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akutasoda · 1 year ago

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Hii!! Could I request Obey me brothers with a mc who dresses like misa amane from death note? If not don’t worry!! Have an amazing day/night!<333

stylish fashion

synopsis - when mc has a fashion similar to misa amane

includes - lucifer, mammon, leviathan, satan, asmodeus, beelzebub, belphegor

warnings - gn!reader, fluff, wc - 789

a/n: hii! hope you're having an amazing day/night too!

lucifer ★↷

↪to many demon's surprise, lucifer can be quite into his fashion. while it may be more tailored toward formal wear and jewellery, he still had quite the eye for such things.

↪so he did think your style was quite bold at first. bold, but absolutely stunning. it just seemed to work so well for you and he couldn't help but compliment each of your outfits even if he had seen it before.

↪and because of his eye in jewellery, if you were the type, he would gladly take you out and help pick some to complete your look and still perfectly compliment your outfits.

mammon ★↷

↪ he's a fashion demon. he does regular photoshoots for mainly clothing companies and such so he thought he had seen majority of styles in the off hand chances of passing by other models.

↪and sure he's seen demons wear similar style clothing to you, but for some reason it suited you so much better. that and your outfits and their coordination worked so much better.

↪ isn't his style but would be more than happy to help you adf pieces into your collection by showing you all the best brands for your style.

↪and maybe if you chose to, he'd happily try and get you into a modelling gig with him. perhaps then you could help him pick a outfit in your style.

leviathan ★↷

↪he really couldn't draw his eyes away from how gorgeous he found your style. so much so that he felt a bit weird for staring at you.

↪he just couldn't help it! you're outfits were always stunning and he honestly wished he had your confidence to wear a similar style to yours.

↪he is quite well versed in various fashion/clothing shops surprisingly. so he would happily tell you were they were so you could add more pieces to your collection and maybe he would join you and help pick some for you aswell.

↪ however, he is also very good at carfting from scratch. most of his cosplays are hand made, the clothing mostly, so should you find out he would happily oblige in taking your requests.

satan ★↷

↪to absolutely no one's surprise he has limited knowledge of fashion. sure he may claim he's read books with that stuff in but that can't really be translated into the real world of fashion.

↪but he didn't have to be into fashion to think your style was absolutely amazing. you really never missed with a gorgeous, well planned outfit that always complimented your features.

↪he had to say, he loved the style. it would definitely become one he would be interested in, perhaps a more toned down version but still.

asmodeus ★↷

↪adores it an unbelievable amount. need i say more.

↪ it's no surprise asmo likes to dive into various styles and such, so when something with great fashion like you? it would be a crime not to ask.

↪while it probably wouldn't be a style he'd wear, he still thought it was absolutely brilliant. he loved all the accessories you'd sometimes where and even loved the more simpler outfits.

↪ probably knows the best places in the devildom to match your style. so would never hesitate to take you and help you expand your wardrobe.

beelzebub ★↷

↪another one that doesn't really have knowledge in fashion. it's not that he doesn't care, it's just not his main priority.

↪he rhought you looked stunning regardless of what you wore. but he did have to say, some of your outfits had a very nice look to them and he could understand why you had a strong fashion sense.

↪if you wanted to, he'd happily let you try your style of him. while it probably didn't match him like it matched you, he would still keep some accessories you tried on him.

↪ones that he could wear subtly. but he still could admire your outfits and the dedication you had to having such a fashion sense.

belphegor ★↷

↪ probably the worst when it comes to fashion. he spends most his time asleep and rarely cares about the styling of his clothes so has very limited knowledge on fashion.

↪ didn't really care how you dressed. if you were wearing something that made you comfortable and confident that's all that mattered in his opinion. although he couldn't help but admire the dedication.

↪he figured it must take you ages to coordinate and complete your outfits and pull them off each time, something he'd never really bother with.

↪ although his favourites were definitely your more 'casual' and comfortable outfits. the ones were it was mainly a top and pair of pants. those he could really get behind.

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escapedaudios · 2 months ago

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There's a (mostly) dead American Christmas tradition originating from rural southern Germany where a mysterious fur-clad figure known at the Belsnickel (aka Belznickel) visits your house and gives gifts to the virtuous and punishes the devilish with his birchwood whip. He's a much lesser-known folkoric Christmas figure than his German and Austrian cousins Knecht Ruprecht and Krampus, but I have a soft spot for him. He was once very popular in the Eastern United States as far north as Maine and as far south as South Carolina until Santa Claus fully took over around the 1920s. He's special to me, because he's one of the only Christmas figures that doesn't know if you've been naughty or nice, but instead plays games to test your character.

Once a year I dress up and visit a Christmas party, where the guests have to play Belsnickel's ten games. Some of the games are traditional German games, some are traditional German-American games from the 18th century, and some are my original creations. They evolve from year to year, since some games have twists and surprises that would be spoiled if revealed. You can play them too!

These are Belsnickel's Ten Games of Virtue, 2024 edition!

Game 1: Die Versuchung. Belsnickel's game of temptation.

Belsnickel arrives in the house and makes his introduction. As he does, he "accidentally" drops a treat on the floor while greeting the guests. If someone picks up the present and returns it to Belsnickel, they are rewarded by being allowed to keep the gift. If they try to steal the treat for themselves, they are whipped on the wrist and made to return the gift.

Game 2: Der Weisheitswettwerb. Belsnickel's Game of Wisdom.

Participants are invited to recite a wise proverb, quote, aphorism, or verse of religious scripture. Whoever impresses the Belsnickel the most with their wisdom gets an extra good present.

Game Three: Der Aufmerksamkeitstest.

Belsnickel's game of attention and memory. During his introduction, he taught the participants two German words. If they recite them correctly, they get a treat. If they do it incorrectly, they get whipped on the wrist.

Game Four: Die Frage der Tugend. Belsnickel's game of virtue.

Belsnickel invites the participants to tell of a time they showed great virtue since last Christmas. Belsnickel then choses the two best stories, and stops to ponder who should get the prize. If one of the two finalists recommends that their competitor should get the prize, they both get a prize. If they bicker and argue that they are the more vortuous one, they get whipped.

Game Five: Das Anschuldigungspiel. Belsnickel's Accusation Game.

In this game, participants may point out and accuse others of devilish behavior. The accused has sixty seconds to defend themselves. If they defend themselves, the accuser is whipped instead. At the end of the game, anyone who refused to make accusations is rewarded with a little treat.

Game Six: Das Lehrspiel. Teach Der Belsnickel.

Belsnickel wants to learn. He chooses a topic and everyone in the group is invited to share a compelling fact about that topic with him. The fact that fascinates him the most gets a reward!

Game Seven: Freude für das Monster. Cheer up Belsnickel

Belsnickel has some self esteem issues. He's one of the least popular Christmas figures. Cheer him up by telling him he's the best, specifically why he's better than Santa Claus and his rival Krampus. He'll reward whoever cheers him up and boosts his self esteem.

Game Eight: Bestraften oder Bestraft. Punish or Be Punished

In this game you may give up one of your gifts to have another player punished, whether or not they are guilty of anything. This only works a certain number of times though. After a random number of punishments, Belsnickel will punish you instead for targeting another participant.

Game Nine: Das Glückspiel. Belsnickel's Game of Chance.

Two relatively expensive and highly desirable treats are placed in the center of a table, and each participant is invited to wager one of their treats to participate in the game. They each split into groups of heads or tails, until everyone is eliminated expect for one finalist. The winner is offered the two treats, followed by the rest of the pile. Belsnickel then reminds them how great the starting prize was, and tells them he'd be very impressed with their virtue if the winner returned the other player's wagers to everyone else. If they return the wagers, they are praised, if they take them, their winnings come with a slap on the wrist from Belsnickel's birchwood whip.

Game Ten: Ein Samen zum Planten. Belsnckel's Seeds.

My version of Belsnickel loves pumpkins! He gives each participant a handful of pumpkin seeds to plant the following summer, with instructions to bring him a pumpkin next December. You get a great prize if you bring him a pumpkin! But beware, Belsnickel knows what cultivar of pumpkin you're growing with those seeds. If you cheat and bring him a pumpkin you didn't grow yourself, he'll know, and you'll be in big trouble!

Try playing Belsnickel's games! Also, can you guess which games are traditional, and which ones are part of my own personal tradition?

#I'm not even German lol #belsnickel #Belznickel #escaped audios

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lazytoufu · 11 months ago

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My birthday gift! It’s the good opportunity for sharing my art here.

Inspired by @siera-knightwalker work. Thank you for awesome story! I love your AC works so much💜

SURPRISE! I’d like to say I really into fanfic with all verse stuff! Soulmate verse are one of it. It’s funny to work with it. I’d done a lot on fixed thing before it became this release ver(It took surprisingly longer due to my blog dysfunction as you may know) so mostly got renovated hahaaa bg and colouring I decided to add it later. I know there’s only Karma pretty face here, but I think you have seen Shuus pretty faces a lot in Once Upon A Dream comic. I think I like Karma’s face here hehee flower boy~ A hint of Korosensei is so funny. he’s always loved lovey dovey stuffs(tm)!

Add: it’s honestly surprising that I chose ‘soulmate’ as my birthday present as the same as the gift @tuulikannel on soulmate to me, how coincidence.

The original work, here you go!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43930206#main

#lazytoufu #toufuarts #karushuu #asano gakushuu #gakushuu asano #karma akabane #akabane karma #toufucomics

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xtruss · 2 years ago

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The Comic-Book Aesthetic Comes of Age in “Across the Spider-Verse”

The Spider-Man sequel might be the first superhero film to take full advantage of what comic-book art can achieve onscreen.

— By Stephanie Burt | June 14, 2023

Each of the Spiders in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” brings not just an art style but a personality and a backstory.Art work by Aymeric Kevin / Courtesy Sony Pictures

The latest comic-book movie associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” certainly knows what kind of film it is. Most of the movie follows Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, two animated teen-aged Spider-People, but, for the sake of the fandom, live actors from live-action blockbusters make surprise cameos. Gwen quips at one point that Doctor Strange—last seen in the M.C.U.’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”—should not practice medicine. Miles’s high-school roommate references another audience favorite, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017), when he tells Miles, “I’m not your guy in the chair.” Inevitably, there is a meme-inspired scene of Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man. This is the kind of self-aware fan fodder that, in lesser films, might feel tired.

And yet “Across the Spider-Verse,” which came out on June 2nd, does something that no live-action superhero movie has done before—or can do. It leans hard into, and emulates onscreen, the storytelling devices and the visual flair that make comic books special. Even more than its predecessor, “Into the Spider-Verse” (2018), the film feels designed to show young people, many of whom were raised on superhero movies, why they might care about the comics that launched these characters. It does this so well that, at a time when some Marvel movies haven’t been doing so hot at the box office, “Across the Spider-Verse” has already raked in nearly four hundred million dollars. At 7 p.m. on a Wednesday night, with local schools still in session, my seventh grader and I found most of the seats in our suburban multiplex full.

The first scene in the movie reintroduces us to Miles’s long-distance best friend, Gwen Stacy of Earth-65, a.k.a. Spider-Gwen (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld). Her world looks painterly, as if rendered by brushes and pastels; she often appears in Expressionist shades of blue and pink. That’s how the rest of the film will roll: each Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, or Spider-Villain, and each new Earth on which they live, has its own eye-popping art style. Miles (voiced by Shameik Moore), a Black Puerto Rican physics star who draws in all his notebooks, inhabits a world that evokes hip-hop album covers and graffiti. Miguel O’Hara, or Spider-Man 2099, comes with clean lines, techno details, and RoboCop vibes. Spider-Byte appears as a glowing avatar like the nineteen-eighties film “Tron.” Pavitr Prabhakar, a.k.a. Spider-Man India, swings through his home city of Mumbattan, all tropical colors and curvy architecture. (When characters move between dimensions, they pass through a portal made of hexagons—a basic geometric unit of Hollywood animation.)

Almost all of these characters existed in comic books before they hit the screen, and, crucially, all of them have what the scholar Hillary Chute identifies as the core property of comics: they look like somebody chose to draw them. They bear the mark of their creators’ hands. The Spot, a villain who sets the movie’s main plot in motion, looks like a blank page splattered with ink; each of his splotches opens up a little wormhole, in the same way that the pen stroke of a comic can open up another world. The animators of the film owe a lot to Marvel’s comic artists: the credits thank a “Black Panther” illustrator, Brian Stelfreeze; a co-creator of Miguel O’Hara, Rick Leonardi; and the nineteen-eighties titan Bill Sienkiewicz. All three have contributed to the making of “Across the Spider-Verse.”

The film’s version of Miguel O’Hara (voiced by Oscar Isaac) behaves like a stern, bad Spider-Dad. He resolves to stop Miles from disrupting something called a Canon Event—a plot development so important that it has to happen in every parallel world, lest the entire universe be at risk. “You break enough canons,” Miguel warns, “and we could lose everything.” He sounds almost like a Marvel Comics editor, telling writers that they can’t go too far. (One writer, Grant Morrison, called their longest project at Marvel “more like a prison than a playground.”) In the tradition of print comics, the film offers explanatory notes in 2-D colored boxes; some of them, in an homage to the comics of the nineteen-seventies, are even signed “--Ed.,” for editor.

Like all the best teen superhero comics, “Across the Spider-Verse” hints, or more than hints, at real-life dual identities. The colors that tend to accompany Gwen, blue and pink, are the colors of the transgender flag. A poster in her bedroom says “protect trans kids,” and her father, a police officer who initially has no idea that she is Spider-Gwen, sports a trans-flag pin on his uniform. Gwen tells Miles that her parents “only know half of who I am.” She also wears her hair in an asymmetrical undercut—which, my seventh grader told me, is often a sign of trans or nonbinary identity among Gen Z. (It should not be confused with a half-and-half, my seventh grader added.)

Miles and Gwen both have well-intentioned cops for dads, who try hard but can’t seem to stop enforcing rules. In one scene, Miles tells his father, “Men of your generation ignore their mental health too long.” In part for this reason, Miles and Gwen feel the kind of solidarity that young people can share only with one another. When they finally get some tender alone time above a twilit Brooklyn, Gwen asks Miles, “How many people can you talk to about this stuff?” He tells her, “You don’t even know.” That’s what happens when trans people meet one another, too—something that the Internet pointed out right away. (This isn’t the sole Spider-Man film to be interpreted as an L.G.B.T.Q.+ allegory; some viewers saw Tom Holland’s Spidey as transmasculine, too.)

“Across the Spider-Verse” is a sequel, but it’s arguably the first superhero film to take such full advantage of what comic-book art can achieve. At the Guggenheim Museum, Gwen has to fight a version of an old Spidey villain, the Vulture, who looks, in her words, like a “big flying turkey from the Renaissance.” He’s drawn in the style of ink on parchment, with the scratchy, busy lines you’d expect from a goose-quill pen. He’s not just from another Earth but from a different artistic universe. Elsewhere, several Spider-People chase Miles across the body of a rocket and up what appears to be a space elevator. Theoretically, C.G.I. could help live actors imitate some of these stunts—but not in such colors, and not with such dynamism and glee. In another sequence, Miles races a moving subway train while he fights a pangolin-esque villain, who rolls up in an armored ball. In a live-action film, the scene would cost a ton and still look cheesy. With animation this artful, it’s all part of the fun.

Comics are at their core a visual medium. “Everyone’s first response to your work will be to the visual aspect,” Brian Michael Bendis, the co-creator of Miles Morales, wrote, in his 2014 book about creating comics, “Words for Pictures.” In a comic, the script has to serve the art, which in turn has to serve the characters. And this script does. Each of the Spiders brings not just an art style but a personality and a backstory: tragedy for Miguel, teen heartbreak for Gwen, dad jokes for Peter B. Parker, that lovable sad sack from “Into the Spider-Verse.” (There’s even a Spider-Baby.) Each character and each gadget—one is called a Go-Home Machine—says something about generational change. Today’s kids may feel that they can’t live up to adult expectations and still be themselves. Where, if anywhere, can they find heroes?

Maybe Gen Z could find them in superhero comics, but it’s not clear that they’re reading many. The best-selling U.S. single-issue comic book of all time remains “X-Men No. 1,” published in 1991, which moved more than eight million units; in the past ten years, the best-selling superhero comics have tallied half a million instead. “The captive audiences of the pandemic era are out doing other things,” the comics journalist Heidi MacDonald wrote this year. When Zoomers read comics, it’s often via online platforms such as Tapas and Webtoon, which span genres from high fantasy to romance, or else in all-ages, slice-of-life graphic novels. (“Guts,” by Raina Telgemeier, was America’s most-purchased book—not comic book, book—one week in September, 2019.) “Across the Spider-Verse” could help to boost printed comics. Marvel has leaned hard on movies to promote Spider- titles, including the made-for-mobile online comic “Spider-Verse Unlimited.” Viewers who want to read stories that look like the Spider-Verse might also check out recent issues of “New Mutants,” by Vita Ayala and Rod Reis, in which feelings are more important than fisticuffs, and the expressive art fits the strong emotions.

“Across the Spider-Verse” is full of astonishing action, but a quiet scene midway through, when Miles and Gwen finally get a moment together above Brooklyn, might be the most affecting in the film. It lets viewers—including my rapt seventh grader—contemplate what young people want from one another, what they can never get from adults. Perhaps it’s a budding romance. Perhaps it’s trans bonding. These moments set up the conflict that comes later, when Miguel O’Hara tells Miles what he must do for the multiverse, and Miles, facing a superhero-level trolley problem, just says no. And the whole thing takes place, beautifully, with Brooklyn inverted: Miles and Gwen, using their tenderness, and also their powers, conduct the whole conversation upside down. ♦

#Spider-Man #Marvel Comics #Comic Books #Comics #Marvel #Animated Films #LGBTQ #Art #Films #The New Yorker

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adenial-a · 2 years ago

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detailed league of legends verse under the cut cuz i really really need to make one .

main league of legends verse :

ㅤㅤlovek is a vastayan former noxian noble , a love child that is considered a stain on his families honor not because he is vastayan but because his father abandoned his nation to continue the love between himself and lovek's mother . lovek was left behind because of the rash decision , and his grandparents were left to raise the young child . ㅤㅤthey were harsh & unforgiving with lovek , making certain to instill how much of a fuck up lovek's very existance really was , and how he had to atone for his father's behavior by becoming an excellent representation of noxus as a whole . ㅤㅤthe young vastayan trained as a soldier in varying schools , sponsored by other nobles due to the begging of his grandparents and their rather large coin purse , and excelled in varying forms of wartime strategies . ㅤㅤit was thought that when lovek became of age he would leave his grandparents house to be fully sponsored , and perhaps even wed to , another noble -- it was in the works that this said noble would have ties to the black rose , and lovek was made to specialize in espionage and intelligence gathering specifically because of that . ㅤㅤit was ingrained in lovek that in order to have a reason for existing in life he must have a use , and that use must be to please his superiors . ㅤㅤit is fortunate , however , that noxus soon underwent a change in leadership thanks to the rise of the once forsook general swain , who made quick work of shutting down the nobility of noxus . ㅤㅤhis proud family were given ultimatums : shed their titles and wealth as nobles and live in noxus , flee their country , or fight to the death for their right to keep their titles . ㅤㅤthey chose to fight , one way or another , but they were cowards . cold & cruel , they made young lovek be the one to fight , instead of the head of their house , just a shivering terrified child holding a blade against the strongest in noxus armies . ㅤㅤlovek's grandparents were slain without hesitation , and lovek protected . it was a disgraceful outrage to send a child to fight , and they were made to endure a fitting end . ㅤㅤafterwards , lovek was given a choice of his own . he could flee as well , safety gauranteed , or he could stay , and live for noxus . ㅤㅤamazed at the strength and mercy shown to him , lovek did stay . when he came of age , he even joined swain , putting to use the skills for intelligence gathering he had specialized in . ㅤㅤhe travels between various different nations , posing as just a noxian aristocrat traveling to see the world .

arcane verse :

ㅤㅤbasically everything about how he was raised remains the same , except that arcane takes place quite a number of years before noxus is taken over by swain . lovek comes of age and is sent to his sponsor , and is immediately set to work . ㅤㅤthe black rose has their eyes and ears in many places , and zaun / piltover are no exception . lovek's main job is to find weaknesses in the cog in the system , and see how easy it is to wiggle his fingers into it . ㅤㅤhe's incredibly bitter and jaded in this verse . there's nothing on this earth that could surprise him anymore , and he's sure to do whatever he's ordered to in order to please his superiors , for his own skins sake .

#league verse .

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best-fnaf-song-competition · 1 year ago

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Hi!! I was coming in to see if anyone submitted a neat song someone suggested to me on the last poll (Knives, Gears and Wires) on the last spreadsheet bc I'd rec it otherwise. It was submitted Once on the first/main poll, upon checking. Nice. BUT 2023 music poll?!?!? That's a surprise, exciting! I saw that you won't be answering "how many submissions for [x]" asks but will you otherwise accept pre-poll propaganda? I will be sending a fleet of 2023 submissions at some point. :D -✨

I have not actually heard this one before, so I hope you don't mind if I use this as a chance to review it! (Unfortunate that it can't be submitted to this one, but here's hoping it's a good song all the same!)

To answer your question first though, pre-poll propaganda is allowed! You are allowed to send asks about your favorite songs and why people should check it out/nominate them, but as you said I will be refraining from actually listing a number until the nominations close. It's looking like there's far less submissions this time though, so please both make sure you're submitting all of your favorites and that you're spreading the word! So many newer songs need some love c:

With all that said, let me give this one a listen!

[Link to the song]

From Musiclide and feat. Swiblet is already an interesting start because for me, I am only VAGUELY aware of both of these people. So I have no expectations going in! Always exciting always fun :)

OOOOH THIS ONE IS SUPER COOL the melody is REALLY catchy in this one, and can I just say. The consistent use of a clock ticking as an instrument is SUCH A GOOD CHOICE I'm obsessed with environmental noises becoming instruments and it fits perfectly here!

Swiblet nailed the vocals, the shift between the quieter verses and the harsher chorus is Super effective here! Giving the night guard a more consistent and calm verse while the animatronics get something sharper and angry is SUPER cool

Also can I just say? The video itself is REALLY cool. The text moving alongside the camera was already neat, but I'm loving both the shift between games and the themeing of which cameras they chose to use and when. It was just really fun to watch!

Overall, this one's super cool c: vocals, melody, video, all of them are great!! I'm a little disappointed it's a 2021 release now, I wish we could submit it this time around! Thanks for bringing it up, this one was really fun!

#not a poll #ask #anonymous #song review #2023 tournament

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clemencetaught · 2 years ago

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@velvetineblue sent in: ( also sending a heavily altered meme for the thg verse, hehe. ) " what were the last words you spoke to them? " patrick's mentee, is who tai was referring to. " … i told annie, everything would be okay... " a heavy, grief-laden pause follows the admission, his guilt and grief evident in every syllable. " i lied. " || time for a heart-to-heart ( prompts for deep conversations. )

OF COURSE HE KNOWS who Mister Tseng is referring to- Link Tignol, the male tribute from District Three for the 63rd Hunger Games. Much like Patrick himself, he was an outlier amongst the long line of tributes that had been reaped in one…it’s strange, how history seemed to repeat itself that year, from Link volunteering to take his twin brother, Linus’ place to the female tribute, resembling Tellessa in both demeanor and appearance to even the build up to the 63rd Games themselves. Patrick couldn’t help but wonder if he was watching an adaptation of his own games, however messed up that would have been.

Maybe that was why he had been a tad more invested in training Link- tutoring the boy, teaching him how to observe the other tributes and to use his wits to survive in the arena, even though deep down, Patrick knew the odds were not in Link’s favor. That boy was destined at best, a swift, if not painless death in the arena. He was sickly, one who got easily winded, and who flinched even at the sound of metal grinding against metal. That was the main difference between Patrick and the boy- whereas Patrick gave off only the impression of benignity, the boy was that, truly. He was a lamb through and through and it was for that same reason that if the other tributes didn’t get to him first, then the arena would devour him alive.

Until he wasn’t. Until a CAREER, of all the tributes, changed the tune of his story and after fatally stabbing his district partner in the spinal cord, and started an alliance with Link. It didn’t make sense, the career’s sudden change of heart nor his strategy, but foolishly, something arose in Patrick for the first time in years: hope. Hope that maybe for once, he’ll be able to bring one child out of the arena and back to their family. For once, he could return to District Three with only one coffin…

( But even that’s a lie, isn’t it? Even if Link did live, that did not guarantee that he would be the same child that went into the arena. No one comes out of there in one piece, not really. )

And then the surprise attack and the hope bled out of his hands the same way Link went- one swift cut to his neck. That’s all it took before the cannons boomed and Link’s body was airlifted out of the arena, leaving only the career to fend for himself.

The career tribute, now an adult, carries the eyes of not only a jaded victor, but also of a defeated mentor.

Patrick doesn’t take a step closer. Doesn’t try to close the distance- for years Mister Tseng chose to keep his distance. Of course they all did with one another, but the frigidness had been especially prominent between them- was it the resentment Mister Tseng expected to receive? Or was it the guilt of having survived instead?

The answer doesn’t matter anymore.

“No matter what my answer is, it won’t help you.” Bones groaning, he takes the seat next to Mister Tseng. Oh, there are so many things Patrick could have said to Link. Could’ve said to all of them- something like, “You can do it.” Something like, “I believe in you.”

Something false like, “Everything will be okay.”

( That night before the 63rd Hunger Games, both Link and Patrick knew that the former would not be escaping the arena alive. And Patrick, choosing to keep pretenses for as long as possible, rested both hands on the boy’s shoulders and said, “Take care of yourself.” )

“Neither of you could have predicted what would happen in the arena.” Patrick says instead, eyes still staring ahead. “None of us ever will, but I’m sure she knew you were trying help the whole time. She might resent you for a very long time, but all you can do is be there for her- now when she needs it more than ever.”

#death cw #child death cw #violence cw #velvetineblue #velvetineblue ( verse three. )#the sea makes corpses of us all ( taiyang — verse three. )#the victor ( answered. )#the victor ( verse three. )#did you say....pain :3 #hahahaha i decided to give the tribute tai was defending a bit more development....so we can both suffer <3 #not patrick avoiding the question as per usual....it wouldn't be him otherwise tho #and just- giving advice instead jfskldjflskdjf :'D

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lorewarp · 24 days ago

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5 - Dilemma

The assassin came for her just after dawn. He stumbled, giving himself away, swearing quietly under his breath. If the noise hadn’t alerted her, the blasting waves of guilty psychic energy would have. Liv had been sleeping on her stomach; she found the knife hidden under her pillow and turned, ready to jam it into the man’s neck, but found his throat already slit. A wide-eyed expression of shock lingered on his face as the blood gushed out of him, darkening and soaking the tattered scarf looped around his neck.

A slender shape unfolded behind the dead man. Marazhai. He sighed and caught the assassin before he could fall, taking him by the collar and dragging him away. “One of Keykeross’s, without a doubt, driven to madness and murder by her design. It is no longer wise to linger here, Rogue Trader.”

Liv rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, sitting up. “Where are you taking him?”

“Does it matter? If I find anything interesting on the body, I’ll save it for you.”

She crawled out of the sleeping bag and pulled on her boots, following Marazhai into the main room. What remained of the vagabonds who chose the Rogue Trader over the Commissar and Malice stood around gawking as the dark one disappeared into the shadows with his prize. The others in her retinue gathered near her, a ripple of surprised remarks chasing through the crowd as a wobbly blue outline of a Xenos drifted toward them from the entrance stairs. The shape resolved into Nocturne of Oblivion, the motley raiment garish and strange in the desolate gray gloom and chill of the Den.

Abelard reached for his sidearm, but Livinia touched his wrist and went forward to greet the Harlequin. It was a brief exchange. Riddles and mysteries, obfuscating verses wrapped around nuggets of truth, like a dancer waving varicolored flags while their magician partner hid the trick. Behind her, Abelard grunted in confused frustration. But Livinia had been a quiet, lonely child, lonelier still when she was taken to the Scholastica Psykana. Books had been her comfort and her diversion, and while Nocturne wove his tapestry of misdirection, Livinia homed in on the truth.

“A series of trials await us in the arena, and if we can survive them, the Harlequin will find us a path to the spires.” She turned and identified Yrliet standing off to the side, her face a mask of awe and fear at the Harlequin’s decision to come. “Our way home is a webway gate, can you activate it?”

Yrliet’s eyes slid side to side as if she were reading a slate that only she could see, then she gave a single nod.

Liv turned back to the Harlequin, who was already beginning to fade away. “We’ll make ourselves ready.”

She gave the command for everyone—including the random assortment of Chasm survivors—to gather their things and prepare for a journey. Liv retired to her small room behind the Commissar’s “throne” and shoved what little she had accrued in the dark city into a torn duffle. She expected more dread. But she was rested, they had greater numbers now, and with a Harlequin on their side, success seemed almost guaranteed. She had always had a strange relationship with fate, chafing at the idea that her life was at all predetermined, but conscious of how her knotted path always seemed to straighten out when it mattered. A tall shadow grew against the wall before her, and she glanced over her shoulder as she stood and cinched her bag shut.

Yrliet watched her, tenting her gloved fingers primly.

It wasn’t hard to guess what she wanted to say. “Let’s have it,” Livinia muttered.

“Do not sigh at me, Elantach. We both know he must not survive the fight to come,” Yrliet told her in a deadly whisper. Her emerald eyes flashed into the corners of the room, but not finding Marazhai in any of them, she continued. “A stray shot from me will suffice if you do not have the stomach to do it yourself. The large one who eats flesh would also accept the assignment.”

Liv pressed her lips together tightly; her friend instantly read the hesitation in her face.

“We do not need him to escape this place; if the Harlequin requires us to live on, then we will survive.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“Only because you make it so.” Yrliet huffed out an impatient breath. It was the closest she ever came to a raised voice. “The longer you keep him at hand, the more chances he will have to lop yours off for trophies.”

“I told you, it’s complicated. He…let me use my telepathy on him. More than once, Yrliet. I was in his mind. And I…well, I saw no immediate plans for betrayal.”

“Setting aside your ill-advised willingness to do that, what possible motivation could he have for this? For one of his kind to allow such a thing is…unheard of. Alarming in a manner I cannot describe to you. I would never pretend to understand the dark ones and their machinations, their unpredictability is their strength, but this is…new. I do not like it. It is somehow worse than secrecy. Destroy him, now, before this scheme of his advances another step.”

“Not yet, Yrliet. You have to trust me.”

“How can I? When you refuse to see what is plainly before you--”

“And when we leave here, when we are safely back aboard the Firstforged and my advisors are calling for your head, will you trust me then? Do you not see that his fate might be tied up in yours? My kind hate you, but they hate and fear him more.” Liv had spent the night going over it in her head. One Xenos was a target, two presented a conundrum. Or, at least, a longer discussion, if she could swing it and she was convincing herself she could. Yrliet had been backed into betraying her, but nobody on the Firstforged would be inclined to see it that way. Keeping Marazhai, if nothing else, would buy them time. He was a distraction, she told herself, nothing more.

And when you do not kill either of the Xenos? What then? What will keep your people from justified mutiny? Heinrix will be forced to turn on you, and it will shatter him to pieces.

The Warrant. The Warrant would be her shield.

Yrliet withdrew, her tread soft and her voice softer. “I do not understand you, Elantach, but I hope someday that will change. For now, I will trust; you have kept us alive thus far.”

While the others busied themselves, she worked up the courage to check on the Drukhari. He had not appeared to witness Nocturne’s speech, and she needed him ready for the arena. A pit widened in her stomach as she located him in a cramped room far removed from the chaos of the rotunda. He had evidently finished with his victim, cleaning his hands with a rag and, ominously, picking things out of his teeth with the claws of his gloves.

“You handled the Harlequin efficiently. Their timing is never accidental—our time in the dark city comes rapidly to an end.” He spoke before she could get in a word of greeting.

“I didn’t know you were listening in.”

He shrugged, tossing the rag aside. His alien, spiked pieces of armor had been piled near his cot, leaving him in nothing but a hugging pair of belted leather trousers and his gloves. Even his feet were bare; Livinia found herself glancing at his toes, finding the sight of them oddly intimate. He was more visibly muscular than she expected, the chiseled dunes of his chest tapering to an abdomen that rippled and flexed with even his smallest movements. Bluish, bruised marbling formed over the areas where the hooks of his armor had carved out permanent wounds. “If you’ve dissected one assassin, you’ve dissected them all. So yes, I listened. As you keep reminding me, our paths are intertwined. Thus. What next, Rogue Trader? Will you need me for your grand escape, or have you decided to throw your lot in with the wandering fool who led you straight into my trap?”

“Is this your version of an offer to help?” Liv smirked, crossing her arms and pushing her hips to one side. Marazhai’s eyes tracked the movement with obvious interest.

“We are in the tumult and terror of my kin’s realm, navigating the spires above will require knowledge none of you possess. I ask a simple favor in return for my assistance,” he said, still eyeing her midsection like a feline waiting for a dying mouse to twitch. “Well, two.”

“I should have expected that.”

“You should have, but we can discuss your deficiencies another time, pet,” he said, chuckling.

“Stop calling me that.”

“I will stop calling you pet when you order me to with anything resembling conviction.”

Livinia narrowed her eyes. “We’re short on time. Everyone is packing. What are the favors?”

“One, I will not be leaving the spires without first paying a visit to my sister. Her treachery cannot go unpunished, and I have a feeling her death will not distress you overmuch.” His gaze traveled slowly up her body until their eyes met. It continued to frighten her, how exciting it was each time that happened. “What does one more dead Xenos matter, mm?”

“Sure,” Liv sighed, tapping her foot. “Dead sister. And the other favor?”

Her cavalier attitude toward his first request delighted him, broadening his already lascivious smile. “There are a number of items of…sentimental value located in the spires. I want to acquire them before they can be stolen or tainted by unworthy hands.”

She arched a brow, snorting. “You? Sentimental?”

Marazhai’s smile vanished, a shadow passing over his face. “Do not mistake my willingness to bargain for permission to deploy any and all insults that bubble up in your woefully inadequate mind. My terms are stated, do you understand them?”

It was her turn to smile. “What sort of items are we talking about? Heads in jars? Pickled fingernails? One-of-a-kind flaying knives?”

His long stride ate up the ground between them. With a quick swipe he had grabbed hold of her jaw, squeezing it again with his clawed fingers and staring impassively down into her face.

She went cold all over, perfectly still.

“Fear,” he purred. “That’s good. That’s correct. But do not let fear stand in the way, pet. Search my mind again if you must, I will not try to stop you. Come inside, and I will show you what possessions I seek and exactly how I intend to use them.”

Livinia shook her head lightly. “I…why do you keep wanting me to do that?”

“Why would I hesitate to show you what is in my mind? If I wished you dead then I would not have stopped that assassin, though you might guess—accurately—that such an end would be far swifter and less agonizing than anything I would devise. You already know what I want with you. So. Be my guest, sift through the blood-soaked chambers of my thoughts, pet. Just be warned—you might be tempted to stay lost forever in that labyrinth of exquisite pain.” His nose skimmed the edge of her ear, and he inhaled her scent deeply. “There it is, beneath the smell of your terror, below the delicious perfume of your fear sweat, subtle but present, your arousal. It is uniquely your own. It grows stronger the harder I pinch.” He inhaled again, pushing his forehead into the side of her head. “Oh, but it is not subtle anymore. No, pet, you are practically in heat for me. Do not worry, I will give you what you crave, but not until you have earned it--”

Livinia tore herself out of his grasp, the points on his fingertips scoring scratches along her chin and jaw. Reflexively, she reached for the knife holstered at his waist. Marazhai let her take it, laughing uproariously, raising his hands above his head while she brandished the weapon, forcing him backward.

“Oh-ho, so you have come to kill me. I see.” His pose of surrender was replaced by defiance, his knuckles resting on his belt. “If you are certain that you do not need me for the coming battle, then dispose of me. Surely, it is that simple.” He stepped up to the dagger as she raised it to his throat. “Do it. But you can’t, can you?” He leaned forward, cutting his own neck with the sharp kiss of the blade, blood bubbling against the metal before racing toward the tang. His eyes seemed to glow brighter the deeper the blade dug. Her hand shook. Why couldn’t she make herself do it? He was infuriating, impossible to deal with. “You want to see where this goes as much as I do. Poor little pet, paralyzed with indecision. Here, let me do it for you.”

Marazhai artfully slipped the dagger out of her grasp, spinning it several times in his hand before showing her the stained flat of the blade. Closing in, he wrapped one arm around her, propping his clawed glove lightly against the small of her back, urging her forward. She braced against his touch, stiffening. Her hands flew to a natural resting place, perching on his chest. His heartbeat ground against the pads of her fingers. With skin like pale marble, she expected him to be like ice, but his body roared with heat. Bringing the blade between them, hovering it between their faces, he smiled.

“When you take those fascinating trips into my head, the road runs both ways. Do not deceive yourself into thinking you are taking anything from me; on the contrary, I am learning everything I want to, feeling the infinitesimal shudders of your brain, the darksome gatherings of interest that come before your ultimate destiny…” His voice lowered as he went on, sliding to his point, making her lean in to hear him and make out every word. He shifted the blade until it was just in front of her chin. “Submission.”

Livinia blinked slowly, sensing his command before he gave it.

“Clean it, my pet. Not a drop wasted.”

Her dignity warred with her body, but the desire he had so astutely pinpointed won out. She didn’t understand herself, but maybe she didn’t need to. Or worse, maybe he was right. Maybe she did resent the crushing weight of command; when she was rerouted and summoned to Theodora’s side, she had been on a transport to a frontier world, there to take her place in a regiment as their battle-psyker. That was a heavy responsibility in itself, but she had expected to be the one taking orders, not giving them. She didn’t even get the chance to meet the Commissar she had been assigned to in the regiment; something told her he wouldn’t have been anything like this.

She was familiar with the taste of her own blood, but not another’s. Her eyes fluttered shut as her tongue searched along the blade, the still-warm liquor of his body tasting familiar, as if the blood had dripped from her own veins. His ragged breaths told the story of his satisfaction. When the blade was clean, Marazhai made a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat, lowering the weapon and pressing his thumb along the wound in his neck. Darting forward, he smeared the gathered blood across her mouth, then descended hungrily to kiss it away.

Livinia’s eyes snapped open in surprise. His kiss was vicious, the sharp edges of his teeth stinging her lips as he took what he wanted. She had no time to respond, to shove him back or return the gesture. Marazhai craned back, holding her by the throat, examining her with unfettered curiosity. Then, he returned to the cot and set about hooking the pieces of armor into his flesh. Grinning to himself, he murmured, “How I long to devour you. The wait will be agony for us both.”

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beyond-the-lewdiverse · 5 months ago

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Have you watched any good anime recently that you'd recommend?

Oooooooh I have actually~! So I'm gonna recommend a few from this year that only have the one season so far and think deserve some love~! As well as a few that I just adore anyways~

Fire Force~! Outside of the intensive amount of fan service with Tamaki, I absolutely love this series. Beautifully choreographed fight scenes, sound design that is orgasmic to listen to, a rich world with an amazing power system that gets playful with what can be done (for example Karim's power is ice based but still explained well which I adore). Like I've said, the fan service is what brings this series down for me but outside of that, I couldn't recommend anything more highly. It's actually something I think up write a review for at some point~

JJK~! With a fun, playful and goofy first season that does well introducing the power system and characters followed by an insanely strong second season that hits harder than a brick, it would be a sin not recommending this series. From fast paced fights to masterfully executed voice acting, this deserves the praise and a watch~

Wind Breaker~! If you love your fighting anime, this is perfect! No power systems, just straight hands being thrown. For me, I'm not too keen on Sakura (the main character) but standing at just thirteen episodes, it's obvious that he's gonna have a lot of development so I know my opinion will change on him. On a deeper level, this series explores very real issues regarding delinquency, bullying and men's mental health. I genuinely enjoyed Wind Breaker more than I thought I would and really can't push more for people to watch it~

Kaiju No.8~! Maybe a controversial pick for an anime as this series is a lot more CG work, but it's pulled off immaculately. Please go and give it a watch! I loved every second of this show, I adore the fact that our protagonist isn't the greatest fighter in the verse but rather his strengths are his intelligence and support capabilities (outside of his Kaiju form). Kafka is such a well written character in my opinion and I love that they also chose him to be in his thirties too. The supporting cast are brilliant, memorable and with just one season, it leaves you wanting to explore more into each of them. While on the outside it can look like an AOT ripoff, it's anything but. Also the outro song slaps so hard I love it. On the topic of the music, I was surprised to see the intro is by Yungblood and the outro is by One Republic soo there's that~

Now I could keep going but for anyone wanting some new watches, there you go~!

#ask #anon

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terraxcloud · 1 year ago

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No Promises to Keep

[Verse: Loren Allred] I won't say that it was fate I won't say that it was destiny But if not, what could it be That drew you towards me? Could it be chance? [Chorus: Loren Allred] Till the day That we meet again Where or when I wish I could say But believe Know that you'll find me Promises to keep We won't ever need [Chorus: Loren Allred] Till the day That we meet again At our place Just let me believe In the chance Know that you'll take my hand And never let me go

***

I have been getting that vibe that this song was prepared to be a real life FF6 Opera. Having it be sung by Aerith in-game but with Loren Allred dressed similarly to Terra is interesting due to the fact that Aerith is playing the role of "Princess Rosa", yet Aerith isn't the actual "princess" (she has said that she's not one in Remake).

In a way they just hinted on who the "princess" is, because in the back of our minds we know that it could instead be Tifa singing, even Yuffie (well, maybe). Even if it isn't and it's just Aerith singing it, remember that Aerith has her own theme and it sounds very similar to the FF6 Opera.

The lyrics make me feel like there may be a temporary "meeting" in the first stanza. She seems really confused as to what caused him to appear to her, which makes her assume that it will happen again.

This is unlike "Hollow" where Terra takes initiative but the ending of that song makes it seem like she feels hopeless:

But I, I know That you're long gone But I, I will Go on howling and hollow To never know

In essence, Terra wasn't expecting much, but "something happens". "Know that you'll take my hand" is a reference to the ending of FF7, because the only part of Aerith's song that plays during that scene is the first notes which sound the most like the FF6 Opera.

Although, the lyric "At our place" implies a ton. There's probably millions of dollars and years of sweat behind that one lyric in particular

I think that the reason they chose the word "promise" is to connect it to the "Promised Land". With a potential reference to FF7's ending, the "at our place" lyric, and the word "meet" ("Maybe I can meet her...there." "Yeah, let's meet her.)

The "Promise Scene" is important. It's either Tifa or Tina (Terra's other name :P).

Also, a main theme implies a main character in some way. The semantics of that may be confusing here, probably because it's supposed to be a mystery to everyone.

So there is a chance that the "surprise" is Cloud actually finding Terra "by chance" for a little while, but is it? What about Zack's timeline? There are quite a few hints that Terra will be involved in Zack in some way (WoFF Serah/Zack scene - FF15 DLC connection is the biggest)...perhaps there's two Terras as well? Two Clouds, Two Aeriths, but only one Zack. I think one of those Terras may die (hint from Dissidia NT, her solo WoFF intervention, and Aerith's Lost Chapter in DFFOO.)

The Krile Lost Chapter hint about Terra asking how Krile travelled to different worlds still is on my mind. Travelling by meteor isn't a weird thing as the FF5 characters, Noel in FF13-2, and Jenova used one, but with the possibility of two Terras...would one use a torsion and the other a meteor? The problem is that these hints exist, if they didn't exist I wouldn't have a question. That DFFOO scene is very, very intentional.

Considering that Jenova is her antithesis, it makes sense that she'd use a meteor. She can't end up in Cloud's timeline...can she? It would definitely change everything.

I also have to mention what the devs said about Advent Children being a part of the end. What does that even mean? Advent Children isn't about crazy battles to them, y'know. Perhaps to the fans, but not to the developers.

I believe Tifa also has to meet her as the ending of FF7 implied.

#Clerra

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sacrificedtoatree · 2 months ago

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Agreed with everything here.

I've been thinking about Homer translation lately, and ... I just do not get translating epics into prose.

This person does quite a good comparison of the opening of every major Iliad translation published since Lattimore. I find that even the worst poetic translation is easier to read than the prose ones. People just did not know how to write clear prose back then. There was literally no tradition of such a thing. Translating epic into prose creates the most purple, awkwardly structured prose imaginable. Just listen to this:

The wrath sing, goddess, of Peleus' son, Achilles, that destructive wrath which brought countless woes upon the Achaeans, and sent forth to Hades many valiant souls of heroes, and made them themselves spoil for dogs and every bird; thus the plan of Zeus came to fulfillment, from the time when first they parted in strife Atreus' son, king of men, and brilliant Achilles.

Come on, that's just not good writing! But if you break it up into lines of poetry, the way it was intended to be, the running on of the sentence doesn't offer any problems - it just provides momentum.

---

Of course, there's also the issue of how much to go for fidelity, how much to try to replicate the devices of the original in the target language, etc. Trying as hard as you can to do dactylic hexameter in English is actually not the same as trying to be as faithful word by word, and also not the same as trying to use devices that have the effect on people who've grown up reading English that the original had on ancient Greek speakers who grew up listening to bards declaiming epic.

For Homer specifically, the default translation position seems to be to do free verse. It's kinda surprising how few go for iambic pentameter blank verse - Emily Wilson is the only major translator I can think of who does it, even though it would seem to be an obvious choice. Fitzgerald does seem to usually use five-beat lines, thought not explicitly or consistently. Of course back in the 18th century they were all translating Homer into rhyming couplets, even though the original had no rhyme.

(Also, very entertaining: in the introduction to E. Fairfax Taylor's Aeneid translation, done sometime in the late 19th century and published or republished in 1902, someone named J. P. Maine surveys the history of Virgil translation in English and discusses what works best at producing a similar effect to that Virgil has in Latin. Choice quotes include "To attempt to render 'the stateliest measure ever moulded by the lips of man' by fluent octosyllabics was bound to result in incongruity" and "It might be argued, the English tradition points to blank verse as the correct medium. This may be so, but its use demands that the translator should be as great a poet as Virgil". He then reveals that E. Fairfax Taylor chose to use ... Spenserian stanzas(!!).)

I feel like I've had the same experience several times now: someone does a new translation of a non-English literary classic, and all the critics praise it to the moon, so I go and try to read it, and it's turns out it's just . . . bad? Like, really bad? And weirdly bad?

A while back, I wrote about the case of Pevear and Volokhonsky. Here's another example, which I encountered while doing background research for my novel Almost Nowhere.

----

One of my novel's major characters is a literary translator, famous for his rendition of the Persian epic poem Shahnameh ("Book of Kings").

To help me write this character, I tried to read the Shahnameh myself. I started out – where else? – with the translation that seemed to be the gold standard, and which was certainly the most critically lauded.

Namely, the 2006 translation by Dick Davis, in prose with occasional shifts into verse.

Here's how the Shahnameh begins, in Davis' translation:

What does the Persian poet say about the first man to seek the crown of world sovereignty? No one has any knowledge of those first days, unless he has heard tales passed down from father to son. This is what those tales tell: The first man to be king, and to establish the ceremonies associated with the crown and throne, was Kayumars. When he became lord of the world, he lived first in the mountains, where he established his throne, and he and his people dressed in leopard skins. It was he who first taught men about the preparation of food and clothing, which were new in the world at that time. Seated on his throne, as splendid as the sun, he reigned for thirty years. He was like a tall cypress tree topped by the full moon, and the royal farr shone from him. All the animals of the world, wild and tame alike, reverently paid homage to him, bowing down before his throne, and their obedience increased his glory and good fortune.

And here is the same opening, in the 1905 translation by Arthur and Edmond Warner (which I only discovered much later in the process of writing Almost Nowhere):

What saith the rustic bard? Who first designed To gain the crown of power among mankind? Who placed the diadem upon his brow? The record of those days hath perished now Unless one, having borne in memory Tales told by sire to son, declare to thee Who was the first to use the royal style And stood the head of all the mighty file. He who compiled the ancient legendary, And tales of paladins, saith Gaiúmart Invented crown and throne, and was a Sháh. This order, Grace, and lustre came to earth When Sol was dominant in Aries And shone so brightly that the world grew young. Its lord was Gaiúmart, who dwelt at first Upon a mountain; thence his throne and fortune Rose. He and all his troop wore leopard-skins, And under him the arts of life began, For food and dress were in their infancy. He reigned o'er all the earth for thirty years, In goodness like a sun upon the throne, And as a full moon o'er a lofty cypress So shone he from the seat of king of kings. The cattle and the divers beasts of prey Grew tame before him; men stood not erect Before his throne but bent, as though in prayer, Awed by the splendour of his high estate, And thence received their Faith.

Now, I can't speak at all about the source text. I have no idea how faithful or unfaithful these two translations are, and in what ways, in which places.

Still, though. I mean like, come on.

This is an epic poem about ancient kings and larger-than-life heroes.

This is a national epic, half myth and half history, narrating the proud folkloric lineage claimed by a real-world empire.

There is a way that such things are supposed to sound, in English. And it sure as hell isn't this:

What does the Persian poet say about the first man to seek the crown of world sovereignty?

Excuse me? That's your opening line? I thought I was reading a poem, here, not taking a fucking AP World Literature exam!

----

Postscript

Some of the critical praise for the Davis translation, quoted on the back cover of my copy (emphasis mine):

"A poet himself, Davis brings to his translation a nuanced awareness of Ferdowsi's subtle rhythms and cadences. His "Shahnameh" is rendered in an exquisite blend of poetry and prose, with none of the antiquated flourishes that so often mar translations of epic poetry." (Reza Aslan, The New York Times Book Review) "Thanks to Davis's magnificent translation, Ferdowsi and the Shahnameh live again in English.” (Michael Dirda, Washington Post) "A magnificent accomplishment . . . [Davis’s translation] is not only the fullest representation of Ferdowsi’s masterpiece in English but the best." (The New York Sun)

#ongoing thread #translation #homer

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queenharumiura · 2 years ago

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Closed starter for @signorinavongola ; I'll just call this verse the lady-boss AU since Tsuna is a lady boss here

Haru had always adored children and she had a pretty strong maternal instinct when it came to protecting and nurturing kids around her. It wasn't much of a surprise to anyone when Haru volunteered herself to watch over children who were orphaned due to the mafia business.

Whether they were orphaned because their family was in the wrong place at the wrong time or that their famiglia's were eradicated in turf wars, Haru had taken in anyone that was rescued by the Vongola.

For the most part, people left her alone, as no one wanted to have the reputation of bullying the woman who is doing her best to raise children who are known to have come from troubled backgrounds. If anyone were to cause her troubles, they probably had some kind of ties to the underground.

If they thought she was such an easy mark, they'd be wrong. She's already incapacitated two.

"I don't know who you are, but you'd best leave while you still have the chance." Haru was with the children when some dangerous looking men came onto the property, and she'd told the children to rush to the designated hiding spot. There was a place where the children could hide underneath the foundation, and in times of emergencies, Haru could push a button that would alert the main base that a situation was occuring.

If things were bad enough, the hideaway spot had a secret other passageway where it could connect to a different safe hideaway where the children would be greeted with an adult that could protect them in the meanwhile of the situation being handled.

With things happening so fast, Haru didn't have the chance to evacuate with the children and she chose to instead hold her ground. The two men she'd incapacitated by sending lightning through their bodies were left aside as she put some distance between her and the assailants. The gloves on her hands were there to protect her knuckles, but also a way for her to spark lightning through them if she had direct access to her enemies.

There were 4 more people to deal with, and that certainly wasn't good for a person on her own. All she had to do was hold out for a bit before someone was sure to come as back up. Most of all, she was hoping the kids were going to be okay.

#Signorinavongola #(Tsuchan01)#Closed RP Starter #((Muse; Tsuna))#((A lil on the longer side for a starter and it's mostly to set up the scene. No need to match length))#Lady boss AU

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blossomingbellflower · 2 years ago

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Continued from : X || @nightlamentdom || OM Verse: Main.

Observing the demon resting undisturbed, from others, was one of the woman’s favorite things to witness. It certainly felt like they were in a world of their own, with such peace a rarity in the chaotic House of Lamentation. The eldest, after all, having continuous fires to put out by his siblings or duties to attend on behalf of Diavolo. There was always something to do. It simply made Kikyou treasure these moments more as well..for the fact he gets to unwind and perhaps a little bit of having time to monopolize him. Yes love was possessive to a degree and selfish..but she had no regrets for it. Life was short. It was unpredictable. Kikyou didn’t know how long this may last..but she intended to enjoy the journey with her beloved nonetheless.

A soft,melodic laugh spilling out. “I may be touching you my love, but what you choose to do, I am happy with. If you wish to slumber some more, I will be happy to let it be. If you chose to remain awake, I would be satisfied as well. What will not change, is me bestowing my affections upon you.” He had her full, undivided attention. No troublesome students, work or even Solomon destroying the kitchen were her focus for the next few days.

Kikyou’s head tilted into his hand, savoring the touch of his fingers combing through her thick, silken tresses.A hand lifted to rest over his, her head turning slightly to lay a kiss to his palm. “Your happiness is exceedingly important to me. Whether it is a birthday wish or an everyday desire, you only need to tell me and I can see what I can do.”

Pleasure hummed and bubbled at the simplest of touches, her skin always so sensitive for him. Curious eyes watched as his hand moved, trailing down her body, caressing her bare skin in the process. She waited patiently to hear what it was that he wanted. What she could give him. With both his following words and the manner in which his hand rested upon her abdomen as he spoken, Kikyou came to realize what he was asking.

Heat blossomed in her porcelain cheeks, a small quiver running down her spine. His name fell from her lips breathlessly.

Children was a sensitive, complicated topic in itself. Out of all the things, she didn’t expect to hear that wish from him. It was surprising and left her momentarily surprised before the blood pooled in her cheeks, leaving her blushing at those words.

Lucifer was not one to waste words or say anything idly. Her hand shifted in response to rest upon his once again, as she attempted to process it.

“Are you certain that is what you want from me, my love?” Memories of her last life flickered to the forefront of her mind--where she once had successfully conceived a child..only to fail to protect it. For both her child and herself to die at the hands of a jealous hanyou. It certainly had left a wound that even now began to bleed with a bit of anxiety and trepidation.

Kikyou had her doubts, that admittedly were rooted in the aforementioned emotions. Would she be able to protect their child..or would she fail again. Natural causes of losing a child was hard enough but for it to killed or stolen..that was something that would destroy another piece of her again.

But even so, it was something she had always yearned for prior to the incident. Something her soul still wanted..though silenced mostly b y the fact her love life was almost non-existent until now. That she had given it up in exchange in just burying herself into her work.

She had once fantasized and deliberated this very topic a few times before with her now ex-fiance..After that, she resigned herself that work was the only thing that she could do --and in her time off from her actual doctoral duties--somehow had found herself in Devildom teaching.

Kikyou had never meant to fall in love again, not in Devildom of all places. It was meant to be temporary. Teach for a year and then return home--which by then, her time off from the hospital would be over.

Now..things were different. They were a bit complex. Putting her fears aside, how would it work? Living in Devildom was difficult and tiring for a being like herself, for many reasons. Being pregnant would make things more so and that is excluding the fact that carrying a fallen angel’s offspring may be a hard pregnancy.

But..even so, it was Lucifer. She loved him. It was something she would be happy to do, once she had the necessary reassurances..the nuances discussed.

Her hand squeezed his gently, all those thoughts and more, having ran through her head quickly as she deliberated her response. “I would love to have children with you. There is no one else I’d rather create life with than you..” Kikyou leaned down and kissed his nose. “I am just uncertain how that will work...but no matter how hard it is, I would like nothing more than to grant that wish--our wish. I love you, Lucifer.”

#||nightlamentdom||#||ic||#||OM verse: Main||#||The Devil is In the Details: Lucifer||#||birthday2023||

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jacksgreysays · 2 years ago

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Hello. I was reading your Star also dream fic. Also watching star wars clip. And I was wondering what would happen if shikako and others, or just shikako meets 'Yoshino's clones'?

Hi demoniorangel!

I’ll be honest I at first did not understand your question because when you said Shikako meets Yoshino’s clones I for some reason thought you meant that someone had cloned Yoshino? And was very confused. But then I realized you probably meant the clone troopers that would have served alongside padawan!Yoshino.

But before I realized that my brain weirdly thought, maybe people meet Shikako and think SHE’S a clone of Yoshino? But realized that wouldn’t really go anywhere.

Anyway!

Like I mentioned before, I haven’t properly consumed Clone Wars so most of what I know about it is through fanfiction, as well as what I know of Bant Eerin—and one of the main reasons why I chose her to be Yoshino’s master is that there was no confirmation on how she died (whereas some other candidates I had in mind had definitive death scenes which I didn’t want to stumble through and muck up) as well as the fact that as a Healer-Knight she wouldn’t be on the front lines as much and thus padawan!Yoshino wouldn’t be either.

I was trying to figure out if Bant and Yoshino would even have an assigned battalion(? or legion or company?) given they would most likely be backline/reinforcements but they probably would because 1) a devoted battalion(?) specifically designed to come in after a battle and clean up/reinforce the planets where the more offense-oriented battalion(s) had cleared the way makes sense and 2) Palpatine’s whole evil scheme relied on the clones overpowering through sheer numbers and surprise.

ANYWAY, so that would mean I’d have to make up some clone troopers who were part of said relief/reinforcement battalion(?) and especially some who were close to their Jedi counterparts and even more especially fond of their padawan commander enough to recognize some of her features in her daughter several decades later…

… unless…

… Jumping off that same previous prompt post (ie Shikako and Commander Fox interacting), Shikako has been summoned to the height of the Clone Wars—which would have been time travel within the Stars Also Dream verse anyway—and people mistake Shikako and Yoshino for each other? Or, at least, think Shikako is Yoshino’s long lost older biological sister as opposed to her time traveling daughter.

But that would make the as of yet unnamed clone troopers and/or preteen Yoshino the ideal POVs since outside POV being baffled by time traveling Shikako is way more fun than inside POV of Shikako realizing it’s 1) Star Wars, 2) the Clone Wars, and 3) that her Mum was secretly a Jedi as a youth and her having to adapt to a new world by which I mean the wider galaxy where she is very often on the backstep…

Actually that does sound fun also.

Hm… anyway, as to your question:

A) No time travel, decades later

The clones who would recognize Yoshino’s features in her daughter decades later must be absolutely wracked with guilt, enough to see her face in their minds often enough to see it in Shikako. I recently read glimmerglanger’s Haunt Me, Then in which the Jedi benignly haunt their troopers after the war. It is a Codywan fic and thus focuses on Cody trying to atone for his part in the Jedi genocide in order to see the ghost of Obi-Wan. I don’t want to get into it any further than that but it is very good and sad (which you know I love)

Anyway, to that same effect, a very minor background of this would be Bant and Yoshino’s battalion(?) eventually being freed from the chips and joining in and healing/leading the charge on the de-chipping because their jedi had been healers themselves and they’d see the ghost of Bant but not Yoshino and that would give them hope, maybe, because they remember Bant shoving Yoshino into an escape pod and sending it off without taking time to calculate the hyperspace jump (hence why she crashes into the previously unknown Naruto planet) and therefore there is no confirmed kill by a clone. But such a thing is dangerous and she was a very young padawan and would she have survived long so there are those who are metaphorically haunted by the mystery of what happened to their padawan commander.

And then they see Shikako and are like… that age is incorrect because Shikako is ~mid teens whereas Yoshino would have been preteen when Order 66 happened so that’s obviously not Yoshino… unless? And she has WEIRD abilities… so like… that’s probably not Yoshino… (unless???)

I think, weirdly enough, what would make it definitely clear that Shikako is not Yoshino is when she brings out her Sword of the Thunder God and it’s like. NO. YOSHINO HAD A GREEN LIGHTSABER NOT A YELLOW ONE (maybe that’s their armor paint color?)

And then they realize… Yoshino had a tubie!!

Anyway, depending on how Shikako got off planet (and whether or not Yoshino knows/is following) determines how the clones react. But now it’s a bunch of clone troopers trying to keep Shikako safe even as she runs around doing her own thing (until Yoshino arrives)

B) Time travel, before Order 66

This would probably just be part of the Commander Fox fic that I’m not going to write, as adding to the information that Fox is collecting on the unsub making her way toward Coruscant—briefly the Bant-Yoshino battalion(?) intersect with Shikako’s travel to Coruscant and there’s a very bewildering moment where Shikako realizes her mum was a jedi and never told anyone while Yoshino thinks she has a biological older sister (Who may or may not be dark depending on how Shikako feels in the force?) or at the very least some kind of relative and that really muddies up the theories of maybe Shikako is a Jedi or Sith from the very distant past or maybe she is Yoshino’s older sister who was raised by the Dathomirian Night Sisters or maybe someone cloned Yoshino in an attempt to clone Force sensitives (although why they’d start with a new padawan and not someone, like say, the Hero with No Fear is bewildering) etc. etc.

Either way it’s Shikako coming in and being alarming and Yoshino’s clone troopers chasing after her lol

#jacksgreyson #demoniorangel #prompt response #ask box advent calendar #brainstorm #fanfiction #stars also dream #star wars #dreaming of sunshine #shikako nara #yoshino nara #links

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veonhagen · 4 years ago

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tot boys in an idol group au

… artem wing

the leader among all four of the boys. this wasn’t much of a surprise to some of you, since his maturity and role as the eldest plays a part in this decision. remember when mc says in his side story he’d make a great dad ? now he’s the dad of three in the group.

the lead rapper. artem has a naturally deep voice, so it fits with the rapper position. he also has quite the large vocabulary ( i’m personally not sure knowing a lot of words helps with rapping, perhaps with the rhymes ? ). either way, he would definitely have some lines where he slowly raps with his low tone.

lead vocalist. i don’t know about you guys, but i firmly believe that this fine man can sing. he’s already perfect enough <3. men with deep voices such as artem would make an amazing vocalist, with deep lines that aren’t as high as the usual tones you’d hear in pop music. take a look at wonwoo from seventeen’s vocals.

the visual. i personally think all four boys would fit to take the visual position, but honestly ? artem seems the most visually appealing to me. the others would have their own charms, such as marius’s trademark smirk, luke’s beady and bright eyes, and vyn’s soft smile — but in artem’s case, he doesn’t particularly have this sort of charm that makes him all the more attractive. he doesn’t need a defining point to make him attractive, and that speaks so loudly how he deserves the visual position.

… vyn richter

the main vocalist. now hear me out — i don’t have a particular reason in why i chose vyn to be the main vocalist. it was most probably a gut feeling for me as to why i picked that decision. but i’m definitely not complaining ; his soft sweet melodic voice i would want to hear over and over, it’s probably no surprise if he actually turns out to have some really good skills in terms of singing.

lead dancer. at this point it’s probably me following my gut when it comes to deciding the rest of the positions as well, but i do headcanon that vyn would definitely be swift whenever he picks up his legs and runs wherever, so i am assuming he’d also make a great dancer. heck, maybe he might be the choreographer of the group because of his seemingly limitless knowledge of how well some series of dance moves go well together.

bonus, i honestly think outside of idol entertainment vyn would definitely be the one most likely to become an actor. he pays attention to how people act and feel whenever they are in different situations, so he himself may eventually pick them up and make an amazing actor in his career.

… luke pearce

the face of the group. he’s on the literal icon of the tears of themis app, so why not make him the fotg ? he’s already the face of the app and one of the most popular among the boys. he’s also talked about a lot to the point his face would come up first to many’s minds whenever the group ( or game ) gets brought up in different conversations.

main dancer. correct me if i’m wrong, but luke probably is the most athletically versed out of the four men ( well, maybe aside from artem but we gotta keep the positions fair yk ). he could probably nail down all of the dance steps in first practice routine.

lead vocalist. luke would be vocally capable as well ! i firmly believe he actually gives that bangchan of stray kids kind of vocals mixed with a hyunjin style of dancing, you know ? i apologize for those non kpop stans since i really don’t know how to describe his skills </3.

i also believe in sub rapper luke supremacy. he isn’t much experienced in rapping as marius is, but he’d be the type to have a high pitched, speedy rap in some of his lines. those lines aren’t so common, but it’s equally a blessing.

… marius von hagen

absolutely the main rapper. marius’s natural voice would make really good rap lines in the group’s title tracks. i honestly really think he’d have those really fast lines ? maybe there could be some slow raps here and there but i think he has mastered rolling his tongue on spitting those verses perfectly.

lead dancer. at this point i’m probably thinking all of them are capable of dancing but hear me out ! marius gives those swag vibes if you know what i’m talking about ? he’d have a dance style more similar to taeyong from nct, which is sort of robot-like in a sense ? he also is one of the members who pick up the dance steps at a quicker learning pace, alongside luke.

maknae / youngest. this is sort of a bonus but to think how marius is the tallest yet the youngest among all four of them is really funny. imagine people who don’t stan the group and being in shock, realizing how marius is the youngest, but he towers over everyone. ( the thought of it makes me giggle a bit ngl ). he also pulls the maknae card whenever he wants something from the older members, that cheeky bastard.

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