#i don't think this story translates well to the page

[inkskinned]

sometimes we just need someone to pay enough attention.

for the longest time i had been trying to read The Lord of The Rings. everyone had sung the praises for it, over and over. i'd seen clips of the movie and it seemed like it could be fun, but actually reading it was fucking horrible.

my parents had the omnibus - all the books squished into one big tome - and in the 4th grade i started sort of an annual tradition: i would start trying to read TLR and get frustrated after about a month and put it back down. at first i figured i was just too young for it, and that it would eventually make sense.

but every time i came back to it, i would find myself having the exact same experience: it was confusing, weird, and dry as a fucking bone. i couldn't figure it out. how had everyone else on earth read this book and enjoyed it? how had they made movies out of this thing? it was, like, barely coherent. i would see it on "classics" list and on every fantasy/sci-fi list and everyone said i should read it; but i figured that it was like my opinion of great expectations - just because it's a classic doesn't mean i'm going to like experiencing it.

at 20, i began the process of forcing myself through it. if i had to treat the experience like a self-inflicted textbook, i would - but i was going to read it.

my mom came across me taking notes at our kitchen table. i was on the last few pages of the first book in the omnibus, and i was dreading moving on to the next. she smiled down at me. only you would take notes on creative writing. then she sat down and her brow wrinkled. wait. why are you taking notes on this?

i said the thing i always said - it's boring, and i forget what's happening in it because it's so weird, and dense. and strange.

she nodded a little, and started to stand up. and then sat back down and said - wait, will you show me the book?

i was happy to hand it over, annoyed with the fact i'd barely made a dent in the monster of a thing. she pulled it to herself, pushing her glasses up so she could read the tiny writing. for a moment, she was silent, and then she let out a cackle. she wouldn't stop laughing. oh my god. i cannot wait to tell your father.

i was immediately defensive. okay, maybe i'm stupid but i've been trying to read this since the 4th grade and -

she shook her head. raquel, this is the Silmarillion. you've been reading the Silmarillion, not the lord of the rings.

anyway, it turns out that the hobbit and lord of the rings series are all super good and i understand why they're recommended reading. but good lord (of the rings), i wish somebody had just asked - wait. this kind of thing is right up your alley. you love fantasy. it sounds like something might be wrong. why do you think it's so boring?

#thanks for reminding me this happened #writeblr #warm up #i don't think this story translates well to the page #IRONIC!!!! :) #but yeah man i read the Silmarillion before i read the hobbit #the omnibus didn't explain what it was and i figured - you start at the beginning and then you read from the beginning #that's how books work #how was i supposed to know #EDIT IN THE TAGS: hi i think i worded this in a confusing way #the omnibus had ALL the stories in it - the silm #the hobbit #and all of LOTR #they just put the silm in the front so i thought logically it was the first book #that's how an omnibus usually works after all - the first book in the series is the first book in the tome #to be fair i GUESS the silm takes place “before” the hobbit????

[terezis]

ok here's the hot goss from the nycc taz gn panel

i don't actually know whether or not it was recorded/ if they're going to put it online so here is my summary. also if i miss anything and u were there pls feel free to chime in. spoilers obviously!!!

got eight new preview pages (four two-page spreads), not the pages on the macmillan website!!!

ok i will tell u about those pages but the main thing discussed at the panel was how they went about adapting this arc into gn form. the actual time spent in wonderland has been trimmed a lot bc they had to think about what was actually important to the narrative as they are building to story and song.

basically in planning out the suffering game they also really had to decide what the rest of the series would look like, bc whatever they include now is seeding the stuff that's going to happen later.

cam is not in this book. it was implied there's less wheel spins. rowan/ash/sterling get much less screen time

almost half of this book is lunar interlude stuff (pre and post suffering game, INCLUDING REUNION TOUR!!! no word on where it ends but they made it clear that a LOT of thought went into what to include and where to end it, and what that would mean for the next book)

ok so about those preview pages

first one was post-taakitz date with kravitz sensing a lich and the umbra staff shooting at him <3 <3 <3

i thought they were going to show us the preview pages that were on macmillan so when i saw kravitz i was so shook

second spread was magnus visiting the voidfish, which now happens right before they leave for wonderland; the whole beginning of tsg from magnus trying to talk to pringles to him kidnapping those guards to the chimera fight was cut LOL bc it never really got… addressed again in the podcast

angus comes to get him for the mission but magnus has been going Through It (outright stated, they were like. he found out he's a red robe. he would probably not be handling it well. he has eyebags now. LOL) and snaps at angus when angus presses him on what's wrong.

more angus content, he will be investigating what's going on at the bureau more (his scene w magnus ties into this)

same for lucretia! more content/ stuff for her to do

third spread was merle w his kids getting saved by the red robe, is at a carnival instead of a random street this time LOL

last one was the boys arriving just outside of wonderland

wonderland looks fuckign cool

what else… oh confirmed like eighty panels of bare ass naked magnus after he gets his body back. so i think we really are getting the full reunion tour this book???

ALSO NAKED BARRY COVERED IN SLIME. WHEN HE GETS OUT OF THE POD. CONFIRMED. CANON. LOL

omg ALSO!!! ben (editor) said he campaigned REALLY HARD to have the umbra staff break during the suffering game, freeing lup early, bc he really wanted more time with her, but griffin campaigned really hard NOT to do this, and in doing so his arguments solved a lot of other problems they had been having at the time LOL

travis is the fans' champion when the others get too edit-happy. he's the one who has a good idea of what moments are important to the readers so he's like hey… too far. don't cut that. and then they don't

justin leaves great notes and when they couldn't figure stuff out ben would often say "no it's fine justin will solve this." and he ALWAYS DID

this was news to justin

??? i think that's all the main points honestly i'm v picky about adaptations but overall i feel like these are good changes that make sense when translating the podcast to gn

that said i do hope taako still gets a washing machine dropped on him <3 do this for me carey <3

#taz #taz balance #taz gn #taz gn spoilers #the suffering game #sorry it's long it was just SO juicy #didn't even mention them talkign about all the like technical art stuff carey also talked about color/panel composition to convey #info and mood

[naompspsps]

How they would act when you fall asleep on their shoulder Pt. 3

Part 2 (Floyd, Idia & Vil x Nb!Reader)

Summary: You had a long morning, and you didn't even get enough sleep so now you are very tired, But sitting with them in the courtyard during lunch break, while they talk you find yourself falling asleep, your head on their shoulder.

Ft. Epel, Lilia & Malleus x NB!Reader [Seperate] (+Epel mentioning Vil, ofc., Wingman Lilia in Malleus' part, Lilia mentioning Silver in Malleus' part)

A/n: If people are scared of Malleus, Then Imma be the one to go near him. MALLEUS COME GIVE ME A HUG (this man is literally 1 foot and 3 inches taller than me but okay)

Mentions: Epel speaking his own accent cuz Vil aint here. Epel calling you darling at the end of his short story, Lilia calling you love at the end of his short story. MALLEUS NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO BUT DOES THE MOST TOE CURLING, AIR PUNCHING, BED PUNCHING, OXYGEN NEEDING THING EVER. Fluff<33

(Warning: Character may be OOC from what you think, these are just hcs of how I think they'd act towards their crushiecakes)

! do not repost or translate my works anywhere. do not copy or use my works in any site, Reblogs are appreciated alot though !

Epel

At some point we all just thought he was a female, blame his appearance. (but he's still our pretty manly boy 😔) So he was pissed at you for a while, until you both got along and that was when he realized "oh. I have a crush."

So you sleeping on him is one of the best things to ever happen to him. He would fanboy so much but he knows he has to stay quiet, don't wanna bother you in your sleep or you would give him silent glares. He hates that. He will try not to cry but end up sobbing. He'll do the basic thing, let you rest on him while he reads the rule book Vil made just for him because He kept on doing his own sporty thing.

"This is so darn annoying!" Epel curses under his breath, flipping through the pages. He looks at you; looking at the pages but you weren't reading it, just staring at it's non-existent soul. He doesn't mind it though, he continues his own thing, reading the book so he doesn't have to get another 1 hour of scolding. "Vil.. Always tryna judge me.." Epel mutters. His attention goes back to you as you set your head down on his shoulder and closing your eyes.

"Hey- [Name]??" He tilts his head to the side, checking if you were alright. "Ah. Yer' asleep.. And yer' using my shoulder as a pillow..." He whispers, his face slowly turning red in realization. "Oh.. Oh." He looks away, clearly panicking. What should he do?! Be manly. Be.. Manly. He moves his hand to your waist, pulling you closer while his other hand flips through the pages of the book that's on his lap. "Rest well, Darlin'." He mumbles.

Lilia

Being honest for the millionth time; you don't even need to surprise him. He's been noticing how you've been falling asleep in the most random times ever. Which is why you are on the grass, sitting under the apple tree, to help him and you to hide from the sun. He just tells you to sleep on his lap, with his blazer folded into a pillow on his lap. (Father and son moments LMAOO)

He would probably cook for you later (Im sorry he literally would. Unless you escape from his cooking but 💀💀) so forget about you eating, you can eat later when it's breaktime. You need sleep, energy. How will you do your schoolworks if you're that exhausted? Meaning with no energy, you can get more stressed by having more piles of assignments. He would definitely try to help you do your assignments later, but matters aside, he knows you're tired.

Listening to Lilia's babbles is interesting, one side of you thinks his stories are interesting, but the other side is telling you you're to tired to listen to more. Lilia has had his eyes on you for a while now. While he talks, He's just been folding his blazer and putting it on his lap. "So that's what happened to him, funny, right?" He asks, Pressing the blazer for it to get comfy. "Mhm.." You tiredly nod. Your head slowly falls on his shoulder. "Ah- Just as I expected." He mumbles.

You slowly raise your head to look at him confusedly. "..What?" You ask. "Khee-hee, you're tired aren't you? come here." Lilia holds your hand, his free hand grabbing your head and pulling your head on his lap. "Go take a nap. You must have a hard time in class, yes?" You stare at him for a moment and shrug, getting into positions and sleeping. Seems comfy enough, he can just wake you up if the bell rings. Maybe he can use this as his opportunity, He softly hums a lullaby, a song he used to hum Silver when he was a baby. Once you were fully asleep, he smiles. "Khee-hee- Dream about me love."

Malleus

To start with this, Malleus doesn't even know what to do :D He's just there like 'What do I do???' but you should thank Lilia for teaching Malleus. Lilia just tells Malleus to let you sleep, if he wants he can even let you sleep on him but in a more comfortable position. Malleus fans and lovers, don't go insane but believe me he would carry you with ease and put you on his lap, hugging you.

Lilia just laughs at how he's brave enough to even do that. Once you wake up he probably expects screaming and panicking. Not like the murderous scream, no. The literal embarrassed, simping scream ever. Malleus is happy you aren't afraid to sleep on him and he will continue to let you sleep on him as much as you want<3

"[Name], What do you think about that?" Malleus asks you, who is currently dozing off. "[Name]?" He calls out, eyes slightly widening in surprise as you fall asleep on his shoulder. Watching you sleep peacefully on him, his eyes sparkles. But he goes back to reality, not knowing how to help you. He knows you're sleeping and it's reasonable but, how does he know if your comfortable? "Maybe you should help them get comfortable by letting them lie down on you or.. Hug them." Lilia says, hanging upside-down at the apple tree. "Lilia? What are you doing here?" Malleus looks up, Lilia hums and walks back down to the floor.

"I'm just looking out for you and the others, I'm gonna go find Silver next, He might be sleeping in the hallway again." He takes steps away, but turns back to Malleus. "Take my advice, you really should do either of those." He chuckles, walking away. It just leaves Malleus, looking at you. "Hug.. them..?" He repeats. He softly shakes his head, grabbing your waist, soft enough to not awake you and putting you on his lap, he wraps his arms around your waist, your head resting on his chest. "..Will you have a good dream if I hug you like this?.." He asks and sighing. "I do hope you do."

Author's end note: I hope I didn't accidentally smack any of yall to sleep Lilia, Malleus and Epel lovers because I smacked myself to sleep because of Malleus. I got smacked asleep by my own story.

! do not repost or translate my works anywhere. do not copy or use my works in any site, Reblogs are appreciated alot though !

#twisted wonderland #disney twst #malleus draconia x reader #lilia vanrouge x reader #epel felmier x reader #malleus draconia #lilia vanrouge #epel felmier #Laughs in flushed #Malleus marry me pls

[spockandawe]

Here we go! I have some smaller books to share as well, but I've been absolutely VIBRATING with excitement to share a BIG one, and I'm going to indulge myself and post that today, then figure out words for the rest. Because I bound a new cnovel. Check it out, guys, I bound jwqs/clear and muddy loss of love :D

Let me indulge myself and backtrack a little! First, these are quarto books, so they're short. But I think these average a little under 500 pages each, and jwqs is a LONG book (my beloved), and this adds up to a total eleven inches of lesbians. More like twelve once they're in their cases. It's over a million characters in Chinese and I think the English translation comes in somewhere around 890k, it's HUGE

Making these books was SO FUN, I hadn't read jwqs and still haven't, and will probably read on my phone when I do. I don't have any exciting photos of the typesetting, but I knew this was an imperial succession story, and that made me nervous, those stories don't always click for me. Well, the process of typesetting and adding footnotes for this beast definitely confirmed that I'm going to have a good time with this thing when I have the time to read it, but there was also so much going on that only the vaguest of spoilers sank in. I went into an absolute FRENZY of typesetting, and after I printed, cut and folded it, well. That was one afternoon of sewing. You're looking at the reason I'm scrambling to make up a few hours of missed work, hahaha

After that, I needed cases. At the very beginning of march, I received a shipment of some FASCINATING bookcloth. It's called Duo, and it's made by layering a thin gauzy fabric of one color over paper of a different color. Depending on the combos, you get a really cool range of color-shifting effects. And they've gone out of production! But I was part of a group order to get some of the goods, and hadn't yet finished a new project. Reader, I went for it.

That purple and green is bananas!!!! It's so hard to photograph, this midnight picture of a few cases is one of my most successful attempts to capture the full range up close. Originally I'd been thinking of trying to evoke imperial gold, but I figured this was still the kind of drama and luxury suited the book, and also something something the hidden colors suited Qi Yan's character. I tied it back a little to the imperial gold with the endpapers, then titled them in silver foil, since the endpapers had silver in them.

But once the books were made, I felt like it wanted something... more. Something like a BOX!

And me, I chase novelty. A set this large would be tricky for anything clamshell, but a slipcase for all seven would leave books tipping all over if it was wide open, but putting walls between slots would be demanding in terms of precision and would risk similarly-sized books getting stuck in the wrong slots. Then I remembered learning about slipcases where you could put in a little insert to support the weight of the text block, and the concept SNAPPED into place.

Colors aren't going to photograph well at midnight, but I made the supports using the scraps and off-cuts from my endpapers, to tie it back into the bindings. The back of the case is lined in more of the duo, and the walls are lined with a faux leather bookcloth I like a lot, it feels buttery smooth and seemed like a good neutral material to tie the papers and bookcloth together. I listened to some of the DEEPEST layers from the nine-hour conspiracy theory iceberg video while I was working on this, haha, it was a TRIP.

And in the end, each of the supports is sized to comfortably sit in the smallest of the volumes, and evenly spaced, so I believe it will take the books in any order with no problems. It's easy to grab the books without having to cut notches into the walls to grab them from. And even though weight is less of an issue for quarto sizing, the books in here have their weight supported no matter what angle the box is at! I'm so, so pleased with how this concept worked out and definitely plan to do more with it in the future.

So there we are! Jing Wei Qing Shang! I had such a fabulous time with this project, and I'm so excited to get to share it with all of you. The story was fun to work with, the bindings and box were fun to make, and everything here came together just as well as I could possibly have hoped. I'm so proud of this, and incredibly, incredibly excited to show it to you!

#crafts #bookbinding #box making #oh boy what is this story tagged #jwqs #jing wei qing shang #clear and muddy loss of love #I'll pick one to stick with later 😂 #long post/ #so proud of this one!

[bakerstreethound]

A Single Touch

Relationship: Sherlock Holmes x fem!reader

Warnings: 18+ Smut, hints of soft (sub) husband Sherlock/dom Sherlock, gentle teasing, mentions of marking, tenderness, and feelings

Summary: A peaceful afternoon in 221B takes a turn when you become insistent on needing Sherlock's attention and he indulges.

All writings belong to me @bakerstreethound​ (Do NOT claim, copy, repost, or translate my works to other sites. I only publish here and on A03 under the same username) 

Word Count: 1.1k+

A/N: Hello my lovelies, I hope you are all well. I hope you enjoy this little treat for I adore Sherlock so and he deserves the love and attention even when he can be annoying. Special thank you to @strangelockd for beta reading and loving this story from its conception. She is now the official aunt of this fanfic. As always, comments and reblogs are most appreciated! Graphic by @firefly-graphics

You smile to yourself as you look around 221B, enjoying the rare peaceful afternoon on the couch, your favorite book discarded on the coffee table. Sherlock’s features are calm and relaxed and you grin despite yourself, knowing how much he hated to admit he liked this…whatever this supposed routine had become.

Your fingers ruffled gently through his curls, his breath coming steady, occasionally shuddering when you tugged harder on them to tease him. You gaze upon him fondly, watching his cheek quiver, lips pursing while he flips a page of his novel.

So that’s how it was going to be, then. You smile to yourself, for you do so love a challenge. 

Carefully you tug his curls once more, earning a raised brow in return, until you reach for the book, pulling it from his grasp, not before inserting the bookmark into place; you don't have the heart to dog ear the page like a heathen. 

“I was reading that,” he huffs, feigning annoyance, yet his eyes shimmer in mischief and mirth. 

“Yeah? What are you going to do about it? Surely you can think of something.” 

He shifts, sitting upright on the couch, watching you intently, dark fierceness flashing for a moment in his eyes. “I’ve considered no less than five options.” 

You smirk at his practicality and calculating mind, and shake your head in amusement, before you climb over onto his lap, swinging a leg over to straddle a thigh. Ever so slowly, you lean into him, pressing your lips to his forehead, relishing in the faint sigh he releases.

His grip on your waist tightens as you settle yourself fully, tracing a thumb along his lower lip. You relish in the widening of his eyes, the faint twitch of his cheek, mind, and body fighting to take over whatever impulses have him in a frenzy.

You adore the push and pull and could fall into it for eons. With him, every touch, every instinct of yours screams yes for it all is right, almost too good to be true. 

“Damn you.”

“Whatever for, dear boy?” You murmur not a care in the world, nuzzling his neck before grazing your tongue over a sensitive spot, relishing in the way his shoulders tense as he fights off a shiver. 

He says nothing else as you continue on your merry way, smirking to yourself at his reactions, the way he gripes your waist tighter, fighting off the anticipation of your lips latching on to his neck for what feels like the hundredth time.

Even if it is the hundredth time, he wouldn’t tire of it for a moment, for it is you, and that’s all he wants. 

You in every moment. 

It’s what you want as well, want to show him how much you love and adore him, how you can never get enough of him. How you deserved him you wouldn't know for he is everything to you and more.

You press another kiss to his waiting lips which accept you eagerly, your hands running down his torso, and you sigh. 

How was this your husband? 

He softly pressed a kiss to your lips and you gracefully fell into the feel of him, wanting to adore him. Your heart ached in kind, a mixture of melancholy and longing, desperation and want. It is your form of love, all because of him.

Through the years you count him as one of your greatest blessings, but the words catch in your throat when you try to speak them aloud.

You hope he knows, surely, he does for he’s the only one who braved your tumultuous shores, the depths of your heart, and still he stayed. 

He stayed unwavering and you as well through it all. Thoughts of these flood his mind, for he’s all too enraptured with your form, the way you melt into him, the way his nails dig deep into your waist. He jolts slightly at the praises that pull from your lips, a slight blush creeping along his cheeks at your words. 

“You don’t….that’s not…” he struggles to voice and you offer him a smile, kissing him once more, whispering your pleas in tandem. 

“Let me help you…” you sigh into him, tugging his lower lip, earning a low groan before shifting on his lap, his hands reading to your back, gripping you impossibly tighter. 

“Then I should help you, darling.”

You can practically hear the smirk in his voice, the teasing tone sending shivers down your spine in a delightful manner and you welcome it. You both require a reprieve and it starts with a single touch. 

One of love. 

One of need. 

One of desire. 

One of desperation. 

That’s how you find yourself an hour later on your shared bed, engulfed by sheets and the delicious heat of his lips on your own, tongue trailing along your body, his deep sonorous baritone edging you on. 

“I said every inch, my dear,” his voice rumbles from his throat igniting your body from the inside out, “Isn’t that right?”  Your shirt slides higher up your body as inch by inch your upper body is revealed to him and Sherlock smirks, delighting in the situation. 

You roll your eyes, shuddering as his hands grip you tighter, before pulling the rest of your shirt off, promptly discarding it on the floor, not a care in the world. His gaze bores into your back and you fight off a shiver to no avail.

You can feel his smirk searing to your back before he presses the gentlest kisses along your spine and you melt in kind before he sucks a mark, making you squirm. 

“Not…fair…”

“Nothing about you is fair,” he growls.

You groan in kind, letting him do as he pleases, pulling you impossibly closer to him, heat radiating between you, sending you aflame. It was only a shift of the hand, a brush against his wrist, and the tension filled him to the brim like lightning before it struck.

You shudder when his finger brushes back along your body, melting, completely undone by him and his embrace. He traces the marks he made along your spine, and you bite back another whimper, causing him to whisper in your ear. 

“I want to hear you make those pretty noises for me, alright?” 

You swallow, knowing he’s not asking and when he kisses you heatedly, you let yourself fall into the abyss and infinite as you’re made one, relishing in the warmth, and eternal bliss you fall into every time you’re here safe in his arms. 

All it takes is a single burning, aching touch. 

And you fall together. 

Down in the abyss where love and pleasure combine, something else you can’t quite fathom or remember, but it’s enough. All you could ever want and more; the gasped pleas from parted lips, hand entangled in those sinful curls, your bodies forever intertwined. 

******

#sherlock x reader #sherlock x you #sherlock holmes x reader #sherlock holmes x you #sherlock holmes fanfiction #sherlock holmes fanfic #bbc sherlock #benedict cumberbatch #sherlock tv #my writing #my alleyway

[babyhatesreality]

Hey babes! Can you do a stucky mafia little reader where stucky and they reader are out at dinner or shopping and someone tries to attack them? The reader is ok but very shaken. 🥺

Fluff, angst, mentions of shock and doctors 🥺❤️

I love your page

Sure thing! And I love you back <3 Thank you for your patience, it means the world to me.

A/N- this is an AU outside of Katie Cat, and outside of my other series. I decided to try my hand at Dark Stucky for this one. This is a stand alone- and I'm excited to play in this sandbox for a minute, so thank you darling nonnie!

Down the Rabbit Hole

Pairing: Dark!Mafia!Stucky x little f!reader

Warnings: dark mafia Stucky, f! reader, severe Stockholm syndrome, Stucky both referred to as Daddy, pet names, reader is smaller than Stucky, language, an attack on all three, violence (not towards reader), shock, fear, angst, doctor talk, fluff.

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN MEDIA CONSUMPTION. THIS STORY IS SFW- THE REST OF MY BLOG IS NOT NECESSARILY SO. MINORS DNI. I DO NOT CONSENT FOR MY WORK TO BE STOLEN, COPIED, OR TRANSLATED ONTO ANY OTHER SITE BUT MY OWN. Likes, comments and reblogs are deeply appreciated.

"Mmmm," you couldn't help but say as you lingered on the last delicious bite of spaghetti. It was so rare that Steve and Bucky had a night away AND could take you out to dinner, that you'd almost forgotten what any other spaghetti other than Steve's tasted like. "It's so good."

"Good girl, you cleaned your plate. I'm proud of you," Steve said, the corner of his lip curling up in that smile that was almost a sneer, but you'd come to understand it meant he was pleased. You giggled and ducked your head, not wanting to admit that his praise in public made you feel all giddy.

"I think we should get the tiramisu to go. It's getting near your bedtime, little one," Bucky said, looking at his expensive diamond-encrusted watch. He chuckled when you pouted. "Now, now. None of that or we don't do this again." You instantly wiped the pout off your face. You couldn't remember the last time you'd actually gotten to leave the mansion for a date night with your daddies, and you weren't about to jeopardize that. Seeing the pout gone, Bucky purred. "That's better. Now let's go."

A waitress handed Steve a to-go bag with a large piece of the dessert in it as you all were heading out the door. You were surprised when you realized that neither Steve nor Bucky had paid, and couldn't help but look behind you as you all were exiting. "What's the matter, Princess?" Steve asked, taking a firm hold of your hand. "What's wrong?"

"Don't...don't we have to give monies to the people for making us food?" you whispered, a little afraid that this was going to be one of those questions that got your daddies mad when you asked it. But this was the exact opposite. Steve squeezed your hand a bit, and Bucky quickly took you other hand and kissed it as you all walked down the street to where Sam had parked the car a few blocks away.

"Look at our sweet little girl, Buck, making sure all her people are taken care of," Steve said, grinning at Bucky and then down at you. "Seems like she picked up a thing or two from the business."

"It's okay, Sweet Cheeks, Daddy and I know the people that run this place. They make us food for free, whenever we want," Bucky said, smiling down indulgently at you.

"Oh. That's nice of them!"

"Did you like going to that place?"

"It was...nice. The food was way yummy. There was lots of people there."

"Was that too many people, honey?"

"Um...it's okay. Just not used to anybody but Daddies."

"Well, how about we all go back home and it can be just Daddies again?"

"Yeah!" you cheered, relieved. It was weird being around people again- you weren't sure that you liked it. You hadn't been around that many people since your Daddies saved you from your boring life to make you their Princess. It had taken a long time, but now you couldn't live without them.

The three of you turned into an alley. Normally, it would have terrified you to walk down a place like this, but with both of your daddies holding your hands, you knew you had nothing to fear.

Suddenly, you heard a deep voice behind you. "Stay right where you are. Don't move."

Ignoring the voice's orders, both Bucky and Steve whipped around instantly. Steve forcefully shoved you behind him. Afraid, you buried your face in the back of his jacket and tried not to make a sound. As you did when you were home and their work people came over, you stayed silent, like a good girl does.

"Give me your wallets and no one gets hurt," the voice said, low and gruff. Bucky let out a bark of a laugh as Steve stepped forward.

"Oh, son. You have no idea what you've just done, do you?" Steve said lightly, but you could hear the undercurrent of violence in his tone. You felt Steve's arms shove aside his jacket lapels, but the next thing you knew, Bucky had you up against the brick wall of the alleyway. Everything got really loud really fast. You turned your head in terror to make sure Steve was okay, but Bucky forcefully grabbed your chin in his hand and made you look at him.

"Eyes on me, Princess," he commanded, and you obeyed instantly. "Good girl. You remember our codes?"

"Y-yes, Daddy."

"Good girl. Rabbit hole. Quick like a bunny. Go." He let your chin go and stepped towards Steve, leaving you alone with your orders.

After Steve and Bucky had rescued you and you'd grown accustomed to this new life, they had drilled code words into you in case of situations like this. "Rabbit Hole" and "Quick like a bunny" were codes for find a place to hide as fast as you can, and don't move until they come to get you.

You looked for a safe hiding space, just like Steve had taught you to, and found a slight notch in the brickwork of the alley- just large enough to hold a dumpster. You ran into it as fast as you could, squeezing yourself in between the dumpster and the wall. You huddled down, hands over your ears and eyes squeezed shut, pretending you were a rabbit in a hole, just like they taught you. Your hands over your ears mostly muffled the shouts, the grunts, and the loud bang. Then everything was silent.

After a couple minutes, you felt three taps on your arm. You opened your eyes to see Bucky kneeling in front of you, smiling. You peeled your hands from your ears just in time to hear him say "Good girl."

You flung yourself into his arms, sobbing and scared. He picked you up, balancing you on his hip, as you cried into his shoulder. He gently kissed the top of your head before pulling his phone out and making a call. Less than a minute later, Sam came barreling into the alley. Without a word, Bucky passed you to him and walked towards Steve.

You started crying even more hysterically. "No, Daddy, please don't go!" you wailed, trying to stretch out of Sam's arms to get to them.

"Hey," Steve's voice cut in sternly. You instantly stopped squirming, knowing better than to push Steve when he was angry. Seeing that you were behaving the way he wanted you to, Steve turned his attention back to what was left of the would be attacker. Sam pressed your face into his shoulder so you wouldn't look, and you stayed right there, unable to control your trembling.

A couple phone calls later and the situation was resolved. Your cries had quieted to occasional hiccups, but you were trying your hardest to be quiet and good, just like they wanted you to be. When you felt Steve's strong hands lift you out of Sam's arms though, you turned with lightning speed and latched onto him.

"Shhh, shhh, it's okay, Princess, Daddy is here now," he said in a much softer and more soothing voice that before. You sniffled a little.

"Daddy?" you whispered, looking up at him. He smiled softly at you.

"Hey there, Princess," he said, rubbing his nose against yours. You sighed in relief, and returned the butterfly kiss, before turning your head to look for Bucky. You didn't have to look far- Bucky was right behind Steve, smiling from ear to ear at you.

"Princess, tell Daddy what you just did," Bucky said proudly, lightly punching Steve in the back to get him to listen up.

"Runned to be a rabbit in a hole, like Daddy said to," you explained carefully, wanting to make sure you didn't mess it up. Steve's smug smile grew.

"Yeah? You were in a rabbit hole like Daddy told you to be?" Steve said proudly. "Well, how about that. You must have been a very brave little girl to be such a good bunny when the mean man came." At the mention of the attacker, you began to shake again.

"Shh, it's okay Sweet Cheeks, we're here and the bad man is gone. He didn't hurt us and he can't hurt you," Bucky crooned softly, stroking your cheek with his finger. But you couldn't stop shaking.

"Boss, you want me to call the doctor to come check her out?" Sam asked gruffly, seeing you beginning to tremble again.

"No! No doctor!" you whimpered before burying yourself in Steve's shoulder. You heard a smack and turned your head to see Sam holding the back of his head and looking annoyed, while Bucky stood next to him, fuming.

"Idiot, you know she hates doctors," Bucky hissed at their second in command.

"Sorry, sorry," Sam apologized, before looking at you. "Sorry, Princess."

"Is okay, Sammy. Thank you for...for helping me." You didn't really want to thank Sam for holding you back while your daddies were taking care of their business, but Steve and Bucky were very strict about manners and you knew they would want you to thank Sam. You were rewarded with kisses from the both of them, on either side of your head.

"Good manners, Princess," Steve whispered. "Come on. Let's go home. And see? Daddy didn't even let the bad man get our dessert. Let's go watch a movie and eat it before bed, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go out to dinner, hm?"

"I'll do anything you want, as long as I can stay with you and Daddy forever."

"Good girl. That's what we want to hear."

#daddy!bucky #daddy bucky #daddy stucky #daddy!stucky #daddy!steve #daddy steve #daddy!stucky x little reader #daddy stucky x little reader #mafia!stucky #mafia!stucky x little reader #daddy!bucky x little!reader #daddy!steve x little!reader #daddy bucky x little reader

[cielelyse]

Favourite 5 Saezuru Scenes

I recently reread Saezuru for the umpteenth time and just needed to gush about it like a crazed person who constantly hallucinates about Yashiro being happy and soOooOOooo.................

1. Why now? (Chapter 25)

These 3 panels kill me always... although it's the entire chapter 25 actually, and not just these panels. This broke me when I first read it nearly a decade ago, and it breaks me every time I reread it. I recently just listened to the drama CD for the first time and wanted to hear how this scene played out (a.k.a. wanted to hear Yashiro moan wkegh;ghwle) and I did not expect to start bawling and sobbing uncontrollably when his flashback appeared. WITH THE MUSIC AND EVERYTHING. THEY DID NOT SPARE ME. FUCK. What was supposed to be a tender and gentle and loving and intimate scene between them turned into Yashiro facing the effects of his childhood trauma -- that will never cease to hurt me. Doumeki saying "kashira, kashira, kirei" right before that broke me in a way reading that scene in English couldn't. I WILL NEVER GET OVER THIS and if I keep writing about it I'm gonna cry again so:

2. Car ride back from Kageyama's clinic (Chapter 4)

This is mostly for nostalgic reasons, really. I first read Saezuru in 2013, and I wasn't used to Yashiro at first. I didn't know what to make of him.

So what happened was that I read "Don't Stay Gold" first and was like... there's a manga about this mildly threatening and unreadable yakuza dude who's Kage's friend…? Who played cupid for him in a weird way? HMMMMM dubious, dubious. Would I even like him? It took me a while, but I finally gave Saezuru a shot anyway, and I remember feeling uncertain about Yashiro up until those panels. I remember it so starkly, because this was the instant I fell in love with him. I think it was because this was the first time I understood the depth of his loneliness (since I hadn't read his high school oneshot yet at this point).

There's just something about how Yoneda Kou-sensei draws these kinds of pages that just resonates with me so well. I CAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE IT. It just connects with me the way Yashiro connects with me, and that was pretty much it for me. Obsession sealed. Life signed away. For the next 10 years I would follow the story closely and routinely check every few months for updates. Yashiro became one of my only 3 comfort characters, and rereading Saezuru always gives me a catharsis and sense of peace that I didn't know how to find elsewhere.

3. "To go on living this strained existence... no longer holds any meaning to me." (Chapter 34)

This scene is one that I come back to every time I'm down. AM I A MASOCHIST? I really like the June translation too: "To go on living this strained existence no longer holds any meaning to me." I think the way the panels divided up those thoughts were brilliant!

This especially hurt me because for the entire manga up to this point, Yashiro has stated that he completely accepts himself and he's happy with who he is. It wasn't until his realization during the sex scene with Doumeki and how much he's said/done hurtful things to Doumeki afterwards -- who he considers pure and sweet and good -- that he thinks this.

4. "Falling in love feels like this" (Chapter 33)

The first time I read this, I had to set my PC down, go out to my apartment balcony, and just silently stare out into the night and resist the urge to smoke (that was half a joke) (I did feel a pang in my chest though) (and I did have to fight very hard not to smoke lwkehg;hge). I love the dialogue right after these panels too, when Yashiro said, "Your sister was lucky that you were there." That, along with Doumeki's reaction, hurt.

This was such an intimate scene between them. Yashiro was so vulnerable. So was Doumeki. I hadn't realized this until I reread Saezuru this year, but these two have always had such intimate scenes right from the start. It was a slow burn, yes, but they had always been instantly drawn to each other: Doumeki thinking Yashiro was beautiful and captivating, and Yashiro doing something he doesn't normally do with his subordinates the first time he met Doumeki. And it didn't clue in for me back in 2013, but their conversations with each other were much more intimate than the conversations they'd have with anyone else, right from chapter 1. I find that so precious.

5. Dream (Chapter 40)

I couldn't not include a scene from post-timeskip, BECAUSE I LOVE POST-TIMESKIP. I love Darkmeki and I love Yashiro and I love that the theme of post-timeskip centers around "change". Wish I could include that conversation Yashiro had with Tsunakawa about it, because I thought that drive-home was brilliant. I really appreciate that Yoneda Kou didn't have Yashiro and Doumeki get together right away after they have sex, and I really appreciate that the question was raised of: Do people change? Can people change on their own, or would you have to force them? Or are we always the same at our core? And I think the answer is of course a mixture of all of it, and that it's very much circumstantial and subjective, but I love how we're able to see the shifts in both Yashiro and Doumeki. How both men aren't quite the same people we knew pre-timeskip. Ten years ago I didn't think I would meet a version of Yashiro that wouldn't talk about sex 24/7, but here we are.

(Not to say that they're completely different now. They're still our Yashiro and Doumeki of course; I just wanted to gush about how well Yoneda Kou were able to flesh out her characters in such a complex, multidimensional way.)

ANYWAYS, I went on a rant without even mentioning these panels of Yashiro's dream. I love everything about it: Doumeki's face not showing, Yashiro running away and turning back to see Doumeki not there anymore, and that last panel of him standing in the middle of nowhere, lost and empty and lonely -- all of that was so incredibly told in pages of no words. UGH YONEDA KOU IS A GENIUS. It reminds me of that page of Yashiro looking at a mother and child in the rain; it's one of my favourite scenes too.

Honourary Mention (Chapter 4):

I should end with a more light-hearted one. THIS WAS CUTEEEE. I remember reading this for the first time and thinking Yashiro was just salty that his roleplay got ruined. But upon second reread (and maybe I'm delusional here), I thought he might've been happy to hear Doumeki say that.

We know Yashiro gets angry and irritated whenever he's happy to hear something sweet from Doumeki (like that extra when they ate together LOL), and that he had the same reaction of kicking the chair when Doumeki said he can't touch Yashiro's hair anymore. Which was cute to say. So I thought Yashiro might've lashed out in annoyance because he was glad that Doumeki doesn't mind. (I tried putting myself in Yashiro's shoes so many times trying to imagine how I would feel if Doumeki had said this............. and somehow came up with "happy" xD)

...........or maybe this was obvious to everyone and I've just been clueless. AAAAAAAA THIS IS WHY I LOVE ABOUT SAEZURU SO MUCH. It never spoon-feeds you information and lets its readers interpret :")

#saezuru tori wa habatakanai #yashiro #doumeki chikara #囀る鳥は羽ばたかない #twittering birds never fly

[maleyanderecafe]

Yandere Killing!! ~When I told my obsessive childhood friend, "I love you too," she shifted to the romantic comedy route~(Manga)

Created by: Toyama Monaka/Kazuichi

Genre: Smut

The continual descent into translating yandere stuff continues. This one only has one chapter out for me to translate so far, so really the only last maybe 10 pages have any semblance of smut. Still though, the artwork for this one is very pretty and I am so happy with the way that I typefaced this one like you will not believe how clean it is compared to other ones I've translated.

The story starts out with a man named Isogi begging in front of Miyoshi to take him back after he cheated on her with another girl. Miyoshi of course bluntly rejects him, stating that the one thing he cannot forgive is cheating to which Isogi is dragged away. After that, her coworkers get worried about her and she continues her work at the coffee shop, only to meet up with another man named Ohara who asks if the two of them will be eating dinner tonight. Ohara and Miyoshi are childhood friends and have a tendency to eat together with her sister Ryoka. Outside, Isogi stalks Miyoshi until Ohara comes to "have a talk with him". At night, it seems Ohara is late and Miyoshi and Ryoka eat together instead, before Ryoka turns in for the night warning Miyoshi to be more careful when it comes to Ohara. Ohara comes over to eat and we see that Miyoshi has had a long time crush on him, however, feels that he has no interest in him because of an event that happened when she was in high school. At work, Tayaka ends up proposing to Miyoshi after she laments about her ex for a bit promising that he will be loyal, however, is interrupted by Ohara. Ohara seems pretty pissed which leads to Miyoshi feeling depressed about this fact as she still has a crush on him. Not wanting this to eat her, she tries to call Ohara so that she can confess to him, even if she feels he won't reciprocate. However, while attempting to do so, her sister ends up calling her instead, warning that Ohara is right behind her before Ohara takes her phone. Ohara is extremely jealous and starts to touch her. talking about how Isogi and Tayaka don't deserve her before basically mating pressing her at the end.

Basically I think that the plot of this smut (I mean most smuts barely have a plot, fair enough) was pretty intriguing until the very end of this chapter where everything escalates way too fast. I guess considering the title states it goes into a comedic route that might be the reason why? Hard to tell with just the first chapter though. Also because we know that the male lead is a yandere at all times, the misunderstanding of her not realizing that Ohara does have a huge crush on him is pretty like...well, the dramatic irony is not lost on me, I suppose. Still, I did think that the entire thing with Sayuki's drive to not try to get back together with someone who cheated is pretty good, although I'm not sure why she feels like that since we don't know if she's actually had problems with cheaters in the past (before Isogi) and I feel (?) like it's pretty standard for people to not get back with someone who has cheated on them if there is not reason to (like having kids or being financially dependent on them for instance). Like I said though, the ending of that is pretty confusing- how did Sayuki's sister Ryoka know that Ohara was right behind her and why did she call in the first place? I mean, I know Ryoka was pretty much the only person who knew the two liked each other, but how did she know he was coming for her? And like. I don't understand why Ohara didn't just try to confess to her in the first place if he likes her so dang much anways, especially since it did seem like the two of them were close. Again though, this is a smut so it's not like the plot is the most important part of this story, there's just a lot of things going on that don't really have an explanation now.

That being said, this artwork is very pretty and it does a good job with the yandere expressions that we did get. Hopefully as more chapters come out that I can translate we can figure out what is going on in this story.

#Yandere Killing!! ~When I told my obsessive childhood friend “I love you too” she shifted to the romantic comedy route~ #male yandere #yandere #yandere boy #recommendations #manga #ongoing

[olderthannetfic]

Although I agree that the Bechdel Test isn't the best way to wage if a film is feminist or not (remember that mess of Blue is the Warmest Color? Yeah), I do think it's a great way to highlight just how lazy some writers are, independently of their paycheck/time period they're writing in/many other historical and geographical factors.

We have very successful and praised writers who do this constantly, and have been doing so for their entire career (Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Mendes, etc), and no one thinks it's weird that we can get through 90~ movies of a story without these female characters either interacting with other female characters or that these two discuss something other than the male characters.

Sometimes these movies are delightful, technically superb, extremely well acted, but then I can't stop myself from going back and thinking about just how little women were in it, and how this very easily translates into how little consideration these screenwriters have of us. How forgettable we are, in their eyes.

I hate Tumblr's use of "X doesn't exist in a vacuum," but I do think it applies to these instances. Writing an entire script, which averages to 110 pages of story, and never noticing that there aren't two women with names who talk to each other isn't just something that comes out of nowhere (and, most times, I feel like the requirement for these writers to be able to pass the Test isn't even "Are there two women with names talking about something other than men?", but "Are there two women that aren't there just for the male characters?" It's basically a mixture of the Sexy Lamp Test and the Bechdel Test).

And, to conclude and pivot back to my main point about laziness: Tommy Wiseau's The Room passes the Bechdel Test; Lisa and her mother, Claudette, sit down and discuss Claudette's recent breast cancer diagnosis, as well as Lisa's employment situation. If a barely coherent movie written by a guy who didn't know what he was doing can pass it without issue, there is no reason as to why renewed, famous, extremely well-paid screenwriters can't do the same.

--

It's useful as a thought experiment, same as "Black people spoke X lines of dialogue in 2023 in [whatever]" type stats.

They're helpful because people go "Wait, how can it be that little???"

It's like all those experiments where people think women are "dominating" the conversation once there are over 30% women in the room or they're speaking 30% of the time or whatever it is. You knock people out of their unconscious bias with some hard numbers that get them thinking.

As long as we understand it as a "Wake up! The bar is in the floor!" thing about the whole industry and not a real test where a passing grade for a given movie means anything, it's fine. It's fine if some movies don't pass.

[thanatika]

an interesting lens to analyze pathologic would be through the ways it references commedia dell'arte. part of it is that the conventions of commedia have left a lasting imprint on theatre, puppetry, and performance in general, but i think there are some very specific nods as well.

for an obvious point, farcical character archetypes represented by masks were an essential aspect of the art form. pathologic not only uses that concept in mark immortell's masked plays, it also uses the same two types of masks: a flat mask that covers the face with holes for eyes and mouth (also comparable to ancient greek theatre masks), and a mask featuring an exaggerated, beak-like nose.

i'd say there are also references to the commedia archetypes in the actual characters themselves. for example, i'd be surprised if "vulgar comedies" wasn't an intentional reference:

(i don't have a clear translation of "площадных комедий", the term that clara uses for "vulgar comedies" in russian, but the russian wikipedia page for commedia dell'arte is the first thing to come up when I google it.)

that's not to say i think the game is trying to completely frame dankovsky as il dottore, the laughable caricature of a psuedointellectual. but clara certainly sees him as one! and arguably his characterization is closer to this archetype in her route, as well as in the pathologic 2 haruspex route (mister "i was blessed with a naturally high intelligence", among other hits). these differences are possibly an indication of unreliable narrator.

after all, changeling's route is from the POV of a religiously-fixated teenager who sees the world in terms of stark good and evil, and whose character is bifurcated between pure good and pure evil herself. arguably the NPCs in her route act as elevated, exaggerated versions of themselves due to her perspective. and pathologic 2 leans harder on the "it's all a play" framing device than the original game did, giving the player a role to embody and making NPCs feel more like characters who exist for the purpose of the play (and for artemy as the protagonist) than as fully realized people. hence how in p2!artemy's first and last confrontation with the bachelor, you find him staged dramatically in a room cast in mood lighting as though his sole purpose is to wait there for you to enter. (well, either that or it's just that he's a drama queen.)

at least, that's one interpretation of why he comes off as more of a pompous twit depending on the route. another aspect of commedia dell'arte is that the protagonists often go unmasked, and relatively unexaggerated, compared to the masked villains and comic relief characters. bachelor is the protagonist of his own story, and arguably the deuteragonist of the haruspex route. but in changeling route and p2 his role is more of a bit player among many, cranked up into the role of learned fool.

#mine #pathologic #this focuses a bit on daniil just because that dialogue is what first put the commedia dell'arte connection in my mind #i'd like to look into other examples/allusions but i'd have to read up way more on the history of the art form and theatre in general #which i'd enjoy doing regardless #patho #patho meta

[tshortik]

My random comic Recs #1

I've been reading more comics lately, so I wanted to share my love for them in the hopes that someone might give this medium a chance!

Note: I am not a fan of superhero comics, because I simply don't like that genre, so don't expect superheroes below. Gonna make these posts every now and then and they will always include 4 recs. 1.) The Many Deaths of Laila Starr

Death got demoted and sent to earth as a mortal! Some boy is going to figure out how to cheat death in the future, and our girl Death really doesn't appreciate that. The entire graphic novel is only 5 issues long, so it's VERY digestible and easy to get through.There is something so light and playful about the art style, and the vibrant colors really sell it.

For people that are completely new to comics as a medium, I imagine that this is actually an A+ book to start with for the reasons I just mentioned. The way paneling and the flow of time is done in here, is a great example as to why comics are so unique as a medium and why they should be looked at as its own art from, separate from movies or books.

2) Mécanique Céleste (Or "Mechanica Calaestium" in the German translation, or "Aster Of Pan" in the English translation)

An absolutely breathtaking French comic. Aster lives in Pan, a post-apocalyptic France where she scavenges for wreckage with her friend Wallis. After their people come under a threat by the Federation of Fortuna, they are given a choice —submit to Fortuna’s rule or beat them in a weird Hunger Games-esque version of Dodge, called “Celestial Mechanics”.

The detailed art pieces in each panel, the careful line work, the lively way the characters move and the stunning watercolors captivated me from the first page. This graphic novel (now 2 volumes) is one of a kind and truly unique!

3) Something Is Killing the Children

Note: Comic contains a lot of gore and violence!

Children are starting to disappear in Archer's Peak. The ones that come back tell impossible stories that no one seems to believe. Only one stranger trusts these tales - a mysterious girl named Erica Slaughter who seems to be able to see these creatures too. And she's here for business.

I loooove Something is Killing the Children. I haven't finished reading the ongoing volumes yet, but I am super fascinated at how well the pacing goes in this story. The rough art style with Erica's freaky large eyes is SO fun, and you start appreciating it even more the longer you read.

4) Mon Ami Pierrot ("Mein Freund Pierrot" in German, "My friend Pierrot" in English)

Another fabulous French comic! Cléa is to marry soon - a young man name of Berthier. Right before the wedding she meets the fascinating magician Pierrot though, who completely changes the course of her life. Entranced by his whimsical nature that makes her feel "free" for the first time in her life, she follows him and leaves her previous life behind. During her stay with Pierrot, questions arise, though. Who is he really? All the while her betrothed sets out to find her again.

The Ghibli influence both art- and storywise is easy to make out, and I personally really enjoyed that. I particularly love the colors and the facial expressions the characters are drawn with. Everything feels very whimsical and playful and I had a good time going through this chonker of a graphic novel!

No spoilers, but I expected toothrottingly-sweet wholesome stuff, and ended up surprised on several occasions. I think the colours and art style really help give those moments wham, because you don't expect it.

#i talk sometimes #comics #graphic novels #comic recommendations #long post #comics are super duper cool and you should try them!!

[hlizr50]

I was shown a post this morning (I think it was from Tumblr, but I'm not 100% sure) where someone asked if maybe something was LOST IN TRANSLATION because so many Gwynriel shippers aren't native English speakers.

Now...

I'm going to give this person the benefit of the doubt and believe that they truly don't mean anything negative by the question, even though the implications are... harmful to say the least.

Here's the deal, guys.

There are Gwynriel shippers all around the world because there are ACOTAR readers all around the world. The ship is not localized to a region or a language.

When people read books, the words on the page send a message. Sometimes, if we're super casual readers, the messaging is limited or we don't read a ton into it. For other readers who choose to delve deep into how the author writes to try to understand what might come next, it is obviously a bigger investment.

But at the end of the day, we all read the SAME BOOK (and bonus content) and those words made us all feel different ways. Made us want or predict different things. And that's all well and good. The problem comes up when we try to explain why we feel the way that we do.

I'm an engineer. Even though I enjoy creative writing and art, my brain is practical. I like having evidence. I like being able to identify trends and make an educated prediction based on them. As someone who ships Gwynriel, I have never denied that there are canonical moments where Azriel and Elain have some level of... something. On page. It would be ignorant of me to say that those moments don't exist. However, for the most part FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN, when a Gwynriel shipper tries to use canonical evidence to support their ship -- WHICH EXISTS -- it's a constant barrage of 'that's not what that means' or 'how could you read that romantically?' or 'Gwyn is just a side character'. And then there are the blatant hypocrisies, like how Azriel saving Elain from Hybern is romantic but Azriel saving Gwyn at Sangravah should never be mentioned ever again.

I guess what this long-winded ramble is trying to say is that there's nothing lost in translation. We've read the same story, and we believe Gwynriel makes sense. We lean on canon and trends in the author's style to support the ship, and then we headcanon the hell out of it, because fandom is supposed to be fun like that. Some people read the story and believe that Elriel makes sense, and that's perfectly fine. But don't come at a Gwynriel shipper, attacking their textual evidence with your headcanon that Elain was barely existed in ACOSF bc she was apparently training to be a spy and she and Azriel were falling in love completely off-page with nothing to show for it.

And don't you dare make an implication so blatantly out of bounds like blaming it on some strange translation error that somehow miraculously makes Gwynriel makes sense, but only if it's not in English. Like... give me a break. And... think about what you're saying. For A SINGLE MOMENT.

#I'm just so tired #this is so dumb #read what you like #ship who you want #enjoy fanwork for your ship #and scroll past fanwork that isn't for your ship #gwynriel #fandom #sjm fandom #fandom ships #fandom fuckery #fandom bullshit #acotar #acosf #sarah j maas #sjm #acotar fandom

[maniculum]

Do you have any books or sources for learning Olde English? I want to write a medieval-based story but I don't know how to write the characters speak the language.

That depends -- when you say "Olde English" do you mean Old English, like pre-1066 English? That's pretty far from modern English and it's unlikely that readers will be able to understand it easily. If that's what you're looking for, the texts I was taught with are:

Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader

Quirk's Old English Grammar

Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader

They're all from a while back -- and, as you can see, some use the now-deprecated term "Anglo-Saxon" -- so you can find older editions free in the public domain. More recent revised editions can generally be found in cheap paperback form. I believe there are some more modern textbooks that are quite good, but I haven't looked at them, and I don't know how affordable they are.

I have also consulted with Zoe (@meanderingmedievalist) on this, and she recommends Baker's Introduction to Old English, as well as the related resource Old English Aerobics:

The reason there are textbooks for this, though, is because you genuinely have to treat it as a foreign language. It's very different from modern English. As a sample, here's the beginning of Beowulf:

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon hu ða æþelingas      ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing      sceaþena þreatum monegum maegþum      meodosetla ofteah egsode eorle syððan aerest wearð feasceaft funden he þæs frofre gebad weox under wolcnum weorðmyndum þah oð þæt him aeghwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade      hyran scolde, gomban gyldan      þæt wæs god cyning.

So if you put a lot of it into a story for a modern audience, most of them will be a bit lost.

If when you say "Olde English" you mean "English that sounds archaic and medieval, but is comprehensible to a modern audience", you're probably looking for Middle English.

I don't have any direct references for learning the language there, as I was mostly taught through immersion (i.e., here's a Middle English text, read and translate it, now do another until you get a feel for it), but Zoe recommends Fulk's Introduction to Middle English, so that's a good bet if you don't want to go through that process.

However, I do think the "just read the texts" method also works fine -- especially since, if you're writing a medieval story, you'll want to read some of the literature anyway for inspiration. Here's what you can do to use that method outside of a classroom setting:

Step One: Get a Middle English text with a facing-page translation. Armitage's edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is good for this. Read the Middle English text, referring to the Modern English translation on the facing page whenever you don't understand it. Do this with a pencil in hand, so you can annotate the text with definitions, translations, and notes about how the sentences work.

Step Two: Get a Middle English text for which modern translations exist. Don't get the modern translation. The Canterbury Tales works for this: it's a classic and you should be able to pick up a copy anywhere. The version on my shelves is Baugh's Chaucer's Major Poetry -- which is heavily footnoted with definitions, potentially saving some time with the dictionary -- but it doesn't really matter as long as it's in the original. Read it. Every time you don't know a word, look it up in the Middle English Dictionary (available free online, in searchable form, here) and write it down. Again, best to annotate directly on the page with a pencil. Trust me, it helps to do it that way. Once you're done, get a modern translation and check your work.

At this point, you'll probably have picked up enough of the language that you should be able to write in it to some degree, though you'll want to continue making reference to the Middle English Dictionary to make sure you're employing period-appropriate usage and spelling. If you have access to the Oxford English Dictionary (if you're at a university, you almost certainly do, otherwise check with your local library), use that to check when the words you're using originated -- the OED has that listed, and that'll keep you from accidentally dropping an 18th-century term into medieval dialogue. You can also use their Historical Thesaurus to find period-appropriate equivalents for terminology.

Optional Step Three: Keep reading more Middle English literature with the dictionary open, annotating as you go, to get additional practice. If you can get through Le Morte Darthur in the original (get the P.J.C. Field edition), I think you'll be set in terms of "writing convincing medieval prose". Not because it's particularly difficult -- it's late medieval, so the language is actually more modern than either of the texts mentioned in steps one and two -- but just because it's long, so you'll get a lot of practice working through it. As a bonus, reading Malory will familiarize you with lots of good knightly vocabulary in case that's the kind of story you want to write.

Optional Step Four: Read scholarly articles on Middle English language and literature to get a more in-depth understanding. Again, check with your local library, or if you're at a university, a university library will have a vast amount of resources on this subject you can browse through.

#ask #old english #middle english

[necromancy-enthusiast]

Traditional Chinese Translation of Homestuck Analysis-Beta Troll Typing Quirks

That's right, there's a full traditional Chinese translation of Homestuck. You can find it, along with links to other translations, here. If you want to jump to Hivebent when all the beta trolls are officially introduced so you can see this for yourself, here's a link to the first page.

But first, I'll give as succinct of a rundown of the elements of the Chinese language that are relevant as I can. The Chinese writing system doesn't have an alphabet, instead words all have unique characters. So a lot of the trolls' quirks just can't be 'transliterated', because they have something to do with spelling. Similarly, Chinese characters don't have upper or lower cases.

There are multiple ways to type Chinese on an electronic device, but the most common is using a Latin script keyboard. You type out the pinyin of a Chinese character (which is the system mostly commonly used to romanize Mandarin Chinese nowadays) and some suggestions for characters with pinyin romanizations spelled that way pop up in a little window, and then you pick the one that you want.

Chinese also has A LOT of homophones because instead of making a wider variety of noises like English, Chinese opted to differentiate words partially based on the tone they're spoken in. This is absolutely fantastic for puns and wordplay, English could never hope to be anywhere near Chinese's level in that regard. This comes into play with some of the trolls' typing quirks.

And just to clarify, sometimes I say 'Chinese' and sometimes I say 'Mandarin', that's because Mandarin is the official dialect in both mainland China and Taiwan and now the mostly widely spoken one in the world. It isn't mutually intelligible with most other Chinese dialects (this is part of why some people argue that Chinese isn't a single language but a language family). However, written Chinese can generally be understood regardless of the dialect you speak, even if people speaking in different dialects often have different ways of saying the same thing, like greetings and whatnot. When I say Chinese I mean things that broadly apply to written Chinese or the Chinese language/language family as a whole, when I say Mandarin I mean things specific to the Mandarin dialect. I think that about covers it. This post is already getting a bit long so I'll put everything else under a cut. Here's the breakdown:

Aradia: Replaces characters with the Arabic numeral for zero 0. I looked it up and apparently the Chinese character for zero also carry connotations of negation or mean things like 'nought' or 'no', which seems to fit with at least most of the instances she uses it in. Apparently this character can also have some link to death and dead spirits, which would fit given how she's a ghost at the beginning of the story.

Tavros: Uses the character 呃 a lot, which can be used like 'uh' or 'eh'. Uses 嗯 which can be used like 'hmm' or 'uh' as well, or like a general mumbling/light groaning sound, but with less frequency. Still, types haltingly, and uses commas, a lot, like in English, without any periods, Since Chinese doesn't have upper or lower cases, Tavros cANT DO THAT THING HE DOES IN ENGLISH, WHERE HE TYPES IN ALL CAPS OTHER THAN, THE FIRST LETTER OF SENTENCES, sO UNFORTUNATELY, there isn't a lot else to say here.

Sollux: Still refers to the others by their nicknames like KK and AA. He uses reduplication more often than most of the others, which is when you repeat part of a word or even a whole word for various reasons, often to stress your point. He also replaces characters that are pronounced as 'shi' in Mandarin with the Chinese character for 4, which is pronounced as 'si' and written as 四. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be reminiscent of his lisp. EDIT: AS @autumntides reminded me, in at least Mandarin and Cantonese four is a homophone with death, and thus it carries the stigma of death and unluckiness. This fits in well with Sollux's mage of doom class and everything related to it, like Vriska mind controlling him to kill Aradia and him dying during the vast glub because he didn't make it into the game in time before Feferi revived him. I still think it's also the lisp, though.

Karkat: He doesn't type in a larger font size then the others so he doesn't really have any typing quirks, at least none I've been able to ascertain, but he's just as imaginative with his cursing. It can be pretty rough for me to parse and equally rough to translate into English in a way that doesn't sound really awkward, but one of my favorites is 'Rotten bloated corpse of God Almighty! Goddammit, what the fuck does your pockmarked think stem want?'

Nepeta: Uses onomatopoeias that equate to 'cat sounds' like meow and roar, as well as a good bit of reduplication. Still uses asterisk marks and speaks in the third person to indicate when she's role-playing.

Kanaya: Doesn't use punctuation. That's it, since she can't capitalize things like she does in English. I really wish I could say more but that's all I can see. She's still verbose, though.

Terezi: Replaces words that are homophones or near homophones with the numbers 1, 3, and 4 in Mandarin with their Arabic numerals, presumably to resemble how she types in leetspeak in English.

Vriska: Still types out characters 8 times occasionally, but rather than letters (since the Chinese writing system doesn't have an alphabet) it's the whole 'word' like 月月月月月月月月. Replaces words that are homophones (or almost homophones) with 'eight' in Mandarin with the Chinese character for 8 八. I'm pretty sure it's meant to signify that she's dragging the word out rather than repeating it, like when she does thiiiiiiiis in English.

Equius: Still uses % like X's, but he just types it and then types out the word. Again, I don't know exactly what kind of keyboard he's using, but if he's using a Latin script keyboard, he's just typing things like %xuan but when he's finished typing it looks like this %選.

Gamzee: Types out every other character in a slightly smaller font size then the default, he's the only one that changes his font size to resemble his English typing quirk. I'm guessing/hoping they have a set up where he can just as easily change font size as Latin script keyboards can change between lower and uppercase by hitting a certain button, but who knows. He uses ta ma de 他媽的 a lot, which is pretty much the Chinese equivalent of 'motherfucker/motherfucking', and cao 操, which is just 'fuck' but the verb.

Eridan: Still refers to the others by their nicknames like Fef and Kan. A lot of reduplication. A LOT of it, way more than Sollux or Nepeta even. I think this is supposed to be reminiscent of how he doubles his Vs and Ws in English rather then symbolizing true grammatical reduplication, though. It also seems to be that his specific flavor of reduplication is like Vriska's, it's meant to signify he's dragging the sound of a word out rather than repeating it. He also types ~ right after reduplication, seemingly to resemble the waves on the ocean and that he's sort of saying it in a 'wavy' manner, like how in English the comic remarks that he has a 'really weird kinda wavy sounding accent'. Honestly it's annoying to look at, and other Chinese speakers have told me the same thing when they saw how he types. Maybe that was intentional?...

Feferi: She does the same thing as Equius does with X but uses ) ( in front of words whose pinyin romanization starts with H. Uses 'gulu' in the place of 'glub' as transliteration. Replaces characters like those for 'is' 是 and 'have' 有 for characters that have that character in it but also have the character for fish 魚 like 鯷 and 鮪. Also occasionally uses ------ before characters, I think it's meant to symbolize that she's saying something excitedly.

And there you have it. This was rough and took a lot of time, but it was fun if at times deeply frustrating. I may do more of these posts comparing the Chinese translation to the original English, I'm particularly interested in the alpha trolls, but who knows. If you enjoyed this I'd greatly appreciate you sharing it :)

#homestuck #karkat vantas #gamzee makara #vriska serket #terezi pyrope #sollux captor #aradia megido #nepeta leijon #equius zahhak #feferi peixes #eridan ampora #tavros nitram #kanaya maryam #Chinese #chinese homestuck

[archiveikemen]

『 Dark If 』 Story Event: Chapter 2

Jude Jazza

This is a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes with no guaranteed perfection. I do not own any of the original content. Please support CYBIRD by buying their stories and playing their games. Reblogs appreciated.

❥･• Warnings and FAQ

I immediately started doing my research on curses and magic in the library.

Due to my sheltered upbringing at the castle, every piece of knowledge I gained from the books was new to me.

Kate: “Time is not irreversible, and space is not unchangeable”.

Kate: “Like a complicated intertwining of threads, the past and the future, as well as different worlds can be connected”.

Kate: … This might be why I have memories of living in both England and this fairytale world…

They once existed separately, but they were now connected into one.

Just like two pieces of thread being intertwined.

The pages of the book rustled as I flipped to the page with information on fairies.

Fairies possess extraordinary powers and are rare in number. They often cause disputes between countries.

It is not an uncommon occurrence for them to be targets of assassination by other countries, as killing a fairy would give them an advantage in terms of war strategy.

(Fairy can easily plan the overthrow of an entire country, and so everyone who refuses to join the military is often imprisoned or executed—)

Kate: … So that’s how it is…

(The overprotective King and the country’s military meekly accepted my situation, just because he’s a fairy…)

I felt furious and ashamed at my lack of knowledge on what was happening around me.

Jude: What have you been doing here every single night?

Kate: Jude…

The moment I saw him, I instantly regretted the things I said to him a few days ago.

Kate: … I’m sorry for saying that you're being targeted because of your bad personality.

Jude: Huh? I don't get what you're talking about.

Kate: Like you said, I’m too ignorant about many things. I realise that now.

Kate: So, for you to listen to what I want… I’ll try to discuss them with you on equal terms.

Jude: … Hah.

Jude scoffed and hooked a fingertip under my collar, pulling my face closer.

Jude: I assumed that you’d be an overly pampered and spoiled brat because of the sheltered upbringing you received for many years.

Jude: What nice eyes you have. Makes me want to make you cry.

Kate: … W-What?

He looked down at me with his usual sadistic expression. And yet, for some strange reason, I felt rather uplifted this time.

(Not that I’m happy I got some form of validation from him or anything… I think.)

Jude: Hm, hope you try as hard as you can.

Jude let go of my collar and left the library.

(— Now that I think of it, he calls me a servant and makes me wear a collar.)

However, apart from leaving the castle, there was nothing else I wasn't allowed to do.

“I’m safe here, so please don't send any soldiers over. That will only result in unnecessary deaths”.

Ellis delivered my letter to the palace, he had been kind enough to help me communicate with them and assure them of my safety.

(If this curse is because of a grudge he has against me— I might have done something wrong to him in the past.)

(But why do I have no recollection of it…?)

To vent my frustration, I completely drowned myself in researching curses and magic.

…

Before I knew it, days went by—

Kate: Oh, good morning, Jude.

Jude: … Are you doing that on purpose?

Kate: … What do you mean?

Jude: Bed hair.

I hurriedly apologised and roughly combed my hair with my fingers.

I lowered my face to hide that my heart fluttered.

Jude: Pfft, you turned red over something like this. You’re so childish.

Rather than being used to his sadistic attitude, I found myself beginning to be slightly attracted to him.

(Um… this must be one of those tropes in fiction where the victim falls for the kidnapper, something like that.)

(This isn’t love… yup.)

Kate: You spent the whole night in your study last night, right? Have you been sleeping well?

Jude: Hah, what’s this? Is the little one worried about me?

Jude: Worry about me after you know how to fix your bed hair and greet me properly in the morning, Princess.

Kate: Ouch…

My forehead stung when he flicked me with his finger.

Jude: You like the pain, huh.

I averted my gaze, avoiding his mocking yet attractive smile.

Kate: I don’t. … Please lift the curse today.

Jude: Ah, ah, you're getting snappy. Looks like I won’t lift the curse today too.

Jude laughed at my request and left for work as usual.

…

Time passed by without mercy, my search for the missing piece in this world and my pleas for my curse to be lifted both remained fruitless—

(Jude…?)

There was one day where Jude was out of the castle for an usually long time and only returned at midnight. I happened to see him when I was peeking out of the library.

Right when his back disappeared into his study.

I noticed something on the carpet—

(Is that… blood?)

A shiver ran down my spine, and I immediately rushed to the study.

…

The study was filled with mountains of books — there Jude was, slouched in a chair at the center of the room, looking pale.

Kate: Jude… are you hurt…?

Jude: … Did I not say that no one is allowed in this room without my permission?

Jude: It’s just a scratch. Hurry up and get out.

Kate: Even if it’s only a small matter, I can’t leave an injured person alone. Let me help you treat your wound.

I approached Jude against his will and saw the piles of papers and documents on his desk.

Kate: … You shut yourself in your study every night. Just what exactly are you researching?

Kate: Is it also the reason why you were out late today…?

Jude: … So what if it is?

Kate: You’ll damage your health if you keep this up.

Kate: Putting your life at risk because of a promise… it's as though you’re the one who’s in danger, Jude.

Jude: … What?

Kate: — It’s like a curse.

Jude: Hah… you actually said it.

Without delay, a hand wrapped around my neck like a snake.

It was as if he wanted to remind me that he was the one who cursed me, and that my life was in his hands.

Kate: … ggh…

My collar was tightened, making me struggle to breathe.

Jude: Being cursed to death for the entirety of your long life over some stupid promise is a pretty big deal.

Jude: You’re worrying about me — and yet, you’ll still fall into a deep slumber tomorrow because of your curse. Have you forgotten all about that?

Jude: Go back to your room right now if you don’t want your head blown off, Princess.

He then slammed the door loudly in my face.

That’s right, before I knew it, my birthday was — tomorrow.

…

(At this rate, I’ll really fall into a deep sleep for 100 years, just like I’m cursed to.)

(Not knowing why Jude cursed me, what’s the missing piece in this world, nothing at all…)

While I was feeling restless and having difficulty sleeping, I suddenly heard the ear-piercing sound of glass shattering.

(Is someone attacking the castle again…?)

I should've been used to the noise by now, and yet… it felt especially unsettling this time.

(There are more voices and footsteps than usual today.)

(Ellis is staying overnight in a town at the foot of the mountain tonight to purchase some items, and Jude is injured.)

Kate: … [worried]

I quickly flew out of bed and ran into the hallway.

…

Jude: Tch… why did you come out here for? Go back to sleep.

Kate: Please don’t say such absurd things in the midst of this ruckus…

Soldier: Princess Kate!

(— Soldiers?!)

Kate: Why are you… I’ve already informed my father than I’m safe…!

Soldier: Your Highness, tomorrow is your last day as per your curse.

Soldier: His Majesty ordered us to take you back to the palace at once, as he wants to see your face for the last time!

(Father…)

Jude: — Unfortunately, the Princess won’t be going home with you.

As if hiding me from the soldiers downstairs, Jude pushed me down with one hand.

Kate: Jude? You’ll be treated as a traitor if you do this, and be an even greater target…

Jude: Hah, you’re worrying over nothing. Besides, you’ll die if you return to the palace now.

Kate: What…?

(What do you mean by that…? My curse is to fall into a deep sleep for 100 years when I prick myself on the spindle of a spinning wheel.)

But, just now, Jude clearly said that I would “die”.

Kate: Are you saying that there’s something else that could kill me, apart from my curse?

Jude: … The incompetency of the doctors at the palace.

Just then, I saw a blazing arrow flying towards Jude—

Kate: … Watch out…!

Jude: !?

In an attempt to shield him from it, I lost my balance—

Jude: … Kate!

— I fell headlong into the atrium, and into the arms of a soldier sent by my father.

Soldier: Princess Kate! Are you hurt!?

Kate: Is Jude…!?

I looked up at the mezzanine — Jude seemingly got distracted by my fall and was subdued by the soldiers.

Jude: Damn it… why did you fall, you idiot?!

Kate: … P-Please, he’s injured… please don’t be rough with him!

Soldier: We will be detaining him for the abduction and confinement of the Princess.

Kate: P-Please wait… listen to me—!

...

No one heard my cries… and we were brought to the palace in separate carriages.

(What should I do… Jude was captured because of me.)

Based on what I’ve read in books about how fairies are treated, I had a rough idea of Jude’s fate.

In place of overlooking his crimes, Jude would be forced to protect our country by attacking enemy countries.

(Jude still has a promise to fulfill…)

— “I won’t ever break this promise, even in death.”

Kate: …?

I thought I heard someone’s voice.

Immediately, the scenery before me distorted and I felt myself being pulled by some unknown force.

(W-Wha…? Did I hit my head—)

…

I shut my eyes tightly due to the dizziness, and when I opened them—

I found myself in an unfamiliar back alley.

(... Where is this place…?)

I saw that my reflection in a building’s windowpane appeared childlike, approximately 10 years old.

(Is this… me as a child?)

Judging from my dainty and expensive-looking dress, it was unlikely that this was the “me” who lived in England.

Right at that moment— the angry voices of a few grown-ups could be heard from outside the alley.

Man’s Voice: Get him! We want him alive!

Man’s Voice: You little pest… making things difficult for me—!

I peeked out of the alley and saw a little boy around my age being chased by a group of grown-ups.

He was covered in wounds; and his eyes looked like they had a roaring fire burning inside them, as if he bore a grudge against the entire world.

The boy was about to pass by the alley, when—

Kate: … Hide—!

Boy: Huh!?

I pulled him into the alley and heaved a sigh of relief as we hid behind a stack of wooden crates, listening to the footsteps of the grown-ups fade away into the distance.

Kate: … Looks like they’re gone now. Why were they after you? Are you hurt—?

Boy: … You don’t know me. I’m a wanted person throughout the country.

Kate: You are? But, why would they be after such a young child…

Boy: A young child? Aren’t you about the same age as me?

(Ah… could it be—)

Kate: Are you able to use magic?

Boy: — So what if I am?

The boy very clearly became increasingly wary of me.

I recalled the heartless words “children of fairies are often wanted as a valuable asset, thus they may be hunted down”.

Kate: Don’t worry, I won’t capture you.

Jude (The Little Boy): … Who knows if you’re telling the truth. Looking at your clothes, you probably a noble’s daughter or royalty. People with money and power are untrustworthy scums.

Kate: I’m telling you the truth! … I think that it’s wrong for someone to be wanted, targeted, and stripped of their freedom when they haven't committed a crime…!

I remembered Jude being attacked at his castle in the mountains nearly every day.

My words involuntarily came out of my mouth, expressing all the pent up frustration I had from my days spent at that castle.

Kate: Ah… sorry for raising my voice.

Boy: … Pfft, why apologise? It’s fine. I agree with you.

Boy: … And your face doesn't look like you’re capable of lying.

Boy: You don’t seem intelligent enough to fool someone for your personal gain— huh?

Boy: Oi, show me your face.

Kate: Huh? Wha—

He brought my face closer and examined it closely, seemingly trying to see something.

(His eyes… they look cold, yet so beautiful.)

Boy: Tch… you look like you have some kind of disease.

Kate: A disease…?

Boy: You have about 10 years left to live.

Kate: W-What…!? Are you saying that I’ll die in 10 years time…!?

Boy: I owe you for saving my life, I’m not going to let you die.

Boy: 10 years later when you’re about to die, I’ll make time stop.

Boy: I don't know how many years will it take to find a cure for your disease… 100 years should suffice.

Kate: H-Hold on… what do you mean by that?

Boy: You slow princess. I’m saying that I’ll save you. Go on and cry tears of gratitude for me.

Boy: I won’t ever break this promise, even in death.

The boy poked my forehead with a finger.

Boy: 10 years from now, you will prick your finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a deep sleep for 100 years.

Kate: W-Why do I have to prick my finger on a spindle…?

Boy: Maybe it’s just the way you look, who knows. Besides — you seem to enjoy pain.

His thin lips curled into a mocking smile.

Kate: — Have we ever met somewhere before…?

…

— I found myself back in the carriage I was forced into.

(That dream… it felt oddly real.)

I could still feel the sensation of a finger touching my forehead.

“Time is not irreversible, and space is not unchangeable. Like a complicated intertwining of threads, the past and the future, as well as different worlds can be connected.”

(The past and the present… connected…?)

I came to this world from England — and now, I have a promise with Jude from the past.

That idea should've been ridiculous, and yet the dots connected perfectly and formed a truth.

Kate: So, the present day Jude is currently imprisoned — and then there's the curse.

Kate: What about the promise we made just now…?

– Flashback Start –

King: … That night, you had a quarrel with me and ran away from the palace. You then lost your consciousness and collapsed in an alley.

– Flashback End –

Thinking about it made me finally understand why I had no memories of back then.

It was because the “me” who met the young Jude in the back alley, was “me” from the present day.

I came into this fairytale world, and made a promise with Jude from the past.

That’s why, before I met Jude from the past, I didn't have any memories of making that promise.

(But, still… I’m certain that I wasn't scared of the curse.)

(Because Jude didn't curse me out of spite.)

(He cursed me to buy time, so that a cure for my disease could be found.)

That means, according to the curse, I need to be pricked by a spindle.

It was the only way to fulfil our promise, which was for me to fall asleep and stop death from reaching me.

Kate: A spindle…

Kate: I have to look for a spindle—

#ikemen villains #ikemen series #cybird ikemen #otome #cybird otome #ikevil story event #jude jazza

[aikotos]

💙 How to buy Japan-only Persona merch

(AKA how to not be scammed by Ebay resellers)

With P3RE around the corner there has been a boom of P3 merch and I often see people wondering how they can buy all the stuff releasing on Japan or getting scamed by western scalper prices, so I thought a merch guide would come in handy.

I will talk about:

Kinds of merch & their usual prices

Persona figures: Kinds & prices

Shops with international shipping

Japan-only shops

Proxies & how to use them

Different proxies

If you have any more info or I'm mistaken in something, feel free to add to this!

💙 Merch & their pricing

These are the most common merch types & their usual retail price (in yen).

Keep in mind that "character tax" is a thing and often merch for the most popular characters has insame price. It's up to you if you want to pay scalper prices or keep an eye to find a good deal.

Acrylic Stands [アクリルスタンド] - Image printed onto transparent plastic with a small base so you can display it on a surface. Price: Depends on size, 1200-1900k

Acrylic keycharms [アクリルチャーム] - Same as acryic stands but with a strap, usually a lobster or metal chain one. Price: ~700

Acrylic frames [アクリルフレーム] - Frames meant hold inside photocards or acrylic chamrs/stands, kind of a mini mini ita bag or shirne. Price: Around 1.5k, 3k if they come with accesories to be put inside. They're sold via lottery often.

Keycharms [チャーム] - Mini-figures with a strap meant to be hang from phones and such. Price: ~400, usually sold in gatchapon & blind boxes

Can badges [バッジ]: I think we all had these. Price: 500-800

Plushes [ぬいぐるみ] - Everyone knows what are these as well. Price: Depends on the size, 1.5-2k for small or keychains ones, over 4k for bigger ones.

Nuigurumi [マスコット] - Usually called just "Nui". They're mascot plushes, but in the case of Persona, they're the 10cm chibi pushes of characters, often with a strap so you can hang them from your purse and such. The character plushes from the 25th anniversary are Nuis. Price: 1.5-3k

Nui clothes [ぬいぐるみポンチョ - おきがえポンチョ] - Ponchos and onesies to dress up your Nuis. I don't know if they have a catch-all name, but the 2 I mentioned are the most popular lines. Price: ~400 for gachapon ones, ~1.2k for the ones sold normally.

Clearfile [クリアファイル] - An art print on a plastic sheet, often they're folders as well. Price: 300-700

Tapestry [タペストリー] - Art printed onto fabric to be hang from a wall. Due to their size they're often expensive to import. Price: I'm not sure, sorry 🙏 I don't think the Persona ones are too expensive, maybe around 3k.

Character/ CD drama [キャラクターCD - ドラマCD] - Audio stories, some of the P3 ones are canon btw! Price: 1-3k

Artbook [アートブック - 画集] - Collection of official art by one artist or series. Price: Depends on how many pages the book has, around 3-5k

Guide - In the case of Persona, they're guide for the games. Sometimes they explain lore and such too. Price: 2-4k

Fanbook [ファンブック] - Book often focused on the series' lore, fun facts, answering fans' questions and such rather than art. Sometimes they even share art made by fans for that fanbook. Price: 1-3k

Novel - Light novels,Persona 3 has a few ones. So far not a single ones has been officially translated. Price: 1-3k

Anthology - Collection of comics/novels made by fans (or mangakas, Sogabe has participated on P3 anthologies before!). Each artist draws/writes one chapter, and while they're not connected, they often share a theme. They're not official content per se, but are licensed by the IP's owners to be sold in stores. Price: Around 800

Doujinshi [同人誌] - Self-published works by independent artists. Most often when people say "[Series] doujin" they're refering to the comics made by said independent artist, sold in very small numbers (to avoid legal troubble) at events. If they're derivated from an IP, most often these comics are sold at production cost with barely (if any) any profit margin, again due to legal matters. Contrary to popular belief, there's actually lots of SFW doujin comics so you definetly should try checking some out!. Price: 200-500

There are tons of more merch (Pita Nui, Noseberi....) but these are the most common ones. I usually just type [ペルソナ3] ("Persona 3", change the number for others) and browse everything there unless I'm looking for something non-persona related like Nui clothes.

💙 Persona figures

Figures need their own section since they're a trickier subject.

There are different kinds of figures, and their price changes depending on it. The main types are:

🌟 Scale: Pre-painted high quality figures, their name comes from the fact that most of the time the figures as sized in relation to the character's actual height (for example a 1/7 scale figure of Yukari would be 22-23cm tall, 1/7 of her height). Due to the materials and all the work they require, their price is expensive, usually 12-30k yen. I recomend buying them with their box unless the figure has very a static pose, due to the small details they can break during shipping.

🌟 Garage Kits: Figures modelled and casted by independent artists and sold in very limited numbers at events via 1-day licenses (unless it's a GK of an OC, then some artists sell their kits online). These figures come unpainted and unassembled, you have to finish them yourself. Since they aren't official,the artist has some freedoom so you can find some funny ones (like catgirl Aigis) Their price can vary, current ones cost as much or more than scales, but older kits can be found for very cheap (1-3k yen) specially if the character or artist is unknown. Remember you're paying the hours and hours a single artist put onto the figure, each piece had to be modelled and casted manually and resin is expensive, that's why the price is high despite being unpainted.

🌟 Prize & Noodle Stoppers: Pre-painted mss-producced figures made to be won via crane games and merch lottery, hence the name. Their quality and QC is way lower than scales, but you can still find some cute ones & their quality has improved lots in the recent years. Their price is low, around 2-3k yen. Anything more than $40 is a scam, don't pay re-sellers that price. Usually, you will find prize figures for $15-20, that's a fair price. Since they're made for crane games, they're very sturdy so you can take the plunge and buy them boxless for an even cheaper price ($5-10), they will arrive safely most of the time.

🌟 Semi-prize: Lately companies have been jumping onto the "premium prize figure" trend. While not reaching the scale quality by a huge margin, they often have better casting and paint job than prize figures. Some semi-prize lines are "Pop Up Parade" (quality varies between figures), "Tenitol" and "Artist MasterPiece+" Their price is low/medium, around 3-5k yen. Still, just like prize figures, I recomend looking them for around $15-25, they're not worth more than $45.

🌟 Action: Pre-painted figures made to be posed and played with. Nendoroids and Figmas fall in this category. They're usually around 10-12cm tall, but there are some as big as 30cm. Their retail price is around 5-12k yen depending on the brand. Action figures in scale or with actual clothing can fall in the 17-20k yen range I personally wouldn't pay more than $60 for ones like Nendos and Figmas due to their size, but it's up to you.

"But how can I differenciate between all of these?"

If while looking for merch you see a figure but are unsure if the price is fair, go to the website "My Figure Collection" & write the name of the series/character on the seach bar (I think MFC uses Surname - Name as the entry name) and click on the resut.

Click on the number there to see all the figures from said series/character. Now simply look for the figure you're interested in and check its table to see important info about it.

If you scroll down, you can also see user coments & photos, which can give you an idea of how much people sell the figure for (not always a fair price tbh) and how the figure looks like irl

💙 Where to buy: international shops

You will use most of these sites to buy new merch and preoders. I don't recoment places like Ebay since they often inflate the price of everything and even sell bootlegs (though you can sometimes find good deals there)

CD Japan: Great selection and prices, customer service is wonderful as well. If you live in EU, you can pay your purchase's VAT thru them to avoid handling fees.

Ami ami: Has lots of stuff, but some can only be shipped to US and a few eastern countries due to licensing issues. Has a great 2nd hand selection, but mostly for figures.

Hobby Search: I haven't used this one myself, but they're legit as far I know.

Hobby Genki: Mostly for figures. They let you undervalue your invoice (useful for EU VAT)

Solaris Japan: For figures, they have a second-hand section as well (some are good deals, some are not). They let you undervalue.

Mandarake: 2nd hand Japanese stores under the same wing. The prices are great, but depending on the store, shipping can be pricey (mostly for figures). It can be tricky to oder more than 1 thing as well.

Suruga-ya EN: 2nd hand Japanese store. The international website has less stuff than the JP one and their search system is weird ("Persona 3" and "Persona Persona 3" are different tags??) but you can't beat their prices. Lately they have been running lots of free shipping campaigns, keep an eye on that.

💙 Where to buy: Japanese shops

These are the shops where you can find good deals and any kind of merch. While in the international shops (except Mandarake and Suruga-ya) are only able to offer merch producced by Atlus, these can sell collaboration merch as well.

You will need a proxy to buy from them. For search, just put [ペルソナnumber] ("Persona") and browse. If you want something specific, try the words I put on the merch type section.

Suruga-ya JP: Same as its ENG counterpart but with way more stuff. Great to find single items at lower prices. This is one of the best places to buy doujin from as well. I think starting at 3k yen spent the national shipping is free, but don't quote me on this.

Mercari JP: Pretty much the Japanese Ebay. The best thing about it are the merch bundles (you can save lots) and "junk" items (figures with missing accesories and such, they can be dirt cheap). Since you have to contact the seller directly, some proxies charge extra fees for Mercari orders (and some sellers refuse to sell to proxies)

Yahoo Auctions: Auction site, you can find great deals and obscure merch there. Some listing are a "ready to buy", so you dont have to bid. Yahoo Auctions is blocked in EU, so you will need a VPN to browse it (I use Opera's free in-browser VPN, its works for what you need it)

Booth: Marketplace for japanese artists. You can find from prints and charms to 3D models and music. The national shipping price is always 750 yen.

💙 Proxies & how to use them

First off, a proxy is not a shop, but an intermediary. They sometimes have in-website shops so you don't have to change tabs to browse different shops, but all they do is to buy what you tell them to & then sent the item to you.

Each proxy has a user guide, but most of them work like this:

You sent them the link of the item you want

They sent you the invoce for said item

You pay the item (+ proxy fees & national shipping, if any)

They buy the item

Once it arrives to their warehouse, they pack the item & sent you the international shipping invoice

You pay the international shipping.

They sent you the item.

Akihiko is now on your house.

So what you will always have to pay is the item price & the shipping from Japan to your house, just like any other online purchase.

The optional payments are:shipping within Japan & proxy fees. And if you like in EU, the VAT of the item+shipping value (luckly, proxies almost never put the shipping price on the invoice)

It may sound complicated, but is very easy actually. All you have to do is sent them links & wait for "you need to pay" emails.

💙 Different proxies

Pretty much any proxy will do the work, the big difference is often how expensive they are. This is something you will need to research yourself to see what option is better/cheaper to you, but here are some proxies:

DeJapan

Fees- None if you only buy 1 thing. 100y/item if you buy more than one thing

Mercari Fee: 200 yen (handling fee)

Customer service - Amazing

Can bid on Yahoo Auctions? - Yes

Can buy from physical stores? (not online ones) - Yes. 200y/oder fee

Can buy NSFW items? - Yes

Can undervalue? - No

Boxes - Okay

Good for - Buying in bulk, probably the cheapest proxy. No currency exchange fees

Complains - Shipping options can be limited (For examply they don't offer Small Packet to some countries when other proxies do). They can take a bit to buy and package orders.

Buyee

Fees- Too many to count.

Mercari Fee: 300y/order

Customer service - Bad

Can bid on Yahoo Auctions? - Yes

Can buy from physical stores? (not online ones) - No

Can buy NSFW items? - When they feel like it

Can undervalue? - No

Boxes - You can use them as your new house

Good for - Buying a single item, specially with discount coupons. If you only buy 1 thing, these coupons can save you lots.

Complains - Too many fees specially if you buy more than 1 thing. They throw the original shipping boxes onto a bigger box unless you contact them directly, so you will get an elephant-sized box with a elephant-sized shipping cost to match. Seriously, only use them for a single order

Zen Market

Fees- 500yen/item

Mercari Fee: No

Customer service - Good

Can bid on Yahoo Auctions? - Yes

Can buy from physical stores? (not online ones) - No

Can buy NSFW items? - Yes

Can undervalue? - No

Boxes - Small, very sturdy. They weight quite a bit.

Good for - Buying one item. Also you can pay EU VAT thru them.

Complains - The new 500y/item fee piles up fast, not recomented to buy in bulk. They're slow to buy. You have to put money on the ZM wallet to pay.

Japan Rabbit

Fees- Per-item fee (depends on shop) + >10% of your order total (depends on how much you spent). Minimun fee is $9 regarless of what you spent.

Mercari Fee: $3/item

Customer service - Amazing

Can bid on Yahoo Auctions? - Yes

Can buy from physical stores? (not online ones) - Yes, but only in stores located in Tokyo and Yokohama.

Can buy NSFW items? - Yes

Can undervalue? - Yes (despite claiming otherwise, probably due to legal matters. You can undervalue after the items arrive to their warehouse)

Boxes - Very small, they're masters at tetris

Good for - To undervalue (but I their 10% fee can cancel a good chunk of what you save in VAT). They're fast in buying & packing.

Complains - They got very expensive, specially now that they charge with USD instead of Yen. I dont know why would you use them now. I guess great service comes with a price to match...

Neokyo

Fees- 250y/item + 500y for packaging

Mercari Fee: None

Customer service - N/A

Can bid on Yahoo Auctions? - Yes

Can buy from physical stores? (not online ones) - Yes, 1k yen fee

Can buy NSFW items? - Yes?

Can undervalue? - No

Boxes - Okay from what I have heard

Good for - They buy very fast. Buying in bulk

Complains - All payment options have a 3% fee

Other proxies:

From Japan - I have heard good things about it, but they changed their site & I find it hard to read, so I can't comment much on it on how its currently. Looks like they dont have many fees either?

And that's all!

I hope you have fun buying, I started using proxies a few years ago and I got addicted lmao

You're the only one who gets to say what to do with your money, but I would use the retail prices I mentioned as a reference when buying to not get scammed with high prices.

Also if you want a specific merch, the key is patience! Check 2nd hand sites every 2 days or so until you find it.

If you have any problem or question, feel free to send me an ask/DM!! (except for bidding, I have never used Yahoo auctions)

#talk #persona 3 #i keep seeing people buying prize figures for #over $100 when theyre not even worth half of that and #it hurts me; please take care of your wallet ToT