As much as I adore conlangs, I really like how the Imperial Radch books handle language. The book is entirely in English but you're constantly aware that you're reading a "translation," both of the Radchaai language Breq speaks as default, and also the various other languages she encounters. We don't hear the words but we hear her fretting about terms of address (the beloathed gendering on Nilt) and concepts that do or don't translate (Awn switching out of Radchaai when she needs a language where "citizen," "civilized," and "Radchaai person" aren't all the same word) and noting people's registers and accents. The snatches of lyrics we hear don't scan or rhyme--even, and this is what sells it to me, the real-world songs with English lyrics, which get the same "literal translation" style as everything else--because we aren't hearing the actual words, we're hearing Breq's understanding of what they mean. I think it's a cool way to acknowledge linguistic complexity and some of the difficulties of multilingual/multicultural communication, which of course becomes a larger theme when we get to the plot with the Presgar Translators.
My two stickers I made for @cecilioque ‘s awesome sticker collab!!
➡️PREORDERS RELEASE MARCH 9TH AT 10AM PST!!⬅️
I was honored I got to make something for this collab alongside so many talented contributors!! Thank you so much for having me, and for putting this project together for all of us to get to participate in! It turned out fantastically and I’m amazed by everyone’s work!!
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CHECK OUT THE COLLABORATION BELOW!! (And check out the reusable sticker books as well if you haven’t gotten one for all your stickers yet!!)
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CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL POST FOR MORE INFO ON UPCOMING PREORDERS!!
Thinking about how Leo says he uses his jokes to cope and y’know, thinking harder on it I think it may very well be because of what else uses one-liners and puns and that type of humor.
Specifically, 80’s action movies and campy sci-fi. Even more specifically, the protagonists of these.
So I can imagine why, exactly, Leo leans toward this brand of humor. It’s directly linked to things he loves! But even more than that is why I think it’s used as a coping mechanism.
In these genres, these quips tend to be said by the winner - or, if not a winner, then someone who will stay alive. So there’s a confidence behind them, an assurance, almost, that even if things go wrong, things aren’t ever too serious. There’s no bad endings here! It’s all good fun, even if the stakes seem high.
Leo canonically has been known to steer his brothers away from the more brutal villains and toward more fun, lighthearted activities and not-so-dangerous criminals. So for Leo, these jokes definitely make things less heavy, make the situations they find themselves in less intense.
It’s kinda not just coping, but also can be seen as a form of escapism. A safety blanket. A way for Leo to defuse the tension of knowing just how dangerous their lives are and replace that with a levity which implies that things will be okay.
Unfortunately, levity alone does not alter reality.
"Archers" by Koriakin Innokentii as Team Canada for @shepscapades hc character design week 3 prompt (no, im not late, everyone is just faster! >.<)
i went to his exhibition in 2021 with my mom and it was really great :D his works have the most familiar warmth vibe to me and im just "ghgfhhdfjj 👍🏼💥!!!" about it. You can check his ig page if you wanna see more!
original (there's no quality scan of it u_u and I couldn't figure out how to download from ig...) and rough designs i guess? thought process in alt text