something with raspberry and chocolate—significantly sweeter—and you don’t quite manage to polish off both even between the pair of you.

There’s a shift in the atmosphere when you have to leave. You stare at the way dark clouds seem to roll ever closer as Jumin quickly converses with a staff member to inquire about getting his hands on an umbrella.

Your husband’s left hand is in yours and his right holding the newly acquired (very graciously borrowed) umbrella over the both of you as you start the walk back to the villa. His wedding ring is cool between your fingers as you lightly swing your connected hands with each step.

“Do you think the rain will slow anytime soon?” you ask. Jumin shifts the umbrella further over you, fully exposing his own shoulder to the elements. A few drops of rain stick strands of hair ruffled by the breeze to his skin.

“It’s difficult to say. It looks as though it should continue for a few hours at least,” he says.

It only picks up as you walk, and though the air stays warm you both decide after a little while longer that calling a taxi is more reasonable than walking the remaining thirty minutes.

“We’re going to have to run,” you tell Jumin as the car approaches the house.

Jumin chuckles in return—a deep, rich noise—and says, “I do have an umbrella.”

“We’re going to have to run,” you reiterate, and pluck the umbrella from his lap.

“I see. So we took a good man’s umbrella for nothing?” he says, a hint of playfulness in his tone.

“Of course not. We can leave it here for the next poor soul who gets caught in the rain.”

Jumin is enamoured by every word you speak. He smiles and it reaches his eyes in this pleasing little way that is reserved for when he looks at you. “Then it looks like we will have to run.”

And when you do it’s an intimate moment in its own way: the coveted Jumin Han and his wife hand in hand as they traverse a little winding path in the pouring rain. You both squeeze into the alcove the entrance is set into as he unlocks the door, water not quite sinking into your hair or clothes just yet but threatening, threatening.

No sooner than the front door is shut behind you Jumin finds himself being pulled through the hall to the glass doors that open out onto the back garden. Lightning flashes distantly.

“Dance with me,” you say, hand on the door.

“My love,” Jumin says. It’s just barely a warning.

A low rumble outside startles you and then keeps going, loud and disconcerting, and as you grip just that bit harder onto his arm Jumin grins. “The mountains function almost like a bowl surrounding us. The sound echoes.”

There’s a minute or so where you remain behind the glass, one hand on Jumin and the other on the door. You wait for another flash, and when it comes it’s just visible across the vast expansion of the lake. When the thunder booms again you look over to Jumin and find his eyes already fixed on you, as though he’s waiting for something.

“Dance with me,” you echo; words affectionate in a way the thunderstorm does not know how to reach nor infiltrate.

Jumin looks up at the clouds. The sun filters delicately through gaps in them and creates a stark contrast to the way the rain falls. “It would be irresponsible,” he says, but rests his hand over yours on the door handle.

“We’re already wet.” You lift his arm to illustrate your point and a well timed droplet falls from his sleeve.

“So this was part of your plan?” Jumin asks, an eyebrow raised in amusement.

You laugh and Jumin shakes his head. He drags the door open despite himself and water immediately finds you both, pattering against the tile in the entryway.

You dance in the rain the way you dance together in your front room late at night. Jumin had taught you basic ballroom steps properly years ago, but this– it’s this casual thing that’s reserved for each other’s company as opposed to a ball. Still methodical but less calculated and formal. It’s a step that’s exclusive to the two of you, one that falls naturally, one with more spins than are really necessary and little to no space between you where possible. The feel of Jumin’s fingers against the small of your back is all the more obvious through the wet fabric melded to your shape.

When you slow a ray of sun pours through the raindrops as clouds shift above you, and it rests so perfectly over Jumin’s face that you could almost believe it was a purposeful choice on the sky’s part.

If any artist, I am partial to sculptors, Jumin had once told you. You had been in a small, ornate gallery in France with V where Jumin, quietly admiring a marble statue, had seemed to fit in almost perfectly. That’s what he reminds you of now, too. His features could have been carefully crafted with a chisel—they’re bright and purposeful against a backdrop of messy grey. Beautiful. Untouchable.

Except you can touch him, and you do, swiping a strand of soaked hair away from his eye before draping your arms over his shoulders. A droplet of rain glistens as it runs down his nose and you laugh when it falls from the end.

“Whose idea was this?” Jumin asks.

“Mine.” You beam. Lightning flashes again somewhere over the mountains as Jumin runs his hands to the back of your thighs and lifts you to wrap your legs around his waist in one swift motion. The soaked fabric of your dress bunches strangely around your hips and yet you can’t find it in yourself to pay it much mind.

Jumin ducks his head and kisses your clavicle. “I am somewhat concerned,” he murmurs, then presses another kiss to your shoulder. “What if you catch a cold?”

“If that happens, it was your idea,” you say. He laughs against your neck, his breath hot on your skin.

Thunder rumbles again and the echo follows suit. When Jumin leans in to kiss your lips in the midst of it he still tastes like tiramisu and Pinot Noir. The latter does most definitely work well in both warmth and rain, you decide.

You sigh into his mouth and he grips your flesh a little tighter, wringing water out of your dress in tandem as if to prove a point.

“In that case I feel it’s only my duty to get you out of these wet clothes, is it not?”

#mystic messenger #jumin han #jumin x reader #I started this so long ago while reminiscing on my italy trip #finished it for vday #:')#annfic

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sharpth1ng · 6 days

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Do you have any tips for writing? Or you just go with the flow and hope for the best

I do have tips yeah, but keep in mind this is just how it works for me, there are probably lots of different approaches that are equally good.

My writing is pretty character driven so that drives a lot of my process.

When I'm writing I want to have a sense of how a character experiences the world, so I ask myself questions like this:

-Are they more cerebral, in their head? Or are they more sensory -How much tolerance do they have for bad things and feelings? -How do they react when something good happens? -Do they celebrate their wins or react with anxiety because winning adds pressure? -Are they embarrassed by compliments or do they take them well? If they're embarrassed do they get flustered or gruff? -Do their outward reactions match the way they feel inside? -Do they lie well? If they do is there anything they can't lie about? -What do they need to feel secure? -What calms them down? -What are their coping mechanisms? Make sure there are some bad ones (I mean that, imo a good character needs real flaws) -Do they speak directly about their feelings or do they talk around things

There's a lot more questions like that that you can ask yourself, and know the answers to those things makes it a lot easier to figure out how they would react to whatever you want to throw at them in the plot. Sometimes a character is going to be resistant to something you want to do and it's worth it to take the time (both IRL and in the plot) to figure out what that character needs to get them to a place where they're ready to react the way you need for the plot point.

Dialogue and Language

Another big thing for me is dialogue, as well as the language you use in general for describing things from a character's perspective. I'm not exactly sure out to describe this exactly, but I'll give an example. Stu uses a lot more casual and shortened language than Billy ('cause, gonna, sayin', ect.), and he's a lot more willing to use goofy slang than Billy is (dope, rad, the bomb).

Both of them use some movie language but Billy uses more- referring to his life plans and experiences as "the plot", referring to his field of view as "the shot", stuff like that.

Billy on the other hand uses slightly more formal, occasionally more dramatic language. He's less likely to use shortened words if he's not actively having sex, and when he swears he's more likely to say fuck than shit. He also refers to a lot more using critical language. Things are stupid, dumb, asinine, ect.

for both of them though I generally try to stick to more common language. Theres lots of fun words in the thesaurus, but if they don't sound like something a 19/20 year old dude would say I'm not going to try to find something else.

Plot

There are different kind of arcs to consider when you're figuring out pacing. For me I try to make sure chapters have an arc- I try to introduce an issue in the start, the characters navigate that through the chapter, and the tension rises toward the end until it comes to a head somehow. In my writing thats often a sex scene or a fight (or both).

I also try to consider the overarching plot. where do I want my characters to end up by the end of the story and what needs to happen to get them there? I don't like introducing plot elements out of nowhere, so I often try to mention things at least in an offhand way before they become important to the plot.

Practically the way I approach this is to figure out plot milestones. as an example for Debaser we start with a choking encounter that results in both of them having a sexual experience. That leads to an exploration of more power/painplay under the guise that it's not sexual, until they get to the point of having to admit that it sexual.

At that point its a slippery slope, especially after Maureens murder, which is a bonding experience. It sort of continues on that way, but they're all steps that move Billy into a place where he's more willing to let himself do what he actually wants.

I'm sure there's more I could say but this is the most useful advice I can think of right now. Basically know your characters! Know more about them than you think you'll need to to write the story, because you'll be shocked how much of it you can use to fill in blanks in a way that feels genuine.

I hope that helps!

#just sharp things #writing tips #debaser fanfic #ask

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rainofthetwilight · 1 month

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LEVI I WANNA GIVE YOU TRAMUA ABOUT ARIN

So, we all know that Arin is struggling to improve his spinjitzu and he feels useless and just wants his parents back.

…He feels jealous. And we know that he doesn’t have an elemental power according to Doc Wyatt.

And he will *probably* fight Sora if he finds out that Sora “helped” his Object Spinjitzu.

What I see from Arin is that he is slowly getting traumatized..

And I have multiple questions from where Arin’s arc is going.

My biggest question is, is the ninja holding Arin him back or his parents holding him back? I think it both.

Not to mention that there is so much foreshadowing to Arin’s arc.

And why do I imagine Arin is just trapped in like, a cage full of insecurities, or trauma? And I can imagine that he can’t get out of that cage.

Ras said that Arin is not improving since the first time they met, Egalt said that Arin is useless, Sora is improving and might be able to learn spinjitzu, and most importantly, Lloyd’s and Arin’s relationship is slowly falling apart like Wu and Morro.

My poor Arin is just having one HECK of a trauma here. And I swear to the Fsm if the writers gives Arin has even more trauma in season 2 part 2 than part 1 I will throw a chair.

But who knows…? Someone said that it was a cannon event that every sunshine character has an angst arc.

Sorry for making you insane, Levi I just wanted to share this idea with you just for fun.

And also, do you think that Arin is going through 5 stages of grief or..? Idk, I wanted to ask you and tell me what’s your thoughts on this.

AHDHAJDBJAJDJAJSNANA YEAH I'M. I'M NOT OKAY RN 👍👍👍

also absolutely do NOT apologize for making me insane I am literally loving these asks so much bro SHDJAJDJW 😭 I love analysing silly lil lego characters w/ you all <333

the thing about the foreshadowing is that it actually feels very intentional, like obv I know foreshadowing is pretty much always intentional but like..you get what I mean?

they are constantly reminding us how much of a great person arin is, in s1 especially. he's a good friend, he's kind, he trusts people quickly, always has that hope in him and so much more. something is definitely going to happen, even if the whole sora helping him thing didn't happen, he is going to be put through the wringer whether if he actually gets an evil arc or not

plus, he already is traumatized. loosing your parents and neighborhood all in one day while navigating an entire new world with so many new places and people on your own (at first) , while only being atleast 10 years old, is pretty traumatizing all in itself. but even after all of these years, he still had hope, he still had hope that his parents and heros could come back. and guess what? his heros did come back, and what did he exactly say again?

''if I loose hope the ninja could come back, then I loose hope that my parents could come back."

even after the ninja came back, his parents didn't. all these years he relied on his hope for the ninja to come back to bring his parents back aswell, but their whereabouts are still unknown. add that to the extreme pressure of saving the world from ending and the amount of self doubt he has, that's when the shell of his hope finally began to crack

in s1, the return of the ninja gave him even more hope than he had before. he was still excited and animated, and finally got his dreams to come true (becoming a ninja). the thought of his parents holding him back didn't plague him as much as now, because that hope in him was still there and it only grew stronger each adventure. but now, even after a long while since the ninja had came back, his parents were nowhere to be found. and that just hurts

dude the insecurities part AGHDJS...the weight of being a ninja was finally becoming heavy on his shoulder and that only added to his frustration and anger of not being good enough. he sees his friends around him improve, and be useful in a way, unlike how he had failed time and time again without achieving results. and with egalt calling him useless and ras constantly reminding him how he still hadn't improved, and he feels jealous even tho he doesn't want to, and it just made everything worse.

I'm also thinking abt how sora accidently reminded him of how he didn't imporve aswell, by saying "your spinjitzu is just as good as when I met you!". and even though she meant it in absolute good faith, that's just it to arin. that's it, he was still in the same level he was the first time, he didn't improve. and with how he got angry at her when she was only trying to cheer him up after what happened, I can't even imagine what would happen if the news of that spinjitzu throw help thing comes out

ALSO. ARIN GOING THROUGH THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF. DUDE NOW THAT I THINK ABT IT..

anon had also sent an ask abt this too!!!

so like, now that I actually think abt it, what if that hope was actually just a cover of his denial? the five stages as we all know are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance in that order. so like...what if that hope wasn't really hope, but instead a disguise for denial?

whenever the topic of his parents came up, especially in s1, he kept denying the fact they wouldn't come back. same with the ninja, he still believed they were out there

and now in s2, we see his self doubt and his trauma catch onto him. we saw how angry he was at himself, even to the point of shoving lloyd away when trying to comfort him and almost snapping at sora when she was trying to do the same. we don't see much of that 'hope' like in s1 anymore. it's much more..sadder, more angrier even

and with all this, he's most definitely going through them, now on the second stage. first in denial of his parents and the ninja not returning, and now anger at himself and the world for hating him like this

when I tell you I am so so excited to see what they do with arin's arc w/ all of this going on for his character I am not lying bro, I'm so insane AHDJSKDJJW 😭👍

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago spoilers #dragons rising spoilers #ninjago arin #levi's asks #ty for the ask!#levi's analysis #also sorry it took a while to answer these asks!! school's been kicking my ass 👍 (and final exams r in like 2/3 weeks 😭)

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wrestlezaynia · 2 months

Note

NSFW headcanon

zowens stuck in a unmoving car in the middle of nowhere in a stormm ,,,theyyy need to cuddle and stuff right to keep warm

"Stranded."

Synopsis: Sami and Kevin's car breaks down in the middle of a snowstorm. Will they be able to brave the elements until help arrives?

Warning: Must be 18+ to read under cut.

They're stranded in the middle of nowhere waiting for help to arrive. Due to hazardous weather conditions it's going to take thirty to forty five minutes before they're rescued. To make matters worse, the sun is beginning to set, causing the temperature to drop significantly.

As the snow continues its relentless downfall the pair sit huddled in the backseat, shivering, relying on each other's body heat for shelter. A sense of comfort washing over him as Sami lay nestled in his embrace. He missed the feeling of home Sami's arms provide, holding him close.

Snowflakes delicately collide with the window and despite the bitter cold, there's nowhere else he'd rather be as he gently brushes Sami's ginger curls aside to whisper in his ear. "I know how we can get warm."

A chill runs down Sami's spine, but it isn't because of the weather. His heart pounding as he looks over his shoulder, locking eyes with Kevin.

Kevin stares deeply into Sami's eyes, becoming lost in the soft honey hue. His hand reaching up to cup Sami's cheek before capturing his lips in a tender kiss, caressing his fingertips across his chiseled jaw.

Sami returns the kiss, emitting a contented sigh as he twists around to face him, pressing his body flush against Kevin's, eager for more.

A moan of approval erupts from Kevin's throat as Sami's slender frame melds with his own. Strong hands roaming over every inch leaving goosebumps, their tongues swirling hungrily in each other's mouths.

Eventually the kiss breaks, leaving both men gasping for air, their chests heaving in unison. "Just like old times." Sami remarks, a mischievous gleam emerging in his eyes as he reminisces on the past.

It's particularly cold in Québec, especially during winter months, so the pair often shared a bed not only as a means of saving money, but to also keep each other warm, which eventually lead to...other strenuous activities. "I remember the first time like it was yesterday." Kevin reflects fondly, an amused grin tugging at his lips. "You were so nervous you tripped over your own pants." He adds with a chuckle.

Sami bursts into a fit of laughter, surprised Kevin is able to remember that far back, back before they believed in fate and soulmates. "I've improved a lot since then." Sami counters, a seductive smirk on his face. "I'm a very tender lover." His voice taking a more sultry tone.

Kevin inhales sharply, feeling a tingle in his loins. "I'll be the judge of that." He whispers, dragging his thumb sensually over Sami's lips.

Sami's heartbeat begins to quicken as Kevin traces his lips. In an attempt to one-up his partner he slips Kevin's thumb into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it tantalizingly, never breaking eye contact.

Kevin swallows hard, watching Sami suck on his thumb intently, imagining his hot mouth on another part of his body as their lips collide in fiery passion. Hands tugging at Sami's shirt.

Sami smirks into the kiss, breaking away briefly to take off his shirt before helping Kevin remove his. Their eyes meet in a penetrating gaze as Sami lays down, raising his hips in order to slide off his pants.

Kevin's breath hitches as soon as he realizes Sami isn't wearing any underwear, his cock hard and standing at attention. The mere sight making his own manhood throb with anticipation. "Fuck, Sami."

Sami can feel the heat rise to his cheeks as Kevin's eyes bore into him, heavy-lidded and filled with lust. "Tout pour toi, mon amour." He replies in a hushed whisper, heart beating fast. "I'm yours, Kev."

A hush falls over the car, not a sound could be heard aside from the rhythmic thumping of their hearts. Kevin's eyes fixed firmly on Sami as he proceeds to peel off his own pants. "And I'm yours," he whispers back, tucking a strand of crimson behind Sami's ear. "Pour toujours."

The intensity between them ignited when Sami places a hand atop Kevin's, his hazel eyes aflame with desire as he guides Kevin closer.

They kiss soft and deep while Kevin positions himself between Sami's legs as he gradually eases his cock inside Sami's tight hole, eliciting a hiss from the redhead. "Are you okay?" Kevin asks, concern in his eyes.

Sami forces a smile despite how excruciating the pain is, not wanting to make Kevin worry. "Yeah, go slow." He coaxes gently.

Kevin obeys, starting to move in a steady pace, watching Sami's face contort in pleasure as he raises his hips in time with Kevin's thrusts, finding a perfect rhythm. "I miss you Sami, I miss us." Kevin breathes, pressing their foreheads together. "I can't stand being away from you."

Sami can feel his emotions stir as he meets Kevin's gaze. He loved the softer, more gentle side of Kevin, the side only he was allowed to see. "Then don't." Sami breathlessly replies, reaching up to fondle his cheek. "Marry me, Kev." He proposes, his voice barely above a whisper.

Kevin halts his actions, looking Sami dead in the eye. "What did you say?" He asks, his heart skipping a beat, trying to process everything.

Before Sami has time to explain, there's a loud knock at the driver side door, startling them both. "Shit!" Kevin exclaims, pulling on his pants and throwing on a winter jacket. The car is covered in snow, making it impossible to see outside. Had it been forty five minutes already? I guess it's true what they say: "Time flies when you're having fun."

Tagging: @loki69zowens Thanks for the request, bestie! @wrestlingdespairings, @domripley, @sizzlingavenuestrawberry, @cawcawmotherfker, @thewanderer-000, @darby--allin, @existwithpride, @mexxs-blog, @daddywrasslin, @smileceldaru, @fishgutsblog, @kayfabebabe, @racerchix21, @unintentionaloracle, @low-x-battery, @stardust181, @coloursflyaway, @riveliciousx, @kevinsteen, @pikapuff-316, @kristalynn94, @eleanor24, @wrestlingprincess80, @go-beatrizaf-blog, @anothersabah and @himbos-hotline. Thank you for reading! 😊 Stay tuned for the sequel!

#Zowens #Sami Zayn #Kevin Owens #Request #NSFW.

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vashtijoy · 1 year

Text

Today I want to rant at length about highlight a plot-relevant but otherwise rather dry line from Shido's Palace, simply because it's been living rent-free in my head for days and I'll die if I don't.

And up front I want to say: this is not intended as translator bashing, shit like this is rarely on the translator, though I will possibly get a little aerated at times. More about that at the end.

This is really long, and probably very boring. So to summarise quickly:

Ooe's "diplomat" and "president of some company" are the Minister for Transport and the railway company president from the 4/10 cinematic with Sae and the SIU director;

Shido wasn't "specially appointed", he's the Minister of State for Special Missions, likely with oversight for either the PTs or the psychotic breakdowns;

being a pro translator sucks;

something about a well.

my least favourite line so far

Shadow Politician 春先に地下鉄事故があっただろう?狙ったのは、あの運転士だからな。 harusaki ni chikatetsu jiko ga atta darou? neratta no wa, ano untenshu da kara na Do you recall the subway accident early last spring? The one I had targeted was that engineer.

nb—this "engineer" is the train driver. I didn't get this at all, but apparently train drivers are called engineers in the US? This is a good example of how something you think is a mistranslation may not be.

There is an occasion where the guy is referred to as a "driver", but this is actually 車掌 shashou—in Japanese, a conductor in the British sense, the member of staff who is not the driver, but walks up and down checking tickets. This is meant to hint to us, I suspect, that the NPC saying this may not be a reliable source—he's making some spooky claims, after all. Yet again, in America, the conductor can be the driver of the train...? IDK, confusion abounds.

But on to the important bit:

Shadow Politician 目障りな国交大臣と、現政権派の社長のクビを取るためだった。mezawarina kokkou daijin to, genseiken-ha no shachou no kubi o toru tame datta It was to take out the president of some company and a diplomat who sided with current government.

Full disclosure: I have never liked this line. It screamed of being mistranslated. "The president of some company"? Ooe had this guy destroyed, and he can't be specific? And "a diplomat"? This has come from nowhere—I can't think of another diplomat in P5. It just all seems so random. And it is random. Because this was meant to close up a background plot element from the start of the game, and it just... doesn't any more.

So, for this one, I'm just going to break out the big red DENIED stamp again:

The hell of it all is that I can see what they did here, so I'm going to go through it at excessive length, as like... an object lesson in what not to do. Not just for you, but for me.

And I need to be clear up front that I'm not an authoritative source on the Japanese language. I'm not fluent, my Japanese is barely passable (which is why asks, comments and discussion on my language posts are all always super welcome, btw, just like for everything else I post). I'm just a weeb on the Internet, who constantly posts assertions and theories that future me will hate. Bring your salt shaker.

Quick glimpse behind the curtain: this is from my Google doc for Shido's Palace. You have the textbox code, the speaker, then the text in Japanese, romaji and the localisation. Usually these days I don't add the romaji (it's not good for your reading), but lines that go into posts get it temporarily.

Words I don't know, or had to verify (like shachou, where I wanted to know if it was always a company president or if it could be a role within a political faction), or lore/grammar notes, all get comments, which are highlighted in yellow.

the peril of dictionaries

I'm bilingual English/Welsh-speaking; until I was fifteen, I was educated through the medium of Welsh. So I got taught very early on about the correct use of dictionaries. The exact example I remember is that a past pupil (probably apocryphal) wanted to put "Well, Dad was angry!" into Welsh. And they had looked up "well"....

ffynnon, roedd Dad yn grac! Well, Dad was angry!

This is a ffynnon:

It's a funny story. The point is that you should always flip to the other half of the dictionary to verify the meaning you found. Or these days, with the Internet and all, we get to check multiple dictionaries, corpuses and sources! And a riotously good time it is.

part one: who was that mysterious diplomat

The main phrase I want to focus on is 国交大臣 kokkou daijin. This is what has been rendered "a diplomat" in the localisation. On first glance, that's a string of kanji I don't know: country, the right-hand side of the second half of 学校 gakkou (school), something about a big man... is that read daijin?...

Maybe it's a yojijukugo—a fixed four-kanji phrase with an often-idiomatic meaning? Let's put the whole thing into Jisho and see what we get.

(Incidentally, I bash Jisho constantly, but it's still my first stop because it's fast and often good enough. You just shouldn't rely on it for anything critical; trust, but verify.)

Well, there's no yojijukugo. But one glance at that tells us that Ooe's "diplomat" is not a diplomat at all. Ooe's "diplomat" is the Minister for Transport who was brought down as a result of this subway crash in April. You might have thought Shido had this guy taken out, but no. He did it for Ooe. He crashed a subway train, injuring 80 people, as nothing but a favour to Ooe.

But why is it using kokkou, "diplomatic relations"? Well, Jisho gives us a convenient "see also" link. Let's take a look:

You see what they did there? The full phrase is 国土交通相 kokudo koutsuu-shou, "Minister for (National) Land and Transport". But nobody wants to say that. So you strike out some of the kanji. The word becomes kokkoushou—but everyone still knows who you mean.

Let's do a bit of that verification I mentioned. Here's Wikipedia:

HmmMM. Notice how the Minister and the Ministry are read the same; only the last kanji changes. But we're still on track.

Let's click over to Japanese Wikipedia. What do they have to say?

And there it is again, highlighted: our old friend 国交 kokkou, "diplomatic relations". "In Japanese, this is commonly abbreviated as kokkoushou".

daijin

How about 大臣 daijin? It looks like it just means "big man" or "important man", but what does it actually mean? Again, let's start with Jisho:

... B|

Jisho offers us a bunch of "further reference" links, so I'm going to go straight to Japanese Wikipedia for this one—which sends you to an old revision of the page, by the way; be sure to go to the latest one:

大臣（だいじん）は、本来は皇帝や国王などを輔弼して国政を司る重要官職だが、今日では一般的に君主制か共和制かにかかわらず、政府を構成し、各行政部門の長に位置する官職を指す。閣僚ともいう。 Historically, 大臣 daijin referred to the high position of those responsible for matters of state, who advised emperors and kings on those matters. However, today it generally refers, regardless of whether the government in question is a monarchy or republic, to an official who leads a division of government.

... ... B|

In other words, a cabinet minister. Seems to sum it up pretty well, but let's just look at the invaluable ALC corpus on this:

So we have it. A daijin is unquestionably a cabinet minister. And Ooe is unquestionably talking about the Minister for Transport.

last-minute edit: I actually wrote this entire post, preened for completing it, then closed it in my drafts and forgot all about it. Until I opened my grammar text to a random page and found this:

EVEN MY GRAMMAR BOOK KNOWS.

Actual grammar books are a bit obsolete in 2023, but that is a great one if you're in the market. Just don't get the Kindle edition, it's illegible on Kindle which is probably not what you want.

Incidentally, yes, a Diet member is sensei—you can often hear people refer to Shido that way.

but we can also backreference this one

Another cool thing we can do is get context-relevant examples. That is, we can search the P5 script itself to see how it uses daijin and kokkou daijin.

Two lines use kokkou daijin. One is this line of Ooe's. The other is a news story, which gets it right:

Newscaster 国交大臣の辞任に伴い、与党への批判が高まっており⋯ kokkou daijin no jinin ni tomanai, yotou e no hihan ga takamatte ori... Criticism of the ruling party has surged, following the resignation of the Minister of Transport.

But people talk about the Minister quite a bit. What phrases do they use? Well, sometimes he's simply the daijin—"the Minister"; this usually becomes "Minister of Transport" for context. Sometimes he's the kokkoushou, as we discussed above. And often, on the news, he gets his full title—he's the kokudo koutsuu daijin.

Usually, daijin by itself in P5 is part of 総理大臣 souri daijin—the prime minister.

meanwhile in shidoland

In passing, the MoT is not the only one who gets translated out of the script. You might remember from the calling card cinematic that Shido is the "Minister of State for Special Missions".

Makoto tries to tell us this at one point:

Makoto 特命担当大臣現職の閣僚よ tokumei tantou daijin genshoku no kanryou yo He was specially appointed to the position. That's his current title. He's the current Minister of State for Special Missions.

(What is that, exactly? I'm not gonna do a huge research effort on this one right now, this post is already longer than the Nile and dry as sand, but they appear to be appointed to deal with things that are a big deal—the link gives you examples of some of the issues they've been appointed for. It's not inconceivable that Shido was appointed to the Cabinet to deal with the national crisis of psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns that he started. Either that, or the PTs themselves—he does talk about them an awful lot.)

and that's not all

There is, of course, a real Japanese Minister for Transport. We can put kokkou daijin into Google (with a little は on the end to filter Chinese-language sites), and what do we get back? The first hit is the Wikipedia page for the Minister for Transport.

My guess would be that the translator knew the word kokkou, but they didn't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Japanese politics. So they read kokkou daijin as some kind of important diplomat.

part two: in which we invent time travel

And that was only the first of the two things that made me hate my life about that textbox. Let's bring the line back:

The second thing that got under my skin was this:

現政権派の社長 genseiken-ha no shachou

This means, in the terms of the localisation, "a company president who sided with current government". But... what is even going on here?

In Japanese, modifiers go before the things they modify, right? Like ... always. I'm going to cite the slightly-tongue-in-cheek but also inestimable Jay Rubin (probably best known as Haruki Murakami's English translator) on this:

... by about the middle of the seventh century, the Emperor, who still wielded actual power then, made a rule, maybe the one rule that really works in the language and never gets broken: “From this day forward, subjects will always come before their verbs. And, just to keep things neat, modifiers will always come before what they modify.” Never in all these centuries have there been any exceptions—at least not in normal syntax....

Shōmetsu shita zō is “The elephant that vanished”—a fragment, just a noun with a modifier in front of it. By putting it before the zō, we’ve changed the shōmetsu shita into a modifier. I’m going to go way out on a limb here and call anything that modifies a noun an adjective. Shōmetsu shita zō (literally, “vanished elephant”) works exactly the same way as utsukushii zō (“beautiful elephant”).

(That's from the book "Making Sense of Japanese", by the way, which y'all should totally read if you can find a copy. It's one of Kodansha's little books, which are all worth at least a glance; they published tons of them, with titles like "All About Particles" and "How To Sound Intelligent In Japanese" and etc etc etc.)

back to our sentence

So how is this translation breaking that rule? Let's look at it again, with the problematic parts bolded:

目障りな国交大臣と、現政権派の社長のクビを取るためだった。mezawarina kokkou daijin to, genseiken-ha no shachou no kubi o toru tame datta It was to take out the president of some company and a diplomat who sided with current government.

現政権派 genseiken-ha is the current government; the current administration. No problems there. It's just in the wrong place.

kokkou daijin, we established, is the localisation's "diplomat". genseiken-ha no translates as "aligned with the current government". But genseiken-ha is after kokkou daijin. It cannot be modifying it. It can't have been taken for a relative clause—what Jay Rubin framed as an adjective in the quote up there—because we still have the two people the sentence describes, the "diplomat" and the businessman; the sentence has not been read as talking about a diplomat who is also a government-boosting company president.

We should have, literally, "an eyesore of a minister for transport" and "a company president who sides with current government". But we just... don't.

Is it possible it doesn't make sense that a company president would be aligned with the government? Has the sentence been rearranged for that reason? But this is essentially what Okumura does: he's a company boss aligned with a powerful politician. So are the TV and IT Execs whose shadows we meet, for that matter. They are not in politics themselves, but they network with politicians. Big business and politics are always hand-in-hand.

All of this gives us the following working version of the translation:

It was to take down that intolerable Minister of Transport and a company president who supported the government.

And on that note....

who is that mysterious company president

"the president of some company", the localisation says. This seems a bit vagued up. Are there any company presidents we should be aware of here?

The answer is yes:

On 4/10, in the cinematic after the crash, the SIU Director talks at length about how this is the fault of "the company and the government". Of course he does—he knows very well what's happened, and he knows where the blame is to be assigned:

SIU Director: It's less of an operating accident and more of a crime of the company and the government. SIU Director: Site inspectors apparently reported all of this six months ago—the deterioration of the tracks and the ATC.

And the last two lines in full, since they diverge:

SIU Director それを会社が隠ぺい…国交省も故意に見逃したフツがある。 sore o kaisha ga inpei... kokkoushou mo koi ni minogashita futsu ga aru Seems the railway company and the Ministry of Transport both turned a blind eye to the truth. So the railway company covered it up... and the Ministry of Transport did what they do best: they turned a blind eye to it..

This is just a slight difference in emphasis: the railway company allegedly performed a deliberate coverup, and it was the Ministry that did their normal thing, and chose to overlook that coverup....

But note that "railway company" here is just 会社 kaisha, "company". Originally, it was obvious from context; the localisation clarifies it. But when Ooe later mentions a 社交 shachou, a "company president", in the same obvious-from-context way, it has not been picked up on—our very personal railway company president has become "the president of some company". Who was important enough for Ooe to personally destroy, but not important enough for him to remember where he worked.

SIU Director 隠し通せんよ。大臣の進退まで行くだろう。 kakushitoosen yo. daijin no shintai made iku darou There's no way they can hide. This will go all the way to the top. They can't keep this hushed up forever. By the end of this, the transport minister's job will be on the line.

... but here's the first real appearance of the Minister for Transport, with the SIU Director—who, again let's not forget, knows this crash was engineered in part to get that minister—not just saying this incident will "go all the way to the top", but that it will specifically end with them coming for the minister's job.

where did we come from, where did we go

Where does that leave us with the sentence?

It was to take out the president of some company and a diplomat who sided with current government. It was to take down that intolerable Minister of Transport, and the president of the railway company. He supported the government, after all.

We've broken that little genseiken-ha out into its own little explaining sentence, since it's hard to phrase as one sentence in natural English. And now you know.

btw, leave the translators alone

Look, this is far from the best translation I've ever seen. We should be mad about this, right? Well... no.

As a hobbyist, I have the luxury of focusing on a single fandom, spending hours, days, or weeks thinking about single scenes, researching context, language and concepts, confirming I've understood things to the best of my ability. Your average animanga/JRPG translator is not being paid well enough, or given nearly enough time, to do this. They cannot be expected to do this.

This is not, not, NOT on the translator. Read that ten times. We are supposed to go from our second language to our native tongue; that's how translation works best. So there will always be areas of confusion like this, things that need clarification and research. Japanese media translation requires a vast knowledge of differently arcane terms depending on the work; nobody will know them all.

Who is this on? It's on Atlus, for skimping on and rushing not only the translation but the editing; they did the English localisation of a massive property on the cheap. Something like this should have been caught by the editor, but honestly P5's editing (including the way things are finalised in English, and the overall polishing of the script) tends to come in for more criticism than the translation per se.

tl;dr: blame the company, not the poor translator who was most likely just one of us trying to make a shitty living with something they love, and a skill they worked their ass off for.

#persona 5 #p5 meta #japanese language #translation #long post #very long #very boring #you have been warned

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the-teddy-bear-butch · 2 years

Text

Alright gay people. Be prepared to lose your shit:

Ronance Lemonade Mouth AU

Nancy is Stella!!! Because I said so!!! Nancy deserves a rebel era and I can so see her being upset about the arts funding being cut for sports, including journalism. Electric guitar player Nancy my beloved >>>

Robin is Olivia, the shy, socially awkward songwriter and singer!!! Going to have her living with Steve as opposed to a grandma or something, but keeping the cat (who ironically in the movie is named Nancy). Might keep the her dad is in prison part? Undecided on how I’m translating Olivia’s background to Robin.

Speaking of Steve, he gets to be Charlie, the drummer! Keeping the pretty hair and parental pressure, but instead of wanting him to go to Stanford or play soccer, his dad wants him to join the insurance firm.

Eddie is Wen because Stella/Wen friendship > Nancy/Eddie besties ofc. Rather than coming in with rap, he adds amazing guitar riffs and heavy metal elements to the band’s sound. His family trouble involves settling in with Wayne, rather than dealing with a new stepmom.

And Mo was hard to decide, but!!! Our own Chrissy Cunningham. Her mom puts so much pressure on her to be the perfect daughter and Mo’s relationship with the one guy translates far too well to Chrissy’s relationship with Jason. Chrissy bass player arc omfg.

The rival band includes Jason, Billy (the one shitty guy who always starts drama), Tommy H, and Lucas (mirroring the basketball team here). Lucas tries to settle the drama throughout the AU.

The story begins when everyone gets detention. Robin and Chrissy were skipping class, Nancy blew up at someone about a news segment. Eddie got mad at a teacher, and Steve hit someone with a basketball (on accident).

The music teacher is Joyce and she leaves them all alone and that goofy little music moment happens and they all sing together.

Instead of Mel’s Lemonade, hear me out: Argyle’s Lemonade.

Robin has severe stage fright, but the band helps her get through it, especially Nancy. She and Steve live together. Eddie is often over to help with lyrics. She has an old ass cat that’s the last thing she has of her mother, just like Olivia.

Nancy gets to be rebellious in this fic. Her dad thinks she should just settle for a white picket fence (when he bothers to pay attention to her at all), her mom doesn’t really fight it, so Nancy rebels. She’s also getting the school newspaper together after the funding cut. Tell me this girl isn’t the kind to protest lack of free speech and the removal of the lemonade machine.

Eddie was only just sent to Wayne. It’s supposed to be temporary. In the same way Wen gets used to his stepmom, Eddie has to get used to Wayne and they do eventually grow closer. The scene where it’s revealed that Wen’s stepmom is moving in is instead Eddie arriving home to all of his belongings there in boxes and his parents nowhere to be seen—his stay is suddenly much more permanent.

Steve’s dad wants him to be an athlete (basketball) and join the insurance firm, but Steve just doesn’t want that. He quits basketball for the band and there’s some family struggle.

Rethinking the living situation, I may have Robin and Steve move in together partway through the story as opposed to the beginning, but I’m unsure where that leaves Robin. Her background is the hardest to work out.

Chrissy learns to stand on her own, gets away from her mom’s expectations, and sees Jason as the manipulative shitheel he is. Naturally she falls for one of the band’s biggest fans: Vickie.

Dustin plays the role of the AV kid that helps the band throughout the movie. He shows Nancy around in the beginning, explains the budget cut, and he makes the first vinyls for the band.

Nancy gets to rock Billy’s shit because I said so.

In the end scene, it’s Max and Lucas who save the day. Lucas leaves the rival band to help Lemonade Mouth out, Max is the first person in the crowd to start singing.

Steddie is established already. Ronance is the focus. Any of the Wen/Olivia scenes will be Ronance instead because I said so. Rumors circulate that Eddie and Robin are dating because Steddie keeps quiet and Robin isn’t out and the whole band finds it hilarious.

#lemonade mouth ronance #ronance #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #robin x nancy #nancy x robin #chrissy cunningham #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #lemonade mouth #this movie is bomb #best dcom actually #that’s just objective fact

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nihility-zel · 1 month

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It doesn't matter. Not really.

“It’s all pointless. Nothing matters, so I’m just going to do whatever I want! We’ll all die anyway, so who cares?”

— ZEL

An eccentric young man who appeared from nowhere. He is either seen laughing or crying, lamenting about the fact that there is no meaning to the universe or embracing it. His moods swing and vary drastically, and why he is like this, and how he came to be, is entirely unknown. He tends to show up at the most inopportune moments, and enjoys speaking to the Masked Fools.

AGE: ???

SPECIES: ???

PRONOUNS: He, it, they.

FACTIONS: N/A???

PATH: The Nihility.

ELEMENT: Ice.

— NOTES ABOUT THE CHARACTER

THIS is his lore doc! Includes character descriptions, stories, voice lines, and more!

Zel tends to change the way that he acts depending on who he's talking with. He has a multitude of identity issues and finds that since nothing matters, neither does the person that he truly is. He's lost himself.

Zel is unlabeled and single, without much desire to find a partner.

Zel will generally either not react or laugh when aggression is directed towards him. He is usually more happy than he is hopeless, so he will most likely joke around and make humour of serious topics. He prefers to laugh rather than cry, yet, he is constantly aware of the fact that his own existence has no meaning and that is able to bring his mood down if he ends up expanding on his thought process.

Zel has no surviving family… or at least, that is what he says.

Zel is incredibly out of touch with his own emotions, despite feeling them vividly and deeply. He prefers to ignore them after he has to “go through the motions of experiencing them”, but this is actually just a poor coping mechanism. He only knows sadness or joy, and anything that isn’t one of those two things is usually pushed away into the back of his mind.

Zel enjoys pissing other people off and playing pranks on them, singing about the idea of death with a cheery tone. He loves nothing more than talking to people and making them question themselves. He is not necessarily malicious, but what he says can end up being incredibly mean as he has a rather pessimistic outlook on life.

— TAGGING SYSTEM

a touch of ice . ❄️ | for in-character posts & reblogs.

a useless thought . 🎐 | for random thoughts

meaninglessness . 🌑 | answering asks

call of the void . ⚫ | for interactions with other nihility characters!

a familiar face? . 🩹 | for interactions with canon characters

beyond the stars . ♬ | for interactions with ocs

she walked the path . 💫 | for mentions/interactions with acheron

philosophies of the end . ⭐ | for interactions with aventurine

whiskey on the rocks? . 🥃 | for starters and writing bits.

beyond my words . ✒ | ooc!

— NOTES FROM THE MOD

Art credits to @ hthwm on lofter !

I am a minor!

I use they/them prns.

No NSFW. I will toss you into a wall.

PLEASE LET ME INTERACT WITH YOUR OCS

I am incredibly normal

I don’t bite, if you wanna rp a specific situation you’re free to!

I sometimes get wordy with my replies. Author stuff 😔- no pressure to match my energy!

I respond quickly most of the time. Yes, I’m chronically online. Help.

I love interacting with anybody. Feel free to send shit into the inbox!

NO FLIRTING WITH ME I AM TAKEN THANKS GUYS THOUGH!

Will add onto this later.

I mod @yingchens-writings , @dreamingmachinery & @robbery-dollie so the format isn't stolen!

If you want to use my format, PLEASE ASK FIRST.

#hsr #honkai star rail #hsr oc #oc #honkai star rail oc #rp #oc rp #oc rpg #oc rp blog #hsr rp #honkai star rail rp #honkai star rail roleplay #hsr roleplay #hsr ocs

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coelacat · 17 days

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I am very intrigued by adam harding and stu sullivan please share a crumb of their lore🙏

hehe hi 👋

okay okay ill finally gush abt them

also i should warn that some fucked shit!! happens to these characters. dont read my lore about them if abuse/rape/substance abuse/bigotry isnt stuff you wanna see. anything under the cut is just a brief mention, but its there

so most of my ocs (the guys with relatively normal names, anyone named like. blade or some fantasy name ignore them for now) are a set of young adults in the 80s in small town midwest USA (some town in iowa, probably) (if any of this sounds familiar to anyone keep it to urself :)). i wanna cover their struggles with highschool, struggling with transitional periods, and then growing into adulthood. im debating if i wanna add and supernatural/scifi elements of have it focus on their relationships and internal struggles mostly, but those are minor details for later on down the road

adam!! hes like. My Main Guy. the one i ended up making this whole lil universe for. bold that i created all of this for him basically and i still named him after adam from the bible, yet it gives me a complex i deeply enjoy so i do it anyway. i am a god who created the world for man, not man for the world.

most of these characters play off 80s media stereotypes and expand on them, and i think adam is like. the most blatant example of this. you know that movie from the 80s-90s you last watched that had a misogynistic metalhead who pulled chicks because he viewed them as objects to win, loved his car, and was angry and violent most of the time, while people who were scared of him vaguely assumed he was satanic in some way? thats adam harding. bleached blonde hair done in a perm mullet, a shitty stache hes convinced makes him look mature, sad brown eyes, leather jackets, and steel toed boots, with tattoos to really top it all off.

semi repressed devout christian faggot who struggles with his own sexuality and identity. hes got daddy issues AND mommy issues (though his mommy issues are much more prominent) and an abusive and neglectful home life, he has to adapt to having a sister after being an only child his whole life, and he has to adjust to a move half way across the country, from southern california to the middle of nowhere hick iowa. as a result, hes quick to anger, never lets his guard down unless around other queers, but ultimately he wants to be good. he was told to be good by his mother, its been ingrained in him from a young age to be nice and do good things. its just unfortunate that his environment allows for that as little as possible. when he has the patience and energy, hes often a lot gentler, but its rare for him to not be running on fumes and a bit of nicotine.

his hobbies include chasing milfs and cougars, working on his car, working out, surfing, blaring Dio as loud as humanly possible, chainsmoking, basketball and wrestling. keep those last two in mind.

on the other hand, stewie "stu" sullivan is the star example of what a highschool student should be. athletically, hes the top of the school, hes got pretty hair and a handsome face, a kind of preppy style, and girls go wild over him. soft brunet hair, sweet freckles occasionally dotting his skin, and lovesick hazel eyes. hes even a total sweetheart who usually treats his girlfriends really well. his only downsides are his mild stupidity, petty mean streak, his shitty guard dog entourage, and his twin brother, kurtis.

stu comes from an upper middle class home, and hes got high expectations set on him. hes consistently been great on whatever local sports team hes been a part of, and the success of his whole future rests on his shoulders to continue doing well. he'll have a free ticket to college, if only he can stay the top of his school, athletically. in terms of popularity, hes pretty slow to give up that as well.

you can probably guess that having the constant pressure to be perfect from his parents creates a lot of friction, however, hes always been seen as the "good" of the two twins. he cant really rebel in any meaningful way, as the expectations placed on him keep him locked in place of being well mannered with adults. towards other students, however, stu will happily pick some fights to blow off steam. its usually with the teens that dont fight back, of course, and its usually only a couple petty insults and a half hearted shove. one affected girl thought that she mightve seen remorse in his expression when he walked away. she was written off as being down bad for him.

oh, right. remember those hobbies of adams i asked you to keep in mind? basketball and wrestling?

yeag .... that might be because stu is the top of the team for wrestling and basketball, and is constantly regarded as the schools mvp.

you can imagine how easily theyd hate each other. theyre both hormonal teenagers who are angry all the time and feel insanely guilty about being angry so they only get angrier and now theyre both challenging each others masculinity. adam very quickly comes for the top spot in the sports stu is good at, so they end up beefing with each other fast and hard. its a constant cock measuring contest with them, and they frequently bloody each others noses.

this sorta fued carries on, and they make no real progress with each other for like 6 months, until adam meets eve, a mysterious newcomer to the town who refuses to say much about herself. shes very obviously queer, and he latches onto her almost immediately as a result of that, and verious other reasons. eventually, eve will coax out adams queerness and he'll be a little more comfortable with himself and end up realizing "fuckkkkkj dude ive got a crush on that prettyboy whos blood ive tasted!!". stu will eventually be coaxed into realizing himself and fixing some of his issues as well as they get older, though all that stuff is a lot more vague in my mind at the moment.

the post i rbed from you tagging as them, id imagine is after adam meets eve, and starts spreading his faggot agenda to stu, but before either of them are fully comfortable with the fact that theyre into men.

stu will eventually have some gender fuckery going on too, but like. thats complicated and i wanna wait and explore that once i have a more comfortable grasp on his character.

if you want a voice claim for adam, i particularly like Randy from Idle Hands (1999) for him? i still gotta nail down voice claims for most other characters though. sorry that adams my favorite

#oc: adam harding #oc: stu sullivan #theres still a lot of work to be done on my ocs #any of this is subject to change at literally any moment and stu's character is VERY heavily a wip #way more than adams #feel free to dm me or send more asks if you wanna know more!! theres plenty ive left out of this post just for times sake #i could go on for hours about my ideas for all these guys #a little misc detail i think you personally would enjoy about stu #is hes got that 80s movie popular boy pet jock that he keeps around #whos just there to suck his dick basically #his name is tommy :)

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georgieluz · 9 months

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hi ive just seen that you assigned your friends pacific characters could you do the same with band of brothers characters

thx

that i can! this went slightly off the rails, so apologies if it's a mess, i cannot be trusted

@footprintsinthesxnd → a mix between winters and doc roe!! safe space avenue is your address 🤍 however!! you're not escaping the shifty element bc there's definitely some shifty in there too!!

@im-chinese-believe-it-or-not → lipton and buck!! bc you have all of lip's kind and caring tendencies but you're also fun like buck (pre-the-breaking-point) and you're genuinely so loved within the fandom, so yup, lip with some buck mixed in!

@theflyingfin → buck compton and doc roe!! sorry i've given you the characters who suffer again i swear it's not intentional but i feel like you and doc roe would have similar reactions/thought processes and i feel like buck is both fun and serious

@lamialamia → a hoobler and tab combo for sure!! this makes so much sense to me in my brain and i love it!!

@lewis-winters → a harry welsh and lewis nixon combination!! i feel like i need to add an element of chuck grant in there too though!

@hellofanidea → the rare nixon x winters type!! seemingly contradictory but actually not! smart and slightly chaotic like nix but with winters' awareness of himself and others around him!!

@blvestxr → i'm assigning you your man alton more!! keep pushing the alton agenda!! i do think you have similar vibes though even if he wasn't your fave! i'm giving you a bit of penkala as well though!

@hxad-ovxr-hxart → babe and winters combination!!

@ep6bastogne → skip muck vibes for sure!!! i could definitely imagine him on the internet in 2023 posting exactly like you fasdkljhf but i'm chucking in some babe as well for the chaos of it all!

@trenchenjoyer → malarkey but some muck as well and maybe some webster too? but just a tiny smidge to balance things out a bit

@cchickki → joe toye!!

@thewayisset → winters mixed with webster (super skilful like winters and creatively minded like web)

@liptonwashere → a mix of lip and muck!! bc you seem really lovely but i also feel like you could drop a witty quip out of nowhere too! also a bit of webster because your edits are so aesthetic and it just gives web vibes. but yeah, you get a neat little trio hybrid, go you!

@sir-mr-dr-roe → doc roe but with a little bit of miller mixed in!

@just-beyond-ecoust → liebgott with a side of harry for silly but smart purposes!

#i feel like i went way off assignment here #and basically just started creating hybrids everywhere #but it's fine #we're ok #it's not my fault #mutuals #julian's inbox

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chaifootsteps · 9 months

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2/2 - I am still confused about Blitz and Fizz's relationship? Are they siblings? Foster-siblings? Adopted siblings? Friends? Ex-coworkers? - Because it's really creepy that Blitz said to Fizz "I wanna make out' or some variation of it to someone who he grew up with and considered close like a sibling? (Another incest joke yay j/) - Because of the lack of Millie and Moxxie in this episode I have a suspicion that the next episode with the Ghost is going to touch on the whole 'Millie is going to be coerced into s*icide' thing to give them some edge, because lord knows Viv can't write good character relationships without putting the threat of death there, there's a million different ways to show and tell that a character has something to lose, Viv does not understand that because she has the mentality of a 15 year old who still - at her big age - still see's her OC's as an AMV to a Nightcore version of Angel with a Shotgun - What the fuck was the 'Burger time' thing? That came from nowhere and added nothing Here's a little tip if Viv is reading this - If in your story, there is a shotgun mentioned in the first few lines of dialogue, by the end of the episode you better fire it - That is how you set up a follow-through on story ideas, planning and using plot elements, not the scrambled mess of 'Oh! I'll add it later when I eventually remember it exists!' that she's been pulling off, otherwise, people will not be able to follow up on your 'lore' because it's all over the place. Viv has clear penis envy and it really fucking shows the more you watch it and her obsession with dicks, because if it was about sex as a whole why are there no boobs, clit or vaginas being shown anywhere or mentioned? Would also explain her despisal of trans men, since the wires would cross in her brain that says 'Male looking but with no penis, that makes me extra angy'. I want a psychologist to watch through HB and be able to fully explain in depth what her issue with it all is. Freud would have a field day with her.

I never got the sense that Blitzo and Fizz are siblings, or even adopted siblings, just kids who grew up in the same place and were friends. A little more exposition on Fizz's background would have been nice.

But this sentence...god, I want it to be the official Vivzie/Helluva critical slogan, because it sums up Vivzie's flaws as a writer better than just about anything else could.

If in your story, there is a shotgun mentioned in the first few lines of dialogue, by the end of the episode you better fire it.

#Anonymous #Helluva Boss critical #Vivziepop critical #actual blog post #writing

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deeply-unserious-fellow · 1 year

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HOT TAKE TIME!!!!!! The episode Nowhere to Hyde from the most iconic show of all time, Scooby Doo Where Are You, is one of the most accurate adaptations of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde there is.

HERE ME OUT HERE ME OUT-

First of all. Hyde is just a horrid man.

Just-just a horrible green man who's only here to steal shit and have a good time. He communicates exclusively through pointing at things and laughing all evil like & grunting. Which Hyde doesn't actually do in the book but like tell me he WOULDN'T do that, generally speaking. He's ugly as shit. He doesn't kill anybody but he does try to turn Shaggy into a frog which has to count for something! Just a strange, horrible, evil little dude, which is what all the best Hyde's are!!! Kinda wish he was short but like. I understand why he isn't. Scooby villains can't change their heights-

Second; The relationship between Jekyll and Hyde is very similar to the one in the book. He is, quite literally, a disguise Dr. Jekyll puts on to engage in Nefarious Activities(tm) so he won't have to face the consequences! Pretty standard Scooby Doo villain thing, which is probably why this is one of the better interpretations, Scooby Doo villains are notoriously Just Normal Guys in costumes. Sure the whole addiction element is removed because Scooby Doo also wasn't doing supernatural/sci-fi shit back then, but still! It's better then a lot of other adaptations! Jekyll's explanation at the beginning of the episode plays into the pop culture idea of J&H, sure, but to be fair Jekyll kinda started falling into that mindset in his confession. In the original novel it's more of a coping mechanism so he doesn't have to face the fact that yes, he DID do those crimes, instead of just being a cover story, but it's still a noteworthy parallel. Also everybody is shocked by Jekyll and Hyde being the same person even though it's kinda obvious. Like obviously in the original novel everybody thought it was impossible because a guy completely changing their body at will is an absurd concept but still-

And my final point, appearently the events of the original novel actually happened in this universe??? I mentioned this in a reblog a couple days ago and it doesn't really. Add anything to this argument but somebody has to say it!!! The fact that everybody consistently refers to Hyde as 'the Ghost of Mr Hyde' means there wAS PREVIOUSLY A NOTORIOUS GUY NAMED MR HYDE WHO DIED!!!!!!!! Also DR JEKYLL LITERALLY SAYS HIS GREAT GRANDFATHER WAS THE ORIGINAL DR J. LIKE THEY ARE LITERALLY RELATED FUCKIN- Also appearently after Jekyll died everybody found out about him being Hyde? Which I wanna know how THAT happened. Like did Utterson or Poole go public with his confession? That seems kinda out of character for them but whatever. Maybe somebody else got their hands on it...

And that's why Scooby Doo Where Are You s2 ep1, Nowhere to Hyde, is one of the most accurate adaptations of the story of Jekyll and Hyde. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk :)

#jekyll and hyde #the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde #goth lit #edward hyde #scooby doo #scooby doo where are you #nowhere to hyde #scooby doo nowhere to hyde #the ghost of mr hyde #gal overanalyzes random shit

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cinnamonest · 2 years

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idk if this is a good request or not but this idea has been bothering me for a long time so—

i really enjoyed your last tighnari post with the fennec hybrid darling! but then i got to reading your other hybrid posts and like… the thought of Xiao with a bird hybrid darling! it would make all that nest shit more acceptable to the darling but also kind of not because isn’t it usually the female who gets to select their mate? i feel like bird hybrid darling would be a bit more annoyed about the whole thing tbh

especially if you imagine Xiao straight up divebombing her out of the sky when she tries to escape like those vulture species you mentioned

I am so glad I got several hybrid asks, they make me so happy ahhhhh

New HC: he sometimes does (this) when he sleeps

lmaooo yes that vulture thing kills me because like... it would be equivalent to going about your day, walking down the street and getting rugby tackled into the ground by some dude

The thing is he CAN divebomb birdgirl darling because that's literally what his burst is -- imagine being on the receiving end of that, but not from the height where he just jumps and comes down, but like leaping off of a high vantage point and elbow-dropping you down through the air, poor darling... imagine the fall damage.

It's on sight too, instinctive because he just sees you from a distance, and his brain registers you as a potential mate which means it's full-on aggression from that point forward. The only proper way to go about this now is to go after you, drag you back to the inn, and from there just utilize violence to keep you there. That makes perfect sense, such is the way things are done.

...You don't seem to be too inclined to agree. Granted, part of your resistance is undoubtedly because he is a complete stranger to you -- you, who were just going about your day as per normal. A city bird, you know. Plain and simple in color/pattern, very docile. The gentle type that feeds on seeds, fruit, worms, birdmeal-stuffed bird feeders in people's yards, and the occasional handful of breadcrumbs thrown by generous humans who find the sight of you fascinating. You're used to human contact (and can speak, albeit maybe not perfectly fluent), and you're very non-aggressive.

You still fight, though, squirming with all your might as some figure appears out of nowhere, slamming weight onto your back as you were taking a mere lazy, slow ascent through the sky. You manage to squirm enough to get him off the top side of you, but he still drags you all the way down almost to the ground, before, in the blink of an eye, you find yourself a short distance away, then again, and again, high-speed movements until dragging you through a window.

At first, you cry out, a high-pitched chirping cry, thinking something has grabbed you with the intent of eating you... but instead, you're pulled into a dark, tiny room, window closed and locked behind you. He's quiet, but wide-eyed. Mammalian hybrids are far more common, see, whereas bird and reptile hybrids are much less so. The odds of encountering you were very small... so it must be fate. Yes, that makes sense. It's fate that you're supposed to be here, which means he's obligated to ensure you stay here. It's sound logic, if you ask him.

He himself is actually not a hybrid, hence he has no physical traits of anything other than a person. It's... hard to explain. There's the blood and brain of a bird somewhere in there, even if it's not externally obvious. Still, he doesn't share your wings or feathers, nor your ability to fly for suspended amounts of time, nor the, uh... desire to consume worms? None of that stuff... he can bring you some though.

And yes, darling would be pickier, which adds a new problematic element to the whole dynamic. Like, you actually DO care about nest quality. You can be all "AHEM why is this not tucked in correctly??" and he's scrambling to fix all the little errors and make it absolutely perfect. The female bird's approval of the nest is critical, after all, otherwise you won't breed.

Well, that is, provided what you've pointed out is deemed valid. Different bird species build different nests, you see. There are all sorts of different shapes and structure styles. You might think that a good nest requires woven pattern structure, but that strongly goes against his instinct so you will get a layered-style nest and you are going to like it. Even worse if you try to do part of it yourself -- some species the two work together, but in some, like his, the male builds it by himself, so he rejects any help. Your way of doing it is wrong anyway. Terrible, in fact. Any work you do with be promptly deconstructed and reconstructed the right way.

Unlike a human, you also actually do have two pretty, prominent wings sticking out of your back, each adorned with many soft feathers. They're really pretty. Yours are just a plain color -- black, white, or grey. No patterns, no exotic colors... but it doesn't matter, he likes them more that way anyway. And he can take really good care of them, preening through them in spots you yourself can't reach.

Well, for now. Until it is decided upon that it is in fact plucking time, and that you need to have quite a few removed for your own good. Just the important ones.

Poor Verr has to manage the situation after you squeal particularly loudly, assure the guests nothing bad is going on... It's quite the bizarre scene to walk in on, when she comes up to check and finds you pinned to the ground, feathers strewn all over the place. You all freeze up, there's a few seconds of the two of you blinking up at her as she looks down at you with a bewildered expression. She resolves to shut the door and forget she saw anything.

You're upset for a good while. It's very sore, a constant throbbing ache. You give him a cold shoulder silent treatment, cross your arms and pout and refuse to answer him. He already said he's sorry! And even got you nice cold wet cloths to put on the plucked spots, which are now featherless and bare patches of irritated flesh. What more do you want. Why are you being so mean? He's just trying to keep you safe. Why can't you understand that?

Oh, well. You'll have to just get used to it. The more primary downside being that, with human intelligence, he starts to think that maybe, if he keeps doing it over and over again, it'll scar over and will never grow back.

#the video tho #the narrator politely pausing for each 'eeeeeeeeeeeee'#i'm gonna go back later and add all the hybrid posts to the masterlist once i finish the one I'm currently on #lena's asks #q #.birb

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