#also sorry but not that many people speak dialect

[mirmidones]

i mean. that's simply not true ?? what

[cakerybakery]

Rabbits had a natural sway to their hips that enticed even those outside of their species.

Adam was an exception to this hard fast rule of nature. He stomped where others of his kind glided with a natural grace. Banging into things his siblings and even his sons had a natural talent for avoiding.

He was crashing his way through a tight spaced open market when a small naga male popped up in his path. The snow white creature with light golden markings cocked his head curiously. He waved and moved his hands, gesturing at Adam.

“Sorry,” Adam shook his head. “I don’t know much sign language.”

“Oh!” Snake perked up. “Your voice is deep.”

Adam nodded. Despite the stereotype, nagas weren’t deaf, they just couldn’t hear high pitched tones very well because they didn’t have external ears or eardrums. It was difficult for them to communicate with a lot of species that tended to speak in higher tones. Rabbits included.

It had caused a great deal of issues between the species in the past. Along with just generally not speaking the same language, rabbits tended to have higher pitched voices that were difficult for nagas to hear.

And of course verbal communication in the naga traditional language is limited. Using primarily scent or vibration and body language, something impossible for most other species to learn completely. Rabbits, of course, had their own language of scent and body movements, but they were more subconscious and engrained. Even if Adam didn’t speak the Northern Continent Common, he could still communicate with a rabbit from there nearly as well as one that spoke the Southern Continent Common. Nagas were more solitary and their language was more deliberately developed.

Most of the naga patients Adam spoke with at the hospital had trouble communicating in their traditional language with other naga outside of their specific subspecies due to dialect differences. There can be some overlap, but you could also insult someone asking where the bathroom is.

Sign language became standard and most naga were trilingual. Speaking their own dialect, sign language, and common.

Most other species only spoke their own and the common for their region.

Adam had learned some sign language to explain basic things at the hospital, but he wasn’t fluent. Luckily his voice was deep enough for naga to hear him speaking common without difficulty.

“I was wondering if you could see someone over the crowd.” The naga asked. “I’ve been separated from my daughter and there are too many scents and vibrations for me to pick her out. She’s with a hawk girl. Uhh, they’re sixteen. Oh! And she looks like me, but with long hair.” The man was so hopeful looking that Adam couldn’t help but want to help.

He was taller than most rabbits, often confused for an alpha even though those are rare among his species, and taller than most other species as well.

Adam scanned the crowd. His eyes suddenly focused on a blonde haired young woman with white skin. Another young woman she was with had distinctive light gray or perhaps silver featherings of a hawk.

He’d never seen that colouring before, usually the grey was deeper.

“I think I see them.” He held out a hand. The naga’s torse was small, but his tail was long. They might move faster through the crowd if he carried the man. “Did you want to hold on so we don’t get separated?”

The man hesitated a second but nodded and took Adam’s hand.

Adam pulled him up so he could sit on one of Adam’s shoulder’s and wrap his tail around the other one so it looped Adam’s arm loosely and the tip tucked back over the man’s hips. He had sharp nails and clung as gently as he could to Adam’s t-shirt.

Moving through the crowd, most people scampered out of the way and Adam made good time.

Lucifer dropped his tail to the ground with a light thump. Smacking it in a few quick sessions but the girl didn’t seem to be able to hear the vibrations.

Pausing, Adam thumped his large foot in the same pattern. The girl froze. He did it again and he saw her duck down. Adam did it again, which confused the rabbits around him as they looked for possible danger or what he could be upset about, and the girl popped up again, swivelling in their direction. She waved and moved her hands.

Adam didn’t catch most of it. “Father” “you”, then “come here”. Adam moved towards them and when they got there the man got down and the two let out a flurry of signs, the hawk girl added in a couple here and there.

“Charlie says thank you for finding her dad and us.” The hawk girl said looking up at him. Her voice was a bit high pitched and that explained why Charlie and her father were using sign language with her.

“It’s no problem.”

“Oh!” Charlie put her hand to her chest and look startled. “You have a deep voice!”

“I get that a lot.” Adam chuckled.

The man cocked his head a little at Charlie, “what?”

Charlie had a bit of a higher pitched voice, certainly higher than her deep sounding father, he seemed to not quite get everything Charlie said.

She lowered her voice and repeated herself.

“Oh!” The man nodded. “Yes, he does.”

The watch on the man’s wrist vibrated and the man looked at it. “If you’re not busy,” he turned to look up at Adam, “can I thank you with a free lunch? I know a buffet around here that caters to all sorts of diets.”

Adam wasn’t in a hurry. He was just checking out the open market as something to do on his day off. To get some sun since he mostly works the night shift at the hospital. “Sure. That buffet won’t see me coming.” He patted his round stomach, never having bothered to lose the baby weight from carrying Cain nearly a decade ago. Back when he was young and married.

“Excellent.” The man’s eyes widened suddenly. “Oh! I just realized. I never even bothered to introduce myself or ask your name.”

Holding out his hand for the man to take, Adam told the man his name.

Grasping it, and pumping their hands together for a second, the man replied. “Lucifer. Lucifer Morningstar. This is my daughter Charlie, and her girlfriend Vaggie.”

They exchanged pleasantries and as they walked through the crowd Adam clasped Lucifer’s shoulder to avoid getting separated.

Lucifer smiled up at him, genuine and bright, and Adam returned the smile.

His heart gave a flutter and Adam fought the urge to fuss with Lucifer’s hair.

Biting back a sigh, Adam was glad nagas were all betas and Lucifer wouldn’t be able to tell that a little crush was starting to form in Adam’s heart. His pheromones were way different than that of a naga.

Being a rabbit, Adam tended to develop little crushes fairly easily. A shared look was usually all it took. Mostly they passed quickly as the other person didn’t catch on and thus didn’t signal back their interest. The few that did were other rabbits and those relationships ended quickly as they wanted different things.

Adam was monogamous, most rabbits were poly. Four to five adults in each family unit were normal. It was hard meeting rabbits that didn’t want multiple partners and large families.

To be honest he kind of wanted a small family. Only six or ten kids instead of the fifteen or twenty in most rabbits were homes.

So he wouldn’t mind finding a new partner, but if he never did have more he was fairly content with his two boys.

Cain he carried, as his ex wife, Eve, carried Abel. Bit of an accident there and they were lucky both boys were singletons. Multiples were far more common. The boys already had two sets of twin siblings from Eve and her new partners.

It was useless anyway.

Naga were solitary, even in family units. They didn’t form mating pairs outside of their breeding season. The kids going back and forth between parental homes until they became adults themselves.

Still, he knew naga had two dicks. Adam got a little excited at the idea of having two cocks in him. Rabbits only had the one, but they could certainly accommodate two easily. Most multiples had different sires.

When they made it out of the crowd, the girls felt safe going ahead a bit. Charlie wrapped her arms around Vaggie’s arm and the girls giggled a bit as they spoke in a higher pitch to keep Lucifer from hearing them flirt. Unfortunately for Adam. He could easily hear it.

He had to tune the girls out as they whispered sweet nothings to each other.

Instead he checked out Charlie’s tail as she slithered on the ground. It was rather short, so she was a girl. The name threw Adam off. It didn’t help that all naga wore skirts. Tail length and females having small breasts that secreted milk for the first few weeks before their young were able to eat meat, were the only outwardly difference between the sexes of naga.

But he was hardly one to talk. The only real difference between male and female rabbits was that males were a little more pear shaped and female more hourglass. Being almost all omegas they were both capable of impregnating and being impregnated. Only the alphas had a pure distinction. With males only able to impregnate and females only able to be impregnated.

Their young were also fast growers. Switching to plants after a few weeks when they started to crawl and their teeth came in.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” Lucifer asked.

“Uhh,” he couldn’t easily come up with a lie and so settled for a half truth. “Babies.”

Most people assumed rabbits were all about mating anyway.

“Oh!” Lucifer looked surprised. His eyes widened a bit. “Do you have kids?”

He nodded. “I’m the dam to my son, Cain. And sire for my boy Abel.”

“Rabbits are all omegas, right? Naga only have the one set of sexes, so I’m not really sure how to tell that sort of thing apart. For the most part it can be hard to smell people apart. Which sounds really awful when I say it out loud.” Lucifer gave a forced awkward chuckle.

It was cute. “Mostly. Alphas make up about five percent of our population. So most family units have a one or two, but omega is far more common. And I know what you mean.” Adam gave him a reassuring smile. “Scents are pretty unique to each species and it can be hard outside of that species to tell what each scent means so it find of just all blends together. In the hospital I can’t even tell there are other rabbits around because of all the smells.”

Lucifer brightened up at that. “You work at the hospital?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I’m a nurse in the labour and delivery unit at the central hospital. So I’m pretty good at sniffing out pregnancy in a bunch of different species, but that’s about it.”

“Well, that sounds useful for your job.”

Adam laughed, “if they’re coming into labour and delivery, they better already know they’re pregnant, or they’re in for a hell of a surprise.”

Lucifer’s flushed and his cheeks turned bright red under the faint yellow markings. “I guess, I hadn’t thought of that.”

He was cute when he blushed. Adam tail twitched, and he could already smell himself getting wet.

It wasn’t a myth that rabbits were always in heat, they just didn’t ovulate until after sex. So Adam got wet at the drop of a hat, but so long as he took precautions he could let that little snake fuck him silly and be fine.

Every rabbit he came across would be able to smell him, but it was rude to assume that just because someone was ovulating they wanted you to fertilize them.

On the other hand, it would be nice to have babies in him again.

Adam didn’t see many hybrid babies. Not across species anyway.

Eve’s family had been from the Southern Isles, her symmetrical black and orange hair and straight up ears were beautiful. He’d always felt a little plain with his Western Contient brown and lop ears.

Lucifer was gorgeous too. Adam had never seen such coloured patterning before. If Adam had to guess he’s say boa or anaconda, both from the Southern Continent. Maybe a mix?

What would their kids look like?

“Still thinking about babies?” Lucifer asked and it was Adam’s turn to blush.

The girls got to the restaurant doors before they did and went inside.

“I was thinking what a snake and rabbit hybrid would look like.” Might as well flirt a little. No harm in it.

Lucifer’s tongue flickered and he gave Adam a smirk. “Is that so?” He looked Adam up and down with an appreciative look, and then sighed. “Can’t say I’m not flattered but from what I know about rabbit culture, we’re probably not compatible long term.”

“True.” Adam nodded. “Guess we’re dodging a mutual bullet. I’m monogamous and want to marry one partner and have kids with just them.”

Freezing with his hand on the door, Lucifer looked up with wide eyes. “Me too!”

“What?” Adam was sure now he was the one with hearing problems. “I thought naga were solitary?”

“Usually!” Lucifer looked excited and his tail kept curling as he coiled in place. “I’m a little, uhh, weird by naga standards. I thought rabbits had like three or four spouses?”

“Usually. I’m a little weird by rabbit standards.”

Lucifer open the door and held it open for Adam. As Adam walked in he considered trying to sway his hips like other rabbits did effortlessly, but didn’t want to embarrass himself so he did his usual heavy footfalls and let his tail flick with interest.

Brushing against Adam, Lucifer nuzzled his cheeks and head against him.

“You flirting?” Adam asked.

“Only if your tail flicking is.”

“It is.”

Lucifer smirked. “Who says cross species language is difficult? You certainly picked up fast that I was trying to signal where we were to Charlie.” A hand took a firm hold of Adam’s amble backside. “And I might not be able to tell your pheromones apart, but I know horny when I see it.”

Adam swatted away the hand before the girls spotted them.

“I’m off on Thursday. How about we undouble and have a date?” He whispered low and quiet.

Vaggie still looked back over at them from the counter, slightly confused.

He shut his mouth until Vaggie’s attention was caught by Charlie.

Lucifer kept his hands to himself during lunch and they exchanged numbers after.

Adam had barely gotten around the corner when he got a text asking where he wanted to go for their first date.

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

i explain india but i'm drunk.

Hello maggots of mine you're all such babygirls and bastards just like Aziraphale and Crowley. I'm so proud of you all for existing. Yes i'm a wholesome drunk you now know this about me. The wine tastes like rotten grapes and smells of battery acid and cost 245 rupees INR. Speaking of INR, thanks to a maggot's ask, I'm here to explain India. I've never set foot outside of this country. But I'm also very very shit at general knowledge.

To any non-Indians reading this, this is a totally legit 1000% everything covered all-inclusive summary. To any Indians reading this, I'm so so fucking sorry.

India, explained.

So there's south india and there's north india and there's north east india. north india is very racist about south india and they're both very racist about north east india. Most of these people are also probably racist either to other countries or they have internalised racism. It's a wild trip.

There are. A lot of languages here. And a LOT of scripts. I can read two scripts, understand four Indian languages and speak in two of them (badly), and those two are not my native tongues. I cannot speak in my native tongues. It's basically English at this point. These aren't dialects, those are separate. Picture like, Europe, but more, in terms of how many languages.

Everyone hates each other which is valid for the entire planet honestly.

In south india we have a lot of coconuts. Like a lot. There are so many coconuts you have no fucking idea guys you cannot escape the coconuts. I was nearly killed by a shower of coconuts when I was 5 I escaped by one second.

There are also cows. People will tell you that you are being racist when you say India has cows everywhere. But it's true. Two weeks ago I had the pleasure to be stuck in a traffic jam. Next to the street barrier thing (what divides a street im too drunk for this) I saw a huge bull fucking HUMPING a cow. The vehicles just had to move around them. They were having sex right there.

If you're a middle class Indian kid, your career options are: doctor, engineer, scientist, CA, lawyer, government official or family disappointment.

Needless to say, I was going to be doctor and am now instead family disappointment. I'm babygirling so hard it's insane. The prodigal son.

It's very ace-friendly and heterophobic in the sense that you are not supposed to be exhibiting any sexuality whatever in a respectable household. Just shut up and give virgin birth already. But be married. That's crucial.

Oh yeah gay marriage isn't legal trans people are constantly othered by society and/or given no respect whatsover and we're just all vibing here this is totally not why I'm finishing a small bottle of cheap wine on a thursday past midnight alone in my room.

Foreigners are like a zoo species you see them you're instantly concerned like what are they doing outside the TV screens and then either people are normal (rarely), they run up and take photos or try to slip into conversation (more often than you'd think, even I've been guilty of the conversation thing as a kid) OR they start talking about how 'this western culture is ruining our culture'. Which is fair but honestly both the 'cultures' these people are talking about usually involve incredible amounts of bigotry and are more similar than they think.

I think the lesson here is that humans just suck as a species. Except for you maggots. I love you all and I will defend you with my life.

THE CHAAT. THE CHAAT IS INSANELY AMAZING. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE CHAAT. I HAVE NO SPICE TOLERANCE SO I HAVE TO BEG ON MY KNEES FOR THE SPICES TO BE REDUCED BUT STILL. THE CHAAT. THE CHAAT, YOU GUYS. YOU NEED IT.

Sorry yes I'm normal. ALSO THE STREET DOGS. THE INDIES. THEY'RE SO LOVELY AND SWEET AND CHAOTIC AND I KEEP TALKING TO THEM. Once when I was crying I made the dog distress while and like five dogs that I didn't know came running to me and comforted me and licked me.

INDIAN DANCE MUSIC. I FUCKING LOVE IT IT'S INSANE. My family were elitist as fuck so I never got to listen to Bollywood music as a kid but it's AMAZING I'm so glad it exists. Bhangra too.

Beaches very very pretty hills very very pretty honestly the nature is fucking beautiful if you can just quickly pretend humans don't exist, which again is true of this entire planet. Yeah. Okay I'm so fucking drunk.

Yeah lots of diversity which is very nice when the humans aren't screaming at each other about it but the rest of the time it's very nice

The garbage and sewer stories? yeah they're all true im sorry

Traffic rules more like traffic suggestions amirite

Well, we still have far better healthcare access than america. so. there is that.

If you speak English well you'll be mocked and isolated. If you speak English poorly you'll be mocked and isolated. Honestly, just be rich. That'll fix it all.

All the conservatives hate each other and don't realise they're the exact same but in like different flavours.

Oh yeah we have auto rickshaws. Look them up. They're so much better than cars I don't get motion sick as easily in them. But the drivers all hate you and never want to take you anywhere.

Eyyyyyyyyyy it's so fucking fun here *drinsk more alcohol* I am so fucking not looking forward to college.

Please someone crowdfund me out of here let's all go chill in Alpha Centauri I've heard it's nice this time of the year.

I will, however, miss the casual live cow pornos. A true highlight.

[I got this peer-reviewed by my friend in India's top law school, just in case, because I'm too drunk and generally dumb. They say I will not be killed. And they've been on Twitter so.]

Irrefutable legal proof y'all. I don't mean to offend anyone except bigots. Fuck you, bigots, if you're not offended then I've disappointed my community.

[dorkus-mcdingus]

A random list of TWST HCs in no particular order

(Keep in mind they can range from general, fluffy, or angsty)

- Sam is bilingual but he speaks the Port O' Bliss (Louisiana) Dialect of French. He also would call Crowley a coullion/couyon (don't know the proper spelling. Sorry!) under his breath whenever that old crow is just yapping instead of paying for his order.

- Malleus had his mind blown when he first heard about milkshakes. I mean you can drink ice cream?! THROUGH A STRAW?! 🤯

- The only time you will ever hear Crewel call himself "daddy" is whenever he gets caught baby talking towards his dogs. Not that he has any shame in doing it.

- Jamil would slip into his mother tongue whenever he gets SUPER pissed off (it's not often when he does but 0/10 would not recommend you do it)

- I pretty much HC a good majority of the twst cast to be bilingual or know a few languages depending on where they come from. Although if they're from the Queendom of Roses, I mainly see them being monolingual but have the ability to read other languages.

- Rollo has vivid nightmares about his brother's death and how he ultimately blames himself for what happened. It's so bad to where the poor boy would rather not fall asleep so he won't see the visions again. The best sort of night is where he doesn't dream. There's nothing but the black void when he closes his eyes.

- I feel like Lilia would be sad hearing the song "Army Dreamers" because it would remind him so much of the war and the many soldiers that died serving Briarland. They were someone's child after all.

- Speaking of Lilia, he can turn on the old soldier voice and it's the one way he knows how to scare the shit out of some of the former soldiers that served with him. However, he would say

"I've spent so long playing soldier that I'm kind of tired of it."

If you ask him why he stopped using that voice. God... Malleus, Silver, and Sebek did a number on that old man.

- If I were to make a guess on Gidel's age, I think he would be around 9 or 10 years old. So it's safe to say that Fellow probably found him when he was either in his late teens or early twenties. Though, I'm more leaning on early twenties for this.

- I got PLENTY of hcs surrounding those two but much like most of the cast, Fellow himself is bilingual and learned the common language through his travels (mother tongue is Italian of course). Despite his limited education, he does try to help Gidel learn how to read and write as best as he can. Gidel is also his biggest priority. I don't think he really minds what happens to him as long as Gidel is happy, has food in his stomach, and his clothes are well mended but Gidel in turn knows how much Fellow has been suffering for their sake.

- Gidel also understands Italian but also the common language as well. Due to his limitations with reading and writing, one of the ways he is able to overcome the barrier when it comes to communication is miming or nodding and shaking his head. Sometimes what he's trying to say does get lost in translation but he and Fellow have such a tight knit bond that his big brother can understand him perfectly and can translate what he's saying if someone is having difficulty understanding him. He is a very streetwise kid underneath that adorable smile but is also a rather sensitive individual and can feel when someone is in pain or unhappy especially if it's Fellow

- A favorite story of our favorite scheming duo is "The Emperor's New Clothes"

- Yuu/MC has a tradition of welcoming the Halloween guest characters as honorary members of Ramshackle Dorm by making them perform a hazing ritual of having them take care of Grim when it's his bath time. Grim's a little bastard about it too especially towards Fellow and Rollo (I'm unsure about Skully but I'll update once the event is complete).

- Azul is the worst person to play Monopoly against

- I feel like the Tweels would sing a jazzy version of "People = Shit" with Azul playing the piano but the more he heard the two chaos gremlins sing, the more he wanted to crawl into an octopus pot

- Pre-overblot Riddle would definitely have a stroke reading The Cat in the Hat especially since the moral is that sometimes a little rule breaking is fine as long as it doesn't go too far

- If you think Azul is the most annoying person to play Monopoly against, Ace would know all the ways to piss you off in Uno. I think the first years playing Uno would be both one hilarious sight to witness but also the worst because of how much those boys are going to be fighting with each other.

- Despite Grim saying he's not a cat, his cuddles and purrs can soothe one's soul despite how much he's a little bastard most of the time. It's little moments like these where the MC thinks it's worth it putting up with his attitude and his black hole of a stomach

- Dylla was definitely a delinquent in her youth and the apple didn't fall far from the tree when it came to her son. Although her son may struggle in terms of academics, the fact that Deuce is trying to clean up his act and reform is something that always makes her swell with pride.

- If Maleanor were still alive, she would've been the CUTEST grandma! Although I do think that the fact that her son is close friends with a human does make her feel uneasy because she doesn't want him to get hurt like how humans have hurt her. Although I do also think that Lilia would often visit her grave and tell her of the many milestones that happened to him and her son.

- Despite the fact that Trein's daughters are all grown up, they still keep in contact with their father to make sure he's doing okay and their conversations can get LONG but I don't think the professor minds at all. Any time he spends with his children whether he's home or on a call, he treasures it.

- I feel like knowing that Crowley likes wild game and Vargas himself is a hunter, I wouldn't be surprised if he took the headmage on a hunting trip. I also think that Vargas would give the fur to Crewel if he needs some material. The man may be a muscle head but he's not wasteful when it comes to hunting for game meat.

[aster-draws]

YOU.

I cant even begin to formulate a sentence to convey how much i adore better halves. I even started writing my very first fic beacuse of it.

On that note: i have no clue what I'm doing. Any tips for writing? I'm thinking specifically when it comes to dialogue, but any and all advice is appreciated!

consider me pinned to the floor like that one cat with the onions (sorry it took so long for me to reply- work school adult responsibilities ect)

Wow I'm so happy to hear you started writing! Genuinely it brings me so much joy and to know I'm inspiring others is like. you know. tear jerking or whatever.

I don't really have many tips apart from like, the fact that it's the same as any other skill, right- you're gonna suck at it a little at first. I wrote so much crap by volume it's insane. If you don't believe me there is evidence way back on my a03 page (and there's a lot more that isn't. hundreds of thousands of words in my google docs). Sometimes I still feel like I'm just writing trash. so you just keep on trucking and then it gets more and more decent. until eventually it's like. good. ish.

As for specific advice with dialogue- I talk through my stuff all the time. i read it out loud to myself and also anyone who will listen. I feel like better halves specifically takes a lot of cues from like early 2000's rom coms, specifically in dialect, most of MY favorites of which are adapted from shakespeare, and so I wouldn't exactly call the way they speak natural, if that makes sense? People don't talk like that. But I think it's fun and genre. But even with that, there's a lot of more of it that is? I just hear them in my head.

So yeah moral of the story is to just write all the time and read it out loud if you're not sure. It's gonna be a lot faster to figure out what's wrong than to figure out the way to fix it. The best advice I have for how to develop an ear about it is to read. A lot. The more you read and the more variety you read the better your ear/eye will get for it. unfortunately this means reading a broader variety of stuff. i read a lot of fanfiction, but also literary fiction, classics, non fiction. don't get stuck by genre and push to read more difficult things because it really can change the way you think and approach your own work

yeah xo you're gonna create amazing things I believe in you.

[alpydk]

Unhinged Gale HCs go!

🫂🫶💜

<3 Thank you!

1. Gale likes pineapple pizza. The poll many months ago confirmed this. This was fanbase decided so no complaints.

2. Gale would collect magic the gathering cards but not play it. Hed be the type to say "but the rules say if..."

3. He would also collect minis and never paint them, or would paint a few over the course of an evening before forgetting to paint more. He would still keep buying them though.

4. As much as the idea of having sex in a library would sound fun to him, he would also be mindful of what section they were in and the amount of noise being made. He wouldn't want to disturb others. There would be a lot of sorrys if shushed.

5. He looks like a young Mel Gibson without his beard and short hair.

6. Gale only learnt to cook once he got stuck in his tower. Until then he was an eat out every night type of guy. He probably had enchanted self cleaning cutlery. (Which had to be absorbed.) Now it's normal cutlery.

7. He speaks more languages than he claims and often eavesdrops on conversations. In my head he speaks elvish and some ancient spell weaving dialect.

8. He only wears purple because of Mystra. He doesn't like purple but after he wore it once people just assumed it was his favourite and started buying him stuff in that colour. His robes he wears are from his mum and he was too polite to say he would prefer them in blue or grey.

9. He plays the harp. (See kill the grove dialogue)

10. He has a favourite word or words, that he likes to try and slip into conversation every now and again. "Well, I would say I'm feeling rather discombobulated."

[jessaerys]

how many languages a character can speak is often narrative shorthand for intelligence so it is not surprising to me that it comes up often in wammy's house headcanons but i do find interesting that people often restrict the kids to perhaps three or four including their canonical english & japanese. perhaps throw in there a fanon mothertongue for mello since he is the one with the more foreign sounding real name and therefore exoticized. it's a very usamerican centric perspective imo given how unusual the usa's homogeneity of language is when contrasted to the rest of the world. being multilingual is relatively common really but especially in the global south where dialects vary greatly from location to location. i'd put five to seven languages still in the "very impressive but still in within normal range in the real world" level of ~genius~, BUT we are talking death note which runs on what you can call sherlock holmes logic (the characters are intelligent and therefore impressive because the writer who controls what deductions are right and which aren't, has willed it so) so personally i think it's in line with canon for both mello and near to be highly proficient in at the very least around a dozen languages for which they may have had formal education at wammy's (i don't think it's a stretch that more resources would be allocated towards the education of 'promising' heirs while neglecting those who aren't in the running. hey just like in real life!!!) not to mention there's also the matter of language maintenance & immersion; speaking any given language is famously a use it or lose it skill, but if we take into account that near is probably speaking with law enforcement and government agencies all over the world during the 5 year timeskip and mello is traveling all over the world they would have had plenty of practice. on top of that you can add another dozen languages that they have some level of fluency in that is either lost due to lack of practice or superficial in its acquisition to begin with. basically what im saying is: near and mello can and should be able to communicate in functionally whatever language suits them and when they are arguing they switch to the one that has the exact right flavor of motherfucker they want to call each other that day. near gets very talkative in creole when he's intoxicated. mello has a record for most curse words ever learned that no one will ever know about. japanese makes them far more aware of the structure of their rivalry. and that's not even getting into the semiotics of it all re: languages not only informing but creating the world around you and therefore subtly influencing your personality and sorry where am i what year is it

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad Activity Report

Part 5

You know the drill.

8/5 (Wed) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

It's Mitsuru. It was certainly hot yesterday, but isn't it normal for Iori to overheat?

Anyway, tomorrow is a full moon, so as I've said many times before, everyone please be prepared. Ah, that's right. I don't have to mention your name over and over again, but Iori, did you have instant noodles for dinner tonight?

If your daily eating habits are not good, you won't have the strength when the time comes. I know it's difficult to do in a dormitory, but please try to manage a good lifestyle as much as possible. Speaking of which, Akihiko, if I take my eyes off him for a second, he's eating gyudon... After all, boxing requires strict weight loss, so is it okay to count calories?

Also, Yamagishi, I know you're worried about Koromaru, but please don't come and ask about him every day. If there's anything, the vet will contact us, and we can't do anything but wait...

That's right, Chairman! Please refrain from suddenly barging in and making puns to then run away! Please explain!

First of all, right now is before the operation begins, and I want to concentrate on the battle as much as possible. Can't you understand that?

…Well, it was hot today too. I guess I got a little annoyed. Sorry. Well, I'll do my best tomorrow.

8/6 (Thu) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, it's Fuuka. Kirijo-senpai... you must be tired.

Oh, this large Shadow was also a lot of work. I'm sleepy, but I'll do my best to report back.

Well, this time the Shadow's hideout was in the underground of Iwato Taipei. It was right around the abandoned houses. It was the remains of an underground facility built by the former army.

...Oh, sorry. I just remembered those people. This time, I was inadequate again. Two people who called themselves Strega appeared, closed the bulkhead, and trapped us...

I think there was some kind of interference, but Lucia couldn't notice them at all. However, we were ultimately successful in defeating the Shadows. This time, there were two Shadow types, one Justice Arcana and one Strength Arcana, and they were strong enemies that could assimilate with an abandoned tank and combine with each other to attack. My analysis of this battle went well, and I think I was able to be of some help.

…About 50 points. Not a failing grade, but far from a passing grade.

8/12 (Wed) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Anyway, I want to find out how the Strega people managed to escape Lucia's detection. I can't afford to be disheartened. I'll try my best. Hypocrisy...huh.

8/7 (Fri) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Well, it's Takeba.

Today, Kirijo-senpai and Sanada-senpai are out, so Tartarus is closed as usual. Well, even if you tell me to go, I'll let you off today. I'm still tired from yesterday's big Shadow battle.

Oh, Fuuka. Don't worry too much about what those guys said. Well, they said some things that bothered me, and there are many mysteries, like why they have Evokers, but the "hypocrisy" that the glasses guy with the Osaka dialect said is definitely not what we meant.

I mean, it's not... it's true that our motives for fighting are all personal and may not be justice, but so what? I feel like that. The other day, when we all had a fight, I realized a little bit, but if we don't do anything, the number of Lost people will increase. That's why we defeat the Shadows. What's wrong with that?

It has nothing to do with goodness or hypocrisy. The only thing we should think about now is whether to do it or not. Right? Since we've decided to do it, let's see it through to the end.

8/8 (Sat) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

Everyone, the day before yesterday was tough. Plus, summer classes start next week. Do your best there too. However, Junpei was screaming as if it was the end of the world, but was it really that much of an exaggeration? Well, it's probably hard to go to school in this heat, but it's better than studying alone, right? This is a great opportunity. Study as hard as you can.

Well, Yamagishi. Takeba is absolutely right. We have to defeat the Shadows. And they don't like that. Who cares where justice lies? If we don't fend them off, we won't be able to defeat the Shadows. So the next time we meet, we'll punch them. That's all right.

Well, it's best to forget about the unpleasant encounters and cherish the pleasant ones. Koromaru... He's a new member of the team, but I have a feeling he's a rival. With his strong will to protect his master and his fighting strength as a wild animal, if I'm not careful, I'll be left behind.

Just watch me, Koromaru. I'm not giving you my spot as a regular fighting member!

8/9 (Sun) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

It's Kirijo.

Koromaru seems to have settled in quickly. Takeba and Yamagishi seem to have known him for a while, and with Aigis acting as an interpreter, communication shouldn't be a problem, so it should be a good environment for Koromaru. ...It doesn't really feel like we're talking about dogs.

Now, just a quick report: after the recent defeat of the Shadows at the Army facility, it was confirmed that many of the patients suffering from Apathy Syndrome have recovered. This means that we have achieved our goal this time as well. Everyone can now face the summer course without any worries. I feel bad that I have not been able to give you proper time to study until now... but no, it's all good.

8/10 (Mon) - Reporter: Aigis

Today marks the start of summer school for everyone. A supplementary class held for a certain period of time in addition to the regular class curriculum. This is especially true during the summer holidays.

Until yesterday, we were all here during the day, and we were able to gather a lot of very useful information. But today, it's just me and Koromaru.

That person, Yukari, Fuuka, Junpei, Mitsuru, and Sanada are all in summer school. Amada went to the movies with a friend from school.

During that time, how can I put it... this feeling. While everyone was out, I talked with Koromaru, and we had a fairly fruitful conversation. Compared to yesterday, there should be no difference other than the density of information acquired, but I felt uneasy, so perhaps I should call it instability.

This must be because the person I was supposed to protect was outside my operational range.

8/11 (Tue) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Uh... it's Junpei...

Second day of summer school... I can't take it, I'm going to die. I can't take it... Why do I have to study even on my days off?!

Aigis, you're thinking about troublesome things. I guess logic takes precedence because you're a robot. In those cases, you should just say "I'm lonely".

Well, it's Takeba.

Junpei...that's so lame!

When on earth did you say that, like "on the verge of shorting out"? I really want to ask if Aigis even has a circuit breaker.

So...what's going on? Haha, I'm still a bit curious about Aigis's body structure. How does she create her mind? Her way of speaking and what she's saying are weird, but when you talk to her face to face, she's really just like a human. I want to know...won't she explode if she touches on something confidential?

Oh, that's right. It's been a while since I've reported, and it's about Koro-chan's food. Fuuka was also saying this the other day, but what should we do about Koro-chan's meal duties? For now it looks like Kirijo-senpai is preparing the food, but we can't just leave it like that, right? Right now, excluding Amada-kun, there are exactly seven of us, so how about we draw lots to decide which days of the week to have them on duty and then have them take turns? Looking for opinions! This was Takeba.

8/13 (Thu) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

Well, regarding Koro-chan's dinner yesterday, we had a quick meeting in the evening and pretty much decided what to make, so I'll record it here.

The day of the week for feeding Koro-chan is decided by drawing lots at the beginning of the month. The assigned duty list will be posted on the bulletin board near the counter, so please don't forget to check it.

Also, his food is dog food. Since Koro-chan is a member of SEES, I'm relieved that the Kirijo Group will be replenishing it regularly.

It would be no good if he couldn't eat the essential food, and Koro-chan would become fat and unable to fight. Also, those of you who have never had a pet probably don't know this, but there are some foods that you shouldn't feed animals. I'll post a list of these on the bulletin board, so please be careful. That's all.

8/14 (Fri) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

Everyone seems to be working hard in the summer classes.

Yamagishi and Takeba look cool, but what about Junpei...? I know it's hot, but I don't think he'd be so exhausted... That's right! Maybe he's suffering from summer fatigue? When it's hot, you lose your appetite. But when it's hot, you tend to lose more energy than usual.

Junpei usually only eats instant foods and fast food, so it's no wonder he was hit by summer fatigue.

Well, I can't cook you anything nutritious, but I can give you a share of my secret powdered protein? Junpei loves ramen, so you can easily make ramen to prevent summer fatigue by adding it to your regular cup noodles.

Yeah, that's right. I'll give it a try tomorrow. Everyone else, take care of your health, okay? Your body is your capital.

8/15 (Sat) - Reporter: Aigis

Junpei is broken.

Both Mitsuru and Sanada were out, so Yukari, Fuuka, and I tried to treat him, but we were unable to do anything about our lack of medical skills... He ended up recovering on his own. It's unfortunate.

Mr. Junpei started acting strange after ingesting the cup noodles he had for dinner, so we took into account the possibility of terrorist contamination and temporarily went into battle mode... but after checking yesterday's report, we have now discovered the cause.

The first level of alert has been lifted. P.S. Junpei is very angry.

8/16 (Sun) - Reporter: Aigis

Although it is the second day in a row, today, at my earnest request, I have been given the opportunity to give a military operations report.

After donning the second-class special armor "Yukata", we moved from the headquarters to the operational area. The special mission "Summer Festival" began. The platoon size was only two people. I am Aigis, a humanoid tactical weapon, and my superior is Mitsuru Kirijo, the director of SEES.

During the journey, we were pushed around by a group of civilians, but thanks to instructions from our superior officer that we should just go along with the flow, we managed to escape unscathed.

The mission had begun.

The target "Goldfish scooping" was discovered. A rescue mission. I immediately used special equipment called poi to attempt to rescue the goldfish, but the mission was extremely difficult... and it was a suicide mission. As expected, it was impossible for me, an anti-shadow weapon, to carry out an anti-goldfish rescue operation.

The next was objective shooting. This is my specialty. I immediately received a firearm that I had no knowledge of, and also obtained five rounds of ammunition. They were called cork. At this point, it was assumed that it would be difficult to secure the accuracy required for carrying out the mission, so I asked for permission to use the triple-barreled Albiore, but I was not given permission. I had no choice but to try sniping with the gun I had secured earlier, but the mission was extremely difficult... and I was completely destroyed.

Next, I saw the target "ring toss". It is a special task to throw a ring and if the ring passes through the target, you can capture the target. This kind of precision work is my forte, and based on my previous experience, I approached the mission with full vigilance and preparedness... it was no good. If the maximum diameter of the target is larger than the ring diameter, there is nothing that can be done. It's cheating.

The next confirmed target was "balloon fishing". I will omit the detailed history of the operation. It is impossible to secure an underwater target with a towing device that is wet and easily torn. It is cowardly.

The target cutter shop was called, "Mold Cutting." The details of the operation were also abbreviated. The purpose of the mission was not clear. Are we going to eat it? Destroy it? Is it because it breaks?

8/18 (Tue) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

After that, the mission ended. The results were zero. The special mission "Summer Festival" was a failure. However, when I said so, Mitsuru-san said, "This is what a festival is." It is profound. I intend to try the operation again next year after sufficient training.

8/17 (Mon) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Well, it's Takeba.

It seems like Aigis and Kirijo-senpai had fun at the festival yesterday. Unfortunately, I couldn't go to the festival because I had another appointment with a friend. I left my yukata at my parents' house.

Anyway, I had a really disappointing experience today. Uuuu. Well, it's not like who's to blame, it's more like I brought it on myself.

Today, when I was making dinner, I took my eyes off the pot for a second and it burned... So, since it would be a shame to throw it away, I decided to give it to Koro-chan. Oh, of course I washed it properly and tried to make sure it wasn't too strong in flavor, but Koro-chan just smelled it and turned away... I lost all confidence.

Well, that's ok. As I said before, it was my fault for trying to feed him my failed creation. The thing that pissed me off the most was, hmm... I think I shouldn't complain because she was trying to comfort him. Oh well, I'll just say it.

Umm, Fuuka... I'm sorry but saying "Don't worry, Yukari's usual cooking will be enough for Koro-chan!" isn't much of a comfort. And then Junpei laughed out loud. I'll kill you later.

Good evening, Yamagishi here.

Sorry, Yukari-chan.

I'm not very good at following up like this, and I always fail... But it's true that Yukari-chan's food is always delicious. I've never even cooked rice. I think Yukari-chan is great.

Oh, speaking of Koro-chan's food, the Chairman of the board was here today and said that we should think about a rich diet, but is it really no good to just eat dog food?

I'll add to the rules for Koro-chan's meal duty that if you can cook, please try to make as many different dishes as possible.

8/19 (Wed) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

This is Kirijo.

I don't have anything in particular to report or communicate today. Everyone seems to have gone to bed early, so I'm enjoying a quiet night.

…If it was a little cooler now, I'd like to go on a tour or something. Do you all have any hobbies?

I think it's important to forget about fighting and enrich your mind every now and then.

Oh, by the way, a few days ago, they started a film festival at Screenshot, the cinema in front of Port Island Station. Apparently you can enjoy a variety of films based on a different theme each day. If I have the time, I'll go and check it out.

8/20 (Thu) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

There are only 10 days left of summer vacation, but... I'm getting a little worried when I see you guys. Well, I don't think it's right to call everyone "you guys". I'll name you... I'm sorry, as always, but Junpei.

Are you okay with your homework?

No, I know. You're not okay, are you?

Today, you were out for a long time, and you came home with a dazed look on your face, and fell asleep, right? As soon as you got back to your room, I heard you snoring.

To begin with, I've never seen you doing your homework this summer. If you don't get started on it already, it will affect the shadow fight, okay?

Also, the leader is a bit tricky... have you done your homework properly? You seem to be doing it calmly, but in fact it seems like you're not doing anything... It's hard to read your facial expressions.

Anyway, academics come first. On top of that, I'd like to ask for your cooperation in the activities club.

8/21 (Fri) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Hey, Junpei here.

I'm sorry for making you worry so much, Sanada-san.

Well, about my homework... as you can imagine, I haven't done it at all!

Hahahaha... haha.

Well, it doesn't look like I'll be able to finish it in the few days left, so I'm in a mood of giving up, or maybe I'm just giving up. What should I do?

But did I look that dazed yesterday? Well, I saw something a little strange, so my thoughts were focused on that.

Hmm. Sanada-san, I don't think this is the case, but do you know a lot about gothic lolita... no way. Is this Yukari-chan's thing?

Oh, no, even if I know what the clothes are like, it's not like it's going to change anything.

Hmm. Actually, I wonder what I want to do. …I don't know.

8/22 (Sat) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

Junpei-kun... I wonder what's wrong with you suddenly showing interest in gothic lolita? Lolita... is it short for Gothic Lolita? Maybe... Otaku... Ah, no. Everyone has their own hobbies... Kirijo-senpai said the same thing a few days ago. Yeah, it's okay!

Oh, by the way, I went to the film festival Kirijo-senpai mentioned today! Today was a musical special. We listened to a lot of great songs and went together... Well, my friend and I were walking to the rhythm for a while after we left the cinema.

I'd like to go again.

8/23 (Sun) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Uh, this is Takeba.

Before we knew it, it's already less than two weeks until the next full moon. And there's only one week left until the end of summer vacation... Hehehe, Junpei. I wonder if you're doing okay with your homework?

Of course, I do it every day. Fuuka also has a strict schedule and seems to be doing well. Maybe the leader is doing a good job too? So the only one who hasn't done his homework is... Junpei. Hehe.

I'm worried about the homework, but I'm more worried about the next Shadow. There are rumors that the number of Apathy Syndrome patients is increasing here and there. I wish I could attack without waiting for the full moon... It's so frustrating. This was Takeba.

8/24 (Mon) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

I know it's a bit sudden to say this, but it's hard to move people's hearts. Well... I just wanted to ask a certain guy for a favor. I've been trying all sorts of things... However, I am not good at such things, so all I can do is ask them directly, but no matter how many things I try to say, I can't get anyone to nod their head. I could just say that I wasn't sincere enough, but...people's feelings are difficult.

By the way, I heard from Yamagishi that Amada was feeling a bit exhausted from the summer heat today. Is he okay? Even though I'm taking care of a child from the elementary school dormitory, if I were to get sick and go home, I'd be scolded by the dorm mother there. Maybe I should wait and see how it goes tomorrow.

Everyone else, are you in good health? As Takeba said yesterday, the second semester will start soon, and the full moon will be right after that. Make sure you take good care of yourself.

8/25 (Tue) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Hi, it's Junpei.

Well, there's only less than a week left of summer vacation. How is everyone doing? It's Junpei Iori Hour... I don't have time to do that.

Wow, what should I do now? Every year I think, I wish I had done it sooner. But there are so many things to enjoy at the beginning of summer vacation, right? The end of the term and classes are over, and there's a great sense of freedom, right? It can't be helped, right?

…Oh, by the way, the mail order I ordered arrived today. Ryuko Tabi socks! I like this look, this sense! This is not escapism…

8/26 (Wed) - Reporter: Aigis

It feels like there's a unique tension in the dorm. Could it be that the end of summer vacation is affecting it?

Is it because of the end of summer vacation that Junpei is holding his head every day or sinking into the sofa in a daze?

Now that I think about it, the most important thing to me is to be by his side, but once summer vacation is over and school starts, that won't be possible...

The other day, when we went to the summer festival, Mitsuru praised me for my city-compatible camouflage, saying it was almost perfect. In that case...no, it's nothing. I'm a machine, after all...

8/27 (Thu) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

I wonder what happened to Aigis? Is there something bothering you? Hmm, maybe it's not a good idea to ask here...huh? What? …Ah, yeah. I see.

Oh, sorry. Yukari was with us just now and we were talking for a bit. Um, I'm a bit worried about Aigis, so we've decided to talk to her directly tomorrow.

8/29 (Sat) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Well, since this is an activity report, I should say something. Oh, that's right. They said on TV that the weather database server crashed due to a flood of accesses from elementary school students trying to find out the weather for summer vacation. There are a lot of kids like Junpei.

8/28 (Fri) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

It's Kirijo.

I was a bit surprised by Ikutsuki's request today. I never thought it would happen...

As of today, it has been decided that Ken Amada from Gekkoukan Elementary School will join the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. It is his... strong wish.

The Chairman says that he has plenty of potential, and his Persona abilities are solid. Also, Amada himself said that he has some reason to fight. There shouldn't be... any problems.

…Takeba. I said before that I didn't want to drag Amada into the squad's activities. That was definitely my true intention. However, now that Amada has asked to join, I'm happy that our fighting force will increase and we'll be one step closer to defeating the Shadows. That's also my true intention.

For now, one thing is for sure: no matter how much he applies, Amada is still an elementary school student. We can't let him face the Shadows in the same battle as us. We should follow him as best we can and make sure nothing bad happens. I think that's what we should do most right now.

Well, Iori seems to like Amada a lot, so maybe we should ask him to look after him? Well, it might be hard to tell who's the caretaker, though.

Hi, it's Junpei.

That's not true, Kirijo-senpai. I think even I can beat an elementary school kid... well, I think I can, you know?

Even so, summer vacation is almost over. Did I find anything this summer?

I mean, you can ask someone and they'll understand, right? No, I'm not thinking about anything strange either, Yukari-chan told me to concentrate on the homework in front of me, but I can't help but feel distracted... No, there's something I've been thinking about all this time, but... ha.

It's hard to suddenly think about something you've never thought about before.

For now... how about starting a club? I'm sure Fuuka was in a cultural club. Was it the art club? Or was it something else?

But that's no good. If I just suddenly start drawing, it'll just look like I'm just trying to go along with it... Ugh, this is really troubling.

Sculpture or pottery?! No, no, it's the same thing. Think about it. Really, what do I want to do?

How did you guys find something to be passionate about, something to stake your youth on? How can you change?

8/30 (Sun) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Uh, this is Takeba.

Junpei...what really happened to you?

It just doesn't seem like you... Sorry. To be honest, it's kind of weird.

I think it would be best for you to not think too much about things and just focus on the goal in front of you.

Well, I'm sure you have your own thoughts and worries, right? It may sound cliché, but why don't you try everything you can find? You'll eventually find something. You need to act before you think! And what you need right now is your homework! Got it?

8/31 (Mon) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

Junpei, you seemed a bit strange today, didn't you? The thing I'm obsessed with is something I started doing because of someone else's influence. So, there's no need to worry about not being able to find it on your own. Do you agree that I want you to just be yourself, Junpei?

It looks like the plan to enroll Aigis that I've been secretly working on will go well. Today's uniform fitting was also a great success. The uniform looked good on her. Oh, everyone else ignored it, but it's not the school camouflage, it's the uniform.

Even so... I would have liked to see Koro-chan in his uniform.

9/1 (Tue) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

Well, the new semester finally starts today. The showdown with the large Shadow is coming soon. I've been nagging them like a mother-in-law lately, but after the holidays, people tend to let their guard down. I'm going to prepare myself thoroughly for the showdown and be fully prepared.

But still... I've been having a lot of headaches lately. Maybe I'm a little irritated and getting it out on everyone. I'll be careful.

...I might as well say it now. There is no more to Ikutsuki than everyone else, but the way Aigis was admitted and the way Amada was enlisted seem a bit... how should I put it, a bit too much cunning. No, I understand that you are eager to increase our military strength in hopes of eradicating shadows as soon as possible. However, I feel that you are being a little hasty... Anyway, the decision has been made and there is no other way. Therefore, I would like you to do your best to ensure Amada's safety and to back up Aigis's school life.

9/2 (Wed) - Reporter: Ken Amada

9/7 (Mon) - Reporter: Ken Amada

This is my first activity report. Fuuka-san told me that it's just a diary or a contact notebook, so it's okay, but is it really okay? Well, I'll tell you what happened today. Someone named Shinjiro Aragaki has come into the dorm. I don't know who he is yet. I'll make sure to find out.

9/3 (Thu) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Yay, it's Junpei!

Welcome the new member Aragaki-san!

I've met Aragaki-san a few times before. I don't know if he remembers me, but. Aragaki-san was the one who helped me out at the hangout at Port Island Station, where Yukari-chan took me the other day! And what's more, I'm so touched that Aragaki-san is a senpai who used to be in SEES!

No matter if the opponent is a delinquent or a shadow, as long as Aragaki-san is there, it's like praying to a horse's ears!... Was it a bit different?

But Amada seems a bit dissatisfied. Aragaki-san looks scary, but he's a nice guy, you know?

9/4 (Fri) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

It's Kirijo.

Well, the day of the decisive battle has come again this month. Tomorrow is the sixth full moon since the large Shadows began appearing. Are you all ready?

I'm sure everyone has their own thoughts about Aragaki's sudden new addition, or rather his return. However, Aragaki is a great addition to the group, both in terms of ability and personality.

He is a man worthy of complete trust. In short, he is a comrade you can trust on the battlefield.

Well, because of Aragaki's personality, he's probably not going to be an instant best friend, but you can accept him with peace of mind. If we deploy Aragaki on tomorrow's full moon, he'll put up a fight on par with a decisive battle weapon. I guarantee it.

9/5 (Sat) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

Recently, it's become standard for me to report on large-scale Shadow battles. Oh, no, I'm not complaining. Everyone's fighting is so amazing that I enjoy reporting on them every time.

Ah... but this time it's a bit complicated.

I'll report for now. This time's Shadow was Hermit, the Hermit Arcana. The first Shadow signal was from the Paulownia Mall. However, even when we went to the scene, I couldn't pinpoint the location, and at first I thought that there was some kind of detection interference. However, it turned out that the cable network that was spread underground had been taken over by the Shadow. After a detailed investigation, we identified the enemy at the Club Escapade underground, and the front line members began fighting and annihilated them. We had a hard time finding the enemy, but in the end it was a pretty easy victory.

However... the problem was what happened after the battle. From the beginning of this operation, Junpei was nowhere to be seen, and the Chairman said that he might simply be in that mood sometimes, but the truth was... he had been kidnapped in the dormitory by a girl who is a member of Strega.

Our operation finished faster than expected, so we were able to capture the girl when we returned to the dormitory and rescue Junpei, but...

This is Amada.

Somehow, things have become very serious.

Junpei is depressed, and the others have become silent because they can't speak to him. The whole dorm feels depressed.

Mitsuru and Sanada are in the hospital again today. They said they were just waiting to see how things went yesterday, and that the real interrogation will start today.

However, it seems they haven't gotten any information so far. We are enemies after all, so she won't sell information about her friends so easily.

Also, Yukari said that Junpei even went to the hospital room. Of course, he didn't have permission. I'm surprised he wasn't stopped and made it all the way to the hospital room. Does that mean Junpei's feelings are that strong?

I don't understand why someone would be so attached to someone who betrayed them, but there must be some circumstances that only Junpei and that Chidori person know...

9/8 (Tue) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

Today, I also participated in the interrogation of that Chidori person. This was my first time doing something like this, so I was quite nervous.

When I say interrogation, I don't mean that I questioned her or anything, I just tried to see if I could at least read her thoughts and feelings using Lucia's power. Lucia...Lucia's power is not something like telepathy, it's more like sensing the vibrations of the life of living people and animals.

Those vibrations contain emotions, and in some cases, even what the other person is thinking, in more detail than you can imagine.

But...I couldn't sense anything at all from Chidori. It was like she wasn't alive...I can't imagine being in such a dark mental state.

Also, Chidori seems to have a habit of self-harming, so I can't really explain it, but maybe she's in a state where she's kind of dead mentally.

Ah, but there has been a little progress.

No, maybe it's a huge step forward.

While I was there, Junpei came to see her. Without permission, of course. But when Junpei started talking to her, Chidori replied back!

9/26 (Sat) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Kirijo-senpai had been completely ignored by her during the interrogation up to that point, so she was a little... quite grumpy and scary... But... I feel like if Junpei is there, light will shine into that dark heart...

9/10 (Thu) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

Today, I had dinner at the dorm for the first time in a while. I spoke with Mitsuru, and we're going to put the investigation of the woman named Chidori on hold for today.

It's not that we've given up on finding out what she has to say, we just found a better way to talk to her than by interrogating her ourselves.

For the time being, I think I'll leave contact with her to Junpei. However, it's frustrating to see Junpei communicating with her so easily, when we couldn't get her to open up even with all of us.

However, I discovered something a little concerning about her. It seems to be the case with all the members of Strega, but the Personas they summon are different from ours. If you let your guard down for a moment, they'll go berserk... They're Personas that can't be controlled and will turn on those with special powers. And to stop them from going berserk, they need a "suppressant."

In fact, right in front of us today, the woman named Chidori was strangled by her own Persona. By coincidence... we were able to use a suppressant that was on hand and the Persona's rampage was stopped, but from now on, we won't be able to take our eyes off her for much longer. For her own safety, too.

As for the source of the information about the suppressant... well, anyway, Mitsuru and I will deal with that. That's all.

9/11 (Fri) - Reporter: Shinjiro Aragaki

Wha... when did SEES start acting like this? Damn.

Well, I understand that it's better to let it all out with something like this than to keep it bottled up inside. So, if you guys are doing well, it's not my problem to say anything.

I mean, why do I have to do it too...dammit.

Ah, well... it's Aragaki.

Kirijo told me to introduce myself somehow because the juniors might be worried because they don't know who I am...but honestly, this kind of thing isn't my style.

As for my Persona abilities and fighting style, I explained it to the field leader at the lounge to that guy...what was his name? If you're curious, ask him.

Then, whether it's Tartarus or the full moon strategy, just see how I fight and make your own judgment. I've come back to lend you my strength.

I'll fight if you ask me.

Oh, and then... I've known Aki since we were kids. I've known Kirijo since middle school... no, since my first year of high school. ...My birthday has already passed. It's August. ...My blood type is A, and my hobby is Ryo... so this just isn't my style, hurry up! I'm done!

9/12 (Sat) - Reporter: Aigis

Koromaru-san has some additional information to add about Aragaki-san's self-introduction yesterday, so I, Aigis, will make the remarks on his behalf.

Aragaki-san is a kind person who will feed you if you're hungry. He makes his food by hand, and it's said to be nutritious and excellent. He also bought Koromaru-san's high-end dog food with his own money today. From my point of view, I think it's fair to say that he's a kind person.

By the way, changing the subject, according to Yukari-san, Junpei-san is currently giving off a "smell of happiness." Since I don't have a sensory organ that corresponds to the sense of smell, I can only guess from the situation, but does this refer to the sudden elation or dazed state that Junpei-san sometimes fell into? If so, the answer is yes. The smell of happiness is leaking out everywhere.

9/13 (Sun) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

He's just leaking out... Oh well, it's good to be happy. More than that, I'm happy that Junpei-kun is feeling better. It's painful to see him so depressed after all.

By the way, wasn't Aragaki-senpai's birthday last month? I'm sorry I couldn't celebrate it with you. I'll make sure I remember next year.

9/14 (Mon) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

It's Kirijo.

Aragaki... I did ask you to say something to the juniors when you introduced yourself, but what you said just made them more anxious than relieved... Fortunately, everyone seems to understand, but even though you're on a break, you're already in your third year of high school. If you don't learn to use language that suits others, you'll be in trouble in the future.

Well, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude. Thanks to you coming back, the atmosphere surrounding SEES has become more consistent. I'll be counting on you in the future.

Also... this is more to do with school events than squad contact, but as you all know, this weekend is the school festival. Some of you may already be busy preparing for it. However, I want you to remember that we always have a responsibility to fight Shadows.

Well, to put it simply, every year there are always students who stay overnight at school to prepare for the cultural festival, but they should never do this because it could affect their chances of going to Tartarus. Also, as the student council president, I will not tolerate such violations of the rules, so be prepared. Students are only allowed to stay overnight on the day before the cultural festival. Until then, everyone must go home by 8pm. Got it?

9/15 (Tue) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Hmm, this is Takeba.

It feels like it's been a while since I've been reporting here. It's been a week, I think?

No, I haven't stayed overnight like Kirijo-senpai said. But the archery club I'm in has been gathering early in the morning to prepare for the school festival, which also doubles as morning practice, so I've gotten into the habit of going to bed early lately. I'm still a bit sleepy.

Well, our plan is to have a coffee shop, so it's not that much work to prepare. Tomorrow, we're all planning to decide on our outfits for the day. We've already arranged to buy drinks, prepared the tableware, and pretty much everything else, so I feel like we'll be able to get to the day with ease.

However...I think a typhoon is approaching. Hmm, we've been working hard to prepare, so I hope it doesn't get cancelled or postponed due to the typhoon. Anyway, if it goes ahead without any problems, we'll have a great waitress service, so please come. This was Takeba.

9/16 (Wed) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Um, this is Takeba...

No, I said that yesterday, correction, cancellation.

In fact, I feel like the school festival is going to be canceled because of the typhoon. I don't know if it's a trend or something, but why do we have to wear maid outfits? I'll never call you master! Seriously!

9/17 (Thu) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

I'm not very knowledgeable about what's trending, so this may be a very basic question, but can I ask you something?

Takeba, is there any difference between a waitress and a maid? In my mind, I don't think there's much difference. I just can't understand why someone would agree to be a waitress at a coffee shop, and then reject the idea of ​​becoming a maid to that extent... I guess I should be interested in things other than boxing and Tartarus, like Akiba-style things... hobbies that young people like?

9/18 (Fri) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Hi, Junpei here. Sanada-san...I'm not saying anything mean, but I think you should stay the way you are. That world is really deep... That's right, if I had to say, it's a man's romance. Romance written in kanji, not katakana. It's not about the appearance, it's about the situation involving human relationships! That's the romance of maid outfits!

I don't think anyone in the dorm wants to see Sanada-san talking so passionately about this sort of thing though.

Anyway, the school festival got cancelled because of the typhoon, so it doesn't matter if she wears a maid outfit or a nurse outfit. Ah, what a shame. I kind of wanted to see Yukari-chan in her maid outfit. It might be the biggest mistake of my life to miss her welcoming me with three fingers folded and saying "master."

Even so... Amada seemed a bit strange today. I wonder if he's okay. He said he was going to the shrine to pray in this torrential rain... He was joking, right?

9/19 (Sat) - Reporter: Aigis

There is a typhoon with wind speeds of 50 meters per second within the storm zone. There is no need to worry about a tsunami. However, this is a major concern for someone important to me.

Yesterday, he got wet on his way home from school, and perhaps because of poor treatment afterwards, he is completely bedridden and is slightly unconscious.

Early this morning, I called out to him from outside his room, but he didn't respond, so I tried to monitor him through the door and determined that he had a high fever. With my knowledge and skills, I was unable to provide effective treatment, so I asked Yukari and Fuuka to help, and they took various measures. We used somewhat illegal methods to enter the room.

His breathing has now calmed down a little, and his condition has stabilized, but we cannot be complacent. Blood or bodily fluids may spurt out at any time. Don't let your guard down, as fires will grow wild.

I have asked Koromaru-san to keep an eye on him and keep a record of what happened. I will continue caring for him again tomorrow.

9/20 (Sun) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Well, it's Takeba.

About the topic from the day before yesterday...Junpei, should I give you a three-finger poke? To the eyeball.

You always say stupid things... In the end, I'll tell your beloved Chidorita. Junpei-kun usually makes sexually harassing remarks like this.

Now, the second day of the typhoon. The rain seems to have calmed down compared to yesterday, but the wind was really strong. It would blow a small roof. Well, we're out of the storm zone now. It'll probably be sunny tomorrow.

Well, the typhoon was tough, but it seems like the leader's fever is really bad. Yesterday morning, Aigis asked me to teach her all the basics of nursing, but I wonder if I've been doing it properly since then? Hmm, maybe I should take care of him too... But seeing Aigis' enthusiasm, I feel bad about interfering... Well, I'll let you know if I need help. Take care of yourself, Leader. This was Takeba.

9/21 (Mon) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

The typhoon has passed and today was a beautiful sunny day. It felt great.

I was worried about our leader's cold, but thanks to Aigis's care, he seems to have made a full recovery. Everyone, please enjoy your break and recharge your batteries.

9/22 (Tue) - Reporter: Junpei Iori

Hi, Junpei here.

The typhoon has passed and the sky is clear and blue today!

It was a perfect day for going out. This is unrelated, but until I was in middle school, I thought "after a typhoon" meant "a typhoon family"!

But it's good that the typhoon passed by so quickly. After all, it's a four-day holiday! The typhoon ruined one day, but we still have three days left! Today is the third day of the holiday, and I'm still happy that I still have another day off tomorrow... how nice.

So today I went to visit Chidorita feeling wonderfully invincible!

Well, Chidorita was a friend of those Strega guys after all, so what I talked about with Chidorita was what their leader's face looked like, and things like that are important information, right? I have an obligation to report that in this activity report, as the ace of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, Junpei Iori!

Well, Chidorita has really started to laugh cutely lately. Even today, when I made a joke, he said, "Oh no, Junpei!"

Well... as usual, she doesn't talk about the Strega guys. I guess it's fine if she's fed up with them already, but I wonder if she's still thinking about protecting them...

9/23 (Wed) - Reporter: Mitsuru Kirijo

It's Kirijo.

Hey, Iori. I know you're feeling elated, but if you go too far, it could be a big problem. No...I'm not so narrow-minded as to be jealous of other people's happiness, and I honestly want to congratulate you on your happiness. But, generally speaking, you never know what's going to happen between a man and a woman. I'm not saying that you can't be popular or anything like that...oh...sorry.

Anyway, don't forget that she's only being held as a member of Strega. Your primary purpose is to gather information about them. It's because of that pretext that you're allowed to meet her alone. ...I don't mean to go that far, but Aragaki said that you should learn from your past deception.

I think you know, but we don't want to see our comrades get hurt. Physically or mentally. Ah, but Aragaki also said this. Apparently, if you're so soft on women, you should just go ahead and chase them no matter how many times they deceive you.

9/24 (Thu) - Reporter: Akihiko Sanada

The long weekend is over, and classes resume today. I hope everyone is not falling asleep during class because of the holidays.

Well, I'm worried about your studies, but more importantly, there are only 10 days left until the full moon. It's about time you started preparing for that. Recently, every channel I turn on the TV is full of programs about Apathy Syndrome. It's just a feeling, but it feels like the number of sufferers is increasing again. That means the power of the next Shadow we'll fight is increasing proportionately. As expected, with only three left, they're probably desperate. There's no harm in training too much. Let's keep going until the full moon!

9/25 (Fri) - Reporter: Fuuka Yamagishi

Good evening, this is Yamagishi.

I hope it's just my imagination... but doesn't Amada-kun seem a little down lately? It feels like he's often alone in his room. The leader just had a bad cold the other day, so I hope Amada-kun isn't sick either...

Also, speaking of being alone, Aragaki-senpai is always alone too. Even though we're in the same lounge, he sits a little far away. I asked him about it, and he said that's the way he does things, so not to worry... it bothers me, but maybe I shouldn't say anything? It feels like he's watching over something from a distance.

Come to think of it, Junpei-kun has been going out alone a lot lately too. That's... well, um... haha, it's better not to say anything. You'll get kicked to death by a horse. Anyway, it's just a little longer until the full moon. Everyone, please take care of yourself and train hard.

Well, it's Takeba.

I saw some horrible news today. Tatsumi Memorial Hospital is over capacity due to the number of patients with Apathy Syndrome! It seems they are asking nearby hospitals for help with transferring patients, but I think the situation will probably be the same...

I wonder how strong the next big Shadow will be. If we don't really stay on their toes, we'll be defeated. ...Are you listening, Junpei?

He's been acting all lovey-dovey with her lately, and I'm worried if he'll be a valuable asset. Well, if it comes down to it, there won't be any problems at all even if we don't take him.

If you want to look good in front of Chidori, you should do your job properly, right?

Oh, on a completely different topic, I just happened to come across this scene. Aragaki-senpai was eating gyudon in the lounge. The way he ate was truly mesmerizing, you could almost hear the sound of him munching, munching, munching! It looked so wild and delicious. The other day Sanada-senpai said that Aragaki-senpai is a good cook, but it seems that people who like cooking tend to be big eaters too. Or rather, I'm one of them too...

Well, autumn is the season for appetites. Let's eat something delicious without putting on weight. This was Takeba.

9/27 (Sun) - Reporter: Aigis

Finally, there is only one week left until the full moon. Is everyone fully prepared for battle? There are only three Shadows left. The next Arcana expected to appear is Fortune, a type blessed with divine good fortune who excels at tricky attacks. In contrast, the only effective tactic is to annihilate them using overwhelming force that is not influenced by luck. It is best to make every effort to increase our power.

That aside, according to Mitsuru's report, it has been confirmed that the school festival will not be postponed but canceled. This is very unfortunate. For me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn about student life...

I was also interested in the special weapon maid uniforms that can only be worn during the school festival. I can only pray that I will have another chance.

By the way, Junpei was at the hospital today too. But I won't go into the details.

9/28 (Mon) - Reporter: Yukari Takeba

Well, it's Takeba. It's not long until the full moon, but everyone seems pretty calm. It's really reassuring to have all the original members here.

Well, leaving aside that one restless person. First of all, Junpei is annoying. Noisy, irritating, bothersome. Read the mood. This was Takeba.

<-PREVIOUS ● NEXT->

[nyastri]

Director's cut for Downfall but Make it Guanaco because it was really fun to write and I want to share some of the details that I put into it. This fic is about the downfall timeline being the equivalent of El Salvador.

~~~~~~~~~

Although Legend was "revealed" to be Salvadorian like Hyrule at the very end of the fic, there are a few hints I threw in before to show that Legend is also Salvadorian.

“Puchica, Rulie,” Legend muttered. “You’re stubborn. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, you know.”

Puchica is used in El Salvador as an expression like "jeez" or "shoot".

“Chanclas are terrifying,” Legend agreed. “But I’d argue cinchos are worse.”

The proper term for belt is "cinturón" but it's often shortened to cinto. However, in El Salvador, cincho is said instead of cinto.

Hyrule kneeled in front of him and used his lips to point at the captain’s irritated skin.

[...] “Hey! Wind insisted on following me. Said he wanted to see the town,” the veteran explained and pointed with his lips at their youngest brother.

Both Hyrule and Legend point at things with their lips, which is a habit that many latinos have.

The traveler smiled, “Yup! We’re best cheros.”

The Subrosian tilted her head, to which Legend clarified, “Best friends. We’re best friends.”

Chero is a Salvadorian word that means close friend, and while the Subrosian (who speaks a different dialect of Spanish) doesn't understand what that word means, Legend immediately does and is able to explain to the Subrosian what it means.

~~~~~~~~~

Ok, now onto other fun facts about me writing this!

“ Chelito !” Hyrule said, laughing lightly while the veteran sputtered in protest.

Warriors frowned slightly, trying to decipher what chele meant. Was it an insult, somehow? Maybe it had something to do with skin, since that’s what the subject was before?

Chele refers to someone who is fair-skinned and generally blond, it's not an insult.

The veteran scoffed, “You’re one to talk, you know. You’re barely trigueño . [...] you’re blondish! And you have colored eyes!”

Trigueño is someone who has lighter olive skin. I personally headcanon Hyrule with light olive skin, hazel eyes, and brownish blond hair. It's completely possible for a latino to have traits like this, and, along with Legend looking "white", I think it's a nice way to show how diverse a latino can look.

“Babosos,” Legend muttered, “We're surrounded by babosos. What paja is this?”

"Baboso" is like a way of saying "dummies", and in this context, Salvadorians use "paja" as the equivalent of "nonsense".

Legend snorted, “Cabal.”

Cabal basically means "exactly"

"Chanclas are definitely the scariest thing I’ve faced,” Hyrule finished.

“Chanclas are terrifying,” Legend agreed. “But I’d argue cinchos are worse.”

The traveler scoffed, “No, chanclas are the scariest. They can be thrown! Have you seen the aim some people have?”

“Okay, sure, but cinchos are long range too!”

I feel like chanclas are generally used by moms, while cinchos (belts) are generally used by dads. Since Hyrule was disciplined by Impa, she would use a chancla on him. But since Legend was raised by his uncle, he would use a belt on him. That's why Hyrule is most scared of a chancla while Legend is most scared of a belt.

Wind had to admit that Wild’s era was colder than he was used to, but it was bearable. Even though he was used to tropical heat, he had enough experience with cold ocean breezes that he wasn’t completely unprepared for cooler weather as the group walked through Hyrule Field.

But the same could not be said about Hyrule.

I specifically chose Wind for this passage because I wanted someone who would be more affected by "chilly" weather than the others but wouldn't react as strongly as Hyrule did. I based Wind's era off of Hawaii, and when I looked into Hawaii's weather, I noticed that it can have a bit of cool weather but is still generally warm (sorry if I'm wrong about that), so I figured Wind would be perfect.

Even Wind, who was the most used to humid weather, wasn't fairing as well as the veteran. The sailor was nowhere as badly affected as the others, but he still had to roll up his long sleeves despite having one of the lightest outfits.

This paragraph is from later in the fic, when the chain is in Hyrule's era and everyone except for Hyrule and Legend are suffering from the intense heat. Following what I was saying about weather in Hawaii, while it can be hot and humid there, it's not as hot and humid as El Salvador (once again, sorry if I'm wrong about that). So while Wind is mostly fine, he can definitely still feel the affects of the heat.

After another ten or so minutes of walking, Sky had nearly passed out twice. His vision was getting blurry and he doubted he was walking straight considering how dizzy he felt. When he looked at Wild, he saw that the champion wasn’t doing well either. He kept almost-falling and his tunic was thoroughly soaked in sweat.

This paragraph again takes place when the chain is in Hyrule's era. Sky lives in, well, the sky, an extremely cold place, so he has never experienced humidity and in general doesn't handle heat well. As for Wild, he's one of the only members of the chain who has experienced humid heat because of his Faron region, which is tropical jungle. However, scars don't sweat, and considering half Wild's body is covered in scars, he is at a much higher risk of heat stroke and thus is one of the most affected by the heat. Thank you Mel for that tip!

“My era is really hot,” [Hyrule] explained. “Something about the equator, I think. It never gets this cold.”

Hyrule isn't the best educated, and although one of his Zeldas probably told him, he kind of forgets. Who has time to remember geography when you can learn sword fighting instead?

“Now, we separate the masa into balls. Then we poke a hole in them and stuff it with the cheese and beans and flatten it.”

Hyrule demonstrated the technique, although when he flattened the dough some of the stuffing fell out. He let out a sheepish laugh and glanced at Wild.

[...] Some of the stuffing fell out of several of the pupusas (the ones made by Hyrule, specifically)

Here I'm just feeding the "Hyrule can't cook" agenda, lol

~~~~~~~~~

This was a really fun fic to write! Hope you guys enjoyed reading about my thought process.

@starwolfie Thank you for the Wild suggestion!

[puckpocketed]

27/10/2024 - ANA @ NJD

yoink!

gif description and some rambling commentary under the cut.

[ID: Gifset of Anaheim Ducks player Trevor Zegras (#11) vs the New Jersey Devils; the sequence is a takeaway beginning in the Ducks' d-zone. Devils forward Jack Hughes (#86) cuts across the points to receive a pass from teammate Johnathan Kovacevic (#8).

Simultaneously, Zegras steps up to challenge him. As Hughes attempts to escape the pressure Zegras pokes the puck out from under his stick. The puck, now loose, jumps up. Zegras uses the heel of his trailing leg to kick it up to his awaiting stick.

Zegras then handles the puck as teammates Leo Carlsson (#91) and Olen Zellweger (#51, behind Leo) fall in to begin the transition through the neutral zone. Carlsson crosses over and comes up behind Zegras. Hughes, having had the puck stolen, circles back to attack Zegras as he crosses the blue line out to the neutral zone. Zegras sees the pressure and he drops the puck between his skates to Carlsson. /. End ID.]

loved this one. i love all takeaways of course, no matter how they're executed, whether it's via poke check or stick lift, an intercepted pass or even a well placed body check. but this one found the nuclear codes in my hindbrain: the kick. the kick. fun !! :3 i love to see players kick the puck with their skates, that's still so novel to me <33 also, the slowed down gifs are for viewing purposes but you gotta know that the entire sequence played out over 4 seconds of real time. it happened FAST and that makes it so much cooler.

do you ever think about the amazing feats of coordination these guys are pulling off. idk. sometimes i get complacent about it because it's so normal at this level of play. but then i see something like this and i'm reminded that, oh, right, they're doing sicknasty shit constantly!!!!!

speaking as someone who can barely skate in a straight line: the idea that people can be so at ease on the ice, in control of their body and stick, and furthermore so aware of where everyone else is - it absolutely blows me away. when i say i love ice hockey it's these little details. i mean it quite literally: the beautiful game!!!!

hey. hey. did you know takeaways are some kinda phantom stat? <3 well if you didn't, now you do! here's a fun little reddit thread about it. which is responding to this jfresh tweet about the subjectivity of takeaway stat tracking:

if you ever want to bring your peripheral awareness about the subjectivity of stat tracking RIGHT to the forefront of your mind, think about ice hockey i guess? also do you ever think about how other data is tracked? data that's used to inform medicine and algorithms and policy making!! EYE do! i got a friend working for my government's stats gathering arm. by their reports: it's bleak as hell. (numbers are so beautiful and real and true until you realise the people using them are imperfect humans </3 BUT THATS NOT THE POINT HERE. sorry. sorry.)

anyway! i wonder who has inflated stats because of human error/bias? probably everyone in limited capacities... but if i could ask the hockey gods to answer one question: is there a guy who is simply such an outlier because the stats people either liked him so much they credited him with too many takeaways, or they hated him so bad they simply didn't credit him with a bunch he had? curious. SO curious.

and of course, we'll never know because we can't go back in time and crack the stat tracking teams' brains open for every game day to peer inside -> check if they were being biased or not . we'd first have to decide on some final, prescriptive definition of "takeaway" to compare it to - and then where would the takeaways dialectic be?? </3

waaaahhh okay. okay. we skidded dangerously close to completely off-topic. time to steer into the skid!! yay <3 would you like a peek behind the curtain? :3

this sequence i've gifed doesn't even end in a successful zone entry (my gifed sequences rarely end in anything <3). I didn't end up gifing it but here's what happens: Leo cuts diagonally with Z instead of taking another route, and they both end up a little tightly packed near the boards as they try to cross into the o-zone. Leo holds onto the puck right up until he's at the blue line instead of taking up the passing option earlier. He passes to Z with very little space left between them, and then Kovacevic intercepts the pass to poke it out to neutral ice.

i realise this is making it sound like i think its Leo's fault the play didn't amount to some sicknasty extended o-zone time. truthfully, i don't think it was. it may have looked like he could've done something different, but that's easy to say from the comfort of my office chair. plus. i dislike results-based conclusions... just because something failed doesn't mean it wasn't a good choice to make under those circumstances.

what then are the components of a successful zone entry? speed? fakes? agility? your teammates giving you puck support? good passing? how does this differ going by each type? <- not actually asking for any answer here, i expect to do some digging myself <3 (though. if anyone has helpful papers on hand please see me in my office??) unfortunately im tired and i have gone into the relevancy DITCH with this skid (tokyo drifted into it, even!!!!) so i'll wrap it up here.

if you made it this far, expect some kind of research dump after i'm done churning through the backlogs of my favourite substack writers and podcasts and other reference materials. have you ever tried to understand something you only have the vaguest tangential irl experience with. im doing the equivalent of trying to understand the taste of black tea and the effects of caffeine, whilst having only ever had decaff vanilla lattes.

[kurishiri]

Hello! I hope you're doing well. You are truly doing the fandom a service with your translations🙏 As an impatient EN player, they help in so many ways. I also enjoy when you add footnotes that explain some nuances! Would it be okay to ask how you went about learning JP, how long it's been since you started, and if you have any tips for beginners? Reading your and judemoonsbeauty's translations was the final push I needed to start learning the language but aaa~ it's sometimes so overwhelming TT

Oh, and what is it like to play both the JP and EN version? Do you have a slightly more critical way of reading the EN version because you're comparing it to your translations or is that not on your mind?

ANYWAYS this is getting a bit long~ but really, thank a lot for what you're doing for the fandom🫶

helloo anon! wow your words flatter me, this means a lot to me to hear 😳🤍 i will tell ciele too! i’ll put my answers below a cut if its okie — it got pretty long for me too, heh. sorry in advance if anythings worded awkwardly!

how i learned japanese and when i started

its a mix of classroom setting and self teaching for me! jp wasnt offered as a language option at our school before undergrad, so from maybe middle school ish on? i taught myself hiragana and katakana with quizlet, some kanji as well.

i learned very basic grammar and vocabulary while being self-taught, but most of it was gained from the classroom setting during undergrad. i also worked as a japanese tutor. and i took classes solely in jp. everything — and i mean everything — but explanation of important projects and whatnot probably, was done in jp.

my prof from those classes basically trained all of us to read entire texts in jp in a relatively short amount of time and be able to understand what was going on. its the process of learning to not get caught up in every individual word you may not know and using context clues, and this does take time! but it would be no exaggeration to say this has helped me read ikevil jp. atp i think i can read a story in ikevil jp at a similar pace as i do in en (maybe a tad slower) without a translator, and understand what’s going on.

tips for beginners learning japanese

if you ask me, i would not try to read games or stories like ikevil in japanese right off the bat. i can guarantee you doing so is your one way stop to getting overwhelmed and potentially having the opposite effect. ik its tempting, but those are catered to native jp speakers and assume you have cultural knowledge as well, as is evident in some parts of roger, alfons, ellis’ routes. so if you dont at least have a solid foundation in japanese, its probably gonna be a struggle. well, the most obvious example would probably be jude and how he speaks in an entirely different dialect (but one still understandable if you know the tokyo one), known as the kansai dialect.

i would suggest once you at least have hiragana and katakana learned along with some basic sentence grammar (like learning basic functions of particles like は, が, に, で, etc) to use sites that are geared to people learning japanese. the one i recommend personally is nhk. they literally exist as a resource for you to help you learn the language. as you continue, i would use the weekly news in simple japanese feature they have. its a bit of a more boring read than ikevil maybe lmao but what i like abt this is that they have furigana for all the kanji, so they’ll tell you exactly how to read a kanji character, as long as you know the hiragana alphabet. you can also listen to an article be read aloud and also hide the furigana to test how well you can read the kanji.

other resources to learn grammar and whatnot that you may find helpful would be tae kim’s guide, maggie-sensei, and jlpt-sensei. they have these comprehensive guides for grammar structures and whatnot that you may commonly see in japanese. for learning vocabulary or kanji, i would suggest using mnemonics or “image stories” and also investing some time to learn the meanings of radicals, or [部首] (bushu) in japanese.

what its like to play both jp and en

honestly im not too critical of my own work and i dont consider my work worse or better than the official translators. in the end, translating is also an art; the same prompt can yield different results for each person. in the end, the official translations are just another interpretation of the same text, with an added layer of localization to cater to the western audience and perhaps some limitations due to it being a visual novel. so i dont think official tls should be considered more or less valid than any other tl out there. but i believe there are certain advantages to read fan-tls as well. for example, you can read the route in its most authentic form without much changes from the jp version. and fan translators can also use footnotes to explain certain nuances.

there are sometimes i read a story and can notice some things a bit lost in translation. this isnt a bad thing. its quite inevitable, in fact, seeing just how different english and japanese are as languages. but the official game doesnt have the luxury to really explain these. for example, here is one from alfons mad love end in his route.

i guess another thing is that another motivator for me is trying to make in-game feel even a bit more accessible especially content that may be behind a paywall or require grinding. i cant really afford everything and im only one person in the end, but i dont see a reason to not try and share these sorts of things if i can. ig its sorta my way of tryna contribute to the fans.

[mgopinoon]

I’m truly very sorry for the absolute ignorance of some people and that’s coming a genuine British person (North Yorkshire to be exact) but if one more pathetic anon comes on here and attacks your English skills I will scream. It’s actually very good and I easily understand it - yes some words may be a little mixed (he/her) but bloody hell its not easy to learn - tbh its hard enough for us brits to get our heads round it sometimes especially with the many different dialects and slang and that just in Yorkshire alone!!l You do extremely well considering it’s not your first language and it’s just so rude and disrespectful on every level!! 🤬🤬🤬 plus i am not that stupid to even bother asking how many of those that leave them comments can actually speak another language let alone reply in their non native tongue 🤔 of course anons feel free to correct me - I’ll happily wait. You should be proud of yourself not only for taking the time to learn English but to also use it (very well) to reply back to these ignorant anons/shippers. Bravo young lady I’m proud that you chose to learn my language as sadly I will admit I can no longer speak German (never fluently!) as I no longer live there so don’t use it anymore but I can do Yorkshire slang all day long 😂

Thank you very much for your words 💕😘. I have been answering anonymous messages for many months and since I clarified that my native language is not English, these types of messages have just started to arrive to make fun of me because I supposedly do not understand what they write to me. I know that I still have a lot to learn and sometimes there are mistakes in my writing, but if everything were incomprehensible my space would not be a place where we vent or where conversations about what is happening take place. I can only think about how closed-minded some people are and how ridiculous it is to make fun of someone who is learning a language, when some are not capable of trying.

[intheholler]

i like what you said to the other anon, 'whos to say it's even misspelled? it's our language.' because as someone who loves languages and studies them in my freetime I've been saying stuff in that vein for years. Language is man made, and by men it will continue to be made and remade-- even in ways you don't like. You just have to get over it.

Idk why so many English speakers get so up their own ass about speaking 'proper english' even when what's being said is perfectly understandable. It's these people who turn their nose up at dialects typically associated with the poor, the marginalized, and the not-white and don't see any problem with it. Like do you actually care about the fact they spelled it 'dieing' or do you just want to take cheap shots at those backwards hillbilly redneck racists or whatever you think youre doing?

i also love languages and study them in my free time! i can talk myself blue in the face about capital L "Language" as much as i can about appalachia. how cool to meet you.

my passion for language joins forces with my love of the region and its dialect often, and it's why i find myself defending it this loudly.

like, i write for a living. i KNOW proper spelling and grammar. i have a fine grasp on it because they fuckin pay me for it.

and frankly, even though i know the "proper" way to say things, oftentimes i simply Do Not. why? appalachian dialect is easier, more natural to me.

its easier to say "them things" than "those things." it's easier to say "that" sans the "th-" when it follows a word ending in a consonant. "it don't matter" as opposed to "it doesn't matter" just feels better in my mouth. "ain't" is a word, because we speak this word and use it to communicate, and therefore it is so.

appalachians and southerners alike get accused of being lazy with our language, and so what? i love that our dialect reflects the slow way of mountain living, the freedom and ease that comes with it. it's a feature, as they say, not a bug.

sociolinguistics is absolutely a thing, as you know, so while that sort of thing gives me the liberty and wherewithal to speak in my dialect even though i """know better,""" unfortunately, there's a flipside. meaning i can't help but to think the answer to your question is in the latter half. no, they don't give a shit. but it makes them feel morally and intellectually superior over them damn uneducated hillbillies to tell us when we say shit or spell shit "wrong."

all the more reason for me to wanna do it.

this got long and out of hand. sorry. languages. appalachia. excitable. etc. thanks so much for this ask, i love the topic you introduced.

[lingering-42-long]

Plsssss

Request: Alejandro x F/Reader.

Idea: the reader is a newcomer who recently joined the Vaqueros, she has difficulties with Spanish and spends more time alone, but Alejandro stays close to her and the two begin to have a relationship in secret.

La carta

Alejandro Vargas x female reader

Thank you so much for this request Anon! The story is short, but sweet. Spanish is rather difficult for many people, including myself (switched to Swedish). Enjoy!

Spanish was translated by using google translate. Somethings may be incorrect.

I wasn’t feeling this story, but it was in my WIPs and I needed to get it out.

Warnings: none, slight angst

When you first arrived at the base, you didn’t know what to expect. Obviously, you knew that a lot of Spanish was spoken. Coming from an area of your own hometown. In the states, where Spanish isn’t as spoken quite heavily as it is here, you were not as familiar with the dialect or the lingo. On some days, it was rather trickier than others, depending on who was speaking it could very between understanding common simple phrases to something more complex. This often lead you to get very frustrated. None of the people who you were talking to but at yourself. Oh sure you had the apps on your phone to help do what you can to translate the words that were being said and you also did lessons as well to help, but it didn’t seem like there was any improvement.

People told you that going to a country would help you understand the language better, but it only seems to cause more chaos than anything else. Sometimes it was just better to sit in your own room as soon as a job is done and to try to converse with everyone at the mess hall.

Alejandro had watched your behavior from the moment you arrived on base to help out too now. He was also very perceptive on you seeing that you were doing your best to engage yourself in whatever conversation was going on. But he also saw the struggle that you were having with connecting with the other soldiers. Some of the soldiers had also taken up the liking at light teasing on your behalf, knowing that you couldn’t understand the language. Whenever Alejandro heard this immediately put an end to it, which made them shut up immediately.

It was one of those particular days where you were sitting by yourself, enjoying your meal, while a small group of other soldiers were sitting a table away, gossiping about you. Alejandro usually likes to mingle with his own crew so walking around he noticed a small group before approaching them and giving them a hard look. “ so tell me why are we picking on her again?”

As soon as he spoke, they immediately shut up and looked down at their half eaten food. “ Sorry Sir it won’t happen again.”

“It better not and if I catch you doing it again there will be consequences”

Alejandro hated seeing people be brutal to one another, especially on his team. He picked the very best of the best and he was not about ready to have his own crew tarnish the name with another group. You had volunteered to come in to help. He decided to move over to where you were, and to sit down from you. “ I hope the special forces have been treating you well.” he looked at you.

“Oh, yes, sir! They’ve been, for the most part, decent. Still having a hard time understanding everyone though.” You gave a nervous chuckle as you continued on poking at your food, not knowing what to do in the presence of the commander. “ yes, that must be rather difficult…. If you wish I could potentially help you with some of the lingo around I understand that it can be rather difficult.” he smiled at her.

“ I would really appreciate it, sir but you don’t have to spend your time wasting it on me. Honestly, I can figure it out on my own.”

“Nonsense! You would not be wasting my time maybe after lunch you can head to my office and I can give you some documents to look over and you can do your best to decipher them” Alejandro wanted to help this new recruit. It felt odd for you. You were so used to doing things without the need our help with the commanding officer. You’re always told to do and to figure things out by yourself as that builds character. This new approach of somebody helping you was unique.

“Then sir, I will be more than happy to see you after lunch” you smile as he got up to continue his rounds.

“ good! See you around two?”

“yes, sir.” You nodded.

“ all right then, enjoy your meal” and once again, Alejandro carried on with talking with the other staff and soldiers.

It was around two when you finally were able to make it to his office. He brushed off any invisible dirt that was on your uniform before knocking on the door.

“Come in” his voice muffled from the wall.

You open the door and stepped into his office. It was a clean space with a large wooden desk with the Mexican flag pinned to the wall. A few small trophies and medals hung on their placards but overall it was pretty scarce. Not much to give away than any other desk or office that was on base. The name plaque was the only real thing that separated him from the others, with the golden letters spelling Colonel Alejandro Vargas.

You sat down on the chair across from him and waited for him to speak. Alejandro was reading some papers before handing them to her. “Can you read this?” He asked, allowing her to see what was written.

You shook your head, “no sir, I see a few words I’m familiar with but full sentences.”

He hummed “Ok then, let’s start with the basics… Hola, como estas?” He asked.

You smiled “that means hello, how are you.”

“¡Muy bien!” He smiled “now when you want to respond, you can say, Estoy bien, witch means I am good. Or Estoy mal, witch means I am bad witch can be used for in place of not feeling good.”

“Ok.” You took mental note.

As it to begin building a closer and closer, with Alejandro, helping her with her Spanish, practicing at least two hours a day, the two begin to develop a very close relationship. There was talk amongst the other staff about how close the two were, but most were pretty much shut up by Rudy. He was the only one who knew how close the colonel was attached to this new girl.

You were sitting in your dorm. You knew where the relationship was going. You had a suspicion for a while, that Alejandro was potentially showing.

Sighing, she got up and walked to the mess hall. A place, especially during this night would allow her to think. Most people were asleep, so it was quiet. Just as she was sitting down, a figure appeared. “Hola mi querida ¿Despierta tan tarde?” The figure, by now was recognized as Alejandro, asked as he was making his nightly rounds from his office to his own quarters. “Oh- sorry sir you startled me.”

“My dear… you know you don’t need to call me that.”

“I know…” you sighed “someone is going to catch us… this is getting dangerous Ale”

Without second thought, Alejandro hugged her. “My love, I won’t let them find out.”

“It takes one word… then it’s over for both of us.” Tears formed on your eyes.

Alejandro gently kissed her and cupped her cheek. “Trust me, my dove”

“I do but… I worry.” You sighed.

“ Listen just go to bed everything will be all right” he continued on rocking her in his arms.

After a few minutes of them, just being together, she separated yourself “good night Alejandro”

“Good night mi corazón” he responded sweetly as he let her go.

You made your way back to your bedroom. There was a plan in mind. You couldn’t be here you couldn’t risk hurting both of you and Alejandro’s reputation. You had given Rudy a letter to give to Alejandro in the morning.

In the morning, Rudy delivered the letter to his friend and Colonel. Alejandra open the letter, and it read: “ To my Love, i’m so sorry to do this. I wanted to tell you sooner, but I didn’t know how I know this is going to break your heart and our trust but I feel like this is the best option. I got called to work in another division. I know this is very painful for both of us just as our relationship was starting…. But because I love you so much I didn’t want you to suffer. Our relationship was very risky and I didn’t want us to suffer from it. I love you so much Ale… please remember that. Love, (y/n)”

Alejandro closed the letter and stared outside. Love was hard, he knew that… he wished he had done things differently, maybe then she would have stayed. Maybe he could find her, but for now he needed to be by himself.

[touchlikethesun]

a few informal thoughts on accent in written media and accent in translation

in light of a recent rb about dialect in haikyuu (which i recommend reading since i'm sorta responding to it but it's not required), i wanted to write down my quite complex thoughts about how "accent" is conveyed in written media, and how "accent" or "dialect" is translated cross-linguistically. it's really not a simple issue...

the biggest issue is that the very notion of an accent or a dialect as most non-linguists conceive of them is rooted in some form of bigotry, because there is almost always an underlying supposition that an "accent"/"dialect" exists in opposition to or as a deviation from the "standard." in written media, what that means is that some characters - often the main characters or the pov characters - have the privileged of their thoughts and words transcribed with standardised spellings and english teacher approved grammar (for the most part), and some characters - often but not always a character from a marginalised background or a character that is some way othered - are transcribed with intentional "errors."

(lmao readmore is deffo warranted this is a long one xx)

i want to give a very clear example of what i'm talking about, and i'm sorry to cite harry potter but it is a treasure trove for this kinda thing. also like... is it any surprise that jkr is particularly egregiously guilty of this... but anyways, look at that following passage from the philosopher's stone and watch the corresponding scene (hopefully the vid starts at the the part i want sorry youtube sucks)

“I'm a what?" gasped Harry. "A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be?”

now to my american ears, both harry and hagrid in this scene have noticable differences in pronunciation compared to how i might say the same lines - there are so many ways their speech might be written differently (from my pov; from a british pov i'm sure they'd have some changes to make in writing down my speech i'll never be free from the wodder boddle jokes).

what i think is particularly interesting tho is that harry says the word "what" twice in the clip, with two different pronunciations. the first time he says it, he actually doesn't pronounce the /t/ at the end of the word (in technical terms, it's an unreleased unvoiced alveolar plosive), and the second time the pronunciation of the /t/ is exaggerated for emphasis (a particularly aspirated unvoiced alveolar plosive). but this difference in the way harry says these two words is not conveyed in the text of hp. harry simply says "what."

i wish i had a more direct example, but a very similar sort of thing is going on when hagrid says the word "and," which he pronounces with an unreleased voiced alveolar plosive - almost exactly the same as harry's first "what" - but instead of "and" being written with standard spelling, jkr opts to replace the "d" with an apostrophe.

it's essentially the same linguistic phenomenon, but because harry is supposed to be middle class and from surrey, his linguistic quirks are not conveyed in the writing because he speaks "proper" english - whereas hagrid's linguistic quirks (in this case it is the same quirk present in harry's speech) are meticulously documented because he is working class and uneducated, and his language is deemed a deviation from the standard. harry's english is unmarked and deemed unaccented because his variety is very close to the enforced standard. and the "standard" is just the speech of the privileged classes. sorry that reasoning reads a bit circular, but it isn't supposed to be logical, it is in fact a very illogical line of reasoning.

a lot of times, authors will justify their choice to transcribe accents because accents are often integral to a character's identity. and i do not disagree that many people take pride in their accents or that accents aren't used as a way to index for group/regional identity. but the issue is, when are accents faithfully being transcribed and when are they assumed?

as an example of this, look at these two passages from another problematic author, cassie clare in the clockwork prince:

"You think I’m a fool,” Molly went on. “This is a trap, innit? You Nephilim catch me selling that sort of stuff, an’ it’s the stick for Old Mol, it is.” “You’re already dead.” Will did his best not to sound irritable. “I don’t know what you think the Clave could do to you now.” “Pah.” Her hollow eyes flamed. “The prisons of the Silent Brothers, beneath the earth, can ’old either the living or the dead; you know that, Shadowhunter." (tid.ii, prolouge)

and

"We’re in the Pyx Chamber,” he said. “Used to be a treasury. Boxes of gold and silver all along the walls.” “A Shadowhunter treasury?” Tessa was thoroughly puzzled. “No, the British royal treasury—thus the thick walls and doors,” said Jem. “But we Shadowhunters have always had access.” He smiled at her expression. “Monarchies down through the ages have tithed to the Nephilim, in secret, to keep their kingdoms safe from demons.” “Not in America,” said Tessa with spirit. “We haven’t got a monarchy—" (tid.ii, chapter 1)

i pulled these passages basically at random so maybe there are lines of dialogue that prove the point better (or disprove my point tho i doubt that, just based on my memory of these books), but in passage one, there are two speakers: an cockney woman from east london and a welsh man from an upper class background. i won't go line by line, but it's essentially like with the difference between harry and hagrid, where old molly has her shibboleths all written down whereas will is written with unquestionably grammatical speech.

in passage two, there are three speakers: the same upper class welshman, a lower middle class american woman, and a british-chinese (likely well off) man. we're told at certain points that will has a welsh accent; we can assume that tessa has an american/new york accent; i don't even know where i'd begin to describe jem's accent but it's probably not welsh or american. however, if you look at their dialogue, there is no way to discern any of these differences. their regional identities are all ostensibly important to them, as they are mentioned many many times in the narrative, but for some reason, it wasn't important enough to even make nods to their different accents? meanwhile, a random side character has their accent carefully laid out, dropped 'h's iconic slang and all? why? why is old mol's accent important enough to faithfully write down, but tessa and will's aren't? it couldn't have anything to do with classism could it...? surely not... (they say, with extreme sarcasm)

now, after all that. you might think my stance is that "accent" should never be written down because it necessarily involves classist/racist/otherwise bigoted judgement on what is marked and what is unmarked speech.

if only it were so easy.

honestly the biggest issue with jkr and clare's choices here is that it's so clearly coming from a place of ignorance and/or prejudice. there's nothing wrong with the way hagrid or old molly speak, and writing systems are inherently messy and inaccurate; there shouldn't be anything wrong with trying to more accurately convey utterances. before writing standardisation, people would just write what they thought a word sounded like, resulting in many if not dozens of accepted spellings for each word (sidenote: i've lost the email but i once spoke with someone that was attempting to reconstruct an older variety of english spoken in MA based on "spelling errors" in books from a small new england printing house it was a very cool project).

also, i am not african american so i can't fully speak to the accuracy of the AAVE, but i've seen discussion of how the AAVE and codeswitching in the hate u give by angie thomas was used to convey nuances in identity, and political realities in the US. the way people speak, the variety of language, and the attitudes they and others have towards that variety, are often extremely important narrative tools. as a black girl that also exists in white-dominated spaces, starr carter is aware of her speech and the changes she makes to fit in with white peers, but that doesn't mean that AAVE isn't a part of her, that it isn't important and valid. wouldn't it also be a bit disrespectful to write the AAVE in the hate u give as if it were standard english, when it is such an important part of starr's identity that it's not? AAVE is just as legitimate as a dialect as the dialect that starr's white peers speak, so on what grounds can anyone insist that it not be faithfully written down for its speakers? and lastly and most importantly, who am i, and who is anyone exterior to a linguistic community, to say how community members ought to write down their own speech/dialogue??

this is just one specific case, but i think when someone is writing from an in-group perspective, that changes things. it changes things immensely. there are so many reasons why a writer might choose to feature distinctive accents in their writing, and i don't think it's possible on their presence alone to make a judgement call on if the accent is being featured respectfully and/or with good reason, or if it is bigoted and unnecessary.

and this brings us to the somehow even more difficult question of what to do with "accents" when translating dialogue. not only do translators have to convey semantic meaning, they have to try to convey pragmatic meaning, cultural meaning, implications, and so on and so on. there is also the very important question of what is the role of a translator? i think that answer will depend on the individual, and unfortunately how one answers will have an impact on how they think translators ought to convey accent.

if the author of a text writes a character's dialogue from a prejudiced point of view, like jkr has done with hagrid, is it the role of the translator to dutifully convey the same (or as close to the same as possible) prejudiced implications in their translation? or does the translator have more of an editorial role, allowing them to convey the meaning in a way that won't carry the same connotations in the new language? does it matter what connotations were intended by the author? is the translator at fault for assumptions made by the audience of their translation due to the choice to convey an accent in one way or another? it is impossible to perfectly convey cultural nuances in accents so do we settle for the closest thing or do we forego it entirely and leave it up to something lost in translation? what about the translators own biases and prejudices, what do we do then?

honestly there are so many questions, and i don't have many answers. i err on the side that says the role of the translator is to be as faithful to the meaning of the text as possible, regardless of the translator's personal feelings about what is being conveyed. if an accent is being used purely for comedic effect, i do not think that the translator has the jurisdiction to say "well i think that's rude and ignorant so i won't include it," but at the same time, i think there should be multiple checks and balances, like sensitivity readers, that ensure that the translation is not introducing more prejudiced elements or pushing things even further than the source text.

what initially got me thinking about this was the post linked above about kansai dialect in haikyuu. the only characters that are written to not speak in tokyo dialect (otherwise considered the standard in japan) are the characters from inarizaki, a school in the kansai region. since they are the only characters to be explicitly written to be speaking a regional dialect, i would say it is probably an important - or considered an important by the mangaka - part of their characterisation. regardless of whether or not there should be cultural connotations to a particular variety is unfortunately not relavent in this instance.

i do think translators should not exaggerate the presence of an accent. from what i can tell from forums online, inarizaki's accents are pronounced but more than understandable, so i am liable to suspect some prejudice or mis-informed opinions when i see panels of the miya twins that are barely intelligible. but in general, i am of the opinion that translators should try and match as closely as they can the connotations of the source text, even if the source text is itself problematic. obviously there is not perfect choice. obviously a translation is never going to perfectly capture the original meaning.

in the end i guess these are two different discussions but i do think there is connection between the two. i understand the upset over egregiously translated accented dialogue, but at the same time, i do not think it is the translator's call entirely whether to translate it or not, however they do have a duty to at least try to match contexts as closely as possible. and as for the presence of accent in written media at all, it is really a case-by-case basis if i think it's being done well and with good cause or if it is just an example of ignorance, and i do think there should be room for nuance in this discussion.

come back next time when i ramble about how people write on the internet is a case study for how accent could be written in fiction lol xx

[rayclubs]

I know this probably comes out of nowhere, but I randomly remembered some hundred years ago you posted asking for language-related questions on the blog and also another time you mentioned being a native Russian speaker to talk to, so I’d just like to pose one question if it’s ok.

Are there any grammatical mistakes natives make in speaking/writing the language (either as dialect or in informal situations) that you’ve noticed, and are there any which seem more natural to say or read than the “technically” correct approach ?

Hi, sorry this has been stuck in my inbox for forever, but yeah! I'm assuming you mean Russian speakers making mistakes when speaking Russian, and yeah, we make a ton of mistakes.

Incorrectly stressed words: saying красивЕе (incorrect) instead of красИвее (correct), дОговор instead of договОр, etc, nothing else comes to mind right now but there's a ton of these. Forgot to translate, the words mean "more beautiful" and "agreement" respectively.

Attributing the wrong gender to words - кофе (coffee) is male but people call it an "it" instead of a "he" in Russian. Though that's technically not a mistake as of 2016 since they re-gendered it, kind of. SO many snobs were pissed off about it lol

Wrong words! Just. Words that do not exist. Old-timey, village ass words. Тудою-сюдою, тама-тута, евоный / еёный / ихний / нашний. I kind of love these but that's because I'm a forever "commonly accepted linguistic norm" apologist.

Using wrong prepositions or cases. "Скучать за кем-то" instead of "скучать по кому-то" (miss someone), "согласно контракта" instead of "согласно контакту" (according to the contract), etc. English doesn't have cases so it's hard to explain what's wrong with these, but they're pretty common.

There are more but they're kind of individual and situational, I can't categorize them meaningfully. Hope this was at least somewhat informative, again, sorry about the wait!