#zay talks tm

[melonymint753]

ok can we talk about Tamora Pierce's... take on not!China:

Yanjing is an old word for Beijing, so it looked like she was seriously going for a Very Chinese vibe, but then Evvy's name (Evumeimei) is all over the place. "vu" isn't a pinyin syllable, and "e" in pinyin sounds like "uh" with less h, so phonetically it's not getting shortened to Evvy, where the E is implied as a "eh" sound. Also very few words start with E so it's even more ???

And then her "first name" is 4 syllables long and last name is 2: 4 is Way too long for a Chinese first name (1-2 is the norm, 3 is very Very fancy, I've seen it once in my whole life, on a Very flamboyant guy, so it checks out). I don't know about ethnic minorities, but ones I've seen all have 4 characters max. 4 characters for their full name, that is.

And Evvy really isn't minority-coded, since her last name (Dingzai) is also Very Pinyin. Speaking of that, Chinese last names with 2 characters is pretty rare (vast majority have 1), and hers is not one that I've seen. And Chinese names are said family name first, but ok fine Evvy is a runaway, so she learned to say her name the White Way TM, whatever. I mean, Ding is a perfectly extant family name, and Pierce could have just, done that? Instead of over-exotifying Evvy's name?

anyway TLDR, idk what Tamora Pierce was trying with Evvy, bc she seemed to want an accurate China in her worldbldg, but gave the Chinese-coded character a half-nonsensical name, which bothers me bc I can't imagine which characters to actually use (丁载 伊？美美)?? And I think it's a problem when a native Chinese speaker can't figure out how to fit characters to your made up Chinese-coded name?

like quick fixes:

丁艾美 (Ding Aimei, bc "eh" doesnt exist in Chinese)

丁依美/丁伊美 (Ding Yimei)

or even 丁美美 (Ding Meimei) - a little stereotypical, in a sense that it's not fancy, but def works. Like Mary or Beth in English. Maybe.

If you Really want that 复姓 (2-character last name) fancy vibe, sure, add that Zai back. Or better still, give her an existing one.

Oh and most cases here, I think her shortened nickname would be Meimei, bc nicknames tend to be built on the last character in the name.

Whoops, still ranted, oh well.

#Tamora Pierce #Evvy #Worldbuilding

[frutavel]

for tari: 2, 4, 13, and B!! for zai: 15 and D!! lets throw one more boyo in: 9 for dazari? .3.

 Thank you very much for asking!

2. How easy is it for your character to laugh?

 Tari laughs easy! Sometimes because of something someone said, sometimes because he saw something silly, sometimes because he remembered something fun that happened, sometimes because he’s high and the world feels a little lighter, either way making him laugh isn’t hard more often than not! Even when he’s sad you can still make him laugh pretty easy ^^

4. How easy is it to earn their trust?

 Oh that one is a little harder. He gets along fine with people and he’s very friendly but actually trusting? Not so much. More often than not who he trusts depends a lot on the Vibe tm, and even then he vibes with a lot of people he doesn’t fully trust. You can probably count on one hand the amount of people he actually trusts to let himself be honest and vulnerable with.

B) What inspired you to create them?

 bOI the story behind Tari’s existence is such a mess, I might explain it in a separate post. The short of it was that OG Tari was 100% connected and dependant on another character who fell from my grace, but I liked Tari’s design and what little personality he had at the time enough to turn him into a standalone character, and he kinda evolved from there!

15. How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

 Zai is very blunt and brutally honest, she needs to work on her filter for sure but she tries her best. She rehearses what she’s going to say on occasion, if she needs to have an important conversation or talk to someone on higher ground than she is, but on day to day life she tends to blurt out whatever popped on her mind with little thought. She’s had trouble speaking to people in the past because of this, because not everyone can handle her bluntness.

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

 Zai still looks very similar to her first design! The most notable changes are her vitiligo, which she didn’t have originally, and she shape of her body got a little bigger and stronger. Clothing wise she went from long flowing dresses and silks to more practical and combat fit outfits, but generally speaking she hasn’t changed much :D

9. Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

 Dazari swears like a sailor, which is something that surprises people. He used to feel bad about it at first because he’s a soft sunshine boy but after loosing some of his chill he just said fuck it (literally), who cares xD

#asks answered #oc:zantari #oc:zoraide #oc:dazari

[cxffee-addict-blog]

tm - Frxnchrxvalution

™ and my muse will do a poor imitation of yours | accepting

"Hon Hon Hon. I am how doez one zay.." He tapped a finger to his chin "Ah yez- ze zavage. I ztabbed Tweek for no reazon other than trying to talk zenze into me. I mean- zure i helped him afterwardz but I ztill zcarred him. And I made him cry by giving him flazbackz of how hiz family treated him when i yelled at him. But I ztill acted like it waz okay. It doeznt matter if I'm moderately attactive, I ztill can't zee that I'm being uzed by Gregory."

[frutavel]

tell us about Zantari, king (favorite thing about them???)

YOU

YOU HAVE OPENED THE FLOODGATES

Zantari, the Pathfinder, Mahamba's chosen, my main man, the one and only Tari Rosetusk.

My favorite thing about him is everything. He's my main for a reason!

His history as a character is a huge mess, but to sum it up - he started as an alter ego for another character, and ended up becoming his own thing. He gave me (and still gives) many headaches over the years, but in the end I managed to turn him into something solid that gives me the UwUs.

Today's Tari is a horrifying amalgamation of everything I love. He's a chill, sleepy dude with an unbreakable devotion to what he believes in, an undying passion for what he holds dear, and who's shamelessly in love with life, no matter how bad it gets. He looks like just another hippie and he kinda is, but he has a handful of secrets that set him apart.

Tari is wholly himself, and he's also whatever other people see him as - the weird plant dude, the crazy crocolisk guy, the sleepy man you can stumble upon in the woods, the terrifying hunter. They're a part of him, and he defines the whole on his own terms. He's just a little creetchur, he cannot change this.

He's not flawless, but nobody is. He could be a little more trusting towards others, he could work on his honesty politics, he could improve his communication skills, but patience. He can't fix all his flaws overnight, and he doesn't expect anyone else to.

He doesn't expect anything of anyone, and he doesn't trust them to come through for him, so he usually ends up alone.

Under all those good vibes he's hiding tons and tons of anger, guilt, and most of all regret. He has his coping mechanisms to deal with all of those, he can manage them pretty well on his own, and in the off case that he can't...

Well, if he goes deep enough into the nearest woods there'll be no one around to worry hear him screaming.

They won't even notice he's gone.

One of his favorite things in the world is food. He's a bottomless pit and he'll eat literally anything you give him no matter how weird it is. Tari likes cooking himself, and he's pretty decent at it! He specially likes spicy foods, and pandaren cuisine has a very, very special place in his heart. However, his all time favorite snack is moss. Readily available almost everywhere, easy to collect, and (he says) tasty like nothing else. Plus, it's extra hydration (drink your water).

He's also a huge fan of fruit, especially the extra juicy ones like mango. He makes a mess everytime but at least he has fun!

Tari also sleeps a lot, but he has no sleep schedule. He will just take a 12 hour nap and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to do crime. He has a habit of falling asleep everywhere, especially on tree tops.

Currently he mostly falls asleep in his own little house, which he shares with Zai, my zandalari druid and his partner. He loves her more than anything else, more than his pets, more than food, more than himself. The feeling is mutual :)

He strings up little charms on trees he napped on, nobody really knows it they're magic or not or why he does it. He makes the charms himself! He has 4 crocolisks and they all shed a lot of teeth, plus his teroclaw is in the middle of shedding his baby feathers so he even has some extra flair to it. All he needs is to tweak some twigs into funny shapes, shove shiny rocks, the teeth and the feathers on them and it's ready to go. His and Zai's house is also full of these little charms (and plants, because Zai adores plants and so does he. Their home is almost a mini jungle)

His theme song is Toes , which is also one of my all time favorites. He has other songs that fit his vibe, because we all do, but this one is the perfect feeling for Tari.

Tari is an artistic soul, he loves to create. Other than the charms he also likes drawing, especially plants and flowers. When he's around people long enough he'll draw them too. He has a little sketchbook he adds pages to whenever they start running out, the thing's thicker than his arm by now and keeps growing. He likes drawing from life but he doesn't stress too much about it, art is a pastime that's supposed to be fun (this is a callout to myself)

He also plays the guitar and he has a pretty nice singing voice! He learned it from his dad, one of his fondest childhood memories is sitting by the fire with his siblings while their dad sung them a lullaby.

He has no voiceclaim as of today, but it's okay. Tari is not much of a talker, he'd much rather let someone else speak for him.

I have so much more to say about my boy, but this is long enough as is. I finish reminding everyone of how much I love Zantari and that I am 100% feral for him. He's my prodigy.

No doodles to accompany this ask because talking aboht Tari awakens such powerful feelings within my little heart I am working on a full illustration to go with it. He deserves it.

Thank you so very much for asking! Here's a chibi art of Tari and Zai while we wait for the bigger picture :D

(Please note: Very Old Art tm)

#this just in #creator simping hard for his own oc #can we blame him? #it's for the audience to decide