#A word which is perfectly translatable as long as you remember it means a lot of different things

[hoping-for-novelty]

Huh. Apparently English does not have a translation of benauwd. It's the feeling you get when you don't get enough air

[dollishmehrayan]

BATBOYS TOXIC TRAITS / RED FLAGS + GREEN FLAGS ── .✦

a/n: the thing is, they all aren’t like problematic when it comes to relationships but they do have some things and flaws which when heard sound “oh okay that’s fine” but may be like super annoying in a irl relationship also this was a request by anon (here)! (Tags: batboys x reader)

© dollishmehrayan — ( all rights reserved to me. These works cannot be reposted, translated, or modified. Thank you for understanding dollies! )

DICK GRAYSON ── .✦

RED FLAGS:

Chronic People-Pleaser: Will prioritize everyone’s needs over his own (or yours), leading to burnout… and you having to remind him you exist.

Flirty by Nature: He’s not trying to flirt… it just happens. That waitress? Nope, not on purpose, but yeah, you’ll roll your eyes a lot.

Hero Complex: He always has to “save” people, including you, even when you’re perfectly fine handling it yourself. “I got it, babe.” No, you don’t, Dick.

GREEN FLAGS:

Emotionally Intelligent: He can read your mood like a book and knows exactly how to make you smile (with pancakes shaped like hearts).

Physical Affection Expert: Hugs, cuddles, forehead kisses—you’re basically his personal teddy bear.

Supportive King: He’s your biggest cheerleader, hyping you up in the most genuine, heartfelt ways. “That’s my girl.”

JASON TODD ── .✦

RED FLAGS:

Anger Issues: He’ll throw hands for you at the slightest provocation. Guy looks at you wrong? Jason’s already removing his jacket.

Emotionally Guarded: Good luck getting him to open up. He’s more likely to tell you his deepest fears after you’ve fallen asleep.

Reckless Behavior: He’ll drag you into the most insane situations and act like it’s no big deal. “What do you mean this is dangerous? It’s fine.”

GREEN FLAGS:

Loyal to a Fault: He’ll defend you with his life, no questions asked. “You mess with her, you mess with me.”

Soft Romantic: Beneath the tough exterior, he’s writing you sweet notes and remembering the little things, like how you take your coffee.

Protective (in a good way): He won’t smother you, but he’ll make sure you always feel safe, even if it’s just crossing the street.

TIM DRAKE ── .✦

RED FLAGS:

Workaholic: He’ll forget to eat, sleep, and sometimes text you back because “the case was just getting good!”

Overthinks Everything: Spends hours analyzing your last text to figure out if you were mad or just tired. “Was that period passive-aggressive?”

Terrible Self-Care: You’ll have to force him to drink water and go to bed like a mom with a rebellious child.

GREEN FLAGS:

Incredibly Thoughtful: He remembers every detail about you, from your favorite flower to that obscure hobby you mentioned once.

Adorably Awkward: His shy smiles and fumbling over words when you flirt back are endlessly endearing.

Problem Solver: He’ll find solutions to all your problems, from fixing your computer to making your bad day better with tea and soft music.

DAMIAN WAYNE ── .✦

RED FLAGS:

Insanely Jealous: He glares daggers at anyone who looks at you too long. “Why is he breathing near you?”

Judgmental: He might critique your taste in music, books, or anything else with his usual bluntness. “This… is what you listen to?”

Control Freak: He likes things done a certain way and will try to “help” you by micromanaging your life.

GREEN FLAGS:

Devoted Partner: Once he’s in, he’s all in. You’ll never doubt his commitment because he’s always showing up for you.

Loyal Beyond Measure: He’ll defend your honor to anyone, even Bruce. “She’s perfect, Father. You simply lack taste.”

Surprisingly Gentle: Despite his tough exterior, he has a soft side that only you get to see, like the way he pets animals—or you—so tenderly.

BRUCE WAYNE ── .✦

RED FLAGS:

Emotionally Repressed: He’s basically a human brick wall when it comes to expressing his feelings. “I’m… fine.” No, Bruce, you’re not.

Work Comes First: He’ll disappear into the Batcave for days unless you drag him out by the cape which becomes quickly annoying.

Overprotective: He’ll want to track your every move, not because he doesn’t trust you, but because he worries too much. “It’s for your safety.”

GREEN FLAGS:

Quietly Romantic: He may not be overly expressive, but he’ll show love through subtle gestures—like a bouquet of your favorite flowers left on the table.

Ultimate Provider: He makes sure you never want for anything, whether it’s emotional support or physical comfort.

Unshakable Devotion: Once you’ve captured his heart, he’s yours forever. There’s no halfway with Bruce—he’s in it for the long haul.

[project-sekai-facts]

How are we feeling about ensekai’s emu3 translation!!! (I’m mad)

(if you remember the 3 whole posts i made when asahi got de-gayed on EN you'll know i am mad too and that this is probably going to get long)

i don't like to be too cynical but it was so obvious that they were going to change that line, i had a feeling since the event first released on JP and after the incident with Asahi where I went through and tracked down multiple other examples of EN removing queer subtext it became clear to me that in no way shape or form was "emu-chan really loves nene-chan" making it to EN without getting changed. what i didn't expect was them changing Nene's line after Luka's comment, which actually makes this whole situation far worse than many of their other instances of toning down queer subtext.

for anyone who isn't aware of what happened, in chapter 5 of the current Emu event, there's a scene where Nene, Rui and the Virtual Singers are talking about what would cheer Emu up. The vsingers all talk about how much Emu loves spending time with Nene, leading to the following exchange

If you look for them, any fan TL of this scene will be something similar to this:

Luka: ...Fufu. Emu-chan really loves Nene-chan, doesn't she? Nene: Th-that's nothing special...

EN's official translation is this:

So what's the issue? I'll start with Luka's part. In the original text, she uses the word daisuki, which can mean to "like a lot" or "love". It's a word you will see frequently in the idol/idol-adjacent genre of games, due to its ambiguity in that it can be read as either platonic or romantic when used towards a person, and often will be used in ambiguous situations so that it's harder to confirm the writers' intentions either way. so here, fans of the emu/nene ship could view the fact that emu loves spending her time with nene as more on the romantic side, but people who don't like the ship could view it as platonic and move on.

while they didn't translate daisuki directly, Luka's line still works, and still contains the ambiguity that works as ship tease in the original text. it's a perfectly fine localisation that still conveys the original intent. despite that, there is something to be said about EN's consistent refusal to translate daisuki as love in most instances when it's not used on An/Kohane (but then again, EN has literally teased An/Kohane on their twitter account so is it all that surprising?).

Here's some examples:

Aibou no koto ga daisuki de / he loves his partner -> he cares about his partner very much (The Power of Unity chapter 7 when Kaito is comparing Arata to Akito and Toya)

HARUKA-CHAN, DAISUKI DAYOOOO!!! / HARUKA-CHAN, I LOOOOOVEEE YOU!!! -> You're the best!!! (Dear Me, As I Was Back Then chapter 4 when minori is at an ASRUN concert. this one isn't actually that great of a localisation)

Honachan no koto daisuki dakara. Kore de iinda yo. / I love Honachan, so this is fine. -> I want what's best for her. And this is it. (Leo/need main story chapter 14 after Saki tells Honami she won't bother her anymore)

Minna daisuki de - taisetsuna tomodachi na no / I love them all - they're my dearest friends -> They're all amazing, and very dear to me. (Leo/need main story chapter 17. this isn't good either)

What's particularly amusing about that last one is that there's a second official translation for it that I assume was done by JP staff (since EN never promoted doing the Journey to Bloom subs like they did back when they provided subs for Petit SEKAI) that actually keeps the word daisuki as love.

Yeah. I love all my friends - and they mean the world to me.

It's a better localisation than the official EN team one.

Questionable localisation choices aside, Luka's line is fine and is actually in line with the original. The issue with this localisation very much lies with Nene's part, because that is an entirely new line.

In the original text, Nene's "that's just normal" or "that's nothing special" or however you choose to TL it, is meant to be her questioning Luka's statement, since all the things that the other vsingers said that Emu liked were pretty normal things like going shopping and playing video games with nene. To Nene, these things are normal activities for them to do together, so she gets embarrassed by the fact that Luka concludes from that information that Emu loves Nene. When I dissect it like that I think you can really tell what the writers were going for here lol.

"That's just us being friends" does still convey the idea that Nene thinks these activities aren't anything out of the ordinary and she isn't sure why the vsingers are picking these out as some of Emu's favorite things to do, but it's very different from the original line. "But those are just normal things we do together" is something I just came up with on the spot, but it's a lot closer to the original text and still conveys the same meaning. The fact they changed the line to "that's just us being friends" is, honestly, not even subtle that they're covering up queer subtext. The original scene was very clearly written in as ship tease, and EN mentioning "friends" for no reason, especially since the word nor anything close to it was not used in the original, is instantly a red flag because it's like the go-to for queerbaiting and censorship. This was intentional. There was no need for them to specify that the relationship is platonic, Luka's part is ambiguous for a reason so that fans can view it how they like.

Just to top all this off, here's Rin's original line just before that Luka+Nene interaction:

Oh, and! And! She said that playing games with Nene-chan is also super fun!

And here's Rin's line from the official EN translation:

That's not the same thing, but even more weirdly, the incorrect part (super fun->really loves) is a correct translation for the part changed in Luka's line. So, they can do it, they are willing to say "really loves", just not in the right places. Maybe because Rin's part is less personal than Luka's part? It's strange actually, this isn't the first time they've done this either. Off the top of my head I can think of an example from Shiho's Varied Kindness 2* story where they translated the word "suki" as really loves, despite that being much stronger than the original word used (and the fact that daisuki is used a lot in the Leo/need stories and it's incredibly rare if not entirely unknown for them to translate it correctly).

It's not subtle that they're trying to remove implications of the characters possibly being queer, they did it in curtain call and they did it in walk on and on, and multiple times before then too. And considering some of the content in this year's events and the amount of times they say daisuki alone, it's gonna keep happening. honestly i hate the fact that i keep trying to justify the translations in these posts. these translations are intentional. what happened in the curtain call translation back in october says enough. when a character who uses explicitly romantic language towards another guy passes as a straight character in the translation you know they're doing it on purpose.

oh and once again, it's only the EN server that has this issue. The scene in question was translated almost word-for-word on the TW and KR servers.

read fan translations. they're better than what EN gives us and people put a lot of effort into them.

[cupidbedsy]

♬ the star ; ice bound

➪ summary: trevor goes over to his girlfriend's house and is met with a very festive and orderly chloe and a lot of christmas music

➪ warnings: chloe is very particular with christmas decorating

➪ word count: 0.5k

➪ cupid's notes: the fic that is supposed to be out today will def not be out bc as i am writing this it is almost nine and i still technically have to finish this one rn. so tomorrow there will be two blurbs (hopefully, i do have to wrap all of the presents tomorrow and make three different kinds of cookes tmrw) and then christmas eve and christmas there will be one each! anyway sorry for the rambling... enjoy the blurb!

© cupidbedsy ; do not copy, repost, or translate my work and designs on any other website or here

It was no surprise that Chloe Hughes’ favorite thing about Christmas was Christmas music. Which is why, when Trevor walked through the door of her apartment, just at the beginning of December, he really should’ve expected All I Want for Christmas Is You to be blasting through whatever speaker his girlfriend had found. 

But sadly, he was so zoned out on the way up there that he didn’t even hear the music coming through the door as he stuck his key into the lock. Walking through the door, he jumped immediately, the music rushing to his ears as he quickly shut the door behind him. 

His eyes looked around frantically, trying to find Chloe, which in all, didn’t take very long because there she was, dressed in a matching white fuzzy pajama set, a Santa hat adorning her head, and singing her heart out. 

She didn’t hear the door close, simply going about placing the lights on the tree as she danced. It wasn’t until he was standing right next to her, reaching to place an ornament on a branch that she noticed him, panic crossing her eyes, “No!”

Trevor jumped again, this time startled by the sound of her voice, looking over at her, eyes wide, “What? What’s wrong?”

“Do not place that ornament on the tree Trevor Zegras. Put it back where you found it.”

He pouted at the use of his full name, “Don’t call me that.” But he did as he was told, placing the red-colored ornament back in the box where the other ones were, “Forgot how mean you get when you’re decorating.”

Her eyes narrowed, “I do not get mean! I just like doing things in an order. Lights, ornaments, tinsel, star. L.O.T.S, Trevor, lots.”

Truthfully, she didn’t know when she came up with that. Whether it was something her mom always did that she followed after, or it was something she started when she was in college and decorated her small Christmas Tree in her dorm room, she would never know, but it’s been with her since she can remember, so it didn’t matter all in all.

“Okay, okay. I’ll do it your way.”

ﾟ+*:୨୧:*﹤

When it came time, Chloe slowly got onto Trevor’s shoulders, warning him slightly, “Trevor I swear to god if you drop me- you’re going to have a lot of fans mad at you for why I can’t be on tour.”

“I’m not going to drop you! Why would I drop you?”

“Because you’re Trevor fucking Zegras.”

He pinched her thigh, grinning at the yelp she let out, and the smack to his head that came afterwards. He walked closer to the tree, following her instructions on where to move, waiting until she placed the star on top of the tree. Once it was placed perfectly, she patted his head, “Okay, put me down now.”

She slid off his shoulders, landing on the carpet with a soft thud before looking up at him, “Thank you.”

His features softened, leaning down to kiss her, murmuring against her lips, “‘Course baby.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him down for another kiss before they inevitably ended up cuddling on the couch to whatever Christmas movie they found first.

꒰ ICE BOUND TAGLIST ꒱

@winterbarnesblog @bunbunbl0gs @fantillisgirl

ICE BOUND MASTERLIST ; AU'S ; 12 DAYS OF AU'S

TAGLIST ; NHL MASTERLIST ; NAVIGATION

[out-of-users]

Check this out! A short story? Roman’s back again?! Wowee!

KNY God! AU-Side story #1!

How to make (Or try to) Food for the Gods!

—————————————————————-

“Alright guys, let’s start! Do we have the ingredients?” Tanjiro smiled brightly as he clapped his hands together. “And remember, we can only eat the spares! These are for the gods, after all!”

“Mmhm!” Nezuko replied, making flower crowns in a shady corner, watching the whole scene about to go down.

“Do we have to?” Zenitsu asked. “Maybe if we don’t, they’ll kick us out and we can go back to being normal people, and no more demon killing for the gods! Yay!” His words came out in a flash, barely translatable from the absolute gibberish it sounded like. The response he got back was a quick, hard smack from Inosuke.

“You coward!” Inosuke yelled.

“Hey, at least I’m not a barbarian!”Zenitsu yelled back. Tanjiro just sighed, tucked some of his red hair behind his ears, and in a matter of minutes, had to step in because their yelling match became a one-sided fighting match, with Inosuke climbing walls trying to get to a running Zenitsu, who was hiding behind Nezuko, who just couldn’t care less.

The redhead grabbed both by the collar, and dragged them back to the workspace. “Just wash your hands, and tell me if we’re missing anything.”

“Hand washing is for losers!” Inosuke protested, but eventually gave in after the promise of food if he did.

Nezuko, who had meandered from her spot to help her brother bring things out, was happy to help.

But when I tell you the table was crowded, filled with ingredients for each god’s favorite food, I mean you couldn’t see over the hill of supplies. They each picked a god, the ones who couldn’t cook helping the ones who could, and set to work. But peace didn’t last long. Soon enough, the mochi for Mitsuri was ready to be baked.

“Monjiro! It’s ready!” Inosuke shouted, pacing around with the batch in his hands.

“One minute, Inosuke!” Tanjiro said, then went back to making Ohagi. But Inosuke was never one to wait, and lit the stove anyway. (Yes they did have stoves, just old fashioned. Look it up.)

There’s fire, which is what’s supposed to happen, right?

A lot of fire, that must mean he did a good job!

“LOOK! MANJIRO! I DID IT!” Were the last words heard before everyone looked at the disaster that was the stove.

Nezuko turned around to look at the very fire-filled stove, somewhat spewing black smoke. She immediately tapped her brother, who looked over, eyes widened at the sight before him. Even Zenitsu turned around, and started screaming something along the lines of “We’re gonna die! You idiot!”

Needless to say, Inosuke was not allowed near the stove for a while, or the workspace. Sadly, the mochi was burnt.

“I’m bored, can’t we do something fun?” Inosuke said, rather loudly. “Cooking shouldn’t take this long. Let’s fight!”

“No, you’ll break something, you moron!” Zenitsu yelled at him, his expression turning from anger to fear as Inosuke climbed the wall—towards him.

After being almost hit with a rag 5 times by Tanjiro telling him to “Please, get back!” He grumbled and walked away.

Not even 20 minutes later, Inosuke threw a handful of flour at Zenitsu, causing the boar-headed teen to snicker.

“WHY YOU-“ Zenitsu got hit square in the mouth again, cutting him off.

In retaliation, Zenitsu threw some right back, and though trying to stop the fight, Tanjiro got hit too. In minutes it was an all out flour war. People were hiding behind tables, launching surprise attacks, and one bag of flour later, the trio was on the floor, laughing.

In that moment, covered in flour, and on the floor in hysterics, finishing the meals wasn’t even on their mind, nor was the mess. That would have to wait until later today, when they’d try again. And they did, the second try going perfectly. But for right now, they were focused on the absolute joy of the moment, the sun shining on their smiling faces, hands interlaced, out of breath.

Because one day, there might not be another.

A/N- Sorry for my absence!!! Enjoy a short story (set in the future) while I brainstorm chapter 3! To all my ladies, lords, and non-binary royalty: Happy pride!!!!

Love y’all! <3/p -Roman!

[zmeu-ra]

A deep-dive on the design of a Mega Man X boss who dies after two scenes

Does anyone remember Incentas? He dies wrestling a sexy gambler in Mega Man X: Command Mission. whatever.

Most Mega Man X bosses are anthropomorphic animals or plants or mythical creatures, but wtf is Incentas supposed to be? He's got six hands and three faces, and his body is made of energy.

Well, I have deduced an answer!

First of all: in his boss fight, Incentas has three different elemental forms. They're called Burning Genie, Lightning Genie, and Dancing Genie. So I guess he's a genie, but there's a lot more to him than that.

See, Incentas' three forms each use different parts of his body: 1 mask and 1 pair of hands. These faces and hands are all given unique names in his concept art, translated by Udon for the Complete Works book.

Burning Genie form uses the Ra Head and Egypt Hands.

Lightning Genie form uses the Jade Head and Barenke Hands.

Dancing Genie form uses the Baron Head and Bali Hands.

You may immediately notice that there's a theme in Burning Genie's limbs: Ra is an Egyptian god of the sun, connecting this form to ancient Egypt. He even has big calm eyes, a beard, and an uraeus (the cobra headpiece) like the famous Mask of Tutankhamun.

That's neat. But what about his other two forms?

Lightning Genie has the Jade Head and Barenke Hands... the reference here is not immediately apparent. Let's look at the original Japanese concept art:

The word Barenke is written (パレンケハンド) in Japanese. You know what else can be written that way? Palenque, an ancient Maya city-state located in modern-day Mexico. This reference was totally lost in translation.

It's compounded by the Jade Head, since one of the most famous ancient Mayan relics is the Death Mask of Pacal the Great, which was discovered in Palenque. Said death mask is made of jade, perfectly aligning the head and hand inspiration. His Jade Head has the same green color and kinda sad-looking eyes. Also, it's a royal funerary mask like the previous one.

Now for the last one: the Dancing Genie with its Baron Head and Bali Hands. We get a big hint with the word Bali, a province of modern-day Indonesia. That's a third ancient kingdom for Incentas. But what is the Baron Head supposed to be?

Again, it was lost in translation. Baron is written (バロン) in the Japanese concept art, which is also the same way that the Balinese Barong is spelled. The Barong is a panther-like character, a king of good spirits which is included in the traditional Barong dance with a huge mask. Hence this form's Dancing Genie title, and the round eyes and tusks of its Baron Head.

These three inspirations - Egypt, Maya, and Bali - show that Incentas is really based on royal masks from ancient civilizations. All three were once powerful kingdoms with long-lasting relics, architecture, and customs. He really doesn't have much to do with genies at all, as djinn are from pre-Islamic Arabian cultures.

For this reason, I find that the alternative translation of Incentas - "Ancientus" - is a much more fitting name. That's what he was called in the game's E3 demo, so why was his name was changed? Possibly because it's a bit difficult to pronounce in English.

Speaking of his name, in the Japanese concept art he's called "Rouid Ancientus" (ルイード・エンシェンタス). This is likely a draft name, since his fellow bosses have some leftover draft names in their concept art too. But still, what could that first word mean? Could it be a corruption of the English word ruined, reflecting his ancient inspirations? I'm still so curious.

Anyway, Incentas Ancientus has an underrated design, and I hope his designer knows that we acknowledge and appreciate all their hard work and research.

[mintybreakfast]

This is actually a lot more interesting than I first thought it was going to be.

According to the story as I understand it, Helen was the wife (or beloved concubine, it's not perfectly clear) of Menelaus, the brother of King Agamemnon. On a time, a party arrived from Troy for an ambassadorial visit that included Paris, the son of Priam, the King of Troy.

He reportedly fell "in love" with Helen and stole her away.

This is where my imagination takes a small root.

What if the people of Greece (at the time known as Mycenaean) began to speak of Helen as a betraying slut? One who would turn on her people out of pure sexual lust?

Could it possibly follow that the war became known amongst the common Greek/Mycenaean people as 'The War For the Slut'?

(Being politically correct was probably not a concern amongst the common people of the time, mind you)

The rest of the "translations" follow along the same idea.

I've been a long time hobbyist of ancient history and the above translation is just ticklish to my mind.

Troy was well regarded at the time for its horses and horseback riders. In Greek, as I remember, the word for a horse was something akin to 'Hippo' which sounds nothing like Troy phonetically.

Plus, the city was totally destroyed, meaning that it was unlikely to bear its native name to those who'd destroyed it, nor amongst those in the surrounding area that may well have given pause to speak its true name.

"Troy" might have been a nickname given to it by the people who viewed it with disdain, not unlike the 'Cherokee' Nation in the Americas.

That's all for me tonight

Here's something funny that I can't believe I've never shared before.

So I was scrolling through the Hector of Troy tag and I stumbled upon a post referring to him as the "son of Troy".

Now, in it of itself that's all fine and dandy, but it reminded me of something.

In Italian, the city of Troy is referred to as Troia.

The word Troia just so happens to be a mixture of the words bitch and slut.

So yeah, you just end up with these marvelous expressions:

"Hector, son of Troy" becomes "Ettore, figlio di Troia" = "Hector, son of a Bitch"

"Trojan War" becomes "Guerra di Troia" = "Slut War"

"Paris, prince of the city of Troy" becomes "Paride, principe della città di Troia" = "Paris, prince of the city of the Slut"

And I could go on.

Man, do I love my language.

[bingusfound]

January 14th, Sunday

I've been studying most of my day because I am anticipating a lot of memorizing this college semester. I am a naturally forgetful person, so last semester for my German class, I developed a memorization strategy that was pretty up to par. It involved me doodling pictures to help me memorize how it is spelled and what it means in English. I often broke down the words into parts that were similar to English words and drew them together in some sort of crossover, as well as referencing their translated meaning. For instance, siblings in German is "geschwister", and to memorize it, I broke it down to the English words "guest" and "wisteria". I drew the guest profile pic you see on social media sites on top of a shoddy-looking plant. It was a decent strategy, but it had some pitfalls.

First off, I rarely incorporated the gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and their plural forms, which was dumb on my part, and second, it took a long while to memorize them since there were a bunch of words. Remembering what I drew most of the time eventually became a hassle. Near the end of the semester, I developed a better method where they weren't just random sketches but rather told a short story similar to that of a storyboard. I used a character that was originally a one-off throwaway, I guess because I found him charming, who I named Unfug (mischief in German), and drew his “comedic” escapades in elementary school. They were kinda raunchy and poorly written, but it got the job done.

It was a better tactic, and I enjoyed making them, but it just had one problem: it took even longer than the previous strategy. That second one I think took an hour just to think of a story and brainstorm how to incorporate the German vocab with its translation. The drawing took a while too despite them being crappy three-minute atrocities.

Today I experimented with a new strategy for my science class. I made up a new character, Moe Inquiry, and wrote a plot synopsis involving him instead of drawing it. The thing I changed was that I wrote the story instead of drawing it. I implemented the terms I needed to memorize into the writing, and funnily enough it worked perfectly. The issue I ran into was that I still found it to be taking too long; coming up with a story while shoehorning in specific words drained any sort of fun I originally had.

I managed to come up with what I think is the definitive strategy. I studied ten German terms (I am taking a second-level German class), including their genders and plural forms. I brought back Unfug, but instead of drawing stories, I wrote them again. This time, however, I wanted to make the stories like something out of a comic strip: random situations that he got into in the span of 24 hours, with emphasis on character traits and humor in the writing.

I think I might have found the holy grail. I managed to remember all the jokes and situations while spending a short amount of time creating the scenarios. I even drew quick sketches correlating to the comic-strip synopses (even quicker than my previous quick sketches), where I focused on memorization over creating the perfect story or perfect drawing or whatever. I don't want to celebrate too early, but I think I finally found my perfect memorization strategy.

[teamironmanforever]

HIGHLIGHT TRANSLATION OF THE SPANISH DUB ACTOR GUILLERMO ROJAS

Guillermo Rojas - Spanish Dubbing actor for Dean since season 12 until 15x18 (he contracted Covid and was unable to record 15x19 or 15x20 - he has yet to record those) 

INTERVIEWER: “Memo (nickname for Guillermo), I am not sure if you knew, but you broke the internet” 

MEMO: “Yes, a lot of people sought me out when this happened. I am so sorry I wasn’t able to answer at length all of your questions, but I was right in the middle of dealing with Covid. I couldn’t speak without feeling like I was drowning. Right now I am going to (voice) therapy. While it is not too dreary, there are 2 continued effects, so I couldn’t answer everyone who contacted me through various ways - through FB, instagram and an old youtube channel that I haven’t used in years - with respect to the situation that occurred between Dean and his friend (Cas). 

MEMO: “We try to follow (our lines) in what we see of the acting. Remember that dubbing is something where we must make a parallel alignment in our own language. Under the guidelines given to us by the client, we try to expand on all possibilities and all the alignments and - as actors - they permit us to give 100% of ourselves. So there isn’t a limit per se, so long as you don’t go off track (from what was requested from the client)”��

INTERVIEWER: “What were the guidelines for the line that broke the internet” 

MEMO: “It’s curious because neither the director nor us the actors knew much about the tendency that existed. Because we didn’t have much previous information that suggested that something like this would happen. To be honest when we recorded it, we were asking wait what’s happening? I mean we did it, but no one knew this was coming neither in the production studio nor amongst the actors.” 

INTERVIEWER “I need to ask for a clarification here. I mean we are talking about the love declaration Cas made to Dean after 12 years of intense eye-contact. But the big question is Dean’s answer. Because EVERYONE heard in your voice that clear “And I you, Cas”

MEMO “And I you, yes.” 

INTERVIEWER “Where does that “And I you” come from? Was it you? What happened there?” 

“The adaptation came entirely from my director (Adrian Fogarty). He adapted it and gave us our acting guidelines, and I performed accordingly - I gave what he asked of me. We all loved it. We never saw it coming so overtly.... If you remember across all seasons, we rarely see Dean get involved with any women. It just didn’t happen, unlike his brother. He just never got involved. It wasn’t his thing, especially because we have his brother to compare him to. We saw (Sam) in a relationship in the past 2 seasons with Eileen which was a very intense relationship, and very painful in the end. Dean never had to suffer through that. They tied Dean’s pain to the loss of his mother since he lost her more than once.” 

FB question: “So It wasn’t a rogue translator, it was a rogue director”

MEMO: “Look, Fogarty has some really intense abilities and one of them is to adapt the dialogue. When you see him translate a script, when he has the time to do it - even when he is not the one directing - and he leaves it in Spanish. The dialogue said, if I remember correctly, “me too” or something like that and then we switched it to “and I you” due to effects of lip movement, rhythm, etc... We don’t all have the ability that Fogarty has, that speed which he has, to think and translate immediately. We are a team and we work together, and pool our collective abilities, and of course Fogarty does his part. You need a Fogarty in every company.” 

(The interviewer mentioned that her cat hates Sam Winchester and loves dubbed Dean’s voice). 

INTERVIEWER “Do you know what Dean said in the original script before Fogarty got his hands on it?”

“Yes, of course. It made allusions to that. (Fogarty) made the right translation. It said and so do I or me too or something like that. It said it in the (original) script.” 

INTERVIEWER: “When you heard the english version while you recorded yours, did you hear Dean say I love you too?” 

MEMO: “No. If I would have, I would have taken the earphone out and gone what the fuck? *laughs*” 

INTERVIEWER: “What was your favorite episode to film?” 

MEMO: “With my short-term memory, I would say this last one (15x18), because it says so much. In one scene, it says it all. It was impressive, and so beautiful. I never saw it coming.” 

Interviewer “Well you have broken tumblr again.” 

MEMO: “Okay *Laughs*. Well, that’s good. Thank you very much.” 

MEMO: “I think it’s clear to everyone that the fact that he (fogarty?) broke the internet, with this information was a surprise for everyone. Absolutely everyone. Because we all say that if someone wants to be a “real man” we have to be like Dean. In fact it’s something very beautiful for me because it has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with feelings. It was a play by the writers that was marvelous. You didn’t see it coming, but damn do you like it.” 

MEMO: “Nothing was left out of the translation... No I was not called to re-record the “and I you”. I have not been asked to remake the dubbing. My director perfectly understood the texture of the text.” 

INTERVIEWER “Do you know if Supernatural has a quality review for the dubbing through Warner Bros?” 

MEMO: “I would be lying to you if I said yes, but I have been working for WB (LatAM) for many years as both an actor and director. And there is some specific material where they do have “filters”, but with something like supernatural I doubt it. I would assume the one left in charge of all decisions was our director (Fogarty).” 

INTERVIEWER “Have you been interpreting Dean as in love with Castiel this entire time or was it a surprise for you?” 

MEMO: “No, never, it was a surprise. In fact, to be entirely honest, to my closest friends - of the same gender - I do use the phrase “te amo”. I don’t have any issues with that. So I actually thought it went that way - but then I found out it was romantic.” 

INTERVIEWER: “Guillermo, what is your opinion, of destiel now that you know the nature of their relationship.” 

“Well it was a revelation for everyone - including me. I love how they handled it because we didn’t see it coming. And I think, of our understanding of the character’s traits and psychology, we know that if someone knows how to repress their feelings, it’s Dean Winchester. *laughs*” 

INTERVIEWER: “What would you say to Cas if he came back from the empty?” 

MEMO: “He came back?! (he hasn’t seen 15x19 or x20)

INTERVIEWER: “No I am saying what would he say IF he did” 

MEMO: “Oh, okay. I was under the assumption that I said I loved him so long as he wasn’t planning on coming back! *laughs* Well if he returns I guess I would say “Hello, Cas”.  

INTERVIEWER: *Tells MEMO about the not for nothing cas but the last person who looked at me like that I got laid” 

MEMO: OKAAAAY *laughs* That was too much. *laughs* 

INTERVIEWER: Would you be this fandom’s Godfather? 

MEMO: But of course *smiles* This was a big thing, from what I see. 

INTERVIEWER: “What message would you give to the fans who are descovering the spanish dub?” 

“first, thanks a lot of being part of the mexican dubbing. We do this job with all the heart and all the passion that we have. And I think I speak for all involved in this industry. We are glad to note that there are so many people from other countries that are watching these new projects in another language. So I have no words but thanks a lot.” 

INTERVIWER: “What would be your ideal ending for Dean Winchester” 

MEMO “I think, for all of them, they have sacrificed their lives and that of their loved ones for the safety and well being of everyone else. I think if anyone deserves to be well, happy, and calm, at least it’s those three (Sam, Cas, and Dean).” 

INTERVIEWER: “What about jack?” 

MEMO “Jack did attach himself to them, but I think he could find happiness in another nest.” *laughs* 

[cinnamonest]

Kaeya is really touchy with his darling, right? So then,, what are the other Yan’s love languages?

NICE I love the love languages stuff! Sorry this was from April but I'm finally getting to it! Usually the two are similar, but sometimes people have different ways of expressing love versus how they want to receive it, so I'll elaborate on that as well. Enjoy my rareish semi-fluffy stuff, boys and which of the 5 love languages they are :3 Kazuha - quality time

Honestly, he's a simple boy. All he really needs to be happy and feel mutual love is sit with you close to him, arms wrapped around you, preferably with you returning the gesture. He has a lot of feelings and fears for the future, lots of emotions all bottled up, so someone to listen to him means a lot. Taking the time to listen to all he has to say makes him sheepish and embarrassed even, but as long as you assure him it's ok, he'll keep coming back for more of your listening ears.

Also, he likes to go on walks. These can be talking or not, sometimes he just likes walking in silence. Either way, accompanying him on said walks is a way to endear yourself to him and show him you love him. Sometimes it's just silently walking down beaches or pathways or in circles around the ship deck, sometimes it's him venting, sometimes it's him gushing about this or that... either way, basically providing him with an outlet for his emotions and spending time with him is what matters.

Zhongli -  gifts, quality time

Sugar daddy

But in all seriousness he's big on spoiling a darling. I mean let's be real it's probably someone else's money OR this is in an era where he could just make some, so he will literally get you anything you could ask for, hell, anything he sees you looking at, tons of things you have no use for but he just likes the way your eyes light up all the same. It makes you happy, and that's what love is about, right? Wanting to make people you love happy.

However, for himself, it's a quality time thing, similar to Kazuha's where it's a lot of listening. He has a lot to say sometimes and can get to rambling about details of this or that thing he somehow manages to be an expert on, and while he usually catches himself early on, sometimes he can REALLY go on a while. He knows you don't have any clue what he's talking about, and probably don't really care, but if you sudden bring up a detail that shows you were listening -- it makes him feel oddly warm inside, like you actually think what he talks about is important and care about it. It makes him chuckle a bit, pat your head. He tells you if you're bored you don't have to listen.... so if you insist on doing so anyway, well, that just makes him feel even better inside, oddly validated in a way.

Kaeya  -  words of affirmation, touch

Is sex a love language?

But in all seriousness, yes as per the opening of the ask, he's very touchy. By 'touch' in this case, that... does translate to sex about 90% of the time. Can you blame him?? It's because he loves you! If he didn't love you he wouldn't wanna get his dick in you so bad! It's love that makes him so handsy and touchy, always rubbing you and running the edges of his fingers under your shirts and skirts and shorts even in public, hands wrapping around your waist and hips, sneaking fondles here and there... and it's out of love that you get railed all the time. His peak happiness is just being balls deep inside you, bodies pressed up against each other, moving slow and gentle and gradually building up... and he wants you to feel like that's love, too. To be honest he gets genuinely sad if you don't see it that way, or if you don't understand it as an expression of love. It seems so natural and innate that being pressed up close together should invoke feelings of love, right?

As for how he understands love as a recipient, well, pretty much the same thing, any sign of eagerness or willingness or especially initiative to fuck sets his brain off. But also, he's weak to any attempts to boost his ego. Say anything positive about him and he'll get excited and let it go to his head, particularly if your words of choice make him feel strong or powerful or capable.

Also speaking of touch, surprisingly big on handholding, especially in public. Sure part of it is a "signaling to others to back off" sort of thing, but he just likes the warmth of your hand as well.

Diluc - touch

It might be a bit surprising, given the stoic nature but... just give this man a hug. Please.

Being inside you is very very nice of course, but he's also notably a cuddly person when you get past the rough exterior. He likes to just sit you in his lap and hold you, spoon you in bed at night, etc.

And as for giving, he doesn't really have knowledge of how to go about other things. He's not good with words at all, he doesn't really know what gifts to get, and despite his affection he's not really submissive enough of a person to go about acts of service, and he's very busy, so while he might get quality time, it's not too often. In the end he doesn't really know how to do anything else, so if he really wants to express affection, the only way he can really think of is just wrapping his arms around you and squeezing. Sometimes a little too hard, like sir I'm asphyxiating please

Also it takes him a while to work up to it. At first he's just too nervous and can barely touch you without retracting his hand back out of nervousness, but he gets used to it.

Razor - quality time, touch

The others are kind of foreign concepts, really. But touch and time is how his kind bond! It's what he's used to. Nuzzling his face into your shoulders and neck and wrapping arms around you and holding you tight. He will often just cling to you physically in some way, holding your wrist in his hand or reaching out to embrace you at random. Of course, sex is a part of it, gotta have that too, it means love to him because he gets the urge whenever he thinks about loving you! And not gonna lie, he tries to remember you don't really like it but, he'll lick you every now and then too. It just comes naturally because he gets excited 'cause he loves you so much!! Lick lick.

Quality time comes in many forms. Every second is quality time in its own way, but especially naps in the sun and walks through the woods. Fun fact: wolf mates go on little "walks" together occasionally, breaking off from the rest of the pack to get alone time. It's fun! You can run through the woods with him! The naps combine the two expressions of touch and time, getting to spend lots of quiet, valuable time, all while snuggled up close. It's nice.

He doesn't really understand if you try to communicate love otherwise, but he'll kind of grasp that it's nice. But really, in the end he wants touch and time too. It's the only form he really understands. The rest just leave him a bit "??" But a nuzzle and a nap in the sun are things he understands perfectly.

Xingqiu - gifts, words of affirmation

The first is more how he shows, the second how he receives. It's a rather selfish form of love, really, because it benefits him as well and it's not exactly difficult. He doesn't have to put a lot of work into gifting, since he can pretty much get anything he asks for out of his father, and even if he says no to something, well, father won't notice a few hundred thousand mora gone from the stash of money kept in his bedroom, right? And he loves giving you gifts because of your reaction! You smile and say thank you and it makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside... and he likes to think that maybe you feel indebted to him, maybe you're awed and impressed by how he manages to find you such expensive and rare things, maybe it makes you look up to him and see him as superior a bit. Hopefully.

However, because he's got so much wealth already, so gifts don't really do much for him. He responds well to praise, though, especially if you compliment him on the things he cares about, like his sword skills, his writing, his vigilantism. Make him feel like the protagonist he is inside his head, and he'll be beaming with pride and happiness, it makes him feel important, which translates to feeling loved.

Chongyun - quality time, acts of service

In particular, he likes to have you around when he's training. You don't have to train yourself, just be by his side. It makes him more motivated, so he's noticed. Not to mention, he likes showing off if possible to impress you.

Also, he likes having someone to vent to. He's a sweet boy, but he has his stressors and frustrations. He's used to strict self-discipline and normally refrains from talking about his feelings too much, but if you make him feel like your presence is a safe place for him to come to, he will end up almost becoming dependent on getting to emotionally unload on you every day, recalling all the details of every bad thing that happened and waiting for your soft comfort.

Here, "acts of service" is more like... consideration. Little moments where he's reminded you remember his needs and care about them. You make food and note that you made it especially free of anything hot, just for him! Or you make his little popsicles when he forgets, you help him deal with the damage and destruction of his most recent episode. Little acts like that make him feel appreciated, loved and cared for.

Childe - acts of service

Similar to Kaeya and touch, acts of service is... yeah it's basically sex. It falls more into the category of acts of service because it's a little different in nature from Kaeya's -- he loves normal sex of course, and cuddles are nice too, but in his mind really loving him is about taking initiative and doing things to him... in other words, to translate that in simple terms... blow him. Please. It would make him the happiest man in the world. Or ride him. Just anything that feels like you taking some initiative and making him feel wanted. ...And making him feel worshipped is nice too, getting you down on your knees in front of him or any act of service and submission gives him a sort of high from the ego boost and masculine validation.

And he's similar with how he expresses it himself. Most likely candidate to eat you out against your will. One infuriating and potentially humiliating thing about him is he's one of the most insistent to ensure you cum every single time, if you don't cum from him fucking you he'll just force your legs open and eat you out or shove his fingers into you until you do. Because he loves you and orgasms equate to love in his mind.

Venti - acts of service, words of affirmation, gifts

It's more on the giving end for him -- specifically, he can be a very sappy individual when he's in love, to a point it's nauseating to the people around you, really. But he spends a lot of time writing you poems and songs. To him, song is one of the utmost powerful expressions of love. It sort of combines the service and words -- the writing itself is a labor of love, but the words are filled with praises. He genuinely spends a lot of time on it, though, and it's really important to him that you like the things he makes and plays for you, and will continuously modify his next pieces to what he perceives as your taste. He's a bit of a perfectionist on stuff like that.

Venti is actually rather shy when it comes to receiving love. He tends to be very no, you don't have to do that for me! And things like gifts can make him feel a bit guilty, so... you just have to give him stuff he likes so much he's too busy indulging to feel guilt. Namely alcohol. He gets a bit red in the face, but, deep down he likes words of affirmation and compliments too, even the lightest of sweet words he'll replay in his head over and over for days after you say them.

Bennett - acts of service

One of the quickest ways to endear yourself to him is the simple act of helping him. This can manifest in several ways, such as healing his wounds when he's all scraped up or just come back from an adventure, helping him patch up his clothes that get ripped so much, helping him find some thing he lost in the woods yet again, or following him on one of said adventures. People don't really have him in mind too often, he tends to get forgotten a lot and left to handle things all on his own, and as a result, someone who reaches out to help him has a significant impact on him, he finds himself unable to stop thinking about it and the warm feeling it gives him to know that someone cares.

As a result, he starts basically mimicking the same behaviors because it's all he really knows how to do. He wants to give you the same warm happiness that you give him, so he tries to help you out with the things you need, complete tasks he knows would be helpful to you. Unfortunately for him, this tends to backfire as something usually goes wrong and it turns into a mess that he fears will just make you hate him. Poor baby.

Albedo - quality time

He's one of those people that really loves to just spend time in the presence of the people he loves -- you don't have to be doing something together, or the same thing. Even if you're just reading a book or drawing or something on your own, he likes you to be nearby him. It's kinda cute how if you go wandering off or go into another room, he'll wait a minute, then silently kinda come peeking around the corner to check on you because?? Why did you leave? Did he do something to upset you? He's too proud to explicitly ask you to come back, but he might blatantly follow you to the room you're in, claiming it's just better lighting in here, or the other room was too cold, or some other excuse.

He still likes doing things with you, though, too. Another favorite is late night conversations, the kind you get into once you're already laying in bed in the dark, pressed against each other and mumbling little thoughts that occur to you before you drift off to sleep, questions about tomorrow, or a hey remind me to do this or that, that sort of thing. Little conversations you never really finish, your voices get softer and sleepier with each moment, you eventually close your eyes as you talk back and forth, until one of you eventually doesn't get a response, and then drifts off themselves.... and in the morning neither of you remember who was the last person to speak or what the conversation was even about in the end.

Xiao - touch

He just doesn't... get much else. Words are hard. He doesn't know whether this or that gift or gesture is considered appropriate to present to a human as  sign of love, and those kinds of things, words and gifts and stuff, embarrass him too much... and he doesn't every really know whether or not he's correct when interpreting your actions and words either. How does he know the gift isn't just because you wanted to be nice, or that the nice things you said were just meant mildly, and he's just indulging in wishful thinking when he thinks it means more? Ugh. It's too troublesome to have to deal with.

But touch... it's straightforward and easy and impossible to misunderstand. And it's also objectively the best, he thinks, even without the issues in understanding it's just what he feels the most natural urge towards. Why would anyone do any differently? Why do humans waste their time giving each other gifts and compliments and stuff when they could just do the thing that feels so much better than that other stuff? It confuses him. He doesn't want material goods, he just wants to cuddle you and put his dick in you. Yeah it... also translates to sex here, similar to Kaeya. Like, he likes it when you kiss his forehead and snuggle up close, but those things will inevitably result in wanting more. And he loves the rests you two take, half-asleep soundly wrapped up and bodies pressed close, spooning with his arms latched onto you. It's just that said rests/naps are almost always very much naked due to being after cumming in you a few times.

Scaramouche - acts of service, words of affirmation, touch

I mean, you're kinda forced into the acts of service thing, but the idea is that you start to perform said acts willingly, or without needing to be commanded. Eventually you get to where you do things on your own initiative, and he likes to think maybe you just want to (and not because you've been beaten into doing it so many times it's become instinctive, definitely not that). A lot of it is just tasks, but similar to Childe's acts of service, it's definitely a sex thing too, wants you to show initiative and do things on your own -- not that you won't likely get told not to do shit like that without permission, but he still does like it, internally.

Words of praise are similar. Say anything nice about him and he'll probably accuse you of lying or trying to manipulate him/get something, but deep down he kinda thrives on anything positive you have to say or think about him. Not that you'd ever know.

As for how he actually shows love, well... does... he...? Yes actually, primarily it's a touch thing. Not always pleasant touches, but touches. It's similar to how other yans equate different things with love, like Childe sees orgasms as a form of love, to him possession is the utmost expression of "love" in the sense that he perceives it. Possession, to own a thing completely and entirely, to have full power over something... that sort of connection is incredibly intimate, when you think about it. It's a connection on a deep level, it's loving. So anything that expresses possession -- pleasant or unpleasant for you -- is thus an expression of love.

[christowhore]

Making You Mine

pairing: chris evans x professor!fem!reader, chris evans x oc!female (brief)

summary: you and chris have your first date.

word count: 3.0k

warnings: !!! 18+ minors dni !!! slight smut, fluff, age gap (reader is 28, chris is 39) suggestive conversation, two dorks in love, alcohol consumption, heavy making out, dry humping, orgasms, rpf

notes: ngl to y’all i didn’t even mean to make it include some smut, but i ended up getting carried away. this is the second part of the ‘Pining for Professor’ series. i hope you all enjoy it and make sure to let me know what you think! *i do not give consent for this fic to be reposted or translated*

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MAIN MASTERLIST • SERIES MASTERLIST

The next few days that passed after your encounter seemed to fly by. You were busy working on your dissertation while Chris was attending ASP interviews.The two of you would text from time to time, just keeping the other updated about your life.

Chris had planned the evening out. Before considering what meal he wanted to make you, he made sure to ask you about any dietary concerns or allergies that you might have, and he was thankful that he did. You informed him that the only food allergy you had was apples. Part of him thought you were joking because he never heard of that being a restriction one could face, but after sending him a photo of one of your allergic reactions, he trashed every single apple he had stored in his fridge. A dramatic reaction, yes, but he wanted to make sure you were both completely safe and comfortable.

He decided on making a simple pasta dinner, something easy that he believed he couldn’t possibly mess up. It wasn’t until he was googling wine pairings when he remembered the woman he was supposed to have this same evening with just a few days ago; Lindsey.

Chris had been so preoccupied with you that he completely forgot about the woman. Looking at his phone and opening their messages, he saw that he had been accidentally ghosting her for the past three days. Not knowing how to deliver the news, he decided it would be best to break things off over the phone than through a text.

Clicking on her contact, he dialed her number and listened to the dial tone ring in his ear. He was pondering on what to say when he heard her voice through the phone. “Hey stranger, I was wondering when you were gonna call me back.”

“Hey Lindsey, sorry I got a little busy with life. Can we talk?”

For about the next five minutes, Chris tried his best to not give the cliche ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ excuse, but in the end he had to explain to the woman how he met somebody else, you, and that he didn’t want to string her along any longer. The call ended with some harsh words from her which he expected. Even though he hated that he hurt her feelings, in the end all he kept thinking about was you.

A couple miles away from his home, you were at your house going through your entire wardrobe trying to find the perfect outfit to wear. Did you want to go the fancy route and wear a nice dress or something casual like jeans and a blouse? Even though Chris told you the plans he had scheduled for your rendezvous, you were still feeling nervous about the whole affair.

Thankfully with the help of your friends, they were able to ease your worries and help you out with your ensemble.

The night before the planned evening, the two of you lay awake, plagued with nerves. Worried about messing up and ruining the chance to be with the other.

With how his morning started the day of his previously planned affair, Chris made sure that nothing could stand in the way of tonight. He had his suit pressed, the ingredients needed for the meal prepped, and a bouquet of red roses bought fresh from the florist resting in a vase of water. Scott went with Dodger over to his sister Shanna’a house, leaving the home to himself.

The day proceeded quickly and soon enough it was time for the date. You agreed to drive over and meet him at his home, arriving there around eight in the evening.

Walking up to the home and knocking on the door, you kept cracking your knuckles, a nervous tick of yours whenever you got anxious. Once the entryway was opened and Chris stepped into your sight, all of those pesky jitters suddenly left your body.

Chris was clad in a tailored black suit that clung to his frame. The white button up he donned was crisp and clean, you could make out a few of his tattoos peeking through the material. Accessorizing his attire, he wore a black and silver watch, the silver in the band matching the Saint Christopher medallion clasped around his neck showing through the opening of his top. His hair was perfectly gelled, making him look fresh out of a photo shoot.

He looked absolutely delectable and part of you didn’t even care about the meal, you just wanted to know how the material of his clothes felt against your skin.

When Chris opened up his door he knew you’d be there, beautiful as ever but he didn’t expect the sight that he was met with.

Your regularly curly hair was straightened, cascading off your shoulders and perfectly framing your face. The makeup you applied made your features light up. He took notice of the lipgloss you put on and all he wanted to do was grab you and taste the substance that was lucky enough to touch your lips.

Looking your body up and down, he noticed your black silk dress, a tie in the middle cinching the material together. The material stopped at your mid thighs revealing your velvety smooth legs and high heeled shoes. Thoughts of him trailing his hands up the sides of your calves while he pinned you below him flashed in his mind. Quickly he shook the image out of his mind to put back all of his attention on you.

“You look absolutely breathtaking,” he whispered in awe.

“You’re not looking too bad yourself.”

As you entered his home, he placed a hand on the small of your back tugging your frame into him so he could place a kiss on your cheek. The same butterflies you experienced when he pecked you that night in the parking lot reappeared by the dozens.

The smell of sautéing onions and garlic filled your senses, instantly making your stomach lurch around. “Whatever it is you're making smells amazing,” you commented to the brunette.

He bashfully smiled, “Thank you, I’m almost finished, though I should let you know I’m not the greatest cook.”

You laughed at his comment, unconsciously placing your palm against his upper arm. “It’s alright Chris, at least you have your looks right?”

It was his turn to laugh, your playful matter had him buzzing.

The two of you made your way through the kitchen, him to the front of the stove while you sat in the high chair behind the counter top. Before he returned to cooking the vegetables, he grabbed the bouquet of red roses he had ordered and handed them to you, a smile instantly appearing on your face.

You thanked him for his generosity and the two of you continued on in lively conversation while he focused back on finishing dinner.

Laughter filled the room while you two chatted in his living room. You two had finished dinner, Chris making a wonderful shrimp scampi that even he was surprised tasted good.

Even though you spent three hours talking that evening in your office, you two didn’t have any difficulty finding new topics to explore.

You spoke about your family and how life was growing up without siblings. How it felt being at an advanced academic level at such a young age, which allowed you the opportunity of being employed at the university at 21. Surprisingly, you allowed yourself to be vulnerable around the man, something that you had never done before. It was something about his demeanor. His presence was inviting and captivating, and all you wanted to do was continue to be around the actor.

Chris was at a loss of words with how to describe how you made him feel. You had such a hypnotizing way to yourself. He would listen to your laugh and drink it in as if it were the last time his ears would be blessed with the sound. Your smile was so genuine, stretching from ear to ear and all he wanted to do was keep that look on your face till the end of his days. He didn’t know he was staring at you until you waved in front of his face, regaining his attention.

“Earth to Evans. Are you okay there?” Your eyebrows were slightly furrowed while you stared intently into his eyes, waiting for his response. He didn’t even think about the next words that came out of his mouth when he spoke.

“I know that we just met last week, and this is only our first date, but would you do me the honor of being able to call you my girlfriend?”

The statement that was rushed out of his mouth had you choke on your glass of wine. Regaining your composure, you set the drink down and looked up at Chris.

There wasn’t any humor in his eyes, just determination as well as a bit of trepidation.

You were about to speak when he started up again. “Usually when meeting someone, I go on about two to three dates with them. Get to know them and go through the ‘what if’s’ possibilities. But with you I realized I can’t wait that long. The only thing I care about is being able to see that smile on your face, and have the melodic sound of your laugh ingrained in my life. And I don’t want to waste another second trying to determine ‘what if’ we’re not a match when I already know that you’re the one for me.”

This time you were the one at a loss of words. Emotions wrangle throughout your body. You were nervous, but the nerves that stood on end were due to the fact of being scared of how quickly you were falling for him.

Without saying anything but donning a beaming grin, you nodded.

Chris immediately leant forward and molded his lips with yours. The kiss was soft and delicate. His right hand slightly cupped your cheek, and in that moment you felt safe, you felt at ease. There was no other place the two of you wanted to be than right there in each other’s embrace.

When you pulled away it felt like time was at a standstill, nothing else mattered but the two of you being together. Even though he wasn’t a photographic person, Chris felt this overwhelming need to document this moment.

He quickly pulled out his phone and asked you if it were okay to take a photo of the two of you, a personal keepsake so to speak. You nuzzled into his side, shoulders touching, breaths fanning across each other’s face. Chris extended his hand with the camera app open and aimed towards the two of you. Though you were looking at the screen, a beaming grin stretched across your features, he was only looking at you. Admiring you as if you were his entire world, which you were slowly but surely becoming. Snapping the photo, he locked his phone and tucked it away back into his slacks.

With the close proximity you two shared, he took advantage of the opportunity to kiss you again. He was desperate to feel you, touch you, taste you. The flavor of your strawberry lip gloss inviting him in.

You melted into him, hands gripping the lapels of his jacket pulling him closer into you. He leaned into your touch, causing the two of you to lay back against his couch.

His hips were slotted in between your legs, crotch rubbing against your warm core. The friction drawing out a low moan from your chest.

He continued to feverishly attack your mouth. This kiss was different from the first. This was pure hunger. You two were desperate to feel the other. His tongue slotted into your mouth, tasting the leftover remnants of the Pinot Grigio you consumed. Notes of grapes and honeysuckles on your tongue made him push deeper. The intoxicating taste and the effects of the alcohol had him unconsciously grinding into you, rubbing his cock against your covered mound.

You ran your hands across the expanse of his body. Rubbing his arms, slightly gripping his ass, tangling your hands into the brown tuffs of his hair, you couldn’t get enough. He felt amazing against you. The rubbing of his hips were drawing out moans that you didn’t even try to suppress due to the unwavering desire you felt towards him. You felt him lift your leg up, giving himself more room to rut against you. The movement caused your dress to hike up, showing the lace of your black thong to your now boyfriend.

The two of you continued with your actions. Tongue slapping against each other as you sloppily tasted the other. The movements of his hips against your cunt accelerated to a rigorous pace when he felt a wet patch growing on your panties.

You felt like honey teenagers, dry humping each other like a pair of desperate virgins, but in that moment it was perfect.

Drawing away from each other, Chris nestled his face in the crook of your neck, his warm breath sending shockwaves of arousal straight to your core.

You were both close to reaching your respective peak, your moans were getting wilder and his hips were becoming unruly.

It only took a few more bumps of his crotch against your covered clit for you to gush in your panties. An erotic moan left your lips and filled the room while your back arched, pushing your breasts against his chest.

Hearing the near pornographic sound that left your body, while feeling your peer nipples press against his front allowed him to reach his release as well. Biting down against the column of your neck, he came in his pants, filling his boxer briefs with his seed.

Chris collapsed on top of your panting body, the two of you trying to regain a steady breath. He lay there in your arms, your nails dragging along the nape of his neck.

When he finally regained composure, Chris raised up on his palms and looked down at you. And as if your minds were synced up, you both erupted in a fit of giggles.

After coming down for your laugh attacks, you excused yourself to the bathroom to freshen up.

You stood in front of the mirror, examining your reflection. There was still some adrenaline flowing through your bloodstream causing your hands to slightly shake. Your lips were red and swollen due to the attack on them moments prior. But what you couldn’t ignore was the dopey smile that seemed to take permanent residence on your face. You felt like a giddy schoolgirl, though you weren’t complaining.

Your recently ended relationship with your ex Justin was not great. The reason for the break up was due to the fact that he didn’t make you feel special. Looking back at it now you don’t even know why you agreed to start dating him in the first place. But you were thankful it concluded, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, with a man who looked at you like you hung the moon and placed every star in the sky yourself.

Back in the living room, Chris paced around the living room for your return. Happiness surged through him, making him pump his fist in the air like he was John Bender in The Breakfast Club.

He's been with plenty of women throughout his life, even getting engaged to one, but it was in this moment he realized he had never been so infatuated with someone until you entered his life. You made all of the hairs on his body stand up just by looking at him. It elated him but also scared him. It scared him due to how fast he was falling for you. But he didn’t care. Though this feeling was foreign, he had no problem welcoming it with open arms.

After a few moments consisting of composing yourself, you made your way out of the bathroom and back to Chris. You two stood there, just smiling at each other like idiots. It was him who finally piped up.

“So that was some first date.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at his comment.

“Tell me about it,” you replied.

The two of you conversed some more before it got late and you decided to call it a night. Making sure you had all of your belongings, including your roses, he escorted you to your car.

Resting against the door, you couldn’t resist temptation so you pulled him into you, attaching your lips to his once more. This kiss wasn’t the apprehensive one you first shared, or the hungry and desperate one that came after. This kiss was full of passion. It was the type that made you breathe out a sigh of relief into the other's mouth, glad that your bodies were in union in such an intimate manner. Neither of you wanting it to end.

When you finally pulled apart, Chris rested his forehead against your own, trying to savor the moment a while longer.

“I’ll call you when I get home, alright?”

Repeating the actions yet again of your first meeting, he went to open your door, waiting for you to slide in before shutting in. After turning on the engine, you rolled the window down allowing Chris to rest against the frame on his forearms.

“See you later, girlfriend.”

“Right back at you, boyfriend.”

Giving you a fleeting kiss goodbye, he stood up and watched as you pulled out of his driveway and back to your home.

Chris stood there in his driveway for a while. He thought about how the date went twenty times better than any other one he’d ever been on. How you made him feel like the greatest man in the world. The way your lips met his and how it was like they were made to be caressed by his. The smile that crept on your face when he called you his girlfriend. And he thought about how now nothing else in this world mattered except for keeping you in his life and making sure that wonderful smile never left your features.

A/N: so the song True by Spandau Ballet is the song i envisioned when Chris opened the door. it’s that one slow 80s song they play in movies where it’s goes like ‘ah ah ah ahhh ahh’ it's all romantic and what not, y’all know the song i’m talking about, that one. cheesy i know, but i works.

anyway baby, i know there’s not a lot of dialogue, i’ve come to the realization that it’s one of my weakness but i’ll be working on it.

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* dividers credit: @firefly-graphics *

[childotkw]

Hello Jordan! I know this is kind of random but I can't help but wonder if you have any tips for writers? I mean, I love your writing and it just baffles me how you are still writing Consuming Shadows, it’s been so long and the quality just keeps getting better! And to think that not only that, but you're still writing other stories… I wish I could be like you, but I can't write a single chapter without having to take a break for a long time because of burn out, and I love writing! Anyway, I'm sorry for the mumbling, I just wanted a few tips to keep writing without having to take such long breaks, and also how you come up with the stories, how you decide the story line... I hope I'm not bothering you. Hope you're doing okay! Also, do you have an idea which fic you're going to update next? Take care!

Hey there! Firstly - thank you so much for your kind words! Never feel like you're bothering me, I'm perfectly happy to answer these kinds of questions! (And believe me, no one is more surprised that I'm still writing CS then me - it's mind-boggling that it's been a constant in my life for five years.)

I've kind of pulled your three main questions out to address one-by-one, I hope that's okay? I feel like they are some pretty meaty topics, so I wanted to give them all the proper reply they deserve.

Dealing with burnout

This one was actually the one I wanted to talk about the most, since it's very personal to me and my experiences with writing. I get writer's burnout all the time. It's a constant mental and emotional battle for me, and for the longest time I was really really harsh with myself when it came to this. I would get upset whenever I was writing because I felt like nothing was good enough. I would constantly trash on the quality of my work, tear myself down, and I just generally would hate the very idea of writing. It was, and still is, awful. I've made myself hate writing so many times, and I can admit that I'm in this mental place right now (obligatory celebratory emoji for acknowledging my issues: 🥳).

You stop writing, you drop your projects and your interests, and you don't touch them again for months - sometimes years at a time. But you're also so incredibly miserable because you're not writing, and then you just ping-pong between those two thoughts until something happens to trip you out of it. It sucks. Majorly.

My main issue with burn out comes from two separate issues - writing for myself versus writing for an audience. There's the constant, oppressive knowledge that your work is being judged by strangers; and if you're like me and you don't have/want a beta reader, that weight is even heavier. You think things through more deeply, you second guess more stuff, and that translates to longer breaks between chapters as well.

(Seriously, before CS blew up and got popular, I was churning out chapters every week - but once the pressure of having more readers became a thing I slowed down massively. And sure, there are arguments that I was in uni, and working full-time (first as a barista, then as a manager), and was just generally trying to figure out how to be an adult - but a contributing factor in my mind to the slower updates was the fact that more eyes = more chances for me to screw up. I still remember this one ask I got that basically read like "why have you slowed down so much?? You used to be a lot faster :/ " and that one really got to me.)

So, I absolutely understand burning out. And I'm going to let you know a few of the things I do / tell myself whenever I get in this state, and hope that some of it can help you!

Be kind to yourself.

Seriously. I cannot stress this enough. Please be kind to yourself. If you write for fun, then let it be fun. You don't owe anyone anything, and you shouldn't punish yourself with hypothetical consequences that won't happen if you need to pause and step away and take breaks in between chapters. Don't blame yourself for putting your own enjoyment and mental/emotional health before a story. Your audience will wait for you, even if it takes time.

Keep writing no matter what.

This might seem counterintuitive to the whole 'burnout' thing - but you won't feel better if you stop writing. You'll get in even more of a slump. Be stubborn and make yourself write, even if it makes you feel like a grump.

Set yourself short-term, flexible goals

“I will write 50 words tonight" | "I will write one scene by the end of the week." | "I will finish half this chapter by the end of the month." | "I will write a sentence a day." | Never underestimate the power of having short, quick goals. You will feel a sense of accomplishment each time you tick off one of your goals, and before you know it, you'll have written a chapter.

Know what gets you in the mood.

Writing is a very laborious and exhausting process. Having little habits to get yourself in the correct mindset is really helpful. Listen to certain music (I'll listen to Japanese Koto music), have a favourite beverage (I drink tea and sometimes lemon water to get my brain flowing), set up in a specific location / position that will be your 'writing zone' (I can often be found on the floor). This can help build a connection in your brain that makes it go "oh we're on the floor in this one specific corner right now - must be time to word!"

Change projects.

This is something I fall back on all the time. If one project is frustrating me, I'll just put that one down and get another off the shelf, so to speak. I'll swap projects, swap scenes, swap fandoms, swap characters, and even swap from fanfiction to my original stuff. Staying stagnant on one story is never good for you. Fresh ideas will come when you're elbows deep in another story, and it's great! (Maybe have post-it notes or something similar nearby so you can jot those little thoughts down without losing your steam with the other stories).

Those are my biggest tips for dealing with burnout - if you want me to clarify on anything, or do a more intensive dive on anything, let me know! Now - onto the rest!

Coming up with story ideas

Ah yes, my greatest issue as a writer - too many story ideas, not enough restraint. 

I’ve always had an overactive imagination, so coming up with new ideas is very natural and easy (the sheer amount of AUs I have is testament to them haha), but whether those ideas have any substance to them is another matter entirely.

I’m naturally curious, so my story ideas normally come from me either asking questions or just pondering how different things would be if xyz happened instead. But my way of generating story ideas doesn’t work for everyone, and if you’re someone that struggles with this, I have a few suggestions -

Online prompts.

There are hundreds of really good prompt generators online that can help jog your brain. One word / sentence prompts can be really inspiring and can grow into really rich stories if you think long enough. For example, what if you got the word ‘Oasis’. You could take this two different ways - literally or figuratively.

Literally - Where is it? Who uses the oasis? What is their culture like? Does it have religious significance to them? What would happen if the oasis suddenly vanished? 

Figuratively - Character A considers Character B to be their ‘oasis’. B is the person that rejuvenates A. They are like a mouthful of cool water on a hot day. Delve into this relationship. 

Reimagine old myths and legends.

Find an old tale and use the beats of the story to create a newer, more modern one. For example, in high school I ended up writing a short story that was centred around Ares (Greek God of War) meeting Michael (Archangel) in a bar. Their entire interaction involved concepts like the power of human faith, how religions evolve over time, new vs old gods. Not a bad effort for a sixteen year old, I’ll say haha. You could do this with stories like Icarus or Hades and Persephone. Pick an old tale, pull out the main plot points, and adapt it with your own characters. 

Canon-divergence.

Mainly for fanfiction, but point to any part of a canon timeline and ask yourself “what if the exact opposite happened in this moment?” Is it a climatic battle? Is it a conversation that reveals a huge secret? Make it so the hero loses the fight - how would that affect the plot then? Do it so the huge revelation doesn’t happen - how do characters go forward without all the information? CS was born out of me thinking “what would have happened if James had had his wand on him that night?” so there’s literally no limit.

Design your own system.

This can be a great thought experiment, and can get you to build some neat worlds. Design your own magic system - figure out the ins and outs of how things work. Create a fictional government - how are laws made, is there a royal family, is there corruption? Come up with a religion - are there gods, what are the domains, are there any rituals? Draw up a fantasy map or city - come up with geological features, country borders, roads, etc.

This can be a good way to get your brain to start churning creatively. There’s less pressure since it might not be directly related to an actual story, and you get some experience in world-building.

Old tropes. 

Find a list of old tropes and combine them with a prompt. This gives you some lines to work with, while still allowing you to paint between them with whatever colours you like! For instance, let’s use the previous example of a prompt, and combine it with my favourite trope. 

‘Oasis’ and ‘Enemies to lovers’. Instantly, I’ve got like, seven different ideas. You could have two enemies fighting in the desert, they get separated by a sandstorm, and find the same oasis, then they have to share and through that they grow to understand each other. Or you could have it more metaphorical, in that Character A’s enemy is their ‘oasis’, the only person they know is completely honest with them, and they’ve just had an experience where they need a bit of honesty so they seek their enemy out. 

See how fun it can be to just randomly cobble together a prompt and a trope? It doesn’t matter if these things have been done a hundred times before - there’s nothing stopping you from writing the millionth ‘there was only one bed’ story!

Real life experiences. 

This one just came to me, but it could be very interesting. Take a real life experience that you have either heard about or experienced yourself, and put it in the context of a fantasy world. 

One that I was just thinking of is - what if a tsunami hit in a world that had widely used magic? How would spells affect the devastation of the tsunami? Would it make a difference at all? Would they be just as affected as our world is? It can be really cathartic to write things like this.

 I’ve done it before - if I remember correctly, I wrote Jacob’s betrayal of Hadrian in CS right around the time one of my oldest friendships ended (not in any way as serious as in CS, but I was feeling sad so that translated into how Jacob and Hadrian’s relationship ended).

That’s all I have for generating story ideas. I hope some of them help! Now, onto the final one!

Deciding on storylines

When it comes to deciding on a storyline, I have a few tricks.

Align character growth with the ‘big events’. 

People grow when they are challenged - so track your character’s emotional and mental growth with the plot points with the most at stake. Of course, you can have growth in between these moments, but I find it easier to change the trajectory of a character when they are in the midst of a huge emotional battle.

Want vs Need.

This is a really basic writing technique, but you want to have conflict and tension in a story. To get that, you should have what your character wants be directly opposite to what they really need. For example, take Hadrian - for most of CS, what he wanted was Lily’s approval, but what he needed was to be freed from her control and manipulations. By having this really simple and clear concept, I was able to shape the story events around this slow progression from ‘want’ to ‘need’ in a way that was organic and relieving for readers.

What they want/need and how to stop them.

This is another really basic trick, but if you’re having trouble coming up with tension in your story, it’s pretty handy. Just ask yourself what your character wants/needs to succeed, and then deliberately keep it from them. Seriously, just start coming up with ways to stop them from reaching their goal. By actively thinking of ways to mess with your characters, your storyline will just automatically start to fall into place.

Story arcs.

When you’re really struggling, it can be good to fall back on the classics. If you have a whole mess of ideas but no idea how to string them together, find a story arc that suits you and start organising the plot points in a coherent way. My two favourite story arcs are just the standard cycle, and ‘The Hero Cycle’. I’ve made two graphics that explain these in more detail.

Regular Cycle

The Hero Cycle

Anyway, this got way longer than I was intending 😅

I hope these answer your questions - but if you want me to expand on anything, or want more specific advice, just let me know, darling!

[messy-voltron]

Hcs for some little moments that made the paladins realize how much they love their s/o and want to live with them for the rest of their lives? (they go like, "OMG... I'm so in love with them...") you know, some cute moments xD

OMG this make me so soft!! Alright let’s get it lads (also thank you for your submission!)

I do swear a little bit in this one just as a warning

Shiro

Let’s be real folks Shiro is a very simple home body, but it’s hard to open himself to someone else to share that home with

So it’s no surprise that he realizes his love at home, you curled up in his bed, safe in his arms in the early morning where the world is still asleep

The soldier himself hardly gets sleep, and he tries not to do it too much, but he can’t help himself and watch you when his mind is too restless and oh my stars you just look so peaceful curled up in his arms

The love rises to crescendo in his heart, hits him like a train, and leaves him painless and warm because he loves you so much he never imagined love could be like this yet it fits so perfectly Shiro loves you So. Much.

He won’t say it yet. He shows it in his home later

In the way he remembers how you like your tea or coffee, making sure you’re favorite mug is within reach, remembering which blankets and hoodies you like and what movies you like to watch on what days

It’s no surprise when he tells you of this love, much later, in the safety that is this home and he can’t wait to share it with you side by side for the rest of his life

Keith

To start off I would like to add in my own personal headcanon: Keith is not good at parties

Sure he can be civil, he has to attend a lot of them because being a paladin of voltron also kinda makes you a nice little star at a political event and you gotta keep up formalities if you want them to know you’re on their side and you’re willing to protect yadda yadda

And so Keith goes to them, but there just gets a point where there’s so many people he doesn’t know, so man people who want to talk to him, it’s just so overwhelming

He tries to hide it as best he can, not wanting to make a scene, but he just can’t help it

As his s/o, you notice. He knows you notice. Keith doesn’t want to get in the way of you having a good time, but you stay right by his side. Giving him space when he needs it, asking coded questions to see if he needs to leave, offering support when he wants it. You do it without question because it’s so clear that you care

It’s so hard for Keith to open up to people and ask for help, but it’s in a moment like this that it really smacks him in the face of how much he appreciates you and how it’s so obvious you love him the same way

He catches himself. Love. He thought love. But as he looks at you in your formal attire, giving him a gentle reassuring smile, how beautiful you look in the evening lights, he can’t help but feel how right that word fits with you. He truly is in love with you and you best bet that he will never leave you

Lance

Since this man is so dramatic, it only seems right that his declaration of love would also have a bit of theatrics to it

To set the scene: you and Lance were set out on a small rescue mission to scope out a distress signal on a nearby planet. Coran assured you two that it was a small planet inhabited by some very friendly aliens so it shouldn’t be a big deal. It became a big deal real fast. You guys were very much not informed that that planet had been taken over by the Galra and sensing that Voltron as near, set this up to be a trap to catch at least one of the lions to use as bait

Wasting no time, you and Lance have to fight your way through Galra troops to safely get back to his lion but god there’s just so many of them they’re coming in from left to right oh god why did you have to be the one to get caught in the cross fire-

The two of you manage to find a safe clearing and just as he’s about to catch his breath, you grab him suddenly and pull him to the ground as your blaster goes off. Once he gets together his bearings, you’re on top of him with a galra droid now blown to bits and you have the most badass look on your face

He doesn’t mean to say I love you, it just sorta tumbles out of his mouth. Maybe it’s the adrenaline, maybe it’s because you look really nice, but regardless he has felt this way for a while, he just never thought he’d be saying it like this

Because it’s true there’s no one else in this entire galaxy he wants by his side through thick and thin he knows you have his back and he just thinks he’s the luckiest person in the world

You, however, have a shit eating grin on your face and in a classic Han Solo style, just tell him, “I know,” which translates to I love you too and you and Lance will be able to be mushy and lovey once your lives aren’t at stake

Hunk

Hunk is a very lovable person to begin with, he loves people platonically so hard and so fast, so when he realizes his romantic love for you, he almost stumbles into it on accident

It’s classic; you’re tasting a recipe he’s been working on and he’s so nervous to hear your opinion on what you have to say. He watches every movement, every facial feature just praying that you like this

And you do. You give him praise where he excelled, gave a pointer or two on where he struggled, but ended it with a smile and a thank you for sharing because you know how much cooking means to him

And it makes him so happy that you care and understand him and that’s why he loves you and-

He has to stop himself. He brushes it aside, continues on with the evening, but when you two part he can’t help himself but to think about those events over and over again because maybe he was just getting in over his head sure he cares about you but love? Is it too soon? Is he being too emotional?

In the end Hunk comes to the conclusion he’s known since the beginning. He does love you, he wants you in his life for as long as you’ll have him, and he admits this to you the next day as gracefully as he can

For the record, it wasn’t that graceful, but that’s what makes him so perfect

Pidge

Pidges would be perfectly mundane where it’s so simple yet it just fits perfectly into their heart

The two of you are just...talking. That’s it. You guys are spitballing ideas and future projects and being reminded of old memories that make you smile

These conversations go on late into the night, both of you equally admitting that it’s getting late and it’s time to turn in to bed, but then one of you says something and it gets delayed by at least 15 minutes

Pidge has never been the most social person, it often makes them more stressed out than anything, but they can’t help but notice the way their heart settles so calmly and full of love when they’re with you

They won’t admit it yet, but they know they’re in love with you this kid is such a simp but it’ll take them a while before they actually say it (that and you might have to say it first but that’s just cause Pidge is so nervous)

[sunscreenstudies]

How to Read a Novel in Your Target Language

Watch the video here!

Or click the ‘keep reading’ button to read a transcript!

Choose Your Book. A lot of people swear by children's books, but honestly, as long as you know you'll enjoy the story, then any book is fine! Preferably it should be a book that you've read before, just so you'll know the context and general story, cause this is super helpful when it comes to learning new words. Choose whatever book you like, whether that is children's books or classics or thrillers. Personally, I like to start with "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and then move onto the Harry Potter series! If you don't want to buy books or prefer to learn things online, then you can throw a book name followed by 'PDF' into Google, and chances are you'll find it! Websites like Gutenberg are also good places to start!

Find Your Translator. This can be a second version of the book in your native language, a bilingual book, a dictionary, a theasurus, or even Google Translate! For complete beginners, I suggest finding a bilingual book on Amazon or The Book Depository. For upper beginners, having two copies (one in your native, one in your target) is good translation practice. For intermediate/advanced/risk-takers, then getting a book entirely in a foreign language and using an online dictionary is the best option!

Gathering Your Supplies. There are three things that I always have no matter what I'm reading. The book (obv.), a pencil with an eraser, and sticky notes. If you don't want to use pencil, then a pen works just as well, but personally I find pencil a lot cleaner and easier to use (and also cause i make a lot of mistakes and pencil is the quickest to correct). If you don't want to use sticky notes, then you can use paper, your phone, or even just put the  new vocab straight into Quizlet if that's what you prefer!

Reading: Part One: Read the entire page first. Do not stop to look up words, do not stop to underline anything, just open the book and read the first page (or chapter, depending on your language level!). From that you should understand a few words, get the general context, etc. If you don't or you're a beginner, that's perfectly okay too, we're all learning here! Once you've read the page/chapter, try to explain what you just read to yourself. If you're upper beginner and onwards, try to explain what you read in your target language. For example, if you read a complicated sentence in German, try to explain that sentence in simple German. This will quickly let you know what areas of a language/vocab that you are missing. If you're a beginner, then don't stress, just explain it in your native language!

Reading: Part Two: After you've read the entire page, it's time to go through it paragraph by paragraph. Read the first paragraph, again try to explain to yourself what's happening, and then (and only then) do you pick up your pencil/pen/phone and underline the words that you do not know. Read the paragraph a second time. Now it's time to translate.

Reading: Part Three: If you have a bilingual book, try and figure out which target-language-words correspond to which native-language-words. If you have a second copy of the novel, then do the same (but remember that font/page size/etc. are going to be different so the paragraph's might be one different pages!). If you don't have the book in your native language, then get the dictionary/theasurus/translating app that you use and look up what the words mean. Once you translate a word, write it's translation down on the side margin of your book. You can write the translation directly above the word if you like, but personally I think this is bad for learning in the long run. The best way to learn is to reread the same book over and over again, and over time you should (hopefully) improve. Unfortunately, however, your brain will still want to take the easy way out, so if you have the translation written above a word, you're automatically going to read it, even if you eventually learn what the word means. Writing the translations in the side margin allows you to read a paragraph entirely in your target language, and if you still don't know what a particular word means, then you can always jump across to the side and see it's translation.

Reading: Part Four: Once you've written the translations of words you don't know on the margin (or wherever you choose), then it's time to write them out again on a sticky note (or paper, or notes app, or Quizlet, etc.). Write a list of words in your target language on the left side of the sticky note, and write the translations on the right side. I prefer using sticky notes, because once a sticky note is full, I can stick it on a blank page at the back of the book, fold it in half, and label what page the vocab came from. It's super helpful to have all the new words in one place! From here, I can all the vocab into Quizlet which is tens times easier than having to reread every single page trying to find all the underlined words and their translations.

Reading: Part Five: (Last step I swear) Once everything's roughly understandable, you're going to read the paragraph one final time. Try to remember the words translations (or if you can't that's fine too!) and glance across at the translations if you don't know! It's super super super important that you don't translate every. single. word. You should understand the general context of the piece before translating anything, and when you do find a word that you have to translate, try to figure out what it means first. For some languages, I know that this isn't possible, but for others, such as German, it's very possible. (e.g. Riesenschlange: Riesen = Large, Schlange = Snake, Riesenschlange = Big Snake (or, a Boa Constrictor)). If you're not learning a logical language, try to guess based on context, based on images/drawings/anything you can use, and only translate as a last resort.

Moving On: Once you've that done, move onto the second paragraph, then the third, fourth, etc. At the end of every chapter I like to quiz myself on vocab, on context, etc. to make sure that I did understand what I just read. But like I said, you don't need to understand every single little word, just as long as you get the general idea, you're doing pretty great! If there are words that you're never going to use (e.g. Riesenschlange) then of course you don't have to learn it; only learn what you feel you need to know! Also, congratulate yourself! You did it! This method might seem time consuming, but it's surprisingly quick once you get into it (and also I've completely overexplained it here) and hopefully it will help you the way that it's helped me!

[crystalsenergy]

the primary archetypes and the 12 zodiac signs (and planets) #1

all images here do not belong to me. Credits to the appropriate authors.

I have long wanted to bring up a relationship that I make of Carl Jung's primary/most important archetypes with the 12 signs and major planets of astrology. Jung talked a lot about the phenomenon of synchronicity and from this I can think of how archetypes are actually present in the collective unconscious as he said. They are universal symbols present in the minds of each one of us, regardless of culture, and translate meanings that we will see present repeatedly (but in different languages) in various places. in Astrology, I can notice the presence of the main archetypes of Carl Jung.

the order of the archetypes and corresponding signs:

Animus - Aries/Mars

Anima - Taurus/Venus

The Child - Gemini/Mercury

The Mother - Cancer/Moon

The Father - Leo/Sun

The Maiden (the virgin) - Virgo/Mercury

The Persona - Libra/Asc-Venus

The Shadow - Scorpio/Pluto

The Hero (the hero) - Sagittarius/Jupiter

The Wise Old (Sage) - Capricorn/Saturn

The Trickster (the rebel) - Aquarius/Uranus

The Self - Pisces/Neptune

and what I find most interesting in this relationship is how the meanings of the signs fit in very well with those of the archetypes, and furthermore, how the order of the archetypes makes a lot of sense thinking in terms of the psyche and human existence. for example: the animus and anima are part of a "pair" of opposite characteristics that we need to know to possess within ourselves. it is said that men have more animus and women more anima, because the first, among many characteristics, is related to rationality, and the second, to sensitivity. well, it's not quite like that. not necessarily a woman has as predominance anima and a man animus. it can happen exactly the opposite, because we shouldn't relate animus with masculine and anima with feminine, this idea is no longer relevant considering the evolutions we made. so, animus and anima in the end is about an exchange that we need to have within ourselves and with outsiders so that we can balance these opposites. in relationships, in special love affairs, what do we do? we seek to balance, even if unaware of it, our characteristics with those of the person we relate to. for it is through exchange that we can evolve. and which signs and planets, better than any other, represent this exchange in astrology? Mars and Venus, respectively as Animus and Anima, and Aries and Taurus, as Animus and Anima.

finally, we can note that the signs are in the same order as the zodiac: from Aries to Pisces, and that this order perfectly matches the order of what we can possess in our psyche.

let's go to the meanings of each archetype, sign and planet:

1. The Animus - Aries / Mars

The "Animus" archetype is related to an internal energy that moves us to live, it's the impetus. It's an inner force that animates us. One of the characteristics of this archetype is to build something with all the energy you have within you, applying efforts after you want to do so. It's an archetype that makes a person capable of solving problems, with a lot of attitude, protagonism, physical and internal strength and a very strong personality. Again remembering: NO, this archetype doesn't represent only men, as this is a somewhat outdated vision. I'm sure you already know or will meet women with a lot more Animus than many men out there - who act like this, not only claim to be such things.

All of us, regardless of gender, may have more or less of this Archetype in us. And when we have too little, it's time to work to establish a balance, integrating more Animus - either through relationships, learning by projecting yourself into those who already have these characteristics, or through your self-knowledge, noting the need to integrate that part that so much is lacking in you - a drive for life, a lust to act and take sides with yourself.

Aries, in turn, exactly resembles the above characteristics. For those who already know the sign, you know what I'm talking about. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, the one that opens everything, that brings out the need to establish a strong bond between you and your own personality, the one that shows us how there can be someone with the energy to give and sell. Aries is intensity, it's looking at yourself, it's building your identity and personality.

Mars rules Aries, and gives to this sign exactly these characteristics of having a lot of energy, of knowing how to fight for what it wants, a lot of lust for life and for achieving its goals and so on.

2. The Anima - Taurus/Venus

The Anima archetype has characteristics that are opposed to the previous one, but at the same time complement it. Anima is related to sensitivity, with a contact between the external and the internal world. I would say it's more from the outside in and not from the inside out (as it is with the Animus). While the former has within itself what it wants to externalize, the Anima archetype is much more about pulling what is outside to bring it inside.

In other words, there is an exchange between the external and the internal world, not a mere injection of energy into one of them. It's said that Anima is great at nurturing and giving love as it's more sensitive and less focused on her/himself, however, this ability to love is not restricted to others.

Anima is able to appreciate itself, to nourish itself. Precisely because you have emotional contact and this exchange between what's outside and what's inside, you have empathy. It has in itself the ability to relax and enjoy life, feel the energy it has in it and appreciate its meaning. Anima appreciates a balance between giving and receiving. And yes, it has persistence much like Animus, but it's something more controlled in the sense that here there's a weighting before putting in that energy. But when you insert it, it's done with a lot of persistence. These are some of the many characteristics of the Anima archetype.

Taurus is the sign of appreciation of oneself and the other, it's one with a lot of persistence and energy, but much more restrained than Aries, precisely because it's much more cautious than impulsive. It's the sign of sensitivity, love, give and take, nourishment and fidelity. Taurus loves to appreciate the good things life has to offer, from nature to earthly pleasures.

Venus is exactly the one who bestows these characteristics on the sign of Taurus, for ruling it.

3. The Child - Gemini / Mercury

The child's archetype is the beginning of everything - the discovery of the things in life, it's the archetype of innocence, of curiosity. Impulsive, curious, creative, stubborn, extroverted... these are some of the characteristics of children and, yes, they represent very well the meaning of the child archetype (well integrated, without its "shadow" functions activated). Furthermore, the child archetype gives a person the ability to deal with life in a lighter, more playful and fun way, without having such a heavy and serious view of everything. It gives us an ability to nurture our innocent side and has a warm heart ready to make everyone around you feel good.

Gemini relates very well to this given how curious and young this sign is, that even gets the name "eternal youth", for being so playful and simply wanting to live life without too much worry, wanting to live without having much to think about: just living in the present moment. It's a sign of socialization, communication, and there is nothing that children (and Geminis) know how to do more than that: talk with others easily, speak openly and enthusiastically, even with those who don't know, with strangers. Extroverts and eternal curious. Gemini / who has a lot of Gemini in the chart even has a sweet and "childish" voice, even if the person is an adult.

Mercury confers many of these characteristics on Gemini, and so it also relates perfectly to the child archetype.

[sisididis]

Olá! ♥ So ~ last week I finished reading Volker Poelzl’s “Culture Shock: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette in Portugal”, and you know what that means-!

It’s time for another light-hearted analysis of our beloved dork, Port, and a brief comparison between Portuguese and Romanian cultures (because, once again, I was overjoyed to discover so many similarities.) 

1. Music and the sea

I was touched to read about how enamoured the Portuguese are with their music, poetry and, above all, the sea. Many Portuguese songs and poems evoke the longing, sadness and thrill one experiences while looking out the ocean.

Poelzl writes: “Of all the folkloric music traditions, fado (‘fate’ in Portuguese) is the music that best expresses the Portuguese sentiments of nostalgia and saudade.” 

Even though fado appeared centuries after the Age of Discovery (it was introduced to Portugal in 1821 after King João VI returned from Brazil), I think it perfectly captures the mood of the people back then - the sorrow of the women who had to see their husbands, sons and brothers leave for the New World, the nostalgia over irretrievable time. It’s fascinating to read about how the Portuguese had to rely on the ocean to survive. 

Fun fact: Bacalhau (codfish) is nicknamed “fiel amigo” (faithful friend), because it was the staple of Portugal’s poor for centuries. During times of famine, the city of Lisbon regularly bought shiploads of dried codfish from the English to feed the people.

I love Lunie’s headcanon that Port dedicates poems to the ocean. It makes me wonder what he’d do if the ocean were a personification, too. Then I remember this lovely ficlet by @forgotteninkpots​, in which the ocean almost drowns Port, then apologises by caressing his feet with its waves. Port forgives the ocean because “it was only playing with him”.

A part of me also wonders whether Port ever gave offerings to the ocean (not human offerings), but promises that sound like: “If you let me reach the New World in one piece, I’ll erect a building in your honour.” Fun fact: Did you know that Manueline architecture is known for its nautical motifs?

Now, regarding comparisons...Romanians have a word that is similar to ‘saudade’ in the sense that it conveys an emotion that can’t be pinpointed and can’t be translated into another language. In Romanian we use “dor” and it refers to one’s longing and nostalgia. When we miss someone, we say “Mi-e dor de tine” (I miss you).

2. The people

I am fond of the way the author describes the virtues of the Portuguese - “they still have time (...) to watch the world go by.” Someone like me who leads a fast paced life in the capital can only dream about this. The author describes them as being humble, timid, gentle and benevolent. And my experience tells me he’s right. : )

I see Port as a generous man, who enjoys the simple things in life, who isn’t as extravagant or as extroverted as the other Mediterranean nations, but who is nonetheless proud of his people and his history.

I think he is amazed by how far humanity has come in terms of technology, but I think he’s also a bit apprehensive about it and prefers to do a lot of things in the “traditional way”. 

I also headcanon that he text messages like an old man ( e.g. using “…” unnecessarily in the middle of the sentence, thinking that means a pause in conversation or typing an entire message in lowercase or uppercase, but never in both).

In terms of his personality, I think that Port suffers from both an inflated ego and a deep-seated feeling of inadequacy due to his past and always being “dwarfed” by Spain in one way or another.

I also think he has a pretty addictive personality (but not as addictive as Toni). Once his empire reached unprecedented heights, he became shortsighted and drunk on power. It was only after life served him some humble pie that he gained enough clarity to pick himself up and start over. Due to his lingering insecurities, he’s very receptive to people’s praises. But he’s also wise enough to know when flattery comes with ulterior motives.

He also seems like the type to struggle with double standards, meaning that he’s quick to judge others for the things that he would have no qualms about doing.  

A few weeks ago, I was watching this walking tour of Lisbon and when the guide reached Gloria Furnicular, I was sad to see so much graffiti smeared on the walls and on the tram. My immediate thought was “Wow, so it’s not that different from Bucharest :( ” but also “Port would probably just shrug his shoulders and go about his day”. It’s not that I think he’s indifferent, but I don’t see him taking out his phone and calling the municipal authorities to report it. It’s that “It can’t be helped��� or “What can you do about it” mindset that he has.

He’s a stoic, and he’ll overcome whatever life throws at him, but I also think he’s got a long list of complaints that he never got to voice (what good would that do, right? and who’d listen anyway?) 

I love picturing him strolling idly down the streets, hands tucked into his pockets, soaking in the sunlight and eavesdropping on people’s conversations (when he isn’t lost in his own thoughts). 

Whenever he stares off into the distance, it’s instinctively towards the sea.

And am I the only one who romanticises Portugal and Spain’s shared geography? Like the Tagus coursing from Spain to Portugal. Whenever the river floods, does Port feel Toni in his veins? 

3. Money 

A few days ago, Lunie reblogged an old translation of Himaruya’s notes and doodles and this caught my attention: 

“Speaking of the Netherlands, he was trading all over Asia through smart merchants that only traveled to various countries once they have been trained on the local etiquette, so if they were in China, they’d conduct their business negotiations in the Chinese way. The Brits left the following comment: “the Dutch mold themselves so much to their business partner countries that it’s scary!”” 

It was so interesting to compare the Dutch way of conducting business with the Portuguese way. I’m sure that the Portuguese had different methods and expectations back then, but quotes like “To do business in our country, it is indispensable to conquer the sympathy of the buyer” are really eye-openers.

4. the 3 ‘F’s and the 3 ‘T’s

I remember perusing the pages of “The Ghosts of Spain” by Giles Tremlett some months ago and while reading about Portugal’s emblematic ‘F’s, I was powerfully reminded of the 3 ‘T’s associated with Spain. (Side note: I couldn’t remember whether the third ‘T’ about Spain stood for trauma or terroristas. I guess both are pretty dark.)  

5. Portugal Versus Spain 

My jaw just dropped when I read “Em Espanha, nem bons ventos nem bons casamentos.” and “Menos mal, que nos queda Portugal.” I love reading about this sort of historical rivalry. When I saw that the author compares Portugal and Spain’s relationship with that of David and Goliath my mind just instantly went to this: 

Translation: When I see a big one bully a small one, I grow angry. 

It would be unfair to say that Portugal has the brains while Spain has the brawns. But perhaps comparing them to Tom and Jerry wouldn’t be that far fetched XD.