#Do American think “developed” is speak English?

[pastellbg]

watching one of those house hunting shows where this guy is moving to a new country.

Wanna know what his reasoning is?

To help developing country's.

Wanna know what country he picked?

Japan.

[wonderjanga]

Little British Boy

The Batsons were both British people who immigrated to America. As a result of this when Mary and Billy were born, they gained British accents causing them to sound like little Victorian children.

Store Owner: “Thanks for the help, young man.” *hands him five dollars*

Billy: “Thank you sir!”

Store Owner: “No problem-” *has to do a double take at that accent* “A Brit?”

Billy: “No sir. But my parents were. I was raised in America.”

Yeah… It confused some people at first, but after a while of the little British kid coming around and doing odd jobs for money, most store owners got used to it. Then came the time Billy wanted a stable job a.k.a. being the Whiz kid.

Mr. Morris: “So you want to be a radio host?”

Billy: “Yes, sir. I need the money.”

Mr. Morris: “Wow… It’s been a long while since I’ve heard a British accent.”

Billy: “Ah, sorry.” *tries to make himself sound more American, but it comes all across as more transatlantic* “Is that better?”

Mr. Morris: *heard the transatlantic accent and was immediately interested* “Very. Why don’t we have you do a trial run and then we’ll go from there?”

Billy: “I’d really appreciate that, sir.” *thinks he thinks his American accent is good, but doesn’t realize he’s doing a perfect transatlantic*

The Britishness also bled into his Captain Marvel form. Though like with Billy, he tried to sound more American and ended up coming across as more transatlantic. People in the 60s loved it, and when the time bubble popped surprisingly people from the 2000s loved it too. And because in this AU the bubble popped in the 2000s, this was when most heroes were first starting out. He ends up meeting a young Batman. Billy had originally gone to Gotham because they wanted to see if the city was still cursed to heck and sure enough it was.

Batman: “You sound just like the old Gray Ghost movies…”

Marvel: “What was that?”

Batman: “Nothing.”

Somehow, about a couple years after this, they ended up developing a friendship. Marvel was even allowed down in the Batcave on the condition he doesn’t touch anything. (Bruce literally saw the man touch something with his pinky and it short fused. He is not taking any risks until he is sure the Batcomputer can handle enough volts of electricity to take out a power plant.) One of these days while Bruce was working, and Marvel was in the cave pacing and chattering incessantly to Bruce about something random, Alfred came down. The butler distracted the Captain and after a bit, all Bruce could hear was unintelligible words.

At first, Bruce just assumed it was him zoning out of the conversation and thought nothing of it, but then Robin tiptoed over:

Robin!Dick: *pokes Bruce to bring him back to reality* “What are they saying…?” *points to Alfred and Marvel*

Alfred and Marvel: *speaking in Welsh*

Batman: “I… don’t know.”

Robin!Dick and Batman: *stares*

Ah… How could he have forgotten? Alfred’s Welsh. Though, the butler now speaks in a different English accent, likely due to his time as a stage actor. Bruce remembered the man telling him that long ago when he was still a boy. How… unprepared of Bruce. He should’ve learned Welsh by now. He’s a little embarrassed he hasn’t. As for Marvel, Bruce was a little upset he didn’t know the man was from England, let alone the same place as Agent A. But then where did the transatlantic-ness come from?

Robin!Dick: “I still can’t tell what they’re saying…”

Marvel and Alfred: *switched back to English at this point, but the accents are still strong*

So yes, Billy has three accents folks. His mother Marilyn was Welsh so he knows how to mimic the accent and speak the language because I say so. His father had a classic London accent which Billy defaults to most of the time. So, Billy’s double British, or just British and Welsh is you want to separate the two. Then there’s the fail-to-try-to-sound-more-American-accent or accidental transatlantic accent.

[emero0]

Someones said this already- surely- but i cant stop thinking about ruis whole “thank you for giving me a chance to change” mentality

Because its super sweet and all but i dont think either him or tsukasa have realized how much tsukasa has changed because of rui

Like- read main story or even early game tsukasa and then read the most recent (eng or jp)

HES CHANGED SO MUCH and its all because rui humbled him- told him that he’d never be a star—because at that rate, he really wouldnt have—in a moment of pain and hurt because tsukasa was being a bitch towards nene, and also possibly because this great opportunity rui wanted to have was turning out to be a lie

Until tsukasa changed

Realized his behavior and worked to better himself, and (lets be honest) practically begs this guy hes known for maybe 2 months (idk how long the main story takes place) to come back and make shows with him because??? Because tsukasa thinks hes just that good of a director? Or maybe its because ruis the one who made him realize his true dream again and what being a “future star” really means

Not to say rui hasnt changed either, him and mizuki talk a bit about it in ena5 and he mentions it a lot,

I think the wonder halloween event might be the best example

Cus the reason i thought of this post is because i was reading tsukasa side story from that event and MAN is he cocky- like annoyingly so- idk why he was (and still is) my favorite /j

But anyway- i remembered just now that the whole plot of that event is rui learning not to hold himself back, which is a big part of his character development imo

On the other hand, ruis impact on tsukasa is less direct

Like i said its because rui first got him to realize his “true feelings” (as the game calls it), but after that its really all on tsukasa—well not quite-

See- a big part of Tsukasa’s character development is his constant realization of- i guess “his place in the world”

For me personally the phoenix edge event is a good example of him acknowledging it- but i realize it actually started way sooner

In the pop in my heart event- he realized that his acting is so far behind these american (or atleast english speaking) actors who can convey feelings through language barriers

Its his “humbling” arc if you will, he realizes just how far he needs to go, and its not that he’s not confident anymore, but that hes more aware of where his talents lie and isnt overconfident

And this is all stuff he learned more on his own- however: rui still helped propel this growth

He realized in the torpe event (on the stage of dazzling lights i believe-) that he had been holding tsukasa back by typecasting him, and decides to give him more diverse roles as well as let wxs do the play torpe in the first place (because as director, it was his final decision)

But after that—and this applies to all of wxs, but mostly nene+tsukasa—he goes and tries to figure out how to keep wxs together while still giving them the chance to grow as actors and not be confined to a stage

And he succeeds, and off wxs goes to improve!

They (and every character in game i feel) have changed and grown so much and its so awesome to see it happen—and its neat how much theyve influenced each other’s change through it all

So yeah— ruikasa(/p or /r idc) have helped each other grow so much and i hate them with a fiery passion /j

[in-case-of-grace]

TTRPG Devlog: Qet and Inaccessible Names

I've been boiling a thought in the back of my mind lately, in regards to Naming Things in Fiction.

Newer folk may not know this, but my longest running creative endeavour has been Qet; a dark fantasy eldritch horror setting with inspiration from various Mesoamerican cultures and histories. It's a worldbuilding project, narrative setting, and TTRPG-- relegated to the backburner for over a year now. I needed a break.

Herein lies my problem: Qet's "common" equivalent language is a conlang inspired by Nahuatl.

English-first speakers, particularly fellow Americans, struggle a LOT with Nahuatl and anything similar to it. I'm American so my audience would...include a lot of Americans. Naturally a lot of the friends I'd want to run the game for are also American.

People struggle to read a lot of the proper nouns in Qet. An early first draft campaign took place in the deep caverns of Tchaoxlik, and the players were given Zykeutuezyl-- little light-emitting lizards-- as their primary source of light, to care for.

The bottomless lake Chluetichlon is significant in the lore, the Coulqepluex are a major ethnicity, and Qeplueoytz are shape-shifting monsters entire campaigns could center around. I've more examples, but you get the idea by now, I'm sure.

Part of Qet's inception was me noticing that US/UK fantasy overwhelmingly takes inspiration from European cultures, and That Sucks! There's so much more in the world, for one-- and this is fantasy! I want to see UNIQUE worlds that aren't just England But With Magic. Qet was my first worldbuilding project, and at the time I began, I had yet to develop the ability to just...make new stuff off the dome.

So I needed a solid inspiration from the real world as a starting point, and I chose something I thought was severely underrepresented: Mesoamerica. There is no 1:1 "this is the Maya but they're blue" or "here's the Olmec but they're birds" type stuff in Qet, rather, there's bits and bobs spread amongst original cultures and the world they live in. Corn is a staple food. The climate is hot and humid with a lot of shared flora from the real world Mesoamerican region-- but more differentiated fauna. One culture wears Aztec-inspired capes but live in Pueblo-inspired adobe homes. Polished obsidian mirrors play into eldritch magic. Some cultures sit and sleep on reed mats. One regional religion is a blend of the Aztec faith and Catholicism. Alongside these and many other bits of inspiration, the trade language of the world is Qetlec, which is inspired by Nahuatl.

I quite like a lot of the Qetlec names and words I've come up with over the years. I find several to be particularly satisfying to say! But I do have to admit that I, myself, had to train and practice to pronounce my own conlang. It may be second nature after years of working with it, but I often run into the dreaded "sbah...sbshs...uh...however you say it" or blatant word-butchering from new readers. It's an accessibility problem, after a certain point.

When I think of naming in fictional settings I return time and time again to what I believe to be a shining example of strong, accessible naming: Destiny.

Everything players need to know has a simple name that's typically just straight up English, no matter how alien. The Eliksni? Well that's a difficult name for some, so to players they're just...called "The Fallen." Other alien groups are simply titled: The Cabal, The Vex (who are actually made of radiolarian fluid-- another difficult name), and The Hive.

When they do concoct unique names for things, they do so in a way that should be easy to pronounce for their primarily English speaking audience. Fikrul. Mithrax. Oryx. Savathun is probably the most difficult one and that still seems fairly easy for players to pick up on.

Sometimes Destiny takes proper nouns from existing languages on Earth, but does so in the same manner-- sticking either to words English spakers already know or could feasibly pronounce with ease. Rasputin. Osiris. Ahamkara.

Destiny's player-facing setting is one that is crafted to be accessible. They're careful with their names. It's in the weird background lore that things may get complicated from time to time-- where it's not essential for players to be able to pronounce everything.

Qetlec isn't the only conlang in Qet, there are several others, but I'm less worried about them. It's reasonable to expect that English readers can pronounce Lhehd names like Hanviehl, Ahndel Veha, and Linnh; Tolech names like Mochog, Romtol, and Kupuch; or Auroullott names like Beuttep, Tteunor, and Auroboll.

Eldritch names are fine to be a bit difficult, I think, but I ride the line with those too-- Ul'jvot, Gaegoed, Kub-glorrha. Yaesheuhnahl is right at the edge but, it is a god made of 3 separate entities (Yaesh, Euhn, and Ahl) so I think it's not totally unreasonable.

It's Qetlec in specific that I think causes problems, which is a really big shame because I think it adds a lot to the world's flavor. But it includes a lot of sounds that aren't readily apparent, with things like "x" actually being pronounced "sh" or tight consonant/vowel pairings unfamiliar to the English reader like "ytz" "zyk" and "qeu." Hell, even beyond pairings-- the letters q, y, and z aren't super common in English! (Y is common at the *ends* of words but not at the start.)

I've tried some halfway measures here and there. I include pronunciation tooltips on every word I think folk may have difficulty with-- but that's only really doable on a webpage. In recent years, anything I added that I thought might be difficult to pronounce included an English alternative name. Gaiwej: Whispering Mouth. Asdeom: Adaptive Flesh. Zeloutihue: Lunatic of Lliaq. P'qur: The Labyrinth of Gods.

You get the idea.

I think it did work in making things more accessible, but it did bother me a little that this made the titles of each article much, much longer. It did make for names that were easier to remember, and, crucially-- look up. It was a bit of a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too solution.

However, while this might work for a setting presented in a wiki format-- it doesn't work for a book or TTRPG. If you find yourself in a canyon and spot something in the distance you wish to warn your comrades of-- are you really going to shout "everyone look out for the Asdeom: Adaptive Flesh?" No. You're going to pick one or the other-- "Asdeom" or "Adaptive Flesh."

If your comrades have internalized only one of the two names, especially the one opposite what you called out-- they might be confused. We solved one problem only to create a new one! The easier solution is to simply have one, memorable-- and pronounceable-- name.

And that's where I'm stuck, I suppose. I'm attached to the many unpronouncible names of Qet and I know I must do away with them. I need to make new rules that limit how many syllables they may have, and cut out sounds that are difficult for English speakers.

Part of me thinks I need to start entirely from scratch on Qetlec instead of just reworking what's there. That I'm going to be too blinded by familiarity to spot all the problem areas, or too attached to change key nouns. Is "Zeloutihue" totally fine and pronounceable for the average English speaker? I can't tell! I'm lost in the sauce here!

If words like zykeutuezyl and olxlikliz are totally easy for me by now, how can I judge everything else fairly?

This is all to say, hey, think about this from the start. Don't make my mistakes and end up in this pit with me-- if you want your project to be accessible to your intended audience, consider the language(s) they might speak. What sounds are they familiar with? Could they feasibly pronounce all the important terminology in your work?

I'd love to hear folks' thoughts on this, what do you think? What would you do in my situation? What good or bad examples of accessible conlang have you come across? How have your own projects approached conlangs and names?

[gonetoforks]

Introducing; Yuichi Usagi-Cuddles!

There’s a slight typo in his basic character bio, (first, grey image) other than “yuich,” his family in America lives in the part of the hidden city under Jersey. He lives in Jersey. He’s a Jersian. So in terms of leosagi, it’s gonna be an enemies-to-lovers comedy-of-errors muahahahaha!!

More (a LOT more) info about him as his own guy under the cutoff :D ⬇️

Basically; He’s a silly guy! I feel like his kinda buffoonish, embarrassing personality in canon is simultaneously PERFECT for Rise’s writing style & grievously underrated in fanon depictions. So he’s this clownish type of character, haha.

Okay, time to go hyperfixation mode.

Adhd & his stubborn attitude;

He has ADHD! Executive function issues makes it hard for him to start tasks & manage himself, so he relies on his teams (the Mad Dogs when he’s training & the Rise equivalent to his canon friend group on his own time) to not only instruct him, but also hold him accountable & keep him on task. He’s body-doubling without even realizing it.

Although, he resents the things he does to accommodate his disability. He doesn’t notice that doing the things he does genuinely helps or why so he thinks he’s using them as a crutch because of incompetence. Every time he gets stubborn and ignores the things he needs to do, he crashes and burns. When he was new in town with no teacher & no friends who liked martial arts, he became a huge sad sack until the kraang invasion.

His character arc is about being able to rely on other people & accommodations. That relying on a bit more help than other people doesn’t make you incompetent, choosing to seek out the support you need so you can do your best is the true mature thing to do. I was inspired by canon Yuichi’s struggles with paying attention and Rise’s themes of cooperation. (& also my own experience with adhd and learning with executive function issues & junk)

Relationships w/ the turtles;

The Mad Dogs agree to let him like, intern with them? So he can see what it’s like to be a vigilante, they offer him advice and they occasionally go on low to mid-tier missions with his help. They take him on cause they think more heroes and allies out there, the less work they have to do haha. Also, one of the writers mentioned a season 3 would have them adjusting to being ~official heroes,~ I think this would be them trying to be “real.”

He’s closest friends with Mikey out of the whole group! (Adhd solidarity) Then it goes Donnie -> Raph -> and finally Leo (for now muahaha)

I tried to give Leosagi an interesting dynamic with constructing his character like this; They have similar insecurities from drawing self-worth from technical capabilities that they can develop past together, but Leo is clever and calculating about it vs Yuichi being rash and impulsive. So like smart x stupid but they’re the same actually.

His Family in Jersey;

He speaks english fluently because he’s visited his American family frequently his whole life, they’re very close. He has an accent though since he mainly speaks Japanese.

I haven’t fleshed out this concept enough, but I think members of his jersey/Cuddles half of the family would be spoofs of characters from the original yojimbo comics, implied to be reincarnations? Except Miyamoto ofc. (i’ll explain later..)

Reusing the ninja orphans plotline from the original show, his family utilizes their cute appearances to run an orphanage too. They wonder why this Chizu lady is constantly showing up with unhoused children, but they’re just grateful they’re safe now.

Everyone in his family HATES Mrs. Cuddles, they all think she’s in prison and are happy about it. She might’ve given him that scratch on his face.

Additional;

He is gay.

Thank you for your time.

[thesilmarillionblog]

𓏲 𓂃 L o s i n g Y o u

Part: 2

/ Click here to read the first part!

Summary: Everything was good as a member of Payback and Soldier Boy's secret girlfriend until the team and your relationship with him began to fall apart due to a new member and her developing relationship with Ben right in front of your eyes.

Pairing: Soldier Boy / Reader

Warnings: Heavy angst, hurt, heartless Soldier Boy, reader gets hurt, mention of drugs, mention of alcohol, mention of sex, betrayal, Soldier Boy being a dick, reader is a supe, Crimson Countess is a bitch

Word Count: 2031

A/N: English is not my first language.

* This story is inspired by the song "Losing You" by Dream Evil.

After your argument with Ben about Countess Noir and your relationship, which occurred a month ago, he hardly spoke to you at all. He never looked you in the eye, either. You were never even certain if his love existed in the first place, but it was clear that the thing between you and Ben had been extinguished forever, even though he hadn't formally ended your relationship with words.

You considered leaving Payback behind, but you found it difficult to distance yourself from Ben, which bothered and despised you about yourself. You were terrified that Ben would harm Earving, in addition to the possibility that he wouldn't mind you leaving the squad. After all, he was your sole friend, and Ben's attitude towards him was cruel and rough. He was merciless to everyone except for Countess.

You denied producing movies, TV shows, or signing days since it was too much to bear to watch Crimson and Ben together, participate in commercials, and be the star of movies in front of your eyes. You just stopped showing up with the squad day by day. Nonetheless, when the rumors surfaced that you would soon leave the group, you were forced to sit with Ben and listen to him while he talked absolute bullshit to the cameras.

When the reporter asked you a question, you were so deep in confusion that you couldn't even begin to count how many times you were asked the same question. You were deep in thought when the reporter asked the same question.

“I'm sorry,” You apologized, giving the TV reporter a feeble smile. “I couldn't catch you.” You were irritated by the number of times you were given the same questions over and over again.

You felt that all you wanted to do was shout and punch everybody who spoke to you and asked you pointless questions about Ben and Crimson, as if it were your responsibility to speak and you were their spokesperson regarding their romance or something. All they saw was a façade of lies; if only someone could see through you and realize that you were drowning in all of them.

He kept talking about the rumors, and you felt like you were about to go crazy in front of the camera and kill someone. At that point, the pressure you were under became too much for you to handle. You ignored all the sounds around you and repressed your tears as you inhaled deeply.

“Look, you know, I have things to do. I apologize if I sound impolite, but it would be preferable if you directed those questions to Crimson and Soldier Boy. After all, it's their life to tell, not mine.”

When you attempted to back away to ask another question, the unsettlingly inquisitive man grabbed your arm. God alone knew how much you wanted to break those arms at that very moment and make him eat his own flesh.

Disregarding your previous statement, he uttered, “Y/N, please inform us. Are they really getting married soon? Don't you think it would be fantastic if the strongest supe woman and strongest supe man got married? A formidable duo! Power Couple! The American public is curious about that.”

He was babbling nonsensically and was clearly trying to get you to kill him. Even though you weren't saying a damn thing, he continued talking about them, and you inhaled deeply and waited for him to finish. When he identified Countess as the strongest female supe, you gave him a little smile.

You replied coolly, “I really don't know about their next move. But allow me to ask you a question. Have you witnessed her battling me?”

You stared him in the eyes when you posed the question, as though it were the most important one ever. The way you changed your attitude startled him.

“Well, no,” he said with a confused look on his face.

“Then what makes you believe that she is the world's strongest supe woman?” You continued to smile at him and continued, “Let's just say I'm curious.”

Crimson wouldn't have a chance against you; you knew it. Ben also knew that. However, you felt unimportant and left her aside each passing day because of the way she was seen as the strongest female supe. You were aware that Ben was assisting her in completing the objectives assigned to her—unlike you, she was never able to complete any of them successfully. She just appeared to be powerful and tough because she was with Ben, not because she was really something.

You were aware that her sole concerns were money and reputation, and neither Ben nor the squad mattered to her. A woman could always see right through another woman.

You suddenly burst out laughing when he opened his mouth. Saying, “Hey, I'm just kidding; relax,” you interrupted him before he could say anything more foolish. “But I really have things to do, okay? Glad to meet you. Have a nice day.”

Fuck, you turned into the biggest liar in a single month because of Ben.

Earving saw you had at last escaped the incessant inquiries and the obnoxious reporter, so he followed you to the van. He was also taking a vacation from marketing his latest film. After taking off his mask long enough to sip his, he handed you a soda.

“Hey, what's the deal? You know, you seem anxious these days.” He ate his hamburger quickly and remarked, “I heard the conversation between you and this idiot man. Fuck him; they are so fucking irritating sometimes, it’s hard to stop myself from breaking their necks.”

You took a big sip of your soda and gave him a nod. It was nice to have small talk with Earving, considering he was the only kind and smart person left in the squad after all.

“Yeah,” you said while Ben and Countess got out of their special trailer, and you watched them with a heavy heart when Ben gave her quick and playful kisses.

It was Ben's blindness and his intense care for her that pained you, and it was his seeming blitheness and comfort around her that made you hurt. It was obvious to you that she was lying and tricking him. Witnessing Ben give her everything he didn’t bother to give you wounded you. They had a really open connection, even if there was still some space between you when you were dating.

You were concealed by him like a rat in the shadows, unlike her.

The countess never once left his side, not even for a moment. You were frantically trying to find a moment to speak with Ben once again. If you had been alone with him, you would have succeeded in discovering the cause of his sudden and dramatic change.

“Earving,” you said like a whisper. “Can you distract Countess for tonight?” You turned to him with pleading eyes.

“Why?” he asked as he ate his third hamburger.

“Can you just do it?” You huffed as you kept watching Ben from afar.

“Fine,” he said with his full mouth, spitting the tomatoes. “You fucking stress me out since you’ve started to act like Soldier Boy.”

“Don’t insult me,” you said as you chuckled, punching him softly and stealing his last hamburger.

When Earving managed to divert Countess, it was midnight, and you saw them vanish out of sight. When you saw Ben pull into his own trailer, your heart began to race, and you quickly followed him. You made a self-promise to try it one final time. After all, you were doing this for one another, and when it came to love, pride had no place.

When you entered the trailer, you locked the door immediately, leaned your back against the door, and your hands stilled on the handle as if he would escape any moment. It was dim inside.

You heard him inhaling deeply before he turned his back to you and gave you a look like you were an insect that simply refused to leave the house in the summertime. Though you were close to him physically, the distance between you and his coldness toward you was visible.

He gave you a stern look and maintained his distance from you, asking in a harsh voice, “Why the fuck are you here again? Are you going to start spreading gossip about us?”

You just answered, “No,” disregarding his sour tone and remarks. “Ben, all I want to do is talk.”

“I fucking have things to do; cut it short.”

He was leaning back against the drug- and alcohol-filled table. Though it was obvious that he was getting worse every day, he was unable to recognize his condition. 

“Why did you change so suddenly? Did I do something wrong?” Not wanting to come across as hostile and cause him to harm you verbally once more, you asked in a quiet voice. “I just need a simple explanation.”

You continued to stare at him with wet eyes, and he sighed and gave you his signature grin.

“Just admit your pussy missed me; that’s why you are so desperate, so I can give you a good and quick fuck,” he said, giving you a playful look.

Aware that he was only attempting to divert the conversation or embarrass you, you remained silent and paid no attention to the garbage that was pouring out of his mouth.

“Why, Ben?”

“Why do you act like a fucking obsessive woman? Do you need an explanation? Fine, listen to me carefully, then: I can do whatever I want. Is that good enough for you? ”

With a heavy heart, your hands on the door handle tightened. Ignoring his harsh words, your jaw clenched, and you shook your head in denial.

“Why did you act like you loved me and cared about me then?”

“What love? Fuck, I don’t even like you,” he snapped out of nowhere, irritated by the choice of your words. “We just passed some time and fucked, that’s all. Don’t be a bitch about it; you’ll get over it,” he said, giving you a wink.

He sounded so different and cold that it was hard to believe he was the same man with whom you fell in love so deeply months ago. It was like someone else possessed his body and turned him against you in a day.

“Why do you even look at me with such hatred?” you asked, ignoring how much his words pained your heart. Your voice cracked, not knowing how to handle the situation or his unbalanced behavior anymore.

“Fuck!” he screamed at you, finally losing his temper and making a move to approach while you still leaned your back against the door. “You know what? I’m going to marry her.”

You loosened your hand around the doorknob and cupped his face without hesitation, knowing he would do it just to make sure you suffered.

“I swear I’ll walk away the day you marry her, Ben,” you said with a desperate voice, hoping it would mean something to him. “I’ll leave Payback.”

“Fuck you will,” he clenched his jaw, pushing your back against the door. “I fucking swear, the day you leave will be the day of Noir‘s death. No, I’ll make sure to make him even worse.”

“What kind of monster have you turned into?” You whispered and pushed him off of you.

“Yet you told me you loved me,” he said, giving you an unsincere smile.

“I do love you, Ben, and that’s the last time you hear this from me.”

Next Chapter

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

A/N: I was very surprised to see that you wanted another part for this so-called one shot story. Your comments made me very happy.

Taglist: @mostlymarvelgirl

Let me know if you want to be tagged for this series!

[elsaclack]

took a day or so to wait on this just to make sure i wasn’t talking out of my ass here but

the censorship on tiktok has ramped up significantly since service was restored to americans

i’ve been active back on here long enough to note that the level of censorship on tiktok that was present before the ban was a joke on here. words like “unalive” are stupid and ridiculous (and in certain cases when it comes to filtering specific words, downright dangerous) to non-tiktok users, but the reason words like “unalive” and other heavily coded language came to be so ingrained in tiktok users’ vocabulary is because the platform itself would either flag videos with the actual words like “kill” or “murder” or “dead/die/died” and remove them from the platform, suppress the video to the point where large creators were getting maybe 20-30 views (when their norm is 20,000-30,000+), OR it would shadowban not just the video, but the user themselves. tiktok’s user base linguistically developed into the heavily coded version of english that the public sees (and in many cases, rightfully makes fun of) today specifically to get around the platform’s arbitrary and ill-defined censorship rules to reach the widest possible audience they could reach on the platform. it sucks and it’s stupid, we think so too, but it’s what we had to do to make the platform what we wanted it to be.

now that tiktok is back online for americans, i’ve seen a lot of people testing whether the algorithm is still working by saying things like “trans rights are human rights” and “universal free healthcare” and things like that, and the algorithm itself does appear to be working as comments on those videos assure the creator that their video was on the fyp and found their target audience. HOWEVER. many users, myself included, have noticed that comments speaking negatively about trump specifically are being forced through a creator-approval process when that NEVER happened before. additionally, videos discussing trump in a negative way are now limited on the number of times they can be shared in-app, meaning that if i wanted to share one, the platform would limit me to only 5 shares before it tells me that i’ve reached the max number of shares. instead of being able to send a post to a sixth friend’s tiktok dm, i would have to copy the link and send it to that friend outside of tiktok, and that’s assuming the platform would allow me to copy the link at all.

one creator even tried to include a clip of trump HIMSELF FROM HIS OWN RALLY IN DC saying IN HIS OWN WORDS that he rigged the election, and their video was flagged and taken down. does it annoy me that i watched one creator say, verbatim, “d.t. just admitted that he rigatoni’d the electioni (pronounced ee-leck-tee-oh-nee)”? YES THATS SO ANNOYING. but it’s also the only way we can communicate there now, and the implications of that are terrifying. mass deportations start in the next 24 hours along with the 100+ other HORRIFIC executive orders trump is signing the second he’s back in office, and the biggest social media platform in america was essentially just gagged by the platform itself. i am BEGGING any american citizen (or anyone else!!) who reads this to not allow your biases against tiktok blind you to the reality of what’s happening directly in front of our faces.

[doberbutts]

I know you've said writing is a pretty fraught thing for you so I hope I'm not prodding against something tender without realizing, but I wanted to say that I think you have an absolutely lovely authorial voice, and I find your writing an absolute joy to read. I only discovered your blog a couple of days ago, but I've been reading through some of your post backlog and I've found myself consistently impressed by how you're able to make nuanced, complex ideas understandable for lay-readers while still maintaining a very fluid and compelling style.

Speaking as someone coming from academia, that blend of clarity, readability and depth of thought is both rare and takes a lot of work to develop, and I really admire it.

Oh, I appreciate the kind words actually!

It's not that my relationship with writing is fraught, it's that black people being called eloquent is a, umm, well often it is a microaggression when being said by a nonblack person.

Let me put it this way. Black people have our own dialect- AAVE- which is constantly both appropriated and also derided as unintelligent. This is despite the fact that most people who use AAVE also can speak and understand standard american english- proficiency in two (tbh even more than two bc AAVE is largely regional as well but w/e I guess) dialects is somehow unintelligent if you choose to use the one most common to your demographic for whatever reason. (I know the reason the reason is racism actually).

Black people learned a long time ago that in order to be taken seriously by nonblack and white supremist society, we needed to not only not use AAVE, but also be the most eloquent and well-spoken person in the room at all times or else some white asshole would find a reason to discredit us by saying we were too unintelligent to have a place at the table.

We aren't allowed to not be eloquent. And eloquent is only allowed to mean "speaks in purely academic words and phrases with no slang, using only standard american with no strong accent besides the news broadcaster 'no accent' accent" with absolutely no wiggle room.

Racist white society does not consider it possible to be well-spoken while using AAVE. It doesn't matter how educated or articulate the speaker is if they're using AAVE. They're just not considered intelligent enough to have a firm grasp on the subject. Even if they're the most experienced person there.

So when I say that black people and eloquence is a fraught discussion, I don't mean that I don't like speaking or writing. What I mean is, black people being told we are well spoken when we choose to remove our own dialect from our mouths because that's the only way we can get people to listen to us, often times with people saying this in surprise as though they did not expect us to be well spoken...

That entire mess is a whole tangled web of racism. It's a microaggression.

And it's also actually one of the major reasons why I talk the way I do. I find it to be a nice blend between pure academic lingo and casual street talk- understandable for the layperson but with an obvious enough grasp of the concept that I don't drown when discussing with people more used to using the more theoretical terms. It is intentional, and it's nice to see someone notice that.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

On the language debate, I personally headcanon that the main language spoken at NRC is a common one. (?) (Like how English is the business language, or like how generally Native Americans had a common language that they spoke when trading with other tribes.) And Crowley or the Mirror used magic so that You was temporary fluent in that language.

After the ceremony, Yuu has to learn the common language and picks it up really fast (as one would in such a situation). Therefore, Yuu can still speak it when away from NRC.

(I also headcanon English as an ancient language akin to Latin, because I heard that Arabic was canonically an ancient language.)

[Referencing this post!]

I’d buy that everyone at NRC speaks the common language to some level of proficiency; it’s like how international students typically need to speak the language of whichever country they hope to study in and need to prove their fluency in an exam beforehand. As I said in the original post, the light novel does mention a translation spell over the school, so maybe that’s part of the “magic” that helps Yuu to understand what the others are saying.

Now, it’s theoretically possible for Yuu to learn the common language of Twisted Wonderland in a year, but I don’t think immersion alone would cut it (especially since the main story is only up to like 2/4 to 3/4 of a year so far) . They’d probably have to put in significant effort outside of everyday conversations to pick up its rules (because remember that language isn’t just vocabulary but also grammar, syntax, and social conventions). Yuu would also need consistent feedback from people since that’s how one usually “fixes” their incorrect language use. It’s similar to how adults would correct a child learning their first language; ie a kid says “wadur” instead of “water”.)

One site I looked at suggested that, depending on the language categorization (I, II, III, of IV), it can take 24-92 weeks’ worth of time to become an “advanced” speaker. Realistically, just getting to the basic conversational level could be hundreds or thousands (700-2500+) of hours on its own—and Yuu has to do this on their own time between homework, going to classes, and managing all the issues that Crowley doesn’t 💀 To me, that doesn’t sound like a lot of free time. Counterpoint to my own point though, we also have to consider that Yuu is... well, technically Yuu can be any age you want, but most Yuus are implied or portrayed to be 16-18. The critical window for language acquisition is theorized to be anywhere from the first three years of life up to as late as 17-18 years. After this critical window, the ability for language development tapers off. So, thinking about that, Yuu's brain could still be very pliable and able to absorb new language (though they'd have to work quite intensely to pack in as much as they can before this ability starts to decline).

Something that I feel would be difficult for Yuu is that the characters often use slang (Cater, Floyd, Idia, etc.) and/or uncommon words (like Vil’s “pulchritude”). The former may not follow the standardized rules of a language or may be idioms (other non-literal meanings for common words), which could make it hard for a non-native speaker to understand. The latter would not be used that often, so Yuu would be forced to guesstimate what the word means. I’d imagine this would make fluency challenging, because as immersed as Yuu is in Twisted Wonderland, less frequently used words are harder to grasp.

Maybe Crowley cast a translation spell ON Yuu so that they can still converse with people in the common tongue whenever they leave NRC? Or, since the events basically occur in an AU, more than a year has passed so it has allowed Yuu more time to absorb the language. Language in TWST and how it works… It’s really interesting to think about!

[sagesparrow394]

I’ve decided to start rewatching Doctor Who from 9 onwards, and it got me thinking about q!Tubbo and Sunny’s whole planned time travel arc that never came to fruition

And now im just devising a QSMP/Doctor Who AU where Tubbo is the Doctor, and Sunny is a little girl who he meets while doing an investigation into some sightings he’s heard about nearby of something that seems distinctly alien. Sunny had snuck out to meet some friends but got lost on her way home, and asks this mysterious man (who she quickly decides not to call ‘the Doctor’, that’s silly, and since he won’t say his real name, she gives him the name Tubbo) to help her find her way and walk her home.

And hey, even if Tubbo is busy, he can’t really leave a lost kid alone, can he? He walks Sunny home to a pretty small flat, where he meets Sunny’s pop, Charlie. Charlie is very thankful that Tubbo brought her back home safe and sound (he gives Sunny a stern talking to about sneaking out to see her friends without saying anything), and invites Tubbo to stay for dinner as a thank you.

Tubbo figures okay, a free meal and then back to his investigation. But through the evening, he picks up on a few things that hint to him that Charlie may not be all that he seems, that he may not even be human… There’s some small things, like how he speaks with an American accent despite claiming he was born and grew up here in London - almost like an alien who doesn’t understand how earth accents work, and taught themselves how to speak English from movies. Other things are much more stand-out, like him offhandedly mentioning something about ‘shapeshifting’, before awkwardly and unconvincingly explaining ‘oh that’s what I call my gender transition aha’. Tubbo begins to think maybe the alien he’s been looking for might be right here…

So Tubbo comes back later that night, parking the Tardis outside of the block of flats as he sneaks into Charlie and Sunny’s. However, he’s met with sounds of a struggle. He follows them to Charlie’s bedroom, where, good news, he sees that Charlie is absolutely an alien, as he is now in a bright green form of pure slime.

Bad news, it seems someone else got to Charlie first: a strange creature, a human-like body covered in white fur, with the head and paws of a bear. It has a completely blank face; no eyes, no nose, no mouth. It has Charlie, who is unconscious, slung over its shoulder. It stares at Tubbo for a moment - before pressing a strange device on its wrist and disappearing, taking Charlie with it.

While wracking his brain, trying to think if he’s seen those bears before, Tubbo goes to Sunny’s room and shakes her awake.

“Huh…? Tubbo? What are you doing here?”

“Uh, bad news, your pop’s been kidnapped by an alien.”

“What?!”

“Good news, you’ve got the one guy in the universe here who can find him.”

Sunny, very confused, gets quickly changed out of her pyjamas and into some proper clothes, before following Tubbo outside. She struggles to believe any of what he’s rambling on about - her pop is a slime alien? A weird bear took him? - until she steps into the Tardis.

And so, Sunny becomes the Doctor’s new companion, she and Tubbo travelling throughout all of time and space in the hopes of finding her pop, developing their own kind of father-daughter relationship along the way. And wherever they go, those same faceless bears as well as the phrase ‘The Federation’ keeps lurking, more people getting kidnapped across the universe…

[ari-burr]

❝ ɪ ᴄʜᴏᴏꜱᴇ ᴛᴏ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴ ꜱɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ, ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ɪɴ ꜱɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ɪ ꜰᴇᴇʟ ɴᴏ ʀᴇᴊᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ. ❞ 

featuring: state of japan // kiku + kuro x country!reader

genre: routine, romance, angst, fluff, history - with some spice ;>

⁀➷ Mornings with Kiku and Kuro are peaceful. By the time you wake up, your senses would be filled with the calming aroma of boiling tea. And with your mind drowsy and yawning, you would smile and fall back down onto the shared cushions at the knowledge that the two actually brewed your favorite drink as a result of your mindless rambles.

⁀➷ Every time you were to speak to Kiku, he always looked you in the eyes. Expressing in his own subtle way, that you always had his attention. Kuro on the other hand, had a habit of avoiding your longing gazes and charming tones but would seem to have no trouble in recalling the meaning behind your words. Seamlessly memorizing all the smallest details, and keeping it in thought for the next conversation. 

⁀➷ When you finally work up the motivation to wriggle out of the comfort of the futon, you would head down stairs while rubbing away the sleepiness from your eyes. In the kitchen, you could hear Kuro and Kiku’s soothing whispers in their native language. [Kuro isn’t a morning person at all, but at least he compensates for the silent brooding by making breakfast.]  And while you couldn’t decipher what exactly they were saying, you enjoyed the sound of their voices nonetheless. 

⁀➷ Already, there would be a cup filled with steaming tea, waiting for you on the table. As you sat down and took a sip, your ears would perk up at the sound of the two men approaching, still enraptured on the topic they were talking about. Eventually though, curiosity would’ve had gotten the better of you and you would’ve asked, “What are you two talking about?” with listless amusement. 

⁀➷ Kiku, who was slightly better at English, would be the first to answer. He would explain that their meeting was cancelled due to a certain American’s realization that he accidently booked himself back to back. “That moron. . .” you would say in between fits of laughter. “I’ve only met him in passing, but it’s hard to think that he’s a world-superpower when he acts so silly all the time.” 

⁀➷ A long time ago, you would have never guessed that you would end up with these two and apparently, they were on the same boat. Back then, the most you were to each other were acquaintances but Kiku was the first to take notice of you. You were an isolated country and was forced out into the world by bigger nations like him. However, the difference between him and you was that you more fearless towards the unknown. Of course, he could still see the hesitance in your eyes whenever you interacted with nations like Britain or America. You were just as nervous as he was and yet you still smiled on.

⁀➷ For Kuro, he didn’t care enough to pay attention to you at the start. You were probably the most unlucky personification he’s ever met because you didn’t have a 2p. Which resulted in you being forced to attend both 1p and 2p national summits. But as these meetings tracked on with your presence, he would find his eyes drawn to yours more and more. Ultimately taking notice of how you would quiver beneath those narrowed eyes from the other 2ps. You were a nation just like them, but that didn’t mean you belonged. [A small part of him almost sympathized].

⁀➷ As time went on, you and Kiku would’ve gotten closer with him slowly developing feelings for you, and you staying oblivious until the very last moment. Underneath Kiku’s distant expression and formal words would be a turmoil of frustration and longing for you. You were known to be a naturally affectionate person, but you always strayed from laying a hand on him due to taking notice of Kiku’s discomfort whenever America and Italy would embrace him. 

⁀➷ He knew for a fact that it was his own fault from putting himself in this dilemma, but at the same time, he was too afraid to do anything about it. But everyone, even the ones who had the most self-control, had their limits and he had to speak to someone other than you to express his dismay. 

And that’s how Kuro finally came into the picture. 

⁀➷ Unlike most 1p and 2p nations, Kiku and Kuro would of had closer relations as they held similar interests and personalities which complimented the other. But regardless of how much respect Kuro had for his counterpart, irritation would still linger on. Your name was like a profanity. He was fine at first with his counterpart venting out his frustrations, but soon enough, every conversation became about you. About the way you smiled, the way you blushed and stuttered; he knew it all.

⁀➷ It didn’t help that Kuro had to see you on a daily basis. Seeing your face and your oh so awkward yet charming grin; it made his blood boil. However, for some odd reason, whenever you approached to greet him, all his malice laced thoughts would wash away like salted waters on sand. His resting scowl would immediately soften as you spoke to him about mundane matters and politics alike. Were you trying to be friends with him. . .? 

⁀➷ Truth was, no, not really. Back then, your goal was to be well-liked by the majority while also standing in the side lines. You weren’t one for the spotlight as it always blinded you from reality. So, you stuck to befriending the calmer nations, finding solace in the lack of complexities that came with befriending superpowers. Japan was by far your favorite nation. 

His 2p being hot interesting was just a bonus. 

⁀➷ “[Y/n]-chan, do you remember what you said to me before?” Kiku asked. 

You tilted your head. “Uhm, that you should grow out your hair?”

“Uh, no-”

“That your 2p’s kinda hot?”

Kiku’s face warmed with embarrassment. 

“N...No. It was-”

“What’s cooking good lookin’?”

“[Y/n]-chan, please, let me speak.”

⁀➷ It took a while for the latter to get the words out, but eventually. . .

“. . .I have feelings for you,” he said, his lips trembling at the notion. 

You were left speechless, your eyes instinctively moving to his lips. Slowly yet surely, you leaned in to kiss them still. 

“I love you too.”

⁀➷ From then on, Kiku and you became a couple, which was a relief for Kuro. He wouldn’t have to listen to Kiku’s mind-numbing rambles now that he was all focused on you. But as things slowly began to settle with the dust, the universe had to insult him with a sudden rush of emotions, and not the bad kind [which was oddly even worse]. Whenever he saw you with Kiku, in the budding garden, or deflowered beneath the sheets, jealousy would arise. But he would always refuse to acknowledge it. Kuro valued his honor and held high regard for his counterpart. And besides, what point is there to crushes when they’re already swept away by someone else?

⁀➷ Having Kuro as an extra addition to your and Kiku’s relationship took a long time, especially when both personifications of Japan are known for their lack of skill in communication. Things eventually escalated though, when you began to notice Kuro’s desired glances or the softened notes in his voice whenever you two came into contact. You brought this up to Kiku, and soon enough, he took notice as well (despite initially brushing it off in the long-held belief that Kuro had no interest in anything “love and romance.”)

⁀➷  “Kuro?”

“Hm?” He looked up from his painting, his ruby orbs meeting yours. 

“Do you like me?” You asked, your head tilted with curiosity. 

He scowled.  

“If you can’t figure it out by now, then I have nothing to say.”

“So. . .no?” 

“No.” 

“No as in yes? Or “no” as in no?”

“Yes.”

“What.”

⁀➷ You got kicked out of his room. 

And Kiku had to comfort you while you were busy sulking in the corner. 

“He treats me like I’m the bane of his sad existence!” You cried out. “What the hell did I do to him. . .?”

He sighed softly, “[Y/n], I assure you that you did nothing wrong. It’s simply that Kuro isn’t one to be vulnerable with his truer emotions.”

You pouted, your brows furrowing in frustration.

“. . .He’s a kuudere, isnt he?”

“I’ll go speak with him.”

⁀➷ After some gentle coaxing from Kiku, sooner or later, Kuro does end up confessing his thoughts and desires. Everything else fell into place after that ♡

— ꜱᴘɪᴄʏ (💘) ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ

➸ When things become heavy and heated between you and Kiku, Kuro would shamelessly walk in and keep his presence hidden, biting his lip with desire as Kiku pins you down onto the cushions (...his gentle hands roaming over your smooth skin.) But that’s when you two would hear a quiet sip from across the living room and see Kuro, the perverted bastard sitting on a chair with a smug look on his lips. And as his hand swirled his steaming cup of tea, he would ask: “Why did you two stop? Continue :]”

This sets Kiku off, so he decides to give Kuro a taste of his own medicine. 

➸ With your pretty face burning with pinks and reds, you feel Kiku slip off your clothes one by one, exposing your skin to the icy atmosphere in contrast to the heated moment. Kissing down your neck and shoulders and leaving love bites along the way, you feel his lips travel further south. In the corner of eye, you would witness Kuro struggling against his restraints as Kiku makes him watch as you get violated by him. 

➸ Kuro is infamous for making your knees weak whenever he pulls you close to capture your lips, his fingers tantalizingly unzipping your pretty, perfectly stylized dress after a soirée. What makes you almost pass out though is the when he slips his tongue between your lips and takes you from there. 

➸ Kiku however, enjoys teasing you through sensory deprivation. He’s trained enough to go for months without intimacy regardless of his high libido. So, he’ll being smiling secretly watching as you whine and pine for his touch. It’s a little cruel but he’ll say things like “darling, you must learn to restrain yourself” and “i’ll satisfy you when i’m ready..” in an almost teasing manner. 

But the moment you begin whimpering at pawing at his clothes, he’ll pounce at the opportunity. 

➸ Kiku and Kuro may be all “polite” and “honorable” for the most part, but behind close doors? 

They’re handcuffs, bondage, toys, and blindfolds.

That’s as much as I’m going to elaborate. 

note: @sparklingbluerose thank you so much for the request! sorry for the long wait  (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ ) ‧º

[yuurei20]

This is a little bit of a weird long question lol

I'm more asking your opinion about it haha

I'm trying to think on it - is Idia an Otaku because that's the setting the game is for (Japanese audience) and those are the signifiers that a Japanese audience would recognize as "nerd", or is he just an Otaku in general and would still be a "Weeb/Anime nerd" if the original audience was American/otherwise western.

Like - what I mean is in American pop culture, the "Weeb/Anime fan" is kind of a subset of nerd. Like none of the characters from "the big bang theory" (to my knowledge) are "weebs", they aren't our most generic image of a nerd. If a character/person is a "Weeb" it usually means they have a specific interest in Japanese media, and this doesn't necessarily correlate to other "nerdy" things.

Because in America/Western settings, Japanese fandom culture is foreign (thus me using Weeb instead of Otaku though plenty of people call themselves Otaku rather than weeb), so the implications of Idia being a Weeb is somewhat different - he's no longer a "generic nerdy character", but something a tad more specific.

So like - how there's beansfest or the use of honorifics or how the unique magic works with pronunciation - that usage of Japanese culture and language to express what Yana is trying to do, but it isn't necessarily meant to be Japanese in universe, because NRC is distinctly not set in Japan or even the Twst equivalent of Japan

Basically to sum up my rambly question - do you think Idia is supposed to be a "Nerd" in general or is he supposed to be an "Otaku"?

Tldr, would Idia be buying "comic books" in the EN localization or would it still be "Manga"

How exactly is our dear Idia the Nerdy foil to Hercules's Jock lmao

Hello hello!! Thank you for this question! ^^

Is there a word that can encompass both, in English? 👀

I think this connects to how the word "otaku" in Japanese seems to be different from the word "otaku" as it has been adopted by English, so this might be confusing 💦 But I will do my best!

I found an excerpt from a book called "Otaku Marketing" that provides an explanation of "otaku"'s original meaning, summarized here:

The basic definition of an 'otaku' is someone with a particular obsession who devotes an extreme amount of time and money to that interest and possesses deep knowledge and imagination regarding it. The term can be viewed negatively, describing a person who is immersed in subcultures that are difficult for the general public to understand, and who lacks communication skills. These days it has become more generally accepted with a meaning similar to "enthusiast" or "fan", and its usage has diversified, including terms like "health otaku" that contrast with the negative connotation, but the original image of otaku as being obsessively dedicated, introverted, and intense remains. Examples of otaku include military enthusiasts, railway enthusiasts, Johnny's Entertainment enthusiasts, Gundam enthusiasts, Hanshin Tiger enthusiasts, etc.

This is very much Idia ^^ There are many traits associated with otaku that we see in him, from his stutter to how quickly he speaks when excited, self depreciation combined with contradictory pride, net slang--even the manner in which he laughs and the personal pronoun that he uses.

In English it seems that, as you say, the Japanese-language concept of "otaku" has been separated into "nerd" and "weeb."

Idia is interested in things like puzzles, board games, horror movies with practical effects and Halloween, which might not be the first thing that comes to mind when an English-speaker hears the word "otaku" and may push him more into the "nerd" category.

Idia mentions reading manga and watching anime, but is this just because the game is being developed in the same country that produces those things?

Is this a case of Idia not being fully localized, and an American-developed Twst would have made him interested in American comic books and cartoons to suit its home audience, as you say?

I agree that NRC does not seem to be set in Japan or even a Twst-Japan-equivalent, but that might be exactly the point: Idia is interested in media from another country, and that is where things get interesting!

It seems that a Twst-Japan equivalent exists, and Idia is a big fan of their pop culture 👀

Sam mentions branches of his Mystery shop that exist in the "East," introducing things from real-world-Japan culture in the New Years events.

How canonical the New Year's events are meant to be is a little vague, especially because everyone (except Azul, Jade, Floyd and Scarabia) go home for New Year's in the main story--a point that is integral to the plot of Book 4.

But even if New Years is meant to be a fun little spin-off with no real connection to the culture of the actual universe, we also have a vignette where Idia explains what ninja are to Silver, saying that "they live in a far eastern country," and mentioning things like "shuriken," "fireball jutsu" and "samurai."

If there is another word in English that encompasses both "weeb" and "nerd" together, then I think that might be it! If it must be one or the other...I am not sure!

I have seen EN players who missed the Harveston event insisting that Idia doesn't actually like anime, just movies and video games, so it seems to be a divisive subject on EN.

Idia's interest in the pop culture from this unnamed country in the East is definitely not his defining personality trait, being only one of the many facets of who he is ^^

How to express this in English seems more complex than one may think!

Is it inaccurate to describe Idia as a "weeb" because of the depth of his interest in locally-produced board games and movies that have nothing to do with Twst-Japan-equivalent-media? If he is referred to as a "nerd," will there be friction because of lines like, "an anime can be so good it's literally life-changing"? Are the two groups mutually exclusive in English?

I am not sure I have an answer :> Would be most grateful for any opinions and ideas!

[deirdra-hearts-nadia]

I've been thinking about the fandom for The Arcana, and I have come to the conclusion that it's weird as hell. In my 20+ years participating in online fandom spaces, I've never seen a fandom quite like this one. I've seen drama, sure, but the core of most fandoms is a large community of people who love the same media and come together to celebrate it.

The Arcana fandom is not like that. From the very beginning we're more fractured, more factional, more fragile than most. You just have to look around at all the posts lamenting the death of the fandom every 2 weeks to see that something is really wrong here.

And I think a lot of it has to do with the nature of the canon. I am not saying this to criticize The Arcana, the devs, Dorian, or my fellow fans. I have just noticed that, as a piece of media, this game occupies a very unique space that is reflected in the way its fans interact with canon and with each other.

Welcome to the TED talk ain't none of y'all asked for.

Part of what makes this fandom unique is the evolution of fandom as a whole in the face of new types of media. As gaming becomes more mainstream and games themselves become more complex, the way we engage has necessarily changed in response.

Books/ movies/ shows are slightly more static in terms of canon than video games; canon is what it is and how you interact with what is there is largely to do with who you are. Everyone has the same base material to engage with, and that results in a certain amount of constancy. You can't interact with The Princess Bride in a way that changes the movie, only in ways that change your own perception. There isn't a whole lot of room for OCs without rewriting canon, so fans tend to consume OC-based fiction and art with the assumption that it's likely to be self-insert wish fulfillment fantasy time. That isn't always true, but there is a reason the term Mary Sue was coined.

Otome games and other choice-based video games make a very different fan environment, because the way you interact with canon is completely different. You have to build a character in order to interact with the story, and your choices directly impact your experience of canon.

But most western choice-based games are in the context of a larger RPG universe, e.g. Fallout or Dragon Age. There is a lot more to the story than the romance plot and so there's a lot more world to experience, contextualize, and build upon. There's certainly plenty of unhinged ShepxGarrus erotica, but there's also an abundance of fanworks that engage with the plot, the worldbuilding, and the canon characters with relatively little of the player's character needing to be on the page at all.

By contrast, most otome games that make it to English-speaking fandom spaces are Japanese. The romance is the point, but we also start from a place of wariness of our fellow fans. Because there's a huge difference between "harmless weeb" and "orientalist fetishizing creepo," and you know going in that both ends of the spectrum are possible, there is an amount of caution. We curate our space, looking for the creators who align with our expectations and values before we ever begin to interact.

The Arcana falls in a very unique and odd space because it is an otome, but made by Americans, with an attempt at a diverse fantasy cast. It's intended to be for American/ English-speaking audiences and is marketed as such. But making a romance game in America is challenging. Our way of approaching online media, especially smartphone-accessible media, is super fucked up, right? We are constantly trapped between the dichotomies of moral duty (Must Protect The Children) versus appealing to the customer base (Boom Anime Babes with Tig Ol Bitties). Because this is a mobile game, the developers can't make money if the game is removed from the app store, so they want it to be rated teen at the most. But the enticing bit, the thing that captures a potential fan's attention, is the flirtation and sexy implications. So from the jump they're in a weird space purely because they chose to make a mobile game instead of an indie video game released on Steam or similar.

So now you have an inherently split audience: mature adults who know they're getting into a potentially explicit romance game, and young adults/teens who have grown up in a more insulated internet culture where normal words are replaced with Orwellian doublespeak, like "unalive" and "spicy time".

THEN you add in the fact that the developers tried to build a diverse fantasy world, which is a fantastic idea both from an inclusionary standpoint and a broader audience standpoint. But because they didn't employ any actual sensitivity readers (did they think they didn't need them because fantasy can't have racism? Did they justify it as not being in the budget? Would love to know what's going on there) they fell right into a lot of the classic traps. We've been over these time and again, so I won't get into them here. Suffice to say, there has been Discourse. The presence of those issues means that more experienced fans will see those things and call them out, and that criticism causes even more of a split: the zealous apologists versus the critics. And critics can fall into two further categories: those who love the canon and want to see it do better, and the bitches who just love having something to bitch about.

Unfortunately, this combination means that there are inherently factions to this fandom, with staunchly opposed approaches to the media. So even before you enter a fandom space, it's already wildly fractured simply because of the nature of base canon.

THEN add to that the fact that this game is a dating sim. And to engage with a dating sim, you have to build a character and make choices based on that character. Some people will approach this work as storytelling, and some will approach it as an escapist expression of self. Neither of these ways of engaging with canon is wrong. Enjoying a dating sim as Me But Better is fun and completely valid! Engaging with a dating sim as a storyteller collaborating with the developers is fun and completely valid! But the two approaches are opposed in purpose, and that can make it difficult for the two types of fans to engage with one another's work.

Storytellers will well and truly invest in building a character. They may even build out communities, countries, cultures, and languages to make their world all the richer. They are investing hours of blood, sweat, and tears into Their Craft, pouring themselves into an opus of quality fanwork. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to big feelings. Fan artists and writers may feel underappreciated if all they get out of their hard work is 2 likes and a gif of a wolf making AWOOGA eyes. They may feel that critique of their work is unwarranted, or that there's no point creating if no one will engage.

The romantics will engage with canon and fanwork from the perspective that "this is my fantasy romance time". Their OC isn't so much Original Character as Optimized Characteristics--that is, their perfect self. They are here for wish fulfillment fun times in the relative privacy and anonymity of the internet, and good for them! But that may mean that criticism of canon or their fan work feels excessively personal--it is very hard to detach the ego from the OC when that OC is a projection of your best self. They may view any critique as a personal attack as opposed to a good-faith attempt at engagement or conversation. This can lead to defensiveness, or to leaving the fandom outright if it feels too hostile.

Unfortunately all of these factions cause rifts in the community. This sometimes turns into fandom vigilantism, where people begin to see any fan who doesn't wholeheartedly agree with them as an enemy. I've seen friends experience bullying and cruelty over their OCs and their art. I've seen predators use the isolated nature of the fandom to further isolate and prey upon already vulnerable individuals. I've seen some really shitty stuff.

But I have also seen beautiful community flourish. I've made friends who feel more like family than my actual relatives. I've seen people work through struggles and overcome deliberate attempts to tear us apart, finding forgiveness and friendship along the way. I've seen myself and others grow because of the community and inspiration we found here. And I saw all of that because I found my people. And I hope, Arcana fandom, that the rest of you can find your people too.

[rwuffles]

CAROGENDER．   ➷

pt: carogender. end pt.

DEFINITION ⠀✦⠀ a gender related to caro ( vietnamese tic-tac-toe ); it may also be related to strategy games, one's cultural heritage, family & friends, bonding with others, ( friendly ) competition, and outsmarting one's opponent. this gender is exclusive to vietnamese people. for day 10 of @the-astropaws event: free day. rambles can be found under the cut!

pt: definition, a gender related to caro (vietnamese tic-tac-toe); it may also be related to strategy games, one's cultural heritage, family & friends, bonding with others, (friendly) competition, and outsmarting one's opponent. this gender is exclusive to vietnamese people. for day ten of @/the-astropaws's event: free day. rambles can be found under the cut! end pt.

COINER．  voice of the throne．  ➷

TAGS．  @radiomogai @sevvys @angeltism @zoeynovie @jigumis @boingogender @pupcoins @monarchenwinter @acronym-chaos @flutteringwings-coining @idwl @catboy-autism．  ➷

this is moreso just going to be talking about being queer & viet as a whole than just carogender — we'll get to it when we get to it.

so, as most people here in mogaiblr know, i grew up vietnamese. i'm a second generation immigrant; my parents (especially my mom) and my extended family don't speak a lot of english, i grew up taking part in more vietnamese traditions than american, i didn't watch the same childhood movies most people did, and i didn't eat a lot of american food outside of what i ate at school. i did eat my own weird amalgamations — those were more of an "autism picky eater" thing than being viet, though.

it was honestly a really difficult experience growing up visibly not white in america. my parents insisted on moving to good / safe neighborhoods — which i am eternally grateful for — but it also meant i was mostly surrounded with white kids. i rejected my culture for a really long time under the idea that because i was visibly asian (darker than other kids, "chink" eyes, ugly language, etc.) that i was ugly. i was in kindergarten thinking this! do you know how sad that is? i was 6.

either way, it was a really long journey growing to embrace myself & my culture. it's a much more recent development that i've realized how much being vietnamese connects to my gender identity and queerness as a whole, but i've been trying to reconnect with my culture for years; it's a difficult process. this is especially true when your parents both don't like vietnam or thinking about it. but, our culture impacts who we are as people & how we interact with everyone in our lives.

now, getting into the terms i made: this was a doozy. queerness in vietnamese culture is generally looked down upon — especially within your own family unit. i've seen it best described as "you're open to be queer with anyone except your own family." i can attest to this, if only because the only word i've ever heard in my life to mean "gay" or "queer" in vietnamese is bê đê, which is 1.) derived from a derogatory term in french to refer to gay people meaning 'pedo' and 2.) considered a slur — the exact equivalent is iffy, but i'd say it's like the f slur (in spite of google translate insisting otherwise). so, basically, finding other queer people in the viet community is difficult and finding queer terms in vietnamese (largely reserved "communist" country) is even more difficult. anyways, here's the carogender blurb :3

carogender: this one is super personal to us. caro is essentially vietnamese tic-tac-toe — as mentioned above — though, googling it, apparently it's also similar to the japanese game "gomoku"? i wouldn't know; my dad was the one that showed me the game, and we play it really often. the both of us even have apps on our phones that we just randomly pull up to challenge eachother to caro matches! i think most people use the board for "go!" as a caro board, because caro doesn't have an "official" board you can play on. but, the game just means a lot to us & was the most connected we'd felt to our culture in a really long time — playing it with our dad, our family members & showing it to our friends.

[verdemoun]

Kieran learning spanish for Javier

MY FAV

javier has a habit of talking to himself aloud, which he developed during the gap between 1899-1911 because he was so lonely sometimes he would go weeks without actual human contact.

also, being around the 1899 gang again, he fell straight back into the habit of using spanish as a way to express himself and make snarky comments under his breath without fear of starting a fight because still, none of them know spanish

as a result, the day he realized wait a second why does kieran look hot rn while kieran basically walking him around a few blocks near bessie's house to get an understanding of the layout, and kieran being very quiet company, he started muttering to himself. because there's no way he actually wants to kiss the o'driscoll stupid o'driscoll looking pretty and making him hold his hand crossing the road god is going to smite him down how is this the second greasy dark haired white boy he's had a crush on his ancestors really lived fought and died for him to have a thing for malewives

kieran doesn't say anything, despite a very faint smile growing on his face, until they reach his absolute favorite food van like they know him he is a regular customer every monday and thursday is kieran's mexican food van lunch day and they know his order by heart

but damn straight does javier's heart stop when semi-verbal ten years into timewarp kieran duffy orders in absolutely perfect spanish, then leans over and says in spanish 'also you should probably know 12.5% of americans speak spanish nowdays'

kieran already speaks very basic conversational spanish but as the situation very quickly spirals into a very passionate affair kieran does secretly start practicing and trying to be more fluent in spanish. and for some reason his brain decides oh wait language is fun and he's a lot more comfortable talking in spanish

when javier catches him he laughs and tells him that he's silly and there's no need to learn spanish but then he gets a lil quiet and emotional because christ he never actually considered how much it bothered him that there was so much pressure to learn english with the vdls and part of him never trying to teach the gang any spanish is just how obviously disinterested they were

definitely not hiding his face cuddling his bf because he's actually struggling not to cry because someone caring enough to try to learn a whole ass language for you is not a level of love he has ever experienced before

not only that but when kieran makes mistakes in spanish and javier realizes it's okay to correct him kieran is always grateful first and gives him a little kiss thank you before returning to complaining why is language in general so hard what do you mean the table has a gender

naturally javier also makes an effort to learn asl because kieran still relies pretty heavily on asl. they will communicate in anything other than english

it is not an uncommon sight to see them at gang catch ups completely entangled in each other but also muttering to one another in spanish because they're both snarky little sass gremlins like 'do you think for every year bill spends in the closet his hairline recedes another inch'

[sudensk-the-stallionist]

The recent discussion about the prospects of the US making advances on Greenland to buy it has brought me some food for thought for something i'm particularly interested in, but seems to bear little to no attention outside of the countries where this happens - and, to some extent, not even there. Seeing discussion "out there" - on most mainstream subreddits, by liberals, etc., has made me notice that most of the time, people treat Greenland as a form of "Antarctica of the North": it is merely a piece of land, and, as such, the only things there to discuss are its nature (including fauna, flora and other natural resources) and its strategic value. You see, the problem of the US wanting to buy Greenland isn't "but the polar bears!" or smth. You see, 56 thousand people - around 90% of these native Inuit (kalaallit) - live in Greenland. And this brought me over to think about the WHOLE arrangemente of things - what about all the other Inuit peoples? See, i'm going to use the term "Inuit" very loosely here. It's going to include everything from the Greenlandic Inuit to those in Nunavut, Nunatsiavut, Nunavik, NunatuKavut, Inuvialuit, the Iñupiaq, etc. Sometimes i'll also say the "Inuit-Yupik-Unangan" peoples to refer to a very wide array of groups with many varieties but who have been bunched together here in case it is useful to do so, but beware: they have many many differences across those hundreds and thousands of kilometres ranging the whole North American Arctic and beyond. So now that's warned, let me start.

You see, the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan peoples - an artificial grouping of the peoples who speak one of the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan (Eskaleut) languages - are those who inhabit this whole entire area of North America, and, to a smaller extent, Chukotka, in Russia. Beware this is a map of languages, not people! However, the extent of these peoples can be vaguely represented by this.

Okay, so. I'm not going to spend much time discussing the Inuit's past history as much as i'm going to explain modern, contemporary developments. So, quick rundown; - All of them seem to come from migrations coming from some form of vaguely unified culture in Northeast Siberia some 4000-6000 years ago. These groups did not migrate all at the same time. The first peoples to inhabit Greenland or Arctic Canada were not modern Inuit, for example - as they were part of the earlier Dorset culture; - All these groups, in diverse and different ways, lived in societies without usage of agriculture en masse, and, in some cases, at all; - Many depended almost entirely on hunting (including animals such as the caribou, but this a development much more common in the mainland than in Greenland, for example); - MOST (not all) of their native regions were never settled by European colonists in the same way as, for example, native lands in the modern contiguous USA were. Some places, such as Greenland and most of Alaska are exceptions, although the situation there, obviously, was not the same as in, for example, the USAmerican East Coast just because whites settled there. As such, the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan peoples were now the subject of influence and control by European colonists; the Yup'ik and Iñupiaq by Russians, the Inuit of Canada by the English (and, much less, the French) and the Greenlandic Inuit (kalaallit) by the Danish (ignoring here the Norse for simplicity sake). This in turn meant the beginning of Christian missions - such as that of Hans Egede in Greenland among the Kalaallit and Juvenaly in Alaska among the Yup'ik. It also meant the beginning of the slow adaptation of the traditional ways of life of each of these peoples into what was profitable and good for the European colonizers; this meaning the establishment, for example, of trading posts by the Hudson's Bay Company to exchange itens such as fur, among others. It is also necessary to not fall onto some kind of anticiv trap here and believe that this trades that the Europeans made with the Inuit were all just fooling them into getting to buy the Europeans' modern equipment and clothing while the "foolish" Inuit were having no say in the matter. Yes, many Inuit enjoyed trading! Because having better itens is good, and even the Inuit, who are frequently put as these "hard, tough natives resistant to such a hostile environment" need to make their own lives better. Does this mean the Europeans were good and just trying to help those "poor little indians"? Of course not. All while this happened, the frequent visit of whalers and fishermen led to the spread of many diseases among the Inuit - also including the Yupik and Unangan, who were contaminated in this case by the Russians. Leading into the 20th century, the situation of the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan is now in a "stalemate", as to say; they still mostly remain in nomadic or semi-nomadic state, but if they live within the range of some form of constant trade they've been subject to becoming less and less nomadic. Alaska has been bought by the USA, the colonies of Canada and Greenland are much more well established, yadda yadda. This is also the time where some Europeans, USAmericans and Canadians start to most have their almost orientalistic, false and misleading fascination for the Inuit - as it's the time stuff like Nanook of the North is made. But also at this time is when it all begins to get to how it is today. PT 1