#also side note is anybody else’s ask box broken? like mines been saying i have exactly one ask constantly for the past like 9 months
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OKAY so rangers apprentice is this book series set in medieval europe-adjacent, like it has countries clearly inspired by european regions and the names are usually related to the real world name, so that combined with the locations is not hard to figure out which countries are which
the main character is this 15 year old kid named Will who grows up throughout the series (11 books), and he’s the ranger’s apprentice in question. the Rangers are this ultra-secret group of spy archers who work for the king and a lot of ppl think they’re dark wizards but they’re actually just good at camouflage, so Will is apprenticed to one of the rangers and he ends up saving the country a couple times.
there’s not much of an overarching plot through the whole series but there are smaller arcs that go through a couple books, like books 1-4 are mostly together and then 5-6 could have been one long book, book 7 is a weird outlier that takes place between 4 and 5, and so on.
what’s interesting about the setting tho is that there’s not explicitly magic systems/users, but it’s heavily implied that there’s more to the world than meets the eye (i think there’s demons in a spin-off series? idk haven’t read that one yet) it’s sooooo fun
and the characters are super engaging too!!! there’s Will, the protagnist; Halt, his mentor; Horace, his best friend; Alyss the love interest; and lots more side characters that are interesting too and even tho i described them as how they relate to Will, they all get super interesting development and backstory. this got so long i’m sorry but rangers apprentice is one of the best book series i’ve ever read and i highly recommend it :33
Finally archers getting the attention and spotlight they deserve! (can you tell I’m partial??)
It’s really interesting (in a good way) that there’s a “lack” of over-arching plot. a lot of longer “media” i’ve “consumed” (at least lately) has suffered from a sort of burn-out where the stakes feel wonky and over done, yet underwhelming after going on for so long; it’s often affected other stuff like continuity and character development and consistency (hello supernatural, how goes the Winchester self sacrifice reset?). I’m actually really excited to see how smaller chunks over longer time will feel after so long.
I also love the idea of a magic system not being explicitly stated wether it’s it a star wars-y “long time ago in a galaxy far far away” type thing were it’s implied that you’re reading an in universe recollection where you’re already supposed to “know” or it’s a narrative tool for the author to frame perspective/plot twists etc
I’m gonna go now and start looking for epubs and shit even though my kindles broke :,( (fuck you ryaniar) and i’m looking for a new one
#also side note is anybody else’s ask box broken? like mines been saying i have exactly one ask constantly for the past like 9 months#but it didn’t tell me you dropped this in my ask box??#marty 📼#rangers apprentice
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❝ idk you yet ❞ - p.js
park jisung x reader | angsty, fluff | 1.6k words
WARNINGS | TW: mentions blood, abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, smoking, lowercase au, non-idol au, high school au, badboy!jisung, mature language/cursing, reader is like an angel sent from heaven for him, jisungie just in need of love :(
SUMMARY | being an outcast has him wondering if he’ll ever be happy. cue you, the new girl, stumbling into his life (literally).
AUTHOR’S NOTE | inspired by the song “idk you yet” by alexander23! also AHHH this is my 100 followers special fic :) THANK U LOVES FOR 100 IM SO SHOCKED CJSBFKEJD <33 the writing is a little crappy because i’m currently on my period and my patience for sitting down and writing this went down halfway through lol but I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, ENJOY THIS JISUNG FIC BC JISUNG MY BABIE AND SO ARE YOU GUYS!
whenever anybody thinks of park jisung, they think of the chains and dark clothing he wears. they think about the faint smell of smoke and men’s cologne that follows him wherever he goes.
they think of the boy who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks.
but what they don’t think about are bruises on his face he fails to hide whenever he walks into school, the dejected look on his face whenever random people give him disapproving looks, the way his smile slowly faded into a permanent frown wherever he went.
jisung quickly accepted his reputation at school and in their little town, not having enough energy to feel insecure about it like before.
the only group of people that even remotely cared about the boy were his best friends in the whole entire world, nct dream.
they were outcasts just like him, the most “fucked up group of boys” in their town (the people’s words, not theirs).
see, they were your typical bad boy group straight out of your typical fanfic. bad grades, smoking in their free time, getting into fights, always being late to class; not a single person had hope in them.
but behind their scary and intimidating facade, all seven boys were big softies with misunderstood hearts and difficult backgrounds.
people were just too dense to look into it, only judging them based on their looks and personality on the outside.
❝ how can you miss someone you’ve never met ❞
love was a foreign thing to jisung, the only form of love he’s ever felt being from his friends. his parents were… interesting to say the least.
jisung’s father was a hard-core alcoholic, his mother being a major druggie. with no siblings in the house, jisung was usually their main target to push around and beat up.
and so because of this at a young age jisung learned to distance himself from other people and found different ways to release stress.
he started smoking when he was 14, the warm and hazy feeling of the smoke entering his lungs comforting him.
if jisung humored himself enough, maybe smoking could count as his first love. it was always there for him, never leaving him alone even if he wanted to quit.
he relied on it knowing it was the only constant in his life.
now of course the boy has heard of proper love, love like in the movies or shitty romance songs he hears on the radio.
and he won’t lie, there were moments he thought about what it felt like to be in love. but he knew that would never happen, at least not in their small town anyways.
he just wanted to be loved.
jisung would never admit it but sometimes he’d be jealous of the old couples walking down the street in their own world like it was just them two against the universe. he was jealous of the happy kids running around, their mother’s and father’s fondly smiling at their child. he was jealous of all the “normal” kids in his neighborhood.
jisung wanted that, craved that.
but most importantly, the boy wanted love.
❝ cause i need you now but i don’t know you yet ❞
everything hurt.
his head, his body, his mind, his heart; everything was in pain.
jisung walked down the empty streets of their city, a trail of blood following behind him as he accepted his fate. the boy was 99% sure he had a concussion and at the very least had a few broken ribs.
he felt like this was the end, and he was ready.
-
wandering aimlessly around town, you decided to take a late night walk to familiarize yourself around the area. you had just moved into the city a week ago, spending all seven days trying to help your family unpack and rearrange your cozy new home.
now that you were finally free of the smell of tape and the dust of the boxes, you decided it was best to get to know the place you were living in.
the autumn air seemed to settle at night as you shivered, cursing yourself for not bringing a jacket of some sort. the sight of a convenience store up ahead of you brought you relief as you rummaged through your pockets wondering if you had enough money for ramen.
your steps became excited as you found a couple dollars, fondly thinking about what type of ramen you should buy. you became so lost in your thoughts you didn’t even notice the poor boy who was staggering in front of you, or the trail of blood he left behind.
-
jisung pushed himself to reach the convenience store a couple feet away from him, in desperate need of supplies to at least try and fix himself.
if it didn’t help in any way then oh well, maybe death was indeed an option.
grinding his teeth though the pain, he did not expect to feel a small body bump into him. had he been at his regular health, jisung would’ve easily been able to keep still but because of how much blood he was losing the boy was knocked down like a bowling pin.
“holy fuck.” jisung cursed the feeling of the concrete floor colliding with his ribs. he didn’t even notice the girl who had bumped into him sitting on the floor dumbfounded, freaking out over his state.
“oh my fucking god.” the girl said, capturing his attention. jisung glared at the stranger, mentally acknowledging the fact she was pretty.
but her being pretty won’t get you anywhere, he scolded himself. she’ll leave you just like everyone else.
“a-are you okay?” she said, eyes glancing at his black eye. jisung rolled his eyes, already annoyed. “does it look like i’m okay?” he replied, his deep voice catching the girl off guard.
“just, fuck off.” jisung said closing his eyes as he laid back down on the floor, knowing he couldn’t force himself to get up anymore. he didn’t even have to open his eyes to know she left, hearing the sound of her footsteps walk away.
the boy sighed as he laid idly on the floor, wondering what sin he committed to lead him to where he is now. not even she wanted to stay, the tears threatening to fall as his thoughts buried him alive.
“why can’t i just die?” jisung said out loud, asking no one but himself.
“because i won’t let you.” a voice replied as jisung forced himself to sit up in confusion. it was the same girl he had bumped into, but this time she had a first aid kit with her. he gave her a lost look despite knowing what she was here to do.
jisung’s mind just couldn’t wrap around the fact that a total stranger would even bother to help him.
“now sit up.” she said softly as she bent down to open the box, the boy slowly followed her instructions. “i’m sorry this might sting.” she said though jisung didn’t mind because she was much prettier up close.
-
the next ten minutes were you trying to fix his wounds against the shitty chairs outside the convenience store.
jisung didn’t even bother mentioning his broken ribs, not wanting you to freak out. you cleaned up what you could and the boy was beyond grateful for that.
you subconsciously rubbed his back in a comforting way whenever you’d apply alcohol to his open wounds, trying to ease the sting. you held his hand for him to hold and though he was a big boy and had a high pain tolerance, he still gave it a squeeze just to keep your hand there. what the actual fuck is this feeling, jisung asked himself as he watched your determined figure work on him.
it was cold and in order to better work on his wounds, the boy offered to give you his hoodie which strangely had no traces of blood on it. you gladly accepted, the faint smell of blood and his cologne engulfing you up.
the sight of you in something so big and so him made his chest swell in pride.
jisung couldn’t even formulate a sentence as you cursed at the time once you finished patching him up, fleeing the scene before he could say anything with a small smile, his hoodie still on.
❝ and can you find me soon because i’m in my head ❞
the thought of your soft hands on his, your voice, your whole presence; everything about you couldn’t seem to leave the poor boy’s mind. it was now monday, and waiting for his class to start already made him want to go home.
if only i got her name, jisung daydreamed with his head resting on the palm of his hand. the classroom was loud and bright, people occasionally giving him looks but the boy didn’t mind.
“jisungie~ did you hear we have a new kid?” jaemin asked, poking the boy’s cheeks. the boy only gave him a pointed look before sighing.
“hyung i don’t really care.” jisung replied, looking back out the window.
jaemin only gave him an offended look before grumbling a bit. “i don’t know maybe you will.” he muttered under his breath as their teacher walked into the room.
❝ yeah i need you now but i don’t know you yet ❞
their homeroom teacher stood in front of the class, jisung tuning out his voice. the boy once again sighed as his teacher called for their attention, explaining they had a new girl in their class. “now make her feel welcomed,” he said before turning towards the door.
“y/n, please come in.” the teacher said and jisung almost fell out of his seat when he saw you walking through the door with the same smile you gave him a couple days ago.
“hi i’m y/n and i hope we can get along.” you bowed to the class, a familiar hoodie you were wearing catching his attention.
isn’t that mine, jisung thought to himself as he bit back a smile knowing you kept it all along.
#park jisung#park jisung x reader#park jisung x y/n#park jisung fanfic#park jisung imagine#park jisung imagines#nct dream#nct dream x reader#nct dream x y/n#nct dream fanfic#nct dream imagine#nct dream imagines#haung renjun#lee jeno#lee mark#lee haechan#lee donghyuck#na jaemin#zhong chenle#nct angst#nct 127#wayv#nct 127 imagine#nct 127 imagines#nct 127 fanfic#nct 127 x reader#nct 127 x y/n#huang renjun x y/n#huang renjun x reader#lee jeno x reader
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i’ll be your ohana(brian kendrick x oc)
a/n: i really could not think of a good title nor will i ever release this
a/n: welp it’s time to publish this. my magnum opus, my passion project that has taken me a year of on and off writing. lots of shit has happened in the span of a year.
•|•|•
PLOT: echo celeste (the oc) meets brian kendrick while she’s sitting on the beach in the middle of the night. upon coming closer, brian is intrigued by echo, and decides to talk to her. they soon find out how much they have in common.
many cameos will be made by various indy wrestlers that you may not know. if that’s the case, look them up online, they’re phenomenal workers!
also this takes place in honolulu, hawaii for some odd reason but oh well
Rating: this part is all fluff and angst
•|•|•
echo celeste was not what one would consider to be normal. she didn’t sleep much, was obsessed with things people took for granted, and could often be found staring at the sky sitting on waikiki beach at times when everyone else would be asleep. she described herself as an occult soul, unsure of her place in the world. on this particular night, the full moon was out, one of her favorite things to see in the sky, which made it just barely bright enough for her to do sketches on the beach.
brian was also not the definition of normal. he was a wrestler, for christ’s sake! he felt that normal society would never understand him, and was still stuck in some sort of emo teen phase. he looked different than most, preferring to let his hair grow out. whenever he was stressed, he found himself walking on waikiki at unholy hours in the night, which coincidentally was the same beach echo frequented.
maybe it was the way the moonlight hit her, but brian was mesmerized by echo. her lavender hair seeming like something straight out of a scifi movie, or like the wings of a fairy. her face scrunched up in concentration made her glasses almost cover up the tip of her nose. Either way, brian just had to talk to this woman, even if she turned out to be a figment of his imagination.
“hey there, whatcha working on?” brian asked, making sure he wouldn’t startle echo. that plan didn’t work.
“jesus fuck you scared me!” echo said in reply, also giggling at the end.
“oh sorry about that,” brian apologized, “i didn’t mean to do that to you! my names brian. brian kendrick. and what do they call you?”
“my full name is echo celeste svensson, but call me echo or echo celeste.” she smirked. “i’m working on a sketch!”
“oh that sounds cool! i’m assuming you’re an artist, then?”
“you would be correct! what do you do for a living?”
brian wasn’t sure if he should say he’s a wrestler. almost everyone who he told about his career had shunned him, saying that wrestling was fake. but he felt strangely at ease with echo, almost as if she had a calming aura about her that told him everything would be alright.
“i-i’m a wrestler. its not the best paying job in the world, nor the most liked job.” he admitted, seeming ashamed of what he did as a living. echo’s eyes almost burst out of her head. she was a huge wrestling fan, and this was one of the first wrestlers she ever met!
“that’s nothing to be ashamed of, brian! maybe i could catch one of your matches sometime. got any coming up soon?” brian’s eyes lit up, like a child on christmas day. nobody had ever shown interest in his line of work!
“uh, yeah, i do, today at 7pm-“
“then you can see me there! so, what brings you out here at 4AM on this friday morning?” echo questioned. it was rare for her to run into anyone on the beach at this hour, let alone anybody interested in what she was doing.
“i had a nightmare, and it helps me clear my mind if i take a walk in the night. i don’t have all my marbles, and when combined with a rough childhood, i get nightmares pretty often, but not normally bad enough to where i have to take a walk to calm myself.” brian obviously was not in a good frame of mind, and echo could sense that. she could relate with what brian was going through. she had an okay childhood, but got bullied all through school, which traumatized her and made her unable to trust most people. she never trusted anyone when she first met them. brian was an exception to this rule.
“hey brian, it’s okay. i got you, bud.” echo said, wrapping a blanket around her and a now-teary eyed brian. “everything will be alright. do you have a place to stay?”
the answer came as a surprise to echo. “not anymore. just got an eviction note and i have to move out all my stuff by noon. i don’t really talk to anyone here on the island, and don’t have any place to stay.”
“oh my god, that’s horrible! well i’ll tell you what: you can stay with me at my place for as long as you need to. you don’t have to chip in to pay for rent, and i can give up my bedroom for you.”
“t-that’s too much, echo! you don’t need to give me a spot to live at! i mean, i don’t deserve this-“ brian was awestruck at this proposition. nobody offered him anything in life, and he had gotten used to just dealing with things himself.
“oh, please! it’s the least i can do for someone who is actually interested in what i do. let’s go get your stuff, brian.”
•-•|•-•
“and there! we got all your stuff here safe and sound.”echo sighed, a bit exhausted after helping brian bring his stuff to her apartment.
by this time, it was almost 5am, and it was blowing echo’s mind to think that just two hours ago, she hadn’t known brian kendrick, and now he was moving in with her! he felt like an old friend at this point.
brian only had one medium box full of his clothes, but one huge box filled with wrestling memorabilia. three large binders contained various wrestling dvds from many different places, and pictures of him in action.
“would you like to get some breakfast or something? there’s a coffee house called apostles of smoothies nearby that has really good smoothies. then, while we’re there, we can figure out what our schedule will be. that sound good?”
brian responded with a gigantic hug. since he initially told echo about his situation, he couldn’t bring himself to talk. and echo understood that. she wasn’t much of a talker, either.
•-•|•-•
“logan, you son of a bitch, get over here!” echo yelled at her old friend logan black, owner of apostles of smoothies. logan was also a professional wrestler who, as his second job, ran a coffee house/wrestling arena on the beach. it was located in an old surf shack, with artwork of various artists decorating its walls. logan and echo were old friends from before they moved to hawaii. they grew up together in the middle of manhattan, and frequented concerts and wrestling shows together.
“well well well, look who we have here! you want your regular?”
“sure thing!”
“and who’s the guy with you today? is he a special someone?” logan asked. echo turned a bright red and punched logan in the arm.
“um hi, my names brian kendrick.” brian extended his hand out for a handshake.
“the names logan. this here is apostles of smoothies, the only coffee house/wrestling arena in honolulu! would you like something today?”
“i’ll have whatever echo’s having.”
“sure thing! if you’re a friend of echo’s, you’re a friend of mine. don’t worry about paying, it’s on the house.”
“logan,” echo teased, “you’re going to run out of business if you keep doing this!”
“i only do it for you, echo celeste svensson.”
echo rolled her eyes at logan.
“do you want to sit outside?” echo asked brian. “maybe we could talk over today’s schedule while we watch the sunrise.”
brian nodded in agreement as echo and him sat at a table facing the ocean.
“and here you go! two celestial sunrises for you guys!” logan said, giving them the smoothies.
“so, brian, i was thinking of getting some work done in the studio this morning, and ordering pizza for lunch around 12. is there anything you want to do today?”
brian’s response warmed echo’s heart. “i’d like to spend time with you today, if that’s alright. it’s gonna rain all day, so we’ll maybe watch a movie or two together and make a castle out of blankets. do you think you could hold off on your work in the studio until tomorrow?”
echo made some weird noise of excitement, like a giddy schoolgirl. “i’d love to watch a movie with you!”
•-•|•-•
echo queued up a mini studio ghibli marathon of her two favorite movies, my neighbor totoro and kiki’s delivery service. luckily, brian liked those two choices.
after they finished the movies and pizza, echo put on some chill step mix to calm her down. not that she was overly hyper, she just loved the feeling of being calm and loved, which was how she felt with brian in her apartment. the feeling of being loved was something echo had not felt since she moved to hawaii, three years ago.
however, the concept of being loved and safe was unfamiliar to brian. every time he thought about his past, it made him feel really down and not okay. all the years of repressing his bad memories had turned brian into a shy, broken, and unsure man. but he felt like a different man with echo, like he was missing a piece to his puzzle.
he looked down at echo, who was just snuggled into his side, looking at him lovingly.
“fuck it, i’m just gonna do it.” brian decided, leaning in to echo, lips meeting.
to say the kiss was amazing would be an understatement. the two fit together like puzzle pieces. brian pulled echo in, like a magnet. his lips met hers in a passionate embrace, with just the right amounts of roughness and romance. after an eternity and a half, the two finally broke apart, catching their breath.
“holy shit,” brian gasped, “that was totally uncalled for.”
“to be honest, that was exactly how i wanted my first kiss to go, brian.”
•-•|•-•
“well well well, look who’s back again!” logan yelled, scaring echo shitless. “you coming to see brian wrestle?”
“yeah, how did you know he wrestled?”
“looked up his info on the internet. he’s quite the journeyman, he’s been all over the states! wonder why he came to hawaii, though.”
“hey echo,” brian said, calling over echo, “i’d like you to meet some of my friends. you may know them. Say hello to Tony Booze.”
“Hey there Echo, I’m Tony.” Tony introduced himself, shaking Echo’s hand.
•-•|•-•
There were seven matches scheduled for that night’s event. Echo loved them all, and couldn’t keep her eyes off the action! But Brian was not in any of them, yet she still had a grand old time.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your main event of the night here at Oahu Championship Wrestling!” Echo and the crowd of around 150 fans cheered. Judging by how good the matches were already, she was going to be in for a treat. “This next match is a No Holds Barred match, and it is for the Oahu Heavyweight Championship!”
The opening notes to Raining Blood by Slayer invaded the airwaves, and so did a chorus of boos as a tall, buff, and tattooed man made his way to the ring, adorned in a black cape and crown. He was the current champion. “Making his way to the ring, from the ninth circle of Hell, the King of the Hallowed, VOID!”
“And his challenger,” Body Talks was now beginning to play, “the Unholy Savior Of The Masses, Grayson Del Toro!” The match kicked off with a fever pitch, both participants delivering clobbering blows to each other, like two drunken men at a bar.
Fifty minutes later, and VOID had retained his belt in an absolute masterpiece of a match. But, he still continued to beat down a bloodied Grayson Del Toro. Then, a cloaked figure ran down to the ring, mercilessly attacking VOID with a steel chair shot to the head. The crowd was at a loss for words. They absolutely despised VOID, and were genuinely afraid of him. The fact that someone decided to attack VOID was beyond them. “Could it be Brian?” wondered Echo.
After the referees separated the masked attacker from VOID, he revealed his face to the crowd, who popped so loud that the walls shook. “Ua hoʻi wau.” He dropped the mic. It was none other than Brian.
He walked over to Echo, and invited her into the ring. He gave her a black flower crown and stole VOID’s cape, dressing Echo in it. “I am Brian Kendrick, and this is my queen. Together we will rule this company, and usher in a new age of chaos.” He then placed his lips on Echo, who was quite surprised by the events that were transpiring. What had gotten into Brian? Well, whatever it was turned on Echo, impressed by this dark side.
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FF8 English-French Translarison, part 14: Romantic Cruise
Hey y’all! The translarison is back! I’m skipping ahead a bit since there aren’t really any differences. So, we are now on the bridge after Garden has transformed, where we find our first notable difference.
In the English text, Linoa just goes “Wow!” after the platform has raised. But in the French version, she has slightly more to day, going “No way, it’s impossible!”.
This one’s interesting for how close both versions are. As you probably noticed by now, the two versions generally use very different expressions. however, in this case, in the English version, this NPC says “Ahhh, my back’s killing me!” whereas the French one has him say “My back... it hurts so bad, it’s killing me!”. I’m pretty sure it’s a coincidence that they went for such similar phrases, so I find it pretty intriguing.
I wanted to bring up this NPC because he only talks like that in the English version. he doesn’t have any particular speech pattern in the French one. Gotta hand it to the English version, it does give an unnamed NPC more personality.
And speaking of the two versions being oddly similar this time around, here the French text has this character tell Squall to “go check it out”... in sense of checking something, not looking at something. This is really bizarre because it’s not really a saying in French, which would make it seem it’s an overly literal translation of English writing, but most of the localisation feels like it isn’t based off the English one, so I don’t know what’s going on here.
More oddities from the French version and more evidence of the translator only having the script to work off of. When Xu arrives and tells Squall to go back to the bridge, the French version has a text box that goes “This is the headmaster! Squall, return to the platform!” and the way it’s worded makes it sound like it’s an announcement made over the radio.
The translator was presumably confused as in the English language version, Xu says “It’s the headmaster! Get back to the bridge on the double!”. Regardless of the version the French one is based off, the original text was presumably ambiguous and so the translator didn’t realize it was a character talking to Squall directly.
A small one. In the English version, as the scene ends, Cid says “So much for my room. Where am I going to change now?”. Luckily, the French version spares us the mental image of a naked Cid and instead has him say “But where am I going to sleep, now?”.
By the way, I find this line weird regardless of the version. I was under the impression that this room was just his office, not his living quarters, so I would have thought he’d have somewhere else to sleep/change.
Here’s another small one, but one that says a lot more. in the English version, as Squall is pondering their situation, he thinks to himself “we’re in the middle of nowhere”, which is, you know, accurate. But the French version, while similar, take a much less literal approach. here, he says “we are all disorientated”.
See? There’s still the notion of being lost, which they physically are, but of course French Squall is thinking more about how dazed and confused everyone is after all that’s happened. I really like that.
There’s another very interesting change right after, as in the English version, he says “Man i’m bored...”. Again, the French version make it a bit more profound, having him wonder “Why am I being so sensitive?”, realizing he cares more about the place he lives in and people around him than he’d like to admit.
And that’s not all! As soon after, there’s a pretty big one. English Squall wonders who exactly the sorceress is and why she’d fire missiles at Garden, while also promising to himself to get even with Seifer next time he meets him.
French Squall kind of goes the opposite direction, being more forgiving towards Seifer and putting all the blame on Edea, as he goes “the priestess, it’s all her fault! Using missiles against us?! is Seifer going to escape her grasp?”.
And now, it’s finally time for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, Squall and Linoa’s date! Well, technically Squall is just showing her around, but let’s not kid ourselves, it’s a date.
The first real difference comes when Linoa asks him to make the tour a bit more fun. In the English version, she says “you know, like a normal tour?” but tin the French one, she explicitly says “Like a tourist route?”.
Squall retort is also different; English Squall thinks “What does she want from me?” whereas French Squall thinks “Me, a tour guide?!”. Again, I like the French version a bit better as it’s a bit more lighthearted. In fact Squall generally comes across as less grumpy than he does in the English version throughout this whole sequence.
Alright, let’s look at the different areas. First up, the infirmary, where... actually, you know what? I know this is what y’all really want to see so I’ll keep it for the end, nyeh heh heh!
So first up, the quad. these three girls are having a bit of a chat, and there a few differences worth noting. First, in the English text, the girl at the bottom tells her friend to tell her when she gets a BOYFRIEND (emphasis hers, not mine). In the French version, she goes further than that, telling her not to forget to invite her to her wedding. Jeez, going a bit fast, aren’t we?
And then, while in English, the dialogue ends with the girl at the top saying “ No problem! I promise! I promise!!!”, the French version gives it a surprisingly glum turn, having her ask “What if we stay single?”.
This gives an interesting twist to their body language after their dialogue ends, as I think they’re doing the SeeD salute, presumably as a way to show their bond. But because of the change in the French version, it makes it look like they’re covering their mouths as they’re gasping in fear.
And it’s not the only way the French version is bizarrely darker, as if you check them individually, Bottom Girl thinks “poor girl, she’ll end up a spinster. Granted, it’s not very nice in English either as she thinks “I bet I’ll get one before she does” but still, at least the English one believes her friend will eventually find someone.
There’s another small change with them, as the dark-skinned girl in the middle thinks “you guys are sooo great. I’ll definitely keep my promise” in English, but goes “wedding or no wedding, we’ll stay friends” in French.
Next up, the cafeteria. As I’ve alluded to at the very beginning of this playthrough, in the French version, the hot dogs have been replaced with pretzels. Interestingly, the French version also has Squall he thinks the pretzels are a myth as he’s never actually seen anybody eat any in Garden
This is in sharp contrast to the English version, where he says that some of the hot dogs are so popular, you’d be lucky to even see someone eat them, implying that they not only are they explicitly a thing, but there are multiple variants.
See, this is why I love this game. You can have all the flashy graphics and amazing technology you want, but I’ll always prefer a game so dedicated to world-building that it has canon hot dog / pretzel lore.
After Linoa chuckles at Squall’s seriousness and he retorts she’s the one who asked him to give her a tour, Linoa’s reply is quite different in tone. in the English version, she says “Oh, I’m sorry... You don’t have to get mad like that...”. In the French version, she seems more understanding, saying “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
The chat between the three students pretty much goes the same, but there’s an interesting tidbit here where the student to the right gives one of his friends grief for siding with the “Templars” (a.k.a. the faculty), with that guy telling him he did too. In the English version, the other two appear to have stayed neutral and were just hiding or something, and call him out when he wonders why they wanted to capture Cid.
We head to the parking lot and for how short that scene is, it goes quite differently depending on the version.
In the English one, the discussion goes like this:
Squall: “Just a parking lot. Nothing special.
Rinoa: “... That’s it?”
Squall: “Yeah.”
Rinoa: *facepalm* “... Never mind. Let’s go.”
in the French one, it goes like this:
Squall: And here’s the parking lot...
Linoa: How fascinating.
Squall: You think so?
Linoa: *facepalm* “Forget it. Let’s go.”
I love how in both cases, it seems like an admission from the devs that they didn’t really do anything with this area. i do think I once again have a slight preference for the French version as I like Squall’s obliviousness.
Following that is the training centre. The text is mostly the same, but there’s an interesting variation in tone. Plus it’s a line I love in both versions so I really wanna bring it up.
After Squall asks Linoa if she’s up for some monster slayin’ (I love that he even suggests that in the first place and hey, in a weird way, it does go to show he is okay with spending some time with Linoa), English Rinoa says that she can see him do that on a first date, and ironically says “you’re so romantic...”.
The French version has her even more explicitly saying “You know, you have a funny way of behaving on a first date... how very romantic!”. So you could argue there was some ambiguity in the English version, but here she straight-up says they’re on a date.
You could argue she’s joking, but either way, Squall doesn’t object, and he’s not usually one to take stuff like that lightly. Just sayin’, I think they both take this more seriously than they let on.
And finally we get to the library, where Squall meets Ellone. In the English version, after asking Squall to try and remember her, she says she’d be heartbroken to know she was forgotten. in the French version, she’s more vague, saying “It’s rather vexing when someone forgets you, don’t you think?”.
Sorry to sound like a broken record but again, I much prefer the French version’s take on it. There’s something a lot more melancholy about it and most importantly, it ties deeply into the game’s major themes by mirroring Squall’s own refusal to build memories with other people or to be remembered by them.
The more subtle tone also makes it feel like she’s trying to spare his feelings by not making it sound like he’d be hurting her, even though she may not think any less.
Well, that wraps everything up, can’t think of anything else to do, so join me next time, where we take on- oh alright, you’ve been good, here’s how the scene in the infirmary goes.
The setup is the same. Kadowaki walks in and asks Squall if Linoa is his girlfriend. I do like how the English version has her go “Oh my!” at the beginning like she’s all excited about it. if you answer yes, Linoa says “Pardon? You’d better watch out, or I’ll end up believing it”.
if you insist (by picking the phrase “I’m expressing my desires”), the following exchange occurs:
Squall: It’ll soon be true, won’t it?
Linoa: But, I... er...
Squall: I’m kidding. What did you think?
Linoa: Huh? Your sense of humour goes a bit over my head.
If you pick “Of course not, I’m kidding”, Squall still plays around with it, going “Just a little joke... between lovers.”
Finally, if you say no, this happens:
Linoa: Couldn’t you say YES, just to make me happy?
Squall: Oh, alright. Yes.
Linoa: Huh? Forget it.
And there you have it. Man, hanging out together, going on dates, joking around, flirting... no wonder some people say the romance between these two comes out of nowhere.
But anyway, that’s it for today. Hope you liked it. It’s nice to have a more relaxed session without battles and constant danger, at least not the whole the way through, isn’t it? Hope you enjoyed it and I’ll see you next time, where we confront NORG and probably do more stuff.
As always, if you like the translarison, it would be awesome if you could show your support by reblogging it and if you have any observation or question, do not hesitate to send me an ask or just comment on this post. Later, everyone!
#Final fantasy VIII#Final fantasy#FF8#FFVIII#Final Fantasy 8#translarison#translation#comparison#variation#English#French#language#localization#localisation#balamb garden#ship#Cid#Kramer#Zell#Dincht#Linoa#Rinoa#Heartilly#Xu#Shu#date#flirting#romance#Ellone#memories
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NOTE: I probably bring up Rilo Kiley way more often than is necessary, but God they're just one of my favourite bands. While writing this, I ended up ordering my fave album of theirs on vinyl (just being sentimental I guess) and finally got their "Rkives" collection of b-sides, which was kind of their goodbye letter to their fans. Probably the real reason it took me this long is that I didn't want to believe they really would never put out another album...
Anyway, none of this is important to the fic at all.
"MAN, that was so awesome! The way the creature exploded from inside the box and went for the girl's face, but she bashed it with the meat tenderizer?! I was totally on the edge of my seat!"
"The edge of the counter, you mean," I sighed as we headed down Bloor. As much as I hated to admit it, the movie hadn't been half-bad, even if I couldn't see myself watching it again unless a friend really wanted to. And since I don't have any friends…
"Did you see the look on her boyfriend's face when she chose the monster over him? I thought he would BARF!"
"Yep."
"Oh my gosh…" With a happy little giggle, Knives skipped once before settling into a normal stride again. "Way better than that movie you were watching when I got there."
"Oh, 'The Birds'?"
"Yeah. It was black and white, and just kind of looked depressing."
"Right. What a flop that one was." There was no sense in fighting with someone who didn't appreciate classic cinema, after all. Not that I'm that big of a Hitchcock fan, but the old letch had a way with a camera lens.
"Anyway, sorry about knocking over that display," she went on, scratching her cheek. "Is it expensive? I still have some saved up from working at Second Cup last year…"
My shoulders moved up and down. "Doesn't matter. The boss barely gives a shit. And nothing was really broken, just kinda… bent slightly."
"Oh. Okay, good."
"Um…"
The silence stretched on for another block. Finally, Knives asked, "Um, what? Normally I'd be the one to start a sentence and forget to finish it."
That was a fair point. Why was I having so much trouble with this? My question was supposed to be something simple. Supposed to be. But for whatever reason, asking it felt like a more monumental task. An important one.
"Do you… wanna… come back to my place?"
SHIT. Of course I would end up asking it in a way that sounds like way more than I intended. Like I was propositioning some damn college freshman! Who's a chick! I felt stupid, and embarrassed, and had to snap my lips shut to keep from babbling more, even though in reality, this actually wasn't a big deal. People went to their friends' apartments all the time! Logic couldn't stop me from feeling ridiculous.
"Really?"
When I looked up, her eyes were shining with glee. Literally shining — it could have been the headlights of a passing car. Not really sure.
"Nevermind," I said immediately, continuing to walk at a quick pace. "Forget I said anything."
"No, wait, but- listen- I'm talking to you!" Dashing after me, she finally caught up when I got to the corner and I had to wait for the crosswalk signal. "Kim! I promise I'll be good, don't go!"
"I just… wanted to see if you'd be interested, but not if you're going to make it into some red-letter event, okay?! GOD!"
Her arms wrapped around me, and I had to fight down the instinct to shove her into traffic. "But this is gonna be fun! I've been waiting for you to invite me back sometime!"
"You have?! Then why didn't you say anything?"
"Because you already kind of acted annoyed that I was even hanging around you, and I didn't wanna push it!"
"Well, that's… that is just… totally accurate," I admitted through my clenched teeth. Much as it pained me. "But you could have just… I don't know, nevermind."
By now, how close she was started to get on my nerves. I don't know why; normally I'm not that averse to being squeezed, but just something about how excited she was to come by my stupid apartment made it worse. Still, was kind of nice to actually have a friend get within my personal space bubble again. For someone to care enough to try.
"I'm just happy, that's all," she finally whispered. Then she seemed to sense that I'd bite her head off purely to avoid confronting feelings, so she drew back and smiled awkwardly. "But yeah, I'll chill with you for an hour or two."
"Fine. Uh… well, then let's, um…"
I didn't even finish the thought. Instead, I put one foot in front of the other, half hoping that Knives would forget to follow me. She didn't.
~ o ~
"What do you want, tea? Milk? Milktea?"
"Water's fine," she said with a pleasant little smile. That was starting to drive me nuts. She left her chunky boots by the door — which I don't know why she was wearing in the middle of Summer, anyway — and sat cross-legged on the counter as I got her a glass of water, then reached for a beer for myself.
"You… don't mind if I…?"
"I can drink now, too, you know," she giggled with her hands wrapped around her shins as she smiled over at me. "But, um… I don't think I should."
The cap bounced across the kitchen and into the corner when I popped it, and I told myself I'd worry about picking it up later. "Don't think you should? What, did you find religion at uni or something?"
"Nah. Just… after what happened at Julie's aunt's…"
Everything in the room seemed to freeze. After a moment or two… I began to realise it really did freeze.
Swallowing hard, I waved my hand back and forth past Knives's face. Totally petrified. She still looked normal, but I couldn't move her even when I pushed very slightly at her arm. This was really bizarre. I started having Vietnam-style flashbacks to the year before, but the flickering of my fluorescent light bulb was helping to distract my brain from diving down that rabbit hole. Not when I already had another rabbit hole to climb out of as it was.
Actually… it wasn't the light bulb. When I looked up, I saw giant brick letters that said "PAUSE" suspended in midair, flashing a rainbow of colours. They were a little too high up for me to reach them easily, but I thought I could touch them by hopping up and down a little…
Yet I didn't. Not yet.
Pacing back and forth, I tried to think through my reaction. Why did I freeze up so much? I couldn't even fully remember what happened that night… except that I had some kind of vague snippet of Knives saying "I've kissed the lips that kissed you." And then we did a little experiment, cutting Scott out of the picture. That's it; everything else was a blank, everything that came after, most of the next morning. Gone. And I had been dreading when she might bring it up again, just in case her memory was a little clearer than mine. That was truly mortifying to me.
On the other hand, Knives was trying not to let that happen again. Did she hate kissing me? Or was she just trying not to repeat a sloppy, drunken mistake? Maybe she liked it but thought I hated it, the same way she didn't ask to come back to my place because she knew I was barely tolerating her as a pseudo-friend.
Anyway, this was all conjecture. I was getting way ahead of myself. Knives was a nice person, even if I don't typically trust nice people (because they turn out like Scott most of the time). Sighing, knowing this wasn't really fair to her anyway, I hopped up and smacked the word that had appeared overhead.
"...I dunno," she finally finished, rubbing at the back of her neck. Then she blinked. "Hey, how'd you get into the middle of the kitchen so fast? I thought I was the one with the training."
"Nevermind that. Um… what happened that night. I don't remember a lot; I was pretty tanked. So like, it wasn't… if I did anything…" Somehow, despite having that additional time to prepare myself, I still wound up blushing and looking away from her.
"Huh? Oh… crazy, right?" Clearing her throat, she shrugged and went on, "Well, I remember more than you do, I think, but we don't have to talk about it anymore."
Swallowing hard and trying to get my stupid face under control, I said, "Thanks." A huge swig of beer gave me time to think of a subject to change to. "Sure you don't want one?"
"I'm good, thank you."
"Cool."
I led her into the living room and flopped down on the couch. She took the seat next to me, but when I turned to glare at her, she moved over to the nearby chair. Then I felt like shit for scaring her off, but she was already talking again.
"So… do you have anything good to watch here?"
"Not really. No internet or cable, and I don't have a lot of movies."
"I thought you'd have tons, working at a video store! Like, when they get rid of the old ones, you could get them for free or something…"
A long sigh issued as I slid further down, propping my feet up on the coffee table. "Nope." She did the same thing, and I tried not to laugh at her mirroring my gesture.
"So what do you do for fun when you get home?"
"Nothing."
"Really? Then why do you go to the library?"
She had me there. "Uh… no reason. Check my email, I dunno."
"Do you wanna listen to music? I, um… have some on my phone…"
The request was so nervous that I had to fight down the urge to lash out at her. To tell her that was a stupid idea, or sarcastically say it was greeeaaat and she was a genius. These things just come naturally to me. Instead, I managed to grit my teeth and say, "Sure." After all, what better ideas were coming out of my brain? Not a one.
~ o ~
So we listened to her music, I finished my beer. I said I liked the song, she told me who it was — somebody I'd heard of but dismissed as a lame pop act. Para-whatever. Then we started talking about other bands we liked, and most of hers were cheesy or lame, but she also liked a lot of decent stuff. Somehow, we both knew Rilo Kiley, which I didn't think anybody else in the universe had heard of. Every band I brought up that she didn't know, she responded with "I'll have to check them out", which would be a brush-off coming from anyone else. But Knives meant it.
It started to get late. Part of me wanted her to stay, but most of me needed her to go, so I yawned and said I was thinking about going to bed soon and she got the hint.
"Sorry I was so lame," Knives apologised with too much sincerity as I showed her to the door. "Next time, I'll try to bring my old Nintendo 64 over or something."
"Nice. Do you have Mario Kart?"
"Why wouldn't I have it?" I smiled. That was the closest I usually came to laughing, and I felt my face heating up again from letting her in too far, but I also was annoyed with myself for overthinking every goddamn moment. "And Smash."
"Sorry my apartment was so boring," I shot at her, trying to make up for the smile with caustic sarcasm. Balance my arbitrary scales.
"It's okay." Totally missed it, of course. "You weren't expecting me today, and I wasn't expecting to be invited, either. But I liked hanging out with you, even if all we did was talk. It's been nice."
"Nice, huh?" Her smile seemed to cut right through my force field. "Yeah. That's a word, I suppose."
After a heartbeat, she leaned in to hug me, and I stood there in mild surprise until she let go. "Do you want my cell?"
"Why bother? You'll just show up when you feel like it, right?"
"True, true. See you later!" She was only a few steps away from the door when she called back, "Oh, and I'll check out those Stars guys!"
"Yep."
I waved. Then I was alone in my apartment, with no Nintendo to distract me from wrestling with my crazy thought patterns. Damn my mom for putting all my games in a yard sale after I moved out.
To Be Continued…
#kim pine's precious little knives#scott pilgrim vs. the world#scott pilgrim fanfiction#kim pine#knives chau#forkanna writes#forkanna the writer
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