#also because i feel like its hard to convey tone sometimes

[bluegiragi]

mask off.

early access + nsfw on patreon

[chireikiden]

how silly does futo sound in japanese? most translations make her talk in really overblown faux-shakespearean english, which is kind of a pet peeve of mine because it turns her into a joke character - but I don't know to what extent this is supported by the original. is she using old-fashioned language correctly, or is it supposed to sound funny? and how old-fashioned is her speech compared to how she's translated? like is it the equivalent of 1500s english or is it older/newer? thankyou!

Futo's speech is way more exaggerated in many English translations than in Japanese, yeah. Personally I tend to vary it depending on the tone of the story, how extreme the author is doing it (in the case of doujins) and the feng shui in the room, but I honestly kinda struggle with the issue too.

Futo basically speaks "period drama Japanese". Doesn't really even matter which period, everything pre-Meiji is mostly interchangeable as far as the trope is concerned – it's not really supposed to be an accurate representation of old Japanese, which would be much harder to understand. It's actually a lot less extreme than, say, Mamizou's manner of speech, but intended to convey "old-timey" rather than "old-timer". Where Mamizou speaks in the stereotypical manner of a country grandpa (more so than a grandma, really), Futo speaks like a character who's literally from the past. Or maybe a yakuza or hammy cartoon character. Not even an especially fancy court official, and also not a samurai (which its own trope de gozaru).

Problem is, in Japanese, verbal tics like that are easily conveyed by things like choice of pronouns and sentence endings. Those are things you can consistently stick in almost every sentence without really altering them or even being all that grating (the tics here being more like "zo" than "kupo", "nyan" or even "desu"). In terms of actual vocabulary or verbose loquaciousness, Futo doesn't really stand out from anyone else.

This is different in English, where to convey things like "medieval speech" we don't have easy shortcuts like "the old-timey sentence ending" and are instead dependent on vocabulary, grammar and wording choices to turn the whole sentence "Shakespearean" (which of course is anachronistic too) in pretty ridiculous ways. The Ten Desires translation manages to turn very basic and short lines into "Thou who hast prais'd my resurrection: Speak anon, and name thyself." Of course, the small ways that the pronouns, particles and overall phrasing convey tone in Japanese is hard to explain directly, just like it's hard to translate English tone to Japanese. English sentences also tend to be longer in general than Japanese ones, but that difference is just widened even further.

In a sense, you could say that English has no choice but to go to those much greater and more annoying lengths to make Futo's way of speech "as obvious" as it is in Japanese. But while Futo's whole thing is also silly enough in Japanese for the fandom there to acknowledge and make jokes about it, I do sometimes feel like it's gotten out of hand and become kinda self-sustaining on the English end, rather than actually based on the original text anymore.

In theory, my preferred way of writing Futo is to make her sound slightly stilted in some less grating ways, like avoiding contractions and very obviously modern words, throwing in the occasional archaic one if I feel like it fits, and kinda chewing the scenery a bit. Maybe even the thee/thou stuff, especially if the work is more comedic. But the execution varies on my part, and sometimes I just sacrifice the whole idea at the altar of legibility.

[talenlee]

4e: I Like the Ardent

One of the elements of Dungeons and Dragons as a game system that I hold fast to as one of its greatest strengths is the nature of the class-species based system where a player is immediately invited to create a character the second they hear about the basics of the system. To this end, there is a design space in D&D where the classes in that class system regard the potential power carried in a name that meaningfully explicates what they do. Class systems, broadly, recognise the value of names for what a class is, because that conveys tone for what a class does. A Barbarian and a Fighter aren’t meaningfully useful classes but when positioned as game systems, one of them is immediately more technical than the other.

Even if, yes, I’m sure, Berserker is the more proper term.

Anyway, to this end, a D&D character class cares about what I think of as ‘name space’ – the kinds of things you can name classes in order to make those classes compelling, interesting and memorable, the handles that players can get a grip on. This means that some titles, like Wizard, Bard, Rogue, Sorcerer, the 90s idiot’s allure of The Ninja, have value and weight to them and you can almost always directly tie the quality of a class to the name it gets, as that’s a sign that someone had a real clear idea and wanted to do something. If the weird is generic (the Seeker) or completely obscure (the Factotum), then you were odds on dealing with something that was not designed with a strong class fantasy and were about to be in for A Bad Time that was maybe interestingly broken.

And then there’s the Ardent.

Ardents are a type of support character, a Leader in the context of D&D 4th edition. While by no means their first appearance in the game, 4th is the place where they got good. 3rd edition Ardents worked in a way that I will generously call weird, and were positioned as a psionic healer and therefore in direct competition with the Cleric, one of the best classes in the game that could always manage healing as an afterthought. Not a good look there at the best of times, especially with the strongest virtue of the psionic system of 3.5 being ‘guess what rules oversight I get to dance in.’

The simplest description for the Ardent is that they’re a melee psionic supporter that leads by example and expresses emotions hard. It’s a bit of a hard class fantasy to put into a single word, right? You’re a feeler. Wait no that’s bad. You’re an emotive? Nope, that won’t do it, either. You can tell Ardent is a rough word to use since it shows up in the flavour text of dozens of other things and the Paladin even gets a starting power called Ardent Vow.

Thing is once this idea is set aside, the actual mechanical package of the Ardent absolutely rules. For a start, it’s a melee weapon based Leader whose primary attacking stat is Charisma, and whose skills back that Charisma up. You can play a skulking streetwise Ardent or a sincere politician Ardent or even just a walking threat Ardent, they all have the compatibilities. They also rely on a big weapon, meaning you get some of that anime hero vibes of a character with a huge weapon leaping into combat to have a big impact.

Because their primary focus was how things feel they could put a lot of different emotional impacts on the kinds of moves they had. That could be something like leading your friends in a direct charge against an enemy or sometimes it could be about psychically dragging your enemy towards you so every friend you have gets to make an attack on them along the way like it’s an Assist Strikers spice reel from the attract mode on an arcade.

Ardents had a special ability that fired off when they got bloodied, which was rarely worth worrying about. They had another ability that change how you related to opportunity attacks, too – either you were better defended against them (prompting you to be more reckless about how you moved), you were better at dealing damage with them (and therefore became more mindful about forcing opponents into positions to deal with them) or you got to deal more damage when you got hit by them (in which case you were suddenly an immense idiot trying to get whacked on the snout all the time in combat just so you could retaliate with nova spikes).

They also grew well. See, they were a psionic class, which meant early on you picked some at-will powers and then instead of getting encounter attacks, you swapped those at-wills for other at-wills and got instead power points to choose how to fine-tune your powers for points in combat. This could lead to things like a slow burning opening turn setting up a late-combat nova, or vice versa, or maybe you’d find you had one power you loved to use all the time and focused on using it, with your other powers as niche, sometimes fooders. As an example, Demoralising Strike is a power you start with and, using no power points, just gives enemies a -2 to defenses when you hit with it. If you augmented it though, it would impose a penalty of -X, where X is 1+ your con mod, so in some cases, -5, or -6. This is a big swing and makes things very easy to hit and paints a very broad target.

On the note of painting a target, they also get the power Forward Thinking Cut, one of my favourite 4th edition powers ever. Used just on its own it’s a solid melee attack that gives everyone adjacent to you +1 to hit. That’s a perfectly reasonable power on its own. It can be augmented once to allow a higgledy-piggle side-step charge, but then it can be augmented a second time to instead allow two other characters to come with you on the charge. This kind of flexibility delights me, where it goes from a serviceable every-time power and then upgrades into a power for transporting people into the fray at the very start of combat.

It’s such a cool class about creating cool feeling moments.

Shame about the name.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[lady-harrowhark]

Would you mind. Explaining what the heck the locked tomb (is this the name?) is about. You post a lot of it and I know ✨ nothing ✨ but it sounds kinda interesting??? Into dumping is ok if you feel like lol

I would LOVE to explain what The Locked Tomb is and you DID get the name right and it IS interesting!

So, it's a book series written by Tamsyn Muir and three of the anticipated four books have been released so far. I say "anticipated four books" because it was originally a trilogy but then the last book was split up. I don't think any of us would mind if that happened again and it turned into a five book series. But I digress.

These books are notoriously hard to describe because they sort of encompass or transcend genres. It's a sci-fi fantasty horror murder mystery romcom situation. Plus, there's a LOT going on - I've often described them as an "intellectual escape room." There's so much happening that you don't realize is happening until it all comes together. Going back to the beginning after you've finished them is an entirely different experience than your first read because you can see how it was all laid out from the start - sometimes even in plain sight - and things take on completely different meanings. Also, each book is very different from the others. I adore all of these qualities.

So here's the gist of the premise for the first book:

Gideon Nav, orphan of mysterious origins, has been raised on the Ninth House as an indentured servant and trained as a swordswoman. The Ninth House has become isolated from the rest of the empire and its very existence is threatened by the dwindling population and lack of resources. Gideon is one of only two survivors of her generation, the other children having succumbed to a lethal illness when she was an infant. The other survivor is Harrowhark Nonagesimus, the Reverend Daughter of the Ninth, and the two have been at each other's throats their entire lives. Harrow's parents' deaths have been hidden from the rest of the Ninth (save for Gideon and a few of the Reverend Family's attendants) and Harrow has been secretly ruling in their stead for the past seven years, doing her best to keep the Ninth from falling into ruin. Harrow is a prodigious necromancer, specializing in working with bones. The Ninth receives a message from the Emperor requesting that each House send their heir and cavalier primary (a.k.a swordsman/bodyguard) to his home at the First House, where they are to attempt to piece together the process to becoming a Lyctor, one of his immortal Saints. Unfortunately, Harrow's cavalier has skipped town. Gideon begrudgingly accepts a deal meaning that she will pose as Harrow's cavalier in exchange for freedom from servitude. Upon arriving at the First House, the two meet the other Houses' heirs and their cavaliers and are informed that they will have to figure out the secret to Lyctorhood on their own, and that there will absolutely no communication with the outside empire. It's not long before someone turns up dead... and then another...

What immediately hooked me on the first book was the voice and tone; Gideon is a delightfully snarky narrator. Despite the humor, these books do not pull any punches with regard to emotional depth. Love and grief are at the center of everything these books do, circled by sacrifice and duty and gender and colonialism and religion.

This review is actually one of my favorite things to send to people to pitch them the books. It does a fantastic job of conveying both the premise and the tone of Gideon the Ninth. I also wrote a "pitch your fandom" piece that @wilfriede recorded and recently released. You can find both the audio and the transcript at this link.

I hope that gives you a sense of the series, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to ramble about the series that permanently altered my brain chemistry! If you ever get around to reading them, I would love to hear your thoughts :)

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

With the reveal of Abel now outside of leaks, unless people are right about the crackship idea that Lucifer knocked/got knocked up by Adam and is the secret father, I feel like the implication is that Eve is white.

Lilith, Adam, Eve, Abel and Lucifer are all white. All of the first humans are white. All of the royals are white, all of the people in power are white. Excluding a few characters, like Sara and Emily(who are still gray, and not black btw), almost the entire governing systems are white people.

I don't understand why Viv acts like her being Latina is the reason people don't like her work, or that hating on a successful Latina woman is all anyone is ever doing, when her representation is terrible???

I'm not special for saying this, cuz this has been a problem since day one and plenty of people complain about it. But every brown/black isn't ya know.......BROWN. Velvette is the only character I can think of thats actually black.

Alastor, Val, Vaggie, Carmilla are all either gray or purple. And Alastor doesn't even have a good excuse like Val or Vaggie have with being bugs. Deer are usually brown anyway, and he's the most humanoid of all the furry characters so him having a more human skin tone wouldn't be that odd of a design choice.

I'm probably missing some other characters because Viv is awful at conveying that a character isn't white. Husk doesn't count, he's only black because Keith David is playing him, he was never intentionally written to be black. (And neither was Alastor so, ¯\_(:/)_/¯) Niffty is only Asian because her pilot VA could speak Japanese, and Viv was like "yeah sure, whatever. she can be Japanese" without any further thought being put into what that could mean for her character. Vassago may or may not have been originally intended to be Latino, idk, but again he's still being played by a irl Latino so it could just be the same problem with Husk.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with the first humans all being white, but there's also nothing wrong with stopping to ask yourself "Why is it that my first instinct is to make Adam and Eve white? Is it my own bias? Is it because this is what society pushes as biblical canon?"

Almost everyone has racist or uncomfortable biases. It's normal when you live in a racist society. You grow up hearing things or absorbing information from your peers and the people around you. The best way to avoid that, is to sincerely question and understand why you feel and think the way that you do. Asking, "Why is it that when I want to convey that this character is evil and scary, my first instinct is to use symbols and words from a foreign religion? Is it because I'm genuinely interested in this religion, and want to explore it? Or is it because I've been taught to think that foreign cultures, especially black cultures, are inherently more scary and monstrous?" Is how you actually figure out if what you're doing is something to be concerned over, and if it's something that's hurtful or mean and thus should be corrected.

But Viv doesn't ask these questions. She uses being Latina to deflect her racism, or claim that people engaging with her art in a way she doesn't like is just them being the racist ones.

(Or homophobia, or hating SA victims, or just being mean to her for no reason. And I get it to a certain extent. She's been dealing with anti's and people fucking with her over being a furry FOR AWHILE NOW LMAO. Sometimes its hard to tell when something is a REAL genuine critique or complaint, and who's just bitching again because they can't handle a pop song about SA, or a bathtub of snakes, or the fact that valangel exists at all. Some people are out to be actually fucking awful for no real reason, but she tends to lump everyone who doesn't like her work as the same when thats not the case. People are also stupid, and genuinely in their very, very dumb hearts think that Snakes In A Bathtub is on the same level as like, racist appropriation and will treat Both with the same Severity because they're stupid)

She panics, and doubles down instead of actually thinking about what she's doing. "Uh, uh, uh, HE'S ACTUALLY MIXED. SO ITS FINE." Isn't helpful. That wasn't the problem. She treats race like its a toy that she doesn't even want to use. There's no sincerity behind anyones design or backstories. It's literally not relevant to her.

Anyway, rant tim. Viv needs therapy. She's definitely too mentally ill and immature to be handling this shit on her own. She is in soooo far over her head and it not only results in a bad show, but probably isn't good for her either.

[lemon-sugarcoats-nothing]

How do you decide what to draw, and when it's done?

Text: "This is a great question! I usually "wing it" when it comes to deciding when my drawing is done. (More below)" "Finding ideas...? It kind of depends! Sometimes I'll get a strong picture form in my head while I'm doing something else. Other times I just sit and draw whatever."

Now to elaborate on my process for deciding when to stop, how far to go with shading, etc. Most of it has to do with how I feel about drawing something, but also to do with keeping things visually appealing. Here I've laid out each general step of my drawing process from start to finish:

1. Sketch, Meant to be quick and generally convey the subject. I will sometimes draw and post things just as cleaned up sketches if just adding visuals to a text post, for shit-posting, or just if I'm not too interested in what I'm drawing.

2. Line art, I almost never post *just* line art, but i will occasionally post line art with one color to fill in the silhouette to help with contrast and character recognizability.

3. Flat color, I often post ask responses at this stage (maybe with simple hard-edged shadows here or there), but outside of ask responses I only leave character reference art at this stage just because the colors are purest for the character. I don't usually leave it without simple shading because it can be hard to read the subject's form, and its not my cup of tea. I lightly airbrush a warm color over the line art so that the harsh black doesn't contrast too much with the bright colors.

4. Shaded, a step up from simple hard edge shading I'll layer more than one shading color (layer set to multiply and lowered opacity) and blend out the edges in some places to soften the form. Then I add lighting and highlights - first using a textured soft airbrush over a large area, then use a round airbrush with hard edges for the highlights, blending out the edges in some areas to soften the form. This is usually where i stop for simpler character pieces, either for ask responses or for personal art. (Highlight layers are set to "add-glow")

5. Atmosphere, or adding additional shading elements to engage the subject with an environment or specific lighting condition. Here I've done a sunset lighting condition - I put a purple color over the whole subject set to multiply and opacity lowered, then airbrushed a reddish orange tone (on a separate layer, set to add-glow and opacity lowered) over the highlighted areas to bring warmth back to the lit spots. Then deepened the shadows using the hard edge airbrush again, a dark blue color (multiply layer, lower opacity), and then blending some of the edges out to show the form better. This is where I'll merge the line-art layer with what i now have of the coloring and shading, if i didn't already do so prior. Last I went back over the highlights with the orangey color (add glow, lower opacity). Once I get to rendering like this, I don't often stop here because by this point I'm likely hyper fixated and will keep pushing the values and adding details until I get to 6.

6. Details and bounce light. I texture-airbrushed a blue bounce light color, erased some hard edges in using that hard edged airbrush and then blending some of the edges out. This then gave me a guide to add in bounce-highlights with a hard pen, that i blended out in some places. I then further pushed the main highlights using a hard pen and again, blended out the edges. All layers set to add glow and opacity lowered. This is where I'll usually stop for finished rendered pieces, because I struggle to find other things to add or change, and the hyperfixation is thinning out and caving into my hunger/sleepiness. Might add hard white highlight details, but those are the finishing touches.

7. Wtf details. Added in hair strand details and fly-aways, blades of grass, I'm up way too late and struggling to end the drawing process - Or im just enjoying rendering the hair. I almost never add in stray hairs like this, but it's something i enjoy visually.

Again, a lot of where I stop comes down to my energy, time, and the vibes I'm going for. Hope this answers your question!

[zones-spinterest-corner]

BLOG REVIVAL

Hi hello I’m back! For reference I used to be trg-jsab-zone but I’ve decided to branch out and use this as my main fandom and oc ramble blog! For those new: my name is Zone, I mainly use he/they pronouns, but any are fine (I like fem pronouns the least but honestly do what you want idc gender isn’t on my “figure this out in detail right now” list), I come from England, have diagnosed autism and ME/CFS, and am a young adult!

Strawpage!!!

Details under the cut!

Main interests:

Bold text means something I’m really fixated on at this point in time/a really strong interest but not a main one, bold and italic is a main special interest, and just italic is something I enjoy passively and don’t have extremely passionate feelings towards!

Just Shapes And Beats (main fandom for over 5 years now, still adore the game)

My ocs (Not really a fandom but I love them so much I can’t not mention them here)

-> JSaB subfandoms(?): The Pink Corruption (yes I consider it a JSaB au cry about it, it’s also probably the only JSaB fan series other than my own I’ve made over the years that I’ve actually been hyperfixated on which is weird because it lowkey sucks lmao), Broken Melodies (AWESOME fancomic by @/pinktrashgoblin, may post about it occasionally because I think it’s really awesome)

Undertale/Deltarune (the games are amazing what can I say)

-> UTDR subfandoms: Undertale Yellow (it’s got its flaws but I still really enjoy it), Twin Runes (another fancomic, this time by @/akanemnon, please read it it’s got a great balance of humour and really interesting characters!)

OneShot (The OneShot sleeper agent gets activated on many occasions and I’m not sorry about it)

Cookie Run: Kingdom (I don’t know why I’m here but I’m a proud “White Lily’s character was handled horrendously” and “White Lily and Dark Enchantress should’ve been separate people” truther, honestly I don’t really like the main story of the game I just think the cookies are funny)

Geometry Dash (this fucking game ruined me bro)

Project Arrhythmia (not all that active in the community anymore tbh, just kind of a passive thing I check in on occasionally now)

Minecraft (the interest comes and goes but I will always love the funny block game as it was my first true introduction to the wonders of video games)

Everhood (idk I think about it occasionally, the game is fun as long as you don’t think about the story too hard (I did and I was never the same), kind of have mixed opinions but am hopeful for the sequel)

ENA (I LOVE THE FUNNY POLYGON WOMAN!!!!! Really looking forward to Dream BBQ)

The Amazing Digital Circus (I just watch the series man I do not interact with the fandom they terrify me, the series is really good though and doesn’t deserve the hate it gets because of the content farms and brainrot content)

Friday Night Funkin (honestly I just enjoy some of the mods, I really like Funkadelix but am always weary of creators because of many events I’m sure I don’t need to explain)

Before you follow and “I will block you if”s

BYF:

I’m British (I know it’s a cardinal sin, at the very least I can say I don’t like beans on toast lmao)

I am prone to getting caught up in the heat of the moment and saying things I regret, I’m not the best at managing my emotions but I am trying!

Some of the things I enjoy don’t have good creators and I acknowledge that! In fact I don’t even watch TPC on YouTube because I refuse to touch Mirei/Brea’s channel lmao

I swear! Sometimes I feel non-swear words don’t accurately convey what I’m trying to say!

I use tone indicators! They’re not required when talking to me but I use them a lot as I’ve had a lot of problems with people misinterpreting the intent of what I’ve said in the past and would rather avoid unnecessary conflict over it! If it makes you uncomfortable I’ll try and cut down but it is a habit at this point

I am a self shipper and will probably talk about it occasionally! It won’t be the main focus but if it makes you uncomfortable please turn away!

In the same vein - I’m a conceptkin of the JSaB level Into The Zone! I’m not like. Hugely serious about it, I mostly just look at the level and go “hehe that’s me! :3”, and also might not talk about it a lot, but again, if it makes you uncomfortable do not stay!

Will block if:

You hate people based on harmless things they cannot control (i.e gender, sexuality, or race, though there’s plenty more things that fall into that category)

You are a pro/com/darkshipper (I do fully believe that sensitive topics should be discussed in media, but in a respectful way that doesn’t romanticise/sexualise them, which is something most if not all of proshippers do, I also just am very uncomfortable with immoral ships and the discourse)

Are pro cringe culture (people can make cringy and “bad” stories/ocs/headcanons/whatever as long as they don’t hurt anyone you assholes, I started making things by being cringe and if I had any awareness of what cringe culture is back then I probably wouldn’t be creating like I am, don’t shame people for harmless things like this it just makes you a jerk)

You are/interact with/are mutuals with/want to constantly complain about cintagonisupset (I’m tired of hearing about him in any capacity please shut up he’s not a good person but he also doesn’t deserve to be relentlessly bullied for relatively harmless posts, he’s also a minor and I’m an adult so I think it’s wrong to mindlessly bully him as I am older, I’ve also made similar mistakes to him and his friends in the past and I regret it severely and have changed! Please just go away if you wanna talk about him in any capacity)

You support bad content creators (liking their creations is fine, as long as you don’t condone what they’ve done!)

You harass people for liking a piece of media (seriously bro, I’ve had bad experiences with media in the past but I don’t shame and bully people for liking those things, I just block and move on)

You’re the type of person to look at a disabled person doing something you don’t consider characteristic of being disabled and go “hmm they must be faking it” (you suck seriously, I’m chronically ill and use mobility aids where I can, but I am also ambulatory and being able to walk short distances doesn’t make me any less disabled! This is a topic I’m quite passionate about so honestly if any talk of physical disability makes you uncomfortable you should probably leave)

That got really long lol but that’s everything for now! Will probably edit in the future but other than that I’m done!

[four-loose-screws]

Hello there, I’ve been playing a lot of Engage lately and I’ve been really enjoying it a lot. I’m writing in to ask you on what your general stance is on the whole discourse that has surrounded how certain S-Supports were translated. As for me, after reading a couple of them through, both the original versions and the localization, I personally don’t see that much a difference or disconnect between the two. While yes it can be argued that the localization did toned down a couple in a few cases, but even still I don’t think the general tone is really lost and in most cases it seems the only real notable difference is the usage of some select words in place of others which in a couple of cases might skewed into something that seems more platonic, but the rest of the conversation still seems to generally be pretty direct with how it’s translated. I also feel that even the original Japanese conversations generally speaking don’t feel nearly as romantic as they’ve been in previous games which has given me the impression that relationships in general are just simply greatly downplayed in Engage, and while that’s definitely apparent in a few other areas of the game I’ve definitely noticed it a lot through those conversations. It should be worth noting that I encountered the original Japanese conversations through Google Translate as well as other people’s own translations, and even with Google Translate I was still able to see what the initial tone of the dialogue was generally supposed to be and personally speaking didn’t think to was all that different from the official localization (minus a couple of choice words). I do think it’s worth noting that the wake-up events generally are more romantic than the conversations, or at least have more direct implications of it which I thought was interesting. However even with all of that, I would like to hear your opinion on all of this, from someone who is a speaker of Japanese, to get a further perspective on all of this. Thank you for reading this admittedly super long question as well as all the hard work you do for this community, hope everything is going well for you.

Hi and thanks for the support! :) Things have been a wild ride for me for a while now, but in an alright kind of way.

I chunked this out into 3 parts, because my brain gets lost in a whirlwind if I don't chunk up my writings.

Pt. 1 - Opinion Time!

My own personal opinion, in its own tiny little vacuum, is that I don't really care what changes a localization makes, for the most part. I see some changes as unfortunate - like those that put in pop culture or meme jokes that won't age well, in a game not already dating itself on purpose. But I don't have reason to become emotionally invested when I can look up and read the Japanese in my free time, analyze the differences between JP and localization in my free time, and use my blog to share those findings to those who don't know both languages.

The downside is I'm not available to blog like I used to be, but there's always been other people out there who know Jp./Eng. and are filling in the gaps. It's not a fun time to be subjected to the "LOCALIZATION STUPID, LOCALIZATION TEAM YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD" tone you sometimes see, but sifting through good and junk information is how research has always worked.

Now, to add on some nuance, because the world is a complex place and simplicity is a rarity. I think that it is very very valid to mourn what is lost because localization teams are trying to sell a product to a different audience, and simply cannot commit to trying to directly convey the exact same experience the JP version offered.

Not everyone is going to see the positives of localization as worth the cost. I love seeing FE spread to people I never imagined it would, because localization teams work hard to make the text engaging for non-JP audiences.

But media preservation is important too. Heck, I'm basically devoting my entire life to preservation by translating a collection of 20-30 year old novels! It's perfectly valid to value preservation of media over maximum outreach (and the big profits that come with it).

Also, just because I feel like pointing it out, I don't see localization as censorship. I feel like censorship is much more violent - a group in power trying to entirely eliminate media that does not fit their agenda for the purpose of control, etc. It's not like Treehouse is going around the internet, trying to remove and hide any record of the JP script or anything - they're just trying to guess what will sell the game outside of Japan, and protect Nintendo's brand. Nintendo could stop fan JP vs. localization analyzers at any point, but they don't, our content is all still out there for those who want to know more about the JP versions.

Pt. 2 - Talking directly about Engage & the S support conversations

Now, as for the conversations themselves!

My initial impression - Wow, the localization of these S supports compared to the Awakening days, is so different I'd think Engage was from a different franchise entirely! (For those who didn't play Awakening - the localization entirely rewrote some lines in many S supports - particularly many of the CG image quotes, in which each character says their final romantic words to Robin.)

Depending on the exact conversation, Engage's localization takes slightly different approaches towards making conversations with child & teen characters more platonic. Framme's support changes 'partner' to 'ally.' Meanwhile, Anna's support changes 'partner' to clearly mean 'business partner.' Clanne says "all I think about is you" in JP vs. "all I think about is helping you more," to shift the focus from implied romance, to keeping his relationship with Alear strictly as a master / guardian relationship.

For characters over 18, their conversations were not altered to remove romantic implications.

And, that's about the extent of it. Anon, you are exactly right in the summary Google Translate helped give you - the localized conversations always follow the original Japanese, save for toning down any lines w/ under 18 characters, that originally felt more romantic than platonic.

There is one huge sign that even the JP version wasn't as serious about committing to every S support being romantic, though - the CGs. Every character under 18 wears the ring on their middle finger instead of the wedding ring finger. Now, one could argue that the CGs are only that way because the artist was told to focus on the NA / international release, and I think that is a very valid possibility, but... many of the characters of all ages don't even wear the Pact Ring at all, and just hold on to it in their CG. And then there's the fact that the emblem rings are all worn on the wedding ring finger, when no one in the game has a romantic relationship with an emblem, so... yeah. I still don't think we're meant to read too hard into what wearing any ring on any finger means in this game.

I don't see any reason to do a deep analysis on any of the conversations, the changes are really that simple. But, as I always say, if anyone ever wants to see specific conversation(s) translated, then just send an ask my way! Straight translations tend to take less time than answering questions because I don't have to organize my personal thoughts, so they tend to be addressed the fastest!

Pt. 3 - Talking about Engage's romantic aspects in general (or lack thereof)

Overall, it is pretty easy to pick up on the sense that the devs weren't as interested in the romantic features of FE this time around - and in fact as I was writing all this out, I found a dev interview that briefly confirms the development of the game centered around Alear and the Emblem mechanics. The wake-up events might have been written as a middle ground to balance between those who wanted more romance, while taking focus overall off of the romance, but I've seen no sign of that being true in dev interviews.

Fire Emblem is Fire Emblem, and each FE game is always a grab bag of "What's coming back?" So it was always inevitable that even the romantic aspects would be toned down at some point, despite them being so present and essential to the popularity of three whole games in a row (Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses). I'm a long time fan, who knows that's how FE operates, so I enjoy it. But understandably every game will cause some controversy with those who aren't used to, or don't like, the rapid changes.

To me, as a fan since the GBA/GC days, Engage feels kind of like a fun return to GBA form, where supports always felt like a roulette wheel. Which relationships would read romantic? Platonic? Would the relationship seem platonic in the A support, then the characters get married in the ending card anyway? Would family or platonic pairs get an ending card? Who knew!

That being said, make no mistake!! Engage leans as hard as ever into FE's main overarching theme about bonds - that bonds are strength, and the glue that carries all FE protagonists to victory! There's just not as much of a focus on the romantic bonds this time around. In true FE form, you never know when the devs are going to dump, or at least shift focus away from, previous features.

I think I've gotten all I had on my mind typed out now - but anyone can feel free to follow up the conversation if you want in another ask!

-----------

(Note for full context: I read through about 10-15 or so of the S / Ring Supports before starting my reply to this ask, picking out some of the youngest characters, as well as a random sampling of others for balance. ...I didn't even try to read them all, I could only handle so many of essentially the same conversation in a row, before my head started spinning, ha ha.)

[iriswords]

Febuwhump Day 11 - Fever

You can also read this on ao3 and find the rest of my febuwhump fics here

tw: sickness, passing out

Fandom: Batman

Words: 

Damian is not sick. And because he is not sick, he does not need to be benched, or put to rest. He can carry on just fine, a stuffed nose and achy throat are not going to stop him from fulfilling his duty as Robin. That is, until it transforms into more than just a stuffed nose and an achy throat.

--

Damian is not sick. He is just… slightly unwell. And wishing he weren’t. But that is beside the point. What matters is that he is not sick. 

“If you say so, Master Damian,” says Alfred in a pointed voice that indicates he most definitely does not believe Damian. 

Damian scoffs. He is a Wayne and an al-Ghul. He does not get sick. Stuffed noses and irritated throats mean nothing. Not any more than the thick cough he has been harboring for the past two days, or the pressure slowly building behind his eyes and in his skull. 

“I am not sick,” he repeats for Pennyworth’s sake, who raises a skeptical eyebrow. “My immune system is far too good for me to get something as vulgar as seasonal flu.”

“Of course, Master Damian. And we are lucky that it is so. It would be a shame if you really were sick and refused to admit it. Not only would it be detrimental to your own well-being, but also, and potentially more gravely so, to that of Master Tim, whose spleen is missing.” Damian snorts, but a wisp of guilt swirls in his gut. Alfred has very strong opinions about Drake’s non-existent self-preservation instincts, and though he never voices them, his facial expressions and tone of voice are more than enough to convey them anyhow. 

“Drake will be fine because I am not sick,” Damian says and is overtaken by a particularly violent coughing fit the second his words are out of his mouth.

Sometimes, he thinks the universe amuses itself by purposely defeating his plans, or proving him wrong. He does not like it at all. Unfortunately, the universe is not an entity that can be fought against, and Damian has no choice but to endure its jokes and whims. 

By the time Damian is done trying to cough out a lung, Alfred is handing him out a glass of water, his lips quirking slightly with the ghost of a smile. Damian takes it reluctantly, ignoring the sudden and ferocious pounding in his head. 

“Thank you, Pennyworth. I’ll go, now that we have agreed I am not sick and thus need neither medicine nor to be benched tonight.” 

“Do as you wish, Master Damian.” 

And Damian does. Or, at least, he tries to. Focusing is hard when the pain in his head increases with each minute that passes, until he can barely think. He could search the Manor for painkillers. He does not have any in his bathroom, but he knows there are some around in the house. But that would mean admitting something is wrong with him, and Damian refuses to appear weak. He will just have to wait out the headache.

He falls asleep on his bed, curled up against Titus. He wakes from his nap feeling worse, and grumpy because he just took a nap in the middle of the afternoon like a child. He rolls out of bed, muscles sore like after a rough patrol, and slips on a warm hoodie to attenuate the shivers running through him. 

Damian then sneaks out of his room, putting all of his training to use, and heads for Father’s bathroom. Damian knows it is always stacked with most of the common medicine they might need, and Father is away for the day, busy with WE meetings. The only people in the house who could bother him in his secret search for painkillers are Drake, who will not come out of his room unless he needs more coffee or the world is coming to an end, and Pennyworth, who somehow seems to know everything that is going on under this roof.

Damian has looked for proof the butler is not human, but he has found none, and he tells himself that it is only a mix of coincidence and impressive observational skills if Alfred always seems to know everything. Nonetheless, as he rummages through the cabinets of Father’s bathroom, trying to breathe through his mouth—since his nose has lost the ability to—deep enough to get some air in his lungs and shallow enough not to trigger yet another coughing fit, a hand knocks elegantly on the door. 

Damian whips around and nearly slips on the shower mat. Pennyworth sends him a patiently impatient look, one that signifies he has known all along what Damian was up to. And what he is hiding. 

“Are you looking for anything, Master Damian?” asks the butler. 

“No,” lies Damian, and convinces no one.

Mercifully, Alfred does not press him for the truth. Damian knows he knows it already. 

On the bedside table in Damian’s room, a glass of water and a pill have been deposited. When Alfred stops by later, only one remains. Neither of them addresses it.

 Perhaps Damian should have listened to Alfred and let himself be benched tonight. His headache subsided in the early evening, thanks to the painkiller Alfred left him, but the rest of his symptoms have not. If anything, Damian has the impression they have only gone crescendo. Even the headache is showing its nose again, a faint, distant throb in his temples. 

Damian follows Batman wordlessly tonight, not even throwing quips at his brothers over the comms. He focuses on his footing and his grapple as he and Batman shoot through the skyline. He lets the autopilot in his brain take over as they fight unimportant thugs. His movements are sharp and precise, instinctual more than deliberate, ingrained in his brain and muscles. But they lack their usual strength and viciousness, all of it sipped away by whatever common cold he came down with. No matter, Damian will be damned if he lets it hinder his work as Robin. If he lets it hinder Batman’s work. 

Damian must do a good enough job of hiding it because Batman does not notice. He praises Damian for his efficiency as they zip-tie the goons they have just taken down and Damian thanks him with a nod. Exhaustion pulls his limbs down, threatening to make his knees give out underneath him. He leans against the wall and tunes out the world around him. He has a couple of minutes. As always, Batman will call the police and wait for them to come so he can hand the thugs to them. 

Damian dozes off without meaning to. Batman wakes him with a hand on his shoulder. Two police cars are parked in the street, and the thugs are being shoved in them. 

“Tired?” asks Batman. Damian shrugs. He is more than tired. But if Father has not noticed, Damian will not tell him. “We can end early if you are,” continues Batman.

“It has been a calm night so far. Or you can head to the Cave alone, if you prefer.” 

“No!” replies Damian in a haste. His voice cracks on the word, and a cough scrapes his throat. Damian holds it in and repeats himself. “I am fine,” he adds. “We may resume patrol.” 

Batman nods slowly, slightly doubtful, but doesn’t insist. 

 The calm night does not last. Soon enough, Red Robin calls for backup. Scarecrow has broken out of Arkham unnoticed and is preparing another fear toxin outbreak, and Red Robin just so happened to stumble upon his hideout during patrol. Robin and Batman fly to Red Robin’s location immediately.

They slap their rebreathers on as they arrive, and make their entrance through one of the broken windows. Red Robin is outnumbered in a sea of goons hyped up on a fear toxin deviancy. Batman throws himself into the fight, but Damian discreetly waits behind. His breaths are too-short and heaving, his throat itching with the desire for a cough. Damian ignores it, draws out his katana, and engages with the closest goon. 

Hood and Nightwing join them before long, and eventually, the fight dies out, the goons sprawled on the ground, unconscious or wishing they were. Scarecrow is nowhere to be seen. Damian stands in the middle of the open floor amongst fallen thugs. He is struggling to catch his breath, coughing every thirty seconds. His head throbs violently, his blood pulsing against his temples. The world dances under his feet, tilting and turning. He is both too hot and too cold, his skin over-sensitive against his suit. He will not make it far. 

Part of the strength of a good warrior, would say Father, is to know when you are defeated and to admit it. Grandfather would strongly disagree, but Damian chooses to listen to his father. He spins on his feet, looking for the dark shadow of Batman. He finds the man across the room, talking to one of the thugs. Nightwing stands over his shoulder, while Red Robin and Hood are hunched over something Red Robin is holding. 

Damian’s limbs move sluggishly, all of his usual ease and grace gone. He stumbles and sways with each step. A low whine nestles in his throat. He wants to curl up under a warm blanket and never leave its protection ever again. 

Ten feet away from Batman, Damian stops to try and catch his breath. His father looks up at him just at the same time. His lips press together and he stands up to his full height. Damian really doesn’t feel good. He opens his mouth to tell his father so but passes out before he can. 

 He wakes up in flashes. 

Something sharp prods at his arm. He tries to take it away, but they don’t let him. He curses them in a language that doesn’t sound like theirs. Someone smoothes his sweat-soaked hair back. 

Against someone’s chest, in a moving vehicle. Someone is barking orders. Damian thinks he is crying. He can’t be sure. And if he is, he does not know why. 

Someone carries him, jostling him with every step. There are voices all around. Damian tunes them out and goes back to sleep. 

Someone holds him up. A glass presses against his lips. He turns his head away. His throat hurts, and he doesn’t want to swallow anything. They insist. For lack of energy, he obeys. Then, they strip him of his blankets, and Damian cries. He falls back asleep shivering, arms wrapped tightly around himself. 

 The next time Damian opens his eyes, he is warm. The Medbay cot dips under his weight as he sits up. His muscles, still sore, protest against the movement, but he ignores them. All of his brothers are slumped in chairs at the side of the bed. Father is talking quietly to Pennyworth by the door. Damian snuggles against the blankets that have been given back to him, and goes back to sleep. 

@febuwhump

[loveless-scribes]

✨🛒👀🥺🤩🎉🌞🎢

Oh, wow! That's a bunch! Thanks so much for sending the ask, let's dive right in! <3 ✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉 This is hard, especially right now because I'm really struggling with my writing. My ideas aren't clear and I feel like they don't line up with one another or that the tone shifts abruptly because the way I'm feeling has changed between one writing session and the next. I guess I hope that my writing makes people FEEL things. That's my main goal most of the time. And I think I'm pretty good at surprising people, too. So, to put that in compliment form I think I'm alright at conveying emotions and I have a knack for those plot twists. XD 🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc. I feel like I'm always writing about death even when I'm not planning to, it just kind of works its way back in there. Also, I guess another common theme would be the deep connections that people can form with one another, against all odds, against their better judgement, and sometimes even to their own detriment. I guess that's a hopeful theme in a way, people staying even when you're sure they'll walk away. Also, my protagonist needs to be a little messed up in the head. Anything else is hard and boring to write. I love writing crazy people and then humanizing them to the reader. 👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please! Barring AM spoilers, and the Sukuna fic I teased about on my alt, I want to write a short story about a world where voluntary self-elimination is both legal and readily accessible. The idea's been floating around in my head for a while - what that would look like, what the logistics around it would be, how friends and family would react, the inevitable desensitization towards death. I do hope to get that one down sometime soon because I'm really inspired to write it. 🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels? I think I hinted at this already, but I love it when one character is sure the other is going to leave them, but they don't. Not even necessarily in a romantic sense. It could be a friendship, or a parent-child relationship or what have you. Just that feeling of, "I've gone too far, it's over" but it's not, because that person would never leave. Staying by each other's side whether or not they understand the full context. Not even necessarily needing the context to know that they're on your side. I guess that's why it's a recurring theme in LS's relationship.

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write? This used to be an easy "Levi, hands down - all day, every day." But lately, Slayte has become my favorite. Especially with her current struggles in the story, I just have a soft spot for her and the stuff she has to go through, I guess. She's also the character that most meets my "crazy protag" criteria, so there's that. 🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success? When people tell me I made them cry. It sounds mean, but there's no better feeling. That's when my inner critic has no choice but to shut up because OMG THEY SHED REAL TEARS. (I've defo cried, too, while writing AM so no worries.) 🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write? When everyone is either asleep or out of the house. Early mornings are the best, but work always gets in the way. I would be better able to answer this question if I wasn't so tired all the time. ^^

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride? I think it's the Sukuna darkfic duology on my alt @azureashes. It's just so crazy and out there. Idk if I would consider AM a "wild ride" since it definitely has its wholesome and comforting moments. I actually think hurt/comfort is a huge theme in AM. Maybe we should add it to the tags. Thanks for the ask, Anon! <3

[one-abuse-survivor]

Hi can you be mad at someone whos going through a hard time? My dad is a jerk to my mum a lot, and shes already gone through a lot in life, like a lot a lot, but shes also abused me and can get really mad with me and just be mean. its confusing inside cos its like i dont like her, but i just feel so much guilt for that because she has no one left and the one guy she loves is a jerk and idk it just makes my stomach flip lol. today she bought us all popeyes, cost a lot too haha, but my dad flat out refused to try it. was so mad at my mum for buying him chicken cos he apparently suddenly hates it, and got really mad at my mum. she ate in the kitchen away from him, then made him some noodles. his response? 'what are you doing, why did you make me them??' like very ungratefully, its hard tk convey tone over text haha. like idk he just demands everything of her all the time, never does anything for himself never mind anyone else. it makes me so mad. and feel so guilty. cos i feel like i cant be mad at mum, i mean its not fair for her im the only one whos nice to her idk how long she has left and i just want her to have a happy life yk? but sometimes she makes me super mad lol. is that allowed? can both feelings exist? i dont know how to properly fix it in my head

Hey, nonnie. The short answer is: yes, you can be mad at someone who's going through a hard time. And, yes, you can be affected and traumatised by a person's abuse even if that person is also going through abuse. Both things can coexist. And, even in scenarios that don't involve abuse, if someone causes harm to another person, that harm doesn't magically disappear because the person who caused it was struggling. Their struggle may explain the harm, but it doesn't justify or nullify it.

I really relate to the fears you express in this ask, because when I was going through abuse, my abusive mother was also going through hell. She wasn't being abused, but she was really struggling, and she repeatedly reminded me I was the only person who still cared about her and supported her. So, for a long time, I also felt extremely guilty for hating her for abusing me. She made me feel like she deserved my support more than I deserved to want to be safe from her. And I felt like any negative emotion I had toward her was selfish and extremely unfair.

But that was the abuse talking, and the truth is that no one, no matter how much they are suffering, is entitled to abuse someone else without consequence. And, as a victim, you are always, always allowed to put your safety first. Even if you're (either supposedly or literally) the only person in your abuser's life who is still kind or supportive towards them, you are allowed to want to stop being that person for them. You're allowed to take any and every step you can to seek safety. And you're definitely allowed to be angry at your abuser for hurting you.

It's okay if this is hard to believe right now. But I hope it helps to hear that the guilt and uncertainty do decrease during recovery, once you've given yourself space and time away from your abuser. It won't always feel like you're horrible and selfish for being angry she hurt you.

I can't remember where, but I once heard someone say that your anger is the part of you that knows you never deserved to be hurt; your anger is the part of you that loves you. That really stuck with me. And, when I started therapy to recover from my abuse, one of the first things I remember my therapist telling me was that once you start feeling anger without guilt whenever someone wrongs you, that's a sign you're getting better. Because anger is the appropriate reaction to being mistreated. Guilt, in this case, is a trauma response.

To reinstate: your mum is going through abuse, and you are allowed to be furious at her for abusing you in turn. They can coexist.

Hope some of this helps to hear. Sending you a big virtual hug ❤️

[okayto]

Mini-Review: The Heike Story

A young orphan named Biwa is taken in by the powerful Taira Clan—also known as the Heike—after their leader witnesses her extraordinary psychic abilities. Unfortunately, what she predicts is a future of bloodshed, violence, and civil war. Inspired by the 12th-century epic tale Heike Monogatari.

Something different from the normal genres I watch, this is an adaptation of a nearly millennia-old epic. I think that’s pretty clear going in, and I have at least heard of The Tale of the Heike, though my knowledge stopped at “Heian period story involving military,” which isn’t wrong, but clearly barely scratches the surface.

The main character is Biwa, named after the stringed instrument she plays. With her father, they wander the country, performing to earn their living. But Biwa also has a secret: one of her heterochromatic eyes sometimes sees the future. When her life intersects with that of a Heike nobleman who takes her in, she gets a front-row seat to the approaching civil war he hopes to avert.

Knowing some history or context undoubtedly helps. For example, Biwa is a biwa (similar to a lute) player, and often narrates the story over her instrument. Looking some things up online after I watched, I read that the story was traditionally told, and passed down (even to the Japanese monks who first wrote it down a couple hundred years after the war), by traveling biwa players. So Biwa-the-character’s presence, more than just an observer and narrator, ties in to its history in Japan.

That said, you don’t have to know Japanese history for this! Like many historical stories, that probably helps, but things like power struggles, politics, and war are easily understood (and reliably entertaining in fictional form) regardless.

Court and political intrigue, battle, ghosts--it feels like an epic. And while it gets serious, those parts hit so much harder because of the first episodes, which both get us established, and show us that the main nobles we’ll see--Shigemori, the kind-hearted noble who takes Biwa in, and his four children--are really likable.

That makes it hit harder when Biwa sees what’s coming, but can’t stop it. This helplessness in the face of future tragedy really makes it feel like a classical story. There are bad decisions, there is hubris, and there are so, so many people who pay for it.

One criticism I have is that it’s really hard to tell the passage of time, unless the characters state it outright. Biwa herself hardly changes throughout (and at least one character remarks on this), and adults don’t change much, so it’s really only through characters we meet as children that we understand that several years pass during this series. I really think they could’ve done a better job of conveying the passing of time.

Also a bit confusing were the many similar names, which isn’t helped by the occasional character designs that were also similar (Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Taira no Kiyomori, head of the Taira/Heike clan, were both bald old men who I frequently mixed up). All the names, except for Biwa, come from the original Heike Monogatari, so can’t be helped, but when yet another finely-dressed noble shows up on screen, it was hard to visually differentiate some, and the names were often similar (Shigemori, Kiyomori, Koremori, Munemori, Sukemori, Atsumori)

There’s a melancholy tone as the Heike continue or are drawn towards conflict, and all Biwa can do is watch, bearing witness to a civil war that she eventually shares as a musical tale. The melancholy tone is aided by the biwa music, strings echoing without accompaniment.

Framing of the camera and similar decisions also added to the story. Just like how the characters, in such polite high society would allude to things and talk around a point rather than bluntly stating something outright, the camera often focuses on a character’s back, or hands, or lower part of their face, letting the viewer making the connection with what’s happening, or what the character is feeling, without showing it outright.

Verdict

English dub? Yes

Visuals: Very nice! The art style, with its flat colors, minimal shading, and not overly-stylized character designs, might bring to mind woodblock prints.

Worth watching? Yes, although it’s not something I binged due to its more serious, and heavy, nature. I usually watch lighter or more humorous shows, so it was a change to go into something that tells you up front “hey, this is the story of a war and a clan’s downfall.”

Where to watch (USA, as of February 2023): Funimation, Crunchyroll

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

[castlebyersafterdark]

I have a bit of a meta-question! you seem chill and thoughtful so i would love to hear your thoughts and i hope you feel happy to speak for yourself if not other bylers in this case. its hard to convey my interest without causing accidental offense on this site so i really hope my genuine tone comes across! :)

i just saw your positive reblog of wisehearts post about top mike/service mike, and i also saw your post about byler wrestling that you then tagged as as a projection of a teenage fantasy. seeing as you seem to understand/support the concept of gleaning sexual pleasure from a beloved's pleasure alone, i wonder if you can comment on the tendency in spicy byler fanspaces for people to project on to mike and will rather than try to follow what the show has laid down only? obviously sometimes these things blend, which is why people related to them in the first place, and ofc you can take from real life to enrich characters in your own work. but i see a lot of people saying 'maybe i'm just projecting' or even sort of defensively demanding that their fav character is the same as them just because (this happens a lot in the bi mike debate).

this is an interesting phenomenon in and of itself, but mostly i'm curious about the fans who project on to mike and will AND who seem to enjoy the above-described service kink in byler sex, where one character gleans pleasure solely from the other's. perhaps that is ALSO a projected kink that reflects them irl, and which they would love to see for their fav character... but doesn't the act of projecting - i.e. seeking self-validation through a fictional character - then negate the concept of being in service to another's pleasure (in this case, letting mike and will be who they are in canon even if/when it does not reflect the fan themself)?

i hope this makes sense!

This kind of makes sense, though I'm not one hundred percent sure what you're getting at, so I'll try my best. I guess I'll focus on the idea you present with: "the tendency in spicy byler fanspaces for people to project on to mike and will rather than try to follow what the show has laid down only?" because the big thing I feel, is that as much as we can watch and rewatch and discuss and theorize and analyze - there are big gaps where we as fans are going to have to fill in a lot via our own bias and imagination. Because in all honesty, we're not going to get a very in-depth look detailing these character's sexual relationship. Or, actual non-sexual relationship as well, to be frank. There's not enough time. It's not that type of show. I hope they do a good job and I think the writers will - but it'll always be limited in comparison to fan wishes. I think people can have fun and make conjectures and even if far off base, keep it light with little head canons or scenarios, doing our best to imagine these characters in whatever situation we want to play with them in ways we think can be interpreted true to the characters. Especially in the spicy side. It's almost entirely imagination based.

So, there is a fair bit of projection. I know there is for me. What personally appeals to me about them is a projection of what I wished I could have had as a teenager. That's what hit me watching the show in later seasons and really sitting with it after all was said and done. I've said before, I don't like to share tooooo much of myself online, but I've always used fandom to escape and play around and let my imagination run, by means of characters I've gotten attached to. Something about these boys just scratched that itch for me, it's wish fulfillment to a degree? So it's intriguing to explore what a fulfilling relationship looks like between these two friends who are really, really perfect for each other as best friends AND romantic partners. I think I and many other have latched onto the idea of a character being a "service" type of person in the bedroom sometimes, and out, maybe a little echo-chambery way (but it's not a bad thing so what's the issue lol), because it is kind of nice to imagine a partner who truly cares and loves the other and really enjoys making sure they have pleasure and get off and feel worshiped and loved. I think it's a little bit of a heightened fantasy, more almost caricatured than the average relationship irl (even tho this is a legitimate thing in irl relationships, too). But in fandom through fic and headcanons, we can perfect thinking about it however we want.

We're playing with dolls, really, and we like when the dolls really care about each other, in this instance. I don't think there's one "you have to do it this way" depiction of these characters, even if there are tropes that seem popular to different fandom spaces. Also because since the show, while I think is really rich with characterizations, can never fully flesh out who these characters are, if we envision them as fully realized people in our brains. There's too many gaps. So there are infinite interpretations of small aspects that are all equally valid.

[loopeyfluff]

OHHHH MEEE FRIEIKCING GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

YOU!!! YOU DID IT!!! YOU CAPTURED THE SCENE SO WELLL WAHGGHAHA I LOVE THAT SCENE SO MUCH AND U DID IT SOOOO MUCH JUSTICE GAHHH!!! You used screentones sooo well in every panel, it really enhanced the look of the whole thing so much!!! I especially love how the screen tones look in page 4,,, arueghghe. I know we collectively bemoaned over how hard it was to adapt fics, but when Gyro writes

"Warm and content"

I FEEL THAT EXPRESsED SO CLEARLY AND SO WELL THAT IT STRIKES MY SOUL WITH ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD. AND ALSO I CAN FEEL HOW MUCH ZORO LVOVES LUFFY IN THIS PANEL CAUSE ITS FROM HIS POV. LIKE. OMFG LUFFY LOOKS POSITIVELY DREAMY!!!

nono Im getting ahead of myself let me go in order u _ u

first of all, brilliant open. when trying to adapt a scene, its sooo hard sometimes to pick where to start drawing!! cause like,,, omg i wanna draw this entire scene but i wud literally die... I think u not only chose a great part to start this whole comic off with, but the whole mystique behind the line

“I never ask you for anything, you know,” he says, not taking his eyes off the barren valley below. It’s easier that way.

is conveyed really well with how u paneled zoro's eyes outta sight! (pretty ironic with how zoros eyes are the only things described XD) << but srsly, artistically what a great decision >:3c AND ALSO you're so good at drawing luffy being the most unserious goofy lil guy ever even in the most serious of situations and I'm so glad that u never stop delivering thanku sm OTL

I wud love to squish his cheeks he looks so stupid!!!!

I actually rlly like how u layout the second panel too, with how u position the speechbubbles? IDK I get really nervous sometimes with putting speech bubbles in places cause I hate covering things up and also gahhh you also need to consider the best way to position things so people read em in orderrr,,, but u did a real gud job there, all that important action is definitely very visible in frame >:) GET SMACKED

oh and yeah, to save time so this doesnt become 2 monstrous of a cute lil adaption project, ofc ya gotta cut out some small tid bits like luffy humming thoughtfully or him snickering against zoro's palm, but all of that personality of goofy luffy is translated so well with,,, how goofy loofy u draw him XD So what im sayin is, i think u were real efficient and thoughtful with how you adapted these things :)))

and GAHHH THE ATMOSPHERE CHANGE !!! AND THE WAY U DREW ZOROS HAND LOWERING TO HIS LAP HERE, IT LOOKS SO GENTLE LIKE HES CARESSING LUFFYS FACE TOO. GAHHHH!!! I just, I ADORE THE FRAMING OF THOSE 3 PAGES!!! it really feels like its just the two of them in this vast world, nothing else to disturb em. its very calming.

Luffy stills, anyway, though—because of course he understands. And when Zoro lowers his hands to his lap, Luffy has chewed and swallowed, quieted to listen. Content to lean against his shoulder in the sunshine, staring out at the horizon to wait while Zoro straightens out the pieces of what he wants to say into something like order. Because even though they can talk without speaking, sometimes the important things need to be said out loud—made just a little more real.

Its true, that these types of lengthy paragraph descriptions cant be translated over to an art adaption without losing the explanations behind it all, but the way you captured the atmosphere of it all, is really, really breathtaking.

AHAHHAHA THE OUR DREAMS AT DUSK HAPPY MEMORY BUBBLES!!!!! Thats actually such a clever way to incorporate them into the fic I ADORE how you used them here!!! GAHHH

Zoro leans back on his palms—curls his fingers in the grass and imagines it’s Sunny’s deck against his skin. For a moment, he misses home.

IM ACTUALLY FREAKING OUTTT WAHHH THATS SOOOO CLEVER!!! I CANT THINK OF A BETTER WAY YOU COULDVE ADAPTED THIS WOWOWOWWW!!! UHFDSUHFGSDFSADFRASDFGSDFSDUHFSD IM GOING TO GO EXPLODE INTO A BAJILLION HAPPY BUBBLES RN GAHHHH

my heart actually physically clenched- and it still clenches every time i read over pages 3 and 4,,, i think i had to put down my phone for a bit and like,,,, cover my mouth with a hand cause it was just too cute for my soul,,, omfg,,,,, ahahah u trlly did just dedicate a whole page FULL of panels, methodically showing luffy falling back and stretching zoro into a real goofy smile XD I love how you paced this, because page 4 hits so much harder with all that gentle set up!! Seeing luffy lay all cutely on zoros lap,,,

and Zoro can’t help it—he snorts out a tender kind of laugh

Yeah I wouldnt be able to help it either man!!!

Anyways, its actually really interesting to see how you paced this comic because like, its a great adaption of course!! BRILLIANT!!! but it works sooo well as a stand alone comic too, even if you havent read the source material. The line about luffy beaming isn't super emphasized in Gyro's writing, it's more of a one off comment backed up by all the other lines of luffy being cute in this scene. But the way you've paced it out, the reader has to really get HIT IN THE FACE by the energy friggin BLASTED OUT FROM HIS SUNSHINE BOY SMILE.

In the original fic, Gyro doesn't need to necessarily emphasize that cause we've been seeing how much zoro treasures luffy from all the way at the start of the fic!!! but I feel like just as a standalone comic, you establish just how precious luffy is from the impact of those panels on the fourth page. and this allows for the final heartbreaking lines that zoro says on the last page to really really stand out and hit just that much harder...

no notes here... this is a good zoro ^^^

And Luffy goes utterly still while Zoro breathes.

YO I SEE HOW THE SECOND PANEL DARKENS THERE. AHHHHHHH ATMOSPHERE CHANGE!!!! ahahah, but I would just like to stop again and say that oughghgh this comic is so so dreamy!!! I love the lil sparks that you put across all the panels on this page, it makes all the panels flow together even more smoothly. It like,,, quickens up the pace of reading I feel? I could draw an entire lil Sin Cos lookin ass chart with how well I feel you control the reading pace in this comic man. gahhh anyways this is a funny stupid exciting moment, FAST READ, and then we slow down the pace again as zoro finally expresses the words weighed on his chest...

QUICK SIDENOTE, the font u use for the LICK sfx conveys just how positively disgusting zoro is i love it. omfg.

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osfsfjfajdsfsdfiaiwfjfsfsdksijisggfdsfdsgdfgie. i dont. i dont think i can convey how lovely i think the last page is in proper words. i just. im tearing up just looking at it. When I read that scene in Gyro's fic, my heart broke, and the fact that you've done such an amazing job of adapting it,,, MY HEART IS BURSTING WITH JOY!!! AND ITS NOT EVEN MY FIC XD!!!!

Amazing job man :))) you knocked it outta the park!!!! (seriously tho I think u've peaked with ur screentone usage in this comic cause woaawhhhh it looks so stunning,,,)

Fanart for a snippet of my most favorite heartbreaking moment from swordsmans's fic bone-breaker ospreys mate for life (rated E)

[dogsgone]

ooc/rules/cw

mun is kris. 24. they/them, anxious bastard lol

updated 7/3/23: the wrath month edition

the roulxs:

18+ only

minors and personals will be soft blocked. upon following again: hard block.

if you are a personal with an rp sideblog please make it clear on your blog or just tell me because otherwise you might get blocked.

minor MUSES are fine though

i read rules pages for every blog i follow that has one but i have a shit memory so if i accidentally breach one of your rules please let me know. or block me if it’s that egregious but please for the love of god do not publicly @ me who the fuck does that. do not make a callout post for me being forgetful like a fucking weirdo. if i breach a rule that is not on your rules page then i’m sorry, i’m not a mind reader.

on the “q slur:” i’ll do my best to tag is as “#q //” that’s q, two slashes. keep in mind i identify with that word, strongly. if it angers you that i would dare use a “"slur”“ to label myself or whatever, remember “gay” has seen just as much use as a slur. i grew up in the american south, i’ve heard both words used for the same harmful reasons. sorry if this comes off as angry or petty, but if you were continually told that “gay” is a slur and you shouldn’t use it for yourself, you’d be tired and angry too, wouldn’t you? i’ll do my best to tag for it, but i will die on this hill.

please tag spiders/scorpions/arachnids, hanging/nooses, and also maybe trypo/holes thanks

semi-selective i will roleplay with most fandoms, ocs, and muses also not moots exclusive.

please don’t like. involve me in drama or callouts or shit. i’m just here trying to play fucking online dolls

with the above said i do reserve the right to block/cease interacting with ppl who make me uncomfortable, just like you reserve the right to block/cease interacting with me if i make u uncomfortable. i prefer to try to come to some kind of understanding first, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way

please note that i, the mun, am mentally ill and neurodivergent. in a lot of cases, my muses will share some of my own personal struggles to sort of like. explore these things myself and shit. link in particular shares a lot of my neurodivergencies and chronic pain. shit gets frustrating and sometimes roleplaying a tiny elf twink going thru the same shit helps a bit. u know how it is.

though link may act a bit naive and sometimes even childish, he is still very much an adult. not a “rule” exactly just something to keep in mind.

sorry if some of these seem overly detailed or serious. i’ve been around the block when it comes to rp tumblr i’m just trying to cover all my bases in at least a semi concise manner.

also sorry if any of this comes off as passive aggressive or rude. i can’t parse or regulate tone for shit like in an actual verbal conversation, trying to convey it thru text is damn near impossible for me lmao

i’m really just a tired nerd who is trying to have fun on this hellsite.

um that’s all i can think of for now may add or change more later thanks for reading have a great time

content warnings:

Content warnings for this blog include, but may not be limited to:

- Religious trauma

- Violence, death, etc.

- The inherent psychological torment that comes with being cursed to reincarnate forever and ever, only to be brought into the world when evil once again threatens to destroy everything, and having only a single use and purpose in life to the goddess one serves, that being the wielder of her sacred blade to seal away the evil once more, until it inevitably rears its ugly head again. I guess this goes under religious trauma.

- Mental illness and trauma in general.

- Lycanthropy.

That’s all I can think of for now; if more comes up, I’ll add to this list, and as always, if I’m unsure of anything, I will tag it with #ask to tag, so feel free to blacklist that tag if you need to.

[yuzukahibiscus]

Yuzuka Rei: In her heart, a blue flame is ablaze.

She captivates the attention in the moments when she’s on stage, with a balanced body proportion. In the depths of her eyes radiate ever brilliant rays, the Top Star has a passion for the stage coupled with a profound love for the troupe.

Yuzuka Rei-san became the Flower Troupe Top Star in November 2019. Ever since the Grand Theatre debut performance, performances were often impacted and inflicted by the corona pandemic.

“The different feeling was I watched the news more than I used to before…Compared to that time, we’re in a world now where you’d have an awareness realising what’s going on, how we’re supported by many people and I wonder how I was blessed in this environment to continue pursue in performing arts. And also, in the midst of various situations, the importance of the audience coming to the theatre became ever stronger for me as the days passed. When there were some difficult times that things couldn’t go well as planned, the words and thoughts of the people were a salvation to me, and they left a strong impression in my heart.

This is why her speeches for the first day (Shonichi) and last day (Senshuuraku) of every performance became ever more in-depth, and you can feel that she’s someone that’s you can rely on. With what she conveys, she gives a small smile saying, “That is just my reply to the words of the audience. That’s only what I received from all the support of the audience”.

“Usually this is a great troupe of 80 people. In this life of pursuing the arts, it is quite difficult to nurture every single bond. But apart from standing on stage, I also made firm use of the time to interact with every one even to the Flower Troupe underclassmen. From understanding their different personalities, charms and values, my ideal is to hone every one of these members’ charms and mentality, and we can work together well. No matter if it’s for the underclassmen, I hope that every one of them actually feel that they have their place here so their presence is necessary, and create that great motivation. To do that, a trustworthy relationship is indispensable and I believe that this can be connected with the charm of the production.”

From Yuzuka-san’s sophisticated vibe and beauty, she has a radiating star aura and her relaxed performance in beautiful dancing, making her someone prominent from early on. But there was a time when she wasn’t confident in herself.

“I did have “my aspiration”… but then I felt that I couldn’t accept myself for not reaching a certain point and I wasn’t confident. Overcoming that is a challenge I set for myself, that I want to defeat little by little the places that I didn’t like in myself. If I could breakthrough a little more, if I could work hard a little more…I realised that that’s what I emphasised on doing.”

Calm and resilient. That’s why she has this sincerity for standing on stage.

“From when I was young, I’ve been someone that’s hard on myself (LOL). I’m the type that laughs when I talk to people, but refresh my mindset again when I look upon myself.”

We also asked about the charm of her indescribable relaxed poise and sexiness on stage. Perhaps because she’s a dancer by nature, she has a beautiful and comfortable rhythm seen in her acting and casual gestures. When the audience are immersed into the music tones and the tones change suddenly, the audience would be fascinated.

“I don’t know if I could say I was aware to that. It’s not just the music, but it’s also about breathing with my partner, or counting the beats and rhythm in my heart. It doesn’t matter if the audience breathes in that vibe are different, or when I feel surprised or excited. Even the whole atmosphere of the theatre and its speed… I realise there are some parts where I unconsciously felt myself (channeling the charm), for example"this scene is where I should be sexy” so I’d intentionally release that vibe. But rather than always thinking about it, sometimes I feel like I present (the charm) by catching the vibe of that moment.”

She starts 2023 by acting in the Takarazuka classic “MAYERLING” and playing as the protagonist,  Austria Crown Prince Rudolf, as well as performing in the show “ENCHANTEMENT – A Luxurious Perfume”.

“When I played Rudolf during the role swap in the production “Elisabeth – The Rondo of Love and Death”, I started becoming intrigued by Rudolf because I read a book related to him. But at that time I was so desperate to play him, so I wasn’t able to dig deep into this character. He’s someone that existed, so I would like to approach this character delicately this time. About the show, encountering any scene is purely excitement. I also aim to simply skill-up. As a person and in terms of technicality. I hope to train and practise more about that.”

Yuzuka Rei ・ Born in Tokyo. Entered Takarazuka Revue in 2009, assigned to Flower Troupe. Starting with “Last Tycoon”, she performed as the main role of 3 newcomers’ performances, and became more popular by playing important roles even from early on in grand theatre performances. Became the Top Star in 2019.